Remember that I told you that along with the Hueco Mundo arc, I'd be including the plot of several of the filler arcs and movies? I promise I've tried to do it in a more logical way than the anime. Which means that some things will take longer to happen. The whole Winter War will not happen in a week, or a month. Some things will take longer to happen, but they will still happen. I promise everything's organized, I made a calendar and everything!
So... time for a little Rebellion! Toushirou and Hitsukarin fans, enjoy!
Chapter 23. Royal Mess
It was all a mess, a terribly huge mess, there really was no better way to describe it.
At least half the Nakama had been aware of the kekkai someone had erected in Karakura's limits, inside what was still considered the Nakama's territory; and yet, no permission had been asked of them, hell, they hadn't even been warned that anything was going to happen. Yet the Nakama let it slip, considering that they had better things to do anyway, like training, It had been just a few days since the Arrancars had appeared before the school, not even two weeks, and no one knew when the next attack would be. Hollow attacks had even seemed to pretty much stop for a full day, before going back to normal, or at least what, recently, had become normal for all of them.
The problem had come, the following evening, when at least ¾ of the Nakama were able to feel the flaring reiatsu that indicated a battle, through the kekkai. Worried, Ichigo and Rukia rushed to the place, opening a spot in the kekkai with no trouble; Uryuu and Karin waited outside to act as backup; the others were already on their homes, too far to be of any help at the moment, though they'd been alerted nonetheless.
That was how Ichigo and Rukia had come to be face to face with at least two dozen Onmitsukidou, as well as Sui-Feng, whose obvious dislike for the Nakama's presence only made their meeting even more stressful.
"Sui-Feng-taichou." Ichigo decided to be somewhat respectful for once, knowing the woman didn't like him, and they were surrounded by her subordinates. "What happened here?"
He could barely hold back his swearing, which was understandable considering all the debris, blood and bodies that littered the clearing inside the kekkai.
"Kurosaki, Kuchiki." Sui-Feng named them grudgingly. "What are you doing here? I believe there was a kekkai in place."
"There was, and still is." Ichigo pointed out to the hole he'd made with his zanpakutou.
"We sensed the battle taking place and worried." Rukia added in a more polite tone. "Just… what happened here?"
"I really don't see how this would be any of your business…" Sui-Feng began.
"Because this is still Karakura, and Karakura is Nakama territory, that's why." Ichigo half-snapped, already beginning to lose what little patience he had.
Sui-Feng didn't like to be reminded of that fact, of the concessions that had been made and the authority that had been given to Ichigo; she felt it wasn't fair.
"That may be true." Sui-Feng answered. "Still, there was a kekkai, and this is Royal business."
"Royal…" Rukia was in absolute shock.
"If this was Royal business, shouldn't Karin have known about it?" Ichigo asked, brow furrowed, he knew for sure Karin hadn't been informed of anything.
"Nagaken Karin is a Guardian, and while that certainly connects her to the Konoe Shidan, she isn't really a part of it." Sui-Feng stated formally. "Still, considering how…delicate the current condition is, it might be a good idea for you to know."
And so the explanation had begun.
By the time the explanation was finished and Sui-Feng along with her men were gone, though not without 'instructing' Ichigo and Rukia to inform her if they found the missing Hitsugaya Toushirou, who was wanted for interrogation and possible imprisonment, Ichigo was about to blow a gasket; and he just knew it was going to get worse once Karin found out.
He was, of course right, his sister most definitely blew a gasket, though that also might have been because he explained everything to her and Uryuu right as the two of them had just found a badly-wounded half-unconscious Toushirou, shortly after the kekkai fell.
The Nakama took the white-haired shinigami to the Kurosaki home, which was the one closest. Yuzu treated him of his wounds in s short while, before declaring that he would need a night's sleep to regain his reiatsu, since she didn't actually know how to do that. He was placed in Karin's bed, who had already decided to spend the night in vigil, looking after Toushirou, while Yuzu half-dozed in her own bed, waking up every so often to check up on 'her patient' and make sure he was recovering alright.
The following morning, instead of making things better, only seemed to make them worse. Ichigo and Rukia had woken to find Yuzu knocking on their bedroom door insistently: both Toushirou and Karin were gone, leaving only a short message with Nova, who was inside Karin's body, and due to the contents of the message, Yuzu was understandably worried.
Ichigo, Yuzu, Rukia: I've gone with Toushirou. What happened earlier, and what will be happening now, it's serious, complicated and extremely personal. Do not follow us. I promise we will be alright. Toushirou and I will solve this by ourselves, and return the Ouin to where it belongs. Truly, Karin.
Ichigo didn't like it, not at all, but he knew that the one who had written that message, the one he risked angering if he went against her request/instructions, wasn't his little sister Karin, it was Nagaken Karin, former shinigami, captain-candidate, noble princess and chosen Royal Guardian… so Ichigo chose to do as she asked, and extended the same instructions to the rest of the Nakama, they were to allow Karin and Toushirou to go as they pleased, and not get involved with their business unless it was a matter of life and death.
Of course, Ichigo should have known, it would soon turn exactly into that, it had taken only until that night when, shortly before midnight, Orihime had contacted him. She had been the one on guard-duty at the time (since they had agreed the situation was delicate enough to make such a thing necessary). Some shinigami, lead by three high-ranking officers, had found Karin and Toushirou in an abandoned temple, not far from where Orihime lived, a battle had ensued and while the two youngest shinigami had managed to run, things had already turned south.
Ichigo and Rukia shifted into their shinigami forms and shunpoed to where Orihime was already waiting as fast as they possibly could. It was an old temple, seemingly abandoned, and it was quite obvious that a battle had taken place, judging by all the reiatsu traces floating around, as well as the pieces of ice, ash, debris and torn pieces of clothes.
"What the hell happened here?!" Ichigo demanded the moment he arrived.
He'd been stressed out all day, what with his sister gone doing who-knows-what, it had taken him a lot to finally go to sleep, only to be awakened shortly afterwards, and to find that his sister and her friend had been attacked by over two dozen shinigami! Ichigo was definitely not a happy man in that moment, and his barely-controlled reiatsu showed it.
"Kurosaki-dono! Kuchiki-san!" Two voices called at once.
Ichigo easily recognized the blonde lieutenant of the third division, even if Rukia had to remind him that his name was Kira Izuru; same with the dark-haired lieutenant of the 9th Division: Hisagi Shuuhei. They were acting-captains, being the highest-ranked officers in their respective divisions since their captain's betrayal. The other obvious leader of the team, was someone Ichigo was sure he'd never seen before, and while her reiatsu was nothing impressive, Ichigo couldn't help the impression that she was much more powerful than she seemed to at first sight, she was also currently the highest ranked officer in the third betrayed division.
"Hisagi-fukutaichoi, Kira-fukutaichou, Skye-sanseki." Rukia greeted them formally.
"Right." Kira seemed really nervous, but still spoke to Ichigo directly. "Kurosaki-dono, this is Skye Kotori, third seat of the 5th Division; the three of us were assigned with the capture and imprisonment of Hitsugaya-taichou."
"And how do your orders excuse what obviously happened here?" Ichigo demanded. "Did you know that my sister, Karin, was with Toushirou?"
"We became aware of that fact when we tried to force Hitsugaya-taichou to surrender." Hisagi pointed out in a low voice. "We weren't expecting it."
"No, of course you weren't." Ichigo practically growled. "Who even gave the order for something like this? Do you know the kind of damage you could have caused to Karakura, the kind of hurt you could have caused to innocents, if a full-out battle had happened?"
"Like Hisagi-san said, we weren't expecting for Hitsugaya-taichou to be accompanied, or for anyone to attack us." Kotori pointed out, trying to be helpful.
Ichigo took that chance to truly observe the girl, she was petite, and looked so very young, though he'd long learnt not to let a shinigami's appearance trick him, Rukia was a perfect example of how one over a century old could still look in their mid-teens. Aside from her apparent youth, the orange-head noticed the girl had shockingly red-hair, in a way even more shocking than Renji's, it was in loose but well-defined curls that fell down nearly to the small of her back, kept back by a clip and white ribbons at the nape of her neck; she was wearing the traditional shinigami attire, her zanpakutou resting vertical on her back. And while her appearance seemed somewhat exotic, Ichigo still couldn't sense any important reiatsu, even Ikkaku had had more of an aura of power…and weren't he and Kotori supposed to be the same rank? Was he missing something?
In the end Ichigo pushed the whole rant about Skye Kotori aside, there were things far more important in that moment than an apparently young and weak shinigami-girl, particularly because he'd never seen her before and probably wouldn't remember her after she was gone.
"First that kekkai in the outskirts of Karakura, then that battle that was strong enough we could feel it through the damned kekkai," Ichigo began enlisting things. "One of your captains getting angry with me, and thinking she can order me, order us Nakama around, when I think we were pretty clear how things weren't that way. And now this! The agreement was that as long as Seireitei and the Nakama were allied, Karakura would be our territory. We are the main authority here, not you, your captains, or even Yamamoto!"
There was total silence as he ranted; at first it looked like Kotori was going to react and lash back at Ichigo, at least verbally, but a quick shake of the head from Rukia, followed by Hisagi holding her shoulder and pulling her back was enough to stop her.
Rukia just sighed, she had known Ichigo would be snapping sooner or later, it was a miracle his reiatsu wasn't smothering anyone yet.
"Karakura is our territory." Ichigo insisted. "And yet in the last 48 hours a lot of things have happened that we didn't authorize, that we would have never allowed." His voice turned serious. "I want you, your subordinates, and any other shinigami that may be in Karakura in this moment, to leave, right now!"
"But Kurosaki-dono." Kira said softly, hesitantly. "We have a mission."
"I don't care." Ichigo spat. "If our help had been asked, if we had just been informed that you needed to be here…But no, your Gotei seems to take longer to form a pact than it does to break it. And now, you've not just attacked a member of your own organization, you've also turned against my own sister. That's something I won't be forgiving any time soon!"
"She was interfering with our duty!" Kotori yelled at him, holding back the flinch the dark glare directed in her direction caused her.
"Like I said before, I don't care." Ichigo hissed. "You want to get to Toushirou, and whoever it is that is responsible for this whole mess…"
"What if they're the same person?" Hisagi suggested.
"The same?" Ichigo did a double-take at that. "You mean that you think that that battle was Toushirou's fault? You think he's a murderer? Are you all stupid or what?!" he brushed his hair with a hand and sighed. "Really, you have no faith at all in your own comrades, your own nakama, do you?"
"We used to, and yet you've seen what happened on that front, with the three traitors." Kotori pointed out scathingly.
Hisagi and Kira flinched at her words. Despite belonging to the fifth division, and how hard every other shinigami in either of the three betrayed divisions were taking things, it seemed like she didn't care at all for the three traitors.
"You don't even really know Hitsugaya-taichou, why do you defend him then?" Hisagi asked, half-exasperated by the whole situation.
"Karin knows him, she trusts him, and I trust her judgment." Ichigo said simply, before going all serious again. "I've made my opinions on all this matter clear. Now, like I said before, I want the three of you, and your subordinates, out of my town. Now!"
There was such power behind his words, none of the other shinigami could find in themselves the will to contradict him again. Kira requested enough hell-butterflies for everyone, Hisagi opened the Senkaimon, and shortly they were all gone.
"You know what you just did will have consequences, right?" Rukia asked him softly.
"I know." Ichigo whispered back.
"Ok." Rukia nodded softly. "Just making sure."
And he did, he had no idea what kind of consequences they would be, exactly, but he somehow knew they would be big and far-reaching, still, he was tired of others walking over him, over his Nakama, he wouldn't allow it anymore. If the only way to get respect with the Gotei was to act like a cold, stubborn, arrogant bastard, then he would do exactly that.
"Lets go back." Ichigo said suddenly as he turned around. "We have to be ready, and make sure everyone else is as well. I have a feeling the shit is about to hit the fan."
"With everything you just said and did it would be no surprise, really." Rukia commented as she began shunpoing by his side.
"I don't mean on that matter." Ichigo shook his head without stopping. "I mean with Karin, Toushirou, and whatever 'personal business' has had them jumping from one end to the other of Karakura since dawn."
Ichigo and Rukia had managed to get a few more hours of sleep in before receiving an urgent call from Renji. Yamamoto had declared that it was priority to capture Hitsugaya Toushirou, and execute him if he resisted!
"That is insane!" Ichigo yelled as soon as he heard the news. "Execution over what? A suspicion? They can't even be sure Toushirou had anything to do with that attack to the Royal caravan, or what happened to Kyouraku-san last night."
"Ichigo is right." Rukia agreed. "The second part is particularly impossible, considering that at the time of the attack on Kyouraku-taichou both Hitsugaya-taichou and Karin-san were in a rundown temple, here in the Living World, fighting Hisagi-fukutaichou, Kira-fukutaichou, Skye-sanseki and their subordinates."
Ichigo nodded, it just didn't add up.
"I know, but this wasn't up to me." Renji pointed out. "The only advantage Hitsugaya-taichou and Karin-dono have right now is that Yamamoto has ordered for all shinigami to leave Karakura. As long as those two stay in your territory the Gotei 13 won't touch them. However, unless the situation changes and soon, the soutaichou may just end up giving you the order to bring them in yourselves, or at least Hitsugaya-taichou."
"Does he think we would do that?" Ichigo hissed.
"You may not have a choice Ichigo." Rukia pointed out quietly. "If he orders it, and you don't cooperate you'll be accused of helping a criminal, all the authority you hold now, and everything the Nakama have gained, will be lost."
Ichigo growled under his breath, they were trying to put him between a rock and a hard place.
"Then we better settle this before that time comes." Ichigo declared.
"About that." Renji said, still through the phone. "We've discovered who Kusaka is."
"Tell us." Ichigo indicated instantly.
That was possibly the only bit of good news in the whole call.
As soon as the call with Renji ended Ichigo was telling Yuzu to make some calls, the Nakama had to meet up. Regardless of what Karin had asked of them, they needed to bring things to an end, and sooner rather than later.
What they weren't expecting was the sudden explosion as Ichigo's window was blown up. It was the arrancar-lookalikes, they somehow knew Ichigo and Rukia were going to get involved in things, and wanted to stop them before they could.
So their fight began.
The rest of the Nakama got there just in time, to tip the balance in their favor, though the battle was still far from over, with all the hollows either the arrancars's presence in Karakura, or the Nakama's own flaring reiatsu were calling.
The worst part came when, after a flash of golden light in the distance, and a reiatsu so huge it made every spiritually aware person in Karakura stumble, all Nakama became aware that Toushirou and Karin were gone from the living world, along with another reiatsu that somehow held the same ice-coldness as Toushirou's, but was far darker than his.
"Do you think they've gone to Soul Society?" Rukia asked, though already suspecting the answer, it was kinda obvious really.
"If they are, things are not going to be pretty." Ichigo pointed out.
Rukia knew he was right. But what could they do? They were trapped in a battle against enemies that while not as strong as the Espada they'd met less than two weeks before, still were a danger, especially considering how they didn't seem to care who got hurt when one of their attacks missed or was deflected.
"Ichigo, Rukia, Yuzu." Uryuu said seriously when he did a pause in his attack. "Leave this to us. You go after Hitsugaya-san, Karin and that insane maniac."
"But Uryuu…" Rukia didn't like leaving the others.
"Uryuu is right Rukia." Orihime said. "You can get to Soul Society easily as shinigami. And we can handle this."
"It might even be a little boring." Tatsuki said with a pout. "Compared to the menos and arrancars I'd grown used to fighting every other day…"
Rukia shook her head, thinking Tatsuki had to be crazy, to talk so wistfully about fighting more powerful hollows. In any case, she was right that the human Nakama could handle it, and the three of them could get to Seireitei much faster if she opened a Senkaimon herself, if they waited for the others, aside from having to purify all the hollows and destroy the arrancar-lookalikes first, there was also the matter of getting Urahara to set-up his matter converter so Orihime, Chad and Uryuu could get through.
"Very well, we'll be going then." Ichigo declared. "I trust you to handle this, guys."
"Yes, yes Ichigo, now go." Uryuu said dismissively.
Rukia giggled slightly as she called on a Senkaimon, if she didn't know those two as well as she did, she might believe they actually hated each other.
Ichigo just shook his head with a chuckle before giving an exaggerated bow to Uryuu and then following Rukia and Yuzu through the Senkaimon.
xXx
Karin looked all around her, trying to process the fact that a second before she'd been in Karakura's warehouse district, standing beside one of the people she held dearest: Hitsugaya Toushirou, and facing the one person responsible for the whole mess they'd found themselves in, because really, what had happened in the last two days couldn't be called anything but the most disastrous and terrible mess, and suddenly they were in an entirely different place…
It had all begun with that thrice-damned kekkai someone had decided to place on the outskirts of Karakura, without consulting, or even so much as informing the Nakama. Karin would have snapped at that, but suddenly there were other things to worry about. Like the battle that was bad enough they could feel it through the cursed kekkai; or when she found Toushirou, laying face-down on a riverbank, a stab-wound on his stomach. Karin had made sure Yuzu treated him the moment they all got back to the Kurosaki home, and then convinced Ichigo to lay the recovering and unconscious shinigami captain on her bed, it wasn't like she planned on getting any sleep while he was in such condition.
Then, before dawn the next morning, he'd woken up.
She was a very light sleeper, had been since her time as a shinigami, when she was paranoid either her Nii-sama would do another of his crazy schemes or Aizen would send someone to murder her in her sleep…she actually wasn't sure which one she feared the most.
Still, she didn't move, didn't even change the pattern of her breathing when she woke, just focusing on what she heard and sensed to know what was going on. It was obvious Toushirou was awake, for the soft sounds of clothes brushing together Karin guessed he was getting back into his shihakusho, which Ichigo had taken off him so Yuzu would have better access to the wound when treating him the previous night.
The raven-haired waited until she heard the window slid open, then she snapped her eyes open and straightened up in bed; the movement fast enough to make Toushirou freeze mid-motion, as he was about to jump out the window.
"Surely you wouldn't be leaving without me, would you Toushirou-kun?" Karin asked, a hint of mirth and pretended-offence in her voice.
"Ka…Karin…" Toushirou seemed actually at a loss for words for a moment. "I thought you were asleep."
"Ah ah." Karin shook her finger at him. "Wrong answer, try again."
"I'm very thankful for everything you and the rest of the Nakama have done for me." He said, sincerely, turning to face her, and the still-sleeping Yuzu. "This is the second time Yuzu-san has saved my life."
"She likes doing it, helping I mean." Karin commented, looking at her sister with a mix of great love and almost parental-like concern. "It hurts her when she cannot."
"Yes." Toushirou nodded, knowing Yuzu wasn't the only one. "I hope you will express my gratefulness to her when she wakes up."
"Why don't you do that?" Karin asked, eyes narrowing.
"Because there is an urgent personal business I have to take care of, I cannot stay." Toushirou answered stoically. "I must leave now."
"Bullshit!" Karin spat.
"Karin…" Toushirou wasn't expecting that response from her. "I…"
"I sensed the reiatsu trace from your wound before Yuzu treated you." Karin pointed out in a more subdued tone.
"Then you know." Toushirou said, just as subdued. "I still don't know how something like this can even be possible…"
"Just like none of us quite know how I'm back…" Karin snorted. "The hows don't matter that much, they don't change what needs to be done."
"True." Toushirou agreed. "You must then understand why I must do this alone…"
"No, this is precisely why you must not do this alone." Karin contradicted him. "Toushirou… this involves me too…"
"You weren't the one who killed him…"
"Neither did you! The Onmitsukidou killed him! Central 46 killed him! Not you Toushirou!" she shook him slightly. "Listen to me, you did not kill Kusaka-kun!"
Toushirou just turned away from her, not quite convinced.
"What happened, it wasn't your fault." Karin insisted. "I have no idea what kind of messed up situation caused him to try and take Hyourinmaru for his own, but that was never on his hands, or yours. Hyourinmaru was always meant to be yours. Right, Ryuu-san?"
Inside Toushirou, Hyourinmaru gave his answer, it made the white-haired shinigami prodigy shiver before nodding stiffly to both Karin and his own zanpakutou.
"I still don't understand why." Toushirou admitted. "Why Hyourinmaru would want me. Especially after I was willing to give him up…"
"You were willing to give him up because of your friendship with Kusaka-kun." Karin pointed out. "You knew it wouldn't be good if the two of you tried to wield the same zanpakutou. It was taboo. And you were a prodigy, you had only been in the Academy for a year, and everyone kept telling you how strong you were; you thought that even if it took you longer to manifest your zanpakutou, nothing would be lost. You didn't realize, the decision had already been made, and it was never yours to make. Hyourinmaru was meant to be your zanpakutou, just like Tenreikou was meant to be mine…"
"So this is related to us…to what we are." Toushirou murmured pensively.
"Somewhat." Karin answered. "Not completely of course, but there's a good deal of that."
Toushirou nodded, while still trying to wrap his head around everything he'd just been told.
"Kusaka-kun was my friend too, Toushirou-kun." Karin said softly. "If he is the one behind this whole mess, then I deserve the chance to be there to put an end to it, as much as you do. I may not have been there with you when that tragedy, that travesty they dared call justice happened; I couldn't be with you then, but there's no way I'm leaving you now. Not again, never again. That's a promise Toushirou-kun…"
"Thank you, Karin-chan…" Toushirou whispered softly as he embraced her tightly.
She embraced him back almost automatically, both of them taking a moment of that peace, to get ready for what was to come; they knew it wouldn't be easy, that it would be hard, and complicated, and neither of them would come out of it the same way they were going in; but they also knew they had to do it, for Kusaka, for each other, and for themselves…
The two had left the Kurosaki home before anyone else woke-up, making sure to leave the note where Yuzu would find it and after having explained to Nova that they were leaving and no one was to follow them, they were dealing with personal business. Karin trusted that, as long as things didn't get too dangerous, Ichigo wouldn't go against their wishes.
They had traveled in their spirit forms, covered in special reiatsu-concealing cloaks Karin had gotten (from the Nagaken clan), Toushirou having left behind the haori signaling him as the 10th Division Captain behind, after all, he wasn't going as a captain, but as a man and a shinigami.
The two spent the whole day walking from one end of Karakura Town to the other, evading the Onmitsukidou looking for them and following two Arrancar lookalikes that kept using hit and run tactics on them, either they weren't very good fighters, or they were luring Toushirou and Karin in (and Karin would bet it was the second).
Of course, by the time night closed in the two friends were totally exhausted, mostly physically but also mentally; they decided to take refuge inside a rundown temple. They technically weren't in Karakura anymore, but still inside Nakama territory, so everything was supposed to be alright…'supposed to' being the key words there…
Toushirou had been dozing off while Karin drank some water. She'd barely remembered to pack a bag with food and water before leaving her house, but it was a good thing she had, the last thing she wanted was for them to be weak and hungry when they finally had to truly fight. She was beginning to consider getting some sleep herself, when suddenly she became aware of the at least two dozen reiatsu signatures appearing before the temple. They were all so low she hadn't noticed them at first. The only ones worth any consideration were the two that she recognized as belonging to Hisagi Shuuhei and Kira Izuru…and there was something else, almost like an empty space very close to them. It wasn't logical, since the reiatsu should have filled that area since it was so close to them, and there was no way someone could erase their reiatsu so fully, was there? At least, not without a cloak like the ones she and Toushirou were wearing, and those were a Nagaken Clan secret.
A groan in that very moment signaled Toushirou's awakening.
"We've got company." Karin informed him calmly.
"I know." Toushirou answered. "It was their reiatsu that woke me."
"Think we can get away without a fight?" Karin asked, considering the possibilities.
"Highly unlikely." Toushirou said honestly. "If the Ouin is half as important as we suspect, they will stop at nothing to arrest me. Right now our only advantage may be that I don't think they know you're here."
Karin nodded. She suspected something like that. The Nagaken Cloaks were more attuned to her reiatsu, since she was part of the clan, so while it was possible that enough of Toushirou's reiatsu had gotten through for the Gotei to track him; the raven-haired was quite sure that, even standing just a few feet away from her, no one could sense her in that moment.
With that thought in mind Toushirou opened the temple's doors just enough to step out, allowing Karin to remain in his shadow, unseen and unsensed.
Looking over Hitsugaya's shoulder, careful not to be noticed herself, Karin counted two dozens of shinigami in loose formation at the temple's front yard, as well as another dozen hiding among the nearby trees. Then, between those formed before the temple, the three leaders could be seen, she recognized them all easily: Hisagi Shuuhei, Kira Izuru and Skye Kotori; all had been several years ahead from Toushirou and her in the Academy, in fact, she remembered that Kotori had actually taught a class at the Academy for a while, until a year or so before Karin and Toushirou entered the Academy themselves.
In any case, that wasn't really what mattered, what mattered was that the shinigami had been sent to arrest them, or at least Toushirou, and that couldn't be allowed to happen.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, this is a special emergency order." Hisagi stated formally. "Please return to Seireitei."
"I will not." Toushirou stated, dead-serious, a hand on his zanpakutou.
The moment Toushirou dashed against the two fukutaichou, Karin hurried to hide behind the shadow of one of the columns in the temple's porch. The moonlight was low enough and the cloak thick enough that no one noticed her.
She watched the first clash of swords between the three shinigami and waited for her moment to attack, a hand in the small of her back as she materialized her own sealed zanpakutou.
"Please, stop." Kira said. "They'll consider this rebellion."
"Back off, Kira, Hisagi." Toushirou said in his most authoritative voice, already knowing his orders would be ignored.
"Hitsugaya-taichou, you're under arrest." Hisagi said soberly.
Karin would have snorted, or smirked, at the young fukutaichou's words, except that in that moment she became aware of a third sword going for Toushirou.
"Coward!" She screamed as she rushed out of the shadow she was hiding in.
She shunpoed fast enough to stand at Toushirou's back, holding her kodachi in one hand and its sheathe in the other, using both to block the long, thin zanpakutou that had been about to hit Toushirou's back.
The change was so sudden, even for the shinigami there to arrest Toushirou, that for a moment no one seemed to know what to do.
"Who the hell are you?" Skye Kotori, who had been the one to go for Toushirou's back, demanded hotly as she failed to push Karin down.
"Kurosaki-Nagaken Karin, shinketsu shinigami and Nakama." Karin introduced herself formally. "Now who the hell do you think you are, aside from a coward?"
"I am Skye Kotori, 5th Division's Third Seat…and I am not a coward!" The offended woman snapped back at Karin.
"Then what do you call attacking at a warrior's back?" Karin hissed as she twisted her own zanpakutou and scabbard enough to push her opponent back.
Kotori hissed but pulled her zanpakutou back, still keeping her guard up, knowing she wouldn't be able to overpower the girl. While she'd never seen Karin, as she'd been too busy during the time the Nakama had been in Soul Society, covering for her absent superiors and trying her best to keep her division running; she'd heard quite a bit about her, including how she was supposed to be the reincarnation of another Karin, one Kotori had known well, if mostly from a distance…in any case, with the element of surprise lost, all they had left was direct combat, and the members of the Gotei certainly had the advantage in that moment.
Hisagi and Kira, for their parts, were trying to gather their wits. Karin's appearance had taken them off-guard, they hadn't been expecting for the missing captain to have company, less of all that of one of the Nakama…one of the presumably most powerful Nakama…While neither of them had ever actually seen Karin fight, they'd heard the rumors of her power, and coupled with Hitsugaya Toushirou's own, they suddenly weren't sure if even three dozen of average shinigami, a third seat and two lieutenants were gonna cut it.
The battle began at a silent signal.
Toushirou and Karin were easily able to push the three highest ranking shinigami quite a few feet away from them, leaving them to deal with the average ones. They did so easily. With their zanpakutou still sealed, weaving in and out of each other's path, mostly keeping their backs against each other, in a handful of minutes three dozens of shinigami were down and they remained without a scratch.
At the sides, Hisagi, Kira and Skye could only watch agape, they had never seen anything like that before. The synchronization, the harmony in both fighters' moves had been such they could only marvel at the whole thing.
However, once they were all down, they knew it was time to do something.
Kotori was the first to react, she threw herself at Karin, intending to at least push her away from Hitsugaya Toushirou long enough for Kira and Hisagi to take him prisoner. However, she wasn't expecting that this time it would be Toushirou to get in her way, a push of his reiatsu was enough to partially freeze her zanpakutou, and give frostbite to her hands.
"How did you do that?!" Kotori demanded as she jumped back. "Your zanpakutou isn't even in its shikai state!"
Toushirou just shrugged. If he was honest, freezing things with just his reiatsu had been second nature to him for a very long time, particularly when his feelings got the better of him. He'd stopped doing it after training in the Shino Academy, once he'd gained the control he needed, and recently he'd learnt that he could actually do it at will…
"Toushirou, beware!" Karin yelled even as she began moving.
Almost too late she'd realized that Hisagi was getting ready to use a Bakudou, she wordlessly called on her shikai, at the same time as the 9th Division Fukutaichou threw a rod of energy at Toushirou; same which, midair, transformed into a hundred separate rods. The raven-haired jumped before Toushirou and began spinning her naginata as well as her own body at speeds that almost surpassed shunpo, without even needing to name her attack, all the rods her naginata touched burned down instantly.
Only a few seconds had passed, but when the spike at the end of the pole-side of the naginata touched the ground, just a few of the rods Hisagi had created remain, and none of them presented any risk to either Toushirou or Karin.
Yet again everyone present was shocked at the display of speed, power and talent. Hisagi and Kira in particular were quite sure that their mission was simply impossible, but they couldn't just give up, they had their orders…
"Karin…" Toushirou whispered as he changed his stance slightly.
The raven-haired didn't need him to say anything else, she knew him well enough; despite all the years that had passed, fighting alongside him still was to her as natural as breathing. In a fraction of a second she dismissed her zanpakutou and shunpoed to stand at his back.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!"
The fight was over.
Toushirou had actually held himself back. He didn't want to kill anyone, or to affect the Living World in any way, only to make sure he and Karin would be able to leave that place without being followed.
It wasn't until around noon the following day that Karin and Toushirou realized no one was following, or even trying to track them anymore. In fact, they couldn't even sense any shinigami reiatsu in all of Karakura, aside from Karin's family, the member's of the Urahara-Shouten and the very corrupted reiatsu of the very individual they themselves were tracking down: Kusaka…When asked what she thought about the whole thing, Karin had a one word answer: Ichigo, she just knew her brother had something to do with the whole change in situation, even if she had no idea of how exactly the situation had changed.
Shortly after that realization, the two finally managed to track down Kusaka's reiatsu, to the limits of the warehouse district, in the outskirts of Karakura; they followed the trace to an abandoned, huge warehouse.
Toushirou and Karin walked slowly, all their senses on alert, it was obvious that Kusaka must have spent some time on the warehouse, his reiatsu could be felt in every corner, making it harder to pinpoint his precise location in that moment. Until suddenly Toushirou sensed the spike and turned to his left.
"You finally found me." A thick voice called. "I've been waiting for you."
A masked figure stepped out of the shadows, the same Toushirou had described to Karin when telling her about the attack to the Royal Convoy. And even before he took off his mask and they could see his face, Karin and Toushirou both knew who was standing before them, they could sense the reiatsu, it was a corrupted, darker version of the reiatsu they both remembered, even so many years later; it was still his, Kusaka's…and yet, that didn't explain how he was there, after dying so many years before…
"Kusaka…" Toushirou and Karin muttered at the same time.
"And you haven't come alone." Kusaka commented, finally noticing Karin. "Hitsugaya and Nagaken…guess I shouldn't be surprised." He shook his head. "Like I was saying, I've been waiting for you. That's why used Hyourinmaru to leave a wound on your body. You can't figure out how I'm still alive?"
Karin shrugged, like she'd said before, the hows weren't actually important, even knowing them wouldn't change their situation any.
"As indifferent as always, Nagaken-hime." Kusaka commented, noticing Karin's attitude. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you are a noble princess, after all."
Karin didn't react to the veiled insult, or the reminder of her old nickname, she wasn't about to allow Kusaka to distract her.
"It doesn't really matter, does it, Hitsugaya?" Kusaka asked with a shrug of his own. "Don't you think we've been on this detour long enough?"
"Detour?" Toushirou asked, not quite understanding.
"You should know very well what the Gotei 13 is like." Kusaka commented, before turning to Karin and adding. "Both of you should. So why do you stay with them?" his eyes bore into Karin's, even as he talked to Toushirou again. "Is it for her?"
"I make my own choices, as does Toushirou-kun." Karin deadpanned, then her eyes softened as she added. "Why are you doing this, Kusaka-kun?"
"This?" Kusaka asked, a brow raised.
"Attacking the Royal entourage, hurting Toushirou-kun, sending those arrancars after my family and friends, luring the two of us here…" Karin elaborated.
"Actually, I was just trying to lure Hitsugaya." Kusaka admitted. "I would have thought that a noble princess like you would have long ago gotten bored playing hero, or maybe scared…"
"I never got bored, or scared." Karin practically hissed.
"And yet you aren't exactly wearing the traditional shihakusho, are you?" Kusaka pointed out, he'd been intrigued by that fact since noticing her presence.
"I died, twenty five years ago." Karin pointed out calmly. "Reincarnated as a human ten-years later. Yet I only regained my memories and met again with Toushirou-kun this summer. Technically I'm not even part of the Gotei 13 anymore."
"I see…" Kusaka murmured thoughtfully. "Still, it's not like your presence here actually changes anything. Except…I'm curious, is he the reason you pushed me away?"
Karin's gray eyes turned to steel at that question, even as Toushirou began looking from one to the other, with no idea of what was going on.
"I always thought that maybe I wasn't good enough, since I wasn't noble and all that." Kusaka commented coldly. "And yet, after all these years, you've remained by Hitsugaya's side, and he isn't noble either. With the two of you, it's gotten to the point when even after dying and reincarnating, you're here now. So maybe I was wrong, maybe it has nothing to do with the blood, you just preferred him instead of me."
"It never was about one or the other, Kusaka-kun." Karin said, her voice changing to a more subdued tone. "It wasn't about being a noble either. I just…I couldn't love you the way you professed to love me."
Toushirou's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he was hearing; Kusaka was, or at least had been, in love with Karin! Yet Karin hadn't loved him…and somehow Kusaka believed that meant she loved Toushirou?!
"Anyway," Kusaka dismissed the topic with a shrug, like he didn't actually care about it. "I guess that's neither here nor now. You've come here today, to me, for a very different reason, have you not?"
"Where is the Ouin?" Toushirou asked, as willing to change the topic as Kusaka.
"Right here, of course." Kusaka replied, his hand fisted around the golden-glowing object. "This is going to make my dreams come true."
"Dreams?" Toushirou asked, wondering what that had to do with anything.
Karin, meanwhile, tensed, unknown to anyone and everyone, she actually did know what most of the Royal Artifacts did; it came with the package of being a Celestial and, unlike her partner, actually being fully conscious of the fact. So, she knew about the Royal Artifacts, including the Ouin, and if Kusaka knew as well…
"What is the power of the Ouin?" Toushirou demanded, not noticing Karin's tension. "How do you know about it?"
"No need to rush." Kusaka answered with a smirk. "You'll know soon enough." He turned to Karin. "Though something tells me young Nagaken-hime already knows…Now, let's go."
Toushirou had just turned to Karin, hoping for some kind of explanation, but before any could be given, the golden light coming from the Ouin enveloped all three of them, and just like that, they were gone.
And so, amidst what looked like golden lighting, the three once-friends appeared at the top of the empty Soukyoku Hill, right in the middle of Seireitei.
Beside Karin, Toushirou couldn't help but look around, totally speechless, and quite disbelieving of his own surroundings, even when Kusaka confirmed they were where he thought they were. Karin, for her part, was better ready for the sudden change of location; she took notice of the new place in an instant and got her bearings almost immediately; soon enough she was focused on the quickly approaching reiatsu, high ranking shinigami from all over Seireitei were approaching their location, fast.
"This is the power of the Ouin." Kusaka was explaining to Toushirou meanwhile. "The King's Seal is able to move space, time and matter into another dimension at the user's will. In short, this power makes teleportation trivial. I can transfer an enemy's attack into another dimension before it hits. If I'm injured, I can return my body to any time before it was hurt." He turned to Karin. "Isn't that true, Nagaken-hime?"
Karin took notice of what Kusaka had just said in a corner of her mind, while she had known what the Ouin could do, the particular use her once-friend had given it was more on the unorthodox side, it made her wonder what else could be done with it, or with any of the other Royal Artifacts. Still, most of her attention, remained on the situation all three of them were in in that moment, the rather…delicate situation.
"You forgot that, regardless of how powerful it may be, you cannot use it to break into the Royal Realm." Karin answered nonchalantly. "Not even the Ouin can break the barrier to that dimension, only one object can do that."
"True…however, I've never cared about the Royal Dimension or the Spirit King." Kusaka said with the same nonchalance.
Karin sighed mentally, thanking the spirits that, if anything, Kusaka hadn't somehow turned out to be another Aizen-like psycho. Though she still didn't understand what his purpose might be for all he'd been doing the last few days.
"Kusaka, that means you…" Toushirou gasped.
Karin turned to him immediately in wonder and confusion, it was obvious Toushirou had realized something she hadn't.
"Indeed." Kusaka nodded, apparently on the same wavelength as Toushirou. "I was transferred to Hueco Mundo and reincarnated there. And I've searched for the power of the Ouin since…in order to take revenge against Seireitei!"
As she heard that, Karin began to reconsider her opinion of Kusaka not being as bad as Aizen, as she materialized her zanpakutou and went into shikai without a word; it only got worse with what she heard next:
"Toushirou!" Kusaka called, an almost-maniac gleam in his eyes. "Cut it! Your bankai should be able to cut the seal!"
"Cut…the Ouin?" Toushirou asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes, and when you do, everything will evaporate!" Kusaka declared, smirking followed by a mad cackle.
"Cut the Ouin…" Karin repeated. "Are you absolutely insane?!"
No answer was given, Kusaka just continued laughing, even as Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi and Kotori arrived on Soukyoku Hill. The last two immediately getting on their guard, they still remembered quite clearly the battle against Toushirou and Karin the previous night, and had the feeling that, without the worry for the humans hanging over them, things could be much worse in that moment.
Immediately the two members of Squad 11 began commenting on their luck, getting there first, even as Hisagi asked Hitsugaya why he was acting as he was. Karin just rolled her eyes, the lack of faith Hisagi, and most of the shinigami, had on Toushirou was truly insane! Shouldn't they know him better than that?!
"Going by the emergency alert and our orders, we have to take in Hitsugaya Toushirou and the Ouin's thief." Kotori stated formally.
"What?" Karin smirked at the third-seat. "Wanna give it another try?"
The shinigami actually gave a step back at that, which called everyone's attention, the two officers of the eleventh could only wonder what exactly had happened in the Living World to make the usually so impassive Kotori step back.
Ikkaku and Yumichika moved to attack, only to be blocked and pushed back by Toushirou and Karin almost instantly.
"Guess you are being serious…" Ikkaku commented as he took a battle stance.
He, like so many, didn't really understand what was going on.
"Stay out of the way." Hitsugaya told them all coldly.
Battle began yet again, but Karin and Toushirou focused only on keeping their attackers at bay, away from them and Kusaka, who just watched them in silence.
Things only got worse when several dozens more of shinigami arrived, along with half of the captains and lieutenants; Sui-Feng immediately taking charge.
"Surrender Hitsugaya, Nagaken." She ordered stoically. "And the man behind you."
Karin and Toushirou stepped back from the shinigami they were fighting in that moment, but didn't lower their zanpakutou.
Behind them, Kusaka laughed again.
"Who are you?!" Komamura demanded strongly.
"Hitsugaya, what are you doing?" Kusaka asked. "Let those fools experience our hate! Our suffering!" he turned to Karin. "Will you join us as well, Nagaken-hime?"
Karin rolled her eyes, deciding it was useless to even dignify that with an answer, particularly since she was busy keeping an eye on all the shinigami that might attack her or Toushirou any second; she knew she wasn't fast enough to defend from all of them at the same time… besides, she thought Kusaka was being overly dramatic.
"This is our revenge!" Kusaka cried out almost maniacally as he raised the Ouin above his head. "Cut it! Hitsugaya Toushirou!"
"Capture him!" Sui-Feng ordered instantly.
"This is none of your business." Karin hissed as she jumped high and swung her naginata in an arch. "Don't meddle! Enmouchou!"
That time, the bird made of fire was big enough to actually block most of the shinigami rushing at her and the others, forcing them to stop, and the moment the fire touched the ground, it left scorch marks that made everyone doubt if they should risk moving again.
"Getsuga Tenshou!"
Ichigo's huge attack the second he arrived created a fissure on the earth, and seemed to drive Karin's message home: stay back.
"Need a hand?" Ichigo asked Karin, taking a quick look at her over his shoulder as he kept most of his attention on the other shinigami.
Karin rolled her eyes, she really should have known her family would meddle eventually.
"Just don't interfere." She said, signaling to Toushirou and Kusaka behind her.
"I trust you." He responded as he nodded once.
Even if neither he, Rukia or Yuzu knew exactly what was going on, they trusted Karin, and if she believed things should be done a certain way, they would help her.
In that very moment the shinigami were about to make another move to attack, and Ichigo decided he'd had it, enough was enough. Rukia could see he was about to snap and could only sigh, she really should have seen it coming…
"Stop!" Ichigo yelled at the top of his lungs. "Is fighting the only thing that you people can do?! You guys don't want to hurt Toushirou, do you? I don't think you want to hurt Karin either. Don't try to kill him just because someone ordered it!"
His words, his stance, Ichigo was talking so strongly, so passionately, that the shinigami around reacted almost automatically, lowering their zanpakutou and turning to look at each other with doubt and wonder.
"Shut your mouth Kurosaki!" Sui-Feng snarled. "Regardless of how things may be in the living world, you have no authority here. The Squads have a duty! Following the orders of superior officers is a model we must follow no matter what the cost."
It was obvious to Ichigo, Rukia, and everyone else who knew what had happened, that she had taken offense of the order that had been issued for all shinigami to leave Karakura and not to go back without the Nakama's authorization.
"And I'm telling you, you don't get it!" Ichigo insisted.
"No more talk!" Sui-Feng snapped. "If you, or any of your so-called Nakama, show any further aggression, I'll have you killed too!"
It was so instantaneous, one would say the reaction was practically instinctive, as Rukia unsheathed her own zanpakutou and wordlessly went on shikai; she and Ichigo stood side by side, on their guard, ready to fight. Behind them, Karin too adopted a more formal fighting pose and even Yuzu raised her hands and got ready to begin a kidou. The auras of the four flaring in unison, showing their readiness for battle.
For a moment no one knew what to say, even though the members of the Gotei were so many, and those opposing them so few…there was something almost intimidating about the way they stood, about the auras that enveloped them…and then…
"Halt!" The sudden, powerful, authoritative voice, stopped everything in an instant.
To those cringing about yet another OC... I promise Skye isn't that important, not like Keeva and Serenity. She'll be background character. And while there'll be a few scenes where her importance shows, she'll never be as important as the Nakama, or any of our favorite Bleach characters. There's one single reasons she exists at all: and it is that it was never logical for me the way Hinamori was handled in canon.
I'm issuing a warning right now. If you love Hinamori, this might not be the fic for you. Truth is that I cannot stand her. In my opinion she's either a naïve child, a stupid fool, or a villain that was never fully developed. Why? She either willing or unwillingly became so absolutely devoted to Aizen that even after he almost killed her, and he betrayed everyone, she kept believing in him. She turned her weapon on her oldest friend! Her (according to Kubo) love interest, because Aizen told her to! She'd known Toushirou her whole life (or afterlife, whichever!), and Aizen for less than fifty years, and she believed Aizen over Toushirou! That means that either she was foolish, stupid or manipulated. Regardless of which, in my opinion, she shouldn't have been in a position of authority at the time of the Winter War. Considering what little we see of her before the battle of Karakura, it's clear she's not doing well, and those around either don't care to help her, or haven't been able to do so. It makes me wonder how the hell the Fifth Squad was still standing... so that's the purpose of Skye Kotori. She's the 'power behind the throne' so-to-speak, she's the one really holding the squad together. So she'll be in the background, much like some of the lieutenants, and her character will be developed, but you don't have to worry that she'll ever be more important than our favorite characters.
As for why the notes have gone this long this time... it's become clear to me that not everyone likes OCs... nowadays I don't use them as much. But this fic was begun at a time when I did. Also, I had a plan for most of my OCs, and the Réalta as a whole, that would have become particularly important during the Thousand Year War... then I chucked the arc away entirely. So some of my OCs lost most of their importance, but some are important even without that arc. For those that might worry, I'll tell you this: only Keeva and Serenity can be considered as truly relevant characters, on the level with some of the Nakama. Though no OC will ever be more important than our favorites, like Ichigo, Rukia, Uryuu, Orihime... you get my point, I hope.
Having said that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next week, we'll see how the rest of the Diamond Dust Rebellion unfolds!