A/N: As always, happy birthday to Leazher, my Lovepanda, the one-and-only Rukia-chan. You ancient hag.

Love, chickenpony.

:*

'Kuchiki Byakuya,' he signed off. Carefully, he re-read the letter that betrayed all his meticulously hidden emotions. He stared disdainfully at the page then folded it up and placed it in a wooden jewellery box with all the others he had written over the years. All the letters he would never dare send…

Rukia knew what she was doing was both wrong and dangerous. If her brother ever found out she was in his study without his permission… She shuddered. She didn't even want to imagine consequences that dire, but she suspected her punishment would kick off with the word "scatter."

She couldn't help it. Her birthday was the following day and Renji had told her he saw her brother hiding her gift in his desk. She was mad with curiosity, but Renji refused to tell her what he saw. She had tried to guess, but he just smiled knowingly at her whenever she did. That idiot! It was hard to imagine that Renji could keep a secret like that, but of course, this one time, just because it would annoy her, he could. She had tried every method of persuasion and interrogation in her arsenal, including beating him to the brink of death, but he wouldn't give her so much as a hint.
She had to know!
Maybe it was that limited edition Chappie she wanted, no, needed! Rukia squealed with anticipation, then quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. Her heart pounded like a runaway racehorse. If she was found here at this ungodly hour…
Rukia listened for a moment, absolutely silent, frozen in place, waiting for Byakuya to suddenly emerge from the shadows. Finally certain she was still safe, she continued systematically searching his drawers. So far, her search had been wildly unsuccessful: paperwork, ink and brushes, paperwork, paperwork, a book on calligraphy, more paperwork. She crossed her fingers that the final drawer would contain the answers she sought.

Praying silently to Chappie, she slowly opened the last drawer. She was relieved to see it didn't contain paperwork, but instead a wooden jewellery box.
At first she was disappointed that she had been unable to find out what her gift was after risking her neck, but she supposed she should have expected that level of unreliability. She did get her information from Renji. Then it occurred to her that the gift might be in the box. Of course! Her brother wouldn't buy anything as common as a plushie, even if it was a limited edition plushie! It was probably those cute Chappie earrings she secretly admired!

She carefully opened the jewellery box, wondering what was going through Byakuya's head when he decided to keep a jewellery box a) in his desk and b) unlocked. To her relief it wasn't the noisy, musical kind of jewellery box. The kind that would get her caught and killed. Unfortunately, what it also wasn't, was a container for her birthday gift. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was filled with letters. More bloody letters. Of course. Typical.
She was just about to give up and go to bed, when she noticed they were all addressed to her. I shouldn't read them, she thought, I shouldn't be rifling through Nii-sama's things in the first place. I should put everything back and go to bed. If he wanted me to read these, he would have sent them instead of hiding them. I should leave. Right now.

In the end, curiosity won out and she began to read.

Byakuya din't bother dressing when he heard a crash coming from the direction of his study. He just grabbed his zanpakutou and disappeared off to the room in question. He was one-hundred-percent ready for battle, but he stopped dead in his tracks, aghast, when he saw the intruder was Rukia, and the loud noise was the jewellery box clattering to the floor. His jewellery box. The secret one. The one containing his letters. The private letters addressed to Rukia. The ones she never, ever should have seen. The ones she was reading at that moment, right in front of him. Curses.
"Rukia," he said darkly.
She looked up immediately. He couldn't understand her expression, but his guess was that it was some version of overwhelming disgust. "Nii-sama…" she whispered timidly.
"I can explain," they said simultaneously.