Helloooo! And thankyou so much for all the reviews, faves and alerts! Of course you have the time to fave and alert, please drop me a review as well! It's great to know what you think! ^_^ I'll continue to do my best! Oh, and much thanks to Ash-chan13, who got me the names for the rest of Karin's soccer buddies. Kudos! Please read and review! ^_^

He was strikingly familiar, but at the same time, not quite. What did he say his name was again?

Oh, that's right… As if she'd ever forget. Hitsugaya Toushirou.

Chapter 2- There's no such thing as shinigami

Hitsugaya Toushirou was standing at the front of the classroom, looking out at the sea of brand new highschoolers.

Good lord, he thought to himself, keeping his face composed and expressionless. What on earth am I doing here?

He scanned over the crowd of faces there; everyone was looking at him with somewhat awed faces. He felt himself suppress a scowl. What was their problem? He knew he had white hair like an old man's, but he was not that old! And what was that… the girls seated in the front row had their jaws wide open, their eyes fixed on him, blushes creeping onto their faces. Hitsugaya felt slightly uncomfortable.

But… He noticed that out of the class, there was one student who was not paying even the slightest bit of attention to him at all. She was sitting on the right side of the classroom, at the desk closest to the window. She'd been looking out the window, slumped over on her desk, letting the sunlight fall from the glass onto her face. She had short black hair that almost touched her shoulders, and it fell over her face as she gazed out the window, seemingly reminiscing, dreaming.

She was the only one not looking up at the front, the only one not paying attention, the only girl not marveling at him.

And then…

"Now, why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us your name,"

She looked up.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou," he said.

And her eyes widened.

It had to be him! It had to! Karin's jaw dropped open. Who else, she thought, who else would have such snowy white hair in such a ridiculous style?

It was all she could do to keep herself from jumping up from her seat, to stand up and point an accusing finger at the boy, to scream out at the bastard: I KNOW IT'S YOU! DON'T THINK YOU CAN IGNORE ME! YOU RECOGNIZE ME TOO, DON'T YOU?

But, biting her lip, she stayed seated resolutely at her desk, and tried to pull her awestruck gaze away from him. It must be him, it had to! Suddenly, she felt a strange ache in her stomach; it must be lunchtime by now, she grumbled.

"You can sit over there next to Usaka-kun, Hitsugaya-kun." Miss Ochi was motioning over towards the opposite side of the classroom.

She snuck a glance at him as he walked across the classroom, ignoring the squeals of the girls at the front row. Okay, so he was kinda maybe just a bit good-looking, if you squinted a little…

Pfft. Who was she kidding?

She felt her face redden slightly as she grumpily slid down into her previous slumping position, secretly watching him from behind her crossed arms. He had grown a bit since they'd last met, and she knew it had to be him. Those were his icy blue-green eyes that so rarely betrayed emotion, that was his voice- though it had grown a little deeper. Heck, only he had snow-white hair like that, and man, they had the same name!

He looked bored as he crossed the classroom and took a seat next to Usaka, who also gaped at the boy exuding such an aura of coolness.

Hmph, Karin couldn't help smiling reluctantly. Toushirou's grown up a bit!

Watching him, suddenly, something inside her went haywire. She didn't know why, but that strange empty feeling drummed in her stomach again and she decided she must be feeling hungry.

Hey… I wonder… Toushirou, do you remember me? It had been so long… four years now, but seeing him again, she knew it was him… actually … she'd never forgotten him.

'cause she'd been waiting all this time to finally meet him again.

"Will you be back sometime?" She had kept her voice gruff, because she was Karin Kurosaki, she didn't like to show that she cared.

Once again, he said his favourite phrase as he stuffed one hand into the pocket of his jeans and glanced down at his phone in the other hand. "Who knows?"

They were standing on the road on the hill, next to the railing where they often met to watch the sky. That day, the sky had been a brilliant orange-yellow, the warm light shining down onto them.

For some reason, suddenly she started feeling panicked, even hurt. "But… you will come back, won't you?"

He turned for a moment, his blue-green eyes settled on her with a questioning look. "Who knows?" he said again.

His who-knows-who-cares attitude pissed Karin off. Before Hitsugaya could open his mouth to say anything else, she had picked up the soccer ball at her feet and hurled it straight at his head.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he jerked away from the ball. The soccer ball landed on the ground, a few steps away from his feet.

"WHO KNOWS?" She shouted at him. "Don't give me that crap! You're the one that knows, for crying out loud; make your own decisions for once! You're the one who chooses your own actions, and thinks your own thoughts! Just… you…" Her voice had trembled, stuttered, suddenly vanished.

She didn't know why, but suddenly she felt so desperate, so hopeless. She actually… she wanted him to stay!

But Hitsugaya just looked at her for a moment longer, still with that uncommitted glance. She was breathing hard, surprised by her own outburst, her arms hung limply by her side. She felt afraid somehow, shy to look up and see what expression he might have on his face. For some reason her face… her face was burning. Man, she felt so embarrassed…

Waiting for his response, and then suddenly he spoke up. "Kurosaki."

She immediately lifted her head up and snapped: "It's Karin!"

And he smirked. "I know."

Karin gaped at him, her hackles rising. "You…" She felt her hands tighten into fists as she glared after him. What a jerk!

He didn't look at her, his face unexpressive as he looked down at Karin's soccer ball at his feet before he kicked it back to her. Karin watched wide-eyed as the soccer ball bounced back to her and she caught it in her hands.

"Stop losing your soccer ball," he said, "I'm not going to keep fetching it for you."

And then he turned away, putting his hands into his pockets as he walked off down the road.

Karin stood there, stunned, holding the soccer ball in her hands. And to her horror, her heart began beating faster in her chest as she stared after his retreating figure.

Karin didn't get a chance to talk to Hitsugaya until the end of the day. The class was noisy and full of activity as the students busied themselves packing up their bags and belongings, forcing themselves through the crowded corridors, generally mucking around.

Karin peeked over at the white-haired boy from her desk, slowly taking her time as she slipped her books into her bag. He was calmly slinging the strap of his book bag over his shoulder, ignoring the chatter of everyone around him.

"Karin-chan?" Yuzu was saying, "Are you ready to leave?"

"Oh!" Karin's face flushed. "Um, yeah… just go on ahead! I'll be home soon! I've just got to… check on something."

Yuzu looked slightly surprised. "Okay."

"…ummm…"

Both Karin and Yuzu looked up at the boy also standing beside Karin's desk with a face red enough to match his hair.

A devilish grin spread across Karin's face. "What is it, Jinta?"

Jinta pulled a hideous face at Karin, before mumbling something to Yuzu.

"Eh? What was that, Hanakari-kun?" Yuzu smiled pleasantly.

"Gahh!" Jinta blurted out, frustrated. "NEVER MIND!"

"…huh?" Yuzu looked crestfallen.

Karin grinned with difficulty and then kicked Jinta under the table.

"OWW! What the heck was that for?" Jinta turned to Karin.

"What do you think it was for?" She growled under her breath at him. "If you don't do something now, you'll never get anywhere!"

Jinta flushed and glanced over at the unsuspecting Yuzu Kurosaki, who was looking utterly lost.

"I don't care anymore!" He snapped; face red, crossing his arms over his chest. "…she doesn't like me anyway." he added dejectedly, soft enough so that only Karin could hear.

Karin stood up from her desk.

"What were you going to say before, Hanakari-kun?" Yuzu wondered.

"I told you, never mind-" Jinta said.

Karin stomped on his foot.

"C-CAN I WALK YOU HOME, KUROSAKI?" He shouted, his foot in excruciating pain.

Yuzu's eyes went wide. "Oh!" Then her face softened into a pleasant smile, like always. "Sure!"

Karin stuck out her tongue at Jinta as she walked away.

She found him in the hallway, pausing in the corridor, texting away furiously on his mobile phone.

It had to be him, she thought, he was still addicted to his phone!

"Toushirou!" she said.

He looked down at her. Yes, he was looking down at her now, he'd gotten taller. But it was the same white hairstyle, the same cold blue-green eyes. And it was the same excited thumping inside Karin's chest.

"…can I help you?" Hitsugaya asked politely.

Why are you calling me by my first name?

"It is you, isn't it?" she demanded, suddenly her voice growing excited. "I know it's you, Toushirou!"

The expression on his face didn't change at all; there was no flicker of recognition across his eyes. If there was any change at all on his face, it was only that his scowl got bigger.

Karin couldn't help it, she laughed. "I knew it was you!" Her voice was happy.

Hitsugaya stared at her.

Why are you so happy to see me?

He didn't say anything for a while, just watching her with that blank face of his.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "…I don't know who you are."

Karin froze. Her smile vanished. "Your name's Hitsugaya Toushirou, right? You're the soul reaper that I met four years ago…"

Hitsugaya frowned. "…a 'soul reaper'? What's that?"

Karin stared at him, disbelieving. "…what… do you mean? You…" Her voice faltered and for some reason, she felt her fingers start trembling.

Then he went on, his eyes widening a little. "Oh… you mean like a shinigami? Like a death god?"

Karin was at a loss for words.

And Hitsugaya smiled, he actually smiled. It was a small, ironic, cynical smile, like a joke. "I don't believe in stuff like that."

And he put his hands in his pockets and turned to walk away. "There's no such thing as shinigami."

Thanks for reading, everyone! I swear I spent more time agonizing over that last conversation than the rest of the chapter put together. Man, it was just PAINFUL to write! Painful! Scenes like that always make me cringe for the characters… sob… Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! ^_^ Oh don't be like that! All will be revealed… eventually. emichii.