I was inspired by Beyonce's song, "Sweet Dreams" to write this story. The Chapter Titles will be from the lyrics of the song. So, I got about 30 to 40 Chapter to be planned out and written.

This is an AU fic, because I think writing in a separate world gives you more creative thinking because you don't have the info about your storyline on a website. Basically, you don't have the manga or anime to help you write, you gotta create your own story.

I put numbered footnotes in the chapter and they can be explained at the end of the chapter, just in case someone doesn't understand or if I reference something that was put in this story.

DISCLAIMER: I will probably put this on every chapter.

I don't own Bleach or any of Beyonce's music, lyrics, etc. You get the picture. AU. Slash a.k.a. ManxMan a.k.a. Yaoi. Maybe some OOC. Smex later on, maybe? If everyone behaves.

(Though I would love to have Jushiro as mine. I would fight for the right. I call it Dedication, not Obsession.)

Oh Yeah! This is dedicated to 123lookatme! This person has inspired me and helped me find writing fun again! If you have time and like GinxToshirou, go read her story, Lock and Key! It's a great read!

Chp.1: Turn the lights on

Beep. Beep. Beep. Shunsui's alarm clock went off for the third time in three minutes that morning, and all he could do was just glare as he unplugged it from the wall and pushed it to the floor. The twenty-eight year old realized he had an hour before he was to be at work and even less time before his best friend, Nanao Ise, called him to bitch, as early as it was. He figured that it wasn't going to take a whole hour to get dressed so he decided to stay in bed a little longer on this Monday morning in late August.

As big as his three bedroom, three bathroom condo was, he couldn't help but think about the same thing every morning. He wanted to have a partner and some kids but there was one problem. He was gay man. Nanao knew it and he knew that she didn't care. That's what best friends are for, right? He wanted to find a partner that could fulfill his need as well as he could fulfill theirs, but all these blind dates Nanao was setting up for him weren't exactly helping him if the date wasn't appealing enough for Shunsui. He wanted someone who didn't want him for his money or his looks; he wanted someone with character that wasn't a false act just because of who he was. Someone he could wake up in the morning next to and know that that person was the love of his life. Someone who would bring him out of the darkness called loneliness and into the light called happiness. He could only daydream about that kind of partner.

He looked to the side, only to pout as he remembered that he unplugged his alarm clock. Not knowing how much time he spent daydreaming about that 'someone', he got up and headed for his bathroom, a few feet away from his bed.

Now, Shunsui knew he was a handsome guy, but he was in no way flamboyant about his appearance. Being six-foot-three made people think he was a gregarious guy but he was exact opposite, preferring to stay in quiet environments where he could relax and not have to worry about people being all over him.

His hair was not in a loose ponytail, as always, so it dangled to the middle of his back and some hanging down in the front. He hadn't had time to get a haircut in a while so he opted to just let it grow out. Yep, the ladies at the office loved that and he hated it. All them, a bunch of gold digging women, except for a few, just hanging around him cause he was vice-president of the Seireitei International. His late father was a close friend of the current president, Shigekuni-Genryusai Yamamoto, who had guided Shunsui and been like a second father or uncle over the years.

Turning on the shower, he stripped off his pajamas he had been wearing the night before and stepped under the hot spray. Shunsui couldn't help but moan as the water hit his body and made him relax. He washed up and stepped out a few minutes later, feeling refreshed. Drying off, he was interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing in his bedroom, so he just wrapped his towel around himself and went to go answer it. He didn't have to look at the caller I.D. to prepare himself for the yelling he was about to get. Opening the cell phone, he pushed the speakerphone button and threw it on his bed.

"Hello, Nanao."

"You sound awfully composed for someone who was just about to get yelled at." Shunsui just chuckled as she continued.

"I brought breakfast so come open the front door." He didn't respond back as he just hung up the phone, walking out of his bedroom and towards the front door, in just his towel.

"Why the hell are you just getting out of the shower so late?" Beginning to shut the door in her face, she just pushed it back open and walked in, making herself right at home.

"Why don't you eat and I'll go pick something out for you to wear." Handing the food to him, Nanao walked to his bedroom as he went to the dining room to start on his breakfast.

He and Nanao had met when they were younger, her being the new kid in elementary school, having to sit next to some 'perverted hormonal bastard' as she would call him. Everyone would say that the two were inseparable, which was true, calling them a couple but the two knew that they didn't have feelings for each other; Shunsui being gay and Nanao…who knew? But she was divorced with a kid, which he was the godfather of, so he guessed that she was straight. He didn't really care as long as she was happy with whoever she was with. They both went to Rukongai College together and both graduated with Master's Degrees in International Business and minors in other foreign languages, and now she was his co-worker at Seireitei. His thoughts were interrupted as Nanao came into the dining room and began eating.

"Did Yamamoto call you this morning?"

"Not that I know of, why? Something good happen?"

"I wouldn't say it's a good thing but we got a new employee."

"Less work for me." Nanao only smiled.

"Yamamoto hired you another assistant."

Shunsui facial expressions changed in an instant as he remembered the last time he had an assistant, the guy was a nut case. He told Yamamoto to never do such a thing again or else he would end up killing someone. Nanao only laughed.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad!"

"Heh, you try working with someone who doesn't know what he's doing, as an assistant, without going crazy. I would love to see that."

"Whatever. He's supposed to be at the office today, so we got to be leaving soon. Go get dressed and you can finish eating in the car."

"So you're driving us to work? My little Nanao, how-" Nanao was so swift in delivering punishment whenever Shunsui called her that. He dodged her attacks plenty of times before, but he learned that she got quicker every time. In effort to escape her punches, he tumbled to the floor.

"I'll break your nose again if you don't get yourself dressed, and cover yourself up, I don't want to see that useless thing hanging around." Shunsui tried to resist smirking as he untied the towel and left it on the floor, softly skipping back to his bedroom, in all his glory.

"What an exhibitionist. Pervert. Stop hopping around like that, it's disgusting." He only laughed as he closed his bedroom door. Throwing on his white dress shirt and the black slacks Nanao picked him out, he quickly looked in the mirror and put his pink tie and black suit jacket on before tying his hair back with the scrunchy(1) and pinwheel hairpins Nanao got him, as a gag gift, when he turned 12, and in return, he got her the glasses that she still wore to this day. He probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was his most precious possession next to the Flowered Kimono his mother used to own before she died when he was very young.

"You ready Casanova? I though you didn't care about your looks?" He turned around to find Nanao in the doorway of his bedroom, looking him up and down. "For someone who doesn't care about how he looks, you sure are dressing sexy."

"You picked it out!" Shunsui growled and Nanao chuckled.

"First Impressions." Nanao waved her finger at him like a mother scolding her child. He just shook his head as walked up to her.

"Like I give a damn." They just looked each other in the eyes before Nanao sighed and rubbed his arm.

"I'm sure you'll find someone soon, Shunsui."

"Yea right, like I'll meet the love of my life today."

"You never know. He might be waiting for you."

"Tch. Let's get going." Shunsui looked at her impatiently and she pulled him out of the room. After Shunsui grabbed his wallet and key and Nanao grabbed her keys and purse, both left his condo and headed to work.

Arriving at Seireitei International, both Shunsui and Nanao got out of her car and headed inside the building into the lobby. Showing their I.D. to the receptionists and guards at the front desk, they both walk towards the elevator, passing by a tall man with long white hair, talking animatedly, on his cell phone. Shunsui didn't see his face but he wondered who the mysterious man was after the elevator doors closed.

"You know him?" Nanao asked.

"No. Never seen him before."

"Hmm…"

"What?"

"Just pondering on why he might be here." The elevator doors opened and both stepped out. They passed by a couple of their friends like Izuru Kira from the French Department, Kisuke Urahara from the German Department, Yoruichi Shihouin from the Korean Department and Byakuya Kuchiki from the Chinese Department. See, Seireitei was an International Business that dealt with everything that was everywhere.

Every department had a specialist or Chief Officer and was divided by languages. So Kira was the Chief Officer in the French Department while Urahara was Chief Officer in the German Department, you get it right? The Chief Officer oversees everything happening in their respective department.

Within each Department, were sub-departments, such as Fashion, Building Design, Cosmetics, Medicine and Electronics, just to name a few, and people where divided depending on what language they knew then what sub-department they specialized in. (2)

Nanao was Chief Officer in the English Department, so she oversaw all the operations in the English Department. All in all, there were over 100 people in each of the 25 departments.

Shunsui's job, well, was to do whatever Yamamoto told him to do. Well actually, he oversees most of the departments' Chief Officers operations and reports all activity to the President, who was Yamamoto. Shunsui didn't know what Yamamoto's job was (nor does the author feel like thinking and writing about it.) but there was one thing he did know, the old man was doing one hell of a job. Seireitei was one of the most successful businesses around the world and it didn't look like they were going down anytime soon.

Shunsui was too caught up thinking about the company, that he didn't even notice that he and Nanao arrived at the door to Yamamoto's office, until she knocked on the door bringing all his thoughts to a sudden halt. Both heard a very gruff 'come in' and Nanao nodded at Shunsui, signaling that she was going to going to her Department and get to work. Shunsui nodded back and opened the door, entering the huge office of Seireitei's president.

"Shunsui. How nice of you to come and see me." Shunsui rolled his eyes as he tried to hold back a small laugh at the man who was inadvertently mentioning that he was avoiding him.

"Yes. Now what's this I've heard from Nanao?"

"Yes. Since you failed to answer my phone call this morning, I had to call Ms. Ise to inform you that I've hired another personal assistant for you." Shunsui masked his look of annoyance with a look of indifference as Yamamoto got up from his desk chair, walked around his office and continued. "Now, I know that you strongly disagree about having one but personally, I think that you need one. Even being President is hard with out having an assistant, so when you take over the company, you'll have someone by your side ready to help you with anything."

"But-."

"No buts, Shunsui. I want you to try. If it gets to a point where you feel like you're going to kill another human being," Yamamoto paused and looked away, trying to hide his laughter after remembering the last time that happened. He didn't know what was funnier at the time. Shunsui's rage or the look on the previous assistant face when Shunsui's rage was directed at him. He picked the former. "Then you don't have to worry about me telling you that you need one. You can choose one whenever you feel you need one," Shunsui was about to tell Yamamoto that he didn't need one right now, but Yamamoto saw that coming. "But at this moment you don't get to choose."

If Shunsui thought he was scared of Nanao's glare, it was nothing compared to Yamamoto's glare. It felt like he was trying to take you soul away, like his eyes were saying, "All we want is your soul. Now give it to me." (3) All Shunsui could do was gulp, look away and nod his head 'yes'.

"Good. I told him to be here by 10. So he should-."

A loud knock interrupted Yamamoto as he and Shunsui looked at each other. Smiling, Yamamoto called out for the person outside the door to come in.

"Ah, Ms. Unohana, how may we help you today?" Shunsui didn't know a lot about Yamamoto's Personal Assistant, Retsu Unohana, but he knew that she had been working at Seireitei for a very long time. He remember her saying something about previously being a Nurse at Karakura Hospital in Karakura Town before moving out to Rukongai City to come and work for Yamamoto. He also knew that she was divorced with two children, a son and a daughter.

"Hello President Yamamoto and Vice-President Kyoraku, I trust that you gentlemen are fine on this beautiful Monday morning."

"Yes, what about you Ms. Unohana?" Shunsui didn't want her to think that he didn't like her so he took the initiative to chat with her.

"I am very well, thank you, Mr. Kyoraku. President, I have the new assistant that you hired for Mr. Kyoraku, Mr. Ukitake, I think his name was?"

"Ah. Yes. Very well. Tell him to come in."

A few minutes later, Retsu came back, and with her was the same man Shunsui saw in the lobby a few minutes ago. Same man almost as tall as him, same long white hair and something new added to the picture. A brilliant smile and vibrant green eyes staring right at him.(4)

Turn the lights on…

1. I don't know how to spell it but it's like a hair tie, if ya ain't know.

2. Is That Confusing? I just confused myself writing this. Does everyone understand? Please tell me of you don't or if you do, so that I may clear it up. Think about Presidential Succession in the U.S. The Chief Officers are like the Speaker of the House, the third most important, Shunsui is Vice President, the second most important and Yamamoto is President. Obama important. Hahaha! For the Sub-Department, you can think about the order after the Speaker of the House, not in order of importance but say like someone ran the Fashion sub-department in the French Department and someone else ran the Electronics sub-department in the French Department, both are the same rank and they have people in their department who work under them but the all work under the Chief Officers. "Don't think about it too much or else you'll go bald." – Youichi Hiruma from ES21. Please do continue.

3. Class of 3000 song reference. I forgot the episode name.

4. I don't know if this is true, but I think Jushiro's eyes are green in the manga. Look at the color page from Chapter 335. I love that picture. If they aren't green in the manga, then I might let them be in here.

Um… Thanks for reading the first Chapter of Sweet Dreams.

I'm not sure about the title, Should it remain as Sweet Dream or should it be Sweet Dream, Beautiful Nightmare? Go listen to the song. You should listen to the one by Lloyd too.

Please Review, it would really help out cause I don't know what I'm doing, I've never written Yaoi and all my other stories were some crap.

I don't know how often I plan to update, it ultimately depends on reviews and my time. So 2-3 times a month should do me good.

Read my Profile for more Details on my future plans and/or stories.

-Kihana.