He had always been there. Had always stood somewhere nearby, glancing over once in a while to make sure that she was okay.

Of course, that had been what pissed her off the most, and told him so before pulling back a fist and smacking him in the head. She wasn't a goddamn sissy, she had informed him, glaring. And he could keep his obscenely disgusting face with its creepy-ass grin out of her air. To which he had merely rolled his eyes and told her in an infuriating holier-than-thou voice that in no way would he have willingly wanted to look at the violent monkey whose shoe managed to find its way to his face more, perhaps, than he would have liked. The only reason, he added, why he might possibly glance in her general direction was because that Hikifune-taichou had commissioned him to keep a close eye on her wayward lieutenant.

This, of course, was all lies.

He would always protect her, even at the cost of his own life, and Hiyori- being Hiyori- would always clobber him for it after. And perhaps later, when her temper had sufficiently cooled, she acknowledge that, yes, she was maybe grateful for him.

(Not that she would ever say so out loud.)

They had been together through tough and tougher, all the way from Rukongai up. He got promoted to captain; her to lieutenant. They had become part Hollow together, lived in an old abandoned warehouse together, and even trained that stupid red-headed brat of a shinigami together. And somewhere along the way, a friendship developed, so to the point some naïve spectator might have called it actual love.

If anyone told Shinji this, he would scoff and roll his eyes, pull his baggy hat over his eyes and scathingly call the person a dumbass.

If anyone told Hiyori this, she would stare at them in disbelief, slug them in the stomach, and scornfully call the poor abused soul a dumbass.

Which further proved the point that they were- somewhere in the back of their minds- connected.

It was as if they were a pair of children, really- not willing to admit the oh-so-apparent truth of things. But children grow, and in time they understand the things that were always there. All they needed was time.

A/N: Well okay then! There's the intro for my first fic. 'Course, it doesn't really make much sense to me because I'm writing in a stage of half-delirium, but please review anyways! There'll be more, of course, but first I gotta see feedback to decide to delete it or not. My apologies for swearage. Ta!

A/N EDITED: LOOK! LOOK! I EDITED! Marvels never do cease. Just a few quick things for style and readability, nothing big. Thank you to anyone who is reading this you give me warm and fuzzy feelings inside.