Living away from home was so liberating. No longer did she have perfect, dear Byakuya Kuchiki breathing down her neck. She was free now. If she wanted to have pizza for dinner four days in a row, she could. Well, if it lasted that long. There were unashamed food thieves in her new accommodations. It was refreshing, though. She loved her new room. She liked her new roommates. Okay, that was a stretch. But she was loving the freedom she had.

Not everybody appreciated her freedom, though.

"Clothes!" Izuru screamed as he entered the kitchen, only to see Rukia butchering scrambled eggs in her underwear.

"Do you want breakfast or not?" she asked, brows raised.

"...I'll get a poptart.."

Renji was unperturbed. "Throw some cheese in mine, need the protein," he shrugged, grabbing a Red Bull out of the fridge.

They rode to work together, too. It was convenient, and besides, it was just a five minute drive to work, if there was traffic. They walked in like a pack, like they dominated the hospital. Some of the doctors were beginning to catch on. They said nothing- their egos would be crushed in due time.

"Good morning," Dr. Ishida greeted the room of interns as he opened the door to the locker room. "I want everybody to follow me to Skills Lab C," he announced. "And that means everybody, whether you are my intern or not. Dr. Kuchiki has requested every intern for a special evaluation."

Gossip started and hearts dropped.

"What's this about?" Momo asked Rukia, who simply shrugged.

"Just because he's my brother doesn't mean he tells me everything."

Renji looked like he was going to pass out.

Every intern in the program packed into the skills lab. Dr. Kuchiki stood at the front of the room with doctors Ishida, Kurosaki, Jaegerjacques, and a few others that the interns didn't recognize. When the door closed, Dr. Kuchiki walked up to a table. It was marked up with knife gashes and faint red marks from a Sharpie.

"Thank you for joining me in here," he started, preparing a tray. It held only a scalpel and a thin Sharpie. "I am not a man who likes to waste time," he stated. "Neurosurgery is a very difficult specialty. It requires more accuracy, speed, and raw talent than any other specialty that I have seen. There is no give in Neurosurgery. The needle pushes too far, the patient is dead. It's over."

Momo gulped.

"I have designed this test to evaluate your raw talent. Your instincts. Nothing more. It does not exclude you from my service or indicate that you would not be an excellent surgeon. Very few doctors excel at this challenge. But one is standing before you. Care to demonstrate, Dr. Ishida?"

Dr. Ishida nodded. He picked up the scalpel and placed his hand, palm-down on the table, fingers splayed. "I have all my fingers," he sang lightly, beginning a pattern of stabbing between them swiftly. "The knife goes chop, chop, chop. If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off. And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out. But all the same, I play this game, because that's what it's all about." Faster. "Oh, chop, chop, chop, I'm picking up the speed. And if I hit my fingers, then my hand will start to bleed."

When he was finished, the room erupted in talk. Where Uryuu had placed his hands, there were only six deep stab marks. Perfect.

"Now," Dr. Kuchiki interrupted. "I do not expect any of you to use a scalpel. Dr. Ishida is a trained professional. Instead, you will use the marker." He held it up. "You want as few marks on your paper as possible. Keep the outside marks as close to your hand as possible. We will go one at a time. Who doesn't like competition?"

Dr. Ishida held up the marker. "Who first?"

First was an intern they didn't recognize. She was alright, but there were a few red marks on her fingernails. Dr. Kuchiki kept tempo, singing the awful song lightly. Shuuhei went, and, well..

"...Good try, Dr. Hisagi." He hadn't landed in the same spot twice at all. It was actually kind of sad..

..But nowhere near as sad as Dr. Abarai's attempt.

He'd just been so distracted. Dr. Kuchiki was just such an amazing surgeon. He wanted to impress him. If he was impressed, he was happy. If he was happy, then maybe.. Just maybe.. He'd have a chance.

No way in hell now.

"Dr. Abarai, did you manage to actually puncture your hand with the marker?" Byakuya asked, brows raised. Dr. Ishida buried his head in his hands.

"Grab an alcohol wipe and clean up. It looks like you've slaughtered a pig."

Not embarrassing at all.

Momo did fine, but was nothing to write home about. The best up to that point had been Rukia. Of course. She was expected to do well. It was the guilt of having a successful sibling. But she beamed back at his stone-cold visage as she held the paper up.

Among them, Izuru was the last to go. He never was one to inspire much confidence. Hadn't that been why he'd been picked for that first surgery? He walked up to the table without much confidence. But for as much confidence that he didn't have in himself, Uryuu had for him.

"Watch him," he whispered to his mentor.

Izuru started, but his face stopped showing anxiety. It showed peace. He seemed confident and his hand moved quickly. However, when Byakuya picked up the pace, he picked up the scalpel.

Not approving, Byakuya stopped singing, but Uryuu picked up instead. He was going to let Izuru show what he was worth. When he stopped, there were only six marks on the paper, and six holes from the scalpel. It was flawless. The room erupted in a round of applause.

"Very good, Dr. Kira," Byakuya praised. "I hope nobody tries to top you, for their sake."

As they left the room, Uryuu gave them their assignments. "Abarai. You need the surgical equivalence to Jesus. Get back in there with Dr. Kuchiki. This is not a reward," he warned sternly. But to Renji, it sure felt like one. He ran back in, eager to not be on Pediatrics anymore.

"Hinamori, you're in Plastics. Go find Dr. Aizen. Try not to fall in love with him like you did with Dr. Urahara. I don't need to hear about every stitch he does."

She blushed.

"Dr. Kuchiki, go grace Dr. Shihouin with your presence, she's been wanting an intern for a while. Hisagi… go with Kira to the ER. There's a bar crawl today. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto might need some extra hands."

Dr. Kira didn't even make it halfway to the Emergency Room before he was intercepted by the one person he wanted to avoid. He jumped nearly out of his skin when Dr. Ichimaru stepped out of a supply closet in front of him.

"You're avoiding me."

"Yes." It didn't take an ounce of hesitation.

"Why?"

Dr. Kira shifted his weight back and forth. "...It's inappropriate."

That didn't seem to impress Dr. Ichimaru, who reached out to smooth Izuru's hair down. "It happens. It's okay," he smiled. Well, he was always smiling. It was a different smile. "You didn't seem to complain the other day."

"Still inappropriate."

"I heard you won Kuchiki's little contest." The ignoring was overt. "Every department head is going to clamor after you."

Izuru shook his head. "I don't want them to. I just want to learn."

"Then let me teach you."

There was something wrong with the female attendings and residents at Shin'o Memorial Hospital. There was no explanation. She'd thought that Dr. Matsumoto had just been some kind of fluke, but this was getting ridiculous.

"Are you staring at my chest for a reason, Dr. Kuchiki?"

Fuck! She was staring!

"Uh, no, ma'am," she stuttered, averting her gaze. Dr. Shihouin just grinned and squeezed her own boobs.

"It's okay. You can stare. They're great, aren't they? I can see how you might be a little bit jealous," she winked. Rukia whimpered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dr. Shihouin picked up a chart and handed it over to Rukia. "It's okay. I might have a bigger chest, but you have a famous older brother, don't you?" she winked. The disappointed, annoyed look on Rukia's face was exactly what she expected.

"It sucks, I know. I was in Byakuya Kuchiki's intern group with him. I saw him.. Absolutely excel," she sighed. "He became Chief Resident, picked up the hardest specialty on the planet.. But it if makes you feel better, I got to see him fall directly on his ass, too. His pretty, pretty ass." She let out a breath.

"Don't try to be Mini-Byakuya. Set yourself apart from him. Strive for his greatness, but don't strive for him. He cried after his first solo surgery. Don't cry after your first surgery."

The little pep talk was exactly what Rukia had needed. She smiled and nodded, holding the chart to her chest. "Thank you, Dr. Shihouin."

"And you can start establishing your greatness.. By doing this bowel prep and enema. Thanks!" she sang, sauntering away.

Sigh.

Renji was in heaven. Finally, he was on Dr. Kuchiki's service. He was prepared to have to bribe someone to be able to see the inside of a brain if he had to. All he wanted was a chance to impress him, to show him just how good he was. He'd failed the challenge, but judging from the talk around the room, he wasn't the first to do so. Dr. Kurosaki had apparently done equally bad in his time, but he, as an early fourth year resident, was already poised for an Orthopedic Surgery fellowship under Dr. Kisuke Urahara, who was easily one of the best Orthopedic Surgeons in the country.

"I don't appreciate the way you look at me, Dr. Abarai."

They were in a patient room, checking on a patient who had fallen from a window and suffered a rather severe brain injury, among others.

Renji froze. "Sir?"

Byakuya checked the patient's pupils. He was unconscious, thank god. "I am going to make this a very short discussion. It is very obvious to myself and other doctors on the floor that you harbor some kind of crush on me. It ends now. It doesn't reflect well on you and embarrasses me."

Renji opened his mouth. But.. what? How..?

"You are dismissed. Go check the lab for this patient's tox screen."

Renji was gone in an instant.

"...What the fuck is wrong with you?"

The interjection came from Dr. Ayasegawa. He'd been checking the patient's wounds- he'd debrided several, and needed to make sure the others didn't need stitches. Honestly, Dr. Kuchiki had forgotten that he was in the room.

"The kid admires you," he stated, putting the patient's arm down. "If he wants to have a crush, let him. It'll motivate him. He fucked that challenge up because he was too worried about impressing you. Instead of getting him to focus, you just shamed him and probably sent him to his Resident to change services. You need to loosen up and apologize to him, in that order."

Byakuya looked angry. "Mind your own concerns, Dr. Ayasegawa. His behavior was unprofessional."

Yumichika rolled his eyes. "So is berating him for something so harmless in front of another Attending. Don't punish him because you're embarrassed."

"Have anything good? Your brother's a dick," Renji grumbled, leaning against the nurse's station. Rukia reached out to pat his back.

"Finally, someone else sees it. What did he do to you?" she asked, looking him over. "You were so hot to get on Neuro, too."

"I don't want to talk about it," he sighed, practically lying down on the desk. Rukia could guess what happened, but she didn't want to say anything. Byakuya could be unnecessarily stern.

Both of them were startled, however, when Dr. Hitsugaya came around the corner and made his way over to them.

"Abarai. I heard what happened. Don't take it personally. That being said, you're on my service. I gave him Kira. With the power vested in me by being a decent surgeon, I am prepared to apologize to you by giving you the chance to perform a lumbar puncture. Follow me."

'What is today?' Renji mouthed to Rukia as he walked away.

"You have to be quiet," Izuru fretted. There were hands all over his body. "Momo has an early day. She'll be home soon."

Gin grinned against his neck. "I don't think it's me that has to worry about being quiet."

This was dangerous. Izuru knew it was dangerous, but he just couldn't keep himself away. Dr. Ichimaru had a very strange type of charisma. It was almost intimidating. It drew him in like quicksand. What was the implication here? Was this going to destroy his career? Why was Dr. Ichimaru so interested in him, of all people?

Almost like he could predict the future, the door opened. Izuru snapped to attention and Gin pulled himself upright on the couch.

"Oh! Hello, Izuru," Momo greeted. "And.. hello, Dr. Ichimaru," she greeted happily, if not suspiciously.

"Evenin'," he drawled, waving gently.

She hung her keys by the door and placed her bag down. "Um.. how was your day?" she chirped. "I spent the day with Dr. Aizen. He's very talented! He's not nearly as crude as Dr. Ayasegawa, that's for sure. He's much more polite. And his technique for hiding mastectomy scars is amazing! I could barely even see the incision!"

Gin snorted. That sweet girl was going to get one hell of a wakeup call. It wasn't his place to point it out, though. She'd have to take that journey on her own. Sousuke Aizen was a major snake in the grass. He charmed his way into people's good graces, then stabbed them in the back. All she'd have to do was ask him. Or Grimmjow. Or Kurosaki. The list of people disillusioned with Aizen was long.

"Ummm, does anyone want some dinner?" she asked. "I think there's enough chicken thawed for everyone?" she suggested, despite Izuru's very obvious protest.

"Dinner sounds wonderful, thank you, Dr. Hinamori," Gin purred.

"Next time, give the intern to Dr. Ayesegawa."

The sound of Dr. Aizen's voice pulled Uryuu's attention away from the chart that he'd been working on. He was taken aback, pulling the papers closer to his chest in a subconscious effort of self-defense.

"Dr. Aizen. This is a teaching hospital. I will assign interns to any and every Attending here as I see fit," he insisted.

Aizen snorted. "Keep them off of my service, Ishida."

Ishida clenched his jaw as Aizen took his leave, sauntering back to whatever pit of hell he'd emerged from. Aizen had a great reputation with interns- until they reached their second year. It wouldn't last long, the interns' unknowing ban on Aizen's service. All Ishida had to do was bring it up to the Chief of Surgery.. But Dr. Yamamoto's health was failing. He rarely came out of his office to do more than administrative duties. It would be hard to catch him, and until then, he'd have to deal with either passing his interns off to other doctors, or Aizen's bitching.

Either way, there was going to be a lot of bitching in his future.

Dr. Ishida wandered off to the on-call room, threw open the door, and plopped down on the bed.

"Bad day?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Dr. Kurosaki climbed down from the top bunk and swung into the bottom, plopping himself down next to Uryuu. "What happened this time?"

Uryuu groaned. "Kuchiki wants nothing to do with one of my interns, and Aizen banned all of them from his service. What the hell is wrong with them?"

Ichigo shrugged. "It's not them. Didn't one of yours win the challenge?" He rose an eyebrow. "Kuchiki's an ass, Aizen's an ass. Different kinds of asses, but asses nonetheless." He rolled onto his back, nearly crushing his peer in the process. "If it were me, I'd make those grown-ass men get over their shit and give them the interns they hate. Wait, what happened?"

"Apparently, Abarai was making heart-eyes at Kuchiki, and Aizen just wants an excuse to be an asshole."

Ichigo gave him a blank stare. "Well, then it sounds like Kuchiki needs to man up and work with Abarai, and Aizen just needs to accept that Jeagerjaques isn't going into Plastics. He's still pissed about that, you know. He lost out on all the good ones, Yumichika wasn't his pick.."

Uryuu rubbed the back of his neck. "So I have to tell my mentor and boss that they need to man up?"

"Absolutely."