Patrol, for all that Karin had imagined it being filled with discoveries of intruders and epic battles, was one of the most boring experiences she had ever had to go through. Being able to move around slightly helped, but since they were trying to present a strong command she could not shunpo or walk off of the designated track. Karin noticed with no shortage of amusement that she was actually one of the better ones when it came to doing a good job with the surveillance.

No wonder Ichigo and company were able to break in while he was fifteen. With Aizen, Urahara, Yoruichi and the general impossibility that is Ichigo Kurosaki working against them Soul Society did not stand a chance.

No, no, it was 'frowned upon' to let your thoughts wander during patrol rather than keeping your focus on looking for intruders the entire time. Karin briefly wondered if Toshiro knew how impossible that task was, but supposed that if anyone could do it, it would be the ice captain.

Several small battles had already broken out in the other districts. Slight invasions mostly meant for the rebel group to test the waters and see how they matched up against shinigami. While nothing especially interesting, it did allow the shinigami who had experienced combat to get a better read on what kind of enemy they would be facing. Besides, regardless of whether it was useful or not, Karin was sure it was better than doing nothing. Then again, it would be better if those were attacks by hollows rather than the rebel group they were defending against.

The more time the rebels had to figure out their defense, the better their attacks would be- at least until Soul Society located one of their current bases. It was impossibly frustrating to not be able to do anything other than walk while the rebels took steps to make their attacks more efficient. She did not enjoy the fact that they were at war, but she enjoyed walking around on patrol while they were at war even less.

Right, patrol,she needed to get back to observing the surrounding area.

Trying to focus on her surroundings did not actually help her expect Toshiro's sudden arrival in front of her, causing her to jump back slightly and draw her zanpakuto.

"Who are you?"

"I confessed to you on a hill we could see fireworks during an event neither of us wanted to go to."

"You also bought me this red clip I'm wearing because it can turn into a sword and help in combat. It was the only one I liked when we went into the store."

She and Toshiro both relaxed as they confirmed who the other was. At times like this she wished it was possible to just know when the person in front of you was the one you love like she had seen in some of Yuzu's sappy romance dramas.

Well, technically, she could sense his reiatsu, but they did not know if the rebels had some way to imitate signatures.(1) Besides, Karin was humble enough to admit she was really, really bad at sensing reiatsu.

"Karin, I just got a hell butterfly from the third division. Their group and the assisting hollows have run across the black experiment that was stolen from the twelfth, all squad captains were asked to bring themselves and one other person to help."

"Do we know this isn't a diversion?"

"No, so everyone else has been sent hell butterflies to be on high alert. There's no time to waste," Without hesitation, Toshiro immediately flash stepped toward the designated area and Karin followed, mentally reviewing what she had been told about the twelfth experiment only a little while ago.

First, she remembered that it was capable of destroying souls if it enveloped them. She also remembered it was meant to be capable of purifying hollows so the poorer districts would be safe, but was still incomplete. Then how to destroy it…

Ah, yes, you use the 'Ichigo approach' and crush it with reiatsu once it tries to capture you. That must be why so many different high-ranking people were needed, the more reiatsu the better.

Karin stopped, suspended in the air several dozen feet from the ground. She glanced around and took about as much time as you would expect it to take to find a giant black cloud in the middle of a town. Moving closer, she noticed the surrounding shinigami were still helping move civilians out of the way while the rest fought the cloud. She could help with tha-

In a heartbeat Karin's eyes widened as she noticed the cloud moving towards a civilian who had broken his leg. The cloud was seconds away from reaching him, and no one else had noticed. Another heartbeat. Would she even be able to make it in time? She was still the farthest away from the civilian. Another heartbeat rang in her ears. No time to hesitate.

Pushing herself forward with all of her strength, Karin was just barely able to push the civilian out of the way and let the cloud envelope her instead. It was… surprisingly solid inside. More like it was made of slime or mud than air. It was good Yuzu was not one of the ones who had to do this, she would find it disgusting. Karin, however, had a much larger tolerance to things like this after her childhood days of playing soccer with a group of boys.

So…

Suddenly unleashing her reiatsu and allowing it to reach its peak, she saw the shadow seemingly flinch away from her power as if burned and begin disintegrating as her reishi came into contact with it. After all the time she had spent trying to control her reiatsu to improve in kido, it was kinda… fun to just let it all go without restraint.

A concentrated vibrant red light formed around her from the power she was giving off and she noticed how similar the color was to the jewel on the clip she was wearing. It was almost… not necessarily alluring, but… captivating.

A loud, startling pop ended the moment and as Karin refocused she noticed she had destroyed- burned- the piece of the cloud that had tried to absorb her. Glancing over, she felt for his reiatsu and noticed Toshiro had finally arrived, and his icy blue easily driving the shadow away, burning in the way only a sudden ice burn can. .

Time for more thoughts later. Karin turned towards the man in front of her who was staring at her with adoration and… was that recognition she saw from him?

Yes, it was. And soon she realized why he looked oddly familiar to her. It was one of the people she had saved in the mountains while on her vacation with Toshiro. It looked like he was about to say something, but Karin snapped out of her thoughts realizing the situation was not the right time for a chat.

Grabbing the boy's arm, Kairn flash stepped towards the clearing where civilians were being kept and shouted some instructions to the boy which included 'don't leave here', 'help only if you can' and 'follow what the captains and lieutenants tell you' before returning to battle with the shadow. Glancing back, she noticed with a smile that the man was hobbling away as he guided several other souls towards the shinigami. He was fine then, Karin could get back to the fight.

While the shadow itself left no marks, Karin knew her uniform was steadily becoming covered in sweat, ash and dust. Rangiku was going to faint as soon as she laid eyes on Karin.

"The civilians have been evacuated!" Toshiro suddenly yelled, probably having sensed there were no non-shinigami souls left in the area. It was convenient having one of the best reiatsu sensors- if that was a work- present. Karin briefly wondered if she would be able to convince Toshiro to use his ability to trick her brother into-

A fleeing shinigami knocked down a large tree branch in their haste to escape, causing it to fall directly on top of Karin. Reflex taking over, Karin instantly reacted by flash stepping away from the falling branch to an empty street. Annoyance flashed through her expression for a brief second before she smoothed it over, taking some advice Toshiro had previously given her to help her calm down for battle.

She continued to bounce slightly, remaining light on her feet and prepared to dodge even as she relaxed and tried to push the idiotic officer- a man Karin knew was used to working alone, why was he here?- out of her mind. In less than a handful of seconds, she felt her mind refocus and resumed destroying pieces of the twelfth's lovely experiment.

To her slight surprise, Karin noticed several hollows had joined the battle. It seemed like it was mostly the more combat-loving and bloodthirst ones, but she would take all the help they could get.

By now there were about twenty souls present who were actively working on destroying pieces of the shadow, giving the people who arrived at the start some time to breathe. Karin had stepped back to catch her breath a bit and was soon joined by a less exhausted but still worn Toshiro.

"How're you doing?"

"I am fine," Toshiro paused, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. "I think we reacted as well as we could have, but it annoys me that anyone watching now knows exactly what our plan is for situations like this."

"Wasn't a diversion then?" (2)

"Doesn't seem like it. A few people were sent to some of our larger bases, but they weren't especially strong or a large group. We have to stay on defense for now, so them sending these smaller tests is not helping."

"What about this shadow thing? Wouldn't they want to save it?"

"Not if they can split pieces of it off. There is no obvious or definite mass, so they can just take a piece of it and place it somewhere for an attack. Annoying."

Karin, for one, wholeheartedly agreed. She hated that they were being forced on the defensive, especially because she felt like Soul Society's offense was so much stronger.

"How much time do you think it will take the second division to find one of their bases?"

"I don't know, but if I had to guess it shouldn't take more than a few months. The rebels, unfortunately, are doing a rather good job of hiding even as they recruit people from the rukongai. Our main saving grace is that they would most likely have had far more volunteers just a decade or two ago."

Karin glanced over, thinking about the last point Toshiro had brought up. "Do you think it is possible we'll eventually be able to remove all the rebellions in Soul Society? You know, make it how people who are alive tend to dream of their afterlife being when they die; paradise."

"...I don't think that- so long as there are human souls present- will ever be possible, but I feel like we will drastically lower the number of them, depending on how well we do. Besides, even if I'm wrong and we don't end up changing anything I feel like this will still have been a worthwhile use of our resources and time."

Karin smiled, "Alright then, whatever you say captain." Standing on her tiptoes- she missed when they were the same height- Karin kissed his cheek. "I'll be heading back to work now, see you later!"

A slightly blushing Toshiro was left behind as Karin returned to destroy sections of the experiment. They were almost done and there was a low body count on the shinigami's side, but Karin knew the strategists of Soul Society would consider this battle to be a loss for the information the rebels got. Hopefully that would not mean they would be forced to go through even more training than usual- she liked it, but too much was too much.

Karin would have sighed if she was not busy fighting; when did this become her life?

Actually that was a dumb question; it became her life (death) when her brother became the universe's' strongest (alive) ghost.

Kanna stared down from her hiding spot in shock. It had not been a complicated plan; just take a piece of the experiment, put it in a random town, and observe the way the shinigami reacted. When the general public saw how they were being abandoned by the shinigami, they would naturally flock to the right side of the war. They would get a read on how skilled the shinigami were at battling the experiment and they would gain more people who believed in their cause; two birds with only one stone. When her leader had proposed the plan, both Kanna and Takahiro had agreed that it seemed like a perfect use of their resources. And they were right, the plan had gone exactly as expected. And yet…

And yet the shinigami had not abandoned the poorer districts to suffer the attack; they had instead sent some of their strongest fighters. It was, strategically, better for Kanna's group because it gave them insight into how some of the strongest fighters handled the situation, but it put Kanna at a bit of a loss. Then there was the fact that they were being helped by hollows- hollows! How could that have even been suggested?!- who took part in defending from the attack just as much as the shinigami did. Kanna was not quite sure how to react to that.

In addition, despite having a broken leg one of the civilians Karin had saved was guiding the other souls to the shinigami. Kanna remembered how just a few decades ago the civilians would have simply run away, not trusting the shinigami to keep them or their families safe.

The only thing that reinforced Kanna's beliefs was the poor quality of the houses in the area. It made her feel guilty at how grateful she was that there was still something that proved her beliefs were right, even if it meant others had to suffer. Spending time in the Seireitei, she had seen how nice the buildings were, showing that the homeless people here were obviously being oppressed by the government.

At the very least, it reaffirmed Kanna's belief that they would be able to do a better job taking care of the public than the soul reapers could.

As the battle began winding down, Kanna stopper the recording she was taking and left; hoping to avoid a conflict which would undoubtedly erupt if she was found. It would be better for her to not think about whether she was in the right, now that she knew hesitation would only get her killed. The sight of both Karin and Toshiro defending the people in the town she was attacking was also something she pushed out of her mind for the time being.

She had work to do and could not afford to be distracted.

The last of the experiment surrounded Toshiro, who easily overwhelmed it with his power. Though his eyes were emitting a slight glow from his continued use of reiatsu, he actually did not appear overly tired. A flash appeared beside him and Karin emerged from her shunpo to stand beside him.

"Paperwork now?"

A small smile appeared on his face, even as he raised his eyebrow. "It's part of the job, I refuse to allow you to turn into another Matsumoto when it comes to paperwork."

"I'm pretty sure that's impossible, she does the most unbelievable things if she think it will allow her to avoid the stuff. She might actually put more effort into hiding from it than it would take to just finish the work."

"I suppose so," Toshiro acknowledged with a slight laugh. "But no, another captain offered to take the paperwork over because they arrived before I did. Would you like to do something… together?"

"Shiro, I hope you're aware that your skill at asking your girlfriend out on a date is only a little above that of your ability to ask me to be your girlfriend."

"You don't exactly make it any easier when you say things like that."

His last comment got a completely genuine smile from Karin, who responded, "I guess. Anyways, I'd be happy to head back to the division if patrol is being taken care of and just spend some time with you."

"Sure, a little while ago I got a hell butterfly that said all those who were in the recent battle will be given some time to rest and recover before being expected to patrol again. I believe we have until tomorrow at 9:00 am."

The thought of actually being able to sleep in again sounded like a godsend to Karin and she silently thanked the soul king. It had been literally years since the last time she was allowed to sleep in before work; being dead turned out to require a surprising amount of effort 24/7.

Both she and Toshiro quickly flash stepped back to the barrack- essentially Toshiro's home and Karin's home away from home (Shiba manor)- where they both moved to their dorms to take a shower. As Karin felt the warm water running through her hair she briefly wondered about her place in the whole mess of a war. She knew Kanna and Takahiro better than pretty much any other shinigami- barring Toshiro- but would that make it a better or worse decision to have her fight one of them from a tactical standpoint? While Karin knew part of her wanted to, caused by a mix of pride, anger and desire for revenge, she also knew part of her would have mixed feelings about seriously attacking and trying to injure someone who was once her friend.

She supposed it might turn out to be a question of the strength of her loyalty to the idea of improving Soul Society the way she and Toshiro were trying to. If they could not, it just meant their personal loyalty to their 'friends' was stronger. She was not quite sure how to feel about this conclusion.

After exiting the shower Karin dressed in more comfortable clothing and walked out to meet with her boyfriend. When she stepped into his dorm she noticed he was also dressed in less martial clothing, barring, of course, his zanpakuto. She knew her reiatsu had announced her presence to him, regardless of how silent she was trained to make her footsteps, and gave him a small smile when he glanced up to see her.

"Ready to eat?" Karin asked, absent-mindedly rubbing a bruise on her arm. The unconscious action immediately attracted Toshiro's attention, and he beckoned her to the couch to apply some healing kido.

"I am, though I'd prefer eating something light."
"Obviously," Karin easily agreed, "I still have no idea why Soul Society's nobles expect us to enjoy eating such fancy, creamy foods when we come to their parties. It's like they think we're decoration pieces who don't legitimately need to be ready to fight at a moments notice."

"I hope you're aware that you are one of those nobles."
"Then maybe I'm a hypocrite, who knows. Though in my defense it's pretty much universally agreed that the Shiba clan is better about things like that."

"While that's true, not everyone would describe it as 'better' about it." Karin let out a quiet chuckle as he finished performing the last bits of healing on her arm. The sun had already set and being healed usually made her slightly drowsy, so she yawned and tried blinking the sleepiness out of her eyes.

"Hey, Shiro, can I rest on you?"

"...If you want to."

Having gotten the permission she was looking for, Karin laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder and closed her eyes. Soon she noticed Toshiro lean against the back of the couch and rest his own head on hers. Their breathing evened out and as time dragged on they started to fall asleep.

"Karin."
"...Yeah?" Toshiro chuckled a little at the exhaustion he could hear in her voice, but was smart enough to know not to comment on it out loud.

"We should try to eat something before sleeping, why don't we just have a tiny bit of fruit and then go to bed?" After considering his offer for a moment Karin cracked her eyes open and sent him a small glare.

"Do you have to be so responsible all the damn time? I really rather we just stay here."

"Well?"

A long, drawn out, accepting sigh came from Karin. "Yeah, we probably should."

With a smile, Toshiro helped her stand up as she shook the last of the sleep from her brain and they walked together to the small kitchen Matsumoto used in their office.

"What's in here?"

"I don't know, I suppose we'll have to see." Karin sent him a raised eyebrow at his answer and seemed to be trying desperately not to laugh at him.

"It's a kitchen in your office and you don't know what's inside? It's official, you've upgraded to the mastery of being a workaholic, none can possibly surpass you skill."

"Can we just get some food."

"'Food', you say, when you don't even know-"

"Would you like some food?"

"That'd be great, captain." Toshiro opened the small fridge to find an assortment of foods that fell into categories of 1) practical, 2) foreign or 3) weird. Luckily, the practical category included fruits like apples and Asian pear, so Toshiro cautiously skipped past anything he did not know to grab what he did.

Karin happily took the fruit and they ate together in silence for a while, glancing through mission reports they both needed to see and sign. Eventually, as Karin finished and threw away her fruit, she lost patience and snatched the paper out of Toshiro's hands, causing him to jump slightly.

"Karin? What-"

"We were given some time off, we've both done some work, now we need to stop or we're both going to turn into workaholics. It's getting late, we don't need to be there right away in the morning, we can finish tomorrow. I'm making it my job to make sure you get a full night of sleep for once in your life."

"But-"

"I promise I'll help you with your paperwork tomorrow, now off to bed."

"...Right."

Toshiro sat on his bed next to Karin as they checked their soul phones to make sure no catastrophic emergency had occurred while they had dinner- unlikely, but you never really know with Soul Society. Seeing that the world was still mostly intact, they set their phones down for charging and were about to walk into their rooms when Karin suddenly stopped.

"Hey… Shiro…" Unused to hearing hesitancy from her, Toshiro immediately stopped walking and turned around. After staring at the ground for several seconds, Karin looked up and met his eyes. "We have… rare circumstances right now where neither of us have anything to do and it's night. We could… I mean, would you like to sleep together?"

"You mean… sexually?" Toshiro asked, a light blush on his face which Karin could see even in the dim light.

"...Yeah. I don't want to do anything you're not all for, but it was something… I wouldn't mind- not with you- and we don't usually have the opportunity to do something like that."

For all that she was more comfortable than Toshiro with sex from her time in the twenty-first century, even she had trouble with something as personal as this. Her body having all the hormones of a seventeen-year-old also did not help.

Toshiro closed his eyes and thought about her proposal. Considering all her points, it could be a good idea… it was not like he never wanted to have sex with her, it was more a question of if now was the right time. They could avoid getting Karin pregnant, but it would still undoubtedly change their relationship- though not necessarily in a bad way.

But then he considered the rebellion. True, rebellions were happening practically every other day in Soul Society, but the two of them were unusually connected to this one. They both had a job to, and neither would be happy with their choice if they stopped being able to do their job and protect people.

It was the last thought that made his decision.

"Karin… I know I want to sleep with you sometime… but I just don't think now is the right time. Not with everything that's happening and with Kanna... I feel like we need to wait a little while longer. Besides, while it's an old idea in the current world of the living, I grew up in a time when it was a bit odd for someone to have sex before they're married." Despite all his dedication towards what he was saying, he looked up hesitantly, trying to assess Karin's reaction.

Karin looked bright red, embarrassment covering her features. She quickly turned to the floor and took a tentative step back, refusing to look up and meet his eyes.

"Right- I mean, sorry I didn't- I should have known- I didn't mean to imply or pressure you into anything."

"Karin." The word cut her off from her rambling and she glanced up, calming down slightly and regaining some of her confidence. "It's fine, I had to think about it too. I just don't want us to worry about it until we're… not in the middle of destroying a rebellion. I think I'd like to talk about this again afterwards."

Relaxing completely, Karin nodded and smiled. "Well then, we should probably go to bed."

"Would you like to sleep in the same room again? I mean- only if you want to."

"Like we did when I had those dreams?" Toshiro nodded, hoping she would not be offended, "Sure, might as well do something unusual to celebrate getting some time off."

The air between them was still slightly awkward, but the tension slowly left their stances and they both laid down next to each other. As they made eye contact on the bed a flash of understanding passed between them and the awkward atmosphere vanished, allowing sleep to finally overwhelm them.

1) I just feel like this makes sense. If you can feel reiatsu a ways around that person, you can probably cover yourself in an imitation like you could for a disguise. I don't know, maybe that's just me who thinks that.

2) I'll be perfectly honest, I'm definitely not an expert on war. Part of the problem is how, in the manga, the winter war lasted for a matter of months and really only included two simultaneous battles while in the thousand year blood war we only really saw the soldier side, not the tactician side. Anyways, I think what I'm saying makes sense, but if someone knows what I'm having the characters do is illogical from a war standpoint then please don't expect it from me. I am but a normal person who does not have much knowledge of how armies look at war.