AN: And I'm back! Though I have no idea where this story is going, I am happily trudging through it. Unfortunately, I've been neglecting my other two stories but they're coming along at their own paces. So, yes, because the writer's block is kicking me in the face, I hope that updating will help me find my rhythm again.

I actually got this out today because ReginaCaelum told me to stop writing IchiRuki and to go back to HitsuKarin. LOL I love my OTP, but I can't give my other one a little love? XDDD But, yes, this has been brought to you by her (unintentionally). Haha.

Warnings: None that I can see. I always make my characters curse, so if that offends you, run away now. :D


Sitting in her classroom, the pretty dark-haired teen held in a yawn, the obvious tiredness seeping into her features. While she'd managed to stay awake for her morning classes, lunch had somehow turned into a nap-a-thon, the need to eat second to her intense desire for a proper night's sleep. But despite her lack of slumber, she could still feel the restlessness of those shadowed monsters popping up intermittently, the shivers just beneath her skin whenever one entered the Living World a little too close to her school for comfort. It also didn't escape her that Toushirou had left her on her own a number of times to tend to them, never wandering away too long or too far.

He can go all the way back to Soul Society for all I care, she thought to herself, folding her arms and tucking her head into the cradle she'd made. Luckily the rest of the day was merciful, passing quickly enough and thankfully without any of the homework she was used to receiving on their first day back. As Karin walked out of the building, she didn't wait for Yuzu, who said she had club activities to attend to before she returned home to cook dinner. With soccer season being over, she herself didn't have any engagements, as she tossed her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the gates, Hitsugaya still notably absent at the moment.

"Kurosaki!"

Looking back to the caller, her eyes met Yusuke, her classmate for more than three years and a good friend of hers from the boys' soccer team. She waited as he stopped beside her, smiling up at him as he caught his breath. Although she didn't understand why he was in such a rush, Karin jabbed at him a bit about being out-of-shape now that the season was over. It earned her an arm around her neck in a headlock and a noogie, both of which she hated because it made her feel more like one of the guys than the girl that she was. But she guessed it was okay since he was only playing around, as she shoved him off to ask him why he yelled out to her when they saw each other only fifteen minutes ago.

What she got for her question wasn't what she was expecting at all. When he opened his mouth shyly to ask if he could walk her home, Karin paused for a moment, silently stunned and panicking a little on the inside, unsure how to respond. When boys asked girls about that kind of thing, wasn't there usually some underlying meaning? But while her instincts screamed self-preservation and to run home without looking back, she ignored the warning and instead chose to be kind to her longtime acquaintance, as she nodded in assent. Strangely enough, she couldn't help but think that she was starting to miss the snowflake's company.

"How was your summer?" Yusuke asked, easygoing in that honest and amiable way she was used to hearing from him.

"Good, but I'm sad to see it over," she replied easily enough before inquiring about his. They made small talk beneath the still blazing sun, knowing that eventually the days would cool and that autumn was just around the corner. They talked a little about their classes, laughing about one of their teacher's strange habits that hadn't changed even in the two months they'd been gone, as they fell into a calm that eased her tension-filled nerves. The air between them was warm and the atmosphere light, slowly erasing her previous dread as they came to a stop at her house. Karin barely registered that Hitsugaya had yet to return, but shrugged it off. The boy could handle arrancar and otherworldly things just as well as she could dribble a soccer ball, so there was no real need to worry over his absence.

"Kurosaki, I'm gonna be honest. I have a confession to make," Yusuke spoke softly, looking her in the eye with earnestness that had her stepping back a bit. While she would never call herself proficient at understanding love, Karin was smart enough to know that there were real feelings reflecting back at her, emotions she didn't particularly share with the other boy. A sense of impending doom was starting to climb through her stomach and it slowly overtook her senses, as the other spoke in his signature baritone.

"Kurosaki… I've always wanted to confess to you, but I didn't have the courage until now." He twiddled with his hands, looking between them and Karin's face with overt uncertainty. A part of her was wondering if he could hear the nervous shaking of her heart, completely taken aback by the other's out-of-the-blue confession. "It's our last year together and I didn't want to waste it by not telling you how I felt, so... please go out with me."

With Yusuke bowing at the waist, Karin could literally feel her jaw hit the floor while her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, coherency leaving and taking her good sense with it. She'd never been confessed to before and had never done it herself either, so to have her first one in front of her house by one of her closest guy friends was more than a little overwhelming. And even though she wanted to assuage the guilt inside her by saying okay, she knew that she was going to have to turn him down.

"Look, Yusuke, I'm flattered, really, but I don't see… us that way…" It sounded sincere to her ears, if not a bit awkward, as she scratched the back of her head and turned her gaze from him. God, she hated weird situations. She could fight monsters the size of her house without breaking a sweat but rejecting a boy's heart was like stabbing her hand repeatedly, outright painful as she wondered how she was going to cope with the consequences later.

When Yusuke took her shoulders in his hands, Karin looked up at him, seeing his eyes flare with determination she would've found admirable elsewhere, like the soccer field or in a fight. But right now, he was kind of scaring the raven-colorred Kurosaki as he leaned down, moving to kiss her and hopefully sway her heart in his direction. But before she could properly punch him in the gut and give him a piece of her mind, Karin was grabbed around the waist and pulled back against a hard, solid body. She didn't have to think to know who the newcomer was.

"What'dya think you're doing, Toushirou?" she demanded, wriggling in his hold as Yusuke seemed to register what had just happened. Dressed in civilian clothes and a gigai he'd ordered before his dispatch, the shinigami captain was staring the human boy down with death in his eyes. The scowl seemed to come across loud and clear, as she watched the other cower before running down the street and away from the stranger whose eyes could skewer him with a single glance. Mentally Karin refused to thank Hitsugaya for his unnecessary assistance.

"Are you done now? Will you let me go?" she whined, noticing that his hold on her was like a steel bar, unrelenting as it secured her to him. She was pressed so tightly against his form that she could feel his cheek against her hair, his chest to her back and even her smaller stance nestled into his. It was hard to admit, but she couldn't help but think they fit rather well together, the two of them, and that in itself was dangerous territory.

"Did he hurt you?" His voice was ice, making her flinch even though it wasn't directed at her. Though she shook her head and fought a little harder, Karin couldn't get him to release her body and she didn't have an ounce of spiritual pressure to threaten him with. Turning her around to face him, his eyes traveled the length of her body, taking in the fitting uniform and the cascade of midnight hair that trailed over her shoulders and down her front. Toushirou just wanted to make sure she was okay with his own eyes.

"I'm fine. Stop looking at me like that," she crowed unhappily, flushing at his uncharacteristic gentleness. He was watching with eyes that thought her fragile, a piece of glass that would shatter in a moment's notice. Unfortunately it only stirred up anger in her, the thought of being seen so delicately an insult to her innate strength and difficult training.

"You need to be more careful." The warning was harsh, probably more so than she deserved, and it bothered her that she was so quick to take offense. Even though she could keep her cool when it came to just about anyone else, there was something about Toushirou that made her more labile, quick to defend herself against him, especially when he was the one trying to watch out for her.

"And you need to mind your own business. Whatever I do with a guy isn't any of your concern," Karin retaliated, finally getting herself away with one last tug.

"That boy wasn't worthy of you." It was such a sure sounding sentence, as if he could measure up Yusuke's worth with nothing more than a moment of his presence. There was a sense of guarding to his tone, a filter of feeling that spoke volumes in spite of its softness.

"I don't think you get to make that decision. If I liked him, I wouldn't care what you think." The challenge she proposed was blatant, as his eyes darkened with a war of emotions passing across his features.

Deciding that she didn't want to hear what he had to say in retaliation, Karin turned on her heel and rushed to her front door for safety. She hated that the lines of her and Toushirou's friendship were starting to blur right before her eyes, and that just wasn't acceptable. In a few days she knew he'd be gone, all traces of him wiped from the earth along with whatever closeness they'd managed to accumulate, and the next time she'd see him might never come in this lifespan. Karin wasn't going to pretend she wasn't already attached to him but she wasn't going to give into it either. She knew herself better after years of self-awareness, realizing just how much she missed the little boy she was never supposed to meet and how she'd come to care for him, as one-sided as it was.

When Toushirou had last popped in during his once-in-a-blue moon visit, she'd followed him around, the littlest crush she had on him spurring her on, one she'd denied with all her might until now. But Karin wasn't eleven anymore. She knew exactly what she was feeling and it wasn't right, not here in her home nor according to Soul Society. As she raced to the comfort of her bedroom, these thoughts ran through her mind but they were never made open to the man in question, as Hitsugaya regarded the teenage girl with soft, exasperated eyes.

Sighing to himself, Hitsugaya ran a hand through his hair, words mumbled beneath his breath, confusion underscoring each one. "If you actually liked guys like that, then I'm definitely not working hard enough." He tried not to think about how he wasn't supposed to feel that way about her, about the little sister of the man who saved their worlds and still cared deeply for his family. Whatever lingering emotions between them were illegal, an affair of the heart that couldn't be reciprocated or encouraged. And yet he felt himself forgetting where their friendship ended and where his growing infatuation began, as he stuffed his hands in his pockets before disappearing down the street. Maybe a little time to cool their heads would do the same for the seemingly nonsensical affection they were harboring for each other, as reluctant but powerful as it was.


Sitting in her room, Karin's mess of thoughts would've had her reiatsu lighting up with distress if not for the mechanical limiter forcing it in check. The bold red of her bed covering was a rather apt comparison to her mood, an anger that was well-deserved and not just directed at a certain shinigami captain. No, some of it was most definitely for herself, as she realized that time might heal old wounds but distance truly did make the heart grow fonder.

"Why me?" she grumbled aloud, lying back onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling as if it could give her answers that weren't readily available at the moment. Karin didn't like complicated, didn't understand why things couldn't be black and white and as simple as a child's picture book. But then again, her family's entire existence was a sterling example of all that was complex and convoluted, a paradox wrapped up in three pretty children and a mysterious father. She was never destined for normalcy anyway.

However, her long rumination came to an abrupt halt as a power surge tilted her world sideways, the headaches she used to get as a kid now a dull pain throbbing at her temples. But it was most definitely there, that dark aura that had forced her brother from his normal life and eventually Karin from hers as well. She tracked it, feeling it move towards one of the more populated areas as a wave of coldness caused her spine to shudder.

It was moving towards that little boy's resting place.

"Shit!" Karin let the expletive out, grabbing a jacket to toss on over her pajamas (she'd learned quickly since the last time) before jumping out the window. She was thankful that Ichigo's room had gone to her after he'd left home. It held in its walls many secret meetings and transformations, a Fort Knox all its own, so it kept her covert exit hidden as well, especially from the taichou she so desperately wanted to avoid. Besides, she reasoned with herself, she wasn't leaving to hunt hollows, only going to help a Plus escape the other's bloodthirsty appetite. If she needed help with this one aspect, then she couldn't very well call herself a Kurosaki, not with absolute certainty at least.

She dashed towards that familiar lamppost, the one along the dangerously narrow turn that had taken a number of lives, most recently a young brown-haired boy by the name of Takeshi. Luckily he wasn't a whole, just a spirit waiting for the right time to move on and she'd protected his grave site two weeks after his untimely death. Hopefully she wouldn't need anything but herself because she was currently inept power-wise, as she turned the corner and called out his name.

"Takeshi-kun!" she yelled, trying to draw the young spirit out of hiding long enough to tell him to escape. There were only minutes until that monster arrived, but hopefully it'd get distracted or find the young spirit not worth its time. But the path in which it moved, straight ahead and with purpose, she doubted that that would be the case. He came out almost immediately, recognizing the nice high school student who replaced the flowers by his resting place every so often. The panic on her face must have been apparent because his usual bright grin was replaced with a worried frown, eyebrows digging and eyes becoming wide in question.

"Onee-san, what's wrong?"

"There's no time, Takeshi! You need to run, now!" she warned, pointing him in the opposite direction of the oncoming danger. Luckily the boy was smart and didn't ask questions, only nodding before turning back and disappearing as he went. While she breathed a sigh of relief at his departure, Karin could feel the bounding aura coming her way and knew it was too late for her to follow him.

Spinning, her eyes went to the goliath of a hollow, an elephant-shaped creature with tusks that connected to its bone mask. Its dark skin was as hard as diamonds while it towered over her form, weighing ton upon ton in comparison to her lightness. Gripping her bracelet, she scowled a bit as she tried to summon some sort of energy, a flare of awareness so that its attention would stay on her and not on the spirit travelling away from the area. While Karin may have lost the power to fight, the need to defend was still there, strong and beating beneath her skin like a second pulse.

When it swung its trunk down with a conquering trumpet, Karin sneered violently as she dodged the attack, using those long training sessions and her athletic childhood to evade as best as she could. It was easy enough since she was compact and quick on her feet, not to mention taught by the Goddess of Flash herself. All she needed to do was distract it, lure it to a safer area and hightail it out of there so someone else could take it down. Knowing Hitsugaya, he was probably on his way right then, cursing her meddlesome being as he went. The thought only made her grin in satisfaction.

Running down the street, she led it towards the empty alleyways along the outskirts of the suburbs just before it dipped into the downtown area. The narrow path would be small enough to slow him down but still devoid of people so as not to put anyone in danger. Well, anyone other than herself. Karin knew she was taking a huge risk by allowing herself to play bait, but there was no other option. She wasn't going to let anyone get hurt, especially when they were ignorant of the other's presence.

As she reached the opposite end of the alley, she turned to face it, stance bared defensively as if she had the ability to challenge it. Cursing her bracelet, Urahara and Toushirou in one breath, she saw how it scrapped helplessly against the brick walls, trying its hardest to reach her. Unfortunately for Karin, the buildings' sides gave way beneath the shoving, crushed by the brute strength the hollow possessed. But she didn't fear the masked creature, didn't cower like another person would have, and instead focused on her wristlet. While it would likely hail a number of other demons to her, Karin needed to defend herself, with or without Toushirou's help, and if releasing a bit of kidou was going to let her escape, then she was willing to take the chance. Moving to unclasp the lock, she mumbled the incantation under her breath, wondering if she could conjure enough control even without the device's assistance.

But then a hand clamped down on her wrist before Karin could remove it.

"Don't take it off and get yourself into even more trouble," Hitsugaya growled, his left hand secure around Karin while holding Hyourinmaru in the other. He stood in front of her, a guard that had arrived just in the nick of time to save her. The ambivalence—relief at his entrance but also annoyance at his condescending order—was pushed away for now, as she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Toushirou..." her voice trailed as she felt his fingers refasten her limiter, closing with a click before he moved to slide his hand to take hers. She was going to pretend for now that she wasn't completely confused by the action and half-tempted to break every single one of his digits in retribution for putting her through this in the first place. She made a note to bring it up during their next argument, which she was sure would be in the near future.

"I'm going to bring you to the roof two buildings over. You'll be safe there, and then later we're going to have a long talk about you running off on your own without telling me." He glared out of the corner of his eye, as he flash-stepped to the nearby building and deposited her there. Crossing her arms over her chest, she wasn't about to let him be the only one with a problem that needed fixing. After all, since he'd arrived a mere twenty-four hours ago, she wasn't exactly skipping in a field of daisies singing about how great life was.

"No, when you get back, we're gonna talk about how much I need my powers because you suck at this job." His openly offended glare met her rather serene smugness, completely fine with insulting his fighting prowess considering the circumstances. No one was forcing Toushirou to take care of her, at least not if he was willing to give her back her reiatsu. Karin could be perfectly reasonable, and only minimally annoying, when someone just gave into her whims.

Preferring not to reply to that statement, he disappeared then only to return a few minutes later. While a hollow like that might've put a normal shinigami in a tight situation, it was child's play for someone like Toushirou. And as irritating as she found him, Karin was appreciative of his skills and obvious need to take care of her, though that wasn't what she wanted from him in the first place. Karin had always hated feeling like some burden to others and he needed to know that, needed to understand that he wasn't just depriving Karakura of a worthy guardian by putting her reiatsu on a leash. So when he reappeared and took her hand to bring them home, Karin decided they'd discuss her circumstances in full when they got somewhere with more privacy than the open sky.


Standing on the corner and peering up at the single-lit room of the Kurosaki house, Urahara couldn't help the amused smile on his lips, as he felt Hitsugaya's usually contained spirit pressure flare up with each wave of uncontrolled emotion. Of course, since he was most likely arguing with Karin about her rather compromised situation, he wasn't surprised in the slightest since that girl got under his skin more than even his own fukutaichou. However, the ringing of his cell phone did catch him off-gaurd, as he opened it and pressed it to his ear, already knowing who the caller was.

"Urahara-san, are you there?"

"Ah, Rangiku-san," he replied with an obvious grin in his voice, turning away to walk back towards his shop. The couple at odds would be fine for now, so he didn't spare them a glance as he moved along leisurely. "I can see you're very interested in the status of Hitsuagaya-kun and Karin-chan, considering I told you I'd check in with you."

"No time! Details, give me details!" she pleaded, the Hell Butterfly she was speaking into fluttering its wings at her over agitation. She always forgot how delicate the little things were.

"Operation Jealousy: complete," Urahara said, speaking softly but with purpose. "One of Karin's admirers accepted the Liquid Courage I gave him and the next thing I knew, he was confessing at her doorstep."

"You got him drunk?" While sounding appalled, Kisuke heard the slight hum of approval at the idea of getting a minor intoxicated, as illicit as it was. Chuckling a bit, he refuted her with a smile.

"No, it's a new candy I'm working on called Liquid Courage. Gives the eater the ability to do whatever he wants without shame for a short amount of time, but the kid I gave it to was a little aggressive. I'll probably have to tweak the recipe a little before I do another test run."

"Oh." A sigh of disappointment before she perked up and continued her interrogation. "And how did that turn out?"

"Toushirou got mad, they fought. Karin sensed a hollow, got into trouble because she went to deal with it without him, they both got mad and now they're fighting again." Urahara could practically hear the lieutenant pulling her hair out in fury at the turn of events, though he didn't understand why. A bit of anger never hurt anybody, and if those two could sort through their obvious feelings for each other, they'd make a fine pair one day. Well, as long as Karin didn't strangle the poor boy to death before then (Hitsugaya wouldn't lay a hand on her head either way).

"They're so dense! Why are they like this? I blame Ichigo!" Matsumoto complained in frustration, trying to come up with a way to help the two of them better their current relationship. All the adorable mini-Toushirou's and baby-Karin's were counting on her, and she didn't want to let them down. If only that Kurosaki boy hadn't influenced his sister into defending her independence so righteously. It made getting her to rely on Hitsugaya that much harder, as well as more prone to fighting with him and his unusually short temper when it came to the Kurosaki family.

"Just leave it to me, Rangiku-san. I'll think of something," the ex-captain reassured her, as he stepped into the doorway of his home and turned on the lights. "I want to see those two get together just as much as you do."

"Oh really?" she drawled, her interest piqued by the admission. "And why is that, Urahara-san?"

He grinned a bit to himself as he leaned against the table he so often sat at, a far-off look coming into his eyes. While not necessarily the most serious person when it came to showing affection, Urahara recognized love when he saw it, as hesitant and unruly as it was between Karin and Toushirou. While one didn't want to care about the other in fear of losing him, the other cared about her too much to be contained by mere words or actions. It was probably why they butted heads so much in the first place. It wasn't that they were too different from each other, but that they were exactly the same in one aspect: they considered the other person too important to just let themselves sit idly, intent on protecting the other with their own strength. But their ways of expressing this need were completely different, Kisuke noted silently, as he spoke into the receiver with a wistfulness the older man didn't often use.

"Just watching those two, I can't help but imagine they just might be perfect for each other. And you know me by now. I'm all about the happy endings."


AN: Yeah, I still think this story's kinda weird but I'm doing my best. :D Reviews would be appreciated because I actually don't know what I want to do to Karin and Toushirou, though I have a scene or two planned out already in my head. Ideas are welcome! If I can see them work into the plot, I'll definitely use them so please drop me a line (or twelve). :)

Until next time, everyone~