"The ninth division is still in need of a vice captain," Yamamoto announced during the captains meeting. Shuuhei hung his head in shame. He felt like he was failing as a captain.

"What about the graduates?" Ukitake asked.

"None of them have a great enough reiatsu," Shuuhei explained. Their skills were basic and he wanted more than basic skills in his vice captain. None of his seated officers had high enough reiatsu to promote either. The other captains were quiet for a moment.

"What about a human?"

"What?" Shuuhei asked, looking at Captain Kurotsuchi.

"We have the ability to search for humans with high reiatsu." He shrugged.

"Captain Hisagi, you will look into this. If a human is found, they will need to be trained."

"There are already several we keep on our watch list."

"Captain Hisagi, I want you to go through this list. Find one and observe them. If you feel they can be trained as your replacement, then we will begin training," Captain Yamamoto ordered.

"Yes, sir."

...

"Here is the list," Akon said as he handed Shuuhei a list and pulled out a cigarette.

"Thanks." Shuuhei looked at the list. "There are no names on here."

"Nope. Captain Kurotsuchi prefers it like this." Akon pulled up a map of the Earth and twenty dots began to blink. "These are the top twenty but as you can see from what we have gathered," Akon began as he clicked a button and the map spun to the other side of the world. "This is the top one. The reiatsu of 77462377 is double of the human behind her."

"Her? You know 77...whatever is a girl?"

"Yes 77462377 is a woman. Here is her file."

Shuuhei looked it over. Her statistics looked promising but he had to remind himself that they were projections and not real. "Not a lot of personal information on her."

Akon shrugged. "It's not necessary for our purposes." He looked at Shuuhei. "Do we need to put an observation screen in your office?"

Shuuhei scratched the back of his head. There was no guarantee this woman would be useful to him. "I guess so."

...

While the twelfth division had given him an observation screen, his observation was limited to her home. For whatever reason, he never saw her interact with spirits. It was as if they could not enter her house. He spent his time just watching her and observing her habits. At least she was beautiful which made watching her less of a hardship.

Shuuhei watched the screen for a minute. She wasn't there but that wasn't unusual. She wasn't always there when he began his day. The screen was connected to several reflective surfaces in her house and he could search for her if he was so inclined but he could wait. Shuuhei knew she would come back to this place. He had found that she spent most of her time here and he rarely followed her anywhere else.

He had also given her a nickname since the twelfth division was hesitant to give him her name. She interrupted his thoughts as she appeared on the screen. "What's with the glasses, Princess?" he muttered. She hadn't been wearing them when he had watched her last night. He had never seen her in glasses besides the sunglasses she wore. He zoomed in on the desk she sat at and saw the calendar. Today's entry read 'Got my glasses!' Shuuhei zoomed back out and watched her, studying the new look. They looked good on her and before he could stop himself, he was grinning at the screen.

...

"Captain Hisagi, how is the observation going?" Captain Yamamoto asked.

"It's great. I want to test her." He had decided that since his observations was limited, testing her was the next option.

"Who do you want to send?"

Shuuhei shook his head. "I want to do it. If she's going to be trained to be my vice captain, it should be by me. I know what I want in a vice captain." Shuuhei avoided the glare of the twelfth division captain. He was stepping on toes by taking what he considered their princess.

"What about your division?" Yamamoto asked.

"I can spend twenty days testing her and then come back here for ten days to get out Seireitei Communications. The seated officers can take care of almost anything that comes up. They know how to get in touch with me in an emergency."

Yamamoto thought a moment. "When do you want to leave?"

"The sooner I get a vice captain, the better."

...

Eve Parker liked to run. She liked to escape into her mind and let everything go. Her house was close to the park and she liked to use the trails there. Eve sighed and thought about the story she was working on. She was trying to figure out where to take it but all she could think of was the hot, steamy sex scene she had written the night before. She saw it all in her head - his taut muscles, her body yielding beneath him, soft caresses, lingering kisses. Eve had read it again this morning and found it was just as steamy as she remembered. She tried to push away the thought that she was living vicariously through the characters in her fiction.

It was the unseen presence that pulled her out of her story. Sensing a being that wasn't there wasn't something new to Eve. She had been aware of spirits all her life. Sometimes she could see them and sometimes she could not. She had been teased mercilessly in school because everyone thought she was weird. She never had a real family. The foster families she had lived with had called her odd and no one adopted her. When she turned 18, she headed to college and never mentioned the incidents to anyone again. The spirits never bothered her. She knew they were there but they never stayed long. This spirit was different. Eve could feel that it was different and it was following her. It hadn't been following her for her entire run but she couldn't recall when the following had started. She ran longer than usual, hoping to wear out the spirit. Hoping that it would leave.

Tired, she left the park and headed back to her home with the spirit still following her.

Shuuhei had followed her for the majority of her run. She was more beautiful in real life than she was on the screen in his office. Her long honey blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and it swung with every step she took. He figured she was nearly as tall as he was. Her legs were long and the short running shorts she wore only made them look longer. Her tank top showed off her shoulders and her toned arms. Shuuhei struggled to see her as anything other than a beautiful woman, even though he knew there was more to her.

He followed her out of the park and to her home. She stopped at the door and took a breath. Her voice was low, but Shuuhei knew she was speaking to him even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Please stop following me."

As she opened the door and went inside, Shuuhei stood on her stoop, stunned. It was the first time he had heard her speak. He had no audio when he watched her. Closing the door behind her, Eve headed straight for her kitchen and the bottle of water that was awaiting her in the fridge. She drank half of it before stopping and smirking to herself. The spirit hadn't followed her into her home and she was pleased. Finishing off her water, Eve started to head toward the shower but the knock on the door stopped her.

She walked over to it and put one hand on the door and the other on the knob, hesitating. She could still sense the spirit outside. Opening the door, she had every intention of politely telling the person to leave. Eve was not expecting the person on the other side to look exactly like her favorite manga/anime character. He wore a black sleeveless shinigami uniform with tabi socks and sandals, a choker around his neck and matching armbands around his biceps. His zanpakuto hung at his side. She knew by looking that the tattoos and scars on his face were real. The only flaw she saw was the captain's haori he wore. She stared at him for a while, taking in the person she never thought she'd open her door to.

Shuuhei stared at her. He'd never been able to pinpoint the color of her eyes. He had never been able to tell if they were blue or green but now, this close to her, he knew why. Her eyes were a mixture of the two colors, today they looked a little more green but he could see the blue in them also. They were captivating. "Breathe," Shuuhei said quietly. Whether he was reminding himself or her, he wasn't sure.

Eve felt like she was coming out of a trance. "I can't help you," she said as she tried to shut the door.

"Wait." Shuuhei put his hand against the door, preventing her from closing it all the way. "You're the reason I'm here, Princess." He hadn't meant to call her that. He knew her real name. Shuuhei was so used to calling her 'Princess' that the word slipped out of his mouth. Eve eyed him, uncertain of what he was saying. He changed tactics. "May I come in?"

"No," she replied warily.

"Suit yourself but you're the only one who can see me." Shuuhei gave her a moment to consider his words. With a sigh, Eve opened the door to let him in. The sex scene flashed in her mind. It was hard not to think of it when one of the people in the scene was standing before her. The resemblance was uncanny and she couldn't figure out if he was real or not. Eve recalled that her heroine had glided her hands over his muscles and she wondered if she was right in the creative liberties she had taken in her story. As he walked past her, she felt the spirit also. Eve wondered if she was feeling him. Was that possible?

"I'm Shuuhei Hisagi, Ninth..."

"Ninth division vice captain of the Gotei 13," she filled in.

"Captain," he corrected.

"Wishful thinking," she countered. Eve walked over to her bookshelf and pulled a book off of it. Shuuhei caught it when she lightly tossed it to him and looked at himself on the cover. He hadn't considered the possibility that she would be a fan.

"I've gotten a promotion since then."

"Right," she said sarcastically. A lot of fans of the series, including Eve, thought Shuuhei should be promoted to captain. Eve began questioning why she had let this man in her house. Was she really the only one who could see him?

"You don't believe me?"

"No. I've seen too many cosplayers. Granted most aren't that good. Most of them you can tell their scars and tattoos are fake."

"Mine are real. Although there are times I wish the scars weren't real. That was more pain than a young shinigami should have to go through in their sixth year." Shuuhei stared at her for a minute and he wondered what it would feel like to have her body pressed against him. He walked over to her and handed her the manga. "The majority of what's in there is real, Princess."

Eve took the manga from him. She knew her fingers should have brushed his. She should have felt him but she felt nothing. With him this close and his presence surrounding her, there was no denying that Shuuhei Hisagi, the sexy shinigami, was standing in front of her. Her heart fluttered but Eve wasn't sure if it was from fear or excitement. "You were following me while I was running." He nodded in confirmation. "Why?"

"Because I came here to observe you. Captain Kurotsuchi believes you have a high reiatsu." He still held the book and Shuuhei brushed his thumb over her hand. He gazed into her eyes and pondered his next move. He'd already imagined all the places they could have sex in just this one room of her home.

"How long have you been observing me?"

"Right around four weeks."

"You haven't been here for four weeks."

"No," Shuuhei agreed. "I arrived here today."

"You've been watching me for four weeks how?" There was anger in her voice.

Shuuhei cleared his throat and the sex images from his head. He let go of the manga. This conversation wasn't going the way he had been hoping. "From my office?"

"You've been spying on me from the comforts of your office."

"I wouldn't call it spying," Shuuhei said, trying to figure out how to calm her down.

"What would you call it?" Eve didn't give him a chance to reply. She pointed her finger at him. "How would you like it if someone had been watching your every move for the past month?" She emphasized each word with a jab of her finger to his chest. Eve didn't realize that this time she could feel him. "Because honestly, I feel like my privacy has been violated." It didn't matter to her that he had been the one watching.

"It wasn't everywhere. I could only see what you were doing here, in your home."

"Only in my home? Well that's a relief." She paused to let her sarcasm sink in while she shelved the manga. Shuuhei saw the anger in her eyes. "That's where I spend most of my time." Eve began to walk away.

"Wait. Where are you going?" Shuuhei asked.

"To take a shower. Do whatever you want." They were both frustrated. Mentally, physically and sexually. The bathroom door slammed and Shuuhei stared at it for a few minutes. Not ready to give up on his purpose for being here, he flash stepped into the bathroom. She couldn't run if she was cornered in the small room.

His frustrations with her melted as he stared at her naked backside. Her shower was a glass box and Shuuhei wondered if it would be big enough for the two of them. He had always given her privacy in the bathroom when he had watched her but that hadn't stopped his imagination. Silently, he undressed and flash stepped in behind her.

"I don't know whether I want to knock some sense into you or have my way with you," he said quietly.

"I don't remember telling you that you could join me in the shower."

"You told me to do whatever I wanted. I wanted to talk to you and I came in here to do that. You can't run from me in here."

"You didn't have to get in the shower with me."

He smirked. "I didn't have to but when I saw you and the water running down your back," he paused to trace a path from her neck down her back with his finger. Eve tried not to shudder. "I wanted to. Ever since the first time I saw you on the screen in my office, I wanted to."

Arousal took over her anger. "You've wanted to take a shower with me since then?" she teased.

Shuuhei wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear. "Ever since then I wanted you." He sighed. "I can't make you believe me. I can tell you that what you've seen is true... Well the majority of it is true. That filler stuff is horrible."

"It is," Eve laughed. "Parts of it are good, though."

"You'll have to show me those parts. I fail to see any of it as good."

"That's easy. It's the parts with you..." Her voice trailed off. Shuuhei turned her around quickly and crushed his mouth down on hers. There was a fire behind it and despite herself, Eve wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. She felt his kiss deep in her soul.

"Give me one good reason not to have my way with you," he whispered, his mouth a breath away from hers.

"I don't know if I want to give you a reason," Eve said. She barely had the words out before he kissed her again. As she thought about it, she realized something. Hesitantly, she pulled away from Shuuhei and met his eye. "But if I was going to give you a reason, it would be because you don't know the real me and I don't know the real you." Shuuhei looked away and Eve looked down and quickly wished she hadn't. Their bodies weren't touching and she had a full view of him. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and wondered if he knew she had seen him.

He hadn't. Shuuhei knew she had a point. That didn't stop his want for her. He wasn't sure if he could control it. He was trying desperately but he wasn't succeeding. Giving in slightly, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her body against his. "Maybe one day we will," Shuuhei whispered in her ear. "You have no idea how much I want you right now."

Before she had a chance to reply, he was gone.

Shuuhei had never flash stepped so far or so fast before. If he had stayed with her any longer, he would have had his way with Eve regardless of how well he knew the real her. He let out a sigh and stretched out in the field to rethink his strategy.

...

Eve jumped at the knock on the door and she thought for a moment that it might be Shuuhei. Slowly, she got up from her desk and answered the door.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

Eve stared at the woman. "I'm sorry." Eve shook her head to try to clear it. She remembered she was going out tonight with some of her friends from work.

"Eve, are you ok?"

"I just had a really strange...dream." She couldn't tell her what really happened.

"Dream? Eve, it's the middle of the afternoon."

Eve walked back to her bedroom. "I know. It seemed so real."

"Tell me about it."

Sighing, Eve stood in her closet and got dressed in jeans and a red halter top and told her friend about the 'dream'. "We were in the shower together. He kissed me." She closed her eyes. She could still feel his lips on hers. "Then he told me he wanted to have his way with me."

"Wow," her friend muttered. "Who was he?"

Unable to tell her friend the truth, Eve replied with "I don't know."

"So, did he?"

"No. He disappeared."