Hey everybody!! Thanks for all your reviews! But lotsa people have been saying that Karin is too dumb and stupid in this fic. I'm sorry, okay?? Gimme (and her) a break!! She can't possibly imagine someone as awesome as Hitsugaya liking her!! Okay? Besides, I wanted to use the childish aspect of her in this fic, because in the last hitsukarin fic, she was really serious, so yeahh…

Anyway, here's chapter 3! Enjoy and review! ^_^

Chapter Three: Distraction!!

"You know, Toushirou, you don't have to follow me."

Hitsugaya froze and his face heated up.

Karin turned to face the shinigami captain with a sceptical look on her face, one eyebrow raised quizzically. "If you wanna walk with me, then get down here instead of hopping from roof to roof up there."

Hitsugaya grumbled soundlessly to himself as he headed closer to the girl staring up at him. He balanced on the edge of the house roof and said, "I'm not in a gigai, you know. Won't people think it's weird if you're walking to school, talking to nobody?"

Karin could sense some people standing in the distance, watching her and whispering about how she was talking to the roof of a house. A smirk crossed her lips. "Doesn't matter. People already think I'm weird."

Hitsugaya sighed to himself and hopped down from the roof, landing lightly on his feet.

"Besides…" Karin said quietly, looking away as she continued on, "You're not 'nobody'."

Hitsugaya paused and stared at her. She went on, deliberately not looking at him.

---

"Hey!! Kurosaki!!"

Karin and Hitsugaya looked up as two of Karin's friends ran up to her. They ignored Hitsugaya, as they couldn't see him and started talking excitedly to Karin. Karin listened and then nodded, grinning.

The boy with the frizzy hair blushed furiously as she smiled, but only Hitsugaya noticed. He found himself frowning. The other boy pushed up his glasses said another couple of words and they had to run off to class.

Hitsugaya watched Karin as she walked into class. He waited outside for a moment, then took a leap and stood there, at the window of the second-storey classroom. While the teacher was calling the roll, he carefully slid open the window and propped himself there, sitting on the window frame.

Karin was sitting a desk away from the window. She looked bored as she pushed a pencil around the desk, faintly amused by the way it rolled around. Suddenly, it fell off the desk.

Hitsugaya smirked wickedly to himself. Why not? He thought to himself. Annoy her a bit for being so stupid yesterday…

Karin reached over for the pencil and instead found Hitsugaya standing beside her desk, holding out the pencil in his palm. Karin gaped and then cried out, "Toushirou! What the heck??"

Hitsugaya pretended to pout. "Aw, is that all the thanks I get for helping you out?"

"Yeah," Karin said as she took the pencil off him with an incredulous expression on her face, "but why are you even here?"

Hitsugaya said nothing, for the class was now responding to Karin's strange behaviour.

"Kurosaki? Who are you talking to?"

"Kurosaki's always been strange, but now she's talking to herself."

"Ha! Maybe she's talking to her imaginary friend!"

Karin scowled angrily at Hitsugaya who looked at her innocently. "Don't bother me now, Toushirou!"

Hitsugaya smiled secretly to himself as he flash-stepped back to the window. Karin's scowling face was… cute.

---

"Are you serious, Karin? Seven times twelve isn't eighty-nine!" Hitsugaya said as he looked over Karin's shoulder at her work.

Karin flushed. "Shut up! So I made a mistake!!"

The sound of silence tearing across the classroom made Karin frown even harder. She gritted her teeth as the comments came flying again. From under her breath, she snapped at him: "Go away, Toushirou!! Stop distracting me!!"

Hitsugaya wandered back towards the window and sat there. He spent the rest of the lesson, watching her. And he knew that she was painfully aware of his presence too, because she couldn't relax while he was there. She found the burning desire to turn her head and look at him, but her pride and irritation kept her biting her lip and fiercely focused on the front and her desk.

As teacher opened her mouth to begin a long and boring lecture, Karin sighed and lowered her head. Dammit, she wanted so much to look at Toushirou. Damn… it…!!

While the teacher droned on, Karin found her ferocity dying down, and she carefully let herself sneak a quick glance at him.

He was staring straight back at her with amused blue-green eyes.

Karin shot a hideous glare at him, and turned to face the front again. But she turned again the exact same minute to watch him.

He pulled a face at her. It was a dull, bored face with rolling eyes.

She narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

"Teacher!! Karin's really lost it this time!! She's pulling faces at the window!"

---

Karin ate her lunch on the roof. It was silent, because she was the only one up there. The only human, anyway.

Hitsugaya stood in front of her, his arms crossed across his chest, bored but calm expression on his face, as always.

"Why were you even bothering me in class anyway?" Karin muttered between mouthfuls of food. "Aren't you normally slaving away at your paperwork?"

"You're the one who keeps complaining about me being a workaholic," retorted Hitsugaya. "I guess I just…" …wanted to see you.

Hitsugaya trailed off and Karin was busy scarfing down the delicious food that Yuzu had prepared for her.

"Karin," he started, as he bent down to meet her gaze.

She looked up from her cross-legged position on the ground. "What?" she muttered, somewhat impatiently.

"You said that I was a distraction. Do I… really distract you that much?"

Karin suddenly felt her heart beat faster. She scowled and replied, "Yeah."

His voice dropped lower and softer and his gaze was serious. "Why?"

Maybe he had a lot riding on this question or something, but he watched her seriously. Karin looked confused as she pondered his strange question. "Why? Whaddaya mean 'why'?"

He kept watching her patiently.

"'cause... because…" she looked around uncomfortably, anywhere else but his piercing gaze. "You… Your…"

The frown that was often on her face appeared and she surprised him as she burst out, "Your friggin' old man hair!!" She reached out and messed up his snow-white hair. "Your white hair distracts me!!"

Hitsugaya wasn't sure which emotion he felt more. Disappointment or frustration or anger. "Don't touch my hair!" he said sharply, as he raised a hand to remove her hand from his head.

The sudden way their hands met made both of them freeze. Karin immediately pulled her hand back and looked away, frowning. Hitsugaya stared at the floor beneath his feet with the equal intensity of Karin.

Her childish awkwardness made Hitsugaya want to laugh. But it also made him want to cry when she was so stupid she couldn't even see that he was absolutely and completely in love with her! She was so cute and hilarious, even now when she was frowning and acting in her skeptical negative manner.

He snuck a glance at her, and felt his heart give a jump. Oh, bloody hell. All he wanted right now was to exclaim to her, declare out loud to her and everyone who might be around that he loved her. He just wanted so much to hold her in his arms and hug her to him. But he… his eyes tightened and his heart fell again. …He couldn't.

Karin suddenly had no appetite, even for the great lunch Yuzu had made her. She sighed quietly as she struggled to comprehend the unusual way her heart raced. She knew she was pissed off, she knew she was frustrated and annoyed, but what with? She was annoyed at Hitsugaya, but also… also at herself. For… for having these… she clenched her hands into fists as she glared at the ground. For having these… troubling thoughts.

She was suddenly aware of him sitting down cross-legged across from her. His calm face was the same as always, but his tone was slightly apologetic. He sighed lightly and said, "Okay, I'm sorry for bothering you in class."

She glanced up at him curiously and then offered a small smile.

They were quiet and then Karin broke the ice by saying cheekily, "So I was looking around my class today and I've decided that the only other short-ish black-haired humans I haven't already guess were all boys. And I'm pretty sure you don't like guys, Toushirou,"

Hitsugaya's jaw dropped and his face turned deathly white in horror.

"Anyway," the clueless girl continued, frowning as she concentrated, "…hey, come to think of it, Nakajima's relatively short."

Hitsugaya took a deep breath. He was seriously ready to explode. Anger and frustration had been building up inside him for the past two days, ever since Karin had questioned why he did so much for her. She was so stupid it made him want to scream!!

Why?? He caught her gaze and she looked confused. Why, dammit, Karin?? Is it that friggin' hard to believe you could be the one I like so much? Unless you… His blue-green eyes hardened as he considered: Unless you really don't think of me like that at all… maybe you don't… see me like that at all.

"Are you sure you're in love with a human girl, Toushirou?" Karin asked, "'cause I don't know who it could be."

"KARIN!" Hitsugaya suddenly burst out, shocking her.

"What?" she frowned.

"Listen to me, Karin!!" Hitsugaya cried, his eyes staring furiously at her and his hands grabbing her shoulders. "Will you bloody give up guessing already?? I'm telling you right now; the person I like is y-"

Karin was frozen. She was staring at him with widened eyes and fear evident all over her face.

Hitsugaya faltered. "…y-you…"

And just as he muttered that all-important word, he felt the ground-shaking tremor from behind him. He also froze as he heard the familiar growling sound.

Hitsugaya swore furiously under his breath, as he jumped to his feet and turned around to glare ferociously at the unwanted interruption. He was breathing hard, pain and heartfelt annoyance tearing through him as he threw Karin a desperate glance.

She got to her feet and he noticed the way she stood there, her hands shaking although they were clutched into angry fists.

The Hollow roared again. It was a large one, and it sent a huge gruesome-looking arm flying towards the school building. Hitsugaya drew his sword in a flash and sped towards the Hollow, raising his sword to attack.

The dust rose up from the school roof. Karin coughed lightly in the aftermath of the Hollow's attack and as the cloud cleared, saw the way the ceiling upon which she was standing was crumbled away at the side. She heard the screams of the children in their classrooms below and their footsteps as they began to evacuate the building.

Karin stepped back and headed towards the door to get back inside. She paused as she looked back to see Hitsugaya leaping up into the air, gritting his teeth and aiming for a shot at its mask.

Crap. She glared at him as she felt the horrible sinking feeling of uselessness. She couldn't do anything.

He dug the blade of his sword into the Hollow's mask, but turned his head to check on Karin, and it cost him. The Hollow swung its long arm and Hitsugaya was pushed back. The Hollow's arm came crashing down onto the school building and Karin just managed to evade getting crushed.

Karin breathed hard as she stood there, scowling. She felt so useless and now she was distracting Hitsugaya too! He might get hurt! She looked around for an alternative way to get off the school building. The school wasn't that tall, it was only two-storeys and standing there on the roof, she spied a tall tree stretching its branches up high enough for her to glimpse.

Hitsugaya gasped as he flew up once again, cursing himself for being distracted by Karin. But… he cared about her. And he needed to know that she was okay. After all, she had no way of defending herself.

He was angry.

He was so friggin' angry. Why couldn't he just let her know? Why did this stinking Hollow have to interrupt, just when he was brave and frustrated enough to tell her who it was? Why, dammit, why??

Karin took a sprint towards the edge of the roof. Just as her foot hit the edge of the concrete, she threw all her strength and athletic ability at the tree.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KARIN?? COMMITING SUICIDE?!?" Hitsugaya suddenly screamed from above her.

In his panic, without thinking, he swung the sword and cut the mask into pieces. Then he used shun-po and sped towards Karin with his arms stretched out in front of him, struggling to catch her as she fell.

"HELL NO, TOUSHIROU!! I'm not that stupid!" Karin reached the treetop and grabbed onto a branch, her feet landing lightly on another branch underneath her. She was shaken, but safe.

She took a cautious leap from the branch towards the ground and Hitsugaya arrived in time to catch her. The snowy-white haired captain caught her in his arms and gently set foot on the ground.

Karin stepped away from him and watched both him and the events in the background behind him. The school was in chaos and students were running around, panicking. The teachers were staring in awe at the damage the Hollow had left behind.

Hitsugaya sighed heavily.

Karin also sighed and then she gave Hitsugaya the brightest grin he'd seen yet. It totally melted his insides and he stared at her, entranced. His eyes hardened, with both love and hurt as she smiled.

His blue-green eyes settled on her brown ones as he wondered. Had she heard what he had said before?

He froze as she reached out, and not saying anything grabbed his hand in hers.

What does this mean?? His heart beat fast.

"C'mon, Toushirou!!" Karin shouted as she pulled him behind her and made a break for it.

"Huh??" He pulled a face of puzzlement.

"Let's make a run for it and ditch school while they're all wondering what happened!!"

"Ahh…" he fell into a forced smile as he ran with her, disappointed. But… he looked away as his face blushed furiously. He gently tightened his grip on her hand.

Even so…

Even though she still didn't see it, even though she didn't understand it at all…

It didn't matter…

For now anyway, he was okay with just being beside her like this.

Karin glanced at Hitsugaya and grinned wickedly. "What's wrong with you, Toushirou?? Are you blushing??"

Hitsugaya scowled and snapped: "I AM NOT BLUSHING!!"

To be continued in chapter four!! ^_^ That was quite a long chappie… I'm not sure about what happened. You see, I never planned this chapter, I just threw it in because the events that happened last chappie and the ones that will happen next were too unrelated. So… I had to fill something in. Hope you liked it! Review please!! ^_^