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Requested by Key Revolution on Livejournal.

Innocent Sin
By Reiven

If there was one thing Abarai Renji loved doing whenever he wasn't out on a mission, vanquishing Hollows and ridding Earth of evil doers and corruptors of morals; it was watching his captain, the stoic Kuchiki Byakuya doing…anything, pretty much. One of the reasons why was because he always did it with such poise, such dignity and grace that…that Renji would have compared him to something else that had as much dignity and poise and grace had the shinigami in question not just walked in and disrupted his train of thought.

"Kuchiki-taichou," he leapt to his feet, sending the mountain of paper work on his desk fluttering to the floor. For a moment, he stared uncertainly at his captain then at the scattered papers on the floor and back at his captain. "I'll just get that," he said after a while, a sheepish grin on his face.

"That would be commendable," came Byakuya's monotone reply. "Have you finished with the missions report?"

"Yes, Taichou," Renji answered hurriedly. "Err…they're somewhere around here, I think."

Byakuya sighed. Renji wasn't sure if this was one of physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion or a 'how did I come to be associated with this incompetence' type of sigh. After working under the silent shinigami for so long, Renji thought he'd had most of his captains moods all figured out. Apparently he didn't.

"How's Rukia?" he asked suddenly, mentally slapping himself for his lack of reasonable judgment a second later. He knew that his captain despised Ichigo. He despised Ichigo but he suspected it was for an entirely different reason. As far as he was concerned (and contrary to what he thought to be popular belief) he didn't just like Rukia, he liked, liked Rukia even while it was apparent that Rukia was starting to like Ichigo.

But Byakuya's reason to like Ichigo was completely different as it centered mostly around the repressed feeling of brotherly love he felt for his deceased wife's younger sister, as much as he cared to deny it.

"Fine," he said brusquely; it was something of an uncharacteristic tone he'd heard his captain use (different from the usual, one word, one tenor speeches he usually gave) and now, more than ever, was he sure that Kuchiki Byakuya hated Kurosaki Ichigo; even more so than he, himself and a majority of the population in Hell.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, not knowing where these words were coming from. His captain had never been known as the most social shinigami in Soul Society, nor the friendliest or the most prone to touchy-feely talk sessions with people he deemed inferior…

"Hn," he scoffed, arranging the papers that were already immaculately placed and arranged in alphabetical order and according to mission rank and date. "Of every able bodied shinigami in Soul Society, she picks a loudmouth, half-human dimwit who's named after a pink fruit."

"True, true," Renji nodded in agreement. A second later when the sentence finally sunk in, he did a double take to stare agape at the still stoic, black-haired captain; his papers found themselves scattered on the floor once again and he thought he heard a loud snap somewhere in the back of his spine. Two seconds later, the pain finally registered and Renji found himself clutching the back of his neck and letting out a groan of pain beside himself.

Byakuya looked up at the sound, watching as his vice-captain half threw himself over his now clean desk; face scrunched up in pain and back arched. "Renji?" he asked, raising an aristocratic eyebrow. "I knew that Kurosaki injured your pride, but I did not realize the pain to be literal."

"Tai-Taichou," he stuttered out through the haze of pain, staring at Byakuya through tear filled eyes. "Did you just crack a joke?"

"Hm?" Byakuya eyes with him a bemused gaze. "Is it that much of a absurdity?"

"Huh? Uh…no, just--Oooooow!" he cringed, groaned and arched his back; eyes clenched shut though tear escaped the corners of his eyelids. He was a shinigami; he'd gone to battle against Hollows and many other ferocious beasts and to think of the possibility of being done in by a back injury sustained by personal carelessness…Renji felt absolutely disgusted with himself!

Renji felt so sickened by the thought that he didn't notice when strong, warm hands circled his waist and lead him over to the wall, pushing him face down against the cool surface. He only came to his senses when he felt a gentle rubbing motion on the length of his back, soothing the pain away.

"You may have pulled something," Byakuya said, standing so close being him that Renji felt the blood rush to his cheeks when his captain's breath blew loose strands of red hair into his neck.

"T-T-Taichou--"

"Don't move," he heard the superior instruct and dared not to disobey him. "This may hurt a bit," he said. Before Renji could nod or open his mouth to reply, he felt a snap in his back as his captain drove his knuckled deep into his spine. It was a pain like he'd never experienced before and tears slid down the side of his cheeks.

"Renji," Kuchiki Rukia said as she pushed open the door and waltzed into the 6th Division office. "I--"

"Aah, Taichou. It hurts," Renji whimpered, tilting his head back as his body tried to get away from Byakuya's massaging knuckles.

"It always does the first time," Byakuya replied.

Neither of them noticed the younger Kuchiki standing quietly, eyes bulging and mouth agape near the door.

"But--aaah, Taichou. That feels so good, that--please, go slow."

"It would lose effectiveness with not done with a certain thrust. That's how you initially massage away the tightness. You are very tight, Renji."

It took all of Rukia's will power to keep conscious.

"You're very skilled, Taichou. Have you had any experience in doing this before?"

"I acquired the experience from my grandfather," Byakuya said, positioning himself exactly behind Renji; one arm stretched out over the redhead's shoulder while the other pushed down to knead all the kinks out of his strained back muscle. "He was exceptionally skilled in this field."

"How old were you the first time?"

Rukia nearly gasped, but held herself in check.

"Perhaps around 60 at the time. My grandfather believes that all the Kuchiki bloodline should be knowledgeable in this area of expertise."

Rukia realized that she didn't feel well at the moment and was about to leave when Byakuya spoke again.

"The time is approaching when Rukia should be taught. Perhaps I will call her down after this."

Rukia promptly went running out the door, not bothering with whatever it is she'd gone to do there in the first place.

Byakuya side stepped, allowing Renji to push himself off the wall.

"That was amazing. My back has never felt better. Thank you, Taichou."

"Wonderful," said Byakuya emotionlessly. "You may resume where you left off now, Renji. I expect the report to be flawless and on my desk by sun down."

Renji sighed. He should not have expected anything less. "Roger that," he said and began once again to gather up the strewn papers on his floor.

Byakuya straightened out his uniform, adjusted his kenseikan and was out the door before Renji could say…something intelligent and witty if he were not too preoccupied with getting the mess on the floor to his table then to his captains' table.

Byakuya, unfortunately (after Renji had spend the better part of the afternoon filing and number coding his report) did not show up at sun down, nor at midnight and was not there promptly at sun up like he usually was. Renji heard that he'd spent the whole night looking for a missing Rukia, but that that time, he was far too sleepy to really care.

…End.