Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. I do, however, own this story.
Love Conquers All
Chapter 16: Pride
To say that the atmosphere inside Kuukaku Shiba's dining room was incredibly tense would be a massive understatement.
The Kuchiki siblings were staring daggers at an utterly unfazed Gin, who was also being pinned in an intense gaze by Matsumoto; he made up his mind to talk to her later, alone and away from prying eyes. Ichigo and Grimmjow had slipped back into their old rivalry and were exchanging fighting words, while Shunsui and Jushiro looked like they'd just lost a parent. Kuukaku seemed like she was going to lash out at the next person stupid enough to piss her off, and had her eyes on the back of Byakuya's head like she could bore through it with her gaze. The rest of the Soul Reapers ate in an uneasy silence, and as soon as the meal was over the small crowd split up and went their separate ways.
As he saw a head of auburn hair moving swiftly down the hall, Ulquiorra hastened to catch up with it and spoke.
"Orihime."
Inoue stopped dead in her tracks, surprised that not only had Ulquiorra taken it upon himself to approach her, but he had also called her by her name. Steadying herself and turning around, the healer was even more surprised to see that the former Arrancar almost looked nervous.
"I know that no amount of apology will make up for the time you spent in Las Noches as a prisoner," he said, "but for what it is worth, I am sorry for the part I took in your troubles."
A leaf could have knocked Orihime over in that moment, but she regained her calm and replied.
"Why are you apologizing, Ulquiorra?" she asked, her voice perfectly sincere. "You were just doing what you had to do; it's not like you could have disobeyed Aizen's orders."
Schiffer raised a skeptical eyebrow. Humans really were an odd species.
"You're not angry with me?"
Inoue shrugged.
"If there's one thing my experiences have taught me," she spoke, in a rare moment of sagacity, "it's that life is too short to waste your time being angry. You apologized, I forgave you; it's water under the bridge, no?"
Ulquiorra nodded curtly. That had gone much better than he had anticipated; memories of that one smack she had given him still sat in the back of his mind.
"Thank you."
With that the former Arrancar flashed away, leaving Orihime to wonder what had gotten into her one-time enemy as she walked down the hallway and turned into her room.
Kuukaku Shiba sat in the main room ruminating, plotting the most effective and painful way to have vengeance on Byakuya Kuchiki for what he had done to her, all of those years ago. The prodigious amount of sake probably had something to do with it, but she had rationalized her binge at the time by telling herself that she needed to get the fluttering out of her heart. Even after all of this damn time, he still got to her. The woman felt the other presence enter the room and stiffened, but when she recognized whom it was she relaxed.
"You still haven't talked to him, I take it?" Urahara asked, sitting down across from his old friend and helping himself to some tea from the pot that rested on the small table between them. Kuukaku glared at him.
"What do you think, Kisuke? That bastard can go rot in Hueco Mundo, for all I care."
Urahara studied his friend's face intently in the glimmering candlelight for a few moments. When he found what he was looking for, his lips curled upwards and he chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Shiba asked, an edge to her voice as sharp as any zanpakuto. Rather than intimidate him, though, this gesture just caused Kisuke's smile to grow wider.
"You still love him, don't you?"
It wasn't a question. As the words hung in the air, Kuukaku's expression changed from hard to surprised, then to flustered, defensive, back to murderous, and then settled on a very stern glare.
"Don't be ridiculous. That bastard broke my heart; why would I still care about him?"
"You can say that as many times as you want, Kuukaku," Urahara answered, "but in the end it'll only make you more miserable. Talk to him."
Kuukaku crossed her arms and her sea-green eyes stared deep into Kisuke's placid gray ones.
"Give me one good reason why I should."
"Because if you don't go to Byakuya, he'll come to you. Would you rather take the offensive, or be put on defensive?"
Shiba ground her teeth for a good ten seconds before giving in with a huff.
"Remind me why I listen to you again, Kisuke?"
The Captain smiled warmly, getting up and taking his teacup with him.
"I'm the genius, remember?" he said, before winking a gleaming eye and disappearing.
Eventually Kuukaku rose as well, stretching and realizing that she wasn't tired at all. Either the tea was stronger than she thought, or something Kisuke had told her put life back into her torpid limbs. In any event, she wasn't about to go to sleep any time soon and Kuukaku Shiba had never dealt well with idleness. As she stood there, the fireworks expert and former noble felt the faintest hint of Byakuya's reiatsu hovering nearby, as if it was calling out to her. Wavering for all of five seconds, Kuukaku made up her mind and followed it like a trail of breadcrumbs, eventually winding up in her backyard, a massive rolling expanse of green with flowers lining its borders.
In the middle of the field, cross-legged and with his back facing her, was Byakuya Kuchiki.
He had eschewed his haori and was clad in a simple black kimono, his dark hair free of its usual constraints and flowing down to slightly past his shoulders. A wreath of something white that looked almost like bone crowned his head, and in the moonlight he looked almost ethereal. Forcing herself to remain calm, Kuukaku walked towards her old flame and was about to sit beside him when an odd voice called out to her. It was his, but at the same time it wasn't.
"Now would not be a good time to talk, Lady Shiba," the voice said, sounding like a tornado that was being barely contained and gnawing against its restraints.
"I am not myself."
Kuukaku almost let fear stop her stride, but she crushed that pitiful emotion like a bug and continued to approach him.
"That makes it a good time," she countered. "Unless you're afraid of letting your armor down around me."
"That has nothing to do with it," Byakuya half-growled, his hands gripping his kimono hard enough to rip it.
Truth be told, he was more than a little afraid. Kuukaku's headstrong attitude had been one of the reasons he had been drawn to her in the first place. In his Vizard state, however, Byakuya found that his long-dormant competitive side became dominant. There was no telling how hard he would push back if she goaded him now, and knowing Kuukaku, that was exactly what she was going to do. Kuchiki was jolted out of his reverie by the sound of someone sitting down next to him, and turned his head to see Shiba's profile staring up at the moon. When she didn't speak for several moments, he turned back and closed his dark yellow and black eyes, resuming his meditation.
Kuukaku had felt Byakuya's strange eyes on her, and it had taken every ounce of her willpower to keep from shivering. What had happened to him? Shoving the fear from her mind yet again, the woman softly asked a single, loaded question.
"Why did you do it?"
Kuchiki knew exactly what she was talking about, but it was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now.
"Do what?" he asked, hoping his attempt at stonewalling her would make Kuukaku shut up.
He should have known better. Grabbing him by the shoulders, Shiba turned the noble towards her and shook him with such force that the shock to his system jolted him out of his Vizard state.
"What do you mean, 'do what', you arrogant piece of shit?" she shouted. "You know exactly what, Byakuya! Why did you jilt me on our goddamn wedding day?!"
The pain caused by that question was even more excruciating than when Shinso had pierced him right above his heart, and if Byakuya hadn't been sitting he would have reeled backwards. The memories of that morning, and the conversation with Kaien Shiba, were still as fresh in his mind as if they'd happened the day before.
"They're going to what?"
"I know, I know," Kaien said, holding his palms out defensively. "Trust me, Kuchiki; I find this as repulsive as you do. I tried to get my old men to listen to reason, but they still insisted that they would disinherit my sister if the two of you went through with this. They keep bringing up our 'past history' as a reason, as if that bullshit even matters any more."
Byakuya wanted to rip the throats out of every single Shiba elder. The 'history' they were referring to was a feud that had erupted between the two clans' heads ages ago, and had never been resolved. Byakuya's grandfather had tried to mend the wound, only to be shot down by both the elders of his clan and the irascible head of the Shiba. Byakuya was inclined to just forget the whole thing, as was Kaien, the current head, but it seemed as though the elders just couldn't let the sleeping dog lie. Too frustrated to speak, Kuchiki let out a seething sigh.
"Kuukaku is going to murder me when she finds out about this," he said sadly, subconsciously fingering the silver band that rested on his ring finger. "Even though it's for her benefit, she'd never understand…"
"I could try talking to her about it, if you wanted me to. Then again, I'm her brother, so who knows whether or not she'd listen to me."
"No," Byakuya insisted, with a little more vehemence than he'd intended. "No, you can't tell her. If she knew why I was doing it, she'd hate me even more. I can hear her know: 'I don't need your pity, you horse's ass! Who do you think I am, some shrinking violet?'"
Kaien gave a bitter chuckle.
"Maybe she would say that," he admitted, "but I personally think that's a risk you should take. She's going to need some reason, Kuchiki."
"Let her think what she wants of me," Byakuya replied. "As long as her name and security are retained, she can think of me as the most worthless piece of scum in Soul Scoiety and I won't care."
The Shiba head raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Are you sure about that, Byakuya?" he asked, using his first name for added effect. Kuchiki glared at him for a moment before relenting, his slate-colored eyes weary.
"I have no choice," he said, as much to himself as to Kaien. "Someone like her deserves to live a good life, and I know that even if I were to take her into my house, those old bastards I call my elders would never accept her if she was cast out of your clan."
Shiba paused for a moment before saying anything; he had never seen Byakuya this emotional or expressive before since he'd become head of the Kuchiki Clan; clearly, this whole thing had him much more distressed than he wanted to let on.
"You really do love her, don't you?"
Byakuya nodded sadly.
"Enough to let her go."
Kaien sighed, this whole thing was really killing his normally cheery mood. He had to get out of here and back to Miyako before he started writing laments in haiku and drinking heavily.
"Well, I'm sure it'll work out someday, my friend," he reassured the upset noble. "Until then, though, at least try to be happy. I'm sure that's what my sister would want, even if she would never admit it."
Byakuya shrugged.
"I'm going to go drown my sorrows in sake," he said, turning around and walking away as his scarf flapped in the wind.
"You want a wingman?" Kaien offered, shivering at the thought of what a drunk, heartbroken Byakuya Kuchiki would be capable of. Considering it for a moment, Kuchiki nodded.
"A spotter would be nice," he said. "As much as I'd love to drink myself into oblivion right now, I doubt that would make people in my household very happy."
"I'd say that's a safe assumption to make," Kaien said awkwardly, and the two of them left to go get absolutely sloshed.
It had been the third night of Byakuya's binge when, sitting on a corner with his clothes in disarray and breath reeking of sake, he had met the only other woman to be able to see through his façade besides Kuukaku:
Hisana.
She had taken him in, ignorant of his identity, and Byakuya saw in her the exact opposite of the woman he had left behind. Eager to leave the pain Kuukaku's memory instilled in him behind, Kuchiki had made overtures to his Good Samaritan and they were promptly accepted. But what began as a desperate lifeline, the epitome of a rebound relationship, slowly and unexpectedly turned into something genuine. Byakuya and Hisana grew closer and closer, thanks in no small part to Hisana's gentle persistence. She might have been the exact opposite of Kuukaku, but because of that Byakuya had dropped his guard completely. Hisana succeeded in slowly but surely carving out a place in his heart, and the rest, as they say, is history.
As Byakuya finished another story he swore he would never tell, he looked over to see Kuukaku staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. At least she hadn't smacked him yet, something Byakuya tallied up as a point in his favor.
"You are such an idiot," she said after another moment had passed. "What makes you think I would care so much about my standing?"
Byakuya frowned; she could be so bullish at times it was infuriating.
"Consider what would have happened had I died in the line of duty, Kuukaku. Where would you have gone, with no port in the storm once my Clan kicked you out and your own House refused to take you in?"
Shiba grit her teeth, refusing to let Kuchiki win this argument.
"I would have made do."
Byakuya chucked sadly.
"Someone such as yourself deserves far better than just 'making do', Lady Shiba."
A silence sat between them for some time, until Kuukaku broke it with another loaded question.
"So… do you still love her?"
Byakuya sighed, looking up at the full moon and wondering for a moment what it would be like up there.
"A part of my heart always will," he admitted. "The rest of it, however, remains with you."
"Really?" Kuukaku was skeptical of that claim, to say the least. She had heard through Yoruichi about the time Byakuya and Hisana had spent together; five years was more than long enough to forget someone.
To answer her question, Byakuya wordlessly reached into his kimono and pulled out a small, delicate chain that hung around his neck. At the bottom of the chain rested a silver ring, and Kuukaku's breath caught in her throat. She had one just like it in a box she had locked away in her room and sworn never to open again:
It was their engagement ring.
"You kept it?" she asked, stunned.
"It has never left me since that day," Kuchiki answered, his voice soft and earnest; it was as vulnerable as Shiba had ever heard it.
"But what about your time with Hisana?"
"She understood," Byakuya replied. "She was a very… empathetic person. Hisana accepted that there were people I would never let go of, and agreed to live with me in spite of that. Had you met, I think you might've liked her."
Kuukaku chuckled.
"I don't think I would have given her a chance," she said. "My fist has a bad habit of acting on its own sometimes."
"I know," Byakuya replied, chuckling in kind and rubbing a scar on his chin that had been left there by a particularly potent punch many years ago.
Kuukaku decided to swallow her grudge and take the plunge, wrapping her good arm around Byakuya's shoulders. When he didn't shrug her off, she leaned into him and sighed. There was something about him that was magnetic; his quiet strength, regal bearing and determination to fight tooth-and-nail for those he cared about combined to make the Captain an almost irresistible person. It was just his emotional armor that kept the hordes at bay, that barrier that a select few had penetrated and that even fewer had seen let down without demanding it. Now, just inches from his calmly-beating heart, Kuukaku remembered why she had fallen for him in the first place, and promised herself that she wasn't going to let him leave her like a total moron a second time.
"The moon is lovely tonight," he mused, and Shiba could only mumble her agreement. The breeze danced gently around them, and Kuukaku almost hated to interrupt the moment, but there was one last thing she needed to know.
"What was with your eyes back there, Byakuya?"
Kuchiki sighed; talk about an unpleasant topic. Then again, Kuukaku had never been one for decorum.
"That is a… long story."
"I don't mind," she replied, resting her head on Byakuya's shoulder. "We've got plenty of time."
Several minutes later, a flash went off over the now-sleeping pair and Urahara pocketed his camera with a mischievous grin. This was such good blackmail material, it was ridiculous.
He was never getting punched in the face by Kuukaku Shiba again, that was for sure.
Matsumoto was half-asleep and struggling with old dreams when she heard light footfalls enter her room. She didn't even need to sense his palpable reiatsu; Rangiku could tell from the sound of those footsteps alone that Gin had finally decided to show up. Those careful, deliberate steps had sounded sweeter than the harps of angels when she had been pining for his return all of those years ago, but now she wasn't sure what to think of her best friend. When silence had hung in the air for several heartbeats, Matsumoto rolled over onto her back and spoke, staring up at the ceiling.
"What do you want, Gin?"
Ichimaru sat down in a chair, tacitly admiring the way the moonlight illuminated her prone form. This wasn't the emaciated, crescent-moon light of Las Noches, either; this was a brilliant full moon, and its rays enveloped her like a celestial shroud. She looked like some kind of heavenly being, and for a moment Gin felt blasphemous sitting in the same room as her. Determined to ease at least some of the guilt from his heart, the former Captain got up and shuffled quietly over to Rangiku's bedside. Looking down at her with open eyes, he spoke in the most remorseful voice Matsumoto had ever heard him use.
"You'll never forgive me, will you?"
Rangiku rolled over to look up at Gin, and was about to tell him off when her eyes met his and her tongue decided to stop working altogether.
The moonlight that his body was keeping from falling upon her was framing him now instead, and Matsumoto felt rational thought seeping languorously from her head as she looked up at her oldest friend. His silver hair had gained the appearance of a halo, and his sharply defined facial features softened in the light. His eyes gleamed in their sockets like lustrous rubies, and it was only by forcing herself away from their hypnotic gaze that she was able to think again. Swallowing back the words of forgiveness that were all but clawing at her tongue to spring free, Matsumoto hoped that there were not tears in her eyes to betray her as she spoke.
"No," she choked out, not daring to look at Ichimaru's face in that moment. "I might be able to forgive you for your crimes against Soul Society, some day," Rangiku continued, "but the fact still remains that, when push came to shove, you chose him over me. That, Gin, is something I'll never be able to forgive you for."
She expected her friend to curse, or sigh, or do something emotional, followed by storming out of the room, but he didn't budge. Drawing in a ragged breath, he spoke grimly.
"Look me in the eyes and say that, Ran. If you can do that," the former Captain finished, "I'll walk out of that door and you'll never see me again."
Matsumoto felt the stone shell around her heart cracking, and she hated herself for it. When she tried to pass that hatred off onto Gin, though, she found that she couldn't. Why not? It should have been the most natural reaction in the world, and yet all Rangiku felt was a piercing sense of self-loathing. As she looked up into those garnet orbs again, and saw the shattered innocence that lay hidden deep within them, Matsumoto finally realized why she felt the way she did.
All of these years, she had been almost subconsciously blaming herself for letting Gin fall into evil. If only she'd said something else, or done something different to get him to stay beside her, maybe this whole story wouldn't have turned out so screwed up in the end. Maybe he would still be the cheery, albeit introverted, kid she had known, instead of this battle-scarred, borderline sociopathic warrior who had turned his back on her, and everything their bond had represented. Unable to hold back a few bitter tears, Rangiku cursed her weakness with every fiber of her being even as she began to tremble lightly under the crushing weight of her guilt.
Matsumoto barely felt the weight of her friend join her on the bed, and the feeling of his fingers tracing light, gentle lines through her hair felt like the touch of a gentle breeze in the middle of an arid desert. When he leaned his head down and whispered, his voice was more soothing than even the most potent of Captain Unohana's healing kido.
"It's all right, Ran," he breathed. "Let it out. It's not your fault…"
Slowly but surely all of her wracking sobs came to the surface and ebbed from Rangiku like a receding tide, and Gin never left her side once. Using his kimono's sleeve to wipe Matsumoto's tears from her face with a tenderness that surprised even him, Ichimaru let his hand trail idly down his friend's cheek as her eyes fluttered and closed. As exhaustion finally claimed Rangiku, Gin rose and began to leave the room until a thought stopped him in his tracks. If he left now, and wasn't there when she woke up, he might very well be gambling the unexpected ground he had just gained. Turning back around, Gin plucked a book from a nearby shelf and sat down by Rangiku's bedside. He read by moonlight until sleep claimed him as well and he slumped over, silver hair hanging messily about his face as he slept. Every so often, Gin would emit a soft snore that brought the ghost of a smile to Rangiku's lips.
Yoruichi woke up with a start, her eyes snapping open as her hands clenched reflexively around Saika's waist. The slumbering demon prince groaned and shifted in his sleep, but he did not wake. The golden-eyed princess detached herself carefully but rapidly from her partner, changing swiftly into her cat form so that she could sprint to the bathroom without making too much of a ruckus. Once she was there, Yoruichi reassumed her normal shape and lurched over the porcelain bowl, unceremoniously vomiting up her dinner. After she had gotten over the initial shock of such an unexpected action, Shihoin slumped against the opposite wall and sat down on the cold tile floor. Putting one hand on her temple, she turned her sharp mind to the task of figuring out why the hell that had just happened. Kuukaku's cooking was the polar opposite of Orihime Inoue's, and as far as she could tell no one else had been suffering from pangs of indigestion that night. So why had she awoken so abruptly?
Her stomach growled viciously and Yoruichi braced her other hand against it in a vain attempt to calm it down. As it lingered there for a few more moments, though, the princess felt something that made her eyes almost pop clear out of her head.
There was another reiatsu signature inside of her abdomen, one that felt suspiciously like a combination of her own spiritual energy and Saika's. As her slightly foggy brain put two and two together, Yoruichi didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or bawl tears of joy.
She was pregnant.
Quickly rising to her feet, the golden-eyed princess padded back into the room as fast as she could on her normal pair of legs and moved smoothly over to Saika's side of the bed, prodding him insistently.
"Psst, Sai!" she hissed. "Wake up!"
"Whuzza… Yoru? Whatssa matter?" he mumbled through his lethargic haze, wondering why he had been shoved awake at such an ungodly hour.
Yoruichi had to fight hard to keep from spilling the beans right then and there; she wanted to stretch it out for a bit, if only to make that look on his face when he found out all the more shocked.
"Can you tell anything different about me?" she asked, her hands hovering restlessly over her hips.
Aron sniffed the air tentatively and cringed.
"You smell like puke?" he said bluntly, and the princess shot him a glare.
"What else do you notice, blockhead?"
Saika flashed his orange eye pleadingly at his loved one.
"Can I get a hint, Yoru?"
Yoruichi took one of his hands and placed it on her sternum, slowly trailing it downwards until it rested squarely on her abdomen. By the time his hand reached its destination, Saika was so thoroughly in tune with his loved one's reiatsu that the difference stuck out to him like a rose in the middle of a cluster of dandelions. His eyes went wide with shock, an emotion that soon gave way to stunned wonder as he met Yoruichi's ecstatic golden eyes with his equally vibrant orange one.
"You're pregnant?" he whispered, with reverential awe. The Shihoin princess flashed her widest feline grin and nodded, a gesture that seemed to rouse Saika out of his trance. Laughing joyously, he gently lifted Yoruichi back into the bed and wrapped her in his arms, the two of them lost in their happiness.
Yachiru felt the presence of her Captain behind her and stiffened as she waited for a scolding of some kind. When none came, however, she relaxed.
"I was wondering how long it would take you," Kenpachi said, his voice unusually serious.
"Why did you choose now?"
Yachiru kept her gaze focused out into the distance, and sighed.
"I was tired of being dead weight, Captain. In that fight against Nnoitra, I…"
The light but insistent pressure of Zaraki's rough, calloused hand on her shoulder made Yachiru's voice fall still, and she looked up to lock gazes with her Captain.
"First thing's first," he said, "what happened in that fight with Nnoitra was in no way your fault. Hell, even I had a bit of trouble with that bastard, and that was before he went all batshit-demon-insane."
Yachiru chuckled despite herself, but Kenpachi wasn't fnished.
"Second," he continued, "I can respect your choice if you made it because you want to be more useful in the upcoming battles, but if the only reason you did it was to get rid of some guilt complex you have, I'ma chase you around and fight you nonstop until you change back. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir, Captain Zaraki." Yachiru said firmly and with a smile, but Kenpachi's frown remained in place.
"Which brings me to my final point," he finished. "You aren't really my subordinate, so stop acting like it. The next time you call me 'Captain Zaraki,' I'm giving your spot to Ikkaku."
Yachiru's smile grew even wider.
"Whatever you say, Ken-chan," she replied, and Zaraki let out a rumbling chuckle.
"That's my girl," he said with as much affection as his voice allowed, patting her on the head. "Now go get some rest," he finished sternly. "We've got some big days ahead of us, I can tell."
His Lieutenant nodded sharply and sped off, her running still as freakishly fast as always despite her change in form. Zaraki smiled; it was going to be all kinds of interesting adapting to the new Yachiru. But his mind quickly turned away from that, and focused on something much more immediate and captivating:
Kenpachi Zaraki had found himself an opponent, and it wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki. No, this time his zanpakuto, Muramasa, would clash with the one-and-only Senbonsakura. The Eleventh Division Captain had seen the raw power of Byakuya Kuchiki's Hollow form, and Zaraki knew that if there was one foe who could provide him with a fresh challenge for his recently-christened zanpakuto, it was the Sixth Division Captain. They were going to go all-out tomorrow, and if Byakuya proved himself worthy the Kenpachi might even show the noble his bankai.
Toshiro couldn't sleep. The last time he had been hit by insomnia so crippling had been the night before the first assault on Seireitei, but this time it wasn't nervous anxiety that kept him awake.
It was disgust.
Disgust at his failure to protect Momo from Aizen, and disgust at the fact that he, not the traitorous Captain, had been the one to end her life. Suddenly, the Captain's haori on his back felt like a gigantic lead weight. Yanking it off, Hitsugaya tossed it angrily into the corner, where it sat limply against the wall.
Stop it, child.
Hyorinmaru's voice was as chilly as always, but for some reason Toshiro didn't feel comforted by its presence. The rage that had coiled in his soul was expanding slowly outwards, its heat rushing through the young Captain's veins and making his heart pound even faster.
"Shut up…" he growled, his anger shifting its focus to the zanpakuto that had performed the deed. If Hyorinmaru had warned him earlier, then maybe he wouldn't have acted so suddenly. Why hadn't his zanpakuto helped him? It was supposed to be part of his soul, right? What had it been thinking?!
Hyorinmaru saw what was coming, and tried desperately to calm his grieving master down.
Toshiro, don't do this. You cannot afford to lose my power, not now!
Unfortunately for the celestial zanpakuto, these words did not calm Hitsugaya back into a rational state of mind. Instead, they achieved the exact opposite effect.
"Your power?" Toshiro spat angrily. "You mean the power that let me stab Momo, the power that skewered her like a piece of meat? I can do perfectly fine without that power, thank you very much!"
Stabbing Hyorinmaru into the nearby wall, the Captain pulled as hard as he could and snapped the blade in two.
For a normal Soul Reaper, such as Renji Abarai, Mayuri Kurotsuchi or even Ichigo Kurosaki, having their zanpakuto shattered was not cataclysmic. Toshiro Hitsugaya's degree of affinity with his zanpakuto, however, was far higher than what anyone would call normal. Their recent semi-merger had only intensified this, making the sudden fissure in the Captain's soul even more painful. Clutching his chest and stumbling through the agony, Toshiro collapsed onto the bed and lurched onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with a vacant look on his face. His chest rose and fell as peacefully as if he were just asleep, but anyone with an inkling of spiritual awareness would be able to tell that Hitsugaya had unknowingly subjected himself to the spiritual equivalent of a lobotomy.
Karin had woken up in the middle of the night with a grumbling stomach. While she was rummaging through the kitchen for a snack, however, she abruptly found her attention pulled away from her stomach and towards another turbulent presence: Toshiro's reiatsu was fluctuating wildly, from distressed to enraged and back again. Ignoring both her instincts and her zanpakuto's warning to stay as far away from the Captain as she could, Kurosaki walked resolutely towards her former soccer teammate's room. When she felt his reiatsu dim like a light bulb burning out after being turned on and off too many times, Karin ran the rest of the way and stopped just short of knocking Toshiro's door down. Sliding it open hesitantly, the dark-eyed Kurosaki took in the scene in front of her and gasped.
His haori was crumpled on the floor, neglected and already losing its sheen. Hyorinmaru lay broken in halves, and the Captain himself seemed to be a black hole, a scar where no reiatsu could be sensed any longer. Karin knew that the white-haired Soul Reaper was too far gone for her to remain a bystander; springing forward into the room, she ignored the pain in her hand as she gripped the fragment of Hyorinmaru and pulled it from the wall. Taking the other piece in her free hand, the dark-eyed Kurosaki sat cross-legged on the floor and put both shards of the broken zanpakuto in her lap. As she placed them tentatively together, a weak voice suddenly echoed in her head.
Thank you, young one, it rasped, for giving me at least some respite from this agony,
'What happened to you?' Karin thought in her head, not wanting to risk disturbing Toshiro if he could still somehow hear.
My master recently… lost the one he loved. Hyorinmaru forced out, and Raitori huffed.
'Sounds like he needs to get over himself,' she whispered so that only Karin could hear her. 'Love ain't worth putting yourself into a coma, if you ask me.'
'Shut up,' Karin hissed back at her zanpakuto's spirit, before returning her attention to the broken blade in her lap.
'Who was the person Toshiro loved?' she asked the tired voice, and Hyorinmaru sighed.
It is a long, sad story, young warrior, he replied. Come, and I shall tell you the tale.
Karin closed her eyes and drifted into her Spirit World, where she found a lacerated, exhausted Ice Dragon curled up on the ground. The young Kurosaki's heart went out to the wounded spirit, and even Raitori's hard eyes softened at the miserable sight.
"Come, child," the dragon said gently. "Sit by me. My voice is weak, and in my current state I do not wish to overexert myself."
Karin walked over slowly and sat down next to the tired spirit, while Raitori chose to listen from where she was standing. Hyorinmaru drew a rattling breath and began the tale. He started from the first day Toshiro had materialized him, and Karin listened silently, rapt with attention. She told herself she wouldn't interrupt, but when Hyorinmaru got to the point where Toshiro had faced down Aizen all by himself, Kurosaki couldn't help but speak out.
"He really tried to fight Aizen? He risked his life that seriously just to avenge Momo?"
"Without a moment's hesitation," the Dragon affirmed, and Karin could only wonder how someone that resolute and strong could break so easily. Hell, she'd seen Toshiro take down a monster three times taller than her house without breaking a sweat, and now here he was lying impotent on his bed, staring up at the ceiling like a marionette without strings. It just didn't make any sense. Hyorinmaru's voice began again, jolting Kurosaki out of her reverie.
The Dragon continued uninterrupted through the rest of the war with Aizen, and with each new mention of some incredible feat of strength Karin found herself growing more and more incredulous. It was as if the Toshiro she was hearing about and the Toshiro in front of her were two completely different people.
"What on Earth happened to him, Hyorinmaru?"
The spirit let out a sigh, shifting his dull coils restlessly.
"Something terrible, young one," he spoke at last. "Tricked by that devil Kyoka Suigetsu, Toshiro stabbed Momo in the chest and killed her."
Karin could only gape in stunned silence at this last revelation, but surprisingly Raitori picked up the slack for her.
"He did what?" she half-shouted. "That's awful." Even Kurosaki's emotionally-warped spirit was pitying the besieged Soul Reaper.
"Indeed, it was heinous," Hyorinmaru agreed. "His grief was so great that he broke down, and with no one to lift him back up into the light he allowed his pain and rage to overwhelm him. It was then that he broke me in two, and slipped into the state you see before you."
"Is there any way to heal him?" Karin asked, her voice bordering on panic.
Hyorinmaru shook his head sadly.
"To heal a soul that has been split apart so savagely, the zanpakuto must be in tune with the injured warrior. But I am broken, and there is no one here with the skills to re-forge a zanpakuto of my caliber."
Karin's brow furrowed into the famous 'Kurosaki Frown' and she stood up, her hands firmly on her hips.
"Bullshit."
Hyorinmaru raised a surprised eyebrow.
"What did you just say, young warrior?"
"I said, 'bullshit,'" Karin seethed. "There has to be a way to put you back together, and I'm gonna find out what it is. You just shut up and wait here, Mr. Pessimist."
Kurosaki zoomed out of her Spirit World and once again beheld the shattered blade in her lap. She didn't buy the whole gloom-and-doom angle for a second; if something could be broken, it could be put back together, plain and simple. Putting the two pieces of the blade up next to each other again, Karin felt a faint thrum and knew she was on the right track. Now all she needed was something strong enough to force the two halves back together, like spiritual superglue. Something to put enough pressure on them…
Pressure. That was it. How could she not have seen that right away? Closing her eyes, Karin reached out to her zanpakuto.
'You there, Raitori?'
Nowhere else I would be, the voice shot back, and Karin had to bite her tongue to keep from scolding what was essentially herself.
'You know that ability we have, that suppresses my reiatsu?'
What of it?
'Can you get rid of it?'
There was a tense pause before Raitori spoke again.
Why would you want to do that? I don't think you could control the amount of reiatsu you have chained up in here, Karin.
'I don't need to control it,' Kurosaki replied. 'I just need to channel it. But stop stalling; can you do it, or not?'
… Yes, I can.
Karin smiled.
'Then do it.'
As you wish.
She felt the wave of reiatsu flood into her with such intensity it was almost suffocating; to go from possessing what felt like no reiatsu to having at least as much raw strength as a Lieutenant was jarring, to put it lightly. But Karin refused to fail. Toshiro had saved her once, and she was obligated to return the favor. Forcing the reiatsu to bend to her will, Kurosaki focused it into the shattered blade before her and held the two halves together tightly, hoping that her sheer willpower would do the trick.
Her strained lips widened into a sharp, victorious smile as the metal of the zanpakuto became slightly liquid at the point of the break and the shards bonded back together into a single blade.
Impossible, said the much deeper, revitalized voice of Hyorinmaru. To achieve a re-forging such as that with only raw reiatsu… young warrior, you truly are special.
'Yeah, that kind of runs in our family,' she quipped, before turning her full attention to Hitsugaya as the young Soul Reaper sighed and began to tremble. Karin brought Hyorinmaru over to his side immediately and placed the hilt in his hand, while keeping her own hand resting on the blade.
She felt his soul calm instantaneously, but there was still a thick cloud of dark smog hanging over the once-pristine field of ice that had been his Spirit World. Karin felt so close to Toshiro's soul she could feel it beating in time with his heart, and the effect of being so near to so much power could only be described as intoxicating. She wanted to get even closer to it, to feel its warmth like the comforting aura of a fire on Christmas morning, but the damned smog was stopping her.
"Why can't I get through to him?"
"Part of his soul is still in turmoil, and he has not fully reclaimed me into his being," Hyorinmaru explained as he hovered beside her, trying equally hard to break through the smog. After a few moments had passed unsuccessfully, the newly-healed spirit turned to Karin.
"I will try to get through to him," he said. "For now, you should rest. You have done much for him, and I am sure Toshiro will thank you for it when he is ready. Hopefully, it will not take him long to accept me once more."
Karin frowned again, her mind immediately darting to the worst-case scenario.
"What if he doesn't fully accept you, Hyorinmaru?"
"If that happens," the Dragon replied seriously, "you may need to provide Toshiro with a bit of a… push, something to shock him back to his senses."
Karin nodded solemnly and took her leave of the zanpakuto spirit, opening her eyes and looking out of the window to see the beginnings of the sun creeping over the horizon.
"Well, there goes the whole 'sleep' idea," she groused, but the rest of the words in her throat suddenly stilled when her gaze fell upon the white haori in the corner. The wheels began to turn in Kurosaki's brain, and a wicked grin soon spread over her face as she had an idea. Walking over, she picked up the jacket, dusted it off, and put it on. It felt shockingly comfortable for just a piece of fabric, a feeling she could get used to.
Karin hoped for Toshiro's sake that he reclaimed Hyorinmaru fully before he woke up, because he was going to need every ounce of strength and determination he had to wrest his rank back. He had foolishly thrown it aside, after all; it was only right that he be made to struggle before reclaiming it. Walking out of the room with Raitori at her hip and the Tenth Division haori draped over her shoulders, Kurosaki felt so good that she couldn't resist putting a slight spring in her step, wondering what the coming day would bring. Fixing herself a cup of tea, Karin sat down on a mat and began to drink it, listening to the birds greeting the sunshine.
Matsumoto, Ichimaru, Zaraki, Yachiru, Ichigo, Rukia, Kuukaku Shiba, Byakuya Kuchiki, Neliel, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Soi Fon and Urahara had all managed to come in and sit down in the dining room circle without even so much as noticing the progressively more annoyed Karin, who had finished her third cup of tea by now. She was about to throw her hands up in the air and growl in frustration, but then Karin remembered that it was still early in the morning. Most of these lazybones were probably still feeling their way around with reiatsu, like blind bats, and the younger Kurosaki was a blank spot when it came to reiatsu. Because it wasn't like they were purposefully ignoring her, Karin decided to break the ice with tact and coughed loudly into the placid silence.
"Good morning," she drawled, a small smile on her face. Matsumoto was the first to notice what the younger Kurosaki was wearing, and her eyes went wider than the Grand Canyon.
"Is that Captain Hitsugaya's haori?" she breathed. When Karin nodded, if it was possible, Rangiku became even more stunned.
"But why are you wearing it, Karin?"
Scrambling to think of something to say, the dark-eyed Kurosaki uttered one of the most awkward phrases she could have possibly picked.
"I… borrowed it, after I was done repairing his zanpakuto last night."
Silence and stillness reigned over the group of Soul Reapers for a tense moment, until Grimmjow broke the atmosphere with a snort.
"So that's what they're calling it these days, huh? I had no idea."
Rangiku looked like she'd just been hit by lightning. Surely, Karin and her Captain hadn't…
"Karin," she said as calmly as she could, "you and the Captain, last night… did you, you know…?"
It took Karin a moment to understand the implication buried in the question, but once she had her eyes snapped open at the same that she blushed fiercely and her mouth opened slightly.
"What!?" she half-shouted in mortification. "No! Toshiro and I didn't—"
"Oh, so it's 'Toshiro' now, is it?" Gin teased, and Karin's blush deepened from red to a bright crimson.
"My Captain has finally become a man!" Rangiku declared exuberantly, and the dark-eyed Kurosaki wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
Before the crowd had a chance to give Karin even more of a hard time, they were distracted by the arrival of one Saika Aron. On one hand, the younger Kurosaki was glad to have attention directed anywhere other than her at that moment, but she also hadn't been given a chance to refute the idea that she and Toshiro had… it was too awkward to even think about.
Then again, Raitori mused, I wouldn't mind going back into his room and crawling into…
'SHUT UP!' Karin thought at her inner spirit furiously, trying to keep her tenuous hold on her emotions.
For the other Soul Reapers present, it would have taken something either earth-shakingly shocking or utterly bizarre to tear their attention away from Karin's apparent tryst with Toshiro.
Saika's entrance was definitely in the bizarre category. Not only was he grinning like Nnoitra on crack, he was practically skipping and humming something that sounded suspiciously like 'Oh, What A Beautiful Morning' from Oklahoma. He helped himself to some food and sat down between Soi Fon and the empty space reserved for Yoruichi before beginning to eat, but the smile never left his face. Ulquiorra surprised everyone by breaking the awkward silence, a single eyebrow raised to highlight his weirded-out state of mind.
"You're awfully chipper this morning, Aron-sama," he said. "Any reason why?"
The demon prince just shrugged, but his grin changed from ecstatic to enigmatic.
"That's a surprise," he said mischievously, but before anyone could press him any further Yoruichi walked in and the room fell into an awed silence.
There was no debating that the Shihoin princess was attractive, but from the way the light of the dawn accentuated the glow that seemed to permeate from her to the way her eyes shone as brightly as anyone had ever seen them, the only word to even approach how she appeared in this moment was radiant. She walked over to where her seat was and sat down gently, all the while carrying herself with the poise of Aphrodite. Yoruichi seemed to feel the burning curiosity directed her way despite the haze of happiness that enveloped her, and she smiled.
"I'm expecting," she said, and for a few heartbeats even the birds outside stopped singing.
"That's wonderful!" Rukia exclaimed, breaking the moment of silence. "Congratulations!"
More congratulations and reactions ranging from shock to terror ensued; terror on the part of Byakuya Kuchiki as he imagined any offspring the couple might produce possessing Saika's power and Yoruichi's infuriating impish streak. Neliel gave Ulquiorra a wholly unsubtle look that made his blood run hot and a chill lance up his spine at the same time, a combination of sensations he found completely foreign and oddly thrilling. Ichigo whispered something into Rukia's ear that made her face turn a color closely resembling burgundy, and her brother's reiatsu spiked for a moment before Kuukaku whacked the older Kuchiki on the arm and shot him a surprisingly disarming grin.
The atmosphere in the room had become one of joy at the prospect of a new beginning, the darkness of the past few days almost forgotten in these few fleeting moments. In the calm quiet that followed, Karin decided to take a stab at clearing her name. Before she could get a word in, though, a surge of reiatsu came rushing out from Hitsugaya's room, accompanied by an equally forceful shout from the white-haired prodigy.
"KUROSAKI!"
Everyone stared at Karin and she got up, a grim look on her face.
"If that idiot wants this back," she growled, gesturing to the haori she was still wearing, "I'll be outside."
With that the dark-eyed Kurosaki flashed away, leaving a very confused group of Soul Reapers in her wake. Their condition didn't improve much when Toshiro came storming into the room, rage smoldering in his eyes and Hyorinmaru unsheathed. The more observant members of the crowd noticed that the young Captain's zanpakuto was much duller than normal, but they dared not mention it while Hitsugaya was in such a precarious mental state.
"Where the hell is she?" he growled, and before Ichigo could jump up to defend his sibling, Ukitake had pointed out towards the back. When the orange-haired Soul Reaper shot a murderous glance at Jushiro, the wise Soul Reaper met his gaze and held it.
"Whatever is going on between them, Ichigo," he said, "be it a simple lover's quarrel or something much more serious, it is their issue to deal with. Not yours."
Ichigo wanted to argue, but Rukia put a hand on his shoulder and he calmed himself instantly. Still, he couldn't help but worry.
Karin, what have you gotten yourself into?
The two Soul Reapers stared each other down across the field, and it was Toshiro who spoke first.
"Give me back my haori, Karin."
The dark-eyed Soul Reaper shot back a defiant glare.
"I don't think so, Toshiro," she spat, drawing out his name for added bite.
Hitsugaya's hypnotically green eyes darkened.
"That's Captain Hitsugaya to you, rookie."
Kurosaki smiled viciously; he had played right into her hands, and now the game could really begin.
"Really?" she asked with forced innocence. "Because it seems to me like you threw that title away, along with your zanpakuto. I gave Hyorinmaru back to you to make this fair," she continued, all innocence in her voice replaced by steel, "but if you want your haori back, you're going to have to take it from me."
Toshiro gave a battle cry and charged, readying his sword to strike. Karin sighed, seeing the blow coming from a mile away; had he really become so weak?
Hitsugaya was caught off-guard when his opponent vanished, only to have an elbow collide sharply with his gut a moment later and knock the wind out of him. He struggled to stay on his feet, and lashed out blindly with his sword. Kurosaki parried the blow like she was swatting a fly, and slammed Raitori's hilt into Toshiro's sternum. Wrenching Hyorinmaru from his hands as he fell, Karin watched the young Captain tumble to the ground with equal parts sadness and pity. But now wasn't the time or place for either of those emotions; he needed a good, swift kick in the ass, and Karin was going to be its administrator.
"Pathetic," she spat, hoping her taunt didn't sound hollow. "Get up, Toshiro."
Still reeling from Karin's surprisingly effective assault and now stripped of his zanpakuto, Hitsugaya stared up at the sky and wished it would just fall on him. She was right; he was pathetic. What right did he have to call himself a Captain? Staggering to his feet, Toshiro slumped forward slightly and spoke.
"Keep it," he muttered bitterly, and Karin's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in rage. This wasn't an act anymore; she was actually getting mad.
"What?"
"You're right," Hitsugaya sighed, "you're right. I don't deserve to wear that," he said bitterly, gesturing roughly at the white garment over Karin's shoulders.
"Keep it."
Toshiro was expecting a number of reactions from the dark-eyed Kurosaki, but definitely not the one he got. Suddenly the front of his kimono was being held hostage in an iron grip, and he found himself inches from Karin's angry face. Her eyes burned with barely-withheld tears and searing disappointment.
"What happened to you?!" She screamed, shaking him furiously. "Where's the Captain who faced down Aizen Sosuke without the hope of backup to avenge his friend? What happened to the warrior that saved me from that Menos single-handedly? Answer me, damn you! Where is your pride?"
Hitsugaya's eyes widened in shock and more than a little bit of fear, but after a heartbeat or two he had encased himself once again inside a shell of self pity, grabbing Karin's hand and shoving it away.
"The Toshiro you knew is dead, and his pride is buried with him," he spat, turning around and beginning to walk away. Karin wanted to inflict all sorts of egregious bodily harm on her friend, but she could only muster the coherence through her anger to shout at him.
"Where are you going?"
"Away," was the tired response, and Kurosaki could feel the Captain getting ready to flash-step.
Something inside of her aching chest snapped in that moment and she fiercely snatched up Hyorinmaru, holding it like a javelin. She wasn't going to let him go, not after what she had done for him and he for her. Hurling the zanpakuto through the air, Karin allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction as it buried its sheath in the ground, hilt pointing to the sky and waiting to be drawn. Hitsugaya stopped when he heard the thud and turned to look at his zanpakuto. The dark-eyed Kurosaki knew she only had a few moments to convince him to stay, and she was going to take advantage of them.
"Listen to me, Toshiro," she said, with gravity that reminded Hitsugaya of the late Captain-Commander, "you have a choice to make. You could turn your back on your zanpakuto and all it represents, shut out everyone who cares about you and leave them behind forever. Or, you could stop drowning in self-pity, draw your sword and show me you're worthy of being a Captain! What's it gonna be, Toshiro?" she finished, the challenge ringing in her voice with every word as an anticipatory grin crossed her face.
Hitsugaya stopped cold when he heard those words, and he paused to gauge the strength of Hyorinmaru. It was pulsing incredibly faintly, calling out to its master to put aside his anguish. Toshiro now saw all too clearly how his state of mind was gradually crushing his heart and soul. What would Momo have said?
No sooner had that thought passed through his head that a gentle breeze blew through the field, and Toshiro could swear he heard a whisper reach out to him.
Live, Shiro-chan, it said gently. Live, and be happy.
The green-eyed Captain gave a bittersweet smile at those words, and was like the calming wind reached inside his soul and swept away the miasma clouding his Spirit World. Feeling strength rush back into him like an avalanche, Hitsugaya reached down and grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto. At once he felt complete again, and dipped his head slightly in shame.
'Forgive me, my friend,' he said, but all he got back in reply was a chuckle.
You don't have to ask forgiveness from me, Toshiro. Now, I believe we have a haori to reclaim, no?
Hitsugaya's grim face split into a smile, and he tightened his grip on Hyorinmaru.
'Yeah,' he answered, 'I think we do.'
With that, he vanished from sight.
Karin had felt her heart swell when she saw Toshiro draw his zanpakuto and felt his reiatsu rise, but she was mentally smacked upside the head by Raitori and refocused herself just in time to feel his reiatsu emerge right behind her. She drew her zanpakuto and barely blocked the strike, her pulse speeding up as she felt Hyorinmaru grating against her own zanpakuto.
"You sneaky bastard," she said with a smirk in her voice, but all humor was quickly driven from her mind and replaced with something completely different when she felt Toshiro's breath against her ear.
"I think you have something that belongs to me, Karin," he whispered in a tone that made her knees buckle, but by some small miracle she remained upright.
"Come and get it, kid," she said, and flashed a short distance away to assume her stance. Toshiro's white eyebrows furrowed in anger.
"Who're you calling a kid?" he growled, but Karin just stuck her tongue out at him. Even angrier now, Hitsugaya resumed the offensive and charged.
Karin had expected that keeping up with the Captain's strikes would be a challenge, but for some reason it was easier fighting him than it had ever been sparring against Ichimaru-sensei. Come to think of it, it was almost like she could feel where the strikes were coming from before they were even made…
Wait a second, that actually made sense. When she had re-forged Toshiro's zanpakuto, she had used her raw reiatsu. It would make sense that some of her reiatsu would be imprinted upon the sword, and that was why she could sense its movements so easily. Grinning, Karin decided to see if she could get Toshiro even more pissed off and closed her eyes. Sure enough, she could still sense his incoming strikes as plainly as day. This was gonna be fun.
Hitsugaya saw Karin close her eyes and prepared for some kind of power surge, but when it didn't come he became aware of a much more sinister fact: he was being toyed with. By Karin.
"Stop screwing around, Kurosaki!" he shouted, and swung his zanpakuto with even more force, only to have it evaded once again.
"Why don't you try hitting me for once, Toshiro?" she taunted back. "I haven't even released my zanpakuto yet!"
The Captain broke away from the current exchange of strikes and landed some distance away, raw reiatsu turning his eyes blue with righteous fury.
"Try dodging this, Kurosaki! Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!"
Karin opened her dark eyes and smiled at the sight of the massive dragon above her, so much more majestic than the broken one she had first met.
"I give you my thanks, child, for your strength," the dragon hissed, "but my debt to you will not dull my fangs. Prepare yourself, Karin!"
Her smile turned into a battle-hungry grin.
"Flash, Raitori! Kuro Shiden!"
The arc of black lightning shot up towards the flying serpent, but he dodged it at the last moment.
"Impressive, child," it conceded, "but not enough!"
Even as the dragon swooped down upon Karin, her smirk remained unmoved.
"You ever hear the old saying about 'What goes around,' Hyorinmaru?"
Not giving her enemy a chance to intuit what she meant, Kurosaki swung down her zanpakuto. She then watched in satisfaction as the bolt of black lighting mirrored the motion, turning around and arcing down at the dragon. Hyorinmaru had no time to react, and was soon writhing as the electricity lanced though him. Scrounging together the last of his strength, the ice dragon sent a desperate blast of energy roaring towards Karin, disintegrating immediately afterwards. Kurosaki saw the fearsome orb of reiatsu approaching her and paled.
"Oh, shit."
Unleashing her reiatsu and throwing it up around her in a massive wall, Karin hoped that her defensive measure would hold out. She was still alive a few seconds later, so she guessed she had succeeded. At the same time, though, the dark-eyed Kurosaki felt utterly drained. Casting a weary glance over at Toshiro, she could see that he wasn't any better off. Still, despite her aching muscles and bleeding cuts Karin felt herself smile widely as she approached the young Soul Reaper and took off the haori she had been wearing.
"Here," she said, holding it out to Toshiro. "You earned it."
"Gee, thanks," he replied sarcastically, but with a smile on his face as he accepted the garment, draping it over his own shoulders and sighing.
"So, let me get this straight," he said after a moment of peaceful quiet. "You took my broken zanpakuto and put it back together with just your reiatsu?"
"Yeah. So?"
Hitsugaya's eyes widened.
"What do you mean, 'so'? My zanpakuto is part of my soul, Karin, just like Raitori is part of yours. And if you used some of your spiritual energy to fix my soul, that means…"
"If I die, so does your soul," she finished, and the enormity of what Karin's seemingly simple act had done hit them like a sledgehammer. The two of them were now inextricably bonded, for better or worse.
"This is giving me a headache," Hitsugaya groused, and he began to walk towards the house, only to be stopped by Karin's hand gripping his bicep.
"You don't want to go in there," she said hastily, blushing.
"Why not?" Toshiro asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. Karin thought about whether or not to tell him the truth, but then realized that he would probably be able to tell if she was lying.
"Well, you see, I had to make up a lie to cover for why I had your haori on this morning, and now the other Soul Reapers think we… well, you know," she sputtered, not wanting to say it. But Hitsugaya wasn't about to let her off of the hook.
"No, I don't know," he replied. What do they think?"
"They think we had sex!" she blurted out, and Toshiro blushed so fiercely he looked like a beet.
A really cute one… Raitori chimed in, and Karin promptly shushed her.
"Regardless of what they think," the Captain said, with a slight tremble in his voice as he tried not to notice all of the ways Karin's body had developed since he had last seen her, "there's no other way into the house except for the front door, and I am not about to trudge down all of those stairs again like this. Come on, Karin."
Kurosaki barely had time to think of a protestation before her hand had been taken firmly in Toshiro's strong, but warm grip. Karin drew strength from his determination and the two of them walked back into the house, with Hitsugaya leading the way and Kurosaki behind him. As they entered the main room, the pair ignored the wolf-whistles and cat-calls Ikkaku and Yumichka gave them, along with a few flagrantly inappropriate remarks courtesy of one Rangiku Matsumoto. As they made their way back into Toshiro's room, the two of them felt exhaustion hit at the same time. Too tired to do anything other than sleep, Hitsugaya and Kurosaki flopped onto the bed and promptly passed out, with their hands still clasped together.
Back in the main room, Zaraki coughed loudly to get the group's attention.
"Well, all this excitement has me hankering for a fight. You up to go down, Byakuya?"
The assembled Soul Reapers turned their focus to the stoic noble, who was calmly sipping his tea. The tension was so thick it was almost visible, and it stayed that way until Byakuya put down his cup and cleared his throat.
"If you truly desire to be thoroughly humiliated before your peers, Captain Zaraki," he intoned smoothly, "I would be more than happy to oblige you."
Kenpachi laughed heartily and the two warriors picked up their zanpakuto, walking out to the field that had been a battleground just moments ago. This time, the other Soul Reapers followed them.
This was going to be one hell of a fight.
Author's Note: First up, it's my Birthday on Friday, so it would be awesome if you guys could give me a present… in the form of a review! Good times. Second, I'm sorry I couldn't get to the Zaraki/Byakuya fight; the Hitsu/Karin scene took up way more space than I thought it would, so the two Captains will have to duke it out next time. I hope this chapter wasn't too slow, and that the character interaction scenes made up for the less-frenetic pacing this time around. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it (I've been sitting on that HitsuxKarin stuff since I started writing this story), and I hope to see you around next chapter!