"Eve, it's just not the same at school without you."

"I know but I'm leaving after the beginning of the year. I didn't want to do that to those kids. You know how hard it is to change things on them." She sighed. Leaving wasn't exactly what she was doing but how could she tell them she was becoming a shinigami?

"Are you still seeing that guy you met over the summer? What was his name?"

Eve smiled. "Shuuhei and yes, we are still together."

"Where is he? Why didn't you bring him with you tonight?"

Eve looked around the crowd of costumed people. She loved Halloween and she had hoped that Shuuhei would be able to come to the party with her. "He's working," she explained.

All of a sudden one of the other teachers ran up to her. "Eve, how did you manage to do it?"

"To do what?" Eve asked confused.

"Convince him." Eve raised her brow at the woman, still unsure of what she was talking about. "You said he looked like that guy and I don't remember much about the picture you showed me but..."

Eve's heart began to pound as she scanned the crowd. "He's here?" she gasped.

Her friend mistook her shock for panic. "Do you want me to tell him to leave?"

"No," Eve whispered. "No. That's not what I meant. I just... I thought he was working."

Their eyes met from across the room. Eve smiled at him. It took everything she had not to run to him. Part of the reason she had come to this party was because she got lonely when Shuuhei was in Soul Society. She said goodbye to her friends and met Shuuhei.

"Wasn't your dress pink earlier or have I been working too much?"

She smiled. "It was pink earlier but you have been working a lot lately."

"So why did you change the color of your dress?"

"I didn't. My fairy godmothers did."

"Is that some kind of code I need to know?"

Eve laughed. "No." She kissed him. "Maybe it's code for that's a movie we need to watch."

"What kind of movie?"

"A fairy tale." She looked at him. "Don't you have fairy tales in Soul Society?"

"Not that I remember. So you're a princess?" he asked, indicating her tiara.

She smiled at him. "When I was born, an evil witch put a curse on me. At 16, I was to prick my finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die."

"Lovely fairy tale," Shuuhei muttered sarcastically.

"Wait. One of my fairy godmothers still had her gift left to give me. 'Sweet princess, if through this wicked witch's trick a spindle should your finger prick, a ray of hope there still may be in this gift I give to thee. Not in death but just in sleep. The fateful prophecy you will keep. And from this slumber you shall wake when true loves kiss the spell shall break'."

"True love conquers all." Shuuhei replied. "You look beautiful, Princess."

"Thank you," Eve smiled. "You look like a shinigami."

"It's one night where I don't have to hide who I am." Shuuhei kissed her. "I can't stay long but after I saw you earlier, I couldn't get you out of my head. No one knows I'm here."

"I know you're here."

He smirked. "No one in Soul Society knows I'm here."

"You snuck out just for me?"

"I do a lot of things just for you." He took her hand and they walked outside. "I do a lot of things just for me too." Pulling her close, he took her breath away with just a kiss. Eve's hands fisted in his hair and her body molded against him. His lips trailed her jaw to her neck. "I don't sleep well when I'm in Soul Society," Shuuhei said quietly as he held her. "It's hard to sleep without you next to me. I usually work myself into exhaustion just so I can sleep." He kissed her temple.

"I feel lonely when you're not here," Eve admitted. "I feel like something is missing from my day." She would have suggested that he take her back with him but they had this conversation before. Shuuhei knew he wouldn't get any work done with her there and she wouldn't be able to leave his quarters. They had to wait. They had to make the sacrifice. He held her, inhaling her scent, knowing he had to get back soon. He had to return before someone noticed he wasn't in his office. Eve gasped when she felt the presence of another. "Someone's here."

"Go home, Eve. I'll take care of them."

"But..."

"Eve, it's not a threat. Go. I'll be right behind you."

She nodded, kissed him quickly and flash stepped away. Shuuhei flash stepped to the roof of the building and looked around. Whoever had been near was no longer here.

Eve changed as quickly as one could when she was wearing a princess gown. She wasn't about to leave Shuuhei out there alone. She walked out of her bedroom and almost ran in to a shinigami.

"You left the party in quite a hurry."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Renji. Eve still remembered that he had asked Shuuhei if he had tapped her. "You aren't welcome in my house."

He ignored her. "You don't train with Hisagi here."

"No. I don't."

"Where then?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Look, Hisagi doesn't know I'm here. I was gonna tell him but he's put up a barrier around his office. They asked me to come test you." Eve stared at him and realized that Shuuhei must have sealed his reiatsu. Surely Renji would say something if he knew Shuuhei here. "I'm Renji."

Eve introduced herself and shook the redhead's hand. "Shuuhei trains me on the beach. Follow me." She flash stepped to the beach with Renji close behind her.

Shuuhei let out a breath as he walked out of Eve's bedroom. Renji hadn't known he was there and that was a relief. He flash stepped to the rocky cliff above the beach and watched the scene unfold.

"They asked me not to use my zanpakuto," Renji said as he stuck the sword into the sand.

"That's good. I haven't learned how to fight with a sword yet." Eve looked at him. "So how are you testing me?"

He didn't answer but instead shot a kido spell at her. Renji wasn't a novice with kido, despite how Bleach had portrayed him. She dodged it and blasted him with her own spell. They exchanged spells for a while before Renji switched to hand to hand. Eve blocked it and almost landed a blow on him.

"You're pretty good."

"Thanks."

"If Hisagi wasn't boning you, I would be."

Her temper flared. Renji didn't notice but Shuuhei did and he wondered what had caused it. The punch was lightning fast and Renji grabbed his nose, muttering curses.

"Do I pass your test?" Renji nodded, unable to speak due to the blood gushing out his nose. "Good," Eve said. She leaned in close to him. "Don't flatter yourself. It'd be a cold day in hell before I let you touch me." Part of her knew it was wrong but Eve couldn't help herself. Her knee jerked and she hit him right where it hurt most.

Doubling over, Renji took a moment to gather his composure. He opened a senkai gate and flash stepped through it. Eve watched the gate close and she fell to her knees. Shuuhei caught her before she fell in to the sand.

"Don't go to sleep on me Princess," he said as her eyes closed.

"Can't. Haven't pricked my finger yet." She curled up against him and Shuuhei flash stepped her back to her home.

Shuuhei knew she had drained her reiatsu. It had been high when she delivered the punch to Renji but now it had plummeted along with her temper. He sat her on the counter in her bathroom and took off her shoes. "What did he say, Eve?"

"That I passed," she said.

"Before that. What did he say to make you hit him?"

She was tired and all she wanted to do was go to sleep. Her voice was quiet when she spoke. "That if you weren't 'boning' me he would be." Eve was alert enough that she saw the anger flicker in his eyes. She put her hand on his cheek. "It's okay, Shuuhei. I told him it would be a cold day in hell before he ever touched me." She gave him a weak smile. "Then I kneed him." Shuuhei shook his head at her. "Can I go lay down now? I'm really tired."

"Shower first. Then bed."

"Why do I haven't to take a shower?"

"Because you're covered in sand and I know how much you hate trailing sand through your house." Shuuhei smiled at her.

It took a few minutes for him to get her into the shower. Eve leaned against him. Shuuhei held her and gave her some of his reiatsu to help rebuild hers. As he washed her, Shuuhei talked to her to keep her awake.

"You aren't taking advantage of my weakened state?" Eve asked as he turned off the shower.

"Sorry Princess. I can't take advantage of you when you're about to fall asleep standing up." He wrapped her in a towel.

"You stayed longer than I thought you would."

"I stayed longer than I planned but I had a good reason to. I wasn't going to leave while Renji tested you. I was being tested as well. They would have wanted to make sure I was training you properly."

Eve nodded and Shuuhei picked her up and carried her to bed. "Will you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Of course," he replied as he kissed her. Sliding in to bed next to her, Shuuhei took her hand in his. "Eve, I love you."

She smiled. "I love you, Shuuhei."

...

"I was going to tell you but you lock yourself in here whenever you're here," Renji said as he walked into Shuuhei's office.

"I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on," Shuuhei said. "What is it you were going to tell me?"

"They sent me to test her," Renji replied, nodding toward the observation screen.

"I know."

Renji looked at him. "You know? How? I just gave my report to the Captain Commander."

"Eve told me."

"You talked to her? How?"

Shuuhei didn't want anyone to know he had been at the beach. Nor did he want anyone to know he talked to Eve on SMS. "She left me a note." That much was true. Eve left him notes that he'd see when she wasn't there. "She told me what happened in it."

"What all did she say?"

"She told me everything."

"Everything?"

"Did you include everything in your report?"

"No. I left out that she punched me and kneed me."

"Because you would've had to tell them that you provoked her." Shuuhei stood and walked over to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to check on the printers. Make sure everything is going smoothly."

"It's not fair."

"What's not fair?" Shuuhei asked.

"I called dibs on her."

"You what?"

"When you started watching her. Kira and I came in here later that day. I called dibs on her."

"You can't call dibs on a person."

"Yes you can. I called dibs on her first and you stole her."

"I didn't steal her. Eve's been interested in me since before she knew I was real."

"What? That makes no sense."

"She's a fan and you were never on her favorite list."

"But that character isn't you."

"No. He's not. But Eve and I got to know each other." Shuuhei looked at the observation screen. "I love her." With that, Shuuhei left his office and Renji in order to finish his captain duties so he could return to the woman he loved.