The dark, grey skies had begun to pour rain down on the Seretei. Everything looked so sad. The skies, the people and the scene before me.

She was crying, sobbing. Her grief was so overwhelming that the sobs weren't enough to rid her of her sadness. "Homura, Shizuku!" she wailed once again.

I could tell that even yelling at the top of her lungs couldn't help. It was so sad. The scene before me managed to make my throat feel tight

First everyone had forgotten about her. Then she was forced to fight against her best friend. Who am I kidding? The two are obviously more than just friends. Anyway, now two people that were so dear to her are dead.

I looked down at her again. She was holding the two bodies in her arms. She continued to cry and yell.

Everyone there knew that she had to be left alone. Some people didn't bother staying. Others decided to stay and give her comfort through their presence. Among them were her captain, Ichigo, Renji, Yachiru and, surprisingly, myself. I don't know why I decided to stay. I felt the need to stay and let her know that I still cared.

Ichigo suddenly walked towards her. He slowly and carefully took her away from the bodies. He lifted her up into his arms. She didn't protest. I felt a foreign sensation in my stomach when I saw this. It showed the strength of their strange relationship. I didn't like it.

He suddenly stopped before me with her in his arms. She looked up at me and said, "Why are you here? I thought you didn't care. I mean, you forgot me. How could you? I thought… I thought you cared, Toshiro. Oh, I forgot. I mean, Captain Hitsugaya." With that, Ichigo took her away.

"No, Rukia, wait! Rukia!"

"Good bye, Captain. Captain… Captain…!"

"Hey, Captain, wake up!"

I lifted my head from my desk. I glared at the paper before me. I had smudged it.

"Hey, are you all right, Captain?"

"Yes, Matsumoto, I am fine. I must have dozed off."

"I wasn't talking about that, Captain."

I looked at her as if I had no idea what she was talking about. In reality, I knew, clear as day, what she was referring to.

"Captain, you were saying her name in your sleep again."

I sighed. "This is none of your concern, Matsumoto. If you're not going to finish your paperwork then, please, leave."

She looked at me sadly. Despite this, she left.

I sighed. The dream was almost exactly what happened that day.

Awhile back, Rukia Kuchiki and I were close. She and I were… friends. It had happened so strangely.

Flashback

I had been chasing after Matsumoto again. She was unbelievably drunk and was spreading chaos around the Seretei. I had chased her down to a stream. I thought that she wouldn't be able to get away that time. I tried to catch her. But instead of me catching Matsumoto, I had caught Rukia Kuchiki. She had been balancing a huge stack of papers and they all fell, as did we. We both rolled down into the small and shallow stream. When I looked over at her, she was spitting out water like a fountain. Her eyes were covered by a piece of paper that had landed on her head. The sight was slightly comical. I removed the paper from her head. She instantly got to her feet, but ended up falling into my lap. We were both caught off guard. She looked at me from my lap.

"Captain Hitsugaya, I am so sorry. I didn't see you and—"

I let out a small chuckle that surprised both of us. "Rukia Kuchiki, you are too kind. It was my fault that we fell into the stream. Here," I said as I got up carefully so she wouldn't fall again. I gave her my hand and helped her up.

"Um, thank you, Captain." She was about to bow but I stopped her.

"No, there's no need. You ended up needing my help because I clumsily got us here. If anyone should be bowing, it should be me." With that, I bowed. I heard her gasp. "A noble doesn't belong in a stream," I said sarcastically.

I heard a small chuckle come from her. "Please, I'm barely a noble."

I looked at her. I didn't understand what she meant. She obviously knew I was confused.

"Oh, it's nothing." She suddenly sighed. "I'm going to get in so much trouble for this. Oh, all the papers are wet and smudged."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's my fault, Kuchiki. I'll make sure none of the blame comes on you."

"No, no, Captain. It's all right! You don't have to worry. I'll find a way to explain this to my captain."

"No, it was my fault the paperwork was ruined. It's only fair that I take responsibility."

"No, I said it'll be fine. You have better things to take care of."

"You said it, but I'm not going to listen."

"Well, then. I won't listen to you either. I'm going to go tell my captain that I tragically tripped on a rock and fell into the cold stream. When I did, all the paperwork that he had endlessly worked on was ruined. And it was all my fault," she said with a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, no, your captain will soon be informed that I, the young and clumsy Captain Hitsugaya, was walking around the stream to relive myself of my stress. You see, I had been working for such a long time and couldn't stand to stay in the office for another moment. I was not paying attention to my surroundings and ended up foolishly tripping on a rock. I had bumped into an unsuspecting young, and rather lovely, girl. We both tragically fell into the stream, as did the paperwork. The poor girl was crushed that the paperwork her captain had been working on so persistently was ruined. Oh, such a tragic story," I said as I wiped an invisible tear from my eye.

She had begun to laugh. That laughter would forever be etched into my memory.

"That was such a devastating story. Too bad no one will ever hear it," she said right before she began to run. I chased after her and, of course, I arrived at Captain Ukitake's office first. I explained to him what had happened. Though she persistently tried to interrupt to tell him it was her fault, I ended up telling him what had happened.

End Flashback

After that experience, I felt a great admiration for the brave and generous girl. We had become friends. She would come to the 10th once in a while to help with paperwork. In return, I would train her. She was becoming stronger every day. Then one day, we got closer… closer than friends.

Flashback

It had started out as a beautiful day. Everything was going well. Then Matsumoto requested to leave. She had claimed that she wasn't feeling well and needed to get to the 4th right away. I knew that she would leave, no matter what I said. I let her leave. Soon after, my good deed had been repaid. There came in Rukia.

"Captain Toshiro, I noticed that Matsumoto was out, um, having fun. I wanted to check on you and see if you needed any help with your paperwork," she said quietly and shyly.

"Ah, thank you for that. As a matter of fact, I do need your assistance today. I have been behind on my work lately. Thank goodness you came."

She smiled with a blush covering her face, bright as day. I smiled. She was still not accustomed to calling me "Captain Toshiro."

We were working so hard that we hadn't noticed that the sky was now grey. We worked without noticing the rain. We even worked through the storm. Then the lights went off and we had no choice but to notice. The only light was from the lightning.

I got up to look for candles. Before I could leave my desk, a hand tugging on my Captain's haori stopped me.

"Where are you going?" Rukia had asked urgently.

"I was going to get some candles. Don't tell me you're scared of the dark."

"Of course not!" I could imagine her saying that in her noble façade; her arms and legs crossed, her nose pointed up high. Suddenly, thunder came crashing down with a loud boom. She squealed and clung onto me as if her life depended on it. I looked at her. I think she could tell because she said, "I'm not afraid of the dark. But thunderstorms are a different story."

I looked down at her with a warm smile. She was the only person in the whole Soul Society that could make me smile like that.

"Come on. Help me find some candles," I said softly.

She reluctantly got up and followed me. We looked through some drawers and cabinets. I couldn't find any despite remembering I had put some in there. Then the answer to it came. Rukia tapped my shoulder. I turned around to find the funniest sight. Rukia had put some of the smaller candles up her nose and some in her mouth to make her look like a saber tooth tiger. Despite it being kind of gross and quite unsanitary, I laughed.

"I am not touching those," I had told her.

"Yeah, yeah, I figured." She took the candles to the table that was at the center of the room. I got her some matches and she lit them. The room was now a little bit brighter but still not enough.

I sighed. "We'll never get paperwork done like this."

"Yeah and—"

Her sentence was interrupted by a loud crash of thunder. She squealed and, again, clung onto me.

She let go off me and continued, "As I was saying, the paperwork is the least of my problems." She looked out the window. I knew what she meant. It was pouring. She wouldn't be able to see past the rain.

"Yes, you won't be able to leave until it clears up out there. Well, you're welcome to stay."

She smiled at me. "Thank you."

The night was quiet. Neither of us really spoke. It was quite boring. I had tried to sleep but I couldn't. Rukia was continually squealing because of the thunder. It didn't bother me, not one bit. The thing that kept me up was the thought of her being alone through the storm. She was obviously scared.

I suddenly got the idea of distracting her by talking. That should keep her mind away from the storm.

"Are you all right?" I asked as I placed a hand supportively on her shoulder.

"Um, yes, I am fine. It's just—"

Another crash of thunder came. This time she didn't squeal. Instead a small whimper escaped her small lips and she had shut her eyes tightly.

"Tell me, what do you usually do when there is a thunderstorm?"

"Well, Nii-sama knows of my ridiculous fear. If a storm would come while I was working, he'd make an excuse to take me back to the manor. If there was a storm at night, he'd allow me to go to his room. I would crawl into his futon and he'd hold me close. I always feel safe near Nii-sama." Another crash of thunder came, making her flinch. "And, as you can see, I don't have Nii-sama here."

I felt a sudden impulse to comfort her. "Well, you have me at the moment, and"—I hugged her and brought us both down to lie down on the couch—"I'll just have to do."

I heard a gasp come from her. "Captain Toshiro?"

"What? Is this not comforting?"

"Yes. It's just…"

"I guess it isn't. Maybe this will help," I said before I kissed her. I knew that it caught her by surprise. It surprised me as well, me more than her.

When we parted, she looked at me with her big purple eyes that were full of shock. Then, she was the one to surprise me. She confidently returned my kiss.

End Flashback

The day after was the day when Mayuri was attacked. Rukia and I were in my office doing paperwork. A note had slipped through the gap between the floor and door. She went to retrieve it. She looked at it with concern showing. I asked her what it was. She told me that it was addressed to her. I found it quite strange, like she did. She comes to my office on her free time. There would be no need to tell anyone where she would be. So no one should have known she was there. I was about to ask to see the note when I heard the huge explosion. We had to go our separate ways. Next thing I remember—or, better yet, didn't remember—I didn't know who Rukia Kuchiki was.

After everything was fixed, she was distant, to everyone, not just me.

Matsumoto had noticed that her absents in my life was affecting me… a lot. Matsumoto decided to try to help. She sent Yachiru to talk to Rukia. When Yachiru came back, she had the answer as to why Rukia was being distant. Yachiru told us that Rukia felt sad. She was sad because she thought that, out of the people she knew, I would be the one that would remember her. She had hoped that our relationship, after what had happened only hours before we all forgot, had been stronger than her relationship with Ichigo.

I sighed. I have to talk to her. It's been weeks now. I can't stand another moment without her.

Ukitake had told me that Rukia was at the Kuchiki Manor. He told me the Byakuya had limited Rukia's working hours out of worry. Classic Byakuya.

I was happily let into the Kuchiki Manor my one of the servants. She led me to Rukia's room and bowed as she took her leave. I entered the room to find Ichigo holding the hand of a tired and lifeless Rukia. She had looked like that ever since the death of her friends.

"Ah, Toshiro, it's nice seeing you again," Ichigo greeted. "I'll let you two talk." He got up with a discreet protest from Rukia. He ignored it. When he was beside me he whispered, "If you mess this up, I will not hesitate to erase you from the picture and make Rukia mine."

I nodded and he left.

"Hi," I said. I'm so stupid! I haven't seen her for such a long time and all I can say is a measly "hi?!"

"Um, hello, Captain Hitsugaya. I trust you're well?"

"Uh, yes, I'm fine."

After that, there was complete silence. I sighed. I came here to talk, and that's what I'm going to do!

"Rukia, you've been distant lately. I want to know what's wrong."

"It's nothing—"

"Let me rephrase that. I need you to tell me what's wrong, now!" I said politely but firm.

She looked at me for a moment. Then, "Well, it's rather childish, I guess," she said with a fake smile. "I was upset that only Ichigo was able to remember me. I mean, it's nice to see that our bond is strong and all. It's just, I was hoping that the relationship between me and you was stronger than that. Seeing what happened the day before, I just thought you'd be the one to remember." She let out a fake laugh. "I guess it's kind of stupid, huh?"

"No, it's not. Don't ever say that what you say is stupid! I never want to hear you say something like that about yourself ever again, Rukia! It's not stupid that you thought that. After what happened, I was devastated that it was Ichigo that remembered you, and not me."

"Really?"

"Yes. Rukia, I just want you to know that, just because I was too weak to remember, doesn't mean that I don't care about you."

She looked at me. I could tell that she wasn't sure whether it was the truth. I felt the impulse again. The next thing I knew, we were kissing. When we broke apart I asked, "Do you believe me now?"

She shyly nodded.

I smiled. "Good. Well, I have a lot of work to catch up on and you need your rest. I'll see you later, ok?"

She smiled. "Yeah, good bye, Captain Toshiro."

I smiled. "Good bye, Rukia."

I love you.