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"Of course I do," Yuzu replied, following him out on the balcony to be greeted with a beautiful big lake. The trees surrounding the lake that hadn't yet lost their leaves had different shades of red, orange and brown leaves. This is going to be a nice little get away. "Okay, this place is obviously unbelievably beautiful. Can we go on a walk?"

"That'd be great right now after having been in the car for an eternity-" Taro broke off when his phone buzzed. "My parents want to go to dinner in half an hour. That's just enough time for a walk around this place."

"Perfect." Yuzu said, pausing to look back at the view again. Let's hope this Fall break is even better than last years

The next day, Sunday

"Ready to go?" Taro asked after walking out of the bathroom.

"Uh-huh," Yuzu said, wavering a bit while trying to put her shoes on. "Okay, now I'm fully ready."

Taro chuckled as he and Yuzu left their room to go downstairs. "I checked out the window this morning, and it didn't rain like we thought it would. The grass shouldn't be wet."

"Good," Yuzu said, smiling as they were greeted by the beautiful scenery once outside. "I want to walk around and get some exercise in."

Taro raised an eyebrow and smirked. "That's funny because this morning you said that you wanted to go shopping and try out some pastries from that bakery we passed last night."

"We have to walk there right? I think that's exercise." Yuzu said, laughing along with Taro, as he took her hand. Leaving the place they were staying at, she observed the buildings coming up. Last night they discovered that there was a bunch of little shops on the country club property that were cute, but most were closed last night.

"This place is kind of neat," Taro said, having been thinking the same as her. "It's much cooler when all the shops are open. It's kind of like a small town."

"It really does feel like it," Yuzu agreed, although she shrugged at the thought. "I guess that's the country club life for you. You can afford to go to your own secluded little town, where most people couldn't dream of going."

"I do think people actually live on the property too," Taro added, pointing to some distant houses. "I mean most people do come here just to visit for a day or a week or so. But I think those houses are permanent residents."

"Wow," Yuzu said, having got distracted while admiring an older movie theater that they were passing. "That place looks so vintage. We will have to see a movie before we leave."

"I think we can arrange that," Taro said, as they finally go to the bakery. He opened the door for her. "This place already smells amazing."

Yuzu nodded in agreement, as they walked in. "Wow. Can I live in this place? It's so cute."

Taro grinned. "So, you want to live in a bakery?"

"Well, it would always smell nice," Yuzu said, laughing along with Taro. "No, but I mean a place like this. It feels like a small town. I mean, Karakura Town is great and all, but I just don't think I want to stay there forever."

"I don't know," Taro said with a shrug. "I can picture you ending up in a big city somewhere."

Yuzu raised an eyebrow. "Really? I seem like a big city kind of person?"

Taro grinned. "I mean, with you being a famous artist and all."

"Don't start that up again," Yuzu said, with a laugh, as they finally approached the counter. She looked at all the pastries through the glass. "I have no idea what I want to get."

At the Wayhurst Mountains

Karin's fingers glided over the piano's keys, and she found herself lost in the music. They were at the ski lodge, and she found a piano to pass some of the time. They had decided to go skiing early in the morning, and she only went down a couple times before deciding to spend some time in the lodge.

Her phone buzzing caught her attention, and the music stopped as she lifted her fingers from the keys. Picking up the phone, she raised an eyebrow.

Hey Karin. Did you guys end up going skiing this morning?

Karin: Yeah, we went early this morning. I had to take a break and go in the lodge to warm up.

I thought you were a mountain type of person. Shouldn't you love the outdoors?

Karin: Oh, I do. It's the snow that I have a love/hate relationship with.

Going back to playing the piano, she finished up the song she had been playing before. Once she played the last night, she smiled as she heard clapping. Looking over her shoulder, her smile widened at Toshiro. "I was wondering where you went."

"Ah," Toshiro started, picking up two coffees that he had set down in order to clap for her. He walked them over and sat on the other side of the piano bench. "I thought you'd like a nice cup of hot coffee… I love that song by the way."

"Thanks… For that and the coffee." Karin replied, accepting one of the coffees. She heard her phone buzz with another text message, but she left it alone and sipped her coffee.

When the phone buzzed a second time, Toshiro raised an eyebrow at Karin's lack of responsiveness. "Are you going to answer that text?"

Karin shook her head right away. "No, I'm not, because… I'm on vacation. I'm trying not to be on my phone the whole time."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Yeah okay."

"What?" Karin asked, smiling when she realized he was smirking at her. "I can go without my phone thank you very much."

"Uh huh," Toshiro said, chuckling at her eye roll before he sipped his coffee. "Hey so, I saw a couch open by a fireplace down the hall. You want to go warm up?"

"Of course. That sounds really cozy." Karin agreed, before they kissed. As they started down the hall, Karin began to trail slowly behind Toshiro, as she looked at the text on her phone.

It's not snowing over here right now. Maybe you could come and visit us.

Karin typed back a quick maybe, before putting her phone away to catch up with Toshiro. "I can't wait to be all toasty by the fire. My toes are still frozen from the snow outside."

Yuzu and Taro's POV

Leaving the bakery, Yuzu was humming happily, as she felt a little bit of a sugar buzz starting. "That was the best muffin that I've ever had in my entire life."

"I thought the lemon loaf was fairly good. It was not only lemon bread, but the lemon glaze on top was so delicious. It was definitely a good decision to go there," Taro said, as they started a slow walk down the sidewalk. At Yuzu's silence, he looked over to see her phone. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, just Instagram," Yuzu said, scrolling through some more photos. "My sister and brother are skiing with their friends this morning."

Unsure if she was bothered by that fact or not, Taro shrugged and offered her a grin. "Well, we can't ski here due to the lack of snow. But I'm sure there are some leaves we can slide through."

Yuzu laughed at the idea. "I'm actually okay with the fact that it is not snowing here, and that we're not skiing. Don't get me wrong, I like a good snow occasionally. I just think I prefer warm weather more than cold. Being on a being would be great right now."

"We have that in common, I guess," Taro said, checking his phone for a moment, before sighing. "We're going to miss the game tonight."

"Don't worry about it. We can hide in a corner at that fancy dinner we have to go to with your parents, and we can watch the game on your phone," Yuzu suggested, motioning towards one of the many Wi-Fi signs around the country club. "They have free Wi-Fi… Which I guess is not really free with how much money people probably pay to stay here. But the point is, we'll have no problem watching the game."

That made a big smile appear on Taro's face. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"You have," Yuzu replied, smiling after he kissed her. "I mean you were the one who managed to get me to appreciate football. Even if it is only for that one team. I still can't really get into high school football."

"Oh really? I had no idea," Taro said, his tone sarcastic as a smirk grew on his face. "With you avoiding being at the school every Friday night for the past few months."

"As far as my dad is concerned, I was there at every football game for the last few months." Yuzu replied, grinning before they kissed again.

"Funny, my parents thought the same." Taro said, chuckling along with Yuzu.

They walked another minute or so, before Yuzu stopped outside a store that sold all different types of paintings. "Can we go in here please? Just for a minute."

"Sure," Taro agreed, opening the door for Yuzu to walk through first. "I know you probably want to go into all these shops, but we should also go explore the rest of the grounds that we didn't get to last night."

"Don't forget that we have to get ready for the dinner party tonight too." Yuzu reminded, unable to help but smile at Taro's carefree expression.

"We have plenty of time to do that."

"I guess," Yuzu agreed, her smile widening as she took his hand. "We do tend to get carried away and distracted sometimes."

"You're not wrong… We can leave to go start getting ready around six tonight, okay?" Taro asked, seeing her nod before pointing out a painting to her. "Look at that one."

Later that evening

"You look beautiful Yuzu."

Unable to help but smile at Taro's words, Yuzu pushed some of her curled hair over her shoulder. "Thank you. I thought I would be overdressed."

"I intended to be underdressed," Taro said, a grin stretching across his face. "But my mom saw what I was planning to wear and that's why I'm in this monkey suit."

"It's nice to see you in a suit and tie," Yuzu complimented, smoothing down his tie, before kissing him once. They started walking through the main room. "There are a lot of fancy-looking people here."

"Yeah well, this is supposed to be a pretty important event. Apparently, my parents could both be getting promoted, and that's why this is such a big thing," Taro explained, as they walked inside the dining hall. They were greeted with what seemed like a party that could be fit for royalty. "This place is even fancier on the inside."

"It's really pretty though," Yuzu said, taking in all the artwork and statues they passed. When they one of the several buffet tables, her jaw dropped slightly. "This is probably the biggest buffet that I've ever seen."

Taro nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm probably going to have to get like three plates."

That made Yuzu laugh, as she grabbed plates for them both. "How about we just start with one and go from there?"

"Sounds good to me- Oh my god Yuzu, they have buffalo chicken dip," Taro said, motioning towards the giant dish full of the dip. "It's probably not anywhere close to as good as yours, but we've got at least try it."

"Okay, I'll get an extra plate just for the buffalo chicken dip," Yuzu gave in, grabbing the plate, and smiling as Taro had laughed. "Oh, and we need to go check on the game."

In the Wayhurst Mountains

"Look," Karin said, her eyes brightening with the excitement that ran through her. They had gone down the side of the mountain and found the herd of wild horses they had found last year. It took almost half an hour of sitting there before the herd finally entered the clearing. It wasn't until they had settled and started grazing, that she was able to get a good look. One caught her eye, as she could see the swell of its belly. "That one's pregnant."

Toshiro's eyes followed where she pointed, and he had to look for a moment before he could see it. "That's a good eye from how far away we are."

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal." Karin dismissed with a shrug, although a small part of her felt a little proud at Toshiro noticing. Everything on this trip so far was magical, just like last year. She loved being up in the mountains. Taking a sip out of the travel mug that her hot chocolate in it, she handed it over to Toshiro, and stood up.

Toshiro reached out for her hand before she could get too far. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see if I can get closer." Karin said, motioning to where she was planning on going.

Watching her move so calmly further down the mountain, Toshiro raised an eyebrow when she continued into the clearing. Moving further down himself, he stopped just inside the tree line. Sitting back down, he watched Karin as she continued until one of the horses noticed her. What is she planning on doing?

Remaining still as the horse watching her flicked its tail a few times, Karin finally sat down once it looked away from her. Apart of her relieved because she very well knew that what she was doing was kind of dangerous, but it was such an amazing feeling. Not only watching a herd of horses, but being so close to them.

A few minutes passed before one of the horses that were closer began to catch her eye. It was a beautiful chestnut mare. With the rounded curve of her belly, Karin could tell the mare was pregnant, and by the looks of it could pop any day. Raising her hand up a little, she clicked her tongue a few times. It took a minute, but the mare finally came forward. All the way until Karin could feel the bristles of the hair around the mare's mouth brush against her hand. Everything seemed to fall apart around her, as she watched the mare who stood calm in front of her. The wind picking up her tail occasionally. This moment of calm brought back a dream she had over the last Summer.

Karin stopped when the girl suddenly turned around to face her. Her fair skin and dark grey eyes made Karin feel like she was looking in a mirror. There was a silver ring type necklace that hung from the girl's neck, and it had a small moonstone in the center of it.

Nothing was said between the two, as Karin and the girl stared at each other. Finally, the girl moved over to the creek, and knelt down slowly. Stepping closer, Karin opened her mouth to speak, but the creek water started to get wavy. The reflection of them both grew distorted, and a loud rumbling started.

Despite how calm the other girl was, Karin looked around to try to find the source of the rumbling. Looking over her shoulder just in time to move out of the way as a horse galloped past her. To be followed by at least fifteen other horses.

"Oh my god." Karin said, her eyes wide as she watched the galloping herd.

The girl reached out and took Karin's hand. "Come on."

Karin found herself being led by the girl out into a large open clearing where the herd of horses stopped to graze. And they continued walking until they stopped along an overlook that showed an amazing view of what seemed like endless forest and mountains in the distance. A beautiful sunset behind it all had Karin breathless. "This is..."

"Home." Was all the girl said.

Her phone buzzing brought her out of the memory, and she found a text waiting for her. Opening it to find a picture that so happened to be of one of the horses in the herd from that memory. Her stomach seemed to churn slightly, as she felt a sense of worry hit her. This is becoming a lot harder to hide from everyone. How much longer can I keep this up?

Karin remained out in the field with the horses for a little while longer. It wasn't until after the mare had walked back to the herd, that she stood up and returned to Toshiro.

"That was amazing Karin," Toshiro said, as soon as she was back beside him. He handed her hot chocolate over to her. "Truly amazing."

"It was unreal that's for sure," Karin said, shivering a little as the temperature seemed to have dropped a little, and the wind was picking up. "I'm ready to go back to the cabin if you are. It's getting kind of cold."

"Alright, let's go. By the time we get back to the car, the sun will be all the way down, and I hate driving on the mountain when it's dark. There aren't as many streetlamps." Toshiro said, standing up and taking her hand, before starting up the mountain.

Ten minutes later, they had arrived back at the cabin just as a pizza delivery driver did for their dinner that night. They grabbed the pizza on their way in, and Karin peeked around the stairs into the living room. "Pizza's here!"

"Finally, I'm starving." Rukia said, being the first one up off the couch.

As everyone began to get pizza, Orihime gave Karin a nudge. "It's nice to finally see you and Toshiro. You've been gone since before we woke up this morning."

"Uh yeah..." The rest of Karin's words were muffled due to her having taken a bite of pizza.

Toshiro smirked and handed her a plate for her pizza, before focusing on Orihime. "We had some stuff we wanted to do today. Just the two of us… What did you all do?"

"Some of us went hiking," Ichigo replied, tapping Orihime's hand lightly to get her attention. "What did you do today?"

"Rukia, Rangiku, and I spent most of the day in town. Then we came back here and spent some time in the Jacuzzi on the patio downstairs," Orihime explained, her eyes returning back to Karin and Toshiro. "Now back to you two. We didn't see you two in town."

Finishing the bite of pizza in her mouth, Karin took a sip of her drink. "We were only town for a short amount of time this morning. Just for breakfast, and to stop at the sweets shop for some fudge."

"We went to the sweets shop first," Toshiro pointed out, smirking as he noticed that made Karin smile. "Then we got something for lunch, and brought it with us. We spent most of the time out in the mountains today. Hiking off the usual trails. We went by to see the wild horses this evening. I posted a few pictures of it. Karin was practically among the herd before we left."

Orihime was hurriedly pulling up Instagram on her phone to look at said pictures. A smile growing as she tapped the heart button to each of the photos. "How did you manage to get so close Karin? It seems kind of dangerous."

"It didn't feel like it up close," Karin admitted, able to imagine being back in the field with the horses. "Honestly, I still felt so far away. Only one of the horses came close to me."

Tatsuki was swiping through the pictures too, before going to get another pizza. "So you wanted to go closer to them?"

"Of course I wanted to. But, unfortunately, the logical safety side of my brain kept reminding me how dangerous that was, and I just stayed where I was." Karin replied, her phone buzzing caught her attention, and she unlocked it to look at the text.

Toshiro smirked at her typing away. "Phone."

Toshiro's voice startled her a little, but Karin looked at him with a heavy sigh. "I'm trying okay? But it doesn't help when my dad and Hana are sending me so many pictures of my furbabies."

"Hana's cat Lou and Mina are bonding apparently," Orihime said, having pulled up some photos on her phone. "I was on the phone with Hana earlier, and apparently Bingo's not too happy that Mina is friends with Lou. He's very jealous."

"At least he gets to spend some time with Gus though," Karin pointed out, before she grinned. "And pour Zorro. I'm sure he'd be perfectly happy being alone in the house, and is probably in hell with all the extra beings in the house."

"Demon cat," Ichigo added, laughing along with the others. His eyes going to where Uryu and his girlfriend were sitting. "Didn't you get talked into getting a cat Uryu?"

Drowning out the others conversation, Karin got up and walked over to the kitchen area. Finishing the last bite of pizza, she put her plate in the sink, and slipped away to go upstairs. Planning on taking a bath and going to bed early. Once upon the top floor, she ran a bubble bath, and laid out her pajamas on her and Toshiro's bed. Easing herself into the hot tub, she got past the stinging, and settled in. Surrounded by bubbles, she sighed happily, and let her head rest against the tub. It had only been less than a minute before she heard the door open. Her eyes opened to meet Toshiro's turquoise one's, as he was standing in the doorway. "Hey."

"Hey back," Toshiro said, his arms crossed over his chest. "You disappeared."

Karin shrugged, and pushed herself up a little to keep bubbles from getting too close to her face. "I'm just kind of tired. I was thinking about taking a bath and going to bed early."

"That does sound like a good idea," Toshiro agreed, their eyes meeting once again, leaving them both smiling. In less than a minute, Toshiro was sliding into the bathtub on the other side. Resting his arms on the rim of the tub. "The water is hot."

"But it's relaxing though." Karin pointed out, having to move more bubbles out of the way, as the water had shifted once Toshiro had got in.

After a minute, Toshiro motioned toward the shower. "I have a feeling we'll be taking a shower after this, because this water is so hot that we'll be sweating."

"I like the water hotter okay?" Karin countered, sticking out her tongue at him smirking. "On another note, I really enjoyed spending time with you today. I love being up here in the mountains."

"Maybe we can have another "just us" trip before we go back home." Toshiro suggested, taking her hand to pull her closer so he could lean over and kiss her.

When their kiss broke, Karin smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too." Toshiro said, kissing her once more before leaning back again to relax.

A couple of days later

"It sounds like you had a good trip Yuzu."

"I really did. The best part was the country club. The little stores were so cute, and the vintage movie theater was neat," Yuzu replied to her dad, from the passenger seat of his car. "We got to watch a movie after the dinner we had to go to for his parents. It was a lot of fun. Then we decided to do some sightseeing on the way home yesterday, and we stopped by a restaurant that was a part of a gaming arcade. That's why we came home later than we planned last night. Taro and his parents are really into games."

"Hana showed me some of the pictures you posted online," Isshin said, before he pulled into the car dealership. He parked up front. Although he didn't turn of the car yet, as he turned to Yuzu. "This could take us a while, but I've cleared out my schedule today and we can take as long as you want."

Having already taken off her seat belt, Yuzu paused with her hand on the door handle. "Is Hana okay with watching Mina and the animals all day though?"

"She's very much okay with it," Isshin replied, joining Yuzu in getting out of the car before they met at the back of it. "Now let's look at some cars."

"I'm so excited!" Yuzu exclaimed happily, as she already started down the middle of the parking lot to pick a row of cars to go down.

"Once you find one you like, we can go grab someone from inside when you feel like test driving one of these." Isshin suggested, raising an eyebrow as Yuzu suddenly turned down an aisle of cars.

"Oh, look at that red one!"

A few hours later

Putting the car in park, Yuzu glanced out the window, before starting to dial Hinata's number.

"Hello."

"Come outside right now."

"Why- Oh my god! Is that your new car?!"

That was the last thing Yuzu heard before the line went dead. Moments later, Hinata had bolted out of her house, and ran up to the car. "Oh my god Yuzu!"

"I know," Yuzu said, motioning for Hinata to go to the passenger side, as she rolled the windows down. "I passed my test, so my dad bought it for me today… What do you think?"

"It's absolutely amazing," Hinata said, walking around the car and getting in the passenger seat. "I knew you would get red. I'm not at all surprised there."

"The Grill?" Yuzu asked, receiving a nod from Hinata, she started off down the street. "I need to go buy some of those car scents, because this new car smell isn't it… Apart from the smell, it only took me five seconds to pick out this car."

"You didn't want to test drive anymore?"

"As soon as I drove this one, I knew it was the one," Yuzu replied, coming to a stop at a red light. "It did take us over three hours to go through the paperwork. It's technically in my dad's name. He'll sign it over to me once I turn eighteen."

Hinata pushed the button that opened the sunroof. "My parents did the same thing with mine… How did your trip with Taro and his parents go?"

"It was amazing. I shared a lot of photos online, but there are so many more things I have to tell you," Yuzu said, turning onto another street, before handing Hinata her phone. "Before we get into all that, look at my most recent photos."

Hinata swiped through a few, an eyebrow raised. "This is just of you and your new car. Oh wait, are you talking about the flowers? Those are pretty."

"Yeah," Yuzu said with a big smile on her face. "He surprised me with flowers when I got home after getting my license. He had to go to work, but he made sure to stop by to drop them off. Which was so sweet of him."

"That was…" Hinata agreed, although the sigh she gave out seemed to contradict that.

"Have you found anyone that caught your eye lately?" Yuzu asked after a couple of minutes in awkward silence. She smiled at the eye roll that came from Hinata. "I'm just saying. You're single now, and you have so many options."

"I'm just not ready yet, okay? I dated Yukio for a long time, and it's weird to think about dating someone else," Hinata replied, taking her seat belt off as soon as the car was stopped outside The Grill. "Let's just agree to talk about your car and other non-me-dating-someone topics."

Yuzu unbuckled her seat belt and was quiet for a moment. Finally, she nodded and opened her car door. "We'll see."

In the Wayhurst Mountains, that evening

"Oh my gosh, the mare had her foal." Karin pointed out, as she and Toshiro had returned to check out the wild horses again. It was their last night in Wayhurst, and this was the last thing they had on their plans for the day.

"I don't know how you don't feel nervous being down here," Toshiro said, his hands in his jacket pockets, as he glanced around them. He had joined her getting out on the field where the horses were this time. "I feel like I have to be ready to grab you and make a run for it any second."

Karin chuckled as she looked out for a couple of different horses she liked. "It's not that I am just completely oblivious to the potential danger here. We just need to be calm on the outside to not scare them away."

Unable to help appreciate her confidence, Toshiro grabbed his phone to take some pictures of the wild herd. He managed to zoom in and get some good pictures of a few different horses, before he put his phone away at the mare moving. She had stopped almost thirty feet away from them.

Karin had looped one arm through Toshiro's, and she reached out her other hand slowly. Waiting patiently for a moment that may not come. After several minutes, the mare took steps to get to her, and stopped about ten feet away. Karin lowered her hand, and almost had to remind herself to breathe.

The lead mare making her move had the rest of the herd following. The mare and her foal didn't hesitate to move on with the herd. It wasn't until the sound of hooves in the distance turned into silence that Karin grinned at Toshiro. "That was amazing. She got so close to us!"

"It was," Toshiro agreed, his phone beeping from a text message. "Oh, it's getting pretty late. We need to go meet up with the others to get on the train to go to that town up North."

Karin sighed but accepted the fact that the wild horses were likely gone for the evening. "Okay… Maybe we can leave early and go grab some fudge before we go."

"If anything, we'll get some once we come back later tonight." Toshiro said, motioning for her to head up the mountain first.

"I love this part of coming up here," Karin said, taking one last look at the direction the horses went, before turning to start up the mountain. "It was such a great surprise last year, and it's still just as amazing this year. I love this, I really love this."

While Toshiro was walking behind Karin up the mountain, he could hear the happiness in her voice, and he knew she really meant it. "I know you do. You and your thing for horses."

"If it weren't for the fact that I spent most of my younger years hating the world, I would have probably allowed my love for animals showed up. I would have definitely talked my dad into letting me get a horse."

"I doubt your dad would be okay with a horse in his back yard," Toshiro said, a grin on his face as that made Karin laugh. "But you never know about the future."

"Yeah that's true..." Karin agreed, smiling as they had to focus a little more to get up the steep incline up to the car. You never know about the future.

Later that evening

"So… Did your parents ever hear back on if they got that promotion at their job? It's been a few days."

Taro, who had just got off work, had followed Yuzu around the boutique, as he was waiting for her to clock out too. "I don't know. They probably did though. They are really good at their jobs."

"Would they just get paid more or something?" Yuzu asked, finishing straightening up a rack of clothes, before smiling as her watch finally indicated her shift was over with a beep.

"Maybe. Like I said, I didn't ask too many questions," Taro said, leaning against the front counter where Yuzu was grabbing her drink to be replaced by her co-worker. "I love how close your job is to mine. If we work the same schedules, we should just carpool together."

Yuzu grinned as she returned from the back room after clocking out. "You can officially say that now because I finally got my car. I've been dying watching my sister get her car earlier this Summer, and be able to go wherever she wants all the time."

Taro could see how that seemed to bring some annoyance back to Yuzu's expression. "You know, I recall a certain someone who likes the color red who had waited several months past her birthday to get her learners permit, because she didn't feel like getting it-"

"Yeah, yeah." Yuzu interrupted him with a laugh. Leaving him momentarily to go clock out in the back, before returning to leave the boutique with him.

"So where do you want to go for dinner?" Taro asked, sticking his hands in his pockets when he felt a chill when the wind picked up. "I'm not really feeling like Mexican or Chinese food."

"I'm thinking Chiyo's. I would say The Grill, but I've ate there too many times lately. Plus, I have been craving the white cheddar and broccoli bread bowl," Yuzu gushed, almost able to taste the cheesy soup, and could feel a warmth almost from how hot it would be. They stopped outside her car, and she turned to find herself in his arms. "And now that I have a car now, I guess we'll be meeting up at the restaurant."

"I like your car. It's perfect for you, because it's red and all," Taro said, tilting his head down to kiss her. "I'll see at Chiyo's."

"Okay." Yuzu smiled as she watched Taro jog over to his car, and waited until she saw him get in. Unlocking her own car, she slipped in the driver's side, and cranked it up. Letting it warm up for a moment, she tucked her hands underneath her thighs to try and warm them up. I really need to start bringing gloves with me for these late-night shifts at work."

The next day, Wednesday

Toshiro pressed down on Karin's suitcase to try to assist in her getting it closed. "You definitely have more stuff in here than what you originally came with."

Once it was zipped all the way, Karin hopped off the suitcase and smiled at Toshiro's smirking. "I wanted to bring some stuff back for my family."

"And by "stuff" do you mean fudge?" Toshiro counted, chuckling as she nodded and laughed. "Oh, and let's not forget the unnecessary candles."

"Exactly," Karin agreed with no hesitation, smiling as that seemed to amuse Toshiro even more. She looked around the room one last time to check for anything else to pack. She started making the bed, as they had washed the bedding earlier that morning. "I think we have everything. We'll probably come back up here with the family in either December or January, so if it's not important, then we'll be fine."

"I think we got everything," Toshiro said, walking out of the bathroom after grabbing their bag of bath stuff. He grabbed their suitcases. "I'll take these downstairs, and make sure they get in the car."

"Thank you!" Karin called, as he was already walking out the door by the time she finished straightening out the bedding. Tossing on the pillows with a little less care, she stepped to the balcony doors to look out at the view one more time. I love this place. The mountains always bring me so much joy. Her phone buzzing caught her attention, and she held it up to read the text message.

Hey, so I've been thinking. With you being up in Wayhurst, you could totally come up to hangout. It'll be a much faster drive, and there's so much we can do. It might even snow up here.

Karin: I don't think I can swing it. My dad probably wouldn't agree to it.

Come on Karin. You can easily get away with it. You have done it before. It's perfect timing. You still have the rest of the week on break, and you can spend more than a couple of days here. I miss you.

Sighing heavily, Karin stared down at her phone for a long moment. Going back and forth in her head on what exactly she was to do here. I should go home with the others. I've already spent half the break away from my family… But I mean it wouldn't exactly be like I'm spending time away from my family if I did go. I could text and call dad every day. It would be like I'm not even gone.

Finding her mind being made up, Karin texted back that she would figure something out, before she dialed her dad's number.

Fifteen minutes later, Karin finally came downstairs, and had to suddenly stop to make sure she didn't run into Orihime and Toshiro who just came back inside.

"There you are. Everyone else has left," Orihime explained, as she closed the door behind her to try to keep the cold air out. "Ichigo's just doing a last-minute walk through to make sure all the doors are shut and locked."

"Okay, well everything upstairs is locked. I checked all the balcony doors and I unplugged everything," Karin replied, settling with her hands behind her back. "So… Uh, I have to change plans. I'm being sent on an assignment up North."

"Really?" Toshiro questioned, his arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised. "All of a sudden?"

"Yeah, they knew I was up here, so it's just convenient," Karin replied, noticing that didn't end the questioning look on Toshiro's face. "It's not that big of a deal. I'll be back on Saturday or Sunday. I can take the train up there, and I can take it back to Karakura. Or I can catch a flight... I would appreciate if you guys could drop me off at the train station."

"Why would we be dropping you off at the train station?" Ichigo asked, having walked upstairs from the technical ground floor of the house.

Orihime had opened the front door, letting in some of the cool November air. "She has apparently got an assignment up North. It would be easier than taking her to the airport near here, which would ultimately take her longer."

At Ichigo's continued raised eyebrow, Karin waved a hand quickly. "If you guys don't mind that is."

"That shouldn't be a problem. We have to go in that direction to fill up on gas before we leave," Ichigo replied, before his focus returned back to Orihime. "Is everything locked up? All the balcony doors? All the lights turned off too?"

"Yes, and I double-checked because I can be paranoid about that," Orihime said, motioning around the cabin. "So, when we get in the car and ten minutes later I wonder if I did all that, just know that I did."

Karin began to drown out their conversation, as she walked outside with Toshiro. Slipping her hands in her pockets, she eyed the sky above them.

"So, what's the assignment?" Toshiro asked, getting her attention again.

"I'm not sure. As far as I know, it's just going to be me, but who knows? They said they'll fill me in once I get there," Karin said, avoiding Toshiro's eyes as she said that before she finally met them. "I'm sorry that you'll be stuck in the car, probably listening to Ichigo's terrible playlist."

Toshiro smirked at Karin's apology following up with her grinning. "I'm sure Orihime can take over DJ-ing without you there."

"For your sake, I sure hope so." Karin said, laughing along with Toshiro. Orihime and Ichigo left the cabin then, and after locking up they call got in the car. As the others conversation turned to focus on setting up the GPS, Karin pulled out her phone to send a text.

Everything worked out. They think I have an assignment. I'll be up there to visit with you guys soon.

A/N: I loved getting to write their Fall break activities again. I love the trip to go up to the Wayhurst mountains, and Yuzu's trip with Taro's family. What is your favorite scene?

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