Chapter 8:

*A Few weeks later*

Sae stood outside, patiently waiting for the daylight to come. She just wanted to see something that could keep her mind off of him. Just the thought of thinking about him, had completely irritated her.

But heavy arms had wrapped around her from behind. "Hey, stupid. What are you doing out here so early?"

Izuni sighed lowly. "Go away, Ikkaku. I'm thinking."

He made a face a removes his arms from her. "Fine... Stupid ass..."

Ikkaku begins to walk off but Izuni sighs in defeat. "Wait, Ikkaku."

He pauses, eventually turning back and standing by her side.

"I shouldn't be telling you this but... I can't stop thinking about your Captain."

His brow goes up in slight distaste. "What?"

"Not like that, dumbass. It's just that... it felt like I have seen him somewhere. I mean, outside the seireitei. I bumped into him a few times but the first time, my heart kept racing. Like I was trying to tell myself something-"

"Will you shut the hell up? Listening to you talk about my Captain like this irritating the shit outta me!"

"I don't mean it like that! Dumbass! What do you want to do, listen to me or NOT?"

He groans a bit, finally dropping to the ground. "Fine! Just avoid talking about him like he's your long lost lover, stupid."

Izuni makes a face before continuing on with her thoughts. "I don't know. All that matters is that Kenpachi Zaraki is someone I would prefer to stay away from. I guess you can say that he's the first to be my only fear."

"You? Scared? You're not fooling anybody, shrimp."

"Don't get bothered because I'm not even a bit scared of you." She answered, sitting beside him.

"Yeah? Well, you should be."

"Don't get cocky. You know I wouldn't take one second of hesitation to be on your ass."

Ikkaku drops it, "Yeah , whatever."

After the tiny quarrel, Sae hugs her knees and sighs a bit. "Now that you had me thinking… how about we go somewhere tonight?"

The once calm Ikkaku quickly turned his eyes to her with wide eyes. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that I need to do something to take my mind off of your Captain."

It may not seem that Sae Izuni is bothered by Zaraki and his dark presence but believe it or not, she is. His face wasn't familiar yet just the vibe of his presence simply shakes the life out of Izuni. Yet, the question of why is still unknown.

"Fine." Ikkaku finally replies.

Of course, she was somewhat surprised, agreeing to something like that. "R-Really? You'll do that?"

"If that's what you really want, then I have no choice but to go along with it."

He glances over to her to see a mischievous grin on her face. "WHAT'S WITH THE FACE, TWERP!"

"Me? You're the one getting all fucking soft on me, baldy!" She punches his arm.

"Shut up! Or I'll change my mind, you little asshole!"

"I'll kill you!"

Not too far from the denying couple, Kishimoto watches from a rooftop. "I guess it's true…. about them having a thing?"

"I guess you can say that." Yumichika added, not too far seated by the lieutenant on the roof. "I'm not surprised. But I'm disappointed."

"U-Um… Maybe they just want to be friends." Kishimoto guessed. It was already bizarre to Hanabi Kishimoto that her captain had a 'gentle' side. But it's even weirder to see her captain smile.

"Yes, they're only friends." Hanabi confirms herself.

"I don't know why I'm so embarrassed. Is it because I told him that we'll hang out in my room? Is it because I won't be wearing my uniform? I don't know what it is. But it doesn't matter now. He would be by my door any moment—"

"Writing in your stupid book again, I see."

Sae jumped up out of her seat, hearing the voice of Ikkaku coming from the window. Without thought, she closes her book up before Ikkaku got any thoughts of taking it from her. Slipping it under some books, she turns around to him.

"Hey, asshole! You know there's something called KNOCKING! There's something called a DOOR too, dammit!"

Ikkaku steps into the room completely now and gives Sae a quick stare.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

Sae's face flushes and doesn't look at him. "It's a tsukesage, stupid. Did you expect me to wear my uniform? Stupid…. Anyway, sit over there. I placed some food over there. Don't touch my sake."

"Whatever." He said, already seated on the floor, his hands already in one of the dishes.

For a moment, Izuni watched him as he consumed one of her appetizers down. "How greedy."

"You know, one would think you're starving by the way you're devouring all of that food." She said, sitting across from him.

"Shut up. I'm starving. You're food is terrible, by the way."

"WHAT? Then why the hell are you eating it?"

He lifts his head up from his bowl. "Weren't you listening? I said I'm starving."

"I'll let that one slide, punk." She said, grabbing something to eat as well.

As much as Ikkaku complained about her food, not once he came up for air. Sae smiled at the thought. Not to mention, half of the time they were together that night, she was smiling at him, secretly enjoying the food. It didn't even matter if they were talking or not, Izuni thought, if he's here with me he must care about me. Well, that's what she thought.

On the same token, the little moment that Ikkaku was reaching for another dish, he would look at Izuni. All dressed in her tsukesage. Her long hair was no longer resting on her back. Tonight she wore it up.

He didn't want to admit it, but he thought she was incredible. No way in hell, he would ever say that to her though.

"Sae."

"What do you want?" She snaps, taking a sip of her sake.

"You didn't touch your own food. Did you slip poison into the stuff or something?"

"No!" She yells, almost spilling her drink. "I'm not hungry, ok?"

"Is the Captain still on your mind?"

"Er, no. Not really. Why'd you ask?"

He points at her drink. "That's your 5th cup."

She looks at her cup and puts it down. "Really? I wasn't counting."

But now that he mentions it to her, the hint of dizziness comes to her.

He grabs her cup and drinks the rest off. "Now that I think about it, I think I had five too. Drinking the rest of yours is six."

Sae rubs her temples before looking at Ikkaku. "Hm, how about we just call it a night? If I sit here any longer, I won't remember a thing in the morning. Help me clean this up."

Slowly, she stands to her feet, clearing up some of the stuff from the floor. Even now, she felt dizzier. Thankfully, she doesn't get nauseous.

"So, what are you going to do after this, Ikkaku?"

He stands to his feet as he watched her clean up. "Nothing probably. What about you?"

"Sleep. I've got nothing else to do." She said, putting all of the things on her desk.

Afterwards, she walks over to her bed and lies down. "You can see yourself out, Ikkaku."

It was fast but she was already fast asleep on her bed before Ikkaku got a chance to leave OR say anything else.

"Is she really asleep? That damn woman!" He thought. "Might as well leave then."

He walks over to the window but the hard noise of something hitting the floor made him turn back. Once turning, he noticed that Izuni had fallen off of her bed. Slowly, she sits up and rubs her head. "Oww."

"Dumbass." He said, walking over to her and lifting her up.

"Ikkaku? What the hell are you still doing here?" She asks with her eyes hardly open.

"You should be glad I'm taking you back to your bed. Brat."

Ikkaku puts her down and watches her curl up in her bed. She rolls again but Ikkaku simply decides to just sit on the bed. "Damn, idiot. You're doing this on purpose!"

She doesn't respond to him.

"Fine. Then I'll just sit here until you decided to stay the hell still!"

*Two Hours Later*

It wasn't until then when Ikkaku was laying beside her, halfway sleep. He knew that she wasn't going to move anytime soon but he decided to just stay a little while longer.

Or maybe he just wanted to spend the night over. Just with her.

He turns to face her. As he looks at her no matter how hard he didn't want to, his eyes couldn't help but to stare at her. She looked so peaceful asleep. It was hard to see that while she's awake, so why not take advantage of this?

Her lips were alluring. Her skin was gorgeous. The way she wore her hair was perfect. The way her clothes were revealing the collarbone. It was… tempting.

He gradually brings his hand up to her shoulder, pulling the fabric up to hide her exposed collarbone. From there, he brought his finger up to her lips, gently tracing over it.

He withdraws quickly. "What am I doing?"

Although, he questions himself, he ends up pulling her close to his body.

Sae's small body was warm. Inviting. He wanted to hold her tighter but that could result her waking up and beating the daylight out of him.

So, he stayed this way for the rest of the night, somewhat glad that someone like her actually notices him.

He kisses her forehead lightly before falling asleep as well.

A/N: HEY EVERYONE! Gosh, it's been so long! And it feels like I sorta improved a bit. I hope you guys didn't forget about me! I missed you guys! So, how about we make a deal? Gimmie a review and hopefully, I can update very soon! And thank you guys, for being so patient!