Wow! I'm ecstatic that you guys liked it so much! I honestly thought I wouldn't be updating this or at least this soon. I wasn't going to post this chapter til later but you guys were so great that I decided to post it now. Thanks so much for you Alerts, Favorites, and Reviews!

*Note: When you see this ()()() it means the POV had changed from Karin's to Toushiro's. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

So its been a month since we moved to Seireitei and nothing is any better. But things haven't gotten any worse either so I'm not complaining. As far as the Spectacular Six, I haven't had any other encounters with them since the first day, though I have noticed that everything Izuru said was extremely accurate.

They were all very... charismatic. It was easy to like them because of their extroverted personalities. Well all except Toushiro who was an icebox. I was going to have to start calling Izuru a walking encyclopedia because he really knew what he was talking about. Toushiro was the most popular of them all but talked very little and never seemed to care about anything. The genius theory seemed more and more likely as I noticed that in fact they didsleep during the entire class time. All except – again – for Toushiro who just read the whole time. I could never tell what he was reading but they looked like old journals or something.

I looked at the clock. 20 minutes of class left, then lunch, P.E, and finally home. Now that I think about it... not one sounds better than the other. Oh great, now Mr. Ukitake is talking about some report.

"You and your partner will pick any decade in the history of Japan and write a 10 page essay on various events and pop culture of that time." There was a collective groan from the class.

Well, that didn't sound too bad. I've had worse assignments that were twice as long so this was no big deal. I just have to make sure I didn't pick an idiot to be my partner. Maybe I could pick Nel. She was one of the girls in this school who didn't bug the hell out of me, plus she had this awesome green hair. She was one of the few friends I made since we moved here. I'll have to avoid Grimmjow though, another friend I made. Fun guy to hang out with who also has cool hair, but I'd end up just doing his portion of the work.

"As for your partners, I've already picked them." Crap. "You and your partner will have to work on your report on your own time. I won't be giving you time in class so you'll have to work something out." Well this sucks. With my luck I'll end up with some retard and I'll have to go to their house. I shuddered just thinking about it. "Partners are; Ichigo and Rukia..."

He continued to say names but all I could think about was how much bullshit that was. I mean, really? Why the hell does everything go so perfect for them? Its like they're destined to be constantly together. Every waking andsleeping moment! Its like there is no force working against them like there is for normal couples. Don't get me wrong, I love Rukia like a sister – which I'm sure she will be soon – but why are Ichigo and Rukia so damn lucky?

Its not fair. The only lucky thing that ever happened to me was being born. Then it went down hill from there. I could say it was like that for Ichigo too, until he met Rukia. After Mom died, I never could tell if he was trulyhappy but I now know for a fact that he is and its because of Rukia. As much as it makes me sick to think about it, I'm sure they're going to be together until they die. I've never even seen them fight. Yes, they have arguments all the time but its actually their way of saying, 'I love you!'. Its kind of their thing. I'll admit its weird and occasionally annoying but I'd take that over some lovesick teenagers getting all mushy.

If they were like that, I'd probably hang myself just to get away because it would be too much to handle. They were already attached at the hip 24/7 so I get enough of seeing them without that crap. And of course fate would have it that they are partners for the assignment, only proving that 1. They are preordained to be together for the rest of eternity, and 2. They steal my portion of luck. But no use crying over bad luck... as if I could cry.

"Alright. You have 2 weeks to work on your report. For the last 10 minutes of class I want you to find your partner and pick a time period." Mr. Ukitake finished to the class.

Wait. Did he already finish partners? Oh man, I wasn't paying attention. I didn't even here hear who my partner was! I have got to stop ranting to myself in the middle of class.

Everyone got up and started sitting next to their partners. I looked around to see if anyone was going to come to me. No one. Apparently my partner expects me to go to them. Must be a guy. I then noticed a lot of girls were glaring at me.

Most of them were those stuck-up 'I'm so hot', 'All the guys want me', and 'You wish you were me' kind of girls. I had no idea why they were glaring but it was starting to tick me off. What did I do anyway? All I did today was rant in my head about nothing. I looked around the room again but stopped when realization hit me. The girls were trying to kill me with their eyes because of who my partner was. And that could only mean I was partnered with him.

Before I even dared to look at him I had to make sure he was my partner. I glanced over at Hinamori. Found my proof. She was glaring daggers at me like there was no tomorrow. I let out a sigh, stood up slowly, and I walked over to his desk. He was looking out the window to his right, his arms crossed over each other on his desk. I stopped in front of him and he finally looked up at me, his face expressionless. Yup, thats Toushiro Hitsugaya for you.

"We're partners right?" I asked begrudgingly. He looked at me funny and nodded. I narrowed my eyes. "Then why did you just sit here instead of coming to my desk?"

"Does it really matter?" he asked smoothly. Arrogant bastard.

"Whatever." I said rolling my eyes and took a seat on top of the desk next to him.

He rested his chin on his hands. "Do you have a decade in mind?" he asked tiredly as though he had actually been working in class.

I thought about it for a second. "We should do a time no one else is using. Most of them will probably try and do more recent years like the 1980s so we should go back further."

He looked at me intensely like he was studying me. I shifted uncomfortably until he spoke. "How far back were you thinking?"

"Pretty far." I said vaguely. It was mostly to get on his nerves but he didn't seem to care so I just gave up. "Like somewhere in the 1700s."

He looked amused but I didn't see what was funny. "Fine. We could do the 1750s since its right in the middle." he offered.

"Sounds good." Then I remembered we can't work on this in class. "Should we meet at your house or mine?" I was hoping we could go to his. I needed an excuse to not be at the house and until soccer started this was the only thing I got.

He didn't even seem to think about it. "Yours."

The way Toushiro said it left no room for argument... but its me hes dealing with. I grinned at him. "Why? Your parents don't let you have girls in your room?" I teased.

"I don't have any parents." he stated stoically. Real smooth Karin. I need to work with this guy for 2 weeks and I was sitting here making an ass of myself.

I shifted uncomfortably again and avoided eye contact. "Sorry about that."

He just shrugged. "So when do you want me to come over?" Hearing a guy say that to me sounded weird for some reason.

It was Monday which meant today was definitely out. Mondays were my bad days and I don't do any kind of work after school on my bad days. "How about tomorrow after school?"

He nodded and then the bell rang for lunch. He got up and began to walk away until I realized I didn't tell him where I lived yet. "Wait, do you need my address?" I asked.

He just smirked. "Don't worry." he said. "I'll find you." And with that he left the classroom.

Lunch was pretty average other than Hinamori stillglaring at me. Didn't her eyes get tired of all the stares she kept throwing at me? The whole time I could feel her eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I was just waiting to spontaneously combust.

P.E. was much worse. It figures we would have Dodge Ball this week. Basically all the girls teamed up against me and pummeled me with red rubber balls all hour. I was pretty fast thanks to all my soccer skills so I didn't get hit most of the time and the ones that did hit didn't hurt. The girls here were so pathetic. If Tatsuki were here, she'd show them how to throw a dodge ball and knock a few teeth out while shes at it.

The Spectacular Six – plus me, Ichigo, and Rukia – were kicking ass at Dodge Ball. I wasn't shocked because from what I heard they were the best at everything. Ichigo wasn't a shock either cause he was always pretty active like me. But Rukia surprised me today. I'd never had P.E. with her so I wouldn't have known but she was good. She was keeping up with Ichigo and the S.S.

Like I said, I was pretty good too. The only ones that actually hit me and hurt were from Hinamori. Her throws were fast and hard. For someone so small and cute looking she had the strength of 10 men or something. Momo Hinamori was probably the least intimidating looking person I'd ever seen. And that was so wrong. I need to make sure I never get into an actual fight with her. By the end of P.E. I actually had bruises from the balls she threw! Two on my right leg, one on my left arm, and one one my side. But something was telling me she could throw a lot harder if she wanted. Yes, Mondays were my bad days.

()()()

I was sitting in class reading one of my old journals as always while the teacher talked. I never listened to what he was saying unless it was directed at me. After being in school for so long I started to just tune everything out.

I was becoming more and more irritated with these journals. Years of writing and still nothing. It was frustrating to think that after all this time, all these years and we're still no closer to breaking it than that damned day.

I looked around the room. The others were all asleep as usual. I didn't blame them. Its not like we come to school to learn what we've known for centuries anyways. School had become quite bothersome lately. Theres only one reason we come here, but now it seemed so pointless. I didn't want to give up hope for the sake of the others, after all it was my fault we were like this. As much as I wanted to just give up, that wasn't an option.

Shiro. Are you really going to go to that girl's house today?

I sighed. Why couldn't she just leave it alone? Its for school. What are you so worked up about?

She paused for a second. I just don't like her.

Momo, calm down. Its not like she can come to our house.

Fine.

She always overreacts to everything. It gets annoying after 300 years, although I'll say she isn't half as bad as some of the girls today. Momo just always felt the need to protect me even though it doesn't make much sense considering its me. Sometimes I really do wonder what goes on in her head, although know that I think about it, I'm glad I don't know what shes thinking about. But I guess its also my fault shes like that.

I glanced over to Momo. She was sending dirty looks to Karin, the one whose my partner for that assignment. I almost felt sorry for the girl.

Don't stare too long. Renji piped up. She might think you're a pervert.

What! You like a girl?Rangiku jumped in. I groaned.

You were staring at her awfully hard.Now Yumichika was in this.

He was NOT! Shiro wouldn't look at someone like her!Great, Momo had to add her input.

So, you like that new girl eh? Ikkaku just had to ask.

It was times like this I was glad we could only talk in our heads and not see each others thoughts. Who knew what those idiots were thinking with their constant jumping the gun.

Shut up. You're giving me a headache.

And they all listened as always. Sometimes it was good to be head of the pack. Well, anytime I don't have to take responsibility for their stupidity. Thats when I have deal with Urahara's bullshit.

The rest of the school went by as boring as ever. Although P.E. was somewhat entertaining. Watching Karin try to dodge balls again today was pretty funny. Wow that did notsound right. I think Renji and Ikkaku were starting to rub off on me.

Again I almost felt sorry for her though. The other girls were trying pitifully to hit her but the only ones that made an impact were from Momo. I think she gave the poor girl some bruises. At least Momo was holding back. Karin was keeping her own against the whole girl population of the class so she didn't do too bad. But eventually the other new girl – Rukia I think it was – jumped in and helped her. I had to admit she was pretty skillful for a normal human. She was able to nail Renji in the face which wasn't an easy feat.

When school was done I was suppose to find Karin's house and work on that report with her. I thought it was kind of ironic that she would want to pick the 1700s. At least I didn't need to do much research, just make sure the information we got was accurate. The only reason I bother doing work is because it gives me something to do for about five minutes.

I decided to take my time and walked around town for a bit. After a while I picked up Karin's scent and figured it was time to get it over with. Hopefully we could finish within the week. I stopped in front of a house with a clinic attached to it. Her scent was strongest here. This was definitely home.

I knocked on the door then stuck my hands in my pockets as I waited for someone. The door opened but it was Rukia Kuchiki. "Can I help you?" she asked warily.

"Is Karin here?"

"Hold on." she disappeared into the house.

The next person to come to the door was Karin. "Hey, how'd know where I lived?" she asked.

I just shrugged and walked in. The first thing I saw was a huge poster of a woman with strawberry-blonde hair. The poster had 'Masaki' on it. I followed Karin through the house but she stopped in front of the base of the stairs. She was probably trying to figure out where we were gonna work. Her brother – I forgot his name – walked out of the kitchen while drinking from a milk carton. When he noticed I was here he stared at me for a second. He looked like an moron.

"Who are you?" he asked loudly.

Rukia popped up out of no where. "Hes Karin's partner." she said happily. I had a feeling she was talking about something way off the assignment.

He looked at me and then laughed. "You mean this shorty is in our class?"

That does it. As long as I've been called short, it still gets on my nerves. I was about one insult away from ripping him to shreds, helpless human or not.

"Well Ichigo, I'm short too." Rukia snapped at him sounding offended.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Why do you assume everything I say is an insult to you?"

"Well why do you always have to say something stupid?" she shot back. They continued bickering at each other but from Karin's reaction I think it was normal.

She decided it would be best to go in her room to work. She was sitting at her computer looking for some important events that occurred in the 1750s while I sat on the floor. I really didn't care how that made me look but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, I'm pretty sure she would do the same at someone else's house.

"How about this?" she asked, showing me an article. Surprisingly enough, I remembered that.

"Yeah that looks good." At first she was suspicious about how much I knew but I just told her I've done a report about that time before. Some events were hazier than others but the main things I remembered was the pop culture of times.

"Toushiro?" Karin said after a few minutes. I could tell she was hesitant to ask what ever it was. "When you said you didn't have any parents..."

I interrupted seeing she felt uncomfortable saying it completely. "Did I mean they were dead?" she nodded. "Yes both my parents have been dead for a while."

"So who do you live with?"

"No one." I lied. She frowned at that but just started working again. After another few minutes the phone rang. Karin looked at it then turned back to the article. "You gonna get that?"

She shook her head. "Its probably for Ichigo or Rukia."

The ringing stopped and suddenly her door swung open. A man with dark hair and a light beard came barging in while shouting and waving a cordless phone. "Karin! Phones fo-" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw me sitting on the floor. "Whats a boy doing in your room?!" he yelled while pointing at me.

Karin's eye twitched and she quickly snatched the phone from him. He kept screaming on about her running off with boys or something. "Shut up and get out of my room!" She yelled. I was a little caught off guard when she punched him in the jaw as she spoke. He fell to the ground and she kicked him out the room. "Sorry about my Dad." she said sheepishly. She looked at the phone. "I'll be in the hall." and she left the room closing the door behind her.

It was probably private but she would have to go much farther than just the hall for me not to hear. Not that I would eavesdrop but I can't help what I hear. I laid back on the floor and just looked around her room to distract myself. It wasn't your average girl's room, thats for sure. It was all dark colors and soccer stuff. But she did scream tomboy from just one look at her.

"Hey Nel. Whats up?" I heard Karin answer.

"Hi Karin. I'm having a pool party this Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to come." Nel offered from the other line.

"Yeah that sounds fun."

"Great. Can you tell Ichigo and Rukia they can come too?"That wasn't a shock that someone would want Ichigo to go. Ever since he got here hes been pretty popular among the girls. Same goes for Rukia among guys.

"Sure but they're going out this weekend to visit some old friends back in Karakura. I'll tell them anyways though." Karin replied.

"Okay... I was also wondering if you could ask someone else too." Nel was hesitating. "Could you ask Toushiro and his friends to come?" she finish hopefully.

A pool party? Well I didn't have anything better to do this weekend. But I was also thinking about taking a visit to Rukongai. I haven't been there in a while and I wanted to stop by Granny's grave.

"What? Why don't you ask them yourself?" Karin sounded more nervous then anything else.

"Isn't Toushiro Hitsugaya your partner? You see him more so it would be easier for you to ask."

Karin let out a groan. "Fine but you owe me." she then hung up.

A few second later she opened the door and walked back in. She looked at me still on the floor. "You look like a lazy bum on the floor like that."

"Would you rather have me on your bed?" I questioned. Man that didn't sound right either. Whats wrong with me today?

She just shook her head. "Look, Nel is having a pool party this Saturday. You wanna come?" she said shortly.

I couldn't help but find it interesting at the way she phrased it. If I didn't know Nel asked her to ask me to go it would've sounded like she was asking me to go with her. Oh well, it'll be fun to mess with her. "Are you asking me to go with you?" I jeered.

She instantly turned red. "No! That didn't come out right! Nel wanted me to invite you for her." she tried to recover.

This was fun. I was bored sitting on her floor, what else did I have to keep me preoccupied? "Don't be ashamed. If you wanted to ask me just ask."

She scoffed, crossed her arms, and looked away still red. "Like I'd want to go with some one as stuck up as you."

I shrugged again. "If you say so."

"So are you going or what?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Just then my cell phone went off. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. "Shit." I cursed under my breath.

"What is it?" Karin asked looking concerned at me.

I got off the floor. "I've gotta go. We'll have to continue working another time." and before she could say anything else I quickly left the house. Once outside I looked around. It was already dark out, I really lost track of time. The phone beeped again. I can't believe I agreed to this stupid arrangement. Urahara definitely got the better end of the bargain.

Is anyone close to it? I asked the others.

Sorry, you're the closest.Renji snickered. Was it interrupting your time wit-

Don't even think about finishing that sentence. I threatened.

Toushiro sure is edgy today.Rangiku cooed.

What do expect from someone with a 10ft pole stuck up his ass?Ikkaku laughed.

Hes probably just upset cause he had to go to that girl's house.Momo said.

Would you guys shut up for once. I barked. They were such idiots, sometimes I was ready to rip out my own hair.

Yumichika just had to get the last word in. You sure are in an ugly mood.

Shoot me now.

And there is chapter two! Yes they can talk to each other in their head but like it said, they can't read minds or hear each other's thoughts. I got that idea from some Laurell K. Hamilton books. I know it might be a little confusing so if you have any questions please ask so I can clarify for you.

Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far. I might feel tempted to update again very soon! Lu ya guys!