"You are quite good at this," Nanao whispered as they made their way through a semi-discrete path that branched out distinctly from the one which most of the restaurant guests would take to their tables. As discrete as the path was though, the fact remained that they had had to enter through the main doors and sweep regally [or as regally as she could manage] past the high-flying clientele that was not high-flying enough to afford a private room.

Byakuya nodded slightly, murmuring, "It comes with practice."

His proffered arm had drawn several, no, numerous gazes, and while she was normally immune to the whispers of others, this was a bit more than what she was used to. She felt grossly underdressed in her relatively new cotton yukata standing next to the richest bachelor in Soul Society decked out in muted shades of dark blue and green silk, and most definitely stood out from the gaudy outfits of most of the other ladies. All in all, she was not comfortable about this, and was slightly relieved that they would be taking dinner in private.

It's for the publicity, Nanao, she reminded herself, the publicity, and the ten per cent cut of the profits.

The openly staring crowd disappeared behind a turn in the corridor and she breathed a sigh of relief, stopping for a moment to collect her wits and glare hotly at the backs of the ladies who had been shooting her evil glances.

Byakuya raised an amused eyebrow, "I take it that you did not like the way in which we entered the restaurant?"

"What, the way you did that to be glaringly obvious while appearing discrete?" She raised a challenging eyebrow.

He chuckled as the door to the room swung open to reveal a cozy but not stifling room decorated to suit his tastes. A most discrete member of the serving staff ushered them into the room, trying to keep the look of surprise off his young face.

"Well, you got me there."

Nanao stepped into the room, quite taken with the simple yet elegant décor. As Byakuya made to follow her, he heard the door just around the corner of the corridor ease open slightly before rapidly shutting.

He frowned and was about to begin thinking about who it could possibly be, but the appetizers cast that thought aside in favor of more pleasant ones.

"No. Way."

Renji turned around and came face to face with the last person he had expected to find crouching behind a potted plant outside one of the most posh restaurants in Soul Society.

Rukia looked as though someone had just told her that the world was ending and the Captain Commander was female.

Or that her brother was dating.

Dressed in her shinigami shihakusho and crouched stealthily behind a fern, Rukia would have looked like any other disappointed Captain Kuchiki fangirl if it were not for the genuinely concerned look on her face.

"See? I told you, Rukia-chan," Matsumoto's way-too-happy voice carried over as the bubbly and impossibly meddlesome lieutenant made her way to the potted plants from the alleyway.

"But… that makes no sense! They have nothing in common!" Rukia attempted to defend her point and already Renji could see that it was going to be a lost cause. Kuchiki Byakuya, nothing in common with Ise Nanao? That was like saying Ikkaku had nothing in common with Kenpachi.

Matsumoto's eyes glinted.

"Nu uh, girl," She wagged her finger, "Firstly, they're both the quiet, bookish types in public. Don't talk much, don't argue much, don't seem to have opinions they want to share."

Rukia opened her mouth to argue, but Rangiku cut her off with an almost predatory gleam in her eye, "But that's in public. In private, oh, the opinions. Nanao has something to say on almost anything, the weather, the food, the power balance between the divisions in the Gotei 13, the book she read last year, the one she browsed through yesterday… Anything. And I'm sure you've had a similar experience with your brother."

Rukia blinked, but had nothing to say as Matsumoto pressed on, "Secondly, they're diligent, focused and hardworking when it comes to office work. The only other people who turn in all their forms early are my captain, who's desperately trying to seem proper and Kurotsuchi who's trying to get more funding. No one else would understand the need to be on time and to be neat and to be proper."

Even Renji was beginning to admit that Matsumoto had a point there.

"But they don't interact with each other at all," Rukia protested, eyes wandering to Renji as she shuffled over, whacking his forearm, "You tell her. You're his lieutenant."

"But I'm her best friend," Matsumoto beamed, "and I have it on very good ground that there is something going on. Right, Renji?"

Both of them turned on him.

He blinked. "Uh, they do spend quite a lot of time together these days, but I don't know if they're definitely dating?"

There. His attempt at appeasing the both of them.

Matsumoto snorted, and Rukia looked a mixture of scandalized and horrified. Well… plan failed.

"He offered his arm to her, Rukia-chan, and I guess it doesn't get much more serious than that in Noble circles, right?"

The youngest shinigami nodded.

Spurred on by her 'temporary victory', Rangiku dropped the last bomb, "I've never seen that kimono before, and believe me when I say I've seen every piece of clothing in Nanao's closet." She nodded solemnly and Rukia frowned.

Well, there seemed to be implications to that statement, and Renji began to chew them out slowly. Shocks like this were minutely less shocking if he attempted to reason through them. There were three possible scenarios. Either Matsumoto was exaggerating and it was in fact an old kimono, or it actually was a new kimono. And what that meant, even he knew.

She had missed it earlier, but now that Rukia thought about it, it was odd that she had not ever seen that dark green haori or navy blue hakama on her brother before. Not wanting to admit this aloud, she instead tried to concentrate and recall. She had probably just forgotten it.

But cloth of such subdued and understated quality? There was no way she would forget it. That entire set was probably pure silk. And Nii-sama never wore pure silk unless it was to an important event.

She had to face the facts.

Nii-sama was dating.

Nii-sama was dating Lieutenant Ise.

Was that why he had been so happy that day?

"I told you."

"Yeah, but just because I didn't want admit it didn't mean I didn't know it. She spends hours at his office after work. After work! That's like at seven for those workaholics. I get off work at four and she stays at his office till ten!"

"Mm."

"And now he's treating her to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in Soul Society. Why, what on earth could that mean, I wonder?"

"You're taking this too hard, Shun."

"You're damn right I am."

"And you aren't even drunk yet. The wonders of sobriety, I see."

Byakuya entered the dining room exactly on time for breakfast, turning and shutting the sliding door behind him. Unsurprised to see Rukia there, he nodded to her before taking his seat behind his tray. Rukia was looking oddly at him, almost as though she were sitting on a thought that she desperately wanted to voice.

"Go ahead," he prompted, picking up his soup bowl and taking a sip.

Silence met him.

Hm. Silence never boded well. Never mind that though, he mused as he placed the soup bowl down and reached for his chopsticks. Best not to be holding anything with hot liquid in it while receiving shocking news.

Sure enough, he was right.

"You never mentioned that you were dating Lieutenant Ise," Rukia stared defiantly at him.

"Ah," was just about all Byakuya could manage as a placeholder before his brain got up to speed. His sister as well? So early in the morning?

Well, so the publicity had been rather effective, it would appear.

A slight smile came to his face as he remembered the most pleasant meal and intriguing platonic companionship he had enjoyed over dinner. It had been quite some time since he had had an intellectual discussion with anyone over a meal. With Rukia, he mostly spoke of social happenings and occurrences in his Division. With the Clan, he did not speak.

Rukia, of course, took that smile the wrong way.

That day, Byakuya made it a point to take a long detour to a florist and away from the Eighth Division on his way to the office.

He was going to take this charade one step further, and he would like to stay in one piece until the tournament. Besides, this was an excellent chance to set up another bout for, and attract a previously uninterested captain to participate in the upcoming tournament.

Nanao expected to be waylaid by an astonishingly sober Rangiku outside her door begging her to share all the 'sordid details' of her encounter with Soul Society's most eligible bachelor [never mind that Nanao was not all that hot on the mildly androgynous types], and was proven correct as a pair of arms descended around her shoulders the moment she stepped out of her door.

This alone proved how hard Rangiku could work if she really wanted to. It was five in the morning, which meant that the older shinigami had been up since four thirty at the latest.

"Yes?" Nanao raised an eyebrow, "What is it this time?"

"He took you to dinner!" Rangiku was doing what looked like her variation of a happy dance while still holding onto Nanao's shoulders.

"And he looked hot in that dark green haori, though then again Captain Kuchiki looks hot in just about anything that isn't terribly unfashionable, so spill, girl. And before you try and deny it, guys never dress up in things their little sisters have never seen before unless they're being serious."

"We had dinner," she smiled slightly, "It was pleasant. He walked me home. End of story."

"Pleasant?" Rangiku raised an eyebrow, eyes hungrily taking in the smile and drawing the wrong conclusion, "That's not nearly descriptive enough. C'mon, I know there's got to be more that you're not saying. No one describes a dinner date as 'pleasant'."

"Date? Where on earth would you get that kind of impression from?" Nanao raised a faux-clueless eyebrow. In truth, this 'dating' cover was becoming increasingly useful. No one would suspect that the two of them would be millions of yen richer in two weeks, and no one would suspect that anything else was going on. Not to mention, she had picked up at least five tricks from Byakuya-san that had helped further increase her work efficiency.

And it was fun.

"Because you put on something new to have dinner with him, and he put on something new to have dinner with you, and you had a private room?" Matsumoto's tone was downright plaintive. "I need to know, Nanao. I'm your best friend."

Before she could point out the logical inconsistency in those last two sentences, Nanao was greeted at the gate of Division Eight by an out-of-breath and slightly panicking tenth seat.

"Yes, Matsuoka-san?" Matsumoto groaned inwardly as she saw Nanao immediately straighten up. Gone was any chance she had to pry any information out of her intelligently elusive friend.

"You might want to hurry to the office, Lieutenant Ise. There are…" the man's face twisted oddly, and for a short moment, Nanao was reminded that while the Eighth was fiercely obedient to her, they were impossibly in awe of Captain Kyouraku. She vaguely wondered why that had occurred to her, before quickly stepping into the compound.

"Hey you, uh, Matsuoka, right?" Matsumoto's voice stopped the tenth seat in his tracks. Ten gulped. He was relatively new to the Gotei 13, but even then he had heard about Lieutenant Matsumoto's reputation about gossiping. And this was not something that he should tell her.

He turned slowly, like a deer caught in the headlights, knowing exactly what was going to happen and yet desperately wishing it was not going to happen.

"Spill."

And he spilled.

"You sent her flowers."

Byakuya looked up briefly from the latest report from Rukongai before signing the bottom and setting the form aside to dry. His brush lowered gently to the desk as he gathered his things.

"I will not deny that."

He had expected this to occur. It was one of the scenarios they had discussed over dinner, the what-is-going-to-happen-to-you-when-he-finds-out scenario. And he had thought about it on the way to the office. After that rather surprising encounter with Rukia, it would not be safe to assume that no one else was aware of this 'relationship'. Oh how disappointed so many people would be when they revealed it was a sham after the tournament.

But back to the situation at hand.

Rising from his seat, Byakuya gestured his counterpart to the couch in his office.

"Have a seat, Captain Kyouraku. Tea?"

No one, no, not even Renji, knew what transpired in that office that day. All they knew was that Captain Kyouraku emerged, furious after just half an hour, and that Captain Kuchiki refused to leave his office and did not admit anyone into it afterwards.

And that the reiatsu levels in that room had been positively staggering.

"Your captain hits quite hard," Byakuya mused, rubbing his lower jaw slightly as he opened the office door for the first time that day after that most surprising yet expected encounter.

Nanao was torn between shocked and mildly pleased, masking both emotions as best as she could.

"Well? What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything," he closed the door behind her and moved to help carry a stack of papers to the table, "Just glared at me for a while, finished his tea, got up to leave."

Nanao was not really sure why she was slightly disappointed, a feeling that did not seem to fade even when Byakuya brought a cup of her favorite tea to the table. Flipping through the submitted forms, she began to ink in the newest set of wannabe fighters.

Having three categories really had been a fantastic idea. No one could complain that a Captain would definitely take the tournament crown if there were three tournament crowns, one for Captains, one for seated officials and one for general open participation. This encouraged money in the form of participation fees to flow in like sake flowed in a party.

Having priced seating was ingenious. There was no need to worry about having a great spot if you could get one, pay for it, and have it for the entire tournament. Conversely, those who did not pay could still watch, but only in limited standing areas where the view was nowhere near as good. They had already raked in several million yen that way, with the promised payments from the Four Clans yet to come in.

Organizing the underground gambling situation was pure, unadulterated genius. Already there was a gigantic bet that Captain Zaraki would take anyone and anything down. People were betting on friends, on seniors, on juniors, on loved ones, against loved ones, and on their seated officers. They were already in the tens of millions, and this was even before the matches and match timings had been released. It was probably true that the Kuchiki Clan was capable of matching the legal proceeds of the tournament if they sold a house or two, but it was beginning to become clear that Byakuya would have no problem paying up. He might even make a profit.

They worked in mostly amiable silence before Nanao realized that something seemed amiss.

"To his credit it looked like he was really controlling himself though. You could slip him one of those challenge forms tomorrow. I think that he'll probably submit it in anger." Byakuya looked up from one of the registration forms before returning his gaze to the paper.

"Alright, spill." Nanao commanded. Captain Kyouraku might have been annoyed, but he did not usually resort to violence. And especially not against someone like Captain Kuchiki here. Not unless said Captain Kuchiki had actually done something.

Byakuya sighed. "There really is no fooling you, is there?"

She shook her head, her hands falling still as she glared sternly at him.

"I might have said something a tad inappropriate," Byakuya averted his eyes much like a petulant child, rifling around for a form to process. The less he said about this the better. Matters like this that did not actually involve him at all [well, they did, but they did not] were best to not be meddled in by him.

A hand grabbed his arm.

"Like what?" Nanao bit out. Yes, maybe she was overreacting, but this was Captain Kyouraku they were talking about. Not just anyone.

"I might have made a slight against his organizational and thus Captainship abilities," Byakuya's eyes slowly drifted up from the hand to Nanao's furious face.

He could most definitely see where Captain Kyouraku was coming from.

"And?" She prompted.

"I might have insinuated…" He was starting to have doubts about the charade. Sure, it was rather enjoyable, but Nanao seemed a little too distressed for his liking. Then again, perhaps he had taken it a bit too far what with the flowers and then the bit about Captain Kyouraku.

"That?"

"That we were actually dating. In the non-platonic sense. That there were feelings involved."

"I think he guessed that, what with our charade. You're hiding something and you're going to tell me what it is."

Byakuya sighed. There really was no fooling Nanao. "I might also have said that it was none of his business and that he had no place in this relationaship. In those exact terms."

The vice-like grip on his arm loosened. "That's it?"

He nodded.

"So he overreacted?"

Again, Byakuya nodded.

"Like the way I'm overreacting?"

A smile came to his face as he reached for the next form.

"Exactly."

Nanao flushed red, fumbling for something to do to somehow hide the sheer awkwardness of the situation.

"God, this is embarrassing."

"Think on the bright side. We can open up a new bet."

"You are incorrigible, Kuchiki Byakuya."

Things could not have gone better to plan.

Captain Kyouraku signed up for the tournament, as had a staggering third of the Seireitei population, seven captains and eight lieutenants included. All the tickets for the viewing gallery had been completely sold out and the requests for an additional seating zone had been so great that he had eventually agreed.

The betting scene, however, was beyond whatever he could have even imagined. He had assumed that he could be able to cover half of the one-for-one donations with the bets.

He was wrong.

He could now cover every single expense of the tournament with just half of the betting money, leaving a hefty and ever-increasing sum of several million yen behind. The best part? No one was any wiser.

With training at an all-time high in the various divisions, even the Captain Commander was pleased and had proposed that the tournament become a yearly event.

On the other hand, things could not have gone worse to plan.

He was set to challenge just about every Captain that had signed up.

Kyouraku had a grudge. Kenpachi just wanted to beat him into the ground. Kurotsuchi signed up to fight everyone. Soifon probably wanted to test her speed against Senbonzakura, ever since that incident with Kurosaki. Hitsugaya and Komamura wanted to contribute to the charity, but did not know who to fight. Thus, fighting the tournament organizer was a safe bet since it was the tournament organizer.

Him.

Not to mention, he had to run the betting system, organize the matches with numerous logistical and location constraints, constantly put up a good front to the Clan and assure them that he would be paying out of his personal coffers, deal with Renji being constantly out on the training grounds instead of in the office, cope with the fact that the world thought he was dating Ise Nanao and somehow get some sleep in between.

Training completely eluded him, which was why, as the first day of the tournament dawned bright and early, [and found him settling calculations for the deluge of last minute bets in the temporary headquarters], he realized that he was in a lot of trouble.

And would be in a lot of trouble for the next two weeks.

He looked over at the person sleeping on the other side of the desk. Nanao had come in more and more often as the work piled up, and after a few days, they had set up the headquarters in Kuchiki Manor for simplicity's sake. He had what was almost an army at his beck and command to run errands, fetch ink and paper, and to ward off all the unwanted attention that working so closely together was causing. She had brought her things into the Manor and had set up camp in the adjoining guest room. It made it a lot easier to return to a comfortable bed when the work was completed, if it was even completed before morning.

After pulling several non-stop all-nighters, which meant that neither of them had properly slept in forty-eight hours, and he was pushing the upwards of seventy, Nanao had finally collapsed on the table.

Byakuya found it almost unfathomable that people actually thought that they had time to date with the huge amount of work that flowed in every hour.

Judging from the time, he could take a brief half-hour rest before the first bouts began. As he stepped out of the room, he felt slightly guilty seeing Nanao hunched most uncomfortably over the low table. Motioning for the servant outside to come in and assist him, the two of them gently maneuvered her over to the nearest futon which another servant had just set up.

While he was perfectly capable of moving a person lighter than himself onto a futon, he was not sure, firstly, that it was appropriate, and secondly, that he could do it without waking her. Which was why having servants was a very good idea.

Byakuya liked having ninjas in his employment. They could practically read his mind and get things done really quickly.

Alright. There was definitely something wrong with him. He did not have ninjas in his employment, merely hardworking servants who cared for their master and thought things through.

Yes. He had pinpointed the problem. He needed some rest, or he would be dead on his feet in two hours, if Kenpachi had anything to say about it. Why on earth had he scheduled a fight involving himself on the first day of the tournament?

Oh right. Tournament organizer. First bout. It all made sense now.

Waving the servants aside, he made his way to his own room, quietly cursing the length of the corridors before finally stumbling through the doorway and collapsing onto the futon with a thud and a now slightly bruised elbow.

Maybe he was going in a little too deep for his own good.

Maybe he was going to actually die today.

AN: Yes. I know. I haven't written in about a year? Sorry 'bout that. Lost the inspiration when it went looking for orig!shortfic and college apps. Speaking of college apps...

Don't expect any other updates anytime soon. Hopes for updates are always nice to hear though.

Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!

Cheers,
VioT