They arrived home in a tense silence.
Karin was the first one inside. Yuzu was in the entryway, trembling, with Isshin trying to wrap her in a blanket.
"It was there! A monster! Dad, it was like the one from Ichigo's room!"
"Shh, shh, my love! It was just a big dog! A very ugly dog!"
Karin walked past them without a word. "Yuzu, go to your room. You're safe. Lock the door."
"But Karin...!"
"Now!"
Yuzu flinched at her sister's tone and obeyed, running up the stairs.
Isshin turned to Ichigo and Rukia, who looked pale in her Gigai. "Ichigo! What the hell happened at that park? People are calling saying there was a gang fight!"
"Nothing happened, Dad," Ichigo said. "A big dog. They got scared. We already took care of it."
"Took care of it?"
"Yeah." Ichigo grabbed Rukia by the arm. "We're going to do homework."
"Ichigo!"
He ignored his father's shout and dragged Rukia upstairs. Karin followed them as they climbed.
He entered Ichigo's wrecked room and locked the door.
Rukia pulled free from Ichigo's grip and collapsed onto his bed, her head in her hands. The Gigai's body was shaking.
"I ate it, Ichigo."
"Shut up," Ichigo said, leaning against the wall. "They'll hear you."
"No, they won't," Karin said. She closed the bedroom door. "Dad's busy with Yuzu. He won't hear anything over his own sobbing."
"I ate it," Rukia repeated, her voice muffled by her hands. "I devoured it. Like an animal. Like... like a Hollow."
"You saved Karin," Ichigo said, his voice low. "You saved Yuzu. That's all that matters."
"No!" she yelled, snapping her head up. Her purple eyes were wide. "That's not all that matters! It... it tasted good! Ichigo, it tasted delicious! What kind of Shinigami am I? I'm a monster!"
"Then I'm a monster too!" Ichigo retorted. "Because when you ate it... I felt good. Better than good."
"That... that's worse," Rukia whispered, horrified. "It means you liked it. It means we're both..."
"It means it worked," Karin interrupted.
They both looked at her. She had been standing by the door, silent, watching them. Her face was pale, but her eyes were firm.
"It worked," Karin repeated, crossing her arms. "You," she pointed at Rukia, "were terrified. You turned into a monster. And you saved the day."
"You," she pointed at Ichigo, "were useless, but you benefited."
"Karin, it's not that simple," Ichigo said.
"Sounds pretty simple to me," Karin said. "A cycle. She gets empty. You get weak. She hunts. She eats. You both get stronger. Right?"
Ichigo didn't answer.
"I saw everything," Karin continued, her voice low and fast. "I saw your face when she came out of that fake body. You were screaming. I saw the pain. And I saw it stop. I saw you straighten up when she transformed. And I saw you... relax... when she ate it."
"I didn't 'relax'," Ichigo said defensively.
"You stopped looking like you were dying. You stopped being helpless. And I stopped feeling helpless. For a second. Because I saw something that actually worked."
Karin took a step toward them.
"I was there. In that park. Waiting. Waiting for that thing to crush me. There was nothing I could do. Just watch. Just like Yuzu."
Her hands clenched into fists. "I won't ever feel like that again. Ever."
"Karin," Ichigo said, his voice a warning. "What are you talking about?"
"I want that."
Ichigo stiffened. "'That' what? You want a Hollow to bite you so you can turn into a monster?"
"Don't be stupid, girl!" Rukia snapped. "You don't know what you're asking for! I'm turning into something I hate!"
"You're turning into a survivor," Karin retorted, not backing down. "And I'm strong. Stronger than Yuzu. I can see ghosts, just like Ichigo. I always have. The same night that thing broke the wall, I saw it. I saw your kimono. I saw its mask."
"But I can't touch them," she hissed. "I can't fight them. You two can."
"No, Karin!" Ichigo shouted, stepping forward. "Absolutely not! You're out of this! It's too dangerous! It almost killed me! It almost killed her!"
"And not having it almost killed all of us!" Karin yelled back, furious. "What are you going to do next time, Ichigo?! When you're in your stupid human body?! Throw trash cans at them until they get bored?! That thing almost killed Yuzu! It almost killed me! And you couldn't do anything!"
Ichigo recoiled, visibly affected. Because she was right.
"The girl has a point, kid."
The voice was new. It was deep, smooth, feminine, and came from the direction of the hole in the wall.
The three of them froze. They turned slowly.
Sitting calmly on the shattered windowsill, cleaning a paw, was the black cat.
"You," Ichigo said, breathless.
"It came in through the hole," Karin whispered.
The cat stopped licking. It raised its head and looked at them with intelligent golden eyes.
"At least someone here is observant," the cat said. Its voice was calm, authoritative, and clearly female. "The rest of you are a noisy mess. Do you have any idea how much work you're giving Urahara?"
There was absolute silence.
"...The cat," Ichigo said, pointing. "The cat... just spoke."
Karin didn't even blink. "Sure. Why not. The cat's talking. It's Tuesday."
Rukia, however, turned deathly pale. She slid off the bed and landed on her knees on the floor, trembling from head to toe.
"That... that voice," she stammered, her terror a thousand times worse than when she faced the Hollow. "No... it's not possible. It can't be. Shihoin-sama!"
The cat yawned, showing small, sharp teeth.
"Keep your voice down, little Kuchiki. Or I'll have to silence you myself. Shihoin? I haven't used that name in a long time. You can call me Yoruichi."
"You...! But why?! A cat?!"
"It's more convenient. And less noticeable," Yoruichi said. "Or at least, it was less noticeable, until you two decided to start a Hollowfication party in the middle of a public park."
The cat leaped from the windowsill and landed silently on the floor. She walked toward Rukia.
"Do you have any idea the signal you just lit up? 'Eating' a Hollow. My, my. You've crossed a line even Urahara didn't think you'd cross this fast."
"Signal?!" Ichigo said. "What signal? What are you talking about?"
Yoruichi ignored him, stopping in front of the trembling Rukia. "The Soul Society, you idiot."
Rukia let out a small whimper.
"They'll think you're just a deserter who lost her powers," Yoruichi continued, her voice calm but sharp. "But now... now they're going to think you're an active abomination. A Shinigami that merges with Hollows. That eats Hollows."
"They're going to think you're a failed experiment," the cat said. "And they'll send someone. They'll come to clean you up."
"No... no..." Rukia whispered.
"We won't let that happen!" Ichigo said, moving in front of Rukia. "We'll fight them!"
Yoruichi looked up at him. "You can't fight what you can't see coming, kid. And right now, you two are shining brightly in the spiritual plane. You're loud. You're too obvious."
She turned around. "Get up. All three of you."
Karin, who had been watching everything with quiet intensity, finally spoke. "All three?"
Yoruichi looked at her. "You saw it. You're covered in their energy. You reek of them. To anyone who's looking, you're an accomplice. So yes. All three of you. We're going to the shop. Urahara has some things for you."
"Wait, you work for the hat guy?" Ichigo asked.
The cat snorted. "The hat guy has the privilege of doing what I tell him, kid. Now, move. And go out the front door. Try to look normal. Though I doubt you can."
The walk to the Urahara Shop was the longest of their lives.
Ichigo walked in front, hands stuffed in his pockets, trying to look bored. Rukia, in her Gigai, walked stiffly beside him, not daring to look at the black cat trotting calmly at her feet. Karin walked behind, watching every alley, every shadow, as if expecting a monster to jump out.
The shop was exactly as Ichigo remembered it. Ramshackle, dusty, and with a "CANDY & SWEETS" sign that looked like a joke.
Yoruichi jumped up and pawed at the door.
The door slid open and Jinta, a red-haired boy, scowled at them. "Ah. It's you. The boss said you'd be coming. You're making a mess."
"Shut up, Jinta," Yoruichi said, walking past him. "Make tea."
"I don't take orders from a cat!"
"Make the tea or I'll rip your ears off!"
Jinta turned pale and ran off.
They entered. The inside was dark and filled with... stuff. Boxes, bottles, strange masks. Urahara was sitting on the floor on a cushion, fanning himself, wearing a carefree smile. The giant man, Tessai, stood beside him, completely still. Ururu, the girl, was sweeping quietly in a corner.
"Ah, welcome!" Urahara said, as if they were just there for tea. "Ichigo-san, Rukia-san. And Yoruichi-san, thank you for bringing our troublesome guests. And an extra Kurosaki-san! What a pleasant surprise!"
"I'm not a surprise," Karin said, stopping near the door. "I'm the one who saw everything. And the one who almost died."
Urahara looked at her, and his smile widened genuinely. "I like you. Direct. And correct."
"Urahara!" Rukia stepped forward, her voice trembling with anger and fear. "What did you do to me?! What did you do to us?! I... I ate! I ate a Hollow! I became one!"
"Calm, calm, Rukia-san," Urahara said, waving his fan. "I didn't do anything to you. You two did. It was a spontaneous and fascinating reaction. I just provided the Gigai."
"Cut the crap, Urahara!" Ichigo snapped. "What's going on? Why did I feel good when she... ate? And what's this about a 'signal'?"
"Ah, the big questions!" Urahara looked delighted. "Have a seat. Tessai, tea for our guests. And milk for Yoruichi-san."
Ichigo and Rukia sat down reluctantly on the cushions. Karin remained standing by the wall, arms crossed.
"Right," Urahara said, turning serious. "Quick lesson. Number one: Kurosaki Ichigo."
Ichigo tensed.
"You have a Hollow inside you. A big, powerful, and very, very hungry one. You've had it for a long time. It's not something Rukia-san gave you. It's yours. It's part of your soul."
"I... I know," Ichigo said quietly. "I heard it laugh."
"Number two: Rukia-san," Urahara continued. "When you gave him your powers, it wasn't a clean transfer. Your soul is... compatible with his. So he didn't just take your powers. He absorbed them. And connected them directly to his own power well. Where his Hollow lives."
Rukia nodded, pale. "He 'linked' me to him."
"Exactly! Now, Shinigami powers and Hollow powers are opposites. They should destroy each other. But in Ichigo, they're in the same place. And his Hollow is stronger. So it started to 'eat' your Shinigami powers. That's why you felt so 'noisy' inside, Ichigo. It was a civil war. And you were starving."
"And Rukia's bite that first night... it calmed him," Ichigo said, remembering.
"Correct. It gave him a 'taste' of Rukia's energy that stabilized the hunger for a moment. Then, my Gigai." Urahara smiled proudly. "My prototype is special. To stabilize Rukia's 'broken' soul—since half of it was in you—it needed a constant energy source. And who was the closest, already-connected energy source?"
"Me," Ichigo said. "The cramp."
"Bingo! The Gigai was draining you. Constantly. It was feeding Rukia, but it was also irritating your inner Hollow. It was taking food away from it, making you feel that cramp and that constant hunger."
"And then," Ichigo said, "the park."
"The park!" Urahara clapped softly. "Rukia leaves the Gigai. But this time, she doesn't fight. She accepts the connection. She 'Hollowfies' voluntarily."
"I... I called it," Rukia whispered.
"And it worked! And then, the feast. You devoured that Hollow. You absorbed all its spiritual energy."
"It was... disgusting," Rukia said, shuddering.
"It was brilliant!" Urahara said. "And here's the fun part. You, Rukia-san, can't use that raw Hollow energy. You're not a Hollow. So your soul, now connected to Ichigo's, did something amazing. It 'refined' it. Processed it. Turned it into pure, stable spiritual energy."
"And... what happened to all that extra energy?" Ichigo asked.
"Well, you have a direct connection to a hungry, half-empty reserve! You passed it to him!"
Ichigo understood. "She... passed it to me. She fed me."
"Correct! You fed him. You fed the Gigai's reserve. You filled Ichigo's reserve. You satiated his own Hollow. That's why the cramp went away. That's why you felt 'good.' It was a full meal for both of you."
There was a long silence as Ichigo and Rukia processed the symbiosis they were trapped in.
Karin was the one who broke the silence. "So they have to hunt to stay stable."
Urahara smiled, impressed. "Miss Karin gets right to the point. Yes. It's a cycle. Drain... hunt... eat... recharge. Fascinating, isn't it?"
"But... Urahara..." Rukia said, her voice trembling. "Yoruichi-san said... the Soul Society."
Yoruichi, who had been lapping up her milk in the corner, spoke. "They already know."
Rukia froze. "What?!"
"They don't know what you are. But they know something is here," the cat said. "Ichigo's first transformation was an anomaly. The second one, yours in the park... that was a signal. A massive explosion of Hollow power where a registered Shinigami should be. That's not an anomaly. That's heresy."
"They're interested," Yoruichi continued. "And pretty soon, they'll send someone to 'investigate.' And their investigators aren't kind."
"Investigate? You mean... to kill us?" Ichigo said.
"Purification is their standard response to abominations," Urahara said cheerfully. "And you two, my dears, are a first-class abomination!"
"No... no..." Rukia whispered.
"We won't let that happen!" Ichigo said, standing up. "We'll fight!"
"You can't fight if they find you in your sleep," Urahara said. "So... I have gifts."
He reached under the counter and pulled out two items. A simple black leather choker and a matching black leather bracelet.
"Reiatsu suppressors. Prototypes, of course. Much, much better than the standard Soul Society models. These don't just suppress. They 'camouflage'."
"Put them on."
Rukia, with trembling hands, took the choker and put it on. Ichigo put on the bracelet.
"I don't feel anything," Ichigo said.
"That's the idea!" Urahara said. "These devices will 'camouflage' your spiritual signatures. They'll confuse your energies. They'll make your Hollow power, Rukia, look like... harmless background interference. They'll make your power, Ichigo, look like a normal human with a slight fluctuation. It will make you invisible... to casual observation."
"So... are we safe?" Rukia asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"No," Urahara said, snapping his fan shut.
Rukia's hope vanished. "What?! I thought you said...!"
"I said they 'camouflage.' They don't 'eliminate'," Urahara said. "They're a temporary measure. They'll work for normal situations. For day-to-day. But if you," he pointed at Rukia, "transform... if you release all that power again..."
"The measure will fail," Yoruichi finished. "The power fluctuation will be too big, too sudden. The camouflage will overload. And they will see you. Clearly. You'll inevitably stand out."
"So... we can fight," Ichigo said, "but not too much."
"You can have a small fight. A small 'skirmish'," Urahara said. "But a full transformation like today's... you have minutes, maybe, before the device fails and the alarm goes off in the Soul Society."
"Great," Ichigo muttered. "More to worry about."
Karin, who had been absorbing every word, spoke up. "And what about me?"
Everyone looked at her.
"Yoruichi-san said I 'reek' of them. Are they going to hunt me too?"
Urahara looked at her intently, his playful smile gone. "You... are interesting, Kurosaki Karin. You have the potential. You have the sight. But you have no power. You are, spiritually speaking, a civilian. They won't hunt you. They'll just... kill you if you get in their way."
"That," Karin said, "is what I want to change."
"Karin, I already told you no!" Ichigo yelled.
"And I told you I wasn't asking your permission!" she snapped. "I'm asking him." She pointed at Urahara.
"You said you saw what happened. You saw I'm strong. You saw I didn't break. Can you give me that power? Can you make me like them?"
Urahara fanned himself slowly. "Giving power... is a very, very dangerous thing, Karin-san. Look at the mess in front of you. Your brother and your friend are half-monsters, running from a death sentence."
"It's a mess that works," Karin said.
"I can't give you power," Urahara said. "Not like that. That would be... reckless. But..."
Ichigo tensed. "But... what?"
"If you're willing to endure pain..." Urahara said, his eyes glinting behind his hat, "perhaps Ichigo could awaken yours."
"Awaken?!" Ichigo said. "She has...?! Is she like Rukia?"
"It's not about that. Your power is anomalous and I have a theory it also works on those without special abilities, but that's something you and your sister will have to decide."
Urahara stood up, ending the meeting. "For now, you two," he looked at Ichigo and Rukia, "go home. Get used to the suppressors. Don't hunt unless you absolutely have to. Don't transform unless it's to save your lives. And pray that 'investigation' takes its time."
"This sucks," Ichigo said.
"It'll suck more when the executioners get here," Yoruichi said from the floor. "Now, get lost."
******
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