Byakuya and I left my room to join in on the festivities. I walked in front of him with my head drawn tightly to my chest. I wanted to badly to cry and hide in my room right now, it wasn't even funny.

"Sayuri, are you feeling alright?" He asked, noting my downcast silhouette.

I instantly perked up and put a large smile on my face, "Oh, nii-san, you worry too much!"

"Hai," He said in relief.

We walked in silence together until Rangiku pulled me away. I tried to look back to get a brief glance of my nii-san, but he was already gone in the thick, polychromatic swirl of shinigami. Rangiku led me to Captain Hitsugaya, Hinamori Momo, Kira Izuru, Ikkaku, and Renji.

"Captain Hitsugaya? Shouldn't the Captains be off overseeing the festival?" I asked him.

"Aww, why are you the only one who calls him Captain Hitsugaya?" Rangiku pouted.

Toushiro ignored her, "In shifts, and mine just ended,"

"Yeah, and vice-captains have to work on that too," Izuru added.

"But I thought everyone could relax?" I asked the group at large.

"Well, after what happened with Aizen, we need to keep on our toes," Renji told me.

"That's makes sense," I said, "But isn't likely that he'll strike,"

"No, but we third seats don't have to worry," Ikkaku said, taking a large swig of his sake.

"So, did you and him...?" Rangiku asked me.

"Nani?" I asked her.

"You know what I mean," She grinned evilly.

I glared at Renji, "How does she know?"

He immediately tried to calm me down, "She grilled it out of me this morning. She hadn't heard from you and she got me drunk!"

"Baka, of course nothing happened," Momo spoke up.

"She knows too?" I crackled my knuckles threateningly at Renji.

"Eh, we all know," Ikkaku informed me, already drunk, "We knew it before you did,"

I shook my head, "Well, I am speechless,"

"Well, if it was me," Rangiku wrapped her arm around my neck so I couldn't escape, "I would use my body against him,"

Izuru shook his head, "Please, Byakuya's not that kind of man! You have to just forget about him, he's a lost cause,"

Momo huffed her cheeks at Izuru, "Don't listen to him! Listen, if you love him, keep up the faith and just be close to him. He'll get it soon enough,"

"Yeah, cause that worked so well for you," Renji rolled his eyes, "Warii, Momo. Sayuri, I've no good advise, and besides, this is your problem, not ours,"

I smiled, "At least one of you gets it,"

"Sayuri-imouto!" Rukia called out for me.

"I better get going," I nodded to my so-called friends and ran to meet Rukia.

She was surrounded by her human friends still, but I prefered it that way. I needed a distraction right about now.

"Oi! Rukia-nii-chan!" I yelled and fought my way through the crowd to her.

Once I was with her, she whispered to me, "Byakuya-nii-san would like a word with you,'

I grinned, "Really? Where?"

"Hai, really. He wants to see you by the estate," She nodded.

I hugged her and ran off back to the house. Judging by the sun, more time had passed than I realized. Oh, who cares about the time when I got to see my nii-san?!

True to what Rukia told me, Byakuya was waiting by the estate. I ran toward him happily, but still slow enough to not give myself away. While this meeting was a bit strange, I couldn't let my imagination run away with me.

"Sayuri," Byakuya nodded to me as I stopped in front of him.

"Nii-san, you called for me?"

He nodded, "I wanted to ask you something,"

"Hai?"

"I was able to get you an appointment to see if you're Captain material,"

"Oh, that's great," My smile fell.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," I forced a smile.

"Well, I thought you wanted to be a Captain,"

I shook my head, "I did, but I'd be more than honored to die for you. I mean fighting for you," I clarified.

"I am the honored one," He nodded, "But do you realize what you're passing up?"

I looked down, "Hai,"

Hai, it was my dream to become a captain, but now when I finally have my chance, I could not take it. I wanted to stay with Byakuya in any way I could, and if it meant staying in third seat, so be it.

Ok, first things first, thank you for the review! It means a lot, so thank you, thank you, thank you! Alright, here's the next installment of this story, so ta-da! I don't own Bleach, just Sayuri. M'kay, I also want to tell you that polychromatic means multicolored. That's one of my favorite words, so I was glad to be able to finally use it! I hope I get more reviews for this story, but I am truly happy with that one. Huh, I think that covers it for now. See ya!