A/N: Okay, so this chapter has been one journey. I have rewritten this multiple times and I just can't be happy with it. I wrote at least 7 different versions and this is the one I'm most pleased with. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do! Another thing, Ichigo no longer has his powers. In this fanfic, after Aizen is sealed away, Ichigo returns to the living world. Things start to deviate at this point.
Waking up in the afterlife hadn't been as big of a shock as Karin had expected. The transition from a physical body to a soul wasn't particularly intense (the biggest difference being that she now had a mobile body). Everything felt the same, everything worked the same, but, at the same time, nothing was the same. Her dad was gone, Ichigo was gone, and Yuzu, her other half, was gone. She was alone, but despite it, she didn't feel alone. Unsettled, Karin looked around for the first time since opening her eyes.
Karin was in what she could only describe as a shack. The walls were shabby and appeared to be slightly rotten. The ceiling and roof were one and made of hay. The most shocking thing, however, was the rows of bodies spread out around. Not a single body moved. Not one breathed. Freaked out by the corpse-like bodies, Karin rose to her feet and scrambled out the door. The moment she she stepped out of the threshold, she was enveloped in a gray cloud. The smoky tendrils reached out and restrained her wrists.
"Let go of me!" Karin demanded as she struggled. She flailed her arms and shook her torso, but she couldn't get free. The smoke tightened around her left wrist before quickly retreating. With the smoke completely gone, Karin took a moment to catch her breath. She glanced down at the back of her left hand. There she saw fading black ink spell out Ginkyo and 3.
In a seamless transition, Karin found herself being jostled by seemingly nothing, but with one blink, she was suddenly in the middle of an empty street. The sky was dark and speckled with stars. In the distance she could see light from lanterns and hear people bustle about. As she walked to the brighter part of town, she could see several signs with Ginkyo or District 3 written on them.
"So that smoke was telling me where I was going, huh?" she said to herself. "You could have done it in a nicer way!"
After walking for a short while, Karin began to see people. A lot of people. Drunk men stumbled around singing and groups of girls walked from store to store. The further she walked into the town, the more Shinigami she saw. She remembered seeing Zennosuke Kurumadani throughout Karakura Town and the black shihakusho was quite memorable. She passed by a food stand and her nose was assaulted with the scent of ramen. The last time Karin recalled eating a meal and genuinely enjoying it was before she was diagnosed with that damned cancer. Thinking of her death brought back memories of her family which only led to a pain the engulfed her heart. Her final memories with them were filled with tears and it killed (no pun intended) her.
As she stood there beating herself up over how she died, she caught another whiff of the ramen and her stomach released a ground-shaking growl. Her hands slapped over her stomach and her face flushed red. Laughter erupted from a man who was halfway through the noren when he heard the noise.
"Shut up!" Karin demanded as her face grew even redder.
The man laughed even louder at her indignation. "How long have you not eaten?" he asked after he calmed down.
Karin eyed the man. He was tall, much taller than herself, but his loose kimono swallowed his form. Red hair, bordering on being obnoxious, was braided down his back and a white cloth was tied around his forehead. He didn't give her bad vibes and he seemed like an okay man, so she continued the conversation. "I haven't eaten since before I died."
The smile fell from his face and was replaced with shock. "Before you died?"
"Yeah, I literally just got here," she explained showing off the writing on the back of her hand.
The man grabbed her hand to peer closer at the writing. "And you're that hungry?"
"Well, like I said, I haven't eaten since before I died."
With Karin's hand still in his grip, the man led her through the noren. "Come on, I'll buy."
Through the noren was a simple bar with six stools and a few tables scattered about. The man took a seat at the bar and gestured for Karin to the seat beside him. She looked him up and down once more before sitting. They both ordered a miso ramen and fell into silence as the woman behind the bar retreated into the kitchen to make their food.
Karin stared at the shelf of beverages and listened to sound of chatter. She did her best to ignore the wonderful scent wafting out from the kitchen, but her hunger was too strong. Her stomach growled again almost louder than the first time. She could hear the man chuckle once more before her glare shut him up.
"I'm Renji Abarai."
"What?" Karin said, confused.
"Just thought you should know the name of the man who saved your life," Renji snickered.
Just as Karin turned to face the red head, the woman returned with two bowls of ramen. Renji muttered a word of thanks and promptly began slurping the noodles up. With a frustrated huff, Karin, too, gave thanks and dug in.
To her displeasure, the ramen was gone in a record amount of time, but when Renji offered to buy her another bowl, she denied.
"Why?" he asked with what Karin would assume to be a raised eyebrow.
"Because I'm busy."
"With what? You just got here!" Renji countered.
"That's exactly why I'm busy. I have no place to live, let alone a place to stay for the night. I have no money, so I need to find a job. I died from Stage IV bone cancer the first time and I'll be damned if I die by starvation the second time. So if you'll excuse me, I have one hell of a night ahead of me." Karin explained as she hopped down from the stool. She made to the end of the street by the time Renji caught up to her.
"I can help you, you know," he offered.
Karin turned on her heels and faced Renji as the man slowed to a stop. "I'm not an ungrateful bitch. Thanks for the food, really, but leave me alone now." She resumed walking while she scanned the buildings for places to stay the night.
"How are you going to pay for a room?"
Renji's challenge made Karin falter. She hadn't really thought of that, but hopefully the souls of Ginkyo were kind enough to allow her to pay later. She ignored his words.
"Hey! Listen!" Renji wrapped a hand around Karin's wrist as he pulled her to a stop. "These souls aren't trusting. No pay, no stay. Let me at least pay for one week's rent."
Karin yanked her wrist out of Renji's grip and pushed her ponytail over her shoulder. "Why are you so insistent on helping me?" she questioned.
"I may not look it, but I'm a powerful guy. And because I'm a powerful guy, I can tell that you have the potential to be powerful. Souls don't get hungry unless they possess reiryoku. Souls don't remember what killed them nor do they remember their lives from before passing. Become a Shinigami, then food, housing, and money won't be a problem," he explained.
Renji sifted through his kimono for a moment before presenting Karin with a small pouch of money. Hesitantly, she took it and secured it in her own yukata. "I'll think about it."
"That's all I'm asking for."
"You're a strange man, Renji," Karin teased. "but thanks."
"I know enough to know that you're a decent soul. Your reiastu feels similar to an old friend's. He was an asshole, but he was a great guy. If you're serious about being a Shinigami, the Academy is holding the entrance exam in a couple of weeks. If you'd like I can take you to Junrinan?"
The offer was tempting, but Karin was never one for taking the easy way out. If she chose to be a Shinigami, then she would make the whole journey herself.
"No thanks," Karin said. "I'll be fine on my own now."
"But-"
"You can look forward to seeing Karin Kurosaki as a Shinigami! See ya later, Renji!" Karin proclaimed as she walked away.
Renji broke out into a cackle and she could have sworn that he said something more, but she was too far away to clearly hear the words he spoke. She may be dead and alone, but, hey, at least now she was dead and alone with a purpose.