She sighed peacefully as she sat and watched the sun make its slow decent down the horizon. Her days off were always spent with her having some much needed peace and relaxation at her small villa on the outskirts of the Seireitei. Being the captain of the 4th Division also meant that she was the chief at the hospital; it would eventually take a toll on her if she didn't take days off. "Good afternoon, Isane," she greeted in her ever pleasant tone.

Her lieutenant prostrated herself hastily and she spoke in a hushed tone, "Good afternoon, Unohana-taicho; the hospital was fairly calm today. The only issue we had was when an unseated 5th Division member was attacked by a Hollow, he is in stable condition," she relayed.

Unohana turned and gestured for her lieutenant to sit next to her, "You don't have to bow to me like that, Isane," she reprimanded her gently as she poured her a cup of tea. The tall woman took a sip in appreciation and sighed. "I'm sorry, Unohana-taicho," she apologized guiltily.

"It's alright."

A comfortable silence fell between the women as the sun finally completed its journey back down over the horizon. Isane took a tentative peek at her captain, to see the ancient healer staring directly at the moon in deep thought. Retsu was a very difficult woman to read because she kept her emotions well hidden, often putting on a pleasant smile.

"Um, Taicho?"

"Yes?"

The tall woman fidgeted uncomfortably as she tried to get her words together. She was being forced by the rest of the Shinigami Women's Association to get more details about Unohana's love life. They knew that this was basically a suicide mission, but they didn't care; they were desperate for answers. "I-I do not know much about you, so I wanted to ask you if you would tell me more about yourself," she said quietly, "family, friends, relationships?"

Unohana laughed slightly in surprise and turned to her nervous lieutenant. "I am from the 36th district of Himani in West Rukongai," she began, "I lived with my parents, three sisters, and my brother. Everyone in my family is dead, but I don't know if my brother is alive or not; haven't spoken to him in centuries," she said with a slightly melancholic tone. "I am friendly with everyone in the Seireitei, and as far as relationships go," she paused as she stood up, "that would be a long story," she patted her lieutenant's shoulder, "Good night, Isane." She walked back to her personal quarters as Isane sighed in defeat, the Association will have her head after this.


'Retsu.'

"Yes, Minazuki?"

Her zanpakuto never ceased to bother her at the least favorable time. Right when she was sitting at her marble vanity, loosening her long braid, Minazuki interrupted her. 'Why didn't you tell the girl the things she wanted to know about your relationships? Were you afraid?' Minazuki asked bluntly; her zanpakuto had no discretion whatsoever. "I am not under any obligation to say anything I do not want to," Retsu said shortly as she brushed out her long raven hair, "she would relay every single word I say to the rest of the women's association. It is obvious that they forced her to ask me."

'Ah, I see," Minazuki replied airily, 'you were paranoid.'

"I was not."

'You were quite the lovely woman, back in the day," the female zanpakuto said with a slight nostalgic tone. 'It wouldn't hurt to get back into the dating game; it's been nearly three hundred years.'

"I do not have time to pursue a relationship and I am not attracted to any men as of now," Retsu said with forced calm as she sat down on her bed and opened a novel.

'What about Shunsui Kyoraku?" Minazuki pressed on, 'he's a nice enough man once you get past his blatant perversion and alcoholism. Katen Kyokotsu has been begging me to convince you to give him a chance; she's tired of his complaints of a lack of a woman.'

"I harbor no romantic feelings for him, we are only friends."

'What about Jushiro Ukitake? Many of the young Shinigami ship both of you together!"

"Ship? Like a boat?"

'No, ship as in a relationship!" Minazuki said in exasperation, 'you need to get out more.'

"My relationship with Ukitake-san is the same as with Kyoraku-san, only friends."

'Yamamoto-sotaicho? Underneath his tough exterior could probably be a decent man, Ryujin Jakka isn't as pleasant, however. Very grumpy.'

"That is inappropriate," Retsu huffed, "imagine the outcry!"

'How about Toshiro Hitsugaya, hmm? He's like a grown man in a child's body!' Minazuki gushed scandalously.

"Are you insane?" Unohana exclaimed in shock.

'Sajin Komamura is another man you should consider,' Minazuki advised with fake concern, 'the only problem that would bring is the amount of fur that would cover your home.'

"You are not insane, you're demented," Retsu snapped impatiently.

'Calm down, Retsu, it was only a little joke," Minazuki hastily added. There was an extended length of silence between the seasoned captain and her zanpakuto, and the exact second that she closed her eyes to sleep was the same time that Minazuki spoke up again.

'Byakuya Kuchiki, what do you think of this man?'

Unohana felt her heart stop for a moment, shocked by Minazuki's question. Byakuya-san was a friend, albeit a close friend at that. They both enjoyed each other's company and she would rather not mess up their friendship over a few passing thoughts about him.

"Only friends, now good night, Minazuki," she said firmly as she drew her blanket up to cover her oncoming blush, even though no one would see it.

'Yes, yes, fine,' Minazuki said in defeat, 'Sweet dreams, Captain Retsu Kuchiki," she whispered smugly under her breath.


'Master." An ethereal voice spoke out, breaking the quietness of the night.

Byakuya opened his eyes slowly and sighed in annoyance as he sat up. Of all the times for Senbonzakura to speak to him, it was in the middle of the night. "What is it?" the man grumbled in irritation as he flipped on the lamp that was next to him.

'You seem troubled," the Zanpakuto said observantly.

"There is nothing wrong with me," Byakuya snapped shortly as he adjusted his pillows, "I need my rest, leave me be.

Senbonzakura wisely remained silent as he waited patiently for his master to calm down. Even if it didn't show, he was concerned about his master's mental state. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something that was off about Byakuya; Senbonzakura could feel the disturbance in his master's spirit and he has felt it before, but that was about sixty years ago.

'I sense a disturbance in your heart, my master," Senbonzakura repeated in a different manner, hoping to not arouse his master's temper. There was one thing that hadn't changed since Byakuya was a boy right up until he grew up to be a man; his temper was something to be reckoned with. Thankfully, he can restrain himself now, but in the privacy of his own home it is not guaranteed.

The noble didn't even bother sit up or turn on his light, but spoke. "There is nothing wrong with me," he repeated himself calmly. "Don't bother me." If Byakuya was being honest with himself, he did feel a little bit 'off', but couldn't describe what he felt. It didn't feel new to him, but he wasn't used to it.

'Who are you escorting to the party?' Senbonzakura asked smoothly, promptly changing the subject. He hoped to get the answers that he wanted from a different approach. Byakuya opened his eyes and scowled, "There is no reason for me to escort someone, I am the one who is planning it," he replied with a cold tone.

'So there are no women around you attract your attention, Master?' the Zanpakuto continued airily, hoping that his tone of voice didn't give away his true intentions.

"None."

'What about Yoruichi Shihoin? You had quite the crush on her in your younger days,' Senbonzakura pressed on nonchalantly, knowing that telling Byakuya about his puppy love for Yoruichi when he was a boy would chip away at his stoic demeanor. He could feel Byakuya's shoulders tense up in anger.

"That demon cat does not elicit the slightest romantic reaction in me," Byakuya deadpanned as he drew up his blanket under his chin.

'Matsumoto-fukutaicho? She's very pretty, but her zanpakuto Haineko has an unfortunate attraction to me,' Senbonzakura said bitterly.

"That woman is as vulgar and lewd as Yoruichi Shihoin, not an option." Byakuya retorted in annoyance. Senbonzakura realized that at this rate he would get an answer, and decided to keep the conversation going.

Byakuya knew that Senbonzakura was up to no good, why else would the generally silent Zanpakuto be badgering him on about such frivolous subjects like romance. "Why are you asking me such things?" Byakuya calmly demanded as he finally sat up.

'It has been very long since you've loved a woman, Master. I am very concerned.' Senbonzakura replied honestly.

The noble could feel his hand tightening on his blanket as soon as the words left Senbonzakura's mouth. He vowed to never love another woman after Hisana's death; it would be a betrayal to her memory. "I don't need a lover, Senbonzakura. Now let me get some rest," Byakuya grumbled as he tucked himself back into bed.

'Retsu Unohana is a very kind and beautiful woman,' Senbonzakura continued, ignoring Byakuya's request for silence. 'Don't you think, Master?" The Zanpakuto was depending on his master's answer to figure out what was going on with him.

Byakuya's eyes snapped open in surprise and had a look of shock on his face before quickly replacing it with a look of annoyance. "She is a colleague," he said with forced calm, "and nothing more. Now leave me be!"

'As you wish, Master,' Senbonzakura said with an incline of his head. 'I hope you find your soul mate, she may be closer than you think,' he snickered sagely.


"A-re you alright, Unohana-taicho?"

The seasoned captain blinked wearily at her lieutenant, but managed to put on a smile. "I am fine, Isane. Just a bit tired," she replied kindly. The pair was on their way to their respective meetings today, and Retsu was exhausted. Not only did Minazuki keep her up half of the night, what her Zanpakuto said to her struck a nerve. She did feel a bit lonely, but her work for the Soul Society was more important. Waving goodbye to her lieutenant, she walked inside of the assemble hall.

Murmuring good morning to the few captains that were there, she gracefully sat down in a chair and rested her head against her hand and closed her eyes.

The other captains were immediately unnerved by this. Unohana usually was the only person to stand in her spot way before Yamamoto arrived and here she is snoozing!

"Unohana-taicho looks exhausted," Ukitake whispered to the other captains as he pointed out the visible bags underneath her eyes. She had been acting quite different since the end of the war, it was known throughout most of the Gotei 13.

"She must have had a late night," Shinji added, but his words were laced with innuendo, "if ya know what I mean."

Sui-feng scowled at Shinji, "Fool! Don't start any rumors!" she reprimanded him harshly. She didn't want Unohana to trace any rumors back to the Shinigami Women's Association. Before they could continue with their discussion about Unohana, the assembly door hall opened.

Byakuya Kuchiki glided in, graceful as always. But he too looked exhausted and had pronounced bags under his eyes…

…just like Unohana.

The noble nodded wearily at the captains and sat down in a chair next to Unohana, oblivious to the gossip flying around.

"Byakuya-kun and Unohana-taicho look tired, quite the coincidence, eh?" Kyoraku quipped as he took a sip of sake.

"Silence!"

The roar of the head captain immediately halted all conversations. Yamamoto glanced around and noticed that Unohana and Kuchiki looked like they were about to pass out from exhaustion as they stumbled to their spots in formation. Brushing it off as nothing, he started the meeting.


"You looked tired," Byakuya stated as he shut the door to his parlor behind him. Unohana gave him a curious look as she sat down in an armchair, "I was not tired. Why do you think I was?" she asked with fake confusion. Byakuya sat across from her and folded his hands across his face so that she couldn't see his expression, even if he didn't put one on.

"You sat down before the meeting. Under normal circumstances, you are the first one to be in position," he replied with a stone cold voice and even colder expression. She ignored his cold expression and retorted with her own observation. "If my memory serves me right, you were sitting down as well," she responded sweetly, even though Byakuya knew this as a warning not to push her buttons anymore.

"I'll assume that your exhaustion was a result of insomnia," Byakuya murmured as he sent a servant to bring them tea with a flourish of his hand. "Quite the opposite, actually," Retsu sighed, "my Zanpakuto was speaking to me most of the night."

Byakuya's eyes widened momentarily and disguised his moment of weakness with a cough. Zanpakutos were free to communicate with other Zanpakutos as much as they wanted, sometimes without the knowledge of their owner. He wouldn't be surprised if Senbonzakura had been corresponding with Minazuki.

"The same for me as well," Byakuya confirmed as he sipped his tea. Unohana shifted uncomfortable in her seat as she took out her notepad from an inside pocket of her haori. "We still have quite a bit of business to continue," she said as she hastily tried to change the subject. "Let's get started."


She eagerly eyed the assortment of dishes that was set before them, but was sure to keep her composure. "These are the potential appetizers for the party," Byakuya informed her as he sat down beside her in the dining hall. A quarter of the table was taken up by the lavish dishes that the servants spent most of the day cooking. "These are only the appetizers?" Unohana asked in astonishment, thinking that she was looking at the whole entire menu.

"There are three more courses to go after this," Byakuya said as he offered her a plate of spicy dango. With newfound confidence, she picked up the spicy dumpling and took a small bite. "Hmm, this tastes wonderful!" she said happily as she finished the other two dumplings on her stick. Byakuya took a bite as well and nodded in satisfaction.

"I'll assume that this is now a menu choice now, correct?" he asked as he finished his dango. Retsu smiled and nodded as she wrote down 'spicy chill pepper dango' on her notepad. She was about to point to some avocado sushi when she noticed that there was a bit of sauce on the corner of Byakuya's lips. It would be quite unnerving to see a dignified noble in a state of disarray like this, but it didn't affect Unohana in the least bit.

Almost on instinct, she reached out to his face and tenderly wiped it away.

"You had something on your face," she whispered softly, her deep cerulean eyes shining as she used her thumb to make sure his face was clean.

Byakuya's stoic exterior was immediately shot down as his eyes widened in shock. He knew that Retsu was caring and gentle, but never in his life did he expect her to do something so, loving. It was quite the surprise. He put his and on top of hers that was still on his cheek, "Retsu," he breathed. He was about to ask her why she did it, but he saw someone rush away hurriedly in a flash of black and white.

And wide, fearful violet eyes.


Rukia shunpoed as fast as her small legs could take her to the Shihoin Mansion, where the association was having a girls' day. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as she tried her best to force the images of Unohana-taicho and Nii-sama in such an intimate position. He sure was lucky that it was only her who saw, any other clan member would've gone straight to the Elders and the Seireitei would have found out in mere hours.

"Please tell me this isn't happening!" she shouted out to no one in particular.


"Son of a-" Yoruichi gasped in shock as she dropped her glass of sake. Rukia had practically busted down the door of Yoruichi's mansion and was near tears as she emotionally told the rest of the women what she had saw between Retsu and Byakuya. "I-I knew they were close, b-but I didn't know…." Isane spluttered out as she shook her head in disbelief.

"We've got to get to the bottom of this," Rangiku said forcefully, actually sober for once. "There has to be some way of finding out what's really going on!" Rukia dabbed away the tears that were on the corners of her eyes and sighed deeply, "I-I can't believe he'd forget about Hisana-nee-sama," she lamented as she banged her head on the table.

"He can't wallow in her memory for the rest of his life, Rukia," Yoruichi retorted firmly as she turned to Rangiku, "But you're right, Rangiku. We need to figure out what's going on."

"Do you need a spy, Boobies?!" Yachiru piped up as she jumped on the table that they were all seated at, "Cuz I know Bya-kun's house like the back of my hand!" she finished cheerfully. Nanao's eyebrows furrowed in revulsion as she cleared her throat and stood up. "Our motives cannot be obvious to either one of the captains," she said shortly. The women sat in silence, each trying to figure out a decent way of spying on the two without getting caught.

"We should partake in a friendly competition to discover the secret relationship of our superiors," Nemu stated in a monotone voice that broke the silence. "Prizes may be awarded to those win."

Rangiku's sky blue eyes sparked in excitement as she grabbed Nemu into a bone-crushing hug. It was difficult to know whether Nemu was in pain or not since her usually bored expression did not change. "It's perfect!" Rangiku gushed as she shook Nemu violently, "it'll bring us together as a group and let us find out what the hell is going on!"

"No one will be invading my Nii-sama's privacy!" Rukia angrily exclaimed as she stood up on the table in a fruitless attempt to make herself look intimidating. Nii-sama would be furious to discover a bunch of board female Shinigami following him around at every waking moment. And imagine how Unohana-taicho might react, no one has any idea how she would!

"Get off my table," Yoruichi grouched as she grabbed Rukia by her collar and casually tossed her in a chair. These women weren't ignorant; they were in their high positions for a reason. They're smart enough to at least come up with a decent plan to spy on Byakuya and Retsu.

"I'll have to pass on spying on them," Momo said weakly with a smile. She wasn't cut out for getting down and dirty, it was understandable. "I'll probably volunteer to help organize things."

Rangiku nodded and disappeared for a few minutes to come back with a large whiteboard. "Alright, the teams will be me and Yoruichi, Isane and Nanao, Nemu and Yachiru, and Sui-feng and Kiyone," she said as she wrote down everything on the whiteboard. "What about me?" Yachiru pouted as she threw rice cakes at Rangiku. The buxom blonde sighed and bent down to Yachiru's level. "Yachiru Kusajishi, I hereby dub you as Supreme Magnificently Awesome Keeper of the Secrets," she said in a dignified tone, "It's your job to prevent anyone outside of this room from finding out about our game, including Unohana-taicho. Are you up for the challenge?"

The short, pink haired girl was practically bouncing off of the walls with joy, so Rangiku took that as a yes.

The demon cat noticed how everyone turned to Rukia because she didn't have a partner. "You already have an advantage, Rukia, since Stick in his Ass-taicho is your brother," Yoruichi said with a large grin.

Rukia blanched and shook her head furiously in protest, "I refuse to participate!" she shouted as she covered her eyes in fear since Yoruichi was walking directly up to her. The violet haired woman removed one of Rukia's hands and whispered a few words into her ear that had the petite fukutaicho trembling violently in fear. With a heavy heart, she sobbed.

"Fine! I'll do it!"