Summary

He really isn't quite as impassive as she thought. And for some reason, he really enjoys teasing his little subordinate.

A/N: So this is still dedicated to Lady of Vixens. My first dedication, so I hope she likes it! Second chapter in the series! As with he previous one, all the nice things you said will be gone. So don't forget to fix that please!

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"Are you sure you've got the right person?" Kagome Higurashi asked, blinking innocently at her fellow squad member. He was proffering a scroll at her and waiting for her to take it.

"You are Kagome Higurashi, are you not?" he replied, settling the scroll in her hands when she nodded. Turning, he began back down the corridor. He had better things to do than watch his team mate gawk at her mission scroll.

"But, wait! What's this for?"

"Read it and find out! Either way, the Captain has summoned you for a meeting!" He turned the corner and disappeared.

"Eh? Captain Kuchiki?" Kagome muttered, shivering when she remembered the last time she'd spoken to him. That... had been an awful incident. She blushed when she recalled how close he'd gotten to her. She'd literally been able to feel the heat coming off of him.

'Yeah, then he stole your favorite hair ribbon!' the former priestess thought morosely. She really missed that blue ribbon. Maybe if she asked really nicely, he'd give it back this time.

"Then again, he seemed to enjoy making Yoruichi and I chase him all over the Seiretei," Kagome grumbled, breaking the seal on the scroll and flipping it open with a flourish. Her blue eyes widened when she read the contents.

"No... way." Snapping it shut, the small girl raced to get her things together. If this was what she thought it was, then her Captain was really asking a lot of her for this mission.

"Looks like I get to finally prove my worth!"

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"Kagome Higurashi?"

"Yes sir!"

"... You don't really look like much." The priestess-turned-shinigami would have happily strangled her Lieutenant had she not been sure that she'd be killed for it. Renji Abarai was also at least twice her height and probably weighed three times as much.

"To be honest, Lieutenant, neither do you," she replied in a huff, glaring up at the tall red-head. He blinked in shock and floundered for a come-back.

"What? Well-!"

"As petty as this conversation is, there is a reason the two of you are here," he was interrupted by their Captain, whom sounded... amused? Kagome blinked. Was she reading that right? Turning, she acknowledged the dark-haired man with a bow and a murmured "Captain."

"Captain Kuchiki!"

"Hnn," Turning to Kagome, he glanced her over before dismissing her. She looked nothing special. However, appearances were always deceiving. They all had Aizen to thank for that little tidbit.

"I've gotten the reports back about your Zanpakutou, Higurashi. If they are true, your skills will be needed in this next mission." He didn't bother to mince words and got straight to the point. Kagome nodded silently, waiting for him to give her permission to speak.

"What reports, Captain?" Renji asked, unaware of any such paperwork. Byakuya turned and pinned him with a gimlet stare. The red-head gulped. Yes, he wanted to be better than his Captain, but that didn't mean he wasn't still intimidated by the noble.

"Why don't you explain what you Zanpakutou can do, Higurashi," the dark-haired male answered, turning and walking away. It hadn't been a question. His two subordinates scrambled to follow and Kagome grit her teeth as she responded.

"Basically, Lieutenant Abarai, my Zanpakutou is capable of honing in and locating dark spiritual pressure; like the kind that hollows exude. I then use the energy from that technique to subdue and eradicate my enemy."

"So it's-"

"Ever heard of a quincy, Lieutenant," the former priestess interrupted. When she received a nod, she continued, dumbing it down for the red-head, "It's like that, only instead of completely destroying the soul, I purify it and send it to move on to the Soul Society."

Renji stopped and stared for a moment. "Wait! So you're telling me that you can revert a Hollow back to a Whole?"

"That's right!"

"... Unbelievable," Renji muttered, shaking his head and suddenly seeing the girl in a new light.

"Not really, considering what I was before I got here," Kagome sighed, shrugging her shoulders and absently continuing to follow her Captain. Who had stopped when she said that. She ran right into his back.

"Owww!" Rubbing her nose, she glanced up at her Captain in question.

"Higurashi, are you saying you remember your life before you came to the Soul Society?" the Kuchiki head asked, glancing back to her in visible curiosity. It was a look she'd never seen on his stoic face, and she found that it suited him... when he wasn't being a jerk.

"Well... yeah. Doesn't everyone?" she asked, blinking in surprise when both males shook their heads, "...Ohhh. Well, I don't know what to tell you then. Maybe I'm just defective, or something?"

"Or something," Renji muttered, unaware of the tick developing in Kagome's left eye.

'Don't strangle your Lieutenant, Kagome. It's bad for you health in general.'

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Renji parted ways with the two to get some supplies together. With a gesture, Byakuya turned, indicating for her to follow him again. She did so absently. After all, she was still thinking about why she still had her memories of her life time when, apparently, they were supposed to have been wiped.

'Damn Shikon Jewel. It's always mucking things up. It even screwed up my afterlife!' Kagome thought, glaring angrily at no one in particular. Byakuya, on the other hand, was going over some other interesting things about his young subordinate.

'It makes sense. She acts just slightly differently than the other Shinigami. What's more, her spiritual pressure is just... off. It's almost too pure.'

"Captain?"

He turned just slightly in a show of acknowledgement. Kagome steeled her nerves and thought 'Now or never!' before she blurted out her question.

"Can I please have my hair ribbon back?" He stopped, then actually turned to face her. The former priestess gulped audibly as he literally stalked up to her. She almost backed up a couple of steps when he stopped in front of her. Almost. But, she knew that would be a sign of weakness. She remembered at least that much from when she used to deal with demons.

'Damn it, but does he have to be so tall?' He leaned down until their noses almost touched, their warm breaths mingling.

"Tell me something, Higurashi," Byakuya muttered, making the girl flush darkly. It hadn't been a question, "Have you completed your Flash Step yet?"

She shook her head quietly. Inwardly he smirked. "Then no. Until you complete your Flash Step, you are not to ask for it. Your ribbon is mine until you prove otherwise. Don't forget that, Hi-gu-ra-shi."

He straightened up and turned away smugly. She didn't need to know that her precious blue ribbon was tied securely to his wrist under his tekkou glove. She'd get it back... once she'd completed the training he'd set for her. Really, though, she was just too easy to tease!

Kagome stared after her Captain, hand against her rapidly beating heart and cheeks flushed crimson. Then, she whispered the first thing that came to her mind and chastised herself for being so ridiculous.

"Arrogant jerk!"

"Are you coming, Higurashi," he called from over his shoulder. Again, it was not a question.

"Y-Yes sir!" she stuttered, running to catch up with the dark-haired noble.

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Kagome shivered, biting her lip to keep her teeth from chattering loudly, and surveyed her surroundings next to her Captain. Damn, but it was cold out here! Had she known what area they were headed to, she'd have grabbed a cloak!

'I'm freezing!' the shinigami thought, rubbing her arms for meager warmth, then stopped and glanced at Byakuya out of the corner of her eye. He looked unmoved as ever. And he certainly wasn't shaking from the cold! 'How is he not freezing?'

"Cold, Higurashi?" Renji poked the small girl in the back, and was rewarded with an angry glare and the snapping of her teeth.

"No! Never! I'm just shaking from the excitement of getting the chance to play in the snow!" she responded just a tad to cheerfully, warning the Lieutenant of oncoming verbal abuse, "Of course I'm cold, you jerk! I'm not chattering my teeth for the hell of it!"

"You really need to learn some respect," the red-head sighed, mussing up her long hair and starting down the slope. He wasn't sure why, but she just reminded him a little too much of Rukia to get completely mad at her. Kagome snarled and attempted to pat down her now frazzled hair.

"I only respect people that earn it!" she huffed, glancing away in embarrassment when she noted her Captain had been watching her with a raised brow.

"Are you really that cold?" The question had been unexpected, and she whipped around to face him. Was he... concerned about her? No! That couldn't be!

Still, she nodded silently, and he almost seemed to sigh in defeat. In the next movement, he unwound the scarf he always wore from around his neck and settled it on her loosely. She gaped at him in shock, her face slowly heating up in awe. She knew what this scarf signified. It was an heirloom passed down in his family to every head of the Kuchiki house.

"Captain! Why-!"

"Because you'll be useless if you get sick, Higurashi," he merely replied, turning away and starting down the snowy hill. The former priestess blinked, then smiled gently.

"Thank you, Captain Kuchiki," she whispered. Then she glanced down at the scarf. It smelled really nice. She blushed. There was no way she would ever tell anyone that she thought her Captain smelled 'nice'! Dislodging her train of thought, she sprinted down the hilll to catch up with the Squad 6 Leader and its Lieutenant, whom were already at the bottom and waiting for her.

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A/N: And the end! Next chapter will be up soon! Don't forget to review!

Thanks guys! Hope to see you soon!