Okay! Here is chapter ten! I don't know how long it took to update, but I think that it took a month or almost a month to update this and I am sorry. At first it was due another problem, and then recently I tried to and the internet wouldn't let me upload it to the document manager. But, anyway, here it is. Please enjoy its quickness, due to the fact that I rushed it. And it will take a while for me to get the 11th chapter up due to lack of ideas for the next chapter and the fact that I am now rushing a lot of it. You will see why soon.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I only own my OCs. I will not make any money off of this.

Return of the Missing

Chapter 10 Time for Thinking Leads to Thoughts

With a sigh Kiyone went into the office, greeting Sentaro and Ukitake. Lena was still sick today, yesterday being the day that she first got sick.

"I guess that Lena-chan is still sick?" Ukitake said, looking up from working on his paperwork. When she nodded he continued to work.

Later that day at Lena's house, she groaned as she coughed up a lung into the washcloth, and then sighed when she saw the blood in it. As soon as she got better, she was going to kill Jared for doing this to her!

"Lena-chan!" She heard Kiyone call from downstairs. Must be the end of the workday Lena thought. A couple of seconds later Kiyone walked into the door, smiling at Lena in greeting. "So, how are you feeling now?" she asked, walking to Lena and feeling her forehead to see if she was running a fever. Check- fever.

"I've been better. If I am not better by the day after tomorrow I'm going to go to Captain Unohana and see if she can help." She replied, sighing. She had tried to use the techniques that she was taught by her friend, but, for once, none of them had worked. Yep, she was going to kill Jared.

"Yeah, that is a good idea." Kiyone replied, grabbing the bag she had brought, which had a thermometer in it. She frowned a couple minutes later, having taken Lena's temperature. "But, with how hot your temperature is I think that you should go see her today. It is 104.6 degrees Fahrenheit."

"That's not good." Lena replied, rolling her eyes at her luck.

"Yeah, that's the truth." Kiyone replied, sighing in response. After checking on Lena's pulse and checking a couple of other things Kiyone left, saying that she had other things that she had to do. After she had left Lean sighed, glancing over at the pictures she had in the room.

'What would Kie do if he was still alive.' She thought, looking at the picture of him. Then she glance at the picture of her and her friends. 'What would June do?' After a couple of seconds she frowned. She missed June and Mina. Before she had gone to the academy, she had always been with them since they became a group of misfit friends. And now they were not even in the academy and wouldn't be until early September, a couple of months away. Oh, how she missed her friends.

-:-

Two days later, Lena was in the 4th division, seeing as how she was still sick.

"What happened to cause you to get this attack? And how long ago was it?" Unohana asked after she had minimized Lena's symptoms.

"Okay. Three days ago I had extremely cold water splashed on me, and I couldn't get out of those clothes for a couple of minutes." She replied. Mad as she may be she wasn't going to try to get Jared in trouble. Unohana nodded, now knowing what to do to help her.

Half an hour later Lena was better, now no longer sick as she had been treated by the captain. But Unohana had noticed something, and she wanted to know the solution to it. "Why is it that your lungs are so healthy even though you have TB?" Maybe there was some secret that she had found that Unohana hadn't.

"My friend thought of some crazy techniques, and before I met her I learned some ways from another person that was an expert with TB. I guess that is how my lungs are so healthy." Lena shrugged, not sure if that is how it really how her lungs were still so healthy.

"Which one do you think made a bigger impact?" Unohana asked, wanting to know.

"My friend. Her techniques are quite weird but they help me so much." Lena replied, smiling in her head as she thought of her friend.

"Is she currently in the Seireitei?" she asked, wanting to know so that if the answer was yes she could track down the person.

"No, but she will soon be joining the academy." Unohana nodded, deciding that she should talk to this person as soon as she got there. But, who knows how long that will take.

-:-

"Please spare me Len-len-fukitaicho!" Jared said the day later, trying to get away from Lena's anger. She had thirty minutes before she had to get to the office, and from where she was it would take her ten minutes walking.

"You had me sick in bed for three days. Three days, gosh darnit!" She glared, crossing her arms and frowning at him. Jared felt a shiver of fear go down his spine. Lena could be scary when she wanted to!

"I know. I know that you won't believe me, but I am honestly sorry. I really did not mean to do that. I swear." He said. It was the truth- he didn't mean to hit her with the water. But, with how sick she had been he doubted that she would believe him. He deserved it though.

She frowned. She sensed that he was being honest and that he hadn't really meant to hurt her. But she didn't want to forgive him. Jared gave her a pleading look, making Lena feel bad for not wanting to forgive him. It was almost impossible to not forgive. "Fine. But, if you ever do it again I will never forgive you." She said, giving him a hard look.

Jared nodded, smiling and hugging Lena. "Thank you so much! I don't deserve to have you as my friend. I use and abuse you way too much." Sighing, he let go of her. Contrary to what people said at the academy, he didn't like her, at least in that way. She was like a little sister to him.

"Well, mellow over this while I head to the office." She said, smiling and heading to the office when he said bye.

Ten minutes later, Lena reached the office. Walking in she smiled as Sentaro and Kiyone greeted her enthusiastically.

"Hello Lena-chan. How are you feeling?" Ukitake asked after the third seats had quieted down.

"Fine now, thank you." She politely responded. With a wide smile she walked over to her desk, not surprised when there wasn't much paperwork on it. After all, Sentaro and Kiyone always worked on her paperwork when she was there. She was betting that since she wasn't there they did all the paperwork both days. But she didn't mind. Less work for her.

"You're a little earlier than you usually are." Ukitake noted. She had gotten there with fifteen minutes left to spare. Usually she got there barely on time.

"Well, I was yelling at the person who was the cause of me being sick. And then I thought that I had less time then I really had. That is why." She said, putting the top piece of the stack in front of her and going over it.

Ukitake nodded, understanding. "So, did they do that on accident?" He asked, curious. Lena nodded.

"Yes, he said that he doubted that I would believe him but he swore that he didn't mean to do that. I saw that he wasn't lying, so I had to accept it." She shrugged, continuing on. "Plus, I had a feeling that he wouldn't do something like that to me." She didn't explain, but instead started to work on the paperwork.

Ukitake felt an odd sense of jealousy. Did this mean that they were together? And why did the thought of Lean having a boyfriend that wasn't him annoy him? "Why do you say that?" He asked, wanting to know the answer, but also oddly afraid of hearing that they were dating. What was up with him? She was his lieutenant and they hadn't been talking for that long. It made no sense.

"Well, he sees me as if I was his little sister. I don't think that if he actually had a little sister that he would do that to her. Just my opinion." She paused in her paperwork and looked at him, smiling, wondering why her heart skipped a beat when he returned her smile. She had noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that something about his posture had been odd. But she had dismissed it, and she still was dismissing it.

Ukitake felt relieved, and, at the same time, confused as to why he felt relieved. At a lack of what to say he just nodded in response, going back to his paperwork. Right afterwards he glanced back up, confused as he heard giggling; just Lena. But, why was she giggling?

"You thought that I was dating him." She said, making him get surprised. Kiyone and Sentaro, who had been watching in amusement at the exchange, were surprised that she had realized that. They hadn't even realized that, and they were supposed to know him better than her. "No, I don't think I would ever date him. While he does know when to be serious, and is sweet at those times, he is also extremely annoying."

Ukitake nodded, understanding it all. Expect for one part. "How did you know that I was thinking that?" He risked, not quite sure on what her response would be.

"I've spent my whole life watching to people and use those to make connections to emotions and also listen to what they say and how they say it and make connections. It was kinda obvious that you were thinking that, at least to me it was." Lena explained, shrugging. Ukitake frowned, thinking. Was it really easy to read him? He glanced over at Kiyone and Sentaro, who seemed to be confused as well. Maybe he was… "No, just to answer you." She said, making them all jump and glance over at her.

"No, what?" He asked; after all, he hadn't said anything.

"No, it wasn't really easy to read you. Like I said, I spend a lot of my time learning people and their expressions. That was the only reason that I can read you." She said, smiling and signing a piece of paper. Ukitake nodded, deciding that there was nothing that he could say as he went back to his paperwork.

-:-

That night, after they had finished the paperwork, Lena and Ukitake went out to eat. During that time Lena realized that she enjoyed hanging out with her captain. When she got home, after having been walked there by her captain, she changed into her pajamas, sitting by the window staring out over the Seireitei and thinking about her captain. Without realizing it she smiled, a blush coming to her cheeks.

Shocked by her blush and smile her mind went blank. Why had she blushed when thinking about her captain? She looked out the window again, seeing the person she was thinking about walking to his home. She smiled, wondering if he knew that she saw him at that moment, if he could feel her gaze on him. Her lips turned up a little, making her frown and look away from the window and her captain. She glared at the carpet, a sudden thought coming to her head.

Did she love her captain?

I hope that you liked that! And I don't know if you think that the end is a cliffhanger or not. Leave a review saying if you think it is a cliffhanger or not. Or just leave a review to say what you think. :)