TININIT! TININIT!

The alarm clock seemed to be dancing on the table, joyously, oh too joyously for Renji's comfort. Not a morning man himself, he tried slapping the alarm clock shut, but as luck would have it, the dancing made the clock move forward from the night-stand and his random slapping encouraged it to fall to the ground.

Now, Renji had to either get up, pick it up from the ground and shut it physically, or he had to slide his hand down to the ground without moving out of the blanket to retrieve the horrendous thing and close it shut.

Renji was going to do the latter when he heard soft footsteps climbing up the stairs.

'Three. Two. One.' Renji counted in his mind.

Knock. Twist.

The doorknob gave a 'Kaching' sound as a soft yet harsh hand rotated it.

"Abarai, wake up and get ready before my feet reaches the last step. Otherwise, I'll leave you behind." Voice monotonous and cold like ice, Byakuya was no different in the World of the Living than he was in the Soul Society. And Renji, well he was used to it, but more annoyed these days.

"You can leave me here for all I care, I can follow you just fine," Renji muttered to the empty room as softly as he could, for Byakuya may not be his favourite but he was his Captain and he knew better than to say that aloud.

"Then you can follow me as you so wish after you've cleaned the whole house and cooked two meals for the day," Byakuya's voice came floating through the air and cut through Renji's ears as he sauntered to his bath room.

"Shit!" Renji uttered and then winced.

'He's heard it, I am dead,' Renji thought vaguely as he rushed through the washing and cleansing process before shunpoing in and out of his room and cupboards to get his clothes.

"Buttoning this stuff is nasty!" Renji threw his hands up in exasperation.

8:05 AM. Office would start in 30 minutes.

Renji rushed to the window to see the silver-clipped man walking out of the house with his attire on properly, his hair shining and set with gel, and his right hand holding his make-shift zanpaktou brief-case while his right hand was eased into his pocket of the trousers. All in all, Byakuya Kuchiki's love for solid colours was evident: Off white and grey outfit. If people in the Soul World saw this man, they would not recognize. But there he was walking like a model, gaining all the eyes that could feast on his figure mentally.

'Physically, he'd slash them to death. Scatter Senbon zakura Kageyoshi he'd say and all would just be turned to molecular pieces,' Renji smirked. Yes, he knew his taichou very well.

Finally hacking the way to button up quickly (by leaving the first three buttons open and closing all of them and then putting it on) Renji rushed too. He mentally noted how easily he'd discarded his taichou's orders to clean and cook. He assured himself, he'd do it later. Like he would exist once Byakuya came home to let him live to do the tasks. But there was no time and the shadowing needed to be done.

In the office:

"Kuchiki-san! This material needs to be reviewed for the printing press before 6 PM today!" J-san yelled at the top of his lungs, making Byakuya wince mentally and Renji startle so hard that he almost ran out of his gigai.

"Hai!" Byakuya san replied back, cold dripping his words and freezing them mid-air.

Mone-chan, Renji noticed, giggled at her seat for some reason. Renji scowled. What is with girls liking Byakuya here as well?

'I mean,' Renji pondered, 'it was understandable that the people in Seiretei saw his taichou use his powers with ease and take down Hollows like they were clothes hanging on the poles, but here, he was just another man working a shift. If anything, 'He' was the sweet-talker. Renji had the best smile and cool tattoos, but no, people had to fall for the cold man…What was that term they used? Tsundere? Yes, he'd heard the girls talking the other day in the break room…'

"Eh~ Byakuya san has such a cold-word-but-warm-heart style! What are you saying, Yana-chi!" Mone-chan was heard saying.

"Nani, nani! About whom are you talking about?" Ichi-chan had butted in, sipping coffee and Renji, Renji had hid himself in the coffee-room.

"Don't you know? The Tsundere man!" Mone-chan spoke excitedly.

"Ooh~ Even I like him! Cold eyes and calm voice, I only wonder what he would be like…you know privately!" Ichi-chan's thoughts on the matter had definitely earned some squeals from the other girls.

'These girls,' Renji thought, 'have no idea who Byakuya Kuchiki is. Girls? He's not interested in. The only one he was interested in, is dead. Hisana sama, Rukia's sister.'

A tap on his shoulder jolted him back.

"Ah! Taic…. Byakuya san!" Renji hesitated. They couldn't call each other Taichou and Lieutenant here. They had a cover to keep while the investigation lasted.

"It's lunch break," Byakuya spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Renji creased his brows. And then slapped his head.

"Right," he said, making a move to get up.

'Of course,' Renji thought, 'it was time.'

Renji heaved a sigh.

"Meet me in the third-floor corridor within 20 minutes or I'll consider you dead." Byakuya's words held no care for him and that was normal.

If the girls could hear these things now. Would they squeal with pleasure or frown? He couldn't decipher. If it were him, he would…feel…well, what would he feel? Renji couldn't decipher that either.

Thinking on this any longer would've given Renji a killer headache, so he moved to his place of search. Unohana's lecture was repeating in his mind on repeat as he searched:

"The thing that you are looking for looks like a capsule but a mediocre size. It is the size of your arm but sleek and slender. So it should weigh only about 30 kilos," Unohana spoke, pausing to show them a life-sized image of it. Byakuya and Renji both slightly bent in to see the image.

"Once you find it, do not touch it. Send a Hell Butterfly and my team will come to retrieve it," Mayuri sama suddenly spoke up from his place, "but that's the least of your problems: We do not know where it is located. All we know was that Aizen had handed it to one of his minions to hide it and he had hidden it in the World of The Living. The tracking device on it was turned off at this place," Unohana pointed now at the monitor and the duo looked at the place keenly.

"It is what they call a newspaper company," Nemu-san spoke up. She then reached to the two of them and handed them a tracking device with the last recorded coordinates registered.

"Find it and send a butterfly. The rest my team will do," Mayuri sama spoke.

Byakuya only nodded while Renji stared first at the coordinates and then at the Crazy guy(Mayuri Sama's nickname)

"Why not let Ichigo retrieve it? He would be the best bet." Renji's words fell short and sounded sour to Mayuri san. He turned a sharp turn and looking straight at Renji spoke, "We would've but he's refused to do it. Something about being on a honeymoon with Hime san. As though pro-creation is important than this. If he wants children so bad, I could make countless ones for him, but he wouldn't hand me his body nor Orihime-chan's body. Che!" And with that he was gone, Nemu at his heel.

They would've entered the place undetected as a soul reaper but Mayuri's warning of "that object is only visible to the living. When we are souls, it is quite invisible," had turned them both upset. Renji knew how irritating it was to be in a gigai, the limitations were tiring, and Byakuya found no fun in being visible to people.

"So I've asked Kisuke-sama to make a gigais for the both of you. When you reach there, just ask Ichigo to contact him and you will have your bodies." Mayuri had finished and left. When Renji and Byakuya arrived and finally got their gigais, understanding how to maintain them took them more hours than understanding the whole mission.

Kisuke spoke, "Well, these are new prototypes. They are not like the others. You have to maintain them like you'd maintain your own bodies. Provide food, digest and excrete. Take a bath twice a day with soap and shampoo the hair. Trim the nails and stuff like that."

"It's like getting an actual body," Renji had spoken in amazement.

"Well, the benefit is you can move in and out of this gigai much easily. In short, it has all human needs." Kisuke san's explanation was easy but too lengthy. By the time they had located their home and familiarized themselves with the place, night had fallen.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Renji's tracking device beeped louder, bringing him back to the present. Yes, it was beeping too loud but where? All Renji could see was a dead-end. He pulled out his phone and called Byakuya.

"Did you find it?" Renji heard him say. 'Wow classic Byakuya, no hi, no hello.'

"Yeah, it was beeping madly but all I see is a dead-end. You should come."

"Hmm. Where's –"

"Hello? Taichou sama?" but there was only static on the other side. Renji froze in place. Was it a hollow attack? No, he'd feel it from here at least. Then…then what was it? But before he could think, he realized his feet were doing their own task. Of running to his Taichou.

A black haze. But before Renji could stop from his run, he'd collided with a stoic pole. Or person. He didn't know…yet?

"Ah! Get off!" Renji heard his Taichou speak but from where?

"I said get off!" Renji looked down and immediately rolled away. Byakuya got up, rotated his left arm and glared at Renji.

"Where the hell were you going? I was coming to you. I told you so! Why didn't you listen?" Byakuya's otherwise cold voice was both low and icy.

Renji furrowed his brows as they lined up together. "I didn't hear you Taichou. Your voice broke. So, I got worried and was rushing over." Renji's explanation should have had a calming effect but instead seemed to infuriate the man even further.

"Renji, tell me, does the human gigai make your brain weaker like the body? If I were in trouble, do you think you could handle the situation? When I couldn't? Just do what you are told to do, hmm? Now, direct me to the point of identification," Byakuya motioned him to lead.

Renji got up and dusting himself began to move to the direction when he saw…

"What the hell?" Renji cursed under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Byakuya spoke.

"Taichou the turning was right here but now it's blocked. There is a wall where the turning used to be," Renji spoke, his hands frailing to the ceiling and back.

Tit! Tit! Tit! Tit!

Byakuya's phone rang. He looked at the number. "We must get back; the head is calling. We'll come here another time," he eyed Renji and then shunpoed.

It was evening when they'd completed their tasks and all were wishing the other, "Good work today!" "Take care!" Or "reach home safe!" Byakuya seemed to receive a lot more than just that.

"Ne, ne Byakuya san~" one of the girls spoke cutely to him, "want to go together home? We can also drop by and eat something?"

Renji's ears perked up at this.

Byakuya lifted his head, stared at her with the look of 'you are a glass and nothing else' look and said, "I'm busy."

Was it the way he said it or the way he looked, somehow the girl could not say anything further but nod.

"Eh~ That's bad! Maybe next time…" she spoke and walked off with her friends.

Renji got up from his seat and went over to his taichou's with his brief-case, "Shall we go?" he asked in a low voice.

"What took you so long?" Byakuya worded back, shocking Renji. 'Was he waiting for me to…but no…maybe he wants to maintain the pretense.'

Once out of the building, they shunpoed home.

Only outside the house did Renji remember having assuring himself something. What was that again? Ah…yes!

Renji smacked his forehead so hard; he could feel his hairline recede even further. He was dead. There was no food at home. And the home was dirty. He wanted to go live in his office. 'Much safer there now…' he shuddered as he thought about the consequences.

He entered in to an even colder looking Byakuya. He looked as though he had been frozen like a popsicle. Renji gulped.

"You dare disobey orders now Renji?" Byakuya spoke ice dripping his tongue and condensing Renji's blood.