"Karin!" Yuzu's voice floated upstairs where the black haired teen was trying to get some homework done. Apparently training to fight a war with demons didn't exclude her from school. "Have you seen Shimmer!?"
"She's your dragon, how would I know!?" Karin shouted back.
She heard her twin groan before sighing and leaving the room. If the crystal dragon wasn't on Yuzu's shoulder than there must be something she'd found to catch her interest. Either that or she was in her rebellious stage and hiding from her partner. Did dragons have a rebellious stage?
The twins looked around the house for Shimmer only to find her hanging halfway out the kitchen window, leafy eyes shifting around through the scenery.
"There you are!" Yuzu cried happily and Shimmer looked back at her. "What are you doing there? You'll fall out."
"Scent." The dragon chirped.
"Scent?" Karin tilted her head. "Did you find something?"
"No." Shimmer's head drooped.
"It's okay; it might just be a stray cat." Yuzu assured the dragon, picking her up. Shimmer cast a wary glance at the window but did not squirm.
Frowning, Karin approached the window instead. Shimmer wasn't the type of dragon to fret over a cat. Even as tiny as she was she could take on even the nastiest cat in the street with her leathery protective skin and sharp teeth. Even as a vegetarian the dragon had some wicked canines. Whatever it was to catch Shimmer's wary attention like that was bad news.
She reached out with her Spiritual Pressure as she was taught to do but caught onto nothing. What could the dragon have found?
"Oh! Shimmer!" Karin whipped around at Yuzu's startled voice, just in time to see the small white dragon leap out a different window.
"I'll get her." Karin said quickly to the startled girl and bolted out the door. "What are you thinking, Shimmer?"
For a dragon without flight Shimmer was pretty fast as she bolted across yards and over fences, Karin following as best she could and wondering what the drake was after. This was completely out of character for her. Shimmer never left the house without Yuzu nearby.
"Get back here!" Karin shouted.
"Demon!" Shimmer called back.
That made Karin speed up her step, wishing she'd gotten out of her body before leaving. Now looking ahead past the dragon instead of at her, she finally saw what it was Shimmer had seen, a small form darting through shadows like a bat out of hell, desperately trying to escape a weak drake a third its size.
'It must be a spy or something if it's running like that instead of fighting.' She grumbled to herself.
'Let's see who it's running to.' Homuratei agreed. 'Use the Soul Candy Urahara gave you.'
Karin obliged and gave a short order for the Artificial Soul to return home before Flash Stepping back up to the dragon and picking her up. Once sure the dragon was securely on her shoulder she raced after the demon again. This one wasn't as fast as the others, which was odd for something that needed to spy and get away quickly. Perhaps her assumption was wrong.
The demon raced fervently into the park where there was someone awaiting him, another scarlet robed figure, a woman with long silver hair and crimson eyes. Spotting the demon's pursuers, she scowled and vanished into darkness. Her power had not been as sharp or overwhelming as Firiat's had been, so the girl hoped she wasn't a Demon Lord.
Startled by the abandonment of its master, the impish demon turned back to them with a horrified look and Karin's katana was put to its throat, pinning it to the ground. At her shoulder, Shimmer growled.
"What were you doing at my house, huh?" She demanded.
"He-uh-Palin was-er-um." The demon chattered uselessly.
"You a spy?"
It nodded.
"Who were you spying on?"
The demon pointed at her.
'Probably should have known that.' Karin inwardly sighed, remembering how every time a demon or their masters showed up they were after her.
"Who was that woman?"
Silence.
"Who was it?!"
"Lady Star!" It squeaked out. "Told by Dark Master to watch you! Sent Palin!"
"You Palin?"
It nodded again.
"Okay Palin, why was that person told to spy on me?"
"See if prince come back." The demon shrunk under her glare. This was by far the weakest demon she'd ever seen. "Then Lady Star kidnap you."
"Again with the kidnapping." Karin rolled her eyes. "Last time that happened my dragon fried you guys."
"Prince came too." The demon reminded before shrinking away again as she glared. "Palin also keep eye on you, watch you get stronger."
"You know, this Dark Master of yours is kinda stupid if he keeps sending you guys after me. I'm not some damsel in distress he can just flaunt in front of Toshiro to make him mad. I fight back, and I'm not going to let you bastards kidnap me."
"Dark Master is much smarter." Palin growled. Shimmer growled back. "He has many plans. You just one of them."
"Well it's one he better stop trying to use because unless he comes here himself I don't think he's all that much, just a coward hiding in the shadows."
Enraged by her comment, Palin slipped around the sword and launched up at her. Bristling, Shimmer pounced it and knocked it off balance, allowing Karin to stab it through the heart before the dragonling got hurt. The demon went still before bursting into black flame and withering away, the ashes scattering to the wind. Easy enough. She wondered what would have happened had the woman stayed behind.
Sheathing her blade, Karin picked up Shimmer and started on her way home.
"Thanks Shimmer, he caught me off guard there." Karin said with a smile to the crystal drake.
Shimmer purred and went into her natural perch on the girl's shoulder while they walked in silence.
She didn't tell anyone about the spy or how she had just taunted the king of demons himself to that spy, simply brought Shimmer back to her sister and returned to her body, shrugging it off as the dragonling chasing down a cat. Though Shimmer frowned at the lie, she was unable to speak what truly happened. Karin felt she was going to regret this later.
While her twin fixed dinner and she continued her homework once more, Karin's eyes shifted to the bracelet on her wrist. She worried the black flames had been some physical form of that Fear her ex-kidnappers had mentioned and that they might have attached to Shimmer, but the dragon seemed fine. She hadn't felt anything and the bracelet hadn't reacted or anything. She recalled it flashing when the Fear that had exploded out after Sarcum's death had come close to her.
"Ugh, I wish I could go back." She groaned. "I have so many questions."
'You had the chance to ask him, but you were too distracted by the dragons.'
"Shut up, Homuratei." Karin growled. "He took me there, it's his fault. Something always happens and I forget to ask him things."
'Oh yes, blame your darling prince for 'distracting' you.'
"Don't word it like that. And he's not MY prince, he's THE prince."
'And the one person who can turn you into a blushing school girl.'
"It's not my fault that damn smile of his is so disarming." She grumbled. "He probably has loads of princesses or ladies looking to win him over."
'If I recall he's actually locked in his room all day.'
"Oh yeah." She sighed. "What a bore."
She went back to her homework, forgetting about the prince for now. The attachment she thought she'd had to him had worn off after the week or two of not seeing him again, just training with Ruala and talking to Dyrilæn. Though still not liking the distance, the fire drake was at least happy she could see her partner more often. Supposedly she could speak telepathically to Myndræl, but the ice dragon never reported anything of use. Though, he had mentioned that his partner looked more worn out than he usually did, but Karin had supposed it was just the pressure getting to him and that the ice drake should offer some support to help him through it. They hadn't heard back yet.
Once it was all done, Karin checked the clock. Eight o'clock. Hm, enough time for an hour or so of practice after dinner. As if on cue her sister's voice called her down and she joined the rest of her family. Ichigo looked a little worn out as well as nervous about something and their father was strangely silent.
When it continued for several minutes, Karin finally couldn't take it and heaved a sigh.
"Is something on your mind?" She directed at her brother.
The tall man jumped a bit at her sharp tone before clearing his throat.
"Uh, yeah, actually." He straightened a bit and set aside his nervousness. "I've decided I'm gonna be a real Soul Reaper."
There was silence as they took these words in.
"So…you're not gonna come back here?" Yuzu asked, starting to look a little teary eyed.
"No, I can come back." Ichigo smiled softly at her. "It's just…I won't be 'alive' anymore. Everyone who doesn't know about Soul Reapers will think I'm dead. With everything that's been happening I think I'd be better off becoming a Soul Reaper, a permanent one. The old man agreed to let me be stationed here so I can still visit. After all, Karakura Town is my home, and I promised to protect it."
"It's your choice." Isshin nodded seriously. "It seems like you've thought this through."
"I had to." Ichigo replied. "It's kind of a big leap, and I'll have to think of some way of 'dying'." He smirked as he air quoted to lighten the mood a bit.
"This is a clinic, Ichi, I'm sure we can think of something." Karin shrugged. "And you promised to visit, so it's not that big of a deal."
"You're a Soul Reaper, too." Yuzu turned on her twin who shifted nervously. "Are you going to leave?"
"No, Yuzu, I'm probably too young even by their standards." She rolled her eyes.
"Was that a jab at Toshiro?" Ichigo snickered, laughing fully as the black haired twin grinned evilly. "Well, he was a prodigy; they had to let him in. Still, nice one."
In the Soul King's Realm, Toshiro paused in his reading to sneeze. Confused, he shrugged it off and went back to reading.
"So if you're stationed here, you'll still live here, right?" Yuzu turned back to her brother.
"I probably could." Ichigo shrugged.
"Damn, I wanted your room." Karin pretended to pout.
"Hey!"
Isshin watched in amusement as Ichigo's proposal to, in a sense, 'die' was taken rather well. In fact, the conversation started to turn to how to 'kill' him off in a believable way that didn't hurt the boy's pride or look strange. Yuzu wasn't fond of the conversation at all, but she knew it was just a staged death and that she could still see her brother afterwards.
"So are you kicking a Captain out of their seat or are you still their back-up powerhouse?" Karin teased.
"None of the Captains are leaving." The orange haired man rolled his eyes. "The old man had actually considered me a candidate for Toshiro's place but I wasn't ready to be a full Soul Reaper at the time, and then that new guy swooped in and took it."
"That man is a miracle." Isshin put on a dramatic face. "He can actually get Rangiku to do her work!"
"That is miraculous." Karin nodded. "How?"
"Something about shadows…" Ichigo scratched his head. "Rangiku says he has a shadow-type zanpaktou, haven't seen him use it yet in training. He's actually kind of a loner, doesn't talk to others much."
"Rangiku probably does all the talking."
Now off the dreary subject of Ichigo's soon departure, the dinner became more normal. As in, Kurosaki normal, with over the top dramatics and a couple fights, to which Shimmer snapped unhappily at them. The dragon was starting to get used to the rough Kurosaki atmosphere but she still didn't like to see pain.
Forgetting about the demon spy, Karin left to train, promising to be home at ten o'clock.
As she walked, a figure sat calmly atop the roof of a house, cold eyes of gold watching her move along. The girl turned a corner out of his line of sight and a smirk played on his lips. The shadows enveloped him and it was like the figure had never been there.
Mysterious shadows. Gotta love 'em. XD Enjoy!