A/N: So here's an update. I hope you enjoy it lots! As always, I greatly appreciate your reviews and support! Enjoy the inner ramblings of Byakuya, hopefully he's appropriately in character!

I have doubts about pursuing this plan. I cannot justify doing what I intend to do. This is different than happening upon a conversation and simply waiting until the most opportune time to make my presence known, this is deliberate, intentional. For only a fleeting moment I wonder if Renji were a woman, would I be having such doubts. No, if Renji were a woman, these thoughts would not occur at all. It is because Renji is not a woman that I have felt the freedom to fantasize. I do not believe I have it in myself to love another woman in that way, not after Hisana.

Renji is her polar opposite; rough, loud, impulsive, brash, vulgar, strong, wild, feral – all things Hisana was not. I wonder if I can teach him to respect me the way he has learned to fear and obey me, maybe even develop an affection for me. I want his free spirit to run wild again; I want to see it run wild, feel it run wild.

These impulses have become troublesome. It is my hope that satisfying my curiosity about this man will settle my inner imbalance. I need to abandon these thoughts and move on, regain control. He has shaken me to the core; I can feel the disturbances even in my inner world.

I know that Renji has a social drinking engagement tonight, so it's the perfect time to pursue my plan. I know that if I wait until next week's engagement I will have abandoned my plan by then. For a reason unknown to myself, I think that satisfying this burning curiosity will help me regain my control, rebuild my inner walls that he seems to have unknowingly breached.

The late afternoon sun made its presence exceedingly clear; Renji was starting to fidget around again. I begin to put things into action immediately.

"Abarai," I allow my voice to break through the silence of the office. Renji instantly stops fidgeting and sits up straight again, I can feel his only mildly tamed reiatsu tingle against my skin when I say his name.

"H-hai Taicho?" he responds, his voice a bit shaky, I scold myself; I hate to see Renji react that way towards me. A man with Renji's character should tremble before no one.

"You may leave now, if you wish to do so." He looked at me slightly in shock; it is very rare that I allow him leave early after all. "Go on now," I encourage him. "I have business to attend to tonight myself; I will be leaving shortly as well."

"Hai Taicho! Arigatou!" he bows deeply before he exits the room.

I am pleased that my encouragement worked, that he didn't make a big deal out of it. Though something inside of me already misses his presence, I finish the remaining work for the day without distraction. With the first stage of my plan complete, I leave the division and head toward my manor to begin the second stage of my plan.

I dismiss all of my guards and servants for the remainder of the day, it's not something I do often but I have done it in the past so they graciously accept the evening of freedom. It took a bit more time than I expected to find all of my house workers and dismiss them all but I still had plenty of time before the sun would set. I waited patiently in my personal quarters for the workers to finish the things they had been in the middle of doing and leave.

Once I was certain the last one had left, I removed all of my status symbols: my captain's haori, my kenseikan, my scarf, my zanpakutou. I locked these precious items in a kidou chest that was hidden under a small table; no one would be here to look after them. Though I normally wouldn't leave so many precious items unguarded and together in this manner, it was a necessary precaution.

I couldn't risk anyone knowing what I was doing; gossip is too popular a past-time in soul society. I knew if I were to leave my manor without any of my immediate identifiers that the word would travel, certainly someone would be curious about my intentions and follow me. A noble is always being watched, that is why I need to carry out my plans in private. I simply cannot let word get around that I am… conducting a personal and private review of my lieutenant for the sake of my division. This could most certainly not be considered breaking and entering and stalking as a currently nameless voice in my head suggested! Hmph!

All I could do now was wait for the sun to set. As I continued to attempt to justify my plans during that time, I wondered why Senbonzakura would suggest against something that could help me move past this disturbance; surely he could feel the disruption inside my inner world.

"Byakuya-sama," his words interrupted my thoughts. "It could be possible that you're looking at this the wrong way. Is it really an unpleasant disturbance that you wish to be rid of or is it a change you cannot get enough of even though you are unable to come to terms with it?"

"What exactly are you implying?" My reply was silent.

"It's really not so bad in here Byakuya-sama; actually the blossoms are especially fragrant. It quite reminds me of your younger days."

I pushed Senbonzakura's ramblings from the front of my mind; clearly, Renji was making him crazy too. These feelings simply had to be resolved; they were causing me to behave erratically. Erratic behavior is much more difficult to keep hidden from the public than normal, predictable, controlled behavior.

Finally, the sun has set. I can begin putting my plans into action.