A/N: Hey! Katze here! I know you all want to flame me for updating so late...I really don't blame you. I'm extremely sorry, if that'll make you feel any better, and I hope this chapter will make you forgive me for my inexcusable laziness. Thank you Silver Ice Dragon Princess for the much needed smack upside the head...can't thank you enough XD

This is the second last chapter...or third last chapter of Bad Intentions. It'll officially end then. I'm so happy that so many of you have been following this story, it really makes me happy. I can't thank you enough. And your reviews are like gold to me, hearing from readers telling me that reading my story made them interested in the ByaRuki pairing...well, I honestly can't tell you how much that means to me. It's a dream come true for me. So, here's a kitkat, cookie, bearhug and chapter for you all...enjoy!

Disclaimer: Bleach is way too awesome...and therefore can't possibly be owned by me.

Chapter 14

They quietly walked side by side; Byakuya silently looking straight ahead, his jaw set and gaze hard. Rukia kept looking at the floor. She sneaked a peek at him beneath her lashes, opening her mouth to say something but closed it after a moment, looking elsewhere. He seemed a bit furious for some reason, even though he was just fine a moment ago.

Being close to him made her recall her conversation with Matsumoto. Sneaking another peek at him, she silently wondered whether he was lonely. Maybe he really was; he hardly spent any time with anyone. Whenever Rukia was with him he was either quietly working or silently eating his meal. But then again, she hardly spent any time with him. The longest time she could say she spent in his company was when…when they spent that night together.

Rukia blushed furiously, shaking her head -removing the images from her mind- before quickening her pace to match up to her brother's more larger one. She didn't need to think of that, she was already too confused to understand what was happening between them and didn't need flashbacks to make it any more difficult for her.

So what if Byakuya was lonely, how could she possibly help that? Her role in his life was…what? After everything that had happened between them, what were they now?

Rukia opened her mouth once more to voice her thoughts. "Nii-sama, I-"

Her words caught in her throat when Byakuya suddenly grabbed hold of her wrist. He quickly swerved to his left, opening a random door at the same time. She could only gasp as he dragged her into what seemed to be an empty office room, with a few open windows situated on the wall opposite the door. The room was bare except for the large desk and chairs placed to their left. Rukia looked away from the desk; it brought too many vivid memories.

Byakuya closed the door behind them with one hand, not letting go of Rukia with the other, and pushed her against it, using his free hand to lock the door. Rukia tried to move away from his reach but he trapped her on both sides with his arms.

Rukia helplessly looked up, her heart hammering from being so close to him. "N-Nii-sama…"

Byakuya looked at her intently, raising a single eyebrow. "I think, that after all that has happened, calling me 'nii-sama' sounds inappropriate. Do you not think so?"

"Uh..I…" Dammit! Why is it so difficult to say something in front of him? Rukia knew she was blushing, she seemed to always do that in his presence now. She stopped stammering to look down uncomfortably.

"What business did you have with my lieutenant?" Byakuya coolly asked. Rukia's head shot up to look at him. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw clenched tightly. He said nothing as he silently demanded an answer from her. She looked away from him when his intensity became too unbearable.

"I…well, nothing, nii-uh…nii…" She was having a hard time figuring out what to call him.

"Is my name that difficult to pronounce?" he asked icily.

Rukia looked down again. "Byakuya-sama," she choked out in a low whisper, blushing all the more furiously.

She felt him come closer but kept looking down. He bent down to whisper in her ear, "no honorific, Rukia."

Rukia shot her head up again for the second time, looking completely horrified. "I can't say that!" She struggled out of his grasp, without success. "That's…that-"

"Something only lovers can do?" he interjected quietly, making Rukia suck in a breath. She stopped struggling to look at him. He leaned closer till his lips hovered above hers, his breath warm against her face.

"I would like it a lot of you would call me by my name, Rukia."

He was doing it again; stretching her name like he couldn't part away from it. She couldn't look away from his eyes, their darkness were pulling her in. Her mind was rapidly loosing whatever coherent thoughts it had contained, giving way to jumbled up emotions she couldn't make any sense of.

Screw it! She didn't want to anyway. Her logic was slipping; giving way to a desire to touch the man in front of her, to feel his lips and his skin on her. She suddenly felt like she could give up the familiarity of calling him 'brother' to feel what she had felt last night with him. Hell, she felt like she could do anything to be with him once more, even do Renji's paperwork. She unknowingly grasped the front of his robe tightly.

Byakuya moved past her lips towards her neck and Rukia stifled the urge to cry out in annoyance. He didn't touch her but spoke in a low voice. "Stop spending time with my lieutenant."

Rukia blinked. That was not what she had wanted to hear. "Huh?"

Byakuya looked up, his eyes slightly hard. "My lieutenant, Rukia. Abarai Renji? Stop spending so much time with him."

She looked at him confusedly, her haziness slowly clearing. "Why?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Because you spend too much time with him."

"But, he's a very good friend of mine, nii-"

Byakuya banged the door with his fist. "Do not call me that!" he nearly shouted.

"Byakuya," Rukia quickly said, a little too intimidated by his outburst. He never banged doors before. She was beginning to feel very foolish for her previous thoughts of kissing him. Now that she could think a little more clearly she realized the impossibility of anything happening between, too many complications would arrive. They weren't living in some fairytale.

Matsumoto was wrong, this was all wrong. She needed to get out of here as soon as-

Her thoughts were interrupted when he pressed his lips against hers. Her mind went haywire. He wasn't kissing her with passion or lust. He was kissing her tenderly. His lips touching hers were soft and light, like he was conveying a hidden emotion to her. Worry, or panic maybe, but what was most prominent was the possessiveness behind it.

It stole her breath away.

Rukia felt her knees go weak. His kiss seemed to sap all her energy out of her. It wasn't like the kiss they had shared in her bathroom, although that had been just as sweet. The emotion behind this kiss was staggering her. She held onto him blindly, her hands gripping the front of his robe as her knees finally buckled.

Byakuya ended it abruptly, removing one hand from the door to place it softly on her cheek. "Can I help it that I want to keep you all to myself," he said in a low whisper, his voice slightly ragged.

Rukia's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't look away from his eyes. There was something so solemn about them, filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place. He suddenly frowned, looking away towards the window.

"What I mean is that, I have been waiting for this for a long, long… time," he struggled to find the words. Rukia's heart sped up. "And, now that we can finally be together, I don't want to waste a moment without you."

He looked back at her, possessiveness flickering in his eyes. "And I do not like it when you spend time with other men." He paused for a second. "No, 'do not like' is not strong enough. I hate it when you spend time with men besides myself."

"B-But, that's something that comes with my job," Rukia uncertainly said, his gaze making her more uncomfortable.

Byakuya looked at her for a moment before letting out a frustrated sigh and dropping his head, resting his forehead on her shoulder.

Her body stiffened from the contact. He let out another sigh. "Can I help it that you mean too much to me?"

Her heart skipped a beat. In all the many years that Rukia had known him, he had never once opened up to her about his feelings. It was just how he was, impassive to the point of being emotionless. He seemed like a totally different person right now. There was something so helpless and defeated about him. It made her heart squeeze.

"I'll…try not to see Renji so much," she whispered. Talking in a normal voice felt too difficult at the moment.

"Rukia, the case is not about you being able to see Abarai," he said, raising his head up to look at her. Rukia looked back at him confusedly.

"Then what?"

"The case is that you are not mine no matter how much I want you to be. I want everyone to know that you are not available. But most of all, I can not accept this secrecy. It's against whatever I have been taught as a person."

Rukia widened her eyes, her breathing halted. "What do you want then?"

"Marry me," he calmly answered.

Rukia felt her jaw drop. She tried to close it a few times, unsuccessfully. Byakuya patiently waited for her to say something.

She found her voice. "I can't, nii-"

He cut her short by kissing her once more, but not softly this time. His hands dug in her hair as his mouth immediately slanted over hers, the onslaught of his passion pushing all previous thoughts out of her mind. She instantly snaked her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with the same amount of force. His hands fell to her waist and he easily lifted her off the floor. He held on to her tight as she wrapped her legs around him.

Byakuya carried her towards the empty desk, his lips never leaving hers. Rukia's hands grabbed fistfuls of his hair, her sudden urgency to get more from him overcoming her previous thoughts on this all being bad for them.

She pulled his hair downwards to lift his face, opening his mouth at the same time to deepen the kiss. He easily complied, letting out a small pleasured moan as she slipped her tongue past his lips. She felt an odd sense of déjà vu as he put her down on the desk, unwrapping his arms from around her waist to place his hands on either side of her face.

But instead of doing what she thought he would, he abruptly pulled his lips away. Rukia let out a frustrated moan, looking at him furiously. His eyes were as dark as she suspected hers were.

"Do you not want this?" he huskily asked, trying to steady his breathing. "Are you okay with continuing this in secret? Hiding in empty offices?"

It took her some time but Rukia looked away, his words finally getting to her. "But, isn't this…wrong?" she asked in a whisper.

Byakuya bent down to nuzzle against her neck, his mouth just above her collarbone. Rukia closed her eyes, unintentionally craning her neck more towards his lips, reveling in the feeling of them against her skin. "And what is so wrong about this?"

She opened her eyes again, blinking a few times to shake the sensations his mouth was making. "This..we're related. Even though it's only on paper, but…well"

"It's perfectly okay, Rukia. And I personally think the elders would be thrilled by the prospect of us marrying. I think they have been secretly wishing that for a long time."

"But, Hisana, you were married to her!"

Rukia froze after she blurted that out, her eyes wide as saucers. She felt Byakuya stiffen against her neck.

He slowly straightened to look at her.

"Correct, I was married to her," he said with narrow eyes. "What does that have to do with this?"

"She was my sister and your wife. I-It doesn't seem right…like I'm betraying her. And you love her," she mumbled the last part, looking away. Somehow, saying that made her heart feel heavy.

Byakuya placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face for her to look at him. "Correction. I loved her. The time I spent with her was short and sweet, and I suspect I never had enough time to fully understand her, but that all happened so long ago, Rukia. What I feel for you is entirely different."

"How is it different?" She whispered. Byakuya took a moment to answer.

"It is even sweeter."

Rukia looked back at him, surprised. "But, I thought, that you thought I was some kind of… well, replacement to her, since we look so similar."

He narrowed his eyes, suddenly pushing her backwards- albeit a little forcefully- down on the desk. Rukia gasped, her heart beginning to hammer even faster when Byakuya grabbed hold of both her wrists and pinned her down, bending over to glare icily at her.

"Replacement? You thought you were, a replacement!?"

Rukia stared back at him, speechless. She could feel his reiatsu sparking.

"Throughout the night, when I called out to you and not Hisana, you thought it was because you were a replacement!"

"I-I…" His voice seemed to be rising too.

"Where did you get that idea from!?" his nearly shouted, his eyes looking slightly hurt. "How could you think so low of me!?"

"I don't know!" She nearly shouted back. " What other reason is there!? Out of all the women in Seireitei, why me!?"

"Because I love you!"

Rukia froze. Whatever she had been planning to say flew out of her head.

"What?" she asked, slightly stupefied.

Byakuya seemed as shocked as she was.

-

-

-
"What?" she asked, slightly stupefied.

Byakuya seemed as shocked as she was. He looked back at her with his eyes wide open, uncertainity showing in them. "I…love…you…"

Rukia felt like she had trouble breathing. "You what?" she whispered, still not believing what she had heard.

He looked away from her, at something placed on the desk beside her left. His brows were furrowed in contemplation. Rukia held her breath while she watched him.

He suddenly started to smile, looking back at her with wonder. "I love you," he said, his smile only increasing.

"I love you, Rukia," he was grinning now, the conviction in his voice obvious. The sight of his smile knocked that breath she had been holding.

"How?" she choked out. It was so clear now. She had a name for that unclear emotion that had been shining in his eyes, the one she couldn't place before. Why didn't she realize it before?

Love

She gulped. Why did she feel like panicking?

"I do not know why, Rukia. But I do know that I love you," Byakuya said, his eyes shining with the same emotion. He seemed like a whole new person. "And that I have been in love with you for quite some time. I just had not known."

He loosened his grip on her wrists and helped her sit up, she mutely did so. He cupped her face and stared into her eyes.

"And I know that you do something to me, Rukia. When I am in your presence, I feel better, happier. When I think of you, I do not feel so lonely."

"I've been changing; I am not the same person as I was before." He gave a small smile; it made Rukia's heart miss a beat. "And it is only because of you. Only you could do that to me."

He looked back at her for a while, probably searching for something in her expression. He then closed his eyes, his smile slipping off like he failed to find what he had wanted. Rukia couldn't think straight, his confession was ringing in her ears, only much louder. She swallowed painfully.

Byakuya forlornly sighed, letting go of her face to wrap his arms gently around her. Rukia stiffly let him, her arms rigid and still on her sides. He rested his chin on top of her head.

"But most importantly, I know that the feeling that I get when I am with you, I do not want to lose that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Rukia. You make me feel alive…only you."

His voice was barely a whisper. "But I can understand if you can not accept my feelings, I will not force you into choosing me. And I will neither hold it against you if you prefer someone like…Renji," he choked the last word out. "But…but, I would have made you very happy, that I know."

He kissed the top of her head, pausing to smell the scent of her hair for a few seconds. He slowly unwrapped his arms from around her, stepping back to look at her one last time.

Rukia stared back at him silently. She wondered what her expression looked like when Byakuya quietly turned around and walked towards the office door without another backward glance. She vaguely remembered wanting to call out to him as he unlocked the office door, she wondered why she hadn't. She quietly lifted a hand to her face.

She wondered when the tears had fallen out.

A/N: Next chapter: The finale of Bad Intentions. Is this story going to turn into an angsty story of unrequited love, or is a happily ever after going to happen( ah! Corny! Corny! I sounded like a soap opera XD)