It was nighttime and all throughout Karakura Town, there was nothing but silence. In the Kurosaki Clinic however, a certain young soccer player turned Field Trainee Soul Reaper crept down the stairs. Passing the slumbering Momo on the couch and the quietly sleeping Nel in one of the empty patient rooms, Karin silently crept towards the door. She finally reached the door and successfully emerged out onto the street without drawing attention…or so she thought.

"A little late for you to be out isn't it?"

"Toshiro!" Karin exclaimed as she whirled around and looked up on the roof and saw both Toshiro and Rangiku standing in Soul Reaper form on the roof of the clinic.

"Isn't it a bit past your bed time?" Rangiku asked playfully.

"What are you two doing here?!" Karin asked.

"We're protecting Yuzu as per our duty and for some reason I doubt that you're doing the same thing." Toshiro replied.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to go…take a walk." Karin lied but Toshiro saw through the deception.

"Does this walk have to do anything with your absence prior to the soccer game?" Toshiro asked as Karin's eyes widened.

"How did you know?!" Karin asked in shock.

"Easy. You just confessed. I admit that I was suspicious and hoped that it wasn't true. But now the question is, where were you before the soccer match…and where were you at practice the afternoon before?" Toshiro asked calmly.

"I was…practicing my Bankai." Karin lied.

"Even though I begged you not to continue? I don't believe that your Bankai is what you have truly been practicing lately. No you are trying to achieve control of a different sort than Bankai and you know exactly what I'm talking about." Toshiro said as Karin stood staring away from the two. Suddenly she flash stepped into thin air.

"Captain!" Rangiku exclaimed.

"Stay here Rangiku! I'm going after her myself!" Toshiro ordered as he flash stepped after her.

Karin appeared on the roof of a building a couple of minutes later. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw nothing. She turned back around to see Toshiro standing in front of her with his arms crossed.

"It's just you and me now Karin. We don't have to use vague descriptions here." Toshiro said calmly as Karin quickly turned and flash stepped away again. But Toshiro was hot on her tail, even appearing ahead of her. Finally the two were standing in midair with Karin catching her breath.

"Do you want to talk now?" Toshiro asked patiently.

"No, Toshiro! Please stay back!" Karin pleaded as she reached for the hilt of her Zanpakuto. Toshiro was alarmed by this but stayed his hand away from Hyorinmaru.

"Why? What's wrong about telling a friend what the problem is?" Toshiro asked.

"I-I just…can't!" Karin replied as she slowly drew Hekireki Megami.

"If you're hoping to fight me, then you should know that you would undoubtedly lose. I don't want to fight you Karin." Toshiro said calmly.

"And I don't want to fight you. But I need to go and you can't follow me!" Karin replied as Toshiro paused for a while. He was mentally debating whether or not he should stop her or not.

"Karin…just tell me what you're doing and I will let you go without question." Toshiro said as Karin looked at him in shock.

"Just like that?" Karin asked as Toshiro nodded.

"I care for you Karin. More than one our age should. Granted I am technically older than you but that still makes no difference here. I don't want to see harm come towards you and I would gladly lay my life on the line to make sure that you are safe. To me, you are more than just another human…and you're more than just an ordinary Soul Reaper. To me, you are someone I feel like I could spend the rest of my life with. I lo-." Toshiro attempted to say before getting cut off by his having to dodge a lightning bolt sent at him from the end of Karin's Zanpakuto.

"Toshiro…don't lie. You don't care for me the way I do you and I know it. I heard what you said that first night after Bankai practice. You said that any attempts at any sort of a romance would be futile at both yours and my age. That we still have many years before any such ideas could hold genuine meaning…and that during that time we may have feelings someone else or maybe not. But that does not prevent you from at least attempting to maintain a healthy relationship with me. I'm tougher than most others, but I'm still a girl with a heart. I have never felt so hurt than the way I did that night Toshiro, I hadn't felt that bad since my mom died. That's why I…why I want you to leave me the hell alone from now on!" Karin shouted tearfully as she flung another lightning bolt at him.

"Karin I-!" Toshiro attempted to yell but was stopped as he quickly drew Hyorinmaru to deflect another bolt.

"Surge, Hekireki Megami! Toshiro I'm begging you, just leave me alone!" Karin yelled tearfully as her Zanpakuto started to glow with electrical energy.

"KARIN! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!" Toshiro shouted as Karin paused and looked at her released Zanpakuto.

"Look at yourself! Is this what your Inner Hollow is making you do?! Is this what bringing you to the Soul Society has brought upon you?! I beg you Karin, to stop and think about what you're doing, before you completely lose control! I can tell right now that you're fighting to maintain control of your actions, because any minute now, your Inner Hollow will emerge and attempt to take control again! I'm begging you to FIGHT IT!!!" Toshiro shouted as a powerful surge of electricity engulfed her almost completely as she screamed in anguish, resulting in a bright flash of light.

The light finally faded, revealing Karin standing with her Zanpakuto, resting in her right hand at her side with her head drooped down.

"Karin…I-!" Toshiro grunted as he suddenly found Karin's Zanpakuto pressed up against Hyorinmaru. He looked at Karin's face and his eyes widened.

"Why Toshiro, how beautiful of you to care so much…too bad it's all for NOTHING!!!" Karin said with an insane grin with her half formed hollow mask on her face.

"Reign over the Frosted Heavens, HYORINMARU!" Toshiro shouted as he shoved the Hollowfied Karin away. She then started cackling with insane glee as she started wailing against his sword repeatedly. Suddenly she reared back her Zanpakuto in her right hand as it started crackling with powerful electrical energy. She then brought it down towards Toshiro who quickly flash stepped out of the way.

"Karin! Don't make me do this!" Toshiro shouted as Karin cackled again and hurled a massive lightning bolt towards him. He dodged quickly again, just in time to nearly take a hit from behind. Fortunately he managed to parry the blow.

"You're leaving me no choice Karin!" Toshiro yelled as Karin leapt back, still with the insane grin on her face. She quickly hurled another lightning bolt at him but a sudden large red beam blocked it.

"My, my…do I sense a lover's quarrel?"

Toshiro whirled around to see Shinji Hirako, standing in midair with his Hollow mask raised off his face and his Zanpakuto clutched in his right hand and giving off smoke. He had just fired a Cero.

"Captain Hitsugaya, let me deal with her, I've got plenty of experience in dealing with the Hollowfication of Soul Reapers." Shinji said as he pulled the mask back down over his face and quickly leapt into action, charging straight at Karin. The two proceeded to brawl for a moment, neither seemingly gaining the upper hand. Finally Shinji delivered a particularly powerful blow that knocked Karin down towards an empty stone courtyard below where she crashed in a cloud of smoke and dust. She then attempted to fly back up but proceeded to crash into some invisible wall. Toshiro turned to see the Vizard, Hachigen, with his mask on and creating a spherical Kido barrier to trap Karin inside.

"We'll take it from here Hitsugaya. Oh and don't tell Ichigo or her family about this. She probably doesn't want them to worry." Shinji said through his mask as Hachigen quickly used an unknown Kido spell to transport himself, Shinji, and Karin off to the Vizard Warehouse training area, where the other Visoreds sat in waiting. Toshiro stood stunned at what had just transpired.

"Karin." Was all he said as he flash stepped off towards a hotel in the distance.



At the Vizard Warehouse…

"Sheesh she's really lost it now hasn't she?!" Hiyori exclaimed as Hachi expanded the barrier around Karin.

"Her Inner Hollow is gaining ground faster than we anticipated! She needs to fight it off!" Shinji said as Kensei drew his Zanpakuto.

"Then I guess it's time for action. START THE TIMER! I'M GOING IN!!!" Kensei shouted as he ran through the opening in the Kido barrier and immediately started fighting Karin. Her mask had fully formed and was starting to form over her entire body now. She had also, unintentionally entered her Bankai form, complete with the electricity made Dragon.

"It's going to take a while for her to gain control of it…if at all." Lisa said as Shinji nodded in agreement.

"Something caused her Inner Hollow to emerge so quickly. Never have I seen it manifest this quickly before." Shinji said as the battle waged on inside the barrier.

"You're right. Something must have really sent her on an emotional rollercoaster. Normally it takes a month or so for the Hollow to even start creating the mask after injury. This is too quick." Love said.

"I wonder…what could it be?" Rose pondered.



Meanwhile…

Rangiku was standing patiently though worriedly on the roof of the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Come on Captain, what's taking you so long?" Rangiku asked as she paced back and forth in midair.

"Would you stop saying that? Some people are trying to sleep." Nel asked as she Sonido'd onto the roof, startling the Lieutenant.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Rangiku apologized but Nel simply gave a dismissive wave.

"You didn't. I sensed a sudden spike in Spiritual pressure and I decided to look around. Then I checked up here and found you. What's going on?" Nel asked calmly.

"Oh, Karin ran off and Captain Hitsugaya's chasing her down as we speak." Rangiku replied as Nel nodded understandingly.

"I see. I just hope things are alright." Nel said casually.

"Me too. It's just so quite up here and so peaceful…it's as if nothing could go wrong." Rangiku said as Nel face palmed.

"Don't say that! Haven't you ever heard of Murphy's Law?! That sentence is just begging for something bad to happen!" Nel freaked as Rangiku scoffed.

"Please, what's the worst that could happen?" Rangiku asked, suddenly they heard a strange yet deafening sound coming from in the skies above them. They looked up and saw a black bulge appearing and growing wide in the night sky.

"You had to ask, didn't you Rangiku?" Nel asked as she drew Gamuza as Rangiku sweat dropped.

"I didn't mean to I swear!" Rangiku whimpered.

They then immediately set about alerting the household along with the other Soul Reapers in town.



Back at the Vizard Warehouse…

Almost an hour had passed and Karin was almost completely Hollowfied. All of the Visoreds, except for Hachi, had had their turn in fighting Karin at least once and Shinji was getting more and more worried. On the surface however, the Arrancar sat in quiet contemplation. They knew what was going on downstairs and they were understandably concerned.

"You know, if things get too heated down there, they may call us in." Grimmjow said as Lilynette nodded.

"Yeah, I can't imagine what Karin's going through down there." She said, getting a curious look from Grimmjow, Apache, and Mila-Rose.

"Since when do you have a heart?" Mila-Rose asked.

"Since she was one of the first humans to generally accept the fact that I was an Arrancar and didn't do anything to try and kill me? It's called friendship you morons." Lilynette grumbled.

"Oh. So do you think that she'll survive this?" Apache asked.

"Hard to say. I've only known her for a brief amount of time, and most of that time was spent practicing our soccer game. I don't know her that well." Lilynette replied. They then felt a powerful chill sweep through the room.

"Then let me ease your minds!" a voice from the entrance said. They all turned around to see…



Back in the basement…

Lisa was finishing up her round with the Hollowfied Karin and Shinji was even more concerned.

"Something is definitely wrong. It's like she's not even fighting it at all." Shinji said as Kensei nodded, while bandaging his arm.

"You're right. It's almost like she's forcing it to progress faster. She might have even lost all control by now. There must be somewa-." Kensei said just as the entrance to the basement exploded.

"What the-?!" Hiyori exclaimed as two figures flash stepped through the entryway and appeared outside the barrier. It was Kaichou and…

"Captain Hitsugaya! How did you find us?!" Kensei asked.

"I lead him here! Now hurry up and lower the barrier and let Hitsugaya through!" Kaichou ordered as Shinji arched an eyebrow.

"But Karin's almost completely Hollowfied by this point, Hitsugaya can't defeat her at this level!" Shinji argued.

"But I know what must be done! Just trust me and LOWER THE BARRIER!!!" Toshiro shouted as Shinji looked thoughtful then turned towards Lisa who was still inside the barrier.

"LISA! TAG OUT!" Shinji said as Lisa nodded and Shinji turned back towards Toshiro, "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I." Toshiro said as he raced inside the barrier which closed behind him. It was now just him and Karin.

"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro shouted as his Zanpakuto entered Shikai. He carefully looked around and saw nothing but a cloud of dust from where Karin was last standing. Toshiro then quickly leapt out of the way just as a lightning bolt flew past and struck the barrier wall behind him. The dust then cleared, revealing the Hollowfied Karin. Parts of her electrical dragon were even beginning to become covered in the white bone like substance of Hollows but with deep blue jagged marks all across it.

"Karin! Listen to me!" Toshiro shouted as he sent an Ice Dragon towards her in an effort to try and keep her still. However a much larger dragon of electricity launched towards the ice dragon, vaporized it, and headed straight towards Toshiro.

"BANKAI! DAIGUREN HYORINMARU!!!" Toshiro exclaimed just in time for his ice wings to shield himself from the devastating attack.

"Karin! I know you're angry at me! But you must listen when I say that I was wrong about what I said!" Toshiro shouted as Karin lunged at him with her electrical sword but he quickly parried.

"I was WRONG! I said what I did out of uncertainty! I didn't know what I felt then!" Toshiro shouted as they dueled.

"What's he talking about?" Hiyori asked from outside the barrier, but Kaichou remained silent.

"Karin!" Toshiro shouted as he quickly whirled around to parry a blow from behind. Karin was getting faster and faster. Her Bankai being a mixture of Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu's speed, agility, and reflexes, with Toshiro's Daiguren Hyorinmaru only electricity based.

Karin pressed her blade hard against Toshiro's, bringing their faces only a couple of inches apart. Toshiro narrowed his eyes as he closed his dragon wings around them. Suddenly things fell silent and both of the two remained deathly still.

"What…what just happened?" Mashiro asked as Kaichou smirked.

"Wait for it." She said softly. Suddenly they heard a cracking sound coming from inside and instantly, Karin's hollow shell crumbled, revealing Karin in her Bankai form but with her Hollow mask over her face. The single blue stripe on the mask had expanded into five stripes. Karin's electrical blade shorted out and her electrical dragon faded away but the silver pauldrons and gauntlets remained. Karin pushed the mask up onto the top of her head.

"Toshiro…I-." Karin said softly and normally. Toshiro opened his dragon wings. He was unharmed.

"Karin, I didn't know what I felt back then. When I saw that you had risked your life to stop that LeBlanc when you thought he had killed me…it made me realize that you're no ordinary human. You're the first person that has actually made me feel like I'm more than just a Soul Reaper Captain. You make me feel like I'm actually alive again. I'm no longer ashamed to hide the fact that…I…I love you Karin Kurosaki." Toshiro said with a look of genuine feeling towards her.

"Wait…you mean she was transforming so fast because she had been dumped?!" Hiyori asked in disbelief.

"The heart is a powerful thing. When broken, it can cause us to do things we never thought we would ever do." Shinji said as Kaichou nodded.

"Well put Shinji. Karin was heartbroken when she overheard Toshiro saying he didn't have feelings for her and as a result her Inner Hollow took advantage of the situation and quickly started to grow stronger and stronger until it manifested. Karin's broken heart was what powered it on. It was Toshiro's confession of his true feelings, plus what I'm guessing was a kiss, that made her-DAGH!" Kaichou grunted as she got kicked in the face by Hiyori.

"GEEZ! Don't you ever quit with that mind reading crap?!" Hiyori screeched as Kaichou held her nose.

"I see you haven't lost your puckish charm, Hiyori." Kaichou grimaced as Karin and Toshiro emerged from the barrier.

"Now that you've got it under control, let's see how long you can remain Hollowfied in combat." Shinji said as he drew his Zanpakuto. Karin smirked and pulled the mask back down over her face and the electrical dragon reappeared.

"Wait! Do you sense that?!" Hachi asked as the barrier collapsed completely.

"He's right, there's a massive spiritual pressure coming from the surface!" Love exclaimed.

"But whose is it?!" Rose asked as Kaichou paled in horror before saying…

"The LeBlancs…they're making their move."



End Chapter 45.

I've been wondering what the theme songs for the various arcs would be. I decided to select from the existing Bleach themes and here's what I came up with.

Chapters 1-10 (The Black Wrangler Arc) – Asterisk (by Orange Range…you just can't beat the classics)
Chapters 11-26 (The Soul Reaper Academy Arc) – Rolling Star (by Yui…I've always liked this one)
Chapters 27-present (Return of the Arrancar Arc) – Alones (by Aqua Times…you have to be deaf not to like this one.)

Soul Reaper Illustrated Guide…

In the Soul Society, Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu and her sister Kiyone were walking through the Seireitei with no particular destination in mind.

"Hey Isane, I've always wondered…" Kiyone said as she scratched her chin, "…why is it that everyone is afraid of Captain Unohana?"

"Uh…I don't really know. It's like she commands this inexplicable fear in people under her care." Isane replied.

"But what causes it? I mean does she live a double life as an ax-murder or something?" Kiyone asked as Isane blinked.

"Kiyone! Don't talk about my Captain like that! Although, that does make me wonder. Perhaps her Bankai can cause so much death and devastation that she has that sweet persona or something. I don't really know." Isane said with a shrug.

"Don't know about what, Isane?" a gentle voice said from behind. The two women froze in place and cautiously turned to see Captain Unohana with a gentle smile on her face.

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-nothing Captain." Isane said as she and Kiyone started bowing repeatedly to the Captain as they backed away quickly, leaving a confused Unohana behind.

"I wonder what that was about." Unohana said with a clueless expression.

End