Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me

Rating: T

Summary: Various ficlet for the Chrismas to Easter challenge

A/N: English is not my first language; feel free to point out the mistakes I made.

Please read & review.

Yuzu had always known about her brother being a Shinigami. Well at first she thought it had been a bad joke but in the end she had to acknowledge the truth. It had been difficult but with the help of her sister she managed to cope with it. She even met some of his colleagues. She liked Rukia and Matsumoto a lot. She disliked Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika because the house was always in a mess when they left. She thought Hitsugaya was way too serious and Urahara too creepy. She didn't know what to think about Kuchiki Byakuya.

As he was Rukia's elder brother he spent a lot of time with them. In fact he was afraid that Ichigo and his beloved sister would go far beyond than allowed. He was okay with them kissing but he didn't want them to do more until they were married.

Little by little he began to spend less time with them to spend more time with Yuzu. The little girl didn't pay attention to it. She thought he stayed with her because Ichigo asked him to look after her. She never imagined it was because her presence made him quieter and helped him to forget about his worries. Because he thought she was beautiful, because he began to fall in love with her. But she was way too young. Really too young for her. And he was dead and she was alive. And Ichigo would slaughter him if he learnt about his feelings.

Time went by. And with it Kuchiki Byakuya stopped visiting the Kurosaki household. Yuzu was sad because she enjoyed spending time with the captain of the 6th division. It lasted a few months and then she started focusing on her studies. She had always wanted to become an nurse but said studies were too expensive. She ended up becoming a librarian in Karakura's biggest library.

Kuchiki Byakuya was still the head of his family and the captain of the 6th division. He was living alone in his huge manor because he was still refusing to get married to please the old geezers who were ruling over the whole Kuchiki family. When he wasn't working he was writing long letters. For someone who didn't really know him this behavior wasn't strange but for Rukia and even Ichigo it showed that something was bothering him.

In fact he hadn't forgotten Ichigo's sister. The letters he was writing were for her. He hoped she would be able to read them one day. Many times he had gone back to the living world to put one of them on her kitchen table and he never found the strength to do it. Kuchiki Byakuya wasn't a coward. He only thought that she had forgotten everything about him.

Kurosaki Yuzu really disliked it when people didn't put the books back to their place. Because of that she had to stay late. Well she didn't mind staying late at work because nobody was waiting for her. She just couldn't understand why people couldn't clean their mess. Was it too difficult to understand that a book on Shakespeare didn't belong to the cooking section??

She even found a book about Shinigmi in the porn section. She never went to that section but that night she felt that she needed to go there. It was as if someone had been calling her. She took this poor book and brought it back to her desk. Usually she would have put it back to its section but she didn't know where to put it. In fact she didn't even know they had books on Shinigami.

As it was already too late she put the book in a drawer. Kuchiki Byakuya saw everything. He was the way she looked at the book's cover, the way her fingers ran on its sheets. He understood that she was still thinking about them. The look in her eyes proved him that she wasn't thinking about her brother. He looked at the scroll he was holding, then at the drawer.

The following morning had been quite busy as a whole group of elementary school pupils came to see how a library was working. Of course Yuzu had been in charge of them. She didn't mind at all but she would have liked to take care of the book she found. Then it hit her. She could show them how to put a book to where it belonged.

The group followed her to her desk. She opened the drawer and took the book out of it. She opened it.

"As you can see, this book isn't where it should be. When you don't know where to put it, open it. There is a sticker on the last page. On this sticker there is a number. You enter this number in our database and the computer tells you where you should put it. Do you want me to show it to you?"

All the children nodded. She showed the sticker to the children then did what she explained them.

"See this book is supposed to be in the religion section in the folklore subsection. Let's go there."

The children followed her, asking her questions about her work. The computer thing surprised them. They thought that a librarian knew by heart where each and every book was. It was a big surprise to see that they were human and nice too. They put the book back and then Yuzu allowed them to look freely around the children section. She had to go back to her desk to register some new books. She was dealing with a whole collection talking about gothic novels when a child came to her holding a piece of paper.

"It fell from the book you put back with us. I forgot to give it to you. I hope you are not mad."

Yuzu smiled and took the paper.

"Not at all. It must be a paper belonging to man or woman who borrowed the book. Maybe some notes. It is nothing. Go back to your friends. Your teacher will be back soon."

The child ran back to his friends, leaving Yuzu alone with the paper. She stared at it. She was sure it wasn't in the book when she put it in her drawer. Maybe it was a drawing made by the little child and he was too shy to say so. It made her smile. She unfolded it but was surprised to see words. Not written with a child's handwriting. Neat kanjis and the quality of the text made her want to know the identity of the writer.

Kuchiki Byakuya was watching her. The little frown on her forehead made him think she was mad. In fact she was puzzled to see that a man she hadn't seen since the end of the Winter war would write her a letter to tell her what happened in his life and to ask her to write him back because he had always thought she was interesting. He saw put the letter in her bag before going back to her work.

When Yuzu went home that day she couldn't help thinking about the Shinigami. It surprised her that he remembered the moments they shared when he was visiting her father's place. But she was pleased he didn't forget about her. She decided to reply to his letter and to use the book about Shinigami as their letterbox.

This exchange of letter between the librarian and the Shinigami lasted and lasted until the day Byakuya asked her if she minded meeting him again. Yuzu remained silent during several days. Of course she had wanted to see him again but she wasn't sure it would be the wisest thing ever. He was dead, she was alive. He was really old something like 500 years old and she was only 23. He was a Shinigami and she was just human.

She thought about it. It was really difficult for her. In the end she asked his brother to help her. Ichigo was a bit surprised but he had known about the letters since the very beginning. Well he knew everything. He even knew about Byakuya's feelings for her. But he kept that part secret. It wasn't something he was allowed to tell her. His only advice had been to follow her heart.

Of course she did it and accepted to meet him. She told him to show up at the end of her shift just like any normal man and then they could go and eat something. She wanted him to behave like a human. It was the only solution as her spiritual energy was nearly inexistent. It surprised the leader of the sixth division but he agreed.

So they met. Yuzu was surprised to see that the man's physical appearance hadn't changed at all. It made her feel really old but she didn't care. They were just friends meeting again after a very long time. They went to the nearest coffee shop. They talked and talked. Uneasiness was a feeling that didn't exist. It was as if they never split.

After that day Kuchiki Byakuya tried to meet her at least twice a month. He wrote her letters every day and she replied every day too. The days he came were always full happiness. They talked, went to the museum.

But Yuzu regretted that she wasn't able to visit him. Her lack of spiritual energy made it impossible for her to go to Soul Society. She told him once and she never thought he had listened.

She understood it the day he came back, told her he was in love with her and proposed to her in front of the whole library staff. She wanted to refuse and she refused because she didn't want him to sacrifice his life for her. He had to explain her that he gave up his position because he didn't want to spend any more time away from her. A gigai was all he needed. He just had to go back to Soul Society to take part to some family meetings.

Yuzu had never been that happy. She got all she wanted : a faithful husband, a good job, a beautiful house.

But she became even happier the day she died because she knew that now she would be forever by her husband's side. She was also happy because she was now able to give him what he had always wanted. A family with children…

It all started with a book and a letter. And it ended with a family being happy forever…