Dangling her feet off the side of the roof, Chessebelle laid back and closed her eyes.

The roof of the sixth division's south barracks was one of Shinji's favorite places to meet up due to its lovely view of Ginrei Kuchiki's-now Byakuya Kuchiki's-personal pond, large koi swimming about and lilypads floating gracefully along its surface. He often invited her to go down and skinny dip with him, but she would always refuse with a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips-it was one of his favorite dumb jokes to make. She remembered the first time he had invited her, the memory so vivid behind the veil of her eyelids, as if she were watching a movie about her own life.

"Aren't you tired of meeting in my office? It's such a bore there. My personal room is a little more fun, I'll give you that, but don't you want to meet somewhere fit for a beauty such as yourself?" Chessebelle never seemed to respond to compliments like this, pretending he hadn't said anything about her appearance, but always making a tally mark in her head. She liked the attention but, just like her crush on the captain, she wouldn't admit it out loud-she would just keep score for her own personal satisfaction.

"Well, I have no qualms about your office, Captain Hirako. Nor do I have anything against my own laboratory." Her flat voice echoed off of the steel walls, her eyes unmoving from the notepad in front of her as she scrawled notes about her latest experiment. "Although, it sounds like you'd like to leave my temple." She paused now, her eyes flicking up to meet Shinji's. Holding up his hands in mock surrender, the captain recoiled from his white-haired companion.

"I didn't mean I disliked your place, I just meant," He seemed to be thinking of the right word, so as to not offend her. Apparently he scrapped his first idea and decided instead to start fresh. "You and I shall meet somewhere more... fitting for us."

At the time, she hadn't realized what he meant by 'us,' but she put another tally mark in her head for the way he used the word, her rare smile coming to her face.

The next day she had come into her lab and noticed a little yellow sticky note annoyingly plastered right in the center of her computer monitor. The anger rose in her body quickly, taking it over within the time it took her to reach the computer, where she snatched the note and immediately crumpled it up to throw it away.

She seethed under her breath, cursing whoever decided they could come into her personal laboratory and disrespect her belongings in such an atrocious way. Pulling her desk chair out gruffly, she sat with the tiniest of huffs, and woke her computer up to start her work for the day. Slate hues looked around the lab while she waited, eventually landing back on the note that she had thrown in her trashcan. Chessebelle arched a brow as she noticed the familiar handwriting on the bright yellow paper, leaning down and grabbing the crumpled ball.

Unfolding it and flattening it out on the desk, she scanned the note quickly. She blinked, sitting back in her chair and blankly staring at the monitor as it finally started up, ready to be put to work. And then, she was gone, her chair spinning from its sudden abandonment of Chessebelle's lithe body, and a bright yellow sticky note screaming on her desk.

'We'll meet at the sixth division barracks tonight, under the light of the moon, Chessebelle. And don't even think about bringing that sour attitude with you!'

Chessebelle felt tears welling in her eyes as she thought about that night meeting up with him, their first real romantic interest in each other had shown that night. He had shown her a side of him that she hadn't imagined she would ever see-he was not just a foolish man who gave her compliments to get something she had. He had shown his self, his true and vulnerable soul had been shared with her on that night just as she had reciprocated. He could be stoic and serious, he could be funny and cheesy, and he could be truly romantic and charming-all towards her that night. Her chin quivered, trying to hold back the sob that was choking her, wondering if he knew she was thinking about him-that she thought about him every day.

She jumped as she heard the scuff of a sandal on the roof, someone joining her in her new temple. "Shinji?" The name felt strange leaving her lips, having not spoken it in so many years, as if it was a stranger to her now. A half second after she said the name, that lump in her throat felt three times as big as before, and her tears felt too heavy to hold back any longer.

"Hey, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" The woman stood up hastily, bowing before Renji Abarai and wiping away the tears that had stained her porcelain skin.

"Lieutenant Abarai, excuse me. I was admiring the captain's pond..." She sniffled softly before standing up straight and looking at the lieutenant with eyes that asked for help, asking for understanding from this red-head that didn't even know her name. He looked at her with a stern expression, softening for a moment when he saw those dark circles she perpetually had under her eyes and the redness of her nose from the crying.

"Get out of here, lady, it's after dark now. Captain Kuchiki doesn't like visitors to his barracks after hours."

Chessebelle had given a nod and left without another word. Her temple, abandoned once more, without a deity to light the way.