This is the sequel to the Moon, the Earth and the Sun. If you haven't read that, I strongly suggest that you do so before reading this. It'll make more sense.

Anyways, I know this took a while, but I couldn't think of a good beginning. But I figured it out so… The beginning may be a bit confusing, but it'll all work out by the middle of the chapter.

And, just as a warning, I had the Moon, the Earth and the Sun all planned out. I knew the basic plot line before I began the story. I'm just winging it here though so… stick with me.

If I owned Bleach, the captain's meetings would be much like the one described in this chapter.

Kaili snuggled closer to Byakuya, murmuring something in her sleep. Byakuya sighed, and glanced over at Renji, who was making a very valiant attempt not to laugh. He looked back at the woman in front of him, struggling to hold back an urge to yell at her. Being known as the great Captain Kuchiki was painful, and annoying, but at times like this, when he was simply 'Byakuya' he realized that it did have its advantages as well.

"I hope that you find a permanent residence quickly," the woman said with the false smile used by people when they were lying, and needed to sound as sincere as possible. Byakuya would bet everything that he had that she was hoping that he never found a permanent residence, and lived in this hotel forever.

"So do I," he told her gravely, and Renji made a soft choking sound beside him. Byakuya frowned. That man was having far too much fun.

Seemingly taken aback by Byakuya's seriousness, the woman- her nametag said Serena- handed him his key without further comment. He thanked her, gave the key to Renji, and shifted Kaili on his shoulder again, wincing as she tightened her grip around his neck.

"St. Albert Inn," Renji said, reading the name on the keycard. "Wonderful. Are we close to the schools?"

"No."

"Can you drive?"

"I'm going to have to learn."

"In a day?"

"I'm a fast learner."

"I think I'll walk."

"You'll have to get up early."

"How early?"

"Very, very early. The schools are on the other side of the city."

Renji winced. "Ouch."

"Uh huh. How does this work?" They had stopped by the elevator.

"Um… I think you push the button." Renji tried, and to both of their surprise, the doors slid open. The three of them entered, and Renji studied the buttons. "What floor are we on?"

"Second."

"So… This one." Renji pushed the button, and then gave a surprised little squeak when they started moving.

The trip to the second floor was terrible, to say the least. Neither Byakuya nor Renji were used to being in moving rooms. When they stumbled out of the elevator on the second floor, they got some very odd looks from the couple waiting for the elevator.

"Next time we find the stairs," Renji grumbled, glaring at the elevator doors, which remained unchanging.

"Agreed."

They found their rooms with little trouble, but getting into them was a different story entirely. They had been given little rectangles of plastic for the key, and neither could figure out how it worked. After ten minutes of quiet swearing- they didn't want to wake Kaili up, Renji went and got help from a nice old woman who was visiting her granddaughter in the city. The fact that the old woman could do it and they couldn't was demeaning, but, as Byakuya pointed out, both of them were old enough to be her grandfathers. So there.

After some difficulty with the light switch, TV, and the AC, Byakuya and Renji were finally settled into one bed, and Kaili was sprawled out in the other.

Renji fiddled with the lamp, trying to figure out how to turn the damn thing off. He still wasn't sure how he'd turned it on in the first place.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" he asked. Byakuya lifted his head off of the pillow to look at him.

"Head Captain Yamamoto ordered it."

"Right… I really hate him right n- I did it!" Renji grinned at his success, and lay back. Byakuya buried his face in the pillow again, and shut his eyes. Soon, he felt the weight of Renji's arm across his back, and he moved closer, snuggling against the red head's bare chest, and breathing in his unique scent. Renji smelt like a combination of cinnamon and blood. With anybody else it would be odd, at best, but it suited Renji.

"Good night Byakuya," Renji murmured sleepily in his ear.

"Good night Renji," Byakuya replied softly. He was asleep within minutes.

******Two Days Earlier******

Renji stared uncomprehendingly at the old man in front of him. He had just woken up, and Yamamoto tended to be boring at the best of times. Now, Renji was barely able to stay awake.

He couldn't tell whether Byakuya, who was standing next to him, was awake or asleep. The man was a master at looking as though he were awake while he was actually asleep. He'd tricked Yamamoto for over fifty years, after all.

"Could you please get to the point?" Captain Kyoraku asked. He looked about as awake as he usually did, which was not very. "I've got a wonderful woman to get back to."

"She's just going to make you do more paperwork," Ukitake pointed out. "You may as well just listen through the meeting without interrupting."

"Besides," Kenpachi added, grinning at Shunsui. "She's never going to accept your advances."

Shunsui greeted Kenpachi's bloodthirsty grin with a look of his own. "How do you know she hasn't already?"

"She would've said something," Soi Fon said. "And you would've been running around the whole Seireitei telling everyone."

"She is acting odd though," Unohana murmured contemplatively.

"As though she's about to admit her feelings?" Shunsui asked hopefully.

"As though she's about to brain you with the biggest book she can find, burn all of your sake, tie you to your desk, and force you to do all of the paperwork." Soi Fon told him bluntly. "You could at least try to share in the load."

"This is boring!" Mayuri exclaimed. "Who cares about Captain Kyoraku's love life?"

"What do you suggest we talk about, freak?" Kenpachi sneered. "Your experiments?"

"At least that's more interesting than this."

"I find this very interesting." Shunsui informed him. He turned back to the women. "Seriously now. She's about to tell me that she loves me, isn't she?"

"That's not nearly as likely as what I suggested earlier." Soi Fon told him. Meanwhile, in the background, Kenpachi and Mayuri had gotten into another one of their fights.

"Bastard!"

"Freak!"

"Bloodthirsty lunatic!"

"Clown!"

Shunsui and Soi Fon were now arguing over whether or not Nanao was going to admit her love to him, or, whether she really had such feelings towards her captain. Unohana and Ukitake were watching with identical looks of amused annoyance. Komamura had joined in Kenpachi and Mayuri's argument, shouting about how their argument was against justice. Hitsugaya was staring at his newest present from Ukitake, looking confused and irritated.

Bored, Renji decided to see if Byakuya was awake. "Are they always like this?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, although in the noise of the arguments around the room, nobody would have been able to hear him anyways.

"No. Usually they're worse," Byakuya replied just as softly.

"You're awake!" Renji exclaimed.

"I always wake up when they start fighting," Byakuya told him. "It's very amusing. And Head Captain Yamamoto usually gets to the point after he makes everybody shut up. Which is coming any time now."

"Silence!" Yamamoto exclaimed, banging his cane on the ground. "You are the captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, not some children! Act as such!"

Properly chastised, the captains fell silent, although Renji noticed that none of them looked as though they were really sorry for their actions.

But I'm not a captain, Renji thought. Am I allowed to act like a child? He reminded himself to ask Byakuya later.

"There have been some odd Reiatsu fluctuations around a small city called St. Albert. Since the readings are nearly undecipherable, I am sending Captain Kuchiki, Vice Captain Abarai and Third Seat Kaili to investigate."

This sent a stir through the captains.

"Who's going to do the Sixth Division's work then?" Shunsui asked. From the evil glint that suddenly shone in Yamamoto's eyes, Renji had an idea that Shunsui wasn't going to like the answer.

"I have been informed by Vice Captain Ise that you don't do any of the paperwork for the Eighth Division. Since you so obviously have so much free time on your hands you will be taking over the Sixth Division paperwork for the time that they are gone."

There was a resounding 'oooh' from the captains, who were silenced by Yamamoto again.

"Any other questions?" he asked. Nobody said anything. "You are dismissed. Captain Kuchiki, Vice Captain Abarai, you will be leaving in two days time. Be ready by then."

"Yes sir," Byakuya replied. Once they were outside Renji turned to Byakuya.

"Do the captains always act like children?" he wanted to know.

"We have to have fun somehow," Shunsui replied, startling Renji.

"And Yamamoto's so boring that annoying him is the only way to get anything out of a meeting," Soi Fon agreed.

"Besides, it's fun to tease Shunsui about his failures." Kenpachi added. Shunsui scowled at him.

"You're a bastard."

"But I'm not a failure."

"You're one to talk! You don't have a partner either! You don't even have anybody in mind."

Kenpachi's gaze strayed to where Unohana and Ukitake were talking. "That's what you think."

"You don't have a chance," Soi Fon said briskly. "She hates you. And even if she didn't, she's got her eye on Ukitake."

"Everybody knows that once one of them gets up the nerve, they're going to be a couple like that," Shunsui agreed, snapping his fingers.

"Maybe it won't work out," Kenpachi said hopefully.

"Welcome to the life." Shunsui said. "Now my failures don't seem so funny, do they?"

"Actually, they do." Kenpachi grinned.

"You're harsh." Shunsui scowled at him. "You owe me some sake for that."

"How about we just round up as many people as we can and make somebody else pay?"

"That sounds good." Shunsui and Kenpachi walked off, calling out to random people in the street.

"Kitty!" Soi Fon exclaimed, and began chasing a stray cat down the street. Renji stared after her, and then over at Byakuya.

"You're all crazy." He said bluntly. Byakuya gave him a rare smile.

"It's more interesting that way."

Renji grinned, pulling Byakuya into a hug, and breathing in his scent- a combination of sakura and steel. With anybody else it would have been weird, but it suited Byakuya perfectly.

In case you're wondering/confused/don't know, the setting of the mission is St. Albert. If you don't know where St. Albert is, allow me to give you a little geography lesson.

Hopefully, you all know where Canada is. Now in Canada there are ten provinces and three territories. One of these ten provinces is Alberta- where all of the oil comes from. The capital city of Alberta is Edmonton- where West Edmonton Mall is, and right beside Edmonton is a little city called St. Albert. It's not very big, and nobody really ever hears about it because it doesn't have anything touristy, like Banff or Edmonton, or any big economic/environmental concerns, like the oil sands. However, it's there, and it's quite a nice place.

So, the majority of this story is set in St. Albert. Why? Because my favorite LA teacher once said to me 'write about what you know', and since she's amazing, I'm following her advice. So yeah… Look it up. It has a pretty city hall.

Also, to clear some things up, I don't have very many preferences over who's better with Unohana- Ukitake or Kenpachi. You can decide who gets the girl since it isn't really relevant to the plot.

Until the next chapter,

-Stormy