Author's Note at bottom as always. I Don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does. This is a one-shot I did while working on new chapters for my main story, The Princess and The Tiger.This is also my first one-shot and second story. That is all.


'To their Chagrin'
-

It all started when Karin showed up with Tōshirō Hitsugaya at the Kurosaki residence after school. She came home to the intrigued wonder of the rest of the Kuroaki's after Yuzu had already come home.

Sure, it was true that Karin had always come home after Yuzu in the past since she often played soccer with her friends. This was different, in that she didn't come home her normally 'after playing soccer' time, but actually came a little after Yuzu had gotten there, with Tōshirō in tow. This meant that she had purposely walked home with Tōshirō. As insignificant as that seemed, it was a jolt to the Kurosaki household.

Yuzu had a cheeky-teasing all in one grin as she addressed Karin.

"Is this why you said 'go on home without me' Karin-chan?" asked the blushing doe eyed girl.

Karin's eyes widened as she realized she hadn't been thinking clearly about exactly how things would've gone down.

"So much for going straight to my room..." thought Karin.

Isshin was beside himself to say the least.

"Masaki! The dormant hormonal springs have finally burst forth and our daughter has finally felt the urge to bring home a vigorous, pubescent male!"

"More like stalked her home," said Ichigo glaring at the white-haired captain from the couch.

"I was actually invited Kurosaki," said the aforementioned captain with his eyes shut, arms crossed, in a combination of annoyance and a tiny hint of embarrassment.

"Hey Tōshirō, I thought I told you to call us by first name. Everyone will be confused if you keep saying 'Kurosaki' all the time," said Karin speaking up for the first time. She knew if she got all tempered and defensive that it would make matters worse. So her plan was to stay calm. Not only for her, but for Tōshirō as well. She had managed to convince herself that it was him she was really worried about.

However, Isshin proved once again to be the antithesis of his daughter's ideals. With him being a wildcard and chaotic element to her schemes, nothing could ever go according to her plans whenever he was involved.

"Tōshirō? Nice to meet you Tōshirō!" he said practically teleporting over to the current 10th division captain, shaking his hand while catching both Karin and the captain off guard. "And already on voluntary first name basis with little Karin-chan! It all happens so fast! Masak-AGH!" he yelled with his face getting pounded into the wall by a heel. Karin had quickly snapped.

"What kind of freakish father cheers at his daughter bringing home a random boy he doesn't even know! Isn't it supposed to be the opposite!" she yelled stomping his head into the wall, before her head snapped around at her sister. "Yuzu this is all your fault!" she yelled, embarrassment finally creeping on her face in the form of a rosy hue.

Yuzu however was smirking in the kitchen making a peace sign with her right hand while the other was behind her head. "Oh, Karin-chan! Whatever are you talking about?" she asked innocently, yet obviously in a jeering tone. "What exactly is my fault again?" she asked waving her hand back and forth.

It was true. Yuzu had been waiting for this kind of thing to happen with Tōshirō for a while now, but what actually had finally happened was all Karin's doing. Finally bringing home someone on her own, and a boy at that! Yuzu was beyond ecstatic. It was like one of her shoujo romance mangas was happening in real life, but was only at the beginning. Yuzu however, was already plotting out the rest of the story and character arcs in her head. It was safe to say she was the 'number one and only' fan of the pairing of Karin and Tōshirō. Oh, and then there was Isshin. Now the relationship just needed an official name.

Before Karin could respond, Ichigo jumped into the scene, talking casually without looking up from what he was reading while smirking so nobody else could see.

"Hey Karin, I've been noticing this for a while, but did you know that when you insult people with your questions, you answer your questions with the insult? 'What type of freakish father?' Just that, a freakish one," he said gesturing to Isshin whose face was currently implanted into the sheetrock of the wall. Groans could be heard coming from within the wall.

Whatever had been building up in Karin to say to both Yuzu and then Ichigo, came out in the form a big exhalation, before she grabbed Tōshirō's hands; an act seeming sensed by Isshin despite the current placement of his head.

"Tch. Whatever, let's go upstairs Tōshirō," said Karin.

"The act of coitus! It's too soon!" cried Isshin before a huge thump caused by Karin's foot created vibrations throughout the wall causing him head numbing pain.

"This wall is way too hollow. You should get that checked out Beardo," said Karin with her old nickname for her father, as she began walking up the stairs with her apparent classmate.

Tōshirō had observed everything up to this point without saying much. Karin had tried to prepare him for meeting her family through what he had interpreted as clinical psychological conditioning, but he figured that she was over exaggerating things.

It turns out that she wasn't all bluff, but still personally, he'd seen worse in the form of the antics certain vice captain by herself. All Karin had was her sister which reminded him of a certain other vice captain, and her over-excited father. The latter man gave off strange vibes to him, but they were so small that he subconsciously ignored them.

"Alright old man, I guess I should get you out the wall," said Ichigo plodding over to his father's prone form.

"Be careful Onii-san," said a cipher Yuzu with her back turned, getting out a frying pan and placing it on the stove. She had gotten more used to the frequent acts of "violence" in the Kurosaki household. It was up to the point that she could calmly cook in this type of situation, yet she still showed her normal concern.

"Yeah I guess,..." said Ichigo as he put one foot up on the wall, grabbed his father's body, and pulled to the renewed pain of Isshin.

"Man you're really jammed in there," said Ichigo with a bored tone, his usual scowl on his face. All while seemingly ignoring Isshin's muffled cries.

"It'll be a pain if I leave you there, so I guess I just have to pull harder," he said, rolling up his sleeves and pulling with full force.

Cries could be heard all the way from downstairs.


In Karin&Yuzu's bedroom
(and supposedly Rukia's room as well, but she loves her some Ichigo's closet)

"Man, they're so annoying sometimes!" exclaimed Karin face-palming.

"Really Kurosaki? I didn't expect you to get embarrassed so easily," teased Tōshirō.

Karin quickly retorted after closing her door shut, and sitting next to Tōshirō, "Oh? That's coming from the 'stoic shinigami genius' who had to squint his eyes to keep from blushing from the accusations of a human teenager girl and her moody older brother.

Tōshirō didn't know how to react to the 'stoic shinigami genius' quip. In fact, unbeknownst to Karin, that was the only thing he had heard. Sure that's how people saw him, but there was much more to him than that mask that he took on. It took a couple of seconds for him to realize what else she had said.

"Wait! What? You were worse than me! Plus your sister was accusing you, not me!"

"Yet, you were still embarrassed," responded Karin.

"Don't make this about me! This is about you playing hopscotch with the back of your father's head out of nothing but embarrassment," he said, tightly closing his eyes shut,

"Your doing it again. Quit it, you look like an old man when you do that," goaded Karin seemingly immune to what Tōshirō had just said.

"I am an old man...well by your standards anyway,..." he said trailing off.

"Then maybe I should be more clear,..." she said standing up off the bed, crossing her arms and smirking.

"That's not a good sign," thought Tōshirō with dread at the very moment of seeing Karin's lips twitch upwards.

"It doesn't matter how old you actually are. Normally you look like a kid, and squinting like that makes you look like a little old man, so it looks really weird," she explained with the articulateness of an employee of academia.

Tōshirō was unfazed by Karin's taunt. This was her way of testing him. Gauging his reaction, his ego, his insecurities. Basically the psycological mind games people play in everyday conversation without even realizing it. He thought of some simple retorts at lightning fast speed.

"'You are basically physically younger than me, and actually younger than me.' Nah. There's too many openings in that one-," he thought before going with an avant-garde come back.

"Gee, in that case maybe I should take scowling lessons from your brother then if I want to stop looking like such a brat," he said sarcastically.

"No way! You don't want to hurt or strain yourself by making that high level of a frown," said Karin as if assuring him otherwise in the same way she consoled patients when working in the clinic.

"Heh, you would know since you make the same exact scowl as he does," said Tōshirō keeping up their playful discussion, and yet unintentionally ending it at the same time.

Karin looked like she had seen a ghost, her face as white as a sheet (for lack a bitter cliché).

"Y-You take that back! I don't look like that idiot!" she said grabbing the boy from his collar raising him off the bed from his sitting position. Her eyes searched his as she demanded his affirmation. Then she thought how even with Ichigo's scowl, that back earlier she could just barely see a hint of a smirk on his face before her eyes widened in revelation.

"Really? Even you…Ichi-nii.."

"Did I say you look like him? I don't seem to recall saying that at all," said Tōshirō rather smugly. It was his time to shine in the banter contest. Karin let go of him, allowing him to plop back on the bed before crossing her arms, fuming at not knowing what to say while looking right at him. It was like she was demanding him to make the next move while knowing she was out of them, yet keeping up a front to throw him off. 'Lucky her,' as Tōshirō began talking again.

"So, 'stoic shinigami genius' huh? You've been talking to Matsumoto too much," said Tōshirō turning and looking out the window with a look in his eyes the showed much beyond the years his appearance suggested he had.

"Okay, aside from you basically creating a paradox again from your expression, what's up with the way you just said that? When Rangiku first told me about you back when you saved my friends and I from the hollow while we were playing soccer, she was just saying who you were. 'My captain has the strongest ice-type zanpakutō in all of Soul Society, blablabla, is considered a "genius" or somthing 'cause he graduated from some academy super fast. Plus, he's the youngest captain ever in the history of all the universes combined.' That type of stuff. She basically gave me what it would say on the back of some collectible trading card of you. The 'stoic' thing was just Rangiku being Rangiku. You do act stoic at times, but that's just you. I know you can be silly, but you just act all mature because well...you are mature...even though you look like an elementary schooler," said Karin with an oblivious grin.

"She just had to ruin that. And just when is she going to at least bump me up to middle school tier or junior high status or something? I already said that I look physically older than her...well in my mind at least. If I said that out loud, that would be a whole other discussion," thought Tōshirō.

"Thanks Karin," he replied. Even though they never exactly clarified what they were talking about with each other, besides Karin's "What's up with the way you just said that?" remark, they both knew. It was an unspoken type of thing.

Karin positively beamed for some reason unknown to Tōshirō. He thought she was just her reciprocating his thanks, when the reason was really in what he actually had said when calling her name.

"So um...I've been wondering for some time now. At first I kind of just went with it, but now I can't hold it in any longer..." he trailed off for dramatic effect.

"I don't like the smugness of his voice. Plus he's being so vague about it. Out with it already!" thought Karin before glowering and narrowing her eyes as she took a sip of water from a glass that had been carefully sitting on her bed frame.

"What exactly did you literally drag me from the school to your house to ask me," he asked in an extremely blunt fashion catching Karin off-guard as she spit out her water on the floor nearly choking.

It was true though. Karin had stayed behind, telling Yuzu to go ahead because 'she would catch up,' and then went up to the roof where Tōshirō was at like usual typing away on his cell phone. She proceeded to drag him by his tie completely out the school and halfway to her house before finally deciding at that point to explain after numerous 'complaints' from the boy that they 'had to talk'. For some reason Tōshirō had accepted that horrible answer, even though she gave it about fifteen minutes after his initial question sequence of 'Oh hey Kurosaki...Wait, what are you doing Kurosak-Gaah! Why are you pulling my tie! Wait up, where are we going? !'

Karin straightened up her posture.

"Alright, so here's the thing. From the times I've talked with Rangiku, she's told me some things like what a zanpakutō is, about hollows and shinigami, and recently arrancar, but I want to know more. I want to learn more. Before, I could ignore what I thought were just ghosts, but now I know I can't ignore pluses, and hollows. Most especially Jibakureis(demi-hollows)," she said shuddering at the memory of the demi-hollow in the abandoned hospital on Don Kanonji's show.

"I can't go on any longer ignoring them because well, they certainly aren't ignoring me," she said before comically backhanding the same annoying plus soul who had been following her around recently, all without directly acknowledging it as she continued talking to the 10th division captain.

"What I'm saying is, I want to be a shinigami like Ichi-nii or at least learn some kinds of techniques on how to defend myself in case a hollow you know, decides to rip off the roof and eat me while I'm sleeping or something like tha-" she said, but was cut off by a beeping sound.

A headache instantly materialized as it seemingly convulsed around her very brain as she held her head in her palms.

Tōshirō took out his beeping cell phone, and looked at it.

"Hollows. They're near here," he said stating it rather than saying it to Karin.

"They're probably after that plus you just knocked out," he said observing the prone form of the plus. It had bandages on it as if it had been hit numerous times before. He then saw and took concern with the state Karin was in.

"Or maybe they're just after you...," he thought as his brows furrowed, reflecting on just what she had said to him.

"Don't worry Kurosaki. I'll take care of the hollows...if your brother doesn't first anyways, and then I'll be back," he said as he turned and began phasing through the wall in a similar manner that Rukia had in the past.

Before his ear and the rest of his head completely went through the wall to go outside the house Karin managed to get in a few words even in her prone position.

"It's not 'Kurosaki,' Tōshirō. It's Karin."


Author's Note:

Chapter Started: Oct 20th, 2011 1:52 PM EST

Chapter Finished: Oct 21st, 2011 3:43 PM EST

Revisions: Oct 21st, 2011 5:14 PM EST
New revisions: July 4th, 2012, 7:52 PM EST

My first one-shot and second story. Something I felt like doing while working on chapters for my main Bleach story The Princess and The Tiger. The scene of the Kurosaki family's freaking out over Karin's supposed 'crush on a boy' has been in my mind for a while now. However, you should realize that never in this story does it specifically say that Karin actually likes Tōshirō. I (normally) don't like cliché'd plots. Ha.

Any romance is open to interpretation. I put alot of 'stuff' in there for multiple different interpretations myself, but someone can always come up with completely different ones. I tried to make it seem like at a general first glance that they were just acquaintances right now. Anyway, this is a one-shot. Hope you liked it. Review please if you want. I do need feedback after all. ;)