A/N: Second part to the second chapter. The chapters after this will probably not be in parts, since they're shorter. Consider these introductory chapters, the first chapter was for the new Rukia and this one is for the new Byakuya.

Chapter 2(b)

"Rukia-sama?"

Rukia put down her brush and went to her door, opening it to answer the servant standing outside with her head bowed. "Yes, what is it?"

The woman looked up, a confused expression on her face. "There is someone in the main hall that keeps insisting he is Byakuya-sama."

Rukia looked at her bewildered. "What!?"

"Yes Rukia-sama, he claims that he is Byakuya," she repeated, showing her own shock. "But he looks very different, except for his face that is. And he is insisting upon seeing you."

Rukia opened her mouth and then closed it, frowning. "Uh, um…okay, I'll see to it then."

"Thank you, Rukia-sama," the woman bowed again and walked away.

Rukia watched the woman go, still frowning. Someone claiming to be nii-sama who isn't really him…?

She suddenly smacked her forehead when realization hit, smiling. She started to briskly walk towards the main hall.

It was Halloween today. Rukia had found out about it from Ichigo and the others. It was a real-world tradition where humans would dress up and play pranks on others. Since it was a real world tradition, not many people from Soul Society knew about it. This was obviously a prank played by Renji and Ichigo.

Haha, they probably involved some poor sucker who had the misfortune of looking a bit like Byakuya nii-sama. Rukia pitied the guy. If nii-sama found out, he probably wouldn't like it at all.

She entered the main hall, zeroing down on the sole person standing there. He had his back faced to her, probably for dramatic effect. She bit her smile down. Those bozos hadn't even tried to dress him up a bit to make it more believable. The man had short, short hair with no Kenseiken. He wasn't even wearing nii-sama's haori and white scarf. A two-year old could do a better job than that.

She straightened up her face and pretended to act serious. "Nii-sama?"

Byakuya turned around on hearing Rukia's voice, a look of pure annoyance marring his features. He just knew that the whole joke had been her idea, the bitch had it out to make him die suffering. No one would go through so much trouble to make his life miserable more than her. So he turned around, prepared for the mother of all fights.

That intention flew right out of the window when he saw her though.

His heart dropped down somewhere in his body, his throat constricting as he looked at her with wide eyes. The air had been knocked out from his lungs.

She-she cut her hair!

"Why did you cut your hair!?" he suddenly burst out, visually startling her.

She looked back at him confused. "Wha-?"

"Your hair! Your hair!" He instantly closed down the space between them. She took a quick step back before he grabbed her by the arm, holding an end of her hair between two fingers.

"Why did you cut it, my love?" He didn't know why but the fact that she had suddenly chopped off her beautiful long hair really affected him. She was the devil's incarnate and deserved to die a painful death, but her long hair had always made her seem less harsh. Like a beautiful rose with thorns. Now she was just…thorns.

Rukia looked up at him, which was hard since he was way taller then her. She looked closely at his face, noticing his eyes. A moment later her own eyes suddenly widened. She gasped and pushed him away. "Nii-sama!?"

He looked puzzled. "What is it, Rukia?" Using her name instead of the endearment he was forced to get used to.

"OhmyGod!" She looked at him, pure horror reflecting in her eyes. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth. "Nii-sama, what did you do!?"

He tilted his head, looking scathing. "Seriously, are you still playing at that game? Don't you get when a joke has gotten old, or didn't they teach you that at your fancy noble school?"

She couldn't keep the shock out of her face. "Nii-sama, what are you talking abo-What did you do to your hair!?"

It was impossible to look away from him! His hair! They were…they were gone! His hair didn't even reach past his shoulders anymore! It was now like some sort of medium-sized cut, with uneven bangs covering parts of his forehead, the sides going just below his ears.

Rukia turned a little to the right, looking at the rest of his hair. It was cut so short from the back! Why did he cut it!? Wasn't it a prerequisite for Kuchiki heads to have long hair or something!?

"My hair is just as it has always been, unlike yours," he answered, still looking scathing. "Why did you cut it anyway? Not to make the joke look more authentic, I hope?"

"But I haven't cut my hair at all nii-sama!?" she felt almost hysterical, something was wrong with him. "And where's your Kenseiken and scarf? And your Haori?" she hurriedly asked, looking him up and down. She stopped to look at the badge attached to the sleeve of his arm.

"Is that a lieutenant's badge? Why are you wearing a lieutenant's ba-!?"

"Woah woah," he lifted his hands up to calm her down, impressed that she was playing it out so well. "Easy with the questions. You already know about all that, what are you playing at anyway? Amnesia? And what the hell is with the 'nii-sama'?"

Rukia grabbed desperately onto his sleeve. "Nii-sama! It's me, Rukia, your sister! Please snap out of whatever you're going through."

Byakuya burst out laughing, causing Rukia to be more scared. "Sister!? Didn't think you'd come up with an angle like that!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked in a low voice, silently wondering how she could call for Captain Unohana without further aggravating the situation. If word got out that Byakuya had lost his mind…Rukia didn't even want to think about what would happen.

"No," Byakuya smiled, taking a few steps back and folding his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"What?" she asked; perplexed.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, your story seems more interesting. So let's have it, you're my sister?"

She frowned. "You don't remember?"

Byakuya smiled. He'd go along with this and see where this went, it beat going to the party dressed as some stripper anyway. "Sure, I don't remember."

"A thing?"

He nodded, working to look serious. "A thing."

Rukia bit her lip, beginning to find the situation a bit awkward. Well, everything seemed wrong right then. "W-well, you are captain of the sixth squad, head of the Kuchiki clan and y-"

"Wait!" he halted her, looking shocked. "I'm the sixth squad captain and head of the Kuchiki clan?"

Rukia nodded. He barked out a laugh. "HA! This is some sort of way to tease me? Oh, you are evil aren't you?"

Her frown only got deeper. "N-no, it's the truth. And you married my sister, Hisana-san bu-"

"Hahahahaha!" Oh, he was loving this. He didn't know what had gotten into her but he was so loving this. "Married your sister you say? Not you?" He asked, smiling wildly.

She looked flabbergasted. "No, nii-sama! Hisana-san had died soon after and it had been her death wish to have me as your sister. So you found me and adopted me."

He bit his lip before he laughed himself to death. "Oh really? So you're my sister?"

She looked pleading. "Yes, Rukia Kuchiki. Nii-sama, d-did something happen to you?" She paused, carefully taking a step forward. "S-shall I bring Captain Unohana over?"

"What for? Is she in on it too? How'd you get the Commander General to participate anyway?"

Rukia frowned again. She swore she hadn't frowned so much in her life! "Nii-sama, Captain Unohana is the 4th Division captain, Yamamoto Genryusai is the Commander General."

"Who's he?" he asked, mockingly frowning. "Are you making up characters now?"

She sighed in frustration. "Nii-sama, it's the truth. Why won't you remember?"

He shrugged again. The movement seemed so foreign on his shoulders but somehow natural at the same time, like he had done it many times before.

"It's just a little far-fetched. You could have just played an ordinary prank you know."

"But it isn't a prank," she insisted, her worry only increasing.

"Oh please, I'm captain of some squad; yours to be precise?" He looked disbelieved. "I don't even know my bankai yet."

She froze, looking at him hard and clear. "You do know your bankai, nii-sama. It's Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. I've seen it myself."

He regarded her carefully. The name sounded oddly familiar; it felt right. If he had a bankai, the name would suit it a lot. But he was still a little away from attaining his bankai, she knew it too.

The woman was good. "Fine, I have a bankai, so I'm captain. What about you then?"

She shook her head. "I belong to the 13th Division."

"Captain?"

She knit her brows. "No, I haven't attained bankai yet. I'm not even a seated officer."

He smiled. Oh this was the cherry to a perfect ice-cream sundae. "Oh, so that means that I can probably kick your ass if I wanted to?"

She blinked a couple of times, suddenly looking weary. "Y-es, easily I'm sure."

That wiped the smile off his face. Byakuya frowned. No way would she even joke about something like that, even if it meant getting whatever she wanted in return. She had too much pride in her for that.

"Look nii-sama, I can prove that I'm telling the truth," she said, turning around and walking out the door. Byakuya followed her.

"Where are we going?" he asked, noticing the many servants that stopped to look at him in shock. One person actually dropped a vase after catching sight of him, and by the looks of it, that vase was pretty expensive. Rukia didn't even stop to reprimand the servant like she usually would do, she just nervously looked back at him and kept walking. Everyone's stares were beginning to give him a bad, eerie feeling.

Byakuya watched her stop at a door and look at him. "What?"

She pointed with her hand. "This is your room, nii-sama. If you don't believe me then please go inside and have a look."

Byakuya frowned. Wasn't this her room? It was the chambers for the head of the clan. Glancing once more at Rukia, knowing that he was probably making an ass of himself for actually considering her, he slid the door open and dropped his mouth, awe-struck.

The room was very different from the last time he had seen it, which had been about three hours ago. It was lighter than before, the colors were different. He stepped inside; his feet not touching the soft, white carpet that he had always stepped on before, but dark mahogany wood. The rest of the furniture was also of the same color; a queen-sized bed and a wardrobe armoire. Even the white loveseat that used to be right next to the doors that led to the garden was missing.

He walked inside. A tansu was placed on the wall next to the door. This chest had intricate designs and carvings on it, the designs made of wrought iron. He didn't remember ever seeing one like this before in the household. He looked towards the bed. It was very small compared to the one before. Rukia had specially ordered the last one, it had been a huge canopy bed with silk and muslin draping it. This one just had a dull gray sheet covering the mattress, and it was so small that the room seemed to eat it up.

Even the wall color was different. The opposite wall with the armoire used to be red, now it was off-white like the other walls. Byakuya walked over to them, swiping his finger on it.

His finger came out clean. The paint was dry.

He kept staring at his clean finger, perplexed. How could the paint be absolutely dry?

He moved to open the armoire, expecting to find Rukia's haori and clothes, but that was not what he found. There was a haori and clothes inside alright, but they weren't Rukia's.

He picked out the haori. It was too large to fit Rukia. It was the 6th Division Captain's haori, the number printed on the back proved it. And it looked authentic. He paused for a moment, looking at it before slipping it on.

It was a perfect fit.

He looked into the mirror adjusted into the wardrobe door. It fit him perfectly. The length was absolutely right. It was like it had been made for him.

He looked back at his clean finger once more, staring at it.

"What you said was true, wasn't it?" he asked, not even turning to see if Rukia was there.

"Yes," she replied quietly, her voice distant. He turned around to see her standing outside the door.

"Why didn't you come in?"

"You didn't give me permission to, nii-sama," she said, not giving the slightest evidence of possibly lying.

He looked hard at her, trying to read her body language. She wasn't lying, she couldn't be that good of an actress.

"So you are really my sister?" he asked again, completely serious.

Rukia nodded. "Yes."

He set his jaw. "Bullshit! I know you aren't!" He swiftly walked towards her, past the bed and towards the door. Rukia's eyes grew large and she took a hasty step back.

Before she could run away he grabbed her by the arm tightly. "You have a scar on your shoulder where a sword stabbed you," he jerked her toward him.

"No! Nii-sama, what are you doing!?" she shouted, fighting his hands off. Byakuya suddenly picked her up and carried her inside the room, throwing her down on the bed.

"Ah! Nii-sama, what-stop it!" she struggled as he pinned her down, his body on top of hers. He was having a hard time seeing her scar with her trying to escape.

"You're getting pretty upset over a scar I've seen already," he accused, sounding taunting. "Have you suddenly gotten shy or are you scared your little game will be over."

"No! I don't have-STOP IT!" He finally got a hold of her collar. Yanking it down, he exposed her shoulder.

"HA! I told you! You have a scar right…there."

He froze, looking at the smooth, unblemished, scar-less skin. There was no battle-scar there, not even a bruise. Rukia stopped fighting to look at him, seeing him stare at her shoulder.

Byakuya frowned. "How can that be?" he quietly whispered. He lifted his hand and saw her flinch. He gently touched her bare shoulder. It was as flawless as it looked.

But it wasn't supposed to be. He was there the night she had come back with that shoulder bloody and bruised, and when it had been bandaged up. Even during the many nights they had spent together after that he had seen the scar. That scar had been real.

But her skin right now was just as real. Byakuya looked at her, confusion coloring his eyes.

This wasn't a game, nobody was going to come out and say 'Ha ha!' Nobody was playing tricks on him.

This was real.

He quietly got off her, standing up and facing away. "Could you…could you leave me alone now, Rukia? I'd like to rest."

"Okay, nii-sama," he heard her say. The bed lightly creaked as she got off. He heard her pad towards the door and then slide it shut.

Only when she left did he move. He turned around, looking at the room once more, his heart beating frantically.

He was so screwed.

A/N: Ooh o.O Well that's how the other Byakuya and Rukia met. I know some of you wanted to see how it'd be if Byakuya came on to Rukia thinking she was his wife (haha, you know who you are, I loved that idea by the way XD) but this made more sense, since he pretty much detests Rukia (more of that later)

Anyway, I was late in updating but I'll have the next one up by Sunday. Remember to check out the link I just gave ya. OH! I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING IMPORTANT!!!

These chapters will alternate between both dimensions. The first one was of the other dimension, this of this dimension. So the next one will obviously continue from where I left the first chapter.

Tata till then XD