A/N: I always do this to myself; I start a new story, not expecting much from it, and then twenty chapters later, it is still going on. I never imagine most stories getting past twenty because in my head it seems short... but then when writing it out, it seems to double and/or triple in size. Oh well, it's all still fun and entertaining to do; no regrets. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and favs- I'm glad to see that Gears of War 3 is, infact, a suitable excuse.

The passing days went by a lot smoother than expected, even with the extra two people in the apartment. Now, given that a lot of space was taken up, and they still all had to share one bathroom… at least they were all alive and fully conscious; she was almost certain that Matsumoto was on the brink of pulling Nanao into a scuffle a few times or not. Luckily, the Eighth Division Lieutenant had a bit of a leveled-head when it came down to it and was able to hold herself well against the more ecstatic Tenth Lieutenant. Asides from the occasional argument from those two, everything else went smoothly. Kiyone was busy watching cable most of the time, well she preferred to spend her time with Sentaro when it was available- although she herself did step in a few times to limit their time together; she just wanted to excuse it and say that the human world really wasn't the place for them to be… doing whatever it was that they did when they were out of her sight. And Hinamori rarely did much to call attention to herself around the apartment… although it was noted that she liked to spend quite a bit of her own time with Chojiro; she didn't want to look too deeply into it because the two were fairly mute about anything ongoing between them.

As for herself?

Well… she had let Yumichika take her out a few times now and again; offering the excuse to the others that she was going out for a walk… down the block, around the corner and into the nearby coffee shop, or wherever else they chose to go. She was surprised to feel so much ease around him and see how much they had in common. While she wasn't going to go off the deep end of the relationship just yet, there was still that slight hint that things would go further. Sure, it had only been days, well maybe a week or two by now but they had known each other for years before that- even if it was just as mere acquaintances.

She just didn't like to think too much in on it.

Not yet anyways.

"I'm going out for a little while; I'll be back soon enough." Momo called as she slipped on a light jacket on her way towards the front door.

"Again?" Matsumoto questioned; stepping out of the bathroom with little more than a towel wrapped around her midsection and another wrapping her hair together. "Is this another one of your dates with Lieutenant Chojiro?"

"It is not a date; it's never been a date." she denied quickly. "We're just friends; you don't see me questioning you whenever you go out with Ikkaku."

The woman released a short raspberry as she made her way across the living room. "Please, you know I'm involved with someone else; and so is he for that matter. I wish people would stop getting that misconception. We're friends. End of story. Besides, I'm not even faintly attracted to him, no matter how many times he runs around shirtless."

"I'm not sure if he would say the same about you." Nanao remarked as she slowly turned the next page of her novel and continued on reading. "The running around shirtless part anyways."

Isane sighed and only shook her head as she watched the other two women seemingly get into it once more; just the smallest remarks could get those two started off on nothing. She turned back towards the shorter woman who only rolled her eyes at the scene. "Alright, well hopefully we'll all still be here when you get back. Just have fun and remember to be safe."

"We don't want any little Lieutenant babies running around." Kiyone commented; faintly sprawled on the couch with the remote in one hand as she flipped aimlessly through the channels.

"I meant just make sure you don't run into anything…" Isane corrected.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out." Momo nodded as she pulled the door open and quickly excused herself out.

The door was barely closed and the latch just barely clicked in link; it had to have been a new record before someone shattered it.

"Has anyone noticed that those two have been spending a lot of time with each other lately?" Matsumoto questioned.

"I can't have this conversation with you if you're going to stand in the middle of the room naked." Nanao answered.

"I'm still wearing a towel."

"She has a point."

"Stay out of this, Kiyone!"

When was Momo going to be back again? She was already beginning to miss the company.

Shaking her head, she moved around to slowly clean up the small kitchen area; putting up dishware and such in the higher cabinet space. She did remember to put some on a lower shelf so Hinamori could at least reach them without having assistance. It wasn't like the place was in all too big of a mess even with the five of them but Nanao had still taken it upon herself to turn the place completely upside down; cleaning, arranging and re-arranging a few things here or there. She was impressed with the woman's level of detail, then again living in the Division Eight building couldn't have been a walk in the park either. Although, she did question the bloodied clothing that had remained in the bathroom after the attack; they had gone into a bit more detail with the Hollow encounter and she noted that the other Lieutenant was taking strict notes on the matter. Again, that didn't really surprise her much either; Nanao was a scholar, a note-taking person, she enjoyed documenting all sorts of things- not to mention it would have to go in their reports later on.

If they ever got back to the Society that was.

Even after the passing days, the barrier was still present but they had calmed down remarkably well over the matter; giving themselves time to relax and think it all over. So far they hadn't ran into any other Hollow presences but that wasn't to say they weren't still here- in fact, she had that feeling like she just jinxed everyone. Well, it wasn't like she could just take it back now. Everyone used the excuse to search for the Hollows as a way of getting out of the apartment, after all the heartless figures would instantly be drawn to them, right? It was hard to imagine that they had been ignored for this long… then again, there were plenty of other people around- easier targets anyways.

A brief knock on the door called for her attention as she quickly put away the dishes she had in hand and slowly made her way over to the source of the noise; she figured she didn't really need to look to see who it was, they didn't get any visitors aside from Nanao and Momo. And, only to prove that she was usually always right, she pulled the door open to reveal the two Division Eleven members.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise." Isane remarked as she pushed the door open wider for them to get through. "What brings you boys over?"

"Oh not much." Ikkaku shrugged before he turned his attention to something else. "So, does anyone have any idea why Momo and Lieutenant Chojiro have been hanging around with each other so much? I mean, it's like they're going out every day."

"See!"

"Oh shut up already, Rangiku!" Nanao snapped as she pushed up on her glasses and tried to focus back on her novel. "You guys are just merely overreacting and even if it's such a thing like that, it's no busy of yours."

Matsumoto rolled her eyes the moment the woman wasn't looking and turned back to the two joining men. "I don't know, but whenever I ask her about she gives me some kind of excuse about them just being 'friends', which we all know how well that works out."

"He always says they're going out to look for whoever's responsible for the barrier." Yumichika started. "Which, when you think about it, does make sense; although, even with two-leveled Lieutenants, this thing still insists on hiding from us."

"I was thinking the same thing." Isane nodded. "But, it's not the best idea to just go out there and make ourselves victims; as much as we'd like to add a fire to this whole search, we can't risk making ourselves vulnerable in it either- even with these numbers. If anything, they're doing the right exercises into luring this thing out, which would be to make yourself blend in and yet be noticeable by being out there constantly- maybe even in the same place at the same time everyday. Any hint of a habit and those things are already calculating a way to get you."

"… And just how do you know this?"

"Captain Unohana shared a few tips about Hollow behaviors before I left." she answered. "All I'm saying is that we should probably try and talk about this Hollow-Barrier business first and… not get ourselves involved in other people's matters, or in their relationships."

"Finally someone with a stroke of common sense." Nanao remarked as she slowly pushed herself up from where she had been seated in the opposite corner of the couch from Kiyone; fingers gently closing her book after she had set her bookmark in place. "Perhaps we all should've tried to take that same approach to the matter. For some odd reason, that does remind me, where is Sentaro? Did he not come along?"

"He was asleep on the couch when we left; we didn't want to wake him." Ikkaku replied. "Actually, we did want to but then Yumichika reminded me about what might happen if we had brought him over, so I decided to go against myself in that decision. He'll be fine by himself for a little while, we left water out for him."

"Well as long as we make sure that Kiyone doesn't sneak out, everything will be fine." Matsumoto commented.

"Oh ha ha, guys." Kiyone responded as she slowly lifted herself from where she had been slightly sinking into the thick cushions of the couch. Tossing the remote aside, she pushed herself to her feet and gave into a strong stretch to pull her muscles out of their stiff positions. The light, almost hiss of a noise caught her attention as she turned towards the far end of the room; watching as small droplets of water began to strike the window and splattered themselves against the clear material. Her eyes lightly narrowed before she walked over towards the large window; barely paying much attention to the ongoing conversation at hand as her attention moved to focus on another matter. She looked up to see thin sheets of gray clouds beginning to make their way across the once, previously clear skies. "That's odd."

"What is?" Isane called.

"It's raining outside but the news said it would be clear all week, temperatures in the nineties even." she answered as she pressed fingertips against the glass.

"Raining? It was just clear as hell when we were outside…" Ikkaku started before he stopped himself. "I uh… well I only know one person who could make it rain like that out of nowhere… and for no reason."

"Oh, I think there's a reason." Yumichika replied.