Love Interest at Night

One-shot

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Rukia's eyes narrowed in hurt and betrayal. Her heart clenched with sickening pain as her mind relentlessly scolded her for her foolishness. She had blindly allowed herself to step into a non-existent and one-sided affair, oblivious to the consequences it would leave.

Her amethyst eyes slowly closed as she dropped onto a bench. In her moment of sudden anger, she had sprinted blindly into a nearby park. It was nearing dusk as the sun slipped over the horizon. Stars began to light up the purplish sky and the street lamps lit up.

She finally mustered the emotional strength to look around and almost face-palmed herself. Rukia had run straight into Lovers' Park! Her cheeks flamed in embarrassment when she thought about what the happy couples of the park had thought of her when she entered crying her eyes out. However, it was late and whatever couples that had been at the park before were long gone.

Her eyes fell to her lap, tears beginning to recollect in her sore puffy eyes once more. They closed, squeezing the salty liquid out and allowing them to fall to her lap. The scene from earlier that day began to reluctantly replay in her mind.

Rukia skipped happily to the café where she and Ichigo had planned to meet. Her carefree smile was contagious and passersby soon found themselves smiling along with her. To Rukia, the simple blue sky was an astounding sight and all the birds were singing for her.

Today, today I'll tell him, Rukia thought. I'll tell him I love him.

She pushed open the door and looked around for the familiar head of orange she was so used to seeing. Her smile faltered when she saw not one, but two heads of orange hair. Rukia slowly walked towards the pair who seemed oblivious to everyone but each other. They stared lovingly into each other's eyes; blissful smiles were painted on their facial features.

"Ichigo," Rukia greeted, causing the said person to direct his intense amber gaze to her. She shuddered and continued with her hellos. "Orihime, it's nice to see you."

"Ah Rukia!" Ichigo replied, a wide smile gracing his lips. "I want you to meet my new girlfriend, Orihime Inoue." He raised an eyebrow. "But it seems you guys have already met."

The two girls simply gave polite nods to each other.

"So what do you think?" Ichigo went on, unaware of the unease radiating from Rukia's body. "Do we make a good couple or what?"

Rukia nodded again and forced a tight smile to appear on her porcelain face. "Y-Yes, you two make a fantastic couple." She blinked quickly for tears were beginning to prick her eyes.

Ichigo's eyes filled with concern for his friend. "Hey, Rukia, are you alright?"

Orihime soon looked at Rukia with a worried expression as well.

Rukia didn't need this. She didn't need pity from others, especially him.

A smile blossomed on her face. "Of course I am! I just have somewhere else to be right now, so I'll see you later."

Rukia hurriedly left the café before either of the two could say anything else.

The memory faded away as quickly as it had come. The stars were twinkling with glamour, accompanying the bright moon in their nightly light show. Rukia's hair fell to the sides of her head as she continued to look at her fingers twiddling on her lap.

So he never felt the same at all. All that time he was only talking about her, Rukia thought bitterly.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice footsteps approaching her.

"Hey, you," a male voice called out.

Rukia quickly looked up, almost giving herself whiplash. Her eyes fell on a man who looked to be around her age. He had spikey-white hair which the moon's soft white light illuminated. His shocking sea-foam green eyes had their gaze on her, but they only hinted at a touch of concern for her. They mainly seemed to accentuate the somewhat annoyed expression he had on his handsome face.

"What do you want?" Rukia snapped, her voice cracking a little.

The man let out an irritated sigh that he was obviously keeping in. Just another broken-hearted and emotional crazy bitch, he thought. "I was wondering if you were okay. It's not safe for a defenseless woman to be staying out so late at night," he said instead.

Rukia's blood slightly simmered upon hearing the latter remark. She shot a glare at him before saying, "I can take care of myself! So just leave me alone!"

He placed both hands in his pocket and slightly turned away with his eyes closed. This is my cue to take my leave. However, another more devious thought came to his mind.

Rukia continued to glare holes into him and was just about to make another retort when he cracked one eye open to look at her.

She's not that bad to look at, he observed. He was smirking as he said, "I hate when people tell me what to do." He walked slowly until he was right in front of her. "In fact," he whispered lowly as he leaned towards her, "I do the exact opposite."

Rukia blushed and raised her hand to slap him. "You per-"

The man caught her hand and brought it to his lips, effectively silencing her. He placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, never lifting his gaze from hers which caused her blush to deepen in its rosy color.

"I am Toshiro Hitsugaya," he stated, still looking straight into her eyes.

"R-Rukia," she stuttered, "Kuchiki."

Toshiro chuckled. "You're cute."

If possible, her blush turned ten shades deeper and she became flustered. Quickly pulling her hand away from his grasp, she stood up and inched away.

Toshiro mirrored her movement, playfulness dancing in his eyes. Offering a hand, he suggested, "Let me walk you home. The night is filled with unknown dangers."

"Like you!" Rukia retorted while continuing her slow retreat.

Toshiro laughed aloud. No one had made him laugh as much as this lady has in the few minutes he has known her since Momo. In fact, no one else had even managed to catch his interest until now.

His expression turned serious. "Come on, it's getting late, and maybe you can tell me what is bothering you."

Rukia stared at him in amazement. She glanced at his still extended hand and raised her hand slowly towards his. Toshiro reached out further, intertwining his fingers with hers before abruptly pulling Rukia towards him. He held her against his chest and gently grabbed her chin to lift it.

"I don't have all night to wait for you," Toshiro scolded jokingly in a somewhat seductive tone, his eyes staring into hers.

"S-Shut up!" Rukia shouted as she pouted adorably.

I wrote this about two years ago...I think?

And well, I thought TODAY IS THE DAY. So I published it. *Cheeky smile*

Well I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot and please leave a review!

Adieu!

-Shiragiku