Ch 1
It was a dark and gloomy morning, a month after the winter war. I told Ichigo that I can see hollows more clearly now and that they were attacking me more frequently while he was away, but it was all okay because Mr. Urahara has been protecting me and everyone else. I asked him later that day if he could teach me how to defend myself for when he is not around. Ichigo had put up a fight about it but in the end he saw that his little sister is in need of defence lessons against hollows.
Rukia, who turned out to be a noble soul reaper from the Kuchiki clan is in the 13 guard protection squads. She said that it would be better if we train in the Soul Society; where there are good equipment and training grounds that we can use. That is why I, Karin Kurosaki, is here in the Soul Society on the training grounds. We had started with the basics, but now we are going into wooden sword fighting. Ichigo showed me some stances and techniques to use, whenever he forgot or got anything wrong then Rukia stepped in for a minute to show me the proper way.
After many rounds of wooden sword fighting, Rukia suggested a water break. I take off my protective gear; that looks a lot like the fencing gear that I have seen in movies, that Rukia had let me use. I take a swig of my ice cold water, its so refreshing after all that work.
"Good job Karin," Ichigo says. "You're really getting the hang of it," he smiles.
"Yeah, thanks," I say to him, looking up at the beautiful sunset. It reminds me of Yuzu; of her peaceful personality. It has only been a couple of days and I already miss her.
I turn back to Ichigo, he has a worried expression on his face. "I didn't hurt you at all did I?" he asks.
"No, not at all. I'm just thinking of home," I tell him.
I can see sympathy in his eyes, he knows that I have never been away from Yuzu for more than a night. "We can go back home whenever you want to," Ichigo lets me know.
I smile back at him. "Alright, but I want to stay here and train more," I reply.
"Hey! Dinner is ready," Kiyone and Sentaro said in unison, making me jump at their silent approach.
We all went to squad 13's barracks to eat a sushi dinner. I sat beside Rukia and Kiyone. Kiyone is such a chatter box; she told me many things about the Soul Society, while we were eating. I can't even imagine half of the things she had said.
When I was done dinner, I told Ichigo that I wanted to go for a walk, he didn't seem too sure about his 11 year old sister going for a walk by herself in the dark. He decides that it is alright for me to go though, but only because he thought that I would be safe enough in the Seireitei with the 13 guard squads out on patrol.
I wasn't paying any attention at all when I bumped into Toshiro Hitsugaya, the captain of squad 10. The first time that I met him was in The World of the Living, when he had helped me and my friends win a game of soccer against middle schoolers. He is wearing the same black kimono as Ichigo is, but he is wearing the white captains coat over top of it.
"Sorry," we say at the same time.
"It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking," I say to him apologetically.
There is a short silence, then he said; "You're Ichigo Kurosaki's sister, what are you doing here in the Soul Society?" he asks with a puzzled look on his face.
"Oh, you haven't heard?" when he shakes his head I go on to say, "hollows keep attacking me, so I came here for some defence lessons for when Ichigo isn't around to protect me," I pause. "Captain Ukitake said that it was alright for me to be here."
Toshiro looks surprised. " You mean that you didn't sneak in here, that they actually allowed you to come here?" he asks.
"Umm, yeah," I say feeling and sounding confused. I mean why wouldn't they let me come here? I don't really have a reason to sneak in here when I could just do some secret training back home.
"I'm sorry, what I meant is that Head Captain Yamamoto doesn't really allow humans in the Seireitei. That all kind of changed when Ichigo first arrived here."
I thought for a second, piecing a few things together. "Yeah, thinking about it, a lot of things have changed since Ichigo turned into a soul reaper."
"Karin, it's -," Toshiro started to say.
"Captain, oh Captain!" Rangiku Matsumoto, the lieutenant of squad 10, interrupted.
"Captain, I just got a Hell Butterfly that said that there is a captains and lieutenant meeting immediately," she finishes saying.
"Let's go," Toshiro took a step towards where squad 1's meeting room is. He stopped to turn back to me. "Nice seeing you again," he smiles. He turned back to where squad 1's meeting room is, him and Rangiku starts to run.
"Oh Captain! I knew you were interested in that girl from The World of the Living. Ever since you were stalking her and her friends," I heard Rangiku saying in the near distance.
"Rangiku!"
"But Captain."
Their voices began to fade away as I start to walk around again. I wonder what the meeting is about. I must be pretty important since they had to leave right away, I think to myself. I walk around for a little while longer then headed back towards squad 13's barracks, where I am staying in Rukia's room.
A month of training went by really fast. Ichigo said that I have good fighting skills. It turns out that I have a few special powers of my own. I have super kicks; when I kick Ichigo, he goes flying backwards. I can also make little fireballs in my hand. Rukia was amazed, she calls it a kido of some kind. The last power that I have is to stop time.
My powers had developed about a week after I came to the Soul Society. Rukia said that the reishi must be involved in it some how. She also said that kido and time stop together will be very useful. When an enemy is about to attack, I can simply concentrate on stopping time for a minute and then harm them by firing my kido at them.
In training we mostly worked on making my powers stronger. Rukia said that it would make me stronger if I fought against a bankai. Ichigo hesitates then nods. In a very powerful tone he says "Bankai!" He was in a different black kimono, and his sword is looks different; it is a thin black sword. I can tell that he has been holding back major power, but of course he has been, we only came here so I can train enough so I wouldn't die in a fight against a hollow.
I train with Ichigo in his bankai phase for quite a while, stopping time and firing kido at him. Dodging his attacks and blocking them with a borrowed zanpakuto. It was hard to keep up with him, but I managed some how.
After training for a few days with a bankai, at the end of the day while we were drinking water Ichigo said to me, " It has been just over a month of training, you have gained many new skills to protect yourself. Lets go home." I nod, I miss everyone; even our very immature dad.
Rukia sent word to open the Senkaimon for us. She said that it would take a little while to make it safe for us to travel through the Senkaimon.
I decide to go to a meadow that I found when I first came here. When I get there, it is just like the first time; breath takingly beautiful. There are wild flowers and trees full of blossoms everywhere. I decide to sit on the dark green grass and lean against one of the tree trunks. Just as I start to think of all of the things that has happened here; like Ikkaku's lucky fighting dance, I hear a tree branch snap. Somebody else is here, I open my eyes.
"Toshiro?" I say surprised. "What are you doing here, is the Senkaimon opened already?" I ask.
He looks just as surprised as I am. I guess he didn't know that I was here. "Oh, Karin. I didn't notice you were here. I come here all the time to think," he says. "The Senkaimon," he says thoughtfully. "You're going home so soon?" he sounds like he is a little bit disappointed.
"Yup, just came here to train and Ichigo says that I've train enough," I tell him, I decide to change the topic. "What did you come here to think about?"
He lies down on the grass near me, and puts his hands under his head as a pillow as he stares up at the cloudless sky. It is silent for a few moments, then he finally decides to talk. "I come here to think about," he pauses. " My squad, how we can improve our skills. I came here to think about my friend, the lieutenant from squad 5, Momo Hinamori, and all of the things that has happened," he finishes.
I think for a moment; a big war just ended, something tragic must have happened to his friend. "what happened to your friend," I ask with concern showing on my face and in my voice.
He hesitated with an unsure expression on his face. Not sure if he should tell me, or just too painful to talk about.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't snoop into other people's businesses. I didn't mean to pry," I say apologetically.
He took a deep breath. "It's fine," he says. "Momo, she has had difficulty accepting the former captain of squad 5's resignation. She has many problems going on. She is doing alright now, or so she is trying to prove. I still think she is having trouble with everything that has happened. It doesn't help that she nearly died in the war, all of us nearly died," he finished saying sitting up looking at me.
I have never been good at these kinds of talks. "That must be pretty hard on her, maybe you should give her some space, but if she needs to talk then be there and listen to her to help her feel a bit better," I say to him.
He stands up and nods, "Thanks."
I stand up when I see something black in the corner of my eye, it's a hell butterfly. It lands on Toshiro's finger, he tells me the message that it tells him. The message says, "The Senkaimon is now safely opened for the Substitute Soul reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki and his little sister Karin Kurosaki."
"I guess that's my queue," I say to him. Even though I'm not a huggy person, I surprise Toshiro by quickly giving him a hug. "Good luck," I tell him, and let go. I turn around to go to the Senkaimon.
Everybody was waiting for me when I finally arrive at the Senkaimon. Ichigo walks up to me, "Remember to always be looking forward and keep running," he says.
I nod, "Lets go." I look back at everyone, "See ya later," I say smiling at them.
We stood in front of the Senkaimon for a second more. We run in to the pitch black Senkaimon.