A/N: So, I meant to post this last weekend, but stuff got in the way. Sorry! I feel bad that it's pretty short. So, last chapter I asked for suggestions for my next letter. Aaaaaaaand the winner is . . . Queen-of-Bakas! Thank you so much for suggesting my new word! And thank you everyone who helped out! There were so many good words that I had a bit of difficulty picking just one. Soooo, to make up for it, there are a few of the best words thrown in the story at random. Think you can pick yours out? Anyways, reviews and I have a very good relationship. I love them and they love me!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I just toy with the characters a bit.

U:Unravel

Byakuya Kuchiki blinked. It wasn't often that he found himself without words, but then again, it wasn't unheard of for his lieutenant to have that effect on him.

"I do not understand, Renji," the captain said simply, watching as the fiery lieutenant squirmed beneath his gaze.

"I j-just wanna know why," Renji replied, swallowing nervously. Byakuya raised a brow, the only hint of confusion that appeared on his face. He released the wrists he still held above his subordinate's head, but made no attempt to remove himself from where he perched, straddling Renji's legs.

"Why what?"

The redhead was never good with words. Byakuya knew this very well and was fine with waiting patiently as Renji's hands slid down to rest on the mattress, thoughts swirling in his head. "Why . . . why me?"

It was then that Byakuya understood what Renji meant by the question he had uttered quietly in the heat of the moment.

"I see," the raven-haired man said, a shadow of a smile on his lips. "You want to know why I am here with you, as I have been every night for the past month, instead of someone else?"

Renji nodded fervently, hardly trusting his mouth to speak.

Byakuya just smiled, leaning in to place gentle kisses on the volatile man's forehead and nose. Renji couldn't help but close his eyes and lean into every chaste kiss, shuddering when the older man moved down to nip lightly at his neck, pale hands running down Renji's bare chest.

"Y-you didn' answer my q-question," Renji stuttered, shakily pushing that lithe body away.

"Would you have ever been able to imagine," Byakuya began, taking one of Renji's hands and placing it on the side of his cheek, "seeing me like this?"

The tan lieutenant shook his head, hazel eyes locked on to the unreal sight of Byakuya nuzzling against his palm, bare from the waist up, every symbol of his nobility tossed aside.

"We both know what is expected of me as a noble and as a captain of the Gotei Thirteen," the thin man explained, a pink tongue slipping out briefly to run across his lieutenant's knuckles. Renji swallowed dryly.

"For a noble to give in to such an impulse is unacceptable, unseen, yet you found a way past that," Byakuya continued, deep pools of steel searching the younger man's face for any hint of comprehension. "Like a foolish animal, you grasped at threads, searching for a crack in the veil I keep shrouded around me."

Suddenly, Renji's expression changed to one of understanding, that wide grin lighting up his face.

"You are stubborn, Renji," the icy captain murmured, leaning in close to whisper in Renji's ear, "and it was that stubbornness that allowed you to find the one loose thread that would unravel the mask to show who I could be behind closed doors."

The crimson-haired lieutenant wrapped tattooed arms around Byakuya's waist and neck, pulling him in close and crushing their lips together. The pale captain accepted the kiss hungrily, each touch of those soft lips pulling pieces of his mask apart, unraveling the icy façade until nothing of it remained.

Renji breathed in the sweet sakura scent of Byakuya, mingling in the air with his own, spicy and unrefined. He drank in the way his beloved captain's hands roamed, creating circles and trails over his toned body. He still wasn't completely sure how it had happened, but who was he to complain? He loved the stoic man above him more than anything.

"Aishiteru yo, Byakuya," the words were out of Renji's mouth before he could think about it, but something told him that he wouldn't be disappointed.

"Aishiteru yo, Renji."