This is chapter 11 (already) and this time I'm trying a new POV I'll be writing. Read to find out whose.
Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach this disclaimer wouldn't be here (man I'm logical x))
Karin POV
"I meet you inside", Toushiro told me as his gigai headed back towards Orihime's place. He disappeared and I knew he was already entering my room trough the nowadays always open window. Darn that shunpo is useful. Maybe he could teach me how to use it!
"I'm home!" I yelled opening the front door. No one answered so I walked to the living room to check where everyone was. In the living room I found Ichigo sitting on the couch with Rukia on his lap. They were currently looking really busy.
"Oi guys! Do that stuff in Ichi-nii's room, please!" I sighed annoyed causing Rukia to look up and Ichigo turn his head around to look at me. Both of their faces were a bit red and they were both out of breath.
"Karin, you're already home. No wait, you're late! Where were you? Last time I saw you when we came to watch the show at your school. I didn't know Toushiro could sing", he snickered, forgetting his questioning.
"It's Captain Hitsugaya to you", I told automatically. Rukia tried to hold back a giggle and Ichigo looked at me seeming to be very annoyed and confused at the same time.
"Where were you?" he asked, in a more suspicious voice now, eyes squinting. I sighed.
"Just chatting with the band. Where are Yuzu and dad?" I asked looking around as if expecting they'd just pop around the corner. Well, with dad it might be even reasonable to expect that.
"We're out of Grimmjow's food so Yuzu went to buy some more and dad is in the shower", Ichigo told and turned back to Rukia, whispering something into her ear what made her blush even more than she already was.
"It's dark outside! And you sent Yuzu alone!" I exclaimed. Usually he would never let neither of us leave the house on our own after dark. Ichigo turned back to me, looking a bit tired and annoyed.
"She's not alone, Grimmjow is with her. You know as well as I that the little white bastard can be dangerous", he said rolling his eyes. I couldn't help but chuckle as I remembered what he meant.
*Flashback*
"What's for dinner today?" Ichigo asked from Yuzu entering the kitchen. I was sitting on the kitchen stand chatting with Yuzu as she made dinner.
"Mashed potatoes and meatballs", she answered looking over her shoulder. Ichigo came closer and inhaled trough his nose.
"Smells wonderful! You don't mind if I take one, do you?" he said stretching his hand towards the almost ready meatballs.
"Hands off", Yuzu said and slapped his hand away with the spatula she was holding. Ichigo scowled like a four-year old child.
"Could you hand me some salt?" Yuzu asked me and I reached over to the spice shelf. As I handed the salt to her I saw Ichigo trying to snatch a meatball. I opened my mouth to say something when I saw something white jump on the counter.
The white fur ball gave a short hiss as a warning before he moved his paw too quickly for me to catch. The next second Ichigo jumped backwards cursing loudly. As he turned towards me I saw three cut going over his left cheek and nose. I couldn't help but start laughing.
"Yuzu has a food guard you shouldn't play with", I said between my chuckles. Grimmjow was sitting on the counter licking his paw, tail swaying from side to side as he stared at Ichigo.
"It's your fault to try to take the food without permission", Yuzu said waiving the spatula around. "Good kitty Grimmjow, good kitty", she cooed and scratched Grimmjow between his ears (with the one with no spatula) and he purred closing his eyes.
Ichigo kept his hand on his cheek and glared at the white cat and I could swear that the fur ball smirked at him.
*End of Flashback*
"Well, he can be protective over Yuzu", I agreed with a shrug and was about to continue lecturing Ichigo as the door opened and Yuzu came in carrying a huge (and I mean it) bag of cat food Grimmjow padding next to her, glancing constantly up like making sure she wouldn't drop the precious food.
"Yuzu! How much food did you buy?" I exclaimed in disbelief staring at my twin. She looked around the bag and smiled.
"I wanted to get enough so I bought the biggest they had. Could you help, it's kinda heavy?" she asked trying to move the bag into a better position. I hurried to her and took the bag from her.
"Wow, this is heavy! How many kilograms this is?" I asked as I almost fell because of the weight. Yuzu examined the bag for a moment.
"Oh, it seems to be quite heavy. This says forty kilograms", she said in amazement. Ichigo and Rukia (who had continued doing what I had interrupted) stopped again and looked at her not believing what she had said. Both of their eyes widened as they saw the bag.
"Where did you buy it from?" Rukia asked taking a long look of the bag and sweatdropping. Yuzu smiled brightly.
"There is this amazing shop where I can get especially cheap candy, so I decided to check if they sold any cat food. I think it's called Urahara shouten", she said after thinking for a moment. I saw Ichigo's mouth hang open, Rukia staring at the bag in disbelief and Yuzu smiling not realizing what she had said had surprised people.
Urahara shouten! I didn't know she still went there to buy things! And it's so far away from here. I can't believe she carried the bag by herself.
"And the manager of the shop is so kind! He suggested than Jinta could carry the bag for me. Jinta is a boy who works at the shop, he's always so nice to me", Yuzu smiled and I let my shoulders drop. Of course she didn't carry the bad by herself. And Jinta was ever so helpful around her.
"Umm, Yuzu, since when have you been going to that shop?" Ichigo asked carefully. Yuzu thought for a moment.
"I think I went there first time the summer after we had turned twelve or thirteen. It was the same year you met Rukia", she said and Ichigo's eyes widened. I already knew it; we had gone there together the first time. I knew Yuzu had sometimes bought candy from there and I still went there to train with Urahara and Yoruichi (though Ichigo didn't need to know about that).
"Come on Grimmjow, let's get you some food", Yuzu smiled to the kitten next to her. He mewled happily and followed her to the kitchen. I hobbled behind the duo, desperately trying to avoid hitting anything.
To no avail unfortunately.
"OWW!" I yelled as I hit my knee very painfully to a kitchen counter. I dropped the bag managing to drop it right on my toes.
"AGGH!" I bit my lip with tears in the corners of my eyes as I hopped around on one foot.
"Karin, are you okay?" Yuzu asked worriedly. I managed to nod and made a face (tried to smile, came out as a grimace).
"What are you two doing?" Ichigo asked trying to peak to the kitchen from his position on the couch.
"Nothing, you just go back to what you were doing!" I yelled back and rubbed my foot. Ichigo tried to get a glance of the kitchen before he shrugged and locked his lips with Rukia's.
"Can you get the bag to its place?" I asked Yuzu who had already cut the top open and put some food on Grimmjow's plate. She put the plate down in front of him and he started to eat. There is something funny about Grimmjow eating. He just eats so… proudly. Slowly chewing the food and occasionally lifting his head and looking at other people like they were his subordinates.
"No problem, I think I'll manage", she told and started to push the bag into the closet. I looked at her sweatdropping for a moment before moved to help her. Together we managed to get the bag to the closet with only five minutes of struggling.
"Phew, I don't think we'll need to buy more cat food for a very long time", I sighed and brushed the sweat away from my forehead. Yuzu leaned to her knees out of breath and nodded in agreement. Damn, that's one difficult bag!
"I'll be in my room if anyone needs!" I yelled to living room at the couple on couch and ran the stairs up. I threw my door open and saw Toushiro lying in my bed reading a book he had taken form my shelf.
"Hi Toushiro. Do you like it?" I asked and closed the door behind me. He looked over the book with a confused look.
"The book. Is the book good?" I cleared. He looked from me to the book and back before seeming to have realized what I meant.
"Oh, I guess it's okay. I read it mostly because Hyorinmaru likes it", he said putting the book down on my desk and sitting up. I threw myself on the bed next to him.
"He likes it? Well I guess he might, it has dragons in it", I said nodding a bit. Toushiro chuckled.
"He likes the way dragons are described in the book. They're magnificent creatures and it's an honor to become ones rides. Though the relationship between the rider and the dragon seems to be similar to ours", he said and I chuckled now.
"Well, if he likes it, he'd probably like to know that that one is only the first book. There are already two more in the series", I said and Toushiro groaned a bit.
"Great, now he'll want me to read those to him too", he said glaring at the blue covered book on my desk.
"The first one is the most boring, there will be so much more stuff in the next two", I told and Toushiro just sighed.
"I still like to decide myself what I read. Oh well, I guess I could humor him", he told with a sigh and shrugged.
"What kind of books do you usually read?" I asked curiously. Toushiro had spent so much time in my room so I was sure he had already seen what kind of books I read.
"I don't read that much, I usually don't have the time. When I have time I like to read biographies and psychological stuff", he said shrugging. "Haven't read much books from this time though, most books are old books written by Shinigami. Your books are a nice change"
"Glad to hear that", I smiled and leaned on his shoulder. I like to lean on something and usually it's a wall, but I had found out that Toushiro was comfortable to lean on, literally.
"What happened downstairs, I heard you yell", he asked after a moment of silence. I blushed at my own clumsiness.
"Yuzu bought a huge bag of cat food from Urahara shouten and I managed to hit my knee on a kitchen counter while carrying it and then dropped the bag to my toes", I explained and he chukled.
"I didn't know Urahara sold cat food. It's surprising. I wonder where he gets it from?" he said grinning at me. I looked at him pouting a bit.
"You worry about how Urahara gets cat food more than about your girlfriend hurting herself. Man, you're nice!" I huffed and he laughed.
"I know it would need more than that to seriously hurt you", he said and ruffled my hair (still on the pigtails, ruffling = messing my pigtails)
"Hey! Now I'll have to tie them again!" I complained as I grabbed his hand to stop from making my hair look more like a hairball than it already did.
"Oh, you're just about to go to bed, I know you don't sleep with ribbons in your hair", he said rolling his eyes. Damn him and his geniusness. I wonder if that's a real word…
"You're right. And I need to wash my make-up off! That's one of the reasons I don't use make-up", I continued to complain. I mean it was just wrong to force me to have lip gloss!
"C'mon, I think glitter looks good on you. I just wonder how's it ever going to come out of your hair", Toushiro teased and my eyes flared angrily.
"Don't tell me they seriously put glitter on me?" I said shaking with rage (almost shaking with rage at least) towards the poor girls that had put the make-up on me. He nodded and pointed towards the mirror. I jumped off the bed and ran to it.
He's right! They put GLITTER on ME!
Oh, they were so going to die after vacation. Enjoy while you can.
"I'm going to the shower now! If I get glitter on my sheet's I'll have it in my hair for the rest of the year. And make sure you don't have glitter on you that you'd get on the sheets" I commanded pointing at Toushiro who was now sitting cross-legged on my bed while grapping my towel and pajama (this time black and white pants and a loose bright orange t-shirt) with my other hand.
"Yes ma'am!" he said and I stuck my tongue at him. Man, I'm mature!
I got to the bathroom door and tried to open it. Only to find it locked. That old goat-face can't be still taking a shower! He's gonna use all of the hot water!
"Oi, someone else needs to take shower too!" I yelled and banged on the door. I heard how the shower stopped inside and only few seconds after it my crazy dad threw the door open and tried to pull me into a hug.
"Karin darling, I understand! We've been spending so little time together that you just needed to see me though I was in the shower! Here, jump to my lap", he shouted and opened his arms. There were soap bubbles in his hair and he was wearing… nothing.
"Get back to the shower and finish it! Then put some clothes on!" I yelled and kicked him in the face sending him back to the bathroom. I quickly slammed the door shut, though I still heard whining about 'Karin has reached puberty!' from the inside.
"Geez, he's one crazy man. How on earth could Yuzu have become so normal?" I mumbled to myself as I leaned on the wall next to the bathroom door. I didn't even think about saying I was normal, I knew clearly that I wasn't.
After five minutes the door opened again and dad peeked from the bathroom. This time he was wearing his bathrobe.
"Karin, you look so beautiful! Did you have a date today?" he asked taking a second look of me. I opened my mouth to tell him the truth but he was already halfway downstairs singing 'Karin has a boyfriend; soon I'll have a second son'.
As I heard Ichigo yell: "What did you say?!" I decided that now was a good time to go to the shower.
I had to stay under the shower for ten minutes to get the glitter of my hair before I started to wash my face. Fortunately the make-up came off with just warm water so I didn't need to start looking for make-up remover.
After I had showered and changed my clothes (I learned from the first time when I had to walk around wearing only a towel in a house full of Shinigami) I headed back to my room. In the hallway I met Ichigo, who was carrying Rukia, though I am not sure if he even noticed me. He just opened his door with his foot (I've always admired how flexibly he was able to use his feet) and kicked it closed once they were inside.
Thank God we had thick walls.
The door was opened and Kon flew to the hallway before the door closed again. I stared at the lion plushie who started to sit and pout in the hallway before I entered my room. Toushiro had already thrown his upper part of the shihakushou and was now wearing only his pants (A.N. Could someone remind me what they're called?).
"That was a long shower", he noted, not lifting his eyes from the book. I shrugged.
"The glitter was hard to get off. Plus I was attacked by dad in the hallway. It takes some time to kick him back to where he should be", I said sitting down on the bed drying my hair with the towel.
"Now my hair is all messy! And I have to brush it while it's still wet or I'll never get the tangles untangled", I said poking the mass of hair in my head. Toushiro rose into a sitting position.
"I can brush your hair. It's easier that way", he suggested and I smiled thankfully.
"That would be helpful. When I was younger and still had longer hair, Ichi-nii always brushed my hair. Now we both think I'm too old for that", I said giving him the brush. I sat down on the floor and he moved to sit on the bed behind me.
After five minutes of silent untangling of the knots in my hair he finally was able get them all open.
"There, it that good?" he asked brushing my hair few times. I stroked my hair and smiled.
"Thanks, it's perfect!"
"Umm, Toushiro", I said after a moment of silence. I turned to look at him over my shoulder.
"Yes?" he cocked his head.
"Do you think you could teach me to use shunpo? Or is it impossible for a human to use it?" I asked him and his eyebrows arched in surprise.
"I think humans should be able to use it, it's only about controlling reiatsu. And I guess I could teach you, we'll have time during our vacation", he said shrugging after a moment of thinking.
"Thank you!" I said excitedly and hugged him. He chuckled and hugged back, leaving me sitting on his lap.
"Maybe it's time for you to go to sleep", Toushiro said as he noticed me covering my yawn with my hand. I smiled tiredly.
"You're right. I'm completely exhausted", I said yawning again. I got up from his lap and he stood up from my bed. I quickly crawled under my sheets (non-glittery sheets).
"Sleep well", Toushiro whispered and turned the lights off before kissing my forehead.
"G'night", I mumbled and heard him chuckle as the door of my closet opened and closed. I was out in couple of seconds.
Couple of hours later
I heard annoying beeping which got louder and louder. Finally I rose to a sitting position with a groan. I looked around my room, my eyes stopping on the clock next to my bed. It's two a.m.! What on earth is that noise!
After s few moment's I realized the noise was coming from my room. I glanced around the dark room finally noticing Toushiro's phone/hollow detector or whatever the thing was. It was beeping and flashing. There must be a Hollow somewhere. I guess I'll wake Toushiro. It's a wonder he isn't awake already.
I got up from my bed and grabbed the phone snapping it open. A small red dot was blinking on the screen. The map showed that it wasn't that far from out clinic.
It's only a normal Hollow, I noticed. Toushiro had once explained how the thingy worked and how to know how strong the Hollow was. I opened the closet and saw Toushiro sleeping. His breathing sounded calm and relaxed, but his face was in a frown, like the noise was bothering him.
I can take care of a normal Hollow by myself. Toushiro looks like he could use the sleep, I decided and silently closed the door. I made my way to the other side of my room and opened the window. I cool breeze blew in and I shuddered a bit. Even if it was a summer night, it was too cold to go out in a pajama. I grabbed sweatpants and a polo shirt from my chair (clothes always seemed to pile up on it) and quickly changed.
When I was ready I stepped out of the window. Carefully holding on the window's ledge I dropped myself on the ground landing with a small thud.
I glanced up to see if anyone noticed the sound, even if it happened to be a light one. No lights were put on, so I turned around and started to run towards the spot the map showed the Hollow was. During my running I tied my hair up in a ponytail to keep it from covering my face.
As I approached the playground (the place where the Hollow was appearing) I heard a scream. I sped up and when I turned around the corner I saw a scorpion like Hollow chasing behind a small girl's soul. She was running away from it with tears in her eyes. Suddenly her foot hit a stone and she fell over. The Hollow was now almost directly above her.
"Stop right there!" I cried and ran to the Hollow. I grabbed its pincer and used it as something to hold on as I swung my leg towards the mask. The Hollow managed to dodge and my leg was scraped on some spikes around its neck.
"Damn", I hissed as I felt the blood starting to drip down my leg. The Hollow howled making my skin go goose bumps.
"RUN!" I yelled to the girl who was now getting up. She looked at me and turned around running away as fast as her legs could carry. I decided to tell Toushiro or Ichigo to do a Soul burial to her the next day.
The Hollow turned to look at me since it lost its original prey. Its eyes were glowing yellow and the spike in its tail had something yellow on it. Crap, that's probably poison. I hope the spikes around the head don't have it or I'm in trouble, I thought taking a glance of my leg.
The spikes had torn the sweatpants and there were three or four (couldn't tell because of the blood) cuts. I tried to put weight on the injured leg and hissed as the pain stung.
"C'mon, attack me already so we can get this over with", I muttered and kept an eye on the Hollow's movements. It was standing in front of me waiting for me to attack. I looked around and noticed a toy car next to me. I picked it up and threw it at the Hollow.
It struck the car with its tail and I took the moment when the tail was in front of it blocking some of its view to jump closer and grab the edge of the mask. It tried to shake its head to drop me, but I was clinging on the mask with both of my arms.
When it stopped shaking its head for a second I released my right arm pulling it behind me and throwing it at the mask with all the strength I had. The Hollow let out a final howl as the mask was broken into little bits. It degraded into nothing and I fell on the ground, falling on my injured leg.
I was surprised that I didn't feel any pain. Not happy though. It meant that the leg was going numb. I tried to move it finding it impossible. This isn't good. Maybe I should have woken Toushiro.
Of course, when things are going bad they can only get worse.
I heard Toushiro's phone beep in my pocket. I took it and opened it. My face went pale and I looked up.
Rips were forming in the sky around a huge white hand. Soon another joined it and the hands pulled the sky open. A Menos Adjuchas came through the hole. The phone slipped out of my hands falling on the ground and breaking from the middle.
Sometimes you should never get out of the bed.
Renji's POV
I was getting annoyed. This was the second time my Soul Pager was waking me up during the same night. First time I had gotten out of bed only to notice that Captain Hitsugaya was there beating the Hollow.
(A.N. I don't know if they really are, but in my story the Soul Pagers (the name of the phone/hollow detector thingy) are connected and so when Karin took Toushiro's Soul Pager Renji saw that the it was there so he assumed of course that it was Toushiro)
I glanced at the screen of the Soul Pager. Hey, it's where Captain Hitsugaya is. And it's an Adjuchas. But Captain Hitsugaya is a Captain he won't need help.
Just then the Captain Hitsugaya's signal disappeared. That can't be good! Maybe I should go to check if he's alright.
I was already sleeping in my Shinigami form since the gigai was uncomfortable, so I just grabbed Zabimaru from the corner of the room and went to get Matsumoto with me. He is her captain, so she should be the one checking on him.
"Oi Matsumoto! Wake up! We got to go check a Hollow attack", I yelled knocking her door. I heard snoring from inside and opened the door. Matsumoto was sleeping on the floor (face up since she can't breathe face down) drool coming from her mouth and a sake bottle cradled in her arms.
Seems like I'll be going alone, I decided with a sigh. Quietly, not to wake Inoue up, I went to the door and once outside, I shunpoed towards the location of the Hollow.
"Wow, he's a big one", I muttered amazes as I stared at the back of the huge Adjuchas. It was covered in white fur so it looked a bit like a yeti. It turned to look at me and I gasped when I noticed what it was holding in its fist.
It was Karin, unconscious (hopefully just that), face covered in blood. At the ground was what was left of Captain Hitsugaya's Soul Pager. I couldn't sense his reiatsu anywhere though. Don't tell me she took his Soul Pager and tried to beat THAT THING by herself!
"Howl, Zabimaru", I yelled and swung the sword at the Adjuchas. It cut it in the arm it was holding Karin in. The cut was not deep enough to cut off the arm, but the Adjuchas howled in pain (most probably in pain, you can never really know what are they howling about) and dropped Karin.
Before she hit the ground (which would have been lethal, since the fall was about 20 meters) I caught her with one arm while swinging Zabimaru into another attack. This time I cut the shoulder of the Hollow, deeper than earlier.
I swung for the third time, this time hitting the Hollow right in the center of its mask. It dissolved with a final howl and I turned my attention to Karin.
"Oi Karin, wake up! Hey now's not a time to be sleeping", I said shaking her gently. Technically, now is time to be sleeping, Zabimaru's tail noted. I ignored him.I realized the hand that had been on her side was wet with blood. Oh shit! She probably has some major blood loss! Should I try to heal her with kido? I thought for a second. No, I would most probably accidentally cause an explosion. I'll have to wake Orihime up!
I cradled the unconscious Kurosaki girl tighter to my chest and shunpoed back to Orihime's place as fast as I was able. I was able to hear how Karin's breathing was becoming harder every second.
"Hold on kiddo, we're soon there", I whispered and knew if she was conscious she would have hit me for calling her a kid. When I approached Orihime's apartment I didn't bother trying to go to the door, so I just broke the window by a swing of Zabimaru. The breaking of glass was sure to woke at least Orihime, maybe even Matsumoto.
"Renji, what was that noise?" Matsumoto asked coming from her room as Orihime came from hers. They both were rubbing their eyes, indicating they just woke up. Well, it was about ten minutes over two in the morning.
"That was just the window. Inoue, I need your help! Karin tried to kill an Adjuchas and she's in a pretty bad shape", I said and the orange-headed girl was completely awake in mere seconds.
"Put her here", she said pointing towards her bed. I followed her to her room and put the little raven haired girl on the bed. Her chest was barely moving anymore.
"Soten Kisshun", Orihime said calmly and the two spirits flew from her hairpins (which seemed to have been in her hair during the night) and Karin was soon surrounded by the yellow-orange power-field. Orihime sat next to the bed holding her hand on the power-field.
"Renji, do you think we should call Ichigo and Captain Hitsugaya here?" Matsumoto asked sitting down on the floor next to me. Concern rang clear in her voice.
"Well, Ichigo and Rukia didn't hear the Soul Pager alarm when the first Hollow appeared so I doubt they'd here it now and Captain Hitsugaya's Pager is in small bits on the street Karin fought with the Adjuchas", I told and she sighed.
"One of us needs to go. You know how angry they'll both get if we won't tell them what happened. And imagine if they found Karin's bed empty and didn't have any clue about where she was", she said and I had to agree with her.
"I can go, just call me if anything changes", I told and stood up. I knew that Matsumoto had grown close with Karin and wouldn't want to leave her side. She glanced at me thankfully and a minute later I was shunpoing across the town.
Toushiro's POV
When I woke up it was still dark. I looked around the closet for a moment before remembering where I was. I was sure there was a noise that woke me up, but it was dead silent. Maybe I imagined it.
Then I heard the noise again. Someone was knocking on the window. I don't think Karin has any other boys climbing in her window. And it's the middle of night.
I opened the closet door a crack and gazed at the window. I was surprised to see Renji knocking on the window. I opened the closet door completely and jumped out of the closet. I looked around the room to spot the upper part of my outfit.
I noticed on Karin's bed and same time noticed that the bed was empty. Panic hit me. What? Why is the bed empty? Where is Karin? It's the middle of night! Maybe she went out for a walk, Hyorinmaru suggested, but I could hear concern in his voice too.
I grabbed the shihakushou haori quickly throwing them on, picking Hyorinmaru from the desk and opening the window violently, almost breaking it in the progress.
"Abarai, what's going on? I hope you have information about Karin's whereabouts", I said to him before he even had a change to open his mouth, voice cold as ice. He glanced at me and then to Ichigo's window.
"I don't have time to explain twice, just listen as I tell him", he said and nodded his head towards Ichigo's window. I nodded and climbed out of the window jumping to the roof to listen from there. Renji moved to Ichigo's window and knocked it.
After a few moments (ones of the longest in my life – why couldn't he hurry up!?) a drowsy Ichigo opened the window.
"Renji, do you have any idea what time it is?" he asked, sounding annoyed. Renji didn't waste any time bothering to answer.
"It's about Karin. She's hurt", the red-head told Ichigo, who was immediately wide awake. My eyes popped open and I wanted to go to shake Renji until he told me where she was and was she alive. You need to calm down. Now is not the time to lose your patience.
"WHAT!? How? Where is she? Is she okay? Renji tell me!" he yelled, probably waking up few neighbors. I couldn't care less if he did; I wanted answers to the questions.
"She was fighting an Adjuchas when I found her. But you couldn't say fighting, she was already unconscious", Renji told and I clenched my fists biting my tongue to stop from starting to ask where she was. Renji would tell.
I started to search for her reiatsu. My panic and worry grew as I realized I wasn't able to feel it. She can't be dead! She might be too far and too weak for you to feel. Relax!
"How could she have been fighting an Adjuchas? Why would she be?" Ichigo asked, voice filled with fear and disbelief. Renji shook his head.
"I don't know about that, all I know that she was fighting it. I took her to Orihime's place so that-." I didn't hear the rest. I was already shunpoing towards Orihime's place. Karin, why would you go to fight a Hollow?
As I arrived at Orihime's I reached for Hyorinmaru in order to break the window to get in faster, only to notice it was already broken. I didn't waste another thought for it, only rushed to the only room which had lights coming from under the door.
I threw the door open causing both Matsumoto and Orihime to jump. Once they realized it was me they turned their heads back to Orihime's bed. I followed their gaze and gasped as I saw Karin lying there, unmoving. She didn't have Orihime's Soten Kisshun's energy field around her.
No, tell me she isn't-! She isn't dead. Can't you feel her reiatsu? I concentrated and realized I was able to feel a small, familiar reiatsu next to Orihime's and Matsumoto's stronger ones. I sighed in relief and slowly walked to the bed.
"Is she okay?" I asked in a whisper, not quite trusting my voice. Matsumoto stoop up from the floor and put her hand on my shoulder. Normally it would have bothered me, but now I needed the support.
"I healed her wounds, but she's still weak. I think the Hollow injected some kind of poison to her. The poison is now gone, but it weakened her. She needs rest", Orihime told gently standing up from the bed. I walked to the bed and brushed her hair away from her face (she still had most of her hair in ponytail, but some strands had fallen to her face)
She was wearing sweatpants I had seen her wear sometimes, but now the left one had been torn from knee and she had a bandage around her leg. She also had a bandage around her head and around her middle (the t-shirt she was wearing was pretty torn too).
"Why did you go fight that Hollow", I whispered to her. Matsumoto moved behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed that Orihime had left the room. I stood up and turned to look at Matsumoto.
"Renji told me that when he found her she had your Soul Pager with her. It was broken though; the Hollow must have broken it. But that would explain why she was there. She heard the alarm and decided to beat the Hollow", Matsumoto told. That was the moment I realized I didn't have my Soul Pager with me.
"Why didn't she wake me up? It's my job to beat them and she knows it!" I was getting a bit angry. Matsumoto opened her mouth to say something but Ichigo decided to make his entry just then.
"Karin! Is she okay?" he asked concerned while slamming the door open. He didn't even notice me and Matsumoto as he sped past us (I had to jump away from his way) and kneeled down next to her.
"Hey Karin, are you okay?" he whispered and stroked her forehead. For the first time we are having the same feeling! Feeling the connection with him already? Nope, and never will.
"Captain Hitsugaya, Vice-captain Matsumoto", Rukia nodded to both of us as she followed Ichigo, much calmer than the said man. She glanced at me and I knew immediately she knew too that I had been sleeping in Karin's closet. She didn't say anything though, since that would have caused a murderous fit in a certain Deathberry.
"Why did she have to go to fight that Hollow?" he asked and me, Matsumoto and Rukia shared a look. None of us had realized we needed to explain it to him too.
"Maybe she just woke up and felt the Hollow and wanted to help?" Rukia suggested and laid her hand gently on Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo looked up to her, a bit of pain showing in his eyes.
"Why couldn't she have woken me up? I would have beaten the Hollow easily", he asked the question I also wanted an answer. Karin stirred causing everyone in the room to turn to look at her. She moved her head slightly from side to side before opening her eyes and blinking a few times.
"Karin! You're awake!" Ichigo exclaimed and hugged his sister. She winced in pain and Ichigo let her go immediately.
"I'm sorry, I should have realized", he said loudly and Karin covered her ears with her hands. Ichigo looked at her confused.
"My head hurts, could you speak quieter?" she whispered hoarsely squinting her eyes and turning away from the light. I, being the nearest person to the switch, turned the lights of. It caused a sigh of relief from Karin, annoyed yell from Ichigo and a sharp hiss from Karin at her brother.
"Thanks, the light didn't feel nice", she whispered and I heard the sheets rustle as she sat up. In a second I was next to her and put a hand gently on her shoulder.
"You need to lie down. You're hurt pretty badly, and Inoue told us you were even poisoned", I said in a calm even voice. Matsumoto lighted a candle behind me so that we would see at least something.
"Right", she sighed and lay back to the bed. "The first Hollow did have some kind of poison in its spikes", she continued, sounding like she was accusing the Hollow of cheating.
"About that Karin, why were you out there fighting an Adjuchas? You know you're no match to them", Ichigo said and Karin turned her face to him, looking mildly angry.
"I'm not stupid! The first Hollow was a normal one, and it cheated with the poison! But I still won it. And then when the Adjuchas came my left leg had already gone numb. If I had been able, I would have run", she said glaring at him. The glare wasn't the same as usual; it lacked the blood freezing threat she usually managed to have.
"Why did you decide to go out in the middle of night to beat a Hollow?" Ichigo continued. Karin quickly glanced at me (Ichigo thankfully missed that) and shrugged, wincing right after.
"I just woke up and felt its reiatsu. Since I had an idea about what you and Rukia had earlier been doing I didn't want to come and wake you up, so I decided to fight it myself", she told, eyes meeting mine for a second. I scowled at her letting her know what I thought about her Hollow-fighting in general and especially alone at night.
Ichigo's thoughts must have been on same track since he opened his mouth face in deeper scowl than usually, but Karin stopped him.
"I know, I know, it was a bad idea! But I had only slept for about three hours, so it seemed to be a good idea", she told rolling her eyes. She's not going to get out of this so easily, and she'd better know it. She glanced at my face again and her scowl told me she knew she was going to have a lecture.
"What on earth will we tell to Yuzu? You went to bed last night, and then next morning you have bandages all over you!" Ichigo continued and Karin shrugged, winching again. She needs to remember the moves that hurt. Isn't that probably about every single move?
"Well, say that I left early this morning to sleepover at a friends' place for few days. After few days I will be recovered, thanks to Orihime's treatment, and here I'll have Shinigami around me any time", she suggested. Of course, it sounded like a good idea to everyone.
"That's right Ichigo, you can count on us in taking care of her! We will make sure someone is always with her", Matsumoto said, sounding maybe a little too excited. And I seriously wondered how on earth the boy had missed her meaningful glance at me when she said someone.
Karin didn't miss it tough, and she needed to disguise her chuckle as a coughing fit.
"Karin, are you okay? Is it difficult to breathe?" Ichigo asked spinning around to face his sister again. She sighed frustrated.
"I'm okay. Just a bit *yawn* tired", she said blinking drowsily.
"You should go to sleep, that way your body will recover faster", I told her keeping my voice even, though still glancing at her worriedly. She smiled weakly and closed her eyes. It took only few seconds from her to start snoring.
"She seems to be okay", Ichigo sighed in relief and stood up. He rotated his shoulders a few times before sighing.
"Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Rukia, Ichigo, do you want some tea? I've already made some for me", Orihime asked from the kitchen. She had started to call Ichigo by his first name when she started dating Ishida.
Matsumoto and Rukia agreed immediately but both me and Ichigo, having tasted her previous cooking (and unlike Matsumoto, found it… interesting), were a bit hesitant.
"What flavor is it?" Ichigo asked carefully as we approached. Renji was already sitting there; gulping down what smelled like a triple-espresso (he had taken a huge liking on coffee – the darker the better).
"It's blueberry with some honey and milk in it", she said giving us both cups of the steaming drink. We glanced at each other and counted to three taking a sip simultaneously. To my surprise it was really good.
"You're good at making tea", I noted and took another, longer, sip. It was nice to drink something warm after having so little sleep (A.N. At least it always helps me).
"I think I'll go back to my house to get some sleep", Ichigo said yawning after he had finished his tea. Rukia stood up too, having finished much before him.
"We'll drop some stuff for her later today", Rukia smiled and the duo shunpoed away through the broken window. Orihime looked at the window a bit sadly.
"That's the second time that window has been broken within two months", she sighed and I remember the first time, which had been when Ichigo wanted to go bankai on my ass because he blamed me for the fact she had gotten hurt.
"Don't worry; the Soul Society will pay for it. It is our fault that it's broken", I said and set the now empty cup on the table. Matsumoto had already gone back to sleep and Renji had left for a round or two around the town (though I thought he would need much more rounds to get sleepy again after that espresso).
"I think I'll go to sleep too. It's a good thing it's vacation; we can sleep late", Orihime smiled and rose from the table. As she started to walk to her room she remembered Karin was there.
"You go to the room I've been using, I'll sleep in your room on the couch", I told her and she nodded whistling the way to my room. (A.N. She has a couch in her room, similar to the one in Toushiro's office in the Soul Society)
I walked to the room where Karin was sleeping and sat down on the bed next to her face. I looked at her and leaned on the wall.
"You know, you really gave me a scare. Next time make sure to take me with you when you feel like kicking some Hollows's ass at two a.m.", I sighed a chuckle. She stirred a bit and mumbled:
"Yeah, next time"
I rolled my eyes and suddenly felt very tired. I closed my eyes for a few moments and drifted to sleep.
The rest it still unwritten
I think the beginning if this chapter is one of the lightest I've done by far. The end is a bit more serious, but I still tried not to make it too dark. I like especially the beginning; it was somehow so easy to write!
And sorry for complaining, but I'm disappointed that I got less reviews on the last chapter than usually. Wasn't it as good?
Also sorry that this is shorter than last time, I've usually tried to make every chapter longer than the earlier, but this would just have been stupid if I'd made it longer.
Song quote is from Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfiel
And does anyone know what book Toushiro was reading? I really like those books ^.^ (that's a hint, a bad one though... It helps no one)
Please review! I update faster, and better and longer updates! Reviewers get a big hug!