A/N: Hello everyone! Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderful holidays and are having a great start to 2013. Here's our next chapter of the chronicles of Orihime and Byakuya.

Thanks for your reviews, I'm so so so happy you're enjoying the story this much! I can't tell you how delighted I am to have converted to Ori/Bya shipping those of you who were skeptical. After this, let's see if I can get you to ship Isane/Kenpachi! (I already have 5 chapter of pure smut written for those two, haha)

I've compiled a playlist of songs that I think really represent our gal and guy at various times during the story; if you're interested in seeing it, let me know in a review and I'll post it with chapter 11 in a week or so.

Without more ado or delay- chapter 10! Please review and let me know what you think :) Thanks!

Become a Ghost

by HardlyFatal

Chapter 10

"Are you sure it's okay for us to be meeting here?" Orihime asked nervously as she stepped into the room that Yachiru had chosen for this month's Shinigami Women's Association meeting. Most of the high-ranking female officers were in attendance, lounging around various low tables of food and drink while they waited for the meeting to commence.

"Relaaaaaaax," said Rangiku, waving a lazy hand in dismissal. "Unohana-taichou did that sealing kidou that's suppressing our reiatsu. Nothing'll get past that sucker."

"Nii-sama is still at work," Rukia added. "He won't be home until dinnertime, the meeting will long be over by then."

Orihime figured that should be alright, though she felt marginally guilty for sneaking around on the estate when she knew full well that Byakuya did not want the Women's Association meeting there. She lapsed into silence while everyone else chatted amongst themselves.

"Orihime-san," said Isane, leaning back to gain a clear line-of-sight with the other woman, "I wanted to ask you something... some of us in the Fourth- Hanatarou-kun, eighth seat Ogidou-san, and myself- hold free healing clinics a few times a week out in Rukongai. Each of us is responsible for one quarter, and we go to a different district each time. The ninth seat used to do it too, but she recently became pregnant and travelling back and forth has become too much for her. So now there's no one to go to South Rukongai, and I was wondering if you might be interested in doing it? I ask because I know you like to help others, and these people are so very poor-"

"Of course I'll help!" said Orihime, her eyes shining. This would be just the thing to help her keep busy until she decided what she wanted to do on a permanent basis! "When? Where? I can-"

"Everyone is present?" interrupted Nanao briskly, pushing up her glasses as she prepared to begin.

"We'll talk about it more later," whispered Isane. Orihime nodded back enthusiastically.

"I call this meeting to order," Nanao continued. "First order of business: welcome the newest member of our association, Inoue Orihime. She is not yet an official shinigami, but she has a zanpakutou, and after consultation with the membership at large, it was agreed that this is sufficient to be accepted into the Association."

"Yay, Orihime-chan!" shouted Rangiku; everyone else added their greetings, albeit somewhat more sedately. Orihime blushed a little, happy to be welcomed so warmly.

"Next order of business," Nanao continued. "Unohana-taichou would like to speak to us-"

"What will Byakuya-sama do if he finds us doing this here?" Orihime muttered to Rukia, her eyes wide in apprehension, while Nanao droned on.

"He will probably behave with perfect decorum as always," Rukia mumbled back, her own eyes equally big. "But he'll want to shred them into tiny little pieces with Senbonzakura, and then be furious the rest of the day because he wasn't able to."

"If I may have your attention, ladies?" Unohana-taichou inquired gently, having come to stand at the front of the room behind the lectern. "Today I will provide a lesson on a very important aspect of feminine health."

Orihime and Rukia obediently faced front and zipped their lips, though not without somewhat of a sinking feeling as they recognized the bags sitting on the floor at Unohana's feet. They were very familiar-looking bags, and there was a flash of eye-searing purple latex at the very top of one...

"Oh, god," Orihime breathed in horror. "She's going to talk about-"

"Masturbation," Unohana announced. "Sexuality is a core need of women, akin to eating and sleeping, yet we routinely ignore it, and to our detriment."

Around them, Isane was slowly turning a mottled scarlet; Kiyone looked more interested than grossed out, however, while Nanao just heaved a mighty, resigned sigh. Rangiku and Yoruichi (why was she there? who knew? but she loved the Association meetings) were grinning in delight. Soi Fong, in whose lap Yoruichi was lounging contentedly while eating grapes, was blushing but resolute; if her Yoruichi-sama wanted to be present at such a lesson, then she too would persevere. Nemu was blank as always, but Momo seemed determined to glean whatever she could from Unohana-taichou, even as she blushed brightly.

Unohana smiled serenely and reached for the bulging sack. "As you know, ladies, I believe fully in the important role of sexual fulfillment in a woman's life. Just because one might not be in a relationship is no excuse to neglect one's physical needs."

She began to remove items from the bag, placing them in neat rows on the table before her. "Orgasms not only provide pleasure, but stimulate endorphins and provide a means of relaxation, thus promoting sound sleep. Lacking a partner is irrelevant when one has the means to achieve climax alone."

Unohana gazed down at the array of sex toys before her and back up at the woman arranged around her. "A woman is responsible for her own pleasure. When with a partner, this means she should feel comfortable in directing him, or her, in how to better pleasure her. Without a partner, this can mean employing other tactics." She looked around the room at each woman. "How many of you have already used a sex aid of some sort?"

Rangiku's hand was the first in the air, of course, with Yoruichi's a close second. Nanao pushed her glasses up, her face inscrutable, as her hand went up for a split second. To Orihime's surprise, Momo's hand went up as well, even as the girl blushed furiously.

"And the rest of you have merely found manual satisfaction?" Unohana continued, waiting patiently for input from each woman.

Orihime's face felt very warm; she knew she was blushing too. To her left, Rukia's face was pink. Studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone, and fixing their gazes on opposite corners, they each nodded.

"As professional women," Unohana continued, "it is often difficult to find the time to spare in obtaining a partner, and that contributes to the neglect of our sexuality and the need for physical release. Therefore, it is essential that you be aware of alternatives to having an actual bedmate, and be able to bring yourself to orgasm. First, we will discuss the basics of penetrative sex, and how one can achieve it without an actual man."

She bent and plucked the purple dildo, last seen being waved about by Renji, from the bag and held it up so everyone could take a nice long look at it. "This is an artificial phallus; specifically, a dildo," Unohana announced.

"Oh, god, she really said it," groaned Isane, putting her hands over her face in despair. "Why didn't I believe her?"

"You never do, Isane dear," commented Unohana, "and it is always to your detriment. Depending on your experience with being penetrated," she continued, ignoring how at least half of her audience was cringing, "you will prefer different sizes of phallus.."

She plucked two more from the bag: one slightly smaller than the purple one, and one somewhat larger.

"Virgins should start with one of more modest size," said Unohana, indicating the little blue one, "while someone with a significant amount of experience in intercourse would probably enjoy a larger dildo," and she nodded toward the big green one.

"Some women require more stimulation than mere penetration, and for them we have a vibrator." Now a glossy black phallus with a square white base made an appearance. Unohana flicked a switch and it began to vibrate with a steady hum. "It is also especially useful for those women who have difficulty achieving climax; when applied directly to the clitoris, even the most anorgasmic woman can enjoy a satisfactory result!"

"This is hell," Isane was moaning. "I'm in hell."

"No, dear, you're just hopelessly repressed," Unohana told her sweetly.

"I don't think I'm repressed, but this feels pretty hellish to me, too," Orihime muttered to Rukia, who just nodded because she was feeling a little queasy.

Nemu blinked. "The proximity detector I attached to Kusajishi-fukutaichou has activated," she announced tonelessly. "I estimate she will locate and join us in approximately one minute and forty-two seconds."

"Everyone hurry and grab a toy before she gets here," said Rangiku, hopping up and reaching for a dildo of intimidating size with a rather scary-looking array of knobbles all over it. Yoruichi had been reaching for it as well, and they eyed each other like prize fighters before a match until Nemu stretched a hand between them and grabbed it for herself.

"There are enough for everyone," Unohana said with warm encouragement, trying to press the purple one into Orihime's hand.

"Oh, no, not that one, I couldn't," Orihime gasped. "Renji was waving it around... I just couldn't."

"Renji, huh?" asked Kiyone with a grin, and plucked it from Unohana's hand. "Don't mind if I do." She either didn't notice, or ignored, Rukia's sudden narrowing of eyes in her direction.

"T minus thirty-seven seconds until Kusajishi-fukutaichou's arrival," said Nemu. She had tucked the big knobbly dildo into her obi, where it already looked like she was trying (without much success) to smuggle a number of contraband cucumbers.

The risk of Yachiru discovering the cache of sex toys seemed to galvanize the more reluctant of the women in a way that mere enticement of physical pleasure could not; they began snatching up whatever they could reach and stuffing them away in their uniforms, and it was with the barest of margins that Momo was hiding the last stray butt plug in a fold of her hakama when Yachiru burst upon the scene.

She stared at them beadily, seeming to understand with uncanny awareness that they were hiding something significant from her. Her big eyes flickered around the room, resting upon each and every jittery woman with the piercing intent of a police detective fishing for a confession.

"What," she demanded at long last, "are all these batteries doing here?"

All the air seemed to have been sucked from the room; even Unohana seemed at a loss for what to say.

"Kusajishi-fukutaichou," said Nemu tonelessly, "come have your snack."

"Ooh, snacktime!" Yachiru exclaimed, forgetting all about the batteries and any secret her fellow shinigami might be keeping, and pelted toward the plate where a quarter of a cake reposed in wait for her.

From there, the meeting continued as normal, with regular issues being discussed, until with great relief everyone except Rukia and Orihime departed the estate.

"I'm exhausted," Orihime said as they trudged from the meeting room, located in a far-distant wing of the manor house, toward the main section where they lived. "That was exhausting. Can we not do that again? Ever?"

"Do what?"

Both girls eeped and whirled around to find Byakuya had flash-stepped to a stop behind them, freshly arrived home after work.

Unfortunately for them, their swift motion unsettled the moorings of their illicit cargo, and sex toys came raining out of their clothing to patter down by their feet: Orihime dropped a bright orange "rabbit" vibrator, a shiny metal cock-and-balls cage, and a pair of zebra-print handcuffs, while Rukia's bounty consisted of two dildoes screwed into a "double penetration" strap-on harness of red patent leather and a flesh-colored butt plug the size of a man's forearm. It had very realistic veining along the shaft.

Silence fell.

Byakuya solemnly studied the items that had tumbled to the floor.

"No wonder you are so tired," he commented, and walked away.

Orihime was feeling pretty confident, going into her second shunpou lesson; she'd had a little while to get past her mortification from dropping the sex toys at Byakuya's feet. Once back in her bedroom with the toys- which she had fully intended on handing over to Rangiku at earliest convenience- she'd gotten curious and given the rabbit vibrator a whirl.

That had been three days ago; after three days of exploration and adventuring (so to speak), Orihime now felt like a new woman. She was looking at the world in a whole new, and immeasurably relaxed, way. She'd managed to get past a lifetime's programming of feeling weird about sex and diddling herself; shunpou? No problem!

This time, however, instead of having the lesson take place at the Sixth Division "where those halfwits can interrupt again", Byakuya had instructed her to follow him to a wide-open, grassy space in South Rukongai's first district.

"This time, your priority is speed," he told Orihime. "You will do nothing but attempt to catch up to me. This is not to say you can catch up to me, because you cannot. But you will try."

And off he went, so fast that the air didn't blur around him: he was simply gone, appearing again a few seconds later at the very far edge of the field, a mere smudge against the green of the treeline. Orihime took a deep breath and followed him.

Byakuya began doing what amounted to a gigantic lap around the field, touching foot to earth perhaps once every quarter-lap, with Oriime trailing sadly behind. Sometimes he would stop and give her instructions: "Be thinking about the next step before the present one is finished" and "Roll forward from your heel to the ball of your foot for a smooth, uninterrupted step".

At one point, he was so far ahead of her that he was on the opposite side of the field, so she skipped the corner between them and shot crosswise over it, even managing to snag his sleeve before he leapt away. His face, a mask of surprise, was something she thought she'd prize forever (even as she knew she'd managed it only by cheating). It took him only seconds to realize she'd cheated, and he came back to her and glowered until she was giggling helplessly.

"C'mon, Byakuya-sama, it was just a joke," she said, and poked him in the shoulder. "Where's that famous sense of humor?"

"My sense of humor is famous only to you," he replied sourly, glancing at his shoulder in frank disbelief at her daring. "And only because you are simple-minded."

That just made her laugh harder, which actually made him roll his eyes. Not much- just the tiniest sliver of white showed at the bottom of his silvery irises- but it was enough to keep her giggling even after he flash-stepped away.

In pursuit once again, Orihime wondered if it were okay that she hadn't done anything to thank him for this lesson. She'd wanted to do another picnic, but recalled how abruptly he'd departed it, and decided that picnics were perhaps not something he enjoyed or wanted repeated. There had to be something else she could do... what was she good at that he would appreciate?

It came to her in a flash: she could sew. And he liked that crazy seaweed ambassador thing. She could make him a stuffed plushie of it!

"Hah!" she exclaimed in triumph.

And then slammed with considerable force into Byakuya's back, because he'd stopped to give her more instructions and she hadn't been paying close enough attention.

"Oof!" said Orihime as she bounced off the rock-solid plane of his back and fell onto her butt, a stream of blood from her nose flying through the air in her wake. Pain lanced through her face, bringing tears to her eyes even as she cursed herself as a total idiot.

"Ugh." She tried to get to her feet but the world swam around her so she just plopped back down on the ground.

"Why did you not see that I had stopped?" he asked, sounding graver than usual, and... concerned? His eyes were a bit wider than usual, too. Was he worried about her?

"I was thinking about something else." And boy, was she paying for that now. She must be a hideous mess of blood and tears and snot if even Byakuya was worried. She couldn't seem to stop crying, but it just hurt so damned much. "But I think I was going at a pretty good clip, eh, Byakuya-sama?"

"We'll discuss it later," he informed her. "For now... heal yourself."

With a thought, Orihime activated her Shun Shun Rikka; two points of light appeared to either side of her head and began to reverse the damage she'd done to herself. As they worked on returning her nose to its previous unbroken state, Orihime scrubbed at her face with her sleeve, shocked at how much blood had poured from her.

"I must look hideous," she said wryly.

Byakuya blinked slowly, as if assimilating her statement and pondering it carefully. "Not hideous," he said at last, "though it must be said that you are not at your best."

She laughed, then was sorry she had, as it made her entire head ache like she'd taken a mallet to the face. "Oh, ow," she whimpered as tears and blood dripped off her chin. "I know I'm a wimp, especially after all the damage I've seen Kurosaki-kun and Renji-kun and Uryuu-kun and Toshiro-kun and Sado-kun take over the years. Oh, and you too, Byakuya-sama! You've all been through so much and bear it so stoically... I just break my nose and I cry like a baby."

"It's fine," he murmured, the deepness of his voice soothing to her frazzled nerves. "I'm sure you've endured things that would have them crying like babies."

"Them... but not you?" she had to tease him. The healing had reversed the injury to where she was just a bit sore, now, and the tears had stopped coming. Her eyes were swollen from the crying, and directed the fairies to put them back to normal, too.

"There is nothing that could make me cry like anything, least of all a baby." There was a glint of amusement in his eyes and to the set of his mouth, like with just a little more enticement he might smile. Maybe. Almost.

"Did you cry like a baby when you were a baby?" Orihime asked him, joking but also wondering a little.

"I was the most amenable of children," Byakuya replied coolly.

"Really? Because Yoruichi-san told us that you were a demon beast." She took great delight in informing him of that, and even more to note the faint flush that tinted his cheeks pink before swiftly fading.

"A shameless, unmitigated lie," he informed her, his voice flat. "That woman delights in spreading blatant untruths about me."

"I bet you were cute," sighed Orihime as she sealed the two sparks that were Shu'nou and Lily back into her zanpakutou. "All messy hair and big eyes, trying to be dignified..." She barely managed to stifle a squee at the mental image of a haughty toddler Byakuya.

"There was no trying. I was dignified. And continue to be so, to this day." He turned away, then, surveying their surroundings. "Are you completely healed? If so, then I believe this area would be acceptable for me to display my bankai to you, if you are still interested in witnessing it."

"Are we done with the lesson?" Orihime looked ruefully down at her blood-stained shirt, now completely ruined. It had been one of her favorites, too.

"Was there some other part of your body you wished to injure?" He quirked an eyebrow.

She laughed, this time without the excruciating pain, and got to her feet. "No, I think breaking my nose was enough."

"Stand here. Do not move at all," he directed, pointing Orihime exactly where he wanted her, then surprising her by standing directly behind her, so close she could feel the cloth of his kosode brush and mingle with the fabric of her shirt. Though no part of his body was touching any part of hers, it felt somehow very intimate, and Orihime could not repress a single shiver of awareness of how near he was as the mood took an abrupt and confusing shift.

Byakuya curved his arm around Orihime, a sliver of space between them so they did not touch, and held Zenbonzakura vertically up in front of them. She watched with wide eyes as he murmured, "Chire." His reiatsu burgeoned, flickering and prickling over her skin, and the sword dissolved into a thousand tiny, glimmering shards before floating away on the wind.

"I can control it with my mind," he said, stock-still behind her, his thoughts driving the swoop and swirl of blades as he sent them on a freeform dance through the air around them. "But if I direct it with my hands, my accuracy is greatly increased."

He lifted his hands and, with a few deft motions, directed the blades through the leafy branches of a distant tree. Orihime gasped to see that only the leaves of certain branches had been removed, and where before had been a thick profusion of foliage, now the Kanji for the number "six" was clearly visible through the tree. As the blades coursed back toward them, Byakuya flicked his fingers, and a shower of leaves drifted over and around them- the leaves cut out for the 6 had been carried back by the blades at his whim, and how rained down upon them both.

Orihime spun around to face him, leaves falling from her as she did. "Byakuya-sama! That was amazing!" She reached up and plucked a leaf off his head, smiling joyously up at him. "And that's just shikai! I can't wait to see your bankai!"

He just stared down at her, and she realized suddenly how closely they were standing, and how intimate a gesture it was, to pull leaves from his hair. "Sorry!" she squeaked; quickly, feeling embarrassed, Orihime spun back around to face forward. "I'm ready to see your bankai now!" she said, forcing a note of oblivious enthusiasm into her voice.

Behind her, Byakuya was silent for so long that she thought he had decided not to go through with it after all. Just as the silence became so heavy that Orihime was about to start jabbering about something mindless to end it, he spoke. "Bankai."

Byakuya held out his sword, point down, and dropped it into the ground, which rippled as if turned to liquid where the sword pierced and disappeared into it. "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

The ground beneath them shivered; Byakuya's reiatsu swelled and flowed, almost tangible as it swept over her, and Orihime found herself shivering, too, as sleek silver swords rose in two long rows around them. When they reached full extension, they burst into fragments and began rushing in chaotic patterns in every direction. It was like his shikai, but so much more; the pressure and movement of the heightened reiatsu felt almost like a physical caress over her body, and Orihime realized she was breathing hard as his power coursed through her. She gasped over and over, forcing herself to focus on what Byakuya's bankai was doing rather than the extraordinary sensations she was feeling.

"Senkai." The waves of blades began to coalesce into swords, hundreds of them, glowing pink as they hovered in a towering column around Orihime and Byakuya. The reiatsu blasting inward toward them from the rings of swords blew her hair back. "There are fewer blades to this attack, with the power more concentrated in each." He held out a hand, and one of the pink swords shot from the column to place itself into his grasp. "I can use any or all of them at my whim."

"Goukei." The rows of swords melted back into petal-like shards; this time they formed a sphere that swirled in a dance of vicious beauty. "When I use this attack, that sphere surrounds my opponent. There is no escape. The blades shoot inward to shred him to pulp, but it causes an immense shock wave of reactive reiatsu that I must flash-step to escape if I do not wish to also be shredded. Since there is no reason to release such destruction, I will refrain from demonstrating."

"Sounds good to me," Orihime agreed woozily. She felt warm all over, and there was a tingling heat concentrated at the tips of her breasts and between her legs. She realized that she was turned on, and not just a little bit: she was in a full-fledged state of female heat, and it was all due to Kuchiki Byakuya and his reiatsu flooding over her body. She blamed Tatsuki, 100%. If Tatsuki hadn't gone and insisted that Orihime liked him-liked him, then she'd never begin to have even a single stray thought about him in that way.

"This is my final ability," he continued. "You will want to turn around to see it."

Orihime shuffled in place until she was facing him, aware- again- how close they stood. And how good he smelled; the reiatsu blowing off him was like snow and cherry blossom petals at the same time. His smell made her wonder if he tasted just as good, and she repressed the urge to lick her chops at the prospect. This was all Tatsuki's fault.

"Shuukei, Hakuteiken," he intoned.

The sphere disappeared in a blink of an eye, and the usual pinkish light of Senbonzakura faded into a pure white energy that began uncurling and undulating into the shape of feathers, until an enormous set of wings pulsed from Byakuya's back. Connecting them in an arc over his head was a halo. Orihime's jaw dropped open.

Slowly, almost lazily, he began to flap those glorious white wings, and Orihime was now certain she was about to faint; the pressure of Byakuya's reiatsu was so monstrous now that her skin felt as if it were being scoured by sand, and a grey mist was beginning to cloud the edges of her vision. Her knees sagged, and though she fought to remain standing, she slumped against him.

The shock of contact, his chest against hers, sent a shudder through her as his free left arm came around her waist to hold her up, and Orihime dropped her head to his shoulder, her world narrowing to the thud of his heart beneath her cheek. It was probably for the best, that her strength was gone, because otherwise she wasn't sure she wouldn't make a pass at his immaculate self and that would probably end badly for her.

"Push out with your own reiatsu," he murmured in her ear. "You are strong, yourself. Do this."

His breath was a warm caress against the sensitive curve of her ear; Orihime shuddered again. She fisted her hand in his kosode, gasping for breath, and made herself focus on his directive. She struggled to find her reiatsu, but for the first time ever, it had a slippery feel, like a fish wriggling to escape her grasp. Again she tried, trying to convert Byakuya's power into her own, and finally- after what felt like years, but was probably only moments- managed to take hold of her reiatsu. She began to increase it, but it was so difficult to push back the weight of his, but when she realized she could breath a little easier, and felt more strength in her legs, she knew it was working. Steadily, she kept going until she could breathe regularly once more.

"Good," he said, flapping his wings again.

And suddenly, they were aloft.

Orihime barely stifled a shriek, her arms coming up to clasp his neck even though his arm was a band of steel around her waist. She was far too weak to manage shunpou at this moment; it was all she could do to maintain her reiatsu level so she didn't pass out. "You can fly with these, too?"

"What good are wings if you cannot fly with them?" Byakuya asked, sounding amused, and began to soar over the rooftops of Rukongai.

Orihime blinked, absorbing that until it made more sense, and then realized that she was wasting this once-in-a-lifetime experience by hiding her face against his (hard, muscular) chest. Though she did not slacken her own iron grip around his neck, she craned her head until she had a full view of the world around her. And oh, what a view...

This was not something she would ever see with shunpou; that went far too fast. This more leisurely mode of travel offered the time to visually explore one's surroundings, take in the whole splendor at once. Rukongai stretched out before them, the intricate patterns and paths of the buildings and streets spread out for their perusal, and Seireitei beckoned in the distance

The immense power flowing from them both was attracting attention; they were not too terribly high up, perhaps just a hundred feet, and thus easily noticed. People were running out of buildings and pointing up at them; the buzz of their amazement could be heard even at their altitude.

Byakuya turned westward and swooped over the closest division, the Tenth. Rangiku's bright golden hair flew behind her like a banner as she ran out to see what was going on, Toushirou just a few seconds behind her. Orihime laughed at the expression of outright amazement on Rangiku's face, though she understood it entirely; if she'd been watching Kuchiki Byakuya flying with huge white wings over Seireitei while a girl clung to him (in, it must be admitted, abject terror) she'd gape in shock as well.

Then her jaw did fall open, because Toushirou flash-stepped up to them. Byakuya easily paused, wings flapping lazily to maintain their position aloft, as his fellow captain joined them.

"You're disrupting things," Toushirou said flatly, his eyes chilly as they bored into Byakuya's. "You of all people should be aware of how difficult it is to get our subordinates to work in the first place; I don't need you performing circus acts and distracting them." By 'our subordinates' and 'them' he meant, of course, Rangiku (who was currently standing on the ground, waving frantically up at them while she shouted something Orihime couldn't hear (later, she would learn it was, "You go, girl!")

"Indeed," was Byakuya's response. "My apologies." He did not sound in the least apologetic. With a flip of a wing, he turned them around and began flying them- albeit at a pace so slow, it was certainly intended as insult to his peer's daring to scold him- back toward the Kuchiki estate.

As he descended toward the clearing in the middle of The Thicket, Orihime could see two figures waiting below- one tiny and dark, the other large and red-headed. Byakuya touched them to earth with the deftness that characterized everything he did while Rukia and Renji watched, mouths open in amazement.

"Nii-sama," Rukia croaked. "We felt your reiatsu, then Orihime-chan's... we thought... a battle, since you never... Nii-sama."

"...Yeah," agreed Renji, appearing not more eloquent than she.

"You may release me," Byakuya told Orihime, and she found that while he had let her go several seconds previous, her arms were still clamped around his neck. And she had a crick in her neck from keeping it turned so sharply for so long.

"Oh!" She quickly pulled away from him and promptly fell over. Various parts of her were still throbbing in arousal. The lingering effects of fright and amazement still gripped her, as well. She doubted she'd be able to walk anytime soon.

"Orihime-chan!" Rukia exclaimed. "Where are you hurt?" She quickly knelt by Orihime's side, hands fluttering uselessly. Orihime realized, belatedly, that her blood-stained shirt must look pretty gory to someone who didn't know what had happened.

"Damn, Taichou, what'd you do to her?" asked Renji in amazement. He peered through narrowed eyes at his captain. "We felt your reiatsu spike in bankai, and then hers went haywire too, and then you were flying all over town..."

But Byakuya was standing there with his eyes closed, and Renji knew he'd get no answers from that block of granite.

"Byakuya-sama was kind enough to give me another shunpou lesson," Orihime said, "and I wasn't paying attention and slammed into his back and broke my nose. It bled a lot, and hurt like you wouldn't believe! But I healed myself and it's fine now. Then Byakuya-sama showed me all the different forms of his bankai. It's so amazing! And the reiatsu of it is so strong! I thought I was going to faint so many times!"

"I thought you did faint," Byakuya commented.

"Not completely. I'd call that more of a swoon than an outright faint," said Orihime, upon consideration. That it had more to do with being swept away by a tidal wave of lust than succumbing to his reiatsu was a detail she decided to keep to herself (though she couldn't refrain from blushing a little because of it).

"You are well?" he murmured to her, head tilted slightly to one side as he surveyed her, and she gently batted Rukia's fussing hands away before gingerly standing.

"Yes, fine," she replied, then bowed (and wobbled a little when her center of gravity shifted). "Thank you so much for the shunpou lesson, then showing me your bankai. It was very humbling to be allowed to observe it. I appreciate your kindness in displaying it to me."

He nodded back, then turned and left.

"So I'm going to go back to the manor and wash up!" she announced pertly to her friends, who were now studying her in perplexity. "I'll see you both at dinner!"

And Orihime did indeed go back and wash, and then she went to her room, dug out the vibrator from its hiding place where she hoped the servants couldn't find it when they cleaned, and indulged in a marathon masturbation session that had her eyes crossing, her toes curling, and her heart pounding.

But most of all, it had her brain worrying that she'd just experienced the best orgasm of her life while thinking about Kuchiki Byakuya, what a bad idea it was to start thinking of him in "that way", and swearing she'd never do it again...

...after one last go. And then certainly, definitely, never again.

Absolutely never.