Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's Characters. Bleach (c) Kubo Tite

Chapter 27

I followed Byakuya to the nearby Ramen house. We were the only ones there. It was a while past lunchtime. I sat next to him and wondered if that was too close. Maybe I should be sitting across from him, I thought. I held my menu and pretended not to notice Byakuya was even there. I narrowed my eyes at Chashu men. I smiled slightly, it had been a while since I've had any ramen to eat. I wonder if senpai was treating. I mean, it's definately not a date between us or anything, but he my rich senior officer. And I am a suprisingly underpaid third seat. Despite my recent victory over hollows, the day rate for a 3rd seat officer wasn't much at all. I was drooling in my mind at the thought of extra BBQ pork when Byakuya spoke.
"Have you decided on what you wanted to order?" he said kind of slowly.
"Ah, yes, Chashu men." I smiled.

"Miso or shoyou?" our server asked. I didn't even notice our server was here already.
"Shoyou." I said quickly.
"And you sir?"
"Spicy chicken curry ramen." Byakuya stated.
I was trying to hold back my laughter. It was something about how Byakuya said the word "chicken". I don't know, it sounded like "chickon" or something. I looked away from him, and attempted to calm down my smirk.
"Is something the matter?" he said coldly.

"No, it's just that, I've heard you enjoyed spicy food, but did not actually believe you did." I said to him.
"Oh, what made you believe that I couldn't possibly enjoy spicy food?" he questioned with his head leaning way to the right. Well, I am sitting on his right side. But he looked kind of upset again! I started to panic.
"I always imagined you liked... "Jiji" food." I laughed nervously.

"I do." and then for some reason, out of no where, Byakuya gave me a slight smile. I mean, this is significant because it looked like something actual humans do. And I count his smiles today at: twice! I smiled back when our server came by with drinks. Hot green tea and orange juice. As much as everyone in the Soul Society enjoyed hot green tea, I was a juice fan. It must have been my youth that leans me towards it. I took a sip of my orange juice as Byakuya watched me. He made me feel so nervous and shy. Just then, I heard lazy footsteps that dragged themselves across the ground at the restaurant entrance. It was Captian Kyouraku Shunsui. He gave a big grin and hummed.
"Well, what do we have here?" he giggled. I could tell he was a little drunk. He staggered his way to our table and sat down with us.
"Has a miricle happened?" Kyouraku said in a loud bewilderment, "Has Little Byakuya discovered the existense of women?"

Byakuya looked as if he was expecting that comment. But his face expressed a slight bit of shock. Kyouraku never bothered to remove his straw hat. He was wearing a flower pattern pink haori. I was judging the color of his face, trying to figure out how much sake his must have drank.
"My, Hisana-chan, you've grown quite cute since you've entered the Gotei 13 last week. Tell me, how many advances has Byakuya made against you?"
I looked away to my right. I was frighten to answer. I don't really think Byakuya has made any true romantic advances, he's only looked out for me, that's all it is. Just a nice down to earth guy who cares deeply for people.
"Counting are you?"

"Is there any real reason why you are here, Captian Kyouraku?" Byakuya asked with some irritation in his voice.
"Well, if you had to hear the truth, I came to bless your union to this lovely young woman." I fell out of my chair when he said that. I think I was leaning way too far to the right.
"How much sake did she drink already?" Kyouraku asked. Byakuya answered it with a deep frown. As I was about to get up, a young woman with black hair tied up in a bun with glasses came into the restaurant. She entered the restaurant with a furious look on her face.
The woman gave me a quick look before turning her attention to the drunken captian. She clutched her book tightly in her arms. A firey anger was building in ther eyes. Her breathing became hard and slow. Captian Kyouraku stood up a cleared his throat.

"Ah! My sweet little Nanao-chan, have you come to sit in my lap and let me feed you?" Kyouraku casually said.
Nanao's eyes widen. She removed her glasses, God, she is scary looking. I got back up and sat in my seat. I scooted a little closer to Byakuya than I was before. Byakuya put his right hand on the small of my back, and pulled me a little closer to him. He removed his hand as I heard a loud smack. I think the angry woman known as Nanao killed Kyouraku. Or near it, he seemed to be unconscious. Nanao had great strength and carried Kyouraku out of the restaurant only using one arm! Before she left, she apoligized for the drunken captain's behavior. We nodded as she left.
"Who..was she?" My eyes still could not believe what I had just seen.
"Nanao Ise, the new vice captain of the 8th division." Byakuya said.

"Are vice captains allowed to smack their captains around like that?" I was in shock. Who outranked who in this crazy place?
"The 8th division has an exception it seems. Captain Kyouraku can tend to be irresponsible."
Finally our food came. Although I lost a bit of my appetite. Do people outside of Yoruichi's perverted mind really believe me and Byakuya are a couple? No way! That's just too much. I mean I'm 3rd seat and he is vice captain. It's kind of our job to hang out together often. We're just business partners really. Colleagues. Peers. Something like that. From the moment I took one bite out of my ramen, Byakuya already finished his. Damn he ate fast. He stood up and left some money on the table. It was enough for what we both ate.

"I'm going back to work." He said without looking at me. He promptly left. I think he even shunpoed back to the office. Was he upset about something. Maybe he didn't like people thinking we were a couple or something. I'm probably make him feel very uncomfortable. I did cause him a lot of trouble, even though he won't admit it. I sighed with each bite of my ramen. I didn't even finish my ramen. I probably ate only half of it. I don't like to waste food, but it was a special ocasion. I thanked the cooks, and headed back for the office myself.
I, am, going, to be, SERIOUS with myself right now. What is up with Byakuya-kun? He cares for me and gets jealous of other guys, and watches out for me, then he just treats me like a stranger he just can't stand to be around? I don't get it. It's not about rebelling against his parents here. It can't be. What's got him so conflicted? Is there something wrong with me? Maybe I should get a haircut or something to change my mood.
I got fed up with walking and shunpoed back to the office aswell. I entered and saw something I really did not wish to see. Urahara stopped by for a visit and was talking with Byakuya. Byakuya was sitting at his desk while Urahara was standing in front of it.

"Hisana-chan!" Urahara sang. "I was here to offer my services to you but it seemed Byakuya-kun beat me to it."
"Yoruichi-san told me about your offer to spar and train with me." I walked forward slowly. "However, it seems in better interest to train with Byakuya-kun instead since we spend a lot of time together and work with each other."
"A lot of time together?" Urahara's smile widen. "I see, I'll tell Yoruichi the good news."
"Shouldn't you be at work at your division headquarters?" Byakuya asked as Urahara was leaving.
"I'm still on my lunch break." Urahara shrugged.

As Urahara walked by me, he took my left hand and kissed it. My jaw hit the floor in shock. Urahara smiled and kissed my hand again. I shook my head at him and pulled my hand away.
"What do you think you're doing." Byakuya demanded in a harsh and hateful tone. He stood up and left his desk.
"Saying goodbye to a lovely young woman." The 12th division captain said innocently with a sly smile.
"You may be on your lunch break, Captain, but ours has ended." Byakuya informed the captain in a cold tone.
"So scary. I'm telling your dad." Urahara whined as he left.

While exiting, Urahara turned around and blew me a kiss. Byakuya immediately stood infront of me and blocked the invisible kiss. Urahara frowned and continued to walk.
When he was down the hall, he shouted, "No matter how long you grow your hair, Byakuya-kun, I'll never swing your way!"
Byakuya shut the doors of the office and marched angrily to his desk. He could not hide his anger. He broke his writing brush as he grasped it. His hand was covered in ink and he had made a small mess on his desk. He set the broken brush down and pulled out a hankerchief. It wasn't enough to collect all of the ink. I walked over to him.
"Let's go wash our hands." I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.

Byakuya said nothing and just nodded. He relaxed his eyebrows as we left the office and headed towards a washroom. We both washed our hands in the same sink. I used a lot of soap to make sure the Urahara koodies were gone. And to give Byakuya some piece of mind. He really seem to freak out back there.
We dried our hands and headed back for the office. I took the pot of tea and poured more in my cup. I drank several cups of tea before sitting down in my chair.
"Oh did you want some tea, Byakuya senpai?" I asked.
"Please." He said as I left my desk with the teapot.

I poured him tea and gave him a warm smile. I walked back to my desk and the doors of the office flew open. Taro Shino? He seemed panicked and his eyes wide and tears were forming.
"C-c-come quick! It's an emergency!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.