DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.

Princess LeBlanc: Byakuya and Hisana are the cutest couple everrrrrr. :D (There, is that enough mention for you? ;P)

Kotomi-sama: She's still friends with Matsumoto! D: I was just about to drag her back in.

Conterra-san: A proposal under the cherry tree is certainly a possibility. :D

A/N: Haha, I noticed a lot of you were irked with me skipping five years. But their relationship really had to grow and since Byakuya is so held back in terms of his emotions and Hisana's so unready to completely commit herself to him, he patiently waited and blahblahblah. And besides. This way, they're already so close and stuff that they'll be extra lovey-dovey once they're actually married.

The House of Kuchiki

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Hisana-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Hisana stopped short, causing Byakuya to stop and look down at her. She turned her head back and her eyes went wide. "Rangiku-chan...?"

Matsumoto, who was running as fast as she could, stopped in front of Byakuya and Hisana and doubled over, putting her hands on her knees and panting. "There you are! I was looking for you, Hisana-chan!"

"Looking... for me?" Hisana blinked in confusion, letting go of Byakuya's hand. "Why?"

Matsumoto flashed a toothy grin, still bent down. "There's a party tonight. Cute guys. Drinks. You do the math."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Ooo! Who's this guy? You could bring him, you know."

Matsumoto, who hadn't taken a good look at the man standing next to her friend, finally glanced over to see his captain's haori. "A captain?"

Looking up to see his face, she blinked repeatedly before standing up straight and scratching her head, laughing loudly. "Captain Kuchiki! Fancy meeting you here! I was just kidding about the party! Hisana-chan isn't one to party, I was just pulling her leg."

"Of course." Byakuya took a few steps passed Matsumoto before glancing over his shoulder to Hisana. "You can stay and talk to your friend, Hisana. I'll have them prepare lunch."

Hisana nodded slowly and stood with Matsumoto, watching him leave.

"I was... just about to head over to the Kuchiki manor with Byakuya-sama, Rangiku-chan," Hisana said quietly, with a blush.

"He lets you in? That place looks AWESOME from the outside."

Hisana nodded. "It's wonderful in there. I stay there often."

"... stay there?" Matsumoto wrapped her arm around Hisana with a smirk. "You spend the night with him? Why was I kept out of the loop, Hisana-chan? I thought we were best friends..." Matsumoto put on an obviously fake frown. "I'm hurt... How long has this been going on?"

"... Um..." Hisana pondered it for a moment before blushing a deep red. "Five years."

Matsumoto's jaw dropped. "...five... years...? YOU KEPT ME OUT OF THE LOOP FOR FIVE YEARS?!"

"I did not. You saw us eating lunch each day. And leaving together. And I did too tell you a lot of things; it's not my fault you weren't listening," Hisana replied defensively.

"I didn't think there was anything SERIOUS between the two of you! I thought he was training you or something!" Matsumoto pouted.

"Oh... he does." Hisana smiled dreamily. "He helps me with demon magic and with soul slayer wielding... Any questions I have, really..."

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. "... oh really? And what else does he do?"

"Oh, LOADS of things. He smiles often with me, Rangiku-chan!" She began walking in the direction of the manor, Matsumoto following close behind. "And he lets me hold his hand... and we talk about EVERYTHING."

"... you talk about everything with the ice cold Kuchiki Byakuya?" Matsumoto sounded skeptical.

Hisana nodded. "Everything."

"Anything else...?" Matsumoto put her hands up behind her head, sticking her signature chest out.

"Well..." Hisana blushed, recalling other things the two of them had done. "We've... well..."

"... what? Kissed?" Matsumoto raised her eyebrow at Hisana, clearly doubting it was possible for Byakuya to even hug a person. Her eyes went wide when Hisana nodded slowly. "WHAT?! That's so... There's NO WAY you kissed him! That's... IMPOSSIBLE."

"This is why I didn't want to tell you, Rangiku-chan. You make a big fuss about everything... And besides. I don't kiss him, he usually kisses me."

And for the first time in her life, Matsumoto Rangiku was rendered speechless.

---

At some point during their walk, a very cheerful Hisana and a very upset-to-have-been-kept-in-the-dark Matsumoto parted ways. Upon arriving at the manor, she was greeted by Kanaye, who had informed her that Byakuya was waiting for her at the bridge, and that he insisted she didn't rush in changing out of her uniform.

This had been, of course, because for the first time since his childhood, Kuchiki Byakuya felt a tinge of nervousness and he wanted to buy himself some time to compose himself. Why, exactly, he had no idea. He supposed he was frightened of her reaction, which had contributed to his delay in asking what he wanted to, along with his understanding of her situation regarding Rukia.

Recently, Byakuya began realizing that her smile when she was at the manor began to grow less natural and more forced, and he felt being rejected by the clan as an outsider had contributed to that. Thus, he decided, the only way to get her smile to be the way he loved it to be would be to have her no longer be an outsider.

It seemed almost crazy to him at first when realized that her smile meant so much, but then he realized that her laughter meant just as much. As did the look in her eyes, and the sound of her voice. At a loss as to why he felt such things for her, he simply discarded his confusion and tried to ignore it.

That is, until he realized he felt sick when she wasn't there, and miraculously felt better just when he could see her smile during her lunch break. Arisu, who had noticed Byakuya's minor change in personality, eventually forced his 'symptoms' out of him, and had diagnosed him with a bad case of 'love sickness', she called it.

"When you feel a certain way about a person and you're unsure if they feel it back," she had said, "And it makes you sick to be without them... that's called love. Or rather, what you're experiencing is a love SICKNESS."

Love sickness? He hadn't even known what love felt like and now it was making him sick? How did that make any sense?

Regardless, he assumed it to be true when he started to notice that he couldn't help but smile when he was with her and hearing her yawn when she was sleepy was something that he would wait all night to be able to hear.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Hisana approach and when she wrapped her arms around him from behind, she certainly gave him a surprise. "You wanted to talk to me about something, Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya nodded slowly and took her hands in his, turning to face her. "Let's eat first, hm?"

As they walked towards the food that had been set out for them under the cherry blossom tree by the bridge, Hisana sat down first and smiled at Byakuya, who sat down next to her. Hisana held up a flower and handed it to a slightly confused Byakuya. "I found it. I thought it was pretty for my hair, so I picked it to save you the trouble of finding it."

Byakuya smiled and took it before gently placing it in her hair and leaning back to admire her.

There's that look I can't describe again... Hisana blushed and shyly looked away.

Slowly reaching over to get some food, Hisana offered some to Byakuya with a forced smile. "I'm sorry about Rangiku-chan... she's... a little crazy."

Byakuya shook his head, forcing a smile as well as he took the food. "She seems close to you."

Hisana nodded and ate the food quietly.

The air was tense as they ate in silence, each occasionally glancing over at the other, opening their mouth to speak and then stopping themselves a moment later. After an extremely tense and quiet lunch, Byakuya leaned back against the tree and Hisana inched her way closer before finally leaning her head against his shoulder.

Letting out a content sigh, Hisana looked up at Byakuya, who had wrapped his arm around her to draw her closer, and smiled before looking back to watch the cherry blossom petals rain down on the river. "I really enjoy spending time with you, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya nodded and planted a light kiss on the top of her head before leaning his head against hers. "Hisana..."

"Yes?"

Byakuya slowly lifted his head up and Hisana turned her head to look at him. "Well..."

He turned his gaze to her and seemed to search her eyes before continuing. "I was..."

Hisana sat up straight slowly, turning her torso to face him.

"I was thinking. Well... more wondering, I suppose..."

"Well... you see... I realized recently..." Byakuya pursed his lips briefly, inwardly cursing himself for not feeling comfortable sharing his emotions. "That..."

"Well... there's this... feeling I have."

"A feeling?" Hisana frowned. "What kind of feeling? Is it bad?"

Byakuya shook his head, smiling. "Not a bad one. Certainly not a bad one."

"It's just that... when I'm not near you..." Byakuya moved his hand to run his fingers through her hair. "I feel... empty inside. Sick, almost."

"And I realized," Byakuya continued, "That I feel completely and incandescently happy when I'm able to be with you."

Hisana blushed. "I..."

Byakuya put a finger to her lips, continuing still. "And this led me to realize that... I never wish to be apart from you again if I can help it."

"And I know you said that your search for your sister is your main priority in life... but... I want to be able to help you carry that burden; to be here when you need me as a pillar for support when you feel like quitting."

Hisana felt tears forming in her eyes, Byakuya moving his hands to cup her face, his thumbs wiping away the tears that had fallen. "Hisana... Would you let me have the honor of being your husband?"

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Yay! He proposed! Chapter 22 up tomorrow after I finish my exam and write it, of course. :P