Disclaimer: I am not a bleach expert, but I do own the profile book.

(I thought it would be cute to write a story about Byakuya Kuchiki. Enjoy^_^)

Chapter 1: The Inexperienced Soul Reaper

Sakaki was a young woman of the seireitei and fifth seat of the sixth company. She loved being a soul reaper. It always gave her a sense of dignity and of being respected. During her whole life she had never felt either. Her life in the Rukongai was tough and she was always expected to die because she was so small.

Of course she was slightly taller than from when she was younger, about 5"4. She was still fairly short, but she liked that better anyways, at least until her friend and assistant captain Renji Abarai comes to make fun of her height. This was mainly because he was 6"2, but seriously she was taller than Rukia Kuchiki with the height of 4"7. She was like a frickin midget compared to her!

Speaking of the Kuchikis, Sakaki had an enormous crush on Rukia's older brother, her captain, Byakuya Kuchiki. He was so handsome and noble looking, but was always so serious. This was much intimidating to her because she was so shy around him. Her only wish was to see him smile at least once.

At the current time she was bored and waiting for something to do in her small room. Everyone seemed to be gone that day, including her captain. They were all doing business of some sort. She hardly ever got to come along on such occasions. She wasn't highly ranked enough.

She sighed and stood up. She was too bored to just lie around in her room all day, so she left to wander the seireitei. Hopefully she could find someone she knew to hang out with. As long as they weren't busy anyway. She hated to impose herself on people.

Unfortunately everyone she knew was busy doing something. She pouted and leaned against a railing. She was always the only one who never got to go on all the really awesome missions. It wasn't fair to her, but she never did ask captain Kuchiki if she could. He probably thought she was weak and that's why he wouldn't let her. That wasn't true though. She'd fought hollows many times, and was more powerful than she seemed. If only she was more confident around him she could prove it. She sighed again, lost in thought.

"Shorty!" someone pounced on her from behind giving her a hard noogie on the head. He was tall, red haired and grinning broadly. "Why are you looking so bored for? Don't tell me you did nothing all day long?" He asked, teasing her.

"Well I wouldn't if I ever got to go on a mission!" Sakaki exclaimed ruefully.

"Is that why you're pouting like a baby," Renji laughed, still teasing her.

"I was not pouting!" she grumbled, "I was just bored of doing nothing all the time!"

Renji snickered and broke away from her. He casually glanced at her, smirking.

"You really want to go on a mission?" He asked.

"Of course I do! It's been forever since my last one!" Sakaki growled.

"Well I'm pretty sure if I talked to captain Kuchiki I could work something out," Renji said slyly.

Sakaki's eyes widened and she smiled. She pounced on him and embraced him warmly.

"Really?! Oh thank you Renji! Thank you so much!" she was so happy that she ran off, back to her home. She impatiently waited for him to come by later to give her the news. She was hoping the captain would let her go. She did like him but he could be really cold sometimes. Plus he never seemed to know her all that well, even though she passed by him every day. She hoped he would give her a mission.

Renji came by later that day with a wide smile upon his face. He seemed to have good news for Sakaki.

"Hey shorty!" He called grinning, "You have a mission!"

Her face suddenly glowed even brighter. She was so glad she was going on a mission for once! Byakuya had actually agreed to it! This was just her lucky day.

"Who's it with Renji?" she asked, curiously.

He paused for moment thinking, and then said, "Captain Kuchiki didn't say. All he said was for you to go down into a more abandoned part of the forest in the Rukongai, to meet the other soul reaper to accompany you on your mission."

"Oh, it's a mission in the Rukongai? I thought I might actually have been able to go to the world of the living," Sakaki pouted.

"Just be happy you finally got a mission, because it was really hard to get the captain to agree to even let you do this," Renji announced.

"Fine," Sakaki sulked. Even though she couldn't go to world of the living she was extremely happy to have a mission. She waved as Renji left. The next day she was finally going on a mission!

She woke up especially early that day, eager to fight some hollow butt. She knew she could do this, even if it had been a few years since her last fight. She was hoping if she did this well captain Kuchiki would recognize her and put her on even more missions, like the other soul reapers.

She made it to the spot earlier than she was told, but she could wait for her partner to come. It wasn't really that big a deal. She just wanted to prove herself worthy of her captain, so she could possibly win his heart.

She sat there for half an hour, waiting impatiently now. She was getting bored. She shouldn't have woken up so early. She yawned blankly and watched the dirt road/ path that led into the forest. A figure was coming up the path.

She squinted to get a better look and started to freak out. Was that…? It was! Her own captain! Why was Byakuya was coming? This actually was probobly better for her though, because then she could prove to his face how worthy she was! Even so she was still freaking out.

"Uh… captain Kuchiki!" she called nervously, bowing. "Are you joining me on my mission?"

"Hmph," he grumbled in an annoyed fashion. "Come along, I don't have forever you know."

"Uh….yes captain!" Sakaki called following behind closely.

Byakuya led the way through the forest to where the hollow would be. He always had that really unsatisfied and uncaring look. He made her wonder that she was really just a nuisance to him. She let out a long sigh.

"Shh!" Byakuya said, "One wrong move and it could find us."

She nodded coyly. Her heart was racing because of the close proximity she was in with her captain. She could not mess this up. Not in front of him.

"Split up," he murmured and walked away from her.

In a half clueless daze, Sakaki wandered in the opposite direction from him. She was now starting to get her head back. Quickly, she pulled her dark hair back in a cute ponytail. She was ready to prove herself. She had to or all could be lost.

"Oo! What a lovely little soul reaper you are," a vicious, manly voice bellowed at her, along with a fair sized hollow. It was a weak type one, but Sakaki froze. She wasn't used to seeing them anymore. She was too nervous to even do anything.

Pull out your damn sword! She kept telling herself. Don't blow this!

Of course her body was unresponsive, and the hollow was coming in on her. All she did now was scream. She had totally screwed this up for herself. There was only one other thing that would make the entire situation worse and it was happening at that very moment.

Just before the hollow moved in to complete the kill, Byakuya came in, cut through its mask and picked Sakaki up and dragged her to the edge of the forest.

He looked at the shaken woman with a stern face. He seemed mad at her now though.

Sakaki was trying her best not to burst into tears at that moment. She wasn't used to the hollows anymore and didn't mean to let her guard down.

"Captain…." She murmured ashamed, "I'm sorry about that. I..."

"Just be lucky I'm not kicking you off my squad," Byakuya announced coldly, and then walked off.

Depressed now, Sakaki walked back home. Renji was there to greet her.

"Hey shorty!" he said smiling, "How was the mission?"

"Horrible. Captain Kuchiki was there, and I totally screwed up," Sakaki whined and left to go home. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone anymore. She felt like she just failed at life.

At home she just lay there on her bed, crying. She felt horrible.

"I screwed everything up!" She bawled, "Now he'll never like me!"

She cried herself to sleep. She didn't ever want to leave her home again. It wasn't like she was going to get missions ever again, so she was planning on wasting her life away.