Chapter Ten: Cold Truth
"A shinigami?" Hitsugaya looked at Karin in disbelief.
"You are not human, Toushirou," she said. "You're a shinigami. A soul reaper. Or, you were. You were injured, and you lost your powers."
After a few moments, he laughed softly, looking into her face, expecting to see her laugh back at him. She did not.
"I can see why you hesitated to tell me," he said, his expression now serious. "It isn't every day someone tells you that you're not human."
"No," she said, looking down. "But you were human, once. You were born and died near here. I think that's why you came back to this place."
"I'm dead?" he asked, uncomprehendingly.
"Yes," she said, simply. "You died when you were a boy."
"I don't believe you," he said, stubbornly. "I'm just a man, like any other."
"No," Karin replied. "You are far more than that." He stared at her, and Karin could see the distrust in his eyes. A thought came to her – a way to convince him that she spoke the truth.
"You don't remember anything of your life past the age of seven, do you?" she asked him.
"No, I don't," he answered, truthfully.
"You remember your life as a child, but only until the day you lost your mother in the train station," Karin said.
Hitsugaya looked shocked. "How do you know about that?" he asked her.
"It is a very powerful memory for you," she replied, hoping the answer would suffice.
"You haven't answered my question," he said, frowning.
"I…," she said, hesitating.
"I will not trust you if you withhold the truth," said Hitsugaya.
Karin took a deep breath, trying to form the words. "I…I saw the memory in your mind," she said, at last.
"So that's what you were doing before, when you put your hands on my face. You were reading my mind?" he asked.
Karin blushed scarlet. "I didn't mean to," she said. "I was confused. I needed to know…"
"So you're not human, either?" he asked, interrupting her.
"I am human," she said, grateful that he had changed the subject. "But I am also a shinigami. I'm one of the few humans in the world we live in - the Soul Society." He raised an eyebrow.
"It's the place where souls go after death," Karin continued. "As shinigami, it is our responsibility to escort souls to the afterlife, and to protect the Real World, this world, from dangerous spirits. The hollows."
"In the Soul Society, you were one of the strongest shinigami. Your zanpakuto is…was…the strongest ice zanpakuto known. It took the form of an ice dragon. The dragon calls you the 'Heavenly Guardian,' doesn't it?"
Hitsugaya nodded.
"The dragon's name is…" her voice trailed off, and she looked slightly confused for a moment. "Why can't I remember its name?" she wondered.
"I don't remember its name either," said Hitsugaya, recalling his dream. Karin looked at him, surprised.
"All shinigami must learn the names of their zanpakutos, their spirit weapons, before they can truly control the weapon," she said, a glimmer of hope rising inside of her.
"So if I learn this dragon's name, my powers and my memory will return?" asked Hitsugaya. He wanted to believe her, but her story was so incredible, it defied belief. It was hard to keep the skepticism from his voice.
"I don't know," replied Karin. "There's much more going on here. The people who are following you, I think they are the ones who removed your powers."
"Why not just kill me?" he asked. "They've had plenty of opportunity."
"I'm not sure," replied Karin, honestly. "But I think it has something to do with your zanpakuto spirit - the ice dragon. The dragon told me that you were the key to controlling this dark presence I felt before. I felt the same presence when you were injured in battle."
"Why make up a story like this?" he wondered, as he studied her face. She seemed to be telling the truth; there would have been many other stories she could have told him that would have been more believable. Still, he had seen no proof that he had unusual powers, and she had offered him none.
"We can't stay here," he said, anxious to hear more, but keenly aware that they were vulnerable. "They'll be back."
Karin stood up slowly, bracing herself against the wall. "I'll be fine," she said, waving off the hand he offered her. She picked up her pack and threw it over her shoulder.
"Have you always been so stubborn?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"No more than you," she said, with a laugh. Their eyes met briefly, and Karin turned and walked out of the cave, suddenly feeling very warm despite the cold wind.
They emerged into bright sunlight. The trail was still covered in snow, but Hitsugaya had no trouble following it. As they reached the crest of the mountainside and began to descend, Karin saw a small city in the valley below.
"Otaru," said Hitsugaya.
"The place where the second attacker fled was towards the city," said Karin, pointing towards a mountain to the west.
"The legends describe a mountain overlooking Otaru as the dragon's lair," said Hitsugaya.
As they got closer to the city, the trail began to descend at a more rapid pace, with long stretches ending in tight hairpin turns down the front of the mountainside. Ahead, tree-covered hills were visible, and the snow which had covered the trail began to yield to the warmth of early Spring.
They walked for some time in silence as Hitsugaya pondered Karin's revelations with renewed skepticism. He had few memories, but he was an overwhelmingly practical person who had difficulty imagining the type of fantasy existence Karin had described back in the cave.
"You'll have a better sense of whether she's telling the truth if you ask her more concrete questions, about things you know and understand," he thought, as they walked.
"How did we meet?" asked Hitsugaya to a very startled Karin. She had clearly not anticipated this type of question from him.
She smiled for a moment, and then said, "I guess that depends."
He smiled to himself, enjoying the simple pleasure of just talking with her. "It depends on what?" he asked, his turquoise eyes twinkling.
"We actually met twice," she said. "The first time was when I was a child, in the Real World. This world."
"And later?"
"After college, I decided to enroll at the Shinigami Academy, I…" Karin's voice trailed off; she felt suddenly dizzy, tired. She stopped walking and leaned against a tree by the side of the trail.
"It's back," she thought, struggling to stay on her feet. "The dark presence. It gets stronger the closer we get."
"What's wrong?" asked Hitsugaya.
"I…" she began. He caught her as she stumbled, her legs suddenly weak. "Damn," she thought, "what's happening to me?"
With all her strength, she pulled herself up, leaning on Hitsugaya's shoulder for support. And then she felt them – two reiatsus. They were standing next to her: two cloaked shinigami, weapons drawn. It was as if they had appeared out of nowhere.
"How did I miss them?" Karin thought, with frustration.
"What do you want?" said Hitsugaya, looking at the place where the shinigami stood. He could see two shimmering outlines, almost human in their appearance. The swords they held in their hands were unmistakable – he could see them as clearly as his own hands.
"He can see them?" thought Karin, with shock, as she reached for her backpack and the small pillbox inside.
"Don't move," said one of the cloaked shinigami, a man, who appeared to be watching her carefully. His companion said nothing, but nodded. Karin guessed she was a woman, by her size.
Karin put her arms down by her side. "Masumi," she thought, urgently.
"You are still weak, Karin," replied the zanpakuto spirit. "The darkness is affecting you more than you realize."
"I have no choice," Karin replied silently, "I can do nothing in this form."
"I am ready, Karin," her zanpakuto spirit replied. "But your body will be vulnerable."
"It doesn't matter," Karin said, dismissively. She knew that, without a modified soul, her body would be in the line of fire, but she didn't care. What mattered most was getting Hitsugaya to safety.
"Answer me," demanded Hitsugaya. "What do you want with us?"
"It is you we want," replied the cloaked man. "She is nothing."
"Now, Masumi!" thought Karin, releasing her soul from her body. Her empty body fell to the ground and, as it did, there was a flash of light from the tip of their attacker's zanpakuto. It hit Karin's body in the shoulder, burning a hole through her sweater.
"Karin, no!" yelled Hitsugaya, retrieving her limp body from the ground, despite the blade pointed at his chest. The female shinigami moved closer, but he knew now that she would not attack him.
At the same time, now in her shinigami form, Karin lunged at the cloaked man, managing to make contact with his weapon before he could fire off another volley. Their two blades touched, and sparks flew at the point of contact. Slowly, Hitsugaya laid Karin's body on the ground and walked in front of it, all the while watching the woman's blade, which remained pointed at him.
"Leave her alone," he said, looking at Karin and the male shinigami and frowning. "It's me you want, isn't it?"
At this, Karin and her opponent stopped struggling, although their blades were still pressed together, ready to resume hostilities.
"You will come willingly?" said the man.
"Yes," replied Hitsugaya, without hesitation. "But you must not harm her."
"No!" said Karin. "It's too dangerous. You know nothing about them, Toushirou."
"You're weak, Karin," he said, "I can feel it. Now is not the time for a fight."
"But, I…" Karin began, but he interrupted her.
"That's an order, Kurosaki."
Karin was silent, but she did not lower her weapon. "He wants me to wait," she thought, realization dawning. "He's planning something. He's trying to give me time to recuperate."
The female shinigami gestured toward Otaru, and Hitsugaya began to walk down the path with her weapon now aimed at the small of his back. Her companion backed off slightly, but kept his weapon aimed at Karin. As Hitsugaya and the woman neared the next hairpin turn on the trail, however, Hitsugaya spun around and kicked her, hard, on the wrist, sending her zanpakuto flying several feet away.
There was a blinding flash of light from the male attacker now, aimed directly at the place where Karin stood. Karin, unsurprised, closed her eyes, summoning her strength to shield herself from the attack. A cloud of reddish-orange light swirled about Karin's feet and coiled itself around her body, creating a barrier of energy. There was a second flash of light and an explosion, as the attack met bands of light and an enormous cloud of dust and debris rose from the spot.
"Karin!" yelled Hitsugaya, turning back at the sound of the blast, his face contorted with fury. He instinctively stretched his arm towards Karin's attacker, and opened his fingers wide, as if he were trying to grab hold of the man who stood yards away, barely visible through the dust.
There was a loud popping noise, like a window shattering, and the temperature dropped markedly. The female shinigami gasped.
There, where the male shinigami had stood seconds before, was a wall of ice, several feet thick and at least ten feet high. Karin could see the cloaked figure of her attacker, immobilized within. As she watched, the ice shattered into thousands of tiny pieces which rained like hail over the road, instantly killing the man trapped inside.
Hitsugaya stood, watching the ice shatter, his arm still outstretched, fist now tightly clenched, a growing look of wonder on his face.