Chapter 2: The Sleepwalker
"You're telling me, that you walked all the way from your barracks—which is, by the way, located right smack in the middle of Seireitei—straight to the Southern gate, all while you're asleep?"
"Well if you say it like that it sounds super freaky, Hisagi-san," a certain Abarai Renji grumbled, sipping his tea.
"I'm just paraphrasing what you said, Abarai," Hisagi Shuuhei shrugged while still chewing on his spicy ramen noodle.
The both of them were having lunch in a small ramen shop near the Sixth Division because Renji had to get back to his office quickly to finish his growing pile of paperwork—due to some of the seated officers having to go on maternity leave and leave their work in his hands, damn them. To be fair his captain took the bigger share of the paperwork, mercifully noting that his lieutenant had enough things to do with managing the recruits on top of the paperwork.
"So?"
"So, what?"
"Well, what do you take of that incident? That must not be some usual thing for you," the Ninth lieutenant elaborated, slurping his noodles noisily.
"Yeah, not really," Renji mumbled, wrinkling his nose at the splattering of ramen broths all over the booth they were sitting at—Hisagi was not a clean eater despite his overall 'calm' demeanor.
"I don't know, maybe it's just a really heavy case of sleepwalking, you know, with all the work piling on and such," the redhead offered, taking a bite of his pork chashu.
Hisagi hummed, recalling his kouhai saying some of the female officers in his division were taking maternity leave in droves. Most of the female shinigami in his division chose to work on the Seireitei Communication department**—hoping to get the latest scoop first hand, well, maybe second only to Lieutenant Matsumoto, the gossip hound that she was—so there were fewer numbers of office affairs between them and the men. Maternity leaves in the Ninth Division could be counted in one hand, annually.
"But it's quite peculiar," Hisagi mulled, getting the redheaded lieutenant's attention, who was in the middle of sipping his ramen broth, back to him.
"What is?"
"The location of your sleepwalking is way too far, and too specific for it to be just a 'heavy case of sleepwalking', right? No one 'sleepwalks' for miles, managing to not bump into anything, and somehow ends up in a very specific location like the Southern Gate of Seireitei itself," Hisagi explained, throwing a pointed look at Renji, "and most shinigami who sleepwalk would end up sprawled on the ground from bumping into their barrack's entrance gate."
Renji tilted his head and raised one eyebrow, "What are you suggesting, Hisagi-san? That 'someone or something was calling for me'?" he asked while making air quotations, his tone incredulous, "people can still have some subconscious control over their body even while sleepwalking, you know. One time I saw Rikichi going to the kitchen, took a helping of nikujaga and ate the entire bowl clean, sleeping. Simply opening or jumping over the barracks' gate or is not far-fetched," he added.
"Who knows?" the Ninth division lieutenant's tone made Renji's brow twitch, it was as if his senpai was actually considering that possibility.
"That's just too cliché," the redhead scrunched his nose.
"Maybe, but crazy stuff happens around here, I wouldn't be surprised," the scarred face lieutenant shrugged and gulped down his cooling tea.
Renji frowned, couldn't exactly refute his senpai there; with Aizen's plot, the increasing number of hollow activities, the appearance of Arrancar and a ton of new adversaries and weird characters popping up—the bounts, visored, zanpakuto manifestations*—crazy stuff did happen a lot. But sleepwalking definitely couldn't compare to any of those.
"I was just extremely exhausted," Renji decided with finality in his tone. Hisagi watched the redhead's expression for any lingering doubts and shrugged again, conceding to the redhead's insistence. Hey, he was a bit of a conspiracy theorist and all, but he wasn't about to do that to his kouhai's personal life.
After they finished their lunch, on the way back to the Sixth to drop Renji off, the pair spotted a shinigami officer listening in rapt attention to the prattling of a certain strawberry blonde lieutenant.
"—better head off now, don't want Captain Hitsugaya hounding down your back for those signatures." they heard the blonde waved off the meek young man, who shouted a "Yes, Lieutenant!" and flash-stepped out of the area. With a decidedly mischievous satisfaction on her face, the blonde lieutenant turned to leave before noticing the pair heading her way.
"Shuuhei, Renji!" Matsumoto cheerfully greeted the two lieutenants who were walking towards her direction.
"Rangiku-san," Renji nodded.
"I see you've been working hard, Matsumoto," Hisagi smirked.
"Oh, yeah. Delegating is a lieutenant's job, after all," she laughed nervously, mumbling an excuse and quickly shifting her attention to the redheaded lieutenant, "Anyway, Renji! I haven't seen you the last few days—wait," she paused and squinted, narrowing her eyes into Renji's direction, particularly his bare forehead.
And then her eyes widened in realization, "You really did it!" Matsumoto squealed, almost bouncing to inspect the redhead's tattoo-less forehead closer, intruding deep into Renji's personal space.
"It opens up this area more now," Matsumoto said, zooming in and pointedly looking at Renji's forehead, "looks more youthful," she decided, panning out to inspect the overall appearance of the redhead's face and nodding in approval. Renji had to push her back to a decently appropriate distance lest she tried to smother him, as was the typical thing to do when the blonde fiend was around.
"It looks good," Hisagi agreed.
He already saw it a couple of days ago, and to say he was—pleasantly—surprised was an understatement. The redhead not only looked more 'youthful', he now looked more fitting to his fun and friendly personality. Hisagi noticed more people were talking to the redhead out of want instead of just respect for his rank—not counting the Sixth Division shinigami, of course, who apparently have this borderline unhealthy sense of admiration for their lieutenant.
"Yep, went to get it done after I went home that night, you know how I wouldn't be able to sleep thinking about it. Good thing I wasn't completely drunk, don't want to scar myself with my own reiatsu," Renji grinned, rubbing his neck.
"Right, don't want to repeat that again," Matsumoto quipped, she wiggled her brows suggestively. It took Renji a moment to process what she said before he was flushing in indignation, embarrassing and self-deprecating memories resurfaced on his mind.
"R-Rangiku-san, we agreed to never bring it up again!" the redhead stuttered, his cheeks turned into the color of his hair, out of embarrassment or anger, he didn't know. Beside the redhead, Hisagi Shuuhei groaned and covered his eyes in exasperation, things were going to get awkward again between him and his kouhai.
Matsumoto only giggled even more, smirking coyly, "But it looks like a mark of possession! Don't you agree, Shuu-hei-kyu-n?" she drawled in a sickly sweet voice, leering at Hisagi's direction making him groaned louder.
"Stop it, Matsumoto," Hisagi massaged his brows in disdain, a headache forming rapidly. As if remembering certain aspects of a particular memory, the redheaded lieutenant shifted further from his side.
Taking stock at her friends' state, Matsumoto decided to be merciful and changed the topic.
"So, what are you both doing out here?" she inquired, noting that the direction they were coming from was that of the ramen shop she occasionally frequent when she was visiting the Sixth for 'errands'; usually trying to persuade Renji to skip work.
"Lunch," Hisagi answered, sighing in relief. He was glad that Matsumoto decided to not pursue the topic further, he was definitely not prepared to take her on like he usually did with his quick wit and smart quips.
The blonde's eyebrows shot up, "Really? Renji, I thought you always bring your wifey lunchbox with you," she said in a friendly tease, with a hint of genuine surprise.
Ever since discovering that his fashion accessories were costing him a fortune—with most of his savings put to purchase his expensive headgears and eating out, the redhead took it upon himself to learn to cook his own food, at the very least. He didn't really want to give up his love for expensive headgears anytime soon though, but he also tried limiting his purchase to no more than twice a year, given they don't break before then.
Turned out he was quite good at cooking, considering he would also never eat at the barracks' free canteen given the choice—the food there was honestly bland and did nothing to rouse his appetite. He was fortunate enough that the cooks let him use the kitchen so he could make his own lunch all week instead of once every weekend—when he went back to his apartment—they even let him store his ingredients and gave him his own cooking space in the barracks' kitchen. He didn't notice those privileges were due to the borderline unhealthy sense of admiration the Sixth Division staff had for him, though.
Renji didn't realize how much money he saved by cooking his own food until his captain decided to eat three of his lunchboxes for the last three days.
"Yeah, about that..." he trailed off, not knowing how to explain without making his captain look bad in front of the other lieutenant.
Taking pity on Renji, Hisagi took to explain in his stead, "well apparently, his captain really sucks at taking care of himself and frequently skipped his breakfast, so he gets hungry before lunchtime."
The redhead did tell his senpai about his predicament earlier at lunch, but hearing the blunt explanation made him wince and feel somewhat guilty of badmouthing his captain. It was technically true...
"What, so you give your lunchbox to the Captain Stone-Cold-Hottie?" Matsumoto asked, disbelief evident in her voice. That Captain Kuchiki? Eating commoners' food?
"Well, he's not really the type to go and eat out like us, is he now?" considering he's a noble and all that fancy-schmansy stuff, Renji thought.
"But, he's Kuchiki Byakuya! He's not the type to eat from a lunchbox too, I'm sure," the blonde insisted.
"He ate mine just fine for the last few days," he ate Renji's lunchbox quite enthusiastically, actually, now that the redhead thought about it. His captain always looked 'almost delighted' whenever he presented his lunchbox, with that glimmer in his eyes.
"He ate your lunchbox for more than once? Voluntarily?"
"No, I gave him my lunchboxes voluntarily," Renji huffed indignantly and rolling his eyes at Matsumoto's exaggeration. Was it really that big of a deal that his captain ate his lunchboxes? Sure, he was also surprised at first, but since he was the one who offered, he didn't really think much of it afterward. Actually, he was quite happy that his captain appreciated his food, even though he never said a word of thank you, the arrogant nobility that he was.
"I just forgot to make two of them so I've been eating out. Honestly, I don't mind it, it's been a while since I eat out too," Renji explained, shrugging. More exactly, He didn't mind for the first few times, but if this kept going he felt like his captain have to at least give Renji the money for buying groceries.
Almost as if he knew what the redhead was mulling over, Hisagi smirked, "You're like his wife or something."
"Shut up, Hisagi-san." Renji deadpanned.
"Nii-sama, are you sure you are going to be all right?" Kuchiki Rukia asked for the third time that late noon. The sun was only beginning to set as she followed behind her brother. She just got back from her barracks only to see her older brother leaving to his, again.
"It's just four nights, Rukia," Kuchiki Byakuya reminded her for the third time, walking through the corridors of the Kuchiki Manor towards the front gate of the estate leisurely.
The Captain of the Sixth Division needed to take residence in his office to catch up to the overwhelming amount of paperwork left by the officers who went on maternity leave. Yes, the maternity leave problem was getting out of hand. While he couldn't blame the women for wanting to take care of their pregnancy, he wished his proposal for updating the Sixth Division's policies regarding affairs between officers was approved sooner by the Captain-Commander.
It would not be a big problem if it was not his seated officers who took those leaves, because then the mundane work could be delegated to other shinigami. As it was, with almost half of his higher-ranked officers off duty, it only left him, his lieutenant, and the twelfth seat qualified to share the work with, and most of the work was only qualified for him and his second-in-command with the absence of the rest of the seated officers from third to eleventh.
On top of that, the next few days after that would be filled with training the new recruits of the Sixth and the First Division, deeming him to take prolonged residence in the barracks, though only by three nights. While he appreciated the trust that the Captain-Commander had given to his division, the timing could not be worse.
A few moments of being lost in thought, he noticed his sister had stopped in her tracks, a look of doubt and concern blaring on her face.
"But you never stayed in the barracks before..." Rukia trailed off hesitantly. She didn't want to be disrespectful and outright saying her older brother couldn't exactly do the basic necessities of living by himself—things like cooking, which he really couldn't. He had attempted to 'cook' for his late wife—Rukia's sister—Hisana, once. After he set a small fire trying to boil water, he never stepped into the kitchens again. At least that was what the head cook told her.
Rukia's captain, Ukitake Juushiro, who was a close friend to the Kuchiki when Byakuya was growing up, once told her something that she thought was a fitting description of her brother; "Kuchiki Byakuya is certainly not in any way a 'spoiled prince', but that doesn't make him any less of a prince, don't you think?"
Indeed, as the Head of the Kuchiki Family and Captain of the Sixth Division, Kuchiki Byakuya had enough things on his plate to last any normal person two lifetimes. With all his duties taking too much space of his personal life, the servants were left to do the mundane things for him—necessary, such as laundries and food, but 'mundane' in comparison to his duties as a captain and head nobility, which rendered him essentially crippled in common everyday functions compared to most people.
"I am well aware of that. And I am a grown adult, I can take care of myself," Byakuya said, his tone slightly admonishing his little sister for not having faith in him to take care of his well-being, even for several days.
He was sure that a few nights at the barracks would not be a problem for him. He would have food from the barracks' kitchen—not that he ever tried them—and he already had servants bringing his necessities to his captain's quarters, enough for his stay there. He never slept in his quarters in the barracks, but he had inspected them once before and they would... suffice, at the very least. He survived the wilderness when he trained as a young man, and again as a student in Shino Academy. How hard could a sheltered military barracks be compared to that?
Sensing her brother's persistence, she sighed, "Try not to overwork yourself, nii-sama," she reminded him instead.
"I will not," the raven-haired captain nodded in assurance, his mien almost softened as he looked at his adoptive sister. She was always so worried for everyone other than her own self, which was why she always gets into so much trouble in the first place—especially when it concerned a certain substitute shinigami who never failed to irk him.
"You always say that, but I know how you focus on your work so much that you forget everything else," she muttered under her breath, knowing how many times her adoptive brother was often up late at night to work on the clan's matters that he had to set aside after work in his Division was completed, only to skip his breakfast the next morning to rush into his office and try to get an early start on his paperwork. While he didn't do it that often, she noticed that he had been doing it for the last several days, and it worried her that he might fall ill from spreading himself too thin.
Renji assured her that Byakuya had at least been eating a late breakfast in the office, though. She was surprised that her brother, who never so much as glance at commoners' food while venturing on the streets in Rukongai with her, would eat something that Renji made, granted his cooking skill was rather legendary amongst their group of friends. She was just glad that she had someone in the Sixth that she can count on to look after her brother when she wasn't around.
"I will have Lieutenant Abarai to assist me," Byakuya finally said. The younger Kuchiki sagged, reminding herself that, yes, at least Renji was around to straighten up her brother's inexperience of living without servants tending to his needs.
"You are allowed to go now, Lieutenant Abarai."
Renji looked up from his desk. He was sitting idly, arranging and rearranging his office supplies, waiting for an officer to deliver another batch of paperwork when he heard his captain mentioned his name.
"Are you sure, Captain?" he asked. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but he was ready to get some 'Zzz' action since three hours ago, his eyes were already twitching from reading fine prints for hours and his eyelids had gotten so heavy he had to pinch himself multiple times to remain awake.
"Yes, there are merely several documents left to be signed," Byakuya gestured to the papers scattered on his desk—a first, for his captain to be not entirely organized, maybe the fatigue was also starting to get to him.
Seeing that there would be no more paperwork for that night, Renji stood to leave—a little bit too fast, bowing at his captain and turned to go out of the office.
"And Abarai?" the Kuchiki called, his deep voice cutting through Renji's musing of sleep and bed and just rest.
Renji turned to look at his captain, expecting him to say that "actually no, there will be another batch of paperwork, I was just messing with you, now sit down, you're going to suffer with me," he internally grimaced at that.
"Yes, Captain?" Renji queried meekly, his voice small, hoping that his over-active imagination—which turns up whenever he was up late working until 1 in the morning—was not true.
Kuchiki Byakuya observed his lieutenant. From his sagged shoulders, hunched back, sallow complexion, and heavy eyes, he knew that his second-in-command was not going to tolerate a moment longer of lounging around in the office, waiting for Byakuya to say something already.
Byakuya was grateful that his redheaded lieutenant was there to help him with the mounting amount of paperwork they received that evening—a total of four batches of thick documents were delivered in the past six hours since his arrival from the Kuchiki Manor. Not only that, but the redhead had also taken it to himself to serve Byakuya his supper—homemade supper by his lieutenant who seems to possess golden hands for cooking—and filling his teacup every time he ran empty.
He didn't want to admit his upbringing made him unfamiliar with the act of showing gratitude towards others, as he thought he went pass that the first time his lieutenant and the rogue substitute shinigami had to even fight him when they were rescuing his beloved sister, Rukia. Clearly, he was wrong, and it was already internalized through centuries of his life as a noble to be 'subtle to the point of nothingness' in regards to showing his appreciation towards others, especially those with lower status.
"Th—" as much as he wanted to express his gratitude towards the redhead, he found himself unable to verbally communicate the thought.
"Don't sleep in, joint training starts tomorrow," Byakuya opted instead, knowing it was within his perceived character to haughtily remind his subordinates of their duties. He had already accepted that his subordinates—as well as other acquaintances—would expect him to be notoriously cold and frank, it was built into his character, after all.
Unbeknownst to him, Renji had actually noticed his captain's little slip-up and internal struggle—it was well written in the noble's unusually expressive features, another evidence that the noble was as exhausted as Renji was.
"...yes, Captain," Renji said slowly, wondering what was the other thing that his captain was about to say but cut off instead.
"Good. You may leave," Byakuya dismissed his lieutenant.
Renji bowed once more, unsure, and walked out of office. At least he can get some of that much-needed shut-eye.
The redhead promptly snoozed the moment he slammed himself face-first to his lumpy futon, barely managing to change to his favorite white cherry blossom yukata.
Kuchiki Byakuya did not know what to make of this.
He just entered his quarters, expecting to find a bed already made up for him to settle in for the night, as per usual when he was in his residence.
It was not. In fact, the room was bare, save for the desk with his calligraphy materials neatly set on the side near the window.
He slowly walked into the room, as small as he remembered it to be, finding himself standing in the middle, not unlike a lost and confused child, looking around for help that was not there.
There must be something here, a clue as to where to start. Surely, this was how normal people arrange their bedrooms, with none of the beddings in sight. Surely there must be a way for him to sleep without having to lay on a bed-less floor. He was about to curse his servants for screwing up but stopped himself from such irrational thoughts.
Byakuya found his left eye twitch and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he swept his eyes over the room once more. Finally noticing the door to built-in closet right in the corner of the room, he went and opened it to find his plush futon and silk covers folded in the bottom compartment, and almost sighed in relief. He noticed his sleepwear was neatly arranged in the upper compartment of the closet and took one set of the silk jinbei out to change from his uniform—he did not bother going to the bath for he already took one in the Kuchiki Manor earlier that evening.
Making sure the curtains were closed, he swiftly pulled off his uniform and changed into the more comfortable sleepwear. His white captain haori was then neatly folded and placed on top of the desk, next to his calligraphy set. Looking at his crumpled uniform, he wondered if he should leave them on the floor and someone would take care of that for him, or if he should place it somewhere more appropriate that he didn't know of yet. He decided to leave it be for now and simply folded the uniform as neatly as he could manage and placed it in one corner of the room.
He then attempted to make his futon, appreciating his servants' job more and more as he tried to arrange it just right in the middle of the room, the fabrics failing to cooperate with him quickly enough. How they could stand on doing this time-consuming activity every night was beyond him. Then again, they might be more adept and efficient since they've been doing it for years.
Just as the captain was about ready to tuck in and sleep, he froze.
His heartbeat slowed and his blood curdled.
His eyes widen as he felt something almost physically tugging his body to sit up. He tried to resist the pull, his reiatsu flaring and sweeping across the four walls to inspect anything of suspicion—there was none. He realized it came from within him, something in his reiryoku, as his feet kept dragging him towards the doorway. Just as his hand opened the door, he felt, more than saw, a familiarly wild reiatsu in the vicinity.
"Abarai?" he questioned under his breath, curious as to why his lieutenant was still awake since half an hour ago when he told him to leave, he was sure the redhead would go straight to his own quarters. The Kuchiki frowned, something was definitely amiss. He found himself standing on the balcony of the barracks, overseeing the entrance.
He watched as captivating strands of long red hair flew with the wind, the crimson locks shining under the intense light of the full moon, casting an almost bloody shadow on the ground as he jumped over the barracks' gates.
Feeling the tugging sensation again, Byakuya made a split-second decision to follow his errant subordinate, uncaring of his underdressed state—this time, he was still in control of his movements, though his whole psyche was telling him not to lose the redhead from his sight.
His trusted Senbonzakura was left forgotten, sitting innocently on the desk by his window.
The flash-step expert that he was, the Kuchiki Head was able to keep up with his lieutenant's unusually fluid movements as he jumped quietly on the rooftops of Seireitei. He managed to suppress his own reiatsu to conceal his presence from his lieutenant for now.
Strangely, the redhead's reiatsu also felt different; the raw quality of it was still there, but there was an almost... lulling sensation that just pulled Byakuya in. It was not dissimilar to the human's myth of siren's call, in fact, it was eerily identical—the reiatsu felt as if it was singing to him.
Minutes that seemed like hours pass by, until the redhead came to a halting stop. The abruptness of it, topped with the hypnotic effects of the redhead's reiatsu made Byakuya almost stumbled ungracefully. He took stock of their current location.
They were standing right in front of the Southern Gate of Seireitei, Byakuya a few meters behind his lieutenant. He didn't realize how far they traveled, and how fast.
Byakuya observed his lieutenant. The redhead was still as a statue, his flowing, vibrant red hair the only thing that made him more alive than roses under the summer sun. He was wearing his infamous white yukata, the ends of the robe fluttered in the wind, the cherry blossom patterns almost coming to life.
Moments passed until Byakuya couldn't contain his curiosity anymore, and walked towards the redhead.
"Lieutenant," he called as he got closer. Hearing no response, he tugged the redhead's shoulder to face him, only to be surprised.
Renji's eyes were closed. His face serene, as if he was only sleeping.
Was he sleepwalking? the captain wondered. If that was it, what was the tugging feeling he felt? Not to mention the change in the redhead's reiatsu characteristics.
Deciding that musing over unexplainable things would do him more trouble than he could handle that night, Byakuya was about ready to wake his troublesome lieutenant, to notice that he could not open his mouth.
He panicked, fingers clawing at his lips, and then he went limp.
His body was immobile, and he was losing his vision.
Until darkness took over him.
"Abarai Renji," a voice could be heard, familiar, almost like that of the Sixth Division Captain—but different; so expressive, so full of longing and sorrow. It was so close that Renji could feel the tickle of warm breath ghosted over his face.
"...Byakuya?" Renji inquired quietly, his voice similarly taking an unusual note. It was spoken with such familiarity, such intimacy to someone that he felt was not the 'Byakuya' he knew, that he felt he was intruding a private moment— even though it was his. He felt fingers ghosted over his skin-his eyes, his cheeks, his lips-and then they went away, leaving him strangely cold.
"Wake up." the voice spoke once again, this time in a more decisive yet regretful tone—not wanting to let go, to end—
And the spell was broken.
Renji slowly opened his eyes and blinked once, twice, taking in his surroundings. In front of him stood the imposing figure a certain raven-haired captain.
"Captain...?" Renji asked, blinking owlishly. Noticing his captain being so close, too close, jerked him to consciousness and he jumped a step backward in surprise, almost stumbling to the ground in his disorientation.
"Captain Kuchiki! What are you doing out here?"
"That should be my line," Kuchiki Byakuya remarked in concealed curiosity. He blacked out for a moment and suddenly he was awake, staring at his lieutenant, who was also awake and actually had the audacity to jump away from his presence.
"What?"
"You were sleepwalking." the raven told him simply.
"I—oh," Renji frowned as he realized that he was standing right in front of the Southern Gate of Seireitei, again. Renji blushed—only this time, his captain was there to see this humiliating episode.
"I'm terribly sorry for troubling you, Captain," the redhead bowed in hasty apology. After all, his captain even went out on his own to retrieve him—oh, he must've disturbed the Kuchiki's rest too, seeing that he was in his sleepwear—he was so in trouble.
"I was simply following you out of concern for any suspicious activities," Byakuya stated, his jinbei's sleeve swishing as he turned and walked off to the direction of the Sixth barracks, wanting nothing more than to catch some sleep.
Renji blinked. That's it?
It took a moment for a still disoriented Renji to realize his captain was already leaving.
"W-wait for me, Captain!" Renji called a little too loudly as he moved to follow his captain, the incident pushed to the back of his mind for now.
"Don't be so loud, Lieutenant, people are resting."
- to be continued -
Additional Notes:
*filler arcs on Bleach manga before the final battle with Aizen, except the visored which is canon. I may have missed some.
**Seireitei Communication is a monthly magazine published by the Ninth Division.
Kouhai: junior; an underclassman; someone younger or with less experience in the field. Opposite of senpai.
Senpai: senior; opposite of kouhai.
Nikujaga: Japanese stew consisting of meat and potatoes.
Chashu: Japanese braised pork belly. It's so soft and chewy and melts in your mouth, oh, I am salivating just thinking about it.
Jinbei: Japanese traditional sleepwear/house wear. It consists of a top and an either short/long bottoms. Traditionally made from hemp or cotton. I imagine Byakuya having multiple sets of different sleepwear for different occasions, with the more practical Jinbei as his choice for his nights in the Sixth barracks—of course, with the finest materials no matter how rudimentary a jinbei is, being the nobility he was.
Haori: traditional Japanese kimono jacket, can be hip to thigh-length. Worn open or connected by strings on both lapels.
So the plot is slowly picking up. Can you imagine those two prowling around Seireitei basically in their pjs? lol