In Japan, they celebrate White Day on March 14. On White Day, people give back to those who gave them gifts on Valentine's Day. This could range from chocolates to expensive jewelry.

*Shoji: A sliding door made of a latticed screen and covered with white paper.

On another note, I'm appreciating the reviews that have been coming in. Thank you for taking the time to read my nonsense haha, have a lovely weekend!

Valentine's Day

"Better luck next time, Kisumoto-San," her Zanjutsu professor comforted as Hajime didn't win a single match against her classmates in today's training session, "I highly recommend you do some training outside of class."

Hajime gave a sigh and thanked her professor for his time. Even though she was able to fight more comfortably, her classmates still overpowered her.

The lunch bell rang, and love was in the air at the Academy. Many of the girls at lunch were seen giving their homemade chocolates to their fellow classmates, and others got too nervous and retreated. Dejected, Hajime continued to observe her classmates as she ate her lunch. I wonder if Akane gave Kuchiki-Sama the chocolates already…

"Hajime~" Kisume greeted her with a large grin.

"Kisume! It's been a while. How are your classes going?"

Kisume gave a sigh as he sank into his chair. "I miss having classes together! Can you hurry and get promoted to Zanjutsu 2 already?" He asked as he hugged her from the side, shaking her.

"U-Um, Kisume-Sama-!" A young brown-haired girl interrupted. As Kisume turned to face her, she was already bowing with her hands extended; a box of chocolates in her hands, "P-please accept these from me!"

As he gently took the box of chocolates from her hand, she raised her face to see him mere inches away from her. Winking, he thanked her, "Thank you cutie, I couldn't be happier that you thought of me." Blushing red, the girl ran away.

Turning back to face Hajime, she just looked at him with a smug expression. "What?" He teased.

"You are such a flirt," she giggled. "How many chocolates did you get today?"

"With this? Six. But I'm waiting for lucky number seven~" he said as he put his arm around Hajime and held a lock of her hair.

"Oh yeah, from who?" she teased.

"Ah, Hajime!" He exclaimed as he jokingly put his hand on his heart, "My poor heart. You didn't make me any chocolate?"

As she patted his cheek, she smiled and said, "in your dreams."

"How did you know?"

She giggled at his playfulness. "I have to go. Let's meet up soon, Kisume!"

Class was finally over for the day and as Hajime was getting ready to leave for the Manor, a large group of girls stopped her. Many of them had mixed expressions. Confused, Hajime asked what they wanted. None of the girls spoke up immediately until Tomiko was seen pushing her way to the front.

"We still don't approve of you but… since you're staying at Kuchiki Manor, can you give these chocolates to Kuchiki Taichou?" Tomiko handed Hajime a box of chocolate and many of the girls behind her bowed and held out their chocolates.

"And these-!" Another girl yelled out as she and a few other girls gave a bow, "these are for Renji Fukutaichou!"

She couldn't bring herself to tell them no, so she reluctantly agreed and separated the chocolate into two bags for Byakuya and Renji.

Making her way to Squad Six's Barracks, Hajime, who was struggling to carry two large bags full of chocolates and her school materials, finally saw Renji in his office.

"Whoa, Hajime!" Renji called out as he rushed over to help her, her throwing the bag designated to him at him. "What's all this?"

Catching her breath, she finally explained that these chocolates were a gift from her Academy classmates.

"This many?!" Renji asked in shock.

"It seems you two are very popular," Hajime stated as she lifted the other bag, "this one is for Kuchiki-Sama, is he here?"

"Yeah, he's in his Captain's Quarters."

"I have to get back to the Manor, so I'll stay longer next time, Renji!" Making her way to Byakuya's room next, Hajime greeted Rukia who walked in with her box of chocolate, nervous to hand it to Renji. Hajime gave a small giggle and a wink to Rukia as she left the room.

"Ah, Rukia!" Renji greeted happily.

Looking at the huge pile of chocolate on his desk, Rukia hid her box behind her back, "Where did all this come from?"

"Hajime just dropped them off, said they were from her classmates," he rubbed the back of his head, giving an embarrassed chuckle, "I didn't expect this many… or any at all, really." Noticing Rukia's hand behind her back, Renji was curious, "What do you got there?"

"Oh, ah…" Slowly, she revealed the box of chocolates she was hiding and handed it over to Renji.

"Is this what I think it is?" Renji, blushing bright red, happily took the box from Rukia and opened it. Revealing Chappy-shaped chocolates, he raised an eyebrow and smirked at her.

"What?" she asked, embarrassingly.

Renji chuckled as he popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth. "Whoa, this taste amazing!"

"I'm glad. Hajime helped me with it, it looked like-"

Abruptly stopping her, Renji kissed her. "Thank you," he said as they parted and kissed again.

At the same time, Akane made her way to Byakuya's Captain's Quarters with Hajime's homemade chocolate in hand.

"Byakuya-Sama~" she called out, full of delight, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Confused, Byakuya took the box out of her hands and as he opened it, he looked at the chocolates with a face of surprise. The chocolate roses were masterfully made; there were white, milk, and dark chocolate options and some even had added flavor profiles with different candies such as toffee, freeze-dried raspberries, and edible gold flakes mixed in.

"Akane, you made these?" Byakuya questioned doubtfully.

"Of course!" She stated proudly, "I know I told you I didn't want to celebrate Valentine's Day, but I figured with the good news we got from our readings, it was the perfect time to celebrate and work on our relationship. And look!" she exclaimed as she picked up one of the chocolates, "don't they just look delicious?" She popped one of the chocolates in her mouth and was stunned by how good it actually was. "Oh, silly me," she said with her mouth full, "you should be the one eating these, Byakuya-Sama."

When Hajime finally reached Byakuya's quarters, the door was left ajar. Knocking on it as she opened the door, she saw Akane kissing Byakuya. Surprising Byakuya with a sudden kiss, Akane transferred the chocolate that was in her mouth to his. As they parted, there was a bit of chocolate on the corner of Byakuya's lip. Akane smirked, wiped it off with her finger and licked it, "There, now, wasn't that just delicious?" she said lustfully. Noticing Hajime at the door, she gave a smirk towards her and made her way out of Byakuya's quarters.

"Make sure you finish here quickly," Akane ordered. "My jewelry will not clean itself." As she left, she bumped into Hajime, causing her to drop the boxes of chocolate on the floor.

Scrambling to pick up the boxes, Hajime was regretting agreeing to deliver these chocolates.

"Kisumoto-San," Byakuya spoke as he was helping her gather everything, "Are you all right?"

"Y-Yes!" she spoke, flustered. "I didn't mean to intrude! It's j-just the door was open and-"

"You have nothing to apologize for," he softly spoke as he helped her to her feet, "Now, what's all this?"

"R-Right…" Handing over the bag of chocolate to him, he looked at it in bewilderment, "They're Valentine's Day chocolates… for you. My classmates wanted me to deliver these to you. I'm not sure if you'll be able to eat them all, but I didn't want to tell them no. Though, it looks like you'll have a lot of White Day gifts to give out with this," Hajime giggled slightly.

"Thank you for delivering these to me, despite your busy schedule."

Anything for you, she wanted to say. Smiling at his words, her gaze noticed a familiar pink box on top of his desk. "Those chocolates… are those from Akane?" The image of them kissing flashed through her mind.

"Ah, yes, she just brought them over. I was quite surprised as I didn't expect anything from her this year. It seems she worked hard on them; I never knew she was so talented. They were quite delicious."

At least he enjoyed them…. "Well, it seems she's trying harder, for both your sakes. After all, your readings were quite favorable."

"Right, the readings…" Byakuya paused before speaking again, "Kisumoto-San, while I do not know if what they prophesied was true, would it be selfish of me to ask you to keep an eye on Rukia and Renji for me?"

Thinking back to the readings, Hajime remembered that one of the fortune tellers warned Byakuya that someone he cared about would fall ill. Of course, the two people he cared about most were Rukia and Renji. So while he doesn't necessarily know whether the fortune tellers are as accurate as Akane praises, he would rather be safe than sorry.

"Of course. You can trust me; I'll watch over them."

"Thank you," he said with relief.

The two gazed into each other's eyes for what felt like hours until they were both brought back to reality. Embarrassed, they both looked away and walked in different directions.

"I apologize for Akane earlier," Byakuya suddenly spoke, "she came without notice and- "

"Oh no, don't apologize!" Hajime quickly interrupted, "she's your wife, and um, I, um, should probably go tend to her." She gave a smile and a slight bow as she rushed out of there. Resting her head against the door, Hajime took a deep breath and tried to erase the image from her head. How embarrassing! She thought to herself.

White Day

White Day was nearing its end and Akane was overjoyed with the red roses she received from Byakuya. After all, they were her favorite. Feeling giddy, she couldn't help but think she brought the two of them closer. Still holding on to the words of the fortune tellers, Akane wanted to prepare herself and her body for her future pregnancy. She called for Hajime to learn how to do acupuncture as it is supposed to help with fertility. Akane also cut back from drinking her usual nightly wine to drinking tea.

Taking a break from poking Akane with needles (which she thoroughly enjoyed), she quickly went to grab tea for Akane and her mother. Bumping into Byakuya and Tanaka, who were going over the morning schedule, Hajime quickly greeted them as she had to hurry back.

"Kisumoto-San," Byakuya spoke, stopping her, "When you have a spare moment, please see me in my chambers."

With what Akane's having her learn, Hajime doubts she'll be dismissed at a reasonable time. "It's probably going to be a late night for me. I wouldn't want to keep you up."

"I'll wait for you."

. . .

Hajime looked at the clock as she left Akane's room and saw it was three in the morning. She somewhat got a handle on the whole acupuncture thing and was ready for bed, but then remembered Byakuya's request to see her earlier that night.

I'll wait for you, Byakuya's voice rang in her head, "there's no way he could still be awake, could he?"

Making her way to his chambers, she knocked on the door, and there was no immediate answer. About to leave, she heard Byakuya call for her to come in. Slowly opening the door, she was in awe of his beauty. The shoji* in his room was open, allowing the light of the moon to accentuate his features and the faint scent of cherry blossoms filling the air. His pale skin glistened as his hair was loose and draped over the white kimono he wore. The kimono was loosely fitted, falling off of his shoulder. He adjusted it as his gaze slowly met hers.

"Kisumoto-San," his voice broke her out of her daze. She's never seen him so casually before. His eyes looked heavy, as if he was sleeping.

"Kuchiki-Sama… Did I wake you?"

"No," he spoke softly, "I was simply resting my eyes."

Liar.

"I have something for you," he said as he motioned his hand for her to sit at his table next to him. Sitting formally on her knees with her back completely straight, Byakuya couldn't help but chuckle at her as he rested his head on his hand, "Kisumoto-San, you're not in any trouble, you can relax."

With an embarrassed smile, Hajime made herself more comfortable. She didn't know what was going on. She just knew she couldn't stay in his chambers any longer; not when he looked like that, not when he was looking at her like that. Her heart was beating rapidly, and it didn't help that his kimono sleeve kept sliding off his shoulder, exposing his soft and supple skin.

"You said you have something for me," Hajime said as she tried to keep her eyes off Byakuya.

"I know I'm late but…" he placed a small white box in front of her, "Happy White Day, Kisumoto-San."

Surprised, she looked up at him and he simply smiled, "I am no fool," he stated, "I know Akane's capabilities, as well as I know yours." Blushing, Hajime didn't know what to say. "Please," Byakuya spoke, "Open it."

Carefully opening the box, she saw the silver and lavender hairpin she fell in love with. "T-this…" she was too stunned to speak. Byakuya gently took the hairpin out of the box and clipped it into her hair. He smelled of fresh cherry blossoms.

"H-How does it look?" Hajime asked.

The hairpin was delicate and beautiful; just how he would describe Hajime, "Beautiful… now that you're wearing it."

"I-I don't deserve to wear anything so beautiful," she stated, "but thank you...for your kindness."

"Don't thank me just yet. I have something else for you."

"Another gift? This is already too much…"

"This isn't so much as a gift but returning something to its rightful owner." Reaching into the sleeve of his kimono, Byakuya pulled out a familiar lavender ribbon.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Hajime's eyes softened as tears formed in her eyes, "My ribbon… How did you-?"

"Renji told me how important this is to you. The how doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's back where it belongs." Moving closer to Hajime, he gently took her hand and tied the ribbon around her wrist as she usually wore it. Still holding onto her wrist, the two looked into each other's eyes; the feeling of longing growing stronger between them. The warmth of his touch, the softness of his voice, and the look in his eyes were too much to bear and her heart couldn't take it anymore.

Slowly, they moved closer to one another and Byakuya's hand gently ran up Hajime's neck, brushing into her hair. As their lips just barely touched and the warmth of their breath intoxicating, they stopped themselves.

"We can't." It was a faint whisper, but as they still held each other close, they both knew in their hearts that Byakuya was right.

"In another lifetime," Hajime whispered back as she slowly opened her eyes and pulled away.

"It's getting late," Byakuya stated as he pushed himself further from Hajime. "You should get some rest."

"Same for you," she said with a smile. "Good night, Kuchiki-Sama," Hajime spoke softly as she got up and made her way to the door.

"Good night, Kisumoto-San." Closing the door behind her, Hajime tried to stop herself from going back in. As she rested her hand on his door, she laid her forehead against it and thought back to how they had almost just kissed.

This is bad, she thought to herself. I thought I could handle it but… I think I've fallen in love with him.

On the other side of the door, Byakuya was tempted to go after her. Stopping himself short, he rested his hand against the door and sighed. It seems… I have fallen in love with you, Hajime.