Catherine gulped as the door was closed behind her. She'd never been in his office…alone…with him… There were usually other people there with them—like Renji, Rukia, or even Rikichi!

She watched as Byakuya walked to his desk then gestured her to go closer to him. She jumped slightly and walked over to him quickly, standing close behind him and peeking over his shoulder. There was a moderate pile of work on his desk but that didn't distract her from the sudden scent of cherry blossoms emitting from the Captain standing before her. She breathed in deeply, taking in the sweet scent from him. She smiled inwardly, closing her eyes contently but snapped them back open when the scent suddenly disappeared—she saw that Byakuya had gone to the other side of his desk and sat down.

Byakuya folded his hands on the desk and asked, "So what is it that you needed from me?"

Catherine reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded paper. She outstretched her shaking hand to give it to him before saying, "It's from Rukia…"

The Captain took the sheet and unfolded it. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes looked over it.

"It's blank…"

Catherine shrugged. "Rukia just wanted me to give it to you, Taicho…" Byakuya placed the paper on top of his word and waited. "Um…"

"Is there anything else?" the Kuchiki Head raised an eyebrow once again. The girl studdered again as he stood up. "Surely you didn't come here only to deliver a blank sheet to me."

"Well, uh…" She stood up straight. "Rukia told me to deliver it to you and—" Suddenly the weight in her pocket disappeared with a loud clank on the floor. They both looked down at the small camera on the wooden paneling. Catherine grimanced and grabbed the device quickly, stuffing it in her pocket. "Um…"

"What it—"

"It's nothing!" Catherine waved a hand in front of her, cutting him off. "It's the Shinigami Women's thing—just a project of ours!"

"Just a project…?"

Catherine blushed. "Yes… It's something for a, uh…--"her voice softened—"photobook…" She looked down at the floor as she drummed her fingers against the device in her pocket.

"Um, Kuchiki-taicho?" she suddenly asked.

"Hmm?"

"Do you mind if I…" she trailed off to a whisper as she finished her request. HE watched her stumble over her words to think over what to say—and more importantly, how to say it. "D-do you mind if I…uh…"

"If you—"

"Do you mind if I take a—"

"Kuchiki-taicho!!" The door suddenly swung open and a certain red-haired lieutenant barged violently into the room. He waved a sheet of paper around in the air, shouted, "The General wants you to give this to Soi Fon-taicho!", and left the paper on the nobleman's desk.

"And why wouldn't you deliver it instead, Renji?" the captain asked, averting his gaze from the paper to his loud lieutenant. Renji shrugged, making Byakuya shake his head. "I will be on my way then."

"T-Taicho!" Catherine grabbed his sleeve with her hands and gripped at the fabric tightly. She blushed to herself as she thought of how awkward the situation seemed—she could even feel both Byakuya and Renji staring at her sudden outburst. She didn't even know why she jumped at him, but she knew she had to think of an excuse. The thought of him leaving just…bothered her.

"Uh…" She tilted her head to the side and pulled his sleeve up and down playfully. "I didn't get to ask my question!"

Byakuya placed his free hand on her shoulder saying, "We'll talk about it later." Catherine looked up at him with an involuntary look of hope in her eyes. "Why don't you come back tomorrow?" She suddenly said. Catherine nodded and released his sleeve. He ran his hand down her arm, his fingers twitching, itching, as they just barely touched her fingertips. He turned and walked out of the room. Renji followed soon after, throwing Catherine a confused glance as she made her way out of the room.

---------------------------------------------------

I glanced at the door to the room as it creaked open. I sat up quickly as she made her way to her futon on the other side of the room. I walked over to her and asked, "How'd it go?" She groaned. "Got any good pictures?" She only groaned again, slumping against the futon and burying her face in the pillow.

I tilted my head and asked, "Any bites?!"

"WHAT!" Catherine sat up quickly, glaring at me. "WHY WOULD—"

"I was just kidding!" I laughed. "How'd it go?" I asked again once the laughter died out. She crossed her arms and averted her eyes away from me.

I opened my mouth to question her when she suddenly shouted, "I made a complete fool of myself! He'll probably never look at me the same way again!"

"Why? What happened…?" I sat down on the floor by her and scooted closer to her. "It couldn't have been that bad…"

"Well it was!" She fell backwards against the blankets, staring at the ceiling. "And, no, I did not get the picture. I couldn't get it out to ask him." She pulled the gadget out of her pocket and dropped it on the futon. "And he wants me to go back tomorrow…"

"That means you can still try again!" I smiled at her hopefully.

"Maybe." She rolled to her side and pulled the blanket up to her head. "I'm going to bed."

"It's still pretty early…"

"I know, but…" she paused. "I'm kinda tired."

I told her, "Good night." After a few moments even though I knew she was probably already asleep.

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Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD! I KNOW I have to stop taking an eternity to update my stories but I can't get my lazy ass to do iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitt!!! D: To make it up to you guys, I'm gonna upload as many chapters as I've written of ABoaP TTwTT Don't shoot me but if I tried to do the same thing with IS(Imaginary Shinigami), I'd be sitting at my laptop FOREEVVEERRR D: I'm almost done writing yet…and yet I'm still typing the first of three notebooks of it… This sucks TwT.

I'm trying to get on track with it but… the first plot twist isn't for a few more chapters… So I'm sorry if it isn't very interesting yet DX

Thanks for waiting! And thank-you for all the comments, favs, and freedback!