Short story on HitsuKarin
Hope you enjoy it :)
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Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach nor any of the characters (all credits go to Tite Kubo)
"Wait... What do you mean you're leaving again?" Karin said in a desperate voice.
"I still have a lot of work left to do," Hitsugaya replied. "I have to leave after this."
"But what about tomorrow's game?" Karin exclaimed. "You promised you'd come and play with us!"
"I said I'd try," Hitsugaya replied, sighing and shaking his head.
"Fine..." Karin gave in, "but when will you come back?"
"When my work is done."
"And when will you be done?" Karin asked desperately.
Hitsugaya noticed that since the Thousand Year War ended, Karin had that desperate voice in her. He sighed and said, "I'll finish as fast as I can."
"Really?" Karin still sounded desperate, but also a little bit happy. "You promise?"
"Yeah, yeah," he replied.
Karin seemed to get relieved at this, but she didn't sound very happy when she said "Bye" to him.
When Hitsugaya came back to Soul Society, he headed straight for the 10th Division quarters. There, he found Matsumoto talking with Ichigo.
"Kurosaki," Hitsugaya said slightly surprised. "Why are you here?"
"Matsumoto-san told me to come here because she had a favor to ask," Ichigo replied.
"Your sister is worried about you, so you should head back home soon."
"Ehhh? Taichou! You were with Ichigo's sister?" Matsumoto said.
"I hope you didn't do anything funny," Ichigo said with a serious face.
"Oi," Hitsugaya said with an annoyed tone of voice. "I just played soccer with her and her team because she asked me to." He saw Ichigo's face relax a little and continued. "If you're done here, go back home. She's been waiting for you."
"Yeah yeah, I'm on my way," Ichigo replied. "See you later, Matsumoto-san, Toushiro."
Hitsugaya sighed and frowned. Is he really going to keep calling me so casually?
"Ta-i-chou!" Matsumoto called him. "If you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles!"
Hitsugaya frowned even more. Then he looked at the pile of papers on his desk and said, "Matsumoto... I told you to finish the paperwork before I got back."
"But Taichou~! I had to talk to Ichigo!" Matsumoto said, complaining.
"What did you have to talk to him about?"
"I needed to ask him to bring some cosmetics from the real world next time he came," Matsumoto said with a happy voice, laughing goofily at the thought of having new cosmetics.
"MATSUMOTO!" Hitsugaya snapped at his lieutenant's carefree attitude.
"Taichou~ Don't get so mad!" she said to try to calm down her Captain.
Hitsugaya sighed. "Just get the paperwork done with now."
"Ehhhhh..." Despite her complaints, Matsumoto hurried to finish the paperwork she had to do.
When they finished all their work, it was already way past midnight. Hitsugaya stretched his arms and legs and yawned. Then he turned to look at Matsumoto, who was already asleep on the couch. He walked up to her and put a blanket on her. Then he left the room. He went to the 13th Division's quarters, where Rukia was still working on some papers. Rukia noticed the presence and looked up.
"Hitsugaya Taichou," she said in surprise.
"Kuchiki," Hitsugaya said.
"What brings you here?"
"Just checking things out," he replied. "You should sleep."
"I still have some things to take care of," Rukia said looking at the pile of papers.
"I'll take care of it," Hitsugaya said walking towards the desk where Rukia was.
"Taichou!" Rukia started to complain. "I'm fine so—"
"Kuchiki," he said, "Ukitake used to treat me like a son. I hate to admit it, but he was a father-figure for me, so let me do this."
Rukia had never seen such a soft side of the white-haired captain, but she understood what he was saying. "Hai."
It was daybreak, and Hitsugaya had just finished the paperwork of the 13th Division, when he saw a big figure approach him.
"Hitsugaya Taichou," the man said, "how come you're here?"
"Kyoraku So-taichou," Hitsugaya said in slight astonishment. "I was helping Kuchiki with the paperwork."
"You have a pretty soft side too, don't you?" Kyoraku teased him a little bit.
Hitsugaya sighed. "Anyways, how's Ukitake?"
"He hasn't woken up yet," Kyoraku said with a depressed voice, "but the doctors say that as long as he still has the live to will, he will wake up anytime."
Hitsugaya seemed relieved to hear this. "Let's hope he wakes up soon."
"Yeah," Kyoraku said. "We need him."
After a few seconds of silence, Hitsugaya stood up.
"Going back to your office?" Kyoraku asked him.
"No," the younger captain replied. "I'm going to Karakura."
"Eh?" Kyoraku was surprised.
"I just need to take care of something really fast," was all Hitsugaya said.
Kyoraku smiled. "Well," he said, handing out a paper to Hitsugaya, "I was going to send you to Karakura today either way. You can just start your mission now."
"Yes."
As Hitsugaya was heading towards the gate to the real world, he read the paper that Kyoraku had given him. His mission was simple, but he was somewhat irritated by it. Why do I have to babysit... He thought to himself.
"Hitsugaya Toushiro, Captain of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13, is now to observe the growth of reiatsu in Kurosaki Karin and Kurosaki Yuzu, who are experiencing a significant change due to Kurosaki Ichigo's exceeding reiatsu."
Hitsugaya sighed. I guess I'll be stuck playing soccer again.
When he arrived at Karakura Town, he went to Urahara's shop for his gigai. Then he went for a walk in a park nearby. There he found Karin in her school uniform, kicking a soccer ball. For a few minutes, he just stood there looking at what the girl was doing. He noticed something was different about the way she was acting, but he couldn't quite point his finger at it. After a few minutes of observing her, he decided to talk to her.
"Yo, Kurosaki," he said.
"Toushiro!" she exclaimed, half surprised, half relieved.
"Why are you in the park kicking the ball so early in the morning?"
"Why are you here so early? Did you finish all your paperwork? Now that I look at you, you look really tired! Did you get any sleep at all? You should go to my house and get some sleep! I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind. Ohh wait... You probably don't have any time do you? Are you here on a mission?"
Hitsugaya was surprised at the number of questions that the girl just asked him, but he tried to answer them all.
"I spent the whole night working on the papers, so I didn't get any sleep, but I don't need to sleep. I'm not that tired. And yes, I am on a mission."
"Ohh..." Karin said. She definitely was acting weird lately, and even more today.
"You shouldn't be worrying about me," Hitsugaya said, looking at her eyes. "You look horrible. Did you even sleep?"
"Hey!" Karin exclaimed, a little angry that he had said she looked horrible and a little embarrassed by how he was looking at her. "It's not my fault! I couldn't sleep..."
Hitsugaya sighed. "Don't you have school today?"
"Oh!" Karin exclaimed, remembering she had to go. "That's right! I should leave now." She turned around and started walking away, but Hitsugaya grabbed her arm.
"Just go back home, you idiot," he told her.
"Wha-"
"You're tired," he said sighing. "You won't be able to concentrate in your classes even if you go."
"But I can't skip school just like that!" she said. "It's okay. I may look tired, but I'm okay. I'll get through the day." She somehow managed to free herself from his strong grip and said, "Bye, Toushiro!" before leaving the park.
I seriously have to babysit this stubborn brat, Hitsugaya thought to himself and gave a long sigh. This is going to be interesting. His mouth moved up in a little grin.
Karin arrived at her classroom a minute before the bell rang, and Yuzu made a big fuss about Karin being almost late. Then, their homeroom teacher came in and announced the arrival of a transfer student.
"Please, come in."
The door opened, and Karin's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the familiar white-haired, turquoise-eyed Shinigami (inside a gigai).
"Please introduce yourself," the teacher said.
"Hitsugaya Toushiro," he said. "Nice to meet you all."
There was an eerie silence when he finished speaking.
"Alright, Hitsugaya-kun," the teacher said, trying to lighten the mood. "Go sit in the empty seat by the window."
What? Karin thought. That's next to me! She started getting self-conscious as Hitsugaya walked towards her (well, towards his new seat, but whatever, you get my point).
"Kurosaki Karin," the teacher said. "Please share your books with the new students for today."
"Ye-yes," she replied.
Hitsugaya moved his table next to hers so that they were right next to each other.
"I'm counting on you," he told her with a smile she had never seen before.
"Y-yeah..." was all she could say.
The bell rang for lunch, and Hitsugaya approached Karin, who was about to leave the classroom.
"Kurosaki," he said.
"Call me Karin," she said. "There's four of us you know... You can't call all four of us the same."
"O-okay..." Hitsugaya said, a little surprised. "Karin..." he said awkwardly.
Karin smiled at his awkwardness. She found it cute. "Do you need something?"
"Show me around the school."
"Wha-" she exclaimed. "Why me?"
"I don't know anyone else."
"Oh.. But..." she said, a little embarrassed at the thought of spending lunch alone with him. "Umm..."
"If you don't want to, that's fine," he said. He started walking out the door.
"Wait!" she exclaimed. "I'll show you around, but let's get some food first."
"Sure."
Karin briefly and generally explained the general structure of the school and some details of some of the rooms that he would be using. The whole time, Karin kept glancing at Hitsugaya, and she felt so self-conscious that when he returned her gaze, she immediately looked a different direction.
Why am I being so self-conscious? Geez, Karin told herself. Relax! He's here on a mission, and he's going to leave again when he's done... Wait! Why do I even care so much whether he leaves or stays? Aaargh...
"-at okay?" she heard him ask her something, but didn't quite understand.
"Huh?"
"Why are you spacing out when I'm talking to you?" he said a little irritated.
"Ahh... Sorry... I was just..." she blushed a little bit.
Hitsugaya sighed. "Whatever. Anyways," he said, ready to repeat the question. "I need a place to stay, so is it okay if I stay at your house?"
"Ehh?" Karin said, blushing. "Ahh... Yeah... Sure."
"You don't sound so sure," Hitsugaya said.
"Well," Karin replied, thinking of an excuse, "I don't know if there's room for you except for the couch..."
"I'm fine sleeping in the couch."
"Oh," she said. "Okay... Then it's fine."
"Wasn't there a soccer match today?" he asked her.
"Oh yeah!" she said as if she had completely forgotten about it. "I should hurry up or I'll be late!" After saying this, she ran out of the school, and he followed her.
I hope you liked it! I'll upload part two soon, so stay tuned! And please please tell me what you think about it hehe :)