Ok, here's the next chapter! I actually updated pretty quick, although saying that it might be a while till the next one gets posted, it's a bit long. Thanks for the reviews, I love getting them, and oh my god TheSkandranon, I am going to have to do that, thank you for that brilliant idea. I haven't got a holiday/vacation prompt, but number 80 is 'Beach' and number 87 is 'Relaxing, so I should be able to do it because wow I'd love to write that.

Anyway, this chapter is an AU one. No shinigamis in this. Toshiro is four years older than Karin and one year younger than Ichigo. I've never tried this format before either, so hopefully you guys will like it.

SUMMARY: Throughout her young life, whenever someone asked Karin who Toshiro was, she told them that he played with her sometimes. One day, she stops, making Toshiro wonder why. AU.

Chapter 7: Play

(Karin: age 5, Tōshirō: age 9)

Tōshirō stood patiently in the playground, waiting for the classroom door to open. Ichigo usually picked up the girls from school, but he hadn't been around for the past week. No one in the Kurosaki family were themselves any more. Their mother had died very recently, and out of all of the family, Ichigo probably took it the hardest. He was barely around, only really coming home to eat and sleep. He spent most of his time down by a local river, near where Masaki had died. As Ichigo hadn't been around to pick the twins up from school, Isshin had been doing it instead, but the clinic had been especially busy today, so he had asked Tōshirō to pick them up instead. He agreed, wanting to make the family's time easier as much as he could at the minute.

Tōshirō's eyes darted at to the classroom door as he saw it being opened out of the corner of his eye. He watched as a kind looking teacher opened the door and let the kids out of the classroom one by one, making sure that they were being picked up by someone trustworthy. After about seven children or so, Karin and Yuzu were let out of the classroom at the same time and Tōshirō made his way forward to them. Yuzu waved at him and ran up to him, she had been trying to keep a brave face for the past couple of days now. Karin was less enthusiastic.

Before Karin made her way to Tōshirō her teacher stopped her, not recognising Tōshirō. She was a little put off by the 'bleached hair', so she wanted to check that the twins definitely knew him, although it looked like they did. "Karin, who is that boy?"
Karin looked up at her teacher before shrugging. "He's my brother's friend...He...Sometimes he plays with me."
Her teacher nodded with a smile. "Ok then, have a good evening dear."
Karin nodded and waved shyly at her teacher before walking towards Tōshirō who was waiting calmly for her. He was holding hands with Yuzu, and Yuzu had her free hand outstretched for Karin to hold. Tōshirō took Karin's school bad off her and slung it round his left arm along with Yuzu's bag. He waited for Karin to hold hands with Yuzu before he started walking them home.

XxXxXxXxXxX

(Karin: age 8, Tōshirō age: 12)

Karin jumped slightly as she heard the front door of the clinic slam. Distracted from the TV and being curious about who came into the clinic, even though it was supposed to be closed (her dad always was too nice). She walked into the clinic section of the house and saw her dad helping Tōshirō limp over to a bed which he sat down on, a little awkwardly. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she walked over to the two of them, asking what had happened. Concern settled on her face when her dad told her that Tōshirō had a sprained ankle as well as a small gash on his right shin.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, not unnoticed by Tōshirō. "What are you so upset about?"
"How did you even do that?"
"Playing football."
"Why would you play a game where you can get hurt like that?"
Tōshirō rolled his eyes. "What's the matter Kurosaki, afraid of a little danger? There are a lot of things where you can get hurt, pretty much all sport is dangerous in some way, but football's fun."
Karin scoffed. "Yeah right. How can a dangerous game be fun?"
Tōshirō rolled his eyes again as he watched Isshin wrapped his ankle tightly in a bandage so he could walk on it a bit easier. "Look I'll show you when my foot heals. Football's really fun."
Karin shrugged. "Whatever."

After Tōshirō left the clinic with Ichigo, who went with him to make sure he could get home ok, Isshin turned to Karin. "Since when did you know Tōshirō so well?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You're generally shy, or at least you don't talk like that with people you're not comfortable with."
"Oh..." Karin shrugged. "He plays with me sometimes."
"Oh I see."

Over a week later, Tōshirō walked home with Ichigo after school on a Wednesday. Mainly because Isshin had told him to come back so he could make sure that his foot and shin were healing properly. Tōshirō didn't really think it was necessary, but honestly he wanted to teach Karin about football anyway. Even though she was a lot younger, she was fun to spend time with.

After Isshin had checked Tōshirō's injuries, he, Ichigo and Karin walked to a local park and the two boys started teaching her the basics. Karin had found the rules a little difficult to grasp at first, but now they had been playing for 15 minutes or so she was started to get the gist. Suddenly Ichigo said in a panicky tone that he had to go because he had completely forgotten about homework that was due in tomorrow. Tōshirō would've rolled his eyes, but if he was honest he had been guilty of doing that too. Tōshirō doubted that there was a student alive who hadn't forgotten about their homework at least once.
Karin shook her head as she watched Ichigo run back home. Tōshirō walked over to her. "So do you want to continue?"
"Sure!"

Tōshirō couldn't help but smile as he realised how much fun she was having. It made him happy, knowing that the same hobby he enjoyed was something she enjoyed too. She wasn't bad either. Not brilliant, but he didn't expect a great performance from her given that this was her first time trying. After half an hour Karin started complaining that she was tired, so Tōshirō walked her home. Before walking into the house Tōshirō asked her a question. "So did you like playing football?"
"Yeah! You were right, it is fun!"
"See I told you."
Karin nodded. "Hey Tōshirō?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you play with me again?"
Tōshirō gave her a genuine smile. "Sure."

XxXxXxXxXxX

(Karin: age 10, Tōshirō: age 14)

Tōshirō pulled out his phone as he heard a short sound coming from it. As he started writing a reply to the text he got, he bumped into someone. He put his phone back in his pocket and held his hand out to the girl he ended up knocking down. The girl took his hand and pulled herself up. Tōshirō was about to go back to his own business until he heard a small "Oh!" coming from the girl. He turned and finally looked at her properly, realising who it was.
"Oh, I haven't seen you in a while."
Karin gave him a smile. "You too! What have you been up to lately?"
Tōshirō shrugged. "Nothing much. School mainly."
Karin nodded. "Do you still play football?"
"Yeah, I'm on the school team, why?"

"Me and my friends have a match coming up against some middle schoolers. I mean it's only fair if we have middle school players too right?"
Tōshirō looked up at her. He was slightly worried that she was starting to make a habit out of getting herself into trouble, like her brother. 15 and already getting into situations he shouldn't be. He didn't want Karin to be doing the same thing. Regardless, he didn't really want to be involved. "Sorry, I'm busy."
Karin pulled her face. "No way! You gotta help, you're so good! I could do with your help.
"Sorry Kurosaki."
A frown appeared on Karin's face as she watched him leave. "Tch. When did he get so rude? Stupid teenage boys."

A couple days later, Tōshirō was making his way home when he spotted some kids playing football out of the corner of his eye. Realising that Karin was involved, he got closer to the pitch, watching the match, but still staying hidden, still not really wanting to get involved. From what he gathered the match with the middle schoolers was over something petty, so not something to really worry about, much to Tōshirō's relief. His attention was dragged away from his thoughts as he saw one of the older players trip up Karin. He narrowed his eyes, noticing that the older player simply didn't care that he had just injured a little girl. Tōshirō got closer to the pitch, wanting to make sure Karin was ok.

He watched carefully as she managed to get herself up, but he could see her struggling to support her own weight, wincing every time she took a step on her right foot. Tōshirō sighed as he walked to the edge of the pitch, making himself known. Karin had a big grin on her face when she spotted him. "Tōshirō! You came!"
"Yeah yeah, do you want me to help or not?"
Karin nodded and gestured him to join in.

The two teams continued playing, Tōshirō closing the gap between the scores. After 20 minutes, the two teams were drawing. Karin and the rest of her team were seriously impressed with Tōshirō's game play. With barely 2 minutes left for the match, Tōshirō passed to Karin, telling her to score the last goal. Karin nodded and went for it, succeeding in shooting the football past the goalie and straight into the goal. Karin's team spent the last minute of the game making sure the the other team didn't get another goal. When the timer went off Karin's team cheered, happy that they had managed to win against an older team. Karin grinned as she watched the rest of the team celebrate before turning to Tōshirō. "Hey, thanks for helping. And you know, letting me score the last goal."
"It was nothing. I'll see you later."
Karin nodded and waved at him. Tōshirō waved back briefly before making his way back home.

After Karin watched him leave the pitch she turned round and ran over to her team while shouting. "Yeah! Good job guys!"
The rest of her team grinned. "You too!"
"Yeah you were good too Kurosaki!"
"But wow that guy with the bleached hair was so good!"
"Yeah! How do you know such a good player Karin?"
Karin shrugged. "He plays with me sometimes."

XxXxXxXxXxX

(Karin: age 15, Tōshirō: age 18)

Karin sighed as she pulled out her phone out of her skirt pocket. She and her friends had decided to dress up a bit and go out to celebrate the end of middle school. It was the summer holidays now, and they had a month and a half until high school. It had been a great evening, but for somehow they had ended up getting split up. Normally she wouldn't worry, but the group had decided to go with her friend Erika's suggestion of going to a certain restaurant in a part of town Karin wasn't particularly aware of. As she didn't know the area, coupled with it was starting to get a little dark and she was wearing a skirt, Karin started to feel a little uneasy.

She dialled Tōshirō's number into her phone and waited for the call to go through. Yuzu didn't know the area either so there was no point in calling her. Karin knew that her dad was busy so it seemed unfair to call him when she could call someone else. Ichigo was now in university in Tokyo, so it was pointless calling him either. So in the end she had decided on Tōshirō, even though she hadn't seen him in a while, she knew he would help her out. He always did in the end.

After a short phone call Tōshirō agreed to come pick her up, not wanting her to get hurt (nor wanting to face Ichigo's wrath if he did let her get hurt). Karin had given him a general idea of where she was, but not really detailed as she didn't know the area very well. He parked in a free space on the side of a small road and got out, hoping that he'd be able to find her soon, it had taken him 20 minutes to drive to this area as it was, he didn't want it take much longer.

10 minutes or so later he had found her, with a couple of her friends. 'So they managed to find each other again anyway'. Tōshirō sighed, it wasn't really a wasted journey, as it was getting dark and she should really be getting home anyway, but it was a little annoying. Regardless, he walked over to her and told her that he would take her home, which she agreed to, saying she didn't want to make Yuzu worry. Before the two of them left to find the car, one of Karin's friends grabbed her arm, which Tōshirō didn't notice and continued walking. "Hey, who is that? Your boyfriend? He's really cute!"
Karin stuttered slightly. "What? Oh, no he's not my boyfriend."
Another one of her friends pouted. "What? But you two would look great together!"
"How do you know him then?"

Karin looked over to Tōshirō who had now stopped and was waiting for her, a little impatiently. Karin cringed, realising that he probably heard the conversation. "He...He's just one of my brother's friends. We hang out sometimes."
"Aww, that's boring!"
"You should totally ask him out!"
Karin's eyes went wide. "What? No way!" She looked over to Tōshirō again who now had a raised eyebrow. "Oh jeez. I should go."

After a couple of goodbyes Karin walked away from the group and started walking side by side with Tōshirō. They made their way to Tōshirō's car, having a simple conversation on the way. The usual stuff, how have you been, what are you doing at the minute, how's school, and so forth. When they got settled into the car Tōshirō couldn't help but ask. "Out of interest, why did you say that we hang out sometimes?"
"...Because we do?"
"No I mean, that's the first time I've ever heard you say hang out sometimes instead of play with you sometimes."
Karin laughed before replying with a smirk on her face. "You do realise I'm not a kid any more right? The word 'play' has a slightly different meaning these days. If I said play, they would've gotten the wrong idea, you know?"

Tōshirō looked at her, a little surprised. He had always looked at her as a little girl, as Ichigo's little sister, but he supposed that wasn't true any more. She was certainly Ichigo's younger sister, but not little. Tōshirō shrugged it off. "Fair point". He turned the car engine on and started driving towards the Kurosaki household. It didn't take them long, as there was less traffic on the road now. They reached her house and she smiled. "Thanks Tōshirō!"
"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it. Just don't think you can use me as a taxi service all the time."
Karin laughed. "But wouldn't you get paid that way?"
Tōshirō smiled slightly. "That's true. But you know what I mean."
Karin nodded and waved. "See ya Tōshirō."

Tōshirō gave a small wave back and watched her leave, wanting to make sure she got into the house ok. Watching her walk into her house made him realise. She really wasn't a little girl any more. She had long hair now, a mature face, slender figure, long legs, well, she was practically an adult. A gorgeous one at that. Unsurprisingly, Karin took after her mother. Tōshirō felt like slamming his head into the steering wheel as he realised what he was thinking about. She was too young. She was 4 years younger than him. Well, three and a half, but that didn't justify it! Tōshirō rested his head on the car seat. Why did she have to make it blindingly obvious that she wasn't a little girl any more? Tōshirō bit back a groan as he realised he was attracted to his friend's little sister. That couldn't lead to anything good.

A tad longer than the last chapter haha. I know that the last section only has three years difference between their ages rather than four, but as Karin's birthday is in May and Toshiro's is in December (big surprise) and it was set in the summer they would be that age. (Plus for some reason I feel like an 18 year old getting a crush on a 15 year old rather than a 14 year old is much less creepy. Maybe it's because I really matured between 14 and 15? I don't know, either way I was more comfortable with Karin 15 rather than 14.) But anyway! What did you guys think? I have to admit I don't think it's my best work, but not bad.

The next chapter prompt is 'Stars'! I feel like I should warn you guys though, it certainly isn't fluff. It's going to be a rather long, pretty sad chapter. As much as I love fluff, I simply can't have all 100 chapters fluffy. After all I feed on the tears of fictional characters and my readers. (I'm kidding...probably). But regardless, I hope you look forward to it!