Chapter Eight
Toshiro stirred and then woke up abruptly as he heard screams from not to far off. He got to his feet and walked over to the wall, laying his hand off it but then retracting it as it gave him a shock. The walls had some form of barrier over them and it gave of electricity to whoever tried to touch it. The screams continued but the had died down a bit, probably due to her throat becoming coarse.
"Karin…" he whispered, and then aimed a punch at the wall only to get tossed across the room, landing with a large 'THUD' at the other side and whacking himself against the other wall. He let out a low groan as he sat himself back up. Th screaming had stopped but he could still feel her in pain.
He looked around the room and ran round it a few times, looking at every single crack and dent to see if there was a way out. There was none.
Karin let her head hang look as she gasped for breath, sweat pouring down from her head and running down the sides of her face as a mask clattered to the ground. Watching Ichigo go through it was bad enough, but going through it herself was even worse. Szayel appeared by her side with a cloth and began wiping the sweat away, but Aizen stopped him.
he scientist took a step back and bowed before walking over to his computer, mask in hand. Karin continued to look down and then froze as she felt Aizen's hand stroke against her cheek. She then felt it drop down to her chin and force her to look up at him.
Red eyes met brown ones and this caused Aizen to smirk. Szayel had informed him of Karin's fire ability, he just never thought it would be true.
"How interesting." He murmured, causing Karin to hiss.
"Don't touch me." She hissed vehemently, her head knocking to the side so that her hair covered her eyes again. Aizen kept his hand at his chin and smiled.
"That's not a very nice way to talk to someone, especially since I was going to let you see Hitsugaya." Said Aizen, fake smile on his face as Karin snapped her head up, her eyes instantly going back black. Aizen smiled smugly. "I knew that would work."
Gin slumped slightly as he stared at Ichigo. He had spent the last two hours riddling Kido energy through his binds and into Ichigo's collar. Rukia would have been better for the job but she was still recovering and Ichigo didn't know how to use Kido so it was useless; he had to do it. It was tiring just getting the collar up but he struggled back up and proceeded to remove the cuffs.
Ichigo turned his head to Rukia who had grabbed the other cuff and was now focusing her own kido energy into it.
"Why are you helping me escape? Why not yourselves?"
They both looked up at him.
"Even if me and Rukia escaped, we wouldn't be strong enough to escape." Said Gin quietly.
"I agree with him," said Rukia, "even with these spiritual suppressers on, I can still sense your immense Reiatsu."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly. They were all putting their trust in HIM. What use was he? He only just managed to regain his Shinigami powers and they were already putting their faith in him? Just great.
"Ichigo, when you get out of here, knock out the guards just outside the cell and take they keys off them." said Gin, wincing slightly as he felt his fingers burn from the pressure he was applying to the cuffs. "Then come back and let us out, then we'll go help your sister and Hitsugaya, then we'll go help Kuchiki and Soi fon."
"I gotcha." Said Ichigo, feeling both his cuffs break free and his reiatsu flared dramatically. Rukia face-palmed.
"IDIOT JUST GO!" she shouted, watching Ichigo Shunpo out the room.
Byakuya snapped his head up as he felt that familiar Reiatsu fill the air.
"It appears as if Kurosaki has escaped-" Byakuya froze as he felt another spiritual pressure appear, "and Gin Ichimaru appears to have escaped too. I thought he was dead."
"That's what I thought." Said Soi Fon through gritted teeth, then felt another Reiatsu appear as well. "Is that-"
"Rukia." Murmured Byakuya, getting to his feet. "I wonder how long she had been here…"
"If her spiritual pressure had been sealed since arriving she may have been here the whole time." Said Soi Fon. Byakuya looked at her; that was the most intellectual thing she had ever said since being here.
"Let's hope not." Said Byakuya dryly. Then he remembered the screaming. There was so much screaming when they had first arrived and he had always thought it to be Kurosaki Ichigo; but who was the other person? Rukia?
"There isn't much we can do in our current state anyway." Continued Byakuya, sitting back down. Soi Fon frowned.
"You always say that." She grumbled.
Toshiro sat in the middle of the floor, frustrated. He couldn't use any spiritual attacks and the walls were infused with electricity. His burnt hand had already been healed by instant regeneration and his hollow side was screaming at him to kill everyone who appeared in his path. Fortunately for our Snowflake, he always stuck with his human side.
Another few moments passed and he grumbled. He felt like killing someone… right… now…
Then the door started to unlock and he stared at it as the barrier just vanished.
"The person who cast the barrier must have unlocked it…"
Thought the Snowflake, watching the door swing open. Aizen walked through, Karin by his side; but she was being dragged forcefully by her collar.
"You can spend some time with her before training Hitsugaya." Sneered Aizen, pushing Karin in so she toppled and fell over. He then placed his hand in his robe and pulled out a mask and tossed it next to her. "Since you have some free time, you can figure out how to use that mask."
Then he left and Karin was left cowering on the floor. It was a split second later that Toshiro was by her side, hugging her in a tight embrace. As he continued to hug her, his hand reached for the mask and he began to exam it. Full mask with sharp edgings at the bottom, his hand instantly got cut but then healed itself. Around the eyes of the mask were dull orange with strips of black through it, the rest of it having slashes of red, slightly forming fire in Toshiro's eyes. He continued to cradle Karin as she relaxed slightly, her arms curling up in front of her chest as she felt the fammiliar reiatsu of her Snowflake surround her, even if it could only be sensed slightly through the collar and have a hollow tint to it.
Toshiro placed the mask back down and raised his hand to circle round his own mask, sighing. Karin felt like Karin, but since he was an arrancar perhaps he wouldn't notice if she had a hollow side or not. he bowed his head and allowed himself to lean against Karin.
"I'm sure they'll come to help soon... Karin..." he whispered quietly, closing his eyes.
In the soul Society, Ukitake stared at the results that Kurotuchi had brought onto the screen.
"As you can see, it is impossible to open a Garganta to Huecho Mundo due to the shifting space." said Mayuri, "If we were to go through there we would either be sent into the past or the future, which would be no help to Hitsugaya, Kuchiki, Soi Fon and the two Kurosaki's."
"Then what do we do?" said Ukitake, his hand resting on his chin, "Just sit here and wait? You honestly think Aizen will keep them alive?"
"We'll just have to wait and see about that." replied Mayuri. Kyoraku appeared next to his best friends side and tilted his hat.
"And to think I thought you were the smartest person in the whole of the soul society." said Kyoraku, making a vein pop in Mayuri's forehead, "I mean, surely you could do something-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!" shouted Mayuri, "I'LL BE DOING THIS MY WAY!"
Ichigo, Gin and Rukia sneaked forwards, Gin knocking out Numero's on the way, Ichigo killing the ones he didn't spot and Rukia casting random kido spells when she thought needed.
"Hey, Ichigo..." whispered Rukia, stopping. Ichigo looked back at her with a frown.
"What is it Rukia? An Arrancar?" said Ichigo, furrowing his brow as he looked round.
"N-no..." said Rukia softly, "I was wondering... Are you from a town called Karakura?"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow as Gin nodded.
"She's starting to remember, even if it is only slightly." said Gin quietly, "Rukia, continue to try and recover your memories, but keep an eye out while we're moving, ok?"
Rukia nodded and continued moving, keeping up a barrier as the walked.
Karin woke up with a start and then looked round the pitch black room, feeling something warm underneath her. After feeling about after a while, she felt a fammiliar tuft of hair and the faint glow of a collar and sighed with relief.
"Shiro... you're ok... thank goodness..." she breathed, then noticing that he was sound asleep. She stroked her forehead before wrapping her arms round his waist, snuggling into him and closing her eyes again. In the corner of the room an eye glinted as he watched the sleeping pair. His eyes glinted with cruel intent as he then noted that they seemed to happy, peaceful.
"Time to fix that." he whispered, brushing a brown strand of hair from his face, "Pawns are not allowed to be happy."
A/N: *faints* So many... reviews *gulp* I better keep updating or some people are going to kill me! *panics* heh heh... Hope you enjoyed ^^