A/N: I'm back with a new chapter much faster! Since summer is here, hopefully, I'll be able to write a lot more than I have been. Thank you to every single one of you who reads this and double thanks to those who favorite/follow/review because it really warms my heart! Please enjoy this new chapter!
"What are you doing?"
Karin sat back on her haunches, arms wrapping around her knees. "Sitting with you?"
"I'm not stupid, lady, what are you doing?"
"Sitting with you." Karin replied snuggling further into herself. The night air was refreshing against her body. The little boy she sat beside sniffled harshly before flopping onto his side. Karin took a closer look at him. They both had the same shade of black hair and strong eyebrows. The boy's features were sunken in and had no place on his face. Her heart clenched as he broke out into a fitful cough.
"Stop staring at me!" he demanded, turning his back to her.
Off to her left, the doors to the bar slammed open and a heavy man stumbled out. He slurred through a few lines of a song before his friend came out and stabilized him. As the man walked away, he belched on his friend and laughed as his friend tried not to vomit. Karin casted a quick glance at the boy. "Why are you staying here? Aren't you scared?"
The boy sat up again, resting his back against the wall of the bar. "Of course I'm scared. You'd have to be stupid to not be, but the guy who owns the bar gives me leftover food if he's had a good day."
Karin's face lit up at the mention of food. She had a little bit of money left over from Renji's gift, but she had been saving it and hadn't had any food in a few days. The boy sensed the shift in her demeanor and immediately became defensive. "Back off! Don't you have something else to do?"
For a split second, the Academy Entrance Exam came to her mind, but Karin dismissed the thought. She could live without being a Shinigami, it wouldn't be the end of the world. The boy in front of her would surely meet his end if she left him. Despite her short time in Rukongai, Karin knew the souls were ruthless. She couldn't shake the feeling that the only relief for starving souls, the ones who didn't pursue Shinigami status, was a second death.
"I do have something to do," Karin spoke after a moment. The boy settled back down, glaring at the older girl.
"You're not leaving."
"You're right."
"Why?"
"Because you don't want me to." Karin's response visibly affected the small boy. His dark eyes widened before his face scrunched up and he curled in on himself. Karin twisted her body, now fully seated on the dirt, to directly face the boy. She put both hands on his face and manually moved his gaze to her. "What's your name? I'm Karin."
The boy's eyes squinted slightly. His voice barely above a whisper. "I don't have one."
Karin watched as the boy shifted his eyes away since her hands held his head still. "Jun."
"What?"
"From this moment on, you are my bother. Jun Kurosaki. From now on I'll take care of you. I'll give you food, I'll give you clothes. If you want, I'll even kiss your boo-boos all better." Karin declared with a smile.
The boy, Jun, couldn't help the tears that fell from his eyes and the sobs that shook his body. Karin let the boy cry as she pulled him into a hug. Life was like a soccer game – she couldn't win as a one-woman team, she needed teammates to support her. She needed little Jun just as much as he needed her.
0oo0oo0
Time flowed incredibly different in the afterlife, Karin learned. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months which quickly turned into years then decades. Twenty-three years she had been dead. Not much changed. Her previously chubby cheeks had thinned a tad, but Karin still very much looked like the teenager she had died as. Twenty-three years passed and she was still a citizen of the First District of West Rukongai, Junrinan. Nights were spent working at the busiest bar which was frequented by uncultured nobles and stressed Shinigami and days were spent between resting and cleaning the little room she and Jun had rented. Breaks were far and few in between, but Karin was as content as she could be.
Over the course of two decades, Karin had forgotten about Renji and their encounter. Despite the numerous Shinigami she had served at the bar, not a single customer had obnoxious red hair. The busier her life got, the faster he slipped from her mind. Keeping herself and Jun alive was her first priority and she could do that now with ease. Jun had gained enough weight so that his cheeks were adorably plump and his bony fingers changed into chubby child fingers. Now that he was a healthy weight, Karin could easily tell that the boy looked to be no older than a ten-year-old human.
Karin was pulled from her mind's confines when the door to the bar opened and sent a blast of freezing, winter air her way. The wind ruffled her long hair and numbed the tip of her nose.
"Akiyama, I'm back!" a tall man with wavy, brown hair sang. His pink, flowered kimono slipped off his shoulders and he clumsily pulled it back up.
The tall man stumbled around, eyes scanning the bar for Isamu Akiyama, the overly-kind, old man who owned the bar. She noticed a large gathering of Academy students following behind the man. As he tripped over the leg of a table, Karin couldn't help but wonder who thought it was a good idea to let the man back in a bar. She returned to collecting the used dishes from the table that was recently abandoned by a group of rich patrons. She scraped the leftovers onto a single plate before placing it on the tray. Karin watched as the tall Shinigami clapped his hands as Akiyama appeared from the kitchen. His boisterous laugh echoed throughout the room.
"Karin-chan!" A customer from the corner cried out. "Can we get another serving of meat?"
The customer, a young minor noble who came to celebrate his birthday with a group of friends, almost fell out of his chair. Karin swept by with the tray of dirty dishes held against her hip and reached out a hand to straighten the man. "This will be your last, Susumu-san!" Karin laughed. "The night's just started and I don't think we'll have enough for the other customers. Come back tomorrow if you want more."
Susumu could only giggle a response back. He was a long time customer and such a gentle soul that he didn't mind the fact that he was essentially just kicked out. Karin shuffled back to the kitchen and almost ran over her boss. Isamu reached out a hand and wrapped it around her elbow.
"See that man over there?" Isamu gestured to the man in the pink kimono through the kitchen doors. "That's Captain Shunsui Kyoraku of the 8th Division. I want you to be the nicest you can be and give him everything that his table wants."
Karin nodded at the orders, a little surprised at the nervousness in Isamu's voice. They dealt with important people on a daily basis, so she was confused at the sudden formalities her boss was asking for. Putting a smile on her face and sliding out of his grip, Karin passed the dishes to the dishwasher. "Don't worry, boss. I've got this."
A shaky smile spread across the thin man's face as he slipped further into the kitchen to finish cooking orders. Karin grabbed another plate and filled it with the meat that Susumu asked for. Moving as swiftly and carefully, Karin dropped the food off and headed over to the extremely large group. She was greeted with loud shouts and cheerful laughs. "How are you guys doing? My name is Karin and I'll be helping you out tonight. What can I get you started with?"
The group started naming off various alcohols and Karin could hear a couple shouts of water. Everyone silenced, however, when the man in the pink kimono raised his hand. "Bring us the strongest sake you've got, sweetheart."
Just as Karin was about to start playful banter with the man by asking if he really needed anymore alcohol, a loud sound of pure rage rang throughout the bar. She swallowed her voice and turned her head towards the side of the building situated against the road just in time to see something fly through the window and shatter a table. Bar fights weren't uncommon and many people didn't seem that bothered, including the Shinigami she was currently supposed to be helping, but when the dust settled and Karin registered the something as a someone, more specifically, as Jun, she saw red.
The group of Academy students and the Shinigami captain fell to the back of her mind as she rushed over to Jun. She dropped to her knees and lifted him into her lap. The little boy's hair was soaked with blood, his left eye was swollen shut, and his leg was abnormally bent at the knee. "Jun! What happened?" She cried out but she was met with silence. He was unconscious. Karin shifted the boy to lie on the ground. She was numbly aware of the stares she received, but her attention was on the metal leg of the table. Without hesitation, Karin kicked the leg to detach it from the broken table. She picked it up and marched outside.
The darkness of the night was a stark contrast from the light of the bar, but that didn't stop Karin from spotting the person who put her baby brother through a window. Right outside the bar, a man had cornered a couple of kids. Karin had instantly recognized the kids as Jun's friends. They were orphans and they took to Karin like a duck to water. The older girl often found herself sewing patches in their clothes and trimming their hair – they were her family just as much as Jun. A couple of bar goers stepped out of the building, eager to see their favorite waitress break some bones.
Karin stayed rooted to her spot as the man (she was utterly disgusted to see that he wasn't even drunk) raised his foot and trapped the girl against the frozen ground. Something inside of Karin snapped. It was as if all caution was gone and any reasoning was nonexistent. Not wasting a single moment in fear that the girl would get seriously injured, Karin dashed over, raised the metal leg over her head and struck the man across his back. The hit wasn't hard enough to throw his balance, but it would leave quite the bruise.
"Leave them alone," Karin demanded not bothering to conceal her rage. She effectively shifted his attention away from the kids. When he removed his foot, Karin was quick to put herself in between the man and kids. The broken sobs of the kids wrecked her heart. She raised the table leg again and poked the man in the chest in order to push him back. "What do you think you're doing to these kids?"
The street was silent as Karin waited for the man to answer. When nothing happened, she ushered for the kids to run inside the bar. They scrambled to their feet and rushed across the street and into the waiting arms of Isamu (he really was too kind for a bar owner). Karin poked the table leg harder into the man's chest in a silent demand for an answer.
In a flash like movement, the man knocked the table leg out of Karin's hands, knee coming up to strike the petite woman in the stomach. "A bitch like you should know your place," was all he said. His hands tightened around her throat and she could see the edges of her vision start to blacken.
Panic settled in along with her rage. Karin's arms were too short to do any real damage and the man could easily snap her neck if she tried anything, but she'd be damned if she let him. Karin lifted her leg almost parallel to her body and brought it crashing down on the man's elbow. The impact left the man on his knees and she wasted no time in catching her breath. In a well placed kick, Karin knocked the man down to the ground. He placed his hands flat on the dirt in an attempt to get up, but Karin didn't let him. She brought her foot down hard onto the man's hand and she couldn't help the triumphant feeling that bloomed when she heard the crunch of his bones, but she didn't stop there. With her weight still firmly planted on his broken appendage, Karin used her other leg to kick him to the ground.
"A bastard like you deserves to rot in hell!" Karin spat in between breaths. Relief flooded through her system when multiple Academy students rushed over and apprehended the man. Before they dragged him away, Karin grabbed the hand she had broken and gave it a rough twist. His screams were pain filled and desperate, but she ignored it as she twisted harder. "I don't give a damn about your status. I don't know who you are, but I can find out. Just now, you might have killed a child. I promise you that if he's dead, your life is mine and I won't kill you." With a final twist, she walked away.
The crowd that formed outside of the bar whooped and whistled as Karin walked towards them. There was an occasional clap that sounded in her ears, but her mind was only focused on one thing. Every ounce of anger disappeared when Karin caught sight of the two kids still huddled against the elderly bar owner. In a silent plea, she asked the man to take care of them while she checked on Jun.
Karin was a feisty soul and she made sure everyone knew. No one got away with copping a feel while she was on the job and bless their soul if one of her loved ones was attacked. She was sweet and charming, but she wasn't afraid to break a few bodies either. The entire community loved her for it.
The bar was fairly empty, most of the people now outside. Karin rushed around trying to get to Jun. The small, chubby boy was still on the floor, but his breathing was unsteady. It was choppy and sounded chocked and she knew something was wrong. Jun's face was contorted in pain. Worry soaked through every cell of her body as she gripped the boy's face. Her chest tightened as she felt the fear of losing the boy who had been her family for so long.
"What do I do?" She muttered to herself. "Think, Karin! Dad was a doctor. You've seen him a work a million times!"
"Give him to me, I'll take it from here."
Karin looked up to see Captain Kyoraku holding his arms out with his pink kimono spread out over it. Her retort failed to voice because nothing told her that keeping Jun by her side would save his life. "Where are you taking him?" she said instead, voice scratchy with the effort to not lose it.
"My friend will take care of him. I'll send someone back here in a bit. Just be patient, sweetheart." Kyoraku informed with a wink.
Karin wanted to throttle the man for being playful when it felt like her everything was being ripped from her, but she refrained. Gently, she lifted the injured boy and placed him in his outstretched hairy arms. "I'm giving you an hour, if I'm not by his side in an hour, I will find him myself." She threatened, tears gone.
"Oh, sweetheart, as much as I would love to see that, I don't want to see this little chubster dead." With that he was gone.