Hey guys! Sorry it took longer than I thought, the chapter ended up being longer than I expected. There's a lot of dialogue, and I don't think I've ever really written a chapter so centred around dialogue. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

(Quick note, I try to use my 'lunatasha' tumblr to provide updates and stuff because I feel guilty if I suddenly fall ill and make the chapters late without warning. The problem is because it's a separate account from my personal one, I often forget. Would twitter work? I don't know whether to bother or not to be honest. Opinions?)

SUMMARY: The words coming out his grandmother's mouth sounded like an old wives tale. And yet the longer he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Chapter 14: Found

Tōshirō poured two cups of tea, setting one of them down in front of his grandmother and the other one opposite her, before moving to sit down at the table. His grandmother gave him a weak smile and started talking. "It is nice to see you visit Tōshirō, you don't come to see me as often as you did."
"Sorry Granny, things have been busy to say the least."
The elderly woman nodded wisely. "I've heard. Although some of the rumours seem exaggerated."
Tōshirō smiled lightly. "Then they're probably not. Weird things have happened in the past couple of years."

"Do you mean to tell me that Soul Society really is changing?"
Tōshirō nodded. "Yeah. It's slow, but it's getting there."
"For the better?"
Tōshirō nodded again. "Definitely. It's hard to explain. People thought for themselves before, but it like a lot of people are starting to think that things could be better. Things seem a bit more humane. Who knew all we needed was a group of teenage humans?"
"So the rumours really are true? A group of young humans invaded to save a shinigami who was sentenced to death?"
"Yes. They succeeded too. I'm glad they did. There are people complaining that these changes aren't in keeping with tradition, but, some of the traditions of Soul Society are less than pleasant."

Tōshirō's grandmother nodded. "Never thought I would see such a thing happen in my lifetime."
"You're not the only one."
The woman in front of him raised an eyebrow. "The way you talk has changed."
"Oh. Um, I guess that happens when you spend so much time in the living world."
"Oh my, why have you been in the living world for so long?"
Tōshirō shrugged. "Missions. It's just that those missions can often end up being a little more complicated."
"Oh?"
"Humans are complex to say the least. They're usually the ones that make the missions complicated."

His grandmother's expression urged Tōshirō to continue. "They have a tendency to know stuff they shouldn't, and see stuff they shouldn't be able to, not the mention there's a particular human I keep encountering who keeps trying to do things she shouldn't."
"If you ask me young one, women who are stubborn tend to be the best ones."
"I...I see your point but, she keeps putting herself in danger. It...Makes me worry."
The elderly woman gave Tōshirō a pointed look. "Yes I know the feeling. I doubt you know this, but Momo had been begging me for months on end to let her become a shinigami before I gave in and allowed her to do so. It's hard to let people do what they want if it's risky, but you cannot cage up the people you care about."

"She begged you for months?"
"Yes."
"When I asked you first time you let me."
"It was a little easier as you weren't the first to ask, but it was impossible to ignore the determinism in your eyes. I had to let you fly. And fly you did. You became the youngest Captain. Risk suits some people."

Tōshirō nodded thinking about what she had said while drinking his tea. She had a point. Risk did suit some people. Take Ichigo Kurosaki for example. The sheer risk of himself and his friends dying meant he became one of the most powerful shinigami Soul Society had become associated with. He wondered if it applied to all members of the Kurosaki family.

"So, what is this young woman like?"
"Well, different. She's stubborn, struggles to take no for an answer and is generally a pain in the a-neck." Tōshirō stumbled a little on the last word, not particularly feeling like getting reprimanded for language he knew his grandmother didn't approve of.
"But?"
Tōshirō looked over to his grandmother and sighed. "But, she's also wonderful and caring, intelligent and strangely engaging."

His grandmother tilted her head ever so slightly. "Strangely engaging?"
"Yeah. Well I mean we've managed to have conversations that go on longer than an hour, we never seem to run out of things to say. I really don't know how."
"My, that is quite an impressive feat, especially with how you are when it comes to talking." Tōshirō nodded before the older woman continued. "So, is she pretty?"
"I-What?"
"Is she pretty?"
"I...Well yeah but..."

His grandmother gave him a knowing smile. "Sounds like you found the other side of your red string."
Tōshirō gave her a sceptical look. "As in the red string of fate? Granny that's a myth."
His grandmother shook her head with a smile on her face. "If you've been alive for as long as I have, you would believe it too." Tōshirō still had a dubious look on his face. "Tōshirō, do you ever feel drawn to her?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you're in the living world, do you ever feel the need to go see her, to talk to her? I know she makes you worry, but at the same time do you feel glad to see her again?"

Tōshirō sat there, drinking the last of his tea in silence, thinking.
"Oh!"
Tōshirō looked to his grandmother and then followed the direction of her eyes. "It's a hell butterfly."
He stood up from his chair and caught the butterfly, it fluttering a little before settling down and playing the message. He sighed as the hell butterfly flew off, having completed it's job. "Granny I have to go, I have a mission."
"Where?"
"...The living world."
His grandmother nodded. "Do yourself a favour Tōshirō, think about what I said, particularly when you're in the living world."
Tōshirō nodded and bid goodbye, needing to leave as fast as possible.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Tōshirō made his way over to Karin as quickly as possible, unsheathing his Zanpaktō as he did. He cleanly cut off the arms of the hollow that were holding Karin tightly before tearing through the hollow's head. Karin screamed as she started to fall to the floor, the hollow had been holding her up quite a high. Tōshirō rolled his eyes before shunpoing over to her and catching her. "Why bother screaming when you know I'm going to catch you?"
"Hey, falling like 20/30 feet is scary! Besides I don't know that you're going to catch me!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're not always here!"

It was then when Tōshirō noticed the bruises on Karin's legs, which had clearly been caused by a hollow. Today wasn't the first attack she suffered this week. Tōshirō felt a pang of guilt, watching Karin wince as he put her gently on her feet. "What happened?"
Karin followed Tōshirō's gaze and realised he was talking about the attack a couple days ago. "I was walking home from school. It kinda just popped out of nowhere and grabbed me. I really thought I was screwed that time."
"Who saved you?"
"The shinigami who's stationed here actually did his damn job for once."
"I see...Sorry."
"What for?"
"Not being here."

Karin shook her head. "Look, you can't be here all the time. You can however, get more shinigami stationed here."
Tōshirō smiled. "I'll look into it."
"You better." Tōshirō nodded. "So what are you here for this time?"
"Hollows. Again."
Karin rolled her eyes. "Are you the only one in Soul Society who has a brain? They know this city's a hotspot, instead of sending people to investigate the increase of hollows, which is almost always caused by the citizens, which they can't stop, they should just station more shinigami here."

Tōshirō nodded. "I know. I agree. But the Head Captain wants to keep track of those emitting the most reiatsu. I will try to get more shinigami round here. Kuchiki was trying to get that happen, but not everyone trusts her."
"Rukia? Why not?"
"There's a few commanding officers who can't seem to get over the fact that she's an ex-convict."
Karin stared at Tōshirō. "Huh? Rukia? You're kidding right? She's so sweet!"
Tōshirō shrugged. "I know she's a good person. But she still committed a crime. Some people can't seem to forget that. Despite that it led to one of their best soldiers."

Karin paused for a moment before replying. "My brother?"
"Yeah."
"So what was the crime? Getting too involved with humans?"
"No, if that was it I would be in prison by now. She transferred her powers to your brother."
Karin nodded. "Well hopefully they'll listen to you."
"Hopefully."
"Hey you know that your Head Captain person wants to keep track of people with the most reiatsu? Whose on top of that list?"

Tōshirō gave her a pointed a look. "After your brother lost his powers, it became you."
"Huh? But what about Orihime and that lot?"
"They can control it. You can't. So you're on the top."
"Ah. Well that would explain a lot."
"Yeah."
"Hey, why can't you teach me how to control it then?"
"I would, but I've been ordered not to."

Karin looked beyond confused. "Why not?"
"Well I can't explain it fully because it's something your father or your brother should tell you, but, you have the potential to become a shinigami like your brother did."
"...Surely that would only happen if powers got transferred to me like Ichigo though?"
Tōshirō shook his head. "Not necessarily. In the past year it's become apparent that it's a little more complicated than that."
"But how does that make sense? I'm completely human...Unless..."

Tōshirō looked over to her, worried that she was going to catch on. "What on earth are you talking about Kurosaki?"
"Don't call me Kurosaki, call me Karin and shut up a second." 'Rukia transferred her powers to Ichigo'
"Kurosaki-"
Karin put her hand over Tōshirō's mouth. "Shut up!" 'But...it makes no sense that she would transfer all of it so...Something happened? Ichigo took them? Without realising it? He got injured after Rukia left, so his power depended on her being near? But he managed to use them again after she left...So he got some of his own?'

Tōshirō had paused for a moment, a little surprised by what Karin had done before grabbing Karin's wrist tightly and pulling her hand away from his face and spinning her round to face him.
"Ichigo had shinigami powers of his own somehow. He had them already but..."
Tōshirō groaned internally. Sometimes he hated that she was so intelligent. He wondered if she got it from her mother.

"They were dormant? But Rukia set them off? So I also have dormant shinigami powers?"
Tōshirō scrunched up his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before nodding, knowing full well that it was not his place to tell her this. "Yes. Which is why I've been ordered not to teach you anything."
"Because there's a worry it's gonna set them off."
"Basically."
Karin thought for a moment. "Would that be a bad thing though?"
"We don't know. That's why we're leaving it. For all we know you could follow in your brother's footsteps, or your human body might not take it and give up."
"Human body? So my soul's not human?"

Tōshirō pinched the bridge of his nose again, realising his mistake. "Not completely."
"But I thought you did shinigami stuff separated from your body, why would my having shinigami powers effect my body?"
Toshiro struggled to find the right words. "It's hard to explain...If...Well I mean..If you find yourself in serious danger you usually act on impulse right?" Karin nodded so Tōshirō continued. You could wake up your powers without realising and use them, while still in your human body."
"And that's not supposed to happen?"
"No. There was an incident a couple decades ago where a teenage boy found himself facing a powerful hollow."
"What happened?"
"He used his powers...And set himself alight at the same time. Turns out he had a fire-based Zanpaktō. He burned to death."

Karin's eyes widened. "Oh."
"That's why we don't want to teach you anything, in case that sort of thing happens again."
Karin nodded. "Yeah...Although there's one thing I don't get. How do humans get shinigami powers? Aren't humans and shinigami technically different species?"
"Yeah but they aren't that different, so the two species can interbreed."
"Causing hybrids that aren't really supposed to exist."
"Yeah."
"Wait but doesn't that mean that somewhere in my family tree there's a shinigami?"

Tōshirō glared at her. "How the hell do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Get me to say things I shouldn't!"

Karin shrugged a little awkwardly. "You always carefully calculate what to say when you're with other people, like you're putting a shield between you and the other person, but you don't with me. You let yourself be, well you, around me. You drop that shield, so you say what you're thinking rather than what you should say. I don't think you're used to having your shields down either, which is why you give information so easily."
Tōshirō stared at Karin. He didn't expect her to say that.
Karin shrugged. "That's what it seems like anyway. I gotta go or else my dad will whine at me for being late for dinner. See ya."

Tōshirō watched her leave, mulling over what she had said. It's true that he didn't think too hard about what he said to Karin, he just said what came to mind. That last conversation was proof enough of that. He wouldn't have said that he wasn't himself around other people but he did feel more natural around her. He groaned out loud as he started to wander round the city. She was more of a pain than he first realised.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Tōshirō stared out at the cityscape, looking down at all of the people walking here and there, lights illuminating the night sky.
"Hey!"
Tōshirō jumped and almost fell off the roof. "Kurosaki what the hell!"
Karin laughed. "Did you forget that I can actually sense reiatsu unlike my brother?"
"...Maybe."
Karin grinned. "Why are you on the roof anyway?"
"It's pretty good place to observe the city, in case anything bad happens."

The real reason Tōshirō was on the Kurosaki roof was that he was worried, not that he was going to tell her. He knew for a while that Karin's dormant shinigami powers could pose a danger to her, but it didn't really dawn on him until he saw the fear on her face. He wanted to make sure she was ok, she had found out a lot of quite frankly scary information that she probably would've been happier without knowing today.

"How are you?"
Karin shrugged, a little thrown off by the question. "Um, ok. Why?"
"It couldn't have been fun finding all that information out today."
Karin nodded. "Oh that. Don't worry about that. The way I see it is knowledge is power. It's better for me to know than for me to be clueless."
"You were never clueless. You figured out half of it on your own."

Karin sat down close to him. "Only because you led me there. When we first met I had no idea. I just knew I had seen some really weird stuff. You're the only one who tells me stuff. And if it wasn't for half of the stuff you've told me I'd probably be dead by now. So do me a favour and never apologise for telling me these things, kay?"
Tōshirō nodded. "I'm seriously the only person who tells you anything?"
"Yeah. Ichigo completely refuses to say anything, even when I confront him. I think Rukia's pretty sure that I know about shinigami, but doesn't want to confirm it just in case she's wrong-" Karin stopped as she saw Tōshirō's confused expression. "What?"
"What do you mean?"

"I dunno how to explain it. You know when you have a crush on someone, and in some cases you'll see signs that they like you back? To the point where you're like 90 percent sure they like you back, but that 10 percent is enough to scare you out of saying anything. Because no one wants to confess to someone, thinking they like you back when it turns out they don't and they were just super friendly or something and you misconstrued their actions, you know? It's the same thing. I think Rukia knows that I know about shinigami, but doesn't know completely for sure, so she's reluctant to say anything, because what if I didn't know anything all along and she just revealed the whole shinigami thing to a human?"
Tōshirō nodded. "I get what you mean."
"You do? Does that mean you've had a crush before?"

Tōshirō paused, realising that Karin had managed to get information out of him again. He spoke with a smile on his face. "I hope you know that I despise you."
Karin laughed. "Aww, you know you love me." Tōshirō turned his head towards her rather suddenly. "What? Oh I'm not freaking you our or anything am I?"
Tōshirō shook his head. "No, it's just that the word love is rarely tossed around in Soul Society. I rarely hear it. I forget that humans are generally, well much more open, so it surprised me."
"You're telling me that you don't get told by people that they love you? Even family?"
"My grandmother, who I rarely see these days has told me that she loves me, and Matsumoto's implied it very occasionally, but other than that, no I don't."

"That seems kinda bizarre. I mean my dad will tell me that he loves me at least twice a day, Yuzu says it fairly regularly, even Ichigo who's usually terrible with feelings tells me often enough. I suppose it's a more common thing here. I say it pretty regularly, to family and friends. I don't really think about it."
Tōshirō nodded. "See, in Soul Society emotions are often seen as a weakness. So if someone tells you they love you, they really mean it."
"I see. Doesn't that just put so much more pressure onto confessing your feelings to people?"
"Yeah. To be honest I think the idea of emotions being a weakness gets so ingrained into shinigami that they themselves can rarely tell if they like someone, let alone tell that person."

Karin nodded. "Wow so the marriage rate must be really low."
"I wouldn't even call it a rate, marriage is more of an occasional happening in Soul Society."
"Well that's kinda sad. Most people here will get married at least once."
"At least once?"
"Well not all marriages are successful. Divorces aren't exactly rare."
"A divorce being a separation?"
"Yeah, you don't know?"
"I've never heard of any married people splitting up in Soul Society. It's usually the case that one dies, which ends the marriage."

Karin whistled. "No divorces, now that seems like a strange concepts. It's like one extreme to the other. Both worlds need to meet in the middle."
"Yeah but that's when hybrids like you happen."
"Hey don't call me a hybrid! Besides, it's not like I turned out so bad."
"You turned out great, but you can be a huge danger to yourself without even realising. Not the best genetics."
"Maybe not. Whoa wait Soul Society wouldn't try to control me having children or anything would they?"

Tōshirō shook his head. "I really doubt we have that authority over humans. They may give you advice on it. To be honest it would entirely depend on who you had children with."
"It would?"
"Well yeah. Having children with a shinigami would actually be a lot less problematic than having children with a human."
"How so?"
"Well human DNA is just human DNA. It doesn't have the potential to give you powers. Shinigami DNA is more dominant because even a small dormant amount can become a problem if there's enough danger around. So if you had a child that was three quarters shinigami you can almost guarantee that the child will be a shinigami. If you had a child that was one quarter shinigami, well you just wouldn't know."

Karin nodded. "Well this is a conversation I'd never thought I'd have."
Tōshirō smiled. "Tell me about it."
"You know I just realised something."
"What?"
"You said that if I have children they're either gonna be three quarters shinigami or one quarter shinigami, which means I must be half shinigami."
"Oh fuck."
Karin laughed. "You shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It actually makes a lot of things make a lot more sense."

Tōshirō raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah. Like how my dad wasn't particularly worried when Ichigo disappeared for weeks on end. He knew. He knew everything."
Tōshirō nodded. "Still, I shouldn't have said anything. I've told you far too much over the years."
"Maybe, but I think it's done more good than harm. When it comes to me anyway. I'm not stupid enough to go round telling people all the things you've told me. And some of the information you've told me saved my life. Or made my life make a lot more sense as the case maybe. Besides, it makes me happy knowing that you can talk easily to someone, even if it is a girl like 10 times younger than you who lives in a different world."

Tōshirō gave her a small smile. "Yeah, it would've made my life a lot easier if you closer to home."
Karin nodded. "Probably. Life is strange that way. They say people who match always find each other in the end though."
Tōshirō raised an eyebrow. "Red string of fate?"
"Huh...I thought it was the red thread of destiny...But yeah. Some people think it only works with lovers, but others think it relates to all sorts of relationships. I kinda lean towards the latter."
"I'm surprised you of all people believe in it."

"I usually wouldn't with this sort of thing. But to be honest there's something comforting about it. I hate the idea that my fate has been decided for me already, I mean my life is my life you know, but it's a nice thought that I will find the right person in the end because I'm connected to them. I never used to believe in it. But after I found out about shinigami it got me wondering. Humans don't die as such, they just lose their bodies. They become souls or shinigami."
"Or hollows."
"Or hollows. But they all die too. It doesn't make sense to say that that is when life definitely ends. It seems much more logical to assume that they change into something else, into another dimension. Life cycles round. I just think it's a really nice a concept that those who belong together will always be connected."

Tōshirō mused over Karin's words. She had a point. Tōshirō didn't spend time wondering about the future of his love life as humans supposedly did, but it was comforting thought that you'd find them one or another, in the end. And given how unstable Karin's life had become, he could understand why she would cling to the idea of the red string of fate, because it really was a comforting thought, even if neither of them quite believed it.

"It is a nice concept, but how are you supposed to know when you find them?"
Karin shrugged before turning her head to look at the city below them. "Presumably you fall in love. Which is said to be something you can only really understand when you're in it."
"From what I've seen even then it's confusing."
Karin smiled. "Yeah. I think it's really hard to understand when you love someone. I think sometimes it just dawns on you that you really care about someone. That you worry about them all the time, that you want to protect them, that you want to spend a lot of time with them, you know?"

Tōshirō turned to Karin, watching her watching the city. "I know." He hadn't thought about it that way. That way actually made sense. He had never really thought about the red string of fate, having always dismissed it as a myth, but it was true that certain people were more suited for each other. And Karin had heard at least one version of the concept that involved more than one type of relationship. Maybe the red string of fate had some merit to it. Because he did want to protect Karin, and he liked spending time with her, and he did worry about her. So maybe he had found the other end of his red string. Now all he had to find out was what kind of relationship it was. Tōshirō bit back a sigh as he looked over to Karin again. Something told him that wasn't going to be easy.

I hope you guys liked it! I really don't know when the next chapter will be as I have exams in January so I need to focus on revision for a while, but hopefully it won't be ages. Thanks as always for the reviews, faves and alerts! The next chapter is 'Music'. Not entirely sure what to do for it, but we'll see what happens. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope you look forward to the next.