Renji slid a piece of paper over the table. "As you can see, taicho, there are five terms on the paper." He paused for a moment for the man in question to read and digest the items on the list, especially what they meant, and what he was supposed to do. "That's it. Just five things. Simple, ne?" His grin grew wider as Kuchiki taicho appeared to pale slightly. Oh, this was going to be incredibly fun. The opportunity had been too good to miss, and in true opportunistic fashion, he was not going to miss it.

Of course, there was no way that taicho would just abide by the statements, not just like that. There was sure to be things that he had overlooked when phrasing the statements, and there were definitely loopholes (though he had done his best to fill up those loopholes) which could be used. But Renji was prepared as well. He was not going to just sit back and watch. Anyone else, maybe, but not him.

Not him.

Byakuya sighed mentally as he looked at the list. Actually, all of the items were perfectly doable. Had he been a normal person, he would have had no qualms whatsoever. However, he was no normal person. He was a Captain, and an important Clan Leader at that. Behaving like a normal person where there were people who knew him around was not at all within his repertoire, and as much as he would love to decline this rather lovely opportunity, he did not have much of a choice at all. (Of course, there was indeed to option of having Renji assassinated, but that would mean that he would need another lieutenant. Oh well.)

To that, there was also another reason. Byakuya was bored. Rather bored, now that it was not a Tuesday but was actually a Wednesday and he had six more days to wait around in boredom. And so, it was sad to say that in addition to his utter lack of choice, his interest had been piqued. He also wanted to see how it was that Renji thought he was going to pull this off. Surely his lieutenant was not stupid enough to think that he was just going to comply with the list. He knew, he had picked Renji from the depths of Eleventh because he had seemed intelligent. Sure, Renji was a good fighter, one had to be a good fighter to survive in the Eleventh, but he had had the extra bonus of some intelligence. And as such, it would make sense that what was going to play out was going to be interesting.

The paper said that everything was to begin the next day, huh. This was going to be interesting, very interesting indeed.

Let the games begin.

It was their daily tradition to take breakfast together, though it was normally taken in complete silence, him being his same old stern solemn self, and she being meek and respectful. It was irritating, but with the servants in the room, speech, which was not part of the noble's eating manners, seemed inappropriate. It was deemed inappropriate, and also because he did not know much about her, and was not at all close, it was awkward to just start talking. On a normal day, that was.

However, today was no normal day. It was the first day of the challenge, of the blackmail of sorts, and he, Kuchiki Byakuya, was not going to lose to his lieutenant. Nope. Combing his hair back in front of the mirror and carefully clipping those ridiculous ornaments in, he hesitantly attempted a smile. Yes, he could smile when amused, but to keep that smile there, in front of a bunch of obnoxious and irritating shinigami, now that was a challenge. On his first try, he thought he looked rather what was the word again? Ah, constipated.

His second try was not much better. Perhaps he was better off not imagining an irate Kurotsuchi's face, even though that was the epitome of obnoxious and irritating. Perhaps he was better of just smiling. Perhaps that was how Ichimaru had done it. Oh wait. He did not want the Ichimaru grin. That was just creepy. And since he was already going to be creepy by smiling slightly, then the Ichimaru grin on his face would probably send people off to Fourth Division. So, no good.

Third time lucky. The smile looked rather well, he was probably just flattering himself, but this was the smile that Hisana had liked to see whenever there were no pesky servants around, and this was the smile that he himself liked the best. It was semi-attractive and friendly at the same time, which was, of course, what he had been aiming for in the first place. Chuckling slightly at his reflection, which was the face which the kids had been seeing for the past few months, he winked to his reflection. Time to put Plan Shock-The-Socks-Off-Seireitei into action. This was going to be fun.

First stop, Rukia.

It was a perfectly ordinary day, by all accounts, mused Rukia as she sat in the dining hall, ten minutes earlier than usual as she awaited the arrival of the Kuchiki clan head. Somehow, she had woken ten minutes earlier than normal, though that really meant nothing. She could just predict what was going to happen. He would sweep into the room in that flowing dignified glide. She would bow her head slightly, greeting silently yet respectfully, and then they would partake in breakfast in absolute silence.

As such, she did not expect him to appear five minutes earlier than normal (for Kuchikis were always on time, never early, and never late) with hang on… Feeling her already rather large eyes widen in surprise, she gaped openly at the slight smile on his face. That expression of hers must have been simply hilarious, because horror of horrors, Ice Prince Kuchiki Byakuya was now chuckling! Oh no. What had she done? What was going on? Who had drugged him? What was going on?

"Rukia?" When she still continued looking so horrifically horrified, the smile twitched slightly before disappearing, a more concerned look coming to his face. Was it something he had done? The last time he had checked, smiling and chuckling were all signs of being normal. And the kids liked it when he laughed, so what was wrong? This was perplexing, and although he got the feeling that he knew exactly why, he refused to entertain those thoughts. Years of working with people had taught him that you did not assume that you knew what they were thinking and said it out for them.

"Are you alright? You look disturbed." What was she supposed to say? "No, Nii-sama, I'm perfectly alright, and not at all shocked that you came in with a smile and then started laughing at my expression at that smile which you have even though you're supposed to be the famous Kuchiki Ice-Block?" Rukia's thoughts were interrupted by more chuckles. Oh god no. She had not just said that out loud, had she? Oh god, please, no. Please? Please?

"Kuchiki Ice-Block? That's a new one." His smile was genuine now, that much she could tell, and Nii-sama's laugh actually sounded normal. Wow. And here she had been that close to checking that the person who had spilt red blood that day was the same mechanical one who normally sat opposite her for breakfast. "Not even Yoruichi was that innovative. Did you hear that or did you make it up yourself?"

Rukia was now quite surprised. No longer shocked because realizing that a human (in this case Kuchiki Byakuya) was human only took a while, and that she had expected him to actually have feelings in the first place, so this was a welcome change, she chewed on her lip nervously. Should she say it? Ah, besides, Renji still owed her money from that time when he had borrowed to buy new glasses, so this was an appropriate payback. "It was Renji who made it up."

Nodding in acknowledgment and enlightenment, the smile on his face grew wicked for a moment (only a short moment) before the normal smile returned. Not fast enough for Rukia to miss it though. She winced inwardly. Oh no. What had she gotten Renji into? Oh well. She just had to remind herself that it was all about payback. Of course, it did not occur to her that her brother might have a grudge against Renji and might be carrying out a survey to find out information, nope, not at all.

Byakuya was rather pleased with this development, both at his own sneakiness and the ease at which information was being gathered. Grinning to himself as he picked up a small bun with his chopsticks, he turned it around before frowning slightly, looking more like his normal self, and proclaiming with distaste mostly to himself, "Red bean buns again." Sighing, he glared morosely at the bun. "They know I don't like red bean, but they keep serving it to me. Do these people ever learn?"

Rukia blinked. She was very, very unused to this human Nii-sama. Very unused to this. She was more used to eating breakfast in absolute silence while they took turns to look around the room and not at each other. Not at all used to conversation, and certainly not at all used to conversation with him over buns. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly thought better of it. He seemed like he was thinking about something, thinking very hard about something. It did not seem interruptible.

Looking across the table, Byakuya eyed her dish, where the peaks of the buns were not dotted with the light pink but with orange. He knew those were the ones with the meat fillings in them, and he did not like red bean at all. Wrestling with himself over whether he should do what he wanted to do or not, he decided to just heck with the formalities, especially since all the servants were already freaked out and were ignoring him.

So swiftly that Rukia would not have noticed had she not been staring intently down at her plate and wondering whether the buns on her plate were red bean or not, there was a whoosh of air, and suddenly, the middle bun was now dotted with pink instead of orange and the taicho opposite her looked slightly guilty, though now chewing on a bun rather contentedly.

"Nii-sama?! Did you just…" Her eyes had widened in surprise again, while his were busy looking everywhere in the room except at her while he chewed determinedly, much like a kid with his right hand in the cookie jar would look away and dust the crumbs off his left. Yeah. It was definitely him. Rukia did not know where the sudden burst of courage had come from, but she found herself retaliating, replacing the red bean bun on his plate while guarding her own with the spoon.

Byakuya blinked as he noticed that the red bean bun was back, and that now, Rukia was trying her darndest not to look at him. Huh. Amusing. Finishing off the meat bun in a few bites before chewing and swallowing, he leant forward at the table and smirked at her, fixing a stern glare which she should be able to tell was fake at her (Fish always knew when this was fake, and since Rukia was much smarter than that idiot, she should be able to tell).

"Are you trying to beat me in a game of speed, Rukia?"

The answer was that the red bean bun he had placed in her plate was now back in his for the second time, and that the meat bun he had almost taken a bite out of was now back in her plate. That and she was grinning rather wickedly. He liked the new Rukia, although he supposed that this was the real Rukia, and that he had just been talking to a fake all the time. Oh well. It was not really his fault that he was intimidating. The red bean bun was now back in her plate, and the meat bun almost to his teeth already. Ah, damnit. The bun dropped to the plate with a plop as her chopsticks tackled his.

A mischievous light came to his face. "Oh ho."

And as much as it was fun to push the bun from plate to plate, the time came for work. Inclining his head in defeat (the bun had ended up on his plate just as the time came) as he chewed on the red bean bun rather disgruntled (and much to Rukia's amusement), he finished it up before standing up and gestured for her to leave the room first, a noble honor that was supposedly given only to the most noble of guests. Ah well, traditions could be disobeyed for a while, he supposed. Besides, Rukia was his sister, and respect to her, even if it not be to such an extent as Kaien and Kuukaku, was what any good gentleman should show. (Then again, Kuukaku was older than Kaien, if he remembered correctly. Oh well.)

Rukia's expression was one of surprise. She had thought that he was just being friendly for some weird reason, but this, this was a little farther than she thought his kindness of sorts would extend. It was kind of nice to be loved by a sibling, she decided, grinning rather shyly at him. They were not completely comfortable around each other yet, because such things took time, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. Wanting to thank him, she was beaten to it by a smiling (He was smiling again!) captain.

"I'm afraid I will not be able to escort you to the Thirteenth Division, because who knows what Renji would do to the office in the meantime." A slight chuckle from him, something which Rukia (and she was sure the whole of Seireitei) was still unused to, and a widened smile on her part.

"I will see you at dinner?" A happy nod from her now that they were on semi-speaking terms, (Since both were rather uncomfortable when it came to talking but not actions, as shown by the bun fight previously.) Byakuya's smile widened slightly before he took off in the direction of the Sixth Division.

Hm… Wonder what's gotten over Nii-sama today, Rukia mused to herself before shooting off in the direction of Thirteenth, in a decidedly good mood. Fooling around during breakfast was a rather refreshing change from having to maintain a stony façade, and she liked it. Perhaps she would ask Renji about this during lunch.

Little did she know, she would be getting a lot more than she bargained for, if she chanced upon Renji during lunch, because what she had just gone through was just the warm-ups.

Payback time was just around the corner, and Plan Shock-The-Socks-Off-Seireitei had just begun.

Renji was so in for it.

Well, this took quite a bit longer then I expected, because the inspiration was so long in coming. But it's here and it's here to stay. This fic will be rather short, rounding off, at most, at 10 chapters, though I actually expect it to end at about 7. Hope you guys like it.

Cheers,
Tan