Found(A HitsuKarin Fanfic) BOOK 1

Chapter 1, It's Been A While

The moment Karin gets downstairs, Yuzu bombards her, "Oh my gosh Karin! Why didn't you tell me your boyfriend was in town and would be staying with us!?"

Karin scratches the side of her head, "what?" She asks sleepily.

"Toshiro! He and Ichigo came in early this morning and Ichigo said that he'd be staying with us for a little while." Yuzu clarifies dramatically and Karin couldn't for the life of her understand why Yuzu always had so much energy in the mornings.

Then what Yuzu had said finally dawn on her, "oh, he's staying?"

"You didn't know?" Yuzu looks at her.

"I just got up."

"That makes sense, if he just got here I guess he probably didn't have time to tell you."

Karin nods, "guess not." Though she knew that he wasn't just here for a visit.

"Do you want breakfast? I fixed you a plate." Yuzu smiles.

"Yeah," Karin replies taking a seat at the table while Yuzu got her food warmed up.

"Here you go," Yuzu chimes brightly as Karin thanks her and starts eating.

"Is it good?" Yuzu asks.

"Your cooking is always good Yuzu." Karin compliments.

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(With Ichigo and Toshiro)

"Have you noticed that more Hollows have been showing up here lately?" Ichigo asks Toshiro as he sat on his bed.

"We've all noticed, something's going  on and we need to figure out what." Toshiro replies with a sigh.

"Renji and Rukia are patrolling now, so we should get some rest while we can."

"If we can," Toshiro adds, "you didn't fight what I did. IT was like no Hollow I'd ever seen before and it was incredibly strong. They're going to need help if more than one shows up."

Ichigo nods, "let's hope that was the only one for now then."

They're interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.

"Yuzu wants to know what you guys want for dinner tonight?" Karin asks walking in.

Toshiro looked her over, noting that she had gotten a bit taller and had longer hair since the last time he'd seen her. He also noticed the red ribbon wrapped around her arm and grew curious.

"How about Curry," Answers Ichigo.

"Okay, I'll tell her." She turns to leave but stops upon hearing Toshiro.

"What's with the ribbon?" He questions her.

She doesn't turn around as she responds, "I like the way it looks." And with that she gone, leaving Toshiro confused.

"The Ribbon?" Toshiro faces Ichigo. Something seemed off about it to him, not bad, just off.

"Don't worry about it, she just likes it for some reason, she's been wearing it for a while now though." Ichigo explains.

Toshiro nods, "it's just strange is all."

"That's what I thought at first, but you eventually get used to it."

Toshiro let the subject drop, deciding that he would grill Karin about it later. Toshiro knew that something was up with her, it was something he could tell almost immediately.

"The Head Captain believes that something powerful has got the Hollows all stirred up, he thinks something is coming."

Ichigo meets Toshiro's eyes, the aura of the room turning ominous and suffocating.

"Then I guess that means we're going to have our hands full." Ichigo sighs.

Toshiro looks at the floor responding, "it can't be helped, and the last time I spoke to the Head Captain he informed me that he would be sending three other Captains to help out."

"Did he say which three?" Ichigo asks.

Toshiro shakes his head, "no he didn't." He looks up, meeting Ichigo's determined eyes.

Ichigo seems to get annoyed by this, "and you didn't think to ask?"

Toshiro glares at him, the tension of the room growing, "If you must know, I did ask but he wouldn't tell me!"

"Oh." Ichigo calms down after hearing this.