Karin groaned, opening her eyes to darkness and something tied tightly around her torso and arms. This snapped her awake and she tried to find even the slightest of lights to see by. As she did this, she tried to remember what had happened to put her in this situation. It all came back in a blur of vision.
She'd just finished training with Momo and Rangiku, the two girls helping her out with basic Soul Reaper combat with Momo helping her to control the fire of her zanpaktou. As she'd been walking home, two figures in dark red had approached her. Recognizing the color of the cloaks she'd separated from her body and was prepared to fight, only to find it wasn't one of the Demon Lords who'd approached her before. They were both men.
"What do you want?" Karin demanded as the two men cut off any escape, the one with a mix of blonde and brown hair giving her a creepy grin, malicious intent in his blue eyes, while the dark haired one looked on with a bored orange stare.
"I would think that would be obvious." The dark haired one replied. "But, I shall humor you. I am Garland Haruo. My partner behind you is Sarcum Forisk. We're here to capture you, the key to the Soul Prince's heart."
"Why does everyone think I'm so important to him!?" Karin scowled. "We're just friends, dammit!"
"That remains to be seen. If you're really not that important to him, I'm sure he won't mind if we kill you."
"Of course he'll mind, we're friends! Friends have each other's backs!"
'Be careful, Master. These are more of the demon people, we're not ready to fight them.' Homuratei warned.
'I know, I'll be careful.' Karin unsheathed her zanpaktou. "Don't think I'm going to come quietly."
"I love the feisty ones." Sarcum snickered, holding his hand out and bringing a weapon to it from the darkness. It was a set of claws, wrapped around his hand, the blades razor sharp steel with black markings. "Come, little girl, let's play."
"You asked for it." Karin growled at him. "Rage through the Land, Homuratei!"
She lifted her rapier and swung it back at the creepy one, a wave of flame following her slash. Her father had taught her how to do that, it helped distract her opponent as they attempted to find a way through the flame. She turned to the other man, Garland. He held a curved dagger in one hand and a scimitar in the other, both with jagged edges for tearing and made of dark steel.
Garland blocked her strikes with relative ease, but she expected this. They were strong, very strong. Now wasn't the time for chivalry, so she made to trick him, striking at his head with her blade while kicking his feet out from under him. He grunted as he fell but was quick to recover, moving away and maintaining a defensive posture.
She went for another strike when something raked down her back and she cried out in pain. Her fire had gone out too fast, she was supposed to still have time. Ignoring the scars, she whipped around and struck back at Sarcum, at least managing to graze him across the chest, his eyes widening in surprise, before Garland knocked her out in her weakened state.
Well, she was glad she was at least able to scar them a bit. That was some sign of hope, that maybe they weren't that strong, that the only reason she'd lost was because there were two of them. She could have won.
Now, however, she was stuck in the darkness in some kind of bindings with no idea where her captors were. She let out a grunt of frustration and attempted to shimmy out of her bindings.
The lights flashed on and she shut her eyes tight, waiting until her eyes adjusted before slowly opening them again. She had to blink a few times before everything became clear and she could see Sarcum far too close to her for comfort. On reflex she kicked out at him.
"Whoa!" He laughed as he moved out of her kick range. "Even in binds you're a feisty one."
"Fuck off."
Sarcum roared with laughter, seeming to find her rage funny.
"Enough, Sar." Garland snapped as he stepped over. "Allow me."
"Oh, you're no fun." Sarcum pouted but back away.
'That man is so gay.' Karin thought as she watched the blonde-brunette walk away, a somewhat feminine movement visible as he walked. 'He's creepy as Hell.'
'Well, at least this gay man isn't.' Homuratei said, meaning Garland.
'He's not as obvious about it, that's for sure.'
Her trail of thought was cut off as the dark haired man's dagger was put to her throat.
"Listen carefully, child." He spoke in a soft and disarming tone, but the dagger at her throat made his threat very clear. "I truly have no intention of harming you, I rather dislike hurting children, but our orders are absolute and I need this information."
He waited to see if she would spit something back at him. She said nothing, smart enough to know even curling her lips back in a snarl would risk the tip of the blade running across her chin. Grinning, Garland continued.
"Now, this bracelet." He moved his free hand to her wrist. She jerked back and the blade came closer. Now still, she had no choice but to let the man lift up her hand and examine her birthday gift from Toshiro. "It definitely has his mark. The young prince would not have given you something so tied to him. In fact, he's probably on his way here now, this bracelet warning him of the threat to your life."
"I doubt that." Came her sarcastic reply and she winced as the dagger nicked her skin. She felt warm liquid run down her neck.
"Do you now?" Garland quirked an eyebrow, shifting the dagger so she could speak without getting cut. "What do you think you are to him?"
"I told you, we're friends. And so are the other Soul Reapers." She growled at him.
"Did he give these other friends of his bracelets?"
"No…they have more fighting experience than I do, they don't need one."
"Ah, but this protects the wearer from our rather special brand of magic." Garland smiled. In any other situation he would have seemed kind, but with the dagger at her throat that smile made her very nervous, beginning to sweat. "We can inject our targets with a darkness called Fear. If enough is injected, it can cause you to hallucinate. Pain from wounds you never got, nightmares made real, reality mixed with your darkest horrors. But this trinket he gave you protects you from that. I would think he'd want all his friends to avoid such a horrible brand of magic. Unless…" The blade moved closer and Karin heard Sarcum snicker. "He sees you as more than a friend."
"He probably just thinks I can't handle it, the bastard." Karin ground through her teeth, careful not to move too much. "Now I kind of want him to show up. That way I can show him how pissed off I am."
Garland chuckled.
"You humor me, child. Very well, if the bracelet is not enough to prove you're the one he cares for most, what about the rescue he had his Royal Guard make, to bring you to him?"
"He wasn't expecting that." She shrugged, keeping her head still. "Wasn't his choice."
Now the man frowned.
"Hm, perhaps you're not the one we're looking for." He removed the blade and turned away, Karin thinking that maybe she'd catch a break and be set free. "Sarcum, have your fun."
"Love you!" The man spoken of appeared behind the girl and her eyes widened, heart racing in panic.
'Damn, what do I do now?' Her mind blanked as those deadly claws were seen in the corner of her eye. 'He's going to kill me!'
Suddenly, there was a thunderous roar and something crashed through the roof of the building. The claws were pulled away and both men stood guard as the dust began to clear away with strong beats of crimson wings.
"Dyrilæn!" Karin exclaimed, happy to see the dragoness.
"A dragon partner?" Garland scowled, now holding both of his blades in hand.
"Back away from my partner!" Dyrilæn snarled at them, lashing out at Garland as he was closest. The air heated up at her rage.
Sarcum looked murderous at the intrusion and turned to finish off their hostage, knowing the dragon would stop long enough to be killed once the girl was dead. Before he could cut her, though, thick golden chains wrapped around him.
"A Bakudo spell?" His eyes widened and he turned to see the culprit.
Senjumaru glared daggers back as she held her hand out for another Kido spell. Darkness covered the binds, allowing Sarcum free and he lashed back at her with a silent spell of his own, the two clashing in the middle in a large explosion. Amidst the chaos, the woman appeared beside him, her zanpaktou drawn, and locked blades with him.
Karin tried to squirm out of the shadowy tendrils binding her but found they tightened as she did so. Her two saviors were too busy fighting to help her and her zanpaktou was leaning against the wall further away. At least, it was; when she'd glanced back to check on it the blade was no longer there.
A cold hand brushed her arm and she whipped around.
"Toshiro!" She exclaimed upon recognizing white hair and teal eyes.
"Hold still." He demanded, hand over the binding. The air grew heavy and the tendrils were quickly frozen over before being snapped away. "Here."
The Ice Prince returned the girl her zanpaktou and she cast him a grateful glance before turning to where her dragon fought with Garland. The man was patient, waiting out her rage filled strikes and landing a blow across the tough scales.
"I have to help her." Karin said to Toshiro, the fire in her eyes letting him know she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Go then, she's your partner." He nodded and turned to where his Royal Guard fought with Sarcum. She seemed to be doing fine on her own, but while these weren't Demon Lords, he could tell they were stronger than they seemed. "Shutara."
That was all she needed, stepping back a moment and pulling out a small silver item from her sleeve. She cast her Spirit Energy into it and the spatial freeze was activated. Sarcum smirked.
"Thanks, now I can fight at full strength!" Darkness began to drift off of him as his Spiritual Pressure rose.
"So can I." Toshiro snapped and the large storehouse became deathly cold. The man scowled as his power was overwhelmed.
"Come to save your princess, I see." He said in a dangerous tone.
"Her dragon insisted on it." Toshiro lifted up his blade, ready to fight.
Senjumaru moved away to help Karin, moving the dragon back as the cuts began to add up. The young dragon was not yet ready for such fights, as she didn't even have her breath. Without that a dragon had no power.
"You really are an Ice Prince." Sarcum let a small smirk through though his rage was obvious. "I'm starting to wonder if there's anyone you care about."
"Family, friends. I did live as a child of poverty once; there were few people to get along with anyway."
"Right, and then you became the prodigy Captain."
Deciding that was enough talk, Toshiro Flash Stepped forward and swung at the man's side. The silver claws caught the blade, a second pair on the man's other hand revealed and aimed towards Toshiro's head. Twisting the long sword he moved it up and blocked those, both sets of claws now latched to his zanpaktou. He cast his power out and ice started spreading up his arms. The man pulled away quickly and attempted to break off the ice, but it was too late.
"You're not as strong as the Demon Lords." Toshiro noted.
"Heh," Sarcum gave in, the ice had already killed the nerves in his arms, "you have no idea how strong those girls are. Don't think killing us means you've got any real power. You just wait, they'll kill you off without even trying."
"You best hope your word remains true." Toshiro created the crescent chain-blade on the end of his zanpaktou and spun it beside him.
Despite his obvious death awaiting him, the blonde-brunette cast a wicked grin his way, showing the demon inside. The ice was crawling up his neck now, covering his torso. Soon it would completely encase him.
"Don't underestimate us, Ice Prince." The hiss in his tone made Toshiro shiver unwillingly and his grip on the chain tightened. When the man began to whisper something in quick tones, Toshiro tossed the chain-blade forward. A concentrated burst of Spiritual Pressure froze the man in several inches of ice, which the blade quickly shattered apart.
But then something unexpected happened. The Spirit Energy of the demon man still lingering suddenly conformed into a single orb of darkness. Sensing a threat in this orb, Toshiro attempted to move away, but he wasn't fast enough as it exploded outward, casting darkness throughout the building. Some of it latched onto him and he gasped as a dark feeling latched onto his heart, causing him pain. It vanished quickly but he knew the significance of that feeling; the Fear had increased in him.
"Prince Hitsugaya!" Senjumaru exclaimed in shock, darting over to him. Garland was currently burning to ash from Karin's zanpaktou as the Royal Guard's Kido prevented him from moving or speaking. Two demons of Dethmaiyn dead.
"I'm fine." Toshiro waved the woman back, regaining his composure. "We need to leave."
"So soon?" Dyrilæn frowned, inching closer to her partner. Karin also frowned and put a hand to the dragon's side.
Toshiro looked between the two of them before sighing.
"I suppose there's no rush." He said and the dragon purred happily. "Besides, I need to speak to everyone, now that I think about it."
"What about?" Karin tilted her head to the side in question.
"You'll see." The Ice Prince sheathed his blade and started heading outside, his guardian close by. "Be careful, Dyrilæn, you may not be openly welcomed."
"Oh I'll solve that problem." Karin smirked as she, too, followed him back to the Urahara shop.
They've killed their first demons! Okay, they're not really demons, just demon masters and kind of crazy, but they'd still beat the hell out of weak Soul Reapers and some of the lower seated officers Karin's power is at about Fourth Seat at this point in time and of course Shiro is ten times stronger than he had been as a Captain, so not that hard for them. Still, good intel here ^^ And the part with them basically self-destructing into Fear, which is a problem.
Enjoy!