Summary: She was... a stranger to them, even to him. A faceless ghost from the Apocalypse claiming she came from the future but if it meant that she could keep everyone alive, then Kurosaki Karin would be that ghost for them.
Following the canon chronology with obvious alterations for the purpose of the story. Main pairings of the story : Hitsugaya/Karin, Ichigo/Rukia, Gin/Rangiku. Other pairings will come later.
Written in the third person. The words in italic are characters' thoughts.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach (if I did, the 'ending' we got wouldn't have happened).
[SOUL SOCIETY: THE SNEAK ENTRY ARC]
GHOST
~.~
Chapter 3: brother knows best
Yoruichi cursed herself. Ichigo got pretty nicely beaten up by Kenpachi because she arrived late... But at least Ichigo won and got stronger.
"I won't let you die," she whispered mostly to herself as she jumped from one rooftop to another.
These two even demolished, or at least damaged most of the buildings around the area.
Her eyes widened at the sight of a bleeding Ichigo. But most importantly he wasn't alone.
"Yoruichi-san! Come here," the person casually shouted.
Yoruichi stopped on her tracks.
Was that person waving at her?
Impossible.
She was in her cat form so how–
That black cloak...
It looked like the one Kisuke wore whenever he was going incognito in Soul Society thanks to his own (not very legal) senkaimon.
"You're late," the person continued to shout, the voice echoing through the barren streets.
A women's voice.
Yoruichi cautiously came closer and swiftly jumped near Ichigo's body, her paws cushioning her landing.
"You can keep that form, I'll carry him," the masked girl continued.
"Who are you?" Yoruichi abruptly asked. Most of the other person's face was covered with a hood and black cloth, only leaving her eyes visible. It reminded her of her own old covert-op division over a hundred years ago.
The person blinked, seemingly confused by Yoruichi's deep voice in that form, since she apparently knew how she truly looked.
She showed a moment of hesitation before answering, "Urahara sent me here, I'm your ally. Here," she took a book out of the backpack hung on her left shoulder.
Yoruichi's mouth silently opened in astonishment.
"Kisuke's diary..." she whispered.
"He prefers to call it logbook," the girl corrected. Yoruichi rolled her eyes, Kisuke kept saying that every single time.
To her surprise, she managed to unlock the book with her reiatsu.
According to Yoruichi's memories, only Kisuke's reiatsu could open it...
What's going on?
"I'll explain it to you once we'll be somewhere safer," the girl said as she put Ichigo on her back. "Get on my shoulder and tell me where to go, I'll use shunpo."
There was something eerily familiar about her.
Her dark gray eyes... Could it be...
"Wait, use this artifact instead," Yoruichi passed her what she had planned to use to transport him.
The priority right now was to drag Ichigo out of there and at this point, any kind of help was welcome.
"How do I use this?" she asked.
"The only thing you have to do is to hold it and put your reiatsu in it and it'll make us fly," Yoruichi explained as she climbed on the girl's back. She noted the other person looked young, likely around Ichigo's age age in appearance and was around Yoruichi's human height.
They arrived at the location intended a few minutes later.
"Put him there," Yoruichi indicated. The girl gently placed Ichigo on the futon and corrected the position of the pillow in a swift motion before installing the barrier.
Yoruichi raised her eyebrows. She seemed used to do that... Was she from the Fourth Division?
"This is bad," the girl muttered. "He'll need three of those..."
The black cat observed the other person's moves. She slightly opened Ichigo's mouth to put three green pills before inspecting his possessions. That masked the girl was wearing...
"Again? Damnit, that really will be a pain to deal with," she groaned, probably to herself as she put it aside. She rolled up her sleeves before she started to use healing kido on Ichigo's torso.
The bleeding behind the bandages seemed to have stopped in a matter of seconds.
This reiatsu...
Yoruichi froze. "You're–"
She rubbed her neck before simply presenting herself, "I'm Kurosaki Isshin's daughter, Karin."
"That's impossible."
If she wasn't mistaken, Isshin's twins were eleven?
And human.
But that familiar reiatsu, and her high ability in the use of healing kido... The only ones Yoruichi had seen using kaido more efficently than her were Isshin and Unohana.
And finally, her eyes. Their color, their shape. It was like staring at Shiba Isshin's eyes two decades ago.
The girl removed the hood before finally doing the same with the black cloth previously hiding most of her face. She had long black jet hair tied in a messy bun and an upturned nose. There was no doubt: she truly was from the Shiba clan.
However, what stood out the most was the scowl on her face and the fading scar on her forehead.
"I came from the future to try to save you all. I used Urahara's device... If you don't believe me, I can show you what he wrote in his diary."
"So we all died," was Yoruichi's first conclusion. She shivered. "You don't need to show me."
That could be the only explanation to such a desparate and reckless move.
"Yes," she simply replied.
"Who did this?"
"The Quincy army... and Aizen."
How? Wasn't the young Ishida and his father the last ones remaining? Yoruichi's mind started spinning, consedering all the possibilities. And Aizen again, that damn bastard.
"It's always Aizen," Yoruichi bitterly whispered, remembering how he had caused her best friend's fall on that night.
"You have no idea," Karin said.
There was a darkness in the young girl's eyes, something veiled under her apparent aloofness. It only lasted for one moment but Yoruichi wondered what that poor kid has been through to have all that sorrow and hatred inside her.
And how old was she to begin with?
The thought of having a human, a middle school girl using time travel to try to save everyone was uncomfortable but the possibility that Karin permanently remained in her shinigami form was even more frightening.
Isshin is going to hate this...
"And what happened to you?" Yoruichi asked, albeit afraid to know the answer.
"I..."
Ichigo started moving, his glassy-eyed self blinking several times. Karin hastily put back her hood and the black cloth on her face before Ichigo fully gained back consciousness.
"Looks like you're awake," Yoruichi stated.
Ichigo was still a kid as well... What were they even doing there in the middle of a coup d'Etat scheme?
Yoruichi felt the guilt coming back.
"Yoruichi-san! And you!"
Did Ichigo know who that masked girl truly was?
Given Karin's sideway look she just gave her, no, he had no idea.
Yoruichi pondered how didn't Ichigo even recognize the reiatsu healing him before remembering how tragic the kid's reiatsu control was...
He was probably mistaking Karin's spiritual energy for his own since they were similar.
Yoruichi concluded the best thing to do was to let Karin tell Ichigo herself the truth when the time would come since Yoruichi had little information. She briefly wondered what happened to the Karin from the present before looking back at Ichigo.
"You're both still okay... that's a relief..."
"Yes, better than you," Yoruichi replied.
"Look who's being healed after a battle again," Karin hissed through her pressed lips.
"Hey, you were just standing there with that weird little girl and watching me fight against Kenpachi so shut up!"
"He would have kept chasing you to fight against you anyway and you needed to get stronger," she countered in an even voice. Karin made a point. Yoruichi snickered at their family verbal jousting. "You didn't need to be saved but nevertheless, I was there in case. Consider him as a new ally... Now shut up and let me heal you!"
Yoruichi chuckled. That girl had spunk, she liked her.
Ichigo seemed startled to see his wounds were almost entirely healed, as if he didn't get most of his blood emptied less than one hour ago. "Ah... Did you two rescue me...? Thanks for that."
Yoruichi scoffed. "You should be happy your stubbornness kept you alive with such injuries and that this girl here healed you."
"Injuries... Yeah... That's right!" Ichigo's eyes widened as he started to move.
"Don't even think about getting up yet," Karin threatened, her palm now pressed against his torso.
"... Hai," Ichigo struggled to say.
Yoruichi frowned. Karin was indeed wearing the traditional fingerless white tekko from the Kuchiki clan on her left hand.
Byakuya's grandfather and former fellow Taicho of Yoruichi, Kuchiki Ginrei, along with his son and Fukutaicho, Sojun wore those. They were expensive, not to mention exclusive to the Kuchiki Clan.
Why would a Kurosaki (and even worse, a Shiba) would wear that?
"Is Chad really okay?"
"He's fine. Your two other friends are, too," Karin affirmed. "As I said before, Chad probably got injured but Kyoraku-san didn't kill him. And since I could feel Red Pineapple's reiatsu with them for one moment, so I would say my plan worked."
"Right, that letter..."
"Inoue and Ishida have avoided confrontations nicely and are barely wounded at all," Yoruichi continued. "So just stay in the barrier and rest. Also, half of your possessions got smashed... If it wasn't for that thing, your torso would have been cut in two already. Though I'm surprised that you would carry something like this with you..."
"I had that thing... on me?"
"Hm? Don't you carry it with you?" Karin didn't seem surprised.
"No. Actually, I kind of got saved by that thing when I fought Renji yesterday, so I wanted to keep it with me as a lucky charm... but Hanataro insisted that I threw it away so... I threw it in the sewers." The former Second Division Taicho looked down, frightened by the hypothesis forming in her mind. "Oh, Hanataro is from the Fourth Division, but he's a cool guy, like soccer girl here. He's the one that healed my wounds from fighting Renji. Anyways I don't know how it went back to me... I'm sure I threw it away..."
"Leave me that for safe-keeping, Kurosaki."
"Hm, why? I want to keep it..."
"Give it to me, we'll discuss about that later with Urahara," Karin pressed her palms once more on the healing wound on his torso.
Ichigo coughed at the pressure. "Okay, just take it!"
That was probably not possible but... Given what Karin just said, it might be what she thought it was.
"By the way, who carried me here? You're strong."
"Me, although Yoruichi-san could have done with that original form," Karin replied.
"Ah, I see... Yoruichi-san's original... original... form?"
Now that would be amusing. Just what Yoruichi needed.
"... Come to think of it, I've never shown you guys before. Alright. There's no point hiding it anymore. I'll show you... my true form," she finished before transforming in her human form again, the smoke surrounding her.
"Wh...aaaat..."
"Hehe. You sure look surprised, unlike her... But I understand why. You probably thought I was a guy because of the way I talk. Your face is all blue too."
"You mean, red," Karin pointed out, almost equally amused as Yoruichi.
"I really love turning back into my true form. Everyone gets so surprised by that."
"Not really..." Karin was spoiling the fun there.
"Shush! Now, I'll explain you how this girl carried you and I here. First I used this..." Yoruichi showed him the artifact of her clan.
"PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!"
Karin was now cackling, her laugh almost getting hysterical when she saw the deep shade of red all over her brother's face. It almost turned out to be weird even for Yoruichi since the girl couldn't find a way to stop laughing, tears prickling her eyes. However, she didn't try to stop her after thinking again about what Karin seemed to hide.
That young girl deserved a small break.
Karin finally stopped laughing and was focused again. "Well, as funny as it is to see Kurosaki blushing like a virgin, I have to go. See you both there!"
"WAIT! Where–"
Karin vanished with a shunpo that managed to impress Yoruichi.
There was no point in trying to catch her up, the young girl seemed to know what she was doing.
Yoruichi grabbed some of her old clothes and put them on. "Ah. Sorry, sorry," she casually apologized to Ichigo, who still refused to look at her. "I haven't worn clothes for so long, I forgot. Though surprisingly, you're quite innocent. Was that your first time seeing a girl naked."
"Shut up..."
"Are you sure you don't wanna look? You probably won't see such a delicate body of a woman ever again."
"I said shut up! Don't worry about my future and get dressed!"
"Hai, hai... Anyway, she used this artifact to transport you here. You just put your spiritual energy in it and you can fly."
"It's as she said! It's a very unique artifact in Soul Society. You should both feel honored."
"Why would such a treasure end up in your hands...? You shape shift and you have something like this... Yoruichi-san... Who are you...?"
That punk really was Isshin's son: too perceptive, too analytical beneath that dorky exterior.
"... That's..." Yoruichi started before an intense wave of reiatsu reached them.
This brat...
"This spiritual energy... It's him!"
... Byakuya-boy.
"It's from the direction of Senzaikyuu, Repentence Cell!"
Ichigo started running towards the exit, the artifact in his hand.
"Hold it, Ichigo! Where do you think you're going?! That girl might have healed you but what can you do"
"Hanataro and Ganju were going to Senzaikyuu! If I don't go... who's going to save them?"
His determined expression faltered Yoruichi's resolution to stop him. In a split moment of wonder, Yoruichi saw herself in Ichigo. It brought her back to the night she gave up on her titles and her nobility to save Kisuke and Tessai from Central 46.
It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to have him flying away from the shelter.
"Wait, Ichigo!" It was too late. "Tch, that damn brat!"
Did Karin know it would happen?
'See you both there!'
She knew. And yet, she didn't warn her... That damn Kurosaki family.
Byaku-nii's imposing reiatsu had just arrived to the Senzaikyuu... Hopefully Karin wouldn't be too late. She had to add two shunpo steps before she could finally see the imposing red bridge between the White Tower from afar.
There were four persons there.
"Yeah right! Take this! Chili Pepper Bomb!" Karin heard Ganju shout. She narrowed her eyes.
Unfortunately, she wasn't mistaken: he was rushing towards a Gotei 13 Taicho with nothing more than chili pepper bombs in his hands.
"What is this idiot doing?" she cursed to herself as she used one last shunpo to grab her cousin before Byaku-nii could slash his arm with his weapon. "YOU IDIOT!" she yelled but that time directly to Ganju as she dropped him off.
"You, again..." Ganju looked so relieved to see her that it made her feel bad for lashing out at him.
Karin sighed, noticing Ganju's buckling knees. It wasn't a surprise given Byaku-nii's display of dominance through his reiatsu.
What a show-off.
"You're lucky I arrived on time," she grumpily stated before staring back at Byaku-nii's cool gaze.
Her scowl faltered. It was hard not to look away given how the last time she had seen him, he was bleeding to death on her lap, on the cold ground. The now dry blood belonging to Byaku-nii was still on her shihakusho...
But the one in front of her wasn't him.
The one who had taught her kido... The one who had given her those fingerless gloves for her birthday... The one who had soothed her pain after Tohsiro's disappearance despite his own torment...
The one she had come to consider as her second elder brother.
It wasn't her Byaku-nii.
"I see another bug has come," Byaku-nii added in a dull voice.
"I forgot how noisy nobles could be," Karin fired back, repeating to herself he was the enemy... for now. For having dealt with nobles in Seireitei, she knew how they could be almost as annoying as Central 46... She looked at Rukia-nee standing on her knees with Hanataro on her sides. "Now, what was the Head of the Kuchiki Clan about to do to a member of the Shiba clan?"
"Shiba...? Oh? Is he from the Shiba Clan?... Then sorry that I didn't hit you fast enough. I'll make sure that you don't walk away from this alive... the both of you."
She frowned... He wouldn't, right?
"Don't do it, nii-sama!" Rukia screamed.
What an idiot Karin was, it wasn't the Kuchiki Byakuya she knew and loved yet!
"Scatter..."
She reflexively grabbed the hilt of her zanpakuto on her back and used shunpo to stand a few centimeters away from Byaku-nii, stopping the release of his shikai with her sheathed weapon, her katana still in the sana.
Despite the clash, the sheath remained undamaged, as usual. Byaku-nii's eyes widened.
But he wasn't staring at their weapons. His eyes went on the white tekko only covering the back of Karin's hand.
"Impossible!" A few seconds passed before Byaku-nii lunged towards her, swinging his zanpakuto at a merciless speed. He was agressive, on the verge of frantic despite the accuracy of each of his moves.
He looked angry.
"Ganju, stay there behind me with Hanataro and Rukia-nee," Karin hastily ordered, her mind racing.
Why was he reacting this way?
Karin couldn't draw her sword right now without giving away the nature of her powers or worse, her identity.
Sh started to panic. Where the hell were Ichi-nii and Yoruichi?
Screw it, she thought as she tightened the grip on the hilt of her weapon to unsheathe it before loosening her hold again at the sight of the newcomer.
"Phew."
The new man in front of her holding Byaku-nii's wrist had white hair and kind brown eyes. He also was cladded in a white haori as well.
Ukitake-san.
"Good grief, it's dangerous around here," the newcomer casually said to Byaku-nii. "I think that's enough. Don't you agree, Kuchiki-Taicho?"
"Ukitake-Taicho!" Rukia-nee said in the back.
Karin never had gotten the opportunity to meet him but from what she recalled from Rukia's stories, he was was kind and loyal to his Division and to Seireitei... He had even sacrificed himself to save them.
"Hey, Kuchiki! You look like you've lost weight. Are you okay?"
Karin was certain he genuinely cared about Rukia-nee but found Ukitake-san's apparent carefree behavior was unsettling at best.
"What's the meaning of this, Ukitake?" Byaku-nii snarled.
Ukitake-san made Byaku-nii step back. "Hey now, that's my line. You were about to release your zanpakuto here and that's a level one forbidden offense. Even if it's to drive off Ryoka, what were you thinking?"
"I'll spare you some time, Ukitake-san," Karin intervened. "The ban was lifted but it's not related to what you think it is."
In retrospective, saying that might have made looked her guilty than anything but Ukitake saw she wasn't making it up. Perhaps Karin should inform him of the situation, from what Nanao-san had told her back then, Kyoraku-san and he were inseperables.
Another strong wave of reiatsu stopped them. That time, it was Ichi-nii's.
"Wh–what is this? Such a strong reiatsu... It's clearly at the level of a Taicho! But... I don't recognize this person... Who are they?"
"Finally..." Karin murmured.
That artifact from the Shihoin Clan offered them a picturesque sight of Ichigo flying in the air, his expression not giving away anything.
Karin eyed Rukia-nee. It was the first time since her arrival that Rukia-nee's eyes had a sparkle of life back. Her brother landed just in front of a trembling Rukia-nee.
Karin put back her weapon on her back and tied the white sash over her right shoulder.
"Ichi–" He ignored Rukia-nee to check Hanataro's and Ganju's conditions, asking them if they were alright.
He didn't do that for her and just said, "So that's where you went uh?"
It probably was a rhetoric question since there was no sign of surprise from him.
"I would've never sent Hanataro and Ganju here without making sure they would be okay," she explained in a solemn tone.
If she was being honest, the main reason why she still let them go to the White Tower despite knowing they would never stand a chance was because she didn't want to create time ripples concerning that precise event. Paradoxically, she had concluded sending them there to risks their lifes against Byaku-nii was the safer option for them.
She knew the exact moment where she had to intervene to avoid having Ganju getting critically injured while in any other cases, she couldn't have relied on Urahara's diary or Soul Society's reports, meaning that she would've risked Hanataro and Ganju's lives.
Ichi-nii didn't reply but didn't break the eye contact with Karin either.
"Rukia... I came to save you," he affirmed, avoiding Rukia-nee's watery purple eyes.
Rukia-nee was now staring at him with something akin to deference and wonder.
Her brother finally gave up and looked at Rukia-nee, a frown on his face. "Why are you making that face for? I came to rescue you, so you should be happy!"
Rukia-nee's lips begun to tremble, tears now threatening to fall on her cheeks.
'The rain... It won't stop.'
Karin still remembered the words Ichi-nii told her at the Soul King Palace, the despair he had felt that rainy night Rukia-nee had been taken away from him.
They had found and lost each other countless times through the years but the one time they couldn't find their way back to each other, their bleak future became totally hopeless.
Karin clenched and unclenched her fists in an attempt to make the guilt go away.
"You fool!" Rukia-nee yelled, as her head jerked up. From the raw emotions in Rukia-nee's voice to her brother's warm eyes, Karin felt like intruding an intimate moment. She wondered how the Byaku-nii at that point of the past felt about it. Despite his apparent coldness, she was confident the Byaku-nii she knew had come to deeply love and trust Ichi-nii. "I told you not to come... I told you... I forbade you to come! Now you have bandages wrapped all over you... You fool!"
"Yeah, you're right... You can get mad however you like later. After I defeat him!"
"Ichigo..."
Ichi-nii acted aloof. "What? You're not going to tell me to run away, are you?" Rukia-nee, thinking it was for his own good, had tried, Karin wanted to counter but it would've been useless. "I'll never do that, don't make me laugh. It wasn't easy coming this way, you know. No matter how you say it, it won't make any difference... I'm going to drag you out of it if I have to! And I'm not going to listen to what you say, so don't bother, idiot!"
"Wh-what's that about? You're just going to ignore the rescuee's opinion? What kind of tyranical rescuer are you?" Rukia-nee yelled.
"SHUT UP! I don't want any crap from the one who needs rescuing!"
It was bizarre to see them bickering in front of her again... How nostalgic.
Karin had come to understand 'you fool!' meant 'I love you!' and 'idiot!' meant 'I love you too!' with those two.
"I don't want to bother you in the middle of your lovers' quarrel," Karin interrupted, briefly smiling after seeing Ichi-nii going pink while Rukia-nee looked flustered before turning serious again, "But now isn't the best time to do that, Kurosaki."
"Right. I'm going to beat him first." He smirked. "Stay in the back and protect them... Karin."
She froze, astounded.
He said her name...
His gaze met her own. He knew.
He really knew.
Rukia-nee lay her eyes on her in shock, confusion written all over her face.
"How?" Karin breathed, her voice now shaking.
He removed her hood and ruffled her hair the same way he used to do before she had gotten into middle school, a sunny grin on his face. "What kind of big brother would I be if I wouldn't recognize my own little sister even if she grew up?"
Silent tears started pouring down her cheeks and soaked the piece of black cloth hiding the lower part of her face.
To hear that from Ichi-nii already made the desperate move that was time travel more than worth it.
"Don't worry, I won't die yet."
Karin closed her eyes. She had no idea whether that verbal reassurance from her brother was for her or Rukia-nee but she turned her head away.
That was exactly what he had told her the last time before ending up doing worse than simply dying.
"I'm sorry, Ichi-nii," was the last thing she said before forcing him to swallow the content of the test tube she had kept in her sleeves just in case.
A/N: Biggest plot twist of this story: I decided to continue it! Several years later but it's better late than never... right? I doubt people either remember or still want to read it but I truly hope the guest who left a message in November 2018 can see this new update. I rewrote some scenes in the two first chapters and I corrected most of the silly mistakes I've made. I apologize in advance for spelling mistakes/grammatical mistakes, I'm not an English native speaker and I'm trying my best. Someone had posted a comment related to that a few years ago but I'm doing better now. Back then, I just graduated from highschool and my English still needed to be polished.
Now... Second plot twist: the end of this chapter? The Kurosaki family deserves some appreciation! And writing the Kurosaki/Kuchiki dynamic is so interesting as well... The potential that holds Byakuya having Karin ( Isshin and Yuzu) as in laws? We were robbed, truly.
As you might have guessed, Kurosaki/Kuchiki dynamic (along with Ichigo/Rukia) is of the most important elements of the story. Everything will be explained in time. I apologize for the lack of Karin/Toshiro in this chapter but as I've said before, it'll come in the following chapters.
Thank you to the ones who clicked on favorite or/and follow the story. Don't hesitate to post reviews, I will make sure to answer them on next chapter's A/N or on PM :)