Offer Up Thy Soul

-o-

behind this mask I live

and behind this mask I die

-o-

Days to go: 2

As violet eyes scanned the menu of the fancy restaurant her date had taken her to she did her best to ignore his inquiring gaze on her.

He knew she eavesdropped.

She knew he knew.

And both were too stubborn to speak up.

"So," Ichigo finally began, gauging her reaction through his orange bangs. "Did anything interesting happen last night after we split up?"

The black-haired woman smiled, her expressive purple eyes glinting in mischief as she waved the waiter over. "Not really, why?"

"Just curious," they stared at each other for a little while, Rukia biting her tongue to not slip up. Smirking Ichigo turned to the young waiter, ordering a bottle of red wine and two steaks for them both.

If she wasn't gonna talk to him while sober he'd get her plastered.

-o-

Much to his displeasure did she see right through his plan and didn't drink anything beyond her second glass despite his insistence, so after he'd paid the waiter and led her out of the fancy restaurant he'd already lost quite the faith in his survival, despite the fact she even showed up after everything she'd most likely overheard the night before. She had her arms looped around his as they walked down the stairs of the building, and she decided that she'd let him suffer more than enough for one night.

"You know, I found your father to be quite the interesting fellow last night."

They stopped, her smirking face meeting his as he searched her face for any clue on her thoughts, but finding none. After what felt like minutes but was really only a few, agonizing seconds, he sighed, averting his face. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you are an alien from outer space and want to knock me up." How she managed to keep a straight face was beyond her. And Ichigo thought the same, apparently.

"How can you say that as if you're talking about the weather?"

The petite woman shrugged, extracting her arms from his only to grab his hand and lead him around the corner into a back alley. After making sure that they were alone she turned toward him, her arms crossed across her chest and her violet eyes inquisitive. "Okay, I'm listening."

The orange-head stared at her for a short moment, then sighed in resignation.

"I'm from Neptune." That was a start, he supposed. But his mate only tapped her foot impatiently. "My dad let me visit your planet for a week for my birthday, and... you see, my race takes mates, it's instinctual, and if our mate doesn't accept us in the span of 200 hours, give or take a couple, we die."

"And in accept you, you mean..?"

"Sex."

That was blunt.

"What the fu-... wait, Neptune is made up of gas!"

He guessed her brain short-circuited on the sex part and decided to work on something more bearable. He rolled his golden eyes. "I guess your telescopes are pretty broken if they told you that. It's a lot like earth, just that we don't get a lot of warmth from the sun, but our planet kind of heats itself from within." He stared at her. "And we have oxygen and water, if you were gonna ask about that next." Seeing her mouth start to open to ask another pointless question he raised his hand, signaling her to keep quiet. "Can we please talk about the fact that I only have a few precious hours to live and would really appreciate it if you lead me to your apartment to make hot, sweaty love to you so I can experience another birthday?"

He should have seen the punch to the gut coming. There goes nothing.

Slowly straightening himself up he met her confused gaze, sagging some as he realized just how much she had to take in at once. "Let's make a deal."

-o-

Her feet were pumping into the pavement as she made her way back to her apartment as fast as she could.

"You have three hours. I will stay right here and wait for you. You can do whatever you need to do."

Her breathing was fast as his words repeated in her head like an echo.

"If you don't return I'll accept that you don't return my feelings. I'd rather go on and die than force you, like many others of my kind have done with their mates."

Down the street her apartment building came into view as she forced herself to go even faster, unwilling to waste her precious minutes.

"But if you return... I'll take it as you returning my feelings, and I will make plans for our leave tomorrow morning."

Her hands closed around her door handle, and her restless violet eyes stared into thin air for just a moment, before she pushed the handle down.

"One more thing, Rukia, no matter your decision... I love you."

Letting out a shaky breath she closed the door of her apartment, pressing her back to the dark wood, and slid down its length, her eyes closed as she wondered just what she had gotten herself into.

-o-

Sorry for the delay, folks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless!