Child of the White Winter
Kia Ixari & Aventria
No. Sadly, this is not Hitsugaya/Karin. Seriously. I don't go for that pair, and neither does Tria, so this story will not contain any such material. Neither of us swing that way.
Warning(s): Mild cussing.
I
Snowstorm
-
"Yuzu, wake up." Karin gently nudged her twin. The younger girl had fallen asleep along the ride, naturally vulnerable against cold weather and cloudy mornings. "Oi. We're here."
Yuzu blearily lifted her head from her sister's shoulder, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. "Already?" She stretched. "I wanted to sleep a bit more…"
Karin stood and retrieved their bags from the overhead rack, handing her sister an extra sweater. Yuzu was a responsible girl, but at times, she became far too much so, sacrificing her own wellbeing for another's. It was common knowledge between the four of them in the family. After all, the role of being the lady of the household was taken up by Yuzu after their mother's death.
"Bundle up. It's awful outside," Karin warned her.
Yuzu peered out the window, squinting to see through the heavy blizzard. "We have to walk through that?"
"Well, it's not like we have any choice," Karin shrugged. "We can't control the weather, you know."
"Oi, Kurosaki! We'll leave you behind if you don't move it!"
"Hai, hai," the elder of the twins sighed. "Come on, Yuzu."
The two of them followed after the queue of high school students leaving their buses and heading for the shrouded form of the building. Far ahead, Karin could see their teacher holding a flashlight, and even further, the building's lobby lights. She knew that the cathedral was majestic in broad daylight, having seen it once in passing when she had visited Ichigo a few months ago.
After graduating from high school two years ago, her elder brother was (miraculously enough) accepted into a medical university in a neighboring town two hours away from Karakura, where he was currently studying to inherit their family's clinic business. To cut down the bills, the four of them—Ichigo, Ishida, Orihime, and Chad—decided they would pick out a four-room condominium near the university and split the food and rent. They had all aimed and tested for the same university—Ishida in order to follow after his father's footsteps despite his apparent dislike for said parent, Orihime in her interest with healing (Karin heard she wanted to find a way to use her powers for people), and Chad to be able to earn enough money to support himself and his aging grandfather in Mexico.
The apartment they had rented was a mere few blocks away, right beside a park and a plaza that neighbored the university. During the one time Karin and Yuzu visited the four of them at a whim, Ichigo walked them around the town as a tour—the cathedral was one of the highlights. Yuzu had fallen in love with it, and brought pictures back home to Karakura. Showed them to the entire class, and then proceeded to pester the teachers into a school tour. Interested, one of their teachers called the cathedral, found that it was also an orphanage, and made it so that their end-of-the-year Christmas outreach program would be held there.
"W-Wait for m-me, K-Karin!"
Karin felt a hand grab her elbow—she looked back and found Yuzu folding under the lashing winds. Her twin sister was her complete opposite, mild-mannered and frail. Though slender, Yuzu was not athletic, and loathed any heavy muscle work. "Take it easy," she said, slipping an arm around her sister's waist in support.
"W-Why did this blizzard have t-to come t-today?" Yuzu's teeth were chattering as they half-sprinted the last few steps towards the lobby. Karin wordlessly handed her sister a mug of hot chocolate the cathedral's helpers were handing out. The room was already warming her body; having an athlete's endurance always came in handy.
Looking around the cathedral's lobby, she found herself mildly awed. It wasn't her first time seeing inside a cathedral, but this one proved to be far bigger and grander than any she'd seen. However, before she could fully marvel at the architecture and grandeur, a throng of little children were led in by a few adults.
Behind her, Yuzu squealed. "How cute!"
She shook her head. Unlike her twin, she was not all that fond of little children. She watched as Yuzu rushed over and greeted the 'cute little angels'.
"Yuzu-chan really loves kids, doesn't she," remarked one of their classmates, Nanami. "Adorable. Even more so in a maid costume. I wonder if she has a boyfrie—"
"You'd better not continue that thought, Nanami-kun," Karin scowled. "Lay a single finger on my sister, you sick pervert, and I'll make sure you'll never lay a finger on anything else in your entire life."
"Maa, maa, Karin-chan," Megumi, a classmate and fellow member of the girl's soccer club, said in an attempt to douse Karin's anger. "Nanami's just being the idiot he is. Ignore him."
Karin leveled the said idiot with a glare that would make even a grown man fold.
"Anyway, come on." Megumi grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the information desk. "We might be able to avoid the dirty work if we volunteer for the desk job early. I know you just about loathe dealing with little children, and you know I do too. So let's ignore Nanami's idiocy and put our time to good use."
Soon they were seated comfortably behind the welcome desk, with one of the orphanage's workers sitting with them, guiding them through what needed to be done. A huge bulk of it was paperwork—not a very exciting prospect, but a world's worth better than dealing with the snotty little babies Yuzu so loved.
Karin sifted mindlessly through the folders, faintly curious of their contents. She expected diverse backgrounds from the children, and she was not disappointed—some of them were taken from destroyed families, others orphaned by accidents, a few more from hospitals where mothers have died from childbirth, and a couple picked up from the streets. Karin was immensely thankful she did not have to suffer the same circumstances these children had to go through—she had a family, and though they were now missing a mother, they were still happy.
She sighed and opened the next folder, keeping at her job of rearranging the profiles inside by date of arrival at the orphanage. She laid out the files neatly—May eleventh of 2005, August fifteenth of 2005, January 2006, September 2006, December 2006—
What…?
Her eyes refused to move from the little child's picture. Her hands were frozen still. The noise and chatter around her faded into a faint buzz at the back of her head. The details written in black ink was stark against the white paper, scalding her eyes.
Born 20th of December 2006. Given name Toushirou, family name Takeshima (mother). Mother passed away of childbed fever shortly after birth. Arrived at orphanage from Nishitama General Hospital, 05 January 2007. No known relatives.
Karin's eyes once more settled upon the small square picture pinned with the set of papers. Hair as white as pure snow, eyes as brilliant as polished emeralds—there was no mistake.
Toushirou.
She could still clearly remember, four and a half years ago, when she first met the scowling white-haired boy. She'd been kicking her ball around in its net, and by mistake let it escape and tumble down the hill towards the busy road. Toushirou had saved the ball, passed it back to her, and then turned and walked away—it was a fleeting meeting, but that was the first. They would meet again atop a hill overlooking a beautiful sunset, where she would insist the boy—whom she honestly mistook as a fellow elementary student—help her and her makeshift soccer team. Much later, she would find out that Toushirou, like her brother, was a shinigami. And a captain at that.
But how? Ichi-nii said Toushirou died during the big war…
She bit her lip and turned abruptly towards the information lady actively conversing with Megumi. "Excuse me—can you point me to where this child is?" Karin showed her the picture, and was met with a sad smile.
"Ah, Toushirou-kun," the lady sighed.
Karin cursed inwardly, hoping against hope, praying no one had adopted the boy yet. "He's still here, right?"
Megumi raised an eyebrow. "Do you know him, Karin-chan?"
"…kind of."
"You do?" the lady asked, surprised. Then she sank back to her seat, slumping with disappointment. "That's… that's too bad. Toushirou-kun passed away two weeks ago."
Karin was floored.
"What? Wait—how? He should only be—what, three? Four years old? Was he sick?"
"Oh, no," the lady chuckled. "Toushirou-kun was a healthy young boy, if a tad small for his age. Very smart, very quiet. Loved books. Mature. Never made trouble. Had quite an appetite—he loved watermelons. But—well, I wouldn't expect you to know about the bomb explosion at the nearby playground two weeks ago, given you're from the neighboring town."
"Bomb?" Karin and Megumi both echoed in alarm.
The lady nodded. "A sick somebody planted a bomb over there and wrecked the entire place. We lost five—five children." The lady paused, pursing her lips. "Toushirou-kun was reading under his favorite tree as usual. It wasn't the actual explosion that killed him, the doctors said. The shock probably did the damage," she relayed. Heaving a sigh, she took the papers from Karin's hands. "We haven't updated the paperwork yet, but the online records should already show the date and reason of his death. It's a sad thing… Toushirou-kun was very smart, and surely would have had a good future ahead of him. The church did the funeral service four days after the blast."
Karin hissed in disappointment.
Wait—if he hasn't been sent over to Soul Society yet, then Ichi-nii might be able to find his soul somewhere around the area! He couldn't have gotten too far…
She gnawed at her lip anxiously for a minute, contemplating the odds. Was she too late? Or was there still time? Was Toushirou still wandering somewhere near the playground? Or—she cursed—had the Hollows gotten to the defenseless child already? Karin had no idea whether his memories as a shinigami were bound to come back, but one thing was for sure—Hollows would chase after that child, what with that insanely powerful reiryoku.
Hurriedly extricating herself from the small information circle, Karin shuffled towards one of the secluded corners and pulled out her cellphone. Hitting a speed dial, she held the ringing phone to her ear. In impatience, she shifted her weight left and right, to and fro, waiting, urging her brother to pick up.
She didn't want to think of what would happen if they were too late.
"Hello—Ichi-nii?"
-
-
"Uwah… it's horrible outside!" Orihime exclaimed. Her nose was almost pressed up against the cold glass, her warm breath fogging it. The blizzard raged on, dark clouds showing no signs of relenting.
"Campus will probably be closed tomorrow as well," Chad remarked from his perch on the couch.
The three of them—Orihime, Chad, and Ichigo—were waiting for lunch to be served. Orihime had initially offered her help, but the three of them flat out refused to let her anywhere near the kitchen anymore—not since their fateful first night in the condominium two years ago. They had learned their lesson—Orihime was a strange girl, and her strangeness extended to her culinary… exploits. Since then, Ishida had been in charge of breakfast, dinner, and the occasional lunch. Often, they ate lunch outside or in campus, each having their own schedule. But there were also days like these when they were stuck home—as thus, lunch was left to the only reliable cook who would be able to feed them without unintentionally inflicting fatal injuries. Each of them was in charge of their own laundry; Chad, Ichigo and Orihime took care of groceries, cleaning, and all the other maintenance chores.
"Oh, Ichigo-kun," Orihime turned. Ever since the four of them had started living together, Orihime had taken to Ichigo's first name. "Are Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan still coming to town for their outreach trip?"
"I'm not sure," shrugged Ichigo. "I'll ring them later. If they're in town, I'll ask them to stop by if they can."
There was a comfortable pause, the silence filled in only by the soft notes of a song Orihime favored.
"Still," Orihime sighed, leaning over the couch's arm and cupping her chin in her palm. "Don't you think this winter storm is strange? It's been going on for more than a week now. On top of that, there was nothing like this on the forecasts."
"I don't feel any questionable reiatsu," shrugged Ichigo. Both Ishida and Orihime, the most sensitive of the four of them, were insisting that the storm was unnatural. Ever since Ishida voiced his concern, Ichigo had taken to spreading his senses to cover the entire town, at times even going as far as checking the neighboring Karakura. But he felt nothing out of the ordinary—no excessively powerful Hollows, no stray Arrancars, and certainly no wandering fallen Espada (for there were still a few remaining uncaught). Even if Ichigo did not check the neighborhood himself, they were bound to be notified by Soul Society's watchers—Karakura town and its surroundings, after all, had a high-density of soul particles.
"I don't feel anything either," Ishida remarked as he carried started laying out their lunch on the table. Orihime stood and went over to help him. "But just because we don't feel anything doesn't mean nothing's out there."
"But if we don't feel anything, then how are we supposed to do something about it, whatever it is?" Ichigo sighed in exasperation, letting his head fall against the sofa's headrest.
"Ichigo."
"What?"
"Your phone's ringing," Chad pointed out.
"Is it? Ah, where did I…" The orange-haired young man shuffled in his pockets and turned out empty-handed. He stood and sprinted to his room—as soon as he opened the door, and indignant stuffed Kon bounced out, all yells and curses. He found his phone under a pillow on his bed and flipped it open, all the while marveling at Chad's hellishly sharp ears. "Karin?"
"Hello, Ichi-nii?"
Ichigo frowned. His sister sounded… off. "What's up?"
"Uh, do you remember the outreach trip I told you about, the one at the orphanage?"
He smiled. Just like Karin—straight to the point, no dilly-dally. He gathered she would make a good businesswoman. "Yeah, it was supposed to be today, right? Are you at the orphanage already? Are you still doing the program in this terrible weather?"
"Yeah—we're at the orphanage right now." Ichigo could hear children's shrieks of laughter from the background. "Ichi-nii, do you… do you remember Toushirou? The white-haired kid shinigami who came here one time?"
The frown returned to Ichigo's face, deeper and more pronounced this time. He had revealed everything to Yuzu and Karin with the help of his father after the Winter War, and impressed upon them the importance of keeping the secret. They were both accepting of it, though Yuzu was slightly frightened, and Karin was absolutely miffed at being left out. It certainly made Rukia's coming and going easier to explain, as well as the occasional presence of "Ichi-nii's shady friends" (namely Renji, Ikkaku, and crew).
However, Karin was quite inquisitive, and had the tendency to hear things she was not supposed to hear, or notice things she was not supposed to notice. In the end, Ichigo and Isshin both had no choice but to let the elder twin in on what was going on instead of constantly catching her eavesdropping or having her ask uncomfortable questions that would require lies and cover-ups. They understood that Karin needed to know what was going on around her—in more ways than one, Karin was more similar to father and son. Yuzu was carefully kept in the partial dark, all for the delicate girl's peace of mind.
However, in exchange for the knowledge, it was sworn that matters would only be discussed in private, when it was of utmost importance, or if it presented any danger to any one member of their family. After all, Karin was human and not a shinigami—they were not supposed to give her any knowledge at all.
"Of course I do," Ichigo replied in a subdued voice. The pain of Toushirou's death never really left any of them, even four and a half years after the war. He never told Karin how Toushirou died—he simply told her that he was dead. Karin insisted, asserted, demanded, but he never answered. "Why do you bring him up?"
"I… look, you might not believe me on this, Ichi-nii…"
"With all that I've been through, Karin, I would never say something is impossible until I've seen the proof of it being so with my own eyes," Ichigo snorted. "So spill."
"…well, I was looking through the orphanage records earlier, and I found a child." Ichigo could hear her voice slightly trembling. "His name… Ichi-nii, his name's Toushirou, and he looked exactly like the Toushirou we knew."
Silence.
"Karin, maybe you just mistook the kid for Toushirou."
"I'm not blind, you know! You have worse eyesight than I do! And besides—white hair and green eyes, Ichi-nii? How common is that in Japan? And shall we count his name—Toushirou—as coincidence while we're at it?" Karin scoffed on the other side. "No, I don't think so."
"…"
"Ichi-nii?"
"Where's this kid now?"
"He's dead, Ichi-nii."
"…dead," Ichigo echoed. The word brought chills down to his spine. Memories of the war lingered in the far corners of his mind. Behind him, he felt Orihime standing by the door, listening in to the conversation.
"He apparently died two weeks ago at a blast in a nearby playground park." His mind flashed to a news report he'd seen—five children, he recalled. Five children had died, all from the orphanage nearby. "Ichi-nii, that blast—I don't think it's normal. Remember those explosions long ago? The ones they couldn't trace—the ones actually made by Hollows? What if Toushirou was being chased by Hollows? If that was the same Toushirou, that'd be no wonder—he'd be strong! I don't think his soul was eaten, Ichi-nii. I don't want to think that. Could we at least check this out?"
The disturbed frown still set on his face, he looked out his room's window. "The weather's horrible, Karin." But that might be the reason for this snowstorm. If I'm not mistaken, Toushirou's shikai could control the weather…
"Ichi-nii!"
Ichigo bit his lip. "I don't know much about reincarnation—Urahara-san might be a better person to ask about that, but… but alright, we'll check it out. I'll—" he paused, glancing behind him. Orihime was leaning against the door, Chad standing behind her. Ishida was listening from the living room. "…we'll try and be there as soon as we can. But let's wait until the weather slows a bit. We can't walk outside in this storm."
"Are you going to tell Soul Society?"
"No, not yet," Ichigo decided. "Not until we've verified. I don't want to give a false alarm."
"I see. Okay. I'll try to see what I can find, Ichi-nii. Hurry. I don't know what I'd do if there's a Hollow out there…"
"Make sure you're wearing the necklace dad and I gave you, Karin," Ichigo warned. "Yuzu too."
With words of goodbye and a promise that they would hurry as soon as the weather let up a little, Ichigo hung up. He sat on the edge of his bed, arms braced on his thighs.
"Karin-chan?" Orihime verified.
"Yeah."
"What was it about?" Ishida asked.
Ichigo rubbed the side of his head. If this child was really Toushirou… he sighed, turning toward his friends to tell the story.
"Ishida, do you know anything about reincarnation?"
-
-
Warily, Karin approached Yuzu and reminded her never to take off the necklace. Now that the possibility of a Hollow nearby had increased, they needed to be careful. Both of them were always prime targets because of the reiryoku they'd inherited from their father. Yuzu was slightly put out by the warning, but Karin immediately lightened her up by reminding her that their Ichi-nii was nearby, and that they were well-protected so long as they had the necklaces that suppressed their reiatsu to normal levels.
She picked up another mug of hot chocolate and headed back towards the information desk, avoiding the throng of shrieking happy little children. She felt uneasy whenever the thought of little defenseless Toushirou being chased by Hollows out in the middle of the snowstorm crossed her mind. Before she knew it, she had already developed an attachment to the late captain—she really did not know why.
As she settled back into her seat, Megumi nudged her. "What's wrong? You look pale. Something happen?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing. I'm fine, just the cold," Karin shrugged her concern off, faking a smile. Megumi was easily fooled. Karin turned to the lady. "Could you tell me more about Toushirou?"
"Ara," the lady smiled. "You really are interested, aren't you?"
"Yes, well… you seem to know a lot about him."
"Hmm," the lady leaned back in her chair. "I'm not really the front desk person, you see. I'm in charge of the library; the front desk job is only for today since you young people came for the outreach, and I was assigned to help around here. If you haven't noticed, the left wing serves as an orphanage, but the right wing of the cathedral connects to a seminary. We have quite a big library, and I'm the serving librarian." She paused for a while, sipping her coffee. "Everyday Toushirou-kun would stop by and read some children's books. He was only about four, but he was leaps and bounds ahead of the other children. Everyone kept saying he had to be older than he looked, but the hospital records clearly showed he was born December of 2006, four years ago."
"But because he was so much ahead of the other children, he was isolated," the lady continued. "I never once saw him play with anybody else. No one approached him much, since he turned down everybody anyway, preferring to read. He loved picture magazines the most. National Geographic and that sort—he was already starting to learn English too. And maybe no one wanted to get closer to him because… well, strange things happened around him."
Karin's attention was piqued. "Strange things?"
The lady shifted in her seat. "He… saw things."
Strike, Karin muttered in her head.
"You young people might not believe this kind of stuff, but this is a church, and churches believe in the supernatural. Forces beyond reasoning, that sort of talk. God. And evil spirits, of course."
"And Toushirou-kun saw them?" exclaimed Megumi.
The lady nodded. "The resident priest and the nuns acknowledged Toushirou-kun's… ability, if you may, and told him that those things he saw were real, but also warned that he should never, ever yield to them—whoever and whatever they were." The lady heaved a sigh. "All I know is that the child was quite afraid of what he saw—very much so at the beginning. But I guess after a while the child felt that the other children were uncomfortable with whatever he said he saw, so he kept things to himself. From time to time, you'd just see him look up in the distance, and then pack up his books and rush back into the cathedral—as if he's running away from something."
Double strike, Karin muttered. She resisted the urge to ring her brother again.
"There were even instances when he'd wake up, slip out of the room without waking his roommates, and huddle by the altar, or knock at the priests' door. The priest grew quite fond of him—anybody would after about a dozen nights spent calming the boy! He said he heard screams. Loud screams."
Triple strike. Oh, Ichi-nii, hurry, hurr—
A scream in the distance.
Karin froze. Hollow.
She bit her lip, wringing her wrist. Shit, shit, shit, Ichi-nii, where are you?!
-
-
There was still a small shrine dedicated to the children inside the smaller prayer chapel, and a picture of Toushirou was up on display. Karin lit a candle and uttered a small prayer—even though she was not one of the Christian faith, she could still offer her prayers for these young souls. She fervently hoped that none of them were preyed on by the Hollows, and that they were now safely delivered to Soul Society.
Anxiously, she waited for Ichigo, but the weather would not let up. She had received mail from his brother saying that if the weather did not relent by evening, Ichigo would go out in his soul form alone and search for the boy in the playground park. After all, even though he would feel the cold, his soul would not get frostbite or fold over in severe hypothermia. Best of all, there would be no risk of getting buried in the already thigh-deep snow.
She had contemplated going out on her own, but she had no idea where Toushirou was, and it would count as suicide to go out in a snowstorm without knowing for certain where she was going. Thus, she was stuck waiting, praying, hoping fervently against hope that Toushirou was not out there, that Toushirou was fine.
But I have a feeling that's not the case, she grimly thought, gazing out the chapel's window.
"Karin-chan?" a gentle voice came from the chapel's doorway.
Karin turned to find her twin. "Yuzu. What's up?"
"I could ask you the same question," Yuzu frowned, walking towards her. "Is something wrong? You've been acting strange since we got here." The younger girl hesitated for a moment, before adding, "Are there Hollows around?"
"No, that's… not it," Karin shifting in her seat. "Well, actually—yes, that is it."
Yuzu sighed. "Knew it. Did you call Ichi-nii?"
"He said he would come as soon as the weather let up, or come evening."
"I see," Yuzu said. "Don't worry, Karin-chan. It'll be fine. Ichi-nii will take care of it."
Karin smiled up at her sister. "Yeah." Her eyes flickered back towards the window, as if attracted by some sort of power. She forced herself to look back up at Yuzu. "Say, could you get me another mug of hot chocolate?"
"Sure!" Yuzu grinned. "Wait here."
As soon as Yuzu was out of sight, Karin shot up from her seat and pressed her face to the glass window, squinting through the white haze. In the short distance she could see a section of the playground park, and beyond the trees a hulking ominous figure—
Shit!
She felt the Hollow's scream reverberate through her mind, and a familiar reiryoku tugged at hers. Perhaps being around his father and brother had honed her senses—she did not know. But she felt the reiryoku clearly, a large spike triggered by alarm and fear. She scrambled to the nearest exit door, wrapping her coat around her and snagging Yuzu's extra scarf.
Toushirou, hold on!
-
Tsuzuku
(Revised Version)
Kiasidira Ixari & Aventria
First Draft: 2008.05.18
Uploaded: 2008.09.18
Last Revised: 2008.08.07
