Credit goes to Rinusagitora for the image cover.

What the fuck, Karin thinks, unable to do anything but stare. The person standing right in front of her was definitely and recognizably Toushirou but — but older. Did he just become hot?

Sure, Karin has always considered Toushirou to be cute, but this!

This was something else.

A whole new level of drop dead gorgeous.

"Um, what?" Karin manages to say, tearing her eyes from Toushirou's — chest, shoulders, jawline — everything — vaguely aware that his mouth is moving but she can't make herself listen, too stunned at the sight of him and his abs to register anything else.

He frowns — he does that stupid thing where he tugs his lips down, and it's familiar and reassuring in a way Karin never thought was possible, relieved that his habits are the same.

"Karin."

His voice sounds the same too, a little deeper perhaps, but clearly his.

"… are you… blushing?"

"… what?" Karin says, giggling in disbelief, her head a little fuzzy as she tries to rearrange her expression into something that vaguely resembles blatant denial. If only she could ignore the butterflies in her stomach. "No! As if."

He gazes at her for a really long time, his mouth set against that fantastic jawline, and Karin hopes that he'll be kind enough to ignore how unconvincing she sounds, so high pitched and squeaky like she always is when she gets flustered by pretty boys who are most certainly her type.

"Your face is getting really red," Toushirou comments, almost nonchalantly. Like he knows the effect he's having on her.

Karin's ears burn.

"Well, yeah," Karin says, abruptly, awkwardly, desperate to say something without making a fool of herself. If she dies right now, it would be for a worthy cause. "That's because the air is really hot."

It takes a lot of willpower not to wince at herself.

"Really," Toushirou raises his eyebrow, and looks at her, sexily — amusedly, that is to say. He looks at her with amusement. And Karin despairs. "The air is hot."

"Yup," Karin says, not trusting herself to say anything else.

"That's what you're going with?" Toushirou folds his arms across his chest and — shit, his shoulders look broad and his hands are huge.

"Yep," Karin states, certainly not getting distracted and doing anything mortifying like swooning.

"It's okay to have a crush on me," Toushirou says, knowingly, tilting his head as he smiles at her. Evilly.

"You said that last time when you prancing about with that ridiculous bandana of yours," Karin quips, the banter bringing some semblance of sense back to her. This is familiar territory between them, and it gives Karin enough willpower to pull herself together.

"So you think I look ridiculous?" Toushirou drawls, and Karin has to stifle the urge to shake her head and take it back.

He looks anything but.

"Damn right I do," Karin nods, a forest fire blazing across her cheeks, as she lies to his face. She maintains that the bandana is far more ridiculous an accessory than how ridiculous this situation is now.

"Hm," Toushirou grunts, an unhappy scowl manifesting on his handsome face.

"What is it with you!" Karin bursts, unable to contain herself. With flailing hands, she gestures at him—at all of him—wild exaggerated motions. "You're either too young or too old! What the hell!"

"Well, excuse me, Karin; I don't decide on how my bankai works, this is just how it is!" Toushirou hollers, face flushed, chest heaving as his temper kindles. "What's your problem anyway?"

"Nothing!" Karin snaps, determined to convince herself that she doesn't have a problem with it. She doesn't. It's just… she didn't know that his bankai looked like that, and how was she supposed to handle him when he looks like that? "Just go back to being you again!"

"Fine!" Toushirou snarls, moodily, the danger long passed anyway, and he transforms back into the brat that Karin considers one of her best friends. After a pause, he asks, still smarting, "Better?"

"Much," Karin sighs, able to relax now, and ignore how her heart is still pounding furiously in her chest. She offers him a smile. "That was a bit of a shock, huh?"

"Yeah," Toushirou says, disgruntled, looking at her strangely, and Karin grimaces. "That's going to be me in a hundred years or so."

"Wow," Karin says, impressed, despite herself. There has to be something she can say to remedy the situation. "You're going to look so cool, and I bet you are going to be really popular."

"You couldn't have said that five seconds ago, when I actually looked cool?" Toushirou says, scornfully, his eyes narrowed.

"If I had, you'd have been insufferable," Karin rolls her eyes, and he'd never let her live it down. "Besides, you can look forward to that in the future. For the record, I prefer current you."

"Hm," Toushirou glances at her, contemplating, somewhat sceptical. "You don't blush like that around me normally."

"I wasn't—I was in shock!" Karin protests, her flush born anew, and she wants to forget the five minutes she spent crushing on him already. "Complete and utter shock! I didn't expect an older you to look like that!"

Nobody did, Karin hoped. Fervidly.

"I guess," Toushirou shrugs, though it seems like he's calmer now. He looks at her, eyes soft and smiling. "I didn't think you'd react like that either. Thought you'd catch some flies for a while."

"I would never!"

"A hundred years' time," Toushirou reminds her, smirking, obnoxious and insufferable. "We'll see."

"Wait until I turn…" Karin pauses, wondering how old he might have become. "Nineteen! I'll be way more gorgeous than you ever were!"

His turquoise eyes sparkle at the hint of a challenge. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Karin retorts, hands on her hips as she leans forwards, daring. "And you'll still be a shrimp."

"Not forever!" Toushirou replies, quick to banter back, "I have that to look forward to!"

"You and me both!" Karin barks out, unthinkingly, and pauses as the horror of what she just said hits her. Her face is bright red again. "I mean!"

"The future is doomed when we grow up," Toushirou translates, heavy on the sarcasm, triumphant, and Karin nods, furiously.

"Exactly!" Karin agrees.

Secretly, though, Karin despairs.

Bad enough to see him be that much of a hunk temporarily — just how exactly is she going to handle it on a permanent basis? When they're both shinigami and aging slows at a phenomenal rate?

She is so doomed.