Prompt: Walk a mile in each other's shoes
Rating: K+
"Just fix it," Hitsugaya growls, and Karin feels like she's having an out-of-body experience. She has never seen such a fierce look on her own face before.
"I can't," Urahara singsongs. Karin resists the urge to throttle him. "It'll go away on its own in a day or so."
"Can't you just...pop us out, and then pop us back in again?" she asks, the baritone of her voice a shock to her system. She clears her throat awkwardly.
"No can do." Urahara fans himself gleefully. "It was a prototype for a reason."
"I'm supposed to head back today," Toshiro says through gritted teeth.
The shopkeeper glances pointedly at Karin. "You mean he's supposed to head back today."
~.~.~
Honestly, they have no one to blame but themselves. Free candy from Urahara has bad idea written all over it.
~.~.~
"You should be fine getting back," he says in her voice. "You're technically me, so the butterfly should recognize you."
Because of mad scientists and their stupid experiments, she and Toshiro have somehow switched spiritual bodies. It is beyond strange actually talking to herself, to watch her mouth downturn in annoyance, her hair blow in the breeze. It is surreal to feel the coolness of a sword she cannot see at her fingertips.
"All you have to do is paperwork," Hitsugaya continues, "And most of it is pretty self-explanatory. Just don't sign anything stupid."
"And I have soccer practice and a biology quiz tomorrow." She pauses. "Please study for that."
He raises an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know, Toshiro," she scoffs. "Just do it. It don't want you ruining my class ranking." A pause. "And try not to act like there's a stick up your ass. My family will notice something's off."
He rolls his eyes. "Maybe you should act like there's one up yours, then."
She sighs. "Maybe."
~.~.~
When she had listened to him complain about all of his paperwork, she had merely assumed he was being dramatic. Looking at the piles on his desk now, she's astounded by the magnitude of paper-pushing required of her.
Luckily, Toshiro's signature seems to be nothing more than a scribble.
She can scribble with the best of them.
~.~.~
"What's the matter with you?" Ichigo asks, peering at him curiously. "You seem kind of different."
Toshiro tries not to fidget. "Nothing. Just worried about my biology quiz."
Yuzu frowns. "Why are you worried, Karin-chan? That's your best subject."
He swallows. "Just one of those things, I guess."
Isshin launches himself at him, practically trapping him in a headlock. "Daddy knows you'll do great!" he croons, rubbing his face against his. The stubble kind of burns.
This, at least, is familiar.
~.~.~
Her new lieutenant stumbles into the office two hours late, blurry-eyed and smelling faintly of alcohol. "Sorry, Taicho," she mumbles. "I had…a thing. And I'm going to have to leave early because I have another thing."
"No," Karin says breezily, scribbling an unintelligible signature on another form. She is prepared for Matsumoto. She will not tackle these mountains of paper alone.
The blonde looks at her blearily. "No?" she repeats.
Karin casually places Matsumoto's secret stash of sake on her desk, one bottle at a time. She feels slightly bad about breaking her friend's confidence, but desperate times call for desperate measures. "I even found the one you hid in the ceiling," she quips. "You leave early and I pour these all down the drain."
Matsumoto looks shocked, then scandalized. "Some of those are vintage!"
Karin resists the urge to grin, knowing it would look out of place on Toshiro's serious face. "More reason to toss it, I say."
The blonde dutifully stomps to her desk and picks up her own paperwork. "Karin-chan told you, didn't she?" she mumbles.
Karin pretends she doesn't hear, signing her approval to a request of hot tubs in the Tenth Divison locker rooms. Seems legit.
~.~.~
Beside the biology textbook, Karin's phone vibrates. It's a text from him.
You should really consider getting a stamp with your signature on it. My hand is killing me.
A small smile graces his lips.
You get used to it, he responds, before adding, do you know what crazy stuff would make it through if Matsumoto had access to a stamp like that?
The answer comes a few seconds later. True. Btw, your division's getting hot tubs.
He sighs deeply.
~.~.~
"Who do you keep texting? You're never on your phone this much." From across the room, Matsumoto's eyes gleam suspiciously. "Is it Karin-chan?" she teases.
"Yes," Karin answers distractedly.
The silence is so sudden, Karin looks up. Matsumoto's eyes are wide, her jaw practically on the floor.
"…No?" Karin tries again. But Matsumoto's reaction doesn't change, and Karin isn't sure which was the right answer. She coughs. "I mean, it's none of your business. Get back to work."
~.~.~
He knew that Karin was the only girl on her school's soccer team. What he didn'tknow was that at least three of her teammates are blatantly infatuated with her.
It makes him irritated.
"Great shot, Kurosaki!" an upperclassman cheers, reaching to ruffle Karin's hair.
Toshiro pointedly moves out of the way. "I have a boyfriend," he responds bluntly.
And then he heads home, cooly ignoring the perplexed looks sent his way.
~.~.~
Toshiro's phone rings around dinnertime. Karin sees her own name pop up, and she takes the phone call in the hallway to evade Matsumoto's prying eyes. "Hey. What's up?"
"I just got done with soccer practice," comes her own voice. She's still not used to that.
"Good. What's the problem?"
A pause. "I stink."
"Then shower." Another pause, and a lightbulb goes off in her head. "Did you seriously just call me to get permission to shower?"
His sounded affronted. "I didn't want to cross any boundaries."
She laughs. "I assumed taking proper care of the body wasn't crossing any boundaries."
"So are you saying that you—"
"Multiple times. Girl's gotta pee, Toshiro."
She can feel the blush over the phone, and she grins.
He changes the subject. "So how are things going?"
"Great," she answers truthfully. "I've blackmailed Rangiku-san into working, so now the work's pretty much all done."
"I'm impressed."
"You should be." She pauses thoughtfully. "By the way, I'm not sure, but I think I accidentally gave her the impression that we're dating."
A pause. "I may have given your soccer team the same impression."
"Oh," she breathes, and then silence stretches between them and it's filled with something, something she can't identify without seeing his face and analyzing his words. She feels the conversation forming, one that will definitely occur once they're both back into their respective spirit bodies and have to confront the fact that everyone assumes they're dating and maybe, just maybe, they actually kind of are. And maybe they actually should, for real.
There is a scratching sound on the other side of the door, and Karin knows that Matsumoto has given in to her eavesdropping tendencies.
"Well I have to go," she says softly. "Shower, please. And empty my bladder, while you're at it."
She can tell he wants to say something else, but he settles on, "Goodnight."
It's full of promises.
