Disclaimer: I own nothing. :(

Dark Nights

Chapter 14: Love

The next morning my mind ached like hell had just crashed on earth.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to trust a drink that Ulquiorra brought, especially if the stupid drink was called firewater. I unconsciously sighed, trying to push the remembrance of the humiliating things I did far away from my head.

I closed my eyes and put my forehead to my hand. "Stupid..."

The flap that kept my tent closed was violently swung open, letting in all the blinding rays of sunlight, and making a direct hit to my face. "C' mon, Rukia," Ichigo's voice hollered in my head like if he was yelling right in my ear. "Time to start heading out!"

I opened an eye to see a grinning Ichigo right in front of me. 'So he was really yelling in my ear...' I shoved my hand on his face pushing him away from me. "Go do the same, spreading all that freakn' dragon breath in my face... urgh." I made a disgusted noise as I peeked to see his reaction.

Ichigo tensed at my remark, holding his chin down and being more aware of how much breath he let go. "Midget, stop lying to me and making those stupid remarks." He said totally contradicting himself as he tried to pull off an annoyed face. "Seriously, I have no time for the kind of crap you pull out."

I smirk to myself. "No need to pull out the straight face Strawberry," I said. "I was just teasing,"

Ichigo sighed crawling back out of the tent. "Just hurry up, Toshiro's already about to come back with the meal,"

I nodded, pulling the sheets over my head and falling back asleep.

"Who cares?"

XXX

"Rukia." Damn it, again! "Were gonna leave you~" This time I pulled myself together and got up the sun greeting me first. I took a look around the area; the only thing left up was my tent.

"Thanks for all your help." Toshiro blocked the sun and tossed me a pile of unwashed sheets.

"No problem," I hmphed. "After all I did waist my summer vacation looking for you."

Toshiro glared. "Such a hard job."

I smirked "Especially when he's a dog."

"Tch."

"Hey Toshiro, someone's coming!" Ichigo shouted. We both turned to Ichigo's voice as his flash step quickly to where we were. "Their tele-"

I felt a wave of weight crush my body; it felt like it was splitting me in half. A purple portal ripped though the sky and I heard Ichigo curse under his breath.

A little brown haired figure hopped out her clothes trashing about as she fell though the wind and landed softly onto the grass. A small hole starting to crack my heart. Her body, her hair, her eyes, they were all too familiar, and I knew for a fact, they weren't suppose to belong to anyone else except...

"Shiro-chan!"

Momo.

The small figure ran, and the world that was at a standstill made no sound, as her body leaped into the shocked white haired boys arms with a delighted grin and giggle pushing her lips onto his.

Toshiro gripped tightened on the girl's arms, but he didn't push her away.

I didn't realize I was holding my breath until life came back in motion and my stomach dropped into a dark pit. I felt my lung gasp silently for air my eyes falling to the ground not wanting to look at the two.

A hundred thoughts could be falling in my head right now, but the one that I lingered on was: Why didn't he push her off?

"Momo? What the hell are you doing here?" Orihime shouted with glee as she ran next to me.

Momo glanced from Toshiro's neck and her big puppy brown eyes opened and looked from me, to Orihime. "Um?" She said. "Who are you?"

Orihime gasped with a hand to her mouth, frozen with shock of what her friend had said. "M-Momo?" she muttered tears already clouding her vision sooner or later going to drown in her word. "I-Its me, Orihime, your f-friend."

Friend? I wanted to laugh. How quickly people have a change of heart.

I looked from Orihime to Momo in anger. "Damn it!" I shouted clenching first hard and feeling anger pour out of my mouth.

I could feel all eyes go to me, watching to see what I'd do next. And I could feel Toshiro's emerald eyes travel down my body, analyzing me. I wanted him to stop, I wanted to never have anything to do with him again, and I wanted to forget about him.

I felt my throat dry up, how come I let something to stupid out like that?

"I-I... You guys made Orihime cry," I breathed out quickly not really meaning the words I spoke. 'Nice excuse...' I bashed on myself sarcastically. "You guys figure something out, and I'll be right back..." I muttered my eyebrows furrowing deeper as I walked away from Toshiro and Momo, Orihime fallowing me closely in tears.

"Rukia!" Toshiro panicked.

I bit hard on the inside of my lip, and I didn't bother to look back.

Orihime grabbed my hand, tugging on it signaling us to leave. Yes, that's all I wanted to do right now, leave. Leave everything.

I ignored the eyes as I walk out with Orihime, every step I took dropped a little bit of my dignity.

I sat Orihime down giving her a sad half smile. "Don't worry; I'm sure there's a good explanation for everything." I muttered.

"But I saw her... she died..." Orihime shoved her hands into her face.

I felt that aching drop in my heart again. She was right. Momo did die. 'But how...?' I swallowed. "How about I go back over there and find some explanation."

Truth was, I was just as curious as Orihime. 'What's going on?'

XXX

It wasn't that long before I found myself alone at the campus, somewhere I wasn't planning on setting foot again, at least not with Toshiro there. Nobody was there except for the packed up tents, and the scent of burnt wood that filled the air.

"Rukia." I turned around to the sound of my name, greeted my Ulquiorra's emotionless face.

"Where is everyone?" I muttered quickly. "Where is Momo and Toshiro?" I spat out without letting him even answer the first question.

Ulquiorra looked at the direction I had just come from. "She went to go check back on you and Orihime. Toshiro on the other hand went with Ichigo to go talk about something."

"Huh," meaningless noise sounded out of my mouth. "Do you mind telling me were they went?"

"Not far, guess Toshiro needs to cope with that girl. Rukia, before you leave, do you mind telling me what's going on?" Ulquiorra furrowed his eyebrows as he asked me the question.

I pursed my lips, 'that's right, Uquiorra didn't have a clue about Momo'. It was true, all this was strange to Ulquiorra, and he didn't even know who I was a few days ago. The least I could do was explain to him. "That girls name is Momo." I said. "She died a year ago, when Aizen, a man who wanted my power, stole her soul." I said. "She and Toshiro had been childhood friends, but when Toshiro was sent to the human world, she came too, but... according to him she changed."

"Oh..."

"And now, well... I don't know what to think." I said, truth slipping out of my mouth.

Ulquiorra's Forest green eyes soften. "Don't worry too much about it." He said not changing his poster. "Toshiro's might not be that smart, but he's got good friends to help him out." And again, Ulquiorra kept his bored face on, not sharing a smile.

I smiled for him. "And where'd you come up with that theory?"

"Just a good guess."

"Well... I better go find the two." I said waving Ulquiorra off and running towards the direction he pointed. 'They can't be far.' I thought, looking around the area frantically. 'The last thing I need is to get lost here.'

"You don't get it Ichigo!"

My body froze as my heart stopped on a silent beat, the sound of Toshiro's voice catching me off my guard, just as it almost away did lately.

"No, I do, I do get it." Ichigo said calmly but with all the impact that he intended to use. "You're just getting caught up in the moment right? Having you childhood friend return and all that, saying things like 'She changed!'."

"She has changed!"

"She's dead." Ichigo spat coldly, his amber eyes burning with the fire I knew he always held inside. The fire that made me fall for the orange haired fool. The fire that made me want to find him in the first place.

"We don't know that yet!" Toshiro recoiled, frustrated with his own words. "This Momo is different than the one you knew. She's gone back to the way I used to know her. I can't explain it... but it's true."

I closed my eyes trying to block out their words. 'Trying to block out Toshiro's words' I corrected myself. I couldn't even recognize the boy I knew anymore. I couldn't find the ice that flooded the boy's heart, I couldn't mend the sorrow he would spill so recklessly. I couldn't find him at all, not the man I held in my heart - that man was gone.

"Oh ya, and what are you planning to do? Run away together? Or have you already forgotten about why I even came here in the first place." Ichigo continued, calming down a bit more than I had expected him too.

I peeked out from behind the tree, watching Toshiro as his eyes darted with confusion and sadness. He swallowed. "It's not like I'm choosing between anyone here, its just..." he looked at his feet. "Don't you think I want a taste of my old life?"

I drew blood from my lip.

"Why would you want your old life, when you have a new one?"

There was no more pain that my heart could take, so as quietly and as quickly as I could I ran back to the camp site.

I was getting tired of how carelessly Momo was being, especially around Toshiro. It was as if her world had no boundaries, and she would just fling her body onto Toshiro, giggling to her heart's content.

'Sick...' I glared from behind my badly needed can of coke.

"Shi~ro-Chan~~" Momo would sing. "You've gotten handsome over the years, haven't you?"

"Was I ever ugly?" He laughed.

I took my anger to the ground and burned through in with my eyes. 'I can't take it anymore.' I realized, disgusted at the world all of a sudden.

"Oh, Rukia." I had already deiced to get up when he said my name. "I've been meaning to ask you, how you have been, I mean, as far as your powers." He said, a topic that he didn't deserve to bring up to my face. And to make things worse, he used my name, a name his mouth didn't deserve to even sound out.

I got up, officially pissed off. "If you were so concerned, you should have brought that up ages ago." I said and turned my back at him. I don't think a longer silence had ever been created by the group. I could hear Ichigo cursing my name telling me to 'shut the hell up' or that 'I had gone too far.'.

Toshiro stiffened, getting up as well. "What the hell Rukia?" He spat. "What's up with you lately." He said, almost daring to grab my shoulder to meet his eyes.

I beat him to it though. I forced my violet eyes on his emerald ones, not letting him break away. "I don't know, maybe if you looked around you'd figure it out!" I said. "Because in case you haven't noticed, were in the same spot we were a week ago, when we could've already been home!"

"This place is my home just as much as the other world."

"No, you're wrong." I said. "Your home - your true home - is back in Karakura, back with your friends, back with me." I said.

Again silence killed the mood. Everyone searching for the right words to break the uneven silence. Even Orihime understood the situation quite well, and knew that it was no time for drifting off into la la land.

"Rukia..." Toshiro grabbed my hand. "Come with me." And he took me back into the freakn' woods.

I pulled away, his touch icy cold like he battle the Tundra. "No!" I said. "If you have something to say, say it here, in front of everyone!" I shouted his grip still not loosening.

"Toshiro!" I attempted again, already digging my nails into his arm.

He still said nothing and finally stopped, far enough to not even see the others. "Say it!" He said. "Say anything you want, because frankly, I don't got a clue what's bugging the hell out of you?"

""You honestly don't have a clue?" I laughed in disbelief. "Do you know how hard it is, to fight so hard against everyone including yourself to succeed in something you believe in? Do you know how much it hurts when that something turns its back on you at the last minute? Well I do, and I'm not going to wait around you to make up your mind!" I shouted at him, my heart burning at my words.

"Toshiro sighed. "Damn Rukia, you really know how to make a guy die on the inside." Toshiro laughed. "Out of all the seconds I've known you all my favorite memories involve shouting and cursing." He said. "But not once, have I ever left your side."

I stiffened. "Nor did I." I said. "So when I ask you to choose something, why don't you answer me? When I ask you to fight something, why aren't you already fighting in front of me? When I ask you to do the impossible, why haven't you already made it possible?"

Toshiro laughed. "Damn Rukia, what do you think I am? A god?"

"No, because god doesn't make dumbass mistakes." And with that, I stopped my shouting. I stopped the anger that held my heart and cut it to shreds. I stopped the pain that damned my being.

"Rukia..." Toshiro whispered, his head hanging down, making it impossible to seem his eyes. "I'm thinking about going back to central."

"W-What? Are you joking!"

Toshiro then did something unexpected. He grabbed my body and embraced me, practically lifting me off my feet. "I'm sorry..." he said. "But I have to, it's my duty." he said. "Even if the past is behind me, it still effects my future, and I'll do anything to fix that. Won't you trust me?"

"Trusting you has nothing to do with this. Toshiro they want to kill you."

"But they won't."

"Yes they will, and then what? You expect me to live on like nothing happened!" I found myself shouting again. "Do you expect me to go back to my tipsy life and act as if I never shared a bond with this world? A bond with you? Toshiro, I wouldn't be able to take that much pain."

Toshio sighed. "Rukia, if you haven't already noticed, I don't make the best of choices." He smirk as he said that, his grip tightening around my body. "But as long as I'm the one in control of my choices, then I have to reason to regret them."

"But you're stupid choices don't only effect you moron." I said. "So before you go off making choices, you have to gain my permission first."

"Even so, I can't promise you a easy route."

"Easy routes are never fun."

"Toshi...ro," I forced out of my mouth his body still terribly close to mine. "Do you... L-love her?" I asked nervously.

Once again Toshiro's grip tightened, not letting me go to meet his eyes. He laughed. "Yes." He said. "I love her." 'Now I know why he held me so tightly, so I wouldn't run away', I figured. "Just as I love this world, and other. Just as I love pizza and ice cream. I love everything I come to know after experiencing life with you." he said.

I felt stupid now. For even bringing the topic to attention.

"But what has got to be on the top of that list Rukia, is you." he said. "Your actions, what you've showed me, when to be selfish and when not to, friends. Sure this love might be or not be romantic, but it's still love right?"

I realized from that point on, it wasn't only me who was taking on my challenges and giving them out as lessons, now it was what we all did as a family that helped us learn. "Thank you Toshiro," I said. "I guess you're not the only one who have fallen victim to all different kinds of love, but we have each other's backs right? We'll conquer whatever dares to get in our way."

"You made it all mushy now."

Toshiro finally released me, not entirely because I could still feel his arms around my back, but just enough to look him in the eyes. "As long as it's coming from me, I know you don't mind mushy." I said back and I felt the chill of his emerald eyes and he narrowed them down at me.

"I'm not going to kiss you," he said his forehead almost touching mine. "Despite how much it seems right to me, or the moment of it all." he said. "But I feel as if I could destroy something if I make the wrong move."

I gathered my courage. "Then if there is a wrong move, allow it to be me; the one who makes it." And this time it was my turn to take the lead and be the one to meet his lips instead of the other way around. It wasn't so much as a lead though since it didn't take long for Toshiro to take over. Stupid dog, doesn't he know when to take turns.

Even so, I still enjoyed it more the less.

'I still don't know if this is love.' I thought, walking alongside the person I thought had lost. I looked up at him, his eyes already fixed on me. 'But I glad I get to share - whatever it its - with him. After all, life is too short to let it pass by.; "Don't look at me like that!" I said. "It's like your raping me with your eyes!"

"H-How'd you know?"

He got what was coming to him.

"Aw, Rukia, cant you take a joke. Rukia!"

"Rot in hell you bastard." And with that, I threw him all kinds of bad figures, mentally of course.

"Wait Rukia, I still have to get the supplies Ichigo asked for!" He said catching up. "Momo too, she asked me to get some stuff so we could last another week here." he said.

I felt a vain pop. 'Really he's going to bring up that bitch right after we just kiss.' I thought unimpressed. "I am perfectly capable of walking myself home." I shot back coldly not stopping for a second.

"How cold." Toshiro muttered.

I turned around to face him, suddenly feeling thankful. "Thank you." I said, and I won't go into detail about the dumbass expression he had on. "Thank you for letting me have a taste of what I had truly been missing." I said.

Toshiro snickered. "Anytime, and trust me, I'll be glad to give you more than just a taste." he said brushing his lips against my cheek.

"Too much of one thing gets truly boring." I recoiled pushing his head away. "Well then, I wouldn't like to be the one who kept Ichigo waiting." I said. "See you later."

Toshiro smiled and his eyes soften. "Cha." he said and kissed the top of my head. "See you."

It wasn't long before I would see the campsite again. So many things had come too, both old and new memories. And the time I had to think to myself was also comforting. Not to mention the steam I let out with Toshiro, fighting with him seemed more normal than actually having a decent conversation.

"Rukia Kuchiki," my name was spoken, and it was stupid if I didn't turn around to it. "So you're the one who has made the big impression on Shiro-chan, I can't see why though, you look as average as they get."

I knew it. Even if it wasn't the Momo I knew, it was a Momo, and in this lifetime all Momo's tend to hate my guts. "I must not be as average as you say I am because you noticed me quite quickly." I said,

Momo glared "Even if I really don't like you," she said. "I must thank you, because as terrible as it is to admit it, you did change Toshiro for the better." She bowed down. "That is something it took me years to even begin." she said. "Even now that I've returned I can't seem to get the light in his eyes, not the way you do."

"You haven't even seen me have a decent conversation with him," I said."So how can you say I bring life and light to his eyes when all I do with yell at him?" I asked confused at the remark she made.

She smiled. "Even when you are bickering and saying what you feel to each other I can tell your not only using words. Just by looking at each other it seems like both of you are holding a conversation that no one else can decode. Even if you are bottle your true feelings on the inside, it's clear you are telling each other how you truly feel, even without the use of words." she said. "That is truly something remarkable."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you telling me this?"

"No particular reason." Momo sang. "Kuchiki, I want you to know that I don't hate you, my feeling towards you is pure rivalry." she said. "But if you dare get too close, I will not hesitate to crush you, Shiro-chan is mine, not even the other Momo has the right to-"

"I don't really care who you claim as your own." I said. "Because to me, your just sprouting a crap load of nonsense." I smirked. "But Toshiro is not a person I will allow you to have, not him, or any other friend of mine!" I said. "Haven't you already learned? You can't demand a friendship, you have to be willing to love him or her, with a whole heart, no matter what kind of love." I said.

Momo glared. "Orihime! Let's take our leave."

I felt my heart stop."Orihime?" My eyes landed on the figure that appeared next to Momo, her head hanging low.

Momo snickered. "So was the friendship you were babbling on about?" she laughed.

My eyes fixed themselves to the ground. Both sadness and betrayal clouding my mind. Once again someone found away to hurt me, once again, another person had made their way into my life just to destroy it.

"Rukia, you have protected me and stood up for we so many times." Orihime said with a sad smile. "I think it's about high time I do the same for you." And she stood in front of me with her hands spread out, protecting me.

I smiled. "Thank you Orihime." 'It seems like I haven't lost a friend after all' . "But his is my battle, and I don't mind you standing beside me, but I won't allow you go alone on this." I said stepping up right next to her. "Were friends, and were allowed to help each other out."

"Thanking you Rukia, for accepting me back into your heart." Orihime said.

"Always." I said back. "I will always be here to welcome you back."

Momo sighed. "I've had just about enough of this 'welcome home' crap." she said. "I'm heading back, Shiro-Chan should be coming back soon." she said the mood changing from psychopath to obsessive fan girl.

Momo arrived at the campsite before Orihime and me. By the time we laid foot anywhere near the perimeter I could already spot her drooling over Toshiro. I didn't need to be a genius to figure out that Toshiro had already told everyone he was going to Central. Just by the way they all looked at me when I walked near them.

"Rukia..." Ichigo was the first to say something.

I looked at him and smiled. "I know already." with a sigh I looked at each one of them until I met Toshiro's. "If we can't convince you to come home, then we might as well stick with you till the end." I said. "And then I'll take you back. I promise."

Author's Note:

...

Long time no see huh? J: Sorry.

Been too busy with grades and all. School really sucks.

At least I finally got it done.

Until next time. Bye!