Sorry that this is so late, I've had a super busy week and weekend. I hope it is worth the wait

I hope you all read the two-shot (if not there is still time)

Disclaimer: Insert stupid saying about not owning Bleach here…


Toshiro's thoughts


Day 4: 10 AM

The Kurosaki household is still peacefully quiet, everyone either sleeping or sitting around. Well not everyone. For the eldest son of the house, it was not a peaceful morning. He was woken up around 6 to take care of a hollow, but Uryu beat him to it. Unable to take out his frustrations he snapped at the Quincy, regretting it immediately.

Fortunately, Uryu is an understanding type of guy and didn't take offense. The two teens ended up talking and walking around the town, and after 4 hours of walking find themselves back at Ichigo's house.

Ichigo jumps up onto the roof ledge outside of the room that Karin is staying in. Uryu follows and peers through the window, keeping a look of surprise from crossing his face. The perfect emotionless Uryu would never be surprised.

Inside, Karin is snoozing peacefully, which is normal. Her heartbeat meter is beating strong and she looks like she'll recover fine. What surprises Uryu is the other person in the room.

It appears to be an older version of Toshiro. He hadn't seen the captain in years, so he couldn't be sure. The boy was sitting next to the bed, fast asleep. His hand is wrapped tightly in Karin's, which is probably why Ichigo is angry.

Ichigo scowls and jumps off of the ledge.

"Is that who I think it is?" asks Uryu as he slides down from the ledge.

Ichigo nods, "What you just saw is going to cost me everything."

"Your right," agrees Uryu. Ichigo had already told him about the bet, which was going to fail from the start.

A light bulb flicks above Uryu's head. "I know!" he says smartly while pushing up his glasses.

"What?"

"You know how Rukia got them assigned to the world of the living?"

"Yes…."

"If you call the Seireitei and tell them that the hollow problem is solved, they will call squad 10 back to the Soul Society, you know how they are about having Soul Reapers in the world of the living when they aren't needed."

Ichigo's little light bulb finally clicks on. "Your right! Let's go!"

"Actually… I'm off to see Orihime, good luck." Uryu turns and walks away, waving over his shoulder as he goes.

This didn't surprise Ichigo, Uryu and Orihime have been dating for about a year and are still going strong.

Ichigo wanders off as well, he should find Rukia, make sure she's staying out of trouble.

He'll contact the Soul Society later…


Toshiro stirs slightly, slowly climbing out of his uneasy rest. He sits up and carefully opens his eyes.

He's greeted by the bright sun and turns his gaze away from the window.

"What am I doing here?" he mumbles quietly to himself. He looks down at the bed in front of him and all of last's night's craziness rushes back into his head.

Karin is either sleeping peacefully or she's in a coma, Toshiro can't tell. Her hand is still firmly pressed into Toshiro, warming his whole body up from the contact.

"Oh…" Toshiro drops Karin's hand like it's on fire and stands up from a quick stretch.

I must have held her hand all night, how awkward.

Toshiro pushes his chair against the wall and sits down in it, taking in his surroundings as he goes. Other than the machinery, the room looks like any other. It has a closet, nightstand, corner lamp, just like any other room in the Kurosaki Clinic.

The walls are painted the typical off-white, making the room look quite large.

Toshiro only notices one difference. Tied to the ceiling, right above the bed, is a small plant. It is green with a few leaves and many dark berries growing around the center of the plant.

It must be for healing or maybe good luck.

Although… Isshin is crazy enough to try voodoo

Toshiro's observation is cut short, as the door to the room swings open, revealing a fully rested Rukia, followed by Ichigo, who lucks just as exhausted as always.

Ichigo stares intensely at Karin's sleeping form, almost as if no one else is in the room. He blinks and shakes his head once before turning his gaze on Toshiro.

"You been here all night?" He half grunts, half asks, as if he doesn't care what the answer is.

Toshiro nods.

Ichigo sighs and plops down in one of the chairs.

Toshiro can see worry shining in Ichigo's eyes as he looks at the captain. Ichigo shifts his gaze away, over to Karin, and then finally he rests his eyes on Rukia. She has a wide grin on her face that is slowly shifting into a smirk.

If Toshiro only knew…

Why is she smiling? Does she know something that I don't?

"What's so funny?" asks Toshiro.

Rukia drops her smirk, leaving Ichigo to brood. "Ah… nothing, I just heard that Karin is going to be okay."

Ichigo looks back over at his sister. "Who told you that?" he asks.

"Karin did." Rukia sings.

"What?" Both boys shout, their jaws dropping.

"Shhh, Karin is sleeping." Rukia puts a finger to her mouth to silence them. "Anyways, Karin was up around 7 this morning, I went to get you Ichigo, but you weren't there. Hitsugaya-Taicho you were asleep and Karin didn't want to wake you, so we didn't."

Ichigo's frown deepens; he wanted to be here when she woke up.

Toshiro puts on a similar expression. "Next time, wake me up," he orders Rukia.

"Yes sir," she says seriously.

"You talking about me?"

Three heads spin around and stare as Karin forces herself to sit up, wincing at the pain.

"Karin, you should lay down," states Ichigo, rushing over to her side.

Now I know that she wasn't in a coma….

"I'm fine Ichi-nii, just relax, I woke up earlier you know."

"I know," Ichigo takes a moment to glare at Rukia. She smiles back, enjoying the moment.

Toshiro walks over a little slower, embarrassed that she must have known about him holding her hand.

Rukia places her hand on Ichigo's shoulder, dragging him back to give Toshiro and Karin some space.

Toshiro sits down on the side of the bed, trying to fight back a blush.

Stupid hormones

"I'm glad to see you awake," says Toshiro, going for the more formal approach.

Karin laughs and hits his shoulder gently, "Gosh Toshiro, your so serious all the time, lighten up."

Toshiro looks down at his hands, "If I weren't serious then between the two of us nothing would ever get done."

"I should be offended shouldn't I? Well I'm not…" Karin laughs again, and swings her feet over the side of the bed.

Rukia coughs, distracting them from their conversation. She points up and the three other people in the room follow her gaze.

The green plant from before is now hanging directly above Toshiro and Karin's heads. Karin immediately blushes but Toshiro just looks back at Rukia, confused.

Ichigo stomps his foot angrily, but stays silent. He can't say anything about the bet or else he loses automatically.

That is one of the only rules of Ichigo and Rukia's bets. In order to prevent immediate winning, or immediate sabotage, the people involved in the bet aren't allowed to know about it.

For example: If Uryu told Toshiro it would be Ichigo's responsibility because he told Uryu in the first place.

Back to the story, the plant is indeed mistletoe. A plant famous from having people kiss under it on Christmas.

Now isn't Christmas, but Toshiro doesn't know that, he doesn't even know what the plant is for.

"You have to kiss when you're caught under a mistletoe," says Rukia, basically stating public knowledge.

What?

"Give her a smooch!" encourages Rukia.

Toshiro looks over at Karin, unsure of what to do. Her face is getting redder by the second.

Staring at her blushing face, Toshiro can feel a little heat rising to his own face.

He leans in slightly and…


Review replies!

vampirebeast01- not really, I get that a lot. I'm glad that you want to keep reading and reading, but I hope to eventually finish this story.

blacklightangel- I try to update every week, nothing is going to change that. (You can keep trying if you want to)

oOoHKoOo- I like it when people rant, it clues me in on what's wrong with the story. It may be a little rushed, but it is the middle of the night, and I wanted to add something other than sadness into the chapter. A lot of people liked Intense Competition, and that's one I didn't love at all.

Kiki Ling- Ouch, that's way too late to still be up. I'm glad that you like the drama, but now we shift back into comedy!

PunkRockHolly- umm… it's an interesting idea, but I don't see Toshiro confessing his feelings while she sleeps, plus then I would have to take a day away from the story in order to let Karin recover. It would be funny though, if she were secretly awake.

Gaming Girl- He does need a hug, although if one was offered he would probably refuse, he's just so cold. Rukia and Ichigo have so far been my favorite part to write of the story. It amuses me.

xXBleachluverXx- If everyone felt that way then my story would have never gotten off of the ground. It started more on the humor side, I think….

KarinKurosakiHitsugaya913- I'm glad you didn't cry, I wouldn't want anyone to cry from reading my story. That might make me cry… We now return to the more crazy side of things, so no more crying!

Lady Queria- It's cool, I quite like lasagna. Yea Shiro gets a little corny, but it's hard to pair people up without getting a little corny or Ooc. That's what happens when you write about a side pairing. Ichigo and Rukia on the other hand… it's much easier to keep them in character.

Ziryx- I like Chocolate Chip as well. Especially the ones from school. Otis Spunkenmeyer… so good, so deadly.

Ziya Hitsugaya- That's the plan :) I'm glad you liked all of them.

meggie-moos s- So you're a fan of mushiness? It's good to know that I have reviewers from both sides of life. Mushiness and Humourness.

tichtich2- They might kiss, they might not, only time will tell. Thanks for your input on the chapters, if varies from most of the others but that is good! Ichigo is pretty dense so he would probably keep on chugging no matter what.

flipomatic- yup, that's Urahara for you, he probably knew the whole time when Karin would wake up, he just likes playing games too much.

Turtle-chan in Blue- Toshiro saved Karin, so Ichigo won't kill him, at least, not yet. I'm sorry if you couldn't remember, I just didn't want people complaining about repeating. I'll remember that or next time.

Finito

Sorry, but you know me. The story wouldn't be half as fun if you didn't get to vote.

Here are your options

Toshiro kisses Karin

Karin kisses Toshiro

Toshiro leans in, Karin leans away

Karin leans in, Toshiro leans away

No one leans in, hence no kissing

Ichigo steps in, hence no kissing

Isshin busts in, killing moment.

Anything I haven't thought of.

Thanks for your time :)