OMG you will NOT believe what happened to my internet these past few weeks! It DIED. And it wouldn't reboot! But today my dad got it fixed somehow so now I can upload stories! :D

DISCLAIMER OF DOOM GOES HERE.

Oh, yeah, don't worry, there will be a chapter come Saturday. I'm just catching up.

When he arrived at the door, he stopped. Should he really be taking Ichigo's room without his knowledge? When he came home, he would certainly throw a fit. Toshiro didn't have anywhere else to stay, did he? Even though he knew that Orihime had offered him a place to stay and he should not be in the Kurosaki home, he entered the room.

After he shut the door he slid to the floor. This wasn't going to be an easy job, especially since he didn't have sufficient spiritual pressure to properly train Karin. He furrowed his eyebrows. Rukia's attempt hadn't done so well, or maybe it was just because Ichigo was an idiot. Toshiro smirked. Karin seemed much more sensitive to a Hollow and its location. It was obvious from the last time he had seen her.

Flashback

Toshiro was positive that this meeting was one of the most boring ones ever, and he swore that Captain Kuchiki and Captain Soi Fon were asleep. As reports of their worsening situation in the ongoing war slid in one ear and out the other, he studied the other captains. Zaraki was tapping his foot in boredom, Ukitake was looking at the ceiling, and that new guy was paying rapt attention to Captain-Commander Yamamoto. He himself was about to attempt to go to sleep when he heard his name.

"Captain Hitsugaya."

"Yes, Captain-Commander?"

"You are to go to Karakura Town, by yourself, and turn Karin Kurosaki into a shinigami representative."

Toshiro's eyes widened in shock. "No!" he cried. "She would surely die!"

Captain-Commander Yamamoto's eyes crinkled- was he smiling? "If she is truly Ichigo Kurosaki's younger sister, then she will live and do a fine job. You yourself said that she has high spiritual pressure and that she can pinpoint a Hollow's location. That in itself is good enough. Plus, I hear from Rukia Kuchiki that Ichigo Kurosaki is away, and seeing as we need our shinigami here and ready to fight, Karakura Town is defenseless against Hollow and Arrancar attacks. Since she has high spiritual pressure, Karin Kurosaki would be an easy target."

Toshiro sighed in defeat. Captain-Commander was right. "I understand sir. But why, may I ask, am I supposed to do this?"

"You know her best out of all the captains. While she does know your vice-captain and vice-captain Abarai, as well as Rukia Kuchiki, I believe that you are the best suited for this. We want someone who has self-control, can train her, and someone that knows her. It is an added bonus that you look closer to her age."

"So, I am to turn her into a shinigami representative and train her. For how long do you wish me to train her?"

"I would like you to stay with her for at least six months, longer if you see fit. She needs to know everything about this war and she must be prepared to fight in it like her brother and his companions."

"S-six months?! Captain-Commander, you can't possibly expect me to leave my squad to my vice-captain for that long." Oh, the paperwork…

Captain-Commander chuckled slightly. "Yes, I do. Don't worry; I personally will make sure that your paperwork is being done."

End Flashback

Toshiro looked at the bed. It obviously had not been slept in for a while. He could feel eyes on him. "I know you're here," he muttered. Instantly a toy lion popped out of the closet.

"What are you doing here?" it demanded.

"My business is none of yours. I just wanted you to come out so I knew where you were." Kon started whining about something or other, and to make him shut up Toshiro thrust him back in the closet. "Be quiet already," he ordered, annoyed.

A knock sounded from the door. Karin poked her head in. "Hey, can I come in?"

"Go ahead." He sat down on the bed, waiting for her to come in. She headed over and sat down next to him.

"Do you miss Soul Society?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Well, I can't, seeing as I was only there this morning."

"In other words, yes, you do." Karin grinned at him.

Toshiro made a face. He did not like that she could read his words so easily. "I'm going to. Seeing as I was going to be with you for six months to start with. Now I think I'll have to stay longer so I whenever I get my spiritual pressure back I can start training you to use yours properly."

"You're going to be training me?" Karin asked, surprised.

He sent her an icy stare. "You're insane if you think I'm going to let you wander around, attempting to fight Hollows on your own and not knowing how to properly perform soul burials. Plus, Soul Society is in a war and the more capable warriors we have the better."

Karin sent him a hot glare. "You're telling me they ordered me to become a shinigami simply because you guys are in some stupid war?!"

He flinched away from her. He was ice, she was fire. They do not mix. So what was he doing, being in such close proximity to her? "I believe it to be so. Captain-Commander Yamamoto said as much."

"Why didn't you tell me before I signed up for this?" she demanded hotly.

He sighed, then said frostily, "It is part of the duty of a shinigami. You are expected to follow orders, to fight for your squad, and to fight in any war. Right now we're in a war that's been going on for a few years."

"How long then?" Karin asked.

"You bounce around a lot of subjects, you know that?" Toshiro commented, looking at her.

She laid back on the bed. "Like a soccer ball I guess. And could you please answer my question?"

"Four years now. Actually, since at least a couple months before I saw you last." Karin stared up at him in shock.

"That long?" she asked in a small voice.

"We've had worse. However, I suspect this to be a very long battle."

"Why?" She was annoyingly curious.

"It's because three captains are leading the opposing side. Actually, only one, but the other two are helping nonetheless."

"And since these were captains, they know everyone and their abilities?"

"Well, pretty much. At least, the stronger people anyway." His frown deepened, and the atmosphere charged up.

However, Karin spoiled it by jumping up and kicking the door open. "How many times must it be done?!" she screeched. "Don't listen in on private conversations!" Toshiro craned his head to see Isshin and Yuzu sprawled on the floor, drinking glasses next to them.

Holy Hougyouku! I wonder how much they heard? he thought.

Apparently, Karin was thinking the same thing. "How much did you hear?" she demanded.

It was Yuzu who answered. "Only something about stronger people nee-chan." She seemed ashamed at having been caught eavesdropping.

"Yeah, well, don't listen anymore, and if you could please refrain Pops from doing it too, I would greatly appreciate it." With that, Karin shut the door.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow as she regained her former position. "Does that happen often?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. Could you continue?"

"Aizen, the leader, he… It's a long story and it starts in many places."

Karin frowned. She wasn't going to let him not tell her. She'd know everything, even if she had to resort to kicking him in the leg. "Start with this Aizen guy then."

"All right then. First, he set up an elaborate plot to retrieve a special item called the Hougyouku. It has immense spiritual pressure and can do a bunch of different stuff."

"So it's the whole 'if it falls into the wrong hands bad stuff will happen' cliché?"

"I suppose. Second, he faked his own death, and left his vice-captain a note. In it, he said that I was planning to take over the entire Soul Society and that he was going to confront me. His vice-captain, my friend Momo Hinamori, believed him and attacked me. It wasn't me of course, but no talking was going to convince her. She was so infatuated with him, everything he said was infallible. Momo hasn't been the same since. She's currently still in a coma, though she did wake up once."

Karin fell silent. A coma was almost as bad as death. The death of someone very close, like a dear friend or a parent, was the worse. "I think I know how you feel, in that respect. But please, continue."

He stopped to look at her. She was extremely good at concealing her feelings. However, it was obvious to him (maybe it was from many years of experience) that she was thinking of something upsetting. Deciding not to push it, he pressed on. "His plot involved Rukia Kuchiki. You remember her, correct?"

Karin rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. She was complaining about sleeping in our room when apparently she had been sleeping in Ichigo's closet before. I forced it out of Orihime that Rukia had been staying in our house for a while, had been sleeping in Ichigo's closet, and she had been wearing my sister's pajamas. No wonder we couldn't find them. What about her?"

"Well, you remember I was talking about a gigai earlier." She nodded. "Good. Rukia had lost her powers the same way I had- giving your brother his powers. She had received a gigai. However, this one sucked away her spiritual pressure instead of giving it back. It also carried the Hougyouku."

Karin listened with rapt attention as he explained how her brother had broken into the Seireitei with his friends. How he had saved Rukia from being executed by an order that was false. Toshiro had explained the Central 46 and how he had found that they had been dead for a long time; even before Rukia's execution order had been issued, therefore making it invalid. He explained what he had been doing in Karakura when she had first met him, and what Las Noches was. She had gasped in shock when he told her Orihime had been kidnapped and sighed in relief when he said that when that had come to light, Orihime was again considered an ally of Soul Society.

It may not have seemed like it, but she had the niggling feeling that Aizen had hurt him more than just laying false blame upon him and making a friend of his turn against him. When he had finished, she asked quietly, "Do you love Momo?"

He turned his head very, very slowly, as if that would make a difference in his hearing. "Huh?" was his extremely intelligent reply.

"Do… do you love Momo?" she asked again, blushing this time. She was stepping into uncharted territory here.

Toshiro opened his mouth to reply but no words came. Momo was only a childhood friend, right? Besides, he didn't have time to waste over something as silly as love. "In a way," he answered quietly.

"Enough to make you infuriated with this Aizen guy, even though you're only recounting events and explaining a situation to someone who's never even heard of the Soul Society?"

"Yes. Momo is an old childhood friend of mine. She wanted to enter into the Gotei 13 because of Aizen, she worked hard and tried to quickly move through the ranks because of Aizen, and then, he betrayed her. He destroyed her world. Now she's suffering and has been lying dormant in a coma for four years."

"I… I see." No, she didn't see. Karin had no one special enough in her life to be that much of a hero for her. When she was little, the heart of her family had died- her mom. Nothing had replaced that since then. "If it helps in any way, I lost my mom when I was little. Ichigo told me that a Hollow killed her."

That grabbed Toshiro's attention. "A Hollow? But why?"

Karin shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is this- Ichi-nii and I have strong spiritual pressure, and Yuzu has a little. Pops, I don't know how much he has. But anyway, it's possible it's because Mom had high spiritual pressure too. Or maybe she was protecting Ichi-nii, who does, from that Hollow."

Karin's logic did make sense- her family was a very yummy treat for Hollows. "I guess that makes sense. Why that Hollow appeared right after our soccer game."

Karin brightened. "You remembered! I'm glad."

"I don't forget stuff easily. I remember when I was little I could eat a watermelon half in less than a minute."

"Say whaaaaat? No way!" she shook her head in disbelief.

"It's true. I have a long memory."

Karin stared at him with her eyebrows raised. "Just how old are you Toshiro?"

"Nearly eighty."

Suddenly it became the quietest it had ever been in Karin's life. "N-no way. No way. You can't be eighty! Toshiro, you don't even look twenty!" She shook her head in defiance.

He looked at her, a ghost of a smile dancing across his lips. "We age extremely slowly in Soul Society. I will take it as a compliment. Though if you say that I look like a middle school student, I will be frustrated."

"Well, no, you grew a bit. Now you just look like a super short high school student."

He sighed tiredly. "I guess that'll have to do."

"Toshiro, are you afraid that people will look down on you because you're short? That's impossible. You're smart, and helpful, and strong, and handsome…"

"Handsome, you say?" Toshiro asked, wondering if she had really meant to tell him that.

Apparently not. She immediately blushed and stammered out, "N-no, I mean yes! I mean, ugh, this is stupid. Yes, you are handsome. It's obvious. Your hair is a clean white, and it's soft. And whether you like it or not, your eyes are a beautiful color."

"My hair is soft?" he asked, puzzled.

Karin stared at him, but then patted his head. "Silly, of course your hair is soft. Have you never felt your hair before?" She laughed a little.

"Excuse me, I've never felt the need to check if my hair was soft." He touched his hair and figured that his hair was soft, even though he had nothing to compare it to. The Captain of the Tenth Squad did not go around patting people's heads to check if their hair was soft. "Aren't you afraid of anything?"

"Yes, lots of things. Mostly I'm afraid of people getting scared of me."

"There's a reason for that you know. It's your ferocious kicks."

"I know that. But that's my answer."

Toshiro looked out the window. It was dark, stars were scattered everywhere. "It's beautiful, looking at the sky." He turned to look at her. "Your hair reminds me of it. That beautiful midnight sky."

She blushed. Did he mean it? For a moment, it felt like something would happen. Karin didn't know what, but something. Blinking, she forced herself to get together. "I'm going to go to bed, good night Toshiro." With that remark, she patted his hair again and left the room.

Toshiro fell back to the bed with a whump! and groaned.

Ha ha, I've ALWAYS wanted Toshiro to fail at complimenting a girl. XD

For the name contest, HONAGA is in the lead by at least two! I use DeviantArt votes as well as fanfiction votes! Do you want them again? Here they are (without the number of votes)!

Honaga- fire dragon

Honeko- fire cat

Kawaki- fire ring (this isn't Hawaiian, it just LOOKS Hawaiian. It is actually Japanese)

Homai (mae? I really need that cleared up)- fire dance