So as to why Karin went Shikai so quickly I have two theories.
One is that Nejibana was basically bending the rules because Karin is a Shiba and not wanting to lose a second Shinigami (and possibly liking Karin's spirit) while including instinticts from Kaien's life somehow
Second is that Karin either has fragments of Kaein as part of her/ grown from fragments of Kaein as reincarnation/ straight up reincarnation and that includes naturally the Zanpaktu spirit and memories/instincts from another life.
Currently from what we have, either theory fits. Nejibana's statement as I can see it can be seen in two ways. If Karin is a reincarnated in some fashion Kaein, then Nejibana would be her birthright given how souls and zanpaktou's work. Same soul, same zanpakto. In which case, the memories are from Kaein by same soul remembering stuff, especially with things associated with the soul like understanding that the inner world is one's own soul. If Karin is a Shiba, and Nejibana at least sees herself as a birthright from that alone, (like I said, in this case one would get the sense that Nejibana is bending rules) then the instincts are probably Nejibana supplying knowledge from Kaein as Karin needed all the help that she could get.
That's...close enough. Inherited Ability revealed on the character sheet.
Update's almost done, I'm on the last scene now.
E: Character sheet updated. I won't be clarifying what's actually going on with that for quite some time, I'm afraid. You'll have to take actions in-quest to figure it out.
[X] Accept
[X] Tell her the truth.
-[X] Sit down with everyone tomorrow and talk about what the hell just happened.
"Alright, I'll accept" you say, eyeing the shopkeeper warily – you don't exactly trust this guy, but it's not like you have much in the way of other options, right? How hard can working at a sweet shop be, anyway, you scoff internally.
"Excellent!" Urahara cries gleefully, gesticulating wildly, "Tessai should have your body fixed up by now, so we'll get you back in that and you'll be set!" he stands up and moves to the door, pausing at the entrance. "Don't worry Kurosaki-san, we've got some great times ahead of us, I can tell!"
You feel like you may have made a terrible mistake.
-
You trudge wearily along the path home, laden down with schoolbag and an extra – "Ah, take this just in case, Kurosaki-san!" – apparently you might need it, which you find slightly unlikely considering you're heading over to the Urahara Shoten tomorrow after school. If you stopped to peer inside your satchel, you'd find a flat metal disc that will apparently remove you from your body – not something you're looking forward to, considering how uncomfortable it was getting back into it in the first place. You shiver at the recollection.
Wrong. Wrongwrongwrong.
You'd wonder how they managed to fix up your school uniform as well, but in retrospect you'd rather not think too hard on that aspect. Your new 'employer' creeps you out enough as it is. You definitely prefer not to try and work out how he has a schoolgirl's uniform in exactly your size.
Don't forget that every cloud has a silver lining, Karin.
That's true enough – okay so you had an incredibly traumatic day, had to fight a giant monster and you know, died – but you got better and you have some kickass superpowers! You try and force a smile – but you can't. It's just too much. You drag your arm over your face, scrubbing at your eyes – they're itchy all of a sudden.
Ah, you're on your road – there's your house. Miraculously, it's been fixed already? Huh, you guess Goat-Face is good for something after all, even if it's just knowing good contractors. You open the door, "I'm home!" you call, as you take your shoes off and hang your satchel up. Honestly, you just want to take a shower and sleep for a week.
"Ah, welcome home Karin!" Yuzu's voice sounds out from the general direction of the living room, and you hear footsteps as she gets up to greet you. You make your way slowly into the living room from the hallway, attempting to hide the winces that movement is causing you – it's not even physical pain, really, just a soul-deep sense of tired.
Well, that's fairly spot on, actually – you have quite literally exhausted your soul.
Pushing Nejibana's ominous comment to the back of your mind for now, you nearly crash into Yuzu as you turn the corner into the front room. Grabbing onto the doorframe to steady yourself, you just about avoid running your sister over.
"Hey – Goat-face and Ichi-nii not in?" you ask, hoping to divert her from your general state of well-being. Her eyes narrow as she looks you over – damn, no such luck.
"No – I don't know where Ichi-nii is, but Dad's still working at the clinic. Why are you home so late? And what happened, you look exhausted!" she says, worry entering her voice.
For a moment, you consider lying to her – it's not like she can do anything to help, after all – but-
She's your twin sister.
Our family has always been close-knit.
"You should…probably sit down for this" you say nervously, moving over to take a seat on the living room sofa, and you begin to talk – your trip home, running into the ghost, dying at the hands of that monster, meeting Nejibana, avenging yourself and lastly the creepy shopkeeper and you taking his deal. No sooner have you finished than Yuzu's arms wrap around you tightly, burying your face in her shoulder.
"Oh that's awful! You must have been really scared!" she says, not letting go of you for a second. You move to deny it – nothing scares you! But-
She's right. It was scary and horrifying, and you won't let it happen again. Without releasing you, Yuzu shifts your position so you're looking her in the eye.
"So…you're not going to want to hear this – I know what you're like, don't deny it – but we should really tell Dad and Ichi-nii about this" she says solemnly – she's right, you don't like it.
"You know what Ichi-nii's like" you object, grimacing "He'll try and get involved – and there's not really anything he can do about it – he'd just die!"
Like you did.
Pulling yourself together, you continue "And what good will Goat-Face do – I mean, have you met him?" you finish – I mean honestly, what could Goat-Face do about monsters out to devour your soul?
Your father is bleeding.
"Karin." Yuzu says, demanding your attention with a glare, "He's always reliable when it comes to the important things." Well- "And anyway, do you really want Ichi-nii and Dad running about without knowing about soul-eating monsters? Ichi-nii can see ghosts just as clearly as you can, and remember what Mum used to say: 'forewarned is forearmed'" Grk. Low Blow. But…she's right.
"I guess…" you admit reluctantly, "But can we save it until tomorrow- I just. I don't think I can handle it right now." Talking to your twin is one thing – but having to hash this out again with Ichi-nii and Goat-Face? You're just too mentally and emotionally drained to do it tonight. Yuzu leans back and studies you, as if examining your veracity on this matter.
"You look really tired, so that makes sense – I'm not sure when Dad will be done with the clinic tonight anyway – you should go to bed, I'll bring your dinner up to you later." Your sister tells you, standing up and giving you a hand to your feet. What if Goat-Face or Ichi-nii wonder why you're in bed so early? You pose this question to your twin, and her eyes gain an impish gleam.
"I'll just tell them it's feminine problems – they won't dare wake you then" she tells you, grinning. You laugh – that's one way of handling it, you suppose. Groaning at the effort, you make your way upstairs for a shower and bed.
-
As you pack up your books from the school day, you ponder what sort of things you'll be doing on your first day at the Urahara Shoten – maybe you'll learn how to fly? Throw fireballs? You run the possibilities through your mind as you make your way over to your new part-time job, and you're positively brimming with eagerness to get started once you finally arrive at the sweet store. You open the door and stride in, looking around for the shopkeeper.
"Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san!" you jump, spinning to the side to see the hat-wearing man leaning against the side of the door. Did he have to greet you like that?!
"I'm so glad to see you're punctual – it's always good to have an eager employee!" he says, pushing himself off the wall and walking towards the back of the shop, gesturing for you to follow him. You do so, your mind still running wild with the possibilities – maybe he's got a secret training chamber underneath his house, like you see in some manga?
He abruptly opens one of the many-and-varied doors that line the passageways of the back of the shop – come to think of it, how does this all fit back here? You shrug and chalk it up to magic – and gestures for you to enter before him. It's…a large stockroom? Floor-to-ceiling shelving units fill the warehouse-sized room, with a large pile of boxes in the far left corner, the entrance being on the right hand side. You feel a jab in the back of your head-
You stagger, your body falling to the ground…but you yourself remain standing. Looking down at yourself, you're clad in your…well, your shinigami attire, your body lying on the ground beneath you.
Dead. Deadeadead.
A clapping sound brings you back to your senses, and you turn to face Urahara, a litany of swearwords on your lips – what the hell is he playing at! He pre-empts your righteous wrath, however.
"Don't worry Kurosaki-san! You'll be able to get back in your body later, but first of all I have a very important task for you!" he says, bringing you to a halt – you brim with trepidation and eagerness – what's he got for you to do that requires superpowers? Rescue someone? Fight a monster?
"This very important task is…" you twitch, can this guy just hurry up and tell you already! "…to move all the boxes from that pile and put them on the shelves!" he says gleefully, folding his fan in front of his face and waving it. Your eye twitches.
"What the hell!" you shout, throwing your arms up in the air. "What's so important about that? It's just some boxes!"
"Mou, Kurosaki-san – this is a candy store, you know – this sort of work needs to be done!" the blond man declaims, "Now, this is an important job and I know you need to be home for dinner – so you need to get it done as quickly as you can! I'll have your body waiting in a side-room until it's all sorted" he finishes, picking up your body and rushing off.
Well. Time to get started, you think grimly, rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck in.
Not ten minutes later, you gasp, hands on your knees – sure, these boxes are heavy, but you have actual superpowers, this shouldn't be this hard!
You need to focus – a shinigami's abilities revolve around their resolve and their will. Use that to direct the power of your spirit.
Huh. Okay. You take a deep breath and pull the power – the reiryoku – that is within you into your limbs and lift one of the boxes. This is much easier! Thinking about it, you managed to move really fast when you were fighting that monster – you move some of the power down to your calves and expel it-
The world blurs around you and you stagger to a halt, almost dropping the box you're carrying. Okay, that's going to take some practice.
Over the course of the next hour and a half, you manage to refine your control of your spiritual power to make short work of the rest of the shelving. Just as you finish putting the last box into place, the door to the warehouse room opens, revealing the aproned man that you encountered yesterday – Tessai, you think he was called.
"Good day, Kurosaki-san – the shopkeeper has sent me to tell you that your sister is here to pick you up" he intones – honestly, you didn't realise voices even got that deep. You'd also forgotten that Yuzu had said she'd be coming by after she was finished with her club – whoops?
You follow the aproned man out of the room and he leads you to a side room, where your body is laid out on a futon. You scramble into it – does it have to be such an uncomfortable process? – and sit up. Strangely, the aches and pains from your shinigami form are still there, but they feel…muted? You're not sure how to describe it. You get up and walk out of the room, somehow managing to navigate your way through the maze of passageways and out to the shop floor. Your sister is standing at the counter, talking quietly to the proprietor, who is looking slightly harried. He looks up at your entry.
"Ah, Kurosaki-san! As you can see, your sister is here to pick you up!" he exclaims, seemingly unaccountably enthused to see you. Yuzu turns to face you, her face lighting up.
"Karin! I was just talking to Shopkeeper-san about the terms of your employment here" she says, a slightly terrifying smile on her face – when people first meet the two of you, they assume that you're the scary one. Ha, they couldn't be more wrong.
Urahara leaps at the chance and ushers the pair of you out hurriedly – what did Yuzu say to him, you wonder – and the two of you start the journey home.
"What were you doing today?" Yuzu enquires on the way, and you answer with a brief explanation of how you used your incredible superpowers to…shelve boxes! Fuck yeah! The both of you have a laugh over this mundane use of your new abilities for the rest of the walk, exchanging thoughts about other uses they could be put to – Yuzu is very disappointed to hear that you don't think it's conferred any incredible ability at cooking onto you. That talent remains her own. The two of you get home, and are immediately greeted by a joyous shout as you take off your shoes.
"AH! MY DARLING DAUGHTERS HAVE COME HOME! THEIR OLDER BROTHER MAY BE OUT SOWING HIS WILD OATS, BUT THEY STILL LOVE AND RESPECT-" you shut him up by throwing a schoolbook at his head. Jeez, Goat-face, tone it down for once – what if someone saw!
Yuzu, naturally, takes it with equanimity, moving on to start dinner, chattering on about about her day, Goat-face responding with anecdotes from his day at the clinic – one of Yuzu's dresses and a set of pyjamas have gone missing. You sit down at the table and start working through your assignments for the week. You have to admit, literature doesn't have quite the same impact when your part-time job involves learning how to use your magic powers. Actually…you look up at Goat-face in question.
"Where is Ichi-nii? It's not like him to miss dinner" you ask, slightly regretting the question already in anticipation of his response.
"Ah! My manly son is out with a girl! I saw them walking down the street together after school!" he exclaims, moving over to that damn poster to start wailing about his son growing up. Maybe you should wait until Ichigo's here before spilling your guts? As if reading your mind, Yuzu glances up from the cooker and gives you a look. Nope, you're not getting out of this one.
You finish up your assignments and pack them away – nothing particularly challenging this week; as Yuzu starts serving dinner, putting some in a tub for Ichigo to eat later. The table is relatively silent as the three of you eat, Goat-Face occasionally interjecting overly effusive praise for Yuzu's cooking. As you finish and clear the table, Yuzu coughs meaningfully. Oh, right.
"Goat-face, can we talk about something?" you ask, looking down at the empty table. There is silence for a moment, and then-
"OF COURSE, MY DAUGHTER! DADDY WILL ACCEPT YOU NO MATTER WHAT!" he cries, wait does he think-
"Dad, this is serious!" Yuzu interrupts, a stern expression on her face. Your father's face immediately settles into serious lines, as he gazes intently at you.
"What is it, Karin?" he asks, and-
You spill your guts. It all comes rushing out in a torrent of words, the monster, dying, Nejibana – your father's brow creases at this – and finally the shopkeeper and his offer. Your father has an unreadable expression on his face, and you worry for a moment – what if he doesn't believe you-
His arms wrap around you, enfolding you in a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry Karin – you shouldn't have had to go through that" he murmurs into your hair and-
It's too much.
You start to sniffle, tears dripping down your face as you sob into his arms. Your Dad holds you for an indeterminable amount of time as you cry your heart out. At some point, Yuzu comes over and hugs you as well. You don't know how long you stay there, but eventually your tears dry out and you extricate yourself. Dad places his hand on your shoulder.
"Don't worry Karin – it'll be all right. And don't worry about Ichigo, either – I'll explain this to him in a way that won't make him do something stupid, like try and punch an evil spirit in the face" he says reassuringly.
You laugh weakly – Ichi-nii really would do that, wouldn't he? You should have known – your family really are the best.
The next few days will be uneventful - what happens at the start of next week? It is currently Friday, this choice will be taking place on Monday, which is your day off as Urahara and co. are out of town.
Article:
[] - A dark haired girl who feels...strange moves into your house.
[] - Yuzu finds a talking parakeet by the side of the road on the way to school.
[] - Urahara mentioned something called Jinzen - you want to try it.
In addition, due to killing your first Hollow and stabilising your emotional and mental state, you have been granted 400 XP to assign where you please - Kidou options are now available for training due to acquiring Urahara as a teacher...of sorts. For the sake of my sanity, XP expenditure must be voted on in Plan Name form. Please do check out the mechanics threadmark for information on the skills; I do not use precisely the same system as Maugan Ra. If you're uncertain about what a skill does, please ask me rather than stumble around in confusion.
A/N - So yeah. Longest chapter yet, and likely to remain so for some time. Lots of emotions - Isshin finding out about it this early is going to be int-er-est-ing. Ichigo wasn't fiat-ed away, incidentally, it was one of your choices earlier in the quest that made him absent (plus the diceroll to determine what day of the week the Quest started on).
For fighting style, I do really hope Karin adopts the "Be Like Water" approach to combat. Taking in her opponents aggression, and redirecting it back at them. Be patient, wear them down bit by bit. Waterbender Karin could be interesting.
Just to clarify this, I don't care what you guys do with the XP - I'll have fun with it either way. Please don't assign your XP based on where you think I want it.
@HeWhoAdds - You have 100 XP to assign where you please, incidentally. 50 XP and a 50 XP bonus for being the literal first omake.
