Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Summer Requiem ❯ SUMMER REQUIEM ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Takes place after chapter 187.

Edits:

Mainly revision, adding a bit of descriptive text, and repairing what was mainly a clusterfuck of canon fuck-ups. Now with a name that isn't a mouthful and a reference to an Anime/Manga that is in no way involved.

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Summer Requiem

Chapter 1: Fight the powah

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Kurosaki Karin wasn't what you'd call an “ordinary” girl. She was athletic, critical, smart, and a bit cold. Some called her boyish, but what with her most influential role-model being her older brother, how could she be anything but? The rest of her family wasn't exactly normal either. Her father was crazy, her twin sister was her polar opposite in terms of personality, and both Karin and her older brother could see ghosts. In a futile effort to retain some sense of normalcy, for a while, she even pretended that the ghosts were just figments of her imagination.

But recently… recently, things had changed. No matter how much she wanted to deny the existence of ghosts or spirits, the amount of evidence that she had seen pointing towards them being real was impossible to ignore.

Karin reasoned that it was a little like knowing that you came from your father's testicles; seemingly impossible, but another of the world's strange yet infallible truths.

But anyway… Yuzu couldn't really see ghosts as well as she or Ichigo could, and you could never really be too sure about her father, either. Maybe it was something they'd inherited from their mother.

For a long time, Karin had been comfortable keeping things as normal as possible. Never mind the spirits that were floating around, or the giant masked monsters that could swallow them whole. Forget the strange things she'd been seeing ever since Ichigo had become a Shinigami. Right here and now, she was content to offer the television her undivided attention.

Deep down, she knew that you couldn't hide from the truth forever. She had no idea what she'd do when the time came, but she knew that it would, and that she'd most definitely be as ill-prepared as possible to meet it.

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Karin sighed and dropped the remote to her side on the floor. There was nothing on TV this late at night; at least, nothing that was relevant to any of her interests. The only recent news report that she could actively remember following had been the Akihabara Massacre, and honestly, she had been cheering for the guy with the knife.

`Hmm, what to watch, what to watch… World Business Satellite or some ill-conceived period drama? Decisions, decisions.' The dark haired girl blinked when she heard her sister running around upstairs. `What the hell is she doing up there?' Yuzu could be heard running down the stairs in the background and Karin turned her head to face her sister just as she sprinted into the room. The light haired girl had a panicked expression on her face.

“Karin, Brother and Daddy are gone!”

Karin rolled her eyes and sighed.

“And? They can take care of themselves.”

“But, it's after midnight!” The dark haired girl raised a brow at her sister's antics.

“Didn't I just say they could take care of themselves?”

“How can you say that? What if they've been kidnapped!”

Karin stared at her sister for a few seconds, then shook her head.

“You always come up with the most unlikely stuff. Kidnapped?” She muttered and turned pushed the power button on the remote, turning the television off. “Listen, Yuzu, I'm sure they're both safe. Ichigo is probably hanging out with his friends, and Dad…” Karin stopped. `Where would Old Beardo be at this hour anyway?' She shook her head. “It's probably adult stuff. He's a big, strong man. He'll be fine. Stop worrying.” Yuzu fidgeted and stared at her sister with nervousness written all over her face.

“You're sure?”

“Positive.” Karin commented lazily. “Now let's get to bed.”

“But what if someone tries to break in? Maybe we'll get kidnapped!”

Karin frowned. It was unlikely, but… experience told her that every time you think “This is the kind of serious stuff that only happens to other people” it happened to you.

“Fine, we'll wait for those two to get home, if you're so worried.” After a short pause, she gave her sister a neutral look and continued. “But don't blame me if you don't want to go to school in the morning.” The dark haired girl stood up and started walking away from the TV as her sister took her spot. “I should tell you, there's nothing on that you'll like.”

“I know, but I don't want to fall asleep while we're waiting,” Yuzu said without looking at her.

`What's on will put you to sleep right away.' Karin shrugged and walked towards the staircase. “I'm going to be up here, reading or something.” Her sister acknowledged her with a low murmur and she walked up the stairs. At the top, Karin walked into Ichigo's room and looked around. The room was, of course, unoccupied. Karin frowned and turned around, exiting the room and walking down the hall to her own.

`That's right. Ichi-nii became a “Shinigami”. He's probably working right now.' Karin opened the door to her room and walked in. Without even turning the light on, she walked straight to her bed and began to undress herself from the day's clothes and put on her night clothes. When she finally climbed onto her bed, she stared at the dark ceiling and let her mind wander.

`What exactly is it that Ichi-nii does as a shinigami anyway? I know they're supposed to take people to the afterlife, but…' She frowned and rolled onto her side. `Lately, he's been acting very strangely. Sometimes it seems almost as if he's worried about something.' Karin rolled over to her side. `He's become so distant… how much is he hiding from us? There's got to be something huge that I'm missing. He's never been one to talk to us about all of his problems, but this time seems different. He can't afford to do this alone. Tomorrow, I'll find out what's going on once and for all.'

“Daddy! You're home!”

Karin jolted from the sudden shout and glared at the door. `Man, sound travels well in this place.' The dark haired girl hopped out of her bed, walked out of her room and down the stairs, then hid behind the doorway and peered into the other room. Isshin stood there in the room with Yuzu with an unconscious Ichigo slung over his shoulder. She frowned. `Why is he unconscious?'

“What happened to big brother! Is he okay?” Yuzu's voice was tinged with worry, and Karin could only imagine what weird thoughts were flying through her sister's head.

Isshin laughed and scratched his head a bit.

“Ah, he's fine! I think I hit him a bit harder than I meant to, but he's just dandy! Isn't that right, Ichigo? Hahahaha!”

Karin narrowed her eyes at the man's back. `How irresponsible… knocking out your own son on accident…' She shook her head and sighed. `Where were they anyway?'

“Try to be more careful! And where have you two been all night?”

Before Isshin could answer, though, someone else made their presence known.

“This one of your daughters?” A blonde man wearing a strange hat and geta walked into the clinic and Karin blinked. “My, you've gotten big.”

`Hmm… Where have I seen that guy before?' The dark haired girl peered at him.

“Ah, I'm sorry… do I know you?” Yuzu asked, tilting her head. The blonde man looked a little surprised, but smiled.

“You don't remember me? Oh, I guess that's okay. It's been while,” He took off his hat and winked at Yuzu, who seemed to suddenly recognize him.

“Ojisan?” She asked. She ran over to him and hugged him. “It's been forever! How are you?” The man smiled and rubbed her head, before glancing to the stairs and smirking.

Karin retreated fully behind the doorway so that she'd be hidden from sight. Although half of her wanted to run out and join Yuzu, something seemed… off, about her long lost `uncle'.

“I'm wonderful, never been better, actually. Say, Yuzu-chan, where's your sister? It's been so long, and I'm just dying to see her too!”

“She's upstairs in our room, reading! Come on, I'll show you!”

Karin was already halfway up the stairs, and without making a sound, ran towards her room. She ran to her bed and climbed in, then frowned. `Ah geez. Why did I feel like I had to hide from them? Eh…' Seconds later, Urahara's distinctive footsteps could be heard approaching her room. Yuzu walked into the room, followed shortly by Urahara.

“Karin…oh, she's sleep?” Yuzu tilted her head and Karin lifted up her head and faced them, faking a tired look.

“Oh, Urahara-san. It's been a long time.”

“Heh,” He smiled, rubbing the back of his head. “What an enthusiastic greeting!”

“Karin-chan,” Yuzu huffed. “Be nice!”

“What do you want me to do, tackle him?” Karin asked, raising one eye in annoyance. “It's been a while. What else is there to say?” She grunted and turned over again. “G'night.”

Yuzu puffed out her bottom lip and growled.

“Karin! That's so mean! It's been years since we last saw Ojisan! How can you be so disrespectful?”

“Ah, it's okay, Yuzu,” The cheerful man laughed. “Some people are just like that. She's…” He leveled a stare at the girl. “Just like her brother.”

There was a subtle shift in the atmosphere when he finished talking and Karin frowned. Why was he comparing her to Ichigo? Was there some sort of hidden meaning in that statement? Perhaps he knew something about Ichigo's secret life, and was making an allusion to it? Was he a Shinigami too? Worse, was he one of Ichigo's enemies?

Was she reading into it too much?

“You're right.” Yuzu giggled, having completely missed the shift in atmosphere. Urahara giggled with her.

`This guy…' Karin started sweating and turned around again. “Are you gonna stand there all night?”

“Oh no, of course not.” He laughed and tilted his hat down. “I guess I'll leave you two to get some sleep.”

“When will we see you again?” Yuzu asked.

He chuckled and patted her head. “Very soon. Night, Ladies!” Urahara left the room and closed the door behind him. Yuzu yawned walked over to their drawers. There was some shuffling and Karin could hear her sister changing clothes and then getting into her own bed.

“Oyasumi, Karin-chan,”

“Oyasumi.” Karin grunted in response.

Only a few minutes later, Yuzu's breathing patterns told Karin that the other girl was fast asleep. She looked out the window and then at to the door to their room.

`Urahara is still here.' Karin got up out of her bed and quietly left the room, and tip-toed down the stairs. As she'd thought, both her father and Urahara were talking.

“…So, what are you going to do?”

She could hear them moving around, and when she stole a glance, they were sitting down at the table, drinking sake from saucers with a jug between the two.

“I don't know. That Arrancar…It wasn't perfect, or even complete; that's in no way the true power of the Hyogyoku. But it was strong, and it was right too - no average Shinigami would have been able to beat it. Makes you wonder exactly what those Espada are capable of.”

Karin's eyes widened in surprise, then quickly narrowed as she set to thinking. `Arrancar? Hyogyoku? Shinigami?!'

“The strongest of all the arrancar.” Kisuke nodded. “This will prove fairly interesting. The strongest hollows versus the strongest shinigami.”

`What the hell are they talking about? The strongest Shinigami versus the strongest Hollows? Is this what's been keeping Ichinii so occupied recently? Anyway, what the hell is going on here?! How do those two of all people-'

“Your son's almost home.” Kisuke's chair scratched the hardwood floor as he stood up.

“Some other time then,” Isshin said with a nod. Urahara lazily raised up a hand in goodbye and walked out of the clinic. Isshin rubbed his chin and turned to look at the huge poster of his late wife.

Karin turned around and started crawling up the stairs when she felt her brother's presence enter the house. She hastened her pace as much as she could without making any noise and walked to the door of his room the moment she reached the top.

The shinigami was staring at his own unconscious body on his bed, then looked around the room and spotted something on the floor. He groaned and knelt so that he could pick it up.

“Stupid Kon,” He muttered and grabbed a nearby doll she'd seen before in her room, and put the something in its mouth. He stared at the doll and shook it some, as if expecting something to happen. He shrugged when nothing happened and put it in a chest in his room, then finally merged with his physical body. “Well, at least he didn't do anything stupid…” The orange haired teenager started getting ready for bed. “Man, it's late.” Ichigo noticed the clock and groaned. “Great, just great…It's already two..” He got into his bed, ready to sleep.

Karin cursed when she heard that. He was right, it was late. She walked over to her own room and climbed into bed.

The dark haired girl shrieked and flipped out of her bed when the ice-cold water splashed face.

“Come on! Get out of bed!” Karin opened her eyes despite the slight pain it caused and glared at her twin sister.

“Dammit, Yuzu!”

The lighter haired girl looked absolutely scandalized.

“Karin! That's Watch your mouth!”

“Ugh, sometimes I wish you would grow up…you're almost a teenager, and yet…”

“You're the irresponsible one! It's almost seven!”

Karin's eyes shot open. They would be late for school if she didn't get herself ready and to school in thirty minutes.

“I'm up, I'm up!” She stood up and stumbled over herself several times trying to get to where her clothes had been laid out.

“Man, why didn't Old Beardo wake me up? At least I can dodge or block him by now,” she grumbled.

“Daddy has a hangover,” Yuzu said, waiting patiently as her sister speedily dressed herself. “I think he was up last night with Ojisan. I don't think they've seen each other in years; that's probably what they and brother were doing last night.”

“That would make sense,” Karin pulled on her shirt and grabbed her bag, ready to go. “Let's go already!”

In class, Karin stared out the window at the sky. There were a few spirits mulling about, but nothing else, really. Even when lunch finally came, she didn't bother to leave the classroom, opting instead to think. About her brother. Shinigami. Hollows. Everything.

`It's so complicated,' She thought to herself. `Why did big brother become a Shinigami?' She shook her head; nothing could come to her. `Kanonji-ojisan, Jinta, Ururu, Kon…Although Yuzu still seems to think it was all part of Kanonji-ojisan's show, I know that everything we did was real. Purifying spirits, saving people from hollows…' she shook her head and looked to the ground. `What's the point of all of this? I still only know the basics of Shinigami and their jobs. What are those arrancar things? How does my dad of all people know anything about this? There's no way he's a Shinigami too!.. Is there?'

For most of the day Karin's mind continued in that same vein. From the time school let out, to the walk home, and her subsequent arrival, her mind was constantly tying itself in knots trying to come up with answers with the little bit of information that she had. When she finally got home, she sighed and decided that there was no use bothering.

“We're home!” Both twins called out when they walked into the clinic. Isshin looked up from where he was sweeping the floor in the kitchen.

“Welcome back!” Karin took her shoes off at the door and put on her slippers, then proceeded to go for the television fully intending to vegetate for the rest of the day. “How did your day go?” As she passed her father, she only spared him a cursory glance and continued on. “…Hmmm! Karin!” The dark haired girl abruptly stopped and turned to look at her father. Before she knew it, he was in her face. “Are you all right? You look as if something is bothering you!” Karin took a step back in surprise, then glared at him.

“Don't I always?”

Isshin blinked.

“Huh?”

“I've always got something on my mind, unlike certain people who can always be so carefree and idiotic.”

“Oh?” Isshin tilted his head. “Like what?”

“Guh…” Karin narrowed her eyes. “How long are you going to play dumb anyway?”

Her father rapidly blinked a few times and tilted his head the other way.

“What?”

“Hmph. Fine, whatever.” Karin grumbled and turned to walk away towards the TV.

For two whole hours, things were normal again. Ghosts, Shinigami, Hollows and Arrancar all faded to the back of her mind and the brain eating garbage one could count on TV to deliver took its place.

Then Ichigo got home.

“Weeeelcome Baaaackk!” Karin turned her head as soon as she heard her father's shout, followed by a loud crash, and immediately got up to see what was happening. She and Yuzu arrived at the scene at the same time and were surprised to see Ichigo on the ground, leaning against a wall.

“Uh-oh? What the heck?” Isshin looked a bit surprised at the state of his son, and the twins put together two and two. Yuzu looked at her father.

“Hey… daddy! What do you think you're doing!” She looked at her brother. “Big brother, are you okay?!” She ran over to her brother and kneeled. Karin ignored the rest of what happened, instead studying her brother. The usually laid back Ichigo was totally unresponsive to any of Yuzu's prodding or Isshin's rambling.

“…But I feel that parents should talk, speak, and carry on about things like passionate love! Yeah! But you know what… for me, it started at the ripe young age of nine!”

She couldn't help but look at her father when he said that.

“Are you talking about puberty?”

Ichigo stood up, and his sudden movement silenced everyone. Without pausing, he walked over towards the staircase.

“Sorry, but I'm going to be in my room until dinner is ready.”

Karin stood at the closed door to Ichigo's room.

`Ichinii… I can't ignore this any longer.' She reached up and knocked. “Ichi-nii… is it okay to come in?” Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and walked inside. Ichigo sat up on his bed looked back at her in surprise.

“Karin?”

“I want to know…” She started. She looked him in the face. “Ichi-nii…I want to know why you're suffering,”

“…The hell are you talking about? You don't need to worry about anything, alright?”

“I know about it.” Ichigo blinked. “I…I already know about it! Ichi-nii…You're a Shinigami!”

The two stared at each other for a moment.

“I'm a… Shinigami? Wha… What the hell are you talking about?” Ichigo laughed. “Shinigami? Man, Karin, you have some imagination!”

“I've been able to see you for quite some time, now.” Ichigo's expression changed. “At first, I didn't really understand much at all… but then Kanonji-ossan-”

Both siblings froze immediately when Karin's sentence was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a spiritual pressure so huge, it seemed to drown out all else. The energy, even as far as both could tell it was, had an almost tangible feel to it. The very air was soaked with the heavy aura. Ichigo was the first to recover and shrugged off the effects. He turned to towards the window, but Karin grabbed him by the shirt.

“Where are you going, Ichi-nii!”

“...Sorry.” He grabbed a medallion at the foot of his bed and his soul, garbed in the black shihakushou of shinigami split from his body and flew out the open window.

“Wait! Wait, Ichi-Nii!” Ichigo didn't look back even once. `Damn it! I'm not letting you get away so easily!' Karin immediately looked down at the medallion in her brother's body's hands. `With that, I can follow him… right?' She picked it up. `How… how does it work?' She frowned and fumbled around with it, trying to `will' her soul from her body. `Come on! Work, damn it!' She slammed her fist into the thing a few times, and then fell down flat on her face.

She groaned and started to get up, rubbing her nose, then blinked when she heard something else fall to the ground. She immediately turned to see her own body lying on the ground with the medallion stuck in her hand. Shocked, Karin looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing the uniform of the Shinigami.

Shock slowly set in while Karin studied herself.

`I… I'm a shinigami?' She looked at her hands and arms, then legs and feet. Most notable was the huge zanpakuto on her waist that would drag on the ground if she tried walking. `This… is… definitely not what I was expecting.' She shook her head. `There's no time for this. I've gotta find Ichinii!' She jumped out of the window, but there was no sign of Ichigo anywhere. “I have to find him somehow…” She focused and tried to find Ichigo's reiatsu, but the other one was doing its best to drown him out. `Ichinii, where are you?'

She opened her eyes to see strange white ribbons appearing around her, waving around in some sort of invisible wind. The white bands surrounded her almost completely, but she noticed a particular red one and immediately knew where it led. Without waiting, she immediately ran in the direction where she could only hope her brother was waiting.

Minutes later she was standing in a park, Ichigo was facing off against a giant of a man. In a blur, he sliced off a rather large man's entire arm. Karin's eyes were wide with confusion; the arm that fell off generated an exponential amount more reiatsu than she did. “W..what are these people?”

“What the fuck!?” Karin cringed when the big man, now short an arm, yelled out. A quick glance at his face showed that he was in shock. “Goddamn it… you piece of shit!”

“Wow, you're still standing.” Karin looked over at her brother and her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she noticed his appearance and reiatsu. She hadn't noticed before because it was so focused, but… “I figured you were at least a little tough.”

“You look a little worn out, Yami.” Karin turned and saw a smaller man who was watching the fight. “Do you want to switch?”

“Shut up!” The huge man, presumably `Yami', unsheathed his sword, but his companion continued talking.

“Are you seriously planning to use your Zanpakutou against such a worthless opponent?”

Karin noticed her brother suddenly seemed to be surprised by something. Her eyes widened when his reiatsu suddenly started to spike erratically. One moment, it was enough to numb all of her senses and drown out even the other two's combined spirit pressure, and another, it was as insignificant as her own.

`What's happening to him?'

Ichigo clutched his face and lost his focus on the battle. In that second, Yami took the initiative. In a blur, the huge man's foot moved and collided with the orange haired teen's chest, knocking him backwards.

“Kurosaki-Kun!” Karin turned to the source of the voice, where Inoue was running towards her brother.

“Inoue, get away from me!” Ichigo yelled. Before the girl could even react, Yami was there. Faster than she could see, his leg slammed into Orihime's bode.

“Inoue!”

“Shut the hell up!” Yami attacked Ichigo again, but Ichigo did not move at all. It was as if his body had frozen.

`What's he doing?!' Karin was about to ask just that, but then stopped. `If I announce my presence, I'll just become a target…Those guys will kill me without a second thought.' She shook her head and looked over at Orihime. She approached the girl, with a reserved look.

“I…Inoue-san…” Karin whispered when she was close enough to see the damage. Inoue's body had been seriously mangled. Bones were very visibly broken, blood everywhere… The girl looked as if she was already dead. Karin knelt down and felt for a pulse, and was rewarded with a faint beat. The girl was still alive, though weak. `Inoue-san, hang in there…!' She turned back to look at her brother and his opponent.

“Inoue,” Ichigo muttered, on the ground. He wasn't looking in Karin's direction, and his body had frozen.

“Ha!” The giant noticed Ichigo. “I don't know what's going on, but suddenly you can't move, right!?” He smirked. “Well then, it's time for you to die!” He raised his fist and charged it with energy, slamming downwards.

“Brother!” Karin screamed. Ichigo's eyes widened and he looked over at her.

The instant before Yami's punch connected, there was an explosion of malevolent reiatsu that filled Karin with terror. Yami's meaty fist crashed into Ichigo at full force.

“Heh…” Ichigo didn't give an inch. His opponent's hand had simply stopped at his face, as if hitting a wall.

“W-what's this?” Yami looked down at his opponent.

“I suppose I should thank you,” Ichigo said. He looked up into his opponent's face. “But that's not my thing!” Ichigo leapt forward and brought his black katana up in a diagonal slash. Yami was only barely able to get his Zanpakuto in the way in time to block.

“Yami,” the smaller man started. “We must take our leave.” A disturbance appeared in the air behind him, and like many teeth opening up a hole appeared in space.

“Oh no you don't,” Ichigo said, facing the shorter man. “You won't be going anywhere…”

“And how exactly do you plan on stopping us?” He turned around and started walking. “There is nothing you can do.”

“Watch me!” Ichigo's sword took on an unearthly glow and with a wide slash, flung a projectile at the smaller man. The small man simply deflected it with a hand without turning

“Yami, come.”

“Feh.” Yami snorted and walked into the portal. “I don't get it, but whatever.”

“Heh! You're not getting away from me!” Ichigo held his sword high above his head and with one great slash, sent another crescent shaped projectile towards the portal. The portal closed and the projectile carved a deep line into the ground, vanishing into the distance. “Heh heh heh…Fine. That leaves only the matter of…you.” Ichigo said, turning to Inoue and Karin. Karin froze when she noticed his face.

Ichigo swung his sword over his shoulder while he approached. “Hello, Karin. How are you today?”

Karin looked up at his face. “You…you're not my Ichi-nii,” She stuttered.

“Oh, but I am,” He sneered. “I am Ichigo.”

“You aren't,” She said with some confidence. “You've got the eyes all wrong.”

“Don't try to be cute with me,” He sneered again. “I am Ichigo.”

“I'm telling you, you aren't.” She glared at him.

“Whatever.” Then he noticed something about her and smirked. He reached down and grabbed her by shirt. “Y'know, I didn't know you were a Shinigami too.” He said huskily. His smirk was seriously giving her the creeps, and considering what he'd just done to the ground with his sword, Karin felt more than a little fear. “Karin-Chan, We have more in common than I thought.”

She struggled to get from his hold, but his grip was unbreakable. She noticed him leaning towards her face and blinked.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“What I've wanted to do for a while now.” he said.

“What? You-” He forced his lips on hers, muffling her voice. Her eyes opened wide in confusion and surprise before she started struggling to remove him from her face. Unfortunately, this fake-Ichigo's strength was many times hers and she didn't budge. She felt a strange sensation all over her body, almost as if her entire being was being swallowed up. He smirked when he finally pulled away from her face. Karin blushed in anger as she raised a hand to her face. “What the hell? You bastard! You're sick!”

“I bet you liked that!” He laughed. “I could feel it. You wanted more!”

“No such thing!” She screamed, balling her fist and throwing a punch at his face. He easily caught it and started squeezing, and Karin winced, biting back a scream.

“Now now, It's not polite to hit people like that. What kind of little sister have I been raising?” He asked in a mock scolding voice.

“The kind who doesn't take shit from creeps like you,” She said, throwing her other fist at his face. She connected, hitting his cheek. “Auh!” She withdrew her fist and shook it. `That was like hitting a rock!' She glared up at him. “What the hell are you?”

“I'm Ichigo,” he smirked. “Come on, don't you recognize me?”

“I'd know my Ichi-Nii anywhere, and you're not him!”

“Well, maybe this will convince you,” He smirked as he dived in for another kiss. This time, he forced his tongue into her mouth. Karin tried to bite his tongue, but nothing happened. The strange feeling in her body appeared again, and Karin started feeling a bit woozy.

`W-what's… happening to me?' The world around her started losing focus. `It… hurts…'

Ichigo was suddenly kicked in the side and knocked into a tree. Karin, although glad for the distraction, tried not to vomit as her senses became clear again.

“You need to get the hell back to wherever you came from.” Karin looked up immediately at the new voice and saw a dark-skinned woman standing over her protectively. “Or we will kill you.”

“You lying bitch, do you think I'm really that stupid?” He sneered. “You won't kill Ichigo!”

“Can you really be so sure of that?”

Ichigo sneered.

“You want to try me out then?” He lifted his black sword up into the air. “You might be willing to kill Ichigo, but I don't plan on dying.” The dark woman snorted.

“You must be joking.” The two faced off for a moment. The tension rose higher and higher… until a dart suddenly appeared in Ichigo's neck. The orange haired teen quickly pulled it out and looked at it.

“Che. Fuck you,” He dropped it and took a few steps forward before falling over. The dark skinned woman smirked.

“Heh. You got him, Kisuke.”

“Of course I did.” Karin whipped her head to the side to see a very familiar man walking towards them. He glanced at her and smiled, then looked over at Ichigo. He stopped above Inoue and looked down at her. “Was this the work of…”

Karin stared at Urahara, then answered in a monotone.

“No. There were two other guys here before Ichigo changed.” She looked over at her motionless brother.

“Arrancar,” Urahara nodded as Yoruichi joined him and knelt down, assessing the girl's injuries.

“What? You know those guys?” Karin asked.

“Know of them,” Urahara corrected. “Arrancar, they're hollows who've begun the process of taking off their masks and attempted to gain Shinigami powers.” He explained. Karin blinked, finally remembering where she'd heard the word before.

“Right, right. And could you tell me how the hell do you know any of this again?” She demanded. “This makes absolutely no sense at all! Who are you people!” Urahara was silent while Yoruichi tended to the wounded girl below them. “Hey! Answer me, damn it!”

“I'll tell you later. For now, go home. There's not much you can do here.”

“How can you just say that! All this shit happens and then you want me to go home!”

Urahara looked at her sharply and she faltered, taking a step back.

“There's nothing you can do here. Go home and forget this happened for now.”

“B-but… Ichi-nii-”

“Go. Home.”

Karin glared at him.

“No.” The blonde man raised an eyebrow. “I'm not going to just sit back and fade into the background this time. I refuse to just… ignore this.” Urahara closed his eyes.

“I'm not asking you to.” She blinked and looked up at him. “There is nothing you can do here but get in the way. Go home. Think about if you really want to get involved in this. Then come to my place when you have an answer.” Karin stared out into space and finally nodded after a while.

“…Fine.” The girl turned and started walking away. When she was a fair distance away, she rubbed her mouth. “That sick bastard,” She muttered. “Who the hell was he?”

That night, as Karin lay in bed, she thought.

`First, Ichi-nii becomes a Shinigami. Then all of these hollows start messing with us…and then Kanonji-ossan…and now this. And brother…how did he get to be so powerful?” Karin looked out the window, thinking back over the past two days. She looked out at the moon. “This is totally screwed up.” She thought about her sister, who was already sleeping across from her.

“Poor Yuzu doesn't even have an inkling of what's going on. Neither do I really…” She sighed. Ichigo was doing what he could to fight huge monsters with the power they were displaying, and she didn't even know why, or what was going on. Was her brother a soldier in some secret war normal people didn't know about? What about their father? And Urahara… surely, if Urahara was directly involved, then her father had to be as well.

Did she really want to talk to Isshin about it though?

“I'm going to have to get stronger somehow…I want to help him…” Karin looked out at the moon and sighed. “How can I though? How can I get so retardedly1 strong, like them? I feel so useless…Brother is suffering, I should be able to help him!” She started thinking of all the ways to help him. Sure, she was stronger than average ten-year-old-girls, but that amounted to nothing in the grand-scheme of things.

“My life is a shonen manga,” she grumbled.

---

The next day, Karin stood before the Urahara Shoten. She looked up at it and frowned.

“Well, here goes…” She pushed open the doors and entered the building. Jinta and Ururu and were there, cleaning. “You guys live here?”

“Well yeah,” Jinta stopped scrubbing the floor and looked up at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I'm here to see Urahara.”

“Oi! Tenchou! You have a visitor!” Jinta yelled to the back.

“Um, Jinta,” Ururu started. “Tenchou said to send any visitors to the back today. He's only expecting one.”

“Oh.” He turned to Karin. “Well, what are you standing there looking stupid for? Go to the back already!” Karin rolled her eyes and followed his directions to go into the back room. Urahara was sitting alone.

“Oi, Tenchou.” Karin deadpanned. “Nice little shop you got here.”

“It's comfortable, isn't it?” He smiled. “Now I believe you were going to tell me how you came across Shinigami powers?”

“From what I understand, you were going to tell me the situation Ichigo was dragged into. What are Shinigami? Who are you? Is there an organization that you all work for? What do you do? What are Arrancar? Is my dad one of you too?” She shook her head. “There's way too many questions here, and I need some answers now. I want to know what my family is being dragged into.”

Both were silent.

“…I will tell you what you're ready to hear.” The former twelfth division captain said finally. “Nothing more.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Well then…” He crossed his arms and thought for a moment, then started talking. “Let's start with Shinigami. Shinigami are souls that have gained supernatural powers in order to protect the flow of souls from Earth to Soul Society, that's the afterlife, and destroy hollows. Souls that linger on Earth for too long, for whatever reason, become hollows, which are monsters that devour other souls to forget their pain.”

“Wait. Do all souls go to Soul Society, then?”

“It's rare, but some go to hell, instead.”

“Wait…” Karin frowned. “Hell is real?”

“Of course,” He nodded. “Anyway, the current conflict is more or less being caused by a number of Hollows that are growing in power so much as to be dangerous to even the strongest shinigami.”

“Arrancar?” Kisuke nodded, but didn't say anything else. “That's all you're willing to tell me now?”

“The information is sensitive, especially if you plan on getting involved.”

“I know it's sensitive! That's why I wanted it in the first place!” She growled and crossed her arms. “

“I can't tell you anything else at the moment. It'll have to wait. Now, your turn. Who gave you Shinigami powers?” She frowned at him, then crossed her arms.

“I don't know. My brother used a medallion to leave his physical body, and it stayed in his hands. I needed to follow him, so I did. I took it from his empty body and left the same way he did.” She crossed her arms.

“I see,” He rubbed his chin. “It makes sense…” He mumbled something about 'true bloods' although Karin didn't really understand what he meant.

“Just how does that make sense? Don't shinigami have to be, you know, dead? And… isn't there some kind of… I don't know, process involved?”

“Karin, to be blunt, you are a manufactured shinigami,” he said. The dark haired girl reeled back. “Your father is a shinigami. Ichigo is a shinigami. Although Ichigo first got access to his Shinigami powers thanks to Rukia giving him hers, his were already there, and they just had to be activated. Yours were already activated somehow, either by the medallion, or by some other means.”

“M…manufactured?” She repeated. “My father… a shinigami…” Kisuke nodded.

“There are a few ways to become a shinigami. Some of them, like whichever method happened to you, circumvent the official processes. For example, the method Ichigo used, was to wait until he was ready to become a hollow, then in the split second before becoming one, found the shinigami power that was within him. Through these methods, it's possible for shinigami to act independently of soul society, though they are usually recruited if they're good at what they do.”

“…I…see…” Her eyes unfocused and she stared straight ahead. The two sat in silence for a few moments as Karin tried to understand everything that had been said. After a long while, she spoke up again. “I've decided, then.”

“Hmm?” The blonde man looked at her.

“I… want to help Ichinii… and my father… with these battles. I want to help protect everyone that I can from these… hollows.”

“Karin…” The blonde man sighed, crossed his arms and hung his head a little. “This is not some kind of game where the good guys beat up the bad guys and save the day. You can't just go whizzing in and suddenly have super powers. You'd have to train relentlessly for years, possibly decades, or even centuries before you ever caught up to Ichigo or anyone else. The speed with which he learned was unprecedented. Almost as if his power was already there, just waiting for him to take it. It's an unattainable dream. To just get stronger, strong as they are? You can't do it.”

The younger shinigami growled and stood up.

“Don't tell me what I can't do. I'm not naïve or stupid enough to think that it's going to be easy, but, how do you know for certain that what happened with Ichigo won't happen to me? And I'm not trying to get as strong as them. You're right, that's stupid. But me, all I want to do is be strong enough so that Ichi-nii doesn't have to worry about me! You think I'm the type of person who could just accept being a burden when I could possibly defend myself?”

Urahara studied Karin's face. The girl was obviously serious about this; she'd probably thought of all the danger Ichigo's position in the war could put them in.

“Heh…” He smirked at her sighed. “You're not backing down from this, are you?”

“If you're not willing to help me, I'm sure I could just look elsewhere.”

“You could die.”

“I could die either way.”

There was another pause.

“I'll help you. But realize, the world you are about to enter is a dangerous, unforgiving one. Shinigami defeated by hollows are devoured.” Karin cringed for a moment, imagining herself falling victim to such a fate, then frowned.

“The world I've lived in all my life is no less dangerous. Hollows would have an easier time of eating me if I'm not trained.”

“True.” The blonde man stood. “Well then, I suppose I could teach you some self-defense.”

“What?” Her frown deepened. “I want to learn more than just a little self-defense.”

“I really don't have the time to seriously train anyone for longer than a few days right now. But once you've learned enough elsewhere, you can come here and refine your skills as much as you want. That's why in a week, you're going to Seireitei.”

“What?” Karin blinked. “What's that?”

“That's the Shinigami HQ.”

She gave him a blank stare.

“They'll just let me walk in and join up?”

“Not really, no, but I can get you in. Probably get you in with the other academy graduates.” Karin tilted her head.

“Slip me in with the other newbies, huh?”

“That's the plan.”

“But, you said academy graduates, right? Wouldn't I need knowledge essential to graduate from the Shinigami Academy?”

“Yes, but I can teach you enough to get by.”

“How long would it usually take?”

“Years,” Urahara smiled.

“And you intend to teach me all that in seven days?” Urahara gave her a big open mouthed grin.

“Yup! As a matter of fact, we'd better get started right now.”

“Oi, Urahara-san, lemme at least tell—” Karin never finished her request as Urahara brought up his cane with lightning speed and struck the girl on her forehead, forcing her from her physical body. “Ow!”

“Everything is being taken care of as we speak,” he assured her. He grabbed her and dragged her away from her body just as Ururu walked in and effortlessly hefted it up and carried it off.

“H-hey! What the hell are you doing to my body!? And where are we going?!”

Karin stared at a large canyon like crevice that went on for almost a hundred meters.

“I…Ichi-nii…did this?”

“Yeah. It looks the way it did when he used it because there's no weather in here and I didn't feel like cleaning it up. Sorry, but you're getting sloppy seconds.” He said. “Now, ready your Zanpakutou,” He ordered. She blinked, then assumed he meant her sword from the phrase `zanpakutou', clumsily grasped the hilt on her Zanpakutou and brought it out. She blinked, and stared at the huge sword. “These are the basic forms you should remember,” He started, holding out his cane like a sword. “Try to practice as much as possible when you get to Seireitei. You want it to become second nature.”

“Huh?” She blinked. It was different because of the size of her sword, but… “This is the form… dad… showed me…” She suddenly seemed to realize something. “He's been training us the whole time!?”

“Hmm,” The shop owner smiled. “Interesting. Why don't you show me what you know?”

And she did. For all of twenty minutes, Karin related her knowledge of martial arts to the blond shinigami, through words and demonstration. At the end of it all, Kisuke chuckled and shook his head.

“That would explain why Ichigo took to fighting so well. He doesn't even realize…”

“Ol' Beardo disguised his secret training as just being stupid, or regular martial arts… To think that this whole time, a man who seemed so utterly stupid…” She shook her head. “This… this…”

“Well, you still need to learn beginner kido and other stuff, of course… Though you're good as far as all the sword forms are concerned. Hmm…” Karin looked up at him and heard him muttering something. “Well, there are some things that every shinigami learns at their own pace…Well!” He looked at her and grin. “You've got the forms down, so let's test the applications.” He rushed at her with his cane held up, and Karin barely had enough time to realize she was being attacked before mounting a poor defense with her sword. His cane crashed into the blade and sent it crashing into her face.

“Auuh!” Karin fell backwards from the force of his blow. “What the hell was that! You didn't give me any warning!” She scrambled to her feet. “What is your problem!?”

“Do you really expect your enemies to give you warning?” He asked, his eyebrow twitching. The man started to giggle a bit, then let out with full blown laughter. “You're… you're even worse than Ichigo!”

Karin growled.

`Fine, have it your way,' she thought. She suddenly charged at him with her sword held up, screaming. Despite this, he simply kept laughing at her, and when she swung her sword down at him, he knocked it out of the way with his cane. `W-what? I used all my strength in that one!'

“You're not really focused, are you.” He chuckled. “You can't really hope to become a shinigami like this.”

“Humph…” She frowned. He was right; she couldn't really expect to fight experienced enemies the way she was carrying on. She needed to get her head in the fight and think things through. After enough practice, every attack, every parry, every single movement would all become instinctual. “Whatever.”

“Try not to get provoked so easily in the future…Now, try again.”

For an hour, the two sparred. Though Kisuke was visibly holding back, it was already more than enough for her. She was exhausted after an hour of nonstop fighting, and when she blocked a particularly strong attack, she fell to the ground. Urahara stood above her while she lay there, panting and out of breath. Sweat and dirt covered her face, her clothes, amongst other things. “Oi…U, Urahara,” She breathed. “Can't I take a break- AH!” She jumped up from the ground as Benihime struck where her head had been seconds before. “You're really trying to kill me aren't you!”

“You learn fast. Just like your brother.” He smirked.

“You keep comparing me to him.” She struggled to stand, leaning on her Zanpakutou for support. “And why is this sword so big? I think I've strained a few muscles trying to use this thing! It's taller than I am!”

“You lack control. And yes, you need to fix your balance,” He noted, jumping at her. “Flowing from one attack to another is the best strategy. You can't do that if you're falling all over the place,” He slashed down again and she flipped over him, using the Zanpakutou like a pole-vault. She had to twist in the air to dodge his attacks and roll once she reached the ground, dragging her Zanpakutou with her.

“It's not as large as Zangetsu was at first, but it's still pretty huge…Perhaps by Ichigo's age, it would have been the same size,” he noted. She groaned.

“Why do I feel like some sort of guinea pig for you?”

“Because, sweetie, you are!”

“Ugh…” Urahara stopped his assault for a few moments to assess her status. She was obviously straining to keep standing; and breathing in short, ragged breaths.

“Okay. I think we're done with single opponent defense. Dinner should be ready. I've got to start preparing the gate to Seireitei.”

“Oi, thanks. I needed the brea—WHAT the HELL!” She reflexively dodged an attack from behind and looked at her attacker in amazement. “Ururu?” The girl was wearing strange boxing gloves and a helmet. She spotted another person approaching. “Jinta? What the hell?”

“It's time for you to defend yourself against multiple opponents,” Urahara said, walking away. “I'm going to go eat before I get to work. Have fun!”

“You must be kidding me.”

“Looks like I get to kick your ass around.” Jinta smirked as he got closer. Karin eyed his mace warily.

“What, were you watching the whole time?” She demanded. She dodged to the left and parried an attack from Jinta with her Zanpakutou, using her momentum to jump over the boy and smash his own club into his face. They all stopped and she assessed her opponents. “Man… This is gonna suck.”

---

The next day, when Karin opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground and looking up at a blue sky. Almost immediately, her entire body started aching. Muscles were torn, bruises had formed in several places, there were a shallow cuts that stung like hell on her stomach and arms, and a few things that she didn't know could hurt were hurting in ways she'd never hurt before. Exhaustion quickly came even though she had just woken up… It was all encompassing pain, and she did not feel like doing anything at all.

Coherent thoughts were beyond her for the moment; it was all she could do to lie there and stare up at the unmoving sky.

After some amount of time, she had no idea, really, she heard some very familiar footsteps approaching, and a familiar face appeared in her line of sight.

“Oh, you're awake?” The man with the bucket hat smiled at her. “Then we can resume the training!” Karin's eyes widened and she gave him a pleading look, but he simply laughed and turned around. “I'll go get the other two, they're still eating breakfast.”

---

After three days of the same routine, she woke up inside the shop. Almost immediately, she started moaning and groaning. It hurt everywhere again. She almost missed that she wasn't in the underground chamber, but after waiting for the pain to subside a bit, she managed to slowly turn her head to the side.

The dark skinned woman that she'd met before was sitting against the wall, staring at her.

“So you're up, huh?” The woman grinned at her. “I've got some good news for you then. The combat portion of your training is done.”

Karin didn't show any outward reaction. It would have only hurt her more.

“Whenever you can move, go get some food. After that, Tessai and I will start working with you in other areas.” The dark skinned woman stood up and walked away. Karin didn't bother following her movement with her eyes, because, well, it would have hurt.

When breakfast was finished, she sluggishly sought out the dark skinned woman. After a few minutes of searching, she found her target.

“Hey, you.” The woman was sitting down in the room she'd woken up in, messing around with a Sudoku sheet, and she didn't bother responding. “Uh. If we're going to be working together, it'd help to know your name…”

“Yoruichi.” The woman said, not bothering to look up from her Sudoku. “So you're that moron's sister, huh?” Karin only frowned. “Well, I guess this'll be fun. I kind of missed having someone to torture.”

“What… are you talking about?”

“Oh, nevermind. It's not important.” Yoruichi looked up at her and smiled. “Let's get started, hmm?”

Karin resigned herself to pain when she was dragged to the training room underground again.

“And so, what's the point of this?”

“Speed training,” Yoruichi said.

“Speed training?” Karin repeated.

“Yup. You run from me. If I catch you, I hurt you.” The woman grinned.

“How is that speed training?” Karin demanded. “I'm just going to get tired really fast and then you'll catch me and I'll be tired and hurting.” Yoruichi shrugged. “I don't see the point to this.”

“Hmm.” Yoruichi smiled. “When you can stay away from me for half an hour, I'll show you something nice. How's that?”

“Something nice?”

“Yup.”

Karin mumbled under her breath.

“Fine, whatever…”

“Okay. Start.” Karin turned to run when suddenly she felt a hand on her neck. “Not fast enough!” The next thing she knew she was flying through the air.

After an hour of playing cat and mouse, Yoruichi stopped their little game.

“All right, that's enough of this,” The woman said. “I know I caught you every single time, but you're just not getting faster fast enough.”

“Duh… even still, you could have taken it easy on me…”

“That won't do. Only idiots take it easy on their enemies. The worst thing to do is play around with someone who seems weak or insignificant - the next thing you know, you're looking down at your body as your head flies away.”

Karin imagined such a scene and decided that maybe playing around with your enemies, even the weaker ones, was a bad idea.

“Of course, even still, I did take it easy on you.” Karin blinked and then looked at her, confused.

“But didn't you just say…”

Yoruichi laughed.

“You're not an enemy, you're a trainee.”

“You know that for certain?” She asked.

“Well, I'm pretty sure of it. It's not impossible that you're a sleeper agent sent here to gather intelligence on us or something similar, but the chances aren't very high.” She laughed again and pat the girl on the head. Karin stuck out her bottom lip and turned away.

“Humph, whatever.” This only sent Yoruichi into another round of laughter. “What's so funny?”

“Haah…” the dark skinned woman shook her head. “Has anyone told you how much you're like Ichigo?”

“I've been hearing it a lot recently.”

“Hm… Well, anyway…” She looked down at the girl. “The stuff I'm gonna show you is stuff I want you to work on on your own in the future. There's no way you'll get as fast as Ichigo did - he was under a lot more stress and time constraints than you are when he learned it.” Karin huffed.

“Don't assume I won't learn it as fast as he did.”

“Heh… Sure, whatever.” The woman looked the girl over and started walking around. “I'm going to show you some basic Hakuda and Hohou. Before we start, you need to have an understanding of reiatsu and how to apply it to different tasks.”

“Wait, what?” Yoruichi blinked. “Hakuda? Hohou? What's that?” The dark skinned woman blinked again, then frowned.

“You mean he didn't tell you?” Karin shook her head and the other woman sighed. “Geez. If you went to Seireitei without even knowing what this stuff was… Fine. Hakuda and Hohou are two of the basic four shinigami fighting techniques. The others being Kido and using your Zanpakutou in fighting.”

Karin crossed her arms and nodded, a look of understanding on her face.

“Hmm… I see.” She tilted her head to the side. “What are they, specifically?”

“You know what your Zanpakutou is… don't you?” Karin nodded and she continued. “Hakuda is hand-to-hand fighting, and Hohou is footwork. Kido is spells, but Tessai will teach you those in better depth. Your Zanpakutou is your sword, but there are several ways to use it.” Karin looked down at the sheathed sword to her side. “For instance, your Zanpakutou right now is in its weakest state. There is also shikai, and bankai. These enhance your zanpakutou and your ability to use the sword to the full extent of your ability.”

“Huh. How do I learn this… shikai, and bankai?”

“Shikai will be easy enough. You simply need to learn how to contact the spirit of your Zanpakutou… It happens at different rates for everyone. The current captain of the eleventh division has not yet even done this, despite being one the best swordsmen in the Gotei 13.”

“Gotei 13?”

Yoruichi sighed heavily.

When Karin and Yoruichi were finished with their exercises, she was allowed a short break and food. While they ate, Karin looked up at the dark skinned woman.

“So… I'm going to this Seireitei place in a couple of days, right?”

“S'what Kisuke told me,” The woman shrugged.

“What's it like?”

“Eh.” Yoruichi stopped eating and looked up. “Well, the architecture is nothing like you see on Earth. It's more like what you'd expect to find in a history book.”

“Hmm… well, I guess that kind of makes sense…”

“The customs are like that too, but there are quite a few modern conveniences too. Things that were too good to ignore… lavatories, for one. Clocks too… a bunch of little stuff like that.” Karin nodded.

“So then… what's the atmosphere like?”

“Hmm… well, that depends on whatever division you get into, and who it's captain is…”

“Really? How so?”

“Like I said before, each division of the Gotei 13 has a different focus, so coincidentally, different kinds of people usually get sent to a specific division depending on their personalities. For example, the twelfth division, which Kisuke was once part of, is focused on scientific research and inventing things to aid shinigami, as well as monitoring Rukongai and Earth with computers.”

Karin scrunched up her face in confusion.

“They have computers?”

“Of course they do,” Yoruichi said. “Why wouldn't they?”

“I don't know… nevermind.” She shook her head.

“Anyway… as you can imagine, the twelfth division is filled with geeks and nerds of all kinds.” The woman snickered.

“Urahara is a nerd? Wait.” Karin frowned. “I can see it. Okay. What other divisions are there?”

At the end of the day, Yoruichi and Karin climbed back up into the shop, Karin asked how the next few days would proced.

“Tomorrow, you'll be working with Tessai on Kidou. The day after that will be a review of everything you've learned here, and we'll try to make sure you remember everything a Shinigami should know upon graduating the academy.”

“Oh. Hey, thanks for all of this. If it weren't for you guys, I'd probably still be sitting at home, wasting away in front of the TV…” She blinked suddenly, as if remembering something. “Speaking of which, er, can I go see my family before I go to this Seireitei place?”

“Oh… um, ask Kisuke about that,” The woman said. Karin raised an eyebrow at the way she'd reacted to the question. Was that… a bit of guilt?

“Why? What's wrong?” She asked, getting suspicious.

“Like I said, ask him.” She turned and started walking away. “I've got some stuff to take care of, all right, kid? Take it easy,”

“Uh… yeah… you too…” Karin watched her leave the shop and sighed. “Hmm… so tomorrow is Kidou, huh? I'm going to be learning real magic spells.” She started laughing, but her stomach interrupted it with some sharp pains. “Oh, damn. I'm hungry. Time for dinner I guess…”

---

The next day proceeded much like the previous one had…

“Um, so there's two kinds of Kidou…”

The big, muscular man standing before her repositioned his glasses.

“That is correct. There are Bakudou and Hadou. Each have different spells that are number ranked from 1 to 99. The higher the number, the more difficult and effective the spell. I will be teaching you a bit of theory for the first part of this training session, which will be followed up by some demonstrations and finally teaching you the most basic of kidou.”

“Okay then…”

---

Finally, it was the last day before she was to be sent to Seireitei.

“Why can't I go see my family?” Karin demanded when they were eating dinner.

“They don't exactly know you're going to Seireitei,” the man said, shrugging. Karin blinked and her eyes widened.

“W-wait. So that means… they don't know where I am?!”

“I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. It's being taken care of, okay?”

“But… how can I not worry about this!? My family must be worried sick! You're crazy!”

“No, they're not,” The shop owner said with a smile. “They don't even realize you're gone yet.”

“You're insane! I can't believe… wait, what?”

“They don't know you're gone. What, I never told you about Gikongan?” He looked a bit surprised. “I was sure we'd gone over that… Hummm…”

“Gikongan?”

“Stick it in your mouth, and your body works on its own while you're away,” He said. “Comes in different flavors and with a few different dispensers.” He held up a few and she cringed.

“A duck and a rabbit? Hey, that looks like a candy dispenser.”

“It is,” He smiled. “Anyway, yeah, no. You can't go see your family.”

“Huh… well, I guess they'd try to stop me from doing this…”

---

The next morning, Urahara and the other inhabitants of his shop brought her down into the big room and took her to a section she had not been in before. There was a massive doorway with traditional shoji screen doors that she hadn't noticed before.

“Well, this is it,” Karin said. She looked around at the people who had overseen her training for the past week. “When I get strong enough, I will have my revenge.” The three elder shinigami had a laugh at that.

“Of course you will,” Kisuke smiled.

“I look forward to seeing your improvement.” Tessai said.

“Psh, you'll never catch up to me,” Jinta snorted folded his arms behind his head. “Punk.”

“Ah… sorry…” Ururu blushed and looked down.

“Oi, kid,” Karin looked up at Yoruichi. “You take care of yourself, you hear?” The younger shinigami nodded.

“All right, your instructions for what to do when you get there…” Kisuke pulled a manila folder from god knows where, and handed it over to her. “All of your documents and instructions are in there. Remember to keep up your training. Practice what we've shown you, try to learn from other people. Do what you came here to do.” She nodded at him, then turned to face the doorway as the doors opened. A black butterfly came through the door and started flying around.

“That will be your guide to the spirit world.”

“Okay.” Karin nodded. Then turned her head to look at him. “Wait… long will I be in Seireitei?”

“A few minutes.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, confused. Her answer was a swift kick to her rear and she flew into the open door with the black butterfly. “URAHARA!” She screamed as she disappeared behind the closing door.

“Well… try to enjoy yourself.”

----

NOTES: To those of you who read it before, I got rid of a few scenes because they don't contribute to the overall story yet. You'll see those later on, so don't worry.