A/N: Hey guys! This is my second story ever on here! I just want to say that I am SO excited to post this. I've been trying to research on the feudal era so I don't sound totally ignorant while I write this but wikipedia's not always the most reliable, so I might not be impeccably correct.:P Anyway I'd say this is during the Ashikaga Shogun rule, so between 1300-1500. Just a fair warning that unfortunately updates may be few & far between once school starts, which is soon! O.o
Travels: Overcoming the Monster
Chapter 1: Pilot
Karin silently awoke, trying her best to imitate a defenseless, sleeping girl due to an unknown presence in the room. The young girl was positive it wasn't any of her traveling companions. She knew the assailant would attack her partner in crime first since he was obviously male & in these times females didn't usually wield a weapon. Discreetly, under her thin blanket, she gripped the hilt of her katana, unfortunately for her, her wakizashi was still hidden in her rucksack. Thankfully, the assailant had quite loud footsteps that alerted her beforehand. She analyzed him a tad more. His powder blue hair looked way too flashy, & his muscular build showed he worked as a physical laborer. Karin found herself slightly relieved to know he was certainly not an assassin or bounty hunter.
Shuuhei was quickly roused from his slumber, startled from the clang of metal directly above his head. He looked up to see a blue haired man fighting against Karin. His hangover didn't help him comprehend the situation well. 'Maybe too much sake? Ne, that's impossible.' Hisagi thought to himself.
"Glad to see you awake sunshine. My sword, hurry!" Karin ordered, her voice laced with sarcasm.
He knew what she wanted & tried his best to sober up. Swiftly, he darted to her bag, pulled out a wakizashi, & threw it to her. With their swords at a dead lock, she retreated to catch her wakizashi. It was secured on her right hip by her obi, while the katana was slung diagonally across her back with a red piece of fabric. The ensuing fight lasted for a while longer. Shuuhei casually watched, knowing better than to help out in one of her fights. Last time he was being thoughtful & wanted to help, he almost got run through…by Karin's blade.
"Damn it." the blue haired man cursed out of breath.
"Why did you attack us?"
The unknown attacker was still attempting to catch his breath.
"Wow you look pathetic." Shuuhei chipped in.
He came at her head on unleashing a battle cry, angered by their taunting. She simply side stepped with grace & smirked as he almost lost his balance. For the most part she dodged & defended. Their blades rang & they both had a murderous gleam in their eyes. Karin eyes flickered downward for a mere second. She pitched her shorter blade to the floor narrowly missing his waist. The wakizashi, however, ripped off part of his coat & pinned his hakama to the floor. Distracted, he turned backwards; there was the number six tattooed on his lower back which Karin slashed through. As his attention returned to her, she took another opportunity to knock away his sword, which also severed his tendons & ligaments, essentially ending the fight. He swore, licked the red liquid off of his arm with a look of intense agony in his light blue eyes.
"You've got some skills for a little girl." he remarked as he clasped his injured, now unusable hand.
"Thanks!" she beamed. "Now what exactly did you come here for?" she asked in a more serious tone as she pointed her katana directly at him.
"To capture you, Kurosaki." he said with a feeble voice as he was starting to get weak from the blood loss.
"Pft, like you could do that!" Shuuhei chuckled a bit.
"Shut up! I'll be back, stronger. Grimmjow Jaegerjacques, remember that." he said as he broke through the door.
"Oi, Karin-chan, I think he just ran away. Now we have to pay for all this broken shit!" Hisagi complained.
"Damn what a coward!"
Ulquiorra simply observed, from the shadows, as an injured Grimmjow escaped the inn where the target was located. He wished to capture the target & force him to headquarters, but Aizen had given him no such command & he did not want his lord to be displeased with his actions. Ulquiorra simply raced back to report his observations to Aizen.
"Grimmjow did not complete the mission & failed to capture the targeted individual. I was able to secure a location to observe the fight, & he fought too carelessly. He is just a disposable piece of trash so I did not deem it necessary to retrieve him… for now. But we will need to find another warrior to fill his vacancy."
"Luppi will be the next number 6."
"As you wish my lord."
"Thank you for the report, I will send someone to monitor him later. You are dismissed." He bowed deeply &respectfully then exited Aizen's office as a fearful someone else entered.
Karin & Shuuhei quickly cleaned up the room, trying to make it look as new as possible, which was impossible… Out of the corner of her eye, Karin noticed a glint of metal. 'He forgot his sword! Baka!' It was a plain katana with a black hilt & a tattered blade that looked decrepit from being cared for improperly.
"Hey, you think Sado-san will want a sword?" Shuuhei questioned as she picked it up.
"He sure as hell can't sell that rusty old thing, & it's not like he fights either."
"I guess you're right." he agreed.
"Well, here hold onto it for now. I have a feeling he'll return" she threw it at him with a smirk.
The two were getting impatient waiting for their friend Sado "Chad" Yasotura. Despite his silent personality, he was a merchant from overseas. Chad had lived with his grandfather before coming to Japan to live with some of his cousins. Being from a merchant family, he was the group's 'financer' in a way, since he made their money the legal way.
Once Chad got back at noon they explained what happened & generously paid their bill at the inn. They left the quaint village on horseback. A wagon filled with goods was pulled by two horses. Karin & Shuuhei rotated riding bareback on a third horse or sleeping in the wagon.
Flashback: Karin's past life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dad, I'm NOT having an arranged marriage!"
"Karin, my beloved daughter, it's what's best for you. The man you'll be marrying is an adopted son of a noble wealthier than me. We have already sent in letters to get the shoguns approval."
"No, it's just a stupid old tradition that's not based on a person's true feelings!"
"You're wrong. Ichigo married Rukia-dono & they love each other very much, just thinking about that makes me want grandkids!" He got a flying kick to the face.
"Stupid, that's because Ichi-nii rescued Rukia from some execution."
"Yuzu & Jinta-san seem fine."
"No. She's only 'fine' because you told her to be. You used Yuzu as a bargaining chip to get Kisuke-san to sign some merger."
"Well then Karin, here's what I propose; you have until your 18th birthday to find someone else that you have 'feelings' for. Then I will arrange your wedding with my friend's son to be two weeks after that if you do not find a suitable match."
His proposal caused her to scowl. "Fine." She muttered.
"But you should hurry, cause daddy wants a lot of grandkids & great- …" he stopped mid-sentence as he got another swift kick to the face.
"Oh shut it, goat face! This is serious business here." she growled as she stomped away.
The next thing see knew, she found herself in her brother's worn clothes at a seedy tavern in town drinking with some ruffians & talking with a handsome young man. Being a 15 year old girl she still possessed the figure of a young boy so she could pass off as a male.
"What's a little girl like you doing here?"
"Is my disguise that bad?" she mumbled.
"No, but you can't pull the wool over my eyes." he smirked. "But hey, uh, cheer up, sake's on me if you… um don't cry." He stated rather awkwardly, not used to dealing with emotional teenage girls.
"Thanks, but to answer your question, running away." she muttered, and then explained her situation in greater detail to the stranger.
"Sounds like quite the story, a quest to find a suitable husband…" he said pondering. "You can almost hold you liquor better than I can! Almost."
"Mhhm, thanks. So what are you doing here?"
"Well you could say I'm just a wandering samurai since the lord I served under betrayed us."
They talked some more & drank even more, letting the sake wash away some of the sadness, until the tavern was close to shutting down for the night.
"So, will you…um please take me with you?!"
He was taken aback when she sprung the question on him; his expression went from drunk to disbelief in a matter of seconds.
"You want to run away… with some guy you've never met? You must be crazy… but crazy keeps things interesting, so I suppose you can come along." he sighed, not knowing the enormity of the decision.
Her head was cloudy & tumbling with thoughts & memories. 'Why do I day dream about this, after all this time?' It had been just half a year of traveling with Shuuhei, & 4 months with Sado. She knew that soon, she would be coming to an age where she, normally, was supposed to be a married woman with a stable life, but here she was, defying the time-honored tradition by wandering around the countryside dueling with strangers, mooching off her merchant friend, & unable to distinguish between love & friendship. Her all-to-often dreams & flashbacks reminded her of the position she was in. She was drawn out of her reverie when they stopped at a clear blue stream.
Karin sprung out of the wagon & lapped at the fresh water. She prepared her bag for the rest of her journey. "Switch with me Shuuhei-kun, I'm going on ahead!"
"Sure, suit yourself!" he yelled as she took off on Hisagi's horse & setting out with a quick gallop.
The destination was their base of operations, which was a day & a half away at Sado's current pace, but much faster alone. The house was located in the 1st district in the Rukongai, which was where the houses for civilians were. It was a modest two room house with a kitchen, owned by Sado, & looked after by their surrogate grandmother.
She was kind, gentle, & always had delicious food for them despite her old age. She had two grandchildren she cared for, the grandson whom the travelers had never met, but heard many tales about. Her unseen grandson had been adopted by the western commander who appointed him lord of a large village after he was then sent to an academy to develop skills crucial to a young warrior on a battle field. His swordsmanship was revered among many of the warriors who had doubted him due to his age. Her granddaughter was married off just a short time after they met each other, but she was soft spoken & very polite. Her husband was supposedly a charming, but slightly shady, young man. With her real family away at said places, she had treated the travelers like her own grandchildren.
Karin silently thanked kami as she trotted into the tranquil village before night fall, knowing that thieves were roaming the lands. As she rode down a familiar street, she breathed in the scent of autumn leaves & delicious cooking, before reaching the house she ordered her horse to halt. She dismounted & tied him to a nearby fence then entered her surrogate grandmother's house.
"Hey, obasan, Momo-chan!" she yelled as she pushed through the thin straw door.
"Oh, welcome! You're back sooner than expected. I'll prepare some tea. Momo-chan is in the back."
Karin walked back out the door & around the house to get to the back where she saw Momo & a young white haired boy, presumably the grandson Tōshirō, sparring with bokken. She came to an abrupt stop as she heard Momo ranting to Tōshirō after they finished sparring.
"Tōshirō-kun! Why, why?! Why did he leave me?!" she sobbed into his shoulder.
He draped an arm her & whispered soothing words into her ear to comfort her. It was then, when Momo fell to her knees that Karin rushed over to see what was going on.
"Momo-chan…"
"Oh Karin-san, I'm so sorry you have to see me like this." she replied as she wiped away her tears
"No, don't worry about it. I'm here if you need someone to listen to you."
She smiled at Karin's comforting words & got up to her feet brushing off any last traces of sadness.
"Um, we can talk inside, but I don't think the two of you have formally met but this is my little brother Tōshirō-kun & this is my friend Karin-san."
They bowed respectively in greeting.
"Please call me Hitsugaya; it's a pleasure to meet you though."
"Kurosaki Karin. It's a pleasure as well Tōshirō-kun." he just sighed at the name not even bothering to correct her since he just told her.
With that, the trio walked into the house to discover tea & sweets had been prepared by their grandmother. They all sat down around a small round table where they sipped their tea & munched on their treats.
Momo broke the calm silence. "Karin-san, you must be wondering why I was crying earlier… My husband, Aizen... betrayed me." she sighed with an flustered expression.
"I suppose I'll start at the beginning. Our relationship was going well until he said that he wanted me to bear him a child. Initially I was against the idea of premarital intimacy, but he convinced me somehow with his lies. We kept trying & trying for almost a year. When I first began showing signs he instantly married me. But somehow… it, the baby, I had a miscarriage. Once he heard he was so angry that he… he stabbed me through the stomach… & tossed me aside like I was nothing!" at this point in her story her voice cracked & tears were welling up in the sides of her eyes. Tōshirō rubbed her back gently & Karin held one of her pale, feeble hands with both of her own.
"What's really important is that he told me that he would overthrow Yamamoto, the ruler of the great 13 cities in the western lands & that when he did so, he would need an heir to take his place as ruler. He said he was going to kill Urhara Kisuke & Kurosaki Isshin take the villages of the north as well. His ultimate goal is to kill the shogun & rule over everyone!" Momo yelled her voice hysterical.
Karin knew that whoever this Aizen person was, he would do anything to gain control of the government, seeing as what he did to Momo, who was his 'wife.' She knew it was her duty to protect her old goat face father from upcoming danger, even if she was just a runaway. Karin could tell that Momo still had mixed feelings about Aizen. Being a teenage girl, her emotions weren't always in check. She was snapped out of her thoughts & back to reality as Tōshirō started speaking.
"Momo-chan, you've only been back for a week. Go get some rest, I'll walk Kurosaki-san home."
The girl got up & walked somberly back to her room, looking defeated. The other two walked outside of the house.
"I'm going to kill that monster!" he yelled while slamming his fist on the wood siding as his cool demeanor was replaced with fiery rage.
"Not if I do first." she retorted. "He stabbed Momo, betrayed Commander Yamamoto, & threatened to kill my father, all which jeopardize our central government! I can't sit by & let him accomplish his twisted plan!" Karin yelled, furry in her dark grey eyes.
"I agree. We need to keep an eye on him at the very least, we can't let him endanger the lives of innocent people." he stated, gaining back his icy composure.
"I think it would be best for us to join forces. My friends are coming tomorrow & we could join with your commander's forces so we would have a better at chance foiling his plans." Karin propositioned.
"That would be the smartest decision… but his whereabouts are unknown. We'll create a task force to locate & assassinate him."
"That sounds like a decent plan. We'll inform your commander of this & then recruit a few people to accompany us."
"Alright, we'll leave tomorrow night so Momo doesn't find out. Good night Kurosaki-san." Tōshirō whispered.
"Sleep well, Tōshirō-kun."
They parted; Tōshirō went to check up Momo while Karin walked into her own house. She was taken aback by his decision to leave Momo behind, but then realized it would be in her best interest since she couldn't properly fight & just seeing Aizen could break her will. The boy just wanted what's best for his sister, what she really deserved.