A/N: Helloo there! Thanks for taking an interest in this attempt of mine! I'm finally publishing something after being a long time reader. I just had to add something for the Karin/hitsukarin fandom, and this has been on the back burner of brain for a while now. Honestly, I've been planning this as far back as CH. 428 of the Manga. [Minor Ch 428 spoilers] When I read Karin saying something like: "It's my turn to protect Ichi-nii." I was so ecstatic! I was like "Finally we get a badass Karin! Kubo made it happen!" But that arc came and went, and Badass Karin never came L . I was so delulu for Kickass Karin that when I took in the last page of Ch 500 my mind automatically when, "Oh, it must be Karin." So I came up with this canon divergent story to reconcile my Karin-focus need. As such, it will be a Karin-centric fic with a Hitsukarin undertone in the later chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Bleach characters or Bleach universe concepts discussed in this chapter. All rights belong to Tite Kubo.

[Warning: Ch 424 Spoilers, some graphic violence, and Karin has a sailor's mouth (she throws the f-word around like confetti)]

Mid-April

His sneakers pounded against the pavement as he ran as fast as he's ever ran before. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, but he couldn't risk stopping for even a moment. He risked a glance over his shoulder and what he saw terrified him all over again. A monstrous creature was rapidly slithering after him. It was huge—at least the length of three residential homes—and its multi-segmented made a loud clacking sound as it tried to reach him. The resounding crunch that would echo in the atmosphere every time the fifty-jointed legs slammed against the cement. If it was sharp enough to penetrate rock, he definitely did not want to know what it could do to his soft flesh.

But the rattle of chains brought him back to reality. He was no longer flesh, he was. . . honestly, he wasn't quite sure what he was. He just remembers heading home on his motorcycle after his band had a gig. He was thinking about the pretty brunette he had been seeing around the coffee shop and how he had finally gotten the courage to ask her out. He still hadn't removed the smile from his face when he rode through an intersection. The smile was still on his face when that white truck came speeding out of nowhere completely ignoring the red light it had. One demonstration of Newton's First Law of Motion later, and he was waking up struggling to breathe with a long dangling chain attached to his chest. He was immersed into a living hell being chased by this monster while no one around could hear his screams for help.

Without knowing it, he came to a crowded area with more of those people that couldn't see him. The people stopped in mild confusion as cracks appeared and tremors pulsed through the ground. Chaos ensued when people were tossed and gored by the monster tunneling through them. The young man struggled to get through the whirlpool of bystanders (he was still unused to going through people). "GET OUT OF THE WAY!", he shouted futilely. He knew the creature had the advantage and was most likely gaining on him.

The man could see an opening up ahead! He just had to get through these two rows of people, and he would be able to pick up the pace. Then all of a sudden, an excruciating pain shot through his abdomen and halted his movements. He looked down to see a pointed appendage protruding out his gut, dripping with his blood. He. . .he could have sworn there was more distance between he and it. He craned his neck to look at his murderer, and his eyes widened in dismayed shock. Along with the fifty feet made for crawling, the monster had eight nine-foot high sharp legs that it concealed within its first segment.

The spider-like legs held the man in place as the rest of its long body wound its way around him constricting him. "Sorry if I made you think you had a chance to get away," the creature's sinister voice mocked, "Food isn't enjoyable if it doesn't struggle!" The many legs wrapped around the man's body bit into all areas of his skin and oozed a green toxin into the puncture wounds. The young man screamed in pain as the poison burned through his system. "Mmm.. This stuff will make it impossible for you to move or scream. But don't worry, you'll still be able to feel everything," the monster proclaimed in maniacal glee. He began slowly consuming the soul as the paralysis finally took effect; the only sign the boy was aware of what was being done to him were the horror-filled eyes that were locked onto his skull mask. He played with his food for a bit, but halfway through digesting the arm, it was no longer fun. "Ugh. Bored now."

The monster uncoiled its body from around the young man. His eight spindly legs punctured the human's inert body and raised him up. Tears fell from the musician's eyes as he thought about the unfairness of it all. He was just twenty-two years old; he was not ready for it to end-especially so violently. His band was finally starting to gain a loyal following and some labels were starting to show an interest. He will never get a chance to resolve the strained relationship with his father (his old man was disappointed he wouldn't follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer). And he will never get that date with the girl that filled his thoughts; a shame, he really thought they could have hit it off. So unfair, this living hell. The legs pulled, bisecting the man and causing a shower of blood and viscera to fall on the pavement.

"Karin-chan!" She jolted at the sound of her name. She was so lost in the thoughts of someone else that she completely zoned out on the here and now. Right, she was in the middle of the Entrance Ceremony for her new secondary school. She tweaked her head to her right to gaze at her twin while refusing to remove her palms from her eye-sockets; it helped to relieve some of the pain in her skull, but also helped to conceal the fact that her eyes were watering. The headaches have become were her prerequisite "gift with purchase" for her keen spiritual-sense. At least they weren't as bad as they used to be. A year ago, they felt like someone was taking a jackhammer to her temple and would have her out of commission for the rest of the day. Now, it was just a dull ache that throbbed until it was taken care of.

Sensing her twin was not in the mood for one of her bossy comments, she gently informed, "Karin-chan, it's our rows turn to leave now. . ." Karin's eyes widened at that information; she didn't realize she missed the rest of the ceremony being stuck in that man's thoughts. Yuzu's eyes filled with concern, "Are you okay? Is it one of your migraines? "

The black-haired twin stood up and followed the rest of the row out. "Yeah, it's just really bright and loud in here," she lied to her sister. Karin has still yet to inform her sister of the reason why she gets all these migraines.

"Well, we're almost outside. Maybe some fresh air will help," she suggested while rubbing comforting circles on Karin's back.

"Thanks, Yuzu." Her migraine was already starting to dissipate, but it wasn't because the prospect of getting out of the building was soothing. A few moments ago, she had felt the reiatsu of one of Ichigo's friends-the thin man with the glasses-appear alongside the hollow that tormented the musician, and soon the hollow's reiatsu disappeared altogether. And while she was comforted in the fact that the hollow was gone for good to no longer torment another soul, an aching sadness filled her for all the souls, like the musician, the hollow consumed. For, she knew they were gone for good too. She wasn't quite sure how she knew this, but she felt it down to her bones that all those lost souls were gone and were never coming back.

Another puzzling matter was her ability to see into the thoughts or memories of a soul. She wasn't quite sure how or why, but it was becoming increasingly frequent. The first time she experienced it was the boy trapped in the cockatiel. She assumed she was able to see into his memories because they were around the same age. But this past year she's been seeing the thoughts of all different types of human souls-no matter their age, race, or gender. She didn't know what the connection was between all of them (or if there even was one).

All she knew was that a couple of souls every few months or so would reach out and connect with her on a much deeper level. Everything they felt, she felt. She felt the suffocating confusion and loneliness they woke up to. Depending on the person, she felt their rage, sadness, happiness, and disappointment at the past memories they left behind. Most of all, their deaths were the hardest; in the beginning when they would get a grievous injury, Karin would have to check herself over to make sure the same was not done to her. She wasn't certain why she felt it all, down to the little details, but she did. It was always when they were being chased by Hollows moments before their death. She had a theory about the whole thing. It was like a message was sent off, amplified by their desperation, to someone who would listen-as a plea for help. To let someone know they still existed in the world. Ironic that they decided to send it to the one girl that tried to deny their existence despite all the evidence contrary to her belief.

At first, she tried to save them herself since Ichi-nii lost his powers and the Afro-haired shinigami was incompetent at his job. But often times she would show up too late or would just put her own life in danger (apparently a reiatsu-filled soccer ball was just a nuisance to some of these hollows). After a while, she realized it was futile—at least until she becomes stronger. These lost souls were one of the reasons why she wanted to become stronger.

When they finally made it outside, the two girls decided to stand under the maple tree and wait for their dad to come out of the auditorium. Yuzu was chatting her ear off about something or other (excitement in starting middle school, jealousy at the huge growth spurt Ayame-chan's chest took over the break, and lusty admiration at how good Haruka-kun looks now). Finally, the families' of the students were making their way out of the building, and none other than their beardo dad was aggressively barging through the sea of people crying and shouting their names. As he came barreling towards them at full tilt, he tore open his dress shirt and shouted, "KAAAARIN, YUUUUZU! DADDY'S SOOO PROUD! JUMP INTO DADDY'S CHE-bffgh". He was unceremoniously slammed to the ground by a foot in the face. "Karin," he rasped out like he was on his deathbed, "Daddy can see your panties."

Suffice it to say, that was rewarded a kick to the groin. Karin ground her foot into his belly with each syllable: "SHUT IT, GOAT CHIN! AND STOP SAYING PERVERTED THINGS TO YOUR DAUGHTERS!"

The ever dutiful daughter, Yuzu helped her dad to sit up. "Karin-chan, don't be so mean to Otou-san," the doe-eyed twin scolded. Meanwhile their eccentric dad unfolded a flowery poster of the girl's mother and proceeded to sob into it about how cruel their daughter could be.

The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes—she couldn't believe he kept a copy in his suit pocket—and began to walk away from her family. "Whatever. I don't want to be late for homeroom. You should head off too, Yuzu." And with that, she apathetically waved goodbye.

Karin's first day of school passed by with relative ease. There were a lot of familiar faces in her homeroom, but most importantly Ryohei and Kei were in her class. She had the science teacher for homeroom which was cool because he actually seemed to love what he does (a rare find in a school teacher), and science was by far her favorite subject. The rest of the teachers that came in and out of the room were hit and miss (she wonders if the supply room was missing a broom, because she's pretty sure it's up her history teacher's butt).

After their cleaning duties, Karin changed into her athletic clothes and told Yuzu to head home without her because she wanted to head to the park to practice. Soccer tryouts were coming up, and she wanted to be one of the few seventh graders to play for the varsity team. She was currently at the Karakura Community Park; it had two soccer fields and plenty of open grassy areas (plus it was only a few blocks away from her school). She had already stretched her limbs and ran a couple laps around the park to warm up, and now she was practicing on her footwork. Karin was pretty confident in her goal scoring abilities because her aim was nearly dead-on when it came to her intended target, but she wasn't so assured in her ability to maintain ball possession.

The athletic middle-schooler spent hours running through potential plays in her head in order to work on her feints. She imagined an opponent coming at her from the left; she rolled the ball back with her one foot, spun around, and took control with the other to effectively get around her opponent. After several fake-outs and pop-ups later, she was really coming to regret her decision to not invite the guys to train with her. Working on switching feet with complicated twists thrown in was all well and good, but she wouldn't know how well it would work unless facing an actual person. She had seen how big those ninth-grade girls could be compared to her, and Karin knew they could easily overpower her when it came to brute force. She had to make sure she was quick with her feet and avoid potential steal in order to have any chance of making Varsity. But if she was honest about her friends-and she always was-they would have been lousy help anyways. Only a couple of them went through growth spurts during the past year (Heita was still just as short as ever and Kazuya was still rail thin). While Kei was the biggest out of all of them (in height and weight), he was lousy at soccer and wouldn't offer much of a challenge. Plus her friends were still very much terrified of her and would be more likely to flee from her approach rather than attack. The only one that had the nerve to get in her face first was Ryohei (Kei was always on Karin's side no matter her mood swings, while Heita and Kazuya were only brave enough to parrot whatever Ryohei said; they were firm believers in 'strength in numbers'), but Karin had to put that pervert in his place with a punch to the face when he would try to make a pass at her—it happened so frequently that a bruised cheek would coincide with his realization that his best friend had a "nice rack". And although he was a good soccer player, he was more interested in the female body and has been using his free time flirting up classmates (Karin's sure he's hoping to score a date with Ayame and her big breasts). So she'll practice alone until she can make more soccer friends.

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Karin finally called it quits. The young girl flung herself onto the ground panting from exhaustion. Karin languidly closed her eyes and relished the moment. The April breeze caressed her body and cooled the sweat that clung to it.

The musty aroma filled her nostrils as her fingers clutched at the tufts of grass until her fingernails raked through the dirt. Shadows played across her eyelids as her mind succumbed to the relaxed atmosphere. In this moment she had nothing to worry about. She could forget about joining clubs, getting good grades, or even seeing ghosts. God, her increasing powers were really terrifying her at times whether it was getting less and less privacy from the ones that always seem to follow her (showering has become a hassle with pervert ghosts) or the 'visions' of a soul's coming death. She was so adamant that if she didn't believe in spiritual phenomena then it didn't exist whether she saw it or not, but now she could no longer afford to be in denial. So she cherished this moment, for she was just a girl relaxing in the grass with nothing to worry about.

Her repose was interrupted when a bright light erased all the shadows and forced her to squeeze her already closed eyes even tighter at the sudden change. She quickly sat up and brought her hand up to shield her sensitive eyes as she opened them to investigate. "What the hell?!" the adolescent exclaimed in shock when she took in her surroundings. As far as she could tell, she was no longer in the community park. There were no playgrounds, no sport fields or courts, and no sounds of others. She was all alone on a plush plain of the most vibrant grass she's ever seen. Stranger still was the sky. There was no sun in the sky, but it still managed to be the brightest, whitest she's ever seen it. Karin squinted her eyes as she caught a flicker of movement in the distant expanse. It was too far away to be sure, but she could have sworn she saw an orange glimmer. 'What is that?', she wondered. "Hello," she questioned and quickly felt stupid for calling out to it. If all the horror movies she's seen had taught her anything, it was to never call out to the ominous presence in the distance.

An eardrum-shattering roar was given as a response. Her blood ran cold as she instantly recognized the inhuman cry; she had heard it many times in the memories of others and around Karakura Town that she knew it to mean coming death. The terrified girl squeezed her eyes shut and repeatedly told herself: 'It's just a dream. I'll wake up. I'll wake up!" "WAKE UP!"

Karin snapped her eyes open to find herself once again in the community park. But the terror remained at the realization that the noise wasn't from her dream. It was coming from the behemoth hollow that was making its way towards her. It was at least fifteen yards away, so she quickly rummaged through her sports bag for that knock-off Pac-Man Urahara gave her and tucked it into her short's pocket in case she would need it. She zipped up her bag and flung the strap over her head. She tucked her worn soccer ball under her arm and took off as fast as she could.

Her cleats scraped against the cement of the basketball court she ran across. The short chain-link fence was only five yards away, and she would then be out of the park. But where would she run to? She'd have to take wide, empty streets to hopefully prevent others from getting hurt during her attempts to flee. The resounding crash of the hoop's metal pole notified Karin that the monster was gaining on her. She threw her ball over the fence with her after it and tumbled onto the sidewalk scraping her hands and knees in the process. She picked up her ball and hooked a right. As a kid who liked wandering the streets, she knew which ones would be empty at this time of a day. Plus if she ended up having to fight it, it would be much easier at the abandoned Matsukura Hospital just north of the park.

In case it did turn into a battle, Karin ran through the Hado spell she had been memorizing. "'Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, flutter of wings'.. No 'all creation, flutter of wings', 'Inferno and pandemonium'... 'Pandemonium..' Ugh what's the last part? 'Unleash the wrath of your claws'? No! That's a different one!" Karin was so focused on remembering the spell in it entirety while sprinting that she barely registered the tall man that was standing in her path. When she realized he wasn't getting out of the way, she screamed: "RUN AWAY!"

Instead of heeding her advice, he walked past the short girl as if she wasn't there and swaggered straight into the path of the incoming hollow with a knowing look on his face. 'What the hell is that idiot doing?!' With his slicked back hair and a cocky smirk worn on his chiseled face, Karin could already tell this guy was probably a huge douche. But, douche or not, the guy didn't deserved to be an appetizer on the Hollow's menu.

The girl resolutely threw her bag onto the ground and dribbled the ball towards the monster. With each tap of the foot, the ball glowed brighter and brighter with the reiatsu Karin was funneling into it. "Oi, didn't you hear me?! Get the FUCK out of the way and LEAVE!" She swung her leg back and put as much power into the kick as she could. The glowing ball zoomed directly towards the monster's bulbous head and made a direct impact with the creature's mask with a resounding crack. A horrific shriek of pain filled the air as the monster writhed violently in pain. Only a fissure along his skull-like mask was proof of Karin's kick, and the monster was back up-more pissed off than ever. "WATCH OUT!", Karin cried out as the monster was about to take a swing at the man.

The man's only response was a slight head turn to connect eyes with the young girl and smirk as the punch rocketed towards him. Karin watched in horror: 'Was this guy insane?'. But just as the monster's fist was about to connect with the man's body, the cocky guy vanished completely. 'What the fuck?!' The shifting of the hollow's head seemed to echo her confusion. But like an adaptive predator, it picked a new prey. 'Oh shit...' From the position Karin was in now with creature towering above, she could easily die at any moment. She could never run away now.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Pac-man Poke-ball. She pressed eyes of the ball in and quickly flung it at the monster. The Pac-man's zig-zagged mouth opened up to emit an electrical current that quickly surrounded the hollow and held it in place. Karin backed away to give herself some distance while she prepared. She placed one palm over the other and had them out towards the creature as she gathered up all the energy she knew she had. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, . . ." The energy radiated throughout her body as it all made its way up her arms. ". . .all creation, flutter of wings, . . ." Her hands tingled as the reiatsu began to gather in the center of her palms. ". . .ye who bears the name of Man!" The tingling turned into a searing pain as her energy took on a red glow. The monster was no longer subdued by electricity, and it was now charging at her. "Inferno and pandemonium,. . ." Karin couldn't believe she had forgotten the last verse earlier (especially with all the mnemonic aids she created to help her remember). But now, she recalled it with perfect clarity as if someone else was speaking the words from her mouth. "...the sea barrier surges, march onto the south!" The creature was just five feet away from her. She screamed in determination as the big, red ball of energy pulsed faster and faster, "Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"

The girl's small body was propelled backwards as the fire ball shot out of her hand like a cannon. It smashed into the hollows mask with such force that it blasted a large hole through its skull, and the rest of the hollow disintegrated into ashy spirit particles soon after. "Damn. That hurt." Her arm was scuffed up from the fall, and her left palm had a huge red burn from where the Hado had shot out of. It was easy to lie to her family about the former, because she was constantly coming home with scrapes and bruises from her athletic lifestyle. But the latter was going to be a harder sell since it was not a common injury she would get, and it was far too circular for 'typical' burns. But she'll come up with something-given whom her dad is Karin definitely developed the ability to tell a tall tale; she was beginning to think lying was a Kurosaki trait.

The middle-schooler rose on shaky legs, and she staggered to pick up her bag and ball. Her thoughts were in a flurry over everything that transpired today. She will definitely be making a trip to Uruhara's. She had needed to regardless of today, because she was running low on her supplies (and she used the last of the weird, but helpful electro-balls today). But now there were so many other things to address. She was already concerned about her weird 'visions', but the dream she had earlier took it to a-whole-nother level. 'Was it just a dream? It felt so real...' . But even that didn't take center stage to what she considered the bigger issue at hand. Black, slicked-back hair and a cocky smirk on thick lips came to mind. 'Who was he? What is he?'. He had moved quicker than she knew was physically possible. The only beings she had seen break these feats before were the shinigami she had witnessed fighting in her town nearly two years ago. Before she had passed out from the pressure put on her, she had watched from her window as they appeared in one place, disappeared, and appeared somewhere else quicker than she could keep track of. And their enemies in battle were just as fast. So was this guy a friend or foe?

Yep, she'll definitely have to take a trip to Urahara's. But it'll have to wait; the sun was setting, and Yuzu always gets pissed when she's late. Her twin says it's because Karin has the lack of decency to show up on time to the dinner she has slaved over since getting home from school. But the raven-haired twin knows better, and knows that the pout on her sister's face is poorly covered up concern for Karin's safety while being out after dark. To ease Yuzu's worry, Karin begins to jog home—despite how drained she is—in order to make it home in time. Yep, Urahara's can wait until tomorrow.

A/N: So what did you guys think of it? Interesting? Boring? OOC? Let me know whatcha think, and feel free to be as brutally honest as possible. Constructive criticism is really helpful J.

If you're interested, there were certain songs that came to mind while writing this fic that I created a playlist of themes:

-Toushiro's Theme: 'Silver and Cold' by A.F.I

-Hitsukarin Theme: 'Love Like Winter' by A.F.I.

-Hyourinmaru's Theme: 'A Winter's Tale' by A.F.I

(The rest will remain ambiguous until later chapters)

- 'Summer Shudder' by A.F.I

- 'Slow Burn' by Atreyu

- 'Firebreather' by Thrice

- 'Backdraft' by Thrice

- 'This Fire' by Killswitch Engage

- 'My Curse' by Killswitch Engage

- 'End of Heartache' by Killswitch Engage

- 'Demolition Lovers' by My Chemical Romance

Sorry for all the mid-2000's alternative mix. I just happened to find my old high school iPod, and all these lyrics seemed to fit well with the storyline. I just had to include four of A Fire Inside's songs since they make so many allusions to winter and life after death. Kubo's choice to use A.F.I's 'Girl's not Grey' as Toushirou's theme seemed to be even more depressing to me because to me it seemed like he was accepting and embracing his inevitable death within a hopeless situation… I don't know, I could be wrong . . . I just hope he just picked it because it was pretty popular at the time and not because he was foreshadowing Hitsugaya's future in the series…

Anyways, next chapter will occur during CH 427-428. Stay tuned!