A/N: I know it's taken me a while to update, but school's back. So it'll take even longer to update the rest. Sorry guys!
Thanks for the favs, alerts and reviews! The more who like this story, the more likely I am to update it before my other stories. Enjoy!
Unwanted Answers
It's strange. Karin has already gone through her thirteenth victim since she started her search for the white-haired Old Blood, and she has yet to come face to face with a deimos. It's not that she's disappointed or anything –she's actually glad that she doesn't have to fight such horrendous creatures– she just finds it odd because whenever she kills a Fake Blood, a pack of deimos would be there in a heartbeat, ready to kill whomever it was that killed their master. She wonders if it's a sign of bad omen.
She quickly dismisses the thought as another Fake Blood comes her way. It's another female and by the looks of it, another slut. Where does the guy find these people? Does he just travel the streets and pick whoever comes in view, offering them power? Or does he hook up with them, placing microchips into them when they least expect it? C'mon! Vampires are supposed to be skilful fighters, not people you see living off the streets.
Fed up with it all, Karin decides to call it quits for the night after killing her fourteenth victim. She's sick and tired of fighting these pointless battles and if the white-haired Old Blood doesn't show up soon, she might just kill him instead of asking him for information.
On her way back home, the girl notices a shadow tailing her. Suspecting it to be another Fake Blood, she sprints the other way, taking a sharp left turn at the next street. She runs and runs until she can no longer run and stops to catch her breath at a nearby park. She knows it is a bad idea to be out in the open, but at this point she has no other choice. She readies her daggers, materializing them into the palm of her hands, and silently waits for the shadow to attack.
When nothing happens, Karin closes her eyes and focuses solely on her present surroundings. If the shadow doesn't want to show itself, then she can simply find it on her own by concentrating on its demonic aura. If she's lucky enough, she can kill it in one shot. If not, she can at least scare it into coming out of its hiding place.
It only takes her a few minutes before she pinpoints its location. The shadow is behind several trees south-west of her current position. But there's something oddly familiar about it. Crisp, cold, and cool. It had to be his demonic aura. Wanting to make sure, Karin throws her daggers and is immediately greeted by pure white hair.
"Nice of you to finally grace me with your presence," she states sarcastically.
He rolls his eyes to her sarcastic remark and unsheathes his sword to greet her neck. The cold metal lifts her head, causing her grey eyes to bear into his. "I wonder what your brother would say if I killed you here and now."
"You wouldn't dare kill me."
She shows no fear when speaking to him, not even a little tremble. Her voice is relaxed, calm, almost inviting. Is it a trick? Something a black widow would do to its prey before consuming it? He doesn't know for certain and thus takes caution.
"And why wouldn't I?"
"Because between you and me, I'm the only one who can help you get your powers back…unless you like having that limiter on as a permanent friendship bracelet."
The Old Blood hisses but says nothing because she's the key to freeing his powers; and unless he does whatever she says, he'll be trapped in a body with little to no strength at all. Forever. And that's something he can't live down. It's bad enough as it already is, being put down by the other council members due to being the youngest Old Blood to have ever been in the Gotei Thirteen. but if they were to find out about his current predicament it would be social suicide.
Taking this as a sign of victory, Karin smirks triumphantly. "That's what I thought."
"And what do you get in return? Surely you didn't just come here to meet me."
She scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself, Old Blood. I just need some answers."
"Answers?" he asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah. The hunters refuse to give me any. So I figured someone as knowledgeable as you might know a thing or two. You have lived for over three hundred years after all, perhaps even more."
So she wants information. It's something he can easily give…if he wants to. It's not like she can tell if he tells her the truth or not. "If they refuse to give you answers, maybe they have their reasons."
"Don't give me that shit! The hunters treat me like a child when I'm sixteen years old. Sixteen years old, damn it! In spite of how young I look, I'm fully capable of understanding many things beyond what any other sixteen year old cannot. Surely you must know how it's like to be treated in such a degrading way?"
And he does know how she feels. It took him one hundred years before they finally allowed him to travel to Hueco Mundo alone and he was three hundred and sixty-seven years old. Maybe he can cut her some slack.
"You are an interesting creature," he says and sheaths his sword. "Although weak, you do not shy away from danger but rather embrace it as if it were a child. Maybe cooperating with you won't be too bad."
She blinks momentarily, surprised to hear him say that, and then grins, taking out her hand. "Name's Kurosaki Karin. What's yours?"
"You want my name?" he asks incredulously, glaring at the hand in front of him. How can she be so calm and friendly in a situation like this? He's supposed to her killer! "You're joking, right?"
"Unless you don't mind me calling you 'snowball' for the remainder of my life."
Snowball? His eye twitches and the Old Blood growls. "Hitsugaya Tōshirō," he answers and begrudgingly shakes her hand.
"Good."
He looks at the raven-haired teen oddly and sighs when she doesn't say a thing. "Are you going to ask me questions or what?" he asks impatiently, wondering if this is going to be a long Q&A session.
She sweatdrops and laughs nervously. "Oh right. The questions." All traces of buffoonery disappear seconds later and the girl looks at him seriously. "How does the Gotei Thirteen benefit by killing me? And why are the Fake Bloods trying so hard to capture me? It just doesn't make sense!"
"You don't even know that much?"
She shakes her head. "Didn't I already tell you that they refuse to tell me anything?"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tōshirō whispers, "What are you thinking, Urahara Kisuke?" and leans on a nearby guardrail. When she doesn't follow, he motions her to sit beside him because he knows that no matter how mature she may seem, she'll need to lean on something when he gives her the answers she seeks. "Kurosaki, do you at least know about Luca and your bloodline?"
She nods. "I'm a descendant of Luca, the Demon Lord's right hand man and the leader of the Seven Sinful Demons, the Demon Lord's private Old Blood generals. Because of that, I'm much stronger than the average half-breed and can match up to most Black Bloods under one hundred and fifty years old."
"What about the history behind Reficul's generals?"
Another nod. "Reficul created his generals by handpicking seven humans and then transforming them into vampires, using his demonic powers to instil their strongest sin as their power. They blindly obeyed him, leaving destruction in their wake, until Luca realized that what they were doing was wrong. Mercilessly killing humans. Destroying lands. Burning homes. It was all pointless. And so to stop their creator from destroying their world, Luca tricked the Demon Lord and sealed him for all eternity, sacrificing his own life to make the seal. It's said that only offering Luca's body and soul will undo the seal."
"At least she know that much," he mumbles.
Hearing him perfectly, she glares at him. "Okay, so I know some history. What does this have to do with me being the target? It's not like I'm Luca or anything. I'm just his descendant."
"You're wrong about that. You are Luca…or to be more precise, his embodiment. If the Fake Bloods get their hands on you, this world is finished. That's why I was sent here. The Gotei Thirteen knew you were a threat and so they sent me to eliminate you before it was too late."
"That's impossible!" she yells, getting up. "Sure he's my ancestor and I guess I sort of look like him but that doesn't mean I'm his incarnation. I'm my own person and no one else. I don't even possess a shred of his powers. Y-you're lying!"
That's just perfect. He tells her the truth and the girl thinks he's lying. Maybe he should have done her a favour and lied instead.
"Haven't you wondered why I felt so familiar and yet different at the same time? Why you don't feel as uneasy around me as you do with those Fake Bloods?"
"T-that's just because—"
"I'm a descendant of Bellum, one of the generals under Luca's command. It's said that my ancestor was his right hand man. So you do the math."
It explains a lot now. Why he felt so familiar? Why he probably saved her? Heck, it also explained why Urahara's men treated her like thrash. Why they were afraid of her? And why they liked to challenge her to a duel to the death? They tried to kill her.
"I answered your questions. Now release this seal," he demands, raising his arm in front of her, but she ignores him and takes off.
It's too much for her to handle; too much for her to process. She's not Luca-reincarnated, sacrificing her will not break the seal placed on the Demon Lord and killing her will not bring peace to the world. It's just wishful thinking.
If they refuse to give you answers, maybe they have their reasons.
The Old Blood's words echo in her mind and Karin realizes he's right. The reason why Urahara didn't say anything was because he knew she wasn't ready to hear it. But stupid her, she just had to know the truth. She just had to.
Karin quickly shakes the thought away and tries to concentrate on something else. But no matter what she thinks about, it always comes back to that one thing: She is Luca's embodiment.
"I am not his incarnation!" she shouts in frustration. "I am not—"
A hand suddenly grabs her by the wrist and throws her against the wall. Her body makes an indent and blood spews out of her mouth.
"For Luca's embodiment to have run right into me," says a husky male voice. "This must be my lucky day."
Luca's embodiment. Again with those words. She can't take it anymore and finally snaps. Even if she can't run away from the truth, she can still kill whoever it is that is trying to make her remember those awful words.
"You may have caught me off guard once, but don't get cocky." Her words are as deadly as venom. "I'm in a bad mood right now, and you just made it worst."
She quickly materializes her knives and throws it at her opponent. The man swiftly moves out of the way and before she has the chance to materialize some more, the man pins her to the wall with one hand on her arm and the other on her neck.
"Did you really think you had a chance against an Old Blood like me?" The man smiles sadistically and digs his nails into her skin. "Although I need you to be alive, you'll need to be half-dead first."
Karin struggles to free herself but to no avail. The Old Blood before her is too powerful and the pain is too great. If she's to survive this, she would need a miracle.
As if right on cue, a long sword is swung, separating the man and the girl, and Karin falls to the ground, clutching her throat while she coughs out more blood.
"Nice of you to join us, Hitsugaya," says the man.
Tōshirō narrows his gaze and growls. "Stay away from her lest you want to get hurt."
The man laughs. "Do you really think you're a match against me when you're wearing that atrocious thing? This'll be child's play." Before either of them can say a thing, the man is already behind the boy. "Die."
In a matter of seconds, Tōshirō finds himself on the ground with a large gash to his chest and several puncture wounds to his back. He clutches the chest wound and attempts to get back up but falls as soon as he moves.
More afraid for his life than hers, Karin materializes some daggers and prepares to throw them at him when she suddenly hears, "You're no match for him… Just run…"
"I'm not going to abandon you."
She has a plan and although it has plenty of flaws, she's willing to try anything at the moment. Mentally preparing herself, she starts to randomly throw various numbers of daggers at the man in front of her. The man manages to block all of them except for one, and without hesitation, she snaps her fingers and watches as the dagger vanishes into the man's flesh and then explodes. He clutches his shoulder and is surprised by her strength. With only one dagger, she blew his arm off.
"You amuse me, half-breed. To think that someone as weak as you managed to pierce through my defences like that." He laughs and disappears from their sight. "I'll come back to take you later."
The moment he leaves, Karin lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and turns her attention to the Old Blood on the ground. Materializing another dagger, she cuts her finger and lets a drop fall on the jewel of the bracelet. It glows a deep purple before crumbling into dust.
"What are you…doing?" he asks, breathing as hard as ever.
"I'm keeping my part of the deal, of course. But having your powers back is worthless if you're going to die. Here." She lifts her sleeve to show him her wrist. It's pale, just like the rest of her skin. "You'll need to drink some blood if you're to live another day."
He turns his head away, refusing to drink. "I'd rather die than drink from another."
Did she just hear that right? He, a bloodsucking vampire, refuses to drink blood? Has the world gone mad?
"Don't be an idiot! Just drink the damn blood!"
He looks at the wrist with disgust like a child being forced to eat his vegetables and stubbornly looks away. "I said…I don't want to! Now get…out of my sight!"
"You're so infuriating! If you're not going to drink it, then I'll make you."
Frustrated, Karin cuts her wrist and let's a few drops of blood drop into his mouth. It's hard for him to resist the temptation but before long, the taste overpowers his control and the boy snaps. With eyes red as blood, the Old Blood hungrily attacks the cut, sucking like there's no tomorrow.
Karin moans in pain as she feels her strength fade away but is content when she sees the wounds on his chest heal. "Okay, Tōshirō. You can stop now."
Her words are nothing more but a fading sound. All he can concentrate on is sucking her delectable blood.
"I said stop it!" she yells and attempts to pull her wrist away but to no avail. The Old Blood is just too strong and her strength is fading fast. "Tōshirō, stop it! Y-you're killing me…" Her vision blurs as he continues to drink and her strength fails her even more. She can feel her veins dry up as she drifts further into darkness. "Please…before…it's…too…"
The Old Blood has never tasted such sweet and chilled blood before. He wants to stop, but he can't fight the temptation. All he hears is the blood begging him to clean her dry.
"Hitsugaya-kun! Get a hold of yourself!" a woman scolds and whacks him hard against the head. He finally snaps out of it and looks at the girl's body. She is deathly pale and if he doesn't do a thing soon she will surely die.
"What the hell?"
"Idiot! What did you do?"
Turning to the sound of the voice, the white-haired Old Blood sees a tanned woman with long purple hair dressed in a black sleeveless jumpsuit. "Shihōin? What are you—"
"Forget about why I'm here," she interrupts. "You're coming with me and be careful with Karin-chan."
"As if I'd—"
"I hate it when you people do it the hard way."
Even with his newly awakened strength, he's no match for the Flash Goddess herself and is thus knocked out cold before he can move an inch. She throws the boy over her shoulder and grabs Karin bridal-style before heading over to the Bloody Rose Headquarters.
When Tōshirō wakes up a few hours later, he finds himself inside an old rundown shop, chained by power limiters, and Karin's body lying behind him. He doesn't know why, but a sigh of relief leaves his lungs when he sees that her skin has some of its colour back.
"How can you be so stupid?" Yoruichi yells as she slams her fists on the table in front of her. "Do you realize what you just did? Not only did you tell her what was going on, but you drank her blood!"
Turning to the sound of her voice a second time that night, Tōshirō sees Shihōin Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke sitting before him. "It's not like I had any choice in the matter," he says, defending himself. "She's the one that forced me to drink her blood. Besides, it's not like she died or anything. You managed to stop me in time. So no harm done."
"No. Harm. Done?" she asks, seething every word with more venom than the last.
"Relax, Yoruichi," says Kisuke in a soothing voice.
Yoruichi closes her eyes, takes a few deep breaths, and quietly sits down.
"Listen, Hitsugaya-kun. You've done more damage than you can possibly think of. Although it's true that Karin is Luca's embodiment, she doesn't have an ounce of his powers. So even if she was captured by the Fake Bloods, the seal wouldn't have recognized her as Luca's true embodiment and so Reficul would not have been revived. But because you, a descendant of one of Luca's men, drank from her directly, you loosened the lock that bound those powers."
"Hold on a second. Her powers were bound? How the hell did that happen?" Tōshirō wonders.
"The human blood that coursed through her veins was strong enough to prevent her from attaining any of Luca's powers. But when you drank her blood, you weakened her human-half and gave strength to her vampire-half. Now, Karin will have to go through a painful process of slowly gaining some, if not all, of Luca's powers. And that in itself could mentally kill her, changing her into a mindless bloodsucker with no control over what she does. Then we'd have no other choice but to kill her."
"You know," Yoruichi adds. "For someone who's supposed to be a young prodigy, you're an idiot!"
Upset, the white-haired Old Blood growls. "How the hell was I supposed to know that? No one ever tells me anything."
"Well then, maybe you should have done your job right."
"So you wouldn't have cared if I killed her?" he retorts.
"Of course I would have cared! In fact, I would have stopped you before you even laid a finger on her. But do you realize how much pain you're going to put her through, not to mention that now if she gets captured by Aizen the world will be doomed! What the hell is the Gotei Thirteen thinking? It's only been a few centuries since I left and this is what it has come to?" Irritated, Yoruichi pinches the bridge of her nose. "Idiots!"
Amused by her reactions, Kisuke merely smiles mischievously. "You do know what that means, right?"
She sighs. "So there's no other way, huh?"
He probably knows he will regret this, but asks, "What are you talking about?"
Both Kisuke and Yoruichi momentarily stare at each before turning to him with Chesire Cat-like grins and answer, "You, Hitsugaya Tōshirō, will have to be her protector."
"WHAT?"