Author's Note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.


No Family Background

Laughing, Retsu and Jyuushiro worked together as they cooked dinner. They had run into each other at the front door. He had been coming home after teaching his last class of the day while she had been coming home from her shift at the hospital. They had good naturedly bickered over what to have for dinner before setting on Italian and getting to work cooking it. It was really only Retsu's fifth night here, but Jyuu couldn't help feeling like she'd been a part of his evening routine for years.

Jyuushiro popped the garlic bread into the oven while Retsu finished chopping vegetables for the salad. The pasta was cooking on the stove, and Retsu had whipped together some sort of sauce for it as well. With the garlic bread baking, Jyuu got busy setting the table for two.

"So how was work today?"

Retsu shrugged and dumped the celery into the salad bowl. "Pretty routine. I supervised Isane with her patients for the most part. She's doing extremely well. I would like to break her of the habit of practically living at the hospital, but then again, I'm prone to that myself at times."

He laughed. "Finding her a nice young man might solve that problem."

Retsu shook her head. "Still trying to match make. I thought you had given that up when you failed to get Shunsui and Nanao together."

"I like happy endings," Jyuu defended. "Besides, we all know that it's only a matter of time with Shun and Nanao. Eventually, they're both going to get out of denial at the same time."

She laughed. "Perhaps. Sometimes I think those two will never come to terms with their feelings for one another. Besides, Isane may actually have a young man of her own. I just can't tell from the way she talks if she is just friends with young Mr. Hisagi or if they're something more."

"Shuuhei Hisagi? I've had him in a couple of my classes before. He seems nice enough."

They continued to gossip about their various students and friends among the faculty even as the meal finished cooking, and they sat down to eat. It was both comfortable and relaxing. Jyuushiro actually preferred sharing meals with others rather than eating on his own, and he would admit that he was really enjoying having Retsu stay with him. He out ate out with friends, but he rarely had anyone over to his place to eat except for Shunsui. If he had to choose whose company he preferred, Jyuu would be hard pressed to choose between Shunsui and Retsu. They were the two people in the world that he was most comfortable with.

However, he did have to admit that he might be getting addicted to having Retsu's quiet presence in his home. Jyuushiro wasn't sure he wanted to go back to living alone without her.