I like the him/her set up I've got going on. I think I'll keep it. This chapter is much shorter than my other chapters.
Disclaimer: Karin would totally be more powerful than Ichigo. She would have more control.
Chapter Eleven: The Chase and The Awakening
Karin watched her prey carefully. She was completely still. A butterfly fluttered past, not even realizing that a fully grown person was sitting in the bush it was investigating.
Her prey was bustling about, oblivious of the hidden eyes watching their every move. They bent down and grabbed another cloth from the old woven basket. After a brief shake to let loose some of the water, the cloth was hung up on a wire, two small clips keeping it from falling. The process was repeated a little further down the line.
It was one of the rare sunny days, before winter could fully take hold and the Prey was taking advantage of one of the last opportunities to have clean clothes until next spring.
Karin was taking advantage of one of the last opportunities to find blankets and proper clothes until next spring.
Her fingers and toes were decidedly numb but she ignored that. She had been cold longer than just about anyone else. The odd thing was that Hana claimed that she was always warmer than anyone else and so liked to cuddle at night.
The basket empty, the Prey walked back into the quaint house. It was just her and her husband. Apparently birth rates among souls was less than a hundredth of a percent. Nobles had an almost 20 percent of getting pregnant. When Karin had asked why, no one had been able to answer her.
She waited for ten more minutes, the cold creeping its way into her very bones. She refused to budge an inch. Every few minutes she could see the face of her Prey peeking out the window, making sure her laundry was fine. After about ten minutes, the face appeared less and less. After another 5 full minutes between peeks, Karin carefully crept out of the bush, startling the butterfly that had landed on a winter flower but not much else.
Keeping to shadows as best she could she quickly made her way across the yard much the way a cat would. She couldn't stand up for fear of being seen.
She arrived at the line. There were two rows and Karin was behind the second one, the row of blankets and clothes offering protection from the house. She carefully stood up, having to reach up on her tip-toes to carefully unclip a medium sized blanket, rolling it up as she pulled it off to prevent it from touching the ground.
She moved over to a plain, blue and green checkered kimono. It was one of the larger ones, no doubt the husbands. She unclipped and rolled it up as well. As soon as both her prizes were secured in her arms, she darted away. No time for sneaking, even if she could with her arms laden with damp material.
Just as she was about to dive back into the trees, she heard a feminine shout. She quickly sped up, whipping around a branch and disappearing in the dark woods.
She kept up her speed until she neared her own home. She rounded the last row of trees and saw it, a thin pillar of smoke rising from the hole in the roof. She allowed a moment to take in the view with a smile on her face.
Hana came around the side of the house, a bundle of twigs in her arms. She smiled broadly when she noticed Karin and her prize.
"Karin-chan!"
They both entered the house, Hana putting the sticks down on the growing mound of firewood they had been collecting for a while now. It was located in the opposite corner of the fire since they didn't want any stray sparks to send them both to a very warm death.
Karin set the blanket and kimono down on their bed. With the access to water, they had attempted to clean the rags they had brought with them. Some of them had actually disintegrated when the hit the water and even more hadn't made it past the scrubbing. They made up for by nicking whatever material they could from their new district. Because of this, their bed actually resembled a bed. The blanket was a huge find and Hana congratulated Karin on it.
"What's with the kimono? Is it for you?" Karin still refused to change out of the rags she had brought from the 80th district. She opted to just clean them instead. People in town had actually commented to her about their state, particularly how they were very, very short, showing off her legs. Karin claimed that she liked the freedom.
"Nah. It just looked like another layer against the cold. It's big enough to cover us both." They both laughed. Hana quieted first and looked thoughtful and a little sad.
"What's wrong?"
She hesitated before speaking. "It's just, we're in a new district now. A much nicer one. And there's much more to go around. We actually have a store of food." They had been storing all they could find, knowing that they would need it to last the winter.
"And?" Karin raised a brow, not sure what she was saying. Hana blushed and didn't look her in the eye.
"I was just wondering if maybe we should try to get things through alternate means. You know, work for stuff, not steal it."
Karin looked at her like she had grown another head.
"…Why?" She finally asked, incredulous.
Hana blushed a deeper red. "These people are nice. It's not like back in the 80th where they would kill you as soon as they saw you. I bet we could both find decent work. Maybe enough to actually buy fresh food and the like."
Karin blinked. Clearly Hana's good nature had been guilting her for a while now. Karin saw nothing wrong with taking what they needed. They weren't greedy. She made sure she only took what they needed and only from people that could spare a little. Still, Hana obviously felt very bad about the whole thing.
She gave a huge sigh. "Fine." Hana looked up with surprise and a huge smile on her face. "We'll look for work come spring. I'm not doing this whole working thing in the winter." She said sternly.
Hana giggled. "Yeah, wouldn't want you to have to wear a long kimono or anything."
"Exactly."
"Working, eh? Better watch out, she's making you into a decent person. Before you realize, you're going to be handing out candy to kids and kissing babies."
She was dreaming again. The dark figure on the throne was speaking. The stars where shining brightly but still hazy when Karin tried to look at them. The glow from the lava illuminated Karin and the outline of the speaking figure.
The figure actually spoke a lot more now. The conversation was usually casual. Ever since she had heard that first word all those night ago. It was actually impossible to get her to shut up now.
"There's nothing wrong with working." Karin defended, her arms crossed. "No one chases after you when you get things the honest way."
"But I thought the whole point was to be chased."
Karin looked confused. "Why would I want to be chased?" She asked.
The figure smiled. From the glow, Karin could faintly make out the dark red lips.
"Every girl wants to be chased."
"That's ridiculous. And it's the wrong chasing." Karin waved it off.
"Maybe because the one you want to chase you hasn't arrived yet."
Karin scoffed. "You've been listening to Hana way too much. I'm not some helpless princess locked in some mansion somewhere. I'm not waiting for my warrior to come running in and rescue me."
"Of course not! We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much!" The outburst startled Karin.
"We?"
"Oops. My bad." The figure didn't sound apologetic at all.
"You know," Karin took a few step closer, watching carefully for the ground to open up and stop her. "We talk a lot. But I don't know who you are. I can't even see your face. And these dreams are downright weird. For one, I know I'm dreaming." Karin edged her way closer. "For another, I usually remember them. Not very well, but I know I'm having them when I'm awake." The figure just watched as she crept closer. "And again, you reference things that happen during the day like you were watching. And you say other weird things. Like you are a part of what's going on but not." Closer now. Karin could almost make out the face. It was definitely human-like.
She reached out to touch her. "Who-"
"Karin-chan! Karin! Wake up! Fire!"
Karin was jerked awake. Disoriented at first, she saw that there was indeed a fire. Some of the firewood they had collected was on fire. Karin jumped up and grabbed the twigs, pulling them quickly off of the stack. She quickly tossed them into the fireplace in the opposite corner. The fire had died down during the night, becoming no more than a smoldering pit.
She repeated this process until any trace of a fire was located in the pit, safe and controlled. The fire was quite large, and carefully Karin pulled out some of the outlying sticks, ones that weren't burning as much as the rest. She carefully put them out, laying them out so they weren't touching anything else so they could safely cool.
The rest of the twigs were sacrificed to their odd midnight fire, crackling away. Karin wiped her sweating brow, both from the heat and the adrenaline, unaware of the streak of soot that she dragged across.
Hana had been mostly useless but Karin didn't blame her. Honestly, she wasn't sure how she hadn't frozen with panic.
"Are you okay?" Hana nodded mutely, clutching the blanket a little too tightly.
"What happened?" She whispered nervously.
"That's what I want to know." Karin replied grimly. "It couldn't have come from this fire since there wasn't really any fire before now. Did you see or hear anything?" Hana shook her head.
"No. I woke up because I smelled smoke." Karin frowned. She had too, now that she thought about it. She had just assumed it had been part of her dream.
"Well, whatever happened, it's over now. We'll just have to collect more wood tomorrow. Go back to sleep, Hana. I'll stay awake to watch the fire. Make sure nothing else happens."
Eventually Hana did fall back asleep. Karin stayed up, staring into the fire. A fire that, for some unfathomable reason, she felt like she was responsible for starting.
So, super short chapter but not much is happening with Karin right now. Next chapter is back to Toushirou. There will be some time skip because, let's face it, we're just waiting for them to find each other. Reviews will make that happen sooner!
