Toshiro watched as Karin Kurosaki left the room. He felt her run straight for her father and brother and then leave. He sat there for a few seconds in a daze…he couldn't quite believe what just happened. Though he didn't know how she would react, this was probably one of the worst possible scenarios apart from her dropping dead from the surprise of seeing him.

He made his way outside of the building and looked up at the sunlight.

What do I do now?

OlOlOlOlOlOlO

"Let's go," said Karin roughly as she bolted past the men in her family and out the door. She briskly walked in front of them.

Isshin looked at Ichigo as if to ask what Karin's problem was and Ichigo shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Karin, I was thinking that we could treat you to dinner out tonight to celebrate," said Isshin.

"No, thank you," she replied. "I'm tired. I just really want to go home."

"Is something bothering you?" Ichigo asked.

"Nope, just tired," she reaffirmed.

When they finally reached the Kurosaki family home, Karin went right for the stairs.

"Do you know what's going on?" asked Isshin quietly to his son.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I might have a clue," he replied.

"She's so disinterested and depressed all the time. I just don't want her leaving for Karakura University like this," said Isshin. "We need to pull her out of this somehow. It's been nearly a year and nothing we do seems to help."

"Don't worry about her, Dad. I might know something that will help – that is, if my instinct about this is correct. I was expecting something to happen at the graduation and it didn't. So I'm going to have to look into it. Don't give up hope yet."

"Son, you are so….vague. Do you kids deliberately keep me out of the loop?" asked Isshin.

Ichigo patted his father on the back. "You got it," he replied. "I'll be back in an hour." He turned to go out the very same door he just come through.

"Wha? Where are you going, Ichigo?" Isshin asked.

Ichigo smiled. "Just going for a walk."

OlOlOlOlOlO

"So I was right," said Ichigo as he neared the lone figure by the side of the road.

Toshiro looked up to see the orange-haired human walking towards him. "Hello Ichigo," he replied.

"I didn't see you at the graduation. Did you make it?" Ichigo asked.

"I was there," said Toshiro.

"I take it by Karin's reaction that you two did talk," said Ichigo.

"I tried," said Toshiro. "She just yelled at me."

"Do you blame her?" Ichigo asked.

"I guess not," Toshiro said. He then sighed. "I just – I've never had to go through this before. I don't know how to…"

"Make up with her?" Ichigo finished the sentence.

"Yeah," said Toshiro.

"Welcome to the world of women. It doesn't matter if they are human or Shinigami, they are all a mystery," said Ichigo. He grabbed Toshiro's shoulder and rattled him back and forth a bit as a show of camaraderie.

"How did you know I was here, anyway," said Toshiro.

"Karin told me once that this was your favorite place in the world of the living," said Ichigo. "I've been here many times myself when I was watching her and you together back before you left her."

"Spying?" asked Toshiro.

"More like…being a good older brother," said Ichigo. "But I'm over that. Karin and Yuzu are high school graduates now and I've been trying to let go little-by-little over the last few years. I still love them very much, but they are old enough to make their own decisions and live their own lives. Of course, I'll always be there for them if they need me."

"I see," Toshiro answered.

"Come to think of it, I think Karin needs me now," said Ichigo. "Do me a favor and don't go back to the Soul Society just yet, ok?"

"Why?" asked Toshiro.

Ichigo smiled. "Just….trust me."

OlOlOlOlOlOlO

Ichigo returned to his house to find Isshin on the couch watching TV. When the door closed and clicked, Isshin turned around to see his son standing there.

"Phase 1 of the mission is now complete. Onto Phase 2," said Ichigo. Isshin thought he was nuts and turned around to watch the TV again.

Ichigo headed up the stairs and headed straight for the closed door where Karin was.

It's a good thing Yuzu isn't here. It'll make talking one-on-one with Karin that much easier.

Tap-tap. "Karin?"

No answer.

Tap-tap. "Karin, can I talk to you?" Ichigo slowly opened the door.

Karin lay on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. Ichigo sat on the edge of her bed and placed his hand lightly on her back.

"Karin, are you alright? You don't seem happy," said Ichigo.

Karin turned and Ichigo could see that her pillow was wet and that she had been crying. The make-up that she had applied for graduation day was half smudged on her face and half on the pillow.

"Ichigo, I haven't been happy for a while now. You know that," said Karin very seriously.

"Well, you may not be happy, but something obviously happened today," he noted. "It's supposed to be a happy day, yet after you graduate, you end up like this."

Karin wasn't sure if she should let her brother into her thoughts or not. She didn't want to deal with the hassle of lectures about boys, or how dumb she was in the past, or anything like that.

"Ichigo, if I tell you something, will you please just help me? I mean, no lecture, no telling me what to do or what not to do, and no threats. I just...really can't take that right now," she said to him.

"Sure," he replied. "I'm hear to listen if you just need to talk."

"I saw him today," she said.

"Since the only him I know you've ever been close with is Toshiro Hitsugaya, I'm assuming that's who you mean," said Ichigo.

"Hai," she replied. "It has been a year since I laid eyes on him and he shows up at my graduation," said Karin.

Ichigo continued to play dumb about the whole situation. "Isn't that a good thing?" asked Ichigo. "Perhaps he needed to talk to you."

Karin got a little upset by that last statement. "Ichigo, he was my best friend – even more than that – since I was 12. You can't imagine how much I…."

"Love?" interjected Ichigo.

Karin just looked at her brother, stunned.

"Love isn't always easy, Karin – especially between a human and a Shinigami," said Ichigo. "You don't think I've thought about Rukia? At least if I ever decided to pursue her, I can at least go visit her in the Soul Socity whereas you two are kept separated for the most part."

"But what he did to me…it just wasn't right, Ichigo. He should have talked to me about it," said Karin.

"Hai, he should have," said Ichigo. "But don't forget that he may be a taicho, but from what I've heard, he's never been in love either. He's completely new at this, too. Before you condemn him even as you still love him…"

Karin opened her mouth to interrupt as Ichigo raised his finger to stop her.

"Yes, I still think you love him….you might want to consider talking with him a bit before making a mistake you may regret for the rest of your life," said Ichigo.

Karin looked down and thought for a few seconds.

"I don't know where he is," said Karin. "I left him back at the school earlier today."

"I guess you'll have to find him then," said Ichigo. "If he is still here in Karakura Town, where do you think he would be?"

OlOlOlOlOlO

Toshiro sighed as he sadly looked at the setting sun in the west. He was feeling very down - he was convinced that he had blown it and that Karin was no longer going to be part of his life. It wasn't as if he had made the choice to stay away from Karin because he truly wanted to stay away. It hurt him immensely to make that decision, one which he had convinced himself was for the correct reasons. Now that he knew he had made a gigantic mistake, things could never go back to the way they were no matter how much he wanted them to. There was a very good chance that Karin would be gone from him for all but the most benign encounters.

Karin slowly walked up the hill towards the spot where she knew Toshiro most likely was. The figure she saw leaning up against the guard rail appeared to be defeated and dejected. Toshiro's body language was that of a sad man. He didn't move much and his eyes appeared to switch between looking at the sun on the horizon and down at the ground in regular intervals.

He didn't notice her appearance until she was nearly next to him.

"Karin," escaped his lips. "What - ?"

"I'm here to talk," she said. "And to apologize. You surprised me earlier today and I lashed out rashly."

"I'm the one who needs to apologize. You had every right to be angry at me and...I didn't handle our first meeting in a year very well at all," he replied.

"Toshiro, you really hurt me," said Karin starting off the very serious conversation she had planned.

"I know. But Karin, you have to know that I was so unhappy being away from you," said Toshiro. "I just thought it was best for you. A life as my significant other just isn't going to be easy."

"Your what?" she asked. "The last I checked, we were friends."

Toshiro thought about that for a few seconds.

"You are correct. We were friends," he repeated. "Apparently my communication was not what it needed to be. I assumed - ."

"That's right, Toshiro. You assumed," Karin said with a bit more spunk in her voice. She could tell that she was getting a bit more heated than she intended so she took a deep breath to calm herself down "You made a huge decision that affected both of our futures without even discussing it with me."

"For that, I'm sorry. I see that I was completely wrong," he replied.

"I can forgive you, Toshiro. I don't want you gone from my life, but I have to be assured that you'll never do something like that again," said Karin.

He grabbed both of her upper arms and turned her to face him. He looked right into her eyes and said, "Karin, you have my word that I will never do something like that again." She then reached her arms around him and hugged him.

Time seemed to stop just for a small bit as both Toshiro and Karin let down all defenses and settled into the close hug both of them had been craving for so long. Karin's eyes leaked a few tears as the emotion of the situation took hold.

It feels so good...

The hug broke and again the two friends sat next to each other on the guard rail overlooking the town. For a bit, neither person said anything to the other.

I'm almost afraid to ask this, thought Toshiro.

"What?" asked Karin when she saw that Toshiro seemed to have something to say.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

Karin smiled. "Where do you want it to go?" she asked in return.

"I - ," he started, but stopped himself.

"Please be honest with me, Toshiro. Don't hold back or we'll risk another misunderstanding," Karin said.

"I want you in my life, Karin. It's just that...I'm a Shinigami and you are a human. We live in two completely different worlds," said Toshiro.

"And you think you are telling me something I didn't know already?" she said a bit playfully.

"I don't know what you want," he spat out honestly.

"First tell me what you want," she insisted. "You don't always have to follow my lead - it's like you don't want to say the wrong thing to me. Tell me what you are thinking, Toshiro."

"I want you to be mine, Karin. I want us to take things to the next level. I can be your friend if that is all you want...if that is all you think you can handle. But I've been waiting so long for you to grow up so that we can finally be together," explained Toshiro.

"Grow up? You've grown quite a bit yourself since I was 12," she chuckled. It was true. Shinigami did grow up albeit at a slower pace than humans. Toshiro was the youngest taicho ever in the Gotei 13. When Karin was 12, he also looked to be 12. He now looked like a high school student just as Karin did.

Toshiro gave Karin a look for following his confession with such a quip. Karin got the message.

She placed her hand under his cheek. "You feel exactly how I do. I do love you, Toshiro Hitsugaya. I want you in my life as much as that can possibly be."

He smiled in return. "That's good to know."

"You had to have known that I had feelings for you even though you always called us 'friends'," she added. "I was frustrated that you never really told me how you felt."

"I'll do better. I promise," he replied. "But Karin, I'll only say this one last time. We live in different worlds and if we give 'us' a try, you have to be prepared to not have me around much of the time. I will come when I can, but I won't always be able to be here when you need me. I have a duty to the Gotei 13 and I can't ignore that. I've promised the soutaicho that I'm in it for the long haul."

"I understand the situation," said Karin. "I have my family and friends here and the Shinigami I've befriended over the years I'm sure will be around. I won't hold your absence against you. It's a promise."

Karin hadn't felt this good in a year. She was already feeling her depression lifting and her old self returning. She knew it would not be an instantaneous thing, but she was hopeful. Karin hated feeling 'that way'.

Toshiro was on cloud nine himself. A huge weight had been lifted and things finally seemed to be headed down the correct path again.

Karin leaned her head against Toshiro's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. It was getting dark now and the sun had already set. All that remained in the western sky was an orange glow.

When it was finally dark out, Karin stood up. "I think I need to get home."

"I'll walk you home," said Toshiro, also standing. "But then I've got to go back to the Soul Society."

"Thank you for coming to see me, Toshiro," said Karin.

"No, thank you for being you. You've made me so happy with your forgiveness. I can't even..."

Karin didn't let him finish his sentence. She leaned up so that her lips met his. The kiss was sensual and full of emotion, yet it was still short and mostly innocent. It was the first kiss they ever shared.

When she pulled away, all he could do was embrace her tightly once again.

And so it begins, thought an orange-haired figure off in the shadows.