Well… here's chapter seven!! I hope you enjoy! Heh! Thankyou for all the reviews, everybody! There seems to be a sudden increase in readers of this fanfic, which is a good thing! Hurray! Please read and review! ^_^
Chapter Seven: Confused
Once Karin had a dream.
She woke up one morning, in her bed. And her bedroom window was slightly slid open. The morning breeze had been blowing in and the curtains had been ruffling slightly. The sunlight had been streaming in through to her room and she sat up in bed, slightly disoriented.
Everything was normal. Just an average normal day.
"Karin!! Hey, Karin, are you okay?" Her twin sister Yuzu's voice calling into her bedroom.
"ICHIGOOO!!"
BAM! CRASH!! WHACK!
"You stupid father!!"
"Ouch!!"
And her older brother and father, doing their daily ritual of beating each other up and bickering.
Just… a normal day.
But she felt it so clearly in her gut. So lost in her confusion, unsure whether she was in real life or in her dreams; yet she still felt the horror tightening inside her and around her.
Something… was wrong…!!
As it usually is like in dreams, immediately she was up and out of bed, suddenly out in the streets of Karakura, running around like a maniac, still dressed in her pyjamas.
Something's wrong!! Something is horribly, horribly wrong!!
The thought burst through her mind repeatedly and her whole body was nervous, continually trembly and seemingly numb as she ran desperately, not even knowing where she was headed or where she wanted to go.
She looked and raced around her house repeatedly. She looked inside her bedroom window, up on the roof of the house and went all the way down to the Inoue household. She ran around to Karakura park and near the fields next to her school. She even went all the way down to Urahara Shoten, still not exactly knowing what she was looking for.
She ran even faster and faster and the urgent horror and worry inside her grew deeper and deeper. She was exhausted and yet she couldn't stop running around, searching.
She found her brother and suddenly burst out, surprised with the despair in her own voice, "Where's Toushirou??"
He stared at her strangely. "Who?" he frowned.
She scowled at the annoying orange-haired teenager. "Toushirou, stupid!! You know, Captain Hitsugaya!!"
His eyes darkened as he stared at her strangely again. "I don't know anyone called Toushirou or Hitsugaya."
I can't find him!! I don't know where he is!! He… Toushirou isn't here!!
She found herself back where she started, in her room, watching the too-bright sunlight streaming in from her slightly open window, and the curtains ruffling in the breeze.
Even Ichi-nii doesn't know who Toushirou is! And I can't… I can't find him anywhere!!
She sank down into her bed, suddenly aware of the way her heart was thumping, tiredly, loudly, heavily. Her dark eyes widened with realization as she stared at the floor, suddenly widening her mouth into a cheerless grin.
Oh… of course. He's not here. I bet he left.
Gone somewhere else. It's not surprising at all.
Maybe I'm just going crazy… 'cause nobody else knows who he is but me…!
I…
Hitsugaya Toushirou had left.
And there was no sign, no evidence at all left that he'd even been here before. Of course… he was just a shinigami… with some issues… sent down here to recover…
…and he got better and left.
She found herself smiling bitterly at the carpet beneath her feet.
But even though she had come to terms with his absence, her heart seemed to be tearing and aching uncontrollably.
And to her absolute horror, she saw the little droplets hitting her feet and the carpet, leaving the wet spots there. And she stared wide-eyed, shocked, and yet the tears kept falling.
---
Hitsugaya Toushirou was walking next to Karin as she walked to school. He was not in his gigai, so nobody else could see him there.
She was yawning as she walked; her schoolbag slung over one shoulder. Gah, she was tired.
Hitsugaya hid a smile to himself as he thought of the surprised expression on her face when she woke up in the middle of the night to see him sitting there on the floor, beside her bed.
The way she looked back. And her eyes were widened and surprised, but almost immediately an absolutely delighted smile came onto her face.
Hitsugaya sighed an inaudible sigh to himself. He stared down at the ground and relaxed his shoulders as he heard the sounds of the school rise up around him. The students ran around and milled around in their little groups, talking and shouting to each other.
Suddenly, he heard the footsteps as Karin's group of friends came running towards her. He watched on with amusement as the boys called out to her.
"Hey, Kurosaki!!" one of the boys waved.
They gathered around their star soccer player, ignoring Hitsugaya of course, considering he was invisible.
Karin and her friends talked and chatted for a bit, laughing and once again, Hitsugaya smiled to himself. She was so lucky. They all were. So… carefree… nothing to worry about at all.
"…Kurosaki."
The atmosphere suddenly stopped cold and everything was silent. The aura around Karin's friends was especially harsh and threatening as all four of them turned to glare at the arriving boy.
"What?" Karin blinked; the slow one as she noticed the others turning away from her with deadly glares on their faces.
Jun and his groupies were heading towards them.
Seeing the glares that Karin's friends were shooting him, even Jun looked a bit nervous. As he came closer, he asked, "Uhh… could I talk to you please, Kurosaki?"
Karin's friends continued glaring at him.
"…maybe… in private?" Jun asked, smiling weakly.
Karin frowned as her friends muttered to each other and then walked off a little. Karin became nervous suddenly as she looked around and saw that everybody else had moved away and it was only her and Jun standing there.
She looked over to where her invisible shinigami companion had been before. Their eyes met.
She was surprised.
His icy cold eyes held her gaze for what seemed like ages. They were somewhat amused and challenging, and his mouth was curved in what seemed like an uncaring smirk.
She stared at him wide-eyed, almost desperate for help because she was so confused and unsure of what was going on.
"…Kurosaki?" The handsome boy Jun tilted his head sideways, wondering why Karin was staring off somewhere else.
And before Karin turned back to face him, she watched Hitsugaya turn from her and walk away.
---
"Kurosaki… I… I really like you. Will you… go out with me?"
---
Ha. Stupid.
Hitsugaya left the school, his back turned to all the students and their trivial matters. He smiled to himself, wondering about how he'd suddenly got into the habit of doing that recently.
Karin… You're such a moron…
Why don't you just… get together with him already?
End Chapter Seven!! Well… that was a difficult chapter to write. Because I got distracted by watching Ouran High Host Club and because it was a really… "filler" chapter. Kinda. Well… please review!! emichii! ^_^