Shinigami Otomen

Tsukiau: Yay! My first published fanfic ever! I hope you all enjoy! I love Bleach! It's awesome!

Ichigo: If you love it so much then how come I'm nowhere in the story? I'm the main character!

Tsukiau: Oh sorry Ichi-kun! But Byakuya kind of fit the description of the ideal man more!

Ichigo: What?

Tsukiau: I'm sorry! Umm, can you please say the disclaimer?

Ichigo: Fine. I guess it's better than nothing. Tsukiau doesn't own Bleach or Otomen. But she does own the names Bya-chan, Ruki, and Ren-Ren. There, well I guess I can go now.

Tsukiau: Bye Ichi-kun!

Ichigo: Yeah, whatever.

Tsukiau: Now let's get on with the story!

Byakuya Kuchiki: 6 years old.

Little Byakuya Kuchiki was sitting in his room knitting a pink scarf. His room was decorated with cute and adorable plushies and handmade crafts that he made himself. As he knitted, he thought, 'Things that girls like. The fluffy, the sparkling. The cute the sweet. Cooking, sewing, love stories. And…'

Suddenly, a crash interrupted Byakuya's thoughts. He looked up to see that his mother, Yoruichi Kuchiki had just dropped a glass bottle as she looked at Byakuya with fear in her eyes. She muttered in a quivering voice, "Byakuya."

"Ma…Mama..?" Byakuya asked a little frightened at his mother's behavior. He clutched his stuffed rabbit protectively. Then Yoruichi swooned and crashed to the floor muttering, "You too..?"

Later, when Yoruichi had regained consciousness in the hospital, she begged to little Byakuya, "Please, Byakuya… don't end up like your father… You are a boy after all.

Byakuya Kuchiki: 17 years old.

Ten years later, Byakuya was in a competition in his high school, Seireitei High, sparring with a sword fighting team from another school. He beat his opponent easily and the crowd cheered.

When the match was over, his teammates were complimenting him as he removed his protective gear. They were saying, "Amazing as usual. That's what you'd expect from the best in the Soul Society."

"Yeah. He's pretty cool, huh?" another commented.

"Byakuya-senpai!" someone cheered.

As the others showered him with compliments about his manliness, Byakuya was thinking, '…the real me… I can't show anyone…'

A few of his female admirers came up to him as he let down his long jet black hair and they offered him bags of little goodies and sweets saying, "Oh…umm… senpai? Today during class, we…well, if it's alright, please accept this…"

Byakuya showed absolutely no reaction as he wiped sweat off of his ivory skin.

"Oh s-sorry, senpai. You probably don't like cake or sweets, huh?" the girls walked away saying, "See, that's what I said…"

'I absolutely…'

Suddenly a voice caught his attention. It yelled, "Just stop it!"

Byakuya looked over and saw a group of guys with broken skull masks on their faces standing in front of a girl with a small guy from Squad Four cowering behind her.

'…have to keep my real self… shut up inside…'

One of the thugs sneered and said, "What? Seems you're mistaken little lady. That guy there says he wants to leave is zanpaku-to with us."

The girl had shoulder length black hair and big purple eyes and was kind of on the smaller side. She yelled, "You're lying! He obviously doesn't want to do that..!"

"Tch. What a pain…" One of the guys said and one of them grabbed the girl's wrist and said, "Girls should just stay in a man's arms and make themselves look cute."

Byakuya couldn't just stand around and watch anymore.

He went up and smacked the guy with his Senbonzakura and knocked him out cold.

The other guys were in shock. Byakuya stood protectively in front of the girl and said, "My fault. Looks like I accidentally hit you."

A crowd had gathered and they were swooning at how cool Byakuya was.

The other guys were starting to recover as they picked up their unconscious friend. One of them started to threaten Byakuya by saying, "Y-you…"

But his friend stopped him by saying, "Hey watch it! He's the second-year student, Byakuya Kuchiki."

"Kuchiki? You mean…" the other started to realize the situation they were in.

"Number on in the Soul Society at sparring, First degree in Kido. Second Degree in Shunpo…" The other one informed.

Byakuya began glaring down evilly at them and that sent chills down their spines.

The two quickly dragged their unconscious friend as they made their escape saying, "Oops, look at the time. We have to get back to Hueco Mundo."

The other said, "I've got Cero school…"

"Pssh, Arrancars." Byakuya scoffed. Then he turned to the girl and asked, "Are you hurt..?"

Then when he saw her face, he grew speechless and his heart started pounding in his chest.

She smiled beautifully at him and said, "I'm fine… thank you very much."

'No matter when… No matter what happens… I must be manly. Even if… I fall in love…"

The others were still marveling over Byakuya's manliness saying, "Ooh… He's strong, cool, and masculine… got a nice face too."

Another said, "He really does. Seems just like the perfect man."

A figure standing in the back listened to everything that was said and witnessed everything that had taken place.

He had fiery red hair with a bandana wrapped around his head. And he had strange black eyebrow tattoos on his forehead. He smiled and said, "Hmm… Nice."

"Oh no… I can't hold back anymore…if I fall in love…" Thought the black haired girl Bya as she gazed into the violet eyes of the handsome boy she had just met.

Byakuya was reading the popular shojo manga, The Chosen Souls. He was standing in a department store oblivious to the accusing eyes watching him.

'Love. Why do I start wanting to read shojo manga…when I fall in love..?' Byakuya thought as he felt his heart soar when he read the enchanting words of Hisana Yamamoto.

Suddenly a loud gasp caught Byakuya's attention and he realized where he was and what he was doing.

He quickly put the book down and said, "I'm bored." Completely unfazed. He began walking away. As he did he scolded himself saying, 'What the heck am I doing?'

He thought back to when his mother was in the hospital. 'I threw everything out that time, didn't I?'

"Byakuya…" he remembered Yoruichi saying.

'Why..?' Suddenly Byakuya found that he accidentally walked into the crafts section of the store and was surrounded by cute and adorable artifacts. There were a bunch of cute stuffed animals grinning at him.

"Boys should…" Yoruichi's voice continued.

Suddenly the violet eyed girl's smiling face flashed in his mind and overwhelmed him.

'When I think of her…' Byakuya thought hopelessly.

"…act like boys." Yoruichi finished saying.

'I'm…' Byakuya couldn't resist anymore and reached out for the first cute thing he saw.

As Byakuya walked home, he didn't notice a certain spiky haired redhead watching him.

When Byakuya was safe inside his mansion, he dropped all of his new things on the ground and dropped to the floor in defeat.

'I gave in and bought these after all.' His new purchased merchandise consisted of adorable new stuffed animals, colorful craft supplies, cooking utensils and the whole series of The Chosen Souls.

'This is no good… I've got to pull myself together! Am I going to spoil everything that I've built 'til now?' Byakuya mentally groaned. 'I've got to control myself completely… Hold back my feelings…' The girl's image invaded his mind once more and Byakuya soon lost control.

Before he knew it, Byakuya had stitched together the most adorable little teddy bear

Byakuya threw the little bear on the table and yelled, "What am I doing? It even came out well."

'N-No… when I think about her…" Byakuya started panicking. 'Be still, my (girlish) heart..!'

The next day, Byakuya was at sparring practice training his companions to fight.

"You're not putting enough into it! Twenty more!" He yelled to the person he was sparring with.

"Ooh… you're cool as ever today, Byakuya-kun." The others praised.

There was a girl standing in the doorway. She had long strawberry blonde hair and sparking grey eyes. She said, "He's somehow, you know, stoic? Is that the word? His grades are excellent too. His mother is one of the school trustees, after all." A guy was coming up behind her.

He had spiky red hair, eyebrow tattoos, and a suave smile on. He said, "My, my, Rangiku. You're cheating? Even though you've got such a great guy right next to you?"

He started cuddling Rangiku Matsumoto and she said emotionlessly, "He's your exact opposite, Renji Abarai. You eternally horny guy."

"Oh how terrible." Renji cooed. "Well, if you only have soft things all the time, you start wanting something stronger."

"Ohh, you bad boy." Rangiku purred as the two got closer. Oblivious to the people whispering behind them.

"Byakuya-kun's cool…right?" Renji said thinking of something else.

"You're annoying." Rangiku said yet again.

Later, Byakuya was walking through the hallways of Seireitei High thinking, 'I'm okay. I made it through today peacefully enough… Now that I think about it… I don't know her name or her class or her year or anything… If I don't run into her, I'll probably forget her soon. I should forget her. So that I can be masculine… As I've been up to this point.'

Byakuya happened to look out the window and she happened to be standing right there. Appearing to be in the middle of P.E.

Byakuya slumped to the floor in defeat and thought, 'Oh, there she is…'

He stood upright again and observed what was going on outside. 'I've seen the people around her before. Could she be in my grade?'

Suddenly a voice interrupted his thoughts saying as if he had read his mind. Renji said, "Second year, class thirteen. Rukia Zaraki. She's 4 foot 9 and 73 pounds. Her measurements are 29-19-28 from the top down."

Byakuya turned to acknowledge Renji and began to ask, "…you are? In my class?"

Renji continued explaining everything he knew about Rukia. "They say she transferred here three weeks ago. Cute girl, isn't she?"

Then Renji dropped the biggest bomb on Byakuya, "You like her, don't you? Bya-chan?"

Byakuya recoiled with a look of shock on his face as he stuttered, "Wha…Wha… That's not true!" But it was hopeless. For unbeknownst to Byakuya, he was very easy to read.

Renji smiled then said teasingly, "Oh, really?"

He smiled happily then said, "Well then… maybe I should make her mine."

Byakuya was stunned, 'Wha… What did you say?'

"Wh…What do you mean?" Bya asked the smiling red haired girl that stood before her. Not knowing if she heard her correctly.

The girl, whose name was Ren-Ren, smiled then said playfully, "Like I said… I'm declaring myself your rival."

"What a super sudden development!" a girl shrieked.

That surprised Byakuya as he turned to see two girls wowing over a book.

"The Chosen Souls right?" one girl asked. "I really wanna know what happens next…" Byakuya was now hooked into their conversation over his favorite book.

"Hisana Yamamoto's so great! I love her work." The other girl said.

"The main character, Bya…" the first girl started saying.

Byakuya's sparring partner Gin Ichimaru asked, "What's so interestin about shojo manga anyway, hmm?" His permanent smile fixed on his face and his eyes were silted as always.

"It's pure love stuff." One girl replied.

"Men like us would never understand, right, Captain Six?" Gin's smile grew even bigger if that was even possible. He was using the nickname he had given him for some unknown reason.

Byakuya snapped back to attention and said, "Huh? Yeah… that's right!" But secretly he was thinking, 'The new volume's out already?'

The girl continued saying, "I mean, I'd like to inject some of this purity… into Renji Abarai!" The girls unknowingly had Byakuya's full attention. He was listening to every word they said. She continued, "A little while earlier, in the Home EC classroom… he was alone with Rukia Zaraki from Squad Thirteen. She's totally being set up. She's definitely gonna be played with and thrown aside. That's what he always does. He's really bad about girls isn't he?"

"Maybe I should make her mine." Byakuya remembered Renji saying that. He started running in the direction of the Home EC room not thinking about anything else.

"Where're ya goin Captain Six? We still have the club ya know?" Gin called after Byakuya as he raced down the hall. But Byakuya was too far away to hear.

When Byakuya reached the Home EC room, he heard voices coming from the other side of the door. He recognized them as Rukia and Renji.

He heard Rukia say, "Come on please stop."

The voice he figured was Renji's said, "Huh? Aw, it's fine. We're all alone together after all…" Byakuya started trembling with fury.

Rukia said, "Don't go any further, okay?

Renji said calmly, "It's fine… look!"

Byakuya couldn't stand it anymore. With Senbonzakura drawn, he barged into the room and yelled, "Hey!"

Only to find Renji and Rukia sitting across from each other with scraps of cloth in their hands and even more scraps on the table in between them.

Renji looked at the cloth in his hands and said, "Oh. Shoot. I sewed it wrong."

Rukia looked at Renji and reassured, "You've really done enough, so… um…"

Byakuya suddenly felt really embarrassed just standing there in the doorway with his zanpaku-to drawn after the ruckus he caused.

"Oh… Huh?" said Byakuya speechless.

"Oh, It's Bya-chan" Renji said regarding Byakuya.

Renji held up a piece of cloth with some strange threading on it and said happily to Byakuya, "I'm helping Rukia with her project. This right here. So don't get in my way, okay?"

Rukia started saying to Renji, "Thank you for all your help, but…"

Renji came close to Rukia and took her hand saying smoothly, "You don't have to be so polite. You can't go home until you finish this, right?"

That made Byakuya crack. He whipped out a needle and thread with a loud, 'Snap!' that caught Renji and Rukia's attention and said darkly, "I'll help too."

"You can sew, Bya-chan?" Renji asked not totally believing someone as dignified as Byakuya could sew.

"What's the project?" Byakuya asked ignoring Renji.

Rukia looked at the cloth in her hands and said, "Sorry…I'm supposed to use these scraps to create whatever I want… but I'm clumsy… really." Byakuya looked at the table to see what Rukia had already created. They looked more like misshapen monsters than anything else.

'That's sort of… unexpected. What are those?" Byakuya wondered. It was hard to believe such a graceful girl made these blobs.

Rukia went back to her sewing. She was concentrating really hard but it wasn't looking much better than before.

Byakuya suddenly took her hands and guided her fingers to the proper positions and said, "And here, you go like this…"

'Oh man… somehow… I can't just leave her alone.' Byakuya thought helplessly as he continued to guide Rukia down the right path.

A few minutes later Renji screamed, "Wow..!" for the table was covered with adorable handmade crafts. Like a chicken pencil case, a pink bunny oven mitt, fabric roses, lace printed handkerchiefs, a cup warmer and a cute handbag.

But Byakuya was starting to realize what he had just done. 'I did too much..! It was so fun I got carried away.' He stared at the teddy bear in his hand that he had just finished. It was adorable wearing a little hat and had movable limbs.

"I mean you made almost all of these, Bya-chan…" Renji continued as he admired one of the little handkerchiefs.

Rukia was really pepped up now. She exclaimed, "That's amazing, Byakuya! Not to mention cute! The Chappy doll you made is so adorable! I think I'll keep this one." Rukia pocketed the little rabbit doll and turned to Byakuya and said, "So you sew on a regular basis, right?"

"No way!" Byakuya hastily covered up. "Even I'm surprised that I was better at it than I thought." Byakuya excused.

'Argh! What am I doing? I thought I decided I wouldn't get involved!'' Byakuya mentally screamed in frustration.

He headed for the door saying, "Well then, I'll be going now…" he grabbed Renji's shirt collar and started dragging him with him.

"Me too?" Renji asked as Byakuya dragged him towards the door.

"Byakuya!" Rukia called out causing him to halt.

When he turned around, Rukia smiled and said happily, "Thank you so much… really. You've saved me twice now…"

Byakuya could feel his cheeks growing hotter and his heart started pounding.

'She remembered…' It was later that night in Byakuya's mansion. He was in the middle of a bath. His cheeks were still red as he remembered that afternoon with Rukia.

'That makes me so happy…' Byakuya put the lower half of his face in the warm water and exhaled. Causing bubbles to escape his mouth and pop on the surface.

'Oh no… it seems as though I'm going to end up really liking her… No! That can't be!'

The next day at school, Byakuya was sitting at his desk pretending to read a book on Bounts but he was really thinking to himself, 'I just know that I'm going to start getting girlier. I absolutely won't go any further…'

Then Rukia entered the classroom and turned her head like she was looking for someone.

"Hey there, Ruki-chan!" Renji yelled gaining Rukia and Byakuya's attention.

Renji literally swooped Rukia off her feet and Byakuya was right behind him with Senbonzakura drawn and ready for attack.

"Renji said happily, "You came to see me? I'm so happy. Today's lunch will just be the two of us on the roof…right?"

"Huh?" Rukia asked. Not fully comprehending what was going on.

Rukia turned to face Byakuya and said, "Byakuya, why don't you come with us?"

When they got to the roof of the school, Rukia produced a huge bento box wrapped in dragon pattern cloth.

She said, "You see… I brought a bento lunch I made… to thank you for your help earlier… it's for both of you."

Renji smiled and said giddily, "Really? I'm so happy!" Renji started unwrapping the box and said, "Homemade by Ruki-chan, huh? I'm excited! Wow, a tiered bento box!"

"Um, it's really nothing much…" Rukia tried to say.

Inside was a whole container plain rice with a pickled plum, another container of regular roasted fish, and a last container of whole cucumbers.

Renji's smile was now forced to hide his disappointment while Byakuya had no idea how to react at all.

Rukia took out a bunch of bananas and said, "It's the same bento I always bring for myself. I'm sure it'll be enough for all of us though. I've got dessert too. Rukia said gesturing to the bananas.

"Yeah… the taste of the side dishes is good. Renji tried to compliment as he munched on one of the cucumbers.

'This is sloppy.' Byakuya thought frankly.

"I'm sorry I can't make anything elaborate. It seems I've got no talent for cooking either." Rukia apologized as she picked up a whole fish with her chopsticks.

"Do you always cook by yourself?" Byakuya asked as he took the umeboshi.

"Yes." Rukia answered. "My mother passed away when I was young and my dad's someone who doesn't do a bit of housework, so I haven't really had much of a chance to eat decent cooking. When I make it myself, it turns out this way."

'If there is something that I could do for her…' Byakuya thought as Renji took a bite of banana. "Um, if you don't mind may I make lunch for you?" he asked.

"Huh? That-that's!" Rukia started to protest.

"I mean it wouldn't be any trouble making extra. I was getting tired of having bread every day anyway." Byakuya insisted. 'If there is something I can do…' Byakuya thought again. "I grew up with only one parent as well. My parents have been divorced since I was a kid so…"