The Dark Side of Life: A Bond of Hostility

It was night time in the Human World.

The city, as always, was busy with the never-ending flow of it's inhabitants, who hastily walked by eachother on the sidewalk. There would be stars, but the glare from the skyscrapers and street lamps blotted them out, leaving the sky empty and dark. Even the moon, which usually shown with enough beauty to make everything as visible as it needed to be, hung in the void useless and uneeded.

It was truly a depressing scene.

Made even more so by a man leaning against a street lamp. He stood there in silence for a moment, watching the scene around him. His suit, which looked out of place when compared to the attire of those around him, wrinkled slightly only for him to groan and straighten it out again. The citizens occupying the sidewalk seemed to avoid him, as if he gave off some hostile aura of depression or dread.

"I'm going to get stood up, aren't I..?" he thought to himself silently, lowering his head and staring at the ground.

In such a rather gloomy mood, he failed to notice the figure mirroring his position on the other side of the pole. The arms were crossed across the chest, and a head turned to look in his direction. Long, black hair was around the shoulders, and a suit of its own gender-suited nature was worn. A calm, feminine voice spoke out to him.

"Keep looking like that and I might already know you by now, Romeo." There was nothing but a calm, dry tone in the words, and yet a hint of teasing as well.

His head snapped up immediately and directed itself towards the voice, though he kept his facial expression bored and apathetic. He didn't need her walking all over him when she found out how eager he was to find out that she was here.

Not that she wouldn't anyway.

"You shouldn't keep me waiting Tereya... I get impatient." he grunted, mimicking the woman and crossing his own arms and tilting his head slightly to the side.

Her trademark scowl was on her face, but her eyebrows were raised. She turned away, huffing. "Well, sorry. Let me just teleport my clothing next time, 'k?" She asked in sarcasm, allowing herself to lean off of the pole. She turned on her heel, walking only a few steps in order to stand beside him. Her expression matched his own, bored, but slightly amused by her companion's mimick.

Anyone could joke that they looked perfect together.

"I got you something." he stated dully, not hesitating to show that he didn't want to give it to her. It was embarrassing. Especially considering that she was married. Why did he even go through the trouble of getting it?

But she would not be discouraged by attitude so easily. "Oh, really?" She drawled, half-lidded eyes perking up slightly in interest.

"Yes, really." he replied slowly, buying his time.

"Well, quit beating around the bush and show me! I'm not very patient, either..." To tell the truth, she too was getting a little impatient. But, then again, it's not like as if he knew what to do from experience. She herself knew what to do in situations, having her association with Ahatake to thank for that. But, at least for now, she could let Nori be "the man" and let him do his best to put on a professional air. Although it was funny to her, she didn't feel like showing him up again.

"Alright..." Nori mumbled, pulling a slim, rectangular black case out of his pocket. He handed it to her briskly. There was no chance, at all, that she'd accept it, considering that she had a husband. It wasn't a ring! But it was a nice silver necklace he picked out from a Jewlery Store. "I hope you like it." he added blatantly, afraid to watch as she opened it.

She lifted her fingers calmly, letting the tips slide up in order to push the top of the case open. She eyed it first with curiosity, studying the detail of it quite carefully. Then, with as much care as she could give a newborn, she picked up the necklace and held it between two fingers. A look of skepticism came over her face and obvious to Nori.

One: it was the typical necklace a boyfriend would give his girlfriend.

Two: it was the necklace that she needed a microscope to put together, damn it!

"You suck, Haruo. Really, you do." She muttered dryly, holding the necklace in a handing gesture. "You mind putting it on for me?"

"If you don't like it, you could just give it back." he retorted hastily. He didn't suck..! Still, he couldn't help himself from taking out of her hands and moving behind her. He would enjoy putting it on. Easily utilizing the locking mechanism with quick, precise movements. Part of the lock caught on to the skin on the back of her neck. Nori whimpered.

"...ow?" Was the only thing that came from Tereya's mouth. "Careful back there, origami boy!"

"Origami..?" he muttered, fumbling with the lock before finally unhooking it from her skin and putting it in the correct place. It was on. Now what?

She reached behind her to rub her neck gently where the hook had pierced her skin, before turning around. "How do I look?" She asked, grinning as she did a random pose that showed off the necklace.

Heat rose to Nori's face. He hated himself. It always happened so easily. "You look great..." he muttered, looking away. If she pursued this any longer he would scream.

"Good to hear..." Tereya climbed out of her pose and stood with her arms folded her chest, the grin shrinking to a normal smile once more. "Now, where will we be going to, Romeo?"

"You can stop calling me Romeo now." he growled. His name wasn't Romeo. It was Nori. "We're going to... The Red Garden."

The growl shifted her smile into a smirk. Oh, how she loved pushing his buttons... "A restaurant?" She repeated casually. "All right, then."

Nori frowned. She was smirking. "Yeah... So... Let's go." he mumbled, walking past her briskly, through the stream of impatient pedestrians and around the corner. Tereya could catch up whenever. It wasn't as if she was going to get lost.

"Hey, wait a minute--"

Abruptly, once she caught up to him (which didn't take much to do so), she wrapped an arm around his. "You're gonna leave a girl all to herself in this thick crowd..." She purred, feigning disappointment. "On a date? Escort me there, Nori."

"A-alright..." Nori stuttered. Why was she doing this to him? It wasn't a very nice feeling to be wrapped around someone's finger. "Just... come this way..." he grumbled, pulling Tereya with him as he pushed through the crowd. She was doing this on purpose, she wanted to see him flustered; it wasn't because she was attracted to him.

And yet, she looked so innocent about it, almost as if she didn't know what she was truly doing. But, clearly, it was nothing but a deceptive nature, one that hid her true persona. The likes of a certain traitor would be proud. Now, if only she had fox ears...

Nori stopped abruptly, seemingly randomly, as they neared the restaurant. "W-we're here..." he announced nervously. He didn't want to go inside anymore. There was a small possibility that the waiters would call them a couple, or make a random joke about them getting married. Which, in turn, could only serve to worsen Nori's own mood and earn a smirk and teasing remark from Tereya.

"Well, c'mon." Tereya egged on gently, releasing the hold she had on her arm and staring to walk forward. "I don't want to be standing out here all day aweing at its beauty from the outside alone, do you?"

Shaking his head, Nori followed her inside. They reached the lobby, and Nori approached the desk where the... lobby person was, ignoring the scenery of the rest of the room, which was finely carpeted in red; with red walls and flowers. The name seemed to make sense now. This was too fancy for him. The smell made him want to gag. How could someone work here, full time? Waiting quietly as the man at the desk opened the large book, he sighed. Tereya better not embarass him.

"May I help you?"

"Party of two for Haruo."

"... Ah, right this way, please."

As the man stood, grabbing two menus from a slot neatly located on the side of his desk, Nori glanced briefly at Tereya. He really had no idea what he was doing.

"...no wonder it's called the red garden." The woman, in question, was eyeing the red plants with a rather disdainful expression. "Can't you just smell the wonder?"

"Shut up, I paid money for this..." he grumbled. Money that he stole. But that wasn't important!... Right? "If I'd known you didn't want to come, I would have brought you to McDonalds or something..." In truth, Nori would have loved to go to McDonalds! But that wouldn't have been romantic, apparently.

Shrugging as the waiter directed them out of the lobby and to their seat, the boy in the suit pulled his date's chair out for her. "Sit down." he directed smoothly.

She obliged, sitting down and crossing her legs in a lady-like manner. "Thank you." She replied, with a smoothness of her own as well as a seemingly genuine politeness. "But I didn't say I didn't like this place, now did I?"

Nori sat across from her, perfectly so. Now she wouldn't be able to tease him! It was wonderful! "Your sarcastic tone would leave me to believe so." he stated borishly.

"Take a joke, Romeo." Tereya replied, folding her arms across her chest and smirking. "I really don't mind being here. Though, I still say they could use a new brand of flower to scent up the place."

"...." Nori had to restrain himself from picking up the fork in front of him and stabbing it into her leg. "I told you already, stop calling me Romeo." he commanded, leveling a semi-threatening glare in the woman's direction. "And I'm sure that the manager would love to hear you complaints about the decor. Why don't you go and complain to him?"

The smirk immediately faded to a half-annoyed, but small frown. She huffed, blowing a strand of her long hair out from her face. "Like I'd waste my breath, when I can do it speaking with my lover..." She retorted.

Immediately changing the subject, he supressed a whine. "What do you like to do for fun?... Besides speaking with your lover." he asked carefully. This wasn't going very well.

"Well..." She looked thoughtful, pursing her lips. "I usually take walks, kill a few Hollows on the way, and then come back home just in time to cook dinner." She explained, using a hand gesture for emphasis. "How 'bout you?"

"I enjoy competition," he stated simply, then decided to add to it before she managed to ask. "Whether it's physical, mental, or passive, I enjoy it all the same. I like winning. Like when I beat you in the Yuurei! Yeah. That was fun..." Nori shifted uncomfortably. "I also like sleeping and eating."

The woman allowed a devilish smirk to come across her face at the mention of their fight, as well as some chuckling out of humor. "Heh... I seem to remember that you were the one who was begging me to stop before I could incinerate you."

"I seem to remember saying something about crushing your skull with my foot." he retorted hastily. The only reason he hadn't won was because he didn't want to kill her. "Isn't there anything else to do?"

"Hell no. Life is too boring for that shit."

"So all you do is take walks, cook dinner, and kill hollows?"

"Pretty much..." Tereya shrugged non-chalantly. "I'd add Shinigami on the list to kill, but I have a family to take care of."

"There has to be something else." Nori prodded. "You don't like any sports, any T.V. shows, video games, books, board games, anything?"

This time, Tereya turned away, a rather bitter expression coming over her. "Material things like that don't mean shit to me." She replied. "You'd have to have the naiveté of a kid, the innocence that was never lost, in order to be interested in what you just said."

"We've both got a long time until we die. There's no reason not to enjoy ourselves." he replied readily. Was there something wrong? Was he hitting a soft spot?

Tereya directed her gaze back towards him, eyes narrowed and half-lidded in seriousness. But she attempted to put on that confident smirk of hers. "Are you taking my words out of my mouth, Nori?" She questioned. "I don't enjoy myself with shit like that."

"Define 'Taking words out of my mouth', please." Nori pushed. If he could get her angry then he would win! She did it to him all the time. And if she was one of those people who could dish it out but couldn't take it, he wouldn't be interested in her any longer.

"I told you the same thing before, didn't I? Or at least something similar before we even did this."

"Yeah. So don't be a hypocrite."

Tereya scoffed. "Hypocrite? I've actually solved my problem, thank you very much... Romeo." She replied bluntly.

A frown graced his lips once again.The cause of it was obvious. "Then why are you still so bitter?"

"There are things in life other than current, personal problems that can make someone feel shitty." Tereya said cryptically, not bothering to hide the scowl across her face.