"Captain, let me see that!" Matsumoto demanded as she reached forward greedily towards his cell phone.

He snatched it away from her just in time, and heaved a sigh. He couldn't help but notice Ikkaku and Yumichika both had their eyes glued to the phone. They had arrived shortly after he had come back home from walking with Yuuki. If they had come just a half hour earlier, he would have had even more explaining to do. He sighed, he knew this day would come; it was inevitable as long as he had that stupid thing on his cell phone.

"Is it from Yuuki? Is it? I bet it is!" Yumichika spoke quickly, breaking out into a grin. He turned to Ikkaku and whispered "See? I knew…"

Unfortunately for him, Hitsugaya overheard. "No. You know nothing." He hesitated for a moment before adding. "Well, maybe you know a thing or two about makeup. Circus makeup, that is."

It seemed to shut him up effectively, for all of two seconds. "Yeah, but where did you get it then?"

"I…" Hitsugaya faltered for a moment, wondering what he should say. If he admitted that this was Yuuki's doing, he would never live it down – and he didn't want them to know anyway. He inhaled and licked his lips. "I bought it myself." He offered pathetically.

"You bought this yourself?" Ikkaku asked in-between sputters of laughter. "You seriously expect us to believe that?"

"I didn't know my Captain had such girly tastes." Matsumoto added with a hint of mock surprise. "I always thought you were so mature and masculine…"

"Just shut up."

---

"So? How was your sleepover with Orihime?" Karin asked.

"It was okay." Yuuki answered vaguely. "I mean, she made me try some of her new cooking creations." She added, just to seem convincing. Matsumoto had told her dad (and her dad had told Karin and Yuzu) that she had decided to sleepover at Orihime's house for some fun times. Whatever that meant.

Her walk home with Toushirou had been tense, she still wasn't sure what actually happened. Thankfully, she had arrived home early and had been able to change into new clothes without having to explain why her other clothes were caked in dirt. She loved the Kurosaki family for its bad habit of sleeping in.

"Oh, what this time?"

"Some kind of cake with hairy cheese and carrots. It was really strange." Yuuki replied, hoping it would pass as a plausible answer.

"That sounds gross." Karin stated and made a face.

"I should tell her to make it for your birthday. I'm sure your friends would enjoy it." Yuuki reached over to her bag (that wasn't too dirty) and threw it onto the desk. There was a jingling noise but she ignored it.

"Where did you get that?" Karin questioned and pointed to the conspicuous glittery heart that had been looped through Yuuki's home keys. Yuuki grabbed it quickly and shrugged.

"Uh, I thought it was cute so I bought it."

"No way, that's from like that boutique at the mall isn't it? I know you wouldn't buy anything like this. It's too expensive for your cheap tastes." Karin replied haughtily and took a step closer towards her closer. "Let me see."

"I didn't know you were actually capable of going to the mall." Yuuki answered sarcastically. It was a stab at Karin's tomboy image, and she ignored it.

"Whatever."

The tone Karin had said that in frightened Yuuki. It had remotely, no, absolutely resembled Hitsugaya. She turned slowly to look at her sister, wondering if she was somehow Hitsugaya in disguise. Shinigamis were capable of these kinds of things, weren't they?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Karin addressed her like she had suddenly turned crazy.

"Oh nothing." Yuuki mumbled and hastily turned away. That boy was invading her thoughts! "Don't you have some kind of soccer game to play?"

Karin seemed to jump out of her skin. "Oh god! I forgot!" She yelled and was just about to make her way out of the door when she stopped and frowned. "Do you know where Ichigo is?"

"No." Yuuki answered a bit too quickly, and received an odd glance from her sister. "I was gone all day remember?" It seemed to justify her response and satisfy Karin for she didn't mention it any further.

Instead she pried at an even worse scenario.

"How was your date?"

"What date? …Oh. It's not a date. We're just friends." Yuuki answered.

"So you're just friends?" Karin questioned and gave a quick glance to the cushiony hearts that Yuuki still held in her hand.

"Yeah."

"So I guess that means he's free game, then."

Yuuki looked towards her sister, mouth open in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing. I have to go play."

"Yeah." Yuuki agreed. She watched as her sister opened the door to her room, soccerball slung onto her back. "Oh, Karin?"

"Mmhm?"

"Focus on your soccer game. Not on other game."

Karin gave a hearty laugh, craning her neck ever so slightly to give a small smirk towards her sister.

---

Hitsugaya walked idly down the street, hands stuffed into his pant pockets. He sighed loudly, moving his head from one side to the other with satisfying clicks of cracking joints. Maybe he really was getting old. Oh well, a good walk now and then was good for a bored mind and an old body. He watched impassively as a soccer ball came rolling down towards him, and on impulse stopped it with his foot before it reached the road. Kicking it up in the air, he caught it and stared at it intently. To him, soccer was just a waste of time. Humans were so weird. It was then he sensed another presence. He turned to see Yuuki's sister and for a moment wondered how she had got here until he realized that he was at the very intersection that led to Yuuki's house. Karin was her name. "This yours?"

"Y-yeah." Karin answered with a faint nod, staring at the good looking boy whom she'd seen at her house with her sister. She wanted to smack herself for stuttering.

"That was dangerous. Be more careful." He kicked the ball towards her and she caught it effortlessly.

Karin looked at the ball and then back towards him, only to see that he had already left.

---

Hitsugaya glanced at his cell phone and then at the diminishing sun. How long had he been sitting here? He heard the patter of feet.

He half hoped it was Yuuki. He hadn't seen her today and he secretly wondered if she was still mad about the whole Soul Society thing. He had contemplated going to her house, but was slightly alarmed with his thoughts, and had forcefully pushed them out of his head. He could hear someone cough and awkwardly turned to see who it was.

"You picked up my ball, didn't you?" Karin asked brightly, resembling her sister.

Oh. Her sister.

"Yeah." He answered briefly, cell phone still in hand. He watched her eyes flicker towards his phone and then back to meet his eyes.

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome." He turned back to his phone, dialing a couple numbers.

"So, what school are you from?"

He could feel a headache coming on. "I'm not from any school."

"You know my sister, right?" Karin asked, taking a step closer to him.

Hitsugaya frowned at her antics and ignored her question. "I'm busy."

"That's not nice to ignore my question."

Her annoying ways surely had to have come from her sister. With all these prying questions, they must have shared a definite gene pool. "Go away."

"You can play soccer, can't you."

He looked towards her, only to see a group of kids advancing. Her question was more of a statement, which he found rather aggravating. "Who knows."

"We're having a game soon." Karin said quickly and gestured with an arm to her friends. "Will you play on our team?"

One of her friends pulled her towards them. He could hear them whispering.

"What is it?!" She asked loudly, clearly irritated.

"Don't give us that Kurosaki."

Hitsugaya couldn't help but raise a brow. They referred to her like she was one of the guys.

"Take a good look at him! He's blond!"

Blond? He had never gotten that one before. Maybe the kid was colourblind.

"His hairs bleached. And he has scary eyes."

He frowned at the comment. His hair was a hundred percent natural and he liked his eyes. They were a becoming shade of green, as Hinamori had always told him.

"Isn't he a gang member?"

He nearly scoffed at the comment, but kept his mouth shut. A gang member? This kid was getting himself into a worse situation every time he spoke.

"Don't invite someone like that on our team!"

Like he ever wanted to join.

"Besides, how could a midget like that be good at soccer?"

He could feel a flare of anger, and immediately snapped his head to attention. Midget?! Had that human just called him a midget? "What did you say?! Who the hell is a super-midget?! It's you!"

Karin jumped in almost immediately with a sheepish grin. "We didn't go that far."

He sighed loudly and stood up to leave. This was ridiculous.

"Hey! Wait up!"

He could hear Karin calling him but ignored her. He heard her mumble something else, but he just shrugged in response. Whatever. Suddenly a ball came flying towards him, to which he smoothly kicked back and hit that annoying midget-brat in the face. He broke out into a smug grin as the rest of the group stared in fear. He wiped at his pant leg, unfazed.

The group of kids rushed over to him at once, complimenting his style and how cool he was.

He had to admit, they were right.

There was an insistent beeping coming from his phone. He flipped it open, slightly distracted from his own thoughts only to see the glowing dot that indicated a hollow. How troublesome. He thought. He glanced over at Karin who seemed to be staring intently at something off in the distance. Could she see them too? He wondered. Ugh, I'm the only one near it. With another great sigh, he sprinted forward and called over his shoulder, "Gotta go! Sorry I can't help you!"

---

"Great, you're in my way again."

Hitsugaya looked up to see Yuuki, standing with one hand on her hip in mock annoyance. He could hear himself let out a sigh of relief. He thought she was seriously mad at him. "What way? It looks like a pretty clear path to me."

"I meant you're in my spot." Yuuki corrected with a frown.

"Since when was it your spot? I don't see your name written on it." He replied.

"How childish. That's so grade school."

He figured she was taking a stab at his pride with that comment referring to elementary school. He frowned as he remembered the primary stages of the Shinigami Academy. How annoying they had been, especially with all those wannabe-Shinigami who hadn't even passed the first exams.

"I win." Yuuki announced and crouched down beside him. She elbowed him in the ribcage.

"What was that for?" He demanded, clearly annoyed. He rubbed his ribs. "You know what? You don't have to be a Shinigami. I bet you could kill hollows with your extremely pointy elbows. No sword necessary."

"Move over or these pointy elbows of doom will find their way rammed into your head."

"No thanks." He crossed his legs and gave her a triumphant grin.

"God, whatever." She sat down beside him, her knees knocking into his.

"Why are you sitting so close?"

"Because you're a seat stealer, so I want as much of my seat as possible." She answered. Yuuki wasn't sure if that made much sense, but she didn't really care. She scooted closer towards him, inwardly laughing at his extreme discomfort.

"Whatever. Don't think I can't see through your plan, I know you're trying to will me out of this spot. I bet you just want an excuse to sit closer to me." He answered, slightly jarred with the fact that they were close again. It reminded him of that incident.

She laughed at his comment and mumbled something to which vaguely resembled 'gross'. Or maybe it had been 'no'. He wasn't quite sure.

"I'll let you have my spot." Yuuki started.

She was probably going to barter with something once again. Just like those bloody cell phone straps.

"… If you do something for me."

Bingo. He thought silently, mentally patting himself on the back. "What? You want to hold my hand again?" The comment had slipped before he had thought about it properly.

"Don't make me sick. I just ate."

"So? What is it?" He asked, smoothly averting the awkward topic.

"My sister has a soccer game, you see." Yuuki started, giving him a quick glance just to see his reaction.

"I know. She came to me asking for help. Her friends were gawking at me too. I'm pretty popular." He said it in a dull monotone.

"Don't think you're a prince or something, all her friends are guys." She commented with a smile. "I mean, unless you're into that kind of thing."

"Your sister isn't a guy." He stole a quick glance at her and watched as her expression changed for a split second.

She returned the eye contact, looking as if she'd suddenly come up with a new resolution. "I know. I think she likes you too."

He raised his brows. He wasn't expecting that. "Oh. Well, this is awkward. If you're trying to hook me up with your sister, I don't think it's going to work. My interests lie elsewhere. "

"I know, you already confessed your love for me days ago."

It was his turn to mutter a 'sick', in which he covered up with a fake cough.

"I was kidding. But anyway, that's definitely not what I was going to ask you about." Yuuki replied. She could think of a million responses back to him, but she really needed this. She really needed to make up for all the past mistakes and arguments she and Karin had gone through.

"Well? What is it?" Hitsugaya asked once more.

"I want you to play on my sister's team."

---

A/N: Wow guys, thanks for reviewing… so here's the update as promised. Longest chapter yet… I hope you guys enjoyed it! If you didn't know, this is actually from the Bleach episode 132, or well, the first half of it.

REPLIES

Megomi: He returned to his gigai before she noticed. I didn't actually describe the soul 'cause I couldn't remember what it was like. XD Hope that cleared up the confusion.

AngelOfDeathz: I hope this chapter is long enough for you. :P

NeverGoodbyeRoxas: Aww, thanks for the comments. I always enjoy reading your reviews. XD