Title: Hat

Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)

This is a new idea that I'm trying out. You'll see what I'm getting at once more chapters are up ;)

I can't guarantee how often this will be updated. Normally I'll end up writing these as the fancy strikes me.

xxx

"Come on already Toushirou! Get your rear in gear and motor outside!"

An irritated growl sounded from behind the closed door that Karin was currently standing in front of. "No. I'm not going anywhere."

"For goodness sake Toushirou! Nobody cares what your stupid hair looks like!"

"I care what my stupid hair looks like! I get enough stares already and I don't feel like getting even more!"

Karin let out an exasperated sigh. "It's your damn fault that you bleached it!"

"I didn't bleach my hair!"

Karin smirked, knowing full well that she'd set him off with that comment. "Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever. Now hurry up, we're already late."

"I don't care if you're late."

"We. We're late, Toushirou. Matsumoto has already booked your ticket and she's not going to let you get out of this one. So hurry up."

"Karin, I am not going out there looking like this and that is final." Karin could imagine him on the other side of that door, standing with his arms defiantly crossed and his icy eyes hard and irritated.

She tried to collect her thoughts. It wasn't really an option to physically drag Toushirou out of there. For one, he was much stronger than her and for another she really didn't want to have to resort to that because then he'd be even more irritable than now. "I don't really get what the big deal is," she tried reasoning. "You always get weird stares because of your hair. Why throw the big tantrum now just as we are about to do something fun?"

Grumbling sounded from the other side of the door and Karin frowned. "Pardon? Didn't catch that," she said with an obvious edge to her voice.

"I said that Matsumoto's idea of fun and mine are completely opposite."

Karin shook her head. "You're impossible. Just get out of my room so that we can go meet Matsumoto at the movies already. She's gonna get impatient."

"She's the whole reason I'm in this mess!" Karin heard him explode from the other side of the door.

Karin was hurriedly losing her temper. "Look. I don't know what your deal is. It's been three hours since you shut yourself up in my bedroom and you've refused to come out even for a minute! Heck, you even shut the curtains and barred the windows! What's your problem?"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Of course it matters! Because of your issues we're going to miss the movie and if you're not out of that room in ten seconds I am going to break this door down!"

"I don't have issues! And you wouldn't dare."

"Ten. Nine."

"Karin."

"Eight."

"This is your bedroom door. Your door," Toushirou emphasized, hoping to get a reaction from the black-haired Kurosaki.

"Seven."

"It'll be expensive to replace."

"Six."

"For goodness sake! I'm not going and that's it! I am not coming out of this room!"

"Five."

"You're not seriously gonna-"

"Four."

"Karin?"

"Three."

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Two."

"Hey!"

"One."

"KARIN!"

Karin let loose a furious roundhouse kick, spinning on her foot for extra force and landing her heel in exactly the right spot, sending the door flying off its hinges and into her room.

She stalked into the room, only to catch the last glimpse of her duvet cover being yanked upwards. Giving a last sigh, Karin marched over to her bed and sat down on it, reaching up towards where Toushirou's hands were still visible holding onto the edge of the duvet currently hiding him from her view.

"Toushirou, you're acting more childish right now than I've ever seen you behave. Put my blanket down."

For a moment he didn't move but then he lowered it. Karin's eyes immediately took in his averted gaze and turned head before going over to his hair, the source of the problem. Immediately she saw it. Her eyes widened just a bit and Toushirou grumbled under his breath.

"There. You happy now?" he sounded bitter whilst saying that but Karin wasn't quite listening. She simply reached up a hand and softly raked three of her fingers through a few stray strands.

The boy watched her for a few apprehensive moments from the corner of his eye. Karin continued to look him over critically, her dark eyes eerily silent. Toushirou gulped, waiting tensely for the verdict.

"It suits you."

He nearly fell from the bed. As it was, he was barely managing not to splutter. "What?"

Karin let her eyes meet his. "I said it suits you. Matsumoto really knows how to cut hair."

Toushirou stared at her for a second before hurriedly pulling back and clamping both of his hands over his head. "Are you kidding me? It's hideous! Why she had to try and imitate the style I had back in Rukongai I don't know."

Karin tilted her head. "Your hair looked like this back in Rukongai? And take your hands away, I can't see."

"Yeah." Reluctantly Toushirou lowered his hands.

Karin gave a slight smile upon seeing his new haircut again. It really did suit him. "Alright then, let's go." Karin grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag him to his feet and a whole two steps forward before Toushirou dug his heels into the floor and came to a stop.

"No. I told you Karin, I'm not going."

Again, Karin was driven to near breaking point with her temper. "Okay, you have an issue with your hair? Fine, then put a damn cap on but you'd better do it fast because I am not missing that movie!"

"A…cap?"

"Yes, a cap, genius, a cap! Please tell me you own a cap!"

"Of course I don't own a cap. Why on earth would I need one?" Toushirou asked somewhat bemused, leaving Karin longing to wring his neck.

"Oh for goodness-. Just come on." She proceeded to drag him upstairs and through the door to her brother's room, not even pausing to check if he was home since she knew he'd be at the movies by now with everyone else. Karin wrenched his closet open and began looking about inside. "No… no… not here." She frowned as she withdrew her head. "Damn it, Ichi-nii doesn't have caps either."

But just then, something caught her eye and she reached out to remove it from the dark corner that it had been stuffed into. A green and white striped bucket hat with a clean cut in it on the edge. A devious grin formed on her face.

Toushirou saw it and backed up two steps. "No."

"What?" Karin asked innocently. "It's a hat, right? So it'll hide your new hair style."

"That, Karin, is Urahara's old bucket-hat that your brother had to knock off his head during his training. I am not wearing it. Find another fool to do it."

Karin wasn't deterred however and her ominous smile never dimmed. "Well, Toushirou, I'm afraid that I don't have any more time to find another fool because the movie is due to start in a few minutes and, as I am sure I have mentioned before, I am not going to miss it. Now, Toushirou, I am giving you a choice: go to the movies right now with your hair as it is or wearing Urahara's old hat. Make your pick."

Toushirou stared in horror at the girl before him. She was being deadly serious, no pun intended. Which was the worse of two evils? The hat previously worn by that sneaky old shopkeeper who could have installed a brainwashing machine in it for all he knew or his newly acquired haircut from Matsumoto that, strangely enough, Karin actually seemed to like…

"Well?"

He hesitated for a second. "I choose…"

xxx

Ahahaa, Imma leave it there. You guys can decide for yourselves what he picked. The next theme will be totally separate and NOT follow up from this one. Just a heads up.

Now, review! I'm not kidding. Do it.

…Please.