Karin arrived back at the place with her father, kicking off her shoes and keeping her hands in her pockets. She looked into the main room and saw that the girls were getting ready to put in a movie. She slipped over to the couch and grabbed a handful of popcorn. Yuzu smiled at her. "How did your work go Karin."

"Fine." The girl looked at her sister, knowing that her twin was avoiding her own feelings on the matter by diving into being busy. She carefully picked pieces of popcorn out of her palm to eat, wondering how things would in fact go down. She wondered how she could possibly get along with the girls who were around her as she has nothing in common. The movie they were watching was some kind of sappy romance.

Ino looked up at her suddenly, her legs pulled up to her chest. "Is it bothering you that we're watching romance movies?"

Karin frowned, not understanding why the girl asked this particular question. "Why would they bother me?"

"Weren't you hoping to have this kind of relationship with that Toshiro person?"

"Did I want this kind of relationship with him?" Karin narrowed her eyes. "No."

"What?" Midoriko looked up. "Every girl wants this kind of relationship!"

"I never put much thought into it." The room became silent then, the conversation becoming rather uncomfortable. She pulled up a knee and continued munching away at the snacks. Sai choose to pick the next movie which ended up being a horror movie.

Ino shivered. "Do you have some kind of cult fetish?"

"You mean occult." Sai shook her head. "No, not really. Having a scary story every so often is fun. I guess I'll explain it that way."

Karin watched as the guests suddenly screamed at one of the scenes including Sai. Ino and Midoriko clutched each other while Yuzu stared at the screen in horror, nearly dropping the food she held in her arms. Sai though for some reason quickly recovered and began to laugh. She turned to Karin. "Not scary?"

"I've seen worse." The girl narrowed her eyes. "Like real life monsters."

After the movie Midoriko twiddled her fingers. "I need something to make me forget about that movie. How about makeovers?"

Ino frowned. "Karin doesn't know anything about makeup."

Sai looked at the other girl. "We could teach you, if you want."

The darker haired twin sighed. "Look... I already know about makeup. We really should have done that at the beginning of the slumber party. It's not good to sleep in makeup and there is just as much process in cleaning it up as putting it on." She watched as the girls stared at her. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

Midoriko blinked a couple of times. "When did you learn about makeup?"

Karin opened her mouth, only to snap it shut. "I learned it from Toshiro. How do I explain that a guy knows how to use makeup of all things." She found herself looking away, crossing her arms. "Can't we just watch another movie?"

Ino sighed. "She doesn't want to admit she's never worn makeup."

Yuzu frowned. "I'm the one whose never worn makeup. Karin and I have never had someone to teach us how to put on makeup, but I saw her wearing makeup when..." The girl's eyes widened. "When Toshiro came around."

"So you got all dolled up for him. How cute!" Midoriko smiled. "I never thought you had it in you." She clapped her hands together. "I had thought I was seeing things you know, with you wearing more girly clothing and such despite being a tombody. You're coming around."

Sai frowned. "That look on your face. It wouldn't happen to be because we're talking about Toshiro. Or is it something else."

"What do you mean?" Karin folded her arms behind her neck.

"Yuzu said the two of you had no one to teach you, so who taught you."

The girl looked at the ground, closing her eyes as she did so. "Do I really have to say?"

Yuzu began to pout. "Karin! If you found somebody to teach you why didn't you get them to teach me?"

"Because he didn't want people to know that he knew how to do makeup, all right!" The girl's violet eyes widened upon realizing what she had said. She looked away, frowning as she did so. Her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Toshiro?" The lighter haired twin. "Karin... why would a guy know how to do makeup."

" Because Rangiku taught him. How do I explain to them that he learned to do it because she insisted that he know in case of combat injuries? I mean, that's a rather odd thing to say to people and I can't explain hollow. And their relationship. They're fukutaicho and taicho. That, and she had him do her hair, makeup and nails sometimes." Her eyes widened, an idea hitting her. "He learned from his mother."

"His... mother..." Ino shook his head. "What kind of sissy boy is he?"

"Toshiro's not a sissy!" Karin snapped. "His mother wanted him to learn so that he could cover up bruises from his martial arts taining as well as bags under his eyes when he stayed up late. She wanted him to look... well, not rag tag." She took a deep breath. "That was a lie."

"No it wasn't. You heard the words Toshiro said. She was like his subordinate. You picked up on the bond between the two. They are mother and child."

She found herself continuing. "Plus... it's there way of making up for lost time."

"You mean was." Sai took a deep breath. "What don't wwe just hit the sack. We really shouldn't be forcing Karin... and Yuzu for that matter... to bring up this subject."

The futons were pulled out then as well as the extra bed and the girls headed to sleep. Karin couldn't help but look at the ceiling, her thoughts pouring over her. "I could have sworn I felt Toshiro under that bridge." She closed her eyes trying to remember the last time she had seen Toshiro. It had been shortly after the fullbringer incident. It used to be he wasn't one to smile, but eventually he had warmed up and learned to smile. He had said something to her.

"I think I'll have something for you the next time I come."

"What ever for Toshiro?"

"I don't know." Karin sighed in frustration at the way his whims worked. They always ended up being interesting, but the puzzles ended up bothering her.

Karin sighed then. "I guess this is one puzzle I won't be able to solve. That so isn't fair Toshiro!" Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, drifting off to sleep. Things though were not nice as her dreams were a haze. The first part of the dream involved ice all around her and she couldn't make things out. For a brief moment she saw Rangiku's face looking very sad, but then that was gone as well. It was the second part of the dream that ended up being clear and not in the gray tones the other dreams had been in.

When she opened her eye in the dream she saw a bridge in front of her. To be exact she saw the bridge that she and her father had been under. The city scape was dotted with golden lights across the river and a rain poured down on either side of the bridge. She could also feel cold and naked. What bothered her was that she couldn't look around to confirm it, something she blamed on it being a dream. This wasn't the only thing though.

She could feel an overwhelming fear coming from herself. No... it wasn't herself that was feeling the fear but someone else. She could also feel a familiar rieatsu, but her mind brushed it away as a part of the dream, something that was trying to torment her because of her wishes for something else other then reality to be true. The rain kept pouring down and there felt like there would be no kind of rescue coming, which added to the fear and yet for some reason the fuddled mind couldn't understand it.

A motorbike was heard and then she saw a man in the shadows come forward. She saw that the man looked like Ichigo but with black hair instead of orange and blue eyes instead of brown. In some ways she thought this person reminded her of something but she couldn't place it. Or perhaps it was the person she was dreaming the view point from who couldn't remember.

"Miscalculation," the person said. She then heard the words "There isn't any time for this. Toshiro..." Karin blinked a couple of times. "What did you mean he's dead? Seriously... of all the things not to tell me, that is not one f them. Plus." There came another pause "That's not possible. He's right here in front of me. Miscaculation I need your help." There came another pause and things became hazy, almost blured. She found herself being woken up before the dream had fully ended. Ino was shaking her shoulder.

"Yuzu made pancakes. I love pancakes."

Karin sighed and went to the kitchen table and wolfed down her food, hearing Sai say they should get together sometime and go shopping. For some reason the girl had taken more of an interest in her then the other girls and it bothered her. Shaking her head she went up stairs and changed before going to her brothers room. There came no answer when she knocked and she opened the door. "Ichi-nii?"

She noticed that her brother had slept in his regular clothing rather then changing for the night. "Hey... Ichi-nii, you promised me you know."

The boy blinked a couple of times. "Yes... I did didn't I." The boy sat up. "Did you get a good night sleep."

"I think I had a dream of an alternative universe where you saved him." Karin watched as her brother froze.

"What?"

"Well, the guy looked like you but didn't. He had black hair and blue eyes."

"So, what kind of alternate universe was this?"

"I think it was one where there was a sci-fi element to it because you kept saying miscalculation."

"Miscalculation huh. What kind of person was I like?"

"A punk bachelor."

"Great." The boy shook his head.

Karin followed him downstairs, saying goodbye to the girls as she did. "I'd have thought that Toshiro was rescued in this world, but there can't be more then one Ichi-nii."

Note – Karin heard the word "isan" instead of "Isshin"