"Ugh." Karin sat at the base of the mountain, exhausted completely. "This trial is way too damn hard."
She fell onto her back and stared up at the sky, irritated. It had been three weeks now since she'd started the trials, and though she'd hoped to finish them as fast as Toshiro had, it seemed that was not to be. She was still on the third trial. But her brother was only on the second, so she had some cause for celebration. Controlling Spiritual Pressure in such ways was definitely not a Kurosaki's strong point.
"Wonder how everyone else is doing…" She mused aloud. "Haven't left this island in three weeks."
With a grunt of effort she stood up and headed back towards the mansion, wondering if her brother was off yet. Most likely not. He never quit.
Her dragon flew down to greet her. After the dragonlings were done hatching she and Myndræl had stayed for a few days to help out before returning to their partners. Out of thirty or so eggs, only nine had hatched. The dragons really were having a rough time surviving. The number of surviving dragonlings got fewer each time, though there was some hope. This hatching had two more survivors than last time.
"Any luck?" Karin asked her dragon.
"Just embers." Dyrilæn snorted. She'd been trying to get her breath for the past few weeks and Karin's massive increase in power, about twice as much as before, the same amount her brother had when invading the Soul Society to save Rukia, had helped a lot. Where once was just smoke was now sparks and the occasional scorching flame.
"We'll get there." Karin promised her dragon. "Just wait, we'll get there."
There was a passing shadow and a flash of blue and their walk became a jog, eager to greet the one who was now heading to the same destination as them. Even if he'd only been away for a few days to help the others, it was always a relief to see him return. And if he wasn't helping others he was training his own powers. She'd been told he'd learned the name of his third new attack but couldn't show her as it was hard to control, therefore dangerous, much like his Hyouten Hyakkasou.
Sure enough, the large blue ice dragon, now at least seventeen feet tall, stood near to the mansion of trees with his white haired partner standing beside him. Upon spotting Karin running towards him, Toshiro donned an amused expression.
'Only away for a few days and she acts like you've been gone for weeks.' Hyorinmaru snickered.
Ignoring that comment, Toshiro let the raven haired teen tackle-hug him, staying up this time as she'd knocked him over before, and hugged her back.
"Progress?" He questioned, though he felt he knew the answer.
She grimaced, happy mood somewhat deflated.
"Nothing." She huffed. "All this 'finite control' stuff is hard."
"It's because you're a Kurosaki." He teased her and she scowled.
"Shut up!" She poked him.
He laughed and she found it hard to stay mad at him.
"Come on, I came to see Sylfie, might as well come with me."
Together they headed inside to greet the Greenleaf Family. Karin had noticed how Toshiro used first names more often, and not just when there was more than one person with the same last name. He still used last names for certain people, but for those he seemed to consider close friends he'd finally started using first names.
In fact, she wasn't the only one to notice. Everyone who had come here from the Soul Society had noticed the obvious difference in Toshiro's behavior, his relaxed stance around them, how he didn't anger as easily while smiling more often. It still baffled some of them, still finding themselves startled when he used a first name or replied with a grin.
"There are my lovebirds!" Sylfie's sing-song voice broke into Karin's thoughts as the green haired woman appeared behind them, a hand on their shoulders that forced them closer together. They both scowled at her in annoyance while simultaneously going a bit pink in the cheeks. "Oh don't give me that face, nephew, you haven't been very discreet lately."
"I don't see a reason to be, that's all." Toshiro snapped back. "I just don't like it when you shout about it."
"How cute!"
"Stop that!"
"So Karin," Sylfie suddenly shifted her attention to the Substitute, startling her and Toshiro, "have you ever danced before?"
"Er, not really." Karin replied, confused.
"Oh, that won't do." Sylfie pouted. "This way!"
Still confused, Toshiro watched as his aunt pushed Karin away to some other room. It took him a moment to put his thoughts back together and follow after them.
"I hope your friends are ready for this." Ralæn snickered, having been sitting inside watching the whole thing. "I remember your reaction to mom's parties."
"A few of them will go right along with it." The young prince told her. "Thankfully you don't have sake."
"Only because mom's a total lightweight and a terrifying drunk." The blonde actually shivered as she thought about it. "No we never have any alcohol around here."
"Good, because if Rangiku got a hold of it we'd be in trouble."
"I don't doubt that, she's pretty crazy." Ralæn stood. "I heard she got Bankai."
"Rangiku did?" Toshiro looked surprised. "I know Hisagi and Kuchiki managed to get theirs…she must have got it when I was gone and forgot to mention it…"
"Ha, for a minute I thought you doubted her ability to obtain Bankai." His cousin teased and he frowned.
"I don't doubt her ability, I just doubt her work methods. She's a complete slacker."
"Well this must have been pretty important to her." Her hand rested momentarily on his shoulder as she passed by him. "Guess she still feels the need to have her Captain's back."
"Except I'm not her Captain anymore." Toshiro's voice was emotionless now, something Ralæn took note of.
"Four months away and you think she's forgotten about you and moved on? Have a little more faith in your Lieutenant."
She left then, not waiting for any kind of reply, though he wasn't sure how to. If he was honest with himself, he had hoped Rangiku would move on, but he'd gone back too early for that. She probably still saw him as the confused little boy from the Rukongai, even when he was her Captain. When this whole prince business had started, he felt like he was that boy again, scared and confused, not sure what to do. He was still a little scared. He didn't know how many friends he would lose in this war.
He quickly pushed those morbid thoughts aside and went to find Karin and Sylfie. The latter was planning to have the Soul Reapers come and take a 'break' from training, and Toshiro knew what that entailed. This would be an interesting day.
While Sylfie introduced Karin to the more medieval celtic fashion, Toshiro looked back on what all had happened. For humans the Kurosaki siblings were progressing through the Five Trials quickly despite their difficulty in the very first trial. He had been unhappy seeing Karin come down the mountain completely exhausted and even injured, not to mention the mood her brother was in. It was a good thing he was also too tired to do anything about it.
Moving on, they were doing extremely well for humans. As for the other Reapers, their power had almost doubled, and now there were three who had learned Bankai when they hadn't before; Shuhei Hisagi, Rukia Kuchiki and recently Rangiku Matsumoto. That was a massive improvement and a stress reliever, knowing how fast they were progressing, even if they didn't like their teachers much. The commanders weren't too fond of them, either, but that's how it always was.
"What do you think?" Sylfie's voice caught his attention and he looked at the girls to see his aunt pushing Karin in front of a mirror to let her see the outfit on her.
"Um, well." The teen looked rather uncomfortable, messing with the knee-length skirt, dark red in color, the bottom hem black lined with gold. Her shirt was fire red with long sleeves that hung loosely at the elbow. An orange-gold cloth was tied around her waist. The color was clearly meant to represent her main element of fire and it fit her rather well. "I don't usually where skirts."
"Just for today." Sylfie promised. "I'm getting all the girls to dress up, don't worry. Maybe a few of the boys."
She looked pointedly at Toshiro.
"No." He replied immediately.
His aunt stuck her tongue out before turning her attention back to Karin and taking her hair out of its ponytail to let it fall around her shoulders. The teen grumbled but couldn't refuse that she did like the look, outfit and all. It was different from what girls normally wore in Japan for special occasions, and it wasn't a bad kind of different.
"Do I just walk around barefoot?" She asked, pointing out her lack of footwear.
"I do." Sylfie shrugged, grinning. "The grass is soft and there won't be anything harmful to step on."
"If you say so…"
The green haired woman moved herself quickly to Toshiro's side, though he was unfazed by her presence. He was, however, unnerved by the grin on her face.
"So, what say you?" His aunt asked quietly.
"Why are you asking me?" He grumbled.
"She'll feel better about it if you like it too."
Sighing, Toshiro gave in and took a moment to actually look over Karin's new outfit. It fit her perfectly, which made him wonder how Sylfie knew what size to get, and the colors made her look like she had an aura of fire, and not the one she had when angry…a soft flame that lit up her beauty. The more he looked the harder he found it was to stop. Sylfie beamed, victorious. She knew how to get a guy's attention.
Karin spotted him staring.
"What?" She snapped, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She stood awkwardly under his gaze.
Her nervousness grew as he stood and approached her, Sylfie watching in surprised curiosity.
"You look beautiful." The young prince told her softly with a smile, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
"Th-thank you." She stuttered, blushing wildly.
They both paused as they sensed the return of a certain orange haired young man.
"Oh what terrible timing." Sylfie scowled, knowing the older sibling was still a stiff when it came to the relationship of his little sister and the prince. She left the room quickly to stall him.
"I like how she's all for it." Karin snickered.
"She's just nosy." Toshiro grimaced.
"Everybody's gonna be showing up soon, right?" Karin stepped away, messing with the skirt again. "Might as well get outside before Ichi throws a fit."
"Then stop fidgeting." He grabbed the hand pulling on the sash-belt to stop her from messing it up. "You'll want to see your brother's face when he sees you."
She laughed at the image and hurried outside ahead of him.
As Toshiro followed at a slower pace, he was rewarded upon exit by the utterly shocked expression on Ichigo's face and the sight of his aunt rolling in laughter in the grass, Ralæn snickering off to the side. Now finding it fun, Karin teased her brother for several more minutes.
Rukia and Rangiku arrived and were quick to comment Karin on her new outfit. With more people, Sylfie was back on her feet and ushering the girls inside to do something similar for them. The boys that had arrived with them were ignored; Kadin, Kensei, Hisagi, and Ikkaku were completely overlooked.
Upon spotting Kadin, Ralæn rushed inside. Toshiro noticed but said nothing of it.
"Oi…" Ichigo approached the prince. "Is Rukia gonna be wearing something like Karin?"
"Not the same but similar." Toshiro smirked. "Today is going to be quite the culture shock for all of you. My mother's side of the family is Celtic."
"Ah…"
"Watch out though, she did say she'd try to dress up the boys as well."
"Oh no, not me." Ikkaku sat on the ground with full refusal to be dressed up.
The others soon showed up, most of the girls ushered inside and one or two of the boys – those remaining wished luck to Ichigo, Shuhei, Kisuke and Kyoraku – to be introduced to this new style and culture.
"Hey you." Ralæn called out, motioning to Kadin. "Come here."
Curious, the silver haired Captain stood and followed her inside, wondering what the blonde wanted. Toshiro was about to follow when Myndræl stopped him.
"Some of the other dragons are coming; they'll want to meet you." He reported.
The young prince gave a heavy sigh and stayed put despite wanting to know what was going to happen to his successor of Squad Ten. No doubt the older twin was taking him to the younger, his mother, and that was something he was interested in. Could Kadin's memories be restored? If anyone could it would be his own mother, so this was probably their last hope of him remembering who he was.
But he couldn't leave now. Most dragons didn't like the humans and so he would be needed to keep them calm.
Inside, Karin was leaving to go back outside with Rukia beside her, the petite Reaper wearing colors of lavender and white with slight blue here and there, her dress similar to Karin's but with shorter sleeves that were split and more ruffles on the skirt, when she spotted the Squad Ten Captain and the older twin.
"I'll be right out." She told the Lieutenant. "Go mess with Ichi, he'll love it."
"Oh I know he will." Rukia grinned mischievously. If anyone liked to tease Ichigo more than his younger sister it was his girlfriend.
They parted and Karin walked deeper into the building where Kadin and Ralæn had gone. During her three weeks of stay here in the Kingdom of Magika she'd explored much of the mansion and so was able to recognize where they were headed: the open area inside where Ælfwyn usually spoke with one of the dragons, more often than not the diamond one when she was off duty.
Hovering by the door she watched the pair approach Ælfwyn inside, the woman not talking to a dragon at the moment but rather playing a flute, a beautiful sound that echoed lightly in the air, as if the wind itself were singing along.
"Hey sis, over here." Ralæn called out.
The younger twin stopped playing, the air going silent, and the woman looked over at them. Her gaze immediately settled on the Captain, her stance going stiff with shock.
'What's going on?' Karin wondered, not having been informed of Kadin's heritage.
"Er…" Kadin scratched his head nervously. "I'm…Kadin Thane, Captain of Squad Ten."
"I know who you are." Ælfwyn said in a breathless voice. "But…how?"
"Well, uh…I don't know…"
Still spying, Karin wondered what was going on. How did Ælfwyn know him? Why was she so shocked? And why did Kadin look so nervous? He was quiet and didn't like being in the spotlight, but he'd never been this fidgety before.
Suddenly, Ælfwyn rushed over and trapped the confused Captain in a tight hug, tears threatening to fall. Kadin went stiff, uncomfortable with this unfamiliar gesture. Yet in the back of his mind it was familiar, which kept him from trying to get her off as quickly as he could and leaving.
'Are they dating?' Karin mused. 'No, Captain Thane's a bit young for that, though I'm not really sure how old Ælfwyn actually is.'
'Sylfie told you that their race lived for a very, very long time, even in the World of the Living.' Homuratei's faint voice said. Toshiro had warned her about how she wouldn't be able to hear her zanpaktou as clear or as often as normal during the first two or three trials.
'So she'd be pretty old…I don't know much about Captain Thane.'
Feeling awkward about the spying now, Karin quickly left and headed outside. She wondered if Toshiro knew and made a mental note to ask him later.
For now, it was time to relax, to take a break from weeks of harsh training and learn a bit of culture. Besides, what person would miss a royal party?
I promised myself not to get too into the romance but lots of people keep asking for it, and it's so easy to write even when I have no experience in a love life what-so-ever. T^T
Anyway, a little filler for now while I try to think of how to finish this off. Now the Soul Reapers get to experience the Irish side of life and have a little fun ^^ Oh, and Kadin meets his mom. Enjoy!