Not much happens in this chapter, a tad of Byakuya fluff, but mainly it's filler. Oh well.

Chapter 20 : Explanations

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This was very bad.

"Byakuya, what the hell happened?" Kya repeated now terrified of the answer.

Byakuya looked up at Kya again and any traces of the knowing smile that might have been there were now gone.

"Nothing" he finally said. Kya blinked.

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"Nothing happened."

"Then why did I wake up in your bed?" she raised one eyebrow and gave Byakuya a questioning look.

"Because I found you sprawled on the grass of my garden laughing like you were on drugs. You had obviously drunk a considerable amount of alcohol." He stated. Kya looked off to the side and tried to remember. She did remember trees, maybe that was from Byakuya's garden. Then again, trees aren't something that can be restricted to one area. Those trees she remembered could have come from almost anywhere in Soul Society.

"That doesn't really answer my question." She said slowly.

"I suppose it doesn't." he replied. Oh, that was very informative, thank you Byakuya for your insightful account of what occurred last night. Kya didn't enjoy being teased, and she knew that was exactly what Byakuya was doing. It wasn't very nice.

"Well?" she asked trying once again to get the information she so wanted out of him. He turned around and walked towards the other side of the room and the door to the garden. He opened the door and stood there looking out. He was just trying to wind Kya up now, wasn't he? Well, he shouldn't.

"Byakuya, answer me!" she whined at his back. He glanced back at her.

"I couldn't leave you outside when you were like that. I'm still trying to forget the last time you were drunk in Seireitei alone. So I brought you inside." He explained. That gave Kya a bit more understanding, but still didn't really answer the question.

"Oh yeah, that was a fun night..." Kya mused as she remembered the time she had been drunk that Byakuya was referring to. She had brought panic onto Seireitei in less than three hours.

"Quite." He said while turning back to face the garden. Kya walked over to him.

"You know that still doesn't explain why I woke up in your room." She told him.

"I was called by Yamamoto to an urgent meeting. I did not want to leave you alone but you were tired, so I decided to let you sleep here while I was away." He finally revealed the answer Kya had been asking for. She sighed in relief that there hadn't been anything nasty going on. Of course Byakuya wouldn't kick her out while she was drunk. He knew far too well what she could do. And of course that meant the natural option for him was to let her stay here for the night. She guessed that after he got back he didn't particularly want to wake her. Another thing Byakuya knew far too well was how much Kya hated to be woken up. Once he had received a black eye that wouldn't go away for two weeks because he made the mistake of daring to disturb her slumber.

"Good, well, not good... you know what I mean." Kya said.

"It was actually quite amusing to see you so drunk." Byakuya added. Oh, Scheiβe.

"I didn't do anything... weird, did I?" she asked nervously.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary..." he said before adding "...where you're concerned"

"Oh, God." Kya exclaimed while rolling her eyes. Where she was concerned was not an expression she liked to hear. It meant she did in fact do something very weird, and it probably would have scared Byakuya to death if anyone other than Kya had been the one to do it. "What did I do?"

"You named your feet." Byakuya raised an eyebrow when he looked at her. It would have surprised Kya at seeing the show of confusion, if she didn't already know Byakuya could show emotion.

"Again?" she asked annoyed. Byakuya's eyebrow only remained raised. She sighed. "What are they called now?"

"Well, your left one's called Leftie-"

"I am so original." Kya interrupted him.

"-and your right one is called-" he continued before Kya interrupted him again.

"Rightie?" she asked assertively.

"No, his name is Fang." He told her. Kya's eyes narrowed to dots. Fang? Even for her, that was odd.

"Why is my foot male?" she asked after regaining her mind. One corner of Byakuya's mouth curled upwards. This was the exact same conversation they had had last night, only the roles were reversed.

"Dunno, it just is." Byakuya repeated what Kya had previously answered. Kya looked sceptically at Byakuya. He did not usually say words like 'dunno'; they were too common for him to utter. What was up with him today? He just seemed somehow more... open. That was the only way of putting it. He was being too open and wasn't holding back every trace of emotion like he did usually. It made Kya worry something had happened. After all, it was only a few days ago when they had had a major fight.

"Byakuya, are you feeling ok?" her voice showed her bewilderment at his new mood.

"Yes" he answered back in his usual cold voice. Well, that stopped that train of thought.

"Ok then." She said cautiously. "Um, I guess I'll just go then."

Kya turned and walked towards the other side of the room. She was about to reach out and touch the door when Byakuya's voice caused her to pause.

"You don't have to tell me yet, Kya," Kya turned her head and her eyes widened. Byakuya was still facing the garden and only his back was visible. "but when you're ready, do tell me. I need to know."

Kya instantly knew what he was talking about. He was talking about their argument by the pool. He was talking about the reason she had left.

She gulped and nodded her head, knowing Byakuya would be able to tell somehow. She slowly opened the door and exited the room, not saying a word.

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"Oh yeah, right, forgot about that..." Kya muttered to herself when she passed the table where the second task had taken place. She should count all the bottles some time and see who won. Maybe she'll do that after going back and having a shower.

She looked around the table. Zaraki was still slumped on the ground in a heap, as was Shunsui and Nanao. The others had all disappeared. Presumably they had woken up earlier today and headed back to their division. She suspected many had gone back to bed with splitting hangovers. Only a complete workaholic would go to their office today. Well, people like Mayuri who had excused themselves without being drunk would probably be working, but none of the others would be surely. It would be craziness when you could have a day off.

Then again, would Seireitei cope with most of their captains and lieutenants in bed for a day? They did basically run this place.

Kya dismissed the thought. Nah, it would be good for the squad to have a day off from being bossed around. Besides, that was what third seats were there for, wasn't it?

Kya made her way through the streets of Seireitei towards the first division headquarters and her room. The place did seem surprisingly quiet today. It must have been two in the afternoon, and yet it was like three in the morning; no one walked the streets or patrolled the area. They were probably all revelling in the idea of having a day not listening to orders and spending the time enjoying themselves. As the saying goes, when the domineering egocentric captain's away the submissive boring Shinigami will play, or something along those lines.

"Why aren't you working?" Kya suddenly heard a familiar calm voice speak from around a corner. She rounded it and sure enough there was Hitsugaya, speaking to some lower seated officers from his own division.

"Uh, Hitsugaya-Taicho, we thought, well, most of the other captains are having a sick day because of some dodgy meal or something, and we presumed you would be too, so, um, we..." one of the Shinigami blabbered. So that was what they were telling them, that it was some dodgy meal. Well, Kya guessed they couldn't exactly tell the truth that all the captains and lieutenants were being investigated to see if they were conspiring against Seireitei. That would surely bring chaos. Hitsugaya looked at his officer sternly.

"Thought you have the day off?" he finished the nervous man's sentence. The Shinigami looked at the ground. Oooo, Shiro-chan could be icy. "Well, I'm not having the day off, so you can get back to work now."

"Yessir!" the entire group spoke at once before bowing and rushing off, apparently to do whatever ordinary Shinigami did while in Seireitei.

Hitsugaya noticed Kya for the first time and rolled his eyes in dismay.

"God, not you..." he grumbled under his breath.

"It's a pleasure to see you too, Shiro-chan!" Kya spoke while walking over to the small white haired captain.

"Please stop calling me that." He told her. Kya shrugged and Hitsugaya knew that meant she wouldn't.

"I didn't expect to see you up and about with the amount you drunk last night." Kya commented. Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed.

"Someone's got to work" he said in a tone that sounded insulting to Kya, it was like he was going to say 'unlike you' at the end of the sentence. Kya decided to let it slide, knowing he was just tired and agitated from staying up so late the previous night.

"Is Matsumoto having the day off?" Kya instead asked.

"Yes, but I don't expect it'll make much difference to her usual work scheme." He sighed. Kya laughed slightly which surprised Hitsugaya. Was she being nice to him for once? It was odd. What was she planning on doing?

"What are you up to?" he asked sceptically.

"Huh? I'm not up to anything. Why would you think that?" she asked vaguely insulted by Hitsugaya's mistrust.

"Never mind, I've got work to do, so if you'll excuse me" he said while indicating that he needed to leave.

"Oh, yeah sure, see you later cap'in!" she waved to him as he walked away. Did she just address him by captain? Something was definitely wrong with her.

Kya stood in the street and rubbed her forehead. Damn, she had a headache. Maybe that was why she was being so nice to everyone this afternoon. Well, to everyone she had seen; which basically included Hitsugaya and Byakuya. Yeah, so she wasn't changing Seireitei with her overwhelming kindness, but being nice to Shiro-chan definitely was a change. She hadn't made a single snap about him in the entire minute of them talking. Hangover's made her weird.

She didn't like it.

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I can walk! Well, limp anyway. I've just pulled a couple of muscles in my stomach and legs, but they're getting better. So I'll see you on Mon, M'lady Coconut!

Here's a bunny.

He wants you to review, don't you mister bunny? Yes he does. He'll be very angry if you don't and decide to go on a rampage and eat your favourite socks. So do it for the socks!

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