Once there was an I.V. in place and an oxygen mask on, the room was once more cleared out and quiet. Karin hated seeing him like that, so she chose to step outside and sit with Yuzu and Miyuki, the three girls in the next room over where they could sit around a table and talk. After a while, Rukia and Renji joined them after getting permission from the Head Captain.
"If you're here to see my brother I haven't seen him." Karin said to the petite Kuchiki sister.
"I was, but I heard from Lady Hikifune that Lord Nimaiya is doing some training with him." Rukia replied with a shrug before sipping her tea.
Karin wondered what the strange swordsmith Oetsu was training her brother to do.
"We thought we could help out but they won't even let us go to that kingdom." Renji added on with a huff. "The Head Captain won't be happy to know we wasted a trip."
"He's preoccupied with talking to the other Soul Societies to start transporting the injured and deceased back home now that things are settling down. With Hitsugaya recovering there are no more threats of tears between realms."
"That reminds me, how does it feel to be the Squad Thirteen Captain now?" Karin spoke up, admiring the woman's new white coat.
"My brother is quite proud, but… it feels heavy." Rukia didn't look up from the cup in her hands.
"I'm sure Ukitake is proud that you succeeded him." Renji said, hoping to console his childhood friend.
"Renji's right, wear that thing with pride." Karin agreed with a grin.
"I suppose you're right." A small smile crossed Rukia's face. "I only wish I didn't have to be promoted this way.
"To be fair, that's kind of the only way." Renji's mutter was not quiet enough. Yuzu frowned at him with a furrowed brow and Karin kicked him under the table. He winced at both actions. "What? It's true… there's never been a Captain that just retired, they've either died, got banished or turned traitor."
"It's still not very nice of you." Yuzu chastised him. "She still deserves the position."
"I'm not saying she doesn't!"
"If I may…" Miyuki's voice cut through their arguing, startling them somewhat as she had been so still and quiet they almost forgot she was there. "Could you tell me about Soul Society? I'd like to know more about the place that my brother grew up in… I want to understand him better."
"Oh, sure." Rukia smiled, glad to be of assistance and get away from the current topic
They spent the next few hours regaling the lost princess with tales of their home and the crazy events they had to endure, each telling about their own experiences with Toshiro as they knew him. Miyuki listened with only the occasional question to clarify certain traditions she didn't know of, which having been sheltered in a world with demons there was a lot she didn't understand. She had been raised under a more European style of culture since that's the heritage that Kamai hailed from and grew up with, so her family's Japanese heritage was lost to her. When not absorbing as much cultural information as she could, she was listening closely to stories about her brother.
"I wish the guards would let me go there." She finally said after a while. "I would like to meet Lady Hinamori and Lady Matsumoto, I want to thank them for being there for my brother."
"Maybe we could ask them to come here." Karin offered. "I'm sure they'd love to meet you too, and knowing them they'd spoil you with attention."
"Very true, Rangiku loves having more girls to hang out with." Rukia giggled. "She can be a bit intense though, even Hitsugaya has to get away from her sometimes to think."
"More like to do all the paperwork when she won't." Renji snorted.
"Fair point."
"And Momo is a sweetheart." Yuzu spoke up with a smile. "She's been through some hard times but she will always stand by her friends."
"How is everyone doing?" Karin turned to Renji and Karin. "I haven't really kept up with everyone."
"We've been worried about you and Hitsugaya." Rukia replied, a sad smile on her face as Karin started avoiding her gaze. "But thankfully everyone is healing and ready to go should anything happen. A funeral is being prepared for those we lost in the fight."
"When?" Karin questioned. She'd missed so much already, she wasn't going to miss paying her respects to Ikkaku, Yumichika and the others.
"Five days from now, they don't want to wait too long since the Dark Master is still alive." Renji told her. "I don't know about the two Royal Guards that were killed, though. We don't really have jurisdiction over that."
"I believe I overheard plans of a quiet ceremony for the Elementalist." Miyuki explained. "She didn't have many friends in the palace, so the family that adopted her and the other guards will pay their respects on her home kingdom with the dragons. The other one will have a more public, traditional ceremony."
"They won't even have a body to bury for Lady Ruala." Rukia looked down sadly. "She just vanished."
"Don't you have her cat now?" Renji asked as he looked to Karin.
"Yeah, I think Toshiro and I both can ask for her help." She nodded. "I think Ruala wanted to keep protecting him, and I guess since I'm always with him she wanted to protect me too."
"Well the future queen needs to be kept safe, too." Miyuki smiled gently, not currently using her wolf's eyes and so missing as Karin's face burned red. She did notice the others start snickering and heard a grunt from Renji as he got kicked again.
"Why just me?" The red-head scowled.
"You're across from me and I won't hit my sister." Karin huffed, though she did glare at her twin next to her.
"What happened?" Miyuki questioned, confused. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Oh, no, Karin just gets a little shy." Yuzu teased, leaning up against her blushing twin. "It's only been two years~."
"Cut it out." Karin scowled back as Yuzu just giggled and hugged her sister.
"Well, we best be returning." Rukia said as she stood, Renji not far behind her. "I'd love to take you with us, Lady Hitsugaya, but if the guards won't allow it we won't get you in trouble. How about you two?"
The Kurosaki twins shared a glance.
"We promised Captain Unohana to watch over Toshiro until she and Orihime could come up here." Yuzu replied, though she did look apologetic. She wished she could return and help Squad Four, but her current patient was here, and she knew her sister wasn't leaving his side either and wanted to support her.
"Yeah we figured as much." Renji scratched the back of his head. "We'll see about visiting again."
"Please do!" Yuzu cheerfully waved them goodbye as the two left the room.
The night was quickly approaching, so the three young women decided to retire back to their rooms. Karin stopped at the door to her assigned guest room before sighing and turning back around. It just didn't feel right; she couldn't stand not being there for him. It was easier with people around to talk to, but on her own she couldn't stop her worries from bombarding her thoughts.
Shimmer picked her head up curiously as Karin entered, assigned to watch over the Soul King and alert the others should something happen rather than hovering at her partner's side. Apparently she had been trusted as a guard as well since the one normally at the door was gone. When the dragon recognized the intruder as Karin, she purred lightly and placed her head back down. Karin stepped over to the bed and carefully sat up onto it, simply observing for a moment. The room was only lit by a single candle, the light making his skin look pale against the darkness. His breathing was slow, almost too slow, but the heart monitor rang steady. He was stable at the least, which made her feel better.
Careful not to disturb his sleeping form too much, Karin laid herself down at his side, one arm reaching over to embrace him and her head resting beside his, her eyes closing as she attempted to get some sleep. His cold skin was relaxing somehow, a soothing presence after a long day worrying excessively. It didn't take long before she was asleep.
The following days passed relatively the same way. Karin would spend time with her sister and Miyuki exploring the palace or just talking, and at night she would return to Toshiro's side to watch over him. She only returned to the Soul Society the day of the funeral, her brother finally returning from training to go with her though strangely lacking his zanpaktou. The other Royal Guards came with them after giving strict orders to the Commanders to alert them if their king's condition changed. The funeral itself was a quiet affair with tears all around. Squad Eleven stood aside looking furious even as they mourned their fallen members. They still couldn't forgive how the Demon Lord Firiat had taken their lives by ambush rather than a fair fight, but chose to instead celebrate that Ikkaku and Yumichika had defeated one of the vicious women before they were taken. After those closest to the deceased gave their respects, the Royal Guard offered theirs as well to the warriors that died fighting beside them for their king.
Once the bodies were laid to rest, everyone gathered in various places to chatter quietly or left back home. Karin was with the usual gang, most of whom had trained so hard to fight in this war and yet still felt utterly defenseless. Rangiku, Hisagi and Kira were already pretty much wasted and not really paying attention to anyone else. Renji and Rukia hammered Ichigo with questions to try and move on from the day's events, but he remained stubbornly quiet.
"The geezer will have my head if I say anything, he almost didn't let me show up." Ichigo scowled when they remained persistent about getting him to tell them why he was training again and missing a zanpaktou. Rukia still looked pissed that her boyfriend wasn't telling her anything but decided to let it go since the other Royal Guards were present and she didn't want to disrespect them. Kirio and Ichibe seemed to find it amusing and Oetsu himself wasn't even paying attention, over in a different part of the bar with Squad Eleven and talking to the Captain about something.
Everyone else present in the building were in various states of drunkenness or grief.
"Hey Karin, isn't summer just about over?" Hinamori spoke up in her gentle tone as she pointedly ignored Rangiku loudly proclaiming something, it was hard to tell with her slurring tone.
The teen blinked, completely forgetting that she was supposed to still be attending a normal human life. Not even a full two weeks ago she had been in a battle for the fate of the world, one that wasn't over yet, and had utterly forgotten any sort of bland human responsibilities such as summer homework or even going back to school at all. It had started off so normally, with just the occasional demon raid, and within a few weeks had derailed into a full war with a body count off the charts.
She wondered if she could even go back to school with everything going on. With the Dark Master still waiting to make his move and Toshiro in a coma, she doubted she would be able to focus at all on something as boring as lectures.
"I guess it is." Was her only reply to the Squad Five Lieutenant. Momo looked at her in concern but didn't press further, knowing the other girl probably had a lot on her plate.
"Karin!" Rangiku leaned heavily over the table with a dazed smile and tried to hand a glass over to the young woman, instead managing to spill half of it on the table and getting Karin's hair wet.
"Jeez, Ran, this is not the shower I needed today." Karin couldn't help but laugh even if she now reeked of sake. No point getting mad at someone this drunk, not unless it was her dad. "Oh yeah, have you two met Toshiro's sister yet?"
Rangiku naturally didn't respond, muttering something about wanting to give Karin her first drink – unfortunately for Rangiku, Karin had already taken advantage of being drinking age but didn't like how it dulled her senses – but Momo perked up in interest. She had heard about Miyuki from the others but never got to actually see the woman.
"Maybe when Rangiku's sober again I'll ask the Head Captain if you can come back with me." Karin said to Momo with a sigh as she looked at the now happily sleeping Squad Ten Lieutenant.
"I'd love that." Momo beamed, excited for the opportunity. "Would it be okay to check on Shiro, too?"
"I don't see a problem with it, but he's not in great shape."
"He was there for me when I was gravely wounded after Aizen's betrayal, I feel the least I can do is check in on him if possible."
Understanding, Karin nodded and promised to try and get her up to the Soul King's realm.
Karin and her brother stayed in the Squad Ten barracks for the night as they had done many times before after dragging Rangiku back with them. Kadin didn't even question her condition and motioned to the couch, her favorite drunk sleeping spot.
"You'll probably be going to Ruala's ceremony, right?" Karin asked cautiously in the hours before they were ready to turn in for the night.
The silver-haired Captain stiffened and avoided her gaze.
"You had a relationship with her, right? Didn't you get your memories back?"
"Yes, but…" He looked uncomfortable with the topic. "I don't know, I got them back after she was already gone… when she died I didn't even get to properly grieve about it. It hurt to watch, but I didn't even know why."
"Well, now is your chance." Karin pointed out and he looked at her in surprise. "It might help you feel better. That's the whole point of these things."
"Yeah… I suppose you're right." A sad smile crossed his face. "You've grown up a lot these past few weeks, Karin."
"Fighting for your life kind of does that."
"Fair enough, I'm sure any veteran Soul Reaper would say the same."
He shooed her off to bed after that so that he could get some sleep of his own.
The next day, the Royal Guards had to return to the palace to continue their duties, Ichigo included. Karin chose not to go with them, asking instead if she could be escorted back later along with a few extra guests once she got permission from the Head Captain. They agreed. Once she got the permission she needed – Yamamoto was being surprisingly lenient on account of things being quiet on the demon's end and knowing everyone needed their own time to recover – she along with Rangiku, Momo, Kadin, Isshin and Orihime were escorted by dragon back to the Soul King's realm, Aberon and Myndrӕl assisting in carrying passengers since only three of the six people had dragon partners.
Once there, Kadin was quick to head over to his old family home. Karin led the rest to where Toshiro was resting. A healer on duty didn't seem to like the idea of a human approaching their king, but Orihime's powers were vouched for and she quickly set up her healing shield while Momo and Rangiku took in the state of their old friend.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to Miyuki." Karin ushered them out of the room to let Orihime work.
The princess had taken a liking to the garden that belonged to her father, and it was on this floor that they found her meditating near the artificial waterway with her wolf asleep at her side, dressed in a soft blue kimono with birds across the bottom. Both girl and wolf turned their way at the sound of approaching footsteps.
"She looks so much like him." Momo gasped as she took in the startling white hair currently braided and cold expression.
"You're right, they're both adorable." Rangiku was quick to dart over and pick up a very startled Miyuki in a tight hug.
"Sorry, she's still kind of drunk." Karin said to Miyuki with a smirk.
"Am not!" Rangiku argued back defensively, setting down the young woman. "Oh, I'm Rangiku by the way, Rangiku Matsumoto."
"N-nice to meet you." Miyuki replied in a stunned voice, fixing her braid. "I am Miyuki Hitsugaya." She seemed to perk up at the opportunity to introduce herself properly for the first time in her life. Karin couldn't imagine how it felt to live without a name.
"My name is Momo Hinamori, it really is a pleasure to meet you." Momo spoke up with a bow of her head.
After the introductions were done, the girls hit it off in conversation immediately. Miyuki was a bit overwhelmed at first, not used to being treated so… sisterly. They had never met before this, yet because she was Toshiro's sister they acted like they had known her for years. It brought a strange warmth to her heart, a sense of belonging she'd never had before even at Kamai's side. Rangiku already had a huge list of things she wanted to teach Miyuki that the girl never had the pleasure of learning. Having 'sisters' that only wanted to fight made it hard to find time for the more pleasant aspects of growing up.
Satisfied with knowing Miyuki was starting to fit in better, Karin quietly let them be and returned to Toshiro's room, talking quietly with Orihime as the healer worked her miracles and removed the terrible wounds inflicted by Kamai. The healer on duty looked like he was about to worship the ground she walked on until Karin kicked him out, the two women sharing a small laugh before staying in comfortable silence.
As time moved on, the storms lessened and the world grew quiet, wondering if the apocalypse was truly over.
This story has half the chapters of it's prequal but only like a fraction of the reviews lol, feels bad. Also I totally should have been studying instead of this but my brain is a wreck.