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Prize of Victory	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 87205 -:- Recommendations : 8 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make profit from this snippet

Chapter List
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You may need to skip back a chapter as these two were posted 24 hours apart.

　

　

The fourth was in chaos as Karin raced in with her cargo. Szayel�s reiatsu was exceptionally weak, but at least it seemed to have stabilized. No one seemed to pay attention to her and she was able to find a free bed to set him upon.

Looking about the sea of chaos, Karin focused her �sight� and sought the reiatsu she knew had to belong to Unohana. It was the only calm one in the fluctuating mass. Karin quickly weaved her way over to it.

�Unohana-san.� Karin called.

�Karin-san. Are you harmed?� Unohana asked calmly.

Unohana seemed as serene as every, as if it was just another day in the office and they weren�t being swamped by the wounded.

�No, I am fine. It�s Szayel.�

Unohana followed her back to the bed she had left Szayel in. He was sweating and whimpering a little, but still appeared to be unconscious.

�What happened?� Unohana asked softly as she rested a hand on Szayel�s shoulder and began to scan him for injuries.

Karin quickly recounted what had happened, although she failed to mention the creature that had pounded Szayel into a near bloody pulp had been her brother.

Unohana looked at her startled near the end.

�How did you manage to escape?� She asked.

Karin looked to the side, unwilling to answer. She was saved from being forced to answer by Szayel whimpering as he blinked swollen, blood shot eyes up at them.

�Wha? Where?� He croaked.

Karin blinked at the sound of his voice. It was young and lacked the arrogance she had become accustomed to. His own eyes widened more at the sound of his voice and he shot upright, clutching his throat and looking around in panic.

�Szayel-san, please lay back down, you have lost a lot of reiatsu and you are heavily injured.� Unohana ordered firmly.

Karin had to admit Unohana did a great job hiding her shock at Szayel�s appearance. In place of the six foot man was a barely four foot tall youth.

�What happened? What�s going on?� He demanded in pure panic.

�Szayel lay down.� Karin ordered calmly and firmly.

Szayel did lie back down, but his panic increased ten fold and his eyes darted to her in pure horror.

�What have you done to me?� He cried.

�I saved your life.� Karin snapped.

Szayel was still looking at himself in horror before his hands shot to his glasses, probing the damage.

�You should rest, Szaeyl-san.� Unohana stated. �You have been very gravely injured, granted nothing that won�t heal with a few weeks of bed rest.�

�You might as well let me die.� He whimpered softly.

�Rest. I promise you will feel better in the morning.� Unohana assured him.

Szayel actually had tears streaming down his face as Unohana moved to someone far more critically injured and in need of her attention. Not that Szayel wasn�t a mess himself, but his innate regeneration would fix most of the damage in no time.

�You might as well just kill me now.� He whimpered again. �End my misery. Do it before anyone finds out about this.�

�It�s not that bad.� Karin commented, crossing her arms and staring at him.

Despite how horrified she was at how much of a pulp her brother had beaten him into, his little hissy fit was becoming highly amusing. In fact, he was starting to act like the pouting child he appeared to be.

He continued to whimper and beg for her to kill him until she no longer found it amusing at her temper frayed too far.

�Stop it.� She ordered.

He stopped snivelling but tears were still streaming down his face.

�For pity sake I can take it off, so stop acting so childish.� She snapped irritably. �I only did it to save your life, it�s not the end of the world.�

�You don�t understand. I know that. That isn�t the problem, as troublesome as that is. The problem is my max power would be lucky to equate to even the lowest Arrancar now.�

�What are you talking about?� Karin asked, genuinely confused.

�My mask has been shattered. It will continue to leak reiatsu and I will never regain enough strength to remain an Espada.� He sobbed.

He actually looked ready to have a full blown mental breakdown while she stared at him in surprise. She never thought the loss would be permanent. A simple healing spell should fix the mask right? She asked as much.

He shook his head vigorously at the question before whimpering in pain. His body was starting to look like one giant bruise as the pummel damage he took started to reveal itself.

�He�s lucky none of his bones were broken.� She couldn�t help but to think.

�No. It�s a part of our very souls. You can�t just fix something like this anymore than you can fix burnt toast.� He sniffed. �Once you burn toast it is now what it is. This is now what it is. I don�t even think Orihime-san�s power of rejection could fix this.� He sobbed.

�Well, at least let me take the Claim off then. Would that make you feel better?� Karin asked with a sighed.

His sniffling paused, but he did eventually nod his head.

She touched his shoulder and recalled her reiatsu to herself, effectively removing the Claim she had cast earlier; the very thing that had removed him as a threat to her brother as it had enslaved him to her, and thus family.

The moment her reiatsu was removed from his he screamed and his reiatsu flashed about them as it exploded from the cracks in his glasses. Shocked, Karin quickly snapped her reiatsu back upon him, watching as the reiatsu from her Claim enveloped his and blocked the flow gushing out of his cracked glasses, acting like a sort of reiatsu plug.

Where as before he had looked 12, now he looked more 7 or 8. They stared at each other in horror. In fact she could feel the panic and grief he was feeling rushing through the Claim. She felt another hint of panic from her mate, but she quickly forced calm through the link to him, silently assuring him she was fine.

�I am sorry Szayel, but I think the Claim should remain for now. At least until we can fix your mask. It seems like my own reiatsu is acting like a sort of barrier between yours and the cracks.�

She didn�t have the heart to tell him the cracks had actually spread slightly as his reiatsu had started gushing out. Until further notice, it would appear that she was going to have to keep her Claim up on him if he wished to live.

�There is no fix.� He said in a panic, looking at his new appearance in even greater horror. �There is no way to fix this.� He cried again, sobs racking his body.

Despite any other feelings Karin had felt for him over the year she had known him, she felt for his grief. Right now all she saw before her was a terrified child sobbing his little heart out in grief and anguish.

�Szayel, take a deep breath.� Karin ordered as calmly as she could, resisting the urge to pull him into her lap and rock him like she would have had this been Hana or her own child in such distress.

He did so.

�And another.�

He complied.

�That�s it. Calm down. Another deep breath.�

She walked him through until his breathing was back to normal, even though she could see the turmoil and despair in his golden eyes and feel it rushing through her Claim. She rubbed his back soothingly.

�I can�t lose this again.� He whispered. �Not after all the work I put into it.�

�You need to rest. Things will make more sense in the morning, I promise.�

�I need to think.� He muttered. �There has to be a way to fix this. Nel was clearly in her adult form so��.�

�Szayel, rest.� Karin ordered.

His eyes slid closed and he drifted into slumber. Karin sighed and finally took a moment to look around the crowded hospital. Pulling a cart of supplies closer to the bed, she slowly started to peal off his uniform, now exceptionally large on him, and winced at the damage done to his body by her brother.

She cleaned out the few cuts there were. Most of it was pummel damage and the result was bruised flesh and bones. There was hardly a patch of his skin left that wasn�t a nasty bruise and even in his slumber he whimpered pitifully as she tended to him.

There was really nothing she could do for him that time wouldn�t have to fix. She pulled the blankets back up and tucked his much smaller frame in. All it did was make him look even more like a child.

Karin forced herself to wrench her eyes away from his battered body before moving over to the next patient. The man had large gashes in his right leg and he moaned and whimpered in pain.

�Hello, my name is Karin and I am here to help you.� She introduced herself to gain his attention. �I am going to see to the wound in you leg.�

Remembering the pain numbing kido Unohana had taught her when she was still pregnant, Karin dulled the pain in the mans leg before she started to clean the gash out and sow it up before wrapping it in bandages. She ordered him to rest before moving onto the next patient. And then the next.

The line of wounded never seemed to end and all of them suffered either large gashes, severed limbs, or melted flesh. The later no doubt came from the liquid the giant beetles had been spewing.

She did catch sight of a golden glow and briefly caught a glimpse of a grim faced Orihime as she healed the worse wounded. Karin felt a moment of relief that Orihime had clearly managed to make it off the battle field unharmed.

With the number of injured the 4^th division didn�t have enough reiatsu to heal all of the wounded. That was fine. Karin was use to working where there was no �magical healing.� Antiseptic and sutra�s was all she needed to work with. The pain numbing kido was exceptionally useful though, and she was damn glad she had learned the spell.

Arrancar or Shinigami, it didn�t matter what race the patient was. She sowed them up, cleaned their wounds, numbed their pain, and did anything else she could to make them comfortable.

Most of the fourth tended to avoid the Arrancar, and the number of their wounded were pretty few thanks to their innate hierro. Most of their wounds seemed to be burns from the beetles. A few had some severe gashes she learned also came from the beetles.

Apparently those barbs on their legs she had noted earlier that looked exceptionally sharp and long were exceptionally sharp. Sharp enough to slice through an Arrancar�s hierro like it was normal skin.

It was late at night, perhaps even early morning, before she finally ran out of patients to treat. She caught another glimpse of Orihime leaning exhaustedly against Ulquiorra�s side as he collected her.

Karin returned to Szayel�s bedside, noting he was still sleeping, if somewhat restlessly. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Unohana offering her a mug of tea.

�Thank you.� She mumbled.

�No, thank you for your assistance, Karin-san. Your thread work is wonderful and your indifference to the race of your patients is commendable and greatly appreciated. You saved a lot of us our reiatsu, and as a result saved several lives.� Unohana smiled warmly, if not tiredly, at her.

�It was nothing. It might take longer than your healing Kido, but they should still heal. I noticed Ulquiorra picked up Orihime.�

�Yes, the poor girl exhausted herself saving as many as she could. Apparently Aizen-kami just dismiss them from a meeting and has apparently been looking for Szayel-san.�

�Did you send someone to let him know he was here?� Karin asked.

�I did, although I failed to mention his condition as anything but; badly wounded and will heal with a great amount of time.�

�Thank you.�

�He seems even younger.� Unohana noted with a frown.

�Yeah, I tried to remove the reiatsu block but more of his own raced out, regressing him further and adding further cracks to his mask. I fear I will have to keep the block up.� Karin sighed as she turned her attention back to the pink haired scientist.

�It is a good thing you can see and manipulate reiatsu then. No one else would be able to do such a thing.� Unohana noted.

�Yeah.� Karin sighed.

Things were definitely going to be complicated now, that was for sure. She wondered what her mate was going to think when he found out about this little conundrum. Or Aizen for that matter.

She quickly checked the Claiming laws and sighed a bit in relief when she realized she hadn�t broken any. Hopefully Szayel would find a way to fix this mess when he regained both his consciousness and his wits. She did not want to have to explain to Aizen why she had not only done so, but been capable of Claiming someone in the first place.

Thinking of her Claims made her think of her mate. She was surprised he wasn�t already here seeing as how the meeting had to have been adjourned since Ulquiorra had just been here. Worried, she sought his reiatsu and found it heading towards the Estate, and their daughter.

Karin felt mortified that in all the confusion and chaos she had forgotten about her own daughter. She sought Ajuga�s reiatsu out and found it safe and sound next to Hana and Lilinette.

She let out a soft sigh of relief and brushed her reiatsu up against her mate�s. He brushed back, conveying as much exhaustion as she felt. It had been a long day for everyone. Another shadow fell over them and she looked up to see Nemu. She appeared to be complete unharmed from the battle that had taken place.

�Good evening, Nemu-san.� Unohana greeted her warmly.

�Unohana-taichou.� Nemu returned the greeting. �Szayel-sama?� She questioned.

Karin detected no emotion in the question, but there was something in the woman�s posture that conveyed a sense of worry.

�He just needs a lot of rest.� Karin found herself assuring the woman. �I need to get home to my own family. Would you mind watching him for the rest of the night?�

Nemu nodded and sat demeanour in the nearby chair, eyes locked on his prone and rather childish form.

�I must retire as well. There is nothing more that can be done here tonight. Good night, Nemu-san, Karin-san.�

�Good night, Unohana-san.� Karin bid.

The Taichou left, leaving the three of them alone.

�Before I go, Nemu-san.�

Nemu turned her head to look at her.

�Can you get someone to let me know the moment he wakes up. Right now my reiatsu is the only thing keeping his trapped. I fear if anymore of his reiatsu escapes he might regress even further, both physically and mentally.�

Nemu nodded in understanding.

It was a worry Karin had. She had seen how much less emotional control he had in his regressed states. She just prayed he wouldn�t lose any knowledge he might also have had. If there was anyone who would know how to fix the problem, it was him.

Karin stumbled her way home, exhaustion dragging her feet. She passed a fair number of parties on the way home but the Arrancar celebrating them didn�t spare her a second glance.

By the time she made it to her room Ajuga was fast asleep and Grimmjow was curled around his daughter, but his head did turn to meet her.

�Evening. Or is it technically morning yet?� She asked exhausted.

�Does it matter?� He asked, his voice just as exhausted as hers.

�Guess not.� She murmured, pealing off her cloths and climbing into bed behind him.

He shifted over her so that she was now the one curled around Ajuga and he moved up behind her. She sighed as his body heat enveloped her, shortly before she felt his reiatsu snake out and begin to scan her for any form of injury.

Subconsciously, she did the same. He was more or less unharmed, just drained and exhausted from the long battle and no doubt longer meeting. Once they were both content the other and their child were fine, they relaxed.

�How did the meeting go?� She asked in a yawn.

�Long. Boring. Typical, except Szayel never showed up to add another forty hours gleefully explaining the new bugs.� He answered. �Aizen was not pleased.�

�Szayel�s in the fourth.� She frowned, wondering if she should mention that Ichigo had been there.

�Pussy.� He grumbled.

Grimmjow didn�t ask, Karin wasn�t going to tell. She was too exhausted to deal with that kind of rival crap tonight anyway. Thinking of Ichigo did make her wonder what message they had been trying to get to her. It had to be important for them to risk capture to get it to her.

She frowned as several small things seemed to suddenly paint a larger picture. Szayel�s interest in gaining so much of her blood for study suddenly combined with how the swarm had suddenly shifted around her once one had tasted hers and swirled about with Ichigo�s mention of their father.

She held back a groan and decided she would tackle that large mess when she was more coherent and could actually make Szayel tell her why he was so interest in her blood now that she knew for a fact he would be incapable of lying to her.

�Guess one good thing did happen today after all. Got that prick by the balls. I can�t take my Claim off or he regresses to nothing.� She couldn�t help but to think a little smugly. �And now I can get him to tell me exactly what he�s been up to with Ajuga-chan and I.�

It didn�t take long for them both to drift into slumber. Out of worry she scanned the house, relaxing further as she counted for each of the residents.

Hana and Nanao where curled together in their quarters. Ukitake was in his. Lilinette appeared to be curled up with Starrk. Her daughter and mate were safely by her side. Content everyone was accounted for, Karin let herself finally drift off into exhausted slumber.

　

　

　

　

Well, there we have it. There is a lot of fall out from this battle that takes place. Poor Szayel, enslaved to Karin and regressed to an 8 year old. I have to admit, the thought of Chibi Szayel is just soooooo cute.

There will be lots of Szayel torture, some amusing, some rather dark, that occurs through out the story. What happened to Renji will be explained in a later chapter. I am afraid I can�t kill Szayel, he fills too important of a roll for a large number of events, one that no other character can fill.

Next Chapter: Dear lord, more fall out, and the chapter after that, even more fall out. Okay, maybe I should just post em all for a more seamless read.

　

　

You know what, all of you need to send a review telling my Boy friend how much you love him because he convinced me I should post the other two fall out chapters right now for a more seamless read. So if you are reading this note, spam that refresh button for the other two chapters.
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Prize of Victory