And here's chapter 2, sorry it's so late. Thanks for the favourites and reviews. This chapter: Karin attempts to make up for her failure to ask Itsuki out properly by giving her a great date.

Karin adjusted her tie to the right, back to the left, then ever so slightly back to the right again. Then back to the left once more.

'Is that lined up properly now? Maybe I shouldn't wear a tie at all…but then the shirt might look kind of off. Maybe I should wear a different shirt…but there isn't much time left to change…argh, this is awful! At this rate I won't even be going on a date, I'll just be kneeling over with a heart attack. What should I do…'

Finally she decided to leave what she was wearing alone. They were her best clothes after all, so it wasn't like she could do any better.

'Okay, now that that's sorted out that leaves me with 5 minutes to do everything else. Damn it.'

Luckily she only had one pair of formal shoes, so that didn't present a problem. That just left rinsing her face, putting on some extra deodorant, using some breath freshener and brushing her hair again. And maybe cleaning her crutch too, just to be on the safe side.

"Okay, there's no problem. I'm trained to get ready quickly in an emergency. Here I go…!"

With a truly heroic effort, she finished with 10 seconds to spare.

'Made it. Now I just have to wait.'

Despite agreeing to meet up at six, Karin had decided to be ready by half past five, just in case. Fuu wanted Itsuki back before ten-of course they hadn't actually mentioned that it was a date, given what her reaction was likely to be-so they'd have four hours together. Acting normally with each other at school had been hard, but they'd managed to pull it off and the elder Inubouzaki hadn't disemboweled her for looking at her sister the wrong way. Yet.

Time tends to slow down at the least convenient times, so after sitting down to wait she quickly found herself tapping her foot and glancing at the clock every few seconds.

'Maybe I should brush my teeth again, there's nothing more off putting than bad breath after all. And maybe put some more deodorant on as well.'

Unfortunately, Itsuki did turn up early. When Karin-who was in the middle of brushing her teeth-heard the knock she ended up choking, only narrowly avoiding getting toothpaste all over her shirt.

'Oh Shinju-sama, she's here early. Breath Karin, breath! Everything will be fine, she's the one who asked you out after all.'

She headed towards the front door, then thought better of it, doubled back to her room and put some more deodorant on. With all of the training she did every day she was bound to smell after all, so she needed to wear a lot of deodorant, right? Body odor was just as bad as bad breath after all. She sprayed on as much as she could, unfortunately she ran out before she'd finished.

'Dammit, I could have sworn I had more than that left…'

In her worry about BO, she'd ended up using more than half of the can.

'It'll have to do. I'm sure it's enough.'

Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she opened the door.

"H-Hi! You're early…"

'No, wait, what if she thinks I'm having a go at her? Stupid…!'

"I left early because I didn't want to be late, but I guess I overdid it," Itsuki explained. "It looks like you're already ready though."

"Uh, yeah, you know."

"…"

"…"

"…So what now?" Karin asked. "Um, is there somewhere in particular that you'd like to go?"

"I thought you were choosing…"

"Oh."

'Why didn't I think about this!? What's wrong with me!?'

"…Movie!" she blurted out suddenly.

Itsuki jumped a little at the sudden exclamation.

"What?"

"Let's see a movie! You pick which one!"

"That sounds good. Wha-"

"I'll get my coat!"

She shut the door on Itsuki mid-sentence, then leaned against the wall with her face in her hand.

'Did I just… I did. Kill me, someone, please.'

Cringing all the way, she got her coat and headed back to the door where she'd left her date standing outside.

'Smooth, really smooth. I bet she's planning the next date already.'

Resigning herself to the knowledge that the entire date was going to be a disaster, she opened the door again.

"H-Hey, are you ready to go?"

"…Sure, let's go."

The blonde looked rather put out at being made to stand outside like that, but smiled all the same. As soon as Karin stepped outside however, her hand shot up to cover her nose and mouth and she fell into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" Karin asked in concern.

'It isn't BO is it!?'

"I-I'm fine, it's *cough* j-just a tickle…*cough cough*"

"Do you want to come inside and get something to drink?"

"No, it's fine. Let's go."

She started walking away without waiting for an answer.

'Did I do something wrong? Well, of course I did but…'

The cinema was quite close, but Karin had decided to be chivalrous and order a taxi. Of course this led to an extra 10 minutes of waiting around trying to avoid awkward silences with even more awkward small talk (the highlight being "So do you go to school?" "Um…yes…?"), but still.

In the taxi, Itsuki spent the whole ride with her face held towards the window which she had opened immediately after getting in, which convinced the nervous wreck sitting next to her that it really was BO that was the problem.

After paying for the taxi-which the older girl insisted on doing herself-they entered the cinema and checked out which films were playing.

"It doesn't look like there's much on," Karin observed. She had half expected this given the way things were going, so she wasn't even surprised.

"I'm sure there must be something good," Itsuki replied. She was still standing at least three feet away from her date at all times, said date noticed with resignation.

"Let's see…The Butchering 4, 50 Shades of Razzmatazz, Karate Cop 7…hm. I guess there really aren't that many good films on at this time of year."

'Why didn't I think about this properly? Ugh. I'm probably going to die alone except for my 30 cats.'

"Karin-san? What do you think?"

"Huh?"

"I said what about this one? It's an old classic anime movie. It's got five stars so it must be worth a look, right?"

Karin looked at the poster.

'Grave of the Fireflies… that sounds kind of familiar. Wasn't it some family drama set in a war? Well, it's not like there's anything better on. I think it's supposed to be sad, so maybe I'll get to put my arm around her. Let's see… next showing in 15 minutes, that's lucky. Wow, I really didn't think this movie idea through did I?'

"Sounds good. You want to get some food as well?"

"No, I ate before I left. Do you?"

"I'm fine. Let's go in and get some good seats."

To Karin's chagrin, Itsuki noticeably leaned away from her through the whole movie.

90 minutes later…

Karin and Itsuki staggered out of the showing leaning on each other. Both of their eyes were red and tear filled and their faces were flushed with distress.

"Ah…ah…Shinju-sama, why…" Karin choked out.

"T-They died…both of them just…they were so young! It was so awful!" Itsuki looked more upset than Karin had ever seen her.

'Why is this happening? Why is everything going so horribly wrong? …That poor little girl…!'

"Hah, I'm s-sorry Itsuki, this is m-my fault, we should h-have gone s-omewhere elseeee…!"

"N-No, I-I-I picked t-the movie, it's my fauuuult, aaaaah it was so sad…!"

Both of them slumped down onto the seats situated at the side of the lobby. Mercifully, there wasn't that many people around at the time, so they didn't attract too many stares and they stayed there until they'd managed to compose themselves. Still sniffling slightly they exited the cinema.

At this point it was just turning dark and there was a chill in the air. Despite the date having gone even worse than Karin had imagined, she was still determined to at least try and salvage the situation, so she saw this as an opportunity.

"Huh, looks like it's pretty cold for this time of the year. Are you cold Itsuki?"

"No, not really."

"…Are you sure? Y-You can borrow my jacket if you like," she offered, half taking it off.

"No, I'm fine thanks."

Itsuki looked strangely wary.

'Looks like I'm going to stay single,' Karin thought in resignation. 'I wish I'd brought some dried sardines with me as a pick me up.'

"Do you want to get something to eat now? All that cryings made me hungry."

Itsuki giggled a little at this.

'At least she doesn't seem to be permanently scarred. Fuu would murder me.'

"There's a new fancy Western style restaurant near the city centre. Would you like to go there?" Now that she'd mostly given up hope of a second date, Karin found herself starting to ease up. At least they were still friends. Things could have turned out worse.

"Hmm, honestly I think I need some udon to cheer me up after…that. Can we go to the usual place instead?"

"Oh, sure."

"You know, you should be careful about who you talk about Western food in front of. If Togo-san heard you suggest that you know what would happen."

"Good point," Karin replied with a wince.

One time she'd suggested going to a curry house once a month instead of the udon shop and Togo had ranted for a full 10 minutes about the superior health properties and taste of Japanese food. No one had suggested going anywhere else since then.

After a short walk they arrived. Karin felt a surprising amount of relief at being back on familiar ground. Sitting facing each other, they ordered their usual dishes and as they started to relax the conversation started to flow more easily than it had all evening. Unfortunately Fuu chose that moment to enter the shop, Yuna and Togo in tow.

Spotting them the second she passed the entrance way with her patented 'little sister radar' she headed straight over to their table and sat down next to Karin. Togo sat next to Itsuki after positioning Yuna at the other side of her.

"Hey you two, I didn't think I'd see you here. How was- *cough* holy Shinju-sama what the hell is that? *sniff sniff* Geez Karin just how much deodorant do you think you need? Are you trying to launch a chemical attack on my poor sister!?"

"Onee-chan, don't shout like that! Don't be rude to poor Karin-san."

The blonde shot the mortified girl a sympathetic look…or maybe it was a pitying one. Yuna and Togo shot Fuu a warning look, although Yuna's wasn't particularly intimidating.

Karin was cringing in her seat.

'Is that what it was!? Damn it, I thought…! Damn it! I screwed up so badly…'

"All right, all right, I get it…but seriously Karin, ease up a bit okay? Phew…"

"W-What are you even doing here apart from making a scene? You said you were busy tonight."

'I was glad that there was no chance of running into you…'

"I was lonely in that apartment all by myself so I finished up in record time and came out with these guys. I get so lonely without my cute little sister there!" she said, patting Itsuki on the head.

"Did you two have fun?" Yuna chipped in, kindly trying to move the conversation away from her friends deodorant mishap.

"Eh…"

"Um…"

Fuu noticed their, or rather Itsuki's, hesitation immediately.

"What? That reactions kind of…wait, you didn't run into that boy did you!?" she said, grabbing onto Karin's arm and leaning right into her face.

"Wha- no, we didn't run into anyone! Get out of my personal space you lunatic!" She grabbed Fuu's face with her hand and pushed her back.

"Tch…you can't be too careful with guys like that. Itsuki, you have to be on your guard from now on!"

"Fuu-senpai, don't be so melodramatic. You'll scare the poor girl," Togo frowned at her.

"Better scared than unprepared!" the older girl replied smugly.

"Even if it was a mean prank, I don't think that kind of response is really necessary…" Yuna responded. "I mean, it's not like she has a stalker-" She knew she'd made a mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.

"A stalker! Why didn't I think of that!? It all makes sense now!" Fuu cried with a horrified expression. "Itsuki, you're not allowed out on your own anymore."

"Onee-chan, there is no stalker. Please stop embarrassing yourself," Itsuki replied tiredly.

"You don't know that! In cases like this-"

"I know who it was. It was all a big misunderstanding and everything is cleared up now. So there's no need to worry, okay?"

Karin tensed up.

"What!? You know who it was!? Who was it!?"

"I'm not telling you. I know what will happen if I do."

"Tch! Are you dating him? Because if you are I-"

"Onee-chan, I can definitely say that I'm not dating any sort of creep, so you can just…take it easy, alright?"

"Hmm, well as long as you didn't end up dating any undesirables I guess I can let the incident slide. Damn heart breakers…"

"Phew…" Karin relaxed, as much as she could at least. That could have ended unpleasantly.

"We should really order something Fuu-senpai, all we've done since we came in is disturb the other customers."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess we should. Do you two want anything else?"

"Yeah, might as well I guess," Karin shrugged.

"No, I'm pretty full. I haven't even finished this yet," Itsuki declined. Luckily for the Inubouzaki's food budget she didn't have her older sisters voracious appetite.

The food arrived shortly and they settled down, to everyone's relief. Yuna's hands were still a little unsteady so Togo still fed her when they went out together, which had led to countless 'married couple' cracks, although neither of them seemed to mind it had to be said.

Karin glumly accepted that the date was officially over now that her date's big sister had crashed it, and tried to focus on the conversation at hand. The fact that she was still self-conscious about the deodorant didn't help however. Nor did the fact that Itsuki had scarcely spoken to her since Fuu barged in.

'She must be embarrassed to be seen hanging around with a walking chemical weapon. …Well, I might as well keep trying I suppose. I can't stand quitting half way through.'

"So, uh, good udon?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, it's as good as usual."

"Oh, good."

'For crying out loud…'

Annoyed at and embarrassed by herself, she looked down and took a particularly big mouthful of noodles. As soon as she took them into her mouth she realised her mistake. As they hit the back of her throat she desperately fought against her reflexes and valiantly managed to hold her own against them for several seconds. Ultimately though, her body refused to let her take udon into her lungs and she sprayed the contents of her mouth directly into Itsuki's face.

"Waaah!"

"What the hell Karin!?"

"Oh dear…"

"Are you okay Itsuki-chan?"

'Why!?'

Karin doubled over retching and wheezing, while Itsuki flailed trying to get the noodles off of her face. Fuu raced to her sister's aid, handkerchief in hand, while Togo hit Karin's back.

"Itsuki! Are you alright? Are you burnt? Where does it hurt!? Can you see!? How many fingers am I holding up!?"

"Fuh, *cough*, I'm okay. It wasn't that hot. Ah, my clothes might be ruined though…are you alright Karin-san?"

"Gu-*cough cough*, s-sorr-*cough cough*…"

"You're a menace Karin. First a chemical attack then a biological one! What if she picks up germs from you? I'll hold you responsible!"

"Oh stop it Onee-chan."

Itsuki walked around the table and helped Togo assist Karin. "Don't worry about it Karin-san. These things happen," she smiled reassuringly.

"Ugh…sorry Itsuki. Seems like I caused you a lot of trouble tonight."

"N-Not…really? Well, at any rate, don't worry about it."

At that point the waitress arrived with several towels.

"Ahem…excuse us, but could you please settle down? The other customers are a little…"

"Oh, uh, sorry. Sorry. Ahem. Don't worry, this oaf will behave herself from now on," Fuu pointed right at Karin, just for good measure.

"Ugh…m'sorry…" she choked out. She accepted one of the towels and cleaned herself up.

"It's a good thing we're regular customers or we might have been thrown out," Yuna murmured in embarrassment.

"You're right…let's be on our best behaviour from this point onwards," Togo replied.

"You guys do that. And by you guys I mean you Karin. We're going home before anything else happens."

"What? Onee-chan-"

"It's a school night Itsuki, you need your rest. Let's call it a night."

"*sigh*…Alright Onee-chan. Goodnight everyone. And, um, thank you for tonight Karin-san. I'll phone you after I get home, okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."

'I know how that's going to go. Thanks for the date, but you're a moron and I never want to be in the same room alone with you ever again.'

"Bye guys!"

"Goodbye."

"Bye you two!"

"Ugh…"

Karin let her head slam into the table and lay there, feeling incredibly demoralised.

"Bad date?"

"…..What?"

Karin looked up to see Togo looking at her pointedly.

"Wait, what? W-Why would you think…"

"I have working eyes and ears."

"Eh? Wait, are Karin-chan and Itsuki-chan on a date? I have working eyes and ears too…"

"You're too innocent to realise these kinds of things Yuna-chan."

"Hang on, I didn't…oh never mind. It doesn't matter either way. It was a disaster from beginning to end."

"Aw, it can't have been that bad Karin-chan!"

"I almost choked her to death with my deodorant, took her to see one of the most depressing movies ever, asked her if she went to school and spat udon in her face. It couldn't have been worse if I'd tried."

"I doubt that," Togo said under her breath. Karin still heard her however.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, feeling quite offended.

"Ahem, well, you're not denying that this sort of thing isn't your forte, are you?" Togo replied, trying not to show the blush on her cheeks. "From what I saw here, I'm more than willing to believe that it was a disaster."

"Thanks. Thank you. You're making me feel so much better."

"It's not a condemnation. I'm here to offer you help. For starters, that love letter Itsuki received yesterday must have been from you, correct? Not turning up to your own love confession is incredibly bad form. What were you thinking?"

"W-Well, Fuu was there and all…besides, I tried to phone her! I just didn't do it soon enough and she turned her phone off…" Karin muttered defensively.

"And thanks to your inability to tackle those problems head on you started off more flustered than you would have otherwise. And not only that, but because you didn't deal with that situation properly in the first place Itsuki has undoubtedly formed a much lower opinion of you as a girlfriend than she would have if you'd handled things better. I'm frankly surprised that she agreed to go out with you at all after that mess," Togo replied, trying to tone down the harshness as much as she could while still being honest. Being blunt now was better than letting the poor girl make more of a mess of things after all.

"Ugh…you think I don't know that? I wanted to make today perfect to make up for things, but nothing went right…it's like I was cursed or something. She probably would have had a better time if I'd pushed her off a cliff," the mousy haired girl replied, letting her head thud back onto the table (rather melodramatically the other two thought).

"I doubt that's true, but clearly things could have gone a lot better. Listening to what you've said I think the problem is almost entirely nerves and we all know we're more likely to get things wrong when we're nervous. The only way you're going to get things back on track is if you calm down and stop trying so hard. You've always been able to talk to her normally until this point, correct? All you have to do is talk to her the way you have been until now and things are bound to go better next time."

"You think so? I dunno…now that we're dating I don't know how to act around her at all. Is it really okay to act like we're still just friends? It doesn't really seem like that'd get me anywhere in the long run."

"Just think of it as a stepping stone. It's better than not talking with her at all, or saying something inappropriate and embarrassing yourself even more."

"I-I guess…we can't carry on like this at any rate. The way things are going I'll end up walking her into a strip club or something even worse than that…" Karin shuddered. She'd been half joking, but it was actually something to worry about at this point.

"Togo-san is right though Karin-chan. Just try and be yourself, Itsuki really likes you the way you are. There's no point in trying to behave differently when she already likes you!" Yuna piped up, reaching over and patting the shorter girl's hand.

"…Yeah, you're right. I just have to take it easy next time."

"Perhaps you should not so much go on a date as spend time together for a little while. I'm sure that that will take some of the pressure off."

"Mm, that's right! You should just hang out next time!"

Karin nodded. "Yeah…yeah, next time I'll just invite her around or something. …Thanks you two. I was pretty much ready to give up."

"Mmhm, no Karin-chan! Don't forget, you're likely to succeed if you try! Just have a little faith in yourself!"

"She's right. Just have a little confidence and you'll turn things around."

Karin smiled, weakly, granted, but it was still better than what she'd managed the rest of the evening.

"Thanks, really. I'm going to call it a night now. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight! And good luck too!"

"Goodnight."

Karin left and headed home. Her leg actually felt pretty good considering how much she'd used it today, which was something she supposed, so she forewent a taxi despite the amount of time she'd already spent on her feet and walked the route home at a steady pace.

After she got home she headed straight to the couch and collapsed on it without even changing first. She suddenly felt exhausted, although she wasn't really sure why considering she'd been sitting down most of the evening. Remembering that Itsuki had promised to phone her, she pulled out her phone and checked for missed calls (there were none thank goodness) and made doubly sure that it wasn't on silent. Then she sat for a while, phone in hand. Not that she was desperate or anything, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do right now.

15 minutes passed with her lying there, checking her phone more often than was necessary, just in case the ringtone didn't go off…or something. Finally, the phone rang. She jumped and started to reach for the answer button, then thought 'I should play it cool and not look too clingy' and waited for a few seconds before answering.

"H-Hey, Itsuki."

Her voice broke again as she spoke, leading to her smacking her hand into her face in embarrassment.

"Hi Karin-san. Did you get home okay?"

"Y-Yeah, it's good-I mean yeah."

"…"

"…"

"Look, I just wanted to say sorry. For everything I mean. Especially the movie. And spitting udon into your face. Don't, you know, feel obligated to go out again or anything…n-not that I'm saying that you should, or would, I mean-"

"Karin-san?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"It's okay. I know it wasn't the best date ever but…um…I really like you. Just because we had a bad date doesn't mean that I don't want to go out again. Why don't we try again in a few days?"

"Eh? What, you really want to…? I-I mean, sure, let's do that. Fine by me."

"I'm glad. I'll see you tomorrow at school then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Karin hung up, feeling proud that her voice had only cracked once…which said a lot about how low her expectations were really, but still. She'd actually managed to get a second chance! This time she wasn't going to screw it up.