DISCLAIMER: I do not own bleach but I'd like to own Byakuya.


Why does her eyes keep looking for him, searching for him, who should just be another insignificant human, in those multitudes of people? Why does her heart speed up, or miss a beat, depending on how you look at it, at the sound of his grating voice? Why does her stomach flutter when he glances at her even if that perpetual scowl never leaves his face?

She does not know and perhaps, she does not want to know. She fears that the thing that lies hidden beneath those disturbances of her calm soul will only bring her confusion and regret.

She places her right hand on her chest, above her heart, and wills it to stop giving her this unexplainable heartache. She places her left hand on her forehead and wills her mind to stop thinking about such a useless, trivial, and surely, passing thing. She wants to empty herself of this nagging feeling.

She is really irritated. She closes her eyes and knits her brows in concentration, trying to forget everything.

But she can't.

Because someone has placed a calloused, yet gentle hand on her arm, jarring her back to reality.

She realizes that there are wishes that can never be fulfilled and desires that can never be called into being. Especially if they are as half-hearted as her wish to not see him as more than just a friend and a savior.

For as she takes a look deeper into herself, she understands that her attachment to him is growing day by day, like a sakura sapling nourished by both the good days and the bad. She is afraid that it will soon come into full bloom but she fails in an attempt to understand the cause of this unexplicable happiness from the mere experience.

She is awakened from her reverie by that deep voice that she has come to appreciate and long for, that resounding voice that assures her that he is alive and well, ready to kick some ass and come up with a sound retort to her unpleasant ministrations.

"Let's go home baka! The sun's setting. I don't want to be seen walking with a girl in the evening."

"Che. We always run together at night when we fight those Hollows!"

"Hey, that's a completely different thing!"

She does not pay attention to the succeeding grunts and string of curses from the boy but instead looks at the blue sky turning to that color she now holds dear to her heart.

And then she sees a revelation.

She realizes that whatever this pleasant essence is that has sprouted from her supposedly cold and barren heart, her home is where this orange-haired boy is.


Please do not flame. Constructive criticisms are appreciated. This is my first bleach fic. Maybe trivial but I hope you liked it.