Okay, I'm back!! XD haven't updated this story for two weeks because I'm so busy, hopefully it's not too long for you guys... I feel the pressure (in a good way) when I see how many people put this story on their alerts and I feel like I have to update it as soon as I can...

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

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After party was over, Toushiro patted Karin on the leg and told her to follow him outside. So, excusing herself from everyone, Karin followed her very handsome date out. The sun beat down from above and the air was stifling, but Karin breathed it in. Since she had been here, she hadn't realized how much she missed her hometown. And for the first time in her life, she felt like she really enjoyed Toushiro's company.

"Are you still impressed by how good I look today? Toushiro asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as he felt that she was looking at him.

"Yeah, right. I can say the same thing you know." Karin answered sarcastically rolling her eyes at the same time. Well, he looked good alright, but she was observing him. Miraculously, he changed a lot; he seemed friendlier and happier, not to mention he was also nice to Ichigo and Rukia. She had to admit to herself that for some reason, his personality made him more attractive to her. And of course, she knew she couldn't tell him that.

Toushiro snorted loudly at this.

Karin just laughed and kept walking down the street. She wasn't really sure what Toushiro had in mind, but she didn't want to ask him either. Eventually they ended up making their way into the soccer field.

"This place hasn't changed at all," She smiled widely and made a comment when she knew where Toushiro was taking her. "Why are you taking me here anyways?"

"I don't know," He replied scratching the back of his head at the same time. "I have always liked this place."

"You?" She asked surprised. "I haven't seen you here. You played game with us once, but I haven't seen you here after that."

"Well, I have always liked the spot over there, I hardly came to this soccer field." He replied smiling. "I know, come with me, I will show you. I think you're going to love it. It's quiet and you can see the entire town from that spot."

"Really?" She asked interested.

"Yeah," He said and took her hand. "By the way, you have never told me about why you and Masaru broke up."

"And should I tell you because?" She asked raising an eyebrow as they were walking.

"Because I want to know," He shrugged. "I mean, I only knew that you and him breaking up, and he is now with my childhood friend, but I don't know what really happens between both of you.

Karin sighed and kept walking.

"I mean, don't tell me if you don't want to. That's fine. I just thought that maybe you want to talk about it, that's all." He continued as he looked at her. He was certain that she wasn't going to tell him. In truth, he didn't really care for his own knowledge, but for Karin's well being.

"Let's go over there." She said simply pointing at the bench. She didn't expect that question from him, and somehow she could feel herself relieving the nightmare all over again "I will tell you what really happened."

It was just a night when I hurried to the grocery store to do some last minute shopping. Masaru was getting back from a conference that night. He had called me earlier in the day saying that he was going to be a little bit late and perhaps I should just go and meet him at his place so that he wouldn't have to keep me waiting any longer.

I know it sounded weird that we were not living together, but he was always weird about sharing his space. Well, not that I complained, I wanted to live by myself too after moving to Tokyo with Yuzu. I guess it had something to do with the fact that both of us had always been with family, so we felt like we need some space for ourselves.

However, when I arrived at his place, I saw that he had left me a note saying that he had some stuff to do and he would be back as soon as he could. I didn't really think much of it because I know where he hid his key, so I figured that I could go inside and waited for him, it wouldn't make that much of difference anyways. I didn't remember exactly how I found out or what really led to my discovery, but once I got in his place, I just felt really cold. Masaru liked to have his place super cold and I didn't know why. So the first thing I did was heading to his bedroom to get a sweater because I left it there intentionally for this reason.

Well, needless to say, when I opened the door, there was a man and a woman in the room. More specifically, it was Masaru with this gorgeous girl whom I presumed he had met at his conference. I heard him call her 'Hinamori'. It all got kind of blurry after that, but I found out later that he actaully hadn't been at the conference that night and he had been having an affair with her for about a year behind my back. I remembered both of them looking at me. Hinamori certainly looked shocked and guilty. Masaru simply looked furious. But seriously did he think that I was so stupid and wasn't going to find out? That being said, I turned on my heel and left immediately.

I went to see Yuzu that night and cried for a long time. I forced her to make a promise that she wouldn't tell anyone about this, especially Ichigo and Rukia. Well, actually I didn't have to do that, because that was the last night that Yuzu was with me. She got a scholarship and she had to move to America soon. So Yuzu just pretended for me that she didn't know anything about it. No one else knew what really happened between us. All of our friends thought that we just broke up because we didn't feel like it anymore including Ichigo and Rukia.

To be honest, I was so ashamed. I felt so stupid that I didn't see this coming. What made me even more angry was that whenever I went over in my head the last year, I saw all of his excuses on missing dates of ours as opportunities to cheat. I just felt so used and so stupid.

How could I have been that stupid?

Coming back to the present time, Karin felt tears streaming down her face. It had been awhile now, but everything just felt like yesterday. She had been so naïve and stupid and it haunted her everyday. Toushiro's arm found its way around her shoulders as he leaned over and kissed her on the head.

"I'm sorry," He said. "I shouldn't ask you."

"Well, it's not your fault." She replied smiling. "You have nothing to do with it Toushiro."

"Hinamori is my friend." He said. "I don't expect her to do something like this."

"But you have nothing to do about it, and Hinamori didn't know that Masaru was my boyfriend too. So it's not her fault as well."

"Okay," He said. "So that was when you decided to write me?"

"Yes," She nodded. "I was so desperate to look like I was okay after that in front of Masaru. The wedding is coming and I know that he is going to be here for the wedding."

"How come Ichigo doesn't do anything about it? He is close to Masaru at least that's what I think."

"He doesn't know anything, remember? I'm just too proud to admit this to anyone. It's better that this way. They just think that I'm having a hard time breaking up with Masaru because we have been together for so long."

Toushiro was silent but still kept looking at her.

"Why did you answer me anyways?" She asked again looking at him while trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. "You hated me."

"I don't know," He replied looking at the soccer field and shrugged. "I guess I'm just bored and I want a challenge in my life."

"And I was a challenge?" She asked stunned. "How?"

"Well, you said it yourself," He replied chuckling. "I hated you. Isn't it enough? Imagine how hard it is to pretend that I'm in love with you. But I think the appeal of torturing Masaru overcome any other reason I might have had anyways."

"So you were doing this just to have fun?" She repeated.

"Come on Karin," He teased. "You know me better than that. You told me once when we were in school that you would die of shock if I ever did something for other people."

Karin threw her head back and laughed at this.

"Well, that was true. You were like that."

"But I think you are wrong when you said that I hated you. I don't hate you now. In fact I thi-"

"Oh, I forget how long that story takes to tell." She said as she was looking down at her watch. Now she was desperate to try to change the subject of their conversation because she was certain that she knew what he was going to say. It wasn't like she didn't feel the same but she wasn't ready to hear it. She felt her face grew warmer when she thought about the kiss they shared last night. She knew she was blushing, in fact, she thought that she was inventing new shade of red on her face . "We better get back, they are probably wondering where we went."

"Okay." He said knowingly as he took her hand and helped her getting up. "Let's go back to your brother and say goodbye to them. We have to wake up early and go to their wedding tomorrow. And we have to keep pretending again."

But as they walked back, they didn't notice that another member of the party was discreetly following them.

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Now you know that someone is there with them...Do you think they can pull this off? But I will tell you right now that Matsumoto and Hinamori will come back soon :)

You just have to find out in the next chapter. And again please review!