This ones for you Red Cr0w. There will be one more chapter in this saga. This chapter is longer than usual.

Casual conversation goes bad fast and an overprotective Hawk won't stand by unheard.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Hawk's Story: Bleach

Chapter 36

Meiko strolled around the Soul Society while on her way to the Squad 6 barracks. It had been so long since she'd left, so everything seemed nostalgic. When she eventually made it to Squad 6, she smiled to herself. It was exactly the same on the outside. When she closed her eyes she could almost see that time from before. "Um excuse me." Someone said, waking her from her trance.

She didn't open her eyes at first and let out a sigh. "I guess I can daydream later." Her eyes fluttered open and she greeted this person with a smile. "Hi, I'm Crow. I'm here to see your captain."

The man with red hair was taken back by her at first, but quickly regained his composure. "Follow me, he's expecting you." He told her, heading for the entrance. "I'm Vice-Captain Renji Abarai by the way." He introduce when she ran up next to him.

"So how long have you worked under Captain Ice Pick?" Meiko asked.

"You mean Captain Kuchiki? For a while now. I can't really remember off the top of my head when I became Vice-Captain." Renji answered. He was scratching his head trying to remember when he was promoted.

"Let me guess, he's no fun and always has you doing something?"

He chuckled sadly. "That's an understatement. Thank god Hawk shows up." She chuckled at his last comment. "So how do you know the Captain?"

"I was Vice-Captain when he joined the Squad. I was kinda his babysitter since the Old Man was so busy. Then when he retired, I was appointed intrim Captain while Ice Pick perfected his Bankai."

"I see. I was curious because the Captain told me you were hard to deal with. Not in those words, but more in his tone."

"That sounds like him." As they walked, they came across a commotion. A couple members of the squad seemed to be in a bit of a fight. "Hey why don't you handle that. I know my way around here."

"Thanks." Renji took off to break up the fight.

She chuckled at his panic, before heading to Byakuya's office. She peaked around each corner so she wouldn't bump into him. She finally reached the captain's office and peaked inside. Byakuya was standing at the bookself reading something. She snuck up to see what was reading. He wasn't reading, he was looking at a photo album. When she leaned over she had a chance to see that all the pictures were of her and him, but he shut it when she got too close. He glared over at her and she straighten up with a guilty smirk. "The door was open, so I just came in." She said nervously. Then she couldn't figure out why she was nervous.

"Please knock next time." He told her. He placed the book back on the shelf, then sat down at his desk. "Shall we begin?"

"Sure." She sat across from him and he handed her a folder of papers.

The two of them went over the situation Hawk and Shang caused, then began figuring out ways to prevent it and others situations from happening again. The whole time they worked, Meiko kept her eyes on her work. Byakuya however would glace up at her. He wasn't use to this serious behavior.

Meiko tossed the reorginized folder onto his desk. "Jeez, what a pain." She groaned.

"I think we should take a break, it's getting late." Byakuya suggested.

She looked out the window behind him and saw the sun setting. "Wow, I didn't realize it was so late." As she said that, a large dangerous rumble could be heard through out the room.

"Ms. Kurosakura, should we get something to eat?"

"W-why, I'm not hungry." She lied, blushing slightly. Her stomach rumbled again, only louder.

Byakuya sighed. "I don't mind treating you to dinner."

"Really? Why didn't you say that in the first place! Let's go!" She cheered.

The Meiko headed out with Byakuya following behind. This was her first time back in a long time, so he was letting her pick where they ate. As they walked Byakuya caught himself gazing at her backside. "What am I doing? I shouldn't be thinking like this." He thought, shaking his head.

Meiko finally noticed he had his hand on his head. "You okay?" She asked.

"Just a small headache." He answered.

"Then let's hurry and get some food."

Byakuya did his best to stop his mind from thinking the way it was and he didn't even notice when they arrived at the restarant. "How did I know you were going to pick this place?" Byakuya asked.

"Because this is where we'd go to celebrate stuff back in the day."

After they were seated, they sat awkwardly at first. They both had conflicting feelings, that seemed to fight a battle of epic proportion. Meiko wasn't one to let her emotions get the better of her or sit in silence. "Hey do you want to hear some Menos stories?"

"Sure." He answered, hoping it would ease the tension.

As she told her story things became easier and easier to talk about. Her Menos stories quickly turned into drunken adventure stories she had with Hawk and the other Royal Guards. "Then Birdman literally fell down the whole staircase! It was great!" She laughed. She looked to see if she'd gotten Byakuya to laugh, but he still had a conflicted look on his face. "So~ are you going to tell me what your deal is?" He didn't answer and this irritated her. "Fine, be a Jerk." As soon as the last word left her mouth, Byakuya leaned in and kissed her. She was completely shocked at first, but once she grasped what was happening she pushed him off. Then she slapped him as hard as she could and stormed out.

Byakuya was quick to jump up and follow her. "Ms. Kurosakura, please wait." He called after, trying to remain composed.

Meiko however did not have the same intentions as she turned to face him. "You really are a Dumb Bastard! Then after doing something SO stupid, you don't even have the balls to call me by my first name!"

"Look, I want to apologize for..."

"For what just happened? That's the last thing you should be apologizing for!"

"What else do I have to apologize for?" He what, he was just being stubborn and immediately regretted it.

"I can't believe you're still such a coward." She told him in disbelief. "I knew it was a mistake to come back." With that being said, she Flash Stepped away. Byakuya was left regretting how much worse he made the situation.

...

Meiko made her way through the Squad 1 barracks to her room. She was assigned to Hawk's old room since he stayed with Soi Fon. She slowly walked the hallways trying to fight back tears, when she finally arrived at her door. She couldn't get in because of the man leaning against it. "What do you want, Birdman?" She asked, trying to hide the sadness in her voice.

"Do play dumb, you're bad at it." He told her.

"Whatever, I don't want to talk about it anyways."

"I know. I just wanted to know if I should kick his ass?"

"Should you? Yes. But I'd perfer if you didn't."

"Okay, just come find me when if you want to talk." Hawk handed her the key to her room and stepped away from the door. She walked in and shut the door behind her. Hawk sighed when he heard her start crying. "I knew this was going to happen." He made his way out of the barracks only to bump into Byakuya. Byakuya tried to continue inside, but Hawk pushed him back. "Don't even think about it."

"Step aside Wanderer." Byakuya told him.

"Eat a dick, Kuchiki." Hawk told him back.

"This doesn't concern you."

"The hell it doesn't." He growled. "You've done this before and I was the one who was left to pick up the pieces."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"She always said you were oblivious."

Flashback

Meiko walked to Yamamoto's chamber, where she was greeted by Sasakibe. He led her to Yamamoto who was talking to an unfamiliar man. "Captain-Commander, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes. It's been brought to my attention that you have unlocked the Kyukyoku Kaiho." Yamamoto informed her.

"H-how'd you know about that?" She asked in surprise.

"Wanderer, you have the floor."

Hawk pulled out a stack of note cards from his pockets. "Greetings. I'm Hawk the Wanderer and I'm a member of the Spirit King's Royal Guard." He said completely unenthusiastically. "The Spirit King would like to invite you to our Royal Guard now that you have become one of the select few to obtain the Kyukyoku Kaiho. Will you accept our invitation?"

"Wow, that was the worst invite ever." She told him.

"Sorry, they make me read that." He told her. He pulled out a sealed letter from his other pocket. "Anyways, if you join, you'd be joining my squad. We don't work directly under the Zero Division so we have more freedom. You'll have a lot of fun, we're a pretty laid back group." He held out the letter to her and she hesitantly took it.

She was quiet for a moment. "There's someone I need to talk to first."

"Take your time." Hawk told her.

Meiko quickly headed off to the Squad 6 Barracks. She knew now was the only chance she had to tell him. When she arrived at her barracks, she snuck through the building, preparing to surprise Byakuya. She snuck up to his window and peaked in. There was Byakuya kissing a woman. Meiko was frozen in shock as her mind began to race. "Who is she? Who cares, it's just a kiss. Probably just a hook up." She thought, trying to reassure herself.

Then three simple words made her world come crashing down. "I love you." Byakuya said, when they broke their kiss.

Meiko began to shake as tears streamed down her face. She covered her mouth so no one could hear her, then quickly left. As she reached the entrance to her barracks she dropped her Captain's Jacket and the invitation on the ground. She took one more tearful eyed look before leaving for Squad 1. She was greeted by Hawk when she arrived. "You're back fast."

"I accept your offer." She said coldly.

"Are you okay?" He asked, noticing her puffy eyes.

"I will be." She answered. "I'd like to leave as soon as possible."

"Sure, but don't you need to get your stuff?"

"There's nothing left for me here."

End Flashback

Byakuya had a look of shock on his face. "I finally got her to tell me all that and it took a long time for her to get over it."

"I-I had no idea." He muttered in disbelief.

"No shit."

"W-what can I do to make it up to her?"

"Probably nothing, but I'll talk to her. Don't expect much though." Hawk told him. He started to leave but stopped to say one more thing. "And if you pull another stunt like this, I'll kill you myself."