*Wanders in sheepishly* Hey guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry, but I was lacking motivation for a while, then had the sudden urge to re-watch Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, then I started a fanfic for that fandom. I've been focusing on that one since I've actually got a Beta for it, but since I'm finally getting an upgrade for my phone I needed to finish all the chapters I was in the process of writing before I lost all my hard work. Anyway, it didn't help my motivation much that there isn't much important stuff happening in this chapter, and since I forgot to look up the Japanese School brakes before I made my plan there is going to be a pretty large time skip after this chapter. It's only a couple of months, but for some reason I thought that the first big break of the school year happened in-between semesters, which isn't true. Aw well.

Anyway, just a warning: this fic may take a back burner to my Fullmetal Alchemist story for a while, unless someone offers to Beta this one. I know I need it (rereading my previous chapters, I am appalled with myself), and it would give me an extra reason to work on this story. Fan art would also help.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Bleach.

"Bye Karin-chan! My family is here to pick me up." Keiko called from the hallway.

Karin looked up from the bag she was still trying to pack. "Already? Well, I guess it's goodbye for the Summer break. See you when school gets back!"

"Ok! See you then." Keiko started to leave, then ran up to her friend for one final hug. Karin smiled and returned the hug.

Once Keiko was gone Karin cursed and started packing faster. She had planned on leaving before any of the other families got there. She wanted to be far away from anyone who might tease her before he showed up to take her home.

"Oh, Karin-chan!"

Well, speak of the devil. Karin took a deep breath and turned around to greet her nii-san.

"Hey Ganju-nii. I'll be ready in a second. Try not to... well, do anything."

Ganju cocked his head, trying to understand what she was talking about. "What are you talking about? Hey, do you want to introduce me to some of your friends?"

Karin closed her eyes and prayed that Ganju would be able to control himself. "The only one of my close friends who lives in this dorm just left. So no, I don't have time to introduce you to my friends. I'm still not packed, and we need to leave soon if we want to get home at a decent time."

Ganju shook his head. "Actually, if we ride the boars home we don't need to leave so early."

Karin stopped what she was doing and looked at her nii-san. "Don't tell me... did you actually bring..."

She ran to the window and looked down. It was worse than what she had feared. Not only had her brother brought Bonnie and a boar for Karin to ride, but a bunch of his friends were also hanging out on their boars, giving most of the students funny looks.

Karin closed her eyes and rested her head on the windowsill. She was never, ever, ever going to live this down.

"Ganju-nii... why did you have to bring your friends along to pick me up?"

Ganju shrugged. "I was telling them the reason I would be gone today was to pick you up from the stuck-up Soul Reaper Academy, and they said they wanted to see what it was like. I didn't see a problem with it."

"Of course you didn't." Karin grumbled and continued packing. "You didn't see a problem with coming to pick me up on wild boars."

Thankfully, Karin was almost done. She picked up the last thing on her dresser, the red spirit energy limiter, and tossed it between her hands, debating weather or not she would need it at home. She finally decided it would be better safe than sorry (especially with all of Kukaku-nee's explosives) and plopped it in her bag.

"Ok Ganju-nii, I'm packed. Can we go?"

Ganju blinked. "I guess so. Are you sure? You don't want to say goodbye to anybody?"

Karin opened her mouth to assure him that she had already said goodbye to most of her friends and they really should leave while she could still show her face on campus, when she heard a commotion outside. She ran outside with her bag, hoping she could rectify the situation somehow and still be able to save face.

Karin elbowed her way through the crowd that had gathered until she got close enough to what was going on. When she realized what it was, Karin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In the middle of the school, sitting on her brother's favorite pet, was an exhilarated Junji and an exasperated Gyou.

Karin covered her mouth with her hand to contain her laughter. "Junji-kun, Gyou-kun, what are you guys doing?"

Junji turned to her with the biggest grin on his face. "Rin-chan! Check us out! We have tamed the great beast!"

Gyou was looking a little uneasy. "Junji-kun, everyone is staring. And we really should get going if we want to get to my parents' house before dark."

"Oh, alright spoil-sport." Junji jumped down off of Bonnie, with Gyou quickly following. Junji turned to Karin. "We just came by to say goodbye before we spend the rest of the summer break listening to Gyou's relatives go on and on about their petty noble lives."

"Hey, you didn't have to come if you didn't want to." Gyou reminded his best friend.

"And miss out on a chance to learn your most embarrassing secrets? No thanks!" Junji laughed.

"So your going to stay at Gyou's over the summer, Junji?" Karin asked.

Both boys nodded. "Since I figured the only place he had to go home to was the Rukon District, which he has complained about enough, I talked to my parents about letting him use one of our spare bedrooms." Gyou explained, "They said yes, and Junji agreed, so now I've got him for the rest of the break."

Karin smiled. "Good for you guys."

At that moment, Ganju decided to find out what all the commotion was about. "What the... what are you doing to Bonnie?!" He shouted.

"Hm?" Junji looked up at Karin's older brother. "Oh, is this your boar? He's really cool!"

Ganju ground his teeth. "It's a she, and her name is Bonnie! Who are you anyway?"

"Ganju-nii, these are my friends Junji and Gyou," Karin explained before somebody said something that would make everything a disaster. "Junji-kun, Gyou-kun, this is my nii-san Ganju."

"Oh!" Gyou exclaimed, then gave a polite bow. "It's nice to meet you, Shiba-dono."

"Uh, sure. Nice to meet you too." Ganju looked a little taken aback by the noble's formality.

Junji turned to Karin. "So, this guy is your embarrassing older brother?"

Karin face-palmed. "Don't you two need to be leaving soon?" She asked.

Gyou nodded. "That's true. Come on Junji, we don't want to be late for dinner."

Junji sighed. "Yeah, alright. Hey, Rin-chan! Don't forget to write to me at Gyou-kun's place."

"And don't forget about me either, Kar-chan!" Gyou called as he pulled his best friend away.

Karin laughed. "Alright, I won't!" Well, at least those two would still talk to her after word got around about het crazy pig-riding older brother. Hopefully Suzaku and Keiko would as well.

Karin didn't know where Suzaku was going to spend his break. She didn't know much about his past, but since he didn't have a noble name she had to assume he came from somewhere in the Rukon District. In hindsight, she probably should have asked him to stay at her house if he didn't have anywhere else to go.

Oh well. That was in the past, but right now she was going home to Kukaku-nee and Ganju-nii.

"Are you ready to go, Karin-chan?" Ganju asked.

Karin smiled and got on her boar. "Yep. I'm ready to go home, nii-san."

"Don't tell me he... Oh, Ganju-kun you BAKA!" Kukaku ran up and hit her younger brother in the head before turning to Karin. "He really should know better than to show up your school on wild boars, but that's Ganju for you."

Karin smiled and hugged her older sister. "Yeah, I guess so. But the important thing is, I'm back for the entire summer break!"

Kukaku smiled. "Yes you are. So tell me, how has your first semester at the Soul Reaper Academy been?" She led Karin and Ganju into the house, where Karin could unpack.

Karin shrugged. "Ok, I guess. The classes are challenging, but I'm doing pretty well."

"Uh-huh. And what about the other students? Have you made any friends?"

"Yeah. There's this girl in my dorm named Keiko I'm pretty close to. She apparently comes from a low-ranking noble family, but she's still pretty cool. She's trying to into the Kido Corps though, so we don't have many classes together."

"What about those two guys who tried to kidnap Bonnie?" Ganju asked.

"Kidnap?" It took a little while for Karin to figure out what he was talking about. "Oh, Junji-kun and Gyou-kun. Yeah, those two are my friends. We have every class together, and I think I'm the only one not repulsed by their idiocy. Junji-kun is just a troublemaker, and Gyou likes mischief to much to talk him out of all his crazy ideas. Still, they're pretty awesome friends."

Kukaku nodded. "Well, I guess with Ganju you've learned to look past their stupidity."

Karin smirked. "I guess so." They had made it to her room, and now Karin was starting to pit away everything she had brought with her.

As Karin put away her clothes, Kukaku picked up the red armband. "Karin-chan, why did you bring a spirit energy limiter?"

Karin gulped. She had hoped to hold off on this conversation until she had a handle on her spiritual pressure. "Well, um, Kukaku-nee-san, have you ever heard of people able influence the world around them with only their spirit energy?"

Kukaku frowned. "Yes. Does this have anything to do with that fire at the school?"

Karin nodded and hung her head. "I didn't mean to. It was when I was dreaming, and..."

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at you. It just means your a little more powerful than I thought. Must be losing my touch."

Karin sighed. "Thanks, Kukaku-nee." She continued putting away her stuff.

"So, have you started thinking about what you want to do after you graduate?"

Having finished putting away her things, Karin sat down in her futon to talk to her sister. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I don't know much about each individual squad, and I was wondering what you would suggest."

Kukaku thought about it. "Well, squad 13 is where Kaien had been the fukutaichou, and Ukitake-taichou would take good care of you..."

"Ukitake?" Karin was surprised. "He must be Gyou's ji-san."

Kukaku shrugged. "It's possible."

Ganju poked his head in the room."I don't care where you go, so long as it's not eleven!"

Karin grimaced. "Trust me, I'm not even considering that one."

Kukaku turned to her brother. "I forget, which squad did Ichigo-san take over?"

Ganju sighed. "Eighth. But you don't want him foe your taichou, Karin-chan. He's annoying, obnoxious..."

"In other words, just like you." Karin inferred. "Who is this Ichigo-san anyway, Kukaku-nee?"

"Technically, he's our cousin." Kukaku sighed. "We also helped him out big time a while ago, so he owes us. He's really protective of his friends and comrades, so I'm sure he would take care of you."

"Huh." Karin nodded. "Wait, hiw exactly is he our cousin and why haven't I heard about him before?"

"Oh, it's because his dad is Isshin-ji. Which reminds me, squad 10 is another option. Isshin-ji used to be taichou if that squad, but he ended staying in the world of the living to save Ichigo's mother. His former fukutaichou is still there, and the current taichou really looked up to him."

Karin nodded. "Ok, so your suggestions are eight, ten and thirteen, correct?"

Kukaku nodded. "But, if you have another one you really want to go into we'll support you. Well, as long as it isn't eleven. And I don't think you would like twelve with Kurotsuchi-taichou in charge. Just saying."

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