AN:

It's been ten days since the last chapter...cries.
The reason was just that this is sorta a pivotal chapter and I had tremendous writer's block.

I'm sorry if this chapter sounds very corny or cheesy, because I read it myself and I think so. I couldn't think of what to write!

So...read and review. :)


MICE
Chapter 7

"Yoruichi, I brought you here to protect you." murmured Gin, as he cast a glance at the door to check if anyone was watching.

"Protect me?"

"The Winter War is coming. And the battlefield will be filled with Hollows...the same ones as last night."

"Gin, you know I can handle myself."

"You can't battle Zanpakutos with your Hakudo."

"I have Flash Cry..."

"Yoruichi." said Gin with a cold solemnity, "I can't let you die."

"You brought me here because I'm weak?" muttered Yoruichi with a steely voice.

Gin threw back his head onto the couch, exasperated, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Noo...that's not the MAJOR reason." said Gin, grinning. Gin hung his head over the arms of the chair and stared out of the window at the moon.

"I've always admired you...I've always loved you. Aizen recruited me for Squad 5 when I finished Soul Reaper Academy. I had to watch you from afar...I had to watch you waste your love on Urahara."

Yoruichi watched as Gin's already icy eyes turned even colder.

"You left. You left. You left to hide in the World of the Living with Urahara. Seeing Sui Feng heartbroken was a little thing that would make my day...it was funny." said Gin, as he let out a small, sadistic laugh, " She wasn't hurt half as much...as I was."

Gin got up and looked at Yoruichi.

"I've been waiting for you...forever."

The two were about to lean in for a kiss...until they heard a scuffling noise that echoes throughout the room. They turned their heads to find a small rodent-like Arrancar that had crept into Las Noches. It's bottomless pits that acted as its eyes on its mask stared at the couple, and then scurried away.

"In the World of the Living," murmured Yoruichi, as she watched the creature disappear into the shadows, "there are animals that look like those. They're called...mice."

"I've seen them. I like chasing them." said Gin, grinning.

"Me too." said Yoruichi, laughing, "But...I've always wondered why the mice are so easy to catch. If we can get them so easily, what's their purpose?"

"What's our purpose?" said Gin, "Does anyone have a purpose? Maybe, if something is caught so easily...it's because they want to be caught. When you just keep running away your whole life, won't there be a moment where you stop to abandon the loneliness...and find your purpose?"

Gin looked into Yoruichi's velvet eyes and watched them shimmer in the ribbons of the moonlight.

"But I've found my purpose." murmured Gin, "My purpose...is you."

Yoruichi felt her eyes well up in tears as she repeated his words in her head over and over again.

"My purpose is you. My purpose is you. His purpose is me. I am his purpose."

"You are my purpose." whispered Yoruichi.

Yoruichi wrapped her arms around Gin's neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

Suddenly, the door swung open with a startling bang.

5:23 AM

"Yoruichi..." purred Kisuke Urahara, "You're missing."

"Kisuke?" exclaimed Yoruichi, surprised.

"You don't think that I wouldn't notice your...absence?"

Urahara was dressed in his usual attire, however his green and white striped hat was twirled on his finger, leaving his sand colored hair exposed to the light. Urahara lifted his Zanpakuto, pointing it's sharp point towards Gin, who was grinning widely.

"Benehime and I want to know why Yoruichi is here, and not home, Ichimaru."

"Well," said Gin as he began to draw his sword, "Shinso and I want to know why ya care."

"Kidnapping's a crime."

"So is intruding."

The two glared at each other and then began to whisper.

"Impale him, Shinso..."

"'Cry, Benehime..."

5:25 AM