Rating: T

Rusty

The look she gave him was clearly baffled, a little scared, and he felt his stomach constrict painfully in response.

He knew he shouldn't have asked her out. Why would he ever think this was a good idea? Risking their friendship just because sometimes she made his heart pound and palms sweaty?

"Nevermind," he said hastily, embarrassment oozing out of every pore. He was so stupid. Karin didn't think of him that way, and he didn't know why he thought she would, but now she knew that he thought of her that way and they wouldn't be able to look at each other without it being weird.

"No," she interrupted, eyes still impossibly wide. "I'd love to go to dinner with you."

He stopped breathing. "Wait, really?"

She nodded, smiling in a way he could only describe as shy. It was strange, because he had never seen Kurosaki Karin act shy before.

"But you didn't look like you'd love to go to dinner with me when I asked you."

She rolled her eyes, and the Karin that he was used to was back. "You didn't ask me, Toshiro. You yelled it at me. How do you expect me to react when you suddenly start screaming about dinner?"

Did he seriously shout his dinner invitation at her? Was he that nervous? Well, now he was mortified.

Karin laughed at his humiliated expression. "When was the last time you asked a girl out?"

He scowled at her teasing. "Couple decades ago," he mumbled.

"Somebody's a little rusty," she snickered, poking him in the side. "It's cute."

Slowly, his muscles started to relax. He hadn't scared her off. She was ready to take their friendship to another level.

"Hey, HOW ABOUT PIZZA?!"

The volume of her voice startled him, and that only made Karin start laughing again.

He might never live this down.

Coconut

"How do you know you won't like it?" she asked, exasperated. She waved her smoothie at him in a manner she hoped was enticing. "You haven't even tried it!"

"And I don't want to," Hitsugaya replied, nonchalant. "My watermelon one is just fine."

Karin scoffed. "But you always get watermelon everything. Don't you want to try something new? A little more tropical?"

"No," he said bluntly.

Karin rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her refreshing, thirst-quenching, delicious drink and making loud, exaggerated sounds indicating her pleasure. In response, Toshiro took a long drag on his own straw, teal eyes holding hers in challenge.

For a second, Karin's mouth was downturned in annoyance. But then the grin she gave him nearly split her face.

Unexpectedly, she leaned over and pressed her lips to his. He froze in shock, eyes wide.

When she pulled back, her cheeks were swollen with color, but her grin was still there. "Good, right?"

For a few seconds, he could only gape at her, the sweet taste of coconut lingering on his lips. Then, he swallowed. "I don't know. I'd have to try it again."

Karin smirked. She leaned in.

Swap

The intensity in which she was scrutinizing his gigai was a bit off-putting, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Are you done?"

His girlfriend at least had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. It's just weird to see you looking so much…older."

"Well, you're getting older," Toshiro pointed out. "I asked Urahara to swap to an older-looking gigai because it would look strange for you to be dating a little kid."

Karin snorted. "Hey, you're the pedophile, not me." He bristled at that, but she merely went up on her tiptoes and planted a light apology on his lips. "This is really weird. You've never been taller than me before."

Toshiro sighed. "Did you want to go to that movie or not?"

Still, she frowned. "Is that mole on your ass still there?" Karin asked curiously. Not-so-subtly, her gaze drifted to the crotch of his pants.

"Let's go," he huffed, grabbing her by the hand before she decided to see if anything else was different.

A/N: I seriously don't have a clue what this is. But I kinda like it.