Chapter Text
The presence of certain things always had an effect on the tomboy of the Kurosaki twins. Yuzu was always wishing to be able to see ghosts, but the truth of the matter was that the young girl had no clue how much of a pain the whole thing was. For example, for some odd reason, Karin hadn't been able to sleep well for some time now. She had finally fallen asleep nicely tonight, only to find her dreams plagued by another person's memories.
She had to admit, though, unlike the other times, a warm feeling of familiarity came from the person whose memories she saw. She walked with the person, without them realizing that she was looking through their eyes, through some sort of school. The students were dressed in a rather old-fashioned uniform, the boys trimmed in blue, the girls trimmed in red.
It didn't last, though, as the dreams and memories turned dark, moody, almost as if the person whose memories she was receiving happened to be brooding over something. She could feel the person's heart break. She also saw, in that cold cavern, the friend that had been walking side by side with the person suddenly have their face slashed, and then be killed off.
At this, Karin sat up with a yelp and pulled her knees to her chest with her head buried. She let out an exasperated sound. The pain seemed so familiar to her. "I really can't argue that if I don't believe, they aren't real anymore."
She lifted her head and pounded her fists on her head, trying to think of why it felt so familiar to her, the person whose dreams she had shared, though hazy in some aspects. However, something clicked, as realization hit her, of just who she received the memories from. Emotions welled in her chest as they hit her hard. "Toshiro... those were Toshiro's memories."
This caused Karin to blink in surprise, as the boy had retained a countenance of emotionlessness when she had met him. She couldn't understand how, then, memories from the day the two met at the soccer field were left over, and coming out now. However, this thought process changed when she felt an icy blast of rietstu coming from her brother's room. "What the hell is going on?"
Suddenly, her body sprang into action, and her feet swung over the edge of the bed. She then tiptoed to the door to find her older brother Ichigo passing through the hallways, his face twisted with irritation. "That little snot. All I wanted to do was help him! I thought he considered me his friend!"
"Ichi-nii?" Karin watched as her brother continued to wear the carpet thin. "Ichi-nii!"
Her brother suddenly turned to her, the look on his face turning to one of complete shock. "Karin? You couldn't sleep?"
"Sort of," Karin glanced at the ground, knowing that he likely wouldn't tell her what all was going on. She felt, though, she might as well try. "What's going on?"
"Nothing..." he obviously lied. "I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to bed." Karin watched as, instead of heading back to his room, he headed downstairs. The small female couldn't help but roll her eyes at the fact that her brother constantly tried to protect her from the truth she already knew. She knew he was lying, and made up her mind to find out the truth.
Carefully, she walked over to the door and cracked it open. As soon as she did, she saw and recognized the small figure curled up on her brother's bed, covered with the blanket. "Toshiro?" No answer came from him, which left her to creep into the room. She tiptoed over and nudged the white-haired boy on the shoulder. "Toshiro, don't make me knock some sense into you."
"Please don't get involved, Kurosaki-san," the boy murmured, his voice filled with exclamation. An electric shock suddenly ran through his body as she plopped down so that she was sitting right up against his back. This caused him to come out, opening his eyes, and turning his head to face her a bit. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"I couldn't sleep," Karin stated firmly. "Plus, I've got questions to ask you, all right?"
"No... it isn't all right. I asked you not to get involved," the boy murmured, frustration all over his voice. Again, he refused to look her in the face.
"Come on, Toshiro... you've been the only one so far to answer my questions. I also get the idea there are certain questions you can't answer, and I'll accept that. Here's question one."
"No... questions.." the young taicho growled through gritted teeth. Yet, unbeknownst to Karin, he wasn't that anymore, and he didn't want her to know the truth. He tried fluctuating his reitsu, as a warning. However, this didn't seem to faze her, almost as if she actually enjoyed the icy touch.
"What was that school with those red and blue robes?" came her curious question.
Toshiro's face twisted up from confusion at this. "I thought you said you never asked anyone else, Kusoaki..."
"It's Karin... Ka...rin," the girl protested. "Question two, that guy galled you a genius. Is that why you hate being refered to as a kid?"
"Hey... hold it... how." Toshiro tried turning onto his side, but found his own line of questioning interrupted, with another from the preteen girl.
And because of your friend dying, is that why you push Ichi-nii and me away..." Two teal eyes went wide at the girl's comment. Toshiro thought about sitting up, but that meant looking Karin in the eyes, which would reveal how emotionally vulnerable he was right now.
"Soul Reaper academy... yes... partially... yes... partially again," Toshiro closed his eyes, his body relaxing a bit. "My turn. How did you know about that? Your brother's heard Kusaka, but he doesn't know... he doesn't know about the other stuff, because I've never told anyone, and very few people know. Actually, I think I'm the only one left alive who does, other than Yamamoto."
He suddenly felt the girl tense up next to him. "You have to promise not to tell anyone. Ichi-nii is the only one who knows."
"I promise to keep that promise, unless I find a reason that I deem it necessary," came the typical response one might expect of him. This caused Karin to let out a huff of air.
"Somehow, I saw your memories... It's happened before, to someone else. I was close in age. I saw the memories of that person."
"Do..." Toshiro had a bit of shock in his voice. "Do you do this on purpose... or do you have no control over it?"
"You shound like you think I'm a freak all of a sudden," Karin muttered. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.
"No... I'm sorry. I know what it's like, though, to not be able to control... certain things. However, there are just... some memories that are more private than others. Most of mine... aren't good ones either. They aren't nice," the boy blurted out, almost making the mistake of turning to look her in the eyes; however, he caught himself doing this.
"They seemed rather nice Toshiro. Especially compared to last time," Karin stated. "No... I can't control it, and sometimes I still have nightmares about it."
"I don't... didn't..." the boy muttered. "I don't want you having nightmares because of one of my stupid, bad memories," came the huffy reply.
"Just get some sleep Toshiro, and don't worry about it." Karin suddenly lay down, so that her back was right up against the small taicho's.
"Wait... baka... can't you go sleep in your own bed?" Toshiro felt his face flush, as he was uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a bed with a girl, and could imagine the no end of teasing he would receive from Matsumoto... though his face saddened, realizing that might never happen again. He let out a deep breath. "Kurosaki-san? Kurosaki? Karin?"
However, a small snore reached his ears, and he knew that he was stuck with her for the rest of the night, as he himself lacked the energy needed to move. He hoped he would be up before she woke up, for multiple reasons, one of which dealt with the fact that Kurosaki Ichigo was overprotective when he wanted to protect something.
M
The nagging parental instinct of his woke Isshin form his sleep. This caused him to get up out of bed, to lurk around, something that tended to drive his kids nuts, when they did know. It was late at night, so the chances of them finding out were slim. There was a very distinct, familiar feeling that was bothering him, that incessant nagging feeling that one of his kids was hurt.
His first stop was downstairs, to make sure that none of the kids... well, not really Yuzu... were getting a midnight snack. That would be if the case were correct, ample time to sneak up on the other two children. His mind, though, doubted that this was the case, and he bit his lips as he sneaked down the stairs and peered around the corner.
However, when he got down there, he simply found the television on and went over to turn it off. Ichigo was fast asleep on the couch, snoring blissfully away, the controller on the ground. Isshin proceeded to cover his son with a blanket that had been folded and was on the end of the couch. The nagging feeling was still there.
He then went up to check on his two girls, but when he cracked open the door, he only found one of his two girls. Yuzu was in her bed. Thoughts of Karin sneaking out at night rushed through his mind, but he managed to push them back. That nagging feeling remained there, and rather emboldened on his mind, and as a parent, it wasn't something he could ignore.
He peeked into Ichigo's room and let out a sigh of relief to find Karin there, but couldn't figure out why that bad feeling wasn't going away. He now knew where every single one of his children was, and he could see from just looking at them that they were safe and sound. He turned to leave, but paused, remembering his former fukutaicho. He blinked a couple of times, remembering that the child was also his, though not by blood.
Something clicked in his head, and he crept back towards the bed, the person that he hadn't seen, as they had been blocked from view by Karin, suddenly coming into view. His suspicions were confirmed as to which of his little ones he had been worried about. He shook his head, a smile spreading on his face, at how childlike the two were.
However, he instinctively reached a hand down to touch the small taicho's forehead. He found it to be a tad warm. The small boy moved in his sleep, causing Isshin to pull back his hand. When Toshiro didn't wake, his hand reached down to scan the small boy for injuries. It came across one small wound, and Kurosaki senior found his hand jerking away. "It can't be at all possible..."
He then closed his eyes, and went to go stand outside the door, worry creasing his brow.