Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

十二

"H-Hikari-san, I think a yukata would suffice." said Asa shyly as she watched the maid helped her with the red obi through the reflection on the mirror.

When Ebiichi broke news to the Sasaki Family Manor that a nobleman from the Kuchiki Clan was visiting, the whole turned into chaos, even though Asa thought he just wanted to drop by for dinner and have a small conversation with her. Nothing extraordinary, right? But they made it seem like a king was visiting. Servants did extra cleaning even though they had done that the day before, the chefs were preparing the finest dish for their Mistress and her guest using the ingredients the former had gotten for them in Rukongai, and maids rummaged through Asa's collection of beautiful kimonos that she kept for special occasions until they found one they thought was the most suitable.

Now, what about their Mistress? As soon as she got inside the house, maids brought her to the bathroom where she took a shower to remove the sweat and dirt off her. When she got out, they brought her to her room where Hikari was waiting for her with a beautiful kimono. It was white, and had red printings of flower petals on it. The maid helped her to put it on before styling her hair into a neat bun.

"Forgive me, Asa-sama." said the maid with excitement. "But to have someone as respectable as Kuchiki-sama to visit you so suddenly means something else to me."

The said woman only looked at her with a sheepish closed-eye smile. "I see." she said.

After brushing away some stray hairs into place, Hikari was done dressing up her Mistress. "There." she said proudly while taking a step back to look at her work. "You're ready for tonight."

Asa stood from the chair and stared at her reflection on the full-body mirror, admiring the whole look the maid had given her. She turned around to look at her with a smile and said, "Thank you, Hikari-san." The said woman nodded in response, just in time for someone to call from the other side of the door.

"Excuse me!" said the person before sliding open the shoji door. "Kuchiki-sama has arrived." The Mistress was then led towards the dining hall where the guest was waiting for her. Upon arrival, she turned to her butler and thanked him quietly. Ebichii bowed to her once more before kneeling in front of the door and called, "Excuse me!" He opened the shoji door to reveal himself to the guest and bowed again. "Sasaki-sama has arrived."

Ebichii scooted to the side, allowing the said woman to enter the dining room. "Have you waited long, Byakuya-san?" she asked him while walking towards the unoccupied zabuton and sat opposite him. She expected him to reply her, but instead, he was staring at her with an unreadable expression. It was at that moment when she started to feel self-conscious. Did Hikari overdressed her? Was there something on her face? Did she do something wrong?

Her questions were answered when he finally said, "No, I haven't."

"That's good." she said with relief. It was then her turn to take it his appearance. He had replaced his Captain uniform with a dark blue kimono, a black obi and a light grey haori. He wasn't wearing his kenseikan and let his long black hair down. She thought he looked more attractive this way, not that he wasn't attractive all this while. She soon realised that she was staring at him and quickly snapped out of her thoughts. "So what brings you here all of a sudden?"

At that note, a servant entered the room with a tray and knelt next to the table to serve each diner a sakizuke before taking his leave. Unlike Byakuya who had picked up his chopsticks, Asa stared at the extravagant dish in front of her with wonder and surprise. 'Since when did Gou-san know how to prepare a kaiseki cuisine?' she questioned.

"What's wrong?" asked the man sitting opposite her when he noticed her expression, besides her not picking up her chopsticks and digging in.

His voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she looked at him with assurance. "I've never eaten a kaiseki cuisine, so it came a surprise to me that the chef decides to prepare it for tonight's dinner." she replied.