"Oh come on. You know you want to, you really need a break, taicho."
Toushiro slammed down his work in annoyance. His eyebrows twitched violently as he glared at his lieutenant.
"Getting out of work is one thing, but playing games and partying is completely another, Matsumoto." He said monotonously.
"Taicho, they are fun!!" Matsumoto replied, grinning playfully.
He didn't reply, just kept writing his paper work and ignored her.
"Well, if you go this time, I promise that I will do a paper work for you."
He stopped writing suddenly and raised his eyebrows in hope, thinking hard about it; the idea of Matsumoto's doing a paper work was so appealing to him. Just how many times would she offer to do something like that?
He eyed her suspiciously, deciding to give it a chance.
"Ok, I will go, but that is only because of your offer."
"Thank you, taicho." She was grinning widely, jumping up and down.
"Who's going to this thing anyways?"
"I'm not sure, taicho. I used hell butterflies to tell them, but I know that Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Kira are coming definitely. But a few others might be coming too, I don't know who else hear it.
She replied, pretending to think hard.
He just groaned audibly at her answer.
...
Both Toshiro and Matsumoto made their way out of the 10th squad office to join the party in the 5th squad. He knew Ichigo was made the captain of the 5th squad after Aizen, and that was why he avoided going there. He knew Ichigo wasn't a bad captain; he worked hard and understood his subordinates very well. He was happy to see that his childhood friend, Hinamori, was doing well as Ichigo's lieutenant too. Ichigo understood Hinamori's loss and he was grateful for it. But that didn't change that fact that Ichigo really annoyed him, especially when he called him 'a kid'
He wasn't that short anymore, and he didn't understand why everyone still called him 'a kid'. It was true that he was the youngest captain in the Gotei 13, but that didn't mean that he was 'a kid'. He just wanted everyone to remember him for his ability to fight and run the squad.
When they reached the 5th squad office, Matsumoto reached the handle and pushed the door open with him following behind her. They were greeted by the sounds of laughing and chatting, and all heads turn towards them.
"Hey Rangiku, hey T-" Ichigo greeted Matsumoto, but his voice cut out at the sight of him. He was clearly shocked with his appearance.
"Hey kid" Ichigo smirked at him as soon as he gained his cool back.
"It's Hits-" He was about to reply back in his usual annoyance tone, but stopped as soon as he heard Rukia's voice.
"IDIOT!!" Rukia screamed from behind, then ran to them and side kicked Ichigo in the face.
"How dare you call him a kid? It's good to see you Hitsuguya taicho!" Rukia smiled at him.
He swore, he hardly get scared of anything, but the sudden change in Rukia's expression really gave him a creep.
"Now, that is ugly." Yumichika said with Ikkaku, after looking at them. Both of them were standing next to Kira, who was trying not to laugh at Rukia and Ichigo.
Every shinigami knew that the 5th squad captain, Ichigo Kurosaki, and the third seat of 13th Squad, Rukia Kuchiki, were dating, and he was afraid of her, even though he tried hard not to show it.
They soon broke into small groups, Ichigo and Rukia were fighting in the corner, Matsumoto was dragged to a drinking group by Ikkaku, and he, who didn't know what to do, was left alone, standing near the window looking at the sky.
Suddenly, the room went quiet and everyone looked at the door as soon as they heard the foot steps outside.
"I thought everyone were here already." Renji declared and looked questioningly at Matsumoto.
"I guess not..." Matsumoto replied back and giggled, and signaled him to look at the door.
Just then the door bursted open and none other than Karin Kurosaki stepped into the office.
...
Karin wasn't here alone as she came into the room, her sister, Yuzu, was with her. At first Toshiro wasn't surprised to see the shocking looks on Kira. But he later realized that there was something else going on; Karin was supposed to be in the real world, performing her duty as a shinigami for at least 3 months, she wasn't supposed to be here in the Soul Society yet. The fact that she was here in the same room with him made it very suspicious. He also noticed that Matsumoto and Rukia stared intently at her as if they were expecting her to come here. Both of them looked happy that she was here and it made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
Matsumoto knew his secret; she knew Karin was his crush during his staying in the real world. He tried to his best to hide it from her, but failed miserably because she knew him too well. He knew she knew it from the start, since the day he helped Karin in the soccer game. She always smirked at him mischieviously every time Karin was mentioned in the conversation. And that didn't change even when Karin died and came to stay in the Soul Society as a shinigami. Though Karin was placed in the 11th Squad, not 10th squad, she still didn't stop teasing him about her.
The truth was, he hadn't seen Karin for a long time. The last time he saw her or talked to her was her graduation from the academy. He knew she was placed in the 11th squad as soon as she graduated, because Captain Zaraki liked her, she was, after all, Ichigo's younger sister. So he supposed Captain Zaraki saw her as little Ichigo. Yuzu, on the contrary, ended up in his squad. He knew her personally because she was one of his subordinates. And to be honest, he was surpried to find out that they were related because Karin was everything that Yuzu wasn't.
Knowing Yuzu, he had a chance to know Karin's story from her and it made him liked her more and more. But it made him feel more awkward at the same time because he realized that his feeling towards her probably went beyond crush. He didn't know how to act when she was around, and that was why both of them hardly met.
'Good!' He thought, sending his death glare back to his lieutenant, who gave him an innocent smile.
"Karin, what're you doing here?" Ikkaku asked bluntly.
"I don't know. I got a message from hell butterfly telling me to go back to the Soul Society. When I'm back, Yuzu just drag me here." Karin replied back.
"Hi, everyone." She proceeded to greet everyone in the room, but her voice cracked when she felt a pair of intriguing blue eyes starring at her. Those intense blue eyes certainly belonged to a body, a body of a boy who grew up to be a nice looking teenager named Toushiro Hitsugaya.
...
Karin simply stared at Toushiro, or at least the person whom she thought was him.
She knew he grew up, she grew up too. They were not kids who play soccer together anymore. It made her sad to think of this. She considered him as a friend, and maybe even more than that. He was her hero in the soccer game against the middle schooler, and she had always liked him. But she didn't know what she did, why he had been avoiding her since she came to the Soul Society. She made it her top priority to visit him everyweek since she joined the 11th squad, but every time she visited him, he wasn't there or she found him shutting the door right in front of her face with the excuse 'I'm busy'. After 3 months, she gave up, making up her mind that if he didn't want to see her, then she didn't want to see him either.
She knew her life in the Soul Society without Toushiro had been good. She had her father and her brother as the captain of the 3rd and the 5th squad, not to mention that she was the best friend of Rukia Kuchiki and also the fifth seat of the 11th squad. So nobody dared to get to the wrong side of her. She also made friends with other shinigamis, except those from 10th squad, of course, because she didn't feel like going there, after what he did to her.
"Toushiro?" she asked questioningly, already knowing the answer deep down. White hair, blue eyes, nobody looked like that that.
Toushiro wore a small smile on his lips as he nodded, then he turned to greet the person next to her, Yuzu
"Hello, Yuzu."
"Hello, it's nice to see you here, Hitsugaya taicho." Yuzu replied sweetly.
Karin however found herself not looking at anyone else, but him who was standing right in front of her. She knew he was gazing back at her too. Slowly she felt herself captivated by his stare and started to blushed slightly
'What the hell?, why is my face getting warmer?' She thought.
'Why is he here? I haven't seen him for awhile.'
'Why am I feeling this way to someone who has been avoiding me?'
Sensing the tension in the room, the 10th squad lieutenant quickly came to the rescue. Matsumoto coughed loudly, interupting everyone's thoughts and captured everyone's attention. Her intention was to break the awkward moment between her young captain and the object of his affection.
...
"Oh, I guess everybody is here. Let's party!!" Matsumoto said gleefully.
"Yuzu, I need you to help me with the recipe that I get from the real world, can you come here?" Rukia asked suddenly.
"Oh! of course." Yuzu smiled and ran towards both Rukia and Ichigo, leaving Toushiro and Karin stood, facing each other.
Not knowing what to say to each other, both of them turned and walked away. They decided to stay away from each other as much as possible.
"This doesn't work, they are too stubborn." Rukia finally whispered to Matsumoto, after looking at both Toshiro and Karin.
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Matsumoto replied and winked at Rukia.
...