A/N: Do I need bodyguards? *shifty eyes*

By the way, a bearskin is the tall hat worn by the Queen's Guard— the British soldiers with the red coats and tall black hats. The term seems uncommon in the US.

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DREIUNDZWANZIG

TIMELINE X + N

Kisuke watched the girl's eyes go wide and stare at him with a mix of fear and rapid thoughts of escape that made her actually look as young as she was for once. Curiously, she darted a desperate glance to her shield and tugged at it slightly. He made a point of sliding his hand up a bit to actually grab the shield's strap and tug back, which obviously disturbed her even more. Good. Distasteful as it was to terrify a child, intimidation tended to loosen one's tongue and he didn't have time to play nice.

Around their standoff, the rest of the group got their bearings after the dizzying transition. Jinta and Ururu staggered to their feet and stared at their dim surroundings. Tessai remained kneeling and cradled Karin's body more gently. Hitsugaya's eyes darted all around in search of threats, frequently jumping back to his friend's body. Yoruichi stalked behind Akemi, intent on tracking her if she attempted escape. Ichigo lay on his front and had drawn himself up on his elbows when he saw Karin's head lolling, her vacant eyes staring past him, and completely froze in horror. His mind visibly shut down.

Isshin, however, rolled and crawled upright, looking around. "Where's Yuzu?!" he demanded. "I had her! Where is she?! Yuzu!" He levered himself up and shakily gained his feet. "Where is Yuzu?! Ichigo, have you seen Yuzu and Ka—"

Ichigo turned his face to his father with a distant stare of shock, then turned back toward Tessai. Isshin followed his gaze and saw his second child's lifeless body. He uttered a long, wordless moan and gradually sank back to his knees as he stumbled toward her and gathered her into his lap.

Kisuke gave Akemi half a minute of silence before he shook her shield arm once while squeezing the strap hard, causing it to become uncomfortably tight. Then he tugged downward as though considering tearing it off her arm. "Tell me what just happened," he ordered in his most authoritative voice.

"I-it's complicated," Akemi breathed.

"Give me the short version and I'll decide whether that's true," Kisuke said evenly.

Akemi swallowed hard and glanced over to Karin. This time Kisuke let her stare for a solid minute as the sight of her friend's dead body and devastated family obviously made her waver.

"I'm waiting," Kisuke finally prompted.

Akemi looked up at him, mouth opening and closing as she grasped for words. Evidently, she decided whatever risk there was in talking was outweighed by the risk of having her throat slit or her weapon stolen. She cringed warily and blurted, "I heard shinigami hunt people like me and Karin and Yuzu. But we were tricked into it, I swear."

Kisuke raised his eyebrows. In his peripheral vision, he saw everyone turning to stare at them. "And what kind of people are you?"

Akemi looked at him anxiously but straight in the eyes. "Magical girls."

Silence.

"Come again?" Kisuke asked.

"Magical girls."

"You're fucking insane," snarled Jinta.

"Jinta!" Kisuke barked without taking his eyes off the girl. The redhead got the message and backed off. "What are magical girls?" Kisuke asked. Jinta muttered darkly until Ururu silenced him with a kick to his shin.

Akemi swallowed and glanced at the sword. "There is a race called Incubators. They find strong girls— um, spiritually aware girls?— and trick them into making contracts in exchange for granting a wish. If you accept the contract, an Incubator turns your soul into a Soul Gem—" her eyes darted to the amethyst on her hand— "and you can transform and be strong and get a magic weapon. Karin said the Incubator told her it is an imitation of a zan... zan...?"

"Zanpakutō," Kisuke finished in morbid fascination.

"Yes, that."

From behind the girl, Yoruichi said, "That doesn't explain what just happened and whatever the hell this place is."

Akemi tried to look behind her but was too wary of the sword to turn. "When we contract, the Incubator says we have to fight monsters called Witches to pay back our wishes. But it doesn't tell us that if our Soul Gems become too corrupted from fighting or we fall into despair, our Soul Gems turn black and we turn into Witches ourselves."

After a pause, Kisuke slowly asked, "Are you implying Karin's soul just turned into one of these... Witches?"

"Yes." Akemi screwed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry. I wasn't fast enough... I should have... stopped..."

There was a long silence as everyone either struggled to believe her or connected some unmentioned dots. Kisuke let go of her and withdrew his blade but didn't sheathe it. "Where are we?"

Akemi pulled her shield arm against her body and fingered the jewel on the back of her hand as though checking it for damage. "The Witch's labyrinth."

"Which is...?" Yoruichi snapped.

"A kind of... pocket dimension, I suppose. Every one is different. They always have something to do with what was important to the magical girl before she fell. The Witch hides inside. If you do not defeat the Witch, it wanders around spreading its despair and madness—"

"Causing people to feel compelled to commit suicide," Kisuke extrapolated.

Akemi nodded silently, then hesitantly continued, "Karin's soul was strong. This Witch could claim a lot of victims. We need to defeat it before it runs away."

Kisuke quietly said, "You mean 'put her out of her misery'?"

Akemi looked away from the echo of her own words.

Frowning in thought, Hitsugaya cleared his throat. When he had their attention, he asked, "What happens when you 'defeat' a Witch? Are they purified like a defeated Hollow?" His voice rose with tentative hope at the end.

Akemi looked down at her feet. "No. The Witch's labyrinth and body disappear. All that is left is the Soul Gem. But it turns black and becomes a Grief Seed instead." She opened her hand to show them the object she had been clutching the entire time. "They cannot be purified."

Kisuke reached over and gingerly took the black and silver spindle from her. He felt her watching him hold it up and scrutinize the fine details of the silver filigree, but he was preoccupied by the thoughts rushing through his mind. "What do you do with them, then?" Kisuke asked with some distraction. When Akemi didn't answer immediately, he looked at her. She was the picture of reluctance. Everyone began to look like they dreaded her answer. The silence dragged while Akemi refused to look at anyone.

"Homura?" Isshin said hollowly. She hesitantly looked at him. He was holding Karin's body close, face lost. "Please."

Akemi shifted unhappily. "A Grief Seed can be used to purify a magical girl's Soul Gem of corruption. A few times if it was a strong Witch."

After another pause, Kisuke prompted, "And then?"

Akemi wet her lips and looked up at him as though both ashamed and angry. "The Incubator eats them, supposedly to convert them into raw energy."

The unseen black fire that was Ichigo's power flooded the chamber with rage. "WHAT?!"

Akemi flinched, wild eyes seeking him out. Whatever experience she had with spiritual happenings, it seemed she was unused to others throwing their power around when emotional. "Th-that's how it's been for millennia! But Karin and Yuzu—!" She faced Kisuke again. "I didn't think there was any way to do anything else, but when Karin and Yuzu found out they'd been tricked, they said they wanted to tell you, Mr. Urahara— they said they thought you might know how to free the souls... or something." Akemi looked at her feet, face wretched. "I... I talked them into waiting until after we dealt with something on Sunday because I was worried the shinigami would come after us. I'm sorry."

After a long, distraught silence shared by everyone in the room, Kisuke calmly said, "So. In summary, there is a race swindling girls into selling their souls for... 'wishes'... so they can farm them and harvest their spiritual energy. Yuzu and Karin fell into the trap and are now at the system's end stage. Defeating the being at the heart of this maze will condense Karin's soul back into a jewel, like this—" he held up the Grief Seed— "at which point I will have an opportunity to help her with my expertise. Correct?"

Akemi blinked up at him, taken aback. "Um, yes." She looked cautiously hopeful. "You... you think you can do something?"

Kisuke seriously stared at the Grief Seed again, eyes narrowed. "I would need to do some testing and call in some help, but I have some ideas, at least. Do you have any more of these... Grief Seeds, you called them?"

Akemi looked stunned for a minute before her eyes lit up with determination. "I have Sayaka's. It is full because we used it to clean our Gems. Is that okay?"

"Perfect," he said quietly. He glanced at the others and ordered Tessai to put a stasis kidō on Karin's body to keep it from decomposing. Kisuke then met Akemi's eyes with equal determination. "We can speak of particulars later. It seems our first task is to navigate this dimension and reclaim Karin's soul. I presume you have a good deal of experience in such matters?"

Akemi nodded firmly. "Yes."

Kisuke tucked the Grief Seed into a pocket and swept his free hand around the room in invitation. "Do advise us, Miss Akemi."

The girl eyed him a bit suspiciously, but turned to face the others. She was met by a wall of grimly determined faces. Ichigo levered himself to his feet and angrily scrubbed tears from his cheeks. Hitsugaya watched her with heavy-lidded eyes, jaw tight. Isshin's face seemed to be trying for encouragement but failing to pierce his sorrow. Jinta looked sour but was swinging his huge club experimentally while Ururu and Tessai looked grave. Yoruichi sauntered over to Isshin in cat form, expressionlessly sitting near the man who was cradling his daughter's unoccupied body. Akemi just stared at them as though not used to being looked to as an authority on anything— or being taken seriously at all, really. That didn't bode well. She didn't do anything until Kisuke stepped up and rested a hand on her shoulder.

When she looked up at him, Kisuke turned one corner of his mouth upwards in a sympathetic smile. "Start by telling us what to expect."

"Right," Akemi faltered. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, then breathed deeply and looked up at the assembled fighters. "Right. Every labyrinth is different. Sometimes the Witch is near the surface, but the Witch usually hides deep within. You can never assume you will not have to fight your way to the center. The Witch..." she frowned, searching for a word. "...Splinters off small pieces of itself to guard the labyrinth. These are called Familiars. They usually have some sort of task. Some are docile, but others will attack. They can take very, very strange forms. For example, I have seen Familiars that were giant cotton balls with black mustaches attached to giant butterflies that acted as their legs. They looked harmless but could manifest thorny vines from their eye sockets. The vines were armed with giant scissors."

Everyone looked at her weirdly. Akemi shrugged helplessly in reply. Kisuke got the feeling she thought there was no way to communicate the sheer bizarreness they were about to encounter. Ominous.

"When we do reach the center, don't necessarily take the Witch's appearance at face value," the girl continued. "Some are simple, but sometimes Witches have multiple stages or employ decoys." Akemi bit her lip. "The Witch the three of us were fighting before... we thought it was the mannequin stuck into a giant jack-o'-lantern that was spinning in the middle of the room like a clock. It turned out its core was actually the big bell hanging above it. We did not find out until after it had pulled up all the train tracks and shot us with railroad spikes." There were another utterly bizarre few sentences for the them to struggle through. "So... so, be aware of your surroundings. Anything can attack you. I have seen a child's messy drawing of an airplane shoot exploding crayons."

Kisuke rubbed his chin. "It sounds like an individualized manifestation of madness."

Akemi tilted her head. "I suppose."

"Well, then!" Kisuke said as he turned away to look around with a flourish. "I wonder what sort of obstacles we'll face here." He glanced around the room they occupied, which seemed to be the lobby of a museum, though the posters were covered with a fascinating scrawl of unrecognizable runes and piles of books teetered in the dim corners. Kisuke looked over his shoulder at the group. "Ichigo, use Kon. Captain Hitsugaya, ditch the gigai. It's an acceptable loss."

The young men complied, Ichigo having begun carrying Kon in Soul Candy form to take his place during emergencies while away at college. The Mod Soul blinked and quickly took in his surroundings. "Uh... what the hell?"

Akemi's eyes went wide as she silently looked from one "Ichigo" to the other Ichigo. So she had never seen anything of the like? Interesting.

"Not now, Kon," Ichigo grit out.

Kon whipped around to him and started to sass back, but Ichigo pointed over his shoulder. Kon saw Isshin solemnly lifting Karin's lifeless body and faltered speechlessly, then turned to angrily face front. "Whatever the hell's going on, I'm in."

"Good," Kisuke said curtly as Akemi kept goggling at Kon and Ichigo. It would have been cute in other circumstances. "Yoruichi, stick with Isshin. Isshin, can you handle running and jumping in the gigai?" After Isshin's answering nod, Kisuke continued. "Kon and Jinta, center. Tessai and Ururu, rear guard. Miss Akemi and I will take point. Ichigo and Captain Hitsugaya, flank."

The party assumed a rough diamond formation and looked to Akemi, whose face mutely slid into a distant battle mask. She did an about face and focused on the entry to the rest of the labyrinth for the first time. It was mahogany with ornate decorative carvings, gold-plated runes adorning the lintel. Akemi approached the door and examined the hinges and knobs; it would open inward and one of the knobs featured an exaggerated keyhole. She stepped to one side and cautiously bent to peek through. She stepped back, frowned, and tried the knob. Locked, of course.

"Allow me," Kisuke murmured.

Akemi raised a brow and stepped aside. Kisuke walked up to the door and hovered one palm over the keyhole. An orb of Shakkahō's red light manifested within the locking mechanism and broke it with a muted explosion. Akemi was fascinated.

"Be ready," she ordered, hand inside her shield halfway to the elbow as she kicked the door open.

The door folded inward on silent hinges. The huge room beyond was lit only by gas lamps and wan moonlight from windows above. It looked like a very old and eccentric library that had hosted a photographic stalker. There was a wide open area before a bank of book cases of varying heights arranged into an apparent maze, the tomes within ranging from ancient to modern. The air above the entire chamber was strung with interwoven garlands made by pinning photographs to cords using large mousetraps. The open floor entry was filled with different tables hosting chemical baths, incomplete books, and stacks of photographs. Giant, termite-like translucent insects Kisuke recognized as booklice industriously scurried about, their juvenile wings laying along the backs of the brown monks' habits they all wore. Each had a monocle over one beady eye. They diligently worked at various tasks, some seeming to be developing photos, others pasting photos into albums, writing at antique scriveners' desks, or assembling books. Others carried books, photos, and albums to teetering stacks along the edges of the room; still more took items from the disorganized stacks and carried them into the maze of shelves.

"What the fuck," Kon said for the entire group.

Akemi didn't bother answering or explaining the absurdity of labyrinths again. Instead, she professionally surveyed the room and declared, "I would prefer to move along a wall and try to go over the maze rather than through it."

"I agree," said Kisuke. "These creatures seem docile, but I worry about having a large number of them at our rear should that prove misleading."

"Best to test them while we have a doorway and walls to use as cover." Akemi finally withdrew her hand from her shield and ignored the startled sounds behind her as she raised a handgun, aimed at the nearest Familiar, and shot it. The creature fell down and dissolved into a puddle of glue in an empty habit.

Kisuke blinked his surprise. His mind whirled with questions. Sound strategy and... conventional weaponry?

The party tensed for a counterattack that never came. The rest of the library drones continued about their business.

"Where the hell did you get a gun?!" Kon yelled.

Akemi calmly looked back at him. "I store weapons in my shield."

Fascinating.

Kon sputtered. "But where did you get it?! You're like fourteen!"

"That is not important," Akemi said breezily as she faced the front again. "I think the left side looks best."

"Hmm, that side of the maze does look more even on top," Kisuke agreed, pretending to completely ignore the mundane weapon in the girl's hand. "It may be dangerous in a way we can't see yet, though."

Akemi nodded and eyed him appraisingly. Kisuke hoped he could use this as a chance to build a rapport before his inevitable interrogation. It would make their lives easier. Time to look like he totally knew exactly what he was doing without barking orders or belittling her. If she felt like she was in charge, she might talk more. Maybe. Plus he itched to see what a bona fide magical girl was capable of.

The party set out, moving along the left side of the room at a measured pace. They tried to avoid interrupting the booklice, but took out several that mindlessly tried to walk through their formation. The other drones still took no notice of them. Kisuke, Akemi, Ichigo, and Hitsugaya were the first to leap to the top of the book case that formed the outer wall of the maze. They warily stood ready for battle for a couple minutes while surveying the area for threats. The rest of the group ascended when they gave the all-clear.

It was difficult to guess how far the maze extended because of the garlands of poster-sized photographs blocking their sight. Even the top of the maze was laid out in a tricky manner, book cases of differing heights looking like a series of platforms. Particularly tall book cases occasionally formed barriers to progress. Kisuke and Akemi surveyed the layout and turned to one another. Akemi silently pointed out the path she wanted to take. Kisuke looked back at the maze with narrowed eyes, then nodded in agreement. The party proceeded cautiously, weaving through photograph garlands and hopping from book case to book case. The furniture grew wider as they went.

Hitsugaya curiously peered over the edge of a book case when they were deep within the maze. "Hey. The book cases aren't just wider, they're bigger overall. The ground is sloping down, so they're technically getting taller, too."

Kisuke and Akemi looked down when they reached a corner. The scientist hummed in interest. "What a clever way to force misperception of depth at the beginning of the maze."

While stopped, they all took a moment to really look at the hanging photographs. Most of them seemed to portray recognizable moments in Karin's life. There were several of her in the odd red costume she had been wearing earlier, often accompanied by Yuzu in yellow. Kisuke assumed those photos had actually happened. There was even one of Karin, Yuzu, Ichigo, and Homura smiling and eating crêpes. However, some of them appeared to be things that had never happened— an older Karin wearing the Japanese women's soccer team uniform and grinning widely; Karin and Hitsugaya in summer yukata, both looking five years old as they happily played soccer in front of the ridiculous Shiba workshop; Karin in the shinigami academy uniform; and—

Kisuke got a bad feeling as soon as he saw Ichigo swallow hard at the sight. There was a photo of the twins smilingly wearing Karakura High School uniforms, presumably for the first time. Their middle-aged mother stood behind them, beaming proudly with her hands resting on her daughters' shoulders. That was going to be a blow, Kisuke just knew it.

Ichigo shakily reached up, clasped a corner of the photo, and gently tugged it free from the big mouse trap's bait lever. The mouse trap snapped shut on his fingers and the line twanged sharply. Everyone froze and looked around them as library ladders shot up and fell against the edges of the book cases with a loud series of clacks that cascaded through the room.

"Oh, good job, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya said acidly.

"How was I supposed to know?!" Ichigo squawked as he tried to shake the mouse trap off one-handed.

"They're literally traps, dumbass," Jinta sneered as he raised his club in anticipation of attack.

Ichigo's embarrassed sputtering was cut off by the crunching ascension of papier maché housecats the size of tigers. Each one had plastic googly eyes and wore epaulettes and bearskins over a nun's wimple and veil. Their claws were small chainsaws.

"Karin's even screwier in the head than I thought," Jinta muttered. Ururu casually butted the muzzle of her spirit cannon against side of his head from behind as everyone briefly glared at him.

Jinta's lack of tact was soon forgotten in the ensuing mêlée. The three leading shinigami used their ranged attacks to devastating effect, filling the air with bright red and blue light and ice as Akemi carefully fired headshot after headshot, her reiatsu spiking as she imbued bullets with her power. Tessai shielded Isshin and Karin's body as Ururu fired her shoulder-mounted spirit cannon into the horde behind them. Yoruichi warily watched the battle from Isshin's shoulder to see if she would be needed. Jinta crushed cat heads like piñatas with his iron club on one side while Kon did his best to fend off attacks with speed and powerful kicks on the other, but the chainsaws made it difficult. The entire defense began to feel futile when they noticed that the flow of new cats wasn't stopping.

"We cannot afford to stop here," Akemi shouted curtly. "We need to keep going."

"Running battle!" Kisuke barked loudly. "Akemi, fall back. Tessai, shield the formation. Ichigo, Hitsugaya, alternate attacks with me as we run. Ready?"

"Yeah!"

The party took off at a run, Kisuke navigating the maze as the three in the lead took turns attacking. Benihime's scarlet fireworks, Zangetsu's brilliant crescents of light, and Hyōrinmaru's glacial dragon construct formed a brutal waltz as they plowed through the chainsaw-clawed cats ahead of them. After a very long ten minutes, the group skidded to a halt on the last book case. Kisuke called out directions for the fighters to turn and defend against the cats while he and Akemi evaluated the next phase of the labyrinth.

There was a large open space as there had been at the entrance to the room. While this area did feature the photograph garlands, it was also dense with red security lasers, caution tape, barbed wire, chains and ropes featuring various "no trespassing" signs in Japanese, English, German, and bizarre runes. The wall had a door at its base that was nowhere near the height of the book case cliff they stood on. It was too far away to make out any special features.

Akemi looked to Kisuke. "Straight down, then break a straight line to the door?"

Kisuke hummed. Her analytical and strategic strength was admirable. And so young! "Straight across at the base would be the shortest distance to have to break up the defenses," he agreed.

At Kisuke's direction, the party descended along various empty pockets against the wall of the book case. After a hard landing, the spread-out fighters carefully regrouped. They looked up at crackling and hissing from above and found the papier maché cats entangled in the vertical defenses. The lasers caught some on fire; many were ripped and snagged on barbed wire. Some stubbornly tried to force their way down, jumping onto their ensnared cohorts and pawing through openings as they struggled downward. The ropes and caution tape were no match for the chainsaw claws; they mostly had to navigate the chains and lasers.

"Let's not wait for them to get through," Yoruichi drily suggested.

Kisuke raised one palm toward the far door and silently cast a large Shakkahō. The red bolt tore through everything in its path and blew out the door. The group darted through the tunnel in the defenses, dodging around the lasers which were all that remained. They reached the door just as the first two cats dragged themselves to the ground.

Hitsugaya spun to one side. "I'll get the door!"

As soon as Tessai and Ururu cleared the door, Hitsugaya jabbed Hyōrinmaru forward and launched a larger version of his dragon construct at and through the gaping hole. It took out a handful of cats before it jammed in the door. Hitsugaya kept piling on the ice until the entire entry looked like a glacier. He paused to see if the Familiars would break through, then relaxed with the others.

The group took the opportunity to catch their breath as they surveyed the new room. It was a huge marble chamber with high vaulted ceilings. The entire room had a leftward curve; if there was a door, it must be around the bend. The floor was black and white tile neatly laid out in a pattern resembling the patches of a soccer ball. Unusually bright moonlight poured in from a series of large skylights. The otherwise empty room's walls were decorated with large murals roped off with velvet cords, used art supplies abandoned at the baseboards.

"An art gallery?" Kon asked in bewilderment. "How the hell did we get into an art gallery?"

No one answered him. They reformed their diamond and carefully progressed, most trying not to look at the murals too much after some cursory glances. They were abstract scribbles in various mediums at the beginning of the room but gradually gained form like a child learning to draw. Kisuke's eyes darted over to the murals occasionally to focus on the runic script that was scrawled in random places. Ichigo and Isshin seemed to recognize some of the crayon, marker, and chalk pictures; perhaps from when small versions drawn by Karin's tiny hands had decorated the refrigerator. The art evolved from unidentifiable to stick figures to awkward attempts at perspective and portraiture as they proceeded around the gradually spiraling corridor. By the time a door was in sight, the images on the wall were cartoonish but recognizable drawings of people in Karin's life.

Akemi abruptly stopped just before the door with a sharp gasp. Everyone followed her eyes to a life-size colored pencil drawing. A doll-like figure that was definitely meant to be Akemi in her school uniform stood smiling in the center of a group of five girls. The other four girls had identical generic faces but individual hair. All wore the same uniform, holding hands and smiling. Those who had done research on Mitakihara in the past week recognized the other girls by their hair from missing persons photos. After a moment, Kisuke lay a hand on Akemi's shoulder and tugged her back to reality. She cleared her throat, tossed her hair, and approached the door while trying not to look as shaken as she clearly was.

The tall mahogany door opened easily. This made everyone suspicious instead of relieved. They found another gallery. This one had individual exhibits behind velvet rope. Four were snowmen with soccer balls for heads, each with a different silly face painted on in a different color. Each had cleats, soccer jerseys, and orange cones piled at its base. One had a goal cage behind it. Another exhibit was a haphazard pile of baseball bats and metal clubs that had red paint poured over it. Next to it was a display of rocket launchers, white boxing gloves, and brooms. As they followed the bend, they passed a collection of many different lion plushies; a mountain of candy with partially concealed razor blades glinting in the moonlight; a stack of teapots, tea strainers, and teabags with a tray of burning incense; a pile of rabbit plushies and art supplies; and a curious arrangement of guns, grenades, clocks, and golf clubs.

Everyone was uncomfortable when they passed through the next door. This time the room was much smaller, but its entire contents seemed to have a unifying theme. Hitsugaya took one glance and swallowed hard. Scrolls of old-fashioned ukiyo-e artwork dominated the wall space, images of lotuses, crashing waves, and snowscapes scattered around the room. The two largest pictures were a masterful ink drawing of a serpentine dragon coiled through storm clouds and a landscape of a brilliant sunset on the opposite wall. Any empty space was studded with meticulously pinned and labeled dragonfly specimens in a variety of colors and sizes. At the base of all four walls were neatly sorted inkwells, papers both plain and written upon, cell phones, soccer balls, and snow globes. Several of the party glanced Hitsugaya's way, but he steadfastly stared at the door at the far end of the room with his jaw clenched.

The group entered the next room even more hesitantly. No one liked the pattern that was emerging. They tried not to look at the art, but failed when Isshin quietly rasped, "Masaki."

Large Impressionist paintings in gilded frames adorned the walls. Each featured a cheerful if blurry female figure. In one she was garbed as the goddess Artemis in flowing robes, her moonlit silver bow drawn on an unseen enemy. In another she was some manner of summer fairy queen, gauzy yellow frills floating around her with a gold crown and daffodils in her loose hair; she held a bouquet of sunflowers in her arms. One featured her as a young ballerina à la Degas, perched in arabesque at the center of the top of a set of Libra's scales; one dish held white sand and the other held black while a shadowy figure held her waist to keep her balanced. Finally, there was a painting done in the style of a Madonna with child, the seated woman surrounded by her flowing skirts; three small children slept with their heads on her lap as she serenely smiled down at them from beneath her halo. The floor was strewn with sweets, storybooks, and flowers. Several different bows and arrows were propped up in all the corners. A big, fancy crystal chandelier shone rays of sunny light throughout the room.

Kisuke turned back at the far door and seriously said, "Isshin. Ichigo."

Isshin sniffed and blinked. "Let's go. Let's go." Kisuke looked to Ichigo. The teenager nodded mutely, tearing his eyes away from the last painting with effort.

The next room was larger and eerily lit from above by a glowing ceiling fresco diptych of two crescent moons, one glowing blue and one glowing red. The room was divided down the center. The blue side featured a line of suits of armor in varying historical styles. Swords, bows, and quivers were mounted on the walls above and around them. A string of repeating numbers trailed across the top of the wall— 1215— running the entire length of the room. At the center of the wall was a pedestal with a glass case; within it, a crown sat on a plush black cushion. A white hobbyhorse was visible just behind the pedestal, leaning on a wide pile of CD cases and books. The red side of the room had a row of samurai armor, the wall behind them practically wallpapered with medical supplies and weights. Across from the crown display was a medical exam table. Upon its paper covering was a giant scalpel whose handle had been wrapped like a katana's hilt. A collection of rainbow clown wigs was thoughtlessly shoved in a corner.

Ichigo and Isshin gravely glanced at each other, then Karin's empty body, then the far door. They dreaded the next room— it would probably center around Yuzu. It was going to be more of a stab to the heart than a punch to the gut, especially with the question that lay heavy on their minds:

Where was Yuzu's body?

Kisuke cautiously stepped through the next door and waved the others through. The Kurosaki men tensed and stepped through into... a long, plain white hallway. Everyone stared.

"Well, that was abrupt," Yoruichi muttered.

The party moved carefully, uncomfortably aware of the loudness of their echoing steps. They passed through the next door into a small white room. The far wall was covered by a rolling, gray metal grate like those used when stores close for the evening. Kisuke looked around at everyone and gestured for Kon to lift it while the rest of the fighters prepared to defend. When they proceeded into the next white room, Kon warily opened the accordion-style black wrought iron gate on the other side. In the next room they found what looked like a submarine door complete with spinning wheel in the center. Kon looked at Kisuke incredulously, but the scientist just waved for him to open the door. The next room was larger and featured a massive bank safe. Red security lasers crisscrossed the room. Caltrops and barbed wire were spread across the floor. The room was wallpapered with No Trespassing signs in multiple languages. A single line of large runes was engraved upon the door of the safe, a handful of gold coins and large rubies littering the floor before it.

"This is it," Akemi said decisively.

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WITCH DATA

?

?

Minion: Jerome, whose duty is to catalog new pieces.

Minion: Cyril, whose duty is to rid the library of mice.

A/N: Karin's labyrinth is so unusually/obviously personalized due to her wish and obsession with protecting specific precious people, like her family and friends.

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.