A/N: Thank you to Shon-Kun1301, redsnow4, and myviolaismylife27.

Once again, I have to apologize. Max came to visit last week, and she just HAD to go and distract me with two new animes, both of which I can't stop watching...

Thanks, Max -.-

So, I'm really curious. How many people actually read my stupid author's notes? If you do, comment to let me know.

And, in case you hadn't noticed, I switched my user name to Mistress Nightray. That was for personal reasons, and eventually, I'll switch it back. Maybe. I like this name^^ (My user name is Pandora Hearts related, though I doubt anyone here reads or watches it. Just saying~)

NOW READ THIS CHAPPY THAT IS WAY TOO OVERDUE!

Zane sat cross legged on the ground, his eyes scanning the group around him, his face blank.

Why was he like this?

Because he was playing Texas Hold 'em poker.

And he had one hell of a hand. A straight flush. There was no way, no way in hell, he was going to lose this time.

"Alright, show your hands." Izuru said, revealing a 3 of a kind.

Ichigo swore loudly and threw his cards down, having only a pair of Jacks. Chad said nothing, showing a pair of Jacks and a pair of 5s. Zane smirked and calmly showed his straight flush, saying, "Read it and weep, bitches."

Ichigo swore again, Chad just grunted, and Izuru widened his eyes with an exclamation of "No way!"

"My my, that is impressive." Shunsui said, tipping his hat back.

"Damn straight it is." Zane replied, pretty smug. He thought he had every reason to be smug, after all, he was finally going to beat Shunsui at a game of poker!

Shunsui just smiled and showed his hand. Zane's eyes widened. "Aw hell!"

A Royal Flush.

An effing. Royal. Flush.

God. DAMMIT.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Zane yelled angrily. Shunsui just chuckled. And his ever so calm and not really bragging way of chuckling totally pissed Zane off.

"Wow Captain Kyoraku," Izuru said. "That's the fifth game you've won!"

Zane's temple throbbed. "Damn cheater." he grumbled.

Five games. Five freakin' games of poker, and Shunsui had beat him. Every. Single. Damn. Time. It was seriously staring to piss him off!

If you asked people, they would say Zane wasn't a sore loser. He was pretty cool about it. But if you asked Meridian, she'd tell you otherwise. Because, in all honesty, Zane was a sore loser. He just sometimes refused to admit it, so he didn't act like it. Usually, Zane saved his pathetic sore loser-ness for games with his family, because they all knew he hated losing.

But right now, Zane was too mad to care. He wanted to win just one fucking game!

"One more game!" Zane yelled, his temple still throbbing. "I will not admit to defeat! I WILL BEAT YOU, SHUNSUI KYORAKU, IF IT IS THE LAST. FUCKING. THING. I. DO!"

Shunsui chuckled again, and Zane clenched his hands into fists. Ooooh, that was annoying him.

"Alright, sounds like fun. Anyone object?" Shunsui asked. No one did, so Izuru started dealing out the cards that Erika had given Zane once again.

Apparently, she wanted to help relieve his boredom a bit.

-FLASH BACK-

The shimmering gold portal came into view, and Erika looked a bit sad.

Zane raised an eyebrow. "Time for you to go?" he asked.

Erika nodded. "Yup." She then glomped him.

"I'MMA MISS YOU!" She cried.

"Yeah, and I miss oxygen! Erika!" Zane yelled, trying to get out of her death grip of a hug.

Although that was nothing compared to Max's hugs.

Erika laughed and let go, allowing Zane to breathe.

"OH!" she exclaimed. "I have something for you!"

Zane eye her wearily. "...What?"

She reached into the pocket of her pink jacket and pulled out a deck of cards. "Here! Maybe you won't be as bored with these!" She said happily.

Zane took the deck of cards, looking at the design on the back. The cards were black and purple checkerboard, with a white rabbit. "Thanks." he said with a smile.

"You're welcome!" Erika said, grinning widely. "But now, I must leave. GOOD BYE EVERYONE!" she screamed from atop the platform.

Zane was surprised when everyone in the Black Void chorused back, "GOOD BYE, ERIKA!"

She gave Zane one last quick hug for the hell of it and disappeared through the shimmering gold portal. Thingy.

-END FLASH BACK-

'Yeah. Great Present.' Zane thought sarcastically. 'So far, all it's managed to do is severely piss me off!'

He then had to briefly wonder if that was her true intention.

Not caring to think about it, he picked up the cards Izuru had dealt him.

And almost fucking screamed.

A crap hand! Of course, of fucking course, he had a crap hand!

GRR.

He kept his face calm, though. Playing poker back home with Meridian, Nicko and his dad had taught him quite a bit. Even though he never seemed to freakin' win, he was actually pretty good.

Of course, no one here fucking believed him. Because he kept losing to Shunsui!

Once again, his gaze casually scanned the group around him. Next to him, Shunsui had the best poker face. Unlike Zane's blank expression, Shunsui kept a lazy smile and a carefree look on his face.

But it never wavered. Ever.

Chad had a great poker face too, but Zane could tell by the slight furrowing of his brows when he had a bad hand, or the slight widening of his eyes when he had a good one.

Ichigo was absolutely terrible at poker, amusing as it was. He got angry too quickly, for one thing, so everyone always knew when he had a bad hand. Which was most of the time, for some hilarious reason. And when he finally did get a good hand, he made it way too obvious.

And then there was Izuru. Zane could never tell what that blonde emo was thinking, and he usually had a look of what was probably supposed to be concentration on his face. It looked more like worry, or indigestion. Zane couldn't tell which.

The blonde emo was also pretty easy to read, although not as easy as Ichigo.

Zane had considered Shunsui his only real opponent from the start. And what an opponent he was...

"FUCK! I QUIT!" Ichigo's loud scream pulled Zane from his thoughts back to the game at hand.

He smirked. "Bad hand, again, Strawberry?"

Ichigo growled. "You rigged it, didn't you?"

Zane feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Zane didn't actually rig it, but letting Ichigo think he did was way too much fun.

Ichigo's temple throbbed. "You little shit!"

Zane laughed. "Calm down Strawberry, I didn't rig it. How could I? Izuru is the one dealing." Zane pointed out, knowing where this was going.

Ichigo rounded on Izuru, looking majorly pissed off, and Izuru paled.

"You bastard! You rigged it on me, didn't you?" he yelled.

"No!" Izuru shouted back. "Why would I do that?"

"Because everyone, including you, enjoys seeing Ichigo pissed off." Chad said calmly.

Ichigo looked at Chad. "What?"

"It's true, Ichigo-kun." Shunsui said with a shrug. "When you're mad, everyone gets a good laugh."

"Don't call me Ichigo-kun!" Ichigo roared, temple throbbing.

Everyone laughed.

"See?" Zane said calmly. "You're hilarious when you're mad."

Ichigo's temple throbbed, his eye twitching violently. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then said, "Fine. Then I just won't get mad anymore."

Everyone laughed hysterically at that.

"What?" Ichigo demanded.

"We all know you can't do that!" Rukia said. A group of people had formed around them to watch the game, Rukia among them.

"Yes I can!" Ichigo protested.

"Nope." Zane said. "You can't."

"Wanna bet?" Ichigo growled.

Zane smirked evilly. "Hell yeah I do."

"If I can last until Renji gets back from your world, I get to be in charge until this is all over." Ichigo said.

"Alright." Zane said. "But if I win, you're my bitch until this is all over."

Ichigo's temple throbbed, but surprisingly he didn't yell or scream or pitch a mega bitch fit. "Deal." he said through clenched teeth, holding his hand out.

Zane smirked. "Deal."

The two shook hands, sealing the deal.

A/N: And there you have it!

Ha, the next Zane chapter is going to be fun to write~

So please review! AND I'M GONNA TRY REALLY, REALLY, HARD TO GET THE NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON!