Rival
Disclaimer: I don't own BLEACH.
Karin watched her sister run around joyfully in the snow, kicking some up here or there and dancing in it. Her twin loved the snow – well, she loved just about everything, really – especially life.
Karin turned away to walk toward the field, soccer ball hung over her shoulder. Sure there were a couple inches of snow on the ground and more coming, but that would just mean that there were less people trying to use the field, such as some idiot middle-schoolers.
Despite her sister's love for it, Karin didn't like the snow too much. It was wet, cold, it made the ground muddy, and it caused more accidents, bringing in more people to be treated at the clinic. Plus it reminded her of Hitsugaya Toushirou. She would never forget the way he killed the Hollow on the soccer field that day. Ever since, snow and ice reminded her of him – even when she didn't want to be reminded.
Then, she hadn't known where Ichigo was, and she still didn't know for half the time since he always went off to who-knows-where without telling any of the family.
When she had demanded to know where Ichigo was, he had complimented her, even if it was a bit disguised when he said that Ichigo was like her, and she flushed whenever she thought about it now, which she had quickly come to hate. Since everything seemed to remind her of him these days, she thought about it often.
"Do you make it a point to lose yourself in thought often, Kurosaki?"
Speak of the shinigami and he will come. She lifted her eyes to meet bored teal and glared at him slightly. I didn't want to even be reminded of him a moment ago, so why am I so happy to see him? "You, me, game, right now."
He arched an eyebrow at her request but shrugged, leading the way down to the field for her game.
As they played, Karin realized why she had been practicing so much since she last saw him – she wanted to get better, to beat him. She had seen how good he was when they played the middle-schoolers and had wanted to get better – to be seen as a rival in his eyes. The same eyes that were focused on her and showed the smile his face couldn't, and she couldn't help but smile back. She was his rival, in soccer if nothing else and she wouldn't let him beat her.
AN: Don't really know what I was thinking when I wrote this, but hopefully it'll have gotten rid of the major writing block I seem to be having. Please review. Thank you for reading!