Heeeeeeey there everyone~ Perhaps chapter four is going to shed a little light on things. Maybe. -evil laugh-
The following conversation may confuse you a little, but it's how people speak. Really. Pay attention to a conversation sometime; something like this may occur.

DISCLAIMER APPLIES. If I owned Bleach, I'd make Orihime's boobs smaller.

"You're sure the Captain-Commander's going to do something to me?" Karin asked. They were seated on the guardrail together, looking down at the sprawling town Karin called home.

"Positive. He wouldn't let something like this just pass by. That's unlike him," Toushirou answered. He lifted his eyes from the city to the sky, seeing only clear blue. It was afternoon, judging from the position of the sun.

She sighed miserably. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what I am supposed to do."

"We'll just have to let the adults solve this, won't we?" He opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. "Toushirou, you know full well that you are not an adult. You are, at best, a pre-teen and at worst, a child. I know that's what I am."

He looked away, sulking. I am not a child! I'm an adult, just stuck in a little body, he thought. But he knew she had a point—they were small and had to let the bigger people figure out what was wrong with them. Somehow, that just didn't sit well with him. "But it feels so stupid to not do anything about it," he said at last.

She stared at him. "What makes you think we're not going to do anything about it? Of course we'll do something. There may be something in these dreams that will tell us what's going on."

"It's worth a try, but what are we looking for?"

"I don't know. We'll have to figure that out for ourselves."

—x—

Karin opened her eyes. Plain white walls greeted her, and she sat up. It took a moment for her to realize that she was not at home. She looked over to Toushirou's bed to see his still form. Is he still sleeping?

He shifted, and blinked his eyes open. Toushirou sat up in a daze, staring at his bedcovers. Karin watched, fascinated. Slowly, he turned to her, and his eyes focused on her and it seemed like something clicked in his head. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning yourself," she replied cheerily. She thrust back her covers and walked over to the table, where two meals had been placed. "I don't understand it. I heard that hospital meals are awful—and I've seen them too."

"Just because we're here doesn't mean we require patient food," Toushirou replied, also getting out of bed. "And besides, I'm a captain. What's the point of making poor quality food for you when I'm eating with you?" He sat next to her and began his meal. Karin stared at him for a moment, but also began to eat her food.

As they finished their meal, Karin spoke again. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Yes, and Matsumoto should be arriving soon with my paperwork. I can only hope that she didn't try sneaking in some of her work." He sighed and put his hand on his forehead.

Karin laughed. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Not much. It's not for anyone to see except for captains and vice-captains." He sat back and thought. "I suppose you could sleep some more."

"I've been doing that too much lately." She looked at him with weary eyes. "How have you been? Don't you get tired of sleeping?"

"On the contrary. I haven't gotten such good sleep in years. It feels refreshing."

"Then maybe you should be the one going to sleep and I'll do the paperwork," Karin muttered in a sarcastic manner. Toushirou smirked at her in amusement as he neatly stacked their dishes and trays together.

Matsumoto entered the room before Karin could make another remark. "Here's all your work. If you need me, just send a hell butterfly." She handed the stack to her captain.

"You can't stay?" Karin asked.

"Unfortunately, no. There's a lot for me to do in order to keep the division running." Matsumoto smiled. "But coming here to see you two is like stepping into an air-conditioned room after being out in the heat!"

"Do you mean that literally?" Karin joked. "I know I get cold in here."

Toushirou glared at her, and then returned to his work. "Maybe you ought to wear more layers if you're so cold."

"I'm afraid I'm stuck in these robe-things. I have nothing else to wear." It was true. Instead of her own clothes, Karin was given a spare uniform to wear. They were comfortable, but since her room was rather cold (just her luck to be stuck with the ice-captain!), she often found herself wrapped in her blanket. "I want to go out," she sighed, staring at the doorway Matsumoto had come through.

"I'd love to let you leave, but I don't think Captain Unohana wants to you to do that yet." Matsumoto looked at her apologetically.

"I'm getting restless in here!" Karin cried. "Toushirou may have something to do, but I don't, and it's extremely boring to watch him do his paperwork. Or stare at the wall. Or count the cracks in the ceiling."

Matsumoto looked at her captain to see if it was true. Toushirou nodded. "Well, um, I could ask your brother to bring you some books," she offered. "What would you like him to bring?"

"Yuzu knows my favorites. Tell him to ask Yuzu." Then a look of realization dawned upon her. "Oh no! What have they told her?"

"That you are ill, and have been sent out of the country," Toushirou answered from the table. Karin turned to see him steadily reviewing the paperwork and writing. "I think the story was that you were sent to America."

"Do I even have a passport to back that up?" Karin asked, perplexed.

"You have one, and an illusion of you was seen going to America. Your passport will have stamps on it to back up the story."

"Okay then… what about my brother? What'll he say?"

"He'll just have to say that he knows someone who can get the books to you or something. Kurosaki's not stupid. At least, I hope so."

Matsumoto snickered. Before Karin could retort, the woman said, "Well, I best be on my way. As I said before, send a hell butterfly if you need something from the office." She bowed and left the room. The door immediately sealed behind her.

"Haven't you ever thought about how bothersome these clothes are?" Karin asked, flapping one of her sleeves. "I mean all this cloth must get in the way."

"You learn to get around it," Toushirou replied, still not looking up.

Karin felt miffed, but decided it was best if she let it go. "I'm missing so much school," she realized. "When I get home, I'll have so much to catch up to."

At that, Toushirou did look up. "That is most certainly a problem."

"Maybe I can get Ichigo to ask Yuzu for my homework."

"That's a good idea. I'll help you," he offered.

"Is that a good idea?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to be doing paperwork all the time. Matsumoto is doing her part for once, which considerably lightens my load. And since I'm used to doing two loads, one load goes much faster. It's like swinging two baseball bats in order to swing faster with one. I go much faster with only my captain's work to do." He dipped his pen in his inkpot and continued writing on another report. "So when I'm done with my paperwork for the day, I have enough time to teach you your studies. Besides, it's partly my fault you're here anyways."

"Then we ought to request my homework to be sent to me. But I think that would cause trouble."

"Rukia Kuchiki would do it. She has enough connections to enable her to be our messenger for now."

"She has better stuff to do."

"I'm sure, but her brother wouldn't mind it if she didn't have any dangerous missions for a while." He had already moved on to a different sheet of paper. They all looked the same to Karin.

"Rukia has a brother?" The thought was surprising. When Karin had met the girl, she got the impression that Rukia was used to being attached to no one.

"She has an adopted brother, the Sixth Division's Captain. He's also her brother-in-law. Her blood sister married him before she died. But no one knew that until shortly after Aizen defected."

"That's a strange relationship to have." She had returned to the table. The paperwork was neatly stacked into three piles: one that was completed, one that had yet to be done, and one pile that Toushirou was currently working on.

"You think so? What about us?"

"Eh. That's strange too." She put her chin on the table and stared at him.

He ignored her and finished up the last of his reports. "Our checkup should be soon," he noted, looking at the small clock on the same table.

"I don't see what they're going to find that's different," Karin grumbled.
They haven't been experimenting or anything."

"They'll need some solid data before they can begin playing with us," Toushirou responded, moving his chair to sit next to her.

"I don't want to be a toy."

"There's nothing we can do about it." He took hold of her hands. "Now, concentrate. Maybe we can find out something if we revisit a place in our dreams."

"Like the forest of falling leaves," she suggested, shutting her eyes.

"Yes, like that." He also shut his eyes and concentrated.

—x—

Karin opened her eyes to see the falling leaves again. It was tranquil in the forest, nothing making a sound. She glanced to her left; Toushirou stood there, staring up at the canopy. "Why is there no sound?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he replied, and took her hand. "Come on. Let's leave the path."

"It's a path for a reason," she pointed out.

"We followed the path the last time. If we're going to try and figure out what's wrong with ourselves, then we ought to take a few chances," he explained, tugging harder at her hand.

"Since you put it that way…" she trailed off, following him. They traversed through the trees, taking random turns in an attempt to discover whatever it was they were looking for. After what felt like hours, Karin finally heard something. "Water! I hear water."

"I do too," Toushirou said, leading the way towards the gurgling noise. They reached the source in almost no time.

Karin gasped, horrified, and Toushirou immediately thrust his hand over her eyes. It was a stream, that led farther away than where he remembered the path to be (it would definitely explain why they hadn't heard anything). Under the surface there lay a bird encased in ice. It appeared to be dead inside the ice. "Why is that there?" Karin asked, pulling his hand off her face.

"I don't know." He got to his knees and reached into the stream to pull out the bird. Grasping it, he pulled it out and placed it beside him. Karin sat across from him, looking at it. "I wonder what sort of bird it is."

"It's an eagle. I remember seeing it in an encyclopedia for a report." She looked up. "What should we do with it?"

"I'll try breaking it out of the ice," he replied, unsheathing his sword. Carefully, he picked at the ice until there was a thinner layer around the eagle. Karin reached over and brushed off the ice chips. At that, the bird trembled, and burst out of the remaining ice. The pair cried out in surprise. It looked at them with an unnerving stare and then pulled out a feather with its beak. Still staring, it dropped the feather in Karin's lap and then took off into the air.

—x—

Karin's eyes flew open. "What was that?" she demanded in a shaken tone.

Toushirou shook his head. "I feel confused."

"Well, whatever it was is important." She held out her hand. "Look."

In her hand was a stiff, slightly frozen, eagle feather.

A reminder that the next chapter will be uploaded next Sunday. Have a nice week everyone~! Please review!