Of Birthdays and Siblings

Sugar Twins

When a light dusting of snow began to fall on the playing field Karin knew it was time to call soccer practice off. She tucked her soccer ball into her bag and walked over to her bag and pulled on warmer clothing on top of the sweaty uniform she was wearing. She found herself blowing on her hands as it was starting to get cold, and despite having a good work out.

She then headed towards the near by grocery store to get herself something warm to drink.. She didn't expect to run into a small female coming out of the store with obviously stolen goods as the girl wasn't using the plastic bag that the items normally came in. Karin narrowed her eyes at the female, her lips pushing together tightly.

She found herself telling the girl off despite the fact she didn't even know her. A rather irritating conversation went under way. To her surprise, the girl said something rather surprising. "No, I mean how can you see me."

"Well, she doesn't feel like a Hollow, and while there is bits and pieces of shinigami floating about her, it isn't like the shinigami I've met." Karin found herself frowning at the girl and their conversation continuing. Who ever this girl was, Karin was far from impressed with her snotty behavior. Not to mention she couldn't figure out why she was so defensive.

Eventually the girl spun away and tried taking off. The dark haired Kurosaki Twin shook her head. "Good riddance. She was rather annoying me."

Karin paused though, sensing a rather familiar rieatsu. "Toshiro?"

Shaking her head, she decided to head in the direction she felt his reiatsu coming from. "I haven't seen him in awhile. I wonder why he hasn't tried visiting me when he's been in town. I mean, he isn't just friends with Ichi-nii, so not visiting simply because Ichi-nii couldn't see him is just plain weird."The small female paused in her though and shook her head again.

"No... it may have felt like he would be torturing Ichi-nii if he showed up in his gigai form. He couldn't have known Ichi-nii needed someone to acknowledge that he mattered to the shinigami." Karin glanced up suddenly, her eyes blinking a couple of times as she looked at the place. Letting out a deep breath, she found herself blinking a couple of times. "Why would Toshiro be in a place like this?"

She walked forward, letting out a deep breath. "Ichi-nii's got his powers back, so really the idea that I'm supposed to help protect Karakura Town feels like a lie."

Stepping over to the door, she found herself running into the female again. The fact she had shown up caused the girl to suddenly drop her supplies. The look on the girls face became angry and she snapped at Karin. "What have you done to him?"

The black haired Kurosaki twin blinked a couple of times. "She's referring to Toshiro of course, but how does she happen to know him?" She glanced around the other female and realized that Toshiro had in fact been there, but his rieatsu was disappearing. "She has medicine with her, so he isn't well. Ichi-nii must have found him then."

Again she found herself arguing with the girl, even getting slapped twice. Karin found herself holding back her temper as she found herself unsure of the girls abilities. Eventually though the girl did in fact take off on her, likely heading back to the house. Letting out a deep sigh, she headed on back despite the fact she didn't want to know what kind of trouble her brother had gotten into this time.

Stepping through the door she was in time to see Yuzu heading out to go shopping. She let out a deep sigh. "Yuzu... you need to know that we have a couple of quests for lunch today, so you'll want to pick up some extra food."

"All right."

Karin then watched to make sure that Yuzu was far enough away from the house so that if a fight broke out upstairs, she wouldn't be able to walk in on a bunch of invisible fighting. She then closed the door and headed upstairs and knocked on the door. The door opened up and she found herself face to face with the small female, who frowned at her.

"Oh... its you."

"What do you mean it is you. You don't know any of Kurosaki's friends." Karin could hear Toshiro's voice coming from the place where Ichigo's bed was.

"I met his sister." The girl turned around at that point and looked right at him, frowning as she did so.

"Which one?" Ichigo spoke up.

"You have more then one?"

"They're twins like you and Toshiro are."

Karin watched as the girl turned to look at her again, her lips pushing together before slamming the door in her face. The small female found herself raising her eyebrow. "Seriously, what is your problem?"

There came a scuffling sound from the other side of the door. She could hear her brother speaking up, his voice irritated from the way the girl was treating him. "Look, I'm getting really sick and tired of your bratty attitude." The door swung open and Ichigo let his sister in. "It's like you have Toshiro's bratty personality on over drive, except he isn't inclined to being touchy feely."

Ichigo and the girl were facing in her direction and she saw Toshiro flinch when he heard the substitute spill out of his mouth the words that he did. His eyes glanced over at them and they were wide in horror. "Why do I get the feeling that Toshiro is naturally a touchy feely person but won't do it unless he knows a person well enough to know he won't be rejected for such feelings. I can't blame him with the way his sister acts."

"Yeah... but..."

"She's done nothing wrong, right?" Ichigo snapped the words out. "Plus, she has medical training so she can see if Toshiro needs any medicine."

Karin watched as the boy's cheeks suddenly turned red. "You are so lucky your sister isn't watching."

"Actually... Kurosaki, Unohana gave me a look over."

"You should have Urahara give him a look over. By the time you get back in gigai you'll find that Yuzu has lunch ready for us. Plus, you'll likely want to feel him in on whatever is going on." The small female turned to leave only to find herself pausing when the girl spoke up.

"If he is a Shinigami, then I won't trust him."

Karin spun around and glared at him. "Your problem isn't that you don't trust shinigami. The only person you trust is your brother, who I'll remind you is a Shinigami."

"Actually, he is a Quincy and Shinigami hybrid."

"A what?" Karin found herself blinking a couple of times. "You mean you have a parent who is a Shinigami and a parent who is a Quincy? Like Uryu-nii is a Quincy?"

"Yeah... pretty much."

"I have so many questions, but I know better then to ask my brother who likes to hide things and a Shinigami Taicho who by the rules can't explain anything to me." Karin then spun around. As she closed the door, she heard part of the conversation between Ichigo and Toshiro.

"She got us both there."

"No Kurosaki. She's actually fine with my explanation that I am a captain and can't give her information because of Soul Society's rules. I haven't seen her in awhile, but she told me that she's mad at you for hiding things from her despite the fact you rather could feel her in. You told your friends didn't you?"

"Yeah, but..."