*Ring!* Karin sighed as another boring day of school ended. She just wanted to go home, take one of the strange pills that Urahara had given her, and try out her new sword! Miyabita Kaze was so awesome! She had spent the entirety of her weekend just trying out different moves and stuff. Urahara was more than happy to help her learn how to parry blows from two sides, how to deal kill strikes, how to fight with a two sided weapon, and even learning how to fight with the disconnected version. Fighting with two blades was a lot to think about!
Karin also had a lot of trouble taking her mind off of her sister. Her father's goofy smile had reminded her, but he tended to disappear at night. Karin was positive that she was dreaming because he was wearing black robes with some white table cloth pinned on his shoulder. Not even he was stupid enough to wear that out right? And how the hell did he even come across such strange clothing? Karin knew that it was just her overreacting to the grief of Yuzu not being safe and sound in her bed. Karin hated sleeping in that room without Yuzu, she relied on Yuzu's soft breathing to fall asleep, as it let her know that everything was ok.
Karin ran home, super excited to get home, take out her blade and work on her attacks. She had to save Yuzu from something, and she knew that she had to be completely prepared to do so. She already had a sword, she was working on its attacks, and her teacher was actually fairly intelligent. Sure, he was nuts, but whatever. You take what you can get right?
Karin was running along but to the books, and large hollow landed not 10 feet from her. She was about to turn tail and run, but she remembered something. "Ohh ya?!" She yelled up to it. It roared as she reached into her bag and took out one of the candies that Urahara had given her…
"This is a Gikongai, often Romanized as Soul Candy. It will replace your body with a separate soul, allowing it to run while you fight." Urahara explained to her days before. "It makes a shinigami's life a lot less of a hassle as their bodies won't get destroyed when they are fighting."
"Does it taste like candy?" Karin asked him as she held one up.
"Don't chew it…" Urahara said firmly, "That's murder you silly goose!" He said joyfully as he messed up her hair.
"So I just swallow it?" Karin asked him, taking a closer look at the pill.
"Exactly… Then you just tell the soul to leave with your body and take care of your fight. It's elegant, cause you don't have to worry about your body getting destroyed by your opponent, you can just focus on the fight at hand." Urahara said. "So next time you want to try, fight, or just look at your Zanpakuto, just pop one of these in!"
Karin popped it into her mouth, unaware of her surroundings. She quickly told the spirit inside of her soul to "Beat it!" and then she took out her sword. The currently hidden audience was stunned by this, not expecting to see another shinigami here. He was even more shocked as she said the following. "Bring me the power of the wind, carry the strength of the ages, and tie my fate with eternity: Miyabita Kaze!" Her small bamboo katana sprouted another blade and she took a battle stance. "Let's go you jerk!" She yelled up to the hollow.
The hollow was in the shape of a monkey, with huge arms and tiny little legs. Karin was stoked as the creature threw a blow her way. She made slash and cut his hand. Her cutting power was very small compared to most shinigami because she had only been one for 3 days! It left a decent gash on the hollows arm, much to her joy. It went for another blow.
Much of Karin's power laid in her small size and her speed. Her agility allowed her to easily dodge the hollows predictable strikes. The hidden viewers watched as she fought on par with the hollow. Karin finally decided to end it. She leapt up in the air and pointed her blade at the hollow's mask, shouting "Fukumi Supaiku!" The hollow's mask was crushed inwards by a spike of air which was so concentrated, it appeared white.
Karin landed showing no signs of exhaustion. She found her body and was about to jump in when… "KARIN!?"
Karin turned around just in time to see Rangiku's chest tackling her. Rangiku held the girl in an embrace as she gushed about how adorable she looked in her new robes. "So you're a shinigami now?!" Rangiku asked her.
"Sorta…" Karin said, "It's complicated… is Toshiro here?"
"Ya! Captain!!!" Rangiku yelled to a nearby bush, "Come say hello!"
"I don't want to…" Toshiro said as he poked his head out.
"But you saw what she did! This may be worth telling the head-captain about!!!" Rangiku said, "She's already super strong, maybe she's even strong enough to classify for a seat!!!"
"I actually have to find my sister…" Karin said, trying to avoid wasting time. Yuzu was in trouble somewhere and Karin was determined to save her.
"What happened?" Rangiku asked.
"She was taken. Mr. Urahara said something about garganta essence or something from the spot she was taken…" Rangiku and Toshiro froze as they heard the word.
"Garganta? Arrancar?!" Toshiro said, "Karin, you must come with us! We need to talk with you!"
"But I need to train! I need to save Yuzu!!!" Karin yelled out. Toshiro vented his spiritual pressure into her, causing her to faint. He picked her up by her arm.
"Captain…" Rangiku teased, "If you wanted a hug… all you had to do was ask!" Toshiro blushed before he opened up the Senkaimon and walked in with Karin on his back.
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Yuzu took a direct blow from the powerful shinigami's sword. It struck her left wing and put a hole in it. Yuzu started to panic, but Koumyou Uingu appeared next to her. "You aren't at an advantage right here! Get to some light, or I can't help you fight!"
Yuzu did as she was told. She flew up, above Los Noches, just catching the morning sun on her wings. The feathers started to glow and the blade started to shake. "Are you ok?" Yuzu asked her blade. She heard a loud "YES!" as the sun rose. It was an artificial sun yes, but it would work for her. Gin came up from behind her.
"You're glowing!" Gin he said as the blade flew at Yuzu once again. Yuzu managed to find time to get out of the way and saw that Gin was completely defenseless. He didn't seem concerned in the slightest, but Yuzu had avoided the hit and her opponent was defenseless! Yuzu visibly smiled as she drew in closer to Gin. She pulled her blade above her head and got ready to cut the crazy man in half!
Gin caught the blade bare handed. "You junior shinigami sure are cocky…" He said he cut upwards with Shinso. He took off one of her wings and dropped her. She plummeted to the surface far below, tears flying off her face. The sun caught her eyes, and her remaining feathers, and something started to tickle her.
She actually found herself laughing as she fell to her death. It was only when the tickling stopped did Yuzu realize what had happened. Feeling had returned to her "missing" wing.
"I always have your back!" Koumyou said happily, coming out of nowhere as she hugged Yuzu. Yuzu gained more confidence as she flew back up to meet Gin. She expected him to be shocked, and she glowed as he looked her over.
"I told you Aizen!" He shouted down to his commander, "It grew back!" Yuzu stopped smiling as Gin turned his view back to her.
"Let's play some more… see what those silly wings of yours can do…" Gin said as he charged at Yuzu once again. Yuzu found herself more confident to defend herself as the sun continued to rise, and her blade glowed brighter and brighter.
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Karin woke up in a strange new place. She was being carried, something that she didn't like… She leapt out of the personas arms and readied her blade. It was only Rangiku…
"Well someone's awake!" Rangiku said, holding Karin's blade back. Karin quickly corrected her mistake and put her blade away.
"Sorry… I'm just tense…" Karin said, blushing as she sheathed her sword. "Where are we?"
"This is the Seireitei! My apartment to be exact. This is an afterlife, where most people go when they die. The Soul Society refers to it as a whole, and it includes the Rukongai and the Seireitei." Rangiku explained. Karin stopped her.
"You said an afterlife, is there more than one?" Karin asked, "Is Yuzu here?"
"There are many. The two primary ones are the Soul Society, and the other one where your sister is, Hueco Mundo…" Rangiku said, "It is known as the world of the hollows, and where three traitors have set up their base."
"Is she dead?!" Karin asked, "Like dead dead I mean…"
"We don't know…" Rangiku admitted, "We have been working really hard to try and find out, but no shinigami in their right mind would enter Hueco Mundo right now…"
"So why am I here?" Karin asked, "Am I in trouble?"
"No. But we are going to have to ask some questions." A voice said from behind. It was mature, strong, and carried an aura of power with every spoken word. Karin turned to see a tall man with long white hair wearing a similar coat to Toshiro.
"About what?" Karin asked.
"Your involvement and how you became involved in all of this. We need to know about how you became a shinigami, how you found out about your sister's fate, and what you plan to do next." The man told her. Karin couldn't object to him, he may have been commanding but he was very nice. He sounded almost concerned about her fate.
He lead her through the Seireitei, introducing himself as Jushiro Ukitake, told him more about who he would be meeting with, and even apologized for his sister's sudden disappearance. She walked into a large room lined with individuals. They all wore the same white coat and the man at the end waved for Karin to come into the room. "Karin Kurosaki!" He said, his voice was booming and heavy. "I trust Captain Ukitake has already explained to you what we are going to talk about, so why don't you start from the beginning…"
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Yuzu had collected enough information from her Zanpakuto as she fought. Gin had toned it down reasonably, making sure to give her a fair chance to learn of her abilities. "Kudakero Awai Keta!" Yuzu yelled as she held up her sword. A beam of light ran from the sky and hit her blade, and was fractured. The beams rotated around and burn anything the touched. Gin was having no problem dodging the girl, and found fighting her largely humorous.
Yuzu's power was derived from light, and as she absorbed more and more light, her wings would glow. When they reached max charge, they reached a brilliant white color which rivaled the sun in intensity. Gin said it made her look like an angel. "I'll go to hell if I kill can angel!" Gin said, mocking her. "I don't wanna go to hell!" Yuzu was still a very, very low level shinigami, and even with her fully charged wings, Gin was more than a match for her.
It also didn't help that Gin's eyes were constantly squinting, which took away the power from her other ability which basically blinded her opponents. Aizen finally decided that he recycle, and he threw a few arrancar into the ring with Yuzu. The first was a menos class which had miraculously taken a human form. The arrancar was no match; its release was a rhinoceros, and Yuzu had no trouble dodging its bulky, slow, and predictable attacks. She brought her sword down into the beast.
Her first kill was strange to her, she felt bad, but it also made her feel safe. She couldn't help but cry over the body, even though she didn't even know the arrancar.
Aizen walked over to her. "You thought that was hard?" He asked, "Taking a life?" Yuzu nodded as she dried her tears. He turned his back to her, "I think it's time for a test…" Yuzu looked up in shock as he opened a Garganta.
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"So Kisuke Urahara gave you these powers?" Yamamoto asked Karin as she sat in the center of the room. No one else was talking and it was really creeping her out. She felt like she was being lectured by this really really old man and once more, she was growing tired.
"Yes, but he trained me. He didn't just give it to much, I had to earn them!" Karin said, trying to defend her "sensei".
"Do you feel he broke any laws?" Yamamoto asked. He was clearly out of place in interviewing this child. He was used to conducting interviews with captains, not 11 year old girls who had just recently discovered their powers.
"I don't know…" Karin sighed as she started to fall asleep. Yamamoto decided that he had gotten enough from her and if she was gonna fall asleep on him, he didn't need her there. He used his spiritual pressure to overtake her. She passed out on the floor of the conference room.
"Captain Ukitake, Captain Hitsugaya…" Yamamoto said as he pointed to the girl, "Take her and watch over her. We don't want her getting hurt. If Aizen tries to make a move, you know what you must do." The two captains nodded in acknowledgement before picking up Karin and moving off.
Karin woke up moments later in the squad 10 captain's quarters. She looked around, finding herself to be some place completely strange to her. It didn't feel bad however, as she could sense Toshiro's spiritual pressure. It didn't take much to sense his Reiatsu as he was only 15 feet away from her, waving good-bye to Captain Ukitake. He came back and sat down at a low table and began to sip some tea. Karin decided it might be a good time to sit down and talk with him. "Hey Toshiro…" She said very casually as she sat down across from him.
"You see this?" He said, picking up the edge of his white Haori and showing it to her, "This means that I am Captain Hitsugaya! Not Toshiro, not Shiro, Captain Hitsugaya!"
"Whatever. You're still just a grade schooler…" Karin said as she took a sip of tea.
"Damn it!" He yelled out, hardly anyone respected the title! Not Shunsui, not Momo, not even Ukitake half the time. He let Ukitake slide with it, because he had said that he only called him Little Shiro because they both have white hair. But Karin was something else! She was 11!
"Hey…" Karin said, getting slightly more serious, "Do you think Yuzu is ok?" She asked him timidly.
"I'm sure…" Toshiro said. He saw the tears in her eyes and being almost as studly as Ichigo, replied to the tears the only way he knew how…
"Suck it up!" He yelled at her. "There's no point in crying over it! She's gonna be just fine! You even said in the interview that Yuzu was a smart girl and that she usually knew how to handle herself!"
"But you said that these other guys were as strong as you!" Karin said, caught off guard but not necessarily surprised by his retort. "What if they killed her?!"
"I don't think they would… I knew all of these people and they wouldn't just kill some little girl for no reason…" Hitsugaya said calmly and honestly. He feared that it might turn into a hostage situation at the very worst.
The two sat quietly for a while. Karin was slightly comforted by this, but still worried for her sister's sake.
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"Do you understand what you have to do?" Aizen asked Yuzu as he showed her the garganta portal. "And why?"
"Yes… I understand…" Yuzu said, already crying at the thought of what her master was asking her to do. However, he had given her very good reason to do so days before…
"You think they love you?" Aizen asked.
"They do!" Yuzu said, completely in disbelief. However, Aizen had both his vastly superior intellect and Kyoka Suigetsu to convince the child otherwise.
Yuzu watched in horror as Aizen simply pointed to his left. There she was, as a child sitting in a sandbox along with Karin and Ichigo. Her parents were talking, "I don't know…" Her father said.
"You don't like her either!" Masaki whispered, pointing right at Yuzu, "She's inferior to the other two in every way and you know it! We would be so much happier!" Yuzu cried out in horror as her father nodded in agreement. Of course, none of this had actually happened, but Yuzu was only three in the illusion. Yuzu didn't remember anything from when she was this young, so it was completely believable. She watched in horror as her mother continued.
"We could just put her up for adoption! We didn't even want her in the first place, so why not make life easier on ourselves." She said to Isshin, "It would only take a second and we would never even have to think about her again!" Karin kicked some sand in Yuzu's face and their parents simply laughed. Normally, Yuzu might have gotten suspicious, as this would have never ever happened, but by this point she was in hysterics. 'It's all true!' Yuzu thought to herself, 'My family never even wanted me!'
Aizen later explained the conspiracy theory behind it, how they were trying to kill the spirit world that they were living in. He gave Yuzu reason to hate.
However, had Yuzu just looked in the hallway, she would have listened to the conversation in the hallway to know it was a cleaver hoax.
"Did I make an awesome Masaki or what?!" Harribel asked. Stark simply nodded. His role as Isshin was easy enough, as all he had to do was say "I don't know…" and nod. Those were some of his favorite things to do!
Sun-sun and Apache had pretended to enjoy their role as Karin and Yuzu simply to satisfy Harribel. Ggio Vega had somehow been dragged along to play as Ichigo Kurosaki, which he was fine with as he had bolted the moment it was over.
"I will do exactly as you told me…" Yuzu said, pulling her sword out of its sheath. She stepped into the portal.
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"What kinda tea is this?" Karin asked as she sipped. "It's great!"
"Okai leaf." Hitsugaya said. "Exclusive to the spirit world. It's my favorite kind of tea."
"Awesome!" Karin said as she took another sip. She wished it would just cool down so she could down it. It was that good! "Hey what's that?" Karin asked as she noticed some slight warping in the sky. The two rushed out and saw a dark portal open. Out stepped none other than Yuzu Kurosaki, dressed in the standard arrancar robes with her blade drawn.