Siblings In Arms

Karin had always been a normal girl, sort of. She had, like her brother, always been spiritually aware. She could see the spirits but she chose not to believe. At first they had been fuzzy and vague but with each day she saw them with increasing clarity.

It wasn't so much that she didn't want to believe that ghosts existed; it was more that she didn't want to acknowledge that there was so much suffering. She didn't want to believe that death was anything but peaches and roses. She had changed her thoughts since she had been at the Dan Kon'onji show. She had heard the man's cry before the monster had manifested. Then she had seen her brother fighting in a black cape. The others couldn't see but she could.

Everyday since then she had felt a welling inside of her. She was the pot her soul was the water, boiling. Whenever she was close to Ichigo she felt something inside of her growing. At first Ichigo's presence had been comforting but overwhelming as if some great force were trying to smack her down into the ground. Now it felt as if her own force was pushing back equally; at least, it felt that way when he wasn't angry.

She had noticed she could feel a certain energy seeping out of people. Ichigo's reflected his mood. When he was angry the energy was intense, sharp, even ominously overbearing. When he was sad it seemed suppressed. When he was scared, however, was when his energy was the most frightening. His energy would briefly compress but then it would reveal its volatile nature and combust violently. Karin knew this; however, she never knew exactly where it would lead her.

Ichigo had come home and he seemed to be a bit confused to Karin but he seemed okay. Late in the evening, however, she had felt a powerful pulse. When it didn't die down Karin started to get worried. She then barged into Ichigo's room to see Ichigo leaving through his window as a shinigami and she saw a shady looking man sitting in the window smiling.

"Who are you?" Karin demanded.

"Why, I'm just a humble shop owner." He continued, "But, you have some interesting reiatsu there."

Karin frustrated with the man's jovial attitude raised her voice and crudely demanded, "What's going on with Ichi-nii?"

The man shrugged before replying, "To help a friend."

During this conversation Ichigo was just confronting a red-haired shinigami known as Renji. He was quickly outmatched though as Zabimaru tore through his shoulder. As he collapsed to the ground his reiatsu took a steep drop. Karin felt it back at the house.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin exclaimed. She then began to run away but was stopped by the strange man.

"Get out of my way." Karin yelled.

"Don't be so mean." He replied with a frown.

"Ichi-nii needs help so move." Karin cried while giving him a strong push only to end up on her butt.

"I'm impressed you can sense his presence well enough to know this." The man stated. "My name's Kisuke Urahara; why don't you come with to help Ichigo."

Before Karin could say anything Kisuke had already thrown her on his shoulders and taken off. She watched as they passed through the window at blazing speeds to hit the pavement and disappear without an impact. She tried to look but was quickly dizzied by the dazzling display of color rapidly passing by.

When they stopped Karin took a moment to regain her bearings before examining the scene. She saw a guy on the ground. She didn't know his name but she was sure he was in Ichigo's class. Determining that he would probably be okay she continued looking until her eyes came across a pool of blood. The mass of red began to lighten as the skies let loose their tears. But, the red refused to die instead choosing to incarnadine the water; perpetually staining the pure and translucent. She followed the bloods trail to see Ichigo.

Ichigo's body was littered with deep gashes that deemed it fitting to generously let loose his vital life essence. His face wasn't moving. His face wasn't peaceful. This wasn't right Karin thought.

Urahara began walking and Karin glanced up after the jolt to notice the umbrella he was holding for the first time. Each step echoed in the deathly silence. A clatter that met with the sorrowful inundation from the heavens in a manner pierced that but failed to disturb.

"Ichi-nii's not dead." Karin declared, her voice subtle as the runoff trickling into the sewers. "I can still feel him." She continued. "Its weak like someone tried to remove but it's there."

Urahara looked down at her with a genuine smile before replying, "You're right kid but if we don't take care of this he's gonna die. We'll take him to my place."

The two were interrupted by footsteps from behind them. They turned around see Uryuu off of the ground and looking at Ichigo seriously.

"Please, take care of him." Uryuu started. "If anyone is going to be able to save Rukia it will be him."

"You look pretty bad yourself, let me take of your wounds at my shop." Urahara offered.

"I'll be alright." Uryuu stated before walking off.

Urahara bent down to pick up Ichigo and then Karin and the disappeared in a flash once again. She looked up to see them walking into a normal looking store. All semblance of calm left her when she saw the approach of a behemoth of a man.

"Tessai would you mind using some healing kidou on Ichigo?" Urahara requested his voice still jovially irritating to Karin.

"What is kidou?" Karin asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Urahara replied, his face spread by a cheeky grin. "Kidou are basically shinigami spells that utilize one's reiatsu. They can be attacks, bindings, or something else like healing."

"What is reiatsu?" Karin growled, the confusion furthering her impressive ire.

"Earlier you said that you could feel Ichigo, no?" Urahara inquired.

"Yes! Now get on with it already." Karin snapped.

"What you felt was his spiritual energy or reiatsu. Might I mention that you and Ichigo both have incredible reiatsu. Both of you have also always possessed latent shinigami powers. Rukia who I believe you should remember from the night everyone says your clinic was involved in an 'accident.'" Urahara lectured.

Karin thought back and tried to remember and when she did what she recalled surprised her. She remembered them all being at the mercy of some monster. There was this girl dressed in a black cloak with a katana. Karin remembered that she got hurt. After that her memory got fuzzy.

"Rukia transferred her shinigami powers to Ichigo after she got hurt." Urahara stated. "But, what she ended up doing is covering up Ichigo's latent powers that have long been ready to be woken up."

Urahara paused before continuing. "Two powerful shinigami came recently to take Rukia back to Soul Society; however, when she gets there she is going to be sentenced to capital punishment." Urahara paused again before proceeding. "Ichigo tried to save her but was obviously beaten near to death. To make things worse in the off chance that he would live they sealed his reiatsu and the shinigami powers given to him by Rukia."

"So Ichi-nii is no longer a shinigami." Karin asked.

"Not quite, Ichigo's reiatsu is still able to be unlocked and he still possesses his own shinigami powers to unlock." Urahara explained. "Normally, it would take drastic, dangerous, even deadly action to regain his reiatsu but with you here we can flood his body with your reiatsu and release his that way."

"I have a question. Why does it need to be my reiatsu?" Karin demanded.

"Ah that's a good question. The reason is that your reiatsu is similar to his. If it's not a close family member this method just doesn't work. Soul Society scientists have been trying to figure it out for years but truly no one knows why." Urahara lectured.

"After that we need to wake up both of your shinigami powers." Urahara stated.

"I have shinigami powers?" Karin replied. "I think you're crazier than my dad."

"I can hear your zanpakutou inside of you crying to be found. I'll not repeat the mistake with Ichigo of not releasing it when he was ready." Urahara stated seriously.

"What do you mean about not releasing Ichi-nii's zanpakutou?" Karin inquired.

"Ichigo has always been blessed with an incredible reiatsu. His powers had grown enough to function as a shinigami by about the time your mother died. I had thought that not awakening his powers would keep the hollows away but his incredible reiatsu did the trick anyways. You are ready to awaken your powers and this time we won't leave you defenseless like Ichigo." Urahara explained.

"Wait a second." Karin furrowed her eyebrows. "What is the probability of two people in one family having an amazing reiatsu and shinigami powers which should not be found in humans? It seems to me that you're hiding something." Karin accused.

"That would be your father's story, not mine." Urahara replied his face slowly twisting from surprised to smiling and cunning. "Anyways you need to learn how to use your reiatsu. Shall we begin."

Karin was sweating vigorously after what she would forever recall as the lesson from hell. Her entire body felt numb. She couldn't gather any energy for anything. It was like she had played soccer twenty-four hours straight. This man was fucking insane she had concluded. She had decided that maybe her father wasn't as crazy as she had thought. She then decided that perhaps her father was crazier than she thought and actually friends with this nutjob.

"Alright, I'll give you an hour to rest before giving Ichigo the reiatsu transfusion." Urahara declared. Once again Karin cursed this man. No, she thought, man was too much of a compliment he was a psychopath with no equal.

An hour later Karin was by her brother's side getting ready to go. She took his hand into hers as per Urahara's instructions. She focused and found her reiatsu and when she grabbed it she pushed. It flowed into Ichigo and Karin thought she felt something breaking when she felt his spiritual pressure burst. It wasn't hers either; she could tell by the distinct sensation that the radiant energy instilled in those who were exposed to it. It was rather comforting Karin thought. No, comforting wasn't the word she ultimately decided on protective. Karin decided at that minute that when she got her zanpakutou she would be right with Ichigo her blade with his being the protectors. Ichigo may mean "first protector" but it didn't mean "only protector."

Author's Note:

That first chapter was tough to create but I like its feel better than any of my other attempts at fanfiction. I haven't abandoned my NarutoxShion story I just had a strong urge to write something like this. I haven't found many stories with Karin as a shinigami, doesn't mean that they aren't there, and thought that I would attempt to use the idea in a story. With baseball tryouts added on to an already hectic schedule I don't know when I will be able to update. Hopefully soon.

Completed 3/6/09 9:02 PM CST.

Actual Story 1,800 words in length.