Writer's Note:This is a Bleach Fan-Fiction story that was inspired by the reality TV show 'Are You The One.' So, the pace of the story may be odd to follow, but hopefully it won't be too difficult to keep up with. Also, this is a LONG story, won't be ending till around the 150,000-words marker, so if somewhere down the line I suddenly stop updating, just know that I really do love this story and that it's not because I've gotten lazy, or just plain thrown it out the back trash and called it an attention-grabber-fail… but because I've simply gotten too busy to have time to write it as much. I just want to post as I go, take you on the ride with me, for the while it last, and hopefully, I can finish it. Enjoy.

I took a seat in front of the TV in my room and turned it on. My brother came in shortly after just as I had clicked on the show that I was anticipating to watch. He sat on my bed to the side of me, looking at the TV.

"What you 'bout to watch?" He asked.

Part of me wanted to not answer while the other half of me knew if I didn't, he would just result in aggravating me more than he would if I answered. I sighed. "A new love show." I simply said. I hoped he'd just leave it there and leave, not like he was interested in watching anything that was mainly about love. To him, if it didn't have blood and gore: it was a bore.

"That's all you ever watch, huh? Romance." He laughed.

That kind of ticked me off. I stared at him annoyed. "Aren't you going to leave?"

"Oh? Trying to get rid of me, eh?" He shook his head, smirking. "Nah, think I'll stay and watch with you."

Greatly annoyed, my head snapped to the TV. I calmed myself. No way was I going to let my dope of a brother spoil what I've been waiting to see for months!

The commercials stopped showing and the station NTS played a preview of the show that was about to come on. I couldn't wait.

'What would you do if you had the chance to find your soul mate?'

Random clips showed in matters of seconds, then stopped on showing a guy with red hair that was pulled into a spiky pony tail. He was sitting in a secluded small looking room with blue wallpaper as his background. His face was trying to hold back a laugh. "I don't believe it. I really don't."

The clips cut to showing an orange haired man, who was arguing with a smaller, shorter woman in a kitchen. "You heard me. I. Said. You. Are. Shor—"

The shorter woman smashed chocolate cake in his face. The man stood still, scowling, and wiped his hand down his face, smudging the sweet desert off.

The clip went back to the red headed man, he was laughing uncontrollably now. "I really, really, don't!"

The trailer ended.

'The premier of Are You The Soul is up next.'

"Are You The Soul? Lame." My brother said as the show was starting to come on.

I grimaced. Why is he still here?

Day 28

Two guys and one girl were in the living room of the house. The guy with white hair seemed to be distressed, but was calmly listening to the black haired girl. She was ranting off on him like fire, but he was as calm as ever, as if her words were gibberish.

"Why did you do it?"

There was a moment of pause, he seemed to be making sure if she was done or not. She was and he took a deep breath. "Does it matter?"

Nodding, she looked away from him. Hurt showed in her eyes, showing disbelief as she walked away from him, and flipped him the middle finger. "Go to hell, Shiro." The camera view followed her, catching her knocking cups over and stomping upstairs.

Day 42

The orange haired man from the promo glared hard at another man with sky blue hair. He got close to him. "Don't ever say that about her again," it was a warning.

The blue haired man matched his glare, "I'm sorry, I didn't know she was your bitch, too."

The orange haired man snuck at him, the impact sounded painful, but seemed like it did little good and he received a fist to the face back, falling to the floor. They both started fighting outside by the pool.

"Ichigo and Grimmjow are fighting!"

Intense music played in the background—

The screen went black.

I took a deep breath. Whoa, that was intense drama. All of that was sooner or later going to happen in the season. I just wondered what was going on in the scene where the black haired girl was upset with the guy named Shiro. The fight scene was an obvious, someone said something bad about the girl he had feelings for and boom, a fight.

I'm not a big fan of cliché fight break outs, but, hey, all reality TV shows have to have at least one. It's inevitable.

The intro of the show was playing, showing all the guys and girls that were going to be staying in the nice house. The only guys and girls that registered as familiar were the ones from the promo and this episode's sneak drama previews.

"Oh my God, so lame. All those guys look like pansies."

I almost forgot Tenashi was watching, too. He was really getting on my nerves. "You think all guys that don't wear baggy clothes are pansies."

"Eh? I guess I do."

I shook my head and just focused back on the show. The intro was over.

The camera view toured the inside of the house, showing around the front room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, and last the backyard that has a big pool and nice size hot tub. The house was specious, enough room to fit twenty people comfortably.

Showing the front door of the house, it opened and in came a guy with short white hair, pulling his luggage at hand. His eyes held a certain mischief to them and he smiled slyly. "Hm. Am I first to arrive?" He pulled his luggage upstairs and found one of the bedrooms. There was a bunch of blow up beds in a single file line, five in two rows. He walked down the middle of them. "Oh my, no beds?"

The camera cut back to the front door of the house, showing a woman with strawberry blond hair come in. She had a giddy look to her face and dragged her suitcase to the kitchen, leaving it by a counter and made quick work of finding the alcohol in the fridge. "Ha, I must be the first here, it's so quiet." She popped open the beer bottle, "First come serve for me then!" She sung in a delighted voice, chugging down the drink.

"What a downer you are."

Startled by the sudden voice from behind her, she spit the drink out her mouth and whipped around to see the actual first person to come to the house. "Um, when… did you get here?"

He was smiling widely. "I was here first, Miss. When did you arrive?"

Her face unsure, she took a slow slip from her drink. "Just now. Excuse me." She grabbed her suitcase and left him alone.

His eyes followed her till she was out of sight, afterwards wondering to the mess of liquid on the floor from scaring her. He leaned on the counter. "Hm… Interesting."

Back to the front door, three guys came in with suit cases in hand. First guy with orange hair, second guy had black hair, and the third guy had red hair.

The red head was loud as he spoke, "This place is a beauty! Wow."

"Yeah, sure is," The orange head commented observingly, pulling his luggage.

The black haired guy didn't say a word, he just continued on upstairs.

The red head watched him, "That guy is freaky."

"Nah," The orange head added, "we just gotta get to know him." He looked at the red head, "And speaking of getting to know, what's your name?"

"Renji Abarai," He held a hand out, "nice meeting ya."

"Ichigo Kurosaki," He shook his hand, "and same to you." They stopped shaking hands. "Alright, wonder what the rooms look like."

"Don't have your hopes up. It's nothing as fancy as this house."

Ichigo and Renji slightly jumped at the sudden appearance of the mischief, white haired looking man. Ichigo sweat dropped, "Eh, and, you are?"

"Ah, yes, introductions. I'm Gin Ichimaru, nice meetin' ya, fellas." Leaving it there, Gin strolled away into the front room.

Renji raised a brow. "The hell, I didn't notice him at all till he spoke." Ichigo chuckled, shaking his head and made his way upstairs, Renji followed behind. "Say, what you think he meant by the room? I'm expecting king sized beds!"

The camera didn't follow Ichigo and Renji, but instead focused back to the front door, showing three girls enter. First girl with orange hair, second with purple hair and the third had black hair, though the third girl was really short compared to them.

"Wow! Look. At. This. House!" The orange head bubbly exclaimed, "Are we really staying here?"

The shorter girl seemed to not be as high spirited. "We better be, I didn't go through constant bickering with my older brother for nothing," She tiredly stated.

"Bickering?" The purple haired girl repeated. "Over staying here?"

"He believes it inappropriate to be staying in a house with ten guys."

The girl with purple hair nodded, "Oh, makes sense, I guess."

The orange head swiftly turned around to them, "What? But it's going to be so much fun with more people than less!"

The two other girls stared at the orange head with amusement. "So, it's the fact that it won't be as fun with fewer people, huh?" The shorter one said.

"Well, yeah!"

The purple headed girl laughed. "She's the innocent type," She whispered to the shorter woman, only getting a nod of response.

"Also, what's the both of your names?" The orange head asked.

The shorter girl smiled softly. "Rukia Kuchiki."

The purple haired girl made a peace sign with her right hand. "The name's Senna Akarui! Nice—ta meet ya."

The girl giggled, smiling happily. "Great! I'm Orihime Inoue, let's make lot and lots of friends!"

Senna laughed, shaking her head, "So not the point of this trip."

Orihime looked lost, "Huh?"

The strawberry blond woman came hurrying down the stairs, by passing up the new arrived females and headed straight for the stereo system in the front room. She hooked her mp3 player to it and cranked it up on shuffle, a pop song played, booming throughout the home. "Woo! Party!"

Orihime danced by her, laughing, "Yeah! I'm Orihime Inoue, by the way."

"Ah, cool. I'm Rangiku Matsumoto! Pleased to party with you!"

Rukia and Senna started to head upstairs, "I have a feeling those two are going to be good friends." Senna said.

Showing the front door again, a bigger group of five people came in. Three guys and two girls. One of the girls had a friendly face to her while the other had a scowling face that was more on the chill side than annoyed.

"Tch, just got here and there's already a party." The chill girl said.

"Things certainly feel lively," The friendly looking girl smiled.

One of the guys with brown hair inched closer to the chill girl, seeming as if he was about to put an arm around her. "Put that arm around me and you'll regret it."

He paused as his face calculated something, and retracted his arm. "It must be fate that we entered this house together. I feel it now! You," He tried to pull off a charming smirk, "are my match."

"We also came in with three other people, so I guess your match might be with one of those two guys, too." She teasingly said.

He looked at them; one of the guys with slick, wavy dark brown hair had an untrusting look to him while the other guy seemed overly on the pretty boy side. "Babe, these guys are losers, no way in hell." He whispered.

She chuckled, breaking an amused smile, "I can't believe you actually considered them." She walked away from him, going upstairs.

He grabbed his suitcase and hustled after her, having an embarrassed face. "Hey, no! I was just—saying hypothetically! Hey!"

The pretty guy exhaled, looking bored. "So chaotic." He looked to where the music was coming from and spotted Orihime and Rangiku, instantly dropping his bored face and getting a spark in his eye. "But alas, I've found two beauties in the mist of the storm." He made his way by them.

The untrusting looking man smiled at the girl beside him. "Can I help you with your luggage? You've got quite a lot."

The friendly girl nodded happily, "Yes that would be great. Thank you."

He picked up some of her stuff all the while managing to pull his own. They both headed upstairs. "Pleasures all mine. What's your name?"

"Momo Hinamori. And you?"

"My friends call me Zen, and as far as I'm concerned, you're already one." He flashed a compelling smile, making her blush a little.

She tried to hide her face. "O-okay."

By the stereo system, Orihime and Rangiku were having a good time, barely noticing the one-man-audience they had. "Ladies, ladies, please. You're doing it all wrong." He flipped his hair, posing cool.

Rangiku and Orihime stopped dancing, finally acknowledging him. Rangiku pointed at his eyebrows, holding back a laugh. "What's up with your right eyebrow and eyelash? It looks a bit… odd."

"It's called fashion. Heard about it? A dime like you should know."

"Oooh," Orihime seemed amazed, "Your brow and eyelash are cool! I want to try out fashion, too!"

He found her hardly to be cute and frowned a bit. "You don't try out fashion… If you don't have it, then you don't have it."

Orihime pouted. "Geez, that's no fun."

Rangiku laughed, eyeing the man. "You're oddly amusing, what's your name?"

He flipped his hair again, smiling with a sparkle in his eyes. "Yumichika Ayasegawa. Try not to fall for me too hard, girls."

"Hm, so confident you are." Said a familiar sly voice.

They looked towards the voice, seeing Gin sitting on a couch to the back of them. He was still wearing a creepy smile. Yamichika barely glared. "Were you here the whole time?"

"He's a ghost." Rangiku dryly said.

Orihime started dancing again.

Ichigo and Renji put their luggage by one side of the room. Renji groaned, looking down. "They put us in this fancy house, yet they treat us like we're all ten at a sleep over…" Ichigo laid down on one of the beds and closed his eyes. Renji seemed surprised. "Going to sleep already?"

"I had a long flight here. Yeah," he simply said.

"Alright," Renji headed by the door, "but good luck with the music blasting loud." Being considerate, Renji closed the door behind him as he left, almost colliding with a Rukia as he was turning around. She put her hands on his chest, thinking he would bump into her. He backed away. "Ah, my bad." He was looking a bit higher than he should've been, realizing that he wasn't quite at face level with her, he craned his head almost all the way down. "Uh, you're really short." He laughed a bit, "How tall are you?"

Rukia glared at him and he cleared his throat, seeming uncomfortable. Senna rushed by, grabbing Rukia by the hand and pulled her away from Renji. "Rukia, c'mon! We can unpack later. Time to party!"

Rukia didn't look back as she was being taken away and he exhaled of relief. "Geez, another second longer and I'm sure she would've knocked the hell out of me."

Showing the front door, three people came in, already in the midst of a three way conversation. One guy and two girls. "Uryu, lighten up!" The brown skin girl said, nudging his shoulder lightly as she grinned.

"I will not—light up. I have my own opinions, but she can't accept that." He pushed his glasses up on his face.

The brown skin girl looked at the other female, who was innocently pouting. "… Archery is stupid."

Uryu threw his hands up, grabbed his bags and headed upstairs. The third girl chuckled. "Nel, you could've just agreed to disagree for his sake."

"Who cares? I just met him today." She shrugged, "He'll get over it." They both headed upstairs, laughing together.

Gin stood up from the couch, "Aw, my feelings are starting to get hurt. I'm feeling ignored."

Rangiku scoffed. "We're not ignoring you; it's just that you're very silent."

"I announce myself."

"Very sneaky."

"I was here first."

Rangiku groaned.

Orihime gasped, "I know! You need a hug. That will make you feel better!" Orihime hugged him.

He seemed delighted, smirking at Rangiku as he hugged back. "I think it's working, don't let go."

Rangiku face palmed, shaking her head.

"You know, you also kind of hurt my feeling with your comment about my eyebrow and eyelash, too—"

Rangiku put a hand up, "Save it, Yumichika. I'm not hugging you." She walked away.

Orihime let Gin go and followed after Rangiku. "Oh! Where are you going, Rangiku?"

Yumichika and Gin left alone, Gin pointed at his face. "So, fashion, was it? It's quite—the statement."

Yumichika visible glowed at what he said, flipping his hair. "I know, right?"

Showing the front door, a guy with light blue, spiky hair, bust it open and dropped his bags, holding his arms out. A wide toothy grin on his face, "Grimmjow is here, yeah!" He headed for the kitchen, seeing Rangiku and Orihime. He put on a cool face, eyeing them down. "Whoa, ladies, save some of the drinks for me."

Back by the front door, there was another guy that came in with Grimmjow. He had spiky white hair and looked really young like a teenager. A grimace on his face, he kicked Grimmjow's bags out of his way and headed upstairs. Walking down the hall, he paused a moment, seeing Zen and Momo talking. She was giggling at something he was saying and playfully hit his shoulder. "Momo?"

Hearing his voice, she turned to him, her eyes instantly widening with happiness. She smiled widely, going to him and almost knocked him over in a hug. "Shiro!" She pulled away, "What a coincidence, you being here!" It sounded like she was reciting a script.

He raised a skeptical brow. "I told you I was coming here…"

She laughed in broken pieces. "Ha, haha—ha. Right, I must have forgotten."

Shiro sensed Zen coming by them and eyed him. "Who's your friend?" He asked, nodding at him.

She paid a quick glance at him. "Oh, actually, we met just today. We arrived at the house together and he helped me with my bags."

"Ah, I see. That was nice." There was a hidden meaning under the tone that he said it in, but Momo didn't seem to catch on.

"It was really no problem," Zen coolly said.

"Uh-huh, sure," Said Shiro dryly. "I'm going to have to steal Momo for a moment, um…"

"Aizen Sosuke," he interjected, and gave Momo a sweet smile. "See you around, Momo." He left down the stairs.

"Uh, yeah, see you around, Zen." She quickly said before he was out of clear hearing range. Shiro scoffed and pulled her along.

Ichigo sprung up, holding his hands to his ears. "Geez, Renji wasn't kidding." Turning his head, he noticed the guy who Renji called freaky was in the room, sitting with his back against the wall, reading a book. Ichigo's hands fell. "How are you able to concentrate with music blasting this loud?"

He didn't look up from the book, only turned a page. "Easy."

Ichigo shook his head, standing up. "Tch. Easy, huh?" He left the room, but didn't close the door behind him.

The guy reading the book spared a second glance to watch him leave.

Rangiku opened up another beer bottle, chugging it down and stopped at half the bottle. Grimmjow whistled. "Damn. Never met a chick like you, who can down a drink like that." There was a light chuckle from him. "I'm impressed."

Rangiku shrugged. "What's hard about drinking beer?" She finished the rest of it and tossed the bottle in a trash can.

Grimmjow seemed stumped for a response. "It's more than just the drink, hun."

Orihime looked between the two. "Ah, um… Rangiku, I'll talk to you later!"

Rangiku waved a hand goodbye at Orihime's leaving figure. "Okay!"

Walking, Orihime soon found her way to the back of the house, where a pool table and a few arcade games were. She opened the slider doors and walked outside, eyes widening. "Wow, a pool… It looks so pretty in the dusk light."

"I agree," said Ichigo. He was lying on a reclining chair with his eyes closed.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone else was out here." Orihime said.

"Well, now you know. I was just trying to get away from the loud music. It's less loud out here."

She nodded, looking around, not seeing another chair to sit on. Ichigo opened an eye, seeing her movements, and seemed to already know. He moved over, "Here, I made room," he said, fully looking at her now. Her face went a bit red, but she shook it away to the best of her ability. Ichigo laughed at her action. She sat down beside him, stiff like. He lightly nudged her. "Hey, relax, I won't do anything. I couldn't let you stand up like you were, so, rest assured, it's out of generosity."

Smiling, she nodded and relaxed at his words. Taking a deep breath, she fell back and laughed. "That's unusually… so nice of you." Going red, she clamped her hands to her mouth out of embarrassment.

"Uh…Thanks. But, isn't it normal?" Her hands letting go, she gazed at him. The sun was glowing brightly on them as it was setting into darkness. "To be nice?"

Yet again, she relaxed, nodding her head. She laughed, "More than you know!"

He smiled slightly, "Hey, want to go for a walk? There's a nature trail back here, too, and I want to check it out. Want to join me?" He stood up and she did the same.

"Yes!"

Tatsuki was unpacking her stuff in a bedroom that actually had two beds in it. She tossed a few shirts in a drear and turned around to get more clothes. Her eyes briefly looked at the brown headed, goofy looking guy sitting on the bed before her. She raised a brow, going back to the dresser with more cloths in hand. "How long are you going to hang around me?"

"Like I said, I think you're my match. Can't you feel it?"

She turned back around, looking him dead in the face. "Not really."

He huffed. "At least tell me your name."

"Tatsuki Arisawa."

"What?" His voice was alarmed. Tatsuki looked at him with a confused face. "The Tatsuki Arisawa?"

Her arms folded, brow rising, "The Tatsuki Arisawa, what?"

"The Tatsuki Arisawa that won the Fighting Arts State Championships of America two times in a row!?"

Her face was contemplating something, but then as if a light bulb went off, she snapped a finger, going for more clothes. "Oh, yeah, that. Yup. What about it?"

"Pffft, what about it? What about it? You're, amazing!" He froze. "And to think I was trying to score on you…" He mumbled.

She sharply turned back around, her eyes squaring on him. "What?"

He vigorously shook his head, jetting out the room. "Nothing!"

Tatsuki looked out the door, but he was already gone. "Tch, he didn't even tell me his name."

Nel kicked at one of the blow up beds while the other girl plopped down on another. "I can't believe this! We're all sleeping in the same room? On blowup beds? Seriously?"

The girl sitting down bounced lightly a couple of time. "It's not that bad. Kind of comfortable, actually."

Nel looked at her with squinting eyes. "Yoruichi , you can't be serious… are you?"

"Hey, I grew up sleeping on nothing but pillows and blankets with my pet cats up till I was 11—I'm dead serious." She laid down.

Nel looked amazed, dumbfounded. "What, were you poor or something? That's horrid." Yoruichi looked up at here from the corner of her eyes, seeming a bit snubbed. Nel smiled apologetically, "Bad choice of words?" She self-nodded, "Yeah."

Yoruichi stood up and patted her on the head. "It's okay. I can tell you were raised on top of the world, so you don't know any better." It was a retort hidden in reassurance, but Yoruichi played off a friendly face too well.

"Why do I feel like there something more to what you just said?"

Yoruichi let her hand drop. "Nah, you're just overthinking it—or not."

"Wha!"

Yoruichi laughed, "I'm messing with you. Light up, will ya?" Nel crossed her arms, pouting at her.

There was a knock at the door. Both their heads turned to it, seeing Tatsuki. "Yo, I was just…" Her eyes landed on the blow up beds. "What the hell?"

"Yeah, my exact thoughts," Nel said. "You were looking for the girls' bed room, right? Here it is."

"Um, no, actually, I was just looking for a friend of mine and was going to ask if you saw her. I already found a bedroom to put my stuff in. Though it hardly looks like this room."

Yoruichi and Nel crowded her, both chorusing anxiously, "Show us the room."

In a spacious bathroom, Toshiro was putting Momo on the hot seat. She was standing before him and kept up an innocent face. He dropped his bag. "Just… what are you doing here, Momo? I want the truth this time."

"Aw, Shiro—"

"And I've told you not to call me that anymore. My name is Toshiro, not Shiro." He sternly interjected with a sigh.

"C'mon, it's just a nick name." She reasoned.

"I don't care. Now answer my question." His arms folded. She dropped the act on her face, letting go a breath while looking down for a moment, escaping his intense gaze. "Momo?"

She looked back up with a more serious expression to her. "Okay, I lied. Yes, I followed after you, and it's because," She slowly closed the distance between them, putting her hand softly to his face, leaning in—

Arms dropping, he backed into the door behind him, taken aback by her sudden action. Confusion was written all over his face. Momo stepped away, seeming hurt. "Ah… um…"

"I like you! There, I said it. I followed you here to prove that I'm your match and not just a sister to you. Because I know, that's all you see me as." She moved for the door, and he clumsily moved out the way as if his feet lost some of its strength in them. She paused before leaving out the door, "You wanted the truth; I gave it to you."

The door closed. He leaned back against the wall. "What… just happened?"

Rukia was still a bit angered. Senna noticed this and waved a hand in front her face. They were hanging around in the front room with drinks in their hands, talking, but Rukia zoned out half way through Senna's talking. "Rukia? You look mad, what's up?"

Rukia's face relaxed somewhat at her question, but she just shrugged. "I rather not talk about it." There seemed to be a bit of fire in her purple eyes. Senna raised a brow.

"SHIT!" Yelled a gruff voice from the kitchen. Both Rukia and Senna turned their head to the direction.

"What's going on over there?" Rukia thought out loud.

Senna seemed to be excited, "I don't know, but let's check it out!"

Rukia and Senna walked into the kitchen, almost everyone was already crowding around in a circle, but what was in the middle of the crowd must have been something very entertaining. Everyone except for Aizen, Gin and Yumichika were hyped and saying, "Chug, chug, chug, chug!"

Rukia and Senna squeezed in to see what the commotion was about; it was Rangiku and Grimmjow having a drinking challenge. Grimmjow had a small glass shot in his hand and seemed to be struggling with bringing it to his mouth. He vigorously shook his head and quickly chugged it with a second throw back of his head. Grimmjow slammed the glass back down. "Hell yeah!" He growled out.

It was Rangiku's turn to drink, and from what it seemed like, they had to have been at this for twenty rounds now. A smile on her face and with hardly no problem at all, Rangiku chugged the drink and sat it back down. She laughed, "Haha, you can quite now if you want Grimmjow."

A bit upset, his fist slammed to the counter, "Lil-like hell I will! Damn," He reached for the next filled shot, chugging it without a thought, "what type of woman are you?"

And just as fast he had finished his, Rangiku was already done with her's. His head threw back, "Shit!" Trying to grab his shot, he collapsed to the floor before he could grip it. He passed out.

Rangiku smiled silly, shrugging her shoulders and still going for another shot. "Ha, guess I'm the winner." Her brows rose, "Hey, one of you guys gonna carry him up to the guys' bedroom?" All the men had dumb founded looks on their faces.

"She's entirely in a different league of her own…" Gin said, even his voice with a bit of shock to it.

"Either that, or a new species," Renji simply commented with a straight face.

Aizen walked away, "I'm certainly not carrying him."

The remaining men swept dropped.

Senna pulled Rangiku away from the table of shots, her face ecstatic. "Oh my God, how did you do that?"

"It was like your shots were nothing but water," Rukia said.

Rangiku wasn't following them. "What do you mean? All I did was drink. It's no big deal really. I just feel bad for that other guy; he really didn't know how to hold his liquor!" She laughed. Senna and Rukia were stunned.

"Heh, I honestly doubt that was the case…" Senna said. Rangiku was still laughing, though.

"The booze must be getting to her now," Rukia observed, staring at the giddy Rangiku. Senna nodded a silent agreement.

It wasn't that dark outside, the nature trail was still plain seeable, but Orihime looked to be scared and Ichigo realized this. "You scared? It's not that dark," he said.

She didn't look at him, "No, it's not that…" Her shoulders squared and slightly trembled.

"Uh…" She looked even more away from him. Ichigo looked ahead. "Okay then." The camera view showed Orihime's face, she was beat-red and very nervous.

Tenashi laughed, "Haha!" I looked at him like he was crazy. "Why'd she say yes to go with him if she was going to be too nervous to hang with the guy one-on-one?" He shook his head, laugh subsiding. "So stupid. I bet the guy's thinking he did something wrong."

"You must really not like the woods," Ichigo said. "Don't worry, you're safe with me." He put on a hero smirk, but didn't direct it to her.

The camera view showed her again, and what Ichigo said just seemed to make it worse on her nervousness, but somehow, Ichigo wasn't noticing.

Tenashi dead panned. "Huh… poor guy—he's retarded…"

"How is he supposed to know what's going on with her? It's not like she's saying anything or even dropping the slightest hint," I defended. Cleary the girl was very self-conscious.

"Pffft, yeah, a girl scared of the not-dark-woods—" Tenashi paused thoughtfully—"he's retarded."

I rolled my eyes. "Not."

"Is."

"Not."

"IS."

"C'mon, just how is he supposed to—"

Orihime tripped on a tree stump—luckily Ichigo was quick in his movements and caught her before she fell. She was holding onto to his shoulders tightly and was finally looking at him. Ichigo smiled at her. "Heh. You okay?"

There was a silent moment between them, just before she seemed to realize the situation and went back into hyper self-conscious-nervous-mode. Her face went red like a tomato within seconds. "W-weh-uh-um-may-mmah-sss-sure! Yeah! Oh sure!" She let go him as if he was on fire and jetted away from him, heading back the way they came. "Bye!"

Ichigo stood left confused, a brow rose. His hand went to his head. "That was… weird."

I was looking at the screen like it was blinding my eyes. He couldn't really be that dense, could he?

Ichigo continued on walking down the path to wherever it lead. "Must be a phobia or something."

I face palmed. He is that dense.

"Ha! Retarded!" Tenashi boasted with a laugh I wish I could muffle.

But maybe Ichigo really is… I sighed, lowering my hand to look back at the TV.

Toshiro was still in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet in a daze like state. What Momo had told him must've really given him a shock to make him stunned from moving. "She…" He muttered, "likes me?" He shook his head, "No, she couldn't have been serious, she was joking." He told himself, but that look on her face when she confessed was hardly faking. He sighed. "Dammit, Momo."

Sounds of three voices and something knocking against the hallway walls found its way loudly to his ears, and he stood up, moving to the door. Picking up his luggage bag, he opened the door slightly, but almost a second later it was as if someone kicked it open, making Toshiro quickly step back. It was Renji, Kon and Yumichika carrying Grimmjow. Though, Yumichika was struggling on his end of holding up his legs. They must have backed into the door…

"Yumichika, don't be so weak! Hold up your end of him," Renji's voice, sounding annoyed said.

"How can you expect me to carry this overgrown beast? He must weigh 200 tons almost!" Yumichika frustratedly said.

"You're not carrying him alone. Geez," Said Kon.

Renji's eyes caught sight of Toshiro in the bathroom, instantly getting a small smile of hope on his face. "Perfect. Hey, kid, help us out! We can use the extra arms."

Toshiro became offended, it showed clearly on his face. He scoffed, "I'm not a kid!"

Renji looked surprised. "Oh, my bad. Help us out, will ya?"

Still having somewhat of a glare in his eyes, he dropped his luggage bags once again and helped Yumichika hold up the legs end of Grimmjow.

Nel's eyes were brightly shinning of joy. Tatsuki brought them to the room with the two beds, and as soon as they entered, Nel was having a bliss-attack.

"This is really weird," Yoruichi said, "why only two beds?"

"Who knows—I just now know that I'm definitely calling dibs on the second bed!" Nel stated, pumping her fist. "You're cool with it, right, Yoruichi? I mean, you said it yourself, you're used to sleeping with cats!"

Ignoring the insult, Yoruichi had a plain look on her face. "Don't think I quite said it like that…"

"Sleeping with cats?" Tatsuki openly thought.

There was a knock at the door. The three girls turned to see who it was, and it turned out to be Momo walking in. "Hi," she sweetly said. "What's going on in here?"

Nel shoved her out the room, closing the door quickly, "Nothing!"

Tatsuki was shaking her head. "What is wrong with you?"

Nel looked at her, laughing innocently. She shrugged.

Momo turned away from the door, wearing a confused look. "That was strange." The door suddenly opened back up, showing Tatsuki to be the one to be generous enough to do so. Nel was on the verge of tears behind her, whining about her opening the door.

"Sorry about that, you can come in." Tatsuki said.

Momo looked concerned towards Nel, and smiled softly. "I'm sorry if I did something to upset you."

"You didn't do anything, she's just spoiled, and a baby apparently." Yoruichi kidded with a friendly smile.

Momo walked in, "Oh…"

"I'm Tatsuki, just so you know," She announced, redirecting the subject.

"Yoruichi," The purple haired girl said next.

Nel folded her arms, clearly refusing to greet her properly, but then Tatsuki threw up her fist near her face, frightening her into a squeak.

"Yo, what's your name?" She sternly asked, taking her fist away.

Nel's eyes were tearing of fright, "N-Nel!"

Tatsuki smirked of satisfaction and turned back to Momo, "So, what do we call you?"

Momo smiled brightly, losing the unsureness in her tone and said, "Haha, Momo!"

Toshiro, Yumichika, Kon and Renji laid Grimmjow down on one of the blow up beds. Kon fell down on another bed to the back of him, breathing out a long breath. "Man, this guy was really heavy, what the heck is he made of?"

Toshiro was about to leave the room, but Renji spoke before he could step another foot closer to the door. "Hey, shorty, are you really not a teen? You look hella young, how old are you?"

The upset look that Toshiro had when Renji called him a kid came over him again and he turned around, "Don't call me short!" He snapped, gritting his teeth.

Renji put his hands up, once again looking apologetic, "Alright, alright, calm down. Sorry." He let his hands fall, "Are you going to answer my question?"

Toshiro relaxed a bit, still on edge. "Tch. I'm twenty-seven." He folded his arms, having a bored look in his eyes.

Renji, Kon and Yumichika were stoned still of shock. Sweat dropped from them. "WHAT!" The three of them said. Toshiro flinched, eyes widening at their state of shock.

Kon's mouth was gaped and his eyebrows were twitching as he slowly pointed at the shorter male, "You—you're not…serious, right? You can't be… twenty-seven. You look like you're sixteen!"

Yumichika dropped to his knees and grabbed hold of Toshiro's arms in a tight grip, hands shaking. "Tell me, tell me little man!" He was going into tears.

Toshiro started to frown, "Tell you what?"

"The secret to eternal youth! I have tried everything, everything possible to give my beautiful skin the young flare it deserves, but nothing works, I still age every year! Look," he pointed at his face, "I'm getting wrinkles!" He dramatically sobbed.

Toshiro looked closely… He moved away. "I don't see anything. And let go of me! I don't have a secret for looking this young, I just do."

Yumichika let him go and ran out the room, yelling, "I must drink my sorrows away!"

Renji was rubbing his forehead. "Wow, I can't believe it. Twenty-seven? Holy crap. Aren't you lucky."

"Not really. I have to deal with people like you that overreact when I tell them my age; women are the worst ones."

Renji sweat dropped.

Kon got excited at hearing about the women part and raised up to his feet. "My buddy, my pal! Tell me all about you're women troubles regarding this matter. What're the perks—I mean, down sides?"

"For starters, they all cling to me and try to get me to go out with them. It's a real pain in the ass. It's hard to find a girl that would just act normal around me," He explained.

But all Kon seemed to hear was, "They fight over you?"

"To put it simply, yeah. Never try to break up a cat-fight, especially if it involves three girls." Toshiro looked like he was getting a bad headache at telling him that.

A goofy smile had then spread across Kon's face, his head was looking slightly upward and there were stars in his eyes. "No, girls, please, don't fight over me. There's enough Kon to go around. Heheheh~"

"What's wrong with him?" Toshiro asked, staring at Kon like he as crazy.

Renji sighed. "I think he's fantasizing what you said about the girls fighting over you, and is picturing himself in that situation."

"How absurd," Ulquiorra suddenly said. He was still reading his book and didn't bother to look up at them.

Renji looked like he got a shiver up his spine.

Toshiro shook his head at Kon. "Really..."

"I would appreciate it if we didn't use the bathroom as a luggage storage," Uryu said, stepping into the room. He was holding up Toshiro's bag and laid it down.

"Ah, that's mine. I didn't really intend to leave it there…"

"I see," Uryu pushed up his glasses, a white glare clouded them. "…And just how old are you? I thought the age requirement was twenty-one and above."

Toshiro faced palmed.

Downstairs, Rangiku, Rukia and Senna were still talking on the subject of Rangiku's high alcohol tolerance.

Rangiku had a laid back attitude about her as she shrugged, saying, "I told you, I'm fine. 30 shots of liquor is barely enough to do anything," She laughed.

"That's just amazing… or maybe weird," Senna said.

"Rangiku, how many shots of liquor does it take until you start to fill the heavy effects?" Rukia asked.

Rangiku gave this a honest thought, from what it looked like, and responded after an entire few moments passed. "Well, that's a good question! I don't really know. Haha," She admitted, smiling, but it died a moment later. "But you know, there was this one time I woke up laying on my chest on the floor when I was in college in my dorm, and I guess I blacked out the previous night from drinking too much, not that I remember how many drinks I had that night…. And the fact I almost died from lack of oxygen to my lungs because my breast are too big—" she sighed, looking at her breast, "It's hard having this much going on the front lawn. But anyway, I promised myself to never drink that much again."

Rukia and Senna didn't know if they should be scared by this story or if they should be amazed…

"Too bad you don't remember how many drinks is your limit." Senna pointed out again.

Rangiku sweat dropped. "Heheh. True." Orihime ran by them in a hyper state, her face was heavy red, she was sweating and panting. Rangiku looked at her surprised. "Orihime! What happened to you? You look like you just came from running a marathon."

The once overly cheery Orihime was now finding it hard to form a sentence without stuttering what only sounded like gibberish. "W-we-wer-were-ssssoooo-clo-close—" and so on…

"Whoa, calm down, Orihime. You were so close to who?" Senna asked, concerned for her. But it seemed like asking Orihime that only made her situation worse and her face exploded in deep red all over again.

Orihime covered her face with her hands, "Oh my God, I need to sleep! I need to forget about it!" She hurried away, but bumped into a wall—

"What the hell is wrong with that girl?" Tenashi said, looking bewildered.

"Only she knows; only she knows," I said, sighing at the poor girl.

Before Rangiku, Senna or Rukia could say anything, Orihime was quick to reassure them of her health. "Oopsie! Heheh-hah, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, okay bye!" She jetted off.

Senna could only blink a few times, completely baffled. "Okay—what just happened?"

"I have no idea. I'm going to get some fresh air." Rukia said, heading to leave out the back of the house. She passed up Aizen and Gin who were playing pool and continued on outside. She took in the scenery of the clear night sky, seeing a full moon set in place in the mist of stars and smiled softly. "This feels a lot better."

Ichigo had found his way to a beach side; the waves were crashing against the sandy shoreline in calming swift movements. He was sitting down close to the shoreline with only his bare feet in the way of feeling the continuous waves. He angled his head up towards the starry sky, gazing at the full moon that was in the mist of the sea of stars and sighed. "A full moon, huh—never seen it so big…" Ichigo's phone started to ring from his pocket and he picked it up, not paying attention to the caller ID, "Hello?"

"SON!"

"Dad? What's up?"

"I'm calling about your baby sisters!"

Ichigo seemed to get a dull stare in his eyes. "What about them?"

"They're not home, haven't been since you left, and I'm worried sick about them! They haven't been answering my calls. Can you try to get a hold of them? Maybe they'll answer seeing it's from you."

"Uh, I doubt it… Listen, dad, they're twenty-one now and are wanting to explore more, I'm sure they're just out having too much fun somewhere—"

"Ichigo! How can you say that?"

"Say what?"

"Twenty-one! TWENTY-ONE! No, I won't accept it! They will always be my baby girls, my two bright sun shines!"

"Yuzu a sun shine, sure. Karin… not so much," He said away from the phone, he cleared his throat.

"What was that!" His father snapped.

"Nothing. Look, you got to calm down." He tried to tell his Dad, but his father continued his woos over the phone. Ichigo let out a frustrated groan, scratching his head. "I left to come here last night, so they've been gone for a night and a full day… Dad, call me back if they're not home by tomorrow."

"Okay, Son."

Ichigo hung up the phone. "Geez! Yuzu, Karin, what are you two up to?" He called Karin. The phone rung for a couple rings—

"Yeah?" Karin answered.

Ichigo was relieved. "Dad's worried sick about you and Yuzu, where are you two? Why aren't you answering his calls?"

Karin groaned. "That old goat, always overeating."

"You two have been gone since last night, I doubt he's over reacting this time around," Ichigo sternly told her.

"Whatever, um…"

"Who's that on the phone?" Came Yuzu's sweet voice in the background.

"It's Ichi-ni," Karin told her.

"Ichi-ni! Hi, Ichi-ni, I can't wait to see you—" it sounded like Yuzu was pushed away from the phone.

"Yeah, we can't wait to see you when you get back from your trip, is what she means of course," Karin was quick to say.

Ichigo chuckled. "Yeah, I think I got that, Karin. Now, again, where are you two?"

"We're… at one of our friend's house. We accidently fell asleep while we were here last night and we stayed to hang out some more. I wasn't answering dad's calls because I'm tired of him treating me and Yuzu like we're still kids. It's annoying. We're heading home now, though, so I'll clear his worries up when we get there." She explained.

"Alright then, and Karin, no matter how much you're annoyed by Dad still treating you like a kid, don't make him worry over you like he is now. Just tell him how you feel. Okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you right, Ichi-ni… I gotta go, talk to you when you get back." She hung up the phone.

And as Ichigo was putting his phone back in his pocket, he noticed her in the corner of his eye.

Gin hit a red striped ball in the left corner pocket. He grinned in delight. "That's my fourth straight ball, oh my, I think I'm going to win."

Aizin only observed. "So it seems." Gin hit another striped ball in a pocket, this time purple. "But, the last two aren't as simple to pocket." Gin continued to grin, and try to hit the yellow striped ball in the middle pocket, but it bounced off the inside and hit the eight ball by a corner pocket. Aizen now grinned, getting his pool stick ready and pocketed a red solid ball first, then a solid yellow, then a solid blue, solid brown, solid green and lastly—

"I practically set that up for you," Gin said—

Aizen pocketed the eight ball. There was a slight smugness to Aizen as he was chalking his cue stick. "Another round?"

Gin started racking the balls into pyramid form. "Of course. You're quite the opponent."

Aizen went first and broke the balls after Gin had taken the bracket from around them. A blue solid and a brown strip went in different corner pockets. "I'll be solids." He set up to take another shot, aiming for the red solid in the middle of the pool table in mist other strips and solids. "This may seem… to be a strong shift in conversation, but I have a feeling—" he took the shot, having the white ball hit the red solid perfectly in a middle pocket, "you're here for more than what the others are."

"Hmmm… really, I say, what makes you think that?" Gin's smile fell just a little bit, showing a small crack in façade.

"Well," He stood up straight, cue stick propped to stand in his hands, "this is a game of love, connection… and I see in you that you could care less about that. You're only here for the money, aren't you?"

There was hesitation before Gin responded.

"Of course he's on the show for the money! They're all on the show for that reason, who cares two poops about love?" Tenashi outburst.

I shot a bland stare at him for a moment. "That would be you, Tenashi."

"True, I won't lie. I am only here for the money, but if I find love along the way, that'd be a bonus along with my many reasons," He admitted. His expression was more real and less fake. He wasn't smiling anymore as he looked at Aizen begin to go for another solid—he sighed—it went in.

Tatsuki's intuition went off like a bolt of lightning striking through her mind. Momo noticed this. "Um, are you okay, Tatsuki?"

"Orihime…" Tatsuki muffled. The three girls looked at her oddly. The next thing they knew, Tatsuki was out the door.

"Lock her out the room!" Nel said, reaching for the door, but Yoruichi stepped in the way with an oddly scary smile. Nel's eyes went fearful, "Why are you two so scary?" She wined.

Tatsuki spotted Orihime staggering down the hallway as if she was in a heavy daze and she rushed to her, stopping her in her tracks. "Orihime? What happened to you? What's wrong?" There was great concern on her face.

Orihime still had a red flushed face and didn't seem to be focusing on Tatsuki. "Tatsuki… Um, I-and th-there was this guy-and he-he-we-outside—" her head seemed to explode all over again, but this time she passed out into Tatsuki's arms.

It looked like a murder scene…

Momo, Nel and Yorrichi looked out the room to see what was going on, but only laid eyes on a very changed Tatsuki, who was on fire with rage that felt almost demonic. "He will pay," She seethed, sending a chill up the three girls' spines.

Nel was shaking, stuttering her words, "C-ca-can-we please-looo—lock the door now?"

Tenashi started air drawing a cross down from his forehead and across his chest with his eyes closed. He clapped his hands together.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Obviously praying for that poor unsuspecting orange head," He said.

Uryu started to look nervous, Renji, Kon and Toshiro noticed. "What's up with you?" Renji asked him.

"I sense a horrifying presence coming…" Uryu said, trying to keep his cool, but was not holding it up that well.

Kon was startled. "Are you serious!? Coming for us!?"

Uryu nodded. "Hm."

"Don't try to act all composed, I can tell you're scared!" Toshiro said.

"You don't know what you're talking about, little man," Uryu countered.

That pushed the final button. "Will you guys SHUT UP ABOUT MY HIEGHT!"

"Well, it's not just your height, you look like a kid, too," Renji laughed.

"SHUT UP!"

The door bust open, creating a heavy damaged crack in the wall where it slammed. All of the guys' eyes except for Ulquiorra's went wide with shock.

Tatsuki stepped in the room with a not so friendly atmosphere around her. "Which one of you hurt her?" She seethed, fist bawling.

Kon started to cry of fear. "Tatsuki? Why are you being so scary right now? Hurt who?"

Toshiro excluded himself by stepping away from Kon, Uryu and Renji. "I sure didn't do anything. I'm just a kid," He cunningly said.

Renji's head snapped to Toshiro, "You bastard!"

Toshiro slipped past Tatsuki and left the room, "Cya, Senpais."

Kon looked like he swallowed his life. "State champion…" He squeaked, "two times in a row."

Tatsuki cracked her knuckles.

"Hey, I just noticed something…" I spoke up.

Tenashi hardly seemed interested. "And what's that?"

"Aren't there two girls missing on the show?"

"Hah?"

"Ten guys and there's supposed to be ten girls as well, but there's only eight…"

"Hm! Maybe, they realized how stupid it would be of them to go on this lame show and opted out," He laughed. "All ten of those dudes the producers chose are total pansies."

"I don't know why I talk to you."

Rukia walked far enough to the point where she found herself at a beach side. She looked up at the full moon, which was much clearer above the vase blue of the ocean. The scene was so breath taking that she didn't noticed Ichigo staring at her until a butterfly happened to passed by her right eye, and tried to look at it, but it was already out of her eyesight. Instead her eyes landed on Ichigo.

And for some reason, neither of them could look away from each other.

"Um… hi," Rukia said first, approaching him. "Okay if I sit next to you?" Ichigo nodded and she sat down. Rukia looked up to the sky, but Ichigo was still eyeing her as if she was the strangest thing he'd ever scene. Rukia awkwardly cleared her throat, "You don't talk much, I guess?"

Like a snap of a finger, Ichigo blinked a couple of times and shook his head, looking away quick. "Ah! Nah, that's… I talk. I was just… looking at that crab… over there. Not you."

"And you must have see-through vision, apparently." She laughed.

The camera view showed Ichigo's face. His cheeks were lightly blushing. "Whatever… What are you out here for? Did the party stop or something?"

She raised a brow at him. "You're not the only one who enjoys being outside under the moon and stars, you know? I wanted some fresh air. So I went for a walk and wound up here. What about you?"

Ichigo was still looking away. "I wanted to get away from the loud music. It's more peaceful out here."

Rukia stared at him, her face simple. The same butterfly that had caught Rukia's eye flew on top of Ichigo's head and Rukia snickered. His hair was so orange that it looked like the butterfly was standing on a sunset. "Oh, don't move." She told him, a small smile appearing.

"Hm?" Ichigo slightly moved his head, Rukia slapped his shoulder and he flinched a bit, "Hey!"

"I told you not to move," Her hand slowly reached for the butterfly, "there's a butterfly on your head."

"A butterfly?"

"Geez you're tall!" She said, realizing his head was out her reach. She stood on her feet, giving herself a better leverage to get the butterfly.

Ichigo laughed, "Or maybe you're just short?" Before Ichigo even knew it, he was face first in the sand while Rukia had her knees planted in his back, locking his arms and keeping him pinned against the sand underneath her. "Gah! What the hell? Hey! Get off me!"

"I am not short!"

"Hah?" She twisted his arms some more, Ichigo was starting to feel the pain, "Okay, okay, you're not short! Let me go!"

The butter fly had already flew off of Ichigo's head before Rukia pinned him, and had now disappeared.

Rukia let him go as she stood to her feet, frowning. Ichigo took a moment, but surely did stand up and looked at her again, clearly angered. "What the hell was that for?" But his eyesight was way off and he had to crane his head down to really look at her. There was a moment of pause… He snickered. "You are seriously shor—" Rukia kicked his leg, making him yelp as he bent down to rub it. "What in the world is your problem?" He fumed.

"Don't call me short!"

"But you are—gah!" She punched his stomach and he keeled over.

Rukia stomped off away from him. "JERK!"

Ichigo would've yelled back at her, but he could only whimper, "Bitch."

Rukia found her way back to the nature trail path. She was fuming in anger. "Who does he think he is?" A sharp snapping sound sounded around her and she paused in her step. She looked up—

"What the hell are you doing?! Move, midget!" Ichigo yelled at her just as she turned to him, pushing her out the way of a thick tree branch falling, but he couldn't leap out of the way quickly enough, one of his legs getting caught under the branch. He groaned in pain. "Dammit!" He used his safe leg to kick the branch off and held the pained one.

Rukia rose to her feet, she was shocked and clearly upset with him. "You idiot! What were you thinking?"

"Are you serious?! I was thinking I'd save you, which I did! Maybe you should be thanking me instead of scolding me?" He winced.

"I didn't need to be saved, I could've saved myself." Her voice was calmer.

Ichigo shook his head. "You are… crazy."

"And you're stupid, Mr. Carrot Top. She went close by him and offered her hand to him.

"Don't call me that! I have a name," He looked at her then, seeing that she was smirking at him. "And no it's not hypocrite… I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," He grabbed her hand.

"And I'm," She pulled for him to stand, and once he managed to, she held his arm securely. "Rukia Kuchiki."

Writer's Note: If any of you guys are wondering why some of the words start in this format: Rukia. With the underline, it's because that's my indication of a shift in focus point (scene cutting back to certain characters). Hope that makes sense. Goodbye and till next time!