Together, Yet Utterly Alone. [ Pt I ]
Who: Zaku and Karin.
When: Friday, May 23rd, Evening.
What: Karin was planning on going over to Zaku's later for studying, but runs into her mother first and her weaknesses expose themselves. Upset and lonely, she heads over to Zaku's earlier than planned. They study a little, but the empty-feeling inside Karin leads to something much more than either had expected...
Where: Zaku's House, after a brief intro at Karin's place.
Warnings: Teen Angst... and SEX! WHOO!
AIM or LJ? AIM.
Ever since school had let out on Friday, Karin had nearly raced back to her house in her excitement. Tonight, for the first time ever, she'd be going over to Zaku's house - planning on studying for the most part and maybe later enjoy each other’s company. She had shut the room to her bedroom door while she finished getting her stuff up, slowed down only by the need to dance randomly to the music she had downloaded to her mp3 player. Right now, she was listening to some pop music and building up her excitement. As she finished straightening up her room and put her Calculus book in her bag, there was a light knock on her bedroom door.
Karin stopped the music and pulled her earphones out, “Yes?”
“Dinner’s almost ready,” replied the masculine voice on the other side of the door. The Lawyer.
“All right, thanks. I’ll be down in a minute.” And Karin looked herself over in the mirror one more time, hoping she looked ok. She packed in a few other items: her cellphone, a few notebooks, and a couple of CDs she thought he might like to borrow, and she headed out of her room and downstairs, setting her bag near the doorway and going into the dining room for supper with a look of anticipation and excitement.
Taking a seat at the table, she couldn’t help but smile to her mother and the lawyer, too. Today was going to be a good day. She just knew it. Her mom caught onto her smile and raised an eyebrow as she set down the bowls of rice. Looking back to the doorway, she caught sight of Karin’s stuffed school bag and raised an eyebrow.
“You’re looking cheerful tonight. Planning on going somewhere?” Karin’s mom questioned.
Karin’s face was both annoyed and disappointed, “Um, Mom? I’ve asked you and told you all week that I was going over to a friend’s house and study. You said it was fine Monday. Remember?”
Her mom looked over to her fiancé as she sat down at the table, and they both looked at each other like they never heard of it before, and then she looked back to Karin with a small sigh, “Well, I’m sorry. Cancel your plans, please. You can study another night.”
She had opened her mouth to continue, but Karin interrupted, “What? No!”
“Karin, Hiroshi and I are going to be out of town this weekend because he has a business trip he has to attend. We were hoping that you’d stay around and watch the house for us this weekend.”
Hiroshi, “The Lawyer”, looked down to his food sadly with a muttered “Itadakimasu” and began to eat, knowing all too well that they wouldn’t be having a decent meal tonight now that Karin and her mom were about to start their never-ending bitch-out competition..
As predicted, Karin’s voice got louder and with an exasperated tone she almost hissed, “I’m pretty sure the house can take of itself. Lock the door behind you on your way out. You said earlier this week that it was ok to study with my friends and I plan on doing so.”
“Well, things change and this had to come up. You can change your plans and help us out.”
“I don’t plan on changing my plans. Besides, I’ll be back later tonight. I’m sure the house will be fine by itself for a few hours. It’s not going to grow legs and run away, you know?”
“Look, stop your temper tantrum now, Karin. I’m being civil and asking you to stay with the house. Or, you know, call your friends over here.”
Truth be told, Karin knew her mom was trying to be nice, but she was quite upset over being told she couldn’t go to Zaku’s tonight after waiting and wanting to finally see his place and meet his dog. Karin wasn’t giving up without a fight. She did calm down a little bit, seeing how her mother wasn’t yelling back yet, but repeat her demands again with a softer but darker voice.
“You look. It’s not going to hurt for me to go out for a few hours and come back, and then I’ll stay here all weekend and I’ll invite people over Saturday and Sunday. Let me go tonight though, please.”
The lawyer looked over to his fiancée, fixing his glasses as he focused in on her. This was an interesting twist as the women were both trying their hardest to be nice to each other while obviously not wanting to give in. And he knew the flaw of Gozen females… neither one would give up without a fight.
Karin’s mom stood there in silence for a moment, somewhat considering the options laid out before her, but when she looked over to the stuffed school bag once more, a thought crossed her mind and she crossed her arms and glared back at Karin, “You’re going over to that boy’s house, aren’t you?”
Karin shut up and lowered her guard, almost sinking into her chair and staring straight ahead, feeling caught now.
Bingo, her mother thought. When Karin didn’t deny anything, and it wouldn’t have helped now even if she tried, her mother continued on, “So you are. And we are talking about the same one, right? One-armed little brat who had thought he’d accomplish something by banging on my door in the dead of night? Or do you have a new one by now?”
The lawyer’s eyes widen, not liking where this was going. After almost choking on his food in a rush to get her to stop, he ended up coughing to deaf ears.
Karin stood from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, “I cannot believe you. Of course it’s the same guy, Mother. I’m not finicky like some people.”
Her mother had hit the right nerve to annoy her daughter, but she couldn’t realize that it was more like a large healing scab, in which she kept picking at and picking at, “You know, he was a pretty aggressive guy, Karin. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any boy you bring over snap at my heels the way he did…”
“I never brought boyfriends home!” came Karin’s last-minute protest.
Hiroshi, after finishing his glass to cure his coughing then saw the look in her eyes and he called out to try and stop her from going further, “Tsubame!”
But they both fell on deaf ears as Tsubame slowly stood from the table and looked down to her daughter’s shrinking form. She had finally gotten her fingernails under the scab, grabbing it from both sides, beginning to pull it off the open wound. “… so, how many times did you sleep with this one to get him to be so protective of someone like you?”
Dead silence flooded the house as Karin stared at her mother in wide-eyed shock at the horrible accusation brought before the dinner table. Hiroshi sat in shock, looking between both girls, almost frightened over the overwhelming pressure in the room. He decided to try and stop what he could, glaring at his fiancée and trying to get her attention and stop her, “Tsubame!” But it was like he wasn’t even there.
Karin finally fell back into the chair, sputtering like a worn out engine while tears came to her eyes, “What… wait… no… I never… Mom… I… Zaku…”
Tsubame crossed her arms, victorious on winning this battle, holding the scab that she removed to the other kids in the playground without noticing how bad the wound was now bleeding. As a mother though, she picked up that she may have went a little overboard and she sat down to the table. “Karin, listen. We’ll talk about all this later. The point is, you’re staying in this weekend and watching the house for us. And your little boyfriend isn’t allowed over here at all this weekend… you two being out all hours of the night doing all sorts of things I don’t even want to imagine. Not while we’re away.”
Karin, staring blankly down at her uneaten bowl of rice slowly looked up to her mother, feeling betrayed and cut down, and for something she didn’t even do. She hiccupped through the knot in the back of her throat she used to stop from crying and spoke very softly, “You don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Tsubame looked over to her, daring her to say it again.
“I said,” Karin lifted her head, face red with both sadness and anger, and screamed, “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT!”
Both Tsubame and Hiroshi stared after Karin as she continued on, “I’m not you, Mom! I’m not! Don’t compare me to your standards! I don’t use men and then toss them aside when I’m finished playing with them! I don’t even know why HE has anything to do with you. The sex must be pretty FUCKING FANTASTIC to keep YOU around.” She stood up from the table very quick and forcefully, anger renewed as her chair flipped backwards away from the table. “Don’t EVER talk that way about me again. And you know, leave the front door wide open if you want because I’m not staying here and I don’t care who comes in and takes off with everything while you two are gone.” She stormed away from the table, stopping before she left the room and turned once more to speak up to her mother, “You know, I don’t know why you think that about me, because I haven’t done that crap. But if I even do end up becoming a slut, at least I know I got it honest.”
Without another word said, Karin stormed to the front door, putting on her shoes and grabbing her bag, and left the house with an extremely loud and forceful slamming of the door. She didn’t know what time it was. She didn’t care. She just knew she had to get out of that house. And there was only one place to go…
She pulled out the piece of scrap paper Zaku handed her earlier with directions on how to get to his house, and she headed out accordingly.
It wouldn't be for another few hours before Karin came over to Zaku's place, or so they had planned, so he had spent his time since arriving home sitting on the couch watching television. He wasn't watching anything in particular... just channel tripping through, waiting for something to catch his interest. Fathom was right next to him on the couch, even though his parents didn't allow animals on the furniture; they weren't home so he figured it couldn't possibly hurt this one time. He sighed, stopping at some news broadcast about something he didn't care about since he was just tired of going through all 234 channels seven times already so he could use his free arm to pet Fathom for a little bit. I wish I could multitask... Even this simple task of trying to watch TV and give his dog attention was seemingly a bit difficult. He sighed, trying not to let it get to him.
Karin was so angry and upset, barely watching the world she passed by as she kept her eyes focused on the paper before her, only looking up to compare street signs and landmarks. On the way over, she pulled her earphones out of her bag and turned her music on, but as she looked through her library she couldn't find a single poppy song she could stomach listening to. Her fingers, working on automatic like her legs, found its way to a more suitable band and started listening to it, the dark music fitting her mood a lot better even though she wasn't listening to a single part of the song.
The instructions were understandable and before she had known it, she had gotten down to the last two directions, which had led her to a nice neighborhood, so she figured she was in the right place. The houses looked expensive and the landscaping was a big feature of all the houses with their well-manicured trees and shrubbery. Unfortunately, she could barely appreciate it as she stopped to look back down at her instructions. She re-read them twice, and then looked to the house she ended up stopping in front of. Oh. This one. And she made her way to the front door, taking a brief glance at how the house was definitely bigger than hers, and the... four car garage. She double checked the address as she walked up to the door, unsure if this really was the place as she knocked lightly at first, and then the last set being a little louder.
Zaku looked up from his place on the couch as Fathom leapt off and started barking at the knocking at the door. Being in such a big house, it still took a little while for him to reach the door, and he scratched at it, wanting to see who was on the other side. Zaku was slow to get up, not thrilled about meeting whoever it was at the door since he was sure it was too early for it to be Karin. "Coming..." he mumbled as he was within voice range of the door. Then Zaku realized that it probably wouldn't have mattered if he had said anything or not because Fathom was so loud. He grabbed Fathom by the collar to pull him away from the door and brought him to the staircase that was nearby and locked him up behind the pet gate. After the lock was secured and he was sure Fathom would stay, he came over to the door and opened it to see who was there.
He was shocked to see it was Karin. She didn't look like she was in the best of moods... "Hey Karin, I didn't expect you so early... uhh, come on in." He opened the door wider and held it so she could come in without any further questioning.
Karin looked to him with a small smile when he opened the door, but realized that she couldn't hear anything he said either. She knew she was feeling out of it, but to not hear Zak- oh, the headphones. She pulled them out of her ears and turned off her mp3 player and looked back to Zaku, "Hey there. Am I early? I'm sorry. I left the house earlier than I expected."
She looked to the open door, walking into the doorway before stopping, "Oh, wait, should I wait until we were scheduled to meet? In case you needed to do something else. I'm really, really sorry about this. I didn't know.." she avoided looking at him as she walked into the house, stopping on the other side of the doorway and looking to him for his answer. She didn't want to take her shoes off if she wasn't welcome yet.
He closed the door behind her, looking at her and sensing something was up, especially since she wasn't making eye contact. "I'm not doing anything besides watching TV and I told you that you were welcome here whenever, remember?" Zaku was pretty comfortable having her here, despite it being her first time over. "Early is fine... as long as it means we don't have to start studying yet," he joked. Fathom barked in the background, but wagged his tail at the same time, eager to meet the new person on the other side of the gate.
She nodded as her only reply, taking her shoes off and walking into the house further, her eyes looking everywhere at how nice the inside his house was. And then she followed her eyes to where the loud barking noise was coming from, as he was hard to ignore, and she looked over to the big white dog that stood there with his tail wagging. She couldn't help but smile a little looking at him.
Zaku noticed her eyes wandering around the hall, where all kinds of random things from his parents' travels decorated the walls and shelves. When her eyes came to Fathom, he spoke up, "Yeah, that's my dog. He's loud and big but he's completely harmless." Zaku stopped after that, wondering if he had just made some stupid analogy to himself. "Uhh yeah, make yourself at home. The living room is this way..." Zaku headed down the hall a little ways, inviting her over.
She followed after Zaku, pulling her bag up on her shoulder a little further with a better grip on it. "Wow, this is a really nice place you have here. And with a four car garage, too? Nice." She was still remaining silent, not really wanting to draw much attention to herself and her worries, but unconsciously wanting the attention anyways. She tried to focus ahead on looking at Fathom every time he barked, a little intimidated by his size with no animal experience.
"I suppose it's a bit bigger than the houses closer to the school..." he was not as impressed with the size as she was, since this was the only house he had ever really lived in. "It's not claustrophobic, but it can get lonely sometimes..."Zaku lead her into the living room where the large screen TV was still on, a flat screen HD hung on the far wall. The weather part of the news was under way, the broadcaster pointing out that sunny, warm weather was to come for the next several days. The ceiling of the room was very high and there were paintings hung on the walls of various places. In the center of the room, there was the large couch, long enough to sit seven people. Between the couch and the TV, there was a coffee table with a few large books and a samurai sculpture in the middle. To the right and left sides of the TV, there were separate glass sliding doors that were the gateways to a large backyard. "Do you want anything to drink?" Zaku asked, trying to be as hospitable as he possibly could. I can't afford to screw anything up here...
She was busy admiring everything, setting her bag down on the floor next to the couch while she absorbed everything. "Well, I think this place is great, although I can see how it can be lonely by yourself." She turned and looked over to Zaku, not answering him as she walked over and hugged him close to her, lying her head on his chest for a moment and just wanting to savor the fact that he was here for her and that he cared. "I'm good, thanks.."
Zaku turned a little red when she so affectionately hugged him as she did, now sure that there was something other than studying that was on her mind. To him, she seemed a bit mellow and quiet. After a few silent moments, he lifted his arm to hug her in return, thinking she was asking for comfort. Despite how she was feeling, he was in a good mood, for the most part, so he decided to lighten the mood once again. "Heh, it's lonely in the daytime but my dad's trophy room is creepy at night." Probably not the best topic? "As long as you like this place, it's your home as well as mine." He laughed a little nervously, wondering what feeling made him say that.
Karin pulled away eventually, fixing her glasses and looking to him as a small part of her enjoyed watching him happy. "Thank you, you don't know how much I appreciate that..." she decided not to go any further than that, and went back to a different subject, "Your dad has a trophy room?"
Zaku allowed her to pull away, trying to stay as aware of her feelings as possible. "Yeah... he used to like hunting a lot, like before I came along. It's down in the basement and there's tons of weird heads and fur in there..."
"That's... um, ok." She hadn't known any one who hunted, but she had seen movies with the animal heads hanging on the walls, deciding that the room was creepy enough without having to ask any further. "So, you were watching TV when I came over. Anything good on? I'd hate to interrupt your shows." She looked up to the weather channel, then back to Zaku with a smirk, "Because, um, the weather is always the 'sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat' drama that has everyone talking nowadays."
Zaku realized what he had left the TV on and made an odd face. "I was just channel tripping since there is nothing on these days. 300+ channels of crap! I don't even know why they bother showing most of the stuff they do... the Weather Channel probably is better than everything else anyways." He admitted, trying to look cool in the face of her observation. "Knowing the weather is important..." Zaku came up behind the couch and hurtled it to sit down in the spot where he was sitting before to grab the remote control. "They're showing reruns now, so if there's anything you'd like, we can watch that instead."
Karin chuckled to herself, watching him in brief amusement while walking up behind the couch where he moved to, "I don't have anything in particular I'd like to watch. And I know you don't want to study right now... So, what else do you have to offer?" That sounded a little rude to her, quickly replacing it with what she meant, "I mean, do I get a tour or is there something else you like doing you can show me?"
Zaku decided to just turn the TV off, fearing more odd embarrassment. He glanced up to her, "Ah, right! A tour would be a good place to start." He got up, wondering where he should show her first. "Well, the kitchen is in the room right behind you." Making his way around the couch this time, he led her to an open doorway into a dining room with a table large enough for an army of people. Beyond that, there was the kitchen, which was very large and completely clean. It had a center island with two sinks and an uncountable number of cabinets and cupboards. The ceiling was still high in this room, but not nearly as high as in the living room. The fridge was also here, and also was large, relative to "normal" refrigerators. The floors were tile and there were a few exotic rugs to go with it. Meanwhile, Fathom kept barking for attention.
While they were in the kitchen, Zaku sighed, figuring he should go and attend the dog. "Ugh, excuse me while I go see what Fathom is up to. If it's okay with you, can I let him out of the gate?" He glanced to Karin, not wanting to let Fathom out if she wasn't willing to be around such a large animal.
Karin's lower jaw hung away from her lips as she looked around, eyes trying to look at every inch of the large kitchen. She was highly impressed with the size of the kitchen, and it was obvious. It was only when Zaku mentioned the dog that she closed her mouth and looked back to him, "Um, yeah, you can let him out. I mean, you said he was harmless..." she tried to help reassure him, interested in meeting the dog anyways, "Besides, I know that if the worst did happen, you'd be there for me."
"Haha, yeah!" he blushed a little at her last comment, feeling like her 'knight in shining armor'. "Nothing will happen, don't worry." He eagerly moved out of the room to attend to Fathom, going out a different door than they had entered through so he ended up back in the hall again. As soon as he opened the gate, Fathom stopped barking and immediately went towards where Karin was and started sniffing her all over. Fathom's head came up to her waist and Zaku hoped it wasn't going to alarm her at all. "Fathom, come here." Zaku tried calling him, and when that failed, he pulled his collar to get him away. "Sorry about that... he likes people."
Those reddish eyes of Karin's widened as the large dog made his way over to her and she stood perfectly still for a moment while he sniffed at her. When Zaku had him by the collar, she reached her hand out to the dog, "No, it's ok.. I was t-taken back by his size, is all. He's huge, but he's so pretty." When granted, she took her hand and pet Fathom's head, smiling at the soft feel of the fur on her hand.
Zaku was relieved that the two of them were getting along so well as Fathom accepted the pet to the head. He then felt safe enough to just let go of the dog's collar so things can feel more 'normal'. "A lot of people are afraid of him for his size..." Zaku was feeling awkward when he spoke. He still felt something was up with Karin this afternoon, but he still couldn't place his finger on it. Maybe she will reveal it to me when she's more comfortable... "While we are still on the first floor, let's head out to the backyard. I think Fathom needs to go out there anyways..."
Karin smiled and pet Fathom a little more with her growing comfort, "Well, he startled me a little, too. I've never seen a dog this big. But he's a real sweetheart." When Zaku mentioned taking him out, she nodded and removed her hand from Fathom, looking up to him and simply replying, "All right."
"Fathom, to the yard!" Zaku commanded, and Fathom obeyed, running off to the back door. When the dog was out of sight, Zaku shrugged, "I get a lot of free time... so I just teach him words." Zaku then turned to follow Fathom out to one of the back sliding glass doors and let Fathom run out into the open yard. He went out soon after and left the door open for Karin. The lawn was a solid green, perfectly healthy and well-cared for. The fence was made of stone and went out quite a ways, making it a lot larger than the front lawn. It could have been about a quarter acre in all. The far edge had a lot of trees and there was likely a park on the other side since there was a gate in the wall there and more trees beyond. Around the edges, there were shrubs and bushes, and off to the right, there was a koi pond with a Greek-style water fountain of two lovers. There was also a dirt path out to the gate on the far fence-wall. Overall, it was very serene and park-like, especially with the sound of running water from the fountain.
"Wow, he's really smart to learn then though," Karin commented to Zaku as they followed Fathom to the back, to which she followed them both out afterwards, pulling the door to after she walked out. Karin looked over all the space that he had in backyard, another impressive size, "How do they have the time to take care of all this?" she asked aloud to herself, but was loud enough for Zaku to think the question was for him. She shook her head in amazement, trying to look at everything at once which easily overwhelmed her. Watching Fathom running around was amusing, making her silently wonder how the dog never tripped over himself. With a chuckle, she continued to look around the yard, stopping and mentally admiring the koi pond. Now koi was an animal she was familiar with, thanks to them being a popular decoration in parks and restaurants. She walked over to get a closer look, and noticed the statue. At first, it was enough to visually enjoy the marble sculpture, but she looked to the two lovers who stood there wrapped in their embrace, naked for the world to see them as they were. She frowned a little before pushing it out of her head and turning back around to join Zaku and watch Fathom.
"Haha, the easy answer is that they don't take care of it." Zaku laughed. "One of my dad's co-workers has close ties to a guy who owns a landscaping business and their kids come here every week to take care of it. My dad pays them to do it. They're in middle school, I think..." Zaku stopped himself, wondering if he wasn't bragging too much and making her feel down about it. He watched Fathom chase some birds out of the upper branches of a small tree and turned to Karin, who seemed to be lost in thought while letting her eyes explore the yard. "Hey, you've been oddly quiet. Is something getting you?" He didn't want to intrude, but he has been suspicious ever since she showed up early.
Inside of her head, Karin winced. Part of her wished he would've kept his big mouth shut, while the other part was grateful that he noticed and cared. She gathered her thoughts, turning her field of vision to watch the dog instead of Zaku as she replied, "Oh. I had a little fight with my mom before I came. It's really no big deal, it only ruffled my feathers a little, you know?" Once the lie was over, she turned and looked back at him with a small smile. She definitely didn't feel any better with that, but she played it off as concern, "Sorry if I worried you. I'll be all right."
Zaku thought a little about it, but didn't know what he really felt about it, especially now that she still wasn't looking directly at him when she spoke. "Yeah, I understand... as long as you're all right, it's good." His thoughts were beginning to get a little more jumbled, since she was starting to concern him more and more. He decided to leave her alone about it, though. "...I guess next we go upstairs. I'd show you the garage except it's boring in there..." Zaku headed back inside after calling Fathom over. Once he got inside, he noticed the TV was on and that his cat was sitting on the remote control, sound asleep. On the television, it was a commercial break. Zaku sighed, and went over to pull the cat off and turn off the TV as he ignored the advertisements that flashed by.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you," Karin told him, listening to his direction towards the upstairs portion of the house to continue the tour. She nodded, "That works." She followed him back into the house, not even noticing the TV was back on or the cat that had caused it to turn back on until Zaku had made a movement towards the couch. She looked up to the TV, curious as to what the cat might've been watching and if it would make a good joke to lighten her mood. There, an older and insanely large-grinned man was facing the camera, a commercial for some medication apparently. It had started with his wife joining in on the fake doll-like grin, and then other women seemed to flock into the screen as well. The man wasn't attractive by any means, but that insane smile was somehow desirable. At the bottom of the screen, it read the warnings of seeing your doctor if it ... stays up... more than 24 hours. Karin glared at the screen as small women came in and surrounded him, breaking out into a dance, and ending the commercial with all of them holding their hands to him as if he was a sex idol. Tch. She rolled her eyes at the concept of the bad commercial as Zaku turned off the TV, but it lingered longer than she wanted. Why does everything nowadays glorify sex? She remembered the statue outside, too, and frowned. No, it's always been glorified... That was a disturbing thought that left her staring off at a random spot on the wall, lost in thought.
Zaku held the cat under his arm while he used his hand to turn off the television. The cat had a very... unamused expression on his face as he just hung there like a ragdoll plush. "My cat isn't supposed to be out here... so let's head upstairs so we can put him where he belongs..." Zaku's parents didn't actually know about his cat, so he had tried to hide it in his room as much as he could. "We are going to have to go right up to my room. I'll show you the guest bedroom and upstairs bathroom while we go by them, since my room is at the end of the hall..." He started off in the direction of the stairs. "Maybe we can study while we're up there..." Zaku had an urge to listen to some music anyways, and he had a really nice stereo system to show Karin...
Karin blinked herself back into reality, watching the cat in Zaku's arm with amusement before picking up on what Zaku said, "Oh, all right then. Let me get my bag then." She walked over to the side of the couch where she had set her bag, flinging the strap on her shoulder and then looking to Zaku for him to lead the way. In the back of her mind, she thought about the guest bedroom. I wonder if I could spend the night some time when things go bad back home. The guest bedroom could be considered. Then she wondered if she might be able to talk him into letting her stay the night. But I didn't bring a change of clothes or anything... "All right. Lead the way, Tour Guide."
Zaku smiled, finally getting the acknowledgement of her actually looking at him for once this afternoon. "Follow me." He headed for the stairs and lead Karin and Fathom up the steps, passing by many photographs on the wall of who was most likely Zaku's parents. However, they weren't really family pictures since Zaku wasn't in any until they were nearly to the top of the stairs. Even so, the photos that included Zaku showed him as being maybe two years younger, tops, than what he was right now. Zaku didn't bother pointing out the photos and just stopped a little down the hall in front of a closed door. "This is my parents' bedroom. I'm not going to risk opening the door because Fathom has an obsession with jumping on their bed..." He then moved on to the next room, the bathroom, which was actually quite large. "Theres a traditional bathhouse out in the side yard, but we have a normal bath and shower combo in here, too." As they walked on, they passed a few windows to their right-hand side that overlooked the street. All the rooms were on their left.
"Next is the guest room." Zaku stopped in front of an open doorway this time, looking into a room that wasn't nearly as nicely decorated as the others, but still had its fair share of interesting items and wall decorations. Most of the shelves were bare, just in case someone staying had a lot of extra stuff with them. "We don't get a whole lot of people visiting, but it's there if we need it." Zaku wandered further to a door at the end of the hallway, past a large closet. "Last stop is the best." The door was already open, leading into a large bedroom that was more long than wide. His bed had the top up against the far wall, near the center, and there were several shelves and a long computer desk on the opposite side. There was also a large set of speakers set up around the room for full surround-sound. Most of the shelves were covered in excess typical "guy" junk, such as models and lots of paper. The walls had posters for various rock bands and a few anime, but several pictures looked more rough, as if they were done in chalk, charcoals and maybe a few paintings. At the end of the room, a large sliding glass door lead out to a patio where a few potted plants sat in the sun. Beyond that, there was a nice view of Tokyo. "Well, this is it... not very impressive, huh?"
Karin followed him up the stairs, making a brief notice of everything she walked past and smiling to herself as they passed photos, although she was a little sad that there didn't seem to be any baby photos to tease him about, but didn't give the photos much further thought than that. The bathroom, she thought, was a pretty normal, yet slightly larger than normal, bathroom. Ok, next. Guest room was a good size, too. She agreed that she'd definitely ask him about it... one day. And then she overheard "Last stop is the best" and knew exactly where they were, and she walked herself into the room to look it over. "Not very impressive? ... Shut up! Of course it's impressive. This is a big, very nice house." She sat down her bag and twirled a moment to look at his entire room. "Very impressive."
Zaku rubbed his head in pleasure, a little red, but glad she was impressed. Even though he had tried to act cool about it by saying he wasn't impressed with his own room, he knew it was better than a lot of other rooms. Secretly, he was proud of how he ended up living in such a nice house. "Heh, it's just a room." He joked about it, glad that she was starting to act more 'normal' about everything. Zaku wandered in after her as Fathom found a rug near the sliding glass door to lie down and he placed his cat on a computer chair. "It's a lot better than where I used to live, definitely..." he trailed off and stopped himself before he could say too much. "Hey, what do you want to study first?" he said as he plopped himself on his bed and looked to her for an answer.