Chapter 10 - Intruders
Okay, maybe her luck is a little redeemable, Karin decided, looking down at the KO-ed baldy.
Her control of her zanpaktou was somewhat lacking, as Urahara had found out after getting knocked out for the third time. Seriously, it wasn't her fault that her unpredictable shikai always aimed for the head. Though control aside, more often than not, her zanpaktou matched her temperance and will down to the tee. It was as if they knew what each other are thinking.
Now, Karin's only thought is to reach her sister. Then, to rescue Rukia.
It took a while for the 11th division's 3rd most strongest to regain consciousness. With a severe headache and a makeshift bandage on his head wound that could not have been done by the 4th division members. So the little twerp of a girl had saved him from dying of overbleeding.
He snorted then closed his eyes as another wave of vertigo hit him. Urgh!
The next time he woke up, he was greeted by a creepy painted face that seriously freaked him out. Damn, this was not something you'd like to see first thing in the morning.
Damn Kurotsuchi and his insanity! Waking him up just to interrogate him on the ryoka. It must have irked the 12th division captain that his original guinea pig had managed to escape from his grasp. From right under his daughter's nose, no less.
Fortunately for the bald shinigami, his captain was nearby to rescue his now-incapacitated subordinate.
"Ikkaku," his captain rumbled, "is she strong?"
"She is," the bald shinigami replied without hesitation, "and will probably get stronger very soon."
The 11th captain grinned.
"But she said that she isn't the most powerful," Ikkaku continued. "Someone else in her group is stronger."
"Is that so?" Zaraki Kenpachi's eerie grin widened in anticipation, "Good. And what might that person's name be?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
Ichigo held a hand to her mouth as she sneezed. She waved a hand to dissipate the dusts floating around her as she laid the large cloth she had found onto the dusty ground.
Don't shinigami ever clean their store rooms?
Settling on the floor, she settled into a comfortable sitting position to start her meditation. She needed to return to her inner world to reactivate the seal.
Hopefully, no one would bother her for the next few hours while she fought with that troublesome hollow of hers.
"Ganju!" Karin greeted in relief when he caught sight of the bandanna-ed man running towards her. Then, her relief turned into horror when a load of shinigami appeared behind him, shouting for the ugly brute to stop.
"YOU BLOODY IDIOT!!!! DON'T LEAD THEM THIS WAY!!!" Karin screamed as she screeched to a stop and quickly u-turned to run in the opposite direction.
Ichigo opened her eyes and was greeted by a series of tall buildings that dominated her inner world. She was standing alone sideways on one of them. Or at least, seemingly alone.
"Ohh, fancy seeing you here."
The redhead turned, brown eyes meeting with golden ones framed by pitch-black.
Ichigo almost cringed, just like every time she laid eyes on her other, the inverted copy of herself. White long hair, white shihakusho with hovering white strips, dark eyes with gold pupils and an extremely insane smile.
Was she truly so perverted inside?
"Aww, dun say that," her copy drawled out, knowing her thoughts clearly. Ichigo ignored the other's high whining voice, eyes looking around for Ossan.
"So, what does the princess want now?" the silver-haired hollow asked, mindlessly swinging the large black sword that was the inverted copy of Zangetsu in her hand. "Coming all the way here?"
Without any further ado, Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu.
"Let's fight."
Her hollow manifestation grinned ferally.
"You're on, bitch!"
Hanatarou has always had the habit of second guessing his actions. It was an undesirable trait that he should abandon but alas, habits are habits.
However, this time he would not let himself doubt his decision to help these ryoka, even if they did originally kidnap him in an attempt to escape. That aside, after Hanatarou discovered that their aim was to rescue Rukia-san, he made up his mind to help them the best that he could. After all, it was Rukia-san, who treated him with kindness and who smiled at him and told him various wonderful things. Including things about this Karin-san and Ichigo-san.
He told them that Kurosaki-san, the older one, had escaped not too long ago. With that, Karin decided that they should just head towards where Rukia was currently waiting. Undoubtedly, that would be Ichigo-nee's destination as well.
Thus, this little mismatched group of three headed towards the Tower of Penance when suddenly a familiar redhead appeared before them.
"You're...!?"
"F*ck!!!"
Ichigo turned away from the cursing hollow, to meet face to face with Zangetsu, the man's face in its perpetual impassiveness.
"Yo, ohisashiburi desu ne, Ossan," Ichigo greeted with a cocky grin, raising a hand to wipe the blood away from her right eye. Behind her, just a few yards away, her inverted copy was screeching like a hag as the white strips that perpetually surrounded the hollow bled red and begin to wrap themselves around the white-clad figure, suffocating the being and limiting her powers.
Ichigo and the manifestation of her zanpaktou ignored the racket easily as they sized up each other.
"You've grown stronger again," the black-clad man said needlessly.
Ichigo only smirked. Then, she lifted a bloody palm and laid it on the man's chest.
"Suman ne, Ossan."
An elaborate black seal appeared on the man's exposed chest.
"This will only be until I need your help again," Ichigo explained, still blatantly ignoring the shrieking hollow that had been forcefully sealed minutes ago. Her strips of white was now totally blood red in colour.
Zangetsu closed his eyes, willingly accepting the power-limiting seal.
"I understand."
"I'll see ya again soon, Ossan."
Karin tried to hold her ground as the red-haired vice captain bore down on her with his sword. Behind her Hanatarou and Ganju looked on as the dark-haired girl parried Abarai-fukutaicho's every strike.
"It's amazing," Hantarou breathed, "She can keep up with Abarai-fukutaichou!"
Then, Karin faltered slightly under the weight of the other shinigami's sword. Taking the opportunity to knock down his opponent, he attempted to unleash his shikai.
"Hoeru, Zabimaru"
Fortunately for Karin, at that point in time, the two opponents were interrupted by the explosion that blew apart the storage room right next to them.
"What the-"
Renji watched in disbelief as a figure emerged from the rubble, the white strips of cloths whipping about her now slowly bleeding to red and black.
"ICHI-NEE!"
Ganju gaped as the long-haired female waved a hand in front of her to disippate the dust swirling about her.
"Yo, Karin," she smirked, "What a coincidence, eh?"
"That's Kurosaki Ichigo!?" Ganju managed to choke out. She looked so different from her brash younger sister. Tall and sinewy, the young woman looked fragile yet strong and confident. His shout of disbelief attracted her attention.
"Who are you?" the long-haired Kurosaki asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm Shiba Ganju!"
"Ah, and?" she asked offhandedly, grabbing one of the hovering black strips close to her to check on her wards. The seals were nearly complete. Ganju blinked at the dismissal as Hanatarou wondered why the two Kurosaki sisters were ignoring the fact that a fukutaicho was currently nearby and was threatening their lives.
"WHY YOU! ARE YOU IGNORING ME!?"
"They helped us get in," Karin interrupted, cutting off Ganju's loud tirade. Ichigo looked back up after checking on her sealing wards. Then she smiled at her sister and the other two dark-haired beings.
"Sou ka. Ja, arigatou gozaimashita," Ichigo said, bowing slightly to the two dark-haired people who had helped her little sister. Then, she turned towards the red-haired vice-captain who was still staring at her in disbelief. Her face turned impassive.
"Abarai-san," she greeted coldly.
"Kurosaki-san," Renji said, "how did you get out?"
The enigmatic young woman smiled.
"I broke out, of course."
"How!? You don't even have your zanpaktou. Nor do you know any Kidou-"
"How do you know?" she interrupted, gesturing for Karin and the other two to stand behind her. Karin opened her mouth to protest but stopped when her older sister shot her a look.
"What do you mean?" Renji asked. How could she know Kidou? She was only a shinigami for a few months. It took years for many of them to even master the skill.
"I mean," Kurosaki Ichigo begin, finally giving him her full attention, "How do you know that I don't have my Zanpaktou."
An eerie smile then stretched across her pink lips.
Tsuzuku
So sorry for the very extremely late update. I've been pretty busy with my work lately. I will be without internet for the next three months too. T___________T
Sorry for all the cuts in the fighting scenes but in all honesty, i'm absolutely pants at writing fight scenes ^____^ I dun wanna subject my readers to my horrible writing skills in that aspect.