The twins found the couple, as they had expected, in Shinji's room. Adrian knocked, preventing Andrew from bursting in, and Shinji opened the door.
"I'm sorry about the mess in here…" the Visored said, scratching the back of his head embarrassed.
"Well, it's cleaner than Andrew's."
Emmalin was sitting on the bed. "Ah, good." Andrew said. "Onee-san, can you please take off your blouse?"
Emily blushed. "Why?"
"Just do it."
She complied, still blushing. Adrian scanned Shinji carefully. When Emily lifted her blouse, he palled, his eyes flashing with choking guilt. His fists clenched.
"You know where that came from, don'cha?" Andrew asked softly.
Emily had a round scar on her back, right where his sword had been. There was a matching one on her front, right between her breasts.
Adrian glared at his brother. 'That was uncalled for. You know, I completely approve of him. If you don't, there's no need to torture them both.'
'Fuck it. We had decided we'd do this. I'm not fully convinced yet.'
Shinji walked mechanically towards his bed, sitting right next to Emily. He gently touched the scar, faintly feeling his reiatsu in it, inside her body. Her head tilted back slightly, while her eyes closed, as she enjoyed the touch. "Shinji, it's not your fault." She whispered. "One of us had to die. In fact, I'm glad things turned out this way. Had you been the one stabbed, you would've died. My brothers wouldn't have saved you."
He sighed, temporary forgetting about the twins. "It's not exactly like that. I figured he had your fighting style. I was blinded by my hatred towards him and refused to believe that he had tricked me." He whispered.
Adrian slowly processed the traitor's words. 'It's not like he could have done anything even like that. If she didn't realize it was him, she would have killed him. So she's right.'
The blonde Senkai sighed. "Well, Hirako-san, we are going to be here for a week. Is there any problem if Onee-san will share your room?"
Shinji eyes widened slightly at the proposal. "No, no problem."
Andrew scanned his brother. "Then we'll retreat for tonight. Good night."
"Good night."
Emily watched her brothers leave. As soon as they closed the door, her eyes drifted towards Shinji. She took her blouse and put it on. She sighed. "Well, are you going to blame yourself forever? I am fucking fine so that would be pointless. And Shinji, I am only going to be around for a week. Use it to your advantage. You can mope afterwards."
He scanned her carefully. "Oh, I am gonna use it to my advantage. But first, we need to get you settled in."
"What are you talking about? I only have the clothes on me."
"Well, you're not going to sleep in them, are you?"
Emily blushed slightly. "As far as I can remember, your pajamas' fit me well." She chuckled.
Shinji smiled. "Yeah, I'll get you a toothbrush and… anything else?"
"A hairbrush. I think I'll use yours, if it's okay."
"Good."
~~~~~Next day~~~~
Andrew had slept in, unlike his brother. When the red-headed went downstairs, the others were already finishing breakfast. "Morning, everyone." He said sleepily. Emily chuckled. The others just eyed him questioningly.
Hiyori took off her flip-flop and attacked the Senkai. "You idiot! It's almost afternoon! I'm not setting the table for a lazy-ass like you!"
"What the fuck, chibi?"
The others sweat-dropped. 'Now he's done it.'
"Chibi? Who do you think you're calling little you overgrown baldy?"
"What? I'm not bald, chibi. But you are chibi." She proceeded to hit him. "Stop, chibi! Ouch. Hey, stop! I said stop! Scream, Phoenix!"
~~~~A little later~~~~
"You're gonna have to fix our kitchen, you know that?" Lisa asked Adrian.
The blonde sighed. "Yeah, but what's her problem anyway?"
"It's Hiyori." Shinji said. "She doesn't need a reason to attack people."
Emily chuckled. "That'd be one thing you have in common with Andrew."
Andrew was still fighting with Hiyori. He had his Shikai, while she was using both her Shikai and mask.
"Shall we stop them?" Adrian asked.
"You do it." Kensei said. "I'm not getting in Hiyori's way."
"Geez. Fine. Bankai."
~~~In the evening~~~~
Shinji went on the roof, finding only Andrew there. "Hey."
"Hmph." Was all the response he got.
Shinji chuckled. "You really hate me, doncha?"
The red-head looked away. "I know what your kind is capable of."
"Our kind, you mean."
"Yes. I know… and I don't like it. We say 'I love you' and it means nothing. We can leave the girl even after saying sweet things and go to another one."
"Wait, wait, wait. Don't go there. I've never been like that. I'm not a cheater. Ever. I have higher morals than that. If I actually get bored of a girl, I break up with her and find another one."
Andrew smirked. "Then we're not exactly the same. I haven't had a girlfriend in a really long time."
Shinji smiled sadly. "It's too painful, huh?" he asked softly.
"Shut up! You know nothing about it!" Andrew blew up.
The blonde shook his head. "Emily told me a lot of things about you. You know how it feels to love."
"She shouldn't have. I can't believe she trusts you like that."
"Well, I'm glad she does. There are very few things she didn't tell me." Shinji said proudly.
Andrew glared at him. "Like?"
Shinji shrugged. "Official stuff that came up at the wrong time."
"She picked the wrong guy."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Oh, did you know that she had asked Daisuke to make you guys let her see me again?"
Andrew looked shocked. "What?"
"Yep."
Andrew tried to use another offensive. "She lost Jyubi because of you."
"Jyubi needs a master like Daisuke. A master who doesn't have many ties with others. A master who can make the neutral decision for the bigger good. She isn't like that. She would have never used him like that."
"Are you calling my sister weak?" He clenched his fists.
Shinji raised his hands in mock defense. "No. I'm calling her emotional, which she is. He was the only thing that kept her balanced most of the time."
"Tch. Feelings make…"
"… people weak? That's so fake. Only cold-hearted people can ever say that. Feelings help us, make us stronger, give us resolve to fight for the ones we care… especially for those we love."
"You're not like that."
"Not on the surface, no. But I would die to protect her."
"That's fake."
"Believe what you want, fine by me. Believe that I don't love her. It's your belief. But we can agree on one thing, I hope: she does love me. And if you don't approve of me, it won't change too much, except for the fact that you'll be hurting her. Not me. You will hurt her."
Andrew stood up. "You are in no position to threaten me."
Shinji smirked. "I am actually. Your brother can confirm that." He sighed. "Whatever, I am not that sure of what I can do to make you believe me." Shinji stood up, preparing to leave.
"Why didn't you do anything to prevent all that stuff?" Andrew asked.
"She didn't allow me. 'Let me fight. Take the others to safety.' 'I'm fine. Don't worry. Nothing will happen.' Sound familiar?"
"You shouldn't…"
"I didn't. She had wanted me to take the others to safety, and I did it, then came back after her. It was already too late. I'm… I did what she said. Every. Damn. Time. She was just that selfless. Believe it or not."
"Tch."
Shinji vanished in shunpo.
"Bro, you shouldn't be on bad sides with him." Adrian said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Shuddup, Adrian."
"If you kill him, Onee-san will never forgive you. Ever. And he knows that."
Andrew clenched his fists. "I wish I could kill him. I wish I was strong enough to do it in a few swift moves."
Adrian sighed. "Yeah, we're not Higher Senkai-level anymore."
"You're mostly Shintaicho." A familiar voice said.
Adrian scanned the intruder. "Hirako…"
"I figured it when we fought. You should've mopped the floor with me, but you didn't. I'm sure the old man trained you better than that. He's tough as fuck."
"How the fuck do you know sempai?" Andrew yelled.
Shinji shrugged. "Urahara told Emily that you guys may be alive. She wanted to visit the old man, so I went with her. He was in the mood to kick my ass, so we had several spars."
"You make it sound like you were a child's play."
"I'm not ashamed to admit it. Anyway, why did you lose your power?"
"We were revived and we lost the bonus we had received from Kurotsuchi."
Shinji grinned widely. "He's gonna be pissed when he finds out."
"Screw him. He tortured us anyway and I hope he roots in his cell."
"Urahara freed him."
Andrew burned. "Introduce me to that bastard so I can fry his ass and feed it to him."
Adrian sighed. "Calm, bro. Why did Urahara free that criminal?"
"Ask him. Nobody else is sure about it."
"Tch."
"Whatever. I'm leaving to have some quality time with my girlfriend." Shinji had said those words deliberately to anger Andrew, who took the bait and lounged at the blonde, this time without his sword that neither of them had with him.
Shinji dodged the attack, aiming a kick at his enemy's head, who caught it, spinning it so Shinji lost balance. However, as he fell, he took Andrew down with him, landing on top of him. "What is your problem anyway? You hate me with no reason." Andrew got up and attacked him again. This time, however, Shinji went on the offensive. He slid past Andrew's attack and hit him. Andrew slid back. "Let's end this." They lounged at each other full speed. As the distance between them reached mere millimeters, they both drew back, a sword cutting the place where they had both been.
"Wake up, idiots! Are you that stupid to reduce yourself to fighting?" Adrian yelled. "Stop this nonsense now."
Shinji glared at his opponent and read his eyes, which were shining in the faint moon light. 'This isn't over.' He shunpoed to his room, knowing Emily was waiting for him there.
"Bro, you should be more permissive with him." Adrian started.
"No."
Adrian's reiatsu spiked up. "Listen, if you don't, all you'll manage to do will be that they won't be together in your face. They'll just hide. You can't stop them from being together, got it?"
"Shuddup, Adrian."
The blonde lifted his brother by the collar of his shirt. "If you ever lift a finger against Hirako again, you'll have to deal with me."
"Tch."