"Yuzu?" Karin, suddenly overwhelmed by uncertainty, reached out as if to touch her sister and make sure she was real. Karin was almost positive that she was not hallucinating, but given the general lack of sleep and stress she had recently it was entirely possible she was.

Yuzu- who was always better at dealing with things like this- had no such hesitation and immediately broke into a run, throwing herself into her sister's arms with a smile. From behind Yuzu, Toshiro noticed Ichigo enter the room, his arms full of grocery bags with the other cake ingredients.

Continuing to hug her sister, Yuzu remained perfectly composed and, eventually, Karin was able to calm down enough to hug her back. It was the first time they had touched or really seen each other in years. Toshiro and Ichigo looked to the ground, feeling slightly awkward and intrusive on the twins.

"I missed you," Yuzu whispered to Karin, blinking back tears.

"I missed you too."

They remained in the positions they were in for almost a minute, before, finally, Yuzu relaxed and Karin let go. The two sisters stared at each other, before Karin was finally able to wake up from the stunned shock she had fallen into.

"Urahara's thing worked then?"

Yuzu nodded, "Yeah, though, unfortunately, my husband didn't have enough spiritual pressure to come too. Oh well, at least I was able to tell him where I was going without lying."

Before she died, Karin had met and tentatively approved of Yuzu's husband, so she knew they had told him about their 'family secret'. He was also very loyal and mellow, so she doubted this would cause any problems between them.

Not that Karin would have let that stop her from seeing Yuzu again, but it was a nice plus.

Yuzu finally looked away from Karin to her soon-to-be-brother-in-law, her usual charisma and exuberance practically shining off her soul. With a handful of bouncy steps, Yuzu skipped up to him and pulled him into a hug as well.

"Toshiro! It's been so long! I'm so happy for you two! I always said the two of you would be perfect together from the first time I saw you two together, glad to know I was right!"

For all that Karin had made him more social, when Yuzu suddenly hugged him he could not do anything but stare at Karin in confusion. His loyal, helpful, supportive fiance just smirked at his panic, trying to stop herself from laughing.

Luckily, Yuzu's hug was much shorter for him than it was for Karin, and he was soon released as she bounced over to the stack of ingredients with a gleeful expression. Ichigo hesitantly placed the new ingredients on the table for her to see and Yuzu admired the tools she had to work with, a smile on her face.

"Alright let's bake," Yuzu declared before immediately assigning roles to each member of her family present. As Karin and Orihime (who Ichigo had asked to decorate rather than bake) began to choose which color of frosting they wanted for the first layer, Karin realized she had no idea how to choose colors for a cake.

"You two, make sure that you're both happy with how it looks, I don't want to get the cake color to clash with the frosting one," she instructed Karin and Toshiro, who had been picking food coloring for the cake. The pair of lovers quickly decided on a dark blue cake with white frosting and light, icy blue decorations.

Yuzu was thrilled.

For the next hour or so, the group found themselves lost in baking the most extravagant cake any of them (except Yuzu) had seen. To Yuzu, the highlight of the experience was finding out Soul Society had a way to preserve cakes that did not cause them to lose any of their warm fluff. She gleefully re-adjusted her plan to an even bigger cake when she had found out.

Fortunately, with the Shiba account loaded from thank you's for Ichigo and Karin's salary (food and shelter were provided, so she usually had no use for any of the money), it was no trouble for them to get all the ingredients Yuzu could dream of. Ichigo actually ended up opening a garganta back to the world of the living half-way through to get more for them to use.

Even after working the present military officers- some of the strongest people in existence- to the point of collapse Yuzu still looked as cheerful as ever. Toshiro stared after her in a state of wonder and fear.

"How was she able to do all this?"

"I'm almost positive not inheriting as much spiritual pressure as the rest of us has made her the most powerful Kurosaki of all. Quite a few people agree with me," Karin told him from her collapsed position on the ground, Ichigo nodding without hesitation. Yuzu ignored them and happily stuffed the various layers into the 'fridge'.

"By the way Yuzu," Karin asked, still not moving from the ground. "Where will you be sleeping tonight?"

Yuzu thought it over for a moment, then turned to Toshiro and Karin with a teasing grin. "Well, I wouldn't want to get in the way of you two tonight, I'll just stay with Ichigo and Orihime."

Karin blushed slightly and glared, sitting up a bit only to lean against the counter and slide until her head was on Toshiro's shoulder. Toshiro glared at Yuzu as well.

Yuzu happily ignored the glares from two people who could easily destroy a country if given a reason to. The clean up had already been finished, so Yuzu decided to give the couple (and her brother) a break, promising herself to continue teasing them at their wedding.

"I think I'm going to go find Rukia! Do you two have anything else you need to do before the wedding begins? If not, you might be able to do a bit more baking even without me."

Toshiro and Karin froze slightly, neither missing the way Ichigo slowly inched out of the room until he was far enough away to shunpo out without obstruction.

"Ah, no," Toshiro shook his head, "We should really go. I want Karin to meet my grandmother, who unfortunately can't make it to the wedding tomorrow."

Yuzu nodded along as if something like this was not exactly her plan and then smiled again and waved them off.

"I don't think I'll look at a pleasant smile the same way ever again," Toshiro whispered to Karin as he helped her up. Karin nodded back, brushing flour off her forehead.

"Yeah, she has a way of doing that to people."

Having already flash stepped a majority of the way, Toshiro and Karin spent the rest of the trip to his grandmother's house walking at a leisurely pace. This was dually useful, as it gave them a chance to both enjoy the scenery and talk to each other.

"I told you about my grandmother a long time ago, right?" Toshiro asked, his genius brain sorting through the events in his life and placing them on a timeline. "I think I've told her about you several times; at least in passing."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you actually first told me about her when I was still alive, so I was really, really young then. Though we looked about the same age, and I'm pretty sure I was taller."

Toshiro rolled his eyes, but did not deny what she said or mention how unnecessary her comment was. He remembered one of his earlier trips to the human world (it wasn't to see her, regardless of what Matsumoto said) where he took Karin to the house of a woman who could see spirits. After Karin was finished mocking him for his choice of candied beans, they had an actual conversation where Toshiro told her a bit about his childhood.

"That makes this much easier then, I'm pretty sure I remember personally telling her about you. Though, recently, her health has started to deteriorate, so I'm not sure if she'll remember."

"She'll be reincarnated soon then?"

"She should be, though I'll admit I'm hoping she'll be able to continue existing fully until then, rather than a slow transition of wasting away overtime."

Karin hummed in understanding, remembering the times some families had asked her dad to give the elders in their family a peaceful, painless death after developing an incurable disease. At the time, she had been too young to be able to understand why anyone would assume death was better than life.

Karin also knew these things should be treated delicately, and that asking more on the subject was a level of rude even she knew was off limits.

So, instead, she reached over to grab his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze, but said nothing. They walked in silence for a while, until Karin felt Toshiro relax and thought it was an acceptable time to restart their conversation.

"So, will Momo be coming? Might be nice to see your family all at once, but it'd be hard to arrange your schedule with the fifth divisions like that."

"Yes, well, unfortunately she's too busy to come right now, but she'll be able to make it to the wedding. " Toshiro told her, ignoring the emotions inside him with a practiced mask. He still loved Momo, and felt comfortable around her in more casual conversation or teasing, but whenever it became too serious his mind always brought him back to the moment Aizen caused him to nearly kill her.

That tends to create a bit of a wall between people.

He shook his head, clearing himself of those thoughts. They were still close, so it was fine. He would rather not bring it up to Karin and lower their current positive mood in preparation for the wedding.

Regardless, Karin seemed to understand what he was feeling and squeezed his hand again, offering a small amount of comfort. They looked to each other and smiled, then stopped, having reached the house.

Karin apparently decided Toshiro had calmed down enough and let go of his hand, motioning for him to take the lead with a smirk. Toshiro's smile remained, even as he rolled his eyes and opened the door for them.

"I'm home," he said, not quiteyelling, but still louder than normal.

His words attracted the attention of an old woman, who turned toward the noise from her spot on the bed and set her book down, smiling at him.

"Toshiro. Welcome back," she glanced over at the girl behind her surrogate grandson. "Who is this young lady?"

Karin stepped in, nodding once at the grandmother as if giving a bow. "Hi. It's nice to meet you, my name's Karin."

The woman smiled even at the short introduction, motioning for them to come inside. "It's been far too long since you last visited Toshiro, thank you for coming back. Have you come to introduce this woman to me?"

Toshiro sank down next to his grandmother and spoke in a soft voice. "Yes, I wanted you to meet her. Grandmother, please meet Karin Kurosaki or Shiba, my fiance."

The woman's eyes widened, before her expression shifted to an unparalleled smile, looking between the two of them. Karin relaxed and allowed herself to smile back at the woman as she sank to the ground next to her bed. The grandmother reached out towards Karin, touching her cheek as if to make sure she was not hallucinating.

"That is wonderful Toshiro, this is amazing," she turned to the silver haired boy on the other side of her bed, "You're all grown up now, aren't you?"

Seeing how happy the woman was gave Karin the strength she needed to bite down her comment about his apparent height and age, a fact she was extremely grateful for. The woman pulled them both into a hug, then moved her book off of her bed completely, wiping away tears in her eyes.

She turned to Karin, "Are you a shinigami too? Is that how you met each other?"

Karin tilted her head to the side in a 'so-so' manner, then answered, "I am also a shinigami- I even work in Toshiro's division- but we met each other originally because my brother is a shinigami and Toshiro got to know him during the wars. We met before I became a shinigami or even entered the academy."

She tactfully talked around the fact that the first time they met she was still alive; she would rather avoid the headache-inducing number of questions that would inevitably spawn from that statement.

The woman nodded and started asking Karin and Toshiro how their job had been recently. She obviously had not heard about the rebellion, and Karin got a distinct impression that Toshiro did not want to bring it up, so she did the same. After Matsumoto stories and tales of how Karin's father was absolutely insane and how useless their fellow officers could be when they did not want to do something (meetings) Toshiro finally brought up what they came here for.

"So, grandmother. I told you at the beginning that Karin is my fiance, and I wanted to know if you think you would be physically able to come to our wedding. How have you been feeling?"

Just like that, the joyful, optimistic happiness which had been in her vanished and was replaced by a deep, crushing guilt. Toshiro knew the answer to his question. Karin tried for a bit of a lopsided smile as she placed her hand on Toshiro's, but it would be very hard to subdue this much disappointment.

"I… this is such an amazing thing…" Toshiro's grandmother began, blinking away tears, "I always hoped I would stay long enough to see this happen, and I'm still here… but I can't risk going outside anymore. The healer you sent to see me told me I would greatly speed up my reincarnation if I did that."

Toshiro nodded in understanding, but could not find a way to say anything. Hoping she was not overstepping something, Karin tried to reply for both of them.

"No, it's fine. Neither I nor Toshiro would be happy knowing that your reincarnation was sped up because of us; having you know what is happening is more than enough. So, instead, can I ask if we have your support in this?"

Both Toshiro and his grandmother turned towards her and gave grateful smiles. Karin relaxed slightly.

She could help Toshiro with some things, but this was not an area she was an expert in. At all. For a moment there, she had been worried she had said something she was not supposed to.

Karin leaned back and let Toshiro continue where she left off.

"Right," Toshiro looked back at his grandmother, "I just want to be sure you support us, it is more than enough to know that you care and trust us together. I mainly came here today because I wanted Karin to have an opportunity to meet you; this is all I can really ask for. So, please, do you support us?"

Karin could tell Toshiro was struggling as well; neither of them had any real skill in personal, private, emotional conversations. But, with that in mind, she thought they were doing pretty well.
"I… Of course. You two seem perfect together and Karin seems like a wonderful person. I would be more than happy to support you two staying together for the rest of your afterlifes. Please, treat each other well."

Karin and Toshiro nodded, blushing slightly, and continued in more casual conversation until it was time for them to prepare lunch. The two of them moved to the kitchen and pulled out some ingredients they had brought along, while Toshiro's grandmother read from her book again.

"How are you feeling?" Karin asked once they were out of hearing distance. Toshiro tensed up, but did not stop in his cutting, thinking over his answer.

"I'm good. Ever since Matsumoto told me I was killing my grandmother unknowingly, I've tried to stay far away from her. I spent a year or so in and after the academy trying to avoid her at all costs, and even after that our meetings were scarce. This is just… the completion to that. I would rather she cut her contact with me and was able to spent the rest of her afterlife in peace than the alternative."

Karin nodded once and looked him in the eye, hesitantly smiling, before straightening up and glaring slightly. "Don't you dare even think about pulling the whole 'I'm-responsible-and-I-can-take-care-of-myself-easily-so-I'll-just-avoid-telling-everyone -I'm -breaking -inside' thing I know you and Ichi-nii do. If you think there's anything I can do to help you with this, I expect you to tell me about it immediately."

"I already do that," Toshiro (stupidly) protested.
"No, you really don't. And Orihime agrees with me. And Rukia agrees with me. And Momo agrees with me. I'm almost certain the two of you have developed some sort of complex."

"What, like a 'I-have-been-raised-by-Isshin' complex? He isn't anywhere near that bad."

"No, he just forces you to grow up faster than you're ready for," Karin cut in, her bitterness at how he raised Ichigo still somewhat present. Toshiro stopped his cutting and rested his hand on top of hers.

"Raising kids with the intention of making them military weapons doesn't leave much room for nurturing. That's what he was trying to do to both of us- though me to a lesser extent. He didn't do that to you nor Yuzu, and I'd say his parenting of you two was pretty good, if eccentric."

"That almost makes it worse because he can parent well."

"Maybe, but really, I'm fine."

"You'll tell me if there's anything I can do to help you?"

"I will."
"Mmhm. Well, I'll believe it when I see it," Karin concluded and put the tempura she had been making for her lunches on a small plate between them. Toshiro smiled and placed the noodles and potstickers he had just finished on similar decorated plates before they brought the food over to where his grandmother was resting.

"What, no ancient people food?" Karin teased as they walked over.

Toshiro glared back, "You thought the candied beans were okay, too. Besides, that was one time Karin. You can't base everything off one of the first times we met each other."

Karin simply hummed in reply as they set the plates down on his grandmother's bed. She looked overjoyed at the idea of a "bed-and -breakfast" arrangement, even if the time was closer to lunch.

Soon, Toshiro began talking with his grandmother while Karin made an effort to stay out of it. She thought Toshiro deserved some actual time with her, and would rather not get in the way of it. Instead, she began looking around the room her fiance grew up in, seeing little hints of his past.

(1) She could see through an open door into the next room, which housed two identical beds sitting next to each other. She had always known they were close, but most of the time Toshiro told her about his childhood was after Momo had already joined or graduated from the academy. It was interesting to see how close they had probably been growing up together and sharing absolutely everything; it reminded her of her and Yuzu.

She tried to not imagine the lengths Aizen chose to go through to manipulate the two of them and nearly shatter that once - inseparable bond. She had never met the guy, but from what she heard of his creepy obsession with her brother and his ability to control people she was not in any rush to.

Shaking those thoughts away, Karin continued to look around. The hallway connecting the two rooms was very short, so she could easily imagine how Toshiro's untrained reiatsu leaked out, endangering an ordinary soul. It might be more lonely for her, but Karin thought it was probably good Toshiro had left when he did.

Turning to another wall, Karin saw large, word-down windows, and could imagine an overheated child-Toshiro opening them, hoping for a cool breeze. They were all, however, sealed shut now, as his grandmother did not have the same problem with heat. Karin glanced over to Toshiro and wondered if he was starting to get hot, especially considering all the hot food they had made together.

She mentally cursed at only having thought of that now.

Trying to attract as little attention as possible, Karin walked back to the kitchens to get him some ice and let him keep talking. On the way, she looked through a window and saw a small garden growing food. Or, it had been growing food, as it had obviously not been tended in a long time. Casually looking through the glass, Karin recognized some of the food she had mocked Toshiro for, and wondered if it reminded him of his childhood.

It was still weird for anyone who looked like a middle to high schooler to eat candied beans. (And no, she would never get over that.)

Though she had to admit they were not terrible when Toshiro made her try some.

The kitchen was small, but mostly organized and friendly. It actually reminded Karin a bit of her family's (Yuzu's) kitchen back in the world of the living, causing the place to inspire a feeling of calm in her.

Karin soon found where the ice was kept and took some out, crushing it and putting it into a glass that would soon melt into chilling water for her fiance.

She went back to where the house's other two souls were and handed Toshiro the glass, to which he mouthed her a quick 'thank you'. Karin smiled, knowing Toshiro had realized why she had done that without attracting too much attention. Soon, Karin found herself listening to various stories about Toshiro's upbringing, which, coupled with the knowledge she had gleaned from her walk around the house, gave her a pretty good idea of Toshiro's childhood.

Which, honestly, was only fair. Toshiro still knew so much more about the way she had been brought up because Isshin could not stop telling stories about his kids.

In between the craze of having dresses tried on her, getting her hair done in hundreds of different ways, and learning there were more types of the same shoe than she could name, Karin found she was spending surprisingly little time with Toshiro in preparations for the day they would get married.

Luckily, Karin was decisive enough that most of her decisions did not take long. A kimono instead of a western wedding dress was simple enough to choose, and she would only accept a ponytail or bun in her hair in case she had to fight suddenly.

Matsumoto protested that there was no way that would happen, but all Karin had to do was remind her of what happened at her brother's wedding to stop the protests.

There really was an odd number of people with a grudge against soul society who happened to have the tools and power to start a rebellion against them. Or maybe there were just that many people who hated them.

Karin ended up being lenient and tolerating a mix between a french braid and a bun that she had no idea Matsumoto knew how to do. At the very least it probably would not get in her way, so she thought she could have been forced to wear worse. The jeweled clip she was forced to wear, however, almost caused her to commit manslaughter until Matsumoto explained that it would keep her hair up and out of her eyes.

Honestly, Karin had no idea why they could not just figure this all out right before the wedding. Was there any real need to have her do her hair twice? There was still so much time before the wedding that it just seemed ridiculous.

"Please, Karin, the week will go by in the blink of an eye. You're going to be staring at the dust it leaves behind and wondering where it went unless we get this all done now."

Matsumoto's voice echoed in her mind as it did every time Karin's thoughts began going down this path. She barely bit back her sigh of annoyance. It was mostly tolerable- Yuzu doing so much of the work made it more so- but being stuck in the same room doing nothing was starting to grate on her nerves.

When they started asking her to choose between two snow-white nail polishes which looked exactly the same to her Karin decided she had sat through more than enough.

"Eh, where are you going?" Matsumoto asked, half-way through her rant on why 'sea of ice' complemented Toshiro so much better than 'iceberg lake'. Karin ignored her lieutenant and continued walking out the room a glare covering her features.

"Does that mean you're okay with 'sea of ice' and are going to take a break?"

"Fine," Karin growled out, ignoring the way Yuzu was holding back giggles at her twin's childishness. Karin rolled her eyes and left the room, taking in a big breath of fresh air from outside the building.

All this work was stifling, but it also had to be done. Karin was wondering what she could do about it when Yuzu walked out of the room and stood next to her, also taking in a nice breath of air.

"Are you nervous?"

The question was so sudden, so personal, that for a moment Karin was thrown off and had to turn to stare at her twin sister in confusion. Said sister just continued staring out to the area around them with a calm smile on her face.

"What?" Karin prompted.

Yuzu glanced back at her, her smile turning slightly amused. "You always act a bit more sudden and abrasive when you start to get nervous. Well, it makes sense, this is a big thing for you. I just thought it might help you to step outside and calm down a bit; tomorrow is supposed to be one of the best days of your life."

Karin scowled to the ground, trying to ignore the fact that she had noticed she was a bit more stressed lately and that- despite their opposite personalities- Yuzu still knew her best. It seemed weird that she was still so transparent to Yuzu even though they had not seen each other in years.

Her Mom had felt the same, though, so maybe it was just genetic.

"I think Matsumoto might be getting a little stressed too," Yuzu continued, causing Karin to glance over in genuine confusion. "She's micromanaging everything because she wants this to be perfect. Both you and Toshiro are like her little siblings, so maybe she feels like she's getting married through you two."

Karin bit down the snappy retort she was going to make to that when she remembered what her brother had told her about Matsumoto and Gin. Despite not having that information, Yuzu's theory about Rangiku getting married through them seemed entirely possible. She had no idea Yuzu could read everyone that easily.

"While I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, I had no idea you were a part-time therapist, even to people older than you." Her words caused Yuzu to laugh again, before her twin looked at her with shockingly sad eyes. Karin immediately straightened up, wondering what she had done wrong.

"Matsumoto is technically older than I am, yes, but you're both souls. I can read you partly because I know you so well, and partly because I've been able to grow up more while you haven't. Matsumoto and I are actually about the same age maturity-level wise, and while her extra years do give her a bit of an advantage, you can't really say she's older than I am. You died, I've had to live longer than you did."

Any response Karin could have made died as Yuzu continued to speak. In her mind, Karin knew that Yuzu had seen her Mom die, sister die, and practically already lost her brother to the world of the dead, with her father having never really left. She knew that, but it had never really occurred to her that Yuzu might consider herself the last living member of the Kurosaki family; the only one who was still completely alive.

Immediately, Karin felt guilty. This time she knew it was irrational- she did not exactly have a choice whether she died or not- but the gravity of what had happened was suddenly thrust in her face.

"Yuzu…I-"

"Don't be like that."

"...Sorry?"

"It's been years, and I'm a big girl, I'm fine. I just want you to understand; you've left the world of the living, go have a family in this world. You still have your right to happiness. Matsumoto and I were micromanaging, you're pretty much done with everything you need to do before tomorrow. I'll bet Toshiro is done too, you should go find your knight in shining armor and have at least one last conversation alone without actually being married."

"But-"

"No, buts," Yuzu declared, giving her sister the glare which every Kurosaki knew was not to be opposed. "Go have fun, we're done here, I promise. You need to focus on your new family now."

"I… okay, right. Thank you."

Yuzu smiled again and pulled her sister into a hug. Karin tried to ignore that, eventually, Yuzu might be too old to come to Soul Society and hug her. That Yuzu was probably going to be much, much older when she finally did die. That she, physically, was not really able to be considered the twin of her twin.

"Common, like I said, you're making a family here now," Yuzu told her, pulling away from the hug, "Go find your prince charming."

"He would only make a good prince charming if he was even remotely romantic."

"He's your perfect prince charming then."

Karin smiled, letting Yuzu pull her into one last hug, then watched as her sister walked back inside.

She needed to find Toshiro.

"They're wearing you out too?"

Toshiro, who had felt Karin's reiatsu approaching long before she spoke, simply smiled at her comment and turned toward her. He had been sitting on a bench in front of the building, trying to get some air after hours of Orihime making frantic calls to Matsumoto so that they could arrange Karin and Toshiro's outfits.

"I suppose so. You look exhausted."

Karin rolled her eyes and hit his arm for that comment, but could not stop a playful smile from crossing her lips as she sat down next to him. Toshiro looked up at her in slight confusion, before realization crossed his expression.

"How much time have they given you to be here with me?"

Karin smiled, "Plenty. Yuzu seemed to realize I needed a break and told me I could go. This is our last night as a couple of unmarried lovers, so she said we should talk."

Toshiro blinked in surprise and turned to stare out at a small village Karin was looking at in the distance. An overwhelming feeling on nostalgia occurred as he remembered the trip to the fair they had almost two years ago. He looked back at Karin. It seemed she really was always trying to help him relax, regardless of the situation.

"I suppose she probably knows what's best. Maybe we should head to town."

"Sure, we'd never get any privacy otherwise."

So as not to alert any of their overly-worried mothering friends, the two moved in a silent sunpo towards the village they could see. There was not a fair for the time being, but some similar shops and stalls were still open, despite the late hour. This was one of the nicer ones, being much closer to the Seireitei, so there was not a lot of construction to worry about.

There was a chance Karin or Toshiro would be recognized. High ranking shinigami- especially ones as notable as Toshiro- could be recognized by the distinctive appearance they had and the aura they gave off. Luckily, this was not a town where they would receive a negative reaction from anyone who found out.

Karin could still remember the first time a young child had looked at her in fear because of the zanpakuto she was meant to use to protect him.

"Look, they're selling charms with the division logos," Toshiro told her, pulling her out from her sea of thoughts. She glanced over and saw the large assortment of necklaces which held various division symbols on them.

"Do you think the colors are chosen based on the captains?" Karin asked, finding their design highly amusing. The first division was mostly white and tan, but had specs of pink as well. The second division was black and white, but also included a gold band. The sixth division had black and pink reminiscent of Byakuya's shikai, while the twelfth had an assortment of strange, clashing colors that suited Kurotsuchi perfectly. The tenth had a light, icy turquoise that faded to white at the bottom.

Karin might be bias and have- according to Matsumoto- absolutely no fashion sense, but she thought the Tenth's was by far the most beautiful.

"Maybe, it seems a little too perfect to be a coincidence."

The two smiled at each other and continued on their walk, enjoying viewing the town as if it were a museum of the strange, strange lives of normal non-shinigami. With everything that had happened recently, it felt like it had been far too long since they had last come to a normal village with normal souls.

One area of the town had the most interesting things to look at, but also had a giant, roaring campfire in the middle. Karin was about to walk away, but Toshiro stopped her.

"I'll be fine, let's go see what they have around here."

Karin just raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him.

"Will you?"

"I will, I promise."

A miniature staring contest ensued, but Toshiro held her gaze with an unstoppable, icy determination until, finally, Karin relented with an almost put-upon sigh.

"You better not regret this."

"Of course I won't. Just relax," he gave her a slight push towards the area, and Karin noticed the icy chill on his hand where his skin touched her back. She turned to Toshiro in surprise, and noticed he had surrounded himself with a small portion of his reiatsu. The fire would not be able to do anything against him.

A smirk appeared on her face.

"I thought you were determined to convince me that you're not an air conditioner. Did my seduction of you break through your defenses and allow me to have what I've been waiting for?"

"You were willing to marry me to get free air conditioner privileges?"

"Maybe, but I can't admit that until we're actually married. Try asking me again a few days from now."

If Karin was told her greatest accomplishment of the day was getting Toshiro to laugh in that moment, she would have thought it was a day well spent.

The couple walked around the area, finding various stores selling - seemingly - everything under the sun. There were places that had food, desserts and drinks, there were places that had clothes and accessories, there were places that had construction equipment and places that had souvenirs regarding the Court Guard Squads.

Toshiro and Karin had paused when they reached the equipment store and looked around, immediately being reminded of Sensai and their volunteer work. The large amount of houses that had been remodeled seemed to have put various companies back in business, so people were getting more and more equipment to set up shop or furnish their houses. Karin wondered how using the prisoners for that was going.

"Did you hear anything about the recent construction efforts?" Karin asked Toshiro, who thought about it for a moment and then nodded back.

"Yes, they're going more slowly per person, but there are so many people that overall progress is a bit faster. We'll be in charge of a majority of the supervision when we get back from our honeymoon, so, if you want me to, I could ask them to send you all the reports on the progress."

"That'd be great actually…" Karin muttered, her mind lost in memories of Sensai.

For a moment, Toshiro looked like he wanted to ask, but backed away with a shake of his head. Instead, he simply walked closer and gently grabbed her hand, offering comfort from his presence, if nothing else. Both of them had the same habit of grabbing each other's hands when they wanted to support the other.

Karin calmed down, glad he had realized she did not feel comfortable talking about it in full. It was nice to have someone who understood you to a point where they always knew what was best.

They stayed standing before the shop for several long minutes, until eventually Karin felt she had completely calmed down and pulled Toshiro along to their next stop.

As they began walking, Karin pulled Toshiro closer for a moment and whispered into his ear, "I think I'm good now. How are you taking everything?"

For all that her fiance had perfected an icy mask, Karin knew there was more emotion than even he liked to acknowledge. It may not seem like something was wrong with him, but it would not hurt to check.

"...I think… I think I'm okay… it is hard to be married so soon after, but I think it will help everyone if something happy like this is held now. We can go back to being serious and depressed after our honeymoon. Besides, these happen so often now that it's just another week."

"And if another emergency happens while we're away?"

"Honestly, I'm half-convinced these things are periodic. We so rarely have two at once, and there's almost always a little break between them. If we keep that in mind this may actually be the perfect time to get married."

"No, the perfect time would have been right after the last one; the second division was pretty much the only group involved that time… though I guess if I wanted that I should have tried going out with you sooner."

"I suppose so."

Karin smirked and suddenly kissed his cheek, startling him. When he turned to look at her and saw her smirk at his reaction he turned away and rolled his eyes.

Karin's smirk became a smile which stayed through the rest of their trip.

Karin gasped. Her chest continued moving up and down, desperately searching for more air. Her subconscious knew she was at the tenth division trying to sleep, her mind told her she was at the rebel base. Every time she started to relax she could only see the haze of the base through blurry eyes, feel an uncountable number of cuts littering her body, smell the salt of dried blood and taste the fear and desperation in the air.

Could only see the bodies of her two best friends.

Sensai was still; calm. She was resting- seemingly asleep- except for the red at her chest and the shocked blame in her empty eyes. Kanna was exactly what you would expect from a victim of murder. Body parts twisted out of shape, clothes drenched in red, and traces of long-dried tear marks running down her cheeks.

One, she knew, was murdered by her.

The other was killed by her neglectance.

Both were killed because they knew her. Both died from being her friend.

She turned, trying to look away from them. Trying to look anywhere but at them. Her cowardessness was repaid in full by the world existing around her. Orihime, dead. Isshin, missing an arm. Matsumoto, Ichigo, Yuzu. She kept turning, trying to look away.

Toshiro.

The red stood out against his white hair beautifully. The shade of his skin made it hard for her to tell if he was now any paler than he had been before. The blame in his eyes, however, was not so easily disguised.

Her breathing sped up again, and she was vaguely aware she was starting to panic. Small tremors raked her body as she hugged her body and fell to her knees, bending down and hoping to clear her mind.

Instead, it got worse.

Karin suddenly could not breathe. She tried gasping for air, but her lungs would not fill up. She knew why; she was poison, her presence killing everyone she cared about. Her friends, her family, her twin, her husband. She needed air, but it was like she was drowning in quicksand. Her lungs screamed for relief she could not give.

A hand grabbed her own and she woke up. Heavy breathing labored her body, but it was air. She could breathe.

Gradually, the pain in her chest disappeared and she noticed the sweat covering her body which had nothing to do with the heat (or lack thereof) in the room. And that made sense, she was, after all, sleeping next to Toshiro.

She blinked open her eyes again to find concerned turquoise ones staring back at her from above. His face was as calm as usual, but there was an unmistakable panic dancing across his eyes.

"...Hey," she whispered, still panting, "Sorry for waking you up."

Toshiro frowned and she could tell that had not been what he wanted her to say, but he did not argue against it. Instead, he decided to lie down next to her, allowing their shoulders to touch.

"Don't worry about it, let's just get some sleep," he whispered back, and Karin realized he must be extremely familiar with having nightmares after particularly bad wars and rebellions.

"...Alright," Karin told him and allowed the darkness in the room to begin to overwhelm her.

Right as she began to feel her consciousness slip away, she whispered, "I love you."

In return, Karin heard a quiet, "I love you too."

Karin had thought Matsumoto and Yuzu were franticly trying to prepare before the wedding, but this was something else entirely. Yuzu had vanished into the kitchen and worked magic on the cake; turning it from an average- if large- one into the fanciest cake Karin had ever seen. Yuzu whispered to her that there was an extra surprise in the cake that Karin could not see until it was cut, and that was ignoring all the other treats she had prepared.

Karin had said she did not want every cook in soul society to work on their wedding. She should have realized just having Yuzu was about the same thing.

Matsumoto, meanwhile, was dressing Karin up. Her kimono was pure white with pinkish-red decorations in the shape of sakura blossoms clustered at the bottom. Her white nail polish and braided bun, coupled with the pure white decoration in her hair, made her look like an angel… at least according to Matsumoto.

Personally, Karin thought it just made her look overconfident and unjustly entitled, but she was not the fashion expert. Her one small reassurance was that Toshiro would probably look just as ridiculous.

Karin had decided, mainly because she did not know many little girls, to skip out of having any flower girls present at her wedding. It was more western than Japanese anyways.

Yuzu had created an enormous feast of both western snacks and japanese sushi. By this point Karin was pretty sure their one cook had made enough to feed all of rukongai, so she made her sister stop. Well if worse came to worst they could give the extra food they left untouched to the eleventh division or something. There was no one who could try Yuzu's food and not fall in love with it anyway.

Karin went back to check that all the decorations were set up at the sight (and yes, it occurred to her that she might be feeling nervous, shut up). A quick shunpo- keeping her slightly off the ground so as to not get dirt on her white outfit- allowed her to appear before the lake she and Toshiro had chosen. The one tree Toshiro had covered with pure, white frost still appeared to be exactly the same, and Karin had a feeling that frost would never melt by any natural means.

Around the lake was a long carpet made of white fabric which led to a tall arch. Coating the arch were daisies of a bluish indigo, dark purple and dark red, and the long carpet was covered in the petals of the flowers. Even Karin had to admit it looked nice, but she had trouble believing that was all it meant.

Suddenly, Karin recalled a conversation she had with Toshiro where they had talked about the meanings of flowers.. Karin scowled, trying to remember the symbolism of the daisy…

"Innocence, loyal love and purity," Toshiro said from behind her. Karin looked over as he walked over to her, stopping once they stood side by side. "That's what daisies mean in the language of the flowers."

"Guess that fits with the overall white theme," Karin mumbled, her eyes completely on her fiance, rather than the flowers. She had thought he would look ridiculous in the formal clothing, but his pure white kimono which faded to an icy blue at the bottom suited him perfectly. It made sense, to some degree, that someone who acted confident and formal during their everyday life would look better than her in formal clothing, but it had taken Karin completely by surprise.

And it left her feeling, somehow… inadequate. That was an emotion Karin had not experienced in a long, long time, her general confidence getting her through most otherwise embarrassing situations. Now, however, she felt a familiar nervousness she had not felt around her lover since before the became a couple.

And she hated it. The already-shaky confidence she had towards her own outfit seemed to pale in comparison to the person who stood in front of her. She could handle him being in his shinigami uniform, that was a military costume, and something she was familiar with. This however, was new, different, and something she was not sure she could handle.

Toshiro had arrived at the sight to take one last look at the place before the ceremony and found Karin already running a last minute check. They talked a bit about the hidden meaning of the decorations, before Toshiro tried to go back to looking at the surrounding area.

As he tried, however, his gaze kept flicking back to Karin. Where he wore a simple design of white and blue, Karin wore a flawless kimono which was decorated with red petals of varying shades scattered at the bottom. Toshiro could see the similarities in their outfits- both started white at the top, but gained more color the lower in the outfit you looked- but somehow Karin wore hers so much better.

Maybe it was what they had done to her hair, or maybe it was how uncharacteristically nervous she seemed, but Toshiro thought she looked perfect. He was not one to care about appearance beyond looking professional, but the restricting nature of the formal outfit was annoying. He missed his shinigami outfit.

Then again, it would have been easier for him to relax next to her if she was just wearing her shinigami uniform. He knew how to deal with that.

It occurred to him that he should really compliment her on her outfit, if the way she kept looking back and forth between their clothes with a worried expression meant what he thought it did. But, even as he tried to form the words to describe what he was experiencing, he found himself awkwardly falling short.

"...I almost can't believe this is already happening," mentally, Toshiro cursed himself for resorting to saying that instead of what he wanted to say. He tried again, "I mean- you… I'm amazed…"

Karin relaxed slightly at the chance for familiar banter and raised an eyebrow, "Maybe try speaking in full sentences if you want to get your point across, aren't you supposed to be an unparalleled politician?"

"Or everyone else is just too lazy to do any of the work so they relegate it to me."
"Well, that could be true. So what, exactly, were you trying to say?"

Here, again, Toshiro found his words dying in his throat and a flash of annoyance appeared. This was nothing like proposing- where, admittedly, the same thing happened- he would just have to speak.

"I… right, sorry. I wanted to tell you that you look beautiful."

Karin's cheeks reddened and her eyes widened, but there was a genuine smile clear on her face. "Thanks, you look even better than I thought you would. I can barely tell you're wearing the equivalent of a halloween costume."

Toshiro was about to disagree with the 'costume' statement, but he could easily imagine a play using a lower-quality version of a similar outfit and decided to say nothing. He was sure they both felt like they were dressing up for a costume party.

"Well, we've checked this place out, so I think I'm going to go make sure the food has all been set up. Your sister made most of it, right? Or did Matsumoto actually bring more chefs?"

"Yeah, Yuzu made most of it with minor help from the Shiba chefs. I warn you though, we might have had less food if we actually brought every chef in the Seireitei to help us."

"Good to know, I'll keep that in mind," Toshiro told her with a smile and nod before flash stepping to the kitchens. Seeing and talking to Karin left him more confident about the wedding than he had been, but Toshiro knew better than to allow his lieutenant to organize everything (read: anything).

For all that Karin had warned him about the amount of food, Toshiro can admit to having frozen in shock when he entered the kitchen and found enough to feed every shinigami twice.

Alright, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of one.

Yuzu was humming happily, cutting out a single slice of cake so everyone would be able to see inside. Toshiro leaned forward for a better look and immediately realized why.

Somehow Yuzu had dyed the cake with food coloring in a specific order which caused the bottom half to look like fire and the top half to look like snow, with the dark blue color Toshiro and Karin had chosen as the background. While he could only see the top layer, Toshiro was sure each increasingly larger layer of cake under the first was similarly decorated.

Yuzu had gotten much, much better at cooking since he last tried her food. Then again, a decade is more than enough time for a change this large to happen to a human, so it really should not have surprised him.

"Impressive," he told her, but immediately regretted not announcing his presence when Yuzu jumped in surprise. Luckily, she was far enough away to not have ruined any of her creations.

She turned around, and for a moment Toshiro was once again struck by how mature the twenty five year old looked. He had noticed when she first showed up, but it was undeniable now. The elementary school girl he used to see when he visited Karin and the middle school girl he occasionally nodded 'hello' to had become an adult in the time he stopped visiting. Karin looked like a late teenager at best, but this truly drove in how much time had passed.

"Hi Toshiro!" Yuzu sang out, and Toshiro relaxed. All that time passing had done little to change her personality, it seemed. The last truly living Kurosaki set down the knife she had used to cut the cake and ran over to pull him into a hug. "What do you think of the cake I made you two?"

"Like I said, it's very impressive. I honestly cannot thank you enough for your work today."

"You really don't need to be so formal, we're family now!" Yuzu told him, giving him a mix between a stern glare and puppy dog eyes. Toshiro could see how Ichigo was always giving into his sister's every demand.

"I-right. Still, thank you."

Yuzu smiled at him, but her smile turned surprisingly nostalgic and sad the instant before she turned around to add the finishing touches to the cake. If Toshiro had not trained himself to notice these things after Aizen, he would not have noticed Yuzu's expression at all. She was wearing a very strong mask.

"I know…" Toshiro tried, but, as always, his mind could not find appropriate words to express his emotions. He took a deep breath and tried again, "I know we- I didn't really ask you for your approval in our marriage. Of course, a sister, even a twin, isn't usually the one you ask, but we were able to tell Ichigo when we talked to Isshin. So… I'm sorry if you disagree with what is happening, but I promise to… love Karin, I suppose."

Yuzu smiled in a manner tinted with amusement and nodded her head, "I know. And I know why you weren't able to talk to me about all this. It's fine. I was talking to Karin a little while ago, I can tell she loves you. You'll be just fine. Besides, worst comes to worst Ichi-nii and otou-san can come here to deal with it. To those two, it's almost like Karin never died; they spend just as much time with the dead as they do with the living. It's just… different for me."

Toshiro, now understanding the emotions behind the smile he saw, nodded and turned to leave, only to be stop when he heard his soon-to-be- sister- in-law continue.

"Toshiro, after this I'm not sure how many times I'll be able to see Karin again. I might not until I die, in fact. Ichi-nii and otou-san can stay with her, talk to her and be her family, I can't. Will you please take that place for me?"

"Of course," Toshiro replied without hesitation.

Yuzu smiled at him, this time without anything hidden behind it, "You better get ready for your wedding then, it's starting soon."

Toshiro nodded once at her, then turned and flash stepped away.

Karin was very, very glad she and Toshiro had decided to arrange their wedding the way they did. The tradition of having the actual ceremony only include family and close friends, followed by a banquet which included everyone else, seemed perfect for them. Not that Karin was embarrassed or shy, but she and Toshiro were a bit done with crowds of people by this point.

There was only so much fussing- even by their closest friends- the two of them could take.

Taking the light, silver umbrella in her hands, Karin waited for the ceremony to begin. Briefly, Karin relaxed and remembered the rings she and Toshiro had chosen. Matsumoto had gone out and taken pictures of the best ones for them to choose from, and they had been quite happy with their choice. She turned to Toshiro, who stood next to her, and smiled. He lifted an eyebrow at her as if to ask 'have you done something?' (to which Karin responded with an appropriately offended expression), but smiled back.

"Are you ready?" he whispered to her.

"Do you even need to ask?"

Just as Karin finished speaking, music began to play and Toshiro and Karin began to walk down the carpet, followed by Isshin and Ichigo, then Yuzu and Matsumoto. (2) The soft, traditional asian melody continued to play as they walked before Kyoraku, who smiled at the two of them and began reading their vows.

And yes, technically Kyoraku was not qualified to marry anyone, but no one was going to complain about the legality of a contract when the most powerful man in their world was the one who made it. Besides, no one in soul society was remotely religious as they knew exactly what happened after death and reincarnation, so souls who wanted to marry usually just asked nobles to handle the process if they had enough money.

"...I will love this person," Kyoraku read, "Respect this person, console this person, help this person, until death, so I swear."

"Yes, I promise," Toshiro told him, his voice even and calm as he completed his vow.

Kyoraku turned to Karin, repeating the vow for her. Karin listened to every word, then took a deep breath, ready to say to most important words in her life.

"Yes, I promise."

As soon as she finished speaking, the delayed kido spell on the rings before them glowed and activated, turning their wedding rings into energy which surrounded their ring fingers and settled, forming a perfectly sculpted blue diamond on a silver band decorated with a line of smaller, white diamonds. Even Karin's poorer reiatsu sensing abilities could recognize the power linked to the kido as the same one which had engraved the kido onto her sword hairclip. Well, that made sense considering Matsumoto had been the one to recommend the place for Karin and Toshiro.

Toshiro and Karin looked at their rings in wonder and held them closer to each other, causing them to glow. Pressing his reiatsu in, a healing kido activated over the two of them, only disappearing when Toshiro stopped the supply.

Kyoraku stood with a slightly shocked expression, obviously not having expected such a thing to happen. Karin could see she and Toshiro would not be told to finish the ceremony any time soon, so they, as always, would just have to do everything themselves. Karin moved forward and pulled Toshiro into a kiss, proclaiming them husband and wife.

Orihime began clapping, and soon everyone present had burst into thunderous applause which continued even after Karin and Toshiro had separated.

The two newly-weds looked at each other, sharing a completely genuine smile.

Toshiro laid down on his shared bed with Karin, who had already made herself comfortable. They banquet had gone a bit later than they expected, and they would have to go through the dangai early tomorrow for their honeymoon in Breckenridge, Colorado. Toshiro could feel Karin move a bit closer to him and he wrapped an arm around her.

"Breckenridge will be fun," Karin whispered to him, the late night and dim light making her eyes droop slightly.

"It will. I just hope there won't be too many children present."

"You don't look that much older than one-"

"We look exactly the same age. And, while sixteen to seventeen is more likely, I'm sure we could both pass for eighteen to nineteen year olds. If I really have to, I can always just use my bankai."

"I feel like you might freeze the whole place if you tried that. Even ski resorts probably won't appreciate that. Besides, I wouldn't worry about it. I've heard the slopes are a bit too steep there for beginners, so there shouldn't be many kids."

Toshiro hummed in reply, feeling his eyes beginning to close.

"Well, I suppose that'll be fun."

"Of course, you'll be with me, won't you?" Toshiro laughed slightly at her comment.

"I love you, Karin."

Karin laughed softly, "I know. I love you too."

1) Yeah, I don't feel like looking any of this up, and there really wasn't much on it in the manga, so I'll just make it up and hope I don't mess up their characters too much.

2) FYI I've never been to an actual Japanese wedding, so this is mostly stuff I found with a quick web search online. I'm sorry if I get a lot wrong, but I think I got somewhat close.

3) THIS IS MY THE END! The story is over, so please review if you've stuck with me and tell me what you thought!