Chapter 4: Cursed Parakeet

Pre-story AN: And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! The episode where in Bleach, cannon!Karin actually had plot relevance beyond getting captured!

Something in this fanfic that has to be significantly different (that you were all expecting, unlike the last chapter).

…..

…..

"Yes, yes, find another target. Get the boy to protect you, or your mother's life is forfeit."

…|…

"Thank you for saving me, mister. My name is Yuichi Shibata. What's your name?"

"Sado. Yasutora."

…..

"I'm home-"

"Move, Ichigo!" Karin yelled from somewhere outside the storage room. Hearing no indication of disaster Hitsugaya focused on searching the storage room.

I.N.N., I.N.N., why isn't this alphabe-top shelf. Less than a week at the Kurosaki clinic, and he was already aware of the storage room's severe lack of footstools, the soul reaper used the shelves as a ladder. By the time his student got to the room he had the box in hand.

"Here." He passed it to her.

"Great," the girl turned to leave, "Find the hard wrap, there's a guy with a broken wrist."

Luckily, Toshiro had already sorted through the bandage section and knew just where to find the roll he was looking for. He grabbed it and returned to the overnight room in time to hold someone's mother still while Yuzu dressed her head wound.

Shortly after they finished Karin shouted, "Hey, we've got a big one over here!" Prompting Toshiro, and eventually Ichigo, to help get the newcomer to a bed while Yuzu worked on setting someone's broken wrist.

The giant man seemed to have less damage that a 'nurse' would know how to heal, so Toshiro left with Yuzu to help other patients while Sh-Isshin took a look at the man's back. He was careful not to display any hesitation when faced with medicine he'd only seen in this world, and at the same time to not show any knowledge not expected of "the son of "Daddy's" friend from Med School".

A few minutes later he heard Isshin yelling, so he and Yuzu went to check out the situation. The large man had somehow managed to stand up, despite the blood seep-

Wait, that's got traces of a Hollow's spiritual energy on it.

Stupid! How had he not sensed that before? How come the attack didn't show up on the radar? Hitsugaya cut a glance towards Karin to see if she'd noticed.

The girl was staring into space, but not at the injury. Her gaze was fixed on a cage resti-

And that made twice today Hitsugaya's senses failed him. Either that bird is possessed, or I just found the world's worst reincarnation mix-up.

He turned back to his work for a few minutes, but upon his return Karin hadn't moved from her spot. That's odd. His eyes narrowed, Is there something wrong with the bird that I can't sense? Or is she just confused by this?

Deciding the latter made more sense, Hitsugaya moved over to stand beside her and gently tap her shoulder.

His student blinked, "Eh?" and stared at him as though waking from a dream.

Hitsugaya clarified, "It's possessed. Don't worry though, the spirit inside shouldn't be dangerous." One of the patients moaned, "Well, not directly, anyways."

Karin blinked at him as though he was speaking Greek. Something's wrong, he frowned, this isn't like normal shock. For now he couldn't do much about that, so he elaborated, "I think a Hollow caused the car crash, this man's wounds have trace spirit energy from one."

He nodded at the giant, prompting Karin to slowly turn her head to look at the patient passed out on the bed. "The bird probably attracted the Hollow, but we should be able to do a konso later, after your brother is asleep." Hitsugaya continued, but still Karin moved like a machine on autopilot.

Something is definitely wrong with her. He thought, as Yuzu called him over to help hold a pad while she applied bandages.

For now they didn't have time to go through it, but they could talk later.

…..

Karin knew she had better senses then her brother. While Ichigo could see spirits and identify their presence, she'd always picked up on them without trying. Sometimes she could tell if they were freaking out or mellow about their post-humus state, but not always.

But this was nothing she'd ever felt before. She'd tried to ignore it's presence when she first noticed it, reasoning that the (happy) dead can wait when the living are in danger. But once she got close…

I don't even know what this is! It wasn't quite a presence, nor an emotion. It was more like an aura, like she was seeing the bird's essence instead of it's soul.

Most people would think that those are synonymous. She thought bitterly.

Even when it left her sight, thoughts of that spirit plagued her. Curled up under the covers, Karin couldn't get it out of her head.

Someone knocked on the door. Not now, Toshiro. He'd rather she let one get away then fight at half strength and get hurt, right?

No dice. The door quietly opened a few inches and the boy snuck into the room. Before he could tap her on the shoulder she grumbled at him:

"L'me sleep."

He stayed silent for a few minutes, before whispering,

"There's three Hollows concentrated in one spot. Probably a bad accident, or some other event where a large number of Wholes decided to gather."

"D'nt feel well."

"I'll tell that to the poor souls. If there are any left, once the Hollows have finished feasting."

Groaning loud enough for Toshiro to shush her, Karin turned over and muttered, "Just ge'me out of my body here, so it can sleep."

She didn't see the soul reaper's irritated look, but she could picture it well enough. He obliged anyways, and Karin didn't complain when they exited through the hall instead of the window.

Once they were out of the room he confessed, "Actually, there were no Hollows. I needed to test-"

"Then lemme go back to sleep."

He grabbed her arm. "I did come in here for a reason. I can't get the bird away from the man protecting it, no matter how stealthy I am he always wakes up when I get too close, you'll have to go in spirit form. You can perform the konso invisible to him."

…Why?

"Karin?" She face palmed with both hands. "Is something wrong?" Why the bird?

"I'll do it," she sighed. Perhaps once the thing had passed on, it would leave her in peace. Actually, that makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of that before?

She moved slowly as she made her way to the clinic. It wasn't that the feeling got stronger as she got closer, but it hurt all the same.

"So far so good." Karin muttered as she walked into the room the giant was staying in. The parakeet turned its head to face her, So it's definitely possessed. The moment it lay eye upon the substitute the bird shrieked at her.

"Get away!" It flapped it's wings desperately, and the moment it spoke a headache suddenly spiked in Karin's brain. "Miss, you have to-"

That was when the giant bolted upright, scanning the room for another person. He didn't even pause over Karin, so she kept going slowly (but steady) while the bird kept shrieking.

"Get away! Get away! Get-"

"What's wrong?" The man asked, "Is there someone in here?" She had to use the curtains for support, and the man saw them bunch up.

But the bird paid no attention to his friend and kept warning Karin. "You have to get away from here! He'll hurt you-"

In retrospect, if the giant couldn't see Karin, he couldn't tell that she was in pain. He couldn't even tell that the bird was calling the wrong pronoun for her to be a threat. As it was, the man could tell what general direction she was in, and that the parakeet was freaking out.

He bolted out, grabbing the cage-

The fuck is this?

That's when everything went black.

…/\\…/_/|=|]]{\\\\…..

Where am I?

I have to run. I have to stay quiet, for Mommy. Mommy said to be quiet, Mommy always knows best…

…/\\…/_/|=|]]{\\\\…..

Slap!

The pain was sharp, but she couldn't force herself to move.

"Get up!" Toshiro… I should say 'Hi.'

"Huuh" was the most she could manage. Did someone turn me into lead? That's bad,

"Kurosaki!" Toshiro snarled. I need to hide.

"We need to move!"

That man-

"Can you stand?"

my Mommy-

"Damn it, you must have been attacked."

she- bl- no-

"No answer? Why the hell does he even have a voice mail?"

mommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommy

"Damn it! It'll be too late by the time I-"

mommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommy

"Where did…?"

mommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommymommy

Hurts.

"I can't leave you here." Somebody reaching out?

Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogo

"Augh!"

Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogo

"What the hell, Kurosaki?"

Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogogo-oh wait, that's Toshiro.

"Better?"

Toshiro, soul reaper- wait, death has a body? Then where was he when mommy- mommy died years ago- no last month- who-

Oh, we're moving.

Keep moving, mommy said to keep moving- mommy, wasn't there when- blood, blood everywhere- never happened, blood when Ichigo-

"Stay here." Whisper, keep your voice down that's Toshiro no mommy "The man was missing, but there wasn't any blood, so I've got to see if I can find him. I'll get help later, if whatever the Hollow-"

blood, that was blood, blood on Ichigo, blood on Toshiro, hurt not dead, no bloody means dead, bloodly neck- NO bloody chest

"-hit you with hasn't worn off by then."

…..

Too much time alone with your own thoughts can be hell. It certainly felt that way, even though the experience helped her heal.

"I'm not that boy." She whispered. "So who died?"

…..

Roughly six and a half hours earlier

…..

Hitsugaya cursed his luck, still no signal from his phone.

So I'm stuck just running in the general direction I think that man would have most likely gone. With a Hollow somewhere on the loose. Granted, Kurosaki was by no means the most experienced warrior, but whatever had knocked her down had to have hit her hard.

This is the last thing I need right now. With Kurosaki out cold, Kurosaki trapped in a human gigai, and Urahara insisting that he was was too busy to leave his shop, that Hollow went unchallenged.

The timing is too coincidental, it has to be after the bird. He rationalized, I have to find it-

Something large, heavy and metal crashed a few blocks away. There!

Sure enough, a few corner turns later and the same giant man from before almost ran into him.

"You-!" The giant kept running straight past him.

I guess it would be too easy for him to listen to reason. Hitsugaya resigned himself to running after the man, but his gigai was too slow. He'd almost lost sight of the blood-stained shirt after just a few blocks, until-

"You smell good."

Well, scratch that plan. At least if I have it's attention, Hitsugaya thought, I can lead it away.

He didn't dare stop running, though he couldn't see or sense the beast (which was probably how it snuck up on Kurosaki before) the more he moved, the harder it would be for that thing to hit him.

At the next corner, Hitsugaya turned the opposite way the man with the parakeet had gone. All of the walls have houses on the other side, damn. He planned on turning most corners in random directions, but then the thing caught up to him.

His instincts kicked in before the blast could hit him, and on the bright side the Hollow was now visible.

"How rude, trying to leave. Don't you know- Hey!"

Hitsugaya didn't wait for it to finish speaking. He got up and turned the next corner.

"Get BACK here!"

The thing kept throwing projectiles, but now that he knew where it was they were much easier to dodge. Still, he couldn't keep this up forever, and eventually Hitsugaya knew he would either get hit or be overtaken.

If I'm going to face this thing, I need a plan…

"You know what? Just keep running! I like chasing my prey, and this is-"

Hitsugaya decided to ignore the monsters ramblings as it ran into a streetlight.. Still, it was soon back on it's feet, and what little distance he had put between the two of them was closing fast.

This was much easier when I was just trying to get the bird to Urahara's. But he should be too far away- What's he doing here?

The giant had turned next corner that Hitsugaya could see, though the bird cage was missing. A quick glance told him that there was nowhere he could direct the Hollow away from the civilian.

"Get out of the way!" Hitsugaya shouted. But the giant refused to move, instead he started running towards him. The soul reaper got ready to slam the man, if he had to it would be better for them both to be knocked down then for one to run straight into the Hollow's mouth.

But he didn't have to. The man ran right past Hitsugaya, and he heard a sickening crunch. But then he also heard a roar.

…..

Roughly six and a half hours later

…..

In the time she'd spent, Karin had managed to work out four things:

One: She was Karin Kurosaki.

Two: She somehow had seen the worst memory of Yuichi Shibata.

Three: Yuichi needed Karin's help.

Four: She could barely move while Yuichi's pain echoed through her.

Oh, and just for good measure, five: She needed to throw up.

Karin made it to the toilet in time. As she was emptying her stomach, she heard a voice from behind her:

"Karin?"

The girl was too busy to turn around yet. Not long after, she felt a large hand rub her back in comforting circles. It wasn't that surprising when she looked up and saw her brother's concerned expression.

"Karin, what's wrong?"

…..

Roughly six and a half hours earlier

…..

Sado didn't know what his fist had connected with, but considering the situation it was probably whatever was chasing Yuichi.

"I hit something." He muttered, I can hit it again.

But it had moved, since his next few strikes went unconnected. Why not try a different spot?

"Yeah, I hit it." Sado noted. It had gotten closer to that boy from Ichigo's house. Said boy spoke up,

"So you can see it?"

"No." The boy looked surprised by this.

"Then, how did you know where to hit it?"

"I didn't." Sado shrugged, although the boy looked at him as though he were crazy.

"Then, how did you know where to hit it?"

Sado answered, "I just kept swinging blindly. I figured if it was nearby, I had a shot. If not, then I've got no way of finding it until it shows itself."

That seemed to confuse the child even more. "What? Look-" The boy cut himself off, focusing on something between the two of them.

Is that where the thing is? The boy's head tilted back. Can he see it?

His eyes snapped back to Sado. "Listen, I know this sounds strange, but you have to get away from here." So he can identify it, at least. "Hurry!"

He might as well ask now, or at least confirm his suspicious. "Can you see that thing, little boy?"

Something he said must have made the boy angry, but he got distracted by something in the sky.

"Oh no," the kid muttered, then turning to Sado he screamed: "Get out of here! It looks like it's ready to dive!"

No time to waste then. "Where?"

"It's headed straight for you!" The boy started running towards him, so Sado braced himself to catch both attacks.

It was enough. He felt his fist connect with something from above, as the child tackled him. Sado had to grab the boy and twist in order to avoid letting the thing crush him.

Though he couldn't see what hit the ground, this time he heard something connect with the street.

"You…" The boy looked shaken, and Sado remembered that he was still holding him. "How did you…" The kid regained his composure, and stepped away from him. "Listen, you may have gotten lucky, but you can't fight that thing. It'll target me over you, so if I run it'll-"

"Are you saying that thing's still up?" Sado asked. Do I need to keep hitting it?

"What? No, look!" He half-listened to the kid as he walked towards where the thing fell. If he could make the final blow while it was down… "You need to get away from here- And now it's in the sky again."

I need something to get it with. That telephone pole should do. "Where is it?" Sado asked. The boy didn't stop telling him to leave until Sado had broken the pole into a makeshift weapon. "Which way do I have to wave this thing to hit it?" He clarified.

The boy accepted that Sado wasn't going to let a child face this thing alone, so he complied and gave directions.

"Again!" The boy shouted, "It's down, but I've seen things like this play dead before!" Sado didn't question him, and lifted the pole a few more times. But after the third strike, Sado felt something else hit him from behind.

"Damn!" Little kids shouldn't swear. "Hold on, I'm going to-" Something else must have gotten to him. He head the boy slam into one of the walls.

Which means this thing isn't alone. Could there be two of them? The boy insulted something, he was probably talking to the monster. No, this doesn't feel like one creature. More like several small things-

And when he looked up, he could see them. Well, not clearly. But there was something… wrong with the air in front of him. It looked like several isolated spots of weirdness, each one too small to have been the monster he'd just fought.

I guess these ones are only halfway invisible. Sado decided he had enough of this, any sooner and the monster might do something to the kid.

In a single move, Sado managed to get to his feet and knock off the smaller monsters. Behind him he saw the boy pinned to the wall by a much larger distortion. So maybe it's not that some of these monsters are only halfway invisible, maybe to summon them the bigger monster needs to sacrifice some of its camouflage.

He'd work on it later. Right now, Sado needed to get that thing off of the boy. He aimed at the distortion somewhere close to where the boy was. "It worked." Sado muttered.

The boy fell to the ground, but he looked alive at least. The biggest blur moved upward, probably in the sky again.

"It's directly above us!" His voice was raspy, but at least he was alive. Sado could hear the wind howling above them, It's probably got wigs that it's using to fly. "It's not moving, but I can hear it- taunting us?"

Sado shrugged it off, "At least it's giving us time to plan our next move."

The boy shook his head. "Listen, there's no way for the two of us to finish this thing off. I know you can hurt it, but trust me- a spiritual monster needs a spiritual weapon to kill."

"So I take it… you've seen someone fight these sort of monsters before?"

"There's no time to explain!" The boy hissed, "I know someone who can kill it, but the problem is we're going to have to bring it to him."

"That's fine." Sado said, before remembering something, "Do you know where he lives?"

"Of course I do!" The boy snapped.

"Can you tell me how to get there from here?"

"Hold on, if you just start running, there's no guarantee it will follow you." The boy hissed, "I can see it clearly, therefore I taste better to it."

"So it'll follow you."

"Exactly."

"I see." That's why he was telling me to run away. There's only one thing we can do. Sado picked up the boy and threw him on his back. "You'll have to give me directions, then."

"What the- Put me down!"

"Left or right?"

"You'll get yourself killed!"

I'll take that as a "keep going straight."

"You have three seconds to release me or I'll knock you out."

"I don't think so." I'm much tougher then that. "You'd fall as well, and then that thing would catch up with you."

The boy sighed, "Fair enough, but I can run on my own-"

"There's no time to put you down. And besides-"

"Coming in from the left, dodge!"

Sure enough, a large number of something organic hit the ground with several splats. Sado managed to get away in time, but barely.

"Okay, new plan." The boy hissed, gripping Sado's back, "I'll tell you where to go, and you go there. But if we have to stop before then, we split up. Is that clear?"

Then we won't stop. "Yes."

"Good, now I don't know this area of town very well, but I know which direction we want to go. Turn left the first time you get to a street that isn't a dead end."

"How am I supposed to know what isn't a dead end?"

"I don't know!"

…..

Roughly six and a half hours later

…..

"Better?" Ichigo waited to ask until after his sister had stopped vomiting.

"Mm." Big brother. He deals with ghosts and stuff.

"So, what brought that on? Are you sick-"

"Ichigo." Karin started.

"-or something?" He quieted once he realized what she had said.

Karin didn't quite know how to word her question. "Have you- have you ever-" I don't even know what happened. Try something else?

She asked, "Why do you go out of your way to help all those spirits?"

"I thought you were in permanent denial?" Karin growled as she gripped the edge of the toilet seat. "Hey, it was just a joke." He sighed, "Because I can, I guess. Because somebody has to, and they're not just going to find peace sitting there."

That sounds like something the hero of a soap opera would say, two episodes before sacrificing himself to save someone.

Ichigo must have guessed what she was thinking, because he went on. "I know, it sounds ridiculous. But every spirit I help-"

"What if you couldn't?" Karin whispered. Blood, runrunhide- Oh look, I'm crying. "What if- what if somebody was hurt" can'tleavecan'tletitgo He's in so much pain "and- and-"

…..

Roughly six hours and fifteen minutes earlier

…..

Hitsugaya's plan had worked, but not as well as he'd hoped. The Hollow kept switching between running and flying, and it had a nasty habit of cutting ahead of them to block of a major street. The two of them had made some progress, but the damn thing kept pushing them back, herding them away from their goal.

It knows we're going to get help. Hitsugaya realized, It's not afraid of anything we throw at it, He looked up as the thing jabbered more petty insults, but it knows we're relying on getting to our destination. It's playing with us.

But eventually the Hollow made a mistake. It built a barricade of minions only half a meter high, as though that would stop them.

"Between those two walls, you need to jump about two feet high to get over them." He instructed his companion.

"I know." The giant said, "It's getting clearer." He leapt at just the right time-

And then the barricade exploded, sending both of them flying.

"HAH! How'd you like that!" The Hollow roared, "That's my specialty. Exploding leeches!" It laughed, which Hitsugaya surveyed the area for damage. "I gotta keep my best secrets hidden, after all!"

The man was getting back up, but the creatures were too fast. This time they just pukes up a number of long, slimy things. Unable to get up in time, Hitsugaya twisted and rolled to the side.

One's got my leg. He managed to kick it off, but it was difficult to roll out of the way of the oncoming bombs.

He heard a grunt, and then there was the giant, hauling him to his feet.

"So, what do you think? Personally-"

"We have to get out of here." Hitsugaya heard the man whisper, happily tuning out the Hollow as it rambled on.

"I know. But that thing's too close, it'll get us quickly." And what's more, those things have explosives inside of them. Think. How does it keep them from hitting itself. There has to be some way it's controlling those bombs… "I have an idea, but you'll have to trust me, and do exactly as I say."

Luckily this monster loved the sound of it's own voice, and Hitsugaya had enough time to whisper his idea.

"No way." The man responded. "You'd get yourself killed."

"Do we have a choice?" Hitsugaya whispered back.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Perfect timing for the Hollow to clue in… "Right now we haven't got time to think of something else." He hissed.

"Stop ignoring me!"

Better just to go with it and hope he goes along. Hitsugaya lunged forward, dodging the frog-things and heading straight for the monster. Despite being proficient, he murmured under his breath as he went.

Go for it…

Luckily it took the bait, and swatted at Hitsugaya instead of sending more frogs. "Hah! You must want me to eat you if-"

"Sho!"

A single dot of light left his index finger, not even enough to scratch the beast. But that didn't matter, it was enough to scare the Hollow for a minute. It flinched as the spell hit it's mask, long enough for the giant to strike.

"Son of a bitch!"

The giant managed to pick Hitsugaya up again as they left. After all, he had more stamina, and the soul reaper would be far less useful if he wore his gigai down.

"You think that got him?" The man asked.

"You definitely hit it, but I don't think it's down." Sure enough, the thing roared loud enough that even the human flinched. "Anyways, killing it was never our intention. That was just to get it and it's puppets further away from us."

"So now it's back to running."

"Until we can think of another plan- to your left!"

One maneuver later, Hitsugaya finished his sentence. "Yes."

…..

Roughly six hours and ten minutes later

…..

Put it into words, why can't I help him pass on? screaminglaughing "and you weren't strong enough to help them."

"Weren't strong enough?" He paused. Karin focused on Mommy, get up. Please, Mommy. Don't leave me alone with-

"That's a hard question to answer." Ichigo squat to be eye level with his sister. "And it's one that I've asked myself a lot, lately."

Mr. Big-shot-ghost-talker? "What are you talking about?"

"In all honesty, I can't save the ghosts I talk to. Most of the time, they just disappear and leave behind a few drops of blood that only I can see. I'd like to think that's some psychopomp's symbol to show that they've passed on, but…

"I know I'm not strong enough to protect them all. Maybe I never will be. But if I let that get to me, and I stop talking to them, then I might as well be killing those ghosts myself."

"Ichigo…" Karin said, "How the hell did you come up with that dumb idea?" Ichigo sputtered in protest. "It's not like it's your fault that you don't have enough power."

"I know." Ichigo said, "But if the my problem is that I'm powerless, then I have to get stronger. If I can, maybe one day- I don't know, I'll figure out how to take ghosts to the other side or something."

Ichigo sighed, "Look, here's a life lesson for you: Just because you're helpless now, doesn't mean you have to stay that way. If you keep fighting, and keep yourself alive, you're bound to get stronger eventually. And when you do-"

He stood up, and offered Karin his hand. "-then you can make a difference. Then you can protect the people you care about." She took it.

bloodbloodblood I can't let him suffer in silence. OhgodMommystoppedscreaming I'm the only one who can help him wakeupwakeupwakeup "keep fighting and stay alive"

"Ichigo," Karin hugged her brother and buried her face in his shirt. "Thank you."

"Any time." I think I know what to do now. "Hey, Karin, are you crying?"

She couldn't force herself to smile when she looked at him, but she didn't care. The girl turned around and ran down the stairs. "Hold on, where are you going? It's five in the morning!"

The substitute called out while she put on her shoes, "I'll be back, there's something I've gotta do."

"Wait, Karin!"

I'm sorry, Yuichi. I don't know if I'll actually be able to do anything for you. Right now I have to focus on finding you first or I'll

Okay, leave that train of thought alone. I have to find Yuichi. Even if I can't help, so long as I try, he won't be alone.

…..

Roughly five hours and forty-five minutes earlier

…..

Sado always knew that running from your demons was no way to face them. Now that saying was manifesting literally, in the form of a dead-end.

"Damn it." The boy on his back was a little too foul-mouthed, but Sado had to agree with him. He could hear a wavering noise, probably the thing behind them saying something. Whatever it was doing, it probably got quieter since Sado couldn't hear anything else, but the distortions didn't move.

"Listen, it's monologuing again," the boy whispered in Sado's ear, "See how the fence is made of metal chains?"

Kind of hard to miss. "Yes."

"I've been watching this thing, and I noticed it opens it's mouth every time one of those bombs goes off. I think it needs to give some sort of command, or they don't explode. These chains are pretty thick, but it could probably cut them if it used it's claws, or blew them up."

"If you're saying what I think you're saying…"

"First we work together to get it to break off a part of the fence. Then, I'll grab a trash can or something-"

"There aren't any around." Sado said.

"Fine then, we'll try to get it to break off one of these bars, too." The boy whispered urgently, "But I'm going to have to keep it from making any noise, then you just have to pull the chains around it's head. If we can force it's mouth closed, we'll have a much better chance."

Sado wanted to protest the kid putting himself in such danger, but he remembered the last plan they made. And the one in the abandoned warehouse, with the dust. He knows what he's doing. I'm willing to bet that this is not a normal boy.

He nodded, and then put the boy down. The two of them began edging apart, Sado watching the monster the entire time.

He noticed the smaller creatures before they could hit him, but there were too many. There were two types of smaller ones, weren't there? Sado thought as he dodged, The bigger ones can move, but the smaller ones explode. It must have released a large number of smaller ones instead of-

"Mmf!" He heard something, and when he looked the boy's arm was stuck to his side. He didn't make it. Sado tried to pick out the monsters, before-

The boy's head exploded.

"NO!"

More of the strange noise permeated the air, and Sado realized that the sound was laughter.

It's going down. Sado decided. He got ready to charge it, when he felt something… else. Another distortion but this was-

Not warmer, He decided, but not malevolent, and more powerful. I'm not sensing any cruel intentions from this one.

The other shape was coming from within the boy's corpse, and as it got larger the corpse moved with it. It's coming from him? Sado wondered, No, it was him. Whatever I'm seeing now has been possessing that boy, or maybe the boy was dead to begin with and it used his corpse.

"-ssn-Iis—fantastic?"

Sado gaped, once words began forming from the noises. As he watched, he could see colors attach onto the blurs. Mostly green, with a blur of white concentrated in one area. A few specks of green replaced smaller blurs, and further away the glowing figure was mostly white. Matches his hair.

More laughter, the monster benefited from having the other spirit leave it's body. It doesn't matter what I'm seeing now. I know that one of these spirits wants to hurt me, and the other one has been helping me stay alive.

When the larger spirit landed, Sado took a shot at it. He managed to hit the white part once, and he got close enough to the smaller figure to pick it up.

Feels boy-shaped. "Is this silk?"

"All the things in the world, and you question my clothing?" Sado turned to the spirit in his arms. "Oh, what am I saying!"

"Hey, is that you?" Sado asked.

"What?" The voice said.

He managed to dodge the blow before it hit.

"Grah!"

They didn't have a moment to waste. "So are we sticking with the old plan?"

"No," The spirit said, "I still haven't fully recovered, in this form I won't be able to move fast enough."

"Alright, then." When all you have is a hammer…

He rushed forward to attack. At least now I can see my target.

"Wait, no!" The not-boy yelled too late. The monster could be fast when it wanted to be, and this time it didn't stop after swatting him.

"Rrrah! Why won't you just STAY DOWN!?" The thing slammed him into the ground, and then everything went black.

…..

Did you hit someone again, Yasutora?

I understand, Abuelo.

Please lend me strength.

…..

I really don't want to die.

Being eaten by a Hollow is not a good way to die. I really should have been more careful. Hitsugaya thought idly. Now, it's too late.

When something chases you with relative ease for more then ten minutes, it's usually a sign that you're doomed. He hadn't lasted more then a few minutes once the large man had gone down before the Hollow managed to catch him.

Pathetic, really. With it's claws around his neck, there wasn't much the soul reaper could do.

But death never came. Hitsugaya felt a spike of reiatsu just as he saw a blast of white light, and then he was falling. Instead of being shoved messily into the Hollow's mouth, something had blasted away everything but the arm holding him.

The Hollow re-formed anyways, and the gates of Hell appeared. Hitsugaya paid it no notice, and instead turned towards the source of his salvation.

It was the man, now standing tall, his right arm covered in a red armor unlike any Hitsugaya had seen before.

No sooner had Hitsugaya gotten a good long then the man fell over. The prodigy quickly got up and rushed over to the giant. He appeared to be alright, even if he was breathing heavily. The wound on his head had sealed up probably in a rush of spirit energy if this man was responsible for killing the Hollow.

"Can you hear me?" Hitsugaya asked. The man's eyes met his own.

"…Hey, are you okay?" He must be joking. Why would the stranger be asking after someone else's health when he himself was so drained?

"What? I'm fine. It's you who-"

"Good." The man let his gaze fall.

"What?" He must be one of those martyr types who think they'll become legends if they die saving someone else.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"What are those?" The giant was staring intensely dead ahead.

"…Those are the gates of hell." I guess you can see them too, now.

"Good." There was nothing 'good' about hell, but whatever the human thought of it must have been comforting to him.

"We still need to get you checked…" the man had passed out before Hitsugaya could finish his sentence. His armor vanished as well, and his breathing evened out.

And now I'm stuck in a vulnerable state and an unconscious human. Again. He thought morbidly. It's possible that shopkeeper will show up again…

"Well. Look what we have here!" …right when he can make the most money out of me. "Man, captain, you sure know how to pick 'em!"

"Urahara," Hitsugaya growled as he struggled to pick up the man. "I suppose you're here to sell me a new gigai?"

"Mmm, I'm afraid we'll have to repair the old one." The shopkeeper hummed, "I gave you a real bargain last time, and those things don't come cheap."

"Whatever," He snapped, "Let's just get moving."

The tall man he was from earlier, right? Came forward. "I can carry him, if you'd like." He offered.

"That won't be-" before Hitsugaya could finish, the other man had picked up the unconscious one.

"Oh no, I insist!"

Well, at least I'm becoming an expert on abnormalities in the human world. He sighed, I didn't know that blunt weapons could hurt Hollows. I wonder what else I might be able to use…

…..

Roughly thirty minutes later

…..

Karin had felt much more confident at home. Now she'd been wandering around for god knew how long, and still couldn't find the bird.

So much for helping him, I can't even-

"Hey, you!" The speaker was a boy with bright red hair, walking next to a girl with black pigtails and a picture in her hand. "You Kurosaki Karin?"

What on earth? Who is this kid? "Yeah, what's it to you?" Karin shot back.

"Boss told us to find you!" He shouted, "Said your friend wanted to meet you back at our place, gave us this." Karin could see something small and metal in the boy's hand. When she got close enough to examine it, it was unmistakable.

That's Toshiro's phone. "So, you coming or what?"

…..

…..

AN:

During the process of writing this chapter, I discovered I have lost my story notes. Don't worry, I still remember how I want everything to go, I just don't have it all written down.

On Karin's development in this chapter: First of all, when Karin touched the bird, she basically saw everything she saw in cannon in a single moment. This actually helped her, since going over traumatic memories slowly causes them to be ingrained in a persons mind more deeply. Having them all shoved in a single moment is worse short-term, since it hurts like hell, but in the long-term, it's easier to forget more of the memories sooner, since they get lost next to all the other traumatic memories.

In cannon, Karin went straight to Ichigo for help. I've come up with two reasons for this: He's her older brother who's always protected her and he makes her feel safe, and Ichigo was the only person in the family who actually tried to help dead people (that she knows). Ichigo was consoling spirits for years and as far as she knows if anyone could soothe the dead, it would be him. In this fanfic, Karin knows far more about the afterlife then Ichigo does. She's also seen him get hurt by Hollows twice, and by this point she's not going to run to him for help when it comes to the supernatural.

Oh, and I am well aware that realistically by the physics of the Bleach world, Sado would need more time for his spirit energy to grow until he had enough to use. There's a good reason why Sado developed his powers so quickly.

Reviews: Thanks to everyone who reviewed.