Am back again! XD I have been such busy with AMV's and Digimon lately that I haven't got any inspiration to write..sorry! But I guess I have to finish this story, right? Only 1 chapters left after this one! And this one is for sure longer than any other chapter! I promise!
If you're feeling lost on the story and all, don't worry! A sequel is going to show up, and it's called "More Than A Memory"
I have one OC that is going to have little major part in the sequel along with my other, so if you want, please check them out on specialdivisions-webs-com (without the dashes!)
But now on with the story!
Uh? What's this? Something feels..soft..
I woke up harshly and felt that something fell off me and it rolled on the floor. Something..soft..and black and not bigger than a hand. Slowly, I crawled myself out of the bed and crept closer to the black, soft thing. What was it? But right before I could touch it, my door flew open.
"KARIN! WATCH OUT! WE HAVE AN ANIMAL LOOSE!" Typical Ichigo..barging in to the room without thinking. While I focused on the running thing called Ichigo, the little black thing moved again.
"AAAH! THERE HE IS! CATCH HIM!" What does it help to scream?
"Calm down Ichi-nii, what's the problem?" I said and stood up.
"He's the problem." Ichigo said and pointed at the black thing on the floor.
"And it is?"
"A bat."
"A what?" I asked, not understanding fully.
"A bat Karin, you know those blood-sucking animals that are said to be vampyres in disguise." Ichigo explained.
"I'm not that dumb, but how come a bat is here?"
"Bats is not vampyres in disguise. They're a symbol for the vampyres since they have a similar way too feed themselves with blood." A voice come from nowhere.
"Skip that lesson, Kuroi." Another voice said. "It's not like he's going to understand anyways."
"I heard you two!" Ichigo replied. "Come here and get your stupid pet before I use him as a doormat!"
"He's not a pet Ichigo-san!" A black haired boy with yellow eyes said and came in. "He's my zanpakutou."
"As I said before Kuroi, he's not going to listen." The other voice said and a red haired boy with ice-blue eyes walked in. "You have told him the same things over and over the last hours."
"But Taida-taichou..right should be right..right?" The boy named Kuroi said.
"Not this case." The captain said.
"Have you dyed your hair Toushirou?" I asked. This boy look almost exactly as Toushirou, except for having longer and more loose hair.
"NO! And I'm not that brat!" The boy replied sharply.
"Uh, sorry! I thought you looked just like.." I tried to say but was interrupted.
"What's up with everyone today?! Everyone are calling me that brats name!"
"I said I was sorry, okay?!" I almost shouted. God, this one was a stubborn one.
"Please put this in your memory – Eikyuu Taida, captain of the 1st Special Division." The boy, now named Taida, said and were awfully near my face and looked like he wanted to destroy something.
"Yes sir." I replied automatically.
"Good." Taida said and looked at Ichigo now. "Now that Kuroi has taken back his zanpakutou, we can get to business." The black haired boy was in full action to catch the black thing that was supposed to be a bat..or I don't know..
"The sou-taichou has given the Special Divisions to train your little sister in order to fully be able to control her zanpakutou spirit." Taida spoke up again and turned his head at me. "Are you okay with that?"
"I guess I have no other choice." I replied and I thought I saw a smile on his lips.
"Great. We're starting today as soon as you're ready." He said and took the other boy with him when he walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry if this is rushing you Karin, but I had no choice..sorry." Ichigo apologized.
"Why're you sorry for dummy?" I said and slapped his back. "It's awesome to finally be able to control Setsuhen! So get your ass out of my room so I can change!" I pushed him towards the door and checked it was completly shut before changing in to my new outfit that they left for me – a light grey shinigami outfit instead of a black one. They had this colour to not be compared to the other shinigami's, not that they were high up in space because of that, but it helped them to show that they really was from the Special Divisions.
I walked out of the 5th Divisions quaters and saw that Taida and Kuroi were waiting for me.
"Hello again." I greeted them.
"Hey" They both answered.
"Kurosaki Karin by the way." I stretched out my hand and they shaked it with pleasure.
"Eikyuu Taida"
"Kuroi, may I call you Karin-san?" The black haired boy asked.
"Karin is fine thanks."
"No it's only normal for a low ranked shinigami to respect other, and you're Ichigo-sans little sister too."
"Yeah yeah, do what ever you want." I said and smiled.
"Come one guys, we don't have all the day." Taida said and started to walk. I followed him with Kuroi on my left side.
"So how's the training going to be?" I asked out of curiousity.
"It can be hard or easy, depends on how much you trust your zanpakutou." Taida answered.
"Oh okay." I said.
"You're going to spar against me, Kuroi and Sasumi." With a nervous but exciting feeling we walked in silence the rest of the way.
As we reached the training grounds of the Special Divisions, I was introduced to Sasumi – the third seat of the 1st Special Division. She was a nice girl with a lot on her mind and awesome green fingers! She takes care of the whole garden in the Special Divisions, she says it's because of her zanpakutou – the ability to create rain and storms anywhere.
She was also hard to beat when sparring, she has some great reflexes. Even though looking fragile and weak sometimes and remembering me of Hinamori-fuku-taichou, she has no fear of the enemy. Luckly, I found a weak spot in her pattern, the rain could easily be dodged if knowing where to hit on the sword, but I did not use that advantage. I tried many times to use Setsuhens powers but it seemed as it was gone, I couldn't even hear its voice anymore.
"I can't hear its voice anymore." I said while panting. "And it feels like my powers are fading.."
"Hmm.." Taida tilted his head and looked at me.
"What?" I asked. It was kinda annoying to have a shorty to stare at me.
"Yuurei!" He shouted and a lightbrown haired girl came out of the house that stood beside the training grounds.
"Yes taichou?" She answered.
"Take a look at the girl." He said and pointed his thumb a me.
"Of course." She answered and walked over to me.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Yuurei has the unique ability to feel what others feel so I guess she can answer your question why you're feeling like your powers are fading." Taida explained. "That's the reason why her zanpakutou can merge itself in to almost any weapon, but of course, it depends on what reiatsu she's using. It's often mine since I'm nearby."
"So.." I began but Yuurei kindly interrupted me.
"You can call it that I have the power to merge my reiatsu with others and transform them in to different weapons." She smiled and for a moment I though she was some kind of angel with that innocent smile and I finally relaxed and let myself be inspected.
I felt a cold hand touch my forehead and some kind of cool reiatsu merging together with mine and I slowly closed my eyes. The light surrounded me again as it used to.
I felt the grass I used to lay on when I visited Setsuhen, maybe she took me there? No..it's more that she helps me find it. As I tried to turn around, a flash of white was seen and I understood that it had to be Setsuhen, but why was he running? The sky that used to be bright blue was now all dark and no stars were seen. Something had happened to this place, but what?
"R-n, Karin, d--'t l-t h-m t—e y-o."
"Setsuhen? Is that you?" I said out loud and I guess Taida and the others heard me.
"Well well..what does we have here?" Another voice appeared. It wasn't in this world. It was outside.
I snapped my eyes open and I saw a brownhaired man standing in the middle of the training grounds in a weird white robe of some kind.
Both Taida, Kuroi, Sasumi,Yuurei, Arizu and some more people that I didn't know had their swords pointed at him. He must be the bad guy.
"My my..what's up with the commotion?" He smiled a smile so creepy that I felt myself shiver. Who was this guy?
"Traitor – Aizen Sousuke. What makes you come here?" Taida hissed and made the Aizen guy smile more.
"What do you think?" He said and brought his hand up and pointed at me. At me?! What does he want me for?
"Her of course."
"You don't dare to lay a hand on her." Sasumi hissed with the same strenght as Taida.
"I'm not going to lay a hand on her. She will come to me soon enough." Aizen said.
"What makes you think that I'm going to follow you?!" I snarled and gave him a glare but it did not work as well as I thought.
"I have your zanpakutou spirit." He said and smiled more widely.
"You damn bastard!"
"Karin! NO!" I lunged forward in hope to hit him but as I expected, I missed but I was soon up again and looked him in the eyes. Once again I tried to him but missed, the only difference this time was that he put his hand over my face as I fell towards the ground.
"You will soon come to me Karin-chan." I barely heard his last words before he disappeared, I was too occupied with breathing normally. I felt a huge head ache coming and my breathing became more unsteadier the more it hurted. My eyes went wide open and I saw the light again which surrounded me and swallowed me. I don't know if the others saw the same thing but for some reason, I found myself staring out of a window, in to a black sky. Before I could recognize myself where I was, I heard a familiar voice coming from the room next door. What I saw, or more who I saw was a shock, Aizen again, and he was talking to a man with short, grey-white hair and closed eyes.
"I hope you did a good job with surpressing her memories." Aizen spoke up.
"I did my job for sure. What'd ya thinking? Do ya distrust me Aizen-sama?" The other man replied.
"Of course not my dear Ichimaru. I was just wondering." Aizen smiled his creepy smile again.
"Well well, it was such a lucky thing that ya found her before she came to Soul Society."
"Yeah, it's such a lucky thing.." The scene disappeared and I was back to reality..or what I thought was reality. I don't know myself anymore..everything comes back..every memory..his face..I lunged myself up and stopped only to see where I was. I saw Taidas, Yuureis and Sasumis shocked faces and all I could say was a whisper before I ran off.
"I'm sorry.."
It felt like I had been running forever. I couldn't stop. I don't know why, but if I stopped I may hurt someone. Someone, no not someone. Him. Only him would be hurt. The only one I didn't want to be hurt. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I ran. I wanted to be as far as I could away from him.
I was controlled by Aizen..no, Setsuhen was controlled by Aizen. I remember it, I remember a scream..begging for help. How useless I was then, I could have done something. The reason why I was unconscious for so many years was because of Aizen. He surpressed my memories about Toushirou, the one he had the best relationship with, and knowing that my dead would affect him just because I was Ichi-niis sister, but more so, if I remembered everyone else but him, would affected him more. Aizen had this plan from the beginning. From the second the hollow appeared to now. Does he know that I'm running away? That I don't want to hurt Toushirou? I remember everything, but I can still not understand!
Normal POV
Taida and the others sat on the floor and discussed where Karin could have went when a new figure appeared at the threshold.
"What are you doing here?" Taida spoke up and gave the white haired taichou a glare.
"Where's Karin?" A silence fell over the room as he asked the question.
"She's..gone." Sasumi replied quietly.
"What do you mean 'she's gone' ?" Toushirou asked angrily.
"Aizen showed up, I think you know it by now and I don't know what happen but she fell unconscious and when she woke up she just ran off with a 'I'm sorry'." Taida answered calmly.
"I know he showed up, that's the reason I'm here baka!"
"You don't have to yell at me just because of that! It's not our fault!" Taida shouted back.
"You are the only ones of the divisions that have not seen his zanpakutou, because of that, you can't fell under his spells." Toushirou hissed.
"I'm perfectly aware of that, but it has nothing to do with it. Go and find Karin instead, that's our mission at the moment." Taida hissed back.
"Don't tell me what to do, you have no authory over me. You're only a captain."
"So are you." A glare contest started between the two captains and it seemed to have no end when a voice suddenly broke through.
"Stop..it..both of..you.." Yuurei hissed. "Now go and get the things you have to do before I get angry! All this negative feelings are driving me insane!"
"Yes mum." The boys said and went off.
"Where is she? If Aizen shows up now, I don't know what to do..he's not going to take away someone from me again!" Toushirou ran through the gates of Seireitei and went out in to the forests of Rukongai. He remembered what the sou-taichou had told them.
""Remember, the highest priority is to find Kurosaki-chan and protect her. Understood?" Why shouldn't he protect her? Everything was her at the moment. His life.
"From what I've heard from Eikyuu-taichou and Arehateta-fuku-taichou, she has some powers to control time within a limit, but that she has for the moment lost the contact with her zanpakutou spirit. She's very unstable now." She has been unstable since she woke up. Every moment she was with me or saw me, something trigged her memory. Everytime, she lost some contact with her spirit. What ever Aizen did to her, I'm not going to hand her over, and this time I'm going to keep my promise."
Karin stopped running and fell down under a tree. She was panting and exhausted. Even though being a shinigami, she was too exhausted.
"What's going on?" Karin said to herself. "I don't know myself anymore..all I want..all I see..is his dead body.." She buried her head in her knees and shivered.
"I want this to stop..I want to wake up..this is only a nightmare...it's only a dream..I want to wake up.."
At the same time Toushirou felt someones reiatsu but he wasn't sure if it was Aizens or Karins. He turned left by the next intersection and followed the small amount of reiatsu he felt.
I hope..I know it's Karin. It has to be Karin..
Toushirou speeded up to make sure to be there in time if something happens.
Karin heard footsteps coming closer, but for some reason she couldn't move her body. It didn't respond on her actions. By the time she lifted her head up she saw him coming. The white hair couldn't be mistaken.
"Why..him?" She asked herself and let a shiver go through her body once again. In no time at all, she felt the fabric of his haori embrace her and gave her some warmth back.
"You're cold." He told her and when she looked him in the eyes she saw for the first time, that they were full of concern.
"Why are you here? You shouldn't be.." Karin said back but clutched the haori tighter.
"I'm here for you." He answered and Karins eyes went wide.
"Don't..lie to me..Toushirou.."
"Why should I?" He raised an eyebrow at her reply.
"We both know that Aizen is after me! It's not safe for you to be here!"
"I'm a captain, I'm perfectly able to fight."
"But not against time."
"What?" Toushirou asked in confusion.
"I said: But not against time." Karin repeated.
"She's right Hitsugaya-kun." A voice said and Aizen appeared behind them. "No one can fight against time, but only one can control time.
"You!" Toushirou snarled and gave him a glare. "You better not lay a finger on her.."
"I'm afraid I can't my dear Hitsugaya-kun. She's going to do all the job by herself." Aizen said and smirked.
"And what makes you think that?"
"Release your powers Karin." Aizen pointed a finger at Karin who immediately snapped her closed eyes open.
"Bastard..what did you do to her!?" Toushirou shouted and pointed his drawn sword at Aizen.
"Oh nothing..nothing special." Aizen smirked again before he shot a kidou-spell against Toushirou.
"I'm sorry, but I think this is the last farwell." Toushirous eyes shot wide open as he watched the spell coming right towards him. No time to run..
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!"
"What now?"
"Ukabu, Setsuhen!" Karin shouted and the air was filled with a huge amount of snowflakes which swirled around Karins blade and formed a thin layer of ice while it still sparkled of snowflakes. The wind didn't stop even though the blade transformation was done. The power of Setsuhen was released.
"You don't dare to touch him." Karin hissed and whispered some words.
"Toki ni nagare, teisisuru!" The world turned bright white and when it disappeared and regained her mind, she saw that Aizen was nowhere to seen. The world seemed less colourful. As she turned around she saw something that shocked her. The kidou spell was long gone, but Toushirou was still there. Frozen with the same expression he had before she released Setsuhen. A expression between fear, anger and surprise.
"What have I done?" She asked herself quietly. She walked to Toushirou and caressed his chin and felt a stream of sadness flowing through her.
This was all her fault. Even though she wanted to avoid this to happen, she still hurted the one she loved most. Wait? Loved..?
Karin felt the tears dwell up in her eyes as she clutched his haori tighter. Yes..she loved him..this was the feeling she had felt before at the roof..love..maybe she even loved her when they first met in the real world?
Maybe..this wouldn't have happened if she haven't met him..
Karin lost the grip of Setsuhen who slowly fell to the ground and disappeared in a dust of snowflakes.
As the time stood still a single tear from Karins eye fell to the ground.
"I..I..love you.."
Ugh! Longest chapter ever! I really hope you like this now.. :D am not sure if the next chapter is as long as this one..but we will see. :)
Please leave a review if you liked it!
By the way: "Ukabu, Setsuhen!" is translated to: "Flow, Snowflake!" and "Toki ni nagare, teisisuru!" is translated to "The flow of time, stop!"
Sorry if my japanese is wrong..