Torque, an xSilverWingsx fanfic
She was lost at sea; he felt ensnared by the under-toe. After that first meeting their paths were meant to be paralleled, but by some glitch in fate it happened, over a slew of days that went by with frightening speed. When it was over, she yearned to be in his arms. HitsuKarin, IchiRuki, Renji0C.
Prologue: The Year 2012
Karin Kurosaki pulled her hair into a simple ponytail and frowned at the stubborn strands that hung loosely over her face. Nothing wanted to cooperate with her this morning; even her bed had refused to stay neat. It's me against the world, Karin thought dryly as she pulled on her knee highs and slipped loafers on after them.
The humid morning air seeped in through the window, thickening the already stuffy atmosphere. Karin's room used to belong to her older brother Ichigo, who had moved out as soon as opportunity struck. The shinigami now lived in a dormitory at Okino College downtown. Granted, things were a lot quieter around here now that he was gone, but she had to admit that it'd been fun watching his squabbles with their father.
Rukia was gone too; she had left the year before Ichigo because her 'family' wanted her back. Whatever, Karin knew that Rukia was also a shinigami. Lately, more and more people seemed to be.
As soon as she arrived at school, Karin promptly took her usual shortcut so as to avoid Jinta Hanakari. The obnoxious redhead took no greater joy than in pestering her, because Ururu tended to be in class already. Jinta was, of course, three years their junior; only thirteen but still endlessly irritating.
Karin entered Algebra class, relieved that she'd been able to avoid Jinta thus far. The classroom was empty with the exception of her twin sister Yuzu, whose honey colored hair was braided swiftly. Yuzu always prettied herself up in the mornings as much as humanly possible, because she 'was getting older and blossoming into a beautiful flower', or so their idiot father had said.
"Karin-chan," Yuzu asked, "where is Ururu?"
"Beats me," Karin said, pulling her binder out onto one of the gray desks as other students milled into the classroom.
"Hi! Hi!" Yuzu greeted all her friends with that endlessly cheerful demeanor that Karin didn't possess.
"Okay, class!" said Miss Ochi, whose crows' feet were more prominent in her old age. "Today we're discussing the quadrilaterals..." as her voice drifted, Karin's mind did the same. She never really paid attention, since Yuzu felt the need to recap their lessons at dinner every night, delighting Isshin. He needed a life.
Ururu never paid much attention either; her eyes were on the cloister outside. One of the borders connecting the courtard to the building had a large crack in it, and Karakura High was swarming with rumors of how it came about.
Before she knew it the bell was ringing, signifying the end of Algebra and the beginning of World Cultures - this was going to be a long day.
Toshiro Hitsugaya had the same thought as he glared down at the stack of paperwork on his desk. Now, at eighteen (appearance-wise), it wasn't surprising that this documentation was still his main line of work. The white haired men sighed, pulling out his ink pad to dip his quill. This action was interrupted by an annoyingly familiar voice.
"Hi, taichou!" Rangiku said merrily, waving. She hadn't aged much, but there was a notable difference around her eyes. She had cut her hair shorter three years before, saying it was more youthful.
"Matsumoto," he said stoically before returning to his work.
"Amagai-taichou is throwing a party, and everyone's invited!" she announced, and his expression didn't even falter. "Oh, you know you want to go. I won't drink as much if you do!"
"First of all," he responded icily, "I do not like parties and you know that. Second, that's highly unlikely." After jotting his name at the top of this form he began to check his log for the name of the eighteenth seat.
"But everyone's going!" Rangiku moaned, "and you're such a party pooper!"
"So be it." His flinty eyes locked with hers, symbolizing finality.
"...Fine, I'll get Kira to go..." she grumbled. "I hope I can find that one bottle..."
Toshiro sighed. Matsumoto, thanks to you I have eighty three forms to fill out today.
"What are you doing?" said an aristocratic voice as Rukia doodled on a piece of scrap paper. A thousand pink warriors invaded her cheeks when Byakuya came into her line of vision, his expression colored with disapproval. Small white fingers hurried to disguise the Chappy her pen had created just seconds before, but his cold grey orbs were faster. "You shouldn't be drawing on a day like this."
Slowly it dawned on her that it was a day to hone her shinigami ablities. Her words came out in a stutter. "N-Nii-sama... my deepest apologies."
"..." He turned away slowly, his white Captain's robe billowing behind him. Rukia did not rise from her respectful bow until he was no longer in the garden, then sighed.
I can never have any fun. The raven haired girl rose to her feet and eyed Sode no Shirayuki before clasping it in her fingers. Training time...
"Damn it!" Ichigo pummeled the power button of his laptop, but to no avail. It was dead because he had broken the third charger, which had been eighty dollars. Apparently he would have to borrow Uryu's again.
The disgruntled strawberry sat in a coffee shop not too far from campus, his mind abuzz with ways to destroy the computer. Burn it? ...Smash it? He wasn't sure. The infernal device had cost him many grades, since it was his only form of documentation.
"Don't get any funny ideas," the Quincy said matter-of-factly, "you'll be expelled if you destroy school property like that."
Ichigo didn't respond. He was getting sick of Uryu getting the best of him. "Apparently I should just take out a loan."
Uryu raised an eyebrow. "Another one? I don't think they'll let you, after four."
"I'll pay it off," Ichigo amended, "as soon as I get out of this place..." amber eyes met the sight of the dorm building off in the distance.
"You don't have to stay here." Blue eyes met the building as well. "I don't think it's that bad, really."
"That's probably because Orihime is a building over," Ichigo muttered, taking a sip of his coffee. Uryu reddened but didn't answer, checking his cell phone for a diversion. How enjoyable it was to make fun of him.
How was it for a start? I'm sort of on edge about the main pairing, because I love all pairings. Okay, I'll make it HitsuKarin - I write a lot of IchiRuki for main, so this might be a refresher. Enjoy and please review! : )