One hour, twenty-five minutes, 32 seconds and Yuzu still didn't understand why they were yelling so loud. Hitsugaya trying his best to retort to the it-isn't-as-bad-as-it-looked situation, while both Ichigo and Karin not letting him have any of that. And it wasn't like her father was making the situation any better as he clung to the life-size poster of their deceased mother, tears of joy falling out of his eyes, as he warned her of a potential white-haired love-child in the future. Yuzu was both embarassed and horrified at that statement, because what exactly did they think they were doing? As Karin proceeded to beat the crap out of their father, Ichigo took over the argument and proceeded to severely reprimand the young captain he allowed in his house.

One hour, twenty-nine minutes, 25 seconds and Yuzu honestly didn't understand what they were yelling about. It went from allowing him to stay in their home, to taking advantage of their little sister, to something about rules and regulations, to how he was going to be kicked out or put to death if not by the state then by Ichigo's very hand's. She opened her mouth to say something, but she felt it shut as Hitsugaya's eyes immediately flickered to hers. It was like he was warning her not to say anything, like he was going to take care of it, and for a moment, she thought she saw an expression of guilt flash through his eyes which was quickly replaced by a cold expression once his eyes settled back to the annoying siblings who seemingly became a team again.

But enough was enough. Yuzu did not understand in the slightest and she was not going to let him take the fall for it, "Stop it!" She yelled, her voice causing the others to stop what they were doing. Hitsugaya sent an annoyed glance to the others before they settled back on her, "Can't you see he's injured? Firstly, why are you back so early anyway?"

Ichigo's mouth flopped shut momentarily, before it opened again. But all Yuzu could hear was, lie, lie, lie.

"Alright, whatever. Now whatever you guys think you saw, it's not what you think. I...I wanted him to sleep with me." The wide horrified looks on their faces made her blush and rethink her choice of words, "You got it wrong! There was a storm before you came, and I was scared." And lonely, and curious, but she decided now that she was more confused than ever before so it didn't really help at all, "He didn't want too, but I made him. I did." Sudden tears threatened to slip through her eyes which made Ichigo and Karin flop their mouths open and Hitsugaya to stare with a stunned gaze, "A... And now you guys are scolding him, even though it's all my fault!"

"Oh my poor baby!" Isshin cried as he limped and fell over her in a giant embrace, "Come darling, let us cry to your brother's stupidity!"

Hitsugaya simply stared at them. She was a very good manipulator. As he felt a trace of eyes on him, he turned to Ichigo who suddenly stood beside him coolly with his hands in his pockets, his face adorning no shame.

"Is what she was saying true?" Hitsugaya nodded which made Ichigo sigh, "Seriously man, why didn't you just tell us?"

"Yeah Toushiro, you could have spared us our breath, geez."

He inwardly felt himself cringe and resisted the urge to show them the simple gesture Ikkaku picked up from the world of the living; one finger up, the rest down.

Hitsugaya sighed to himself as he opened the front door and walked out. He was both exhausted and painfully injured, but he decided that it was definitely not worth staying another day in that house. He would go to Orihime's house. Now that Ichigo was here, probably meant the young healer was back as well. Matsumoto was still in Soul society, so he would have to go alone. And since it probably wasn't good for him, a male, to sleep in a lone women's house (he just had to learn the hard way), he decided he would just rest on the roof and announce his presence in the morning.

"Hitsugaya-san, wait." He suddenly heard a whisper which made his ears twitch. He was just about the leave the gate when he turned and saw the young vixen peeking out from her upstairs bedroom. She seemed to pause as their eyes caught again, before she smiled and turned around. He wondered whether that was a sign for him to wait, he couldn't decide, but he guessed a few more minutes would not hurt.

And after a couple of seconds, Yuzu ran out of the house in her pajamas, cradling a bag of leftovers she had made for them, "I'm sorry." She suddenly said, he looked at her in confusion, "I probably messed up your relationship with my siblings."

Oh, Hitsugaya thought to himself, "Don't worry about it, we weren't really that close to begin with."

"I beg to differ!" She retorted which made him raise an eyebrow, "I've always seen you coming by the house, talking to either one of them, heck even your injury came from a 'supposed' sport incident." Honestly, he knew she probably thought that was bullshit, but found it easier not to address it, "So don't lie to me anymore. I get that enough from them, Hitsugaya-san."

Hitsugaya blinked at this, he never expected her to say such a thing. Ichigo and Karin probably wouldn't either, "Kuro-"

"I just came out to give you this and apologize."

He scoffed, "You know I always thought you were different than your siblings, but there are still some similarities; like not letting the other party speak."

Yuzu blinked at this, was that supposed to be a joke? Yuzu secretly held a smile to her lips, "And how about your own family?" Hitsugaya tilted his head in curiously, "Does your brother randomly almost-kiss girls while they're sleeping?"

He took a moment to analyze the sentence before he began to splutter, almost dropping the bags, and quickly scanned the area to see if anyone was nearby. Ichigo was on the other side of the house, Karin was probably taking a shower, and yet still he didn't feel safe, "Oh god, listen I-" He wanted to apologize, but was cut off by a pair of lips over his.

The kiss was nothing like his dream; it lasted only a couple of seconds, there were no tongue or lip biting, but Yuzu still seemed to have her own technique. With her moist lips parted, she pressed her tilted lips over his and felt around the outside of his mouth with her own. By the time they let go, both of their faces were red.

"You should go." Yuzu breathed out in embarrassment, "Come and see me tomorrow, I'll take a look at the bandages for you again."

Toushiro was actually thinking of letting Orihime treat him, and weighed out the pros and cons in his head as he walked over to the gate and tripped over it.

Perhaps being the damsel in distress wasn't so bad.

Ichigo and Karin were hanging out in his room, Karin sitting over the bed while Ichigo was slouched over the chair against his computer table seemingly in thought about something.

"Toushiro…" Karin began, "He's not that sort of person." She seemed like she was trying to convince herself more than the other. Ichigo nodded to her comment. He honestly didn't think the captain even had a libido, nor knew what it was. When he saw them together, in her bed, something just snapped inside of him.

He honestly did not want Yuzu in a similar predicament as he was.

He was interrupted as a flicker of something moving caught his eye, as he watched Kon, who had successfully escaped Yuzu's room during the long fight, jumped onto the bed and waddled his way towards Karin's body, "Hey Kon, what's up?"

Kon fell over and plopped beside Karin who watched him in curiosity. He knew not too mess with her, experience crying, "Nothing much… though I did see something interesting."

"Oh, like what?"

"Well-"

She had never done that before in her life. She just couldn't believe it, her heart still racing from the simple action, remembering the feel of his cold lips against hers. Tense and unmoving, before they twitched a little as she proceeded to trail her tongue against them. And when she moved away, those gorgeous eyes flashed back at her, widened and surprised, and his cheeks which glew with embarassment and probably something else. She probably looked like a wreck herself.

She paused to herself in the middle of doing dishes and pressed her arm over her own lips. And smiled slyly to herself.

She could not wait to see him tomorrow…

"HE DID WHAT?!"

Hi guys! Well honestly I wasn't thinking of doing a chapter 3, but one bored evening.. I got bored… and this has been on my facebook for days – only for my eyes, though! I am still in love with this pairing the same way I was before. I actually have another idea coming out, but I probably won't start a lot of projects until I finish my previous ones.. hopefully.

To clarify, that damsel in distress comment was made for him. Because when Toushiro was in trouble, Yuzu came to his rescue. I don't know the term used for males though… damned in distress? lol