Ok, first of all, thank you for the reviews on the last chapter! I ended up rereading chapter 7 and I got what you mean about it seeming unfinished, so I decided to write a sequel to it, unfortunately I don't think there's a single prompt that could've worked for a sequel, and I can't really put it in here or start a new story just for it, so I wrote it and posted it on my tumblr! So if you want to read a sequel to the last chapter the link is post/33302219399/sequel-to-play-chapter-7-100-chapter-challenge however I'm not convinced the link in this will work as the last time I put links in a chapter it cut out half of it so I'll put a link in my profile as well.

Anyway, onto this chapter! I have to say, it really isn't my best, I rewrote it about 3 times and I'm still not happy with it, but I just couldn't work on it any more to be honest, hopefully you guys will enjoy it though.

SUMMARY: Karin loved the stars that were scattered across the night sky. But she also hated them. All because of a certain shinigami.

Chapter 8: Stars

Karin both loved and hated looking at the stars. There were many reasons she loved them. They were beautiful, fascinating, and well, the entire concept of a star was spectacular. A huge flaming ball of gas and fire in the middle of space, a vacuum. How was that not amazing? That was how Karin felt anyway. But the main reason she loved the stars is because of what happened underneath them.

It was two years ago now, when she was 14. She had ended up spending the entire day shopping with Tōshirō because he desperately needed new human clothes as he had outgrown his old ones and he really had no idea about human fashion. Despite how much both of them hated shopping they ended up having a good time. It had actually been a pretty average, fun day, until around half 7 in the evening a hollow attacked. It kinda worried Karin that it didn't really surprise her any more. Hollow attacks weren't really terrifying any more either. Well they were scary, but due to Urahara's products and her own skill barely any hollows went near her and if they did she could defeat them. It was rare for a powerful hollow to come to the human world.

When the hollow did try to attack them, she pretty much knew what to do. She ducked out of the way while Tōshirō defeated it. Simple, and effective. Barely 5 minutes later and the hollow was gone. Karin got back out from her hiding place, Tōshirō offered her his hand, which she gladly took, pushing herself up from the ground. They started walking to Karin's house, with the aim of taking Karin home, but Karin had stopped Tōshirō when she caught sight of the view. She went over and sat on the railing and started pointing out constellations, much to Tōshirō's amusement. He hadn't realised she was so interested in stars. He sat down next to her, admiring the view as well. After Karin had stopped talking the two of them fell in comfortable silence.

Karin couldn't quite remember what happened afterwards. All she knew is that in that moment she decided to take a risk, and kiss him. She couldn't really remember leading up to it or anything, she just ended up kissing him, briefly, in the lips. She remembered being horrified that she had made a mistake and not being able to look at Tōshirō, not knowing what his reaction was. She was just staring at the grass, waiting for him to do something. A few moments later, he did. He gently tipped her head up and kissed her gently back before resuming his previous position. Karin smiled and looked over to Tōshirō, who had a blush on his face. She couldn't stop herself from grinning, causing Tōshirō to smile as well.

Karin sighed. Ever since that happened, two years ago, she had associated the stars with Tōshirō. Which was the real reason she really loved the stars, because they reminded her of him. But that was exactly the same reason why she hated them as well. They reminded her of how much she missed him. All the time. It wasn't impossible to have a long distance relationship, far from it in fact, but it was difficult and it did take a lot of hard work. It used to be fine, but seeing him only a few times a year was getting harder and harder, and the stars weren't making it any easier.

Karin pulled out her phone from her back pocket and brought up Tōshirō's number on the screen. She was debating with herself, wondering whether she should call him or not, when a voice from behind her made her jump.
"Staring at the phone isn't going to make it ring you know."
Karin's eyes lit up as she realised who it was and she spun round. "Tōshirō!"
He gave her a genuine smile. "Hey."

Karin made her way over to him in one fluid movement and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. Almost instinctively, Tōshirō hugged her closer to him. After Karin pulled away Tōshirō couldn't stop himself from asking. "Why didn't you just call me if you wanted to?"
Karin looked down guiltily. "I wasn't sure I should."
Tōshirō had to admit, he was a little confused. "Why not?"
'Shit.' Karin could feel all of her doubts start to come up, and she knew that everything was going to come out, whether she wanted it to or not. "Was...Was this relationship really a good idea?"
Tōshirō's heart sank. "What are you talking about?"

"It's just...I mean this was really really great to begin with you know? We went over the problems at the beginning and decided we'd be ok. But I feel the problems might be becoming more...problematic? Look two years ago I was still a kid. I'm 16 now. I'm currently figuring out career prospects and that sort of thing. In two years time I'll be in university. After that I'll be in a job. I'll be an full grown adult. I mean yeah, you've grown a lot in the last couple of years, and I know you're mature and all, but...I'm growing a lot quicker than you. And I can feel that's going to start being a problem soon. Not to mention the fact that I barely see you. Which is really hard. I know that hasn't changed at all since the beginning but I guess my perspective has? I have some friends older than me, only by a couple years and two of them are already living with their partners. But...We can never do that. We live in two separate worlds. We wouldn't be able to live together, or get married, or anything...So...Isn't this just a waste of time? I feel like it's not leading anywhere any more."

By the time she had finished speaking she was crying. She didn't mean to, she really didn't want to either, but it just sort of happened. She wasn't even sure when she started crying. All of her doubts, her worries, her stress, was coming out at once, and she knew this was either going to strengthen their relationship, or end it. And she had an awful feeling that the latter would happen. He was a shinigami, a Captain no less, and she was just a human. It wasn't illegal for such relationships to happen, but the reason they weren't illegal was because they weren't really feasible. Either he had to give up being a shinigami, or she had to become one. Karin could feel more tears coming. She couldn't see a way this was going to work any more.

Tōshirō looked like he was lost for words. He wasn't surprised that she was worried about this to be honest, but he didn't realise how serious these issues had become for her. And it made sense that they had become serious issues. Her point about some of her friends already living with their partners really drove it home for Tōshirō. She was heading into the adult world pretty rapidly. Tōshirō felt his insides twist and turn as he realised that she had a point. He did not want her to become a shinigami, he had made that clear to her already, and honestly she didn't seem like she wanted to either. And there was no way in hell that he was going to let her do something as drastic as becoming a shinigami when she didn't really want to. But...He couldn't really give up being a shinigami. He was a Captain. Everyone he knew and loved was in Soul Society, except for Karin.

He wasn't sure the relationship was the best idea any more either. It was actually completely unfair to both of them. She couldn't have a normal relationship, she would never get married or have kids, or anything like that she wanted to do because he was off in another world. And it was incredibly selfish of him to keep her attached to him when he simply couldn't offer her any of them. Then there was the fact that she indeed, growing a lot quicker than him. In 30 years he was still going to a teenager, while Karin would be middle-aged. 30 years after that, he would probably be a young adult, more or less, but Karin? Well, in 60 years time she could be dead.

The mere thought made him feel sick. He wasn't sure he could deal with her death. If they continued their relationship, not only would he not be able to offer the things she deserved, he would have to watch her grow old and die. Tōshirō wasn't sure that the saying 'Better loved and lost than to not have loved at all' was true. The thought of having to watch the woman he loved die terrified him. What if one day he came to visit the human world and she just wasn't there any more? He didn't think he'd be able to handle it. Tōshirō started feeling physically sick as he realised where this was heading. He didn't want the relationship to end, but on the other hand, wasn't it better to end it now rather than later?

Karin felt even worse than she did when she realised that Tōshirō wasn't saying anything. The expression on his face old her that he was having the same doubts. After a minute of building up her courage she finally spoke again. "Please say something Tōsh."

Tōshirō looked up at her, guiltily. He should've thought further into the future, he should've stopped it coming to this. They were both in pain because they didn't think it through properly to begin with. He felt like crying too. His throat felt dry and painful but he willed himself to speak anyway. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't think that far ahead. It didn't occur to me that these problems would come up. I'm...Trying to see a way this would work but..."
Karin nodded. "I can't see one either."
Tōshirō stared at Karin, knowing that this could quite possibly be the last time he saw her. "So this is..."
Karin nodded. "Yeah."
Tōshirō nodded as well and looked away, not really being able to look at Karin. "I...I should probably go."
Karin nodded again, not being able to take her eyes of the floor. Tōshirō walked over to her and kissed her forehead lightly. "I really am sorry."
Karin willed herself to look up at him and instantly regretted it. "So am I."

Karin couldn't take it and ended up walking away from him, staring at her bedroom floor again. Tōshirō took one last look at her before he walked over to her open window. He took a deep breath before speaking to her for the final time. "Goodbye Karin."
She looked up at him again, watching him leave before bursting into tears again.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Tōshirō sighed heavily as he collapsed onto his bed. Rangiku had been worried about him for months, and had been trying to figure out what the problem was. Tōshirō never ended up telling her about his relationship with Karin, he was terrible with words and it had never come up, so Rangiku had no idea why he seemed so upset and dejected in the past 5 months or so. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her that he had a two year long relationship with Karin which he had ruined by not thinking properly. The entire thing could've been avoided. They discussed whether a relationship was a good idea or not, but they both ended up agreeing that they should give the relationship a try. Tōshirō could've kicked himself for being so stupid. He thought he had started to move past it, but when Rangiku suggested a trip to the human world to get his mind off whatever was bothering him, he ended up feeling absolutely terrible because pretty much everything related to the human world reminded him of her.

Tōshirō really didn't know what to do. He thought he could get past it on his own but he wasn't so sure any more. Any little thing seemed to make him feel horrible again. He felt like he should talk to someone, but he didn't know who. He felt like an idiot. He kept trying to move on, but when he wasn't busy or distracted he ended up thinking about her. Wondering how she was doing, whether she was having problems as well, wondering whether she had already moved on. The thought of Karin with someone else killed him. Then again just the thought of Karin made him feel incredibly awful. He decided that he had to try and talk to somebody, but he didn't know who.

For some reason he just couldn't bring himself to tell Rangiku about what had happened. He felt like he would just end up feeling more guilty than he already did. But who else was he supposed to talk to? He and Momo weren't particularly close any more, or at least, not close enough to talk about this. He thought for a while before he could only really think of one person.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Tōshirō took a deep breath and built up his courage for a few moments before knocking on the office door in front of him. A friendly "Come in!" could be heard from inside. He took another deep breath before opening the door and walking into the office.
"Ah Captain Hitsugaya! Whatever are you doing here? Have you finally accepted my invitation of visiting me to get more sweets?"
Tōshirō had a very awkward look on his face. "...Err no. I...um, was wondering if I could talk with you for a bit?"
Ukitake noticed the pained expression on the boy's face. "Of course you can. Please sit down, I'll make some tea!"
Tōshirō quickly held his hands up as a kind of 'stop' sign. "Oh no, please let me."
Ukitake agreed somewhat reluctantly and sat back down in his chair while Tōshirō went and made two cups of tea. Tōshirō finished and walked over to Ukitake's desk, sitting down in the chair opposite him. Ukitake started to speak as Tōshirō handed him one of the cups.
"So, what's bothering you?"

Tōshirō stayed silent, not really knowing what to say, or where to even start. Ukitake sat there patiently, waiting for the young captain to speak. Ukitake had noticed that something was wrong with him for a while now, but knew there was no point in trying to talk about it because Tōshirō would just automatically shut him out. Due to Tōshirō's quite defensive personality, it was much better to wait for Tōshirō to talk to someone of his own accord. But even then he knew it would be hard for Tōshirō to talk about personal issues. So he sat calmly and waited.
Eventually Tōshirō managed to say something. "How...How do you get over a huge mistake that you've made?"
"I suppose it would depend on the mistake. Is this about the problems Aizen caused?"
Tōshirō shook his head. "No, for once."
"I see..." Knowing it would be hard to get Tōshirō to open up, Ukitake decided to go for small, simple questions to try and figure out what kind of mistake he had made. "Where was this 'mistake' made then?"

Tōshirō sighed, trying to let his guard down a bit. "The human world."
"Oh? Did it involve hollows then? Or humans? Or both? Did someone get injured?"
"No it didn't involve hollows or injuries to humans. Not physical injuries anyway."
Tōshirō spoke the last part of the sentence quietly so it was hard for Ukitake to hear, but it started to give him an idea. "I see. So was it more than one human emotionally hurt, or just the one?"
Tōshirō unconsciously started avoiding Ukitake's eyes as he realised he was getting near to figuring out what had happened. "Just one."
"Uh huh. Would this one human happen to be a girl by any chance?"

Tōshirō looked up at Ukitake in surprise, causing the older captain to smile.
"So it was a girl."
"How did you?"
"Hitsugaya, I noticed that you happened to be visiting the human world more often. Whenever the Head Captain asked for a captain to investigate the human world you always volunteered. I assumed that there was something there that kept on bringing you back, but I didn't realise what. So a girl huh? What happened with her?"

Tōshirō took a deep breath. "Well...I first met her years ago, six actually. She ended up getting attacked by a hollow so I helped her out. Before I knew it she was asking me all of these different questions about shinigami. It turned out that she knew one, but they wouldn't tell her anything. But because she knew absolutely nothing it was putting her in danger. So I told her. Only the stuff she needed to know, but it meant we were talking for a while. And well...I liked her. She was a kid but she was intelligent and interesting. After that I bumped into her a couple times. After four years of bumping into each other and spending time with each other we just kinda..."
Ukitake smiled. "Got together?"
Tōshirō looked uncomfortable. "I guess? I don't know how else to put it."
"So after this happened, what two years ago, what happened then?"
"Well...We ended up staying together. Until a couple of months ago."

Ukitake's smile faded slightly as he realised what happened. "Ah. The two of you split up."
"...Yeah. Neither of us wanted to but..."
"Then why did you?"
"Huh?"
"If neither of you wanted to split up, why did you?"
Tōshirō fidgeted slightly. "We decided it was for the best."
"Why was that?"

Tōshirō shrugged slightly. "A number of reasons really. She was human, so she grows up quicker. She's already looking into different jobs and stuff. She has friends that are living with their partners already. She's practically an adult already. I'm...not. Besides, even if the age wasn't an issue, the fact that we live in two different worlds causes several problems."
Ukitake nodded. "I can see why that would be difficult, but there are ways round it."
"What do you mean?"

"There are other shinigami that have made a relationship work. The Kurosaki family come to mind. I knew Isshin Kurosaki. He was a good shinigami, but he ended up falling in love with a human. He loved her so much that he 'gave up' being a shinigami to be with her. They got married and they had a family. But he never really gave up the shinigami powers, they were just made dormant. He hasn't aged very much since I saw him in Soul Society. He's not ageing like a human, I can only assume he isn't human. If I understand the situation correctly, I can only assume that he is masquerading as a human until his wife dies."

Tōshirō spoke somewhat grimly. "His wife already died. Killed by a hollow."
Ukitake paused for a moment before speaking. "I see. I would say that he's waiting for the children to die too before he becomes a shinigami again, but obviously that's now a grey area with Ichigo and seeing as all of the children are half shinigami, we don't know what the younger ones will do yet."
Tōshirō stared at Ukitake in confusion. "All of them are half shinigami? All three of them?"
"Yes. Which is why all of the events surrounding Ichigo happened."
"That explains a lot."
"Indeed. But it means that we don't know what will happen to the other two."
"But...Captain, I've met them both. One of them doesn't really have the reiatsu for it, and the other one isn't interested in being a shinigami."

A sad look settled on Ukitake's face. "While that may be the case, they may not get a choice."
Tōshirō could feel himself getting edgy. He wanted Karin to have the chance to do what she wanted. "What makes you say that?"
"The higher the reiatsu, the higher the chance of dying young. Unfortunately that's the way it's always been." Tōshirō stayed silent, suddenly feeling nervous. "You say you've met them, are you aware of how often they are attacked by hollows?"
"Well, the one without reiatsu rarely gets attacked, but the other one does, a lot actually. Or at least a lot for a human. And because they're sisters they're often together meaning that they're both likely to get attacked."

Tōshirō's insides started to twist. He didn't realise just how much danger the two of them were in, especially Karin. They couldn't be protected every single second of the day, no matter how hard you tried. "You really think they could get attacked and killed?"
"It's likely. And being around their brother all the time is making it worse."
"Ichigo's not living with them any more. He's gone off to university. I think he's in his last year or something, he's been gone a while."
Ukitake nodded. "Well that helps, but the situation wasn't brilliant to begin with."
"I see."

It was a while before Tōshirō spoke again. "Do you think I made it worse? Spending time with them?"
"I wouldn't have thought so, you're much more in control of your reiatsu than Ichigo is."
"It still wouldn't have helped though."
"Well admittedly no, probably not. But it wouldn't have the made it much worse."
Tōshirō sighed heavily and stared at the floor before speaking very quietly. "This whole thing was a mistake."
Ukitake gave him a kind, but sad smile. "I take the girl you ended up in a relationship with was one of the Kurosaki girls then. The one with more reiatsu?"
Tōshirō nodded. "Yeah. I ended up in a relationship with her that never would've ended well while managing to put her life in danger more than it already was. I'm so stupid."

Ukitake could see why he was kicking himself so hard over this. He also understood why he seemed so depressed recently. "You're not stupid Tōshirō. You fell for her. Believe me, it's always hard to think things through properly when it's concerned with the woman you love."
"But I should've stopped it before it began!"
Ukitake shook his head. "If I'm honest Tōshirō I don't think you should have stopped it at all."
Tōshirō looked up at him. "What?"
"She was good for you. Before the two of you split up you seemed a lot happier than you were before, you weren't as irritable, you seemed less stressed, in fact generally you seemed a lot healthier."
"That doesn't matter. I was putting her in more danger than she needed to be in. Besides she was the one who ended it, not me."

"Of course it matters. You're always so busy thinking about other people's safety and happiness that you forget about your own. It's ok to be selfish once in a while. Besides, if you were with her all the time, wouldn't she be safer? She'd have a shinigami to help her with any hollows that attacked her. And you say she ended it, but did she? She may have told you that she has doubts, but there are problems in every single relationship. And when you come across problems you work together to build a bridge to get over it. Agreeing that you have a problem is a first step. After that, it's up to the couple. Either they work past it and become stronger, or they end up running away from each other, thinking it's for the best. And yes, sometimes it is for the best, but I don't think this is one of those times. If it was, you would be able to get over her a little more easily, because you would see the relationship as completely impossible. But you don't do you? There's still a part of you, hoping that it will work out."

Tōshirō was a little surprised by Ukitake's speech. After thinking for a while he spoke up. "Ok yes, I'm still hoping that a relationship will work. But that doesn't mean it will. I have a different view point than her. She might think it's impossible. She might have already gotten over it. Maybe this is one of those times where breaking is for the best."

Ukitake nodded. "I understand your doubts. But I believe you should at least think about it. Visit the human world again. If you honestly think that there's no way a relationship would work then try moving on by attacking the problem directly. Stop tiptoeing over issues and just try to move past it. It's like trying to get over a fear, sometimes it's best to just go for it head-on. If you think there's a possibility that a relationship would work, then again, go to the human world, and find this girl. Fix the problems."

Tōshirō stayed still for a while, thinking about what Ukitake had said. He then nodded and stood up. "Ok. I'll think about it." He bowed to Ukitake before speaking again. "Thank you."
"Not a problem Hitsugaya. I'm always here if you wish to talk."
Tōshirō nodded. "Oh, also, if you wouldn't mind, could you not talk to anyone about this?"
"Of course. They're personal matters, I won't mention them to anyone."
"Thank you."
Ukitake nodded and gave a small wave as Tōshirō left his office.

XxXxXxXxXxX

No matter how much Tōshirō thought about it, it didn't matter how much he wanted a relationship with Karin or not, because it all depended on her. And she was the one who originally had doubts. Did she definitely want it to end, or did she want him to help her with the problems? At the time he couldn't see how he could help her, so he ended it. Truth be told he still couldn't see how he could help her, but after months and months of not talking to her or being in a relationship any more, he felt like he couldn't take it any more. He decided that he would talk to her, but he had no idea how he was going to do that.

He had to figure it out pretty quickly as well, as you had to have members of the Kido corps to open the gates to other realms for you, you had to inform them in advance if you wanted to go. He had told them when he wanted the gate open, he had asked a month in advance, assuming that would give him all the time he would need, but the day he was supposed to go to the human world was tomorrow and he had no idea how to go about it. He knew he couldn't back out, because if he did that he would never stop running away. He just wished he could figure out what to say, or at the very least manage to sleep.

Tōshirō eventually managed to drift off, but in the early hours of the morning. It wasn't long until he had wake up and face Karin. Or at least attempt to face her. He still had no idea what to say. He had a feeling that even if he prepared what to say beforehand words would escape him at the sight of her. So he figured he would stop trying to figure out what to say. It didn't stop him from worrying about it though.

Before long he woke up to the sound of his alarm. He got out of bed, feeling very very sick. He got dressed slowly, fumbling over even the simplest of tasks. He made himself breakfast but he couldn't bring himself to eat it. Feeling like it was now or never, he left his house and went over to the gate, to leave Soul Society and go into the human world.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Talking to Karin was not going as well as it was supposed to. He spotted her walking to school with Yuzu, but he couldn't bring himself to go up and talk to her. Not to mention he would probably make her late for school. He considered talking to her during her lunch break, but again, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He sat on a random roof, looking down at the street below before looking up at the stars. They were beautiful, but they just reminded him of Karin. He wondered if he should just give up trying to talk to her and go back to Soul Society. He looked back up at the stars and recognised some of the constellations that Karin had pointed out to him. The memory made him feel like crying. He was about to jump off the roof and make his way back to Soul Society when he heard a far too familiar voice.

"Tōshirō!"

'Shit.' Tōshirō automatically turned round to face the woman who shouted his name. Judging from her expression she didn't mean to shout out his name, but accidentally did so out of shock. Which she clearly regretted. Well didn't that make things easier? He gave a short nod to signal that he acknowledged that she was there. Almost immediately he wished he could take it back. He didn't do it with a smile or any sort of expression really, thinking about it now it must've seemed like quite a cold action. Which she did not react well to. It looked like she was torn between running, bursting into tears or ripping him to shreds with her bare hands. To be honest out of all of them he'd prefer the last one.

Eventually anger came out as the strongest emotion rather than sadness, which honestly he was thankful for. He felt like he could deal with her anger better than her crying.

"What the hell are you doing here!?"
Tōshirō almost winced as he heard her spit the words out. He couldn't muster up the courage to tell her the truth. "Just because we split up doesn't mean I can stop going to human world. I still have a job, part of that is investigating the human world. I didn't mean to run into you, I honestly had no idea you were going to walk down this street."
Karin tried to reel in her anger. If he could be civil, so could she. "I see. What sort of thing are you investigating?"
Tōshirō shrugged. "The usual stuff. The amount of hollow attacks, that sort of thing."

Karin nodded before the two of them fell into a very awkward silence. Tōshirō cautiously studied Karin. She was acting calm, but her body language said different. The words 'the calm before the storm' flashed through his head. Karin dragged his attention back to reality by speaking in a pretty suspicious tone. "Are you really here to investigate the hollows? Because I haven't seen many recently."
"You use products from Urahara don't you?"
"Well yeah but still..."
"What?"
Karin sighed angrily. "It's just that you pick your bloody moments, that's what."
'Here comes the storm' "What are you talking about?"

Karin glared at him. "I have enough problems as it is without you showing up! I have really important, basically life-determing exams coming up, I haven't been able to figure out what college to go yet, I can't find a job anywhere and then you decide to show up as well! I don't need it right now!"
Tōshirō deliberately put on a confused expression. "I'm sorry you're under a lot of stress at the minute, but why do I cause a problem?"
"Are you seriously asking that question!? Isn't it obvious!?"
"No."
Karin was balling up her fists, incredibly annoyed. "I swear to God Tōshirō, if you don't stop playing dumb right now-"
"Look I think I know what you're talking about, but I don't want to be wrong about it."
Karin narrowed her eyes. "What difference does it make?"
"It makes all the difference! I can't get over you ok!? No matter how hard I try I just can't! And if you can't either then...Then maybe...We should...Well try again?"

Shock was written all over Karin's face. "Are you serious? I thought we said it wouldn't work! It's hard enough to get over you, and vice versa, and you're just making it worse!"
"Look Karin, if neither of us wants to be apart from each other what's the point?"
"Because a relationship won't work!"
Toshiro couldn't help but see the slight panic in her eyes. The poor girl didn't know what to do. "But it could. Possibly. Maybe. I feel like we should at least talk about it."
"What is there even to talk about? What options do we even have?"
"Well..."
Karin gave him a pointed look. "See! Can you even think of anything?"
"You know there was one shinigami-human couple that worked. One that I'm aware of anyway."

Karin sighed as she leaned against a nearby lamppost, deciding to listen to Tōshirō.
"There was a shinigami who fell in love with a human, and he figured that he couldn't live without her, so he turned his shinigami powers dormant and lived with her like a human. They had a family. They were happy...until she died. But even then it's a good family, they miss their mother but they're still happy. Look, I just...I don't want to live without you."
The anger had disappeared from Karin's face. "Tosh, you do realise what you're implying right? I don't want you to do that."
Tōshirō walked closer to her. "It wouldn't be a permanent thing. And I wouldn't even try until we were completely sure we would work. And hey Urahara's good at inventing stuff, maybe he could create a gigai that could age, work completely like a human body or something. My point is we have options." Tōshirō came even closer to her, gently placing his hands on her waist. "I don't want to lose you."

Karin bit her lip, trying her hardest not to cry. With all of the stress she was under lately, being completely physically and emotionally exhausted, and with the sudden shock and confusion that had hit her system when Tōshirō showed up, it was hard not to. "I...I dunno. I mean, I...I want to be with you, but, what if it doesn't work? What if we're just making it worse?"
"Isn't that the same for all relationships? You never know what's round the corner, but there are ways round this problem we've got now."
"It still requires making huge changes though."
"I know, but those changes are a while away still, and they're not permanent."
Karin looked up at him. "So, we don't have to think about them yet, as long as we know they're there?"

Tōshirō nodded. "Yeah. I know it's a little sudden to go from being apart for months to thinking about this stuff yet, all I'm asking is that you think about whether we could work."
"You...You really wanna try again?"
"Yes."
"And you're sure about this?"
"I'm sure."
"Does this mean if we break up again I can completely blame you?"
Tōshirō's face broke out in a grin. "Does that mean you're willing to give it another go?"
Karin looked up at him before nodding. "...Yeah. But if it does go wrong I am totally blaming you."
Tōshirō couldn't stop grinning. "Feel free."

Karin laughed and hugged him. "So what made you come talk to me?"
"...Well I missed you a lot. And to be honest, I couldn't get over you. So I talked to someone about that and they told me that I should talk to you."
"Really? Who?"
"Another captain. He's practically famous for being nice. He used to give me tons of sweets when I was younger. Still tries to occasionally."
Karin laughed. "Aww, how cute."
Toshiro nodded. "Yeah."
"Tosh?"
"Hmm?"

Karin stared at the floor. "...I really missed you too.
Toshiro wrapped his arms around her tightly. She looked up at him before snuggling into his neck. "Are you sure this can work?"
"If there isn't a way at the minute, and I'm 98 percent sure this is, then I'll find one."
She smiled before barely whispering. "Thank you...for coming back."
Toshiro looked down at her. "It was hard not to."

Like I said, it isn't my best, but hopefully it wasn't too bad. I suppose as the list of prompts were given to me (I didn't choose them) there are going to be chapters that aren't as good as other chapters. Also there are a few things I wanted to write during the chapter but they didn't really fit in:

I think Ukitake would be pretty shocked that the reason Toshiro was upset, but I personally think that he knows Toshiro better than Toshiro actually thinks he does, and would know to not let his shock become obvious because it would end up distracting from the main point of the conversation and the two of them would've gone off on a tangent instead of helping Toshiro.

I feel like it seems Karin gave up pretty easily and went back to Toshiro, which is pretty OOC. But I think she would've been just as depressed as Toshiro (the difference being I think she would probably show it less, given just how amazingly headstrong she is) and would want to get back together with him but generally would be stubborn and wouldn't get back together with him anyway. Normally that is. However because she's stressed from really important exams, suffering from sleep deprivation and general pressure of life which I personally find has a tendency to suddenly start getting a lot heavier when you turn 15/16 means that she would give in much more easily.

Yeah, I felt like I had to point those out, I wanted to get them across in the story but I wasn't sure I did. Anyway, reviews would be really appreciated with this chapter, because I want to improve and this isn't my best work, so please feel free to tell me how things could be better.

The next chapter is 'Time' and the one after that is 'Lies'. Both of them are planned out and will probably be short, certainly shorter than this one. The one after that, chapter 11 is 'Bandage' is also planned out, and I actually quite like how it looks like it will turn out. I hope you look forward to them! They'll probably be posted soon, as I haven't been given much work to do from college this week. Thanks for reading!