A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the delay. There's this part in the story that I still have to write so I'm going to upload part by part(four in total), that should buy me some time ^___^ Here's part one of Seven Minutes In Heaven, along with part two. It is actually a one shot but I tend to write really long one-shots.

Yes, this might get confusing, but you'll soon realize there's a pattern in the way the story is written.

Note: This story is MA+, meaning more mature than what I write...I've tried some new stuff...all in the name of practice (winkwink).

Part 1

"Rukia-sama?"

Byakuya groggily opened his eyes, immediately shutting them when sunlight hit him directly on the eyes, blinding him. He slowly lifted a hand to cover his eyelids to further protect his eyes from the harsh bright light, numbly wondering why his reflexes were so slow. He was normally quite alert and active at the time of getting up not being much of a sleeper as it were. But for some reason, today he felt so disoriented.

"Rukia-sama?"

He finally registered where the voice was coming from. A servant was standing outside of his room, probably asking for something. Though he could hardly get what the person was saying since it felt like his ears were plugged with wool.

He tried to answer back but his mouth felt too dry. It felt like his entire throat was filled with hot sand.

Water.

He made the mistake of opening his eyes once again, resulting in the sunlight hitting them harshly, bringing back a headache so fierce he felt like groaning in pain.

Byakuya cautiously tried opening his eyes again, ignoring the pinprick pain, and focused straight up on his bedroom ceiling.

He frowned upon seeing it, it wasn't the familiar design he knew of. This ceiling was cream colored, with hand-painted Sakura blossoms on it, not the plain off-white he was used to gazing at when in bed.

Why wasn't he in his room? Byakuya wasn't exactly sure- since he had only been there twice in his entire lifetime -but this ceiling pattern was vaguely familiar to the one in Rukia's room. He turned his head, wincing slightly when a stab of pain shot through his brain.

I should have not done that.

His eyes caught onto a dresser that was not his, he didn't even have one in his room. It was light-pink with a dozen different bottles on top. A large stuffed toy sat on it that resembled a rabbit.

Realization struck. Of course.

It was Rukia's room, which only confused him more. What was he doing sleeping in her room? Why wasn't he in his own room? Did something happen? He realized with a tinge of irritation that he had no recollection of ever entering this room. He couldn't even place a particular time when he had entered the room. He tried to think past his blinding headache to remember what had happened but his mind came up blank.

The last thing he could recall was him being at the Valentines Day Bash, leaning against a horribly decorated wall and quietly sipping his fruit punch, wondering what the hell he was doing there in the first place. After that, it was just one big blank. Emptiness.

And now he had a blinding hangover and no idea how he had got it in the first place.

The servant had probably given up after not getting a reply. Byakuya moved to sit up, still puzzling over the missing memory. He vaguely wondered why his body felt so heavy- even sitting up was a difficult task for him- when he suddenly froze.

Someone had moaned loudly near him and Byakuya could suddenly feel smooth skin rub against his waist in a way that felt disconcerting but oddly pleasant. He realized that the weight on top of him was neither a covering nor his own body feeling heavy. With his heart beating twice as fast, he slowly looked down and felt the air leave his lungs.

She was partially on top of him, her head resting on his bare chest, her short black hair splayed on him. The previous movement he had felt had been her arm, which was now wrapped possessively around his waist. A flimsy sheet covered the both of them; low enough to reveal the female's creamy back and the parts of his torso that weren't covered by her.

He could feel her breasts pressed against his body, nipples noticeably erect. His eyes widened considerably when he felt himself react to that discovery. Heat rushed to his cheeks as mortification overcame him.

His first realization was that he was completely naked and sleeping with an equally naked female who he probably had made love to.

His second realization was that that equally naked female whom he had probably made love to was none other than Rukia.

"Oh…my…God…"

********************

Byakuya looked around the decorated hall with a mixture of disgust and boredom. The entire hall had been decorated from top to bottom with varying degrees of red; bright red tinsel, crimson hearts, red balloons, dark red crepe paper, red streamers, the works.

He thanked whoever had dissuaded Matsumoto Rangiku from using red lights as well. It already resembled the inside of a butcher house, thanks to her amazing decorating skills. Hopefully a crazy lunatic with a bloody butcher's knife would burst through the door any second and 'stop' Lieutenant Matsumoto from decorating any future parties.

He took the last sip from his plastic cup, standing against an equally red wall, idly listening to the current music being blasted off from stereos brought from the real world. From what he had heard, the singer's name was Britney Spears. The woman obviously had a thing for vulgarity. Though he could not blame anyone for liking her songs, they were a little catchy…just a little.

He really did not want to be here. He could, instead, be working, finishing all the paperwork in his office, paperwork that had actually been assigned to his lieutenant but had obviously not been done on time. Or he could be training with Senbonzakura, working on his flash-step. He had not practiced in weeks.

Or better yet, he could be sleeping; it would, at least, be more productive than this.

To be frank, Valentines Day was a festival that a person like him had no need of. He was in no mood to get a new interest and never would be. To him, it was just another day of the year. So why he was forced to attend the annual Valentines Day Bash like every other hormone-driven shinigami was beyond him.

Byakuya swept a glance at the people who had gathered. All the captains and lieutenants were present, as well as some of their more party-happy squad members. Lieutenant Matsumoto was with her usual drinking group, which included his own lieutenant and the captain from the 8th squad. From the looks of it, they were competing against each other to see who could drink more. No one was winning.

"More punch, Captain Kuchiki?"

Byakuya looked to his left to see the lieutenant from the 12th squad holding a tray of plastic cups. He picked one off the tray and thanked her (though he doubted she heard it, considering the loud music), turning back to resume his shinigami-watch. The lieutenant silently passed by him to hand everyone else a cup.

There were some additional people at the party as well this year. Shihoin Yoroichi was there, gulping down her punch and dancing at the same time, too drunk to notice half of her drink was spilling on the floor around her.

And that is why the Shihoin clan has fallen.

Byakuya disdainfully looked away from her. He skimmed past the sea of dancing bodies, again searching for someone in particular who he had been keeping an eye on. His gaze landed on Rukia for the umpteenth time.

She was standing with a group of females, her side facing him. She took a sip from her punch while animatedly talking to them.

He was happy to note that at least she was not drunk, unlike everyone else. It may be okay for any other person to get drunk at parties but for nobility, it was just not allowed. Some would consider it scandalous. Nobles are meant to be examples for society, no exceptions. He was proud of the fact that even at a party, Rukia did not forget her place.

The music changed to a faster beat and he again looked away from her when she started to move her body to the beat, most notably her hips.

He had been doing that a lot, searching her out after every five minutes to check on her. He figured the main reason he even went to such distasteful events in the first place was to keep an eye on his adopted sister. Trouble and Rukia usually went hand in hand, previous incidents had taught him that.

He mentally sighed at her choice of clothing. He knew the event called for it, but did she have to wear a dress like that? It was too short for his liking, too minimal to even be called a dress. Even though he had noticed how every other female was also wearing similar clothing, the red was too noticeable. He did not like the attention it got from the male members in the hall.

He quickly scanned the room for another person. Kurosaki was standing a few meters away from him, and as Byakuya had predicted, his eyes were glued to Rukia's back. It annoyed the hell out of him.

The substitute shinigami and his other sidekicks had also been invited to the bash, which Byakuya had extremely opposed to. He did not have much of a problem with the rest of his group as he had with the orange haired brat. The kid should know his place. If Rukia had been interested in him she would not be standing on the other side of the room talking to other females with her back faced to him. Was it so difficult for him to take the hint?

But he looked too drunk to even consider that, the kid couldn't even hold his drink without spilling it.

Byakuya kept looking at the orange-haired shinigami, forcing him to look his way. He did after a moment and Byakuya took that opportunity to give him the deadliest look he could manage, a look that clearly said touch her and you die.

It surprisingly worked. Despite how drunk he was, Kurosaki visibly gulped and looked away from them both, focusing on what one of his lackeys was saying.

Byakuya resisted to urge to smirk on his victory and took a sip from his punch. He frowned and looked inside his cup, the taste was even better than the last one. He quickly gulped down the rest of it, moving away from his place to search for more.

A/N: Realize how I first mentioned the present and then the past?