"I will look after her body now go" within a second Ichigo had vanished. The others and the others ran to the grassy hill. They stopped. Renji took his sword from his side. "Roar, Zabimaru" soon his sword was in its shikai form. Placed it in front of his face then stabbed into open air. Twisted it. "Now, open" soon a senkaimon just appeared and 7 black butterflies appeared. "I am staying here" Uryū said "Tell me how she is when she wakes up" Ichigo simply nodded. He was thankful to Uryū for what ever happened, he saved his sister's life. Ichigo ran through the senkaimon first, he was desperate to get to squad 4. Karin still had Kon lying on her. Rukia had carried the medicine. Engetsu had transformed back into a sword. Toshiro carried Engetsu and Karin's zanpakuto. When they entered the soul society it was quiet. There was no one around. This made it easier for Ichigo to run to squad 4 without being caught. They honestly thought that there would be crowds to escort the intruder to the head captain. Since she had managed to get away before. "No ones here?" Renji said out loud "That's odd" the others gave a slight murmur of yes. Ichigo ran ahead the others didn't bother to follow. The rest of them decided to head back to the office or just head home for the night. They all thought it was best if Ichigo and the intruder had some time alone. It showed clearly that Ichigo cared deeply for the again walked through the empty, dark corridors of squad 4. But this time Unohana came to him. "Follow me" she said. Captain Unohana could not see Karin's injuries because they were in the dark. She lead him to the same room. Ichigo again placed Karin in the bed careful not to touch her arm."Oh my goodness. What happened" now noticing the burns and the swollen arm. "She was involved in a house fire. She managed to breath in the smoke." Unohana listened carefully. "Okay I understand" she shooed Ichigo out the room and called in some members. Ichigo sat back in his spot from before. Members of squad 4 kept running in and out of the room carrying various supply's and equipment. One member ran in with an oxygen canister and a mask. Ichigo sat there for 1 hour in the dark concealed in his thoughts. 'What has she been through? Who killed Yuzu and dad? There death was no accident. So who did it? 'He heard footsteps coming towards him. When he looked up, it was Rukia and Toshiro walking towards him. "Hey how is she?" Toshiro asked "They are looking after right now. What are you guys doing here anyway" Ichigo replied"We realised that we still had things belonging to Karin" Rukia stepped in suggesting to the medicines that she had and the zanpakuto's that Toshiro had. "Plus, we came here to see how you are doing. Losing your sister and dad in one day must be tough. Now you are waiting here the results for Karin" Rukia said sliding down wall to sit next to him. Toshiro sitting next to Rukia. They sat in there in silence only their breath was heard. "They've got to get a few chairs out here. The floors are never the comfiest." Ichigo laughed. Toshiro and Rukia gave a slight chuckle. Soon the door opened and Unohana stepped out. Ichigo, Rukia and Toshiro jumped to their feet. "How is she?" Ichigo asked"She's going to be fine. She'll wake up in about three days. She completely ran out of energy. So she needs her rest. Plus the medication I gave her will make her tired and drowsy. She managed to shatter the bone in her right arm and managed to dislocate a disk from her back. I only managed to bandage them up. Kido can not fix it, so unfortunately she won't be able to move. We tried the best that we could but it wouldn't heal" Ichigo gave her a bow in respect. "May we see her," Unohana gave a suspicious look "Don't worry Toshiro and Rukia know who Karin is" Unohana looked at Toshiro then he gave a nod. Then she looked at Rukia she nodded too. "Okay but one at a time. I don't want lot of bodies in there it might wake her up." Ichigo bowed in respect. Unohana then walked away down the dark corridor until she was no longer seen. Ichigo turned around to Rukia and Toshiro, both of them were ushering him to go in. Ichigo gave a simple smile to say thanks. When Ichigo walked in he was shocked Karin was colourless. She wore an oxygen mask. To help her with her breathing. She looked so helpless. Her right arm had been bandaged up. He saw there was a bandage on her chest to help her back. Kon was lying right bedside her head. He slept on her right side. He was light and small, he wouldn't hurt her arm. He took a seat beside her head. He looked at her sleeping body. She could now rest peacefully. "Karin, I'm so sorry I should of been there for you. I swore I would protect you and the family. Now look at what has happened. It just me and you now. I promise you that I will never let anything happen to you." Ichigo could feel that every time he talked to Karin he would get more and more angry at himself. He stood up, kissed the top of her head. "Sleep well" then he walked out of the room. When he went into the corridor he saw Rukia and Toshiro sitting in the floor. The pair was shocked that he came out so fast. "I'm going for a walk. Please don't follow me Rukia." Without any complaints he just walked past them. When Ichigo got outside he headed to the place where he had learnt bankai. It was under Sōkyoku hill. It was a huge training ground, designed to look like the training ground in Urahara's basement. No one knew where it was. He occasionally used it to let his inner hollow out and just wreck the place. It was a good place because no one got injured and a good place to let off steam. When Ichigo got there he simply screamed. The pain of losing his dad, his sister. The pain of seeing Karin in hospital not able to move and he wasn't there to protect any of them. The promise he made to his mum before she had died was broken. He didn't protect any of his family. Just came rushing out. Once he had finished letting his pain out he headed home. He has a long day tomorrow. When Rukia saw Karin, she placed the medicine she had on the bedside table beside her. She then held her good hand. She wanted to let Karin know that she was there for her. Rukia always considered Karin as her younger sister. Her stay didn't last long. She had to leave. She just came to make sure that she was going to be okay. Rukia was to tired, she had been up since six in the morning doing 7 hours of paperwork then another 7 hours training the squad. She had to do it all over tomorrow. She kissed her head then headed to the door. "Sleep well Karin" then walked out the door. Toshiro saw how tired she was then gave a polite bow to say goodnight. Toshiro was a little scared to go in and see her. He felt it was his fault that she now paralysed. He slowly walked in. He walked over to the wall then placed the two zanpakuto's against it. He then walked over to the bedside chair and sat in it. He looked at her sleeping face. He had seen her sleep when she was 15. They were both watching a movie in her room and she fell a sleep on him but now that she was older her long hair complimented her bone structure in her face. He noticed that her hair was much longer than before. Before it just reached her shoulders now it looked like it would go far down her back. A lot like Orihime's hair. He reached over so he could touch it. It was scattered about the bed. She never did look more beautiful even though she was in the hospital wearing an oxygen mask that covered up most of her face. If anyone came in they would see a very different side to captain Hitsugaya. Everyone thought he was a cold hearted person who only cared about paperwork but if they saw him now they would see that he deeply cares for someone. "I'm so sorry Karin, this is all my fault. Because of me you cant move. I'm so sorry" Toshiro was busy looking down at his lap to see someone move."If you say sorry one more time. Once I get out of here I swear I will punch you in the stomach." Toshiro's head shot up. When he looked up he saw a pair of grey eyes looking at him, holding the gas mask in her left. Giving a sweet smile. Her head was only turned slightly so she could see him. Karin was not at all drowsy. She did look tired though. "Karin your awake. You shouldn't be. Go back to bed" "I cant sleep when people keeping talking to me." she laughed hoping that she would cheer him up a little."Karin I am so sorry. I put you in the hospital now you cant move" Karin had sadness in her eyes. She hated to blame other people for her mistakes."Toshiro, this isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. You were only doing what you were asked to do. You can't ignore orders from the head captain. I don't blame you, so you shouldn't either. Like I said to my dad I lost my balance and I fell. So don't you dare blame yourself. Okay?" Karin gave of a sweet smile. Toshiro nodded."Okay" Toshiro gave her a smile in return. He still honestly thought it was his fault but he would keep that to himself."Good, so anyways, how are you?" Karin asked"I'm fine, you should honestly get some rest Karin. You wont get your energy back if you don't rest. I will talk to you later. So just sleep" Karin screwed up her face. She wasn't one for staying still for along periods of time. Even when she slept she was restless. She tosses and turned all night long. Now that she couldn't move that got her even more restless. "I will go to sleep if you stay here for a little while longer. " she gave him the puppy dog eyes. She knew that he could not resist them."Fine but only when you are a sleep I'll leave" Karin said goodnight to him, put the oxygen mask back on her face, then closed her eyes. It didn't take her long to fall sleep. Toshiro heard the short breaths coming from Karin. Toshiro let his head rest on the bed, his arms supporting his head but still looked up to her so he could watch her sleep. He could never do this when she was up. She would think that it was weird that he was staring at her. So right now he used his chance just watch her peacefully sleep. A lot like Rukia, Toshiro was also exhausted. He was up at 6 just doing his pile of paperwork, yelling at Rangiku to do her work then training his squad. Sleep soon took over him as well. Now both of them were sound asleep. It was early in the morning Karin could feel somebody was still there. When she looked around she saw a person with white hair sleeping against her bed. His sleeping face was so peaceful, it didn't have a scowl like he had when he was awake. She would of woken him up to tell him that he had fallen asleep but Karin didn't want to disrupt him because knowing him he doesn't get much sleep. So she let him be. 'Toshiro' Karin thought to herself. She took the mask of her face. "Psst Kon wake up" soon Kon was awake. "Take this over there" meaning one of the blankets she had on. Kon stood up grabbed on of the blanket and pulled it over to Toshiro's sleeping body resting it on his back. Though the blanket was bigger than Kon, with a series of pushing and pulling he managed to get it to its destination. "Thanks Kon" turning around to look at Toshiro "Idiot" she laughed then put the mask back on the went back to sleep. Karin woke up very in the morning, usually she had to get up early so her dad wouldn't kick her in the face. She turned around Toshiro was still lying there. By the light coming in the room it was probably six in the morning. She took of the mask, "Hey Toshiro, wake up." Toshiro slowly woke up."Ugh, I must of slept here. Now my back is killing me. Wait, who put this on me?" referring to the blanket that he had on.
"Well I woke up in the middle of the night, so I asked Kon to put it on you" Karin said, not making eye contact with him. She was a little bit embarrassed. "Anyway come here and sit on the bed. But only on my left side." Toshiro walked across the room and sat on the bed beside her. He was glad he was facing the other way or she would see him blushing. Karin slowly raised her hand and rested on Toshiros back. Toshiro jumped a little. He wasn't expecting her to touch his back but he did trust her so he let her carry on. Karin used the palm of her hand to rub up and down his spine. Sometimes gripping onto his haori. Toshiro making soft groans as she did so.
"There you go. I messaged your back. It shouldn't hurt now" Toshiro stood up from the bed gave a little stretch. She was right his back was fine.
"Karin you should honestly be sleeping. You need your rest." Toshiro gave a slight smile.
"I will go back to sleep soon, but can you hand me my allergy tablets. I forgot take them when I was back home" Toshiro handed Karin one of the tablets and grabbed a bottle of water that was lying on the bedside table, next to the packet. It was probably the other item that she brought from her home. Karin popped the tablet in her mouth then Toshiro helped giving her the water, since she could not sit up.
"Karin what is your allergy. Engetsu wouldn't tell us" Karin looked away from Toshiro. She hated talking about her allergy.
"I'm allergictodoghair" she coughed so that he could not make out what she was saying.
"What?"
"I said I'm allergic todoghair" she coughed again
"What was that?" he said again. Karin still didn't look at him when she was talking
"I said am allergic to dog hair. Anyway where's Engetsu and Kazen" quickly changing the subject
"What, your allergic to dog hair but there is no dogs in the soul society" Karin whipped her head round telling him to think again.
"Theirs is a captain who has canine features, it turns out I am allergic to his fur but don't tell a soul or I will seriously get you. Only Kisuke, Jinta and my dad know about it"
"I wont tell anyone. Eh Engetsu and Kazen are over there in the corner but why don't you tell people about your allergy" Toshiro said sitting back down on her bed.
"It makes me feel weak so I don't tell anyone but to those who should know. Anyway get her of here you have a job to do" Toshiro stood up again.
"Wait turn around then bend down" Toshiro did what he was told. Karin hand went straight to his white fluffy hair. Then she started to fix it.
"Sorry you had morning hair. I couldn't let you go out like that." giving a soft smile "Oh and please tell others that I don't know not to come in a see me. I can't sleep if there are strangers in the room. I get cautious" Toshiro started to the door "Remember don't say any to anybody about my allergy and don't come back until you finished your job" Karin put back on her mask then went back to sleep. When Toshiro walked out the room he had a soft smile on his face.
