A/N: Well, I see you guys enjoyed my experiment. I'll admit, the more I thought of it, the more I thought it might make a good pairing. We'll see how it goes. I won't make any promises yet, because I'm still unsure how well it'll work.

sayo-chan64, rokachuu was right, Karin was actually thinking of Toshiro and projecting her feelings onto Masaryu. He didn't actually say anything to her…yet. Sorry that was unclear. Thanks for helping, rokachuu!

Blaze on, you're very welcome. I did enjoy writing it!

Moonlight's Shadow Warrior, Karin wouldn't have broken the kido spell even if she could, because that would just make the teacher angry, and you don't make your teachers angry when they can kill you with their eyes closed. It's like when your parent grabs your arm. You can get out of it, but you know that that's not the point of it. It was the teacher exerting her authority over them.

Hakkuchi – Don't worry. Byakuya won't be written out of the story even if I did pair up Yuzu and Shuhei, because he's kind of crucial to a certain aspect of character development for Yuzu that should be coming out soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.

CHAPTER 11: "Don't make me feel that again…"

Yuzu rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned, tucking a stray strand of dark blond hair behind her ear as she slid open the door that led into her zanjutsu classroom…

…and was greeted by every single one of her classmates looking up and turning their heads towards her. She blinked.

"Eh?" she said in confusion as they all rushed towards her, carrying brightly colored issues of Seireitei Communication in their hand.

"Kurosaki, why didn't you tell us you were writing for Seireitei Communication?" asked one of them.

"Um…I…"

"Did you get to talk to Hisagi-fukutaicho?"

"Well, I—."

"Was he nice?"

"He was—."

"How did you get your story in?"

"I—."

"Yuzu-chan! You didn't tell me a thing!"

"Well, Kohaku-chan, it was because…"

"Do the princess and the samurai ever meet again?"

"Um…I don't really…"

"Aah, it's sooooo romantic!"

She took a step back, backed into the wall by the crowd of students around her. Yuzu's eyes were wide, a flush spreading over her cheeks. She never thought he would actually publish it, or that it was even good enough to be published. The excited voices of her classmates overlapped with each other, converging into one single tangled wave of noise. Her heart beat quickly in her chest. She had never been popular at Karakura High, so something like this was almost unheard of for her.

Furutani-sensei's commanding voice came almost as a relief.

"Okay, everyone back off before Kurosaki kicks all your asses."

She sighed in relief as her classmates reluctantly backed off of her, holding their copies of the magazine in their hands and grumbling under their breaths. Furutani-sensei watched them carefully, his hand resting near the hilt of his zanpakuto almost out of habit. She looked up at him.

"Thank you, sensei," she said.

He shrugged. "Just doing my job, Kurosaki," he said. The swordsman watched the class for a moment more, before looking back at her. "By the way, I think the ninja and the princess had better chemistry."

Yuzu sweatdropped, her face falling. She gave him a look that read 'not you too!'. The teacher glanced back at the class, then at the clock.

"Alright!" he said, clapping his hands. "Everyone come in here. I need to talk to you."

The class quickly moved in, forming a loose half-circle around Furutani-sensei. Yuzu jumped when she felt somebody touch her arm and looked down to see Kohaku grinning at her, the look on her face telling her that they would talk about it later. Furutani-sensei's eyes moved over all of them, lingering on all of their faces before he addressed the class as a whole.

"Today, you'll be having your division tours, along with Senda and Onabara's classes. What class do you have after lunch? Iwase?"

"Hakuda, sensei," said Kohaku, looking up from beside Yuzu.

"Alright," said Furutani. "Now everyone listen up. Instead of going to hakuda, you're coming here. We'll assemble as a class, then meet up with Onabara and Senda outside. We'll be doing our tour at the Ninth Division. No funny business. If any of you act up, you'll regret it. Is that clear?"

"Hai, sensei!" chorused the class.

"Good," said Furutani. "Okay. Now, you guys know what today is, right?"

"Sparring day," said one of the boys—the one closest to Furutani-sensei. He nodded.

"So, we're not going to open with jinzen today, to save time." He looked up and around at the students. "Let's see…alright, since you're the star of the show today, I'll pick on you. Kurosaki, front and center." He jerked his thumb towards the center of the room. Yuzu's eyes widened and she swallowed hard, nodding at him and walking towards the center. Furutani-sensei looked over the room.

"And…Nozawa," he said, pointing at a dark-haired boy. Nozawa nodded, walking up to her.

"Ready?" he asked as they faced each other, reaching for his wooden sword.

Yuzu nodded, feeling her stomach churning. The class did spars every two weeks, so this was only her second one. The first time, she had been paired up with Kohaku, and they had all done it at the same time. Now, she could feel everyone's eyes on her. She took a deep breath, trying to get her heart to calm down as she reached for her wooden sword, her fingers closing around the hilt. She drew it from her sash, holding it in both hands and pointing it towards Nozawa.

"G-Good luck, Nozawa-kun," she said, giving him a small smile.

He nodded, giving her a cocky grin. "Don't expect me to go easy on you because you're a girl, Kurosaki."

She nodded back, closing her eyes. Her hands felt cold, and her heart was thudding painfully in her chest. She could feel everyone's eyes on her. Yuzu took a slow, deep breath just as Furutani-sensei had taught them, focusing on the feel of the sword in her hands. She evened out her breathing, calming her heartbeat slightly. She opened her eyes just as sensei gave the signal to begin.

Clack.

Yuzu raised her sword, blocking Nozawa's first strike. She changed the angle, blocking the second one. Her opponent blocked her first shaky strike with his own, redirecting her sword and pinning it down with his. She pulled back, slipping out of the hold and thrusting at him. He blocked it again, and as Yuzu raised her own wooden sword to block his, her world dissolved into a flurry of strikes and blocks, her classmates fading out into the background as she moved, taking a step forward.

Furutani smirked slightly as he noticed Kurosaki's tentativeness start to ebb, her strikes becoming more decisive and quick and her blocks becoming more solid as the spar went on. He saw her eyes narrow, the look of concentration in them becoming stronger and stronger as she tuned everyone out. He watched as well as Nozawa's strikes became more refined and less sloppy, coming quicker as he realized he was fighting an opponent that would keep him on his toes.

The girl was too unconfident to realize this, and probably wouldn't know it until the first exam period rolled around and grades were posted. And Nozawa probably already knew this and was overconfident because of it, but was quickly learning that he couldn't get by on talent alone.

He hadn't chosen at random. Furutani had picked the top one and two students of his class.

"Karin-chan!" called a familiar voice.

Karin looked up from her position as Yuzu ran over to them, waving her hand in the air. She blinked as her twin sister reached them, an excited look on her face, before side-stepping Yuzu's run, hooking her arm around the other girl's head and pulling her down.

"Oi, why didn't you tell me you were writing for the magazine?" she asked, ruffling Yuzu's hair with her hand roughly. Yuzu squirmed and pulled out of Karin's grip, smoothing her hair down with a hand.

"I didn't know he would publish it!" she said. She looked around. "Anyway, are you ready for the division tour?"

Karin shrugged. "It's not like it's anything we haven't seen before," she said.

"Yeah," said Yuzu. "At Hitsugaya-kun's Division…"

Karin stiffened at the name, sending Yuzu a glare. The other girl looked away, folding her arms. "You really need to go talk to him, Karin-chan," she said.

"I told you," said Karin. "He has to talk to me first."

"But—," began Yuzu.

Karin interrupted her, spotting something. "What's that on your hand?" she asked. Yuzu blinked, looking down at the bruise on the back of her hand. Her face flushed. "Ano…it was sparring day today, and Nozawa-kun managed to tap me on the back of the hand," she said.

Karin's eyes narrowed. "That looks like more than a tap," she said.

"Well…we were both really into it, so…" began Yuzu.

Karin raised an eyebrow, but turned away, her hands resting on her waist as Onabara-sensei started to address the assembled three classes. Behind him to his left stood the zanjutsu teacher and second class head, Furutani Katsuo-sensei, and to his right stood the hakuda teacher and third class head, Senda Sayuri-sensei. "I have an announcement to make!" he said. "Due to an accident involving an interview with the Twelfth Division vice-captain, the Ninth Division barracks have been closed down for the day. We will be carrying out our division tour at the Tenth Division instead. Hisagi-fukutaicho sends his regrets."

Karin went rigid. She turned towards Yuzu, her eyes narrowing. She had expected something was up when she saw her sister's short story in the magazine today. Yuzu didn't let anyone read her writing, preferring to keep it to herself. She raised an eyebrow.

"Did you plan this?" she asked silently.

Yuzu didn't say anything, giving her a tiny smile as Onabara-sensei had them form two lines.

"And this is our mess hall…"

Rangiku frowned from the rear of the group as Hitsugaya continued showing the students around, a cool expression on her face. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, watching as Karin looked on with a bored expression on her face, not once meeting the captain's eye. From beside her, Yuzu hummed thoughtfully.

"…This isn't working, Rangiku-san…" she said.

"Mm-hmm…" said Rangiku, nodding. "It's too easy for them to ignore each other in a crowd this size."

"What are we going to do?" whispered Yuzu, frowning as she looked on.

Rangiku smirked. "Give me a minute," she said, flashstepping away.

Ano…Rangiku-san…don't you think this is a bit much…

The next thing Yuzu knew, they were standing in the middle of a large mix of paints in one of the training rooms, caused by one of their classmates accidentally tripping over a rope that was connected to the buckets. She sweatdropped, looking around at the colorful mess with her hands clasped together as the students tried not to get any on their uniforms. Hitsugaya-taicho looked ticked off as he surveyed the mess, and Karin clicked her tongue impatiently from beside her.

On their other side, Senda-sensei was busy scolding the errant student, who was apparently from her class. Yuzu winced, listening to her go on.

Gomenasai, Tsutsui-kun…she thought, taking a deep breath as her eyes narrowed in determination. But this is for a greater cause.

"Are…" said Matsumoto, rubbing her head. "This is a mess. I think I'm going to need to ask for volunteers to stay behind after the tour and clean this up."

Matsumoto's eyes met Yuzu's from across the room, holding there for a moment. Yuzu gave her a small nod and grabbed Karin's wrist, pulling her hand up. "Matsumoto-fukutaicho! We volunteer!" she said.

"Hey!" shouted Karin in protest, trying to pull her hand out of Yuzu's grip.

Yuzu ignored her sister, glancing at Hitsugaya. The captain gave them a cool glance before turning around, walking out of the room.

I said that, but in the end…

Yuzu sighed as she scrubbed at the floor with a rag soaked in paint thinner, looking up. Even though Hitsugaya and Karin were in the same room, they were stubbornly refusing to look at each other, each of them standing at opposite ends of the room and cleaning up on their own. She sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead. What would she have to do to get them to talk to each other?

"Psst…any ideas?" asked Matsumoto, scrubbing at the same patch of paint that Yuzu was working on so that the two of them could talk to each other discreetly. Yuzu shook her head, biting her lip as she scrubbed at a stubborn bit of paint. Matsumoto pursed her lips in thought.

"How about the walk home?" she asked. "I could convince the taicho to walk Karin-chan home…"

"They're both being really stubborn…" muttered Yuzu. "And if I'm here, Karin will just walk home with me when this is over...Also, she'll just stick to me…"

"So we need to find a way to get you to leave without her," said Matsumoto, frowning.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?"

Yuzu jumped, turning around to see Kohaku standing there, frowning at Yuzu. She held a dirty rag in her hand, covered in colors. Yuzu gulped. "N-Nothing, Kohaku-chan!" she said.

"That's right!" said Matsumoto. "I, uh…have never seen this academy student before in my life!"

Kohaku frowned in disbelief, then glanced towards Hitsugaya and Karin. Her eyes flicked over them, and Yuzu saw a small amount of understanding pass over her expression. "Sou ka…" she muttered. She turned towards Yuzu and leaned forward.

"You owe me," she whispered, straightening up and running a hand through her hair.

Kohaku walked forward, directly towards a puddle of water on the floor. As Yuzu watched, she suddenly slipped, letting out an exaggerated shout. Yuzu jumped up. "Kohaku-chan!" she shouted, running over to her friend and helping her up.

"Ow!" said Kohaku. "My ankle!"

Taking the hint, Matsumoto jumped forward. "Yuzu-chan, you should take Iwase-san back!" she said.

"H-Hai!" said Yuzu, nodding at Rangiku and slinging Kohaku's arm over her shoulder. She helped the other student to her feet, making for the door.

Both Hitsugaya and Karin turned towards them at the same time, watching them, before turning back to their work simultaneously, ignoring each other.

Karin sighed and tossed the dirty rag into the bin, pushing her sweat-soaked hair out of her face. She would kill Yuzu for this when she got back to the Academy. As if it wasn't obvious what her sister was trying to do. Not that it worked anyway, considering Toshiro hadn't even said two words to her the whole time she was here.

"I'm leaving," she said, looking around at the now clean room. Nobody responded, because there wasn't anyone in there to begin with. She let out a small huff, turning around on her heel and walking out the door. It was already dark outside. The sun had set over the horizon, and twilight colored the sky a light shade of purple. A cool breeze blew through the air, signaling the advent of winter.

She didn't know what she had been expecting. Toshiro hadn't said a thing to her in a month. What were the odds that he would actually man up and apologize to her today? She exhaled, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. She wouldn't admit it, but she had been hoping he would say something. But he never did.

Was that really all their friendship was worth?

She folded her arms, heading to the division gate.

"I'll walk you home."

Karin stiffened, turning around. She hadn't even noticed him behind her, even though she should have been able to sense his reiatsu. She had just been so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she hadn't even noticed. The Tenth Division captain stood behind her, his arms folded and a cool look in his green eyes as he studied her. There was no feeling on his face at all.

She turned away in a whirl of white and red.

"No thanks," she said, walking down the street.

He followed her, not saying a word. Karin's fists clenched and he turned around.

"Look!" she said. "I said no, so just go away. I don't need your help, and I don't need you to walk with me. You're not my friend anymore, Toshiro!"

She turned away, stomping down the street.

And he followed.

Karin's fists tightened, her knuckles becoming white. She turned around, shouting and sending a punch straight at him. As expected, he caught it, holding her hand by the wrist. His green eyes looked straight into her gray ones. A look passed over his eyes for a moment. Regret. She took a deep breath.

"Damn it!" she said. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you just go away? Leave me alone!"

He frowned at her. "Karin…" he said. "Listen to me for a moment."

"Like hell I will!" said Karin, slamming her free fist down onto his chest. The attack connected, and she felt the force behind it move him slightly, but Toshiro didn't even look fazed by it. It reminded her then just how wide the power gap was between the two of them. Her fingers curled around his shihakusho, pulling him in. "You think you can just ignore me for a month and then expect me to listen to you after what you said to me? Who the hell do you think you are, Hitsugaya Toshiro? Why should I care about what you have to say? Get away from me!"

She tried to pull out of his grip and he did the unthinkable then.

He leaned forward and wrapped his free hand around her waist, pulling her to him. His chin rested on her shoulder, his head next to her ear.

It could have been an embrace.

Karin froze, her eyes widening as the fingers curled around the front of his robe loosened slightly. Now that they were this close, she could feel it.

He was shaking. It was a slight tremble, one that wouldn't be visible if she was just looking at him, but one that she could feel.

"Toshiro…" she said, too shocked to be angry at the moment.

"I went back," he said.

His voice sounded strange in her ear, almost alien to her. It quavered slightly, something that she had never heard in the icy captain's voice before.

If anything, it made her stop and listen.

"…That night…" he continued. "After I told you to go get your sister, I went back to make sure you were alright. And I saw you and your sister lying there. Dead. I thought for a moment that the Hollow had eaten you…and I remember…when I was standing there, what I thought."

His grip on her tightened for a moment, almost imperceptibly. "…If I had just gone with her, she wouldn't have died. This wouldn't have happened. If I had just walked her home."

His voice shook, and the hand on her back trembled slightly. On the outside, there was no change in his expression, aside from the fact that his eyes had taken on the appearance of someone who was recounting past sins.

"…Aizen tricked me into stabbing Hinamori through the chest," he said.

Her eyes widened. She didn't know what she had been expecting, and she knew there was some history between them, but that wasn't what she had been expecting. Toshiro went on, noticing that she had mostly stilled by now. "…I realized how it felt…to hurt your friends. It felt the same way when I saw you lying there. Like I killed you both myself."

He took a deep breath. "...Don't make me feel that again."

He remained there for a split-second longer before he released her. Karin stood there for a few long moments, unable to move. She stared at him, wide-eyed, her body frozen. He looked at her, and there was guilt in his eyes for a moment. And she realized something as she looked at him. He had never apologized. Not out loud. But that wasn't the sort of person Hitsugaya Toshiro was. The apology was written on his face. In his eyes.

But Karin wasn't the kind of person that would just take something like that lying down. Her eyes narrowed.

"Apologize to me," she said.

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Karin glared at him.

"Apologize, Toshiro," she said.

He stared at her for a moment, before his shoulders slumped slightly in defeat and his eyes lowered. "…I'm…sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to say it that way."

Karin stared at him for a moment, then extended her hand towards him. He looked up at her.

"Apology accepted," she said, grinning slightly. He frowned at her, then reached forward, taking her hand. They clasped hands for a second, meeting each other's eyes.

"…Come on," said Karin, letting go. "Let's head back."

He paused for a moment, before nodding at her. "Mm," he said, following her down the street.

TO BE CONTINUED