Chapter Nine: The Threat

My breathing hitched the slightest, my heart beat accelerating. His hot breath fanned over my bruised cheek as he leaned in, his lips hovering above mine. And, for a moment I really did think he was going to kiss me—that was of course, after I noticed the widening smile etching onto his face.

Toushiro pulled back, his bright eyes staring down at me, "What?" he said, most likely noticing the sudden frown of embarrassment I had, "You didn't think I was actually gonna kiss you, did you?" he released me from his hold, his lips twitching, trying to contain his laughter, "I told you, your not my type."

I sat up, relieved and pissed. "If you came here to tease me you can get out." I pointed towards the door, glaring at him all the while. He had some nerve.

He chuckled, making himself more comfortable on my couch, "So not cute."

My frown of displeasure deepened. There was no way in hell I had any feelings for the boy, for all I cared, Karin could have him. Honestly, I had to wonder if Karin even knew about this side of him. Sure, from afar he looked drop, dead, gorgeous, but up-close he was a cunning and sly jerk.

I bit my lip; I really did think he was going to kiss me.

"Where are you going?" He asked casually as I stood up from the couch, my cheeks still burning in embarrassment.

"Am I not allowed to walk around in my own apartment?" I questioned back, my temper rising. He said nothing more as I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass to pour myself some water. The thought of kicking him out of my house hadn't crossed my mind till now.

I downed the rest of my drink and reached for another glass. Just because Toushiro was rude didn't mean I was. Walking back into the living room I sent him another nasty glare—to which he grinned—and slammed his drink onto my coffee table.

"Here." I gritted out and re-took my spot on the couch.

Toushiro turned his attention to me, "You--,"

"Don't talk to me."

"But--,"

"Don't."

This time he frowned, visibly irritated with my behavior. "Idiot peach." I heard him mutter under his breath.

I felt a vein throb. "Shorty!" I counterattacked, taking humor in the way his brow twitched in annoyance. What I didn't expect though was for him to actually take the glass of water and tip the contents of it onto me.

He grinned widely, snickering all the while, "Sorry. My hand slipped." He said indifferently.

My temper boiled over, a sudden sadistic urge filling my senses. He had followed me home. Teased me, and even poured water onto me. The word 'forgiveness' was no longer in my vocabulary.

I stood up, my jumper wet, thanks to that rude and insensitive jerk. He looked at me, his eyes wondering and I walked off disgusted. He was the worst. As I crossed the living room I noticed a spare soccer ball Karin had left here from her last visit. A wicked smile spread across my lips.

Positioning myself I took aim, Toushiro was just within the striking range. I bent my leg back and sent it forward, kicking the soccer ball as hard as I could. It ripped through the air, hitting him square on the head.

"Ow. What the hell?" Toushiro stood up, pained and shocked. He definitely didn't expect that one.

I smiled, putting on my best innocent look, "I'm sorry," I mimicked, "my leg slipped!"

A rough growl emitted from his throat, his face full of rage. "You little—,"

I blinked, "Uh-oh…"

The atmosphere was tense. I sat on the ground with Orihime in front of me. My brows furrowed and eyes strained in complete concentration. Orihime stared back at me, her eyes taking on a slow watery state as she refused to give in to the will to blink. She wasn't going to give up until there was a winner to be declared.

The wind started up, blowing a crisp and dry gust of air straight into my face. I bit my lip hard, resisting the urge to give in. My eyes were in complete mercy as they begged to be closed. The stinging from my eyes was almost unbearable, and I had to wonder how Orihime was coping with this, since from my point of view, she seemed almost fine.

Ulquiorra sat motionlessly behind Orihime, having said nothing ever since we started up our game. From my view, Ulquiorra remained unblinking, his expression never changing from that almost frown he always wore. He would so be a pro at this game.

A few more seconds past and still Orihime and I were in competition. My vision began to slowly blur, and I sunk my nails into the flesh of my leg, using my willpower to not be defeated.

Her eyes slowly began closing…

"Hi Hina!" A hand being smacked on my back caused me to lose my concentration and blink.

Orihime punched her fist into the air, "Yeah!" She cheered, a victorious grin gracing her features.

Karin dropped down beside me, "What's going on?" she asked, completely confused.

Orihime's grin widened, "Hinamori-san and I were playing a staring contest game and I thought for sure that she was going to win, but…" She looked at Karin, "You came and assured me victory!"

I rubbed my eyes, extremely relieved that I was able to close them. "Orihime sure is good at the game."

She smiled and moved herself so that she was sitting on Ulquiorra's lap, her head resting on his shoulder. "Ulqui-kun's the best though; sometimes he doesn't blink for hours."

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes, "That's impossible. No human can go without blinking for hours." He corrected.

Orihime pouted, "It's possible for you."

As they continued their little conversation I turned to Karin, and noticed how she was suddenly deep in thought. I tapped her shoulder.

"What's wrong Karin?"

She looked at me, her expression slightly stern, "Ah, nothing. There was just a lot of noise coming from upstairs in my apartment. Did you have some people over yesterday?"

I slapped myself mentally. I had completely forgotten about Karin being on the floor below me. Curse that Toushiro for stopping over and making such a fuss about a soccer ball. It was his fault for making me act that way. And besides, he was being completely childish.

"No… I didn't have anyone over." I lied, forcing myself to smile reassuringly.

Karin looked at me suspiciously, "That's strange… because I could've sworn I heard someone yell 'Get out you white haired stalker' at the top of their lungs along with a door slamming shut." She cocked an eyebrow up, testing my alibi.

Laughing nervously I patted her shoulder, "My, my, what an imagination you have."

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when a small crowd of girls gathered around me. In fact, they were the very girls in that crazy blonde's army. They looked down at me with a snake like smile. I shuddered.

"The hell do you plastics want?" Karin inquired, showing them no courtesy.

They mock-laughed, "That's funny coming from a hermaphrodite."

"What'd you say?!" Karin stood up, her face flushed with anger, her hands balled up into a fist, "You guys better back off." She growled through clenched teeth.

I stood up, quickly grabbing Karin by the shoulders and pushing her back before she got into any trouble. "What do you want?" I re-asked Karin's question more calmly, not wanting to cause a scene.

"What we want is for you to crawl back into that hole you came from and stay there."

I gritted my teeth, but before I could retort Karin beat me to the punch,

"Screw you Arisa! I heard there were escaped elephants from the zoo!"

The main blonde, whose name I finally knew stepped into view. She flicked her hair dramatically, her bright blue eyes staring mockingly at Karin. "So impulsive, we didn't come here to talk to you," she placed a hand on her hip, "though I'm sure you wish we had."

Karin glared, "Then what do you want?"

Arisa rolled her eyes, "We want to have a friendly chat with that girl over there." Her blue eyes flicked to me and instantly I knew there was going to be trouble. It was one thing after another in this school.

Karin turned her attention to me, her dark eyes hard as she most likely wondered what they wanted with me. Heck, I'd like to know the answer to that too.

I glared over at Arisa, "And if I refuse?"

She smiled, taking a bold step towards me and grabbed me roughly by my hair. Arisa bent her face forward, "We know all about you and Toushiro," she said darkly, her eyes never leaving mine, "I warned you to stay away but instead you chose not to."

She leaned in further, whispering her last words into my ear before she pulled back and released me from her hold.

"By the way, that bruise really suits you." Arisa said, "Wonder what you'd look like with another." She smiled, turned abruptly on her heel, and walked away, her mechanical robots following soon after.

Karin turned to me, "Don't worry about her Hina," she assured, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder, "she's all talk, she make's crap up all the time."

I nodded, "No, I'm fine…"Even with that being said, I just couldn't shake the feeling of something bad happening. I had never been the one to be so easily shaken with threats and yet why was I stressing about those words?

From the corner of my eye something familiar caught my attention and I turned to see what it was. Toushiro had been standing not too far away from us the entire time Arisa had come, and had seen it all. His expression remained displeased before our eyes met and he turned to walk away.

"Hinamori-san," Orihime called, and I turned to face her, "Don't let them trouble you; they're just as Karin-chan said, besides, they'd have to go through us to get to you." She smiled, elbowing Ulquiorra gently in the side, "Isn't that right Ulqui-kun?"

He sighed, "Hn."

Karin nodded, putting an arm over my shoulder, "Yeap! Were here for ya!"

Forcing a smile I said my thanks, but still I remained in doubt.

"I'm going to bring you a shit load of un-happiness this year."

(x
ugh, did this ever take ages to write. Honestly.

Anyways, I get my braces on Tuesday. Kinda freaking out, but meh.

Lols,

Review!