Main POV

"You scared the hell out us, you know that right," I said as I sat next to Karin once Ichigo had finally put her down. He'd thrown her over his shoulder when the final whistle blew and everyone was celebrating our win of 5-4. Then he'd remembered she was injured and refused to let her go until he took her to the clinic to get looked over by Isshin. To which she violently protested.

"What do you mean, we won right?" she said and I sighed.

"Why didn't you call a time out sooner?" I asked her.

"I didn't want to, I wanted to do it on my own. I wanted to win," she replied.

"I wanted you to win too," I told her. "But everything has a cost. And I didn't want this win to be at the expense of you. Do have any idea how hard it was for everyone, all your friends, your family, to watch you take hit after hit? Come on, Karin, you know what Ichigo disappearing all those times did to you and Yuzu. I know you want to be strong, but there's nothing weak about asking for help. True strength is knowing when you need someone to watch your back. Even your block head brother knows that. Why do you think he never goes anywhere without Chad, Uryuu and Orehime?"

"Fine," Karin sighed.

"You won, but you need to be more careful, that's all I'm saying," I told her. "And I'm glad you won by the way. Can't wait to see those punks show up here next Sunday in dresses."

"Heard your little speech with Karin earlier," Ichigo commented as we watched everyone on the field, happily kicking the ball to one another.

"Sorry," I replied. "That was probably your job. I should have called a time out earlier, too. I just wanted it to be her choice."

"I know," he nodded. "But us Kurosaki's are stubborn block heads, remember? And Karin never would have listened to me if I was the one who gave her that speech. She looks up to you though, at least a little. That's why she came to you this morning."

"I thought it was because I'm the prefect partner in crime," I laughed.

"Well there's that too," Ichigo smiled. "Come on," he gabbed my arm. "Let's go join in."

"You know," I smiled. "I'll be there in just a second."

"Alright," he nodded and ran off without me while I pulled out my phone.

"Urahara's Shop~ What can I do for you?" I heard the sing song voice of the creepy shop keeper out of the phone and I smiled.

"Urahara," I answered.

"Uo-chan, why do I get the feeling you're about to ask a favour?" He sighed.

"Because I am," I laughed. "Can we have a barbecue out the front of your shop tonight?"

"That sounds fun, Uo, am I invited?" He replied, brightening.

"Sure," I agreed. "Everyone is, it's to celebrate Karin winning her soccer game."

"Perfect," Urahara chimed at the prospect of a party instead of a complicated favour. "I'll start making preparations immediately. Ururu, Jinta, break out the decorations!"

"See you soon Urahra," I smiled and hung up the phone. I saw a ball get kicked my way and ran for it, dribbling it underfoot and kicking it to Ichigo.

"Decided to join us after all," he commented, the ball bouncing off his chest and rolling down to his foot.

"You seemed so eager for an ass kicking, it would be rude not to oblige," I smirked and dove forward, hooking my legs under his simultaneously knocking him off his feet and stealing the ball. Rapid fast reflexes meant her caught himself before he hit the ground and he was already up chasing me as I headed for a goal.

"You think you can beat me?" he yelled arrogantly and caught up to me.

"Yeah," I smiled back and pin drop turned away from him, taking the ball around a crowd of chatting shinigami. It was a hip hop move I'd watched my younger sister Yuna do it at some of her dance practices for the middle school dance club. It was surprisingly helpful in soccer and apparently when running away from Ichgio.

"What the?" he asked and skidded to a stop behind me, turning and chasing after me.

I dodged round more crowd members and got back to the spot by the goal I was before I had to turn but from the other side. I swung a leg back and kicked the ball towards the goal. I put a fist up, ready to cheer on my victory but the ball was stopped. I saw Ikkaku standing in front of the goal, foot on top of the ball.

"You bastard," I said and he sent me a feral grin.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" He dared me and I huffed.

"Stop you," I replied and charged at him.

"You know," Yumichika said popping up beside him. "Two on one is hardly fair. How's about a fighting chance?"

He kicked the ball out from under Ikkaku's foot and over to me where I turned and headed back away from Ichigo who was charging at me.

"If you guys are playing, I want in," Renji said and started chasing after me too.

"Three on two isn't fair either," I squeaked, running faster.

"Three on three," Karin yelled and I passed the ball to her quickly.

"No way! I wanna play!" Rukia yelled and joined Ichigo's team.

"Captain are you going to let Karin-chan play like that?" Rangiku asked and I could hear him sigh. I guess he was on our team. I could hear Orehime and Keigo cheering on Ichigo from the sidelines and I rolled my eyes, cringing at the sound of another 'Kurosaki-kun'. I'd only heard a few since coming to Karakura town, but I was steadily racing towards indifference towards a character I used to like rather a lot.

Renji wrestled the ball away from Karin only for Hitsugaya to grab it off of him and kick it to me. I kicked it high in the air and then swung a scissor kicked it across the other side of the pitch. I saw when I landed the ball whizz right past the chibi lieutenant Rukia's face, narrowly avoiding beaning her right into her head and watched Yumichika intercept it and kick it straight for the goal.

"Alright!" Karin cheered.

"Don't get cocky," Ichigo said. "That was one goal."

"Still one more than you," I replied and smirked at him. "Is that really all you've got?"

"I can't believe they won!" Karin fumed beside me as I lay on the ground, propped up on the ground breathing heavily.

"Can you really blame them?" I panted. "They had three Lieutenant class shinigami and your block head brother. Sure we had a Captain and Yumichika but we also had two humans."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karin yelled at me. She grabbed my -or should I say Ichigo's- shirt collar and leaned right in for her rant. "You think just because we're ordinary humans we can't put up a fight against those giant shinigami dummy boys?!"

"Yes," I replied and she growled.

"We're twice as good as any of them!" She yelled. "And we're gonna beat them! We're gonna do it in our next rematch. I know it."

"I know," I nodded, still regaining my breath.

"When you're done bullying her, do you think I could borrow Uo?" Hitsugaya asked Karin and she released my shirt collar.

"You?" she asked suspiciously. "What do you want with her, Whitey-chan?"

"Stop calling me that!" he yelled.

"He wants to talk about what happened Wednesday night," I told her and she nodded.

"Alright," she agreed. "You better find out what happened to her or else," she warned him and I smiled endearingly at her.

"You've worked your way into her good books," he commented when she left.

"I don't treat her like a dumb kid," I shrugged. "I care about her, what of it?"

"I didn't come here to talk to you about your relationship with Kurosaki," he said, shaking his head, though I could see a slight smile as he watch Karin leave.

"Then why did you?" I asked.

"Any luck on remembering anything about Wednesday night?" He asked and I looked away.

"I don't know anything about the rift, I can't recall anything attacking me," 'Thats because it didn't happen,' "Urahara come up with anything?"

"Nothing yet," he replied. Although it's unlikely if he did, that the first person he'd tell was Hitsugaya. I was a mystery to Urahara, a new puzzle to play with. He wasn't going to give me up to the seireitei so easily. "If you remember anything, it's really important you tell me."

"I know," I sighed.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened," he said. "I mean what really happened. I know whatever it was, might have seemed unreal, it's okay for it to sound crazy. I won't think that. Whatever this was, it came from another world. You've seen hollows before, you know of that world but this is something completely different. Whatever you say about that rift, I'll believe you."

"If I remember," I told him, trying not to grit my teeth in frustration. "I'll come find you."

I got up off the ground and headed over to Ichigo. It seemed a bit cowardly, hiding behind the orange haired giant, but at the moment, he was the only one who believed me while also didn't see me as a threat. It was clear by earlier statements, if Hitsugaya knew, it was likely that he would believe me, but would be forced to treat me as a problem. And when it came to getting rid of problems, the soul society was vicious.

"She's hiding something," I heard him say to Matsumoto and I tried not to sigh. I was a shitty liar.

"You really think so Captain? She seemed alright to me," Rangiku replied.

"Orehime," I smiled as I came up to the group of high schoolers. "How are you?"

"I'm good, Uo-chan. Are you okay?" She asked genuinely. "You didn't overexert yourself out there did you?"

"No I'm fine, a little sweaty, but I'm fine," I smiled. "You think Karin will be okay? With the earlier game today?'

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Ichigo ruffled my hair. "Us Kurosaki's are made of tougher stuff."

"I can look at her if you're worried, Uo," Orehime smiled softly at me, sensing my worry. "Really, it's no bother."

"Thanks, but really it's if she'll let you," I replied. "Kurosaki's are also made of very stubborn stuff."

"That's true," she giggled. "I'll go and talk to her, it's not right for you to silently worry like this."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"You were pretty rough on those high school kids earlier," Ichigo commented after she left.

"They were dicks," I shrugged.

"Most high school boys are dicks," Uryuu replied. "Doesn't usually give a free pass for you to outright attack them."

"I didn't outright attack them," I replied. "I just made it really hard for them to score any goals, just like everyone else."

"You just did it with brute force instead of skill," Ichigo finished.

"What are you implying?" I eyed him.

"Karin looks up to you," he said. "Try not to encourage her violent side."

"You know as well as I do Karin's not about to start bullying the opposition to win. That's not how she rolls," I crossed my arms. "And me making sure they don't beat her to the ground anymore isn't going to change her mind."

"Good," Ichigo said. "So long as those were your intentions."

"So what? I just pass the big brother test?" I asked.

"For now," he smiled at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Why can't you lean on Toshiro?" I asked and winced when I heard him yell from across the field.

"THAT'S CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA TO YOU!"

"He's really anal about that captain thing," Uryuu commented.

"And apparently has ears like a dog if he can pick up on that from this far away," I agreed.

"And he can probably hear this conversation right now," Chad commented and we all turned to look at the Captain who now had tick marks on his face.

"Spooky," I whispered and Ichigo laughed.