Understanding II: School Daze
~Another Side

Karin felt saying her day was rough was an understatement of what had occurred. It started off when they got to school without Toshiro. When they arrived, Karin and Yuzu headed to the office with a letter for their teacher.

"How are you two doing today? It is a nice day out so you should be spending it outside until the bell for class rings." The weather put the female teacher into a good mood.

Yuzu handed the piece of paper over to the woman. "Toshiro isn't going to be able to come to class today."

The woman glanced down, her mood changing. "Hitsugaya-kun is in the hospital today?"

"He got hurt and dad had to take him in. He should though be better tomorrow." Karin stated.

"Well, I'm not surprised that he's in the hospital. I take it he was in another fight then?" The vice principle's snide voice sounded with triumph.

"Toshiro-kun wasn't in a fight." Yuzu spoke up, her hands on her hips and her lips twisted into a pout.

"Do you have any proof that he wasn't in a fight?" The man spluttered.

"Well..." The brown haired twin glanced at the ground.

"Don't listen to him Yuzu. He's someone who judges people by their looks and isn't worth our time." Karin tugged on her sister's sleeve and they headed off to class. "Of course, Toshiro 'did' get hurt in a fight. It isn't the type of fight this loser was thinking of though."

The girls went outside for awhile and Karin found herself suddenly surrounded by her friends. "You know this Hitsugaya person?"

Karin grimaced. "My older brother knows him better then I do. He's the one who brought Toshiro to stay at our house."

One of her friends got closer to her face, causing her to glance up. "So you're saying he's staying at your place?"

"I don't get why you guys are so interested in him." The girl found herself glad when the bell rang, but not for long. Nabara Yami went and asked Yuzu where Toshiro was and she ended up finding out that the white haired youth was at the hospital. If Karin had her way, the answer would have been "none of your business."

The next thing she knew the girls where whispering to themselves about something. Yami and her group approached Yuzu after class. "Are you going and visiting Toshiro-kun in the hospital?"

Karin's sister opened her mouth to say something only for the other female to slap a hand over the girls mouth. "I want to know why you ask."

"I want to visit him in the hospital of course." The girl suddenly batted her eyelids. "I am quite sure he would appreciate a visit."

"You don't even know him." Karin piped up. "Yuzu and I are just going to head home."

She tugged Yuzu after her and they arrived at their lockers. The light haired twin frowned at her sister. "I got permission from dad to pick Toshiro-kun up from the hospital. You remember, right?"

"I remember all right. I have his change of clothes in my bag." The darker twin frowned at her sister. "We don't have Toshiro's permission to bring classmates."

"I guess that would be impolite. You could have said something to Yami-chan you know."

"Except Nabara doesn't know the meaning of no." Karin let out a deep sigh and they found themselves headed to the hospital.

"How do you think Uncle Ryu is doing all right?" Yuzu suddenly asked.

"Who?" The small female shook her head at the other.

"Don't you remember? He's dad's friend and he's the director of the hospital. Dad said we can call him Uncle Ryu when we see him and Ryu didn't argue about it."

"I don't remember any of this." Karin let out a deep sigh.

"The last time we saw him was when you got injured playing soccer the last time."

"I remember seeing a man with silver hair, but I remember our only uncle having brownish hair. I remember seeing him briefly at Mom's funeral and dad said it was her brother."

"He's not related to us Karin. He's just a friend of daddy's." Yuzu pouted.

Finally they arrived at the hospital. When they first arrived Karin and Yuzu found themselves being told no, they couldn't just go visiting without an adult present. However, a man came up behind them. "It's all right. Hitsugaya Toshiro is ready to check out. I am wondering where Isshin is."

Karin watched as her twin turned around and without any restraints hugged the stranger with white hair. He honestly looked familiar, but something didn't seem to fit with her memory. Her sister was quite happy. "Uncle Ryu."

The man very calmly patted the girl on the head before giving the girls the room Toshiro was in and heading on his other rounds. Karin though wasn't happy. "I can't believe you did that Yuzu."

"It isn't as if he is a complete stranger Karin." Yuzu muttered as Karin pulled the package of clothing out of her bag. Yuzu's hand reached for the door and swung it open.

The dark haired twin found her eyebrow raising again as her sister had yet again shown a lack of restraint. Toshiro had the hospital robe pulled over his head and had frozen as the two girls came into the room. Yuzu blinked a couple of times as the situation went over her head. "Toshiro-kun?"

Karin then watched as the small shinigami slowly pulled the gown back down. On top of having a confused look on his face the dark haired preteen noticed that his face was starting to flush a vivid red. She walked over to where he was sitting on the bed and dropped the clothes onto his lap. "Since class was over Yuzu and I thought we'd come to pick you up We decided you would prefer to wear a fres set of clothes, but I see yours got washed."

As she turned to leave she was quite sure she heard a thank you escape his lips. When he stepped out of the room his cheeks were still flushed, making Karin glad they had avoided Yumi's little band. He asked where Isshin was and she shrugged it off. There was a lack of conversation but Karin knew full well she needed to speak to him about yesterday.

To her dismay though Toshiro proceeded to avoid her. He headed first to see her father and then he headed to Ichigo's room with the excuse that he was going to do homework. Eventually she went up stairs and happened to catch him pulling on a strand of white hair. Letting out a sigh, she spok up. "Toshiro? Why are you being a narcissist again? It is completely weird you know."

"It honestly isn't what you think." The next thing out of his mouth surprised her. "I actually hate the way I look a lot."

"Then the reason he's nitpicking his appearance has nothing to do with him being a narcissist." Karin found herself picking up on the frustration leaking out. "Something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I can't exactly talk about. I'm probably mistaken anyways."

Karin watched him grimace again at the mirror. "Are you trying to avoid me?" She watched as he flinched and gave her a look out of the corner of the eye. "I thought so, but I kind of deserve that reaction from you don't I? Can we please talk? T is important, what I have to say to you."

Karin watched as he began to fidget. "He's very uncomfortable around me. I should have been more hospitable."

"Can you promise not to hit me?"

"Yeah... he's really uncomfortable around me..."