Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

Wrath: belligerence (hostile or war-like behavior) aroused by a real or supposed wrong.

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"Oh my God, would you look at the size of her?"

"Doesn't she have any shame? Some girls just need to realize when to lay off the cakes."

"Oh, I know. And look, she's even drinking a milkshake. Doesn't she realize what she's doing to herself?"

Karin scowled dangerously, so tempted to whip her head around and chew off the heads of the women who dared to insult her.

"Ignore them, Karin," Matsumoto whisprered sympathetically from her seat across one of the booths in the mall's food court. "It's not worth it."

And she knew it wasn't. But still, she saw red every time she managed to catch a glimpse of their oh-so-perfect figures and strawberry blonde hair from the corner of her eyes.

Who the hell did those bitches think they were? Did they think they could just get away with badmouthing her like this? Her, who jogged for an hour every morning – though not recently, for obvious reasons – at a time so early that even the early birds and the worms admired her. Her, who restricted her diet so carefully so as to ensure that she didn't lose the toned mucscle she had spent all of her life building as a soccer player.

She was pretty sure if they wanted to talk smack, she could give them a piece of her mind with words that would put rappers to shame. But her mind wasn't exactly what she wanted to give them right now. No, a shiner and a broken arm sounded much more appealing.

"Matsumoto's right, Karin-chan," Yuzu added in a low voice. "You're better than them. You can just walk away."

Karin gave a grim laugh.

"Yuze, do you know me at all?" she asked with a snort of laughter, but the glare in her eyes and grit of her teeth were too strong for any humor to show through.

"I'm sure they're only saying those things because they think you can't hear them -"

"That doesn't make it okay!"

Everyone seated at the table gulped in worry as they saw her hand curl into a tight fist.

"You're just feeling extra emotional right now," Rukia reasoned, attempting to calm her. "You know you could walk away if it wasn't for that."

"I'm not sure I could, Rukia-nee," Karin shot back, her hand uncurling and then re-curling into a fist once again. "They're really, really pissing me off."

As if on cue – and as if they didn't value their lives – the women started up again.

"And look at her hair."

"It makes her look like such a man. Why would she want it so short?"

"I've heard that when people know they're ugly, they just give up."

"What would Hitsugaya-kun think if he saw you like this?" Orihime said softly, looking slightly frightened when she noticed that Karin looked so very aggressive with the way her upper lip was bared back over her teeth in a snarl as she looked over at the sluts so stealthily that they didn't notice.

"But he's not here now, is he?" she argued. One minute; it was all she needed to teach them a lesson. A quick punch to the jaw, a swift kick to the knee – she could incapacitate them so easily.

"He'll be back any minute," Matsumoto answered, and began looking over her shoulder worriedly, praying he would show up in the nick of time, before his wife did something drastic. She could not afford to get banned from the mall, especially not with so many sales suddenly popping up everywhere.

"With the way she's dressed and the way she looks, she's halfway to becoming a man already."

"I bet she's one of those macho women, with gross muscles all over her body."

"Nah, because then she wouldn't be bigger than a killer whale!"

"I'm sure he'd understand," Karin said gravely as high-pitched peals of laughter erupted from the table next to theirs.

Her friends were sending their own glares now to the gossiping whores, but they all still reached out to pat her fist soothingly, still not condoning violence.

"Don't do it, Karin-chan," Yuzu cautioned. "We'll leave here today, and you'll never see them again, so there's no reason -"

"No reason?!" Karin hissed. "Did you not here everything they just said about me?"

"Yes, we did," Rukia answered, sighing. "They're horrible people, but starting a ruckus won't solve anything."

"It will if I mess up their jaws so badly that they can't ever talk again," Karin growled, no indication on her face to show that the threat was in anyway a joke.

"Karin," an icy voice suddenly said from behind their table. When she heard the bitches next to her gasp in elation, she knew who it was.

"Toushiro," she answered, and suddenly, she was all smiles as she faced him. There was no way she was going to let him know what had been happening in his absence. "You done with your shopping?"

He nodded, holding out a paper bag to show her his purchase.

"Great," she answered happily. "Should we head out then? All this noise " - she sent the women gaping at her handsome husband in awe a glare - "is making our baby upset."

And she smiled softly as she put a gentle hand over her large stomach. Toushiro hesitated for a moment, his eyes roaming the food court in unease at the number of people gathered that would witness the affection he was about to show, before striding over to her and placing his larger hand atop hers.

"If you or the baby is unhappy," he said, softly, "then we certainly can't stay here."

He twisted their hands so that his was underneath hers, and cradled hers in his palm before holding it more firmly and helping her stand by pulling her up gently. Karin tightened her hold on his hand as she straightened herself, and was smug when she realized that the women who had been gossiping about her were now watching her and her lover in shock and jealousy.

All the females gathered at her own table were staring at each other with wide, relieved eyes, and at Toushiro like he was their savior. Well, he had just prevented an embarrassing commotion from playing out by simply being in Karin's presence.

They all stood up quickly too, picking up their packages and belongings, and shooting the table adjacent to theirs heated glares, before following the married couple heading for the exit doors.

"Oh, hang on, guys," Karin said suddenly, pulling her hand out of Toushiro's and raising a finger to signify they wait a moment as she turned around. "I forgot my coat."

Toushiro nodded, folding his arms and leaning against a wall of the cafeteria to show her that they would be waiting right here. The others nodded, too. She smiled before rushing over to where she had previously sat.

As she got closer, she noticed the females from before watching her approach, though their eyes kept flitting from her stomach to Toushiro constatntly. She smirked, a perfect revenge forming in her mind.

When she leaned over the seat to grab the coat she had left behind, she alligned her mouth directly beside the ear of one of the women who had been insulting her so readily.

"I'm big because I'm having a baby with the man I love," she whispered, loud enough that the rest could hear, too. "What's your excuse?"

And as they gaped at her, she ran back to her beloved with her jacket slung over her arm, cackling inwardly in victory.

Whoo! Go Karin! This one was more Karin-centered, but there was HitsuKarin, so I think it's okay. And besides, the entire scene happened because of their relationship, since she wouldn't be big if she wasn't pregnant, and she wouldn't be pregnant if not for Toushiro, so...yeah.

This one-shot was also the reason I had to clear up my mistake about the reproduction issue. Please note that Toushiro is in a gigai, which is why Karin is pregnant with his child.

And I'm finally done! It's a little sad, but exciting too. I could never thank you all enough for sticking with me until the end, and for all the wonderfully kind words in your reviews, as well as adding this to your Alerts and Favorites; you are all so good to me. It's been a fun ride, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the seven deadly sins of HitsuKarin. I certainly did!