Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach
Karin and Ichigo were sleeping soundly when Grimmjow literally kicked them awake. Ichigo glared at him angrily and Karin tried to hide her wince as she noticed how her sides hurt.
"Welcome to Las Noches. You're never going to leave this place so I thought you'd want to see what it looks from the outside", the blue-haired man sniggered opening the door leading to the front of the wagon.
In front of the wagon was a huge city with white buildings and several really tall towers. In the middle was a huge dome which dominated the cityscape. After the wagon drove in from the gate Karin and Ichigo saw a really poor looking area. People from walking on the street looked at the wagon with fearful eyes. Karin scowled and glared at the dome.
"That's right girlie, that's the place Aizen lives in. You're not going to get there, you'll go to one of the towers where the cells are", Grimmjow said noticing Karin's glare. She looked at him over her shoulder coldly. Ichigo scowled at the man behind his back.
The wagon drove quickly along the streets towards the inner and richer parts of the city. Grimmjow left the door open so Karin and Ichigo were able to follow where they went. It was a sign of the fact he believed they would never get out of the cells alive. It had never happened before so why would it happen now?
Karin noticed that the richer the place was the more soldiers were around. And it also seemed like they were the people living there, not guarding peace. Karin stared as they just pushed other people out of their way and no one said anything. She growled angrily.
"Ooo, the little girl is angry", Grimmjow mocked. Then suddenly he flew out of the wagon, getting almost run over by the horses. Karin watched at him surprised before glancing over her shoulder.
Ichigo had his foot up and he was whistling like he hadn't done anything. Karin laughed at him and he smirked back.
"Didn't you tell me to be nice?" Karin asked the boy. He shrugged with the smirk still on his face.
"I was hungry then. I just didn't want to stare at his face anymore", Ichigo answered. Karin looked at him approvingly. She heard a low growl behind her and turned to face the very angry blue-haired man.
"You're dead!" he roared and bolted past Karin right towards Ichigo. Ichigo didn't even manage to look shocked, scared or anything like the situation would have usually made him look like before a dark haired and skinned man in a white uniform of Aizen's army was standing in front of him.
"Grimmjow, Aizen wants the hostages alive. You can't interrogate dead people", he said in a deep voice. Karin looked at him curiously, wondering how he was able to see anything from behind the white glasses which seemed to be non-see-throughable. (No, I don't think that is an actual word)
"He can survive with only one. Let me just kill that man, Tousen!" Grimmjow growled at him, but didn't start attacking again. Karin decided that the man must be in a higher position than Grimmjow.
"It's true we need only one, but it's better if we have two hostages. You have done well Grimmjow, I'm sure Aizen will reward you. You can go", the man said. Grimmjow glared at Ichigo one last time before bowing slightly to the dark skinned man and jumping off the wagon.
"Just tell me when you're done with them", he said walking away without looking back. Karin was a bit scared of the new man, because he had to be strong if Grimmjow was afraid of him. He turned to look at Karin and Ichigo.
"So you two are our enemies? Aizen shall meet you soon, but for now you'll be staying in the west tower", he said and snapped his fingers. The river whipped his whip and the horses started moving again. Neither Ichigo nor Karin had noticed when it had stopped.
"Who are you?" Karin asked finally after staring at the man for a while. Ichigo raised his eyebrows surprised at her bluntness and the fact she revealed they knew nothing about the enemy.
"My name is Tousen Kaname. I'm one of the three commanders in here, Aizen being the highest", he answered face expressionless. He somehow reminded the two freedom fighters of Byakuya with his expressions (or rather the lack of them).
Karin nodded and sat in silence for the rest of the way to the west tower. Ichigo glanced at her few times worriedly; it wasn't like her to be so quiet. When she noticed him she glared to let him know she was fine.
Karin looked at Tousen barely blinking occasionally. She felt even more uneasy around him than she had never felt with anyone. He had lifted his glasses to his forehead and she noticed his pupils were completely wide indicating that he was blind. Still he had a threatening aura around him.
Finally the wagon stopped in front of the huge tower. Tousen jumped swiftly down to ground and waved a couple of soldiers to escort Karin and Ichigo to their cells. The soldiers were much gentler than Grimmjow's soldiers had been with them.
Karin and Ichigo were allowed to walk on their own, only hands tied behind their backs (Karin's legs were untied) and both were glad to finally be able to move even a little bit. Tousen was walking behind them watching them carefully as they climbed the stairs up to almost the top of the tower.
"This will be the girl's room and the one across the hall shall be the boy's", he said as they reached the second highest floor of the tower. The soldiers escorting Karin and Ichigo nodded and opened the doors in question. The soldiers untied the duo's hands and pushed them to the rooms locking the doors behind them.
Karin's room was small and had only a bunk bed (which looked surprisingly comfortable), a closet full of white clothes for women and a chair and a desk. There was also a door which led to a tiny bathroom. Karin was however relieved that she had an own bathroom. There was even a shower.
On the other side of the room, in front of the small desk, was a window. It had no bars but they wouldn't have been needed. Through the window Karin saw the gate they had used to enter the city. An endless queue of people was walking through it.
Karin sat on the desk and placed her hand on the cool window. She gazed down to the city and felt angry at herself. She had got caught on her first mission. She fisted her hand and hit the window as hard as she was able.
Immediately she was glad she had worn gloves.
The window broke, sharp shards of glass falling towards the streets below. Karin's eyes widened and she instinctively looked around herself to make sure no one had seen. She gently removed the rest of the shards glad that the window hadn't had any wooden parts across it or someone might notice it was broken. Now she just had to make sure no one would spot the curtains swaying in the wind.
The shards she hid to the closet along with the chicken bone she had stolen earlier. With a final glance around to make sure everything looked the same as earlier she sat back to the desk.
She looked down and spotted a small hassle down below. She was way too high to see how many people were involved or what had happened, but someone sure was yelling hard because she was able to understand a word or two of it.
"Who… shard…face…bleeding!" someone was yelling. Karin blushed a bit as she realized they were probably yelling because of the shards she had accidentally thrown down. She put her head out of the window and yelled: "SORRY!"
She got no answer so she assumed the wind had stolen her words before they reached the people below. With a small half sigh half chuckle she jumped of the desk and started to inspect the room better.
After half an hour she put her ear against the door and hearing to footsteps she took the chicken bone and a medium sized shard of glass starting to shape the bone.
Ichigo's room was decorated in a similar way to Karin's, though the closet was full of men's clothes instead of women's. Otherwise the rooms were copies of each other.
The view from Ichigo's window opened towards the dome, in which Aizen lived, and the other three towers. He glared at the dome and looked curiously at the other towers. He wondered if there were people like them locked up or if they were just regular thieves and robbers.
Soon he got bored of glaring out of the window and sat down on his bed. He leaned his head to the wall and groaned. He knew it was most likely his fault he and Karin had been captured so it should be his responsibility to get them out. He just had no clue how he could do it.
"C'mon, think! You're supposed to be smart!" he groaned slapping his forehead. After thinking for a while he sighed and lay down on the bed.
He still had no idea how to save Karin and himself. He hoped Karin would have better ideas.
Renji, Toushiro and Tatsuki had entered the huge city shortly after the wagon. No one recognized them anymore and there were so many people that it was safe. Renji and Toushiro still weren't able to help looking warily around even though Tatsuki had told them not to.
"Stop it already! That only makes us look suspicious! Try to act normally if you know how to do so", she whispered angrily when they passed the guards at the gate. Toushiro nodded still not stopping. Renji however glanced at her and tried to relax.
"So, what makes you hate the Kingdom of Hollowes so much?" he asked trying to get rid of the uncomfortable silence. Tatsuki looked at him surprised and after staring at the red-head's dark eyes for a few seconds her gaze softened.
"Doesn't everyone hate it?" she asked with a small laugh with no humor in it. Toushiro stopped looking around himself too and looked at the girl. She looked sad.
"I think so, but you seem to have a personal reason. I mean, not every person would just join two people claiming to be freedom fighters if they have just met them", Renji said, showing he was a lot sharper than he looked like.
"You're right about that", Tatsuki said her gaze turning angry. She glared in front of her in silence for some time, scaring people walking in to the other direction.
"You can tell us. It seems like we need to hang out together for a while so it's nice to get to know each other better", Renji encouraged. Toushiro nodded slowly after a surprised glance at his friend. He had never seen the red-head act like this.
"Well, as you noticed, I like alone and that's all thanks to the Kingdom. My parents were both farmers, but they refused to be loyal to Aizen, refused to pay taxes. In the end, they joined to a group of soldiers who fought against the Kingdom, kinda like you freedom fighter, but not so organized. I haven't heard of them since, they're most likely dead", she told not looking at the boys.
"So they abandoned you?" Renji asked with contempt in his voice. Toushiro shook his head sadly. Many of the freedom fighters had some kind of memories of their families and some had told they had just been abandoned. Renji was one of them.
"NO! It's not like that!" Tatsuki exclaimed looking at Renji surprised. "They didn't want to leave, but they had to do something or they would have been killed, because they were opposing Aizen and his army so much. They told me that they'd come back if they could", she explained. Renji nodded and Toushiro glanced at him worriedly. He seemed to be his usual self, as much as he could in a situation where his best friend was imprisoned.
"I guess I jumped into conclusions", he said apologetically and scratched the back of his head with a small smile on his lips. Tatsuki shook her head.
"I understand it sounds like that", she said smiling back. Toushiro glanced between the two of them slowly starting to realize something. He wasn't sure if Renji had noticed it, but he was definitely interested in Tatsuki aka the red-head had a crush on her. Toushiro stifled a chuckle.
"It sounds like that is not the only reason why you hate the Kingdom of Hollowes so much", Toushiro finally decided to ask when Renji and Tatsuki seemed to have forgotten he was around and that she Tatsuki had been explaining something.
"Oh, right. It isn't the only reason, you're right about that. I used to live with my friend but the soldiers found out she was secretly helping the freedom fighters and took her away. I knew nothing about it and they somehow believed me and left me alone", she told with fury and sadness appearing to her eyes.
Renji and Toushiro were both extremely surprised. They knew some people who helped them from the outside had been imprisoned but they would have never guessed Tatsuki had a friend like that.
"What is her name? I'm in charge of a part of picking up the stuff we're given by people who help us", Toushiro said. He knew two of his contacts who had suddenly disappeared.
"She's Orihime. A bit taller than me, orange hair, big boobs", Tatsuki answered. Toushiro's eyes widened.
"She has been caught? She was always so nice and friendly and brought a lot of medical stuff. I have been worried about her when she hasn't come to our meeting place", he said staring at Tatsuki. She looked a bit surprised but also sad in the same time.
"Well, now you know. I thought that maybe if I helped you rescue your friends I could maybe find out what happened to her and maybe even be able to rescue her", she told in a small voice, like she was expecting the men to be angry at her.
"We can help you with that", Renji said and Toushiro nodded. Tatsuki was surprised.
"You will?" she asked blinking her eyes. Renji snorted.
"Isn't that obvious? You've already helped us and plan to help us to save our friends. If we ever manage to do it we'll help you rescue your friend", he said. Tatsuki opened her mouth to probably thank them but just then they heard a yell and saw Grimmjow fly out of the wagon.
"Wow, however did that sure wasn't thinking ahead", Tatsuki said staring at the man standing up with fury practically glowing from him. Renji and Toushiro stared at him worriedly, scared that soon either Karin or Ichigo would get seriously hurt.
The blue-haired man bolted back to the wagon and Toushiro and Renji hurried closer to be able to hear what happened. They heard muffled speaking from inside but weren't able to understand the words. Suddenly Grimmjow jumped out of the wagon and walked away.
The wagon started moving again and Toushiro spotted a dark skinned man he recognized.
"That's Tousen! He's a commander, only Aizen is above him", he whispered to Renji and Tatsuki staring after the wagon. If earlier it had been hard to save Ichigo and Karin it was now impossible.
"I can guess that is a bad thing", Renji said looking at Toushiro's face. He looked after the wagon coldly and nodded, lips tightly pressed together. Tatsuki sighed.
"Then we just need to save your friends when they aren't with him. Our best change is to break into the prison they're taking them to. It's either the south or west tower judging by the way they're going to", she said looking after the wagon too. They group hurried after it so that they wouldn't lose a sight of it, staying farther away in fear that Tousen would notice them following the wagon.
"They're going to west tower", Tatsuki said when the wagon turned left from an intersection.
"How do you know that already? The towers are still far away", Renji asked pointing at the two towers. Tatsuki smirked at him.
"I know this city pretty well. If they still want to go to south tower they'll have to use an extremely long way. That is the quickest way to west tower", she said pointing after the wagon. Renji looked impressed but Toushiro just nodded. It was pretty clear when the west tower was on left side and south on right side and the wagon turned left.
"You've been to this city often?" Toushiro asked. Tatsuki looked at the shorter man and shrugged.
"Well, at least in this part of the city. I have a friend who lives nearby. He's creepy but knows a lot of this place. I think we can sleep at his place, it's pretty close to the west tower", she answered. Renji snorted.
"You have a lot of those friends of yours. Are they all enemies of the Kingdom or how have you met?" he chuckled. Tatsuki glared at him before her expression turned into a grin.
"I've met them in the weekly 'we hate the Kingdom'-meetings", she said sarcastically causing Toushiro to chuckle. Renji rolled his eyes annoyed.
"Whatever", he muttered. The wagon had already disappeared from their sight but Tatsuki assured it was going to the west tower. Renji and Toushiro still wanted to be sure so they walked slowly towards the tower.
"How is this friend of yours so creepy?" Toushiro asked when the tower came into their view. Tatsuki laughed.
"You'll see soon. Just believe me when I say this, he's actually a good guy", she said, only managing to make Toushiro even more confused than he had been before.
Suddenly both Toushiro and Tatsuki jumped when Renji started roaring.
"WHO THREW A SHARD OF GLASS AT MY FACE!?" he yelled holding his bleeding cheek. There was a deep cut under his hand. People on the street were looking at him warily and some were backing away.
"Renji, try to calm down", Toushiro said putting his hand against his friends back. Renji was still glaring around trying to spot the person who would be holding a shard of glass.
Toushiro thought about it for a while and glanced up trying to spot someone there. He was barely able to see a head poking from a window. He couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man.
"Did you hear that? It was like someone yelled 'sorry'", Tatsuki said cocking her head to see if she could see the voice again. Renji just looked around confused.
"I heard nothing. Maybe you imagined it", he said. Tatsuki shrugged but Toushiro shook his head.
"It's possible she heard something, there was a person looking down from the window above. They were pretty high but I'm sure I saw someone", he said still looking at the window. The head had pulled away and from the place where he stood Toushiro wasn't even able to tell which window it had been.
"Really? The upper rooms are for the most important prisoners", Tatsuki said looking up too. Of course she saw no one.
"Are Karin and Ichigo 'important prisoners'?" Renji asked looking up too. Some of the by passers also looked up and wondered what the trio was looking at.
"I guess they are. After all, they know the hiding place of freedom fighters. I think they're the first ever been caught", Tatsuki said looking at Renji and Toushiro, rubbing her neck. Toushiro and Renji also stopped staring at the tower and looked at the black haired girl.
"I'm sure Karin is so proud. Her first real mission and she was caught", Toushiro sighed shaking his head. He remembered how eager Karin had been when she was allowed to finally go to a real mission.
"If you save them now and they have learned something about your enemy's head quarters it should turn out well, shouldn't it?" Tatsuki comforted the white-haired man. He sighed again but nodded.
"Maybe you're right. But now we need to plan a way to get them out. Where does that friend of yours live?" Toushiro asked. Tatsuki smirked for a second and waved her hand.
"He lives close by! Just follow me and don't get lost", she said and sprinted off towards a dark alley near the tower.
"Hey! Wait up!" Renji yelled running after her. Toushiro followed right after him. Tatsuki did few sharp turns to other alleys Renji and Toushiro would have missed, they were so well hidden behind garbage cans and other random stuff.
Finally they stopped in front of a surprisingly clean and strong looking door. Tatsuki knocked few times and the peeking hole opened.
"Who is there", a slimy sounding voice asked. Toushiro and Renji immediately had the instinct to turn around and walk away.
"It's me, Tatsuki. I have some friends with me", Tatsuki said and the peeking hole closed. Some noises of locks being opened rang in the empty alley before the door opened.
Both Renji's and Toushiro's eyes widened in surprise. The man in front of them was the most extra-ordinary they had ever seen.
His face was painted black and white and he was wearing some kind of golden attachments in his ears and chin, making him look a bit like an Egyptian Pharaoh. Also the blue hair styled in two horns pointing downwards backed up the picture of a Pharaoh. He was wearing a long white coat.
His eyes were maybe the scariest part of him. They were orange and pointed into different directions. As he looked at Renji and Toushiro curiously the right eye started to make a circle while the left one was fixated on the freedom fighter duo.
"Hello Mayuri. These are Renji and Toushiro. They're both freedom fighters and need help with trying to rescue their comrades", Tatsuki introduced them. The man hadn't moved his eyes away from the boys and was looking somehow a bit… hungry.
"Hello hello, Tatsuki", he waved his hand to the girl allowing Renji and Toushiro to see that he had also painted his hands white and that his nails were blue. The middle finger's fingernail on his right hand was extremely long.
"Could we stay here? I think you could help us with the rescue operation too, and you owe me one", Tatsuki said, clearly resisting the urge to wave her hand in front of his face to get his attention.
"Sure sure. Your friends seem to be really interesting, especially the short one." Toushiro gritted his teeth and fisted his hands wanting to punch the man.
"They're not here for your experiments", Tatsuki said angrily finally making the man look at her.
"Not even one or two small experiments? I can assure you, they would be better after them", he said still eyeing the men over Tatsuki's shoulder. Both men took few steps backwards. The man had just started to frighten them.
"NO! And now, could we come in? It can raise suspicions if we stand at your door for a long time", Tatsuki said. The man nodded and moved away from the door. Tatsuki followed him inside.
Toushiro and Renji were just standing in the alley, neither wanting to follow the dark haired girl and her friend inside. Tatsuki peeked around the door and chuckled when she saw the men just standing in the alley.
"C'mon! I'll protect you if you feel so scared", she laughed. Renji shook himself and followed Tatsuki with a brave look on his face. Toushiro rolled his eyes at his friend's behavior and followed him inside.
The house was pretty big and full of small bottles and such. It looked like a small laboratory rather than a house. Renji and Toushiro followed Tatsuki and Mayuri to the kitchen.
"Make us some tea Nemu!" Mayuri said to the young girl in the kitchen. Her long black hair was pulled into a braid. She was wearing a black skirt and t-shirt and a white apron.
"Yes, Mayuri-sama", she said bowing a bit and moving to the tea-pan. Mayuri eyes sparkled evilly causing Tatsuki to look at Nemu over her shoulder (she had already sat down to the desk).
"Nemu, bring normal tea. Not a drugged one", she said shooting a quick glare at Mayuri. He scowled at the girl but nodded at Nemu who had stopped to wait instructions from him.
"Don't worry guys, it'll be safe to drink the tea. Nemu can make amazing tea, you'll love it", she smiled sweetly at the boys. They shared a worried glance before sitting down to the table on the opposite side from Mayuri and Tatsuki.
Renji and Toushiro remained silent as Mayuri and Tatsuki spoke about people they both knew and the guys had never heard about. In few minutes Nemu brought the tea. She put small china cups with pink flower decoration in front of the boys and poured the steaming tea into them.
Tatsuki and Mayuri both got normal white cups and the same tea. Mayuri took a sip of his tea while Tatsuki added some milk and sugar to hers before drinking. The boys stared at the tea warily. It smelled completely okay and delicious.
"C'mon boys, don't be wussies", Tatsuki laughed at them. Renji looked at her lifted the cup to his lips taking a long sip. He coughed as the hot tea burned his tongue, but when he seemed otherwise okay Toushiro added some water into his tea and took a small sip.
The tea was amazing just like Tatsuki had said. It was just basic green tea, but Toushiro had never drunk so good tea in his life.
"Wow, you were right. This is fabulous!" he said staring at the cup surprised. Tatsuki shot an 'I-told-you-so look at the white-haired man taking another sip.
Renji had finally added enough cold water to his tea to make it drinkable and took another sip, cheeks burning red with embarrassment. Toushiro disguised his chuckle as a cough.
"So you boys want to break into a prison? I guess I could help you with that, I have some things you should find usable. And I do this only because I owe Tatsuki, don't expect me to always be doing good deeds", Mayuri said looking at the freedom fighter duo. Toushiro nodded.
"We understand that. What kind of things do you have? And would you maybe have any idea about how could we break to the prison? Does it have a lot of guards?" Toushiro asked, his organizised military side kicking in.
"Well, I have some potions, which for example can melt locks. I think you'll find that usable. And I'd suggest you use the sewer. It leads straight under every single one of the towers. And about the guards, how could I know. That's your problem", the man answered. Renji snorted annoyed but remained silent as Tatsuki and Toushiro shot warning glances at him.
"It would be best for Karin and Ichigo if we rescued them as soon as possible. Who knows what kind of interrogation methods Aizen uses", Toushiro said and Renji nodded in agreement.
"Tonight is too soon. We need to rest and plan, and during day it will be dangerous. If we're ready tomorrow evening we'll go then, but if we're not we'll wait", Tatsuki said. Mayuri sighed.
"Try to be done as soon as possible. I don't like to be a host for you people for longer than necessary", he said waving his hands around. Tatsuki smiled at him evilly.
"If you don't like hosting me avoid owing me", she said and the man rolled his eyes.
"I've noticed that before. It's annoying that no one else than you can find the ingredients for my potions. They can't be that hard to find!" he exclaimed.
"They are! The last two were on top of a mountain and in the middle of a swamp! It's practically life-threatening to do jobs for you", Tatsuki said angrily. Renji looked at her worriedly and glared at the blue-haired man from the corner of his eye.
"Whatever. I'll be in my laboratory if you need me. Don't bother me", Mayuri said standing up. Nemu bowed at the guests still sitting at the table and followed him.
"He's one creepy man", Renji said after he was sure the man could no longer hear him. Tatsuki chuckled nodding.
"He is, but he also is a valuable person to have on your side. Knows a lot and helps out when needed even though he complains about it", she said standing up. She took her cup and put it to sink. The boys followed her lead.
"I'm afraid Mayuri only has one guest room. We need to sleep in the same room", she said walking up the stairs. Toushiro glanced swiftly at his friend noticing the wide smirk before it disappeared behind a slightly bored face.
"I'm okay with that. Or are you afraid of sleeping in the same room with guys?" Renji asked, embracing the word guys. Tatsuki smirked at him.
"I was just worried you're afraid of girls. Big boys are usually the most scared ones", she said patting his cheek. She didn't need to stand on tiptoes because she was one step higher than him. She turned her back to Renji in time to miss his blush.
Toushiro looked away and started whistling. Renji glared over his shoulder and muttered: "You shut up."
Karin was sitting on the lower bed of the bunk bed, shaping the chicken bone when she suddenly heard footsteps from the hallway. She quickly jumped from the bed and stuffed the bone and shard of glass to the closet. She hurried back to bed and lay down in time before the door opened.
Instead of soldiers an orange haired girl entered. Karin looked at her surprised.
"And who are you? You don't look like a soldier", she said sitting up. The girl smiled a bit sadly and as the door was closed behind her.
"My name is Orihime. I'm a prisoner here like you. Seems like we're roommates", she said. Karin's eyebrows rose but she stood up from the bed nonetheless.
"I'm Karin. It's nice to meet someone else than a soldier", she said stretching her hand towards the woman.
"It's nice to meet you too. So, why are you here? Smuggling stuff to freedom fighters like me?" she asked taking the hand. Karin laughed a little and shook her head.
"Nope. I am a freedom fighter", she said. Orihime let go of her hand surprised.
"I thought they were only men. I've never heard a woman freedom fighter and I've even met some freedom fighters!" she said almost like expecting Karin to be lying. She smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I'm the only woman, so no surprise you had never heard about me. I got caught on my first real mission", she said. Orihime patted her head sympathetically.
"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm not going to stay here for long. I already have a plan of how to escape", she continued. Orihime was once again surprised.
"How? Were so high and the guards are guarding the hall way. There is no way you can beat them alone", she said but sounded excited. It was like she wanted Karin's plan to work. Why wouldn't she want?
"I'll tell you later. Sounds like another soldier is coming", Karin said hearing the footsteps from the hallway again. Orihime nodded and in few seconds the door opened. There was a man holding handcuffs there.
"You, little girl, Aizen wants to see you", he said gesturing Karin to follow him. She heaved a sigh and walked to the man.
"You know, I do have a name", she said annoyedly as she put her hands behind her back when the soldier put the hand cuffs on.
"And what might that be?" the soldier asked and Karin realized she hadn't told her name to any of them.
"It's none of your business", she said smirking. The soldier rolled his eyes and pushed Karin forward. She stumbled on her legs and almost fell.
"HEY! Watch out! I don't want to be rolling down those stairs", she complained to the soldier. He didn't answer, only grabbed a hold of Karin's hands. To the surprise of the black haired freedom fighter they didn't start walking down the stairs but headed up.
On the top of the stairs Ichigo was standing with another soldier. He looked at Karin over his shoulder and smirked without humor.
"I thought I heard your complaining. I have heard it too often", he said and Karin kicked his shin. He glared at the girl but the soldier holding his hands pulled him farther from her.
"Bring them in!" a voice commanded from the room in front of them. Two other soldiers opened the huge doors and Karin and Ichigo were pushed to the room. They both stumbled but managed to regain their balances.
The doors were closed behind them, all of the soldiers remaining in the other side. In front of Karin and Ichigo were two chairs. In front of the chairs were three thrones, the middle one highest of them all. The whole room was white, even the chairs.
"Sit down", same deep voice commanded. Now Karin and Ichigo managed to identify the voice. It belonged to the light brown haired man sitting on the highest throne. Even though neither of the two freedom fighters had never seen him before they knew who he was. Aizen, the only enemy of freedom fighters. And of course his army was enemy too, but he was the main enemy.
When neither Karin nor Ichigo took a step the man spoke again.
"I've been kind to you this far. Unless you want me to change my methods, you really should obey." Aizen was smiling the whole time he was speaking, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. They were cold and calculating.
Karin and Ichigo moved slowly to sit on the chairs. It was somewhat uncomfortable when their hands were tied behind their backs.
"So you are freedom fighters. I'm somewhat surprised. My men seem to be so scared of your little group and in the end you're just a bunch of kids Zaraki has raised", he said looking at the duo amused. Both showed a little surprise on their faces before they managed to regain their poker faces.
"Seems like you didn't know I knew the name of your leader. He has been fighting against me and everyone else I can think of long before the birth of either of you", he explained. He seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Karin looked carefully at the two other men on the thrones on Aizen's sides. One was Tousen whom Karin had met before and the other one was a new face.
He had white-hair a bit similar to Toushiro's and a white outfit like everyone in Aizen's army. He had a creepy smile and his eyes were closed, making him look a bit like a fox.
"I must say I'm surprised about another thing too", Aizen spoke again and Karin returned her eyes to him. He was staring right at her.
"I never would have thought Zaraki would adopt a girl. I thought he wanted only those who are able to fight", he said eyeing Karin curiously. Karin glared at him in return.
"Dad does what he wants. And why couldn't a girl fight?" Ichigo asked causing Aizen to look at him.
"I'm not saying that, though I'm surprised if she is able to beat even a single soldier on her own. And you call Zaraki Dad? That's just a joke", he laughed. Karin growled wanting only to jump to her feet and run to Aizen and hit him in the nose with all the strength she had.
"You want to fight, girl? Well, I guess I'd like to see if there is a reason you're in freedom fighters. Gin, would you call a guard here. And ask another one to bring us some tea", he said turning to the white haired man. He nodded and stood up.
As the man walked past Karin he kept his eye son her the whole time. Even though some instinct in Karin told her to look away she kept her eyes on the man's face.
He opened the door slightly and said something in too quiet voice for Karin to hear. The man on the door nodded and called something over his shoulder. Then her followed Gin to the room.
"Remove the girl's hand cuffs and fight her. I want to see if she's worth being a freedom fighter hostage. If she loses we don't need her", Aizen said as Gin sat back to his seat. The soldier nodded and pulled Karin up from the chair. She bit her lip as she felt the burning in her side reminding that she had most likely some broken ribs.
"Do I throw my sword away or use it too?" the man asked unsheathing his sword after removing the hand cuffs. Karin rubbed her wrists. There were bright red marks in both of them.
"Freedom fighters should be able to fight unarmed against an armed man", Aizen only said. The soldier nodded and took a stance, ready to attack any moment.
Karin glanced at Ichigo shortly and he winked at her. He was the only one in the room who knew how strong Karin really was. Though she was able to see the worry in his eyes. She rolled her eyes assuring to him and looked at her enemy.
Taking a battle stance she gestured the man to attack. Usually a trained soldier wouldn't have attacked, but the soldier in question thought it was going to be an easy fight.
He swung his sword towards Karin's neck and she bent her knees, causing the sword fly over her head. She winced with the pain that radiated form her ribs.
With a quick move she hit the man in the jaw and as he took a step back hit his wrist with her other hand. A loud clang rang around the room as the sword dropped to floor. Karin smirked evilly, noticing that the fight was practically over already.
The soldier took a quick step back surprised. Karin took a step forward, lifting her left leg of the ground. With the speed of her step she jumped forward with her right leg. She crossed her hands behind the neck of the soldier and brought her right knee to his stomach with all the strength she had.
The man fell to the ground holding his stomach. Karin grinned at Ichigo over her shoulder.
"C'mon! You should have beaten him faster than that! I could have beaten him in one move", the orange head teased. Karin laughed, forgetting completely where she was.
"Sure you could, Strawberry", she said. As a lonely clapping sound echoed around the room Karin remember Aizen and his two commanders.
"I must admit you're better than I would have guessed. But I think I know why. I'd recognize that smirk anywhere, did you know that daughter of Zaraki", he said. Karin's eyes widened as she realized Aizen had guessed her identity. Ichigo stoop up from the chair, ready to fight.
"Sit down. You'll get your change to show your skills. I'm not going to hurt the daughter of Zaraki, not yet. She is much more valuable alive than dead", he said looking at Karin with evil look in his eyes. Karin snorted to cover her uncertainty.
"You don't apparently know my father! It's not like having his daughter would help you at all. Weak lose and die, that's the way he works", she said glaring at Aizen. He shrugged.
"Maybe, maybe. But even he should have his father instinct somewhere deep inside him", Aizen said. "Get them back to their rooms, we need to think again about their interrogating", he continued calling the men outside the door. Three soldiers entered, two walking to Karin and Ichigo and one carrying a tray with tea and three cups on it.
The soldier on the ground was ignored completely as a new soldier put the hand cuffs back to Karin and pushed her out of the room. Ichigo was pushed after her.
"This is annoying. I wish they would let me fight, I get bored like this", he sighed to Karin as they walked down the stairs. Karin snorted.
"I wish they would let me not fight. I'm getting tired of being the only one fighting", she said. Neither of them mentioned about what Aizen had discovered but when they exchanged a final glance they had the same worry in their eyes.
"Hello Karin. You seem to be okay. They didn't interrogate you yet, did they?" Orihime asked worriedly when the soldier closed the door behind Karin. She shook her head.
"No, they just made me fight against one guy to prove I am worthy of being a freedom fighter and somehow Aizen realized I'm the daughter of our leader", she said and grimaced as she sat down. Moving around had only made her ribs even more tender.
"Are you really the daughter of Kenpachi? Wow, you don't look that much like him. Maybe it's only good", Orihime chuckled. Karin had to smile a bit.
"You've seen Dad?" Karin asked a bit curious. She knew her father didn't mind being seen by enemy or random people so most of the people only knew him of the freedom fighters.
"Yeah, I met him once when I was smuggling some medical stuff to your village. He is one huge man", she said. Karin chuckled.
"Are you okay by the way? I noticed how you grimaced when you sat down", she continued worriedly sitting down next to Karin.
"I think I've broken a rib or two. It hurts a bit to move my upper body", she answered poking the area around the ribs she thought were broken.
"Let me see! I know some healing spells", Orihime said lifting Karin's shirt. Both of them grimaced as they saw Karin's side. It was like one huge bruise with a bump in the middle where the broken rib was.
"Definitely at least one broken. Maybe the one above it too. I can't heal them completely, but I can shorten the time they'll need to heal", Orihime said inspecting the ribs. She poked the bruise and Karin had to bit her tongue not to yell.
"I'll start healing you right away. If you have a plan to escape I think you should be in the best shape possible", she said moving her hands gently across Karin's ribs and mumbling something so that an orange sphere appeared around her hands.
Karin felt the ribs feel cold and hot at the same time, but then the pain started to ease.
Finally done. I'm sorry it took so long, I barely had time to write it this weekend. My friend was staying over and we stayed up pretty late.
I didn't think I'd get this done today. I had so much homework to do: I had to write an essay in Swedish, do homework for two different math courses, do my physic homework, correct two essays I had written in Finnish and plan the next one. That was all the homework for one day!My teachers seriously try to kill me with work.
Please review! I really appreciate reviews!
Hugs to you people and try to survive your school and homework too! Summer vacation is soon here!