Haven't updated this story for a week now... mainly because I don't know how I should write it... Take me awhile to figure out because I have many complaints about how depressing this story is, especially for HitsuKarin relationship. I hope after this chapter, you can guess what I have got planned for Hinamori at least.

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Hinamori was sitting in the 4th squad training ground. She hadn't visited the real world for a month now, because her training was getting harder and harder everyday and she hardly had time even for herself. It kind of made her sad that she had to break her promise with Toushiro. They hadn't seen each other for awhile now, even though she got a special permission from Yamamoto soutaicho to leave anytime she wanted, she still couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't know exactly why she didn't want to go back to the real world, but she knew she felt extremely uncomfortable and out of place there; it was too hard to try to fit in.

"Hey," Kira greeted her from behind breaking the silence. He followed Hinamori to the training ground quietly hiding his reiatsu at the same time because he knew she was trying to avoid him.

"Oh," She said avoiding his eyes. "Hi."

Kira looked at the pretty black haired girl whom he had known for years, dating back to the days when he and she were at the academy together. They were friends and he knew that she was a fighter. He had seen her swearing that she would fight to protect everyone she loved. The moment she was assigned in the 5th squad, he knew she would fight for the one she worshiped. They were alike; when he was promoted to be the lieutenant of the 3rd squad, he was so certain that he was able to keep his eyes on everyone he loved, and followed his captain every order. But both of them failed because they had trusted wrong persons. The aftermath of knowing the truth, he found himself being lost because of the feeling of being left behind. Everything he had done was crushing against his confidence. But he knew she took it a lot harder than him; she was in the world of her own where she was incapable of separating logic from nonsense.

"How are you doing?" He asked softly.

"I'm fine," She said giving him an awkward smile. "What about you? Do you feel better now?"

"Yeah, I am. Thanks for taking care of me." He said sincerely. "You do have a talent in healing."

"You don't have to thank me. It is what I should do after what happens..." She trailed off before deciding to continue. "I'm sorry for attacking you. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"It's okay, I know you were confused." He sighed and said. He still remembered the desperate day when Hinamori found out that her beloved captain was found nailed to the wall with blood spalshed everywhere. He still remembered her hysteric screams. "I'm sorry too."

Hinamori immediately gave him a questioning look.

"For criticizing you on being emotional and unable to distinguish official and personal matters" He continued. "I'm sorry that I release my zanpakuto against you. I shouldn't have done that. I should have known how you felt."

"Thank you," She smiled sadly. "But I think you did the right thing. I would have done the same thing to protect Aizen taicho, even though I know he was capable of taking care of himself."

"Same here." He replied chuckling before continued seriously "Don't blame yourself on what happened Hinamori. Everybody makes mistakes. We shouldn't dwell on the past, we should focus on the present.

"I know," She nodded. "And you should do the same Kira."

"I'm doing it right now."

"Then, we will do it together; forgeting the past and moving on." She said finally and looked at Kira.

Both of them knew instantly that they shared a mutual understanding on what had happened, and would try to help each other getting over it.

...

"Oi, Karin. Hurry up, will ya? Kiyoshi shouted when he was standing in front of Kurosaki residence. "We have our soccer practice today. If you keep being late like this I'm not going to wait for you. Kenji and others are there waiting for you already."

"Who cares!" Karin muttered to herself while she was checking her bag before leaving the house. She stopped and looked at her window when she heard a familiar voice.

"I'm back." Toushiro said as he entered her room through the window. "Where are you going?"

"Soccer practice." She replied simply before walking to the door. "Bye Touhiro, I will see you when I'm back."

Fifteen minutes later, Karin and Kiyoshi were walking towards the soccer field when she heard someone calling her name loudly.

"Oi, Karin!!"

She turned and saw that Toushiro, in his gigai, was coming towards her.

"Toushiro?"

"I just move back here," Toushiro said and winked at Karin when Kiyoshi wasn't looking. "I haven't been in this town for a long time."

"That's great." Karin replied smiling vaguely because she didn't understand why he came to see her in gigai, in front of her friend. And she really didn't know what to say to him

"Hello Toushiro," Kiyoshi cut in and said with a smile "Do you remember me? We used to play soccer together. You left immediately after the game ended. I didn't have a chance to thank you for helping us. We are going to the soccer field, do you want to join us?"

"Er, Who are you?" Toushiro asked as he looked at Kiyoshi trying to remember when did he see this guy.

"He is Kiyoshi, you have seen him before. Remember one of my teammates who wore glasses?" Karin said finally. 'That's why I told you to hang out with my friends' She thought to herself.

"I see you don't remember me, but you remember Karin. Did I miss something between you guys?" Kiyoshi asked jokingly, didn't realise how close he got to the truth.

Heat flooded Karin's cheek at this and she started walking quickly, while Toushiro stood frozen with his mouth hanging open.

"Where is everyone by the way?" Karin asked Kiyoshi. She know it was stupid to ask this question, of course, everyone would be waiting for them at the soccer field. But she was trying to sound casual as if Kiyoshi hadn't spoken at all even though she though she might start crying at any moment.

"Same place. They are waiting for us. We are late now."

Three of them talked about random things as they walked together. Karin could feel Toushiro's excitement building as they apparoached the soccer field. When they arrived it wasn't empty, since her teammates were waiting for her. Karin waved at them. Toushiro looked at her teammates; his good mood were threatened when he recognized that Kenji was there waving back at Karin. He felt a surge of jealousy shoot through him he eyed Kenji and batted it down.

"Hey Karin, " Kenji said looking at Toushiro at the same time.

"Hey," Karin replied smiling. "Kenji, this is Toushiro."

"Oh, Toushiro? Why do I feel like I have heard your name before? Are you the one who help us five years ago?

Toushiro nodded but didn't say anything. He had never liked Kenji and he still didn't; this guy made a comment on how short he was the first time they met.

"Oi, you have grown up lot!" Kenji spoke after observing his height. "You are not a super midget anymore. I'm glad."

Toushiro frowned and made mental note that he would personally come to take Kenji's soul when the time came. He swore this guy just knew how to attack him verbally.

"By the way, do you want to play with us?" Kenji asked. "You 're welcome to join."

"I don't think it's a good idea. You see he just got back, maybe he is tir-" Karin spoke up but Toushiro cut her off.

"I'll play," He said looking at Kenji before looking back at her. "If you want to."

Karin looked at him quzzically. She didn't quite understand the look in his eyes. He seemed determined to do something but she could't decide what.

"Okay," She said after a minute.

"Okay then," Kenji smiled. " We only have six people here, so we will seprated into two teams. You and Karin are together. Kiyoshi, do you want to stay with them? You can if you want to, you can take care of the goal. Touhsiro, the rule is simple. Fisrt team to score fives times wins."

"This isn't a fair match," Karin whispered when no one was looking at them.

"Why?" He asked back but Karin just laughed and shook her head.

"You will see."

Toushiro realized Karin was right when they began playing. There really wasn't a contest. Her teammates were good, but they were nothing compare to them. He and Karin quickly found a rhythm. They kicked the ball back and forth, anticipating each other. They knew each other's strengths and signals and Toushiro soon scored a goal. He felt great, feeling the wind on his face as he ran after the ball. He had missed this game, and he realized he had missed playing it with Karin too. He watched her chasing after the ball and he could see the excitement in her eyes. She was a natural at this. But he was paying attention to Karin for too long, and didn't notice that the ball was kicked pass him by Kenji.

"Shit!" He muttered to himself as he was looking at the ball.

"What happened?" Karin asked running towards him. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry, the sun was in my eyes." He finally said after realized that he was staring at her face.

"Uh-huh" Karin said as she was looking up at the cloudy sky above, and raised her eyebrow. "Don't do that again, you will destroy your reputation. These guys have heard a lot about you."

"It won't happen again." He said gravely.

"And it better not Toushiro." Karin said laughing. "I don't want to lose."

Toushiro was true to his word and they quickly won the game as Karin scored the final goal. Karin was laughing loudly when she knew that they won.

"You were right." Toushiro said to Karin as soon as the game finished.

"I told you," Karin looked up at him and laughed. "It's not fair."

"That was good." Kenji told Toushiro sincerely. "We should do it some time soon."

"Yeah, if you ignore the fact that the only goal you scored was because Toushiro were too busy watching Karin to defend." Kiyoshi said laughing before looking at both Karin and Toushiro.

...

"What was that taicho?" Matsumoto asked her captain with a serious voice when she saw that he made his way back to the side of the soccer field to rest.

"What was what?"

"What was that back there?" Matsumoto asked again gesturing towards the field.

"It's nothing," Toushiro replied. "Those guys wanted to play so I played."

"Taicho, that is not what I mean and you know it. What are you doing?" She asked him worriedly while watching his face.

"I'm not doing anything Matsumoto, It's just a game," He replied and sighed with frustration as his eyes were making their ways back to Karin.

"You know it's not just a game taicho. You have never liked childish stuffs and you know you wouldn't play it if Karin wasn't there." She said stiffly and pursed her lips."Don't do anything stupid taicho. You are playing with someone's feeling."

Toushiro was left alone after his lieutenant walked away. He knew Matsumoto was right. He saw the look in her eyes when she warned him; she was worried about him. Even he hated to admit it, he knew that he had a respect for her and he should have listened to her. For him, the last couple of weeks had been very easy pretending that everything was fine, but he knew his thought strayed more to Karin than Hinamori. He hadn't gone back to the Soul Society to visit Hinamori even once after knowing the truth and he knew he had a hard time staying away from Karin. Deep down he knew his mission was just an excuse to stay close to her.

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Done! and again please review! Don't kill me Noka-chan, I'm about to write Whoops! now.