…hello. It's already June. I'm sorry.

Ahh, it's incredibly late now, but I wish you all a happy new year! And even if for you, the year has gotten off to a bad start, I hope the rest of the year will treat you well! As for me, I'm slowly drowning to death under university work and trying to draw things in time for SMASH! Convention this year. OTL So updates will probably be few and far in between (which you're all used to by now), but I'll do my best!

Enjoy chapter 14!

"What are you complaining about, huh? Some people don't have any of those things, and I-"

..I'm envious.

Chapter 14- U-Turn.

Hitsugaya sighed heavily. He was lucky Matsumoto was out; because he would never hear the end of it should she find him in his current state of duress. He had taken advantage of her absence and was sprawled out on his back across the couch, face turned to the side and staring dejectedly over at the opposite wall, an arm and leg hanging limply over the edge.

What to do… He sunk face-down into the cushioning. Seriously, even after his hundred or so years of life, and all that time spent training and gaining ranks in the Seireitei, what was the point if it couldn't help him defeat the most basic obstacle of all?

Hitsugaya Toushirou had girl troubles.

"Toushirou…" She looked surprised, unsure, standing there with her arms uncomfortably at her sides.

And he was thinking that he'd blown his chances with her once and for all, and come to think of it, what chances were there in the first place? Crap, what had he even expected? It wasn't even like he liked Karin or anything; she was just this annoying human girl who saw ghosts, just Ichigo's bossy little sister, immature and fickle as a five-year-old, grumbled about everything, and who, for god knows what reason, wouldn't get out of his head.

And he could no longer look at her, and he knew he was being a brat, how was she to know that he didn't have the same opportunities because he was a shinigami? After all, wasn't it he himself who kept it from her?

Karin's face looked troubled as she stared at him. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but-

"There you are!"

They turned to look towards the direction of the voice. Yuzu was running down the path towards them, Midoriko trailing behind her. Their faces were flushed and Yuzu looked uncharacteristically cross.

"I thought you said you'd be back in time!" She grabbed Karin by the wrist. "But I guess you were too busy with your boyfriend. Hurry, the bus about to leave!"

They all waited for her to deny it, for her usual outburst: 'He's not my boyfriend!' or 'I told you- I don't even like him!'

But she didn't say anything. Instead, she was silent and went obediently along with Yuzu, leaving Hitsugaya to stare after her retreating back.

It had been three days since the school trip. There'd been the two days of the weekend after they'd returned, and then today, Monday. It had been three days since he last spoke to Kurosaki Karin.

He would've felt like he was dying; only he was already dead, so he didn't. But the school trip had ended on a sour note for both of them.

Bloody hell. Now they were right back where they started. Karin had every reason to be angry at him now, every reason to ignore him. Why did they keep going around in circles? Were they even friends?

Why was this girl so much trouble anyway?

Hitsugaya couldn't breathe. He was suffocating face-down into the couch. With a great amount of effort, he managed to turn his face away from the cushioning, and in the direction of the doorway.

This must be divine retribution. It's payback for what I did before.

It was his fault for playing games, really. For pretending that he wasn't who he was. For outwardly rejecting her.

"…who are you?"

He could never forget the image of her standing there, looking up at him, the clouds of dust and debris from the Hollow around them, and the way her face fell.

Really, no wonder the girl sent more mixed signals than a broken traffic intersection. He couldn't keep up, because he didn't know who he was supposed to be anymore. At what point did Hitsugaya Toushirou the shinigami captain overlap with the shallow human character he was playing?

And he couldn't keep up with the Kurosaki Karin who changed as often as he did. One minute she was the Karin he'd remembered from four years back, the one with the wicked grin, the one who wanted to show him the sky, the one who looked at him with a slightly pained wistful expression; the next she was irritable, sarcastic and unimpressed with her arms constantly crossed in front of her chest.

Actually, he liked the smiling Karin most of all.

But of course, Karin only smiled the hardest for the guy she liked. She'd only sit outside on the railing at night for the guy she was hoping to see. And that guy wasn't him.

Well, actually it was. She just didn't know it.

Hitsugaya let out a low, ironic chuckle. What a mess he'd gotten into.

"T-TAICHOU?"

The voice was so loud he almost rolled off the couch in shock. Hurriedly, he pulled himself into a somewhat composed sitting position and glared at the figure in the doorway.

"Ehhh," Matsumoto's eyes were wide as she gaped at her captain, her hands full of shopping bags. "Taichou's laughing? And to himself? No waaayyy, are you okay? Are you feeling sick or something?"

"I'm not sick!" Hitsugaya snapped. Crap, he was so sick of that line. No pun intended.

Matsumoto shot him a dubious look as she crossed the floor past him. "If you say so…" she sing-songed as she carelessly emptied a shopping bag onto the counter, oranges, cucumbers and a large cabbage rolling onto the floor.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya leapt to his feet as she proceeded to tip what looked like an egg carton out of the next bag.

"What's wrong with you, Karin-chan?"

Karin was lying on her back on the couch, looking listlessly at the comic book in her hands. "…nothing."

Yuzu stopped from where she was chopping carrots in the kitchen. "Sure, you've only been staring at that same page for, let's see- the last ten minutes or so."

"Shut up." Karin turned the page.

"Not to mention the book's upside-down."

Karin's mouth twitched and she threw the book down onto the coffee table. Getting to her feet, she ambled aimlessly around the living room before stopping in front of Yuzu. Her eyes were narrowed into a concerned frown and hands shoved defensively into her pockets.

"Do you think I'm being too harsh on Toushirou?"

Yuzu went back to chopping carrots, but watched Karin out of the corner of her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Karin let out a tiny sigh. "I don't know, we kinda got into a fight on the last day of the school trip. So now I'm ignoring him. But he didn't really do anything wrong."

…I was just surprised, I guess.

I didn't think Toushirou would suddenly explode like that. I didn't think he felt so strongly about anything. I was so used to being the one picking fights, I didn't expect that he could do the same.

"So now you're regretting it?" Yuzu said smoothly. "And you're feeling irritated and bored because you can't talk to Hitsugaya-kun."

Karin scowled. She wished her sister wasn't so accurate all the time.

"…I just don't want to be the one to apologize." She admitted sullenly.

Yuzu gave Karin an amused smirk. "So you've already forgiven him?"

"I just want us to be friends again, like usual." Karin crossed her arms.

Yuzu put the knife into the sink and swept the carrot slices into a bowl. "I hope so too. After all, White Day is almost here."

"White Day? What's that got to do with-"

Yuzu pulled a face of mock surprise. "You gave him Valentine's chocolate, didn't you? How is he supposed to respond to your declaration of love if you ignore him?"

Karin's face turned bright red. "I didn't declare my love! It was Giri chocolate! A-and I told you- I don't like him that way!"

"Sure, if you say so," Yuzu opened a cupboard.

"D-don't say that so casually. What? Why are you smiling like that? Yuzu!"

But well, Karin reasoned to herself, Toushirou wasn't a bad guy. And really, she kind of missed him. Yeah, next week, for sure. I'll fix things up with Toushirou.

Crisis averted, Hitsugaya let out a sigh of relief as he put the eggs safely away in the fridge. Matsumoto was now the one sprawled out on the couch, having been banished from the kitchen.

Matsumoto always looked like she was well-versed in social affairs and romantic relationships, although maybe that was just an impression given from her huge rack. Hitsugaya wanted to ask: What's the best way to apologize to a girl? Particularly a girl who's as unpredictable as the weather.

"Oh!" Matsumoto sat up suddenly and clapped her hands together.

"What is it now?" Hitsugaya scowled.

Matsumoto's were wide. "It's White Day next week, Taichou! What are you going to do?"

"Do?" Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed so that they were practically slits. "What lousy human tradition is it this time?"

"Whaatt, I explained it to you a month ago." Matsumoto sighed. "You didn't think all those girls gave you chocolate without expecting something in return, did you? And don't pretend you didn't get any chocolate, 'cause I know you did! It took me three whole days to get through it all-"

"I knew it was you!" Hitsugaya exploded. "There was no way the contents of that bag could decrease at such a fast rate!"

"Aw poo." Matsumoto pouted, "You had so much though, Taichou, least you could've done was share."

"I didn't have to share because I knew you would take it anyway!"

"That's obviously not what you thought about Karin-chan's chocolate," Matsumoto sing-songed. "Let's see, you kept that one on your desk for week, was it?"

Hitsugaya's ears burned red. "Shut up! It was five days!"

"Ah right, that was the massive chocolate heart in the red cellophane and pink ribbon," Matsumoto nodded and stroked her chin, feigning wisdom. "You better respond to her affections gently, Taichou."

"I-It wasn't honmei!" Hitsugaya burst out. He knew that very well because his heart had hurt just a teeny tiny bit when he'd seen the JUST FRIENDS written bluntly on top.

"So what are you going to give her, Taichou?"

…man, I don't even know. Hitsugaya slumped over on the counter amidst the empty grocery bags and let out a small sigh. She wasn't even talking to him at the moment, how was he supposed to give her anything?

Matsumoto was obscured from his view from a pile of trashy fluro-coloured magazines, reminiscent of the one she had shown him before. "Oi, what's all this?" He complained. "You were supposed to get groceries, not reading material for humans."

The bubbly Japanese writing littered on the cover was so bright it stung his eyes. TEN WAYS TO TELL IF HE'S REALLY SORRY! It blared out.

"Matsumoto!" He grabbed the magazine and flung it at her.

"Ow," came the barely audible reply from his useless lieutenant.

…but wait. Maybe… Hitsugaya's eyes widened with realization. Maybe this was the perfect chance to fix things up. Yeah. He just had to get her the perfect White Day present and Karin would be sure to forgive him. And everything could go straight back to normal.

Or at least the kind of normal where his entire life was a lie and Karin didn't have the faintest clue.

But what do you give a human girl as a White Day present?

He had no fricking clue! What to buy, where to buy it, what she'd like, did he have to gift wrap it the same way?

His gaze drifted over to the useless assistant captain lounging on the couch, face hidden behind her trashy human world magazine.

Hitsugaya raised himself to full height and leaned an elbow as nonchalantly as he could on the counter. "Say, Matsumoto," He said casually, "Since you're so knowledgeable about the human world and their customs…"

"Yes, Taichou?" She was immediately at attention, a smug grin already spreading across her face. Hitsugaya grimaced.

"What would a girl like as a White Day gift?" He asked as quickly and professionally as possible.

Mercifully, Matsumoto kept the gloating to a minimum. "Ooh, Orihime told me all about this," she said excitedly. "Like, like… um." She paused for a moment, frowned. Crap, I can't think of anything. What was it again, what did they give again? Did they give anything at all, apart from a response to a confession? Was it just chocolate in return? Can't be-

She glanced at her glaring captain and chuckled, waving a hand breezily. "Oh, you know. The usual. Flowers. Stuff… stuffed toys! That's right! H-handkerchiefs. Ha-hair accessories…"

Hitsugaya was looking unconvinced. Matsumoto looked around desperately, eyes falling onto the open page of her woman's magazine.

"Oh!" Matsumoto brightened. "How about this? It says here that women really love it when guys buy lingerie for their girlfriends."

"Laundry? Why on earth would you give someone laundry-"

"Lin-ge- rie."

What's that? He wanted to ask, but he had not yet recovered from the humiliation of having to ask Matsumoto for help in the first place.

Right, play it cool. I am just as familiar with the Living World as idiot Matsumoto is.

"Yeah, so?" He shrugged. "What's so special about that?"

"It says that it shows intimacy and trust. As well as a hint that one might want to get to know the other a little better, if you know what I mean-"

Intimacy? Trust? Knowing each other better? Hitsugaya didn't have a clue what it was, but it sounded about right. Maybe…

Matsumoto snickered. "But with your height, they probably won't even let you in the store!"

He was heavily offended. "I'm taller now!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking!" She waved a hand carelessly. Then she frowned, "Do they even let high-schoolers into the shop?"

"Huh?"

"You're supposed to be in high school, right? Or middle school? First year of high school? Humans and their education system, really-"

"What kind of shop has an age-restriction?"

"Well, no, the problem is mainly that you're a boy. No offense, Taichou, you grew up splendidly and all, but you are still far from a man. Will you be able to walk in there and buy it without looking like a pervert, or a hormonal child, or an overly hopeful-"

"Did you want me to get her that or not?" Hitsugaya snapped.

Matsumoto looked at her dear young captain, at his harassed expression and his tousled white hair and the faint redness tingeing his cheeks.

She smiled serenely. "Tell you what, Taichou, I will personally go and pick one out for her."

"What, why?" He was frowning again, "It's my White Day gift so I-"

"Listen, I am a woman. And I know all about a woman's heart and that of a young girl's like Karin-chan. I'd pick a better gift than anything you could possibly think of."

Well, damn, couldn't argue with that. Hitsugaya Toushirou knew next to nothing about women and the female gender, which was how he was stuck in this situation in the first place. And truthfully, the only thing he'd been thinking of was a soccer ball. Not that Karin seemed to need more of those.

"I'll even make sure they gift-wrap it for you!"

They even did the gift wrapping? That almost sounded too good to be true.

Matsumoto was already getting excited. "What colour do you think she'd like? How about a theme?"

"What? A theme?" Hitsugaya threw his arms in the air. "I don't know- soccer balls?"

On White Day the next week, Hitsugaya gave his return gift and said that he hoped they would get along better from now on.

Karin didn't talk to him for another week.

Omake: "YOU GAVE KARIN UNDERWEAR?" Hitsugaya screamed from the doorway after he returned from school that afternoon.

I'm not even sorry. Okay, yeah I am.

I once read that it's fashionable for boys to buy underwear for their girlfriends. That's how this chapter came about, whoops. It's called U-Turn cause it's a jarring change in mood from the last one. Aha…

Hmm, I love writing banter between Matsumoto and Hitsugaya.

I'm very sorry for the late update as well as the disjointedness of this chapter. Life has been really hectic and I've had very little time this year. However, I will be at the SMASH! Anime convention in Sydney this August, in artist circle, so come say hi if you're in the area.

As always, please review and tell me what you think!

Thanks for putting up with me this year as well!