Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach…

"Hey, fourth company!" Hanataro craned his neck around to see Renji approaching from behind. The sixth company lieutenant seemed uncharacteristically chipper, today, he thought.

"Good morning, Renji-san."

"Early delivery?" Renji slapped the Hanataro heartily on the shoulder, nearly toppling the boxes of supplies he clutched against his torso.

"Something like that…"

"Yeah, yeah. So, anyway, how did things go with you and that girl, the other day?" Hanataro paused, slightly taken aback. To think that Renji had actually remembered…

"Oh, fine, I guess," he nodded.

"Oh, so you did what I suggested, huh?" Renji grinned proudly, obviously pleased with himself.

"S-sort of…" Renji's smiled faded to his usual scowl.

"Sort of?" he grunted, cocking an inquisitive eyebrow up at him. "What do you mean 'sort of'?"

"Well… I got her… flowers." Hanataro's voice trailed off as he mouthed the last word. It had been two days and he still had yet to come to grips with the situation. A light blush crept over his pasty cheeks.

"Flowers? I never said anything about flowers!" Renji paused. "And it worked?"

"I think so…"

"Oh. Well, okay then. So, when do I get to meet this mystery girlfriend?" he sneered, snaking one muscular arm over the boy's shoulder. Beads of sweat began to form at Hanataro's temples, indicative of his rising body temperature. It was hard enough to cart the parcels from one end of the Serietei to the other, but Renji's added weight doubled the effort, not to mention the fact that the red-haired adjutant was standing unnervingly close.

"S-she's not my girlfriend," he stammered.

"Oh, I get it," he nodded. "Taking it slow… Well, whatever." A coarse slap on the back pitched the medic forward, spilling the stack of boxes onto the concrete sidewalk. "Uh… my bad." Hanataro waited until the lieutenant had passed safely out of sight and before kneeling down to retrieve his packages.

'What was that all about?' Hanataro wondered.

By the third year of his inception, Hanataro had come to the realization that Fridays were always the worst days to be a member of the fourth company. While the other companies slacked off in anticipation of the weekend, his squad was forced to pick up the leftover jobs in addition to having to double-time through most of their own. If there was one thing he had gained since joining the Gotei 13, it was tolerance. Between being bullied by the members of the eleventh company and suffering the grueling workloads, one really had no choice but to learn how to deal with discomfort. Hunger was a different story.

'Oh, I did it again,' Hanataro whined, inwardly. His stomach snarled savagely up at him, eliciting a bitter grimace from the medic's pale face. 'How do I keep forgetting my lunch…?' It was just his luck that the mess hall would close an hour before his scheduled lunch break. By the time it reopened with the evening menu, it would already be time to go back to work.

"Thank you for your help, Captain."

"Anytime, Kuchiki." Hanataro's ears perked up at the sound of the name. "You're by far one of the best kidou users in the squad. I'm all too happy to offer whatever aid I can." Rukia offered Ukitake a parting bow and quickly made her way across the street.

"R-Rukia-san!" Hanataro called, rushing over to her.

"Oh, hello, Hanataro." She paused to examine him, briefly. "You look terrible." Hanataro nearly collapsed under the weight of the remark. Despite her gentle, dignified manner, Rukia had the strangest penchant for brutal honesty. "Have you eaten at all, today?"

"Actually…" Rukia's face hardened with scrutiny. She already knew what he was going to say, and was decidedly displeased. "Well, you see," he sputtered, nervously. "I forgot my lunch and-!"

"Absentmindedness is no excuse," she stated firmly. "Do you know what the 'rickets' are?"

"N-no," he replied, cautiously.

"Well, neither do I, but they sound unpleasant!" The momentary frustration in her face faded, giving way to the fiery resolve he had seen so many times before. "I suppose it can't be helped," she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, come home with me, then."

"H-home with you…?!" Hanataro blushed furiously.

"Yes. You can eat there. I've never been one to refuse a friend."

'She considers me… her friend?!' Hanataro couldn't help but grin. That was the first time anyone had literally referred to him as a "friend." It felt even better than he'd hoped.

"Come on, then."

"R-right…! Thank you, Rukia-san."

XXX

All the rumors had been true, Hanataro realized as he stared up at the building in front of him; Rukia Kuchiki did in fact live in a mansion. The sheer size of the estate was astonishing. There were trees, there were fountains, there were porch swings, ponds… It was simply amazing. To think that such a place existed INSIDE the Serietei.

"Are you coming in?" Rukia asked, glancing back at him through the open door.

"Oh! R-right! Sorry!" Hanataro stumbled over the stainless cobblestone walkway and tripped his way up the porch steps to the front door. He had rarely been invited to anyone's house, let alone a noble's. How should he act? What should he say? Was it okay to touch the door? His mind frothed over in a billowing cloud of insecurity. 'I should have never come here,' he thought with dread. 'I'm out of place! I don't belong!' Carefully, he eased back the sliding shoji paper door and stepped quietly inside.

The only thing more impressive than the mansion's outer appearance was the seemingly boundless space on the inside. The walls were a gentle off-white, devoid of ornamentation. The gleaming hardwood floor lay naked under the plain white ceiling above. No rugs, no knick-knacks, no decorative lamps… There weren't even any pictures. Somehow, he'd imagined the inside of a noble household to be slightly more extravagant. A tall, silver-haired man with glasses greeted the pair in the mansion lobby. He seemed friendly enough, despite the sunken look in his eyes.

"You're home early, milady," the man remarked, bowing.

"Oh, I'm just here for lunch; I won't be staying. Is Nii-sama here?" Hanataro felt his whole body buckle. Nii-sama? Did she mean Captain Kuchiki?

"No, I'm afraid he has left for the day."

"I see," Rukia nodded, pensively. Hanataro released an inaudible sigh of relief. His life was safe, this day.

"What would you like for lunch, milady? I could prepare a-"

"We'll manage on our own," Rukia stated in a matter-of-fact tone. The servant paused as if to protest, but quickly extinguished the thought and dismissed himself with a smile.

"As you wish."

Rukia lead Hanataro off to the kitchen where he watched her work. She was much more proficient in the kitchen than he had originally assumed. She seemed to know where most of the utensils were, and every time she lost her place, she would stop to nibble idly at her bottom lip. It seemed like such an ordinary gesture, but under her execution, it became an art. He admired the way her hair fell in the way of her eyes when she would dig through the lower cabinets for missing pans. He loved the way she pivoted in place when she lost track of her footstool. So ordinary, yet so extraordinary.

"And done," she stated with a proud grin. Her exuberant boast rousted Hanataro from his thoughts and dumped him haphazardly back into reality. It took a moment for him to realize exactly what she said.

"E-excuse me?"

"Plates," she repeated, motion toward the line of low-hanging cupboards on the adjacent wall. Hanataro made his way to the other side of the kitchen and carefully opened the first cupboard door.

"Um, are these okay?" he asked, producing a small pink dish with a rabbit painted at the center.

"Yes," she said, blushing. "Those will do." Rukia served the meal on three plates, covering the last dish with a napkin marked "Nii-sama." For a while they ate in silence until at last, Hanataro's chopsticks clicked to a halt at the bottom of his dish.

"Rukia-san?" he began, slowly.

"Yes?"

"Not to sound rude, but what is this?"

"Okame soba, why, you don't like it?"

"No, no, it's very good, actually! It's just that..."

"What?"

"Well," he chuckled with a nervous smile. "I'm allergic to molded fish paste."

XXX

"I'm so sorry, Rukia-san," Hanataro murmured from the infirmary bed. "I guess I should have told you, beforehand. He wrinkled his nose, trying had to resist the urge to scratch at his face. His body had never been good with most seafood, generally resulting in a full-body rash that lasted anywhere between one day and one week.

Hanataro glanced longingly over at Rukia. She hadn't moved or spoken since the nurses left. She simply sat in the bedside chair, staring pensively out the hospital window. 'Is she mad at me?' he wondered. 'She probably is... I wouldn't blame her. That was lame, even for me..."

"Can you forgive me?" she murmured, at last.

"F-forgive you...? But, Rukia-san-!" Her placid face silence him the moment their eyes met. He knew that look. It was the same expression she had worn the day he met her; that soft, sullen gleam in her stare. He could almost trace the tears welling up in her eyes. It was enough to break his heart. "Rukia-san." She averted her gaze once more.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into the sleeve of her shihakusho. "I must look silly..."

"Please, don't do that..." Hanataro reached out to touch her shoulder, but immediately drew back. "I... I can't bear to see you like this." Rukia froze in her seat, but kept her eyes fixed on the window. "I-I've never been a strong person or anything... I give up easily and I'm not very useful... After a while, I kind of got used to the idea of being worthless and cowardly. It was just easier... But then, I met you. Unlike me, you're brave... Strong... And when I'm around you, I guess I feel a little braver, and a little stronger. I know it sounds selfish, but, if you stop being strong now, I don't know what I'll do..." Whether or not that was the right thing to say, he couldn't be sure, but he had to say something.

"You're hopeless," she murmured, meeting his gaze with a tearful smile. "Completely hopeless..."

Author's Notes: The line "Well, come home with me, then," is a reference to the fact that Rukia often says things that could be viewed as "sexually suggestive" (example: "What's on your mind, big boy?"). And for those who didn't understand the end, that is a definite allusion to the whole "twisted fate" thing. I've found Rukia to be a pretty complicated woman, and one of her biggest hang-ups is the idea that she causes the people around her pain and discomfort (example: making Ichigo a shinigami, shaming her brother, etc).