Author's Note: Welcome back, folks! Sorry for the prolonged absence—we blame life and laziness. *bows apologetically* Nevertheless, we are proud to finally present Chapter Nine of Midnight Snow. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy! :D

WARNING: Upcoming warnings of RenRuki and IchiHime. Please feel free to criticize my writing, but not the pairings. Thank you.

Normal = prose, italics = thoughts or inner conversations

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo-sensei. I also do not own any of the chapter titles. Cookies for anyone who guesses which poems they're from (though this chapter's is kind of a give-away, since it IS the title). :)

Chapter Nine: Because I Could Not Stop for Death, He Kindly Stopped for Me

i.

"Karin! Look out!" Toushirou shouted. He quickly popped his gikon pill in his mouth and entered his shinigami form, telling the Mod Soul to grab Karin and get out of the way.

"I don't believe this!" she was saying, as the gigai grabbed her arm and bodily pulled her in the opposite direction. True to form, she sounded way more annoyed than scared. "And would you get off! I need my arm to fight, you know!"

Toushirou rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword. If everything went according to plan, he could dispatch the huge Hollow in fifteen seconds flat, and they could get back to their conversation.

The Huge Hollow bellowed and tried to swat at him with its over-sized arms, which ended in scythe-shaped fists that neatly sliced several branches off nearby tress. Toushirou dodged the sloppy attack, and the stupid thing increased its spiritual pressure in an attempt to overwhelm him.

"Nice try, moron, but I'm a taichou," he said.

It merely roared and charged again.

Toushirou sidestepped, jumping into the air and settling behind the Hollow. "Kami-sama, why can't you things attack when I'm actually on watch? One afternoon with my best friend, that's all that I'm asking for," he muttered, eyeing the things with displeasure.

After the first initial rush of adrenaline had faded (right behind her, the hollow had been right behind her, and even though he knew he could protect her and that she could damn well protect herself, seeing Karin in harm's way always had his gut clenching in fear), he could coolly step back and analyze the Hollow's weak points. It favored its left shoulder, leaving its right side wide open when it swung, and on its next charge, Toushirou planned to take full advantage of the weakness.

He raised his sword, ready to strike—

—and Karin got in the way, jabbing her reiatsu-covered hand into its gut. "And that, you stupid Hollow, is for ignoring me!" she yelled.

"Karin!" Toushirou said, barely managing to turn his blow aside.

"Oh, hey, Toush. You can let me handle this," she replied.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled.

She turned from the hollow long enough to shoot him a malevolent glare. "No. I'm an experienced Hollow bounty-hunter, and this one looks to be worth at least ¥5,000, so excuse me if I don't run away and huddle with your gigai like a damsel in distress."

"You're getting in the way!"

"Am not! And damn it, it's your vacation! You're supposed to be relaxing!"

"Taking down a Huge Hollow is relaxing! It's barely any work! I could do it in my sleep!"

"If it's so easy, then you should take a backseat and let me handle this!"

"No! I started fighting it first!"

"Oh, what, we have to have a dibs system now?"

"You—Karin, just let me kill the thing!"

"Shut up!" she yelled back, turning to punch the Hollow right in its mask, her anger giving her reiatsu a sudden boost in power.

The mask cracked and the hollow disintegrated, accompanied by an intense blast of reiatsu-infused wind, swirling chaotically along the street and coming to center on Karin.

His best friend dropped abruptly to the ground, and the wind died the moment her knees hit the pavement. So did her reiatsu, the warm, crackling presence that Toushirou instinctively tuned into whenever he was in Karakura abruptly disappearing.

"Karin!" he shouted, sheathing his sword and dropping to his knees alongside her, hands frantically going to her shoulders and pushing her back, almost shocked when he encountered warm flesh when on a spiritual level she simply felt gone.

Karin clutched her head and groaned, then opened her eyes—and suddenly her spiritual pressure was back, so smoothly and suddenly that Toushirou doubted for a second that he'd felt its lack. Maybe his own reiatsu had simply smothered hers…?

"Are you alright?" he asked, worried, hands still lingering on her arms.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just got a migraine. Fighting Hollows can do that to us mere mortals you know." She smirked at him.

"I—you were gone," he said, his voice tinged with desperation. "I couldn't feel you at all, something was wrong and you were gone—"

"Whoa, Toush, I'm fine," she said, thumping a fist against her chest. "I was here the whole time, nothing to worry about."

He glared at her. "You're not listening to me. Karin, you were—"

"I'm fine," she said, finally pushing him away and getting up. She brushed herself off and began walking towards his gigai. "You're the one who isn't listening. And what was with the whole 'you're getting in the way' thing? I thought we were a team. I thought you trusted me to take care of myself."

"I do trust you to take care of yourself," he said, frustrated. He followed after her. "I just wanted to kill the Hollow and get it over with. It wasn't about you not being able to handle it."

"Then trust me," she said, turning around and looking into his eyes. "Trust me."

He sighed. "Alright," he said, searching her face. She was hiding something from him, he could tell, but if she wanted him to drop it, he would—for now.

"Good," she muttered.

He got back in his gigai and they started walking back to her house again, passing several blocks in sullen, tense silence.

"My reiatsu's been acting weird," she said suddenly after a few minutes.

He took a breath, relieved that she'd decided to trust him, too. "Then earlier…?"

"It's happened before. Sometimes even out of nowhere. My reiatsu suddenly just builds and builds, and I have to tamp it down, get a lid on it."

Toushirou furrowed his brow. "It builds? But it disappeared; it didn't feel like it was out of control—"

"It's not out of control," she interrupted. "It's not."

"I know it's not," he said patiently. "I'm saying that it disappeared. Karin, reiatsu isn't supposed to do that, not even when a person dies. It's like you blipped out of existence."

She frowned and stopped suddenly, scuffing her feet on the sidewalk. She turned to face him, closed her eyes, and—

Gone.

Toushirou felt like he'd plunged into icy water. His eyes were telling him she was right in front of him, flesh and blood and bone and heart, but his spiritual sense was telling him that nothing was there.

She opened her eyes, and she was back. She looked at him worriedly.

"O…kay," he said. "I didn't know people could do that."

She shrugged, trying for nonchalance and miserably failing. "Maybe it's a Kurosaki thing?"

He snorted. "Uh, no. Your brother couldn't hide his reiatsu if he tried, not in a million years. It'd be like an elephant trying to squeeze itself into a teacup."

She chuckled. "Okay, yeah, I can see your point." She started walking again, swinging her hands in that way she had when she was nervous. "So…should I be worried? I honestly think it's just my powers getting stronger, and my control not being up to scratch. Look at Ichigo when he first started out, projecting all over the damn place. I'm doing loads better in comparison."

"True," Toushirou said, his worry fading. If Karin could control it at will, it seemed harmless enough…"But maybe you should have Unohana look at you once we're in Soul Society for the wedding. See if everything checks out. You know, the Soutaichou wouldn't mind it if you enrolled for a couple years in the Academy—"

"Uh, no," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Gonna go to college and be a doctor, remember? I've got my whole life planned out, and I'm not letting shinigami stuff hijack it the way it did Ichigo's."

"Yeah," he said. "I know." He paused. "Is there anything else…?"

She glanced at him then looked. "No, not really. Not unless—well, do you ever get weird dreams?"

Toushirou's gut clenched. Did she know his secret? He'd been planning on telling her, since it seemed like keeping it to himself broke several best-friend laws, and he was tired of letting nobody know and generally not having a clue what to do about it himself. Even if she couldn't help him, talking with her always cleared his head and put things in perspective. But there had never seemed to be a right time to tell her, "Hey, there's this dragon in my head who's accusing me of homicide." How the hell did she figure it out by herself? Did he talk in his sleep that night on the couch?

"Look, it's nothing serious. I'm sure it'll blow over soon," he said, trying to placate her. "Shinigami get reiatsu-related dreams all the time, and it probably means there's just a disturbance in their spiritual energy. Even humans get affected sometimes. It's no big deal."

"Oh," she said, looking intensely relieved. "That's good."

"Yeah," he said, nudging her with his shoulder. "So you shouldn't worry." He decided not to go into greater detail—with her expanding spiritual powers and the simple stresses of growing up, she already had enough problems on her plate without adding his own. "Come on—Yuzu's making Korean barbecue tonight. I'll race you back."

And he took off running, with Karin right on his heels, laughing together like they didn't have a care in the world.

ii.

"Whoa, I can't believe I'm actually letting you do this to me," Karin said, fidgeting in her seat two days later, one day before The Wedding (and yes, it deserved capital letters). "Yuzu, you owe me."

Yuzu huffed and smacked her hand. "I do not! It's your duty as a bridesmaid!"

"You know, I'm getting really tired of that phrase. I thought being a bridesmaid meant looking pretty and decorative and handing the bride her bouquet before she threw it, and maybe pranking the groom. Not enduring hours of torture in the week leading up to the wedding," Karin grumbled. She fidgeted some more.

Yuzu sat up and took a cucumber slice off her eye to shoot Karin an evil glare. "Stop fidgeting and let the exfoliant do its job."

"Yuzu. I'm sitting in a spa chair with purple gunk on my face, surrounded by hung-over women, while my sister lectures me wearing nothing but seaweed and green goo. 'Fidgety' is my default mode at the moment."

Yuzu rolled her eyes and put the cucumber slice back on, lying back down. "It's a spa day, Karin. It's supposed to be enjoyable."

"That's what you said about the bridal shower. Though at least there was alcohol."

"Tell me you didn't drink the stuff."

"Hey, it was free. I only had a sip or two," Karin said defensively. "Besides, you tell me you weren't tempted to down a glass when Matsumoto broke out the lingerie."

Yuzu giggled despite herself. "I thought Hime-nee-chan was going to have a heart attack. Her face was so red!"

Karin smiled. "I liked Tatsuki's present best. Edible underwear. Who'd have thought she had it in her? I'm sure Renji will enjoy it, though."

"Karin!" Yuzu sounded more delighted than scandalized, however, so Karin just grinned.

"What? It was even pineapple-flavored. I'm just stating the truth."

"Amen to that!" Matsumoto said, plopping down in the chair next to Yuzu.

"Hi, Rangiku-chan. How was the massage?" Yuzu said.

"Simply divine! You two have to try it out!"

"No thanks," Karin said. "Strangers touching me and rubbing oil on me? I think I'll pass."

Matsumoto shrugged. "Your loss." She looked over at the other women stretched out on the chairs: everyone from Unohana and Isane to Rukia and Tatsuki. "Eh, is everyone still asleep?"

"Yeah. These chairs are really comfy," Karin conceded. "Plus, last night was a total wringer. What did you guys do after we left?" she asked.

The bridal shower itself, despite Karin's complaints, had actually been pretty fun. The food was great and the stories everyone shared about Rukia and Renji were funny and light-hearted. Even the gift-opening portion was surprisingly touching, lingerie notwithstanding, as everyone did their best to make Rukia feel loved and treasured and absolutely, incandescently happy.

From the pictures Yuzu uploaded to her computer, and judging from the way Rukia's smile was positively radiant in each and every one, Karin thought that they'd succeeded.

Afterwards, Yuzu and Karin had taken a sleeping Yachiru home with them as Rangiku and Yoruichi led the other women off to the karaoke bar for the "Tropical Thursday"-themed bachelorette party.

Now, everyone but Rangiku and Yoruichi were still ridiculously hung-over and refused to answer Yachiru's insistent queries on what she missed. Karin could only admire Matsumoto's foresight on scheduling the bachelorette party two nights before the wedding to let everyone recover.

"Must've been some night," Karin said, grinning at Matsumoto. "Though I'm not surprised that you're completely fine."

Matsumoto snorted. "Of course I'm fine! Me, hung-over? Please, I have saké for blood."

"And she weeps champagne for tears," Yoruichi said, ambling in wearing nothing but a very tiny towel. "Hey, Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan. How've things been for you two? Haven't been able to catch up with you guys for a while."

Yuzu smiled. "We're doing just fine, Yoruichi-san."

"That so? Glad to hear it. Is Jinta treating you right?"

Yuzu nodded enthusiastically and began eagerly revealing the details of her relationship, then moving onto the latest drama to hit Karakura High as Matsumoto and Yoruichi listened and made appreciative noises. The former in particular contributed stories about her own romantic life and got Yuzu up to date on the gossip of Seireitei.

Karin merely closed her eyes and listened with half an ear, perking up only when she heard her name mentioned.

"—and Tomiko-chan's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when Toushirou-kun picked Karin up from school yesterday! Everyone's convinced that they're in a long-distance relationship now, and that's why Karin won't ever go out with boys who like her."

"Wait, what?" Karin said, sitting bolt upright. "There are so many things wrong with those statements that I don't even know where to begin."

Matsumoto, Yoruichi, and Yuzu regarded each other with amused expression. "See what I have to deal with?" Yuzu said. She turned to her twin. "What's the problem?"

"Well, first off, Toushirou did not 'pick me up,' he met me at the school gate so we could go play soccer."

"Semantics," Matsumoto said with a wave of her hand.

"Secondly, we are not in a long-distance relationship—"

"I thought you were best friends," Yoruichi said teasingly.

"We are, but—oh, you know what I mean! We're just friends! And it shouldn't even matter if we were going out, because that's none of anybody else's business. Lastly, nobody's asked me out, so what's this about boys liking me?"

Yuzu rolled her eyes. "Karin, at least two boys have asked you out, and you've always blown them off by saying you had practice or needed to study."

"When? Who?"

"Daisuke-san, for one," she said, naming a boy on the guys' soccer team. "Yukio-kun, for another."

"What? No way, when did they—" Karin suddenly stopped talking when a memory of awkward conversations and invitations to lunch that she'd politely turned down surfaced. "They were asking me out?!"

Yuzu and Matsumoto sighed as Yoruichi burst into laughter.

"Hnn? Whazzit?" Orihime said, bolting upright. She blinked blearily at the room.

"Don't worry, Onee-chan," Yuzu said soothingly. "I was only talking about the times Karin rejected our classmates."

"Oh. I see," Orihime said. She rubbed her eyes, blinking when orange goo covered her fingers. "Whoops. Anyway, I always did feel sorry for Daisuke-san in particular. He kept trying so hard."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Karin demanded.

"Because you'd react exactly like this," Yuzu and Orihime said simultaneously.

Karin hunched her shoulders. Okay, so she'd always been a bit oblivious to love, but this seemed to be pushing it. "I didn't mean to blow them off," she muttered.

"But would you have said yes, even if you did realize what they were asking?" Matsumoto said. Next to her, Rukia was also sitting up, and Yuzu and Orihime caught her up on the conversation as Karin pondered the question.

"Well, no," she said bluntly. "I was busy, and I probably did have to study or go to practice. I don't have time for that sort of stuff."

"Hmmm." Matsumoto eyed her thoughtfully. "Why not?"

"Because I'm going to be a doctor," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Karin-chan," Yoruichi said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle, "that doesn't mean you can't have a life. Things are different nowadays. The choice doesn't have to be between having a career and having a family. You can have both, if you want."

Karin to open her mouth to say she didn't want to have both, but then stopped. Did she really never want to go out with somebody? Get married, have a kid or two? She'd planned her professional life down to the last detail, but she'd never really thought about her personal life as something other than a vague "someday." "Someday," after she'd gotten through med school and her residency and was working in a prestigious hospital. "Someday," after she'd found a guy she liked.

But thinking about it, what kind of guy did she like?

Karin blinked, startled to find she didn't have a clue where to start other than "not a jerk."

"Have you ever thought about it?" Rukia asked. "I mean, if you really don't want to date or get married, that's great! It's not for everybody."

"Obviously," Yoruichi said with a grin, lazily pointing at herself. "Yours truly included. Though Kisuke might change my mind someday." She winked.

"But you know, there's a difference between choosing that life for yourself and not even seeing that you have a choice," Rukia said. "And you do have one—look at me. I'm getting married to my best friend, to a guy who not only respects that I have a career that I'm dedicated to, but actively pushes me to do my very best in it. Renji's support is one of the reasons I had the courage to try for the position of fukutaichou in the first place."

"Uh-huh," Orihime said. "And Ichigo's always had faith in me and my abilities, whether it comes to fighting alongside our friends, or setting up my own art show."

Karin bit her lip. "Huh. Okay. Wow, you know, I never really thought about this."

Everyone snorted. "Honey, we can tell," Matsumoto said.

Yuzu patted her hand. "It's alright, Karin. We don't mean to make you uncomfortable. I love that you know exactly what you want to do, and that you work so hard to do it, but I just…get a little worried. You get such intense tunnel-vision sometimes that I'm scared you'll miss the little details and simple stuff focusing on your version of the big picture."

"And if you can't even tell when a guy asks you out, that's a bad sign," Matsumoto said. She grinned at her. "Speaking of guys asking you out…what kind of guy would you say yes to, if you got your head out of the game long enough to notice that he's asking?"

Karin groaned as Yuzu giggled. "Oh, Kami, not girl talk."

"Oh, please, what do you think we've been doing for the past few minutes? Now that we're past the heavy stuff, we can talk about the fun stuff." Matsumoto wiggled her brows. "So? Tall and lean? Blond? Brunette? Redhead?" She winked at Rukia and Orihime.

"How about smart?" Karin said dryly. "I don't really have a physical type—"

"Well, yeah, considering that you don't even seem to notice boys on an attractive level," Yuzu said.

"—but I refuse to waste my time with an idiot. And he has to be funny, like, sarcastic and witty and a total deadpan snarker, otherwise he'll never get my jokes. And he has to be hard-working, because I can't stand lazy guys. Loyal, too, and responsible. Trustworthy, you know? And he has to be able to respect me and my decisions.

"I don't really care what he looks like, as long as he takes care of his health, but it would be nice if he were hot. Mmm, he has to get along with my friends, and you have to like him, Yuzu, because I'm not dating a guy you don't like. Which means that he'll probably have to be brave enough to stand up to Ichigo, huh, and…crazy enough to put up with Tou-san like the rest of us. Okay, that one's gonna be tough. Oh, and he totally has to like soccer."

Karin finished her list, feeling pleased at the end of it. She did have an idea of what she was looking for, she just wasn't looking for it right now. She relaxed—she had time; romance could wait.

She looked around to find everyone exchanging knowing, amused glances.

"She has no idea who she just described, does she?" Yoruichi said.

"Now do you feel our pain?" Matsumoto said.

"What are you talking about?" Karin said. "Of course I don't know who I'm describing, it's all hypothetical! Sheesh, it's not like I've met the guy yet."

Yuzu rolled her eyes and smirked. "Really? Because it's pretty obvious to us, and even to our whole high school, that you already have."

Karin frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Yuzu recited the list: "Smart. Sarcastically funny. Hard-working. Loyal. Responsible. Trustworthy. Respectful. Hot—"

"That was optional," Karin interjected.

"Gets along with your friends. Liked by me. Stands up to Ichigo. Can deal with our crazy father. Loves soccer."

"And…?"

"And all this really makes me wonder why it is you're surprised that everyone thinks you and Toushirou-kun are dating," Yuzu said matter-of-factly.

Karin's mouth dropped open. "What? Yuzu, are you insane? I said that we're just friends!"

Rukia laughed. "Wow, she sounds just like I did! You're totally right, Orihime!"

Karin scowled. "I'm not dating Toushirou."

"So the question is, why not?" Yoruichi said.

Karin opened her mouth to answer and blurted out, "Because he's Toushirou!"

"Which makes him perfect for you!" Yuzu argued.

"Does not! And he's a shinigami!"

"Tou-san married Kaa-san," she pointed out logically.

"I don't think of him that way!"

"Which is why we want you to start," Matsumoto said. "Just start. You don't even have to do anything besides look at him and…consider the possibilities." She grinned.

"Yeah, and if you can't even manage that, I can help you out," Yoruichi said. "Just look at his butt when he's bending over. That boy has one fine ass, and I think you'll get the hint after that."

"…you know what, I think I'll go and get that massage."

Karin walked out of the room with her friends' laughter in her ears, trying to convince herself that she wasn't blushing. She was not.

iii.

"Karin, are you alright?"

Toushirou looked over his shoulder at her, where she'd dropped a plate onto the floor.

She snapped her head to the side and stared at the wall. "Yeah! No! I'm completely fine!"

He furrowed his brows. "Are you sure, because you look a little flushed…"

"Nope! I'm fine. Just—pull out the rags, already, would you? You can't be comfortable bent over like that."

He shrugged. "Alright." He grabbed the rags and stood up, though she kept shooting him odd looks now and then.

He chalked it up to the spa day. Karin was never good at prolonged exposure to girl talk.

Endnote: And that's all we wrote! Yay, no cliff-hanger this time! And the next chapter is the wedding (FINALLY. God, it's kind of ironic, but this is one of two stories of ours where there will be a wedding in the next chapter…and WE'RE ALMOST THERE. HOLD ON, PEOPLE.). Thank you very much for reading! ;)

The last chapter title is taken from the poem "Winter Sonnet XXIII," written by the immortal William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading this chapter, and thank you to everyone who's reviewed/alerted/favorited this story and/or us. :D

Special thanks goes to the following people for reviewing the last chapter: MomoPeachFlower, Shahar Mystral, DusksDarkness, Quetzalcoatls, bloodyrose1294, Silverpearl2, Phantom-Cosplayer, Forbidden-Hanyou, elle, dog531, hitsukarin4lyf, FlyingLikeAButterfly, Black Rose, Ruza-chan, and xNightDreamerx. ;) You guys make our day! :D (If we have forgotten you or spelled your name wrong, please tell us and we will correct the error immediately.)

Again, thank you very much, and please review!