A/N: What? Kyubey, possibly an equivocating bastard? No way!
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ZWÖLF
[THE SET OF ALL TIMELINES FROM (X) TO (X+N+54)] - [14 MONTHS]
The girls were somber the entire trip home. They had a lot to think about. When they got home, they put the entire mess out of their minds to cheerfully recount their adventures over a takeout dinner. By mutual agreement, they only discussed Kyubey's proposal in the dead of night when Isshin and Ichigo were sleeping.
The next week passed by in the pleasant idleness of the obligation-free time between school years for the girls. They found it difficult to adjust to Ichigo not being around all the time during the break. His work at the odd-jobs shop kept him on the move, his boss mercilessly wringing every moment of use out of him while she could avoid having to schedule around school. Ichigo complained about it at length and at high volume, but he seemed to enjoy entertaining his sisters with accounts of the bizarre situations he sometimes found himself in.
One morning in mid-March found Karin sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast with her sister and father while Ichigo slept in, worn out from a day-long job of hauling furniture around and helping a client clean carpets. Karin didn't think anything of his absence until he suddenly appeared in the doorway, desperately sling-shotted himself around the corner, and looked wildly around the kitchen. Everyone looked at him oddly as he darted toward a plate of onigiri and snatched one up.
"Ichi-nii?"
"I'm late!"
"Ehhh? Work today, too? I thought you had a day off," pouted Yuzu.
"We didn't finish the carpet house, then Boss has some courier bullshit for me," he nearly snarled. "It's like no one has ever heard of e-mail. I may as well be training for a marathon." He hurried for the door.
Yuzu stood and put her hands on her hips with a scowl. "One onigiri isn't enough food for a day of hard work, Onii-chan!"
"No time! Bye!" The door slammed.
Isshin waved at the empty hallway and jokingly sang, "Bye-byyye, have a nice daaay."
Yuzu's scowl downgraded back to a pout. "He's going to run himself ragged."
Karin hummed her agreement into her glass of juice. Sometimes she really wanted to have words with her brother's boss.
"Don't worry, girls. Ichigo knows how to take care of himself."
Karin hummed more skeptically. Yeah. Sure he did.
Isshin downed the last of his juice and stood. "Well, I'm late getting the clinic open, too. Have a fun morning, girls. See you at lunch."
The girls finished their breakfasts quietly. While cleaning up, Yuzu asked Karin if she had plans for the day.
"Hnnn. Tōshirō was supposed to come play soccer with me, but he texted me about something coming up at his division so I'm on my own."
"Aww. That's, what, the third time?"
"Yep. Can't be helped. It's what I get for making friends with a guy with a day job in another dimension. Ah, well," she sighed. "He's getting annoyed about it, too. Whenever he actually does manage to drag his ass over here, he's going to have a lot of steam to blow off. I'll have to make sure we go against a team I want to really crush."
Yuzu giggled. "So what are you going to do instead?"
"Ehhh, I figured I'd play video games til lunch then head out to the field and practice my shots anyway. It'll probably get old fast but I want out of the house."
"Can I come? Rika is on a trip with her family and Mayu is home sick. I'll be your ball return."
"Ha, sure."
The twins occupied themselves until lunch. Isshin came in from the clinic. They waited, but Ichigo didn't show up. Karin grumbled and took out her phone to text him.
"He says he's skipping out," she read from his reply. "They fell behind. Says he'll grab something when he has a chance." Karin wondered how much longer he could go without activating the Wrath of Yuzu.
Yuzu scowled. "He can't just skip meals like this." She stalked over to the table and set a platter of sandwiches down with a heavy thunk. "That's it, I'm making bento for him from now on. I'll put it on his shoes overnight if I have to."
Not much longer, Karin thought. Rest in peace, Ichi-nii.
"Ah, Yuzu, you're so thoughtful," cooed Isshin.
Karin met his eyes. She saw mutual relief that neither of them were the offender. At least he had some sense.
After lunch, the girls put on warm clothes and walked to the park.
"Ah, it went cold again. Guess the cherry trees won't bloom early after all," Yuzu murmured, entertaining herself by watching her breath fog the air while Karin bent to double-knot her shoelaces.
"Hmm, it's probably for the best." Karin stood and jumped a few times to stretch. "Let's do this!"
With Yuzu's cheerful presence, Karin was able to avoid boredom for a solid hour. Eventually, the cold air and slick grass became too bothersome for her— or so she said; she actually noticed Yuzu shivering. She called it quits and bundled her soccer ball into its carrying net.
"Hey, wanna go get a hot drink? We haven't been to the café by the middle school yet."
An hour later found the girls aimlessly strolling around town while sipping chocolatey hot coffee. They had just come in sight of the Sunflower Sewing Shop south of the high school when they caught sight of orange hair just before it disappeared behind a building.
"Was that Ichi-nii?" Karin wondered.
Yuzu's face went fierce. "If it was, I want to give him a piece of my mind. Going without breakfast or lunch! He should know better."
God help Ichi-nii.
Yuzu set off at a trot, Karin soon on her heels. They reached the main street just in time to see their brother turn a corner farther down the road. The girls hurried through the foot traffic and turned the corner. Once again, Ichigo darted down a side street.
Karin scowled. "Is he avoiding us?"
Yuzu let out a quiet hmph of annoyance and threw her empty cup in a trash can. "Let's get him."
Karin copied her and tucked her soccer ball under one arm. "Yeah."
They set out at a run this time, determined to catch up with him. By the time they came within shouting distance, the three were nearing the high school. The girls shouted for their brother, but he didn't seem to hear them. He just kept walking, stride long yet unsure as though looking for something. Not wanting to lose him again, the girls put on an extra burst of speed.
Karin grabbed his sleeve when they ran up to him. "Dammit, Ichi-nii, didn't you hear—?" She cut herself off mid-word to dodge an elbow. "What was that for?!"
Ichigo blinked at the girls. After a long moment, he said, "Ah. Sorry. You startled me." He stared at them, then turned and started walking away again.
"What the hell?! We've been trying to catch up to you and you walk away?!"
"Onii-chan, that's rude!"
Distractedly, Ichigo said, "Ah. Sorry. I have to go somewhere."
"You have a job?" asked Yuzu.
"Sure."
Karin exchanged a look with her sister. That was an odd way to answer.
"You can come with, if you want."
The girls perked up and fell into step on either side of him.
"Onii-chan, you really can't run out without eating anymore. It's not healthy."
"Sure."
"You won't do it anymore?"
"I won't do it anymore."
Yuzu squinted at him suspiciously. "Promise?"
"Sure." Ichigo looked around. They were behind the high school, by an alley that ran behind some shops. Instead of heading for the shops, Ichigo turned toward the far corner of the high school property and aimed for the utility buildings.
"Um, Ichi-nii, where are you going?" asked Karin.
"I got a call. I need to do something."
"Over there?" she asked doubtfully.
"Yeah."
They passed the utility buildings and came to the fenced-off portion of campus the school rented out for a cell phone tower. All three looked up at the looming column.
"A call? Is this your idea of a joke, Ichi-nii?" drawled Karin.
Yuzu shivered. "This isn't funny, Onii-chan. Let's go home. I'm cold."
Ichigo shrugged off his jacket and dropped it over Yuzu's shoulders. "Here. I won't need it anymore."
Yuzu drew it close to her and looked up in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I won't need it where I'm going," he said calmly. He quickly scaled the chain link fence and hopped down on the other side.
"And where the hell do you think you're going in there?" snarked Karin. This was weird even for Ichigo.
Ichigo turned to face his sisters, looking their direction without really focusing on them. Karin heard Yuzu's breath catch. Face cheerfully relaxed, Ichigo answered, "Soul Society. Do you want to come with?"
Karin reared back, baffled. "How do you expect to get there from—?!"
"I understand if you don't want to. I know you don't need me anymore."
"W-what?!"
"K-karin." Yuzu squeaked as a strained, keening whisper. She leaned forward and clutched at the chain link to hold herself up, knees wobbly. "Karin. His neck. Look at his neck. Oh my God. Oh my God."
Karin looked from her sister to her brother. Just as Ichigo turned away, she saw it: a green symbol stamped on his neck. This one looked like a stylized radio tower with little zig-zagging bolts radiating out from the top, a simple camellia overlapping its base.
The appearance of the Witch's Kiss signifies that the victim has been completely ensnared by the Witch.
No. No no no no no.
The humans in the jūreichi generally have at least slightly elevated reiatsu, so Witches would have to expose more of themselves to successfully lure someone.
Ichigo no longer had even a minor buffer of his own elevated reiatsu. It was gone. He was completely open to attack. He was probably the most vulnerable person in Karakura.
Witches do lure humans into their labyrinths to eat them whole, but they often eat souls after they use their seals to command humans to commit suicide.
A Witch had enchanted her big brother and was going to make him kill himself before it ate his soul.
Over Karin's dead body.
Karin roared and threw herself at the fence as Ichigo walked purposefully toward the tower. She got tangled in her own soccer ball net for a moment, then dropped from the top and charged at her brother. Yuzu had never climbed a fence in her life, but Karin's movement spurred her into action. Desperation and adrenaline proved to be excellent teachers. Yuzu discarded her brother's jacket and was soon scrabbling over the fence behind her sister.
Karin sprinted up to her brother and grabbed his left arm. "Ichi-nii! Ichi-nii, stop! Listen to me!"
Ichigo glanced at her, frowned, shrugged his left arm, and used his right fist to punch Karin square in the jaw. Blood instantly filled her mouth as her teeth sliced her cheek.
They can not be reasoned with. They will use force if you interfere with the orders the Witch has given them.
Karin shrieked and writhed on the ground, hands holding her face. Ichigo looked down at her for a moment as though she was vaguely interesting at best, then turned back toward the tower. Karin rolled to her hands and knees and let her mouth hang open to release a stream of blood. She looked up and saw Yuzu hopping down from the fence. They made eye contact. Karin wildly pointed at their brother— go after him, he's more important.
Yuzu ran right past Karin just as Ichigo grabbed the first rung of the tower's built-in ladder. She sped up and tackled him from behind, arms wrapping around his middle.
"Onii-chan! Stop it! Don't!" she cried.
Ichigo frowned again. "Let go."
"No! Please, Onii-chan, please, stop!" Yuzu wailed.
Ichigo wiggled a bit trying to dislodge her, but she was clinging to him like a limpet and his elbows were at just the wrong angle to bring them to bear. He paused for a moment, then started to climb with his much lighter sister still weighing him down. Karin heard Yuzu squeal in terror when her feet left the ground. Her sister tried jerking back and forth to jostle his grip, but while his spiritual powers had fled his physical strength had not.
Karin moved. "Yuzu! Let go!"
"I'll fall!"
"You're only like five feet up. Let go!"
"But Onii-chan!"
"Let go!"
Yuzu complied. She overbalanced, twisted her leg, and fell on her rear.
"Get out of the way!"
Yuzu rolled aside and looked back at Karin.
Karin stood once more, bloodied and furious. She removed her soccer ball from its net and held it in preparation for a drop kick, then wound up and kicked the ball straight at her brother. It nailed him in the right shoulder and bounced away. He shook it off and climbed another rung.
Yuzu was scrambling to fetch the ball for another try before Karin's yell for it was all the way out of her mouth. She threw it back to Karin, who wound up again.
"Sorry, Ichi-nii," she mumbled. Karin kicked the ball. Her aim was true. It hit Ichigo in the back of the head, causing him to immediately hit his forehead on a ladder rung. His body went limp in unconsciousness and he fell backwards. Yuzu managed to throw herself to the ground and slide behind him in time to keep his head from hitting the ground, too.
The schoolyard fell silent save for the girls' panicked gasps for air. Neither moved for a long minute. Then Yuzu sobbed and clutched Ichigo's shirt to drag him up into her lap more. She fussed with his hair and the nasty bruise on his forehead for lack of anything else to do. Karin staggered toward her siblings and looked down at them. It struck her that her brother looked much younger with his face relaxed in unconsciousness. She saw the Witch's Kiss still lurid against her brother's throat. Knees wobbling, she let herself fall and crawled toward her brother. Karin covered the Witch's Kiss with her palm, shuddered at the cloying, cursed feel to it, and flared her reiatsu as high as she could. The sound of shattering glass came from beneath her palm. Ichigo's neck was unblemished when Karin removed her hand. Only then did she allow herself to cry. Shaking, she draped herself over his chest and listened to his heart beating.
Perhaps fifteen seconds later, Karin looked up at the sharp sound of displaced air that heralded shunpo. Kisuke Urahara was perched on the corner of the chain link fence, the cane that concealed his zanpakutō poised to strike as he searched for an enemy. He relaxed just as Jinta and Ururu appeared, each also holding a weapon at the ready.
Urahara gravely regarded the cluster of siblings on the ground. "Karin. Yuzu. Are you all right?" Karin pulled herself upright once more. Both crying girls nodded. Urahara focused on Karin. "What happened? I've never felt you raise your reiatsu that high. I didn't sense a Hollow."
Karin sniffed hard and wiped her nose and mouth to stall. If Kisuke Urahara couldn't sense a Witch nearby when there obviously was one... Kyubey was right. The shinigami couldn't protect them from Witches. Couldn't protect her brother from Witches. And she wasn't going to piss off the only being who could give her access to the means to do so herself by snitching. "H-hollow," she finally sniffled. She winced at the tugging against the wound in her cheek.
Yuzu tilted her head and looked at her sister out of the sides of her eyes. Karin stared back unflinchingly. A lifetime of silent communication paid off: Yuzu would play along and talk it over later.
Urahara frowned. "How strange. My sensors didn't pick up anything." He really looked at Karin. "It hit your face?"
Karin thought fast. It was probably going to be obvious a human fist had nailed her. Well, that would shape the lie, then. Better start practicing. "I-it punched me. It was shaped like a p-person."
The three from the Urahara Shop looked alarmed.
Urahara's brow furrowed. "Scientifically speaking, I suppose an Arrancar could have the sense of self and awareness of its powers to enable it to conceal its reiatsu."
Thank you, weird spirit science, thought Karin.
Urahara looked around. "Why are you inside this fence?" He hopped down and approached the siblings, then bent and felt for Ichigo's pulse. Satisfied, he hovered a glowing green hand over the teenager's head to evaluate injuries with his dead-people magic.
"Um."
Cover story. She needed a cover story now. But Karin's mind went blank.
"It threw me," squeaked Yuzu. All attention turned to her. "I couldn't— I couldn't really see it very well, of course, but it threw me in here and I hurt my leg. Then Karin and Onii-chan climbed the fence. It hit Karin's face. Onii-chan... couldn't see anything, but... but he tried to help. And it hit his head and threw him against the t-tower." She paused to sniffle. "S-so Karin got her ball and did that glowy thing she does."
Karin loved her sister.
Urahara swung hard eyes back on Karin. "Did you break the mask? Did the Hollow disintegrate?"
Karin hurriedly nodded an affirmative.
Urahara sighed and stood up. "Good job, Karin. You likely saved all of your lives. You've gotten stronger." He looked at Yuzu. "And you were able to see at least some of it?"
"Um, yes?"
"Hmmm. Both of your powers seem to be maturing sooner than your brother's did. You're girls, though, so I suppose that is to be expected."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Karin asked suspiciously.
"Girls mature faster than boys," Ururu murmured. She glanced sideways at Jinta and expressionlessly continued, "In everything."
Jinta scowled. "Hey!"
Urahara clapped for attention. "Let's go to the shop and get everyone fixed up. I'll take Ichigo. You kids help the girls."
Jinta hopped down. "I'll help Yuzu!"
Karin and Ururu rolled their eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was at the Urahara Shop. Urahara carefully healed Ichigo's head while Tessai healed Yuzu's leg and Karin's face. Jinta brought a still-shivering Yuzu some hot chocolate and fawned over her. Soon, everyone was sitting around while Urahara continued to heal Ichigo's apparent concussion.
At length, Urahara addressed the girls again. "I don't think your brother will react well if he remembers this. Him not being able to protect you, I mean."
After a long silence, Karin responded, "I think you're right, but what of it? You wanna use a modifier on him?"
"Perhaps," replied Urahara. "Or perhaps the concussion will have taken care of that for us. We'll just need an excuse for how he ended up unconscious."
Another few moments passed. "Um," Yuzu began hesitantly. "Um, Onii-chan worked late last night and left for work without much breakfast and didn't eat lunch because he was too busy working more. He was running around town. C-could we say he passed out because of that?"
Sometimes it frightened Karin how quickly Yuzu could conjure up plausible lies.
Urahara's eyebrows lifted. He turned back to Ichigo and performed another diagnostic kidō. "Well, well. His blood glucose really is a bit low. How convenient. He may have been muddled before the attack, even."
Karin snorted and said with forced humor, "Only Ichi-nii could stumble into a situation in which hypoglycemia is convenient."
Urahara sat back on his heels. "Well, I think I'll leave the healing where it is. He's in no danger now and you can say he must have hit his head when he passed out. Let's get him to your father's clinic and have him treat the hypoglycemia. It'll make it all more plausible."
Soon Urahara and the girls were in the lobby of the Kurosaki Clinic. Isshin cheerfully popped into the room but instantly sobered. Urahara played humble Good Samaritan shopkeeper with a zany smile while his serious eyes held Isshin's. Karin knew the men would have words later.
Karin and Yuzu crawled onto the gurney with Ichigo and curled up against his sides, needing the touch to assure themselves he was safe. They must have dozed off; the room was dimly lit when Karin opened her eyes at the feel of her brother shifting around as he regained consciousness. Probably confused about how he got to the clinic. She felt their father's reiatsu as a warm presence at the foot of the bed. So he was watching them. Hovering. Karin cringed internally at the worry they caused by hesitating to grasp at the power to protect their family.
They had to correct that mistake. The guilt was enough to keep Karin's face buried in her brother's side so no one could see her tearing up.
"Old Man?" Ichigo croaked.
"How's your head?" asked Isshin. Karin heard Yuzu stir.
"Um." Ichigo paused and gave a quiet hiss of pain. "Hurts. What happened?"
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Uhhhhhh. I got a call. I was supposed to go somewhere...? Crap, I forget. What happened?"
Isshin sighed. "The girls found you passed out on a side street when they were on their way home from the park. A shopkeeper helped bring you home. Your blood sugar was low. I think you passed out from hypoglycemia and hit your head."
Karin curled in on herself and squeezed her eyes shut. It was a decent lie, but there never should have been cause to invent it.
Ichigo's voice sounded like he was grimacing. "I remember feeling kinda weird."
"Hungry?" Isshin asked with dry significance.
Karin felt her brother flinch. "Yeah," Ichigo sighed forcefully. "How embarrassing. Shit, and the girls found me? Damn."
Isshin wryly said, "I don't care if Yuzu tries to force-feed you, you'll sit and take it. You gave them quite a scare."
"Sorry."
Karin felt like she was so full of shame that she could physically vomit it out.
Dinner was deeply awkward that night. Yuzu cooked a feast and nearly buried Ichigo in food. Ichi-nii seemed to think it was a reaction to his hypoglycemia and Goat-Face seemed to think it was an after-effect of fear of the alleged Hollow, but Karin knew it was largely an expression of nerves while her sister feverishly thought about Witches and magical girls and the risks to their brother, the same as she was doing.
Everyone went to bed early for once. Karin and Yuzu lay in their room, rigid and agitated as they waited for the men of the house to fall asleep.
Finally, Yuzu blurted out, "We need to do it."
Karin grimly stared at the ceiling. "Yeah. There's a Witch out there and Ichi-nii is a sitting duck."
"No one can help us."
"We have to help ourselves."
Yuzu fidgeted with her covers. "When Onii-chan told us about becoming a shinigami, he said the chance to protect Rukia and everyone outweighed the risks. I— I think I understand what he meant now."
"Yeah."
There was a long pause. Finally, Yuzu asked, "What do we wish for?"
Karin chewed her lip. "Even if Kyubey could restore Ichi-nii's powers, I don't think he would. And I think he wouldn't contract us if he knew how close we are to shinigami. He hates shinigami too much. So that's out."
"And we can't bring back Mom."
"Mm. If only."
Yuzu huffed. "This is hard."
They talked about wishes until they fell asleep.
The next morning started fairly normally. Yuzu bullied Ichigo into eating a big breakfast, Isshin monologued to Masaki's poster, and everyone went their separate ways. The girls shared a determined look, got their things together, and headed to the train station without asking for permission to travel far. If there was ever a case for asking forgiveness rather than permission, this was it.
An hour later, they disembarked at Kyubey's station and sought his rafter. He was perched in the same place as before, apparently asleep. He twitched and looked down at them when they drew close.
Oh, Karin, Yuzu. He stretched languidly and stood. Have you decided? Or do you have more questions?
"Let's do it," Karin muttered.
Once again, Kyubey led them to the hidden duck pond. He perched on his rock, but the girls were too tense to sit.
"There's a Witch in Karakura," Karin blurted out.
Kyubey blinked up at them. My, my. I thought Witches would naturally avoid your city and enter only rarely. To have encountered one so soon... how strange.
"It targeted our brother," Karin continued. "He had a Witch's Kiss on his neck. It tried to make him jump off a tower, but we stopped him."
Ah! Excellent work! That you can do that without contracting— I wonder just how powerful you would be as magical girls.
"Yeah, well, I guess you're going to find out."
Kyubey sat up taller. You have chosen your wishes? he asked eagerly. The girls nodded. Excellent!
The girls looked at each other once more. Yuzu took a deep breath and looked at Kyubey. "Our wish is to be strong enough to protect the people of Karakura from Witches and Hollows."
Kyubey cocked its head. You both have the same wish? The girls nodded fiercely. It is essentially power for power's sake. It sounded curious.
"No, it's power for others' sake," said Karin.
"We thought about it, and what we want is to protect people," explained Yuzu. "That would happen no matter the wish we made, so we decided to focus on making sure we have the ability to fight well."
"No point being magical girls if we're not strong enough to beat our enemies," Karin finished wryly.
I see, I see, said Kyubey. It is a bit unconventional, but not without precedent. I am able to grant that wish. Are you ready?
The girls nodded. Kyubey sat tall and flung his floppy, rabbit-like ears out horizontally. The ears expanded and arched toward the girls, the tip of each hovering over their chests. Both girls gasped in pain as pinpricks of light formed over their hearts and expanded into egg-shaped orbs. It felt like something within them was being pulled, stretched to breaking, and hurriedly sewn back together. Neither could tell if she was hearing her sister's cries or if the pained sounds were in her own head. Moments stretched into eons of agony.
It ended as suddenly as it had begun. A glittering gemstone floated in front of each girl. Before Kyubey could even speak, instinct made both reach out for her own gem, a steady thrum of mine mine mine and need to hold it close echoing in their hearts.
Now, open yourself and accept it, Kyubey said with ceremonial reverence. This is your destiny.
The girls cradled their newly-forged Soul Gems and fell to the ground.
They regained consciousness about fifteen minutes later. Kyubey still sat on the rock, patiently watching his tail swish. The girls slowly levered themselves upright and stared numbly at their Gems. Yuzu's was yellow and Karin's was red.
Karin looked up and Kyubey and slowly asked, "What now?"
Kyubey's eyes crinkled in an apparent smile. You can find Witches and their Familiars by observing how your Soul Gems react— the closer you get to an enemy, the brighter they will glow. Whenever you want to transform, you have only to will it. When you defeat a Witch, use its Grief Seed to purify your Soul Gems and bring it to me to dispose of.
"How do we learn how to fight?" asked Yuzu.
Your magic will guide you, answered Kyubey.
"Oh, that's not vague at all," snarked Karin.
Kyubey tilted its head oddly in Karin's direction. Every girl possesses different weapons and powers. It would be unreasonable to expect me to teach infinite combinations of weapons and abilities to infinite girls. Fortunately, it is in your spiritual programming, so to speak. You will understand when you engage an enemy.
Karin hummed skeptically, held her Soul Gem up to the sun, and squinted at it. "Whatever you say. So we wander around where the Witch had our brother and use these shinies like sparkly dowsing rods to find it?"
Yes. Ah! It usually is not as important to other magical girls, but you should limit yourself to transforming after you enter a labyrinth. The transformation causes a surge of power that shinigami might be able to sense outside a pocket dimension. I do not want you to get caught.
Yuzu smiled wanly. "Oh, thanks for telling us, Kyubey!"
Karin looked at Kyubey from the sides of her eyes and lazily asked, "Anything else you wanna tell us?"
No. That is all, it said cheerfully. Now, go! Embrace your destinies and triumph over the Witches!
Yuzu cheered.
"That was so hokey, oh my God," Karin muttered.
They managed to get home in time to share a late lunch with Goat-Face and Ichi-nii, who Yuzu continued to bury in food. Ichigo griped about work but said at least he had been able to leverage the rest of the day off by telling his boss she had worked him to the point of passing out the day before. Soon Ichigo disappeared to his room to crash and their father was back in the clinic. The girls shared a significant look, told their father they were going out, and set off for the high school.
Hands shaking, Yuzu held her Soul Gem in her palm and watched it glow more brightly as they approached the cell phone tower. The girls shared a glance. Yuzu willed her Soul Gem to turn back into a ring and joined her sister in climbing the fence once more. Karin just had time to note that Urahara must have had her puddle of blood cleaned up when they heard an electrical hum grow louder in fits and starts. Visible bolts of electricity arced from tower to shed to fence.
Karin grinned with false bravado. "Oh, you know we're here, huh?" She looked around. "What're you gonna do about it?"
The top of the cell tower sparked. Electricity arced down the ladder, rung to rung to rung, and blasted the ground like a lightning bolt. A flat, translucent sigil like the one that had been on Ichigo's neck appeared floating vertically above the ground. Reality warped around its edges.
Karin turned to her sister. "Well, Yuzu, I think we're supposed to go in."
Yuzu wrung her hands. "I'm scared."
Karin looked down and bit her lip. "Me, too," she said quietly. She looked up, determined. "But this thing almost killed Ichi-nii. And we can't let it get away. We made our decision. Now we have to follow through. There's no going back." She held out her hand.
Yuzu took Karin's hand and squeezed. "Right. Right." She swallowed hard and mimicked Karin's determined face. "Let's do this. Like Onii-chan fought for us."
The girls marched through the portal holding hands.
The world that greeted them was chaotic. It was a jumbled cityscape whose buildings looked like cardboard cutouts. The sky was dark with acid green stars. High-tension power lines crisscrossed the sky. A multitude of telephone poles were strewn throughout at a far greater density than logically necessary. The telephone poles all listed at uneven angles. Bolts of electricity arced over the telephone wires at random intervals.
After taking a few moments to take it all in, Karin let go of Yuzu's hand and said, "Well, we'd better transform before something shows up."
"R-right," Yuzu agreed.
For a moment, both looked unsure. Then they were struck by an impulse that made each raise her Soul Gem and channel her power through it. Magic wrapped around them and altered their clothes. Their limbs felt stronger. The power crested and brought on a brief bout of euphoria— for an instant, they felt invincible. The power settled down and steadied, leaving the girls changed.
Yuzu's costume was golden yellow and white. It had a circus ringmaster theme, a sleeveless yellow tailcoat over a sleeveless white blouse and a low yellow vest. The coat's tails were gathered and exaggerated into calf-length skirt-like frills behind her. Her arms were clothed with shoulder-length white gloves. A lacy white collar covered her neck and shoulders, a yellow bow tie exaggerated into a rosette shape at her throat. A large citrine shaped like an inverted, rounded triangle was nestled in its folds like a brooch. A small yellow top hat festooned with curled yellow and white ribbons was tied to her head with a white ribbon. Her ears held large citrine earrings. The outfit was completed by white leggings and low yellow heels. She held a golden whip in her right hand.
Karin's costume was red and cream. The main body was a form-fitting red sleeveless dress with a short, slightly ruffled skirt. Just beneath her bust was a red ribbon cinch. Over the skirt she wore a red kendo tare with silver rivets. Her arms bore cream detached sleeves, the billowy material with its red ribbon hems evoking a miko-like image. Red boots with silver rivets stopped just below her knees, the remainder of her legs covered by sheer dark tights. Her ponytail was tied with a puffy red bow. Ruby drop earrings, a red ribbon choker, and a ruby shaped like an inverted rounded triangle on her forehead rounded out her accessories. She held a simple katana in her right hand.
The girls looked themselves and each other over in surprise.
"Well, damn," said Karin. "We look good. And I'm not a frilly mess." She lifted her chin, preening. "Let's go kick some ass."
Yuzu raised an arm uncertainly. "How am I supposed to use a whip?"
Karin shrugged, adrenaline soaring. "Dunno. I've never used a sword, either. Guess we'll figure it out." With that, she marched down the nearest street.
Yuzu followed. "Where do we go?"
Karin stopped. She wished she was up higher so she could see better. Something sparked at the back of her mind. Before she could really think about it, she had hopped up onto one of the cardboard buildings as she had seen the shinigami do. She stopped and looked down at her feet as Yuzu shouted in surprise— Karin was probably three stories up. "Huh. How about that." She waved and called down to Yuzu, "Hop on up! It's easy!"
Yuzu looked dubious, but was soon standing next to her sister. "Wow."
"Yeah. Awesome, right?" Karin put her fists on her hips and looked out at the labyrinth. "Now, where do we go from here?"
The girls surveyed the nightmare world. It was much the same in every direction, save for a massive radio tower in the distance. A glass plasma globe was stuck on top of it, the arcs of energy within it sickly green.
"Well, if that doesn't scream 'villain's lair,' I don't know what does," Karin said drily.
Karin experimentally hopped to the next cardboard rooftop. Yuzu followed her more tentatively. Soon, they were running across the rooftops easily. When they were halfway to the tower, mechanical birds began to appear on the arcing telephone lines. The farther they went, the thicker the flock became. They were soon surrounded by the clicking and whirring of tiny gears, a multitude of digitized voices saying "piroripara pirirora" in lieu of chirping. The uneasiness Karin felt about the creatures proved correct when the birds started dive-bombing them. With no time to think, the girls simply reacted. Karin's initial swings of her sword would have been more at home on a baseball diamond and Yuzu initially used the handle of her whip as a bludgeon, but they quickly began to refine their movements.
Magic-fuelled instinct thrummed through Karin. The battle was fast-paced, but seemed almost slow to her. It was as though her magic provided her with an instinctual guide, a silent voice whispering instruction and nudging her body into the correct positions with gentle hands: shift your grip like so— better if your wrist is less rigid— more force if you swing like so— stab, slash, stab, twist— breathe— slam arm back to use hilt as bludgeon—
The running battle left a trail of broken clockwork behind them as they bounced from roof to roof. Soon, they found themselves on the last rooftops before the base of the tower. The remaining clockwork birds balked and retreated as though more afraid of the tower than the magical girls. Karin and Yuzu stood and watched the birds restlessly gather nearby, on guard as they caught their breath.
Unlike the solid column of the cell phone tower on the high school property in the real world, this tower was made of the more classic metal latticework. It looked like a cheap knockoff of the Eiffel Tower, spindly bare-bones steel reaching high in the sky. Green electricity arced over the steel at random intervals. A large plasma ball full of green arcs of energy crowned the tower. Pink warning lights pulsed at major joints of the structure. Something bulky hung clustered in the hollow of the tower just beneath the plasma ball.
Karin scratched her head. "So... what exactly are we supposed to fight? The last Witch was a tree."
Yuzu chewed her lip. "It could be the whole tower. Or maybe the glowy thing up top."
"Hmmmmm. I wonder if we'll get zapped if we climb it."
"W-well, all we can do is try, I guess."
"Right. I'll go first." Karin stretched and hopped to psych herself up. She could do this. "I guess try to grab me with that whip if I fall."
"Umm. I don't know if I can do that."
Karin paused and blinked her disbelief at her sister. "Sure you can. You were grabbing birds out of the air just now."
Yuzu looked freaked out. "I don't know how I did that."
"Well, instinct has worked for us so far." Karin shrugged. "Here I go!"
With that, Karin leaped from the cardboard rooftop to a narrow metal beam, stumbling a few steps before regaining her balance. She shifted uncertainly, looked around, and tensed when a small arc of electricity bounced toward her along the beam. Static buzzed over her skin as it passed, but she was not electrocuted. Reassured of relative safety, she waved her sister over. Both looked up at the dim interior of the tower.
"So. Climb?" asked Yuzu.
"I guess so."
The girls started jumping upward from beam to beam. About halfway up, they noticed a mechanical hum growing louder as they climbed. Three quarters of the way up, the interior of the tower was suddenly flooded with light, small green and pink lamps lighting in sequence from top to bottom. The girls froze as the bulky thing at the top creaked into motion. They held their weapons defensively as the thing suddenly dropped and bounced at the end of its cables like a spider on its thread.
The thing was a bundle of oversized electronics tangled together with and suspended by innumerable cords. Surge strips, CPUs, analog telephones, alarm clocks, keyboards, computer mice, speakers, cameras, cell phone chargers, fax machines, modems, routers— all were jumbled around an enormous smart phone whose screen portrayed a glowing red eye with a flat black iris on a black background. The eye rolled around and looked at each of the girls. Suddenly, the many speakers began blasting outrageously loud fax and modem sounds overlaid with human screaming as multiple extension cords shot out of the mass, their pronged plugs sharp and crackling with electricity.
The girls winced at the ear-splitting hellnoise. Yuzu dodged while Karin sliced the plugs off the cords directed at her, ignoring the sizzling shock that ran up her arms. The Witch launched more plugs and other small electronics their way. Karin dodged and sliced. Yuzu screamed and raised her arms to block her face.
"How did you do that?!" Karin yelled.
Nothing hit Yuzu because a glowing, translucent yellow shield made of three interlocked circles hovered in front of her and blocked everything that was hurled her way. She peered over her arms, stared at the shield, and shouted, "I don't know!"
"Dammit!" Karin bounced around in the tower, dodging and weaving. "We need a plan!"
Safe behind her shield, Yuzu took a moment to really look at the Witch and how it was all connected. Karin left her to it. After some thought, Yuzu yelled, "I have an idea!"
Karin loved her sister. Always saving her ass. "Hit me!"
"Cut the cables it's hanging from! Then I'll do something, then you stab it in the eye!"
"Got it!"
Karin continued to jump around the tower, randomly darting up and slashing cables with yells of effort. Yuzu nervously shifted her grip on her whip as the Witch's attacks grew more frenzied. Just before Karin sliced the last cord, Yuzu lashed out with the whip, which extended like Tōshirō's crescent chain could, and ensnared the central smart phone that seemed to be in control. Karin cut the final cord and the Witch dropped sharply. Yuzu braced herself and held on as best she could. The Witch snapped to a stop, bounced once, then most of its bulk fell away, leaving a charger cord dangling from the smart phone like a bare spine. Yuzu then used the recoil to launch the smart phone up at Karin, who dove down to stab its screen with a furious shout. The screen shattered, red light spilling from a spiderweb of cracks.
Everything seemed to hang still for a moment before a shock wave of power blew through the labyrinth. The tower and cardboard city wavered out of existence, leaving the two magical girls back in the cell phone tower enclosure at the high school. They stared dumbly at the Grief Seed that drifted down from the sky. Karin reached out and caught it. Both stared for a minute.
"We did it," Karin whispered in disbelief.
"We did it," Yuzu marveled.
"We did it!" they both shouted, laughing and hugging.
Karin gripped Yuzu's hands, elated. "We can do this. We can protect Ichi-nii!"
Yuzu grinned. "We really can keep him safe just like he kept us safe!"
Karin laughed proudly. "Being magical girls is gonna be awesome."
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WITCH DATA
ISIDORA, the Digital Witch with a spiteful nature. She seems silent and harmless, but will viciously tear her enemies apart behind their backs. You'll know you've pushed her too far when she actually speaks to your face.
Minion: Gabriel, whose duty is to maintain the Witch's digital network. They do not want the Witch to punish them for a dropped signal.
A/N: Ichigo's utter breakdown when Ginjō stole his Fullbring didn't come out of nowhere.
When transformed, the twins' Soul Gems are meant to be shaped like strawberries as a shout-out to their motive of protecting Ichigo. (Side note: Their wish to protect had the side-effect of granting them greater defense/resilience, so they can take more abuse with less damage— such as not getting badly electrocuted.) Karin's costume has more traditional Japanese elements as she thinks the shinigami are pretty cool (to the point of on some level wanting to be one), and shinigami wear traditional Japanese clothes. Yuzu has a ringmaster/lion-tamer theme because she completely dominates Kon (a possessed lion plushie) and in the anime she's associated with that cat-ghost who could turn into a lion. Their theme colors come from being Karakura Red and Karakura Yellow in the joke chapters.
This Witch is a shout-out to Meru Otonashi from Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei.
This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.