I do not own Bleach! All that good stuff is owned by Tite Kubo. I don't own soul society, Seireitei, shinigami, blah blah. I just play around with the characters. By the way, for this story, we're pretending like souls don't lose their memories once they get to Soul Society. Otherwise it won't make sense. Remember that, kay? Thanks and enjoy. ;)

"Toshiro! Come on shorty, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji and I are going out for some sake! Lighten up and join us!"

Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the 10th division of Gotei 13 in Seireitei, looked up from his desk with his usual cold scowl at the strawberry blonde, excessively busty woman leaning against his doorway, a small smile on her pink lips. "It's Hitsugaya-taichou. How many times do I have to knock that into your useless head?" He asked, his voice as cold as ice. Rangiku Matsumoto, his lieutenant simply smirked at her captain, unaffected. This was his usual mood. "I see your height has changed but you certainly haven't."

Toshiro gritted his teeth. He liked Matsumoto, really. She was kind and caring, and managed to stay sane when the love of her life, Gin Ichimaru had betrayed the whole of soul society, siding with Aizen and the Espada. The war between the Espada and the Shinigami had ceased about 5 years ago, and all was peaceful. Yet sometimes, Toshiro heard suppressed crying from Matsumoto's room.

He had never forgotten the day his lieutenant had stumbled into his house, crumpled onto the floor, looking like a zombie, murmuring her beloved's name, over and over.

Yet she had absolutely no respect and couldn't do work for her life.

Toshiro shook his head to clear the thoughts, and glanced back up at Matsumoto. "I'd rather not come. It is the result of your constant sake drinking that you get absolutely no paperwork done, and you leave it all to me." He said.

She shrugged, grinning. "I'd never give up my sake! You're just jealous because I could outdrink you any day. Anyways, I'm off. If you wanna waste your days like this, suit yourself. Bye, shorty."

"I'm not short anymore!" Toshiro growled, standing up at his full height of 5 foot 10 inches. He'd had a huge growth spurt and was finally the height of a normal person. He was taller than Matsumoto, for God's sake. Yet she would never let him live down his short days.

But she was gone already. He could even hear her footsteps running down the hall, already talking animatedly about a sake drinking contest.

Toshiro sat back down at his desk, regaining his composed mask. It was second nature to him now, to not let any of his emotions show. He still couldn't erase the memory from his head… what started everything… what had killed him…

"Yo Toshiro, I've got a bit of a surprise." A familiar voice drawled, muffled from behind the thick wooden door.

Toshiro suppressed the urge to release his bankai already and obliterate anyone who wanted to interrupt his work again. He sounded like an old man, always wanting to work, but he had to finish the papers somehow. His fukutaichou wasn't planning on helping anytime soon, and he couldn't turn in a bunch of blank papers. When he wasn't working anyway, he was training.

"Call me Hitsugaya-taichou before you step foot in here." Toshiro said calmly.

He heard a sigh, a shuffling of feet, and then "Hitsugaya-taichou, may we be graced with your presence?" The voice was now laden with sarcasm.

Toshiro rolled his eyes, fixed a scowl on his face, and spun in his chair so he was facing the door.

"Make it quick." He said. He had loads of paperwork to get to; Matsumoto-san was clearly not coming back from her night out any time soon.

The door flew open, revealing Ichigo Kurosaki, the bright haired substitute soul reaper that had graduated and finally became a fukutaichou, second only to Rukia Kuchiki. He was stronger than Kuchiki, yet refused to be her taichou. Everyone in soul society knew that Ichigo and Rukia had something going on, yet they never admitted to anything and seemed to openly hate one another.

Yet, instead of only Ichigo, there was someone else next to him.

The girl was about 18, and 5 foot 5. She had midnight black, silky hair, tied back into a ponytail with her bangs hanging out. She had huge dark blue, almost black eyes, and pale skin. She bore a striking resemblance to Ichigo; she even wore Ichigo's trademark scowl. Toshiro noted that she also had a very high reiatsu, just as her older brother did. She was lean and yet muscular, with slight curves, markedly less than Matsumoto but definitely more than Rukia.

Toshiro made sure a sheet of indifference was upon his face before raising one eyebrow in question.

"This is my idiot sister, Karin, who managed to get herself killed today," Ichigo started, placing one hand unceremoniously on his younger sister's head. She scowled even harder and shook him off. "She came to Soul Society and we sent her to the academy and all, but they refused to take her. They said she was already strong enough and wanted her to train with you or something like that."

Toshiro balked (on the inside of course. Outside he remained icy cold, just like his zanapakuto.) Train with Ichigo's sister? No way in hell.

Why wouldn't the academy take her? She had to have at least mastered shikai if she wanted a chance with the 10th squad captain.

"No. Tell the academy I don't want to train with her." Toshiro said simply.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Can't, they said they wouldn't take her. I think they're afraid of her. She got really pissed at one of the instructors when he was trying to spar with her, and out came her shikai. It's pretty damn cool actually. But anyways, you're supposed to train her or whatever and then maybe she can join your ranks and-" Ichigo paused, pulling his vibrating phone out of his pocket.

"Oops, I'm gonna go meet up with Renji and Rangiku and the others. I'll see ya later, taichou." With that, Ichigo turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

Toshiro stared coldly at Karin Kurosaki, the reason he'd be getting no sleep tonight. The reason his paperwork would never get finished. The stupid girl was scowling at him, with her arms crossed, clad in a baggy blue soccer jersey and light grey skinny jeans.

"Well?" She asked, her voice reminding Toshiro of clear, ringing bells. Actually scratch that. More like clear, ringing, angry-as-hell bells.

Toshiro stood up, glaring icily down at the girl.

"Well what? You came here to train then? Show me what you can do before I kick you out."

Karin narrowed her eyes at him. "Stop acting so tough, Toshiro."

"Do not talk to me in that disrespectful tone, Kurosaki. It's Hitsugaya-taichou and I expect you to honor that. I am your superior." He said.

Karin, however, wasn't focusing on his title or status. She was quite shocked by how someone could have such a cold demeanor. She was really not so different; people tended to like her but think of her as very tough. She scowled a lot, but not like this guy, who seemed to have a permanent frown etched onto his face. And his face. She might have found his lean yet muscular build, pale skin, snowy white hair and extremely bright turquoise hair attractive, if he wasn't acting like she was a speck of dust on his shoe.

"Whatever… Toshiro. Now train me." Karin said, with a roll of her eyes.

The bright white haired boy crossed his arms. "Only when you call me Hitsugaya-taichou."

"I'm not gonna call you that, okay? There's nothing you can do about it."

"You will respect me, or I'm not doing anything for you, Kurosaki."

"Respect is not in my vocabulary."

"Then learn the word and come back when you're ready for training." Toshiro made to sit down- he wasn't one for arguing a subject too long. The girl was already making him very agitated, and if he got any angrier the room temperature was going to drop.

"I'm going to be trained right now, by you. I don't have to show you respect. You are not my superior."

"Yes, I am, Kurosaki! I am captain of the 10th divison and you will address me as so!"

"I will do no such thing, you narcissistic creep."

"THEN GET OUT OF MY ROOM THIS INSTANT!" Toshiro roared. He'd had it with the insufferable fool.

Toshiro was standing, and leaning across his desk, glaring at Karin, who was leaning forward on the other side of the desk, scowling fiercely right back.

The door banged open, revealing a very worried Yumichika Ayasegawa. "Hitsugaya-taichou, I'm afraid yelling so loudly isn't very beautiful! We could hear you all the way from the pub! We thought you'd met Aizen reincarnate or something!" Toshiro turned his head slowly, fixing Yumichika with the same look he'd been giving Karin. Yumichika's eyes widened and he backed away slowly. "Uh… I… I have to go do that… uh thing!" He said, turning and fleeing from the room.

The temperature of the room was already so cold a slight frost was on the desks. This was what happened when Toshiro Hitsugaya got worked up.

Renji showed up in his place not an instant later, his brown eyes wide. The laid back lieutenant of 6th divison looked thoroughly shocked. "Everyone in Seireitei heard that yell! Damn, Shiro, what's up your ass?" He asked, taken aback. Toshiro said nothing, to angry for words. Instead, he breathed heavily, in and out, in and out. The stupid Kurosaki girl across from him, however, wasn't quite as silent.

"If you yell at me again… I WILL TAKE MY ZANAPAKUTO AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!" Karin screamed. Renji covered his ears and shunpo-ed right out of the doorway, as the walls of the room shook. All at once, a whole crowd was standing outside of the 10th division captains' door. Toshiro was now sure that the whole of Seireitei had heard their screaming match. His scowl grew even more, if that was possible. "What in the hell is going on here?" Ichigo's voice rang out from the commotion.

Toshiro clenched his fists and looked Kurosaki Karin straight in the eye. "I will never train you. You show no promise." He said simply. Then he turned abruptly. The crowd parted and he left the room in a huff, a cloud of snow practically hanging over him.

"Toshiro, please get out of there! I've finished all the paperwork! You need to take a shower, you reek of sweat. If you train any harder you'll defeat Byakuya-san!" Rangiku pleaded with her taichou. It had been 2 days since his fight with Karin, and his anger had still not left him. Instead, the captain was training harder and harder, releasing all of his anger in long, powerful bursts. She couldn't even imagine how pissed off the guy was.

Toshiro didn't answer, instead just continued to beat the training dummy to pieces.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" Rangiku yelled, fed up. At this, Toshiro dropped his zanapakuto on the ground. "What do you want?" He gasped, between worn out pants of exhaustion. "Hitsugaya-taichou. You are my captain and I care about you a lot. You are going to collapse if you continue like this. I understand that you're mad at Karin, but you can't go on like this." Toshiro sighed. He knew his lieutenant was right. He couldn't keep doing this; he had to go on.

"Fine. But I refuse to train that Kurosaki girl." He said, with an air of finality.

Rangiku ran a hand through her wavy hair. "We'll do what we can, okay, taichou? Now go to your house and clean up."

Toshiro's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Rangiku… I appreciate your concern. But if I see that girl again, I assure you, I'm going to bankai her into little bits and pieces."

"She's not that bad, taichou."

"She told me she was going to shove her zanapakuto up my ass!" Toshiro protested.

Rangiku shook her head, suppressing a laugh, and left, to give her captain privacy.

Toshiro walked out of the training grounds, and into the main streets. He grabbed his zanapakuto and placed it on his back, shaking his shocking white hair while running his long fingers through it, to take away the sweat drops. His whole body was drenched, and shaking from training so intensely. His uniform was askew, providing a slight view of his muscled chest, and his white captain's haori was so wet it was see through.

The road was busy, and people turned to look at him as he went. Toshiro wondered why they were staring at him. He glared at a short, skinny blonde girl who was gazing at him, her cheeks tinted pink. She blushed furiously and walked away quickly. He just didn't understand it. Why was he even so angry, anyway?
His yelling the other day hadn't been that loud… had it?
And all the Kurosaki girl had done was refuse to call him by his proper title.

But it was more than that! The way she looked at him just infuriated him!

Maybe he just wanted her to look at him in a different way… like she looked up to him. No that wasn't it… he wanted her to look at him like he mattered.

Toshiro let out a sound of frustration, causing an elderly lady on the street to glare at him.

Why was he wasting so much energy thinking about the Kurosaki girl anyways? He needed to let it go. He wasn't going to be training her. He was just going to take a shower and eat some noodles and go do some more of the never ending paper work. Then he was going to visit Momo… she was doing better now, in the recovery center she was staying at. She was slowly being able to walk and do every day things. She still couldn't talk though. It turned out that she wasn't dead… just injured very badly.

He continued walking, oblivious to the women who ogled at him and the men who envied him.

Karin lay on her bed in her new house. After the whole episode with Toshiro 2 days ago, she'd felt incredibly guilty. And this was definitely an incredible feat. The feeling of guilt was new to Karin. She usually did things and lived life without regret. But this felt different. All she'd had to do was respect the guy, yet she'd been very rude.

After everything had gone down, and everyone had calmed down, she'd got the lecture of her life from Ichigo. And then even Rukia told her how important it was to respect Toshiro, because he was extremely dangerous when in a rage. Then, after being yelled at by Ichigo some more, she'd met a gorgeous, curvy woman with the hugest bust she'd ever seen. Her name was Rangiku Matsumoto, and she was second to Toshiro, so she knew him the best. As soon as she introduced herself, she'd high fived Karin and told her it was great that she'd stood up for herself, but she was being a little rude. She'd advised her to keep her spirit but not to insult Toshiro too much. Then she'd asked if Karin wanted sake.

Karin liked Matsumoto-san a lot, but had denied the sake.

After that, a huge muscled man with long, red hair and tribal tattoos had come up to talk to her; his name was Renji. He was great friends with Ichigo, and Karin immediately liked him. He was like an older brother. But she'd kneed him in the balls when he'd shown her to her new house.

What luck she had.

It was right next to Toshiro's. And their bedroom windows were facing each other's.

Apparently, Renji had picked it out by himself.

Karin got up from her bed and was about to go downstairs and eat something when a flash of white caught her eye. She couldn't help but be drawn to her window, where the burst of color had come from. Karin froze when she saw a sweaty Toshiro entering his room.

She was too proud to apologize, of course. She wasn't about to open the window and tell him sorry, of course. In fact, she'd rather be trained by her own baka brother than this guy. Just thinking of the way he'd yelled at her the other day made her angry. In fact, she wanted to go right there and punch him. Sure, she was guilty, a little bit. But he was mean and cold and icy. Karin was about to turn away and go back out of her room when Toshiro began stripping off his shirt and tossing it on his bed, his back to her. Her eyes traced the muscles in his tanned back, and a strange tingling feeling erupted in her stomach, her cheeks flaming red.

Finally, Karin managed to drag her eyes away from her window. She slammed the blinds down, sighing. She needed to get a freaking grip.

Maybe playing soccer would help her.

Karin grabbed the ball from a corner of her room and grabbed her cleats, skipping down the stairs. Even the prospect of playing was enough to make her smile and forget about all her worries. She'd face Toshiro and the problems the idiot caused after she finished a nice practice all alone by herself.

Screw that stupid captain. He meant nothing to her.

Right?

Heh.. Toshiro sure means nothing to her ;)

I think Karin was a bit OOC at the ending, but I'm sure she'll be right back in character in the next chapter. Please rate & review, more chapters to come!