What happens in any discussion is how I think things work in the Bleach universe. If it's wrong, then... I dunno. It's wrong. XD
DISCLAIMER APPLIES. If I owned Bleach, my sister would convince me to make every single girl creep on Ichigo.
"I suspect that, somehow, Karin's inner soul got trapped in ice."
"Karin doesn't have a zanpaku-tou!" Ichigo insisted. "How could she have an inner soul?"
"One does not need to have shinigami powers in order to have an inner soul," Unohana replied. "One only needs to gain a superior spiritual awareness."
"Does that mean that Chad, Ishida, and Inoue all have inner souls?"
"Yes. But those inner souls have no desire to communicate with them; their current powers are sufficient enough." Urahara was scrutinizing the eagle feather placed before the group.
"How would you know that Urahara?" Ichigo demanded.
"They haven't said anything about hearing voices in their head, nor having strange dreams, have they? Ishida is a Quincy anyway; he'd ignore any such call."
The orange-haired teen fell silent. At this, Unohana spoke once more. "I think that the forest of falling leaves is her inner soul. If they can access it as easily as concentrating on it, then it's a good indication it is her inner soul."
"If that's true, how did the eagle get trapped in ice?" Matsumoto asked. "My captain may have an ice-based zanpaku-tou, but..." she trailed off, unable to finish her thought.
"I don't think that the ice that entrapped the eagle in the forest is from Hyourinmaru," Unohana assured her. "But it's something similar."
"Was it Aizen?" Ichigo suggested. "I mean, he seems to know everything about everyone. He must have found out somehow about them."
"He does seem the type of person who would cause trouble just because," Urahara mused. "But I'm not sure it's him. I don't think that Aizen would put this much effort into causing trouble for Hitsugaya."
"You forget, Urahara, that because of this, Captain Hitsugaya is unable to run his division—one of the best run divisions we have. I think that's trouble enough."
"Still, let's not automatically blame Aizen."
"Karin doesn't have an enemy that would be capable of doing this. At least, not at home," Ichigo commented.
"So it's reasonable to think that whoever did this, it's an enemy of Hitsugaya's. This is assuming that whatever caused all this is even a person."
"What are you saying Urahara?" Matsumoto asked.
"It's possible that it could be Hyourinmaru. The ice on this feather isn't ordinary ice." He gestured to the feather. It was still glistening, though it had been out of its entrapment for days already.
"But why would Hyourinmaru want to cause trouble for his master?" Matsumoto demanded. "My captain trusts him."
"Yes, but maybe Hyourinmaru doesn't want his master to be with Karin."
"Or, maybe, it wasn't any sentient being at all," Unohana pointed out. "It could be they both came in contact with the same thing that caused them to be this way. It could have been a Hollow that Aizen sent to the human world, or one that showed up on its own. It may have been a strange side effect of Kurosaki's pressure."
"So it could be like a disease? As if they both touched the same poison ivy, so to speak?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes," Captain Unohana replied.
"So we have three possibilities," Urahara began. "One: it was caused by Aizen or some other enemy."
"Two: it could have been caused by Hyourinmaru or Karin's zanpaku-tou spirit," Matsumoto continued.
"Or three: it was a side affect of something," Ichigo finished.
"Kurosaki, your sister would like to know if you have the things she requested," Isane said, entering the room.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I've got them. Should I give them to you or…?"
"You can take them to her. I'll take you there." Ichigo followed Isane out, leaving the others to discuss whatever else they could come up with.
—x—
"Your brother's here, Karin," Isane announced, stepping aside to let Ichigo in.
"Oh, good. Do you have what I asked for?" Karin stood up and walked over to her brother.
"Yep. Yuzu's pretty worried about you, so she included a card since I told her I can't bring food with me." He handed his sister a package and the scowl lifted from his face for once. Ichigo ruffled her hair. "Don't worry; we're doing what we can to help you. I don't know how much help I am, but they've asked for me to help them."
Karin shrugged and took the bag from her brother. In it, Yuzu had packed three books and her homework. "Looks like lessons begin today Toushirou," she announced, looking over her shoulder at the seated boy behind her.
"Great," he said without feeling. He was speedily (but neatly, Karin noticed) going through his paperwork.
"Do you two like being in here together?" Ichigo asked.
"It's all right," Karin answered, seating herself. "It gets cold though." She snuck a glance at Toushirou, who smirked.
"You manage somehow, I'm sure," he commented, not looking up from his work.
"And he has the tendency to not look at me while he's talking," she said, looking at her brother. "But we're okay here. I just wish I could move about." Karin looked longingly towards the opening Isane had left behind for Ichigo to leave through.
"Sorry, you're stuck here until further notice." He looked at her sympathetically. Ichigo left with a wave, and the door was no more the moment he left.
"Finished," Toushirou announced, placing his last piece of paper on top of the pile. "Now we can begin your lessons."
"Have mercy on me," Karin said weakly. This produced a snort of amusement from him as he pulled her math homework out first. They continued this way for the rest of the afternoon, covering her basic schedule.
When at last they were done for the day, Karin yawned. "I had no idea that school work could make me so tired," she commented.
"Go to sleep, then," Toushirou told her gently. "I'll look over your lessons for tomorrow."
"Thanks Toushirou." She nodded appreciatively, and walked over to her bed. Karin pulled out her night clothes and got onto her bed, closing the curtains. Quickly, she dressed and slipped under the covers.
—x—
She ran down the halls, twisting and sharply turning corners. Her body felt like it was on fire, but that wasn't what was important. Someone else was in deeper trouble. Taking a short glance around her, Karin noticed that she was in the Fourth Division—she could see empty hospital beds in the open rooms.
Skidding, she threw open a door and dashed in. It occurred to her that everything was both smaller and shorter, and that her body didn't feel like a girl's. I must be seeing through Toushirou's eyes again! Karin thought. Then time focused once more and she stared, dumbstruck, at the scene before her.
It was herself, a good decade older in appearance—Karin wasn't fooled for an instant. She was in Soul Society; the woman lying before her could be hundreds of years old with the body of a twenty-five year old. Her future self, as Karin decided to call her, was in a bed and shrieking in pain. Blood was everywhere, and whatever wounds Toushirou had acquired were being made obvious as she felt him move towards the bed.
"Karin, hold on! Someone will come to help you," she insisted, though disturbed by the deep tenor coming from her mouth.
"I… I can't!" the other Karin panted, moaning in pain. She screamed again, and instinctively Toushirou's hand covered her mouth.
"You can't! Hollows are everywhere, and if they hear, they'll kill you all!" Wait, all? What? Karin thought, confused. She took a closer look and discovered that the Karin in the bed was pregnant, and then she realized that the woman must be in labor.
Her hand was shoved off. "Shut up! This hurts more than anything!" she hissed, and wailed again as pain clearly washed over her.
The high-pitched scream of a Hollow echoed through the halls, and Karin whirled around. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," she declared, and unsheathed the sword on her back.
"No, Toushirou…" she heard behind her. Karin couldn't turn to look, because the most gigantic Hollow she had ever seen in her life came crashing through the doorway, and debris went flying everywhere. She leaped; letting out the ice dragon trapped inside the zanpaku-tou in her hands, and attacked the monster.
It howled, but did not slow down. One of its huge hands came crashing down, narrowly missing the female behind her. Karin quickly removed it from its body, in an attempt to stop it. Then a thought occurred to her—where was everyone? Wouldn't Matsumoto, at least, be here with her captain?
She didn't have time to finish wondering about it. The Hollow attacked again, this time swatting at her instead of her future self. But before she could counterattack, another loud scream of pain jarred out, shortly followed by an uncontrollable wail, forcing her to turn.
It was clear that Karin had given birth. The woman was attempting to get up and conduct the birthing techniques Karin knew, but she appeared to be too weak. Am I honestly going to be that helpless when I grow up? Karin thought, raising an inner eyebrow.
She felt herself weaken because of her open wounds, and she most certainly could tell that the woman down below was weakening as well. Karin attacked the Hollow again, trying to fend it off, trying to lure it away from the hospital. Did it follow me here? But she didn't have time to dwell on it, as another huge hand knocked her aside. "NO!" she yelled as she broke through the wall.
Suddenly she was no longer in Toushirou's body, and was instead in the other Karin's. "Toushirou!!" she screamed, feeling her throat tear. The baby in her arms wailed again. Karin saw a sword on the beside table; without a second thought, she grabbed it and unsheathed it. A wave of pain passed through her. I must still be in labor! Karin concluded, and became terrified.
The hand was coming down again, with another howl. Weakly, Karin lifted the zanpaku-tou. Time slowed and sound began to muffle. She saw Toushirou's horrified face, his open mouth that was screaming, and his hand that was trying to reach for her.
"Do you see why?" a deep, throaty voice growled in her ear. A gust of cold wind rushed across Karin's neck. Everything went black in that instant.
—x—
Karin woke up with a bone-chilling scream. Immediately, the curtains were thrown back as Toushirou wrapped his arms around her. She was panting and nothing she was saying made any sense, even to her. Tears felt like spilling, but she refused to let them fall. "I… was so… scared," she managed to let out, gulping for breath.
"Shhh, it's okay, it was just a nightmare," he told her, trying to calm her down. "Nothing in those dreams can hurt you." He held her tighter and ran his hands through her hair. It was soothing, and she felt the hairs on her head begin to stop standing on end.
"I think it was more of a vision," Karin whispered, having calmed down enough to conclude this.
At that moment, one of the walls shattered and people rushed in. Karin saw her brother, Matsumoto, the crazy shopkeeper, Captain Unohana, Isane, what appeared to be a couple of people from the Fourth Division, and some other shinigami she had never seen before.
Toushirou was pulled aside by her brother, and was forced down onto the bed by Ichigo and two of the unknown shinigami. He struggled, demanding to know what was going on, but one of the people holding him down knocked him out with an injection from a needle as Ichigo raised his fist. Karin flailed, shouted, twisting her head and trying to reach for the unconscious boy, but Isane gave her a pitying look and swiftly knocked her out.
-evil laugh- I'm such a masochist. Please review! :3