Finally! The second chapter of Marry Me? ! I hope you guys like this chapter! Thank you people foe your AWESOME reviews!

You guys are AWESOME!

Enjoy!~

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….

If Karin hadn't told Hitsugaya to cover her mouth with his hand, he felt that he would have still covered her mouth. Minutes before he had found himself in an awkward position, and this was, he felt, awkward-er. If such a word even existed in the dictionary. He doubted that that was the case, and he felt that knowing the answer wasn't the correct thing to know currently.

His hand found her mouth and he clasped it as quickly as possible. His eyebrows shot up and eyes widened in surprise. Shaking his head to get rid of the astonishment, he lowered himself, his lips near her ear, whispering in a hushed tone, "What are you doing?!"

He realized that instead of waiting for an answer, - not that he would get one; his hand on her mouth assured that- getting up was the best option, before anyone saw him; them.

He tried getting up, and did so, partially, however.

While he was trying to get up, and had actually succeeded doing so, he had complimented his athletic nature. The next moment when he had comically slipped, courtesy of the carpet placed under his foot, he had harshly criticized his one hell of a dreadful athletic nature, which apparently seemed to have taken a liking to betraying him in desperate moments.

Like when he was being chased by a dog, at the age of ten. He had hit a lamp post then.

Which is not the point here.

He slipped and knocked the breath out of Karin. She gasped in pain and surprise. He supposed that he should be feeling guilty, but for some reason he was not.

He groaned in frustration and cursed silently. His chin rested on her shoulder, his nose close to the nape of her neck and he tried his best to not blush. His body was tightly pressed against hers and he could smell her- a faint smell of peach, no doubt because of the soap she used, and earth. Athletic. He had no doubt about that.

He could feel the heat radiating from her. But maybe it was he, himself.

Get up, Toshiro, he ordered himself, you have done more stuff other than falling on attractive girls! The implication was perverted, he knew, but somehow he didn't seem to be bothered by it. In fact, he found himself blushing- something he never did that much. Okay, maybe he did, but he was highly embarrassed by his previous height. At sixteen, he looked like a thirteen year old kid—not exactly something to be proud of.

He obliged to his own previous request and got up. Floundering about, shifting his hand, trying to not blush wildly despite knowing how close they were, he used his hand as a support and got up.

During the process of which he had accidently groped her chest.

And that was exactly when things went horribly wrong.

As fate- that cruel, sick, bastard of a thing- would have it, exactly at that moment, the door to where Matsumoto and the others resided had to open, revealing said woman, a caramel haired girl, a black haired man and a pissed of orange haired man. Strangely, the first eyes which caught Toshiro's gaze were amber ones. Furious, deadly, lethal and poisonous amber eyes.

The only thought which passed Toshiro's mind was, 'Holy fuck, I am so dead.'

It was the first time he had thought of something like that, and though it surprised him, he pretended not to be.

Toshiro watched with morbid fascination as series of colorful emotions passed through the elder brother's face—ranging from shock, to anger, to hatred, to I-want-to-kill-you-look and then to the previously mentioned emotions combined. It was a deadly combination, and, to Toshiro, this deadliness would, he was sure, kill him.

"You little piece of shit!" her brother screamed.

"You fucking asshole!" Surprisingly, the one to say this was the older Kurosaki twin, using words no one would have thought the caramel haired Kurosaki could utter. Toshiro's hair whipped towards the doe-eyed Kurosaki's direction whose eyes looked nothing like the eyes of a doe's. Instead, it looked deadly. Lesser than that of Ichigo's, but, c'mon, how does one feel if one sees little hamsters with huge bloodlust and bloodshot eyes?

Scary shit, no doubt.

And that is how Yuzu looked.

Toshiro's head whipped back to Ichigo's direction in fear. Though Rangiku looked angry, it was nothing compared to Ichigo's and Yuzu's anger. Surprisingly, though, Isshin seemed impassive and calm, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed over his chest, his lips curled up.

'He knows-!'

Apparently their father was damn sure that nobody would notice him. And it was blatantly obvious that Isshin was happy to not help him.

Karin was, meanwhile, blushing furiously. That bastard was groping her. Groping her for Buddha's sake! She had the hugest urge to crush his head against her perfectly loved wall and see him bleed to death. A part of her was about to do just that, before the part which analyzed stuff chided the part who was about to murder the white haired man. At first Karin wondered why, but when she analyzed the position, she realized how realistic this looked.

She smiled.

Toshiro was trying to deny the accusation, fumbling and murmuring like a child, "Kurosaki-san, I-"

"Ichi-nii, he tried to rape me!"came Karin's-somehow-broken-and- terrified-voice, her body shaking pathetically. Toshiro's head whipped towards Karin's eyes—eyes which somehow seemed to form tear drops—while she squirmed helplessly. Streams of salty water emerged and she whimpered, her voice realistic.

"Toshiro!" Ichigo screeched and Toshiro was almost wanted to tell him to add a 'san' after his name. Figuring that such a sentence would get him into deep trouble, (not that he wasn't in one already) he kept quite. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was die. Or get eaten by humans. Or get eaten by dogs. Or get roasted like a hapless white marshmallow who has met his death 50 years too early.

Or 60, but that's beside the point.

"Hitsugaya-san!" Despite the situation, Toshiro was actually glad that Yuza had added a 'san' after his name and had also addressed to him by 'Hitsugaya', instead of a simple, unadorned 'Toshiro' he had received from the elder Kurosaki male, who was, from his point of view, very, very offensive.

"Taicho!" Matsumot's voice held deep, penetrating poison and Toshiro flinched at the tone. He turned his head towards his guardian, trying to fruitlessly explain. His vision met three angry faces.

"I-"

"He tried to rape me! Get him of me… please… Yuzu…" she managed to impersonate a broken lady.

If Toshiro was not in this current position and if his role was being replaced by, say, Renji, he would have actually believed that someone was attempting to rape her.

She should have been an actress, he mused, but screamed, "I was not!" Turning toward Ichigo, he said, "Kurosaki-san, I swear-!"

A curt, angry and a very-male voice cut his explanation, "Why is your filthy hand on her chest, then?!"

Toshiro started, and, as if electricity had passed between them, blushed furiously, and jerked his hand away. He tried to apologise, but Karin shoved him off with a punch on his stomach, throwing him unceremoniously on the ground. As if gaining her freedom for the first time in twenty four years, she ran, stumbling, and crashed onto Yuzu, still crying.

Correction: Pretending to cry.

Yuzu embraced Karin soothingly, whilst glaring vehemently at Toshiro.

Ichigo glanced at Karin, at her broken state, seeing her whimper like… like that, and it intensified his burning anger. He growled, menacingly, cracking his knuckles and taking unhealthy amounts of steps forward, "You bastard… you little sick son of a-"

Breaking his chains of rather offending words was, surprisingly, Isshin Kuroasaki. The eldest male of the family stepped in, his gaze stern, "Ichigo, that's enough."

Ichigo's eyes widened in withheld surprise and incredulity, "Demo, oyajii-!"

"Enough." He repeated, his eyes flickering towards Karin, hoping that his eldest child would get the message.

"Dad, he tried to rape Karin while we were right in the next room! The nerve of him!"

"Stop." His father said again, his eyes this time flickering towards Matsumato, sure that Ichigo would never ever in his life get the previous message. That was how dense Ichigo was. It took the carrot top five- freaking- years to realize that he was in love with Rukia, after all.

"He should be killed! Crucified, boiled, murdered, stabbed-"

"Listen-!"

"No, you listen!"

"Ichigo." He warned, his eyes turning toward Matsumoto. Somehow, Ichigo got the clear message- a host should always be polite to his guests. Ichigo grit his teeth and if he were in a humorous mood, he would have rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Weren't you the one to tell the perverted jokes in the first place?"

He sighed and glared at Toshiro, who was, surprisingly, quite all the while, "And you," he said again, "if it weren't for my dad" – he glared at Isshin—"I would have fucking killed you. Got that?"

Toshiro got the feeling that Ichigo wasn't joking.

"But." The carrot top spoke again, "since you did not complete"—he clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to shred him into minuscule pieces "it,I am going to leave you, you sick, fucking—"

"Ichii-nii." Karin warned, parting from Yuzu's grasp.

Toshiro wasn't really sure whether to thank her preventing him from getting into more trouble or to scowl at her for getting him into this mess in the first place. He chose the second option, a flicker of hate burning in his stomach. Flicker, mind, because he could not get to hate her all out.

Yuzu made an attempt to to hug Karin again, but, like the calm after a storm, the sad and broken look she had on her face previously, disappeared, replaced by...a simple look. She shook her head and murmured, "I'm alright. I just need to rest. Shock, you know."

Shock, my foot. Toshiro thought.

"Ichi-nii." She said, turning towards her elder brother, "leave it."

Ichigo looked at her angrily. What was up with his family?! Isshin seemed nonchalant over the fact that Karin- his daughter - was about to be raped, her innocence snatched away from her! And Karin, too?! She was the one who was about to suffer through a lifetime of trauma and depression! How could she take it so lightly?!

The look on Karin's face kept him quiet, and he nodded, agreeing, a bit reluctantly.

Karin nodded in Ichigo's direction, feeling guilty. She looked at Toshiro, who had taken a liking to glare at her—not that she blamed him—and almost simpered. She held back the simper, sure that such a 'serious' situation wasn't the correct place to flaunt one.

"Yuzu…" she said, quietly, buttoning her shirt with fumbling hands, "let's… let's go up…"

Yuzu agreed, asking worriedly, "Are you alright, Karin-chan?"

Karin answered as a positive, and was slowly taken to her room by Yuzu, who glared accusingly at Toshiro all the while.

After the two disappeared, Toshiro attempted to get up; Karin's punch finally taking its toll. He winced in pain; she had one hell of a punch, despite being so skinny. A part of him found it amazing while the other chided him, saying that he was an asshole finding the fact that a girl was capable of hurting him amazing. He decided to ignore the other parts of his mind.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ichigo screamed, seeming to have forgotten Karin's and his father's previous orders. Said father sighed in defeat, aghast by his son's stupidity. Then again, Yuzu, a bright child, herself had not recognized that the whole thing was an act.

He snorted silently. And people called him dumb.

He sighed and gently patted Matsumoto's shoulder. Snapped out her reverie, the strawberry blonde looked at Isshin, his chin pointed up, prompting her to look at the duo.

Her sky blue eyes did just that.

It was obvious that he was trying to tell her something. She looked at the duo; Toshiro snapping at Ichigo, Ichigo giving colorful threats; both ready to break each other's necks. It didn't take her long to find out what Ishin was trying to tell her.

Suddenly, she came in between Ichigo and Toshiro, snatched Toshiro's wrist, murmured, "You, sir, are going to have a serious talk with me.", bowed, and then left as if nothing had happened. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder how abrupt the whole situation was.

He looked, confused, at Isshin, who shrugged, non-committed, and busied himself with a chocolate cake.

.
.

Outside, Toshiro feared the worst. Matsumoto was a feminist of sort, and she really hated it when girls were molested, raped or thought to be the lower gender.

'If there were no women,' she would say, 'mankind would have seized to exist! People should respect women!'

Toshiro would just nod, while Hinamori would join Rangiku, her exuberant voice ringing out with both anger and jubilance.

He knew that he should explain, but when he thought of the correct words to choose, he realized how stupid it would sound. "Kurosaki was acting it all out!"

Pfft. As if she'd believe him.

He looked at the mass of strawberry blonde hair, bobbing up and down, the owner of said hair dragging him furiously. She shut the door behind him and turned around, her gaze furious. Toshiro gulped in nervousness.

And, then, she laughed. Her voice rang out, like bells on Christmas, finding the whole situation to damn funny. The hilarity was, however, lost to Toshiro. He blinked in confusion and asked dumbly, "Wh… what…?"

Matsumoto paused to gaze at his face—the childlike confusion, innocence, and cuteness—and laughed harder, clutching onto her sides, and sticking out a trembling finger in front of him. Toshiro looked at the finger, confusion increasing. Her sky blue eyes, almost mauve, lit with ebullience.

Toshiro found it annoying, "Matsumoto." He growled.

Abovementioned woman ignored him, laughing harder at his blank, blank stare. Coming to a forced halt, she said, giggling between words, "The whole ordeal…" she giggled, "it… it was…" another giggle, "…. So funny!" she burst into another set of giggles.

Toshiro's perplexed gaze never left her. If he was supposed to be happy over the fact that Matsumoto wasn't screaming at him, he was missing one helluva chance.

"You… you are not angry." It was not a question.

Rangiku paused and stared at him. She snorted, "Of course not. Seeing as to how Isshin-san was reacting to the whole thing, I figured it out. Besides," she added, "it's you we are talking about. I know the sort of person you are."

"Why didn't you help me!" he screamed.

"Eh?"

"I was being accused of doing something I would never do in my life! They thought I was trying to rape her, Rangiku! I had to receive that…. That bullshit from Kurosaki!"

Rangiku snickered, "Sorry, sorry," her gaze took a reminiscing look, "I just wanted to enjoy."

"Matsumoto!" he growled.

"Yeah, yeah." She murmured, distractedly, turning around to leave the front of the house. Toshiro's incredulous gaze followed his guardian, staring at her shaking shoulders. He sighed, stuffed his hand in his pocket and followed his surrogate mother.

In a way, the situation was funny. If he were to ignore the after effects, that is.

Deep in his musings, he jerked when his phone vibrated. He cursed under his breath, and flipped open the phone, gazing at the screen.

A message. From an unknown number.

He selected the SMS and stared at the screen, bemused.

[Got ur no. 4rm Yuzu. Dat was stupid, wasn't it? Didn't get the chance to apologize. Srry. :( ]

He stared at the screen, bemused still. Instinctively, his gaze flickered towards the Kurosaki household, glancing briefly at the sign 'Kurosaki Clinic', before travelling towards familiar grey eyes. The owner of those eyes smiled at him sheepishly, forcing him to smirk.

Without waiting, he texted back, somehow excited.

[Nah, it's alright.]

He looked at the screen and pressed the 'sent' button. Toshiro saw Karin looking at her screen, before giving him a nod, an apologetic smile, before disappearing from his peripheral vision. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and walked forward, something feeling down. Off. Wrong.

He felt as if he were supposed to tell her something else, but he could not understand what exactly.

He knew he was attracted to her, and though not romantically, he wanted to meet her again. Desperately.

He took out his phone, flipped open the screen, clicking the 'message' option. He stared blankly at the blinking line, not really sure what to do. A frown.

His fingers seemed to have a mind of their own.

[U owe me. Wht abt a coffee sometime… say, this Thursday?]

Before he knew it himself, his thumb had pressed the 'sent' option. He paused.

Shit.

Desperately, fumbling, he tried to cancel the request. They had just met! Despite the incident which followed, they were strangers! Goddamn strangers! This was wrong and embarrassing on so many levels!

The mocking 'Your message has been successfully sent' stared at him and he resisted the urge to break the phone into pieces. Ironic part was the fact that he felt just like Ichigo.

"Gah." He again stuffed the phone in his pocket and glared accusingly at his fingers. His fingers stared back at him, as if grinning. Vaguely hearing Matsumoto call out to him, he contemplated on breaking his fingers. A tempting option.

Deep in his thoughts, he jumped like a baby when his phone started vibrating again, this time followed by a ring.

'Baby? Seriously? I am 24 for heaven's sake!'

Someone was calling him.

Clenching his jaw, his teal eyes stared at the screen, and unconsciously accepted the call. He pressed the phone against his ear, and immediately a voice spoke up.

"So, the great Hitsugaya Toshiro is asking me out on a date, huh?"

Despite having known her for a short period of time, he could see her; eyebrows raised, a smirk on her lips, teasingly, tapping the phone on her bottom lip, in a half concealed tease.

His lips curved up.

"Yes."

A wind blew, ruffling with his hair, making the scarf he wore flutter.

"Yes, I am."

~R~D~H~

So, what do you guys think? I really like HitsuKarin and though in the recent months, it had decreased a lot, but, now, after reading a few awesome fics, the my love for HitsuKarin is back again!

Reviews are always welcome. ;)