A/N: Hey it has been a while since my last story, but i plan on finishing it. I decided to write a new fanfic which i was inspired to write by a friend of mine. Hope you guys enjoy, and please review :)

Summary: Nothing good ever comes out of a cookout with multiple different personalities

Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, humor, romance

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's characters. Tite Kubo-sama owns all of them.

The One Where There Was A Cookout

"So that's why we…well I-Im here, to ask if we can use your humble abode as the venue for the…thing…cookout," Ina said casually, yet slightly nervous peering to the leader of the Kuchiki clan. He stared at the young lady whom, according to Zoë, wanted to ask him a question. People normally wouldn't have the gumption to approach him willingly, but everyday his lover's friends keep stunning him by talking and addressing him informally. The raven haired noble continued staring at the woman with an unreadable stoic expression. Purplish-grey eyes averted to his side to look at the other woman sitting beside him. Her hands clenched into a fists on her lap, her back straight and head facing forward, seeming obedient. Clearly anxious to the point it almost made him smirk at how ironic it was, seeing as she would do her own thing and smile all cute like about it.

The light skinned woman seated besides him her eyes not averting to the side unable to spare him a glance because she knew that she will sing like a canary if their eyes locked.

'Oh great, how did i end up in this mess?' the brunette thought to herself. Her light brown eyes went to her friend who sat opposite of her and Byakuya. Ah, now she remembered.

Flashback

"I'm telling y'all, that lazy ass is always sleeping and it pisses me off! We can't even go out and do anything fun, because he insists on us staying in!" Came the irritated tone of one of the ladies in a restaurant sitting with four of her closest friends amused at her situation. but nonetheless understanding. It was a regular restaurant in Karakura Town. The six friends seated outside the normal restaurant under the umbrella, shielding from the sun and enjoying the fresh air.

"Well have you actually sat him down and talked to him, Cleo? I mean that's how he is, he fell for you and vice versa. Plus you've both come this far." With crimson hair cascading down her shoulders, beautiful green eyes behind rim colored frames looked to Cleo, sipping her beverage. Sonya, modest artist and well established throughout japan from the many galleries she own spoke up.

"Everyone has flaws, this is clearly Starrk's. Heck Urahara has many flaws you all know it, but i still accept him as he is." She continued. Placing her beverage down, folding her arms with an amused countenance, clearly getting a kick out of the whole situation. Cleo turned her head slowly to the red head placing her elbow on the table supporting her chin with the back of her hand and stared at her friend mockingly.

"Ma'am, Starrk is all kinds of lazy…well…" She leaned back and smirked folding her arms, "not all kinds if yah know what i mean" The brown skinned beauty, flipping her curly long dark brown hair back. Letting out a slight chuckle at the memory of a intimate moment earlier. Cleo, a beautiful African American woman. Standing 5'4 with non-shit taker attitude and a feisty aura, worked as head nurse at Karakura Hospital under Ryuuken Ishida. His right hand. Laughter erupted from one of the women which caused all of them to laugh at Cleo's statement. Of course she would bring up something like that, well it isn't like any of them have a filter and they are far from being prudes.

"Now you know you ain't right for that one, sis. Now we have that image in our heads" said Jan, another one of the women who sat by the table before looking back at the menu laughing, adjusting her glasses. Another African American beauty with dark shoulder length twist-braids. One of the best smiles and kindest heart. However, she can tell you where to get off if you aren't staying in your lane. She worked as an English lecturer at Karakura University. "I'm just glad that Ichigo isn't lazy, in fact he is far from lazy" she raised her beverage towards Cleo with a wink and smirk. A collective groan from the other ladies was heard, whilst Cleo raised her own cup nodding her head before cracking up.

"Jesus Christ Jan, you say Cleo ain't right for that but you just go and say the same thing. Such hypocrisy, i can't even" came a different voice which belonged to another one of the ladies on the table browsing through the menu. Zoë, light skinned South African woman with light brown eyes that were covered by a frame of maroon eye glasses. Beautiful long wavy black hair that fell down to her mid back. The shortest in the group standing on 5', thick with curves, and a florist at one of the flower shops in town. A medic student still in university as well as an intern at Karakura Hospital working with Cleo and Ryuuken. Heavily she refused to work under her boyfriend who was one of the top doctors at the hospital even though he insisted.

"Hey now, get your heads out of the gutter, Zoë. That was not what I meant. All that meant was that my man gets his hands dirty ar—" Jan was interrupted by the sound of someone choking and hackling on their table. All eyes on the table went to the light skinned beauty sitting beside Zoë, who was having a laugh while giving gentle pats , assisting her friend to stop her hackling. Didn't help that Cleo hollered next to her at the situation. The woman who almost died from her abrupt choking fit, started laughing with her hand covering her mouth. She had beautiful natural hair which was in a curly afro, she also wore big pair of glasses over her stunning hazel eyes which had started watering from the pressure of the hackling. She worked as a famous songwriter and sang at some events. Belle kept laughing and hackling a bit before placing her hand on her friend's shoulder while nodding as a sign that she was fine.

"Shiiiii…you almost keeled over and died. Why were you laughing?" Zoë chuckled as her eyes stayed on the woman sitting next to her. Seriously though, she shouldn't be laughing but the woman just started choking it was too much. Belle calmed down whilst Cleo was still trying to calm down wiping her teary eyes. She cleared her throat and shook her head, Grimmjow had scolded her about laughing with food or drinks in her mouth because it always ends up with her spewing everyone across the table or choking on it. "Jan can't expect us to get our heads out of the gutter when she's outchea saying her man gets his 'hands dirty'. Timing sis." The hazel eyed woman clapping her hands twice at the end while shaking her head laughing a bit.

"I…no, no way. I'm not going to even with you. Y'all are nasty!" Jan said laughing as her eyes wandered the menu again.

"Include yourself right in ma'am, apparently your man gets his hands dirty." Cleo said slyly with a smirk before picking up her cup and averting her eyes while taking a sip on her beverage. Belle, Zoë and Sonya cracked up once more with Zoë having been the one to burst out laughing after throwing back her head. They were all waiting on their other friend who was also Cleo's sister, Ina to join them, but she was held up at work. She was a beautiful sassy African American woman with gorgeous dark brown hair that went past her shoulders. Now she, like everyone of the women at the table, was not afraid to speak her mind about anything and tells it like it is. She worked as a manager for Apple.

Zoë head still thrown back leaning on the back rest before she sat up right because she knew something wasn't right. Now there were six of them on the table, but so far only five if them have been actively speaking and joined in the conversation. So what was up with one of them. Now who could that be…? Her light brown eyes looked across the table to the woman sitting next to Sonya. Beautiful long auburn hair which had a single side braid on it, she wore a black frame of eye glasses over her brown eyes which seemed to be glued to her phone as she typed away on it. She was probably the tallest of the women, standing at 6'2. She worked as painter and gallery owner as well, with a side job of being a manga artist. She was sarcastic and funny, but also sweet and caring to many. Although, she seemed to be having a bit of an unreadable expression on her face. The brunette could only take one guess on who she was talking to which almost made her gag, but didn't because she wasn't a fan of the person.

"Mel"

"…"

"Mel"

"…"

"Melissa!" Zoë said a bit louder catching the attention of the other ladies around the table who looked at her then to Mel who was still typing away as if Zoë's voice fell on deaf ears. The red head beside Mel, nudged her with her elbow grabbing her attention. Mel looked at Sonya with a 'huh?' look before looking at everyone else.

"Oh I'm sorry guys, were you saying something?" She asked with soft smile looking at her friends as she picked up her beverage and took a sip only to grimace and put it back down, seems like it was cold because she had barely touched it. Jan peered over the menu at her friend before averting her gaze to Belle who looked at Sonya who looked at Cleo who was just staring at Mel trying to figure out what was happening.

"Uhm, Zoë called out your name three times already and you didn't even budge." She said putting her cup down still looking at her auburn haired friend. Mel looked up from her cup of coffee to her friend,

"Oh, really? Sorry Zoë. i didn't hear you, i was just busy." she let out a chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck, apologetically smiling at her friend. Zoë had her arms folded and stared at Mel for a good minute before smiling a bit,

"Yeah, I wanted to know if you were okay. You had a weird look on your face." She flat out asked.

"Oh…Oh yeah, everything is alright. Just handling something!" She exclaimed with a smile towards Zoë. Said woman looked at Mel for a while again before nodding her head,

"Well, since your coffee is cold, you should get another and order some food." Zoë said picking up her own menu and looked one last time for something she might want to eat. Her mood had changed because of him. Sosuke Aizen, Mel's current lover. It was no secret that Zoë didn't like him nor tolerate him, something about him irks her so she decided to keep her distance from him. She loved Mel a lot, she was one of her closest friends but she can never ever see herself getting along with the man. Once again, Mel went back to her phone and began texting away again. The medic student just rolled her eyes and shook her head before looking at everyone else at the table, making a gesture that said 'can you believe this?!'. They all just sighed and went on talking about everything and nothing, without Mel of course since she was in her own world. Sonya had ordered her another cup of coffee to replace the cold one.

"Hey y'all, how goes it?" Came cheery voice as the owner sat down beside Cleo and stole some of the fries from her plate which earned her a glare, but it didn't affect her.

"S'well…just s'well" spat Zoë who was stabbing away at her steak without having ate it, obviously in a foul mood. Ina raised an eyebrow as she chewed on the fries and looked at her sister with a 'who pissed in her food' expression, looking for some kind of explanation. The curly haired woman just nodded her head in Mel's direction who was oblivious to the situation. Ina gazed towards Mel and saw that she was the only one without a plate of food and texting with smile on her lips. Just like that, all made sense. Ina looked at the other ladies and they shrugged except for the one attacking her food. Ina face palmed and then looked up,

"Hey Mel," she said to the auburn haired woman to try and break whatever tension in the air.

"…"

"Yo' Mel" Ina repeated

"…"

Zoë stopped poking at her steak to see if Mel would answer. She frowned and was about to slam her hand on the table, but it was at that moment that Mel looked towards Ina and smiled greeting her back, but at the same time, Mel got up taking her bag.

"I have to head out, Sosuke is waiting for me and i promised that we would go out." She said as she walked around the table with a smile,

"Oh, send me the details for the cookout once you are done and I'll see you there. Bye guys!" She said before the auburn haired woman was on her way out the restaurant and headed to her car. Everyone on the table was quiet until Zoë scoffed and started to eat her food.

"Of course it was him who she was texting. Fucking prick" She cursed cutting her steak up shaking her head while her friends looked at her. then let out a groan. They all had a problem with Aizen, but they were trying to be understanding for Mel since she was happy. It wasn't the case for Zoë though. She was as bitter as can be towards anything that had to do with the man.

Belle cleared her throat after swallowing her food and averted her eyes to the medic student,

"You know…he has a name" She pointed out wiping her lips with a napkin.

"Belle's right, ya know" Jan said leaning back on the chair folding her arms looking at Zoë.

"Look guys, Aizen—" Zoë started but was interrupted

"Sousuke, Zoë" Sonya said with a sighed

"Ay man, i don't f/w that man like that so Aizen it is." She said pointing at her red haired friend with her fork.

Cleo decided to step in,

"Zoë, we promised Mel we would try and get along with him. So you need to stop that shit you're doing." Cleo said with a serious tone towards her friend to get through to her. It was a long break, but knowing the woman, hell would freeze over before she decided to accept Aizen. Not that she blamed her, but still. Mel is their friend and they all care about her happiness. The light skinned woman was chewing on her steak and as soon as Cleo said 'we would try' she started to look around than back at her friend with confused expression.

"I don't know who 'we' is, but I never made such a promise. Aizen is a scumbag. He ruined Mel and Uryu's marriage, he didn't look remorseful about it. Yall know how much Uryu loved Mel and vice versa so the fact that prick could just come in an ruin it like it was nothing, pisses me off. As far as I'm concerned, Aizen can go kick rocks far away from me." Zoë explained pushing her plate away, half done. Just talking about that man was enough to make her lose her appetite. Just great.

Ina sat aside silently and slowly ate the food she ordered while staring at Zoë. She understood her frustration, she likes Uryu. He is a great guy and clearly loved Mel, to see him break apart was not a pretty sight. Plus, she doesn't trust Aizen. Honestly…she still felt like throwing bricks at him when he was nearby. No cap. She let out a sigh and pulled out a notepad from her bag slamming it on the table.

"Good, so we are done about that. I have everything in order for the cookout, but the venue is still an issue. We can't use my place because its condo, but not so vibe like. Plus, i doubt Shuuhei would allow it. He is a hard ass" Ina shook her head and pulled out a pen. Rolling her eyes with a smile thinking about her fiancé.

"As I was saying, everywhere is booked and there's no where to go. With the amount of people coming, we need a big wide space that wont get cramped easily and that's why i know the perfect place!" She said with a smiling crossing her leg over the other as all the other five ladies looked at her in anticipation. This was going to be good.

"Hold on, are you sure you want Grimm to co-host?" asked Belle as she looked at what Ina had written and had spotted Grimmjow's name as co-host. "He isn't exactly the most welcoming person, what I'm trying to say is…how do i say this…" the afro woman said looking up as if thinking for a nice way to says something bad about her boyfriend.

Jan drank her beverage finishing it up, "What she means to say is that the man has no people skills, he is too much of an asshole" The English lecturer said bluntly stretching a bit before looking at her friends who nodded in agreement.

Belle pouted at the accusation of her man, "Hey! My Grimmjow isn't an…yeah you're right" she said shaking her head at the fact she tried to defend a guilty man.

Ina took back the notebook and went over it, she cleared her throat, "As I had said before, i have a plan where we can hold the cookout." She said with a smirk before looking at Zoë, said woman raised an eyebrow in confusion. Her place?

"What? But my place is an apartment too, besides we…wayment…" she stopped before staring at her friend who folded her arms and grinned. Zoë frowned and started shaking her head,

"Nope, no way. Nah uh, there's absolutely no way Ina." She retorted immediately wiping her hands with a napkin. Ina nodded at Zoë. The others seemed confused so they turned to Ina for a clear explanation of what they were both going on and on about, but Zoë decided to just say it.

"There is no way we are having the cookout at Byakuya's manor, no way ma'am" Zoë said firmly still shaking her head, there was absolutely no way she would allow it to happen. Not like Byakuya would agree anyway. Suddenly, everything made sense to the other four women to have the cookout at Byakuya's place.

It was huge plus there was a pool, tennis court, a basketball court and a wide field. It would be fun. Ina knew she was going to have a tough time convincing Zoë, besides she needed her to be on board because with Zoë on her side, she can convince the man of the house to let them use it. What better way to convince him then to have his girlfriend ask him. He legit does anything for her, well when he wants, but who knows what happened behind closed doors. She shivered at the thought.

"Look Zoë! This is perfect, Byakuya's place is the perfect place for this. Come on, just this once." She pleaded with the long haired woman wearing a skeptical look. She wanted to stay strong and say no, but Ina had a point. She let out a sigh, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"Okay fine, fine! But I'm not going to ask him, you'll do it. I'll just soften him up. You have to promise you willl leave the place as it was, that man is precise about his things. Oh and if he suspects that something is up or fishy, i will sing like a canary because he knows how to make me talk" She pointed out with a blush on her cheeks looking the other way to hide her face, but Jan saw and is already smirking.

"Whoa wait what? You want me to…but that was not the plan!" Ina exclaimed with wide eyes

Zoë folded her arms with a raised eyebrow, "either you take it, or leave it sis." She said sternly not leaving much option. Ina felt like crying at the thought of talking to Byakuya about this, the man is stoic and too cold. She turned to her sister,

"Cleo, you're going to com—"

"I wouldn't hold my breath if i were you. No way am i getting skewered by Byakuya. So if you ask me, this sounds like a you problem. Im going to bounce so tell me how it goes." The curly haired woman said with a yawn imitating her man before taking her stuff and head out with the other three behind her. TRAITORS!

"Zoë, you have to be there!" Ina demanded and pleaded at the same time. Zoë sighed and looked at her friend. She got up paying for her cut, then grabbed her stuff

"Listen, ill be there but Ima be quiet so you gonna have to step up sis" she chuckled as they left the place and headed to their respective cars as Ina let out a mumbled

'I know.'

They both arrived at Byakuya's place and waited for the massive gate to open. The guards recognized Zoë and let her through with Ina behind her. They drove up the long driveway and parked the cars nearby the door. Zoë got out of the car and headed to the front door, only for one of the maids to open it for her. She smiled at the girl and informed her to take her friend to the sitting area while she went to get Byakuya.

The light skinned woman walked up the split staircases and headed for the master bedroom, she lightly opened the door and peaked inside to see if she was disturbing the raven haired man. There, on the huge king bed, he sat on his side reading some papers that she assumed was from work. She walked into the room, closing the door before and heading towards her lover. She climbed onto the bed and crawled towards him, upon being directly behind him, she hugged him from behind and smiled softly. Just being this close to him made her happy, his scent filled her invading her nostrils, his heartbeat steady and calm. Her fingers reached for his raven mane and pulled it aside to expose his neck. Zoë leaned down and pecked the back of his neck then worked her way to the side before kissing his cheek with a smile.

'"Tadaima, anata" She said softly next to his ear, She felt him place the papers aside and before she could comprehend what was happening, he had her pinned on the bed with him on top of her his eyes, the color of lilacs, staring intensely into her light brown eyes. The noble clan leader leaned in, connecting his lips with hers in a gentle kiss before pulling away with a soft smile on his lips as he lovingly gazed at her,

His voice deep. "Welcome back, my love" He spoke, before leaning back an pecking her lips. Man, Zoë was putty in this man's hands, She almost forgot that they had guest over. ALMOST.

"Ina came by with me…she wanted to ask you of something. Please hear her out" Zoë said cutting right to the chase as her hands tenderly cupped his face.

He stared at her for a while longer before kissing her hand and sliding off of her. "What is it about?" The man asked as he dressed up properly, looking at his lover closely, studying her body language.

Shit! This was what she wanted to avoid, she didn't want him to hear it from her. "Beats me, better if you hear her out though" she spoke nonchalantly, getting off the bed and walked towards the door. Byakuya with a unreadable expression on his face before walked after her towards their guest.

"Zoë, I hope you know that hiding things from me is always a bad idea…for you and you know I can make you talk or punish you after i find out that you knew…just keep that in mind~" he whispered into her ear making her shiver in the most electrifying way. She nodded anyway as they made their way downstairs.

'Ina…i swear to God if you sell me out…' she thought to herself

END OF FLASHBACK

The light skinned woman huffed when she thought back to the whole thing. Damn it all. She tried with all her might not to make eye contact with anyone of them. Byakuya calmly sipped on his tea and placed it back down. He was amused, but wouldn't show it.

"Very well…you have my permission to use the manor for your gathering" He said calmly. Ina and Zoë turned to him bewildered before the latter squealed a bit.

"Yes! Thank you so much Byakuya, i appreciate it. See Zoë? I told you he would understand" The sassy woman said with a smirk knowing exactly what she was doing as soon as she saw the look on her friend's face. Ina averted her eyes and got up,

"Thank you once again and i shall be off, see ya!" She walked out with a proud expression on her face,

'Well at least she's getting laid tonight, its a win win for everyone" Ina thought to herself as she walked out the door.

Meanwhile

Byakuya and Zoë were back in the bedroom in the same position they were in before they went to talk to Ina. The woman had a blush on her cheeks, excited from the treatment she was getting from her raven haired man.

"B-Byakuya…now hold on a minu—" she was interrupted by lips connecting with her in a passionate kiss before pulling away leaving her breathless. Byakuya leaned down towards her ear, his breath lightly brushing against her ear causing her to pant.

"I warned you…now, i think It's time for your punishment…Zoë-chan~" he whispered seductively with a smirk which would make most run away. Oh well…at least she was getting laid…again.

Please review, hope you all like it.