Okay, I have a million reasons why I have not updated (again!) but, I will not apologize 'til after the chapter!

Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach…but if I did, I would make an episode where Aizen would sing Crocodile Rock for the ending them! (Read Bedtime Stories to get this joke)

Chapter 7

Drops of Jupiter

Leaning against the wall, a creek could be heard through out the whole housing, echoing off the walls. A loud grumbling of impatience was heard from an empty room, and from what it seemed, the being that it came from was not a happy camper.

"Damn, where the hell is that girl!"

The being (which seemed to be male) punched the wall next to him, literally almost making a hole in the wood, but just barely making a dent. A sharp throb went through his arm, and he grunted slightly in pain knowing what he did was just an act of belligerence.

"Well, you don't have to take it out on the wall, Kyosuke. What it do to you?"

Standing in the open doorway stood a medium sized woman, holding a stack of folded clothes. She had a shihakushou, which seemed a bit big for her, seeing how the cloth was a bit loose. The woman's features were calm, and her blues eyes reflected a sweet aura, which was then greeted by dark brown hair that was tied in a ponytail, and her stance showed that she was not afraid of the man in front of her called Kyosuke, who seemed to have a definite case of a bad temper.

"What do you want, Aine? I don't need you making me even angrier then I already am."

Aine huffed, and soon walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She laid the sheets next to the paper door, baring a Fourth Company bag hanging around her back as she kneeled down. It slide off her back, and landed with a thump on the ground, along with the sound of rolling medicine of some sort. Without hesitation, Kyosuke eyed Aine who soon sat in front of him, staring him straight in the eye.

"So, Kyosuke, why are you so upset that she hasn't returned? She isn't missing or anything…I mean she was assigned-"

"I don't give a damn what she was assigned. You Fourth Company idiots can't go ten feet without screwing something up."

"Oh, and I suppose you Eleventh Company block heads are any better?"

Kyosuke grew silent as he knew that he really shouldn't be ratting on the Fourth Company. Quite frankly, he was pissed at one person and one person only. So, as he thought up something, he got to his feet and walked past Aine, into the hallway.

"I am going to see Unohana-taichou."

Aine watched as he turned his way towards his destination, and his footsteps echoed down the hallway; fading into silence. Sighing, she stood to her feet, picked up the sheets, and walked out of the room as Kyosuke had done. She stood in the middle of the hallway, pondering on what Kyosuke was going to do. Knowing him, Aine couldn't help but feel in the pit of her stomach, that he was going to do something that wasn't going to go according to plan.

Aine looked to her right, and sighed once more, "Kyosuke, please…don't do something stupid, for you never may know how she feels deep inside. You just are too selfish sometimes to even notice…"

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Ha! You can't pass go! In your face!"

The shouten was closed today, and even though it seemed like another boring day, there was always something to do. And well, today, Jinta bribed Yukino to play a game of Monopoly, saying that he was the master of the financial board game. Yukino gladly agreed to his challenge, but to his dismay, he did not know that she was so well at managing money. He was being beaten, and well, now he was in the same boat as the other three that were playing; Kisuke, Tessai, and Ururu. (Yoruichi just scoffed at the thought of the game, and said she would be out for the day)

"Hehe, I am winning! Not to mention I have four hotels on Boardwalk!"

Yukino threw her money into the air, and giggled as it landed all over her. Tessai sighed in defeat, and soon got up walking outside of the room. Ururu sort of put her money down and called it quits knowing that she was losing anyway. Jinta and Kisuke were the only two left.

Well, to put this scene in your head, picture this. Jinta, almost looking like there was a rain cloud forming over his head, and Kisuke sitting, probably crying on the inside how he was still in jail, and was stuck in jail most of the game. Yukino on the other hand…

"Oh –jump- I –jump- am Monopoly queen! –jump-!"

The two 'money and freedom impaired' losers sat at the game board and watched as Yukino skipped around the room merrily. From the looks of it, maybe this was actually the first time she ever won anything, or was good at something. For winning a game of Monopoly wasn't that great of an accomplishment, but to Yukino it must have felt like winning the lottery three times in a row.

Sadly, even though she was so excited, Yukino was always the one to get caught up in the moment. As she skipped down one of the wooden hallways, she forgot that she had waxed the floors earlier, and well she only had socks on her feet…sooo…Yukino basically saw her feet fall in front of her, and the last thing she saw was the cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling.

Kisuke turned his head towards Yukino, and as Jinta looked up, all he saw was just a puff of dust from where Kisuke was once sitting. Around the corner, Jinta could see Kisuke already by her side putting his hand under Yukino's head, probably checking for bleeding. Getting closer, Jinta beamed down at Yukino to find her completely dead cold.

"Haha, Yuki knocked herself out…she is such a klutz."

Kisuke did not scold his slightly rude comment, but just let Jinta walk down the hall to just leave Kisuke to aid Yukino. He picked her up, bridal style, and soon saw Tessai around the corner staring at the two of them.

"I thought I heard something crash…sadly it was poor Yukino-san's skull."

Maybe there was some sense of humor in that sentence, but right at this moment all that mattered was if Yukino was alright or not. From the looks of things, she was perfectly fine, and would probably just need to lay down a while before she would regain consciousness. The problem was…where to put her?

"Tessai-san, don't you think her bed is a bit hard…?"

Tessai looked up at Kisuke, eyeing at what he was getting at. There was a silence, and soon Kisuke just looked up with a crooked smile plastered on his face.

"She can just have my bed for today!"

Tessai thought for a moment Kisuke wasn't taking this seriously, but in a sense I guess he was. Actually, it made more sense than what he would of thought of, knowing that just leaving her on the floor wouldn't do any good.

"Kisuke-san…" He paused, actually contemplated a way not to offend Kisuke, "Kisuke-san, do whatever you think is best."

Without a moments pause, Tessai turned around only to appear again with some ice wrapped in a towel. As Kisuke began to walk towards his room, Tessai opened the door ahead of him, and slowly strutted toward the queen sized feathered mattress that had a green comforter with white pillows which also seemed to match everything else in the 'green-white' environment.

Turning around he waited for Kisuke to place Yukino upon the soft sheets, and as he did so, Tessai slowly put ice in the towel under the pillow case beneath her head.

"Well, that should do for now, Tessai-san. I think I can take it from here."

Tessai nodded, and with large bulky footsteps he walked towards the door closing it with a click behind him. Silence seemed to consume every corner of the room, sending a creepy and lonely feeling through Kisuke as he looked down at the usual lively Yukino lying on his bed. She made no movement except for the slight rise and fall of her chest.

Kisuke glanced to his left, noticing that his bathroom door was open. The slight scene gave him a reminder that he was in dear need of a shower. Since he was planning to take one right around this time today, knowing that he had no room left in the rest of the day, was a problem now, as Yukino was in his room.

Shifting a bit on his feet, he began to chuckle as he thought of some of the reactions and predicaments that could happen in the next few minutes or so if Yukino awoke. He rubbed his scruffy chin, noticing that as well as a shower, his '5 o'clock shadow' was now turning into a beard, showing a sign for a shave.

He sighed, letting his hand flop to his side as he began to walk towards his bathroom door. He removed his haori, which soon ended up on the floor already cluttering the room which seemed awkwardly clean for someone like Kisuke. It wasn't surprising to find that the next item of clothing that he removed (which was his hat) also landed in the same spot. The floor. If it wasn't the fact that Yukino was lying on his bed, unconscious at that, then he would of undressed completely right there. But, at this thought, if Yukino suddenly had a wake up call, and well, if Kisuke was standing there butt naked…well you should know the rest. (A/N: What fangirl wouldn't want to wake up to see that? XD)

So, without further thought, he closed that bathroom door, undressed, and hoped into that shower.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Yukino stood in the middle of a giant monopoly board, looking around to see that everything was completely silent. Her feet were upon a spot called 'Boardwalk', which seemed to be towered over by two red buildings. Looking up, she found that these were hotels…plastic hotels.

"What the hell? People are so lazy these days…making hotels out of cheap ass plastic."

Without another thought, she walked towards the hotels and noticed that she couldn't pick just one. Her facial expression showed a bit of anguish, as she couldn't truly decide on which one to choose.

"Do I want this one…the red plastic hotel? Or do I want this one…the other red plastic hotel?"

After a few seconds of Inky Binky Bonky, she decided on the one to her right. Opening the front door, she found herself in a huge elegant hotel, with about fifty butlers coming towards her offering her…lint covered pineapples? (A/N: Inside joke…don't ask.)

She passed through the lint covered pineapple servers, only to be greeted by a very tall woman that had blue skin, and a stern expression. "How may I assist you this evening, my young miss?"

How was Yukino supposed to answer this? She didn't even know why she entered this hotels in the first place. They were just there, and she just decided on the red plastic hotel on the right instead of the red plastic hotel on the left.

"I…I was wondering…"

She paused for a second, and heard a slight clatter against the panel of the red plastic roof. She looked up above, to find that it seemed to be raining. For some reason the rain feel through the roof, and feel upon her and the blue woman. The blue woman before her seemed to melt to the ground, as all the blue on her skin melted away, revealing a green layer right beneath.

"Um, mam…you do know…?"

"Oh yes, don't worry my sweet. It happens all the time. You get used to it."

A slight ruffle of sheets came from the empty room, and a slight mumble of words were heard. "Happens all…the time…you are…melting away….damn…it….HOLY SHIT SHE MELTED AWAY!"

Sitting straight up, flinging ice everywhere on the bed in the process, Yukino awoke wide eyed at her reaction to a blue woman melting. Breathing hard, she closed her eyes for a few minutes and slowly tried to focus her visions from the slight fast movement. Her legs stretched out in the process, and as she flung them to her side, she noticed something different. Her feet didn't touch the ground.

She looked down at her legs, and under her thighs, she noticed a green bed sheet. With confusion spread across her face, she slightly glanced around her to find herself in a completely different room then before. Jumping off the bed, she slowly walked around to find that on the other side lay a pile of clothing only to be identified as Kisuke's.

"Messy, messy, messy."

It didn't mind her one bit that she awoke in Kisuke's room, knowing that they were probably thinking what was the best for her to put her in a comfy bed. She actually remembered herself slipping, but not the impact of the blow. Figuring this, she guessed that she had fallen, and well, you know the rest. So, doing her job, she stepped over to the pile of clothes, picking the hat up and placing it upon her head, as the haori was flung around her shoulders.

She giggled as she began to twirl around and laugh at herself. Even though she never really thought about it, Kisuke's clothes were mighty comfy, even if it was just a hat and haori. She enjoyed it, and as she stood there, she took in whiffs of Kisuke's scent off the clothing. The scent was seductive, leaving her actually pausing a moment to take a breath of the sweet fragrance.

"I am enjoying him way too much…"

She slightly giggled at this, knowing that everywhere she was going now; she couldn't help but think of him in some way. Her feelings for Kisuke were getting so confusing, that it almost made her sick. Her stomach would leap and jump from emotions she wasn't use to, and could only identify as signs of deep feelings at least.

Sighing a bit, she knew that not even in a million years, could Kisuke actually be that in love with her. Not like she wouldn't like that, but she knew that Kisuke was probably someone who would move on. At this thought, she slightly remembered what Yoruichi had told her a few weeks before.

"Hoping I won't hurt him…hmph. He has a greater chance of hurting me without knowing it. He probably doesn't even truly like me, just acting like it to make me feel better I guess."

Her eyes focused on the haori that consumed her body to her knees. She actually felt like crying at this moment, but as she felt a slight tear forming from the side of her eye, a slight click was heard in front of her. Looking slightly up and then fully up, she saw something of a sight that will be etched into her mind for eternity.

In front of her, was a man, half naked with a towel wrapped around his waist, drying his hair with yet another towel. Her face was pale white, showing shock, but as soon as she saw some strands of blonde hair poke out of the towel on the man's head, she immediately shifted from no color to the darkest red in the world.

At this very moment, her head became clouded with a daze, and her view was beginning to turn into a dark glare. Her side vision was totally blacked out like she was walking down a hallway, and it seemed to be focusing on the sight in front of her. Trying to step forward a bit to get balance, she noticed that now the towel was removed to show Kisuke's full face.

"Oh shit…no…" Yukino cursed again as one thought went running through her head, HE'S SO HOT! It was a silence, but Yukino felt like her head was coming up with so many comments about Kisuke at this moment, it felt like a crowd of people were in the room with the two.

Nothing seemed to stop in her head, and everything was becoming confusing. But, that soon changed. Before her, she noticed that Kisuke was moving towards her. He threw the towel onto the bed, and came to her; leaving a slight trail of water behind. Closing her eyes before he was about two inches away, she waited for him to stop, but all she felt was arms wrap around her back.

She didn't notice it, but to this, she reacted by putting her heads on Kisuke's bare back, and feeling the skin on her finger tips. Slightly letting out a gasp of surprise, she fully put her arms around him, and pushed his body closer to hers. Through her clothing she could feel his wet chest making contact with hers slightly, sending sparks flying. Kisuke's chin rested on her shoulder a bit, letting his mouth pour warm breath against her ear, sending slight shivers down her spin.

Leaning her head forward slightly, her forehead was resting against his collarbone, and she was staring at his shadowed skin. It was a moment that seemed to stop time, and she literally couldn't even remember her own name. If Kisuke wasn't there, she would have sworn she would have fallen to the ground, for her legs felt like water bags. She couldn't even feel the ground beneath her, nor could she feel anything below her thighs. All her emotions and feelings were all sucked and consumed into her chest and abdomen, and she actually enjoyed the feeling.

"Don't ever think that of me, Yukino."

A stern, yet quiet voice was heard through her head, and she came back to reality. Her eye glanced to her left, and immediately she saw Kisuke's neck before her. Knowing that she wasn't going to make eye contact, she spoke towards him, with her voice slightly muffled.

"Kisuke….what are you talking about?"

There was a moment of silence, "Yukino, I mean that, I don't want you to ever think of me of a man to fake my feelings."

Yukino's eyes opened wide. It didn't matter that he was eavesdropping on her talking to herself, nothing really mattered at all. She just had one thought going through her head. He truly…likes me…that way?

"Kisuke…you mean, you do…?"

Appearing before her eyes were Kisuke's as he seemed to maneuver themselves to a position so their faces were closer together then any friend's faces should be. Without mistaking it, she could actually feel the movement of his lips against hers slightly as he spoke these words, "I am not the man to mess with a women's feelings. Nor am I one to hurt a woman. I am one to love them passionately."

Words echoed through her head as she heard the ending of his sentence. Their eyes were making contact, searching for each others emotions through them. Kisuke could see Yukino's innocence in her blue eyes, as Yukino sensed the slight look of truth in Kisuke's grayish toned ones. A smile slightly spread across Yukino's lips, "So, basically, you do like me…", she paused for a second, and continued, "I…can't believe it."

A look of confusion was spread on Kisuke's face, and he soon replied to her. "Why can't you believe it? Is it that hard not to believe?"

She could feel Kisuke looking concerned, and she felt his lips slightly pull away from hers. The temptation to touch each others lips was beginning to rise, and Yukino was dazed at how to get something like to happen. All she could think of was to just reply to his question, truthfully.

"It is hard to believe…for, no one has actually said anything like this to me. No one has even been this close to me, and I just can't believe that you are the first one to break that barrier. I don't even feel uncomfortable around you, and it just feels right." She stopped for a bit and glanced over, breaking the eye contact. "Sorry if that sounded confusing."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see his lips curl up in a smile, which seemed to relax her a bit. Moving her head towards his again, she leaned toward him waiting for an answer. Kisuke looked down at her, and without any more questions, he moved one of his hands from her back to cup the side of her neck. His thumb gentle rubbed against her jaw, and he slightly moved his head closer to hers again.

"I don't find what you just said confusing at all. It makes complete sense to me. You like me and I like you. We have a connection, and we should continue with it…I knew you were something special." As Yukino stared into his eyes as he spoke, she didn't even notice that his lips were parting before hers. He spoke something under his breath, as he slightly made contact with her pink colored flesh folds.

"I thought it once Yukino and I will think it a million times. You look so damn cute in my clothes, my little bird."

His lips pressed against hers, and Yukino felt a shock of feeling. Her arms rose from his back, and she let her hands wrap around the back of his head as he soon deepened the kiss a bit. As they continued, Yukino only could think of one thought going through her head, and it soon made her giggle a bit. Kisuke stopped and soon looked at her, barely leaving her lips.

"What's so funny?"

She giggled against his lips again, and he could feel the vibrations of her soft voice bounce against his skin slightly. In a whispered tone, and with a smile on her face, she leaned in and spoke, "Would you consider this a good first kiss?"

Kisuke slightly chuckled, but replied to her quickly, talking against her lips again. "I am your first for everything aren't I?"

I'll take as a yes…and what does he mean by that?

Yukino seemed to be staring for hours into his eyes, but she soon stopped. Her sense of reality kicked in and she became wide eyed at what she had just done. Her hands went to her side, and she immediately walked slowly away from Kisuke, leaving him a bit confused.

"Kisuke…you…we….oh my gosh…"

She turned around, looking the other way, trying to think of something to say. She began to chew on her fingernails out of nervous habit, and she ranted on and on in her head. She couldn't get past the fact that she just kissed Kisuke, and that he liked her the same way she did him. She closed her eyes tight, trying to clear her mind, only to turn around to find that Kisuke had gotten fully dressed while she was going through her little episode.

Her face became slightly pink, for it defiantly looked ridiculous probably to see a woman of her age acting like that, but you know, it was her first kiss, and it was with Kisuke (who was half naked). How was she going to explain that to her friends? It was coming to her way too fast, and well, she thought she was going to overload from the experience.

"Yukino-chan…are you alright?"

Looking up to find Kisuke looking at her concerned, she blushed as she saw his face and whimpered as she looked the opposite way of him. Her hands were practically in her mouth, as she tried to control her anxious feelings. She felt wonderful, yet scared at the same time, making everything still a blur.

Moments passed, which seemed to be hours, and Kisuke walked up to her side, leaning forward a bit to get a glance of her face.

"You alright?"

Yukino slightly moved her eyes to make contact with his. Closing her eyes for a second, she seemed to relax herself. She opened them when a smile slightly seemed to merge from beneath her hands, and she spoke with a muffled tone.

"We really did kiss didn't we? I wasn't dreaming it right."

Kisuke nodded to her question, "From what I can recall, yes we did."

"And you were half naked weren't you?"

"That was no draft I was feeling."

She slightly giggled at his joke, feeling a spark of relaxation come from it. "Whoa. So now what? Don't people like go to next level with relationships when they kiss or something? Isn't there some rule? Some weird rule about bases or something…"

Kisuke only cocked his head slightly at the end of her sentence. His face looked away from her, but returned with a huge smile on his face. "Well, no point in rushing. For right now, just consider us…close friends?"

"I have close friends that don't kiss me on the lips."

"Okay, I am at lack for better words. What would you call us then?"

Yukino stood, and stared off into the distance thinking of a name to call their new formed relationship. The only thing that sounded good was probably the only thing she could ever think of, and well she decided to go with it.

"How about keeping it simple. Boyfriend and girlfriend sound good?"

Kisuke smiled crookedly, replying in a humorous tone. "Why does the word cliché come to mind?'

"Because it is cliché. Don't mock my lack of better words, too." Yukino paused for a bit, and soon watched as Kisuke stood straight up and stretched.

"Okay fine, boyfriend and girlfriend it is…" Yukino looked over her shoulder as Kisuke inched a bit closer to her, leaving about a foot of space between the two. He leaned forward and placed his head on hers, speaking softly so only she could hear.

"Well, from what I hear, boyfriends and girlfriends usually know some secrets about each other. So, with that said, my little bird, you have some explaining to do later. You promised me, remember?"

Remembering her promise was quite hard, but in her head, she had a feeling that she did say something of what he was getting at. "Well, with THAT said, you also need to explain some things to me."

"How about we make it even. A question, for another question? Sound fair?"

Under his head, she could barely nod, but she somehow was able to. To the answer, Kisuke raised his head, and lightly grabbed Yukino by the edge of 'his' haori.

"Come on now, dinner is about ready."

Nodding towards the words, Yukino walked after him, removing his clothing in the process throwing it in the corner it was originally found.

Okay. I personally loved this chapter. Hehe, I am sorry, I don't think I am rushing the romance at all, but I absolutely loved this chapter. It is probably one of the greatest one I have ever written in my opinion! Oo Anyway, on a side note…I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! You don't want to know how much homework I was assigned, and how much crap I have to do with midterms. I was totally swamped, and had no time at all to do this for I was going everywhere every weekend, and I couldn't get on the computer at all. And now, it is 11:30 at night on Monday. I still have some homework to do, (won't take me long) and I feel totally relieved I finished the chapter… -breath- Okay, please review! Also…I don't know when I am updating next…I will try my best to get it up as fast as I can. But, since I am finally past the hard part, I think everything will be easy street from now on.

Song of this Chapter? – Drops of Jupiter by Train (Who hasn't heard this song? Come on! Anyway, no reason why I decided it as the song of this chapter…I guess because it was there?)