'Damn lazy Lieutenant' I thought as I peered over the enormous stack of papers I was carrying. I wasn't short; this stack of papers was just huge! Our Lieutenant would wait a week to do her papers until our third seat, who was also our Taichou's girlfriend, would either force her to do it or would do it herself. I really liked her. When I became sixth seat she showed me the ropes and became a very good friend to me. Most of the time I would volunteer to deliver paperwork but this was ridiculous. It was my day off but the third seat had begged me to help her deliver papers. I had divisions one through six and she had taken seven through thirteen. She had more to deliver but I had to walk farther.
"Hey, Neko-chan!" I heard a familiar voice yell. I turned to see our third sear running towards me over the pile of papers, which was not easy to do because the blond, blue-eyed girl was so short.
"Anya-san! How are you done already? You had more to deliver than me!" I stated.
"Please call me Anya… and I used shunpo!" said the excited girl. She reached up and took almost the entire stack, leaving me with only stuff from the sixth division.
"Anya-san… I mean Anya… you really don't have to help me!" I said, now being able to see her over the significantly shortened stack.
"No problem" she said. "Besides, Hitsugaya-Taichou gave the job to me. You shouldn't have to stress over it" she added.
"Why do you call him Hitsugaya-Taichou when you're dating him?" I asked. I always thought it was odd.
"If I can't respect him in public, how can I expect anyone else to?" she asked with a smile.
"Good point" I said.
"We'd better get going! You wouldn't want to keep Kuchiki-Taichou waiting" she said and she winked at me. I felt my face heat up.
"That's not funny!" I hissed. My face must have looked like a tomato.
"Of course it's not" she said in a sarcastic tone. She shunpoed away before I could respond. I took a deep breath to calm down and try to cool my cheeks down. She was the only person who knew that I liked Kuchiki-Taichou. I felt like she could relate to my feelings because of her dating situation. The only difference was that she was a third seat and I was a sixth seat, and she was in her boyfriend's division while I was four divisions away form the man who I wanted to notice me. It had become one of my reasons for working so hard. I knew that as a sixth seat of the tenth division I had to work extra hard if I wanted the Taichou of the sixth division to notice me.
I calmed down and walked to the sixth division. When I reached the Taichou's door I shifted the papers so I had a free hand and I raised my hand to knock on the door. Before I could bring my hand down on the door, it opened.
"Kuchiki-Taichou!" I squeaked, completely surprised by his appearance.
"Kuro Neko" he stated. My heart fluttered at the mere mention of my name.
"Um… I have some paperwork from the tenth division" I said quickly, holding up the stack of papers for him to see.
"You may put them on my desk" he said as he stepped aside. I nodded and kept my eyes down as I walked quietly and calmly to his desk and set the papers down on an open spot. His desk was neat and organized and the room was too. As I gazed around, I couldn't help but fell like a stalker. I reached down and straightened a couple of papers as if to give my presence some meaning and I turned quickly to depart.
In my less-than-attentive nervousness, my foot caught my heel as I moved to take a step forward and I tripped. I readied myself to make contact with the floor by closing my eyes but I never made it there. Two strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and held me up. I slowly opened my eyes to see that Kuchiki-Taichou had caught me a couple of feet off of the ground. His onyx eyes bored into my yellow-orange ones and I began to blush madly. He stood and easily lifted me back to my feet as if I were a feather. I nervously moved some of my long black hair out of my face.
For a moment, my mind wandered. His sweet scent was all around me, acting on me like a drug. I took a moment to study his features. It was the first time I'd noticed that his shoulder was eye level when I we were standing. I'd never been this close to him for this long. He was so much more handsome up close. Over the usual shinigami uniform and captain's haori, he wore a white scarf and gloves that only covered the tops of his hands. In his hair he had five half-tubes that were only worn by nobility; two on the right side of his head and three on the top left, each holding a small portion of his long, raven black hair.
"You should be more careful" he said in his smooth voice, snapping me out of my trance.
"Gomen, I'll try to be more careful from now on" I said with a weak smile. He nodded with his usual apathetic look. I bowed and quickly made my way out of the room and back to my division.
I knocked on the door of Hitsugaya-Taichou's office and heard someone say "Come in" on the other side. It sounded like Anya but she sounded different… tired maybe. There would be nothing strange about her being tired because it was getting late. I opened up the door and stepped in to see that both Anya and Hitsugaya-Taichou were in a chair. Anya was curled up on his lap and he was asleep. She put a finger to her mouth to signify that I should be as quiet as possible.
"Are we done?" I mouthed to her. She nodded and snuggled closer to Hitsugaya-Taichou. I smiled and quietly made my exit. Once outside of the door, I let out a sigh. Hitsugaya-Taichou was so stressed all of the time. Anya probably had to work hard to get him to sleep like that.
'I wish I could help Kuchiki-Taichou like that' I thought. 'It would be nice to be able to help him calm down and to be close to him.' I went back to my quarters and fell asleep.
It had been a few days since I had delivered papers for the division. Anya was keeping things pretty well covered. She was using her shunpo for it so it never took her very long to do. Not only that but Rangiku, our Lieutenant, hadn't done her work in a few days and that had decreased the load of papers that had to be delivered.
I finished my papers and stood up to stretch. Anya walked in as I placed my papers on the pile of finished work. "Hey there, Neko-chan!" she said cheerfully as she walked behind Hitsugaya-Taichou and hugged him around his shoulders. She then reached around him and picked up his pile of finished papers. "Do you want to help me?" she asked me with a smile.
"Sure!" I said as she handed me half the pile.
She gave Hitsugaya-Taichou a quick kiss "Don't stress yourself too much" she said to him. We headed out of the office together.
"You two are so kawaii!" I squealed once we were out of earshot of the office.
Anya smiled "Are we really?"
"Yeah, otherwise I wouldn't have said it" I said with a huge grin.
"How are things between you and Kuchiki-Taichou?" she asked.
"I don't know. I haven't seen him in a few days and I don't think he likes me anyway. What would a noble want with a mutt like me?" I asked.
"Mutt? Is that what you think he sees in you?" she retorted. "Have you tried talking to him?"
"No" I said flatly. "I get within three feet of the man and I freeze."
"I can help" said Anya. "It was one of Rangiku's parties that got me and Toshiro together."
"No!" I nearly shouted. "You can't tell anyone! I would die if he found out!"
"You would not die" said Anya as we reached the eighth division. We dropped off our papers and continued. "It's not like you two have a relationship that this information can ruin" she said very matter-of-factly.
"I still don't want him to know. It would be so embarrassing" I said.
Our rounds took us all the way to the first division. Anya and I raced back to the fifth division and decided to walk the rest of the way back to the tenth. We were passing through the sixth division, which we thankfully had no paperwork for, and Anya laughed at my sudden cautiousness.
"It's not funny" I said as I playfully shoved her.
"You don't have to be so tense" she said as she shoved me back. "Loosen up. He's not going to materialize out of thin air in front of you."
I shot a glare at her as we came to a corner and then suddenly came into contact with something solid. The force that I ran into it with was great enough to knock me backwards. I didn't see what it was but I closed my eyes and waited to hit the ground. What I didn't expect was for an arm to wrap around me and pull me back up. Whoever it was held me against their chest for a moment and, for a moment, my face was against their shoulder and I took a deep breath.
'Oh no' I thought s their sweet scent filled my lungs and I heard Anya giggle. I felt my face heat up as I opened my eyes and took a step back.
"Gomenasai, Kuchiki-Taichou! I wasn't watching where I was going!" I blurted as I looked up into the dark eyes of the one person I had hoped I wouldn't run into. It was like I was paralyzed, I couldn't look away. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I knew I was blushing.
"I thought you were going to be more careful" he said, his expression unchanging.
"Gomenasai" I repeated. "I have no excuse."
"Don't let it happen again" he said as he brushed past me, headed towards his office.
I was frozen for a second until Anya grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Snap out of it!" she said.
"Huh?" I asked as I looked at her slowly. She looked shocked at my reaction and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the scene.
"You really do freeze up" she said. "Do you even realize what happened?"
I looked at her and shook my head. Had she seen something I hadn't?
We rushed past the seventh division and part of the way past the eighth. She suddenly yanked me to the side and stopped. "That was practically a hug!" she whispered.
"A hug?" I asked.
"Yes. You even had your face in his chest!" she said. I was still recovering. The whole thing was replaying over and over in my head. Suddenly, her face lifted in to a huge smile. "You're thinking about it, aren't you? What was it like?"
"It…uh…" I started. I hadn't really thought about what it was like. "Well… he was soft?" I said. I wasn't good at girl talk. She nodded excitedly for me to go on. "He was strong and he smelled nice" I said.
She nodded and smiled for a moment but then that smile suddenly disappeared. "Wait… you smelled him?" she asked.
"N-not of purpose. I just inhaled and…" I wasn't allowed to finish.
"No. You don't realize what this means. They can tell what you're doing, even if they don't admit it" she said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"There's a difference between breathing and smelling. Can I show you?" she asked. I nodded and she moved towards me and leaned her head towards my shoulder.
I jerked back out of her path before she could touch me. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"Don't worry… I'm not making a move on you. I have to show you this" she said. I nodded again and she laid her sleeve on my shoulder. "This is about as much cloth as he wears on that spot seeing how your face was in his scarf. Now… normal breathing" she said as she put her face in my shoulder and breathed. It seemed normal and I could barely feel it. "See? Normal breathing" she said in my shoulder. Suddenly she inhaled and held it a little and then did it again. "That was smelling" she said as she backed away from me. "See the difference?"
I nodded nervously "Maybe he didn't notice" I said.
"Well… there's no way of knowing. We're not going to say anything and hopefully he'll forget" she said.
"Yeah right" I muttered. We continued to walk back to the tenth.
"Well, he doesn't hate you" she said thoughtfully.
"How can you tell?" I asked.
"He didn't punish you for running into him. You know how strict he is" she said.
"You're right. I never thought about that" I said.
"Maybe you've got a chance" she said with a smile.
I smiled and looked at my feet. "Maybe…"
It had been a month since I had my incident with Kuchiki-Taichou. Anya walked into the tenth division office.
"Toshiro, have you seen Neko?" she asked. "It's time for us to practice our shunpo."
"She went to pick up papers from the first, third, sixth, and eighth divisions" he answered. "She should be back soon."
"Okay" said Anya and she walked over and sat in his lap.
I walked into the tenth division office to find Anya and Hitsugaya-Taichou making out of the couch.
"Well, that was unexpected" I said calmly as I set the papers on the desk. Anya was blushing and Hitsugaya-Taichou calmly stood and walked to his desk.
He was quiet but suddenly he pointed at me and said "Don't tell anyone about this!"
I giggled. "My lips are sealed." I reached over to the pile of papers and picked a folded note up off the top. "Kuchiki-Taichou wanted me to be sure you read this first" I said as I held it out. He took it and sat down.
Anya ran over and grabbed my arm. "Come on! Let's go practice shunpo!" she said excitedly. I smiled and nodded, letting her drag me out. Once we were out of the office she climbed on my back. It was how we trained. I had asked her how to get faster and she had come up with this. She would climb on my back to add weight to me and then I would shunpo around for as long as I could. It was helping a lot and when she wasn't on my back I actually was a lot faster.
We used shunpo for a little while and ended up back at the office. When we entered the office, Hitsugaya-Taichou was pacing back and forth in front of his desk. Anya ran forward and stopped him.
"You'll wear a hole in the floor! What's bothering you?" she asked.
"I need to talk to you alone" he said in a serious tone. Anya glanced at me and I nodded. I quietly walked out and shut the door, sitting down on the ground outside. About fifteen minutes passed and I began to wonder if they were just making an excuse to make out again. I stood and turned to walk over to the window, hoping to see what was going on, when the door opened and Anya walked out.
"Hey, get on" she said, pointing to her back. "I need to talk to you."
She didn't need to bend down because she was so short. I climbed on her back and she immediately used shunpo to get away from the office. She took me to a cave by a small pond. It was hidden by some trees and rocks. We walked in and after a short passage, the cave opened up to a large room with a small pond in the middle. The water seemed to be glowing and lighting the room. It was rather beautiful.
"Toshiro and I come here to be along and… uh… do stuff" she said, throwing the last part in, blushing a little.
"By stuff you mean?" I asked, feeling awkward.
"Make-out!" she blurted. "But we talk a lot too." I laughed at her attempt to cover up her embarrassment. "Shut up! It's not funny! One day when you have a boyfriend, you'll want a place to be alone too."
"I don't think I'll have that problem anytime soon" I said.
"Are you sure?" asked Anya with a sly smile.
"What do you mean?" I replied.
"It's part of the reason I asked you to come with me. There's something important that we need to discuss" she said. She walked over and sat down on the ground by the water and I followed suit and did the same.
'What could she mean by it being a part of this?' I wondered as I picked up a rock and threw it into the water.
"That note that Kuchiki-Taichou wanted Toshiro to read what a request to transfer someone" she explained. I looked at her and threw another rock.
"Why do I care?" I asked. What did this have to do with me?
"That person is you" she said. "He asked if we could transfer you to his division. He already has permission and he wants an answer by tonight."
Now I was shocked. He wanted me? "Why?" I asked.
"Apparently he took an interest in you. You'd become a third seat and you already have Toshiro's permission. It's really up to you" she said.
I looked down at my reflection in the water. My black hair was in a bun, and my yellow-orange eyes stared eerily back up at me. I wasn't anything to look at and I wasn't nobility and he and I had rarely talked. Why was it me? So many other women wanted him and most knew him far better than me.
"Maybe he just thinks I'm a good worker and he cold use some help. He just noticed my work ethic, that's all" I said, mostly talking to myself.
"What if it's not?" she asked quickly. "You always told me how lucky I was to be my boyfriend's third seat. This is your chance. You can be his third seat. Toshiro agrees that you'll have more of a chance. It's not very every day that Byakuya Kuchiki requests for a sixth seat to be moved to his division and bumped up to a third."
"I know but… I mean… I don't know" I said and my head dropped. "I don't want to get my hopes up and then have to spend hours around the man but I don't want to pass it up and regret it later either."
Anya opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted "Anya! Are you in there?" It was Hitsugaya-Taichou's voice.
"Yeah!" yelled Anya. "Neko's with me!" There were footsteps and both Hitsugaya-Taichou and Kuchiki-Taichou walked into the cave.
"Anya, we've been looking for you" said Hitsugaya-Taichou. "Kuchiki-Taichou wanted to know if there was an answer yet."
I looked over at them and nervously tucked my hair behind my ear "Well… I… uh…"
"She wanted to talk to Kuchiki-Taichou. It would really help her make up her mind" said Anya, interrupting me and causing me to blush. I opened my mouth to protest but she beat me to the punch. She jumped up and grabbed Hitsugaya-Taichou. "Come on, Toshiro! Let's give these two a moment to talk!" she said excitedly as she dragged him out of the room.
I smiled nervously at Kuchiki-Taichou. "Heh… she's not serious. I… I'm just confused. I don't know why you'd want a sixth seat like me to become a third seat."
"Truthfully, you caught my eye, for more than one reason" he said. "You are an excellent worker, and you do what is needed without being asked. I could use someone like you in my division. It would be a great help to me."
"I still don't understand. I'm a klutz and I'd be useless in a fight. I may be a good worker but in not third seat material" I said as I looked at him.
"Don't degrade yourself in such a way. You're not useless. I've seen you training with Anya" he said, his expression never changing.
"You've been watching me?" I said as I leapt up and glared at him. I didn't care who her was, he had been spying on me. It took me a moment so realize who I was talking to. I blinked "Forgive me, Kuchiki-Taichou. I forgot my manners for a moment" I said with a deep bow.
"No need to apologize" he said.
I was shocked. "What do you mean? Shouldn't you punish me for my rudeness?" I asked.
"I should but I won't" he said. "It was a minor offense."
"Oh" I said.
"You're actually quite impressive" he said. I felt heat rise to my cheeks.
"W-what do you mean?" I asked.
"You aren't clumsy when you train. In fact, you're quite the opposite. You're quite graceful" he said.
"I'm really not that graceful…" I began to protest but he took a step towards me and in the process of taking one back, my heel caught a rock and I tripped. He attempted to grab me but failed and we both fell into the pond. I surfaced and moved the hair out of my eyes. He was standing waist-deep in the water next to me and he was soaked. "Gomenasai!" I said as I tried to squeeze out my hair. "I'm such a klutz…"
I was cut off by his lips on mine. He had wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his lips to mine. I draped my arms around his neck and kissed back, letting the warmth of his body seep into mine. At my response, he pulled me closer for a moment and held me tighter before pulling away. He didn't say anything as he took my hand and helped me out of the water.
Finally, I spoke up. "Kuchiki-Taichou, I don't understand… you're a noble and I'm a commoner… a mutt from one of the worst districts" I said. "I don't deserve you… and you could do better."
"It's Byakuya… and I loved Hisana and she was a commoner. Social status should not dictate love. I'm breaking a lot of promises. I promised Hisana that I would never love another woman and I promised that I would never break that law again" he said. "And I don't believe I could do any better."
"Oh" I said as his words sunk in. Suddenly the realization of what he had said sunk in. "Wait… did you just say…"
"I love you" he said, causing my jaw to drop. "You worked hard, even as a sixth seat and that's what got my attention. It was only after I watched you for so long that I realized what I felt for you."
I was speechless for a moment. He noticed my inability to say anything and leaned down to give me another peck on the lips. Before he could pull away, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him back, gently pressing my lips to his. His lips were so soft that I wanted more but I pulled away.
"I love you, too" I said as I hugged him. After he let me go, I noticed that we were both still soaking wet… and cold. I shook a little and rubbed my arm. A moment later I felt something drape around my shoulders. It was his haori.
"You're cold" he said as he rubbed my shoulders.
"It's not that bad" I said as I shivered a little.
"You shouldn't be cold at all" he said. "I care too much about you to let you be cold."
I smiled "Thank you Kuch… I mean Byakuya" I said.
He responded by taking my hand and saying "We should go dry off." I nodded and let him tow me along. "By the way, you never answered my question. Do you want to join my division?"
"Yes, I would love to" I said with a smile. My smile widened and my heart fluttered when he smiled back.
It had been a few months since we had gotten together. I walked into Byakuya's office. He had explained to me that I could call him by his name because plenty of people who he cared less for already did and he wanted to hear his name from me. I set my pile of papers down on his desk and then walked around it and crawled into his lap. We had also discovered that I could sit on him and do my paperwork in my lap and he could rest his head on my shoulder and reach around me to do his paperwork. I was still adjusting to the work of a third seat, which included helping my boyfriend with paperwork because Renji was really no better than Matsumoto. Sometimes I would still fall asleep to his warmth and the gentle, soothing rhythm of his breathing. He usually finished up for me and took me back to his home if I did.
As my pen touched paper he kissed my neck. Shivers ran down my spine. He took one arm off of the desk and wrapped it around my stomach. I brought my opposite arm down and placed it on his. We used opposite hands to write so it always worked out.
"I noticed you've become less clumsy" he whispered in my ear, a bit of amusement in his voice.
I smiled at his hand "I don't think I got better. I'm just only clumsy for you."