Sunset in Heaven

Chapter 19

The noble sighed as he finished his remaining paperwork. It irked him that he kept on spacing out whenever his mind drifted to Ichigo. He knew now that Ichigo was causing him this unexplainable feeling, not to mention the changes in his inner world. However, for him to actually dwell on it for much too long was somewhat disturbing, not to mention weird.

He had been thinking about this discovery of his for some days now and he still couldn't find the answer. He knew that asking Senbonzakura would be better than thinking about it alone, but he refused to hear the zanpakutou's sighs of disappointment. He knew that Senbonzakura knew more than he was letting on but Byakuya couldn't think of anything to make the other male spill everything out. Thus, he could only think, think, and still think of Ichigo and his other problems.

He breathed deeply when he finished the paperwork that didn't stop him from thinking at all, and he put the ink pen down on the table without much thought.

That night, some days ago, when they both sparred and talked about mundane things in the Kuchiki mansion... it was something Byakuya thought was precious. Yet, he didn't know why. He remembered Ichigo looking contented and that was all that mattered to him during that time. And now that he thought about it, that kind of behavior was so unlike him at all.

He sighed when he realized he was staring off into space again. How long would he continue to think about Ichigo? How long would he feel soothed by the other man's presence alone? How long would he feel contentment and at the same time restlessness by just thinking about the orange-haired taichou?

He knew that he wouldn't be able to concentrate much on his work if his mind was filled with such things and if he kept on spacing out. He might as well deal with the root of the problem itself.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ichigo blinked at the Hell Butterfly that was perched on the tip of his index finger. Did he hear the message right? The butterfly flew up in the air after the message was finished and left through the window.

Ichigo continued to stare at the spot where the butterfly disappeared from for some more seconds before he shook his head to snap the daze out of him. Byakuya wanted to spar with him this afternoon and, on top of that, invite him to dinner again? The catch was this; they wouldn't be having dinner in the Kuchiki manor this time but at some place in Rukongai. It was quite shocking, to say the least. For the most prideful and stuck-up noble to eat outside the confines of his noble manor was so unlikely. And in Rukongai at that which Byakuya once called the District of the lowly dogs?

That was beyond normal understanding. Maybe Byakuya had an accident somewhere and hit his head pretty hard? Though Ichigo knew the curlers would... no, the kenseikan, would surely protect him from the impact. He refrained from calling the things 'curlers' ever since he fought with Byakuya and the man gained his respect.

However, the most shocking thing was the fact that he readily agreed even though he had some important paperwork to finish. Did he like sparring with Byakuya that much? He sighed and smiled to himself. Of course, he did. Byakuya was very strong and dependable, not to mention totally graceful and elegant when fighting. Moreover, he never held back in their spar, which made Ichigo feel like he could go all out too, not that he would ever do that against Byakuya. And now that he thought about it, it wasn't shocking at all to agree to the spar so readily considering the noble's attributes. Anyone would like to spar with Byakuya just for those reasons.

'Tsk. Tsk.' Shiro cackled inside him. 'How naive, King. Or maybe you're just plain ignorant.' He knew that Ichigo was dense, but not this much. If the kid would only ask other zanpakutous, they would say that they knew better than to cross swords against the stoic taichou. Only Ichigo would enjoy sparring with the noble.