Noodle Shop

As Byakuya walked into the office, he saw that Renji was already about half way done with his work that he missed the previous week, while on his mission. It seemed strange that his fukutaichou would be there, at the office, doing paper work, early in the morning no less. Byakuya usually had to scold him for being late. And yet, today he was there earlier than the raven head that was always at the office at the crack of dawn.

"Renji? What are you doing here this early in the morning, doing paper work?" The noble asked softly.

Renji looked up at his taichou who was standing by the door. "Oh, g'morning Taichou. I just thought I would get an early start. The paper work isn't gonna do itself, right?"

Byakuya quirked an eyebrow. "Renji, you of all people, despise paper work. Also, you never get up early. What's the problem?"

"There isn't any problem, Taichou." Renji shook his head. "I was just up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep and decided I would come in and get some work done." The red head insisted while looking back down at his work. Honestly… just because I don't like it doesn't mean I'm like Rangiku and will just blow it off. You should know that by now, Taichou. Renji sighed, but kept working.

The noble was still shocked to find his fukutaichou at the office this early and working. Something must be wrong. He never does this. But just dismissed it and went to his desk and began to work. He wasn't going to let this chance of Renji working hard go to waste.

It was around noon that Renji was beginning to get restless and hungry. He was finally finished with all of his paper work and just wanted to get something to eat. He looked over at his taichou and saw that he was just about finished with his own work. He didn't want to bother the raven head but thought he might be hungry.

"Taichou, would you like to go out for lunch?" Renji asked.

Byakuya looked up from his work and saw that Renji was done with his work in record time. He was shocked at how the redhead got it all done already. Every report that Renji did was in the out folder waiting for the nobles approval and then to be sent to Soutaichou after that.

"You are finished with all of your work?" Byakuya asked. He was still shocked but didn't let his mask falter.

Renji nodded. "Hai." The redhead impressed himself that he could get it all done just in the morning hours alone. Let alone before his taichou was finished. Byakuya was going to decline the offer but then decided he needed a break as well.

"Then, hai, I will go out to lunch with you, just mind your injured leg."

Renji smiled and nodded. He was happy he could get the raven head to go out and have a break. They took their Zanpakuto from their stands and went out to the cluttered streets of the Seireitei.

"Mana-san." A familiar voice called softly from behind.

"Hmm?" Mana turned from the koi pond to look at the short raven haired Shinigami. "Oh… h-hello Rukia-sama." Mana stuttered.

"Please, just call me Rukia. I believe I've told you this before, ne?"

Mana nodded. Her heart was beating oddly fast in the presence of the other. She swallowed hard and replied. "V-very well R-Rukia. Did you need something?"

Rukia gave the other a sweet smile. "Hai, I need your help with something." She answered.

"Me? What do you need my help for?" Mana's eyes widened with curiosity.

Rukia sat next to the girl and looked down at the koi pond as Mana's eyes followed her movements. "Well," the raven haired girl started. "It's about Nii-sama and Renji."

"Oh? What about them?" Mana asked.

Rukia looked back at the girl next to her. "Well, I'm sure you've noticed how they look at one another."

Mana nodded. "Yes, I have. Although I don't think they see it themselves."

"I'm sure they do not either. I love them both. But I have to say they are very slow when it comes to these sorts of things."

"Is that what you want me to help you with? To play matchmaker?" Mana asked with a grin.

Rukia's face lit up. "Hai! That is the very reason!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sure you know already but Byakuya-sama-"

"Is in love with Renji, yes I know." The other interrupted.

"Did he tell you?"

Rukia shook her head. "No, I just knew by the way he looks at Renji and talks about him. Renji does the same thing. But that baka doesn't know it."

Mana giggled. "Well, I think they are both pretty ignorant of each other's feelings."

Rukia smiled. She liked how the smokey and golden eyed other laughed. She thought it was cute. Cute? Damn… I may have sort out my own feelings as well. Her smile widened and she shrugged inwardly. "So… how should we go about this?" She asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I would say to follow them but I don't want to intrude on their personal space." Mana replied.

"Well, I think we should follow them. It's lunch time now. They may be heading to their usual noodle shop to eat."

"A-are you sure? I mean, are you sure we should be following them?"

The short Shinigami nodded and stood. "Hai, how else are we going to 'play matchmaker' with them?"

The purple haired Shinigami stood next to the other. "W-well… if you're sure then I'm in." She said after she thought about it some more.

"Okay, so let's go." Rukia exclaimed as she ran towards the gate and headed out of Kuchiki Manor.

Renji and Byakuya went into the noodle shop and ordered their usual dishes for lunch. Which was an extra spicy curry for Byakuya and just plain Ramon for Renji. They sat down at their usual table by the window and ordered their tea while the food was being cooked.

"So, Renji, how was it that you your work today just in the morning but you can't seem to get it done any other day?" Byakuya asked as he sipped his tea.

Renji blushed at the question. Yes it was true that the redhead seemed he couldn't get his work done any other day but could get it done today when there was a ungodly amount of it. He was awfully embarrassed by that fact. "W-well... uh... I didn't want it to keep building up. And I also said that I couldn't sleep well last night, so I came in early." the redhead explained.

Mana and Rukia got to the noodle shop and quickly hid their reiatsu so they wouldn't be caught by Byakuya who is excellent at sensing reiatsu. They thought it would be best not to go in but to just peek in the window where the two men sat.

"Rukia!" Mana hissed. "This isn't right. What if we are sensed by Byakuya-sama?"

"We won't be if you keep your reiatsu in check." Rukia whispered.

The purple haired Shinigami sighed, nodded and looked into the window with the raven head.

"Hmm..." the raven head hummed and smiled inwardly at the redheads blush. He didn't intend to make the redhead embarrassed but seeing Renji blush was very... amusing and cute he thought. "Now if your eagerness to make the paperwork lighter would happen everyday and not just today..." He trailed off as sensed the familiar reiastu near by. He thought it was Rukia and Mana but he knew they were at the manor because it was Rukia's day off and Mana had her duties to see too. He looked out the window and reached out his reiatsu again but couldn't find anything.

Mana accidentally let her reiastu out a bit from being nervous. Which made Rukia do the same but the raven head noticed her brother was talking then stopped. She quickly sealed her reiatsu in. "Mana-san!" Rukia hissed softly. "Conceal your reiatsu! Nii-sama is going to sense us!" The other nodded and concealed her reiastu quickly as Byakuya looked out the window. They quickly ducked down so he wouldn't see them. Then they felt Byakuya's reiatsu reach out but they new he couldn't sense them anymore.

"Taichou?" Renji looked concerned. It wasn't like Byakuya to just stop in the middle of sentence unless he sensed danger or something familiar. "Hey, are you okay?" Renji touched Byakuya's hand gently to make him snap out of his trance.

Byakuya felt the redhead's hand and looked back at his concerned looking expression. They both blushed and pulled their hands back into their laps as they looked away from each other. "G-gomen." Byakuya hated that he stuttered and blushed at the unusual contact. He didn't know why they would so flustered over touching. They were together and quite often talked about things other than work.

"Ah no... It's fine." the redhead shook his head gently. "I j-just thought you were sensing something..." He admitted as looked back at his taichou. "It's not like you to just stop in the middle of a thought..." Renji flushed a deeper crimson as Byakuya looked up at him.

Rukia giggled.

"What?" The other girl asked.

The raven head sat down on her heels. "Didn't you see how Renji touched Nii-sama's hand and then they blushed?" Mana nodded, not quite understanding. "Well, that means they aren't used to touches yet. But they are used to talking to each other."

"So...?"

"So, that means that we were definitely right that they like each other. But we already know Nii-sama loves Renji so all we need to is get Renji to love Nii-sama."

"Ahh!" Mana giggled. "I think I know how to do that!" she exclaimed softly.

"How?"

Mana signaled the other that they should head back to the manor but Rukia shook her head and looked back into the window. Mana shrugged and did the same.

Although it was true, he didn't think Renji had noticed. But then again, Renji did watch him closely to try to surpass him. But he knew now that is was after Aizen's betrayal and defeat that the redhead just wanted reach his level. Byakuya gave the redhead a rare soft smile. Renji returned the smile and his flush lightened. Renji loved seeing the raven head smile like that, even though it was very rare.

He's so damned cute when he smiles at me like that.The redhead thought.

"Nii-sama is smiling! Its rare for him to smile." Rukia said softly. Mana nodded to say that she knew it was a rare sight.

Byakuya's smile faded. He saw the redhead was lost in thought. Did I do or say something wrong? He thought."Renji? Are you alright?" The noble asked.

"Hmm?" Renji said as he snapped out of his reverie. "Oh, no nothing is wrong. Sorry, I was just lost in thought." He said as the food was being served. They ate and talked about various things.

The two girls were still outside looking in. They were about to leave, but Renji asked his taichou a question that sparked the girls' interest.

"Taichou... can I ask you something?" Renji asked.

Byakuya nodded as he ate.

Renji took a deep breath before starting. "Well... I sort of have feelings for someone but they don't know it and I think they would kill me if I told them. But you've been married before so... erm... what exactly would you do?"

Byakuya went wide-eyed then put his mask back on. "W-well, I would just tell them... I would think that they would feel the same if you have a close relationship. And you'll never know how they feel until you ask them." Byakuya's heart sank as he said that. He already loved his fukutaichou and he didn't even tell him. Now Renji liked some other person. But the noble did not know who it was. Why don't I ever listen to my own advise about this type of situation? Byakuya thought to himself. He didn't let his mask falter

"That's true..." The redhead said as he thought about it after a while. "But I'm still not so sure they feel the same, Taichou." Renji said in a defeated tone. I still think Taichou would let his Bankai loose on my ass if I ever told him how I really felt.

"Abarai, don't sound so defeated when you haven't even asked this person yet." The noble said calmly as he did not want Renji to hear him sound so defeated that he was loosing the person he loved.

It was like in one of Rukia's BL mangas. She was shocked Renji would ask such a thing and they would discuss it. But it only came to show her how much the two men really grew closer to one another. She knew she and Miyako were right that the other two needed to be together. She looked over at the other female Shinigami and saw she turned into her cat form of a small white tiger with her same smokey grey eyes and the golden rings around them. Miyako usually only changed into her feline form because she was nervous or had an extremely difficult battle and had to connect with her Zanpakuto while in that form to finish the fight quickly. They looked at each other and then back into the window.

Mina's Note: Okay, so this chapter is shorter than I thought it would be. O.o Mana and Rukia are yaoi fan girls/guys like the rest of us! I think Rukia has been reading too many of those BL mangas. x) There is a little bit of OOC here and there for them but I tried to keep them in character as much as I could. I know I said that this would go slower but I guess my brain is just not in the mood for them to go slow. x) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll update soon since this was an unexpected cliffy, I promise! And yes I know its kinda scattered brained around. I was trying to get this done quickly while studying.

Side Note: Okay, so I know it was a bit confusing at the part where the noodle shop came in. But I put those breaks in to signal who was talking to who. (I know that's a little obvious.) But I also put them there because if you read the part over without Rukia and Mana spying you can see that the part makes sense then also. So I hope that clarifies it a little more.

Review Responses:

Firebirdever: I'm so glad you like it! ^_^ How did you like this chapter?

Mina: So I got a few people telling me through PMs and Reviews that I went too fast with this. So I changed it. Sorry about that I also added a line in the first chapter where Renji was in his apartment.