A/N: Things are still, ah, you know, a little bit intense below, so be warned. Buckle up, sweeties!

...

"…Red like the sense of a beast

White like the heart of a god

Red like molten hatred

White like chilling cries of pain

Red like shadows that feed on the night

Like a sigh piercing the moon

It shines white and scatters red." -Bleach #17 (opening poem)

Chapter 13 – Price of Love Paid in Blood

Doctor Tsuneo rubbed his dry, red eyes and reread the information displayed on his screen with sinking dread. It had taken some hours of doggedly searching out dead-ends and slips of data that only led to building frustration. But he stubbornly plowed on; pulling back layer after layer, revealing more and more disturbing connections. Until finally he pieced the entire puzzle together from the broken bits of information he gathered through the tenacious searching. The picture it formed was unsettling for more than one reason.

Ms. Annabelle Huber had a solid relationship with the Foot Clan and so they hadn't checked her relations perhaps as thoroughly as they should have. Apparently, Annabelle Huber's much younger sister, Lena was one, Marlena Brokker. She was married and widowed at an early age, but had kept her deceased husband's surname. Marlena Brokker, mother of Sophia and Marcus Brokker, and from what he could discern, she was also the longtime companion and illicit lover of Johann Courser; the suspected head of Venom and the biological father of her children.

Doctor Tsuneo sat back and sighed heavily. His tongue was a cotton wad inside his mouth.

Saki, you fool, you have sown the seeds of your own destruction.

Tsuneo had known him for years. But this . . . he shook his head; dropping his whiskered chin to his chest. As a young man, Saki was obsessed with the virtue of honor. He wished to achieve his dream of power without stepping too far from the boundaries of his own definition of the notion. Knowing full well that he'd be forced to blur the lines at times to achieve his goals. In the beginning, he held true to his strongly held belief system. But it seemed that over the years, obstacles and challenges unforeseen drove Oroku Saki to stray further and further from his original carefully planned path of honor.

Most notably, whenever his heart became infatuated with a woman, it spelled trouble. He'd become deaf to logic and blind to reason; ever one to fall too fast, too hard; blindly stumbling from one impossible situation into another. And it cost him, every time. Possessiveness and obsession fueling his overwhelming emotional instability. When it came to matters of the heart, Saki lost his way completely, doing whatever it took to gain and keep who he desired and protect what he felt was his. He was ruthless when it came to protecting his daughter, Karai, as she was growing up. Ruthless and apparently, a little too careless and much too cruel.

Doctor Tsuneo knew this stemmed from a broken childhood of being ostracized for his mixed race lineage and the abandonment by his American father; leaving his mother dishonored and alone to raise the boy. A struggling adolescence of fighting with his peers; seeking approval in the authority figures of his youth and finding none; turning instead, inwardly for encouragement and confidence. The rage and loneliness of his early years forged a steel will and determination to raise himself up beyond where he came from and eventually created the man he was today. Though the scars ran deep and the results of his struggles made their impact on his heart and psyche. Saki protected Karai, yes, but this time he'd gone too far in handing out retribution.

If only he'd come to me, I would have steered him towards a more sane course of action in dealing with the boy.

Doctor Tsuneo glanced at the screen. Marlena's pretty face stared back at him. In the picture displayed, she was much younger. Around the age when she would have given birth to her second child, Marcus. Yes, she was beautiful. No wonder the Master of Venom had taken her as a lover.

The door to his office opened with a slam and his face shot up, stealing his wandering thoughts back to the fact that he needed to get moving.

"Sir, the vehicles are ready," the soldier in the black uniform said.

Doctor Tsuneo closed the laptop and stood abruptly, the bones in his knees cracked. He nodded and hurried out of the office through the hallway to the front door. He threw a notebook opened to the front page onto his receptionist's desk. Hopefully between the messages he left for his team as well as for her on her voice mail along with the instructions written here she'd be able to keep the patients attended to while he took care of this Foot Clan business.

The doctor glanced at his watch as he climbed into the car. It would take at least two hours to reach the Huber residence. He only hoped he wasn't too late to rescue the man who was more like a son to him than he'd ever know.

Saki tried to raise his head up from the pillow. Sweat pearled and slipped down the sides of his face as he strained until the cords of his neck stood out. With a defeated grunt, his head fell back. A bolt of pain shot through his chest and side. He clamped his eyes closed until the cramping ache subsided. Panting, he tried with his legs. After a few minutes of struggling, he found he'd been only able to move his right leg an inch or so closer to the edge of the mattress.

Annabelle sat on the foot of the bed with her back to him. Typing something and muttering to herself. She glanced over her shoulder at Saki when she felt his attempt to move with his leg.

"I thought you were an honorable man, once."

Saki laid still as he listened. Then continued to force his body to move. Every inch was a victory.

"This is all my fault," she went on more to herself than him. "If I hadn't sung your praises so much and suggested your prestigious school of martial arts for my nephew, Marcus wouldn't have been sent there by his father." She sighed. "He had so much potential. Just like his father."

Marcus? Why did that name sound familiar? Saki stared at the white ceiling above him as he frantically searched his memories. A chill went through him as a face rose up out of the depths of decisions he'd made over the years that he'd tried to subdue. Marcus Brokker. The boy that Karai had tried to kill for spurning her. The boy who'd dared touch her. The boy he had his elite guard arrange to sell to the flesh trader near Izmir in Turkey. The tiny wave of guilt was replaced with white seething rage. No. The students knew they were not to go near Karai. He got what he deserved. The pig should have never touched his daughter to begin with.

Lena stepped back inside the room. Saki's eyes followed her. She was now dressed in a dark blue uniform. The top was sleeveless and she pulled a black silk kimono-type robe over her bare arms and cinched the waist with a silk ribbon, tying it into a bow at her side. Her hair was pulled into a high pony-tail. Looking at her now, he saw the resemblance clearly and he cursed himself for not seeing it earlier. He truly was getting old. Old and careless.

"Sister, you mustn't blame yourself. The ones guilty of my son's torture are in our custody, now." She glanced at Saki who watched her move into the room with narrowed eyes full of hatred. "They will pay for what they did to him. Marcus will have justice. And when we are done with them, I will have their heads delivered to Johann myself."

Saki frowned. Johann? Johann Courser? The leader of Venom? How was he involved? Were these women associated with Venom? But how?

His soldiers would have discovered this link if it existed. He wondered again at the internal treachery happening throughout his clan. Perhaps they did know and were in on the set-up. One thing was certain, he had to escape. Escape and kill these wretches and track down everyone involved until he rooted out the source of the rot decaying the core of his clan and removed it once and for all. He would not let his life work crumble around him while he still lived. He concentrated on trying to move his fingers and was greatly encouraged by the ability to close his hands into weak fists. It wasn't much but it was a start. The serum that Lena had injected him with was wearing off.

Annabelle's shoulders slumped. "Still…I can't believe they did this to him."

"He is strong willed, my sweet boy. I know he will heal and become a great leader. As he was destined to be. These worms will not steal away his future."

"Yes, but I am still so very sorry…"

Lena hushed her and pointed at the screen as it filled with a young woman's face. Lena reached over and tapped a few keys as the picture froze and pixilated then cleared again.

"Mother, Auntie Annabelle, are you there? Can you see me clearly?" When both women nodded, she went on, "The soldiers are ready and waiting for your signal. I have one captive that will be dealt with on separate conditions. So pay the red-haired woman in the room no mind."

Lena and Annabelle stood up and moved to either side of the table. They adjusted it and moved it closer. Then tilting her head, Lena stepped around the bed and reached behind Saki's head and grasped the pillow while Annabelle shoved another beneath it; propping him upright.

Saki gritted his teeth and pulled with all his strength to reach up at Lena. His intent was to grab her by the throat and strangle the life from her, but he only managed to reach up with trembling hands to his chest before Lena playfully knocked them back. She smirked and looked down his still naked body. Her fingers lightly trailed down his sweating and quivering torso. She paused just beneath his navel. Her eyes traveled to Annabelle as she cocked an eyebrow.

"We could make things even more interesting, sister."

Annabelle shook her head and grimaced in distaste. "I know he deserves this, Lena, but let's not get carried away."

Lena brought her eyes from his manhood to his face. "I suppose you're right. I don't want to stoop to his level of depravity." With a rough jerk, she pulled the blanket up, covering him.

Internally, Saki gave a sigh of relief. He was grateful to be spared further humiliation, but as his eyes made their way to and then locked on the laptop screen the gratitude was instantly replaced with a thunderous, blinding rage. The screen revealed his daughter, bloody and bound in a gray room on top of a mattress with what looked like someone who resembled April O'Neil next to her.

It was April that noticed the laptop suddenly blinked to life on the table across from them. She pulled away from Karai where she was trying, and failing at, loosening the collar's chain at the back of Karai's neck.

"What's wrong?" Karai asked as April stood up. She leaned her head down not believing what she saw. On the screen, it looked like a man sitting up in bed . . . The hair, the scars on one side of his face. It couldn't be. She slowly turned her head to Karai.

"I…I think that's Shredder, er, your father, Karai."

Karai started and rose up on her knees; the collar dug in and a fresh swath of blood poured over her collarbone. She barely registered the stinging pain, though.

"Let me see! Father!? Father is that you?" She looked from the screen to April desperately. "Is he okay? Can't he hear me?"

April came closer to the screen a feeling of strange surreal-ness flowing through her as she asked, "Mister . . . uh, um, I mean, Shredder?"

"Saki," Karai snapped. "His name is Oroku Saki."

Just then a soldier stormed into the room. April spun around and back up quickly. He made to grab her and she ducked and ran around him, scrambling madly towards the door. Before she got far, he shot his hand out and grabbed her by the back of her head. His fist tightened in her hair as her knees buckled.

"Where do you think you're going?" he snarled in her ear.

Three more men entered. They stood looking from Karai to April as she writhed trying to free herself; her pajama shirt falling open as she struggled with the soldier's fist in her hair. One of them broke free from the group. He walked up to April and punched her in the stomach. She buckled and fell to the floor as the men around her laughed. The soldier who held her hair in his fist kicked her once in the back.

"Fucking cowards!" Karai screamed and tried to rise to her feet, the collar choking her off; making her squat awkwardly on the mattress.

The three ninjas turned their attention from April to her and she growled at them. They advanced and she snapped her foot out at the closer one. He jumped back and chuckled as she did the same with the other soldier. Her attempts were clumsy due to the way she was forced to stand. The shorter of the two men blocked her next kick and twisted his wrist so that he caught her ankle in his rough grip. He shifted his body and yanked at her leg and Karai's body jerked hard and went down. She grunted as all the air rushed out from her lungs and then choked as she tried to gasp for more; the collar cutting into off her air supply.

She kicked madly with her feet as she felt their calloused hands grabbing at and yanking on her ankles and legs. With gritted teeth, Karai brought both her hands down again and again, striking one of them on the side of his head and face until she heard the satisfying sound of his nose breaking. He fell back with a pained shout.

"Bitch!"

Before she could celebrate her small victory, another filled his spot, grabbing her wrists and pulling them back above her head as he dragged her onto her back and held her there. He pressed his knee into her bound wrist, sending a bolt of agony up into her elbows. He chuckled as she struggled and bucked; throwing snap kicks and bringing up her knees sharply whenever she felt a body get too close. They surged towards her. Their fingers clawed at her dress and she felt it being torn free. She snarled as she heard the material being shredded to pieces; saw strips of it flying like ribbons and confetti thrown in the air at a birthday party. Between the curses and feral sounds coming from the men, their laughter reached her; shooting ice through her veins.

April's gaping mouth fought to gulp at the air as her face pressed against the cool floor of the room. As she struggled to take a breath she felt her hair being gathered in another fist as she was pulled up to her knees. Pain flashed over her already tender scalp. A ninja crouched before her and with a tilted head considered her a moment, then backhanded her.

"Tell your boyfriend, that dogs need to be obedient. Understand?"

April tasted blood as she fell to the side, head spinning and vision blurring with tears. She felt his hands on her, pulling at her pajama bottoms. For a second terror froze her to the spot.

"No! Don't touch me!" April shrieked; breaking from her terrified stupor; spitting blood as she shouted. She thrashed wildly at him, knocking them back a little before someone grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. The man dragged her up to her feet as she brought her bound hands crashing against one side of his arm. Black dots began to form in front of her vision.

"Save it for Karai. This one only gets a beating," the man choking her commanded in a soft voice to the ninja surrounding him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man turn towards the mass of people fighting on the mattress. Karai's grunts and short bursts of shrieking curses filled the room between the jeers, taunts and laughter of the soldiers. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She shifted and struggled in his hold but found her strength draining along with her consciousness.

"Don't . . . hurt her . . ."

The tall soldier peered at her through the netted eye holes. She could just see the glint in his dark eyes. He eased off a little and April sucked in air through swollen trembling lips.

"Don't worry about her. Worry about yourself. The freak-lover's going to get what she deserves."

Casey stepped through the door into the room that served as the access point to the warehouse. He pressed the metal door as far back as it could go against the wall and left it like that so that the space was open to the outside. Four shadows criss-crossed just beyond the door. His white hockey mask sat on the top of his head like a hat. The bag full of sports equipment hung on his back suspended by a thick strap over one shoulder.

The guard that Casey knew as Tyrese, gave him a slow, uninterested glance from beneath heavy brows from behind the glass partition. Casey waved, then pointed to the locked door with his thumb and shrugged; sticking his hands deep into the front pockets of his baggy jeans. Tyrese ignored him and went back to reading his magazine, Parakeet Enthusiast; holding it in such a way that Casey could see the bright blue bird gracing the cover.

Casey reached up and slid the hockey mask down over his face and tapped at the glass with the end of a hockey stick. Tyrese raised his sleepy eyes just over the top of his magazine; he stared, bored and unimpressed as Casey gave him the finger; blue eyes glittering behind the eye holes. He gazed without moving at the man standing in the middle of the small room wearing a ski mask and holding a hockey stick in his left fist. When he still received no other response than the bored glare, Casey looked down and to the side as though resigned. He reared back and with took two skipping steps and brought the stick around from the back; crashing against the glass. Again and again Casey struck the glass and as it began to splinter and crack, Tyrese carefully closed then set aside his beloved magazine, rose to his full height and steadily moved around the desk to a side access door. He stepped through and towered over Casey as he filled the small space.

Casey stepped back; craning his neck to look at the man's face and said with a muffled voice, "Jesus, Tyrese, you sure eat your Wheaties, don't cha?"

The man gave Casey a half smile and cracked his neck to one side, then the other.

"The fuck your problem is tonight, Jones?" his voice full of resonant base pounded down at Casey.

Behind him, unseen, four shadows dashed around and slipped in through the open door. Just as Tyrese caught something from one corner of his eye, he turned his head in time to see a creature inside his booth, pulling cords and ripping wires out of the security system connected to his desk. His brown eyes widened to circles as he took in the creature's appearance; the hands with three fingers; the rippling muscles and purple mask covering its eyes and realized with a sense of wonder and fear that it was one of the fabled turtle ninja freaks. They were real. Really real!

"Cool," he said softly.

But his wonder and excitement froze as the security sets all blanked behind the freak and the door to the main area clicked and unlocked. The creature looked up and its narrowed eyes were white behind the mask. Then it turned and disappeared through the door leading into the main area.

"The fuck . . ."

Tyrese never finished that sentence as a hockey stick came flying from the side, cracking him square in the temple and felling the giant of a man where he stood. Casey clambered up and over the man's unconscious bulk.

Saki felt the hot tears burning the back of his eyes as he watched his daughter fighting off the men. She fought with a rage and spirit that made him hurt with pride but also seared him with a terror he'd never experienced before. The bed was quaking from his body's shaking. His jaw was clenched so tightly the back molars were nearly cracking. Foam and spittle formed and dribbled down the corners of his grimacing lips. His fingers clawed at the blanket around his body. His eyes bulged with effort as he strained to get up. His mind screamed in frustration and self-loathing for his weakness. He had to do something! He would not lay here and watch his daughter be raped and murdered while he did nothing!

Lena exchanged glances with Annabelle and she smirked at his helpless fury. Annabelle turned away from the screen and stepped over to the window; uncomfortable. She pulled back a curtain and looked outside. Lena sat next to him on the bed; close but not too close. She ran a hand through his sweat dampened hair and patted his cheek. He snapped at her and she pulled her hand away as she laughed.

The man holding April's throat turned and dropped her as loud shouting came from the main room. A ninja filled the doorway.

"You get out here now. We're under attack!"

April fell to the floor coughing as he strode by the group attacking Karai. Several of the men wrestling with Karai stopped they exchanged glances; unsure. He turned to them and pointed at one and motioned for him to come with, leaving three to continue with the girl. They rushed out as more shouts and cries of pain filled the air.

April shook her head and blinked away the hot tears blinding her. Exhaustion weighed on her and her body ached with every move; her head pounded relentlessly. She felt as though she were moving through chest-deep mud; every limb felt heavy and weak.

Karai's grunts and whimpering snapped her to attention. She wasn't sure how far the men had gotten with Karai, but she hoped the girl was okay. April was sure that Karai was tiring from fighting them off. She had to do something help. Digging deep, April pulled the last bits of strength she had and lunged at one of the men, knocking him sideways off of Karai. They tumbled and rolled and April landed on her back. She used her feet to kick at the man's face as he reared up and back. He dodged and brought his arms up to block her attack.

The man kneeling on Karai's wrists ignored April's skirmish with his comrade and moved to press all of his weight down on to her shoulders; pinning her back as the last bits of her dress was torn away. He reached down and grabbed the front of her bra and tugged until it ripped it free, marking her skin with long red stripes. Karai strained and turned her head and managed to sink her teeth into the man's arm. Blood filled her mouth as the man hollered above her but didn't release her arms. Instead, he pulled his bleeding arm back and punched her repeatedly in the face. She shook her head back and forth trying to avoid the vicious blows and frantically kicked her legs out at the ninja grabbing at her body. The last of her clothing was stripped from her sweating, bruised body. The soldier crouched over her between her legs had to stop and grapple as she bucked and thrashed with her legs.

"No!" she gasped. "Get off me! No!"

Leonardo swung both arms up to the left as he leapt into the air; bringing them down in a swift arc; knocking a soldier against the side of his head with the blunt ends of his swords. The soldier staggered to one knee. A spin kick finished him. Leonardo fell and crouched; breathing heavy; beating back the panic; trying to lose himself in the rush of battle; but worry dogged at his concentration. He turned his head; eyes swiftly scanning the floor for any sign of April or Karai. Where are you?

Casey burst into the room; brandishing a hockey stick in one hand and a bat in another; screaming at the top of his lungs, "Goongala! Goongala!"

The bat found the small of one ninja's back. He dropped with a howl; the impact rupturing his left kidney. Two more attacked Casey from the side. They were quickly knocked back. Casey sped past Leonardo, shouting something Leonardo couldn't catch. His voice was drowned out by the man screaming in Leonardo's face about him being a freak.

Raphael's ferocious growl cut through the chaos. A few yards away from where Leonardo stood scuffling; swords locked with the screaming ninja; Raphael dodged and weaved between several ninjas in blue; kicking out and spinning; sliding forward and lashing upwards with precision; hitting and clearing away all his targets. He wiped his nose with one thumb and snickered as more circled him. Blood trickled from superficial cuts all along his arms and chest. Sweat poured in long rivers down his neck and over his broad shoulders. His green eyes glinted; fierce and intimidating.

"C'mon, guys. Don't just stand there, I'm gettin' bored." He turned; looking each one in the eye; twirling his sais; thick muscles rippling and bunching as he braced for their attack.

Donatello ran between the space that opened as they dove at Raphael, knocking any foes in his path across the face and jabbing them in their stomachs. He ducked as a ninja swung a wicked curved blade; the edge cutting cleanly through the ends of his mask's tails. He stuck the end of his bo into the floor and ran around it and slid on his side, taking the ninja down as he crashed into the man's ankles. Donnie sat up and with a short, quick jab knocked him out cold. A man tackled Donatello from behind, grabbing his head and flipping him forward. They tumbled together; slamming into more men as they rolled.

Leonardo straightened up from where he loomed over the downed soldier, no longer screaming at him, and looked over the heads of the men that circled him; catching sight of Michelangelo leaping and knocking soldiers down and back with his nun-chucks and spin kicks. Leonardo's eyes focused on the wall just behind Michelangelo and his gaze fell on an open door. He caught a flash of red from the corner of his eye as he swung his head back; dodging a sai as it cut through the air an inch away from his left eye; one curved point sliced through his cheek. He hissed a breath and threw a round house kick. He followed with swinging his swords out and around then moved into a series of katas that were his own finely tuned movements; combining defensive and offensive moves that seemed to throw the men around him off balance. Two more went down and his eyes trained back to the flash of red. Someone was staggering out of the room.

April!

"Don! There!" he shouted and felt a fist knock him in the back of his head while he was distracted. He careened forward, then lurched back as a soldier swept twin blades at his throat.

Donatello punched the man he was straddling twice in the temple, knocking him out. His hand throbbed and he cradled it for a second against his chest. He heard Leo's voice holler at him above the din. His face darted around the madness of the room, spotting the flash of pink pattern pajamas just as she was knocked to one side by a crowd of men rushing towards him.

With a strangled, hoarse cry, Donatello leapt off the downed man. He ducked and grabbed his bo in a sweating fist. Three men surged into him; punching and jabbing at him. He fought the three men in front of him, pushing them back; bringing his arms back; swinging the powerful bo around his head and cracking the skulls around him. He dashed towards the spot where April fell to her hands and knees; head down; face obscured by her hair. Please be okay!

A heel caught the side of Leonardo's head and he stumbled to the side. Everything seemed to slow around Leonardo as the encroaching group he was dodging from and fighting with bumped and jostled him. He stumbled forward again and through the opening of soldiers he glimpsed through the doorway that April had stumbled through. He blinked the burning sweat from his eyes as his mind focused on what he saw there; a ninja on his knees, on top of someone; holding someone down; the flash of bare, white flesh; another man positioned between . . . and on top of . . . No . . . Her agonized scream shot through the chaos of grunts, curses, groans, and howls of pain. No. Please, No. It reached his ears and pierced his soul like a bolt of electric fear.

"NOOO!"

His eyes went white with rage as the world turned red around him.

Raphael snapped his head around with the sound of Leonardo's anguished howl of terror and rage. He wiped his bloody chin with one shoulder; gasping and catching his breath while the last of his foes backed up; hurting and injured. He watched, wide eyed, as Leonardo shifted his swords and started cutting his way through the men; no longer fighting defensively or with little aggression. He was slashing into and through any and every body part that got in the way. Long crimson sprays flowed along with the arcing, sweeping glint of silver steel. With grim yet beautiful grace, Leonardo sliced a scarlet path through the men to the room where April had just stumbled out from.

"Shit just got real," Raph muttered and shouldered his way through a group of retreating soldiers in Leonardo's direction; jabbing up and into anyone dumb enough to stand in his way. No longer holding back; showing the ninjas around him no mercy now that Leonardo had lost control.

April raised her spinning, pounding head just as Casey dropped to his knees next to her. He shoved his mask back to the top of his head. He reached near her shoulders, moving to cover her exposed upper body by easing her shirt back up over her shoulders. She panicked and scratched at him, growling from between clenched teeth like a wild animal. He took her wrists as gently as he could and held her clawing fingers down and away from his face.

"April, it's me! It's me, Casey!"

Her blood-shot eyes peered at him from under her mussed hair. "Casey?"

"Oh god, baby. Are you okay?"

She shook her head as a sob erupted from her lips; her bottom lip puckering as more tears spilled free and ran down her filthy face. Casey felt his heart breaking as he took in the bruises across her cheeks and throat, the blood on her swollen lips and chin. Voice thick he said, "I'm so sorry, April. I'm so sorry." He pulled her into a tight embrace as she shook and trembled and wept into his shoulder. He buried his face into her hair and choked out, "We're gettin' you outta here." He gathered her up in his arms as she trembled but then she stiffened; bracing her bound hands against his chest.

"W…Wait, you have to help her…They…they're . . ." she made a choked sound and couldn't finish her sentence as guilt speared her through. When she'd broken free from the ninja that she'd tackled, he struck her against the side of her head before running out there to join in the main battle. Stunned, she'd stumbled out into the main room, and got knocked back and trampled, temporarily forgetting about Karai being attacked behind her.

"Please help her."

Men scrambled around, screaming and clutching at bleeding stumps that were once arms or hands as Casey's eyes darted across the blood spattered floor over his shoulder. Leonardo emerged like a gore covered avenging angel from the chaos; blades and body dripping red with sweat and blood; he raced past them into the room.

"I, uh, think it's covered. C'mon."

He wrapped his arms under her legs and around her back as she looped her bound arms over his head. He picked her up and she buried her tear-streaked face into his neck, nuzzling him as she shook and let relief and a torrent of tears wash away some the fear.

. . .

A/N: I know! You'll see why Don didn't make it to her side! Sorry, it was getting really long - will update asap, I promise!

HEY! That one-shot of what happened at Casey's New Year's Eve Party is up if you didn't see it. It's called New Year's Eve Kisses Don't Count and I would like to know what you think! I know it's June, but I had to write it while it was fresh in my mind :D

One last thing - If you don't know Bleach by Tite Kubo, you really need to get your hands on it. Incredible story, there's manga and anime versions. Both are very very good. I'm addicted right now and thoroughly in love with Ichigo, sorry Leo, you didn't hear that. heehee XD Have a great weekend and remember to review cuz it keeps me sane! For true? For true!