He refuses to look at her square in the eye. He knows that those eyes of hers are filled with betrayal; sadness; fresh, salty tears...

"Silver..."

He dares not to respond to her cracking voice that slurs out his name. His lips purse into a tight line; the small, but sharp pangs in his chest hits him with each passing moment. He takes a split second to take a sharp inhale, avoiding the way she calls out to him, yet again.

She takes a step forward, and he takes a step back. "Silver."

The male, dressed in a sharp, fine, black suit, says nothing. His metal eyes pretend to focus on something on the hard floor as he exhales. His heart thumps in his chest with such anxiety. This stupid girl... here she was, still coming after him after what he did...

Soul's semi-teary, hazel eyes narrow along the wretched, blood R that prints onto the right side of his broad chest. Her palms tremble with all the tension she's being put under due to the view before her. Sharp nails dig into the soft skin on her palms as she fists her hands with such force that surges from the anger she's facing. Her lips quiver as she struggles to call out to him again, a single tear riding halfway down her cheek, and dropping to the surface near her feet.

"Why..."

Her voice sounds hopeless. His eyes finally dart up to the familiar brunette girl, a mere feet away from his stance. He swallows, and takes a sharp intake at the sight of her. No rainbows and sunshine, like usual—it is now the opposite, a depressing rainstorm. Not that his world was already an ongoing rainstorm...

His only ray of sunshine in his incessant storm grows dark. She steps forward, quivering fists clenching so hard that they start growing numb. She grits her teeth at his rather nonchalant expression as she afterward, inhales through her nostrils to relax and focus on speaking. "So... this is where you have been..."

He nods, and regrets it afterwards as she gives him the coldest glare she's ever given him. It surprises him at first; he was so used to seeing nothing but happiness grace those lips of hers.

"Where is Giovanni?" she presses in a demanding fashion.

Her stance is one he is all to familiar with, no doubt the brunette got that threatening pose from the redhead, himself. "Gone."

"Where to?!" Her voice grows louder as her patience wears thin.

Silver simply shrugs, yet there is a hint of sadness behind his blank, blasé expression. She knows of that sadness that he so desperately tries to hide, it almost makes her fury fade away in place of sympathy. That man... Giovanni... She remembers of how they had an brief encounter back at Tohjo Falls, and she remembers of just how far he was willing to go in order to achieve his main task, so far as abandoning his own son in doing so. Did Silver forget of how he was simply tossed aside by his own flesh and blood?

Soul composes herself, and swallows hard. "There... is a Rocket symbol on your suit..." she murmurs blandly, as if pointing out facts that he did not know about.

"I know."

"I... I don't understand..." Soul's nails dig more into her skin, not noticing the tiny wounds she's inflicting on herself. Shaking her head quickly, she tries one more time. "You're... wearing a Rocket uniform... You're in his office."

Sighing, he drops out his gloved hands from his pockets. He practically does not make of the evident malice in her tone of voice, staying completely calm. "Yes," he finally answers with an insouciant shrug of his shoulders. "Would you like one as well?"

It's like everything around her fades off as she gawks at his words. Where was Silver? The man who had a fueling hatred for this crime organization that his father used to run; the same father that had literally ditched him in the middle of a route?! "What...?" she only musters, the shock very clear in her tone.

"You joining..." he starts out, pressing his index fingers together, resting them against his lips as his eyes scan at her—her body. "Would be a very good thing."

She feels like she has to pinch herself just to make her see that she's not dreaming, and that she's, in fact, awake and in reality. Such an offer... A crude, crude offer she has been given... Soul ignores the offer, but doesn't ignore his metal eyes that are scanning and observing every inch of her body. She breaks him off his almost lewd scrutiny. "Last time I was wearing one, you tore it off," she snaps in a challenging tone.

"I'll do it again," he counters, his eyes darkening with a tint of playfulness. He finally relaxes, a smirk plastering his lips as she blushes at his words—oh, the memories begin to haunt again.

"Why are you even here!" Soul snaps, shaking off all the tension that was building up. All her bottled emotions pour out little by little as she faces him for the first time in several months. "With Team Rocket?! Why are you wearing that disgusting uniform?! Arceus dammit, Silver!"

He leans back at her sudden outburst. When he doesn't respond, she quickly marches over to him, grabbing the collar of his sharp suit with one hand, staring into his eyes. "Why."

"I took Father's place as boss..." he mutters out.

Despite their minimal distance, she feels him out of reach. She couldn't believe her ears grasping onto Silver's words. "What the fuck are you talking about? Father's place as boss?!" The brunette shakes his coat weakly. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"No. I wanted to pursue him and his path."

SLAP!

He does not see it coming. His face is now towards the side, and burning after the rough contact with her palm. Her hand, now aloft near him, trembles with a stinging sensation after the slap it delivered to Silver's cheek. The brunette pants gently, her hair shadowing her eyes. She gazes downwards, letting go of him. Another tear drops. "You..."

Silver resists the urge to return the slap back to her once his eyes catch the tear that drops from her face, and he remembers why he's even there in the first place. All the tears she sheds, all the sourness... His ray of sunshine is now a dim streak of darkness. "You wouldn't understand," Silver presses gently.

"You never let me understand you," she hisses back, which causes him to flinch back. "You always ran away from your damn feelings... You never let me understand you." Her voice cracks again. "You hid your feelings from me... But I've always noticed it bothering you... Even now as I speak... There is sadness in you." Soul looks up, only to meet wide eyes that no longer tried to hide the pain they kept bottled up.

"F-Father would be so proud..." Silver tries to explain as his only reason. His voice also fails to keep the leadership sensation as it breaks at the end of his statement. "Father would love... me."

She glances back at him, lips curling down. "Silver..."

"I was never loved. Nobody ever did."

"I DID!" she blurts out in such a tone that makes it seem like Silver already knew. "I even told you! I told you, I told you, I TOLD YOU!" Soul sniffs afterwards as the atmosphere grows quiet once again. "But then... you never came back..."

Silver's eyes droop, his chest growing heavy just by the sound of her voice... That voice he's missed oh, so long. "I didn't deserve you..." Silver tries to speak to make an unruly excuse, but she cuts him off once her arms are thrown around his neck. He feels that familiar sensation again. The way her fingers grasp at his long, red locks behind him, the way she nuzzles his neck gently, and the way she embraces him is something that he has been craving for far too long. His arms itch to wrap around her body to return the embrace, so he forces himself still. He inhales, breathing in her scent. It makes him go insane.

"Yes, you did."

His arms wrap around her, finally pulling her against him. "Soul... I..."

"I still love you..." she whispers, pulling away from his neck and glancing up at him.

The redhead sees the disappearance of her tears, and the negativity around her. As if by some invisible force, he leans down to take her lips with his own, for the first time in a long while. He had almost forgotten how perfect his lips lock with her own. As she breaks the kiss, he fears that she will pull away, so he tightens his hold on her. He peeks down, and blinks at her now serious face. "You didn't have to leave," she points out vaguely.

"..."

Soul, nonetheless, does something that takes him off guard.

She smiles.

That smile he's missed, now makes him feel guilt for leaving. His sunshine starts to brightly shine up on his storm.

"Don't leave again." She feathers small kisses here and there, making him sigh gently.

"Never again." He fails to see the way her eyes brighten up, and the way that smile widens just for him. She knows that he struggles with the formal way to say 'I love you,' but his words are more than enough to prove that statement.

As he embraces her, he feels at ease. He now sees what the epitome of his happiness is—this pigtailed brunette before him, in his arms, whispering her declaration of love to him repeatedly.

'My ray of sunshine.'