Karin was nervous and dead scared as she was escorted by guards in white jackets over their shinigami uniform to the large room. She had only woken up yesterday to be told that her trial would be the next morning. It isn't even my fault... Karin thought but at this point, how was getting upset going to help? It was clear that she no longer had a say of what goes on in her life. People just decide for her, take her, manipulate her, possess her... nothing of hers was no longer her own. She had not said a word the entire time. There was no point wasting her breath.
She was taken out of the large gates of the first. She looked at the gold embroidery and was disgusted. She remembered clearly what Hitsugaya used to say about Soul Society, that societies outside of Seireitei lived in extreme poverty after the 15th districts in every direction. This community disgusted her beyond belief. They walked through Seireitei and hiked up a hill and the more she saw, the more disgusted she was. It reminded her of the projects in Medellin when she stayed there for rotary. Her host family as well as her abuelita lived in rather well off areas but the people she went to school with lived terribly. The ghettos were right next to the cities and it felt like the rich were staring out the windows of their lavish houses and laughing at the common folk. Maybe that's why the further you were from Seireitei, the poorer it was... so that it could ease the guilt of those living here.
But that would mean that they were poor because the people who were to support them were so far away to even give them their resources which was even more evil.
Once she got to the hill, she was shoved on the ground near three other men. She looked to the one next to her who gave her a grin. She knew who he was from Angetsu's little misadventures while in her body. She simply looked forward, expressionless. She had no idea what to say or how to feel. Silence was her only valid answer.
On the hill before her was just men dressed in their white captain's coats. Before her was a very old man... the sōtaichō, she assumed.
"We are ready to bring this trial into session. We are ready to begin but it appears one of our captains is la—"
There was a flash as a new person arrived on the mountain and Karin turned to see who just came in and rushed to their empty position. "Hitsugaya-taichō, you're late."
"My apologies. I was sorting out an issue." Tōshirō said. Karin stared at him but he made no effort to look in her direction, he either looked straight at the sōtaichō or straight in front of him.
So that's how it is... She sighed before looking forward at the sōtaichō.
"Now we may begin." He looked at Karin and Karin trembled slightly. "The four of you know of the reason why you were brought here. I hope you are aware of the treachery you have displayed during your stay here." Karin remained silent. "Under normal circumstances, we would consider you a war criminal and that carries serious repercussions... but the situation is not normal." The sotaicho looked at the four of them "Is there a problem?"
Silence.
Looks like I'm not the only corrupt one in the vicinity. Angetsu cackled from his cage but Karin ignored him.
"Then let us-"
"Stop!" Everyone looked up and back to the new voice that flashstepped onto the hill. Karin's eyes widened when she saw that it was Yuzu and her cousin Haruki, accompanied by Kotetsu-fukutaicho, Renji and a third man whom she did not recognise.
"Oi! You're interrupting proceedings." A silver haired captain claimed.
"No." Isane claimed. "The fact that you are having this proceedings without any representative from the fourth is insulting, considering that one of the people on trial came here as a patient of mine."
"Isane, we understand that you-"
"No, you do not." Isane said. "I have every right to be here. Every trial must display a representative from every division to vote and three witnesses so the ruling is fair. It is shinigami law."
The sotaicho looked tired and Angetsu scoffed in her head. Doesn't even know the law... He was incredibly amused by this and Karin could understand why. If this was the great Soul Society everyone and their auntie manage to attack then the fact that they have morons leading the ranks explained it. "She is correct." A captain to the side wearing a kenseikan in his hair.
"Very well, Iba-fukutaicho and Kotetsu-fukutaicho may stay." He said. "The two young girls cannot act as witnesses."
"Nowhere in the law does it state that the witnesses must be from within our ranks. It in fact states that the witnesses can be related to the defendant to allow for a fair trial when not upheld by Central 46." Isane continued on to say.
The sōtaichō looked to the man with the kenseikan for confirmation and he nodded. Does no one know the law except for him?
"Very well." He sighed. "Is there anything else you would like to add regarding the proceeding?"
"At this rate we will never finish." A woman in a white haori mentioned in boredom. She was the only woman there but her lack of care in how this was being held spoke volumes about how Soul Society was being run.
"Would you please read of the charges for the accused on the left." Isane said.
"Kyōraku-taichō." Sotaicho called upon one of them and the man wearing the ridiculous pink wrap onto of his captain's coat responded.
"The charges for Kurosaki Karin include murder and attempting to overthrow Seireitei." He said
"I have evidence showing that Kurosaki Karin did not have the ability to break out of the fourth that evening." Isane said. "I have confirmation from Hitsugaya-taichō."
"He was on suspension."
"We observed the bodies before you announced it." Isane retorted to the woman and Hitsugaya nodded silently to show his approval. All these silent captains made her want to gauge their eyes out.
"Oh, for God's sake, I saw her do it myself." A man claimed and Karin turned to look at him and froze in fear. For some reason, she recognised the face mask but flashes kept blinking in and out of her head.
"So you claim to have seen the accused committing the crime but did not do anything to intervene?" Isane said
"She had already killed half my division." The man claimed.
"Kurotsuchi-taicho, that is a bold claim considering that we found traces amounts of sedatives and muscle relaxants in her blood that could be dated to the night she supposedly broke free." Isane stated and Karin hissed and closed her eyes as more images flashed before her eyes. A needle. White light. The sound of a flat line. Then she came back.
"I... that is an interesting claim considering we didn't know where she was or what she was doing after the fact." He claimed.
"Then why should we believe she orchestrated this without a shadow of a doubt?" Isane asked. "She was significantly weaker when she attacked. Why would she put herself at odds with winning when she had a specific window to carry out her so called 'plan?'."
"I... Yamamoto san, is this allowed?" The man, Kurotsuchi asked.
"If the accused is a child or a human, they are allowed to be defended as long as they go in accordance to our conduct. That is shinigami law." Renji stated. "She is both."
The man next to her laughed. "A 1000 years and no one has learned nothing huh?"
"Silence!" The sōtaichō yelled before turning back to Isane. "Kotetsu-fukutaichō, if that is law then you may continue."
"Okay... suppose I am wrong then." Isane said. "That does not explain the autopsy of your dead division members. They died from blood loss."
"Yes, because she tore through them."
"But their injuries do not match those that Yuzu or the members of the tenth division sustained after an altercation with her." Isane said as she pulled a folder out of her bag. "Everything is in here. Their wounds were penetrative and not random lacerations that you would expect from her zanpakuto. It is virtually impossible for her to create prefect, circular penetrative wounds without the aid of, say a gun like in the world of the living. And in addition to that, they bled to death instantly. That is also impossible considering that reishi could have kept them alive long enough until task members from the fourth appeared to assist."
"Then what are you suggesting?" He asked.
"Nakamura Benjiro, did you kill the members of the twelfth at the labs with the assistance of Machida Takemichi to provide an environment that would not allow them to heal?" Isane asked the man next to Karin.
"Ah. I did. I was just following orders." He said and everyone turned to Kurotsuchi.
"This doesn't change anything." He claimed
"Under whose orders?" The sōtaichō demanded
"It's a secret." Nakamura grinned
"Nakamura Benjiro, you are on trial." The sōtaichō reminded him
"And you're forgetting I've been here before. Doesn't matter what I say... I'm still fucked." He claimed. "It would be interesting though to get a taste of Sōkyoku Hill instead of the soul sealing pit."
Karin caught a glimpse of the sotaicho looking very uncomfortable. In case you missed it, he was tried before for a crime he did not commit and was found guilty immediately. Karin was shocked. He was sentenced to an inhumane form of death that was only banned after he was executed because it turned out he was innocent the whole time. They claimed it was out of respect for the innocent life lost.
"It doesn't matter how many questions you ask." Her cousin spoke up and everyone turned to look at her. "The men all have the same mark on their head. It is the mark of the mute. They cannot speak on something they have sworn to secrecy to the maker of that mark no matter how hard they try. I believe it is a form of forbidden kido."
"Funny how the children always seem to be smarter than all of you combined." Benjiro laughed.
"Silence!" The sōtaichō claimed in anger before turning to the Captain in make up. "Kurotsuchi Mayuri, you have made a foolery of this court."
"But I am only trying to get-"
"You lied before the court and omitted the truth." He said. "We will discuss the reasons and claim all your research after this."
Mayuri chuckled. "Fair enough. At least I got what I needed."
At least I got what I needed... The sound of glee in his voice resonated through Karin's head and all the memories of her time at the fourth flooded back into her head. All the screams and the shocks and the pain filled her head with the images of a psychopath with a black and white make up.
"This is the men you have in your court?" Karin hissed as anger bubbled up inside of her and everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "This piece of garbage?"
Yes. Get angry. Let them feel your wrath.
"Imagine having the audacity to insult a cap—" The man was suddenly hurled to the ground and slammed hard by dark particles that spun around him suddenly and they held him in a chokehold.
"Kurotsuchi-taichō!" One of the men cried out in shock but no one knew what was going on. But Karin glared at him.
"Tell them what you did to me now." Karin ordered.
Everyone stared at Karin in surprise by how she was doing that despite having her hands restrained to herself. "Kurosaki Karin, that's enough." The sōtaichō claimed but Karin didn't listen.
One of them tried to use kidō but the reiryōku turned black and flashed in the direction of the struggling Captain, striking him. At this point, there was black particles all over the area. "Ka-chan!" Karin paused as she heard the sound of her sister.
"Stop..." Haruki warned the captains. "Her power is manipulating reishi. You're just making it worse."
Yuzu turned to Karin. "Karin, I know you're angry but calm down. Put him down." Karin said nothing. "Karin, stop, you're making things worse."
Yes. Get angry. Angetsu snickered in glee.
"Tell them what you did, you sicko or I will leave you in a perpetual nightmare you still never escape." Karin said to the choking captain.
"Stop..." He wheezed and started to bleed out the side of his head from compression.
"Karin, you're going to kill him." Yuzu tried to warn her.
"Tell them how you experimented on me you dirty pig." Karin hissed. "I will run you to madness. I will make you regret breathing." She looked at the other captains. "Don't even think I forgot about you. Who sent me to him?" None of them answered.
Make them all see the torture you saw. Angetsu ordered as his cage rattled.
"I'm asking a fucking—" Karin paused as her chest pounded in pain and buckled to the floor, grimacing and grunting in pain. Her skin paled and she looked sickly. She coughed out blood as the particles stopped.
"Karin." Isane rushed for her, covering her mouth with a handkerchief as she coughed out blood. She wheezed as the particles subsided disappeared into thin air.
"You see what happens when we delay?" The woman captain claimed in annoyance
"Delay?" Isane questioned, infuriated by that comment. "Delay! Rushing is what gets us into these messes we always have to deal with!" She looked to the young girl. "Karin-chan, are you okay?" The young girl coughed and wheezed because of her inflamed chest.
"Kotetsu-fukutaichō... you may have been correct. But we cannot stop and the way she lost control is proof of that." The sotaicho claimed. "She must be dealt with."
"There are correct ways of dealing with it. She did nothing wrong. And the men here? Imagine the insanity of trying to exact a punishment on them again when we've always been on the wrong side." Isane claimed. "We haven't been doing it until now and this is why things got out of-"
"Enough!" He scalded and Isane withdrew into silence. "The trial will continue."
"No, it fucking won't!" Karin turned around to see her older brother joining them on top of the hill with Rukia and Chad in tow.
"Well, this keeps getting better." A large man with spiky hair commented with a grin. He was a captain too but seemed pleased with the chaos.
"Onii-chan..." Yuzu gasped in relief at the sight of Ichigo who went over to his little sister who was under the care of Isane.
"Is she okay?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't know." Isane said. "She needs medical attention. Something tells me she was being neglected in the Ichibantai barracks."
"Have you all lost your goddamn minds?" Ichigo yelled at everyone present. "Aizen is somewhere out there, hunting down humans and you guys are here trying to execute a teenage girl!"
"Soul Society has only gotten more comical with every passing year." Nakamura Benjiro laughed as the drama happening around him.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, this has nothing do with-"
"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled at the old man. "Rukia told me you had options! She told me everything! Now it seems more like you're trying to cover up your fucking mistakes instead of owning up to them! Is your duty not to protect humans?" There was silence. "It will be a cold day in hell before any of you lay one of your dirty hands on her-"
"Ichigo, stay out of this." Karin finally spoke after regaining control of her pain and body. Everyone in the court was surprised by Karin who took on a calm demeanor before standing up. "If they want to cover up their mistakes so badly, let them." She looked at the sōtaichō. "Execute me then."
"Huh!" Ichigo exclaimed in shock and even the goteijūsantai themselves was overcome with shock and surprise at the young girl demanding this of them. "Have you lost your mi—"
"Fuck you, onii-chan." She hissed at him and the acidic tone in the way she addressed him expressed everything you need to know. The way he looked shocked didn't bother her. She was holding all of that in for the past seven years. She was tired of caring. "Don't act all fucking high and mighty just because you are here to the save the day. You never cared and you still don't care. I wouldn't have ever gotten here if you didn't mind your own fucking business. I'm not one of your damsels in distress so leave me alone! I would rather stab myself in the eyes with a fucking fork because I give you the satisfaction of saving me. You've brought us nothing but pain! Me and Yuzu would have been better off if you just left for good."
"Karin..." Yuzu exhaled in shock and Karin ignored both of them. She didn't care. She couldn't care less. She turned back to the sōtaichō and looked him dead in the eye.
"Your squad is pathetic, brain dead and filled with traitors, idiots and psychopaths yet in your eyes... I'm the problem. Your ranks are corrupt to the brim yet you concern yourself with a teenager. I can only imagine why." Karin claimed. "This had nothing to do with me. I was taken against my will. I have no memories of anything and it is known knowledge that I have a corrupt zanpakutō against my will but that clearly doesn't bother you. You don't care. The fact that someone is that cunning and probably is off killing humans does not bother you. It's your mistakes that bother you and not the actual problem .You will kill me and the zanpakutō will return in circulation for the next person to deal with because all you can think of is short term solutions... can you even call those rushed incompetencies solutions? There are three men who are supposed to be dead 'rightfully by your hand' or so you claim... why are they still here? Were you hoping that this time you would be correct? It's even more hilarious to me that for captains and nobles, it is exile and for people like Aizen, it's imprisonment while for commoners and people you think are like shit at the bottom of your shoe... it's death.
"You have communities living in poverty while gold adorns your buildings. Humans are dying right now... and your concern is that people who rightfully hold a grudge against you tried to tear down your precious city wall. As if while you are here, there are not any humans who have no clue where they're family members are. I thought quincies were asinine but at least they are consistent. You lot are jokes. And I would gladly be executed if it means that I will have the grand chance of never being a part of this sick realm. So do it." She commanded.
"How dare you speak ill of Soul Society?" The silver haired man asked
"Weren't you in exile around five years ago?" She brought up and the man fumed. "Stay in your lane, you're just as disposable as I am." Karin felt a dizzy spell come over her and a low frequency squeal fill her ears but she continued. "It's interesting how you still fight tooth and nail for this place knowing the privilege you hold. I wish the people barefoot in the 75th districts could have the same. Instead, they are sold a dream - a better life in exchange for military service for a unit that doesn't care for your death. Just churns you out of the machine once you're done" She turned back to the sōtaichō but blood ran down one of her nostrils involuntarily and she started to see pretty colours like a kaleidoscope. She didn't even notice that her speech was getting slurred more and more. "Would you like the honor of killing the teenage girl or are you too righteous and graceful that you will give it to someone else?" But the pretty colours took over her world and the high pitch frequency shot through her ears and her world spun round.