II. Today

Rain.

Here she was, watching the weather again. What she excelled at – watching nature.

And being petty.

She sighed.

She wanted to stop being a coward and clear things up. Now.

Conscious of every step she took towards that room, Rukia knew this was wrong. There was an emotional dissonance – why was she doing this if she knew it was wrong?

She opened the door without knocking, and almost slammed it back shut.

"WHAT THE HELL -!"

Grabbing his towel, the semi-dressed redhead shun-poed behind his wardrobe, cursing. With her eyes closed, she entered and slid the door shut.

"DO YOU MIND KNOCKING BEFORE ENTERING??"

"Did it cross your mind that lowering your volume might save you some embarrassment?" she replied, walking in and sitting conservatively on the only chair in the room.

She waited for him to dress before he came out, a disgruntled frown still complementing the rouge across his flushed cheeks. It struck her as odd that he was comfortable wearing just his sleeping pants with her in the room. She glanced at his upper body and wondered why her stomach did a somersault.

"I'm sorry for just now," she said quickly, blinking.

"Yeah, me too."

"I meant when we were outside yesterday." No, actually, I mean for everything.

"I was being a jerk, so we're even."

Those few words sounded so defeated, it seemed like they didn't come from his mouth. "So you've come to say goodbye?"

Glancing around the sparse room and noticing Zabimaru lying on the unmade bed, Rukia let out a small smile and shrugged.

"Just to apologize and spend some time with my childhood friend. No reason, really. Guess we won't be seeing each other for some time."

Renji leant on the edge of the desk beside her, folding his arms.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," he said softly. "There's something here that's holding you back."

Her breath caught.

"So have you made up your mind?"

Rukia looked out of the window. Really.. she felt like she was holding a toy that she was simply unwilling to put down.

The silence was like a Hollow that had crawled out of the darkness, eating up the space in the room.

"Well," he said. "Until you make up your mind…"

He dropped to his knees beside her, his face inches away from hers.

"Let me show you what's on mine."

Rukia couldn't close her eyes. The rain outside was falling harder, and his kiss was growing deeper. All she could see now were strands of dark red, his closed eyes and the determined, obstinate lines across his brows. More than that, she could feel the surge of warmth and emotions that he had been holding in, the frustration and pure affection flowing through him. Through her.

His tongue on her mouth reminded her of someone else… the One who was always on her mind…

Just as suddenly, he broke away.

Licking his lips, Renji chuckled. "So cold… You've already made up your mind, Rukia. Go back to him and stop breaking my heart."

Rukia stared at him, speechless. In that moment, she realized the meaning of now.

"I don't want to be sorry tomorrow."

Then she leant forward and kissed him, the ardor lingering even after her tongue left his mouth.

"Whoa."

He was surprised, but wrapped his arms around her, smirking.

"Tell me if you want to stop," he whispered, his lips tracing a quick line from her ear along her cheekbone. "I intend to go all the way until day break."