A/N: I heart you all. And to show how much I heart you all, I'm uploading the next chap as well. Thank you for reviewing my story so many times, they always make me want to write more and make the story better, and I also want to thank those who saw the pic I made, you people are the best XD. Plus, thanks, Lepoma, glad your grammer is better than mineXD

Chapter 8

"Get ready," he quickly said before reaching for his sword. He suddenly vanished and Rukia instantly reached for her sword, she had no time to think and acted on instinct. She could vaguely make out his form as he suddenly reappeared in the blink of an eye on her side.

Suddenly, their swords clashed. His Senbonzakura against her Sode no shirayuki. Rukia had no idea what nii-sama was thinking but felt she had to fight. She could feel adrenaline rushing through her body, heightening her senses. She rushed to swing her sword again.

Their swords continued to clash and gleam under the sunlight, slicing the air when they moved to attack the other. Rukia could handle herself because of her fast-feet work but Byakuya had strength on his side. He seemed to effortlessly block her attacks.

Byakuya suddenly flash-stepped towards a clearing ahead with Rukia quickly following him. They reached the spot at the same time. Again, metal hit metal. They both seemed to be dancing with each other, their combined reiatsu causing their robes to flutter about them when their swords connected.

Rukia realized something, that battling nii-sama was fun. He was holding back, she had already figured that out from the slow flash-step and the way he was mostly blocking attacks and leaving many openings. He wasn't letting anything show through his face but she knew him too well.

So this was a test, huh? He blinked his eyes when she suddenly smiled up at him.

Rukia saw him falter and quickly took the chance. Suddenly flash stepping back; she released her soul slayer to its shikai form. The sword gleamed brightly as a long white ribbon appeared on the end of its hilt, fluttering gently under an imaginary wind.

Byakuya did the same, releasing his Senbonzakura. A thousand sakura petals spread out from his swordless hilt, rushing towards her. She widened her stance and stayed rooted to her spot, quickly waiting for the right moment. She timed her move.

Just as the petals came ten feet within her radius, she did her first soul dance. A great beam of blinding, white light erupted around her and she quickly flash stepped out of the way.

The chilly beam froze all the petals within it's circle, making them fall to the ground and crash. Her soul dances had been weak before, only covering about a ten square radius with it's coldness. Now they froze anything within their twenty foot circle.

The ground froze over, forming icicles everywhere and the sky within the white beam began to sparkle. She stood quietly in the icy clearing, her sword still clenched tightly as she tried to regain her breath. She looked at Byakuya, he was silently watching her.

Byakuya lowered the hilt of his sword and called back Senbonzakura. Rukia did the same and her soul slayer turned back to normal. She silently waited for his answer.

"You have my permission," he calmly said and turned away, flash stepping after a few feet.

Rukia looked confusedly at the empty space where nii-sama had stood, wondering what he had said. Only when she saw Captain Ukitake and Renji's faces- that were as shocked as hers- had she realized what nii-sama had said. Captain Ukitake smiled, "well congratulations Rukia-san, I'm glad that I'll be able to work with you."

Rukia just nodded like an idiot before Renji patted her on the back, hard. "Well, wasn't that interesting?" Renji merrily said. "I honestly could have done better but-OW!" Renji rubbed his stomach. Rukia just laughed.

She did it. She became lieutenant.

Byakuya finished off his paperwork. It was nearly dark outside and he was about to head over to the dining room for dinner. He just sat there instead, thinking about a certain raven-haired female.

Byakuya had been impressed by her progress; the reports had not done her justice. Her kidou had been powerful, though it might have been more powerful due to her anger. He hadn'y been oblivious to the fact that she had been furious when she thought he hadn't come.

She must have pictured him as those boards, he dryly thought.

Her flash step was exceptionally good as well. Byakuya had carefully observed her flash-step. She had disappeared on the 'f' and appeared at the 'a' of Ukitake's 'flash,' which was faster then any ordinary shinigami could do.

Her sword skills were also impressive; she had skillfully dodged his attacks and made up for her lack of strength with her foot work. Byakuya had held back but only a little.

He hated to admit it, but he had only been looking at her face the entire time, a bit too preoccupied by her expressions. He had been very close to her, so much so that his mind had been beginning to race somewhere else.

Then she had smiled at him all of a sudden and he had suddenly lost his focus, giving her that opening. He had to applaud her on doing that. Her final move had been clever, he hadn't thought of that possibility. But then again, he hadn't really been able to string coherent thoughts during the entire time.

He finally had seen, first hand, how much Rukia had progressed. She had worked so hard and improved so much for that very purpose. He realized that denying her that wish would have broken her heart and he just could not do that to her. So he let her become lieutenant, he would allow her the happiness of wearing a lieutenant badge.

But he still was not going to let her go on any missions, he would secretly make sure of that. She could do paper work for all he cared.

Someone knocked on his door. "Nii-sama, permission to enter?"

What the hell was she doing here? Byakuya felt his heart race in that very annoying way whenever Rukia was nearby.

"Enter."

Rukia slid open the door. Nii-sama was sitting by his desk in his night clothes, his Kenseiken off, and was looking at her questioningly. She stood by the doorway and bowed down. "Sorry for disturbing you, nii-sama, but I wanted to thank you for coming to see me practice today, even though you had a busy schedule." She stayed bowed but raised her head to look at him and smile happily, "and thank you so much for permitting me to become lieutenant, nii-sama. I'm extremely grateful for what you have done."

Byakuya remained impassive as he regarded her for a second and turned away, "you do not need to thank me. As you had quoted earlier, you are more than worthy for this position." He shuffled the papers on his desk into a neat pile and said coolly, "you are dismissed."

When he didn't hear the door slide open he turned around to find Rukia still standing there, biting her lip.

He chose to ignore that last detail. "Anything else, Rukia?"

E/N: Go ahead, click that arrow