Wow, thank you all so much! I've never had so many reviews for the first chapter of a story, so thanks a ton for your support! I really really appreciate it! I hope this story meets with all your expectations.
Hitsugaya took a deep breath. He wound up, pulled his foot back, and swung. And missed. By a mile. Karin shook her head.
"Maybe you just weren't cut out for this," she sighed.
"Shut up!" Hitsugaya spat, going to retrieve the soccer ball. "I'll get it eventually!" Karin smirked.
"You've got sprit, spoiled rich kid, I'll give you that." Hitsugaya scowled.
"I'm not a spoiled rich kid!" he shouted. Karin shrugged.
"Whatever." Hitsugaya returned with the ball and placed it in front of him, aiming towards the makeshift goal. They had been at it for hours. First, Karin had explained the rules of the game and the basic style of play. That was the easy part. The hard part was actually making the stupid ball go where he wanted it. That was taking some effort.
"You're trying too hard," Karin explained, looking at the strain on his face and sweat pouring down his brow (as previously mentioned, his stamina was not what it could have been). "You get too worked up. It's got to be more natural. Let your power flow from your hip, not your foot. Forget the ball is even there and just swung your leg out, pointing it in the direction you want the ball to go. It should be no harder than walking really." Walking. Now there was something Hitsugaya understood. With this new philosophy in mind, Hitsugaya calmed himself, aimed, and fired. Although he missed the goal, it was by a much narrower margin than the last time.
"Much better!" Karin praised. "Maybe there's hope for you after all!" Hitsugaya scoffed.
Just then, two people appeared in the empty lot they were using as a soccer field. One was a short girl with cropped blond hair and a pointed chin. The other was a boy twice her size with spiky black hair that defied gravity in a way Hitsugaya thought no one's but his own did. They were passing a basket back and forth and arguing about something. As they came closer however, Hitsugaya could see that they weren't so much passing the basket as grabbing it out of one another's hands.
"I said I wanted to give it to her lame brain!" the girl cried, snatching the basket.
"Tough luck fatso!" the boy replied. "I found it so I'm going to give it to her!" He lunged for the basket and managed to retrieve it. The girl swelled in indignation.
"I am not fat!" she screamed. "And you only found it because I suggested we look there, so I'm going to give it to her!" She grabbed the basket and pulled, but the boy refused to relinquish his hold, and finally, a ripping sound reverberated through the air and the basket was torn in two. Its contents, which were carefully wrapped in rags, flew everywhere. Karin rolled her eyes.
"Oi, you two, stop flirting already and just let me see what you found." She approached one of the bundles of rags and unwrapped it. Hitsugaya's face scrunched up at the sudden assault to his nose. The odor was emanating from the items in Karin's hand, an old fish and some rotten fruit. While he would have dismissed it instantly as trash, she was staring at it like it was gold.
"Where did you guys find this?!" she asked amazed. The blond girl puffed up proudly.
"It was my idea!" she said smugly. "The dumpster behind old man Tetsuya's house always has interesting stuff in it!"
"Hey!" the boy beside her yelled. "I was the one that dug through the garbage to find it! You just stood guard."
"Oh yeah!" the girl retorted. "Well, what if I hadn't stood guard and old man Tetsuya had found you? His sword's sharp! I've got the scars to prove it!" They glared daggers at each other until they were interrupted by a ball of rags that Karin had thrown at them.
"Will you give it a rest already?" Karin groaned. "Honestly, you two make me want to gag. Save your love talk for later and let's eat." They agreed wholeheartedly and sat down, each taking their own bundle of spoiled food, which they began to eat with gusto. Hitsugaya felt himself turning slightly green.
"I'll just…um," he tried to come up with an excuse to leave, but he was too nauseated by the sight to think properly. It was then that Karin seemed to remember his presence.
"Oh, sorry I forgot. Want some?" she offered, holding up a worm eaten apple. Hitsugaya shook his head, afraid that if he opened his mouth, he'd vomit.
"Suit yourself," she replied, devouring the apple in three bites. Hitsugaya gagged.
The blond girl was looking at Hitsugaya with interest.
"Hey Karin," she asked. "Who's your new friend? I haven't seen him around here before." Karin gasped.
"Oh, sorry, where are my manners. I forgot to introduce you. Kiyone, Sentaro, this is spoiled rich kid. Spoiled rich kid, meet Kiyone and Sentaro."
"Pleased to meet ya!" Kiyone said brightly. Sentaro nodded at him, his mouth too full to speak. Hitsugaya scowled.
"I'm not a spoiled rich kid!" he snarled. Karin laughed.
"Yeah yeah, so you've said, but anyone from 1st district is a spoiled rich kid in my book." Hitsugaya scoffed.
"You're from 1st district?" Kiyone marveled, her eyes opening wide. "What's it like up there?"
"It's alright," Hitsugaya replied noncommittally.
"What are you doing all the way down here then, spoiled rich kid?" Sentaro asked having finally swallowed his food.
"It's Hitsugaya!" he shouted angrily and Karin chuckled.
"He thought it'd be a nice place for a walk," she answered for him. Kiyone and Sentaro burst into laughter and Hitsugaya scowled.
"So why don't you want to eat with us?" Sentaro asked. Hitsugaya looked down at the moldy food in front of him.
"I'm not hungry," he said, trying not to look as disgusted as he felt.
"What, don't tell me you don't get hungry?!" Karin said astonished. "I thought everyone in 1st district got hungry!"
"Well, not everyone," Hitsugaya corrected. "And yeah, I do get hungry, I'm just not right…" He was about to say "now", but was interrupted by an enormous growl courtesy of his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and it was nearly dinner time. The trio gaped at him.
"Sound's like you're hungry to me," Kiyone noted.
"Oh, so our food isn't good enough for you spoiled rich kid?!" Karin teased. "I see how it is."
"Sorry if I think you should be the one to eat your food!" he shot back, missing the joke entirely. "I've got plenty at home!" It took him a minute to realize how stupid a thing that was to say. These kids weren't eating rotten fish because they wanted to.
"Oh so that's how it is?" she replied, a look of twisted understanding dawning on her face. "You spoiled rich kids get to eat whatever you want whenever you want. I bet you've never dug around in the trash for your dinner once in your entire life!"
"Sorry," he apologized quickly. "I didn't mean…"
"Oh right, you forgot did you? Forgot that you're in 77th district now and that this here is the first meal we've had in three days!" Hitsugaya felt horrible, so he did what any brat would do in this situation; be a brat.
"Then why the hell did you want to share with me?!" he cried. "This is your food."
"I was being polite Toushiro. Don't they teach you any manners where you come from? Or are spoiled rich kids above such trivial things?" Hitsugaya scowled. His Baachan was always trying to teach him manners. He unfortunately, had no interest in them.
Suddenly, their little spat was interrupted by Kiyone and Sentaro, who simultaneously burst into laughter.
"Boy," Sentaro gasped, "for someone who's always telling Kiyone and I not to flirt, you're doing a pretty good job of it yourself." Karin turned red as a radish.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "I am not flirting with him!"
"Definitely not!" Hitsugaya agreed. "Why the hell would I flirt with a girl like her?" Karin pushed him.
"Watch your language!" she reprimanded. "You've been swearing up a storm all day!" Kiyone and Sentaro's laughter increased.
"Sounds like flirting to me!" Kiyone stated smartly. Hitsugaya growled.
"I can see when I'm not wanted." He turned to leave, but Karin wouldn't let him.
"I thought you were going to play soccer with us," she reminded him. He glared back at her over his shoulder.
"Not if you're going to treat me like…"
"A spoiled rich kid?" Karin supplied. Hitsugaya had had enough.
"Look you!" he barked, approaching her and shoving his face into hers. "Let's get one thing straight. I am not a spoiled rich kid. I may come from 1st district, but it's not like I live in the lap of luxury. My Baachan's a maid. Yes we always have enough to eat, but often it's just rice and whatever sauce we can scrounge up to put on it. I don't live in a mansion or anything, but a little two room house. That's all. So stop comparing me to those stuck up, snobby, hoity toity little heirs. Because I'm not one of them!" Karin continued to glare at him.
"Well, having rice at every meal instead of moldy fruit every couple of days and a two room house to live in rather than that tree over there sounds like the lap of luxury to me," she retorted. "But fine. I see your point. I'll stop calling you a spoiled rich kid if you promise to stay and help with the soccer game."
"Are you sure you still want me?" Hitsugaya asked suspiciously. "I stink."
"You're better than you think you are," Karin said encouragingly. "No, seriously. You've learned faster than anyone I've ever taught. Besides, I told you we were desperate and I wasn't lying. So we want you on our team. Even if you are a spoiled rich kid."
"Hey!" Hitsugaya snapped, and Karin laughed.
"Oh, lighten up and learn to take a joke Toushiro!" she chided. Kiyone and Sentaro could only laugh at the annoyed look on Hitsugaya's face.
Yes, this is Kiyone and Sentaro, co-3rd seats of 13th squad, but this is them before they were in the Gotei 13 (obviously). I just didn't want to make up too many new characters, and I've never written with them before, so I thought it might be fun to try. Sorry if this is a slow start, but I want to get the characters developed a little bit, mainly so you can contrast it with how they grow up later.
