Understanding II: School Daze (Bleach Fanfic)

Playing Hero

The white haired child ate the snack his former taicho provided for him and then plopped down onto the soft bed of Kurosaki Ichigo, folding his arms behind his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "I'm used to taking a nap around this time of day."

"I don't think that is why you got a head ache, young one." The dragon's voice was quiet, which was normal when the small captain was dealing with the headaches that would occur at times.

"I know it isn't. I just like taking a nap after I do any sort of paperwork. And that school work was horrible. I REALLY want to go home." Soon, a soft snoring sound could be heard blending in with the classical music. However, the quiet didn't last long, as two bright teal eyes snapped open when a feeling fell over him.

Toshiro's pushed one of the pills into his mouth and popped out, giving out a quick order to his soul candy, and then took of towards the direction he felt the Hollow coming from. The negative soul just so happened to be close by, which caused the white haired boy to tense up. He found himself landing in the air nearby.

What he saw caused him to blink a couple of times. The first Hollow that had appeared was attacking the substitute shinigami's littler sister Karin. The boy reached up with his small hand to grab the handle of his zampaktuo, only to pause suddenly when he saw her turn to look the Hollow in the face. "She can see them?"

His question was answered as soon as she took her soccer ball and launched it at the monster, causing the mask to smash into pieces, causing it to disintegrate. The boy paused at this revelation, just as another Hollow came up behind her. Suddenly, he found himself moving forward to get her out of the way.

The arm of the monster swung down at Karin, just as Toshiro moved between the two, the arm smashing into his ribs, sending him crashing into the female preteen. They both went flying, and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close so that she would have few injuries. They crashed onto the ground hard.

The first thing that came to his mind was how he wasn't really comfortable with the position he found himself in. The next thing he knew, Karin was calling out his name. He opened his teal eyes to look right into hers, before pushing himself away in hopes that she wouldn't haul off and slug him. He winced as he did, clutching a hand to his ribs.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!" The female sat up, glaring at the male as he sat there.

Toshiro stood up only to have the dark haired preteen stand up and block his path to the Hollow. His hand was on the hilt. "Would you rather it was you who got hit by that swing."

Karin opened her mouth, only to have Hitsugaya gently brush her aside, drawing his blade to point it at the monster, placing himself between her and the Hollow. She placed her hands on her hips. "You know, I'm not some damsel in distress that always needs saving."

Two teal eyes suddenly turned to look at her. The look that the boy gave was one filled with confusion as to what she was getting at. However, before either one of them could say anything, the Hollow took another swing. Toshiro attempted to move out of the way, only to have the claws graze his right shoulder, tearing the uniform and drawing blood. He hissed in pain. "You do realize this isn't some game, right?"

At that, he quickly moved, going to strike the Hollow down. Turning around as the beast began to disappear, he caught a particular glisten in Karin's eyes. "Are you... crying?"

The girl reached up and wiped a sleeve across her eyes. "I'm not crying. However, you are definitely hurt."

Hitsugaya turned his head slightly, to look at the wound on his shoulder. "It is just a scratch."

As he said this, his head suddenly started to swim and his stomach lurched. It wasn't the feeling one got when one had a fever from the flu. The feeling was more along the line of a sudden loss in energy. He felt himself suddenly take a step off balance and nearly fall forward. He caught himself only to glance up in time to see the female glaring at him.

"Toshiro. You aren't doing well." The black haired Kurosaki twin pointed at his shoulder. "And that is in no way a scratch."

Two teal eyes glanced at her with a blank expression. This caused a hand to reach up and grab his ear and suddenly begin to drag him back towards the house. "Ouch! What are you..."

The sudden movement caused him to suddenly go off balance and crash into the female. Karin then went off balance for a few seconds but regained her composure. "See. You aren't doing well."

"I'd do better if I wasn't being off set on my balance by you pulling on my ear." The complaint caused her to simply look at him strangely. After a few seconds of silence she grabbed the sleeve of his uniform and began to drag him away that way. "I'm honestly all right. What is the big deal?"

"You tell me this isn't a game, but here you go acting like it is." Karin's eyes narrowed. "You are such a pain in the neck."

"I don't understand why you are even bothering." Toshiro's words snapped out.

"It has to do with the fact you are a quest in our house." The girl stated firmly. "How can you be so stupid."

The white haired preteen took a deep breath of frustration and followed along at her pace. "I can just use kido to heal myself." His free hand reached up to scratch his head. "You know, I could possibly remidy the situation by..."

"...by receiving first aide attention." Karin muttered, her mood rather dark.

"People can't exactly see me." Toshiro felt the corner of his mouth twitch as his mind tried to comprehend what she was thinking.