A/N:
Thank you for the reviews. I hope you all continue to support me. First off, thanks to The Second Quincy for her usual awesome work and support and The Endless Hourglass for her assistance and kindness as well.
Enjoy and review please!
"Hey, Karin," a girl with light brown hair grabbed the raven-haired girl's attention in a sing song voice, "how about we go do some karaoke? It'll be fun. What do you think?" The girl asked excitedly, staring expectantly at the girl walking beside her. Thinking that Karin would automatically say no, she had even prepared to make her puppy dog eyes to convince her. As she waited for her twin to look at her, her face became to one of disappointment after realizing that she was obviously being ignored. "Karin! You're ignoring me again!" She pouted.
"Hmm? Were you saying something, Yuzu?" Karin asked somewhat indifferently, but was still curious as to what her sister was saying to her.
"Geez, Karin..." The pouting girl huffed, stomping her feet comically as she walked beside the raven-haired girl. "You've been spacing out a lot lately. Well," she paused, putting her hand on her chin to think, "maybe lately is the wrong term." She paused once again to think harder. "No, wait. You HAVE been spacing a lot lately. Hmm... Maybe, that's not it either."
"Just make up your mind already..." Karin sweatdropped at Yuzu's indecisiveness.
"I meant that you started spacing out ever since Onii-chan came back from the war and we found out that Dad was a shinigami. That sure was surprising, wasn't it?" Yuzu recalled with a small smile on her face. "I wonder why I didn't get any reiastu when you and Onii-chan did..." A frown immediately replaced her smile as the girl sulked to herself.
"Yuzu," Karin started, looking at her sister from the corner of her eye, "what was your point?" She questioned, reminding her twin of her original purpose of bringing that up. Even after all this time, Yuzu still had the tendency of going off task. 'Well, it's only natural, I suppose. Someone had to get the old goat's craziness in them.' Karin mused to herself as she waited for Yuzu to answer.
"Oh, right. You started spacing out then, but lately it's gotten much worse. I wonder why's that?" She wondered. Suddenly, a gasp escaped her lips as she remembered her original topic before that. "Ah! That's right!" Yuzu panicked, flailing her arms around. "Karin, let's go karaoking."
"Don't wanna." She flat out refused.
However, that was a big mistake. A pair of brown puppy dog eyes appeared in front of Karin, making her stop in her tracks. She sweatdropped as she watched the brown-haired girl speak in a sweet tone that no normal person could ever refuse - not even her.
"Can we pwease go karoaking? Pwease!"
Karin felt her determination falter as she felt tempted by her sister's secret move - Cute Puppy Dog - Baby Speech Attack. Yuzu knew this attack was highly effective against Karin and started using it more often when it was something that she wanted no matter what. You'd think that after using it so many times, it would lose its charm, but instead, it seemed to be getting more effective with each use - almost as if it was being perfected.
"A-ah... Y-you could go on your own, in that case." Karin slightly stuttered as she slowly backed away from the sparkly twin.
"Karin," the said girl could've sworn she saw dog ears flatten on Yuzu's head, "you won't come with me?"
"Ah! N-no! I didn't say that. I-its just that I have," she paused for a second, frantically trying to think of something to say, "something else to do. Yeah, that's right! Something very important that I have to attend to." She nodded in satisfaction - mainly to herself - as she placed her hand on her chin with closed eyes.
"Really?" Yuzu questioned with narrowed eyes and puffed out cheeks. "Then, take me with you. We could go later. Ururu and Jinta wouldn't mind waiting."
"No, you can't come with me." Karin tried speaking as normally as she could, but it seemed that Yuzu already had her figured out.
"That's because you don't really have anywhere to go." Yuzu stared into the twin's gray eyes with piercing brown ones.
"..." Karin sighed in resignation as she began leading the way again, leaving a slightly confused and disappointed Yuzu. "...Let's go then."
"Hai!" Yuzu beamed as she quickly followed the black-haired girl.
Karin let out a small smile as she briefly looked at Yuzu from the corner of her eye and then up into the orange tainted sky as the sun set slowly into the horizon.
It's been 17 months since the Winter War ended and Ichigo returned home after losing his shinigami powers. Their dad, Isshin, had also revealed the fact about him being a former captain of Soul Society. It was a shock to everyone at first, but after thinking over it with a calm mind, all of the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly. Although Isshin did mention that, he didn't, however, reveal anything else to them as to what he did, which squad was he captain of, his zanpakuto's abilities, or anything else pertained to his past. When questioned why he refused to answer them, he replied with his usual goofy smile, saying that "it's all in the past now, so none of that really matters".
Leaving that aside, what Karin's younger self wanted to know the most at that time was Toshiro Hitsugaya. As soon as that name left her lips, an unknown emotion adorned her father's face and a shocked expression was on Ichigo's. After asking Isshin and Ichigo how the ice captain's condition was again, they both averted their gaze saying that they "didn't know" and "many were fatally injured". Ichigo, however, did mention that the last time he saw the white-haired captain was when he had accidently stabbed a brown-haired girl in the heart, thinking it was Aizen. Karin's expression paled as soon as those words left his lips and Ichigo failed to mention on purpose the part where the boy was also cut down by Aizen after being blinded with fury. Surprising both of the males, Karin dropped the subject rather quickly all the while hoping that she would see the white-haired captain soon. However, it has been 17 months since then and she never saw or heard from him nor did she see any other shinigami from Soul Society.
Shaking her head slightly to distract herself from thinking negative thoughts, she looked over at her twin that was humming to herself in glee while following closely behind Karin. Yuzu's hair was longer now and ended right above her shoulders. She had also removed the strawberry pins from her hair and started wearing normal ones – or so you'd think, but that part hasn't changed at all, the normal pins are actually the change in Yuzu's hairstyle.
Leaving that aside, she had certainly grown physically, but the same can't necessarily be said about her mental growth. It's not like she didn't grow at all in that field, but it definitely did change - whether it be for the best or for the worst is entirely up to the situation you find yourself in with Yuzu. For example, Ichigo's had a lot of difficulty lately with Yuzu's attitude. Now that she's older, she wants more attention as well as wishes to impress Ichigo in many ways than one so that she is praised by him. It's only a small desire and a perfectly normal phase for any younger sister at this age to want extra attention from her older brother. However, Ichigo is after all Ichigo - a dense, clueless, impulsive teen with no idea on how to please a girl whether it's his sister or girlfriend - so her attempts almost always end with the poor girl running away screaming "I don't care anymore".
However, Yuzu wasn't the only that had changed so much during these 17 months; Karin had also changed. Wearing shorts only every now and then, most of her closet consisted of multiple skirts of every kind and color – each with intricate girly designs that were totally not Karin's taste. It's not like she wanted to, but Yuzu had finally managed to convince the tomboy by saying "it's the school uniform now, so you have to get used to it". Karin had also grown her hair out long enough that she now wears it into a ponytail using the keepsake that was given to her, Toshiro Hitsugaya's green sash - well, ribbon technically since its used as a hair accessory now.
Even after all this time, the ribbon still served as his promise of his return to her. Wearing it every day, she awaited his return, refusing to believe that he may have died during the war. It was something that she held dearly and close to her heart. Just as he had hoped, it served as her glimmer of hope, pushing her forward through any difficulty - large or small - while reminding her of his memories of when he was with her. But now, after so much time, her faith was beginning to falter. Maybe after all, he did –.
"Oi! Karin! Yuzu!" yelled a red-haired boy from in front of a store they knew all too well. A girl with long black hair with a tint of purple in it was also standing by the boy, waving to the twins as the boy kept shouting. "Over here! What took you so long?"
Yuzu ran from behind the Karin up to the boy and girl, apologizing with a sweet smile. "Sorry, Jinta, Ururu. Karin was trying to make excuses again."
A slight blush appeared on Jinta's face as he looked away from the girl's bright smile in attempt to sound and look grumpy. "W-well, I guess it's alright then." Looking from the corner of his eyes at Karin that had stopped walking and gazing at the sky, Jinta yelled at her. "Hey! First, you make Yuzu come late and now you're day-dreaming?!"
Glancing at Jinta with a still half-dazed expression, Karin apologized with a small smile, leaving a dumbstruck expression on the boy's face. "Ah, sorry."
"Karin," Jinta began as he eyed her cautiously, "are you sick or something?"
"Hmm?"
Feeling more dumbfounded at the tomboy's actions and reactions, he sweatdropped as he tried speaking coherently. "Uh... Well... It's just that... normally you... N-nevermind. Come on, Yuzu, Ururu." He turned around briskly, walking into Urahara's store. After walking reaching the door and realizing that Karin wasn't behind them, he turned around asking in an irritated tone. "Damn it, Karin! Aren't you coming?!"
'Well, I'll be sure to knock some sense into him when he comes back for making me wait so long.' She finished her thoughts before feeling her lips curve up into a smirk as she glared at Jinta, snapping at him. "Shut up, bird-brain! I'm coming."
The boy was taken aback, mumbling to himself as he resumed walking. "What the hell? Now, she's back to normal."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, you retired tomboy!"
"Retired?! Why you little –?! Shut up and go make yourself useful, moocher junior!"
"Don't go comparing me to that moocher!"
"Oh? And why not? Last time I checked, you two look very similar."
"WE ARE NOT SIMILAR! I am definitely much cooler than that loser."
"Pfft. You? Cooler? Don't make me laugh."
Closing the door swiftly after hearing loud voices argue amongst themselves just outside their room, the shopkeeper leaned against the door, looking at his silent guest with only the dim orange tint of the sun's light shining in the room.
"Ara, ara, it sure is nice being young, don't you agree?" asked the shopkeeper in a cheerful tone as he waved his fan around.
"…" The guest sighed in annoyance and turned in his gaze to the side, waiting for the crazy shopkeeper to go back to what they were discussing earlier.
"Ah, that's good. I was sure that you'd agree with me, being the –."
"I didn't even say anything, damn it!" The figure snapped.
"Now, now… It may be in your best interest to quiet down." Urahara warned with his fan still covering his face. "You don't want her to know that you're here, do you?" After receiving a hesitant, annoyed look from his guest, the shopkeeper closed his fan as he took a seat. "Anyways, so how does it feel?"
"About that… You sure you didn't do anything weird to it?" He asked while stretching his arms to check out the new gigai that was given to him. "It feels weird like you did something else to it." He looked at the shopkeeper fanning himself with a suspicious glare. "Urahara, you didn't do anything, did you?"
"Ah, Taichou," Urahara began, acting hurt as he covered his face with his fan, "don't be like that. It's probably because it's been a long time since you came here."
"Maybe. I just don't like the way these gigai feel, especially this one." The person said in resignation, not wanting to continue the subject. "I'll be leaving now, but," he paused for a while to get off the floor, "keep in mind, if something –"
Suddenly, the door opened abruptly, revealing a slightly puzzled Karin as she looked into the room. Yuzu came up from behind her and also peered into the room.
"What's the matter, Karin?" Yuzu questioned.
"Kurosaki, is there something you needed from me?" The shopkeeper asked while drinking his tea without looking at the girl.
"Ah, no. It's nothing." She answered as she walked away after having one last look inside the room. "Come on, Yuzu."
Yuzu looked at her sister's receding back and then at Urahara before quickly apologizing and running after Karin. "Karin, what happened?" She asked curiously.
Not listening to Yuzu, the girl unknowingly answered the curious twin's question while mumbling to herself. "That's strange. I thought I heard someone else in there. I couldn't feel a presence though."
Meanwhile, the shopkeeper sighed with relief shortly after the fraternal twins left. "That was a close one… He already left though."
A/N:
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