Upon the sounding of the school bell the desk chairs scraped against floor of the classroom. The sounds of bags being picked up off the hooks on the desk was also heard as well as the students discussing their plans for that particular weekend. Many of the girls discussed going out for karaoke or having slumber parties, while many of the guys discussed going to play at the arcade or scoring the next release of a popular game.

Karin picked up her school bag and swung it over her shoulder to head on home. She paused to see her sister chatting away with some of the girls, likely planning on some kind of event as well as possibly planning on dragging her along. Choosing to instead ignore the other girls she headed to the door, only for Yuzu to let out a sound of dismay as she was being left behind. She hurried forward, her bag being held in front of her.

They arrived at the shoe lockers and she opened up her own locker. Out of her corner of her eye she saw a couple of girls peeking around the corner, one muttering under her breath about how cool the Kurosaki twins were only to let out a sigh of annoyance. This kind of treatment for herself had been non-existent before she and Yuzu had entered middle school. Yuzu of course was used to being idolized but she didn't very well like it.

She switched out of the pair of shoes she wore for school and switched into her tennis shoes and turned to leave, only to find Yuzu tugging at her sleeve. "It's going to rain Karin. You had better get your umbrella out as well."

"I like the rain. I bought a water proof school bag for a reason you know."

"Karin-chan!"

"Fine!" Karin lowered her bag and pulled out the umbrella she had in her bag, ready to open it as soon as it started to pour down rain. After a few drops she popped it open with a thud, thinking nothing about what was going on around her. The smells of the rain were nice and she found herself enjoying the coolness of the afternoon. Something though had been tugging at her mind since her brother left.

"Ichigo's going to be back from that soccer camp soon, right?"

"I hope so." A sudden chill ran down her spin and her eyes darted towards the bridge in the distance. Her mouth opened briefly and she made to go in that direction, only to find Yuzu grabbing onto her wrist.

"Come on Karin. We've got to get home to set up for the slumber party."

Karin swallowed, still looking in the direction she had felt the flare of rieatsu. It was all to familiar and the feeling that that person needed help couldn't escape her mind. She tugged her arm free from her sister. "Yuzu... are you sure that the slumber party is a good idea? I'm surprised that dad gave us permission."

"I think it is a wonderful idea. You and Ichi-nii never invite friends over because you're afraid of someone finding out about your secret, that you guys can see ghosts. That's why you always made friends with guys. It gave you an excuse to not invite them over. But when you met a friend who happened to be able to see spirits you were quite fine with inviting him over."

"What friend?" Karin blinked a couple of times, swallowing again in hopes that her sister wouldn't pick up on the fact she was worried about something.

"Toshiro of course! He can see spirits! That's why you invited him over! That's why the two of you are dating, right?"

Karin took a deep breath. "Yuzu. We're not dating."

"Yes you are. I know he likes you."

"Whether he likes me or not is a mute point when he is unable to confess those feelings." Karin looked back in the direction of the bridge. "Toshiro... what kind of trouble have you gotten in this time? You know that I'm not strong enough to rescue your but unless you're messing up in front of me because you're such a baka."

"Come on Karin! It's our first sleepover. And Ichigo's not going to be home, so we don't have to worry about any embarrassing situations."

"Yeah... what about dad. I mean..." Karin let out a sharp sound of dismay upon feeling Toshiro's rieatsu suddenly disappear.

"Karin?"

"Oh... I mean that dad tends to do embarrassing things."

"If he does something embarrassing at the sleepover I told him he has to do the kitchen duties for at least a whole week, if not a month." Yuzu smiled at her sister. "Getting back to the point of this slumber party Karin. You really need to interact more with other girls you know. All you do is hang out with boys, yet you say all of them are perverts."

"Except Toshiro. Toshiro is... well, he's different."

"Don't you want to gossip about him with other girls?"

"Not really." She watched Yuzu's face falter. "Toshiro doesn't really like being talked about. It makes him nervous and he's worried that when people gossip about him that they're saying bad things about him."

"But you've only got nice things to say about him. I mean he's the perfect prince charming."

"No, he's not. I mean, I could list off the ways he is perfect. I did that once in front of him and he began spluttering off how he isn't perfect. Can we change the subject please?" Karin swallowed. "Please be at home Ichi-nii. I can ask for you to go after Toshiro."

The two girls arrived at the house, only to have their father nearly knock them over. "Sorry girls. I've got an emergency patient."

"Daddy! What about the slumber party?"

"Ichigo's going to be back this afternoon. Plus, I'll go and do what I need to do." The man disappeared while Yuzu stomped her foot.

"Let me guess. You're not happy that Ichi-nii is coming back?"

"That idiot is sure to do something embarrassing. I know he is." Yuzu shook out her umbrella and placed it by the door before heading in to drop her school bag on the kitchen table. She went over and began to start popping popcorn.

Karin proceeded to do the same with her things. She then sat in the chair looking at her sister. "You know Yuzu. These girls are your friends. I've got nothing in common with them, nothing I can bond with them about. I mean, I'm not interested in gossiping about guys as none of the guys at school even remotely interest me and the one guy I could talk about. Well, I told you why I don't want to gossip about him."

The doorbell rang and Karin went to the door, letting in the two of the girls that Yuzu had invited over. "Hi Midoriko. You're..."

"Don't worry. I'm Sawako Sai. It's nice to meet you." Karin let them in and watched as they placed their bags onto the table.

The doorbell rang and Karin answered again. "Hi. Misami Ino, correct?"

"Yeah. You remember me from elementary school. I'm a bit surprised. I kind of don't stand out."

Karin sighed as she watched the other girls begin to gossip and she began to fidget. The door opened and she looked up expecting it to be her father, but instead it was her brother who came in. He was dripping wet and leaned over. "Hey... what's going on."

"Dad let us have a slumber party."

"Really? So... when exactly did you guys ask dad to have the slumber party." Ichigo watched as the girls at the table giggled. Ino waved at him and he nervously waved back.

"Early this week."

"So... when he was pre-occupied with something else on his mind."

"He's still fine with it Ichigo." Karin sighed.

"Are you?" Ichigo watched her suddenly glare at him. "Never mind. That was an annoying question."

"Ichi-nii... is something upsetting you?" Karin watched as her sister brought over the popcorn.

Ichigo looked over at the girls, frowning as he did so. "I do need to tell you about this, but later."

"Ichi-nii..."

The boy smiled at her despite the look of sadness in his eyes. "I don't want to ruin your guys slumber party. So I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Toshiro..." Karin swallowed.

"How..." Ichigo glanced nervously at the girls. Yuzu's face suddenly faltered. The older teen took a deep breath. "All right. I'll talk to you about it upstairs."

"But..." Karin's twin didn't like the fact she hadn't been invited.

"No. This is for Karin's ears Yuzu. You know it is."

Karin could swear that her brother looked extremely tired. As she headed up the stairs she heard Sai speak up. "Whose this Toshiro person?"

"Karin's boyfriend. Well, sort of. He's this guy who has a crush on her but hasn't been able to admit it."

The want to block out the infernal gossip caused Karin to shake her head. "Seriously... I wish she'd stop."

"I'm going to change as I'm soaking wet. Wait in your room."

The girl went into her room and sat on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Something told her she wasn't going to like what her brother had to say. Ichigo came in and sat on the bed next to her. "You do understand that what I have to say is bad news, right? Actually... you do understand that being a Shinigami is dangerous, right?"

"Get to the point." Karin muttered into her knees as she looked out in the room. "I'm not a little kid."

"No. You're not." Ichigo looked at the wall. "Toshiro's dead Karin."