There was a knock on the door to the Kurosaki household and the now seventeen year old Karin leaped to her feet with a yelled 'I got it!' and raced to the door. She almost slammed it open and beamed at the several Soul Reapers standing there.

"Rukia! Rangiku!" She hugged each woman in turned and let them in. "Hey Renji! Oh, Momo!" She hugged the petite Lieutenant. They'd met two years ago and had gotten along rather well despite their differences.

"Sorry for the surprise." Hinamori grinned sheepishly. "Here!"

She handed the Kurosaki a small gift and the teen took it gratefully.

While Momo and Rukia distracted Karin with their gifts for her, a black cloaked figure stepped inside. Ichigo noticed him, though, and confronted the silent figure.

"Hey, who are you?" He growled.

The figure lifted up his right hand. The Substitute's eyes widened considerably.

Karin let in Ikkaku and Yumichika before closing the door and joining them all in the living room. Kisuke and Yoruichi were already there with her father drinking, which Rangiku quickly got her hands on, and Ichigo's friends Uryu, Orihime and Chad were also there. She'd already gone through her birthday at school with her human friends, so she saved the afternoon for time with her family and her Soul Reaper friends. Yuzu was already chatting it off with Momo as the petite girl handed Yuzu her present, the honey-blonde finally capable of at least seeing spirits.

She was quick to notice the silent figure off to the side and frowned, wondering how he'd managed to get in. She didn't think she recognized him, being kind of short but almost her height. She was finally getting close to being five foot.

"Who are you?" She questioned crossing her arms.

Chatter quickly ceased among the Soul Reapers.

"Karin, he's brought something from the Head Captain for you." Rukia answered, breaking the tense silence.

"Couldn't one of you have brought it to me?" She tilted her head in curiosity, watching the silent figure retrieve a note from within his cloak. She took it cautiously, still unsure who the person was.

"Well, um…he's…" Momo broke off with a nervous laugh.

Deciding to find out who the messenger was in a moment, seeing as he wasn't going anywhere, she opened the letter, something falling out onto her hand.

"Is that…?" Ichigo eyes the wooden badge. "Wait a minute!"

"Ah, my darling daughter has finally gotten a job!" Isshin leaped up, preparing to tackle said daughter in a hug.

"Shut up and let me read!" Karin growled, kicking the man back. That done, she read through the note, eyes lighting up with each sentence, her grip on the Substitute Soul Reaper badge tightening. "Yes!"

"What is it?" Orihime asked with a smile, just as excited.

"The Head Captain finally gave me permission to be a Substitute Soul Reaper like my brother!" Karin said. "He says if I ever need help I can speak to one of the Captains or Lieutenants for extra training."

"Congrats, Karin." Yuzu hugged her sister. "You were waiting for that a long time, weren't you?"

"And I finally got it!" Karin did a small dance of victory and the mysterious figure smirked, amused. "Oh, right. Who the Hell are you, anyway?"

The figure sighed and reached up to pull the hood off, Karin noticing a faintly glowing mark on his right hand. She tried to remember if she'd seen that before when the hood came off and her thoughts scattered to the wind at the sight of snowy white spikes.

"Sorry for the secrecy, they insisted." Toshiro smirked at her gaping expression and motioned to the Soul Reapers he'd arrived with. "I suppose I should say Happy Birthday."

"You…" Karin was unable to form a coherent sentence. "You…Gah, I should strangle you for leaving like that!"

A few of them winced as Karin's rage wafted off of her as Spiritual Pressure. Toshiro just sighed, obviously expecting this.

"But…you did come back…" She started to calm down. "And you came for my birthday…"

Everyone was watching with baited breath. Was she going to strangle him anyway? Ruala was just outside, they hoped nothing drastic happened. They watched as she sighed before putting on a smile.

"Thanks for coming. So, do I have to call you prince?"

"Not necessarily…"

"Good, 'cause I wasn't going to." She laughed when he scowled at her. "Since you're here you get to join in on the fun!"

"Oh I'm sure that was his full intention." Kisuke snickered and Toshiro glared at him.

"You won't leave now, right?" Yuzu questioned with wide eyes and Toshiro mentally cursed. Why did the honey blonde twin have to be so convincing?

"No…I'll be staying for a few more hours."

"Perfect!" Karin rubbed her hands together like some evil scientist and he paled. "You get to tell me everything."

He gulped.

Though she'd made it seem torturous, all she really did was pull him aside and ask about what happened after he left. He'd been told what he could and couldn't tell, the latter being most of it, so he ended up getting her frustrated with roundabout answers.

"So all you can tell is you've powered up, won't tell me how, and that the mark on your hand is the proof that you're the Soul Prince?"

"If you ask the right questions I can tell you more." Toshiro replied, taking a sip from the tea Yuzu had made him. He'd made sure to tell her Happy Birthday as well, considering she was Karin's twin. She'd hugged him gratefully and this once he didn't attempt to escape it. The trials had earned him quite a lot of self-control and he could handle being uncomfortable better.

"As always you're such a cryptic." Karin grumbled.

"I do try."

"I should strangle you."

"But I came all this way just to see you." He smirked. He saw her cheeks turn a light pink and she looked away. When he said the words in his mind again he also turned away, now feeling awkward.

Hidden away in the kitchen, a few figures watched them.

"Look at them." Rangiku giggle. "They're so cute!"

"I don't like this at all." Ichigo growled.

"Oh come on." Rukia rolled her eyes at him. "Ever since they met three years ago he's been interested in her, you can't deny it."

"And your sister totally fell for him." Renji snickered.

"That doesn't mean I agree with it." The young man growled.

"He's a prince now, though." Momo mused aloud. "It's even more wrong for him to be visiting her, really, but he still did. And if they did allow it, just for him, and they ended up figuring out that they like each other…the Kurosaki Family would be married into royalty."

"I don't care about that! Isn't he being targeted?"

"He did bring his guard with him." Rangiku pointed out.

"That's not the point. He's putting her in danger."

"Ichigo." Rukia sighed. "Prince Hitsugaya is as protective of his friends as you are; he just tends to deny it while you don't care."

"He risked his life to protect me." Momo added, looking back on that briefly before quickly shaking it away.

"Okay, okay." Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just don't want to lose another family member."

The Reapers shared saddened expressions.

"It'll be okay, Ichigo." Rukia put a comforting arm on her boyfriend's arm. "Just let it happen."

He grumbled under his breath but relented, glancing back at the pair once more before moving on to something else.

"I'm not going to stop asking questions." Karin pointed out.

"You never do." He shrugged.

"Come on, just a little information? I've been worried sick."

"Worried?" He looked at her in confusion. Why would she be worried?

"Er, well…I didn't know where you went and stuff until Sofia told me." She shifted nervously. "Hey, wanna go for a walk? It's kind of crowded here."

"Um…sure." He set his cup down and the two of them stepped outside, only a few noticing them leave but saying nothing about it. While Karin went off with the young prince, Yuzu became the center of attention.

Sitting atop the house, Ruala watched her charge walk away with the young Kurosaki, standing to follow in the shadows. Her attention shifted to a strange energy in the distance. She let Sofia follow him instead and left to check it out.

A different shadow followed the white feline.

Kind of a short chapter...

Anyway, Karin decides not to strangle him since he came on her birthday despite how busy he was, though she's still a little ticked at him. time for some alone time in the next chapter XD and then whatever that shadow is. Enjoy!