Captain Toushiro Hitsugaya could feel his Third Seat's spiritual pressure like a bonfire coming from the next room. It was more than enough to drive him from his bed with a silent growl. He would have to teach her to suppress that before he took her on any missions where she didn't completely outclass their opponents. Then again, at the rate she was learning, he would have to launch an assault on Hueco Mundo to find anything that she could not handle with brute force.

As he neared the door, he could hear his lieutenant talking. He briefly considered trying to go back to his nap, or immediately walking in and interrupting them, but settled on crushing his spiritual pressure and leaning his ear to the door.

Yachiru, you were a bad influence on me... He smiled sadly at the thought and focused on what they were saying.

"You aren't doing anything wrong. It's just terrifying to him." His Lieutenant's words made him flinch. He was more convinced than before he didn't want to hear this.

"Why? He's been a captain for longer than I have been alive... How can a date scare him?" Karin's voice was sad but carried a certain amount of fury.

"Because he is afraid that the girls he likes all suffer. Momo was broken by Aizen. It is a miracle she ever recovered, and she has never been quite the same again. And just when he was coming to terms with the fact she would never look at him the same way again, he got close to Yachiru. She died in less than a year." Toushiro closed his eyes and tried not tho think about the pink haired girl. His Lieutenant was right. He was bad luck.

"I didn't know about Yachiru... I only met her once or twice... I came to the celebration at the end of the war. She was the Lieutenant of the Eleventh, right?" Karin's voice again. It seemed silly that anyone could not know Yachiru Kusajishi.

"That's right. She was the adopted daughter of the Kenpachi of Zaraki, the captain of the Eleventh before Ikkaku. I'm sure you remember him." Rangiku's voice was lighthearted and he could only imagine the expression on Karin's face. If Yachiru was unforgettable, there were no words to describe the monster that had been Captain Zaraki.

"He must know that neither of those were his fault... He's brilliant. He can't possibly be that stupid when he is that smart." He could swear he heard the black haired girl growl like a wild animal. Rangiku's laughter could have been at the words or the growl, he couldn't tell.

"You'd think so, but he's not as mature as he would like others to think he is. He is a genius. He is powerful. He is a wise leader and a good captain. But he's still just a teenager, really. And he made himself grow up too fast. He was so busy learning the lessons of an adult that he forgot to learn the lessons of a child. But he will learn. You'll just have to be patient with him."

Toushiro smirked at that. He forgot sometimes that his Lieutenant was a deceptively observant and clever woman. Was it true? Had he missed some things when he set his sights on the Captain's seat? He couldn't deny, Yachiru had shown him a lot of joys he had missed out on, but had he learned anything from them?

"I waited eighteen years just to become a part of his division... How patient do I have to be?" Karin sounded like she was close to tears now. He sighed, straightened his haori, and brushed through the door like a ghost.

"I think you've been patient enough. Friday, as soon as the paperwork is finished." He smirked and gave his Lieutenant a single grateful glance as he made his way past the desk where Karin was working. She knew exactly what he needed to hear.

- Line -

"Ice cream and ice skating... I should have guessed." Karin nudged the white haired man teasingly as they slid around the frozen pool. "Hey, Shiro?"

"Hm?" It took an embarrassing amount of his will power to suppress the urge to demand she use his proper name and title. If he were going to try this, he was going to do it right.

"Rangiku... She told me about Yachiru... I'm sorry. I didn't know anything bad had happened here after the war. I guess I forgot that the world is still a dangerous place, and soldiers still die..."

"It's alright, Kurosaki." He winced as she drove her fist into his shoulder. "Karin... Sorry..."

"You better be. There are more Kurosaki's than I can count now, so you're going to have to get used to using my first name or my rank, and if you call me 'Third Seat Kurosaki' while we're on a date, you are going swimming."

"I'll keep that in mind." Toushiro smiled and tugged her hand, shooting across the ice to a cluster of trees. "I want to show you something."

"What is it?" Karin rushed to keep up so her hand wouldn't pull away from his.

"You'll see." The white haired captain helped her up onto the bank, then melted the skates off their shoes. "Leave your shoes here to dry, the ground is pretty soft." He kicked off his own and then, much to Karin's surprised, tugged his captain's haori over his head and folded it neatly over a branch, leading the way into the trees.

Karin followed in silence, feeling the grass and sand of the lake's shore rapidly transition into moss and years of powdered leaves. She smiled and bounced carefully on the spongy ground. It felt like walking on cake. Toushiro led her through ever thicker trees until they suddenly opened up into a small clearing. There were book shelves leaned against a couple of trees, and two simple hammocks stretched between a few of the larger trees.

"Yachiru made this place when she first came to the Gotei 13, and spent years collecting stuff. When we started getting close, she brought me here, and I started helping her fill her shelves. Nothing valuable, just little bits and pieces from around the Seireitei. After she died, I kept coming here and kept adding to her collection. I guess it is my collection now... Here. Take a look." Toushiro walked to one of the shelves.

"This is... Really cool!" Karin looked over the shelves of stuff and smiled. "Is that one of Rangiku's empty sake bottles?"

"Mhm. Yachiru had them organized by what the things were, so one whole shelf looked like a liquor store. I rearranged everything by division instead." He picked up a small blue elastic band. "I think you'll recognize this."

"That's mine!"

"Yeah... You weren't suitably represented here, so I had to find something distinctly yours that you wouldn't really miss."

"Do you have anything of Ichigo's here?" Karin look two shelves to the left.

"Not yet. I just finished moving Captain Kyoraku and Lieutenant Ise's stuff to the First Division shelf. Any suggestions?"

"I'll get something next time I see him." Karin smiled and sat on one of the hammocks. "This is a really amazing hide away... Thank you for sharing it with me."

"I trust you. You are important to me. With Momo, all I ever did was try to protect her from a distance and wait for her to see me as more than just a child and friend. With Yachiru... Well, she kind of didn't give me much of a choice on being her friend, and then I used her as a separation from my duties as captain. If we are going to try this, I want to do it right this time. That means sharing all sides of myself with you."

"That sounds good to me. But you know, I come as a package deal with my family. Ichigo and my dad will find out soon, and you can't avoid two other captains indefinitely." Karin blushed as the white haired man sat next to her. "I can't believe we're still the same height... How did you keep up with me while I was aging at a human rate? I thought you'd be young for decades."

"When I was turned into a zombie by the Sternritter Z, it ended up draining nearly all of my spiritual pressure, and it took a long time for me to be back up to full power. For a shinigami, or any plus, aging is a function of spiritual pressure and age. I was young and had lost most of my power, so I ended up aging at a faster rate for a while. I'm mostly back to normal, but I may end up looking a year or two older than you before I settle back to my natural rhythm."

"So I'll be dating an older man? Cool." Karin leaned into his shoulder and smiled. "I always expect you to feel as cold as you did when you were recovering, but you are as warm as anyone else..."

"I'm sorry you saw me like that. I have nightmares about it, and I was barely conscious for most of it." He wrapped one arm around her waist and then fell back onto the mesh, looking up at the canopy of leaves. "It is getting late."

"Do you think Rangiku would tease you any more if we stayed out all night than if we came home at sunset?" Karin closed her eyes and tried to feel her captain's heartbeat with her fingertips. "I could definitely stay like this all night..."

"Your brother will kill me if we sleep together, even in the most appropriate possible way."

"Awww, don't worry, I'll protect you."

"I will hold you to that, Karin." Toushiro pulled her closer and placed a kiss on top of her head. "Maybe we can sneak in before noon and Rangiku will still be asleep..."

"Good plan, Captain."