Chapter 1: Death and the… Rosewood?

And So the Sword of fate falls…

"Is he-"

"Give him some air!"

"Hitsugaya Taicho? Can you hear me?"

…|…

"That's the third time this month."

"I know, I-"

"You can't afford to overwork yourself like this."

"When was the last time you took a day off?"

"Who has time for a day off? My squad's supposed to be funding the East gate repairs, not to mention we're getting ready for the transfer of the seal, and then there's the annual excursion for the Academy students, AND the tenth division still hasn't gotten the power back up-"

"You know, I think it's high time you took a vacation."

"Were you not list-"

"Yeah, you look a little stressed."

"Hmph. No way whatever you turn in will be of any use if it's completed at three in the morning. That last report-"

"So, it's decided. Captain Hitsugaya, I am ordering you to take your week of vacation time."

"I just told you, I can't afford to go on leave! Matsumoto will never do the paperwork! I haven't taken a vacation in forty years! And I have to-"

"Alright, make that a month of collective vacation time."

…|…

"You know, if that were anybody else, old man Yamamoto would never agree to let them take a month off."

"Yes, but knowing Toshiro-chan, he'll probably break in just to nag his lieutenant. They couldn't force him to unwind unless he was all the way in the world of the living, without any way to check up on squad ten."

"Hmm… you know, that's not a bad idea."

…..

Four days later, Land of the living

…..

"Oi, Kurosaki, we're playing after school?"

Karin smiled at Kiyon, "Yeah, see you at four!"

"Hey, where you going?" Sai asked, to which the tomboy called out,

"I wanna check on something, see you later!"

At age eleven, Kurosaki Karin had spent her whole life in denial of the spirits that surrounded her world. She wasn't like her brother, who'd let himself get beaten up just to make sure some dead girl was properly respected. No, Karin would much rather play soccer with her friends and get through school without dedicating her time to the dearly departed.

However, sometimes she'd get this feeling of loneliness, or depression, or (once) joy, but whatever emotion it was certain feelings just stood out as the calls of the dead. That was when she called her big brother over, introduced the two, and forgot the whole thing ever happened.

The feeling had been going strong all day, to the point that it was getting annoying. One time some ghost freaked out so badly Karin could barely kick a ball, and that was an experience she didn't want to repeat.

Ichigo would probably be late to dinner anyways, and he might not even notice on his own. She felt the tug coming from somewhere between school and home, so she figured it wouldn't hurt anything to make a three-minute detour and direct the spirit to Ichigo.

And right now, just on top of the hill, there stood some punk kid with bleached hair playing on his cell phone. Getting closer, Karin noticed that he was around her age, and from the lack of worry, he probably didn't even know he was dead.

"Hey, kid!" The boy didn't respond; too wrapped up in whatever game he was playing. "Kid!" Or maybe this one was in denial, or some sort of loop like she'd seen in the movies where the ghost refused to let go of their past- "Kid!"

Well, that finally got his attention. "What?" Well, wasn't he the rude one. Might as well tease him a little bit, after all Karin was sticking her neck out to visit him like this.

"You know, that's never going to send, right?"

"Is that so?" Mystery boy just went back to typing.

"Yeah." No response. Okay, maybe that wasn't obvious enough. "You wanna know why it's never going to work?"

"Not really."

"You sure? It's kinda important."

"Is that so." Mr. Stoic just couldn't care less about the girl next to him, and that pissed Karin off.

"Yeah, you wanna know why? 'Cause you're dead."

With a small gasp, that provoked a real reaction. Snowhead stopped texting all together, looked her dead in the eye and asked, "What did you just say?"

So the boy knew after all, maybe he'd just accepted it. "Yeah, 'cause nobody talks to you, everyone walks through you," Karin paused when the boy went back to typing, "…and you've got a chain hanging out of your chest-" the brunette went to grab it, "-right-" and found nothing there, "-here…"

There was an awkward pause. The punk had stopped typing and looked at her with shock written across his face. Right now, Karin couldn't care less.

All she wanted to do was get the hell out of there- and how could she have been so stupid? All her life, the girl had tried to avoid being caught up in the spirit-saving business. She didn't care if it was important, she just hated the thought of looking crazy! And I really have to get out of here before mystery boy can to memorize my face. Or worse yet, take a picture.

With a swift turn Karin bolted, terrified of hanging around the white-haired stranger any longer than she had to. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Karin thought to herself.

Henceforth, it didn't matter if they gave her cramps like spoiled milk; Karin was never talking to spirits again.

…..

By evening the tug faded, and Karin had practically forgotten all about her slip-up. She watched as Ichigo and Dad duked it out, apparently her brother was late because he'd been helping another spirit find peace.

And for his troubles, "Ichigo, you got another one."

"Third time this week!" Made the elementary student glad she rarely bothered getting involved. Who would want to spend each day being hounded by one spirit after another?

"I'm going up to bed!" And then there were three.

With one short phone call, "Karin, Yuzu, emergency at the hospital. Hold the fort until I get back and don't let your brother leave his room again!" And then there were two.

"Will do, dad!" Well, if Yuzu wanted to stay in, that was fine. "Hey, where you going, Karin?"

"Out."

"To do what?"

"I wanna practice my goals a little more." Come on, it wasn't late enough to need a sitter, she'd be fine on her own. "Don't worry, I'm just going to that lot around the corner. It's a two-minute walk, tops."

"Well, okay. But be back before dad get's home, or you'll be in real trouble!"

"Yeah, yeah."

…..

Half an hour later, Karin had worked up a good sweat and was feeling much better about her life. Her group of friends had managed to arrange a match against some of the kids from another school, and she was feeling more than ready for it. For just a moment, Karin felt normal.

No crazy dad, no sister who acted more like a mother, no I-have-a-savior-complex-brother, no embarrassing ghosts around-

What was that tap I just heard? With that thought, Karin turned around and saw one way more embarrassing not-ghost. Was that kid sitting on top of a light poll? Not even sitting really, he was perched more like some kind of predator- Wait, who the hell does that?

"Hey," She called tentatively, "what're you doing up there?"

The boy had been glaring straight at her, but the moment she spoke he froze up. "You- you can see me?"

…..

By the third day, Captain Hitsugaya honestly hadn't expected anything but boredom on his trip to the land of the living. After a full week of sneaking out of onsen and hotels, three of his fellow captains had insisted on sending him here. It was anything but traditional; the land of the living was supposed to be an assignment, not a vacation spot.

But they'd reasoned, the whole point was for the prodigy to relax, and as long as he was capable of sneaking into his office he would continue to do so. And most of the tension came from fighting hollows, but so long as he kept the proper seals on and limited the amount of reiatsu he released, nothing too powerful should show up. Since there was already another soul reaper on-duty in the area he wouldn't feel pressure to do anything.

The most humiliating thing about this situation was, it had worked. The boy genius had to call in if he wanted a Senkaimon opened, and the only way he could complete any paperwork was if someone texted it to him. It only took a day to get Matsumoto to stop sending him her own work, but there was still only so much that could be done electronically. If he was relaxing it was only because he was so damn bored that he had nothing better to do.

So naturally, when a young girl showed up, fully aware that the man she'd just met had passed on, Toshiro immediately made it his goal to try to figure out just how much the child knew.

(For some reason the report he'd filled on the subject had been returned by captain Aizen, along with a note concerning Hitsugaya's "desperate need to work leading him to overreact.")

His search was put on hold with another text from Matsumoto, and Aizen's returned email. Hitsugaya managed to put a call through, but the other captain insisted that he was just looking out for "his younger co-worker's health." The conversation ended on a civil note, at least. By then night had fallen, and the prodigy reasoned that he might have trouble with the locals if they saw him following a child late at night. So he buried his gigai somewhere inconspicuous before beginning the search.

That's when things started getting… weird. He tried to detect a strong spiritual presence (besides himself), but found it extremely difficult to pick up anything. He might have assumed that she merely had little reiatsu, but if that were so she couldn't have been able sense him. To test this theory he focused his senses on other humans he could see nearby.

He felt nothing- it was as though the people weren't even there. Toshiro hadn't been trying to detect spiritual pressure while on his 'vacation,' he didn't need Captain Unohana reprimanding him for working when he should be resting. But he realized that since coming to this world, he hadn't detected any Hollows, Wholes, or the local soul reaper. He'd just assumed they were there, despite never 'seeing' them.

How very stupid of you, Hitsugaya- I'm supposed to catch these things! Whatever 'these things' are. And why hasn't the local representative reported this?

He was eventually able to locate the girl's presence, but she was the only one he could detect, and only when he focused on her. He didn't even know it was that particular girl until after . Shortly after he began following her trail, he felt her start to move. The interesting thing was, the farther she went, the more clearly he could sense her. It was as if something more powerful was covering the entire town with it's power, and the child was the only one strong enough to be sensed in it's shadow.

It would be pointless to call home about an abnormality before he had more information. No, it wouldn't. You just don't want to look incompetent. Hitsugaya ignored the little voice in his head, right now he had to consider his options. He could either continue his original investigation and follow the girl, or he could go past her to where she had been harder to sense.

The source of whatever was covering the town had to be located somewhere in that direction. But on the other hand, 'somewhere in that direction' is a large area, and I don't have any guarantee I'll find it if I go there. I don't even know what I'm looking for, so it's probably best to stick with the abnormality I can recognize.

He followed the girl, deciding to go through with his test. Despite what he already knew (and had guessed) about the child's power, he hadn't expected to spend less than thirty seconds watching her kick a ball around, turn around and address him personally.

"You-you can see me?" The captain asked. Which is to be expected, what's abnormal is that she can sense me.

"Well, yeah…" Mystery girl seemed scared now. "How- how did you get up there?" Amazing. She had to have something wrong with her, for a human to sense spiritual energy… Or maybe it was only because of the strange presence- but no other humans could see him, he'd checked. "Hello? You going to come down from there?"

After considering the pros and cons of staying where he was, Toshiro nodded and leapt down from his current spot. He ignored the startled gasp of the brunette and walked up to her. "Uh, so…"

"Am I to take it that you've only seen Wholes before?"

"Ah- what?" Well, that answered that. If the child didn't even know the proper names for the spirits of this world she'd have no way of understanding her powers. Which also means she doesn't have any information on what's wrong with this town. Or she doesn't know the details.

"Spirits with chains on their chests." I suppose it's possible that whatever went wrong here also has gone completely unchecked by anyone who knows anything about the Soul Society.

"Well, uh, that is, before today…" The girl kept fidgeting, obviously awed to meet someone of such greater power than her own. "…well, I guess not, since I've seen you and you're clearly some sort of spirit."

"Point taken." She smiled a little, "But you've never met anyone like me before today, have you?" If the girl was going to go around giving off enough reiatsu to see the dead, she might as well know what she was looking at. He wasn't going to give out any information that couldn't be discovered by powerful humans through deduction (except for the specific names of spirits), and if she did know something, perhaps he could get her to slip up if he spoke to her.

"Uh…"

The prodigy sighed, "Fine then. It looks like somebody's got to explain things to you, and it might as well be me." Remember to look comforting and open. If she is just a human, I want to convince her I'm not a threat. The child looked confused for a moment, but when he began talking she listened.

"First of all, the spirit's you've met are called wholes. They are the spirits of the recently deceased, still trapped in this realm. There are three basic types of spirits, Wholes, Hollows, and soul reapers. You got that?"

"Uh, wholes, holes, and grim reapers. Yeah, got it." Did she-

A vein throbbed in the captain's head. "That's hollows, wholes and soul reapers. Idiot."

"Hey-"

"Moving on, I am a soul reaper. You can usually tell us apart from wholes because of our uniforms and the fact that our chain of fate does not show."

"Chain of what now?" Could this idiot please try to keep up?

"Chain of fate- you see it on the chests of wholes. You tried to find one on me earlier today."

"Oh, that thing."

"Anyways, soul reapers are sent to help wholes pass on to the next life, which is where we live as well. We can travel between this world and the world of the dead, and we do so for two reasons."

"So you're a psychopomp." He was surprised she even knew what that word meant. "I see dead people. Of course I know a little bit about the afterlife." Did he say that aloud?

"Our second mission," Hitsugaya ignored the girl's attempts to interrupt him for questions, "is to purify and fight Hollows. The third type of spirit, Hollows are wholes who have stayed in this world for too long, and have turned into demonic creatures."

"Wait, what was that? Demons?" It's risky telling her this much, but if she hasn't already seen Hollows, that proves the situation is worse than I thought. Hollows should be flocking here, what with all the excess energy, and the girl should be one of their biggest targets.

"Hollows come in all shapes and sizes, but you can easily recognize them by the mask they wear on their face, and by the hole they have on their chest. Hollows usually eat Wholes, but sometimes they can be attracted to powerful humans with lots of spirit energy. Humans like you."

"M-me?" the brunette squealed, "I don't- I mean, are you sure-"

"In any case," the prodigy cut her off, "I'm only telling you this because we're going to have to send someone to watch over you." He pulled out his phone and began texting a report of his findings.

"It's standard procedure when we find an unusually powerful human, you just happen to have enough power to see soul reapers. I figured you would rather know why you're going to be followed around by dead people for the rest of your life." Not true, but if more soul reapers were coming in to investigate, it wouldn't hurt if she felt protected by their presence, instead of frightened.

"Now hold on, just a second!" the girl got right up next to him then, not that he really cared. "What do you mean, follow me, who the hell gives you permission to do that, anyways!"

"Soul reaper, remember?"

"Well, if you're going to be stalking me-" The insolent little thing reached over and grabbed for his phone. "Then at least send someone female!"

"What the hell do you care!" Hitsugaya knew he shouldn't be fighting with a human, but she (and this mystery) had been pushing his buttons all night and he was at his limit.

"Listen, just because you're my age doesn't give you the right to follow me around!"

"I'm at least ten times your age!"

"Yeah, well you don't look like it, pipsqueak!" Oh, that was it.

"Sai!" That ought to teach the little- uh, I have really got to start watching my thoughts more closely.

"What- what the hell did you do to me!" But at this point, the captain was too pissed off to be patient. He simply picked up his phone and continued- "Hey, I'm talking to you, kid!"

"I am NOT a kid!"

In retrospect, he probably would have gotten the paperwork done much faster if he could just stop fighting with the mortal, but at the time he didn't give a damn.

…..

"It's time."

…|…

"I have news."

…|…

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. He'll be at the exact location I gave you."

"And the Seireitei has really cut him off?"

"To a great enough degree that you'll be able to complete your mission without interference."

"…"

"Something wrong?"

"It's just- it all seems too convenient."

"Honestly, have I ever lied to you?"

"No, no you haven't."

"Then get going. And have fun."

…|…

"I have a job for you."

…|…

"Send your minions to the location I gave."

…|…

"Uh, you may want to take a look."

"Well well, it looks like our friend is waiting until after the cannon fodder has kicked it."

"You okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

…..

It took about two seconds for Ichigo to realize that the noise he heard was definitely not a truck or the TV. It took another two seconds for him to look out the window. Five seconds later, his brain finally processed that Yes, that is a giant monster outside my window. Yes, it is eating that poor girl. Yes, that is a lot of blood.

"YUZU!" Screw subtlety, Ichigo thought as he dashed down the stairs, I have to make sure she's alright.

Thankfully the blonde hadn't left the kitchen. "Ichigo?" Damn it, when did that thing get so close to the house? Why is there more than one? "Ichigo, are you al-"

Ichigo didn't give her time to finish, he just grabbed his sisters arm and pulled her the hell away from that thing. Yuzu kept struggling, but he kept his hand over her mouth. God, please don't let it notice us.

Seconds passed in tension, waiting for the terrible noises to stop. Yuzu stopped struggling, but her medium brother no longer cared. Finally he heard heavy footsteps; something outside was leaving.

He breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his grip to loosen. Naturally, Yuzu took this opportunity to break free. Ichigo smiled even as she chewed him out, relieved that they both had made it.

In perfect accordance with the universe's habit of screwing things over just as everything looked like it would turn out okay, that was when the wall exploded.

For a few precious seconds the teenager lay immobile from shock. The moment a rock clocked Yuzu in the head, those seconds ended.

"Yuzu!" Ichigo caught his sister, even as something large whacked him on the shoulder. A tiny moan escaped her lips, assuring him that the girl was still breathing. Thank god. Now I just have to get us out of here alive. He noticed the giant arm reaching into the kitchen just as he had started to pick her up on his back.

That thing- it's gonna keep coming. As he put her down, Ichigo scanned the room for a weapon. Too bad. I'm not 'the one who protects' for nothing.

Settling upon a stepstool that had stayed in one piece Ichigo called out, "Hey, ugly!" The teenager ran towards the thing with all of his might, taunting it as he went. "Why don't you fight somebody who can-"

He'd barely gotten anywhere before a giant claw swatted him -as though I'm just a fly- and threw the boy against the hard pavement. Damnit, there's blood in my eyes. He tried to get up, but within seconds something picked him up. Damnit! I can't die here!

Ichigo didn't see Yuzu pass out in the wrecked kitchen, nor did he see the white-haired boy heading in his direction. All he thought, as darkness overtook him, was Yuzu… Please… Please let her be okay…

…..

Two minutes earlier, a few streets away

…..

In a small park by the riverside, two small individuals cringed as an animalistic roar echoed in the distance.

"What was that?" Hitsugaya ignored the girl in favor of checking his phone. "Was that a Hollow?" Sure enough, a Hollow was right nearby. Damn it, I couldn't sense that either. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" It's in the area she was in when she was getting harder to sense.

"It's fine." He assured her, "One of my comrades is in the area, the Hollow should-" and as Murphy's law dictated, just as those words left his mouth several more triangles signifying a Hollow's location appeared on the screen just moments before the red dot vanished, showing that the nearby soul reaper was dead. "Damn it!"

This is the last thing I need to deal with right now, but- wait. He realized, If the Hollows are attracted to the strange spiritual energy in this town, then they'll start moving in it's direction. But if they can't find it either, He looked over at the child he'd bound, then they'll go after her. And me, but that won't matter if I stay nearby her.

"What's wrong?" He unsheathed Hyourimaru as the child gestured to his phone with her head. "What's going on? Why- why did you-"

"There are more Hollows coming." The girl squirmed on the ground, desperately trying to escape her bindings.

"What?!" Somehow the girl managed to pull herself into an awkward standing position. "Wait, so you're going to go after it, right? That's your job, right?"

"No." Hitsugaya said bluntly.

"WHAT!"

"There's no need." The young captain responded, "They'll come here. If my spiritual pressure doesn't attract them, then yours will."

"What, so you're using me as bait? Is that it now?" If only the girl would shut up for a second-

"Would you relax? I'm more than capable of defeating a few measly-"

"You're an elementary student! How capable can you be?" Oh for the love of-

"I don't have time for this!" He snarled, "Look, the Hollows are still some three hundred meters to the East," Hitsugaya barely noticed the girl freeze, "so we've got a while until they get here, and since this is a pretty empty lot it's-"

"To the East?" The girl's face expression turned morbid. I last saw that look on the face of a man who just learned of his lovers death.

"Huh?" God, don't let it be…

"Did you just say… East is that way, right?" She nodded in the same direction the Hollows were.

"Well, yes, but-" she started running despite her bound arms, "-you shouldn't-" the child made it into the darkness, "Hey! Get back here!" He flew after her, quickly landing in front of her. So she does know something, but she doesn't know the importance of whatever information she has.

"Get outta the way!" She kept trying to pass him, despite her impossible situation.

"I told you to-"

The kido broke. It just- shattered.

The girl wrenched her arms apart as though she was being held by human hands instead of solid barriers of energy.

"stay… here…" He spent less than half a second wondering how the hell she'd done that, when the child ran past him. What the hell? Saying this kid has insane spirit pressure doesn't even come close to being accurate! I know that something's wrong here, but still! Hitsugaya flash stepped back in front of the girl to block her path once again.

She shrieked at him, "My family lives in that direction!" Of course, how could he have forgotten? Most humans with noticeable reiatsu passed on their power to their offspring. He started racing towards the Hollows.

Within seconds of his departure, Hitsugaya found two huge ape-Hollows, one rummaging through the ruined wall of a house and the other holding a bleeding teenager in its claws. He wasted no time cutting off the hand that gripped the civilian, and then paused for a second to allow the two beasts to notice him and abandon their prey.

There are less of them than the scanner said there'd be. Damn it, that means the local representative has been eaten already.

It took a few seconds for comprehension to dawn upon the monsters, but once they had forgotten the humans the young captain used a quick flash step to lure them a few yards away from the house. Once they were a good distance away, he quickly beheaded the uninjured Hollow. Before the remaining monster could even blink, it too had been decapitated.

As he sheathed Hyourimaru a gasp could be heard. "Woah…" Oh that's right, the girl was following him. She looked to be in shock at the scene she had just witnessed, so she probably got here in time to see me finish those two. Wait, she's not breathing very hard, and considering how desperately she was running earlier I'd say she probably saw most of that. Inwardly, he smirked with pride at the difference in strength between the two.

"And that," A glance told him that the wrecked house also served as the… Kurosaki Clinic, "Kurosaki, is why humans like you need soul reapers, like me, to help you." Okay, so he was flaunting his power, but right now he didn't care. It helped lighten his mood, which had gotten worse as he approached the house. I can barely sense anything, much less her.

Kurosaki didn't even notice. "Yuzu, Ichigo!" She ran over to her family as best as she could. "They're hurt! Ichigo- my brother's bleeding!"

"It's alright," Hitsugaya strolled over calmly, "Neither one was eaten. They'll be fine."

"Fine!" She shrieked, "My brother's bleeding from the head and you think he's fine?"

"Well, in the long run

—"

Oh.

There's a sword in my heart.

Is that Hyourimaru?

Somebody stabbed me in the back. With my own Zanpakto.

I think my heart's been hit. One of my lungs has been pierced, too.

That's not good.

*Ghack*

…..

The last thirty seconds had to be the second-scariest seconds of Karin's life. Scariest was when she got the news that Mom died, third was when Oh great, and now I'm going into shock. Stay in the present, Karin.

First the soul reaper- and as of two minutes ago yes she was willing to admit such things existed- killed two hideous beasts attacking her house. Then out of nowhere some guy with a mask teleported right behind the boy and frigging stabbed him in the chest, then the guy vanished just like he came.

Karin watched as the ghost before her collapsed. As quickly as she could, the tomboy dashed over to him. "Hey, soul reaper! You- you're all beat up."

"Yeah-" *gasp* "-no-" *wheeze* "-sh-" *cough* "-it" And some bloody vomit to finish it off. But a roar echoed through the night, terrifying both. "Take your siblings-" he panted, "-and run."

But- "What about you?"

"I'll- hold them- off," each break was punctuated by more desperate gasps for air, and the brunette watched in awe as he used his sword to prop himself up. "They- I taste better to them," Karin remembered her purpose, and went to get Ichigo. "so- they'll come- after me- first." She couldn't even pick him up…

"What happens then?" Karin tried to shift Ichigo's weight, but the teenager was just too heavy for her. The ghost boy collapsed against a nearby telephone pole, "Will they leave us alone?" There was no response, confirming to Karin just how stupid this plan was. "Great, I can't even lift my brother, I can't run with both of them!"

"You-have to." Karin switched tactics, instead going for Yuzu and pulling her up piggy-back style. She could pick her twin up, but she could barely walk with the weight.

"We need a new plan!"

"It's- I can't fight like this," But there was no way she was leaving Ichigo for dead, "Your only hope- is to run." More roars sounded, seemingly taunting them Time is running out.

By this point Karin had enough. They're getting closer, she realized, and we're all doomed unless somebody can kill those things… "Ichigo…" But her protector was out cold and probably concussed. He'd always been there for her, and she could rely on him to fight for her sake. The one person who Karin had always trusted to protect her was as helpless as she was. With the soul reaper out, there was nothing to stop those things from killing them all.

No, not quite. Karin realized, I'm still awake, aren't I?

If she couldn't escape with her family, then she might as well do what she could to protect them. There's no way I'm just leaving either of them for dead, not after Mom died. The girl put down her sister and dashed over to the soul reaper. The family's torn apart enough as it is, and I do NOT want to be dad's only kid.

"What are you-" The white-haired boy choked as she tried to grab the sword from him.

Besides, if this kid can kill monsters, why can't I?

The tomboy was surprised to find that even half-dead, the not-ghost had a strong grip on his weapon. "Let go!"

"What do you think you're-" another coughing fit broke out, but he held on.

Karin snapped, "Look, much as I'd love to, I can't run away with my family, and you're too beat up to kill a fly. I'm NOT breaking up my family any more than it already is, so you can forget about telling me to save who I can!

"We don't have a car or anything, and even if we did I don't know how to drive. You said I'm attractive to Hollows, so these things would just follow me if I tried to run anyways. The only weapon we've got here is this sword of yours, so just-let-go!"

He grappled with her snarling, "Well then, just save yourself!" Karin glared at him.

"There's no way I'm just letting all of you die."

He stopped for a minute. Later Karin would realize that her determination had amazed him, but at the time all she cared about was having the chance to get everyone she loved to tomorrow.

Maybe thirty meters away, the world rippled, and a huge ugly frog-like monster with a white mask pulled itself through the air into the real world. Karin turned to watch it start running towards them, surprised by how calm she felt about her upcoming death. Or maybe reality just hasn't sunk in yet.

"Look, it's now or never, so-"

"Take the blade of my sword," The boy shook it free of her hands and gripped it by the handle, "And drive it through your heart."

"What-"

"There is no time to explain, just do it!" In the half second she paused to consider his words some part of her brain told her she was being stupid, he just wanted her to die a quickly, she should have run on her own while she had the chance and escaped with her life. But some deeper part of her said to go along with it, that she knew he wasn't lying.

In a moment of trust unlike any Karin Kurosaki would ever experience again, she did as he said.

…..

There was no moment for uncertainty, no pause for logic or introspection.

One minute, the world saw a powerful young man and a determined human girl staring into each other's eyes for their last minutes alive. The next, Hitsugaya felt a tug as his very essence was pulled away for him. He tried to cling onto his power as it was transferred, but felt himself be washed away by a blinding wave of reiatsu unlike any he'd ever experienced.

She leapt through the air and swung the sword that she now held, instinctively knowing just where the monster she faced was waiting for her. Within seconds it's arm had been cleaved off, and the beast reared back with a roar.

The brunette now wore the full shihakusho, and carried a massive blade that had to be at least four-thirds as long as her legs, and as wide as her fist. With growing horror, the young captain realized that almost all of his powers had been transferred to the human.

Hitsugaya shivered as he watched her behead the Hollow. He clutched the edges of his captain's haori, glad it had not vanished with Hyourimaru and the rest of his uniform.

But as two more Garganta formed, the youth realized that the child's spiritual energy almost matched his Lieutenant's.

I've never heard of a human so powerful. And as a human, she had potential to grow even more. No human could access their total potential, all they could do was increase the amount of energy in themselves. Kurosaki hadn't even hit the peak of her power, And I've just given her the ability to actually use that energy. I didn't even mean to give her more than half of my power, but somehow she's got nearly all of it!

As the last Hollow was slain with a well-placed blow to the skull, Hitsugaya couldn't help but think with bitter humor, I really would have had a relaxing vacation if I'd just stayed at Health Land. When the initial wave of power wore off and the battle was done, Kurosaki collapsed on the ground, thoroughly worn-out from her fight.

… Thank god for all the reiatsu rushing through me just now, my wound doesn't seem to be as life-threatening anymore.

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

…..

"Well, this is quite the surprise."

"Hn. This unexpected turn of events… what does it mean for our plans?"

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

…..

…..

AN: I changed the timeline of pre-episode one Bleach like crazy for this story. Rukia isn't the soul reaper in Karakura because I want to keep her alive.

This AU has two main divergences from cannon, one of which has to do with me changing a few key elements in the backstory of Bleach (but these changes all amount to a single larger difference between this and cannon). The other one has never made much of a difference (in-universe) to anyone until the events of this chapter.

I had an idea to focus on Ichigo in the beginning to make it look like the only difference would be that Toshiro replaced Rukia. However that would cut out everything that foreshadows why Karin has become the main character.

I am not very good at fight scenes, but I will try my best.

I do like ToshiroxKarin (it's part of why I started this), but after I began working on this story I realized that I couldn't write it into this work without taking something away from the story itself. ToshiroxKarin will be a running gag (as it is in cannon filler episodes), but the two characters are just too involved in their jobs as soul reapers to pursue any feeling they would develop for each other.

I needed Ichigo to get beaten up because didn't want him to become the substitute instead, and people are more likely to trust random teenagers with dangerous weapons than random children with dangerous weapons, because teenagers are usually more mature, emotionally stronger, and physically larger then children. Therefore, they'd most likely be more capable of fighting untrained. In short: I think a soul reaper would be more likely to give their powers to Ichigo, even if they knew Karin better and thought she had more spiritual power. In retrospect, a healthy Ichigo would be able to carry Yuzu, and would certainly try to save Toshiro.

Stupidly, I initially forgot that Ichigo had a shit-ton of power from the beginning. I had planned on having him switch places with Karin, so then he'd be the kid who's locked out of the loop, but all of his classmates would still go to him for answers (which he can't always provide). Then I began doing research, and I realized that Ichigo and Karin are not as similar as I imagined them, and that Ichigo's power blocked out Rukia's senses for the whole first episode.

Also, I tried to make Karin's Zanpakto smaller than Ichigo's (his would be as wide as his head and as long as he is tall) to show how she has less spirit energy (hers would be about as thick as two of her fists and a few inches longer than her legs). I assumed that the whole "size of sword indicates spiritual energy" would be the size of the sword relative to the height of the soul reaper, otherwise Jidanbo would have sword so small he's lose it.

Wow, I managed to cut the AN's down to one page. And the story itself is now 6056 words long.