Author's Note: Okay, this is a little shorter than the other ones, but I'm hoping the next few chapters will be longer. And hopefully, you'll get a lot of chapters in succession because the weekend is coming up and I'm hopinh to get this finished ASAP.

Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, UkiMatsu would be the main coupling and it wouldn't be as good as it is, so yeah, still belongs to Tite Kubo

"We're here to ask you whether you'll participate in a little race with us" I was surprised to hear Rukia so calm.

"What would this race entail?" Envy ran his fingers through his silver hair and looked uninterested as he asked.

"The first to find Chastity would win" Ichigo explained. I was stunned to see the loud mouth red head so quiet and in control of his temper. I looked around and all of the other Sins seemed to be deep in thought about this. I broke the short silence that followed Ichigo's statement.

"I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I'm willing to take you up on that. What's the prize for winning?" I asked curiously, and it was Diligence who answered.

"The winning team won't be attacked by the losing one for a year" He calmly and uninterestedly replied, shrugging it off like it had nothing to do with him. I thought this over and it sounded like a good idea. A year's worth of peace and quiet. I could certainly live with that. Who knew? Maybe we could become more civil towards each other within that year, that might even lead on to us all becoming friends and properly being able to work with each other. I nodded.

"I'm in." The other Sins looked at me like I was crazy, but I shrugged it off. I honestly couldn't care what they thought of me anymore. It's not like any of them would care if I did die, after all, I was dispensable and the Sins already proved that they showed no remorse for any who fell in combat. I got up and turned to leave before I heard Byakuya say "Okay, we'll take you up on your challenge". I smiled and walked out, going upstairs to finish tending to my wounds.

A few weeks later and we'd heard nothing more from the Virtues, so we guessed they hadn't found Chastity, just as we hadn't. I'd spent more and more time away from the Sins and with Shiro instead, making sure he was recovering properly. As time had passed, he and I had grown much closer. I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to him and I felt like I'd known him all my life. This particular day we were chatting about nothing special and I didn't notice Shiro subtly move closer to me until he was sitting right next to me, our hips touching. I blushed and he laid one of his strong, yet gentle hands over one of my long, slender ones. I laced my fingers with his gently before I even realised what I was doing, but I sighed happily.

I looked over at him and smiled as I saw him blush. He looked so cute and I carefully stroked a strand of his white hair away from his face, making him blush more.

"Rangiku?" He started uncertainly. I looked him in the eyes, smiling.

"Yes?"

"I know it might be too soon to say this for certain but... I think I love you" Shiro blushed even worse and looked away from me in embarrassment. I sat there in shock. He loved me? But how? I'm a Sin... an abomination of nature... I shouldn't even exist anymore... But then, why were my feelings betraying my thoughts? I pulled Juushiro into a close embrace and held him.

"I love you too" I whispered into his ear as I rested my head on his shoulder. He tightened his grip on me and smiled. I felt safe in his arms, like nothing could ever go wrong. I didn't realise that what fate had in store for us would not be nice or easy.