Author's Note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.


Did You Think You'd Get a Prince

Retsu Unohana sighed and tugged at her braid. She was more than a little frustrated at this point. She hadn't wanted to move out of her apartment for the next few weeks, but the suggestion from the police department had really been an order disguised as a suggestion. It didn't help that actually finding a place to stay was proving more than a little difficult. Retsu supposed she could move into a hotel, but that was expensive, and quite truthfully, she didn't like hotels very much, and with her hours, it could get to be inconvenient.

It looked like the only place she had to stay was with Jyuushiro Ukitake, the head of the communications department. It wasn't that she didn't like Jyuushiro; he was one of her favorite patients as well as her friend, but she hated to impose on him. It also didn't help that Retsu had developed something of a crush on him either. All right, it was more than a crush. She was in love with him. But Jyuushiro didn't date. In all the years she had known him, Retsu had never once seen him in a romantic relationship.

In part, she blamed his illness. Jyuu had a long standing chronic condition that while well managed was not curable. Because of this, he did have a tendency to think of himself as a burden on people. Jyuu had been diagnosed as a young man, and his condition had caused him difficulty over the years. Retsu didn't really care about that, but it was clear that it was something that bothered Jyuu.

Still, it had been clear over the years that Jyuushiro just wasn't interested in dating. So Retsu had kept quiet about her feelings. And quite frankly, Retsu was a little afraid of getting her heart broken if she did. But she had to go somewhere, and she would feel safer staying with Jyuu. She sighed. It was going to be a long few weeks.