To break is all I know Chapter 25: Repercussions, a bleach fanfic

I do not own Bleach … :) and I do not earn any kind of money from this snippet.

This chapter has been Betaed by Szayel's Angel! Thank you very very very much!

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To break is all I know

Chapter 25: Repercussions

"Since Ichigo had lost most of his precious Shinigami powers in The Winter War, things had changed drastically. Not from a bad angle I guess, but not good either. There are moments when he wishes he had his full powers back just to kick the bad guy's asses, though he had never told me so and I don't think he'll ever tell me these things. This is the way he had been structured by nature, by environment, by life.

I cannot help him, but I do blame myself for his misery. I am, no matter what others might say, partially to blame and responsible for his feeble state. I had helped him achieve the highest peak of his powers only to know it will be his apogee.

But I cannot fail to notice how much Karin had changed in these last four months. It can barely be observed with the bare eye, but something from her demeanor had shifted slowly, but surely. She is more confident in her abilities and when she kicks me for being a bother, her hits hold more power. I thought the biggest change had supervened when that ice boy had left, but it seems like I had been wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

She's probably having her last teenage spur, before finally becoming an adult. My babies are growing up so fast."

Isshin Kurosaki's diary

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Aizen had never had the pleasure of a virgin woman, at least not before Karin came into his life and transformed what had seemed -at first glance- impossible into a wholly new experience; And having her in his bed, being her one and only made his ego burst with infinite pride. He could easily understand why men preferred virgins over already-used-woman, yet he had to admit that giving a virgin the pleasure she deserved for giving her honor up, was definitely ten times harder than with the other kind of women. Ever someone as experienced as him, and with a considerable number of years under his belt, had some problems during their first time.

He tried to forget how she had mocked him the next day for not making her reach the orgasm, but commented, probably trying to heal his already swollen masculine ego, that he had been pretty damn close. Those were her exact words: pretty damn close. Neither he, not his ego perceived it as a compliment, since it was not meant to be one in the first place, but agreed to make her pay for this slip the next time he had the chance to put his hands on her. Of course that by putting his hands on her he didn't mean what other people might think, but it was pretty close. After all having sex involved a certain amount of contact and intimacy, plus putting ones hands on the partner.

To his surprise, the chance came pretty soon as his adoptive parents left, both of them, in a trip overseas; somewhere in China, or so they had told him. So he was at home, all alone.

Luckily Karin decided to visit him now and then, keeping him busy –under the sheets as well– and even spent a week-end at his house. When he had inquired her upon what her relatives thought of her late-night escapades she dismissed him with a 'They think I'm with my girlfriend, talking shits and having makeovers'

Like she was the type to makeover.

How he wished he could tell her how much he was enjoying her company, physical, as well as psychical, but telling her that would prove to be inefficient to his purposes. He could only observe her from afar.

As expected, Karin's physic had proven to be quite rich in surprises as well.

After seeing her naked, he swore he will force those clothes off her every single time he had the chance.

And if he got over the almost-always-present Kurosaki frown, he could actually see a brilliant creature with refined tastes. Judging that she didn't show this side of her too often, there was no choice but to force it out of her.

He had expected her to be quite gifted underneath those awful clothes she chose to wear almost all the time, but his first impression exceeded his expectations. Apart from possessing the most perfect pair of breasts he had ever seen and having a sculptured body with plenty of muscles, probably due to the numerous sports she had practiced, she also possessed the unique gift of flexibility. All these attributes mixed together in the same bowl made Kurosaki Karin the perfect sex-partner. Though he had to admit he was a little disappointed with his inability to see through her shabby appearance the first time they had met, but those times were long gone.

If only he would have been capable of guessing her potential and the blood she shared with the Kurosaki family in the first place, maybe many of the events which had happened between their first computer science lesson and his mind-illumination wound have happened differently: like behaving differently, though she would have seen right through it so he eliminated this from the start, or being more subtle with his aversion towards the Kurosakis, not that she seemed annoyed by it. Actually, she didn't give a flying fuck, for lack of a less vulgar word. He suspected she cared a lot for her family; her protective nature usually aimed at the younger twin sustained this theory. But maybe because she instinctually knew her other two male relatives were strong enough to protect themselves, she didn't care to bully him into respecting them.

Not that he will ever respect that blunt and crude Kurosaki. As for his father, he lost all respect he might have harbored when witnessing, albeit incidentally, his clown-like behavior. No father should behave like that around his children; not that he was the one to give advices. Even though Karin often told him of her father's unusual personality, being careful to pinpoint his shrewdness.

On the opposite pole stood Yuzu. Karin's twin. She was pretty nice and also naïve when judging an individual only by appearance. Just as Hinamori had once been, she could not see behind his illusion, so at some point she became too boring to be on his radar.

His thoughts came back on a cleaner trail, ignoring Karin's family.

He sipped from his tea pleasant memories conquering his mind. A nudge forced him out of his meditative state.

"Karin" his tone harsh "Is it really necessary to bully me?"

She nudged him again almost – almost – spilling the tea from his cup. He was angry at her antics, but used to them to a certain level.

"How in the name of all gods have I survived with you for –" her hand came up and she began to count her fingers, reaching 7 and then abruptly stopping "– seven months"

"Seven very long months" added Aizen as he placed his tea on the table with elegance, hoping it won't be abused by Karin.

"Thanks a lot" snapped Karin, banging her first into the table while Aizen watched, undoubtedly feeling the sudden urge to kill a certain someone, as his cup's content spread over the table and onto his pants.

At least Karin's hand was in range and she had been affected by it as much as he had been.

"I see you are as infuriating as ever. I hope you do plan to change that in the future?"

A smirk reached his lips and Karin knew she won't like the answer.

"I don't know. You sure seemed to enjoy my infuriating nature last night, or was it this morning?" he pinched his chin theatrically "I thing both. Definitely both"

"I did no such thing" she sulked, sinking back into the couch while rubbing her burned hand.

"Of course you didn't" his voice cracking with amusement.

Karin closed her eyes; her body language filled with exasperation "Let's just go choose my new goalkeeper …"

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Meanwhile, Soul Society was having some kind of seizure. After being on guard for 4 months during which nothing … absolutely nothing had happened, peace had been restored; at least as much peace as one place can have with a lunatic on the loose.

So, due to the long period of silence and serenity, things began to develop and The Captains, especially the one ruling over the 12-th Squad, came with different strategies of how to catch their ex-colleague. Some of their ideas were absolutely appalling others were lacking any sense, but the one they had agreed it was the best didn't seem to get any result.

Mayuri suggested, among other things which involved cutting, experimenting and dissecting, that they should study what souls had come recently in Soul Society and see if any of them were either killed or contacted by Aizen. After all there was no way Aizen could stay on Earth without killing one or two individuals. Therefore the 12-th Squad released hundreds of thousands pictures of Aizen.

As soon as the photos spread through Rukongai thousands of people claimed they had seen Aizen. Some of them even claimed they had fought him and other exaggerated stories which had been dismissed from the start.

Two very long months, all Shinigami had to search and search and search again -because searching didn't seem to be enough of a bother- for Aizen all over the Globe. They checked all possibilities even if some of them were over and beyond idiotic. Some random guy said he had met Aizen somewhere in a bordello, with Aizen being a male prostitute.

They knew Aizen was a master of disguise, but even he had to specify some boundaries emerged from common sense. Plus having an immense ego and an equally sized pride made at least half of the people look like idiots.

But when Toshiro met a young woman with black hair and dark blue eyes, his opinion over what Aizen might consider appropriate shifted.

The woman came into his office, since it was his turn to hear testimonies and judge which could be true and which had absolutely no chance of being true. She was quite gorgeous, but that didn't attract his attention. However, what made him curious was her peculiar behavior. Unlike his previous, so called, witnesses she seemed awfully quiet and maybe a little scared.

"Umm -" she began with a stammering "I apologize f-f-for disturbing you" she looked around, noticing the room's only inhabitant.

"Doesn't matter" said Toshiro with a bored tone. His lack of enthusiasm was not helping the already-reticent woman. "Where are you from?"

She moved her support on the other leg and scratched her ear, a clear sign of embarrassment. She was definitely not the type to talk a lot, even with individuals she had already met, and being put face to face with a Captain, a resentful Captain nonetheless, gradually diminished her almost nonexistent enthusiasm and increased her fears.

"Karakura"

Her answer brought a frown on Toshiro's face, but he fought it back, because he didn't want to scare -at least more than he already had- a potential source of information.

"Complete this form" he handed her a piece of paper.

Her eyes scanned the paper, getting over the banal questions like What's your name, age and blah blah very fast and stopping, accompanied by a soft gasp, on something she did not expect to see in that form.

"My former occupation?" she said loudly. Her cheeks caught fire instantly "Well … I prefer not to say for the moment. I'm terribly sorry Mr. Captain, but I'm not proud of my past and I wanna keep it hidden at least for now."

He didn't have to think too much to uncover the only two possible jobs that could make one uncomfortable.

"I see" stated Toshiro calmly "Then leave it blank"

Her lips tightened in a straight line. She took a pen and began to write.

Only the soft noise of the pen scratching the thin piece of paper could be heard over the monotonous silence filling the room. Toshiro stared into space, hoping she would be done soon, so he could go back to meditating upon the situation.

Though only thinking of everything which had happened, or more like didn't happen, between him and Karin made him nauseous. It was no secret she had distanced herself from him in the last 4 months, but the cut had been too abrupt and painful. This didn't remain unnoticed, Ichigo being the first to rub it in his face, while Momo calmed his ego with kind words, which did nothing but accelerate his ache.

He had expected her to go on with her life, and not even once dared to judge her decision to do so, yet something about it didn't make sense. Knowing her changing disposition, he suspected a man was behind it and yes, it bothered him a lot more than it should have, however his worries were not tamed down. What made him uneasy about all this mess was actually Karin's peculiar behavior.

Toshiro trusted his instincts as much as he trusted his brain. They were after all two of his most valuable assets. So when Karin had begun to show subtle signs of changing her mannerism, he saw the danger; couldn't know from where it might come, but just hoped it won't be from her.

With every day passing by, her eyes became colder, her mind sharpened its edges, her expression gained mystery and power. And just like that, after a month, she had metamorphosed into someone stronger, someone he no longer recognizes. Toshiro tried to blame it on what people called maturing, although maturing is one thing and going through a complete change of personality is another.

"Mr. Captain" came the woman's husky voice "I've completed the form. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"No" he said too fast, without even looking at her "We will contact you after we check the perimeter"

A white lie, Karakura had been checked and rechecked thousands of times by him and his team as well as other Shinigami patrolling the area; and nothing was found.

She placed the paper on the desk and walked to the door, halting for a second in front of it. A sharp noise of teeth colliding with teeth echoed in the room as her hand clenched the handle.

"I know I'm too late and far from trustworthy; and maybe the man had already left Karakura, but he -" her voice cracked, flooded by a terror she had felt only in the moment of her death"-he was after someone. He said she is the sister of his enemy and -"

"And?"

"He said he wants her."

Toshiro frowned again. For him, this was another dead end. Aizen was not the type to lust after someone, especially if that someone was a human, but maybe nobody aroused his interest that much in Soul Society. He was a complex individual was possessed lots and lots of inexplicable traits.

Without loosing his cool, Toshiro read all that was written on the piece of paper, starting from the top and ending at the bottom.

Even if the whole story seemed a little supernatural, it was one fact that didn't stop from bugging him when he read her Aizen's appearance. All other people said Aizen looked the same, but she said he was different, not by much but definitely different. Red headed, younger, with another haircut and no curl. The things which defined him and made him noticeable were gone from his description. Almost like he tried to blend in the crowd and loose his identity between so many others. Something Aizen would definitely do in order to preserve his identity hidden.

Her testimony was perfect, yet contradicted his perception of what Aizen would do. It was plain confusing.

"What was the name of the girl he said he was planning to kill?" Toshiro inquired, giving her another chance to prove she was indeed talking about Aizen and not some other madman.

"I cannot remember. If I hear it again I will definitely recognize it, but right now – it just slips from my mind"

"I will talk with The Supreme Captain and we will investigate. Now please tell the next one, if there is a next one, to enter and shut the door on your way out" he said, then proceeded in finishing his paperwork.

The coldness in his tone slapped her across the face. She had expected to be believed after all that, yet Toshiro still believed she was bending the truth. Not wanting to give up on her one and only opportunity to revenge her death and, if possible, save another's life, the woman continued to speak her mind.

"He killed me with a … I cannot even remember his weapon. Just the words and the atrocious pain piercing my chest right here" her hand covered her heart as her eyes made contact with his turquoise orbs. She continued to talk almost like she couldn't stop from spilling her heart in front of him "He told me I was useless and that he'll break her strong spirit; the ones he was angry at."

Toshiro's pen halted on the paper.

"He was merciless, like a monster – smiling the whole time. I-" Toshiro could swear he saw tiny drops of sweat forming on her temples "-I cannot put it into words, but that man was definitely not human"

This time Toshiro raised his head from his work. He could feel his hands tremble.

'I think we had found him'

"I need all the details of your encounter with him. Start from the beginning" he commanded. But just as her lips parted in a desperate manner, he gave a low grunt with his eyes still fixed on her "The one he was planning to kill might still be in danger, though I'm pretty sure she had been killed just like you, but we need to find her as well, so please leave your pride behind. Neither me, nor the ones I work with care what you've done in your previous life. We need to find Aizen. Help up bring back the man responsible for your death"

For one second his vision blurred and the woman noticed the dark circles surrounding his eyes. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, and then opened her mouth releasing a loud grunt.

"We need to find him, or there will be others just like you" encouraged Toshiro.

"Very well. I will tell you what happened that day."

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Toshiro ran from the building like his feet were on fire, not looking left or right, just running and running straight toward the white building of the 1-st Division. His eyes could barely distinguish the forms of his colleagues and his subordinates as he ran by them. He could hear many salutes coming from around him, strictly directed at his person; in a corner of his mind he knew this will be perceived as lack of respect on his part, but it was soon taken over by his desire to reach his destination.

His maddening dash didn't stop until the toes of his feet hit the barrier raised around the 1-st Squad. That was the moment when it all came down. The information was old and the woman had been killed over 7 months ago. Maybe Aizen had moved from Karakura.

His -usually- kind features were twisted into a scowl as he walked slowly into the Captain's large Office. If his theory, a theory he had built on his way to the 1-st Squad, was correct or was even close to Aizen's true intentions, he feared for his human friend. What he could do in that moment was to convince The Supreme Captain of the truth; a truth not so bright, but probable.

"Captain Hitsugaya" saluted the old man, indifferent to Toshiro's obvious anxiety.

And yet he hoped with all his might for his convictions to be wrong, because if he was indeed right, there were aspects he could not dare to uncover; like what Aizen had in store for his enemy's sister. And from here on it was up to his imagination.

"Captain Commander" it took all his self-control to stop his voice from cracking, still his turquoise eyes mirrored his inner workings.

"I've just received an informant" his lips trembled "regarding Aizen"

"And he's the tenth this month. I had enough with it already" stated the man while stacking a paper over one of the piles.

"I believe this one is genuine"

Yamamoto slightly parted his eyelids.

"Really?"

If he didn't know his superior well enough, Toshiro could swear the old man was using irony in his speech, but judging his personality, he was definitely too stuck up to do such a thing.

Trying to calm his raging nerves, the boy took a deep breath and began to talk, his voice shaking with both excitement and fear, even though Yamamoto seemed somewhat disappointed of what he was hearing. Toshiro highlighted the killer's cruelty, drawing a parallel between how Aizen used to be and the resemblance he held with this individual human.

Using as many adjectives as possible in order to paint the actions as they took place, or as the woman had told him, Toshiro lost himself in a bunch of useless details. Judging Yamamoto's face, he could say with certainty that he had lost the fight. Trying to give as many details as his memory had withstood to remember didn't work out for him and maybe his desperation played a part in it as well.

"I suppose you do have a theory Captain Hitsugaya" insisted the Supreme Captain.

"Yes. Even if I had little time to think about it, in detail at least, because this information came to my ears barely ten minutes ago, I think Aizen had really been in Karakura and might still be there." Yamamoto looked even less impressed. Gin had informed him about this 3 month ago when he felt Aizen's reiatsu in Karakura "I know it doesn't give us much to go on, but there is also the part with the sister of his enemy which can help up narrow our search. We should not ignore what might be our only clue."

"I'm not aware of anyone having sisters around here" thundered his voice "Apart from you -" he didn't get to finish his phrase.

"Kurosaki Ichigo has two sisters, two twin sisters to be precise" interrupted Toshiro "And, if you don't mind, I've taken the liberty of requesting Kurosaki's presence here as soon as possible." He could almost smell the apprehension oozing from the other Shinigami "He'll be here shortly as I've been informed by my subordinates"

A frown found its way between the man's furry eyebrows.

"Very well, I want to get this over with very fast" coughed Yamamoto, carefully accentuating every word, each being accompanied by a well-hidden thereat.

After two minutes of uncomfortable silence, during which Toshiro took a straight pose and checked out the bookshelf for any possible source of direction, Ichigo barged in without sparing Toshiro even the slightest glance. His astronomical impoliteness toward Soul Society's authorities continued to show as he addressed the Supreme Captain.

"Why did you call me old man?"

"I was not the one to summon you, Kurosaki Ichigo" answered the man, somehow used to Ichigo's rude, yet cordial behavior.

"I was" stated Toshiro calmly "and before you begin to bark, I do have a good reason"

"I sure hope so" whined Ichigo.

Toshiro cracked his knuckles by clenching his fist.

"It's about Aizen. We have received information suggesting that Aizen might have had contact with one of his enemy's sister" his voice plain and void of any emotion.

He and Ichigo had gone past the I'm-upset-at-you-for-something-you-did, and directly into pure hatred.

The Substitute Shinigami seemed unimpressed. No matter what the chibi Captain decide to say, he was just standing there listening to it like it was not his business. As Toshiro continued to suggest, not in so many words, that his sisters might be involved in this mess, Ichigo counterattacked quite violently.

"This is absurd. Both Yuzu and Karin are home, safe and sound, and trust me; I and my father would have noticed if either of them came in contact with Aizen. There is no one out there-" he pointed at the window, through which Soul Society was spreading its white towers "-who knows Aizen's reiatsu and presence more than I do, especially if it's under my nose."

Toshiro looked displeased.

"You know very well that that what you're saying is a false presumption and your deduction might be just as wrong. As much as I would like to agree with you I do not, because, unlike someone else, I use my good sense to judge what is good for my friends and family"

Ichigo snarled. Without his knowledge, Toshiro had struck a cord in the human hybrid and Ichigo was planning to get back at him with his entire arsenal.

"Like you've done with Hinamori. I've seen how good that ended up for her"

Toshiro saw flashes of red over his vision

"Calm down" commanded Yamamoto, sensing the dangerous direction this discussion was going to take "Whatever you two have to share do it elsewhere. I don't need drama in my office."

Both Shinigami weren't even remotely thankful for the interruption, but the hard glares thrown at them by their superior seemed to have some kind of effect, as they calmed down.

"Very well. Then I'll call Yuzu and ask her. Is that good enough for you Captain Hitsugaya, or do you need me to call someone else?"

His mocking tone angered Toshiro even more, but a soft tug of reiatsu coming form Yamamoto stopped him from drilling his fist directly into Ichigo's impertinent expression. It was almost like Ichigo was forcing him to say something. 'He wants me to say Karin ….' Toshiro realized.

"Just call her."

The two waited patiently, until Ichigo found his phone. Toshiro didn't ask how in the name of heavens was he able to transport a material object into the Spirit World, but when he saw the ancient design of the telephone-like bulk device all Shinigami were forced to carry around in case something happened to SS, he deduced he was using one of Urahara's many inventions.

He pressed the object to his ear and waited a moment.

"Jesus Christ. This thing is worse than … I cannot find any modern technology capable to compare with this shit"

Finally his smile widened as he seemed to get some sort of connection with her sister's phone, only for a soft melody to reverberate in the room.

"…"

Toshiro gave a low grunt and Ichigo sunk his hand into his left pocket and grabbed Yuzu's phone.

"I see you've managed to sneak in your sister's phone"

"That I can hear and see. Thank you very much" remarked Ichigo, rolling his eyes.

"Call Karin" he said in a commending tone, which didn't leave much space for contradiction.

"Now" completed Yamamoto, who was on the verge of setting the building on fire.

"Very well, but I'll do it from Yuzu's phone. I don't want to see this junk ever again" said Ichigo begrudgingly pointing at Urahara's phone-like device while flipping the phone open and waiting for the tone to come "I sure hope this thing works in the Spirit World"

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Aizen saw the screen light up and the name Yuzu blink underneath the picture of a smiling Yuzu. He could never understand why people felt the need to creature such useless devices with hundreds of fancy interfaces and time-consuming games, but which held the same functionality as a Soul-Society-phone. The screen blackened back into standby, but came back to life a second later.

Aizen looked at Karin, who was busy giving precious information to an inattentive Tony, then back at the phone. Judging Karin's face, black with anger and twisted into a peculiar scowl, he decided it would be better for him, as well as for his teammates, to let Karin finish her speech before interrupting her with baubles.

He answered the phone and with a bored voice, said

"Hello Kurosaki-san. Unfortunately Karin is quite busy at the moment with the soccer practice. Do you want me to tell her something after she's finished?"

Only silence came as a response.

"Kurosaki-san" he repeated kindly, hiding his growing impatience.

Before being tempted to close it and wait for Yuzu to call back, Aizen received an answer, but not the one he had expected and definitely not from the one he had expected.

"A-AIZEN!" he heard the raspy voice of Ichigo Kurosaki, breathing fire right into his year.

"Oh-" a smirk found its way on his face "What a pleasure to hear you again Ryoka-boy"

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So for those who don't remember: that woman was killed by Aizen at the end of chapter 14.

Many of you requested a lemon. Okay … fist of all I have no experience in this field, neither physical nor in terms of writing – to be exact I'm a prude – I might write a short lemon (I have an interesting idea …) but as a different story, probably one-shot and when/if I do I'll announce you through an author note.

Okay … so this will be an awful year. Being my last I have to be careful because failing my exams now means no other way of passing them this year and I cannot get a diploma if I fail exams … and let's not forget about my final BIG exam … the result of 3 long years of studying in this damn university. Plus I have my tutoring and an internship program. So rare updates … but I'll try to keep them once a month.

So tell me … what do you think will happen next?