Disclaimer: All Bleach characters are product of Kubo Tite's imagination and therefor his property.

Note: Finally, the day of the party has arrived! Thank you for your reviews, they really keep me going!
There are still some chapters already finished, but I need to catch up writing soon. Unfortunately, I have to hang around in the asylum for another week and then follows a four-week apprenticeship with the anaesthesists (is that even the right term?), so I won't have much time to write. Still, I should last for a few weeks still, so keep motivating me!

Chapter 5:

The three days went by in a rush and Shihana was very grateful to have something to distract her from thoughts about the upcoming marriage. The evenings were filled with rapid discussions with Rukia about what presents to buy, what clothes to wear and how the living world would be.

It was really lucky Rukia was so accustomed to the living world so she could give Shihana countless advice about how to behave there. And she even managed to convince her taichou to fill a permission for them to go there shopping.

Shihana was fascinated. The way people dressed was so different from Soul Society. And all those weird technical things they had. Cars and traffic lights and something called "TV" which resembled the big monitors in 12th division. She was almost disappointed when Rukia called for her to enter a shop.

But the clothes were wonderful. There were so much more possibilities than a simple kimono held. Shirts, tank-tops, blouses, sweatshirts, skirts, trousers in hundreds of different lengths.

Shihana had to restrain herself to refrain from buying too much to carry.

"Next time, we bring some servants", she said. "So we can get more!"

It was the morning of the party, when Shihana realized that buying all that stuff had resulted in another problem: what to choose?

She had pondered the issue until lunchtime, without much progress. So she finally decided to ask Rukia of her opinion.

Rukia had already settled on a simple but pretty light blue dress. She grinned when Shihana told her of her problem.

"Then let's see", she said and followed Shihana to her room.

"You should dress in something not too warm", Rukia advised. "So all those pullovers and sweaters are out of the question. Now decide whether you'd like a dress like me or an outfit made of two pieces."

Shihana knitted her brows together, thinking. Rukia watched her and started laughing.

"It's nothing", she smiled when Shihana looked at her questioningly, "just that you remind me of Renji like that. When he concentrates hard, he cringes his eyebrows just like you."

Shihana blushed slightly. Then she looked at the clothes again, which lay spread all over the floor.

"Hm, I guess I want two pieces rather than a dress. I couldn't possibly outmatch you."

Now it was Rukia's turn to blush. To prevent Shihana from noticing, she quickly turned her attention to the clothing.

"How about the red shirt? The one over there with the free shoulders", Rukia said and picked the said shirt up.

"I like it, but what should I wear to match it?" asked Shihana.

She shrugged out of her kimono and pulled the shirt over her head. Then she walked around between the trousers and skirts, slightly resembling a wading crane, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"This black pleated skirt? Do you think they go with each other nicely, Rukia?" She held up a short skirt, made from heavy cloth which fell in broad folds.

Rukia nodded. "Try it on", she suggested.

"Yes, it does look good together", said Shihana, when she looked at herself in the mirror. "Now only a pair of matching shoes and then I'm ready to go!"

They were both really excited when they were on their way to the meeting point.

"So, this Kurosaki Ichigo-boy you keep telling me of, will he be there, too?" asked Shihana curiously.

"Um, if Matsumoto has invited him, I guess", said Rukia, her cheeks turning rosy.

That went not without notice from Shihana. "Aha!", she cried triumphantly. "You may deny it to yourself, but you like him quite a lot, don't you, Rukia-san?"

"No, you must be mistaken. I'm merely developing colour, because we hurry so much and the evening is quite warm", snapped Rukia.

"If you say so", drawled Shihana.

"You know", said Rukia and a mischievous smile spread on her lips, "the red of your shirt will clash violently with Renji's hair."

She smirked when she saw the horrified expression on Shihana's face. Then her adopted cousin regained her cool.

"As if I dress for buffoons like him." She snorted and lifted up her chin. Surprisingly this didn't look the least bit ridiculous in her.

Finally, they arrived at the meeting point. The gate was already set up for them.

Matsumoto, Hinamori, Isane, her sister Kiyone and Nemu, the 12th division fukutaichou, were already assembled. Just in time with them, Ise and Soi Fon came jogging around two different corners.

Shihana and Rukia greeted them all, but in the middle of the merry chatting Shihana suddenly blanched and went completely silent.

A single man had appeared in their midst. She recognized his uniform immediately: he was one of the guards of Kuchiki manor. He stepped up to her and bowed low.

"Kuchiki Shihana-sama, per request from the family council, I am to escort you to the place you are going tonight. I shall be watching out for your safety."

Shihana barely refrained from gritting her teeth. Those damn parents, now she had a watchdog on her heels. How was she supposed to have fun like this?

"Don't let it get to you, Shihana-san", whispered Rukia softly.

Shihana smiled at her gratefully. "You are right, Rukia-san", she sighed. "I won't let them spoil this evening."

At Urahara's shop a bunch of people had already gathered. Rukia's face lit up when she recognized Ichigo's orange hair amidst them. She hurried over to introduce them all to Shihana.

"This is Orihime", she started and pointed at a pretty red-haired girl next to Ichigo. Said Orihime smiled at her and hugged her to her big bosom. "Nice to meet you Shihana-san", she chirped.

Behind her stood a lanky boy with glasses whom Rukia introduced as Ishida. He pushed his glasses up his face, then shook her hand. "Kuchiki Shihana-san", he said. "My pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine", Shihana answered grinning. She was curious who the really tall and muscular boy was, who stood beside Ichigo and had such a hazelnut colour of skin.

"That's Sado", ventured Ichigo. He greeted her with a deep and smooth voice.

"And you are Ichigo, aren't you?" Shihana said finally. "Rukia talks of you all the time."

She grinned when Rukia muttered "I'll kill ya" under her breath.

So those were Rukia's friends from the living world. She immediately had grown a liking to them all.

They finally went in to give Matsumoto her presents and fetch something to drink.

Shihana stopped in her tracks, when suddenly a woman with violet hair and cat's eyes stood in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Shihoin Yoruichi", she breathed. Then she regained her composure. "I think we haven't met yet. I am Kuchiki Shihana." She held out her hand. Yoruichi grabbed it, grinning. "A relative of little Byakuya? Well, nice to meet you."

Shihana breathed deeply when she had departed. She had almost forgotten the guard in her neck and why he was here. Now she had been harshly reminded of her fiancé.

She lifted her head, bent on forgetting about him as soon as possible and took a step into the main room.

It was already full of people who were lounging about in small groups, chatting, eating snacks and gulping down alcoholic liquids.

Shihana stood a moment in the door, unsure of where to go, when Matsumoto called out to her from a nearby sofa.

"Oi Shihana!", she cried and waved. "Where's my present? And most importantly, where's your drink?"

Grinning, Shihana walked over and slumped down next to the big-breasted fukutaichou who wore a tight sitting pink cocktail dress. It looked daring, yet flashingly beautiful.

A quick glance to her guard told her that even he couldn't control his face for a moment. Strike! Shihana thought and nearly giggled.

Then she held out a neatly wrapped parcel.

"Ooh, what is it?", crooned Matsumoto and shook it slightly next to her ear.

"You'll see, when you open it", said Shihana.

Matsumoto ripped off the paper and revealed a black cardboard box. Her eyes went wide when she opened it. Then she threw herself violently at Shihana and threatened to choke her to death against her breasts.

"Those are the best sake bowls I've ever seen!", she cried. "Now, they need to be put to use immediately. Nemu, would you hand me that bottle over there?" The dark haired woman nodded and fetched the wanted item.

"Let's drink to this wonderful present", said Matsumoto.

"To you and your wrinkle-less décolleté", grinned Shihana and they drained their drinks.

Several hours later, Shihana had moved over to Rukia and was listening to stories from school in the living world.

Matsumoto passed by, a pout on her face. "The guys are late", she complained.

"It's probably Renji's fault", remarked Rukia.

Shihana opened her mouth to comment on that, before she remembered the person hovering behind her right shoulder.

Oh, right, she had a watchdog. She had already tried to get him thoroughly drunk, but with no success, resulting in the decision to get as pissed as possible herself. It didn't spare her his constant nagging over her drinking too much, though.

Just in this moment, the door banged open.

A bald and a red head strolled in, slightly swaying. Behind them followed Ayasegawa, Hisagi and Kira.

"Hey, Matsumoto", called Renji, grinning broadly. "Because you already had you present last week, we didn't bring anything. There." He shoved an open bottle into her hand.

Matsumoto smiled at them.

They stood staring at her for a moment, waiting for an angry reaction. Which didn't come.

Instead, Matsumoto flung herself at them and hugged everyone, resulting in heavily flushing faces.

"Thank youuuu!", she crooned. "The girls all bought me boring stuff, well except Shihana and Rukia who got me these wonderful extra large sake bowls." She held the bowl in her hand up and helped herself to some sake from the bottle.

Renji's shoulders sagged. Now what the fuck was that? Weren't women supposed to be obsessed with nice presents, all wrapped up and stuff?

He shrugged. That was a heavy defeat, but he was bent on not having all the fun spoiled.

Renji looked around the room to see who had already gathered.

His gaze travelled over Strawberry-guy and his friends, well this was the living world, sure Ichigo would be there. Urahara was obviously teasing Ise-san, making her rip the fan out of his hands and smack him around the head with it. Yoruichi laughed herself sick about that. Behind her hovered her fierce admirer Soi Fon.

Where Matsumoto was dragging Ikkaku, sat Isane, Kiyone and Hinamori, all three giggling and sipping at their drinks.

In the far corner he spotted Rukia in a lovely light blue dress. She was just laughing at something. Beside her stood Byakuya's cousin in a red shirt and short black skirt, revealing pale shoulders and long smooth legs. She looked stunning.

A grin spread on Renji's face just to vanish immediately, when he recognized the guard of Kuchiki manor behind her.

He shrugged and went over to Hisagi and Kira at the bar, who were just helping themselves to drinks.

Hours passed by and Shihana still hadn't gotten past the stage of sneaking glances at Renji. She sighed. With her guard always just in hearing range, she couldn't even talk properly to Rukia about it. And she didn't want to spoil the fun for her friend, who seemed to enjoy herself very much.

She looked across the room once more, only to see a red head disappearing through the door. If she had any chance to catch him alone, it would be now! But how to get rid of her guard?

A sudden thought sprang to her head. She walked over to Matsumoto and whispered something in her ear.

Matsumoto grinned. Then she stood up and stepped behind Shihana, where her guard was lurking.

"Now, now", she said, her voice slightly slurred. "You haven't given me a present yet." She made a little pouting mouth.

Shihana had managed to slip away. Her heart hammered very loudly in her chest. Now where was he? Her drunken brain needed a moment to focus on the threads of reiatsu swirling in the house. She merely hoped he hadn't gone to be violently sick over the flowers in the backyard.

She found him in the backyard, just zipping his trousers shut. With sudden panic she realized that she had no clue what to say to him. She just stood there, a few steps from the door and watched him coming nearer.

A sudden stop in his movements made her realize that he had spotted her.

"Who's there?", Renji called out. "That you, Ikkaku?"

"Surely not", said Shihana and was surprised how normal her voice sounded.

"Eh?", said Renji and came closer. "Oh, it is you, Shihana-san."

"Um, yes, I... was looking for you."

She could make out his face now. Right now, it looked slightly confused.

"Why? Does Rukia want somethin from me?"

"No", answered Shihana. "Actually, I want something from you." She blushed deeply and was very very grateful for the darkness surrounding them.

Her heart pounding faster than ever, she moved forward until she stood very close to him. She looked up into his face. That sharp chin, reddish eyes and deep black tattoos lay in half-darkness. He watched her silently for a moment, still not comprehending.

What was it she wanted? Renji asked himself. Had she told him already?

She was standing very close, so close he was able to feel the heat emanating from her.

Her face bore a striking resemblance to his taichou. No, he couldn't think about his taichou right now! Not in such a situation. What kind of situation was this, anyway?

Renji jumped slightly when he remembered the guard, who had been with her. He looked around. Where was he?

Not here.

Shihana just stood there, rooted to the spot. She wasn't able to move or say something. She was paralyzed by the closeness of him. She could smell the strong scent of alcohol, yet underneath was a trace of something which was unmistakeably his very own smell: wild and exotic, with a tinge of blood.

She shivered.

Renji stared down at her trembling lips. If she had wanted something else, she would have said so quite a while ago, right?

He threw away all caution and bent down to kiss her.

"WHAT exactly do you think you are doing, Kuchiki Shihana-sama!", bellowed a voice behind them. It was the guard and he fixed Shihana with a cold glare. Then he shook his head. "What would your fiancé say?"

All colour drained from Shihana's face. She didn't dare look Renji in the eye. When she finally mustered up the strength to do it, it was just as she had dreaded. She had never seen anyone so angry. Without a word, he turned around and ran off. His steps seemed to be very loud in the silent night.

Shihana stepped up to the guard and slapped him across the face, hard.

"You don't even realize what you have done, do you?", she screamed, tears running down her cheeks.

She flash stepped away, knowing she couldn't catch up to Renji and also at a lack of what to say to him, if she did. Instead, she headed home.

After a while, Renji stopped running. He leaned his back against a nearby wall to fend off the rising dizziness in his head.

That lying bitch!

He kicked the wall with all his might. The surge of reiatsu escaping his foot resulted in a long crack.

His anger still hadn't dissipated in the slightest.

Being engaged and still playing around with me! Who the hell does she take me for!

He used his shunpo to find a place where he could rend his anger with the help of Zabimaru's bankai.

Now, what do you say? Disappointed? Angry at Shihana for fooling around? Check out everyone's reactions in the next chapter and please review!