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

三十六

A month had passed since Aizen's defeat, and things were returning to normal. All that was left was to clean up the mess in Karakura Town, starting with the cleansing within the Tenkaiketchu zone. Because this was the responsibility of the 10th Division, Rangiku was sent by her Captain to do the cleansing with Nanao, and hence, Asa decided to step in and help him out with the paperwork despite him assuring that he could handle things.

Asa had been finding ways to help out as much as she could, both in Seireitei and Rukongai. When she was done with her duties, she would drop by the 4th Division once a while to cook and clean for the injured Shinigami, as well as taking care of her grandfather by making sure that his strength had fully recovered. Besides that, she returned to her old schedule where she'd visit Rukongai and provide their needs as much as possible. When she was done with that, she would return to the Sasaki Manor and resume writing reports and reading one letter after another. That one month had kept her busy, and she wasn't complaining about it.

One afternoon, it was an off day for Asa when she was inside her study doing some paperwork that she'd brought back from her Captain's office. While going through one of the documents, she heard Eiichi calling her from behind the shoji door. "Come in!" she responded, prompting him to slide it open.

"Kuchiki-sama has arrived." he announced.

'Could it be Byakuya?' she questioned. True enough, the Captain of 6th Division entered the room. She stood from her seat and walked towards him while Eiichi closed the door, leaving the two nobles inside. "I didn't expect you to visit me at this time." she said softly.

"Is there a problem?" he questioned with a playful glint in his onyx eyes.

Asa chuckled. "Of course not." she replied before a small, gentle smile flickered across her face. "I thought you would be in your office right now." Her gaze then landed on the gift wrapped in black furoshiki, prompting her to raise a brow at him and softly sigh. "Another gift? I've told you that you don't have to keep bringing gifts whenever you visit."

"I don't have to, but I want to." stated Byakuya while placing it on the table and began unwrapping the gift.

'He doesn't listen, does he?' she wondered with a sweat drop on the back of her forehead.

Once he'd unwrapped the fabric, he picked up the gift which turned out to be a beautiful, red silk shawl and unfolded it, draping it around her shoulders. Asa admired the shawl as she placed her hands on it, while Byakuya kept his hands on her upper arms as he watched her stare at his gift with awe. He enjoyed watching Asa admiring his gifts and taking care of them, even though he once gave her, as he called it, a cheap kokeshi doll and she took great care of it like it was made of porcelain. He wouldn't tell her how happy he felt when she cherished his gifts, but he thought she already knew despite telling him that it wasn't necessary to give her something in every visit. However, he had something else in mind this time.

Byakuya leaned down to her ear and whispered, "I have something else for you, but I left it somewhere."

Asa turned around to look at him with wonder, because she didn't expect him to bring another gift. "Byakuya..." she trailed off. The said man didn't say anything and gave her an encouraging look to find the next gift. Knowing that it was pointless to argue with him, Asa gave him a sheepish smile before leaving the room to find the gift, leaving Byakuya who had a small smile on his face as he watched her leave.

It didn't take long for her to find the gift. After checking several rooms and having her servants giggling behind her backs, she found another gift wrapped in a pink furoshiki on her neatly-tidied futon in her bedroom. This gift was smaller than the one she saw Byakuya brought in, but that didn't mean the gift could be of less value than the shawl. She knelt down and placed the gift on her lap to unwrap it, revealing a beautiful, gold kanzashi. Asa could only stare at the extravagant accessory with incredulity, for she couldn't bring herself to even touch it with her bare hands. While keeping her gaze on the ornament, she got up and slowly made her way towards her study where Byakuya was sitting on one of the chairs across hers sipping on his tea served by Hikari. Upon hearing footsteps, he turned around to see her and stood up, making his way towards her until both of them stood in front of each other.