A/N: I know I promised this spin-off a while ago, but I talk a lot about why it's taken me so long to post on my blog: ruby1235fanfiction. blogspot. com

This will be a spin-off focused in on Karin and Yuzu. Both going off to their own Summer programs. This is supposed to be a Summer of change, as both girls are headed off to high school at the end. But the type of change is more than just celebrating a birthday while being off on their own for the first time. This spin-off won't be that long, probably eight to tweleve chapers at most. But, we'll see how it goes. I hope you all enjoy it.

Saturday, 4th of June, noon

"Call for Windfair Light passengers!"

The voice over head was barely heard over the busy air in the Windsworth airport. However, the busy environment seemed to be slowed down and muted out as the Kurosaki sisters turned to face one another. The two hour layover was spent with the two mostly apart with their seperate groups of friends, but they had come together to say goodbye before Karin was supposed to get on her plane.

Karin was smirking at her sister, as she crossed her arms. "So I guess this is it for a few weeks. We're about to have the time of our lives. The start of an adventure."

"It'll go by before we know it." Yuzu said, her eyes going to her phone in her hands.

Watching Yuzu for a moment, Karin shook her head. "I know it's hard, but our niece will be just as cute in a few minutes after you finish saying goodbye to me."

"How did you-"

Karin held up her own phone to show Yuzu. "She's been my background everyday since she was born."

That made Yuzu laughed, as she showed Karin her phone screen. The same picture of Mina on her's. That had Karin laughing along with her.

When their laughter died down, Yuzu was the first to step forward to hug her sister. "Be safe, and make good choices."

"Ha," Karin started, hugging her sister back. "I would say the same back to you, but you are Yuzu. You are the queen of good decisions and being safe. But hey, you should definetely try some new things this trip."

"This is our first birthday that we won't be spending together." Yuzu said after a moment.

"It'll be okay. I promise I'll call you on our birthday," Karin replied, as she pulled back a little, and she laughed. "And hey, I'm only a train ride away from you. An hour train ride. We'll have some free days mixed into our program. Which dad's not going to be too happy about, because he thinks it's only three weeks."

Yuzu laughed. "It'll be almost four weeks, but we can tell him that later."

Karin open her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the announcer again. "Final call to all Windfair Light passangers to board."

"I have to go," Karin said, slipping her bag onto her shoulders. "I'll text you when I land."

"Alright," Yuzu said with a nod of her head, watching Karin walking away. "Don't forget!"

Karin raised a hand up to acknowledge she heard her sister, as she continued on walking. Picking up her pace a little, as she looked at her watch.

Yuzu stayed standing there in the middle of the airport. Watching her sister, until she couldn't see her. Smiling after a moment, she looked down at her phone when it buzzed. It was a notification to let her know the train was leaving in a few minutes. Looking back in the direction Karin went, Yuzu smiled, and turned to go the opposite direction. Three hour train ride, here I come.

Almost four hours later, Yuzu's POV

Yuzu had arrived to the train station in Moss Tree around three thirty, then proceeded to get on a bus that would take them to the Art Institute. They had been on the bus for almost twenty minutes, and were passing over a bridge. The view was beautiful. And just barely, she could see the very distant skyline of the city Karin's plane would be landing in any minute now. She had got so distracted by the view that she almost jumped when she sensed someone sitting in the seat next to her.

Looking over, her eyes met grey eyes with the green tint to them. The owner's dirty blonde shoulder length hair was disheveled probably from sleeping. The grey snapback hat with the colorful paint platters caught her eyes next. Her eyes focused back on the grey/green ones.

"I'm usually very good at getting information out of people," the guy started, his lopsided grin showing up. "But for some reason I failed to get you to tell me that you'd be going on this trip back at the gala a couple months ago. I honestly had no idea you'd be going on this trip."

Yuzu hummed after a moment, as she moved to cross her legs. "I'm sure you could tell I was just as surprised to see you back in the airport in Karakura."

That had the guy smirking back at her. "I bet you were probably begged to do this program. You know, because of your awesomeness of being a celebrity and all that."

Feeling her cheeks growing warm, Yuzu brought a hand up to her face, as she looked away. "I'm not a celebrity."

"You keep saying that, but you're not fooling me."

Yuzu frowned then, as her eyes went back to him. "I decided to do this trip on my own. I worked hard to get them to consider accepting me into, and I paid for a lot of it with my own money."

"Sheesh," the guy said, flipping his hat around so it was on backwards, then he shook his head. "It was a compliment. I just think your work is amazing enough to get you in with a full ride… No need to bite my head off."

That took Yuzu slightly aback, and she finally sighed. "Thank you."

Hearing that had the guy's lopsided grin returning. "You're wearing your favorite color again."

Looking down, Yuzu raised an eyebrow. She had on her red shirt, jean capri's, white shoes, and the light pink and white sweater that Orihime had brought her in the airport that morning was tied around her waist. But, she knew it was just the red shirt he was talking about. "I didn't plan it. It just kind of happened."

"Just like with your paintings huh?"

"You remembered that?" Yuzu asked, a smile starting on her face.

The guy nodded then, as he smirked. "How could I forget? Your name is 'someone who likes the color red' right?"

That had Yuzu laughing, as she finally shook her head. "My name is Yuzu."

"Well Yuzu," the guy stuck out his hand to her. "My name is Keitaro. But everyone calls me Taro."

Watching him for a moment, Yuzu reached over and shook his hand. "Alright Taro." She said, keeping his eyes for a moment, before she realized the bus was coming to a stop.

They were ushered off the bus, right in front of the Moss Tree Institute of Art and Design. The building was huge, and made of glass. It was kind of intimidating to think about this is where they'd be having their classes for the next few weeks. It seems so fancy…

As soon as they walked into the building, they were greeted by the art director who began speaking to them. Taro nudged Yuzu to get her attention. His usual grin on his face, as he looked to her. "Would you look at that? They show off the best artists work right away."

Yuzu's eyes followed to where he was pointing, and in front of them was a wall with a few pieces on it. One of her oil pastel paintings was front and center in the few on the wall. Her cheeks flared red just at the sight of it. Her eyes went back to Taro when she felt less warm. "You remembered my piece."

"I have a pretty good memory," Taro replied, his lopsided grin still on his face. "What? I take point to notice things about people that interest me."

That had Yuzu's face burn a million shades of red once again, as she turned away from him. "Let's go look around."

Taro moved to fall into step with her, as they trailed towards the back of their group. His eyes were focused on her as they walked.

Yuzu had noticed he was looking at her, and it was glowingly more and more distracting as they moved. "You're staring at me."

Showing no shame at being caught, Taro shrugged and just grinned his lopsided grin. "You know after we get settled in our apartments, there's going to be this party tonight."

"How do you already know that?" Yuzu asked, pushing her bangs out of her face, as she met his eyes. "We just got here."

"Unlike someone who likes to read by themselves while they are traveling, I like to socialize," Taro told her, nudging her a little, as he winked at her. "Lucky you got me around to find all this stuff out."

Yuzu smiled, as she let her hand drop down to rest on the strap of her bag. The idea of going to a party wasn't exactly something she would usually consider. She thought of all the other much more productive things she could be doing. However, just by looking at this guy, those thoughts disappeared. Like Karin said earlier, I need to try new things. "What time is the party?"

Four thirty, Karin's POV

"Thank you so much," Karin told the cab driver cheerfully. Grabbing the handle of her suitcase, her hand hand remained on the strap of her other bag, and she walked down the busy street. However, she reached the corner of the center of the city, and she stopped. Her eyes wide. The buildings towered over her, and there were massive screens showing off advertisements all over the place. Taxi cabs were everywhere, and people were busy walking by. "Holy crap. This is really is New Luna City."

The awe of the environment around her was enough to have her pull her camera out of her bag. Taking a few pics around her just in time for the signal for the cross walk to change. Hurrying to put her camera away, she started off across the cross walk. Leaving her right outside the Stellar apartment complex. Her home for the next few weeks.

She followed the instructions in the email the program director sent, and she checked into her apartment with no problems. When she got to the floor her apartment was on, she found several of the doors open, and girls and guys were all over the place. Going in and out of rooms, or chatting in the halls. Offering smiles and a few hello's to people she passed, she finally made it to her apartment number at the end of the hall, 612. Like the other doors, the door to her apartment was open too. Walking in after a moment to see that there didn't appear to be anyone in there.

It was actually pretty nice. The living room was open and spacious, and there was even a little kitchen. However, the part that got her attention was the view. Walking over to the ceiling to floor length windows, her jaw dropped at the view. She could see a lot of the big square. Just watching the taxi's, the large screens changing, and the people walking as magical.

"It's pretty awesome isn't it?"

Hearing a voice to her left, Karin looked over to see a girl with long light blonde hair with purple streaks mixed in through the bottom layer of her hair. She had on this pastel green and white tank top, and jean shorts that were a lot shorter than Karin's usual athletic shorts. "Uh yeah. I love it, and I've only been in the main party of the city for maybe fifteen minutes. I've already taken tons of pictures."

"Same," Kimi started, a smirk on her face. "I'm Kimi, one of your roommates for the next few weeks."

"Uh, I'm Karin." Karin replied sort of awkwardly. She never really got along with many girls back at her school. The only ones being her soccer friends. Even then, they were a bit much sometimes.

Not acknowledging Karin's awkwardness, Kimi continued to smile. "You're the last one to arrive. I can show you your room if you want."

Karin nodded, as she moved towards Kimi. "Yeah, that'd be cool."

"Our other two roommates rooms are on the hall to the right, ours is the left," Kimi started, as they walked down the left hall. There were three doors. One on the left, one at the end of the hall, and one on the right. She pointed to the one on the right. "That's yours."

Opening the door, Karin studied the room as she walked in. It wasn't that bad. A full sized be, a vanity/dresser, some storage space around the bed, and a closet. Dropping her bag down on the vanity top, as she stopped her suitcase at the end of the bed. "This isn't that bad. I wasn't expecting much," she said, walking over to the windows, and pulling back the dark curtains. "These certainly block the light."

"Of course," Kimi replied, having remained standing by the door. "Your room is facing the square. With all those signs being lit up at night, I'm sure your room would be constantly lit up."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be able to sleep then. I have to have my room completely dark."

"Same… So we have to share a bathroom," Kimi started, then she waved her hand when Karin's eyes went to her. "But don't worry, I'm super chill about it. I don't mind if you leave anything in there."

"That's cool," Karin said, then she laughed when she thought of Yuzu. "I'm glad to share a bathroom with someone who's not going to be mad at me for leaving my hairbrush on the counter."

That made Kimi laugh. "Who gets mad over a little hair brush?"

"My sister," Karin replied, shaking her head at the thought. "She's all clean and organized, and I'm practically the opposite. We're twins, so we literally share almost everything, which leads to all sorts of problems."

"Whoa, you're a twin?" Kimi asked, seeing Karin nod. "Identical?"

"No thank god, I need something to be my own, and thankfully it's my face." Karin said, making them both laugh.

When their laughter died down, Kimi moved to motion to the bathroom door. "Well our bathroom is pretty spacious so we have room to leave all our belongings in there," she started, once again they both laughed. "Shower, bathtub, and two sinks. Lots of counter space."

Walking over, Karin peeked into the bathroom, and nodded. Then her eyes went to Kimi's room when she caught sight of the wall in there. "Whoa."

"Yeah, I like to nest." Kimi started, going to push open her door to allow Karin to walk in.

There were pictures all over the wall around the vanity in the room, with lights hung up on the wall, and she had a couple posters and knickknacks around the room. Karin appreciated all of it. "This is cool. You're into photography?"

"A little, I'm not the best," Kimi replied, holding up her camera. "I saved up for this camera for eight months. All my birthday money, and part of the money leftover from working for this trip. This trip was super expensive, and I had to pay for it all myself."

"I know the feeling. I worked two jobs to get here. The library, and at the rec center in my town," Karin said, laughing lightly, then looked to the camera. "I actually think I have the same camera. I think we had the same idea taking pictures from home. I brought some of my own pictures with me to put up."

"Can I see them?"

Karin nodded, then they returned back to her room. Pulling them out of her bag, she handed them over. "Now, they're not that spectacular, and a lot of them are of my niece."

"Oh she's precious," Kimi said, as her eyes sparkled, grabbing her phone and pulled up some pictures to show Karin. "My cousin just had a baby, and I'm obsessed with him."

"Yeah, my niece is only a couple weeks old, and I've done nothing but take pictures of her." Karin said, then she looks at Kimi and smiles. "I can't believe we're standing here fawning over baby pictures."

"But look at us," Kimi laughed, handing Karin her photos back. "We're getting along so well."

"Just wait until we start with music," Karin said, accepting her photos back. "I'm piano. I'm with the freshman group."

"Same," Kimi said, her eyes lighting up, as she crossed her arms. "What's your secondary?"

"Guitar," Karin replied, noticing that made Kimi's smile widen. "Shut up, you're guitar too?"

"Yep," Kimi confirmed, as she laughed. "We might as well be the same person."

"I don't know," Karin started, humming as she thought of some of her favorite things. "Sports?"

"I play softball," Kimi replied, then she got a smirk on her face. "Don't tell anyone, but I am actually a big fan of playing football."

That had Karin laughing. "Soccer for me, but damn. Football is fun too. What about TV shows?"

"Scandal is by far one of my favorites, but I think I just like anything by Shonda Rhimes. I hate drama in real life, but I certainly love watching it."

At that Karin raised an eyebrow. "Coffee?"

"Might as well replace my blood with it. I need it to get through life. I'm a night owl, but since I have to wake up early I hardly get any sleep. My parents wonder why I need to drink coffee. They don't want me drinking it, but I just try to sneak it past them."

Karin just stood there, her mouth ajar. "Where have you been all my life?"

Laughing at Karin's dramatic question, Kimi shrugged. "Karakura Town."

"Shut up, me too." Karin said, then she laughed. "You must have just gone to a different middle school. Where are you going to high school?"

"Karakura High," Kimi said, laughing at Karin's wide eyes. "Let's face it, we're clearly soul-mates, and need to be best friends immediately."

"Immediately," Karin confirmed laughing. Her ears picked up on the sound of chatter from the living room. "Roommates?"

"Yeah," Kimi nodded, and moved to walk out of Karin's room. "Let's go introduce you."

They walked in the living room to see a girl with her brunette hair in two braids, and another girl with long dark black straight hair. Both stopped talking to look over at Karin and Kimi.

"So we're a full apartment now?" The girl with the long black hair said, grinning as she offered her hand to Karin. "I'm Rose, and this is Naomi."

"Karin," Karin replied after shaking Rose's hand, as well as Naomi's. "I probably would have been here sooner if I didn't stop to take a thousand pictures every two minutes."

That had Naomi and Rose laughing. Naomi spoke up after their laughter died down. "Well you're here now. Just in time to get ready for the party tonight."

"Party?" Karin questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Just a little welcome to the next few weeks of our lives type party," Naomi explained, as her eyes went to Rose. "We should make snacks, then we can all get ready out here in the living room together."

"Sounds good to me." Rose agreed with a nod of her head.

Karin frowned at the thought of food. "I haven't even had a chance to go grocery shopping yet. I totally forgot."

"Oh it's fine," Rose said, offering a smile as she and Naomi walked into the kitchen. "We've got it covered tonight. Maybe we can all go grocery shopping together tomorrow."

"That sounds good," Kimi said, hearing Naomi and Rose talk about cutting up some fruits for snacks. Her eyes went to Karin. "We can melt down some chocolate or peanut butter to dip our fruit in."

Karin stared at Kimi for a long moment. "Alright, I think I'm in love."

Kimi laughed back at Karin's words. "True love does exist."

That had them both laughing once again, before they moved to join Naomi and Rose in the kitchen.

Yuzu's POV, 9 o'clock that night

Yuzu's eyes were busy eying some of the photographs on the wall. The party was being in held in one of the many housing buildings for the program. This particular building was supposed to be the building for anyone who was old enough to drink. Clearly there wasn't anyone enforcing that, as more than half the people at this party were underage.

That had Yuzu's eyes moving to the people around her, people her age drinking beer. Eying the group of girls that just passed her, and the clothes they were wearing. Then to her own clothes. They had checked into their rooms at six, and she spent nearly an hour in hers trying to figure out what she was going to wear to this party. She hadn't ever really been to a party before. So naturally she wasn't the slightest bit sure as what was acceptable to wear. Apparently her wardrobe wasn't really party material. But, lucky for her, a girl from the room across the hall from hers had come over to help her. Her name was Hinata, and she had a pretty good eye for fashion. Which said a lot considering the extremely limited options she had from Yuzu's clothes. It left Yuzu in the only pair of jeans she owned, and a red tank top that she would usually wear under another shirt. But Hinata insisted to just wear it on it's own.

"Hey Yuzu do you want anything?"

Yuzu's eyes went to the owner of the male voice that asked. It was Shin. The nice boy that Orihime had picked out for her back at the art gala. His boyish grin on his face. Shaking her head as she realized his offer was for a beer. "Not right now- uh thanks."

After Shin nodded and walked away, Hinata had leaned over. "You know it's okay. We're not going to get in trouble. That's the perk of having the wide age range of people here."

"I know, I just don't have a taste for it," Yuzu replied, as she brought her hands to rest on her bag she brought with her. Feeling slightly embarrassed about not drinking like her new friends, but she wasn't sure about it. Truthfully the only time she had a beer in her life, was a few sips from her dads, but he was there. She just didn't know if she was ready for anything more.

"That's fine," Hinata said, nodding her head, and smiled. Flicking her chestnut colored hair over her shoulder. "If you don't want it, there's plenty of other drinks to choose from."

Smiling back at Hinata, Yuzu's eyes went to sweep the rest of the party. While she herself had never been to a party, she knew Karin had. At the time, it was definitely a strange thing to hear her sister talk about her experience at a party. But, she just never asked her sister any further questions about it. In this moment, she wished she would have. That way she wouldn't be standing around not knowing what in the world to do.

"Yuzu!"

Hearing her name, Yuzu turned around, and found her eyes clashing with grey/green ones. Unable to help herself, she smiled lightly when he motioned for her to come over. Looking over to Hinata and Shin, who had just returned. "I'll be back."

"We'll be around." Hinata replied with a smile.

Yuzu moved across the crowded room, and made it over to where Taro was. Smiling at the sight of his lopsided grin appearing when she got close. "You called?"

Laughing, Taro crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head at her. "Well how else was I supposed to get your attention? You were over there ignoring me."

"I was not-"

"Was to." Taro interrupted childishly sticking out his tongue at her.

That made Yuzu's smile grow. "I wasn't ignoring you. Maybe I was just waiting for you to be the one to step up."

At her sharp comeback, Taro laughed. "Well damn. Sorry to leave you waiting. I'll do better next time." His eyes focused on her, watching how that made her smile, but some guy doing a keg stand from across the room had caught her attention. She held an almost look of shock on her face. "I get the feeling that you haven't been to many parties."

"Try none," Yuzu replied honestly, as her eyes went back to Taro. "It just wasn't my thing."

"That's cool," was Taro's reply, as he nodded. "They probably didn't have any good parties anyways. But, on the bright side, you get to experience high school parties from now on. They're so much better especially when you get older."

Yuzu hummed after a moment, then she shook her head. "You know I'm not that much younger than you right?"

"You're fourteen, I'm sixteen-"

"I'm turning fifteen the week after next," Yuzu interrupted him, a smirk on her face. "And from what I saw when we were signing in at the institute, you just turned sixteen a few weeks ago. But what do I know? Maybe I'll figure it out when I get older."

That had Taro smirking right back at her, as he crossed his arms. "I stand corrected. You're not much younger than me, and you're also a little bit of a smart ass."

Yuzu laughed at his words. "Well as long as you know that."

"Hold on," Taro said, as he turned. He disappeared for a minute, then came back. Holding out a cup for her. "Can your almost fifteen-year-old self handle a beer?"

While Yuzu kept her smile on her face, her eyes went down to the cup. Unlike before, she didn't have any conflicting feelings about drinking. She didn't feel inexperienced. She didn't feel out of place. I told myself earlier that I'm trying new things… She kind of felt like she was embodying her sister's confidence all of a sudden. Like her confident sister would do, she just reached over and grabbed the cup. Her eyes going to Taro. "Watch me."

A/N: And that's a wrap on the first chapter. I am really excited for this spin-off, and can't wait to see where it goes. I am still kind of figuring out how I'm going to lay out the story, as for many scenes in the story Karin and Yuzu are going to be separated. It's a work in progress. I was really excited to write the scene between Karin and her new roommate Kimi. That friendship will be a blast, I can go ahead and tell you that. I also really loved writing the scenes with Yuzu and Taro. It seems that Taro is a lot more outgoing and out there than Yuzu, but maybe that's a good thing. What are you all thinking? What's your impression of Taro? What do you want to see in this story?

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