A/N: Surprise! I really loved writing the spin-off to The Reason, and I decided to continue the storyline with a sequel to Summer Dreaming. I am still clearly writing the sequel to The Reason, and both these sequels will be following a similar timeline. So you'll get a lot of Bleach content each week. I hope you all enjoy.
The 28th of June
"The whole program was amazing."
"It sounds like you had fun Karin," Isshin replied, as he opened the front door. Allowing both Yuzu and Karin to walk inside before he followed behind. "Although you both forgot to mention that it was longer than three weeks."
Karin laughed, as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Dad it was just a few extra days. Besides, I'm sure you loved having us out of your hair."
"Oh, I did for the first couple weeks. I was practically throwing a party every night," Isshin teased, grinning at Karin's eye roll. "But you'd be surprised on how much I missed your loud mouth and Yuzu's cooking."
"Wow thanks dad." Karin shot back, smirking at her dad's laughter. Her eyes went to the stairs when she noticed Yuzu had slipped away to go upstairs. Finally she looked back to her dad, who had an eyebrow raised. "She's been quiet since we got on the plane in New Luna. She told me she was just tired."
Isshin shrugged after a moment more of silence. "I guess that's understandable. I'm surprised you're not already upstairs ready to sleep."
Karin grinned at that. "I don't know. I guess I'm just more energized. And speaking of upstairs, when can I start moving my stuff into Ichigo's old room."
"Well," Isshin hummed, a smile returning to his face. "Since you were gone those extra few days, I might have had the room painted, and a new bed delivered-"
"Yes!" Karin interrupted loudly, as she bolted to the stairs. Taking them two at a time to get to the second floor of the house quicker. Throwing open the door to what was now her new bedroom, she smiled as she walked in. It looked like a completely new room. Unlike Ichigo's old layout, her bed was in the center of the room, and there was a bedside table on one side, and a desk on the other. It was the same old desk, as that was something that was passed down from their grandmother on their mom's side. Opening the closet doors to see the walk in closet had Karin grinning. It was certainly an upgrade from having to share the smaller closet in Yuzu's room.
"I don't remember you leaving with two suitcases."
Hearing her dad's voice, Karin turned to see him setting down her second suitcase next to the one she had brought up. "Yeah I kind of bought some things while I was gone. Just some new clothes and things. I realized pretty quickly that I should probably expand my wardrobe past athletic shorts and t-shirts."
"I noticed the sandals you're wearing," Isshin started, chuckling as his eyes moved down to Karin's feet. "I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything apart from athletic shoes or standard flip flops."
Laughing as she moved the second suitcase over next to the one she brought up. "The sandals are actually pretty comfortable."
"Right, well as you can tell, I left out buying the bedding for your bed, and decorations for your room," Isshin replied, changing the subject to her new room. "I thought I'd leave that for you to do. Orihime helped move some of your things in here, but you'll have to do the rest. I figured we could stop by the store on the way to pick something up for dinner tonight."
"Yessssss! I have been missing Rocky's burgers."
Smiling at Karin's eyes lighting up, Isshin nodded once. "I'm going to go get Yuzu. I got a new bed for her as well, so she'll probably be needed some stuff for her room."
Karin nodded back at her dad, then moved over to unzip the suitcase that was laying on top of her bed. "Alright well just tell me when we are leaving."
"Will do," Isshin replied, then he left the room to walk down to Yuzu's room. Knocking on the slightly open door had opened the door the rest of the way. Raising an eyebrow at the tornado of clothes all over the floor and the bed. He knew for a fact that the room had been spotless when he had Orihime and Ichigo over the other day to help move some furniture around. His eyes focused on Yuzu, who was layind down on top of the mattress. "Hey kiddo. Taking a break from unpacking?"
"I was looking for my hoodie," Yuzu replied, noticing him looking around at the clothes everywhere had her sighing. "I'll clean it up later."
"Right..." Isshin trailed off, then he put his smile back on his face. "Well I wanted to let you and your sister pick out new bedding, so I thought we'd all go to do that, then pick up dinner."
"I'm kind of tired dad," Yuzu replied without hesitation. "I didn't really want to go anywhere."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," Yuzu replied, turning so her back was facing the doorway where her dad was. "Just get me a plain white comforter, and tell Karin she can pick out whatever else. As for dinner, I'll just take a chicken sandwich."
It was quiet for a long moment, as Isshin studied Yuzu. "Are you feeling okay Yuzu? You've been pretty quiet."
"I'm just tired," Yuzu said, planning to leave it at that, but she continued anyways. "I woke up at six this morning to get ready to leave. I didn't really get that much sleep."
When they fell into silence again, Isshin finally had to nod. "Alright. Hopefully, you can go to sleep early tonight."
"Hopefully," Yuzu replied, keeping her focus on the window. She heard her dad walk out of her room, and faintly heard her dad tell Karin it was time to leave. Karin asked where she was, and her dad told Karin that she was staying here. After that, Yuzu couldn't hear anymore of the conversation. Resting her head back on the bare mattress, she curled her legs closer to her, and wrapped her arms around them. She kept on staring at the window until her eyes began to water. Feeling a wave of guilt and regret that just seemed to keep coming on back to her. Home sweet home... I guess.
A couple days later, 30th of June
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Yuzu smoothed down one of the wrinkles on her comforter. She did end up with the white comforter she requested. Karin ended up picking her out pastel pink sheets and pillows, and some matching decorations to put around her room. Her eyes focused on the open closet doors. Half of the closet was completely empty, as Karin had taken the rest of her clothes and things out of it. The same went for half of their shared dresser. Her own clothes were still scattered all over the floor, as she hadn't yet gotten around to do laundry since coming home.
After wasting away another few minutes doing nothing, she finally hopped up from the bed, and started to collect the clothes off the floor. Once the basket was full, she left her room to go downstairs. There was still plenty of more clothes on her floor that needed to be washed, but she'd have to make a second trip. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the stairs that she heard laughter from in the living room. The sight of a familiar blonde caught her eye immediately.
"Karin I've missed you so much!" Kimi exclaimed as she hugged Karin dramatically. Both girls laughing as they hugged.
"I know it's been a whole two days since we've been apart." Karin shot back dramatically, as they laughed again.
"I've seen you before," Orihime spoke up from where she and Ichigo were sitting on one of the couches across from Isshin. They had come over for what would be the girls welcome home party in a couple hours. "You were practically all over Karin's Instagram and Snapchat the past few weeks."
"Oh yeah," Karin started, realizing she hadn't introduced Kimi yet. "This is my friend Kimi. I met her at the music program. Kimi, you already really know because of what I told you, but this is my dad, my brother Ichigo, Orihime, and my niece Mina."
Kimi's smile widened when her eyes widened on Mina who was asleep in her rocker sleeper. "Oh, I've seen plenty of pictures of Mina," she started, smiling as her eyes met Orihime's. "It's been the highlight of our morning routines to look at the pictures of Mina you sent over the past few weeks."
"Yeah our morning routine of coffee and Grey's Anatomy re-runs," Karin said, grinning and slinging her arm around Kimi's shoulders. "This human has been my life and soul for the past few weeks, and I don't know how I've managed to live without her my whole life."
Kimi nodded quickly in agreement with Karin. "On the first day we established that we were clearly soulmates, and were best friends instantly."
"She's the reason why I own things like makeup and hair stuff now-"
"And sandals?" Isshin interrupted Karin, making her laugh.
"Yeah and sandals," Karin agreed, laughing a little bit more. "As well as why I now know I can socialize with other people without completely hating them right away."
Kimi shrugged hearing that, as a small smirk started on her face. "Yeah, well my parents can't believe I do yoga now, and that I run. I got up early to run yesterday and they thought I was sick or something."
"You're welcome." Karin replied, making them all laugh.
"I have to say that it's nice to meet you," Ichigo spoke up after they stopped laughing. "It's rare for Karin to bring any of her friends home, let alone friends that aren't the guys she usually plays soccer with."
"Yeah, I've seen some of the things you two have posted on social media, and it looks like you two had a lot of fun." Orihime added offering a smile in Kimi's direction.
"Oh it was a blast," Kimi replied, her eyes meeting Karin's. "Even with all the long music classes and lectures- oh and the wicked witch."
Karin scowled at the thought. "Oh don't remind me. I'm having war flashbacks just thinking about her."
"She was one of our teachers, and she was old and cranky," Kimi explained before anybody could question it. A grin stretched across her face. "She didn't really like Karin and I all that much."
"It didn't make sense, because we were such good students." Karin added, laughing along with Kimi.
"Well we'd love to hear more about the program," Isshin said, his eyes going to Kimi. "We're about to have a little welcome back party in a few hours. You're welcome to stay."
"That'd be cool- oh! Please tell me you're cooking." Kimi said, her eyes now focused on Karin again.
"Karin cooking?" Ichigo questioned before Karin could respond. "That might end with the kitchen on fire, and us all dead from food poisoning."
Karin threw a sarcastic smile Ichigo's way. "No that's you."
"I'm serious though," Kimi continued, as she motioned to Karin. "She really knows how to throw it down in the kitchen."
It was quiet for a long moment, then Isshin coughed. "Really? This Karin?"
Rolling her eyes at her dad's words, Karin crossed her arms over her chest. "Dad."
A knock on the door was heard before anything else could be said. Since Karin was the closest, she walked over and opened the door quickly. Her eyes saw white hair, then they connected with turquoise eyes.
A moment passed before Orihime spoke up. "Karin you can let him in. I asked him to come early."
"Right." Karin said after another moment of silence. Stepping back to let him in, her eyes left his to meet Kimi's. She could see Kimi raising an eyebrow. Oh god… Please don't say anything Kimi!
Having not really noticed the silence, Isshin looked from Toshiro to Kimi. "Kimi this is Toshiro. He's one of Orihime's and Ichigo's friends."
Ichigo shrugged hearing that. "I wouldn't go that far."
Toshiro smirked in Ichigo's direction. "Well the first part was right."
Kimi waved shortly at Toshiro. "Hi..." She trailed off as a big grin appeared on her face.
Karin noticed Kimi was going to say something, and was quick to change the topic. "I'll just cook dinner tonight. But I'll need to go to the store."
"Right, well I have a business call to take, but I can take you in an hour." Isshin replied, then his eyes moved to Orihime and Ichigo.
"I would go," Orihime started, her eyes going down to Mina, then to Ichigo. "But Mina will probably need to nurse when she wakes up and I don't really want to disturb her nap right yet. Ichigo and I have some stuff to discuss about our training schedule next week too… Maybe Toshiro can take you. Since he has a new car and all."
Unknown to everyone else, Toshiro and Karin both seemed to freeze up at that suggestion. Kimi's eyes had been moving back and forth between the two, and she finally spoke up. "I think that is a great idea."
Isshin's eyes were on Toshiro. "Do you mind taking them?"
Finally Toshiro broke his stiff posture, and nodded once. "Sure, I don't mind."
"Alright," Isshin agreed, reaching for his wallet and handing over his card to Karin. His eyes moved over to Yuzu when he heard her movement by the stairs. "Yuzu you should go with them to help them find their way around the grocery store, as I'm sure Karin has no clue."
"Dad-"
"I can't," Yuzu interrupted her sister, as she adjusted the laundry basket in her hands. "I have a lot of laundry to do."
Without anything else being said, Yuzu walked away. The silence lasted only a few more seconds before Kimi hooked her arm through Karin's. "Let's go."
"Okay," Karin agreed, but paused to look back at her dad. "The sooner I get my learners is the sooner I am one step closer to getting my drivers license so I wouldn't need people to drive me around."
Isshin chuckled, as he leaned back on the couch cushions. "Karin I am well aware that you want to go take the test for your permit. We will get to it."
With that said, Karin, Kimi, and Toshiro left the house. Once in Toshiro's car they started off to the store. Toshiro driving, Karin in the passenger seat, and Kimi in the back. It had been silent since they left the house, but finally Kimi's laughter broke the silence. "Well that could have been a complete disaster. Thanks for warning me that we weren't talking about the whole music program experience."
Karin sighed, as she brought a hand to her face. "Kimi-"
"No really," Kimi started up again, as she shook her head. "What if I said something to your family?"
"You did good, I didn't have anything to worry about." Karin replied, feeling completely embarrassed about having the conversation right in front of Toshiro.
It was quiet for another moment, then Kimi started up again. "Can I ask why you aren't telling your family?"
Karin sighed heavily. "Kimi can you not?"
"I'm just asking," Kimi replied, as she hummed. "You know, I don't see why not. Unless you two aren't working out."
"Oh my god." Karin mumbled under her breath, shrinking in her seat, as she brought her hands back to her face.
"I mean, from what we-your roommates-could tell it seemed that you two weren't exactly hanging out and reading books-"
"Okay Kimi," Karin interrupted, twisting her upper half so she could look back to the backseat. "He is right here. Can you please stop?"
Kimi just smirked at Karin's clear embarrassment. "For now."
Staring at Kimi for a long moment in silence, Karin finally turned back around to look forward.
Toshiro's chuckling broke the silence when they were stopped at a red light. "Your face is red."
"Shut up." Karin shot back quickly. Trying her best not to make eye contact with him, and pretending the whole conversation didn't just happen.
Later that evening
More of their friends had shown up for the party a few hours ago, and they were now listening to Karin and Kimi recount many of their adventures over the past few weeks. They were currently showing some of the footage of what happened on Karin and Yuzu's birthday.
Due to Karin and Kimi both seeming to capture the attention of everyone, Yuzu was easily able to slip away and go upstairs. By the time she got to her room the sound of everyone had faded considerably. The floor of her room was now free of clothes. Now she just had two full baskets of clean clothes to fold and put away. Instead of doing that, she got up on her bed, and laid back.
Hearing her phone buzzing, she pulled it out of her pocket, and sighed heavily when she noticed who it was. Taro. Ignoring the call, she tossed her phone over to land in one of the laundry baskets. He had called and texted her multiple times the past couple days since they had left the program. Feeling her eyes start to water at the thought of him, she sniffled, and tried to keep herself from crying.
A knock on the door was heard, as Orihime appeared in Yuzu's doorway. She had a light smile on her face, as she had her new puppy in her arms. "Bingo wanted to come say hi," she said, as she walked into the room. "That and I did too. You've been pretty quiet today."
"I've just been kind of tired." Yuzu replied, having sat up to accept Bingo from Orihime. Holding the wiggling puppy was a bit difficult at first, but he finally settled to licking her face and excitedly wagging his small tail.
"Really?" Orihime questioned, an eyebrow raised at Yuzu. "I heard from your dad that you slept nearly all day yesterday."
Yuzu shrugged after a moment. "I wasn't really sleeping. I was just kind of staying in bed."
"Oh..." Orihime trailed off, as she moved to sit on the end of Yuzu's bed. Bingo had walked briefly back to her before darting back to Yuzu. Her eyes exploring the room. "I like what you did adding the pink and white."
"I only asked for the white."
Orihime smiled after Yuzu spoke up. "You know we've heard a lot of about Karin's trip, but you haven't said much about yours."
"We talked while I was gone." Yuzu reminded, her eyes dropping down to the comforter.
"I know," Orihime said, smiling back at Yuzu. "I just figured there would be more stories that you'd like to talk about."
The sound of Yuzu's phone buzzing from the laundry basket was heard. Yuzu quickly reached over to ignore the call, and she brought her hands back to petting Bingo. "We did a lot while we were gone."
Raising an eyebrow at Yuzu's reaction to the phone ringing, Orihime decided not to mention it. "You and your friends?"
It was quiet for a long moment, as Yuzu took in a long deep breath. Sighing heavily, she finally met Orihime's eyes to reveal tears in her own. "Orihime, I had sex."
That clearly took Orihime aback as her eyes had widened. "You did?"
"The night before we came home," Yuzu replied with a nod, as she suddenly felt a weight lifting off her shoulders. Tears finally going down her face. "And I shouldn't have. It was just in the moment I wanted to, but it wasn't until afterward that I realized how big of a mistake I made."
Yuzu started to really cry then. Orihime moved closer and wrapped her arms around Yuzu. "It's okay."
"No it's not," Yuzu replied, her chest throbbing, and tears continuing down her face. "I made a promise to myself that I wanted to wait until I was married. I wasn't ready for it. Then this guy comes along that I really liked, and it's all ruined now."
Orihime was quiet as she soothingly rubbed Yuzu's back. "Yuzu I have to ask… Did this guy push you into having sex?"
Yuzu shook her head, and pulled back a little to look at Orihime. "No. He told me we should stop, and he kept asking if I was sure. I kept saying that I wanted to. And I did. In that moment I did. I made a huge mistake, and I can't take it back. It ruined everything. I ruined everything."
Not saying anything more, Orihime pulled Yuzu back close, and continue rubbing her back. A sympathetic look on her face as she listened to Yuzu cry.
Outside on the back porch
Having stepped out on the back porch with Mina, Karin was settling her back down after some of the loudness from inside had bothered her. "It's all good Mina. I know you're probably not used to this many people in one small space. But with my family and all of our friends it can get pretty hectic."
"That's true," Toshiro's voice was heard, then he stepped outside on the porch. Sliding the door shut behind himself, as his eyes met Karin's. "I hope you don't mind. I could use some fresh air."
Karin shrugged, before she moved her focus back on Mina. A minute passed before Mina seemed to be fully soothed back down, and Karin put her pacifier back in her mouth. Sitting down on one of the chairs, she tried to keep her focus on Mina, but she felt herself completely tuned onto Toshiro.
"Kimi is entertaining everyone with more stories from the program," Toshiro said, as he finally moved closer to her to sit down in a chair. It was quiet for a moment, then he smirked. "So your roommates could tell that we weren't exactly hanging out and reading books."
At Toshiro bringing up what Kimi said, Karin felt her cheeks grow warm. She sighed heavily, as she averted her eyes. "I love Kimi to death, but sometimes I wish she didn't say everything that comes to her mind."
It was quiet as Toshiro watched Karin. "Well if you want, that can be all we did. Just hang out and read books. Nothing more."
Karin's eyes darted right back to meet his at his words. "Is that what you want?"
Feeling his face grow slightly warm, Toshiro didn't say anything at first. Keeping Karin's eyes, he finally sighed. "I-"
"Okay it quieted down a little bit," Ichigo's voice interrupted Toshiro's, as he opened the back door. As he focused on Karin and Mina, his eyes widened. "How in the hell did you get her to sleep so quickly?"
Karin smirked at Ichigo's wide eyed look. "Because I'm just that amazing."
"Okay," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes at Karin's smirk. "Since you're so amazing, you can come over and put her to bed for her naps and at actual bedtime everyday for the rest of her life. Because it seems that she never sleeps when it is just Orihime and I."
"Just say the word. I'd love to come show you how it's done," Karin said, laughing as she moved to stand up. She paused to look at Toshiro. "You coming?"
Meeting Karin's eyes once more, Toshiro nodded and stood up. "Yeah."
A half hour later
"Alright I guess we'll be heading out." Ichigo said, having finished putting Bingo's leash on him.
Orihime, who had come down the stairs after Bingo bolted down them, nodded once as she looked to Karin and Kimi. "It's nice to have you back Karin, and it was nice to meet you in person Kimi."
"What were you up to the last half-hour?" Ichigo asked, an eyebrow raised in her direction.
"Oh just talking to Yuzu." Orihime replied, then she picked up Mina's carrier. "I didn't mean to miss saying goodbye to everyone."
"Speaking of Yuzu," Isshin started, crossing his arms over his chest, as he frowned. "I think something has been bothering her. She has hardly said anything since coming home. She stayed up in her room most all of yesterday."
Orihime shrugged, and put a smile back on her face. "Well it just seems to me that she's just trying to catch up on sleep. She lost a lot of sleep those last few days finishing her final painting, and then with having to wake up early to travel. She's really needed the rest."
"Well I guess she does tend to take on a lot," Isshin said after a moment of saying nothing. "It's just unusual to see her so exhausted I guess."
Orihime's eyes were focused down on Mina. "Mina's already asleep?"
"You're welcome," Karin spoke up before Ichigo could. Her focus was taking a couple pictures of Mina asleep in her carrier, then she switched to taking pictures of Bingo. "Do you guys have to leave? I feel like I haven't seen enough of Mina, and I really love your new puppy."
"Don't worry Karin," Ichigo says "We're planning on having you babysit all the time. Bingo included."
Karin grinned hearing that. "Sounds good to me. Just tell me when." It wasn't until after the others left that Karin's eyes went to Kimi. "Do your parents just not want to spend time with you?"
Kimi shrugged, as she leaned back. "I apparently annoyed them so much yesterday that they sent me off today with no problems," she said, then she laughed. "Nah we actually spent all of yesterday and the evening before that catching up, and they told me that I could come over here today as long as you come over to meet them tomorrow."
"Oh damn, I'm already meeting the parents," Karin started, grinning at Kimi. "It's only our first date."
"Shut up." Kimi shot back, rolling her eyes, but joining Karin's laughter.
"I'm sure they just want to meet my awesome self after all the amazing stories you told them," Karin said, then her eyes went in the direction of the kitchen where her dad went. "Hey dad, can Kimi spend the night?!"
"Is it okay with her parents?" Isshin called back.
Karin's eyes went back to Kimi with a raised eyebrow. Kimi smirked. "Let me text them, but it'll probably be."
"She's texting them now!" Karin called back to her dad in the kitchen.
Isshin poked his head out of the kitchen so he could see Karin and Kimi. "If it is okay with her parents, then sure."
Another few seconds passed before Kimi finally looked up from her phone. "They said alright, and they asked if we want them to pick us up for breakfast at nine tomorrow."
"Ha," Isshin started, walking out the kitchen, and handing both girls ice cream bars. "Karin won't be up that early."
"I will too," Karin shot back, taking the wrapping off her ice cream bar. "I'm a morning person now."
Isshin shook his head, a smirk on his face. "Yeah right. I'll have to believe that when I see it," he said, pausing to laugh a bit. "Alright, I am going upstairs to shower. You two don't get into any trouble."
"We'll try not to," Karin replied, waiting until her dad went upstairs to focus on Kimi. "Game plan: Pajamas, then the new episodes of Grey's and Scandal."
"Sounds good to me, but we should probably finish our ice cream first."
Nodding back at Kimi, Karin took a bite of her ice cream sandwich. "Priorities."
A/N: Okay, so welcome to the sequel to Summer Dreaming. I originally wasn't planning on doing a sequel. My plan was to just have the spin-off(Summer Dreaming) play out, then be done with it by the time I got around to posting the sequel to The Reason. I'm kind of glad I did a sequel to Summer Dreaming, because I love the storylines of Karin and Yuzu. My favorite scene to write was probably the opening scene of the girls returning home, and Karin and Toshiro on the porch. What was yours?
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