Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
"Rangiku, what happened?" Toushiro demanded at the strawberry blonde crying into her hands.
"Karin," Rangiku gulped a sob back, "she kicked a soccer ball and Ichigo took her away." She continued sobbing into her hands. Toushiro looked down to his friend then back up to a dark green castle at the base of a dormant volcano and balling up his fists in anger.
"Tell the King and Queen, I'll go and get Karin back." Toushiro explained and ran over to Kon. He vaulted onto the horse before Rangiku could get over her shock.
"Okay," Rangiku stated as he disappeared into the woods.
Toushiro pushed Kon harder when he came out of the woods onto a stretch of desert with a mighty canyon separating him from the castle.
...
Ichigo tucked Karin into a bed in the tallest tower in his castle and he smiled down to her.
'Nobody will ever take you away from me again.' Ichigo giggled darkly, but a commotion outside of his castle drew him to the window. Toushiro was coming on horseback straight to his castle.
"WHAT!" Ichigo screamed, he locked the door to her room and sprinted down the stairs.
"Guards," several soul reapers with armor plating of horns and skulls appeared in front of him.
"I want you to go out and dispose of Toushiro. I don't want him getting anywhere near me or my sister." Ichigo demanded and the group disappeared in flash step appearing in front of horse and rider.
"WHOA!" Kon screamed pulling up to sit on the dirt. He looked up and recognized the soldiers to be Ikkaku, Kenpachi, Shuuhei, Kyoraku, Kuchiki and many more soul reapers he didn't recognize.
"So this is where you guys were. I was starting to wonder where you guys disappeared to inside this world." Kon chatted with the soul reapers he was familiar with but they did not respond instead they lunged at Kon and Toushiro.
"Hey," Toushiro yelled at the people. "Get out of my way," he threatened but he was ignored. In the meantime, Kenpachi and Kyoraku grew taller wielding a club and ball and chain.
"Come on," Kon turned around dodging the attacks from various weapons. Kon ran over to the edge of the forest and rested looking back to the crowd blocking their path.
"We've got to find a way to get around that army." Toushiro whispered, his mind whirling through multiple strategies but all of his ideas required a sword.
"Hi, there Toushiro," Yachiru popped into his vision surprising both him and Kon.
"Hi Yachiru," Toushiro answered looking at the army then back to Yachiru. "Can you help me out here?"
"How?" Yachiru turned her head to the side and glanced to the battle field where Kenpachi stood waiting for Toushiro.
"I need a weapon to get past that army and free Karin from that spell."
"Ha! I knew you liked her." Kon chose that time to point out the obvious, but Toushiro chose to ignore him.
"I don't know. I dont' think that Kenny would have any fun that way." Yachiru looked at the giant soul reaper wishing to be on his shoulder like before. Toushiro smirked at the little fairy as an idea came to him out of the blue.
"Give me a weapon and I can assure you that Kenny would have more than enough fun." Toushiro stated to which Yachiru giggled clapping her hands together.
"Okay, what do you want?" Yachiru asked making Toushiro pause and think. The weapon that kept popping in his mind was a long sword with a four point star at the base and a chain extending from the hilt.
"This is going to sound strange, but I need a sword that has a four point star at the base and a chain extending from the hilt." Toushiro explained the sword and Yachiru's eyes opened wide at the detail.
"You want Hyourinmaru," Yachiru pointed at him as if he had three heads. The name sounded familiar to Toushiro, but shrugging it away, he nodded his head.
"Okie, dokie," Yachiru held the little wand above her head and waved the wand in wide circles. "Bring out Hyourinmaru!" A sword materialized from ice and snow to fall into the ground beside Toushiro and getting dangerously close to Kon's side.
"That was close," Kon noted. The sword had landed not two inches from his side, he could even feel the wind as it fell down.
"What's this?" Toushiro grasped the hilt in his hand and blinked that he was able to hold the sword with such ease.
"Toushiro this is Hyourinmaru. Hyourinmaru this is Toushiro." Yachiru cheerfully introduced the sword and prince. "Now, go have fun with Kenny. Bye, bye Toushiro." Yachiru waved and popped away in a cloud of pink.
"Okay, now what?" Kon asked and Toushiro blinked at the sword with a phrase that kept repeating in his mind.
"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru?" Toushiro whispered and blinked at the whirlwind of snow and ice that circled the both of them in surprise.
"Cold, cold," Kon complained when the wind subsided. Kon was standing with ice armor covering his head, chest, forelegs, and a covering on his hindquarters. Toushiro was dressed different too: he was wearing armor made of ice with the symbol of a blue serpentine dragon on the chest plate.
"Okay, Kon, let's go." Toushiro heeled Kon onto the battle as he pointed the sword to the ground just inches above the dirt. A plan was forming in his mind and he smirked at the genius of it.
"What are we doing?" Kon asked/screamed as Toushiro led him into the middle of the army with all of the weapons firing toward them. It was through this melee that Toushiro allowed the sword tip to skim the ground extending a layer of ice on the field behind them. Jumping from the mass of soldiers and heading toward the canyon, Toushiro looked behind smiling that the entire army was now tripping and skidding across the newly made ice-rink. He blinked that the only soldiers that escaped the rink were Ikkaku, Kyoraku, Kenpachi, Kuchiki and Shuuhei. However, Toushiro liked these odds much better: it was easier to battle one against five instead of one against an army.
"Come on Kon," Toushiro pushed Kon straight to the canyon to the horse's surprise.
"Please tell me you don't want me to jump that?" Kon begged. Toushiro didn't answer only pushing the horse faster and closer. Then at the last minute, Toushiro scraped Hyourinmaru along the ground in a path directly in front of him. With a great deal of concentration, Toushiro directed Hyourinmaru to form a huge bridge made of ice with steps leading to the top. Kon leapt onto the stairs of ice and climbed the steps, he only stumbled a couple of times. In the middle of the bridge, Toushiro pulled Kon to a stop allowing the horse a brief rest. From the highest point of the bridge Kon watched the five soul reapers run straight for them.
"Perfect," Toshiro smiled to Kon's surprise.
"What's perfect?" Kon asked the boy riding him but was given no answer. Instead Toushiro rested Hyourinmaru's tip on the ice and called more ice to widen the bridge, as well as covering the walls of the canyon with a layer of ice several inches thick. When the five soul reapers started to climb the bridge, Toushiro turned Kon to run off the bridge. However seeing as how the bridge was made of ice, Kon could not get any grip and so only slid along the ice – very grateful that Toushiro had erected walls for the bridge. Just as Ikkaku reached the top of the stairs, Toushiro threw the chain to latch onto a pillar of ice and pulled Kon onto the other side. Kon was able to slide down the incline and made it safely to the ground. In his gratitude, Kon bent down and kissed the solid earth. Toushiro looked up and smirked that all five soul reapers were slipping in the middle of the bridge, above the deepest part of the canyon.
"What now?" Kon asked watching the soul reapers slip and slide toward their direction.
"This," Toushiro sliced the edge of the bridge with Hyourinmaru and they both watched the bridge collapse sending the soul reapers to the bottom along with a mountain of ice to freeze them all.
"Okay," Kon nodded then turned toward the castle. "Do you think Ichigo's mad?" The plume of green fire that erupted from the castle courtyard answered Kon's question.
"Yes," Toushiro answered and pushed Kon forward toward the castle. Ichigo appeared in front of Toushiro blocking him from reaching the castle. This annoyed Toushiro much more than Ichigo realized.
"I see you got past my army and my canyon, but now Toushiro," Ichigo smiled down to him, "you deal with me." Ichigo raised his staff amidst insane laughter and slammed it into the ground. The staff bellowed green smoke that raised Ichigo into the sky before it formed into a black dragon with yellow eyes and two small horns on the tip of his nose. The dragon blasted two white beams toward the horse and rider. Toushiro managed to dodge the pair of blasts just in time.
"Okay, genius, how do you take care of a dragon?" Kon asked running as fast as he could while avoiding those arcing beams of destruction.
"I'm more concerned with destroying that staff of Ichigo's. It has become a great annoyance." Toushiro answered as they made a full circle around the dragon.
"Come on, Zangetsu, hit them already!" Ichigo yelled to the black dragon, whose head he was currently standing on. The dragon glared up to Ichigo before he answered.
"Ichigo, you are taking this too far. I don't really want to hurt him." Zangetsu complained as he tried to reason with his irrational master.
"I don't care I will not allow him to get anywhere near my sister." While Ichigo and Zangetsu debated the proper disposal of the white haired boy, Toushiro had another brilliant idea to come into his head: freeze the ground and thaw it to make mud. True it would only slow him down, but it just might be enough for Toushiro to destroy that staff. Anyway it was worth a shot.
"Kon circle them again," Toushiro ordered as he let Hyourinmaru skim the earth once again freezing the entire area underneath the black dragon. Toushiro kept the blade tip down toward the ground as he called the ice to be thicker and deeper. Since he was too focused on icing the ground, he didn't see Zangetsu's tail swipe at the two of them. Toushiro flew off of Kon's back landing on his stomach which knocked the wind out of him while Kon was thrown to the side falling to his knees very painfully.
"Now I've got you," Ichigo smirked down to Toushiro as he had fallen to the ground. "Zangetsu, do it now." Ichigo ordered and the dragon had to comply.
"I am sorry, Toushiro." Zangetsu pulled his head back and let loose a wide arch of white energy.
"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru." Toushiro raised his sword and threw a giant wall of ice to block Zangetsu's attack. The attack was split in two leaving Toushiro completely unharmed. Toushiro thrust Hyourinmaru deep into the ground watching the ice infect the area beneath Zangetsu. When Toushiro believed it to be deep enough, he glanced up where Zangetsu was preparing for another attack.
"I hope this works," Toushiro whispered, but he had a distinct memory where this technique succeeded. Toushiro removed the sword. At first it seemed that nothing happened, then the ground started shaking under the dragon and a sickening crack reached everyone's ears. The ground under the dragon gave way as an underground lava tube was crushed from the melting ice creating a giant sinkhole and filling the pit with mud. Since Zangetsu couldn't get a foothold, he was reduced to scrambling in the ever-deepening mud pit while his wings were trapped in the sticky mess.
"Now's my chance," Toushiro ran up to the pit and jumped onto the sinking dragon. Surprising Ichigo, Toushiro slashed the staff in two with Hyourinmaru destroying all of his power. Ichigo screamed "NO" before he was frozen into a block of ice. Since Zangetsu came from Ichigo's staff, the dragon itself was frozen in a block of ice as well.
Toushiro dropped to his knees completely exhausted, looking around he blinked that there were no more enemies around. He slowly slid off the frozen dragon and ran over to Kon who still had the ice armor on.
"Kon, are you okay?" Toushiro asked the horse.
"Yeah, I think so," Kon stood up from the ground testing all of his legs. "This ice armor really works great." Kon exclaimed as he walked over to Toushiro.
"Okay, we need to go get Karin." Toushiro smiled as he jumped up to Kon and ran over to the castle. Kon ran through the castle and stopped at the base of the tallest tower.
"Karin should be in a room at the top of this tower." Kon explained to Toushiro allowing the boy to step down.
"How do you know?" Toushiro asked while he retrieved Hyourinmaru from the sheath at Kon's shoulder.
"It's where all the villains hide the princesses they kidnap." Kon explained as if it was the most common knowledge.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Toushiro stated then he disappeared into the tower. He ran up the stairs and came up to a door to the only room. Testing it, he grumbled that it was locked. After stepping away from the door, Toushiro cut it down with Hyourinmaru and he stepped over the half door to enter the room. At the far wall was a bed where Karin lay under the covers.
"You always did look so innocent when you slept, Karin." Toushiro stated to her sleeping form. He walked over and sat at the edge of the bed. He had been there before (not the room but the situation), looking down as she slept and wanting to see her eyes again. Without thinking, Toushiro leaned down and gently kissed Karin on the lips. He watched her eyes open and she let out a big yawn as she sat up on the bed.
"Hey Toushiro, what's going on?" Karin asked looking around the tiny room and rubbing her eyes. "How did I get here?"
"You fell into a deep sleep after you kicked a soccer ball." Toushiro answered giving her an annoyed look.
"Why would a soccer ball put me into a deep sleep?" She looked around and pushed the covers away from her so she could stand up beside Toushiro.
"Ichigo can't stand the thought of us being together." Toushiro shrugged as he turned to the window overlooking the frozen statue of Ichigo on Zangetsu's head. The room around them started to fill with powder dust and a green fairy popped into the room.
"Hi Karin, it looks like Toushiro is your true love since he is the one who woke you up." Yuzu giggled flitting in the air.
"CAN WE GET THIS OVER WITH NOW?" A blue fairy dashed into the room angrily flitting beside the green fairy.
"Soi Fon?" Toushiro pointed to the blue fairy and she sighed.
"You are not to remember this Toushiro Hitsugaya." Soi Fon ordered as the third fairy broke into the room.
"Kenny had fun playing with you, Toushiro." Yachiru happily cheered.
"I'm glad to hear it Yachiru," Toushiro slowly stated as Karin looked on in confusion.
"Okay, what's going on? Why is the blue fairy look so angry, and how does the green fairy know me?" Karin asked pointing to the respective fairies.
"You don't remember yet, do you?" Soi Fon exclaimed suddenly too tired to care about her appearance.
"Remember what?" Karin asked and Toushiro simply smiled over to her.
"This," Toushiro took her into his arms and kissed her deep. He pulled back and Karin blinked a couple of times looking up at him she smiled.
"How could I forget all of that?" Karin asked looking into his eyes. More dust fell into the room until everyone fell into a ballroom. Karin heard a grunt when she landed hard on something, or someone. The person groaned under her weight.
"My darling Karin," Isshin ran up to her from the hall as the person she was sitting on continued to groan. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm good dad," Karin answered as she looked down to see a tattooed red head.
"Glad to hear," Renji grunted to her, "could you please get off me. You're heavier than you look." Renji stated as Karin stood up, making sure to stomp on his leg at the insult.
"RENJI! How could you say something so rude?" Rukia flew in flapping over his head when some pink dust fell onto her wings and she returned to her human form.
"Eeep," Rukia squeaked before she fell on top of Renji crushing him back to the floor just as he was trying to get up.
"Rukia," Renji complained as she got up from his back. Renji stood up and cracked his back.
"Man that hurt," Renji bent over rubbing his aching back.
"Where is Toushiro?" Karin asked looking around the room. He seemed to disappear.
"Don't worry. Captain Hitsugaya will pop up around here somewhere." Rangiku explained walking up to the Kurosaki girl. A puff of red smoke released Yuzu, Yachiru and Soi Fon in their original forms.
"I'm so glad to be normal again." Soi Fon happily explained rubbing her arms and feeling her shoulders to make sure the wings were gone.
"I had fun!" Yachiru began jumping around the room.
"Here they all are," the group heard Shunsui exclaim from the hallway.
"Someone needs to tell Hyourinmaru not to leave us frozen for so long." Captain Kuchiki cracked his neck to relieve the stiffness.
"Speaking of which, where did they go?" Shunsui pointed out noting the zanpaktou and his master had disappeared.
"He'll turn up sometime." Haineko pointed out as the other zanpaktou joined everyone else.
"There they are," Yumichika pointed out as Hyourinmaru and Zangetsu pushed an ice statue into the room followed by Toushiro Hitsugaya. The pair left the statue in the middle of the room and Karin stepped up to see who it was: Ichigo Kurosaki.
"It's Ichigo," Karin pointed and gently tapped the ice covering her frozen brother.
"Are you going to keep him like that?" Renji asked walking up to Ichigo to tap on the ice with his knuckles.
"No/Yes," Toushiro and Hyourinmaru answered with opposing views.
"Hyourinmaru, you have to thaw Ichigo." Toushiro ordered but Hyourinmaru frowned to his shorter master.
"Master, it is because of Ichigo that we are in this mess," he transferred his glare to the prisoner and ordered more ice to cover the figure.
"Even so, he must be defrosted, and you know this Hyourinmaru. So, thaw him." Toushiro ordered but Hyourinmaru made no move to comply.
"Hyourinmari," Toushiro glared up to his zanpaktou.
"Master Hitsugaya," Hyourinmaru returned the frosty glare. "If he is thawed, then he'll just send us to a different world and start this all over again." Hyourinmaru brought up a very good point. Ichigo was crazy enough to send them to a different world and banish is own sister into a coma for the rest of her life. What's stopping him from doing it all over again?
"That's true but it is possible that somebody else could say the spell and send us to a different world." Toushiro reasoned with his zanpaktou.
"Yes, but there is no guarantee the spell will be activated should anyone else speak it." Hyourinmaru countered. This seemed to be a hopeless argument. Once a person gets on Hyourinmaru's bad side, they stay on his bad side.
"I can guarantee that if Ichigo is freed, he will send us to yet another world. My patience with him is growing very thin." Hyourinmaru explained his reasons and Toushiro was finding it difficult to persuade the dragon otherwise.
"Still Ichigo is the best person to ask for us to get free of this world." Toushiro explained one more time and Hyourinmaru sighed at this final reasoning – if Ichigo remains frozen then they may never get out.
"Are you sure about that spell, Captain Hitsugaya?" Rangiku asked walking to stand beside him.
"I'm not sure, but it's best we not find out."
"Does anyone even remember it?" Uryu asked pushing his glasses up higher on his nose.
"I think it went something like," Renji began to the group's horror, "'A world in which these two separate is the place I seek. World of Azarath make thine choice.'" Renji proclaimed as the group tensed looking all around the room looking around for smoke. Ranikgu stalked up to Renji and grabbed his head into a head lock.
"YOU BETTER THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS NOTHING HAPPENED!" Rangiku screamed into his ear bursting his eardrum.
"But didn't he also say: 'Azarath Metrion Zinthose.'" Yachiru called from on top of Kenpachi's shoulder.
"NOOOOOO!" The entire group (minus Ichigo and Zaraki) screamed just before the red smoke poured in from the doors engulfing the entire floor.
Omake:
Karin: *knocks on Ichigo.* Ichigo is still frozen.
Hyourinmaru: Serves him right.
Toushiro: Hyourinmaru, you have to thaw him eventually.
Hyourinmaru: We'll see.
Rangiku: Well, it looks like the spell works no matter who says it. *Glares at Renji.*
Renji: Oops. *Sweat drop as see murderous glare from everyone.*
Rukia: YOU'RE A BIGGER IDIOT THAN ICHIGO! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU . . . *Begins to go on verbal rampage.*
Rangiku: Now, Rukia, we have children in the area. *Toushiro glares up at Rangiku.*
Toushiro: Rangiku . . . *freezes her with glare.*
Rangiku: Uh, I mean . . . uh, uh. *Tries to move away but in zero gravity.*
Renji: Now who's the idiot? *Everyone glares over at him.*
Everyone: YOU ARE! *Group launch over to Renji and proceeds to pound him.*
On a continent far away from Japan:
Raven: Who did you sell the book to?
Beast Boy: I sold it over the internet. I don't know exactly to who.
Raven: *grabs Beast Boy by back of shirt with flames in her eyes.* YOU BETTER FIGURE IT OUT OR ELSE I'LL SEND YOU TO AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION!
Beast Boy: Got it. *Struggles in her grip.*
A/N: Well here's the end of the Sleeping Beauty story. I'm planning on sending them to more worlds, but I may need a little bit of help. If anyone has a story you want to see the gang fall into, just send me a message. Let me know what you think of this chapter. Until the next chapter. I would like to thank all of my reviewers so far. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story.