Hey guys! Finally, after nearly two months, I have completed the epilogue. I hope you like it better than the fifteenth chapter. I am ashamed that I wrote so poorly, and in the editing I will make sure to write a longer, action-filled battle.
You guys might be wondering if there will be a sequel. There won't. Why? Because I don't want to. I have other stories to write, and I wouldn't know what to write the sequel about. However, I am thinking of writing little oneshots that pertain with the story, like maybe an adventure during the other months of Toushirou's training Karin or a day at the Academy or something.
As always; Bleach doesn't belong to me!
Enjoy, and please review! :D
With Aizen dead at last, things began to settle. Toushirou completed the six months' training with Karin. During that time, the two of them, along with Ichigo and his friends, managed to destroy half of the Arrancars' numbers making Arrancars almost as rare as they had been before Aizen's interference. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see Karin looking tired every morning from her nightly escapades, but eventually the bags under her eyes disappeared as the attacks occurred less often at night—besides, her brother could handle them.
When it was time for Toushirou to leave, he had mixed feelings. Momo was waiting for him in the Soul Society, home. Karin would be waiting for him in Karakura Town, which had become a sort of vacation home (if one could call it that). How could he face his one-time love? How could he leave the one that held his heart now?
It didn't matter. His time was up, but he'd come back to visit. Toushirou smiled at the thought as he packed his gigai away. Karin would wait, he knew that much. He headed out the door and stopped in the street. Karin smiled from the gate to her house, having followed him.
"Goodbye," she said. "I'll miss you." She attempted to grin, but it turned out strained.
"I'll be back to visit," he promised, producing a true smile from her.
"Good! If you don't, I'll storm into the Soul Society and melt your butt off!" Her facial expression meant every word of it.
"Then I guess I'd better make it soon," he joked as he opened the gate back. He gave a final wave, stepped through the doors, and was gone as they shut behind him.
By the time Karin and Yuzu were twenty-two, Karin was no longer a shinigami. She had suspected that her time was only temporary, and had been proved correct when one day before training, she couldn't step out of her body with a soul candy or by any other means. Yuzu continuously told she was sorry, but Karin knew there was no point in moping over her loss. When she finally died and went to the Soul Society, she'd get them back.
What struck her as odd was why her brother never lost his powers.
"Karin-chan! Look out!" Yuzu screamed suddenly, causing Karin to turn. She had no time to run, and she flinched from the impact. She flew through the air, and blacked out as she landed.
She opened her eyes to find herself in the lava-ceilinged cavern again. "What is this place?" she muttered to herself. "I haven't seen it in years."
"And a good thing too," a deep voice said from behind her. "You're only supposed to be here when you die."
"Honaga?" Karin asked tentatively, turning to see her companion for seven years. She grinned upon seeing her. "From your statement, I guess I'm dead. Why did I see it the first time, though?"
"Your dreams are always weird. Maybe some part of your soul feared death so badly that it thought itself dead. It's the best I can come up with."
Karin twitched at the dragon's words, but brushed them aside. I suppose they can't be all-knowing. "So, I'm dead. What do I do now that I'm here?"
"If you have noticed, this place is beautiful."
"Duh Honaga."
"Don't 'duh' me. Anyway, the jewels and the precious metals represent certain aspects of your life. Your personality, your memories, hopes, and even some dreams. All of them represent a different part of you."
"Okay…?" She was waiting patiently for the fire dragon to finish. Patience wasn't exactly her strong point though.
"You must leave one of them behind."
"What do you mean?" Karin demanded angrily.
"When you reach the Soul Society, usually you will not remember anything from your past life except for an inkling of how you died. But you're a special case… I suspect your brother will be the same when he dies."
"You want me to pick out a part of me that I want to do away with?"
"You're not going to remember—if it's a part of your personality, you'll still have it, sort of. You just won't consciously know about it, and it will affect your life differently. If you don't want your memories, then unfortunately all those will be gone, except perhaps small dejá vù when doing certain things. You give up a part of you, and it will be forgotten. But you must choose what you will give up."
"How long do I have?" Karin asked.
"You have until I come to ask. That will be in seventy-two hours." With that, Honaga flew up through the cavern in a fluid motion.
"There are some memories I could do away with," Karin said thoughtfully, sitting down. "But I think that if I give up one, I have to give up them all. I don't want to forget about my family… or Toushirou.
"My hopes aren't very important now; all I wanted was to be important to someone, play some soccer, and have a good life. I did. But who knows what'll happen if I give that up?"
She paused, thinking. "By my dreams, I'm assuming she means the ones I had while sleeping. Some affected me in more lasting ways than others." Karin thought of the time she had a dream about where someone (it had occurred when she was five) made her choke on leeks, therefore causing her to never eat them again.
"With my personality, I could choose anything. I could make myself forget my shortcomings, but that would affect my good parts. I don't want to erase a part of myself."
She exhaled irritated. "I don't want to do this. But I have to. What should I forget?" How could she choose? Memories? Hopes? Dreams? Personality parts? As she pondered what to do, she strode through the cavern, touching the gems, stroking the veins of the metals, feeling what they stood for, determining their worth. At last, she came up with a choice.
Karin was lying by a glowing pool when she felt the tremor of Honaga's smooth landing. She looked up and gave a smile to her friend.
"You've chosen, I presume?" Honaga asked.
"Yes. I want to forget my dreams. The worst parts of my life, I'd have to say, are my dreams."
"All right. You'll be slightly different, of course, as every part of you is affected by your dreams. But you'll still be you." Immediately, all the copper melted away into nothingness, replaced by the stone floor. "Goodbye, I will see you in the Soul Society."
Karin closed her eyes as the customary tail touched her forehead and she fell asleep.
When she awoke, she found herself sprawled across the ground on top of a hill. Slowly sitting up, she realized it was a place of her memories—it was the hill that she had asked Toushirou to be on her soccer team. Karin gave a wild laugh, remembering how he had been mad at her. "So much has changed," she commented, looking out over the city.
The sun was setting, casting its bright orange glow, making the city look like it had been made from orange. What a pretty sight. I wonder how Yuzu is… She frowned as she thought of her sister. They were twenty-three, almost out of college, and Yuzu had recently been engaged. Who was going to be her Maid of Honor now? Oh well. Yuzu had a lot of friends, so one of them could fill in Karin's place.
Footsteps caused her to jump up, her own feet sliding into a fighting position. Then, upon seeing who it was, she relaxed. "Rukia!" she called out happily, jogging towards her friend. "It's nice to see a familiar face, vice-captain," Karin said, grinning.
Rukia smiled, pleased that Karin had acknowledged her rank. "It's nice to see you're all right. I was in the area, doing a routine checkup on the shinigami posted around here, when I heard that you were no longer one of the living."
"You can say dead, I'm okay with it. I'm just worried about Yuzu."
Rukia was slightly surprised that Karin would be so at ease with being dead, but she supposed that since the young woman had spent her life dealing with the dead, she'd accept death without problems. "Your sister will be fine. She insists that you be careful and wait for her in the Soul Society, whether or not she remembers you. I'm sure, with the way she attempted to revive you that she'll end up on the Fourth Division."
"You think? I think that too."
"Are you ready to go?" Rukia asked quietly.
"Yeah. There isn't a point in saying goodbye, when I know all my brother has to do is ask to see me." They both snickered at that. Captain-Commander had granted Ichigo permission to come to the Soul Society at will, along with any friend he wished. It was a good idea too, because if the orange-haired man wished to enter the Soul Society, he would, legal technicalities done away with.
"Well, okay, good luck. Once you're there, I'd look for the Soul Academy right away and sign up. It's nearing the time they're letting in new students." Gently, she pressed her sword against Karin's forehead. Karin smiled, liking the feeling pouring through her body, and disappeared.
It had taken a while to actually find the entrance to the Soul Academy, but find it she did. First, she had had to figure out which district she was in (she had ended up in the eleventh district—not bad), and from there she had to inquire about the Soul Academy. It turned out she had to head towards the gates into the Seireitei, as each of them had sign up posts. The one closest to her was the very same gate her brother had first approached upon entering. Near the gate was the post, and she signed up. It didn't take much; the shinigami at the gate confirmed that she had spiritual pressure and asked her to form a ball of spirit energy. She complied, even going so far as to bounce the ball up and down and juggle it out of boredom.
Once she was in, she groaned. It was the same old prejudices, except with an ancient twist. The rich nobles ruled the school, other kids from the bad parts of the Rukongai were the troublemakers, and then there were the kids like Karin, who just wanted to get school over with. Karin had to share a dorm room with a girl from the twentieth district, and had grown to like her.
One day before the first class of the day (it was kidou that day) the professor announced that the captains and their vice-captains would be visiting later that week to see who they might like on their division in later years. Many students were excited, as the visit only occurred twice a year. Karin, however, was feeling somewhat nervous. She knew that a few of those ranking members would know her, and most would recognize her last name. What she didn't want was to be called out. One thing she hated was attention and she didn't need the other students to realize exactly who was in their midst. She was content to sit back and go through the entire education without being forced into a high-ranking position before she graduated.
If she was lucky, they would ignore her enough for that long. She just needed to be low profile. Her roommate, Aya Mizushika, liked to color her hair a lot. If she could borrow some of the coloring products, she'd dye her hair a semi-permanent light brown, and she'd put her hair up instead of leaving it down. It had also been a few years since any but Rukia had seen her, and she hoped that they would remember her face as her younger self. Karin figured that Rukia would keep her identity quiet long enough for her to explain her need to finish all of school. She'd already been cheated out of college after all.
Aya made no comment on Karin's request to color her hair. She also let Karin borrow her favorite teal hair tie. "There, now you look unrecognizable!" she exclaimed upon seeing the completed masterpiece.
Karin grinned in thanks. Not only did she adjust her hair, she also tied her pants to the side and had her shirt worn differently than she normally wore it. Now, to see if this works; I hope it does. The two headed for their first class—sword movements.
The first order of the day had been to master the jumping attack. While the class was working on it, Captain Ukitake and Vice-Captain Kuchiki arrived. Rukia looked around with a hopeful look on her face. She knew that Karin had to be around somewhere; after all, nothing could stop Karin when she was on a mission. One of the women looked vaguely like her, but from what she remembered of Karin, she never wore her hair up and her hair was darker. Something told Rukia that the girl in question was a lot stronger than she looked, because she was masking her spiritual pressure so tightly that barely a wisp could be sensed. She was strong, or at least advanced enough to hide her spiritual pressure, so Rukia'd keep an eye on her.
Karin ended up lucky all the way up until the last semi-annual visit before she graduated. The captains and vice-captains had passed her off as smart and good with a sword, and not one (except Rukia her second visit) had come over to her and asked if she was Karin Kurosaki. Her professors every visit seemed to make it a point not to ask her anything or have her demonstrate anything, to her relief. But her last visit was an event that she knew could have gone better, had she remembered.
She'd been training hard the night before so that she hadn't had time to color her hair and had even forgotten about the visit entirely. Aya hadn't thought much of it, so she made no move to ask her friend about whether or not she wanted to color her hair. That morning, Karin let her hair down and dressed her normal way. Her spiritual pressure was under control, but still bouncing around and all over the place.
That was until he had stepped into the courtyard, followed by his lovely vice-captain. Her eyes widened so wide that Aya feared that her friend's face was going to crack. Immediately, her spiritual pressure retracted, leaving barely a flare, and Karin's hands flew to her hair. "Quick, Aya, give me a hair tie!" she hissed, hoping he wouldn't notice.
"Why? Karin, what's wrong?" she asked, confused.
"No time to explain, just do it!" Karin whispered frantically.
Too late. He had found her, and wasn't going to let her off easy. "Duel. Now." His icy eyes glared at her that she almost felt her skin ice over.
"But, Captain Hitsugaya," she began to protest, "class isn't—"
"No buts Kurosaki. Now." Without warning, his zanpaku-to was out of its sheath and had attacked her, leaving her to whip her own out just in time.
"Fine, have it your way Toushirou," she hissed, causing her classmates to gape. Had she just been familiar with one of the greatest captains in the Soul Society? Who would she be familiar with next, Captain Kuchiki? "Run with flames, Honaga!" she cried, causing Toushirou to jump back and release his as well. Her classmates watched with a mixture of awe and surprise. She hadn't struck them as the type to figure out what her spirit's name was before graduating.
Instantly she drew a hoop, and threw it at him. He dodged and swung his sickle chain at her. It knocked her off balance, but she recovered in time to block his sword attack. Karin then swiped at the ground, causing a wall to shoot up and stop him from approaching for a while. He came to her other side, but she was ready this time with a dagger made of fire.
She stabbed him in the legs with her fire dagger, causing him to wince in pain. Manipulating their close proximity, he dragged his sword along her arm, causing her to howl in fury. Tossing the fire dagger aside and crying, "Die out and leave ashes!" she fell backwards, making him topple over her. Karin then catapulted him over her head, rolling to her feet.
Toushirou made a smooth landing, swung his chain again, and slowly sharp and dangerous icicles formed, causing Karin to worry. She then began to draw a shield, and almost as soon as she had finished, the icicles dove towards her. She blocked several of them, but the rest trapped her onto the ground or were piercing her skin. She screamed, her body trying to get rid of the icy pain.
Hitsugaya walked calmly over to her, and pointed his sword at her throat. "Surrender now or I'll cause more pain."
"Just let me make one request."
"What?" he growled.
"Give me a kiss, and I'll surrender. On the lips mind you." Her face broke into a grin.
"What if I refuse?" he said, blanching. Not in front of all her classmates, surely? What was she thinking?
"Then I guess you'll have to inflict more pain, because I don't want to surrender otherwise. I highly doubt you want me dead."
"You'll have to command your shield out of the way," he muttered.
"Sure. Die out and leave ashes," she commanded, and the shield disappeared into ash. "Do it now before sensei comes," she said helpfully.
He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, much to his embarrassment. "There, happy?"
"Very much so. I'm pleased to see you again. Now get these icicles out of me!" she cried, face wincing in pain. They were burning her, even though her body was trying to melt them down.
With a wave of his hand, they became nothing more than water. He pulled her up, and Matsumoto came over with a first aid kit. "Geeze, Taichou, I wasn't expecting you to hurt her that much."
"For her benefit, I wasn't expected to be stabbed by a fire dagger. How'd you make it anyway?" he inquired.
"I've been working on it for a while… It's been slow going. They're not as sharp as I'd like them to be, and they take a while to make. That was the fastest I've ever made them so far."
At that point, their sensei decided to enter the courtyard, preparing himself to introduce the students to the first pair of officers visiting them when he stopped short. His visitors were speaking to Kurosaki! Pulling one of his students aside, a young man who looked about nineteen called Kochi, he demanded to know what was going on.
"Sensei, Kurosaki fought the captain! And she even managed to injure him. He won, of course, but—sensei?" He watched surprised as his teacher marched over to Karin.
"Kurosaki, what were you thinking, battling one of the captains? You're lucky you're not dead!" He glared at her, and turned to Toushirou. "I've been suspecting it for a while now…" he said, barely loud enough for the rest of the class to hear.
"It's correct," Toushirou said a smug smirk on his face. "This is Karin Kurosaki, sister to Ichigo Kurosaki, daughter of Isshin Kurosaki, and last but not least, the one who helped me defeat Aizen."
"I did most of it," Karin muttered, causing Toushirou to laugh.
"No, you didn't," he said in an almost cheerful way. "Anyway, how could you all not know this? Kurosaki isn't exactly a common name."
Aya was the first one to speak. "We just didn't think that one of our heroes from the Winter War would be dead!"
Karin laughed. "Would you believe that I died from a car crash? I could've died in a worse way, couldn't I?"
Toushirou gave her an odd look, and whispered to her, "You told me once you had a dream about dying in a car crash, and declared it the worst way to die."
Karin had a moment of confusion, but shrugged. "I guess I forgot," she whispered back. He shrugged it off, and the rest of the day passed relatively normally. If it weren't for the facts that the entire school had heard that Karin was there, or that she had fought the Tenth Division's captain (and had even kissed him), Karin would have thought that it was just like all the rest of their visits.
Subsequently, several offers for her to graduate early and join a particular division annoyed Karin for the next few weeks before she had finally gone to the headmaster of the school and demanded that the invitations stop. She was going to graduate, and she was going to be placed on a division that she was best suited for. "Though, I would like to be placed on the Tenth Division," she added, grinning a little. "But, if I'm not suited, then I'm not on that division." Following that comment, she left her headmaster's office.
Nervously, she entered her new room. She was now the fifth seat of the Tenth Division, and hadn't seen Toushirou or Rangiku since shortly before her graduation ceremony. Of course, she'd been delighted that she was with the both of them (and therefore people she knew) but was disappointed that she hadn't seen them. Setting her pack down on her bed, she looked out the window into the pretty flower garden that Matusmoto had planted a few years before. She then decided it'd be nice to enjoy the view outside instead of in her room, so she stepped out and sat down on a bench.
It didn't take long for him to arrive. "Do you like it?" he asked, sitting down next to her.
"It's very nice, but I'm sure that Yuzu would like it better than me," she said.
"Then we'll just have to make sure she sees it once she joins our ranks," he commented.
She made no comment on his statement, merely accepting it as fact. "You're not mad at me for hiding my identity?" she asked, her eyebrows rising as she spoke.
Her warm naivety always made him smile inwardly, this time managing to slightly smile outwardly. "Well, you didn't exactly hide yourself. I can sense your spiritual pressure anywhere, no matter the amount." He paused for a moment. "Besides, Hyourinmaru was starting to make annoying comments about how he knew someone very important was at the Academy."
She laughed. "All right then. But why didn't you pick me out sooner?"
"Rukia told me you wanted to keep low profile. I was planning to quietly select you to be my fifth seat, but then I couldn't resist it anymore when I saw you as yourself instead of in a disguise."
"The one day I forgot about what was happening," Karin moaned. "Those icicles burned Toushirou," she snapped when he saw him snickering. "I don't know if you haven't noticed, but my skin is warmer than most people's and reacts badly to the cold, same as you. Except opposite," she added hastily when he opened his mouth to correct her. Her eyes narrowed. "Next time, use those icicles and I will pay you back in ways other than combat."
He didn't doubt her as he nodded. "You've grown since I last saw you." She looked so beautiful now that she had grown up, with hair reaching down her back and face losing its childish appearance.
"So have you," she fired back. "You're taller now, and quite handsome in that mature way. But I'm pleased that your eyes remain the same, except perhaps somewhat smaller."
"I like how you grew up too. You should keep your hair long like that, and tied back."
"So you liked the part about it being tied up? I'll keep that in mind." They sat in companionable silence.
For someone with such a fiery, vivacious personality and another with a cold, commanding one, the Divisions were surprised that the two worked so well together. Karin slowly worked her way through the ranks and became Toushirou's third seat, taking on the paperwork that Matsumoto never seemed to do. Occasionally she and her captain would spar, sometimes making a tie but mostly with Toushirou winning (even though she won every now and then). Perhaps what perplexed the Divisions most were the heated (and freezing too, now that they thought about it) arguments about battle tactics the two seemingly forgot about most of the time, making the rest wonder how they could forget each other's approach at making an argument. Most would shiver with fear as Toushirou's voice and the room's temperature dropped lower and lower, and many would also feel the heat burning their skin as Karin's eyes glared at them harder and her voice grew more and more ignited.
Yet somehow the two stayed in love, despite one being ice and the other fire.
Who's to say that fire and ice don't mix?
Hopefully it was better than the last chapter? Please review, and check out my other stories! :3
By the way... IT'S FINALLY OVER!!! :D :D :D I'm actually glad this story is complete.