That Damn Soccer Ball. One-shot.

Disclaimer: Do not own Bleach. ):

If there was one thing Hitsugaya Toushirou was good at, it was following orders. When the Captain Commander decided to send him to the Human world, he bowed and made the preparations for his trip without asking questions. Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends no longer resided in Karakura Town, but it seemed the bright beacon of Kurosaki reiatsu still remained to draw in attention. This time, it led straight to a dark haired fifteen year old still as obstinate as she was at age eleven. Despite the reiatsu-masking product developed by Urahara Kisuke, it seemed the girl still drew hollows to her like moths to a flame. The only solution left was to teach her to control her reiatsu. And fast.

"Hey, Toushirou," Karin called out as she let the door shut behind her. It wasn't any surprise to find him on the roof once the lunch hour rolled around. Despite the fact that he'd been around for two weeks, it seemed the shinigami was determined not to integrate himself with the class and she couldn't have that. "I thought I told you we were kicking arse on the soccer field during lunch today."

He grunted in reply, eyes fixed on the small phone in his hand. This was becoming a routine. He would retreat to the roof and she would come up to drag him down minutes later. Or at least try to.

She sighed heavily as she trudged over to his spot against the chain-linked fence. "Come on, you skipped out on the last game. It'll be fun," she urged, tugging gently at his sleeve. "We're playing against class C and everyone's going to be there."

"I'm not here for fun" came the stoic reply as he continued to click away at the device. There were no hollow activities. That was good. Since they started working on getting her to control her reiatsu output, the attacks seemed to gradually decrease.

"Quit acting like such an old fart," she grumbled, taking hold of his arm and pulling. He didn't budge. This was not fair. Sure, he was a good three inches taller than she was and probably built completely of muscle, but did he really have to be so much stronger? Any other guy would have at least tumbled forward by now. "Toushirou!"

He sighed. "I'm not here to play games, Kurosaki. I have responsibilities—"

"Yes, you do and as a teenager, one of them is to have fun every once in a while!" This was getting to be a tiring argument.

"I'm over a hundred years old. Definitely way past my teenage years," he drawled unhurriedly. The corner of his lips tipped slightly as he caught a quick glance of her frustrated scowl.

"That's beside the point! You look like you're fifteen. Start acting like it," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Honestly, you said you wanted to blend in. Keeping yourself isolated from everyone and acting like you have a stick up your arse at all times is not the way to do it."

Toushirou raised a white eyebrow in question. "And demolishing them in a friendly game of soccer is?" He couldn't stop the snort that escaped at the thought of that. These games were anything but friendly. A person had to be really good (or really lucky) to get away without injury.

Karin snickered, nudging his arm gently with her shoulder. "Well, aren't you modest," she mused with a shake of her head. "Come on, taichou, put your money where your mouth is. The guys were barely managing to keep up when I decided to get you. Time to save their arses. Again." Much to his chagrin, the story of the match against the middle school students years ago still hadn't died down. His first day had Karin's old friends retelling the tale once the bunch had gathered enough of an audience as the ice captain glared at the minx snickering behind her hand at his annoyance.

Realizing she wasn't going to let up until she got her way, Toushirou allowed the raven-haired girl to pull him along. The triumphant grin that formed on her lips earned her a roll of his eyes as he the captain muttered, "sometimes I wish I never picked up that damn soccer ball."

Just a short little drabble about one of my favorite (not-exactly-canon) pairings in Bleach. I've got a few of them scribbled into my notebooks so they'll probably eventually find their way onto the net. Who knows, really.

- Skye