"Whoa…where is this?" Karin gazed around at the forest she had suddenly found herself in. The air felt a little heavy so she knew she wasn't in the World of the Living still.
"Here." She heard Sofia's high voice call. The cat tossed something up with her tail and she caught it, realizing it was a pendant of sorts, a simple chain with a black gem. "That will protect you from the intense Spirit Energy in the air here. Ruala has been working on one for just such an occasion as this."
"What occasion?" Karin tilted her head curiously, slipping the pendant around her neck. The air was suddenly much lighter and she could breathe easier.
"You coming to the Soul King's Realm." Sofia grinned and trotted off through the forest.
It took the black haired girl a moment to process this information, her mouth open in shock. She was in the realm of the kings? Better yet, she was in Toshiro's realm. She darted off after the white cat.
"How did we get here, don't you have to use the Tenchuren?" Karin questioned.
"Normally, but one of Ruala's elements is called Gravity, so she can shift space around her to basically teleport. Normally we can only teleport ourselves, but if it's absolutely necessary we can take a person with us. It exhausts us, though, which is why I returned immediately to this form, and I can't turn back for a while."
"What about Ruala?"
"She can handle one Demon Lord and the other Soul Reapers were on their way. Plus, their target was you, so once we took that away she fled. You're safe here, they can't get in."
"So…what do I do now?"
The cat remained silent at first as they came upon a mansion woven from trees, catching Karin's full attention as she wondered how that was possible.
"Myndræl!" Sofia called out, bringing Karin's attention around to a large blue dragon. Her mouth dropped lower.
"Sofia?" The dragon tilted his head curiously. "Where's Lady Ruala?"
"Still busy. I'm going back in a moment. I need a favor from you." She motioned with her head to the gaping Substitute. "You partner would like to meet her."
The dragon looked at the girl while Sofia managed to teleport once more, though the light flickered, and Karin quickly closed her mouth under his gaze. She had no idea what to say to a dragon; Hell, she didn't know dragons could talk. This was one of the strangest things she'd ever done, and she'd done some strange things. Though, her family was strange, so that didn't come as much of a surprise.
"Ever flown before?" The dragon asked.
"Um…in a plane once."
The dragon tilted his head further in curiosity. Right, Living World vehicles and the dead didn't mix well.
"Never mind…"
"Mind the scales." Myndræl chuckled as he stepped over to her and lowered himself down a bit. With the awakening of his powers he had started to grow quickly, now taller than Lilianna. "It'll be a short trip."
"Where are we going?" Karin finally managed to say as she mounted the large blue dragon, the body beneath her feeling rather cold.
"Sofia said my partner would like to meet you." Myndræl spread his wings as he stepped over to the edge of the floating kingdom.
"Who's your partner?"
"Toshiro, of course."
Steel eyes widened and she was about to comment when the dragon took off and her words turned into a startled scream. She stopped quickly as the drake found an air current to carry him up towards the palace in the center, the ride becoming smoother. Her hands were gripped tightly onto the spikes at the base of his neck.
"Sorry." Myndræl called back. "Lift off is always rough for first timers."
"That…That's okay." Karin shook her head to regain her thoughts.
"Toshiro will meet us at the top, I called him."
"How?"
"Oh, we use a flare of our power to call for each other. It's quick so no one gets affected but just long enough we recognize it and head over. Do you happen to know my partner?"
"Yes, I do. Trust me, he'll be surprised to see me here."
"Alright then." Myndræl smiled at her before focusing on the top of the palace, flapping his wings to slow his descent. The body of the blue dragon blocked her from his view, but she could very easily recognize the white haired figure waiting them there, arms crossed. Without the black cloak he looked every bit as royal as his birthright, an ice blue haori over a black Shihakusho and his zanpaktou at his back.
Toshiro watched his dragon companion lower himself to the roof, wondering what it was the dragon wanted. He'd been speaking to Hyorinmaru when the flare had flashed a light into his Inner World, telling him Myndræl wanted something. He noticed the dragon was taking more care to land than he usually did when flying alone, making him wonder…yes, there was someone on the dragon's back. Strange, Myndræl was uncomfortable with other flyers.
"Who's with you?" He asked once the blue dragon was fully grounded, the long neck blocking the figure from view.
"Says she's a friend." Myndræl turned sideways and the figure quickly stumbled off his back.
"Karin!?" Toshiro exclaimed in surprise, eyes widening.
"Uh…hi?" The teen laughed nervously, scratching her head. "Yeah, some weird stuff happened."
"But how did you get here?" Moving over to her the Ice Prince put a hand on both her shoulders. She noticed with some annoyance he'd grown again over the last five weeks, now an inch or two taller than her instead of the other way around. She also noticed her heart rate quicken and quickly made an effort to quiet it.
"Sofia said something about teleporting using the Gravity element."
"I see…Why did she bring you here?"
"Well…" Karin briefly explained what had happened to her at the park, noticing his expression shift to a look of concern. She left out the last part, about how they wanted to kill her to break his heart. No point telling that to a prince with a heart of ice, even if he did look strangely worried about her.
'At least she's alright.' Toshiro inwardly sighed. 'Dethmaiyn's demons are tricky.'
'They saw you with her, they must be trying to use her to get to you.' Hyorinmaru rumbled.
'I thought staying away would shift their attention elsewhere. Though I suppose this explains the dark feeling I'd had earlier, the bracelet works.' He focused back on reality "I suppose if you're here I can answer those questions of yours now, then."
"Oh I've got a lot more." Karin turned to Myndræl. "So dragons are real?"
"Most definitely." Myndræl grinned. "We've been here in the king's realm to stay away from humans after they started hunting us. So Lady Lilianna says."
"She's also a dragon." Toshiro commented.
"I was gonna say that." The blue dragon snorted. His partner just shrugged.
"Myndræl is still a young dragon; he's still developing his powers."
"What kind of powers?" Karin asked.
"I'm like Toshiro, an ice-water dragon."
"He's a dragon?"
"They consider me a dragon because my zanpaktou spirit is one." Toshiro answered, leaning up against the body of his partner.
"She's one too." Myndræl looked down at him and the boy turned to him in surprise. "Can't you sense it?"
There was a pause as Toshiro tried to sense what the drake did and finding himself unable to. He supposed only dragons could sense other dragons. Either that or there was a subtle difference he was missing.
"Karin, what form does your zanpaktou spirit take?" He turned back to the girl before him.
"I don't really know, she's always covered in flames. She's pretty big, though."
"I wonder if Shaderunner would partner with her." Myndræl mused aloud.
"Hush." Toshiro elbowed him. The scales ended up bruising his elbow instead but the dragon got the message, letting out a childish huff. "What's your zanpaktou, Karin?"
"A fire-wind type, her mane is Homuratei." Karin patted the hilt of her blade. "She likes to tease me, though."
'A trait all dragons seem to share.' Hyorinmaru chuckled.
"Can we go inside by any chance?" Karin asked. "It's kind of chilly up here."
"Sorry." Toshiro lowered his Spiritual Pressure and she blinked as it got warmer. "I've gotten used to letting my Spiritual Pressure out more around Myndræl, he likes the cold."
"Makes sense." Karin shrugged.
Toshiro let the slightest of smiles grace his lips before he gave a quick pat to the blue dragon and headed for the stairs downwards. Karin quickly followed him.
'He's come to terms with me being here rather quick.' She mused as they walked down the stairs in silence.
'Hm, perhaps he's actually frustrated and he's trying to hide it.' Homuratei suggested. 'All kings learn how to hide what they're feeling.'
'Why would he be frustrated?'
'Well, he did leave in a rush last time for the sole purpose of keeping the Demon Lords away but they still came after you. Even though you have that bracelet he gave you to protect you his Royal Guard still saw the need to bring you here to keep you safe, meaning it wasn't enough.'
'Okay, I get it, he's frustrated.' Karin sighed. Toshiro glanced back at her briefly, confused, but she just shrugged it off and he kept going. 'But he's never really been one to hide his frustration. That's the one thing he ALWAYS shows.'
'Then the only other explanation is he's really glad to see you but too shy to say anything about it.'
'Wrong. Try again.'
'You figure it out then!' Her zanpaktou huffed and went quiet.
The white haired figure ahead of her finally stepped through a door to the beautiful main room of his father's floor. He heard Karin gasp behind him and suppressed the urge to smirk at her, walking calmly through the place.
"Wow, you seriously live here now?" Karin wasn't really following him anymore, turning around slowly to get a good look at everything. He stopped on the small bridge to wait for her.
"Yes." He replied. "It's taken me a while to get used to it."
"I'll bet…" She caught up to him but her back was turned as she kept walking. A hand settled on her back and she turned around to see him looking at her with amusement, his hand out to stop her from bumping into him. She blushed slightly and moved away from him so they weren't touching. A flicker of disappointment passed in his eyes but she didn't see it. "Er…so, you're going to answer all my questions now, right?"
"If I can." He turned his gaze to the outside easily seen through the open balcony. They caught a glimpse of blue as Myndræl flew back towards Dragon Isle. "But first, there's something I need to do."
"What's that?" The Substitute questioned, on the move again as the young prince led her past the carpeted greenhouse and into a long hallway with many doors.
"I met recently with the King of Hell and there was something I needed to look into that he told me about."
"You met the King of Hell?" Came her shocked exclamation.
"I did. He's not at all what you'd except of him, he was very courteous." He finally found the door he was looking for. "I love this room."
She was about to ask why when he opened the door and stepped inside. It was a library, an enormous library. No wonder it was his favorite, geniuses always loved libraries.
"So uh…what did he tell you that you had to find?"
"When I mentioned having a dragon partner and a dragon zanpaktou, he seemed surprised and said he had once read a story of those like me, with two dragons. He said it was somewhere here and that if I read it I might be able to figure out why it happened this way." Toshiro scanned the various books, Karin following and listening to every word.
"So it's not normal to have two dragons?"
The white haired boy shook his head.
"Every king has had a dragon, whether it be as a zanpaktou or a dragon partner, but never both. Satan mentioned the story saying how if a king ever came to the throne with two dragons, something…well, something unexplainable happens."
"Real specific, isn't he?" Karin rolled her eyes as she spoke sarcastically.
Toshiro sent a small smirk her way before returning his gaze to the shelves.
"Spirits get that way when they've lived for many centuries; they start to sound cryptic."
She nodded and went quiet while he continued to look through the vast shelves. With how many books were in the room she thought she could safely assume it would take him a while to find the book he wanted. So, she settled down to wait.
Hearing her sigh as she sat, Toshiro turned to her. She was panning her gaze around the room, looking away from him. Frowning, the young prince thought maybe the book could wait until later. She didn't really have anywhere to go and surely an active girl such as herself couldn't stand to be locked up in a library too long. But what was he supposed to do? The reason he'd been talking to Hyorinmaru earlier was to try and figure out what Satan had meant about him being special, what everyone meant about him being special. He'd finally decided to look for the book himself when Myndræl had called for him.
"Karin." He called to her. She looked back at him. "Would you like to meet the other dragons?"
She grinned.
"Sure."
Ooh, so close. Perhaps with the dragons... Anyway, Karin gets to meet the dragons now! This'll be interesting ^^ School's starting soon, I may not post as frequently T^T So Enjoy!