Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.
A/N: I know I haven't put an author's notes up here for a while, but just so you all know, the next two weeks will be hectic for me, (what with the piano concert and forcefully cutting out all 4 of my wisdom teeth) so... yeah. ®_®
…
The Bodyguard
Mission 14
…
– The Principal –
He was typing furiously at his computer, set on – no, bent on – finding out just whom these initials belonged to. He had a faint suspicion about A.R., but none of the others. 魔一 /M.I? 銀空/G.K? 市ギ/I.G? He didn't have a clue, but Kanji had multiple kana pronunciations, and therefore the English initials depended on what came after the first Kanji initial. So he was checking all the records, trying to match initials of everybody who had ever been attended The Academy, been bodyguard, or had any connections to Haru…
Abruptly, his typing halted.
'I don't know a thing about Haru.'
Not his family, nor his friends… Not even his birthday, much less his favorite food, color… all he knew was who Haru's past roommate was.
At this realization, his head sank into his hands.
He didn't know a thing, not a single thing, about the one light of his life. The light was faint and turned towards something that now seemed much larger, darker, and more sinister than he… but a light in his life nonetheless.
Had he really been that negligent towards that light?
Had he ever openly shown the slightest friendliness towards his light?
Had he ever done anything except annoy and torment his light, in a pathetic attempt to vie for his light's attentions?
Was this the reason he was hated by his light?
His light.
His light.
His.
Curling his hands into fists, he raised his head to look at the computer screen with fresh determination.
As if it had sensed its master's renewed resolve, the computer finally gave a loud beep, signaling the best match for the initials A.R/阿恋.
A full-frontal headshot of the redhead that had been his light's former roommate flashed on the screen; and next to it read: Abarai Renji.
He had been right.
…
2 years ago
…
On the day of the graduation test, Karin woke up a little after 3 o'clock.
A.M.
She groaned and tried to bury her head back into the pillow, which she discovered was the hard muscle of Renji's arm. Great. However, Renji continued to sleep like a rock.
Sitting up, Karin raked a hand through her semi-long hair. 3 in the morning was way earlier than her ideal waking time. 'Probably due to nerves.' Karin thought grimly.
Despite what others might think, Karin was actually very nervous about the test. The graduation exam. The back of her mind noted that it was her birthday as well. What a pleasant present life had given her.
Preceptor Muguruma had suggested that she, Ginjou, and Renji would get the pairs most difficult to deal with.
And she wasn't sure she could fight them off.
At this point, she was one of the smallest in stature, and by far the lightest in weight. The larger 1st years might be heavier than her by this time.
Sighing and rubbing her eyes, Karin stumbled into the bathroom. She splashed some water onto her face and looked into the mirror, to see blue eyes staring back at her. Her face was pale, and her eyes were brighter than usual. 'Must be the lighting.' Karin thought regretfully as she rubbed her face dry with a towel, prepping to put on her contact lenses.
Once brown eyes stared back at her, she firmly told herself, "Okay, lets do this."
After callously pinching Renji's nose to smother him to consciousness, the two trooped down 18 flights of stairs, dread growing with each step.
The trainees barely greeted each other; they were too tense. They waited for 20 agonizing minutes; each second seemed like an eternity.
Finally, the headmaster showed up.
Karin – as well as many others – grit her teeth, as the tardy headmaster staggered onto the podium, looking even more unkempt than usual.
'Even when he's half-asleep, he has that hat on. He must sleep with it on as well.' she thought, not without some acridity.
Sleepily, he said, "Alrighty kids…" another yawn. "Your job is to do exactly the opposite of what you did your first year." He made to step off the podium, when he spotted the venomous looks from several of the preceptors. Sighing, he added in a bored, mechanic voice, "You will each be… ah… what was the word… administered a laptop and a airsoft weapon, both of which should have your name labeled on it. The rest should have been explained to you yesterday." Grinning widely, he gave them a wave. "Good luck, and tootles!"
Sullenly, the 3rd years went up to get the gear with their names on it. Clipping the weapon holster containing the airsoft gun into her belt, Karin gingerly hefted the laptop, which had a sticky note that read 'Akimoto Haru' attached to the surface.
The trainees looked at the laptops as if they didn't know what to do with it.
'One thing you can do is bash in the headmaster's head.' Karin thought maliciously.
Preceptor Hirako noticed the 3rd years' looks (which wasn't too hard, they all looked completely at a loss for what to do) and took the stage – as he always did.
"You will each go to the assigned place written on the back of your respective sticky note."
There was a swishing sound as the trainees simultaneously unstuck the sticky notes and flipped them over. Karin saw her assigned location, and another strange code below it.
"Once you are there, you will prepare. The preceptors will carry trackers… but you will have to find the tracer to the corresponding tracker first. As to how you'll find these tracers, I'll leave that for you to figure out. It's not that hard."
'Hacking.' Karin thought. 'Using these computers to find the tracers.'
She didn't know what system she needed to hack into; the possibilities were almost endless. Almost.
"After you've acquired a tracer, you will have to type into your tracer your respective activation codes, which you see written below your assigned area, affixing to your respective targets' tracker. Then you just wait until your designated 'target' activates his tracker."
For the first time since Karin had seen him, the preceptor smiled. The smile showed all his perfectly aligned teeth, as if advertising for a dental commercial; but unlike the models featured in the dental commercials, the effect was rather creepy. No dental promoter would hire Hirako Shinji. Ever. "And before you ask, you will find out who your target is when you see them." His smile widened. "It'll be more fun that way, won't it?"
He looked them over. "That will be all. Dismissed."
Karin looked down at the sticky note, which had 'shooting range' printed on it.
She walked towards the basement, noting that Renji was heading upstairs, towards the lecture rooms.
She set foot into the empty shooting range. It had been a while since she stood here alone. Automatically, she went over to the wall and reached out for a handgun, before pulling her hand back. That wasn't what she had come for. This wasn't training; it was an exam.
Setting the laptop down on the wooden floor, Karin sat in front of it, waiting for it to turn on. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
When she heard the sound of the computer turning on, Karin opened her eyes.
The desktop screen was empty. No icons, nothing. Completely empty.
Moving the cursor to the bottom of the screen, Karin clicked on the start button.
There was nothing but a configuration button.
"Great…"
She was going to have to program a whole computer, and a hacking system.
Karin sighed. "I'd better get started…"
3 hours later found Karin biting her lip in concentration. At last, she typed the last command with a flourish. "Ahah!" She exclaimed.
Immediately, the screen filled with basic application and disk drive icons, accompanied by windows, and most importantly, the hacking program came up.
Now she just had to figure out where to hack. She glanced at her watch. It was 8:37 in the morning. Hacking into different systems with different length passwords, would take a long while. She wasn't sure if she would get it on time, but she would have to try.
"Let's see… which system is most likely to have the locations of the tracers…" Karin murmured to herself, typing in all the possible places. The library archives, the secretaries' computers, Hirako Shinji's… Kaname Tousen didn't have a computer… Would Gin have it in his system? Karin shook Gin out of her head but wrote down his name regardless. After a moment of hesitation, she also typed the headmaster's – Urahara Kisuke – name.
The IP addresses loaded. Most of them came along with all their cookies, except for Gin's; from his teaching, Karin figured he was probably on par with Ikkaku in hacking and security, but there had to be a weakness somewhere…
Better to crack the hardest one first, Karin decided, and begin to hack into Gin's system. Finally managing to access his cookies, Karin skimmed through the sites that Gin had visited, which included various weapons companies. Ammo. Co., the smaller Firebrand Group… and Kurosaki Armament.
Her heart plummeted when she Google-searched 'Kurosaki' and saw the auto complete: Kurosaki Karin. Images.
She swallowed hard, hesitating whether to type in her own, former name, into the password box. She wondered for the 2nd time if Gin really knew her true identity.
Or he could have just been interested in her disappearance.
Hands trembling, she typed in 'Kurosaki Karin.' Her finger hovered over the 'enter' key. But she couldn't bring herself to press it, and lowered her hand. 'If it really is the password, then no other student would ever guess or hack into it… the location of the tracers probably won't be there.' Quickly, Karin pressed the cancel button before she changed her mind.
The library was chosen as the next location of attack. When that failed, she targeted the secretaries' personal computers next, and struck gold.
Each tracker had a different hiding place, and she would try several of them. After memorizing several of the locations, Karin shut the laptop and hid it beneath a random weapons rack. She didn't want the pain of lugging the laptop around with her.
After a moment of hesitation, she started to take off her shoes and socks as well. She wanted to be quiet, and her shoes wouldn't help in any way or fashion. She realized that Preceptor Tousen, besides memorizing every nook and cranny by his bare feet, also went around bare foot for stealth as well.
She wriggled her toes. The wooden floor wasn't so cold, but she doubted that the stone floor outside wouldn't be.
Wetting her lips nervously, Karin went up the stairs quietly to go to the first location that the tracer could be. The so-called 'lounge.' Upon her arrival, Karin looked about, eyes sharp. The lounge had human traces. Stools and tables had been shifted.
So she went to the next place: the snackroom. Again, nothing.
Ginjou and Renji must've gotten there before her, Karin thought ruefully. Well, there were still other fish in the sea – uh wait. Pond; there were limited amount of tracers.
The library was the next location. Nada.
A surprising number of trainees knew how to program and hack quickly. Karin had never seen them exhibit such skills… 'Goes to show how self-centered I am.' Karin thought bitterly.
The next few locations turned out negative as well. Karin clenched her jaw in poorly suppressed anger. Had she decoded the list wrong? But that couldn't be…
The last place Karin had memorized was the swimming pool. If nothing was there, she would have to retreat back to her computer to regroup, and memorize the remaining areas potentially hiding the tracers.
There was bound to be at least one tracer for her; at least, if the others hadn't snatched two, just to sabotage the slower hackers.
At this 'passing' thought, Karin's blood ran cold. She started to sprint to the pool, and banged the door open. She saw a figure climb out of the pool.
"Shishi…gawara?"
He had a tracer – which Karin vaguely noted was probably made of waterproof material – clutched in his hands… but that wasn't what she was looking at. His jacket was bulging with numerous outlines that matched the contour of the tracer he held in his hands. She narrowed her eyes.
Shishigawara tried to fob it off. Hastily hiding the tracers he already had, he laughed unconvincingly. "Oi Akimoto! I see you've come here as well! But it's first come first serve, you know?"
Karin advanced with a threatening look. "Don't fuck with me, Shishigawara. You know full well that I see you have more than one tracer." Step by step, she cocked her head. "I didn't know that you were this underhanded."
Stiffening, Shishigawara retorted, "Don't put the blame on me. You were too slow!" He straightened. "And this isn't underhanded. This is the way life will work, and these tracers were up for grabs!"
He tried to dash past Karin.
Karin extended her arm where Shishigawara neck should have been, had he succeeded in getting past her. Ramming into her arm, Shishigawara skid across the floor to the edge of the pool again. Struggling into a sitting position, he massaged his neck.
"How unlucky. To be caught by one of the best…" With surprising litheness, he jumped to his feet. "But don't think I've shown all my abilities during training."
Though Karin became nervous at this statement, she assured herself, 'If he hasn't honed his skills during training, then no matter how much he practiced during the extra time we have, he can't be good. At all.'
So when he lunged at her, she used what had become her best martial art: drunken fist.
As expected, Shishigawara was unable to read her movements; on the other hand, Karin could read his movements with ridiculous ease. Inwardly, Karin snorted. She hit the back of his neck, hard. 'That'll do it.' she thought, satisfied.
But it didn't, as Shishigawara wheeled around, merely looking annoyed as if she were just a mosquito.
Karin's eyes widened; were her attacks too weak?
As if he had read her mind, Shishigawara grinned. "Naw, that attack was fine." A he shot forward again, he said tauntingly, "for anyone else, maybe." He punched her in the gut, and Karin flew backwards, slamming into the door. Karin didn't get up from the floor, half numb from the attack, the other half in acute pain from the door handle; she had flown directly into it. She was lucky that her spine wasn't cracked; there would just be a huge bruise on her back. Though she had stepped back in an attempt to 'soften' the blow, it had still been enough to throw her back 5 meters.
Seeing confusion mixed with the pain in her eyes, Shishigawara shrugged. "I guess what I've been hiding is the extent of my stamina and strength." He added flippantly, "I guess being bigger might've helped too."
With that, he walked past her. "See ya later, Akimoto."
But Shishigawara was forcefully thrown back into the pool.
Surprised, Karin whipped around to look outside the glass of the door and caught a glimpse of red.
"Renji…" she breathed.
Renji knelt beside her and firmly kept her from standing up. "Did he do this to you?" he asked with ill-suppressed anger.
The rapidly decreasing adrenaline seemed to have an inverse relationship with the pain in her back. Fighting the pain shooting up from the center of her back, Karin attempted a laugh. "It was his birthday present to me. A rough one, I admit. But fair."
As Shishigawara staggered out of the pool once more, Ginjou skidded into the room as well.
Immediately, he saw Shishigawara's front pocket bulging with tracers and strode forward briskly. Taking Shishigawara by the nape of his collar, Ginjou shook him, causing all the tracers to fall out and clatter onto the tiles.
"I'll be taking those, thank you. And since we were friends, I'll leave you one. Go along then. Shoo." His voice was light, but his face likened to one of a tiger's that had just his tail trod on.
Wisely, Shishigawara just let it go and left the room, giving one resentful look back. No matter how strong his stamina, he was outnumbered by Renji and Ginjou and smaller than them both.
Ginjou tossed Renji two of the tracers. "Here you go." He too, gave Karin a worried look. "You sure you can pass the exam in that that state, Akimoto?"
Renji said, "Of course he will." But his expression gave away his uncertainty. Nonetheless, he held a tracer out to Karin. He whispered to her, "Can you?"
Panting harshly from the pain, she refused the tracer. "I don't deserve it. But I definitely will make it. I have to." she muttered. Pushing the device back into Renji's hands, she shakily stood up. Renji tried to help her, but Karin swatted his hand away. "Go away Abarai. Don't you have a test to do?"
He smiled weakly. "Well, I don't think the tests for the first years are done yet."
Ginjou, who had apparently just finished typing in his activation code, contradicted him. "If they weren't finished before, they are now. My target's just turned on his tracker." Giving them one last look, he said, "Good luck, you two."
That left Karin and Renji alone.
Renji seemed indecisive.
"I know that if a normal third year failed to complete the exam, they'd be thrown out of this school… but that won't apply to you, will it? Since you skipped a grade."
Karin sighed. "It's safer not to assume things." She gazed at him. "And I want to graduate with you guys. With you."
"Then take this." Renji pressed the tracer into her hands. "And be careful. Don't push yourself."
At this, Karin laughed, a little stronger this time. "What are you, my mom? Stop nagging and go trace your target already."
He was stubborn. "After I see you punch in your activation code."
Though she scowled, Karin obliged, typing in the activation code she had written on her inner wrist.
"Lowercase s…starting parenthesis…1…2… ending parenthesis…lowercase h…another lowercase s…Capital I…opening bracket…1…zero…closing bracket…lowercase i…lowercase n…" She frowned.
This seemed familiar somehow. But she couldn't put her finger on it. Nervous for no apparent reason, she continued typing, "underscore…black…underscore…point…" Her eyes widened.
Seeing her reaction, Renji too, became tense. "What is it?"
Not wanting to worry Renji on an important test day, Karin gave him a convincing grin. "Nothing. Just realizing how late we are. Let's go."
Renji seemed to swallow this explanation.
Karin's tracer said her target was somewhere in the library. Just like where she had 'protected' the headmaster the previous year. At the point where her path separated from Renji's, she began to take off in the other direction when she saw Renji hesitating. She paused.
"Renji? What's wrong?"
In a few strides, Renji closed the distance between them and kissed Karin, softly and sweetly. Though surprised, she kissed him back.
"What was that for?" Karin asked, as they broke apart.
Holding her head close to his so their foreheads were touching Renji whispered, "For luck."
Letting go, he said, "Be careful. Don't let those firsties get to you."
Though the possibility of getting a super strong tag team concerned her, another thought took up the lion's share of her mind.
Her activation code.
s(12)hsI[10]in_black_point.
Her father's name and birthdate were scrambled.
The letters: shsIin… the letters reassembled into 'Isshin.'
'Black' and 'point'? 'Kuro' and 'saki.'
The (12) and [10]… December and the 10th respectively.
It could just be coincidence. Maybe someone was just a diehard fan of her father. But Karin knew it was just wishful thinking.
Either Gin was the one who had made and distributed the activation codes, or someone else knew her true identity. Both were terrible scenarios, but for some reason, of the two, Karin hoped that it was the former.
Soon enough, she was at the library. Suppressing her pain the best she could, Karin crept like a cat – albeit an injured one. She crept up the stairs, to the upper levels where she could spy on them.
Any fears of discovery were blown away when Karin saw her target, with the characteristic green and white accessory perched atop his head.
'Well, at least I'll get him back for the first-year exam.' Karin winced and put a hand to her back. 'If that's even possible in my current state…'
Her eyes turned to examine his bodyguards; one had pink shoulder-length hair, and the other with long blonde hair. How had they even slithered past The Academy's rules concerning dyed hair?
When Karin saw they sported same face features she realized they were twins.
Internally, she smacked her head. 'Twins? Twins! Their teamwork will be almost impossible to crack!'
Pain all but forgotten, Karin seethed as she wrung out her brain to make an even slightly feasible plan. In a corner of her mind she fantasized about all the terrible things she'd do to the person who arranged these exams, if and when she found out just who was in charge of it.
A plan – or a rough sketch of one – had formed in Karin's head by the end of 5 minutes.
The first step of the plan Karin had cooked up involved distracting the twins. She would have to make a sound from a completely different direction from where she stood. That was simple, she thought, as she fished out a random knick-knack that Ginjou had given her (a wrapped *okashi, typical of him) and threw it across the library, where it hit the side of a bookshelf and bounced off with a distinct crinkling sound.
[*Okashi: Japanese snack]
The twins' heads turned to the sound almost on instinct… then the pink-haired one immediately traced the item back to her.
"Yylfordt! Up there!"
Karin gulped.
Shit. Scheizers.
The pinkie knew how to read trajectories. The plan had gone awry on the first step. So she dashed away, stealing another look at the tracer in her hand. Luckily, the twins hadn't evacuated the headmaster yet. If Karin had the luxury, she would have grinned, but each nanosecond she didn't use effectively was a nanosecond lost.
She faintly heard the blondie tell the pinkie. "– let's split up, Szayelaporro –"
Hearing the pinkie's annoyed retort to his twin's order, Karin saw her chance.
Unlatching her airsoft gun from its holster, Karin snuck around to another entrance and spied the headmaster's trademark hat from over a bookshelf once again. Aiming her gun, she released the safety latch and shot. But the hat was knocked off, not from the headmaster's head, but off a leg of a stool placed upside down on the surface of a table.
Upon realizing she'd been duped, she tried to beat a hasty retreat, but the blonde of the twins – Yylfordt – tackled her, slamming her into a bookshelf. The bookshelf stood firm against their combined weights; most of this weight belonged to Yylfordt with Karin pinned to the bookshelf under him. Karin almost broke her teeth trying to restrain a scream of pain, but a muffled yell escaped her lips anyways. If the exterior of her spine hadn't been bruised already, it definitely would be now.
Mustering all her strength, she raised her elbow and smashed it into Yylfordt's nose, temporarily blinding him. As his hold slackened, she shoved herself out, causing him to stagger forward headfirst into the bookshelf. Taking the chance, Karin 'shot' him and moved on. But as if pinkie had a magnetic pull towards his twin, Szayelaporro showed up immediately afterwards, aiming a shot at her.
Luckily, Karin had predicted what he would do and dodged just in time. As the blast of air barely missed her with a high-pitched whistle, Karin fought the instinct to close her eyes. Briefly after he had shot the gun, he showed the smallest bit of an opening, as most people did. Taking that chance, she shot him.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the air hit him straight between the eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, Karin breathed a private sigh of relief; a hit from this distance – even if it was only air – might have blinded him. Leaving the twin bodyguards muttering in resentment and pain, Karin stood up and walked, barely managing to maintain a normal gait. Grimacing, she thought, 'All that's left is to hunt down that damn headmaster.'
That wasn't very hard, as he was never far from his hat.
Karin found him picking up the accursed green-striped hat from the ground and dusting it off with what she thought was an expression that seemed like careful disinterest.
He pretended to just notice her. "Oh~ so you've defeated the Grantz brothers?"
Without bothering to answer, Karin leveled her airsoft gun at him and shot.
Surprisingly, she missed. Astonished, she trained the gun on the headmaster again. Had she lost her touch with the handgun? But she had shot the twins just fine…
The headmaster wagged a finger at her.
"That won't do, Mr. Akimoto, I haven't finished talking to you yet." Though his voice light, he had already put his hat on, hiding his face expression, which may or may not have been a dangerous one.
"You've done well to graduate from this place in two years. I couldn't have done better, and neither could have your father."
Karin froze. First her activation code, now this? Guardedly, she replied, "What… do you mean, my father? Headmaster."
Urahara Kisuke shrugged. "Well, Akimoto Daichi could have attended this place, no?"
Karin ignored the oddity that the headmaster would know the exact name of her pseudo father; she pulled the trigger once more, but the headmaster maddeningly somehow sidestepped it again. It was as if he knew where the bullet would contact with him and sidled to the side just in time.
The seemingly 'incompetent' headmaster gave a mock sigh and said, "Well, all that aside, I really should pretend to be a normal target and stop dodging your shots. But I thought that you should know that I'm merely judging the direction of the nozzle and avoiding the shot." He winked, and finally allowed Karin to shoot him, albeit from a distance. Karin dropped her hand, where it hung limply by her side, her hold on the gun slackening.
Though she had successfully 'killed' her target, she felt like she had lost. The headmaster, always so infuriating, had done it again. It was humiliating, to know that he could so easily dodge the shots, but that he had purposefully held still just to let her pass the test.
Had he done the same for her predecessors as well?
Were all the preceptors like this, holding back when they could have fought back?
Choosing to exit the door behind Karin, the headmaster paused very briefly and whispered to her, "You are very similar to the student who had your job last year." He gave her a sly sidelong look. "Except he wasn't nearly as injured as you." He brushed past her and laughed, "Then again, he didn't have to program a whole computer from scratch."
Karin only had a brief moment to process his words before she turned around. Indignant, she forgot to be verbally respectful to the headmaster. "Hey! You mean these year's seniors were the first ones who had to program a whole effin computer?"
Walking away from her Karin, the Urahara Kisuke said airly, "Just you and two others, I believe." He fluttered his fingers at her. "Ta ta. I shall see you at the commencement speech tomorrow."
When he sauntered out the doorway, Karin felt her anger ebb away. All the humiliation from him going easy on her, all the resentment that she had been one of the few ones who had to program a whole computer…
As the anger abated, the renewed adrenaline that had fueled Karin through the fight against the Grantz brothers drained away as well, bringing the pain rushing back like water through a broken floodgate.
Abandoning all pretense of strength, Karin staggered out of the library. When she reached the stair edge, Karin looked down at the ground, which oddly seemed dizzyingly high. She clutched at the stair railing, suddenly feeling acrophobic. Squeezing her eyes shut, Karin thought, 'This is ridiculous. I'm not afraid of heights.'
Ever so carefully, Karin snailed down the stairs. But going down the stairs, albeit slowly, was a poor choice; Karin belatedly realized this when her vision started to tunnel. Her mind was starting to shut down from the pain. Leaning heavily on the stair railing, Karin told herself out loud.
"Oh no you don't, Kurosaki Karin. You can't pass out now."
Gripping the railing still more tightly, she took a few more steps down, before her knees buckled. Karin's last conscious thought was that she was going to break her neck before she became a bodyguard.
She didn't even feel somebody grab her around the waist before she toppled headfirst down the steps.
"Silly girl. She said her real name out loud. What happened to your pseudonym?" Gin smiled sadly down at the unconscious girl. "I guess this is the last time I get to see you here." His dialect was nearly undetectable. "Karin."
Holding Karin tightly to his chest, the silver-haired preceptor carried her down the rest of the remaining stairs and gently set her down outside the designated room where the 3rd years would meet after they completed their exam. Running his fingers through Karin's sweat-matted hair, now long enough to brush her shoulders and frame her tanned but delicate face, Gin whispered, "You probably can't hear me, but you really should cut your hair if you want to keep your identity a secret."
Giving the unconscious girl one last look, Gin disappeared.
Karin found herself shaken awake. Blearily opening her eyes, she looked around, disoriented. She could've sworn that she'd been falling down the stairs… Then again, she could've just walked there, nearly asleep; she'd dreamt of Gin brushing his fingers through her hair… saying something to her…
Renji's face came into her vision. "'ello Renji." Karin croaked out. Smiling wearily, she asked, "Did I make it?"
She felt his strong arms help her to her feet and support her. Though he still looked worried, Renji cracked a grin.
"See for yourself."
Karin's tired eyes had to sweep around the room several times before they found the boards.
1. Abarai Renji
3. Ginjou Kuugo, Akimoto Haru
Closing her eyes, Karin felt her knees give way in relief. Realizing that Karin could no longer stand, Renji gently set her on the ground.
She had tied with Ginjou. Feeling a wetness gather around her eyes and not knowing whether they were sweat or tears, Karin lay spread-eagle on the ground, covering her eyes with an arm.
She had gotten through the final exam. She had passed.
Through the whirlwind of relieved thoughts, one muggy thought occurred to her.
"Where's Shishigawara?" Karin asked in a muffled voice.
"He was gone by the time we got here."
Karin thought that she'd be angry with Shishigawara and his underhanded tactics, but what he had said downstairs was right. It wasn't actually underhanded. Real life would be like that. Then another thought came to mind.
"Did you have program your computer from scratch?" She lifted her arm off her now dry eyes to see Renji's face of annoyance.
"Turns out that Ginjou and I were the only ones who had to program our computers. None of the other guys were given unprogrammed computers like ours." He turned to her and said, "Should've guessed that you'd gotten an unprogrammed computer as well."
Having overheard their conversation, Ginjou approached them. "Oh, so you got a blank computer as well, eh, Akimoto?"
Karin glumly nodded as she struggled to stand up.
"Don't bother." Ginjou advised. "Coming here was just perfunctory anyways. It's just to see how you placed." After a beat, he added, "And to return the laptop and weapon." He jerked his head towards the pile of laptops and weapons.
Turning her eyes back to the board, Karin grimaced.
"Obviously injuries aren't taken into account when they feed you scores. Otherwise I'd be dead last."
Ginjou shoved his hands into his pockets. "Of course they do. It was because you succeeded in carrying out the exam in that shitty state that earned you the score that you did." He smirked. "So we tied for 2nd place."
Closing her eyes again, Karin pinched the bridge of her nose. "Actually, it doesn't mean much that we ranked in the top 3 of 18 students. That's 60th percentile for the both of us." Karin pointed out.
When Ginjou scowled at her, Karin shrugged, wincing when the movement caused a sharp pain in her back.
"What's the point of looking at percentile among 18 students anyways? Potential employers don't look at percentile, they look at your grades." Ginjou stubbornly crossed his arms.
Karin rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say." Turning to Renji, she said, "Abarai, a hand, por favor? I have my airsoft gun, but I wanna go back downstairs to get my laptop."
Crouching down beside her, Renji put an arm around her torso and hoisted Karin up to her feet. When Renji steered Karin in the direction of the stairs that led up to the rooms, she said, "That's not where I was assigned to go. I was assigned to go downstairs, to the shooting range."
Renji said shortly, "I know."
Unduly irritated, Karin said, "Well then. Turn the other way, and go down the steps."
He continued to half-carry Karin along to the steps that led upstairs, to their room.
"Oi, Abarai! I said that we need to go downstairs and get my laptop!" She struggled to tear herself from his grip, but he held her firmly. "Leggo!"
Had she been in peak condition, she'd have been able to escape from his hold. But as of now, she was as weak as a kitten and completely helpless.
Ginjou grinned at her toothily. "Looks like your suitie isn't gonna let you go. Just give up and go upstairs. From the looks of it, you're not fit to go anywhere anytime soon. He'll go and return your laptop for you."
Though annoyed, Karin saw how worried Renji was and put a reassuring hand on his arm. "At least it's better than last year. I wasn't socked in the eye." She made a pathetic attempt to chuckle.
Renji just gripped her more tightly.
Ginjou, who was walking beside them to head up to his own room as well, gave them an odd look. After a moment, he shrugged and muttered, "Why do I feel like the third wheel here…?"
Despite her body's protests, Karin slapped Ginjou's back, albeit weakly. "Naw, you're our support. When Renji and I fought, aren't you the one who bashed our heads together to make us reconcile?" She nudged him slyly. "No matter how big of a scar you left on Renji's shoulder."
Ginjou looked both alarmed and sheepish. "So you found out after all…?"
Karin managed a half-shrug. "Well, it was a clever ploy that had us tricked for a while, but in hindsight, it was rather obvious."
"I didn't realize." Renji said grumpily. He glared at Ginjou. "So you cut me with your spear on purpose, eh?"
Pretending to be deaf, Ginjou sauntered forward. "Man, am I tired." He said loudly, faking a huge yawn. "Know what, I'ma go rest in my room. Let's celebrate our graduation tomorrow." He lifted a hand up in adios, saying, "My room. Snacks and 'juice' on me."
A quarter of the way up, Renji lifted Karin up into his arms, carrying her.
As his hold stretched her back, Karin hissed in pain. "Sorry," Renji said apologetically, bounding up the stairs two steps at a time. "But this'll be better for you in the long run. It'll also be much quicker."
Karin grimaced every time a step jostled her painfully stretched back. "It better be, Abarai…" she said tightly.
Several excruciating minutes later, Renji fumbled with his keys and opened the door into their suite.
Once she was set down on her bed, Karin exhaled deeply, the support alleviating the pain in her back. Slightly.
Going back to the door, Renji said, "Can you wait a bit while I get an icepack from the infirmary?"
As she carefully lay down on her stomach, Karin snorted. "What else can I do in this state? Dance? Carouse around the halls?"
Rolling his eyes, Renji said, "I take that as a 'yes'."
What felt like mere minutes later, Renji came back, bearing an ice pack.
Impressed that he had made it down and back up 18 flights of stairs in that short period of time, Karin commented, "That was really fast. What, did the nurses meet you halfway?"
Finally showing signs of weariness, Renji said tiredly, "Ha ha. Very funny."
He gently placed the ice pack upon Karin's back. "Where does it hurt? Is it here?"
"Ah…!" Karin almost fell off of her bed at the cold contact on her skin. As it was, she took a sharp breath.
After much trial, error and whimpering, Karin moaned slightly as the pain finally subsided a bit. "Mm…yeah. Right there…" She gave a sigh of relief.
Renji had a strange expression on his face. He stared at Karin for a bit before looking away.
Karin didn't know what that was about, but his face was rapidly turning as red as the roots of his hair. Was it because of the sounds she had made?
Karin didn't ask. Maybe it because she had showed too much weakness… though she had no idea why he would feel embarrassed about that. Unless he was regretting that he had feelings for her.
This horrible thought made Karin force back the pain and sit up on the bed – though she kept the ice pack on her back.
Suddenly, Renji looked at her again and said, "Oh yeah, I have something to give you." His face was back to normal, with only a hint of red remaining on his cheeks, which disappeared when he smiled.
"Close your eyes."
Karin narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What for?" She pinched his nose lightly. "'Cause if you're going to steal a kiss," She leaned in close to his face until they were almost nose to nose, "You're more than welcome to." Smirking, she tilted her head until she could feel his breath on her cheek. "No need to steal." she breathed.
She made to kiss him, but Renji leaned back and she almost toppled off of the bed.
"Nup. Nuh uh."
Karin looked at him, partly taken aback and partly annoyed. She folded her arms and asked crossly, "Then what do you want me to close my eyes for?"
Renji covered her eyes with a hand. "Stop asking and just close your eyes already."
Sullenly, Karin complied, grumbling, "I can't see behind your hand anyways."
He took out a necklace: the hematite pendant that Karin had been looking at in the department store last summer. He fastened it around her neck.
Karin, feeling the metal around her neck followed by a slight weight, opened her eyes, surprised. Automatically, she raised a hand around her neck.
"What – "
Renji was grinning broadly. "Happy birthday, Karin."
Karin looked down, trying to look at the choker, but Renji laughed. "Since you're in no state to go to the bathroom and look in the mirror and I can't well rip the mirror off the wall for you…" He leaned forward and unclasped the necklace.
When Karin recognized the pendant, her eyes widened. Lifting them up to Renji's face, she asked raised an eyebrow. "And... how did you know...?"
Embarrassed, Renji rubbed his neck and said incoherently, "I, err… Um."
Unable to contain it any longer, Karin burst out into giggles. "You were spying on me!" She accused between hiccups of laughter.
Renji looked so embarrassed that Karin took pity on him; she landed a quick kiss on Renji's cheek.
"If it were anybody and anything else, I'd say that a bodyguard doesn't need things like jewelry… but I don't think I'll ever object to this combo."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, which he returned.
Breaking off the kiss, Karin leaned her forehead against his and sighed, "If I were in decent condition, you'd be getting more than a kiss but alas…" Despite her attempt at mock-tragic tone, her mouth was curling up into a smile, as was Renji's. "I'll just have to postpone my expression of gratitude."
Renji grinned. "I'll hold you to that, Kurosaki."
So that choker hung round Karin's neck to the commencement speech the next day.
As always, the headmaster spoke in the beginning. "It's been 3 years, and whether they felt long or short is up to you. Now it's time for you to fly out of this comfortable nest and leave. Good Nigh – I mean, *'Good Morning and Good Luck.'"
[*In case you didn't know, there's a movie called 'Good Night and Good Luck.' directed by George Clooney.]
The headmaster stepped off the stage, but for once, lingered to listen as Preceptor Hirako resignedly mounted the stage to address the students.
The blonde preceptor acknowledged the headmaster rather curtly.
"Thank you for that… emotional speech, headmaster." his voice carried the slightest hint of sarcasm, which apparently went unnoticed. He turned to the third years.
He then turned to the trainees. "If you've listened to the commencement speech years before, you will know what happens next. The top three will receive their scholarships, and you will all receive diplomas. You will also have your recommendation letters – compiled by our secretaries – and records sent out to all the places that we deem most likely to hire you." He cast is sharp eyes over the 18 graduates.
"You do not get to choose. I repeat, you have no choice in which companies that we send your records to. Should you ignore the work place that we have chosen for you, it will be very hard to find a job; not many places will accept a freshly graduated executive protector who has no recommendation from his school." Waving a hand dismissively, he continued, "In the case you choose to go to secondary school, inform the secretaries that they send the records after you have graduated. To those of you who choose to go straight into the Protective industry, the places that have been sent recommendations will contact you at your given address by June at the latest. If you will live elsewhere from whence you came, then inform the The Academy of your new address and we will redirect the offers you receive to the given location. That is all. Well done, all of you."
Preceptor Hirako moved on to give a short speech to the second years and the customary caustic speech addressing the probationers.
The headmaster examined all of the third years, his gray eyes lingering on a slight figure that sat stock still after Hirako Shinji had declared them emancipated from The Academy.
Unaware of the pair of gray eyes surveying her, Karin stared blankly forward, unable to believe it. She had graduated from The Academy in 2 years.
She barely held back her tears. 'See, Ikkaku. You were wrong. I have graduated from this place."
It was only when all the trainees stood up and began to file out of the hall did the realization finally hit her; Karin buried her face into her hands and her shoulders began to shake. In the middle of standing up, Renji looked at her, alarmed. He crouched down next to her and touched her shoulder.
But to his surprise, Karin was laughing. Her laughter crescendo'ed until she had outright thrown her head back in laughter.
"I made it!" She leapt to her feet and ignoring her sore back, jumped on each of her friends in turn. "I made it! I've graduated!"
At such an exuberant show of excitement including hugging, the guys were at a loss for what to do. Ginjou said wryly, "Gee Akimoto. If I didn't know otherwise, I'd think that you were a girl."
While Renji grimaced at this, Karin ignored the implications of the comment and jumped on Ginjou as well, putting him in a headlock as best she could for a man almost a head taller than her.
"So I'm happy about graduating! So shoot me! I don't give a f–"
Ginjou shook her off easily. "Well, if you're that happy," he grinned sneakily," this calls for a celebration, doesn't it?"
Later, in his room, they held up their beer cans in toast.
"To graduation!"
"To us surviving The Jungle!"
"To finally escaping this hellpit once and for all!"
They all clacked their cans together, each toasting to something different.
Unlike their previous parties, Shishigawara was absent, Karin noted. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back to drain the remaining contents of her beer can.
It was her third beer but as she reached for her fourth, Renji intercepted by grabbing the can before she did.
Frowning in annoyance, Karin reached out to take the can beyond it. Renji's left hand knocked hers away and took that too. Realizing what Renji was up to, Karin pursed her lips. If that was how it was going to be, she would not let Renji have his way. She made to take two cans of Asahi at once, but growled when Renji subtly moved his body in between her and the cans, leaving only the snacks accessible to her. That was the last straw.
Karin crossed her arms and said loudly, "Stop hogging all the juice for yourself, Abarai."
Renji's only answer was to half turn his head to her and smirk at Karin before he took another gulp. Tossing the can to the rapidly growing pile of empty beer cans, Renji slung an arm around her shoulder, and whispered to her tipsily, "I don't want you getting drunk. You're still not fully recovered from the exam. Having a pounding headache the next morning isn't going to help~"
He had a point, Karin thought irritably, and refrained from drinking any further, choosing instead to munch on various snacks.
"Oy Renji! Whash're you telling Haru? It better not be about us!" Keigo slurred, pointing a finger at Renji.
"Naw, they're soft whispers of love for my suitie!" Renji hollered back with a lopsided grin plastered on his face. The guys laughed rowdily at this, save for Ginjou, who sipped his beer thoughtfully, having noticed Karin's sulking long before Renji's 'joke' about 'whispers of love.' Giving up on thinking on it, Ginjou downed the rest of his can. What did it matter if his 2 best mates were acting odd around each other? He thought sourly.
Several cases of beer later, the boys, much like the year before, were sprawled all over the room. Renji retained his consciousness, if only barely. He managed to stand up but he swayed precariously.
Karin looked at him disdainfully as she too, stood up. "Serves you right." She looked towards the half-conscious Ginjou.
Raising his can to her, he toasted, "So long, my two best mateys. It'll be hard to replace you two, but I'll try my bestest."
"'Try your hardest,' you mean." Karin corrected absently, watching Renji stagger towards the door. She turned to Ginjou and said, "And what do you mean, 'so long'? It's 'see you tomorrow.'"
Ginjou shook his can, beer sloshing out of the top. "Nope." He accented the 'p' with a popping sound. "A car'z coming to pick me up in'bout…" Glancing down at his wristwatch, he cocked an eyebrow and said, "three hours." He looked around ruefully. "It's gonna be hell trying to clean up this place…"
"I'll help you once I get this git upstairs." Karin offered. "And if you're leaving without saying anything to these guys," she nodded to the collective unconscious young men, "they'll be pissed as hell."
He took another draught of beer. "They're big boys, they can cope by themselves. And no need to help. Go upstairs and sleep, you look shot."
Ruffling his hair vigorously, Karin said cheekily, "If I ain't seeing ya tomorrow, I'll see ya around, dude."
Swatting her hand away, Ginjou said, "I doubt it. And don't cross the line, Akimoto. My hair's one of my defining traits."
Though the situation called for levity, Karin gazed at Ginjou seriously. "No, really. I'll see you around." She hesitated, then added, "…Kuugo."
Said Ginjou Kuugo aimed for the pile of empty beer cans, but was intoxicated to the point of missing it by a foot, which was unimaginable for his normal self.
"Scheizers."
Karin didn't know if he was referring to his miscalculation or her having mustered the courage to call him by his given name.
Staring at the pile of empty cans, Ginjou said, "…Ya know, I tell everybody to call me Ginjou… Because '銀城' means 'silver stronghold.' I mean, 'silver stronghold' is a hell of a lot better than 'Kuugo.'" He popped another can of beer open. "'Kuugo.' '空吾.' Empty. Vanity. What kind of name is that?" He laughed humorlessly and tilted his head back to take a large gulp of beer. "But it's probably the last time I'm gonna see you, so I'm letting it go this time." He swiveled an eye over to Karin. "…Haru."
So they parted, having said each others given name and alias to each other for the first time.
…
A/N: This chapter took me a lot longer to write than it should have… and Tite's made Ginjou an antagonist. Great…