Hey Guys! I'm so sorry that it's been so long! I have no excuses. I feel horrible that I've kept you all waiting forever! But here's an update. I know, it's not much. But I worked hard. It's not as good as I wanted it to be :( please forgive me.

And here's some IMPORTANT NEWS! Well, first, thanks to each and every one of you for reading and reviewing and pointing out my errors! I've thought it through and you all deserve the best! I'm going to rewrite this story so you can have something even better! I've already started but please bare with me :) I'll probably start putting up the rewritten chapters in a month or so...Oh and also, IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE TELL THEM TO ME! I need all the inspiration I can get to make this as amazing as possible! Thank you to all! Enjoy! :)

Just for a moment, I stayed there. And just for a while, I let myself enjoy it. But my reason kicked in. I remembered how much it hurts to fall in love. I remembered the pain from the past and present. I don't want that pain to hurt me again. And I don't want Kira to have to feel that pain because of me. It would be unforgivable to play with his emotions. Kira didn't deserve that. No one did.

I gently pushed Kira away. I looked down; I didn't have the heart to look him in the eye. I had used him. It was for a second, but I still took advantage of his feelings.

Without having to look,I knew he was confused.

Finally, I looked up. "I'm sorry. I don't feel the same, Kira."

I didn't believe myself. My statement sounded more like a question. But that wasn't the reason I wasn't convinced of my own rejection. The time Kira and I shared today was so amazing. I learned so much about him. I got to be loose and free. He accepted me for who I am when I'm not "acting like a Kuchiki." We shared things about each other. We trusted each other with personal information as if we were close friends who go way back. And when he kissed me, I forgot about my problems. I forgot about Lieutenant Hinamori and Captain Hitsugaya.

Kira smiled. He kissed me again. When he pulled away, I unknowingly looked at his lips wantingly. I saw his flushed face smirk.

"Are you sure?" he asked. His tone was cocky. He had become a lot more confident in this short time. The sake in his system must have something to do with it.

I felt blood rush to my face. "I-I don't know. Yes. No. I'm not sure." I had no idea where all this self doubt was coming from.

He chuckled. "Obviously. Rukia, I'm not gonna pressure you into answering me right now. I understand that you're overwhelmed at the moment. And it's your choice. Only yours. Even if you say no, I'll understand. It'll hurt. A lot. But I'm pretty sure I'll eventually get over it." He looked at me with a dumb, yet lovable, grin.

I punched his arm playfully. "That dumb grin of yours is gonna win me over. Wipe it off your face!"

"Well, now that you said that, I'd rather not."

We laughed.

"Whatever. Let's get Matsumoto and Renji. We need to start heading back home."

"Yeah, it's almost sunrise. I don't want people seeing us carrying those two drunk idiots."

I tried not to burst out laughing, but it was useless. Pretty soon, we were dying of laughter...again.

The walk home was brutal. I had to carry Matsumoto, who refused to leave the festival. She didn't have much of a choice though; she was too drunk to walk. Despite that, she was still able to make the walk home impossible. She had tried running away several times. She had tried stiffening her whole body, leaving me to fully support her weight. She had tried that four times and everytime I ended up being squashed by her. Her, um, cleavage would come out because of her attempted escapes. The cars that passed by would honk, making our situation much more noticeable and even more embarrassing.

Not even halfway back to the house, I gave up. I let go of Matsumoto and plopped down onto the cold sidewalk. Matsumoto yelled out "Freedom!" and tried to run back to the festival. She managed to make it five feet away from where I had left her. She had lost her footing and fell onto the wet grass.

Kira set Renji down and sat down next to me. "Are we just gonna stay here, or...?"

"I'm tired. Can we just stay here a bit?"

My head fell onto his lap and my eyes closed.

I woke up to flashing lights and Matsumoto's drunk yelling. I tried ignoring it. I was doing a good job until cold metal wrapped around my wrists. I opened my eyes. I gasped when I saw that the cold metal was actually handcuffs. They binded my hand to Kira's. I looked up to see a police officer. Another one was trying to catch Matsumoto and Renji.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" I demanded.

"You and your friends are causing a disturbance. I have to take you four in."

"What? You can't do that! We weren't doing anything, Officer! We were just-"

"Yeah? Well your friends were running around in the streets. They were disturbing traffic and putting pedestrians at risk. And you and your boyfriend are drunk and disturbing the peace. Get up," he ordered.

"I don't take orders from anyone, especially from you," I said, my tone extremely rude. I could tell alcohol was still in my system.

"Are you resisting arrest, young lady?" he asked. His tone showed that he thought he was superior to me.

I got up and scoffed. "Sorry, Mr. Sour-Puss, but I have to get home. And I'll be taking my friends with me. Kira, let's-"

I looked down. I wanted to punch Kira. He was still passed out on the ground. This time, though, he was cuddling with my leg. I rolled my eyes. Still, I ran away. I managed to drag Kira a few feet before the police officer stopped me. He grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around. His cold hands brushed against my neck and I snapped.

Aizen.

The officer's face morphed into Aizen's. His voice started to echo around me. My fighting instincts instantly dropped to zero. Aizen grabbed me again and red flags went off everywhere around me. I did the only thing my brain could manage to do: I kicked him where it really hurt.

I tried running, but before I knew it, the before-Aizen-now-officer slammed the car door on me and Kira.

I sighed heavily. What the heck is wrong with me?

First, I freaked out with the Lieutenant Hinamori situation. And now this. Everything is reminding me of Aizen.

I looked over at Kira. After confirming he was still asleep, I let some tears out. But I calmed myself down as fast as they had come out.

I leaned my head against the window.

I thought I had finally gotten away from Aizen. But he's still haunting me.

The door suddenly jerked open and I almost fell out. I looked up at the police officer. He was smirking. Anger boiled within me as I realized he has done it on purpose. That anger doubled when he snatched my wrists and hauled me out of the car.

"Let's go!" he hissed when I didn't move further from the door.

"I'm handcuffed to him!" I yelled. He was laying on the seat now, his left arm awkwardly stretched towards me. The officer glared at him. He yelled for Kira to wake up. When he didn't, the officer took him by his left arm and dragged him out of the car. Kira woke up just before he hit the ground.

I stared at the officer, mortified. "What is your problem?"

The officer just glared at me. He ordered Kira to get up. When he did, I saw Kira wince. Before I could ask if he was ok, the officer shoved us forward. Inside, he took us to a hallway full of cells. He brought us in front of a desk. There was a female officer behind the desk.

"Process these two," he ordered bitterly. "And make sure you keep an eye on them. I don't want another incident. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied respectfully. I had no idea how she could be so kind to him after how rudely he spoke to her.

The female officer asked us kindly to put all of our belongings into a box. I didn't feel like arguing with such a kind person, so I did. She took pictures of us next.

By this time, the alcohol was out of my system and I started thinking straight. I started thinking of how Nii-sama would react to this. If he found out...I shuddered at the thought.

We were inside of a cell now. It was cold and the small size made me feel uncomfortable.

If Aizen had captured me that one night, would he have thrown me into a cell like this one?

I shook my head, trying to forget about that night.

In an attempt to forget about everything, I looked over at Kira. I saw he was holding his left arm. His face showed that he was in a lot of pain.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"I don't think so. My shoulder hurts a lot. I think the guy did something to it."

Anger shot through me once again. I strided up to the bars and yelled, "Hey! That idiot officer hurt my friend!"

The female officer came up to us. "I am so sorry. You see, he has some anger issues. But he's getting them under control," she quickly added.

I stared at her for a moment. Why is she defending him? Even after he was so rude to her? I decided not to give her anymore trouble; she doesn't deserve it. "Yeah, whatever. Could you just get my friend a doctor or something?"

"Yes, of course." She reached for her radio and spoke softly into it. Someone came and took Kira.

To me, it seemed as if he was gone for hours. I was alone in a cell with nothing but my thoughts to comfort me.

I got up. Contemplation is the last thing I need right now. I started pacing the small perimeter of the cell. When my thoughts started sneaking into my head again, I stopped and lied down on the ground. Strangely, I found it more comfortable than the cell's bunks. Looking up at the dim ceiling, I began to count the tiles. When i finished, I attempted to count the strange dots on the tiles.

In the middle of my counting, an image of the past snuck into my mind. It was from when I was being held in the Senzaiku. I was lying on the ground, waiting to be executed. All I could do was wait and stare up at the ceiling.

I shot up. I don't need a trip down Memory Lane.

I looked around for a distraction. My eyes made there way to the female officer, who was hard at work at the desk.

I guess she felt me staring because she turned around. "You wanted to know why I am so kind to that man?"

I blinked.

"Yeah, sometimes I ask myself the same question. But then I soon remember...Oh, I'm sorry. You don't want to hear this."

"No, go ahead." I have nothing better to do.

I sat down on one of the bunks and looked up as she told her story.

"You see, it wasn't that long ago that I was a rookie here. I wasn't anything special. I was shy and I followed the rules. I didn't want to mess up or be a burden. My worry always got the best of me. But one day, someone came up to me and gave me some advice. They told me that rules and protocol don't make up a good officer; it's the heart that does. I know, cheesy, right? I thought the same thing. But I started thinking about it and I realized that he was right. So I started using less brains and more heart. I actually started getting somewhere. I discovered that I had a talent for this. I was bumped up to detective in less than a month. It was like a dream. But my dream started getting the best of me. I started getting cocky and arrogant. I started going solo. I thought that the others would slow me down. That mistake came to bite me in the ass though. I was working a tough case. Some girl from the nicer part of town got kidnapped. I hit a break after days of nothing. Since it was a huge, high-profile case, I thought that solving it by myself would get me a pretty good reward and some sort of recognition. So I followed up on my lead. I was right. But I ended up getting ambushed by two kidnappers. I had previously thought there was just one. I got shot in the knee. They almost killed the girl, too. My team ended up getting there before they could though. After I recovered, I was suspended. And if you think that was bad, just wait until you hear the rest. I saw what I did wrong. I started to think more clearly. I knew I had to do something to prove myself after I fell so far. I wanted to climb back up and show everyone that I had changed. Then my chance came. It was a super busy day. There was a drug bust and there were a lot of people being brought in to be processed. An officer had brought in a "big shot." I thought that if I processed him by myself so the officer could go back and finish the job, I'd get a little credit. In my craze to get back to the top, I forgot to pat him down. He pulled out a gun. He was going to shoot me, but someone took the bullet for me. You remember the officer that brought you in?" I nodded. "It was his partner. He took the bullet for me. He was paralyzed. And it was all because I thought I could do everything on my own."

Right then, another officer walked in with Kira. Kira's arm was in a sling. I rushed to him once he was back inside the cell.

"Are you ok, Kira?" I asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt as bad. They did a real good job, don't worry. Hey, don't give me that sad look. I said I'm fine, so I am. Cheer up!"

He looked down at me with the kindest smile. I felt my face go red. For a moment, I let my eyes linger at his eyes. Then I came to my senses and looked away. I heard Kira's tender laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" I yelled.

"You are," he said between chuckles.

"Stop laughing! I said stop! Kira, this isn't funny! Kira!" I said. He wasn't stopping.

Pretty soon, Kira was slouched on one of the bunks, dying of laughter. With his good arm, he held his stomach. During this, he chanted, "It hurts! It hurts!"

My face got redder. "Hm, I hope it does!"

That was when I noticed the female officer had left. I went to the bars. I saw her patting down an angry man. I noticed her focused eyes and her careful hands.

And it was all because I thought I could do everything on my own.

A sudden commotion jerked me out of my sleep. I looked around until I remembered why I was in a foreign room. I walked over to the bars and tried to see the source of the loud noises. I knew I was still dreaming when I saw luminous white hair.

"Rukia, what happened?"

I didn't know what was happening. I just looked at the dazzling illusion.

It sighed. "Never mind that, are you all right?"

I stared at it for a while longer. Finally, the haziness I had been feeling began to wash away. My anger began to rise when Captain Hitsugaya appeared before me. Lieutenant HInamori was behind him. She was furious. I looked away from her and glared at Captain Hitsugaya, wondering why he was so worried. I internally scoffed. He doesn't care about me. Not at all. He proved that yesterday.

His face was red. "I mean, if you're hurt, I have to report this to your brother. I'd rather not have to do that, so..."

"I'm fine." My tone was cold and detached. I was surprised when I heard it. I have never used that tone in front of my superiors. But when I say how much more shocked Captain Hitsugaya was, I stopped caring.

I looked back at Kira. He didn't notice I was looking at him, so he had no time to mask the pain he was in. I felt my heart sink. I walked over to him. He didn't notice me until I sat next to him. "Kira, are you all right?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm..." He stopped once he saw the look on my face. "It hurts a bit."

Captain Hitsugaya cleared his throat. "The only reason I came here this early to post your guys' bails is because Ichigo and his friends spotted some hollows. We don't know if they're the special kind, so we have to hurry."

An officer came and let us out. Renji and Matsumoto were still in there cells.

"What about them?" Kira asked.

"They're hungover and in no shape to fight!" Captain Hitsugaya shouted as he led us out.

"But-"

"There's no time to argue about this! Those two idiots can stay there and wait until they're released!"

"Captain Hitsugaya! Kira is trying to tell you that he's in no shape to fight either! He's hurt!" I shouted. We were already halfway to where Ichigo and the others were.

I heard him grunt. "That's just great! Kira, stay out of the way! We'll make do with what we have!"

I don't know what I was expecting. For Ichigo and the others to be perfectly fine? For them to be handling the situation well without us? They always do. They've done just fine without us for this long. So when we got there, and saw them on the ground, covered in blood, I froze. I didn't know what to do. Seeing four of the strongest humans defeated...it was impossible to process that.

Captain Hitsugaya was the first one to snap out of it. He yelled at us to get moving.

"This is no time to stand there like an idiot! Snap out of it and get moving! Kira, try and get Ichigo and his friends out of here! Rukia and Hinamori, you two take the hollows on the left. I'll take the ones on the right!"

I felt something shove me. "Try to stay out of my way! I'm gonna kill all of these hollows by myself! And when I do, try not to gasp in awe. You might catch a fly-Hey!"

I turned by back to her and started to kill the hollows. As I did, I started to think: this is too easy. These are regular hollows. They are great in numbers, but that's all. There's nothing special about them. So why did Ichigo and the others get wiped out so easily?

And that's when everything started going wrong.

I had killed another hollow. I took a second to catch my breath. Just as I was about to move onto the next one, there was a bright light. I looked at it and saw that the hollow I had just killed was standing there as if my sword hadn't just sliced it into pieces.

Lieutenant Hinamori screamed. I looked over to see the hollow she was fighting was breathing fire.

"Rukia, watch out!"

I jerked my head to see Captain Hitsugaya yelling at me as he stared above me. I turned to see a hollow preparing to fire a cero at me. I knew it was too late for me to move out of the way. I closed my eyes tight and waited.

"Rukia!"

I opened my eyes just as the cero hit. There was a huge explosion. I looked up to see Captain Hitsugaya. He was furious.

"Rukia, what were you thinking?"

"I-"

"Why did you just stand there and wait for that cero to kill you? You idiot!"

"I am not an idiot! And I didn't just stand there to let that cero hit me!"

"Then why didn't you try to move out of the way?" he screamed.

I blinked. "Put me down."

When he did, I saw that his shihakusho and haori were burnt. His skin was too.

I felt my heart sink. I knew I couldn't stay there, so close to him, any longer. I turned around and tried to focus on the strange hollows.

I attacked over and over again. No matter how many I slayed, there were still so many. They kept on coming back to life. More of them were using ceros.

I also noticed that the hollow Hinamori was still fighting could absorb her attacks and fire them back. That one is probably one of the strongest. The lieutenant has been trying her best to defeat it for a long time. She's obviously exhausted. The hollow, though, shows no sign of being close to finished.

I looked back at my hollows. I sighed when I realized that I couldn't continue fighting them without my shikai. I didn't want to use it since it would tire me out quicker and because these hollows could be like the one Lieutenant Hinamori was struggling with.

I called out for my first dance. I decided on my first target and attacked. My eyes widened.

I am not a strong person in any way. My dances are powerful, but they have many weaknesses. One of them is that I can only focus one big target or a couple small ones at a time. I don't have enough power to attack more. So when I created more than ten huge, icy pillars, and successfully killed all the hollows, I couldn't believe it.

But my exhilaration had to wait. The hollows could still come back. I got in a ready position and waited. After a moment, I concluded that they weren't coming back.

I looked over at Lieutenant Hinamori.

"Lieutenant, please move out of the way! I'll take care of those right now!" I shouted as politely as I could.

She glared at me. "No way! I know what you're trying to do!" she shouted as she tried to keep the hollow back. "You just want to show off to Shiro-chan! You're weak! I'm strong! And since I'm so nice, I'll take pity on you! When I'm done with these, I'll do you a favor and wipe out...your...hollows...?"

She stared in disbelief before clenching her teeth. She went back to fighting. I could tell she was a lot different now. She was fighting with pure anger. But she wasn't making any progress. In fact, she was doing a lot worse.

"Lieutenant!"

I ran to her side when the hollow finally finished her. It had clawed her in the side. I flash-stepped to her and picked her up. I placed her down a safe distance from all the hollows.

I turned to leave when she grabbed me.

"W-Why?" she whispered. "Why would you help me?"

I began to think. I didn't do it because I cared about her. She'd done too much. I can't even respect her as superior. No matter how hard I try. "I don't know."

She frowned. "Don't think this makes you any better than me. It's just an off day."

I left.

I creeped towards the hollows with a newly found confidence. I gripped my sword and took a deep breath. A strange feeling filled my blood. It made me feel good. As if I had total control of everything.

I called for my second dance.

You aren't worthless.

I brought my sword up.

You are powerful.

I felt reishi rush to the tip of my sword.

You can do anything.

I exhaled.

You can win!

I brought my sword down, and all the hollows exploded into tiny shards of ice.

Toshiro's POV

It didn't take long for me to realize that these hollows weren't "normal." They weren't strong, but their powers made them difficult to defeat. I was beginning to consider calling in to have my limiter removed. And that's when something strange happened.

I felt as if I was receiving more and more reiatsu. Soon, it was flooding through my body and into my attacks.

When I had finally finished off all the hollows, I looked over at Kuchiki. She was sweaty and out of breath. She was also finished with her hollows. But what really caught my eye was that she was radiating white. I then finally realized that I was glowing blue.

Normal POV

Toshiro didn't know what was going on. He didn't like that.

"Rukia," he called out.

She turned to see him. He was glowing a faded blue. It was a bit strange to her. That's when she realized she was also glowing. They started to walk towards each other. She wanted to figure this out immediately.

They didn't notice, but as they got closer, they began to emit more light. Toshiro's light turned darked. Rukia's light grew brighter.

When they were facing each other, Rukia said, "Captain, what's going on?"

"I don't know. Did you also feel a strange sensation while you were fighting?" he asked.

"Now that I think about it, yes."

"This is-Are you bleeding?"

Rukia looked down at her hand. It was bleeding pretty badly. She must've gripped her sword too tightly. "Yeah, I guess I gripped my sword pretty hard. I'm fine though."

"Look how much you're bleeding! You are not fine. Let me take a look."

She reluctantly brought her hand out. He went to hold it when a strange force stopped their hands from moving. A tiny snowflake appeared in the center. It began to glow and spin. As it continued, ice swirled from its tips, creating a small, yet beautiful design.

It stopped. There was a cracking noise, and then it burst. When they looked around, they were surrounded by snow and ice.