Oh boy. This is the third Bleach one shot. I have got to stick with my chapter story. Enjoy HitsuXKarin, and stay warm.

I don't own Bleach.

Hide and Seek

The fifteen year old Yuzu stared at the note that was left on her sister's desk. It was a little humorous yet annoying at the same time. It was the anniversary and the celebration of peace in both the real world and Soul Society, and her twin just left in time to avoid the celebration. The light brown haired girl never knew why the raven-haired girl would leave the celebration without noting the whole gang. Yuzu sighed and took the note from her desk and exited their bedroom. Yuzu wasn't happy about this, but this was basically going to start… again. She could imagine how many people were going to be involved in this game and counted how many people were going to play this game.

Let's see… Ichigo was definitely in the list, along with Rukia and their childhood friends, Renji and Tatsuki. Next were her friends, Jinta and Ururu. Ishida, Orihime, and Chad were with Ichigo since they fought with her brother for a long time. There were some others who came over to celebrate while most of Ichigo's comrades were working somewhere. The people who were here were Rangiku, the forgiven Gin, Kira, Momo, and…

… Toshiro, who actually wanted to visit her sister instead of monitoring the town.

The whole gang saw the sulking twin coming from downstairs with a paper on her hand. They questioned Yuzu why Karin wasn't coming down. The girls thought that Karin was just sick, and one of them must stay with her. At the same time the feminine group thought about it, their minds turned to the bleach-haired boy and grinned at his questioning face. The boys thought it was just her time for needing some time alone to herself. Instead, Yuzu handed out the note to her eldest brother to let him read it. Ichigo raised an eyebrow and took what Yuzu was holding out. He read the note, out loud.

"Dear everyone,

I'm not going. If you want me to go join the party, you would have to find me first. I am around the town for the whole day, and if you can't find me after the sun sets, then you will see me tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Karin Kurosaki

P.S. Good luck finding me. I'll be around my usual hangouts.

P.P.S. Don't even think about asking Uncle Urahara. I called him yesterday, so don't even getting info out of him."

Ichigo, along with his friends and comrades, looked up at Yuzu's face in question. Yuzu looked at Toshiro who was disappointed that Karin wasn't joining them, and she felt sorry for him. Why did her sister leave everyone behind? Yuzu sighed and explained the situation.

"I don't know why, but she does this almost every event. When dad and I planned to go somewhere with Karin, she just left. It's a child game called 'Hide and Seek,' but it is played on her own rules. I'm not good on this game because she hides anywhere in this town. The rules are the same except it expands to the town."

Ichigo rubbed his neck in confusion and asked his little sister.

"Well… if Karin doesn't want to join, she doesn't have to go. She's old enough to go around, so…" Yuzu shook her head in disbelief. Doesn't anyone know about the consequences of refusal? Of course not!

"You don't understand. No one could refuse this challenge, and trust me. I tried to refuse."

Okay. Now this was interesting. Yuzu claimed that she tried to refuse Karin's challenge, but something happened. Everyone's ears perked up to hear what the twin has to say. Ichigo asked with a bit of curiosity in his mind coming out from his mouth.

"What will happen if we refuse?"

"ICHIGO!!"

At the same second, Ichigo felt his breath knocked out from his lungs and a painful grip on his throat. He glared at his captain-level father who head-locked his own son. Everyone was out of the insane Kurosaki's way, and Yuzu mouthed the words to Ichigo.

"He will deal with us later."

"Ichigo! I am very upset that you refuse to find sweet little Karin! If you do not find her at the end of the day, I will make sure that you and your friends are worn out in the training grounds when you face me, Urahara, and Yoruichi at the same time! Now, go find her!" Ichigo used force to release himself from Isshin's grip and literally ran out the door with others following him behind for they do not want to face the wrathful captain who eliminated hordes of Hollows in one fell swoop. No, really. Ichigo's father is really scary when it comes to either Hollow hunting or training.

0000

"Where is Karin-chan?" Yuzu looked around for her sister in the mall. Jinta, Ururu, and Chad were looking around for trouble making girl, and they all thought that she enjoyed going in there. Chad was with the three because there was one liable girl who wasn't good on searching for her twin. Jinta knew that the girl liked this place, but there was a certain shop around that she usually comes and goes. What was the shop again?

"Let's go, Yuzu-chan. Karin is not here." Ururu patted Yuzu's back for reassurance. The Kurosaki girl nodded and turned around to exit the mall. Chad turned around, but his left eye saw something familiar to him.

"Soccer ball…" He muttered in wonder.

"Oy! What's wrong?" Jinta asked with a bit of concern. The tanned man shook his head, getting rid of something in his mind.

"It's nothing." The group left with no luck, but they didn't notice that luck was right in front of their noses. They just have to see through the disguise.

0000

"Argh! Where is that brat?!" A certain red pineapple haired man growled as he and a short haired karate girl were walking over the bridge. Tatsuki raised an eyebrow as she looked around the route. It was Karin's usual route after school, and this was weird. Tatsuki knew that she should have taken the other route that was shorter, but for some reason, Karin took the road where the bridge is all alone. There was something that Karin brought along, but what was it?

She shivered as the temperature of winter was getting to her. Damn, she should have taken the scarf and mittens along for the celebration. For a split second she shivered, she felt someone grabbing her left hand and slip something warm over her hand. Next, she felt her right hand being grabbed and put into another warm cloth, and her neck was wrapped around by wool. She looked up to see a blushing Renji and smiled.

"I didn't know that you are a softy." He slightly glared at the grinning girl.

"Shut up. Let's go. She's definitely not here." Tatsuki agreed and walked with him. When her eyes glanced at the pedestrians, her eyes blinked in confusion and went back to the road, thinking it was an illusion.

Strange… who would wear a forest color jacket in this time of season?

0000

"Karin's not here." Orihime stated as she looked around for Ichigo's sister. Ishida pushed up his glasses and agreed with her. They were around the Karakura high school grounds and trying to find someone in the empty lot. From Ichigo's guess, she would likely stay in school for soccer practice or something else nonproductive. They were searching from the outside since the buildings were locked. With their search and the help of Orihime's friends, they had no luck. Ishida sighed and took Orihime's hand, whispering in her ear.

"Let's continue the search. She's obviously not here." Orihime nodded with a bit of sadness and walked with him. They didn't notice that a strand of long hair behind the trees was flowing with the icy wind.

0000

"It's too bad that Shiro-chan's not here. We would definitely have a better chance of finding her." Hinamori said as she looked around the district. The district was usually the girls' shopping day, and they always dragged Karin into every store since she doesn't have any feminine clothes in her closet. Kira looked at his watch and up at the sky. It was already in the afternoon, and they don't have any time left. They have to find her quickly.

"Momo-chan, let's go." Kira said, and Hinamori nodded. She turned her head a bit and froze a bit. Kira blinked and shook her from her stare.

"Momo-chan? What's wrong?" Hinamori looked at him and calmed down, shaking her head.

"I thought I just saw something. It must be my hallucination." Kira sighed in relief and walked with her, continuing their search. Hinamori thought about what she saw. She knew that winter doesn't have a sun out all day, so why is that person wearing a red cap?

0000

"Ooh! Ooh! Gin! Let's go over there!" Rangiku dragged the man behind her with excitement. Gin still smiled, but he was getting exhausted from shopping door to door. His sweetheart's eyes glittered when she saw something on sale, and she always tried them out. His red eyes looked around the place, and a realization hit him. They were in a jewelry store, and he sweat dropped again. She was all over the place and trying to find something interesting.

"Gin! Look over here!"

He looked at Rangiku and smiled at the jewelry of her choice. It was a diamond necklace that reminded him of a special event somewhere in Soul Society. It fitted her perfectly.

"It looks lovely, Ran-chan."

He also spotted someone with a navy blue colored eye, glancing at Rangiku for two seconds and back to the jewelry. He knew that person, but he never said anything to his sweet Rangiku, especially in this shop.

0000

"When I get my hands on Shorty, I'll tear his head off first." Ichigo growled as he walked a bit faster. Rukia sighed and shook her head. She had no idea why she was hanging around with the Kurosaki man, but she admitted that she liked him. It was funny to see him get worked over for nothing and still call the grown Toshiro, "Shorty", but she rather be involve in his life with him since Rukia and Ichigo did the most arguments. They were running out of time, and they already lost Toshiro as they stepped foot into the streets.

Rukia glanced at Ichigo who was fuming in rage as he thought many ways to murder the tenth division captain. At this rate, they were never going to find the girl, and time was running out. She looked at the sun setting as the day was ending. She never noticed why Karin was watching the sunsets through her own window unless…

The Kuchiki girl smirked and yanked Ichigo out of his thoughts. She then half dragged him and heard his protests and yelling.

"Let's go back, Ichigo. I have a feeling that Hitsugaya-taichou knows exactly where Karin is."

For the meantime, Rukia ignored his questions and bribes for finding his little sister. She silently wished the captain good luck and not to break his leg… literally.

0000

Toshiro looked around the two places she usually hung out by himself. He sighed in frustration and continued to walk to his destination. She wasn't seen leaning against the rail or the park training with her friends. His eyes flashed coldness before reverting back to his neutral form. This was stupid! She left them just to let everyone play her stupid game. It was frustrating to find the girl, and the chances of finding the nonsense girl were one out of a thousand.

Just before he entered the place where Karin was, he stopped a bit and blinked to see a person already in the middle of the field. He couldn't see who it was because the person's back was facing him. However, he could describe what he was wearing. He was wearing a cap over his head, blue jeans that looked like it was tight for a guy, and a huge dark green jacket. However, a dead giveaway was the soccer ball that was hitting against the rims of the net. He knew this person and crossed his arms, watching the person kicking the ball. The kick was strong and looked like it was going to be painful, but that kick only belonged to one person…

… and thy name is Karin Kurosaki.

"Found you." The person froze in midair and slowly turned around to see who said that. When their eyes met, Toshiro smirked and shook his head.

"You shouldn't do that, Kurosaki. Never make eye contact if you want to hide." Karin sighed and took her cap off from her head. Her long hair cascaded down to her shoulders, and she half glared, half pouted since she knew that she was found.

"Well… you found me. Am I still going to the party with everyone else?" Toshiro raised his eyebrow and walked closer to the Kurosaki girl.

"Of course, but answer me this question…" Karin raised an eyebrow and nodded to let him continue.

"Why on earth are you dressed like this just to hide from us? Why are you hiding?" Silence loomed around the atmosphere before it was broken by Karin's sigh. She turned around to see the sunset, staring at the colors. Toshiro turned his attention to the sunset with Karin to hide his concern about the raven-haired girl.

"I don't know," said Karin, "I'm just not feeling the vibe of the party, and I have… something on my mind." Toshiro raised an eyebrow and looked at Karin who quickly looked away. Her face was acting neutral, but her eyes were not. She put her cap back on her head and sighed.

"Come on. Everyone's waiting for us." Toshiro didn't know what to say, but on act of impulse, he grabbed Karin's hand. She stopped and turned around with her navy blue eyes, peeking under from the cap.

"What?" Toshiro let his body act on its own and lifted the cap a bit to see her whole face. He leaned down and felt her quick breaths on his lips before claiming them with his own. He stayed on that position for a while before he felt Karin's lips responding to his kiss. Toshiro felt that time stood still around them before he knew that he and Karin needed air. He broke the kiss and opened his eyes, seeing navy blue eyes opening half way.

"Where do you want to go then?" Toshiro whispered, and Karin gently smiled. Her hand slid to clasp his hand and entwined her fingers with his. She took her cap off from her head with her free hand and let her forehead touch Toshiro's forehead.

"Right here would be fine." She whispered, lovingly.

Unknown to them, the whole group found them behind the bushes where the two couldn't see, either gushing at the cute scene or holding Ichigo back with his mouth covered and with a lot of strength to hold him back from beating up the white-haired captain with his own bare hands that wanted blood for touching his little sister.