Disclaimer: 'He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not...' Ah, I don't own Bleach!

+--Captive Orchid--+

"Divine love is a sacred flower,

Which in its early bud is happiness and

In its full bloom is heaven." ~James Hervey

+---+

+--Declaration--+

Later winter—

"…and so, not everything is about idealism or using the written rules." Kyoraku Shunsui stated, slamming the thick book he carried on the table; waking various sleepy faces up. "Is it really boring learning all of this? Truly that can't be true, rest assure that when you step out into the real world; there won't be manuals or books to guide you thru it."

The entire classroom groaned, except for a young man that simply stared at the man as he continued with his explanation to them. Toushiro shut his book as his turquoise eyes stared at the clock on the wall, in less than five minutes the class would be over along with the day. He needed some serious rest after an entire week accompanying that woman in long walks out in Seireitei; it wasn't like he was to blame her in the first place as he enjoyed her company. Besides, he had to watch out for her as of now they were attempting to establish their relationship into something more concrete.

That talk had been going around for a few days already, he hadn't been able to hide all of those feelings for her any longer, and after hearing her slight confession that one day by the river; it triggered the whole thing. Besides, many were beginning to spot them together on their usual outings to Seireitei or around Karakura, and since the town didn't hush up absolutely anything that dealt with the rich—there seriously was no telling when some outrageous gossip would began to flaunt on the local newspaper.

"Why don't we let Hitsugaya-san explain it in better terms?" A young woman stated, all turning to stare at him. At least he was paying close attention to that; else he would look like a complete idiot in front of them.

"Why should he explain it? He's the first of the class, there's no need to hear about the mighty and Supreme Being." Another girl snorted, cutting a glare at him. "It's always about him, Kyoraku-sensei, make someone else talk because it gets boring to have the show off always berate everything we say down."

"The real world doesn't wait for your answer, it works and works without a stop," Toushiro expressed, leaning forward on the table while his eyes glared back at her. "Fools don't necessarily make it in the real world, books only state the foundation to what awaits us all out there, but management isn't about using books to solve a problem. Management requires of bright and creative minds to be able to work out, or even better, make it much different than other theories from the past."

Everyone stayed silent until class was dismissed, everyone hated his guts for being smart or just hated his guts knowing that he already had a future built for him since he was born; but the world didn't particularly worked that way. Besides, staying alive required stepping onto others just to accomplish what you want in life, if everyone was smart enough to understand that perhaps they wouldn't hate him as much.

"You look tired," Karin said as they met up at the small diner close to the school.

He grunted simply, as he chewed on his food. "It's nothing to worry about, really."

She rolled her eyes, refilling his tea cup. The evidence of his hard work was showing and paying off, she was highly aware that his degree was costing him a lot of energy and he was looking more tired lately. Perhaps cutting his hours that he had to take care of her would help; after all, most of her work was finished and only needed to find more family archives around her house.

"Fine, just don't overdo it alright." She smiled at him. "Besides, who else has to take care of me in the future? You know that a photographer doesn't exactly have a cheap life."

He cut her a look. "Mm, who said that I had to take care of you for the rest of your life? When did we establish an agreement?"

"Eh? Well, aren't you up for it? After all, my family would only accept our relationship if you promise that," she joked while he simply glared. Loving her so deeply like that was quite haunting, especially when she would pick on him regarding the future or about taking care of their children.

He didn't know how much longer he would last loving her so much like that, knowing that slowly he was being suffocating by those strong feelings; yet he didn't know that Karin was the same way. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about him, filling most of her thoughts revolving him like those silly high school girls that became obsessed, but it wasn't like she was obsessed just simply madly in love.

At nights she would have to sit there and laugh for being so foolish like that, acting like a high school girl wasn't even funny for her, but it had been so long since she had felt that way. As for Toushiro, all he could think about was her most of the time, though tried not to look as if he was in love in front of the others.

+---+

Hideaki looked up just as his grandson set foot inside the house, removing his shoes and walking off to his room like usual. The elderly man sighed simply, the boy studied way too much at times and he didn't get much rest either lately; there was something going on. Standing up, he made way to his room and have a talk with the boy because he wasn't going to accept the fact that he was tiring himself for no reason at all.

A person couldn't possibly spend their entire lifetime studying, life itself was a long lesson that didn't have text books or some study guide to follow; everything just simply managed to fall into place according to how one was prepared. Besides, Toushiro could never raise the grading scale barrier since he was already at the top of it and there was no way to surpass it.

As he walked, Hideaki recalled the young boy that used to run around the house freely. Being abandoned at a young age hadn't stopped him from trying to be happy; he was disappointed over his own son for abandoning the poor child and along with the mother too. People like that made him sick, besides no human could possibly be called one if they had the heart to abandon a small child.

Twenty five years ago, the barely six months old Hitsugaya Toushiro had been abandoned on a summer evening at the entrance of the Hitsugaya household with a small note simply saying 'take care of him for us.' Nothing more or less, since than he and his wife, Kimiko, had raised him to be a refined young man with manners and class. There was absolutely no telling where his genius genes had come from because his father was definitely not a smart man, so Hideaki wanted only the best for his one and only grandson.

He knocked on the shoji door, a soft 'enter' followed and the man entered as the white haired man sat on a mat with books spread around him, but he seemed to be focusing on something else.

"Do you have a minute?" He asked, watching those turquoise eyes glance at him with a very odd expression behind them.

"Please, take a seat Ojii-san." Toushiro replied with a monotone voice, his mind wrapped around other things.

The man took a seat in front of him, watching carefully as his turquoise shifted somewhere else and looked mildly lost. The poor boy wasn't very good at hiding most of his feelings that tended to mix so well with his facial expressions; that tended to be quite entertaining at times. Though, Toushiro had learned to hide most of his emotions that he knew well that people shouldn't see—only than was he able to evade most of the attention—though at home he wasn't so good with the charade.

"Mind if I ask why you have that odd facial expression?" Beating around the bush wasn't necessary; it only caused problems in the exchange of information between the two.

"No reason at all, can't a man be tired?" Toushiro grabbed one of his books and flipped through it. How hard was it really to hide his emotions entirely? Of course, he knew so well that at home none of it was easy like in public. "I'm not in drugs or anything of the sort, so kindly Ojii-san try not to pry into it with talks that you had with me when I was a high school kid."

Hideaki laughed at his unusual sense of humour, well maybe it lacked some comedic relief to it or something else, but the boy was truly easy to tease him.

"It's not exactly what I meant really, only that you look like a foolish boy in love." Toushiro's face paled…ah…so that was it. "You're truly too easy to read when it comes to that emotion, I've only seen it once, but not like this. Has Momo-chan returned to town or something?"

"It isn't that woman," he exclaimed, standing up and tossing his book aside. How many more times would that woman's name have to be spoken around him? "Hinamori isn't going to return as she's probably making it big somewhere in America, don't care either way."

Hideaki nodded. "Fine, then tell me who it is because she seems more special to you. I mean, a girl being able to make you look like a lost puppy truly is worth meeting."

"She isn't my girlfriend…actually I'm not even sure how to feel about it." Toushiro shook his head, trying to find a reason somewhere. "I suffocate when I'm around her, seeing her smile all the time…it's…I'm not even sure what it is."

"So your feelings are suffocating you, being with her makes you feel so stupid that you don't even know what to do with yourself?" The feelings were so familiar of course, any person that fell in love felt it differently, but sometimes most of the emotions matched. "Thinking about not knowing what you are truly is confusing."

Toushiro dropped on his futon, a silly grin on his face and his eyes twinkling. "She just makes me feel like a fool, confused and lost regarding my feelings for her."

"Reminds me of when I saw your grandmother," his grandfather recounted the story with small details. Toushiro didn't know what made him talk about it with him, his father didn't even exist to explain all of those things to him, but his grandfather was more like his father.

He couldn't think of something to say, the familiar feelings that the elderly man told were just about the same that continued to flow inside of him—so prude of him of course. Those many years ago the girl he thought he loved never made him feel like that, at least not the way that Karin made him feel; it was different of course.

Hideaki stood up from the floor, walking towards the closed door and stopped before actually leaving the room. He turned to look at his grandson as he continued to lie on the futon.

"Tell her how you truly feel, don't waste your time dwelling on thoughts that will truly be unnecessary to bear for you."

"Oh, thank you."

He heard his door shutting softly, maybe his grandfather was right about telling Karin how he truly felt about her—no woman had made him feel that way before. He picked up his phone, flipping thru several pictures on it and seeing that childish face of the woman he once loved. It had been almost ten years since he had felt that way about someone, he didn't even know what the hell those pictures had remained on his phone; even after so long they still remained there despite changing phones in numerous occasions.

Though it was hard to let it go, he pressed the 'delete' button on them.

Erasing the past would help him understand the present, dwelling about the past would not yield anything for the present and it was time to actually move on. He pressed the number keys on his phone quickly, typing out the message and clicked 'send'. As easy as that, Toushiro needed to finally rid of those troubling feelings that were starting to control him.

+---+

The phone on the small table lit up, almost falling from the edge as it began to vibrate and Karin caught it just in time. The screen was about the only light available in the room, as she squinted her eyes at the bluish light and read the text message quickly. Looking at the digital clock on the nightstand, she nodded her head in silence and shut her phone, and went to open the blinds of her room.

"It's not too late," she said to herself as she began to pull on a clean pair of skinny jeans and a plaid shirt.

Isshin looked up as he heard loud footsteps coming from the stairs, seeing his daughter skid to a stop while struggling to get inside her jacket and holding something on her mouth.

"What's going on?" He asked, putting aside the book that he was reading. "Going somewhere? Did my lovely daughter finally find a boyfriend? When do we meet—" His words were cut short

"Why do you always have to assume the wrong things?" She groaned and rolled her eyes, sitting by the door while pulling her shoes on. "I'm going out, ittekimasu."

Karin practically ran down the street to catch the bus in order to go to the square plaza, she was hoping that there wouldn't so much traffic as it was a Friday afternoon; mostly everyone travelled or were in a rush to get home. Thankfully the bus came just in time, there weren't many on and it was going to be easy to get there in time. Her heart pounded; pulling out her cell phone she read the message again.

I need to speak with you about something important, meet me in an hour in the square plaza.

Something about it seemed odd and quite strange, but no one should think much about it. What was so important that he had to call her out like that though? She hadn't done anything wrong as of recently—she hadn't asked him to accompany her to photo sessions out in the forest or town—so what could be the reason? The more she thought about it, the more Karin began to theorize about and none of them sounded any good at all.

'He can't say that we shouldn't continue this, would he?' She thought to herself, practically leaning against her seat to think. 'No, it doesn't sound right at all…but what is it? Damn it!'

Though that was probably way off and she was thinking far into it, maybe there needed to be an explanation and hear everything that needed to be said to clear the subject; after all, he wouldn't suddenly drop her off somewhere just like that. No, that was just absurd because she knew that Toushiro loved her just as she loved him—Get yourself together Kurosaki!

At the stop, the young woman practically ran out of the bus and towards the plaza to get there in time. Sometimes she wondered why her home was so far away from the downtown area of Karakura.

On the fountain, her dark eyes spotted his white hair amongst the crowd that gathered there on the fine afternoon. Immediately his turquoise eyes shot up to look at her, they were already smiling against her own and he stood while dusting his jeans.

"Sorry for calling out like that," he looked mildly sincere; in fact she could've sworn it was just simply an excuse.

"Ah, I was just doing some…work." It was a lie of course; she would've come whether she was holding a print on her hands or a spoon. "So, what is it that you need to tell me that's—oh so important?"

Toushiro looked at her face, it looked completely calm for someone who was about to hear his profession of love and what not—maybe he was just thinking too much on it already. What a damn idiot. Where to begin? Kurosaki Karin was nowhere near being a woman of class, one that liked mushy love stories or even liked flowers—another reason why he never acted like he was really in love with her. You're such a comedic fellow.

"Let's take a walk, come on," he grabbed her hand, but she pulled back. His turquoise eyes stared at the much serious expression on Karin's face.

"Usually stuff like this doesn't piss me off, but somehow the display of your odd behaviour is actually hitting the nerve." That same cold tone that he had heard before made him shiver; it had been practically months since she had spoken like that.

A sigh escaped him, maybe it was best to just spill it out without a pause or anything of the sort; he was sure that she was capable of understanding him completely without having it being told twice—he hoped dearly for it. Exhaling deep, the white haired man rumbled out his confession as she watched her look confused, frowning slightly while trying to comprehend as he spoke fast.

Karin couldn't comprehend a single thing; Toushiro's words seemed to be like a whisper as her mind attempted to process them properly. His lips moved accordingly, though it seemed that her ears had suddenly grown stuffy and couldn't really hear those words. His blabbering kept repeating her name and 'love'—what did that mean?

"Wait, what the hell are you talking about?" She asked deadpanned. Toushiro needed to breathe, but frowned at the lack of her attention span. It wasn't like he had spent hours in front of a mirror practicing for it, but that was hitting a nerve there.

"So I was just babbling like a fool for nothing?" He wanted to shout at the winds, curse the heavens above or something, but no. That would be so unwise, so he was going to repeat it carefully now. "Damn it, I think…no I know that…I love you." There, it was to the point now and very—sincere. At least he thought so.

"I…wait…what did you say?" Karin looked at him, but instead of a reply she felt his lips against her own.

Part of her mind was still thinking logically about what had just happen, had Toushiro confessed or what? Right, he had said that he loved her and looked so flustered, she wanted to laugh but managed to only wrap her arms around his neck. So, did it mean that he was all for herself? Or was there someone else willing to fight for him?

"What does this mean?" She asked breathlessly, her dark eyes staring deep at his. "Are we a couple?"

Toushiro closed his eyes, putting his forehead against hers and tried to think more logically. Truly feeling like a fool right about now seemed proper, yet that didn't seem the case at the moment. Those feelings were just far too strong to have for someone he barely knew, yet his heart would simply beat madly just by being near her. He kissed her again feeling like words wouldn't be able to make much sense at the moment; he was drowning on her mere presence, trying to comprehend his true feelings that didn't need to be understood any longer.

Karin began to grow hot suddenly, she was so focused on kissing him deeply as their tongues began to battle on the hot passionate kiss; they were forgetting that they were in public. Many passed and turned their heads as the couple continued kissing, some little kids giggled as their mothers dragged them away.

"We should probably stop," he pulled away suddenly, while red covered most of his face.

She touched her lips, a smile forming there. "Yeah, I will agree strongly on that."

He grunted, scratching his head while trying to regain some pragmatic logic back to his brain. He couldn't possibly go home without telling her something more concrete, and just as such he was going to say it.

"Tomorrow night I'll invite you to dinner at my house, if you have nothing to do that is." That sounded way too formal.

"Err, well there's nothing to do really," she tucked a piece of her hair back. "So, we are skipping many dates and you're going to introduce me to your family? That sounds way off there."

"We've been in many dates already,"

"That's true, but they're going to think that we've kept this for so long."

"No, we haven't kept anything from anyone at all. Besides, it's not our responsibility of telling anyone about everything we do in our lives." Toushiro had a point there.

Karin sighed. "Alright, but on the condition that I'm not changing how I usually dress."

Toushiro pulled her close to him again. "I never stated that you had to change yourself to be accepted."

Karin smiled simply, leaning her head against his strong chest and inhaling his scent deep. Even though it seemed that they were moving fast, she didn't felt the need to stop and think about it much. Surely she felt that she knew what she was doing and there was no way that anyone would be able to stop her, besides, she was a grown woman with a rather glamorous future ahead if her talent continued.

Holding hands, they walked towards the bus stop to get to their perspective homes and realize what they had just both proclaimed clearly between the two. Tomorrow and on, people would began to talk about them until some other couple would come out in the open; it was not like neither of them cared about anything in the first place.

"I love you so much, Hitsugaya Toushiro." She kissed him just as the bus stopped. "Take care of yourself."

He tried to small a little. "Yeah, you do the same for me."

Truly sorry for the rather long delay. This semester is practically Hell due to the many reports and studying to do; its only getting harder to write something. Sighs, well hope everyone enjoys it and I'll try to update ASAP 'cos there's this long geography project that needs to be done along with a bunch of presentations for various classes. Thank you for those who continue to support the story, it really makes me happy and so glad. Please, please be patient with this story 'cos there's not enough time in the world to sit down and write (so wished). Thank you again! ~bleedingxinxspace