Forever Is a Long Time

"What the hell are those two doing?" Ichigo questioned, running through the black and strangely distorted dimension while looking back at the strange duo.

The group was running as fast as they could to avoid the restrictive current from swallowing them up. Well the group was running, however Haruto and Naruko had refused to run and were unassumingly walking peacefully through the central dimension as if strolling in a park.

"What are you doing? Do you want to die?!" Yoruichi asked in alarm, shouting back at the two strolling duo while inwardly wondering if they had lost their minds.

"What does it look like we are doing? I'm enjoying the scenery with my wife here" Haruto deadpanned, as if it was the most obvious thing possible.

"This is no time to be joking around, Haruto!" Uryu shouted irritatingly.

"I'm not joking. This place seriously needs some trees and grass to get rid of the gloomy and emo environment. If I ever come here again, I'm seriously doing some remodeling as this is not a place befitting my beloved wife, don't you agree with me?" Haruto started in an annoyed tone and turned to Naruko before snaking his arm around her slender back and rested it upon her plump rear, giving it a 'reassuring' squeeze for good measure.

The group couldn't help but sweatdrop despite the situation they were in. What was wrong with this guy? They were running for their lives and all he could think of was how to lighten up the place for the blonde woman.

"Exactly." Naruko snickered quietly and tried to ignore his hand squeezing the life out of her poor derriere. Leave it to Haruto to come up with something like that in a place like this. "I believe a few sakura trees here and there would suffice".

Haruto grinned, nodding in approval as he gave her a tight sideway hug and placed a wet kiss on her cheek as a reward. "I can always count on my beloved wife to agree with me, unlike some people whom I shouldn't name."

Yoruichi was keenly monitoring the enigmatic couple from her peripheral vision as she ran through the central dimension. They were pacing serenely, hand in hand and bodies pressed against one another, without a care in the world; in spite of this, the restrictive current was not harming them.

As soon as the dark purple watery essence would reach the duo, it would disintegrate into nothingness, as if it didn't exist at all!

It was surely a cause for concern, but for now, she was pleased the duo were with them, seeing as they didn't need to run anymore. The current, fortunately, was being destroyed before it could even reach them, thus it gave them enough time to leisurely move towards the light.

The exit drew closer into their vision, causing them to hasten their pace towards the dim light at the end of the path. At the back of the running group, Uryu became aware of a strange sound as well as a dim yellow light falling on them from behind.

Turning around hastily, the black haired Quincy saw something he thought he would never see in his life.

"G-guys… I don't want to disturb you or anything, but something is coming!"

Yoruichi curiously looked behind when she heard the nervousness in Uryu's tone, only for her eyes to widen in alarm and shock.

A giant fleshy train-like object with a yellow light flashing in front of it was speeding towards them at an alarming pace, obliterating everything in its path like an avalanche.

"That's the Cleaner!" the feline exclaimed in alarm, knowing what its presence meant "Everyone, we have to hurry! Run for the exit as fast as you can! If we come into contact with the Cleaner, who knows what will happen!"

The group started to pick up pace even more to avoid the Cleaner, minus Haruto and Naruko, seeing as they were still moving as calmly as before.

"What are you doing? Run or you'll die!" Ichigo shouted.

"You guys go on ahead, we'll buy you some time." Haruto grinned and turned towards the speeding Cleaner with Naruko following his example.

They couldn't believe he would do something so reckless and suicidal, especially Yoruichi, seeing as she knew exactly how dangerous the Cleaner could be! It was located there for a reason after all. Its duty was to limit the time of those that entered the Dangai, leaving them no choice but to leave as soon as possible or risk getting swallowed by the Cleaner!

For them to stand against it as if it was a mere fly was both ridiculous and idiotic, but since they didn't have a slightest clue regarding the abilities of the two, they would just have to trust in their judgment and leave them to their devices.

"Fine, but don't use any Spiritual Energy or it will swallow you!" The black cat warned, Haruto flapped her warning off with an unconcerned wave of his hand. "All right team, let's go!"

"But what about them?" Orihime asked worryingly, looking back at the two prone bodies of the pair with concern evident in her eyes.

"They will be fine. Just focus on running and don't look back," the cat assured, but inside she was as worried as the rest of them.

She wouldn't admit it, but she had grown fond of the duo, especially the enthusiastic redhead. His constant grin and cheerful attitude grows on you eventually and she was no exception. Even though the redhead bastard had embarrassed her, which no one had ever done before, she still hoped for their survival; it would be a total waste to let such a perfect specimen of the male species die.

Besides, she had a score to settle with him!

The team reluctantly nodded and ran towards the exit as fast as they could without looking back. What was surprising was the fact that the Cleaner had slowed down since the duo stood in front of it, giving them more time to escape. Reaching the light at the end of the dark tunnel-like dimension, they jumped into it and disappeared to the other side.

Haruto and Naruko waited as the Cleaner approached rapidly with its yellow light flashing threateningly, as if warning them to step aside or die, not even knowing what or who it was trying to threaten.

"Honestly, I feel insulted. Do they expect us to be stopped by a pathetic object such as this? Konohamaru wouldn't be afraid of this thing if he was here, let alone me." Haruto sweatdropped while Naruko giggled.

"Love, not everyone is as powerful as you."

"Or as awesome as me, right?" Haruto interrupted, flexing his large and bulging biceps proudly.

"Exactly" She replied amusingly and cocked her seductively wide hips to the side. Actions like these were what made Haruto so endearing and appealing, for all his power and might, he was still as welcoming as could be.

"All jokes aside. I think we have lingered enough as it is, we had better get going." Haruto stated seriously. "But first, I have to deal with this nuisance"

Lifting a clawed hand to the zooming object, his ordinarily jovial and sparkling with amusement red eyes gleamed a menacing crimson. "Do not interrupt my sightseeing again"

A dark red sphere of compressed energy materialized in his palm and shot towards the train-like object like a bullet, the ground underneath the energy ball decaying and withering away without the energy even touching it. As soon as the energy collided with the Cleaner, a colossal explosion was issued, blasting the restrictive current and the Cleaner to particles of dust.

"Should you be so dramatic? You could've just silently rendered it to dust." Naruko said dryly as the dust from the blast settled down.

"Hey, you know me, I have a thing for dramatics…" Haruto grinned, again returning to his cheerful persona as he wrapped his hands around her slender back and leaned in to her ears, slowly attacking the side of her neck "… and busty blondes"

Naruko, despite herself, couldn't help but smirk, seeing the fox-like grin on the redhead's face. She couldn't bring herself to be mad at him for long with that kind of adorable expression. Though his wandering hands currently groping her shelf-like derriere and his lips finding their home upon her neck were seriously testing her self-control!

"Wouldn't someone become aware of the Cleaners absence?" She inquired curiously and raised an eyebrow as she tried to ignore his ministrations. He was practically measuring every inch of her body with his calloused hands and the damn redhead had the audacity to accuse her of being unable to control her urges!

"Who cares?" Haruto said dismissively and stopped his admittedly distracting activities. Untangling one hand from her back, Haruto placed the other on her generously fleshy rear and gave it a teasing squeeze, ignoring Naruko's warning and heated look. "Let's go."