Welcome to my collection of ficlets centring around Hitsugaya and Karin. Cleaned up as of 07/2016.

Summary: Hitsugaya is now staying in Karin's room when he has missions in Karakura. 'I should really knock...'

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This disclaimer also applies to future chapters in this series.

It's a nice room, one he vaguely remembers from before when it was still Ichigo's, that time he refused to climb out of a light fixture in the ceiling. Back then the walls were a plain white, the floor wooden, the bed cover blue with a white cross, the desk a quite pale wooden colour...

Now, the walls are still white, but they're covered in posters, be it famous soccer players, one of some big cats, and another on how to play poker. The furniture hasn't been rearranged, the bed is still under the window, next to the desk, with the television stand filled with books opposite. The bed cover is red, as are the curtains. The desk is the same, and the wardrobe doors are make-shift corkboards. On the floor is a stripy rug, positioned in front of the bed but a little away from the desk chair.

Not to Hitsugaya's taste, who is rather more spartan and certainly more traditional, but it suits Karin nicely.

Karin, who has just stopped to pull open one of her wardrobe doors, who has just unceremoniously dropped the towel she was previously holding around herself as she starts to get ready in the privacy of her room.

Something occurs to Hitsugaya Tōshirō, 10th Captain of the Gotei 13, as he perches on the windowsill of said room.

Karin has curves, really quite noticeable ones.

And nice legs.

Nice waist.

Hips...

Very nice curves.

Hitsugaya puts a hand to his nose, trying to stem the bleeding as he falls over backwards. The falling part helped more.

It also occurs to him that perhaps he should knock.

I turn at a thump sounding outside my window. Quickly slipping on one of the many long t-shirts I wear to bed and some retired shorts, I climb on all fours onto my bed to look out the open window. Poking my head further out when nothing jumps out at me, I spy a bloody heap on the ground outside the window. A heap with white hair. I sigh as I deduce what happened.

All those long years of hiding, all ruined.

Most people think I'm a tomboy not because I'm not girly, but because I have boyish features and know it, and that my dad and brother influenced me a lot when I was growing up.

They're wrong.

I was as girly as any girl, until my mother died. Then I decided to change, to seem uncaring and tough so no-one would worry about my personal troubles. Yuzu needed me to be that person. Over the years it became less and less of an act, as I gradually became that tomboy, becoming a fanatic of sports, soccer in particular, learning how to give a mean kick and hating anything pink or glittery. I was so annoyed when my body shape began to change. I wove tight bandages over my chest to get it out of the way, and loose clothes that could be a guy's on top, to hide myself. I especially stuck to this after my guy friends (not that I have girlfriends, apart from Tatsuki and Yuzu) decided to keep going on about it the one time I wore a lower cut tank top.

And now Tōshirō has seen me naked.

Don't really care so much that he saw, he's not the type to deliberately spy on me, just now he won't be able to look at me straight for ages. His embarrassment will embarrass me, and that's just awkward.

Time to do what any Kurosaki would do and barrel straight through the problem.

I leave my room quietly, climbing out of the window and landing on the bit of roof underneath, before jumping down next to the captain. I don't bother to say anything as I drag his arm over my shoulders and help him back up into my room.

The dumbstruck look on his face is amusing and quite gratifying. He also looks quite scared of me, which is cute in a way. I'll inform him of my thoughts at some inopportune moment in future just to observe his reaction to being called "cute".

Hitsugaya, still too shocked and embarrassed, maintains a dignified silence as Karin's head appears above him. Or so he tells himself. In reality he's just praying that she won't injure him too permanently.

Quite surprisingly, she makes her way down and brings him back up to her room, leaving him sitting on her bed as she makes a quick trip to the bathroom to get him a roll of tissue paper. Without causing any major internal bleeding.

She hands it to the captain and sits down at her desk, pulling her books towards her as she starts some geometry homework.

He tries to collect some of the calm and implacability he is known for. Karin doesn't seem bothered, so neither should he...

'What do you say to someone after inadvertently spying on their naked body?' He wonders, and then he wonders how he's ended up having to ask himself this.

"I'm sorry for ...appearing at a bad time."

He mutters, glad she's turned away from him.

"Bad time for you or me?"

She asks, sounding amused.

Hitsugaya is getting more and more unnerved by her calm. He knows that he'll stutter if he even tries to say something, so he keeps quiet and tries to banish the not-so-innocent thoughts and images that formed in his mind.

After a while he deems it safe to answer coherently and with an actual response.

"For me, I think. For you, too, if you think so."

She stops moving and turns to look at him, her face evil looking.

"Well, little taichou," She stands up, ignoring his annoyance at the nickname, and makes her way over to him, "I would say..." she climbs onto the bed, loose shirt showing more than it should as she crawls closer. The rest of her sentence falls upon deaf ears as he looks away.

'Do not blush, don't, don't, that's what she wants...'

Hitsugaya laments in his mind how much better it would be if he were capable of looking at her without being affected, but he's honest enough to admit to himself that that probably isn't possible. He's forced to anyway when Karin leans around him, having to press herself against him and place her hands on his legs so she won't fall off the bed. He glances at her and then stubbornly carries on glaring at the wall.

"Oi oi, don't ignore me, Tōshirō-chan!"

He turns to glare at her before he can think better of it, and she plants him with a kiss, meeting his rapidly melting glare with an amused and mischievous glance, before closing her eyes. He sighs, opening his mouth as he does so, which she casually takes advantage of.

"Karin-chan! It's time for dinner!"

She breaks away.

"Coming, Yuzu!"

"Hey, while you're waiting you can do my homework for me, O Short Prodigal One."

With that last lovely comment as she closes the door after her and goes down to eat, Hitsugaya sits himself down in her black swivel chair. Picking up her ruler and testing its flexibility, he debates punishing her for embarrassing him, remembers that he just saw her naked, gets distracted by the memory, and then decides that her homework is as good an apology as any.

My family now ask no questions when I take my third and fourth helpings up to my room.

The first time I did it after Tōshirō explained to me that when you're a spirit, the more reiatsu you have, the more food you need. It didn't really surprise me, after all I've seen Yoruichi in action.

Yuzu knew from the very beginning. We have no secrets, everything is shared between us. Although I know not to go on too much about my favourite sportsmen and she definitely knows not to even mention make-up, boys, or clothes. Although after the secret (at least from Ichigo, I'd know if he knew) visits began, boys isn't a topic I avoid so much anymore.

I explained everything to her when she came into my room to ask if anything was wrong. Tōshirō climbed onto the windowsill and, after introducing himself, explained, much like he had to me, and asked her if it was okay that he stay here sometimes and eat some of our food. Of course, now we always have enough for another person.

Isshin asked the first time, where I told him I wanted to eat in my room because it's away from him. This just set him off on a crying spree. The next time he also asked, adding a comment about whether or not I have a secret pet or friend that ran away from home hiding in my room. He then started crying again, saying that he wouldn't mind a pet so long as I looked after it myself and that he would love to have another daughter. He didn't suggest that it may be a guy. Being far too close to the truth anyway, I dropkicked him and denied both claims. He now doesn't ask. I assume he thinks I'm a growing girl that needs more food.

Ichigo was the hardest to convince. Having had Rukia in his room, he recognised a few signs, but when he snuck in at two in the morning there wasn't anyone else there (he checked under my bed and in the closet). He then left quietly, unaware that the person who he was looking for was just outside the window and that I was awake and watching him. To get back at him, I put slugs in his bed (his room is now the attic) and in his underwear draw. Of course, I took the slugs out so he had no idea what the slimy tracks were. He tried following me up to my room, but all he found was me eating the food I had taken that day, and my foot to his face for coming in without knocking. He then gave up, forgetting about it and accepting it as normal.

So that's my story of how my family now just accepts that I need enough food for 3 people every once in while.

Carefully holding the tray of food, I open my door with my foot, close it by kicking it hard, and walk over to my desk, where my Shinigami boyfriend is diligently finishing my English homework.

Oh, the joys of dating a child prodigy.

Okay, he's probably over ten times older than me and he's not human, but oh well. It's part of the package. There's worse.

He pushes the now finished essay away, thanking me for the food and digging in.

I go over what he's done, and marvel at the fact that he's managed to perfectly copy my writing. After checking that everything is done (the entire thing in half an hour, damnit I wish I could do that) I flop onto my bed and roll over, reaching under my pillow for my book.

I manage to read about one page before I hear the bowl being set down. I turn to look at him, raising an eyebrow. He blinks innocently. He's terrible at it. I roll my eyes and lower my leg to kick the bed with my foot. He understands and comes to lie down next to me, arms behind his head.

"So, what news this time?"

He shrugs.

"Hollows appeared because your genius of a brother is still training and therefore showcasing his reiatsu, and we eliminated them, and did nothing all day."

"I have to go high school, that's so annoying. You just make your gigai sit there and look bored."

"Bored? Not look smart, handsome and bored?"

He glances sideways at me, and I smirk at him. I'm so proud of my role in helping him grow a sense of humour.

"Nope. Just a bored-looking short middle-schooler with weird hair."

"Oi!"

He turns towards me and pushes me, making me fall onto my side and the book land somewhere on the bed. He places his elbows on either side of my head and glares down at me. Then he smirks.

"You're calling me a middle-schooler? I'm taller than you now."

Having spent so much time in the real world, he's getting affected by the spirit particles and regular intakes of food, or so he guesses. I personally think that puberty (along with hormones and growth spurts) finally kicked in. The first month he started staying, there wasn't much difference, but now, four years later, he's grown at least eight or so inches. I've only grown six inches.

Of course, so much time spent didn't go unnoticed. Yamamoto himself asked to privately talk with Tōshirō. He was told of our relationship and asked for his permission to continue. Surprisingly, he was allowed (Tōshirō would've come anyway, I think). The general said it was because I'm not entirely human, and because I'm a Kurosaki, and other things like that.

I think he just wanted me to get that stick removed from Tōshirō's ass.

When he came down for his mission, another one about elevated Hollow presence (like the one he's on now, reason why he came so early), guess who caused that, he finally got tired of having to stay with Orihime. When I met him I said that he could stay here. I prodded and poked and used my undeniable logic to sway him, and he finally agreed to stay in my closet. He was even more pleased to find out I was already in Ichigo's old room, and he now had a spacious closet, which wasn't shared with Yuzu. After a few months of more missions of the same vein (I still think he deliberately asked for more though he vehemently denies this), we finally started dating. Shortly after he moved out of the closet and started sleeping on my bed, although over the covers. That was almost a year ago now.

Tōshirō leans in and kisses me, and I just know my knees are turning into yellow. I mean, jelly.

Don't ask.

And don't even mention that that was a girly, clichéd, overused line. I know already! Doesn't change the fact that it's still true.

We're right in the middle of something that no-one should see, especially the males of my family, when we're interrupted.

"Karin-chan."

Yuzu says as she knocks and comes in, luckily she's staring down at the bowl in her hands. Then she looks up, and she starts gasping and blushing and stammering.

"S-Sorry! I just wanted to give you dessert!"

She starts bowing in apology, when Tōshirō interrupts her.

"It's okay, Yuzu."

"Yeah, at least you knocked."

I add as Tōshirō gets up to take the bowl. Yuzu smiles at him, somewhat apprehensively, and picks up the tray on the desk.

"Don't worry, I won't even accidentally think of it. But Karin-chan, what were you saying about knocking?"

She asks innocently as she turns and heads for the door.

"Oh, that. Tōshirō didn't knock and came in when I was naked."

I raise a hand to my head to scratch my neck and apologise as Yuzu stumbles so badly she nearly trips. Tomato red, she leaves the room, closing the door after her. Tōshirō is still standing in the middle of my room, a hand covering his face, the other holding the bowl.

"Was that really the best thing to say?"

I shrug. "Now she knows we're together."

He sighs, resists mentioning that she already knew that (I can tell by his face), and comes over, handing me the bowl, sitting down next to me.

I look happily upon the homemade apple crumble with custard and quickly shove in a few mouthfuls. Tōshirō looks at me sideways, and raises an unimpressed eyebrow. I lift a hand and push his head. Then I take a spoonful and hold it up to him. He looks at me like my mind left me all alone a while ago.

"Yuzu made enough for both of us."

He hesitantly leans in and tries it, glaring at me when I move the spoon around a little. I grin and eventually let him try it, but only once he's harrumphed and gotten childish (how I get my kicks).

"It's nice."

He says, and I smile smugly.

"You have good taste."

He rolls his eyes and takes the spoon from me as I try to have the last bite. I glare at him, but he seems unfazed.

He does, however, regret it later when I tell him he'll be sleeping in the closet tonight.

Merely eight minutes since I went to bed, the closet door opens and he steps out, coming to stand next to me anyway, silently asking for permission to get on the bed (he knows from previous experience that he'll get kicked to the floor if he doesn't). After a second's consideration, I shrug inwardly. I don't say anything but I lift the covers and he slips underneath them, putting his arms around me.

We stay like that until morning.

Unfortunately, it's now Monday, and we have school. He leaves to get his gigai from Orihime's and returns, waiting on the windowsill until I'm ready. When I leave the building with Yuzu, he jumps down next to me, and we walk together to school.

Yuzu is still blushing and can't look at either of us.

"Oh dear..."

I mutter to Tōshirō, and he gives me an 'I told you so' look.

I just whack him over the head with my school bag.

He curses at me and I smirk. He then places an arm around my waist, and as I turn to ask what he's doing I get hoisted onto his shoulder.

"Hitsugaya Tōshirō! Put – me – down – right – now!" I shout, punctuating my sentence with more hits to the head.

He ignores me and carries me all the way to the front doors. Before he sets me down I give him one last hit, and then glare at him before looking around.

Every single person is staring at us, with most of the girls giggling behind their hands, whispering god knows what, and the guys nudging each other and chuckling. And every single one of them probably saw underneath my ridiculously short skirt. I knew I should have ignored the principal and carried on wearing the guy's uniform.

Well, whatever.

I turn and go inside, hearing Tōshirō follow, and to his evident surprise, I talk to him as if nothing happened.

If only he knew.

Forget the closet, he'll be sleeping outside tonight.