I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep updating while at the same time making the story at least decent but stuff's been happening man and the original plan I had for the story fell through because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to write it. So that's why this isn't very good, because none of this is what I planned, and I planned a good story but it was going to take too long and too much work and I just spent 5 hours-not exaggerating- doing 10 math problems in my homework, and I still have 2 projects and a test to study for. I just realized that it has been literally 3 months since I updated and I promise that won't happen ever again. I'm going to try to get to at least one update per two weeks! Crossing my fingers. Again, I hope you are still enjoying the story and I promise I will finish it. I put reminders of the past characters because let's be honest, even I forgot some of the characters names.

By the way, originally I wrote this chapter as pretty dramatic but then I went back and rewrote the whole thing because it was ridiculous to me.

Yuuto's POV-

I rub my eyes for the third time tonight. That may not seem like a lot, but when I should be sleeping instead of rubbing my eyes- something I don't normally do I might add- it's a cause for questioning. In simplest terms-

"Yuuto, why aren't you asleep yet?" Kyuu sleepily eyes me.

I can't think of a better response than 'It's nothing.' so I just pretend to fall asleep and hope Kyuu's tired mind brushes it off as a dream or hallucination or something. I hear Kyuu hum suspiciously and hope that even though he knows I'm not sleeping he will leave me alone.

"My question stands, Sneaky."

But of course, Kyuu has never been one to leave people alone.

"I'm thinking," I offer.

He is silent for so long, I almost believe he gave up and went back to sleep. Almost. Just as I was relaxing again(or as much as I could relax given my current predicament) I feel a weight crash on top of me.

"You're lying,"

"I'm not,"

"You're hiding something,"

"But I'm not lying,"

He doesn't respond. Instead, he opts for dragging me to an empty hallway by my feet. I would fight, but damn, I'm tired.

"You're tired," he says.

"Oh, you noticed," I slightly annoyed.

"Yup," he says popping the 'p'.

"And you still dragged me out of where I would sleep, an effective way to solve that problem," I finish.

"You and I both know that you weren't going to fall asleep."

I tilt my head back, looking at the end of the moonlit hall. He's not going to leave me alone. I sigh. He is trying to help me. I sit up. Maybe this is a good thing. I lean against the wall and wrap my hands loosely around my legs. I'm being stupid as hell. Kyuu sits beside me. I hope he helps.

"What's keeping you up?" he asks.

"My girlfriend," I say.

Kyuu gives me a confused look.

"But you two were so lovey-dovey and happy. Did something happen when you left?"

"Sort of? I guess...it's just a whole big mess," I say realizing I don't know much myself.

Kyuu stays silent so I continue.

"She was at the hospital for...her mom," I say hesitating before deciding I could trust Kyuu not to say anything. He may be weird and annoying at times, but he can be serious when he needs to be. And extremely trustworthy.

"Actually, she was there partly because she got hurt...I think. But then they told her something about her mom. I'll keep that a secret for her, though, what happened to her mom. But all I could think of was what a bad day she was having and I didn't want to make it worse by telling her," I say, glancing at Kyuu's questioning face.

"What couldn't you tell her?"

I hang my head. I stare at the button on my pants for a few seconds. She's Kyuu's friend too. What if he likes her? What if I'm not supposed to tell anyone?

"Yuuto," Kyuu calls.

I'll just leave out her name, if he figures it out, he figures it out. Too bad.

"I kissed another girl today."

.

.

.

"No, you didn't." Kyuu decides with finality clear in his tone.

"What?" I say, not bothering to hide the disbelief in my voice.

"You wouldn't do that, Yuuto. I know you didn't do that. You're not that kind of person. You wouldn't be beating yourself up over it if you did."

I feel his gaze on me as he waits. I close my eyes.

"She...kissed me...I guess, but what difference does it make? We kissed. She was confessing to me and I turned her down, which somehow makes me feel like crap," I say with embarrassment.

"Did you know she was going to kiss you?"

I shake my head.

"Did you break the kiss?"

I nod slightly.

"Did you make her cry?"

"I hope not," I whisper.

"Did she say she never wanted to see you again?"

"No, we hugged and went back to class," I say.

"So then there's not much of a problem there. The real problem lies with your girlfriend?"

I nod.

"I have to tell her,"

"But you're scared she'll leave you."

I open my eyes. Is that it? I thought it was that I didn't want to burden her but is it really because I'm scared of her leaving me for this? I'm scared of breaking her heart, that's it. I think I've done enough heart breaking for a lifetime today.

"So tell her."

I look at Kyuu.

"If she leaves you, then she isn't the right girl. She should understand even without you explaining anything to her."

Before I can argue, Kyuu pushes my head down.

"Sleep on it," he says.

"But don't think about it, just sleep."

Toka's POV-

"Are you crazy?"

"No," I reply wrapping a scarf around my neck.

"Um I think you are," Hayami replies.

"Why?" I ask taking a pair of gloves from Ichido(the one she met at the hospital).

"Oh I don't know, maybe because there's a SNOWSTORM."

"So there are a few snowflakes, what's going to happen? Besides, they already shoveled the streets for the most part so there's no reason to stay here any longer," I reason, zipping up my coat.

"You are awesome," Ichido tells me.

"Thank you,"

"Miss, could I ask where you are going?" Hiroko M asks me.(The young lady who works at the front desk.)

"I..." I answer tying my boots, "am going to go check on my friend's little sister because she and her friend are home alone at this time, and I'm worried."

"Oh...so you do have a reason," Hayami remarks.

I nod.

"...Ugh fine. I'm going with you," she gives.

"And then there were two," Ichido supplies unhelpfully.

"I don't want you getting hurt or going alone so don't try to convince me not to come," Hayami states, effectively shutting me down.

Once we are both suited up for the cold, Hiroko M and Ichido walk us to the doors.

"Hey, come again blanket girl," Ichido chimes.

"See ya, video game nerd," I say and promptly turn on my heel to leave.

"I'll see you again Miss Masaon," I say to Hiroko M before walking out of the doors, Hayami close behind me.

Once I get out, I take a look around at the damage. The sidewalk hasn't been shoveled yet but the street has been lazily plowed with a few spots missing. None of the driveways have been cleared yet. But even with all of this damage, it sure is beautiful. The way the snow forms icicles on trees making them look like chandeliers from fairy tales. The way everything is snow white with no sign of the dirty sidewalks.

"So we're going to Yukiko's house?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say.

"is your boyfriend going to be there?" she asks.

"Probably not. He drove me to the house on his way to school yesterday so I think he'll still be there," I explain.

"Oh," she says.

We have to climb through the snow up the driveway when we get there and even though it takes us a while and I'm freezing, I'm grinning with excitement when we get to the top.

"The door is locked," Hayami says after pulling on it.

"And there's no doorbell so I guess we'll have to go through a window," I beam.

"Oh, no."

I nod while smiling.

"You're injured! We can just knock or yell," she suggests but I shake my head smirking.

"The house is huge and they sleep on the other side of it. The only way in through a window," I say.

"Give me a boost," I say.

"Um no, if anything I should be the one going up, you still have stitches," she argues and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah but if they are awake and they see a random girl there you're going to scare them out of their wits," I shoot back.

She thinks for a moment, weighing the consequences before saying, "Be careful," and getting in position to throw me up to the second-floor balcony where there are windows.

"1...2...up!" we count and I'm flying.

Yuuto's POV-

"So wait, let me get this straight. You have been taking care of two kids for the past 3 months?" Kyuu asks me.

"Yes," I say and nod.

"And that's why we sneaked out of the school? To go see if they're alright?" he questions.

"Yes, but also to get out of there, I don't know about you but I don't want to spend another day locked up in school," I say.

"Yeah, but when they find out we sneaked out we'll get in trouble, not that I'm complaining or anything. I like being a troublemaker," he says while grinning.

"I'd be surprised if they notice with all of the kids there are. If they do, then that's that and we have a good reason," I say jumping over a large patch of snow.

"So, how far away is this place anyway?" Kyuu asks hopping over the same patch.

"I don't know, maybe three miles?" I say.

"Hmmm,"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing,"

"You're annoying,"

We make our way to the house after some time and our bottom halves are soaked to the bone. When we get there, we see an orange haired girl with her back to us, facing the house.

"Um...excuse me," I call and she jumps and turns toward me.

"Hi, um...can I help you?"

She narrows her eyes at me.

"Oh?" Kyuu murmurs.

"What is your name?" she asks.

"I'm Yuuto...and you are...?"

Suddenly, she smiles.

"I'm Hayami, Toka's friend. She just went inside to open the door from the front, said there was someone she needed to check on," she explains.

"Oooh," Kyuu says.

"Oh well nice to meet you...How did you get inside?" I ask.

She points to the balcony.

"i gave her a lift," she says.

"A lift? From that high?" Kyuu goes.

"I'm not surprised," I say.

"Dude your girlfriend's a total weirdo," Kyuu whispers to me.

"I know," I whisper back.

All of a sudden, the door opens and Toka comes walking out smiling. Then she stops smiling.

"Uh- hey," she says smiling again.

I put up my hand, "Hey,"

"So my name is Kyuu, and I don't like the cold, so can we go inside?" Kyuu asks.

"Whatever man," I say smiling.

Honestly, I'm not even mad about how he's going to be annoying for the next week. We walk up the stairs and we decide to make breakfast for Misaki and Haru. They wake up halfway through and barge into the kitchen with funny expressions.

"Who-?!" Misaki starts then cuts herself off when she sees us.

Toka waves.

"Good morning," she says.

"Morning," Haru says smiling and opening the fridge to get some water.

"You can't just break into someone's house and start making breakfast. I thought you were robbers!"

"Misa, why would robbers be cooking us waffles?" Haru asks.

"I-I don't know, I just woke up and I was tired so I wasn't thinking straight," she says getting embarrassed.

There's a long pause in the kitchen and Kyuu walks to the table to sit down, being lazy as usual. Can't blame him though, it was a long walk through the snow to get here.

"Oh!" Toka yells when he passes by and he flinches.

She actually scared him.

"Holy sh-!" he yells clutching his chest and I laugh.

Toka's face turns concerned.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just remembered something," she says.

"It's okay," he says and shakes it off as he goes to sit down.

"What did you remember?" Haru asks.

"That's right! Misaki," she says turning to face her.

I keep my ears open for what she'll say as I start to cook the waffles.

"The doctor said that whoever did my stitches did really well! That was you, the doctor said you did well," she says in excitement.

"Toka, that makes me really happy and I'm glad you're excited...but...Why was a doctor looking at your stitches?" Misaki says exactly what's going through my head.

"It was no big deal, really. I'm all better now," Toka says and I get the sense she doesn't want to talk about it right now.

"Misaki can you set the table?" I ask.

Misa's smart. I used her full name and looked at her. So, she takes the hint and lets it go for now. After the table is set we all sit down and eat breakfast together while Kyuu goes off telling some story about what happened with him and this nickel the other day. Toka and I meet eyes from across the table. She smiles and I smile back. Then she mouths those three words to me.

I love you, I mouth right back.

hahahaha cheesy love stories are the best. If this bores you don't worry, the next chapter will be back to the soul society. For those who are leaving this story: thanks for clicking on the chapter and giving it a shot, now go find some other story that hopefully updates more frequently than this one has:) And for those who are staying: I love that. Just...I love that:) Thanks for reading and have a wonderful life:)