"A day to look forward to"

By:

Chapter 5

They reached the house sooner than she expected. He really is fast. It's as if it only took him a minute to reach her house from the bridge which normally takes a fast car half an hour to reach. As soon as they reached the front door, toshiro put her down and opened the door for her to enter. Yuzu isn't awake yet. But she will wake soon. Toshiro reunited with his gigai before checking on Karin once again.

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"Hai. Don't worry about me. That monster- whatever you call him- must have drained my energy. But other than that, I'm totally fine. I just feel a little weak, that's all."

He looked directly at her, unconvinced. He was about to say something when Yuzu finally stirred and finally woke up.

"Yuzu!"

"Karin!"

"Are you alright?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'?"

"Why, has something bad happened?"

"Oh, never mind, just… forget it… I'm going to bed… I'm a little tired."

Yuzu gazed questioningly at toshiro. He shrugged then went to his room.

"What could be the problem of these people?" Yuzu wondered.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Karin woke up the next morning. She was shocked. She didn't know she slept the whole day and the entire night without waking up. It's like she slept for 24 hours straight! She hurried out of the room. Then she noticed her strength was back. Good, she thought. She headed straight for toshiro's room. She opened the door without knocking. She was surprised to see he's not there. Actually, there was no trace of him there. Even his bag and his clothes are gone. Was it all a dream? No, it isn't. It couldn't be. She raced to the kitchen. There, she found Yuzu and her dad already eating breakfast.

"Dad! Yuzu! Have you guys seen toshiro?"

Yuzu and her dad looked at each other, puzzled. Then they looked at her. Then her dad, seemingly teasing commented,

"So, who's this Toshigo? A boyfriend of yours?"

"Cut it out dad! I don't have a boyfriend! And besides, it's T-O-S-H-I-R-O, not Toshigo! How about you, Yuzu, have you seen him?"

Yuzu looked at her, seemingly confused.

"Who's Toshiro?"

Damn! He must've used that smoke thingy on them, that's why they can't remember a thing! Why did he leave without saying a word? I thought he trusts me! She said to herself.

"What's the problem, Karin?"

"Nothing. Forget what I said earlier…"

She turned and ran for the stairs. As she ran, she could hear Yuzu yelling,

"Aren't you gonna eat breakfast?"

She answered without even looking back.

"I'm not hungry."

She ran straight to her room and jumped into the bed. As she did so, she heard something crumple under her pillow. She lifted her pillow up. There was a small white envelope. She took it and gently opened it. It was from Toshiro.

Karin,

I'm sorry I won't be able to say goodbye to you before I leave. I received an urgent

message to return to soul society just a while ago. Our mission here is over. The twelfth squad

was able to conduct their researches with all the information we have gathered. There is

no more need for us to stay here.

You're brother and Rukia will be probably back there tomorrow, so don't worry about him.

And also, I would like tell you that I really enjoyed staying with you for a while. Arigato,

Karin. I hope that this won't be our last meeting.

Because of you, the day our next mission there in the living world would probably a day

I'd look forward to. Thank you, Karin.

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Karin smiled as she read the letter. So, he didn't leave without warning after all. She folded the letter and placed it back neatly into the white envelope before placing it in her drawer. After doing so, she went beside the window and stared at the newly risen sun. Downstairs, she could already hear Ichigo beating their father up and Yuzu greeting Rukia.

"You're right, toshiro. It would truly be a day to look forward to." She said to herself.