Hinamori's Apprentice

Chapter 8

"No way…" Ichigo said in shock, "You…you mean it? They really found Karin?"

"Yes," Rukia said with a smile, "She's staying with Vice-captain Matsumoto right now."

"I can't believe this…" Ichigo said in amazement, "Everybody said that it's nearly impossible to find someone specific after they've moved on to Soul Society."

"That's true," Rukia said, "It's extremely rare, but as this situation shows you, not impossible. She was very lucky to be found."

"I never thought I'd see her again…this is wonderful news! I honestly don't know what to say! Karin…I'll be able to see her again! This…this is…" Ichigo said, an unusually bright look about him.

"Calm down Ichigo, we still have some things to work out," Rukia said, "First things first, I think it'd be appropriate for you to visit your sister right away.

"You mean now? Right now?"

"Well, I assumed that you'd want to come to Soul Society to see her, so I obtained permission for you to return to Soul Society with me," Rukia said.

"Thank you, but…I have to make some arrangements first," Ichigo said.

"What kind of 'arrangements'?" Rukia asked.

"I need to talk to Chad and Uryu. I'm going to ask them to look out for my family while I'm gone," Ichigo said, "Also, I need to talk to Yuzu. She's really taking Karin's death hard. Just give me a little bit, I'll be done in no time."

"If you insist," Rukia said, "But keep in mind that we don't have unlimited time. I'll need you to be back here in a few hours at the most."

"No problem," Ichigo said, already walking towards the door, "I'll be back soon. Also, thank you." With that he ran out, leaving Rukia behind to wait for him.

---

"So will Ichigo be here soon?" Karin asked Rangiku Matsumoto.

"I don't know. Rukia Kuchiki has gone to bring Ichigo back here, but we don't know when she'll be back," Rangiku said, "We'll just have to wait and see."

Karin fidgeted as she sat on a large, soft couch in Rangiku's apartment. The place was a bit bigger than Momo's, and it was decorated with brightly colored pictures and furniture, in contrast to the dull earth tones that dominated Momo's apartment. Karin found herself staring around as she sat on the squishy couch with Rangiku. She began to make idle conversation to pass the time.

"This place is nice," she said, gazing at the walls, painted in warm colors, and admiring the paintings and pictures that hung on the walls.

"Thanks!" Rangiku said, "I decorated it myself!"

"I see. So do all Shinigami live in places like this?" Momo asked.

"Oh no; only Captains, Vice-captains, some of the upper seated officers, and Shinigami from wealthier families have their own dwellings. Most Shinigami live in barracks or in shared living quarters."

"So…that girl who I was staying with before, she was..."

"Yup! She was a Vice-captain, just like me! Didn't she tell you?"

"She never had time to mention it and I never bothered to ask," Karin admitted, "We didn't really talk much, they just took me to her place and told me to wait there and, well, you know the rest of the story. So she's really the same rank as you? She seems so young…" Rangiku laughed at this.

"You have a lot of things to get used to in Soul Society," she chuckled, "Sure she 'seems' young, but she's really 159 years old!" Karin's eyes widened at this.

"What? How…how can that be?" she asked in astonishment.

"Surely you must have realized that people in Soul Society live a lot longer?"

"Well yeah, but I thought they'd at least age normally…" Karin said, embarrassed over her lack of knowledge of the subject.

"Well it depends on the individual. Some souls age at a nearly normal pace, others age ridiculously slowly, and there are souls who age at every rate in between. Momo's 159, Izuru's 156, I'm 200, and Captain Hitsugaya is 112."

"Wow, you guys are all ancient," Karin said in amazement, "I guess that explains why Toushiro and that Momo girl managed to achieve the ranks they did."

"No, age had nothing to do with it," Rangiku said, "They're both highly gifted, and achieved their ranks at an age before I did. Captain Hitsugaya is a prodigy and one of the most gifted Shinigami in Soul Society history, and Momo is a Kido master on a level beyond that of most captains. Both fully deserve their positions, even if a few others will try to deny it."

"Kido?" Karin asked in confusion.

"Kido refers to the spells that we Shinigami use, and is one of the primary Shinigami skills. There are four sets of skills practiced by Shinigami: Zanpakuto combat, hand-to-hand combat, stepping techniques, and Kido. Obviously Zanpakuto combat is the primary skill used by Shinigami, but the others are also important. Kido is a highly useful skill. When Momo is using her Kido abilities to their full extent, she can easily take on foes stronger than herself."

Karin listened as Rangiku spoke, amazed at what the Shinigami was saying. She found herself enthralled by the things being said, and more questions kept popping into her head.

"What about Toushiro? How powerful is he?" Karin asked.

"The Captain? I don't really know. He was able to fight off high-level espada during the war, but the circumstances involving those fights makes the degree of which that can be used to gauge his power level questionable. Different people have different opinions. Some view him as one of the weakest Captains, others say he's one of the strongest. Some think that as a prodigy, he merely attained the power of other captain-level Shinigami at a young age, and is already at or near his maximum level, while others think he still has a lot of room for growth. Regardless, he's definitely very powerful, even if he can't fully control his Bankai release."

"Bankai?" Karin asked, once again confused by the terminology.

"Bankai is what we Shinigami call the second release of our zanpakuto. The first release, Shikai, unleashes our power, giving us special abilities from deep within our souls. Bankai is different though, it doesn't just release the powers deep inside of us, it exponentially increases our powers. When a Shinigami obtains bankai, their powers are extended beyond their normal level. Nobody is exactly sure how it works. What we do know however is that Bankai drastically increases a Shinigami's power. Before Captain Hitsugaya obtained Bankai, he was more powerful than myself or Momo, but not so far beyond as he currently is. When he obtained Bankai however, his powers were vastly increased. In his Shikai, he's probably over twice as powerful as we are, and in Bankai well over eight times as powerful. That is why there is such a difference between a Captain and a Vice-captain. Bankai pushes a Shinigami beyond what was previously imaginable to them."

"Do you have Bankai?" Karin asked. Again Matsumoto laughed.

"No, I'm not powerful enough yet. Maybe someday, but not any time soon. Bankai takes a lot of special training in addition to a ton of experience and power. A powerful Shinigami normally can't obtain Bankai in less than a hundred years. Even Captain Hitsugaya took forty years before he was able to achieve it."

"Wow, there's so much stuff I have to learn," Karin said in amazement, eager to learn more even as she anxiously waited to see her brother, "Can you tell me more about Shinigami?"

"Sure, of course I can," Rangiku said with a smile.

---

"Yuzu?" Ichigo said quietly, cracking the door to Yuzu's room open.

"Y-yes?" Yuzu sniffled.

"It's me," Ichigo said.

"I know…what is it?" Yuzu asked. She was in Karin's bed, hugging onto a pillow and crying, as she had been ever since Karin died.

"Do you want to talk?" Ichigo asked.

"I-I don't know," Yuzu sobbed, "I don't know what can really be said. Everything's just… Oh…Karin…" Yuzu began crying harder as she thought of her sister, and Ichigo walked over and carefully sat down next to her. He put a hand on her head, hoping to comfort her. It didn't work. Yuzu continued to cry.

"Yuzu, I'm really sorry," Ichigo said quietly.

"W-why?" Yuzu asked.

"I don't know…" Ichigo said, "I just…don't know." Yuzu cried more, and Ichigo sighed. "Please don't cry Yuzu."

"How…how can I not cry?" Yuzu whimpered, "Karin was…Karin was my twin sister! She was the closest person in the world to me! How…how can she be dead? It's not fair!"

"I know Yuzu," Ichigo said.

"Why did it have to happen to her? What did she do?" Yuzu cried.

"I don't know," Ichigo said again, "Sometimes these things don't make sense."

"Ichigo…you see ghosts, right? Do you…do you think Karin is happy as a ghost?" Yuzu asked. Ichigo paused at this question, not wanting to reveal too much.

"Yes, I'm sure that wherever she is, she's happy," he finally said, "But I think she'd be happier if she knew you were happy too. She wouldn't want to see you miserable like this."

"I…I know Ichigo," Yuzu sniffled, a small smile on her face, "I g-guess that I should stop crying soon. If Karin was here she'd scold me for making you worry about me."

"Be strong Yuzu, I know you can go on," Ichigo said, putting a hand on her shoulder before standing and walking out of the room.

When he walked out into the hall, Rukia was already there..

"Are you ready to go Ichigo?" Rukia asked. Ichigo nodded. He had already asked Uryuu and Sado to keep an eye on his family while he was gone, so with his talk to Yuzu, he was completely ready to leave for Soul Society. Rukia led him outside, where Ichigo knew a Senkai gate waited for them.

---

Momo Hinamori sighed as she flipped through the pages of her book. Whenever she felt like she had too much on her mind, she'd always pick up a book to make herself think of other things. Today however, she could not manage to divert her thoughts. Kurosaki was coming back, and was very likely going to become Captain. When he had left, she felt a faint glimmer of hope for her own prospects, but that hope had been smothered between the Captains' earlier ruling and Ichigo's return.

She was immensely surprised when she found out that Karin, the girl she and Izuru had smuggled into Seireitei, was none other than Ichigo's recently deceased sister. She supposed that she was lucky about that, as if she had not been the sister of the Shinigami Representative, both she and Izuru would have been arrested and punished for breaking the law. Soi Fon had not been too happy about letting them go, but eventually relented.

Momo wondered what would become of Karin, but tried to push the thought from her mind. The girl was none of Momo's concern. There was no point in further cluttering her mind with thoughts of Karin. All that really mattered to her about this incident was that it resulted in Ichigo's return.

Momo felt rather depressed. She didn't know why she had allowed herself to get her hopes so high. She knew all along that she probably would never become a Captain. Yet still she had trained relentlessly in hopes of becoming Captain and allowed her dreams to overtake her knowledge of the realities of the situation. The cold truth was that she wasn't really qualified to be Captain, and probably never would be. She wasn't powerful enough. Even if she reached Bankai, she still would probably be far weaker than the other Captains. She may be able to compete with the Captains when it came to Kido, but her skills with shunpo, swordsmanship, and physical combat were only at average Vice-captain level. Renji and Izuru were both better than her in those skill sets.

Momo also questioned if she really had the capability to deal with the responsibility of Captainship, or if she even deserved it. She had less than ideal motives for desiring the position. While she did want to serve Soul Society and the Gotei 13, more prominent in her mind was the desire to be respected, both by Toushiro and the Shinigami as a whole. She supposed that at the root of this was her overall desire to forge her own position in existence.

Momo often wondered who she was. There were times that she herself did not know what she was really like. If you had asked those around her years earlier to describe her, they probably would describe her as Aizen's subordinate, Toushiro Hitsugaya's friend, Vice-captain of the Fifth Division, or that sweet, innocent girl who was kind to all and hated fighting. Well obviously she was no longer Aizen's subordinate. Her friendship with Toushiro had been shattered by a combination of jealousy, mutual failure to acknowledge the other, and her betrayal of him while she was under Aizen's influence. She felt like she couldn't face her subordinates after the physical and emotional weakness that she had shown following Aizen's betrayal, to the point that her rank was meaningless except as an administrative position. As for the innocent girl people knew her as, Momo was beginning to think that this part of her ended even before Aizen had broken her. She was a Shinigami, and Shinigami were not innocent. She saw and dealt with death for many years, to the point of becoming desensitized to it. Even if she was kind and didn't like to fight, she couldn't truly be called innocent back then. Aizen's manipulation and attempt on her life of course took away the innocence she had left. Thus, she was left with almost nothing to define herself by. She felt unsure about her place in the world. She had hoped that perhaps becoming Captain would give her the chance to define herself, but that hope seemed far off and distant.

She glanced over the book she held for a little longer before setting it down, giving up all attempts of thinking about other things. She ran a hand through her chocolate brown hair, tiredly trying to remember the last time life had not seemed so confusing. It had certainly been a long time, and she could only hope that eventually things would work out.

---

"Ichigo Kurosaki, welcome back to Soul Society," Yamamoto said in his booming voice. He held his cane in front of him, and was flanked by Juushiro Ukitake, Byakuya Kuchiki, and Soi Fon. They stood in Yamamoto's office at the First Division headquarters, where Ichigo had been taken upon arriving in Soul Society.

"Where is Karin?" Ichigo asked, not bothering with niceties or small talk.

"Your sister is safe. She is currently staying with Vice-captain Matsumoto," Ukitake said.

"When can I see her?" Ichigo said, trying to hurry the Captains with whatever they had in mind.

"I'm afraid not; not yet," Yamamoto said.

"Why not?" Ichigo said tensely.

"We need to make some arrangements regarding your position as Captain," said Soi Fon.

"This isn't the time to talk about that!" Ichigo said angrily, "I need to see my sister, we can talk about the stupid Captaincy later!"

"Unfortunately it's not that simple," Bykuya said, "By allowing Karin Kurosaki here in Seireitei, we are already breaching protocol. Unless you agree to become Captain, it will be impossible for her to remain in Seireitei."

"What? That's insane!" Ichigo yelled.

"Please understand that these are simply the rules," Yamamoto said, "Ordinary souls from Rukongai are ordinarily not permitted to live in Seireitei. Even if you agree to become Captain, special arrangements will have to be made. If you do not agree to become Captain, then there is no point in you even seeing her."

"Why not? Why wouldn't I be able to see her?" Ichigo demanded.

"She wouldn't be able to stay here if you did not agree to fill the empty Captain seat," Soi Fon said, "It would be cruel to both of you to simply visit her this one time and then be forced apart again. It's easier to simply not allow you to see one another at all."

"That's ridiculous! The entire reason that I left was because I ended up abandoning my family by serving as Captain! Now you're giving me two choices, both of which will force me to lose my connections with family and friends! You're forcing me to make an unfair choice!"

"Ichigo," Ukitake said calmly, "You still have a ways to go before you would actually become Captain. If you could just act as Captain for a while, we may be able to reach a compromise. We can figure something out if you just spend some time here. We won't force you to abandon your family in the world of the living, we only ask that you spend time working as Captain. Consider it a trial run. At the very least, you'll be able to see your sister for several months and be able to make arrangements for her. What do you say?" Ichigo sighed.

"What type of arrangements would be made for Karin?" he asked.

"Well there are several options," Ukitake explained, "We might be able to find her a place to live on her own in Seireitei, though seeing as we can't spare anyone to look after her, it may be difficult. We could find her a place in Rukongai just outside the gates, in a good neighborhood where she'll be able to visit. Another option is the possibility of her enrolling in the Shinigami Academy. She'd be able to stay in the dorms for six years, after which she could eventually become a Shinigami and live in Seireitei. She seems to have enough reiatsu, so I can easily see her being accepted."

"I don't like that idea," Ichigo said, "I don't want her being placed in harm's way. I don't want her to end up living alone either, be it in Seireitei or Rukongai. Are there any other ways?"

"Well there is one," Ukitake said, "Captain Kuchiki has offered to adopt Karin into the Kuchiki family."

Ichigo stared at Byakuya dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that Byakuya of all people would make such an offer.

"Seriously?" he asked. Byakuya nodded.

"Indeed. It was upon Rukia's request that I considered this. I'll have to convince the clan elders to accept her, and the process is a long one, but I owe you a great debt Ichigo Kurosaki, and I feel I have little choice but to make this offer."

"For the time being, I think it best that Karin stay with Vice-captain Matsumoto," Ukitake said.

"Indeed," Yamamoto said, "So what do you say Ichigo Kurosaki? Will you cooperate with us in filling the position of Fifth Division Captain?" Ichigo gulped, thinking the matter over.

"Very well then," he finally said, "Now please, let me see Karin."

---

Toushiro Hitsugaya swung Hyourinmaru, releasing a massive blast of ice and water. The hollows before him were hit with the blast, and immediately froze, shattering to pieces moments later. Immediately afterwards however, several more hollow came at him. They were identical, and looked like spiders. They were small, and fairly weak, but they attacked in such huge numbers that they posed enough of a threat to warrant a Shinigami Captain coming to exterminate them. He was currently in their lair, a cave that had more and more of the spider-like hollows crawling out of the depths.

Suddenly there was a buzzing noise. He looked down and saw that the communicator clipped to his collar was receiving an incoming message. He reached his left hand up and clicked a button on it, still fighting off the spider hollow.

"Captain Hitsugaya answering, what is it?" he asked, swinging his sword at a hollow.

"Hi Captaaaaaaaiiiiiiin!"

"Matsumoto? Get off this frequency! I am only supposed to be contacted in emergencies!" Toushiro growled, kicking a spider hollow that had tried to sneak up behind him.

"Oh it is; I have some really exciting news!"

"Tell me later!" Toushiro yelled, "I'm very busy right now!"

"Awwwwwww, don't be such a grumpy-pants, Captain!"

There was suddenly a large roar, and Toushiro's eyes widened as he saw a massive version of the spider hollows the size of a house approaching.

"Oh Shit," he muttered, "Matsumoto, I'm going now. Do NOT call me again!" He shut off the communicator and charged the giant hollow just as it began to attack.

---

"Captain? Captain!" Matsumoto whined, "Oh that meanie! He's ignoring me again!"

"Maybe he has a good reason for it," Karin said. They had been sitting around for several hours, and while their talk was interesting, it could not block out Karin's desire to see her brother.

"I'm sure he'll be really happy to see that you're here! He felt guilty about having to send you off earlier than you wanted," Matsumoto said.

"That's okay," Karin said, not feeling in as much of a talkative mood as earlier. She stared at the door tensely, awaiting the arrival of her brother.

When the long awaited knock on the door, Karin had dashed over before Matsumoto could even stand up. She threw the door open and gave a cry of join upon seeing her brother standing in the doorway.

"Ichi-nii!"

Thanks for reading! Thank you to blackwitchkarma, war90, Thunder Claw03, Photophopic, .fire333, Chillis, LuvleeCookieChan, DW64, The Great Pinapple MEKI, Hinata-cutie, DD, Psyco101, Yemi Hikari, and ocean81g for reviewing! Please review! I really appreciate the feedback all of you give me!