A note from the author: Hey guys, i know this starts off pretty slow but bear with it. I went on a little bit of a Toshiro bender this past week, and this is one of the results. Tell me what you think, as this is the first time i've tried writing something like this. hope you enjoy it!

************************************************** ************************************************** The day Karin met Toshiro Hitsugaya, her world changed. At the time she'd been in grade school and she just wanted him to help her team beat some older soccer players. He'd succeeded in doing so and then saving her life from a Hollow along with the rest of her team. As the years wore on, he would visit her brother, Ichigo often, but it was always with other officers and there was always some important business they had to take care of. So she rarely saw him other than in passing when he came down to grab an apple or some toast, nodding to her and briefly meeting her eyes before heading back to her brother's room. For the first 5 years, this didn't bother her. But when she was 15, she started seeing him in a completely different way. She didn't see him often because Ichigo was off at university, but he would pop in sometimes, asking her to go see Grandma Haru in the rare event that he had some time off, or when he would pass through Urahara's Shop, which she had started frequenting once she had hit puberty. She wasn't a Soul Reaper like her brother (although she often wished she was) nor had she developed odd powers like Sado and Orihime, but she could still see and be seen by Hollows and needed a way to protect herself and those around her. So Urahara would have her at his shop every day after school and she would help out and train in the basement room. Yuroichi helped her with basic martial arts, teaching her to be quick and strong. She liked Yuroichi. She would listen to Karin and understood her in a way an older sister or mother would. As she grew older, she would dream of Toshiro, pining after a boy she rarely saw and still looked like he was in grade school as she grew older. When she reached 16, she tried to dissuade herself from her unrequited affections for him. She'd started feeling like a pedophile, dreaming of the young boy and feeling that awful tug in her heart whenever she saw the younger boys playing soccer or with similar features to her Toshiro, like the shape of his eyes, his huffiness, that irritating stoic look. But it never worked. The last time she had seen him was a summer day when she was in the back half of her fifteen years. She was 17 now. She had all but forgotten him, between her swordplay club in school and martial arts clubs. She was top of her class and placed in every competition she was a part of, on top of her training at Urahara's with Yuroichi. She had many admirers, but she was too busy to return their affections. She didn't have time for them. She needed to focus and get to a good university, unlike her brother who had bitten off more than he could chew.

She walked home from Urahara's on her own, avoiding her father's "sneak attack" as she opened the door.

"Yuzu, I'm home," she called, walking over her dad's shoulders from where he lay face down. He groaned and she dropped her bag not far from him.

"Hey dad," she said, not looking at him on the ground and headed into the kitchen to see her sister Yuzu and her boyfriend at the stove, him holding her around the waist from behind while she stirred the curry. She hummed contentedly as she cooked and broke from his grasp briefly to check the rice. They'd been together for about a year and a half, and at first, it would make Karin remember Toshiro and would tug at her heart, filling her with envy, but not anymore. Now she just waved, grabbed herself a piece of toast, and went upstairs to get started on her homework until Yuzu was done. She was halfway up the stairs when the doorbell rang and she groaned before heading back downstairs.

"I got it," she called, hearing assent from Yuzu in the kitchen and her father icing his face in the living room. She turned the deadbolt and opened the door only to drown in the turquoise eyes before her.