Author's Note: Last chapter ended on a semi-cliffhanger, I guess, and, as you probably predicted, there is apparently some tension now between Ichigo, Hitsugaya, and Kusaka, which can only mean one thing: love triangle! Gah. I've been watching too many Korean dramas...

As much as he wanted to, Ichigo couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight. He felt like his heart was going to drop into his stomach and dissolve for him to puke up onto the pavement. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he could feel his heart pounding a million miles a minute, until...

"G-Get off me!" Hitsugaya viciously wrenched himself away from Kusaka, an expression on his face that appeared to be a mixture of both disgust and shock. "What the hell are you trying to do?" he hissed, icy venom dripping from his voice.

"Oh, come on, Toshiro, don't fucking be like that, dammit! I've really missed you and everything, so don't pretend you didn't fucking miss me, either!" Kusaka retorted.

By this point, Hitsugaya was seriously getting pissed off, and it was time to give Kusaka a harsh dose of reality, best served cold. Very cold.

"Kusaka, I have missed you. But that was in the past. This is the present. You were never there for me, when I needed you, and then you had to go and die or whatever the hell you did, because apparently, you aren't dead, but at any rate, you left me. Right now, I've got Ichigo. He means more to me than you ever have. He's not going to just walk aout on me like you did before I dumped you. He's not going to turn his back on me like you always did. I can trust him. I never felt like I could trust you. And I'm not going to jeopardize all of that just so...so you can try to make up for your mistakes! Because you can't! You can't go back in time and reverse it, even if you wanted to!"

"Toshiro," Kusaka protested, pointing at his scar. "This is how much I fucking love you! I'd do anything for you. I'd die for you if I had to. You know I would."

"You had your chance, Kusaka. You threw it away. And that's not my problem."

With that, Hitsugaya stormed off without even bothering to look back.

Still watching, Ichigo couldn't help but triumphantly think to himself, "Ha! You just got owned, plastic-surgery boy."

That was when he noticed that Kusaka had spotted him.

Oh, shit.

With a squeak of horror, Ichigo scrambled off in a mad dash, Kusaka in hot pursuit.

"Get your fucking ass back here and face me like a man, carrot top!"

"S-Stop following me, you freak! Get away!"

Passerbys watched in confusion as Ichigo bolted down the sidewalk, running away from a nonexistant pursuer, screaming obsceneties at seemingly no one. (Of course, as Kusaka was not in a gigai, the average person wouldn't be able to see him.)

Damn, Kusaka was a fast runner.

Not having any Soul Candy with him, Ichigo despairingly sank further and further into the bottomless pit of doom as he realized he would have no chance to outrun Kusaka, eliminating any hopes of escape.

He was right.

A split second later, he felt a large mass on him before he slammed into the ground, face-first, yelping in pain as his palms scraped across the concrete of the sidewalk.

"What the hell!? Did you just body-slam me!?"

"Yes, I fucking body-slammed you, you fucking carrot top!"

"Get off me! What did I ever do to you!?"

"You stole him from me! You stole my Toshiro!"

Oh, hell no. He so did not say that. Ichigo resisted the urge to snap his fingers in a Z-formation, instead continuing to bicker with him.

"Your Toshiro!? Since when is he yours!?"

"Since fucking forever!"

"You're full of bullshit! He dumped you a long time ago!"

"So? I still love him more than you ever fucking will!"

"What!? I love him just as much as you do! Probably more! Get off me!"

"No! I'm going to fucking kill you, you hear me!? I'm going to slice your fucking carrot-topped head off!"

Ichigo's eyes widened at the sound of a katana being unsheathed. Oh, great. He was serious. And in this case, "serious" was not good news. He promptly began to flail around, screaming various obsceneties that your mother would not approve of. Not the least bit. And definetely not your grandma, either.

"Get off him!"

Both Ichigo and Kusaka stopped abruptly at the sound of Hitsugaya's voice.

The strawberry, with much difficulty, craned his neck to look up at Hitsugaya, who had rid himself of his gigai and was standing in front of the pair in all his black-and-white-robed glory, Hyorinmaru in his hand, which he had pointed dangerously at Kusaka's throat.

"I said, get off him."

"Toshiro, he's taking fucking advantage of you!" Kusaka accused, pointing accusingly at Ichigo. "He doesn't really love you! He said so himself! I had to get the truth out of him at swordpoint, dammit!"

Hitsugaya's eyes widened, and his grip on Hyorinmaru loosed exponentially.

"I didn't say anything like that!" Ichigo yelled, shoving Kusaka off of himself. "He's lying! He's a goddamn liar! Toshiro, you can't believe anything he says!"

"Who do you believe?" Kusaka demanded. "Me, who you've known for so long...Or the fucking carrot top?"

"I..."

"Toshiro," Ichigo insisted. "I'd never lie to you! I'm not like Mr. Plastic Surgery here!"

"I don't know who to believe," Hitsugaya finally muttered. He dropped Hyorinmaru to the floor, tears stinging at his eyes. "Please, both of you, just...Just grow up already." And with that, he disappeared.

Ichigo hastily snatched up the dropped katana, giving Kusaka a death glare. "Now look what you've done!"

"Don't blame me!" Kusaka growled. "But don't forget that I'm going to get you! I fucking swear I will!"

And then he, too, disappeared, leaving Ichigo alone, clutching Hyorinmaru and wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.