Happy Mother's Day everyone! It's bright, it's sunny, it's warm, it's May... -breathes sigh of relief- School's almost over! I actually should be working on a ridiculously long project due Wednesday right now, but I'm not. XD Wednesday also happens to be my 'birthday' here on fanfiction. It'll be three years! ;----;

DISCLAIMER APPLIES. If I owned Bleach, I would have given Halibel a flashback. Because most of the other Espada got a flashback and she didn't. So depressing!

She walked alone in the forest of falling golden leaves. Karin stayed on the path, quietly padding along. A fork in the road came into view, and she stopped. "What do I do?" she asked aloud.

"Stay where you are; I want to talk with you," a soft alto voice responded. She heard a flutter of wings and the eagle she and Toushirou had seen before appeared before her. "Hello, Karin."

"Uh, hi." She bowed.

"Do you like it here?" it asked, hopeful.

"Yeah. It's quiet here." Karin stared up at the canopy above.

"You can retreat here whenever you want to."

"That'd be nice, to have a real happy place." She grinned, and a spark of amusement appeared in the eagle's eye. Karin sat on the path. "So tell me, eagle, why you were trapped in the ice under the river."

"I wanted to sleep until you were ready to see this place. I asked the great ice dragon to do it, so I could let you live a life that was as normal as possible."

"What happened to change that?"

"You were in close contact with the wielder. I guess that allowed you to enter here." The eagle shrugged its feathers.

"Did you see my dream?" Karin asked. "You know, the one where…"

"I know which one. I allowed it to happen."

"You what?!" Karin yelled. "You allowed me to see all of that happen?!"

"Karin, it's because I want to protect you. You'll need to make a choice in the future, and if you don't choose correctly, you'll die!"

"I'm not afraid of dying. I'll be reborn again," Karin replied fiercely.

"Not if the Hollows control the cycle. Please, listen to me Karin. Don't choose Toushirou. Choose someone that is good for you, someone you like, and not as powerful as he is. He's got to make a choice, too, and if he chooses you, Soul Society will fall."

"I think you're crazy. Just because Toushirou and I make a choice doesn't mean—"

"Karin! You must listen to me!" The eagle stared at her hard in the eye. "You, and Toushirou Histugaya, are strongly connected beings. The sentient Hollows know of you two because of Aizen. Yes, he found out and he told them. They want to manipulate that power. They're hiding from Soul Society in Hueco Mundo because they know that place better than the shinigami do, so they'll wait. They'll wait for just the right time to kill you—but not eat you; mind—and wait just long enough for you to be in the ranks. Then they'll wait for you and Hitsugaya to make the choice to be together.

"If you choose him, you will have children. When that happens, the Hollows will attack as exactly in your dream and will overrun Seireitei and it will be as in your dream. You will die, Hitsugaya will die, but all three of your children will survive, yet not for very long—one or two years before they die as well. Those Hollows know that if they eat you, Toushirou, and your children, they will attain the ability to foresee events."

"How do you know all of that will happen?" Karin demanded.

"Because it happened the last time," the eagle replied.

"How will our connection enable Hollows to see things in the future?"

"Because that's what happened the last time. They ate the parent souls, the ones who had dreamt of each other for so long, and the Hollows saw some events in the future. The child born to that union survived because one of their friends had rescued him. Eventually, hundreds of years after that, those Hollows were destroyed, but the Hollows know that if they find two souls in the exact same situation, they can attain foresight."

"What if I don't choose him?"

"If you have children, then it won't matter. Hitsugaya will become Captain-Commander, and he will protect and improve Soul Society. It will be a time of peace."

"Why can't we go into Hueco Mundo and kill the Hollows that know?"

"We don't know where they are."

"Hueco Mundo must have limits as to how big it is. It's not like it's the universe, ever expanding. There has to be a way to find them. You managed to find them the last time."

"Yes, but don't you remember? The dreaming souls died that time!"

"Don't you want us to be happy?" Karin asked in a small voice.

"Yes. But if your happiness is at the cost of Soul Society, then you must give it up. Two souls are not worth it."

"Can't the choice wait? Can't we at least have the illusion of happiness together for a while? Why not give that to us? Don't you think that if we can't be together for as long as we want to be, we should have a short amount of time for ourselves? Isn't that fair? If we're going to be separated, we should be given a chance. You're ruining it by making us sick and forcing us to have nightmares!"

"That, actually, isn't entirely my fault," the eagle replied defensively. "It's partly because of that Hollow Hitsugaya killed after that soccer match you had. It affected you two somehow, causing bad dreams to happen. Captain Unohana and that Twelfth Division captain figured it out and cured it."

Karin stared at the bird before her. "So you were planning on sending us more bad dreams?"

"Until you got the message," it replied promptly.

"You're horrible! I thought you wanted to protect me! How would giving me have bad dreams make me want to stay away from Toushirou? I'd just avoid sleeping."

"The great ice dragon and I assumed that you two would associate the dreams with each other and try not seeing one another again."

"You thought wrong," Karin snarled, standing up. "I will grow up, and I will choose Toushirou, and I will have children, and I will save Soul Society. You can't stop me."

"Karin, no! You don't know what you're saying!" the eagle cried, horrified by her declaration.

"I love him. You can't stop me from finding a way," she hissed. She turned and ran down the path.

—x—

"Toushirou!" Karin shouted, sitting up.

"What is it?" Toushirou asked hastily, getting up from the table.

"I have something to tell you. It's a long story, so I hope you have time."

He looked behind him at the paperwork. "I've got time," he replied, turning back to her. "What is it?"

Karin quickly told him the story the eagle had told her.

"So that's why Hyourinmaru doesn't want me near you!" he exclaimed.

"That's not the entire story though. There are Hollows out there that know about us and want that ability to see in the future. I think that they think we need to have children before they can kill and eat us. I also think that Soul Society should be able to go find them if they can figure out what in the world was wrong with us."

"That's true… if they can find information surrounding a pair of dreaming souls they can surely locate those Hollows' whereabouts. And we've got a good deal of strong people this time around."

"But you don't have to go look for them now," Karin amended. "You're still recovering from that war, aren't you?"

"I suppose such a search could wait a few years," he decided. "But I'll tell the Captain-Commander."

"Would he believe you?"

"He'd better. It's not like I'd lie to make myself look good. This actually makes me look bad."

"Simply because of the choice our spirits fear we'll make?" Karin asked, not impressed. "Sounds like a harsh old man."

"I'm sure that, by the time you're his age, making difficult decisions will come easier to you." He paused. "In fact, I think I should take you with me."

"I'm not allowed to leave here until Captain Unohana says so. And when that happens, Ichi-nii will definitely want me to come home right away."

"Then I will request that you stay one day longer, so we can talk with the Captain-Commander. But whatever happens, I'm not fighting your brother."

"You're going to use your captain authority to make him do as you want?" she asked, amused.

"Karin, this is my turf. What I say overpowers what he says, and besides, it's only one day. You've been here for weeks already. Surely he can wait to take you back one more day."

"I hope he sees it your way." She took his hand. "I'll miss you."

His mouth twitched upward. "I'll miss you too. It'll be strange, not having you around to complain about how cold it is."

She laughed. "Well, it is! If you can control the weather, how come you won't make it warmer?"

"I'm naturally an ice person. I like it cooler." He smirked as she grumbled something under her breath.

"Come on; let's leave this room. I want to get out of here," she said, tugging on his hand.

"All right, all right, I'm coming." He followed her out of their sealed room and into the hallway beyond.

Some questions are answered, and some are not. This part of the story is almost over; soon we'll begin a new arc (at least, that's what I'd like to call it)!

Review, if you will. Please also vote in my poll because... you're a nice person. 83