Hello everyone. I have updated! :D This is the last chapter. It can end here. However... it's going to have an epilogue. So, keep everything in mind.
This chapter isn't the longest, sorry. However, it is the second longest.
And thank you, everyone who voted in the poll! It actually allowed me to pick out which ending I should use. Remember to read the entire chapter before you review.
The remaining days they had before the battle were spent in three ways: training, going to school, and arguing over a battle plan. Oh, and sleeping and eating, of course. Karin had discovered that her sword's main ability was to form shapes in the air or on the ground and to direct them in different ways.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Toushirou called, easily releasing his shikai. The long chain grew from the hilt with a crescent-moon sickle attached.
"Run through flames, Honaga!" Karin cried, and once more her zanpaku-to melted into the orange sword and grew its ribbons. With the sword's tip, she quickly drew a ring of fire, grabbed it, and threw it towards Toushirou. He ducked and ran towards her, swinging the sickle. Once he was at a closer range, he tossed it, wrapping it around her sword and freezing it along with her hands.
Her arms, however, had not been frozen, so she pulled and managed to draw a triangle in the air to melt the ice. "Come on Toushirou, you've already attacked me with that move twice today!" she complained, yanking her sword out of the chain. She ran, and, drawing a squiggly line, formed a whip. Karin then fought off his subsequent attacks with it until he came too close and she was forced to defend herself with her sword again.
"It's a move that I start out with when I train with people. So, naturally, I'll use it when I train with you," he told her, and backed away.
Then Ichigo dived in between them and forced the two to jump away. "All right! Time for some one-on-two practice!" he called, hefting his sword over his shoulder. "You guys… well, Karin needs it."
"I take insult at that!" Karin shouted back.
"Calm down. Fighting your brother is somewhat like fighting Aizen—they're both very strong. We have to think carefully about what tactics we'll use. Of course… Aizen's abilities are vastly different than your brother's…"
"Stop thinking out loud and move!" Karin exclaimed, shoving him away from Ichigo's attack. The two took a tumble on the ground and narrowly avoided being cut to pieces by the Getsuga Tensho.
When they emerged, Toushirou glowered at the siblings, but was unhurt besides his pride. Ichigo snickered. "I never thought you were a ditz Toushirou!" he called.
Toushirou growled, but held his ground. He was not going to be goaded into fighting so easily. "Yeah, well, at least I know how to control my reitsu!" he taunted back. It was a weak taunt, sure, but it was something.
Karin snickered in the exact image as her brother. "You have nice come backs," she commented.
He pointedly chose to ignore her by ordering, "Charge to his front while I flash-step behind him."
She nodded, seriousness returning, and charged towards her brother. Karin drew a line of fire, grabbed it, hoisted it over her shoulder, and threw it like a spear. Ichigo easily dodged, but his landing wasn't as clean as it could have been because he had to block a sudden attack from Toushirou. While the ice captain kept him busy, Karin ran over and gave his side a sharp poke.
"You're dead," she declared. "At least, you wouldbe if I really wanted to kill you."
"All right, I give," Ichigo said, dropping his sword. Toushirou stepped back and nodded at Karin.
"Good work. Now, let's see what we can do with that interesting drawing ability of yours…"
And so, the three of them trained together. School was a different matter entirely.
"Kurosaki! Those are the wrong lines!" shouted the teacher. "Do you want me to give another person the part? Because I can assure you, there are several other girls who would love to have it!" A few of Karin's female classmates perked up at that statement.
"No! I'm just a little preoccupied, that's all. I don't need my part to be given away." The others' faces fell, and there were mutterings about her only wanting to be with Toushirou—Karin ignored them.
"Well, just try to get the lines right. We need Elizabeth to be able to remember her lines! She's witty!"
"I know that. You made us read the book." Karin's eyebrows narrowed at remembering what she and Toushirou would have to do through most of the play. This, basically, was to insult one another and then compliment one another within three breaths of each statement. Although Karin thought it'd be fun to be able to get away with insulting Toushirou, she didn't like the fact that it meant that through most of the play she had no idea of her feelings. Couldn't a woman just decide how she felt?!
Toushirou, however, liked his role better than she liked hers. Darcy was a man a lot like him, so it was easier for him to be in character. Karin was a lot like Elizabeth too, but Toushirou felt that she just didn't like the slightly more feminine woman. Plus, because of her status as the main character and him being the main character's love interest, many death glares had been sent her way. Unfortunately for them, Karin was already stressed out that she didn't need their glares—usually one from her made them cower in fear.
Practice never ran smoothly because of the leads. Often they were found whispering to one another or arguing loudly. While it was difficult to make them get back to whatever scene the cast was practicing when they were whispering, it was practically impossible to force them to end their loud arguments. Even Yuzu, who was properly playing Jane, could not calm her sister down. Instead whenever the two were arguing, the rest of the play members tried working on covering some small scenes—though near impossible, for Elizabeth was in almost every scene. And several of the scenes she was not in had Darcy in them, so that made it even harder.
To top it all off, no one knew what in the world they were arguing about. Most figured it was some kind of game, some sort of online role playing game that the two were taking too seriously. Others (particularly the girls) thought that the two had created some sort of private world and were arguing over the rules.
Only one knew the true reason—Yuzu. Yuzu knew her sister and her friend were arguing about strategy to defeat their enemy. She also knew that the two of them didn't want her knowing, but what they didn't realize was that she had great powers of convincing people to give her the information she wanted. She had tricked her brother into telling her why Karin and Toushirou were arguing so much and why they were always huddled together, bent over sheets of paper.
The papers, he had told her, were of a map and several sheets of battle plans. Some were abandoned; some were set aside to come back to; and still some more were in the process of being drawn out. However, Ichigo had told her not to bother them, as whatever plan they came to they were not going to tell anyone. He had said that they were going to defeat Aizen alone, and their way.
Yuzu just hoped that Karin would come back, safe and sound.
"You're starting to wear yourself out." The voice was not assuming. It was stating a fact.
"I know Honaga! Don't get on my case!" Karin snapped.
"Your fear scent is so strong that a Hollow could smell it all the way from northern Scotland. And you're causing my bedding flowers to wilt."
"I'm afraid. I'll admit it. But this has to be done right! There is no second chance for the Soul Society." Karin chose to ignore the second statement.
Honaga's eyes narrowed, and she growled in irritation. "That's not true. Just because you and dear Hitsugaya would be gone does not mean that the Soul Society would be lost. They'd be missing a powerful captain, sure, but they are quite capable of handling themselves."
Karin slumped to the ground. "You make my effort sound pointless."
"Some of it is." Her lips curled back to reveal the razor-sharp teeth that could probably bite Karin's whole arm off in one clean cut. "Like I was saying, you're wearing yourself out. You need rest, and you need to relax. This is the calm before the storm; take it before you regret not doing as I'm telling you and losing the battle because you were too tired."
"And in the process causing Toushirou to lose. Yeah, yeah, I get it." She rolled over onto her stomach and cupped her hands over her face. "I wish that life would slow down a bit, so that I could enjoy it some more."
"If you survive Karin, life won't slow down. It'll only speed up. Next thing you know and it'll be the day of your wedding."
"What is it with everyone telling me I'll be getting married?" Karin demanded, dropping her hands.
"It's the honest truth Karin. Once a man falls in love with you, he won't be able to stop. You're the type of person who is unpredictable. And that is good. Now sleep."
Before Karin could argue or make a snappy comeback, she felt the tip of Honaga's tail touch her forehead. She likes doing this to me, doesn't she, she thought before promptly falling asleep.
The wind swept over the bitterly cold plain. It was comfortable to be back in the place he belonged. Toushirou was lying down with his hands behind his head, staring at the sky. Hyourinmaru was flying through the heavens, probably thinking about the finalized plan. For all their bitter arguments and heated whispers, Karin and Toushirou had finally come up with a plan that allowed for at any given time something to go wrong.
He was surprised by the sudden landing of his companion, but tried not to express it. "Do you have something to say Hyourinmaru?"
The dragon was silent for a while, but spoke before Toushirou demanded him to. "The name of Karin's spirit, if you please."
"It's Honaga."
"Exactly." A low rumble came from his throat.
"Your point, if you please." It was annoying when Hyourinmaru did things like that.
"My point is that I am against the idea of her releasing her zanpaku-to at the same time you release me. The last time that happened, it was… weird."
Toushirou was slightly taken aback by his wording. "Weird in what way?"
"We… melded together."
"Wouldn't that make a stronger dragon?"
"It did. But it took forever for the four of us to figure out how to undo it."
"Well, now that you know, what's the problem?"
"It requires you two to kiss while holding hands and then breaking apart your hands and your mouths at the exact same moment."
"Now that is just weird." Not that Toushirou was against kissing Karin, but… in front of his zanpaku-to? He wasn't sure he had the guts to do that. "All right then, so how long ago was this?"
"About four hundred years ago."
"Well, fine, but why can't we do that? I'm not quite sure I understand."
"Quite simple. In that state, we were incredibly hard to control, because the wielders had to both shout the same command and I fear that if we were bound together like that, a wound on one would hurt the other. It didn't happen last time, but don't let it be that way."
"Fine, I'll tell Karin the change in the plan."
"Good. Now go back to the human world. No complaints!" he commanded upon seeing Toushirou's mouth drop open with a complaint forming on his lips.
Toushirou shut his mouth. "Fine," he grumbled, and left his peaceful icy plain.
The evening meal before the battle was silent except for Isshin's jabbering. Toushirou figured that the father knew what his daughter and houseguest were getting into and was trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't working. They were tense, like a coiled spring. Karin's siblings were either more broody than normal or relatively the same.
Karin didn't want the night to end. It could be the last meal with her family. It wasn't just her siblings and her father; it was Toushirou now, too. He had just as easily slipped into her life and into her heart as they had. As clichéd as it sounded, it was true. What made her wonder was why he had done it so easily. For her, it took most people quite a while to become so important to her. She shook her head, clearing away thoughts. Tonight she was going to rest until it was time for the battle.
After her meal, she headed into her room and flopped onto her bed. After lying still for a few minutes, she rolled over to her window. The very same window she'd been staring out of and whispering to herself when Toushirou had come in and told her to become a shinigami. Had it really not been that long ago? It felt like it'd been ages since her life had gone at a normal pace. Now it was running at a break-neck speed and soon it'd take a dead stop. This battle was that stop.
"Ugh, I hate thinking. It gets too deep," she grumbled. Karin leaned over set her alarm for a few more hours, covered her head with her pillow, and fell asleep.
She was running, but from what or even for what reason she couldn't tell. Karin didn't even know where she was running to. Something was chasing her right at her heels, and if she turned, she knew she'd die. She was unaware she was in a dream.
She made a sharp turn and skidded to a halt. In front of her lay a river of constantly flowing lava. Fearing whatever it was that was chasing her, she gave a leap and soared through the air. Her heart sank and fear began to rise as she missed the other side completely and splashed into the magma. It engulfed her, but it didn't hurt. Instead, she sank down and continued to sink for what felt like forever.
Finally, she reached the bottom and opened her eyes. Karin was inside a large cavern, with the river of lava flowing steadily as the ceiling. After staring at the phenomenon, she turned to look around her. It was round, brown, and very rough. Stalactites and stalagmites were scattered every which way. She walked through the space, feet sending small echoes in the silent cave.
Moving farther along, she realized that the cave walls were studded with unfinished jewels, making it appear rough. Veins of gold, silver, and copper ran through the floor. It was a place of riches, unlike anything she'd ever heard of. Where was she?
A great tremor shook the cavern, causing her to fall to the floor. Suddenly, Honaga smoothly landed in front of her. "You're here… I didn't expect you to find this place so quickly," she muttered. "I guess I'll just have to—"
The alarm rang, and she jolted awake. She shut it off before Yuzu could hear the alarm. "No!" she growled. Honaga was trying to tell her something important! What was that place? What was so unexpected about her finding it? Was it part of her inner world? Was it part of achieving bankai? Way too many questions were going unanswered, leaving her more than a little lost. Toushirou appeared at her door dressed in full uniform as she pulled herself off the bed.
"What should I do with my body?" she whispered, deciding that she could ask about the dream later.
"Here," he whispered back, tossing Ichigo's badge at her. "Use this. He said for you to borrow it."
She gave an awkward smile and pressed the badge to her chest. Instantly she burst out of her body and quickly pushed her empty body onto her bed. The two left the house in silence. Karin's heart was pounding—this was it, this was the final battle.
They arrived at the park almost too quickly for Karin's taste. It was quiet; the swings barely creaked in the breeze. In the back of her mind, she thought that it was as if the entire park was waiting with bated breath. "What do we do?" she whispered to Toushirou. Her voice was strangely calm.
"Follow the plan; what else? Oh, and Hyourinmaru suggested that we don't let out our zanpaku-to at the same time. He said that something bad happened the last time."
"Oh, fine," she muttered back. She followed him towards the center of the park. They didn't know where Aizen would appear, but they figured that the center would be a good place to wait. The two did not have to wait long.
"I'm pleased you two have arrived. I was thinking that you wouldn't come." The two whirled around, hands on their hilts. "Now, now, let's not get hasty," Aizen said, smiling broadly.
"We don't trust you," Karin spat bravely. Honaga was alongside her, growling lowly.
"How very brave of you to say that, little Karin. But, you see, you're dabbling in adult affairs."
"This is every bit my problem as it is the rest of the Soul Society's!" she shot back. But she had to keep her temper in check.
"Ah, yes, the Soul Society." Aizen's eyes glinted with malice. "Tell me, Hitsugaya-kun, how is Hinamori-kun?"
Toushirou let out a wild cry and attacked. Karin was shocked, but she figured that he was letting out his pent-up anger and frustration. According to the plan, she had to be careful to not watch Aizen release his shikai, because if she watched she'd be trapped too and one advantage they had over Aizen would be lost. So she dived towards a nearby tree, released her shikai, and began drawing symbols in the air and on the ground.
"A circle to bind," she whispered, and a hoop was drawn. "A cube to trap," came next as a fiery box appeared next to the hoop. "Go," she ordered, tossing the shapes away. Hopefully they'd slow Aizen down long enough for Toushirou to do damage.
Toushirou was busy clashing swords with Aizen when Karin's fire shapes came whizzing towards them. He moved away as they enclosed themselves around Aizen.
"Now, what is this?" Aizen asked, slightly impressed. "Is this her ability?"
Toushirou didn't answer. He watched as Aizen broke through the binds and attacked him again. "You will pay for what you did to Hinamori," he growled.
"You shouldn't blame me; it's her fault for liking me so much." He backed away and muttered something that Toushirou couldn't hear.
"I am blaming you for taking advantage of her!" Toushirou shouted. He poured all his feeling into his attack and hit Aizen in the shoulder, rendering his arm useless.
His opponent tried striking back; but before he could, a thick wall of flames shot up between them. Karin ran to stand next to Toushirou. "All right, I'm here." She gave him a grin and ran through the flames.
"Karin!" he shouted. He couldn't follow behind her; the flames affected him just as much as they affected Aizen. "Come back here!"
He heard her scream. It sent chills down his spine. "Hyourinmaru, help me here!" he cried. The ice dragon obeyed his wish and sent a forceful blast of water to douse the fire wall. The wall shrunk low enough for him to jump over.
As soon as he had jumped, he dashed over to the two figures. Karin was lying on the ground, gasping, and Aizen was standing with a triumphant smile on his face. "What have you done?!" Toushirou demanded. Any previous anger paled in comparison to the inferno blazing inside him.
"Tou…shirou…" Karin gasped, breath growing ragged. He dropped to his knees. "Don't hold back," she said quickly, coughing after the effort. She reached up and clutched his shirt, eyes daring him to not do as she wished.
"Karin, what's happening? You can't be dying!" he said defiantly, grabbing her shoulders. How was he going to beat Aizen without her?
She gave a smile, and shut her eyes. Her grip slackened, and he felt no more pulse in her. Karin Kurosaki, age fifteen, shinigami representative, was dead.
He screamed and jumped at Aizen, who had been watching the scene. "How dare you!" he shouted, hacking his sword at him.
"Hitsugaya-kun, you really shouldn't let your emotions get the better of you," Aizen said serenely, and before he knew what was happening, Toushirou felt himself being stabbed in the stomach.
While it was true Karin had sent the wall of flames to block Aizen from attacking Toushirou, it wasn't true that she had run up to stand next to him. She continued to draw objects, growing more and more complex. Karin had been working on drawing a quiver to fit her arrows into when she had heard Toushirou's shout and a stabbing noise. Quickly finishing, she slung it over her shoulder, grabbed the bow, and ran back into the scene. Her mouth dropped as she watched Toushirou bleeding to death.
Honaga, what should I do? He's dying! she thought frantically.
Stay calm; send the purest lick of flame over to him, and it will help staunch the blood flow.
Karin nodded. She held out her hand and willed a flicker of fire to appear in her hand. Once it did, she blew it, and it danced its way over to Toushirou's body. When it arrived, it settled itself onto the wound and slowly the blood began to stop. She was satisfied he'd be fine for the moment and turned back to Aizen.
Clearly he wasn't paying attention to her, as he had his back to her. Of course he thought he had killed Toushirou and was probably thinking of a way to kill her next. Now, obviously, the plan was ruined. What was she going to do? She didn't feel like dying quite yet.
Honaga… What should I do now?
Trust me. Take Hyourinmaru into your hands and wield the two of us.
It was a strange request, but Karin formed a whip and snatched the other zanpaku-to. She found it easy to carry in her hand, though it did feel heavier than Honaga.
Then a memory, or maybe a vision, whispered into her mind. She slowly, like she was being hypnotized, crossed the swords and willed all of her fire power into hers and begged Toushirou's ice abilities to be poured into his. The two glowed intensely in scarlet red and blue so pale it almost appeared white. "Aizen!" she shouted. He turned; surprised she had come to die so quickly. "This is when you die!" She threw the swords at him.
They whizzed through the air. Karin knew they would not miss their mark. However, she was surprised when she saw that they were melding together. Slowly they turned into a thin sword split half-and-half into fire and ice, with one long, frayed red ribbon and the cold sickle-chain. She watched, unflinching, as it stabbed Aizen in the heart.
"Well done," he congratulated, and fell. Her enemy, their enemy, the world's enemy, was dead. She slowly, cautiously, moved towards where he and Toushirou stood. Karin stopped to stand next to her friend's body.
That's when the pain hit her. Excruciating, overwhelming pain that there was no escape from. It burned her insides and froze her skin. Karin fell on top of Toushirou's body. She screamed and screamed and kept screaming until she couldn't scream anymore because she had screamed herself hoarse. So she kept screaming a silent scream until the pain became so mind-splitting that she passed out.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was lying on a futon, with bandages wrapped around him. After confirming the fact that, yes, he was still alive he pulled the covers off of him and slowly sat up. Then he noticed Karin was lying in a futon next to him. She was all right, she hadn't died! They had won! A smile crept onto his face. "Good job Karin," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
She moved, opened her eyes, and then she shot up. "What's going on? Where's Aizen?" she demanded, then she saw that she was no longer wearing her robes and instead was dressed for bed. Karin then clasped her head. "I swear, I've got the world's biggest headache."
"I'm glad to see that you're all right," Toushirou said. She turned and grinned widely.
"We did it! I killed him. But I don't really remember much after that, besides standing next to you and feeling intense pain."
"Wonder why that would be." Before the two could think about it any longer, the door burst open and a very familiar person bounded into the room.
"Taichoooooooouuu!!!" Matsumoto sang, gathering him into a hug. "I'm so happy to see you're all right!" She then saw Karin and squeezed her too. "And Karin! You've grown up so much!" Behind her one more figure stepped in.
"Karin-chan, Hitsugaya-kun," Orihime said softly. She had become more and more reserved ever since she had returned from Hueco Mundo. "Thank you."
"No problem," Karin said. "Were you the one that healed my throat? I thought I screamed it hoarse."
Orihime shook her head. "That was Urahara-san. I'm here to heal any remaining injuries." She gave a small smile and knelt next to the two of them. Her fairies appeared and began to bask Karin and Toushirou in their healing glow.
"Oh, good, you're in here," came a second voice. Rukia strode in, dressed in full uniform. She seated herself next to Matsumoto. "Thank you," she said, bowing. "You two have saved the Soul Society."
"Well, he was threatening my town too, so…" Karin trailed off. It was embarrassing, having someone bow to her.
"Karin!" Ichigo shouted, thundering into the room and over to her side. "Oh, good, you're here Inoue." A look of relief came over his face.
"Well, I couldn't just let Urahara-san heal the two of them, now could I? Besides, my ways are more effective. And please call me Orihime. I think we're close enough now to be calling each other by our first names." Rukia nodded in agreement.
"Uh, okay then." He was surprised by her words, but sat down. "Karin, how'd it go? Urahara-san said he found you lying on top of Toushirou near to Aizen's dead body."
"Well, yeah, that's true. Toushirou did most of the fighting. I was supposed to form shapes through most of it until we were sure Aizen had activated his shikai. It happened, so I came out and found Toushirou bleeding to death. Honaga—my zanpaku-to—told me to do something to help staunch the blood flow, which I did. Then she told me to take Toushirou's sword, which I did as well, and then I shot the two swords at Aizen. When I did that, they… sort of melted together. I knew then that Aizen was going to die, because that sword of fire and ice would not miss." She said it with such conviction that it was hard to doubt her. "The battle was over, and I went back over to Toushirou to make sure he was all right. Then I felt an overwhelming pain. I passed out on top of him." She shrugged slightly. "The only thing I'm wondering is why I felt such an enormous pain."
"That would be because your two swords were one and you were feeling Toushirou's wounds, only amplified," Urahara said from behind them. "It is very rare for zanpaku-to to be able to come together like yours."
"Hyourinmaru said that we had to do something special in order to separate them," Toushirou said. Orihime had finished her healing session and retracted her fairies. "Except it was only for when the zanpaku-to were released."
"The easiest thing for you to do," Rukia suggested, "is to place your hands on the zanpaktu-to. Maybe if you will them to separate, they will."
"That's a good idea, let's try it," Karin said earnestly. Urahara brought forth the sword. The flames hadn't died down any farther, and the ice hadn't melted yet. He set it down between the two of them.
Karin placed a hand on the ice side, and Toushirou placed a hand on the fire side. "Honaga, I ask you to please return to me."
"Hyourinmaru, it is wise to separate and become your own sword again."
The sword glowed and then shattered. The group looked surprised, but the pieces began forming themselves back into the two swords again. Honaga melted from sight, as Karin was in her body and not in her robes.
"Nicely done," Matusmoto said proudly. "We'll leave you two now, you still need your rest." She stood up and promptly dragged the others out of the room.
"Karin Kurosaki… you are simply amazing." He didn't have any better words for it; she really had done it. "I'm so proud of you."
"Only proud?" she pouted. "Toushirou, I love you, and I think that's why I was able to defeat him." She smiled at him, eyes glinting with glee.
"I love you too, Karin." He drew her into a deep kiss.
Aizen was dead. The world was safe… and they were in love.
Somewhere, two dragons of ice and flame joyfully played in the sky.
Soooo... how was it? I hope you all liked it! It was actually my best battle scene. XD I realize that they beat Aizen without activating bankai, but I like my way better.
Do you think it unreasonable, that after so many years of fighting battles together and doing so many things as friends, that Orihime would request Ichigo to call her by her first name, and she be allowed to call him by his? I don't.