Water Colored Droplets

by Naked Doll

Eri Riko may seem like any other ordinary human, but when her unique ability saves the lives of 9 Espadas, she ends up befriending them & finds meaning to her life again. Starrk x OC and alittle smut! Rated M for Language, Violence, Adult Content & Situations

3. Chapter 3 The Gift

Number three is out! And I'm about to cry tears of joy for getting it out today! ~Throws glitter at you~ Okay, so the Greed one may come out later than sooner, but I promise you'll be seeing more of him soon, oh! And I've been working on the Ling Chapter, but I also started a new story, one for those who didn't like the first, terribly sorry. Oh well, on with the show!

Thank you all for your reviews! I really appreciate them!

Disclaimer: I don't own Stark or bleach…Boo. Only my own…

---

Chapter III: The Gift

It was hard for Stark to get up in the mornings, if anything he wish he could sleep through them all, but today of all days, he felt that he couldn't. He felt out of place too, like he should be somewhere else besides home today. Well, since he couldn't sleep, he decided to head down stairs where the scent of coffee swarmed the room; he really hoped that the nice hot liquid would wake him up. If they had it in Hueco Mundo, maybe he'd be up more…Eh, but it wouldn't have mattered, either way he was happy with pouring himself a cup and sipped it with the warm sensation spreading through his veins. He could feel the caffeine taking affect when he sighed and took a seat up at the kitchen table. He noticed today's newspaper and grabbed it off the counter to see what today's news was all about. Apparently it was nothing he was interested in and put it back down when he found nothing to read.

Then he noticed a filled paper bag on the table, noticing Eri's name written in big bulk letters on the side to make him cock a brow at it, and ignored it afterwards to sip the rest of his coffee. It was pretty calm in the house this morning, it made him wonder if everyone was still asleep, but when he head the small pitter patter of feet behind him, he sat down his coffee, and waited for the moment to move his head out of the way to Lilinette's attack, "You're awake!" She missed by an inch and fell on the ground on her butt with an yelp, "Owe…My ass…Stark that hurt."

"Now you know how I feel…" He replied tiredly but well enough to take another sip out of his cup, "What're you doin' up!" She asked recovering quickly with a grin, "Couldn't sleep…" Was he replied with a yawn and another sip of his coffee, "What! No way, really? You?…Why?"

"I don't know. Because I couldn't…Anyway, where is everyone?" Lilinette shrugged with a humph, "Beats me, I think the boys are still asleep…Well, besides Szayel, he never sleeps, and Hal? Well, she's…Doing-, something up in her room…"

"Awe. So it's just you and me here?"

"Yep. Oh, and Eri's at school!" He smiled a little, "I take it she was the one that made the coffee?"

"Yeah, she was all over the place this morning, you should've seen it. She was wailing her arm around like a maniac trying to make sure she had everything before she left. It was funny." When Stark was done with his coffee he washed the cup as he smirked to the idea of her running around the house sprinting, and screaming for her note book and back pack, "So that's what that was this morning…So, did she also leave this here?" He pointed to the bag on the table again, getting Lily to look over and take a gander at what it was. When she opened it, the girl squeaked out with a cold blue expression fading over her face, "Oh crap! She left her lunch!"

"So, what're you going to do about it?" Lilinette sighed brushing her hands through her hair before planting both palms to her waist, "I guess I'll just have to bring it to her…Unless you want to do it lover boy."

"What!" He couldn't believe what just came out of her mouth, then again, maybe he wasn't, he should've expected that, "Come on, don't play dumb I see the way you look at her butt. You're such a naughty pervert Stark."

"Oh be quiet. If you keep talking like that you could end up starting an unwanted rumor in the house."

"Well, maybe I want to!"

"No you don't…"

"Yeah,…, I guess not. But hey-, why don't you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Take her lunch to her." Stark slinked his head into a hand of his as he sat down on the couch and turned on the television set, "Why don't you do it?" She sat the lunch in font of him with a slam on the coffee table, "Because I took her to school, and since you're up, I don't have to do all the work!"

"You constantly have me doing your dirty work…" He mumbled loud enough for his fraccion to hear, and growl at him, "Because you barely do anything! Now get to it! She needs her lunch by two, so don't be late!"

"Ugh, yeah, yeah…" With that said Lily mumbled something under her breath, leaving Stark to lay back and relax before doing what he was told. Not like he had to do it, but unfortunately he didn't want to get kicked in the balls again for not doing what his other half had asked of him…It was a suck-y predicament he was in, but with a shrug of his shoulders he sighed tiredly and looked down at the lunch that was sitting a couple of inches away from him.

Since last week Eri had been unwilling to go any where since she got that phone call. The Coyote didn't know why he was so concerned about it; mean if she didn't want to talk about why would it bother him to be concern about something that really didn't involve him?

Then that image of Eri crying with frustration and fear came back to him, causing a guilty subconscious after what he saw. She was just-, so scared. And so, with a squinting gaze in his eyes he got up with a grunt and went to get properly dress to leave the house.

He decided to wear a light yellow shirt, black pants and a pair of spandex for the day.

When he was back down stairs, he yawned scratching the back of his head and grabbed the lunch bag before Sonido-ing himself to the girl's location. He could sense her not too far off down the hill, and quickened his speed to find the school. He stopped in front of the School's entrance and walked in passing some larger gates to see some of the students were already outside. He regretted stepping onto that campus, since the moment he stood that walk in, everyone noticed he didn't belong there and when they saw him, the brunette could already hear the gossip getting around.

Who was he?

Was he a new teacher?

Maybe a friend of a teachers?

A parent?

A new student!

There were a lot of questions passing through their lips, but Stark ignored it all as he attempted to sense the girl he was searching for. She was in the building, and apparently releasing enough reitsu to get the coyote to follow it. He went up to the second floor, until he could really feel Eri near him, and continued down the hallway till he could hear a beat of music coming from a room he was coming close to. When he was close enough, he pushed the door opened to feel Eri being in the same room as the music.

He shifted his eyes to find her, but it was when the teacher called her name, he was able to spot her. She was wearing her regular jeans shorts with a red tank top, only on the side of her waist she wore a blue and green triangular see-through cloth that had little bells on the ends of it. When she moved it jingled through out the room like some of the other girls that wore the same thing. Just in different colors, but Stark was too enticed by one girl and one girl only.

Eri.

He couldn't help himself and began to more his eyes down her body a little. He hated himself for doing this, and shook his head before he continued to check out her out any further…Guess Lily was right…He was a little of a pervert. He didn't mean to be, he just couldn't help himself. He always found himself staring at her…

When he was allegedly sober, he took a deep breath and sneaked his way in, staying mostly to the wall as he sat down in one of the small chairs, and scanned the room before watching Eri as she went bare footed to prepared herself for a performance and got herself into position, still not noticing that he was in the room. It began to click in the coyote's head that this was more than just a class, it was a dance class. I didn't know she could dance… Heh, well, how could I have known? She never talked about it.

"Alright everyone from the top!" The instructor at the head of the class walked over to her CD player and pushed the button to get the music started.

It stated off slowly. The girls didn't move much, but moved just as slow to the music's rhythm. It was mostly drums, flutes, and other single instruments that caught the coyote's attention.

He tensed when he watched Eri begin to jingle at the hips by moving her chest, belly, and hips to some cultural…Seductive music. Her fingers flowed with her arms slowly and delicately in the air. It was something he hadn't seen before but upon further observations, he watched he face as well. Like all the others everyone was either having a hard time, concentrating too hard, or even smiling. But no, not Eri. She had this eerie look on her face. She look frozen in the face, numb, and her eyes were focusing on something else. Then, she retuned back to normal. The emotions read to him like poetry, and her body did the same.

Even though the motions were smooth, Stark could see the quivering in her lips just before she looked down at her feet to return back to the music that captured her ears.

The dance got more interesting, leaving the Coyote amazed at what the brunette could do. He felt like he shouldn't have been watching, but at the same time, the dance was eye catching. Besides, he had to wait for Eri to give her the lunch just to make sure he wouldn't get hit by Lilinette later.

When the dance ended, they all stroke their poses with a side ways thrust of their hips, and relaxed their backs with relief, "Excellent! Excellent, very good everyone, now class is just about to end, so go ahead and pack your things for today, I think we all deserve a good rest for Friday's events. Remember to be safe and don't let your friends drink and drive!" The teacher cheered as she waved everyone good-bye.

Eri immediately headed for her back pack on a desk, still as distraught as ever, until she noticed someone familiar as she was walking out. She staring into a pair of grey-blue shaded eyes only to be baffled that the one and only lazy Coyote Stark had done something else other then stay in bed all day, "What're you doing here?" She asked apparently happy to see him, which Stark found mellowing at first, but he wasn't a fool. The girl was just hiding her distress like she always did. He knew, yet he didn't say anything and showed her the bag she had left at home. The moment she saw it, Eri gave a strange look and smacked her forehead when she figured out what it was, "Curses…"

"Lilinette wanted me to bring it to you."

"Making you do her dirty work, eh?"

"How'd you guess…?" They both smiled in silence before she nudged her head over to the hall, "Come, walk with me."

So he did, only to wonder where exactly they were going, "Where to?"

"Well, currently everyone else is on break, so we'll just walk around until the next class…" She looked over to make eye contact with the tall primera, but when she did, she felt stuck when his intense gaze caught her attention. She kind of felt he cheeks heat up and tuned away with a smile to hide her meek expression, "This was one of many of my extra curricular activities. I needed to take a few more classes to graduate the third year so, this was it…But then, I saw they had arts, so I took that too. That's my next class of the afternoon."

"You draw?"

"No, I paint."

"I see. So do you have any paintings here?"

"Yeah! You see them all over the house at home. My room?" The coyote was surprised by that, he had yet to notice the paintings in the house, but when she bought it up he was surely impressed, "Those were you're doing?"

"Yeah. I got bored one time and started painting my walls, there's even some that glow in the dark and let me tell you those paints were easy to find out here. Oh, so do you want to see the ones I have in my class room?"

"That's up to you if you want to." He yawned tiredly making Eri flatten her face, "Are you gonna fall asleep on me?"

"No, don't be mean."

"I'm not mean! You butthead."

"Butthead? Is that all you can come up with?" He mumbled stretching one of his arms out to crack his neck, "Do you want me to start from the top of my list?"

"No thank you." Eri smiled at him and patted his back softly, "It's okay Stark."

"Is it?" He suddenly replied after a moment of silence, "Huh?…That doesn't even make sense." She giggled, and grabbed his wrist, "So tell me, how long were you in my class for?" She teased making the man flush with pink, "Um, not long…I was just waiting for you to be done that's all."

"You liar, you were too busy watching me dance the belly." She bumped her hips into his gently to get him to shake his head, and shrug a little with a hidden smirk, "A little."

"See, I knew it!"

"You say it's called what?"

"Belly dancing." She reassured him, just when she knew she was coming up to he at class, and entered the room with opened arms, "And this, is my art class!"

There were a lot of large tables with stools under them and paint bushes across rooms, paint buckets and cups and other art supplies that left Stark nodding his head in approval, "So this is what a class room looks like."

"Well an art class at least, yes. The other ones are some what cleaner with big bulkier desks. I sit over here!" She laid across the table with a proud grin, until a light bulb came to her head, "Oh yeah, my paintings! Hold on, there right over here!" She start sifting through a few large art canvas, before she pulled one out from a the few she had, "Here, this one." Stark walked over to grab the picture, and studied it with his eyes.

It was painting of a winter trail that was surrounded by snow and blue darkened pine trees. It was truly something since she had two copies in her hands; one in thicker paint while the other in water color, "These are good. And you did these?"

"Yes. This one I did last year, and this one I did just the other day, that's why the thicker paint looks fresher."

"Hmm. You have anymore?" She looked up at him, and nodded, " Yeah, but you can't laugh at this one. I made it on April fools and I wanted to prank my teacher, so if anything don't-, just don't freak out."

"Well, it couldn't be too bad, right?"

"Hold on." Again she went through her folders and this time she brought out a bigger painting that was of a something that only made Stark burst with laughter. He didn't expect to laugh at what he saw but it was just too much that it left him wide open for vulnerability, "You said you weren't going to laugh!" Eri said tying to stifle her own giggles.

"I can't help it, it's really good, but it's…Oh goodness Eri that's just bad. You-, you have a sick mind you know that?" He laughed even harder when he handed her back the painting and held his sides to calm the aches, "So it's not bad like in bad, but bad like in funny?"

"Yeah, well also bad like in that's a horrible in-du-window. Oh, that was good. Whew, I don't think that I've laughed so hard like that. Well, not for a while at least. Thank you Eri." He was holding his side so much it ached when he was done looking at it, and wiped a tear from his eyes, "Well your welcome, did you know that laughing increases your life span? Oh. Wait, never mind…" She looked to him with a goofy smile, getting him to open his mouth with a gape, "Oh…Low blow." He shoved her shoulder gently to get her to grin at him mischievously.

He then began to look around the room a little more. He wouldn't say but he was fascinated by the tools, and walked around them all to see what more of them were or what they did, which made Eri smile even more as she watched his curiosity get the best of him, "What's this thing?" He suddenly stood in front of a big sheet of paper that was covering one side of the class.

"Oh that? That's another canvas that we use here. We each get a wide sheet like this, and take these…" She picked up two buckets of paints and place one on each side of he and the coyote, getting him to watch as she dipped he hands into the purple colored paint, and threw some at the canvas, "To make inspiration! After it's finished, we let it dry and take them home the next day."

"I've never seen you bring any of these home." He noticed looking to he puzzled, but she only smiled at him, "Because I sell mine usually, or I give them away as gifts for the holidays or something." She then put up her finger to him, thinking of an idea as she went to get another couple buckets of colors and sat them at his feet, "Now come on, you give it a try." Stark sighed tiredly and unintentionally before he looked to Eri with a skeptical look, "You don't think we'll get in trouble doing this? How much do these cost?"

"Not much. My teacher likes it when I come in here and do things like this anyways. It shows her that I have a chance at being a true artist. At least that's what she told me the last time, so she leaves the door open during her breaks to let the students come in and do what they love. Inspiring. So, don't trip chocolate chip. If anything I'll take the blame, how about that?"

"If you say so." He couldn't think anymore of it then he had to, so with a ruffle of his hair, he did as she said. He hesitantly dipped his hands into the red bucket and threw it at the sheet. He kind of like it. He then did it with the green.

"It's a little fun, yes?" She asked.

"I guess…" He splattered it again and again with the girl hearing her giggle each time, until she gasped with an idea, "How about more colors?" She went to find all the colors she could, and continued the fun of throwing rainbow colors of paint at a sheet until something got into Eri, and she grinned over at the coyote with mischief , "Hey Stark?" She tried to say his name normal to get him to turn around, but just as he turned around, Eri smiled and painted a mustache on his upper lip. She stifled back her laughter, but when he tried to remove the paint, but it only worsened and smudged. She couldn't resist herself any longer and busted up in giggles.

Stark didn't seemed to like her dirty little trick, and let out a small growl from his throat just as he turned around to get his hands in some dark green paint, and attempted to throw it at her. He got a direct hit to her neck causing Eri to squeak out at the coldness of the liquid, "You shouldn't have done that…." The girl looked up at him to see he had dipped his hand into another color…Pink! She hated pink with a passion, and when he noticed this, he inwardly smirked.

"Oh no-…No, no, no! No! Don't you dare! Ah!" She attempted to walk backwards until she tuned to run, but Stark was too quick, he only Sonido-ed himself in front of her and cupped her face to leave imprints of his hands on her cheeks; and considering how big his hands were, it left a pretty big prints behind when he pulled them away. Of course, it only made Stark snort when he saw it. Eri glared at him, "Oh, that's how it is huh?" She began to walk backwards, only to secretly plotting back against him.

It was when the coyote got a hint of what she was about to do, he noticed the bucket of red next to her, "You really want to go through with this?" He asked giving her chance to back down, but the girl just grinned with excitement, "Oh, you bet your ass I do." She dipped her hand in the paint with a slow movement.

It was like a stand off in one of those old western films back in the days, because no one moved an inch…They stared each other down until Eri made a false twitch that got him to move a little, and with a jump in Stark's direction, little brunette brought the tall man down to the floor in a one on one wrestling match. They were knocking over buckets left and right, until they were roll in a color of different liquids, "Come on is that all you got Mr. Primera? Or are you just toying with me?" Eri teased him while straddling his hips, while trying to hold him down with her hands, well that was until she challenged him. It took him less than nothing to wrap his hands around her thighs hearing a small jingle from her bell covered sash she was still wearing and back flipped himself onto his feet to throw her gently against the canvas. They both fell into fits of laughter when they noticed this only to stop when they mellowed out, and smile at one another, "You ass, you ruined the merle now." Stark just chuckled at her and smirked, "You started this remember? So, technically, you ruined it."

"Did not!" He slowly pulled down from the canvas to show her the damage, but instead of really finding it ruined, it seemed they had made a painting without realizing it, "Oh wow." She was in shock. All the colors blended, and her back print only came to look like a rainbow tiger animal of some sort, "I think we just made it better."

"Really?"

"Yeah, don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"What's in the painting?" Stark could only throw her a strange look, "Hmm? No…" Eri rolled her eyes and explained what she was seeing in the portrait they had just created, after, the coyote slightly nodded his head to finally see what she was talking about and, "Huh, I guess you're right." He said smiling, his finger tips fiddling with his little goatee as he examined the canvas close, "I think it just looks like a bunch of colors with a big blotch in the middle." He joked only getting Eri to looked over him with knit brows, "Oh you just have no imagination Stark, give it some time."

Suddenly there was a short silence in the appreciation of their work. They didn't expect to like it so much, especially Stark. He stared into that portrait with a dwelling of study in his eyes, he began to slowly come to like it. Yet, little did he know the girl next to him was looking right back at him, enjoying the fact that he was liking not just their painting, but art in general. It was something else that she had come to learn about the mysterious Stark, and in all honesty, it filled her heart with joy to know he was loosening up to her world, "So, I guess we should just leave it here for the teacher to see. I think she'll like it."

"Hmm, and how do we explain the mess when she comes in? She's not going to like that we just spilled tons of paint all over the floor." Eri looked around, and titled her head to conjuror up a plan, "We'll definitely clean up. I can always throw away the paint, and buy more before tomorrow." She then looked at the merle, and began to take it down, making sue to hide it in a cone while she continued to think, "Yeah, I'll do that. You think you'd be able to help a poor human girl with picking up some materials?" She asking jokingly.

"You mean the paint?" He retorted with a tone, like that he already knew she was going to ask that, "Yeah-, hey, you helped me make this mess! And I don't have a car-,"

"Alright, alright no need to shout." He mumbled cleaning out his ear, "I wasn't shouting, ya boob."

"You know you remind me a little bit of a certain someone…What's her name….? You know her, she little and fusses a lot?"

"You jerk!" Eri was turning a little red with annoyance, "Oh that's right…Lilinette." He teased chuckling, "You're an ass…." She pouted and flicked his hair into his face before deciding to walk over to the large sink on the far side of the room, "What're you doing?"

"Cleaning myself off what's it look like?" She replied just before dunking her head into the sink to wash out the multi colors in various places of her torso. They couldn't do anything about the clothes, but Eri tried to get every inch of skin that she could find and get the rest off with a small clean cloth she had in her bag. By the time she was finished she grabbed a bunch of paper towels to dry herself off with.

She turned around to get something out of he bag when she was easily startled by Stark's presence behind her, "Damn it, you Espada's have a bad habit of scaring me!"

"Sorry, do you mind?" He pointed to the sink getting Eri to shrug, "Yeah, go ahead. So, how are we going to do this? Should we take the stairwell to get this stuff out to the dumpster?"

"I'm not sure, you know this place better than I do, so you may have to lead the way."

"Okay, just let me know when you're ready."

Once they were prepared, the two grabbed the huge thin sheet off the ground, and attempted not to drip on the way out. When they got outside, Stark was the one to open the top of the dumpster, making sure that Eri could reach high enough to throw it in. She was, barely.

But she did it none the less, and sighed happily when they were finished, "So, when did you want to go get the paint?" Stark yawned, cupping a hand over his mouth.

"We don't need to do it right this minute, but, I don't think I'll ever make it through my class looking like this. I might end up sticking to the seat instead." She giggled and fiddled with the dry paint sticking to some of her leg chipping it off softly with her nails before looking over at the lone man Stark, "So how about that lunch?"

"That's okay, I'm not really hungry." He stated putting his hands in his pockets as he walked with a slouch, it was only a matte of time before he wanted to go back to sleep, they both just knew it, "Oh, well then we can do something else, I'd feel bad if I was the only one eating in front of you. I don't know, it's some kind of peeve I have."

"No, don't starve yourself, you need nutrition to keep up your strength so eat if you need to."

"Awe, you care about my health? That's so sweet." She laughed thinking he'd get the joke, but instead his eyes glanced at her, "I'm kidding, it was a joke." She laughed even harder at his expression, "Oh."

"Jeez, lighten up dude, enjoy the days you have. It would suck not to." He cocked a brow at her as leaned in to murmur a few words, "You mean like you?"

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asked him feeling sort of offended, "You haven't been very enlightened lately. I noticed your mood has changed since that call you got just last week." Eri couldn't say a word. All she could do was look away and try to hide the numbing look on her face, "Oh, that. That was nothing. I was just having a hard time, and I didn't want to talk to him after talking to Grimmjow. Both of them are a like in a way, and they both were killing my mood."

They had been walking off the campus, still noticeable to everyone else that they were covered in tri-colors, but they had forgotten when they began to stroll the streets, "Now, don't get mad Eri…Because I know how much you hate it when we're peeking in on you…" He walked even closer to her making sure that no one else could hear him when he spoke, "But, I doubt that you would compare the two like that. You aren't afraid of Grimmjow like you were of this man."

"Um, that's because Grimmjow can't hurt me. He has to protect me under to direct orders of Soul Society or he'll be killed. This man's still very much alive." She slowly looked over at Stark to see a strange questionable expression take his face. She knew she shouldn't had said anything, but it was too late now.

"I'm curious to know if he's threatened you?" He was definitely curious, and worried. The way she made this man sound, it was as if he was the devil. Well, maybe to her, he was.

"Um, no…" Her voice shook which meant she was obviously lying. Eri hated showing her fear and when she did, she shook from the inside out to hold her ground, "I don't really want to talk about it right now." She then swallowed walking a little faster, "Can we just enjoy the day without having to bring up my past."

"Eri…" He tried to calm her walking by grabbing her arm gently, but she only tried to shake him off, leaning away hoping he would budge, "I don't want to force you to tell me, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. But-, know this. Lilinette cares about you…She worries…" He stopped himself only to see he keep walking away from him, "And so do I-, sometimes…Alright?" He couldn't believe he had just said that, not that it was a bad thing, but the last pat might have sounded like came on to her. Wait, was he?

Eri had stopped in her tracks and looked him in the eyes, surprised. Of course Stark was just as surprised by what he said, but he soon relaxed when he noticed that this was going to be his only chance calm her from his prying, "Yeah, I know. Don't read too much into that…" He began, staring back into those big dough-y eyes of hers again only to soften his features.

He felt her do the same, "The point is-, if you can't trust us as your guardians to protect you, then…Who can you trust? Hasn't Lily shown you enough loyalty that she would want nothing more than to protect you and be your friend?"

Before long, Eri began to wonder if Stark was talking out for Lilinette or if he was talking about the both of them without mentioning himself. Either way, it was nice of him to show that he cared, and she smiled with a sigh, feeling guilty for taking out her frustration on him, "I guess…Thanks Stark."

He felt slightly awkward seeing her smile up at him the way she did. He had to look away just to cease his testosterone from wavering and his face from turning a beat red, "Like I said, don't read too much into it."

"Right... So! Going on to a different topic, are you still going to that party on Friday, or did you get cold feet already?"

" I thought that was last week?"

"uh-, yeah, heh, I apparently got the dates mixed up…Hee hee…" She replied blushing at her own buffoonery, seeing Stark stare at her with big eyes before smacking his forehead, "Oh Eri….You're a trip." He chuckled out of expecting it from her, and smiled unknowing at the girl to cause her to blush even harder and roughly play with the long pony tail she had holding back her hair, when she too smiled at him, "Sorry, there's been a lot going on. You know?" That's all she really need to say to him to get the guy to know what had been eating at her.

And he nodded, staring up at the ceiling knowingly, "Yeah." Then he looked down at her as they turned another corridor, setting his hands in his pockets like he always did to feel comfortable, "Well, if you want, I'm still going to that party with you, especially after what you told me." As much as Eri wanted to jump for joy she bottled it up inside and nodded smiling widely, "Even if you're tired?" He didn't want to admit it, but considering he kind of did like her company-, which was a rarity for most-, and even though he was dead beat tired from being out as long as he had, he wasn't going to go back on his word.

It was a pet peeve of his, "I'll manage. Do you think I'd want you going by yourself? You need one of the Espada's to stay with you, if not at all the time then at least during when your out at night."

"I wouldn't be by myself! Lilinette's going too!" She replied as they stopped by her locker, and set her books aside for the next day. The only thing she grabbed was her sweater, and her cell phone.

"Mm, still…It makes no difference. My duty comes first." Eri almost forgot about why they lived in her house in the first place, but once he mentioned his 'duties', she began to wonder if Stark only hung around he because of he was ordered to do so by Soul Society.

What could have made any different from thinking the same way as the other Espada's? They looked at her as nothing but something to devour for more power, o at this point, a safety net to keep them alive. Was that all she was? No, she wasn't going to play that card, she wasn't going to doubt him. Not Stark, of course she barely knew anything about him, besides the fact that he was the Primera Espada on the charts of Hueco Mundo, making him the most strongest man in his dimension. It made Eri think better of this man.

Wow Eri you're such an idiot, he just said it. You're just a duty to him nothing more. So stop day dreaming. Come on, let me have a go at him, I'll take him down just for you baby

A vicious voice in the back of Eri's head echoed those words with a haunting laughter that only made the girl refused to listen to it and shake her head as she involuntarily laughed to cover the sudden pause between them, "Yeah, I forgot about that. Okaaaaay, then it's official! We're all going! Yay!" She jumped into the air with joy and began to skip the way to the store.

It kind of caught the Coyote off guard since they just had a serious conversation, but then again, that was her own way of dealing with things…With a joyous smile.

Meaning, she wasn't afraid that her life was in jeopardy, which may have alerted him a little bit than it did relieve him, but he left it alone for now and slipped his hands into his pocket while they continued to make their path to the destination they sought out.

When they finally made it, Eri's eyes had lightened up like a kid opening their gifts on Christmas morning. She squealed and ran down one aisle that seemed to catch her attention. Stark followed behind her closely, simply observing her excited tangent she was having for some paint brushes, "This is awesome! I love this store! They always have what I need!"

"Why is it every time I'm with you, it's always at the store?"

"Mm, I don't know." She didn't seem to be paying attention, but she was, "Maybe it's destiny." She joked getting a small chuckle out of him, "Maybe." He tapped against a large wind chime that was dangling right beside him.

"These will be awesome for my new project…Cool…Okay! Let's go to the paint! Paint, paint, paint, paint, paint-,…Paint! Found it!"

"You know you don't have to announce to everyone what you're looking for." He said laughing at her, "Why it's fun. Come on, help me pick some colors."

"Like which ones?"

"Any that you like. You're choice." She smiled at him and grabbed a few more of the colors, while Stark looked back at them, actually deciding which color he liked the most.

It came to the ones he noticed were different shades of blue, and chose between the two that matched his release forms' color. He was satisfied with the two smiled over at Eri who had suddenly gotten further from him than he had thought. She was already pointing down the next aisle at something else, squealing like a little school girl.

Oh wait…

"Oo…What's that, what's that, what's that!" She zoomed down the next aisle with he buckets in hand and hovered over something that she was grasping with glee, "Wow… It's the next edition canvas's with a cool stand included! Oh, look at this one, it comes with paint! I'm getting this. Oh! Look at the wind chimes! Can we get this one of these too Stark? Huh, please, please can we? Can we?" Stark didn't know what to say to this girl, all he could was stare and think of how much of a maniac she was when it came to shopping, and when he looked up at what she was pointing to, he could only nod as a response, "Awesome!"

He scratched his head laughing at the little cheer she gave, and followed her around the store till she almost brought the entire thing!

By the time they came out of the store, it was already after school hours, making it easier for Eri to make another quick decision, "You know what? Maybe we should return the paints now instead of tomorrow…I mean, I don't think we'll be able to get them there without the boys wanting to play with them and writing all over my house. What do you think?…" She looked back to see Stark carrying big bags of things with a 'are you serious' expression on his face. Eri couldn't help but giggle at him and rolled her eyes with a sighed off her titters, "Alright, alright, we'll go home, but you promise to bring them in with me tomorrow? We could check on the painting and see how dry it is."

"Why, are you planning on bringing it home?"

"Yeah! I could put it up in my studies over the book shelf near the window!"

"Uh-huh." He grunted fighting a struggle with a bag he held by a finger and sighed when he got a hold of the darn thing, "So, you ready?"

"Yes please!" Eri chirped just to feel Stark place his hand on the top of her head and Sonido-ed them back to the havoc home of theirs.

---

"We're ho-,"

"WHOA! LOOK OUT!" Both Eri and Stark ducked down just in time for a plate to go flying over their heads, "I'll kill you for eating the last bag of cookies you bastard!"

"Oh screw off Lilinette…" Grimmjow's voice was the obvious one in the bunch beside Lily's who was yelling over anyone, "I'll blow ya back into last week!" She screamed waving her fist in his face.

"Bring it on, baka!" He growled grabbing her wrist, but Lily never feared anyone…Well, not anyone that Eri had seen, and she especially was not afraid of Grimmjow, "Who ya callin' a baka, baka!" Just then the Sexta sat up from the couch still holding Lily's wrist until she ripped it away from him, only to start a growling match between them.

"Will you both knock it off!" Eri whined more than demanded, but Lilinette's eyes filled with tears, and she pointed an accusing finger at the blue haired Espada, "But-, he ate the last of the cookies!" Eri only sighed rolling her eyes and tilted her head to the distraught Lily, "What did I tell you about my munchies upstairs?"

"I don't know." She responded blinking blanking at her friend, which made Eri giggle as she adjusted her hips to the side and raised a brow, "Remember what I told-,… That one time after we came back from Cameron's? After we got-,…" She stopped and looked at the boys, "You know..."

"Oh. Oh! Yeah, yeah! Can I get them?"

"Yeah, near my bed on the right, in the inside of my night stand."

"Wow, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome. But you have to no break-y my dishes anymore! Got it!"

"Okay!" Lily giggled excitedly as she ran up the stairs, and left to achieve her prize. The only thing is that it left the boys completely confused at what just happened, "What was that all about?" Grimmjow was the first to ask watching Eri as she walked off into the kitchen to set up the paints for tomorrow.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know cookie hog." She chimed softly with a small hidden smirk that the Espadas' couldn't see, "Shut up! What is she getting?"

"None of your business. Now are you going to help me with these groceries or are you going to go back to watching television? Or …Are you just going to keep bothering me?"

"Oh, ouch babe."

"Don't call me that." Eri revealed a fang to him, clenching the rest of her teeth in a threatening manner that only got the Sexta to respond with a smug grin, "Why?" Eri looked up to Grimmjow from her spot at the kitchen table, unpacking her bags of art supplies until she finally took some of them in her arms, and stared down the Sexta before she left, "Why do you think? Hey Stark, you want to follow?" She asked looking to Stark hoping he'd answer, and with a soft jolt of his body at the invitation, he did, "Sure."

At first, the coyote passed by Grimmjow with ease, but when Eri was out of sight and already on the second floor, the panther stopped him by grabbing his forearm to get Stark's attention; which was a pretty dangerous thing to do on blue hair's part.

"Is there something you need?" Stark asked with no emotion to his tone, which to anyone else would scared the shit out of them, but it didn't stop Grimmjow from giving him that stupid mischievous smirk of his.

The Primera could definitely tell the panthers mind was tuning with ideas, and with a skeptical glare he asked again with an intense growl that covered his once sleepy attitude, "What." To tell you the truth, he was just really wanted to go to sleep now, "I'm just curious as to why you're so friend to this human girl? Ya got a thing for her or something'?" Of course he would say something as absurd as that.

But, did others think that as well. The Primera Espada was covered in colorful paint and he had been playing with a human... Could that have been such a bad thing? "If you don't be careful Primera…Someone could take your spot if you're not careful, Primera." He knew that in Hueco Mundo it would've been-, Yes.

And yet, here he wasn't…Feeling like he really cared what the others thought, this wasn't Hueco Mundo and they count as numbers here in this world…He meant more than he ever did as the number one Esapda…And that was just a fact…He was slightly pleasant being in the world of the living.

Without a second thought, he ignored the Sexta's question and shrugged him off with his shoulder making no other attempts to speak as he followed Eri up to her room. It left Grimmjow laughing to himself before he too began to slowly follow behind Stark to the girl's room.

When they reached the top of the floor, they could immediately hear the two girls giggling and mumbling something to one another as they played some music. It was pop music, something that had the girls dancing on Eri's queen size bed, until Lilinette slipped on pat of the silk sheets, and bumped Eri off the bed, "Ah!"

"Eri? You okay?" Thee wasn't a sound on the other side of the bed, until Lily looked over the side, and felt a hand cup the back of he head and slide her down onto the floor, "Ah! You brat!" She exclaimed sitting on top of Eri with a somewhat serious face…At first, but then when Eri made a funny face at her, Lilinette tried to stifle a giggle back as best as she could, until she lost herself in a fit of laughter. Eri busted out laughing too, following along in the loud fit of giddiness.

Stark smiled seeing this and watched them a little longer until Lilinette and Eri had calmed themselves, and Lily had picked herself and the brunette back onto their feet, "Oh my god I haven't this much in years."

"We should do it more often!" They both ended up sitting back on the bed and munching on the snacks of shrimp chips and pocky's that wee bought out from that mentioned hiding place, "Well, tumor's another day. Which reminds me I have to make dinner soon. Damn."

"I'll help!"

"Oh, okay. If you want, no pressure. Just as Stark was about to make himself known, his hand froze around the knob when he suddenly heard his fraccion say his name, "So, tell me something, did Stark ever bring you your lunch?"

"Uh-huh. You know, when I fist met him, he seemed a little more intimidating to approach, because I'm so shot compared to him, but when you get to him and his lazy attitude? He ain't so bad, he's actually-, really nice. To tell you the truth I haven't hung out with anyone like that in long. Maybe since middle school, heh."

"He actually hung out with you? At your school! He actually did something after a yea!"

"Yep. And it was awesome." She admitted happily, "Oooh! That's why you two are suddenly so close and covered in paint, eh?" Eri could tell that Lily had that particular

"Yea-, hey! You hadn't noticed this whole time?" Lilinette blushed and scratched her head nervously with a grin, "Well, it wasn't like I hadn't noticed, I just never asked I guessed. Wow, I think Stark has a little crush on you." Eri cheeks flushed redder than they would on a hot summer day, and even though the girls couldn't see him? Stark was flustered too by the comment and nearly screamed mentally to himself for her to shut the hell up.

"W-WHAT? No!"

"Shh! You want him to hear ya? I'm just saying is all. He hardly ever gets out of bed, and now all of sudden? You two must have done something really special to finally get him off his lazy ass." Lilinette attempted make Eri blush but the girl only made a face and stuck out her tongue with a giggle to cover up the shyness she was slightly feeling, buzzing around in her gut, "No, it's not even like that. Maybe he just didn't want to get beaten up by you for doing your dirty work. I know you're the one who sent him there in the first place anyways, so don't try to say that we had a 'flare' or a 'thing' going, because it's really not what you think. We-, had fun you know. Like laughing fun. Stark's was laughing can you believe that?" Eri tried to play off her shake-y words with a chuckle of , but Stark, being on the other side of the door, could sense the hint of faintheartedness behind her voice, which gave him the gist of what her face probably looked like, blushing with timid eyes trying to look away as she kept her composure. She was a horrible liar so it showed easily, Could she really like me in that way? No, she's a human. She wouldn't have a thing with for an Espada, it wouldn't be natural…Why am I thinking like that!

With a nostril sigh, and crystal clear vision of his mind, the Primera softly knocked on the door to make himself known and entered the frame with a tilt of head as he opened the big oak door, "What're you two up to?"

He figured it was time to save Eri from getting embarrassed by her own best friend, and by the big smile she gave him, she was surely thankful, "Before or after we fell off the bed?" She asked more looking at Lily who began to start a giggle fit between them, "Uh-, before…? I guess?" He smiled a bit at the two when he answered.

"Just Talkin'. We're thinking about going to a paint ball to blow off some steam. I think it might be good for the house if we did something to keep us all at bay, and yet bring us close. I know, sounds childish, but I want to have some fun? do you want to be in on it?"

"Oh no, don't bring him! He'll probably just fall asleep in one of the booths or in the back of the car!" Lily sneered her other counterpart, only to receive a glare from him, "Mm…"

"So? he'll be more well-behaved, unlike some people I know." Knowing Grimm could hear her from his room she said it just loud enough for him to catch on, "Hey!"

"So, do you? I'm going to look at cars with Lily tomorrow before I go to work, so when we go, you won't have to be our Schaffer." She laughed trying to get him to smile; when it worked, Eri could feel herself blush and looked away, "What do I get out of it if I go?"

"I'll give you a lap dance." She joked bashing her eyes at him, this time leering to see the unspeakable expression that overwhelmed his face, "W-what?" Both of the girls attempted to stifle their giggles, but it was just too much, his face was just priceless, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll buy you a bottle of sake to share with Ukitake and Shunsui when they come to visit next month. How about that?"

"Sure." He didn't think about it but yeah, he could've used a drink or two, and seeing Kyoraku, and Ukitake from Soul Society again made the coyote feel…Happy?

There is no sense of emptiness now…?

"Wait…Next month when they come, we should have a party!" Eri announced with glee, "You think so?" Lily chirped perking up he head to the idea and she crossed her legs.

"Yeah! I have acres of land here, and the lakes not too far off! Plus, we have a pool and a Jacuzzi! I could BBQ and put my stereo out so we could play some music, I mean what's a party without awesome, super-ty duper music! Oh yeah, that would totally rock! We could invite everyone!"

"Like who?" Stark intruded with curiosity as to who, but this girl really didn't know, "Well, there's your friends, some people from S.S. Maybe that Ichigo kid and his friends we met? He was pretty cool. I think he might actually go to my school too, so it'll be easy to track him down."

"Maybe." He thought wondering if everything has been doing well on their side…For once.

"Who else could we invite?" Lily asked wondering one thing, "Do you have any other friends Eri?"

"Huh, oh, n-not really. It's okay though, the guys from Soul Society should be just fine. We wouldn't want anything weird to happen with the norms around, right?" She laughed nervously, Stark was about to interrupt when suddenly Lilinette had one more thing to say, "Hey-, isn't that Halloween party tonight?" Lilinette's question left Eri blankly staring at he before giving a loud gasp, letting her jaw hit the mattress and her hands smacked the top of her head as she tug at her hair violently, "Oh my flipping glob! I totally forgot to buy my costume! WE ALL DID!" She began to panic attempting to think of an idea, when suddenly a bulb brightened above her, "Ah-ha! I have an idea! I have a few costumes down in the basement from the last couple of yeas, lets look though those! Come on!"

Eri was so excited she urged the others to follow her to go into the basement to see what she had in store for them, but while Lilientte was the only one that followed first, Stark on the other hand stayed behind for a moment to study the young woman's room.

He had remembered the conversation earlier when they were walking home, and wanted to take his time to see the paintings they had talked so keen of. He had to admit though, when he walked into the room, he saw that her entire room was like a work of art, and the walls, and the ceiling; even her desk, dressers, book shelves, and night stands had their own piece of work to them, all looking to be recently repainted with her own touch to it.

The next thing he admired were her walls which that we paint in clouds of maroon while the ceiling was painted in a shimmering shade of gold, as if the sun was just behind their delicate fluffy feature. After that, the room just fell into the same colors as her surroundings. Even her bed, and the see through canopy covering most of the bed were that of the same dark maroon she seemed to be attached to.

It was such an elegant room, one that Stark like the more he stayed in it.

He never touched a thing, just observed with his eyes of all what this girl was as a person…Which apparently was very beautifully artistic. He suddenly felt a thump in his chest that caused the Primera to shake his shoulders of the heart throbbing sensation.

It was unusual that it left him finding something else to distract him, a photo…? It was the only photo in the room sitting on her night stand near the alarm clock. With a gentle hand he raised it, and scanned the picture with a knitted bow.

It was of a young girl that looked just like Eri, and a man with dark brown hair, blue eyes with squared glasses-,a suit, and a dark haired woman in a sun dress with a sun hat that she was placing on the little girl's head. They were smiling, and laughing. Something he wasn't un-use to, but something he hadn't really seen on Eri before. It was shear happiness.

Stark had to stop looking at that photo. Apparently it was getting to him, and his mind felt like it was going to fry if he continued to think the way he was. So, with another sigh the coyote took one last glance around the gorgeous room, and walked out with the image of that moon painting that was hanging over the head of Eri's bed. It was just a picture of the moon. But it wasn't just of a moon, it was a full moon… which calmed him to see it more than he could ever think it did.

It must've hit closer to home than he knew, and with a more content smile on his face, Stark decided to finally make his way down stairs where he could already hear the sound of the two girls he was looking for giggling and laughing at god knew what.

The Primera had to roll his eyes and only wondered what the two were up to and when he yawned, he opened the door to the basement only to widened his eyes and cock a brow when he saw Eri putting make up on Lilinette while his fraccion sat on a salon style stool in what looked like a vampire costume, "There…See? Now all you need is some fangs and you'll be set for the party." The blue eyed girl giggled searching through her make box that was the size of a the table itself, "Wow Eri who knew you could be so inventive! You did it all just with an old witch costume! That's so cool!"

"Eh, it's really no big-y. This is what I do for a living."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope, I'm serious. I literally lug that stupid make up box around in my ca-, car…Usually-, and bring it to work with me."

"Where do ya work exactly?"

"Well, I kind of work all over the place. I'm a make up artist for super models, but my boss is the photographer, so I get a front row seat to very cat walk my work performs in." At fist the two looked at he like she was nuts, but when she explained what a cat walk was, they both let out an, 'ah,' of understanding, which made Eri laugh a little more as she finished up the fake dripping blood running down her friends lips and neck, making sure that the wound of the bite looked realistic, "Okay! Finished! Tell me how you look."

Thee was only awe in the little fraccion's eyes when she came to see he sexy reflection in the mirror. She was expecting something a little less 'sexy', but the way Eri had braided her hair back, and darkened her eyes and lips with a blood red shading? The black and red really came together, "Damn! I'm look'n good!"

"Hee! Glad you like it!" The two then looked over at Stark, "What do you think Stark? You like what I did for Lily? Does she not look…Ghoulish?" She joked tying to act spooky but it only caused the sluggish coyote sigh and chuckle before he suddenly yawned out loud-, by accident of all things, it must've seemed rude, but Eri merely stifled an even softer laughter that got her to asked if he was, "Tired?"

"Eh, A little. Odd though, I still feel awake of all things. It's strange."

"You're strange. Seriously, you sleep waaay too freak'n much." Lily muttered a retort knowing she was getting a glare from he counter part but continued to badger him on something new, "And another thing, you're still going with us to this party!" His fraccion exclaimed as she threw him a costume at his face, "Ah! Hey-, What is it?"

"Your costume." Eri stated giggling, "You have to dress up too you know, otherwise people will notice. Trust me, they're college students they'll notice. And then you'll be egged…But only if you go without a costume so."

"Oh, okay. When are we leaving?" Eri expected him to say he was tired or put up more of a resistance in going all together, but seeing the look of curiousness in this party, made the human smile wide than she already was, "You know, some how I pictured you putting up more of a fight but-," She then shrugged her shoulders and walked over to a big box that had big letterings, 'Halloween C.' on the side of it, pulling out a few old costumes that seemed to actually catch the Espada's eye, "If you don't mind tying on a few more? We can be out of here in two hours." She gave him sparkling eyes as he grabbed the other costumes from her hands, swiping over them with his own accidentally, making the quite coyote secretly feel a tug at his stomach that caused him to gulp, and unnoticeably sweat, "Yeah, alright."

He then walked up stairs without a word leaving Eri and Lily looking at the man funny as he stiffly walked up the basement steps. It made the girls also giggle at him as when he was finally out of sight, "What was that all about?"

"Oh I know what it is…" Lily had a playful tone lingering to her usual teasing one that Eri skeptically studied the fraccion and threw a dusty pillow at her friend's face, "What aren't you telling me!" She declared with a squeal only to have Lily laughed her ass off and fall back kicking her feet into the air before popping her head back up, "Something you'll have to find out yourself." She eagerly nudged her head to the door winking at he companion to give her the hint of what she was getting.

Oh, she got it alright, and she blushed madly as she stood up and wailed her arms above her head, bursting into flames of embarrassment, "Okay, okay enough tom foolery! We got you two ready now it's my turn! What to wear? What to wear?" The light green haired girl asked bouncing out of her seat as she began to dig though the big box Eri had opened next to her.

While Eri pondered that herself, Lily squeaked when she found the perfect outfit, "Oh my gods! How about this one?"

"You want me to go as a pirate?" Yeah, the brunette wasn't happy about that, "What, It's perfect for you, it just spells 'I'm a sexy rebel and I'm proud of it!', don't ya think?" Eri shrugged, and set her hands in the box to roam around, until she spotted the costume she had completely forgotten she had, "I guess…Oh! But what about this?"

The girl pulled out a shiny glittery fish tail, with a real sewn blue hand made shell bra that she had made long ago, "Wow…That's so pretty! Where'd ya get that?" Lily sounded astonished and awed by its beauty and colors but Eri just smiled and laid out the costume on the couch they sat one, "Well, defining 'where' would be kind of had. This was the fist costume I ever made for a play I was in, back in high school. To tell you the truth I haven't grown since then so I think the costume would still fit me." Eri then looked over at Lilinette with a gleam in he eyes and ginned excitedly, "Now, to pull out the piece to the résistance!"

"What's that? The shoes?"

"Yep, but not just any shoes…The glass shoes…"

"WHAT?" Yes, glass made shoes ladies and gents, "Well, I got them made by a fiend of mine who got into glass blowing, so as a deal for painting the new home he bought, he made me glass shoes. I nee knew what to do with them, but when I put on my costume for the show, these babies went perfectly with the costume, and above all? Comfortably."

"Wow…" Eri didn't waste anytime finding the hidden shoe box in the bigger box and revealed the dark blue beauties, "You want to know what the glass was from?"

"What?" Lily asked still in awe, "From the dark blue glass you get from buying those platinum beers they have on those commercials."

"You're kidding me!" When the fraccion heard that the look on Lily's face was of nothing but utter distraught. But Eri, again, just giggled, "Nope, but the fuckers are sturdy and they're almost impossible to break; considering how much other stuff the guy had to put into the shoe to make it actually wearable."

"Unbelievable, the things you come up with chick-y…I'm impressed."

"Hee, that's what happens when you're an artist like me." She stood proudly, and smiled with confidence, only to exhaling heavily and stretched out her arms as she yawned, "Well, I better go take that shower, we don't have much time, and knowing Mr. Stark? If we don't hurry, he'll go to sleep."

"Yeah, that's not even a joke, ha ha. Alright then, I'll wait for ya in the living room!"

"Okay."

---

Up in his room, Stark was still trying to find that one costume that wouldn't make him stand out as much, and after trying on the third outfit, he was smacking his face and yawning in frustration while he stared at his slouching reflection, "I look-, like an idiot. Huh, why the hell did I agree to this anyways?" The Coyote was feeling odd about dressing up and going to some stupid party, and not only that he was still new to the whole friendship thing.

That question Grimmjow asked still repeated itself in his head every chance it got. He felt uneasy, and most of all, scared about what he was developing for this human girl; which, by the way was a big thing for him. It was nearly impossible for Coyote Stark the Primera Espada, to feel frightened by a woman. He wasn't afraid of anything. He was usually killing his own kind just by sitting near them. But Eri changed that. He could literally touch her and she wouldn't beak. Why? She was human for gods sakes! How could he be scared of a human girl that would literally turn to dust at a mere feel of his reitsu! And yet, again he thought back to when he first met her.

She never feared him. Never. She was timid, but nothing that showed a fear of what he was. A hollow. She more welcomed it, and stayed near his side when they entered Soul Society like a lost puppy. She wasn't like Aizen said humans were, or like the other say her kind is. In saving his life, he had discovered more than what he could ever imagine in a hollows life. Most were just into eating their souls to gain more power. To become King of Hueco Mundo.

Being a hollow himself, an Espada even, you'd think he'd be more into doing the same thing, but he wasn't. He was content with being himself. He didn't have to prove to the others of how strong he was, they already knew of what he could do, After so many centuries of being in that forsaken desert…I've come a long way haven't I?

He then gave an unsure smile, and grabbed the brown leathered cowboy costume that had a white loose top and an open collar. Stark couldn't deny it to himself; even though he had a hole in his chest behind his gigai, he had a feeling that he had a ting of humanity left when he felt his chest skip a beat.

Was thee deep within the depths of his hole he wasn't sure, but something definitely made his chest beat in his ears and his mouth quench a thirst so great he could swallow his tongue. He was starting to feel for Eri, and he knew it, but the question still remained, Why?

He walked over to the mirror and straighten out his collar before setting the large brown leathered hat on his head, slanting it to the side for style, admitting to himself he liked it. A lot.

He wish more people dressed like this now a days, but it must've been his own sense of style that he liked. He liked wearing suspenders with the dress up pants, and open chest shirts. The image always looked better on him, but considering this time around, the costume fit him comfortably, and presentably, which he was just happy with altogether. He didn't look like an idiot. It was something without being overly done like Lilinette's costume. More like he didn't have to paint his face, like Lilinette's, That was just scary He thought looking grimace.

Then shook his head of the thought of his counter part looking like a walking zombie, and made his way out of his room to suddenly humming from the bathroom next door to him. It must've Eri since she was the only he knew would hum in the shower, and when it crossed his mind, he went to investigate.

Which wasn't had, all he had to do was stick his head out the door, to hear sudden lyrics her singing, "Yep. It is her." He thought contently only to suddenly hear snickering in the hallway.

And it wasn't Grimmjow. Well, he was there, but he wasn't the only one. Nnoitra, Szayel, with tag along Tesla had all returned from whatever they had come from, and noticed Stark's outfit, "What the hell are you wearing?" Stark glared trying to hide his embarrassment of being caught dressed the way he was, "It's a costume. The girls are going to a Halloween party, and I'm going to do my duties." He countered putting his hands in his pockets as he looked away from them.

"What the fuck is a Halloween?" The mantis asked impatiently as he glared at the brunette down, "It's a human holiday. They're going to a party that's all you need to know. It's not like any of you are going to do it." Szayel was about to protest when Stark rolled his eyes, "Except for you Szayel we all know how much you've been working for the Seiretei already…"

"Thank you!"

"Ha! You're damn right-," Before he could reply to the Primera's comment, the Scientist Szayel step in font of his old companion with an interfering question, "You said it was party? Are you seriously thinking on going."

"Hmm?" Stark cocked a brow to the pinked haired man. You know, he was hoping his counter earlier would've shut him up, but apparently it didn't. None the less, the Coyote nodded politely, "Yeah, I said I would go, because they say I don't get out much. So, I'm making a point. And if any of you say anything I'll cero you all into the next dimension." It was the first time the Espada had ever made a threat at the others. Usually they all knew to keep their distance, but this demand was coming from the Primera only gave the others, other than the mantis a bluish expression as they nodded willingly, "H-heh! Right-o." Szayel and Tesla smiled nervously more intimidated by him.

But unlike them, Nnoitra-, who was merely grinning at how soft the once proud Coyote use to be, was over looking him, "Look at ya! You've bow to the ways of our enemies and the humans we eat! What Espada does that! Seriously? Have you lost all common sense of your hollow self man? It's pathetic!"

The mantis spat deadly venom, trying to start a fight if anything with Stark, but the brunette just looked at him, and then away uninterested at the challenge, "So you think."

Then, the Coyote looked back taking off his hat, let the rope on the side grabbed onto his neck as he made sue to make eye contact with Nnoitra, "But my enemy is the one holding the cards. If I disobey them, no, if anyone one of us crosses that invisible line, we all die. If any one of use decides to even breath's funny, we all face the consequences for it, because then none of us can be trusted in their eyes." No disagreed, and no one spoke as the Primera made his point, loud and clear, "So I don't know about you, but I don't want to be so reckless with what I have left of my dignity. Especially after what Sousuke Aizen did to us!" It was frightening to see how dangerous the Primera looked.

His eyes were cold, serious, and deadly all in one, so much so, lit up a few eyes as Stark's fangs began to show and he glared intently back at the once vicious eight, making the mantis frown and flinch his head back when Stark got into his face, "I'd like to at least die with the rest of my pride intact. Wouldn't you agree?" He finished in a low and straight forward voice that only made Nnoitra give a flustered look, almost as if he wanted to kill Stark for saying something like that.

Well he would, because he knew it was true.

Aizen betrayed all of them, promised them broken dreams, and then attempted to kill them all and devour them for his own personal gain, to become something higher than God.

Everyone watched with anticipation, seeing the mantis's face turned red with age, but nothing came.

….All of them wanted to see if Nnoitra would make a move on the 1st Espada, but when he stiffed his back to retort, Eri had walked out in her towel, startled by the two she had stepped in between, and the others who watched the scene, "Uh, everything okay out here?" She seemed concerned, and confused as she steadied her words when she noticed the eeriness in the air.

She awaited an answer from someone, even from the two Espadas' trading glances, but Nnoitra just turned around with a growl and a fierce stare at the human girl, trying to size her up when he passed by her.

It pissed him off more when he faked to strike her face, and she didn't flinch. Why he wish he knew, because he was literally enraged to see that there was no fear behind her eyes for him.

The mantis's widened eyes looked at her and then to Stark who's eyes were dryly staring him down, while seriously thinking on whether to Lilinette off on him, or to have the honors of kicking the bastards' ass himself, for the shear fact that he made an action to strike his friend.

But instead of doing any of those, Nnoitra decided to do the wise choice and backed away, relentless. With a frustrated sigh, the very thin tall man put down his hand, and stared down Eri with a hungry look in his eyes that gave even the Primera a red flag.

Why?

Now realizing that she was half naked in front of everyone, Stark cleared his throat to get the slender man's attention again, and glared at him to get him moving, "Get going." The booming sound to Stark's voice even made Eri shake and tense a little, but not Nnoitra, he just looked back at the Coyote, chuckled, looked to Eri one last time, and smirked, "Don't think you're safe in this house just yet princess." He spat, "You will constantly be in danger…And not just by outsiders, but by us too! Don't forget that!"

He attempted to shake her up, but Eri merely glared back with a smug smile, "Ooh, I'm shaking in my skin." She teased back only to have the mantis spit near her and bellow to Tesla to follow him, only to reluctantly obey, and close his 'master's' bedroom door behind him.

It left the rest of the Espadas looking at one another…And then to Eri who blinked back at them all with a confused look rising in her face, "Can somebody tell me what the hell just happened!"

"No. Not really." Halibel shrugged.

"Sorry." Was all Szayel could say.

"Mm." Stark, of course, not wanting to talk about.

"Don't look at me." And that last one was surely none other than Grimmjow Jeagerjagues, which made Eri roll her eyes and laugh a little as she looked back to Stark with a calm, worried look, which alarmed him, "What is it?"

"Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, don't worry about that. He wouldn't have been able to do much even if he tried." He ensured with a soft smile, getting the girl to do the same with a sigh of relief, "In fact, if he fought me, he might've made a death wish on himself." Eri chuckled a little and nodded knowingly before suddenly getting a face full of Szayel in he breathing space, "So Eri, is it true? Are you going to one of those human celebrations?"

"Yeah. You want to go?" She asked hoping maybe more people would go, but instead

"I would but there so much wok to be done for Squad 12 still. Huh, if only I could get a night off I would certainly go." Szayel sounded down about it, but that was his job, she understood having one herself, "Bummer. Well, definitely next time when we do the party here. That way you can do both with only half the guilt." She laughed getting Szayel's throat to give a slight chuckle as well, "Indeed. Well let me know when that happens. I'll be more than happy to help you out with the alcohol."

"Sweet." With that the pink headed man began to depart to his room, yawning and stretching his arms from his events of today, "I'm going to go do a few more experience before I hit the hay. Night you guys…Have fun." He winked more to Stark than anything, which made the Coyote cock a brow at the suspicious doctor with a thought passing though his mind. Eri just giggled and looked to the tall brunette standing next to he with a tint of pink covering he cheeks from the fit of laughter. And she smiled. Even after her fits of giggles she still smiled at him, letting silence fill the two for a moment.

He didn't want to admit it, but-, she was really something when she was damp and wet, and half naked in font of him. He wasn't sue if it was his instinct talking, o his testiness kicking in, but the more she began to blush, the more he was finding her more tantalizing, that he began to gaze at her curves and all. From her glossy skin, to her beaming blue eyes, and dipping damp hair that spilled over the shoulders and back side of her body. She was just absolutely-, "Well, I should go get ready before I catch a cold."

"Yeah. I'll be downstairs." Was all the brunette replied, before making his way in a hurry. Eri didn't know what it was but whatever was bothering Stark, she could feel it coming off of him, but unfortunately brushed the feeling aside from already not wanting to know what had happened when she first walked out of the bathroom.

Well, being able to stroll off into her room to dress, Eri was close to shutting her door, when she suddenly stopped, noticing the Primera looking back at her from the stairway. She didn't know what to do except smile, which he returned back causing a warm between them. Something that tickled at the inside of Ei's stomach when she closed the door and began to turn as pink as a rose. She didn't know why she kept doing that, but this man made he feel like a teenager again. Like she was young and pretty, attractive. Something she hadn't felt in so long.

Not since she was a child. Before she ever met-, him.

Suddenly the sound of thunder echoed throughout the house making Eri jump and squeak in a startle as she twirled around to see that a rain storm had ridden in when she must've been taking that shower, "Oh man! No way!"

Then the phone rang. Being hesitant as always, she tuned to see the cordless on her desk and shakily looked down to see it was he fiend that was having the party. Eri laughed a little to herself, and answer happily to hide he silly reaction to the phone, "Hello?… Hey you!…Yeah, I'm looking at it outside my window." There was another pause until Eri sighed disappointedly and nodded to herself as she covered her vision with her hand, in even more, "Yeah, I know, maybe we'll do something for new years, yeah?….Okay talk to in school then? Kay, bye."

When she turned off the phone, Eri could only cursed to herself knowing that this was going to happen the moment she saw the rain, and smacked her head as she shook it in denial, "Damn it."

Meanwhile, back downstairs, Stark had laid back against the couch to relax while he still had the chance, all while checking out the lightening storm taking over their fair city, even Lilinette was awed by it when it would flash, brightened up the dark skies outside and give a great boom of thunder, "Wow, it's bad out there huh?"

"Mm-hmm. I think Eri's going to be a little disappointed." The coyote mentioned closing his eyes and yawned, laying his head back from the sight of the weather, "Why!"

"Because it's raining cats and dogs outside, so it may mean that the party could be cancelled now."

"How do you know!" Lily protested not wanting to believe that Halloween would be put off by some storm; unfortunately, he fear had come true when Eri had finally come down from her room finally, dressed up in her costume, unbelievably unhappy, "Oh wow Eri would look…Beautiful! It shimmers and it's sexy, and-, oh it's just so awesome! You wear it nicely, especially the top part! Lovely cleavage." Lilinette was definitely impressed which made a small smile and blush appear across the girl's face before she went back to sulking again, looking only to the floor instead of her friends.

She couldn't, she was too ashamed to tell them, but knew she couldn't say much of anything, except, "We're not going."

"What?" Lily's face was the first to fall sad. But Stark already knew what to expect of this and kept his eyes closed, only to listen, "Yeah, well, the party was cancelled because the rain, so we're stuck here for holidays. Damn this sucks."

There was a short silence before Eri began to feel so guilty about getting them ready to go somewhere when now they weren't. She felt had to come up with another plan to make up for this, "Aw man, does that mean we have to get out of our costumes now?" Lily's question suddenly triggered that plan she needed, "No, we don't." She said as if it just came to he, "What?

"Yeah, we don't have to, it's Halloween and as long as I have movies, and popcorn, the holiday can still happen!"

"So…You want to watch movies in costumes?"

"Why not? I have games too! Twister! My all time favorite game."

"What's twister?" The two hollows asked curiously, only to get Eri to smirk deviously…

---

"Right hand, blue….Ah crap." Stark was seriously regretting ever playing this game. It was fun don't get him wrong, but at this point he felt like a pretzel sandwich being in between the two girls that wee half his size. It was insane!

"Okay who's next?" He strained to ask, holding himself up as much as he possibly could.

"My turn!" Eri managed to squeezed out, bridging over Stark's stomach. She attempted not to make contact, hell they both did, but with the little space they had between them it was more than difficult not to feel his stomach against her own. God did he had some abs. They were rock hard from what she could tell. She couldn't help it, they were nice! Really nice.

With a spin of the arrow, Eri awaited her fate.

It landed on a yellow, which left the girl knowing she was about to loose, and sighed to bundle up all her confidence, "Alright here goes." She crawled her fingers over to the circle, hoping she'd be able to reach it, but when her foot slipped, that was the end of it.

"Ah!" Everyone fell with an yelp and laugh being stuck in a dog pile. Especially Lily who was all the way at the bottom, "Oh god why! Why did I have to be sit on by fat ass Stark!" She pleaded, laughing uncontrollably, "Fat ass?" He mumbled to himself blushing at the insult before only hearing Eri giggle at them both and attempt to move off of them, but unsuccessfully failed only to fall into Stark and his chest. When she lifted he head, she accidentally made eye contact with him, and instinctively blushed when she noted that he hands and chest wee placed against his pecks, just beneath the thin layered shirt "Sorry." She laughed sheepishly tying not to notice the man's sudden daze when she looked away, only to looked back to see a small smile tugging at his lips, "It's not like you meant it."

"Uh, guys, as much as I hate to beak up this momentous occasion? Can you get off me now!" The two's faces began to flustered when they noticed this and immediately the two jumped to their feet, trying to ignore what had just happened, "Soy!" Eri exclaimed helping her friend up, while Stark on the other hand just walked over to the couch to lay across it with his arms over his eyes, "Ugh, alright. I'm out on the next one. You two play with yourselves for a bit, I'm beat."

"No! One more game! One more game!" Lilinette cried jumping up and down with big pleading eyes, only to see the Primera who pondered it for a second before he went back to covering his eyes with a loud yawn, "Nah, I'm good."

"Oh no you're not!" Lily wasn't going to let her other half down so easily, no sir. She immediately jumped over to him and landed not so softly on his stomach, making the Espada wheeze and cough as she began to punch his chest repeatedly, "No, No, no! You're playing! The night ain't over yet and it's still young! Now get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!"

"Ah! Owe! Stop that Lilinette! Stop it-, Owie, Owie! Not again! Eri help me!"

"Damn it Lily chill you're gonna kill him." Halibel suddenly appeared from the stairway only to scan the scene before her, "What's going on here?" The blonde asked with a curious brow to the brunette girl, "Hey Hal!" Eri chirped happily trying to ignore the two fighting in the background-, well, it wasn't a fight, more like a beat down on Stark-, Lily's all favorite past time.

"Hey, what's going on, I thought you thee wee going to some party?"

"Well, we wee, but uh-, outside?" Hal took a quick glance and shrugged with a smile, "I guess that means it's an indoor holiday this year?"

"Yep; wanna join in?"

"No thanks, children games aren't really my thing."

"Well, how about watching movies in a bit, how about that?" This time Halibel nodded and put he hands to her hips as she walked over to sit away from the two in a cloud of their own dust, still battling it out, until Stark held Lilinette by the side of her mouth to keep his fraccion at bay, "I ki-you!"

"Sorry, I can't hear you when your mouth is full." The Coyote retorted with an agitated eye twitching, "You a-ho!" Was all Lily could scream, flailing her hands, just out of reach of his face, "Yeah, yeah, I'm an asshole." He muttered.

"Sure. What kind?"

"Horror. It's Halloween after all." Eri replied happily, seeing Hal thinking about it before she smirked at the girl, "Alright I'm game. I'm bored anyways, might be fun."

"Cool! You want to help me make with snacks? I was going to make popcorn and stuff."

"Awe, so no more games?" Lily asked sadly, apparently winning the fight when she knocked Stark into the floor, "We'll still play, but let's start the movies too."

"Cool!" The green haired girl jumped to her feet and pulled Hal and Eri towards the kitchen, "Then what are we waiting for lets get the munchies!"

"What about Stark?" Eri giggled looking back to see Stark laid out on the floor, "Don't worry about him, he'll come to."

"Eventually." Halibel added with a chuckle as she too looked back at the huffing form of the Coyote, "That's so not reassuring." Eri shook her head in pity, only to hear Lily give a snicker, "Eri you totally got a thing for Stark!"

"Do NOT!"

"Do too."

"Do not." The brunette replied biting her lip, faking a pout.

"Okay children, settle down." Hal interfered as she laid the flat bag of popcorn in the microwave, getting the snacks ready like they were suppose to be doing, "Heh, sorry."

"So, tell me what's going on?" The blonde suddenly asked curiously as to why Lilinette was teasing Eri so much, "Lily sent Stark to give me lunch at school. In doing so, we hung out and ever since she's been saying that I have a crush on Stark and vice versa." She said the last part staring down her cheeky friend, who merely grinned back with no guilt, "Hee, hee, yep. Because it's true!"

"What makes you so sure?" Hal asked, now even more curious to what's been going on, "Hal-,"

"Well you know how he is, he's lazy at everything! Besides fighting it's the only thing he's never put any effort into anything he does, but now all of sudden binging lunch to Eri is gonna changed his attitude? Sounds fishy to me."

"Well, we're all changing, the boys are getting out more too. Even I'm not cooped up in this house all the time. I go out and find something to do."

"Thank you!" Eri announced happily as she slapped her hand against her side like a dead arm, "Yeah, but it's Stark."

"You may have a point." She suddenly agreed, making Eri grow pail in the face and rosy in the cheeks, "Oh no, Halibel you're not seriously thinking that Stark or I could have an attraction to one another do you?"

"Well, what's wrong with that? What if he does-, you know-, like you?" At fist Ei was stunned by the question, and blushed a little as she thought about it, "W-well, I-, I guess" She didn't know how to answer that, "I don't know. But-, th-that's not the point-,"

"Oh yes it is." Lily giggled, "You like Stark!" She sang loud enough for the kitchen to slightly echo, "Do not." She replied once more grabbing a few bags of chips and such to bring to the living room, "Do too." Lily whispered loud enough for Eri to pick up on, "Okay, I'm done. I'm gonna take these goodies and eat them all by myself!" As much as she was attempting to act mad, she was more than anything just embarrassed and walked out of the kitchen trying not to show how much of denial she was in considering the she could hear from Lilinette as she left.

"Oh come chick-y I was just messing' with ya! Come back!" She laughed following her friend out when she wrapped an arm around her neck, "I'm sorry." The fraccions suddenly said seriously tying not to laugh as much as she wanted to.

"Yeah, yeah, help me put these out then."

"Okay!" With that the two set up the coffee table with their snacks, and Hal had finally put the last piece to the center of the mountain of goodies they had set out. The popcorn and drinks.

By this time, Stark had recovered from the little match he had with Lilinette and was now sitting back in the recliner with a massive headache taking over the right side of his head. His began to wince from the pain, until Eri offered to get him an ice pack.

At first, he declined, but as much as he did, she got it anyways seeing how much pain he was in, "Where does it hurt?" She asked in a nursing way that only had him touch the side that hurt the most. And it didn't take long for the throbbing to subside the moment the pack made contact.

Stark sighed blissfully to feel the headache slightly disappear, only to see Eri smiling down at him when she saw he could open his eyes without wincing, "I think we might have to put off the games till some other time Lily, you really left him one whopper of a headache." The brunette finally said as she held the pack delicately to his head, only letting the cold touch him not the pack itself.

"He's such a baby!" Lily scoffed pouting as she crossed her arms, glaring down Stark like it was all his fault, but he merely rolled his eyes away from her, "Lilinette…I'm not in the mood for loud noises please." He warned.

"When are you ever in the mood? I ask you." Eri and Hal could only shake their heads when suddenly the one and only Grimmjow made his appearance, "What's up looses?"

"What's up Gritty-kitty." Eri taunted back only to received a glare from the panther as he shrugged off her insult and leaped onto the couch to make himself comfortable, "Nada. Just wanted to see if the living room was open. You know alone?"

"Why? Were you going to order more porn off of paper view?" Everyone stifled a small laugh, even Stark slightly snorted a chuckle, "Whatever, like you don't look that at shit either?"

"And your point?" She countered softly, "Like I said I wanted to watch a little television."

"Well, we're about to watch one missed call. You interested?" Hal added as she looked through the dvd's in front of the entertainment center, and stuck in the movie she spoke of,

"What's it about?" Blue haired Espada asked setting his hands in his pockets as he crossed his legs on the coffee table just inches away from their treats, "Off! Not with food on the table." Eri snapped her fingers to the floor, getting the Sexta to reluctantly obey, "Ngh…"

"It's a ghost movie, about a phone call that a few students get before they die."

"Hee, sounds like the grudge or the ring, they're all practically similar movies." Eri replied only to get a few strange looks from the others, "Never mind,…Just play the damn movie."

"Alright." With a push of the play button, Hal back away and sat on the other side of the couch, while Lily sat right in the middle of them, and Eri sat on the recliner's arm next to Stark.

While the movie played, some parts made mostly Lily and Eri jumped, gasped or screamed but Hal, Grimmjow, and Stark were all able to keep their composures, they weren't easily frightened like the other two were.

But it wasn't just the movie that was getting to Eri; she could've sworn to herself she was starting to hear voices other than the ones from the television. She tried to ignore it, but it only made it worse, like someone was calling to her.

Unfortunately, her illusions were nothing of imaginary. They were indeed real, Psst, hey! Eri. Over here! That familiar voice whispering made her skin crawl with goose bumps and her temperature drop drastically when she looked out of her peripheral to see someone just on inside of the kitchen's frame when the lightening lit up the house.

At this point she really hoped it was just her being scared from the movie , but she better than that and looked to see a certain someone grinning at her, waving as he chuckled and put a finger to his lips, hushing her with a vicious grin.

She was the only one to notice him and with a loud gasp of surprise, she jumped from the arm chair and slipped into Stark's lap by accident, just as the thunder boomed above them, "You okay?" He asked softly, startled by her tiny fall into him, only to feel the girl start to shake and shivered against him uncontrollably as she looked to the kitchen with a ghostly face.

The movie had seemed to sync up with her small startle, so in thinking it was the movie that scared her, Stark quietly chuckled and wrapped an arm around Eri's hip, causing her to look back at him through the little light they had in the dark.

The eyes locked instantly, and like magic the fright and shakes ran through her body like water and ultimately her worries were replaced by a sense of warmth and safety that he brought to her.

"Better?" Stark's voice was filled with a sudden softness as he pulled her into him, getting Eri to blush a little when he relayed a tender smile.

In seeing his handsome face glow, she smiled back shyly and leaned against his tall frame to feel like he was almost cradling into his body; content, and feeling safe, for once in a long time, Eri could answer truthfully, closing her eyes to feel of this peace of mind, "Yeah." She gave once last look back to see he was still smiling at he, and she smiled again as she laid a hand against his chest, just where his hole laid.

They didn't mind the closeness, feeling only tranquility as their breaths slowly fell in sync and rhythm.

Believe or not, it was when Eri's heart beat slowed down to a steady beat, the sound of the beating heart had put the two to sleep by the second movie.

Everyone had noticed this and was more than smiling about what they were seeing between the two as they slept.

A connection. An unspoken attraction that had seeded itself from the first day they met.

Hal and Lily smiled at one another and then turned back to the movie with stifle noises the sounded like laughter.

Except Grimmjow who was giving a more intent stare, like he was pondering on a thought before he too turned his attention away from Stark and Eri with his once grumpy attitude returning in tact along with his pride…

---

By midnight, the entire house had fallen quiet.

Hal went to bed, only to have Grimmjow and Lilinette follow sluggishly behind one another as they departed to their rooms; leaving only Stark and Eri in the recliner downstairs, still in their costumes as they slept peacefully in each other's arms. The only thing to warm them up was one of the throw blankets that the laid on the couch.

Before long, the only thing making noise outside was the violent wind howling outside the house.

The only eyes in the home open wide, were Eri's. The moment a creak was made she slowly looked around the room and then back up to that top corner of her kitchen, thinking she'd see that man again, smiling the way he was, and chuckling like he knew something that she didn't. But only found the darkness swallowing up the room in black emptiness, while the rain outside now stilled silently outside their doors'.

She knew what it was, or more of who it was, and knew she had to keep her mind at bay, for it was the only way for her to keep that monster him from hurting anyone else she cared about.

She wouldn't let him after the things he did to her…Just the thought of it made he nuzzle into the man she was cogently laying on, and hide he face away from the world, feeling the feel of emptiness, loneliness, and fear shake he body with anxiety, "Mm, Eri…" The sudden sound of he name made he smile when she head the tiredness in the Stark's voice, "Hmm?"

"You awake…?" He muttered and slurred. Whatever it was, the Coyote was neither awake, now asleep, but none the less Eri answered without looking at him, she just stayed still in his arms, listening to his voice sooth the terror she once felt, "Mm-hmm…I'm fine." He oice boke softly to make the half asleep Espada knit his bows when he head he meek tone, "You don't sound fine." He mumbled into he hai pulling he up close to his uppe body so he could hea he bette, but she meely held onto his shit, and glued he cheek to his chest.

It was when she answeed with, "I'm afaid of the dak." Did he feel the wetness of he teas soaking a spot of his shit. He nee opened his eyes, but gently hushed the gil as he nuzzled his nose to he foehead, and embaced he tightly like a teddy bea. If anything, she was sue that's why he was thinking, she was a big teddy bea, o an oe size pillow talking to him, but either way, it felt nice to he. She embaced his meaningless affection and held back he cies to sob quietly to heself, "Those moies get to you?" She meely hid he face into him and nodded with a sniffle, which he retuned with a sleepy chuckle and moved his hips over to give Eri more room to cuddle up on the large chair next to him, "It's okay Eri…" He murmured almost incoherently as he squeezed her side with his hand.

Out of the reaction she blushed and looked up at Stark with a timid gaze only to relax he features when she observed the Primera slumbering face. His mouth half opened as he let out a snore or two, giving his lazy appearance a more approachable look than a threatening one. It made Eri smile and giggled softly to herself just seeing the little sleep bubble hanging from the tip of his nose. She also had to admit that behind that goofy look, he was also, very handsome. She never wanted to mention it to Lilinette though since Eri would never hear the end of it. She knew they liked one another, it showed itself when Stark would looked at her from afar and up close.

How he would suddenly care for her woes, and phone calls. Especially someone that was an Espada.

Eri didn't care though, if they ended up liking each other so be it? What would happen? Would the cosmos break?

Would Soul Society kill him for loving a human? Would their friend tuned into some kind of Romeo and Juliet drama? No one had to point out to obvious of what was to come, she wasn't stupid on knowing how she felt.

She just wasn't ready to step those stone's just yet.

Besides, she had already come to a conclusion that he was an Espada. He was dead, and she was still flesh and blood. She was still-, alive.

Yet she felt worse than dead, years before she met him, and Lilinette, which was definitely something to be grateful for. Then, with a she big smile, Eri could only feel her eyes seep a tear or two as she softly kissed his cheek bone, "Thanks Stark."

"Mm-hmm…" She looked surprised at him for a moment before she realized he was still in deep sleep, and giggled against his chest as she slowly began to listen to the room around her. It fell dead quiet again, with the only sound being made by Stark and his steady, yet loud snoring.

To the others, it would've been annoying as hell, and Lilinette would've just beaten him to near death, but to Eri, it was just as soothing as the sound of his voice.

It soon didn't take long for the girl only ten minutes to fall asleep finally and with that same calm rhythmic beat of her heart that she felt once before. Laying with Stark helped put her into the deepest sleep she had in a very long time. There were no voices, and no weird noises and visions that night attempting to awaken her. Just sweet peaceful sleep, Thank you

---

Deep within the depth of Eri's soul, another heart steadily beat unlike her own.

While hers was calm and soft, this one was strong, impatient, and loud, nearly growling and breathing as it gave an unbalanced beat.

Oh don't worry my little Eri…My presence has just yet to present itself…I'm actually a lot closer than you think. Oh. But you already know that…Don't you? Well, sleep tight my love… A dark entity laid deep within the girl, caressing and cradling her soul in his claws, giving a low chuckle as he uncrossed his legs and arms to stand in front of a two-way mirror, to see the girl he spoke of sleeping in the arms of the brunette he now had his eye on, Ah yes, and now the question is... What to do with you?

---

Next - Chapter IV: Past's Possession

Not everyone can open up just like that

Eri has that problem already, so does Stark.

And when he finally pushes Eri to the limit,

The two will come together to learn of the other's past

And discover the real truth behind Eri's terrorist

Preview quote: "Please Stark…" She choked, sobbing, curled up in a ball as she shook with fear, "Help me…"

---

Well That's it for me! Sorry it took so long, but that's what happens when button's don't work on your computer. Constantly copying and pasting! I need a new key board…Soon my dears soon. Until then, Greed's Chapter will be next. Promise this time! Give me a day to prep and it'll be good to go! Again sorry for any or the many errors