Some of you guys are just too darn good at guessing XD It's actually quite scary…
…MIND READERS! (wibbles in corner)
…mmm…fajitas…
Oh yes. Apologies to any Gin fangirls…the way he talks pisses me off though xD
Huge props to my beloved sibling. Your ipod is surprisingly enjoyable :P
Oh yes. This takes place after Karin got dragged away by Ichigo...in case you couldn't tell xD
Karins POVs
"Stupid Ichi-nii" I muttered, slamming the door on my brother's ramblings and the old idiots praising. It was enough to make you sick. Honestly, what was everyone expecting! Toushiro was Toushiro, captain of the 10th division, supposed 'heavenly guardian' according to Yoruichi, had what had to be the sexist vice-captain this side of life and yet they were all under some illusion that we were going to…I don't know! Do something!
I growled under my breath and marched into my en suite, mumbling profanities that I'm sure no lady would ever have uttered in her life time.
I looked a right mess. That's training with Yoruichi for you I suppose, I was covered with dirt, my hair…eurgh. I can't believe I even let Toushiro see me-
Wait. I don't care what he thinks. Remember.
Even if he did look kinda happy to see me…
"Well I did stop his insides from being his outsides so I think anyone would be at least grateful" I spat, to myself I might add. Why on earth was I still thinking about him anyway! Him and his pretty eyes, adorable smile, stubborn attitude and…OH GOD!
No. No. No. No!
This could not be happening.
I had just had my fiancé break up with me in the most violent and unexpected (not to mention asshole-ish) manner possible and I was already…
No.
I didn't. I couldn't. He was dead and I was, well, alive. Necrophilia is illegal. Along with Shinigami/human relationships…
Apparently.
(Ichigo doesn't count because he happens to have one foot in the grave already. I wouldn't be surprised if the old dude in charge of the league of extraordinary pains in the asses ordered a hit on him just so he could order him round completely.)
I turned the taps on my bath, pulling my mud caked hair out the tie Yoruichi had lent me. I needed to relax; I was clearly over thinking things. So what if I nearly ki…had a slightly more intimate than normal moment with a taicho of dead people.
No biggie.
"Oh god you are a prat Karin Kurosaki" I muttered, glaring at my slightly flushed face in the mirror. I barely recognised the girl looking back, before I was thin, pale, always worrying, always looking like one of those kids you got on Jerry Springer with things like 'I tried to kill myself' as the story line. Now…
Well I certainly looked happy…and looked like a had something of a figure…
Nothing on Matsumoto/Orihime standards.
Wait.
Why was this important!
It's not like I was trying to impress…
"Toushiro" I snarled, feeling my stomach do a wriggly sort of dance. How could even thinking about him bring out such a bizarre overly hormonal fangirl reaction? It didn't make sense.
Oh wait. Yes it did, but I was no way in hell going to admit it. What kind of fickle girl was I?!
I don't. I don't. I don't.
I won't!
Oh bugger.
"I love him" I croaked. The girl in the mirror grinned like an idiot, a brilliant blush covering her cheeks, eyes sparkling with excitement and joy. I admitted it. He better not be doing one of his stalker visits or I'd kill him. Again.
I took a glance at the ring I was wearing round my neck, feeling it's weight round my neck, I rested it on the palm of my hand. James, the sod, I was only wearing this to remind me of what an idiot he was. How I wasn't going to make a mistake like that again.
So much for that plan. I'd already pretty much zeroed in on the poor taicho, how much rejection could one girl take?! I let the ring fall back against my chest, it was going to stay there, I wasn't going to go blindly chasing another relationship.
Toushiro certainly didn't deserve that either. He was decades ahead of me and probably had some pretty, perfect, strong Shinigami girlfriend sat at home waiting on him to come home. He also had a job, something I wasn't going to ruin for him.
By now the bath was half full, stupidly enough I'd run only hot water, the room was steaming up pretty fast, oddly giddy I bent down to switch the taps over.
I felt them before I saw them, the chilling explosion of hybrid reitsu driven right into my mind like a drill piece. I swung round, grabbing the plastic bin off the floor and ploughing it through the boiling water, emptying the contents on a shell shocked Espada member, before he could even react I reached out, feeling the pulse of his reitsu, I slashed upwards with my hand, directing the motion as the body of pure soul energy exploded, his or her blood raining on my tiled floor.
I made a dash. No way in hell was I going to find out how pissy the guy would be when he got up again. I'd only broken the skin; I hadn't managed to hit any vital organs.
"Ichi-" I began but another hand grabbed the back of my collar, yanking me backwards before I even had time to catch a breath. I stumbled, the attacker came at me again, grabbing the side of my head and slamming it off the bath, pain blinding me completely. I felt warm liquid burst from the wound, flattening my hair, running over my face.
I could still sense them. They were coming again. In a desperate attempt at self preservation I lashed out at the closest one, a satisfying, yet short, scream of agony my answer.
"Grab her!" one of them hissed, reaching blindly towards me, I didn't care anymore; I allowed my power control, allowed it to slash anything with even an ounce of reitsu that came to close.
"That bitch, that bitch she took my fucking arm off…" another snarled, I chuckled bitterly and cracked my eyes open, the pain of the action sending stars across my vision.
It would have been funny if I weren't possibly about to die.
2 badass Espada members cramped into my tiny bathroom, I laughed this time, the sound drawing their attention fully to me.
"She is truly a Kurosaki, laughing even in the face of death" my laughter died in my throat, I felt my heart pound frantically in my chest, oh god…
"Aizen…" I croaked. The man smirked as he came into my vision, I'd never seen him before, heard about him but never actually seen him but there was no mistake. The respect he demanded, the chilling aura, the murderous reitsu.
"Kurosaki" he replied smoothly, as if I wasn't lying here in my own blood in my own bathroom and as if I'd just asked if he'd lend me a pencil. I hated him; I had no rational explanation for it but the minute I'd seen him pure loathing took over my being. I lashed out, not physically and not at him, at the real him.
To say he looked surprised was an understatement. He looked like Yuzu when I told her sex made babies, that is to say, a mix of horror and disgust.
His illusion disappeared, the sword returning to its original form, he quietly applauded, I wondered what the hell was taking Ichigo so long.
"So you can sense the difference between the real and the fake. Impressive" I tried to move my fingers, nothing, everything was too heavy. I couldn't even tilt my head to look at him properly. His stare made my flesh crawl, like he was examining a particularly fine experiment and was deciding what to do next.
"Bastard" I spat, then everything went black.
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Because of Hormones
Chapter 10:
Die for a Lie
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I knew I was in trouble.
I knew it because when I woke up my head was pounding, my mouth tasted of blood and bile and of course I had my hands chained behind my back with a blindfold over my eyes.
This was never the way one wanted to start the morning.
I twisted; trying to wriggle my way out whatever was restricting my movements and received a sharp blow to the stomach, doubling me over in pain. I nearly bit my tongue trying not to yell out; clearly I wasn't at another of Ichigo's wild parties as I had vainly been hoping.
No one said anything, not giving away even a flicker of care at my current predicament. So what if I was blinded, that didn't mean I couldn't necessarily see. I tried to reach out, tried to search for my kidnapper's reitsu but was met with a very solid, very real, wall.
"Ah, ah, ah" crooned a very familiar, very irritating and sadly enough, very real voice, from somewhere in front of me.
"James" I spat, he somehow managed to convey his pout through the material covering my eyes. I no longer found that look cute or persuasive, especially considering the circumstances. I bit my lip and tried again, relentlessly battering the shield he'd created around me, there were no weaknesses. Sadly, he'd obviously had a lot my practise than myself.
"We don't want anyone else to loose a limb" he breezed, a brief flash of satisfaction burned through my battered nerves, allowing a short-lived smirk to don my features. Clearly the idiot who'd attacked me first hadn't managed to recover his arm. What a shame. "You look good" he went on cheerfully, I wanted to smash his head off a wall…no, a zanpakuto. Then we'd see how cheerful he was.
"Where are we?" I spat, brushing the pleasantries aside and getting straight to the point. I forgot who I was talking to.
"Where indeed"
"Oh go fu-"
"That language is not suitable for a young lady" he interrupted. Relishing the brief growl of anger I couldn't hold back before moving quickly to flick off my blindfold. He was too fast for me to slice his hand off; I'd get him next time. "Welcome to Las Noches" he announced like a game show host, flourishing his arms dramatically at the pure white castle in the dead void of Hueco Mundo. As if it was something to be proud of.
"Tch." I took a look at myself, checking for any additional injuries. A couple of bruises on my legs…wait…legs? Oh great, I was still in my shorts and tank top pyjamas. Wonderful. What a dignified way to be captured. As if it wasn't bad enough that I'd been taken out in my bathroom.
Oh how Ichigo will laugh.
Wait. Ichi-nii! Oh crap he would have blown up all of Japan by now.
And that would be in shikai!
I struggled to get a better look at my restraints, it looked like your average binding spell…that just shows how much time I've been spending with Shinigami…I called binding spells average. I wouldn't be able to break these without fully using my power, something I wouldn't be able to do with captain bastard watching over me.
"Is that my ring?" He asked out of the blue, suddenly holding the offending jewellery in his hands, kinda like Gollum off lord of the rings…only way more annoying. "Why on earth have you still got this?"
"Offended!" I snapped back, he smirked slightly and dropped the charm back around my neck, patting me on the head.
"Surprised. I tried to kill you, and that chibi-taicho of yours, do you like that in men or something?" my cheeks flared at the insinuation that Toushiro, I mean Hitsugaya-taicho, belonged to me, that and the implication that him mindlessly slaughtering my friends was a turn on.
"I loathe you"
"Yet you still wear it"
"A reminder that I should never let something like this happen again" he faked a hurt expression, clutching his heart dramatically before breezing off down the corridor, he knocked on one of the massive wooden doors (how on earth did they get all the wood!?) and called through it, for a second it seemed like he'd chosen the wrong door but then it creaked open, a tall white haired, not to mention freakishly creepy, man entered the…I glanced round. Hallway by the look of it.
"Yo Rin-chan" I blinked and looked behind me. Nope. No one else there, he must be speaking to me.
"Karin" I corrected, trying and failing to draw myself up to an impressive height. It was hard when your arms were bound behind your back and everything ached.
"What cha doin' in a-"
"If you don't speak in full words soon I will kill you" There was a pause. James snorted and the other man looked as though someone had slapped him across the face, no, he looked as if Aizen had bitch-slapped him across the face.
"Feisty isn't she?"
"A little too much" the man drawled, I tensed, expecting him to lash out, 'attempt' to discipline me. "But it ain't none of ma business. All this is Aizen" he gestured vaguely at the two of us, James and I. I loathed the way he grouped us together, like we were a package deal.
"Yeah well I was told to get you when she woke up, so here she is Gin" Gin. I made a mental note to stuff a dictionary on the Japanese language down the mans throat before I got out of here. He pretty much butchered the dialect in a few sentences.
"Yeah, she don't look nothin' like 'er brother"
"Could you not talk about me as if I weren't here" I snarled. They did anyway, blithering on and on about something called a Hōgyoku and ōken and how they were soon going to be able to complete some crazy scheme, all in all they both sounded rather thrilled, Gin then decided to go all cryptic and apologise to James for what was 'happening' to him.
Honestly.
Clue a girl in. It's not like you guys kidnapped me or anything!
I realised I should really have been paying attention to all of that but there was no point, if they were talking about it in front of me then clearly the others new, that, or they didn't expect me to get out of here.
Ha.
Ha.
Ha.
They were so on.
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"Kurosaki Karin…"
"Fuck off" I spat, the woman blinked, looking rather stunned, not to mention offended, that I hadn't even let her finish the sentence before snapping at her. She then laughed, despite the horrific injuries, her matted green hair shaking with the movement.
"You are definitely related to Ichigo" I blinked, straining against what had to be the most irritating kido barrier ever and tried to get a better view of my…imprisonment mate. She was attractive, even with the gaping torture wounds and obvious lack of showering, the way she held herself against her enormous restraints suggested pride, a lot of it, she used to be…well, one of them, as I had so lovingly grouped all hollows.
"You know Ichi-nii? Who are you? Why on earth are you down here?" the questions tumbled out my mouth before I could stop myself. So much for my vow of silence…
I was locked up down here shortly after arriving, I had no idea what the time was, hadn't eaten in what felt like years and was really craving a bath but I certainly hadn't expected to see an Espada member in the slammer.
"I could ask you the same thing" she responded, shaking herself slightly to get a better glimpse at me "My name is Neliel Tu Oderschvank" I blinked.
"That…is a mouthful" still trying to comprehend how you pronounced the first half, let alone the last bit. She let out another laugh, reminding me slightly of matsumoto.
"Call me Nel."
"Karin. Not Rin-chan, Kurosaki's sister, that one, Aizen's pet or human trash" I specified. I felt it was slightly necessary after the barrage of names I'd had tossed my way. Human scum, thus far, was my personal favourite. Especially in the context, Ulquiorra really knew how to put across pure loathing in a few syllables.
I considered taking lessons.
Did James have to deal with this?
Probably not, he always seemed to be as merry as that Santa from the coca-cola adverts…
But as they say: Santa is an anagram for Satan…
"So what brings you to the wonderful dungeons of Las Noches, complete with creepy inmate?" Nel queried, taking up a conversational tone, I didn't know how she did it but I began to feel slightly safer. Maybe it was the fact that she knew Ichigo. Anyone who didn't call him 'The Kurosaki-brat' seemed to have a longer life expectancy…and tended to be nicer…
"I wish I knew…I think Aizen did something to me. I don't know how. They took me from my bathroom! Could you imagine if they walked in whilst I was actually in the bath!" I turned crimson at the thought; I'd had more than enough of people walking in on me in less than decent circumstances.
Nel laughed again, my lips quirking up in response. So what if she was an Espada…she was…alright?
My brain needed checking.
"Don't talk about baths. What I would give to have something like that." She drawled it was my turn to laugh; the sound surprised me, so much so that I stopped myself right away, my detainment buddy took one look at my shell shocked expression and burst into another chorus of laughter. "Your face! You look like Ichigo just told you he was a women!" I joined her laughing, completely stunned.
Who knew I would actually find a friend down here?
…Who knew I'd actually be down here?
When our laughter eventually died down the atmosphere returned to the usual melancholy expected in a cell.
"Am I going to die?" I whispered. Nel didn't say anything.
I took that as a yes.
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"How long are we going to have to do this Kurosaki?" muttered a rather spiteful Grimmjow one wonderful…erm…I had no idea. Time passed in strange ways when you couldn't see the light. "How long?!"
I didn't dignify the Espada with a response. Choosing to instead close my eyes and let out a long, slow breath. Clenching my hands into fists behind my back, my skin was crawling, my head was throbbing gently. The amount of reitsu in the room was ridiculous but that wasn't the reason for my feverish reaction.
Aizen.
This must have been the same room Orihime had stood in, the same place Ichigo duelled in. I wasn't about to let anyone down now. They clearly hadn't shown any fear, neither was I.
"I refuse" I spat icily, my eyes snapping open to clash with the brown, merciless and slightly amused eyes of the former 5th division captain. He chuckled dryly, leaning on one hand, gazing down on me like I was some interesting exhibit in a zoo.
I loathed him.
"Ah. Kurosaki's. Ever the amusement" he drawled lazily, Gin's grin, if possible, widened, Tousen, ever the statue, remained unmoving. He was blind yet I could feel the intensity of his non-existent glare, I repressed the urge to shudder and flicked my eyes briefly round the room, looking for any possible escapes.
My eyes clashed with blue as James strode into the room, he didn't look at me and the only recognisable feature was his hair. He looked paler than usual, worn down as if something was eating away inside of him, the local doc rushed in after him, trailing after the traitor like a shadow, like he was paranoid he might spontaneously collapse at any second…
Was he? Was something wrong?
Before I could finish that thought Grimmjow grabbed the back of my head, forcefully throwing me to the ground, with my arms restrained I had no way to stop myself, the skin on my knees painfully scraping away, my breath catching with the unexpected action.
"Ah – Aizen-" James croaked, halted as the man sent a cool glare his way, he faltered, giving me nothing short of a gut wrenching stare of apology. My eyes widened in fear, I struggled desperately with the binding spell, searching for something, anything that would allow me to fight back.
Ulquiorra walked into my field of vision, holding a steaming object in his hands, a flicker of sadistic joy managing to break through his usually composed mask.
"This will hurt" he assured bluntly. My mouth went dry, my heart leaping into my throat that was a brand he was holding. Like the one on…
James. Oh my god they'd done this to…
Grimmjow grabbed my hair, yanking my body by the black locks I'd once worked so hard to achieve; I bit back the yelp that had threatened to explode. He clawed ruthlessly at the top of my shirt, ripping it back so a decent area of skin was exposed, not even caring that the garment was practically in tatters by the time he was done with it.
My breathing was coming in short gasps, I couldn't hear anything but my heartbeat, all I could see was that thing coming closer.
"Shit" I spat just as the metal seared against my skin. My vows to stay silent, to stay strong went straight out the window, I let out an earth shattering scream, my throat burning along with my skin, I could see spots on my vision, the vasto lord pushed down harder, I could smell the stench as my flesh was roasted, I could feel the tar like blood that was surprisingly my own run down my naked back, I screamed until I was hoarse, until my throat burnt as much as my back.
When was it ending? How hot was that thing?! Tears blurred my vision, in a bizarre moment of sanity I managed to bite them back, digging my teeth into my lip, not even feeling it as I drew blood. I would not cry.
Not for them.
Not for anyone.
Grimmjow yanked my head back, the metal finally pulling back off my charred and ruined skin. I glared into the smiling, bookish face of Aizen. I wondered briefly what on earth had turned him into this creature, but the feel of cool air on my ruined back brought me back to the present.
I was branded. Like I was his property, as if he owned me like a farmer owned an animal.
"Will you submit?"
"Fuck you"
They started again.
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No you aren't meant to know what he's asking xD That's for later :P
And yes…I am a Sadist. A huge one. But I am also a romantic sap…Not really sure how that works…
Peace!