Chapter Seven
"Next time I decide to visit my brother and leave you two alone, slap me." Yoruichi tsked, shaking her head as she sat with Yuzu in the Fourth. "So they confirmed that it was a corrupted zanpakutō?"
"You knew..." Yuzu huffed quietly
"If I didn't then why would I suggest we bring her here?" Yoruichi asked. "You know this place gives me the heebie-jeebies."
"How did you know?" Yuzu asked.
"A friend of mine had the same characteristics." Yoruichi said. "I knew it had to be the same. How it got to Karin however is the mystery."
"I have a theory about that." Yuzu jumped at the sound of Hitsugaya's voice as he mysteriously appeared in the room. These captains really enjoyed sneaking up on people.
"Are you from Karin-chan, Hitsugaya-kun?" He nodded. "Is she okay?" The captain nodded again. "Thank goodness. I should go and see her."
"Kotetsu-fukutaichō is with her. She's in a bit of a state." Hitsugaya stopped her.
"So suddenly you know what's good for her?" Tōshirō noted the annoyance in her tone and raised an eyebrow at her for it.
"Oh please, Yuzu. Don't be upset you didn't cockblock the lovers' reunion." Yoruichi said, earning a glare from Hitsugaya and Yuzu. Before the captain could retort, Kotetsu-fukutaichō came in.
"Kurosaki-chan... Shihōin-sama... I believe we have a problem." Kotetsu-fukutaichō said. "Kurosaki Karin indeed has zanpakutō corruption but I am unable to pinpoint the cause. She is not coherent with the other three known causes. The best I could come up with was indoctrinated corruption but that process is normally the slowest... several months slow. Kurosaki-san would have had to manifest a zanpakutō ages ago and had it slowly influence her but the black outs only happen to those who have zanpakutōs passed down to them."
"How?" Yuzu asked.
"If the zanpakutō was already corrupt when it manifested in Kurosaki-san's body, it would take a while for it to become strong and start taking over because a zanpakutō spirit can be idle for a thousand years at least before finding a new host so it has grown weak during the time." Isane explained. "The signs she is showing is relevant to that of a noble who was passed down a zanpakutō that was corrupt. A zanpakutō part of a noble clan can take much less time to be passed on hence why they are so powerful. It could be the case with Kurosaki-san since she is of noble blood but only one zanpakutō in the Shiba clan has corruption history which is not hers.
"Kotetsu-fukutaichō..." Hitsugaya spoke. "Is it possible for indoctrinated corruption to happen should a shinigami influence another shinigami?"
"Eh?" Both Yuzu and Isane questioned in confusion.
"You are on the same thought track I am on, Hitsugaya-taichō." Yoruichi admitted.
"But... the only shinigami Karin-chan is ever around are me, otō-san, Shihōin-sensei, Urahara-sensei, Tsukabishi-sensei and onii-chan." Yuzu listed off.
"Who was she with when she went missing?" Hitsugaya asked.
"You think I know?" Yuzu huffed angrily at the captain. "If I had an idea then maybe we could have solved this!"
"Exactly, Yuzu." Yoruichi interrupted, grabbing the girl's attention. "Karin is a shinigami in training and a very strong one at that. What human could have survived and succeeded in taking Karin without her fighting back?"
Yuzu sat silently contemplating it and she saw the point. Karin was not taken by a human... she was taken by a shinigami. "But... she could have been taken by a hollow. A powerful one maybe... I mean..." Yuzu paused. "I... I remember in one of the dreams I had when Karin went missing. She was... dragged away by a man with dark brown hair, cold brown eyes and a..." Yuzu stopped once more. "Karin drew him."
Now all three shinigami looked confused. "Karin drew him!" Yuzu affirmed before picking up her katana. "Karin... ever since she came back, she has been drawing pictures of places and people she has never seen before. If you guys look at the picture, maybe you'll know who it is if it is a shinigami. We need to get going now." Yuzu almost ran out but noticed that Hitsugaya remained where he was. "What are you waiting for?"
"I think you can go on your own." Hitsugaya said. "I'll have Matsumoto waiting for you at the senkaimon when you return."
Yuzu rolled her eyes. "I thought you cared about my sister."
The young captain didn't even make a face. He stood there entirely emotionless and frigid. Yuzu wondered what her sister saw in him. Even Karin was able to express herself much better than this. "I do... but retrieving a notebook sounds like a task well suited to be done by one person."
He has a point... Her zanpakutō spirit said and Yuzu sucked her teeth, ignoring the voice.
"Does it even matter?" Yuzu asked. "You could show at least a little compassion." Hitsugaya didn't respond to that.
"Matsumoto will bring you to the tenth after you return." And with that, he left Yuzu alone in the reception of the fourth.
Ichigo stretched his arms after a long day at the university hospital had ended. He grunted tiredly, just about ready to fall on the pavement. Then he remembered that he had to study for the anatomy final tomorrow and cook dinner since it was his turn. While he was glad that he was on his final year and that scheduled classes were about to come to an end for students to write their thesis, he recognised that the rest of his life was going to be very tedious with a lot of work.
He dreaded the idea of having to apply for residency after this.
He rounded the corner onto the street where he lived. He thought of stopping by the convenience shop and getting a frozen pizza or two. Luckily Tatsuki wasn't picky so he could easily get away with it. He pulled out his phone and quickly shot her a text. She was a phone addict so she was bound to see it in a minute or two if she was extremely busy.
"... shit..." He hissed when he realised that she was training and wouldn't be looking at her phone for a while.
"What's the matter?" The orange haired man looked up from his phone to see a man in a shiny suit before him and a shiny badge poking out from his pocket. A detective... Ichigo thought until he recognised his face. Ichigo was better with names and not faces so he was surprised he even recalled this one.
"Nothing?" Ichigo shrugged, staring at him in confusion
"Ah! Sorry for appearing out of nowhere and not introducing myself. I'm —"
"I know who you are..." Ichigo said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Renbutsu Kakeru."
"Ah... how did you know?" He asked. "Did Tsuki-chan mention me?"
Tsuki-chan... the fuck? Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the peculiar man. "Yes, Tatsuki mentioned you in passing a few times."
"I see." He scratched the back of his head. He looked older. Ichigo peeked at his hand and caught the tan-line on his fourth finger. "How is your sister?"
"Fine."
Silence.
"Uh... I was just looking for Tsuki-chan to go over something with me." He continued. "I called but she didn't pick so I got a little concerned."
"Isn't she an intern... and a lab tech?" Ichigo asked him
"Well, yes." He replied.
"Aren't there more qualified people who are on duty to ask?" Ichigo asked,
"Good question." Kakeru said. "A counter question would be, however, why would it bother you?"
"Because Tatsuki doesn't like when her personal days are interrupted and if she is unhappy then the house turns into a war zone." Ichigo said. "I can imagine you understand how undesirable it would be to have an angry Tatsuki around."
"That I can agree with." He laughed. "Tsuki-chan definitely is a fiesty one."
Yeah, this is getting weird. "Well she's not home. She's at the dojo. She doesn't like being disturbed when she trains."
"Fair enough." Kakeru shrugged. "You know, she's incredibly intelligent and has a great insight into things. She would have made a great detective."
"She doesn't like police officers." Ichigo admitted
"How would that make sense considering she's working in a Forensic lab?" Kakeru asked
"She's working for the victims, not the officers." He shrugged. "Her father was a great detective but a terrible man. It sucks how those two qualities can never seem to co-exist."
"I wouldn't demonise a whole profession because of a tiny few." He said
"Yeah well, it's a reoccurring theme. Not you though, I do hope you're treating your wife well," The plastic, friendly exterior that Kakeru sported now cracked and he frowned at Ichigo. "Anyways, I have homework to catch up on. I will tell Tatsuki you dropped by, keiji-san." He turned to walk towards the convenience store. "Say hi to the wife by the way."
"You're pretty fast." He mentioned as she went to the tenth division, following the blonde Matsumoto who he ordered to wait at the senkaimon. Hitsugaya was not expecting her to be back this soon.
"I run track and field. Long distance." She explained, putting a box on his desk and combing through it. He didn't know that. He felt like he should have considering how close he was to her twin.
"Where's Shihōin? I thought she went with you." Hitsugaya asked
"She did. She stayed being because she had an errand or something." She said
"Taichō, I'm taking my break now." Matsumoto announced
"Try not to get too tipsy." Hitsugaya said. "We still have paperwork to comb through tonight."
"Huh? I'm not that bad! I'm only going to have a few glasses with Shunsei." Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at her. "Leave me alone kid, geez!" Hitsugaya got annoyed and Matsumoto took now as the right time to leave.
Yuzu frantically began to look for the latest one, opening the first page and then tossed it to the side before picking her next one. Tōshirō knew Karin liked to draw but he never realised how many of those Sure could have burned through. "How many of those does Kurosaki own?"
"Karin-chan is a doodling monster." Yuzu said but stopped her search momentarily. "She's moved on, you know?" She announced. "After you disappeared, she was shattered but she managed to pick up the pieces. If you can't keep up with her… then stay away from her."
Tōshirō was shocked by her tone. "I... don't understand..."
"If you really want what's best for her then you won't. I'm not one to dictate what she wants but I know what she needs… And if you know what needs too, you'd understand exactly what you need to do." She said before finding the right one. "Here." She handed him the book. Hitsugaya began to page through it, finding nothing out of the ordinary until he stumbled across a familiar looking castle surrounded by darkness.
"Hueco Mundo." He said as he turned the page, seeing several more images before he reached the last picture. His hands dropped the pad and balled into fists. His reiatsu began to flare noticeably.
"Hi...tsugaya-san..." Yuzu questioned the captain but he could barely hear a thing with the blood pounding in his ears.
"Aizen..." Tōshirō hissed angrily.
"Shiyori! Did you take my manga?" Lisa asked angrily as she stormed through the house in her fuku sailor outfit that was obviously too old for her.
"Why would I read your stupid porn mags, dumb ass!" Hiyori hissed at her friend as she cooked in the kitchen. "Don't you have work?"
"Evening shift." Lisa said before sitting at the island. "Where is Love? I bet he took those... perverted little shit!"
"Tch! Says the woman buys that crap in the first place." Hiyori hissed. "He went shopping with Hachi."
"And Mashiro?" Lisa asked.
"Hasn't come back from work." Hiyori shrugged.
"When will you ever work?" Lisa asked. "Everyone does something! I work at the diner, Love works at the bookstore, Hachi works at the grocery store – hell, even Mashiro has a gig at the nursery!"
"Find a place that will hire me and put up with me." Hiyori hissed. "Besides, I cook!"
"Kensei used to cook better..."
"Don't bring up that cursed name!" Hiyori hissed. "I rebuke him from this house... all of them!" The rest of the Vizards would never admit it but they were still pretty angry at what Shinji, Kensei and Rose did. It had been five years ever since they accepted to go back to Soul Society as captains. The others were rather sceptical of it considering how much they all lost care for Soul Society and Shinigami life but nevertheless, they accepted.
It's how relations broke down along the way
The door opened then slammed and skipping in was the green haired cockatoo. "I'm baaaaaack~!" Mashiro grinned with an exaggerated stance. "I had the best day at school." Strangely, the crazy Mashiro worked as a teacher at a local day care. It did make sense considering she had the emotional intelligence of a five year old eighty percent of the time.
"You have crap on your scarf." Lisa deadpanned but that didn't dampen her friend's spirit.
"I can always wash it out." Mashiro shrugged as she sat down. "Besides, I have... six? Ooh! We should go out some time. Just the three of us!"
"No Hachi and Love?" Lisa raised an eyebrow at her.
"Nope!" Mashiro smirked. "It's been a while since we had fun as just girls."
"Well... it has been forever since we had fun." Lisa shrugged. "I'm down as long as Hiyori doesn't get drunk."
"What!" Hiyori snapped.
"You are hard to deal with when you are drunk." Lisa taunted. "Your tiny body can't handle all that alcohol." Mashiro giggled and Hiyori snapped the wooden spoon angrily in her hands.
There was a surge through their barrier and a black cat appeared through the kitchen window. "Yoruichi... how many times do we have to tell you I am uncomfortable talking to a cat?" Lisa said
"Do you want me to change back?" Anyone with ears could hear the mischief in her voice.
"No!" Hiyori yelled, turning red and hiding her eyes
"Yes, please!" The pervert smirked. Mashiro shrugged. She did not see the difference. Nevertheless, Yoruichi did not change out of that form.
"It doesn't matter. All I came to do is talk to my favourite ex-seated officer." The cat said.
"Who are you fooling?" Lisa laughed. "We all know that it's Kisuke."
The cat snickered before turning to Mashiro. "But I seriously need your help."
"So... these pictures are of Hueco Mundo..." Tōshirō organised the pictures on Tōshirō's desk. She would forgive him – eventually – for tearing the pictures out of her art pad. "This is Aizen." He placed the cursed image on the desk, trying not to lose his train of thought. If Aizen was the one who took Karin then that meant he was not in prison. His blood boiled the more he thought of it; the man had taken her for two weeks and she came back entirely downcast, with memory lapses, a strange act of attacking people and no memory of what happened those two weeks.
He tried not to imagine the things he did to her.
"So he's the reason for the Winter War?" Yuzu asked and Tōshirō nodded. "I've heard nothing good about him. If he really did take Karin-chan..."
"I'd rather we stray from that topic of conversation." Tōshirō said, almost pleading with her.
"Okay..." Yuzu huffed sadly. "So then we are left with these three." She picked one up. "This looks like the warehouse that we found her in." It was a picture on an empty room with shackles on the wall. "We found her shackled against the wall."
"I have to admit, Kurosaki's art is consistent." Tōshirō said picking up the next picture of a bunch of people lying on the floor in a room. "Look at this window at the back." He then pointed to the window in the empty room picture Yuzu was holding. "It is consistent with this window. Look at the crack in the window."
Yuzu took both pictures and stared at the pictures. "You're right..." She put down both pictures and took the third one. "This is the same warehouse from an ariel view. So... Karin and Aizen weren't the only ones there..."
"It looks like Kurosaki wasn't the only one taken." Tōshirō said. "I can't familiarise any of the clear faces so they must be human."
"When we went there, the warehouse was empty." Yuzu said.
"Aizen uses an illusion based zanpakutō." Tōshirō said. "This wouldn't be the first time he fooled someone." Yuzu nodded. "I will take these pictures with me to the sōtaichō. You should go back home and tell Urahara. See what he can gather on missing people and digging into the warehouse."
"But Karin-chan..."
"I will make sure Kurosaki is okay." Tōshirō assured her.
"It must get confusing to call all three of us 'Kurosaki'." Yuzu pointedly said. "Hitsugaya-san... what exactly does my sister mean to you?"
"She is a very dear friend of mine." Tōshirō said.
"A friendship where you hurt her, disappear on a whim leaving her to wonder what's next… besides, it wasn't just a friendship to Karin." Yuzu sighed. "Hitsugaya-san, I admire you a lot because you are a good person but you hurt my sister once. Don't let it happen again."
Tōshirō wondered why this speech felt so familiar until he remembered... Don't let Karin get into any danger... Her brother had said to him six years ago. "I won't." Hitsugaya swore. He let her down once... this time would be different.
A/N: No omake this time. They will pop out randomly though from time to time. However, I have had this story in my drafts for over a year and have been editing out parts I felt were too brief and unnecessary in the context of the story. Like here, there was supposed to be a Hitsukarin flashback but the chapter just didn't flow well? I am thinking of posting them as oneshots in a side story compilation fic. Not sure if I'll get around to that.