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Wednesday, March 7th, 5:09 pm

Karin flinched when the bell above the door dinged. Bright turquoise eyes looked up from the counter they were behind and softened the minute they saw her. Toshiro held up a finger to her, as a sign to give him a minute, and then he returned to talking with the customer he was with - some unknown woman with long auburn hair. Karin moved over to stand next to a drum display, watching curiously.

"You said your daughter knows how to play?" Toshiro asked. Karin hadn't noticed, but he had a saxophone in his hands that he was now taking apart piece by piece and putting away in an open case on the counter.

The older woman nodded. "Yes, but she's tired of using the school saxophone," she explained, putting her wallet away in her purse like she had just paid for the instrument, "I'm getting her this one as a birthday surprise."

"Great present," Toshiro commented. He ducked down and grabbed a small plastic package from underneath the counter. "Here are some extra reeds for her," he told the customer, putting the plastic package in the case before closing it, "Tell her I said 'Happy Birthday'."

The woman, surprised but smiling, grabbed the handle and took the case. "Okay. I will," she told him, hesitating like she was trying to remember his name, "Thank you so much for all your help."

"Happy to do it," he told her, smiling as she headed out the door, "Have a good one."

The minute the woman was outside - the bell clanging behind her - Toshiro looked at Karin and his face fell. "That woman was an idiot," he told her.

Karin had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. "Oh...?" was all she managed.

"She came in here looking for saxophone," he told her, talking as he moved around the long counter, "No idea what kind... Alto or Tenor. So we spend fifteen minutes talking about the difference, just because she wants to know - and then she says, 'Oh, well, on her sheet music it says Alto Sax'." He came over to her, "And then she can't decide what color, so she has to call her husband and ask him what color the school saxophone her daughter uses is. Then reeds... Then neck straps... It was a nightmare."

It was nice and warm in the music shop, as always, so while he talked and she listened, Karin took off her single strap backpack and her coat, putting her hat and gloves and scarf in the pockets. When he finally finished, she looked at him questioningly, "Do you not get a lot of difficult customers?"

"Difficult? Yeah, all the time," he smiled at her, "Insufferable? No. Not often."

The two of them just kind of stood there for a moment. It was kind of awkward for Karin to be standing with a boy she had slept with and planned never see again. She wondered if it was that way for everyone who found themselves in this odd situation, or just her.

"Here," he took her coat an threw it on the counter, then her backpack. "Huh," he weighed it in his hand for a moment and looked at her, "What's in here? Bricks?"

"Books," she corrected, taking the bag. Once Jinta had tried to lift it, and pulled a muscle in his arm, but Karin never had any problems. Probably because she was always lugging it around. It surprised her that Toshiro didn't seem to have any trouble with it, but she didn't let that show. "I just came from class," she told him, putting the bag up next to her coat.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "You go to the college? The one downtown?"

She nodded, "I take the day classes." She tucked her hands into the pockets of the form fitting, sleeveless pullover hoodie she was wearing. Red, her signature color, over a long sleeve white shirt, and accompanied by her favorite jeans and a pair of converse tall enough to go over her jeans to just below her knees - black, with white laces all the way up. "My sister takes the night classes," she added.

"What are you studying for?" he wanted to know.

She shrugged, "Paramedic."

He smirked. "Always have to save the day?" he teased.

Karin frowned. He still wasn't letting that one go. "It runs in the family," she explained, knowing that the only way she was going to win this was if she kept a level head, "My dad is a doctor. My sister is studying to be a pediatric nurse. Even Ichigo has his Associates as an X-Ray Technologist"

Toshiro blinked, "He does?"

She nodded. There was a long pause.

"No mom?"

Karin seemed unphased by the question. Ichigo didn't like to talk about their mom. Their dad loved to. Yuzu liked to listen to the stories, but Karin... She was nether here nor there on the subject. She couldn't really talk about someone she didn't know. When someone brought her mom up, she kept her answer simple, "She died when I was little."

"Yeah... Mine too," Toshiro folded his arms over his own cream colored zip-up hoodie. Beneath it Karin could see a black collared shirt and a loose white tie that matched his hair. He shrugged, "Poor little orphan boy story."

"But you have a grandma..." Karin mentioned. Though it seemed silly for her to remind him of his own life.

He nodded, "Yeah. Two actually. My grandmother got sick for a few years, so social services put me in a foster home for a while."

"Oh..." Karin stared at him, unsure what to say to that. She finally decided on, "Sorry..." But it came out sounding more like a question.

"It was all right. That's where I met MoMo," he told her, and took a step over to lean against the counter, "And BaBa had a lot of other foster kids. Then when I went back to my grandmother, MoMo just kind of came along."

Oh right. He had a sister. Karin had completely forgotten. "... is your sister here?" she asked, attempting to be subtle.

"No," he told her, and his mouth turned down slightly. Not quite a frown, but pretty close. "She went to make sure the painters don't screw up her apartment," he explained, "Although she cleaned before she left, so I can't find anything upstairs."

Karin smiled, "Want me to help you un-clean?"

He chuckled. "Better not," he told her, "Then not only will she clean... she'll organize too."

Karin couldn't help but laugh a little at that. She could understand. Yuzu was always going in her room while she was at school or work and cleaning her room and doing her laundry. It was nice and all, but sometimes Karin just wanted to pull her hair out when she was trying to find stuff.

For the first time ever, there was a comfortable silence between the two of them. No awkwardness. No frustration. No nothing. Toshiro was just looking at her, looking at him. But finally, Karin looked around.

"So... What did Ichigo mean when he said you were a 'protege'?"

"Unknown protege, if you don't mind," he corrected her, "I don't like to spread it around. I've already got your brother bothering me to play bass in his little band. I don't need all kind of strangers clogging up the store trying to convince me I'm wasting my talents if I'm not playing with them."

Karin nodded. "So..." she rephrased her question, "You can play any instrument...?"

He shrugged, "Things just sort of click for me. I've been playing the piano since I was five. To play any other instrument you just have to know how to feel the sound and speak the rhythm."

"Deep," Karin teased.

Toshiro shook his head, his white scruffy hair making a soft swishing as he did so. Then he got up from leaning against the counter and walked past her. She turned, watching him go over to a display with six different flutes hanging on the wall. He grabbed one and brought it down. "Give me a song," he told her.

She shrugged.

"Come on," he set the flute in his hands, getting a feel for the keys and the way they worked under his fingers, but his attention remained on Karin, "Anything. First song to pop in your head."

When you're put on the spot, it's like your mind so badly doesn't want to pick the wrong thing that it goes completely blank. And that's exactly what happened to Karin. Although... There was one thing... "Flight of the Bumblebee?"

He smirked, like he was kind of expecting her to say that, but he wasn't against it. He raised the instrument to his mouth and paused. His head moved slightly, like he was counting in his head. Then all of a sudden, he closed his eyes and the song erupted from the flute unlike anything Karin had ever heard before. And Yuzu had dragged her to an opera show once, so that was saying something.

He played through the whole song. How fast his fingers brushed against the keys would have been unbelievable if Karin hadn't been watching only a yard away from him, through widened eyes. He dipped and swayed his head - not like crazy, but rather moving with the music. And then, just as suddenly as he had begun, he blew through the last few notes.

Toshiro lowered the flute and opened his eyes. Every small action he did now seemed to be a hundred times slower after seeing him play such a fast song.

She blinked, "Wow."

But he shrugged her off, going over to return the flute to the wall. "It's not that great," he told her.

"What do you mean? That was- "

The bell above the door went off, and a tall, darker skinned man with blue-ish tinted dark hair and a light mustache came through. He didn't even seem to notice Karin. "Yo! Toshiro!" he went right over to the white haired boy and held out a fist.

Rolling his eyes, Toshiro reached his fist up to bump the guy in greeting, "Hey Kōkichirō. What's up?"

"Dude... I need a new set of brushes. Mine snapped right at the shoulder," he explained, seeming slightly embarrassed in having to tell Toshiro this by the way he tucked his hands into the pockets of his grey winter coat.

"What about the back-up pair you got last time?" Toshiro reminded him.

The guy - Kōkichirō - shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets. "I just told you... I snapped them," he clarified, smirking under his mustache. He seemed to keep going back and forth between the situation being amusing and embarrassing.

Hitsugaya's hair swished as he shook his head with his eyes closed. "You moron," he huffed. And then he looked over at Karin, "Give me a sec?"

Karin nodded. Why didn't her hair swish when she moved? Stupid perfect protege boy and his stupid perfect hair. "Take your time," she told him, backing away like she was excusing herself from the conversation, "I'll just... look around a bit."

"I'm not giving you a discount for this set," Toshiro mentioned as he headed around behind the counter.

"Yeah... I know. I'm sorry."

"You might have to order some. I've only got nylons right now."

"No steel?"

"What did I just say?"

"Okay, okay..."

Karin smiled, rounding the corner of drums and heading to the back of the store, where she knew she would find the redwood spinet she had once heard Toshiro play. Surprisingly enough, even though nearly three months had gone by since the last time she saw it, the piano really hadn't changed all that much. Though it was far more buried in sheet music now than ever before.

Her eyes raked over the music. It seemed a lot like what she had gone through on Toshiro's piano upstairs way back in December, but it wasn't quite the same. A lot of this was simpler stuff. She even found a few "Learning the Basics of Piano" booklets. Maybe he offered lessons?

She ran her fingers over the keys. She could still hear the murmurs of Toshiro and Kōkichirō on the other end of the store, but couldn't make out what they were saying. And even if she could, she probably wouldn't have been paying attention.

For a long time, the boys on Karin's soccer team didn't like her. Middle School, High School, now a community group. Each new team was just a new set of people who didn't like her because of her talent. Who were mad because they practiced endlessly each day and never got as good as Karin was when she had a ball at her feet.

For the first time it seemed she had found someone like her. Someone so unbelievably good at something, it hindered them. She wondered if maybe she should tell him... about her soccer playing... It seemed like he would understand.

Karin had been spacing out, but the sound of a piano key she had pressed down in her trance snapped her right back. She shook her head, returning herself to the present and pulling her hand off the piano so sharply she accidently knocked over a small stack of sheet music.

She looked around. She couldn't see the front desk from back here, but it didn't sound like either of the guys had heard her. Still, she dropped to her knees and gathered up the papers as quickly as she could, tapping them on the floor until they were in a nice little stack again. She put them back on the end of the piano where they had been and sighed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw another paper, under the piano bench. She must have missed it. Wondering if Toshiro would notice the papers were all out of order now, she bent down and grabbed the lone piece of sheet music, turning it over in her hand.

KARIN'S MELODY

Karin blinked. What the...? she looked over the page. The musical notes were scribbles. She couldn't possibly begin to understand what it might sound like. But she knew enough to look down to the bottom and see it wasn't finished.

He's... She couldn't take her eyes off of it - taking in all ths scratches where he had changed his mind. The different inks that told her he had been working on it for days - weeks even. ... writing a song for me?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sunday, March 18th, 2:52 pm

C#... A... E... G#... C#... E... A... C#... E... G#... C#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#...

Toshiro waited, his hands still holding the last note of the song as it resonated through him one final time. After a minute, he blinked his eyes opened and looked at the music stand in front of him. He was aware of the others staring at him, but he paid them no mind. His fingers left the neck of his guitar to trace along the chords written down in front of him.

C#... A... E... G#... C#... E... A... C#... E... G#... C#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#...

Perfect. He didn't miss a single one.

"Dude... That was sick!" Renji shouted, jumping up from his drums, waving his sticks around as he sang Toshiro's praises, "Two run throughs. We handed you the song, we did TWO RUN THROUGHS, and you've got it like you've been playing it your whole life!"

The white haired music protege shrugged, undoing the strap attached to his Fender Stratocaster. A bright maroon body, with a bold green pick guard. He named her Haineko.

"What a beautiful sound..." the dark haired one that Toshiro couldn't seem to remember the name of, commented, looking around at the rest of the band over his keyboard, "See, now that is what precision timing and respectful teamwork is suppose to sound like."

When they first started practice, Toshiro had noticed the keyboard immediately, and hoped he could stay on second guitar. As much of a skilled piano player he was... 1) He didn't like to play the piano in front of other people. All other instruments had long since been ruined by people's fawning every time he played. So far, the only person he had ever let hear him play the piano was Karin. And without even meaning to... she made it special for him.

And 2) Well, he hated keyboards. They weren't even pianos. They were like... glorified computers, shaped to look like pianos. There was no depth, no emotion to their music. He could play one, yes. But he didn't like to.

"Gotta admit, the kid's got talent," the bald one - Ikkaku? - took off his Carvin SB4001 Bass Guitar, in as bright and gaudy a red as his excessive eyeliner, and carefully placed the instrument on a stand nearby.

With Haineko tucked in Toshiro's double guitar case with her partner guitar - a black and orange sunburst Gibson Les Paul affectionately name Rangiku - he zipped it closed and straightened back up in his chair. In a little less than five hours, he had managed to learn every song the band knew. He probably could have done it faster without the four others getting distracted by his playing every four seconds and screwing up their own parts. But hey. What could you do?

Ichigo switched off his MIC. Though he would never admit it, Toshiro had actually found himself slightly impressed with Karin's older brother. He did a decent job with Ranbu no Melody. And Toshiro's "decent" was anyone elses "fantastic". He took a step back and pulled off his own guitar as well. A black Gretsch Duo Jet electric guitar that Toshiro himself had sold the older Kurosaki only a little over a year ago. And still in beautiful condition - which impressed the protege even more that Ichigo's singing had.

"You guys want to head over to that restaurant across the street?" the carrot top looked around at his band mates, "I'll buy."

"Hell yeah!" Ikkaku and Renji shouted at the same time. Then looked at each other and glared.

Ichigo looked over at their newest member - at least temporarily. Until they found someone to permanently replace Byakuya, who had run off to medical college in another state. Not that they blamed him. Just that it was inconvenient when they had gigs booked until the end of the month. "What about you, Toshiro?" he asked.

"You guys go ahead," he told them, "I really need to get back to the store. I left it in the hands of my sister's boyfriend. Kira's nice and all, but he doesn't know the first thing about music."

The others nodded understandingly. They all shopped at BLEACH. They knew the importance of such a small, community-oriented music store upholding it's reputation. One by one, they said their simple goodbyes and headed for the door of the studio they were renting for the afternoon.

"Next practice is Tuesday," Ichigo mentioned, being the only one left with Toshiro, "When do you close up shop?"

"Eight," Toshiro answered stintingly - knowing that was too late for them.

"Can you close early?" he immediately wanted to know.

Toshiro shrugged. "I have to check and see how long it's been since I took a half day," he told the older Kurosaki, "I'll text you later, or tomorrow for sure."

Ichigo nodded, glad to have a plan in the works, and headed for the door to catch up with the others. "Great practice, Toshiro," he said, pulling the handle, "I'll see you around."

"I'm sure you will," Toshiro commented, watching him leave the room and pull the door close behind him.

Alone at last, the white haired boy let out a long, exhausted sigh. "I can't believe I let her talk me into this..." he murmured to himself, turning to gather up all the sheet music the guys had given him today to look over.

"A band. You want me to play guitar... in your brother's band?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"I knew you would say that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Jeez... I don't know, Toshiro... For the same reason a person asks, 'Are you cold?' when someone comes in from a snowstorm."

"To be redundant?"

"To hope... someone will surprise them."

"Hmm."

It didn't really end up surprising her when he finally buckled and agreed to help out for a bit until they could find a real new member. Toshiro slipped the last of the sheet music into a grey folder on the music stand, and a little yellow sticky note fell out, gliding down to the floor. He leaned over and picked it up, glancing over it before slipping it into the folder as well.

WEAR BLACK FOR THE GIG THIS WEEKEND.
IT'S KIND OF A BAND THING.
- Ichigo

Toshiro sighed again and tucked the folder into the large front pocket on his double guitar case. Substitute Soul Reapers. By far the strangest band name he had ever heard of. But at least that meant it was original. And with a name like that, did he really think the wardrobe would be anything but black?

And the music. Rock this. Metal that. Ranbu no Melody, the last song they worked on, was the softest song they had practiced today, and even that was... loud, to say the least. And really, really fast. But who was he to judge? Not his band.

Toshiro's thoughts drifted back to Karin. There was a song that had been stuck in his head since he woke up this morning. And although it didn't fit their situation perfectly, it always made him think of her. He thought about offering it up to practice - just to hear it played live for once - but then decided against it. He didn't have sheet music for it. He had memorized it a few years back, but that just meant he would waste all of their practice time showing each of them how to play each individual part.

Still... It was a good song.

Before he knew what he was going, Toshiro gently turned over his case and unzipped the back, where Rangiku was waiting ever so patiently to be played. He had brought her along in case something happened to Haineko. He hadn't really had any intention of playing her in front of the others. She was his favorite. So he rarely used he outside of the comfort of his apartment, much less in some dank studio across town.

He could practically feel her vibrating with excitement. Most, if not all, musicians in the world just didn't have the connections with their instruments that Toshiro had with his. He remembered picking Rangiku up out of the case she had been shipped to the store in that first day. From the moment he touched her, he knew he needed her. They were an unbreakable partnership. An equal coalition. He never let anyone else ever lay a hand on her.

It had been years since he had played the song, but he still knew the chords by heart.

E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...

There were words too.

She fooled all of her friends into thinking she's so strong... But she still sleeps with the light on... And she acts like it's all right on,
E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...
As she smiles again... And her mother lies there sick with cancer, and her friends don't understand her... She's a question without answers - who feels like falling apart...
E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...
She knows, she's so much more than worthless... But she needs to find her purpose... She wonders what she, did to deserve this...
F#... A2... F#... A2...
She's calling out to you... This is a call - this is a call out... 'Cause everytime I fall down - I reach out to you...
E... B... A2... F#... B...
And I'm losing all control now... And my hazard signs are all out...I'm asking you, to show me what this life, is all about...
E... A2... F#... B... E...

"And he tells everyone a story, cause he thinks his life is boring... and he fights so you won't ignore him - cause that's his biggest fear... and he cries, but you rarely see him do it... And he loves, but he's scared to use it...
E... A2... C#... A2...

Toshiro hesitated, his hands waiting on the next chord, but not quite ready to play it. Oh yeah. Now he remembered why he didn't play this song anymore. It was... a little too real for him.

He thought of Karin... again. No. It had been real. When he first met her, he pushed her away, despite the way the two of them seemed drawn to each other over and over. So maybe... It was time. Maybe real was exactly what he needed now.

He looked back down at Rangiku shinning in his hands and cleared his throat, starting in on the next chord... "So he hides behind the music... cause he likes it that way. And he knows, he so much more than worthless... he needs to find the surface... Cause he's... starting to get nervous, and...
E... A2... C#... A2...

"He's calling out to you... This is a call - this is a call out... 'Cause everytime I fall down - I reach out to you...
E... B... A2... F#... B...
"And I'm losing all control now... And my hazard signs are all out...I'm asking you, to show me what this life, is all about...
E... A2... F#... B... E...

"Show me what this life, is all about...
F#... B... E...
"Show me what... this life... is all about."
F#... B... E...

He was missing a verse at the end there, but he needed to stop. All of a sudden, it felt like he had been struck by lightening. In a good way, of course. He jumped off of his seat and practically through Rangiku back into her case, swung it up onto his shoulder and tore out of the studio. He needed to get back to the store.

On the bus stop, he couldn't stop fidgeting. He tried to keep the notes in his head. Not from the song. The ones that had come after that. When he had stopped playing, and a new song started resonating in his ears.

"Damnit!" he cursed through his teeth. He was already losing the notes. He wasn't going to make it all the way back to the store unless...

Toshiro looked up. A girl - maybe 12? 13? - was sitting on the bench beside where he was standing, and looking at him strangely. In her hands was a spiral notebook with what looked like her math homework scribbled on the open page, in her hand a mechanical pencil. Clearly she had heard him swear. He didn't really care. He dug down into the bottom of his front pocket, ignoring his bus pass and pulling out a crinkled 20.

Now she was definitely going to think he was a nutcase.

Toshiro had his face less than a foot from the notebook when he pushed the door of BLEACH open with his back. He couldn't even recall his bus ride back across town, or the three block walk through the snow to the store. Though, to be fair, he had been living there for a while. It kind of made sense he could get home without even looking.

"Ah! Toshiro! Thank goodness you're back! I've been calling - "

"Not now Kira," the white haired protege cut him off, erasing a few notes and trying to play them out in his head a bit lower to see if it would fit the flow of the song better.

"But, Toshiro - "

His bright turquoise eyes flickered up to the blond behind the counter. "Kira, not now! I'm trying to do something!" he snapped at his sister's boyfriend, waving the pencil and notebook around.

"Yeah Kira... There's no need to bother him anyway, I'm almost done."

Toshiro's blood ran cold. And that was saying something for a boy who liked to go out in the snow in shirts without sleeves. The pencil fell from his right hand, but he just gripped tighter to the notebook with his other. Slowly, he turned, and the figure standing on his spiral staircase smirked at him over the box in her arms.

"Hiyori..." he whispered, unable to blink.

"Oh my god, you actually remember my name, midget?" she threw at him sarcastically as she stepped down the last few stairs. In tall white winter boots, her favored white and red track suit, and her bright blond hair pulled into her signature ponytails, she really didn't look any different than when he had seen her last - about two and a half months ago.

She flashed him a toothy grin and he tensed. When she left, she had thrown a cello at him. Three of which she was eerily close too. Good thing she had her hands full.

"I'll be right back," she told him in passing, heading out the door to where he could see her little red car was parked on the curb. What a day to have his nose in a notebook.

"What the hell, Kira?!" he whirled on the blond, slamming his notebook on the counter between the two of them so he could take his arm and wave it out towards Hiyori. "What is she doing here?!" he demanded.

Kira blinked. A lot. And ran his hands along the length of his green hoodie's zipper while he answered. "I don't know, I don't know," he assured Toshiro, "She just walked right in. Said she was getting the last of her stuff. I told her not to go upstairs, but she wouldn't listen. I tried to call you... I really did... But I guess you kept your phone off during practice, because your cell just kept going to voicemail and - "

"Hello, hello."

Oh god. Now he was having a heart attack. Toshiro's blood was already frozen, and now he was having a heart attack. Not to mention, he couldn't stop the look of panic that took over his face and made his eyebrow twitch. His head turned, but he didn't trust the rest of his body to move without causing him to throw up.

Karin. Of course it was Karin. And from the way she pulled off her hat, gloves and coat as she came over to him, clearly she wasn't leaving any time soon.

Blood frozen... heart attack... twitching... induced vomiting. That had to be a new medical record or something.

"Ichigo told me you wanted to get back to the store right after practice," she told him, coming over to lay her stuff down on the counter and not noticing she covered up his notebook, "I was thinking we could order some delivery from that restaurant you like on the Westside." She stood in front of him, oblivious to his inner turmoil as she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. "I was just going to grab some on my way over here, but I didn't know what you wanted," she continued, "Plus, the temperature is dropping by the tens outside. Weird for the middle of the afternoon."

Kira looked back and forth between the to of them, quietly trying to slink out from behind the counter while Karin had Toshiro distracted.

The bell above the door chimed the white haired protege's doom. He turned, trying to hope for the best while the worst came sauntering over to him.

"All right, that's everything," Hiyori announced, making a show in that way she always did, "Too bad you couldn't have been just a few more minutes, shorty, or you wouldn't have had to see me at all."

Kira finally made it to the door. He mouthed "sorry" about a hundred times and gave a little bow with each one as he pulled open the door and slipped out behind Hiyori. Toshiro tried to beg him not to go with his eyes - and failed miserably.

Karin eyed the blond girl quizzically. "Um, I'm Karin... Karin Kurosaki," she offered the stranger a hand, "And you are...?"

"Hiyori Sarugaki," she took Karin's hand, shaking it firmly and enjoying the way it made Toshiro squirm. Then - just to make it clear she was here to torture him - she added, "Toshiro's ex-girlfriend."

Karin blinked. She probably should have expected that. Of course he had ex-girlfriends. She had ex-boyfriends, after all. It wasn't that strange. It was just a little odd that the blond girl would come right out and say it. "Oh..." she glanced at Toshiro briefly, then smiled back at her, "It's nice to meet you."

Hiyori pulled her hand away and crossed both arms over her chest. "My you bounce back fast, pygmy," she commented.

If all the little quips about Toshiro being short were supposed to be some funny joke between the two of them, the girl didn't really make it out that way. If anything, the nicknames were spleenful. Karin felt her eyebrows furrow together, slightly irritated.

Finally, there was nothing else for Toshiro to do but clear his throat, get back his composure and speak. "Hiyori, weren't you just leaving?" he asked, stepping closer - and a little bit in front of - Karin. Like he was trying to shield her from becoming Hiyori's next target.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going..." she waved her hand at him like there was no need to rush her out. And on that, he sorely disagreed. "Oh!" she snapped her fingers, as if a thought just popped into her head, "But I do need one more thing..."

"What?" Toshiro asked impatiently.

Suddenly, Hiyori was a scary kind of serious. Her lips turned down into a frown, and her eyes locked onto Toshiro's - stone cold. "The violin," she told him, sounding like death himself - come to collect.

Toshiro's mouth opened for a moment, but nothing came out, so he closed it and looked off to the side. "I..." he hesitated. Maybe there was a better approach to this situation, "You gave me that as a gift. Why do you want it back?"

"Why would you want to keep it?" she shot back. Hiyori was not a girl used to being challenged. By anyone. Much less Toshiro. "It was an anniversary gift - celebrating a relationship you clearly didn't care about. And it cost me a fortune. So give it back."

"Well you can't have it back," he told her. Not that he didn't want to give it to her. Right now, he would do anything to get her out of his store. It was just... he couldn't...

Hiyori grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him away from Karin. "Toshiro, don't make me hurt you!" she threatened, "Stop being stupid and give me the damn violin!"

Karin immediately jumped in. She knew enough about Toshiro to know he would never hit a girl. But this girl didn't seem to have any qualms with slugging him. The toughish Kurosaki grabbed Hiyori's wrist and twisted it off of his shirt, then shoved the blond away. Toshiro might have a problem with hitting girls, but Karin sure as shit didn't.

"Ow!" Hiyori withdrew, rubbing her wrist for a second. Then she got pissed, and her immediate reaction was to take a swing at the black haired girl.

But Toshiro was faster than both of them. Probably even both of them combined. He reached an arm out and moved Karin behind him, catching Hiyori's fist in his other hand. The two of them stood there, in stalemate, for at least a minute - maybe more. Hiyori's eyes were the size of softballs. Toshiro had never, ever, laid a hand on her in violence or anger. Even now... he wasn't hurting her. But for the first time in all the years she had known him, the look in his eyes said he wanted to.

"Don't. Touch. Her."

Hiyori pulled her hand back. But it was pretty obvious she was angry and not planning to leave without what she came for. She glared at him, "She started it."

"I did not - " Karin protested from behind Toshiro, but he cut her off, talking to his ex-girlfriend, "I don't care. I'm finishing it. Now get out, Hiyori."

"I want that violin, Toshiro!" she snapped - it was the first time she had used his name in the time she had been there. Who knew one word could be filled with such hatred and vile.

"Fine!" he snapped back at her. Karin had never seen Toshiro lose his temper before. Her eyes went round as she watched him stalk off angrily towards the stairs and head up the staircase to his apartment glaring at the ceiling.

"Hmph," Hiyori huffed, crossing her arms. Nevermind that he had throughoutly irritated the piss out of her. Now he had also made the whole situation take way longer than it needed too. And if there was one thing Hiyori hated more than not getting her way - it was being patient. Well, not getting her way, being patient, AND tough, pushy girls like herself.

Speaking of whom... Her bright teal eyes looked over at the black-haired girl standing beside her - Karin was her name? - still staring at the ceiling where Toshiro had disappeared upstairs.

The blond sighed. "He sure likes you," she mentioned begrudgingly. Probably would have been better for her to keep her mouth shut, but what fun was that?

Karin pulled her eyes away to meet Hiyori's. Then she blinked, confused. Hadn't this girl just tried to slug her a minute ago? Now she was just going to be all huffy? Odd... But Karin could play her game. "What do you mean?"

"I dated him for four years..." she explained. There was still acid in the edge of her voice, but mostly she just sounded like a depressed, broken hearted girl putting on a front. "Known him for six... And he never jumped in to defend me before."

Karin's mouth screwed together slightly. "Maybe... he thought you could handle yourself...?" she offered.

Hiyori shrugged. "Or maybe he never really thought of me as a girlfriend... You know, someone to protect and defend?" she looked over at the floor, "Guess that was why it was so easy for him to cheat on me."

When you're a new girlfriend, there's this delicate string pulled tight inside of you. And it can sit there for a day, or a year, or anywhere in between, but eventually it snaps. Because it's easy to look past people's little faults, (Yuzu clearly never noticed how Jinta chewed with his mouth open, and Rukia and Ichigo were always at odds with each other over one thing or another), but there is always one thing that completely changes everything for you about a guy whom you thought was otherwise.... well, perfect.

"Oh, you live with your parents still?" SNAP.

"Huh. You, uh, didn't tell me you were in AA." SNAP.

"What do you mean you dated your cousin for a while?" SNAP.

Yes, Karin had been through some of the worst. So she knew exactly what the familiar pain that went off inside her chest was the second it happened. And somehow... this was the worst it had ever been before. She wanted nothing more than to be able to reach inside herself and tie the string tight again. But she couldn't. And she knew she couldn't. The damage was done.

"You're telling me... You cheated on a girl you had been with for... four years?!" SNAP.

"He..." Karin hesitated. It was none of her business, and then at the same time, it was completely her business. And all of a sudden she was feeling really sorry for the girl who just wanted to clock her in the jaw not to long ago. But the question couldn't be stopped, "He cheated on you?"

There was no telling if Hiyori was really over it or not, but from the way she nonchalantly shrugged and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for Toshiro to come back down, it kind of seemed like she had moved on. It barely seemed to register to her that she had even brought it up. "Yeah..." she exhaled, "I mean, that's the way it always is, isn't it? You're together for a while - never falling backwards, but never really moving forwards either. And then he starts to pull away. And then he calls you on New Years Day and asks you to come over for a "talk"..."

Oh god. The pain got worse. Not New Years. Not him. Not her. Karin's eyes darted back and forth around the shop, and she took a step here, and a step there, unable to keep her balance. Her mind and heart were racing - and within a minute, her feet were too. She tore out of the music shop slamming the door so hard behind her it popped back open just a crack.

Hiyori's head turned when the door slammed, and the black haired girl went running off down the sidewalk. She raised an eyebrow. What the hell was that about?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday, March 24th, 8:39 pm

Karin? It's Toshiro. Look, it's been almost a week. I dropped off your coat and stuff at your house earlier. Just want to make sure you got it. And I know I've left like... a hundred messages already. I really wish you would call me back.

Karin pulled her phone away from her ear and hit the number 7. The words MESSAGE DELETED flashed across her phone for a few seconds. When they disappeared, she brought the phone back to her ear.

Hey. It's me again. Call me back, Karin... please?

Again, she hit the number 7.

Karin, I really wish someone would tell me what's going on. Hiyori won't talk to me either. I feel like I left for five minutes and the whole world fell apart. What happened?

MESSAGE DELETED.

One last message from his number. The beep sounded to start the message. A pause. A sad sigh. Then the message clicked off.

Karin hesitated - staring at the options on her phone. Then, for no apparent reason, her eyes started to burn. She slammed her phone shut and closed her eyes, not wanting to stare at the light on her ceiling anymore as she ran through her conversation with Hiyori three... no, four more times. It had been such a brief one. She probably should have stayed. Should have let Toshiro explain. But something in her told her to run.

And did she really need anymore of an explanation? Toshiro cheated on a girl he had been dating for four years. The two of them weren't even really in a relationship, and Karin was kind of glad for that now. All this time, she had thought she didn't deserve him. She kept thinking, if she let herself love someone so perfect, she would just get her heart broken. Lucky for her, she had found out sooner rather than later that he wasn't so perfect.

Fine. She'd delete his number from her phone, just avoid the square where they first met, and the downtown area where his shop was. She was done with him.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Karin opened her eyes and turned her head to look over at her window. Toshiro knelt, one knee and the other foot on her window pane - which wasn't really that big. She sat up so fast she almost gave herself whip-lash and ran over to the window.

So much for being done with him.

He smiled at her through the glass, light flurries raining down in the blackness behind him. Karin quickly undid the lock on her window and slid it to the side. "Are you out of your mind?!" she asked, grabbing his jacket and pulling him into her room before he could fall from the second story of her house. She moved him, and returned to the window, expecting to find a ladder or something when she stuck her head out and looked around, but found nothing. "How the hell did you get up here?" she demanded, whirling back to him.

"From the roof," he stated simply, brushing snow out of his hair, "I dropped off the side and swung over."

Karin closed the window, shocked beyond recovery. "Do you have a death wish?!" she snapped, "You could have slipped and fallen! What then? Think you're lucky enough to survive a fall from the roof?"

He shrugged, "Probably. One of the perks of dating a paramedic, I suppose."

She frowned. "We're not dating," she stated flatly, crossing her arms. "And I don't think we ever will now," she added, just to make sure he got her point.

Toshiro sighed. "Yeah... Okay, I deserved that," he told her, "Seriously though, Karin... Haven't you been getting my calls? I stopped by twice this week and your brother told me you weren't around. You can't just disappear like that and ignore me. I don't care how angry you are with me. I was worried something might have happened to you."

Karin blinked, losing her composure for a moment. People didn't usually... worry... about her. Then her face hardened again. Remember, she was still mad at his two-timing ass.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked at her carefully, "And all of this was because of Hiyori? Look, I know she's a little... brazen. But trust me, she's more bark than bite."

"It's not about her," Karin narrowed her eyes, "This is about you."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that. "What about me...?" he wanted to know.

Karin exhaled softly, trying to keep her cool - just so he didn't know how much it bothered her to say this next part. "Hiyori told me what you did..." she murmured softly, looking at the floor, "...how you broke up with her."

She couldn't see his face, which was probably a good thing. Because it went through a few stages. Surprise. Anger. Acceptance. Then irritation. And Karin probably wouldn't have been able to keep up. "Damn..." he said finally.

"Is it true?" Karin had promised herself, when she finally got back to her house after her run from the shop, that she would never ask him that question. That it didn't matter. That all of this was a sign that the two of them should just stop... whatever this was... And even though she regretted breaking that promise now, she was kind of glad the question had gotten away from her.

Even though Karin wasn't looking at him, Toshiro still couldn't look at her. "Yeah," he breathed.

And then there was nothing but silence. For a full five minutes, a thick, heavy silence filled the room from the floor up. Karin was finding it hard to breathe... again.

"I can't believe her," Toshiro said finally, pissed off beyond, well belief, "I mean, it wasn't a big secret, but now she made it seem like I wasn't going to tell you myself."

Karin looked up at him with sad, dark eyes, "Were you?"

"Of course," he assured her, stepping closer, "I was just..."

"... waiting for the right moment?" she finished, rolling her eyes. She had heard that one before.

Toshiro sighed again. She didn't believe him. He couldn't blame her. If the roles were switched, he wouldn't believe her either. "I was waiting to finish something," he corrected her.

She didn't want to hear it. "Can you just... go... please?" she asked, turning away from him, to stare at the wall.

"Karin..." he pleaded with her.

"No!" she snapped at him. To hell with keeping her cool. She had something to say, and she was going to be heard, damnit! Even if it meant she would lose her temper like a 2 year old. She whirled to face him and jabbed a finger into his chest, "You don't get to be sad! You don't get to flash those big blue eyes at me and make up some sad excuse about it being a moment of weakness and all that crap!"

Now her eyes were really burning. She forced him backwards until he hit a wall. "You used me," she continued snapping, "You made me the other woman and you used me to break up with your girlfriend because YOU didn't have the BALLS to!"

"How can you think that?" he asked her, refusing to blink so she had to feel the full weight of his eyes connected to hers. He heard her breath get caught up in her throat, and leaned in towards her. "Karin... What happened..." he hesitated, finding the words. Which he didn't have. He was terrible at these sort of things.

He took a deep breath. "That night had nothing to do with Hiyori," he told her, his eyebrows furrowing together as went on, "The moment I met you... I don't know. It wasn't love at first sight, but it was something. And I was mean to you, and I tried to push you away because I was with Hiyori."

He paused - letting it sink in. Hoping she would understand. Even if he wasn't the best at explaining it. "But you just kept showing up. On my street, at my shop, at your house. And I couldn't ignore you anymore."

Toshiro pulled back. He needed her to know this last part was the most important. She might still never want to see him again, but he was damn well going to make sure she knew the whole story before she made that decision. "I know what happened hurt you just as much as it did Hiyori, but I do not regret it for a second...

"I called Hiyori the next morning, and I told her what I had done. And she forgave me! She said she didn't care - that she would take me back, because it was a mistake. But you know what? It wasn't a mistake. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me. And I wasn't going to give that up to be in a relationship with Hiyori where she would lord it over me for the rest of our lives."

He reached a hand up and pushed a piece of black hair behind her ear. His hands were freezing and gave her goosebumps where they brushed across her skin. "I left her," he finished, "Because..."

Karin didn't give him the chance to finish. She had heard enough. Being the 'take charge' kind of girl that she was, when her mouth connected with his, he thought she might never stop kissing him. And that was just fine... with both of them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday, April 23rd, 12:27 pm

"Oh boy..."

Toshiro lowered his arms from the red paint he was attempting to scrub off the front window of the music shop. Ironic, if not appropriate for a store called BLEACH. His sleeves were pushed up above his elbows, but still managed to get soaked with the soapy water from his rag. He looked over to the figure who had walked up beside him with two grocery bags in her hands.

"Hey... I wasn't expecting you home so soon," he mentioned, dropping the rag into the bucket by his feet with a splash.

Karin looked the window over. Her boyfriend wasn't making any headway on removing the paint. With the bright, warm April sun glinting off the glass, it was clear the paint had been baked on. They probably weren't going to need a new window, but he would need to take a razor blade to it. Try to scrape it off in bits.

Toshiro ran his wet hand through his already somewhat damp hair to get it out of his face, then reached forward and took one of the stuffed paper bags from Karin's arms. He'd never try to take both of them because he knew she would hate that, thinking he was being pompous instead of just being chivalrous. Still, she never said no to a little help.

"Was it Hiyori again?" Karin asked, following him around to the stairs and up into the shop.

He nodded. Then spoke, just in case she hadn't seen it, "Yeah. Something tells me she's still angry about the violin."

Karin smiled as the two of them headed all the way up the stairs and into their apartment above the music store. No doubt Hiyori was mad. She had stirred up all that trouble and made a big fuss about getting the violin back about a month ago, just to get handed a case full of shattered wood. The violin Toshiro had sacrificed to protect Karin the very first day they met.

Funny how things just seemed to come full circle...

"And you're still not going to let me talk to her?" Karin asked when they finally got upstairs and she could set her bag down on the clean coffee table next to his.

"No, Karin," Toshiro leaned over and pecked her on the mouth, "The last thing I need is a big court case to keep my ex-girlfriend the vandal and my current girlfriend the assailant, out of prison."

Karin frowned. Sometimes, he was just too nice for his own good. Whatever then. The upcoming summer months were only going to make it harder for him to scrub paint off the store, but she let it go and crossed the room to go let Hyourinmaru out to stretch his wings for a bit. The bird immediately climbed up to the top of his cage and chattered happily.

"Don't worry about Hiyori," Toshiro came up beside her and took her hand, pulling Karin away from the bird cage and over towards the front of the apartment where all his instruments were. "I have something I want you to hear," he told her, excitement brimming in the edge of his voice that Karin smirked at. How unlike him.

He sat her down at the piano bench, then picked up a few papers and sat beside her, setting them up in front of the two of them. Karin's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about this.

KARIN'S MELODY.

"You... wrote me a song?" she asked, trying to make it seem like this was the first she was seeing of it.

"I've been writing it since before I even knew your name," he told her, gazing over the final draft sitting up straight on the piano's music stand, "Since the day I first met you in the square. For whatever reason, every time I was around you - or even thought of you - it was like you came with your own theme music... I couldn't help but write it all down..." Toshiro looked at her. "Do you remember back a while ago...?" he asked, hoping she did, "When we had that fight in your room?"

Not something she liked to think about. Between the fighting, her rolling over like a lovesick puppy, and the two of them deflowering her poor innocent bed only a floor above her unknowing family, it wasn't her proudest moment. At least, not until they woke up together the next morning and Toshiro asked her if she wanted to move in with him.

Still, she nodded.

"Do you remember the last thing I said to you?"

Karin thought about it. "You said..." she hesitated. 'Best thing that ever happened to him...' 'Relationship with Hiyori for the rest of his life...' Oh. Wait. "You said, 'I left her.'"

Toshiro smiled, but only slightly. "Because...?" he pressed.

She thought about it for a moment. And for some reason, it seemed like the whole world was waiting for her answer. Then she remembered. She hadn't let him finish. "I don't know," she said finally.

"I left her," he repeated, turning his body to the baby grand in front of him, with it's glistening black paint and not a single key out of tune. It was practically trembling underneath the fingers he set down on the first chord of KARIN'S MELODY. Like it had waited all it's life just to play this.

"Because I wanted to write your song."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Description
Wednesday, March 7th, 5:09 pm

Karin flinched when the bell above the door dinged. Bright turquoise eyes looked up from the counter they were behind and softened the minute they saw her. Toshiro held up a finger to her, as a sign to give him a minute, and then he returned to talking with the customer he was with - some unknown woman with long auburn hair. Karin moved over to stand next to a drum display, watching curiously.

"You said your daughter knows how to play?" Toshiro asked. Karin hadn't noticed, but he had a saxophone in his hands that he was now taking apart piece by piece and putting away in an open case on the counter.

The older woman nodded. "Yes, but she's tired of using the school saxophone," she explained, putting her wallet away in her purse like she had just paid for the instrument, "I'm getting her this one as a birthday surprise."

"Great present," Toshiro commented. He ducked down and grabbed a small plastic package from underneath the counter. "Here are some extra reeds for her," he told the customer, putting the plastic package in the case before closing it, "Tell her I said 'Happy Birthday'."

The woman, surprised but smiling, grabbed the handle and took the case. "Okay. I will," she told him, hesitating like she was trying to remember his name, "Thank you so much for all your help."

"Happy to do it," he told her, smiling as she headed out the door, "Have a good one."

The minute the woman was outside - the bell clanging behind her - Toshiro looked at Karin and his face fell. "That woman was an idiot," he told her.

Karin had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. "Oh...?" was all she managed.

"She came in here looking for saxophone," he told her, talking as he moved around the long counter, "No idea what kind... Alto or Tenor. So we spend fifteen minutes talking about the difference, just because she wants to know - and then she says, 'Oh, well, on her sheet music it says Alto Sax'." He came over to her, "And then she can't decide what color, so she has to call her husband and ask him what color the school saxophone her daughter uses is. Then reeds... Then neck straps... It was a nightmare."

It was nice and warm in the music shop, as always, so while he talked and she listened, Karin took off her single strap backpack and her coat, putting her hat and gloves and scarf in the pockets. When he finally finished, she looked at him questioningly, "Do you not get a lot of difficult customers?"

"Difficult? Yeah, all the time," he smiled at her, "Insufferable? No. Not often."

The two of them just kind of stood there for a moment. It was kind of awkward for Karin to be standing with a boy she had slept with and planned never see again. She wondered if it was that way for everyone who found themselves in this odd situation, or just her.

"Here," he took her coat an threw it on the counter, then her backpack. "Huh," he weighed it in his hand for a moment and looked at her, "What's in here? Bricks?"

"Books," she corrected, taking the bag. Once Jinta had tried to lift it, and pulled a muscle in his arm, but Karin never had any problems. Probably because she was always lugging it around. It surprised her that Toshiro didn't seem to have any trouble with it, but she didn't let that show. "I just came from class," she told him, putting the bag up next to her coat.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "You go to the college? The one downtown?"

She nodded, "I take the day classes." She tucked her hands into the pockets of the form fitting, sleeveless pullover hoodie she was wearing. Red, her signature color, over a long sleeve white shirt, and accompanied by her favorite jeans and a pair of converse tall enough to go over her jeans to just below her knees - black, with white laces all the way up. "My sister takes the night classes," she added.

"What are you studying for?" he wanted to know.

She shrugged, "Paramedic."

He smirked. "Always have to save the day?" he teased.

Karin frowned. He still wasn't letting that one go. "It runs in the family," she explained, knowing that the only way she was going to win this was if she kept a level head, "My dad is a doctor. My sister is studying to be a pediatric nurse. Even Ichigo has his Associates as an X-Ray Technologist"

Toshiro blinked, "He does?"

She nodded. There was a long pause.

"No mom?"

Karin seemed unphased by the question. Ichigo didn't like to talk about their mom. Their dad loved to. Yuzu liked to listen to the stories, but Karin... She was nether here nor there on the subject. She couldn't really talk about someone she didn't know. When someone brought her mom up, she kept her answer simple, "She died when I was little."

"Yeah... Mine too," Toshiro folded his arms over his own cream colored zip-up hoodie. Beneath it Karin could see a black collared shirt and a loose white tie that matched his hair. He shrugged, "Poor little orphan boy story."

"But you have a grandma..." Karin mentioned. Though it seemed silly for her to remind him of his own life.

He nodded, "Yeah. Two actually. My grandmother got sick for a few years, so social services put me in a foster home for a while."

"Oh..." Karin stared at him, unsure what to say to that. She finally decided on, "Sorry..." But it came out sounding more like a question.

"It was all right. That's where I met MoMo," he told her, and took a step over to lean against the counter, "And BaBa had a lot of other foster kids. Then when I went back to my grandmother, MoMo just kind of came along."

Oh right. He had a sister. Karin had completely forgotten. "... is your sister here?" she asked, attempting to be subtle.

"No," he told her, and his mouth turned down slightly. Not quite a frown, but pretty close. "She went to make sure the painters don't screw up her apartment," he explained, "Although she cleaned before she left, so I can't find anything upstairs."

Karin smiled, "Want me to help you un-clean?"

He chuckled. "Better not," he told her, "Then not only will she clean... she'll organize too."

Karin couldn't help but laugh a little at that. She could understand. Yuzu was always going in her room while she was at school or work and cleaning her room and doing her laundry. It was nice and all, but sometimes Karin just wanted to pull her hair out when she was trying to find stuff.

For the first time ever, there was a comfortable silence between the two of them. No awkwardness. No frustration. No nothing. Toshiro was just looking at her, looking at him. But finally, Karin looked around.

"So... What did Ichigo mean when he said you were a 'protege'?"

"Unknown protege, if you don't mind," he corrected her, "I don't like to spread it around. I've already got your brother bothering me to play bass in his little band. I don't need all kind of strangers clogging up the store trying to convince me I'm wasting my talents if I'm not playing with them."

Karin nodded. "So..." she rephrased her question, "You can play any instrument...?"

He shrugged, "Things just sort of click for me. I've been playing the piano since I was five. To play any other instrument you just have to know how to feel the sound and speak the rhythm."

"Deep," Karin teased.

Toshiro shook his head, his white scruffy hair making a soft swishing as he did so. Then he got up from leaning against the counter and walked past her. She turned, watching him go over to a display with six different flutes hanging on the wall. He grabbed one and brought it down. "Give me a song," he told her.

She shrugged.

"Come on," he set the flute in his hands, getting a feel for the keys and the way they worked under his fingers, but his attention remained on Karin, "Anything. First song to pop in your head."

When you're put on the spot, it's like your mind so badly doesn't want to pick the wrong thing that it goes completely blank. And that's exactly what happened to Karin. Although... There was one thing... "Flight of the Bumblebee?"

He smirked, like he was kind of expecting her to say that, but he wasn't against it. He raised the instrument to his mouth and paused. His head moved slightly, like he was counting in his head. Then all of a sudden, he closed his eyes and the song erupted from the flute unlike anything Karin had ever heard before. And Yuzu had dragged her to an opera show once, so that was saying something.

He played through the whole song. How fast his fingers brushed against the keys would have been unbelievable if Karin hadn't been watching only a yard away from him, through widened eyes. He dipped and swayed his head - not like crazy, but rather moving with the music. And then, just as suddenly as he had begun, he blew through the last few notes.

Toshiro lowered the flute and opened his eyes. Every small action he did now seemed to be a hundred times slower after seeing him play such a fast song.

She blinked, "Wow."

But he shrugged her off, going over to return the flute to the wall. "It's not that great," he told her.

"What do you mean? That was- "

The bell above the door went off, and a tall, darker skinned man with blue-ish tinted dark hair and a light mustache came through. He didn't even seem to notice Karin. "Yo! Toshiro!" he went right over to the white haired boy and held out a fist.

Rolling his eyes, Toshiro reached his fist up to bump the guy in greeting, "Hey Kōkichirō. What's up?"

"Dude... I need a new set of brushes. Mine snapped right at the shoulder," he explained, seeming slightly embarrassed in having to tell Toshiro this by the way he tucked his hands into the pockets of his grey winter coat.

"What about the back-up pair you got last time?" Toshiro reminded him.

The guy - Kōkichirō - shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets. "I just told you... I snapped them," he clarified, smirking under his mustache. He seemed to keep going back and forth between the situation being amusing and embarrassing.

Hitsugaya's hair swished as he shook his head with his eyes closed. "You moron," he huffed. And then he looked over at Karin, "Give me a sec?"

Karin nodded. Why didn't her hair swish when she moved? Stupid perfect protege boy and his stupid perfect hair. "Take your time," she told him, backing away like she was excusing herself from the conversation, "I'll just... look around a bit."

"I'm not giving you a discount for this set," Toshiro mentioned as he headed around behind the counter.

"Yeah... I know. I'm sorry."

"You might have to order some. I've only got nylons right now."

"No steel?"

"What did I just say?"

"Okay, okay..."

Karin smiled, rounding the corner of drums and heading to the back of the store, where she knew she would find the redwood spinet she had once heard Toshiro play. Surprisingly enough, even though nearly three months had gone by since the last time she saw it, the piano really hadn't changed all that much. Though it was far more buried in sheet music now than ever before.

Her eyes raked over the music. It seemed a lot like what she had gone through on Toshiro's piano upstairs way back in December, but it wasn't quite the same. A lot of this was simpler stuff. She even found a few "Learning the Basics of Piano" booklets. Maybe he offered lessons?

She ran her fingers over the keys. She could still hear the murmurs of Toshiro and Kōkichirō on the other end of the store, but couldn't make out what they were saying. And even if she could, she probably wouldn't have been paying attention.

For a long time, the boys on Karin's soccer team didn't like her. Middle School, High School, now a community group. Each new team was just a new set of people who didn't like her because of her talent. Who were mad because they practiced endlessly each day and never got as good as Karin was when she had a ball at her feet.

For the first time it seemed she had found someone like her. Someone so unbelievably good at something, it hindered them. She wondered if maybe she should tell him... about her soccer playing... It seemed like he would understand.

Karin had been spacing out, but the sound of a piano key she had pressed down in her trance snapped her right back. She shook her head, returning herself to the present and pulling her hand off the piano so sharply she accidently knocked over a small stack of sheet music.

She looked around. She couldn't see the front desk from back here, but it didn't sound like either of the guys had heard her. Still, she dropped to her knees and gathered up the papers as quickly as she could, tapping them on the floor until they were in a nice little stack again. She put them back on the end of the piano where they had been and sighed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw another paper, under the piano bench. She must have missed it. Wondering if Toshiro would notice the papers were all out of order now, she bent down and grabbed the lone piece of sheet music, turning it over in her hand.

KARIN'S MELODY

Karin blinked. What the...? she looked over the page. The musical notes were scribbles. She couldn't possibly begin to understand what it might sound like. But she knew enough to look down to the bottom and see it wasn't finished.

He's... She couldn't take her eyes off of it - taking in all ths scratches where he had changed his mind. The different inks that told her he had been working on it for days - weeks even. ... writing a song for me?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sunday, March 18th, 2:52 pm

C#... A... E... G#... C#... E... A... C#... E... G#... C#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#...

Toshiro waited, his hands still holding the last note of the song as it resonated through him one final time. After a minute, he blinked his eyes opened and looked at the music stand in front of him. He was aware of the others staring at him, but he paid them no mind. His fingers left the neck of his guitar to trace along the chords written down in front of him.

C#... A... E... G#... C#... E... A... C#... E... G#... C#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#... A... G#...

Perfect. He didn't miss a single one.

"Dude... That was sick!" Renji shouted, jumping up from his drums, waving his sticks around as he sang Toshiro's praises, "Two run throughs. We handed you the song, we did TWO RUN THROUGHS, and you've got it like you've been playing it your whole life!"

The white haired music protege shrugged, undoing the strap attached to his Fender Stratocaster. A bright maroon body, with a bold green pick guard. He named her Haineko.

"What a beautiful sound..." the dark haired one that Toshiro couldn't seem to remember the name of, commented, looking around at the rest of the band over his keyboard, "See, now that is what precision timing and respectful teamwork is suppose to sound like."

When they first started practice, Toshiro had noticed the keyboard immediately, and hoped he could stay on second guitar. As much of a skilled piano player he was... 1) He didn't like to play the piano in front of other people. All other instruments had long since been ruined by people's fawning every time he played. So far, the only person he had ever let hear him play the piano was Karin. And without even meaning to... she made it special for him.

And 2) Well, he hated keyboards. They weren't even pianos. They were like... glorified computers, shaped to look like pianos. There was no depth, no emotion to their music. He could play one, yes. But he didn't like to.

"Gotta admit, the kid's got talent," the bald one - Ikkaku? - took off his Carvin SB4001 Bass Guitar, in as bright and gaudy a red as his excessive eyeliner, and carefully placed the instrument on a stand nearby.

With Haineko tucked in Toshiro's double guitar case with her partner guitar - a black and orange sunburst Gibson Les Paul affectionately name Rangiku - he zipped it closed and straightened back up in his chair. In a little less than five hours, he had managed to learn every song the band knew. He probably could have done it faster without the four others getting distracted by his playing every four seconds and screwing up their own parts. But hey. What could you do?

Ichigo switched off his MIC. Though he would never admit it, Toshiro had actually found himself slightly impressed with Karin's older brother. He did a decent job with Ranbu no Melody. And Toshiro's "decent" was anyone elses "fantastic". He took a step back and pulled off his own guitar as well. A black Gretsch Duo Jet electric guitar that Toshiro himself had sold the older Kurosaki only a little over a year ago. And still in beautiful condition - which impressed the protege even more that Ichigo's singing had.

"You guys want to head over to that restaurant across the street?" the carrot top looked around at his band mates, "I'll buy."

"Hell yeah!" Ikkaku and Renji shouted at the same time. Then looked at each other and glared.

Ichigo looked over at their newest member - at least temporarily. Until they found someone to permanently replace Byakuya, who had run off to medical college in another state. Not that they blamed him. Just that it was inconvenient when they had gigs booked until the end of the month. "What about you, Toshiro?" he asked.

"You guys go ahead," he told them, "I really need to get back to the store. I left it in the hands of my sister's boyfriend. Kira's nice and all, but he doesn't know the first thing about music."

The others nodded understandingly. They all shopped at BLEACH. They knew the importance of such a small, community-oriented music store upholding it's reputation. One by one, they said their simple goodbyes and headed for the door of the studio they were renting for the afternoon.

"Next practice is Tuesday," Ichigo mentioned, being the only one left with Toshiro, "When do you close up shop?"

"Eight," Toshiro answered stintingly - knowing that was too late for them.

"Can you close early?" he immediately wanted to know.

Toshiro shrugged. "I have to check and see how long it's been since I took a half day," he told the older Kurosaki, "I'll text you later, or tomorrow for sure."

Ichigo nodded, glad to have a plan in the works, and headed for the door to catch up with the others. "Great practice, Toshiro," he said, pulling the handle, "I'll see you around."

"I'm sure you will," Toshiro commented, watching him leave the room and pull the door close behind him.

Alone at last, the white haired boy let out a long, exhausted sigh. "I can't believe I let her talk me into this..." he murmured to himself, turning to gather up all the sheet music the guys had given him today to look over.

"A band. You want me to play guitar... in your brother's band?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"I knew you would say that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Jeez... I don't know, Toshiro... For the same reason a person asks, 'Are you cold?' when someone comes in from a snowstorm."

"To be redundant?"

"To hope... someone will surprise them."

"Hmm."

It didn't really end up surprising her when he finally buckled and agreed to help out for a bit until they could find a real new member. Toshiro slipped the last of the sheet music into a grey folder on the music stand, and a little yellow sticky note fell out, gliding down to the floor. He leaned over and picked it up, glancing over it before slipping it into the folder as well.

WEAR BLACK FOR THE GIG THIS WEEKEND.
IT'S KIND OF A BAND THING.
- Ichigo

Toshiro sighed again and tucked the folder into the large front pocket on his double guitar case. Substitute Soul Reapers. By far the strangest band name he had ever heard of. But at least that meant it was original. And with a name like that, did he really think the wardrobe would be anything but black?

And the music. Rock this. Metal that. Ranbu no Melody, the last song they worked on, was the softest song they had practiced today, and even that was... loud, to say the least. And really, really fast. But who was he to judge? Not his band.

Toshiro's thoughts drifted back to Karin. There was a song that had been stuck in his head since he woke up this morning. And although it didn't fit their situation perfectly, it always made him think of her. He thought about offering it up to practice - just to hear it played live for once - but then decided against it. He didn't have sheet music for it. He had memorized it a few years back, but that just meant he would waste all of their practice time showing each of them how to play each individual part.

Still... It was a good song.

Before he knew what he was going, Toshiro gently turned over his case and unzipped the back, where Rangiku was waiting ever so patiently to be played. He had brought her along in case something happened to Haineko. He hadn't really had any intention of playing her in front of the others. She was his favorite. So he rarely used he outside of the comfort of his apartment, much less in some dank studio across town.

He could practically feel her vibrating with excitement. Most, if not all, musicians in the world just didn't have the connections with their instruments that Toshiro had with his. He remembered picking Rangiku up out of the case she had been shipped to the store in that first day. From the moment he touched her, he knew he needed her. They were an unbreakable partnership. An equal coalition. He never let anyone else ever lay a hand on her.

It had been years since he had played the song, but he still knew the chords by heart.

E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...

There were words too.

She fooled all of her friends into thinking she's so strong... But she still sleeps with the light on... And she acts like it's all right on,
E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...
As she smiles again... And her mother lies there sick with cancer, and her friends don't understand her... She's a question without answers - who feels like falling apart...
E... A2...  C#...  A2... E... A2...  C#...  A2... E...
She knows, she's so much more than worthless... But she needs to find her purpose... She wonders what she, did to deserve this...
F#... A2... F#... A2...
She's calling out to you... This is a call - this is a call out... 'Cause everytime I fall down - I reach out to you...
E... B... A2... F#... B...
And I'm losing all control now... And my hazard signs are all out...I'm asking you, to show me what this life, is all about...
E... A2... F#... B... E...

"And he tells everyone a story, cause he thinks his life is boring... and he fights so you won't ignore him - cause that's his biggest fear... and he cries, but you rarely see him do it... And he loves, but he's scared to use it...
E... A2... C#... A2...

Toshiro hesitated, his hands waiting on the next chord, but not quite ready to play it. Oh yeah. Now he remembered why he didn't play this song anymore. It was... a little too real for him.

He thought of Karin... again. No. It had been real. When he first met her, he pushed her away, despite the way the two of them seemed drawn to each other over and over. So maybe... It was time. Maybe real was exactly what he needed now.

He looked back down at Rangiku shinning in his hands and cleared his throat, starting in on the next chord... "So he hides behind the music... cause he likes it that way. And he knows, he so much more than worthless... he needs to find the surface... Cause he's... starting to get nervous, and...
E... A2... C#... A2...

"He's calling out to you... This is a call - this is a call out... 'Cause everytime I fall down - I reach out to you...
E... B... A2... F#... B...
"And I'm losing all control now... And my hazard signs are all out...I'm asking you, to show me what this life, is all about...
E... A2... F#... B... E...

"Show me what this life, is all about...
F#... B... E...
"Show me what... this life... is all about."
F#... B... E...

He was missing a verse at the end there, but he needed to stop. All of a sudden, it felt like he had been struck by lightening. In a good way, of course. He jumped off of his seat and practically through Rangiku back into her case, swung it up onto his shoulder and tore out of the studio. He needed to get back to the store.

On the bus stop, he couldn't stop fidgeting. He tried to keep the notes in his head. Not from the song. The ones that had come after that. When he had stopped playing, and a new song started resonating in his ears.

"Damnit!" he cursed through his teeth. He was already losing the notes. He wasn't going to make it all the way back to the store unless...

Toshiro looked up. A girl - maybe 12? 13? - was sitting on the bench beside where he was standing, and looking at him strangely. In her hands was a spiral notebook with what looked like her math homework scribbled on the open page, in her hand a mechanical pencil. Clearly she had heard him swear. He didn't really care. He dug down into the bottom of his front pocket, ignoring his bus pass and pulling out a crinkled 20.

Now she was definitely going to think he was a nutcase.

Toshiro had his face less than a foot from the notebook when he pushed the door of BLEACH open with his back. He couldn't even recall his bus ride back across town, or the three block walk through the snow to the store. Though, to be fair, he had been living there for a while. It kind of made sense he could get home without even looking.

"Ah! Toshiro! Thank goodness you're back! I've been calling - "

"Not now Kira," the white haired protege cut him off, erasing a few notes and trying to play them out in his head a bit lower to see if it would fit the flow of the song better.

"But, Toshiro - "

His bright turquoise eyes flickered up to the blond behind the counter. "Kira, not now! I'm trying to do something!" he snapped at his sister's boyfriend, waving the pencil and notebook around.

"Yeah Kira... There's no need to bother him anyway, I'm almost done."

Toshiro's blood ran cold. And that was saying something for a boy who liked to go out in the snow in shirts without sleeves. The pencil fell from his right hand, but he just gripped tighter to the notebook with his other. Slowly, he turned, and the figure standing on his spiral staircase smirked at him over the box in her arms.

"Hiyori..." he whispered, unable to blink.

"Oh my god, you actually remember my name, midget?" she threw at him sarcastically as she stepped down the last few stairs. In tall white winter boots, her favored white and red track suit, and her bright blond hair pulled into her signature ponytails, she really didn't look any different than when he had seen her last - about two and a half months ago.

She flashed him a toothy grin and he tensed. When she left, she had thrown a cello at him. Three of which she was eerily close too. Good thing she had her hands full.

"I'll be right back," she told him in passing, heading out the door to where he could see her little red car was parked on the curb. What a day to have his nose in a notebook.

"What the hell, Kira?!" he whirled on the blond, slamming his notebook on the counter between the two of them so he could take his arm and wave it out towards Hiyori. "What is she doing here?!" he demanded.

Kira blinked. A lot. And ran his hands along the length of his green hoodie's zipper while he answered. "I don't know, I don't know," he assured Toshiro, "She just walked right in. Said she was getting the last of her stuff. I told her not to go upstairs, but she wouldn't listen. I tried to call you... I really did... But I guess you kept your phone off during practice, because your cell just kept going to voicemail and - "

"Hello, hello."

Oh god. Now he was having a heart attack. Toshiro's blood was already frozen, and now he was having a heart attack. Not to mention, he couldn't stop the look of panic that took over his face and made his eyebrow twitch. His head turned, but he didn't trust the rest of his body to move without causing him to throw up.

Karin. Of course it was Karin. And from the way she pulled off her hat, gloves and coat as she came over to him, clearly she wasn't leaving any time soon.

Blood frozen... heart attack... twitching... induced vomiting. That had to be a new medical record or something.

"Ichigo told me you wanted to get back to the store right after practice," she told him, coming over to lay her stuff down on the counter and not noticing she covered up his notebook, "I was thinking we could order some delivery from that restaurant you like on the Westside." She stood in front of him, oblivious to his inner turmoil as she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. "I was just going to grab some on my way over here, but I didn't know what you wanted," she continued, "Plus, the temperature is dropping by the tens outside. Weird for the middle of the afternoon."

Kira looked back and forth between the to of them, quietly trying to slink out from behind the counter while Karin had Toshiro distracted.

The bell above the door chimed the white haired protege's doom. He turned, trying to hope for the best while the worst came sauntering over to him.

"All right, that's everything," Hiyori announced, making a show in that way she always did, "Too bad you couldn't have been just a few more minutes, shorty, or you wouldn't have had to see me at all."

Kira finally made it to the door. He mouthed "sorry" about a hundred times and gave a little bow with each one as he pulled open the door and slipped out behind Hiyori. Toshiro tried to beg him not to go with his eyes - and failed miserably.

Karin eyed the blond girl quizzically. "Um, I'm Karin... Karin Kurosaki," she offered the stranger a hand, "And you are...?"

"Hiyori Sarugaki," she took Karin's hand, shaking it firmly and enjoying the way it made Toshiro squirm. Then - just to make it clear she was here to torture him - she added, "Toshiro's ex-girlfriend."

Karin blinked. She probably should have expected that. Of course he had ex-girlfriends. She had ex-boyfriends, after all. It wasn't that strange. It was just a little odd that the blond girl would come right out and say it. "Oh..." she glanced at Toshiro briefly, then smiled back at her, "It's nice to meet you."

Hiyori pulled her hand away and crossed both arms over her chest. "My you bounce back fast, pygmy," she commented.

If all the little quips about Toshiro being short were supposed to be some funny joke between the two of them, the girl didn't really make it out that way. If anything, the nicknames were spleenful. Karin felt her eyebrows furrow together, slightly irritated.

Finally, there was nothing else for Toshiro to do but clear his throat, get back his composure and speak. "Hiyori, weren't you just leaving?" he asked, stepping closer - and a little bit in front of - Karin. Like he was trying to shield her from becoming Hiyori's next target.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going..." she waved her hand at him like there was no need to rush her out. And on that, he sorely disagreed. "Oh!" she snapped her fingers, as if a thought just popped into her head, "But I do need one more thing..."

"What?" Toshiro asked impatiently.

Suddenly, Hiyori was a scary kind of serious. Her lips turned down into a frown, and her eyes locked onto Toshiro's - stone cold. "The violin," she told him, sounding like death himself - come to collect.

Toshiro's mouth opened for a moment, but nothing came out, so he closed it and looked off to the side. "I..." he hesitated. Maybe there was a better approach to this situation, "You gave me that as a gift. Why do you want it back?"

"Why would you want to keep it?" she shot back. Hiyori was not a girl used to being challenged. By anyone. Much less Toshiro. "It was an anniversary gift - celebrating a relationship you clearly didn't care about. And it cost me a fortune. So give it back."

"Well you can't have it back," he told her. Not that he didn't want to give it to her. Right now, he would do anything to get her out of his store. It was just... he couldn't...

Hiyori grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him away from Karin. "Toshiro, don't make me hurt you!" she threatened, "Stop being stupid and give me the damn violin!"

Karin immediately jumped in. She knew enough about Toshiro to know he would never hit a girl. But this girl didn't seem to have any qualms with slugging him. The toughish Kurosaki grabbed Hiyori's wrist and twisted it off of his shirt, then shoved the blond away. Toshiro might have a problem with hitting girls, but Karin sure as shit didn't.

"Ow!" Hiyori withdrew, rubbing her wrist for a second. Then she got pissed, and her immediate reaction was to take a swing at the black haired girl.

But Toshiro was faster than both of them. Probably even both of them combined. He reached an arm out and moved Karin behind him, catching Hiyori's fist in his other hand. The two of them stood there, in stalemate, for at least a minute - maybe more. Hiyori's eyes were the size of softballs. Toshiro had never, ever, laid a hand on her in violence or anger. Even now... he wasn't hurting her. But for the first time in all the years she had known him, the look in his eyes said he wanted to.

"Don't. Touch. Her."

Hiyori pulled her hand back. But it was pretty obvious she was angry and not planning to leave without what she came for. She glared at him, "She started it."

"I did not - " Karin protested from behind Toshiro, but he cut her off, talking to his ex-girlfriend, "I don't care. I'm finishing it. Now get out, Hiyori."

"I want that violin, Toshiro!" she snapped - it was the first time she had used his name in the time she had been there. Who knew one word could be filled with such hatred and vile.

"Fine!" he snapped back at her. Karin had never seen Toshiro lose his temper before. Her eyes went round as she watched him stalk off angrily towards the stairs and head up the staircase to his apartment glaring at the ceiling.

"Hmph," Hiyori huffed, crossing her arms. Nevermind that he had throughoutly irritated the piss out of her. Now he had also made the whole situation take way longer than it needed too. And if there was one thing Hiyori hated more than not getting her way - it was being patient. Well, not getting her way, being patient, AND tough, pushy girls like herself.

Speaking of whom... Her bright teal eyes looked over at the black-haired girl standing beside her - Karin was her name? - still staring at the ceiling where Toshiro had disappeared upstairs.

The blond sighed. "He sure likes you," she mentioned begrudgingly. Probably would have been better for her to keep her mouth shut, but what fun was that?

Karin pulled her eyes away to meet Hiyori's. Then she blinked, confused. Hadn't this girl just tried to slug her a minute ago? Now she was just going to be all huffy? Odd... But Karin could play her game. "What do you mean?"

"I dated him for four years..." she explained. There was still acid in the edge of her voice, but mostly she just sounded like a depressed, broken hearted girl putting on a front. "Known him for six... And he never jumped in to defend me before."

Karin's mouth screwed together slightly. "Maybe... he thought you could handle yourself...?" she offered.

Hiyori shrugged. "Or maybe he never really thought of me as a girlfriend... You know, someone to protect and defend?" she looked over at the floor, "Guess that was why it was so easy for him to cheat on me."

When you're a new girlfriend, there's this delicate string pulled tight inside of you. And it can sit there for a day, or a year, or anywhere in between, but eventually it snaps. Because it's easy to look past people's little faults, (Yuzu clearly never noticed how Jinta chewed with his mouth open, and Rukia and Ichigo were always at odds with each other over one thing or another), but there is always one thing that completely changes everything for you about a guy whom you thought was otherwise.... well, perfect.

"Oh, you live with your parents still?" SNAP.

"Huh. You, uh, didn't tell me you were in AA." SNAP.

"What do you mean you dated your cousin for a while?" SNAP.

Yes, Karin had been through some of the worst. So she knew exactly what the familiar pain that went off inside her chest was the second it happened. And somehow... this was the worst it had ever been before. She wanted nothing more than to be able to reach inside herself and tie the string tight again. But she couldn't. And she knew she couldn't. The damage was done.

"You're telling me... You cheated on a girl you had been with for... four years?!" SNAP.

"He..." Karin hesitated. It was none of her business, and then at the same time, it was completely her business. And all of a sudden she was feeling really sorry for the girl who just wanted to clock her in the jaw not to long ago. But the question couldn't be stopped, "He cheated on you?"

There was no telling if Hiyori was really over it or not, but from the way she nonchalantly shrugged and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for Toshiro to come back down, it kind of seemed like she had moved on. It barely seemed to register to her that she had even brought it up. "Yeah..." she exhaled, "I mean, that's the way it always is, isn't it? You're together for a while - never falling backwards, but never really moving forwards either. And then he starts to pull away. And then he calls you on New Years Day and asks you to come over for a "talk"..."

Oh god. The pain got worse. Not New Years. Not him. Not her. Karin's eyes darted back and forth around the shop, and she took a step here, and a step there, unable to keep her balance. Her mind and heart were racing - and within a minute, her feet were too. She tore out of the music shop slamming the door so hard behind her it popped back open just a crack.

Hiyori's head turned when the door slammed, and the black haired girl went running off down the sidewalk. She raised an eyebrow. What the hell was that about?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday, March 24th, 8:39 pm

Karin? It's Toshiro. Look, it's been almost a week. I dropped off your coat and stuff at your house earlier. Just want to make sure you got it. And I know I've left like... a hundred messages already. I really wish you would call me back.

Karin pulled her phone away from her ear and hit the number 7. The words MESSAGE DELETED flashed across her phone for a few seconds. When they disappeared, she brought the phone back to her ear.

Hey. It's me again. Call me back, Karin... please?

Again, she hit the number 7.

Karin, I really wish someone would tell me what's going on. Hiyori won't talk to me either. I feel like I left for five minutes and the whole world fell apart. What happened?

MESSAGE DELETED.

One last message from his number. The beep sounded to start the message. A pause. A sad sigh. Then the message clicked off.

Karin hesitated - staring at the options on her phone. Then, for no apparent reason, her eyes started to burn. She slammed her phone shut and closed her eyes, not wanting to stare at the light on her ceiling anymore as she ran through her conversation with Hiyori three... no, four more times. It had been such a brief one. She probably should have stayed. Should have let Toshiro explain. But something in her told her to run.

And did she really need anymore of an explanation? Toshiro cheated on a girl he had been dating for four years. The two of them weren't even really in a relationship, and Karin was kind of glad for that now. All this time, she had thought she didn't deserve him. She kept thinking, if she let herself love someone so perfect, she would just get her heart broken. Lucky for her, she had found out sooner rather than later that he wasn't so perfect.

Fine. She'd delete his number from her phone, just avoid the square where they first met, and the downtown area where his shop was. She was done with him.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Karin opened her eyes and turned her head to look over at her window. Toshiro knelt, one knee and the other foot on her window pane - which wasn't really that big. She sat up so fast she almost gave herself whip-lash and ran over to the window.

So much for being done with him.

He smiled at her through the glass, light flurries raining down in the blackness behind him. Karin quickly undid the lock on her window and slid it to the side. "Are you out of your mind?!" she asked, grabbing his jacket and pulling him into her room before he could fall from the second story of her house. She moved him, and returned to the window, expecting to find a ladder or something when she stuck her head out and looked around, but found nothing. "How the hell did you get up here?" she demanded, whirling back to him.

"From the roof," he stated simply, brushing snow out of his hair, "I dropped off the side and swung over."

Karin closed the window, shocked beyond recovery. "Do you have a death wish?!" she snapped, "You could have slipped and fallen! What then? Think you're lucky enough to survive a fall from the roof?"

He shrugged, "Probably. One of the perks of dating a paramedic, I suppose."

She frowned. "We're not dating," she stated flatly, crossing her arms. "And I don't think we ever will now," she added, just to make sure he got her point.

Toshiro sighed. "Yeah... Okay, I deserved that," he told her, "Seriously though, Karin... Haven't you been getting my calls? I stopped by twice this week and your brother told me you weren't around. You can't just disappear like that and ignore me. I don't care how angry you are with me. I was worried something might have happened to you."

Karin blinked, losing her composure for a moment. People didn't usually... worry... about her. Then her face hardened again. Remember, she was still mad at his two-timing ass.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked at her carefully, "And all of this was because of Hiyori? Look, I know she's a little... brazen. But trust me, she's more bark than bite."

"It's not about her," Karin narrowed her eyes, "This is about you."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that. "What about me...?" he wanted to know.

Karin exhaled softly, trying to keep her cool - just so he didn't know how much it bothered her to say this next part. "Hiyori told me what you did..." she murmured softly, looking at the floor, "...how you broke up with her."

She couldn't see his face, which was probably a good thing. Because it went through a few stages. Surprise. Anger. Acceptance. Then irritation. And Karin probably wouldn't have been able to keep up. "Damn..." he said finally.

"Is it true?" Karin had promised herself, when she finally got back to her house after her run from the shop, that she would never ask him that question. That it didn't matter. That all of this was a sign that the two of them should just stop... whatever this was... And even though she regretted breaking that promise now, she was kind of glad the question had gotten away from her.

Even though Karin wasn't looking at him, Toshiro still couldn't look at her. "Yeah," he breathed.

And then there was nothing but silence. For a full five minutes, a thick, heavy silence filled the room from the floor up. Karin was finding it hard to breathe... again.

"I can't believe her," Toshiro said finally, pissed off beyond, well belief, "I mean, it wasn't a big secret, but now she made it seem like I wasn't going to tell you myself."

Karin looked up at him with sad, dark eyes, "Were you?"

"Of course," he assured her, stepping closer, "I was just..."

"... waiting for the right moment?" she finished, rolling her eyes. She had heard that one before.

Toshiro sighed again. She didn't believe him. He couldn't blame her. If the roles were switched, he wouldn't believe her either. "I was waiting to finish something," he corrected her.

She didn't want to hear it. "Can you just... go... please?" she asked, turning away from him, to stare at the wall.

"Karin..." he pleaded with her.

"No!" she snapped at him. To hell with keeping her cool. She had something to say, and she was going to be heard, damnit! Even if it meant she would lose her temper like a 2 year old. She whirled to face him and jabbed a finger into his chest, "You don't get to be sad! You don't get to flash those big blue eyes at me and make up some sad excuse about it being a moment of weakness and all that crap!"

Now her eyes were really burning. She forced him backwards until he hit a wall. "You used me," she continued snapping, "You made me the other woman and you used me to break up with your girlfriend because YOU didn't have the BALLS to!"

"How can you think that?" he asked her, refusing to blink so she had to feel the full weight of his eyes connected to hers. He heard her breath get caught up in her throat, and leaned in towards her. "Karin... What happened..." he hesitated, finding the words. Which he didn't have. He was terrible at these sort of things.

He took a deep breath. "That night had nothing to do with Hiyori," he told her, his eyebrows furrowing together as went on, "The moment I met you... I don't know. It wasn't love at first sight, but it was something. And I was mean to you, and I tried to push you away because I was with Hiyori."

He paused - letting it sink in. Hoping she would understand. Even if he wasn't the best at explaining it. "But you just kept showing up. On my street, at my shop, at your house. And I couldn't ignore you anymore."

Toshiro pulled back. He needed her to know this last part was the most important. She might still never want to see him again, but he was damn well going to make sure she knew the whole story before she made that decision. "I know what happened hurt you just as much as it did Hiyori, but I do not regret it for a second...

"I called Hiyori the next morning, and I told her what I had done. And she forgave me! She said she didn't care - that she would take me back, because it was a mistake. But you know what? It wasn't a mistake. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me. And I wasn't going to give that up to be in a relationship with Hiyori where she would lord it over me for the rest of our lives."

He reached a hand up and pushed a piece of black hair behind her ear. His hands were freezing and gave her goosebumps where they brushed across her skin. "I left her," he finished, "Because..."

Karin didn't give him the chance to finish. She had heard enough. Being the 'take charge' kind of girl that she was, when her mouth connected with his, he thought she might never stop kissing him. And that was just fine... with both of them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday, April 23rd, 12:27 pm

"Oh boy..."

Toshiro lowered his arms from the red paint he was attempting to scrub off the front window of the music shop. Ironic, if not appropriate for a store called BLEACH. His sleeves were pushed up above his elbows, but still managed to get soaked with the soapy water from his rag. He looked over to the figure who had walked up beside him with two grocery bags in her hands.

"Hey... I wasn't expecting you home so soon," he mentioned, dropping the rag into the bucket by his feet with a splash.

Karin looked the window over. Her boyfriend wasn't making any headway on removing the paint. With the bright, warm April sun glinting off the glass, it was clear the paint had been baked on. They probably weren't going to need a new window, but he would need to take a razor blade to it. Try to scrape it off in bits.

Toshiro ran his wet hand through his already somewhat damp hair to get it out of his face, then reached forward and took one of the stuffed paper bags from Karin's arms. He'd never try to take both of them because he knew she would hate that, thinking he was being pompous instead of just being chivalrous. Still, she never said no to a little help.

"Was it Hiyori again?" Karin asked, following him around to the stairs and up into the shop.

He nodded. Then spoke, just in case she hadn't seen it, "Yeah. Something tells me she's still angry about the violin."

Karin smiled as the two of them headed all the way up the stairs and into their apartment above the music store. No doubt Hiyori was mad. She had stirred up all that trouble and made a big fuss about getting the violin back about a month ago, just to get handed a case full of shattered wood. The violin Toshiro had sacrificed to protect Karin the very first day they met.

Funny how things just seemed to come full circle...

"And you're still not going to let me talk to her?" Karin asked when they finally got upstairs and she could set her bag down on the clean coffee table next to his.

"No, Karin," Toshiro leaned over and pecked her on the mouth, "The last thing I need is a big court case to keep my ex-girlfriend the vandal and my current girlfriend the assailant, out of prison."

Karin frowned. Sometimes, he was just too nice for his own good. Whatever then. The upcoming summer months were only going to make it harder for him to scrub paint off the store, but she let it go and crossed the room to go let Hyourinmaru out to stretch his wings for a bit. The bird immediately climbed up to the top of his cage and chattered happily.

"Don't worry about Hiyori," Toshiro came up beside her and took her hand, pulling Karin away from the bird cage and over towards the front of the apartment where all his instruments were. "I have something I want you to hear," he told her, excitement brimming in the edge of his voice that Karin smirked at. How unlike him.

He sat her down at the piano bench, then picked up a few papers and sat beside her, setting them up in front of the two of them. Karin's eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about this.

KARIN'S MELODY.

"You... wrote me a song?" she asked, trying to make it seem like this was the first she was seeing of it.

"I've been writing it since before I even knew your name," he told her, gazing over the final draft sitting up straight on the piano's music stand, "Since the day I first met you in the square. For whatever reason, every time I was around you - or even thought of you - it was like you came with your own theme music... I couldn't help but write it all down..." Toshiro looked at her. "Do you remember back a while ago...?" he asked, hoping she did, "When we had that fight in your room?"

Not something she liked to think about. Between the fighting, her rolling over like a lovesick puppy, and the two of them deflowering her poor innocent bed only a floor above her unknowing family, it wasn't her proudest moment. At least, not until they woke up together the next morning and Toshiro asked her if she wanted to move in with him.

Still, she nodded.

"Do you remember the last thing I said to you?"

Karin thought about it. "You said..." she hesitated. 'Best thing that ever happened to him...' 'Relationship with Hiyori for the rest of his life...' Oh. Wait. "You said, 'I left her.'"

Toshiro smiled, but only slightly. "Because...?" he pressed.

She thought about it for a moment. And for some reason, it seemed like the whole world was waiting for her answer. Then she remembered. She hadn't let him finish. "I don't know," she said finally.

"I left her," he repeated, turning his body to the baby grand in front of him, with it's glistening black paint and not a single key out of tune. It was practically trembling underneath the fingers he set down on the first chord of KARIN'S MELODY. Like it had waited all it's life just to play this.

"Because I wanted to write your song."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~