Probably overconservative trigger warning:

There's some blood this chapter (it's a lot of blood). It is definitely not worse than anything you would see in canon Bleach, and it is described in a humorous rather than gross way, but I have a blood-phobia myself, so I know how it is. It's about 3/4 of the way through, I put a little [TW] tag right before it happens, and if you want, you can just skip down to the next section break.


"So," said Shizue as she and Rukia made their way through the streets of the Seireitei. "Give me the run-down on my options."

"Hmm?" Rukia asked, looking over at her cousin.

Shizue narrowed her eyes, which were rimmed with enough makeup to give Renji a run for his money. "Grandfather says I shouldn't be in a hurry to find a husband, that I've got all the time in the world, but Masumizuumi is the most boring place in Soul Society. If I have to spend another year there, I am going to die. On the other hand, I know what I'm worth; I'm not about to throw in with the first boy who makes eyes at me."

Rukia's mouth quirked into a wry smile. "Not impressed with Takehiko, eh?" she guessed. "He is, strictly speaking, next in line for Clan Head by bloodline."

"Takehiko is fine," Shizue dismissed. "He's under consideration. But as you say, he's already got bloodline, so I'm not that valuable to him. Choei is right out. He's nice enough, but I'm not marrying a fifth son. Tell me about Ohno Isao."

Rukia stared off into the middle distance for a moment. Someone had to marry Ohno eventually, she supposed. "Well. He's the Third Seat. He's the Ohno Heir. His family has been steadily gaining in power and wealth for the last few centuries, and I rather suspect the reason he's not married is because his father really, really wants him to marry a Kuchiki from as close to the core family as possible."

"Grandfather said the Ohno weren't happy when Cousin Naoko married into the Gotou."

"Probably not, but Gotou Takebe is the family head. She married directly into a Ladyship. Cousin Isao is only an Heir and he's a soldier- he could well die before his father does."

"He's a skilled fighter, though? The best in his generation?"

"Er…." Rukia hedged. "He's decent."

Shizue's perfectly sculpted eyebrows shot up. "'Decent?' Grandfather brings him up constantly, says it's Shigenori's duty to surpass him!"

Rukia sucked her teeth, wondering how to put this. She wasn't Ohno's biggest fan, personally, but she also didn't want to trash talk him. "That's probably a good goal," she said noncommittally.

"You don't think much of him," Shizue surmised.

"To people outside of the Gotei, it's hard to understand how much difference there is between a lieutenant and a third seat," Rukia hedged.

"You could beat him, then? In a swordfight?"

Rukia opened her mouth and then closed it again. "I wouldn't know. We've never fought." She paused. "I probably could."

"Lieutenant Abarai can beat him, then."

Rukia cleared her throat primly. "Lieutenant Abarai believes that part of his duty is to challenge the officers under his command, so that they can realize the best versions of themselves."

"I see," Shizue replied. "I knew he reminded me of Coach Jukou. Beats Ohno up everyday before breakfast, then?"

"I didn't say it," Rukia replied. "Ohno is a good officer, as far as I know. He's just no Renji. But not many people are."

"Ahh," Shizue nodded. "That explains some things."

"It...does?"

"Oh! Yesterday, after dinner, I heard Cousin Miho tell Cousin Takako that someone ought to marry Abarai, both because no one likes having an outsider as Cousin Byakuya's second, and because he's probably going to make captain and move on." Rukia was vaguely aware that there was a horrible gagging noise coming out of her throat. Fortunately, Shizue was too busy talking to notice. "It's not going to be me, though, that's the job for some branch cousin." Shizue suddenly noticed whatever dreadful thing Rukia's face was doing. "Oh, I'm sorry, I gather you two are friends? I didn't mean anything by it. He seems very nice."

Rukia took a deep breath through her nose and let it out again. "It's not that. He's… I mean, don't you… er… I just can't picture him getting married," she finished lamely.

It wasn't even remotely true. If Renji ever actually fell for someone, he'd probably show up for a third date with a ring. Rukia's heart twinged. That was the main reason (she'd been telling herself) why she couldn't tell him how she felt about him. Neither of them were in a great place for a relationship right now. She wasn't even sure if he felt the same way about her, but on the off chance he did and he found out that the feeling was mutual, it would kill him to not be able to act on it. Or even worse, he would do something rash and end up tanking his career or worse. No, she was the head-thinker and he was the heart-thinker, and in this case, the logical thing to do was keep it to herself until they were both ready. But that, of course, presumed that the big, soft dummy and his big, soft heart didn't fall for someone else in the meantime. She didn't think he'd go slack-jawed over some fawning noble daughter fluttering her eyelashes at him, but… well, what if…?

"What about you?"

"Huh?" Rukia sputtered.

"Do you have marriage aspirations? Is there someone you've got your eye on? I don't want to move in on any territory that you've already got staked out."

"Ah, no. I'm not interested in getting married," Rukia replied automatically. "Er, for political reasons, that is. I suppose that I wouldn't be opposed to it, you know, if I fell in love with someone. If they wanted to."

Shizue was staring at her in amazement, or possibly horror.

"Don't you… don't you worry about your position? I mean… well, what if something were to happen to Cousin Byakuya?"

Rukia shrugged. "Byakuya is my brother. If something happened to him, my position in the family would be the least of my worries."

"Oh," Shizue said, suddenly flustered. "Of course! I didn't mean…"

Rukia laughed gently. "I'm sorry, I'm sure I'm not what you're used to. I'm usually better at pretending to be a noble, but I'm wearing my uniform today, and you're very easy to talk to."

"Ah, thank you!" Shizue replied, still off her balance.

"My position in the Gotei matters a lot more to me than my position in the Family," Rukia went on. "Now that I mention it, there are plenty of eligible Kuchiki men outside of the Gotei you might consider. Being a shinigami isn't an easy job, and even in Squad Six, it tends to make you a little...odd, I guess. Intense, with a penchant towards gallows humor."

"I have met Grandfather, you know," Shizue noted in an extremely dry voice. It sounded exactly like something Byakuya would say.

Rukia guffawed. "Maybe you've already got the sense of humor."

"You make a good point," Shizue agreed. "But my little brother is planning on going into the Gotei, so I think I should at least see what it's like. I'll keep my mind open."

Rukia had to admit that she had a bit of a soft spot for people who took being an eldest sibling very seriously. "Well, if you have any questions, you can ask me, either now or later, if you don't want to ask them at Squad Six. Brother sometimes romanticizes the Gotei lifestyle a little too much, and I imagine Grandfather does too. I'll give it to you straight, though."

"Ah, thank you, Cousin," Shuzue said, a little shyly. Rukia wondered what that was about.

"So, here we are! The Sixth Division!" she announced, gesturing up at the imposing white gates. "Good morning, Fukumuro!" she greeted the unseated shinigami on gate duty.

"Greetings, Lieutenant Kuchiki!" the young woman greeted back. "You have a visitor to sign in?"

"Lady Shizue has an appointment with Assistant Captain Abarai," Rukia replied.

"Ah, yes, I have that on the schedule. Sign here, please!"

Frowning, Shizue signed her name on the proffered clipboard. Fukumuro handed over a little pin to clip to her kimono to indicate her visitor status.

"Squad Six is very formal," Rukia explained, leading her cousin toward the main offices. "Not all the squads require all this folderol."

"I've been wondering," Shizue asked suddenly. "Why aren't you in Squad Six? It's our family squad. Why is Lieutenant Abarai the Assistant Captain, instead of you?"

Rukia opened her mouth and then closed it again. She thought her position in the family was common knowledge, but it was pretty clear that there was a lot Ginrei kept from Shizue. "It's a long story," she brushed off. "And to be honest, it's much better this way. I love the Thirteenth and Brother and Lieutenant Abarai work very well together." She hesitated. "You know I'm not in the line of succession, right? I'll never be the Kuchiki Heir."

Shizue shrugged. "Grandfather says that when it comes to you, one can never tell when Cousin Byakuya is going to follow tradition or throw it out the window."

Rukia blinked. After forty years, it was only in the last eight months that Byakuya had even begun to act like he could remember her name. What a strange thing to say!

"Er, the main offices are this way," she gestured. "This is the drill yard. The mess hall is down that street. Squad Six has four different barracks, they're scattered around for a more collegial feel. Most of the seated officers live in #1, which has a really nice view of the sakura grove and is also very close to the weight room."

"Do you know this much about all the squads?" Shizue asked, looking impressed and a little horrified.

"Er, no," Rukia replied, wondering suddenly when Squad Six had become her work-home-away-from-work. It was surely Renji's fault, although they did most of their sparring at Thirteen, and while they tried to split their lunches between their two squads, they tried to go off-base whenever possible, even if it was just bentos down at the common fields. Maybe… maybe she just spent a lot of time with Renji, period. That made sense, of course, he'd been her personal trainer and number one hype man while she was training for the Lieutenant's Exam. It was only natural. Except that she'd passed the exam nearly a month ago and… they probably hung out even more, now.

She hoped he wasn't getting sick of her.

"I'm just familiar with it because of Brother," she lied blatantly. "The main offices are right over this way!"

There was no one at the reception desk, but the doors to the Captains' Office was open, and loud voices were bouncing out into the hallway.

"Can't you make Takehiko do it?"

"Takehiko said he wants to focus on the kidou demonstration."

"Well, I want to do the hakuda demo, I don't see why Takehiko's preferences are more valid than mine."

"Because I would wipe the floor with Takehiko, at least you'll put up a fight!"

"My Kuchiki form is sloppy and Great-Uncle will tear me a new one if he sees it!"

"Maybe you deserve that!"

"Look, if I don't do hakuda, who's gonna do hakuda with Big Gotou? Taniguchi? Anyway, if you're so determined to have a good match, why don't you just fight Captain?"

"Because he'll wipe the floor with me, and that's worse!"

"That's a no-go, anyway, Captain Kuchiki specifically said he wants to see me fight Captain Kuchiki."

Rukia poked her head into the doorway.

Renji was standing next to a large chalkboard with names written all over it, some crossed out. He was tapping a piece of chalk against his palm. Rukia noted that it was plain white chalk, not the special colored chalk.

Choei was sitting in Renji's chair, with his feet up on his desk. Ohno stood stiffly, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hi," Rukia said brightly. "We're here."

Renji looked over and his face went luminous. "Rukia! Hi! Er, Lieutenant on deck!"

Ohno immediately dropped into a respectful bow, Kuchiki jumped to his feet before doing the same.

"At ease," Rukia waved them off.

"Welcome to Sixth Company, Lady Shizue!" all three men chorused, sounding distinctly like they had practiced.

Shizue waltzed into the office, looking very pleased to be the center of attention.

"You guys are just going to have to figure this out, because I have a tour to give," Renji announced, tossing his chalk to Ohno, who, to his credit, only bobbled it briefly.

"What's the problem?" Rukia asked.

"We're trying to get our slate of fights figured out for this afternoon and, predictably, people only want to be in the ones where they can show off. We're trying to find someone to fight Kuchiki-style against Ohno."

"Unfortunately, Fourth Seat Kuchiki is the only one who's remotely a match for me, and he is being intractable," Ohno explained with all of his usual modesty.

"I'll do it," Rukia replied automatically. "I wouldn't mind showing off a little for Grandfather." She was rather curious to see if she could beat Ohno. In a real match, there would be no contest, but pure zanjutsu fights weren't her strength and she'd only been studying the family sword form for a few months. Ohno had devoted his entire, dweeby life to it.

Silence fell over the office.

Shizue glanced from Rukia to the men, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Brilliant!" Renji declared. "Thank you, Lieutenant Kuchiki!" He scribbled Rukia's name on the blackboard next to Ohno's.

"Wait- wait, no, I don't think…" Ohno stammered. He cleared his throat. "Lady Rukia, I will not go easy on you. Have you ever actually- that is to say- I know you study directly under Captain Kuchiki-"

"He's got a point," Renji nodded at Rukia. "You're not likely to win. I give you a 1-to-4 margin. Whaddya think?" There was no value judgment in his voice, just Renji Stating the Odds. "Oughtta be a killer match-up, though. I'd pay admission for that."

"1-to-4?" Rukia repeated, raising her eyebrows. "That's much higher than I thought. I'll take it."

Choei snorted loudly.

"Captain Kuchiki will not be pleased!" Ohno yelped. "Captain Kuchiki Byakuya, I mean."

"He may have a point there," Choei pointed out.

Renji and Rukia regarded each other for a long moment.

"He'll go for it," Renji finally decided.

Rukia nodded. "I think so, too."

"And what if he doesn't?" Ohno snapped indignantly.

Renji shrugged. "Then I'll fight you myself."

"You're fighting the captain!"

"I'll fight you and then I'll fight the captain."

"You don't even know Kuchiki-form!"

"Guess I'll lose, then," Renji shrugged.

"I know Kuchiki-form!" Shizue piped up eagerly.

"Do you, really?" Renji asked, with genuine interest in his voice.

"The Kuchiki family sword form is so elegant and graceful that it is traditional to teach even the women of the house a bit," Ohno recited. "In the manner of a dance. I am sure Lady Shizue's form is very beautiful."

Choei rolled his eyes. "My sister used to dance all over my face when we were kids, I'll tell you what. I only joined the Gotei to get strong enough to stop her from trashing me all the time."

Shizue nodded knowingly. "Yes, my brother, Shigenori, thinks he's going to be the next Captain-Commander of the Gotei. Grandfather taught me to swordfight so he would have someone to practice with. It's good cross-training for tennis."

"Y'any good?" Renji asked curiously.

"Oh, how would I know?" Shizue dismissed. "The only person I ever fight is fifteen."

Rukia cleared her throat and gave Renji a look.

"There are some decent 15-year-olds out there," Renji sniffed. He sucked his teeth thoughtfully. "You wanna find out how good you are?"

Choei's face absolutely lit up with delight.

"I… er… what do you mean?" Shizue asked, confused, but intrigued.

"Vice-Captain, that wouldn't be appropriate!" Ohno hissed.

"You're just trying to get out of giving her a tour, aren't you, Abarai?" Rukia accused.

"Look, if she wants to know what it's like in Squad Six, I think giving her skills a check-out would be a better intro than a boring old tour. What do you think, Lady Shizue? I mean, if you'd rather I walk you around the sakura grove and the mess hall, we can do that. How's your kidou?"

Shizue pursed her lips. "I know a little kidou," she said hopefully.

It occurred to Rukia very suddenly that Renji was under the impression that he was giving Shizue a tour because he thought Byakuya and Ginrei wanted her to join the Gotei. Of course he thought that, because he was Renji and thought everyone wanted to join the Gotei and also because Byakuya never explained anything.

"Renji," she said gently. "I think Shizue is here, more to…" she rolled her hand, "meet people."

"This is Squad Six," Renji brushed her off. "We start sparring, people'll show up. Choei, run around and talk it up, will you?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Vice-Captain, you can't intend to fight her yourself," Ohno protested.

"I'm not gonna fight her, I just want to see how good she is, figure out whether we should pit her against you or against Rikichi, y'know?"

"She obviously doesn't even want to," Ohno added. "Lady Shizue, I apologize for our Assistant Captain. He's a good soldier, but he is unfamiliar with the ways of noble ladies such as yourself."

Rukia cleared her throat pointedly in Ohno's direction. Ohno knew full well that Rukia and Renji were close, he was just perpetually loath to admit it.

"Lady Rukia, everyone knows you are one of a kind," Ohno replied soothingly.

Choei barked a laugh. "That was a pretty good recovery!"

"Yeah, not bad," Rukia agreed. "I'm wearing the badge, though, so it's 'Lieutenant Kuchiki.'"

"Of course, Lieutenant Kuchiki," Ohno quickly corrected.

"So, you up for it?" Renji pressed Shizue, paying no mind to Ohno's objections. "If you're worried about your clothes, we can rustle you up a shihakushou. Ninth Seat Shirogane is probably about your size."

Shizue's cheeks had gone bright pink.

"Don't pressure her, you big lug," Rukia scolded. "He's so pushy," she excused to Shizue. "You absolutely don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's just… I'm probably not very good," Shizue said in a small voice.

"There's a lot of value in knowing where you stand," Renji replied, pounding his clenched fist into his open palm. "And the Academy mostly accepts students based on potential. Rukia could barely hold a sword when we tried out, and look at her now!"

"Shut up!" Rukia howled. "You can barely cast a sokatsui to this day!"

"Guilty as charged," Renji nodded cheerfully.

"You think I could get into the Academy?" Shizue asked, genuinely interested now.

"They let me in," Choei pointed out.

"Hard to say," Renji ignored his subordinate. "Why don't you try swinging a practice sword at me and I'll let you know?"

"The Academy wouldn't dare deny admission to someone of your pedigree, Lady Shizue," Ohno butted in smoothly. "You certainly don't need our… Vice-Captain's opinion to confirm that." Rukia rather admired the way Ohno managed to leave a hole in the air exactly the size and shape of the word "boorish," without actually saying it. She wondered if he'd been studying Byakuya. "But of course, as the Lady of the North Rukongai Kuchiki, you have so many more interesting options available to you! I do hope you get a chance to chat with my sisters, they've talked of nothing but meeting you ever since-"

"I don't actually want to go, I just want to know if I could," Shizue interrupted. She eyed Renji again. "You're just… sort of… big." She glanced over to Rukia. "Maybe I could spar against Cousin Rukia instead."

"You don't want that!" Choei shook his head frantically. "Lieutenant Abarai is super-nice and gentle to beginners! Lieutenant Kuchiki is-" his jaw abruptly snapped shut.

"You wanna finish that thought, Kuchiki?" Renji asked, his voice heavy with unspoken threats.

"Lieutenant Kuchiki is the finest lieutenant in the Gotei and the shining star of the Kuchiki!" Choei rattled off at top speed and volume.

"That's right," Renji agreed.

"Aw, I wanted to hear how mean and scary I am!" Rukia pouted. "I'm glad my reputation is getting around."

Shizue's eyes darted between Renji and Rukia, like she didn't really believe them. "I'll make you a deal," Rukia suggested. "He really is very nice. You let him pull his Coach Renji routine on you until you're tired of it, and then I'll rough him up a little, so you can see how real Gotei officers fight." A small, annoying voice in Rukia's head was trying to remind her that she should probably be discouraging this nonsense. She was almost positive that Grandfather would thoroughly disapprove of Shizue joining the Court Guards. On the other hand, she was almost positive that she didn't care what Grandfather thought.

Choei's eyes went wide. "Shizue, say yes! Lieutenant-on-Lieutenant fights are lit! The whole squad will turn up for that!"

"Oh, it'll just be a little one," Rukia flapped her hand. "I gotta save my strength for Third Seat Ohno this afternoon." She shot him a saucy wink.

Ohno scowled. He disapproved of saucy winks.

"Well…" Shizue drew out. "Okay! Let's do it!"


Rukia leaned on the split rail fence that surrounded the training field. Third Seat Ohno, on her left, stared grimly ahead, attempting to give Renji a leg cramp through the sheer power of his Disapproval. Ninth Seat Shirogane Mihane and Rikichi (who was apparently the Sixteenth Seat now? Rukia didn't know when that had happened) were chattering cheerfully on her right about Shizue's form.

Shizue, who normally appeared rather dainty in her flowered kimono and excessive mascara, looked taller and sturdier in one of Shirogane's shihakushou. She held her bokuto with the same confidence she held a tennis racquet. With her hair pulled up into a high, no-nonsense ponytail, she reminded Rukia a lot of the few pictures she had seen of Byakuya in his youth.

Rukia, as both a lieutenant and a Kuchiki, should probably have been forming her own critiques of Shizue's form, but she was too distracted by watching Renji at work.

Despite the disjoint of their separation, Rukia had never really had any difficulty accepting that Renji was now an adult. She wasn't entirely sure if she'd ever thought of him as a child in the first place. He'd been small when she met him, true, but kids in Inuzuri tended to grow up fast, and he'd already had the demeanor of someone's grizzled uncle. When he shot up in height, seemingly overnight, and his shoulders started to fill out, it just seemed like his body was finally catching up to the rest of him. These days, Renji could certainly be astonishingly immature when he felt like it, but he was serious on missions, and a machine in battle, and of course Rukia had witnessed him and Byakuya have conversations about the fine nuances of Gotei paperwork that made her brain melt into porridge. Watching him with his subordinates, though, was something different.

Shizue was actually much more skilled at swords than Rukia would have guessed, but it was clear that all her experience came from the dojo. She knew the forms and the canonical responses, but the girl had clearly never actually been in a fight. It was all rote memorization, call-and-response. With seemingly no effort whatsoever, Renji would block one of her swings, and then suggest an improvement to the way she tucked her elbow. The expertise and competence just oozed out of him, yet there was none of the razor sharp cockiness he gathered around himself when he was fighting a real opponent. He was warm and patient, and focused on Shizue as though a teen with a practice sword was the most interesting thing in the world.

Renji stopped to explain something, probably to do with reiatsu. He was using a lot of hand gestures and making fake-angry faces.

"Abarai, what are you doing?" Ohno muttered.

"I think," Rukia said slowly, "he's trying to explain killing intent without actually using the phrase 'killing intent'."

"Well, yes, obviously," Ohno sighed, exasperated.

"It's what she's missing," Rukia realized. "She knows the moves, she can do basic flashstep, but Kuchiki-form only becomes effective when you commit." Rukia was hit with a memory from a few weeks ago, when Byakuya had chided her for trying to improvise. At the time, she had felt like he was being stodgy, but watching it from the outside was helping things click into place. Kuchiki-form wasn't about flexibility, it was about going all-in. Byakuya always spoke of the family form as though it were infallible, as though a battle was a series of moves that was executed in sequence, like a game of shogi. Out of his mouth, this all seemed reasonable and accurate, but that was really only true because Byakuya himself was so relentlessly good. It was all, quite literally, a confidence game. Rukia had a sudden pang of affection for the Kuchiki Family Sword Form.

"And do you think," Ohno said, very carefully, "that the person who has been teaching Lady Shizue has not realized this?"

"Ohhhhh," Rukia breathed out. She sucked her teeth for a moment. "You know," she said lightly, "my brother would never teach a person a thing halfway. If he saw Shizue fight, he'd be out there doing the same thing, only without the Angry Squad Eleven Guy faces. Better this way, probably. What's Grandfather going to do, get mad at Renji for teaching her a basic principle of fighting?"

"In a just world!" Ohno threw up his hands. "Aren't you supposed to be chaperoning her? You know quite well she's not here for sword-fighting tips!"

"She's having fun," Rukia protested. She eyed Ohno suspiciously. "You're remarkably sanguine about her presence, by the way. Takehiko was falling all over himself last night, and Renji had to make the Gotou boys go run laps, they were being such pests when we were over at the kidou butts."

"Buffoons," Ohno muttered. He cleared his throat. "When I joined this squad, Kuchiki Ginrei was still the captain. It was only a few years and I was unseated at the time, but I know well what sort of man he is. He may indulge Shizue by letting her traipse around in front of the soldiers, but when it comes to making a decision, it's all politics. Whether or not she has a future as Lady Ohno has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with whatever offer my father makes for her."

"Well, I'd still think you'd be more interested in getting to know her," Rukia frowned. Out in the practice field, there was a blur of motion and a clash of swords, and then Renji grinning and slapping Shizue on the shoulders. "I know I would be."

"She seems fine," Ohno shrugged. "Well-mannered. Pretty. I'm sure she paints and plucks the koto adequately well."

"She sings."

"How charming. To be honest, her skill with the sword is a bit of a surprise. She's good. She's probably better than Choei was at that age. Lord Kuchiki would never let her attend the Academy, but at least she'll bear strong sons."

"You're such a romantic, Ohno," Rukia deadpanned. "Maybe you're better off not trying too hard."

"Nothing personal, Lady Rukia," Ohno returned coolly, "but I don't find martial prowess to be a particularly attractive quality in a romantic partner."

"I've never been so happy to learn anything about you, Third Seat Ohno," Rukia replied, in what was probably a gross abuse of the Lady Rukia voice.

Shizue ran up to the fence. Rukia was impressed with how well her hair and make-up had survived her exertions. The mark of a true Kuchiki if she'd ever seen one. "Cousin Rukia, did you see me? I did a move in flash-step! Shigenori said I would never do it-not that he can do it-but I did it!"

"I saw!" Rukia agreed. Ohno's words were prickling at her, and she decided to test his hypothesis. "I bet Grandfather will be very excited!"

Shizue made a moue. "Grandfather always complains that doing shunpo hurts his knees and that I shouldn't bother with it, since it's not allowed in tennis."

Rukia ignored Renji making what-the-heck? faces over Shizue's shoulder, even though she shared his sentiment entirely. "Well, I am very excited," Rukia declared. "Kuchiki are meant to be fast! I am sure Brother will be very excited, too, when we tell him!"

"Really? Do you think so, Cousin Rukia?"

"I do," Rukia assured her. She felt reasonably confident in her ability to bully Byakuya into saying one nice thing to his cousin, especially if it pissed Ginrei off in the process. "I hope Lieutenant Abarai wasn't too mean to you?"

Shizue opened her mouth and then glanced back over her shoulder and then back at Rukia. "Ah, no! No, not at all!"

"Ugh, I wish that were me," Choei's booming baritone announced, as he collapsed against the fence next to Rukia. "Don't fall for his lies. Once you actually join Squad Six, he bonks you on the head all the time and yells at you." He'd brought a small crowd of other shinigami with him, including nearly all of the futsal team.

Renji made a scandalized face. "Me?"

"He's nice to me," Rikichi protested.

"That's because you're a tender baby!" one of the other futsallers hollered.

"Hey, now!" Renji barked. "Rikichi used to be a tender baby! I've been working on him, and now he is a reasonably solid baby!"

"That's right!" Rikichi hooted triumphantly, and Rukia sensed this was an old joke.

"He's always very professional with me," Mihane put in. "Maybe some people just need to be bonked on the head." This remark elicited a great deal of mirth amongst Squad Six.

Rukia hopped up onto the fence so she was sitting on the top rail, which raised her height by almost six inches. "So whose job is it to bonk him on the head once in a while?"

"Captain's too dignified for bonking," Renji played along. "And I been beating Madarame more often than he beats me anymore. I'm probably overdue."

"I'll just have to see what I can do about that," Rukia said, standing up on the fence.

"Are you sure about this?" Renji fake-whined. "Think about how sad my subordinates are going to be after you rearrange my face right in front of them."

Rukia glanced back at his subordinates. "Is that so?"

"Our vice-captain will defeat you in glorious combat!" Rikichi yelled.

"Get his ass, Lady Rukia!" a muffled voice emanating from somewhere behind Choei echoed.

"It appears we will have to settle this the old-fashioned way," Rukia put her hands on her hips. "What is the old-fashioned way? Did we ever decide what kind of fight we were going to have? Hakuda?"

"We always have fun when we do hakuda," Renji agreed.

"Shikai!" someone from the peanut gallery suggested, and it was quickly picked up and echoed.

"You aren't all sick of seeing him show off with that oversized ripsaw?" Rukia teased, and to her surprise, she could feel Zabimaru bristle at the slight. There was an undercurrent of excitement to it, though- Renji's sword wanted to fight her.

"We want to see yours, Lieutenant Kuchiki!" Mihane shouted back.

Now, even more oddly, Rukia could feel her own zanpakutou swelling within her. Sode no Shirayuki tended to be pretty hands-off, as zanpakutou spirits went, and she never took interest in Rukia trying to rile up her friends.

"I've seen it before," Renji replied. "But I'm game." He was trying to sound casual, but Rukia could see that feral glint that meant Zabimaru was looking out of his eyes.

For some reason, this got Sode no Shirayuki even more riled up. Suddenly, it clicked- Sode no Shirayuki didn't care about Rukia at all, she just wanted a piece of Zabimaru. Rukia didn't usually have much patience for the inscrutable beef her zanpakutou had been having with Renji's, ever since they'd gone on a mission together over the winter, but maybe she could work with this. "You're on, Lieutenant," she replied in her best Byakuya voice. "I hope you're prepared to taste defeat."

"I eat defeat for breakfast!" Renji jeered back.

"That doesn't even make sense," she informed him. Rukia prepared to jump down off the top of the fence, and realized that Shizue was staring up at her, looking slightly awed. Oh, right. Shizue. "Ninth Seat Shirogane!" she barked. "You're in charge of Lady Shizue's honor while I'm teaching Lieutenant Abarai the meaning of humility!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Mihane agreed.

"Good luck, Cousin Rukia!" Shizue cheered, her eyes shining.

"We do this all the time, it's really no big deal," Rukia assured her with a wink.

"Oi! Finish up your yappin' and let's go!" Renji shouted, taking a few big strides backward and dropping into a crouched drawing stance. He tended to explode out of that position, but that was okay, because he'd done it to her about a million times when he was teaching her to defend against Ikkaku.

A thrill ran down Rukia's spine. She wasn't sure there was anything she liked more than fighting this big, loud goon. Ohno was an idiot, martial prowess was hot as Hell. She gripped the hilt of her sword. "Okay, Abarai. Let's go."


Shortly after lunch (taken at an establishment that seemed to pride itself on providing a menu in which every dish was a love letter to konnyaku, each more flavorless than the last), Byakuya returned to his division offices on the heels of his grandfather. Normally, he felt a certain sense of peace when setting foot on the grounds. But just like at home, Ginrei seemed to have commandeered the space, as though he had only loaned it to Byakuya instead of handing it over fully, and could take it back whenever he pleased.

At least everyone seemed to have survived the tour in one piece.

"There are my beautiful granddaughters!" Ginrei boomed. "I hope it wasn't too boring for you, Shizue, darling."

"Oh, no, Grandfather!" Shizue beamed. "It was really fascinating, actually! Everyone was very kind, and Lieutenant Abarai and Cousin Rukia told me all about what it's like to be in the Gotei!"

Byakuya noticed that Shizue's face was a bit flushed and a few strands of hair had gone errant from her hairstyle.

Ginrei chuckled. "Can you believe your old Grandfather used to run this place?"

Shizue gave a little half-smile. "Well… yes, Grandfather. I heard half a dozen people say the same things you say all the time. And everyone is so busy and works so hard! It's exactly like you made it sound in all your stories."

"Life on-base is the dull half of it, you know," Ginrei reminisced fondly. "Combat is an entirely different story."

Byakuya thought this was rather rich, considering that they had spent the morning at his grandfather's old shogi club. Byakuya had lost four games in a row, most likely because his dusty old fossil of an opponent had put him to sleep with his rambling anecdotes.

"I think you will find this afternoon very impressive," Ginrei went on. "The soldiers of the Sixth are the best in the Gotei. It should prove a fair bit more exciting than this morning."

Byakuya eyed his lieutenant and his sister, who were both wearing very serene facial expressions. Rukia's hair had never been particularly well-behaved, but she had recently affected an artfully tousled hairstyle that made it nearly impossible to tell when she had been Up To Things.

"I suspect this morning was more exciting than expected," he said dryly. "Lieutenant, there is ice in your hair."

"Well, you see, sir," replied Abarai. "I had to have a little warm-up match."

"Did you?" Byakuya deadpanned.

"Zabimaru does not like fightin' all sealed up, so I had to tire 'em out first, or they'd cause trouble during our bout."

"I see." Byakuya's eyes slid over to his Shizue. "What did you think of your cousin's zanpakutou, Shizue?"

Apparently, Shizue had been having some difficulty containing her enthusiasm, because it all tumbled out at the gentlest invitation. "It was amazing! It didn't even look real! Er, I mean- it looked real, but not...like a real sword? Oh, I'm saying it all wrong! I loved it!"

"No, that is the proper reaction to Sode no Shirayuki," Byakuya assured her. "It is widely regarded as the most beautiful zanpakutou in the Gotei."

"As is only fitting for a Kuchiki," Rukia replied. "Most people find Brother's very pretty, as well."

"Oh! I would like to see it, if there's an opportunity!" Shizue said.

Ginrei patted her on the head. "Better to not. Your cousin is very powerful, Shizue. It's likely that seeing his release would make you feel a bit lightheaded."

"Eh, she stood up to me an' Rukia's roughhousing well enough," Abarai put in. "Strong girl. We-"

"What time are those demonstrations supposed to start?" Rukia interrupted. "You're always yapping! You've got your officers waiting on you!"

"Ah, right!" Abarai nodded. "We should get on down to the kidou butts and see what Fifth Seat Kuchiki has planned. He said it was going to be a surprise, but I know he's got about thirty people involved."

Byakuya closed his eyes. Takehiko was the Squad's chief kidou officer. He was the best kidou user in the squad, after himself, of course, and was responsible for making sure everyone else in the squad was up to snuff. He was very knowledgeable in the demon arts, particularly combat techniques, and he was very powerful. He also had a tendency toward grandstanding and loved nothing more than making bombastic speeches.

"I'm sure it will be spectacular!" Ginrei exclaimed.

Byakuya, unfortunately, had to agree.


The kidou demonstration did turn out to be spectacular, in the sense that it was a spectacle. The synchronized shakkahou were impressive, Renji supposed, although he wasn't sure that blowing up a hastily constructed, three-meter tall paper mache Menos had been strictly necessary. Nevertheless, kidou was the one area of squad competence that Renji wasn't directly involved in (aside from the ordeal of his own weekly personal training session with Takehiko), and he just had to let it go. Ginrei praised his grand-nephew's production glowingly while Byakuya gazed stonily into the middle-distance. Renji decided to count it as a success.

Hohou had gone better, but also worse. Long ago, Renji had read about an old shunpou training technique where bells of varying pitch were arranged in a large circle. A runner would strike them in precisely timed patterns to generate beautiful, harmony-rich melodies. Obviously, this never would have flown in Squad Eleven, but he'd asked Byakuya what he thought, only to find out that Byakuya had done this exercise extensively as a child. Like most things that were both traditional and elegant, he was very fond of it, and so, as it turned out, was most of Squad Six. Renji had let all his star pupils have a go, ending with Sixth Seat Taniguchi, who probably could have sold out a concert hall, he was so good at it.

And then Ginrei insisted that Byakuya give it a shot, demanding he run the most intricate exercise in the form. To be honest, Renji thought his captain did great. Granted, he knew nothing about music, but it seemed correct. Everyone clapped. Ginrei laughed and congratulated him for "still having it." Renji could tell, though, that Byakuya was pissed about it.

"What happened?" he hissed under his breath to Rukia as they processed over to the dojo. "If he made any mistakes, I sure missed it."

"I think he wasn't feeling it," Rukia whispered back. "Is that a thing he practices? I've never seen him do it at home."

"He used to. I think it's too easy for him anymore."

Rukia nodded knowingly. "He likes to be prepared. If he knew he had to do it, he would have practiced. It doesn't matter how well he did, he's mad at himself for being caught off guard."

Of course. Renji kicked himself for not figuring it out himself.

Hakuda went basically the opposite: worse, but also better.

Squad Six valued well-roundedness, but when Renji had arrived, hand-to-hand had been broadly regarded as an option of last resort, the purview of brutes and sneak thieves rather than people of class. Renji had, at various points in his afterlife, been both a brute and a sneak thief. He liked the weight of a blade in his hand for sure, but everyone got disarmed from time to time, and he'd be hanged if one of his subordinates bit it because they were too proud to learn to throw a punch. Most of the officers sighed heavily and did enough to pass the bi-annual hakuda proficiency exam Renji had implemented. A few of them, though, really took to it, and Renji did everything he could to encourage them and help them develop their own styles. He was incredibly proud of his demonstration team.

Byakuya read Renji's reports, because Byakuya read every piece of paper put in front of him, but he hadn't applied much personal attention into Renji's pet project. He paid attention to the demonstration, though, particularly the skull-ringing heavyweight bout between Choei and the truly massive Seventh Seat Gotou. His eyes followed every move, his chin nodding almost imperceptibly every time one of the men landed a solid hit. Afterward, he carefully thanked each of the participants and noted that he was pleased to see everyone working so hard. Renji's heart swelled so hard he thought he might well fall on the floor and die right there. Or at least he would have, if Ginrei hadn't spent the whole time standing ramrod straight and staring dead ahead, clearly thinking about tennis or cherry blossoms or whatever he thought about when he went to his Kuchiki Bored Place.

The old guy perked up, though, as soon as they moved on to the sword fights. Renji had left it for last, of course, because Squad Six loved sword fights.

Renji had a strong suspicion that Ginrei was not gonna like this sword fight. He searched his heart and tried to decide if he had any regrets or, for that matter, any craps to give. He decided he had neither.

"The combatants in our next-to-last match will be strictly limited to the Kuchiki sword form, sealed zanpakutou," shouted Taniguchi, who had volunteered as announcer. "Lady Kuchiki Rukia, Assistant Captain of the Thirteenth challenges Third Seat Ohno Isao!"

Byakuya's eyes widened, as Rukia stepped away from his side and began to stride confidently toward the field. He started to open his mouth, probably to protest.

"Since when does Little Rukia know the Kuchiki form?" Ginrei rumbled. "I hope you've asked that Ohno boy to go easy on her."

Byakuya immediately bristled, his mouth snapping shut and his eyes flashing.

Renji felt a prickle of the precognitive sense that sometimes allowed him to see an entire battle play out in his head before either sword had been drawn. Byakuya would announce that he had been training Rukia himself. Ginrei would then be sure to criticize every move she made. Byakuya would double down and defend even her obvious mistakes. Ginrei would criticize Byakuya's own expertise.

It was the duty of a vice-captain to take a blow meant for his captain. "She only started last fall, can you believe it?" Renji blurted out, his voice a notch too loud. "She's gonna knock your socks off, sir! She hasn't got the build for it, obviously, but she makes up for it with speed."

Ginrei looked over at him, surprise on his face. "You fight Kuchiki-style yourself, Abarai? I wouldn't have guessed it, but you certainly have the build for it."

"Ah, no, sir," Renji half-prevaricated. He knew the lower forms about as well as anyone in the division, but the only time he fought with them was when Rukia wanted a second opinion on something she was studying with Byakuya. Or when Byakuya felt like torturing him. Or when he was trying to reverse engineer some move Byakuya had pulled on him. Just a few times a week, usually. Hardly at all. "Can't be at Squad Six long without picking some up, though," he added for good measure.

"Then you may not be aware," Ginrei pointed out, "that all of the Kuchiki form is 'making it up with speed.' The Ohnos may be no match for my grandson here, but Rukia-" he trailed off as Rukia launched herself at Ohno.

"Third Seat Ohno is probably the current most technically precise practitioner of the form," Byakuya noted, his voice as dry as a fine sake. "Aside from you and I, Grandfather."

Watching two experienced students of the Kuchiki form fight one another was a rare and dramatic sight, assuming one could actually see it. Speed was a hallmark of Squad Six, and around here, one had to develop fast eyes along with quick feet. Even so, Renji guessed that barely a quarter of his troops could discern more than a blur as Rukia pressed Ohno with the aggression of an Inuzuri thug at the speed of a bullet train. The fact that Ohno wasn't a steaming pile of ground meat was a strong testament to the man's reflexes.

"Why does she depend so heavily on Form 1?" Ginrei murmured. "She'd have taken his arm off there if she'd used a Wild Rabbit just then."

"She only began Form 2 two weeks ago," Byakuya muttered out of the side of his mouth.

Ginrei turned his steely gaze on his grandson. "What?"

Byakuya continued to watch his sister blandly. "She has been preoccupied with preparing for the Lieutenant's Exam. I had no wish to distract her from that."

"You taught her this, then."

"I taught her the family form, yes."

"In half a year."

"She was away for quite a bit of that, on Gotei business. She is a very busy woman."

"Her speed!"

"I had little to do with that."

"I think I heard once that shunpo efficiency goes with the strength of your reiatsu over your physical mass, so small people with really dense spiritual cores have an advantage over big lunks like us," Renji said, scratching the back of his head.

"That sounds like some nonsense," Byakuya asserted.

"I'm with my grandson there," Ginrei agreed.

Renji was almost certain Captain Soi Fon had told him that, although he couldn't remember any possible encounter with Captain Soi Fon that would have resulted in her expounding on the principles of hohou, so he didn't argue with it.

"How close did she come to your record on the shunpo course record on the exam?" Ginrei asked idly. "She must have had you sweating a bit."

Byakuya looked at Renji. Renji looked at Byakuya.

"Rukia made a very respectable run," Renji said, at the same time Byakuya replied, "She broke it by a clear margin." There was a long moment of silence before Byakuya added, "It is no matter. She is my sister and I take pride in her achievements."

Ginrei snorted, and returned his attention to the match.

Ohno had taken back the advantage, and was pressing Rukia with solid, powerful blows. Renji knew that Ohno had an arrogant tendency to hold back when faced with an opponent he didn't respect. Ohno was not holding back now. Renji couldn't wait to see the look on Rukia's face when he gave her his post-fight opinions.

"What's her zanpakutou like?" Ginrei asked Byakuya coolly. He could have been asking about any member of Squad Six.

"Ice and snow. We were discussing this earlier."

"Is it formidable?"

"Of course. She wields it well. Three attacks, all strong. She lost contact with her zanpakutou spirit for a few weeks during the ryouka debacle, but all seems well now."

"If this were a shikai battle, it would be over, by now," Renji observed dryly.

"That's the Ohno boy with the sword that makes you slower and clumsier the longer you fight it, no? I've seen it before, it's quite a respectable blade."

"My lieutenant is rarely wrong about these things," Byakuya replied quietly. "The Thirteenth is not the Sixth, but there is a reason that Rukia has a placard on her arm and Ohno does not."

They watched Rukia slip through Ohno's offense and catch him from a new angle while he was off balance. She had a huge grin on her face. Renji wasn't sure he had ever seen anyone having so much fun fighting Kuchiki-style.

Ginrei breathed in through his nose. "Any indications that she might be capable of…?"

Byakuya was quiet for a moment. "Not yet. Which is not to say..."

"Yes," Renji said quietly. "There have been indications." Both men turned to look at him, but he did not elaborate, only continued to watch the match. It couldn't possibly last much longer; very few people could fight for long at this kind of speed.

Then, Ohno backpedaled rapidly. It looked like he was stumbling, but he stopped after exactly twelve paces.

"Wind Down the Mountain," Byakuya, Ginrei, and Renji announced in unison.

Sure enough, Ohno had set up for one of the more difficult and complicated combinations from the upper levels of Form 2. It was a rush, three feints, a high cross, a fourth feint, and then a thrust that ended with the tip of Ohno's sword under Rukia's chin. Her back was to them, but Renji could just imagine the look on Rukia's face, gleeful and half-feral. Ohno had spent years trying to get Rukia's attention, and now, he had it, except that instead of the recognition from the main line he wanted, it was just going to get him a parade of black eyes. She wasn't going to leave him alone until she could mop the floor with him.

Ohno withdrew his sword, he and Rukia bowed to each other, and then approached the Captains Kuchiki. Ohno looked pale and utterly wrung out. Rukia looked fresh as a daisy, a glint of mischief in her eye. It wasn't fair, Renji decided, for her to be openly flirting with him like this, right in front of her brother and her grandfather. He tried to keep his expression stony, as if she would believe for a moment he could keep a straight face, watching her run his Third Seat around like this.

Ohno and Rukia bowed deeply.

"Well done, Third Seat. An excellent demonstration of your skills," Byakuya judged. "Make your transitions sharper."

"Yes, sir," Ohno barked.

"You should be faster," Ginrei added coldly.

"Yes, Lord Kuchiki," Ohno managed.

"She doesn't even know the Second Form and she almost trounced you."

That wasn't exactly true. Rukia had held her own, but there had never been a chance of her winning.

"Your father never served, did he?"

Ohno swallowed. "No, Lord Kuchiki. He felt that the management of our house came first."

Ginrei sighed. "Well, that's what comes of it, I suppose. Granddaughter!"

"Yes, Grandfather?" Rukia replied with an air of not-giving-even-a-single-crap about what he was about to say to her.

"Your movements have no economy. Your form lacks discipline. You fight like you're inventing the moves as you go along. My grandson tells me he trained you himself and I have difficulty believing it."

"I fight with precision and control when I have the luxury of an upper hand," Rukia replied coolly, eyes half-lidded with classic Kuchiki nonchalance. "Cousin Isao would have taken me to pieces if I hadn't engaged him at my absolute top speed."

Ginrei nodded, a smirk creeping onto his face. "I haven't seen a Kuchiki fight like that in four hundred years. I haven't figured out how, but you have it in your blood. Tomorrow morning, I want to go over a few things with you. Can you manage some time for your old grandfather?"

Renji didn't move a muscle, but his eyes darted over to Byakuya. The man could have been carved from marble. Ohno looked like he was about to faint.

"Of course, Grandfather," Rukia replied graciously.

"What you really need," Ginrei went on. "Is a fighting partner. A big fellow who hits hard. That's what Ohnos used to be good for."

If possible, Ohno looked even paler.

Ginrei looked over at Renji thoughtfully. "You should ask your brother if you can borrow his lieutenant from time to time. He seems about the right size, although I haven't seen him hit anything yet."

"Oh, he's very good at hitting things," Rukia agreed. "And I've been known to let him watch my back now and again."

Renji could feel his cheeks burning and he only hoped they weren't actually red.

"Speaking of which," Byakuya interrupted. "Are you ready to try (and fail) to hit me, Lieutenant? I believe it is our turn."

Renji grinned with relief. "Always ready for that, sir!"

Sword practice had always been a place Byakuya had gone to lose himself.

In his youth, it had been long hours alone in the garden, swinging a practice sword until the burn of his muscles crowded out whatever bothersome thoughts were troubling him. Later, he would lose himself in Senbonzakura, his mind fractured into a million glimmering petals soaring on the breeze, not one of them large enough to carry such a burden as anger or fear or loneliness. And lately, there was Abarai.

Byakuya couldn't say what, in particular, was so satisfying about fighting his lieutenant. Abarai was a talented swordsman, to be sure, but there were plenty of his fellow captains Byakuya could spar if he were looking for skill. Abarai's style was a strange, home-brewed mishmash of classical forms interspersed with the artless blows of a brawler. It was somewhat unpredictable, but there was no underlying genius to it. One merely needed to pay attention and stay agile. It really shouldn't have been a match for Byakuya's elegant precision at all and yet every time Byakuya even started to let his guard down, to become the least bit complacent, he would find Abarai at his throat.

It always felt very personal with Abarai. There were countless people in the squad who fought in a similar style to Byakuya, who knew his moves well, but no one knew him like Abarai. No one since his grandfather.

He did not like fighting his grandfather.

Obviously, Byakuya would never dream of telling Abarai any of this. He strongly suspected that it was a strange, fleeting obsession. In two months or six, he would discover some chink in Abarai's methods and this would become easy and dull. But on this day, made interminable by Ginrei's belittling and disinterest and casual dismissal of people's hard work, Byakuya needed it.

There was the movement of his feet, the weight of the sword in his hand, the singing of steel. Fighting with sealed swords eliminated much of the power difference between himself and his lieutenant. He had no option but to be fully present in his body, to devote himself completely to the dance.

The fight had not been going on for very long when Byakuya observed that Abarai was retreating too much. He would engage for a few strikes, then take a big leap backward to re-assess. Zabimaru was a zanpakutou that used distance to their advantage, and Abarai needed to work on better compartmentalizing his fighting styles. Byakuya had sympathy-it had taken years of hard work to train himself out of a similar habit. Byakuya wondered if Abarai's nerves were as grated to shreds as his own by Ginrei's glowering disapproval of everything. Nevertheless, they had discussed this. He would not be doing Abarai any favors in the long run to ignore this fatal flaw.

Byakuya peppered Abarai with light, quick strikes, waiting on a hair trigger. Sure enough, the younger man sprang backwards, and Byakuya shot into shunpo, intending to reappear inside of Abarai's defenses.

Wait. No.

It was a mistake, his brain screamed. He was the one who had been thinking in shikai terms.

Abarai knew the old Shihouin Steel Thorn Defense, Byakuya had seen him use it.

It was an obscure technique, and it involved recklessly allowing yourself to come into extremely close range of a rushing Kuchiki. It required lightning reflexes, steel nerves, and immense wrist strength. It was extremely an Abarai move, and the Ascending North Wind slash Byakuya was attempting was the perfect setup for it.

In shikai, this wouldn't work because his sword didn't have a blade. None of the other men knew this disarmament. But Ginrei knew it. Ginrei had humiliated him with this a hundred times in his youth. If Byakuya allowed Abarai to disarm him with it, he would never hear the end of it.

Byakuya did something he never did. He improvised.

At the last second, he twisted his blade around, stabbing straight down against the place where he expected Abarai's sword to be.

[TW]

Abarai's sword was not there. Abarai had expected the rush, as it turned out, but he had attempted to parry, a very safe, very conservative, very non-Abarai defense against an Ascending North Wind slash. Except that in a very bold and unpredictable move, a very Abarai move, Byakuya had just very effectively slipped his own sword past Abarai's own- and straight through his forearm.

"Good… move… sir," Abarai managed, through gritted teeth, as blood spurted horrifically in all directions. "Didn't see that coming. That's… uggh… match for me."

Oh, no. There was so much blood. Oh, no. Why did Abarai have so much blood in his body, and why did it always come out in such a horrific manner? The man truly had no respect for decorum.

"You tricked me!" Byakuya hissed. "You lured me in by pretending to forget how many times I have admonished you for retreating excessively!"

"That's… what you're mad about?"

"You didn't disarm me!" Byakuya continued. "You were supposed to do the old Shihouin defense, I was expecting you to do the Shihouin defense!"

Byakuya had kept his voice quiet, if vehement, but Renji winced anyway. "Didn't wanna do that in front of your granddad, sir."

"He loves that move! He would have been thoroughly impressed!"

Abarai frowned. "I don't care what he thinks about me, sir."

It took a moment to sink in. Abarai had just stayed his hand- had nearly lost a hand- out of- because- "Stop panicking and sit down, Abarai," Byakuya scolded, because he couldn't possibly focus on that, how could he focus on that when blood was spurting from the man like a very tacky decorative fountain?

"I'm not panicking," Renji pointed out. "I should probably go down to the Fourth, though."

"I said sit down! You are losing blood at a frankly alarming rate. Truly, you have no self-control. I will heal it."

"Sir, you don't hafta do that," Abarai protested, sinking to the ground. "Rikichi could patch me up well enough, or Rukia's here, she's got a lot of exp-"

"Nonsense," Byakuya snapped, pulling up a trauma kaido.

"Everything all right over there?" Ginrei's voice carried across the practice field.

"Everything is fine, I have just injured my lieutenant," Byakuya called back grouchily. "This happens all the time, he is very fragile."

Why did Abarai have so many blood vessels in his arm? Did everyone have so many blood vessels in their arm? This definitely seemed like more than a normal person should have. He tried to probe around the wound, hoping he hadn't managed to sever Abarai's reiatsu ducts as well. "Oh, no," he gasped.

Abarai's eyes went wide. "What? What's the matter?"

The spiritual throughway of Abarai's arm was a disaster. Where there should have been a delicate system of piping- which he shouldn't have even been able to affect with a sealed sword- was a tattered mess, a mangled open channel. These anatomical narrowings were essential to focusing reiatsu to produce kidou. Byakuya had ruined his lieutenant. He had destroyed a man's career.

"Abarai, I- I-" he didn't know what to say.

"Aaaaah, shit, is it my ducts?" Abarai groaned. "Don't worry about it, they've always been like that."

"What?" Byakuya echoed. "What? That's not possible. How do you function? Were you born like this? How do you cast kidou? How did you get into the Academy, let alone pass the lieutenant's exam?"

Abarai squeezed his eyes shut. "It was an accident when I was a kid. I... don't wanna talk about it."

"What do you mean, you don't want to talk about it?" Byakuya hissed back. "Is this the reason you are so dreadful at kidou? Has Captain Unohana seen it? What was the prognosis?"

Abarai blinked several times. "Captain, please. My head is gettin' kinda swimmy and the yelling isn't helping."

"I am not yelling, I am merely-"

"Is Renji okay, Brother?"

Both men froze. Rukia was trying to peer over Byakuya's shoulder. Shizue hovered behind her.

"You didn't cut his hand off, did you?"

"I did not!"

"Abarai Renji, you have way too much blood in you," Rukia scolded imperiously, not the least bit of actual concern in her voice. "Look at this mess!"

"I know," Renji admitted sheepishly, and it was suddenly extremely obvious to Byakuya that this was an act, a distraction. Clearly, he was embarrassed about the old injury and did not wish Rukia to find out about it, either. "A lot less in me than there usedta be though."

"I can take over, Brother," Rukia offered lightly. "Renji's arms are horrifying lumps of half-healed shrapnel, you shouldn't trouble yourself trying to dig through that mess."

"Well, neither should you," Byakuya retorted, suddenly invested in keeping Abarai's secret.

Rukia leveled her eyes icily at him. "Eh, a lot of it's my doing in the first place."

Rukia knew.

Renji's eyes darted, horrified, between the Kuchiki siblings, as they made very intense eye contact with one another.

"That was an excellent fight!" Ginrei's gravelly roar cut through the tension as he stepped up next to Byakuya. "Glad to see you've got a man capable of running you around, Byakuya. And you!" Ginrei bent down and rattled Renji's uninjured shoulder. "I have a move I want to show you. It's very effective against my grandson here, and he left himself wide open to it at the end there."

"I can use all the help I can get," Renji nodded. He was looking distinctly washed-out. Byakuya had stemmed the blood loss, but the man had to be at least a quart low by this point.

"Do you always do that yourself?" Ginrei frowned, surveying Byakuya's work. "I usually delegate that sort of thing to those who are good at it."

Byakuya scowled. "I am a perfectly capable healer, Grandfather."

"He's looking a little corpse-like, to be honest."

"Jus' give me a minute," Renji insisted, but his words were starting to slur. "I 'lways get a second wind."

"RIKICHI!" Rukia bellowed toward the sidelines. "Go get this man some milk!"

"On it, Lieutenant Kuchiki!" a squeaky voice shouted back.

"Milk?" Ginrei frowned.

"'S good for low reiryouku," Renji explained blearily.

"He believes in it strongly," Rukia explained, kneeling down beside him and putting a gentle hand on Renji's back. "You hanging in there, big guy?"

Something strange happened when Rukia touched Abarai. If Byakuya hadn't been elbows deep in Abarai's reiryouku, he wouldn't have noticed, wouldn't have felt that little thrum, that sensation of something snapping into place, and of Abarai's shaky, wobbling reiatsu abruptly stabilizing, shot through with silvery threads of Rukia's own.

It occurred to Byakuya suddenly, distressingly, that he had noticed they had come back from their winter mission changed. They were young and both in periods of great transition with regards to their powers. Abarai had just achieved bankai. Rukia was growing in leaps and bounds after a long period of stagnation. It was only natural that their reiatsu should change a bit. But somehow, he had utterly failed to notice until just now that they were changing toward each other. They were becoming alike. He knew a few people like that, who could thread their reiatsu through the warp and weft of their partner's, because in every case he'd ever seen, it amounted to a partnership, whether professional or- or-

"Here you gooooo, Lieutenaaaaaant!"

"Thanks, buddy," Abarai replied, his voice already sounding steadier as he accepted his dairy beverage from his subordinate and began to chug it.

"I have stopped the bleeding," Byakuya announced, his kaidou blinking out of existence. "You should probably go over to the Fourth anyway. Arterial injuries are likely to reopen if not properly cared for."

Abarai set his cup down and wiped his mouth with the back of his good arm. "Believe me, sir, no one knows that better'n me."

Byakuya chose not to interrogate that statement too deeply. "Take your time. And get some rest this afternoon." Some color had returned to Abarai's cheeks. Byakuya suspected this had more to do with Rukia's steadying hand between his shoulder blades than the milk. "Rukia, Sixteenth Seat Yuki, please accompany him to the Coordinated Relief Station."

"Yes, sir!" Yuki chirped.

Rukia looked at him strangely for a moment. "I'm happy to, but what about Cousin Shizue?"

Byakuya had honestly forgotten about his young cousin. She was hovering near Ginrei, wide-eyed. "I will take her and Grandfather home," he replied. "Shizue, I apologize. This was not a proper sight for a young lady."

"Eh, she wanted to see what the Gotei was like," Abarai replied, lurching to his feet with Rukia's support, Yuki hovering at the ready on his other side. "Sometimes it's like this. Oi! Good job, everyone! I'm proud o' all o' you! I gotta go to the medics, so listen to Ohno and I'll be back in an hour! Dismissed!"

Byakuya had somehow also forgotten that most of the squad was still standing around, although they were now scrambling to get back to work amid a few shouts of "Good fight, Captain!" and "Get well soon, Assistant Captain!"

"Thank you for the tour, Assistant Captain Abarai," Shizue said. She seemed less shaken than Byakuya would have expected for someone who had just witnessed the drama of Abarai's overactive circulatory system. Ginrei was also watching her with creased eyebrows, and Byakuya suspected that he was going to get an earful about exposing his delicate cousin to arterial spray. "It was very interesting, aside from the part where you got stabbed."

"I've definitely had worse," Abarai assured her.

"Stop bragging," Rukia scolded.

"I think," said Ginrei, "It is time to go home."


It was roughly four o'clock when Byakuya walked back into his office. "You are supposed to be resting. I have it on good authority that you were given explicit orders to rest."

"If I go to sleep," Abarai replied, moving a piece of paper from one pile to another, "I'll have a hard time wakin' up in time for the Ohno's party."

"Being stabbed in the arm is a perfectly valid reason to excuse oneself from a social event. I will give your regards personally, if you like."

"Naw, I want to go," Abarai insisted. He took a long drink from a cup on his desk. It looked like one of the unsettlingly thick nutritional beverages he often consumed in the mornings. "I feel fine. I'm really good at recovering from blood loss." He picked up his brush again and made a few marks on the paper in front of him.

Byakuya watched him for a moment. "You aren't left-handed."

"Nope."

Abarai kept writing, his brush very obviously in his left hand. Byakuya stalked over and snatched the top paper from his outbox. The handwriting was legible, only marginally worse than Abarai's usual chicken scratch. Byakuya stared at his adjutant, who continued to make eye contact only with his paperwork.

"You write very well with your left hand for someone who is not left-handed."

Abarai's nose twitched. "I learned back when I broke the arm originally," he finally grunted. "It took a long time to heal. Wasn't much else to do."

"You didn't answer any of my questions. Is this the reason for your abysmal capacity for casting kidou?"

"Maybe. Partly. Captain Aizen told me once that my reiatsu is too… turbulent for kidou, or something like that. Too hard to control. It was Aizen, though, so take it as you will."

"Horsefeathers," Byakuya sniffed. "Taming one's reiatsu is simply a matter of discipline. I spent half my childhood learning it."

"Yeah, well, I didn't," Renji replied glumly. "Add a set of busted ducts on top of that, and there didn't seem much point in bothering. On the bright side, I can force a ton of reiatsu down that arm, packs a pretty good wallop in a fist fight."

"That's a brute's tactic. It would be laughable against a skilled hakuda practitioner."

For the first time, Abarai looked up, his eyes peering past his stormy brows. "Not a lot of skilled hakuda practitioners in the outer Rukon. It kept me alive at a time when I didn't know how to do much else."

"How did it happen? The injury?"

Abarai's eyes darted back down to whatever benighted form he was pretending to fill out. "I told you, I broke it."

"How?"

"Doin' stupid stuff."

"Does it have to do with my sister?"

Abarai's face scrunched. "Sir, you've been happy with my performance up to now, right?"

"Reasonably," Byakuya shrugged.

"My arm's been messed up the whole time you've known me. Can y'please just let it lie?"

Byakuya was silent for a moment. "That idiot Zaraki has probably poisoned your brain, but has it never occurred to you how useful you would be if you could cast kidou?"

"O' course it's occurred to me!" Abarai muttered into his paperwork. "You think I like being crummy at it? You think I ever just settle for anything?" He clenched his jaw. "You asked if I had it looked at, and I did, years ago. The Fourth won't fix it for free because it happened before I joined the Gotei, and you know what I make, and also, it would lay me up for months and I never got that kinda time."

Byakuya watched him writing perfectly adequately with his off-hand for a moment longer. "You could still do paperwork. You would not need to take leave."

Renji's brush froze, oozing ink onto the page.

"You will make an appointment with Captain Unohana or Lieutenant Kotetsu. Do not settle for a lower-ranked officer. Tell me what they say. I will consider it a squad expense. I depend on you to watch my back, Lieutenant. I have frequently left the life of my precious sister in your hands. It is unacceptable that you should remain in such a state when such a paltry issue as money is the only deterrent."

Abarai stared at him fiercely for a moment, and Byakuya could literally hear Abarai growling "ain't paltry when you ain't got it", even though he was very clearly clamping his mouth shut.

Finally, he said, "This a new squad policy? Sir?"

"A new policy?"

"Of covering injuries the Gotei health plan don't. Is this just for lieutenants only? Seated officers? Or is it for everyone?" He paused before getting to the point. "If it's just for me, I won't accept it."

Argh, this irritating man! "There are very few members of Sixth Company who let their injuries fester for decades, Abarai," Byakuya rejoined.

"Good. Then we can afford to be generous," Renji replied. "I think we should cover everyone."

The 'we' had not gone unnoticed. "Do you have some reasoning behind this?"

"Because if Squad Five had this policy, you wouldn't be yellin' at me now."

That… was a good point, actually. "Won't this induce unhealthy people to join Squad Six?" he pointed out.

"Sir, anyone who can make it into our squad with some busted up body part is only gonna get better once it's fixed, right? That means we're gonna pick up people that other squads may've overlooked. Bargains, like."

"If it's such a good idea, won't the other squads adopt it as well? Negating our advantage?"

Renji shrugged. "Is that a bad thing?"

Abarai's logic was as maddening as Rukia's, at times. Nevertheless, how much could it possibly cost, ensuring that his squad members were fit for service? "Write me a proposal. We shall discuss it. Attach some paperwork to the process, that should deter those seeking to abuse the privilege."

"Yes, sir!" Abarai agreed.

"But do not delay on making your appointment with the Fourth. I do not have the time or energy to keep arguing this with you while my grandfather is lurking about, but we will discuss it on Monday, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Abarai echoed, a little less enthusiastically.

Byakuya settled down at his desk.

"Aren't you off today?" Renji pointed out.

Byakuya drummed his fingers on the desk. "I… told Grandfather that I had important paperwork to take care of. Because you wouldn't be able to write."

Renji looked at the brush in his hand, at the paper before him, and at Byakuya's empty in-tray. "Very good, sir," he agreed, and got back to work.