"Ichi-nii!" cried Karin. A hollow had just broken through the wards, with Yuzu and Isshin badly injured. She just barely caught a glimpse of a woman wearing samurai gear before passing out.

Ichigo managed to run downstairs and saw his sister Yuzu in the claws of a hollow. He used what little control he had of his spirit energy to break the bind the soul reaper had placed on him, and ran outside.

Ichigo had joined Karin in a few sessions with Tessai, so he knew a spell or two.

"Hado 31: Pale Fire Crash!" cried Ichigo.

A blast of blue flame struck the hollow, and Ichigo ran to catch Yuzu. The girl was in shock he knew kido.

"Yuzu!"

"She'll live. But we need to get rid of this hollow first," said the girl.

In the end, Ichigo borrowed Rukia's power to awaken his own...even though the limiters caused a vacuum and sucked in practically all of Rukia's soul reaper power as a result. They were finally broken, but Rukia had become completely helpless.

"Neh, Ichi-nii. Did a truck really crash into our house last night?" asked Karin.

"A hollow attacked and the limiters were broken. At least I think that's what happened. For some reason my memory is really fuzzy."

"Thought as much. My wards are completely wrecked and it'll take a few days before I can lay down some new ones. Dad's calling the school for a day off, so Yuzu and I can try to remove what's left of the barriers. It will be easier to lay down fresh ones."

"I'll head to school anyway. If I need help I'll let you know," said Ichigo.

"Don't hesitate to tell us if something comes up."

A few hours later, Ichigo alerted Karin to the fact that a soul reaper had erased their memories.

And that he apparently had to take her place until she could get her powers back.

"So Ichigo...who's the bum in your room?" asked Karin.

"Rukia apparently thinks it's funny to hide in my closet. I haven't told her that you know she's in there."

"Tell her Yuzu doesn't appreciate the fact she's been swiping her dresses. How small is this girl anyway?"

"About your size," said Ichigo.

"And she's pretending to be a high school student?" said Karin incredulous.

"She a pushy, bossy brat who is blackmailing me into doing her job because the limiters sucked her power into me."

"Yeesh. How did she react when she found out you knew a few kido spells?"

"She was surprised and had problems believing me when I said I barely knew a few."

"Not my problem that you've only attending four classes," said Karin.

"I can't wait to see her face when she finds out you are better at kido than I am," grinned Ichigo.

A month into his new duties as soul reaper, Karin was paralyzed by the spirit of the child inside Yasutora's new parakeet. She could feel the pain the child was in after seeing his mother struck down by the killer.

Karin clutched Ichigo's shirt from the pain she was in. It really sucked being the family empath some days. There was a reason why she acted so tough.

"Ichigo...you must save that child! He's in so much pain..."

Ichigo knew Karin was feeling the kid's soul. She rarely cried, even when she was hurt. She never even shed a tear when she had some magical backlash and got burned.

(They learned an important lesson that day. Charmer Barrier Jackets only protect you from your element when the protection is on. Ever since then Karin had her auto protect on. She didn't even know it was an option!)

Ichigo made sure to leave Karin on the bed with the cover over her while Kurama kept an eye on her. He ran like hell to find Rukia and Chad to take out the hollow and free the trapped soul. From what Karin had told him, this hollow was a real piece of work.

He couldn't help but sympathize with the poor kid because of the fact he was doing this to see his mother again.

If he had a chance, he might have played this game too, just to see him mom again.

When he caught up to the two, he had already taken out a few hollows guarding Chad.

Rukia had been hit pretty good while running. And Ichigo didn't waste any time killing the creep.

Once the soul was sent on to the next life, Ichigo decided it was long past time to let Rukia in on the fact that his family knew she was there. He dragged her back to the house through the front door and called for Yuzu, who was the best at healing magic in the family.

"Yuzu, we got a live practice dummy!" he called out.

"Coming Ichi-nii! Who's this?"

"This is the bum who's been swiping your clothes," said Ichigo with a grin.

Yuzu looked at Rukia with something akin to annoyance.

"You could have just asked."

Rukia was beyond confused, and it only grew worse when Yuzu activated her barrier jacket and cast a mid level healing spell that got rid of her wounds.

"Ichigo...what's going on here?"

"We quit keeping secrets in this family months ago. They knew you were here ever since you broke out of my closet to knock me out of the bed."

Isshin walked in and when he spotted Rukia grinned.

"So the Kuchiki girl finally came out of the closet?"

"Dad that is a horrible pun. And I dragged her through the front door. I'm tired of her sleeping in there."

"What the hell is going on? Why aren't you...?"

"More surprised? I have two daughters who are learning magic and a son who is a substitute soul reaper. I also have a soul reaper who's been hiding in my son's closet and broke what few wards we have against hollows in the area. Since Karin came out about her magic we don't keep big secrets like that anymore. Besides, I already knew about soul reapers."

Rukia's head was swimming with the new information.

At least now she could sleep in a proper bed, even if it meant sharing with the twins.

Karin came down, yawning. Yesterday had been exhausting. When she spotted Rukia, she looked at her brother.

"So she finally came out? It's about time," said Karin.

Rukia twitched. It would take some getting used to the fact that she didn't need to hide.

She still needed to get Ichigo that soul candy.

"Try not to be too late to class Rukia. Oh, and if I find out you caused a ruckus, you get to be Yuzu's practice dummy for the next week," said Karin.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Yuzu is the family healer, I blow stuff up. I can heal too, just not as good as she can."

Rukia hid a wince. She could see where this was going.

"Ichi-nii, why are you acting like a kangaroo?" asked Karin. She had left Kurama in her place. One of his special abilities happened to be acting as a body double for his master, which meant she could be in two places at once.

Ichigo looked at her, and she knew something was up.

"Okay, who the hell are you and what are you doing in my brother's body?" she asked again.

The mod soul explained his situation, and why he was in Ichigo. Karin didn't want an innocent to get killed simply for existing, so she agreed to help. She did ask he quit damaging Ichigo's reputation, since she had to live with the idiot.

An hour later Ichigo arrived with Rukia...followed by Tessai and his friend Urahara who reminded her too much of her dad. He was just as big an idiot.

On the plus side he paid good money for blackmail material on her brother. Why, she had no idea, but guessed he planned to use it when he finally started training Ichigo.

Meh, not her problem.

Before Urahara could catch the mod soul pill, Karin's snake-like fist grabbed it first.

"I promised him I wouldn't let him be destroyed simply because he was born. If you want to kill him, you'll have to deal with me," she growled.

Ichigo was of the same opinion, because he quickly joined her side.

Urahara opened that annoying fan of his and grinned behind it. As a mage, Karin wasn't under the jurisdiction of the Soul Society, which meant they couldn't legally touch her for claiming a mod soul. If it just happened to be used by her brother, they couldn't say anything.

"So just to be clear you're taking responsibility for that mod soul, correct?"

"I'm not letting him get killed," she repeated.

"In that case it's completely out of my hands! I can't exactly destroy a mod soul under the protection of a mage now can I?"

Karin handed the pill off to Ichigo.

"You get to explain to Dad why we have another one in the house," she said flatly.

Ichigo winced. At this rate they would have a menagerie.

Kon was surprised, then happy to learn that the Kurosaki clan didn't mind another person in the house. Though he had to share with Ichigo because he was a male soul and Isshin didn't particularly like the way he greeted Rukia in the mornings.

Ichigo quickly learned how to add his kendo training to his new sword, which looked like an oversized broadsword and was as long as he was tall.

It was really ridiculous looking. Isshin had a theory that the reason it looked so silly was because the power vacuum caused by the limiter breaking accidentally sucked in Rukia's sword along with her power, and that the sword wasn't compatible with Ichigo so he couldn't hear his.

It made more sense than Ichigo not meditating hard enough, because he had learned how to meditate while practicing his forms from Kyouya.

Every weekend, without fail, Ichigo went to the Takamachi house to practice with Kyouya. In fact Kyouya's father was looking into getting Ichigo his own sword, so long as he swore never to use it on others unless it was to protect.

Considering he had started kendo solely so he could keep his sister's safe, he could handle that. Kyouya already had a sword in his room.

A little after a month since Kon came to live with them, the Kurosaki clan prepared for their annual trip to Masaki's grave. They went every year on the day of her death.

Rukia came along too, discreetly of course, but Ichigo still found her. Kon was in her backpack.

Karin was about to go find Ichigo when she felt the presence of a hollow...a powerful one at that.

"Yuzu...do you have your device with you?"

"I...I left it at home," she stammered.

"Crap. Get behind me...I'm going to try a quick teleport. Either way you need to get Ichigo."

Karin wore her device like a necklace, and had gotten in the habit of putting it on every morning. It hadn't even occurred to her to leave it behind today. However Kurama had opted to sleep in today and was too far to help her.

The hollow was apparently smarter than the ones she had killed before, because it was quick to realize that the girls knew it was there and were ready to flee.

Karin wasn't fooled by the lure as she activated her staff's sword form. The fire only acted like it should when she wanted it, as Yuzu had found out by accident when she touched the flames while Karin was doing maintenance. Ichigo had gotten his sisters into doing weekly maintenance on their staffs, depending on how heavily they were used.

Blazing Soul and Shining Heart were the most pampered devices on Earth, and when Raising Heart learned of that fact she actually complained to Nanoha, which had shocked both the girl and ferret at the time.

"Oh ho, a tiny soul reaper and a human. How fun!" sneered the hollow.

"Yuzu, get ready to run," hissed Karin.

Karin shot a fire whip at the hollow, and it screeched in pain. Yuzu took that chance to run for it, and her magic made it easier for her to go. Yuzu had taken up free running with Karin once she learned how to fly, as it made low altitude flying much easier. Isshin had told them they weren't allowed to learn parkour until they were Ichigo's age. And Ichigo wasn't allowed to try it until he got a device of his own so it could keep him from breaking his neck.

Karin's barrier jacket was on maximum power, as she blasted the hollow while trying to kill time until Yuzu found Ichigo. She had just been thrown into one of the graves when he finally arrived with Rukia and another soul reaper she didn't recognize. Rukia managed to heal most of the bruise that was already forming where she had landed. Thankfully the barrier jacket had kept her from any real damage, though with how hard she was thrown if she hadn't had it on she would have had back troubles for a month at least.

She could tell that much by the fact that the stone she had crashed into had been broken.

It was then she saw something wrong with how Ichigo was acting. He wasn't fighting like had trained.

"Ichigo, snap out of it you moron! Don't let that creep get to you!" yelled Karin.

Ichigo paused, and looked at his sister. He took a deep breath and calmed down. Facing their mother's killer didn't mean he could neglect his training.

Suddenly the tide turned, as Ichigo lopped off the hollows arms. The shriek he let loose was particularly satisfying.

The Hollow jumped into the lure and booked. Ichigo went to Karin who was still feeling like crap after the hit, despite the limited healing Rukia had done. She was talking to the other soul reaper who left.

During dinner that night, Ichigo revealed who that particular hollow was, and they knew why he had neglected his training to try to go berserker on it.

It was the same hollow who Ichigo had seen seven years ago. The one that had been at the river when their mother had been killed. It was entirely because of Grand Fisher than Isshin had Tessai place the limiters on Ichigo in the first place. He didn't want to lose his son to the hollow before he was old enough to fight back.

Ichigo finally forgave his father for the limiters. At the very least they had saved his life, since if he had kept seeing hollows at that age it would have gotten him killed rather quickly.

Isshin decided that now was the perfect time to explain his former position...and Rukia had the answer to something that was bothering her ever since she first felt Ichigo's spirit pressure.

She had wondered why he was so damn powerful...but being the son of a former captain explained everything.

The Kurosaki clan went to sleep, and prayed that things would calm down soon. Ichigo kept getting into more and more dangerous situations, and Karin couldn't ditch school as quickly as he could to help.