Karin Kurosaki POV

Things have been pretty alright around here lately, better than the way they were the last few months anyway. Ichigo is planning on keeping the baby I think and is less stressed now that Nel started being our neighbor. I like her, she acts crazy and that green hair is something strange but at least she got that bum Grimmjow to grow up and start being a dad.

He comes over every now and again to bring baby stuff over that I personally think he stole but as long as Ichigo is happy I don't care. Grimmjow is not as bad as he wants his reputation to make people think he is so maybe he can be a good parent as long as he has someone to keep a strong leash on him. I have to wonder though what he is he doing playing the field with my brother and Nel? He has dinner with us and goes on little hang out trips with Ichigo but goes out at night to do whatever he and Nel do then goes back to her place and sleeps there. I will keep my nose out of that, whatever will happen will happen. Love is complicated and it makes a girl wonder if life- long celibacy is the way to go at such a young age?

Yuzu and I have gone back to acting the way we use to before we had our boy crazy moment. I haven't been able to do more than wave awkwardly at Jinta then walk as fast as I can away from him as I can. Yuzu is even worse; she has actually ran using her girly princess run from Toshiro who has tried to talk to her hundreds of times since we had our "sexy encounter" awhile ago. He really does like her and has given her plenty of space to think things over but she can't get it out of her mind how many bad things she had done that lead up to the sex so she won't talk to him.

Toshiro comes to my soccer games with Renji and Rangiku and keeps watching her from the corner of his eye the entire game as she sits with Orihime and Uryū. I wonder if they are seeing each other. Still none of my business but they would make a cute couple, an air head and a brain may balance each other out and as for Rangiku and Renji they are a good pair too just overly open in public. They make out all the time and it is obvious it embarrasses Toshiro but they look like a little family when they are together.

Speaking of Rangiku she has been doing a good job being our social worker lady. She convinced her bosses that if Grimmjow can be a responsible guardian and get a real job they could overlook the strikes we already have and he actually did it. Fitting his style he got a job in a tattoo shop cleaning up and doing odd jobs and another one in a music store in the metal section. Also she got a similar deal for if he would go back to school or at least take some online classes like Ichigo is going to start doing and he chose online. In his own words he said" School sucks balls but computer school doesn't sound so bad." Just because he is making changes doesn't change that he still isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch.

It is a Wednesday morning so Karin stood in the bathroom sloppily brushing her teeth with her eyes closed, slowly passing her toothbrush back and forth over her teeth to get ready for school.

"Karin can you go any slower? Yoruichi will be here any minute to get you two and you're holding us up!"

Ichigo impatiently knocked on the twin's bathroom door to keep them all from running behind schedule but from him and Karin not being morning people they hardly ever left on time and then had to hear an earful of motherly lecturing from Yoruichi. And after Youroichi said what she needed to say when they would get back from school they would find Urahara had left childish notes with doodles of him sticking his tongue out saying things like,"Yourichi keeps getting mad at you, then she gets mad at me which makes me mad at you so stop making her mad so I can stop having to listen to her!" on the door.

"Yeah, yeah I heard you. I'm halfway done you're the one that takes twenty minutes to tie his shoes Buddha belly."

"You try lacing your freaking shoes when you can't see your own stupid feet sometime! Uh just get ready so we don't have to hear all the crap Youroichi keeps reading in her little magazines ok."

"It's so easy to pick on him now that it's almost sad." She smiled a foamy smile to herself as she spit the toothpaste in the sink.

Picking out an outfit of black shorts, a gold and red t-shirt and a pair of red sneakers she was done in a flash after brushing her straight black hair and wiping her face with a wash cloth. She walked into the kitchen to grab a piece of toast for breakfast. Spreading a glob of grape jelly on her toast she leaned against the kitchen counter. Yuzu was having a glass of orange juice reviewing for a test muttering the answers to a none existent person while tapping her pink flats on the chair in front of her.

My sister has become such a preppy girl in the last year wearing leggings and all of that but she is still my twin. I do get a little jealous of her sometimes since with her being a bit friendlier than I can be people like her more sometimes but I have my team for friends. They might be a bunch of crazy boys but I don't think there are any girls who go to our school that are tough enough to hang out with me.

"Karin, could you go out there and help Ichigo with his shoes I admit it is funny to watch but we both know he won't ask for help and after ten minutes it gets stale."

Yuzu continued reading from her text book as I passed by and saw she was looking at math. Ichigo let me tie his shoes after I told him we were already running late and he still needed to eat something but he is so hard headed. We are family and he does not even feel comfortable asking us for help. He causes a lot of stress for himself that way, if he would just talk to us or let me and Yuzu help him more he could calm down. I guess we will just have to force it on him so he can see things will work out more smoothly that way.

After all what is going to happen when he has the baby which is only about three months away? Does he really think he can do all the feeding and changing all on his own pulse taking care of school, the apartment and his little sisters? He would have to be pretty optimistic to believe he could be superman and do it all.

There was a knock on the door so I went to answer it as Yuzu brought Ichigo something to eat. Watching his struggle to lug his body into the kitchen would be a waste of time so she usually just brings him food where ever he is in the apartment but he always will say that he could have gone and gotten it. Looking out the peep hole in our door I saw a huge green eye looking back at me that must have belonged to Nel. I opened the door to let her in but she wasn't alone, Jinta and his sister Ururu were standing behind her.

"Good morning Karin! Yoruichi asked me if I could drop you guys off at school this morning for her because she has to restock the shops inventory today. Can we come in?"

"Sure."

I stepped back letting Nel pass me first in a skirt that would have been indecent if she didn't have on some white leggings and an orange sweater that for once covered her chest. Thank goodness it is getting cold so she and Rangiku have to cover up more because even though I'm not big on personal appearance I do feel more comfortable standing next to flat chested Rukia than those two or Orihime. Ururu slowly walked inside with her head slightly bowed like always from her being so shy and lastly Jinta who I tried not to look at.

With that head of red hair it's hard to believe he and Renji aren't blood brothers. He ended up at Urahara's shop when he was still really young and Ururu followed not long after that. He bullies her but he can be really caring too, like when she fell and broke her ankle while they were out shopping he carried her and all the groceries home on his back. We started off on a bad note when we first meet so it is surprising we grew to like each other at all. He broke one of our windows and I got blamed because it was a soccer ball so I went and busted one of their windows and got dragged home by Youroichi. Me and him kept having competitions and shouting matches while Yuzu and Ururu would just sit and knit or help each other with chores. I guess after a couple years we became friends without even knowing it.

Renji came into the picture around the time when our mom died and just sorta filled the missing pice in Urahara's family and was a support for were too little to get all the details on Renji's birth parents but we know that they passed away a month or two before he moved in because they got in a bad accident. The same way Ichigo prefers not to talk about mom or dad so does Renji so we still haven't found out any more than that.

Jinta went and sat in the kitchen with Yuzu and his sister so I went and sat with Nel and Ichigo in the living room. I just cant have things feel like they are back to normal every time I have to see or talk to him.

"How have you been feeling lately Ichi? You look a bit paler than yesterday?"

She brushed back Ichigo's orange hair that matched her sweater and placed her forehead against his and held it there for a few moments. Ichigo's face tinted a light pink and faded back to his natural color. It is a weird observation but I think he likes Nel and that's why he feels better when she comes around. I would too if I was a guy, she is sweet and bubbly and is really smart when you get to know her better and dresses in sexy proacative outfits. She is a mans dream in more ways than one.

"Hmm you feel a little warm Ichigo I don't want you to go to school today. You might be getting sick from the sudden change in weather so I will tell Grimmjow to stay over here and babysit you."

"Babysit me? How old do you think I am? I can take care of myself I don't need him to take care of me."

"I was telling you not asking you hon so shut-up and get back in bed."

Nel took my brother by the hand into his room where I could hear her forcing him on the bed to relax and taking off the shoes he had worked so hard to get on this morning. I already know she was once an Espada so she should be as strong as she is but watching it can be scary sometimes. She has lifted Renji up over her head before when she and him got in a fight over whether Grimmjow should be able to see Ichigo or not. You can guess who won that fight.

"Ok I am going to run across the hall and tell Grimm to come over so you kids can go wait for me in front of the building. Remember to take your house keys for when we get out of school."

Nel went back to her apartment to wake up the slacker who wouldn't have to work either of his jobs today. Picking up my backpack and coat as I went to hold the elevator for the others and pushed the button waiting for the elevator to arrive. Then when it came someone pushed me inside.

Jinta Hanakari POV

I have to talk to Karin this whole pretending everything is alright between us is killing me. I made a mistake in not telling her how I have felt about her then getting drunk and having sex with her. She must have been really scared when she sobered up and found our bodies naked on Matsumoto's floor. Her life hasn't been going well this year and I made it worse. But being Karin of course she is going to put on the act that she wasn't hurt by any of this, I might have fallen for something like this when we first started to be friends but not anymore I can see right through it after all these years.

"What the hell do you think you're doing pushing me like that Jinta?"

"We need to talk about what happened Karin or we can't be the way we were. So if you went going to come forward and say something I had to."

I pushed the stop button on the elevator and it halted to a stop making us lose our balance and nearly fall.

"Jinta start this freaking elevator right this minute or I swear you won't be able to see straight for the next month when I'm done with you!"

She's serious but so am I. I will not give up, I want my friend back.

"No, I won't. Karin please just let me say what I have to say because if you don't your new address will be elevator number twelve for the rest of your life."

She sighed and glared at me as she slid to the floor and flinched as I scooted closer to her. Back before we had accidental sex she would not have cared how close I got to her and I miss being able to hug her, wrestle and yell, or scream with her. I miss feeling welcomed when I would go and cheer her on at her soccer games and talking about the latest trouble the moocher and her brother have gotten into. To tell the absolute truth I am happy I had sex with Karin. It may have been drunk and not exactly the way we pictured our first time but I did it with the person I had been hoping to give it to most of my life now.

I told her all of this sitting in an elevator with a flickering lightbulb hoping to say something that would make her look at me with her large dark eyes that make my heart speed up every time I see them. She thinks of herself as not being feminine enough for boys but I think she is perfect the way she is, whether that's wearing a dress or shorts with grass stains on them. I kissed her after pouring my heart out in a way that would give Renji enough stuff to blackmail me for life and I appreciated my time alone with her. Karin at first was reluctant to kiss me back but then leaned in and we connected like how people kiss in animes and there are sparks and fireworks.

"Maybe if we have a re-do of our first time when I'm ready it will make up for what we did, but if you forgive me and let me say that I …love you and stuff it will be good enough for right now."

She still hides her emotions from everyone else, even her twin, but if I at least get to have this one small glimpse into her heart anything she can throw at me will be fine.

They started the elevator back up and meet the others who had to take the stairs to get to the front of the building sienc the two of them had been inside the only elevator on their side of the complex. No one asked any questions about why they were holding hands the group just went on their way to school.

Karin POV

School is gets more miserable the colder the weather because my teacher feels it is in her job description to liven up the dreary feelings we get around this time of the year by doing dumb school activities. It wouldn't be so bad if she picked things that were age appropriate like not watching G rated movies or making cut outs of snowflakes with safety scissors, but she seems to think its fun and we go ahead and let her. She is such a soft woman that her first day on the job she nearly had a nervous breakdown and had to sit in the nurses office. We do our best not to upset her so we just nod our heads and smile cheesy smiles all day to make sure she doesn't give herself a heart attack. Jinta and I don't have any classes together this year but we plan on having lunch together today. He is a cool guy and a better friend than I deserve. Yuzu needs to kiss and make-up with Toshiro already he has worked twice as hard to win her over as Jinta did for me so she should at least be friends with him.

"Miss Kurosaki would you please stop day dreaming and pay attention I won't be repeating the steps in how to make our snowflakes so I would hope you are listening."

"Uh…yes, sorry about that."

Karin's' seat was in the back of the class near the door so usually in school she would end up gazing out the window for most of the day thinking about different things. The school was on the small side so the classrooms weren't very spaceies either. She was crowded by a group of giggling girls who spent their whole class period gossiping. Karin had been on the verge of ripping her own ears off numerous times from the ongoing chatter of girly mess that spewed from these girls mouths but today it didn't bother her at all. Her mind was on the special surprise she had made up to help speed up Yuzu's love recovery with a note she had planted in her locker that would take effect when they all went on the middle school over night field trip.