Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. That is property of Tite Kubo.

Updated 8/5/08

The soft sound of birds chirping roused Rukia from her sleep. She was on her back and the comforter just covered her waist down. Her notebook was open and lay on her chest. She watched the book rise up and down with her breathing for a moment before getting up. She ran a brush through her tangled strands of hair. "Don't sleep with wet hair…" Rukia scolded herself as she painfully brushed out the knots in her hair. Finally looking decent, she changed into her kimono and headed to the dining room to get breakfast before she would leave to work.

"Good morning, Brother." Rukia greeted as she found him silently sitting in his seat. A servant placed a hot cup of green tea in front of Rukia and then scurried away to leave the nobles alone.

"Good morning, Rukia." Byakuya answered formally, not even looking at her. He was too busy reading the paper to even acknowledge her. In front of him, his tea was untouched as well as the piece of bread on a plate.

"He still can't look at me." Rukia thought to herself bitterly. "Even when his wife is my sister, he still treats me as he does before; an annoyance." It was then she realized that she and Byakuya almost had an assigned seating at the table. Byakuya always sat at the head and Rukia sat at his left every day. "Where does Hisana sit?" Rukia asked.

"To my right." The words slid off the tip of his tongue so easily it was as if he had been waiting for her to ask the question.

"Does that count as one of my twenty questions?" Rukia asked, just now realizing what she had done.

"No."

"Okay, good." She stood up, finishing her tea and then bowing her head down to Byakuya. "I'm going to the Thirteenth Company's barracks now. Good day."

Captain Ukitake had been sent to a captain's meeting which left Kiyone and Sentaro in charge. That resulted in an absolute disaster. The two bickered constantly and couldn't seem to agree on anything. They argues over small matters such as who deserved the rank of lieutenant and who loved Captain Ukitake more. Rukia was even surprised when the issue of who helped Rukia more during her execution came up in the conversation. Anyhoo, all the fighting resulted in a very confused and annoyed squad. Rukia sighed, wishing they would just shut up and agree for once. It wasn't THAT hard after all. She had to do that with Ichigo. Rukia sighed, wondering what Ichigo was doing now. He was probably in school or causing trouble like he usually did. She wondered what Ichigo was doing.

"Oi, Kuchiki!" Ukitake called out, causing Kiyone and Sentaro to cease on the bickering. At the sound of his voice, Kiyone and Sentaro shut up, saluted to the captain, shouted out a greeting in unison and began their usual routine of pledging their love and sucking up.

"Yes, captain?" Rukia answered, turning to face him.

Ukitake gestured for Rukia to follow him into his office, instructing that they were not to be disturbed. "That means you two need to leave," he said to Kiyone and Sentaro. The two assistant adjutants looked disappointed and trudged away slowly. "So, Rukia, I've been wondering how you and your brother have been getting along now that the truth is out. Hisana was a sweet girl."

"You knew Hisana?" Rukia gasped, looking at Ukitake with wide eyes. "Well of course you have; you've been in the Soul Society for such a long time..." She trailed off and then realized she hadn't answered his question. "Oh, Brother is good to me. He's been telling me about Hisana every day."

"That's very good to hear," the superior replied, "that Byakuya can be a bit touchy when it comes to the Hisana topic." Ukitake chuckled, "Rukia, are you holding up alright since the Aizen incident? As your captain, I have to ask these things."

"Oh, I understand," she replied. "I'm fine. Captain Unohana had my brother and me take some medicine but we're off them now."

"Good, good. That's good to hear," he answered sincerely. "Well, I wish you luck with Byakuya and the 'get to know Hisana' thing. I'm surprised that he's actually willing to talk about her. Rukia, your sister was a very kind person. Out of the blue one day, Byakuya announces he's engaged. Quite a shock to everyone, but I applaud him for getting what he wants."

"What's your question for today?" Byakuya said abruptly during dinner. He dreaded dinner now these days. There was always some question she'd ask and he'd answer quickly just to get it over with. He hated reminiscing and feeling pain all over again.

Rukia looked at him surprised and quickly regained her cool demeanor. "I'm not sure if I should ask you this or not. It might be offensive to you."

"Try me." He answered with a small smirk.

"Did Hisana marry you for your status, rank and money?" She squeaked.

Byakuya looked at her startled and dropped his napkin onto his plate. For a moment, Rukia believed he was going to leave the table but instead, buried his face into his hands, gathering his thoughts. God, why did he even make the stupid deal with her in the first place.

"I can change my question…" Rukia said quietly.

"No." He said firmly. "You asked your question; I'm answering it."

There was that still silence between the two as he tried to think of what to say. Finally:

"No."

"That's it?" Rukia asked, hoping for a bit more than that blunt answer.

"Hisana wasn't the kind of person to marry someone for their rank." Byakuya stated. "She wanted love and she wanted a companion. She wanted a heartbeat with hers as she slept through the nights and someone to keep her warm. She didn't want money."

"So Hisana didn't care that you had money?" Rukia inquired.

"No." He said once again. "She just wanted me. She loved me and I loved her so I proposed to her one day and we got married."

Sweet and to the point, that's all his answers ever were.

"Why would you assume Hisana wanted the money?" Byakuya questioned.

"I had to know." Rukia answered. "She's just a commoner and you're noble blood. I have to wonder if she only married you for the money. I'm sure the thought once crossed your mind."

There was silence as he glared at her. No answer. "It was just a question." Rukia said to her defense. "You never gave me a decent answer yesterday so I'm not sure what she does and likes to do!"

"She was a waitress in Inuzuri. She worked with a girl named Rika and her boss was Daisuke Meio." Byakuya said. "I met her one day when I received an assignment. After the course of rather morbid events, I fell in love with her and asked her to marry me." Rukia listened silently as he rambled on. "Hisana declined." He said finally. "She refused to marry me because she was afraid of what it would do to my family name." Still glaring at Rukia hotly, he stood up and left, retreating to either his room or his office. As he left, he uttered the last few words of the night. "Taking that story into account, Rukia, you tell me whether or not Hisana was in the marriage for the noble status and money."