79 Branching Paths

After moving everyone to a reasonably safe location, Ohta gave Karin a flick on her bone forehead protector, surprising her as she actually felt a sharp pain.

"Ow! What was that for...!?" shouted Karin, staring at Ohta with a pout as she rubbed her forehead or, at the very least, tried to. The bone mask representing her Hollowfication prevented her from massaging the area directly, so she promptly gave up.

"Karin-chan...is that you?" asked Orihime, recognizing Ichigo's little sister at a glance but refusing to believe her eyes as it indicated Karin had been killed or had her soul extracted from her body...

"Oh, hey, Orihime," replied Karin, raising her hand as if nothing was out of the ordinary while looking around at the surprisingly large group of people accompanying Ohta, presumably to come to her rescue. Her eyes lingered on Rukia for a bit, but she didn't say anything and simply smiled. It wasn't by much, but she was taller than the 144cm woman, and her breasts were markedly larger. Not 'large,' but big enough.

"Did all of you come here to rescue me...?" asked Karin, already knowing the answer but still feeling compelled to ask.

Before anyone could respond, Karin shrugged her shoulders and added, "Well, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. I'm not human anymore, but the same can be said for everyone here."

"What are you saying, Karin!?" exclaimed Ichigo, staring at his younger sister in disbelief as he shouted, "You've been turned into a Hollow! How can you be so calm...!?"

Digging into her left ear with her pinky, Karin rolled her eyes, sporting an annoyed look as she contended, "You and that big guy in the back also have Hollow powers. Or what, are you mad because you're not the only one who's special? Well, tough luck. This is the new me. I'm never going back to being weak, defenseless, and scared all the time."

Punctuating her words, Karin grabbed Ohta's arm, asserting, "I'm going to live and train with Ohta from now on. You and Tou-san couldn't protect us, so I might bring Yu-"

Before Karin could say anything else, Ohta plopped his hand atop her head, ruffling her surprisingly cold hair with a bit of force as he said, "Don't think your newfound power allows you to say or do whatever you want, boku. That Aizen cunt clearly messed with your common sense, so remain calm and choose your words carefully. You're someone who cares about their family and was willing to endure extreme hardships to become strong enough to protect them. Your brother is the same, so don't criticize him for being too weak at sixteen to overpower enemies that have sucked air for hundreds or thousands of years..."

Retracting his hand from Karin's head, Ohta added, "Besides, just look at you. In your current state, you wouldn't be able to return and reside in the human world for an extended period due to the lack of Reishi. I doubt you want to devour human souls to live, so we need to recover your body and find a way to seal your Hollow powers. Then you can work to master them like your brother..."

As she had conditioned herself to listen to Ohta during her training, Karin hung her head and reflected on his words. The thought of devouring the souls of humans didn't bother her, but she knew it 'should.' She also knew Ohta would hate or regard her as a monster if she acted like one, so even though she felt no attachment toward Ichigo and her father, the two who had 'betrayed' her, Karin knew she should at least pretend to get along with them. As for her twin sister, Yuzu, she was still determined to protect her with her life...

"You're right..." conceded Karin, staring down at her body and the palms of her hands as she added, "I'm...not myself right now..."

Raising her head, Karin forced a smile as she looked at Ichigo, adding, "Sorry, Ichi-nii...I know you're doing your best..."

Feeling relieved now that Karin was back to 'normal,' or at least getting there, Ichigo exhaled a sigh, adopting a far more heartfelt smile as he replied, "And I'm sorry for keeping secrets and not being there when you needed me the most. Once we return to the human world, let's sit down and have a long talk with dad and Yuzu, okay?"

Nodding her head, Karin's smile broadened as she replied, "I'd like that," in a sincere-sounding tone. However, while Ichigo was easily convinced, everyone else had the distinct impression something was 'off.'

("Looks like we have a little psychopath on our hands...") thought Ohta, recognizing many of his qualities in the current Karin. His 'condition' had improved since his reincarnation, but his opportunistic nature was a side-effect of a much darker period in his life. A time when he would have done just about anything to get his revenge...

Ruffling Karin's hair a second time, this time much less forcibly, Ohta said, "That's better. Now, explain to us what happened. If that's too much right now, settle for telling us where your physical body is."

Shrugging her shoulders, Karin replied, "I have no clue, but that Aizen guy told me to tell you it's being kept in the palace of something called an Espada. He also said the order to preserve it would only last thirty-one hours, so if I want to regain my humanity, you should stay away from his throne room and give him a good show."

Though his expression didn't change from a relaxed smile, Ohta internally growled, ("I seriously fucking hate scheming bastards...")

"Anything else...?" asked Ohta.

"Three things," replied Karin, holding up three fingers as she revealed, "He said there are three rules you must obey if you enter Las Noches. First, he said my body isn't being held by the Primera, Secundo, or Tres Espada, so you're not supposed to attack them. Secondly, the other Espada have all been told to remain in their palaces and are prohibited from leaving unless you attack them directly. Lastly..."

Looking directly at Ohta, Karin said, "He said that if you choose to ignore his rules and attack the Primera, Secundo, or Tres Espadas, you shouldn't kill more than one of them as it would ruin the balance between the three realms."

"Of course, it would..." replied Ohta, rolling his eyes so forcefully it hurt. Yoruichi had given him a similar warning in her texts, but he told her he would slaughter each of them if push came to shove. After all, it was far better to kill them and deal with the consequences later than allow them to be weaponized by Aizen...

"Then that settles it," said Ichigo. "We can't leave without Karin's body, so we stick together and find out which of these Espada bastards is keeping it. After that..."

Looking at Ohta, Ichigo furrowed his brows as he asked, "Can I ask you to ensure she gets to safety? You're the only one that can move freely in this place. If the enemy tries to pursue us, I'll defend the rear with my life..."

"Did you forget what comes after this?" asked Ohta. "Alongside me, you're one of the 'weapons' meant to counteract Aizen's Zanpakuto. The thirty-one-hour timeframe coincides with the timeline of the final battle, so if we can't find Karin's body within twenty-four hours, we'll need to leave it and find a way to return..."

"What are you–we can't do that!" shouted Ichigo. However, before he could say another word, Ohta silenced him by drawing his lips together with psychic energy, stating, "Calm down. If we can't recover her body, that bastard Kisuke can supply her a Gigai no different from a normal human. If Aizen slaughters us and succeeds in supplanting the Soul King as literal God, do you think recovering her body will have any meaning...?"

"..."

Though he initially panicked when Ohta zipped his lips, Ichigo had calmed down by the time the former was finished speaking. He didn't like it, but it was true that if they couldn't defeat Aizen, it wouldn't matter if Karin was a Hollow or a human. They would all be dead...

Not really helping the situation, at least from Ichigo's perspective, Karin shrugged her shoulders and said, "If I can acquire a new body once we return, we might as well just leave. This place isn't nearly as creepy as it was, but I'd rather not stay here if I don't have to."

"As reasonable as that is, I'm going to have to disagree," declared Ohta, crossing his arms and asserting, "I might have come here to rescue you, but I also came to beat the asses of the people who kidnapped you. The rest of you can return, but I'm not leaving until I paint these sands with at least one of the top three Espada..."

"If you're staying, I'm staying," declared Rukia, prompting Orihime to add, "And if the two of you are staying, I 'have' to stay~!" in a forcefully bubbly tone.

"Yeah, there's no way I'm leaving my little sister's body in the hands of these monsters," appended Ichigo, meeting Ohta's gaze as he affirmed, "Twenty-four hours..."

Nodding his head, Ohta repeated, "Twenty-four hours..." before pulling out his phone and setting the alarm. He knew he wouldn't get any signal in a place like Hueco Mundo, but he had brought it with him, just in case.

Waiting until Ohta had returned his phone to his pocket, Karin said, "I'm fine with sticking around for a while longer, but if we're going to split up into groups, I'm going with you. I want to show you how useful I am, and if we meet that asshole who abducted me, I want to give him at least one good kick before you tear him apart slowly."

Not expecting to hear such 'violent' words from his little sister, Ichigo muttered, "Karin..." in a faint tone. Inversely, Ohta had to suppress a smile as he ruffled the feisty lass's head and said, "Of course. Just remember to back away when I tell you to and make sure to guard Orihime. If you can't do that, you can follow your brother."

Before Karin could respond, Ichigo asked, "Wait, are we actually splitting up? Wouldn't it make more sense for us to stick together...?"

"We can cover more ground if we split up," contended Rukia. "Also, in case you've forgotten, Ohta's power isn't very friendly to his allies. If there are too many of us around, he won't be able to protect and attack effectively."

"Yeah, I get that..." replied Ichigo, scratching the back of his head as he looked around at the rest of the group with an awkward look. He was fine with splitting up, but he could tell at a glance how the groups would be broken down. Chad, Uryu, and Renji had gotten much stronger, but Ichigo didn't think they could survive without his or Ohta's protection. However, if they were with him, he also couldn't go all out due to the instabilities of his Hollowfication...

"Chad, Uryu, Renji...I think the three of you-"

Before Ichigo could finish speaking, Chad materialized his red and black gauntlet, throwing a powerful punch that sent the ginger Shinigami flying. At the same time, as if they had coordinated things in advance, Uryu lept into the air, forcing Ichigo to evade a rain of arrows while Renji activated his Bankai, manifesting a giant red-maned snake whose body was formed of interconnected bones. He also gained a furry mantle and pauldron with a baboon's skull affixed to it, but the most notable thing about his Bankai was how much it screamed 'overcompensation'...

With the trio refusing to let up even after he screamed at them multiple times to cut it out, Ichigo was eventually forced to release his own Bankai to escape the pressure. Once he had, the trio immediately ceased their assault, Chad representing the group by asking, "Still think we're weak...?"

Retorting from the side, Karin, standing with her arms crossed, said, "Ichi-nii can be really full of himself. He thinks he-"

Though he didn't say anything, Ohta interrupted Karin's grousing with a light chop to her head. He had similar thoughts about her brother's hero complex, but there was a time and a place for everything...

...

..

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(A/N: My psychotic kouhai can't be this cute...also, daily reminder that Not a Mob: Psycho is NOT a harem novel.)