Chapter 4: The 16th of June
'Where is she?' Yoruichi asked. Both Yoruichi and Toshiro had been waiting for a half-hour for Karin and no one had seen her all day. 'She and Ichigo got into a big argument yesterday, maybe that's it.'
'Possibly, after all from what I've heard they're quite close.'
'Were.' Toshiro and Yoruichi turned around to see Karin, already in her soul form with her zanpakto. She walked over, 'Sorry I'm late, my watch broke so I lost track of time.' But when she got close enough, Toshiro saw that her watch was working perfectly. Something was up and he'd have to find out. After training, Karin left quickly, but Toshiro followed, hoping to find out where she was before training.
He followed her to a place he'd never been before, a hidden place. Toshiro stayed in the bushes. Karin sat down on the ground, watching the sunset. A tear went down her cheek. She wondered where she was now, her mother. It was the 16th of June. Tomorrow is when she was killed by the Grand Fisher. Toshiro did not know this and was getting worried, he had always thought of Karin as a tough girl, someone you don't want to mess with. But seeing her like this, it made him want to run up to her and hug her protecting her from everything. Toshiro realized what he was thinking. But why was he thinking that? By this time Karin was properly crying and Toshiro couldn't help himself.
Karin was surprised to see him but she didn't really care. 'What…what are you doing here?' She sobbed.
'I can answer that later, what's wrong?'
'Tomorrow is the day my mother was killed.' Karin answered, crying harder. 'I can hardly even remember her, it happened when I was five.'
'Karin, I'm so sorry.' Toshiro said, sitting down next to her. 'I'm guessing you're not doing training tomorrow then.'
'No, every year I have a picnic in the park near the graveyard with my family and then we visit her. Toshiro had no self control at this point, he hugged her, saying how sorry he was. Karin hugged back, but when he withdrew his arms she stayed there lying against his body. She felt safe there, she wanted to stay there forever. So did he. Toshiro never wanted to leave he wanted to stay, they both wanted to stay, but it was getting dark and if she was late again, she probably would be grounded. She ran off, to her house apologizing for having to go. Toshiro wanted to run with her, and escape, from all the worries and the nightmares, protecting her from everything, but he knew that was too good to be true.