Whew! New chapter everybody!! This chapter is a long one and I hope you don't end up falling asleep half way through this {-D . Then again I also hope I never get arrested for driving without a license (I have suddenly lost my point here...)
Anyway, for this chapter I made use of a song at the end, so I'd better disclaim it:
Disclaimer: "I do not own the lyrics to Angels Cry by Everlife". Yup, that ought to keep pesky lawyers away.
Ok, one last thing. This story is rated M, kind of why there's a blue M somwhere above this text... Um...so if you're easily offended by reading about your favourite characters engaging in appallingly irresponsible sex, I'd suggest you stop reading right um...HERE.
That way you won't be offended and we can stay friends! |-D.
Okay, I'm pretty much done now. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter, since it took me ages to finish.
Mmuah!! Enjoy!!
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December 22nd
The gleaming SUV carefully maneuvered into the gap between two cars, the sound of muffled crunching rising from where rubber met crushed ice. Headlights brightened as brakes were applied, then they died. The back seat door swung open first.
"I love you more...no, I love you more....no, I love you more....." were the first words that escaped the confines of the vehicle to meet the winter air. The words belonged to Yuzu, and they were shortly followed bytheir owner, who had a dull yellow cell phone to her ear. With some effort, she shut the door behind her, then returned her attention to her phone, a goofy grin pasted upon her small face.
The driver and passenger doors opened simultaneously and Ichigo and Tatsuki emerged, similar expressions of fatigue on their faces.
The reconciliation of Yuzu and her boyfriend had gone well, with Yuzu and Oliver holding each other, faces inches apart, whispering apologies and 'I-love-you's. To be completely honest, it had gone a little too well. So well, that the two had decided to keep in uninterrupted touch by cell through out the entire 4 or so hour period that Oliver would remain in Japan. Can you say 'purgatory'?
"I miss you more...no, I miss you more...no, Imiss you more....I'm going to hang up...no you hang up first....no you hang up first...no you hang up first...(gasp...)...Oh, I thought you'd hung up (giggling) No, of course not. I miss you. No, I miss you more..."
Ichigo had wanted to ram the car into a Buick truck.
"Way to go Dr. Love." Tatsuki had grumbled, shoving Ichigo gently as he drove. But of course, she had just been teasing.
"Yuzu." Ichigo called after his sister who had already began towards the apartment building.
Yuzu turned, and then suddenly looked like she'd almost forgotten something. "Hold on for a sec." she breathed into her phone.
Then she ran into the arms of her brother, taking Ichigo by surprise. She buried her head into his jacket for a moment. Ichigo was taken aback at first. But slowly, his arms went round her.
Her voice was smothered by the fabric: "Thank you, Nii-san." She looked up into his rough kind face. And she smiled.
Ichigo smiled back but said nothing.
She pulled from the hug and winked.
"Actually I was going to say go right to bed." Ichigo said under his breath. But she was already on the stairs that led to the building.
Tatsuki took a place by his side to watch the happy teenager climb and go through the door.
"So how did you know Oliver was for real?" Tatsuki asked, folding her arms and regarding the orchestrator of the two teenagers' makeup.
"Who chucks rocks at your window at 1 am?" Ichigo said dully.
"Point taken."
They started towards the apartment building...
"Stop!" Tatsuki hissed.
Ichigo froze, his heart rate immediately switching to overdrive. Tatsuki's restraining hand rested on his chest. "Don't make a sound..."
"Wha-"
"Shh!!"
The two remained still. Very very still. Ichigo's eyes danced, scouring their surroundings, trying to pinpoint the source of his friend's sudden alarm. He saw nothing. Nevertheless, every shadow, every silhouette, was suddenly abode for something sinister.
"There...in the darkness." Tatsuki whispered, trying not move her mouth through unnecessary motions.
Ichigo followed Tatsuki's eyes. Tatsuki was looking at a dead tree not far from them. To be fair, the tree was kind of shadowy. It kind of reminded Ichigo of...
Then he saw the figure.
"Shit, we're gonna get mugged." Ichigo whispered back.
"I thought your neighbourhood was safe!" Tatsuki hissed again.
"It is."
"Is it? Then maybe that guy's just here at 1 am giving out free coupons!"
"What the fuck? You're a martial artist! What're you afraid of?"
"I don't move well in cold weather. If he has a knife; easy, I'll break his neck faster than he can say 'snap'-"
"Easy, Tiger."
"-but if he has a gun, sorry, we're screwed."
Ichigo was just about to say something that wasn't very polite, when the figure stepped into the light. The figure was a woman's.
"Inoue." Tatsuki gasped.
Ichigo's heart stopped.
It was Orihime Inoue. She was walking towards them. Apparently, she'd been waiting for a while. Ichigo suddenly wondered if a mugger would have been a better turn of events. At least his mouth wouldn't fall asleep in front of a mugger.
"Inoue, what on earth are you doing here at this time of the morning?!" Tatsuki's voice was already protective, and her arms flew round her best friend. Ichigo was certain the dramatics were more from relief that they wouldn't be getting shot by a mugger that morning than from concern for Orihime Inoue. Then again, maybe not.
Their friend was apologetic in her demeanor. "I'm really sorry. I know this is a crazy time. It's just Matt."
Tatsuki pulled away, her balled fists already by her side. "Did he call off the engagement?!? That son of a BITCH!!"
"No, no, nothing like that."
"Oh." Tatsuki said flatly. "I take my words back then."
Inoue continued. "It's just, I woke up earlier this morning and he wasn't in bed."
Both Tatsuki and Ichigo were taken aback by this information.
"Are you sure?" Tatsuki sounded incredulous. "Did you check the bar?"
Inoue nodded.
"The lounge? The pool?"
"Yes, yes, I looked everywhere. I even tried all the free bathrooms, just in case- you know- he was..." Inoue was thoroughly embarrassed at this point, "...trying some...self-exploration."
Too much information.
"Um...I'm sure he just needed something really bad. Sometimes I will kill for some nachos. Maybe all he needs are some nachos." Tatsuki tried to comfort. "He'll be back. You'll see."
"He went out the window."
There was a new kind of silence.
Tatsuki tried to shrug it off. "Like I said, nachos."
Ichigo cleared his throat. "Let's go in, its cold out here."
Inoue met his gaze with a wave of recognition, like she was noticing his presence for the first time since her appearance. "Oh, good morning Ichigo."
Ichigo bit his tongue. "Good morning, Inoue. Sorry but you're going to have to sleep with Tatsuki. All the rooms are full. Even mine. I sleep on the couch."
"That's fine." Inoue said, smiling slightly. "I'm really sorry to intrude like this."
"Who's intruding?" Ichigo muttered, leading them up the stairs to the building. "You were supposed to be sleeping here anyway." He opened the door for them and Tatsuki took the lead. She seemed to sense that something else was bothering Inoue and without turning back, she strode across the lobby and took the stairs.
Ichigo felt Inoue's hand pull him back. "Don't go yet."
Ichigo stayed, his mind numb from anticipation. Why had she stopped him? Was she going to...
He turned around to face his ex-girlfriend, stuffing his already moist palms into his pockets. "I'm listening."
Inoue stared at him, seemingly at a loss for words. "Um..." She suddenly noticed that her hand was still resting on Ichigo's arm. She took it off and cleared her throat. "We never finished our conversation. You know...before the- taxi thing..."
Ichigo bit his lip. He really wanted to continue their conversation but, "At this hour?", he asked.
Inoue smiled. "Tomorrow morning then."
"Provided your boyfriend doesn't come here to sweep you away." Ichigo said.
"Fiance, Ichigo." she corrected. "Please get used to it."
"I am used to it."
"Could you at least answer my question?"
"What question?"
Inoue shook her head, "Don't play dumb Ichigo. You remember."
And Ichigo did remember. He remembered perfectly.
"Ichigo..." Inoue said stepping closer and fixing her eyes on his. "I'm engaged to a wonderful man Ichigo. He's a dunce, I admit. But he's my dunce. And now I want you to think about this." she paused for emphasis. "If you, Ichigo, never had to win me from anybody...could you still say you loved me?"
"Nope." Ichigo frowned. "No clue what you're talking about."
Inoue stared silently at him for a moment, then nodded. She looked away and laughed a small sad laugh. "You don't know the answer yourself, do you?"
Ichigo kept his eyes on a small cigarette burn on the lobby carpet, kicking placidly at it with his foot.
"However..." Inoue said softly. Her voice developed a solemnity to it; a dark solemnity. "That is not why I am here Ichigo."
Suddenly a draft filled the room and Ichigo felt chills stroke at his skin, coaxing goosebumps into rising. Ichigo looked up at Inoue, who this time seemed to be anywhere else but in the room. Her eyes were glassy and she seemed nervous. She bit her lip. Then looked over her shoulder.
"Inoue?" Ichigo began to worry.
"Ichigo..." she said under her breath, almost whispering.
Ichigo looked over Inoue's head. There was nothing outside.
She drew nearer. Nearer. She leaned in. And her lips...
Ichigo's eyes widened.
...bypassed Ichigo's face, coming to a rest inches from Ichigo's ears.
"Do you feel it too, Ichigo?" Her voice was pleading. Frightened. Terrified. "Do you feel it? The Evil?"
Ichigo's eyes widened further. But he couldn't feel anything....
And then suddenly he could.
000
Friends began pouring into Ichigo's apartment 3 hours later; 8:06 am. It only took the first arrival for Ichigo to remember that nothing had been planned for the second day. Mainly because the first to arrive told him so.
"You realize nothing has been planned for today." Uryuu greeted the second the door was opened for him.
Ichigo, who was the one who opened the door for him that morning, swore at the information. What with all the pebble chucking and tea sipping and lover spatting and lover reconciling, Yuzu had not had enough time to plan anything. And after all the events of the earlier morning, Yuzu was sleeping like a log.
Damned Oliver.
"Good morning to you too." Ichigo said grumpily, leaving the door open and walking away.
"You're really sleeping in the living room?" Uryuu said, spotting the string of futons and blankets strewn around the room as he stepped in, closing the door behind him. "Clean up this place at least, Kurosaki Ichigo. You're a disgrace."
But Uryuu's voice was a shadow of a shadow of a whisper in Ichigo's muddled thoughts. All that dominated Ichigo's conscious mind was Coffe...coffee...God, I need coffee... as he shuffled to the kitchen.
When Ichigo returned with his coffee, his futons and blankets had all been neatly folded and piled atop each other (futons below, blankets on top, as God intended). Ichigo took a seat and sipped shamelessly.
"Isn't anyone at all up yet?" Uryuu said, like he couldn't believe it. On most days he was up by 5 am. He was a busy man.
"Mall thing must have weared them out." Ichigo muttered, sipping some more.
"Why are you up?" Uryuu asked.
"Didn't sleep." Ichigo grunted.
"May I know why?"
Ichigo shrugged, his steaming mug meeting his lips again. "Wasn't tired." The truth though, was that he had been unable to go back to sleep after last night. After Inoue had so effectively removed his desire for sleep. Not by what he had felt. But by how suddenly, how stonily, she had walked away after she had made him feel It.
"Do you feel it too, Ichigo...do you feel it? The Evil?"
Inoue had gone right to Tatsuki's room afterwards. It was likely that Tatsuki's presence had aided Inoue's sleep.
Ichigo had no one.
"May I make a suggestion?" Uryuu said.
"Knock yourself out." Ichigo said, emptying his mug.
"Let's not do anything today."
Ichigo looked up at him with raised eyebrows. "And this is a good idea because...?"
Uryuu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Many of these people haven't been in Karakura for years. Let them roam about a bit, visit old friends, favourite places. Give them a chance to remember old times."
Ichigo thought about it. Then he nodded. "Not bad."
Uryuu looked relieved and Ichigo was suddenly suspicious.
"What are you really up to Uryuu?" Ichigo asked as he stood, eager for a refill. Ichigo could have sworn the celebrity designer winked at him but he couldn't be sure, not with that blasted reflection off the half of his glasses.
Uryuu did say though, "A little unfinished business, Kurosaki Ichigo. Actually...its never really began."
000
"You want to have sex?"
"Shhh! Inoue could be back any minute!" Uryuu shushed.
Tatsuki laughed at her long-time partner as she watched him hurry to the door to check the corridor for passer-bys. They were in Tatsuki's room and Inoue had stepped out for a bit.
"No worry." Tatsuki said, pulling Uryuu closer so he could sit next to her on the bed. "She probably won't be back. She was holding her purse, didn't you notice?"
"She'll be back."
"No she won't."
"Yes she will."
"No she won't."
"Believe me, she..."
Tatsuki kissed him.
He kissed back.
Gradually their kissing grew deeper and their lips worked faster over each others. Uryuu moved to nuzzle her neck.
"God, we haven't done this in ages, have we?" Tatsuki said, as Uryuu's warm kisses trailed down to her collar bone. "When was the last time we did this? August? You flew to meet me in Munich, at that hotel...what was it called again?"
"Hotel Konigshof." Uryuu uttered without a wasted second.
"That's the one! Better than Intercontinental whatchamacallit in Sweden that time in July eh?"
"Tatsuki, crude as I may sound: less talk, more tongue"
Tatsuki offered her lips to him again and they kissed for a good two more minutes. Then Tatsuki broke away from it, breathing: "I was worried when I hadn't heard from you in so long."
"Sorry. Business. You didn't call either."
Tatsuki shrugged. "Business."
"But now..." Uryuu said slowly, trying to get this business back on track. "...we have the room all to ourselves."
"Oh?"
"Ichigo has nothing planned for today. We can stay in the room..." he kissed her again. "And catch up."
Tatsuki smiled. Sounded like a plan.
You see, Uryuu and Tatsuki had had a tiny secret for the past few years. Back then, it had been tiny because it had been merely a love interest. And then it had developed into a small one night fling in Tokyo this one time when they happened to find each other at a hotel on business. No big deal. Really.
But like a little white lie, it had grown, with a small one night fling becoming a string of one night flings, with a string of one night flings becoming a full blown sexual ruckus (which meant sex anytime they could help it). However they both had demanding jobs. Jobs that had to be done. And so they came up with a monthly plan: sex once a month in a selected hotel. Their addiction to each other had escalated to the point where even the ridiculously vast distances their jobs placed between them proved ineffective in keeping them away from each other. When Tatsuki had told Ichigo she had been to 5 countries, it had been an outrageous, dirty lie.
Tatsuki and Uryuu had loved their bodies through half the major cities in the world, always in hotels...in gradually more expensive hotels as their careers grew more rewarding over the years. They flew from wherever they found themselves once every month, rendezvousing like secret lovers.
They had told no one.
Their last meeting however, had resulted in a small squabble (something about a taboo sexual position, neither could remember which one exactly...).
They had, for the rest of the year, let business consume their time. Then they heard of Ichigo's Christmas reunion. And two days ago, when Uryuu had arrived and come upstairs to find her, it had been like nothing had happened. If anything, it seemed things had gotten better...
"Have you been working out?" Tatsuki whispered in surprise as her fingers played delicately over chiseled tummy muscles.
"Office gym." Uryuu said between kisses. "It's nothing of importance."
"Oh..." she could hardly breathe. His kisses...so divine. "Holy...woah....I've missed this..."
"Just wait till I try This..." he said, emphasizing with a mysterious air on the work 'This' as he began slipping off her blouse.
"'This?'" Tatsuki repeated with a small smile.
"With a capital 'T'."
The blouse was just about to come off when...
"Sorry I left my den...Oh!!"
Inoue was back in the room, her eyes wider than saucers.
Uryuu very very unprofessionally let a out a "Shit."
"I'm very sorry." Inoue said desperately shielding her eyes with trembling hands. She tried manoeuvering her way to the bathroom blind whilst Tatsuki, flustered, pulled her blouse back on.
In a couple of very long minutes (and after stumbling into virtually every stationary object in the room), Inoue successfully retrieved her dental floss (why did she carry around dental floss??) and left the room.
Seldom had moments of silence been that deafening, that awkward.
Finally Uryuu said something:
"Told you she would come back."
000
The living room was getting packed. Friends were arriving and the number of mobile bodies was rising fast. The air was moistening and warming up from excess carbon dioxide and a faint inviting smell of coffee lingered in the air. There was a lot of hunting and rummaging through Ichigo's cupboards and drawers and cabinets and refrigerators...
Bagels, tea, bread, fruit, strips of bacon sizzling in a pan...steam rising...Ichigo's kitchen was a mad house.
Ichigo sat at his kitchen table and watched his food disappear. Bodies brushed past him. There was hardly enough room to breathe.
Somebody pulled up a stool and sat next to him.
"Morning Ichigo." Chizuru flashed a smile.
"Heya." Ichigo replied tiredly.
"Can I take your order?" a voice said right next to Ichigo.
Ichigo turned to his right. His vein popped. "It's you!!" Ichigo spat. Party-Naked guy! And dammit, he was wearing the same shirt!
But before Ichigo could even say anything, Chizuru was going: "Yeah, some eggs would be nice. Sunny side up. No salt. Ew. Finish that with a cup of ryokucha and I could marry you."
"Coming right up." And just like that, Party-Naked guy was gone.
Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.
"Rumour says there's no plan for today? We can do whatever we want?" Chizuru inquired.
Ichigo sighed. "Yes. So far as its not in my house."
Chizuru smiled a very small, very private smile. Ichigo noticed it anyway.
"What are you really up to?" Ichigo asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.
She smiled wider. "You'll see."
"Ichigo!" A hand grabbed at Ichigo's shoulder.
Ichigo turned to see Renji. "What?"
"Hey, how expensive is that carpet in your living room?"
Ichigo frowned. "It's velvet. Why?"
Renji cleared his throat. "Small problem."
Ichigo looked horrified. "Please tell me its water."
"It is." Renji assured. "With coffee in it."
The speed with which Ichigo abandoned his stool was purely legendary. On his way, he grabbed some paper towels and "(Hey that's mine!" Isshin exclaimed) a glass of water. He shimmied through, avoiding bodies, turning 360s, even diving over an abandoned knapsack, just so that he could be....stopped by Inoue?
"Ichigo."
Ichigo screeched to a halt. "Inoue...um...you okay? You look a little pale."
"Oh I'm great." she said with a very weird fake smile. "Just great. Never been greater. Great-great-great. Don't look at me that way like I've seen something..."
"I'm not loo-"
"Nope. Nothing sexual or weird like that." She ran a hand through her hair and sniffed.
"Um, okay."
"Could I borrow your phone? Mine's dead. I wanna make a quick call. I'll only be a few seconds, I swear."
"Sure sure. Totally understandable." He forked over his cell.
"Thank you."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." She looked at him and smiled. Genuinely this time. "Come to think of it, yeah, I'm really happy. I'm really glad."
Ichigo nodded, not understanding a thing that was going on. And...shit, by now the stain was permanent anyway.
"They can do it here, Ichigo. They really can." Inoue said, more to herself than Ichigo. Then she snapped back to the present and walked away, sliding the cell open.
Ichigo was a hundred percent perplexed by now. "They can do it here..." He shook his head and shrugged.
000
"We can-not do it here." Tatsuki was saying.
She was packing something into a small handbag.
"Fine." Uryuu said, straightening his tie. "We could go to my apartment."
"Total privacy." Tatsuki said and sighed dreamily. "Just like we're used to. One big empty apartment all to ourselves." She planted a kiss on her boyfriend's lips. "Just us. Then..." she smiled. "...you can show me that This you were promising..."
Uryuu smiled. "With a capital 'T'."
She kissed him again. And again. Then again.
They paused.
"Or maybe we can just stay here."
Tatsuki was relieved. "Oh. Yes. Lets."
The handbag dropped and so did they, sinking into the heavenly softness of the bed, kissing up a storm. Uryuu's tie began to loosen. And Tatsuki began to kick of her shoes. But then...
"Tatsuki-san, can I borrow your..." There was a tiny squeal.
Tatsuki was so panicked, she pushed her boyfriend off a little harder than she had meant to and Uryuu's body met the carpeted floor with a dull thump. Yuzu just stayed at the door, her features frozen in a state of absolute dismay.
Uryuu's voice floated from the floor: "Maybe my apartment is a better option after all."
Tatsuki gave Yuzu an apologetic smile.
Then she rose to get her handbag.
000
The vibration tickled his thigh in pulses, each pulse more irritating than the last.
Matt Peterson picked his cell from his pocket and very briefly glanced at its screen. It was his fiancee. Oh dear.
"Mornin' baby." he greeted cheerfully into his phone. "Yes, yes, I know...I'm so...no I did not. I'm coming over in ju...baby, listen I....I'm in our hotel room right now..."
He was not.
"...In fact I'm on my way right now..."
He was not.
He kicked at a piece of concrete debris.
"...I'll be there in a few minutes. Yes. Yes. I will baby. Ok....I lov-" -Click-
Matt stared sheepishly at his cell phone. Great now his fiancee was mad at him. Ah, if only he could have helped it.
But he could not.
Matt Peterson walked out of the alleyway. Out of the darkness into the sun.
It would be hours before the wreckage in the darkness would be found. And when it did...
...they would marvel at the sheer destruction.
000
"Do you think we should have just locked the door?" Uryuu said as he shut his door and inserted his car key in the ignition.
Tatsuki, who was already buckled up in the passenger seat, resisted the urge to swear. "Damn!" she resorted to. "How did we not think of that??" She looked out the window, up at the window she knew belonged to her room.
"Probably too much blood in all the wrong places." He started the car. And they were off.
"This is nice." Tatsuki commented. "Us driving together like this. We're like..." Tatsuki was careful here. "...a real couple." She watched Uryuu for any reactions. None. She could breathe again.
Uryuu said nothing for a while. Then he said:
"I've missed you."
The statement was clear out of the blue and Tatsuki was taken completely by surprise. She swallowed. "What did you say?"
"I said I've missed you." Uryuu repeated gently. "Is that so weird?"
Tatsuki pursed her lips. Yes, it was actually. Because Tatsuki could not explain why, but Uryuu and her never used...um ...would 'intimate words' be the right expression? Sure they said stuff like, "I love your dress." and "That's a great suit". But things like "I've missed you" only came in the very stressed and altogether orgasmic forms of "Oh...God!! I've missed you..." during a good giving-to. And as for 'I love you'...not even during sex.
"I guess it's not so weird." Tatsuki finally said. "I mean, we've been seeing each other for 3 years."
Uryuu nodded.
Silence.
"I mean we're taking it slow, right?" Tatsuki said, and then regretted it immediately. What an incredibly dumb thing to say! Slow her ass. The guy'd ridden her like a F430 Ferrari already. She suddenly felt comparable to a whore.
"Uryuu, I don't think I want to do this anymore." Tatsuki whispered, her heart stopping. Was he going to get mad?
"Don't want to do what?" Uryuu asked, his mind on the road.
"I don't want to sleep with you."
"Who doesn't want to sleep with me?" Uryuu's mind was still elsewhere.
"Uryuu Ishida I'm not going to fuck you!"
Uryuu heard that. The car came to a screeching stop and almost simultaneously, the blaring horns began behind them. They were jerked forward, then shoved back into their seats by the opposing forces.
"Excuse me?" Uryuu gawked at her through his designer glasses.
"I'm sorry." Tatsuki apologized. "I just can't continue with this...all this constant, mindless, amazing mind-blowing sex."
Uryuu looked like he was going to stab himself with a pitchfork. "Tatsuki, please don't do this to me."
"Why?" Tatsuki wanted to know, "That's all this relationship is. Ever since that night in Tokyo, that's all we've done. In our defence, we were incredibly stressed out and ever since then it's been great, um, de-stressing with you. But I can't keep doing this."
"I have a jacuzzi."
"What?"
"And a sauna."
"You've got to be kidding me! That's not going to work."
"Wine." Uryuu kept bargaining. "Petrus."
"Not gonna work Uryuu."
"Foot rub." Uryuu's voice got gentler.
"Stop it."
"Chocolate." Gentler still. "You know you love Kaori."
By now Tatsuki was practically weeping. "Please stop it."
"And..." Uryuu added. "Don't forget about that This I promised."
"With a capital 'T'." Tatsuki droned like zombie to herself.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodshewasn'tgonnadothisshewasn'tgonnadothisshewasn'tgonnadothisshewasn'tgonnadothis...
"Get us there in 5 minutes and you have a deal."
Uryuu slammed on the accelerator. For the second time that day, they were thrown back into their seats as the car shot forward, careening, skidding and weaving its way through the cars ahead.
Unconsciously Tatsuki gripped the sides of her seat.
Okay maybe she was a -tiny- slut.
000
Back at Ichigo's apartment, a large number of his visitor's, after learning that there was no plan for the day, had gradually escaped the apartment, leaving behind a mess that gave Ichigo a migraine from just looking at it.
"Well this is what I get for inviting everyone over and giving them free shelter, free food and free booze." Ichigo grumbled, surveying the disaster that was his apartment. "Yeah I'm pure evil."
He needed to call a cleaners' service. But then he remembered Inoue had his phone.
"Inoue?" he called, starting towards the stairs.
"She's not up there." Chizuru answered as she climbed down, Byakuya following close behind (to Ichigo's surprise).
"Are you two..." Ichigo asked carefully, doubting his own question. "...going out? Together?"
Chizuru flashed the most I-can't-believe-it-either grin at Ichigo. "I'm just going to show him around Karakura. Then maybe show him where I live."
Ichigo wasn't sure whether he wanted to trust Chizuru with the nobility. He hesitated, then called a "Don't be out late!" after them like a worried parent, as they left the apartment, shutting the door behind them. God, he hoped Chizuru knew what she was doing. He didn't want Rukia's brother back hammered. He didn't want him back stoned. And he definitely didn't want him back laid.
Rukia and Renji came down next, seconds later.
"Does anyone know where Inoue is?" Ichigo questioned as they climbed down carefully (carefully because of Rukia's condition. Was it possible Rukia's stomach was growing even larger?)
"No, I think we're the last to come down." Renji said.
"Yuzu is still up there." Rukia reminded her husband. "She came to our room about half an hour ago stuttering something about Tatsuki but I could hardly hear what she was saying."
"Oh yeah." Renji said, remembering now. "Then she dropped like a stone on our bed and was out like a light."
Ichigo sighed. "Last time I let her go anywhere at 2 am."
"This place looks like shit." Renji commented. "You need help?"
"Nah, I'll have the cleaners in. Where are you two going?"
"We're meeting Urahara at his old place. Quick checkup."
Ichigo immediately noticed that Renji was doing more of the talking than Rukia. That wasn't right. "Rukia..." Ichigo's eyes widened in dismay. "...you're sick aren't you?"
"I'm fine." Rukia grumbled. "You two are just paranoid."
"She threw up her tea." Renji ratted on his wife.
"Well what did you expect?! It was horrible tea?!! Not a trace of chocolate anywhere!!"
"We're seeing Urahara anyway." Renji said coolly.
"Hmph." Rukia yanked her hand from her husband's and folded her arms defiantly.
Regardless, both were out of the apartment in a few minutes and Ichigo suddenly felt very lonely. He was just beginning to wonder what he was going to do with himself all day, when he heard her voice behind him:
"I'm finished. Thank you."
Ichigo turned to see Orihime Inoue, offering his phone back to him, looking cross. Ichigo received his phone, wanting to ask her who she called, but not sure if he would like the answer.
"So...are you going home?" Ichigo asked.
Inoue forced a smile. "No. Not for a while." She looked around the living room. "This place looks like a tornado hit it."
Ichigo scratched his mess of hair. "Yeah. I was just about to call the cleaners."
"Cleaners?" Inoue stooped down to pick up an empty sugar packet. "You need to call cleaners for this?"
"Well I can't do this alone." Ichigo defended.
Inoue closed the distance between them and dangled the sugar packet in front of his face. She smiled softly. "Then ask for help."
Ichigo blinked.
"Oh I'm sorry. I forgot." Inoue stooped to pick another sugar packet. She rose, her face closer to Ichigo's as she did. "You're allergic to help."
Ichigo stared down at the synthetically dark haired woman. "It's not going to be easy."
"I never said it was." she said, picking up more sugar packets.
Ichigo joined her.
"And besides..." Inoue continued. "That way we can finish with our talk."
Ichigo stood, expression stoic. "What talk? We've never had any..." The words were hardly out of his mouth when he had the wind knocked out of him by a well-aimed cushion.
"Don't give me any more of that." Inoue said, picking up another cushion. "What're you so afraid of Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"You're supposed to be helping me to clean up. What're you doing?" Ichigo complained. He dodged another flying cushion.
"Do I intimidate you that much?"
"I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Is it the shoes?" Inoue joked, picking up another cushion. "It's got to be the shoes." She was wearing a pair of knee high boots. Appliqued on their sides were scarlet coloured skulls.
"Yeah. Of course." Ichigo joked back sarcastically. "Those things are terrifying. What were you thinking?"
She flung the cushion at him. He caught it with a hand, only half trying.
"If I remember correctly, one of us was addicted to similar morbid fashion just a few years ago." she defended.
"So you bought those because of me?"
"Well it sure wasn't because of Matt." Inoue said. "He's more of a dragon person."
"He is." Ichigo nodded, remembering the shopping trip. He shuddered. Returning to the present, he was surprised to see Inoue slipping out of her boots. Soon she was on the carpet in woollen stockings.
"What're you doing?" Ichigo asked, a little startled.
Inoue ignored the question. "Anything else that scares you?"
"What?"
"Is it the shades?" She took them out of her jacket pocket. And flung them out the window!!
"Those had to be expensive." Ichigo awed under his breath.
"Anything else?" Inoue was letting her jacket drop to the ground.
Ichigo was at loss for words. Then "Inoue, you don't have to do this."
"Oh how could I forget?" Inoue said, smiling. "Hold on a sec." She slipped past him to the kitchen.
Ichigo heard her turn on the taps, and run the water for about a minute. Then he heard her return behind him. But he didn't turn around. Then she told him to.
And he did.
Inoue's hair was red again. It stuck to her forehead in sloppy matted locks, and hung to her shoulders in awful lusterless clumps. It dripped auburn tinged water unto the carpet below and large drops of the stuff streamed down her face and into her blouse. It brushed against the neck and shoulders of her clothes and began to fade them into a transparent light brown.
Ichigo gawked. Then smiled. Then chuckled lightly. "Nah, I think you're way scarier now."
A last cushion came flying at him but he let it smack him in the face. Then he let it fall to the carpet.
Inoue picked a wet strand of hair from her eye. "Hello Kurosaki-kun."
Ichigo smiled. "Hello Inoue."
000
On a daily basis, Uryuu Ishida was driven around. He was driven to work. He was driven back. He was driven when he had a meeting. And he was driven when the meeting was over. It was on the rare occasion that Uryuu drove himself anywhere. But on this particular day, Uryuu was more than thankful he was the one driving.
Because they made it to his house with barely 30 seconds to spare.
"We're here." he announced, parking them tightly between two cars with such speed and yet precision that Tatsuki was quite certain she would only ever see parking like that again in a movie.
They leapt out the car, slamming their doors behind them and nearly got ran over by a delivery truck. Nevertheless, they shot across the street to Uryuu's apartment building, their feet multiple blurs as they ascended the stairs that led to the door.
"20 seconds." Tatsuki warned.
They burst into the building, the swiveling doors spinning like mad things.
"Elevator's a waste of time. Stairs." Uryuu ordered.
They rushed up winding stairs, making their way up three landings. On the fourth landing, Uryuu yanked his lover along, pushing through a swinging door unto his floor.
First door, second door, third door to their right...
Uryuu pulled out a set of access cards.
"10 seconds." Tatsuki's voice was ominous.
Uryuu fumbled and the cards fell to the floor. "Dammit!!!" He fell to his knees, shifting through the mess of cards with a hand. He could not find the cursed card!!
"Time up." Tatsuki announced, grinning like a cheshire cat.
"Dammit!!" Uryuu repeated. His hands went up to his face in defeat. He swore again, and then reluctantly started sorting his cards out. Finally he rose with the right card in hand, a metallic blue one. "So close." he muttered, disappointed.
Tatsuki grinned, amused. She'd never seen Uryuu lose his gentlemanly demeanor this way. It was hilarious. Especially because: "Indicator's green." she said, placing a hand on the door. "It's already open."
The door swung open gently, inviting its owner and his guest in.
Uryuu just stared into his apartment like a idiot.
"So..." Tatsuki teased. "Do I need to write an application to get laid around here or what?"
Uryuu lunged at her, connecting his lips with hers, his hands sweeping all over her body already. Tatsuki giggled in her liplock and jumped him, using her legs to hug his waistline.
Balancing her, Uryuu stepped into his apartment, shutting the door with a foot. Blindly, he reached for her hand and relieved her of her handbag so she could take a proper hold of his face. They continued like this for a bit, until Uryuu bent over and gently dropped her into his sofa.
"Nice place." Tatsuki panted, noticing the mirrored paneling above. The living room was semi-circular, with the tiles and what few walls there were a brilliant white. Mostly they were surrounded by large glass windows that let in light from all directions. The carpets were a light cream and the sofas were the palest sapphire.
"The bedroom is better." Uryuu stated factually. His tie was the first to come off.
"I'm sure it is."
"You'll see it."
"Uryuu?" Tatsuki said as he took off his glasses.
"Hmm."
"I've missed you too."
Uryuu paused. Smiled. Suddenly he relaxed, and the next series of kisses were softer, gentler. Tatsuki felt a burning consume her innards, a dizziness overwhelm her senses. She there and then, wanted to give him everything about her, all of her best.
"Wait." she whispered.
Uryuu stopped. "Did I say something?"
"No." she said with a smile. She loved how self-conscious this man was, how careful with her. "No, I just want this to be special. I packed something in my handbag I'd really love for you to see. Can I use your bathroom?"
Uryuu swallowed, his heart still erratic from the turn on. "Sure." He got off her and allowed her to stand. "Bathroom's that way." He watched as she picked up her handbag and quickly left to the ladies'.
Uryuu sighed and picked up a small pile of letters off a glass coffee table. He shuffled through them, glancing briefly at their letterheads to guess their contents. Mostly the pile consisted of old bills. One of them about some plumbing that needed to be done. Nothing major.
Uryuu went into his kitchen. He hadn't been simply dangling bait when he'd promised Tatsuki Petrus. He pulled out the frosty bottle and proceeded to search for a corkscrew.
In his living room, a man walked in from a different bathroom from Tatsuki's. He was dressed in overalls. He placed a cup of tea and a box of doughnuts on the coffee table. Then on second thought, he took his tea back. He returned to the bathroom.
Uryuu came back and simply froze. What was that horrible stuff on his coffee table? Were those...doughnuts? Uryuu approached the doughnuts, and set his bottle and corkscrew next to them. Were these Tatsuki's? Most likely. She was a martial artist after all, always on the move, always needing a quick fix snack. But would she really eat these? ...Crispy Ring?
Uryuu picked them with as much reverence as he could muster, and returned with them to the kitchen.
As he did so, a man in overalls returned, a different man this time. He took one look at the table, and looked very confused. But then his eyes fell on the bottle, which by now was dripping with freshness. For no good reason discernible to anyone who ever heard this story, he picked up the bottle and with a toothy grin, returned to his bathroom.
Uryuu was back again with wine glasses. And this time he was even more confused. He could have sworn he had brought the bottle here. Had he by any chance taken it back with him to the kitchen? Patiently, he placed the glasses on the coffee table and returned to the kitchen.
At that moment, Tatsuki was exiting the bathroom. She was in the sexiest rose red negligee. It was see-through, and everything about her gorgeous figure could be made out perfectly within it. 'Hot' was an unforgivable understatement.
She posed before she realized there was no one in the living room. She did not notice the wine glasses. Just as she was about to call out Uryuu's name, she heard the second bathroom door open behind her.
"Perfect." she whispered to herself, trying hard not to giggle like a silly school girl. Quickly she got on the sofa.
And there she posed again.
...
Now, it would be highly inappropriate to state the specifics of her posture. It was nothing extreme but it was nothing that fine ladies and gentlemen ought to seek to read about either.
Anyway, it turned out not to be Uryuu. Instead, out came men in overalls. There were five of them.
Tatsuki's jaw dropped.
The scream was heard a mile away.
000
Inoue had eventually needed to wrap her hair in a towel. The dripping water had been leaving horrible stains on the carpet.
"So where do we start?" she asked as she collected dirty cups off coffee tables.
"Start what?" Ichigo tried to frustrate her.
She ignored his immaturity. "Why don't I start? Ask me something, anything."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"
"Anything."
"You sure?"
"Ichigo."
"Okay, okay." Ichigo thought for a moment. "How did you meet Matt?"
Inoue didn't miss a beat. "Five years ago. I was just rising in the ranks of Marble Company."
"As?"
"Don't laugh but I was a product analysis coordinator."
Ichigo looked lost.
"I tasted food."
Ichigo laughed.
"Don't be a jerk." Inoue said, laughing gamely. "I loved my job. But then I developed a set-back. I should have known it would happen eventually. It was inevitable after years of indulgence."
"Cavity." Ichigo guessed.
"It hurt like crazy." Inoue said, grimacing at the memory. "The company ordered me to see a dentist. Guess who they recommended."
Ichigo stopped half-way through sweeping up some crumbs. "You're kidding."
"Matt Peterson." Inoue smiled, slipping temporarily into a state of reminisce. "Candy Shop was blaring and his office smelled vaguely of vanilla. He was more used to working with kids and he was so nervous he slipped up and dropped his dentists drill down my throat."
Ichigo choked on his own saliva.
"Thankfully it was off." Inoue laughed. "I have never had such shoddy work done on me in my life. I was honestly thinking of suing by the time he was done. And that's when he asked me out."
"And you accepted??" Ichigo would never understand the female mind. What the fuck?!
Inoue shrugged. "It was supposed to be an apology."
"The word 'sorry' was out of fashion?"
"Believe me, if that was all he'd been able to come up with I would have sued."
"Where did he take you?"
"This great place in New York called Cafe Gray right off the intersection of Columbus Street and 8th Avenue."
"I have no idea where those places are."
"Anyway, we got talking and I realized he really was a nice guy at heart."
Ichigo resisted the urge to fake a gag.
"He asked me on another date. One thing led to another, and now we're engaged."
Ichigo shook his head. "That's the worst love story I've ever heard."
"My turn." Inoue said. She returned the dirty dishes to the kitchen and returned with paper napkin and stain remover. She got on her knees and commenced to do something about the spots on the carpet. "Let's start with something easy. How did your hospital get so huge?"
"Easy. The hospital is really Uryuu's dad's."
Inoue looked surprised. "The whole thing?"
"Well not anymore anyway." Ichigo explained. "Ishida-sama handed over the hospital to my father sometime after Renji and Rukia's wedding. He's still a shareholder but my father's really the one in charge of running it now."
"Wow, why did Uryuu's dad do that?"
"Who knows?" Ichigo said. "Why does anybody do anything?"
Inoue thought this through for a moment.
Ichigo wiped a spill. "Your turn."
"We're getting to the toughies." Inoue warned, sitting on a coffee table. "You ready?"
Ichigo felt it wouldn't kill. It was about time anyway. "Fire at will."
Inoue took a deep breath. Then she let the question out: "Ichigo...if you never had to win me from anybody...could you still say you loved me?"
Ichigo sat next to her and looked thoughtful. Inoue waited patiently. Finally Ichigo spoke: "Can I tell you a short story?"
"Will it answer my question?"
Ichigo nodded. "In most aspects, yes."
Inoue gave him the go ahead.
So he began:
There was once a red fox that lived in a den in the woods. The fox loved its den. The den was its world, its life.
Thus, everything that lived within that den was very important to it. The fox was fiercely protective of its world.
But then one day, there was a fire. The woods came crashing down in a mess of flaming forage. The fox stayed
within its den, confident that so long as everything it could see within the den remained intact, it could protect
its world.
A week after the fire, the fox was found within its den. Everything in the den was intact. But the fox was dead.
Ichigo stopped and stared into Inoue's eyes. It was a moment before Inoue realized that he was done with his story.
"I'm sorry." Inoue said. "Am I missing something?"
Ichigo smiled. "The fox had missed one thing. It was the one thing in his world that it could not see. The fox did not know that even with everything in his den intact, he could not live with the most important thing in his den."
Inoue's eyes were suddenly opened. "Air." she breathed as the revelation hit her.
"The one most important thing that the fox could not protect." Ichigo repeated solemnly. "It didn't matter that the fire had never come into the den. The fact that the fire existed meant the fox was as good as dead anyway. The fox did not know the importance of his air till it was taken away from him."
Inoue was speechless.
Ichigo said softly, "Inoue you're my air."
He stared intently into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then he stood, and left for the kitchen.
Inoue blinked away some tears, and mentally rebuked herself for letting a made-up fable get to her. She would not notice until that evening, however, that Ichigo had in fact, answered her question with a 'no'.
000
The ride from Uryuu's house was stony silent. Uryuu drove no where in particular. Just round and round a few blocks so Tatsuki could regain her cool. After half an hour of excruciating muteness, Uryuu finally ventured with:
"I'd completely forgotten the plumbing job was today."
Still, more silence. Uryuu snuck a glance at the fuming lady at his side. She tugged at her overcoat and hugged herself harder, choosing to stare out the window than meet Uryuu's eyes.
Uryuu sighed. "I'm sorry." he stated simply.
Tatsuki glared out her window for a few more seconds, then reluctantly, she turned to look at her man. His eyes stared straight ahead, and she could see he found it near impossible to look her in the eye. She was not the only one embarrassed.
Uryuu felt a hand on his thigh, squeezing gently.
"Forget it." Tatsuki said consolingly. "Though I can't say it wasn't your fault. It was your fault."
Uryuu muttered something inaudible.
"You know what." Tatsuki suddenly said, brightly. "Why don't we just get a hotel? Like we always do?"
Uryuu looked at her. "You're still up for this? Even after that encounter back at my place?"
Tatsuki shrugged. "Aren't you?"
Uryuu was silent for a while. Then he started looking out for a U-turn.
000
It was about noon by then, and apart from a number of fading spots on the carpet, Ichigo's living room was looking inhabitable again. Most of the dishes in the kitchen had been washed and water had been mopped up from every spill.
It had taken them a little over two hours to get the place back to acceptable standards.
Still, Matt had not arrived.
Inoue was beginning to worry.
"Maybe I've been to harsh on him these couple of days." Inoue said softly, partly to herself and partly to Ichigo. "I haven't had much time for him and he's a bit of a mama's boy."
"So you've met his parents?" Ichigo asked.
Inoue started to say something and then hesitated. "Come to think of it, I haven't. He's told me that all they ever do is use up their retirement money on traveling."
"But at least you've spoken to them on phone, right?" Ichigo prodded.
Again, Inoue hesitated. "He says they don't believe in technology."
Ichigo chuckled incredulously. "Then how do they travel? By broomstick?"
"By foot."
That took the wind out of Ichigo's sails. "Oh."
"All they do is treck the great outdoors." she added. "His words, not mine."
"You've never met this man's parents and you're ready to marry him?"
Inoue rolled her eyes at him. "Matt's a grown man Ichigo..."
"Could've fooled me."
She punched at him playfully. "He doesn't need his parents consent to marry me."
Ichigo couldn't keep it in him any longer. "Do you really want to marry this man?"
''I already told you yes Ichigo." Inoue said tiredly.
"I don't think you do. I don't even think you want to."
"Oh, you're a mind reader now?"
Ichigo pressed against Inoue's head with two fingers. "Are you kidding? Jean Grey and I go way back." He made a silly humming sound that got Inoue laughing hysterically. "Nope. The very idea of marriage to Matt Peterson scares the hell out of you. It's all in your mind."
Inoue gained control of her laughter, looked Ichigo in the eye and said. "Maybe. But can you read my heart?"
Ichigo stared back, stumped at first.
Inoue smiled smugly. "I thought so."
But Ichigo chuckled and stood. "Hold on a sec." He walked to a drawer and pulled something out.
"I don't need powers to read your heart Inoue." he said, putting a stethoscope to her chest.
"Ichigo..."
Ichigo looked at her meaningfully. "Your heart is pounding."
Try as she might, Inoue couldn't stop her cheeks from turning slightly pink...
There was an awkward pause.
"Why won't you just leave him for me?" Ichigo asked quietly, sadly.
Inoue said sadly back. "I have no reason to."
Another awkward pause.
"Why don't we watch some TV?" Ichigo finally said, his voice croaky. He took of the stethoscope and reached for the remote control.
"...mayor accepted that it was, most likely, the best for Karakura's economy." a female newscaster was saying. "In other news..." A window opened up beside her, showing what looked a ruined alleyway. "...police are investigating the site of what appears to be a bomb explosion in an alleyway on 55th Street. Witnesses say the explosion took place between the hours of 6 and 7 this morning..."
"Karakura gets worse and worse every year." Ichigo muttered.
"Investigators have reported that the burn patterns are unlike any they have ever come across. Residents within the vicinity have already began offering theories to explain the phenomenon."
A large man with a flowing beard filled the screen. "It's aliens I tell ya! I saw'em wiff ma own eyes!! There was a light, blue all over, an' smoke all over the place!!"
A young lady with a baby. "The spirits have come again! As the prophecies foretold! I saw her: Gaia, our mother, bathed in the purest pale blue light, she has come for her children.
"Government f-(bleep)-in' with our heads again." said a clearly shaken man in a tie. "They won't get away with it this time! Jive-motherfu-(bleep)-ers."
A bright little girl appeared: "It's Santa!!"
The newscaster was back on screen. "Again, as many as five townspeople have been reported missing since the incident; one unconfirmed man, pronounced dead."
"Matt." Inoue gasped, rising before Ichigo could even calm her.
"Inoue." Ichigo called after her. He shot up, and ran after her as she fled the apartment. "Inoue!!" She ignored him, running...leaping down stairs...bursting into the streets.
"Matt!!" she screamed.
"Police have reassured the public that they will get to the bottom of this. Until then they would advice that the public be wary of who they interact with. More news on this at 6 pm.
Let's take a look at our top stories..."
000
Tatsuki stared ahead dully as she walked, a map hanging limply from her hand. She sighed and stopped abruptly. Uryuu nearly tripped over a curb.
"I'm tired of this!" Tatsuki complained bitterly. "The universe is against us! I know it! It hates us!!"
Uryuu wanted to calm down his girlfriend, but wasn't sure what exactly to say. Truth be told, he was pretty bummed out to. They had spent the last hour and a half, scouring the entire town for a hotel with a vacancy. They had even tried the motels. In one of them, something dark and furry had scurried over Tatsuki's foot at the reception. Uryuu said it was a rat. Tatsuki swore it had wings.
Anyway, regardless of the state of the business, one characteristic ran through all of them: they were all full. Every bloody one of them!
"Why??" Tatsuki yelled up at heaven. "Is it so hard to get laid?!"
Uryuu looked embarrassed as passerbys threw them a mixture of amused and disapproving looks.
"Tatsuki, please calm down."
"No! I won't and you can't make me!" she snapped.
Uryuu pocketed his hands and tried to look like he wasn't the one who'd just been yelled at.
She threw her arms around him, confusing him further. "I just..." she said softly. "...want to kiss you, and touch you and just...hold you..."
Uryuu gulped.
Just as quickly as her arms had flown round his neck, they were suddenly off. "But no! Everything's going wrong, wrong!! Argh!!!" In a fit of frustration, she applied a vicious side kick to a nearby dustbin, and sent it rolling down the street with a dent so deep it could have been made with an axe.
A tiny flame of irrational fear flickered alive in Uryuu's heart. Was Tatsuki loosing it?
"Where's the car?" Tatsuki suddenly said, and Uryuu knew the madness had taken over.
"Tatsuki?"
"Quick!" she began pulling him along. He tried his best to keep up with her.
The second she got him into the car, she straddled him and the clothes started to fly off.
"Tatsuki..." Uryuu tried reasoning. "We're in a car park."
She laughed an eerie laugh. "So? Teenagers do it all the time. We won't get caught."
"That's what you said in your bedroom."
For whatever reason, Tatsuki found this hilarious and began a giggling fit. She laughed and laughed. Then she resumed loving on his neck.
Uryuu's heart sank as she began biting at his shirt buttons, pulling them off one by one.
"Tatsuki..." he tried for the last time.
"Shhh..." she whispered seductively. "This won't hurt a bit." She was only in pants and a bra now. Leisurely, she began slipping an arm out of her bra. The bra was almost completely off when...
"Hold on..." she said.
Uryuu's breathing became regular again. "Wh...what is it?"
"Is that Matt?"
She allowed him to sit up and look out the window. "That is Matt." he said in wonder.
And it was. From Uryuu's car, they could just make out the mass of blue hair bobbing up and down, weaving through the crowd on the opposite sidewalk.
"We have to follow him!" Tatsuki declared.
Uryuu had never been more confused in his life. "We do?" One second she was ready-to-go, the next second she was ready to go.
"Come'on." she whispered, about to put her clothes back on.
But she was a second or two too late.
There was a knock on the glass behind them. They struggled to turn around in the cramped space.
Oh shit.
A police officer stood at the window, gesturing for them to roll down the window.
Oh shit.
"Hello officer." Tatsuki said cheerily, trying to look like she hadn't just been about to screw in a public area. Her bra was kind of a dead give-away though. "Nice day, eh?"
The officer bent over so they could see her face. She was a woman; a sickly looking thing if they ever did see one. She made them wonder how the heck she had made it into the force in the first place (and if their streets were safe, for that matter). She was the kind that had not been laid in years. Tatsuki and Uryuu's kind did not just piss her off, they made her downright sick.
"You're going to have to step out of the car ma'am. You too, four-eyes."
"Oh?" Tatsuki tried to keep up the cute charade. "Whatever for?"
The officer's eyes flashed pure evil. "You're coming downtown with me."
Oh shit.
000
"Matt!!"
Inoue's cry rang out in the streets.
"Matt!!"
Ichigo had longed stopped trying. There had been a point where Inoue's hysteria had compelled him to join her in calling for her fiance. But eventually common sense had settled in and he had ceased yelling, choosing instead to follow silently after his ex down streets and into alleyways.
It was fast approaching four pm, and even Inoue was tiring, her cry growing weaker and weaker with each call.
Finally after their hours of unfruitful searching, she stopped, bent over and panted heavily for the next five minutes. Ichigo came from behind her, and placed a jacket over her shoulders. She had come out without an overcoat of any kind.
"I can't believe it's taken me this long to try to find him." Inoue panted, sounding miserable.
Ichigo placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine."
She stood and faced him. "But what if he isn't Ichigo? How could I live with myself? He's like a child sometimes and I should have kept an eye on him. Now what am I going to say when his parents finally call me. They finally call me, and all I have for them is: 'I lost your son in Japan?!'""
"We'll find him Inoue, okay?" Ichigo assured.
"But..."
"Inoue!" Ichigo took hold of her and gave her a good shaking. She quietened and stared into Ichigo's eyes, her eyes glistening. Carefully, Ichigo said: "I want you to trust me, okay?"
Inoue shuddered, sniffed, and nodded.
He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She held on, letting his shirt soak up the wetness that brimmed at her eyes.
Suddenly she tore herself from him. "Matt!!!" She flew past him.
Ichigo turned around just in time to see her throw herself into the arms of a blue-haired man. He watched them hug for a time longer than Ichigo would later care to recollect.
As Ichigo turned around to begin heading back to his home, he heard Matt call his name.
Ichigo turned around. The engaged couple were still in an embrace, but over Inoue's shoulder, Matt gave Ichigo a small very grateful thumbs-up. Thank you, he mouthed.
Ichigo's smile was so weak it was barely noticeable.
Then he started home.
000
The door swung gently in, and a very tired looking Tatsuki and Uryuu stepped into Ichigo's apartment. Chad followed after them, Coco at his heels whining softly.
"Thanks for bailing us out, Chad." Tatsuki said weakly.
Chad grunted. "My pleasure." He went on his knees to rub Coco's fur. "If you don't mind though, I want to walk around the block a few times with Coco. You two will be fine right?"
Tatsuki nodded for both of them. And soon, they were alone.
The two stood at the door, neither of them wanting to sit down till they had cleared the air.
...
"I'm sorry." Tatsuki whispered.
Uryuu gazed into her eyes as she spoke.
"I'm sorry for getting us caught here. And for getting us arrested." Tatsuki continued. "It's just...I've wanted to say something to you for these few...breathtaking years we've been together. I've wanted to say it for so long." Her speech quickened. "But you know, we kept having all this sex, and soon that was the only way I knew how...how to say it. So I've wanted to say it all day today..." She stuttered. "But I couldn't. I didn't want to scare you away. So I've tried to show you how I feel and-and-and everything's just gone wrong and..."
"I love you." Uryuu interrupted.
Tatsuki fell silent.
"Is that what you wanted to say?" Uryuu said, avoiding her eyes from embarrassment. "I know we never have the time, because of our jobs and whatnot, and there's only a one in a million chance of us working, but I thought you should know that..." he swallowed. "...I love you Arisawa Tatsuki."
A lull in their conversation stretched for a number of seconds.
Absolute silence.
"Can you hear that?" Tatsuki whispered, tearing.
Uryuu shook his head. "I don't hear anything. I don't think anyone is home."
"Exactly."
And then she kissed him...
All the world
He kissed back...
Is but a child
Her arms slipped round his neck and suddenly she was in his arms like a bride...
Screaming over all your words
Upstairs...
No one hears your pain
In bed...
They're way too busy for concern
A shirt came off...
And the days
Become weeks
A bra flew off...
And the months turn into years
Kissing intensified...
You gotta know by now
Temperatures rose.
That only God sees all those tears.
A block away, Ichigo walked...
When you cry
His head hung, his eyes glazed...
Cause it hurts
He looked to his left...
Doesn't mean that you're not heard
A couple on a bench, laughed, heads inches from each other...
Because aloud in heaven
And to his right...
The angels cry with you
A little boy handed a tiny flower to girl...
When you cry
Cause it hurts
Doesn't mean that you're not heard
Because aloud in heaven
The angels cry with you
Ichigo finally reached the place he'd been walking to. It was not home. It was a river bank. The riverbank on which he had said goodbye to Inoue ten years ago.
And he just stood there.
Because aloud in heaven
The angels cry with you
Kurosaki Ichigo did not go home till hours later.
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End of chapter!! Was the song thing a little too cheesy? I sort of felt that way by the end of this thing. But I didn't have the heart to take it out. I love that song so.
Since this chapter's longer than what I usually produce, there're probably the most abominable mistakes upthere somewhere. Please let me know about them anywhere you can: review page, email, message...anything...
I really hope you all enjoyed it!! And...*puts foot down*...NO! I will NOT allow anyone to leave this page without telling me what they thought of this chapter! I spent an entire day on this (literally)! I positively refuse!!
*suddenly looks rather meek* Eh-heh, I'm just kidding around. If you don't want to review, you absolutely don't have to. 's hitcounter can suffice...I guess...(*whispers* Seriously, though: review...)
Until the next chapter: Thanks! Peace! I'm out!