Yay, I finally got access to the internet! That means you all get an update. Rejoice :)

It had taken Karin so long to get ready that it was already time to begin the operation. They left Hanataro and Orihime in the girls' room and headed down to the pub.

"Remember guys, don't come in the room until I call you," Karin reminded them. "If you barge in too early, you'll blow my cover." Renji and Hitsugaya nodded, then entered the pub first, staking out a table in the corner. Sure enough, their target was seated at the bar, eating his solitary meal. They ordered a sho of sake so as not to look suspicious, but Hitsugaya pointedly ignored it. He had had enough of sake the other night. When Karin entered a few minutes later, she lit up the entire room. Every head in the pub turned her way and Hitsugaya felt a renewed surge of jealousy that she was not only going to flirt with another man, but that she was going to do it in that kimono. But he held his tongue. She belonged to him now, and that was enough for him.

"Is this seat taken?" Karin asked the target as sweetly as she could, indicating the empty space beside him. He turned his squashed face towards her and grinned slyly.

"It is now," he replied. "Whach'ya drinkin'?"

"Sake's just fine." The target signalled the barmaid, who raised an incredulous eyebrow at Karin but didn't say anything. She delivered the sake and returned to work.

"So what's a chick like you doin' in a town like this?" the target wondered, leaning casually on his elbow so as to look at Karin better. Karin decided to try a different angle than she had with the wonder bubbles. Something a bit more sarcastic was much more her style, and without the crutch of Matsumoto, she couldn't play the innocent type convincingly.

"Oh you know," she said airily. "I guess I'm just looking for a bit of trouble. Something fun and wild. This seemed like the right place."

"You got that right dollface. And you sure as heck picked the right companion. Trouble's my middle name."

"Is that so?" Karin gasped exaggeratedly. Her eyes narrowed deviously. "Well then I guess I'm luck." The man gawked at the look Karin was giving him, which Karin took as a good sign. Honestly, it was way too easy to ensnare a man. She should do this professionally.

"Care for a drink dollface?" he offered. Karin passed him her cup and the shots began. It wasn't until they were on their fourth sho that Karin looked away as he filled her cup, and he took that opportunity to pour a few drops of a clear liquid from a vial in his sleeve into her sake. Because of the angle they were at, Hitsugaya and Renji's view was obscured by his back, so they missed it too.

"Hey dollface," he drawled a few minutes later, when Karin's cheeks were sufficiently red. "You wanna get out of here?"

Karin wasn't sure why the sake was affecting her more tonight than it usually did at this quantity, but as it was she was feeling a bit woozy and she needed to have her wits about her to take this guy down, so she was incredibly grateful for the suggestion to quit drinking and get on with things. Putting on the most seductive face she could muster, she said,

"My room's just upstairs." The man's face broke into an enormous grin.

"Lead the way dollface," he replied, excitement growing at the thought of conquest. Karin caught Hitsugaya's eye as they left the pub. He felt that something was off about her, but couldn't quite be sure from such a distance. She was walking just fine and didn't seem to be disoriented. Before he had a chance to think it through, Renji was beckoning him to leave so they could stand guard outside their room. Hitsugaya followed anxiously.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Walking to her room was much more difficult than it should have been. Karin began to get worried about her condition, but she couldn't back out now. Now that they had left the pub she had to be fully committed to this. Besides, Hitsugaya and Renji would help her out if anything went seriously wrong. For now, she would trust in her strength and do her best to pull through.

She led the target into the room and eyed her swords, which were strategically left against the wall, directly adjacent to the futon. She began to walk towards them as surreptitiously as she could, but before she could reach them, she collapsed into a weak heap. The target laughed haughtily.

"Now this certainly looks like fun, doesn't it dollface?" For the first time in Karin's life, she felt a rush of panic creep through her body. She couldn't see the man as she had her back to him, but she could hear his footsteps as he approached her with all the anticipation of a tiger preparing to pounce. She tried in vain to move her legs, but they were frozen stiff. Her arms were similarly limp and immobile. Karin reasoned that he must have slipped her a paralytic, and cursed herself for being so careless. His shaky fingers closed slowly but tightly around her shoulder, and he turned her over, laying her on her back. Karin felt overwhelmingly pathetic and vulnerable. She could barely even move her lips to speak or she would have swallowed her pride and cried out to the men she knew were waiting just beyond the door. She felt utterly foolish for thinking she could handle this herself and for giving Hitsugaya and Renji strict orders not to enter until she told them. That being said, there was no way she could have possibly predicted this.

Her train of thought was quickly derailed as the man swung his leg over her waist and straddled her completely. She lay on the floor, helpless as a rag doll as he leaned forward, placed his face in the crook of her neck, and breathed deeply.

"Sorry for bein' like this dollface," he crooned, "but see, I just find women are so much more irresistible when they're helpless. It makes me feel alive!" His eyes took on a look of utter insanity and Karin screamed in her head for anything that might distract him or allow her movement in even one muscle group. Just a pinky finger would be enough! She could poke his eye out or something.

Nothing came. The man continued to inhale her scent as he slipped a greedy hand into her collar…

ooooooooooooooooooo

"Isn't she taking too long?" Hitsugaya asked impatiently. He was antsy and agitated. He hated this situation. Karin had been alone in the room with that man for a whole five minutes and they hadn't heard a peep out of her.

"Maybe she's just getting him drunker or something," Renji replied with a shrug. "Do you doubt her skills."

"Of course not! I just find it hard to believe that she would take so long. Maybe we should go in there." Hitsugaya reached out his hand to open the door, but Renji roughly grabbed his wrist, forcing him to stop.

"If you barge in and expose her without warning, it may backfire on you and Karin could get hurt. Just be patient."

"I'm quickly running out of patience Abarai," Hitsugaya scowled. He gave the silent door a look of death. "That's it, I'm…"

"MOVE!" cried a voice behind them, and Hanataro appeared out of nowhere, barreling down the hallway at breakneck speed. He whizzed past them and yanked the door open, but froze momentarily as they took in the site that greeted them. Karin was sprawled on the floor, completely lifeless except for her eyes, which were screaming bloody murder. The target lay on top of her, his face dangerously close to hers, one hand hidden in the folds of her kimono. Caught in a blinding rage by this spectacle, all three men moved at once.

"Get off of my fiance!" Hitsugaya howled, unsheathing his sword like a bolt of lightning. Renji also drew his sword, but Hanataro got there first. The target had just enough time to yank his head out of Karin's hair and gape at them before he melted, his neck and back littered with needles. Hanataro raced forward to pull the lifeless lump off of Karin.

"Ojosama!" he gasped, near tears. "Ojosama, are you alright?" Karin didn't reply. She couldn't, but Hanataro was a poison expert and, after an extremely brief examination, ruffled through his bag and extracted an antidote for Karin's paralysis.

"Thanks Nezumi-chan," Karin said gratefully, sitting up and rubbing her arms with trembling hands. "What did that bastard do to me?"

"He gave you a simple paralytic," Hanataro replied. "Nothing too damaging, but powerful enough to knock out motor function for a few hours. Are you alight?" Karin nodded.

"I'm fine thanks to you." She shot the unconscious target a sickening look. "What'd you hit him with? That's not what you normally use is it?" Hanataro's eyes narrowed.

"It is a sleeping draught, but it'll sting something fierce when he wakes up. Serves him right."

"Oi, chibi-chan, how the heck did you know to do that?" Renji asked, still absorbing what had just happened. "It's as if you knew."

"You have Orihime-san to thank for that," Hanataro answered. "She finally woke up and asked where everyone went. When I told her about the bounty hunting and showed her a picture of the target, she said she knew him. Mizuki spent a lot of money on charlatan doctors a while back trying to find a medicine for Orihime-san's brother. This man apparently sold her something really toxic, but she didn't use it after she was warned by several young women that the man was a con-artist who liked to paralyze people in order to rob them or take advantage of them. I figured if he tried something like that on ojosama, she may really be in trouble."

"Well, you were dead right Nezumi-chan," Karin concurred. "Thanks. I owe you one." She smiled warmly at him, then rounded on Renji and Hitsugaya.

"And what the heck took you two so long?" she yelled. "Honestly, did you really think it would take me that long to knock someone unconscious?"

"Yeah, my bad," Renji admitted sheepishly. "Toushiro wanted to help but I thought you'd be fine on your own. Right Toushiro?" It was then that they all saw the state Hitsugaya was in. No one had noticed in all the commotion, but he had turned white as a sheet, and he was staring at his drawn sword like it was a venomous snake that had clamped down on his arm and wouldn't let go. The look on his face was a mixture of horror, disgust, and fear. Karin was the first to realize what was wrong.

"Toushiro!" she gasped. "You unsealed your sword."

Sorry to leave it on that because I probably won't be able to post for a few weeks, but that's just how it is. The plot finally thickens...