Karin watched everyone and everything carefully as she tried letting the idea that Toshiro was gone sink in, but no matter what way she looked at it she honestly couldn't believe that Toshiro was dead. "At least Rangiku-san feels as confused about this as I am. I guess it's easier for her to accept that he is dead as she saw him die. Would I be happy if I saw it myself, or would I still find myself not believing it."

The young female held the envelope that Rangiku had given her close as she looked around the room. Ichigo cheered up slightly at the idea of getting Toshiro's books. The girl took a deep breath as she looked books knowing full well that Ichigo would enjoy going through those books and figuring out which ones Toshiro liked the most. That was something that Ichigo could get more then her, and yet she felt like she had no connection left. Something felt like it was missing.

"You! Ichigo!" A woman with dark hair and aqua eyes appeared in the door way with a smile on her face. Something about the female felt familiar despite the fact Karin knew she had never met the woman before. The woman was also cheerful despite the fact she had come to the doorway of someone recently deceased. The woman mentioned the funeral and disappointment before taking off with her brother.

Karin opened her mouth to ask who the person was only to have it clamp shut. She looked away and instead closed her eyes as she felt for the traces of Toshiro that still lingered in the room. She felt some other feelings in the room that were familiar to her that she couldn't place. She took a few deep breaths and listened to the silence. A sharp voice of a third female broke her concentration and her violet eyes snapped open to see a girl with brown hair and brown eyes standing in the door way. "Rangiku-san?"

"Ah... Hinamori." The strawberry haired female looked at the small female. "Is there something you need?"

"I came to get his artwork. He kept them in his room, right?" This Hinamori person gave off a vibe that bothered Karin. It wasn't a feeling that she was a bad person, but something felt wrong.

"Yes... but..." Rangiku's voice quickly tightened up. "Hinamori. The answer is no."

"I want to put together a display of his artwork for everybody."

"Hinamori..."

"Please!" The awful emotions coming from the other girl increased.

Karin took a deep breath. "Excuse me, but..."

The brown haired girl finally noticed that Karin was there. "Who are you? We haven't met." She turned her head to look at the fukutaicho as she tugged on her own fukutaicho badge. "Rangiku-san... why did you let a complete stranger into Shiro-chan's room?"

"Karin's not a stranger. She's Kurosaki Ichigo's little sister. She..."

"Please Rangiku-san! All I am asking for is some of his art work! Surely it isn't as big of a problem as you're making it out to be!"

Ichigo came into the room then and listened to what the girl wanted and managed to diffuse the situation somewhat. Karin couldn't help but think that the tension wasn't completely gone. She finally placed the negative emotions she felt as jealousy, spite and anger. The sensation that the girl had a sibling like bond with Toshiro ended up confirmed as well. Rangiku seemed quite upset about the fact Momo and Toshiro grew apart.

"Can you blame her? Toshiro is after all her son," the voice in the back of her head chimed in.

"Yes... but is she reacting more negatively then she would normally because she's come to realize that Toshiro's her son and she's hurting from his death... his supposed death." Karin listed to a conversation go on then in front of her as if she wasn't even there. She piped up when her brother became confused. She listened to the conversation as they mentioned a man named Ukitake and the idea of her visiting the man.

She followed behind her brother and took in the old fashioned buildings as well as the fact the Shinigami were staring at her. They arrived at another division where Rukia came over. "Ichigo... are you done already? Surely not."

"No... I would like to ask if you could take my sister back so she doesn't miss school. I thought she could meet Ukitake first."

Karin let out a deep breath. "Rangiku-san said something about Ichi-nii also needing to apologize to him for missing the funeral."

Rukia took a deep breath. "Yes. You should apologize to my taicho for missing the funeral. I'll take you to Ugendo where he is currently resting."

The young female looked around taking everything in at that particular division. The place was the same as Toshiro's place and seemed to conform to some kind of ridge structure. She saw a beautiful pond as they headed to the place called Ugendo that made things more relaxing. Koi jumped out of the water and splashed down as a soft wind blew across the pond. A dragonfly skirted across the top only to be snatched up by one of the koi. On the pond was a small building.

The trio headed across the wooden path leading to the small building upon the water. Karin looked out at the place and tried thinking of what the place reminded her of, but the only thing that came to mind was the high end estates she sometimes saw in the historical romance dramas that Yuzu liked to watch. The door to the building was open and she saw a silver haired man sitting in the room watching the koi in the pond.

"Ukitake..." Her brother waved at the silver haired man causing the other to look up at them.

"Ichigo..." The man's mouth twisted as he tried to pretend that everything was fine. His eyes turned to look at Karin. "Who might this be?"

Karin watched as her brother tilted his head towards her, his mouth twisting up into a frown. "This is one of my sisters."

"Hi. My name is Kurosaki Karin."

The man moved his hand to one of the cushions on the floor. "It is nice to meet you Karin-chan. Why don't you and you're brother have a seat."

Rukia bowed to the man. "I'll get back to work. Let me know when you're ready for me to take your sister back."

Karin knelt down onto the cushion. Her eyes darted out to the pond as she placed her hands into her lap. "I'm honestly not comfortable in this situation. I don't normally sit in this kind of position."

"This though was his day to day life."

"So... Karin-chan." Ukitake's voice caused her head to turn towards the silver haired man. "What brings you to Soul Society. I know that Kyoraku had planned things so that you would be able to come to Soul Society if your brother was stuck here, but he isn't."

The young female took a deep breath. "I know Toshiro."

"Shiro-chan. You know..." The silver haired man's hands clenched the lower part of his traditional wear. "... you knew him."

Karin swallowed. "Yeah. Sort of. I didn't exactly get the chance to know him as much as I would have liked to."

"Yes. It is rather sad that the two of you didn't get to know each other better. He..." Ukitake took a deep breath. "It's rather hard to see what the two of you had in common." The man watched as Karin flinched. "I don't mean either one of you aren't a good person to be around, or that you shouldn't have been friends. I simply mean that he struggled to find things in common with people."

"That sounds like Toshiro. We played soccer, watched sunsets. Sometimes we visited this old granny in the living world that he used to check in on."

The silver haired taicho let out another sigh. "Oh dear. He of all people knew not to get involved with people in the world of the living. I'm not surprised that he was drawn to that kind of person. She'll be waiting for him to come back."

"From what I understand she was more drawn to him then anything. She saw him fighting Hollows one day and said hello." Karin's hands suddenly gripped her pants. "I actually visit her sometimes, so she won't be alone. Truth be told all her children left her prior to Toshiro coming around, so she is used to people leaving."

"Yes, but is she used to such a young child dying? I know that I'm not used to such a young one dying."

The young child looked down at the ground. She carefully turned what he had said over in her head. "If such a young one dying was such a big deal, then why was it that Toshiro ended up being a Shinigami."

Ukitake's glinted with a slight wetness as the corners of his mouth continued to try and smile. "Shiro-chan entered the academy out of necessity, not because it is actually normal. That child ended up..." The man swallowed. "I guess it's fine since he is gone. That child ended up nearly killing his granny with his reiatsu. We don't exactly have a system in place for children like him. Soul Society was also for a long time in an old era before your brother started things changing."

"So there could be another kid like Toshiro?" Karin could feel her throat tightening.

"I hope not." Ukitake took a deep breath. "Myself and others are discussing ideas that will successfully help out children like him when we find them. It's perhaps something that I hope we can discuss with your brother as well."