"So in essence, if he was to fight, then it would be as if he had the power of two people?" Komamura asked.
"Yoruichi grinned and said, "Even better. He'd be fighting with the power of two captain-class people. Both Ichigo and Shirosaki know bankai."
At the slightly skeptical but reassured expressions, Urahara cut in, "However, don't get your hopes up yet. We need to figure out how to wake him up first." Toushiro crossed his arms and asked with narrowed eyes, "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"
Urahara and Yoruichi exchanged glances, looked at Shirosaki, and then looked back at each other before the former replied, "Well... we have an idea in mind but it's a teeny bit... risky."
Just his tone and wording had Shirosaki's hackles rising as he growled lowly, "I ain't gonna like this idea am I?" The other captains were equally suspicious and their suspicions were only heightened when the two flashed everyone false cheerful smiles and simultaneously replied, "Nope~"
They wondered if they should start running now.
Meanwhile near 10th Division
"See them?" a male asked. "Heard they were just accepted…"
"So unfair. The rest of us had to go through the shinigami academy and they get to just enter a division?" a woman this time, her voice tinged with scorn and jealousy.
"…have private tutors supposedly since they know squat…" A couple snickers.
Karin's shoulders tensed and she was about to confront all the whisperers and show them what 'squat' they knew when a hand lightly touched her arm.
Yuzu's big, kind eyes gave her a gentle understanding look as she shook her head causing Karin to relax a bit but not much.
She scowled heavily and grumbled, "I hate this. It's not like we were the ones who asked to get put in here without going through the proper procedures."
Yuzu smiled and said optimistically, "But this is a good thing in the end right? Hitsugaya-taicho promised to do everything he could to get permission to send us to the human world once we got a bit stronger. Then we might find... whatever it is we're looking for."
Even as she said this with whole-hearted belief, there was no way Karin could miss the small pangs of hurt in her eyes whenever someone talked about them negatively.
She wished they didn't have to wait, that they were strong enough to go by themselves and figure out what they were looking for and find it. She hated seeing the barely visible tinge of sadness in her twin's reiatsu that was most likely mirrored in her own.
When they had first woken up in the 2nd district of Rukongai, both had felt a powerful, compelling need to see someone or something and had been surprised by the crushing feeling of despair and loneliness when they didn't see what they hoped to.
They had been lost –both physically and spiritually- and would have most likely starved to death if they hadn't been found by one Kukaku Shiba.
Yuzu was crying and Karin had no idea what to do or where to go, on the verge of tears herself even if they would only be out of frustration. She knew what their names were and was pretty sure that they had died but she didn't know how or why nor did she have any idea of where they were at the moment.
She wanted someone to come to their aid but even her imaginary savior's face remained elusive and unknown, just like everything else about their situation.
Despite how scared and uncertain she was, she couldn't let them stay exposed outside like this. Having a makeshift goal in mind, she grabbed her twin's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Yuzu looked at her before rubbing her eyes and then weakly smiling in an attempt at showing bravery which briefly made Karin proud
She put on her own feeble version of her customary smirk and said, "C'mon, let's go find a place to stay." Yuzu hummed softly in agreement and after wandering around for a while, they eventually found a place that would work.
It was an abandoned house far away from any places that seemed to be populated (later they would learn they had been sensing reiatsu) and hid away inside it.
They spent the next few days just waiting there, hoping someone would find them and give them some form of guidance but as time passed, they were continually disappointed.
Two weeks later they were exhausted, famished, and sinking further into their misery. They were quietly discussing what to do next when the door of their temporary home was suddenly kicked down.
Karin had instinctively gone into a defensive position and she could feel Yuzu's body next to her, shaking but impressively silent with not a single sound escaping her, as someone strode into the room they were in.
A woman with a fierce scowl planted on her face wearing a long skirt and a rather revealing top became visible, a man with what appeared to be a pig trailing in after her.
She stamped her foot onto a low table in the center of the room and asked sharply, "Kurosaki Karin and Kurosaki Yuzu?"
The two looked at each other in surprise before Karin warily demanded, "Who wants to know? I'll kick your ass if you're just a creepy stalker or kidnapper."
A flicker of approval flashed in the woman's eyes as she grinned and replied, "I like your guts kid. The name's Kukaku Shiba. On the request of a friend, I'm here to take you to some people who might be able to help you provided they don't act like the assholes they usually are."
An exchange of glances.
Yuzu spoke next in a soft but equally strong voice, a drastic change from how she had been when they first woke up, "And why should we trust you Kukaku-san? It doesn't sound like the people you're going to give us to will be very helpful."
Kukaku shrugged and said, "I have a personal grudge so my opinion of them is low but that has nothing to do with this. If I could help you with my own power believe me, I would. But what you guys need is something I can't help with so this is the only option" Another smirk that seemed grimmer this time.
"I'm sending you guys to a place called Soul Society. You can go there and see what happens or you can stay here and most likely die."
There had been no lies in her voice and eyes, only blunt honesty, so Karin and Yuzu hesitantly agreed.
When they arrived at the gateway of Seireitei, Kukaku just demanded to see someone called the "sou-taicho" and after a bit of heated words and mild threatening, they were granted permission to see him.
The meeting was brief; Kukaku had told the sou-taicho to let the two of them become shinigamis without "going through the bull-shit academy." When it looked like her request was going to be rejected, she whipped out a piece of paper.
From the brief glimpse they had, it looked very official and the writing on it seemed familiar somehow, even more so when they saw the name signed at the bottom:
Kurosaki Yamamoto Isshin.
Everything else happened really fast after that. They were suddenly accepted and received private tutoring from some of the strongest shinigamis and were then placed into 10th division. Their captain, though slightly baffled by their abrupt placing, accepted them without bearing any ill-feelings and Matsumoto Rangiku welcomed them with open arms.
Karin was snapped out of her reverie when she and Yuzu suddenly found themselves getting suffocated by a pair of very large… assets.
"Matsumoto-fukutaicho, we can't breathe" Karin deadpanned as Yuzu giggled happily at the friendly and familiar gesture. Their current captor pouted and whined, "Karin-chan, you've been spending too much time with taicho! I swear, your scowls are getting more and more similar by the day and your sense of fun is going down the drain."
Karin rolled her eyes and when they were finally released, asked, "Where is our midget taicho anyway?" Yuzu sighed and reprimanded her, "Karin-chan, Hitsugaya-taicho doesn't like it when you call him that! You should be a little nicer."
Karin scoffed and retorted, "He calls me a pain in his ass so we're even." It went unsaid that both the nicknames and the current bickering were never meant to be taken seriously and that they indicated the twins were quite close to the generally frosty captain.
Matsumoto smiled fondly at the two before saying, "Taicho's in an impromptu meeting. You two were taking a nap at the time when the announcement was made so you didn't know."
Karin raised an eyebrow while Yuzu tilted her head curiously and asked, "Wasn't he in one already?" The older woman shrugged and replied, "Another one was called for some reason or another. But whatever~ This just means I can slack off some more!" The twins fell over comically and sighed at her laziness before Karin smirked and asked slyly, "Where should we hide the paperwork this time?"
Yuzu shook her head in exasperation and amusement while the two mischievous females began plotting their next prank on their unsuspecting taicho. They had been about to start preparing it when all of a sudden, there was an eruption of Zaraki Kenpachi's reiatsu as well as a huge explosion that came from the direction of fourth division causing many shinigamis to wonder what in the world was going on.
A/N: Sorry it took a while to get this chapter out. I'm trying to get a few other things done and its been making me fall a little bit behind. But its out! Anyway, look forward to the next chapter~
And of course, Deleted Scenes! (Only 1 this time, sorry guys! .)
Children
They had been about to start preparing it when all of a sudden, there was an eruption of Zaraki Kenpachi's reiatsu as well as a huge explosion that came from the direction of the fourth division causing many shinigamis to wonder what in the world was going on.
Their question was answered when they heard said captain roar,
"GODDAMMIT! Yachiru, stop trying to make cookies!"
Signatures
From the brief glimpse they had, it looked very official and the writing on it seemed familiar somehow, even more so when they saw the name signed at the bottom:
Kurosaki Iss- Yamamoto Isshin with the first Isshin crossed out messily.
There was silence before Karin slapped her forehead to her palm and muttered, "Can't the stupid goat-chin even do a signature without goofing up?"