'Yes, Kuchiki-taichou.'
'Anything you say, Kuchiki-taichou.'
'Of course, Byakuya-sama.'
'My deepest apologies for disturbing your rest, Byakuya-sama.'
Kuchiki Byakuya was ready to spit spiders.
Who would have thought that one small incident would have had such far-reaching consequences?
Already he had managed to alienate his lieutenant, managed to make Rukia avoid him even more than was usual, managed to make himself the (weepy) focus of every single female shinigami in Sereitei, and that was not to mention that no one had looked him in the eye since his confession on the Soukyokou Hill.
Never mind the fact that he still hadn't been cleared for active duty and was completely unable to leave the house without being followed around by at least six adoring servants.
Yet somehow, somewhere, he sensed things had changed, both in himself and in his relationship with Rukia. The few times they had been in each other's company had been… pleasant, even though it hadn't lasted for long. Byakuya couldn't understand how his guilt over Hisana had lessened, and his guilt at his treatment of Rukia had increased.
Rukia, aside from the stammered thanks that she had whispered, had never brought up the incident again.
A liveried servant carrying a tray of tea interrupted Byakuya's mental rumination. Apologising profusely for disturbing his rest, the servant placed the tray within reach and backed out of the room, bowing repeatedly.
Dammit, for once Byakuya just wanted to be treated like everyone else.
Rukia caught him sneaking out of the house fifteen minutes later.
Her eyes widening in shock at the guilty expression on his face and his furtive behaviour, Rukia managed a startled 'Nii-sama?'
Byakuya sighed, and pushed his hair- freed from the kenseikan for the first time in decades- out of his eyes.
'I have to get out of this house,' he said tonelessly. 'You wont talk to me, Renji is still avoiding me, they keep following me wherever I go, and if Matsumoto brings me another bottle of sake, I swear I really will drink myself to death.'
A sudden, wicked grin crossed Rukia's face.
'You know, Nii-sama,' she began nonchalantly, 'there's this place in Eastern Rukongai where Renji and I played when we were younger, and well, there's this apple tree that has the sweetest apples you'll ever taste…'
Byakuya grabbed her hand. 'Why are we still standing here?' he demanded.
Sitting high in the apple tree, the sun warm on his skin, the wind blowing his hair into a tangled mess around his face that would have driven Hisana to tears, Byakuya dropped his third apple core into the sparkling river below them.
Rukia was right; the apples were the best thing he had tasted, truly tasted, for centuries.
Rukia spoke then, a little hesitantly. 'Byakuya-sama- why did you save me? I asked you once but you never told me why.'
Unconsciously Byakuya pressed his hand against his heart, over the scar, a reminder of how fragile life was.
'I wanted to,' he told her at last.
Rukia's eyes filled. 'Thank you,' she whispered.
In answer, Byakuya slid his arm around her shoulders and listened to the birds singing.
The general tapped his foot against the floor as his captains filed in for the meeting. Unohana, followed by Soi Fon and Komamura, entered first. Following them was Ukitake, Kyouraku, and Hitsugaya, and lastly, Mayuri and Kenpachi.
Once they were assembled he spoke.
'Now that we're all here, we can begin with an update from each squad. Soi Fon, if you would begin?'
Yamamoto realised after a minute that Soi Fon wasn't listening. Instead, she like her fellow captains wore a look of confusion.
'Oi, Yama-jii, I believe we're missing another captain,' Kyouraku drawled, tipping the brim of his hat up.
The general straightened, studying his captains through narrowed eyes. Shunsui was right. They were missing someone.
Kuchiki Byakuya, captain of the sixth division.
'Kuchiki-taichou!'
Byakuya stopped and waited for his lieutenant to catch up, and then to catch his breath.
'Renji. How are you feeling today? Unohana said your injuries are healing well.'
Renji blinked, thoroughly taken aback. Since when had his captain cared that much? When the hell had he ever cared?
Kuchiki-taichou pushed his hair out of his eyes, and that was when Renji realised that he wasn't wearing his kenseikan. Nor for that matter, was he wearing Senbonzakura either.
What the hell was going on here?
'…Important?'
Renji froze. Oh, he hadn't. He hadn't missed a single word his captain had said. He couldn't have. It was impossible.
'Renji.'
'Oh…well… that is, I… I mean…' Renji floundered wildly for something to say when his captain chuckled.
An actual laugh.
Renji wondered if he was about to die.
'What is it that you wanted to tell me, Renji?'
'Right. I heard from Kyouraku-taichou that you didn't attend the captains meeting.'
'That is correct. I did not.'
'If it was a mission or something of importance I could have gone,' Renji offered.
'There was no mission,' Byakuya said reassuringly. 'I just didn't want to go.'
Renji's jaw dropped as Kuchiki-taichou strode off. As he turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction, Renji made a mental note to ask Unohana-taichou to examine his captain again.
Clearly, the wounds Kuchiki-taichou had sustained had addled his brains.
' Good morning, Nanao-chan. Kyouraku is right you know, you are looking lovelier than ever.'
Nanao reacted in the same manner as she would have dealt with her own captain. She slapped him. Hard.
'And who are you calling lovely? Nanao asked coldly.
Rubbing his cheek absentmindedly, Byakuya sighed.
'Ah, the wonders of youth… how fortunate you are, Nanao-chan. Such a fiery spirit…'
Such was Nanao's shock at slapping a noble, and a Kuchiki no less, that she almost missed the faint smell of sake on Kuchiki-taichou's breath.
Sake.
On Kuchiki Byakuya's breath.
At ten o'clock in the morning.
Nanao wondered if Kyouraku-taichou had spiked the water supply again.
'…Dismissed. Oh, and if any of you happen to run into Byakuya, just make sure he is still breathing,' the general told his captains resignedly.
Hitsugaya followed Ukitake out, a frown on his face. 'Ukitake, does Kuchiki's behaviour strike you as odd lately?'
'You mean the way he keeps missing the meetings?'
'Among other things,' Hitsugaya said, his frown deepening. 'I could have sworn I saw him dancing with Matsumoto in the main court yesterday. Dancing, Ukitake.'
'Yes, well, I – oh. My. God.'
Hitsugaya pushed past him and felt his jaw drop. Like the other captains who had come to a complete halt, he stared. And stared some more.
They had found their missing captain.
Hand in hand with Rukia.
Barefoot.
His hair tangled around his face.
Dressed in normal clothes.
Carrying an armful of freshly caught fish.
Liberally smeared in mud.
Smiling.
That was when Hitsugaya truly began to worry.
Howling with laughter, Byakuya dragged a near hysterical Rukia past the meeting hall, the general's fluent swearing still lingering in their ears, down past the offices of the gotei thirteen and around the corner, pushing past several startled shinigami, finally using shunpo to take them to the relative safety of the Kuchiki house, where they collapsed in the garden, laughing helplessly.
'I've always wanted to do that,' Byakuya said when he was able to speak.
Neither of them had to be in the meeting hall to see the expression on the general's face as the bucket they had balanced so precariously in the rafters over the general's chair had tipped over, dousing him in icy water.
Byakuya eventually did attend the captain's meeting, once he was certain the general had calmed down.
However, he pointedly refused to wear his kenseikan. Or his scarf. Or his haori. Or his zanpakutou.
Then he got into an argument with Kenpachi, going to far as to threaten the eleventh division's captain with "castration by zanpakutou."
The general wondered aloud just how Byakuya planned on doing that without a zanpakutou. Byakuya's answer was short, cheerful, and straight to the point.
'I'll borrow yours, of course.'
Yamamoto just knew there was a reason Kuchiki Byakuya had been made a captain.
Even if he wasn't sure what the reason was.
'No, Kuchiki-taichou.'
'Not a chance in hell, Kuchiki-taichou.'
'Not in this lifetime, Byakuya-sama.'
'Are you completely insane, Byakuya-sama?'
Byakuya laughed.
Quietly.