Flowers also burn.
Karin didn't think it was possible for spirits to have a headache, but she was confirming for herself that it indeed was. Although she had always complained about the lack of information and the darkness that surrounded everything related to the spirit world, she had been unaware of how much she had actually been missing. After being bombarded with information, a lot of noise, shouting and arguing, she had discovered the reason for her spiritual potential: her fucking father used to be a fucking shinigami captain.
Shinigami, hollows, arrancar, his own origin and death was a lot to process and internalize. But they all agreed that it was best for Karin to transcend into Soul Society without further delay.
"We cannot be sure about you keep your memories, and the process may become painful for you." Hitsugaya warned.
"I understand, there are no guarantees." She agreed.
"Are you ready?" Matsumoto asked, taking her by the wrist.
"Yes."
Karin turned on her feet and greeted her family with a smile trying to appear as nonchalant as she could when inside she was full of insecurities. Ichigo nodded silently without a show of emotion on her face. On the other hand, her father waved her hand energetically with a big smile. The goodbyes and promises had already been made. She had already cried and had hugged her father and brother
In the end it had been decided that since Toushiro had the highest rank, he should be the one to explain the unusual situation to his superiors. Matsumoto hurriedly joined in, determining that someone should help Karin adjust to her and bring her to Rukia; who was unaware of all these facts in the soul society until Renji managed to contact her later. However, Isshin had been very candid with his former third officer..
"Shiba is still her family, and they will receive her as such. ", he had instructed him.
Isshin had insisted on not telling Karin where exactly they were taking her until she were there, even though he and Ichigo deemed it necessary. Ichigo claimed that the Shiba family, as unusual as they were, were to be trusted. Both Kurosaki quickly wrote a brief letter entrusting the youngest of their family to the care of Kukaku Shiba; the current leader of the clan.
The older explained as he handed the letter to his former lieutenant that he didn't want Karin to know about her family until she was there and she was able to form an opinion about them for herself.
"And if she refuses here, thinking that everyone is like me?" she teased, halfheartedly.
Toushiro sighed, tired. His old captain didn't want to deal with the questions that exposing his family history would bring up. It was as simple as that. Explaining their existence to his daughter would inevitably lead to reasoning with her about his clan's fall from grace and their removal as a noble family. It was too much to explain and, he supposed, eventually Kukaku Shiba would take that responsibility if she thought it worth it. But, she deserved to know her own identity.
Once enlisted, the captain of the tenth division drew his sword before Karin's astonished gaze, who did not understand the gesture. Matsumoto laughed at her and her expression so readable from her, annoying Karin. With a swing of his sword the gate between the worlds materialized before them. Hitsugaya made eye contact with Isshin for a brief moment before turning to face the door and moving forward.
The feeling of entering that portal was difficult for Kurosaki to put into words. The simplest way to explain it was to say that the air seemed to be suddenly thicker and made the act of breathing harder. As the door closed behind them and Matsumoto gently nudged her to follow the silver-haired boy her soul woke up. Taking her first breath was almost painful for her, but she managed to recover in no time.
Along the way, the captain gave her a series of instructions: first they would meet Rukia, they would proceed to go to the first squad to give a report to the Commander about her, and then they would install her before leaving again for the human world.
"Oh, in the Rukongai?" Do they assign us houses or something?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
"No. We will see if your paternal family is willing to receive you." The captain ventured.
Karin raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, so I have paternal family."
"The Shiba." Matsumoto added. "Your father's original name was Isshin Shiba."
"I have lived a lie my whole life." she wailed, frustrated.
"Not all men would be willing to give up their name." Hitsugaya censored her. "Much less when they come from an ancient noble clan of the Soul Society."
Although it was not something he spoke fluently, Toushiro had deeply respected Isshin as his captain, despite his flaws. And he was fond of him as the officer who had been welcomed by him and had invested him with respect and camaraderie.
"Stop, wait, did you say noble?" she inquired and then seemed to rethink it, "No, you know what, don't answer me. I do not want to know.
She was overwhelmed and the shinigami knew it. She was still little more than a child herself, regardless of how mature she tried to appear. They arrived shortly, its doors opening languidly, dazzling her with light from the other side. Karin groaned, it was crunch time. Ultimately, she hadn't been prepared for what had come upon her.
She had been warned about the possible pain, but they had not described its intensity. It was as if an electric shock had gone through her fiercely: she collapsed to the ground in front of the three shinigami. Rukia was the first to react and grabbed her before she even touched the ground under her feet. Cradling her in her arms, she eased her body over hers. Karin let out a scream that cut through the air.
Her body burned, shivered and shook. She couldn't control the spasms running through her and Rukia hugged her tightly to try to calm her down. She screamed until she was speechless for what seemed like an eternity, but it was only a few minutes. She squirmed under the shinigami's firm grip and bit her lip until it bled as she spoke soothing words to her.
Karin kicked the air, shuddered, and her misery was gone as soon as it had come. Her trembling limbs didn't have the strength to support her weight, so she stayed for a moment resting on Rukia's lap.
"Your reiatsu has already stabilized." She informed her..
Oh, it had been that.
"In a konso the souls are not aware of their transition and therefore do not suffer from this, besides... well, most souls do not have your reiatsu." The shinigami explained, helping her to stand up.
Karin moaned, fuck, her muscles were exhausted. She agreed to put her weight on Rukia, who was quick to apologize to her for something that, in Karin's eyes, was not her fault. She was exhausted and wanted to skip all the apologies, formalities, and so on and get to a comfortable bed to rest. But her life, or her death, was not going to be so simple.
In defense of the shinigami, they slowed her pace to match hers. Karin admired how all the shinigami she met quickly bowed to them in a formal greeting before looking at her curiously. Well, she had died in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt; she clearly would get her attention by manifesting herself as a foreigner.
The wide, endless, and identical corridors led her to wonder about the unnecessarily confusing aesthetic of the Seireitei. When they were entering a place that seemed like an oriental palace to her, she thanked Rukia for allowing her to lean against her and stood up. Tired, sore but proud, she entered where she supposed that person they called "Capitan General" would be.
She would have expected a strong and fearsome looking shinigami, but she was greeted by an old man with a long white beard with a wooden staff. Karin watched as everyone bowed to him and like a fish out of water she stood there looking at everyone else in surprise. If the old man had considered her behavior impudent, he ignored it.
"What does it take to bring a soul to my office, Captain Hitsugaya?" He inquired, addressing the captain but looking at her.
Hitsugaya stood up, while the other two shinigami remained bowed in a clear show of respect. Karin thought that maybe she should have done it too, but she was afraid to wouldn't be able to get back on her feet. She would rather pass for disrespectful than a weakling.
— This person is Karin Kurosaki.
"Related to Ichigo Kurosaki, then?", his subordinate confirmed.
Hitsugaya proceeded to give his report, starting with the battles that were going on simultaneously throughout Karakura Town. He described the hollows, listed the arrancar concluding that there were too many at first. He pointed at her near the end, when he added that by the time any of them could reach her her body had already been separated from her soul by the hollow's attacks.
A soul whose chain had been broken, was dead without return.
"Kurosaki Ichigo requested that his sister be escorted to the Seireitei." Toushiro clarified.
"I see. However, I don't understand why you agreed to treat her differently: the souls must arrive here through the konso ritual. But she has arrived escorted by no less than two members of this Seireitei through the Senkaimon."
Hitsugaya could feel the rebuke coming his way, but he was willing to accept the consequences of breaking the rules.
"I don't want to be disrespectful or anything," Karin interrupted. "But I died as a consequence of, well, one of your wars. An arrancar killed me. That's how it was, wasn't it?"
The general raised an eyebrow and Toushiro cursed internally, were all Kurosaki equally irreverent? Matsumoto pursed her lips to keep from laughing while Rukia sighed with resignation at the bad temper of that family.
"Besides, Ichi did a lot of things for you and I'm not here to change anything: you brought me here anyway."
"There are rules in this society, Miss Kurosaki." The general stressed.
He hadn't scolded her, but Karin felt her authority crush her with a simple sentence.
"I know, but it doesn't seem like something so serious to me." She spoke, although all her instinct called her to stay quiet. "I just wanted to keep my memories."
"I will accept the consequences, I agreed to bring her here." Toushiro admitted, silencing her with the force of her voice. "It was my incompetence to handle the situation that led to her premature death."
"What? Nope!" Karin objected.
"Kurosaki Karin" The general called and she suddenly felt tiny in front of that man. "The affairs of this Seireitei do not concern you, and you will not take care of them: we will discuss this later. Captain: Ordinary souls belong to the Rukongai."
With this statement the old man had terminated the exchange. The captain bowed to him and then the three shinigami present stood up. Karin allowed herself to be carried out with her whole body trembling from the force of that man's presence; he had left her speechless with the intensity of her latest proclamation. Rukia guided her off of her and rubbed her arms looking to comfort her.
"Don't ever address an authority with such little respect, Kurosaki." Hitsugaya admonished her, turning her icy eyes on her. "The general is right, you must recognize which are not your battles. Matsumoto."
"I'll take care of her, captain."
Karin wanted to argue, argue about their excessive strictness and how useless it was. But she didn't have a chance to do it: she barely finished speaking to him, the silver-haired captain re-entered the palace. The doors closed behind him with a thud and she cursed under her breath: she didn't want anyone to have to pay for something so small. If she was there anyway, damn it!
"Things are different here, Karin." Rukia mentioned trying to calm her down. "The captain did not intend to quarrel with you, but to advise you: the ranks here are very important"
The girl closed her eyes and tilted her head back. When she opened them, her only thought was that the sky was just as blue on the other side. She was annoyed by the situation, embarrassed by the rebuke, and she in a very bad mood followed the two shinigami again to the wall that divided the Seireitei from the Rukongai. The place was vast and seemed to go on forever, but she would have it herself, she supposed.
Matsumoto wasted no time and started chatting about her with the clear intention of lightening the atmosphere, but the younger one had no desire to participate in the talking. Rukia thought that was too much for one day and they hurried to the west sector, where she had previously located the home of what was left of the Shiba clan.
So they were related after all, she told herself, thinking of Kaien.
"Well, we have arrived!" Encouragingly, Matsumoto pointed.
Oh, no.
"Please tell me that is not true." Karin begged when she saw the appearance of the house.
Rukia giggled next to her, she couldn't blame her after all. Kukaku Shiba wasn't exactly known for going unnoticed. Outside the building with her fists holding an indicative sign, in case it was necessary, there was a small group of wild boars circling. The girl groaned, but she followed the two women accompanying her to the entrance where two servants greeted them.
"We come to see Kukaku." Matsumoto mentioned after greeting cordially.
The servants led them inside, where Matsumoto quickly introduced herself and her companions; to immediately extend a letter to her hostess.
Kukaku turned out to be a striking and exuberant-looking woman, who was comfortably reclined on some cushions while she smoked a pipe. She was the kind of person it was hard to stop looking at: the strange yet feminine and rude appearance of her at once puzzled her. Karin approached and greeted her with a respect that surprised her companions.
But if she had recently answered rudely to the Capitan General himself!
"And you are, child?"
"Karin Kurosaki"
"Aha! Ichigo's sister"? the woman guessed, smiling.
"Exactly." Matsumoto nodded smiling. "Isshin's daughter."
Silence fell. Kukaku got up from her seat sitting appropriately cross-legged and raised an eyebrow; she opened the letter and proceeded to read it imagining its content. Finishing, she smirked and eyed the girl in front of her with renewed curiosity.
"That explains a lot. And why did they bring her precisely here? Do you want to train her too?"
Karin's eyes sparkled.
Train her, she said, how had she not thought of it before? Of course she could train here, get stronger and stop depending on others. Her motivation burned in her dark eyes and Kukaku recognized that glow.
"I died." Karin summarized, even though she wanted to add much more than just that.
"That bastard." Kukaku insulted, referring to Isshin "Having children that he can't take care of without thinking about the consequences."
The woman spat her pipe smoke up and then addressed her three guests.
"Then you're a Shiba."
"I am a Kurosaki." She countered, although her tone remained calm.
"Named Kurosaki, Shiba blood." Kukaku accepted, pleased. "If you stay here you will work, nothing is free. Respect me, don't cause trouble, and we'll be fine."
Rukia and Rangiku felt relief wash over them as Kukaku accepted Karin. Among them they had quietly discussed what to do if the Shiba woman for whatever reason refused to welcome her into her home. At worst, they thought, Matsumoto might temporarily offer her a place.
Kukaku had watched Karin so intently that she had come to make her uncomfortable. She thought she was sizing her up, but actually she Kukaku was surprised that Ichigo's sister was the one to inherit the clan look from Isshin. With straight but wild black hair, jet-black eyes, white skin and long limbs. Yes, Karin was definitely the daughter of her uncle Isshin. She was missing her lower lashes, but something of her must have been inherited from her mother, she supposed.
"Thank you for having me." Respectfully, she bowed.
"I'm not into formalities, child." she warned. "I'm Kukaku, you can call me by my name or refer to me as "aunt", I don't really care."
She got up and with a fierce smile she declared:
"Now, you will need some clothes."
Rangiku and Rukia left her with Kukaku soon after, promising to keep her informed of what happened and to visit her when it would be possible. The fireworks expert walked over to the girl and leaned against the wall by the door. Karin turned to meet her. Although she had received it, they were completely strangers beyond the slight resemblance between them.
"My brother is not here, I will introduce him to you eventually." Kukaku informed her. "Now, come: let's see if any of my old clothes fits you."
The next few weeks the girl passed with a strange feeling of emptiness and melancholy. She supposed that was the price of keeping the memories of her: enduring the longing and the uprooting. Despite her demanding appearance, the family leader had respected her timing and she understood that she was just as grieving her death as her family would be on the other side. With the knowledge of a war that was on the verge of ending, Karin's head was full of worries that should be foreign to a preteen.
The afternoons passed quietly, as they mostly were. Ganju let Bonnie run to her heart's content when he arrived at his home after a few weeks of scavenging for fireworks supplies. He entered the house to happily communicate to his sister that he had fulfilled her request with all dedication, and he met a girl in the middle of the hall.
"Ahhhhh!" They both squealed.
Karin juggled not to drop the tray with the teapot she was holding, and she nearly jumped again as a boar snouted behind the stranger who had entered as master of the house.
"What's wrong with you, watch where you're going!" Karin pointed out, depositing the tray on the round table where she normally drank tea with Kukaku.
"This is my home! Who are you, brat?"
Karin turned to him with her hands on her hips, a "kids" stance she had taken from Yuzu, and lifting her chin, she replied:
"Karin Kurosaki, are you...?"
"Kurosaki, you said?" Ganju leaned in to get a closer look at her, making Karin frown at him. "I am Ganju Shiba, are you related to Ichigo?"
"She's related to us, too." Kukaku interrupted abruptly, going out into the corridor where they were and making both of them goosebumps. "So get along, okay?"
Although it had been a question, the order had rang out between her teeth. A second later, they were shaking hands with a quiet "great pleasure".
And just like that, the Shiba clan took on a new member.