A/N: Oh jeez guys…. Writer's block sucks… So does school, and traveling and a butt-ton of other things… but mostly writer's block.

Breaking Point

Ggio sat in the darkness for a while, just staring at his hands as they rested in his lap. He was desperate for a drink, but he was forcing himself to sit there… making himself be still and think over the issue instead of bringing with him some Dutch courage. He needed a clear head, but it seemed that the lack of alcohol wasn't helping in the slightest.

Rather than being able to think, instead he felt like he was going crazy.

They were finally coming for him? Good, he supposed. He wanted to finish things, he wanted to let things end, to let things rest…

But he didn't want to die, and more than that, he didn't want the mistakes he had made in life to result in anyone else getting killed, least of all the women who were living with him. They weren't home now, but he couldn't expect them to stay out forever- and he knew that if he simply asked them to leave, they never would, especially not if he told them why he wanted them out.

Ggio shook his head, and clasped his hands together until his knuckles turned white. He had a second option, of course. He could do as he had always done, and tuck his tail between his legs, running away before things got really sticky. That was how he had survived for this late in the game, but somehow…. Somehow that seemed wrong. He was done running now. Maybe it was because he was so, so tired… tired of running, and tired of living, maybe. He had been happy, but knowing that the happiness only existed to be snatched away was grating on his will.

Something else dawned in his mind, but he shut it out quickly. A third option. A terrible act with a terrible price… a horrible choice, but the one with the best outcome. It would hurt him, yes, but only him.

Ggio shook his head and bit back a bitter exclamation, reaching for his phone.

He couldn't take it anymore… he needed the company of alcohol and a woman- a woman who he could shed himself of quickly, one who wouldn't judge him for how roughly he might treat her.

He began to dial a familiar number with shaking fingers.

…..

Soi Fon tugged on the sleeve of her shirt uncomfortably, turning an awkward gaze of askance to Yoruichi.

"I really don't think this is something I would normally wear…" she muttered to her friend. The piece of clothing was very brightly colored and tight fitting- no doubt it would have looked good on someone as gregarious as Yoruichi, but the shorter woman felt that the article didn't fit her personality at all.

"Oh, come on, it makes you look… I don't know, less depressing," Yoruichi replied, inspecting her friend closely with an appraising eye.

"I am not depressing!" Soi Fon snorted, "I just know how to be realistic,"

"Uh-huh, I bet that's all. Yup," Yoruichi chuckled, "Fine, if you don't want to take it, you don't have to. I was just putting out suggestions."

"I know, I know…" the dark haired woman sighed, "Sorry, but I'm really just done with shopping for the day,"

"I know what you mean," Yoruichi huffed, rubbing one of her feet with a grimace, "Should we head for home, then?"

"Yes!" Soi Fon cried in relief before stifling her outburst with mild embarrassment. She lifted a small bag, "I got what I really came for anyways,"

"In that case, onward! To the car!" Yoruichi grinned, beginning to march away. Soi Fon helplessly followed her friend to the black vehicle and clambered in to the passenger seat, leaning her head back against the head rest- or against the shoulders of the chair, rather, since she was too short to actually put her head on the headrest itself.

The rest of the ride was taken in relative silence on Soi Fon's part as Yoruichi brought up random bits of information and conversation in order to break up the quiet. Eventually the violet haired woman simply smiled at her friend's tired hush and turned on the radio to put some noise in the car.

The two pulled behind the bar, and there was Ggio's motorcycle where it had been when they left- but parked beside it was a red car. It was a sleek model with a sunroof, a glimmering rosary dangling from the rearview mirror. The interior was meticulously clean, but obviously feminine; there was a tube of lipstick sitting on the dashboard, a notepad with hearts and a neat loopy scrawl on it, and a blouse was folded over the back seat.

Soi Fon narrowed her eyes at this added piece in the décor behind the bar as she climbed out of her own vehicle. Yoruichi was simply looking at it coldly with a calculating gaze, as if trying to absorb the whole personality of its owner based on the items inside.

The dark haired woman forgot her friend for a moment and climbed up the stairs to the back door. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness of the hall, but she had no need of sight in the hall- she had walked down it often enough in the preceding months.

The first thing she noticed upon entering the taproom was the pair of empty beer bottles on the counter- along with a woman's handbag. Her silver eyes flashed at the sight, and she felt something akin to anger rising in her chest. It was more than that, though… a terrible sadness was dredging itself up out of her, an icy tide that flowed under the current of molten fury. The woman tossed her braids over her shoulder with a shake of her head and began to stalk up the stairs to the flat.

Ggio's door was closed, and Mao was mewling at the impenetrable wall of wood, pawing at the gap beneath the entrance without any real vigor, his claws still kept safely in their sheaths.

Without really thinking about it, Soi Fon opened the door to the room, sending the car skittering sideways to avoid getting stepped on.

There, sitting on the bed, was Ggio, shirtless and holding a bottle of alcohol. That in and of itself was not terribly distressing- he had decided to have a drink, so what? He was entitled to do so, every once in a while…

What was distressing was the woman in the room with him. Her top half covered by Ggio's shirt, her legs bare as she only wore a pair of lacey panties to cover herself; Soi Fon could see her bare breasts through the thin cloth of the shirt, and she felt her rage build.

The woman was pretty- beautiful even. Her hair was similar in color to Yoruichi's, and wavy, her bangs pinned back by a spiked, circular hairclip. Purple smear of makeup coated her top lids, giving them a heavy, sensual appearance, and her lipstick was an equally dark color. Her nails showed up clearly against her pale skin, having been painted a shade of glimmering black.

Ggio didn't even seem fazed by Soi Fon's entrance, and that was probably what stung Soi Fon the most. He glanced at her with a half-lidded gaze of absolute apathy before he turned back to swirling his drink depressively in his hand.

Soi Fon started forward, and slapped him so hard across the face that her hand stung. The other woman in the room flinched at the sound and appeared offended, but seemed to gauge Ggio's reaction before making a judgment of her own. She was a thorough third party in these events, a spectator for the time being- until the crazy silver eyed woman turned on her, at least.

"What the fuck is this?" Soi Fon hissed at the man who still sat on the bed. He stared up at her emotionlessly.

"Exactly what it looks like. Come on, you aren't stupid, I know," Ggio answered in an equally toneless manner as his face portrayed. He seemed to be making an effort to remain neutral and uninvolved through the proceedings, though a red mark was already blooming across his cheek where he had been hit.

"But… why?" Soi Fon muttered furiously, not quite sure why she was keeping her voice down. His blatant answer had shocked her.

"Why not?" Ggio replied with a shrug.

"W-why…" Soi Fon stammered, so angry she temporarily forgot how to speak, how to breathe even, "You said you loved me! Did that mean nothing?"

Ggio stood now, looking down his nose at the woman before him.

"You tell me, little bee? Did you really put that must trust in the words of a liar? I can put on any mask I so choose and play any part I want to get anything I need. I used you to get the jewels- albeit with a little unexpected cost,"- he tapped his scarred shoulder- "And now that we've both fulfilled our ends of the deal we set up, I have no reason to keep you around anymore. Your cut of the profit is on one of the tables downstairs, so you might as well take it and go. Take Mao too, if you like, I don't give a damn either way."

"So everything… everything you ever said to me was a lie?" Soi Fon asked, her small body tensing with impotent rage. It was taking every fiber of her self control to keep from lunging at the man before her and trying to tear him apart for the pain he was causing her.

"No, not everything… when I told you I was a liar and a thief without a shred of good in me, that wasn't a lie."

"You son of a bitch," the silver eyed woman snarled, her voice shaking with suppressed rage and maybe even tears, "You motherfucking son of a bitch."

"Yeah, yeah," Ggio answered frigidly, "Like I haven't heard anything you can say to me at this point already. Just take your cut and get out."

"You-"

"Don't you understand?" the ochre eyed man snapped, finally losing patience, "I don't need you! Take your stuff, and get the fuck out!"

Soi Fon stood speechless for a moment, her eyes darting to the cruelly smirking mouth of the woman who stood across the room in Ggio's shirt. Her violet eyes conveyed clear, unabashed pleasure at the other woman's pain, and that broke the silver eyed woman.

"Fine," she said hollowly, turning on heel to leave. She stopped in the doorway to give Ggio the bird, "Fuck you,"

With that, she picked Mao up off the floor and walked away, not even deigning to look back- she might have, if she hadn't wanted to give the other woman the satisfaction of seeing tears in her steel-colored eyes.

…..

Ggio slumped back on the bed, putting his head in his hands.

"Fuck," he muttered hoarsely, "Fuck, Cirucci, what the hell did I just do?"

"You succeeded in getting rid of a girl for her own good, that's what, you idiot. I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you had short term memory loss as well," the violet haired woman replied, pulling her slacks back on and adjusting them shamelessly.

"This isn't the time for jokes," Ggio whispered, passing on hand over his face, "I know. I know why I did it, but… shit, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"I bet,"

"I… look, just… thanks for helping out, Cirucci," the man said so quietly it almost was inaudible.

"Oh, yeah, it wasn't difficult," Cirucci answered cynically, with a bite of sarcasm and bitterness in her tone, "I'm basically known for being the office tramp."

Ggio was silent, causing the woman to look up from fixing her shirt, having stripped the other one off and tossed it on the bed.

"If you didn't want her to leave, why did you do this?" she asked, her voice dropping to a more gentle, sympathetic tone as she walked to sit beside Ggio on the bed, laying her hand on his shoulder, "You could have done something else- anything else. You could have kept her with you, or left together, or even sent her away without all of… this."

"No," Ggio whispered, "I couldn't have done any of that. I wouldn't put her in that sort of danger… at least now she can go and smile somewhere safe… she can smile, even if I can't see it after this."

"Ggio… just tell me what's going to happen, okay? You called and said you needed a last favor… you make it sound like you're going to die."

"I am. Aizen's alive, and he's apparently had enough of my shit- he's coming to finish things. I couldn't let Soi Fon get involved in this anymore… so…"

"You really love her, huh?"

"Yes, Cirucci,"

The woman gained her feet, and looked down at the man she had known for so long. She laid a hand on top of his head and stroked his bangs in an almost motherly movement.

"You're a good man, Ggiovanni. I never would have expected it from the way you behaved when we were kids, but you're a good man," she then added as she left, in a sorrowful attempt at humor, "Call me, babe."

"If I survive, then I'll see you tomorrow," Ggio answered with a travesty of a smirk, "And if you see the little bee on the way out, keep your distance… she can sting."

Cirucci nodded, and was gone.

….

Yoruichi stood perfectly still as the woman called Cirucci walked by her. The pair caught each others' eye, and in an instant a mutual understanding passed between them, and Cirucci continued down the hall.

She had understood that Yoruichi had heard the whole conversation… she knew, and because of that she went on her way. The woman with the hairclip and the handbag exited the bar cautiously, hoping beyond hope that something could be done for her miserable, fading friend.

Yoruichi had understood that in that gaze there was no guile. Cirucci had done as she had been asked, for the good of Soi Fon and because Ggio had asked her to, not because she enjoyed destroying people. Yoruichi knew, and because of that she stepped in to Ggio's room without hesitation.

"You're an idiot," she said quietly. Ggio's head snapped up, and the violet haired woman could see rage flashing in his gaze along with tears. The anger there seemed to stem from the fact that Yoruichi had caught him in a moment of weakness, and he lashed out at her, the emotional stress from the day fraying his self control.

"And what was I supposed to do?" he hissed at her from the bed, wiping away a stray tear with the heel of his hand, "Huh? Tell me!"

"I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing," the woman replied evenly, "I guess that makes us both idiots."

"Hey, Yoruichi?" Ggio started, his voice rough, "Don't tell her. Promise me you won't tell her. Don't even tell her after I'm long gone… she doesn't need to grieve over someone like me."

"I promise," Yoruichi murmured, and this time, Ggio didn't bother to wipe away his tears.