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Chapter 9

Notice Me

He felt her reiatsu coming a mile away.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes as he clenched his pen. He didn't know why he was so irritable; he knew that this was bound to happen sooner or later, especially now that she was magically under his guidance and supervision. In what seemed like in seconds to him, she was outside his door. He let out a heavy sigh.

"What do you want?" his voice asked dryly. He was not in the mood to deal with her, despite him trying to keep calm.

And those four words were the start of an inevitable debacle. She had the nerve to let herself in—strike one.

"I don't have time to meet with you. I'm very busy." he replied sharply.

He had to fill out progress reports for the interns. He didn't plan on giving vague reports. His blood pressure rose when she quickly whipped the door open and let herself in, earning herself another icy glare as she shut the door. 'I should've known that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer…'

"You obviously have no respect for authority. I shouldn't be surprised, especially after what you did to me the other night." He would never forget her assault and he was going to make her feel the repercussions as much as he could; he felt like she deserved it. She walked up to his desk and looked him in the eye. This was the first time he had the chance to truly see her up close. No longer was she the short, petite girl that he remembered; she was now a grown woman with grown woman assets. She had grown into what men would deem attractive with a voluptuous pear shaped figure and long, slender legs, but that fell short on him.

Miyako followed with her own anger lined retort. She had the nerve to slam her hands on his desk and raise her voice at him, turning the blame on him. Why did she have to be so loud and unrefined?

"I didn't even know that it was you! You had startled me!"

'That's ridiculous.' he thought. 'You should have known that I wasn't a threat.'

She had the nerve to call him a liar, accuse him of stalking and address him without the proper honorifics—strike two.

"Why were you spying on me in the first place?!"

He furrowed his eyebrows and stood up quickly. She dared to accuse him of wrongdoing? Her of all people?!

"I wasn't spying on you! I thought that you were Rukia after I felt your reiatsu!"

Miyako scoffed. "Oh that's rich, Byakuya! That's a terrible excuse! There's no way that our reiatsu is alike! Just tell the truth!"

'Now she's calling me a liar? That cheeky little...'

"That's Captain Kuchiki to you, Shihouin!" he spat back. "I suggest that you remember the difference in our rank!"

"I'm off duty so I don't need to address you in that manner, Byakuya! Our ranks mean nothing to me!"

Even worse, she had the nerve to call him, the esteemed noble captain of the sixth division, childish. That word sent him into a fury—strike three.

Their heated exchange of words quickly sparked a reiatsu charged angry stare showdown, which ended with a bold promise made by the princess before she left herself out. He was left alone in his office once more, the room littered with papers and cracked walls. He could help but narrow his eyes when she audaciously declared that she wasn't going to repair the mess that she made, albeit that the damage could've been much worse.

She was challenging him and being defiant now—the fire in her eyes was undeniable. 'How typical...and she had the audacity to call me the childish one?'

He quickly tidied his office and left for the day. He needed to recuperate as much as he could before tomorrow.

This was going to be a long three months and unfortunately for him, this was just day one. She really was infuriating.

Miyako let out a scream as she knocked her opponent to the ground, knocking his sword out of his hand. Everyone minus Rika and Byakuya, clapped as she put her sword away.

"Good job Miyako!" Renji shouted.

Once again, Byakuya and Renji had arranged for more sparring sessions, these less friendlier than before. Byakuya stood to the side, recording everyone's progress as usual.

Miyako wiped the sweat from her brow and smiled.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Abarai." she replied with a content smile.

It had been one month since she and Byakuya had their little spat. Ever since then, she increased her training in order to show her improvement to Byakuya—the daily training sessions with Soifon after work, personal training after working with Soifon and killing as many hollows as she could find. The aches, pain and sleepless nights were paying off. She was sure that pushing herself to her limit would make her crash and burn eventually, but she was too determined in proving Byakuya wrong. Shoving her progress down his arrogant throat gave her too much joy. The continuous scowls and glares she received from him was akin to receiving experience points—and she knew that he couldn't deny her improvement.

Miyako was now the complete opposite of how she was on the first day, but she blamed it on his unnecessary reiatsu flare being a distraction from her fight. Now she was full of fire and confidence.

Everytime she managed to shine during training drills, she gave Byakuya a sly stare, one that she knew would get under his skin. In typical Byakuya fashion, he brushed it off and kept his mouth shut while his lieutenant did the opposite. Needless to say, he grew tired of Renji praising and talking about her so often in his presence. He could've talked about other impressive students, such as Rika, Isshiki and a few others, but they didn't compare to the Shihouin princess.

Renji looked over to Byakuya, who have him an affirming nod.

"Okay interns! That's it for the day! You're dismissed."

"Sir, yes sir!" they replied in unison.

Most of the group quickly headed towards the corridor that led to the front gate with Byakuya and Renji at the forefront, leaving Miyako behind as she caught her breath. Miyako focused on Byakuya. Seeing his retreating form getting smaller, her proud smile slowly fell and so did her mood. Although she knew that she was slowly getting under his skin, being fed his uninterested, emotionless face everyday was starting to bother her. Another one of his signature moves, his back to her face, was just as cold as his stare. Miyako clenched her fists.

'Why won't he notice me?' was the thought that was starting to take over her mind. 'He would eventually have to notice me, right? Has he really grown that cold over the years or is he trying to win 'the biggest jerk alive' award? He's the most aggravating man I've ever met!'

Soon, she could feel his reiatsu locked away in his office. Letting out a sigh, Miyako tried to push that invasive thought out of her mind. She noticed that she was sweaty and was starting to smell a little unpleasant. It was definitely time for a hot shower. Remembering that she had somewhere to be, she started to make her way to the exit. She didn't get too far down the corridor when she heard someone call her name.

"Hey Miyako!" Rika shouted as Miyako was walking away. Miyako looked at Rika over her shoulder with an uninterested gaze. 'Must she talk to me now? And just when I was on a roll...'

Rika seemed to enjoy picking a fight with her at least twice a week.

"What is it, Rika?"

The busty woman waited until she caught up to her before speaking. "I've noticed that you've been working extra hard lately, especially in front of Captain Kuchiki! What's up with that? Are you interested in him or something? I already told you that I have my eyes on him!"

Miyako rolled her eyes and rubbed her temple before turning around to face her. 'Why does she insist on talking to me as if we're friends? Especially about Byakuya?'

"Are we really having this conversation right now?" she asked in disbelief.

"Don't start acting uninterested! I see how you look at him!"

"And how do I look at him exactly?"

'Because there is no feeling of any love behind my smirks…'

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Those sly grins didn't slip past me! You also don't put in as much effort when it's only Lieutenant Abarai around! Then you wanna flip the script when Captain Kuchiki is leading our drills! You're not slick! I see exactly what you're doing! Don't deny it!"

Rika turned red in the face as Miyako burst into another fit of laughter. "I'm getting tired of your condescending laughs, Miyako!"

"You're one to talk and I'm getting tired of your...everything! What the hell is wrong with you? I know that I'm a princess and that your family works for my clan, but that doesn't mean you get to become a paparazzi! Get a life, Rika and please remember your place."

Rika scoffed again. "You and I will be equals once Captain Kuchiki marries me! I know that he's taking note of me as one of the top interns, maybe even the best!"

Rika's ridiculous declarations were becoming less amusing every time she opened her mouth. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever Rika. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner date to get to. Ta-ta!" she replied before taking a few steps away from her.

"I've already told you before, he's not going to look your way. If you want to keep smashing your head into a wall by trying to impress him, be my guest. Hopefully the trauma to your head will make you a little smarter. He's not easily impressed by anything."

"And you think that you'll be able to do it better than me?"

Miyako gave her another sly look, just like she did when they first started. "Like I said before...you will never know him like I know him nor open his eyes like I will."

She knew that the last statement would piss her so called rival off, but she didn't know that it would eventually lead to something much more confrontational.

She left Rika before she could respond. Her dinner dates were waiting for her.

Swift steps pounded against the wooden floor as Miyako walked down the chatter filled corridor.

"Rumi! Shirayuki!" Miyako called out as she slid the brown shoji door open.

Her friends greeted her with wide smiles and waved. "Hey, hey!"

"Hello Miyako!"

The princess stepped into the private room and quickly gave her friends a big hug. "I'm so sorry that I'm late! I got caught up at the barracks with Rika and I had to run back to the dorm to freshen up."

Rumi raised a brow. "Rika Omaeda? What did that snoot want?"

Shirayuki scooted over to let Miyako sit beside her. "Ugh! Everything! But we'll talk about that later." she replied as she sat on the comfy beige zabuton.

Miyako looked over the wooden table and saw black tea cups. "Did you both order yet?"

"No not yet, so you're not late at all!" Rumi replied. "We've only been here for ten minutes."

Miyako sighed. "Thank goodness! I can't believe that we haven't seen each other in weeks! I missed you both! It's not the same without you!"

"I admit that I've missed you terribly as well. I've learned a lot of healing techniques and Captain Unohana has hosted a lovely ikebana exhibit. Everyone is nice at my division, but they don't compare to you two." Shirayuki replied.

"Yeah, me too! The ladies are nice and Lieutenant Matsumoto is the best ever! We have the best drinking parties and Captain Hitsugaya is absolutely adorable, even when he's being a hard ass! But like Yuki said, they're not like you two!"

"Well I'm glad that you two are doing well." she replied with a big smile, which made them question her appearance.

"Hey Miya...is that lipstick and earrings that you're wearing?" Rumi inquired. "Since when were you so into makeup?"

"Yes...and you're wearing your hair down when you usually wear it in a ponytail…" Shirayuki added.

"What are you two talking about? I just wanted to look good for you both for our girls night out!"

Rumi and Shirayuki gave each other a questioning look. Miyako had never cared much about things of that nature; she preferred her natural beauty. Before they could continue to interrogate her, the waitress had stopped in to take their order.

Soon, the table was decorated with a pitcher of water, apple sake for Rumi, strawberry sake for Miyako, peach green tea for Shirayuki, glowing appetizers and entrees. Many laughs and sake shots later, it was Miyako's turn to share about her time in the sixth division. The sake had started to mellow Miyako out, making her say more than she intended, even with a food buffer.

Once she noticed where the conversation was headed, Rumi was kind enough to make sure that the door was closed as Miyako quietly explained her tiff between her and Byakuya and her rivalry with Rika for Byakuya's heart, which she claimed that she had no interest in. To her, he was just an older version of the same snotty, childish and arrogant brat she remembered. Why would she be interested in him? She thought that she was telling the truth, but her friends thought otherwise. Her complaining was very detailed and centered mostly around the noble captain.

"And can you believe that he said that I was childish?!" she ranted as she slammed her ceramic cup on the table. "I told him that he would regret his words! And ever since then, I've been busting my ass day and night to prove him wrong! And no matter what I do, he won't acknowledge me! All I get is that stone cold glare and scowl of his or he completely ignores me! He's been like that since we were kids, always thinking that he's better than me at everything besides shunpo! I can't stand that arrogant, stuck up, childish son of a —"

"Whoa Miya, calm down! I think that you've had too much to drink, and that's a lot coming from me." Rumi scolded, quickly pulling the sake flask away from her. "Here, have some water."

Miyako glared at her as she exchanged her delicious sake for the plain water. She was no baby, that was for certain, but a headache was threatening to crash the party. Now the glass of water didn't sound like such a bad idea.

"I've never seen you so fired up before. Does Captain Kuchiki's behavior towards you really make you this upset?" she asked as Miyako took a gulp of water.

"...no! He just...I…" She found herself at a loss for words. "I don't know and I don't care! I don't care what he does or what he thinks! I just want him to give up and admit defeat! Admit that he was wrong about me! But he's such a stick in the mud!"

Rumi and Shirayuki glanced at each other momentarily before focusing again on Miyako.

"If you don't care, then why are you working so hard to prove him wrong? Why does his approval mean so much to you?" Shirayuki asked before taking a sip of tea.

Miyako stayed silent as she avoided their gazes and hid her blushing cheeks, but she couldn't fool Rumi. She knew the difference between blushed, drunken cheeks and the scarlet blush of hidden romantic feelings. A sly smile grew on her face.

"Miya do you...have a thing for Captain Kuchiki?"