So, I've decided to continue this as a series of loosely-interconnected one-shots. I'll post the date alongside the chapter names. The updates will not be on a certain schedule, and will vary in length. Even so, I hope you readers enjoy them!

Just to give you a short background on this one, it takes place a few days after the first scene of Karin and Toshiro in the park. Also, please look over any typing errors, as I was really exhausted when I wrote this.

Seating Arrangements

"Karin, Yuzu, have a good day at school, okay?" their orange-haired older brother said as he walked them to their school.

"We will. Bye Ichigo!" the Kurosaki twins said at the same time. They stood still and waved at their older brother until he was out of sight. Karin began walking into the elementary school building, expecting her younger sibling to follow her. Yuzu stood staring off into the distance for a moment longer before running to catch up to her dark-haired twin.

"Why were you staring at nothing like that?" Karin asked once Yuzu was beside her.

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that something good's gonna happen today!" Yuzu beamed, smiling a wide smile as they reached their destination. Yuzu, in her giddy state, got to the door of their second grade classroom first and entered, not seeing the questioning look her twin was giving her. They both went to put their backpacks away, get their books and homework out, and returned to their desks. Karin's desk was to the left of Yuzu's, and they were in the third row.

"What do you mean, Yuzu?" Karin asked, but before her sister could form a reply, the bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. Their teacher entered the classroom, put her things down, and called roll.

"Now class, today we're doing something different," Ms. Takahashi said, and was met with groans from pretty much every student. "Oh, don't be like that. This could be a

good thing or bad thing, and it all depends on you. We are having a new seating arrangement starting today. Everyone will sit in pairs of two, and I will pick where each pair will sit." Their teacher let the information sink in for a few moments. The students began to talk amongst themselves excitedly. Before they could get too wrapped up in their conversations about potential seating outcomes, however, a hand rose.

"Yes Toshiro? Did you have a question?"

Upon hearing their teacher speak, all of the talking stopped. They all followed her line of vision to a snowy-haired boy sitting in the back row. Also, even though it was only a couple of months into the school year, whenever he spoke everyone would listen to him. Karin had guessed as to why this was a few days after classes had begun. She had reasoned that the all the girls listened because each of them had crushes on him, and the boys listened because they respected him and liked his attitude.

"You did not explain if the person we are to sit by is chosen by us or by you," Toshiro stated calmly, as if he had thought of this before their teacher had explained how they would sit. Ms. Takahashi smile at him briefly.

"Very good, Toshiro. I was hoping one of you would catch on to that detail," Ms. Takahashi announced. "I will let you pick who you want to sit by. Each of you take out a piece of paper and write down the name of the person you would most like to sit by. You can only put down one name. If it doesn't matter to you who you sit by, then you may write that. Once you're done, fold them and bring them to my desk, alright?"

The students all nodded, and thought about who they wanted to sit by. They each wrote down a name, folded the paper, and placed it on the teacher's desk.

"Alright, I will look over these and we will fix the seating arrangement after lunch. Now then, let's open our science books to page 38. . . ."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Once the students left the classroom for lunch, Ms. Takahashi decided that she would eat her lunch in her room to look over the notes that her students wrote that morning. She began looking through them. Some of them did not surprise her, but quite a few of them did. It seemed that all of the girls, except for Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki, had written down Toshiro Hitsugaya as the person they most wanted to sit by. Karin and Yuzu had both written down that it didn't matter who they sat by. When she reached the end of the stack, however, she was really surprised. There, written in the snowy-haired boy's rather elegant-looking script, was a name.

Karin Kurosaki

The second grade class returned from lunch about a half hour later, and were eager to see who they would be sitting by. Ms. Takahashi greeted them at the door.

"Alright class, I have already moved you into pairs. If this arrangement does not work, then we will try another way. Everyone go in and find your desk."

The students went in as quickly as they could, scrambling around the room in a sort of organized chaos. Karin found her desk rather easily, as it was toward the back of the classroom. She looked to see if Yuzu had found her desk and who she was sitting by. It seemed that her sister was only a row in front of her, sitting by another girl who was smiling as wide as her sister was. Karin was glad that her sister had a good seating partner. She continued to look around the room. Most of the boys appeared happy with their partners, but many of the girls looked rather disappointed, like they wanted to sit next to someone else. She started to wonder who they really wanted to sit by, but before she could attempt to give it any thought, the owner of the desk beside hers pulled out their chair and sat down. The first thing she saw was bright, teal eyes. She smiled, making the boy beside her blush lightly.

"So, I guess this means we're sitting together, right Toshiro?"

"Yes," Toshiro said, a small smile on his face. "I suppose it does."