I do not own Bleach or any of the works contained or referenced here in. But at least I've got chicken.
Annnnd... There!
Karin's foot made a short, 'Plunt' noise as it collided with its target, sending the soccer ball in a wide arc over the heads of the defending team. For a moment the field seemed to stand on edge, every player following the black and white checkered sphere with wide eyes. Then, just barley slipping past the goalie the ball hit the net dead center and half the field erupted into whoops of excitement.
Looking at her handwork with an expression of grim satisfaction, Karin Kurosaki smirked from where she lay on the ground, in the middle of a muddy skid mark of her own making. The last kick she had pulled off just as one of the opposing players shoved her, giving her two choices: Complete the shot and fall over into the mud staining her uniform and costing her Sister a long washing session once she got home, or recover her balance to try and look for another opportunity to score, sparing her uniform in the process.
To her the choice had been obvious.
Karin felt her smirk grow as the boy who had pushed her looked down at her where she now lay in the mud. Resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him she got to her feet, brushing the grass off her legs as the rest of her team swarmed around her, chattering in excitement.
"Wow Karin!" "That was slick!"
She couldn't tell who had said it, but the rest of the team quickly echoed the sentiment, and she was obliged to high five what felt like everyone on the team twice before they got back to the sidelines. As usual the coach was there to congratulate her, and after the obligatory handshake with the losing team she was once again showered with attention by her admiring teammates.
It was attention that she did not particularly want at the moment. While Karin was hardly a stranger to being congratulated for her athletic talents, she found the enthusiasm of her teammates to be rather irritating. More than this however, almost as soon as she had sat down on the bench to try and scrape the mud off her pants something scratched at the edge of her mind, making her freeze.
Sure enough, a moment latter a familiar dull ache began in the base of her skull and worked its way up, becoming a full blown headache in a matter of seconds.
Karin looked around sharply. A headache like this could only mean one thing. Dammit, she cursed internally. Why does this always happen when I'm around other people? I bet my brother never had luck like this!
There were spirits nearby.
Despite all appearances, Karin Kurosaki was not an ordinary girl. Eleven years old, with dark hair that hung about her face, large dark eyes and clothes that suggested a tomboy, Karin was not the sort of girl that one would expect to be able to see ghosts.
But such was the case.
The truth was that none of her family was quite normal, to put it mildly. Their family had always been an odd one as far back as she could remember. Even from the beginning her older brother Ichigo had been able to see ghosts, not to mention herself and even her sister.
Some people would've killed to have this power, but, apart from making a little cash on the side, Karin had always preferred to ignore her ability. That was, until a few weeks ago.
Karin waited for the soccer meet to break up with a gnawing feeling of impatience, taping her foot while the coach went on praising their good teamwork and reemphasizing the value of good sportsmanship to all of them. It was the standard post game lecture that she had heard a million times. Normally she would have had no problem listening to it, but from the way head was throbbing she could tell that she needed to hurry.
As soon as the coach gave the okay for them to head home Karin took off at a brisk pace, leaving the field a little faster than was polite. As soon as she was sure that she was out of sight of her teammates she broke into a run.
The truth was that while she had always possessed the ability to see spirits, lately her power had been getting stronger: much stronger.
Karin was unsure if it had something to do with the unusual activities that her brother had been engaging in, but her ability to see spirits and do things that other people couldn't had skyrocketed over the last few weeks
Running through the maze of alleys that would keep her away from the main road, Karin began to sprint. She sprinted, moving faster and faster, focusing on her legs and willing them to work harder. It was very strange, and she had only begun to experiment with it a week ago, but now when she concentrated she found that she could sometimes do extraordinary things. Things like run faster than should be physically possible, like she was doing now.
Bounding down the alley, Karin felt a thrill of excitement race up her spine as she reached a speed equal to what a bicycle might achieve going down a steep hill with no brakes. She was flying along under her own power at a pace that might match cars on the road, all with a simple bit of spiritual power concentrated into her legs.
She was so pleased with herself that she almost forgot to stop in time when a small, red haired boy suddenly stepped into her path.
"Wa!"
Colliding head first with each other both went flying, tumbling head over heels with each other. Karin spun twice from the force of the collision and then smashed into the wall.
"Ugggh." Picking herself up once more Karin brushed herself off realizing that she was mysteriously unharmed by the collision that should have cranked her head open. What on earth? She thought sourly. The first time I really get going at a good pace with this new strength and I crash into someone...
Looking over at the one who had emerged so suddenly in front of her, Karin scowled. "Jinta! Watch where you're going, why don't you!"
The sour faced boy grunted and shot her an impudent look. His hair was bright red like fire, with a temper to match. "What were you doing tearing around so fast? Can't you avoid smashing into people, baka?"
Karin was about to retort when Jinta shook his head. "Never mind. Didn't you feel it?"
Karin nodded, rubbing her head and spiting out a little gravel. "A Hollow."
For the longest time Karin had always assumed that ghosts were the only spirits that there were to see, but as it turned out, that was not the case at all. Apart from the spirits of people who had died recently, called pluses, evil spirits called Hollows also existed. They were dark monster-like spirits who preyed on the pure spirits of pluses, and sometimes the living as well, devouring them and transforming them into Hollows like themselves.
She had only learned of them a few weeks ago, but in that time she had come to understand how dangerous they were. After all, she had nearly been devoured herself on more than one occasion, and were it not for her brother she would probably be one herself right now.
But now her own powers had begun to develop, and on top of this, in the last few weeks she had made some new friends of her own...
With a sudden jump Jinta flew upwards into the air, making it to the top of the building that she had been running along in a single leap.
Karin shielded her eyes with one hand, gazing up at the boy who was now perched on the roof twenty feet up. Sheesh, what a show off!
Jinta was one of the other people in this town who seemed to have spiritual powers, and consequently he happened to be one of the other members of the little group that had been formed. He was also living proof that possessing super powers did not prevent you from being a loud, brash, immature idiot. Still, despite her general dislike for the boy she had to admit that his spiritual power seemed to be a lot more developed than her own was.
It was a detail that irked her more than slightly. Still, at least Ururu had a brain, and she was probably stronger than both of them.
Closing her eyes briefly and concentrating as hard as she could she bent her legs and jumped, sailing through the air to join Jinta on the roof. Heh! This isn't so hard! She thought triumphantly as she... made it about halfway up before gravity reasserted itself and brought her crashing back down into the ally below.
Karin sat up immediately, blushing in embarrassment, and snarled as she heard Jinta nearly howling with laughter on the roof above her. Trying once more Karin again made it only half way before falling back, this time at least managing to keep her feet when she landed. Still glaring up at Jinta where he sat on the roof laughing down on her, Karin almost didn't notice when a girl about her size suddenly swooped in and landed next to her.
"Ururu!" Karin blinked at the small quiet girl who had arrived so suddenly. Short, plain of face, with pigtails and two strands of black hair that seemed to form an upside-down Y, Ururu was the blue to Jinta's red. Really, really blue. She usually accompanied Jinta and did the chores around the Urahara shop where they both worked. She had never quite figured out what to make of the timid, almost cowardly girl who was Jinta's constant companion. Three years older than him, she seemed smarter, and her spirit power was certainly stronger, but at the same time she almost never stood up for herself and allowed her red haired companion to walk all over her in everything. Just watching her often brought the term "Extreme doormat" to Karin's mind.
Wordlessly Ururu took one of her arms and jumped, reaching the roof and landing next to Jinta with even less effort than the red haired boy had, carrying Karen along with her.
Jinta jumped away as Karin landed and aimed a kick or two at him.
"Stop that," Ururu said tonelessly, drawing Karin away from her target. Karin stopped immediately and looked over at her. Although the girl was usually as timid as a rabbit there was once important exception to this. Whenever a Hollow appeared all that changed, and Ururu transformed into a completely deadpan, almost mechanical person bent on eliminating her target.
It was actually quite creepy, and right now she seemed to be in the middle of such a state, her eyes blank and scanning the city around them while she pulled Karin away.
"Oy, do you see anything?" Jinat drawled, taping a large baseball bat-like club on the rooftop by his feet.
"Negative," Ururu replied in monotone.
She frowned and looked around as well. From their vantage point on the roof she could see over a lot of Karakura Town. If her headache was correct then the Hollow should be somewhere in the streets below them prowling around, out of sight from the rooftop.
"We should split up," Jinta said.
Karin shivered involuntarily. Sure, her spiritual power might be stronger now, but it did not mean that she relished the idea of coming face to face with a Hollow alone in the streets below.
"Affirmative," Ururu said, hefting her strange shoulder cannon weapon. "I will take the left."
"I got the right then," Jinta chimed, jumping off the roof once more and bounding out of sight, while Ururu did the same. That left Karin with the center, and she reluctantly tiptoed to the edge of the building before hopping off to keep up.
The impact with the ground hurt her ankles and jarred her teeth momentarily but Karin still found herself marveling at the way a drop which should have killed her, or at least broken her legs, had been reduced to feeling like nothing more than a slightly troublesome tumble off the monkey bars at school.
It was an exciting feeling, but it still did not quite cover up her nervousness. There was a Hollow nearby, and even if it was a very weak Hollow, it was still something that wanted to kill her.
Moving forward hesitantly she made her way through the small maze of alleys, following the subtle feeling which her preternatural senses were giving her. Before long she stepped out into an abandoned lot and blinked.
There it was. Karin paled as the Hollow, a weird looking lizard-like thing with a bone white wolf mask and about the size of a leopard, stared at her since she entered the clearing. She could feel the hopelessness which had lead it to become a Hollow baking off it like a fever.
Then, with a strange grunt like noise it reacted to her, suddenly scuttling forward, an oversized tongue lolling out of its snapping jaws.
She gulped, and then scowled. If her brother could do this so easily, then there was no way that she could not do the same.
Concentrating for a moment, Karin once more felt a spark of power travel up her spine, spearing into her limbs. Fueled by adrenaline, it felt a little like fire racing though her body... She could not help but wonder if this was the same feeling that her brother experienced when he went out to fight. If it was, she could almost relate to why he seemed so eager to get himself killed with what he did...
The Hollow approached snapping her out of her thoughts, and as it drew near she raised her foot and delivered her best power kick straight to its temple as it closed in to bite, her foot delivering the blow with a dry cracking noise.
The beast yelped in shock and fury, its head whipping back from the force of her kick it staggered a little and fell back.
Karin grimaced. It was still alive, and a second latter its head whipped back to face her again, this time leveling a deep and ominous growl. She only managed to piss it off. As it moved forward again with much greater determination, Karin felt a jolt of fear travel up her spine. Maybe this had not been such a good idea...
Throwing out her leg again as it once more came into her range, Karin gasped as it suddenly spun, predicting her move and turning its head away before her kick connected. Twirling its entire body around, the Hollow suddenly lashed out with its tail, catching Karin in the chest before she could move away, sending her flying into a wall.
She gasped as pain exploded along her chest, and the air was forced out of her lungs by the impact. She lay momentarily stunned as the beast scuttled towards her. Its mouth gaping open to bite her throat out, and its breath rank with the smell of despair and death that wafted up to overwhelm her. Panic rose in her chest. Somewhere she could hear her mother crying...
"Bombardment."
Karin's vision was suddenly filled with bright light as streaks of spiritual energy lashed out, hammering the Hollow before her, and splitting its body into pieces before it completed its dire intent. The wolf/lizard beast gave a ringing, shrill cry before evaporating into a puff of dark mist.
"Target Eliminated." Ururu's voice sounded dully somewhere above her.
Karin panted, closing her eyes briefly as a wave of relief washed over her. I could have just died there.
"Baka Uru!" Jinta called from somewhere of in the distance. "Stop stealing all of my kills!"
Karin looked up, anger flashing though her head at the source of that little gem. Ururu was standing on the roof only a dozen feet above her, her large weapon smoking and still pointing at the place the Hollow had been only a few seconds ago. Jinta was a few buildings below, jumping from roof to roof to get to the ground.
"I would have been killed if we were waiting on you, Jinta! Baka yourself!" she shouted, some real venom working its way into her voice.
Brushing herself off again Karin rubbed the back of her head tentatively. Once again an impact which should have caused her serious fractures had done little more than register as a nasty conk on the head.
Still, despite the small damage that she had taken, she could not quite keep the tremble out of her step as she got to her feet to try and pound Jinta's head a few times.
The Hollows breath had been very rank, and somehow her mother's voice was still ringing in her ears.
"You mean to tell me that my three young disciples went out to fight bad spirits without even filming it or donning the appropriate uniforms?"
Karin just stared at her handful of spare change, ignoring the scowl growing on her face. The dark skinned television star who was berating them for their 'ghost busting', all while making wild gestures, with only Ururu giving him any consideration. That, combined with his ridiculous costume, would have made Don Kanonji quite the spectacle if he had been in any other setting.
At least they were all within the walls of Urahara shop and wouldn't embarrass themselves. If Karin's guesses were correct, then the staff and owner of this pace must be used to seeing a lot stranger things than a grown man in a cheesy television costume acting like an over-enthusiastic first year drama student on stage.
"This is a tragedy!" Kanonji said, pounding one fist into his palm, while the black lenses of his glasses flashed white. "A great waste of talent and pulchritude has occurred this day! Children everywhere have been deprived of a fine and worthy tale of courage, daring, and hygiene which should be added to the exploits of the Karakura Superheroes!"
"Eh? What was so daring about it? I didn't even get to make a hit," Jinta groused, carrying a box in from the back.
Karin felt a little twinge of satisfaction as she saw the sizable bumps on his head that she had made after her little run in with the Hollow.
As she handed the money to the cashier in front of her, she finally turned her attention to Don Kanonji, and assumed her acidic expression. "Even if you did actually get around to editing our footage into your show, it couldn't be very good. And if it's made by you, then it won't be witty either."
Kanonji's mouth dropped open an impressive distance and he begun to flail his arms around in panic once more. "Ooooooh! Betrayed by Karakura Black!"
"I'm not part of your stupid Sentai group!" Karin snapped as Jinta handed her the box he brought in. "I quit, remember?"
"Oh, I don't know," The store owner, leaning over the counter as he fiddled with Karin's money, shot her a funny smile from under his hat and grey-white bangs. He walked out around the counter to look at each child, as if seriously deliberating their skills and the TV star's idea.
"Making a show about your exploits hunting Hollows? A lot of people could get a kick out of that," he said, holding up a finger for emphasis.
"Thank you, Mr. Urahara!" Don breathed, turning towards the eccentric shop keeper like he was a lifeline cast to a drowning man. "It is good to see that someone appreciates the ideas of the number one spiritualist of the new age!"
"Isn't it?" Urahara laughed, thumping him on the shoulder, an act that Don returned with great enthusiasm.
Karin eyed the both of them blandly. While Don was, in her opinion, and a bigger idiot than even Jinta or her Dad, Mr. Kisuke Urahara was an entirely different matter. Even apart from the fact that he was a Shinigami, that man was something strange. It had been him who had originally informed her of the truth about her brother.
Despite feeling grateful that he had chosen to pull her out of the dark regarding her brother's activities, and indeed the nature of the world at large, she couldn't help but feel a little funny around him. He was the sort of person, she felt, who held a lot more cards than anyone realized; much less her. He was the sort of guy who would snipe you on eBay with only a few seconds left till total victory. It felt weird being on friendly terms with someone like that.
As it was seeing him support someone like Don Kanonji in his plan to make a kids television show was just plain bizarre. But then again everything about Urahara was; from his outlandish green coat, to his ever present striped green hat, to the stylized cane that he often dragged around for some reason, to especially his mysterious connection to her brother. She was still trying to figure that last one out.
Even his employees were off to her. What were the odds of one store having two employees her age that both possessed strong spiritual powers? Evidently the odds were pretty good if it was Urahara's shop. She wouldn't be surprised if that mustached body builder with the thin glasses had spirit powers too.
Taping her fingers on the parcel that she had just purchased, Karin turned and made to head for the exit. With the soccer game and her little brush with near death, not to mention having to put up with Jinta and Don afterward, this day had officially been exhausting. She had not even added in the shenanigans that her father would undoubtedly pull once she got home to that equation, so with that tacked on, by the time she got to bed tonight she would be past running on empty.
So with that in mind it was definitely time to head home before one of the jokers who occupied this building decided to try and pull her into something even crazier than what had happened already.
"Thank you, Urahara -dono." She said on her way out, bowing absently as she went.
"Ah." The green hatted menace said turning sharply as he noticed her leaving. "Hold on a moment Kairn, I've got something for you: complementary on your purchase, of course."
Karin raised her eyebrows, but before she could make it out, he scurried around the counter and blocked her path to the door with a jovial smile.
"You've got to try my new candy."
"Plagh!" She made a disgusted face and tried to step by him in the door. It seemed like every time she came into this shop, or even stumbled across Urahara by chance these days, he had one of those candies waiting for her. Whatever they were, they were completely gross. She didn't even know why she kept accepting them.
"Now, now, now," he said, letting her by the door, but following her outside. Inside the store she could hear Don begin to expound his idea of his new television show to Jinta and Ururu. To her irritation, the red-haired brat seemed mildly interested, and Ururu seemed to go along with whatever he thought up.
"They can't be all that bad!" Urahara went on walking alongside her. "They possess a refined taste. You have to let them grow on you. Try them! Maybe you'll like them better this time?"
"Hmph, fat chance. You said that the last three times. They still taste like nothing I want to put in my mouth."
Urahara blinked. This was the first time that she had ever said anything about them directly instead of just trying to subtly drop a hint that she didn't want them.
"Ah, but you'll still try it because your such a polite and courteous girl, no?"
Karin scowled once more. She tried being polite but between practice and the Hollow her patience was waning thin. Enough was enough!
"Mr. Urahara, I am doing you a courtesy by telling you that your new candies are disgusting. You would be better off getting rid of them before they drive away customers. And why do you keep calling them 'New candies'?" She asked. "You've been feeding me those for weeks now."
"Oh dear," Urahara said in a slightly different voice. Karin looked over at him again and found that his jovial smile had been replaced by something a bit more serious. "I did not want to do this but..." The green clad Soul Reaper suddenly reached out and taped her on the forehead with his index finger before she could move her head away.
Karin suddenly felt very funny. She was a bit dizzy for some reason, and a lot more cheerful then she had been a moment ago.
Urahara held out one of his candies, a small dark hard chocolate of some kind, and she took it and plopped it into her mouth without thinking, chewing it cheerfully despite the bitter, and completely un-candy like flavor that it possessed.
"Goodbye, Karin." Urahara waved at her, smiling his Cheshire cat smile. "Send your brother my best wishes."
She waved back rather vaguely, wondering what had just happened a few seconds ago. Had he just given her something?
In any case if he had it probably wasn't important, and she really did need to get back home with the sun going down in about an hour.
Karin turned her back on Urahara shop once more and set off carrying her package, wondering where the bitter flavor in her mouth had come from.
Karin couldn't remember the last time her mattress felt so good after plopping onto it.
True to her predictions her father had welcomed her home with his usual over the top flair, and after dinner and completion of her homework she felt pretty much drained. But even so, Karin found that she couldn't fall asleep. It was not surprising really. She had a lot to think about.
Where should she begin? To say that the last few weeks had been eventful would be to make the biggest understatement in the history of her life. To say where it had started would be difficult. Her brother had begun to act a bit strangely a while back, disappearing at odd moments. He didn't act like himself, to say nothing of the gaps in her memory that she now realized existed. Moreover, strange creatures had begun appearing around town.
Deciding to follow one of them one day, she had met none other than Don Kanonji, the television host of a popular and very obviously fake ghost busting TV show. Turns out that, defying all logic the show was actually not quite as fake as she had it pegged. Karin could honestly say that of all the people in the world, the obnoxious television host was the last person on the planet she would have expected to actually know anything about spirits for real, but it turned out that somehow he did. The eccentric man could apparently see spirits as well, and had informed her of the existence of Hollows.
A long, LONG, story short, she had wound up joining something of a club with him, Jinta, Ururu, Yuzu, and her sentient stuffed lion named Kon in order to hunt them down. Oddly enough, Yuzu didn't seem to remember any of it afterward, or that Kon had a mind of its own, but she didn't want to break the status quo reminding her sister of nightmarish Hollows.
It was then that Karin had first begun to explore her own powers, and before she knew it she was playing superhero with all the others. Except it was not really playing, as Hollows really could kill people, as she had been reminded today.
Her association with the Karakura Superheroes had certainly been memorable, but more importantly though it she had finally learned of the true nature of Urahara shop and its employees, and in turn she had finally discovered the truth about her brother.
Ichigo was a Shinigami. Not only that, but he was frequently engaged in life and death battles with Hollows, and worse. Moreover, at the time he had been absent from the real world for several weeks, he had gone to a place called Soul Society to rescue his girlfriend.
He had returned from that mission safe somehow, though he had not brought Rukia back with him... Shortly after that however he had gone out yet again on a mission to fight some weird spirit vampire things. Once again, it had apparently been quite the ordeal, because now that he was back from it her brother was sullen again.
So here she was: with a world saving, vampire slaying Shimigami for a brother. She had been trying to wrap her head around it for days now but each time she tried it didn't quite stick. How could the world turn inside out so quickly?
Biting the edge of her lip, Karin closed her eyes and tried to snuggle down into her blankets. She could feel her sister next door, while Ichigo was out again, no doubt on Shinigami business, discussing important Shinigami things... like the fate of the world...
She snorted again briefly. Her brother, with the fate of the world or something like that in his hands. Oddly enough, it was not too difficult of a picture to conjure up. Now that she thought about it, Ichigo always did have the demeanor of someone who could carry the weight of the world...
Yeah... he would do that...
I wish... I wish I could do something like save the world one day... heh... conquer the world...
Karin could feel herself drifting off to sleep, as her thoughts grew slower and slower...
Then quite suddenly, she was awake again, her eyes opening wide.
A headache was forming in the base of her skull, as her spiritual senses suddenly stirred to activity. Something was coming.
"Oh no, what is it now?" Karin muttered to herself, hoping fervently that the building spiritual pressure that it would just go away. Whatever Plus, Hollow or Shinigami that was not her brother, her mother, or Elvis Presley come to make her famous, could go shoot themselves in the foot right now.
Wincing slightly as it grew stronger and stronger Karin sat up in bed and looked out her window. Whatever it was getting closer... fast.
Frowning seriously now, Karin hopped out of bed, her bare feet cold on the hardwood floor as she moved over to look out the window.
She didn't see anything...
"Ouch," Karin rubbed her temple irritably. Once when she had asked her father why it was that she got headaches when she sensed spirits, he had replied that it was simply because everyone senses them in their own way. If that was the case then she cursed her luck as her headache grew stronger, the strange spiritual energy flaring up along with it.
"Damn, what is it?" she whispered. She could tell that the cloud of Reiatsu now forming did not belong to any of the people at Uraharas shop, and it most certainly was not Don's. It did not feel at all like a Hollow, which left only one of the strangers who had shown up in town recently. It was pretty much apparent to her that they were agents of Soul Society, but considering that her brother had been fighting them only a little while ago, she was not quite sure whether to trust them or not.
Besides... this new spiritual signature did not feel quite like them either. It was strange... heavy, warm and fierce.
Whatever it was, it was getting really strong now, and the rate at which its strength was increasing.
She was getting worried now. Whatever this thing was it was not just getting closer, it was strong. Really strong.
Clutching her head Karin was suddenly afraid. Something unlike anything she had ever felt before was coming towards her house, and it felt powerful. Her brother was out, and that left only her sister, her Dad and herself to fend it off if it became hostile.
She had to get out. She had to lead it away from her family. Maybe… maybe if she could lead it into some sort of trap and then take it out, or she could escape it until she made it to the Urahara shop.
Scrambling over to her door she made her way down the hall as quickly as she could, trying to make as little noise as possible at the same time. Barely stopping to tie her shoes Karin opened the door and ran out into the night.
The Reiatsu was all around her now, powerful and pulsing, to her headache orientated spiritual sense it felt as though someone was trying to play base drums REALLY HARD, inside her skull. And there was something else to now: something more familiar close by. Whatever it was though, this new and vastly more powerful Reiatsu was blocking it out and preventing her from pinpointing it.
Shaking off the pain that was pounding through her skull Karin turned and began to run, her feet hitting the pavement hard as she heading in the general direction of the Urahara shop by way of the network of alleys that made for the most direct route.
If she could just get there, then she and her family could be safe. If she could just get there, then she and her family could be safe. She repeated it like a mantra, beginning to run faster now as she worked up her own meager spiritual power, turning corners at high speed.
Whatever was coming seemed to follow her with no effort at all, as if it was something she was dragging along behind her on a chain, it kept pace with her perfectly. And it was still getting stronger…
Well, no matter. If she could just keep up this pace then she could make it to the shop and...
Karin turned a corner and felt her blood suddenly run cold. N-No! What! How?!
Standing in front of her, cutting her off from the direction of Urahara shop, was the Hollow from earlier that day, its death white wolf mask lolling open as if to welcome her into its belly.
Actually, that analogy was not far off at all.
For a second her eyes flew wide open as she stared at the beast, and then it lunged at her, its jaws snapping forward to take her head off as she ran.
Karin had never been more grateful for tripping before in her life. As the beast moved in the flash of panic weakened her knees just enough so that when her foot suddenly found a loose brick obscuring her path, she went head over heels for the second time that day. Conveniently this action also brought her head below the beasts snapping jaws just in time.
Her body collided with the Hollows and she tumbled away falling on her side. The Hollow recovered first and turned on her in an instant but she kicked it in the mouth as it did, bending its head back and eliciting another yelp. An opening! She summoned her power into her fist, with its neck exposed if she could just hit it hard enough, then-
And then suddenly, without any sort of explanation her hand was on fire.
Karin gasped and staggered back trying to smother the flames- no- that was not right, there were no flames. Yet all the same her hand suddenly felt as if it was being branded with live iron, as strange Reiryoku forcing its way inside her hand, literally searing itself into her flesh.
At the same time the spiritual presence surrounding both of them became stronger, completely drowning out the odor of foulness that the evil spirit was giving off. Karin felt something like electricity crawling over her skin. She nearly panicked. So many things were happening all at once that she couldn't keep track of them much less respond. Her hand was burning, she couldn't figure out why, her leg was also in terrible pain, the Hollow was recovering, whatever creature that was following her was almost on top of them now, and her head was pounding almost as badly as her hand.
Snarling, the Hollow recovered and grabbed at her, and Karin cried out in pain as its black hand closed around her leg with inhuman strength, crushing her. Kicking at it desperately with her other leg Karin somehow accumulated enough power to free herself and sending it flying several feet.
Shaking she clamored to her feet painfully on unsteady legs. The creature turned back to face her again, undeterred. This was it. She was going to die.
The Hollow that was going to kill her was not even that big damn it!
Baring her teeth she drew back a fist and took halting step forward. There was no way she would go out doing anything besides fighting with everything she had. It was odd, but even now she couldn't help but notice that her hand seemed to be glowing...
To her surprise the Hollow paused as she stepped up, shrinking back and making small whimpering noise. The hell? It was odd in fact... where was the unbearable sent of despair that the Hollow had carried before? Where was the sound of her mother crying?
They were replaced, overwhelmed by the majestic spiritual power that was now flooding around her, drowning out all other senses like an outpouring of fire.
In a sudden rush of spiritual pressure and wind, a nimbus of light suddenly shone forth from the ground, nearly blinding her, and causing the Hollow to shield its eyes in pain.
And then it was over. Standing in the middle of the alley looking down on her was a gigantic figure.
Karin blinked and slowly looked up at the man who had appeared before her, feeling her mouth drop open a little as she took him in.
The first and most unmistakable thing that hit her about him was that this man was HUGE. He towered over her, her head barely reaching the bottom of his chest while his impossibly broad shoulders gave him a girth which would have taken several men lined up together to equal. His layers of bronzed muscles bulged out from his arms and chest, thicker than any bodybuilder she had ever seen on television, and marked here and there with huge scars.
All over this impressive brawn the man was wearing outlandish armor of an exotic and distinctly Greek design that made Karin think of a museum that her father had taken her to once upon a time. A chest plate of beaten bronze, beautifully hammered and woven together and set with gold trim it covered his upper half, covering him but accentuating his build at the same time. Covering his legs was a solid looking kilt of the same design that trailed all the way down almost to his feet which were set in armored open toed sandals. From behind his shoulders a great crimson cape, similarly embroidered with gold trim and rich furs along the base and neck fluttered and flapped majestically in the wind that his appearance had created.
The giant loomed over her squinting down at her with large light brown eyes that glinted as he drew near to her. They were set in a broad and powerful face rimed with a crimson beard the same color as his wild hair, a deeper red than even Ichigo possessed.
"Girl!" The Crimson giant rumbled. "You must be my Master, right?"
