when

Citrus fruit.

He can smell it, through the darkness, invading his senses. It's not the sweet kind that lingers like the gentle breeze. It's sharp and stays burning around his mouth, almost unpleasant, yet not quite. He can smell it in the air before he even has to open his eyes.

For a while, that's all he does; inhales, exhales, willing for more strength; strength to be better, strength to see.

Wonders what happens before the fragmented images slip into his mind.

A Hollow attack. Saving someone. Injuries. Pain. Voices. Darkness.

… voices.

No, one voice. Right now, there's one voice, not voices. He can hear her, talking in the background. And she's quiet, but her voice alone is overpowering the scent of orange.

"… hullabaloo. You'd think there'd be a less interesting word, but no, the word hullabaloo exists. Nice, long, and it takes some time to say the syllables without sounding like a clown. See, when I say it, I want to elongate the syllables because it's fun. But then I don't really care if someone looks at me oddly." She sighs, and Hitsugaya Toushirou can picture her smile, lazily spread across her face. It's worry, veiled behind mock frustration. "Funny sort of word though, if it makes one, who is supposed to be unconscious, smile… and make them useless at feigning sleep."

She laughs, and finally, his eyelids flicker open, drinking the sight of her, legs laxly reclining on the white sheets of his bed.

Kurosaki Karin. Here at his bedside, with a peeled orange.

Well, it explains the scent.

"And hello mister sunshine. You know what would be better than simply opening your eyes? A smile. That might help. Or if you talk to me. If you feel up to it. All the same, rest assured, you should be under no pressure to strain yourself. Since you should be flattered that I am gracing your company, the first of many, I assume." It's a drawl, and glitters all the way to her eyes.

Care and concern dances idly, but it's there all the same.

So he only looks at her, his mouth twitching, fighting that inevitable smile that shrinks into a smirk.

"… you talk too much."

Karin snorts into laughter at this, slender fingers dispersing through her hair.

"Oh, be quiet. You know you're still my special snowflake."

She sighs, and it sounds like a breeze; the whisper of a heart breaking.

But the silence is comfortable, until it's broken once more. Because her eyes haven't left him, emotion unconcealed, as desperate as she is to hide it.

"Where is everyone?"

"Don't know." She tells the truth, and her shrug feels bitter. "Really don't. But—Yuzu," and her voice falters, "Yuzu's coming, don't you worry. I just happened to be… I was free. And… they told me first." Apple cheeks ripen, almost red against her fair complexion.

"Karin."

They have to talk about it. Discuss. Find out what happens next.

But they don't.

She doesn't, dancing around the matter with a smile on her face.

He doesn't pursue her.

"It's… it's just a crush, snowflake. Okay? That's all it is."

And Karin won't stop playing with her hair, just as she won't look at him when she says this; because both know she's lying and neither can do a damn thing about it.

"You're my best friend." Toushirou can tell her this freely, it's no secret that everyone's accepted. But that's as far as it goes. "But Karin—"

"Eat." Calm, she interrupts, pushing the orange into him.

The citric fruit bursts into his mouth, and her fingers linger on his lips for far too long, before slipping away like a ghost.

She stands up, and makes sure that he can access the rest of the orange, just in case he wants some later. And he watches her reach the door, before she turns back and faces him; smile sliding so easily that it's nearly real.

"I know." Soft, and painful, she speaks, rueful as her arms fold across her chest. "It'll fade. It's just… just a crush. Nothing more."

Her voice is quiet, yet it's still louder than the clacking footsteps in the background.

"But you're…" Karin swallows down words, and tilts her head once more. "… you're alright, aren't you?"

The door opens, and there is the love of his life.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Can't help but look right through her.

And Kurosaki Karin fades away, overshadowed by radiance and tender openness and worry.

His wife.

Hitsugaya Yuzu.

(The tangy taste of citrus remains on his tongue, even if the fruit itself is left forgotten.)

Disclaimer: bleach is not mine.