A/N: It's late and I can't sleep. So I'm writing. Finally wrote some HitsuKarin. Yay.
I don't know where this came from, exactly—the writing style is a little odd, a little different from my usual. Well, it's not a bad style. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Kubo is the guy who owns Bleach, I think? I dunno, I'm not a huge Bleach know-it-all. Whatever.
Sentimentality, Sunsets, and Saturday Evenings
A HitsuKarin One-Shot
Karin's never really been the sentimental type. She doesn't like remembering, because remembering is painful if anything—life is so fleeting, she thinks, and I can't afford to cry when there are greater and better things to be done with my life.
Toshiro doesn't strike her as the sentimental type, either—he's always serious, down-to-earth, easily angered and very defensive about his physical stature ("I told you, I'm not a kid!").
And yet, he comes to the same spot atop the hill every day, resting on the metal guardrail in a nonchalant, aloof sort of way, peering with focused, squinted sea-green eyes at the screen of his cell phone ("Toshiro, is that cell phone your life or something? You work too much.").
She comes every day as well, always finds him in the same spot, at the same time: when the sky is aflame with all the colors of the day and the world is on fire, burning in reds and oranges and yellows and purples ("Shut up. I'm only in this town for work, at any rate.")
Sometimes she brings her soccer ball and persuades Toshiro to play for a bit. It's always the same, though, which is comforting; it's a drill, a passing drill, a game ("It's okay to take a break every once in a while, Toshiro! C'mon, think fast!" The ball escapes from its net). She kicks it first, always, and then Toshiro returns it with a pass on the ground, and then she sends the ball flying in the air ("Idiot! Try aiming sometime!" But he still runs after the ball).
After their habitual drills, Toshiro returns to his cell phone (It must be the most captivating job in the world, Karin mutters to herself). Karin takes a seat next to Toshiro on the strangely comfortable guardrail, places the ball securely between the base of the guardrail and the back of her right foot, and looks out into the sunset ("Toshiro, you're older than you look." "Shut up." Click, click, click, goes the cell phone's keypad. "No, I mean you seem—wiser? —No, not that—" "I said shut up." "More mature? Ah, more elite, I think." "I am a Captain.").
Toshiro speaks in short, choppy sentences, half-listening to Karin. She doesn't mind, though. Being in his presence is enough. She knows he's busy ("Hey, Toshiro, the day's almost gone." Her stomach rumbles. "Mmm." The cell phone snaps shut. "Let's go—Kurosaki will behave rashly if he finds out that I left you hungry and alone at night." "Eh, Toshiro?").
He always makes sure she makes it home safely on days that she's stayed out till dusk. She finds it rather annoying that Toshiro feels obligated to do so, but she doesn't mind the company ("There's a cheap restaurant downtown." "Toshiro, I don't have any money. "I have plenty of yen. They're worthless in the Soul Society anyway." "Ah…thanks, Toshiro!").
A few times she hasn't wanted to go home, and she tells Toshiro so ("I'm almost eleven now, and I'm free to stay out on a Saturday until eight! So don't tell me what to do, Toshiro." Toshiro sighs in exasperation, but doesn't protest.). She follows Toshiro to Orihime's home, where the happy, crazy subordinate Rangiku Matsumoto greets them ("Captain! And Ichigo's cute sister, Karin-chan! Want some of my fish-filled riceballs?" "I already ate, thanks." "Ah, no, Matsumoto.").
Karin stays for a while, but she knows when she has to go home. She insists on going alone, but Toshiro is stubborn and won't let her out of his sight until he sees that she safely arrives at her destination ("Thanks, Toshiro…I can take care of myself, you know." "Go to bed." "See you tomorrow, Toshiro.").
She closes the door behind her, punches her father in the gut when he asks where she's been, and goes to bed, happy.
Rangiku greets her Captain with a knowing smile as he returns to Orihime's home.
"Captain, you already ate? Did you take Karin-chan with you?"
"Quiet, Matsumoto."
"Oh, Captain, you're so sweet! In love with a human girl—wait till I tell the Shinigami women's association back home!"
"MATSUMOTOOOOOOOOO!!!"