"So tell me, Sakura.  Does this dress look good on me?"

"Why are you asking me, Kei?  You know I'm not into stuff like that."

"You should.  A woman's gotta get in touch with her feminine side, especially if she's got a boyfriend."

"You know, the last thing I need is advice over what I should know or not know, Karin...  Darrell likes me for who I am, not for being a dolled up fashion model."

"I'm not saying that... well not fully."

"Then what are you trying to say?"

Karin Kanzuki gave her friend/rival Sakura Kasugano a tired look as the three of them were in Naiko Mall, shopping around.  At the moment, Kei was trying out dresses in a store and the other two watched; Karin herself having her own personal wardrobe and Sakura not finding the purpose, being tomboy-ish and all.

"I'm just trying to say that maybe you should, you know... buy something decent for Saturday," Karin answered while finguring through some shirts on a random rack for Kei.  Sakura, who had her back to the wall of the store and her arms crossed, looked towards Karin and raised an eyebrow.

"And why's that?"

Karin stopped looking through the rack and gave Sakura a smirk.

"Well..." she began as she walked up to her friend and reached into her jenen jacket, "I was going to give this to you formally but since I don't want you to freak out about not having anything to wear... here."

Sakura then laid eyes on a little decorated evelope with her name written on it.  Giving it a look of interest she took it and opened it as Karin explained what it was.

"It's an invite to a party I'm having in three days.  I was hoping that you could make it.  I'm pretty sure Darrell already got my invite.  Hinata, too.  As a matter of fact, that's why Kei's here shopping.  I'd figure you'd get something to wear while here.  Everyone we know is gonna be there, Sakura, and it'll be a pain if you miss it, let alone come wearing any old thing."

Sakura immediately looked at Karin, rasing an eyebrow.  "And why, may I ask, did you hold my invite out of all the people that we know to yourself?"

"You're my biggest rival.  Of course I'd want to give you your invite personally.  That way you won't have an excuse for not showing up."

"Really smart..." Sakura muttered, "Only there's one problem."

Kei took the time to stop shopping around and ask, "What's that?"

Sakura put the envelope on the shelf behind her before turning to her two friends, putting her hands into her jean pockets.  She then pulled, exposing the 690 yen that fell out.

"Do you really think that I can AFFORD one of these dresses??" she asked in a bit of a high-pitched voice.  "The cheapest ones have to be around 7500 or something like that!"

Karin smiled and Sakura frowned slightly, knowing the look in her eyes.  "Do you think something like that will stop a friend of a Kanzuki?"

"I guess not..."

"Listen, you just pick something fancy that you like and I'll cover the expenses.  I'll even help you out pick out something nice."

Sakura dropped down to the ground to pick up her money.  While she did that, she asked, "...and what do you want in return?"

Karin's smirk grew bigger.  "A win against you in a fight."

"Fat chance."

"I know.  I was just kidding.  Ho, ho, ho, ho!  I can't believe that you take me serious like that!  You act just like that idol of yours, Ryu."

Sakura got back up and eyed Karin again, mainly because she hated when Karin gave that little laugh of hers...  "So I do, huh?  At least I can fight just as well as he does."

Karin then laughed again.  "If that's so, then how come I can still beat you if I tried?"

"Are you going to talk about our fighting abilities or are we here to get something for me to wear?"

"Okay, okay...  Man, you've been serious lately."

"No I haven't," Sakura immediately countered while heading towards a nice long blue dress on a rack.

"Actually... yes you have," Kei assured.  "You haven't really been your ususal perky self...  Something wrong?"

"Of course not...  I still think I've been acting the same."

Karin, who wasn't looking at Sakura directly, rolled her eyes.  "You go on and say that if you want to.  I'm just letting you know that I've been around you long enough to know when something's wrong with you..."

"Really?" Sakura replied while not lifting her eyes from the shelf.

"Yes, really," Karin answered back while looking over her rival's shoulder to look at the clothes she was checking out.  "You think you want to tell me about it, cause my senses are saying something's wrong with you."

Sakura sighed a bit and quickly responded with, "I rather not...  It's sorta personal."

"Just how personal?"

"...pretty personal."

"Then it's worth telling me."

"Karin..."

"What have you got to lose, Sakura?"

At this moment the cherry blossom fighter got up and moved to another rack, away from Kei, with Karin right behind her.  Sakura then decided to speak.

"Well... lately I've been getting these dreams...  You know... those... uh..."  She then pointed down to her jeans and Karin nodded, getting the picture.  "Well, I'm just finding it weird... especially since... it's like I can remember bits of what was happening in each dream... and I think they're linked."

"Really...?"

"Really."

Karin paused for a second before saying, "Well... what do you remember?"

"Well... I remember... uh... well... it's still pretty foggy, but it's this same person talking... and I'm talking back, but my voice sounds... excited..."

"Like the bad excited?"

"No...  The... lustful excited."

"And I figure this is Darrell's voice, right?"

At this time Sakura stopped browsing and eyed Karin intensivly.  "That's the thing.  I... I think it sounds like him... but... yet it feels... different.  Sorta feminine-like."

Karin raised an eyebrow.  "Feminine?  You're kidding."

"I'm not, Karin," Sakura reassured while looking to her side.  "That's what's got me all riled up.  I swear I heard that voice before...  It sounds familiar...  I really want to know who that person is."

"You sure it's a real person?"

Sakura then turned mute.  "You know... I've got the feeling that it's a real person...  I don't know why.  I just do."

Karin frowned a bit.  "Well... I can't help you on that, but don't worry yourself so much about it.  I'm pretty sure there's an explaination for your... dreams."

"You sure?  It's starting to get both me and Darrell worried.  I mean he sleeps with me.  Of course he knows that I'm having a bit of a problem now.  We just don't know what.  I'm not up to telling him either... at least not until I get a grasp on it myself."

"Okay..."

"Well, let's not think about it for now.  How does this look?"

Sakura then pulled out a rather short red dress which would look as if she was a news reporter if she put it on.  Karin twisted her face.

"Uh... let's try something a little more... spiffy..."

"Okay.  Lead the way."