KONNICHIWA! Fanime-Sensei here with the second chapter! I was rather impressed with the traffic I got but not so much with the reviews… No lie I will actually get chapters out faster if I get more reviews (and subscriptions), because I won't be refreshing every five minutes to see if I got another review and I feel more obligated to get chapters out faster because of all my adoring fans! *hand on cheek, eyes all sparkly*

BK: *rolls eyes*

I saw that! Ya know, I shoul-

BK: *covers her mouth* enjoy the story.

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Hoshiko POV:

I shot up, awake, in my bed; arm stretched out, as if I was reaching for something… or someone.

I got out of bed and began to get ready for the day. I had the nightmare again, the one that usually leaves me screaming. Perhaps I was becoming immune to it… I then looked at the calendar. It was Friday… and Byakuya Kuchiki still had not yet kissed me. I wasn't surprised, just pissed off.

I had worked really hard all week to try and get him to kiss me. I spent as much time with him as possible, sparring and whatnot. I beat him most of the time when we sparred, then I figured he probably didn't like that so then I lost on purpose. When I did, he noticed and asked me why I lost purposefully. I was really embarrassed after that and I ran away…

I really wanted to avoid Renji for pretty much the rest of the day. However the only way to do that would be stay in my room all day or go visit one of my friends in another squad, and neither brought me any closer to getting a kiss from Byakuya. And I really didn't want to lose the bet. But who in my position would? If I didn't lose, that meant I got a kiss from my crush and I didn't have to kiss Renji. So that meant I had to leave my room and go… do stuff…

And so, I reluctantly walked out of my room and bumped into my favorite captain. No, that wasn't sarcasm.

I fell back on my behind when I bumped into him; I then reluctantly looked up at him.

He looked down at me and held out his hand to help me.

I took his hand and he pulled me up, I felt a slight warmth force its way to my cheeks.

"Higure are you feeling well? You have not seemed as… peppy or spontaneous this past week," Byakuya said to me.

"Yeah, I feel fine…" I replied.

"Alright, take it easy if you start to feel ill. I do not want anyone else getting sick," and he walked away.

Damn! I thought he was actually caring about me…

•◘•

I continued to wander aimlessly around Squad 6 and every once in a while I would look at my soul pager to check the time. Hours seemed to go by like minutes, and on the very day I wanted time to go slow.

At one point I had fallen asleep in one of the hallways. I woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. I had the nightmare again…

When I woke up it was 7:00 pm. That was when Renji and I met every Friday.

I, very reluctantly, walked back to my room. When I arrived I found Renji there waiting.

I opened the door to my room and walked in with him following me. I sat on the bed and looked at him.

"So… I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Byakuya didn't kiss you?" he said with a smirk.

I glared slightly and replied. "And you would, sadly, be correct…"

He smiled excitedly. "Awesome!"

He didn't win these bets often.

"I guess that means you get your kiss then…" and I stood up.

He blushed softly and closed his eyes.

I then kissed his cheek.

He opened his eyes and looked at me. "What was that?"

"Your kiss," I replied with a smirk.

"Iie, iie, iie, you are supposed to kiss me on the lips."

"You never specified."

"It was implied."

I sighed, "Fine, you can have a kiss on the lips…" I then shunpoed out the door. "But you gotta catch me first!"

"What?" and he quickly shunpoed after me.

I ran all around the Squad 6 grounds trying my best to keep away from him and succeeding fairly well…

Byakuya POV:

I had finally finished my paperwork and was on my way home when I noticed my idiot lieutenant and Higure were chasing each other around laughing and acting like fools.

Even though they looked really idiotic, it was quite interesting watching them.

I watched closer and noticed just Renji was chasing Higure. She seemed to be extremely clever; succeeding in dodging him by all means.

I was impressed, until Renji tackled her and pinned her down that is.

I continued watching, they appeared to be talking. Then I saw something I was not expecting.

Hoshiko kissed Renji, on the lips…

I felt a pang of disappointment hit me. I was, starting to like her…

I shrugged it off and walked home. It was not that big of a deal, it was not like the two of us had any kind of real relationship anyways. Besides, I had gone through worse disappointments with love; I would live through this one…

Hoshiko POV:

I then forced Renji off of me and sat up.

"Was that good enough for you?" I asked.

"Yeah…" Renji replied with pink tinged cheeks.

I looked up at all the beautiful stars and lay back on my back again. "They're beautiful…"

Renji looked up at the stars then back at me. "Yeah…"

We sat there in silence for a while just watching the stars.

"…Hoshiko?" Renji said after a while.

"Nande?" I replied.

"I… like you…"

"And I like you too…" and I patted his head.

"No, I mean I think I love like you…"

I looked at him. "*Excusez-moi s'il vousplaît?"

"I like you as more than a friend…"

I quickly sat up. "But… I…"

He sat up as well. "I know you like Byakuya, but think about it. What are the chances of him liking you back? Very slim! And even if he did, he's a noble and is pretty strict about the law; and the law states that a noble can't marry a commoner."

I started to tear up. "I know, but he also adopted Rukia and that's as well against the law for him but he still did it!"

"I know, but…"

"And besides, I thought you liked her!"

"But I don't know if she likes me back!"

"And now you know how I feel Renji! I am very flattered that you like me; I think it's really sweet, but all this time I thought you cared about my feelings! And I don't mean just for him…" I stood up. "But it turns out you don't and I… I just don't want to go out with someone like that again…" and I ran to my room.

"Again? Hoshiko *matte!" and he ran after me.

"Renji please leave me alone…"

"Iie, *kudasai matte…" and he grabbed my hand.

I looked at him with red-rimmed eyes.

"What do you mean again?"

I sighed and stood on my tippy-toes and whispered in his ear my one and only secret.

He gasped. "I'm so sorry…" and he hugged me.

"It's okay…" and I hugged him back."I'm tired, can I…?"

"Hai," he interrupted. "Oyasuminasai," he hugged me again and left me alone outside my room, in the dark.

I didn't go to sleep, I didn't even go inside. I just sat there alone in the dark… and cried.

*excusez-moi s'il vous plaît? – Of course it's not Japanese. It's French, and it means excuse me please? (I actually do that sometimes so I thought it'd be cute to put it in there)

*kudasai – please

*matte – wait

Yeah, remember what we talked about up there! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And Please Review!

~Fanime-Sensei~