Fandom: Bleach
Title: Behalf
Characters: Karin, Chad, Ichigo
Pairings: Chad/Karin
Rating: PG
Word Count: 607
Summary: "I won't let you keep hurting her like this."
Notes/Warnings: Be warned for some mild swearing. And lol, my Karin is perpetually annoyed at Ichigo for leaving her behind. xD She hates when he goes all big-brother. Oh, and I haven't read Bleach in like forever, so forgive me if there's any inconsistencies (though I don't think there will be). I wrote this for my
100_situations challenge - the prompt is "argue." Sigh, I love this pairing.
All Karin wanted was to argue with someone. She wanted to yell, shout, scream and stomp and she wanted someone to yell right back, so that she could justify it.
But Chad was the only one around, and he certainly didn't fit that description.
"Dammit! I am going to wring Ichigo's neck when he gets back!" she exclaimed, kicking her bedroom door with as much force as she could muster. Chad kept a reasonable distance, wanting to avoid accidentally falling victim to her violence, for once.
"How could he do this to me? Again?" She spun around suddenly, turning her attention to Chad. "How could you let him do this again?" she asked accusingly.
"I didn't know what he was planning," he responded simply.
She pointed her finger at him, as if to accuse him of something else, but dropped it when nothing came to mind. She sighed.
"I'm as old as he was," she said, her tone rapidly shifting from angry to matter-of-fact.
"I know." Short, to the point. As was everything about him.
"Why can't he..." her voice was softer this time. "Why can't he let me help him?" Karin swallowed hard, gripped by some unnamed emotion. "He tries to do everything himself, and it's just so...stupid."
Chad was silent, seemingly content to let her ramble.
"Stupid Ichigo," she whispered, wiping away a solitary tear that had trickled down her cheek. Chad stepped closer, but kept her at arm's length. She wondered why, briefly, before realizing that he was waiting for her to make the next move.
She took a tiny step forward. And another, and another, until she was crashing into him, wrapping her too-short arms around his waist. A few more tears slipped out, but she didn't mind so much, if only Chad was here to see her cry.
She felt her body relax with relief when his arms came around her, too. His embrace was gentle, and completely undemanding. She sighed against him.
"When he gets back," Karin mumbled into his chest, "he's in for the fight of his life."
---
"Oi, Chad," Ichigo greeted the next morning, stepping out onto the porch where his friend was waiting for him, just as he was every morning.
"She cried this time."
Ichigo froze, but didn't respond immediately. He could detect a hint of annoyance in Chad's voice. The fact that he could detect anything in Chad's voice unsettled him more than he could say.
"I did it because I had to. So she wouldn't get hurt," Ichigo said defensively. "I would think you'd understand."
"It isn't right," Chad said simply. Ichigo pursed his lips. Chad was the most impossible person to argue with on the planet.
"Alright, then, what if she goes next time? What if she fights with us? What if she gets hurt? What if she dies? I won't let it happen. It's better for her to hate me than wind up dead."
Chad was silent for a while. Ichigo was just starting to think he'd won, when he spoke. "I won't let you keep hurting her like this."
"And what will you do when she gets hurt?"
Chad shrugged. "You can't deny her the right to fight back."
Ichigo was about to respond that oh yes, he certainly could deny her the right when Chad continued.
"Think about it for a while, Ichigo," he said, and began walking towards the university, leaving Ichigo on the porch. Ichigo started after him, pausing on the sidewalk to look up at Karin's window.
Maybe Chad was right. Maybe it was time he stopped trying to force the 'fragile little sister' role on her.