Renji let out a yelp of surprise. Rukia innocently whistled as she walked next to him and he shot her a glare. "Why?" He asked.

Rukia grinned and made a grabby hand gesture. "You got a nice butt."

He blushed. "What?" Sputtering incoherent noises, Renji looked around and spotted Izuru leaning against a building. "Oi, Izuru, what the hell is this all about? Did you know Rukia was doing that kinda stuff?"

Izuru was quietly off in his own world. His eyes glazed with a thousand-yard stare into nothingness. Gravity seemed to pull his eyes. He gave his legs three kicks, each one faster than the prior one. Suddenly, without so much as a goodbye, he vanished with a Shunpo.

Rukia snorted. "Wow. Anyway, don't worry too much about it, Renji-kun!"

"Kun?" he asked, only to get a cheeky smile in response and another pinch. "Will you stop that?!" he nearly snapped, rubbing his sore butt cheek.

"But your reactions are so perfect!" she chirped, winking at him, causing him to blush and look around. This had to be some kind of prank, right?

… Right?!

"You're acting so weird, ever since you started hanging out with Izuru." His eyes narrowed at her. She still dressed like Rukia, walked like Rukia, and used the same brand of scented stuff that he couldn't even think of affording. But she was so different.

"Nah, I'm not any different." Rukia retorted indifferently.

"That right there just proves it. Since when did you use slang like that?" Renji pointed at her.

"Slang?" Rukia cocked her head to the side curiously. "You mean saying nah? I don't think there's anything wrong with that, I say it all the time."

"Who are you trying to kid?" He seemed sad. "I know you, Rukia… or at least I used to."

"I'm still me… I'm just different." She whispered. "It's not in a bad way."

Renji nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess you're right." He offered an awkward smile.

Rukia perked up. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the nearest restaurant.

A week passed by. Renji and Rukia seemed to grow closer, much to Rukia's joyful surprise. He seemed to warm up to her new personality, which wasn't exactly new… to everyone she's been with for the last 20 years.

~OoO~

Friday rolled around, so Rukia and Renji were going to go out and do some friend stuff. Her cheeks flushed and a giddy smile crossed her face. Rukia decided to dress up in a cute floral patterned dress, strappy sandals, and a little shoulder bag- mainly to hold her coin purse. She quickly tied her hair into low pigtails. She looked in the mirror and grinned. Perfect. Byakuya will probably have a sister complex moment and that would be totally worth it. She snickered quietly and left her room, sandals in hand as she walked. It was her day off and she had every right to dress how she wanted.

She was in a hurry so she nearly ran straight into Byakuya when she swiftly walked down the hall.

"Oh! Sorry, -Nii-sama!" She chirped with a grin. "I'm going out, don't wait up!" She skirted around him and with a skip to her step, nearly ran out of the mansion.

Byakuya watched her go with nothing more than a cocked eyebrow. This was the 7th Friday in a row that she's left dressed in something cute like that. The last time it was a pink hoodie with rabbit ears sewn into the hood. He looked to her room and nodded to himself before heading back to his office.

~OoO~

Rukia kicked off her shoes in the Genkan, her shoulders drooped with exhaustion. She and Renji had gone for a hike in the woods- something about this being their 10th Friday and there being no nature-related hangout. It was really more of a walk seeing as there isn't much to climb up except the trees. They had a small picnic in a clearing, it was almost like a date and it had her heart racing the whole time. She felt drained after and decided to go directly home when they were done.

She made her way to her room, closing the door behind her. She turned around only to be startled by a new door on the opposite side of the room. "What?" She asked herself, moving to inspect the door. "Interesting…" She had a feeling she knew why it was there. She grasped the handle and swung the door open.

The new door led to a medium-sized room that she remembered stood empty for a while and definitely didn't have a door leading to her room before today. It was stuffed full of shelving and drawers of clothing and shoes. Something was fishy here. She narrowed her eyes. Everything was in her preferred style. Cute and yet fashionable. Someone went to great lengths for this. And she had a feeling she knew who it was.

~OoO~

Knocking on his office door, Rukia waited patiently for her brother to allow her in.

"Enter."

Rukia opened the door and peeked in. "Nii-sama…" She narrowed her eyes at him. He acknowledged her with a cool stare. "I know what you did."

He set his pen down, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. "Do you like my gift?"

"I love it, Nii-sama, thank you. But… the whole point of me going on my trips to the World of the Living is to shop for cute clothes with Izuru. With all the clothes you got me, it kinda makes it difficult." Rukia said seriously as she stepped into the room.

He stared at her with a contemplating look in his eyes. "You go to the world of the living to shop for clothes… with lieutenant Kira." There was no question in his voice.

"Yes. There are many shops with cute clothes there. Fashion is always changing! I'm hoping to get us matching outfits one of these days- but you know, Izuru he…" Rukia sighed, quite dramatically, "He won't match me. Oh well, I'm going to go try on everything in my closet!"

Unaware of the beast that was awoken within the cold-hearted Head of the Family, Rukia skipped back to her room to play fashion with her handmaids.

~OoO~

Just three days later, Rukia was waiting for Izuru at their gate to go to the World of the Living. She spotted her friend approach her with an uncomfortable look on his face. "What's wrong with your face?"

"Your brother, Captain Kuchiki," Izuru hissed the name like it burned him, "Gave me these."

Rukia looked down in Izuru's arms to find purple and white cloth. Very similar to what Byakuya requested she wore on her outing today. "He… gave you clothes?"

"How does he know my measurements?!" Izuru shrieked, entering the gate. "He also told me that, at my status, I should focus my free time learning the ways of courting! I swear, Rukia if he wasn't your brother I would have punched him in the face."

She giggled.

Upon entering the World of the Living, they changed into their gigai. Rukia happily twirled in her soft purple sailor outfit. She adjusted the bow that wrapped under her flap collar and then waited as Izuru painstakingly changed into his new clothes.

"... I'm not coming out." Was all Rukia heard from behind a conveniently large tree.

"Come on! It can't be that bad!" With zero concerns for privacy, she went around the tree… and then covered her mouth to contain her laughter.

Izuru was dressed in a sailor uniform- the male version of course- his bowed head staring indignantly at the white boat shoes partially hidden under purple pants. His neckerchief was red as fresh blood and that seemed to settle an image in his head.

"I look like I'm trying to cosplay a male Sailor Saturn…"

After several seconds of trying to find that name in her mind, Rukia snorted. "I thought you didn't like that show?"

"I make a point to know enough to make conversation… You can give these back to your brother when we get back. I am not keeping these."

He was, in fact, keeping those. Izuru just didn't know it yet.

~OoO~

Izuru walked into the Shinigami Research and Development Institute with a little skip in his steps. In his arms was a modest stack of reports bound in olive green string. Nothing serious, but apparently a few new members of his squad ran some experiments with drinks that were meant to keep them awake with minimal effects. Gin was very unhappy when a dozen rookie Shinigami suddenly crashed and had to be sent to the 4th.

Not even five steps into the building itself, a member of the research division in a lab coat met Izuru at the entrance. "Lieutenant Kira!"

"Would you see that these are sent to the proper channels?" Izuru kindly ordered and deposited the reports. "They're regarding the… keep awake experiment and a letter for Captain Kurotsuchi from Captain Ichimaru."

Technically, it was Gin going on a tirade with his dialect coming out so thick Kira had to help Izuru transcribe the proper words.

"Yes, sir." The nameless, and otherwise unnoteworthy Shinigami scampered off. In their haste, they forgot to ask Izuru if he had any other business to attend to. After all, it wasn't every day that a Lieutenant of another squad was the one to deliver paperwork.

So, to stay out of any researchers' way, Izuru stood to the side of the corridor and leaned back without touching the wall. Despite this, there was very little activity.

"Squad 3's Lieutenant Kira, what's your business here?" A Shinigami with 4 horn-like zits and a lab coat started heading in Izuru's direction. He looked weirdly familiar but if he actually had a name worth knowing, it never sat with Izuru's past life.

"That's Squad 12's 3rd seat, Akon!" Kira hissed in Izuru's head and he had to pretend like that meant something to him. Izuru was certain that he'd seen Akon for more than 10 pages in the manga, especially with his rank being that high- probably becomes the Lieutenant after Nemu gets killed. "SHE WHAT?!"

"I was looking for someone to share a hypothetical training method that the Research and Development team might want to look into if they had a spare person or time," Izuru said and straightened up, keeping an air of indifference as he stood closer to Akon out of respect. Just like they practiced. "Hypothetically speaking, could weight be incorporated to trick a Shinigami body into believing it is heavier than it truly is; thus making their training of Shunpo increased?"

Akon raised a naked brow. Izuru noticed that the other Shinigami seemed to be looking past him but Izuru didn't bother checking for what. "Possibly, explain your reasoning."

"Some athletes in the World of the Living will use small amounts of weights to further their training. The flaw with this method is that it works on the wrong muscle sets, but psychologically, it makes the body think that it has to use more force than needed to perform a task. Let's take a book for example: If you were to put a small amount of weight on a person's favorite book every day, the person will steadily increase the amount of strength to pick it up," Izuru rolled his wrist, pulling at his memories and chuckled at the story he remembered about a dad pranking his son that smoked with a bong. "When you remove those weights all at once-"

"The person's most likely to use enough force to smash their face with the book," Akon finished with a nod. "So you want us to develop weights that'll… make people smash their faces with their legs when they Shunpo?"

"No, I want weights that will work on the correct muscles that once removed will double- triple even, the speed of their Shunpo. Depending on the results, it could be incorporated into building up speed with swordplay." Upon seeing Akon's doubtful face, Izuru shrugged and then gave a respectful, but short bow. "I'll see myself out. Thank you for listening."

"I think not, Lieutenant Kira. You've piqued my interest," A pale hand planted itself firmly on Izuru's shoulder. "Why have I never noticed your interest in research before?"

Izuru slowly looked over his shoulder to come face-to-face with the painted face of Captain Kurotsuchi. "Captain Kurotsuchi." Crap, his voice wasn't supposed to sound that shaky. "It comes and goes at random. Some days I have ideas that won't leave until I share them with someone and other days I'd rather… uh."

Man, Kurotsuchi's more intimidating in person than Izuru thought.

"Hm…" Kurotsuchi let out a noise that Izuru couldn't tell if it was good or if Izuru just signed a death wish. "Tell me another one of your 'hypotheticals'."

Izuru knew that if he tried to escape now, it wouldn't end well for him. In the back of his mind, Kira was shouting at him to use the excuse that Captain Ichimaru was expecting him- not like that would work.

"Would someone in the world of the living not from Japan, but who dies in Japan be entered into the Soul Society? If not, why? What are the requirements to enter the Soul Society beyond not having crimes worthy of hell?"

Kurotsuchi was very, very still.

The next thing Izuru knew, he was being dragged away in the literal sense.

"U-uh, Captain Kurotsuchi?!" Izuru tried to get up only to fall and continue the dragging. "I should be returning to my squad-"

"Nonsense, you wanted weights! I will also expect you to share any and all hypotheticals you come across. If you lack the motivation to research it yourself, at least give it to someone who can find it useful." Kurotsuchi turned a corner, not at all caring that Izuru had to kick around the wall to not crash. "Fortunately, I have every inch of your body measured and weighed. Finding the muscles you favor just needs some basic observations."

"You have what measured?!"

~OoO~

Rukia jumped in surprise when Izuru sat across from her at her favorite diner. He slammed his head on the table, groaning. Rukia raised an eyebrow and used a new pair of chopsticks to poke at his head. "What happened?"

"I'm ten pounds heavier and Captain Kurotsuchi thinks I'm interesting." Izuru paused when he didn't hear Rukia make any noise. He looked up to find her grinning stupidly. "Weights. I have weights on. Two pounds on each arm, two pounds on each leg, and two pounds wrapped around my torso."

"You're the one that wanted to go to the science building when you're a total nerd," Rukia giggled and put some food on a spare plate for Izuru to eat. "What're you doing with your new friend?"

"We're not friends," Izuru grumbled and ate some grilled meat. "Keep his interest in me and get him to develop stuff to…" He paused and looked around his surroundings. "Permanently deal with the genjutsu stuff."

Rukia rolled her eyes at her friend's use of the wrong terms for the wrong world. "I thought you sucked at chess?"

"I do but I like planning things." Izuru frowned when he ate an unknown vegetable and hailed a wait staff to order something more to his taste.

~OoO~

"... Shuuhei, why?" Izuru asked as he watched Shuuhei fiddle with the massive bike.

"Come on, Izuru! This'll be a blast! Let's ride this over to the 11th and surprise Renji, he'll love it." Shuuhei hopped onto the bike without any kind of protective gear and patted the spot behind him. "I rode one of these in the World of the Living and it was exhilarating!"

"That's a big word for you." Izuru let out a sigh and climbed on, hanging onto Shuuhei's waist. Well, Soul Reapers are more sturdy than normal humans, and Kira finally explained to him the mechanics of healing Kido beyond "close the wound!" so if they crash… guaranteed at least he is not gonna die. "Have you shown Matsumoto-san?"

"R-Rangiku?" Shuuhei looked at me, his face turning a rather interesting shade of red. "I mean… Do you think she'd like it?"

Oh Shuuhei, you and Gin are open books when it comes to Rangiku.

"I mean, I would assume this is her thing. Once we run into Renji we can ride around and look for her so you can take her for a spin." Granted, something in the back of Izuru's mind told him that this was just so Shuuhei could feel Rangiku's assets against his back.

Izuru tensed up when the engine revved to life and he hid his face in Shuuhei's shoulder when it started to move. The thing was stupidly loud! It took a few minutes of Shuuhei twisting and turning around buildings for him to finally look up, just in time to see Shuuhei barely miss a few members from Squad 4.

"Sorry!" Izuru yelled back to them though he doubted they heard him. "Did you have to drive in the busiest spot in the Seireitei?!"

"What?!" Shuuhei yelled back. "Can't hear you! I think we should get away from the crowd!"

"That's what I said- AH!" Izuru screamed as the bike suddenly jumped from the ground, landing on top of a building, and continued driving. "How does that make any sense?! Where's the gravity?!"

"I had it modified!" Shuuhei shouted back.

"Oh, now you heard me!" In the corner of Izuru's eye, he spotted a flash of orange. "Matsumoto-san! Help! Shuuhei is an adrenaline junkie!"

At the sound of the ginger's name, Shuuhei hit the brakes.

… He didn't know how brakes worked.

~OoO~

Izuru and Shuuhei stood in front of Captain General Yamamoto. The former stared at the old man in the eyes while the other was looking away with a pout.

"Have you no respect as Soul Reapers?!" Yamamoto scolded them. "Bringing in that contraption, causing chaos in the streets by nearly running over several of your own comrades! The noise alone was a disturbance of the peace, we had several complaints about it! What do you two have to say about your actions?"

The humiliating part was that Gin and Tosen were standing several meters behind the Lieutenants. The captains were not a part of the chewing-out, but to Izuru this felt like being yelled at by the principal while your parents were sitting in the back, nodding in agreement.

"Sorry… I guess…?" Shuuhei muttered, not looking Yamamoto in the eyes. "Just thought it would be fun."

"There is nothing fun about disrupting the harmony cultivated within the Seireitei! Beyond that, your incapabilities to properly use it nearly cost yours and your comrades' lives!" Yamamoto's face pinched up. Izuru could tell the old man wasn't truly furious, but it was the principle of the matter that seemed to mean the most to Yamamoto. "Lieutenant Kira?'

The muscle in Izuru's neck twitched, an old physical tic from his old life. "I'm surprised Soul Reapers aren't trying harder to die so they can be reincarnated into a world that actually progresses."

Dead silence. Shuuhei finally lifted his head to look at Izuru.

"I mean, with all due respect, sir." Izuru took a step forward, raising his casted hand without much care for the pain in his shoulder. "Sure, the Seireitei has a method that works for now. We stifle progression to preserve harmony and tradition. The motorcycle was a poor choice on our part, but why have we not developed other methods of transportation to increase productivity? The Lieutenant meetings must be organized days in advance, and the meeting spot can take half a day's travel. Is the fear of change so grand that we must live fifteen generations behind the World of the Living?"

Honestly, the fact that the only "speedy" transportation Soul Reapers have is shunpo is pretty ridiculous. Do engineers and scientists from the human realm forget all desires to create the minute they die?

Izuru's shoulders tensed up when he felt Yamamoto leak out the tiniest amount of spiritual pressure. It was tiny, sure, but it was crushing his mind and Shuuhei was already starting to waver. "Sir, forgive my rudeness, but you're proving my point. Please do not punish Lieutenant Hisagi by proxy of being near me. I won't apologize for speaking my mind, but I will apologize for the discourse that was caused by us driving that motorcycle."

Izuru grabbed Shuuhei by the shoulder of his robes so he wouldn't faceplant at Yamamoto's spiritual pressure returning.

"I hereby declare that all vehicles from the World of the Living be banned from entering the Seireitei, and the list of forbidden items shall be revised. Since you two showed… remorse for your actions, your punishments will be determined by your captains. Dismissed."

Shuuhei and Izuru bowed to the Captain General and parted ways with their respective captains.

"That was scary~" Gin mused, leading Izuru away. "Ya stood up to Cap'n General Yamamoto. Ya'v gotten braver, Izuru."

"I just spoke my mind…" Izuru's tone dropped to its usual soft tone, all the bravado from before sucked away now that he was at the mercy of his unreadable captain. "So, what's my punishment, Captain Ichimaru?"

"Eager t' repent, Izuru?" Gin teased, looking over his shoulder. "I think a month of no World of the Living visits will suffice. Ya'll spen' those days trainin' with me. No Zanpakuto either~!"

So sorry for the delay ya'll! Life had gotten really hectic for us and we just got super busy! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as we loved writing it! Please let us know in the reviews and drop a favorite and follow if you enjoyed it! We love you! Thanks for sticking with us!