Highways Of Hell,

Two;

Night of the Bear Growls


"Is this really nececcary?" Ichigo shoved his hands in his pockets as he followed his petite fiance around the house as she gathered her things.

Rukia, clad in shorts and a black top with a yellow shirt underneath, squinted at him, "I already told you, Ichigo. The dresses for the bridesmaids and the maid of honor are custom made and the dumb store doesn't deliver. I have to drive down there, I've told you that a million times." Rukia grabbed her car keys, "So you can stop stop it with the complaining."

"Well... shouldn't I come with you? I don't like the idea of you driving down there all alone, it's really..."

"I'm not going alone." Rukia sighed and tucked a strand of her jet black hair behind her ear, "I told you, I'm taking the girls with me."

"Only more reason for me to go with you." Ichigo was indignant.

"Ichigo," Rukia's voice held warning, "It'll be fine. Tobenai is a four day drive from here, it will take a while." he followed her as she went outside to the car, opening the trunk and dumping her bag inside, "You need to stay here and make final preps for the wedding."

"I know, but-"

"Ichigo," Rukia grabbed his face with both her hands, "We're getting married in a week. A week! And we still have stuff to get done here. Nii-sama will be here tomorrow, you need to make sure the place we booked is totally booked, the wedding planner will be here tomorrow at 11-"

Ichigo stared at her for a moment, and then sighed softly. "I know, I know..."

"Hel-looo, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime smiled brightly as she gave Rukia a quick hug and put her bag in the car, "Sorry we're kidnapping Rukia for the next..." Orihime paused and counted on her fingers.

"Four days." Momo finished for her.

"And besides, I'm the one kidnapping you." Rukia corrected as she assured Momo to get in the car.

"Orihime, who's taking care of your cat?" Rukia struggled to shut the trunk, so Ichigo brought one hand down on it and it clicked shut easily. "Thank you."

"Ishida-kun will take care of Ulquiorra while I'm gone!"

"You named your cat Ulquiorra?" Ichigo said in a weirded-out tone. Orihime nodded happily, "He's black and white, and he has green eyes! Well they kinda look yellowish sometimes, but that's besides the point, I mean sometimes-"

"I am here," Tatsuki said in a dignified voice, fanning her face lightly as she slipped her bag off her shoulder and tossed in the trunk, "Let the celebration begin."

"Yeah, right!" Momo yelled, laughing from inside the car. Tatsuki stuck her head in, "Hinamori, you are next on the list."

"Neh Tatsuki-chan, Does Asano-kun know you're leaving?" Orihime got into the car next to Momo.

"Of course." Tatsuki went around the car, "I told him, no more then 2 hours of video games or I'll make like Sadako and come out of his tv screen."

"Did he believe you?" Ichigo asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yes."

"That's it!" Momo squealed, jumping in her seat, "Let's go, let's go!"

Ichigo looked at Rukia in a depressed way, "Are you SURE I can't come?"

"Yes... unless you wanna sit on the roof or something."

"Aw, shut it." Ichigo grinned, knocking Rukia's forehead gently with his fist. Rukia smiled.

Ichigo pulled the door open and watched silently as Rukia got in the car, closing the door on the driver's side shut. Rukia rolled the window down and he leaned forward.

"Just... be careful."

"I will." Rukia smiled and patted his face.

"Ichigo, hurry up will you? We kinda wanna get out of this city like now!" Tatsuki yelled, and Momo laughed. "Yeah!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and straightened back up.

"Fine. Rukia?"

"Mm?"

"What's her name again?"

"Who's?"

"The wedding planner's."

"..."

"For god's sake Ichigo! It's Nel! NEL! Neliel Tu Oderschvank! I've told you that a million times!"

"Ok Rukia let's go!" Tatsuki leans forward in her seat, poking Rukia gently in the arm.

...

"Oh GPS, great master of navigation and all skills needed with it!" Orihime tilted her head downwards in a bowing motion, "Bestow apon us your kindness! Please!"

"Orihime, stop doing wierd things."

"Drive three. point. one. miles. and take a left on kaze. avenue."

"Haha! It listened to me!"

"Okay so then I was like NO WAY and then he was like just shut up and do it and then I'm like but it'll hurt and then he's like deal with it and then I'm like-"

"Wait wait. What was Toshiro trying to make you do again?" Tatsuki opened a bag of chips and leaned back in her seat, popping one in her mouth.

"He was trying to make me jump off a diving board."

"Hey Rukia, is it really ok to leave so much work to Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yep. Toshiro's gonna help too. And Renji. It'll be ok."

"I'm not sure about Toshiro, he's been pretty sour since we went to pick out a cake." Momo remembers the memory well. Tatsuki seems to remember too, as she starts snickering.

"What happened?" Orihime's eyes are wide.

"Well, remember when Rukia took all of us to go test cakes with her so she could pick which one she wanted for the wedding? Well, Ichigo made Toshiro go with us, because I guess he doesn't trust us alone with Rukia-"

"That's not true!" Rukia voices indignantly.

"Yeah, it is. So anyways..."

~Flashback~

Momo's eyes lighten up and she gasps genuinely, "Hey, a cake as tall as Toshiro!"

"Crap, you're right!" Tatsuki snickers and Orihime covers her mouth.

Toshiro says dryly, "Very funny."

"I know." Momo sighs, " But don't be mad, Shiro-chan! It's a nice part of you!"

"Shut up! And don't call me that!"

~End flashback~

"Oh yeahhh..." Orihime pressed her lips together, "I had forgotten! Which cake did you decide on anyways, Rukia?"

"Umm... I think it was-"

"Take. ramp. on. right."

They got onto the highway.

"Re-calculating."

Rukia looked at the GPS, bewildered. "What?"

"Didn't you do what it said?" Tatsuki leaned forward, up against Orihime's seat.

"Yes..."

"Just keep going with it." Orihime suggested.

"Rukia, Rukia, you're too close, you're gonna hit that guy!" Momo panicked.

"Sorry!" the car swerves and Momo and Orihime scream as the car narrowly misses the other driver.

"Turn right."

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Everyone screams as Rukia attempts to make a right but fails because there IS no street to turn right.

...
MANY HOURS LATER
...

"Where are we?" Orihime pressed her face lightly against the window and stared out.

They were driving through a forest, and not one other driver was on the road they were.

"It's starting to get dark, and we've been driving through this forest for hours! What if we get stuck here?" Momo said in a scared tone, staring out her window with wide eyes.

"We wo- RABBIT!" Tatsuki screams and points as a rabbit darts out in front of the car. Rukia let's out a loud scream as the car goes over the rabbit, and there is a loud THUNK!

The car screeches to a halt and everyone sits silently, not even breathing.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." Rukia tries to look back, eyes wide.

Orihime starts crying.

Everyone gets out and walks over to the road, only Tatsuki is able to look at the bloody rabbit remains. Momo gasps, Rukia covers her face, and Orihime just cries harder.

"Ok, ok!" Tatsuki looks back at her friends, "Look, we'll... we'll have a funeral for it. C'mon, don't cry Orihime!"

A couple minutes later, everyone is standing around a small grave.

Orihime prays, "Unknown bunny, our paths crossed today and it is your fate that was brought to you. Please rest in peace, wherever you may be now..."

"I killed a rabbit." Rukia sobbed on Momo's shoulder, "I'm a murderer."

Momo patted her, "It's ok Rukia, you know you would've stopped, the rabbit came out of nowhere..."

Tatsuki now looks around, "Guys, look at our situation. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere and the GPS is no help at all. I guess we're gonna have to camp here."

"What if there's a bear?" Momo cries, "And where are we supposed to sleep?"

"We can sleep in the car! I'll collapse the back seats!" Tatsuki says excitedly, "It'll be great! I'll start a fire!"

...
10 MINUTES LATER
...

Everyone sits around a fire, roasting marshmallows on a stick.

Tatsuki blows on her marshmallow, "Perfection!"

Rukia grumbles, "This is awful. I knew we should have gone with a normal road map, but noooo, Ichigo HAS to go buy me a stupid GPS..."

"We can just get a road map from a gas station tomorrow! Don't be so down!" Tatsuki says happily. "Oh, there's a mosquito on your neck."

"Mmmm!" Orihime's face is stuffed with marshmallows, "Pass me the bag, please!"

"Don't eat too many." Momo hands the bag to Orihime, who beams. "Ok!"

Rukia gasps suddenly.

"What?" Tatsuki frowns at her and everyone looks at Rukia wierdly.

Rukia points, "B-B-BEAR!"

Everyone whips their heads around to see a midsize brown bear standing a couple feet away, staring at them.

Orihime jumps up, waving her arms around crazily and screams, "I AM BIG! I AM BIG!"

The bear stares at them for a moment and goes away.

"There!" Orihime sits down happily.

"Where'd you learn that?" Tatsuki asks wide-eyed. Orihime shrugs. "Well I was watching "Survivor Man" and it was the episode where he gets stuck in a forest so-"

Rukia stands up, "I'm going to call Ichigo. No one follow me, please." and leaves.

"What if the bear comes back?" Orihime wonders.

"Ahh, I'll follow her. You guys stay here by the fire." Tatsuki suggests.

"But Tatsuki-chan, she said please!"

"Please or no please, it's dark out and there's bears, obviously. Don't worry." Tatsuki winks at the two, and then tip-toes off after Rukia.

Tatsuki comes to a clearing. There is a large lake with trees around it. The moon is full and reflects on the lake. Rukia is standing near the edge of the water, on her phone.

Tatsuki sneaks up slowly behind her, on tiptoe. Rukia has no clue and continues her conversation, "The GPS is a total failure, so-"

"Boo."

Rukia screams, and jumps so that her phone flies out of her hand. She and Tatsuki watch with priceless expressions as the phone falls almost in slow motion into the lake with a small, "plunk!".

"…FUCK, MY PHONE!"

...

The girls are all lying in the trunk of the Rav-4, snuggled together under some blankets. The sun roof is open so they can see the stars, and also so they don't suffocate from lack of oxygen (Momo's idea.)

"My phooooone…" Rukia wails and covers her face with her hands, laying between Orihime and Momo, Tatsuki being on the side next to Momo, "My phoooone…"

"Sorry, dude."

...

Tatsuki gets up in the middle of the night and gets out of the car quietly.

What she doesn't realize is that Rukia wakes up too, being a light sleeper. Rukia watches quietly as Tatsuki slips out.

As soon as she does, Rukia flips out of the blanket and yanks Momo, who is still asleep, up.

"Momo! Momo!" Rukia shakes Momo, who's head wobbles slightly, "Ehh...?"

"I'm sorry I'm waking you up now, but you've gotta help me get revenge on Tatsuki!"

Momo blinks sleepily, "Wha...how?"

Rukia pulls out Tatsuki's phone, eyes gleaming.

Momo's eyes widen, "Oh Rukia, I know you lost your phone, but it was an accident, Tatsuki never meant to! To throw her phone away in revenge is just-"

"Dumb, I'm not gonna throw her phone away. I'm gonna scare her." Rukia sits back slightly.

"How?"

Rukia grins evilly, "Bear growls."

Momo is dumbfounded, "What?"

"Tatsuki's phone has this ringtone- Bear Growls. We can use it to scare her."

Momo is appalled, "Bear growls? Bear growls? You're waking me at- (looks at watch) 2 in the morning for bear growls? Do you really think Tatsuki is going to fall for it? It's a ringtone on HER phone, she'll probably recognize it."

Rukia pouts, "C'mon, please Momo? I actually want to pull a prank for once! Pleaaase? For me?"

Momo sighs, "Rangiku-san has really gotten to you, hasn't she?"

"What? What're you talking about, of course not!"

...

Tatsuki rubbed her face sleepily and turned back to the direction of the car with a sigh when she hears a snap.

Her eyes widen slightly. "H-Hello...?"

Another snap, and Tatsuki's fists grip tightly as she wonders if her black belt will come in handy tonight, although it probably won't help against a 200 pound furry carnivore. "You guys...? Orihime...-"

Suddenly, there is more snapping and Tatsuki gasps, eyes widening, when she hears a bunch of bear growls. Her heart pounds as she looks around frantically for a bear somewhere.

"W-Where-"

The growling is louder, and Tatsuki grips her fists, looking back at the path towards the car and decides she will have to make a run for it, when the growling stops suddenly, and in it's place, lively guitar music starts.

Tatsuki's eyes widen in realization as she moves in the direction the music is coming from, slowly reaching her arm into a bush and pulling out her phone in shock.

"What the-"

"SHIT, SHE FOUND IT! RUN RUKIA, RUN! THAT GIRL PLACED SECOND FOR NATIONALS IN TRACK!"

...