I… uh, really don't know what to say except that I like HitsuKarin and I really hope that you people enjoy this fic!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach and, in my whole pretty awesome-ish life, never will. Yeah, I tend to be an optimist. At times. When I described life to be awesome-ish. And- I should really shut up.
ENJOY!
….
….
Toshiro Hitsugaya liked formalities. It was a thing with him. They were, he felt, short, clipped and straight to the point. There were no digressions as such- perhaps a zinger sprinkled here and there, added carefully, much to the amusement of the host or, maybe, the guest.
A formal meeting was his forte. It made the job so much easier; for he was an introvert and introverts usually preferred talking as less as possible.
Screw 'usually'. It was in their blood to speak as less as possible.
Such a word, however, could not be described with his deceased parents' friend. Rangiku Matsumoto, his ever exuberant and hyper guardian was an extrovert. A hard core one, too. Over the past thirteen years- or, was it? Time flew to fast for him to notice—Toshiro had found himself liking his guardian's happy nature. Without the warmth the strawberry blonde unconsciously exuded his life would be empty and dull. He loved her nature.
But, at times, like now, he wished, oh so DEARLY wished, for the abovementioned woman to shut up. A rude thought, he felt, but he couldn't help it.
He sighed and sipped his tea, vaguely registering Matsumoto animatedly talking to, whose name was, if Toshiro remembered correctly, Ishin Kurosaki. The black haired man with the funny beard-Toshiro frowned. Funny?-was talking to Matsumoto, his voice ringing out with pure happiness and ebullience. Toshiro felt like shoving himself into a bed full of pillows to get rid of the loud noise.
There were no pillows, much to his complete displeasure, he noted, shifting in his seat on the sofa.
Beside the noisy man was Yuzu Kurosaki, a sweet girl from what he could tell, with caramel hair and a sweet smile. She was married, he noted, his eyes glancing blithely at the ring she was tracing with her index finger. Beside the sweet girl was, much to his displeasure (again), an orange haired man.
Toshiro had figured that the orange haired man was a delinquent, seeing as to how he frowned and how his hair was, well, orange. But, after realizing that Ichigo- he learned that such was his name from the black haired creature seated next to Yuzu- was an Engineer, a pretty great one at that, Toshiro immediately stopped thinking of Ichigo as a mere delinquent. It was blatantly obvious that he wasn't.
The strawberry (the name was easier to remember that way) had taken a liking to glaring at him. An over protective brother, he mused, glaring right back, his icy look startling Ichigo. Toshiro knew for a fact that over-protective brothers preferred having their sisters as innocent and un-married as possible.
The word 'married' brought him back to the real world and he stifled a groan. His teal eyes travelled and locked with Ichigo's, who was glaring at him with as much passion as he could muster up. Toshiro tossed him a glare of his own, with the same amount of passion, an amused smirk playing on his lips.
He didn't bother acting nice and meek. After all, he wasn't really interested in marrying someone. He preferred staying on his own, thank you very much.
His smirk dropped when he noticed that Ichigo wasn't glaring at him anymore, a look in his amber eyes which made Toshiro feel as if the carrot top was approving of his behavior. He wasn't really sure whether or not to pride himself over the fact that an over protective brother was supporting him. Instead, he frowned, ever so lightly.
He wanted to call off the marriage. Sure, there was a thing about the ones to be married liking each other, but that would mean that he would have to spend some time with the completely unknown girl. It wasn't that he disliked girls- he liked them. He was straight, unlike what his cousin, Hinamori, thought. It was just that… girls annoyed him.
Mostly because he tended to get raped by them.
Okay, perhaps not 'raped',per se, but something of that sort.
His sea green eyes flickered towards the clock. He stifled yet another groan. One hour. He had been sitting on the couch for an hour! The thought made him wince, and he had the pursuing urge to strangle Matsumoto.
"So, can we meet the girl?" Matsumoto. Again.
This time he didn't bother hiding a groan.
.
.
.
Karin looked at herself in the mirror, pride enveloping her mind. If she had known that she was this awesome at putting on makeup, she would have definitely tried a different career. Not that she hated being a psychologist.
Her face itched with the amount of makeup she had applied, but tried to ignore it. Her forehead sweat and she thanked god that whatever she had put on her face didn't smudge because of sweat. Then again, she wouldn't really mind.
She looked at her reflection. She had changed a lot, she noted for the first time, not the scrawny eleven years old she was. Her hair was longer, for one, reaching a bit past her shoulder. Other than that, she still felt the same. Yuzu would state otherwise, saying that she was beautiful. Karin would roll her eyes. The one with the beauty was Yuzu. Karin never really cared for her looks.
That was the reason why she smiled at herself, admiring the view on the mirror. The black lipstick she had applied stood out, giving an ominous effect. She had kept her hair loose, making sure that they fell over her eyes. Applying those red blush thingies was a good idea, she felt. The colors clashed with each other sickeningly, making Karin smile.
The smile soon deflated, and she sighed in defeat.
The idea was stupid, she knew. Dressing up as medieval times' witch or a gothic lady wasn't really her thing, and she was sure that her family would be disappointed in her. At least Yuzu would- Ichigo didn't really seem to mind whether or not she married, and her father was, she was sure, doing this because he liked 'matchmaking'. Previously she had felt that only girls were interested in such an atrociously boring 'game' but, clearly, she had thought wrong.
She didn't want to be married. Not so early. Granted she was twenty-four already and that Yuzu was married and pregnant, but she wasn't Yuzu. She was a young, free lady who preferred travelling to looking after kids or a husband. Staying put wasn't really her forte. Leaning towards being an introvert sucked.
Then again, she preferred keeping things to herself. That itself was a known fact.
She looked at herself at the mirror again, and took in a deep, shuddering breath. Her confidence resurfaced and—
"So, can we meet the girl?"
Shit.
- promptly disappeared.
'Okay, calm down.' she thought furiously, shaking her head.
Her unlikely-to-be fiancé's/ husband's name was Hitsugay… wait, not 'gay'…
Shit. She cursed. Forgetting a person's name was an insult to said person. Not that she cared, but the last thing she wanted was this guy to think that she was impolite. Then again, it really didn't matter. Maybe.
Gaya! Yeah, his name was Hitsugaya something. She cursed herself, swearing. Why couldn't she have heard what Yuzu was saying? She paused and swore under her breath. He had seen the guy's picture, and even she had to admit—he was handsome. Overly so. He made girls want to kiss him senseless. At least that's what Yuzu had pegged him as.
For Karin, he was just… handsome and…just. No more words. Period.
As mentioned above, she wasn't ready for marriage and apparently one hour had passed in a minute. She defined marriage as 'downright annoying' and 'stupid'.
'It's not stupid.' Her brother had argued once, 'I am married to Rukia and I live a happy life.'
She had glared at him, claiming, 'At least you have Rukia! And Sora! I don't want kids!'
Ichigo had sighed, knowing that she had a huge point.
"Karin?" it took the mentioned woman just a millisecond to recognize the voice. It was Yuzu, her twin. She could recognize that voice anywhere. Karin turned around and smiled, forgetting about the state of her face.
Her face's state soon came to her knowledge when Yuzu screamed, hysterically, "Holy fuck!"
Karin winced, as if the words had stung her. She could never get used to Yuzu using profanities. Cute girls, she felt, weren't supposed to use such words. Yuzu was cute, but underneath all that cuteness, she could still be a demon. Karin found it funny.
She turned and stared again at the mirror, reveling Yuzu's reaction.
"Karin-chan, what have you done to yourself?!" Yuzu's hushed voice travelled to her ears. Karin's smirk grew wider, and she turned around. Before leaving the room with an indolent pat on Yuzu's shoulder, she murmured only one word—
"Makeup."
.
.
Toshiro Hitsugaya's eyes widened when he saw the girl, - Karin, was it?- blanching.
Karin Kurosaki's breath hitched when she saw him. In real life he was… was… like an ice made sculpture. Stunningly handsome.
Their eyes met, silently, briefly. Teal and gray. An imperfect combination.
Oddly, nobody seemed to notice her arrival, which was kind of surprising, seeing as to how she seemed so astonishing. Toshiro wondered if that was the right adjective. She opened her mouth, as if trying to speak, before a pair of fragile, milky white hands clasped onto her mouth, making the raven-haired gurgle in frustration, before being promptly taken to another room. By the sound of another door clicking shut, Toshiro figured that it was the bathroom.
He blinked, surprised.
Karin, after being rudely dragged into the bathroom, glared at Yuzu. She crossed her arms over her chest, defending herself. Throwing Yuzu another ill-meant glare, she asked, "What do you want?"
Yuzu glared right back, her honey-colored eyes narrowing into slits. She stared accusingly at Karin, standing akimbo, her pink frock moving with her movement. Her lips were dipped up into a frown, her eyebrow heads almost meeting each other in an adorable way. Not the correct word to describe Yuzu with in such a situation, Karin felt.
Karin asked the same question again, but with more poison in her voice. Apparently the poison had not seeped through Yuzu's mind, or maybe it was because she was used to Karin's petulance, because she glared right back, somehow the poison exceeding the tomboy's, "I want you to get rid of that makeup!" she screamed and Karin grumbled.
"Why?" she asked, "It's not that I want to marry!"
Yuzu glared again, "Karin, we talked about this before! Marriage is a beautiful thing! Look at Jinta and me!"
Karin shuddered. Jinta and Yuzu were freely intimate with each other and she had actually, by mistake, seen them during their make-out session. It was just a peak, though. The image, burned into her mind, had left her in the bathroom, throwing up in the sink. That night she had refused to eat. Jinta sometimes claimed that she was actually jealous over the fact that Yuzu was married and Karin was anything but.
Karin sighed and turned around, ignoring Yuzu.
"Get it off!" Yuzu screamed once more, the venom in her voice making Karin shudder in fear. She tried to mask a defiant look and replied as a negative. Yuzu, hearing her reply, clutched Karin by her shoulders and looked at her, their eyes locked, "Get. That. Makeup. Off."
Much to her own surprise, Karin agreed the next second.
.
.
When Toshiro had seen Karin, he had blanched. Her appearance had taken him by surprise. In the picture, she had looked different, definitely not like the image he had seen a few minutes back. The Karin, however, in front of him, seated nervously on the couch opposite to his looked nothing like… like that thing he had seen before. This woman before him was astonishing. And this was, he felt, the correct word to describe her with.
She was beautiful, but not in a sweet dainty way. She looked ruggedly beautiful, a bit aggressive, one could add. There was a tiny scar on her left eyebrow, partially hidden by her hair, but even he could say that she didn't mean to hide it. She looked as if she didn't really care about her looks- her untrimmed hair and un-manicured nails relayed that. She wore shorts, reaching a bit above her knees, and an oversized shirt. Her raven hair was tied into a loose ponytail, locks of hair sometimes escaping the band's hold, sliding out, making her huff in frustration.
Sometimes their eyes would meet in furtive glances. Apart from those looks, Karin mainly ignored him.
He liked that.
Silence passed between them, in its awkward grasp. Both weren't really sure how to react to such a situation. Beside the male was Matsumoto, answering in her loud voice to Ishin's anecdotes with, 'Yes!'s and 'No, that can't be!'s
Karin wanted to escape, preferring to stay in the comfort zone- mainly where Ichigo and Yuzu resided.
Toshiro wanted to go back to his house, sip a cup of coffee and got to bed, without a girl to accompany him. Surely, he felt, such a simple wish wouldn't be accomplished. For some reason, he felt like SuperMan. He didn't bother wondering why.
"Toshiro-kun," Ishin said, directing his thought to the brooding male, who he hoped was his future son-in-law, "why don't you and Karin-chan talk?"
Karin's grip on the sofa tightened and she narrowed her eyes, glaring pointedly at Ishin. Toshiro shrugged, glaring at Rangiku. An awkward silence elapsed, unknown to the two overly-excited forty plus adults. Karin almost sighed in relief when Toshiro refused to speak.
"Why don't we leave them alone?" Matsumoto suggested, leaning forward in excitement. Ishin grinned at her, and agreed, adding that the two needed to know each other. Soon, both disappeared into wherever Yuzu and Ichigo were.
When she was busy with wiping out the makeup, Karin had pretty much formulated a plan, and she was surprised by her boldness. What surprised her more was the fact that such an idea had come to her mind in such a confusing situation. She had thought that her mind would go blank and that she'd just stare stupidly at space, her mouth parted in. Not that she ever did that, but she felt that such a reaction would escape her.
As soon as the elders disappeared, Karin figured that it was her time to take up the stage. Unceremoniously, she put her legs on the table and looked at him with, what she termed as 'Flirtingly', and, keeping her elbows ensconced on the sofa's head, waved, grinning, "Yo dawg."
She winced mentally. She never really understood the point behind adding a 'dawg' in the end of the sentence. It sounded overly stupid and downright creepy. With doctors it didn't bode well not until and unless said doctor was taking up raping, in which case it made sense. Nonetheless, she tossed him another grin, and said, "You look like an asshole," she paused and added, "dawg." The chuckle which escaped her throat surprised even her. Despite its stupidness, it still sounded funny.
He looked nothing like an asshole, though. Even when she had failed to squeeze a reaction out of him.
She paused. This wasn't how she had expected the event to unfold. Or, from her point of view, un-unfold. She was damn sure that the word 'un-unfold' didn't make any sense at all.
She remembered Yuzu saying something about Toshiro's parents dying. A part of her felt that bringing the topic up, perhaps add an insult or two in the middle, casually, granted. This would, she was sure, make him angry. She paused and instantly felt like hitting herself.
She couldn't believe that she had just thought that!
The logical part of her, the part which cared, the part which knew how it felt to lose a precious person admonished the desperate part and even Karin had to agree with the logical part of her mind. Her mother's death had hit her hard. She couldn't help but wonder since when had she become so low. In his case, losing two precious people must have been maddening.
She took the time, busy in her own musings, to observe him.
As stated before, he was very, very handsome. So handsome that despite adding a 'very' and another 'very' with italics really didn't cut it. His skin was tanned- a person interested in outdoors sports, perhaps?- but not much. She could tell that he was pretty fair, with white hair, like a sea, the waves overlapping each other. Teal eyes stared ahead, boredom evident in his gaze.
White hair and teal eyes. A startling combination.
Huh.
He wore a teal shirt with a dark blue collar, and the deep blue cargos fitted him loosely.
I wish he'd smile… Karin paused and wondered how such a thought had come to infest her mind in the first place. Grey eyes slid into slits, He does frown a lot…
"If you have finished scrutinizing me, can we please call your family and get over this already?"
Broken from her reverie, Karin's eyes widened for a fraction of a second. It took her a moment to realize that the person to speak was the man in front of him.
He has an amazing voice. So smooth.
She really considered sitting over there and continue hearing his voice. It was out worldly- a perfect mixture of smoothness and gruffness.
As the words processed in her mind, she could tell that he wasn't really hell bent on spending time with her. As a psychologist, she could see from his body language- the slight wrinkle of his brow, the distaste in his voice- that he really didn't want to spend any time with her.
A sigh of relief escaped her mouth, and her shoulders drooped in happiness.
Toshiro had a sharp ear- a healthy amount of interest in music kept his ears sharp. It didn't take him more than a millisecond to know she was happy. He knew he was not supposed to feel insulted- he preferred keeping his emotions in check- but he couldn't help but feel exactly that.
Somehow, he seemed to like the fact that she wasn't really interested in him.
"You don't want to marry me, right?" Expectation. Hope.
He looked incredulously at her, as if to say, 'You realize that now?'
Karin noticed the look, and raised her hand, quite boyishly, he felt, defending herself, "Hey, I had to take precautions, okay?"
'Precautions?' he rose an inquiring eyebrow at her, but she pretended not to notice.
Instead, she removed her feet from the table, murmuring an apology for her impertinence, got up, walked up to him, flopped herself beside him and started unbuttoning her shirt.
Karin almost reprimanded herself for doing something so atrociously stupid (again), mainly because he seemed like a nice person and she felt a bit guilty tainting his golden reputation. But, she thought, I need an excuse for dad and Yuzu to disapprove of him. He seemed too perfect. Yuzu's choice. Matsumoto also seemed to have taken a liking to Karin. The tomboy did not understand why. That, and Ishin seemed to like Toshiro a lot. A disadvantage on both ends.
Karin bit her inner cheek, the sudden situation ringing with hilarity all of a sudden. She finished unbuttoning the final button and turned to Toshiro, who had a look on his face. Boredom and disappointment, Karin could tell.
Karin had analyzed his emotions correctly- he was bored and overly disappointed. Bored because he was used to the routine and disappointed because he was, well, disappointed in her. He wasn't psychic as such, but something had whispered to him, telling him that this girl, this beauty, would be different. Different, how, he didn't know, but something had told him.
He shrugged, non-committed, and decided that he shouldn't ever listen to weird voices telling him weird things. They were usually wrong.
Toshiro watched her wearily and, unsurprisingly, she didn't feel self conscious at all- the vest she wore inside her shirt being the reason. In his case he was just… just staring
She looked at him apologetically.
He stared, bemused, Apologetically?
Next moment she yanked him by the collar, jerking his head; ensconcing her back on the couch's seat, she pulled him towards her. Startled by the sudden movement, he shut his eyes and a fleeting though passed his mind, On the couch? Seriously?! Your family is in the next room!
Despite the look he was sending her, she pretended not to notice it.
"Hitsugaya, right?" her voice broke in through his thoughts. Dazed, he nodded.
Karin congratulated herself for remembering his name. She hated suffixes, so she did not bother adding one. Perhaps it was rude, but she did not care because the next thing she was about to do was worse. "Put your hand on my shoulder." She ordered.
"What…?" he asked dumbly.
"Just do it!"
He obliged, albeit reluctantly. She paused and murmured, "This doesn't seem right…"
Toshiro had the greatest urge to agree and get the hell away from her. Her nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction, and her eyebrows furrowed. She looked to her side, contemplating.
Seeing her in such an adorable state, Toshiro had to resist the urge to run his hand soothingly over her skin. He blanched.
Soothingly?
As if she had just made up her mind, she got rid of the rubber band tying her hair, and let it fall on the floor. She splayed her hair and ruffled it. Next, she took a glass from the table and splashed the water on her face. Satisfied with her work, she put it back on the table, and looked at him.
Toshiro took this time to observe their positions. His face was further away from hers, his hand set beside her waist, the other hanging mid-air. His left thigh was in between her legs, and he partially stood on his right leg. An intimate pose, one would describe it as such, but it felt nothing like that.
She murmured, "Listen, Hitsugaya, I am really sorry to do this. My family needs proof. They are a bit…" she paused and nibbled her bottom lip, searching for the correct word (at this point Toshiro was resisting the urge to kiss her- she really had perfect, full formed lips). Finding none, she continued, "well, y'know how they are."
Toshiro thought that nodding was the best action, but did not.
She paused and whispered, "All I need you to do is put a hand over my mouth when I start screaming. Try to make it as realistic as possible."
Toshiro let the words process in his mind. He got everything except for the realistic and screaming bit.
"What do you mean by-"
She screamed.
.
.
Ichigo was the sort of person who cared. He was the sort of person who would go through hell just to ensure that his precious people lived a good and a happy life.
Despite his rough looks and his strong nature, he was really a softy inside.
There were not many people who he could really hate- except for Aizen. That bastard of a person had actually tried to kidnap Orihime when they were seventeen. Currently, he was in a prison.
This hatred had even reached Jinta- That idiot thinks he can marry my sister and live with it?! Hell no!—but that hatred had reduced to nothing but a small, insignificant speck of fire, seeing as to how Jinta was committed to her. It was plain obvious that Jinta would never hurt Yuzu.
Slowly, very slowly, he had come to like the red haired brat, even though he was a year too late. Not that it really mattered. Yuzu had been ecstatic and Karin had just sighed and murmured, Finally.
When the topic of his other sister's marriage was being discussed, he knew this much—Karin definitely needed a strong person to take care of her. 'Strong'- he meant it mentally rather that physically. Of course he didn't approve his sister's marriage with a stick.
And though he hated to admit it, this guy—Toshiro Hitsugaya— Ichigo approved of him. The icy look he had given him, how the teal-eyed man did not fear him…
Ichigo knew that he was the ideal man for him.
Ichigo reddened when his words processed through his mind. NOT IN THAT WAY!, He thought, ideal man for me to accept. For Karin.
"And then, and then, the waitress said that he is not allowed to do it on the table!" Ishin's exuberant voice rang out again for the umpteenth time, and Rangiku doubled over, laughing like crazy. Ishin gleamed and Yuzu gave a slight smile, before excusing herself, claiming that she needed to use the bathroom.
Immersed in his thoughts, Ichigo failed to notice when Yuzu's foot 'accidently' tread over the old man's foot, the glare in her eyes conveying: Do not tell perverted jokes!
Ichigo winced when Ishin yelped, earning a 'Ishin-san, are you alright?' from the strawberry blonde. Ishin whimpered and dismissively waved his hand.
Ichigo let his mind travel back to Toshiro. What had clearly impressed Ichigo was that when he had glared at Toshiro, the teal eyed man had glared right back. A lot like Rukia, he thought. People usually recoiled in fear, strangers more so.
But he had not.
So, with these happy thoughts, he felt that he wouldn't really mind if Karin and Hitsugaya ended up in a relationship. Or, hell, even if they married each other.
This thought immediately disappeared from his mind, a few seconds later, when a scream penetrated his thoughts.
….
….
So, how was it? Liked it?
My back is aching. I have been hunched over the laptop for so long… ugh….
Please review! :3