Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Daydreams Come True ❯ Karin Kurosaki ( Chapter 25 )

Tite Kubo owns Bleach. I just borrowed the characters.

 

Karin Kurosaki

 

Living with a brother who saw ghosts seemed normal. She had never known life without that strange secret being part of her existence. Seeing spirits did not worry her much, except for the headaches, as she ignored them. Most of them seemed more focused on her brother and that was fine by her. Why would she want some dead person following her around? It seemed pathetic and slightly sick. Occasionally she had feared seeing her mother's spirit hovering around the house, but that had never happened, thankfully.

 

The way her father carried on about not being able to see spooks bugged her. The way he cried and worshipped the poster of her mother annoyed her even more. And most of all she hated the way he treated Ichigo differently. She wanted to be challenged, to fight off the sneak attacks, to have the ability to beat up any attacker, to be stronger. Girls needed those skills more than boys, but every time she asked her father to help her, he dismissed her request, his eyes filling with tears as he hugged her to him and she tried to struggle out of his unwanted embrace.

 

“You're my little princess, one of my twin princesses. Princesses don't fight. It might harm them. They wait for brave knights to save them,” he explained and she snorted.

 

“Maybe when you were growing up Dad, 100 years ago. Things are different now. Look at Tatsuki. She doesn't wait for anyone to save her, she wades in and saves herself and others,” Karin told him pointedly. “Any girl who waits for someone to save her deserves what she gets.”

 

She had to face the truth once more. The man was uninhibited with his family and living in some fantasy world far removed from reality. In public he could act like a normal person, but at home, when it only the family, he was an idiot. None of them could take him seriously, except Yuzu. But then Yuzu took many things seriously which should be ignored.

 

But his words did strike a chord and made her recognise one thing about her sibling. Even though she loved her sister, she had to admit that if she were ever to be kidnapped Yuzu would wait until someone saved her, probably Karin, from past experience. At least one of his daughters might conform to the narrow view her father had of females. She had tried to encourage Yuzu to rebel, but she would laugh and then do some more cleaning, or write a shopping list. Sometimes Karin wanted to shake her, to see if she would retaliate, but knew that it would hurt Yuzu. She didn't want to see Yuzu cry again.

 

Maybe it was the heat of summer making her antsy, and the holidays seemed to drag endlessly. When they had started she had been excited, as normal, but then things became weird. That wasn't quite true; things had been peculiar for some time.

 

As far as she could remember, life took a different turn the night the truck hit their house. Her father and sister were as normal, shaken up by the accident, of course, but who wouldn't be? The one who had changed was Ichigo.

 

He had never been the most outgoing person she knew and he'd always spent a lot of time shut in his room, studying and avoiding their father. Thinking about the number of hours he said he studied made her dread going to Senior School. All that work and study made her feel slightly ill each time. It wasn't that she was a bad student; it was the hours reading and learning stuff that seemed irrelevant to life that made her feel uncomfortable. But that wasn't what she was thinking about.

 

How had her brother changed? He'd become more secretive and on some occasions downright strange. And there had been the appearance of that peculiar stuffed toy in his room. At the age of 15 she'd expected that he wouldn't want some mangy lion sitting on his bed. For a time she wondered if he was trying to tell them he was gay, but then she had seen him with an unfamiliar girl. They were walking home together and seemed to know each other well. The girl didn't have Orihime's form. Who did? Nor was she as athletic as Tatsuki, but she was very cute. Watching them from a distance she noticed the girl cuff Ichigo over the ear when he said something to her, so she obviously wasn't scared of him. He'd frowned at the girl and then smiled and the girl had laughed, looking up into his face with affection. Obviously the poor girl had a mental problem if she felt anything for her brother and he seemed to feel something for her because he grabbed the hand that had hit him and kissed it. No, her brother wasn't gay.

 

Karin had noticed a few other things. One, that worried her, was her brother was smiling more often and that was creepy. She was accustomed to the frown or blank expression that he customarily wore. The smile was wrong on his face. Once or twice she'd heard noises from her brother's room that made her wonder if he'd borrowed some porno's from Keigo again, but once the noise became noticeable, it stopped, suddenly. No noise at all came from his room. It seemed eerily silent.

 

Then there'd been that business at the hospital with the chief weirdo, that Don man. It was hard to believe that she had been so dedicated to watching his shows, but seeing the man in person made him seem so much less. He had been a passing phase for most people in the town, but was now fast becoming a joke. When he turned up at her house and wanted to see her brother she'd wondered why. Before she'd seen him with the girl she would have speculated that he wished to form an unnatural relationship with her brother, because what other reason would he seek out a sulky teenage boy? But it wasn't that, not that she could see. Ichigo didn't want to know him, he made that obvious.

 

Since that accident, things had changed around the Kurosaki household and not for the better. Sometimes she'd see her father watching her brother with a very serious expression on his face. When she pinched herself, just to check she wasn't dreaming, her father had caught her gaze and quickly given her his usually goofy smile before messing up her hair and asking her if she wanted some soft drink, or chocolate or if she'd done her homework. Worse were the occasions when he would try to hug her. She managed to squirm away before he could subject her to his unwanted embrace.

 

While all that was strange, none of it was as confusing as just before the holidays began. The cute girl had disappeared and Ichigo had spent a night away from home. Then, not long after, he disappeared for over a week. Amidst the entire ruckus this caused in the family with Yuzu crying and worrying about him he returned and announced he was going away during the holidays.

 

What really annoyed Karin was her father hadn't asked any questions about any of it! He'd made some silly joke the first night Ichigo had been absent and hadn't even commented when he'd left for the week without any waring. Yuzu had asked repeatedly where Ichigo was, only to be told by Isshin that he was sure he was fine. Teenage boys needed their space and it was only to be expected that Ichigo would want to spend time away from his family.

 

Karin had snorted quietly at the explanation, certain that if she or Yuzu were to spend a few hours away from the house without explanation, when they were 15, there would be serious repercussions. If one of them had spent a night away she could imagine the questions that would be asked and the restrictions that would be placed on their freedom. But, because it was Ichigo, her father seemed prepared to overlook his behaviour. From the few facts he'd given them, she couldn't guess where he'd been. This holiday excursion was even more confusing. Ichigo had mentioned it the first time on the night of the fireworks and told them that he was going to be away for the rest of the summer holidays. Her father had encouraged him, which sickened her. He didn't say one word about missing him, or that he had to stay with them as part of family unity.

 

It was wrong! Once, when she'd wished to go away for summer holiday's with a friend, her father had phoned the friend's family, talked to the parents and then refused to allow her to go.

 

“I don't know them. How can I entrust my little Karin to people I don't know? They won't take proper care of you, my daughter,” he explained when she asked him for a reason.

 

“But, Dad, they're perfectly ordinary, nice people. Let me go,” she argued. A week away from her family was something she longed for.

 

Isshin twisted his face as he thought and a silly smile transformed his expression. “You can have your friend over for a sleepover and we'll go to the beach, for a week, just the family. Remember, the family that holiday's together eats the most watermelon.”

 

What watermelon had to do with family unity she didn't know, or care. Karin tried to argue, even hitting her father on the head once or twice when he said foolish things, but it became swiftly obvious that on this occasion he was going to be stubborn and any argument would be futile. No matter the number of reasons, opinions and sensible compromises she proposed he would grab her, hug her close and tell her he couldn't bear for her to be away from him for a week. He was scared of the dangers she would face if she was away and he wouldn't be able to sleep. Did she want to deprive him of the sleep he desperately needed, he would demand and then start blubbing. To prevent the regular close contact, and the sight of her crying father, Karin let the matter rest. Each time he grabbed her she would struggle out of his close embrace and tell him he needed a life apart from the clinic and the family. When they finally went to the beach, she had spent all the hours she could beside the ocean, as far from her family as was possible. It didn't make up for her disappointment, but it was nice to be away from the daily routine.

 

She had considered inviting her friend for a sleepover, but decided that there would be too many explanations: the poster of her mother, her father attacking her brother, the weird conversation, her brother, her father. If she lived in a normal household it would be different. Instead she invited her friend over for an afternoon when Ichigo was skulking off somewhere with Chad and her father was attending some presentation at the hospital. They'd had fun and Yuzu had played with them both, forgetting that she was a little housekeeper for the hours they had the house to themselves. Best of all, her friend had left before the two major problems returned to the house.

 

That was last year. Because Ichigo was sloping off there would be no holiday at the beach, no trips away with friends, while her grouchy brother could do what he wanted. Not for the first time Karin wished she had been born a boy. Boys had more freedom and didn't have to learn to cook or do dumb household chores. So much for equality in the 21st Century. Like many other things, people spoke the words, but ignored the necessary actions.

 

When she was at school she was irritated every minute she was in class. She knew that the teachers treated the girls differently to the boys; that was obvious, but no amount of remonstrance made any difference. At least the boys in her class respected her. Even though they told her they felt that she was an honorary boy, she felt that was a slight upon her abilities. The one thing she knew was that she was tired of gender determining her abilities and the way people treated her. Why couldn't people remain genderless until they decided to mate? Why was no much emphasis based on the difference made by one single chromosome? Most of the boys at school couldn't play soccer as well as she could, not could they run as fast, see spirits….. She'd leave that train of thought alone.

 

What she feared, most of all was the way that her immediate future would affect her life. Being a female was bad enough, but once she went through that change, things would be that much more difficult. She had noticed the change that puberty had inflicted on her brother and that was much worse than the more recent change. He had become sulky and difficult, no longer prepared to spend as much time with the family. He had been easy to annoy and he always seemed angry.

 

She knew he missed their mother as did her father, but her memories of her mother were not clear. She could recall a smiling face, which she believed was a result of seeing the poster every day, a sweet scent, and the sound of a calming voice humming to her. It wasn't enough, these small flickers of images and sensations which were all she had of her mother. Once she had tried to imagine what it would be like if her father remarried Yuzu wouldn't have to act like the housekeeper and surrender so much of her childhood to caring for the family. Of course she protested that she liked cooking and cleaning because it made her feel useful, but Karin was sure it wasn't just that. Yuzu believed that all her efforts assisted in keeping the family together and everyone happy.

 

Was that the role of females within society? To keep the family together and its member's happy while her sulky brother did nothing to help around the house except create mess and problems. Occasionally he'd help with the washing up, but he'd often protest that he needed to study and that school was more important than some jobs that could be done by any person, meaning her and Yuzu.

 

While she had felt the anger in her grow at the thoughtless comments, it made her more determined to help Yuzu. She forced her father to purchase any labour saving device that would help Yuzu and told him he could take over washing the clothes. She had prepared for this discussion very carefully by finding out the cost of having a cleaner or housekeeper take over. This plan she had to keep secret from Yuzu because it would have hurt her feelings and that was one thing she didn't want to do. Her twin had suffered enough without that unintended insult. The girl still played with dolls! She was no more grown up and prepared for these responsibilities than Karin. It seemed wrong that she had all the duties of an adult while she was still so much the child herself. She had always been younger than Karin, even though they were only minutes apart.

 

Recently, one morning she had woken up and Ichigo had gone off on the trip he'd mentioned before. Yuzu had checked his room and then returned to their shared room and cried. It took an hour to extract the reason for her tears.

 

“Ichigo didn't say good-bye, not properly. And he didn't leave a note and nearly all his clothes are there. Why didn't he take any clothes, Karin? If he'd just said good bye it would have meant he cared, but maybe he doesn't care,” were the words that emerged through the sobbing.

 

“Why are you even thinking about him? He'll be fine,” Karin said, not even sure if the words would reassure Yuzu. How did she know he'd be fine? She didn't even know where he was going, or who with.

 

That day she had gone for a walk to the park to escape the atmosphere at home. Yuzu would alternately be happy and then start worrying about Ichigo. Her father was acting more of a fool than normal, and that was very annoying. He teased Yuzu until she cried and then became extremely sorry and treated her like a very small child, playing `peek-a-boo' and `who's got your nose'. Karin watched in disbelief as finally he persuaded Yuzu to smile. Then they started playing some dumb computer game.

 

“I need exercise,” she said to the room and left. Maybe she could meet up with some friends and play soccer.

 

Instead she saw spirits in the air and curious as to what they were and what they were doing she followed them and then bumped into Don Kanonji. He was looking as overdressed as normal. Sometimes she wondered if he gained his inspiration from the more extreme costumes as worn by Chairman Karga on the Iron Chef. The Chairman had way more style and a nicer smile. Not that she admired the guy, he was too extreme, but fun to watch. Yuzu loved to watch the Iron Chef, convinced that all the Iron Chef's were an inspiration to any person who loved to cook.

 

After establishing why Don Kanonji was there, he introduced Karin to a boy. She was sure she had seen him before, but she wasn't sure if he had been at her school. He had a cranky expression on is face along with his fierce gaze and orange hair he reminded her of someone, someone close to her , but she couldn't quite figure out who it was.

 

“A girl,” he sneered at her.

 

“A moron,” she sneered back, as she added another to the long list of idiot males she had met who judged everything on gender and not the person.

 

`Now; you two are meant to work together as you are my supporting cast, I mean my agents against the evils of unholy ghosts,” the Don cajoled them both.

 

“How do you even know this show will be made and it won't be so lame that it's cancelled after one episode?” Karin asked. She hadn't seen a script, heard a plot or even been given an outline of what it was meant to be about.

 

“With me in it, how can it be lame?” the orange annoyance asked.

 

The arrogance twigged in the back of her mind, again reminding her of someone she knew. Maybe if she didn't think about it she'd remember who this person reminded her of so closely. The arrogance did match nicely with that the Don guy was showing.

 

“It will be lame because you're in it,” was her speedy reply. Why did he think he was so good?

 

He thumped his chest and scowled at her. “Nothing Jinta is in could ever be lame. But what would a girl know? Girl's can't fight or play soccer.”

 

Hearing the last sounded like a direct challenge and a way to get back at this annoying little boy who dared to defy her.

 

“You think you're pretty good, don't you?”

 

“Yeah, because I always accept the truth,” a cocky smile marred his features as he smugly ran a hand over his hair. “Nice of you to notice.”

 

“It's hard to ignore. Tell me, do you ever have trouble getting through the door with that big head of yours? Or do you have to sleep outside because no room is large enough for you and your opinion of yourself?” Had she ever met such a conceited drip before?

 

His face showed his shock at her slur. “What makes you say that? You're being very rude.” He was insulted by her words, that much was obvious.

 

She let the air escape through her mouth noisily. “I'm as good as you, maybe even better,” Karin told him.

 

“But you're just a girl,” he burst out, his face stretching into a disbelieving grin.

 

Inwardly Karin seethed at his attitude and words, but she controlled her natural reaction to kick him hard. “Why don't we prove that you are better,” she said sweetly.

 

“I don't need to prove it. I am better. How would we prove it?”

 

It was clear that Jinta did not think for a moment that he could be beaten by Karin, or any female. She wished she could introduce him to Tatsuki and watch him get turned into mush. “I'll arm wrestle you on that boulder over there.”

 

He laughed mockingly as he crossed his arms across his chest. “You think you can win an arm wrestle against me? Why don't we make it interesting?”

 

They were going to arm wrestle, that seemed interesting enough, but her curiosity won. His attitude annoyed her and she wanted to know exactly what she was getting herself into. “How do we make it more interesting?”

 

“If I win, you have to kiss me,” the crafty smile on his face made her wonder if he had planned this, or something. How he could have, she didn't know. The thought of her lips touching his made her feel like barfing all over the orange haired idiot. She thought he knew that and wanted to make her feel nervous.

 

“If I win you have to…” and then she stopped. What could she say? What would be a suitable humiliation for him? What would embarrass her brother or any male? It was hard to think while he looked at her with a smug grin plastered over his face.

 

“If I win you have to kiss him,” she said jerking her thumb at Don Kanonji. That would enough of a punishment for anyone. Who'd want to get close to that strange man? If he wasn't a T.V. star she'd be worried about spending more than two seconds in his company.

 

“What's all this talk of kissing? I'm not here for that. It would be illegal and I'm trying to recruit you, not become romantically involved,” Don Kanonji protested. Then a worried expression crossed his face. “I don't kiss boys, so don't even try.”

 

They both ignored him, their gazes locked on each other as Karin waited for the mean boy to accept or reject her challenge.

 

Finally after looking her up and down a few times with an appraising air he suddenly grinned and nodded. “Now, don't act all girly and cry when I beat you and you have to pay up straight away. But I'm upping the price. You have to be my girlfriend,” was his final acceptance.

 

There was no way she would agree to be his girlfriend. But backing down would mean she was scared and she knew that there was no possibility that he'd have the arm strength to win against her. She'd beaten all the boys in her class after all. He'd be easy game after that. “Yeah, and don't act all like a boy and cry when I beat you,” Karin rejoined. She was sure he'd blub when he lost and then claim he had some dirt in his eye. He looked just the type to do that.

 

Instead the boy slapped himself on the chest and said proudly, “Jinta won't lose and even if he did he wouldn't cry.”

 

“I've always thought people who talk about themselves in the third person are downright weird,” Karin said clearly.

 

“It's a sign of nobility,” Jinta asserted strongly.

 

“More like stupidity,” Karin laughed. This boy was more of an idiot than her brother.

 

Then it struck her who this kid reminded her of: Ichigo. The same arrogance, desire to fight, inability to accept reality. Now she really didn't want to kiss him. She had to win, she just had to.

 

“Well, let's stop talking about this. You've got to know your place girl,” Jinta said leading the way to the boulder.

 

“Yeah, standing over you, laughing at what a weakling you are,” she jeered. Were all males this arrogant, or was she unfortunate in the people she met?

 

They faced each other, rested their elbows on the rock and clasped hands.

 

“See, you want to be my girlfriend. You couldn't wait to hold hands,” Jinta said.

 

Karin made gagging noises. “I should have insisted on wearing rubber gloves. Hey, Don man, count down from five so we know when to start.”

 

Sighing dramatically Don Kanonji intoned, “Five, Four Three, Two, One.”

 

As soon as he said once Jinta exerted pressure. Karin had been expecting that and had braced her arm, ready for his attempt. Her arm didn't even sway. The startled expression on his face made Karin smile and not very sweetly.

 

“Ready when you are,” she said.

 

“I haven't started yet,” he lied. “I thought I'd let you try first. Can't feel a thing.”

 

“Oh, I haven't started either. Are you sure you haven't?” Karin continued to smile at Jinta, her eye teeth showing.

 

“I'll start now,” Jinta said decisively but didn't exert any pressure. Karin hadn't expected him to; he wanted to use the element of surprise as it was becoming plain that his strength did not match hers.

 

“If you actually swept more often, your arms might be stronger,” a new voice said mournfully.

 

“Go away. Can't you see I'm busy Ururu?” Jinta's head jerked in the direction of the girl's voice and he scowled at her fiercely.

 

“Karin, what are you doing? I want you to come home. I miss Ichigo, Dad's acting strange and I'm lonely,” Yuzu's voice startled Karin almost causing her arm to sway. “You shouldn't be arm wrestling strange boys, or hanging around with strange men.”

 

“I'm not strange,” Don Kanonji seemed very offended by Yuzu's comment as he flushed an ugly colour.

 

Yuzu looked at him closely. “Oh, it's Don Kanonji,” she said in surprise. Her eyes focused on him closely and she looked at him admiringly. “I'm so excited to meet you.”

 

Jinta dropped Karin's hand and looked with a dazed expression at Yuzu then he turned back to Karin. “Hey, forget the bargain. Why would I want a wanna be boy when I have a chance with a goddess like that?”

 

Without thinking about it, Karin slugged him on the side of the head.

 

After the fight had been broken up and Yuzu had forced Karin to go home, she bathed her knuckles which had been split by the force of her punch. “You shouldn't have done it, sister. The boy didn't mean any harm.”

 

The words only enraged Karin further. How could her sibling defend that person?

 

“He reminds me a little of Ichigo,” Yuzu went on dreamily.

 

The acrid taste of disgust flooded Karin's mouth. That sounded so wrong coming from her sister. Was every member of her family, except her, mentally deficient? Once again she briefly wondered if she was normal and considered how she could find out, but instead she sighed and asked, “What's for dinner.” The discussion of food would at least stop her sister from talking about either Jinta or Ichigo and Karin didn't want to think about either of them.

 

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Author's Note:

 

I feel rather embarrassed about the Iron Chef discourse but my only excuse is it seemed like a good idea when I was writing it. Please note, the one referred to is the Japanese version. The American version was dire and lasted only 3 or 4 episodes on Australian television before it was removed. I couldn't even sit through one episode as I felt my brain leaking out through my ears, just like it does if I ever try to watch reality TV shows like Big Brother (or Small Bother).

 

Finally, the chapter featuring Karin. I don't plan to do another chapter in the human world for some time. This one clicked in my head and I wanted to look a little closer at some things that aren't explained in the manga.

 

The logical choice for the next chapter will, of course, be Yamamoto. Not really. I keep turning to the idea of Kaien, but he's dead, so it would be rather hard. Maybe the ever bubbly Kiyone and her co-seat, Sentaro. The fights, the arguments, the drunkenness, the shared birthday and the adoration of Captain Ukitake. Maybe they both have feelings for him. (Hang on, that sounds a bit too twisted for this story.) Okay, it will be Yumichika. No, not him. Soi Fon?

 

Please review.

 

MS