Seeing as the man before her, standing ever so calmly with a somewhat sickly pallor by her friend, was the ruler of all three realms and possibly the strongest being in existence, Karin felt it was right to bow to him and did so, nervous under his gaze.

"A friend of my son's has no need to bow." She heard the man chuckle.

"Uh…okay…" She shifted nervously.

"You stare down a Kuchiki head but you're nervous around my father." Toshiro noted with some amusement.

"Well yeah, he's king." She hissed back. Satoru laughed.

"I suppose that's quite a difference. Most are rather uncomfortable in my presence until they get to know me." He put a hand on Toshiro's shoulder. "I've been told you'll be staying here a while, Miss Kurosaki."

"Er, yes, I am." The girl nodded. "Hopefully I can get some training in so I can fight the next demon that comes my way."

"I wish you the best of luck." Satoru's expression became a little more serious as he said this. "Toshiro told me about what happened with Gralio, I am sorry you had to go through such a thing, both of you."

"In the end we defeated him and we weren't that badly hurt." Toshiro replied. "Karin was able to receive medical treatment right away and Nakryin removed the Fear."

"Good." Satoru nodded. "Now, I suppose she'll be needing a proper tour." He pushed his son lightly towards the girl, earning him a scowl. "Move along, you two, I've been procrastinating long enough anyway."

"Are you sure you don't want help?" His son glanced at the papers stacked on the desk.

"I'll be fine, son, and you have a lovely young lady to see too." Satoru did not miss the slight pink tinge on both of them as he said this. "Now go."

With his father so adamant about them leaving together, Toshiro obliged and left with Karin in tow.

Once they were gone, Satoru frowned, a figure approaching him from the shadows, unseen by the young ones.

"How long?" He questioned her.

"Two months at the least, three at most." Ruala whispered sadly, head bowed.

"Can he make it?"

"I believe so…and I think that girl can help him."

"Then perhaps I should thank Kamai for sending Gralio after them, as it has brought them together." The Soul King sighed and moved to his bed, feeling exhausted. "I only hope it lasts."

Back in the main room, Toshiro leaned up against the balcony railing, looking outward across the sky. He could see a dragon fly away from Dragon Isle and into lands unknown even to him and many of the people who lived here, lands protected by ancient magic to prevent anything human, alive or dead, from breaching. Lands ruled by the wild. Karin stood quietly next to him, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she had just met the Soul King, albeit only briefly. He had seemed so nice.

She glanced at Toshiro, frowning a bit as she realized her friend was about to lose his father, a person he really needed in his life and had only known briefly. She wondered what kind of person Toshiro would have been had he grown up under his father's guidance instead of in the Soul Society. Not anyone she would have known, that's for sure, as he never would have left the realm. Still, he probably would have been happier.

'Now's your chance to ask him all those questions.' Homuratei reminded.

"Hey Toshiro." Karin spoke up.

"Apparently no one is supposed to call me by my name here except the Royal Guards…and my father, of course." He replied quickly.

"Well I'm going to." She snapped. "Feels weird to call you Prince anyway."

"I thought as much, but you might get some disapproving looks."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I wanted to ask about some things."

He turned to look at her and waited patiently for her questions.

"What exactly do you do as Soul King? I mean, I know you're not king yet, but you must have some idea."

"I know all about what I need to do as king. I'm already performing some of those tasks that my father can't. I have to keep in touch with the commanders of the different branches of Soul Society around the world, which was a bit of a culture shock for me, as well as keep the Royal Families here under watch, as not everyone is friends with one another." He sighed. "It's a lot more political work than when I was a Captain."

"Miss the fighting?" She smirked.

"Not particularly." He leaned back a bit and she glanced at the bandaged wound on his arm now visible as the sleeves shifted. "I was able to be on the move more at least as a Captain, I miss the freedom."

"I know I would." Karin nodded her agreement. "How's your arm?"

He gave her an exasperated glance.

"Honestly, I'm fine. I heal faster than even the other Captains with my high level of Spirit Energy. It won't look as bad as it did in the clinic, though even with how fast I heal I'm going to leave the bandage on a little longer just in case." He turned to her skeptically. "And you?"

"Eh? These are nothing!" She stretched her arms and rolled her shoulders.

One white brow rising in doubt, Toshiro reached over and brushed his hand over where the scars were hidden under her Shihakusho. She hissed and moved away, scowling.

"That reaction says otherwise." He frowned.

There was that concerned look again, making her shift nervously when he didn't turn away or hide it under an icy façade.

"Okay, so it's a little sensitive." She huffed. "Once I'm as strong as you are I won't have to worry about little scratches like these, and neither will you."

"I'll always worry."

Confused, she tilted her head, watching as he turned away finally and stared off into the distance, mind elsewhere.

"What, you don't think I can get that strong?" She poked him on the arm to bring his attention back to her.

"There's no telling with you Kurosakis." He replied, smirking slightly but not looking at her.

'Will you stop dodging the question you really want to ask him?' Homuratei gave an exasperated sigh. 'I mean come on, that was practically his confession right there, that he'll always worry about you.'

'No it's not! Just hush.'

"Okay, other questions." Karin mused, trying to get her zanpaktou to leave her alone. "Dyrilæn told me you were shut up in your room all day. Do you seriously not get out any?"

He cast her a glare, which she replied to with a sly grin, and sighed.

"I've met with many of the other Royal Families so I have been out, just not for anything you would consider interesting."

"Anyone trying to push their daughter onto you?"

"Oh yes, of course, but I manage to pull the excuse that I'm still too young to consider it." He scowled as he said this. "All these nobles care about is status."

"You're a noble."

"But I was raised in the Rukongai. Many of the things these people have had since they were babies I never had until I became a Captain. Because of that I think differently than they do, which seems to put them off a bit. Sadly they still try."

"Not even one girl good enough for you?" Karin was teasing but she felt as if she continued down this road to confirm something and was now terrified to hear the answer.

"Only one has ever caught my eye." He said quietly, before moving away from the railing and further inside. "But she's not here often."

She frowned, wondering what he meant. One of the royal girls was off on business a lot, perhaps? A faint hope arose that maybe he meant her. She decided to pursue it, determined to get a straight answer out of him and figure out whether or not she should start looking elsewhere, since as long as he was a possibility no one else had looked interesting and it was starting to make her mortal life difficult as her friends poked fun at her lack of a boyfriend.

"You are the Soul Prince, can't you do something to bring her around more often?" She ventured carefully, following him.

"Being a prince means nothing if she's too stubborn to actually consider me one."

"Stubborn, huh? I didn't think royal girls would be stubborn, usually they're submissive."

"This one is most definitely stubborn." His refusal to turn around and look at her was starting to bug her. "And she's not really a royal."

'This is entertaining, watching you play Twenty Questions.' Homuratei snickered. Hyorinmaru had teased his master but now watched carefully at their interactions, knowing this was the best way for Toshiro to say anything, as an outright confession could end badly for him.

"So not any of the daughters pushed onto you caught your eye?" Karin continued.

"No." Came the short reply. He didn't seem to take offense to her pressing him on his love interest.

"Hm…" She noticed they were heading to the library again, one of the few rooms she knew about here. "How about a description?"

"You seem oddly interested about this." Still he did not look back, passing by the library. She wondered where he was heading, then.

"Because I can tease you mercilessly about it." She smirked, though obviously he couldn't see. "The unemotional Ice Prince actually has a crush on someone."

"I'm not unemotional." Now he turned back, the tiniest of pouts on his face.

She quirked an eyebrow at him as if to say 'are you serious?'

"…well…apparently I am…" Frowning, he turned away and continued on. "But you wouldn't be teasing me if you knew who it was."

"Then why won't you just tell me if you want me to stop?"

He paused, hand on a door to a room she had no knowledge of, but did not answer.

'You've skirted around her questions long enough.' Hyorinmaru stated.

His master inwardly sighed. How could anyone do this? It was more torturous than fighting Arrancar!

"Karin…what do you think of me?"

The question threw her for a loop and she fumbled for an answer, trying to find an honest answer for him. It was such an open ended question so she could really say anything but she thought about what to say.

"Well, you're kind of a brat sometimes, but you take care of your friends." She said with as much conviction as she could. "For someone who gets as much crap as you do you're a pretty nice guy about it…usually."

"Usually, hm?" He turned back to her, more amused than offended.

"And you're still kind of short." She added on just to spite him and the amusement faded quickly.

"I am not! And you're shorter than me!" To prove this he moved away from the door and closer to her, his height of four foot eleven topping her four foot nine.

His frustration at her comment faded a little as he realized how close he'd stepped. She didn't seem to pay this any attention, still gloating over getting him worked up.

"You're so easy." She snickered, poking him in the chest and making him step back one. "Anyway, why the weird question? Ooh, I should ask the same thing. What does the fantastic Ice Prince think of li'l ole me?" As she said the last part she used dramatic hand movements.

"Stop that." He grumbled. "You look like your dad when you do that."

She quickly stopped.

"Well, don't I get an answer?" She demanded instead. "I gave you one."

Silence stretched on as he thought about it, his eyes blanking a bit as he focused on his thoughts, Hyorinmaru probably joining in the inner conversation.

"You're the most stubborn person I know, including your brother, and you drive me crazy." He finally said and she frowned. "But you're loyal to your friends, even me, and I admire your courage to fight through anything for them. You don't care about what people look like and I respect that. And despite how short you are," He allowed himself a smirk as she growled, "you've managed to catch my interest."

"Your…interest?" She blinked in surprise, attempting to calm her racing heart.

"As I said, only one girl has managed to catch my eye." He gifted her a rare smile that nearly made her melt before turning away and walking into the room.

For some time she just stood there, dumbstruck, mouth open, eyes wide. Two of the most impossible things she'd ever thought would happen to her had just happened. For one, that smile had been genuine, and probably one of the cutest things she'd ever seen, and it was one she had NEVER seen a guy like Toshiro make.

And another, she was pretty damn sure that he had just confessed his feelings for her.

'Damn, that was smooth.' Homuratei noted with interest. 'The longer you stand there catching flies the more upset he'll get. Your turn!'

Karin could almost feel her zanpaktou pushing her towards the door and could have sworn she took a few steps unwillingly forward as well.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait! Just-Wait…How am I supposed to reply to THAT! I mean…goodness I just froze right up! I went completely brain dead!'

'Yeah, I noticed.' The being cloaked in fire took over part of her vision so the girl could see her. 'Now stop gawking and go get him! You're a Kurosaki, for crying out loud!'

'In case you haven't noticed the one thing we're terrible at is anything concerning romance.' As she said this, though, she gathered her scattered courage and, with a deep breath, stepped in after her crush.

The room looked to be a training room, littered with obstacles that turned the field into a maze. Perfect, now she had to find the damn guy. Some game of his? There was no one else here, it seemed, save for a small white fox resting peacefully atop a pile of folded uniforms, paws tucked underneath. She did not think it could possibly be Sofia, the familiar having been keeping a careful eye on the Ice Prince to make sure the Fear didn't cause any more trouble, and walked on through.

Toshiro noticed her step inside and lifted his head, wondering why she hadn't seen him. After his slip of the tongue he'd walked inside quickly to calm his nerves and racing heart, worried what kind of reaction he'd get when she came inside. Now she seemed distracted, clearly not noticing him near the entrance when his hair made him easy to spot. Was that a bad thing?

"Dammit, where did he go?" He heard Karin mutter, sounding frustrated, and he winced a bit. That couldn't be good. He kept his voice level.

"I'm right here." He spoke and saw her jump in surprise, whipping around to face him.

"When did…? Never mind." She stomped over to him and sat down next to him. "Not even going to wait for a reply?"

He turned away, cheeks red. Perhaps if it wasn't her he was blushing for she would have teased him, but not now.

"You know, I've been poked fun at so many times." She started. "I can't get a boyfriend because of you."

"Why?" He questioned, having mixed feelings about that.

"Because as long as you're around no one compares."

Teal eyes gazed at her skeptically, as if expecting this to be another way of teasing him. Offended that he thought so little of her she decided to prove her seriousness by leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. It was just a quick one and she quickly turned away again. He had tensed up when she'd done that.

Sofia's head popped up, noticing something interesting. She wasn't sure how but the scattered traces of Fear seemed to have lessened in the young prince. Was this their cure? They'd never thought to do this before. Possibly because of the complexity in matters of love.

"Karin…" Toshiro felt a little more comfortable now, his tone soft and catching her attention. "I don't think you did that right."

Before the thought to ask what he meant by that crossed her mind he'd managed to snake an arm around her waist and pull her into a proper kiss. Her body reacted before her mind could process what was happening, her arms moving up around his neck and eyes closing.

Violet eyes widened as any and all darkness vanished from within the boy's soul and the familiar grinned. Finally, the one light capable of stopping his descent into darkness, the one person capable of truly opening up the closed off Ice Prince. As a Royal Guard it was now as much her mission to protect young Karin Kurosaki as it was the Soul Prince.

Karin was now happily still in Toshiro's embrace, her head on his shoulder and a smile wide on her face. She almost wanted to thank Kamai, as without him coming after her she wouldn't have been able to come to the Soul King's Realm for a while. Similarly, Toshiro knew he was going to enjoy the next week or two alone with her until the other Soul Reapers were able to come here, for which he somewhat dreaded the arrival of Ichigo.

Well, until the overprotective brother showed up at least, he would be happy.

Man, I felt so awkward writing this one. Enjoy! (My posts are going to be less frequent now, I've been getting a lot of homework. I wont' quit though! I like this story too much, and I like you guys too much ^^)