A/N:Hello again. I want to thank all those who reviewed, faved and put my story on their alert lists. Hell, I even want to thank all those who took the time to read this story. I have a confession though.

I-LOVE-YOU!! X...X tis true.

Disclaimer:I do not own Bleach but I am in deep shit. You see, I ACCIDENTALLY broke one of Byakuya's hair strands and the owners are suing me for it. Now, I don't have that much cash in my piggy bank...I hate to ask, but does anybody want to help me kidnap Byakuya. See, if I hold him hostage, they might drop the charges...and I would get some Byaxme time...eh (nudgenudge) eh.

P.S. What's the difference between a lime and a lemon? Never got that one O.o

Chapter 4

Byakuya went straight back to the manor. Servants awaited his arrival, greeting him in the main hallway. He noticed none of them as he walked past them towards his room with dark footsteps, anger radiating from every step he made. The servants scattered back to their posts after he left, not wanting to get in their master's way. The atmosphere around him felt a bit too forbidding.

Byakuya didn't make a sound as he slid open the door to his room and closed it, albeit a little forcefully. He tried hard to repress his anger but he wanted to tear someone up so badly, no, he wanted to tear her up. This was all her fault, he thought menacingly. Everything was her fault. He had made the biggest mistake of his life by adopting her. She was doing it all on purpose. How dare she play with his mind during his every waking hour, make him want her even more whenever she smiled at him or looked at him with adoration in her beautiful, violet eyes. It had to be a planned act. There was no way someone could be that seductive without knowing what they were doing.

And today she had stood up against him to defend those damned, insignificant shinigami who had been crudely disrespecting her. She had not known that, but Byakuya had heard their comments. Nobody did that to a Kuchiki, nobody, without paying for the consequences. Byakuya had only been looking out for her best interests; it was his responsibility as her brother to do so.

Byakuya sighed as he fell down upon a chair. He stretched out his legs in front of him to ease his tension. His headache was increasing no matter how much he rubbed his temples.

No, that wasn't the truth. They were only pitiful excuses to pacify his ego that he wasn't the wrong one. The truth was that he wasn't as angry with Rukia as he was with himself. His rage was self-directed. No doubt, he had been furious with those bastards for disrespecting Rukia, but he would never have been so angry had it been just another Kuchiki member.

Had that been the case, he would have killed the offenders but would have kept his reiatsu in control. Byakuya even doubted whether he would be angry at them for disregarding his clan. As with everyone else in his life; he only felt indifference for the other members of his clan. If the time ever came, he would probably only defend his clan out of responsibility.

But they had been ogling Rukia, his Rukia. His anger had only heightened when they mentioned Kurosaki Ichigo's name. That had been the last straw.

He hated to admit it but most of his anger had sparked from jealously. Yes, Kuchiki Byakuya was jealous, because a nobody like Kurosaki had probably done all those things to Rukia which he could only dream about and that pissed him to no end. Rukia was his, Byakuya thought furiously, she was meant to be his and only his. Only he was damned allowed to kiss her and hear her moan with pleasure. Only he was allowed to touch her intimately. Not Kurosaki and not anyone else.

Byakuya clenched his jaw at his thoughts. It was impossible. Rukia would never be his. How could she, when all she thought of him was 'nii-sama'. He was a brother to her and nothing else. Her eyes never held that dark lust for him, only mild adoration and…respect. He didn't want to be the recipient of those types of emotions. He would trade them in a heartbeat to make her feel exactly what he felt for her.

But all that aside, even if he did try to kiss Rukia, she would probably run away crying 'incest' for the next thousand years.

Even if Byakuya desperately wanted her he could never do that to her. It was undeniable that he did care for her, even in a brotherly sort of way. No; not out of duty to Hisana's wishes. That obligation had long evaporated. He no longer thought of her as 'Hisana's sister' but as 'Kuchiki Rukia'; an actual part of his family.

The day he had realized that was the day he had saved Rukia from Ex-captain Ichimaru's sword. Rukia was like the family he never had, like the sister he never had. He knew that Hisana had wished for that all along and Byakuya was finally able to stop grieving over her death, knowing that he had made her happy. He was never going to forget the short time he had with Hisana, but he was also going to take a chance at happiness again. The moment he had made that decision, he had felt lighter, as if a big burden had been taken off his chest.

So he took a chance at living again. He didn't stop acting impassive and aloof; those were traits that had been drilled into him ever since he was a child. It was unheard of a clan leader smiling and laughing excessively and he didn't think he had it in him anyway, but, he started to take things less seriously.

Rukia had helped him lighten up. He found sitting at the table during breakfast and listening to her incessant chatter strangely appealing. He had kept his 'brushing people off and ignoring them' to a minimum, only doing it to people he clearly hated. He even tolerated his clan, though that had only been possible since they had all taken a certain fondness to Rukia.

People admired the 'Kuchiki Siblings' even more; they both were strong and beautiful and Rukia's kindness made up for Byakuya's lack of it. 'The dynamic pair' was what he often heard people say when mentioning them and that always reminded him of how proud and honored he was to be her brother.

Exactly when had that brotherly love changed to something more intimate? He did not know. All he did know was that he had been looking at her lips a bit too much than he should have.

Byakuya felt pathetic; torn between making hot, passionate love to her and breaking all good relations they had with each other and letting her go to have hot, passionate sex with Kurosaki, so that Byakuya could at least get to keep her by his side, even though that meant as brother and sister.

He was both pathetic and a coward; choosing neither option and preferring to daydream about her instead. The first dream about Rukia had disgusted him at first and he had blamed it on not being with a woman for more than fifty years but now he just couldn't seem to live without dreaming about her. They were his aphrodisiac, his reward for a long and tiring day. The daydreams had become so frequent but he still couldn't get enough of them.

He was truly sick and he bloody well knew it. Sometimes his conscience would come to life; calling him all sorts of low for thinking about Rukia; the girl who truly regarded him as a brother, in such a perverted manner. It would always get to him and he would swear to stop thinking about her like that again. He would then try anything to preoccupy his mind; training, battling or working till he could think of nothing but sleep. But whenever he stopped to rest his thoughts would always drift to her, and before he knew it he would start dreaming again. It was just so enticing to think about her edging towards him with those mesmerizing eyes, hands already at work. It was scarily addictive.

And after that he would snap back to reality, wondering where his conscience had gone to, only to have it come back again and chide him for slipping up. His conscience was a hypocritical, old bastard, Byakuya thought, disappearing when it was most needed and reappearing only to reproach him.

Byakuya could solve the problem, all he had to do was grab any accommodating female, and god knows there were quite a few who would gladly give themselves to him. But he couldn't do that. First, it was something Byakuya could not do too often. As head of the Kuchiki clan, captain of the sixth squad and a person who everyone looked upto, he wasn't allowed that luxury. He had to set an example for the rest of soul society.

But most importantly, he just couldn't muster an inkling of desire for anyone besides Rukia. Her power over him was that much.

Byakuya was in deep shit, he knew it, and he was not getting out of it anytime soon.

E/N: Well there you have it. I know most of you wanted to find out about the punishment but I felt that this was an important chapter to write, to clear up his past. I needed to mention Hisana, because people might think him a bastard for wanting Rukia when he was clearly in love with Hisana. But Byukuya and Hisana's time together was so short, it's impossible to think he would remain a widower for the rest of his life, not when he has an ass like that XD

Anyway, this will probably be the last philosiphical chapter, next chapter will have some steamy Byaruk moments. Again, thanks for reading this chapter. Bye