Private Kidou Practise
Summary: Karin is curious about her brother's nightly job and Rukia's past. So she investigates a little in Rukia's belongings and finds a strange book
Rating: K+ for a little language
Spoilers: anime and manga up to the Orihime-kidnapping part
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.
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One week has past since Rukia had miracly vanished, followed a day later by Ichigo. Surprisingly to Karin her father wasn't wondering about their disappearance. He took it quite well when Ichigo told him he and Rukia would be on a camping trip with some classmates and they wouldn't know how long they would be off.
Of course, Kurosaki-san's first reaction was euphorically: his son on vacation with a beautiful girl. His farewell present was a box of 'balloons', as he called it when the twins had caught him shove it into their brother's hands the evening before he departed. Karin just wondered where her father got that package of condoms so fast.
But this wasn't the strange thing about that day. Rukia didn't show up to get new clothes and other stuff you would need for a few days away. When Ichigo was asked about this by Yuzu, Karin could clearly see the pained expression on his face, though he tried his best to look away. His answer was simple: she stayed at Orihime's and would borrow some clothes from her.
But to Karin this was a blunt lie. First off, Rukia was much smaller than the well-developed Orihime and would hardly fit into her shirts – those would look more like a dress on her than a shirt, Karin thought. Secondly, her Ichi-nii's reaction and avoidance of all questions concerning the raven haired girl.
Another thing was, that she knew, how much her big brother dislikes camping trips. But the most obvious thing was, that Ichigo didn't pack his backpack and their tent was still in their father's closet! He must have left so early in the morning that everyone was still asleep.
Karin knew he was not at a pleasant trip with his friends. She assumed that her brother would be somewhere dangerous; most likely fighting those monsters – hollows. And she was sure of the fact that Rukia had something to do with her beloved brother's secret job and their disappearance. She couldn't put the finger on it, but she felt that weird girl was hiding something big from her family.
This was the reason Karin stayed the whole last day wandering through the park in the vain hope to find that white haired boy that had saved her from the giant hollow. 'Toshiro' when his name suddenly popped up in her mind, she felt a warmth building in her stomach. She told herself that the only reason for her to look for the boy was the fact that he was a shinigami and most likely knew where her brother was.
But to Karin's disappointment he seemed to be vanished as well.
So there was only one way left to find some clues. Karin made sure her twin was too busy with preparing dinner – she had pleaded her to make all various kinds of sushi she could think of – so the dark haired girl had enough time alone in their room. Their room – that meant her, Yuzu's and Rukia's room.
At first Karin searched through the older girl's drawer, only to find some dresses and Yuzu's old pyjamas and to Karin's wonder a lot of paintings that looked like a 4-year old had drawn them. Shaking her head the girl put everything back and shut the drawer.
Next was Rukia's school-bag: beneath her text-books Karin found a PEZ-disperser. She contemplated a moment if she should steal some candies, but on the other hand Rukia might find out that some sweets would be missing – Karin knew she loved PEZ and wouldn't stop eating once she had started. (A/N: I hope you get that this isn't PEZ-candy…)
Once again she got everything back into the bag and mustered the room. Her view wandered over her own bed, then over her sister's with that ridiculous-dressed lion plushy, Yuzu loved, on top of it and came finally to a halt on Rukia's bed.
She lifted the blanked and the pillow just to find nothing. Her last option was the mattress. She lifted it with one arm and stuck her other under it, feeling the weight of the mattress grew the longer her search took. Karin was already pulling her hand back out when her elbow met something hard. The heaviness of the bed completely forgotten, Karin reached deeper and clasped her fingers around the hard cover of a book.
Her heartbeat increased since this must be an answer, otherwise Rukia hadn't hidden that book so well. When she had finally retrieved the book, she looked at the ancient looking cover and the kanji upon it.
"Kidou spell practise – Volume 1", the Kurosaki girl read out loud. As soon as those words had left her mouth she heard a sound from Yuzu's part of the room. Her eyes darted up, only to find that she was alone in the room. 'Calm down, Karin. Nobody is here – not even a ghost' she told herself and her attention wandered back to the book.
She opened the book and read the introduction of the schoolbook. Her eyes widened 'this is a book to learn magic spells called Kidou' then she frowned 'it's like in Harry Potter?!'
Just when she came to the first unit the door behind her cracked and swung open. Karin froze in her spot and just prayed the intruder wasn't the owner of the book.
Luckily for her Yuzu entered the room with a scowl on her face as soon as she saw the mess on Rukia's bed. "What have you done with Rukia-nee-chan's bed, Karin? Are you spying on her?" Then her eyes fell on her sister's hands, obviously holding something. "How could you?!"
"Yuzu… don't you think it is weird how Rukia just dropped into our lives. And it's also her whole behaviour that's strange!"
"What do you mean?" Yuzu said carefully, she really liked Rukia but her sister usually had a better sense of people and their goals.
"I mean the times in the mall, when she reacted as if she had never before seen instant pizza or inline-skates or a vending machine…" Karin was about to go on with the different occasions that made her believe Rukia was from another planet or something like that, when she saw in Yuzu's expression that her sister was beginning to understand her point of view.
Yuzu approached her twin and her eyes locked onto Karin's hands. "What are you holding?"
Karin lifted her finding up, so Yuzu could read the cover. "A really weird book!" she stated triumphal.
To her astonishment a confused frown formed on the blond's head. "What book? I don't see anything!"
"What do you mean?" Karin moved the book in front of her sister's face. Her reaction told her that she just saw her hands. "You don't see this?"
"See what?" Yuzu began to feel a little fooled, when Karin told her to held her hands in front of her body, so she could place the book into her hands.
But to Karin's surprise, the book fell through her sister's hands as if she was a ghost, and hit the floor. "What the hell…." She bend down and picked it up again, just to be met with Yuzu's hurt expression.
"Why are you doing this, Karin? Do you think I'm still such a little kid and so naïve you could pull such a prank on me!" Yuzu was angry with her sister and turned on her heel to leave.
Karin grasped for her sister's hand in time to not leave the room and to clear the misunderstanding, if it was one. "Yuzu, I don't fool you! Can't you see this?" She held the book up once more, while pulling her sister closer to her. Suddenly a bluish light surrounded her hand and Yuzu could feel warmth and … energy being transferred into her body from her sister. "What?!"
A split second later Karin's hand stopped glowing and both girls starred at each other for a long moment.
"What just happened?" Yuzu broke the silence and mustered her twin intently. Then suddenly her eyes caught sight of her sister's former free hand, that was now holding an old book. "Is that the book you found in Rukia's belongings?" she asked to Karin's surprise and reached for the volume…. and took it out of her hand.
"You- you can hold it now?!" Karin's eyes were wide and she just watched her sister leaf through the book.
"Is this a magic book?!" Yuzu finally asked and saw her twin's nod. "Do you think this spells work?"
Karin could see the curiosity rise in the other girl. "After what just happened, I believe they do." After a moment she continued. "You think we should read a little. I mean we have to find out what kind of spells these are and if Rukia is up to something."
"I don't think Rukia is an evil witch. But maybe …we should …" Yuzu struggled with herself.
Ignoring her sister, Karin took the book once again and leafed through it until she came to an advanced chapter that caught her interest. "Hadou 33: Soukatsui - Way of Destruction." She sat down on the floor, the book placing in front of her and read the chapter several times. "So they say you have to concentrate your reiatsu, whatever that is – in your palms…."
"Karin, do you really think this is a good idea?!" the careful part of Yuzu took over and she sat down next to her sister.
"Cool down. Maybe it won't even work!"
To the girl's surprise a "Hopefully not." rang through the room. Startled the twins looked up to the source of the voice, but didn't saw anyone.
"You heard that too, Yuzu." Karin got only a frightened nod as an answer. She rose to her feet and scanned the room once more. "Who is there?! Come out!" When everything stayed calm, she shook her head and got back on her knees.
She reread the chapter once more and tried to concentrate the energy in her hands – like she did with her foot while fighting hollows. Her hands began to glow in the same blue light like only minutes before. She felt warmth building in her palms – at first slowly, but then the flow became stronger and stronger and the energy ball in her hands grew.
"Karin, pleas-" was all she heard from her sister before the fireball raced away from her towards the wall. A loud crack could be heard and when the smoke cleared the girls were confronted with a ridiculous dressed plush lion jumping to its feet.
"Are you nuts?! There stood 'Way of Destruction'! What did you think would happen!" The plushy approached the perplexed girls. "Ichigo is going to kill me!" Then he caught sight of the hole in the wall. "God, Isshin will go berserk when he finds out his sweet, innocent little daughters practice Kidou! … What should I do? What should I do?..." The twins watched the panicked toy running in circles in front of them.
Karin slowly recovered from the shock of destroying the room and her sister's toy coming to live and she finally stood up and placed her foot on the lion, sandwiching him with the floor. "Will you stop it! What do you mean Ichi-nii will kill you? My brother knows of you?!"
A shriek escaped the lion when she lifted him into her hands. "Oh god. This is bad! What shoul-"
"I told you to stop!" Karin was furious, partly with the screaming toy, but mostly with herself on trying a destruction spell in her room. "Shut the hell up!"
"We already met. You helped us to defeat that monster back then." Yuzu said slowly breaking the other two 'people' out of their own worlds.
Both locked their views with the blond and Karin began to remember what her twin was talking about. "Hollow" she corrected her sister. "Yeah, right…." After a moment. "You were here the whole time spying on us?"
"I wasn't spying! I was taking care of you two!"
Karin's eyes wandered to the hole in the wall to her brother's room. "Yeah, great job!" she put the lion down. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Kon!" the lion told them proudly.
"And….!"
"What and?"
Yuzu continued her sister's question in a more friendly voice. "What exactly are you doing here?"
"Ahm… ummm, that's hard to explain."
"Well"
"I can't tell. Ichigo is going to be so mad!" Kon screamed and was about to resume running in circles, when he heard Karin's question: "Has it something to do with Ichi-nii being a Shinigami and he and Rukia being away at the moment, doing what… hollow hunting?"
Kon froze. "You know, Karin-nee-chan?"
Yuzu looked from Kon to Karin and then back again. "Shinigami?... Karin what's going on?"
A heavy sigh escaped Karin and she felt her sister's demanding eyes on her. "Ichi-nii has something like a part-time-job. He is a shinigami, a ghost or something like that, and he hunts those monsters."
"Nii-chan is a ghost? Is he dead?!" Panic crept into Yuzu's voice.
Karin saw the change in her sister and answered fast: "No! … At least I don't think so…" her eyes travelled to Kon, who finally came to the conclusion that the truth might be the best in this situation.
"No, Ichigo is not dead. But he is able to separate his spirit from his body and in that form his reiatsu helps him to fight hollows and to perform Soul Burial."
"Soul Burial?"
"Sending ghosts to the afterlife?!" answered Karin for the lion, finally understanding much of the events she witnessed over the past months.
"Hai, to Soul Society!" Kon saw the confusion in the girls' faces. "That's what the afterlife is called." So he began to tell the Kurosaki twins about the different ghost typs, modified souls and shinigami.
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An hour later Kon had finished to answer most of the girl's questions – leaving out their father's past.
Karin sat cross-legged on Rukia's bed. "So Rukia is also a Shinigami and here to help Ichi-nii?"
"Hai."
"And that book?"
Kon sighed heavily. "Rukia-nee-san brought the book with her for Ichigo, so he would finally learn to control his reiatsu and perform Kidou. But to be honest, that idiot of brother of yours isn't even able to feel reiatsu, let alone use Kidou spells…"
"Don't talk about Nii-chan like that!" Yuzu was annoyed about her toy's choose of words.
"It's the truth!"
Meanwhile Karin approached the wall and all the debris that was gathered on the floor. "Anyway. … we ALL will be in trouble when otou-san comes home and sees the hole. Not to mention when Ichi-nii returns."
Yuzu lifted Kon up into her arms and joined her sister, eyeing the hole – or better: looking through the wall into Ichigo's room. "At least Nii-chan isn't home… and otou-san on that seminar…"
Kon saw completely new perspectives while he investigated the wall. "I can watch Rukia-nee-san change…" His eyes grew wide and images popped up in his head. If he had droll, it would be flowing out of his mouth.
Karin saw Kon's behaviour – she had already seen this somewhere…. 'Ichi-nii'
"You pervert are in Ichi-nii's body, doing god knows what with girls. I knew that time in the mall was everything else than my brother!" Before Kon saw what hit him, his plush face was pushed into the concrete hole by Karin.
Ignoring the muffled screams of the lion and his attempts to free himself, Karin placed the book back under the mattress and faced Yuzu. "We really have to do something about that hole."
On Yuzu's face appeared a brilliant smile and she ran outside, down the hall and the stairs and into the clinic rooms.
"Yuzu?!
Some minutes later the blond returned with and old newspaper and medical supplies. "We will fill the hole with paper and cast plaster over it!"
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The sun had set some minutes before and Kurosaki Isshin just returned home. To his surprise the livingroom was empty and so was the kitchen, except for the half finished sushi. Usually Yuzu would prepare dinner and Karin watch TV.
He tossed his jacket over a stool and entered the stairs that lead to his daughters' room. Without hesitation he swung the dooor open "How are Daddy's girls doing today?!"
"Can't you knock, old man?! We are having girls talk!" Karin shouted into her father's face, while Yuzu fixed the poster over the makeshift closed hole.
"Girl's talk!" came Isshin's horrified response. "But you are my little baby girls. You should come to me to talk to…."
Yuzu could already picture Karin throwing Kon into her father's face. "Otou-san, we just discussed how to redecorate our room, so Rukia-nee-chan would be happy when she comes back from her trip."
Isshin stopped his little-innocent-daughters-nonsense-talk and watched the new posters of bunnies, ponies on the walls and the Harry Potter-Movie-Poster over Karin's bed. "I'm sure Rukia will like it. Daddy's little girls did a great job." Before leaving the room he added: "Karin, I thought you hated Harry Potter?!"
Shrugging Karin answered – hopefully her father would finally leave: "Maybe this movie isn't so stupid and unrealistic as I thought. I'll give it a try." With that her father finally closed the door. "I just hope Ichi-nii likes the Pirates of the Caribbean-Poster …"
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A/N: This was my first Bleach fanfic ever and my first fanfiction in a very long time. So please be kind and review and tell me if I should keep writing Bleach fanfiction.
For the title: I totally had no idea, but then again Private Practise will air in an hour….