Chapter 6: Three Paths

Kurosaki Clinic

Karin wakes up, thankful that it was the weekend, as last night's events were like a rollercoaster that kept her up well past any reasonable curfew. She checks the time and confirms that she had slept in and would have been a couple hours late for school. Looking over, she sees Yuzu also sleeping soundly.

"Don't you worry, Yuzu. Dad and I will make sure Ichigo and mom rest peacefully by taking out that hollow! Just sit tight and wait for us!"

Karin exits her room but is greeted by a voice that almost gives her a heart attack. "I see you're awake. I'll help explain the situation to your sister once she gets up, so I suggest you pack your bags now."

Karin jerks around to see Rukia Kuchiki in her Gigai, dressed in a black business suit, standing nonchalantly outside her room, leaning against the wall.

Karin looks the woman over, "You're the woman from last night… Where is my dad?"

Rukia bows, "I am Rukia Kuchiki, 5th seat of the 13th Division of the Gotei 13. Your father is currently on patrol alongside my captain. Your father requested that I oversee your special training, which my captain approved."

Just then, Yuzu comes out of the room, "Karin? Who are you talking to?"

The girl stops dead in her tracks in the doorway, finding her answer as she sees Rukia leaning against the wall.

Rukia explains, "Your father is away on business. I am here to take Karin away to a foreign exchange program that she got accepted in recently."

Yuzu pretends to buy the lie, "Oh! That sounds interesting!"

Rukia further explains, "Your father said a family friend called last night about taking care of you… Ishida, I believe? He said he'll arrive at the clinic later today to check in on you."

Yuzu nods, fully accepting Ryuken as family at this point. "I wish you the best of luck in your exchange program, Karin! I hope you make lots of friends." She gives her sister a hug of farewell, truthfully not knowing how long it will be until she sees her again, which Karin returns with equal amounts of affection.

After Rukia and Karin leave the Kurosaki Clinic, Rukia asks, "Are you completely sure about this? This is likely the last chance you'll get to back out."

"If I wasn't sure, then I wouldn't have agreed to it." Is all that Karin states.

Rukia gives a slight nod and the two make their way to Urahara's shop to start Karin's training.

Karakura Town

Two foreign, young-looking women waltz down the streets of Karakura Town, earning many lustful gazes from passing men. One of them is Candice Catnipp, wearing a red tank top and blue jean short shorts, as if the legs of the jeans were cut off. She no longer wears the signature Sternritter hat and has traded her knee-high white boots for black hiking boots that go up just past her ankles.

Accompanying her is a shorter woman with long, black hair and brown eyes. She wears a black button-up jacket with a white dress-shirt underneath. She also wears a black miniskirt, fastened with a white belt with a heart-shaped belt buckle and knee-high black boots with stockings that go all the way past her upper thigh.

A shady looking guy walks up to the women, "Would you couple of lovely ladies like to have some fun tonight at the club with me and his boys?"

Candice addresses the guy, "You aren't really my type… but I'll still take you up on your offer if handsome men and alcohol are involved!"

The man smirks and looks at the shorter woman, "What about you, baby?"

The woman holds up a hand as if to object, "That stuff isn't my thing. I'm only in this shabby town for business."

The woman shoots a serious look at her companion, reminding her of their true reasons for being here.

The creep then comes up to her and puts an unwelcome hand around her back, before saying, "Ah c'mon… It's a good way to blow off steam and relieve stress!" His hand slides further down her back.

The dark-haired woman glares at him, "I'm not interested. This is your final warning…"

The man smirks, "You're so cold! I like that in a woman!" The man then proceeds to grab her ass.

Candice sighs as her companion quickly grabs the man's hand in a vice grip, causing him to wail in pain.

The woman growls, "You're lucky we're not in the Wandenreich, or your whole body would look like this."

"Like what?" the man questions.

She lets go of his hand, and the man screams as most of his hand simply is not there anymore and sees ashes dropping from the girl's hands. "You two are freaks! I'm out of here!" the man screams, running away for his life.

Candice berates her companion, "Really Bambi?! Every time I try to have a fun time with a guy and might have something going, you just have to swoop in and ruin it!"

Bambietta responds, "Quit whining. You would've wasted too much time in that club, having fun with the slew of men in there. I swear, this is why we call you a whore."

Candice counters, "Well at least I'm making use of the men I sleep with! The ones YOU sleep with are blown the fuck up! That is assuming you even sleep with them to begin with!"

Bambietta clarifies, "Hey, I do make use of them. As that creep mentioned, they are the perfect stress relief after a bad day. You should try it sometime, maybe that would land you in better graces of his Majesty."

Candice is quiet for a moment, "Don't even joke about that… I'm a dead woman if Yuzu Kurosaki doesn't end up being Sternritter material."

Bambietta hums, "And great progress we're making with that. We don't even know where she lives, and you want to party it up with some random loser you met on the street? Pathetic."

Candice considers what her companion says for a moment, before letting out a sigh, "You're right. My judgement has not exactly been sound since we arrived, but how can you blame me? I just had that stressful life and death experience with his majesty!"

Bambietta looks off in the distance with a serious expression, "You must do whatever it takes to survive… That's what life is; if you can survive longer than anyone else, you win. I think you should take death more seriously, Candice."

Candice nods hesitantly, feeling a bit more focused despite her companion's rather grim and nihilistic advice.

Candice realizes something else, causing her to murmur, "And once we do find the girl, I have no idea on where to even begin training her. I'm only used to training my men, who already have prior Quincy experience…"

Bambietta gives Candice a smirk, "Oh, don't worry about that part. I can deal with most of the actual instruction, or did you forget I trained under Haschwalth in the past? I know a thing or two about training Sternritter!"

Candice shrugs, "Well yeah, I don't doubt it will go smoothly, especially because it's another girl we're working with. You have, like, zero patience with guys."

Bambietta snorts at this, "You're one to talk about not having patience! Also, you're wrong about that. I have patience with his Majesty and Haschwalth!"

This prompts Candice to roll her eyes as she walks away from her companion, continuing the search for Yuzu Kurosaki.

Urahara Shoten

Karin and Rukia enter Urahara's Shop, finding it mostly empty save for Tessai working on paperwork near the front.

"He's waiting for you in the basement." Is all Tessai says before returning to his work.

Karin is surprised to find a massive rocky landscape with a blue sky overhead in the basement.

"WOAH?! WHAT IS THIS PLACE? INCREDIBLE! THIS HUGE, CAVERNOUS CHAMBER IS RIGHT UNDER MY STORE!" Urahara yells dramatically from behind Rukia, causing the girl to flinch and immediately turn around and punch the man in the face.

"Ow… that hurt…" the man whines, rubbing his face.

"Well, that's what you get for sneaking up behind someone and shouting like that!" Rukia growls.

As Rukia continues to yell at Urahara, Karin looks off in the distance and sees Tatsuki and Orihime struggling to fight against what look like a couple of kids her age.

The girl wears a shocked expression, "Those kids have got to be tough. I heard that Tatsuki was a Karate prodigy…"

Urahara walks up next to Karin, "Well, my Ururu and Jinta are no slouches. I trained them myself. And you will be fighting one of them."

Karin looks up at Urahara as if he is mad, "ME?! What can I do against kids who a highschooler proficient in martial arts struggles against?!"

Urahara waves his hand carelessly as he smiles, "I wouldn't worry about it, Miss Kurosaki. You'll do great! I think…!"

Rukia deadpans, looking at Urahara with skepticism.

Orihime and Tatsuki finally notice Karin and Rukia and run over to greet them. The children follow, noticing Urahara standing with the duo.

Orihime is the first to speak to the girl, "Karin! Are you doing ok?"

Karin nods slowly, the girl's energy reminding her of Yuzu.

Tatsuki follows up, "What are you doing here, Karin?"

Karin starts to explain, "Well, the thing is…"

"…so that's why I've decided to become a Shinigami." Karin concludes her explanation.

Tatsuki, wearing a face that relays disapproval, sighs, "If that is what both you and Mr. Kurosaki want, then I'll have to respect it. But I'll watch your back next time you come to the living world! I'll have powers of my own by then!"

Orihime seconds that notion, "That's right! And I'll be here to help you too!"

Karin widens her eyes at the older girls' support, "I… thanks, both of you."

Tatsuki scoffs, "It's the least we could do. Don't worry about it."

Urahara slides in behind the two girls, "You two have been at it all day—you know, it's time for a rest. You ought the be starving now."

Orihime's eyes widen as she grabs her stomach in pain.

Tatsuki sighs, "You're right about that… c'mon Orihime, let's go get lunch."

Orihime waves to Karin as she walks off with Tatsuki, "Good luck with your training, Karin! We'll be rooting for you!"

Urahara addresses Karin, "Alright, Miss Kurosaki. It's time we began your training."

Urahara suddenly shoves his cane at the girl, which separates her spirit from her body, causing it to go limp, falling to the ground.

"W-what the hell?!" Karin grimaces.

Urahara elaborates, "I've separated your soul from your body. We'll need to get you used to existing in spirit form before you have so much as a hope of becoming a Shinigami."

Karin looks in horror at her physical body lying limp on the ground in front of her.

Urahara notices the look before explaining further, "I'll preserve your physical body and make modifications to change it into a Gigai, a physical body that Shinigami use in the living world. It will age with you while you are in the Soul Society… assuming you can pass my lessons."

Karin manages to pull herself to her feet with some difficulty, "I can do it. I'll pass as many of your lessons as I have to!"

"That's the spirit…" Urahra responds with a somewhat sinister look before continuing, "In that case, Ururu here will test how well you can move in you Konpaku (aka Spirit) body. Hitting her is your first lesson."

Karin glances over to the person Urahara gestured to, finding the twin-tailed little girl who was fighting Tatsuki earlier.

The girl bows, "Hi… it's a pleasure to train with you."

Rukia raises a brow, wearing a face of pure disgust, "Is this how you get your sick kicks? Having little girls hit each other?"

Urahara looks back at Rukia, "Oh I forgot you were here, Ms. Kuchiki! Do you want to get involved? Y'know, seeing as you are quite little yousel—"

Rukia kicks the man in the face before her finishes his sentence, knocking him to the ground.

"Ow…" the man whines again as Rukia stands over him with her arms crossed.

Urahara gets to his feet, addressing Karin once more. "In any case, you may notice Ururu is wearing protective head gear, here's some for you to put on too."

The man makes a motion with his hand, and a red-haired little boy tosses some headgear to the ground near Karin.

The boy carelessly regards the girl, "Good luck. You're gonna need it."

"Now Jinta, you shouldn't make the girl feel like she doesn't have a chance of winning, because then she'll start believing she can't and at that point she will lose." Urahara explains in an oddly jovial voice.

The boy merely scoffs before walking off.

"I could hear that you know…" Karin says with a deadpan.

Urahara ignores her as Ururu appears right in front of Karin, readying to punch her. Karin barely manages to dodge, seeing the girls' punch cause a small crater in the ground. Karin's eyes widen and her jaw drops, as she barely manages to grab the headgear.

Rukia is also speechless, before turning a wrathful gaze to Urahara, "Stop this right now, Kisuke! She'll kill her!"

Urahara regards the Kuchiki with an icy glare, "If she can't even survive Ururu, there is no chance that Karin here will become a Shinigami. Isshin agreed to it, he can't blame me for what happens."

Karin manages to tie the head band back on as she does her best to run away from Ururu. Karin turns on her heel to face the incoming Ururu, before dodging the girls' attack again. That isn't all, however, as Karin weaves around the girl before performing a drop kick, sending Ururu crashing into a rock.

Karin turns around to face the shop owner, "All right. What's next—"

"Look out!" Rukia calls, as Ururu came up from behind Karin to land a hit.

Karin is sent across the landscape, being caught by Rukia, who gets sent into a rock formation.

"Good job… lesson one is complete, Miss Kurosaki." Urahara states as he holds Ururu's arm back, calming the girl down.

Rukia manages to get herself out of the rock formation as Karin rubs her back, which is now extremely sore.

The Kuchiki glares at the shopkeeper with disdain, "You're sick!"

Urahara places a fan in front of his face, "That is correct. But there's no place for morality here, Kuchiki. This is a place of battle. Hollows won't go easy on her, so I won't either."

Karin finds her bearings and stares into the shopkeepers' eyes, "What's the next lesson?"

Urahara closes his fan as Tessai walks up next to him, "You will need to technically die for this part of the training to start. If you're unsure at all if you want to go through with this, back out now. After what comes next, there are absolutely no take backs."

Karin, thinking of what her brother Ichigo would do, gives one last resolute declaration, "I won't back down."

Urahara looks at Rukia, who nods wearing a solemn expression. The raven-haired women unsheathes her blade and cuts Karin's soul chain with a single stroke. This causes Karin to fall to her knees, despite feeling relatively negligible amounts of pain.

Karin begins to panic as she sees the severed chain begin to eat itself, "What's happening to me?!"

Urahara explains, "You must awaken your Shinigami powers before the encroachment of hollowfication. If you don't, then you will become a hollow and Rukia here will have to perform a Konso."

"But how am I supposed to do that?!" Karin demands.

Before anyone can react, Kisuke creates a deep pit that he throws Karin inside of. On the way down, her arms became bound by some weird type of spiritual magic.

Karin glares at Urahara, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Urahara elaborates coldly, "You must climb out of that hole. The only way to do that is to become a Shinigami, or else become a hollow. You have about 72 hours to do this… good luck, Miss Kurosaki."

Urahara then exits from Karin's view.

Karin shifts her gaze to Rukia, almost pleading for help.

Rukia finds herself unable to fully match the girl's gaze, "Focus on your inner spirit energy. That is the fastest way to make contact with your Zanpakto. Good luck, Karin."

Before Karin can respond, Rukia leaves her field of vision as well.

As Rukia, Urahara, and Tessai sit a distance away from the hole, Urahara remarks, "Miss Kurosaki should be able to figure this out without any issues. She'll likely be placed in first class at the academy given her Shiba heritage as well."

Rukia glares at Urahara, "Your statement better be true, or else those two girls staying with you may just skin you alive…"

Hueco Mundo

"They've been at it for hours…" Shawlong Koufang, one of the Adjuchas following the panther hollow states.

Another Adjucha, Edrad Liones, cuts in, "It's been a hell of a fight too."

Di Roy Rinker, an Adjucha with more bark than bite, adds his opinion, "Grimmjow should have won already. We should be feasting on that guy's flesh by now!"

This prompts another member of the group, Yylfordt Granz, to bark at Di Roy, "What do you mean?! Grimmjow's kill, Grimmjow's feast. Seriously, brother, get real!"

This causes the other three to nod in agreement as the 5th Adjucha, Nakeem Grindina, watches the battle quietly.

The panther Adjucha, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, is breathing quite heavily before yet again pouncing towards White, dragging his claws along the side of the dragon's hide. However, White uses this as an opportunity to flex his wings, sending Grimmjow flying up into the air. White takes off after the mid-air panther, but the panther maneuvers his body such that his mouth is facing towards the dragon and launches a cero directly at it, point blank. White tanks this however, using the momentum his wings gave him to crash into Grimmjow, sending him even higher into the sky before both come crashing down from exhaustion. The two each struggle as they get up off the ground.

"Hey…" Grimmjow says between breaths. "What did you say your name was?"

White, for once, gives an answer to a being he considered prey, "White. And you?"

The panther sneers, "Grimmjow. You should know the name of the one who will take you down!"

"As if," White replies, a red glow enveloping his body as he charges a massive cero like the one deflected by Ukitake in Karakura.

"Get down!" Shawlong shouts, realizing this cero has enough power to blow up a city.

Grimmjow calls out, "Cowards!"

The panther then uses a cero of his own to dampen the blast as he charges through it, using his speed to once again get in close with White. This proves to be a mistake, however, as White has been observing Grimmjow's attack patterns since the start of the fight and pulls off the correct timing to catch Grimmjow in between his horns and fire off one final cero at point blank range at the smaller Adjucha. This sends Grimmjow spiraling to the ground, a smoldering mess.

White still senses Grimmjow isn't done though, and before the panther can get back up, White places a paw on him.

Grimmjow writhers around, trying to get out, "I'LL TEAR YOU APART!"

White removes his paw, prompting Grimmjow to become momentarily confused before screaming at the other hollow, "How dare you look down on me! Kill me! I don't want your pity!"

White explains, "You don't have my pity—you have my respect, Grimmjow. You are the first hollow I encountered that I could not kill easily. I don't know why, but it feels like a waste to kill you now."

Grimmjow is about to continue his tirade but looks over to see a group of Adjuchas approaching, led by... "Oh shit, Barragan! I thought he stayed cooped up in Las Noches! We gotta scram boys!"

Grimmjow starts to leave before regarding White once more, "You can stay and face Barragan if you want, but know that if you do, this will likely be the last time we see each other. I hope to fight you again one day, but if you do die here just remember: you've been warned."

White decides to stay and see what exactly all the hype is around this Barragan character. As the Adjuchas draw near, the hollow King raises his hand, causing them to stop. The ancient skeletal Vasto Lorde approaches White addressing him in perhaps the most arrogant tone the hollow has ever heard.

"You weak Adjuchas have the audacity squabble for territory under my gaze? How presumptuous. Perhaps you all have forgotten, but before the Shinigami came, all of Hueco Mundo was my domain. I will make an example of you."

White growls with not but contempt for this self-proclaimed hollow king that stands before him, "I'd like to see you try, tiny!"

This prompts one of the Adjuchas to step forward and talk trash to White on Barragan's behalf, "You dare?! Ignorant fool, Lord Barragan ranks 2nd among the Espada and he isn't even an Arrancar ye-"but the hollow is cut off as Barragan launches a blast of some weird miasma at the loud mouth hollow, which starts to deteriorate the Adjucha down to nothing.

"Lord Barragan, why…?" it questions with its dying breath.

"I am THE strongest Espada!" Barragan roars. "They are all subservient to me, for my powers are absolute! Nothing can withstand the erosion of time! That bumbling brute is NOTHING compared to me!"

White sees the complete disregard towards his own companion and is absolutely livid.

"You…" White lets out almost a whisper, which catches the attention of Barragan. "HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO YOUR FRIEND?!"

White roars as intense red energy envelopes his body, as he feels not but rage in this moment.

Barragan clarifies, "Fool. That fodder was not my friend! I was merely making an example out of him, just like what I'll do with you..."

Before Barragan can react, White has rushed towards him, grabbing him with his claw, digging his black claws deep into Barragan's purple cloak, and take off flying high into sky. Once White has flown up a sufficient distance, he violently tosses Barragan to the ground so fast he's barely visible to the naked eye, causing a giant crater to form in the area where he was thrown. White's onslaught is not done yet, however, as he launches cero after cero at the ground where he thew Barragan. This causes even his Adjuchas followers to look on nervously, wondering if Barragan is alright. Once the dust settles, White is on the ground, as he no longer has the energy to keep himself airborne anymore. However, Barragan's giant black axe comes flying through the dust, striking White on the chest, causing him to yelp in pain.

Barragan comes out of the dust, hardly damaged, chuckling, "You are one of the strongest Adjuchas I've fought in a long time. I must commend you for your strength. However, it will not be enough."

Barragan grabs the axe and chants a command. "Respira!" which causes White to scream in pain as his body starts to deteriorate from the inside out.

The dragon's survival instincts completely take over now, as White grabs Barragan with both of his clawed hands and forces him back with a strength that is beyond anything that he would otherwise be able to use. Barragan is disoriented at this, so is too late to notice the dragon flying away from the battlefield.

Barragan sighs, "I suppose I'll have to continue this fight another day. But I gotta say, it's nice to flex my authority now that that fool Aizen is out of my way!"

Barragan then goes off in some other direction with his Adjuchas followers to kill some other poor Adjuchas for sport.

White lands near a cave, taking rest in it to lick his wounds. He can feel his remaining spiritual energy struggling to keep the wound closed, as the respira is continuously deteriorating his body.

"Guess I'll just have to lay low for a while to build my energy back up to hunt again… I need to become a Vasto Lorde soon and put that asshole in his place!" The dragon thinks to himself as he drifts into slumber.

Kurosaki Clinic

Yuzu is cooking lunch at the Kurosaki Clinic, waiting for Ryuken to come pick her up for the day.

"I wonder what type of food Uncle likes. Will I get to spend time with Uryu?" Such thoughts flow through the young girl's head before she hears a knock on the door.

Yuzu shouts, "I'll be right there!"

Yuzu turns down the stove and walks to the front entrance, expecting to find Ryuken on the other side of the door. She's surprised to find that's not the case as she finds a man with black slicked back hair and a black jacket carrying her brother's friend Chad on his shoulder and a caged cockatiel in his other hand.

"You can take care of this guy, right?" the man asks.

Yuzu nods, "Lay Chad on his stomach on one of the beds in the medical room."

Yuzu guides the man to the room as she puts her medical equipment on.

The girl then removes Chad's shirt, "I'm sorry, but I'll need you to help balance Chad. We're currently low on staff."

Yuzu gasps as she sees a giant bruise in the shape of a handprint of some kind on his back, and some blood leaking out in portions. She also finds that he was hit on the head in some places, meaning she'll have to wrap his head as well.

At this point Chad is wakes up and regards the man who came to his rescue, "Who… are you…?"

The man smirks before asking, "Would you like to become strong and protect this cockatiel from the monster that's been following it?"

Chad's eyes widen before he nods, "Yeah… That'd be nice… but how-?"

The man doesn't answer Chad's question, as he regards Yuzu who comes back into the room.

Chad's eyes widen in recognition of the girl, "Strawberry's sister?"

Yuzu sighs, "Please don't call him that, Mister…?"

"Chad." The giant answers.

The girl nods, "Well please don't call him that. And by the way, you can call me Yuzu."

Chad nods wordlessly, prompting the girl to start treating him.

As Yuzu is treating Chad, she can't help but shake the feelings of dread she gets from the cockatiel. Furthermore, the man gives Yuzu a look and stares at the pendant around her wrist, causing her to become even more uncomfortable.

After a while of this, Yuzu can't take anymore, "Why are you staring at my bracelet?"

The man responds, with an amused expression, "It looks pretty."

Yuzu begins to pout defensively, "This belonged to my mother—you can't have it!"

The man waves his hands defensively, "Calm down. I was just offering you a complement. My name is Kugo Ginjo, by the way."

Yuzu becomes less defensive at this, "Oh… ok, thanks Mr. Ginjo!"

The man smiles jovially, "Please, just Ginjo is fine!"

Suddenly, Ginjo drops the jovial attitude, now wearing a serious expression, "Would you be interested in helping Chad and I with destroying that hollow following this cockatiel?"

Yuzu's eyes widen, "How do you know about hollows?! Do you know them too, Chad?"

Chad shakes his head, "I'm afraid I don't."

Ginjo regards the girl with a slightly less serious expression, "Please calm down, Miss Kurosaki. I can help both you and Chad develop a power that we like to call as 'Fullbring'."

Ginjo then hands Yuzu and Chad cards that read 'Xcution' on them, next to a set of numbers.

Ginjo elaborates, "Those are numbers to call in case you need directions to our hideouts… If you follow me now, we can start training right away."

Yuzu speaks up, "Hold on. I need to let her family know first!"

The girl goes into the other room, writing a letter addressed to Ryuken and posting it on the front door for Ryuken to find when he does drop by. She also makes sure to place the food she was cooking in the fridge after turning the stove all the way off.

"I hope Uncle understands. If I can get stronger now, the wait to start my Quincy training won't be as painful and I can start protecting myself earlier."

With these thoughts Yuzu leaves the Clinic, donning Candice's cape, which earns her a questioning look from Ginjo.

Yuzu explains, "It makes me feel like a superhero!"

Yuzu then performs the signature Don Kanoji laugh, "Bwahahaha" as she crosses her arms over her chest with her hands on her shoulders.

Ginjo chuckles and even Chad, now carrying the cockatiel, can't help but crack a smirk at this, as the three of them make their way down the road towards the Xcution hideout.