AN: Okay, one more chapter before focusing on exams. Enjoy!

10. #10

It had been ten days since Hisana had first encountered the strange man on a bridge at midnight. She was no closer to guessing who he was, so she had decided to try and find out, tracing a path back from the bridge in the direction he had come from. Her curiosity had got the better of her, but she couldn't help herself.

'Damn curiosity.'

So she had set off, retracing her steps. There were several bridges along the river she'd been looking at, but after a fifteen minute walk she had found it. It looked different in the light of day; cheerful, not melancholy. Flowers she didn't know the names of swayed carefree in the breeze. Hisana supposed if the mysterious man had seen this path in the day, perhaps he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to commit suicide.

Had she really looked that way? She admitted she was less than happy that night, but she wasn't planning on jumping off the bridge.

"And anyway, that water was way too shallow," she muttered, strolling across the bridge to walk along the path the man had come from. Hisana walked for some time, taking in the countryside sights. She was surprised how long he must have walked for. And she had thought she was an insomniac.

Eventually she saw something in the distance and her heart sank. The man had walked the long rural way around the bulk of Rukongai from Seireitei. She supposed since he was from there he didn't want to mingle with the filth.

Hisana grimaced.

"We're not filth," she growled. She could imagine the man wanting a walk out of Seireitei and turning his nose up at the idea of mingling with the rabble from Rukongai, and it made her blood boil.

She was at a loss. There was no point heading to the nearest gate to Seireitei just to find out more about the man. To begin with, it was nigh impossible to breach the gates. Plus the man probably didn't care about anything below him, and so she wouldn't care about anything above her.

'The Heavens and Earth will never meet. That's what they think of us, right?' she thought, her eyes focused on the white walls of Seireitei before turning her back and walking away.

By the time she reached the bridge again, it had grown dark. Her food provision of the day consisted of an apple and water from the river. Her low amount of spiritual power meant she didn't get obscenely hungry, but one apple was barely enough to stave the hunger off for a day.

She sat next to the bridge on the riverbank, watching the river flow again. She knew nothing of this man, but her intrigue had not disappeared despite the fact he was someone she could never reach. It was his voice, she decided, that had drawn her in. It reminded her of the ocean letting her drift away.

"So you are still contemplating, Hisana?"

Hisana jumped to her feet, shocked by his silent approach. He stood on the bridge, watching her with unfeeling eyes.

"No, I have no intention of killing myself, though I suppose you think because I am so low I might as well," she snapped, blushing with anger and shock that she dared to be so outspoken against someone who had such power. Sometimes, she really couldn't help but ask for trouble.

The man looked mildly surprised, but didn't move.

"Oh? I do not recall divulging my thoughts to you."

Hisana bit her lip. She didn't know this man. She was aware she had made assumptions, but his expression, his slight air of contempt and his obvious high status made her sure she couldn't be wrong.

"I'm sorry, but I know you're from Seireitei. That means you must be a shinigami of some sort, and your hair ornament tells me you are rich or powerful," she tried to explain, but her words were beginning to fail her. He was beginning to scare her.

He looked at the sky, as if she had disappeared out of existence, before finally looking at her again.

"You are completely right. But I do not think I should be interrogated when all I wish to do is walk."

Hisana contemplated this. She slowly approached him, eyeing the sword as if he was going to strike at any moment. He made no move, simply watching her draw closer.

"May I ask your name?" she said uncertainly. She cursed her curiosity. If she was going to learn what he thought of the people of Rukongai, she needed to know his name and restrain her judgments.

"I am Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the noble Kuchiki family," he said simply.

Hisana began to feel rather sick, wishing she hadn't spent those ten days building up a fantasy of what the man called Byakuya was like. Imagined smiles, conversation… even kisses. To imagine such a thing had been folly, she now realised.

Ten days of lies ached in her heart.