Ichigo started out of his dreams by the sound of the scream that ripped though the air of the early morning of Karakura, hand reaching for the zanpactu that didn't exist in the real world of his life and stumbling out of the sheets and over the plushie flung by his sudden awakening, out into the hall and to the source- his sister's bedroom. All sense leaving him in his concern, he barged into the room and in on his younger sister Karin. His first instinct at the view of her naked back and buttocks was to look away but then she turned around and he stared.
The last time he gave her a bath- some months ago when his both sisters fell horribly ill- there was nothing like he was seeing now. Her body had changed drastically, there was a slight curve in her back, her childish belly was flattening and on her lowers was a line of fine black hair but what struck him was the sudden appearance of the bulges on her chest.
"H-how could this happen?" She choked. He could see the desperation and confusion in her eyes. He was confused too- just the other day she was complaining how some girl in her class was boasting about her pubic hairs and showing them off and another was talking about how she was an A cup- now she had both things and a little more and she was ready to cry.
"Karin…" Ichigo managed, what he was supposed to say? She had over night turned from the creature he understood to a rubix cube of a creature called a woman- well she was becoming one anyway.
"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!" She yelled with an angry sob and dropped hard on the bed, Ichigo flinched at how hard she threw her small frame and naked back and buttocks to him, he could hear her crying.
"…I am sorry," Ichigo muttered and turning around, closed the door behind him as he stepped back out into the hallway. He fetched his youngest sister who was surprisingly knowledgeable about the it- well the biological aspect of it as it seemed she actually paid attention in those health lectures and read books about the basics, but there was a missing touch that only a woman of experience- a mother would know.
"Depression is the least bearable of your traits, Kurosaki Ichigo," The orange haired boy looked up at the speaker.
"uh, sorry Byakuya, it's just that there's a little trouble at home," Byakuya made no comment but the stench of depression to him was like embracing an angry skunk.
"Not that I am particularly concerned," Byakuya spoke again, "but what is the nature of this trouble?"
"My sister hit puberty," Ichigo answered and when Byakuya looked blankly back at him, he tired to explain, "my sister's a real tomboy, she's practically a boy and now all of a sudden she's a woman-"
"What happened to your mother?" Ichigo pouted a little.
"She died," Ichigo answered, Byakuya looked ahead, "saving me from a hollow," He let his gaze slide to the dejected boy again and he could taste his regret.
"Shinigami?"
"Normal I think, she could just see them," Byakuya tried hard not to emphasize.
"Then what she needs is a substitute mother," Byakuya answered.
"What do you suggest?"
"Fukutaicho Matsumoto Rangiku."
Just then Matsumoto sneezes, "Oh Taicho, I think I'm either coming down with something or an unbelievably rich man just spoke about me," the busty woman sighed.
"Just do your work Rangiku," Hitsugaya muttered.
"Matsumoto?" Ichigo wondered about the drunk- but now that he was considering it, she was rather adept in the art of being a girl, maybe she did know a thing or two. "Wait, so do women in the Sereitei get their cycles?" Byakuya's eyes widened.
"I do suppose," He answered himself, Ichigo frowned.
"So what do they used to you know… collect." Byakuya looked sharply at Ichigo.
"Do you honestly expect me to know, do you know what women use in the real world?"
"Sure, they use tampons and pads, they have commercials all over television- my favorite is the 'Sayfree' motto," Ichigo laughed, "Stay fresh, stay clean, stay free," Byakuya's lip twitched at the recital.
"Most women go to Matsumoto Rangiku for advice and I have never heard complaints." Ichigo pouted thoughtfully.
"You know what, I think I will check her." Ichigo answered.
Meanwhile, Matumoto scratches her arm, "Taicho I think there's an idiot talking about me too," She sneezes loudly.
"Or perhaps allergies," Hitsugaya.
"Allergies, ah well I'm sick, see ya," Before Hitsugaya could say a word, she was gone.
"MATSUMOTO!"
"Ahh… Hitsugaya Taicho, is Matumoto in?" The white haired boy looked up at Ichigo from the midst of ice that covered half the office.
"You were not by any chance discussing my fukutaicho earlier were you?"
"Err… yeah, with Byakuya why?" Hitsugaya balked.
"Rangiku has decided to take the rest of the day off," Hitsugaya answered his papers.
"Oh, well if you see her, could you just tell her that I need her help?" Hitsugaya looked up with a severe arch in his eyebrow. "My sister hit puberty and I kinda need help," Ichigo explained.
"Will do," Was the white haired Captain's answer. Ichigo returned to the real world, hope in his heart and as he entered the home of Kurosaki, he could smell the rage and see its shadows on the walls of the house- how betrayed this little girl must feel he thought as he fell into a restless sleep.
"GOOD MORNING ICHIGO!" the boy awoke to the feel of the plush on his face which he pulled off and threw as far as he could throw but there was no anger from Kon. "Do you know who was in your house today?" Kon sang happily.
"Should I care?"
"The busty angel of beauty," Kon sang happily, dancing circles on the floor and Ichigo felt like joining him.
Karin could feel the cold on her chest and opening her eyes groggily, found a busty woman sitting on her, pawing at her newly developed chest.
"What the hell are you doing!" Karin gasped, struggling to get up, but her arms were trapped beneath her massive womanly thighs.
"Hi Karin, remember me?"
"How could I not?" She asked, eyeing the cleavage that was hovering over her small chest.
"You're going to be busty you know that?" She asked, poking at the fair sized swellings.
"How do you know that?" Karin asked guardedly.
"Well if you're only twelve and you're about a what, thirty four B, by sixteen you'll be a C and a D by adulthood." Karin could feel the tears prickling at the back of her eyes, imagining playing sports and those massive things getting in the way- so many boys would want to touch; her life as she knew it was over. "I must say, the people in the Kuroskai house develop pretty fast, your brother's really powerful, you're like this," she pulled at the girl's pants and underwear.
"HEY, ST-"
"Shh, don't let anyone know," She whispered and undressed the girl further and after a moment of staring that made Karin uncomfortable beyond belief, Matsumoto hopped off of her. "You know what this calls for?" Matsumoto asked brightly.
"No," Karin answered, but with all truth, of course she did!
"SHOPPING SPREE!" she sang and Karin inwardly quailed.
"Now let's see," Matumoto said slowly. They were in a boutique and she was surveying various types of underwear, Hitsugaya right next to her looking completely annoyed by his presence, Karin looking just as cross by the existence of all of those frilly strappy things hanging in racks in front of her- and she had to check them out in front of HIM no less- the ice king- she could just die of embarrassment.
"Hi darlings, what can I do for you?" Came a sing song male voice, Matsumoto spun around.
"Hi, what size do you think she is?" Matsumoto asked, pushing Karin in front of her. The black haired girl tensed, waiting for the hands to descend upon her, but the man only took in her profile that was revealed as Matsumoto held the extra cloth of her tee shirt back.
"Thirty two B darlings, first time getting a real bra?" He asked gently.
"First time just getting one," Matsumoto answered for her.
"Oh wow, she's going to be a busty one," He eyes the blonde, "yours?" Matumoto rolled her eyes at him.
"Please," She scoffed, flicking her hair, "here Karin, try this one on," She said, giving the girl a frilly pink and green thing to try on. Karin slouched to the dressing room and slammed the door behind her.
"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya said softly.
"Yes Toshiro?"
"I think you might be pushing her." The blonde looked at him and scoffed.
"Please, she's a woman now, she has to learn to like these things," She answered and picking a few more racks, made her way off to the dressing room.
"Excuse me miss," The guy was back, "you cannot leave your child unattended," Matsumoto glowered at him and the AC room just got colder.
"Come on Hitsugaya." Matumoto sighed and dragged the boy into the dressing room. The room was a double dressing room, a place to actually dress and another to parade your choice with only the viewing pleasure of your company and still Karin slouched out of the room in what she had been forced to try on.
"Ah you look gorgeous," Matsumoto giggled, "what do you think Toshiro?"
"She looks like some kind of insect," Hitsugaya pouted, "the brighter they are, the more poisonous they tend to be." It took him a moment to realize that he did actually cross the line with the human but it was too late, her features were crumpled and she ran back behind the door, locking it firmly behind her. Matsumoto didn't even look at him as she put down the underwear on the chair and went left the dressing room. Hitsugaya sighed and sat down next to the pile- the human really was becoming a woman, weather she wanted to be or not. Hitsugaya looked over the brightly colored things with its frills and lace and there, in the midst of them all was one that caught his eye- a blue and purple piece with just the right shades in the right proportions, he picked it up.
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto cashed with the woman not saying a word to the boy and Karin absent on the excuse of wanting refreshments- she didn't notice when the blue and orange underwear set was cashed in along with the conservative creams, blacks and whites. They made it out of the store and found the girl sitting at a table, sucking on an ice-cream spoon, two other melting Sundays in front of her.
"Here you go," She sang, putting the purple bag in front of the sulky girl clad in black, "I know this is a bit soon but I thought I'd get you this too," Matumoto added placing a green plastic bag on the table but the thin plastic showed the words clearly 'Sayfree Pads'. Karin snatched them off the table, looking around nervously and stashed them into the purple bag.
"Thanks," she answered, holding her Sunday with shaking hands and they let the awkward silence settle.
"Well look who it is?" Came a voice after five minutes and over Karin were twelve year olds reveling in their slightly developed bodies with their tank tops and short skirts. Karin re-crossed her legs, her belly had begun burning since she saw the ice king and now she was wondering if she was going to have a diarrhea.
"What?" Karin snapped at the five girls. She was alone- Hitsugaya and Matumoto had gone to the food court jus upstairs to get some food with the promise of going home- Karin hoped they would be back soon.
"Mai Boutiques?" Questioned one, snatching up the purple bag, Karin grabbed at it and the whole thing tilted over, spilling out not underwear but rather those damn pads. The girls stared at them in awe.
"Are you?" Just like that, if what that box suggested was true, she would be the considered the mother of teenage development- then it would be all over school, they boys would be after her, her friends wouldn't want to play with her- Karin snatched up the bags and ran though the mall as fast as her aching legs would carry her, brushing past Matsumoto and Hitsugaya on the way out, the busty woman caught her by the arm. Karin spun around and the woman could see the tears in her eyes.
"what-?"
"Just leave me alone please," Karin sobbed, she had the feeling her world was crumbling and her stomach ache was getting worst, "I'M NOT READY TO GROW UP!" She sobbed and wrenching herself from the woman's grasp, ran out of the mall and all the way home, past her cooking sister and reading brother, into the bathroom where she yanked down her underwear- her lips trembled and she fought back a scream of rage at the sight of blood.
She knew what to do and she did it, taking care of herself the way her little sister warned her she should and lying on her side in the locked and darkened bedroom in little else but the old underwear held up by the new, she ignored Yuzu's concerned questions, she ignored the sharp pains that threatened to tear her and fell asleep.
She started wake at the feeling of cold on her back and spinning over, she found herself gazing up into the teal eyes of her ice king. He moved his fingertips that had just been resting on her ribs just beneath her naked breast and his cheek slightly colored, looked away from her.
"What are you-"
"I understand," Hitsugaya answered.
"What- you do?"
"Just because your body changes doesn't mean you are ready to," Hitsugaya answered, "don't try to, you will grow up in time." She stared at the white features practically glowing in the darkness and suddenly her arms were around them, the room got colder and she pulled him down on the bed next to her.
"Thank you," Karin muttered to her knees drawn to her chest, "for understanding."
"Bear with her though, if for a little," Hitsugaya answered, "she's a bit excited because you're human and you develop faster than Sereitei girls." Karin stared at him quizzically. "Matumoto is a little over a century," He explained- not that it helped much. Their gazes met and it got colder still, Karin pressed her knees closer to herself and shifted closer to the boy.
"I like those," She said, gesturing at the set Hitsugaya snuck in.
"I like them to," Hitsugaya answered, just then his cell phone went off and there was a draft of heat. Karin looked up to see her brother sitting on the window sill, in his hand the biggest damn sword she had ever seen. He stared at the pair breathing mist in the frozen bedroom.
"The hollow," Ichigo said.
"I know," Hitsugaya answered, "let's go."