Evolving Friendships

Summary: As time passes, friendships change and evolve, changing the dynamics between the two. It had been a long time coming yet was a complete surprise.

Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me. This is a purely fictional story based on the characters and story created by Tite Kubo, to whom they do belong.

THKK

They had been friends for a long while now. Whenever she needed someone, he always seemed to be there waiting to catch her. He never judged her when she fell, only helped her back up from the ground. Their friendship was unique, indefinable by any means. They were just two people, finding company and solace in a world where it was hard to come across. Her friends thought Toushirou was weird and didn’t like him hanging around her. He thought Karin’s friends were selfish little brats and put up with them to keep her happy. He often had to disappear, his position as taichou not allowing him to spend as much time with her as he would like. She knew and understood this; a silent agreement had been forged between them in the early stages of their friendship. Her brother had no idea she had such a friendship with someone like him, so good were their facades in public settings. Karin knew that if Ichigo knew, he would lose his temper and do something incredibly stupid. So she kept it a secret for both her brother’s safety and Toushirou’s need for secrecy.

“Ohayo, Shirou-chan,” she greeted him softly, watching him approach her in his usual carefree stride.

“Ohayo, Karin,” he replied just as quietly, leaning against the wall next to where she sat.

Smiling, she turned her gaze back to the cloudless sunrise. It was a habit they had fallen into ever since she could remember. At least once a week they met up there to watch the sunrise. Nothing was generally said during these times, both preferring to bask in the natural symphony nature provided them with. Leaning her head against his thigh, she continued to watch the sun. Karin had a feeling something was going to happen, deciding to keep quiet until he was ready to share whatever it was that was bothering him. She didn’t have to wait long. He slowly slid down to sit next to her, one leg stretched out in front of him with the other bent up to allow his arm to rest on his knee. Snapping his phone closed, he passed it over to her wordlessly. Plucking it out his waiting hand, she flipped back open and contented herself with playing Snake. It amused her to no end that no matter how hard he tried; he could never beat her top score. Smirking to herself, she set about trying to beat her top score, tongue poking out the corner of her mouth as proof of her concentration. So dedicated was she to beating her score, she was oblivious to the gaze Toushirou had trained on her.

In the beginning, he had only wanted to gain information out of her concerning Ichigo and his friends. However, when it became apparent she knew next to nothing, he still continued to spend time with her. He didn’t understand why he kept returning to visit, only that he felt incredibly guilty when he didn’t see her. He soon gave up on trying to figure out the feelings, only focusing on the time he spent with her. Unlike the others he worked with, both taichous and subordinates alike, she treated him just like anyone else, like she would treat one of her friends. He appreciated the fact, even if she was a stubborn brat at times. As time went on, he found that she was more than just ‘Ichigo’s Kid Sister’. He slowly began to piece together facts from what he’d heard from Ichigo and herself alike, placing them together like a jigsaw puzzle. She was definitely not like the females he worked with.

Smirking at her achievement, she passed the open phone back to him. Sighing, he took it, scowling at her new score. Snapping it closed and shoving it in his pocket, he looked down at her. Rolling her eyes, she ruffled his hair gently.

“Cheer up, Toushirou. You’ll beat it some day,” she teased gently.

“Maybe if you stopped beating your own scores, I’d have a chance,” he retorted, dodging away from her wandering hand before it reached his hair.

Head butting his shoulder, she glanced down at the park that was slowly filling up with mothers and their children. She heard Toushirou sigh again and wondered what was wrong this time. Looking up at him, she shot him an inquisitive look. Shaking his head, he looked off into the distance. Not to be deterred, she pulled his chin back down to look at her. It was then that she saw the quick flash of sadness flicker through his eyes that she realised something was seriously wrong.

“Tell me,” she said softly, not giving him a chance to refuse.

Toushirou hesitated, not wanting to burden her with his problems. For as long as they’d known each other, he was still reluctant to share his inner most problems and fears with her. It was a silly notion, but he had never had any friends close enough to share these sorts of things with. Even Hinamori, though a childhood friend, had never been privy to his thoughts like Karin was. It made him wary of other people and made it seem like he was an aloof, cold and anti social prick, but he knew that Karin understood where he was coming from and she rarely pressed him to say anything unless she thought it absolutely necessary.

“There has been… some complications…” he trailed off, not exactly sure how to proceed. Karin nodded, letting him speak in his own time. Taking a few moments to gather his thoughts, he found the courage to try again. “It’s Hinamori. Her condition has come across big complications. They… they don’t know how they happened, or how to fix it… I, I’m just very worried.”

Knowing how touchy he was about Hinamori, she wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled his head down to her shoulder. In normal circumstances, she wouldn’t attempt such a thing nor would he allow her to do it. But he needed the comfort from a friend and Karin seemed to sense that he needed the contact.

Running a hand through his hair, she held him close to her side as she waited for him to continue. It had taken a long time to figure out how his emotions worked, given that he hid them so well from everybody else. It had only been in the past year and a bit that she noticed him losing some of his fabled control and allowing himself to relax in her presence. She was thankful that she was one of the very few people in his life to see him as merely Hitsugaya Toushirou.

“Karin… what do I do?” he whispered harshly, his eyes blinking rapidly.

“You do what you can for her, Toushirou. Just be there, talk to her. Even if she does talk about Aizen, talking to her about him is better than her not talking at all,” she offered, unsure about how he would take the advice.

His fists clenched at the idea, an obvious sign to Karin that he disagreed with her.

“Just spend time with her then. Avoid talking about him wherever possible. But she needs you there for her, Toushirou,” she whispered, taking his clenched fist in her own hand and pried his fingers apart gently. “I don’t know what else you can do.”

Relaxing his hand, he watched her stroke his own fingers absently. It was a strange sight, her hand was pale compared to his and he wasn’t exactly a tanned person himself. Mesmerized by the patterns she was tracing, he found his mind drifting away and off into his thoughts. When Karin noticed Toushirou had drifted off into his thoughts, she smiled and grabbed his phone out his pocket, intending on beating her score once again.

A little while later found them still sitting by the wall, Karin still playing Snake and Toushirou lost in his thoughts. To any passing person, they looked like a perfect couple. A few women had commented to their partners about them, smiling in their direction before moving away. Karin was used to the comments by now. In the past she used to get angry and shout at whoever dared suggest they were together. It was just easier to let them assume what they wanted if it got them to leave faster. After beating her score three times in a row, she was growing bored. Glancing down at Toushirou, she got an idea to bring him out his thoughts.

“C’mon, Toushirou, we’re leaving,” she announced, poking him in the forehead firmly.

Bringing her feet under her, she pushed herself upright until she was standing over him. Blinking, he looked up at her and, upon seeing her smirk, scowled. He let himself be pulled up by the young woman and dragged down to the soccer field that wasn’t too far away. Finally letting go of his hand, she turned to face him with a grin. He knew exactly what she wanted and sighed, a reluctant smirk crossing his face. Delighted, Karin found a ball and kicked it towards him. Stopping it with his foot, he kicked it up in the air and head butted it back to her. This soon progressed to a one on one game that quickly turned very competitive.

“Come on, Toushirou! You can do better than this,” Karin taunted, dodging his attempt to steal the ball.

Wheeling around, he chased after her. He nudged her out the way and eventually stole the ball, running in the opposite direction towards the goals. Karin smirked as he kicked a flawless goal; bring the score to an even twenty all. Hearing giggles, she glanced over to the benches and saw girls from her high school. Sighing, she knew they were only there to try and get Toushirou to talk to them. They harassed her often at school to get her to put in a good word for them to him, which amused her as well as annoyed her. No matter how many times she said he was not interested in them, they continued to practically stalk them whenever he came to visit. Rolling her eyes, she jogged up to him and gave him a high five.

“Good steal, Toushirou,” she praised, smiling up at him.

Closing his eyes briefly, he shrugged nonchalantly. “It was nothing. You just need a better defence.”

Scowling, she punched him in the shoulder. Attempting to dodge the punch, he tripped over Karin’s foot and crashed into the ground. Karin was pulled down with him and she ended up sitting on his stomach, his hands pinned to either side of his head. Laughing, she ruffled his hair before she stood back up.

“I may need to work on my defence, but you need better coordination,” she retorted, holding a hand out to him.

The group of girls sitting on the benches were both scowling and swooning. They adored Toushirou, loving the way he looked, acted and most of all, his voice. He rarely spoke to them in any case, but when he did it was near useless to get a reply because they were always busy swooning. At any rate, they were very jealous of Karin, who got to spend most of her time with the hot stranger. They had tried many times to get him alone without Karin, but those times were far in between. Sometimes it was like as soon as he turned a corner, he disappeared. It baffled them.

“C’mon, Toushirou. Let’s go,” Karin said, her voice drifting over to them.

Snapping out their dazes, they saw him look at Karin before making his way over to them. Shooting a victorious smirk over to Karin, the leader of the group stood up. She was the complete opposite of Karin, long flowing blonde hair, piercing green eyes, curves in all the right places and was just the right height. As he walked up to her, she put on a playful smile.

“Hello, Toushirou,” she said softly.

Scowling, he replied with an ‘it’s Hitsugaya to you’. She was taken aback, not used to people talking to her like that. She looked at him, instantly angered. Toushirou didn’t care, looking at all of them.

“Stop following me. Stop annoying Karin. Stop everything to do with me,” he said coldly before turning away and walking back to Karin, placing a hand on her shoulder and walking away. The group were in a state of shock and disbelief. The single hottest guy in their town had turned down their leader, the most gorgeous girl in the entire school, for a plain and unimaginative tomboy. As Karin was lead away by Toushirou, she could hear the angry shouts and cries of the girls. She felt no sympathy for them whatsoever.

As they were walking out the park and back towards Urahara’s, Karin felt him grow tense. Stopping, she looked at him. She saw a conflict of emotions run through his normally cold eyes. He was acting strangely today and it worried her greatly. He usually retorted a lot more and ignored the groups of girls who followed them around most mornings. But today he was unusually quiet and tense. Part of the reason was Hinamori, she knew that, but there was more to his strange mood that he wasn’t telling her. Trust was still a big issue for him and she usually let him go along as he pleased, knowing he would tell her when he felt he could. But she felt she had to pry a little more on this.

“Toushirou, what’s wrong?” she inquired.

He stopped and turned back to her, clearly uneasy. He just stood in the one spot, watching her watch him. He sighed again, walking up to her and embraced her suddenly. Thoroughly surprised, she forgot she had to return the embrace before he moved away just as quickly as he’d stepped forward.

“I’m worried about you,” he finally admitted, looking anywhere but at her.

Confused, she stepped up to him, her hand coming to rest on his cheek gently. He still avoided her gaze, not wanting to look into the eyes that could completely undo him. She forced him to at least glance at her, the concern still flitting through his eyes.

“Why are you ashamed to tell me that, Toushirou?” she asked gently, her thumb brushing his cheekbone gently.

His own hand came up to grasp hers, treasuring its gentleness before pulling it away. He looked down at her, his expression unreadable. Karin, still worried about his strange mood, was completely unprepared for the next few sentences.

“I worry about you whenever I’m not around. You fill my thoughts and are my most trusted friend. But lately…” he broke off, frowning slightly. “These strange emotions have come out… about you… and, I don’t know how to deal with them.”

Karin was silent, never looking away from him.

“They make me want to do things…”

After a period of silence, she asked him what he felt like he had to do. He merely looked down at her, hesitant and determined all at once. Karin’s eyes flicked away for one second, which gave him the confidence to do what he had been trying to do all day. With one arm curling around her waist, he pulled her closer to him, the other tangling his fingers in her thick hair and he leant down and pressed his lips to hers. Her arms wound their way around his neck and she found herself responding to the gentle kiss.

He pulled away after a moment, taking in the slight redness to her lips and the blush that had crept to her cheeks. He was aware of her hands, fingers sliding though his hair gently as she gazed up at him, a smile on her face. He rested his forehead against hers, his eyes sliding closed as Karin gave him an Eskimo kiss. A slight smile danced across his face as he returned it, basking in her closeness.

“Is that what they’ve been telling you to do, Shirou-chan?” she teased gently, bumping his head gently with her own.

Without opening his eyes, he pulled her face to his shoulder while burying his in her neck, breathing in her scent as he did so. Chuckling, Karin relaxed against him, happy that most of the tension he had around him throughout the day was all but gone.

“You little liar!”

They jumped apart at the accusing voice, looking around wildly for the source. It was Karin who found it, glaring at the group that had followed them. Toushirou turned and saw who it was. He frowned, pulling Karin back to his side possessively. He didn’t like the way those boys were looking at her… like she was a piece of meat. His temper rose and the temperature suddenly dropped in response. Karin rolled her eyes, looking towards the slowly advancing group.

“Well, Karin Kurosaki, being found with a law-breaker midget,” one sneered, pointing at Toushirou. “Who would have thought you stooped so low as to date a social reject.”

Toushirou growled, disliking them immediately. Karin sighed, knowing it was only a matter of time before one of the idiots decided to fight Toushirou for her. It had happened numerous times, involving her being cornered at school and had too many accounts of attempted kisses. She had always wondered why they went for her and, seeing the angry faces of Toushirou’s Fan Club, she now knew who was behind it all. Rubbing her face in frustration, she turned to the now furious Toushirou and tugged on his sleeve gently. When he looked down at her, she shook her head, indicating he should leave it alone. Against his better judgement, he turned and walked away, the temperature not improving as he did.

“Just go away, you social scavengers. He isn’t from around here, so he can do nothing for your status. He wouldn’t if he could anyway,” Karin called, watching them closely.

The girls sneered at her and made a run for Toushirou, who had stopped a few metres away to watch. Karin sighed, watching them get closer to him only to stop a short distance from him. Karin knew he looked dangerous at that very moment. His control on his reiatsu had loosened that tiny bit, causing it to fly around him angrily. The fan girls, sensing trouble, turned and ran back to the safety of their male friends. The boys, noticing the distress their girl friends were in, decided to make a hasty retreat, glaring at them over their shoulders.

“This isn’t over, Kurosaki!” one yelled as they departed rather quickly.

Karin made a rude gesture at them before turning to a still fuming Toushirou. She took no notice of his angry reiatsu, taking hold of his hands and pulling them around her firmly. Soon enough, his reiatsu calmed and became like a gentle blanket over them. He did not know why he became so furious over the incident but, he mused, he had never been anything other than slightly irrational with this girl.

“Don’t worry about it. It happens a lot more than you think. I can deal with them,” Karin said gently, forcing him to look at her. “It’s nothing new to me. I’ll be out of high school soon, so they won’t be a problem anymore.”

Accepting what she was saying and knowing she would loathe his interference in the matter he simply nodded his acceptance, knowing he would regret it at a later date. Karin knew he only agreed because he felt like he had no other choice but she appreciated the acceptance nonetheless. Smirking, she pulled away, rolling the ball back over with her foot.

“One last game before you disappear for another week?” she challenged, her eyes sparkling enticingly.

Smirking, he walked up to her and stole the ball out from under her feet before dashing away to the other side of the field. Shouting at him, she chased after him; happy he was acting himself again. As she stole the ball back, she knew they would have to talk about where their friendship now stood. The dynamics had most certainly changed; it was obvious to her that this had been a long time coming. As she sent the ball flying into the net, she found she didn’t care all that much. She had known for a long time that she liked him more than a friend, but had kept the feelings at bay for the longest time in fear of ruining their friendship. Karin had resolved that not having him in her life was the worst fate possible, preferring to have him as a friend rather than not at all. As she looked up at him to demand a high five, she found him looking back at her with smouldering eyes. Smirking, she kissed him gently before stealing the ball again.

“Take it as it comes,” Toushirou whispered in her ear before she ran off with the ball.

Turning around briefly to smirk at him, she decided that they would take it as it came. After all, there was no rush when it came to their friendship. If it evolved to more than that, she would take it and treasure it with her life.