Karin sat on the ledge she had found, curled up and hugging her knees. She was still covered in blood. As she had wandered around the town, almost in a daze, she had seen several accidents and emergency service vehicles were everywhere. Paramedics running around, carrying still more wounded to the hospital, where her dad was now. They were humans though and couldn't see the blood that coated her, congealed shinigami blood. Most of it from Komamura.
She felt numb, sitting on the edge of the ledge where she had landed after sliding down the side of the hill. Below her the ledge ended in a sheer drop to the path below, too far for her to jump, and so she was stuck. However, her new vantage point meant that she barely needed to raise her head in order to look at the stars shining in the sky. She was content just to sit looking at the moon, the gentle light illuminating the area.
It was only then that she thought back to the Shinigami's last moments. He had struggled to speak as she told him to shut up with her normal brashness, berating him for speeding along his death. She knew eventually she would have to go back to those sad eyes, the hard eyes of Unohana too. After all, his last words had been entrusted to her. Her chest strained and her eyes ached as she remembered.
He had struggled to speak, fluid filling his lungs. He forced the words out, despite all her berating. Brashly telling him to shut up, to obey her orders.
She didn't care how many people called him Captain, he wasn't allowed to talk and he wasn't allowed to die. She had told him so, arrogantly, smugly declaring that he was going to be ok because he wasn't allowed to do anything else. Komamura had smiled at that. He even chuckled and told her that based on her logic she should call him Sajin.
"Little Kurosaki" he had said while struggling with the blood that slowly filled his lungs, ignoring the pain from countless wounds.
"I am at peace now, I am content to move on knowing that Aizen is suffering eternity in hell for his crimes. It is fitting punishment, much better than having avenged Tōsen or Iba by killing him. I was proud to fight by everyone's side. Tell them that."
He paused only to fill the mask with blood, choking on the fluid filling hit lungs
"You must…give them my thanks…and …t-tell Hisagi" he grabbed Karin's shoulder "tell him that he will make a good Captain and Kira, Kira too. They have done better than I."
He reached over to hold Karin's hand. He knew he was going to die. He just didn't want to do it alone. He wanted someone there to be with him
"I'm not leaving Sajin-san. I told you, you're not allowed to die. But I guess I'll tell them while you sleep and rest. I'll bully Ichi-nii into taking me there." Karin had held his hand tight in hers and they smiled at each other
That was when he had started to go fuzzy. It was like a television screen, the coloured static when the channel wasn't tuned in properly. Giving the barest outline, his voice also changed. Cutting out like they were on different frequencies. Then he had turned into reishi. Her hand felt empty and the reishi hovered and floated out. It was like watching dandelion seeds floating away in the wind, before they got smaller and disappeared. As the last few floated out of her hand, Inoue and Kira had rushed into the they took in the room Kira collapsed to his knees and Inoue started comforting him.
She had slipped out of the room when the rest of them were occupied and she hadn't even realised where she was walking until she reached the park. Even there hollows had appeared, evident by the damage to the surroundings. The only place that was untouched, after finally being cleared up, was the football pitch. Somehow though, she had felt guilty about being there and her feet had automatically led her almost to the edge of the town, as if she were running away. It took her a while to realise that she had started running away a while ago. Not from a person, but from her memories.
She saw the fence that one of the other shinigami sat on when he was in Karakura. Karin climbed over the fence, intending to sit on it like she'd seen him do before. But she had slipped, the ground wet from the rain that she hadn't realised was falling.
She lost her footing and rolled down the steep incline until she had been stopped by the ledge she was on now. She was covered in small cuts and grazes, but she ignored them and just stared at the moon. She sat there, in pain, alone in the darkness. She hugged her knees, slowly rocking back and forth. The tears gradually falling, her reiatsu fluctuating, as close by a hollow roared.