The first midnight toll sounds.

"ICHIGO!" I holler, no longer caring who knew I was a Ryoka. A herd of Soul Reapers were chasing me by now. "WHERE ARE YOU DAMN IT?"

The second sounds.

I pass by Gin. "Why in such a hurry?"

"MOVE IT!" I brush him aside, using all the speed I can muster to run.

The third.

"KUROSAKI ICHIGO! WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?"

I would be sucked back to the human world as soon as the final sound tolled.

The fourth.

"ICHIGO!" Riko's voice was heard far off in the distance across the city, screaming for all she was worth.

The fifth.

The sixth.

"ICHIGO! IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP NOW I'LL HIDEOUSLY MAIM YOU MORE THEN I PLANNED!" I didn't pay any mind to the attacks whizzing past me.

The seventh.

I saw a flash of orange hair.

"No way..." I hurry after it. "ICHIGO!"

The blur stops.

The eighth.

"Misao?" He turns around and sees me. "MISAO? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"TRYING TO FIND YOU!" I stop in front of him, hearing the Soul Reapers run up behind me. I turn, brandishing my zanpakuto. "KUROGAMI, FLY FREE!" It transforms into it's Shikai form, kind of resembling Ichigo's.

The ninth bell sounds.

"DARK WINGS!" I swipe my sword down and completely K.O. everyone tailing us, littering the ground with unconscious and even bleeding bodies. None were dead. I turn to Ichigo. "YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND!"

"EXCUSE ME! YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!" He hollers back.

The tenth.

"No time for that. At the twelfth toll, Riko and I are being sucked back home. We had a time restraint thanks to the gate being used and I only have a few minutes to talk to you." I was rushing as I spoke to him. "Ichi, I love you to death, but I wish you would have let me go with you! I've managed thus far and I'm doing better then you are!"

"I just didn't want you to get hurt. I knew if I didn't make it back then Yuzu and Karin would at least have you."

SLAP!

"You are coming back! Don't talk like that!" I scowl. "Look, I didn't come here for five days just to stand around and watch you fight or even to hurt you, I came to give you something I had planned on giving you right before we all left. But since I didn't get to go, I have to give it to you now." I remove the opal from around my neck and place it around his. "This is something Dad gave me to help store my spiritual power over time, along with my tatt. I have a good amount stored in there for a day when I'd need it. I think you'll need it more."

"Misao..."

The eleventh sounds.

"Ichi, I love you to death, I really do." I smile. "I can feel you in here." I place a hand over my heart. "So I'll know everything you do and feel everything you feel. But you have to pull through and get back home. If you don't, I get all your stuff!"

He grins back at me. "I'll be home soon. I promise."

I hold my pinky up. He links his with mine after a second of hesitation at my stupid pact-seal. I break away and hug him tightly, my Kurogami back to it's unawakened form and in its sheathe.

"Save Rukia and get your ass back home," I whisper in his ear before we pull away, letting him hug me back only momentarily.

The twelfth sounds for a long minute.

"Bye Ichi. I love you."

"I'll be home." He fingers the beautiful necklace. "You can count on it!"

"I'll go home and make sure that no Hollows wreak havoc. Hurry back, I'm going to need my partner back." I smirk before a rippling vortex opens behind me, slowly pulling me back towards it. "I love you Ichi!"

"Love you too, Misao. And thanks. I'm sorry..." Those were the last words I heard as I was completely sucked back into the vortex. I knew Riko was suffering the same fate right now.

All I remember before I black out, heading through the black tunnel that had opened, is hitting a soft, cushioned figure.

"She's waking up!"

"Ugh, where am I?" I clutch my head as I force myself up. Urahara was sitting next to my bed, Riko in a bed across the floor. "Urahara?"

"You're back home. You find Ichigo?"

"Yeah." I dully remember all the events. "How long have I been out?"

"You've both been out about three days now."

I look at my clothing, seeing I wasn't in what I was wearing before I turned to my Soul Reaper form. "Why am I in pajamas?" I turn to him and see him grinning. "Urahara, who changed me?"

"Me."

WHAP!

I hit him hard over the head. "You pervert!"

"What's going on?" Riko sits up, clutching her head as well. "Where am I?"

"Urahara's shop. Did you change her?"

"No."

"Lucky Riko." I scoff. "I'm heading home. I guess I just have to wait till my brother gets home."

"Misao, you know he might not." Urahara all ways had to be blunt with me.

"If he doesn't, I'm burning all your hats and your shop to the ground since you helped him leave." I smile a very innocent one when in all truth I was serious.

"He'll be back in no time!" He laughs nervously.

"That's what I thought you said."

Time passed and Ichigo was finally home. He had succeeded, no matter that Byakuya had saved Rukia in the end. I was happy he was alive and well, same about her.

But you see, I was now moving out for the rest of the school year. I was young, yes, but I was moving into an apartment with a foreign exchange host that needed to be shown around. I suddenly regretted getting into that 'Host Exchange' program. I'd rather move into an apartment with the person I was to be showing around instead of having him in the house with all our family. We could be pretty crazy.

"No!" Ichigo refuses to let me leave, holding the final box. "You will not be moving out!"

"Dad said it was okay! Let me go Ichi!" He was trying his hardest to drag me from the door. "Now!"

"No!" He throws me over his shoulder. "You haven't even met the exchange kid yet!"

"Which is why I should get outside before he gets here!" I was latched onto the door frame, my body horizontal in the air thanks to him pulling my legs. "Let me go!"

"Never! You'll stay here! We haven't been apart for more then a month at a time since birth! There's no way in hell that's changing now!"

"Which is why you should grow up and live some!" I try to wriggle free.

"Your exchange guy's here!" Karin hollers from somewhere outside, since the door was wide open.

I look ahead of me and see the taxi door opening. Ichigo was still pulling me towards the heart of the house, his back to the door as he pulled with all his might.

"Ichi! Let me go put on a shirt!" Did I mention we'd gone swimming not but an hour ago and I was in my bikini top, tattered jeans, and a purple belt with my hat on my head and my hair to the side.

"You won't need to because you aren't leaving!"

"Oh man do I wish Dad were home!" I holler. "Wait, that means I can beat you up since he isn't! LET ME GO!"

"YOU AREN'T LEAVING!"

"KARIN!"

"What is it?" She scowls, but then starts laughing at the predicament. "Ichi, let her go."

"No, she's not leaving."

"The guy's here. Let her go, please." Yuzu appears in the doorway of the room beside us.

"No. She is not leaving!"

"You just don't want to have to eat Dad's cooking again!" I try to kick him in the face. "Help me!"

"You've slain Hollows and you can't deal with this jerk." Karin kicks him in the shins.

"Ow! You twerp! I won't let go!" He still didn't let me go.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The voice was familiar. Ichigo holds my legs tight still while turning his head enough to see the guy. I simply look up from under my hat, not allowing him to see most of my features.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Both Ichigo and I scream, pointing. I quickly grab the doorframe again as I start to slip.

Ichimaru Gin stood there, in human clothing.

"Tsk, tsk, it seems I'm going to be getting to know you more, hmm Ichigo?" Gin chuckles darkly.

"You mean her?" Yuzu blinks, pointing to me. "She's the one you'll be living with."

"Oh?" He pulls my hat off. "Well if it isn't Kurosaki Misao."

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL YOU'RE GOING NOW FOR SURE!" Ichigo uses inhuman strength to rip me from the door frame and throws me over his shoulder. "NOT WITH THAT FREAK!"

I grab the next doorframe that we pass, digging my fingers into it. "LET ME GO ICHI! I ALL READY SAID I WOULD! IF HE TRIES TO KILL ME, I'LL KILL HIM FIRST! NOW LET ME GO OR ELSE!"

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

"KARIN!"

She sighs again, kicking him hard in the balls. I fall onto my face as he collapses. I groan as he yells out, clutching himself on the floor.

"I'm stuck with you?" I pull myself up and snatch my hat back from him, securing it over my ears. "I'm in for hell."

"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE, MI! I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN!"

"Oh no!" I reply sarcastically, kicking him in the back of the head. "I love you Ichi! Bye!" I run out of the door and dive into the taxi. Karin and Yuzu wave to me as Gin slides into the taxi and we speed off, me panting as I slouched in the seat.

"So you're the guy I'm supposed to be showing around?" I pant while glaring at him. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Now that really isn't nice." He stares at me a moment. "Do you normally run around like that?"

I blink. What did he mean? Then it hit me: I was still in my bikini top.

"No, don't get ideas." I reach into the bag I had brought. My other things were all ready in the apartment. I yank a white wife-beater out and shove it over my head. "We were swimming earlier. I'll say now, you aren't to touch me or my things, you will not hurt my friends, I cook so I won't get poisoned, and I don't believe in joint showers. I believe in privacy, knock or I will hurt you."

There was one bathroom in the apartment.

And it was between our rooms.

"Do you forget who you're talking to?" His fingers were lightly tracing the hollow of my neck, meaning he'd choke me if I kept talking to him like that. He was to close for comfort.

"I thought we discussed the 'not touching me' thing." I glare straight into his face.

"You're pushing it." He was also quiet so the cabbie didn't hear us. "Remember, we live in the same house."

"Apartment and I won't let my guard down for even a second."

The taxi stops and I quickly get out, Gin hovering near as I paid the man.

"You two lovebirds need to cut down on the PDA." He laughs loudly at us as he speedily drives away.

"Lovebirds? Ha!" I stomp to the elevator, trying to get the doors to close before Gin could get in as well. I didn't want to be alone in an elevator together.

To late. He was leaning against the wall with his hands in his black pants pockets. I sigh in irritation as I press the button and lean against the little wooden rail on the wall at a right angle from him, eyes closed as I leaned my head against the wall and slouched.

"What are you staring at, punk?" I mumble as I feel his gaze on me.

I'd so hate this.