"The First Time They Met…"

A Bleach story.

Rated T (for language, mostly)…rating may go up if the story continues.

Pairings: HitsuKarin…duh. OH, the other pairings. Only confessing to Ichirukia for now.

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo's mess. I'm just fixing and clarifying it.

WARNING: Major Spoilers for the end of the Fullbring arc. Like 479ish. Nothing too specific, but those of you that are spoiler sensitive may break out in too much information rash.

ALSO…No episode 132/316. GASP! You call yourself a HitsuKarin fan and not use them for reference?! More details in my notes, but for a summery, I am taking a crack at the canon, and not using the fluff.

Synopsis: A half-naked, in shape, injured, dead, samurai ghost boy was sitting at Urahara's table drinking tea. With white hair…

Author's Notes: Go ahead, scroll to the end. After all, Author's notes are just a senseless soapbox for the author to rant. Just look for the XXXxxx line where the story starts. I'll wait.

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Are they gone? Good.

I have just started to read the manga (they are publishing it in the big books so my bookshelves won't fill up) and I have come to this conclusion: Tite had no idea what he was creating. I JUST read 480 (thank you mangastream, thank you!) Which promises to be the FINAL arc. Sure Tite, the last of the Bleach? Uh huh. Regardless, while I was reading the first issues of the manga, I realized Tite had no scope with numbers. His ages are off (ohhh! DON'T start me on the Kuchiki/Abarai/Hisagi/Ichimaru/Hikari/Yachiru/Hitsugaya age math! We will never get to the story!) But really, souls are sorted by a random number system given out by the shinigami for EACH and EVERY soul that passes? Really? I may not have the exact figures, but just Japan alone, is A LOT. And I do know 200 shinigami per squad isn't enough for that duty (plus the patrolling and all the other stuff shinigami are supposed to do)

Regardless, I have a great regard for canon. When I write, I try to stick to the canon as much as possible. Before for me was the anime, for I had not read most of the manga. Now, catching the end of the Fullbring arc (not his best work, mind you) and watching every episode of Bleach up to the first season of the Fullbring, I can finally say I have a good handle on the canon. I hope.

Now I know what needs to be repaired. Like the random number/Rukon lottery. And the meeting of Karin and Toushirou. Again, I hope I fixed it. Maybe. And that age issue (look for a future rant on that. And boy! IT will be a doozy)

This story takes place a few days after 479. Other warnings include that I prefer the Captain/Lieutenant over the Japanese terms, simply because I comprehend them better being a vet. I prefer "Reign over the Frosted Heavens" because it sounds cooler than sitting. I prefer Shinigami over Soul Reaper because Soul Reaper sounds stupid and should not have been translated as such. They throw Japanese food names at us, what's wrong with Shinigami, anyways? In fact, I use Soul Reaper as a derogatory term that the Rukon peeps use to describe them.

And, by the way, I use soccer not football. Football to me is a bunch of men in big shoulder pads running into each other trying to catch a rugby ball. And very little "foot" action. No comments on the bad Americanisms or I will start mentioning games like….I dunno, CURLING or CRICKET. So there.

Final note here, Hitsugaya may be nearly a century old but he is still a child physically and emotionally. This was demonstrated in the series by his actions. If people like the story and I continue to write it, that will be addressed.

This is not connected to any of my other stories.

Enjoy!

Special thanks to my beta, Stephanie, who was late to the show. But she is catching up!

xxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

thoughts

Zanpakuto

Chapter One: Impressions

The first time Karin Kurosaki met him was when she was getting more "anti-ghost" supplies from Urahara's Shop. The blonde shopkeeper had met her at the store's door, filled with greetings and praises. Usually she had to hunt the man down and consequently had been through most of the store looking for any customer service, even Jinta. Usually she was set down in the front room and given tea and cookies while she waited for Mr. Urahara to fill her order.

All for free.

Karin never understood what her brother did that the strange man owed him so much to keep a running tab for Karin. She suspected if she asked, he would never give her a straight answer, if he even gave her an answer. Nevertheless when Ichigo stopped seeing ghosts two winters ago, his strange disappearances stopped, too.

Urahara had her wait in the storefront itself, got the order of her wants and needs and asked her to stay there while he fetched them from his 'secret' storeroom. ('After all, ghost repelling spray isn't something I have on my store shelves. I'm a respectable storekeeper, you know!") She watched as the man slinked away further into the building, with that strange, silly, yet unnerving smile on his face andleaving her alone in the storefront.

'Where was everyone?' she thought. No polite Tessai or Ururu. No Jinta to pound when he got annoying. Perhaps they were running errands. She sighed, hoping it would not take too long. She had come here straight from school and (had) promised to go to the grocery store for Yuzu. In fact, it was becoming more and more of an inconvenience to come here on the sly, and she was running out of excuses.

She sighed audibly again, the sound loud in the store. It was a quiet spring day and even the usual sounds of traffic on the nearby main road were few and far between. She was bored, of course. Sound was a usual part of her day, at least in her family. They were not quiet people, the Kurosaki's. The silence had her wishing for muzak, bad American Rap, even Jinta's annoying voice to break up her ennui and not focus on the fact she HAD to come here in order to have a somewhat normal existence. She instead tried to focus on the candy selection. This lasted for a few minutes before she finally heard something coming from within the recesses of the store.

Karin grinned. Perhaps it was Urahara coming back. When he didn't burst through the doors a few moments later, she frowned again. Maybe Ururu got home? Or Jinta? Or maybe Tessai was talking on the phone. The door was cracked open a little (in his haste, Urahara didn't shut it all the way) perhaps she could see who it was.

Stealthily, Karin slipped out of her tennis shoes and stepped up to look. Hopefully it was Jinta. She was in a bad mood and Jinta was guaranteed to make her happy…when she sprawled him on the floor face down. Regardless, anything was better than memorizing Urahara's chocolate selection.

She covertly slid up to the door, crossing the tatami mat noiselessly. With a slight tingle of excitement that the rush of spying was giving her, she peered through the narrow opening into the brightly lit room.

It wasn't Tessai. Or. Jinta. Or Ururu. It wasn't even Urahara, distracted by some shiny object and forgetting his customer. It wasn't even that strange black cat with yellow eyes that she seen around the Shoten sometimes. No, it was a boy.

'A boy,' she thought. 'Isn't the best way to describe him.'

Well, he WAS a boy, about her age. Though with boys around her age it was hard to tell. Males hit puberty later. Half her male classmates were shorter than her and scrawny. Even in profile, she could tell he wasn't scrawny. Not wearing a shirt helped dispel the word scrawny. In fact, he was pretty buff for a kid. But… he was just…sitting at the chabudai, drinking what looks to be tea. Karin's senses were telling her that he had to be more than a boy. Everything in this building was strange, even the cat. She decided to look harder for clues.

She noticed that he was wearing a black hakama. Next thought maybe he was a kendo practitioner. She saw the kimono (also black) and some white pieces, probably a yukata folded neatly beside him. Then she saw the sword. Not one of those practice swords or bokken, but a real katana, sheathed in a blue scabbard. Her limited vision made it so she could not make out the hilt. 'Not a kendo student, then,' she mused thoughtfully. Then the epiphany hit her. Urahara was connected to her brother. Mentally dressing the boy, she could see him wearing the exact same outfit her brother wore, complete with sword.

'Shinigami.'

The boy was a shinigami. So he was a ghost. An injured ghost boy, as she could see that his shoulder was bandaged. A half-naked, in shape, injured, dead, samurai ghost boy was sitting at Urahara's table drinking tea. Nothing strange about that at all.

With white hair it was like snow. Even in the poor fluorescent light she could tell it was pure. And it was his natural hair colour. His eyebrows gave that away. 'Maybe all dead kids have white hair. No, no. The ones I see don't. Maybe all the shinigami have white hair. Her thoughts revolved around these thoughts for a while as she just stared at him. After all, it was the first shinigami she could actually study.

So she stared. And stared. And stared some more.

And she would have probably stared like that all day, like some rude stalker who didn't know when to quit, if the boy hadn't turned his head and looked straight at her. His startling turquoise blue eyes flashed in annoyance as he frowned and grumbled in a too deep voice, "are you going to continue to gawk at me all day or you going to come into the room?"

Karin blinked; her hands gripped the forgotten book bag painfully. 'He knew I was here?' She commented to herself. 'I know I was quiet and all and he didn't even look over here, not once!'

Karin was jostled from her thoughts by a very rude sounding "Well?" coming from the strange boy.

She stood there, unsure. Walking in the room would mean she had to admit that her world was different, that she could carry on a conversation with a dead person. Or she could just stay out here, as Urahara asked, ignoring the ghost boy and let life continue as before. 'I mean, as annoying and inconvenient as seeing ghosts are, I don't have to acknowledge that there is a bigger world of the undead. I can pretend that everything is ok. After all, I have been doing that for years.' Karin almost made her choice, but another thought trinkled up from her subconscious. 'Then again, the answers to my questions are probably sitting in that room. The answers to my headaches and white faced monsters. The answers to the whereabouts of my brotheris now and how he suddenly seems to be emanating power again.

She stood up straight, and pushed the door open with her empty hand. 'And besides, I'm a Kurosaki. We are not the type to stick our heads in the sand!

The boy never stop looking at her as she scowled, stomped into the room and flopped down on one of the bedraggled zabuton opposite to him. She dropped her bag next to her and slapped both hands on the table, glaring back at the boy as if this was his fault, even though she was the one spying.

Before she could ask her questions or yell at him (her mind was still bouncing between the two ideas) the boy cocked his white eyebrow at her and said in a faintly disgusted way, "Tch, so you can see and hear me, eh?"

Karin blinked. You mean he wasn't sure, and then I didn't… A long train of expletives formed in her head. She wondered why it was such a big deal to see him. She had seen her brother several times in the past, wearing a similar costume, though the sword was bigger

She removed the surprise from her face. "So," she huffed, arms crossed and head tilted to her side in annoyance. "Why does that matter?"

The boy took another sip of the steaming cup, seemingly ignoring Karin. After a few moments, she decided to be irate. His strange accusations with no explanations were annoying. She spoke, every word coloured by malice, "Are you going to answer me? No? Well listen here you freaky little brat…"

"The stuff isn't working, is it?" He interrupted her tirade, though she thought he had cringed at the word 'little.'

"Eh?" Karin responded, still angry but she was curious at what he was going to say.

He sat the cup down and looked at her. She glared back, but it was hard to do. His eyes were strange, not just for the colour, but they were full of age, innocence and power. It was almost mesmerizing.

"The stuff Urahara is selling you, it isn't working as well as it should. Or as well as it used to work, correct?"

She shook her head mentally to clear her thoughts. "No," She had no reason to lie. "Do you know why?"

"NO, but I do know that your Reiyoku is high for a human and Reiatsu is emanating enough to allow you to see me. That means you either have a natural high amount of Spiritual Pressure or were exposed to high spiritual pressure long enough to start the process." He took a quick sip. "Or both. In this town, I'd bet both."

Rei-what? Spiritual Pressure? Was he listening in to her conversation with Urahara? "I don't understand. All I do know is I have seen ghosts all my life."

The boy's white eyebrow cocked again at her, this time in curiosity. "Really? Interesting. Regardless, the stuff that Urahara is selling you will soon stop working, and then you will have to makes a choice."

'Damn,' Karin thought, scowling yet again. 'Those annoying perverted ghosts in her room, trying to watch her when she was taking a shower, not to mention some of them trying to cop a feel…' "Ugh." She uttered out loud.

"Problems?" He asked, pulling Karin out of her thoughts.

She shook her head. "Nah, just thinking that if the stuff stopped working, howwas I going to rid myself of all those perverted ghosts. Anyways, you said I had choices. What choices would that be?"

He was drinking tea, but his eyebrows shot up at her words 'perverted ghosts' With an amused smirk (which Karin instantly disliked) he sat the cup down. "Really? Perverted ghosts? That is the first I have heard of that." He sounded like he wanted to chuckle.

Karin shook her head, her ponytail brushing her shoulders. 'Eyes on the prize, Karin.' She told herself. "That's my problem. Now what choices do I have again?" While Karin had no clue about the afterlife, besides what she had gleaned from a lifetime of observing ghosts, she knew, almost instinctually, that the boy was not lying. This left her very unsettled, nervous and inpatient.

The amused expression washed away from the boy's face, leaving a serious, slightly scowling one. It seemed to look more at home on his face than any expression she had seen so far. It made her wonder if he smiled at all, if he was always so serious. 'I'd bet he'd have a nice smile.' She immediately snuffed that thought. He was a ghost, after all.

Again, the boy's voice shook her from her thoughts. "If you continue to grow in power, eventually, you will have three choices to decide on." He held his right index finger up. "One: to remove your power for all time. Two," A second finger went up. "Your power would be suppressed until it was the correct time to access it. Or there is Three: use the power as it was intended to be used." His now three fingers came down to curl around his cup, lifting it up to his mouth.

'What? I don't get to choose my own destiny? Because I can see ghosts?' And the choices were so unclear. Vague. Why only these three? Who made the decision? How can I see ghosts in the first place? Is it genetics?

He sat the cup down hard the force causing the liquid to splash onto the light oak surface. Karin was startled by the sound. She looked from his hands to his face, those eyes…

"However," His voice, sounding too deep and filled with such wisdom that a child his age should not possess. "Each choice comes with its own consequence. Those consequences are not cheap."

"Consequence? What are these consequences?" And why didn't he just say them? Karin was getting irritated by the boy's behavior. 'How come no one around here can give me a straight answer? Is it that hard to do?' Or maybe… "You cannot tell me what they are, can you?"

A slight smile ghosted over his lips, but the serious face returned. "I can, vaguely."

'Ah, he can smile then!' Karin weighed the fact he was slowly pissing her off with the fact that foreknowledge is good. "Ok, tell me the consequences, vaguely," she grinned, but not in a pleasant way.

The boy looked unperturbed. "The first will affect your death and reincarnations. The second affects your memory. The Third will affect your life."

"That's vague all right," she replied off handedly. So reincarnation does happen! She filed that information for later, less important questioning. Regardless, the first seemed…very permanent. The second…for some reason Karin had some feeling of déjà vu that she had her memory changed or wiped recently. It made her feel slightly nauseated.

The boy spoke up. "Well, I cannot give you more information than that. In fact, I have probably played too close to the line for what I have told you."

"Really?" Karin surmised that there was some kind of undead organization, with its own rules and such. This made sense, from what she had heard today and what she had observed over the last few years. There was some kind of shinigami group that did stuff (what stuff, Karin wasn't clear about.) 'I mean, only learned the word shinigami from Ichigo when he was on the phone with Orihime once.' She did think these shinigami were interested in the strange monsters with white masks that hurt her head whenever they appeared. Regardless, Karin was betting she was right about the organization of the undead. "So," her voice slightly triumphant in sound. "Your bosses said you can't talk about the Shinigami club, or the rules."

He looked up at her, startled. 'Now he looks like a kid, his eyes wide like that.' She mentally smirked.

Again another smile made a nanosecond appearance across his lips. "Yes, you can say that all shinigami information is on a need to know basis." He emphasized Shinigami, ensuring to Karin that her guess on what he was correct.

"And I don't need to know, but the choices will be enforced on me regardless."

The boy nodded.

"That's just great. So, if I hadn't run into you here, and you hadn't told me of them, I would have had no choice?"

"Probably."

"Lovely." Karin growled, folding her arms across her chest. She wondered if Ichigo knew about the Shinigami organization, and would he had the same choices she was given. 'Like could ask him. He's up and disappeared again, and besides, if he WAS here, he'd probably laugh it off and tell me I was crazy or something.' Her mind chased down ideas to change her destiny of three choices. "Well, couldn't Mr. Urahara do anything about this?" She finally said, voicing an idea that came to her.

The boy turned to his side, crossing his arms. He gestured slightly with his hand. "You could ask him yourself."

Karin's eyes widened as she whirled around behind her. She saw the green bedecked man nodding, looking serious and a little sad for a change. "I'm sorry, but it's true. You have been using the most powerful stuff that I can safely give out to humans."

Human? What was Urahara then, if not human? Karin's mind started to work feverishly, new questions rising to the surface begging to be asked. But, before she could ask the ghost boy and the sheepish shopkeeper, her phone rang. The tone let her know that it was her sister texting, probably wondering where Karin was and/or an amended grocery list. Karin sighed, taking the phone out of her skirt pocket. More groceries, she thought as she read the text. And she had to carry the two plastic bags filled Urahara was holding that was filled with stuff that was less effective. But still worked…still.

Another frown decorated her face. "Well gentlemen, I have to go." She stood, pointedly ignored the troublesome ghost boy. She bowed slightly to the shopkeeper after he handed the bags over to her. "Less effective is better than nothing. Thank you Mr. Urahara." She retrieved her school bag; she walked out of the room, slipped her shoes on and left the tiny store.

Karin's mind, however, was still buzzing with the new found knowledge and was filled with a ton of unanswered questions. She had gotten to the point where the little street the shop was on met up with the busy afternoon traffic, when an idea hit her. The boy wasn't exactly coughing up information, but Karin did realize she had gotten more knowledge about the ghost world in the last ten minutes than she ever got in the last 13 years of her life.

She could not let that source disappear forever. She abruptly turned back, running. He gait and speed determined by years of Soccer. She unceremoniously dropped the bags and kicked her shoes off. And without as so much as a warning, she flung open the sliding doors.

Perhaps I should have given some warning. She mused. A smirk, not unlike the boy gave her earlier appeared to touch her lips.

Apparently, the boy was putting on his kimono and had untied the obi that was holding his hakama up. So there he was, Mister-know-it-all-shinigami-ghost-boy, frantically holding his pants up (lest they fall off his narrow hips) and wearing a deer-in-the-headlights expression, complete with a candy apple red blush.

Urahara, on the other hand, seemed to hide his expression with a flick of his fan, but his eyes expressed that he was going to tease the poor boy later

'And probably me,' Karin mentally acknowledged. She dragged her eyes up to the boy's redden face (she wasn't looking at bad, she assured herself) and decided not to comment on his...lack of…clothes that were fastioned. "Will you be around for a few days?"

"Huh?" The boy's expression was incredulous.

"Will you be in Karakura Town for a few days?" She spoke slower, like he couldn't understand Japanese.

"…Yes?!" She could tell he wanted to ask why.

"I have questions you may be able to answer. Can I meet with you here tomorrow?"

"…Yes?!"

"Great!" Anything further was interrupted by Yuzu, now calling her because Karin neglected to answer her message. She glared at her phone. "Thanks. Sorry I barged in. See you tomorrow." She left again hurriedly, partly to get the shopping done, but mostly not to give the kid a chance to back out.

At the corner, she texted her sister, reassuring Yuzu she got the message. Karin, and her mind, were not in the mood for talking. It was on the revelations that she got today. The seemly hundreds of questions popped in and out of her mind. SO many to ask. She spent the time walking to the store trying to make a list of them when she realized she forgot to ask for something from mister ghost boy.

She realized she never asked him his name. 'Oh well,' she mentally shrugged. 'That will be the first thing I ask him tomorrow.' She grabbed a grocery cart and her mind soon settled on the dumplings her sister was going to make for dinner.

XXXxxxXXX

Toushirou

'Tch. What an annoying child.' Toushirou thought as he stepped into his gigai. After she barreled in the second time, he had a sudden urge to leave the store. After quickly finished dressing, he murmured his thanks to Kisuke and Tessai, and grabbed his gigai.

She had surprised him, that girl. He rolled his eyes at the image. Whatever possessed him to agree to meet her to answer her questions?

Pants at the ankles, perhaps? The dragon rumbled.

Toushirou scowled mentally. 'They were NOT at my ankles, thank you very much.'

The dragon chuckled. Regardless, you did agree to meet with her.

Toushirou sighed. He did, dammit. He wasn't here to answer questions. He was only here because he got permission to get supplies for his division. Nowhere did it say he had to babysit yet another child with Reiatsu.

He halted, making the people on the busy sidewalk go around him. He just realized something. 'I never asked for her name.' Nor did he introduce himself. He shook his head. Toushirou was going shopping at a large office supply store tomorrow. He had to stop by Urahara's for a list of what the man wanted (he suddenly 'lost' the list, and told Toushirou to stop by before he left tomorrow. The Captain smelled a setup.) The chances were good she would be there. Damn!

And if she is there, Master? Hyourinmaru queried, with much amusement.

'Who cares if she is there or not.' He mentally replied. He would answer her questions (being more correct, avoid answering them), get Kisuke's list and leave, washing his hands of the whole mess. Her name wasn't important, and the fact he didn't tell him his, was a good thing. Satisfied with his conclusions, the Tenth Division Captain continued down the street, confidant that tomorrow that there will be no issues at all.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

CHABUDAI—the low table the Japanese used. In this case, at least Urahara used.

ZABUTON—the cushions to on at a chabudai.

Some of the terms for Toushirou's uniform are incorrect. Like petticoats and bustles to most teens today, I'd bet Karin doesn't know the name of old fashioned clothing outside a few things.

Read, Review, and tell me you want more. Please.