I do not own Bleach … :) and I do not earn any kind of money from this snippet.
This chapter hadn't been beta-ed yet. I wish you pleasant reading.
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To break is all I know
Chapter 17: Loveless
"Title: A date with Jinta & after!
The date had nothing special about it. We acted like a married couple, peculiar for two 11 year old children, we devoured an incredible amount of ice-cream, which tasted like butter mixed with banana juice, but I cannot complain because it tasted divinely, and we … fought a Hallow. Well, Jinta fought the Hallow and I chased away some weak dog-like creature with a strange mask covering its face. Probably another Hollow, but it was too cute to be put in the same bout with those disgusting creatures that slavered everything in their path.
After this dangerous experience in the park, Ichigo called, yelling at me for some reason I didn't bother to understand; it was better if Ichigo was ignored in his short and rare moments of panic. Anyway, after this I dashed home, where I found Toshiro chatting with my twin sister.
Yes THAT Toshiro. Do you know another one? And yes with my twin sister Kurosaki Yuzu.
She looked genuinely happy and even congratulated me on my date with Jinta o_O', telling me she knew we'd be a couple sooner or later. I could have burst in tears, if it wasn't a tiny part of me that imagined Jinta's face when he'll hear from his sweet, perfect goddess of beauty that she believes he and I make a great couple. Too funny!
But Toshiro didn't gesture, didn't get angry and didn't talk to me either. Almost as if he ignored me on purpose. I should have known he won't be interested in me that way, but I guess I got my hopes up after recognizing the real source of the erratic heart beating I felt when being around him. Love is divine, but one-sided love is a drag an 11 year old shouldn't feel.
I'm a loveless fool."
Kurosaki Karin's diary
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"Look what we found here." remarked a tall boy with tattoos all over his left arm. "If it isn't Kurosaki Nr. 2" he cracked his knuckles, being copied by his other three goons "I'm feeling lucky tonight"
Karin treated them with the usual indifference kept for simple-minded buffoons, hoping they will leave her alone, and continued to pay respects to her mother's grave. This behavior didn't help her situation, because the boy with tattoos, who must have been the leader of the tiny gang, addressed her with the cliché question.
"Oi, oi. We are talking here, li'le Kurosaki. Are you deaf or something?"
Karin rolled her eyes at the man's predictable remarks. They reminded her of a movie she found on the internet about a pretty boy bullied by his ugly classmates, who, after a couple of years, finally found the strength to fight his cruel destiny and became a karate champion. It was nothing out of the ordinary with the movie, but those goons' replies were exactly like these guys' stupid remarks. Karin wondered if life is a movie or, closer to reality, a movie is inspired by real life.
"Maybe she's too scared to reply" laughed another boy, a slim, but strong one nonetheless.
From the looks of it, he was the only one with a little amount of intelligence. Karin guessed it from the interested expression plastered his face, not the blank face of a dumb person that seemed to decorate his friends' faces. Yet he didn't impress her one bit, because he was the smarter in a group of retards; nothing to be proud of.
"Are you lost?" asked Karin, switching from one foot to the other, faking curiosity "The loony bin is on the other side of the road. You must have missed it and got lost in here." her smiled widened, metamorphosing into a sardonic smirk "Cannot blame you, since this graveyard can be a maze"
The man's faces suddenly darkened, acquiring a trace of cruelty, and Karin had to refrain herself from saying something like 'At least you're not too dumb to realize I was being ironic'. In order to worsen the situation the smart one, that's how Karin decided to name him, relaxed, being the only one that did so, and smiled at her.
"This girl has humor. Don't you think so?" He addressed the one with tattoos, who was the boss of the gang and probably the stupidest, since usually the dumbest becomes the boss.
"I … don't think anything is funny." stated the addressed man, twisting his eyebrows in a disgraceful frown
"Didn't know that you could think. Guess miracles do exist." mumbled the girl silently.
However her rambling had been heard and the reaction was just as predictable as them.
"Ironic bitch" sputtered the stupid one "I'll teach you some respect"
'If this continues I'll shoot myself' thought Karin 'I have this stupid impression that these guys are really out of a movie. Why did they choose to bother me instead of some other fool?'
"Anyway … here I go." said Karin rapidly moving in a bend stance.
It was all the bullies needed as an encouragement because the boss threw an indecisive punch towards her immediately after she was finished with the preparations. She just dodged skillfully under his arm and gave him a kick in the side, sending him two steps back, stumbling like a two year old.
The fight continued in a fast rhythm and not more than once had the 4 boys had the possibility to hurt the black haired girl. She managed to avoid most of the powerful attacks, but they were 4 against one and at some point she was too cornered to be able to fight back. The arching legs and hands, along with a sore wound bleeding on her arm were the solid proof of her weakened body.
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Half an hour later, Karin left the graveyard, abandoning there 4 unconscious human bodies. They were pretty much alive, but they were sure to wake up with a few broken ribs and a couple of hurting wounds. It was their fault for challenging a Kurosaki champion at fighting.
Limping toward the park, Karin spared a little time to think of this experience.
Those 4 men had grabbed her, thrown her, slapped her, punched her, but couldn't beat her. When Aizen had grabbed her arm it felt like 10 tons of steel were hanging from it, when he … forced her, it seemed like it was no escape, but the one he provided her with. How could only one man's clench be harder than 4 men's combined strength? How could one skinny human –he wasn't really skinny, but not as beefy as the ones she fought this night- held more power than 4 mountains of muscles?
Karin's thoughts migrated towards another issue she was in grave need of resolving. Who should she call and ask for help.
If she chose her brother, he would probably go ballistic and threaten to kill the bastards who dared to touch his little sister, not knowing that they were pretty banged up themselves. Isshin would fuss over her wound, not getting anything done, but talking and crying like a little child. And Yuzu would cry over her, asking if she wanted the "kiss it better" treatment. There was also Tony, but he was a gossiper and if she called him, the whole school was sure to find out in less than one hour. Avoiding him would spare her of unnecessary embarrassment in front of her teammates, her sister and Aizen.
Her neck clacked when perceiving a little escape route. Should she dare to ask help form the one that tormented her at school and hunted her nights in the form of hideous nightmares? Coming as a divine answer, Karin realized a name appeared at the top the list while buttoning through the agenda of her phone. Her finger trembled on the call button. Finally she gathered the courage to press it, even if it was done with so much pressure that Karin wondered how it didn't break. However after two rings that seemed like an eternity, the person she called finally answered.
'Hello?' a well-known smooth voice echoed.
Four seconds passed and Karin still didn't find the voice to express the grave need of help she was into. Her wavering lips moved an inch, but when her mouth was opened and ready to state her appeal, the voice on the other line echoed in her year.
'Karin …'
The soft whisper of his voice smoothened her worries, al least a little bit until shock could replace it with its cold cover of fear. Only after hearing his voice Karin realized he had said her name. She breathed in once, twice, three times and only after this simple, but effective ritual, she was able to enter in a temporary state of calmness. Her mind worked instinctively, seeking for a solution at the problem that bothered her: how did he know it was her at phone and not Yuzu or any other of his friends. He had probably looked at the number and since she had already been added in the phonebook it was simple to read the display, concluded Karin when remembering the first time she had taught him how to use a mobile phone.
"Samaki" she said "I …" she made a pause, not intentionally, but it gave a peculiar effect of added sarcasm to her next statement "Move that lazy ass off the couch, bed, or whatever object's serving as support for your tons and come here"
The outburst was rewarded by Aizen's humorless reply.
'You must have mistaken me with someone else. Maybe yourself or your pathetic family' the last part had been sputtered angrily, but Karin didn't notice the man's sarcasm and hate towards her family 'I've failed to hear a please'
"Than you fail at hearing" snapped Karin at the phone, looking kind of funny, all frowny and disturbed over a simple statement.
'If you're not telling me in the next 10 seconds why you bothered me in the middle of my tea break, I'll close the phone'
Karin gritted her teeth, but knew her was being serious as hell, especially when tea was involved in the equation. When she thought about it profoundly, it was miracle that he resisted so much in a normal conversation with her. Another one would have snapped shut the moment he/she heard the weight comment.
"You're an ass."
'8 …'
"The biggest ass ever"
'6 …'
Karin gritted her teeth in annoyance. "Do you even know how to count? Did they teach you that in the Land of Retards?"
'2 …'
"I" began Karin, knowing very well that once resolved, Aizen won't budge a centimeter in his decision. If he said he'll close the phone in 10 seconds, she was 100% sure he'll keep his promise to milliseconds "I need your help" she snapped exactly when his count reached zero.
There was a moment of silence, in which neither knew if the other was still on the line, but Karin's sharp voice penetrated the heavy blur.
"Are you still there Samaki?" Aizen could swear there was a little hint of worry hidden somewhere in there, but the next reply changed it into irony again "Or did I scare you?"
'So … you need my help' he continued to speak, not even bothering to fight with her … on the phone of course, since face to face was way funnier 'Kurosaki Karin needs my help'
Karin could swear she had heard a malicious intent in the distorted echo of her surname, but discarded it with the excuse of being her imagination. Still she didn't want to witness her own dead body, bleeding in an obscure park where nobody would ever find her, including her family. With her pride trampled upon and possessing the force of a bee diagnosed with diarrhea, Karin decided to tell Aizen what really happened in the cemetery. She was already too deep into this shit, to come out scratch-less.
"I got into a fight" her voice wavered a decibel lower "I met 4 bullies in the graveyard and …"
'Graveyard? What were you doing in a graveyard after nightfall?' inquired Aizen, answering his own question with another one a moment later 'Are you into necrophilia?'
"Don't be stupid" sputtered Karin at the phone "I was … paying my respects at someone's grave, ok! So please stop asking idiotic questions and listen."
Silence followed and Karin took it as a sign of acceptance "… there were these bullies and I beat them up to a bloody pulp, but got myself a little … err … injured in the process; not too much, but enough to not be able to notice my family." A snort reached her ears "Is there something wrong with what I've said?"
'No …' concluded the man, but Karin observed a particle of something lingering in his comment. For some unknown reason Aizen was acting unusual whenever her family was being involved. She didn't have time to finish her idea, because a smooth voice resounded in the loudspeaker 'but you declared you needed my help. I hope it's not to inform your family about your stupidity, even if I bet they're already aware of it.'
"If I had wanted to tell them about my issues, I would have simply called my brother or Yuzu. Who's the stupid one now?"
'You'
"I'll not respond to that, because if I do, I somehow doubt you'll help me"
'Then don't' she felt the sweet, but merciless voice travel down her ear and inside her gut.
As always she ignored the dangerous man and his crude tone and focused on the present alone.
"I do not want to notify my brother, because he has been in a bad mood in the last couple of months and if I come home all beaten up, he may snap and begin an endless talk I do not want to hear." As of anticipating his question, Karin continued "I just need a place to stay through the night and alcohol to disinfect my wounds"
Only then Karin felt her collocutor's wavering, but the answer coming through the other line washed away all the worries that had previously conquered her soul.
'Where are you?' asked Aizen suddenly.
Karin discovered, or maybe just noticed, a concealed content and satisfaction in his plain question; almost like he was expecting a positive answer, or such a thing to happen.
She always had the peculiar feeling of being played on when being around him and it irked her to no end, but to have it when being on the phone with the said person was kind of exaggerated. He did tell her that night that it was impossible to use her, because of the incurable stubbornness she possessed. He might have been spoken the truth, but at the same it might have been an alter plan to make her believe she was intangible to his manipulations and attack when her guard was down … like now for example. There were too many question marks and Karin was tired to chase around ghosts, no pun intended, when tangibility should be her strong point; reality, real people, real man, not half-assed Shinigami that left the next morning in another world without looking back.
"In the park, the same place we used to meet before … that." She said before closing the phone.
She had made up her mind. If instinct was telling her to run, she won't do it, even if it meant to run into a wolf's opened mouth and be chewed like a gum. She was a proud and powerful Kurosaki who didn't fear instinct or any other unnatural bullshit!
With this burst of optimism, Karin typed Yuzu's phone number and told her she'll stay at a friend's house during the night and asked her to announce Isshin and Ichigo. God spared her of lying to Yuzu, because she didn't ask if she was staying at a boy or a girl.
She still wondered if she was really mental or just wanted to kill herself before her clock could tick the final second of her useless life. She was the type to force the limits of common sense –kind of suicidal- but something told her that if Aizen had wanted to hurt her in any physical way, he would have done so a long time ago. He had plenty of opportunities, but didn't take them. Only after this debate with herself, Karin was able to calm down and wait for her knight in shining amour.
Half an hour later, Aizen appeared, metaphorically speaking, before her, dressed casually, but elegant enough to attract a lot of positive attention and, implicitly, some dark looks. He was wearing a simple pair of jeans with a black jacket, not too formal, but not gangster-like either; the perfect equilibrium between beautiful, fancy and comfortable. And, as always, Karin seemed mesmerized by his unique ability of looking like a gentleman even if deep inside, they both knew he was anything but that.
"You look stunning" smirked Karin sarcastically, throwing a stand of hair behind her ear.
If it wasn't for the unusual wildness of her lips, someone might have believed her, but Aizen didn't fall for it so easily. He was already too used with it to be bothered.
"You look like shit" came the equally sardonic response.
"Always so polite."
Karin tried to heat up the conversation with one of her usual pointy remarks, since there were so many unspoken things they should have discussed, but when her eyes collided with Aizen's bitter gaze, everything flew away in an instant. His brown eyes were like mirrors, hiding behind them a horrific past, but reflecting a bright future; hard to read, yet magnificent and mysterious. Memories resurfaced in her mind, reviewing the last real thoughts they shared, before drawing a separable line between them; a line which might never be crossed because of Aizen's impatience.
The man seemed to share her opinion and even if neither spoke even a word, their eyes were so lively under their curtain of abundant eyelashes, that mere things like words weren't expressive enough to illustrate all of the burning fire emerging from them.
"You are such a child" his lips moved automatically, but Karin saw he was just making conversation.
"I'm 16 going on to 17. No need to be ironic with a lady." came the autopilot-like reply.
"Well … Ms. Scarf why did you call me in the middle of the night. Apart from asking for help"
This was the first time his eyes stopped radiating and the talk came back onto a more tangible ground. However Karin didn't take his remark seriously, counterattacking with a disgusted tone
"I do not ask for help … and it's not midnight either" she began to sulk.
As a response Aizen raised an eyebrow, not forgetting to acquire a demeanor of superiority. She was obviously in denial, especially covered in blood, some of it not being her own, and blue purplish bruises forming on her forearms where that tattooed bastard grabbed her with the force of an ox.
Aizen's brown eyes lingered on a distinctive bruise, shaped like a hand, situated on the upper part of her thigh, just where the skirt was ending. A twin pattern was coloring the other thigh, but this one was lower and discolored, maybe because the force inflicted upon it had been lower in magnitude. Noticing that the almost dark one was on the right side, while the other one was on the left side and the fingers imprinted onto her skin were facing between her legs and not outside, Aizen came to the conclusion that the attacker must have been behind her at the moment of the grabbing.
The man felt the blood rush into his veins as these thought sunk into his conscience. A man had dared to touch her. For a human to dared to touch what was his, was an unforgivable sin. But what vexed Aizen above anything else was that the bruising patterned indicated that someone must have tried to spread her legs apart and, since she wasn't facing him, he probably grabbed them from behind. And here came the second part … why was he trying to spread her legs?
Meanwhile Karin was studying his expression, looking in awe as calmness metamorphosed into pure rage in a matter of seconds. She still couldn't decide if this anger was pointed at her or at someone else.
"Aizen don't go berserk. There are children sleeping and you're going to wake them up if your nerves have the intention of going rampage"
"First of all I do not plan to go … berserk, then we are in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night. There are no children here. And the last but not the least … do not avoid my question." smirked darkly Aizen, alerting her again.
"I've already told you on the phone." She snapped at him, discovering that smugness was still covering his features "I need alcohol and water to disinfect and clean these scratches" she pointed with her eyes at her palms, which were decorated with minor cuts, while her forearm was sliced in the middle, the wound looking deep enough to hurt like hell.
"That's all?" inquired Aizen, throwing an annoyed glare at the, probably, hurting wound.
Karin hesitated to answer since she was trying to hide the embarrassing situation. Being forced by the adverse context, the girl mumbled, staring at the ground in shame.
"There is also another thing … I don't know where to stay through the night." She detached the eyes from the ground and snapped at Aizen, staring him dead in the eyes "Because you are the goalkeeper, it's your job to guarantee your captain's safety and … a place to stay of course."
"Of course" replied rapidly Aizen, as a soft smile flowered at the corner of his lips. If it was a true smile, or just the beginning of another amused smirk, Karin just couldn't decide.
However when she felt a cold hand touch the sensitive skin on the back of her leg, just behind the knee, and another one dig into her shoulder, Karin panicked and, as any normal human, she slapped away the invader by pushes and punches. Still, this didn't discourage the man, because he just continued the simple task of raising her body from the ground.
"If you continue to struggle, you'll open your wound and it will hurt even more" he said, while adjusting his hold on the feisty girl "Stop it!" he commanded when Karin ignored his plea and pushed so hard against his chest, that he almost dropped her.
Still it wasn't enough to extinguish the girl's stubbornness, as she continued to annoy him with a similar behavior of repugnance. "Go away" and "I have legs sucker" came out frequently from her mouth, but the prize could be easily won by "Put me down", which was spoken at least once per 10 seconds.
Only 10 minutes later, when she got tired of screaming and struggling against the human rock, Karin was finally able to relax in the man's hold. The altercation with the 4 bullies and then walking towards the park in that deplorable state of limpness had tired her out tremendously. A normal human would have passed out after such an adventure, but Karin wasn't someone might call normal and not human either.
However, only Aizen's cold fingers pressed onto her knee kept her awake. Anything else whispered softly into her ear a long forgotten song, alluring her in the tender world of dreams.
A soft light, blurred by the heavy fog which seemed to have taken over Karakura in that cold night of December, traveled through air, hitting Karin's closed eyelids. She saw the golden pattern through barely cracked eyes, but didn't posses the strength to open them fully, being satisfied with the warmth shared by Aizen's body.
"You're so heavy, Kurosaki. Did you gain some weight while I was looking the other way?" breathed Aizen in a fast one shot.
"If I'm so heavy why don't you drop me, rubber hands?" snapped Karin, still being snuggled into his chest, this time trembling when an icy wind hit her straight in the face.
"Don't tempt me" answer the man rapidity.
They continued to walk in silence; well Aizen continued to walk since Karin was deposited safely in his arms not moving a muscle and being close to fall asleep. After a couple of seconds the curiosity got the best out of him, so seeking for a way to satisfy it, the man asked prudently:
"Who did you visit in the graveyard?"
"None of your business" babbled the girl.
If it wasn't for Aizen being a big bad ass villain, he would have snorted, but instead of an ungraceful way of behaving the man decided to leave it alone for now. Still he was really tempted to dump her in a dumpster, or throw her in the river and watch as she drowned or, the only efficient solution he could find, slash her throat and send it to her brother wrapped in orange paper and tied with a bow on which he should write something like 'thank me for killing your bitchy sister'. It was definitely the best thing he could do, apart from the ribbon thingy.
"Aren't you cold?" he suddenly asked when a shudder passed through his body, reminding him of the temperature barely reaching five degrees "After all you're barely wearing anything apart from the school uniform and this short blackish overcoat. Do you even know that it's almost the middle of December?"
But when he looked down to check his companion's status, he was genially surprised to find her fast asleep, drooling happily onto his brand new jacket. A small smile decorated her face and he could swear he heard a mumbled 'baka' leave her mouth, but couldn't be sure. Even if she said it, he kind of expected her to react so strangely. She was a strange girl after all, coming from a peculiar family and bearing a cursed surname.
He continued to walk as a forgotten memory sneaked back into conscience. It was so far into the past, that he could barely remember the details, but Gin's face shined bright onto a blurry background, making him link the missing pieces into a puzzle until the whole image came into view.
It was one of those boring days in which nobody wanted to do anything and unwilling subalterns cried after being ordered to complete a fairly easy mission. So was the case of Ichimaru Gin, who was lounged on a sofa, snoring so loud, that the brown haired Captain going through the mountains of paperwork cringed every time he heard him. Not even after asking him nicely to stop with it or go to the 4-th Squad to ask for a pill, patch or something, did he show any sign of restraint. Nor did he show any sign of listening to his healthy advice either.
"Gin" came the threatening voice of the 5-th Squad Captain "Gin" he repeated this time accentuating the words with the precision of a knife cutting through flesh "did you finish the paperwork for today"
The man faked a stir, but Aizen couldn't be fooled by his lieutenant's attempts of avoiding work. After all it wasn't the first time the foxy man had tried to fake something and Aizen doubted it will be the last.
"Gin" he repeated one last time "did you …"
"And I had a beautifu' dream" commented Gin as he rose from the couch "I did Captain. And it was a pile thisssss big" he said while demonstrating the size of the paperwork stash by getting onto his toes and pointing at the ceiling "Ya don't believ' me?"
Aizen smiled softly at his lieutenant's antics. He knew it was no use to fake anything in front of Gin, because he was reading him as easily as an opened book, but force of habit pushed him to extend this charade in front of everyone, especially his most trustworthy subordinate.
"Of course I do. Let's go check my little experiment"
Gin smiled sinisterly and Aizen mirrored the other's man enthusiasm by showing a smile of his own, not so lugubrious, but far more dangerous and daring.
"Which one, captain?"
"Both" replied the man, content being read on his marble face.
Gin nodded and led the brown haired Captain through a dark corridor that seemed to be illuminated by red artificial lights, but they were so rare that the surroundings looked to be submerged in a pool of darkness. Even the walls were painted in a light shade of gray that gave a groovier appearance to the already grim hall. However the two men walked impassively, not being bothered by darkness; maybe it was vice versa, the dark feared them.
When they finally reached an equally black door, Gin opened it skillfully, being careful not to hurt his companion, and stepped into a large room. Aizen followed him inside talking in the lightened up screens which shown parts of Seireitei, mainly the Captain's headquarters, while some others, in the far corner of the room, were fixed onto Karakura. He began walking towards one of them, but Gin's inquiry halted his movements for a second.
"Is this boy re'lly that interesting?"
"He is a hybrid after all" answered Aizen "with an amazing amount of reiatsu that he cannot control. He could override the best of Shinigami in due time, if he's given the chance of course."
He took a seat on the chair standing right before the screen and began tasting some commands into the control panel. His fingers worked onto the keyboard, pressing button after button in a fast succession, but the foxy man ignored it, staring at the other man's happy face.
"And you'll giv' him the chance, Captain?" asked Gin, sounding more like a statement than a question.
"I'll give him a certainty, Gin"
"What about his sisters?" came the unexpected question.
Aizen seemed to hesitate, but then a window opened on the screen which showed 3 small text boxes. In the first there was the picture of a 9 year old boy with bright orange hair that had a 100 written at his side. The other two contained the Kurosaki twins, Yuzu and Karin, each of them being catalogued as a 5, respectively a 6 level of reiatsu.
"I don't care about them. They are far too weak to be my concern." He answered while closing the unimportant two text boxes, not bothering to observe the twin's appearance "He has a 100 level of reiatsu at the young age of 9. I wonder how much will he have at 15, or 17"
Gin just kept the usual smile plastered on his face, but a shadow seemed to be forming under his eyes, an obvious sign of concern. Of course Aizen noticed his subaltern's shady disposition, but didn't inquire him upon it. If Gin was having a bad day, it was his own fault for being too straightforward with it and not coating it with a mask of benevolence and naivety. Naivety was always the easiest to play since it was also the most instinctual part of the human soul.
"What abou' the otha' experiment?" he interrupted Aizen's digressing thoughts "It is as important as this one?"
After taking his time to decide if he should answer the question or change it into something beneficial, Aizen finally settled to use the last.
"Let's send it to Karakura for now … and see what happens" he answered as a sigh came from his partner's always smiling mouth, making him turn towards the white haired Shinigami "Something wrong, Gin?"
"No" mumbled the man "You wanna test him, 'ight? To see if he's powerful enough to withstand the reiats' of an incredibly powerful Hollo', or …"
When the "or" reached Aizen's ears, a small cruel smile appeared at the corner of his lips. As always Gin read his intention quite easily, but not even he could understand his master's ultimate plan. He was the only one coming close to the truth, but not nearly close enough to decipher it integrally. If he were to understand him completely, Aizen would have been just another pawn playing by Ichimaru's rules, but it was the opposite: Gin was the pawn and he was the master. Taking him mind away from the details of his relationship with the foxy Shinigami, Aizen, now facing the computer yet again, said smoothly addressing his lieutenant.
"Let's go see it"
Gin seemed to be expecting Aizen's reluctance in sharing his plans, but he was too used to his strange behavior to dwell on it. Still if his captain was having something in mind for the orange haired boy, it was bound to be something horrifying that will probably shook him from roots and change his future forever; not in a good way either.
For once Gin felt concern for this little boy that had no fault in being born as an anomaly of nature. He peeked at Aizen, who was checking the status of some test tubes filled with a strange colored liquid of some sort, and thought what a dire man he was for inventing the worst creatures the world has seen.
"Her' it is" he suddenly interjected in his usual spontaneous way when they reached a small window "The Grand Fisher"
The two Shinigami peered inside at the ugly Hollow, which was sleeping peacefully in a corner, snoring loudly in short bursts. One would never guess the evilness hiding inside that small retaining room, because the brownish fur was hiding the creature's face under a cover of cuteness and its real abilities were kept under dark by a red collar.
"Well … let's unleash my creation once again." commanded Aizen, while Gin pressed some buttons "Don't forget to take that leash away after you release it. I do not want my creation to be restrained in using its beautiful abilities."
Aizen eyes focused back on the dark street of Karakura. The memory had ended and along with it, the hope of being able to make experiments ever again. Most of his creations had died anyway, starting with Metastacia and Grad Fisher and ending with Tia Halibel and the famous Espada. At least he remembered who she must have visited in the graveyard: her mother, the mother he had, indirectly, killed.
"You have the face of a criminal Samaki" muttered Karin, slapping his chest instinctively.
He stirred, hoping that she didn't wake up and see his murderous expression of a horrifying villain, but, when his eyes made contact with her rigid form still attached to his front, all worries flew away. She was clearly asleep and now snoring like a pig.
In his mind came back their first serious discussion and also the first time he realized his utter and undeniable attraction towards her. The day they talked about gods and Greek Mythology and shit he didn't think he'll ever discuss with some mere human. What was with Kurosakis and their inability to act like a normal bunch of people with average interests and average ambitions? They had to be out of the ordinary, they had to be hot tempered and incredibly stubborn or the world wouldn't be the perfect place for them.
He moaned when realizing he had been so submerged in his thoughts that he didn't hear the siren of an ambulance roar in the background. He was always thrown off by the resemblance between the roaring of a motorbike's engine, an ambulance's siren and a Hollow's scream and couldn't really distinguish which one was which when being confronted with one of them.
Karin trembled from the cold that squeezed through the thin material of her overcoat, but didn't wake up. She hugged Aizen more than before and pressed her face into his shoulder. It was hard and uncomfortable, but warm and the perfect place to rest upon.
'The Kurosaki family may not be average in power and level of reiatsu, but they sure share a high level of stupidity and naivety.' Thought the man as coldness passed over his arms and inside his jacket 'Who else would ever dare to ask help from someone that did what I did.'
"You're playing a dangerous game Kurosaki Karin" he whispered in her ear, knowing she was too far away to hear him "but you chose the wrong person to play with. This will be so much fun" he finished as a horrifying smirk widened on his mouth, giving away the pleasure and content he was feeling.
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Important Note: When I refer to a certain amount of degrees, I mean it on the Celsius scale. Also in cannon Aizen didn't create Grand Fisher, but I was tempted to use him since Metastacia was one of his experiments and, let's not forget, that he's the killer of Shiba Kaien (the ex lieutenant of Squad 13). Anyway it adds to the pile of crimes Aizen gathered under his belt *evil laughter*
Sorry for the late update … 3 weeks. School is such a drag! And I had an awful cold (thank god it wasn't flu, or I would have been stuck in bed with a thermometer shoved down my throat 24/7). This chapter was incredibly hard to write, and I do not know why; also it had been written in small pieces: for example the first half was written 2 weeks ago, while the second was written in these last days.
I loved all the reviews I received at the last chapter. Thank you very much for sharing your opinion and some of you giving me ideas for the future of this story. As for all the things you praised me for, I didn't even notice. I wrote it instinctively. Is that a bad thing? I'll answer the reviews the best I can (sorry if I forgot someone; I swear it's not intentional)
I do not really want to make Karin a Shinigami yet, because there is the problem of the transformation: Ichigo had gotten through hell to become a Shinigami and I do not want something like that for her & anything else would be too unrealistic. As for Aizen having an epiphany that he loves Karin, not gonna happen. I have something planned, but it's a long way from here. Also I do not have plans for the Atlantis book, but I can make something from it. I'll think about it. There are still many clues I want to add and so little time T_T