harlequin pantomime

renji & karin

( vacation )

disclaimer: bleach belongs to kubo tite.


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10

"I feel like a holiday. You, me, and then it's over." Black boots rested on the train's windowsill, kicking up a tune with flecks of rainwater. She reclined on both seats, hair dangling from the edge of the seat, lips crimson like blood. "This. Whatever this is."

"Why exactly?" Renji asked, eying the target with a green neckerchief.

"I dunno. I'm kinda getting tired of this job."

"New found respect for life?"

"… yeah. That." Snickering, at the idea, Karin shrugged.

( target moves. assassins go in for the kill. )

"I get it: you want to be like an anti-hero. Smoke a cigarette and walk away." Renji noted, wiping his knife on the clothes of the dead target.

"Just not on a sunset beach." Her grin was like a shark's mouth. Full of many sharp and shiny teeth.

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9

Checklist for Karin:

Clothes? Check.

Pocket-knife? Check.

Gun? Check.

Bomb? Check.

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8

Checklist for Renji:

Wallet? Check.

Champagne? Check.

Ultra hot yacht armed with missiles and plenty of machine guns? Check.

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7

Karin chose a five-star hotel. Swimming pools, surfing lesions, tennis courts, golf pitches…

It's all very classy.

The general consensus is that two assassins deserve the very best before seeking retirement.

Renji enjoyed himself… until he discovered a certain man with a shiny ring.

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6

"Tell me the reason we came here is not because your ex-fiancé who cheated on you, is getting married here and you want revenge."

A pause.

"The reason we came here is not because my ex-fiancé who cheated on me, is getting married here and I want revenge."

Another pause.

"Kami. For an assassin, you are such a terrible liar, Karin!"

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5

They break the ping-pong table.

Damn competitiveness.

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4

"… I had a dream, Renji." Karin said, listening to the sound of waves and wondering why the sea can never have a shade of perfect blue.

"Oh yeah?" Arching his eyebrows, Renji waited to hear about it.

"Yeah. You killed the chef."

"How?"

"Disembowelment. With a spoon."

"Huh. Kind of ironic. That must have been pleasant for you to watch."

"… I've had worse."

They both shrugged and drank to successful missions and setting someone's hat on fire with a magnifying glass.

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3

"Tell me. Do you ever call home?" Renji asked, examining a souvenir that he might take with him.

"Not really. I'd probably run in to them sooner or later, though." Karin sighed, trying on a hat and seeing how she looked. "That's what I get when I take on a job like this."

"Your brother is fucking rich! Why choose the… lesser lifestyle?"

"Hmm. It's more exciting." The smaller of the two placed the hat on his head and added a flower. "I also wondered if killing people would give me a meaning in life. It was a flip of the coin. Heads – assassination. Tails – body guarding."

"Amazing what people will do for boredom."

Renji bought her the hat.

Karin gave him the flower.

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2

Karin's dream eventually came true.

Turned out that when Renji went to complain to the chef about his meal – he didn't order duck decorated in friggin' marshmallows – the chef was an old partner who had tried to kill him using live chickens, the phantom of the opera and real boys made of wood to the tune Misirlou when a mission went awry.

"Huh." Helping herself to ciabatta bread, Karin joined him. "Guess that the past really does haunt you after all."

"I guess we have to go. Shame. I was enjoying the place."

"Got anywhere in mind?" She offered Renji some bread, not really caring about the blood and dripping intestines.

"Not particularly."

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1

"Are you sure you didn't forget anything?"

"For the last time – yes! Jeez," Karin sighed, breathing smoke and crushing the cigarette. "You know me, I'm… classy."

"Classy." The incredulousness in his tone was unbelievable.

Renji decided to look at the place one last glance, as he drove off on his armed boat with Karin; listening the sound of resonating wedding bells.

The hotel blew up.

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