"Ahhh! Get it off! It burns!"
Karin's scream shattered the silence at the shop entrance.
Ichigo dropped his body onto the tatami and turned his head immediately.
Karin was on the ground. She was writhing. Her nails scratched the wood while her right hand tried to rip the black leather bracelet off her left wrist.
"Karin, don't touch it!"
Ichigo knelt beside her and grabbed her hands.
"If you take off the suppressor it will be worse!"
"It's burning my skin, Ichigo! I feel fire in my veins!"
Karin kicked instinctively. The impact force sent Ichigo flying two meters back. He crashed against the candy counter and the glass jars rattled with the blow.
Rukia set Orihime's body on the cushions and approached.
"That... that wasn't human strength."
Karin half sat up. The leather bracelet smoked with an acrid smell of singed skin. Black lines pulsed violently under her skin, going up and down her neck.
Her eyes blinked in erratic spasms. They changed from brown to black and red.
"I'm... hungry."
Karin's voice sounded with a double distortion. She looked at Jinta.
The boy froze with the first aid kit in his hand.
"Hey, Tessai... she's looking at me weird."
"Back, Jinta!" Tessai ordered and stepped in between.
"My, my. It seems the prototype has a lower stress tolerance limit than calculated."
The voice came from the dark stairs at the back. Urahara walked down the steps. He fanned himself gently, but his gray eyes analyzed Karin coldly.
Ichigo stood up.
"Urahara! Do something! She said it burns!"
"It burns because her soul is trying to digest a massive amount of corrupt energy without having a spiritual organ to process it."
Urahara approached the girl without fear.
"She absorbed the impact of a Zanpakutō, Ichigo-san. That woke up her appetite, but her human body is rejecting it. It's spiritual indigestion. And she is about to turn violent."
Karin let out a scream and punched the ground. The tatami wood exploded and sank under the impact.
"Get out!" she yelled and grabbed her head. "The noise... everything makes too much noise!"
Urahara closed his fan with a sharp snap.
"She is entering a critical phase. Tessai, take her downstairs. To the sekkiseki stone isolation room."
"Understood, Boss!"
Tessai moved with absurd speed for his size. He grabbed Karin by the waist and immobilized her arms.
"LET ME GO!"
An explosion of black and red reiatsu emanated from Karin. The counter glass shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Karin!"
Ichigo tried to move forward. Urahara's cane impacted his chest and stopped him.
"Don't get close, Kurosaki-san. Right now she doesn't recognize you. You are just a giant energy source to her. If you touch her now, she will rip a piece off you."
"She's my sister!"
"And that's why we are going to lock her up before she kills someone and regrets it for the rest of her life. Downstairs. Let's go."
Tessai carried Karin toward the basement door while she kicked and shouted curses.
Ichigo and Rukia ran behind them down the spiral stairs toward the underground training zone.
Karin's screams bounced off the rock walls. They sounded guttural. Inhuman.
"It hurts! IT HURTS!"
They arrived in front of the reinforced iron door. Tessai threw Karin inside. Urahara slammed the door shut and spun the safety wheel.
BOOM.
Something hit the door from the inside. The hinges shook.
Ichigo hit the cold metal with his palm.
"You can't leave her there! Listen to how she sounds! She's suffering!"
Urahara stepped back and looked at the monitors on the hallway wall.
"She is adapting. Her body is fighting the power. She needs to burn that fever in an environment where she can't hurt anyone."
Another dull thud shook the frame from the inside. A tearing scream followed the impact.
"Ahhh! Get it off!"
Ichigo's voice dropped an octave.
"She is hurting herself. Open the door."
"Ichigo-san," Urahara warned. "It's dangerous."
"I said open the damn door."
Ichigo grabbed the handle.
Rukia stepped between him and the metal. Her Gigai was covered in dust and her violet eyes showed real fear.
"You can't go in there, Ichigo! She's in withdrawal, you idiot! Her energy spiked when she stopped that sword and now her body is demanding payment! If you go in now, she won't see her brother. She will see food."
"She is my sister, Rukia. She isn't a circus animal and she isn't a movie monster. I'm not leaving her alone in the dark."
Ichigo pushed Rukia aside with his arm.
"Step aside."
"Ichigo!"
"If she tries to eat me, I'll let her. We've done it before."
Ichigo turned the safety wheel and broke the seal.
He went in and closed the door behind him.
The room was in semi-darkness under the red emergency lights. The space was huge, made of gray rock designed to absorb spiritual impacts.
Karin was curled up in the nearest corner. She scratched the stone wall. Her fingers were bleeding.
Her shoulders shook.
"Karin."
The girl tensed. She raised her head slowly.
There were no black marks on her skin, but her bloodshot eyes vibrated. She dug her nails into her left arm.
"Go away..."
Her voice came out distorted.
"It smells... it smells too good in here. Go away, Ichigo."
Ichigo took a step forward. He showed his open hands.
"I'm not leaving. I already told you upstairs. We are in this."
"You don't understand!"
Karin punched the floor. The rock cracked with a dry snap.
"I want... I want to open you up! I look at you and I only see... light! And I have a hole in my stomach that burns me alive!"
She stood up. Her breath hissed.
"Stop trying to scare me, Karin. I know it's you."
"It's not me!" she yelled.
Lines of black ink sprouted from her neck and climbed up her jaw.
"It's this thing! It tells me to rip your arm off!"
"Then come and do it."
Ichigo planted himself in the center of the room and lowered his guard.
Karin let out a low growl.
"Idiot!"
She lunged.
It was a blur of movement under the red light.
Ichigo tensed his stomach muscles. He waited for the blow. The claws.
The blow never came.
Karin crashed against him with her full weight. Her arms wrapped around Ichigo's waist with brute force. She buried her face in the hollow between his neck and shoulder.
She breathed deep gasps.
Ichigo kept his hands suspended in the air for a second.
"Karin...?"
She was trembling.
"It hurts..." she sobbed against his shirt. The distorted voice disappeared and left only the voice of a scared girl. "It hurts being empty, Ichigo. It hurts a lot."
Ichigo's t-shirt got damp.
"I know. I know."
He lowered his hands and wrapped them around his sister's back.
Karin squeezed harder. Her fingers dug into his back.
"I need... I need it to stop."
She raised her head a little. Her teeth grazed the skin of Ichigo's neck, just above the collarbone.
Ichigo tilted his head and exposed his neck.
"Do it."
Karin bit down.
"Ngh!"
Ichigo gritted his teeth.
The heat left his limbs and flowed toward the contact point. His legs failed him, but he stood firm.
He stroked Karin's black hair. It was soaked in cold sweat.
"It's okay," Ichigo said with a hoarse voice. "Take what you need. I'm here. I'm not leaving."
Karin made a sound of relief in her throat and deepened the grip.
In the control room, the screen showed the thermal image. A mass of angry red energy calmed down as it mixed with a stable blue mass.
Urahara watched the monitor.
Yoruichi sat on the console. Her tail moved from side to side.
"Fascinating," Urahara murmured.
"It looks painful," Yoruichi said. "The kid is losing reserves at a stupid speed. If she doesn't stop in a minute, he's going to collapse."
"He won't collapse. He has plenty." Urahara leaned toward the screen. "But look at her readings, Yoruichi-san. It's not physical hunger."
Yoruichi looked at the graphs.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the adrenaline spikes. Little Kurosaki's 'Hollowfication' doesn't respond to imminent death danger. Her bone armor reacts to physical damage."
Urahara pointed at a red spike.
"This is purely psychological. It responds to frustration."
"Frustration?"
"It activates when she feels inferior," Urahara explained and wiped his mocking smile. "When she hates herself for being weak compared to her brother or the enemies. Her power isn't defense. It is her Rage manifested. Her desire to destroy what makes her feel small."
Yoruichi snorted.
"A power fueled by an inferiority complex. That is dangerous, Kisuke. Rage is a dirty fuel. It burns fast."
"Exactly. That's why it is so unstable. And that is why she needs the boy. He is the only one who can cool down that reactor before she melts."
On the screen, Karin's figure loosened the grip.
"Looks like the feast is over," Yoruichi said.
Downstairs, in the stone room, silence returned.
Karin let go of Ichigo's neck and took a step back.
She brought her hand to her mouth and wiped a thread of saliva and blood. Her eyes turned back to a deep brown. The black marks retracted under her skin.
She looked at her left hand. The knuckles were pink and closed. Ichigo's energy had accelerated her regeneration.
Ichigo leaned against the wall. He touched his neck. The wound was closing, but it throbbed.
"I'm sorry."
Karin's voice was barely audible over the hum of the air conditioning.
"It doesn't matter," Ichigo said and caught his breath.
"It does matter." Her voice broke. "I've been a bitch to you. And to Rukia. All this time. Bossy... aggressive. I yelled at you."
Ichigo let out a tired laugh and slid down to sit on the floor.
"You've always been bossy, Karin. That's nothing new. Since you were four you've been telling me how to tie my shoes."
Karin didn't laugh. She clenched her fists at her sides.
"It's not a joke, Ichigo."
She looked up. Her eyes were full of tears.
"I hate seeing how you go out to bleed and I have to stay watching. I hate that you have to carry Yuzu, Dad, Rukia, and now me. I wanted... I wanted to be someone you could trust. Someone who could cover your back."
A tear escaped and cleaned the trail of soot on her cheek.
"I didn't want to be one more burden you have to carry on your shoulder while you run."
Ichigo looked at her. He saw the girl who always tried to be tough.
He reached out his hand.
"Come here."
Karin hesitated for a second. She dropped to the floor in front of him and crossed her legs.
Ichigo leaned in and ruffled her hair gently.
"You aren't a burden, idiot."
Karin sniffled.
"I almost bit your artery."
"Almost. But you didn't." Ichigo kept the rhythmic gesture on her head. "You are strong, Karin. Stronger than me in many things. You just need time. This is new."
"I'm a mess."
"We are a mess. All of us. But you are my sister. And you are the only reason I keep getting up when those things hit me."
Karin looked up.
"Me?"
"You. And Yuzu. If you guys weren't here, I would have already given up on this." Ichigo smiled at her. "So stop saying stupid things and rest."
Karin searched for some lie in his face. She didn't find any.
Her shoulders dropped. She exhaled a long sigh.
She leaned forward and rested her head on Ichigo's chest.
"Thanks, Ichi-nii."
"Sleep."
Karin didn't answer. Seconds later, her breathing became slow and deep.
Ichigo rested his head against the cold stone wall and looked at the red ceiling. He listened to his sister breathe. Alive.
"Whew," he whispered to the empty room. "That was close."
*****
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