The office was quiet except for the sound of pen on paper. My hand was cramping from hours of sighning the same name over and over again: Seiko Muramba. After about the seven thousandth signature, I sighed and glanced up at my captain to see if he was getting any headway with all of this paperwork. The captain of the 13th division was hard at work with a look of boredom that described how I felt about these papers. We had been sitting here doing hours upon hours of signing: injury records, incident reports, memos from the head captain...anything and everything that needed a signature.

We were so far behind on all of the paperwork due to Captain Ukitake undergoing hospitalization for an attack two weeks ago, and had only just gotten back. As his appointed doctor, I, too, had to be out of work to be with him. That led up to this moment...as we continued signing...

"Captain, do you think we could give it a break? My hand is cramping, and yours must be too." I whined, tired of the empty silence and being held to my thoughts of how much I hated my job right now. I wasn't one to complain often, but by glancing at the clock, I calculated that we had been working for at least a good four or five hours. Captain Ukitake looked up from his work, then glanced at the only remaining stack of papers we had left to do. It would probably take an hour to finish.

"Seiko, you know we have to finish, and there's not that much left..."

"But captain, we've been at it forever! Can't we take a five minute break and perhaps get some food?" My stomach sent a growl, agreeing with the proposal. Captain Ukitake chuckled into his fist, causing his bangs to fall into his face more than they did normally. After a moment, he nodded,

"Fine. But only five minutes. Head Captain wants all these in by the end of the day."

The moment Captain Ukitake gave me the 'okay' to leave, I flash-stepped my way out of that office. It felt so cramped being surrounded by mound after mound of paper. It was like an intimidating paper-monster was hovering over my shoulder...

I shuddered as winter's' cold nipped my nose. The snow this time of year was beautiful, but damn did it feel terrible once you got out in the middle of it. I bundled my arms deeper into the sleeves of my robes and raced through the snow, half-blinded by the light that reflected from its icey surface. It wasn't until I ran face first into someone did I even notice that I wasn't alone in this ice-storm. I should have seen him, I really should have, but...I guess my mind was too occupied by that damn cold!

"I'm sorry!" I scrambled to say, landing myself ass-first in freezing snow. My breath stopped momentarily as I caught sight of long dark locks and angled features, "C-captain Kuchiki?" Byakuya Kuchiki was definitely a man to look out for. His face was pale and angular, showing off high cheekbones and a pointed jaw line. His arms were large and muscular, as was most of his body (or what I could see through his robes). His long hair grew pitch black and as shiny as the snow I was now sitting in. His gaze was as cold as it, too.

"You should watch where you're going, Lieutenant Muramba. You'll never know who you might run into." Even with the icey words, Captain Kuchiki's voice was a melody. I internally shook myself, taking the time to gather my thoughts and stand up.

"I-i'm sorry! I didn't see you there. Are you alright?" Captain Kuchiki just gazed at me, as if examining my entire being. His lips curled into what I could only hope was a smirk, "So, I assume you havn't heard the news."

"What news?"

"If you don't already know, than it's not my liberty to say," Captain Kuchiki replied, even colder than before. His voice sent shivers down my spine, "I have a feeling we'll see each other again quite soon, Lieutenant." With that, he vanished into the awaited beginnings of a blizzard, leaving me quite speechless.