Karin wasn't the most typical girl a person could meet. She played soccer until she was drenched in sweat from her hair to her ratty sneakers, she was never caught dead in a skirt unless it was uniform, she was more used to swearing and fighting than any other girl that I had ever met, and never put up with anyone's shit. Ever. There were other things about her as well, her kicks could put someone in a coma, when it came to destroying a group of Hollows with a small pipe bomb, she was the master, and she could take on an angry group of shinigami, and come out unscathed. At least that's what Urahara told her in today's training. Not that I was really interested.
Karin had been coming to train with the Boss for about three years now, taking him up on his offer to help her protect her brother and the town and she couldn't have excelled more. For some one who had absolutely no background training in any form of fighting - aside from jump on some one and hitting them repeatedly - the rate in which she learnt to battle was downright intimidating. Ururu and I had assisted in her training: Boss and Yoruichi-sama taught her fighting, while we upped her speed and stamina.
That's what we were doing now, I mean, not upping her stamina, but training. We were in the basement, and I was watching Karin and Ururu fight while I sat next to Yoruichi, who was smiling like the Cheshire cat as she watched her little protégé use some of the flash-step techniques she had taught her.
I watched Karin for a while. She had very fast and sharp movements, and her attacks were head on and forceful. Not many women fought like that. Normally, they would attack from a side, or from behind some sort of shield, however small it may be. But Karin didn't, everything was just, well, head on and forceful. I really respected that.
But I also watched her body. Not that I was interested, I just looked. Karin wasn't largely busted or extremely curvy. Her legs had a lot of muscle from a combination of soccer her whole life and training the last couple years, but they were still long and smooth. She was slim and toned from constant exercise; I could easily wrap my arms around her waist, just above her hips. Her chest wasn't big, but they still gave her a womanly figure. Not that I was interested, I just noticed.
Yoruichi stood and called out, saying that training was done for today. They hadn't been fighting with all of their strength today, but they had been going at it for about three hours now. Ururu immediately picked up a broom and started sweeping the piled up dirt, despite the fact that we were underground and it didn't really matter. Karin made her way towards me. As she got closer, I grabbed her water bottle and tossed it to her.
"Good fighting today." I said, not looking at her.
"Thanks. You avoided a fight with me today again, we were meant to spar, remember?" she said. "What are you, chicken?" she laughed at me, almost mockingly as she picked up her sweat towel and dabbed her face. I turned around, about to yell and say that I wasn't 'avoiding' her, but as I turned, I found my face far too close to her body. For a moment, I was gazing at her chest, which did look at lot bigger up close, which, unfortunately, wasn't covered all that much by her sports bra.
I managed to tear my eyes away from looking at her sweat glistened body before noticed (she was busy letting her hair out of its ties without yanking them all out) and persisted to yell.
"Alright, I was just saying that you owe me a fight, I wanted to see how far I could get with you." she said, sitting down next to me and sprawling out to rest. I knew she was referring to how much power she would have to use against me, but I couldn't help but think of all the meanings that that sentence could have. Not that I was interested in do any but the fight, but her lying like that didn't help matters much.
"Hey, Jinta?" she asked after a few minutes, "where did you get this shirt?" suddenly, she sat up and wrapped her arms around my neck and started fishing around the back of my basketball shirt, looking for the label. Her hair started to fall in my face. It smelled like cherries.
After a moment, I realized that she was very, very close. I put my hands on her hips to push her away, but her hair now covered my eyes, and the pressure of Karin's pulling made me lose my orientation and I fell.
Regrettably, we were sitting on a rock, so I ended up falling the small distance to the ground, bringing Karin with me. So I ended up on the floor, on my back, with Karin straddling me. We were already close, so her face ended up less than and inch away from mine.
Karin started laughing, and I couldn't stop myself from doing the same after looking at her cheer filled face. "Sorry" she said, in-between giggles. Her hair had fallen from behind her shoulders completely now, almost like a curtain. Damn hair.
I looked right at her eyes. They were a dark colour, and right now, and quite often, very happy and . . . well, pretty. Without really thinking out it I pulled her down just that little distance and kissed her.
I was about to pull back and let her smack me when I felt her grab onto my hair and start to kiss me back. Well, no complaints from me. At this I wrapped one arm around her waist and rolled so I was on top of her, and deepened the kiss.
I started thinking about her. I had known her for about six years now, but I only ever really knew through training and hollow hunting. We didn't go to the same school, and we didn't have many similar interests. What was Karin like at school? Had she dated any of the guys there, she was almost seventeen now, and I knew she certainly had a lot of male friends. I never really had a lot of time for girls.
We eventually broke apart when the really annoying need for oxygen reared its ugly head. Karin looked at me for a moment and then pushed me off her and stood, then extending a hand for me to take. I took hold of it and stood up myself, but before I could say anything, the voice that I had learnt to hate.
"Well, what are little Jinta and Lady Karin doing hidden behind that stone?" Urahara seemed to come out of nowhere. He was going to make this hell for me, wasn't he? The boss came close to us, and we quickly dropped hands, not wanting to give him anything. His face was hidden by that stupid hat and the fan he always had. "It couldn't have been something totally improper, could it? Little Jinta isn't looking to defile our dear Karin-san, is he? How disgraceful!" he said, his sing-song voice was mocking revulsion.
Just once, I'd like to punch him through the roof.
Before I could say anything, Urahara had swept Karin up the ladder and into the backroom of the shop, with me hot on his heals. Urahara had been developing a weapon for Karin. Seeing as she spent most of her time either here or a soccer field, Urahara a developed a ball that she could channel her spiritual pressure into and kick. People without high spiritual awareness wouldn't see the difference, it would just look like she lost the ball in a wild kick when she ever had to use it to kill Hollows; they would start training with it next time. Urahara knew that she didn't really need a weapon, she had been taught to fight hollows without them, but I think everyone was developing a soft spot for Karin. Before the end of him explaining to all of us, Karin had nicknamed it the Kido ball. It did have some similarities.
Ururu and Yoruichi had both dragged Karin off before she left. They said something about clothes. Something told me that Karin wasn't going to be too pleased with this conversation. I was just leaving when I froze in my tracks at the sound of his menacing voice.
"Jinta," I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were covered by the shadow cast by the hat, but I could still tell that he was looking straight at me, "don't do any thing stupid." He didn't elaborate, but I didn't need him too.
I walked out just in time to see the ladies' conversation break apart, Karin was carrying an extra bag and while she wasn't looking, Yoruichi smirked and winked at me while Ururu giggled. Crap, they were in the basement as well! Silently cursing at Yoruichi, I met Karin at the door.
"Yoruichi gave me a blue jacket like her orange one. You know, the one with the metal shoulder guards." She said, her voice totally casual. "You still owe me a fight, Jinta!" she said. For a moment I thought that nothing was going to change, until she offhandedly came towards me and kissed me on the cheek. "See you later, Jinta!" she laughed as she left.
Screw it, I was interested.