You know working two jobs is bull. I don't have any free time!

"You don't, huh?" Mai asked, staring at the Narrator like she was an idiot. "Then what are you doing right now?"

…Avoiding getting ready for work.

Elusive, constant motion…Jūshirō couldn't figure out why he was so interested in the steam rising from his tea, but he didn't try too hard to think about it. In fact, he wasn't trying too hard to think about anything. If he did he knew he'd drive himself crazy. The wait was killing him already.

"Taichō!" Kiyone called, running and rapping loudly on his door. "Taichō, she's coming!"

The tea was suddenly the farthest thing from his mind as Jūshirō lifted himself from his chair and rushed to open the door. "How is Mai-chan doing?" He asked, looking down at Kiyone.

Sentarō appeared next to her with a large bump on his head and a smile just as large as the bump. "Mai-fukutaichō is perfectly back to normal!"

Jūshirō could barely contain his excitement as well. Without Mai in the division things had been so serious and almost gloomy. Everyone was so busy worrying about one thing or another, not having anyone there to reassure them with a goofy smile that life would all work out, just like the songs say!

"This is fantastic, I can't wait to see her!" Kiyone cheered, laughing to herself as she poked at Sentarō's bump.

"Who can't you wait to see?" Everyone turned around to see a healthy, happy Mai smiling at the three of them. "So what've I been missing out on, guys?"

"Mai-chan!"

"You're back!"

"How are you feeling?"

Kiyone, Sentarō, and Jūshirō all smiled and took their turns greeting her in their own special way, be it a hug, a pat on the back, or hair tussle.

Giggling cutely, she smiled brightly at her friends. "Wow, I didn't realize how much I was missed." She turned to Kiyone and Sentarō and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Thanks for looking after things while I was gone, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Ukiyo-taichō!" The two chorused together.

"Now, I'm sorry, but I need to talk to Ukitake-taichō in private." She stated, looking at her captain with distress buried deep in her eyes.

Jūshirō quickly picked up on the distress and ushered the two third seats away from their lieutenant. "Yes, there's much to discuss. Mai-chan's been gone for so long that I'm sure she's lost as to where the division has gotten. I'll happily get her back up to speed."

The two attempted to protest, but eventually just listened to their superiors and ran off into the division to check on the other members, arguing something about who would "check on more members of the thirteenth division first!"

Mai walked into his office, taking a seat in the chair seated in front of her captain's desk. "Thank you, taichō, I…I-I…"

The sickly captain took a seat behind his desk, grabbing an extra cup and pouring some tea in it. "You're alright, Mai-chan, just drink the tea and relax. You can start from the beginning whenever you're ready."

Taking a moment to breathe calmingly, she then sipped the tea he had offered. "Ukitake-taichō, I don't know what to do now. Bya…Kuchiki-taichō and I, well we…" Mai stopped and looked away from her captain, attempting to find the right way to say it. "I love him, taichō. I'm in love with Kuchiki Byakuya. And he…he cares for me too. I'm not sure if I can say he loves me, but I know how much he does care."

"That's great." Jūshirō smiled, attempting to figure what she was so distressed about. "Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"I am, don't get me wrong. But…" She twirled one of her long copper tresses nervously. "Kuchiki-taichō told me a story. A story about love, about a woman named Kuchiki Hisana. He told me about every rule he broke to be with the woman he loved. He also told me about his parents and the promise he made to them to never break a rule like that again."

Jūshirō wasn't dense, he quickly picked up on the cause of her distress. "Mai-chan, please don't cry. I know the situation seems hopeless, but love will prevail."

A sharp inhalation of breath echoed through the room as Mai attempted to hold back her tears. "I don't see how this will work! Everyone knows how we feel about each other, there's no hiding it, and there's no way I can forget my feelings. I can't do anything." The tears were beginning to drip down her cheeks as her voice quivered. "I'm so useless!"

Taking her hand in his, her captain smiled. "You are anything but useless, Mai-chan. Just stop and think of all the things you've done and all the people you've helped. If only you could see the division when you're not here, it's like night and day."

"Taichō…please don't think it horrible of me, but my mind is filled with nothing but Byakuya. Helping my division isn't what makes me happy right now." Mai sighed, sipping the tea she'd been offered.

Jūshirō stared thoughtfully for a moment. "Mai-chan, I have an idea. But I need you to be with me every step of the way, and be prepared to face some hardships because of what I'm about to purpose to you."

"I'm interested."

Rikichi ran through his division, eyes wide and panting for breath. "Abarai-fukutaichō! Abarai-fukutaichō, I've got big news!"

As the tiny shinigami ran around a corner a hand reached out and yanked him down. "Rikichi, what are you doing?" Renji asked, staring down at Rikichi.

He looked around carefully, hoping to make sure no one else was around to hear what he was about to say. "It's about the thirteenth division's fukutaichō…"

"Mai?" Renji perked up hearing it was about her. "What happened? She's not hurt is she?"

"No, no, no!" Rikichi assured his lieutenant. "It's not that at all. She's perfectly fine and healthy, but something big has happened! It's no longer Ukiyo Mai…"

The tattooed lieutenant looked at his underling rather confused. "What're you talking about?"

Rikichi shook his head for a moment to clear his thoughts. "Her name; it's no longer Ukiyo Mai. Her name is…its Ukitake Mai!"

"Ukitake…Mai…?" Renji was just as confused as ever. "How did Mai end up an Ukitake? Unless…di-did Mai marry Ukitake-taichō?"

"I-I thought that…didn't Kuchiki-taichō…this doesn't make any sense!"

Taking hold of the flustered shinigami Renji stared very seriously at Rikichi. "I know things are really weird right now, and we don't really know what's up with…Ukitake Mai…But there is no possible way for this to be any sort of good news if Kuchiki-taichō finds out. So, just keep quiet about this until I can speak with Ukiy-I mean, Ukitake-fukutaichō."

Byakuya stopped dead in his tracks. "Ukitake-fukutaichō?"

Whatever he'd intended to do with his afternoon was moot. Now the only thing that was going through his mind was finding Jūshirō and getting to the bottom of this. Even if that meant getting a little bit angry.

There was a light knocking on his door, causing Jūshirō to look up from the paperwork he was looking over. "Come in."

Byakuya threw open the door, causing the sliding door to snap against the frame. "Ukitake, what the hell happened to Mai?"

Standing from his desk Jūshirō moved towards his fellow captain, a look of pure excitement on his features. "Ah, I was hoping I could talk to you about that soon. I suppose I should have spoken to you before all of this happened, I imagine you probably would have wanted to be there. But I was just so excited when Mai-chan agreed-"

A strong fist collided with Jūshirō's face, causing the already sickly captain to fall to the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Kuchiki?" Mai ran into the room and kneeled by her captain's side. "Don't hurt him!"

Byakuya glared at the two of them. "What? Need to be by your husband's side?"

The two Ukitakes looked at each other and then to Byakuya. "Husband? What sort of insanity are you breathing?"

Her eyes watched him, those beautiful emerald orbs he adored. "How else did you become Ukitake Mai?" He bit, feeling his heart ache as Mai stared up at him.

Standing upright and glaring at the very jealous captain Mai punched Byakuya in the face. "You're an idiot, did you know that? Jūshirō did this for you too!"

"What? Did he do this to prevent us from being together?" Byakuya held his stance, but released his anger. He didn't know what it was about Mai that made him feel the need to be honest with his feelings, but there was no stopping it now.

"He adopted me!"

Everything seemed to stand still as the young noble stared at the now lesser nobles in shock. "You mean-"

"Yeah, you clocked my Otou-san in the face!" Mai huffed, helping up Jūshirō and taking him to his desk to let him sit.

"It's okay, Mai-chan, Kuchiki-kun had no way of knowing what was really going on." Jūshirō smiled at the two and waved off Byakuya's actions, while rubbing the spot where he'd been punched. "You don't even need to apologize, Kuchiki-kun. Please, just take good care of Mai-chan."

It all made sense to him now. Byakuya wasn't quite sure how he could thank Jūshirō enough for what he had done, however now that he was coming down from his anger he returned to his stoic expression.

Mai leaned down to give her new adoptive father a hug, quietly whispering to him, "Thank you, Otou-san. This means so much to him too, I can tell." Standing upright she smiled at Byakuya. "Let's go, Kuchiki."

One year later.

Mai looked up from her paperwork; the sound of footsteps rushing outside of her door was rather sudden and distracting. "I wonder what's going out there." She thought to herself, returning to the work she'd been neglecting.

Over the past few days Byakuya had been more possessive of her and her time. Not that she minded spending more time with him, but she was beginning to fall behind in her work at the thirteenth division. Her father, and captain, was always more than happy to help her out, and even sometimes take care of some of her work. But he'd had one of his coughing fits several days ago and was out of the division recovering. Now everything seemed to be resting on Mai, and seriously stressing her out.

A pounding on her door was even more distracting. She opened her mouth to tell the person on the other side of the door to "get the hell out of here" when the door flew open. Renji rushed into the room, taking Mai by the hand and dragging her out of her seat. "Big hurry! Kuchiki-taichō ordered me to get you, immediately!" Renji explained continuing to yank her through the divisions.

"That's all good and dandy, Renji-kun, but did he happen to explain as to why?" There seemed no point to fighting it in her mind.

"…Well, no, but still! He meant it was important, I mean, he told me to bring you to the Kuchiki manor." Renji didn't seem to care that there was no explanation, but Mai was extremely curious. She'd just seen him yesterday, and he'd seemed a little distracted, but nothing to worry about. So what brought on this sort of spontaneity?

As the two arrived at the manor Mai pulled her hand free from his grasp. "Thanks, Renji, you got me here, but I think I've got it from here." The fellow lieutenant nodded and rushed back to his division.

It was no surprise that Byakuya was to be found in the courtyard, seated next to the koi pond, watching the water peacefully. Ah, she was so in love with him. She almost preferred to watch him watch the water than to call out to him. But she knew he had something important to speak to her about. As soon as she was sure there was no one around she spoke. "Byakuya…"

He looked over at her and motioned for her to come and sit next to him. "Mai…do you know why I called you here?"

Pausing thoughtfully for a moment she shook her head. "No, I couldn't even guess why you'd call me here so suddenly."

Byakuya nodded and looked at the water. "I'll be straightforward with you then. I've had much time to decide what I wished to do with you, and I've finally come to a decision."

The dark eyes of the captain connected with her much lighter ones and he took hold of her hand. "Ukitake Mai, I would like you to provide me the honor of becoming my wife."

The words echoed in her ears for a moment, had he really just asked her to…? But she didn't need to be asked twice. "Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" Mai cried, reaching out on throwing her arms around him.

He placed his smooth hand against her cheek, stroking her soft skin slowly. Tenderly he brought their lips together; all his love and passion could be felt in that one sweet motion. It seemed as if everything else in the world had disappeared, and nothing existed but the two of them and the love they shared. As they pulled apart Byakuya leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you, Mai." He breathed against her lips.

"As do I, Byakuya. I love you." Mai looked to her future husband and giggled. "Kuchiki Mai…I like the sound of that."

And there you have it! A beautiful ending to a beautiful story.

"Aw, he loves me! He loves me and I love him." Mai smiled as she watched the Narrator. "And now I have someone to spend the rest of my life with."

And I'm sure you will have a happy life. Love is important to all, don't ever hold it back. That's why I always put my all into every relationship I find. And it's really paying off with my love and I. So I'm sure it'll pay off for you two as well.

"…Thank you, Narrator. I wish you luck." Mai smiled, patting the Narrator on her back.

As do I you.