A/N: Written for the prompt 'bright.' I like Byakuya, and have been wanting to write more about him for a while now. So here goes...
Byakuya had always thought she was a strange woman, from the very day they met. When he began to train with her, his apprehensions only grew. To see a noble wearing so little and eating like a pig and cracking jokes like some commoner in a marketplace– he wouldn't have even believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
Worst of all was the way she couldn't care less for class or rank. Byakuya, being the future head of the Kuchiki, had private lessons, but he saw her other students from time to time. The boy Akira's family had been members of Fourth for generations; why would she ever think he could be a good fighter? And that girl– from her accent she seemed to be from one of the highest numbered districts in Rukongai!
Which wasn't to say she was a bad teacher. She walked at a leisurely pace, and he fell flat on his face, exhausted trying to keep up.
And even after he had publicly denounced her for running off with that criminal of a scientist, believing himself that he meant every word he said... he still remembered the day he had managed to catch hold of her heel while she ran, and how she had grinned at being caught and said, "You might just be my star pupil, Little Lord."
He didn't even grimace at the demeaning title; Shihouin-sama never gave out undue accolades.
Years later, standing on the bridge with her and the stupid orange-haired boy wielding what looked like a giant meat cleaver, he couldn't help but retain a little bit of pride when she turned to the redhead and demanded, "You? Beat him?"
Even after more than a century, she still remembered her brightest student.