After.
It's easier to understand things if you put them in a box. In order to find answers to unanswerable questions, man has always tried to shrink the question to an understandable chunk. The question of time, for instance: What is it? How do you measure it? So we break it to bits. Seconds, minutes, hours, days. Ultimately, it all gets cleaved into two easy parts: Before Common Era and After Common Era. Uncounted millennia have been crushed into two categories. In the same way, Karin's life had been cut cleanly in two. Though the reality of it was nothing close to clean, categorizing it made it easier to comprehend the monster of grief. For her, it was now BI and AI.
Before Ichigo, and After Ichigo.
The shattering glass rang through the house. Karin could hear Yuzu's squeal, and she reluctantly put down her magazine. Her sister had become quite clumsy; she was always breaking things. Karin wasn't certain if it was on purpose, but she never asked. During those first few weeks, she herself found some small release in the destruction of petty objects; a plate slipping through her fingertips, the ceramic shards scattering wildly across the cold tile floor. Something about the sound made her feel more real. But she doubted Yuzu was as reckless as she could be.
She hoisted herself up from the couch and came into the kitchen area. "Everything okay in here?"
Her sister was already crouching with the dustpan, sweeping up shards of transparent glass. She glanced up at Karin, "Yes. I just dropped a cup." Her voice had an embarrassed lilt.
"As long as you're okay,"
She nodded and smiled, "I'm sixteen! A little broken glass won't hurt me."
Karin flashed what she hoped was a decent smile before retreating. She needed the haven of her room. On her way, she passed the embarrassingly large memorial posters Isshin had insisted upon. She locked eyes with the newest one and frowned. "Don't look at me like that. I want you out of the house too."
She decided to lie on the floor and stare at the ceiling. There was a pile of homework that had to be completed and study guides to be leafed through, but she shoved them aside. Some of the papers fluttered into the air with the harshness of the push and they settled around her, adorning the plain wood floor. She didn't care.
They were sixteen now. It almost felt unfair. The big brother that had spent his life protecting them was frozen, while they continued forward relentlessly. Soon they would be older than he ever would be. She turned on her side, her dark eyes focusing on the small specks of dust that had settled on the floor. A car crash was an ultimately anticlimactic way for him to end. She had almost thought it was some kind of joke.
Three years later, she was still grappling with the matter.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the shrill trilling of her cell phone. She sprang to her feet and slid it off the desk. It was a text message.
"What do you want, Kazuya?" She grumbled, opening the message. She'd been playing soccer with him since they were ten, but he was still one of the most irritating members of her rag tag neighborhood team.
get to the field asap we need you
She rolled her eyes before typing her reply:
You excel at typing. I'll be there soon.
She slipped on a jacket and headed downstairs. She didn't know they were going to get together to play that afternoon, but she'd also been communicating with them less since she joined a legitimate soccer team at school. She passed by her father and sister where they sat watching television. It must've been the tenth season of Don Kanonji's stupid program.
"I'm heading out for a bit. Probably gonna play a few games of soccer."
Isshin turned to look at his daughter, "Be safe. And get home by seven."
"Sure thing," She nodded. She never protested the curfews he gave. Her father had enough reasons to want to ensure the safety of his children.
She wove through the streets, rubbing her hands together. It was the cusp of winter, and the slanted afternoon sunlight wasn't enough to warm the earth. She reached the field and held her hand over her eyes like a visor, looking around. Not a soul there. Literally.
"Very funny, Kazuya." She rolled her eyes. She turned, intending to begin the trek home. Boy would he regret this stupidity very soon. But something made her freeze in place. An ear-splitting cry cleaved the afternoon air in half, cutting to the very core of her heart. She shivered as a heavy sheet of reiatsu fell over her. She turned back toward the field, her heart's pace increasing.
"C'mon, Zennosuke." She whispered to herself. She didn't much like the afro-wearing shinigami that was in charge of her hometown, but she'd run into him enough times to know his name at least. She suspected he wasn't very good at his job, but she prayed for him to intervene anyways.
A monstrous creature came into view, looking vaguely like a snake with elk antlers. A long purple tongue flicked out from under a white mask of bone and it slithered toward her. She stumbled back a few steps, unsure of what to do. Whenever she'd been caught by hollows in the past, someone appeared deus ex machina to save her. She looked around, trying to sense if anyone was coming this time. Enough was enough.
She ran.
The hollow roared, snaking after her rapidly. Its tail hooked around, striking her across the legs. Her knees buckled and she was face-first in the turf. She scrambled to her feet, trying to run again, but she'd lost too much ground already. Even without looking back she knew the creature would catch up with her soon enough. She skidded to a halt and slowly turned to face it.
"What do you want?" She shouted. In retrospect, it was a rather stupid question to ask.
"You smell delicious." The thing's voice came in a strange gravely tone.
Without waiting to exchange anymore small talk it went back to business, striking at the girl with extended fangs. Karin leapt out of the way, tumbling into the bushes that lined the field. A sharp fallen branch stabbed into her upper thigh and she yelped. She quickly pulled the tip of it out of her skin and staggered to her feet. There was nowhere to run, and the hollow was coming at her relentlessly. She could no longer look to the sky and hope for a rescuer. She would have to take matters into her own hands.
She steadied her grip on the sizable branch and shouted, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
A strange surge of energy flowed through her body. She wasn't certain what it was, but she channeled her anger into it, thrusting the branch forward and into the monster's skull. It emitted a disconcerting gurgling sound before fading away. The branch slipped through her fingertips and she fell to her knees, feeling weak.
"Bravo," Light applause echoed to her ears.
She turned toward the source of the sound, her eyebrows knitting in annoyance, "You?"
He took in the view of her injured, sweaty exterior. She wasn't the little girl Ichigo had fought to protect so many years ago. Her body had progressed to meet up with her already matured demeanor, her jeans hugging the lines of the curves she'd only recently learned to dress correctly. Her hair, now tousled from the attack, hung around facial features that had softened with age. Yep, Isshin Kurosaki had some good looking kids. His luck really wasn't fair.
"Me!" He exclaimed, a strange hint of glee in his voice. "How ya doin'?"
"Wonderfully. I was just on my way to tea with the Queen of England."
"No need to be testy,"
"Were you just standing aside and watching this whole time?" She asked in annoyance, standing again on two shaky legs.
"How'd you guess?"
Her temper flared, "Idiot! I could've died!"
"But you didn't." He sing-songed.
"Urahara-san!"
"I only wanted to see what you would do," He explained, "And you didn't disappoint me."
She raised an eyebrow, "So you were the one who-"
"Lured you here? Yes." He looked rather proud of himself.
"You stole Kazuya's phone?"
"Borrowed, borrowed. He won't notice it was even gone. It's not like any of his friends ever text him," He shrugged.
"You're kind of a tool, you know that?" Karin shook her head. "Why the hell did you do this?"
A shadow passed over his face and his joking demeanor slipped away, "Your reiatsu's matured a lot. Just now was a test of sorts." He slid his hat back to lock eyes with her, "You passed."
"What's your point?"
"Would you like to make a deal, Karin-chan?"
AN: Please tell me what you think! Like it? Love it? Want me to GTFO? Review & let me know!