A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late updates. I was trying to rush my way through Chasing, which is done now, yay, and also planning the sequel, which should be up sometime this weekend if I get my way. I also outlined some of the rest of Trials, so hopefully we'll start to see some developments on that front. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.

Chapter 5: The way we fight

Ongetsu flashed through the air, its black blade reflecting sunlight as it sliced straight through the mask of the Hollow rushing at her. Karin didn't waste any time, grabbing the scythe by the shaft and spinning around to attack a Hollow that was coming up behind her. She let out a loud cry, kicking the Hollow in the side with her foot and turning its face away as she raised her scythe overhead, bringing it down hard on top of the Hollow. The Hollow roared as Ongetsu bisected it, the creature already beginning to dissolve. Karin landed on the ground, tossing her sweat-soaked hair out of her face as she paused to catch her breath. She could still feel Ongetsu humming with energy between her fingertips, the zanpakuto wanting more opponents to fight. Karin suppressed that urge, glancing back over her shoulder as a pair of Eleventh Division members passed her on either side, swords out and shouting.

The Eleventh had been called to deal with a Hollow outbreak on the outskirts of a city in the world of the living. As always, most of its members had jumped at the task. Zaraki and Yachiru hadn't come —the Hollows in question had been too weak to interest either of them—although Ikkaku and Yumichika were there, supervising. Karin scanned the battlefield, pausing to catch her breath. Within the first twenty minutes of battle, the group of Eleventh Division shinigami had managed to cut the number of Hollows down by half, but there was still quite a few of them. She rubbed at her shoulder where a Hollow had crashed into her, looking for somewhere she could jump into the fight.

A cry of pain rang out through the battlefield, and Karin's eyes widened as she glanced in that direction. A shinigami, one of the unseated ones, had been knocked back by a Hollow, one that was quickly advancing on him. He was bleeding from a wound in the shoulder, and he struggled to get up as the Hollow advanced, one hand on his sword. She moved quickly, flash-stepping towards him.

Karin appeared on the ground a few feet away from the man, her hand on Ongetsu's shaft. She landed on the ground, prepared to take another flash-step.

Ikkaku and Yumichika appeared in front of her suddenly, blocking her way. She drew to a stop, her eyes wide as she stumbled forward, nearly falling over in an attempt to avoid crashing into them. Her eyes moved past them to the shinigami in front of them, the one struggling to stand. The Hollow was almost on top of him now, snarling at him. As Karin watched, the shinigami raised his sword, barely getting the blade up in time as the Hollow crashed down on top of him, its jaws closing around the steel of the katana. The shinigami's eyes were wide in terror as he tried to push the Hollow back.

"You guys—!" Karin began, turning towards Ikkaku and Yumichika.

Ikkaku looked over his shoulder at her, scowling. Yumichika did the same, a frown on his face.

"What do you think you're doing, Karin-chan?" Yumichika asked.

"That guy needs help!" said Karin, looking past the two of them and at the struggling shinigami. The shinigami was sitting up, struggling with the Hollow. He had both hands on his sword now, but his left hand was obviously weaker than the right, and it wouldn't take long for the Hollow to overpower him. THe creature slashed at him with its claws as it pressed forward, sensing that too.

"Fights should be one-on-one," said Ikkaku. "He won't like it if you interfere with his fight."

"But, he'll die—," Karin began.

"Then, let him die," said Yumichika with a shrug, looking back at the fight. "There's no place in this Division for unbeautiful weaklings."

"Yumichika!" said Karin, gripping her scythe with both hands. She stepped forward, about to try and push through anyway, when Ikkaku stopped her, Houzukimaru's spear form blocking her way.

"This is how we fight!" said Ikkaku, his eyes narrowed at her. "If you don't like it, you can leave."

Karin stared at Ikkaku, looking past him at the shinigami. The Hollow had nearly overpowered him now, and he was sliding backwards across the ground, fighting to keep a hold on his sword. Karin tightened her grip on Ongetsu's shaft, her eyes wide as the Hollow charged at him. The shinigami fell backwards, gritting his teeth as he stared at the Hollow from over his crossed swords.

Then, something changed. His eyes narrowed, and he let out a loud shout, sliding his sword out from between the Hollow's jaws. The Hollow reared back, mouth open to strike, but before it could get there, the shinigami's sword slipped just under its neck, thrusting upwards and piercing its skull. For a moment, they stood frozen in time, Hollow and shinigami, and then the Hollow began to dissolve, falling away around the shinigami's sword with a crack like breaking glass.

The shinigami slumped back onto the ground, breathing hard. In that instant, two other shinigami appeared on either side of him, helping him up to his feet.

Karin's grip on Ongetsu relaxed just slightly as she watched the three of them, her heart still pounding. In front of her, Yumichika sheathed his sword with a satisfied smile. "See?" he said. "He gets it."

Karin didn't respond, her eyes still on the scene. Even long after the fight was over, she couldn't suppress her feeling of unease.

It was late in the day by the time the group of fighters returned to the Eleventh Division. The shinigami who had been involved in the fight, along with some of the others who had been injured, were quickly sent to the Fourth. Karin's own injuries consisted of a gash along her arm where one of the Hollow's teeth had grazed her. She'd bandaged it herself while they were resting after the battle, tugging the bandages tight with her teeth. Right now it stung, but it wasn't enough to bother the Fourth Division over, and Karin didn't feel like making her way over there in any case.

She walked into the Division quietly, her eyes fixed straight ahead of her. Her mood had been sour since the incident with the shinigami and Hollow, for reasons even she couldn't put her finger on. The shinigami around her seemed to sense that, and she walked in a little pocket of space, the others flowing around her and giving her a wide berth. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered Karin, but now it seemed to grate on her.

Wasn't she one of them?

"Look at her," a voice muttered, a hand gesturing in her direction. "Thinks she's so tough, just because she's an officer."

Karin came to a stop, glancing over at the speaker. It was Nakashima Yoshito, the shinigami she had put in his place her first day in the Eleventh. He was seated in the corner of the division's main hall with a group of his friends, a pair of dice on the floor between them. When he saw her glaring, he tensed and quickly turned back to his game, letting out an annoyed 'tch'. Karin exhaled, considering letting it go, but the other shinigami around her had come to a stop as well, watching the situation. She straightened up, knowing that they were all watching her.

She crossed the distance between her and Nakashima. "You talk big for someone who wasn't even out there today, Nakashima," she said, coming up behind him.

Nakashima snorted, tossing his dice with an annoyed flick of his hand as he looked over his shoulder at her. "At least I wasn't there to see you cry over Tominaga, 17th Seat."

Tominaga. So that was his name.

Karin scowled, annoyed both at herself and the fact that news about her behavior had already had time to come back. She kicked out, planting her foot between Nakashima's shoulder blades and driving him forward into the floor. "Keep that up," she said as she stood there, "And we'll see if anyone'll be there to cry over you."

She pulled away from him, turning around and walking away. The group of shinigami around her parted, giving her a straight path through to the door. As she neared it, she heard Nakashima push himself back off the floor, rubbing at his jaw as he looked over at her. "Che," he said. "You talk tough, but we all know you're a weakling on the inside."

Karin said nothing, not turning around to face him. She felt the tension in the air deepen, crackling between her and Nakashima as thirty pairs of eyes turned towards her. Karin's hand tightened its grip on her sword, but she didn't turn around. Instead, she started walking again.

"See?" Nakashima said to the others. "She won't even face me."

"I'm not in the mood for another boring fight," said Karin, continuing to walk. When she heard Nakashima get to his feet, she glanced to the side, at the group of shinigami around her. "Someone shut him up before I kill him."

She didn't hear any more from Nakashima as she turned away, heading down the corridor towards her room. Karin had only gone a few steps before she changed her mind, turning around and heading for the Tenth instead.

Karin lay on her back with her fingers laced together behind her head, watching the way the sunlight filtered in beneath the awning above her. In the courtyard ahead, a group of shinigami from the Tenth moved in unison, executing a few team maneuvers Toshiro had recently come up with. Karin watched them idly, trying not to look like she was paying too much interest. The group didn't move through their drills with the same exact orderly precision that she had seen in the Sixth Division, but they moved like a team, each member finding ways to support the others. She watched as a shinigami dived in front of another to block a strike coming from a third, a frown on her face as their wooden swords clacked together.

"Kurosaki, over here!"

A boy shouted at her from the other side of the field, kicking a soccer ball ahead of him. Karin glanced in his direction, breathing hard from exertion. Her muscles burned with exhaustion, and the sun beat down on her, her sweaty clothes sticking to her skin. The game had been going on for seventy minutes now, and most of the players on the field had been moving for at least that long. She could already feel herself starting to lag, but her teammate's eyes were on hers, and she could tell that he was having as hard of a time of it as she was. She grit her teeth, spurring herself onward and forcing herself to run faster as she picked up a burst of speed, darting past the two opposing players starting to close in on her. The other player wove between an angry looking opponent, sending the ball her way with a shout.

Karin looked around and was aware of only a few things, the ball moving towards her in an arc, the two players closing in behind her, a defender up ahead, and the goalie up ahead of her, crouched down and waiting. The two players behind her closed in, they were faster than her, they would reach her, they would—

"Yamamura!" Karin shouted, glancing quickly to her left. Just as the two players reached her, she kicked the ball, sending it to a brown-haired boy just ahead. Karin fell back as he put on a burst of speed, rushing towards the goalie.

The ball sailed past the goalie's outstretched arms, striking the corner of the net. The next thing Karin knew, people were cheering...

The memory, nearly seven years old, stuck with her and Karin turned away from the practicing shinigami, staring up at the ceiling. The game had been one of her last, back in the last year of junior high. The players she had played with then would have graduated high school already. They would be in university, perhaps on their way to careers and families of their own.

It wasn't the first time she'd felt frozen in time.

"Karin?" asked Toshiro, looking up from supervising the drills to turn towards her. "Something wrong?"

"Do you think I'm weak, Toshiro?"

Karin hadn't meant to ask that question, but it slipped out anyway. Now that she had said it, there was nothing to do but wait for his answer. She turned her head to the side so that she could see him, watching him expectantly. Toshiro blinked in surprise, looking back at her. "No," he said. "Of course not. Why do you ask?"

Karin shook her head, looking back up at the ceiling. "Something that happened today," she said. "When we were out fighting Hollows. One of our unseated shinigami got in some trouble, so I went to go help him. Apparently, the other guys had a problem with that."

Problem was an understatement. She could still see Ikkaku and Yumichika's faces, still hear their words in the back of her mind.

"This is how we fight! If you don't like it, you can leave..."

Karin sat up, drawing her knees up in front of her and resting her arms on them. She turned towards Toshiro, who was still watching her. He seemed to have ignored the drill now, a frown on his face like he was trying to think of the words to say. Karin tilted her head towards him questioningly, waiting.

"I don't think you're weak," said Toshiro finally, looking back at the practicing shinigami. "You're a team player, Karin. You've always been. That doesn't make you weak. It just makes you different, that's all."

Different.

Karin looked back at the shinigami, the frown still on her face. Up until today, she had never questioned her place in the Eleventh Division. True, she didn't have the same drive to seek out fights that some of the other guys in the Division did, but she enjoyed being there. Every day was a new challenge, another part of the competition.

Today, however...

She shook her head, her eyes on the shinigami as they continued to move in harmony, the two teams charging each other as they moved apart and came together again.

TO BE CONTINUED

Omake: Masa and Kohaku's Shinigami Corner

"Masa?" asks Kohaku, frowning as she looks up at the title with a paintbrush in her hand. "Did you change the title already?"

"I thought if I did it, I could stop you from including something embarrassing," says Masa, lowering his pen. "At any rate, since our set has been destroyed, we'll be hosting this episode in the interview room."

"Yeah, who were those kids anyway?" asks Kohaku, glancing at the hole in the set.

"We may never know," says Masa.

They take a seat on the couches in the interview room, where Yuzu and Karin are already waiting. The twins are sitting on opposite sides of Masa and Kohaku, and while Yuzu looks nervous, Karin simply looks bored. Masa turns towards the audience. "For this episode of the Shinigami Corner," he says, "we've invited characters from the main story to form a discussion panel."

Kohaku nods. "Today, it's our favorite twins—Kurosaki Yuzu and Kurosaki Karin! And the subject of discussion for today is...similarities!" She looks up from the card she's reading, looking between the sisters. "You two don't actually have much in common, you know."

"Sure we do," says Karin, looking between her and Yuzu. "We're both loyal."

Yuzu nods. "Determined," she adds.

"And reckless," says Karin.

"What?" Yuzu turns towards her sister, eyes wide. "I'm not reckless."

Karin gives her a flat look. "Kyoka. Suigetsu," she says, folding her arms. "Kyoka freaking Suigetsu."

"That's different. That was planned."

"A reckless plan is still reckless!" says Karin. "And by the way, any plan that ends with 'and then I die and everyone lives happily ever after after eventually getting over my terrible death' is not a good plan!"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Yuzu mutters, looking away.

"While you two might not have much in common with each other, you do share a lot in common with your brother, Kurosaki Ichigo," Masa notes.

"Yeah," says Kohaku, nodding. "For example, Yuzu-chan inherited his 'make every fight as dramatic as possible' shtick."

"And also his 'charge blindly into danger because something-something-protect everyone!" says Karin, folding her arms.

"I'm never going to live this down, am I, Karin-chan?" asks Yuzu, turning towards her.

"Hell no. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this one," said Karin. "And also about the fact that your powers just come up as the plot demands. I mean, come on. Where did that whole 'Jungetsu can see through Kyoka Suigetsu's illusions' thing come from?"

"Um..." Yuzu begins.

"And Hakkyokan Jungetsu?! What was up with that?!"

"U-Urahara-san..." Yuzu starts.

"First, you're like 'I don't want a bankai'. Then, you're like, 'Urahara, bankai me, now!'. You know, some of us had to work for that. Do you know what On would do if I tried to pull that shit? Because it wouldn't be pretty."

"A-Anyway, what about Karin-chan?" asks Yuzu, obviously uncomfortable with this topic. "She has a lot of things in common with Ichi-nii too!"

"Well they're both athletic," says Masa. Karin nods.

"Both kind of rough around the edges," adds Kohaku. Karin nods.

"Both really oblivious when it comes to romance." Karin nods—then her eyes widen as she looks up.

"And yet, I'm the one who's single," says Yuzu, sighing.

"Well, gee, maybe because 'hiding my feelings for ten years, then leaving a love letter right before I go off on a suicide mission' is not an appropriate method of courtship!" says Karin.

"You're questioning a lot of my life decisions today, Karin-chan..."

"I have so many feelings."

"A-Anyway," says Kohaku. "They're—uh...both not afraid to back down from a fight, although that's kind of a common trait to all three Kurosakis."

"They both have an immense amount of spiritual power," says Masa.

"Visually similar bankais," Kohaku adds.

"And the tendency to get their clothes completely damaged in a fight."

"No lie, that's why I wear sarashi," says Karin, tugging at her shihakusho. "It preserves my modesty, while making me look badass."

"I just try not to get hit," says Yuzu, frowning in thought and looking up at the ceiling. "Although maybe that's just a 'me' thing."

"Was that...was that sarcasm?" asks Karin, blinking at Yuzu.

"Turnabout is fair play."

Q & A Time

"Hello, lovely readers," says Kohaku, smiling at the audience. "Next chapter, we're going to start bringing special characters over to answer your questions. Our first guests are fan favorites and awesome love interests, Kuchiki Byakuya and Hitsugaya Toshiro. So ask away! Anything within this AU or outside of it is totally fair game, except for things that haven't actually happened yet. See you next time! Bye bye~"

"Iwase!" Masa says from the distance as the set lights go out. "Don't sign off like that! It gives the audience unpleasant memories."

"What?" asks Kohaku. "Just because I'm in the Third, and I'm from Rukongai, and my best friend is a brown-haired, brown-eyed illusionist that everyone loves? You think that would give the audience unpleasant memories?"

"Just...just don't make it worse," Masa says.

The Future. Again.

"Well, at least we know it works," said Kisuke, standing alone in the underground chamber.

"Know it works?" Yoruichi repeated, advancing on him. "Kisuke, you lost our son!"

"He'll come back," said Kisuke, turning towards her.

"And Kayo was with him!" said Yoruichi, her hands on her hips. "What am I supposed to tell Byakuya, huh? He already hates me!"

"He has another kid," said Kisuke, blinking up at her in confusion.

"That's not how it works!" said Yoruichi. "And again—you lost Eisuke!"

"Don't worry, Yoruichi-san, it'll be fine," said Kisuke, waving his hand dismissively. "These things have a way of working out."

"Oh?" asked Yoruichi. "These things have a way of working out? What do you expect, Kisuke?! Eisuke's just going to pop up right here?!" She swept out her hand, gesturing emphatically at the space next to her.

Poof!

"EISUKE!" Kisuke surged forward in delight, wrapping his arms around the little boy as he stood there, blinking. Yoruichi's eyes widened, and she stared at the two of them.

"I give up," she said, putting her hand against her forehead. "You're both the same..."