What Am I To You?

by winter051094

*UPDATE* This story is having a complete make over and the new, edited version will be on Wattpad with the same title, but different author -"Caxuja". *** Summary: Karin has a dragon instead of a zanpaktou, and while she still human. Toushiro joins the fray, with a twist on his own zanpacktou. It soon becomes a battle of wits, love, and betrayal at its fullest.

6. Connections

Me: ok here is chapter 6. The same rules apply (meaning the "location" thing until me (Stephany--not my real name) and Karin meet and when we do meet, then it will put it in my POV.

Toushiro:…who's Stephany?

Me: you'll find out soon enough…

Toushiro: *sigh* fine…Winter does not own Bleach…just this story…that is getting me very confused.

Karin: well maybe that's just because you're an idiot?

Toushiro: …gee thanks Karin…you really know how to make a guy fell real warm and welcome

Karin: no problem Shiro now enough talking, on with the story!!!

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Connections

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(Location: Karin)

"Are you ready to go?" Toushiro asked Karin. Karin nodded and Toushiro took Karin's hand in his and walked thought the gate to enter the Soul Society.

As they entered, they were greeted by Lieutenant Hinamori, Captain Kyoraku and Ukitake.

"Hello Shiro. How are you?" Ukitake asked. "It's Captain Hitsugaya and im fine thanks." "Well that's good to hear. And who might you be?" Ukitake asked, turning to face Karin. "I am Karin Kurosaki. Ichigo's little sister." Karin introduced herself.

"Well welcome to Soul Society, Miss Kurosaki." A voice called out behind them. Everyone turned and saw that it was the Head Captain, Yamamoto. "Thank you for allowing me to come, Head Captain." Karin said and made a slight bow. "You are quite welcome and Captain Hitsugaya, please help Miss Kurosaki get settled in, in the 10th squad and then report to me within thirty minutes." Toushiro bowed and muttered a quick "yes sir" and then turned back to Karin. Yamamoto turned to leave, but Karin bravely called out to him. "Sir, may I ask one favor from you in the future?" "Well that all depends on what it is." "I would just like to be called Karin if that is okay." "Sure. I can do that…have a good day to both of you." And with that comment, Yamamoto shunpoed towards his districts. Then Karin and Toushiro turned and started walking towards the 10th squad.

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(Location: Seireitei)

I was walking around and I happened to see the gate open and two people stepped out. There was a boy and a girl who had stepped out. Then I spotted Captain Kyoraku and Ukitake along with Lieutenant Hinamori. Then Captain greeted the boy. "Hello Shiro. How are you?" "It's Captain Hitsugaya and I'm fine, thanks." came the reply. I couldn't hold back the shock I felt of how young he looked and I couldn't help but smirk. I knew immediately what he had to go through, being his age and all. "Well that's good to hear. And who might you be?" I heard the old captain ask the girl besides Hitsugaya. "I am Karin Kurosaki. Ichigo's little sister." She said with a note of confidence in her voice. Then I noticed that my grandfather had approached them without them noticing. Then he spoke. "Well welcome to Soul Society, Miss Kurosaki." I smiled because they had all jumped slightly. "Thank you for allowing me to come, Head Captain." I saw the girl named Karin reply and bow slightly. I saw my grandfather smile very slightly and then speak to the young captain. "You are quite welcome and Captain Hitsugaya, please help Miss Kurosaki get settled in, in the 10th squad and then report to me within thirty minutes." I saw the respect that Toushiro had for my grandfather and he bowed, and then turned back to the girl he was still holding hands with. Just as my grandfather turned around, I saw the young girl, Karin I think is what her name is, turn and tried to get grandfather's attention. It turns out that I was correct in saying that her name was Karin because she had asked grandfather to just call her by that name and grandfather agreed. Then grandfather turned and shunpoed towards his office. I smiled and then saw the couple turn and start heading to the 10th squad. I decided that I would just pay them a little…visit. I jumped down off of the roof and started walking down the hall towards the 10th squad. As I predicted, Toushiro and Karin were heading in my direction. As I was walking by, I held my head up and just looked straight ahead, but the captain stopped me. "Hey girl, are you new around here. What's your name and what squad are you from?" I turned and looked at the captain and smiled. "My name is Stephany and… I-" my voice was cut off because my necklace had begun to glow. I looked at Karin and she gasped…her necklace had begun to glow as well. When Karin gasped, Toushiro had directed his attention to Karin and I used this as a chance to take my leave. I jumped and landed on the roof of the building above us and looked down. Toushiro had the look of confusion on his face because it had taken me only ten milliseconds to jump up on the roof, one of my many abilities that I possessed. Light speed. I was so quick, that even the captain had not seen me take my leave. I decided that grandfather would want to talk to me now, so I stood up and ran to my grandfather's office. I knocked and then opened the door. "Yes young lady, what can I do for you?" grandfather asked. I just shook my head. "Nothing, I just wanted to be here when your 10th squad captain arrived." "Oh…you knew he came today?" I nodded. "Yeah, I saw you and him talking." Grandfather looked slightly stunned. "How? I didn't even sense your presence." I just shrugged. "Okay, well the captain should be coming in here in about twenty minutes. Is there something that you want to tell me?" I looked up into his eyes. "How do you know that I wanted to tell you something?" I asked. It was his turn to shrug. I sighed then spoke. "Do you know what I am?" I asked him. He just nodded yes and waited for me to continue. "Well this also had to do a great deal with that girl, Karin Kurosaki." That spiked grandfather's interest.

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(Location: Karin)

"H-hey, where did that girl go off to?" Toushiro stammered. Karin just shrugged and started to walk to the 10th squads courters. Toushiro, upon seeing Karin walk away, snapped out of thinking and ran to catch up with her.

As they approached the office, something came flying at Toushiro. Toushiro tried to dodge it, but he was a second too slow. Matsumoto had Toushiro in one of the famous bone crushing hugs. Toushiro struggled and tried to get his breath back. "M-M-Masumoto, l-let m-me g-g-go!!!!" After several moments of shouting and struggling, Toushiro was finally released and was glaring at his lieutenant. Then Masumoto remembered Karin. She turned to grab her and give her a huge hug, but as soon as she thought she had Karin, she disappeared and then appeared on the other side of the room, smirking. "Too slow Rangiku!" Karin taunted. Masumoto stood there, baffled and then tried again. Masumoto used a flash-step to reach Karin and when she thought that she had Karin in her arms she looked and Karin had disappeared…again. "Like I said Rangiku, too slow." Karin said on the opposite side of the room. Masumoto smiled and gave up. "Fine, whatever Karin." She said. Karin just smiled and nodded and then looked at her boyfriend and she couldn't help the laugh that erupted from her mouth. He had the look of utter bewilderment and shock on his face. After five minutes of shouting and ordering around, Toushiro and Karin agreed that she would stay with Toushiro in his home. Then Toushiro reminded himself out loud that he had to go to a meeting with the Head Captain. That caused another small fight with Karin who wanted to accompany him. Toushiro was naturally against the idea, but of course, Karin won the argument and in ten minutes, they were off to the 1st squad's office, leaving Masumoto to clean up the office by herself. The last thing that both of them heard was a shout from Masumoto. "AWWW CAPTAIN,THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!"

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(Location: Seireitei)

"W-what?! You can't be serious!" grandfather said. I just nodded."Of course I'm being serious. Why would I ever joke about something like this?" I asked him. Then I snapped my head up. "Hey grandfather, they're coming…both of them." I said. Grandfather just nodded and we waited in silence until we heard a knock. Then grandfather told them to come in. As Toushiro opened the door, he became shocked when he saw me. I smiled and waved. Karin had to grab his arm to get his attention and then they both took a seat. Then I turned to my grandfather and whispered, "Hey grandfather, while you speak with Toushiro, I'm gonna take Karin out for a bit and explain some things to her. Is that okay?" I asked. Grandfather looked like he disapproved. "Well come on. She deserves to know." I said, not bothering to whisper anymore. I saw grandfather sigh and then nod. "Great, thank you." I said as I stood up. I gracefully made my way towards Karin and I saw Toushiro tense up just slightly. I looked down at Karin and spoke. "Hey is it okay with you if you come with me while these two speak? I need to tell you something really important." Karin hesitated and looked at Toushiro and then back at me; then she nodded and stood up and followed me outside.

I turned to her and spoke. "Okay, let's take a walk. You are in for a bit of a surprise." As I spoke, Karin's necklace begun to shine once again. "That is what we need to talk about." I whispered to Karin.

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Yamamoto and Toushiro

"So, how was your trip, Captain Hitsugaya?" Yamamoto asked. "It was very good. I had arrived just as Karin awakened her zanpaktou. She was facing an enormous hollow and she had gotten herself in a bind. Then her zanpaktou spirit appeared…but a sword didn't. I couldn't really see how she defeated the hollow, but she did and that is how she achieved getting her…zanpaktou." Toushiro finished. "But she still doesn't have a sword, am I correct?" Toushiro nodded. "Okay, well Captain Hitsugaya, I have a few very important things to tell you. Number one: that girl that was with me and the one who left with Karin was my granddaughter, Stephany. Two: I plan on retiring in two weeks so she will be the one to take my place when I leave. And three: as you can tell, she is no ordinary shinigami and have you noticed that she has a special connection with Karin?" Toushiro was so stunned and shocked will all of the news he had heard, it was hard for him to even move his head. "Well I have gotten permission from my granddaughter to share this information with you, but you must swear to me that you will not talk to anyone about this, aside…Karin." "I swear." Toushiro simply said. "Very well. Now to explain it in a way that will be easier way for you to understand, I will need you to summon you zanpaktou spirit." Toushiro nodded and summoned Hyourinmaru to come out. Yamamoto made a small bow towards the dragon spirit and then sat back down and spoke to Hyourinmaru. "Hyourinmaru, you know what an elemental is am I correct?" "Of course I know because I am one." The dragon replied. "Yes Yes of course, but does your wielder know?" the dragon looked at Toushiro and then shook his head no. "Very well then. Allow me to explain," when Hyourinmaru didn't interrupt, Yamamoto continued. "there are four major elemental dragons in the world and they are the Wind dragon, Fire dragon, Earth dragon, and then the Water dragon. Then there are the other dragons such as Hyourinmaru, who is the dragon of Ice. Well, theses dragons have the power to…er…"transform" if you will, into a human. Well that is what my granddaughter is…an elemental." Hyourinmaru stiffened at this and narrowed his eyes, however, Yamamoto didn't seem to notice. "Hyourinmaru also posses these special abilities, and as you can see, he is your spirit…do you see where I am going with this?" Yamamoto asked, with a glint of humor and amusement in his eyes.

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Stephany and Karin

"So…are you telling me that you are my…whoa! This is a lot to take in…wow…um…I don't mean to be rude, but do you think that maybe you could…prove it to me?" Karin asked me, timidly. I just laughed. "Of course I can. There are two ways to prove it and I will show you them both. One is that you and I have the same necklace, and as I said a long time ago, consider that necklace as your zanpaktou." I said. "Okay and what is the other thing?" Karin asked. I looked around and sighed. "We will need to go somewhere where we won't be bothered and that had a huge amount of room, but I can turn into my dragon form. It's the form that I met you in, when we first met in your dream world." I said and Karin nodded and started to think. "So if you really are my spirit, then…do we both have special powers?" I laughed at the question. "Yes we have special powers. For example, we both have the power to move very quickly, but because I am a dragon, it means that I am faster. I call that power, light speed because that is practically how fast we can move," Karin's eyes got big and I could see that she was piecing something together. "another thing is that I am still your spirit, so you can summon me just like someone can summon their zanpaktou during a battle, and that reminds me, would you be willing to help me tomorrow. You see, the idiot Kenpachi challenged me to a battle tomorrow. If you don't want to get yourself involved, I can understand, but if you were to help me, then we could seriously kick his butt." Karin had to smile at that comment. "Of course I'll help you. What do you want me to do?" Karin asked me. I smiled and I knew that we were going to be best friends from here on out. "If for some strange reason I am starting to loose, which I doubt but you never know, I want you to release me." "What do you mean?" Karin asked. "Because I am still your spirit I still need to be released to fight at my fullest and by the way, do you want to train sometime soon? We haven't trained in a while and I kinda miss it." "Sure I would love to train soon." "Okay," I said, "well because you have just gotten here, how about we train in a few weeks, after you have adjusted to this place?" I asked. Karin nodded in agreement. "Hey, why did you run off when we first saw you?" Karin asked me. This question caught me off guard. "B-because I didn't want to explain all of this to you yet." I said. "Oh, okay…may we go back yet?" I closed my eyes and concentrated on searching for my grandfather's reiatsu, but I sensed someone else's instead. Hyourinmaru. I visibly stiffened and Karin noticed this. She put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped at the sudden touch. I sighed and Karin spoke. "Hey, just like you can tell when something's bothering me, I can tell when something's bothering you, so what is it?" Karin asked, in a concerned manor. I looked at her and I knew that there was no way to keep it from her. "A long time ago I fell in love with a man and he fell in love with me…well one day, he just left me. It broke my heart and ever since then I haven't been the same." Karin nodded, knowing how I felt but at the same time, she was confused, wondering how that had to do with anything. "Okay, how about I show you another power that we both have. We can communicate with people through our minds." Karin's eyes became huge and she just nodded. "Here, I'll show you." I said and I closed my eyes and I felt myself "enter"(along with Karin) my grandfather's mind.

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Yamamoto and Toushiro (in my POV)

"So, what you're saying is that…your granddaughter, Stephany, is Karin's zanpaktou?" Toushiro asked. "Almost. Stephany is Karin's spirit, but she does not take the form of a sword." "Then what does she take the form of?" Toushiro asked. "She takes the form of a-" grandfather started to say, but was cut off as he sensed me "enter" his mind.

Grandfather, can you hear me? I asked him. Yes, very well. He replied. Ok, well I'm done talking to Karin and we are coming back right now, but I do not want to face that…creature…right now so have Toushiro make him return. I said. …why? What has he ever done to you? Grandfather asked. I growled. I would rather not talk about it. My grandfather hesitated and then spoke. Very well. I shall see you both soon. And then I withdrew from his mind.

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Stephany and Karin

"So…who is the "creature" that you were talking about?" Karin asked me as we returned to normal. I paused and then spoke. "Hyourinmaru." I stated simply. Karin looked confused so I decided to elaborate. "Do you remember that I told you that I had fallen in love with a man and he left me?" Karin nodded. "Well, that man, believe it or not, is Hyourinmaru." Karin looked shocked. "I will explain it another time, but this is just a quick explanation. Some spirits had lives before they became one with their wielder. For example, I was a living and breathing human before I became your spirit. Well, it's the same with Hyourinmaru, but that is (obviously) not his human name. My human name is Stephany, but my spirit name is…Kaze Ryuu." I looked at Karin to see if she was keeping up. Karin saw me look at her and she nodded, indicating that she understood. "Okay well I think that if I tell you anymore, then your head will explode with all of the information." I said. Karin just smiled. "Any more questions?" I asked Karin. She shook her head but she spoke. "Hey…thanks for the nice walk and everything." Karin said. "Okay well then lets head back to grandfather's office and your welcome." Karin smiled and we both started walking towards the office.

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Yamamoto and Toushiro (in my POV)

"Toushiro, will you please withdraw Hyourinmaru?" Toushiro looked confused and Hyourinmaru looked somewhat hurt but left anyways. "My granddaughter and Karin are returning. They should be here in a few moments." Grandfather said. Toushiro nodded and looked towards the door.

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Stephany and Karin

"Hey do you wanna race?" I asked Karin. Karin started to grin and she nodded her head. "Okay then. On your mark, get set…GO!" I yelled and we both sped off. We reached grandfather's office in a matter of seconds and it was a close one, but we tied. Knock, Knock, Knock. "Come in," grandfather called out. I opened the door and allowed Karin to go in first. "So how was your little walk?" grandfather asked Karin. I waited to see what Karin would do. She took a deep breath and then answered. "Oh, Stephany and I had a great time getting to know each other better." Karin said with a grin. I grinned right back at her. "Do either of you have anything to say or ask?" grandfather asked Toushiro and Karin. The latters both shook their heads no, but I could see that Karin was holding something back. "Very well, you are both dismissed." Toushiro stood up, bowed and held out his hand for Karin and she took it. I smiled and right before Karin had left the room I called out to her. "Hey Karin! If you ever need to talk to me, then don't hesitate to call me, okay?" Karin peaked her head through the opening of the door. "Gotta ya! thanks again for the nice walk." Karin said and then was gone.

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Me: okay that has to be the longest chapter that I have written so far. I really hope that no one was confused. To clear and summarize things up, I (Stephany) am Karin's spirit, Kaze Ryuu in human form…their fore my name is Stephany. And I will leave a hint as to what Hyourinmaru's human name is in the sneak peak…hmmmm…I wonder if anyone can guess it.

Toushiro: aw geez! How is anybody supposed to know, even I don't know and im his wielder!

Karin: oh stop your complaining! It's so annoying…and you call yourself a captain…how pathetic.

Toushiro: Karin…that's mean!

Karin: …

Me: well anyways I hope that you liked this chapter and I hope to have chapter 7 up in maybe two days. It depends on my enthusiasm to write. The more reviews, the quicker I write. And I'll be nice enough to give you a sneak peak at chapter 7. Well enjoy!

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Chapter 7

(sry I don't have a title for it yet)

"What the hell is this?!" I yelled, grabbing my wrist. "It's a binding bracelet made with real sterling silver." Hyourinmaru said with a glint in his eyes. "Ha ha real funny, now get it off of me." I demanded. Hyourinmaru shook his head. "No way." I growled and the temperature dropped at least ten degrease. Everyone looked at Toushiro, but he just waved his hands in front of him, indicating that it wasn't him, then everyone turned back to me. "Energy restraint!" Hyourinmaru yelled and I could feel my energy starting to leave me. "No!" I growled between my teeth. Then I felt a hand on my arm. It was Karin. "Kaze Ryuu, you need to calm down." She whispered in my ear. I obeyed and took a deep breath that helped me calm down a drastic amount. Then I turned to confront Hyourinmaru. "W-why did you l-leave me all of those y-years ago?" I asked. Hyourinmaru released the restraint on me and sighed. "T-the boy was born…" Hyourinmaru said and flicked his tail to indicate that "the boy" was Toushiro. Then I felt a guilt rise inside of me.