A/N: I have always wanted to write a fanfic with Karin as a Shinigami. The idea appeals to me so much! This takes place after the series, so things are very different! And Karin has never met Toshiro, so they don't have any prior knowledge of each other.
I wanted to develop Karin as a character away from the influences of her family. Ichigo and Isshin won't be there to monitor her and keep her safe, Yuzu won't be there for her to talk with, and Toshiro won't have any affect on her training as a Shinigami. Just because her interaction with them is limited at first doesn't mean that they aren't there. All of them are an important part of the plot, just not in the beginning. I have huge plans for Karin and I didn't want her to be modeled after any them, I wanted her to have her own leadership style and I wanted her to be shaped by the events and environment of Rukongai, like most spirits.
Don't be afraid to drop a review once you're finished with the chapter! I love reading them! Enjoy!
Soccer was her life. It was her everything. Karin fought everyone her first year of high school to earn her spot on the soccer team. The girls in Karakura Town weren't interested in playing soccer, so Karin forced her way onto the guys team. Now in her fourth, and final, year of high school, Karin is captain of the boys soccer team.
Karin headed to the locker room to change into her soccer uniform when thunder clapped in the distance. She heard the quiet pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. The team had practiced in worse, so she wasn't really concerned. But, she was concerned about her knee. At her last soccer match, a pre-season, exhibition match, some kid had tackled her and as she crashed into the ground, her left knee twisted on impact. It swelled and bruised, so she was given a brace and orders of no soccer for at least a week. That had been a month ago. The pain had dwindled to a constant ache that was too little to notice unless she focused on it, but practice always made it worse.
Out on the field, Souta Fujita, the vice-captain, had the team doing warm-up drills. Karin jogged over and took her place beside Souta and started her warm-up. Practice went smooth. They had gotten through the dribbling exercises and endurance training and most of eye-foot coordination before the weather got too bad to continue. The first lightning strike had sent the younger kids running for their bags along the side of the field and the sudden wind and pelting rain had sent everyone running towards the locker rooms.
The minute Karin was out of sight from her teammates she began to limp. In the locker room she sat down on one of the benches and her hands went to rub her aching knee, but her touch only made her reel back. The violent motion skewed her balance and she fell off the bench. Karin tried to stand up but her knee didn't accept the pressure to well and the pain made her nauseous. She wasn't going to lie to herself and tell her that things would pass in a moment because she was an athlete and athletes know pain. She needed help. Her phone was out of reach and her thoughts and vision were slowly warping and the urge to vomit only grew stronger.
Karin lay still as a rock on the floor with one leg pulled close to her chest and hands clutched at her head. A pounding was growing in her head which only made her dizziness worse. She squeezed her eyes shut, scared at how fast things were developing. Thunder exploded across the sky, but she could barely hear it. She was cold and sleepy, but she had to release the team from practice (it was a Karakura High School tradition for team captains to release the teams, not the coach).
With her fists clenched to steady the shaking, Karin grit her teeth and rose to her feet. Her knee throbbed with each step she took and she had to brace herself against the lockers. Her phone dinged and the screen lit up. It took her a minute to reach her phone. She unlocked it and read the message (with much difficulty).
Souta: Captain, the guys are getting antsy. Where are you?
Karin didn't bother replying because she couldn't see the keyboard well enough. She tossed her phone into her bag and began to slip into her school uniform. For once in her life, she was glad that the school uniform was just a skirt and not pants. She couldn't imagine trying to put her legs into pants, at least not with the pain. It was a lot easier to slip into the white button up and sweater vest (she thanked God for the sweater vest, so she didn't have to struggle with the buttons).
The minute Karin saw the blurry outline of the team, she forced her body to accept the pain and shifted to her normal walk. "Sorry, guys! I had an issue with my locker and I couldn't get the damn thing open! Good work today! Go home!" Her words were short and choppy. She wanted to get home and go to sleep. She mustered the strength to wrap her hand around her best friend, Jurou Oshiro. Jurou was a year younger than her, but they had been best friends since her first year of middle school. "Jurou, I need your help," she said when the rest of team left.
Jurou looked down at Karin. He was shocked to hear how weak her voice came out, but he became concerned when he found her face contorted. "Karin-chan, what's wrong?"
"Just help me home," Karin said. Things weren't getting better, they were getting worse.
Jurou kept a grip on Karin as he tied his uniform blazer around her waist. Karin faltered a bit when Jurou crouched down, but he laced her arms around his neck and hoisted on his back which saved her from falling. She let out a small yelp when he grabbed onto her knees. She didn't have it in her to speak anymore, so she just laid her head on the younger boy's shoulder and shut her eyes.
The rain had only gotten harder and the sky was fully gray. Karin could barely feel the rain as it pelted against her back, but she could feel every jostle from Jurou's running. Thankfully, her house wasn't that far from the school, only a fifteen minute walk. Jurou eventually came to a stop at the gates. "Karin-chan, you're home," he said gently in case she was sleeping.
"Thanks, Jurou. I can get inside by myself." Karin whispered as she slid off his back. When her feet hit the ground, a shock of pain shot through her leg, but she suppressed any reactions. Jurou didn't need to worry about this. It took everything she had to not limp.
Jurou said nothing until she had her hand on the door knob. "What happened?"
Karin didn't turn around. "I twisted my knee during practice," she said as she slipped inside, but Jurou didn't believe her.
0oo0oo0
That day passed uneventfully after Karin made it home, but the following months, not so much. Christmas Break was arriving and the soccer team had stopped meeting in early November. When practice stopped, the pain in Karin's knee lifted ever-so-slightly, but she found other problems arising. Her lack of an appetite and weight loss was becoming apparent. Yuzu was always reprimanding her older twin sister on her health habits, so Karin just played it off as stress from studying for mid-terms. The blond twin reluctantly accepted her sister's answer, but she still packed a little extra for Karin's lunch (not that the girl ate it, she stopped eating her lunches in October).
Misato Ochi, the teacher of all three Kurosaki siblings at one point or another, stared at Karin as the student walked into the room. The black-haired teen looked at her sister with tired eyes. Ochi continued to stare at her, baffled at her observations. The young, vibrant, somewhat aggressive, Karin Kurosaki was pale, but not the lack-of-sun pale, a sickly pale. Her face was sunken in and her hair was dull, but what really worried the teacher was the thin layer of sweat present on Karin's face.
"Karin Kurosaki, will you see me for a moment?" Ochi called out.
Karin slowly nodded as she basically hobbled to her teacher's desk. The previous night had been exceptionally awful for her. She spent the whole night stuck in one position because the pain in her knee and back (another stupid thing that developed within the last month) resonated throughout her whole body which meant she couldn't get any blankets to quell her chills or grab a glass of water to quench her thirst. "Yes, Ochi-sensei?"
"How are you feeling? You look a little ill," Ochi began gently. If the girl in front of her was anything like her brother, there was no point in demanding an answer.
Karin sucked in a weak breath. Talking was rough when the motor functions were impaired. "I'm a little tired, I guess."
"You seem to be a little more than tired, Karin," Ochi watched in concern as her student's eyes drifted shut. "This won't do, I'm calling your father."
Karin's eyes snapped open. "Sensei, I told you, I'm fine," her words came out slurred. "I'm just stressed because of mid-terms."
Ochi didn't believe a word the teenager said and proceeded to reach for the phone. As the phone was ringing, Ochi spoke to Karin. "Your father is a doctor, he'll know what to do."
Karin was about to protest, but Ochi had already started talking to Isshin. She wanted to reach out and hang up the phone, but she had been dealing with arm numbness which prevented her from actually moving them. She hated that her body was falling apart, but she hated that she never went to the doctor even more.
Ochi sent Karin to go rest in the nurse's office and allowed Yuzu to go with her. The twins walked in silence. It wasn't until Karin was settled on the hard cot that Yuzu spoke. "What's happening to you, Karin-chan?"
The younger girl moved a chair next to the cot and patiently waited for an answer. Karin held back her response, but she eventually gave in. "I... I think I'm sick. Like really sick, Yuzu."
"What do you mean? You never get sick!"
Karin took a few labored breaths before answering again. "Dad will take me to the doctor. Don't make me speak, it's hard." She vaguely made out the sound of Yuzu's sobs because her pain flared up and her hearing became muddled and her vision blurred. She shut her eyes and they didn't open until she felt herself being carried (more like her nausea kicked in at the sudden movement). She recognized the beard and black hair as her father. Despite her attitude towards the man, he was still her father and he brought her great comfort.
The trip to the hospital was quick and Karin found herself staring at her dad and sister after she had finished her consultation with the doctor. The small family was waiting for a nurse to come and lead Karin away for some testing.
Isshin was the first to talk and he was uncharacteristically serious. "Karin-chan, why didn't you say something? If you didn't want to tell me, why didn't you go to the doctor yourself?"
Karin's breathing had been getting more strained and she struggled to talk. "I was scared," she said after a moment. "I thought it'd go away after awhile, but it didn't. It only got worse, but I kept telling myself it'd go away because I don't get sick."
Their conversation was stopped when the nurse came. The tests ran for a few hours and the doctor admitted Karin to the hospital. Her vitals weren't stable enough to send home. They were never stable enough.
The results of Karin's tests came back: Stage IV Bone Cancer that metastasized to the spine. The metastasis led to spinal cord compression which explained the arm numbness. She also suffered from a broken fibula and a fractured patella. Her chances at survival was less than 7 percent. The cancer affected her whole body and no amount of chemotherapy would eliminate it. The doctor gave her four months to live.
0oo0oo0
Month 1
The breaks in Karin's leg never healed. She hadn't left the hospital since her results came out. Jurou, Yuzu and Isshin visited her everyday and sometimes Jurou brought along the soccer team. She wouldn't lie, when they came she didn't even feel that sick. They were like her second family and she loved them dearly. Karin never told them that she was going to die (only her family and Jurou knew that) and she promised them that she would be able to make it (even if she couldn't play) to their first match of the year. Their first match was in April. It was December when she was told that she was dying.
News reached Ichigo a week after the results. Even though he already had plans to visit for Christmas, Ichigo had stayed until the end of his break, but he left with the promise of being back soon. He was going to take a break from college. Karin hated that he was going to do that, but she admitted that it'd be nice if she could spend her final moments with her brother.
Karin told Jurou to stop bringing the soccer team. Jurou stopped visiting everyday.
It was January now. Karin was given a room with a great view of the city and most days she watched gray winter sky drop snow. On the last day of December the doctor informed her that she was a quadriplegic (not like it made any difference to her, her broken leg had already rendered her immobile), but thankfully her abdominal organs had been unaffected.
New Year's passed and the doctor asked Karin if she changed her mind about chemotherapy and pain medications. She told him that it was pointless to extend her misery and she didn't want her days to be muddy, she wanted to remember them. Karin was often in excruciating pain and she was always nauseous and dizzy.
The doctor blocked any visitors that weren't family. Karin agreed.
Month 2
Things were getting harder for Karin. At the end of January, she overheard the doctor and her dad talking. The doctor didn't think she would make it to four months and honestly, neither did she. From that point on, her entire family hadn't left the hospital room. Ichigo was able to put his college education on hold and he moved back home.
The days of February went by painstakingly slow. Karin's pain intensified everyday and every breath she took ached her lungs. She stopped sleeping on the start of the second week. The lack of rest took a toll on her already weak body. The doctor had told her told her to prepare for the worst, but at that point, Karin welcomed death.
Yuzu stopped going to school at the end of the week and Isshin closed his clinic. Ichigo had set up a makeshift bed on the couch and he only left the room to eat or when he was kicked out. Isshin occasionally brought a change of clothes for his son and often took Ichigo's place so the young man could sleep in a bed. On the days that Isshin stayed with his daughter, when he thought she was asleep (Karin pretended because it lessened the worry on her family and it made the time go by slightly faster), he would speak to his late wife and shed tears. It broke her heart to hear her dad cry as much as he did, especially because of her. Karin wasn't great at expressing affection for people she loved, but those she did love, she love with the entirety of her heart. There was no one she loved more than she loved her family.
The third week of February came and Karin was sure she was dying. It was Valentine's Day and she was surrounded by Ichigo, Yuzu, and Isshin. She didn't want them there, but she didn't want to be alone. She could feel the life slipping away from her. Her eyelids felt like lead and she could no long talk. Her breaths were becoming deeper and louder.
Karin couldn't feel her siblings holding each of her hands, but she could make out their shapes. No one said anything, but she could faintly hear all three of them crying. It was getting increasingly harder to keep her eyes open and they stayed shut for longer. Isshin placed a hand on her head and pushed her hair back. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered to her. "We'll meet again, Karin-chan, I promise. "
The last thing Karin felt was the tears of her father on her face. Karin Kurosaki died that moment.