Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo. I am just playing in his sandbox.
A/N: This story is dedicated to Glowing Blue, who planted this plot bunny in my head and helped it grow into a plot-zilla. I'm finally posting it! :D
Prologue
"For the last time, Kurosaki, you will not be allowed to play in the nationals this year!"
Kurosaki Karin scowled fiercely at the coach of the Karakura High School soccer team, annoyed and more than slightly desperate at being denied a starting place in the school's soccer team yet again. She had been pleading with the coach for a starting position since the beginning of the year, when the girls team got cut, and she had been forced to seek out another extra curricular. It took a month of begging and more than one thinly veiled threat to report the school for sexism for her to even be able to train with the boys team. But no amount of begging or threats would change the coach's mind about allowing her to start. She had been forced to sit on the sidelines the whole of last season, watching helplessly as the boys team flailed and floundered and finally lost in the quarter-finals of the national tournament.
But that was not what had Karin so desperate - no, not just the horrible way her team mates were playing on the field - she needed to play at the soccer nationals this year in order for the scouts from Tokyo University to even consider her for their sports scholarship. But in order to get there, she had to at least be able to play one game. Unfortunately for her, the coach adamantly refused to put her name down on the roster.
"Why not?" she demanded, "You know I can play! Hell, I taught half the guys on your team how to play!"
The coach pinched the bridge of his nose and glanced heavenward, as if asking for patience for dealing with this one persistent Kurosaki. "In case you haven't noticed, Kurosaki, you are most definitely not a boy, so there is no chance in hell for you to play on this team."
"So I can't play because I'm female?"
"Yes," the coach said smugly, almost condescendingly. "Because you are a girl."
"That's bullshit!" Karin protested vehemently, "Just because I'm female doesn't make me less of a soccer player than the rest of the guys! You tell him, Heita!" she insisted, rounding on her unsuspecting friend as he came off the field with a group of her teammates and headed towards the benches for a drink.
A flash of panic crossed his face, and Heita backed away slowly, shaking his head. "I don't know anything, Kurosaki."
"Who trained with you when you were crap at soccer, huh?" Karin snapped, infuriated now. She could feel her chance at playing slipping away by the second. "Who helped you make the team last year?"
Heita only continued shaking his head mutely, cowering under both Karin's angry glare and his coach's warning stare.
"And what about you, Ryohei? Who helped you win all those matches in middle school? Who taught you how all those soccer tricks that you know now? Huh, Rei? Kazuya?" she demanded, glowering fiercely at them in turn, willing them to speak up for her.
But they flinched back and kept their heads down, unwilling to meet her gaze, and she could not help but feel a stab of betrayal and disappointment. They were supposed to be her team mates, her friends; they were supposed to have her back like she had theirs, but they had deserted her when she needed them the most.
"Stop it, Kurosaki," the coach snapped, weary of having the same argument with her yet again. "Girls are just not as good as guys at sports! This is not just me saying - it's proven scientific fact. You may be good, but you are only a girl - one not even half as good at soccer as your brother! Another word and you will not even get to train with the team."
Karin gaped, feeling the lid slamming shut on her dreams of the soccer scholarship from Tokyo University. "You can't do that! I need the scouts to see me play!"
"Too bad you are not a boy then," the coach retorted snidely, then dismissed her by pointedly turning away and blowing sharply on his whistle to get the team's attention.
Jaw setting, Karin spun on her heel and stalked away, seething at the callousness of the coach. This is not over, she promised herself, I'll find some way to get on that field.
A/N: This story was inspired when I saw a gifset of She's the Man on Tumblr, and Glowing Blue linked me to a fanmade trailer of a HitsuKarin AU of She's the Man. After spamming other peoples dashboards with posts about this, with the help of Glowing Blue, I've finally managed to get this story going. Send lots of lover her way because it would not have happened otherwise!