Bleach 1. Is best played with eight

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Bleach _

_**Anime: **__Bleach _

_**Paring: **__Slight Hiyori and Shinji___

_**Genre: **__Humor-slight Romance_

_**Type: **__Based off the anime – first oneshot _

_**Warning-**__slight cursing on Hiyori's part – there are spoilers up to episode 214_

_**Summary: **__Ever wonder why Shinji was the one to be put into a high school to enroll Ichigo? Well here's how it might have happened. _

The Black Mail Game

Is best played with eight

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"So we all agree?" asked Lisa as she flipped through her magazine before peering over to look at the other occupants around the room "We will contact the orange haired freak?"

Her question gained nods from everyone around the room even the slowly reluctant nods.

"Who's going to go to the school?" Shinji asked as he shoved another fork full of food into his open mouth. Shinji frowned at the heavy silence that had creped up on the room. He swallowed his food and looked around the room to find all the Vizards staring at him with expectant eyes. _They had to be kidding _

"No there is no way I will be going to a human school. Not on your life!" Shinji cut into the silence, soon after there were wines from Mashiro and sighs from the rest. Shinji's frown got even deeper until it was slapped off with a sandal from a girl with super human strength.

"Hey dipshit! You listen to me! You will be going to that school whether you like it or not!" Hiyori said as she gritted her teeth in Shinji's direction.

"Why don't you go Hiyori you're the one that looks more like a kid then I?" Shinji said as he clutched his hand to his bleeding nose. Hiyori slammed the sandal once again into Shinji's face.

"What did you say dipshit?" Hiyori asked as she grinded the sandal father up Shinji's bleeding nose, before she was dragged away by Kensie and deposited on a near by couch.

"Shinji we all agree that you are the best person for the job" Love said as he came closer to the group

"Why?" Shinji muttered sullenly refusing to push himself off the ground. Shinji wiped his sleeve across his nose to get rid of the drops of blood.

"Because Kensie, Love, and Rose look to grown up" Mashiro smiled as if Shinji was a small child asking a stupid question "They wouldn't fit in at all" She added with a shake of her head before skipping over to the take out food that littered the near by table

"And Mashiro is to slow, Hiyori to short tempered, and I don't feel like going to a school for kids." Lisa said never taking her eyes off of the magazine in front of her

"Well I'm sorry about your problems but there is no way I'm going to a human school!" Shinji quickly pushed himself off of the ground and ran out of the room calling out behind him "And that's final!"

"Final my ass!" Hiyori cried out as she tried to level herself to run after Shinji before she was pushed back down by Kensie

"We'll leave him alone for now" Kensie said as he spoke up for the first time. He turned to look at the group of people sitting on the couch

"Right good idea!" Hiyori exclaimed. Everyone stared in wonder at Hiyori. Even Lisa had put down her magazine to stare at the pigtailed girl "Right now we have to come up with every embarrassing thing that Shinji has ever done"

No one could argue with the blond female they were just glad that Hiyori hadn't come down with a fever. And they didn't want to be hit like Shinji at this moment.

~.~.~.~.~

"Why am I the only one that has to go to this school?" Shinji muttered to himself as he walked down the corridor and up the stairs till he came upon the roof. "Hiyori looks more like a student then my self" Shinji sulked as he plopped himself down onto the edge of the roof and looked out at the many building in the distant.

He sighed as he lifted his head to look up at the different shaped clouds. No matter where you were clouds never changed, and they didn't expect you to go to school. _I've already gone to school! Twice!_

This is just so wrong. Shinji frowned at the silence. It looked as if no one was following him and if Hiyori wasn't following him than something was wrong or something very bad was going to happen. He should know he'd been friends with Hiyori for a long time.

Shinji stood up and crossed over to the door of which he'd come from. As soon as he came across the hall he started to slinky slide across the wall. Masking his retisu and walking as silently as possible he looked into the room to find…Hiyori sitting at the table with a piece of paper writing. Mashiro was sitting next to Kensie on the couch watching a program on the T.V. every once in a while she'd turn her head to look at Hiyori before turning back to the T.V. Love and Rose were reading Magna together on the second couch as they ate their share of the take out food. Lisa was standing over Hiyori and looking over her shoulder at whatever she was writing.

And it was interesting you can be sure of that, otherwise Lisa would never have put down her precious magazines to read over Hiyori's shoulder. Something was definitely up and it wasn't good, you can be sure of that. Because what ever Hiyori was involved with then it was automatically not good. Although…

…

she was pretty cute when she had that expression on. She was concentrating so fully on what she was doing she wasn't even screaming. She was biting her lip in concentration and her eye brows were scrunched up as she looked down at the piece of paper. And…then she lifted her head and laughed evilly. Yep. That ruined it.

Shinji frowned deeper at his thoughts before shaking his head back and forth to clear his head. He narrowed his eyes before slinking into the room with his hands in his pockets. He slid next to Lisa and started to lean over Hiyori when she slammed her hands on the paper and lifted her head to glare at him

"What do you want dickhead?"

Shinji shrugged a shoulder and then turned around and whipped back when Hiyori turned her head back to the paper. When his face connected to a waiting foot and he was pushed up against the wall. Only to lift his head to see Hiyori standing up above him with a huge smirk on her face

"What?"

"Dickhead!" Hiyori whipped her hand out and pointed at Shinji, her finger, scant inched from his now red face "You will be going to that school or I'll blackmail you!"

Shinji blinked at the fingers in front of his face before sliding his gaze back up to look at Hiyori "How are you going to blackmail me when there is only the eight of us?"

Hiyori's grin became wider obviously she had given this some thought "Because I know things about you that the other six don't!"

At this statement everyone in the room turned to look at Shinji and Hiyori with obvious interest.

Shinji narrowed his eyes "What? Have ya been stalking me?"

Hiyori rolled her eyes in annoyance "Dickless I've known you longer than anyone here of course I'd know things about you that everyone else wouldn't" Hiyori grinned before leaning down so that she could whisper in her ear "or things that never happened"

Shinji's eyes widened in horror "This is not going to get me to go to that human school Hiyori" Shinji made his eyes go back to their original size "There is nothing that you can say" Shinji stood up and started to dust himself off "I still think that you should be the one to go to this school"

Hiyori narrowed her eyes before opening that big mouth of hers "Once Shinji liked this girl in the district and whenever he saw her he would always thro—"

Shinji took his hand and wound it around Hiyori's small waist and lifted her into the crook of his arm. His other hand went to block the sounds coming from Hiyori's mouth

"Hey" Mashiro said as she stood up from the couch and pouted her lips "I was listening to that!"

Shinji ran right past her and out the door. A load scream could be heard a few seconds later. "YOU BIT ME!"

Lisa frowned as she picked her magazine and laid down on the second couch making Love and Rose quickly move out of her way

"So who's going to go to the school?" Rose asked after dumping his trash in the trashcan

"Isn't it obvious?" Lisa asked as she laid the magazine down on her chest to regard the blond man in front of her "Shinji tomorrow morning will be going to that kiddy school."

"Huh? How do you know that Lisa-chan?" Mashiro asked turning her head slightly to the right with the same pout on her mouth

"Sit down!" Kensie grabbed Mashiro by the arm and pulled her down onto the couch

Rose glanced off too where their two comrades had just run off. "If anyone can get Shinji to do anything Hiyori can"

Love nodded his head "Hiyori has strange and scary powers"

Lisa rolled her eyes at the morons surrounding her that were so much like her past captain. They had absolutely no brains. Lisa pulled her magazine back up to her face. Well she wasn't going to say anything about what Hiyori had written down at that piece of paper they just didn't deserve to know.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Shinji cradled his mauled hand to his chest and glared at the girl sprawled on the edge of the roof. Shinji sighed before leaning up against the rail above Hiyori and glanced down before glancing back up.

"You think that Kiskuke is right about this boy?"

"Has he been wrong about anything?" Shinji sighed

Hiyori snorted before glaring out at the buildings "I hate humans and death gods"

Shinji merely nodded "I know"

Hiyori looked up at Shinji "Shinji I don't want to go to school full of humans!"

Shinji frowned and then sighed in defeat before sliding down the railing "Why do I have to be the one to recruit?" Shinji said not quite ready to give up just yet

"We've already gone over this" A hint of annoyance creeping into her voice

Shinji once again sighed and turned his head to look at the girl with her honey brown eyes. "Fine I'll go get this Ichigo guy so we can get him to join."

Hiyori narrowed her eyes "You'll go get Ichigo so we can take a look at him it doesn't mean he can join right away!"

Shinji nodded his head "Yeah right."

Hiyori nodded her head and then gave off a rare smile that seemed to brighten up the room and her face. It brought up sparkles in her eyes and showed a surprised dimple in her left cheek. Shinji quickly turned his head to once again look out among the buildings.

"Hiyori why were you the only one gathering black mail?" asked Shinji with interest

"Because no one else had any so I had to think of the things I remember when they weren't there or before we went to the academy" Hiyori answered with a shrug

Shinji gave a nod before falling into a comfortable silence with Hiyori

If anyone had come upon them during this time they would have died of shock. Hiyori and Shinji had been together for more then five minutes and Shinji wasn't a bloody mess? Well it was inconceivable. But this was normal for the two of them. They had an unspoken truce…an unspoken bond that they kept hidden from all.

It didn't matter to them it was just there it didn't change anything. Something that could easily be dismissed at times but strangely never lived without…it was just a part of them.

Hiyori turned to look over at the same view that Shinji found so exciting "Thank you"

It was only a whisper and the only reason Shinji could hear it was because the wind carried it to his ears.

Shinji smiled as he stood up before leaning down so that his mouth was even to Hiyori's ear before walking across the roof and through the door.

Leaving a smiling Hiyori behind with twinkling eyes

"I did it for you so next time you owe me."

Hiyori touched her ear where his lips had touched when he'd spoken and let her smile become wider before lifting her head back up to the clouds.

Yes. They had a very strong bond that had been built over a hundred years. And nothing was ever going to break that still young and frail chain if they had anything to say about it.

~.~.~.~.~.~  
This is a ten one shot story. These upcoming oneshots will all be connected at the end with this story and the last story. The middle stories are pretty much what Hiyori had written down on the piece of paper that Lisa had been reading. So all the oneshots will make sense I promise…just maybe not till the end of the story. All oneshots can and might stand alone. Review and I'll get the next chapter out faster.


	2. The Fear of blackmail

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Bleach or any of the characters _

_**Anime: **__Bleach _

_**Paring: **__Hiyori and Shinji – eventual Rose and Lisa___

_**Genre: **__Humor-slight Romance-Angst-melodrama _

_**Type: **__Based off the anime – second oneshot _

_**Warning-**__slight cursing on Hiyori's part – there are spoilers up to episode 215_

_**Summary: **__What was going on through Shinji and Hiyori's minds during the night of their hollowification? This is my take on what might have been going on during that fateful night. _

The Black Mail Game

The fear of blackmail

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Trees whooshed by as Shinji ran to the last sighting of Kensie and Mashiro hopefully Hiyori was there and safe. He'd long ago rushed past the other captains and Lisa. He had only one goal and that was making sure that Hiyori would be ok. And if there was one scratch on Hiyori well it was good bye Urahara. He didn't care how much he liked that guy it was his fault.

If Kisuke had never sent Hiyori out here then he wouldn't be feeling like his heart was breaking. His feisty Hiyori was in a lot of trouble he could feel it. He believed in Hiyori and knew she was strong but still whatever was doing this had taken down a captain. And this did not set right with him, something was wrong and it wasn't just that Hiyori was in danger although his mind had obsessed over that fact since Kisuke had came barging into the meeting.

Most people thought he hated Hiyori. That couldn't be father from the truth. She was one of the few things he couldn't live without. She beat him up with vigor for life and sometimes when he'd be by himself he's start laughing at her many antics. She was just a joy to watch and be around…unless she was trying to kill you with her feet, which was a little more difficult to describe.

When Shinji saw Hiyori's blond head he sighed in relief and brought up his speed so that he could pick her up and save her from the hollow looming over her and so he could confirm that she wasn't that badly injured.

"Shinji!"

"Stupid why didn't you release your soul slayer!" He said to the blond girl tucked underneath his arm. Even from this distance he could feel the retisu that this hollow was carrying. Hiyori should have at least drawn her sword

"Like I could stupid." She told Shinji which drew a frown on his face but before he could question her. He saw the 62 marked on the hollow. _Kensie?_

"Were going to have to take him out." Lisa commented as she flash stepped in front of the pair

"Wait! don't you see that's Kensie?" Hiyori asked as she strained against Shinji's arm, to stop them from hurting the captain hollow

"We have to Hiyori if nothing else for Kensie's memory." Shinji quietly whispered to Hiyori

She turned her frightful gaze upon him, which made his heart clench in pain, before sliding it back to the fight taking place in front of the two. She knew that Shinji should be helping the others take Kensie. But. At the same time she was glad that Shinji kept his arms wrapped around her waist so that she could take a little comfort in his presence.

"Mashiro." Shinji whispered as Lisa called out to Rose. Hiyori watch helplessly as Mashiro used a leg attack to take Rose out within a matter of seconds. These hallows were far more powerful then anything they'd come up against before.

Mashiro soon turned her attention to the two standing watching the fight. Within seconds she was upon them kicking. Shinji did his best to use his sword to block each and every attack and protect Hiyori at the same time. He knew by know that Hiyori was not going to raise her swords against friends no matter what they were now. And that just made it even more apparent that he was going to protect Hiyori no matter what.

As Mashiro's leg swung for his face and his sword was left defenseless he never was so happy to see Hachi with his binding spell falling right on top of Mashiro.

When they had both hollows tied down Shinji breathed in a sigh of relieve. Hiyori however tensed in his arms.

_Something was happening_ she could feel it moving across her body changing something, unlocking something. Something that no good could come from. _Shinji_ Must protect Shinji. She knew that whatever was happening was not good and that Shinji was in danger if he kept holding on to her. "Shinji"

"Huh?" Shinji dropped his head to look down at the small girl in his arms. Who's muscles had tensed considerably in such a short time

"Shinji let go" Hiyori breathed out

"Huh?" Shinji said again but before an answer was given. He felt a deep pain in his shoulder that could perhaps be answered by the blood coming out of it and the small girl on the ground. _Hiyori?_ Hiyori had tried to hurt him? If she kicked him in the head, well that was nothing new. But Hiyori had never tried to hurt him with a sword. What the hell was going on?

Within a few seconds he got his answer when Hiyori screamed and mask started to form upon her face. Shinji's eyes widened with horror. This could be happening not to his loud mouthed Hiyori.

But before he could do a thing darkness surround him. And indescribable pain shot through his stomach before he dropped to the ground. It took a few minutes before he lifted his head off the ground only to see his comrades on the ground and Aizen standing up above him.

"Aizen." He gritted out through clenched teeth. He'd always known that Aizen had been up to something but this…this was unbelievable.

The pain was extricating and it seemed as if the more he got the mad the faster and more painful it became. And jut thinking that Hiyori was going through the same thing pissed him off. So he steered his mind away from those thought and focused on beating Touzan and nothing else. Not his comrades. Not Aizen a few feet away. Not the pain. Not how slow Touzan was and how it seemed as if he wasn't even the one fighting. And most importantly not on Hiyori.

Through the layers of pain Hiyori struggled to come to the surface and watch what was happened. To make sure that Shinji was ok. Opening her eyes she saw Aizen, Touzan, and some grinning freak standing over Shinji. Aizen was taking his sword out of it's sheath and telling Shinji that one less test subject would be just as good as one more. And then some crap about being betrayed when you know it is worse then not knowing.

Now that was a load of shit as for as she knew being betrayed either way hurt like hell. Especially when your skin was turning into a mask now that hurt like hell. But she didn't have time to think about how stupid evil villains were they were going to hurt Shinji. And even though her mind felt like it was being pierced by needles, she knew she had to help in some way.

"Shinji" she whispered as she one out the fight between some unknown force and went after Aizen. Only to have her side slashed so fast she couldn't even see it.

She was right being betrayed hurt like hell. _Shinji please be safe_ was the last thought running through her mind as she succumbed to the pain and the feeling of someone laughing…taunting her weakness to protect the people she cared about.

_Hiyori _Shinji turned his head to see Hiyori fall to the ground in a heap of lifelessness. He's never been so angry in his life. And seeing how long he'd lived for that was a damn long time! And being angry meant the mask would start to grow again, but the next time he turned around he saw Kisuke and Tessai.

"Kisuke" Shinji said

His hearing was becoming filled with laughter so he only caught bits and pieces of the conversation. And when he dropped to the ground and he didn't know what he'd find when he woke up or even if he'd wake up. All he knew was that when he woke up Hiyori better damn well be up and alive, or there'd be hell to pay. Another thing that laughing had better stop it was getting annoying. But he could live with the laughing, he couldn't live without Hiyori.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Lisa put down the first piece of paper with a grin. As soon as the others had went back to whatever they had been doing before the blackmail incident. Meanwhile she had gone to the table and stole the paper and read it as fast as she could. And let out an unexpected grin. These papers were going to be some great blackmail for her self. Hiyori and Shinji were going to be wrapped around her finger.

Shinji walked into the room with a grin until he whipped it off and put a frown on his face "I have decided that I will go to the school and check out this Ichigo for myself."

Lisa grinned. It wasn't like this was any new news to her. No matter how much Lisa was going to have Shinji wrapped around her finger, Hiyori would always have him wrapped around hers a little more. "Why'd you come in here and tell us what we already could have guessed."

Shinji frowned at her and walked out of the room mumbling to him self about why he stuck around anyway.

Like he or anyone else didn't know. Lisa frowned as she shuffled the papers once again there were still eight more papers left. They better have some good blackmail on here. Hiyori had ripped up the others which pissed her off because she was sure that they were good ones.

Lisa sighed. Which drew Rose's attention to the black haired girl lying on the couch. "Lisa what's wrong?" he asked as he walked over to her.

Lisa lifted her head from her magazine and shook her head "Just morning over some good blackmail material."

Rose turned his gaze to the pile of ripped up paper and shook his head. Sometimes he wondered what was going through Hiyori's mind and then thought better of it.

"Are you going to tell me what you're really reading Lisa?"

There was a short pause before she turned her head back to the magazine "Nope, it's getting to good perhaps when I'm done."

~. ~. ~. ~. ~. ~. ~  
**Author's note:** Not as good as I would have liked it to become. But I was working with something already in the anime. But all the ones from here on out will be complete fan made and a whole lot better then this oneshot. I personally thought that this was my worst one, but it was necessary so you can see what's going on. And yes at the end of almost every oneshot I will have something from the present.


	3. Hidden in the Shadows

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Bleach, only the idea _

_**Anime: **__Bleach _

_**Paring:**__ Hiyori and Shinji – Love and Rose___

_**Warning-**__slight cursing on Hiyori's part – there are spoilers up to episode 214_

_**Summary:**__ Shinji wakes up being something completely different then what he was when he fell asleep (A vizard) what are his first thoughts and wishes upon waking? _

The Black Mail Game

Hidden in the Shadows

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The first sound he heard was a clock in the distance. As he opened his eyes he was blinded by the sudden light. Shinji blinked a few times before turning his head to the side only to spot Kensie next to him…without a hollow mask on. He turned his head to the other side only to find Love on the other side of himself. After sitting up and clutching his side he looked around the room where he could see Hachi and Rose on either side of the two at his side.

After looking around the room he could see that the three girls were no where in sire. What had happened to Hiyori? Shinji leaned forward and clutched his head in pain as the memories of last night ran through his head. Or was it last night, somehow he could tell that something wasn't quite right any longer. And it just wasn't the part of him that could feel something lurking within his mind.

Shinji snapped his head back up and stood up as fast as his battered body would go. He was driven by the need to find Hiyori and he wasn't going to stop till he found her. Shinji shuffled across the floor till he came across a sliding door and slid it open. He sighed in relief as he found Hiyori and the other two girls lying on cots similar to the one he had been laying on.

Shinji leaned up against the wall and slid down where he was across from Hiyori. He was breathing heavily and sweat was pouring down his forehead.

"I'm sorry Hiyori I should have gone to Yamato with my suspicions of Aizen as soon as I suspected anything." He whispered into the still room. His only answer was the settle breathing of the girls in the room

"Dickhead." Hiyori rasped out as her eyes fluttered open so she could look over at the slumped form of Shinji "I told you that that Aizen wasn't right in the head"

Even in his condition he was able at Hiyori's antics "The only reason you didn't like him was because of his smile which I might add is the same reason you don't like me."

Hiyori turned her head "Yeah but Aizen was even more annoying."

"Than why didn't you beat him up?" Shinji muttered under his breath

"Psh" Hiyori looked at the all above her head "Hey Shinji? What's going to happen to us?"

Shinji frowned as he looked over at Hiyori "What do you mean?"

Hiyori turned her head back to look at Shinji "You must have noticed by now that were not in Soul Society, it's harder to breath here, and this is not the fourth squad relief center"

_Now that she mentioned it_ Shinji looked around the room to see dull walls that was nothing new in a medical center but there was also no medical shingami running around the place which was not normal for soul society. "I have no idea where we are but from the spirt particles I'd say were in the human world"

"I hate humans" Hiyori muttered underneath her breath as she also looked around the room. "I wonder who sent us here."

"Isn't it obvious we've been abounded by soul society?"

"We've what?"

"Hiyori we were turning into hallows and I do not even know how we aren't destroying soul society at this moment."

Hiyori looked back up at the ceiling "Shinji I can still hear it."

"I know I can hear it too." Shinji whispered to her "I don't know what happened to us but what ever it is I'm sure it changed us in a way I'm not sure I want to understand."

Hiyori looked back at Shinji and let out a small smile "At least were all ok." Hiyori looked around the room "Were all ok right?"

He nodded his head "Yes, the others are in the other room"

Hiyori nodded "Shinji what happened after I passed out" she whispered as she clutched the side where Touzan's sword had cut through.

Shinji frown this was not a subject that he liked and it wasn't because of what happened afterwards "How are you feeling Hiyori?"

"I'm fine" She looked back up at Shinji "Are you ok?"

"Never better." Shinji gritted out

"No, your not! What are you doing in here when you're not even fully healed? Get back to bed now!" Hiyori said in a stern voice

Shinji smiled down at Hiyori and breathed in and out "I'm fine Hiyori." After a short pause "I'm just glad you're ok Hiyori, you shouldn't have come at Aizen like that it was dangerous and reckless."

Hiyori huffed and crossed her arms on her chest "What was I supposed to do? After all he was going to hurt you and no matter what I am the only one allowed to hurt you?"

Shinji looked along the soft plains of Hiyori's face before letting out a small smile. She hadn't said it but he knew what she meant. After all acting tough was her way of showing her feelings "Right Hiyori, if it makes you feel any better I won't let anything happen to you either."

Hiyori let out a blinding smile "Thank you Shinji and just to let you know someday I'm going to have to get back at Aizen."

"Not before me Aizen is mine, if I'd paid more attention then we all wouldn't be in this mess." Shinji told her

"Dickhead it's all our faults we should have noticed too!" Hiyori looked Aizen right in the eye. "Don't act like it's all about you because it's not. Just so you know if I was better you're face would be connected to that wall Shinji."

Shinji looked away from Hiyori and tried not to laugh out loud. But the two conversations were stopped when the door slid open.

"Captain?"

"Kisuke?"

"Oh Shinji you shouldn't be out of bed this early, your body is still not fully healed. Although I must admit that I'm overjoyed that you even woke up."

"Kisuke what's happening?" Shinji asked completely ignoring his comments

Quite suddenly Kisuke's smile fell off his face "You've become a vizard."

"Vizard?" Hiyori asked as she looked at her previous captain.

"A death god that crosses the ling into hollow territory is known as a vizard." Kisuke told her

Shinji's eyes widened in horror "Are we all of these things?"

Kisuke frowned before lowering the cap down to cover his eyes "I'm afraid so, there was nothing we could do to turn you back to normal. I'm sorry."

There was a heavy silence that descended upon the room. "Shinji when you're ready to go back to bed please do so soon I don't want to have to close any of your wounds again tonight." And with that Kisuke walked out of the heavy atmosphere

"There's something he isn't telling us I can feel it." Hiyori said into the silence

"Whatever it is, it must have something to do with soul society otherwise there'd be a whole lot many more captains coming to talk to us."

"We truly were abounded" Hiyori whispered under her breath "What are we going to do now?"

Hiyori's mind was racing so fast she was mildly surprised that her head didn't blow up. She was shocked when she felt the wetness start to make a trail down her face only to drop down her chin and onto her awaiting hand. She quickly took her hand and brushed away the gathering tears. But it wasn't that later when a sob racked her body. The next thing she knew Shinji wrapped a strong arm around her waist. "It's ok Hiyori I'm still here for ya."

Sobbing uncontrollably know she turned over and buried her face in his chest. No longer caring out weak she looked or how pathetic. She just needed comfort after being torn from the only life she'd ever known. She wasn't stupid she knew what it meant for soul society to abandon them.

Shinji ran his hands along the back of Hiyori's hair cradling her head to his chest as her tears soaked through his shirt. This hurt too much, His heart clenched at every sob she made. Hiyori might act big and tough but inside she was just as soft as anyone else. "Hiyori stop crying will sort through this."

"I hate them" she said through the sheen of her tears "I hate death gods, hallows, and humans, I hate them all."

He cradled her a little closer as he heard the words coming from her mouth "It's ok Hiyori, everything will be alright." As he said those words to Hiyori he wondered if she believed them as much as he did.

"Were going to get stronger and were going to get back at Aizen I promise."

Hiyori nodded against Shinji's chest before closing her eyes "I'm so tired Shinji."

"Then go ahead and take a nap"

But his words were unnecessary her breathing had already returned to the deep breathing that consisted of sleep. Shinji sat there and ran his hands along Hiyori's hair even as his thoughts ran a mile a second. There was so much to take in; in such a shot time no wonder Hiyori had started to cry. Now that he thought about it, that must have been the first time that Hiyori had ever cried in front of him.

He didn't like it. It made strange things clench and roll in pain just at the thought going through it was so much worse. He never wanted to see those tears gather in her eyes like that again. He'd much rather have the cursing and abusive Hiyori any day.

But he had made a promise and he was going to make sure that he saw it though no matter what. Aizen had it coming anyways and after making Hiyori go through this well now there was no way Aizen even had a chance.

He was going to get stronger, and he was going to find out what it meant to be a vizard.

All for the sake of the little blond woman in his arms.

He'd do anything for her and this was a small thing to ask and he was going to see it through till the end.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Lisa why are you crying?" Rose asked with worry as he came over to the side of her bed. He'd been sent to Lisa's room so that he could get her to come up and see Shinji in his new school uniform everyone was getting a kick out of it…even Hachi. But he'd come down here to see Lisa crying on her bed.

At the sound of Rose's voice she lifted her head and quickly wiped the tears away "Rose what are you doing in here?"

"I wanted you to get a look at Shinji in his school uniform, Hiyori's having a lot of fun messing with him.

"Oh then lets get going." Lisa said as she started to get off the bed and move pass a concerned Rose.

But before she could Rose took his hand and pushed her back onto the bed "Lisa. Tell me why you were crying."

Lisa stared at Rose for a little while before letting out a sigh of surrender "I think I'm turning into a romantic, I didn't want to but after reading that last piece of paper I'm rooting for a happy ending."

There was a pause "Lisa I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lisa frowned up at him "When I'm done reading the pages I'll let you read them, and you're lucky that I let you do that!"

Before Rose could start questioning her again she jumped off the bed and started to walk out the door only to stop at the entrance "Come on Rose lets get going."

Rose sighed as he watched Lisa retreat from her room. Rose quickly fallowed and caught up as they walked into the room that was now a type of living room.

"Hiyori shut up!" The words brought a smile to his mouth as he walked into the room to see Hiyori on the floor laughing and pointing a finger at Shinji. "I fail to see what's so damn funny."

"We just never thought we'd see the day where the great Shinji rose from his greatness to cross play!" Lisa teased the blond haired man

Only to have him whirl on her "This is not cross play this is undercover work, and I might add no one wanted to do it."

And with that Shinji stomped out of the room, only to have Hiyori follow pointing her finger the whole way. Rose shook his head in surrender no matter what they were some things never changed for this group.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Hey Shinji I'm sorry it was just to damn funny" Hiyori called after the stomping man

"I'm glad you find it amusing!" Shinji called out over his shoulder "But if you will excuse me I have to go to school."

This brought a whole new round of laughter from Hiyori. Quickly running up so that she could walk with Shinji she grinned "Thank you Shinji for doing this for me, I could never have worn something as stupid looking as that.

Shinji rolled his eyes before looking down at Hiyori "You're welcome but remember what I said you owe me and there's no getting out of it. There just isn't Hiyori, for you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah" Hiyori muttered as she waved her hand dismally. "See you when you get home" Hiyori finished as she started walking back the way she'd come "Be careful!"

Shinji waved his hand in answer as he continued to walk to this stupid school.

He had once said he'd do anything for Hiyori, he remembered that day clearly but when the words had popped up in his mind this was not what he had thought of!

Who knew dressing up would be on the list of anything for Hiyori.

She better damn well understand the sacrifice he was making and appreciate it too!

~.~.~.~.~.~

Author's note: Next oneshot – Shinji and Hiyori are sent out to find a place for the others and themselves to live! Tell me what you think! I like it way better then the last one!


	4. What the hell is this?

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Bleach, only the idea _

_**Anime: **__Bleach _

_**Paring:**__ Hiyori and Shinji – Lisa and Rose___

_**Warning-**__slight cursing on Hiyori's part – there are spoilers up to episode 220_

_**Summary:**_ _Shinji and Hiyori are sent out to find a place for the others and themselves to live!_

The Black Mail Game

What the hell is that?

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.

.

"Is that even a house?" Hiyori asked Shinji as they walked along the street and passed house that had no windows and door hanging on its hinges. As he had for the past hour Shinji did not answer her question. She understood that she had annoyed him at the begging of there house hunting, But damn it why did she have to come? And what gave Shinji the right to ignore her? There was only so much she could take "How are we even going to pay for a house?"

Now this question did stop Shinji as he turned to look at Hiyori "We are not going to pay for a house why do you think were looking for houses in the middle of no where."

"So you mean that I'm going to have to live in a run down house?" She asked the truth just hitting her. Shinji rolled his eyes as an answer

"Yes, we don't want to draw attention to hallows in the area with are retisu. Not to mention we do stand out."

"How pray tell do I stand out?!" Hiyori gritted as she clenched and unclenched her hands

Shinji sensing danger started to walk again "I mean that just some of the others stand out a little bit with there clothes, like Mashiro."

Hiyori glared at Shinji fully convinced that he was lying. But seeing no hint of his lying ways Hiyori gritted her teeth. _Aw to hell with that_ with that thought she took her sandal off her foot and slammed it into his face, only to stand back as Shinji went flying into another building. _I feel a lot better _

Shinji pushed the ruble off him only to shake his fist at Hiyori with a hard glare on his face "What the hell was that Hiyori?!"

Hiyori walked over to him and slammed the sandal back into his face leaving a red mark in the shape of her sandal on his face. Shinji clutched his face as he stood back up again. His hands fell from his face as he looked over at a pretty trashy warehouse; Shinji frowned and turned his head to the side to get a different look at the house.

Hiyori mean while was walking up next to him, switching her sandal back and forth from one hand to the other. "I mean I don't even know why I had to come along and search for another house; I mean Lisa could have done just as well as I could have." She muttered under her breath as she stopped a few feet to his side. She turned slightly to look over at him. Only to see him frowning and turning his head this was and that way. Shinji frowned at his face when it lit up with triumph. Narrowing her eyes Hiyori turned to follow Shinji's eyes to a building that didn't look like much. It was rundown, old, and rusty. It had no windows and no door. Hiyori narrowed her eyes even more as she turned from the warehouse and then back to his face only to turn back to the warehouse again.

Shinji watched from the corner of his eyes as Hiyori repeated this process a few times. Shinji fought off the grin that was trying to spread on his face, but he knew that if he did she would immediately snack it off with her sandal. So he kept his straight face with a little hint of smugness as he watched Hiyori. He found himself relieved in a way that Hiyori never quite changed, even through everything that they had been through. That's why e had to fight off the smile when she said "Did I hit your head to hard? Or was it because you fell into the building head first?" That's something only Hiyori would say.

"This building is perfect." Shinji told her as he started to walk through the field of trash and toward the building.

"How so?" Hiyori asked with fake sweetness "Oh I know!" Hiyori turned her voice to a near shout "Maybe it'll fall and crush us to death" she turned her voice back to the dripping sweetness "Wouldn't that be great?!"

Shinji rolled his eyes "Hiyori we need some place out of the way. Plus this is a great place to make a training area like the one at Kisuke's house."

Hiyori shut up after that with only a mumble here and there to the rest of the building. He was right after all. We couldn't stay at Kisuke's house. But we did need a training area where we could train these new found powers. Lately she found that she was stronger and faster. But. There were also some complications as well. She shivered as the thought ran in her mind before she squashed it with determination. She was not going to think about that right now. Shinji was right and that's all that mattered. And personally it pissed her off.

But Shinji had been right for a long time. And that was just wrong. Of course he must know by now that she would follow anything he said even if she complained all the way through it. After all she was here wasn't she? And deep down she knew she might depend on Shinji maybe just a little too much. And she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to not follow him through anything he wanted. But it wasn't like she was going to tell him that any time soon if ever.

Hiyori huffed in agitation giving nothing away of her thoughts as she walked inside the warehouse "This place stinks"

Shinji frowned "we can fix it up easily. Don't be such a baby."

Hiyori stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms around her chest as she turned to go down a hallway. Mumbling under her breath the whole way.

Shinji sighed after she had gone, to look over the rest of the room. It was ideal for what they needed. It was out of sight and with Hachi's expertise of barriers they could live here hidden. They could train and wait for Kisuke's worst case scenario to come into play. Most of the Vizards (Mostly Hiyori) were not happy to just sit around. But they all agreed that they couldn't rush into Soul Society and destroy Aizen. First off Soul Society most likely thought they were dead. Second they hadn't even scrapped the point of there power now that they were half hallow. And every one knew that you didn't just attack an enemy without knowing anything about your powers.

And this warehouse was where they were going to stay it had a font room and a huge main room. It was perfect for a secret entrance for a secret training ground. And although Hiyori put in a show of being angry and pissed off. She could fool him. He'd known her far to long not to know that she'd fallow him and the rest here. And it wasn't like he would just let her run off on her own. He'd drag her back if he had to. Simple.

He wasn't going to live without her after what had happened. Although it might have been years since they had woken it up, it still felt like days to him from that night. But Shinji did not like to think about that time that he had failed his friends…and Hiyori.

Shinji sighed as he started down the same hallway as Hiyori. He frowned as he looked through many of the doors only to find the same empty room. Until he opened a door where a draft hit him in the face "Hmm" Shinji walked up the stairs onto a platform that had not caved in.

And true to what he thought Hiyori was laying down on the cement staring at the clouds as they passed her by. Sensing his presence she turned her head to look over at him. And then she did something that tool Shinji's breath away.

She smiled.

Now to anyone else this may seem like nothing. But this was _Hiyori._

"Shinji I've decided that I like it here after all."

Shinji let a grin pass over his face before he looked up at the clouds. "It is pretty nice here." He walked over next to her were she lied down to lie down himself.

"Yeah I suppose you know how to pick them." Hiyori allowed

Shinji nodded as he moved his long hair out of his face. This caught Hiyori's attentions making her own smug smile appear on her face "You should have listened to me, Shinji, and cut your hair."

"I am not gonna cut my hair Hiyori, it's dignified."

Hiyori turned her head and huffed before turning her attention back to him "Well when are we going to tell the others that we found a "house" She curved her fingers in quotation marks when she said house before finishing "for us"

"When we get home" Shinji shrugged

Hiyori frowned at him before smiling "Good then we can cut your hair."

"Umm absolutely not!"

"But Shinji it's so long." She wined "it's longer than even my hair"

"I'll cut it…someday" Shinji told her turning his head to look at her "But not right now"

She frowned "Okay, okay then I won't say anything about it…today"

Shinji rolled his eyes "Don't roll your eyes at me!" she near shouted

"So when are we going to move in?"

"Tomorrow." Was Shinji's answer

Hiyori nodded. With this roof it seemed like this place would be alright after all. "I like this place it's nice. The roof I mean"

Shinji nodded at her and looked back up at the sky. He wasn't sure how long he'd been starring at the sky thinking of how his life had turned out and the wrong turns and paths that it had taken so that he ended up at this place. But the next time he turned back to Hiyori she had her face turned toward his and she was sound asleep.

Shinji lied there and watched her breathe in and out. She was really pretty when she wasn't screaming nor had her eyebrows scrunched down with her usual frown. But with her face relaxed in slumber and her lips parted slightly she was quite pretty.

But it was getting late and they had to go to Kisuke's. And yet. He didn't want to wake her up. Shinji breathed in her scent before letting it back out. He stood up swiftly before bending down and picking her back up with one arm around her shoulder and his other arm under her knee caps. She clutched at his shirt as he started to move across the roof. Pulling her close to his chest he started to walk back down the stairs and out of the warehouse. He smiled as he walked back down the street they had come from. Only to stop when she spoke.

Shinji frowned down at her when she didn't start spitting fire at being carried bridal style. Shinji relaxed when he realized that she was just talking in her sleep. _Whew that was close._

"Shinji" Hiyori mumbled under her breath.

Shinji looked back down at her as he heard the words slip from her mouth. He smiled as his heart clenched and his stomach whirled at her whispered words. Because she whispered his name when she was sleeping that meant she was dreaming about him, and that made him strangely…happy.

And in that moment thinking about every wrong thing that had happened that he had done. It all seemed to disappear. After all he couldn't really regret anything that had happened when he had this girl in his arms whispering his name.

~.~.~.~.~

The phone rang, making everyone in the room snap there heads in the direction of the rigging. They didn't have a lot of people call and so they all knew that it would be Shinji.

Lisa watched as Hiyori answered the phone, only to yell in it at Shinji. Lisa turned her head to look over at Rose who had just got done reading the first piece of paper of blackmail that I'd gotten from Hiyori. But Lisa soon turned back to Hiyori where she had hanged the phone back on the wall before turning back to all of us.

Love raised his eyebrow in question

"Well it's safe to say that Ichigo is as stupid as Shinji" Was Hiyori's reply to Love's unspoken question "Shinji says that he'll need a little more time to convince Ichigo" she said to the group and then under her breath she spoke to herself "I'll have to have a talk with Shinji when he gets home"

At the end of Hiyori's explanation Rose stood up and walked out of the room giving Lisa the signal to fallow.

Lisa sighed as she stood up taking her magazine and the hidden papers that she was actually reading out of the room. Lisa walked all the way into Rose's room

"Lisa do you believe it's right reading these?" Rose asked as he watched Lisa come striding into the room

"Why wouldn't it be?" Lisa asked with a tilt of her head showing she didn't understand

"They are private. It's obvious that Hiyori just wrote these down for something to do." Rose told her "I kind of feel like I'm reading something that should only be between the two of them."

"I know that's what makes it so great, Not only are they good blackmail material, but I can also find ways to get them together."

Rose's eyes whipped over to her instead of the wall he'd been staring at "You want to get them together?"

"Of course they obviously like each other." Lisa showed him the papers in her hand "This is just proof although it would have been nicer if I had also had Shinji's point of view but all well." She finished with a little shrug

"Reading these does make me curious what Shinji was thinking" Rose said as he frowned down at the papers

"I know it's very frustrating." Lisa agreed looking down at the rug that Rose had put into his room "But we'll probably never know."

Lisa's head snapped up at Rose's booming laugh that did funny things to her stomach

Rose quickly stopped laughing at Lisa's questioning look and rushed on to explain "Lisa did you know were agonizing over both our friends relationship and what Shinji's thoughts are on that said relationship. Instead of what the other people in the living room are agonizing over. Aizen and all his problems." Rose finished with another laugh

At Rose's explanation and his heart warming laugh that was very rare, Lisa couldn't help but join in with the laughter.

~.~.~.~.~

Author's note: So what did you think? I know it's late but I wrote some extra in this one. And I've been working on some twilight fanfics that I'm thinking of putting up. And trying to finish my switching lives story. I'm just a very busy person after all.

Next One-shot summary: The voices in our heads are getting closer but we try to fight them back…together. Shinji and Hiyori have problems with there hallows before they fight with them to regain the position of king (or queen) of there conscious. They both comfort each other.


	5. The voices filled with horror

The Black Mail Game

Voices filled of Horror

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.

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Sometimes it whispers and other times it screams. But each time I hear it, I try to turn away I try to pretend that I don't hear a thing. But tonight it doesn't seem to be working. It just seems to be going on and on.

Hiyori huffed while she turned in her bed to bury her face under her pillow as she stared at the wall of peeling paint. She couldn't seem to go to sleep, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't find a way to block out the voice whispering with dark purpose in her minds ear all the things she could do with its power.

She hated when it was like this when the voice would start to talk to her, taunt her, and entice her. Hiyori sighed as she sat up in bed only to slip the covers off her and swing her feat on the other side of the bed. She slowly slipped out of the bed and started to walk out of her room. After all she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

She walked in the dark down the hallway to the stairs that led her to the only place in this warehouse that she enjoyed. When she opened the door she was hit with the cool air of night, and with the knowledge that someone else was on the roof. With a quick glance around the roof she quickly spotted Shinji sitting on the ledge of the roof staring at the stars. He looked completely at peace in no way did he show that he had seen her.

Hiyori frowned as she looked him over. Man did he need to cut his hair was the thought running through her head as she let out a sigh and started to walk up to Shinji, before sitting down on the ledge.

The two sat there for a few minutes staring up at the stars. Neither one talked, they didn't have to. They were too caught up in there own thoughts to acknowledge the other. Until the silence was broken with Shinji's sigh as he turned to look over at Hiyori. "Hiyori?"

Hiyori turned when she heard her name to look over at Shinji. "Hmm?"

"Why are you up so late?" Shinji asked as he continued to stare at Hiyori

Hiyori shrugged and looked back up to the stars before turning back to Shinji after a few seconds frowning. "Why are you staring at me Shinji?"

"It's just." Shinji paused as his eyes roamed over her "I've never seen your hair down before." Hiyori swallowed as he heart beat seemed to accelerate "Why is it all chopped like that?"

Hiyori gritted her teeth in anger as her heart beat went back to normal "It is not chopped!"

"It looks chopped to me"

"It's not!" Hiyori almost yelled as she turned a determined stare to the stars and ignored Shinji's stare all together.

"Hiyori" Shinji begun

"I already told you it's not chopped!" Hiyori yelled as she turned back to Shinji with her fist raised and ready to strike. Only to stop in mid air at Shinji's serious expression. Hiyori's face fell as she turned her eyes away from Shinji's face and slowly brought her hand back to her side.

"Does it talk to you as well?" Shinji asked as he stared at Hiyori's fallen face. He hated to see her like this. But he had to know if he was the only with the screams echoing in his mind.

Hiyori dropped her face and used her hair to make a shield around her face. "All the time" She whispered so low Shinji had to lean closer to her to hear it clearly.

Shinji looked away again to stare out "Me too"

They were silent like that for a few more minutes each caught up in there own thoughts again. "Do you think that it will ever go away?" Hiyori whispered to Shinji. Still keeping her head down

"I like to think so at times. But. I honestly don't know Hiyori." Shinji answered as he turned back to the girl sitting beside him. "But as long as we don't give in will be ok. We're already getting stronger."

It was true. Each time they practiced with there masks on they always got a little stronger or a little closer to keeping the mask on longer than last time. Well except for Mashiro she could already hold her mask for up to 48 hours. And to Shinji all these things were a sign of hope. The stronger they got the closer they were to defeating Aizen. He would wait till they all got strong enough and at there pace they were doing very well. Even Hiyori was doing well, which gave him peace of mind. He didn't want to worry about Hiyori in the middle of a battle.

"Yeah we are. I know we've beaten the hallows with Kisuke, but she still won't shut up even after I beat her, it is so annoying."

Shinji nodded his agreement, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the hallow inside of himself. "It's distracting knowing that there still looking for openings. But I think it's getting better the stronger we become the less they scream."

Hiyori popped her head up to look over at Shinji's determined face. Somehow looking at his face always made her feel like she could do anything. It also made her happy for some reason. "Yeah we'll be fine."

"Hmm yeah we will be, I'd rather get stronger on my own anyways."

Hiyori nodded her agreement. "Beside its kind of fun becoming stronger with everyone else."

Shinji nodded absently "They are good friends"

Hiyori smiled as she thought of everyone in there small little group "Yeah. Shinji do you ever think we'll get strong enough?"

Shinji turned to look at Hiyori's eyes "Yes" he said with complete confidence "I know we can. We have to. There is a lot we owe Aizen that we can only do after we become stronger."

Hiyori narrowed her eyes at the stars and nodded "Yes, I have to thank him for the extra voice in my head."

Hiyori's eyes suddenly snapped back down to his "Thank you Shinji"

Shinji smiled as he nodded than looked away. He knew that this might be the only time he would ever get a thank you out of this girl. And he was not going to throw it back in her face. He knew how hard it was to have a voice in your head screaming temptations over and over again. Sometimes you just needed to talk to someone. And he was strangely happy that she had chosen him to lean on and not someone else. He after all did the same. Although they might scream and fight with each other they were still friends. And in these rare moments where they just enjoyed each other's company without fighting it was best just to soak it in. "You're welcome Hiyori."

Hiyori let a smile break through her face as she stared up at the twinkling stars. She'd never tell anyone but she loved to talk to Shinji alone when she was feeling down. Because he always made her feel better. "Shinji we really are getting better aren't we?"

Shinji stared over at her lifted face. "What do you mean?"

Hiyori smiled over in his direction "Were getting strong enough to bring Aizen down and soon our own hallows won't even tell us how weak we are."

Shinji nodded "Has the voice stopped talking to you?"

"Hmm yeah." Hiyori said "How about yours Shinji?"

Shinji let out a small smile before replying "Yes Hiyori."

Shinji wasn't about to tell her that the voice was still screaming at him. That it probably wouldn't stop till Aizen was taken care of. After all the hallow knew everything about him, including his weakness. And that weakness was sitting right next to him this very instant. For the first time in a long time he was scared. Scared that he wouldn't be able to protect Hiyori, like he wasn't able to last time. And his hallow used that everyday. Screamed it actually.

"You better get some sleep." Shinji said

Hiyori nodded at him before standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow." Hiyori said before taking her hand and slapping it in the back of Shinji's head "And you better watch out I still have to get you back for saying that my hair is choppy."

Hiyori quickly flash stepped to her room with a yawn before lying down on her bed. Going a whole conversation without hitting Shinji twice? She must have been really tired. She better watch out next time she talked to him. Other wise he might find out.

She wasn't stupid she knew something was wrong. Shinji hadn't acted like himself, far too serious for Shinji. Although she was one to talk about different attitudes but still she knew Shinji and he was most definitely worried about something. And it was her job to find out about what.

All well she'd deal with it in the morning. For the moment she was going to take advantage of the silence and go to sleep. She'd think about everything that was said tonight tomorrow. And she'd think about Shinji's wired attitude in the morning. For now she was just going to sleep, than figure out what was wrong with Shinji.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Hmm" Lisa muttered as she looked up from the sheet of paper than back to the pair fighting in front of the T.V. than back to the paper again. It was true they were completely different when alone then they were in front of company. That or Hiyori had to be sleep deprived. Still she wasn't going to say anything about this paper. All too well she knew what it meant to have someone talking to you when you tried to sleep.

"What are you stupid Shinji?" Hiyori yelled cutting into Lisa's thoughts as she lifted her head. Still the difference was remarkable.

Lisa sighed as she stood up and walked out of the door just as Hiyori took off her legendary sandal. Lisa walked down the hall till she got to her room. She opened the door to her room and walked over to a chair and sat down. This paper was shorter then the others and much more depressing. Because it effected her as well.

She could relate to the feeling of someone watching over her shoulder and never letting up. The only difference was she didn't have anyone to run too. And for the first time that depressed her. She didn't even know why.

It was also kind of weird that she thought of a certain blond wavy harried man when the thought came upon her of someone to run to. And she didn't have enough energy to think about it right now. Not with that depressing piece of paper

Lisa sighed once again as she stood up and moved a picture away from the wall and opened a safe that only two people in the whole house knew the combination to. She put the paper away in the safe and got another one out. She wondered what Rose thought when he read that paper. She wondered if he would feel the same type of pain in his chest.

Lisa walked over to her bed and lied down. And thought of her last piece of paper. For a minute there she was sure that Hiyori was going to speak her feeling, but she didn't and they'd obviously been this way for a long time. She wondered, for perhaps the first time, if the couple even wanted there relationship to change into something more.

But even now she still believed that they were just a little to scared of what it would mean. And she wondered if perhaps she was too when it came a certain man.

~.~.~.~

Author's note: Ok I know this one is way short but it was the best I could do. This is my least favorite out of all the one shot just not enough Hiyori and Shinji fluff but this is what came out so all well. I also finally have all the summaries done for the chapters that are coming up! But just so everyone knows I do not have any of these other chapters written except for chapter 6.

Short Summaries for chapters: (so I don't forget and FYI)

Chapter 6: (Past) Hiyori decides it's time for Shinji to get a haircut.

Chapter 7: (Past) Hiyori and Shinji hunt down a good place to eat

Chapter 8: (Past) it's time to deiced who does chores around the house and Hiyori has a splendid idea after sparring with Shinji

Chapter 9: (Past) the whole gang plays Poker

Chapter 10: (Present) Right before Ichigo comes by the warehouse Hiyori and Shinji have a talk.


	6. Needy People

The Black Mail Game

Needy people

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Hiyori stifled a giggle as she slinked around the corner from her own room. She draped herself against the wall as she creped to the door that hid Shinji's room. Hiyori paused in front of the door before pulling out something from the folds of her shirt. Hiyori stared at the object with glinted eyes, before looking back at the portal that would lead to Shinji's room, an evil grin spreading along her face as she thought about what was to come.

"Snip, snip," Hiyori muttered as she carefully pushed open the door. Making sure it didn't squeak and wake up the single occupant of the room.

~.~.~.~

Shinji was startled out of his slumber by the gentle tugging of his hair. He drowsily lifted his head from his soft lumpy pillow and with glazed eyes he peered around the room. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was seriously wrong.

Maybe it was because he felt so light headed. He began to lay his head back down before pausing halfway there. Light headed? Shinji slowly turned his head that way and then the other way. Something was wrong. Shinji slid from his bed leaving his blankets in a jumble as he walked across his room to the adjoining bathroom. He fumbled in the darkness for a few seconds before finding the light switch and flipping it in an upward direction. Soon light spilled against the tile floor, it took only a few seconds for Shinji's eyes to adjust to the frequency. He winced a little as his bear feet made contact with the icy cold tile before walking up to the mirror that was hanging on the wall. He stared in shock for only a few minutes before his appearance sank in.

His scream of horror was lodged in his throat as he heard the beginnings of laughter from the other room. Gritting his teeth Shinji stalked out of the bathroom and into his own room. There he saw Hiyori rolling around in laughter on his bed. Tears had long since spilled down her cheek as she clutched her belly in pain. But still the laughter had not stopped.

She couldn't help it, she had seen Shinji's face and no matter what he did to her, that had made it all worth it in the end. Even now she couldn't stop, with his glare piercing right into her soul. He was just too hilarious that way.

"Hiyori, what have you done?" Shinji yelled Knowing that it was a stupid question.

Hiyori paused in her laughter and brought her head level with his eyes. But that wasn't the brightest plan since it also brought her eyes back to Shinji's hair. As soon as Hiyori took in the chopped hair she burst into laughter once again. Shinji's face became redder every second as he sunk deeper into his raging anger.

Shinji knew what he looked like; he had looked into the mirror before coming out. He knew that his hair was not only ruffled but cut into different lengths every so often along his head. Right now he could tell that on the right side of his head his hair hanged mid chest, where as on the left side his hair laid limp near his shoulder. With the lights on he could now see the big pile of hair lying all along the bed, and there was even some on the floor.

How he could sleep through such an assault on his head was beyond him. That was until he remembered what he was dreaming about, even as his face heated up with embarrassment. He thanked god that Hiyori thought his face was heating up with anger. But his dream was not the point right now! The point was the woman now rolling on the floor, after falling off the bed, banging her fists against the carpeted floor trying to stop laughing.

"Shinji you have no idea how stupid you look." Hiyori breathed out as she rolled over on her back taking deep breaths while staring anywhere but Shinji. In fear that if she looked at him she would once again burst into a tirade of laughter.

"I wonder why?" Shinji gritted out as he stalked over to the girl on the floor. He stood over her for a while before taking his hands and lifting her up by her arms, till she was eye level with him. He watched as her cheeks puffed out as she tried to suppress another fit of laughter. He raised an eyebrow "Why the hell are you cutting my hair!?"

"Umm" Was Hiyori's only answer

_Why did I do it?_ Hiyori wondered to herself. She couldn't very well give him an answer when she didn't know it. All she knew was that his long silky hair was getting on her nerves. So she had decided a week ago that it had to go. She herself was surprised that she had the nerve to go that far with Shinji. Well she could always improvise "I don't know." _Hmm not exactly what I had in mind._

Shinji pushed his face closer to Hiyori, staring deep into her eyes, making Hiyori a bit uncomfortable. "Was it because my hair was so much prettier than yours?"

Hiyori's shocked expression pulled down into a scowl. She was pissed that he would say such a thing about her hair. She wasn't going to say anything about how it made her feel that he found her anything less than pretty. But the fact that he thought his hair was prettier then hers…puh-lease, as if. "Excuse me! My hair is way prettier than yours…especially now."

Shinji huffed as he dropped her down on the bed. Shinji bent down toward the floor to sweep up the scissors before walking back over to Hiyori on the bed. If he was being honest he quite liked her uneven dirty blond hair. But that was far off the point. The point should be that he was mad. At least he should be mad. He should be more than mad, he should be bloody furious. His ears should blow steam from his fury and his eyes turn red with blood thirst as he raced after her scissors raised in vengeance over his head. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't become mad at her. So he merely sighed and sat down next to her on the bed.

He handed her the scissors and turned his back to her before turning back to face her putting his finger right underneath her nose "Only to the shoulder"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Hiyori muttered not even having to ask what he was talking about. She never had to ask, of course that never meant she was going to do what he asked, but maybe just this once it wouldn't be that bad. So she sat there, without making a sound, evening out his hair, enjoying the silky smoothness and the smell coming off it. But being quite was never one of her strong points "Hmm you know Shinji I though you would be a lot madder now. Why exactly aren't you?"

Shinji had to forcibly command himself to open his eyes and pay attention to her words, and stop paying attention to how wonderful it felt having her hand rhythmically move through his hair. _Bad Shinji wake up!_ Shinji quickly opened his eyes to force his dazed expression toward the wall. "Hmm why am I not mad? Not really sure it might be that I'm too tired to strangle you." _Or maybe it was your sparking eyes when you laughed at me. Or your joyful smile. How could I possibly be mad when you look like that?_

"Hmm," Hiyori agreed as she continued shortening his hair, never questioning his answer. After all his voice was defiantly soft enough to be from wariness and she had woke him up in the middle of the night or early morning. "Well look at the bright side at least you won't be mistaken for a girl any longer." She teased

"I'm not even going to reply to that one."

Hiyori tugged on his hair to show her displeasure at ruining her game. "What exactly do you use on your hair? It's so soft and," Shinji almost stopped breathing when she leaned so close he could almost feel her nose touching the back of his scalp and he could most certainly feel her body heat radiating from her. "It smells really good, like…nothing I've ever smelled. How do you get it to do that huh?"

"It's called soap and my hair is naturally smooth. Thank you very much." Shinji wished very much that his voice had sounded arrogant but he couldn't lie to himself and he knew his breath had come out raspy and soft. He hoped she thought he was just tired and falling asleep where he sat.

Hiyori felt a little shiver along her spine, she knew he was tired but damn why did he have to sound like that? "Whatever,"

Hiyori allowed the silence to surround them, hearing only the sound of sharp metal brushing alongside metal. She couldn't explain how she felt at the moment. Her heart was racing and her throat was clogged. And let's just say that she was glad he was facing away from her so he couldn't see her burning face. She didn't truly understand it, this was Shinji she shouldn't be acting like this but then again she had never been this close to him before (unless she was beating him up or something in that nature.). Being this close to him her feelings, that seemed to always be muted, blared to life, and she was unprepared for them, she didn't even know how to tone them down

. So she was thanking god when she finally chopped off the last strand of hair and scowled at the feeling of regret that was quickly rising from her whirlwind of emotions. "There done!"

Shinji let out a yawn as he reached behind him and felt his hair, it felt weird being only to his shoulder and he felt naked and exposed without it trailing down past his back. He turned a smile to the woman sitting cross legged on the bed wearing her own smile, he tried not noticing her troubled eyes but that didn't mean he couldn't chase away the look. "At least it's not all choppy and uneven."

Hiyori let one side of her mouth pull down into a frown, exposing a part of her fang like tooth that Shinji secretly adored. "Well, just because I like to have my hair like this doesn't mean I don't know how to cut in an even line."

Shinji laughed at her cute face. Of course if he ever told her she looked cute she'd have her sandal off in five seconds flat. "What are we going to do with all this hair?"

Hiyori frowned as looked at all the hair on the floor, bed, and her. What were they going to do with all the hair? It was every where; she didn't understand why Shinji couldn't have hair like a normal boy, such a weirdo. "Ah I know," She said all of a sudden getting an idea. "We can go ahead and sell most of it if you want."

Shinji tilted his head to the side to regard her better. Hiyori had to admit he looked a lot better with his hair shorter and if her heart was any indicator he looked a whole lot better but that could just be his smell seeping into her brain and attaching to her brain cells, maybe she should have left his hair the way it was. "Sell my hair? Where would we do that?" he asked in confusion

"Easy, there was this place with a pair of scissors on the door and the sign said "we buy hair" so I'm sure they'll take yours, I wonder how much we can get."

"We? It's my hair! I think it's only fair that I get the money."

"But I cut it for you, I should get props."

Shinji rolled his eyes "Alright, alright we'll sort it out in the morning" he said with a yawn as he brushed all the hair from his bed. Hiyori quickly jumped off the bed to brush herself off "Ok, then we can clean up the hair in the morning to. I'm tired; I've been up all day waiting for this opportunity."

"You know obsessions are never good." Shinji chided as he stood up to his full height to look down at the girl

"I am not obsessed with you." Hiyori denied as she brushed some of the hair from her shoulders perhaps that was where the smell was coming from. She was so preoccupied with the hair on her shoulder she didn't even notice Shinji's hand till it was pulling out the hair tie holding one of her pigtails up. And then she was so shocked she didn't even stop him when he pulled the other one out. She knew she looked stupid gaping up at him but she could help it. Not only was she short but she had no idea what he was up to and he was touching her hair.

Shinji grinned at her expression before turning her around. He had acted on instinct wanting to see her hair down. He had only seen it down before a few times. And he knew from experience that it was a lovely site. But he had to turn her around before she saw his red face, after he realized what he was doing. He frowned at the uneven strands before picking up the scissors and started cutting away to make it straight and even making her even prettier. "There we go now we'll get our money's worth."

At the sound of his voice Hiyori snapped out of her daze and turned to look back at him. "You cut my hair."

"Now it's even, an eye for an eye. It looks a lot better now almost up to mine I'd say."

Hiyori gritted her teeth at his logic how dare he cut her hair, it was her hair. She had reasons that her hair was uneven and it wasn't because she couldn't see the back properly…per say. And she most certainly wasn't mad because she was about to cry.

"Such pretty hair," Shinji smiled gently before running his hand through her hair once, efficiently erasing Hiyori's thundering expression. Shinji realizing to late what he was doing turned around to his bed and fell on top of it "Night Hiyori see you in the morning."

Hiyori held her dumbfounded look on her face a few moments more before rolling her eyes and walking out of the room. "Whatever," Even if he had only said it because he was in a sleep, drunk kind of daze it didn't mean she wasn't going to hold those words close to her heart. This was one of the nights, that she shared with Shinji, that she was going to bring out and sigh over, alone like she should. The only difference was that this night those feelings that would only come out alone had popped out of no where. Those feelings that she could brush away to the back of her head were bursting now. And she was going to have to take a closer look and she wasn't sure if she was ready.

Shinji softly sighed into his pillow as he brought the covers to his chin. He looked to the door where Hiyori had disappeared to. He was glad that she would think he was half asleep and yet he felt strangely disappointed. The more he tried to hide his feelings the more they complained to be released; it was annoying and would have to be worked on. He knew that the times were he could pretend that they were only good friends/enemies were coming to an end and slowly disappearing. But only for a little while he was going to hold on to what they had. He wasn't going to let it go anytime soon, no matter what these feeling would be safely put in a box. He had till morning to safely secure them and he would. Cause for all the monsters that he had slain, all the wounds that he had received, he was scared that in sharing his feelings he would loose his reason for fighting, for waking up, for life.

He would loose Hiyori.

~.~.~.~.~

"Hey Rose what do you suppose they do with the hair?" Lisa asked turning her head slightly to look over at the man sitting next to her reading the last of the page with Hiyori going to sleep. Lisa would have liked a better description of what had gone on her self. It seemed as if Hiyori had just run over the details and had left a lot of what actually happened out. And that made her all the more curious.

Rose leaned back on the couch that the two had been sitting on. "The hair is made into hair pieces I guess. The real question is how much did they get? At least we know now why Shinji's hair was all cut off that one morning. And why Hiyori's was so straight."

"Hmm" Lisa agreed as she silently smiled at Mashiro patting Shinji's shoulder talking like she was his mother sending him off to his first day of school, of course Kensi was leaning against the wall, arms folded and trying not to show his grin. She then turned to look at Hiyori who was furiously flipping through the T.V. muttering about how stupid Shinji was and how she was going to destroy the mysterious Ichigo.

"So Shinji's going to go back to that school? I would have thought that it would have taken only a day to get this Ichigo."

"Hmm when we were sent to train this guy we thought it would be easy, but now that I think about it, it did take us a few centuries or so to fully understand and use the hallow." Rose said as he to gazed at the scene in front of them.

Lisa shrugged in answer as she watched Shinji walk out of the room and off to school while Mashiro brushed away an imaginary tear and talked about how big he's gotten and blah, blah. Lisa was only interested in one thing and that was getting Hiyori and Shinji together and that was not working as well as it could be. They had to know about there feelings, it was that obvious, so they were hiding so all she had to do was-

"So you guys are together again hmmm?"

Lisa and Rose both turned there heads back to look at a suspicious Love staring at them from behind the couch were he had popped out of. Lisa and Rose blinked a few times before the words sank in. After all Lisa had Hiyori and Shinji on the brain not Lisa and Rose. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's just you two are always alone together whispering secretly behind your hands and laughing and smiling!" By the time Love was done he was flaying his arms around almost comically.

"That's ridiculous!" Rose said already getting where this conversation was going. He was just Lisa's friend, a friend that knew a secret, a friend that wanted more. Rose paused at his thoughts and examined over them as Love and Lisa got into an all out war. Sure he wanted more from Lisa that was nothing new he had liked her when she was only a lieutenant of the eighth squad. And becoming her friend had just made him want her more. But he wasn't sure if she did. He knew they were good friend and he knew everything about her, he didn't want to mess that up, he wouldn't mess that up.

And as he sat there he wondered if perhaps this was how Hiyori and Shinji thought and felt. But he didn't understand how that could be; they were obviously met for each other. Did that mean that Love saw something concerning both Lisa and him? The same as how Lisa and he had seen it in Hiyori and Shinji? Ah, it was all too confusing he'd rather not figure it out, at least not at this very moment.

~.~.~.~ 

Author's notes: I simply loved this chapter it was so adorable and it had Hiyori and Shinji fluff galore, at least through my eyes! Was it not through yours? Also I added some more Rose and Lisa, not a lot but there a side pairing so all well. Update was way overdue but I've been having some personal problems and this is what you get. But hopefully I can start writing again and getting some stuff out on time…ha, ha, ha, yeah right!

Next Update is whenever I can get it out we'll see!

Hope you enjoyed


	7. Hungry Hearts

The Black Mail Game

Hungry Hearts

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"Eat, eat, eat, eat, I want to eat." Mashiro yelled as she banged her fists against there folded table. No one in the room could blame her for the outburst. After all it had been awhile since they had all eaten.

"Someone should go out and get us some sort of food." Shinji turned to look over at Lisa who had spoken from the chair, her cool mood destroyed by the rumbling of her stomach.

They were all silent after her statement. No one wanted to volunteer to go out, they had just got done with a major sparing session, and there was no one that wasn't sore or hungry. But then again no one had as much pride as Hiyori did. And to show it she slid up the wall till she was standing at her full, unimpressive height. "I'll go,"

Shinji frowned as he stared over at the girl whose knees were shaking but she did have that determined look in her eyes that never failed to impress him. But obviously Love had seen it too because he spoke up before Hiyori could shuffle out of the room. "What about a buddy?"

"A buddy," Hiyori muttered as she turned around to look curiously over at Love.

"Yeah, you know a person to make sure that you don't collapse on the road and lie there until someone comes across your dead body. So why don't you take someone with you, who wants to go?" Love asked the room already propping his feet up on the coffee table to show that in no way would it be him going.

Once again the room became dead silent in contemplation. All this time Shinji was watching as Hiyori's face became redder and redder in annoyance. Knowing that someone had better volunteer fast before she exploded or ran out of the room Shinji stood up from is own spot on the floor, sighing as he ignored his muscles screeching and pulling in annoyance at his actions. "I'll go with Hiyori, what does everyone want to eat?"

"Who cares just go out and get us something to eat, so that we can eat and then sleep." Kensie grunted out waving his hand from the other side of the couch.

"YAY," Mashiro said as she jumped up and down before landing right on Rose who had been lying on the floor spread eagle. Even Hachi sat up just a little bit to look over as Rose let out a blood curling scream of pain. And as Shinji made a bee line for Hiyori he couldn't help but notice how Lisa had jumped up and kicked Mashiro off of him. "Were all sore here, don't start making it worse."

Shinji took a hold of Hiyori's arm and rushed out of the room, as fast as he could in his exhausted condition. He didn't want to be a part of the fight that was about to take place. Although, the most that could be expected would be a verbal fight. Unless Lisa got even angrier, for some reason all the girls had unnatural energy when it came to anger, or joy. Including the girl walking by his side as they walked out in the warm glow of an orange sun sinking lower into the sky.

"How dose she have that much energy anyways?" Hiyori muttered as she slipped her arm from his grasp. "I mean she worked just as much as we did and she didn't even sweat! Is that unfair or what?"

"Well, Mashiro is definitely different then all of us, I mean not only dose she not have to work hard on her hallow powers, but her hallow form is also the closest related to a human form. I'm sure that if we were to fight for real we could tire her out…eventually."

Hiyori snorted in agreement as they started walking down the street, pass the many shops. "So, what are we going to get everyone to eat?"

Shinji shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets unil not even the wrists were viewable "What do you wan to eat?"

Hiyori yawned her answer as she slumped over but kept walking "take out,"

"What if we just went over to a convince store and just got a lot of random stuff?" Shinji suggested as he to let his shoulders slump as they walked by a brick wall with many different designs and colors painted on it. They walked on in Hiyori's unspoken agreement until they came to a stop in front of a street light.

They both watched as the cars passed by with alarming speed until the light above them turned red and they were free to walk on. And that's what Shinji would have done if it wasn't for the gentle tug on his sleeve.

Looking down to his left, Shinji saw a little old lady looking up at him with a hopeful expression. "Excuse me young man but could you be so kind as to help me across the street?"

Shinji frowned at the "young man" seeing as he was probably more than a hundred years older than her. But seeing as he was a gentleman he refused to decline, no matter how tired he really was. "Of course I can," he said as he offered his arm like any true gentleman would do.

"Thank you so much and sorry for the trouble." She said with a smile, showing off her impressively white teeth against her wrinkled coffee colored skin. She linked her arm around his and patted his arm in an affectionate way before fallowing his lead out onto the street. "It's just my old bones don't want to listen to me and I'd rather not be plowed over by these mechanical atrocities.

Shinji nodded his understanding as he looked over to his right to see Hiyori trying to hide a smile as she walked along them. Shinji was balancing the woman and at the same time was trying to get them past the gauntlet known as the street. Which wasn't easy as his own body was heavily damaged, sleep deprived, and starved, but somehow he was managing.

Shinji couldn't help but to let out the breath that came loose when he had made it across the street. Helping old ladies shouldn't be this much trouble. Shinji refused to look over at Hiyori who would probably start laughing at any moment.

"It seems like I'll be able to live after all to die of old age. Thank you dear, you were a big help." The woman said with a small pat on the arm as she unhinged her arm and walked a few steps before turning back to look at them with a small smile "You have a good day young man. By the way you have quite the child there she'll be a heart breaker when she grows up."

Shinji paused long enough to have her words sink in and to watch the old woman wave and start hobbling down the street. As fast as lightning Shinji turned toward Hiyori and caught her in a bear hug, restraining her from going after the woman with blood on her mind. He had already seen how she had took a step forward and how her eyes had got that particular look in her eyes, not to mention the way the sandal had started to slip of her foot.

"Let me go Shinji she doesn't have long to live anyways. I'll be doing her a huge favor." Hiyori gasped out as she struggled in Hiyori's strong grip. It was no wonder that Shinji had been a captain, damn bastard.

"We do not go beating up old ladies because they think that we are children." Shinji told her at the same time in awe that she had the energy to get so worked up. Women were crazy and so far that was the only explanation that he had come to so far.

"Ok, ok I get it. Let me go I won't try to kill her." Hiyori said in a much calmer voice, prompting Shinji to slowly let go of her. Hiyori huffed as she walked a few tiny steps away and pulled her shirt a little father down seeing as how it had rode up to her belly button. Hiyori sneaked a glance at Shinji to see him watching her suspiciously. She smiled at him before darting behind him and running after that old lady.

She grinned at Shinji's yelling as he started chasing after her. To be honest she wouldn't have been that mad if she had been with anyone else but Shinji. She knew she was shorter than many people but I mean come on a kid? Ok, well she did get how she looked like a kid but she didn't want to look like a kid next to Shinji. And she certainly didn't want to look like his child; she wanted to look like his…

Well, it didn't matter, what she wanted right now was to kill the old looking woman with her perfect white teeth and her curly hair that looked as if salt had been shook onto it. And that's what she had to concentrate on if the closeness of feet falling was any indication. And she was close when she spotted that old lady shuffling up a pair of stairs to what was obviously her house. When in a sudden burst of energy Shinji plowed right into her and had her on her stomach with her hands above her head, and her legs trapped under his stronger legs. She would have blushed at any other time; in fact her face was getting warmer.

"No attacking old ladies, think of it as a compliment." Shinji whispered into her ear, as he watched the lady tumble with her keys, until she found the right key and fit it into the whole, saving her life that she never knew was in danger. He had watched until he had become distracted with the hair tie that was slipping away from the hair and sliding through the trends until it gracefully landed on the gray sidewalk, contrasting with the redness. And then he noticed the slow movements of the back that was rubbing up against his chest. And that's when he jumped off her pulling her up as he did so.

Hiyori frowned as Shinji coughed into his hand, probably trying to hide his grin of triumph. "If I ever see her again I'll destroy her." She muttered as she bent down and swiped her hair tie from the road and fixed it into her hair.

Shinji frowned at her and flicked her nose "Oh come on don't go getting a hot head, she didn't mean anything by it. Besides you'll be a heart breaker once you older." Shinji finished with a short laugh as he started to walk on, knowing that there was a store only a little while longer up the street.

"Shut it," Hiyori growled as she started to match her own stride with his. "I'm just smaller than usual ok?"

"Yes, yes," Shinji offered with a wave of his hand. "She seemed like a perfectly nice woman, she meant it as a compliment."

"If you like her so much, than why don't you marry her?" Hiyori muttered under her breath.

"What,"

"Nothing" Hiyori innocently said as she started to skip on

"Mmhm," Shinji said as he spotted the store "There's the store Hiyori come on lets go get something to eat."

"Right," Hiyori agreed as she skipped right into the store. She followed Shinji all along the store watching as he added items into the basket, just as she added many random items.

Where Shinji was adding things such as sandwiches, fruit, and vegetables into the cart, Hiyori was adding things like chips and cookies. In fact she was having an amazing time fallowing him around, talking about random things and getting him to laugh and of course insulting him every chance she got with her usual words like dipshit and so on.

But that mood was ruined when they got to the bakery and she was offered a gumbo raisin cookie with the comment "Such a cute kid deserves a cookie."

Suffice it is to say that not only was her mood ruined but so was the guy's face. And seeing the situation Shinji paid for the food in a rush, before the man could wake up and make Hiyori pay for surgery.

"Damn, that man ruined my good mood. It wasn't even a chocolate chip cookie…bastard." Hiyori muttered as they walked past a group of houses that she was sure that old lady had gone into.

Shinji would have answered how he wasn't so sure. But before he could so much as consider it they both felt the familiar prickling sensation. Seconds after a huge creature that looked to be similar to not only a fish but also a bull appeared before them.

But neither of them were that shocked at the appearance, they'd seen weirder on themselves. Shinji looked over at Hiyori to see her grinning in glee. "Perfect, exactly what I need to make me feel better." She cracked in ever greater joy.

Shinji just sighed as he took the grocery bags from her and leaned against the brick wall. "Make it quick, I'm sure our friends are already complaining up a storm."

"Right," Hiyori agreed as she drew the sword from her back (that she was sure everyone thought was a toy, just as they thought she was a kid.) and pointed it in front of her, as she drew her mask around her face. Not that she needed it but it was already like a comfort to her.

"Hehe what are you going to do little girl?" The hallow wheezed as it slithered over to her despite the two feet that it carried.

"Oh, not the thing to say at this moment," Shinji muttered as he watched Hiyori's golden brown eyes light up with the inner flame of rage. And she proceeded to show it to the fool that had called her a child. It just wasn't her day. Personally he never even noticed her height it certainly gave her the advantage when it was time to beat him up, but other than that he though Hiyori had a perfectly fine height.

Hiyori slash and cut the hallow, first the feet and than the arms, you'd think she's go for the head, instead she cut the body in half and than went for the head. "I do feel better," Hiyori said just as Shinji grabbed her again and pulled her into the alley way.

They stood close together as they watched a man drop from a building close by, and look around the area a couple of times. "Ah, maybe it's broken!" The man with a huge afro said as he looked around once again "All well," They watched even longer as the man jumped up to flash step to another location.

"Whew that was close" Hiyori breathed out as she slowly slipped from Shinji's firm grip, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt. And at the same time thanking god for the fact that it was dark outside and harder to see.

"Hmm," Shinji agreed as he started to walk on. He was exhausted, his day started out with a work out that lasted till sun down and then he was forced to go out and shop and get home by night fall, seeing as no one had eaten since the night before. How Hiyori had had the energy to get rid of the hallow he may never know. But that wasn't important they were almost home and that was important. He turned to the side to look over at Hiyori who was no longer angry but pretty happy. "Not tired any longer?"

"I'm beyond tired but I'm way to pumped and hungry to fall asleep." Hiyori answered as she continued to skip at his side laughing as she did so. Making Shinji smile at her happiness. "Besides were almost home anyways, I can see it right now." Shinji turned back the way he was walking to see that she was indeed right.

"Hmm I can't help but realize that this trip took a lot longer than it should have." Shinji muttered as he opened the door to their warehouse. "All well, it was eventful anyways."

Shinji turned around to see Hiyori looking at him in a very serious manner, making him take a step back.

"Shinji do you think I look like a child in any way?"

Shinji frowned at her question "Of course not you're more adult than anyone I know."

"See? Right there I know your lying to me." Hiyori said as she waved her pointer finger in his face gracing him with an unhappy frown.

Shinji deciding to take a chance leaned down and kissed her head. "You're perfect just the way you are, other wise you wouldn't be Hiyori." As soon as he said it Shinji smiled at her and walked past her in the other room "Everyone food is here."

Hiyori touched her head and smiled at her luck. She'd been called a kid three times, had gotten beat around, and she ached all over. All in all it hadn't been a bad day in any way. Hiyori skipped into the room to see everyone surrounding the table that was covered with food.

"You are not allowed to have sweets Mashiro." Kensie said as he took to the box of cookies away from Mashiro, only for her to start whining at him.

"Those are mine," Hiyori said as she jumped up and snatched the cookies from his hand. "Oh and these too," She said as she took a hold of the bag of chips that Hachi had grabbed from the table.

"Oh Hiyori," Shinji said stopping her from walking away from the table with cookies, chips, and a pop. "Here this is for you too." Shinji threw a wrapped rice ball at her and then turned back to his own meal of a sandwich and a juice box. Everyone seemed happy with there meal, forgetting about its lateness.

Hiyori was on the couch watching a game show that he could make no sense of, and Mashiro and Love were asking her questions about it. He was just happy to see her eating the rice ball he had picked out for her. Lisa was doing her usual thing across from him reading a magazine and eating her own meal of randomness that she had picked up. Rose was only sitting and eating to his left once in a while he would look up to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was going on with the others on that side of the room. Kensie as usual was keeping Mashiro in check.

He had liked all these people before they had gone through life changing circumstances, and now he loved them. One probably more than he should, but he wasn't going to think about that. He had promised himself that he would keep the relationship as it is and that's what he was going to do. He wished that he hadn't kissed Hiyori, even if it was only on the head. But he could still remember the texture and the smell. What was he to do when all he could think about was what her lips would taste like? But it wasn't the time for this, he didn't know if it would ever be the time. And he wasn't even sure if he wanted a time. But the thought of more with Hiyori was becoming addicting and he didn't like it, and yet he did.

~.~.~.~.~

"I never knew that that's the reason that they were so late." Lisa muttered as she looked up from the sheet to look over at the surrounding landscape. She remembered that day well. Not only was it the last day that they had trained so hard, but it was also the first time that she had come to the realization that she maybe, just a little bit cared more than she should for the man named Rose.

And over the years she'd come to the realization that yes she was in love with said man. And how lame was that? Falling for a man who had a girls name and wore his hair like said girl. Except that she kind of liked his hair like that. At least he wasn't as bad as her past captain now there was one that whoever fell in love with him would have a lot of trouble on there hands.

But back on subject, obviously Shinji knew how he felt but was holding back. Why he would do that she had no idea. The plan to get them together would go a lot better if they would stop dragging there feet. Then again who was she to talk about that?

Disturbed at her thoughts she got up from the cement roof and leaned over the railing for a little while longer. She liked it up here, everything was always clear. She liked to watch the clouds as they lazily drifted by. She liked to watch the occasional car as it zoomed by. But she didn't come up often because she was not the best at looking at her feelings. And for some reason these surroundings always brought that out in her. Sighing Lisa made her way over to the stairs and over to the living room of sorts.

She enjoyed sharing this secret with Rose; it actually brought them closer then before. Spending time with him always made her happy, she did not appreciate however Love's stalking. He was convinced that something was going on between Rose and her. Oh, and how she wished that was the case but it wasn't. And Love was smart he would realize that they were keeping a secret. And she would only share it with Rose and no else.

Entering the living room she sensed that something was missing. Kensie wasn't here, but he was usually training at this time anyways, and that met Love missing wasn't as weird either. Hachi was eating a bag of chips and watching a comedy with Mashiro. Rose wasn't here so he must be in his room. But that did not explain where Hiyori had gotten off too. "Where's Hiyori? I just came from the roof so she couldn't be there."

"Oh, she went out and said she was going to go out and teach a dog a new trick." Hachi said as he lifted his head and looked over at the braided haired, glasses wearing, female standing up in the middle of the room. "Oh, and Rose is in his room." The man said with an impish grin.

Lisa who had been about to go to the exact room that was specified whipped around and looked over at the grinning pair that had lost interest in there television. "Not you too, nothing is going on and I would like it if you would all shut up."

"Sure" They both singed as she threw her hands in the air, still clutching the magazine in between her fingers, and walked out with a snort of disgust.

Lisa rushed over to Rose's door and knocked. Just because she had been found out did not mean that she would go running to her room and not talk to Rose. That was for hormonal teenagers and it would prove to those two, three now, morons right. But she was unprepared for the shirt-less man that answered the door with sopping wet hair glued to his face and shielding an eye.

She had never known that Rose had such good looking abs, but now that she thought of it he had to, after all he had been a captain. But damn he looked good coming out of the shower. She tried not to think about it when she saw Rose raise an eyebrow in question to her presence.

Making sure that her face showed none of her awe or shock, she walked right past him and into is room. His room was normal with a carpeted floor, a bed, a couch, and a T.V. of his own. Rose had made his room the way she had made her own. She had more art, although there were many compartments hidden behind her paintings, where he had more comfortable setting.

"Here I brought you this one." Lisa said as she sat down on the couch and opened the magazine to where the piece of paper was resting. She was trying her best to act normal, like she had just come upon a shirtless Hachi, oh god the mental pictures were killing her. Maybe if she rested her eyes for a little they would leave, besides it smelled really good here.

"Aw" Rose offered in understanding as he took a white shirt from his drawer and slipped it on. He was buttoning the shirt when he turned around to look over at Lisa who was now lying done on the couch. He smiled as he looked at the girl who had already fallen asleep.

How someone could fall asleep that fast was beyond him. He walked over to her and leaned over; making sure that his wet hair wouldn't drip over onto her face. He slipped her round rimmed glasses from her face and placed them on the end table. He straightened up and looked for a blanket over in the closet. When he didn't find one he decided that he would take the blanket from the bed. He quickly let the blanket float down and cover the woman who had the most adorable sleeping expression he had ever seen.

With one fist tucked under her chin and the other flung out over her head and her legs curled under her, she was the perfect image. He just wondered how she looked without the braided hair. Smiling once more Rose took a hold of the magazine that had slipped to the floor and took out the piece of paper. He made his way over to the bed and flopped down before he started to read.

It was only half an hour later when he finished reading that he had laid down the piece of paper on the end table when he lied back down on the bed and drifted off to sleep himself. Many hours later both of the occupants in the room shot up from there deep sleep. They looked at each other in surprise and looked at the door where the yelling was coming from.

Lisa stretched her arms out and yawned as she looked back over to Rose who was now running his hands through her hair. He still looked amazing even with his wavy hair all over the place, including his eyes. "Hiyori must be home," She offered as she lied back down.

Rose paused and looked over at her and nodded, then realized that she couldn't see it. "It would appear so, I read the paper. You know I remember that day, I thought I would be sore for days."

Lisa laughed from the memory "Aw yes Mashiro did land on you very hard and then she wouldn't even get up." She was proud of herself for not mentioning how jealous she had been that Mashiro had gotten to touch him and not get pushed off. She knew she had no reason seeing as how Rose had been yelling out in pain.

"Yeah, thank you for saving me." Rose muttered as he rubbed his stomach. Not one of his best memories, but it was already fogging over with a haze. He was tired and knowing no one was in danger he slowly drifted off.

"Hmm" Lisa agreed as she slowly shut her eyes before she snapped them open to look over at Rose who had already fallen asleep. She smiled at him which slowly drifted off when she saw him shiver. She looked at the blanket that was pooled at her waist. She lifted the blanket sniffed it and then wrapped it around herself as she made herself over to the bed with a beaming expression.

~.~.~.~.~

"I told you Hiyori I didn't know they were fallowing me!" Shinji cried before the sandal hit him once again in the face.

"You're at a captain level and there humans don't lie to me!"

"Yeah, you know I don't believe it either." Kensie said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"No one asked your opinion." Shinji said pointing at him with a finger in accusation. Right before his face connected to the floor at the force of the small sandal being clenched with white knuckles

"You have something to say dickless?" Hiyori yelled into his ear. She was extremely pissed off, more at the girl with the huge boobs than the man she was slapping around. But she couldn't help it she was stuck in this small and flat body while that girl got the unnatural body. She knew Shinji had said she was perfect the way she was but still.

Kensie looked on without any passion at all, use to this routine from before he had even become a captain. This was how the two acted and he didn't mind it was quite entertaining. But he was more interested in other things like why there were two less people in the group than usual. "Hey, where did Rose and Lisa go off too?"

"Huh?" Hiyori asked as she looked around the room to find the two, she also allowed Shinji to do the same.

The room had become silent after his question. Kensie was fine with it until he watched as Mashiro looked over at Love, and Love looked over at her. He didn't like the secret message passing between them. Whether it was suspicion or jealousy he wasn't to sure, but he decided it was the first when they jumped up from the couch and raced out of the room.

Kensie sighed as he pushed off the wall and went to go find where the two had gone to, he wasn't surprised to see the others following him. They came across both Love and Mashiro standing right before Rose's door.

"You open it," Love whispered

"No, you do it, it has to be quiet." Mashiro whispered just as slowly and lightly

"Good point," Love conceded as he turned the knob and let the door swing open, he then slowly crept into the room, fallowed closely by Mashiro. Kensie sighed and followed them, wondering at the barley contained excitement that radiated off them, it was only Roses' room. He didn't expect much but what he saw made him stop right in his tracks.

There was Rose and Lisa sleeping on the same bed. The same bed! Lisa's hand rested on his chest and clutched at the ruffles in the shirt. Her head was buried in his chest and he assumed her legs were intertwined with his under the blanket. Rose was in no better of a situation with his hand resting on her waist and his own head buried in her hair. To say that he was in shock would be an understatement.

The only reason he snapped out of it was because Mashiro and Love made their way out of the room. After snapping out of his daze he looked around to see Hachi grinning in glee, and Shinji keeping Hiyori's mouth shut as he practically dragged her out of the room with her finger pointing at the pair and her eyes popping out of her head. He wanted to do the same, but instead he shuffled out of the room, shut the door and made his way into the living room.

Everyone was frozen in shock he assumed until both Mashiro and Love squealed clasped hands and started to jump. He found the fact that Love squealed far funnier than the way his afro was bobbing up and down.

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it." They were both singing "We were so right."

"Wait you two knew about this?" Shinji said as he slipped his hand away from Hiyori's mouth that was agape in wonder.

"Yes," they squealed again and started jumping.

"Now, hang on they are still both holding back, so don't ruin it by saying anything." Hachi said in a voice of reason.

"What! Hachi knows too," Hiyori said looking at Shinji to make sure that he didn't know either and seeing his expression she was satisfied, so she looked back at the other people in the room.

"Of course they spend all this time together now, although I have no idea why." Love said in contemplation

Rose and Lisa. Lisa and Rose. It fit and he was going to support it, from the side lines like Hachi had suggested. Hachi was rather good at relationships, which was saying something at how bad everyone here was at them. Hiding their feelings came naturally to everyone in this room.

"Just let those two be" Kensie said as he went into the kitchen "It's not like any of us our doing any better" he muttered under his breath.

A/N: Wow really late update, really long chapter. I hope you liked it, a little Hiyori and Shinji, add a lot of Rose and Lisa, plus a tad bit of one sided Mashiro and Kensie and you got a hell of a long chapter!

Next update will be very long ways away…maybe in the summer…I'm failing some of my classes cause of Fanfiction so I have to leave for a little while until I can turn in some work.

Anyways please review for my 5,563 worded chapter (not counting the authors note, dots, or title). Longest chapter I've written for this story…was not expecting it at all.


	8. Up to Code

The Black Mail Game

Up to Code

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"This is ridiculous." Kensei glared down at the balding man in front of him, trying to be as imitating as possible. "Why is it that we are being forced to do this?"

"Sir, please calm down." Harley whispered mopping the sweat from where it was accumulating on his brow. If he had had it his way another resident of the neighborhood would be here in his place. "Your…umm…house is falling apart and the grass has completely taken over the property. Our neighborhood is trying to attract more savory buyers and would appreciate it if you do your part."

Kensei looked down at the short bald and overweight man. Who was this man that had the right to tell him that his house looked like shit? "Then why are you telling me this?"

Harley gulped. "Well, you're the first person I saw leave the house and I dare not miss an opportunity to tell you the new housing codes."

"It's not even a house! It's a warehouse!"

"But there are people living in the building and so needs to meet with the same codes. Please just take this paper telling you everything that needs to be done to your property."

Kensei looked down at the wrinkled paper that was clutched within the man's whitening knuckles. It was easy to tell that the short man was terrified of him and he did not wish to get himself and his friends kicked out of the warehouse for giving the man a heart attack. So he took the paper reluctantly and with a short nod, turned on the spot and disappeared back into what was officially now a house.

Harley let out a deep breathe and practically fell upon the street in relief. But all he did was calmly make his way to his car and collapse, instead, in the safety of his front seat. He had been dreading his meeting with the residents that lived in the old warehouse that looked uninhabitable from the outside. But despite its appearance there in fact were eight individuals living in the premises. Not a lot was known about the family, just that there were two women, five men, and a junior high girl, that never seemed to go to school, living in the house. Besides that everyone in the neighborhood liked to ignore the fact that anyone was living in the last house on the block.

But he had had no chose today but to travel four houses down to visit the most unusual members if his community. There was not a chance that he would have traveled the distance to make the journey without a debatable cause. He had even deemed it wise to bring his car just in case he had to make a run for it. But the community was trying to better itself by lifting standards and everyone had to follow this change including the residents of the warehouse.

He had not wanted to talk to the huge muscular man that had walked out of the house first. But he had been staking out the house for a good six days and with not a single member leaving, he had almost believed that his fortune had turned around since it was decided that he would have to be the one to travel to the house. He had decided that if he had to talk to anyone he would want to talk to the rather big man that was said to be nice and actually smiled at those he met.

Instead it had been the silver haired man that was said to have a temper. He had tried not to sneak up on the man, slamming his car door rather loudly before yelling out a greeting. He had almost fainted when blue eyes had pierced him with an unhappy stare.

Harley shivered at the scary experience that he had had with only one resident of the house. He was firm in his resolution that it had been a good idea to approach only one member of the house instead of going and knocking on the door. He took a deep breath and started his car. He had done his job it was now out of his hands whether or not the residents took heed of the codes. Harley smiled as he put his car into gear, if the residents did not follow the rules of the neighbor hood then they would be kicked out, now there was a happy thought.

~.~.~.~.

Shinji looked up from his magazine on, "how to cook a delicious meal", when the door slammed open. All he wanted was to get back to his reading, so that he could better his teams eating habits. But before he could do this the booming voice of Kensei, no less, reached him and he closed his book with a frown. Kensei was yelling for everyone to meet in the living room. This was unusual he was usually the one screaming for what Mashiro liked to call family meetings.

He watched as Hiyori came shuffling into the room a huge bag of chips secured under her arm and a hand held device glued to the front of her face that he often heard noise coming from. She also liked to scream profanities at the bright blue box and overall got worked up at whatever flashed on the small screen of the device. She sat beside him on the couch but did not lift her head from the box. This gave him time to notice everyone else coming into the room.

Lisa came in from the same door the Hiyori had just come from. She was yawning and stretching and finally slumped into a spot on the couch to the other side of Hiyori. A few moments later Love, Rose, and Hachi came out of the humongous training area that was under the warehouse and took residents on the other couch. They were dusty and Love's left eye seemed to be slowly discoloring but overall they did not look overtired or injured.

Finally Kensei came into the room at a clipped pace and a tired looking Mashiro slung over one shoulder. Kensei paused to dispose of Mashiro onto Lisa, Hiyori, and himself. There was only a slight cry of protest from Hiyori and that was more from Kensei taking away her box and throwing it over at the table then the sudden wait of Mashiro, which was barley anything. Shinji frowned at this because if it had been he that had taken the device from her, there would have been a supernova going off in the room.

A little peeved at the difference in treatment Shinji crossed his arms and frowned over at Kensei. "What's going on Kensei?"

Mashiro let out a big yawn and turned over on her side somehow kicking Shinji in the mouth which amused Hiyori. But Kensei was in no mood for interruptions things were serious. He was not going to get kicked out of the home that he had lived in for close to seventy years now. Give or take a few decades.

"Today I ran into a little trouble. I left the property..." Kensei sighed when he spotted Mashiro's hand waving frantically in the air. "Yes?"

Mashiro dropped her hand. "Why did you leave the property? Did you go somewhere fun? Can I come to next time? No, did you bring me anything back?"

Mashiro took a deep breath and Kensei could see that it was so she could begin talking again. "It is not important what I was doing outside the property." Kensei quickly cut her off. "It is however important that you know that I was cut off from coming home because of a meeting."

Shinji became silent and played closer attention to what Kensei had to say. A meeting with an unknown person could mean many different things with many different outcomes. In fact the whole room was taking on a different mood. There was no longer anyone left in the room that was tired and inattentive. Everyone expected the worse and had no clue what to do if the worse had indeed happened. They weren't ready for anything to happen against Aizen and it had only been a couple of days since they were briefed on Ichigo and how he could possibly help them.

Kensei blinked at the drastic change in temperature and rolled his eyes. "There's no need to act as if the world is ending it was expected that at one time the humans would become interested in us."

"Humans?" Rose asked with a lift of his brow.

"Yes, this is what I've been talking about. What did you think I was talking about you idiots? I was approached by a human. There's no need to turn the place into a freezer of nerves!" Kensei yelled.

"Then don't say things so vague in a way that'll make others think that way!" Mashiro shouted as she stood up from the couch and pointed a finger at him in accusation.

Kensei only folded his muscular arms together across his chest and stared Mashiro down until she let out a nervous giggle and sat on the arm of the couch. Kensei shook his head before continuing his story.

"I was walking back to the house when this human slammed his door shut and shouted. I of course was not expecting a human to be ion front of out house so I turned around to find that the man was shouting at me." Kensei paused in his explanation to glare over at Love whose head was mobbing upward and downward as if he fought to keep his eyes open. "Love pay attention this is important!"

"Well, then get on with it! I don't want to be sitting here all day." Love mumbled under his breath.

"That's just what I'm saying. If you don't listen to me then there could come a time where we won't be sitting here. In fact we won't even be living here!"

Hiyori snorted and uncrossed her arms from the pouting position that she had taken when her box had been taken away from her. "What? That's ridiculous! The house has been paid for I've been living here for around fifty years! What could a bunch of humans do to take my house away?" Hiyori finished with a sneer but leaned in closer to hear any possible explanations.

Kensei paused in thought on how to best explain but Hachi cut off whatever explanation that he may have been able to fumble with. "Hiyori this is not soul society! This is the human world and here we play by human rules. The humans do have a court system and can make us leave our house if the neighborhood gains enough signatures and has a reason for it. In fact, because of the behavior that each and every one of you has shown to the humans they have been searching for a way to make us leave this property for quite a long time."

Shinji dumbly blinked after Hachi's long speech. Hachi was the one person here that he had not known until that night that had changed his life around. But in the last decades he had spent with him he had a feeling that he had gotten to know the man rather well. And one constant was that Hachi always surprised him. "Hachi…your friends with the humans?"

"Yeah Hachi, you never told us that you had made friends in this backward neighborhood!" Love exclaimed his afro bombing from his sudden turn toward a now embarrassed looking Hachi.

Hachi rubbed the back of his head and shook his head. "I wouldn't call the humans friends but they seem to be more open with those that actually smile in their direction."

Lisa shifted uncomfortably in her area of the couch, obviously feeling the same worry that Shinji was. They had been so focused on the threat of soul society on the horizon that they hadn't even thought of the potentially dangerous humans living in their own backyard, figuratively speaking.

"What else have the humans found dissatisfied with us?" Lisa asked leaning slightly forward her glasses glaring over so the group couldn't read her eyes.

"Oh! You would be surprised the simplest thing seems to make the humans unhappy with us. Like the fact that Hiyori doesn't go to school or the clothes that Mashiro wear."

"Wait, wait when did this become a conversation about what the humans want and do not want?" Kensei cut in to the potentially long list and the ferocious look that Hiyori was now sporting. "We need not focus on what the humans do not like about us but about the one thing that they can use to get rid of us, as it seems is their true goal."

"Right, then tell us the conditions that have been placed on us to remain residents of our home." Rose offered with a wave of his hand.

Kensei blinked and then took the rumbled piece of paper out of his clenched hands and brought it toward his face. "The grass needs to be cut, garbage needs to be picked up, roof needs to be fixed, outside of house needs to be painted, flowers need to be planted, leaves need to be raked, and swimming pool needs to be cleaned."

"We have a swimming pool?" Love asked into the silence.

"Oh, yes, thou it looks more like a pond now." Shinji rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"It sounds to me as if we have been too focused on training instead of taking care of the place that we live in." Lisa said getting up from the couch lifting her arms out for a small stretch.

Hiyori grumbled in agreement. "And to think that it was humans that pointed it out to us."

"We also need to get these tasks done by tomorrow morning." Kensei threw the paper on the floor. "It looks as if that man was supposed to give us the notice close to seven days ago."

"What! Then we better get started or will loose our home!" Love stood up and took a piece of paper. "We need to make teams and each of us our assigned a task." He started to rip up strips of paper and put them in a discarded sack. "Everyone pick one."

Love traveled the room pausing at three individual so that they could pick out one scrap of paper, taking the last one for him self. "Ok whoever's name you got is your partner for the task that you choose. I got Lisa and we claim raking up leaves."

Lisa sighed in exasperation at having to do any kind of work. "The leaves really? That means we also have to cut the grass and pick up the trash."

"Don't complain it's better than the pool." Love told her with a pat on her head.

Mashiro, always the fastest person in the group, quickly called out her partner and the task that they would complete. There was no way that she would be involved in braving the murky waters. "Kensei and I will be in charge of planting flowers around the property!"

Kensei rolled his eyes but did not complain about the simple work. "Then Mashiro and I will go to the store to buy the flowers, when I come back I will also trim the trees around the property."

Shinji looked at the piece of paper. "Umm Hiyori it looks like were partners, we'll be taking care of the pool."

"WHAT! The pool what are you a moron Shinji? That's the worst job out of all of them." Hiyori complained.

Before Hiyori could start taking her sandals off and causing uproar in the house, Rose thought that it was best to call out his task and partner. Although the later was explanatory now. "Then Hachi and I will take care of painting the house and maintenance."

"Don't complain Hiyori it isn't like you could have been any big help with painting, you're just not tall enough." Shinji said more to himself then to Hiyori as he made his way to the door that would lead toward the back of the house. But this was a factor against him because he couldn't see Hiyori's eyes slit dangerously. The next thing he knew a sandal hit him in the back of his head and he went flying out of the door with a screaming Hiyori running after him.

"You know the humans also complain about the noise problem as well." Hachi said in his usually calm voice observing the huge hole, shaped like Shinji, now present in the door leading outside.

Kensei sighed and rubbed his forehead feeling the beginnings of a huge head ache. "I'll also fix the door once I get back."

Mashiro pouted as she grabbed a hold of Kensei's arm and started to pull him out the door. "But you have to plant flowers with me as well!"

Love could hear Kensei's long sigh even after the door slammed shut. Love quickly turned toward Lisa, making sure that she hadn't left. She was known for getting out of work easily by just leaving. It was probably because she was secretly enjoying the freedom of not taking care of her wayward captain that she no longer seemed interested in doing as many chores as she used to be in charge of. "Ok then Lisa let us go to the shed where the rakes are located along with bags. You'll see the yard will look magnificent in no time at all!"

Lisa rolled her eyes and followed the man at a more leisurely stride. She looked back once to see Rose and Hachi planning out what they would do first. The two calmest men in the "family" seemed to have it all figured out and would more then likely be done before any of them were. Lisa let out one more little sigh before chasing after the afro that was disappearing in the tall grass next to a building that she hadn't even known they owned.

"Who builds a swimming pool for a warehouse anyways?" Hiyori mumbled as she looked out at the rather large pool that now had algae and plant life growing in it.

"This must originally have been a house or something. Let's just clean it up…how do we clean this pool up anyways?" Shinji asked as he wandered over to the edge of where concrete dipped down to hold water.

What used to be a patio was completely overgrown with plant life and probably some animal life as well. Shinji rubbed the back of his head and winced when the last receding echoes of pain became apparent.

"I'm going to go get some garbage bags then! I'll be back in a second." Hiyori yelled out as she ran to the right of the house.

Shinji sighed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and viewed the backyard. It was an awful fact that they had let the outside of their house become a jungle like environment. And the taking care of it should have been a top priority. They had focused so much on their training that they had let everything else go to hell. It had been an ordeal to learn cleaning the inside and cooking their meals without puking. Being in charge of ones own cleaning of laundry, cooking of meals, and tiding up of ones house, outside or inside, really made one appreciate the work that squad four had done around Soul Society.

"Here I got them!" Hiyori yelled as she came running around the house.

"It's about time! I-" Shinji's sentience came spluttering to a stop. "What are you wearing?"

Hiyori frowned and looked down at her simple outfit of shorts that came to mid thigh and an old black tank top. "Clothes…duh."

"I know…I didn't think that you…"

"Owned anything other then sweat pants. Well, think again there's no way I'm working out here in the heat with a sweat shirt and sweat pants!"

"Yeah, yeah." Shinji mumbled as he took a hold of one of the garbage bags from Hiyori's hand and walked over to the first overgrown plant that he could find and started to pull the weeds up and out of the ground and then relocated them to the bag. A quick glance toward his left told him that Hiyori was following his example and pulling weeds as well.

"Try to pull the weeds all the way out with roots and all." Shinji told her.

Hiyori turned toward him with a nasty glare. "Excusez-moi?" She picked up a weed and made sure that she stood up while doing so, so that the dirt fell on Shinji's head. "I know how to pull weeds out of the ground dipshit."

"Hiyori!" Shinji shouted as he stood up and quickly brushed the soil off of his head. He turned to give the woman a shouting to but found that she was already crouched on the ground again. Shinji gritted his teeth and went back to his own pulling of weeds.

It was four bags later that a part of the backyard was visible the sun was now high in the sky and Hiyori could feel the heat down to her bones. Her hands were raw from taking countless plants from the ground that they did not want to leave. She stood up, wiped her sweating brow and looked around the patch of land that they were in charge of. Although it was becoming far clearer and looked a little less like a jungle, it still had a far way to go before it could be called a backyard.

"I want a break!" Hiyori said for what must have been the thousandth time.

"No break until were done weeding. I've told you this since the last time you asked for a break."

"Buuuut Shiiinjjjjiii! I want a break now!" Hiyori wined as she tied up the fifth bag today. But when Shinji remained silent she knew that she would be unable to change his minds.

She sighed and made her way to the pile of black bags near the corner of the house. But before she could make it to her destination her face made contact with a metal object. "OUCH!"

"What's wrong Hiyori?" Shinji asked worriedly as he made his way over to the girl that was crouch down on the ground and holding her face. "Hiyori I told you not to walk in the tall grass, it still needs to be cut by Lisa and Love."

"No kidding." Hiyori stood back up and kicked out at the unseen project. But this only made her yowl in pain and hop with one foot clutched in her protective clutches.

Shinji rolled his eyes but none the less took a hold of Hiyori's chin making her almost freeze as he examined her face. Her face was a little red but her skin was still smooth. Shinji quickly let go of her chin when his mind started to wander and focused on the object that had caused her pain. Moving the tall grass a metal object with a top that was painted red became visible. "What's this do you think?"

Hiyori let go of her foot and leaned closer to read the faded note. "Welcome to the neighborhood? What are these humans thinking; we were here before they were."

Shinji rolled his eyes. "This must have been from a long time ago, now that I look closer at it. It looks kind of like a barbeque."

"Oh the thing you can cook meat on! We should totally use this!" Hiyori clapped her hands in excitement. "All we need is fire and those rocks called coal...I think."

Shinji nodded before grabbing a hold of the handles of the barbeque and wheeling it toward the cement that was probably supposed to look kind of like a patio. "We can use it once this backyard is looking better."

"Right!" Hiyori sounded ecstatic as she grabbed another garbage bag and started to plow through the leaves.

Shinji nodded and looked around the yard. The weeds were almost gone and the grass would be trimmed by Love. But the pool still needed to be done. The water was a murky brown and there was no filter mostly because the dip in earth was never meant to be a pool. It was a warehouse after all not a luxury house, the patio wasn't supposed to be a patio and he had no idea what the dip in concrete was supposed to be. But he was not here to analyze the workings of a human brain.

Shinji turned to look over at Hiyori who was now standing trying to pull a difficult plant from the ground. He quickly made his way over to her to try and help pull the pesky weed. He was only three feet in front of her when the plant decided to give up its hold to the ground and as a result Hiyori went flying backwards right into the pool.

She came spluttering back to the surface of the pool. Spitting a mouthful of water out of her mouth she squinted upward toward the blond man that was standing over the pool, holding his midsection, laughing, at her. "Shut up Shinji it's not funny! This water is disgusting!"

Shinji laughed harder when Hiyori attempted to speak with a mouthful of water in her mouth. Still laughing he leaned over and offered his hand to the bobbing Hiyori. It could be he was so amused that he didn't think or he was momentarily forgetting the kind of person Hiyori is. But the second Hiyori took a hold of his hand and pulled him into the water he was coldly reminded what kind of person Hiyori is.

He swam back up to find Hiyori laughing above his face. Obviously she had taken the time to climb out of the pool so that she could be situated high above him with her hands on her hip. "Shinji you should know better."

Instead of climbing out of the pool and strangling her he started to laugh with her. This didn't put a hamper on her good mood because a laughing Shinji was always a lot cuter than a thinking one. Hiyori stopper her laughing and looked over at a sopping wet Shinji. This was not a good thought and Hiyori hit her head to get those thoughts out.

Thoughts like those would lead to nothing and she couldn't forget that. "Aren't you going go get out Shinji?"

Shinji stopped laughing at Hiyori's tone which sounded a little sad. He quickly climbed out of the pool to look down at the girl that's head was bowed and shoulders slumped in a sadness that he did not understand. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok Hiyori?"

Hiyori clenched her shoulders closer to her frame at the cold touch of Shinji's hand. He was always friendly and caring no mater how many times she was mean to him or nasty in any way. It wasn't fair that he couldn't see what was right in front of him, and she sure as well wasn't going to be the one to tell him her feelings. But it also wasn't right that she was pushing feelings on him that he didn't understand, even if the feelings right now were only sadness and self-pity. "Nothing, what's it to you anyways dickless?"

Shinji frowned when Hiyori pushed off his hand and sat back down on the ground. "Why don't you just tell me? Look I'm sorry I laughed at you!"

"You should be!"

"But you pulled me in!"

Hiyori sighed and then looked back up at the rather confused man. It was time for damage control. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to be out here in the heat, I' rather be playing a game or something."

"And I'd rather be inside learning how to cook." Shinji sat down on the hard ground beside her. "But to keep our home we have to do these chores. Plus next time we have to clean up the house, it won't be a bad as today."

Hiyori brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of them. The water still had little waves cascading against the sides from the sudden entrance and then exit of them both. Hiyori frowned at her self-pity party especially since it was happening in front of the one man that she actually cared about what he thought of her. With this in mind Hiyori lifted her head and gave Shinji a toothy grin. "Really? You're learning how to cook Shinji?"

Just as suddenly as it had come Hiyori's bad mood seemed to be gone and Shinji let out a breath of relief. Seeing Hiyori sad always scared him, it was not something that he was use to from the girl. But seeing everything that had transpired from that one night to this moment he was sure that Hiyori also had moments of despair just like he. It was not healthy to keep it inside. Shinji scooted closer and put his arms around her. "Don't worry Hiyori everything will be fine. Don't worry about the future Aizen will get his along with those darn vice captains."

Hiyori hesitated for only a moment before she curled closer to Shinji's warmth and wrapped her own arms around his middle. It didn't matter that Shinji thought her sudden depression came from something that for once was far away from her mind. Shinji was comforting her and for the moment she could pretend that she was more than an annoying hindrance that had a mean personality. All she needed was this moment of not only taking the reassurance that she mattered to him, if only a little, but being a comfort her self. "I know Shinji, I know."

The two broke apart at the sudden sound of a motor beginning its life rather close by. "Aw it looks like Love learned how to use the lawn mower."

Hiyori quickly stood up and away from Shinji. "But were not ready! You keep working I'll go get what we need to clean the pool!"

"…ok…" Shinji rubbed his face and cursed under his breath. Using Hiyori's sudden sadness as a chance to be close to her was not something he had been prepared for. His mind was beginning to betray him finding excuses to be close to her. He was going to have to watch that.

In no time at all Hiyori came running back with a net and bags of something. "Ha don't need to worry Lisa and Love just got done picking up garbage their still not ready to cut the grass yet! Kensei and Mashiro came back with all this stuff for the pool. We better get started."

It took another hour but the backyard looked tamed and manageable. The pool water wasn't this crystal clear blue oasis but it was no longer brown looking either. The pool now had a filter installed and luckily it hadn't broken down from the dirt in the pool. The weeds had been pulled and the patio like concrete swept. There was nothing more that the two had to do, the grass would be cut once Love and Lisa got their act together.

"Maybe we should go help the others?" Shinji asked as he started to make his way to the front.

"Looks like Kensei fixed the door." Hiyori noticed as she followed after him.

They quickly made there way toward the front of the warehouse so that they could see the reason why everyone was not yet done with their own individual tasks. And looking upon the scene they could easily see why this was.

Lisa and Love were piling leaves together, their efforts being thwarted when Mashiro came running to the edge and then diving into the pile stirring up the leaves so that they could travel in the wind once again.

"What the hell Mashiro!" Lisa yelled before taking a near by bag of leaves and throwing it all over the green haired woman. "There now you have all the leaves that you could possibly want!"

"Lisa that was the only bag we had done!" Love complained as he loyally began raking up the other leaves.

Before Lisa could do anything else to Mashiro, Kensei scooped up Mashiro and once again through his over his shoulder. "When I said entertain yourself for a while this is not what I meant. I finished with the door we can plant these flowers now."

Lisa glared after the pouting girl before getting back to her own task of raking up leaves with love. "Maybe now we'll get some work done."

Both Hachi and Rose had done a wonderful job of painting the front of the warehouse and were probably on the other side of the house busy painting. "Well where would you like to help out?" Shinji turned to address Hiyori. "Hiyori? Where'd you go?"

Lisa frowned down at the last page she had read and adjusted her glasses. It was always interesting how Shinji and Hiyori enjoyed the little moments. It was obvious that Hiyori looked back on that day with happiness. All she remembered from that certain day was a rushing to get things done so that they wouldn't be kicked out of their warehouse.

They had cleaned up the place with a sudden speed that seemed to impress the neighbors, even if it was in a negative way. They had finished the day with a big celebration of barbecuing meat on the barbecue that was found in the backyard. With meat that Hiyori had gone off to buy along with a big chocolate cake. The day had started off terribly but it had ended rather well.

It had been an ordeal when the neighbors started to come by and scrutinize the place for anything wrong just so they could give them the boot out. And when they sent a letter addressing the problem of their child not being in school Lisa had thought Hiyori was going to burn down the accursed neighborhood in a fit of rage.

Lisa rolled her eyes at the memory and readjusted her spot on the sofa, closing her magazine softly. "What are you giggling about over there?"

For the past three minutes both Mashiro and Love had been giggling in the corner stealing glances at her every once in a while.

"Nothing." Mashiro quickly told her with a beaming expression.

One thing that Lisa was absolutely sure of was that one should never trust a beaming Mashiro. "Ok out with it what has you two all secretive in that corner laughing? Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Nope it's not anything like that Lisa. Mashiro and I were only discussing what we would like for dinner."

"Right" Lisa rolled her eyes and left the living room before she could become affected with whatever idiocy the others carried.

"Good morning Lisa." Hachi said well naturedly as they passed in the hallway.

Lisa tilted her head in a nod before pausing and swiftly turning back to the man. She could have sworn that Hachi was wearing the same conspiring smile that the other two in the living room had been sporting. Shaking her head Lisa made her way to the kitchen where she could smell the aromas of food.

Upon entering she found both Shinji and Hiyori eating at the table. Hiyori was glaring over at Shinji and Shinji on his part was acting as if Hiyori wasn't even there. Lisa chose to ignore the two of them as she grabbed a plate and started to serve herself from the pile of eggs and bacon. She put the plate on top of her magazine and sat herself on the chair.

It had only been a few minutes of silence before Hiyori finally said what she obviously was itching to say. "I don't understand why you want to go back to that school."

Shinji sighed as if he had gone through his reasoning a hundred times before this moment. "I've told you all we must teach Ichigo all that we know, it's what your captain thinks is best. And frankly so do I.'

Hiyori rolled her eyes. "He's no longer my captain." Hiyori gritted her teeth and pushed up from the table and made her way to leave the room. "You probably just want to see that large boob woman again."

Shinji sighed in exasperation and rolled his own eyes before getting back to his own breakfast. "I will never understand that girl."

"But you're the closest one out of all of us." Lisa muttered

Shinji looked at her for a moment before sighing again. "I'll take care of my chores once I come home from school. I'm off." Shinji left the table and the room before she could reply back to any of his statement.

The next person to enter the room was a lot more pleasurable company then the other two. "Good morning Lisa." Rose offered as he got his own plate of food.

Lisa cursed when she realized that all her food was almost gone and she wouldn't be able to stay for long without it looking wired. "Good morning Rose. I'm done with this so you can have it now." She picked up her plate and scooted the magazine toward him.

"Aw thank you Lisa." Rose called after her.

Rose smiled after the girl before resting his head on top of his propped wrist. It had been interesting waking up to her yesterday but he couldn't say that it had been a bad feeling. Perhaps peace would be the easiest way to describe the feeling of unconsciously holding Lisa in his arms.

Despite their being no doubt in his mind that he held feelings for this girl. There was a doubt about her feeling the same way; it was always hard to read Lisa and her emotions. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he brought fork full of food to his mouth.

A few minutes later this was how Kensei found the blond staring at a wall with a frown on his face making wayward designs with his eggs.

Kensei patted him on the back. "Don't think to hard on it. Love's a bitch."

"Hmm yeah," Rose agreed before snapping up once the words were able to penetrate his haze. "Wait what?"

~.~.~.~.~.~

Next update? I have no idea. This chapter is probably riddled with a whole lot of errors but I felt bad about not updating so I'm putting it up as is. Sorry!

Hope you enjoy it, newest chapter with the newest count of words. Words = 6,435


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