Chapter: 1

Steaming Water

Shima took deep breath before the large iron gates of Kuchiki Manor. She disliked her visits with the cold captain that ran her squad. She was always here on business, and it wasn't exactly 'him' that bothered her. No. It was his planned wife, Hisame Ina, or rather Kuchiki Ina now.

Ina-sama was cold much like Shima's taichou, Kuchiki Byakuya, but she was a rather nagging and stingy type person. She had her good days and her bad, just like anyone else, but her bad days were the worst of all.

On a good day she would merely ignore Shima's existence and love on Byakuya. Shima always felt something flame inside her when this happened, but she never knew what this feeling really was. Ina could love Byakuya like no one else could. She loved him more then anything...on a good day. Her beauty was unmatched and all around perfect. From her angular face to her slim figure. Her eyes were cool and narrow, but her hair was a cherry blossom color with the length running past her waist and loose bangs fell in her face from the 'masterpiece' bun she bared because of her nobility. She was vice captain of the 5th squad serving under Aizen Souske, a very trusted leader to her.

Then she had her bad days. These days even Byakuya stayed as far away from her as possible. She would have these with good reason or sometimes just at random. These were the days when she nagged at everything Byakuya did and would disrespect Shima to no extent. She wouldn't ever call Byakuya what he was to be called 'Byakuya-sama' she always called him 'Byakuya' but on these days she said with coldness everywhere in her voice. She was stuck up and thought everyone was under her, even Byakuya, in this state. Although Byakuya allowed it to pass Shima could tell that it angered her taichou.

Shima herself was a rather happy girl from Rukungai, the 70th district. She had simple black hair and was rather flat chested, but her eyes were amazing. A beautiful emerald green with dashing lashes. Her black hair hid them from sight and she had short haircut to her shoulders allowing her as much freedom in fighting as possible. She wore the respectable shinigami uniform with her zanpoktoh slung at her waist with a half circle with an empty inside at the hilt.

"Who goes there?" A guard interrupted Shima's thoughts.

She bowed lightly.

"I am Masena Shima fukutaichou of the 6th company. Kuchiki-taichou has summoned me for a meeting." She said rather formally for her.

Her nodded and brought a walkie-talkie to his mouth.

"This is station 3 asking for permission to allow Masena Shima into the Kuchiki manor. Is my request accepted?" He asked into it.

"Hai it is. Kuchiki-sama has been expecting Masena-san. Allow her to come through." A static woman's voice came through the receiver.

He nodded again and opened the gate.

"Thank you, Onii-san" She said as she bowed to him and he nodded.

Shima walked into the property and admired it as she did every time. The Kuchiki Property was scattered with ponds, Sakura, and grasses. There was one place that her Kuchiki-taichou held very dear to him, but she never mentioned it to him that she knew. A creamed stoned path way lead to different parts of the property, including a fine looks gazebo. It had a beautiful detailed roof with the color of a moderate orange tainted across it. The pillars were a dark red color and the steps leading up to it were a pearly white. She suspected that this was the 'Kuchiki Shrine.

Shima had only seen Byakuya in there a few times and she had not once been in there herself. It held portraits of the deceased Kuchiki members and she suspected that he went in there to speak with his late wife, Hisana-sama. Now all he had left was Rukia and Ina. Unfortunately, Rukia had been missing for about 2 months now after she had been sent to Karakura town in the materialized world. They had suspected that she may have transferred her powers to a young high school boy named, Kuraski Ichigo. Shima felt grief when she thought of this. Rukia would be found and executed; as well the boy would be killed. She just hoped that she wouldn't be the one to do it.

She quickly ran her eyes across the rest of the property and used shunpo to arrive at the door. She took another deep breath and knocked on the door to the manor's home. Not to her surprise a servant answered the door. The young girl bowed to Shima. Shima placed her hand under the girl's chin and lifted it to her eyes. The girl looked shocked. Shima smiled.

"There is no need for a foolish things as 'formalities' around me. We are all people of equal status. You need not bow to me."

The girl quickly bowed again and welcomed Shima inside the house, ignoring her words. Shima sighed and walked in. The usual antiques and exquisite architecture of the Kuchiki Household greeted her. It bared sliding doors to all of the rooms and a rather warm atmosphere for how the household's attitude was.

The young servant lead her to a room that had a few chairs placed around it which seemed to be placed to where one could meet with another with ease. The room to the left wielded the bathroom as Shima had used it a few times before. It had the standard tub and shower as for bathing and rinsing one's self, but she found the shower rather pointless because every time someone took a bath the water was changed, unlike many families in Soul Society.

She noted steam raising from the crack in the door and figured Ina was in the shower.

The servant gestured to a seat and Shima sat in it.

"Kuchiki Byakuya-sama is in the shower at the moment and should be out shortly. Please wait here until he emerges." She said as she bowed and left the room.

Shima sighed and picked up a book from the side table. She read the title. It had 'Erased in Flames' written in kanji on the front. Shima sighed again as she had nothing better to do and opened the book. With in the first chapter she grew bored. The words were much beyond her vocabulary and talked about religious happening in the Real World, which Shima knew little to nothing about. It took her about five minutes to read one page and when she finally put it down 25 minutes had passed. She looked at the door to the bathroom and then back at the clock. A 'hmmm' escaped her lips and she called for a manservant that was passing by.

"Excuses me?"

He turned and walked over to her.

"Can I help you, m'am?"

"Hai you can. I was beginning to get slightly worried about Kuchiki-taichou. How long has he been in there?"

"Before you came it was about 45 minutes."

She gasped.

"45 minutes?! And he's still not out?!"

"I suppose not, M'am."

"Well thank you for your help"

He bowed.

'I'm glad I could be of service." he said before walking out with a bucket of laundry.

Shima laughed a bit at the sight of a man carrying Landry, but then focused on the problem at hand. Kuchiki-taichou could be in danger or something. He has never been in the shower when I come and I know he takes them before because his hair is always slightly damp...Oh his hair. It clings to his face and he looks so se- focus, Shima. If I do go in there he could get pissed, but I could be saving his life. Time to show your bravery, Shima! With that she gathered up her courage and walked to the bathroom door. She hesitated before walking in fearing to find Ina and Byakuya...Ugh she didn't want to think about it.

Her hand slowly grasped the handle that slid the door open.

"Kuchiki...taichou?" she asked softly as she slid the door open.

She jumped up and her eyes grew wide as she found her taichou just a raising from the tub. His eyes were in shock as well. Both were frozen, to confused on how awkward this was to say anything.

After about a minute Byakuya's eyes returned to his seldom expression and Shima relaxed a bit, but couldn't help but to run her eyes over his flawless body for a moment. The Kenseikan was removed and his hair clung to the back of his neck, making him have a slight seductive appearance. His body was firm and slender and frame just wonderful. Water dripped from him and he looked like one of those guys the Shima had seen in, what the real world people called 'Magazines'. Byakuya broke her thoughts and the silence.

"What do you want, Shima?" He asked calmly.

Shima's eyes were still wide.

"Uh..I-i..you..Umm...wh..your..I..." She stuttered, as she was lost for words.

Byakuya gazed up at her.

"Well if you would kindly turn your head so I can apply a towel around myself it would be greatly appreciated, Shima."

Shima returned to earth.

"Right, right, sorry Kuchiki-taichou."

She spun around and left the bathroom. Oh my god...I just saw Kuchiki-taichou...naked. Holy crap. He is so irresistible in that stage...Snap out of it Shima! What are you thinking?! He's your taichou your not supposed to things like that! Curse you and your flawless body, Kuchiki Byakuya! Damn it!

Shima was brought out of thought when Byakuya emerged from the bathroom. He had been too wet to apply all of his shinigami robes so he was warring a very light white kimono. It was what really brought meaning to his name, 'Byakuya'. This white kimono flowed on him like snow would flutter to the earth. It brought out his rather light skin and gave him the appearance of an angel. Rukia said before she had left, that even she would steal a few glance at her nii-sama when he was dressed in this kimono
this was the kimono that made Kuchiki Byakuya appear, as he was...White Lightning.

Shima shook her head and returned to her seat. She had always been nervous of these meetings, but it was even worse today because of the event that had just taken place.

Byakuya took a noble seat across from her with bored eyes. Silence. This is really awkward... Shima thought. Then she accidentally blurted out.

"Do you know where Ina-sama is?" She covered her mouth after saying this.

Byakuya glanced at her and then out the window.

"I do not. She is probably at her company's office with Aizen Souske."

Shima jumped in shock.

"Y-you mean...i-it's... o-only...us" she finally forced out.

Byakuya nodded.

"She is having a rather askew day today..."

"Hm? What do you mean, Kuchiki-taichou?"

Byakuya gazed into her eyes and an understanding 'ohhhhhh' escaped her. Sometimes things were just like that with Byakuya for her. One look and she would understand what he meant or what he wanted.

"That is why I called you rather early because there tends to be a slight tension between you and Ina on her askew days." Byakuya explained.

Shima nodded and then remembered the awkward moment that they had just shared. She had completely forgot about it and in the rush of remembrance she blushed, deeply without realizing it. One of Byakuya's eyebrows threatened to raise, but he managed to keep it at bay.

"What is it, Shima?" He asked.

"Huh? What? What do you mean?" she said trying to look and sound innocent.

"Never mind. Regardless, I do have a reason for bringing you here. It is because I have found another file that Division 13 has released on Rukia's information before she left. It truly should be easy to gather information from Ukitake, but he cowers in fear of his subdornaite." I better apologize to him for that later... Byakuya thought.

"Hmm...Well I'm sure Ukitake-taichou is trying to protect Rukia-chan, Kuchiki-taichou. He's probably doing you a favor-" she didn't even finish before Byakuya cut it.

"Watch your tongue, Shima." He coolly said while shooting her a icy glance.

"I'm sorry...Kuchiki...taichou." She said softly.

A pause arose before Byakuya left and came back with a stack of papers.
-----
After two hours of looking of the papers they decided that everything Ukitake had given Byakuya was useless in this case. Shima and Byakuya caught eyes for the first time since Shima had been there and both were reminded of the ravishing beauty. Shima's heart skipped a beat when they came in contact with his deep black eyes. She felt as though she was being sucked away from the world and being disposed of in the comfort of his eyes.

"Well that proved invaluable." Byakuya said stacking his papers and placing them on an end table next to him.

Shima was about to stand up and take her leave, but Byakuya's hand reached over and grabbed hers as she began to stand up. She gasped and gazed over at him. Byakuya's eyes were barely at bay as he had been shocked by his own actions. Shima blushed widely. He noticed her blush and almost raised an eyebrow, but kept it at a normal level.

"I have something to ask you."

Shima gulped. She already had a pretty good idea on what his question would be about. Byakuya gazed directly into her eyes. To anyone else it would have been a cold glare, but she could see through that. She could see through his ice abyss.

"Why did you arrive into the bathroom when you had already foreseen me bathing?" He asked her rather casually.

She sighed and returned to her seat.

"Well your servant said you had been in the shower for 45 minutes before I came and then you were in there 25 minutes after I arrived, so I guess I was just...worried." She blushed a little.

Byakuya gazed at her." There is no reason to be worried about my well-being, Shima. Although I thank you for the concern."

With that an odd silence rushed over as both thought of the moment. Shima glanced up at her captain, who would usually seem noble and covered to her, but now the only image she had in her head was of his dampened body as it rose from the tub.

"Uh...Kuchiki-taichou?" She finally said softly.

He lifted his head a bit.

"What is it, Shima?"

She looked up with shock. She wasn't sure why, but she did. She looked like she was about to say something, but just gazed back at the ground.

"It's nothing, Kuchiki-taichou."

Byakuya was a bit surprised, but stood up anyway. She rushed to her feet.

"Well I must be going Kuchiki-taichou." she smiled and spun around.

She began walking as quickly as she could.

"Bye Kuchi-" she was cut short as she tripped and began falling

"Ahhh!" she squealed.

Byakuya disappeared and reappeared in front of her using shunpo. She was caught in the warm safety of his arms. A paused came over each of them as she, without thinking, snuggled into him further, savoring his sent. He smelled much like sakura petals. It was a rather odd smell for a man and made her laugh when she thought about it. She was snapped back into reality as Byakuya shifted, slightly uncomfortable.

Her eyes grew wide and she flew her head up. Her eyes grew even wider as she was only inches from his face. Byakuya's eyes were rather wide for the third time that evening. Then they resided. His eyes seemed different to her now. They seemed to have let down some of the cold barrier that was always up. They were...Loving. She had seen these eyes only once before and they were directed at Ina-sama. Shima blushed and her face was as pink as Senbonzakura itself. His cold face let up slightly, but continued to be there.

"Kuchiki-taichou I-" she was cut off in the middle of 'I' when he pressed his finger to her lips.

"There is no need for formalities at the moment, Shima" He said to her in a whisper as he moved closer to her eyes closed.

Shima's eyes grew wide as she realized his intentions. She knew she shouldn't tare this honor ,that he had worked so very hard to obtain, away, but he was so...irresistible. She couldn't help it. Her eyes began to close.

"Byakuya...-sama" she breathed as she was only centimeters from his lips. She wanted to jump into them. Into they're iced, but welcoming abyss.

Author's Notes: Well there's the first chappy! Yay! Well I know what you all are thinking...Kind of predictable, eh? Actually, I have something rather interesting planned out, but that's for me to know and for YOU to find out by continuing to read lol! Well as always Read and Review please and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can! Bye!

Sneak Peek: Incase you didn't already know, I give a REWARD to my readers. I feel like you guys deserve a little something. It always pleases me as a writer to have readers well read my stories lol! Well anyway, this is a sneak peek to up coming chapters and/or stories by me: P! In this case I have TWO! Yay for you! I have a little hint of the upcoming chapter and a new story!

Chapter Hint: "Click. Click in the coming of the sakura blossom."

Story Hint: A man of high status. A man everyone looks up to. Why is adolescence so cruel to this man?"

Oh and yes they are always riddles. There's no fun in allowing you to know straight out, right? Yeah my riddles suck sometimes, but meh. They work out every once in a while. Well anyways, bye and have fun with your fan fictiony life!