So, I liked writing Hyourinmaru so much, I decided to write a sequel. Clearly I have a thing for multi-part stories, but also I wanted Karin and Hitsugaya to be together already since I didn't want to write another standard falling in love story. Incidentally, this is still a falling in love story, but with an unusual twist. I hope you enjoy it!

"I still don't get the point of this," Karin said in exasperation. "I mean, come on! How many people does it take to kill a few low level hollow?"

"Just relax and try to enjoy it! It's squad bonding time, plus, it's good training for them," Matsumoto replied, pointing over her shoulder at the ten or so rookie shinigami behind them. "They haven't fought with the real thing before." Karin sighed.

"I guess. But why do they need both of us? One would be more than enough to babysit, um, I mean, supervise their training." Matsumoto chuckled.

"It's customary for the fukutaicho and one ranked officer to take new squad members out on their first hollow slaying mission," Matsumoto reminded her. "And taicho trusts you more than any of the other officers. Besides, this is way more fun than paperwork!"

"What paperwork?" Karin looked at her incredulously. "I do most of yours anyway. And you're just happy you have a legitimate excuse to be away from the office." Matsumoto grinned. The two chatted amicably the rest of the way to their designated training area, just outside a moderate sized city, at the site of an abandoned factory. When they reached the factory, Karin turned to the group behind her.

"All right," she called out. "This is the place that has been chosen for your first official hollow slaying session. We're close enough to the city that there should be a decent number of souls around, but far enough away that we shouldn't cause any damage. I don't want any stray attacks going towards the city, alright. Keep your attacks under control! Together, we have enough reiatsu to be pretty appealing to any hollow in the area, so don't let your guard down. I don't want any injuries. Now spread out in teams of two and cover the area." Karin finished her speech, and Matsumoto nodded her approval.

"I still can't believe you chose to be 3rd seat instead of a taicho. There are taicho positions available, and you're definitely at taicho level. Besides, you're a natural, just look at the command you've got." After Karin died in the human world, she became a shinigami officially, rather than just a representative. Because of her change in status, she was forced to finally join a squad. She chose to be 10th squad's 3rd seat, rather than taking one of the open taicho spots.

"Who wants to be a taicho!?" Karin insisted. "All they do is work all day, they never have time to have any fun. And I much prefer training to office work." Matsumoto laughed.

"You just want to be able to hang around taicho all day!" Karin blushed slightly.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked innocently. "We are married." Matsumoto was about to tease her some more, but at that moment a loud crash echoed across the grounds, accompanied by an enormous plume of smoke and several screams. Karin and Matsumoto glanced at each other, then shunpoed to the site of the commotion.

Karin almost laughed when she reached the source of the explosion. It had been caused by several hollow landing at once, creating a large crater. The screams had been from the two shinigami who had been close by. They were entirely uninjured and were cowering in fear, clinging to each other for dear life.

"Go, get them!" Karin screamed, slightly annoyed at their pathetic display. "You're shinigami aren't you?" The girls let go of each other, and drew their zanpaktos. One took a deep breath, then charged, only to be knocked aside by a cackling hollow. The other seemed glued to the ground, too scared to force her body to move.

"Attack!" Karin yelled, trying to suppress her agitation. But the girl couldn't move. Her eyes were bulging out of her head and she was shaking like mad. Karin could hear her zanpakto rattling in her petrified hands.

A hollow started to descend on the terrified girl. She shook even harder.

"Run!" Karin shouted, becoming more worried about the girl's safety than her training as the hollow flew at her. But the girl seemed oblivious to everything as she clutched her zanpakto even tighter, causing blood to drip down her hands. She was rooted to the spot.

Karin reacted as fast as she could. She pushed the girl aside, reaching for her zanpakto as she did so, but the hollow hit her before she could draw it. She was flung through the air and crashed into the side of a building with a bone crunching smash.

Matsumoto jumped over the still immobile girl and slew the hollow, while the others were taken care of by several braver rookie shinigami who had finally arrived. Instead of congratulating them, Matsumoto ran to Karin's side. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Karin start to stand up on her own. The only injury she appeared to have was a light gash in her arm where it had grazed the girl's extended zanpakto.

"You've got to stop doing that!" Matsumoto chided. "You're luckier than most to get a second chance at life. You won't get a third." She reached out an arm to Karin to help her up, but Karin slapped it away.

"I don't need your help you whore. Get away from me, I'm fine. I'm not a baby." She started at Matsumoto with bitter, burning eyes. Matsumoto was taken aback.

"Karin, I think you hit your head a little too hard," she said, laughing carefully. Karin scoffed. Matsumoto rounded up the remaining shinigami and opened a senkai gate. Even though their training wasn't over yet, she was worried about Karin. She had never spoken in such a harsh tone before.

"It's time to go back," Matsumoto said cautiously to Karin. She didn't want to worry the other squad members with them. Karin glared at her.

"Yeah, well, who died and made you king? I don't have to take orders from you!" Karin spat.

"Karin, are you sure you feel alright?" Matsumoto asked concerned.

"What do you care?" Karin huffed, crossing her arms, causing her to wince due to her injury.

"See, you're injured, you should get that looked at…"

"I told you, I don't need help from a whore like you!" Karin yelled angrily before storming through the senkai gate. Matsumoto shepherded the rest of the people with them through the gate, keeping a safe distance behind Karin while never letting her out of her sight. Whatever was going on, Karin needed to be kept under close surveillance. Matsumoto cringed at the thought of telling her taicho what had happened.

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Matsumoto took a deep, calming breath, then slid open the office door. Hitsugaya was at his desk, working, but he looked up as Matsumoto entered.

"How did it go?" he asked casually. Matsumoto forced herself to smile.

"It went alright. Some of them are actually quite good." She tried to sound cheerful, but her taicho saw right through her.

"Where's Karin?" he asked, looking straight at Matsumoto with a gaze that pierced her very soul. After Karin's death, he didn't want to take any chances. He was internally very grateful that Karin had chosen not to be a taicho, since being a taicho was a high risk position, but he was worried nonetheless. He didn't doubt her abilities, but accidents happen, and he didn't think he could bare the pain of losing her again. Matsumoto bit her lip.

"Don't get excited taicho," she preempted, "but Karin's at 4th squad. She…" but Matsumoto was saved having to explain, because before she could finish, Hitsugaya was gone. He raced to 4th squad as fast as he could and nearly bowled over Isane.

"Where is she?" he asked, fighting the urge to grab Isane and shake the answer out of her. "Where's Karin?"

"Um…" Isane gulped, but luckily for her, Unohana entered the room.

"Ah, Hitsugaya taicho!" she said with a warm smile. "Please come with me." Hitsugaya swallowed his desire to insist on a diagnosis immediately and followed Unohana to her office. If she was smiling like that, he reasoned, things couldn't be so bad.

Unohana closed the door to her office and pointed at a chair, indicating that Hitsugaya should sit. He did so, reluctantly, and Unohana settled herself across from him.

"Hitsugaya Karin-san presented today with a gash in her arm, which, according to Matsumoto fukutaicho, she received by accidentally knocking against the zanpakto of a subordinate she was trying to protect. We have healed the wound and physically, nothing is wrong with her." Hitsugaya breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that she was alive and safe, but he knew Unohana wasn't finished. Physically she was alright, but…

"So what is wrong with her?" he asked, dreading the answer. Unohana paused before replying.

"It seems that she smacked her head rather hard. I don't know the full extent of the damage, but she appears to have undergone a minor personality change. And I think she…well, maybe it's best if you see for yourself. I'm not quite sure myself." Unohana stood and led Hitsugaya to a room. Karin was sitting in a chair, fiddling with a string on her sleeve. She seemed rather board. Hitsugaya brightened when he saw her. He ran to her and threw his arms around her.

"You fool, I told you to be more careful…" but he didn't get to finish.

SMACK! Hitsugaya stumbled away from Karin, grabbing his cheek where she had slapped him and staring at her wide eyed. Karin was fuming.

"You! How DARE you! No one calls me a fool and gets away with it! And just who do you think you are, hugging me like that? You've got a lot of nerve, you jerk!" Hitsugaya was stunned. And hurt.

"Karin," he said painfully. "Do you…know who I am?" Karin glared at him.

"Nope, never seen you before in my life. So don't act all friendly with me, you wimp." Hitsugaya stared at her for a moment, then tore out of the room, fighting the urge to cry. His world had just crashed in on him. He had lost her again. Unohana however, grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could get too far away from the room. Hitsugaya forced himself to look at her.

"Hitsugaya taicho," she began, but Hitsugaya needed to vent.

"A MINOR personality change!" he barked, furious. "That's not a minor change, that's an entirely different person! And you might have thought to mention the amnesia!" Unohana's face was serene, but her eyes reflected her compassion.

"We weren't sure if she actually had amnesia or not. Listen to me, Hitsugaya taicho," she said seriously. "Karin needs your help now. I understand that this is hard, but this damage is unlikely to be permanent. She needs someone who loves her to remind her of who she is. Do you understand?" Hitsugaya nodded, realizing what he had done, and hating himself for running out on her. He returned to the room.

"You again!" Karin yelled, still seething. "What do you want this time?" Hitsugaya took a calming breath, then smiled at her.

"I'm not your enemy Karin. I'm your friend. My name is Hitsugaya Toushiro. I'm here to help you." He felt very strange, introducing himself to his wife, but if she really didn't remember him, he thought it was as a good a way as any to start to gain her trust in her current state.

"I don't need your help!" Karin spat. "I don't need anyone's help!" Hitsugaya was torn between screaming at her and crying, but he forced himself to keep his emotions in check.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to take you home," he said calmly.

"Go with him Karin," Unohana said patiently. "He's really a nice guy. You'll like him once you get to know him. No one's trying to tell you what to do." Karin rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, come on twerp, let's get out of this stupid hospital." Unohana gave Hitsugaya a hopeful look as he followed Karin out the door, wondering how on earth he was going to manage this.

Ok, I know the whole losing memory bit has been done before, but I'm trying to make this version different so don't be turned off by it. I promise interesting things will happen!