Sorry for the long wait. I actually had most of the first version of this chapter writen within two days of posting chapter 7, but my phone did something wierd and I lost it. After that happened, I didn't feel up to writing or doing anything other than crawling into bed and eating jar after jar of nutella... also, I tried going back and reading my earlier writings, but was so horrified by how bad it was. I really could use a Beta.

Anyway, the moral of this story is, I might not update as often or regularly as I should, but that's just the way it is. I'm sorry, but sometimes the words just don't come, or I don't have the time. Don't be afraid to give contructive criticism, since it's how I know what to fix. And please don't give up on this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Bleach Universe. Even though I would love to own Toshiro.

Hitsugaya Toshiro was not looking forward to teaching a class at the Academy. His own experience as a student had been short, but it did give him enough understanding of the typical first-year and their attitude. With few exceptions they were all convinced of their own superiority and had about as much tolerance for the unusual as the people in village Toshiro grew up in. If the Taichou of squad 10 wanted this class to go smoothly, he was going to have to be very careful and not do anything to loose their respect.

Luckily, his assistant seemed helpful. Oshiro Suzaku had met with Toshiro before class started and described where the class was in the syllabus with an attention to detail the Taichou wished more of his subordinates had. As the class filed in, Toshiro was grateful for the second-year student standing by his side, since it was probably the reason why the younger students limited their outrage to testing glares and hateful whispers.

Toshiro eyed each of the students, trying to come of as menacing enough to earn respect, but not unapproachable. They seemed to mostly have an average amount of Spiritual Pressure for a lower-level Soul Reaper, though it was all unrefined and untrained. There were a few spiritual pressures near the back that seemed to have potential, and Toshiro looked to see who owned them for future reference...

Karin. Kurosaki Karin. Toshiro couldn't believe it was actually her. It took most of his self-control to stop himself from making some kind of a scene, and the rest to keep himself from losing his cool and most of the class's respect. How was she here? Better yet, why hadn't she tried to find her brother? Didn't she realize that Ichigo was missing her?

But now was not an appropriate time to ask those questions. Not when there was a class full of students waiting for their child-like substitute teacher to mess up. He would have to wait until after class was over to interrogate her. Toshiro pushed his worries about Karin to the back of his mind and started the class.

After introducing himself, Toshiro let the class start their drills so he could gage for himself where they were skill wise. He wasn't very impressed, but then again it is very hard to impress the Taichou of squad 10. He eventually started going around the room, giving the most noticeable corrections as he saw them, hoping that some of his advice would be used to improve.

He worked his way across the classroom, until Toshiro reached the place where Karin was practicing. He couldn't help but glance her way every so often as he went from person to person, but now he had an excuse to observe her carefully. Her skills were actually much better than most of the others in the class, but it wasn't perfect. She actually seemed to acquire a different set of mistakes as Toshiro got closer to her. She didn't give any indication of recognizing him, but it was probably just because she didn't want to make a scene during class. Toshiro decided to hold off on any potential discussions until after class, so he simply corrected her like any other student and walked away.

Once the drills were finished, Toshiro started them sparring with one another, both since it was another good exercise and in order to get a better understanding of where the class was in practical applications. He was a little relieved to see Karin was part of the group of three, since it gave him an excuse to pay extra attention to her. She was fighting against the older student, so it made since for him to monitor their battle more closely.

Toshiro was very impressed with Karin's abilities. He could tell Oshiro-san was at a level much higher than even the typical second-year, but Karin was still holding her own against him. It was still obvious to Toshiro that his assistant was much more skilled than his old friend though, and some of her counterattacks looked a little desperate. He could even tell that her spirit energy was spiking in frustration, which probably wasn't good.

When her spiritual pressure reached a point that Toshiro was starting to worry it might influence those around her, he decided to stop her fight. He wasn't surprised to find that Oshiro-san was already trying to convince her to step down, since the assistant had already proven to be observant. He was surprised to find that Karin didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Didn't Ichigo tell her anything about the powers of a Soul Reaper, and didn't Urahara teach her a little control already? He would have to ask her about that as well after class.

Toshiro listened when his assistant explained what had happened on the first day of class. It didn't really surprise him; Ichigo and most of the Captains do something similar in important battles. He was concerned that she didn't have very much control over her spirit energy yet. It made sense to wait till later to teach the typical student how to manage their spiritual pressure, since they usually didn't have enough to work with during their first few years. But Toshiro knew from his own experience that exceptions could be made if need be, and it was definitely needed with Karin.

The first thing that really startled him was when Karin said her name. Shiba Karin. Technically correct, but not the one she usually used. Toshiro had asked for her name since he figured she was using some different name to stay off her brother's radar, since that was the only thing he could think of to explain her actions. But he hadn't thought she would use her father's well-known family name, especially since he didn't remember her having all that great of a relationship with him. He wasn't even sure she knew about her father's past in the Soul society.

One more thing to discuss after class.

After promising to talk to Karin's advisor, Toshiro told the group of 3 to switch so Karin could spar with one of the younger students. The rest of the class went on without any other problems, but Toshiro had to get on the case of a few other girls in the class for gossiping when they should be practicing. When the bell finally rang for the end of class, Toshiro dismissed them with the promise to practice their new material.

Toshiro caught up with Karin before she could leave. "Shiba-san, would you mind staying for a little bit?"

The girl nodded. "Sure, Hitsugaya-taichou. What do you need me for?"

"Just a couple of questions." Toshiro eyed the two boys that were lingering by the door, preventing him from being upfront about what he wanted to ask. "Why are you Shiba-san?"

She looked completely confused. "What do you mean, why am I a Shiba?"

He sighed, hoping that she would be able to explain this to her friends since she seemed so intent on keeping her identity a secret. "I mean..."

She brightened, seemingly to have realized something. "Oh! You must know Kukaku-nee and Ganju-nii and didn't think they had any little siblings. I'm sorry, I was only adopted into the family recently since they found me without any memories of my past."

Toshiro gasped and looked at her. "You... don't have any memories of your past?"

"Uh-huh." Karin nodded. "Not before Ganju-nii caught me trying to steal their food."

Toshiro frowned. "I see. You should get going."

The girl nodded and left with the two boys hovering at the door.

Toshiro's frown deepened. Karin didn't have any memories? She didn't even know who she was? How could this have happened? What's worse... was she even really Karin? Could she just be another girl who happened to look exactly like Kurosaki Karin? Toshiro didn't believe in coincidences, but he couldn't ignore the possibility. Not to mention, it wasn't even his place to decide those kind of things.

He looked over to where his assistant was cleaning up the practice swords and decided to try and get some secondary information. "Oshiro-san, am I right in understanding that you and Shiba-san are close?"

The boy looked up and considered Toshiro's statement. "I suppose so. She sort of dragged me into her group of friends."

Toshiro nodded. "What do you know about her life before she came to the academy?"

"Um..." The assistant thought. "Honestly, what she said just now is basically the first I've heard about any part of her life before the academy. I know that she was adopted by the Shiba clan, and I know that she likes her family even if they are over the top at times. I'm sorry, but that's all I know."

Toshiro nodded. "I see."

The second year student looked a little uncomfortable. "May I speak my mind, Hitsugaya-taichou?"

Toshiro blinked, not sure what this was about. "Sure."

"Karin-chan really didn't mean for her spirit energy to get out of control like that. She's just one of those people who naturally have more spirit energy than other people. Please don't turn her in for... well, I don't know what, but she didn't do anything wrong!"

Oh. Of course. That was the only reason the assistant had for Toshiro to take an interest in Karin. "Don't worry, she really didn't do anything wrong. I'm actually asking about her for... other reasons." Toshiro wasn't sure he felt comfortable telling anybody who wasn't involved about who Karin might be.

"Ah." The second-year student blinked. "Taichou, can I ask, do you know how Hirako-taichou is doing?"

"Shinji-taichou? Pretty well, I guess. I'm not very close to him, but I don't have any reports of him being injured or anything."

"Do you think he might come by the academy some time?"

"I don't know. It depends on weather or not he has a reason to, I guess." Toshiro couldn't think of a reason for the boy to be so obsessed with the visard taichou.

When they finished cleaning up the classroom, Toshiro headed towards the school's office to talk to Shiba Karin's advisor. The man was about as big as the squad two fukutaichou, and had tried to tell Toshiro he was interrupting something important. He listened to what Toshiro said with a look the young taichou recognized for meaning "oh, I need to pretend to listen to him sense he's a taichou, but I won't take anything he says seriously sense he's a kid." Toshiro hoped, for Karin's sake, that this wasn't the case. She really did need those extra classes.

After Toshiro felt that he had made his point as best he could, he headed across the city to the Squad 10 barracks, where he knew a pile of paperwork Rangiku hadn't done would be waiting for him. Along the way, Toshiro found himself unconsciously drawn to the squad 8 barracks. He had been helping out over there since the new taichou had been appointed, so Toshiro's feet had probably gotten used to walking that way when they weren't walking to squad 10. I was probably just as well, since Toshiro had something he needed to discuss with the taichou.

Toshiro walked in the main building. The various officers were scrambling around, doing their duties, though several stopped to greet the young Taichou with a small bow. Toshiro returned the greetings and marched up to where the current third seat was working at his desk.

"Is your taichou in?" Toshiro asked.

The officer nodded. "He's in his office. Just go right in, Hitsugaya-taichou."

Toshiro nodded and stepped into the squad 8 Taichou's office.

Kurosaki Ichigo was sitting at his desk. There were piles of paperwork stacked on either side of him, and he appeared to be busy working on one of the many forms piled high. His Zanpakuto was leaning against the wall to the side, since the Taichou of squad 8 couldn't exactly sit with that giant thing on his back. His haori was also removed.

"Hey! Toshiro, how are you doing? Did you have fun teaching the next generation of Soul Reapers?" Ichigo looked up from his work, smiling.

"First of all, It's Hitsugaya-taichou, Kurosaki-san. And why aren't you wearing your Haori?" Toshiro noticed.

Ichigo shrugged. "Eh, it's stuffy in here. I was hot. Is there anything specific you wanted to talk about?"

Toshiro closed the door. "Actually there is." Toshiro thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out how to begin. "I met someone interesting at the academy."

"Oh, really?" Ichigo chuckled. "Don't tell me your joining the 'make Ichigo choose a fukutaichou' brigade, are you? Shinji already said he thinks he found someone, but refuses to tell me who."

"It's actually not about that, though they did have a lot if potential and would make a great officer." Toshiro thought about it, and decided it would be best to just say it how it was. "I saw a girl that looks exactly like your Imouto-chan, Karin."

Ichigo froze.

"She has a high amount of spirit energy, which isn't surprising, sense she could see spirits when she was still alive." Toshiro continued. "She hasn't even begun to control it though, which wouldn't have been a problem if she still had her memories..."

"Wait," Ichigo turned. "Did you just say she doesn't have any memories?"

"Yeah, which explains why she didn't recognize me..."

"So in other words, you don't know for sure if she actually is my little sister?"

"No, but... if you just met her..."

"No."

Toshiro looked up at the orange-haired Soul Reaper. "You don't want to see her? But I thought that would be what you wanted."

"If she wasn't able to recognize you, then it probably isn't her." Ichigo stated firmly. "And besides... I don't deserve to be her nii-chan."

"What are you talking about?" Toshiro practically shouted. "What do you mean you don't deserve to be her nii-san?"

Ichigo's lips formed a hard line. "Please, just drop it Hitsugaya-taichou."

Toshiro grumbled and eventually left for his own division. It wasn't until after he had woken up Rangiku from her drunken stupor that he realized Ichigo had actually used his last name and title.

Please Read, Review, Follow, and Favorite!