Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful winter holiday and/or break. I barely made it for the deadline for the secret santa for HitsuKarin, but I did it! I hope you enjoy this random, rather incomplete feeling present, satalasers/the milliner's rook! More at the end of the piece.

BEWARE: Of horrible spelling, grammar, and just a smidgen of cursing.

I am definitely not alone.

The reoccurring mantra that revolves within Karin's mind as she walks down the crowded street. She tries calming herself, while she meanders through the throngs of people rushing past her. Her long navy blue coat was snug enough to restrict her step just so, but was necessary during the cold nips of winter.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

She takes a quick pause and a deep breath. She looks at the surroundings of structures blocking the sunset and doubles her effort to rush home. Finally reaching her building, she skips the elevator and takes two steps at a time, up the stairway. Third floor comes to view, but so does a shock of snowy locks.

Ugh. Really? Right now?

Her thoughts are muddled enough without his demanding presence. All she wanted to do was flop on her couch and fall asleep to some background television noise.

He simply raises an elegant eyebrow at her slightly out of breath state.

Why must he look so…

Quickly walking to her door, she returns his stare with a huff and starts to rummage for her keys inside the multitude of pockets her outerwear has to offer.

Why do I never put them in the same place?

She almost makes a noise of excitement, when she feels the jagged edges of the almost offending piece of metal. She takes another deep breath and shoves the key into its place and swings open the door. She gives him a blank stare and than glances at doorway.

He takes the hint. He walks in, politely slipping out of his shiny polished shoes and places them neatly next to her other haphazardly thrown footwear. She treads in after him and closes the door, while hopping to take off her own dark chocolate suede boots with just a tad of heel.

Damn Yuzu.

At least they were comfortable to walk and stand in, but that doesn't mean she can't complain about all the intricate zippers and buttons that fasten them to her feet.

She glimpses at her cartoon sushi socks and feels some relief seep into her body.

She lifts her head and sees his obviously amused malachite eyes, as he casually leans on the back of her cream colored couch. She gives another huff.

They have a bit of a staring contest, until he breaks the contact to gaze at what she thought was the pulled back star patterned curtains. She knew he also liked to look to the sky. Ichi-nii had bought them for her when she first moved in. Constellations were among the many things she loved to observe in the sky.

She watches him for another moment and then moves to the kitchen. After pouring two glasses of water, she walks back towards the living area.

He is now situated in the middle of the couch. She has no choice, but to sit next to him. There, she hands him a glass and takes a sip from hers. She sighs contently and relaxes into the comfy furniture. She turns to him and presses her back against the arms of the sofa, legs tucked underneath her.

He seems so ethereal bathing in what is left of the dropping sun. She shakes her head.

No time to be failing at waxing poetry about how he drinks water right now.

She clears her throat.

"So."

Her sentence ends there as she waits for his reply.

He turns to her, his closeness not quite familiar, but not disconcerting either.

"…Matsumoto says you should come visit her at the boutique."

She ponders about the rambunctious woman. Her business was full stylish and tasteful clothing that follow the latest trends and the accessories to match. She makes a mental note to stopover in the next few days. Although, she has the feeling Rangiku just wanted someone to dress up, while she drinks her sake.

Good company. The blonde always says.

"I don't think you came all this way to deliver…well…basically an advertisement." She says with a scoff.

"…No. I just happened to be in the area and thought of her message."

"Right. A call or text clearly couldn't finish the job?"

"…" He regards her silently.

"Well?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay." He finally admits.

She jolts back in surprise. She forgot she informed him of the impending high school reunion. Something must have given away that she hadn't wanted to go. She feels touched.

Karin tried to remember back to what had made her upset and leave the party in the first place.

She couldn't.

How cliché. Of course, he would blow away all worries.

"I'm good. Really. That still could have been done over the phone, you know."

"We both know you would have just try to lie and say everything good." He retorts.

Damn him. When did he get to know me so well?

She heaves another sigh.

"How was it?" He questions.

"Yuzu was ever the social butterfly, calling everyone by name without even a peek at their nametag and remember what seemed to be their whole life story. While I stood in a semi-dark corner sipping on champagne. In other words, the usual." She replies looking up while recounting the event.

"…Red looks good on you." Toushirou looks as if he wants to pry into something, but retracts back to a safer topic.

She had forgotten she discarded her coat, when she entered the warmth of her home. Leaving her in a long sleeved, fluttery, red thing that went past her knees and some black leggings.

"We both know that Rangiku made me buy this, so she could have me promote her place." She replies lightly.

"That doesn't mean it can't look well placed on you." He counters.

"Touché. I will take the compliment then. Thank you, Toushirou." She says as she makes the motion of a bow.

She sees the hint of a smirk on his lips. Strangely, it grounds her. She knew it would catch him off guard to not argue over this kind of topic. She was hoping for a little more reaction though.

So she stretches her legs in front of her and onto Toushirou's.

"Thanks." She mumbles quietly as slides down the arm of her couch to get in a more relaxing position.

He nods, hands her a pillow, and moves a bit to the left to let her lay down some more.

Yes. This is much better.

This night was the eve of their official romantic relationship. Though Rangiku and Yuzu will always argue that their couple moment had happened long ago. The two people were content with this being the beginning of their stepping-stone.

The End.

Omicow. I did it. I'm not gonna lie. I started this at 2am and finished at 5:12am. Because...well I'm a procrastinator. But I had a mission and I finished, albeit not too well.

Please forgive me for all grammar and spelling errors. Feel free to let me know where my mistakes are. I had a hard time with tenses. This being my first work since 2007, I was incredibly nervous. Also this thing has tons of plot holes, if you wish to know where I was going with a certain thing, feel free to ask.

Thank you so much for reading!