People always wondered why her? Shewas a world known flute soloist and a photographer in her free time. He was the C.E.O. of Osaka's largest Corporation and a World Kendo Champion. She was short and had her own way of doing things. He was quite tall and only did things by the book.

How in the world had someone likeher ended up with someone like him? She had shoulder length blonde hair that was cut in layers. He had gorgeous long locks of ebony streaming from his scalp. She had her own style, whether it be expensive or cheap, she wore what she wanted to wear. He only dressed in the best suites with pure silk ties and only occasionally dressed casual. She had several "Save the rain forest", "Give blood" and animal rights shirts of numerous colors. He barely wore any different shades at all.

How in God's name had shegotten his attention? Her house was done in her own style of vibrant oranges and reds and whites. His humble abode was only decorated by Japan's best interior designer. Her house was doggie proof, cat proof, and whatever else kind of proof you can make it. He shuddered at the thought of having an animal in his house.

They were opposite in every single way, yet here she was curled in his arms with a full carat diamond nestled in a white gold cradle there on her slender finger. Hewanted to buy her the world on a ring. She only wanted something simple.

They had met thanks to the idiot lowlife she called a best friend and his sister called a fiancée. Yes, she was indeed friends--best friends-- with Ichigo Kurosaki. Actually, their first meeting was somewhat disastrous… It involved them crashing into each other and her dropping her 24 carat gold, hand engraved Muramatsu flute. She had turned a sickly green color and he had walked on. Later on that evening, he had seen her again, playing in the small ensemble his corporation had hired to play at a charity banquet along side his sister, Rukia, and her boyfriend. And while the ensemble took a break he met his sister's boyfriend, given that the boy was shouting at him for knocking his best friend's instrument out of her hand and damaging it beyond repair. However, they only knew each other as "The Stupid Stuck-Up Jackass Who Needed To Apologize To The Girl" and "The Imbecile Who Was Screaming At One Of The Most Important Figures In The World."--And that was all they needed.

It wasn't until Rukia ran up and informed Ichigo of who he was, did the screaming stop. All of this happen while the girl--Kotone--teary eyed and all, stood behind Ichigo, murmuring that the whole thing wasn't worth the attention they were getting. And it was then that he had noticed the small group that had formed around the quartet. Byakuya had narrowed his eyes and muttered a short, "scatter," and that was all it took, everyone dispersed. Then the formal introductions had been made. Byakuya was Rukia's older brother, Ichigo was Rukia's long time boyfriend, and Kotone was Rukia and Ichigo's best friend. They had all met overseas at Juilliard, due to coincidence that they were all not only from the same region, but the same city.

After the introductions, Rukia had insisted that they all ate together, and so as they ate, Rukia and Ichigo talked about some concert they would all be playing in, and Kotone just poked around her food. Byakuya zoned out his sister and her village idiot of a boyfriend and stared at Kotone, she was beautiful.

Byakuya went a week with her haunting his thoughts before he talked to Rukia, secretly of course, and she told him that he should do something about the flute that he broke and proceeded to give him her cell phone number. He had been so nervous that he had made his secretary call and leave a message to call him on his personal phone.

And sure enough she had called and they had a time picked out, in which he would take her to place an order for a brand new flute. He would by it of course, it wasn't as if money was an issue.

Over three years things had progressed, feelings had grown fonder, and four months ago he had purposed. And obviously she had said yes--she was still here wasn't she--and a wedding was on the way.

The noise of a small feminine groan pulled him out of the memory and he turned his head down to look at the petite beauty laying tangled in the bed sheets. As she opened her eyes he gave her a small smile and to anybody else it would've looked like he didn't care about her, but she knew what it meant and it caused her eyes to twinkle in admiration. She adored his small smiles and smirks, while he loved her 10,000 watt smiles that always reached her eyes.

"…Byakuya…" she murmured as she snuggled further under the covers and closed her eyes again as he pulled her closer to give a small peck on the forehead, "What time is it?"

"I believe it is almost…" he looked over at the digital alarm clock on his black bedside table, "…8:30."

That brought her out of her simple blissful state and her eyes shot open, "What?!" She threw back the covers and jumped out of the bed with a small string of curses. "I'm soooooooo gonna be late!"

"Is that so?" Byakuya asked, putting his hands behind his head that was propped up on the head board as he watched his tiny wife-to-be rush around the room grabbing each different article of clothing from a different dresser.

She was in her pajamas. She wore things to bed like what he wore to bed. Sometimes it would be a pair of baggie black cotton pants, that made it to where her feet barely poked out of the bottoms, with a white tank top and other times it would be a pair of his boxers with a short sleeved shirt that had paint splattered all over it. That's what he loved about her; she didn't wear those stupid little silk nighties. She wore what she wanted to wear--what was comfy.

"Yes, it is," she paused to brush her teeth in the bathroom that was right in front of him, "I have a last minute rehearsal with the orchestra today. This whole thing is on my behalf and I'm not even going to make it!"

He watched her run around the room for a few more minutes and gazed upon her as she flipped her hair over her head to where it was in her face and started brushing her hair. "…I thought that that was on Tuesday… Two days from now…"

She stopped mid-brush, "…It's Sunday?"

"Yes."

Byakuya watched in amusement as her normally pale face flushed and she slowly shut the door. A smirk grew on his facial features and he immediately felt bad. From beyond the door the small sounds of muffled sniffles filled the room.

A frown quickly etched its way on to his face, "Kotone?"

"I'm fine, leave me alone," came the expected small and watery voice.

Byakuya pushed back the covers and got out of bed. "See, now that tells me something's wrong. I didn't ask if you were fine," he stated as he walked across the room and opened the bathroom door.

Kotone was sitting on the toilet lid with a towel over her head, her small body shaking as silent sobs racked her. Byakuya's frown turned into a look of worry as he walked over and kneeled between her legs and looked up at her face. He pulled the towel off her head and forced her to look at him, "Kotone, what's wrong?"

She looked everywhere--anyway but at him. The tears never stopped. "I'm just really stressed out over the wedding plans. And the whole orchestra thing, sometimes I feel like I can't even comprehend why they'd even want to feature me in the performance… And the anniversary of dad's death is tomorrow…"

She hushed as she was pulled off the toilet and into his lap on the floor. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close.

She continued, "And then I get my days mixed up, and I'm not sleeping all that well. That makes me tired and irritable and just holding it all in…"

Byakuya held her and stroked her hair, he knew that wasn't it, she had worked through stress and her father's death before. "What else is it?" he asked softly.

"What if you don't like our wedding. How I'm designing it? And I know you won't like who I've chosen to walk me down the aisle," her voice was muffled since she had her face against his chest.

"You know I will love anything you do for the wedding and if you need help I'm always available to take things off of your hands," he reasoned as he continued to stroke her hair.

"But you're so busy with the company-"

"I'll always take time for you, so don't you ever think I won't," he stated firmly, leaving no room for argument, "Now, who do you want to walk you down the aisle?"

"You're sooo going to hate me…" she murmured.

"I could never hate you."

"I want Ichigo to walk me down." She tensed as his hands stopped running through her hair.

She opened her mouth to say something, to possibly redeem herself when she felt him shake. He was laughing at her! Unbelievable!

"You thought I'd be mad that Ichigo would walk you down?" he asked in between chuckles.

"Well… After last Christmas, I thought…" she trailed off. That was another disastrous event.

"It is true that I don't like Ichigo, but I will tolerate him for you," he replied leaning forward and once again gave her a kiss on the head, which caused her to look up.

He quickly captured her lips in his and kissed her softly and tenderly. When they pulled away he looked her in the eyes. They still had tears in them, so he reached up and wiped them away.

"Better?" he questioned with a small smile on his face.

"Getting there, I think." she said, returning his soft smile. Kotone turned and looked in the floor length mirror across the room and scoffed at her appearance; bloodshot and swollen eyes and red nose attributed to her pasty yellow looking face. "Why can't I be a pretty cryer?"

"I think you're beautiful." he said before kissing her on the forehead and standing, taking her with him.

Her grip around his middle tightened, as did his on her. He didn't swing her up into the typical bridle style, he just carried her, with her feet dangling at least a foot off the floor, in to the bedroom.

"If you're not sleeping well during the night, then go back to bed," he said as he laid her down on the bed.

"But it's already 9," she argued back.

"If you're tired, then sleep," he reasoned, "I have paperwork to do anyway."

She looked at him with a questioning eye, but snuggled her way deeper under the covers, nonetheless. She watched him as he walked to his desk. He gathered papers and a pen, then made his way back to the bed.

"What are you doing?" she looked at him as though he had lost his mind.

"Well, I had planned on joining you in bed." he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Doing paperwork… In bed?" she questioned.

He turned away, "Well, if you don't want me too…"

That's all he had to say and she was scooting over to the far right of the bed, as if she wasn't as small as she was and took up a lot of room. She gave him a small smile and he returned with a loving look as he climbed in bed and laid the papers out in front of him.

She watched his face as he worked. The face would slowly crease at the forehead as his eyebrows would furrow in concentration. Maybe it was the artist in her coming out, but she loved to watch his face--mainly his eyes. Sometimes they would stay simple and calm, but other times they showed fierce anger and other complex emotions that no one, other than she, understood.

Kotone understood his emotions, his moods. She understood when it was okay to talk, when to listen, and when it need to be silent.

She lifted her small hand to rest on his arm. He paused in his work and looked down to see if she need something, but she had fallen asleep. A small smile crossed his face as he moved her hand to his leg and cover her hand with his own.

And they stayed like that for the next three hours, with him reading over numerous work documents and her sleeping. The only time their comfortable silence was disturbed was when her phone went off. He quickly answered it, because she was a light sleeper, and he knew it.

The caller had been Ichigo and he didn't talk long, just the hurried message of 'have her call me .' Ichigo had always seemed intimidated by him and had always acted stupidly brash when around him. Even though he wouldn't admit it aloud, Ichigo was only calling to check on her, and he was grateful for that.

He loved this woman more than anything in his life and if there were other people out there in the world watching out for her then he wasn't going to step in their way.