A/N: Ah reposting....how I despise thee and the proofing that comes with it.

A Sister

Karin is just a child. She was barely 11 years old when it all started. The middle child to be exact. Her older brother is the legendary Ichigo Kurosaki, everyone knows him, all his friends love him, there are so many people willing to lay down their lives for him. He is loved. Karin wonders if she something like that could ever happen to her.

Because she is one of those people. She loves her brother with all her heart and more.

Most siblings would envy their older or younger siblings, but Karin never did. It didn't make her a saint, or a good person. In fact; she was the problem child. It just wouldn't have made a difference. Yuzu was sweet and kind and even if she had been the middle child her father would have always loved her best. Because she's Yuzu.

And so she protects her with all her being.

And she could never have been the oldest. That responsibility was made for Ichigo. To go out into the world (dead or alive), fight, and help people. While her destiny had always been to simply protect her tiny neighborhood…and to raise her family.

She is the woman of the household. Ever since her mother passed on she had been the one to take over the duties that came with being a parent. Not necessarily the cooking and cleaning; those chores with shared throughout the family, but the moral support, the raising.

She brought up the sister no more than 15 minutes younger than herself, and her father who should have been raising her. But Ichigo, no Ichigo never needed saving. They were in it together, they were the ones who could see what others couldn't, those who never cried, the ones who were protectors. He helped raise them too.

And so that's her role; she's the woman of her home, feigning indifference to a father who might as well be a child. She's been raising her family, since the moment she was born. Helping Ichigo.

Karin has always been confused by the strange creatures that invade the place she was born. She fears the insane, frightening creatures with the white faces with masks held together by terror, each more sickening than the last that make her stomach lurch. She doesn't understand why he goes out in search of them, fighting them. Why does he seek out these sickening creatures? It is over a decade later when she thinks she might fully understand.

Ichigo and Karin have an understanding ["do you know why older siblings are born first…? To protect the little ones that come after them."] They save each other, in the rarity that one does need saving. And though Ichigo will never admit it [because who wants people to know you were saved by your kid sister?] he is thankful, and he loves her too.

This is why she now stands up from the ground, not wondering how she got to this point but strategizing how to get out. To fight, to live. Because she wants to prove that she can be strong too. Like Ichigo and like Rukia.

[Wherever she goes in Sereitei this is what she hears: "That's Kurosaki-taichou's sister...wonder if she's as good as him." "That's Kurosaki-taichou's kid sister...they say she's as much a genius as him." and despite what others may feel, she glows with pride.]

Rukia is her Idol. Who wouldn't idolize this truly special [different] woman. For she's seen her fight, seen her protect, and she models herself after her. Hoping and wishing for the strength to do so. Because she is the sister of Ichigo Kurosaki. And like him, she will always stand and fight.

So she draws her sword to protect the broken man behind her, from the horrors of a world she does not understand yet. An untransformed sword that is not her own clutched in her shaking hands. Her spirit energy isn't as high as her opponent. No, she couldn't hope to match up to this man who had already achieved bankai…but she could try. And she would.

To protect her brother and friend, her role model and sister, her favorite people in the world, Ichigo and Rukia. She uses not only his sword but his words as he watches her back half conscious, screaming for her to run away while crawling inch by inch to his former mentor of so many years before.

"Ichigo…do you know why younger siblings are born second?" she thinks she sees him smile. Because he knows [but maybe he's always known] that she is grown up, and she's strong. And he sees it. "To protect the older ones when they have fallen!" she shouts out the variation then launches herself at the enemy. Someone threatening her perfect balance.

The sword transforms, it knows her blood. It is too heavy, it is big and hulky and her swings are eratic, unpracticed and desperate. But somehow something within her [Or maybe within the sword] gives her strength enough to win.

She is Kurosaki Karin, younger sister of the famed Captain Kurosaki, student of Kurosaki [Kuchiki] Rukia, daughter to an oblivious mortal and the [next] genius of the [new] Kurosaki clan.

Karin is many things, she's learned, she's fought and she's loved, she's lost, she's won and she's wished. But in the end Karin's just a little girl with a too-large heart, all-seeing eyes and her brother's words lingering in her mind for the remainder of her life.

["do you know why older siblings are born first…? To protect the little ones who come after them."]

Yes, Kurosaki Ichigo and Karin have an understanding, an odd messed up and special relationship.

And it is because she knew him that she is able to spread her wings and fly.