Disclaimer: Kubo is god. Kubo is king. Tite Kubo owns everything. Except the quotes used at the start of each chapter. They were all found on the internet, and if they have an author I say who it is.

AN: See all author's notes in part one. Apologies to all for how I left the last chapter, but there's gotta be at least one cliffhanger in a story of this length. (Although, if you'd voted in the poll and checked on it's results, you would have known how this would go, as I said I would abide by the voting and I did.) This chapters a little shorter than the past ones, but I really only have one more part to go after this and was trying to find the right place to leave it…

Oh, and one of the reviews on the last part commented on how it's accepted in fanfic that souls loose their memory when they enter Soul Society, yet when Chad and all the others first go there the child he'd helped (who had been stuck in the parrot) remembered him, so it could also be cannon that souls remember their lives. Does anyone have any comments on this?

Oh, and I've just finished watching the latest episode of Bleach, and have two words for you all. Boob buckets! Okay, I lied, I need three more. Hyorinmaru - ice machine! I'm normally not a big fan of filler, but at least they made it entertaining!

No Warm Memories

By Lady Callista

Chapter 11: Three Little Words

OoOoOoOoOoO

People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.

-Anton Chekhov

OoOoOoOoOoO

'Remember. Remember. Remember.'

Her left hand firmly in Toshiro's right, Karin chanted one word in her head over and over as they walked through the door together.

She was staring at their joined hands as the gate closed behind them, but she had to close her eyes abruptly as a wave of dizziness passed over her.

'No. No! NO!'

She squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated on Toshiro, terrified that the dizziness was the beginning of forgetting her past life.

Be calm, child.

'Kyokon? What's going on?'

Seireitei is made of reishi, child. You are simply not used to it. You will adjust in a moment.

"Karin?" Toshiro's voice sounded on the edge of her consciousness.

Speak, child. He is worried for you.

'I want to, but…I'm so dizzy. And you feel different too…strange…you…'

Karin saw the cloaked figure of Kyokon in her mind's eye. In the past two years, she'd never been able to see beneath the cloak her power always wore. Now it seemed to be vanishing before her eyes, showing a humanoid figure with greenish blue skin and…

'Kyokon? What's wrong?'

"Karin!?!" Toshiro's voice again.

She knew she needed to answer him, to reassure him that she hadn't forgotten, but the dizziness, and the sudden feeling that her insides were going to explode…

There was a flash of blinding light.

"KYOKON!!"

Toshiro felt her hand clamp down on his as she screamed, and a second later she fell to her knees as he felt a huge explosion of reiatsu from her.

Even as he knelt beside her, starting to gather her shaking body into his arms, any worries about her memory were momentarily eclipsed as he looked at her right hand. The hand which was tightly gripping the hilt of a zanpakuto.

"Kyokon." Karin whispered in awe, then looked up and met his eyes with a beaming smile. "Toshiro - it worked!" She launched herself into his arms.

Toshiro couldn't help but laugh with her as he stood and spun her around, then set her on her feet and crushed her into his embrace, his face buried in the side of her neck. "Karin? You remember?"

"Yes!" Karin shouted loudly enough to make him cringe, as she was right next to his ear. "I remember everything! I remember you, and…"

Toshiro pulled back enough to see her face, and the glowing expression on it had to be more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen. "Karin, I l…"

"Tai-cho!" Rangiku's voice interrupted what he'd been about to say.

Both Karin and Toshiro turned to face the voice, which had just used shunpo to appear a meter away from them.

"Yamamoto-soutaicho wants to see both of you immediately." Although the comment wasn't delivered with a smile, the couple got to watch the smile bloom over her face as she took in the zanpakuto in Karin's hand.

"Can't it wait until the morning?" Karin asked cluelessly.

"Unfortunately, no." Toshiro replied as he sighed. "It is not wise to keep the Soutaicho waiting. Matsumoto, will you go back to the real world and tell Kurosaki and the others that Karin remembers everything?"

"Of course." Rangiku smiled. "And Karin, until you get things sorted out here, you're welcome to bunk with me."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Toshiro said before Karin could reply.

Rangiku raised an eyebrow, but managed to refrain from commenting. A brief comment to her earpiece later she vanished through the newly reformed Senkaimon.

Toshiro kept Karin's hand as he walked with her through Seireitei, explaining a few things to her briefly as they approached the Ichibantai's offices. She seemed tenser than she had been before, but he assumed that was because she was about to meet the man who ran Seireitei.

"He can't kick me out or anything, can he?" Karin asked quietly as they finally stood outside of the office.

Toshiro lowered the hand he had raised to knock. "No, he can't. Don't worry about it, I'm sure everyone will be pleased to have you here. I'm the only one who can get in trouble, and now that you're dead there's not much they can do."

Karin tried for a brave smile, but it wavered around the corners.

"It's okay." Toshiro's face did the almost-smile thing as he leaned in to kiss her. She tucked her head into his shoulder at the same time, so he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead instead. "This'll all be over soon and we can just be together."

Karin faked a brave smile again, and Toshiro gave his almost-smile back before he knocked on the door.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Well, that was easier than I expected." Toshiro said as he opened the door to his house and ushered Karin in ahead of him.

She entered quietly, her eyes on the floor as she toed off her shoes and stood without looking at him.

"Karin - are you alright?" Toshiro questioned worriedly as he left his shoes beside hers and took her hand to pull her further into his house.

"It's just so strange here." Karin replied hesitantly as she glanced furtively around his living room. "In some ways it's like hom…like the real world, but I just saw four guys fighting full-out on the street, and no one passing them even batted an eye…"

"There are some things that just take getting used to." Toshiro replied as he paused awkwardly. "Various divisions specialize in certain things, and there is one whose greatest joy is fighting. They only bother people outside their division when they've been drinking too much…"

"Which from what Orihime-chan says is pretty much all the time with a lot of the Shinigami…" Karin offered quietly.

Toshiro shrugged, then extended the movement to deposit his haori on the arm of the couch. "Some do choose to entertain themselves that way. Speaking of, what are you interested in doing right now? Are you tired? Or hungry? Or…"

Karin stopped his babbling by placing her fingers over his lips. "I'm actually pretty tired. But…why did you want me to stay here…???"

Toshiro tilted his head in confusion. "Where else would you stay? You know me best of anyone here, and I…"

"But what are you expecting?" Karin turned red, and even she wasn't certain if it was from embarrassment or a flash of fire running through her blood.

Toshiro dropped his hands from where he'd just placed them on her shoulders. She saw the moment the realization dawned in his eyes, and saw pain flash through them before they snapped shut.

When Toshiro opened his eyes again his face was a perfect icy mask. "I had arranged a guest room for you, believing that as long as I could shield the room and know that you were alright it would be okay. What I wanted more than anything was to make certain that you were okay. But I began to realize that was not enough. What I wanted was to hold you in my arms as I fell asleep. I wanted to have a good night's sleep, my dreams filled with the knowledge that when I woke you would still be in my arms. But I have no right to ask for…"

"Toshiro." Karin hushed him again by placing her fingers over his lips. "Would you really just hold me tonight? Let me fall asleep in your arms knowing that when I wake you'll still be there?"

"That's what I want more than anything at this very second." Toshiro murmured as he leaned in and kissed her gently.

"Where's your bedroom?" Karin breathed.

Toshiro directed her, and soon the two stood breathless beside his bed. It was Karin who reached for his belt. "I just want you to hold me…but I want my skin on yours…"

Toshiro helped her to remove his top, then helped in removing her own. And when she reached for his hakama he was the one who stilled her hands. "I'm just holding you, remember?" He drew her gently down unto the bed, pulling her head onto his chest. "Everything else can wait until tomorrow."

"There's one thing I don't want to wait for." Karin whispered as she looked up at him.

Toshiro swallowed loudly. "Karin… I love you."

A single tear slipping down her cheek, Karin pulled him into a kiss. "And I love you."

TBC…

Omake: Radio Kon

Kon: Well, sorry for the brief delay in broadcasting, tonight we'd like to welcome Kyoraku Shunsui, Hachibantai taicho. How are you today, taicho?

Shunsui: Oh, I'm getting on alright. Especially since I have a break from fighting.

Kon: What do you mean, a break from fighting? I thought all of you were…

Shunsui: Yeah, so did I. I finally got to the point where I figured I might as well fight, cause it was boring just talking, when I'm told that we're delaying everything for a while…

Kon: Why? What's going on?

Shunsui: Well, someone said something about this thing called 'filler,' I don't really understand it though…

Kon: Oh, well, if you're talking about the episode I just watched, then 'filler' has something to do with all the members of the Shinigami Women's Association in swimsuits, and…Kyoraku-taicho? Where are you going? Hello?

(AN2: This chapter written the day I watched 228. (And I must say, one of the most amusing filler eps ever. I'm a girl, and I still have the two-page spread of all the girls in their swimsuits as my wallpaper cause it's just awesome.)

Glossary:

Reishi: literally "Spirit particles," they are present everywhere, but Seireitei and Hueco Mundo are made of nothing but them. Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow can all gather and use them to fight or do other cool tricks.