Or sounds, I guess since there were multiple. First, the lights flickered off with a loud spark sound at the very last moment of light. I opened my mouth to comment on the outage but before I got anything out, a loud whirring outside the building caught my attention. The wind was blowing harder than I had ever experienced in my life. Suddenly I found myself crashing into the floor with a weight holding me down on my left side. For a moment, I thought that something had broken and fallen on me. But then everyone's voices picked up. First came Ichigo, "Dad?! Do you need help? Momo and Sakura need out of that room!"
Then Dad called back, "No, son! Stay there we're almost out."
I tried to get back up and try to adjust my vision to see someone or really anything at all and that's when it started to make sense. "Stay down," it was Toushirou's voice in my ear, which meant he was holding me down. I rolled my eyes, "I can take care of myself. Let go."
He scoffed at me, "Yeah no. I don't trust you to stay out of danger so I'm not moving."
I sighed. He was right, of course. I was intending to help my father but I knew he wasn't going to let me do that, "So what's going on anyway."
Ichigo answered that one, "A tornado like storm. Very strong winds, hail, flooding rain, that kind of thing."
I nodded understanding the situation, "Okay. Toushirou? Can we at least sit up? This weird half laying down position is really uncomfortable."
He sighed back at me, "Yes but if the windows start breaking we have to get as close to the ground as possible."
I rolled my eyes as we sat up, "Is anyone else following that guideline?"
It was Tai who answered that time, "Yeah I pulled your sister down and she pulled Ichigo down."
I wanted to face-palm, "Wow. Okay so basically what your saying is that none of the Kurosaki's care about our own safety and you two are overly concerned about it."
Tai laughed, "Yep that's exactly what I'm saying. I didn't know if Shiro got you until you guys started talking though. He looked like he was asleep."
Toushirou's arms remained pressing down on the top of my shoulders and I could feel on of his legs behind me and the other underneath my own legs. In short, we were very close together so when he decided to respond to Tai his voice echoed in my ear and I could feel his breath fan out against the side of my face, "I wasn't asleep. I'm just tired. I just went to sleep before you woke me up again to come here. I'm not superhuman you know."
Tai mock gasped, "You're not? I thought for sure you were since you are good at everything but socializing and swimming."
I felt like I could feel Toushirou rolling his eyes, "What does that make you? Anti-human since you're bad at almost everything?"
Tai laughed, "I'm not bad at the things you are good at I'm just not as good at them as you are."
At that point, I heard my father open the door and call out, "Ichigo, I need you to help me get Momo's bed out of the room so she doesn't have to attempt getting up so soon after labor."
I heard Ichigo shuffle to his feet at that point and eventually heard the bed roll out of the room and into the hallway. It was only then that I realized that Sakura wasn't crying anymore, "Where's the baby?"
Momo responded sounding weak but still like herself, "I have her. She's beautiful wait until you see her."
I tried to turn my head in that general direction and found my mouth on Toshiro's face…right next to his mouth based on the location of his breath on my face. I pulled back, "Why are you so close to me?!"
I couldn't see him blushing but I knew it was going on because my face felt like it was on fire also, "I'm sorry but I don't have super humanly long arms! So in order to keep you from getting up I kind of have to be close!"
I groaned, "Why are you so annoying?!"
I heard his low chuckle right beside me, "Because I'm a great friend and you aren't willing to admit it."
I didn't know what it was about that comment that made my breath catch in my throat but it did and I went into my own mental zone where everything else didn't exist. Somewhere the world of my mind I tried to figure out what exactly bothered me about that statement. Or even trying to figure out my life in general. What he had said had been true hadn't it? So maybe it wasn't that that bothered me. What was it then? We had almost kissed so maybe it had been that. That's probably what it was, my body was telling me exactly what I had told Momo: Toshiro and I shouldn't be a couple. But my stomach continued to churn after I had come to that conclusion. So, obviously something else bothered me as well. It seemed like hours later when I determined what it was. He had called himself a great friend….a great friend. But he wasn't that at all. He wasn't a friend. He was my best friend and I had never had one outside of my own family before. Before I could put words to it though he was shaking me, "Karin! Are you okay?! What happened you haven't moved in forever and you got really quiet!"
I smiled and moved my hand up to the arm that was in front of my shoulders and held him place nuzzling my face into his arm. He froze almost immediately, "Wha…."
I interrupted him, "I'm fine just thinking."
He whispered back at me, "Okay."
Then pulled me close enough to put his face in my hair and my shoulder against his chest. A normal person would have thought that we were a couple but the amazing thing was that I was sure that neither one of us felt that way. It wasn't a romantic connection we had it was one of understanding and friendship without words. Then I understood what Momo had seen. She had seen the kind of perfect understanding we had for one another and misinterpreted it as romance which only made me smile more.
To me, that was one of the silliest things that could be said mostly just because it was incorrect. I didn't love Toushirou as a man I loved him as my best friend. And that was good enough for both of us. Or at least I was pretty sure it was good with both of us.
Everything was silent for a long time until I realized that the majority of our group had fallen asleep in the darkness of the hallway. I leaned further into Toushirou knowing that if I was going to fall asleep somewhere in the middle of a storm that might break the windows at least I'd be safe there. I had thought he was asleep too but he responded to the slight increase of weight, "You ok?"
I nodded, "Yeah just sleepy."
I felt him sigh, "I'm not a pillow you know."
I shook my head, "But that's where you're wrong. See the wall wasn't made to be a pillow, it was made to be a wall. Same with the floor. But human beings? Human beings can be whatever they choose to be or at least that's what they tell us. So technically you are as much pillow as you are doctor at this point because you haven't achieved either state yet."
I felt his smile against the, now, top of my head, "I swear there's something wrong with you. How do you feel about this?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow together, "What do you mean? How do I feel about what?"
He laughed, "It's confirmed there is something really wrong with you. I mean what do you think about how we're sitting. I was just thinking about how most people would jump to the conclusion that we were a couple when we're not. I mean I guess it's just strange to me that even though neither one of us have romantic intentions to be with the other we almost consistently perpetuate the idea to others by doing things like this."
I was quiet for a minute or two just trying to understand how we had been thinking almost exactly the same thing but even then neither one of us really elaborated about our feelings about the current situation just our overall friendship, "You didn't really say what you think about right now you know. I think I don't care about it because I know that neither one of us are trying to make it weirder than it needs to be."
He was quiet for a moment, "I thought for sure it would have bothered you."
I shook my head, "It…it probably would have yesterday. But right now I'm okay with it."
"Why?"
I opened my mouth to answer but before I could I realized I had no answer. Why was I suddenly okay with him being so close to me? Just this morning I would have punched him. I couldn't talk myself through that one because my previous explanation didn't make much sense in context. We were great friends? That wasn't a good enough reason. We were great friends yesterday weren't we? Maybe I was going steadily insane because of the dark. Or maybe I was delusional because of lack of sleep...yeah, let's go with that one. In the end, I only barely knew how to respond, "I think I'm just insanely sleepy to the point that my personality has dozed off without me. I will probably not be okay with this after I go to sleep."
I felt him nod against my skull, "Noted. I won't try to hug you tomorrow then."
I smiled again but it was different that time, almost...sadder. I sighed, "I really need to sleep. Everything that is going on in my head makes absolutely no sense and every time I try and make it make sense it only confuses me more. It's really frustrating."
"Trust me I'm just as confused as you are. But probably not for the same reasons"
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Why are you confused?"
He shook his head, "It's not important. I'll probably tell you someday if you still want to know...but that day isn't coming soon I don't think. Tell you what: if you still want to know what has been going on in my head when we're about to get out of school for Christmas, I'll tell you. But right now that's a topic I'd rather not venture into."
I nodded almost too tired to fight him on it, almost, "Can I have a little bit of insight into what you're thinking about? It doesn't have to be the overall thing that's confusing you. It doesn't even need to be very conclusive evidence of anything. I just don't feel like it's fair that I told you what I thought and you won't tell me anything."
He paused for a moment in everything: movement, breathing, everything. I almost took my question back but right then he answered me, "Let's just put it like this. Everything is a lot easier when no one cares what you have to say but that's also a life I would hate to be stuck in."
I nodded but I didn't understand. In truth, he sounded kind of depressed and I had no idea why…and that bothered me. But at least I knew why that one bothered me. It was because it felt like he didn't trust me with something important and I thought we had moved past that point. I ignored the bad feeling I got from that and changed the topic, "Hey, I have a question."
"Hm?"
I tried to look up at him despite the fact that it was futile, "Have you ever written a song that follows my personality as you see it like you do Tai?"
He laughed, "You could have just asked 'have you ever written a song for me' I would have known would you meant."
"Well have you?"
He shook his head, "As surprising as the answer is to me, it's no. I've written a lot of songs for me recently but I actually haven't even finished the songs for Tai's next album next which by the way have to be done in about two months which wouldn't be a problem if I was able to fix my brain into that mindset. But it seems like it's impossible. That's what I was trying to do before I fell asleep and then came here. I'm not sure I'll finish it on time."
I blinked, "What happens then?"
He shivered, "Well according to Tai if I don't finish on time I've got to give him some of the songs for me or for the two us as twins and he'll sing those. I really don't like that idea."
I tilted my head a little to the side, "Why not?"
He sighed, "It's a whole different style that isn't at all consistent. His fans would be able to tell and I told him that and he said that if they started questioning it I would have to go on stage with him which I know sounds ridiculous and impossible but it's only the music business that's keeping Tai away from the family company and he hates that company with a passion. But Dad told Tai that he could stay away from the company as long as his music was thriving. I hate the idea of being on that stage though."
I frowned, "When you told me way back when that you didn't like being associated with Tai was this what you were talking about? This almost forced position in a somewhat spotlight?"
He nodded. I shook my head, "Then don't do it."
He gasped, "I can't do that. I can't just quit on him, he's my brother. He's knows I'm having trouble with the songs and he made his stance on the subject. I agreed to this mess when I gave him the first of his songs. I knew I'd eventually get to this point of trouble. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."
I rolled my eyes, "So say you have to give him a song for you to sing what would you want to give him?"
He gave me a sort of shove with the arm that was behind me, "You know you aren't supposed to ask that."
I shook my head, "It won't matter if you have to give him something. I'm a lot less terrifying than the stage in my opinion."
He shook his head, "I'm just going to warn you that if I sing a song written for me that it's not going to line up with actual events."
I shook my head, "That doesn't matter. I just want to know what kind of things you write for yourself."
It was silent for a minute then he asked another question, "Can I just tell you lyrics instead of singing? Singing is kind of loud and I don't want anyone else to wake up."
I nodded, "Sure."
And so he started saying lyrics which some how started to turn into singing before the first verse was over. Then before I realized what was happening his quiet singing had me dozing off.
Heellllo friends! I've had so much fun writing this chapter and yes I realize that Karin contradicts herself but that is because she is insanely confused and tired. She has absolutely no idea what she is even trying to grasp. Oh but Toushirou has an idea what he's trying to comprehend. And I'm sure you all know what it is also. Anyway I forgot to tell you before that the song that he sung while in the music room was a Fallout Boy song named Jet Pack Blues. The song I have in mind for him to sing at the end of this chapter is Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer but you can replace it with whatever you want. ALSO IF YOU GUYS WANT TO DRAW FANART FOR THIS STORY AT ANY POINT OR EVEN WRITE A SPIN OFF SERIES YOU CAN YOU JUST HAVE TO TELL ME ABOUT IT. THAT GOES FOR ALL OF MY STORIES ACTUALLY. This has been my favorite chapter so far! Please Review and tell me what you think about everything.
P.S. If you have a oneshot idea that you want me to write just tell me and I'll see if I can add it to my Oneshot Collection.
