My take on a pretty crack pairing. I don't own Bleach or any of the characters.
It's been 6 years since Soul Society has fallen to the Quincy. Now, on the brink of a Civil War between the residents of the Rukongai, several high ranking shinigami POWs have been busted out of prison by a mysterious young woman. With a bounty on her head, she releases one last prisoner that was thought to be long dead. With his release, the tides of the impending Civil War may actually shift in favor of the remaining Shinigami. '
Chapter 1: Prison Break or How one chick saves a dude from captivity
She let out the breath that she was holding in relief. Once again, she had managed to sneak through the barriers of the prison. A once beautiful estate owned by the Shihoin clan, it had become a horrible jail to all those that were imprisoned in there. She was pushing her luck, she knew, coming here once again. According to the former prisoners that had already escaped with her help, there were no more soul reapers left except for those in Squad 4. Squad 4 was kept alive, considered valuable by the Quincy due to their healing skills and knowledge of underground Seireitei. The remaining Soul Reapers had either been killed, in the war, been publicly executed or were freed by the woman herself. And she could count on one hand, how many there were that she was able to help. The shinigami were more or less destroyed. All that remained was a rag-tag crew that was forced into exile, fleeing so they could live to fight another day.
And even though she would be called foolish by her comrades for coming back one last time, she had to make sure that there were no more soul reapers left. The prison held all sorts of criminals, but below the mansion, in the former basement, the POWs were kept there out of the sunlight and without much food or water, so their spiritual pressure waned. Murderers, rapists and all other nasty criminals were kept in the area as well, so she had to be smart about the cells that she broke into.
She traveled quietly through the halls, light on her feet. It was a labyrinth of hallways down below the mansion. She had to be careful. There was a bounty on her head now, and she couldn't risk getting caught if the remaining Shinigami had any chance of finding more survivors and reclaiming Soul Society.
She turned down a hall and immediately blended into the shadows. There were more guards down this hall. A large door was blocked by four guards, all armed with swords and bows. She carefully listened to the guard's raucous laughter and foul speech.
"Can you believe this bastard is still alive? When will he just give in and die?" One guard asked. They were sitting at a table, drinking sake together and playing what looked like poker. The young lady rolled her eyes in disdain at the display of male arrogance and stupidity.
"He has got to realize that there are no more shinigami left besides his poor soul. He's either stubborn or just dumb." His neighbor replied laughing.
One of the guards looked sharply at his comrades and scoffed. "You're both idiots if you think we've exterminated all the shinigami except the damned healers. And you have you forgotten the Masked Lily? She managed to sneak in this supposed high-security prison, and get out all those remaining captains and lieutenants without much notice at all-on three separate occasions! There's no way they'll be catching her soon."
The young woman smirked at the comment. "The Masked Lily? You have got to be kidding!" What a horrible nickname. First, she didn't even wear a mask over her eyes, but a black cloth over the bottom part of her face, covering her mouth and nose. Second, why a lily? She had been hoping for something along the lines of "Batman", at the very least.
"Enough of this crap," she thought to herself. She stepped quickly out of the shadows using shunpo and incapacitated all the guards before they even noticed her. She was a prodigy in Hakuda and Hoho; Yoruichi herself had trained the woman. She picked up the keys from the unconscious guard and unlocked the door. It really was pathetic how easy it was to enter the prison, she mused to herself. Considering that she had broken in four times now, she figured they would have actually tried to reinforce their barriers. But no, the Quincy were extremely arrogant, and although they increased the number of guards in the prison, their skill was still subpar. She could easily take out the majority of the guards if she wanted.
Inside the door was a dirty room that resembled a dungeon. All sorts of knives, whips, pokers and other tools of torture adorned the walls. She looked quickly around the room as she stepped in and immediately noticed the prisoner, a man that looked to be in his mid-20s, chained to the wall. Scars adorned his back, chest, and stomach. The hair on his head was black and cut short, looking like it was shaved a few weeks earlier. He looked up warily at her as she walked toward him. There was a sharp, clever look in his eyes. She noticed that the bracers around his wrist glowed with energy. They were subduing his reiatsu. She made the quick connection: They did that to all their soul reaper prisoners, especially the captains and lieutenants. This man was powerful.
She was confused though, nobody had told her about this one. She cautiously walked forward. He was in a terrible condition. His stomach showed ribs poking through his skin. His face was sunken in as well around the cheek bones and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. And yet, there was an air of defiance to the man. He glared at her, and she was almost intimidated enough to step back. It took all her resolve to keep moving forward. She slowly stepped in front of him and put her arms up in surrender.
"I'm a friend. There are a few of you still alive. I am going to get you out of here, but I need you to follow my directions. I can't heal you in here, but I will as soon as I can."
His eyes narrowed even more at her words. "Who are you?" He spoke in a raspy voice, sounding as though he hadn't spoken for a very long time.
He was looking shrewdly at the woman. He was usually a good judge of character (or he had once been, earlier on in his life). He was tired, always so tired, was this a dream? No, he was cold, and in pain. Usually when he dreamt he wouldn't feel the pain as sharply as he did at the moment. Should he trust her? She looked trustworthy… a young woman, probably no more than 20 years old in appearance. She was clothed in all black, wearing a hood over her hair and a cloth over her nose and mouth. Her appearance almost reminded him of Yoruichi or Soi-fon. And then he saw her gray eyes. They were framed with impossibly long eye lashes, and there was a kindness and warmth within them that he doubted a Quincy interrogator could fake.
Maybe it was her eyes or maybe it was her likeness to the former Soul Reaper captains that he once knew, but he decided to trust her. He looked up at her and nodded his head, telling her non-verbally that he wouldn't put up a fuss and would allow her help.
How far he had fallen? Now he needed help from a young woman that he had never before seen before. He was not aware of any potent spiritual power that she had, so she could be as weak as a recent unseated graduate from the former Shino Academy. But, he rationalized, if she was so weak, how was she able to get through the barriers and even find him in the first place. The guards at his door were definitely idiots, but they didn't lack in brute strength. And she seemed to be quite petite, so in order to have gotten in the room, she would have needed some obvious spiritual and physical strength and intelligence.
As he was taking in as much as he could about the young woman, the first non-Quincy that he had the pleasure to see since his captivity began, she flashed him a quick smile (forgetting that the bottom half of her face was covered with a cloth to mask her identity), broke the chains holding his arms to the wall with her own reiatsu, and lifted him onto her back. They were aware of her now, since she flared her spiritual pressure to break him away from the wall. She shifted him to be more comfortable on her back and told him, "Don't worry about who I am." He scoffed in return at her answer.
"Oh, please don't thank me until we're out of here," she said sarcastically. She then flash stepped as quickly as she could out of the room and through the halls.
The former prisoner was vaguely aware that the woman had good strength to be holding him up, and she was more than proficient in the art of Shunpo. The alarms were sounding, but she paid them no mind as she kept stepping. Only a few quincy guards noticed her as she took off, but thankfully they were dealt with easily. He tried to stay awake (he was so tired, and in so much pain. She wasn't being gentle), so he could learn more about this girl to see whether she was an ally, a citizen of Rukongai, a long lost relative, or a rogue Quincy. He was impressed with her skill in Hakuda. She easily knocked out the men twice her size by finding pressure points, exposing the fact that they were men, elbowing them in the throats and swift kicks to the head. He was almost positive that Yoruichi had trained the young woman. She obviously had some growing to do, but she definitely could handle herself, it seemed.
She still couldn't believe how weak the guards were. She blazed speedily through the prison and out of the gates. Racing through the forest surrounding several of the Rukongai districts, she didn't stop until she was miles away. They were in the 6th Rukongai district. She stopped to catch her breath and put the man gently on the ground. She looked his injuries over. It was cold though, and she noticed that he was still shirtless. She looked around carefully then pulled off her coat and put it on him.
"Here," she said, "You need this more than I do. We can't have you getting sick before someone can tend to your injuries."
"Who are you?" He asked once again, curious after seeing her display of strength and the single-handed advantage that she held over the Quincy.
"Karin," she said quietly. "I told you, I am a friend." She looked around once more and extending as little reiatsu as possible, put up an impressive kido barrier. She could hardly breathe after, exerting all the strength that she had for the night, but she was able to grab hold of her passenger and use the spell that Urahara-san had taught her in summoning the gate that let her travel into the living world.
Back at the prison, guards just stared at the empty dungeon where their most famous prisoner, noble Byakuya Kuchiki, the last of the great Kuchiki clan had once been. It was now empty. The Masked Lily had struck again, and there would be hell to pay.
She landed softly in the basement underneath the Uruhara shop. She breathed heavily, and noticed her passenger was doing the same thing. She tried to get him off as gently as possible, trying to mind his injuries, but her own exhaustion caused her to be more clumsy than usual, and she failed miserably. He grunted in pain as he landed on the ground, weak from his injuries, some of them opening up as he landed in the dirt. He looked up at her with a slight glare.
"Sorry," she said unapologetically, "and you're welcome." She knew that the guy had been held prisoner and obviously been put through a lot, but he hadn't even looked thankful to her for her mission.
His gaze softened slightly at the rough tone of her voice. He almost felt shamed and humbled, since the young woman in front of him had led his prison break. She didn't have to risk her own life and safety to rescue him… and then he asked himself, "How did she know I was even there?"
He opened his mouth to speak when he heard a familiar voice yell out, "Karin-chan! You escaped again. I should have never let Kisuke teach you that spell. Your father and brother are going to keep you locked up if you keep this up! What am I going to-oh my." For once in her life, Yoruichi Shihoin was rather speechless. Standing in front of her was a ghost. He was a shadow of his former self, but the sharp eyes and haughty look still remained. His hair was much shorter than before, practically shaved to his head, but still black. And the handsome features were overshadowed by his hollow cheeks and the dark rings under his eyes. But the once handsome captain was, in front of her, alive, injured terribly from what she could see of his scars underneath the too small jacket of Karin's, but alive still.
"Byakuya?" She asked hesitantly, even though she knew it was him. He stared at the dark skinned woman that had once been an ally to his family. He nodded slightly, at a loss for words. What do you say to someone that you haven't seen in years? He opened his mouth to respond, even though he didn't know exactly what to say, but suddenly lost his so-called strength and reluctantly leaned on this Karin-chan that Yoruichi had mentioned.
"Umm… Yoruichi-san, I think we need to get him some help. You can scold me later." Karin said, looking at Byakuya wearily, worried that he would just fall and die. He already looked like death warmed over anyway. And now that she had figured out that this figure was named "Byakuya" and that this was Rukia's long believed dead older brother, she didn't want him to die on her right after she freed him from the prison camp. Rukia and Renji spoke of Byakuya with the highest respect, and if half of what they said was true, this man, with healing and time, could probably return to his former strength, and possibly turn the tides of the war.
Yoruichi responded. "Of course. Here Byakuya, you can let go of Karin. I'll take care of you. Karin, your body is upstairs in the living area. Get cleaned up and go home. You have some explaining to do to your father. He'll be more understanding than your brother."
Yoruichi turned to move with Byakuya on her back, then stopped turned back around and looked Karin in the eye. "And Karin, thank you." As Yoruichi said this, what Byakuya was trying to vocalize so he didn't seem like a complete idiot for not being gracious to this young woman who risked her own life to free him from prison, he looked her in the eye. She caught his eye and he nodded once, hoping that she realized that he was grateful for what she had done, getting him out of that hellhole.
She looked at Byakuya and said, "No problem. I'll see you later." Karin led the way upstairs. She moved into the living room where she saw her body. She entered back into her physical body, and wearily left, hoping to avoid her father and brother as she tried to sneak back into her house.
Yoruichi jumped up after Karin had left and landed in the shop. She closed the trap door. It was still dark out, but there were a few movements heard in the shop. Out of a room stepped Urahara and Tessai, who had been up, speaking about the upcoming actions they were planning on taking when they had felt a fluctuation in Yoruichi's reaitsu.
"Did Karin just leave? Where was she?" Urahara asked curiously. He then looked at Yoruichi, and said, "Oh. I see. She went back to your family's manor and rescued another one. Captain Kuchiki this time, huh?"
"Yes," Yoruichi responded, "Now shut up and get Rukia and Renji. They will want to see him more than anyone"
"No," Byakuya said, "Please don't let them see me until I've been healed a bit. I don't want to…" He trailed off into silence, but the three others knew what he was talking about. He didn't want to have to explain his injuries to them or to see their horrified faces when they saw all the scars, bruises and cuts that adorned his body.
Yoruichi, Tessai and Urahara looked at him in surprise at the pleading tone of his voice. They nodded respectfully, at his request. They knew that the man in front of them would have had it worse than most prisoners considering his noble lineage. They could already tell by the fact that his hair was so short. The majority of normal nobles kept their hair longer as a sign of their ranking in Soul Society. He was missing his hair piece and his hair had been shaved.
"Put him in this room Yoruichi. Did Karin-chan already leave?" Tessai asked as Yoruichi put Byakuya down on the futon. Karin was excellent at kido and a fledgling healer.
"Yes. I sent her home. She's exhausted; she wouldn't have been much help with healing anyway. She's probably speaking to her father right now."
"Call for Isshin then. I will need his help if I am to make Captain Kuchiki look presentable so he doesn't scare anyone else." Tessai said, giving a slight smile to the former noble.
Yoruichi said with a smirk. "Don't worry, Byakuya-bo, they'll make you pretty in no time."
Byakuya managed to glare at her but then leaned back in weakness as his body began to give out. He had exerted his body more in the last few hours than in the last six years. His eyes reluctantly began to flutter shut, and he was finally at enough peace to fall asleep.
"Please let me see him!" A feminine voice cried out. Byakuya's eyes began to flutter open slightly. That voice, he had heard it before. But, this, like all the other times, was probably a dream.
"They are healing him of his injuries," Urahara's voice told her, "you'll be able to see him as soon as Tessai and Isshin say it is okay."
Byakuya slowly opened his eyes to blinding light. He noticed two men working on healing his body with Kido. One was Tessai, the former captain of the Kido corps that he recognized. The second man looked vaguely familiar, but he had no idea where he could have seen him before. The second man also wore a former captain haori over his shoulder. He was staring at said man, when the man noticed suddenly, and said, "Ah, you're awake. Good morning, Kuchiki-dono. It is good to see you alive."
Byakuya was taken aback from the use of the title. It had been years since anyone had referred to him as 'dono'.
He nodded at the greeting to show that he had heard the man. "Who are you?" he asked.
"My name now is Isshin Kurosaki." Byakuya's face frowned a little at the sound of the last name. Kurosaki? This had to be Ichigo's father. Though he wasn't the biggest fan of Ichigo, he still respected the boy's strength. He helped saved Soul Society enough times to prove that he was a valuable ally. Byakuya, swallowed a little bit, and began to ask about Ichigo when Isshin interrupted him.
"Yep, you've met my son before. I've seen that look before on many faces. Sorry that he's such a punk. But, it makes me feel better to know that you've met one of my daughters as well. She makes up for Ichigo's rudeness a lot of the time, just don't get on her bad side though."
Byakuya looked at him questioningly. "I've never even knew that Ichigo had any siblings?"
"Oh he has two younger sisters, twins. My daughter's names are Yuzu and Karin," Isshin explained, "Your rescuer. She didn't want to mention her last name in case you had heard of Ichigo before. When she found out who you were, she thought she made the right decision. Yeah, I'm pretty upset with her. Ever since she was able to manifest in her soul reaper form, she's been quite a little firecracker, more than usual, anyway. Keeps sneaking out of the house with that damned good spiritual control that she has and leaving. We usually don't discover she's missing for at least 4 hours or so later."
Byakuya just continued to receive their healing ministrations, pondering over several things. First, why in the world did Ichigo's father tell him about his poor parenting skills? Obviously the man was a Soul Reaper himself, shouldn't he be able to sense his daughter and know where she's at? Second, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that this 'Karin' was quite intelligent and cunning. She managed to get him to trust her within only a few minutes of meeting, and was shrewd enough to not give her last name in case she met an enemy of her brother. Although he had just met the father, it was obvious she must have received some of her personality traits from her mother.
Tessai and Isshin stopped with the healing a few minutes later.
"I think that's all we can do, Captain Kuchiki." Tessai said. "The rest of your healing will need to be rest and plenty of food. The scars will lighten more and more over time, but if you don't want to frighten your sister or answer questions, I suggest you wear a shirt. You'll be ready to start training again in a few months."
"Why would I train? I have no bankai. Sebonzakura was stolen from me." Byakuya was startled to hear how bratty he sounded. He would have to learn better control of his emotions, once again. He did his best to maintain his emotionless façade in prison but there were definitely times that he failed. He moved to sit up and put his shirt on.
"Because, I've recovered Hyourinmaru. It will take some time but you'll be able to figure it out." Toshiro Hitsugaya stood to the side of the room, unnoticed by Byakuya until that moment. He had grown tall and more muscled. He was no longer a small boy, but a teenager. Toshiro looked over Byakuya and nodded.
"It's good to have you back, Captain Kuchiki. There are a few people who would like to see you. Is he ready to receive visitors?" Toshiro asked the two healers.
"Yes. Just tell Rukia not to go too crazy."
"Rukia's alive? I thought she had been killed," Byakuya thought to himself, puzzled.
"Brother?" Rukia stood in the doorway, and ran forward to give him a huge hug. He winced as she made contact.
"Rukia!"
"Rukia-san!"
"He just finished healing. Please be gentle"
"I am so happy to see you alive Brother!" Rukia told him, tears in her eyes as she gave him a hug.
"Rukia, I am fine. Please let go."
"Sorry, it's just, I thought you were dead." She had felt his reaitsu disappear herself. How had he survived that terrible attack when his Bankai had been stolen? And he had been alive, a prisoner of the Quincy the entire time. Nobody knew, they must have kept his imprisonment secret for a reason.
"I understand. I… thought that something had happened to you as well." The past six years he had been reliving the nightmare vision that As Nodt had given him of Rukia dead. Added to it were haunting visions and dreams of Renji, Hisana, his parents, grandfather and everyone that had at one time been close to him.
"Brother, I…" She began sobbing uncontrollably, so excited and relieved to see her brother alive.
"Rukia, I understand your shock. But it is not appropriate for a Kuchiki to be so hysterical." He said, trying to pry her crying body off of him. Damn he was still too weak to even lift a lightweight like Rukia.
"Rukia, you should go get cleaned up and calm down." A man said as he approached the futon. His long crimson hair was worn in a ponytail, as usual. He helped Rukia up with a gentle hand, and she leaned into him, crying as she led her back out the room.
He returned only a few seconds later and sat next to his former captain. While there was emotion and admiration in his eyes, he didn't look as hysterically happy as Rukia was.
"I'm glad to see you again Captain. Don't worry, I won't start crying."
"I'd have to demote you if you started crying in front of me." He retorted back. It was almost the same as it had been before… their loss. Had could the Soul Reapers lose so badly?
Renji cracked a small smile as he began speaking. "We owe Karin a lot for getting you out of that place. She didn't even know if anybody was left, but she wanted to make sure so that she would feel better about it."
Byakuya started to formulate a reply, but then stopped and said, "You make it sound like she had been there before." He realized now what her father had been speaking of. He was not the first captive to be rescued, but the last one.
"She had. She broke out Captain Kyoraku, Captain Ukitake, Captain Soi-fon, Lieutenant Ise and Lietenant Hisagi. They're hiding out in a few different places until we launch our offensive. We're trying not to all be in the same location, since we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves."
"Was Rukia captured at all?" Byakuya looked at Renji pleadingly, hoping that she had not been one of those that were imprisoned.
"No, I had to drag her away, because she was looking for you everywhere. Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumoto, Ichigo and the two of us were the only ones that were left. Captain-commander Yamamoto was publicly executed after he was captured. Captain Komamura and Captain Kurotschi were both killed in the war. We have no idea where Captains Zaraki, Otoribashi, Hirako, and Muguruma are. Captain Unohana, according to the former prisoners, is still alive and well. They haven't harmed her since she has so much healing experience. She and the rest of squad 4 are considered safe from harm. They're too valuable for the Quincy."
"Do we have a plan at all?" Byakuya asked. He was curious if there was an attack or infiltration planned. They couldn't leave Soul Society the way it was. The balance would be thrown off if Quincy kept on outright killing the Hollows, not just cleansing them.
"Sort of. Right now, we're all just training and trying to find as many survivors as possible. We have no idea how many of us are left or where they all are. We have people in Rukongai that are looking, but they're not finding many survivors. And Rukongai, well, things are messy there. About a quarter of the people are okay with the Quincy in charge, but those in the poorer districts are having a hell of a time surviving. It's even worse there then it was when Rukia and I were growing up. I have a feeling that Zaraki, Yachiru, Ikkaku and Yumichika are still in Soul Society, beating everyone they can and stirring things up. If we can get some more power and strength, we can overtake them."
Renji stopped and added thoughtfully, "Plus, we have excellent people on our side for stealth and infiltration. Yoruichi, Captain Soi-fon and Karin, there are plans for the three of them to get in and assassinate as many people as possible in the Quincy hierarchy, but Karin will need to be trained more for that. And, just between you and me, I don't know if she has the personality for assassinations. For all of her strength, she hasn't had to kill a human yet."
Byakuya raised his eyebrows at Renji's lengthy discussion. "Sorry if I've bored you Captain. Just think of it as making up for the six years that you've been gone." He smirked. "I am relieved to see you alive and relatively well. If you need anything, captain, just let me know." He stood up, and left without waiting for Byakuya's reply. Byakuya almost smiled. His lieutenant knew him very well.
As he was pondering these thoughts, Ichigo appeared before his eyes. The 17 year old boy was now a 23 year old man, with broader shoulders and a taller frame. There was still the same fierce pride and emotion that he held. He truly looked happy to see Byakuya.
"Eh, Byakuya, so it's true you're alive. I thought you were dead." Ichigo stated, with no tact whatsoever.
"Blunt as always Kurosaki." Byakuya replied, pretending that he held no interest in conversing with the Kurosaki boy, while he was almost relieved to see him alive. With Ichigo on their side, they had a better chance of winning in a future fight.
"Yeah, and you're never tactless. But it's okay, you're still a noble, so you can act like that." Ichigo smirked, at the glare that Byakuya gave him, "Looks like you owe my baby sister. She risked a lot going back there for a fourth time."
"Shut up Ichigo. He doesn't owe anyone anything." Karin stepped forward into the room.
Ichigo looked at his sister as she walked in the room. "I was talking to Byakuya, not you, Karin." Byakuya saw her in the light for the first time and was quite surprised. He saw that she was quite attractive (considering that she was a Kurosaki and all).
She had dark black hair that was pulled up. She wore a red shirt with no sleeves and black pants. Her facial features were really quite delicate and her gray eyes were expressive and he noticed, once again, framed by dark, long eyelashes. She was several inches shorter than her brother, but still taller than Rukia. Her body had curves, yet she had muscle from her training. Overall, she was a lot prettier than her brother. No wonder he couldn't make a connection that they were related. And she seemed slightly more polite (which wasn't much) and intelligent as well.
She looked him up and down quite quickly, her eyes widening slightly as she took in the improvement of his condition. The scars his arms were more faint than the night before, and he was wearing a shirt, so she couldn't see the condition of his back, stomach or chest. She decided not to mention anything in front of her brother about the healing.
She turned to him and said, "You still look like hell." She then noticed that he wasn't paying attention at all anyway.
Instead, she saw that Ichigo and Byakuya were basically engaged in a staring contest. She knew that her brother didn't hold Byakuya in the highest esteem, but considering that the man had basically just come back from the dead, she figured he deserved a little bit of slack.
"Don't look at my sister." Ichigo said as he noticed Byakuya take in the sight of Karin earlier.
Byakuya scoffed at the comment, and was about to retort when Karin cut him off. "I thought you liked Orihime, Ichigo. Now it just sounds like you're jealous of me. You want some of Captain Kuchiki's attention?"
Ichigo looked at her with his mouth wide open. "Wha-what are you talking about? I'm just worried about you." She heard him mumble.
"I know that Captain Kuchiki is a pretty boy, but he doesn't seem the type to swing that way, if you catch my meaning. Probably a lost cause bro." Karin smirked at Ichigo and patting him in the arm, faking sympathy, while ignoring Byakuya's affronted glare.
"Plus, Byakuya-sama is resting and healing. Leave him alone"
She looked over at Byakuya and winked, and then pushed her brother out of the room so that they could leave Byakuya in peace.
Byakuya was surprised. The truth was he had been looking over her features and he had been caught by her brother.
Byakuya was left alone, but the two were still within earshot, outside of his door, plus it wasn't as if they bothered to keep their voices down in their conversation.
Ichigo stared at her. "Karin, I know you feel like you did something good yesterday by sneaking out and rescuing Byakuya but you have to promise me you won't do it again. It's getting more dangerous each time. They have wanted posters for you. They've even given you a name and a large bounty on your head."
"I know. Can you believe that they didn't name me the "Batman". The Masked Lily is way lame."
"Karin." Ichigo said, trying to control his anger at his sister's nonchalance, "This is serious. What happens next time you go? What if you're imprisoned?"
Karin looked at Ichigo with disdain. "I won't get caught. Plus, if they catch me they'll probably execute me instead of wasting their time with torture. I won't have it as nearly as bad as Kuchiki-sama in there."
"What do you mean, Karin?" Ichigo asked, looking at her. What had she seen in the prison cell?
Karin shrugged. "None of your business. Just pretend that Kuchiki-sama magically showed up."
Ichigo stared at his sister. "You're being formal when speaking of him. Why are you being formal? You never use honorifics!"
Karin stared at Ichigo. "The old man told me to respectful to him, said that he deserved it. Also, Captain Kuchiki already has my respect."
"You just met him! You call Toshiro by his first name, and you respect him also."
"Toshiro and I have known each other six years now. And I saw where Kuchiki-sama has been for the past six years Ichigo! You would be calling him Kuchiki-sama too if you saw that as well. You don't know what that man has been through. Hell, I don't know either. BUT, I can tell you that if he survived his imprisonment with at least a small bit of sanity and pride, then he deserves all the respect you can give him." At the end of the statement, she started to leave.
"Karin, please don't sneak out anymore. You're going to get caught."
"Ichigo, this is bigger than me or you. How will Soul Society be reclaimed and balance restored if there aren't enough captains remaining? I have to help as much as I can. I can't use my zanpakto yet, so I will just do the best with what I am good at."
"You're not fighting anyway, it doesn't matter how good you are with Hakuda or Kido."
Byakuya, who had been listening to the two siblings speak, heard Karin sigh. "Okay, Ichigo. Whatever you say." He heard her footsteps leave the hall and go somewhere else.
Byakuya's thoughts were racing. He was quite intrigued by the young woman that he had met only a few hours ago. He was actually left to his thoughts and some peace for the rest of the morning as he convalesced in solitude.
To be continued...
Authors Note:
I took this off a little while ago, and just got to revising/revisiting the story. I didn't do much with this chapter, because I think it's good already.