Okay, I have news for you guys... they consider redoing the Torin Awards right now... all you have to do is voting if you want it or not... so here is the URL for the poll www. fanfiction. net/topic/49024/7978862/1/ And remember that this poll will close in august 2nd. So you only have 2 days to vote. (you can copy and paste, but you have to take out the space first) If I know more about this, I will tell you guys soon :)

Now, on the story

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

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Once they got to the house, Karin had the shock of her life when she found that Masaru was already there. He was standing in the living room by himself. The moment she saw him there, she considered walking back to the garage to help Toushiro and Rukia. But she decided against it. Well, it was just an accident that she ran into him, right?

"Hey, Karin," Masaru smiled awkwardly at her. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," She replied and smiled at him.

Masaru leaned down trying to kiss her cheek but she stepped away from him. For a moment, Karin reveling in memories of them being together. She still cared so much about the guy who was standing right in front of her, but why had he been such as idiot?

"Excuse me," came a familiar voice.

Masaru immediately turned to look at the door. Karin jumped a little when she found that Toushiro was standing there. Although she was sort of disappointed that she couldn't have talked to Masaru for a longer period of time, she was grateful that Toushiro chose to show up before she could do anything she would regret. Well, it was the weird place to be in, and she had no idea what to do about it. Luckily, she wasn't alone.

"What do you want Toushiro?" Masaru asked glaring at him.

"Well, I'm just making sure that you are not trying to take advantage of my girlfriend," Toushiro smiled and replied. "Karin, are you ready? I just got us a hotel."

"Already?" She asked playing along nicely. 'Hotel what? That wasn't in the plan.' She thought to herself.

"That was a surprise for you." Toushiro grinned at her but he kept his eyes on Masaru.

"Well, then I guess I have to go. It's nice to see you here Masaru," she said and walked towards Toushiro.

With Masaru's mouth hanging open in shock, Both Karin and Toushiro left.

"What the hell are you doing?" Karin asked immediately when she was sure that no one heard them. "You don't have to do that, you know?"

"I was trying to save you from what you could have done to yourself," Toushiro replied smartly."Come on Karin, anyone could see that you still have feeling for him."

Karin was speechless at this. Well, she knew he was right.

"Besides, there are better ways to tear him up inside," He continued. "I will enjoy teaching him a lesson."

"Don't get too violent," She pleaded. "It will make us unbelievable and plus I don't want to cause a scene. It's hard to make everyone believe that we are together already."

"Don't worry, it will work." He winked at her. "By the way, I don't think we should stay at the house."

"Why not?"

"Well, we will have to act like we are in love all the time. Do you think you can do that?" He said. "Plus, we haven't talked about the story of how we get together. I think we need to be alone to talk about this."

Karin nodded. She totally agreed with him. Well, staying at the hotel with Toushiro wasn't bad idea, at least it was better than staying at the house where they could blow up their covers anytime.

"I will tell Rukia that we are staying at the hotel in downtown then."

...

'Oh, damn. I forget the present at my apartment.' Karin thought as she sat up in bed the next morning and groaned. Meanwhile, Toushiro was still sleeping right next to her

"Yes, that is rather impressive….."

Karin couldn't help but laugh at this. She could believe that he had a habit of talking in his sleep. Well, only Toushiro Hitsugaya said something like this in his sleep. She quickly hopped out of the bed and looked at the clock on the bedside which read 9:35 A.M. Deciding that she better get ready, she began to get dressed.

Quietly, she headed to the bathroom so she could get ready. 'A hot shower would be nice.' She thought to herself before closing the door. Staying in the same room with Toushiro caused her a headache. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling she got from their fights when they got into the hotel room and when he kissed her on the forehead at the train station yesterday. It was no wonder why he was the most popular guys in high school back then. At the back of her mind, she started to agree with all those pathetic girls at school that he was indeed charming.

At that moment, the door opened and Toushiro appeared only in his boxers.

"Excuse me," Karin said sharply, "I'm trying to get changed."

"So," He shrugged. "I can't change as well?"

"I would like my privacy." She glared and added impatiently willing him to leave.

"Well, I'd rather stay here." He smirked and replied.

Karin rolled her eyes at this. Seriously, why couldn't he give someone privacy? She immediately put one hand on either of his shoulders, and pushed him backwards towards a door. However, he was stronger and bigger than she was, so it was quite hard for her to push him backwards.

"Get out?" He asked chuckling. He looked amused at her as he raised one eyebrow in doubtful manner. "Fine."

When the door was shut behind him, Karin almost thought of locking the door. But she knew what she was thinking was rather childish. There were no reasons she had to do something so immature like that. She was an adult now. She didn't know about Toushiro, but she decided that she was going to be mature. Plus, they were already stuck together like this; she might as well try to get along with him. However, there were times when she just wanted to strangle him as much as she could too.

At the moment, the door opened again, and the said problem entered smirking in his usual manner.

"So," She asked looking at him thoughtfully. "I have a question."

"Ask away." He said, walking towards the sink to brush his teeth.

"Have you ever smiled before?"

Toushiro turned back to her with an amused expression on his face. He continued to stare at her. Karin immediately felt color flood her cheeks 'Was that a really stupid question?' She asked herself in the head. But according to his facial expression, she was sure it had been.

"You are not serious." He said.

"No, I am." She said confidently, even though she felt like an idiot. "I mean, I don't think you have ever smiled before."

"What about yesterday at the train station with Rukia?" He asked.

"I guess," She shrugged. "But you can't say it was real. I mean I don't think I have ever seen you genuinely smiled at me before."

"Well, you don't deserve one." He shrugged, and continued brushing his teeth.

"You jerk!" She immediately threw the nearest bottle of shampoo at him.

"Alright, alright," He sighed. "You want a smile?"

"Only if you feel like I deserve one, that is. I mean, we do have different soft of relationship now, don't we?" She replied sarcastically.

And then, without warning, Toushiro grinned.

Karin was so shocked to see this that she almost fell into the bathtub. It was the first look that she had gotten from him that was so unguarded. And even though she hated to admit it, she knew it was brilliant. Now she definitely knew why all pathetic girls at school were drooling over him.

"Is that good enough for you?"

And all Karin could do was nodding. And it was the moment that she realized she was late and had to get in the bath.

"I..I have to get rea-"

"Don't worry, I don't look." He said following her gaze towards the tub.

"I don't trust you." She looked at him suspiciously.

"Do you know you are so high school right now?" He said rolling his eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked.

"Like, Oh my god," He raised his voice to make it sound like a girl. "Don't look at me."

"Oi, shut up," She snapped, slightly stung at his last comment. "There is this certain level of intimacy and respect that we don't have. And I'm sorry I sound immature to you, but I don't trust that you won't look at me."

"Do you know all you have to do is say 'Hey, Toushiro, do you think you could go in the other room while I'm taking a shower?' Get it?

"Fine," She sighed trying to calm herself. "Could you leave? I'm going to take a shower."

"See? It isn't that hard, is it? And yes, I will leave." He nodded at her "And Karin, what are we going to do today?"

"Shopping," She replied casually.

"Shopping?" He asked disgusted. He had a step sister who loved shopping so much and now he had to stay with the girl who loved shopping too. Oh, he was in hell. "Why?"

"Because," She replied, even though she knew that he would probably have something smart to say about this. "I forget to bring a wedding gift for them."

And just as Karin expected, Toushiro did burst out laughing.

"Ha, you forget the wedding gift, that's important Karin."

"I figure that out already." She smirked a little.

"Well, I just give you a friendly reminder, that's all." He gave her an amused look.

"Thank," She replied rolling her eyes "Thanks a lot."

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Again, please review!! His step sister will appear soon... I think you all know who she is...