Disclaimer: I don't own PPG or anything related. …  Unfortunately.

Love Him Not

Butch checked his watch again.  And sighed.

            He had come home to find that his home had been set victim to 'an invisible monster, valiantly defeated by the efforts of his brothers'.  A likely story he wasn't willing to argue with, mind you, and the boys were neatly rewrapped, packaged, and deposited at a neighbor's house with some extra 'living space'.  The room was generously described as being bigger than a small bathroom and smaller than a large closet.  The fact that the boys were sharing one blanket and two pillows was not lightening the matter.  And Butch had only just realized that Buttercup would be calling a dead-line should she actually try and call.

And he wasn't willing to venture to the Utonium household again, especially with her sisters home.

And he really didn't have any other choice.

            So at eleven forty-five and thirteen seconds at night he quietly hovered out of the quilted blanket, away from his snoring brothers, and out of the pea-sized window towards Uptown Pokey Oaks, but not before donning his trench coat.  Casually Butch wrestled through is pockets for his sunglasses (unnecessary but certainly very cool), leaving the rest of his coat inhabitants (wrappers, chewing gum, a bent fork, a broken pen cap and a key) on the floor before exiting the house.

----

            The odds of three distinct people, three super heroine sisters no less, to arrive at the exact same point at the exact same planned time though, for various reasons, were to say the least slimmer than any one person could reduce to after three year of fasting.  It would have taken Blossom less than three seconds to determine the exact number in her head.

If only she'd actually believed it could happen.

            The girls all hard their own distinct ways of knowledge.  While Blossom's was based on hardcore intellect, Bubbles was based on a strong intuition, a profound hunch that she never, ever took for granted. 

Unless, of course, she's broken-hearted and melancholy over the potential loss of the love of her life. 

As far as Buttercup, she was good about motives, and could tell when her sisters were up to something, usually because she was behind it herself.  But it just so happened the Buttercup was no less suspicious than she had always been, and it wasn't until eleven fifty at night that she realized her once non-complicated plan could actually go a stray.

            Buttercup had managed to wear a rather cool looking ensemble, involving a black short sleeve tee-shirt and black jeans with her hair tied in a tight, low ponytail.  It was only eleven forty-three and she had just finished packing the supplies when her supersonic hearing picked up a very quiet squeak. 

Floorboard squeaks, to be precise.  From the room next to hers, to be exact.

            "And if I know my sisters," Buttercup thought to herself, leaning carefully near the door to listen as the sound of someone quietly flying down the stairs was silently heard, "Something is more wrong than usual."

            At eleven forty-four another sister exited through her window.  Buttercup watched as her pink Powerpuff sister zoomed towards downtown.  Buttercup frowned indignantly.  Both had left in her predetermined direction.  So, using her better judgment, she decided to fly to Ruff-Jerk's house rather than apparate and avoid unnecessary complications incase her sisters reached the destination first.  Buttercup apparated quickly outside, neglecting the near midnight air and jetted into the air, keeping higher than the speck that was Blossom in the near-distance.

----

            At this time, Boomer grunted and rolled to the left, unintentionally jamming his elbow into Brick's jaw.  Brick snorted loudly in protest, but never did quite manage to close his mouth again, and started to drool on one of the two pillows.  However, neither of them awoke.

(A/N: -bows- Ahem.  I had to add this little blurb of information so the boys wouldn't feel neglected.  We apologize for the inconvenience. -bows-)

----

            Bubbles shivered slightly, but hope kept the rest of her warm.  She was, after all, only wearing a thin blue nightgown and fuzzy hamster slippers (they looked like Hamtaro, though this has no significance as of late), having forgotten a coat in all the fluster of a midnight rendezvous with her lover!

            She blushed lightly, imagining Blossom's voice saying 'the term rendezvous is out of context when the partner by which one is meeting is not aware of the set time or place, as an example Répondez S'il Vous Plaît, or RSVP, which would imply a sort of awareness of arrival rather than an actual surprise.' 

Despite herself, she glowed that she could remember all that.  Not that she understood a word of it.

But she and Boomer were almost lovers.  Again, Bubbles blushed.  Lovers in the night!

Feeling a bit lightheaded, Bubbles forced herself to land on top of a cloud quickly and catch her breath.  It was then that she caught something in the corner of her eye, moving swiftly into town.  Her blue eyes squinted, following the flying figure across the lower sky.

"Blossom?"  She asked herself thoughtfully, watching her sister hover slow and finally land on top of the City Hall a couple of miles away.  Had she been tailing behind her the whole time?  Curiosity killed the cat, she could hear Blossom reprimanding.

"But I'm not a cat…"  With a blaze of blue light she darted down as well.

----

Blossom had gotten the distinct feeling she'd been being followed.  Professor often referred to this as 'Puff Sense', and she really thought he didn't mean anything serious by it, but perhaps she had started to acquire it as her newest ability.  She chose not to think of it just then, and allowed herself to hide in the shadow of the slowly passing clouds.  The air was particularly cold that evening.

"It's a good thing I wore a sweater, otherwise I'd be freezing."

"You…You ain't just whistling Dixie, sister!"  Blossom gasped and looked up, to see her sister hovering over her head in her night gown.

"Bubbles?"

"You didn't tell me you were leaving."  The blue Powerpuff pouted for a moment, then settled beside her.  Blossom frowned.

"So it was you who were following me!"  But Bubbles wasn't paying the necessary attention.  Blossom suddenly started to feel guilty –leaving the house without even dropping a note to Bubbles at least, and here her sister had followed her and was freezing cold because of it.

Bubbles felt a pang of guilt in her stomach, feeling she should have told Blossom where she was going before she went out in the middle of the night.  Could she have been looking for her?  Bubbles shuddered to think.

"So…"  Blossom trailed off, losing the nerve to question Bubbles and make her feel worse.

"So…"  Answered Bubbles for the same reason.

They sat in silence for a long while.

----

Two black spots flew high through the sky.  Two black spots bumped into each other with a crash.  Two black spots cursed at each other…then paused.

            "Butch?"  Buttercup whispered wildly.

            "Buttercup?!" He exclaimed with equal astonishment.  Buttercup whipped her hair over her shoulder.  "This makes things less complicated."

            She briefly outlined the current predicament, while Butch had settled on a cloud in pensive thought.  And when she was finished, he had decided the most appropriate course of action.

            "Let them meet each other." 

            "Then when we meet them," Buttercup agreed thoughtfully, "we can listen for any startling (she said this with extreme sarcasm) new ideas."

            "Right."  And then, Butch smiled a charming, if not rather sadistic, smile.  Buttercup had the oddest sensation. 

She wanted to punch him.

            Instead, she suppressed the violent tendency and said,
            "Then let's go!  We'll get their faster if we apparate."

They slapped hands (…?) and, in a fizzle of green sparkles and twirls, disappeared.

----

            Blossom cleared her throat.

            "I was just going to see Brick…and Boomer."

Bubbles' quiet face lit up brilliantly.  Blossom felt a tinge of relief.

            "So let's go, and we'll all talk together."  Bubbles jumped to her feet.

            "Okay!"

The two Powerpuffs sped into the night.

----

            Boomer rolled over onto his stomach, clutching his pillow tightly.  He murmured,

            "Bubbles' thighs…"

However it was mostly inaudible with Brick's snoring.

----

            Buttercup had only just felt the sensation of apparating when something curious happened.  She opened her eyes suddenly and found that she was still on the cloud bank were she had just previously left.

She frowned pensively.  This was bad.

            Apparating has laws that Buttercup discovered herself through experience –first of all, when apparating one would feel the sensation of entering the Over World.  It was sort of like having your foot fall asleep all over, she recalled absently.  Time in the Over World moves faster than in the actual world.  What would seem like five minutes in the Over World is little more than three to five seconds normally. 

In the Over World, no matter who at the time is apparating you will never, or hardly ever, see them.  Buttercup knew this from all the times that she and Butch had apparated simultaneously and never once encountered him, though she did recall seeing him flash by once.  Blossom mentioned that it was probably due to the scale of the Over World.

Buttercup sighed.  Going over these mentally was a pain.

            The final and most prevalent rule of apparating was that one could never apparate to a place they'd never been.  It didn't make sense but it seemed like the only possible cause for her to be sent back to her spot.  In order to apparate, you envision the location desired and enter the Over World where, at the end of a mild stretch, you see the destination.  If the place you'd been before has changed in any sort of drastic way you won't register the area and your mind can't reach it.  End of story.

            The green Powerpuff recalled the phone message earlier that evening.

            "A recent monster attack…"  She groaned loudly, "No wonder I can't recognize the house."

            And since she couldn't think of any neighboring houses to apparate to, she'd have to fly over there herself.

----

            Butch arrived in front of the neighbor's house with a fizzle.

            "We can wait in the tree, Butter…Buttercup?"

He looked around.

And cursed.

            He started by apparating far down the street to the site of his totaled house.

            "Maybe she got here anyway."  He reasoned.

No such luck.

            Butch looked down either side of the street, on the roofs and down neighboring streets.  Buttercup, however, was nowhere to be found.  Butch fell onto his back and stared up at the sky.  How could she have ever made his life so complicated?

He stayed there for a long while, then apparated back to the neighbor's house to wait.

----

            Blossom and Bubbles flew in comfortable silence the rest of the way –no longer nervous of the follower, or guilty over their slight deceit with each other, the night air was cold, but refreshing, inspiring silent hopes among them.

            They had almost arrived, flying over the suburban homes near the Boy's house when Bubbles' vision caught movement.

            "Blossom?  Who's that?"  A man dressed in all black was sneaking into a house!

            "A robber!"  Blossom exclaimed, "And an ingenious one at that –no one would suspect that someone would be stupid enough to rob a house so close to the Rowdyruff boy's house!"
            "Let's get him!" They called together and descended rapidly from the sky.

----

            Butch had been searching for the key the neighbor's had given him when he heard a distinctive 'let's get him!'.  He turned around just in time to see two blazing figures fall from above like maniacal angels.  They knocked him far away from the door, face implanted in the ground, and he could feel their presence looming over him.

            "What in the hell…" He groaned.

            "So, thought you were clever in robbing a house close to the Rowdyruff boys, eh?"

He recognized the voice.

Blossom.

Butch could have cried right there on the spot.

            "Surrender or we'll be forced to kick your face!"  Bubbles squealed, almost delightedly, which made Butch question her morals in general.

He tried to say,

            "This isn't what you think…"  But before he could finish the sentence, they attacked.

----

Brick woke up rather suddenly.

            "Yo!  Yo Boomer, wake up!"  Boomer groaned and rolled over, opening one fuzzy blue eye, then the other.

            "Dude…"  His brother whined, "It's like…one in the morning."

But Brick was listening intently to the quiet shuffle on the front lawn.

            "Do you hear that?"  He asked.  Boomer stopped whining and listened.

            "It sounds like…squeaking…"  There was a moment of consideration.

            "The girls!"

----

            Buttercup's sudden arrival was both fortunate and unfortunate.  On the one side, her seemingly random appearance distracted Blossom and Bubbles long enough for Butch to curl into a protective ball.  On the other hand, it did not explain why she was dressed in all black in a neighborhood far across town.

            "Butch?"  Buttercup exclaimed, deepening the situation slightly.  The remaining Powerpuff girls swiveled their attention to 'the robber', Butch, who uncurled himself slightly and crawled over to the green puff's side, taking an excruciating moment to stand up.  His hair was more tousled than usual.

            "What the heck are you guys doing out here?!" Bubbles shouted, throwing her hands up in the air, "And where did the robber go?"

Silence.

            Blossom sighed.

            "Why are you guys both dressed in black?  And why were you trying to break into the house?!"

Brick and Boomer fell out of the front door.

            "Hi girls!"  They cheered, only slightly sleepy, and stood up.  Boomer looked around with a curious, then suspicious, expression.

            "Did we have a meeting and I missed something?"

The professor stepped out of his car then, crossed his arms and leaned against the door.

            "Good question."

Everyone smiled sheepishly.

End of Part 6

            Sorry to leave you with another cliff hanger –I'm also sorry that I hadn't done much work on the story for a while.  ^.^;;  I've been very busy with school and other things have been calling my attention.  But I did get this chapter out, and it's all for you guys.  Thank you for keeping up with me thus far, and I hope I can get Part 7 out soon!  Byee!