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INHERITANCE
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The golden moon cast its soft light on the beach, and as a fallen leaf detached from a branch in the change of seasons, it began to climb down from its high place. Toshiro watched it, carefully, but felt no imminent threat, until the glowing shape shifted into the form of a tiger, thetiger.
Nichirinmaru, as he had seen it before in Urahara's basement, stood silently on the horizon.
"You know why I've come." The captain declared. "Help me restore your master."
But the tiger did not reply. The skies darkened as if a black veil was thrown over this world, the tiger's golden light against red waters stood in the shadows like a flickering flame, a match ready to set a fuse. When it opened its mouth a roar like thunder summoned rain from above. The droplets were thick and heavy, and the sea grew restless as the storm picked up, shaking violently, threatening to swallow the beach. Each beat of the waves advanced towards Toshiro, until there was no more sand, and the tiger vanished from the horizon, leaving the captain surrounded in the dark by water.
"Tch! Fine. I will find the way on my own." He cursed determined.
The water level continued to rise, but Toshiro swam towards the deeper ends, he could feel the beating heart of Karin in the depths, he knew that's where he should go. But the undertow threw him towards the surface and back again, continuously rocking him up and down as if to shake him off.
"Karin!" He gasped between breaths of air as he struggled to control his body. "Stop fighting me dammit! Can't you see I'm here to help you!" Even in her subconscious, she was stubborn! But so was he, and he understood this was a defensive reaction, he was a stranger here after all and there shouldn't be anyone but one's own presence in an inner world. The path merely allowed him to visit, if he was going to be welcomed here was a whole different issue.
He battled against the stormy sea of Karin's heart, managing to keep himself below the surface, and although the waters continued to push him back up, he advanced, swimming deeper and deeper. However the storm would not subside, and a whirlpool formed underneath Toshiro, drawing him into the deep. He struggled to keep his breath, but his eyes began to blacken as he ran out of air, his energy going into keeping his body from being torn apart by the force of the whirlpool.
His mind was nearly fading when he hit something hard.
Gasping once again he realized he was out of the sea, and the storm was gone. Now he laid down on his face on bare black rock. He coughed a few times before he looked around, the coolness of water was quickly replaced by heat. Toshiro had arrived in the deep inferno. A hellish landscape of fire rivers and dark stones behind curtains of hot mist.
"So there really was something underneath..."He looked down at his hand against the warm rock. He could still feel that same heartbeat under those rocks, stronger now.
Toshiro stood up, but he didn't know which way to go. His wandering eyes finally caught sight of something peculiar. The place where he had fallen drenched in water, formed a puddle that was quickly evaporating, except for a single droplet, it wasn't anything note-worthy until it started to emit a faint glow. Curious, Toshiro reached out to touch it, and the water droplet froze into a very small ice crystal.
The snowflake floated up, and Toshiro watched it surprised.
"What on earth..."
It suddenly began to fly around him, as if it was alive!
Toshiro was absolutely confused and he could not make sense of this. The little snowflake flew around him frenetically, pushing against his chin and then back and forth.
"Do...you want me to follow you?" He asked the little crystal and it went up and down. "I can't believe I'm talking to a snowflake...But...I suppose you must be some part of Karin's soul too right? Or else you would not be able to withstand the heat of his place..Can you take me to where the infection is?"
The crystal flew around again.
"Show me the way." And immediately the little snowflake flew out like an arrow shot straight. Toshiro ran after it, the soft bluish glow was all he could see in front of him.
"Not that fast!" He called out to his unusual guide, but the snowflake did not slow down. Toshiro had to dodge bursts of lava and crumbling rocks, as the sprite traveled swiftly through the inhospitable terrain, going deeper down by the minute.
When it finally stopped, Toshiro was relieved, he panted slightly as the air here felt heavier.
"Where is it?" He looked around, eager to find the source of Karin's pain.
Above and behind him the rivers of fire poured like cascades into an empty darkness, the rocks beneath released no heat, as cold rain poured heavily all around and all the brightness of embers had been reduced to dim shadows. He expected this deeper level to be like the interior of a cave, but it was a mere street of the human world, seemingly normal, just a dark alley of Karakura town. Toshiro could see the vague shapes of buildings around him.
"Great. It's raining. Again." He rolled his eyes.
However, in the center rested a cage covered in chains. The chains reached out above, firmly attached to something he was unable to see, as they clung to the darkness.
"Hm? What is that…?" Toshiro wondered and took a step forward towards the cage, but the little snowflake popped up in front of him, stopping his advance. "What? Isn't that the infection?" The ice sprite flew around him again and floated low to the ground, making Toshiro follow it with his eyes.
Its soft light revealed black veins creeping up, growing like sickly roots. "That's it! There it is!" His sharp eyes traced the dark tendrils. "It has already taken so much...and where they go, everything turns black..." He frowns. "It's consuming her inner world." He looked back towards the cage. "And it seems to be going for whatever is in there. Something Karin guards. I will not let this contamination take it!"
He quickly unsheathed his sword and attempted to cut it, but it had no effect at all, and the metal of his blade only rang in the darkness.
"Tch!" He gritted his teeth.
ha ha ha ha ha!
Suddenly Toshiro heard a burst of dark laughter echoing after the blade.
You really did think your little sword would have any power here, Shinigami?
The voice was deep and ghoulish, mocking him. Toshiro steadied himself, prepared for an enemy. But the voice did not come from the darkness nor the tendrils.
It came from the cage.
Toshiro turned and his eyes widened as he saw what was inside.
Black angular horns pointed forward. White hair cascaded over pitch-black limbs. Its shoulders were slouched forward, as it sat patiently waiting. A pulsating core of red flesh on its chest and a bone mask over its face.
"You are... a hollow?!"
White, Aizen's modified creation, Masaki's original infector, sat in chains, deep within Karin's heart.
"So rude to come into one's home demanding to know who I am. Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
Toshiro glared.
"If you are the hollow then what are these tendrils? Why do you look like Kurosaki's own hollow?" He demanded.
White laughed.
"I'm a hollow alright, but I'm not the intruder. Would you prefer me to look differently?" White's figure rippled like the surface of water as he changed to look like Karin with white hair and skin, black and yellow eyes, and a grin that chilled Toshiro's heart.
"You are not her." He hissed bitterly at the hollow.
"What? Don't like it? But I am part of her after all. Believe it or not. I have nothing to do with this."
Toshiro's eyes squinted as White changed back to his original form. "You don't seem surprised to see me here, despite knowing I'm a shinigami."
"Hmm..let's say I've seen this before. Even the number on your Haori is infuriatingly familiar."
"How?"
"Because I'm here thanks to your predecessor. Isshin, the shinigami that purified the Soul meant for me."
"You mean Karin's mother?
"That man was warned even with his little gimmick when he saved the Quincy woman, that I would never be destroyed, I would be passed down to all her descendants! They were meant to be mine!"
"Judging by those chains, seems like your plans didn't quite work out for you."
White chuckled grimly.
"I'm patient, this child has put me under strong chains, but her awakening to her father's blood beckons to my release. I've been gathering all her desire to become stronger for that very moment. One way or another, sooner or later. I will be free."
"Her desire?"
"Yes. All her innermost desires come to me. Her deepest ambitions, cravings, and yearnings. Her thirst and hunger feed me. And I gotta admit it's pretty damn hilarious to face one of them now."
The ground suddenly shakes, and the darkness advances. Toshiro steadies his feet.
"Buuuut...I do hate this intruder. And there will be no use in having gathered this much power if I'm to be destroyed with her. So I will give you instructions, on what you have to do to save your little princess."
"I don't plan on needing your help," Toshiro said determined.
"hahahahahha! Please! Didn't you learn nothing from that man? To nullify this poison you should have been either Human or Quincy, and you are neither. But..."
"But?"
"I could overpower this hollow energy easily, destroy it and eat it myself if you released me."
"Pft! You must be truly mad if you think I will release you inside Karin's heart. She is your master, not me."
"You have no choice, you cannot do this only with Shinigami powers. You cannot perform a soul burial inside another soul. How do you think I got here in the first place?"
White was right, but Toshiro could not accept this resolution. To release White in an already fragile body would be stupid, and the hollow would easily take over Karin's body. No, releasing White was out of the question.
"If Soul Reapers could do anything to a hollow infesting a Quincy, your captain would have never left your division. Isshin Shiba made himself a powerless human to suppress the hollow poison in the Quincy Masaki Kurosaki. How about you? Will you become human for the sake of this girl?"
Toshiro hesitated, was that an option? He thought to himself, there was nothing he wasn't willing to do...if there was a way...maybe he could-
White cackles. "Pffft HAHAHHAHAH You GOTTA be kidding me! You are even considering it?! HAHAHAHAHHAHA Shinigami are ever so noble arent they?Whatever, it doesn't matter. There is no time, and no permanent Gigai for you to inhabit, even IF you made that stupid choice. So you have no alternative but to release me. Only another hollow like myself can absorb the negative energy and make it our own. So unless you have one in your pocket…-"
Toshiro looks up.
"That's it!"
"What is?" White sounded confused.
"You said I need a hollow."
"Yeah?"
"I have one."
"What?! Dont make me laugh! You are not a vizard!"
"No. But I hollowfied myself during the war to retrieve my bankai. And perhaps like you….mine is just locked away, slightly more behaved with better manners. But it is there. I will release it and neutralize the intruder, according to your generous instructions." Toshiro smirked coyly and White gritted his teeth.
"You little snake."
But before Toshiro is able to tap into his hollowfied abilities, the dark tendrils begin to grow again, moving towards the white-haired captain. Toshiro takes a readied stance, as the contamination grows, the shadow roots begin to twist together, gathering into the shape of a person, a man.
Sickly green eyes open above a toothy grin.
"This...it's the reiatsu I felt during her trial." Toshiro's hand gripped his sword, but he waited for the figure to move first.
It opened its hand, revealing a bright blue orb of fire. The figure offered it to Toshiro as if taunting him.
Although Toshiro couldn't tell what the orb was specifically, he could feel Karin's energy focused and gathered in it. Whatever it was, it was part of her, of that much he was sure.
"You are done hurting her." He spoke gravely as he prepared to attack. The figure grinned and cackled as it placed the orb inside its chest, cradling it in the darkness of its gruesome body before it launched the first assault.
The shadow tendrils shot out to him. Toshiro deflected the attacks swiftly, swinging his sword, block and dodging. He moved fast but the attacks multiplied, the power difference from the hollow they had fought in the woods was huge, it didn't even seem to be the same creature, it was something else entirely, and much stronger. Rapidly it envelops him in a cocoon. He heard the dark figure cackle again as the walls closed in on him, threatening to crush Toshiro.
"I can't breakthrough! Ban-" Before he could finish the release, Hyorinmaru's hand stopped him.
"If you release Bankai now, you will kill her. Another hollow presence will be too much for her soul to sustain."
His voice warned his master.
"What can I do then?! My shinigami powers have no effect on this creature! White said it himself, I need hollow energy!"
"Like your captain, you must bind yourself to her soul, so it will not see you as an intruder."
"How?"
"The stones. They opened the path for connection, now they pave it."
Toshiro looked down at one of the small stones that Urahara had given them both, rolling it on his palm. It had been connecting them all this time, and he thought it was only because of it that he was able to enter Karin's inner world, but it was clear to him this was the tool that enabled all this to happen.
He closed his fist around the green stone, and just like he would in Jinzen, he searched for the connection to her soul. Through their memories together, the moments she let him live a normal life, the games they played, when he witnessed her kindness to spirits that were doomed to terrible fates, how he felt when he turned her life upside down, the guilt and the joy that burdened him when he was close to her. He could still feel her spiritual pressure on his skin when she healed him, and the fear that overtook him when she fell. All of this he poured into the stone, and brightly it began to glow, its increasing light like dawn inside this cavernous world.
Toshiro could feel the link stronger than ever.
He smashed the stone on the rocky ground.
"BANKAI!"
There was an burst of energy as the stone shattered, its power seeping into the ground, light blue veins of Toshiro's own reiatsu, connecting to the core of Karin's being. At the same time, the stone on Karin's neck also shattered, the release of spiritual pressure expanded like a shockwave and was felt through the barracks of squad 4.
It's bright light burned away the tendrils and the dark figure screeched painfully before looking back to Toshiro and he pulled down the hollow mask over his eye.
"The time for your games is over."
A silhouette formed from Toshiro's shadow, and Hyorinmaru Hollowfied emerged, his human form bore the same mask of his eye as Toshiro, but on the opposite side. Only one thing was different about this form of Daiguren Hyorinmaru, both his spirit and Toshiro were enveloped in a gentle aura of fire that mixed its hues with his own spiritual energy.
"Well done, master. Now, we fight."
Hyorinmaru still carried a stern expression, but this was even more hardened, and as they once fought each other for dominance, now they fought together. Just like White said, the hollowfied shinigami was able to deliver effective blows, slashing the tendrils with ease, freezing and shattering, his ice turning the heavy rain into hail.
The ghostly figure screeched and screamed in frustration at Toshiro's advance.
"Let's finish this!"
Hyorinmaru jumped behind Toshiro, taking his dragon form, they plunged forward towards the creature, the shinigami captain stretched out and stabbed the figure, as the spirit of Hyorinmaru merged with its master. Toshiro reached out into the monster's chest.
Where he touched ice formed and slowly it began to consume the creature. It screamed and screeched desperately to get Toshiro away, but the shinigami could feel warmth in his hands.
"Give it back!"
He shouted pulling out the blue energy orb. Freezing the creature completely before it crumbled away.
Toshiro exhaled. It was over. The infection disintegrated with the ice and his deactivating bankai while he looked down at the sphere in his hand. It floated up from his palm, making him take a step back surprised. Its glow increased.
From sphere-shaped it changed to that of an adult woman. He could not see her face or make out who she was, as she was still made of that strange bluish energy, but her hair was long and wavy and the voice that spoke next was kind.
"Thank you."
The woman reaches and touches Toshiro's cheek. He is stunned in place, there was something maternal about this person, welcoming and nurturing, a feeling he had never experienced like this before.
"Please, take good care of her."
Teal eyes were staring wide, the tender hand seemed to be reaching into his heart, and he felt like a small child under her loving gaze. The warmth enveloped him and like an icicle melting, a single tear ran down his cheek.
But the figure pulls away sooner than he expected.
"W-wait!" He tries to call out as the woman distances herself. She vanishes in a flash of light, and Toshiro stands there confused.
However, there would not be much time for him to ponder on what he had just experienced, as the ground beneath him turns to quicksand, he sinks and it sucks him in.
"Argh!"
The floor is hot, too hot! Toshiro attempts to use Hyorinmaru's ice to shield him from the burns.
White laughed in his cage. As Toshiro sank deeper, he could see White's grinning form.
"I look forward to playing with you again, brother."
His figure disappears behind the veil of heat twisting into nothingness, Toshiro is sure he is going to be consumed by this heat, he cannot move, and he cannot endure the increasing temperature for long, his eyes turn dark.
.
.
"The path has been crossed."
.
.
Toshiro slowly opens his eyes again, there is a bright light disturbing the darkness. He looks up to clear blue skies. Beneath him, there is a soft bed of fresh green grass.
He finds himself in a wide and peaceful field, pear trees surround him, blooming in pure white flowers, small and graceful they mingle in the breeze with the snow that falls from above gently, melting into cold water and kissing the grass blades and the flowers with morning dew.
Toshiro sees Hyorinmaru's human form standing in front of him, and next to him the figure of another man. He had a bright flame for hair that fickles like wisps, red markings on the face, arms, and legs. His hands and feet were like a beast's claws and he wore a loose-fit kimono of white. On his forehead a shape like a crescent moon with the ends touching. He shone like the sun, but his flames did not feel destructive.
"Where am I…?"
"In her heart" Nichirinmaru responds. "The bond is now complete."
"We can never return to our previous state. This connection is permanent." Hyorinmaru explained.
"Yes, I know. Yet…I don't feel burdened by it. It's so peaceful here…"
It was hard to believe the heart of such a feisty girl would be so calm in its core.
"Even the most unruly soul can yearn for green fields. But still all parts of oneself must be tamed. The infection is gone, and you have saved my master but now you know, Karin has many fights ahead of her, before she tames her own soul completely."
Nichirinmaru spoke cautiously.
Toshiro nodded quietly. White was in there still, and whatever that mysterious woman was too. And in those fights he would not be able to fight for Karin.
"Yes, I know."
"Soon you will be able to witness our true purpose master. But not yet. So do not trouble yourself with the fights to come. For today, spring has come."
Hyorinmaru speaks calmly as both spirits vanish in the breeze, leaving Toshiro in that field alone.
After a few moments of sitting quietly with his own thoughts, Toshiro got up. "They haven't told me how to get out…I suppose…the exit must be around here somewhere."
He begins to walk, looking for any sign to guide him back to reality when he spots someone lying under a tree.
Toshiro's eyes widen. It's Karin. He rushes to her immediately and kneels down. She seems asleep. Toshiro, still fearful of her comatose state despite the spirit's words, placed an unsure hand on her cheek.
"Karin! Karin, wake up! Can you hear me? Wake up!"
His voice reaches her and she slowly wakes up. Karin watches him with dazed blue eyes.
"I thought I had strayed into a dream…"
"You did…but It's time to wake up now." He smiles, offering her his hand. Karin reaches out and holds it.
"Yes. It's time to wake up."
In the blink of an eye, both of them are awake in the infirmary room. Karin lying down on her bed and Toshiro was next to her with her hand clasped in his.
"Toshiro!" She smiled brightly and threw her arms around him to hug him tightly.
"You're finally back." He exhales relieved and leans over, placing his forehead on hers.
"I thought you were gone…"
Karin chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't go anywhere without saying goodbye first."
"Then don't ever say it," Toshiro responded, catching her off guard.
Her heart pounded rapidly, and it was like she could feel his own heartbeat. Was this the consequence of their connection? Most likely. But she felt rather self-conscious when she heard his words.
"I..w-wont." She said shyly. "Thank you, for coming to save me…I…hmm" She cleared her throat looking away. "I don't usually like the damsel in distress role…but…I'm thankful you were here."
Toshiro looked at her embarrassed face as she tried to play it off. But his own feelings seemed much clearer now, clear like the blue skies of her heart.
"You could never be a damsel in distress. But there is no need to fight alone when I'm here."
Karin turned her head abruptly at him, surprised.
"Toshiro, I…"
He leaned forward slowly.
"You don't have to say anything." He whispered before closing the distance between them and placing a small kiss on her forehead.
He wasn't using his ice techniques, but the touch of his soft lips froze Karin in place. Her face turned completely red like a ripe tomato, with shocked wide eyes staring at the shinigami captain as her hand reached to cover the spot he kissed.
"W-Wwh..-"
CRASH!
Before she could say anything at all, Matsumoto, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi and Hanatarou, tumbled down in a pathetic pile of dorks. They had been listening to everything since Karin woke up, but stopped by the door not wanting to interrupt…or that's how they tried to justify themselves.
"W-what are you doing here?!" Karin shouted as her embarrassment only seemed to escalate! "YOU WERE ALL EAVESDROPPING?!"
Toshiro had already pulled away and looked quite annoyed.
"Me? Eavesdropping?! Why Karin-chan I would NEVER!" Matsumoto tried to convince her with a pitiful face of innocence.
"Pft yeah right, as if anyone is gonna buy into that!" Ikkaku rolled his eyes as he got up.
"W-we heard your voice, Kurosaki-san…" Hanatarou continued shyly.
"Naturally, we came over to see if you were healed." Yumichika nodded trying his best to sell the story.
"Only we didn't expect you and Hitsugaya to be so…erm…close."
Toshiro glared at Hisagi.
"It's Captain Hitsugaya to you."
"Ah yeah yeah, of course, captain."
"OH whatever! What matters now is that Karin-chan is awake!" Matsumoto celebrates, just when Ichigo walks up the door, returning from the human world.
"Karin?!" He stares in shock.
"Ichi-nii!" She grins welcoming her brother.
"Karin!" Ichigo rushes over to her and embraces his little sister. "You are awake! How are you feeling? Are you still hurt? Do you feel any pain anywhere?"
Karin shook her head and chuckled. "I'm fine. Toshiro helped me."
Ichigo looked back at the white-haired shinigami.
"Why she doesn't need to call him captain?" Hisagi whispered grumpily and received an elbow to the gut from Matsumoto.
"Shhh!"
"So you figured it out before I was able to come back." Ichigo's voice was serious and Toshiro lifted an eyebrow.
"You know what I did?"
Ichigo nodded.
"Urahara told me. I'm glad you did tho. So thanks."
Matsumoto quickly hugged Karin from behind.
"Of course! The captain is always ready to help! Right Karin-chan?"
"aH y-yeah," Karin said still a little awkward but she smiled.
Ichigo smiled content. Despite his unwillingness to accept his sister becoming so involved with other shinigami, his relief for her well-being was much stronger than any other feeling he could have at the moment.
As the group laughs and properly welcome Karin back to the waking world, Ichigo realizes she is dear to many, her time spent here was enough to create bonds with these people, who he knew to be strong and good in their own accord. Karin was becoming stronger, but not lonelier.
After a few hours, when all the commotion was finally over, Ichigo insisted on staying with Karin, but Toshiro did not relinquish his place either. And both sat in the infirmary room, in their own staring face-off.
"Ah…I'm a little thirsty.." Karin spoke up in the awkward silence. Both Toshiro and Ichigo stood up abruptly.
"I WILL GET SOMETHING." They both said in unison.
"What do you mean you will get something? I'm her brother, I know what she likes to drink!" Ichigo argues.
"Don't be ridiculous you would probably get something that would make her feel sick. She is still recovering."
Karin's eye twitched in annoyance.
"CAN BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP?! GOSH! Go both of you! Shoo! One gets me a drink and the other a snack, there, happy now?"
The men accepted the resolution and left her room.
Karin sighed.
"I can't wait to get out of this bed…" she spoke to herself.
But someone else entered her room. Captain Commander Kyoraku.
"I see Captain Hitsugaya has finally relented his guardian post?" he jests.
"Commander? I didn't expect to see you here."
"Pardon my intrusion. But it was only natural for me to pay you a visit after such a close call. But you are just as strong as your parents it seems." He smiled.
"So where is your watchful sentinel?"
"He just went out for some snacks or drinks… I don't know yet."
"He was truly devoted to your recovery."
Karin blushes.
"I..wouldn't say that. Devoted is a strong word."
Her bashful reaction doesn't go unnoticed.
"You two have grown really close. Despite your different natures, you two might make a good pair." He teases.
"N-no! O-don't be ridiculous commander! Me and him? Haha! No, He wouldn't, i couldn't- I…" she stumbles in her words.
"Why not? You know it's not unheard of. Yourself is a fruit of a similar union."
"It makes no sense, to be with someone this weak. No no no..I could never!"
She spoke of herself.
"Well, don't mind me, I'm just an old man prodding into other people's business. I came here to give you news."
Karin looked up a little surprised.
"What news?"
"You are going back to the human world."
A/N: I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, I ended up taking a little longer than my planned monthly updates because I couldn't decide on many details about Karin's innerworld, hopefully I wont regret this later lol
I see this chapter as a season-ending. A new phase of the story is a about to begin!
Let me know what you think! Any suspicions or guesses about what you've seen in her inner world? Or perhaps you are looking forward to see something specifically?
Tell me in the comments!
Thank you for reading and keeping up!
I will see you next time!
