Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH or it would never the same again…

A/N: Sorry for the late update again, I was kinda' busy nowadays with everything. Don't want to bother you all with my talks, just keep on reading then… R&R please…

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Chapter 7: Unknown Feelings

"If she keeps haunting me like this, I bet I'm not going to be able to sleep for all of my life…," Byakuya unconsciously sighed, "Hisana… Why are you always appearing in my dreams?" he stared towards the sky; the night sky was full of stars but the moon was not anywhere in sight.

It had been nearly a week since the meeting between Sousuke and Byakuya and the incident that nearly cost Naqeshi her life. And whatever the reasons were, he refused to report anything to Soul Society despite the efforts given by everyone around him. It wasn't for the fear of the Emperor's rage of letting his only daughter hurt or for the fear of Naqeshi being mistreated as associate of Sousuke but it was because of something within him that he just couldn't understand. And the fact he didn't know what the thing was made him totally annoyed; he sighed unconsciously.

Someone tapped his left shoulder from behind, "Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya turned around and saw Naqeshi with her usual mesmerizing smile. Again, something stirred within him but he still couldn't understand nor grasp it and began to feel annoyed. Carefully hiding his annoyance, he faced the Hisana-like princess, "Naqeshi-hime-sama. Why are you here?"

"Nothing special, just want to have a night walk in the park and coincidentally meet you," Naqeshi looked into the starry sky, "It'd be great if the moon is there…"

"Another Hisana-ness…," Byakuya thought to himself and stared towards the sky. Both of them kept silent for a while.

"You look like the white moon," Naqeshi started.

Byakuya turned his attention to her, "Sorry?"

"Byakuya-sama, you look like the white moon to me. Your face shines like a full moon…and daisuki desu…"

Now, Byakuya positively sure that his face turned crimson and hoped Naqeshi wouldn't realized it. Unfortunately for him, she noticed his reddening face and stared at him closely. Feeling uneasy at once, he turned his face away and asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Your face's red…," and her hands turned his face back to her, "…and warm too. Are you getting cold?" and her right hand was about to touched his forehead when his hands grabbed hers, "Nani?"

"I-I'm fine, Hime-sama… It's just-…," he stared right into her serene turquoise eyes and felt something stirred in his heart, trying to open the locked door that had been left unopened since Hisana's death…

"Just?" Naqeshi asked, failed to notice Byakuya was staring right into hers as she thought he was just…well, looking at her just as two normal persons would do when they were engaged in a conversation.

"It's just…," Byakuya's voice trailed off and unconsciously, his right hand traveled between her silk hair and firmly placed itself behind her head while the other one loosely held her right hand.

Naqeshi blinked her eyes in puzzlement, "Byakuya-sama?"

"It's just…," he pulled her closer to him and her face closer to his. His dark eyes fixed onto hers and his voice turned into soft murmurs, "Hime-sama… I…," he bent a little and was about to embrace her rosy lips with his own…

ZHUUUP! CREEAAAAASHHHH!

Byakuya's senses failed to sense an incoming Hollow and would be wounded heavily by its surprise whipping-vines assault but thanks to his years of experiences of fighting of Hollows, he managed to just evade its attack at the last minute by quickly jumped out of the Hollow's attack range with Naqeshi secured safely in his arms. He placed her onto the ground and somehow felt relieved because of the appearance of the Hollow; its sudden attack stopped him from doing what he would eternally regret later…

Byakuya stood and turned around to face the oversized-squid Hollow. His hand instinctively reached for his Zanpakutou and again, he began to feel annoyed; he forgot to take with him his Zanpakutou. This was just not so like him; first, nearly kissing a crown princess who already had a fiancé and second, forgot to take his Zanpakutou. He didn't really care about forgetting his Zanpakutou since he still could use kidou but he did really wished Naqeshi would somehow – miraculously – forget whatever had happened – or nearly happened – earlier between them or just simply didn't quite get what he was nearly did to her – which was just simply sounded like a dumb wish to him…

"Shinigami… Shinigami… Both of you look tasty to me… Wonder who I should eat first…," the Hollow jerked its masked head from one side to one side.

"I'll choose for you," Byakuya held out his right hand, "Hadou Sanjyuusan, Soukatsui!" and a spirit blue ball soared furiously towards the Hollow and strike right onto its mask, causing line of weaknesses to appear. Naqeshi was about to call her Zanpakutou but stopped by Byakuya, "Let me handle this; you could've been hurt again as your wound is not fully healed."

"How dare you… SHINEEEEE!" the Hollow charged towards Byakuya whose already murmured incantations.

"…Hadou Rokujyuusan, Raikouhou!" a powerful huge bullet-like spirit ball blasted through the Hollow's face and its shriek was full of agony. Seconds later, it evaporated into thin air, leaving no traces of it behind. Silent fell between both Naqeshi and Byakuya for a while…

"Byakuya-sama, are you-"

"Forget it."

"Eh?"

"Forget anything about what have happened earlier, don't ask why; just forget it," and he hastily walked away, leaving her with a puzzled face.

Naqeshi tilted her head slightly towards the right, "What's wrong with him? All I'm about to ask is if he's okay since I think he may actually get the cold…"

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A/N: …review?