I just wanted to clarify something about the time that this story is set in.
What's happened so far happened right after Aizen betrayed Soul Society, so none of the Arrancar stuff has occured yet.
And the timeline might be different, 1 year after the beginning of the story will be when Yammy and Ulqorria finally come to observe Ichigo and everything.
So basically my story starts in an extra year between the Soul Society Arc and the Arrancar Arc.
The difference in the timeline of the real story and the timeline of my story is important, you'll see later.
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Jushiro looked at Yuki, the crimson blush was highlighted against her ivory skin. It was incredibly beautiful... Yuki caught Jushiro staring at her and flushed a even deeper red. She wasn't sure what had happened or why he had even kissed her.
"Yuki... I'm sorry, I don't know what happened... I just... suddenly out of the blue... I'm sorry..." ,apologized Jushiro, desperately trying to make Yuki understand.
"It's okay, how about we talk about it tomorrow. We'll talk about it over dinner, you know since I usually eat here anyways." ,grinned Yuki, she was still on her high from the kiss.
"Sure." ,agreed Jushiro.
It was a date.
Wait... Was it??
___________________________________Tomorrow________________________________________
Yuki awoke long before the sun rose, she had already taken a shower, changed her clothes, eaten breakfast and now was on her way flash stepping to Jushiro's estate. Today was the day of the so called "date", it was actually more of a meeting than a date. There they would talk about "them", there wasn't much about them. All that happened intimately was the koi accident and the kiss, but Yuki couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of seeing Jushiro.
When she reached the clearing where the koi ponds were, she couldn't help but hear the two voices of Isane and Kiyone, the two sisters.
"Finally!! I can't believe Unohana-taichou and Ukitake-taichou are getting together!!"
"Yes, doctor and patient! What a dreamy relationship!" ,gushed Kiyone.
"I know, they've known each over for over 2 centuries! Everyone can see they're perfect for each other!!"
"So Ukitake-taichou is wearing the blue kimono with the golden dragon pattern, right?"
"Yes, and Unohana-taichou will wear the purple kimono with the red cherry blossom design! They'll be so cute together!"
"I know!!!"
So Unohana-taichou was Jushiro's crush, that was understandable. She was pretty and also a captain. Not only was she kind, her area in work excluded fighting, something Jushiro probably liked about her. Look at her, the word to release Amdia was kill... She couldn't stand a chance to Unohana-taichou. Yuki flash-stepped away, her moves were suddenly sluggish and slow, the vibrant energy that had been swirling around her was now fading. But Yuki couldn't help wonder, why did Jushiro accept her proposal then? Why? Was it just to mock her? No... Jushiro would never do something like that. He was kind and caring, Jushiro MUST have forgotten. He would never purposly accept a proposal just to decline.
It really was too bad that she missed hearing another sentence of the siblings' conversation.
"I really hope this date that we set up goes well!"
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Yuki searched all over the place trying to find Jushiro, she had to ask her what it was about. Was he dating Unohana-taichou? Why had he kissed her then? She hated this... this feeling that Jushiro just might be lying to her. Yuki wanted to compeletly trust him, he was the first friend she had made in Seireitei. (Besides Urahara and Yoruichi.) She turned another corner where she had heard the pitter-patter of feet, there he was!
"Jushiro!" Yuki wanted to scream it out load, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Was fear stopping her??
She started to shout again but noticed Unohana-taichou coming toward Jushiro. They were probably going to talk about it, why ask him directly? Some "collective listening" usually did the trick! Yuki quickly disappeared from the wooden corridor before any of the captains noticed her, she seated herself onto the roof where she had a good chance of doing some good collective listening cough* cough* eavesdropping cough* cough*.
"Unohona-taichou! How nice to see you, do you require my assistance?"
"Yes, I'm here to inform you that apparently we're going on another date again!! Isane kept mumbling about not giving up."
"Oh, I see... well young ones are always persistent. So when's the date?"
"Today apparently, talk about short notice!"
"I see, today. That's bad timing, I had something planned but Isane and Kiyone just won't budge I guess. I'll be there!"
The two captains quickly said their goodbyes and departed swiftly, leaving Yuki by herself on the roof. So did that mean Jushiro didn't know about the date? From the conversation, Kiyone and Isane must have set them up! But it was Unohana-taichou... she was pretty and smart and strong and a captain. She was perfect for Jushiro, she could heal him and be there for him whenever he had one of his coughing fits or was sick. What if Jushiro started to like Unohana-taichou? Wait... why did she care about it anyway! She should be happy... happy for Jushiro that he had a shot of love. But Yuki couldn't deny that a small part of her, fine, a large part of her wished that the one in Unohana-taichou's place was her... not the captain of the 4th division.
The collective listening had done no good, it had simply left Yuki bitter, sad, confused and with a very large hole in her heart.
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All day thoughts of Jushiro, and Unohana-taichou infested her minds. After collectively listening, Yuki had quickly disappeared and ran from Jushiro's estate. She didn't want him to see her like this. Not when she was down... A hell butterfly that had been fluttering for a long time now finally found her, it landed on her finger and Jushiro's usual voice said.
"Hello Yuki! I'm really sorry to say, but I won't be able to attend the dinner meeting we had planned! Something came up, but if we could reschedule I'll promise to attend the next one!!"
He didn't even have the guts to tell her directly. That wasn't the truth, Jushiro actually had been scrambling around his property trying to find Yuki. But in her emotional state, Yuki had been shunpo'ing throughout Soul Society, never being caught. Yuki now had finally stopped, trying to catch her breath after shunpo'ing without stopping for over an hour. It made her free to move so quickly, the feeling of the wind entangling her hair and tickling her skin was absolutely exhilirating, it made Yuki felt so free from the worries that practically consumed her every thought. But Yuki knew the exact person to go to for cheering up, Matsumoto!!
She was free tonight, and in her desperate attempt to cheer herself up she would let Rangiku drag her to a bar with Shuhei and Kyoraku where she would drown herself in sake. Matsumoto and her would flirt shamelessly with repulsive men and shunpo into pole in their drunk stupor. She had never found such activities tempting, but the others seemed to find it fun and Yuki was desperately down in the dumps.
When Yuki sent a hell butterfly asking Rangiku whether or not she was free tonight to get herself drunk tonight and be Yuki's drinking buddy, Rangiku ahd immediately falsh stepped over. The speed of it was enough to make Yoruichi frown with envy.
"Yuki, what's wrong!"
"So I decide to be a good friend and join you and your other drinking buddies for once for a drink, and you accuse me of having something wrong of me? Well that's supportive."
"But... you never drink. I know something's wrong."
After a few minutes of bickering back and forth and useless taunts and teasing, Yuki finally cracked.
"It's all because of stupid Jushiro-kun!!" ,she yelled.
"What... I thought everything was fine with you two. The last time I saw you guys, the two of you seemed extra comfy!!", she teased not realizing the sincerity of the situation.
A tear trickled down as Yuki recalled the last time Matsumoto had seen them together.
Flashback*
"Yuki-chan! You said we would stick to what the original Kimi looked like!"
"But the orange and black koi looks so much better!"
"You were the one who killed Kimi!! So you have to follow my rules!! We're picking a koi exactly like Kimi! The white and orange one!" ,ordered Jushiro as he pointed toward a koi.
The two stared at each other stubbornly, both not willing to step down on this "Oh SOOOO serious" matter.
"Aww.... such a sweet couple. Having such an intimate talk just by looking at each other!!! I did hear of a quote saying "The eyes are the window to our souls." Shouldn't we all congratulate them for proving this quote right and proving a couples' young love. Let's give them a hand!" ,said Matsumoto as she clapped mockingly while walking toward them.
"Rangiku-san. Why are you here? Didn't you say that you had a whole stack of paperwork to do?", questioned Yuki.
"Yea, but I found a new stragety quite effective. You do a paperwork for a LOOONNNNGG time, but only do a few. Then you go out and take a "short break!" You come back and if your captain's like mine, it'll be done!! Of course there's always his annoying shouting at the end, but then you can pull out your excuse and say you did some and you earned that "well-deserved" break!"
"So you came out here so you could avoid paperwork?"
"Yes! Oh, I'm running low on Sake. I only have 5 casks of sake left hidden in the 10th division. So I bought some more." ,said Matsumoto pointing to the "some" casks of sake she carried.
"Wow... poor Toushiro. I better make him some more treats and prepare more gift baskets!", remarked Jushiro.
Flashback*
The hole in her heart seemed to tug and ache, Matsumoto realized that she wasn't helping.
"Tell me what happened between you two."
Yuki began to explain the whole koi incident and the kissing incident, she talked about the dinner meeting/date thing that was supposed to be tonight, and the conversation she overheard Isane and Kiyone talking about. Then there was the "collective listening" she had done.
"Wow... That's it?" ,said Rangiku disbelieving.
"What do you mean that's it!"
"The only reason you would be hurt is because you like him."
"I DO NOT LIKE HIM!!"
"Yes you do... if you were just a friend, you would laugh and joke with Ukitake about how sorry you felt with him that Isane and Kiyone were always putting him on dates with Unohana-taichou. Then you would tell him that the meeting could happen later. The kiss would mean nothing and you would wish him good luck on his date. But since you're so hurt and everything is so complicated and confusing, the only obvious and logical reason is that you like-like him."
"I don't... I just... I don't know Ran-chan! I just want to be free. I've been thinking about this all day."
"Well... it does seem that you really are down. Fine, I'll call Shunsui up. He's always ready for some hardcore drinking. Are you prepared for puking and a massive hangover Yuki?"
Yuki simply nodded.
She knew that drinking with Matsumoto and Kyoraku was NEVER simple, she was lucky if she got out of this predicament unscathed. But probably by tomorrow, there would be massive gossiping on what Matsumoto and Shunsui manipulated her into doing while she was under the influence of alcohol.
But all Yuki wanted right now was to be free, she wanted to drink herself unconsciouss and forget everything. Anyways, no matter what Rangiku and Shunsui were going to make her do, at least she wasn't going to remember it.
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Stopping there!!!
NEXT chapter is about what she does with Shunsui and Rangiku as drinking buddies!
-Katuzie