Hey, crazy alligator here! Well, this my first fic posted on the internet, but not my first fic ever written. I have a ton of documents saved to my computer, and some are going to go onto the site. I had a real dilemma deciding if I wanted to post something I had saved or writing something new, but I eventually decided on the latter. Note, this has not been beta-d. There is no really specific time this is set, it's really just some time after the winter war. Enjoy!

Byakuya's schemes: chapter 1

Renji abruptly spit out his mouthful of tea, frantically reading the letter over again, his eyes scanning every word, every character carefully to make sure he wasn't making a mistake. His captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, THE Byakuya Kuchiki, was inviting him to dinner. At his manor. Tonight.

"Well, Renji," asked said noble, standing before the man, waiting for an answer. "You will be in attendance, correct?" His held his stoic gaze, not once removing it from the wide-eyed man in front of him.

Renji still had a difficult time processing this, keeping his eyes on the decorated paper, which was soaked in tea and saliva, and which he still clutched tightly in his hands. He couldn't think straight, let alone respond to his superior. He was in total disbelief, and, just for a moment, he remembered the time when his captain had made a joke. To him, this was the same thing, just a million times more unbelievable.

Byakuya could tell that his lieutenant was in total shock, so he simply said, "I am going to accept your silence as a yes. The time we start is 6:00 P.M. Sharp. And I mean sharp, is that clear?" Eyes still bugging out of his head, Renji forced himself to nod so as not to be disrespectful. "Excellent. The dress is casual." With that, the noble turned and made his way to the shoji door to depart. Before he did, though, he turned his head back to his still-in-shock lieutenant and said, "One more thing, Renji."

Renji willed himself to look up, into the emotionless eyes of his captain to receive the add-on to the information.

"Rukia will also be in attendance."

Renji's breath caught, and if his eyes were capable of being widened more, Byakuya was sure that they would have. Yes, that was it. He would definitely come now. Closing the door behind him, Byakuya allowed himself a small smile and mentally patted himself on the back for completing phase one of his operation. Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

Renji opened the door to his room, plopping down on the nearest chair, not even bothering to close, let alone lock said door. He was trying desperately to think of reasons why his captain would just invite him to dinner out of the blue, so suddenly. There weren't any holidays coming up, no birthdays or special events. After about an hour he gave up, dragging himself upstairs to pick out something decent for tonight. Regardless of whether he knew the reason for it or not, he was still going. Especially if Rukia was going to be there. God, how he wished he could confess his feelings and sweep her off her feet(Even though there was the possibility that she could reject him). But no. He couldn't do that, at least not until he proved himself worthy. For now, he would have to settle with simply eating a friendly dinner with his best friend in the world. Opening his closet, he shuffled through all of his garments, trying to find one nice enough for the occasion. His captain had said it was casual, thank god, because he didn't own anything that could match up to the splendor of noble garb.

Picking out a dull orange yukata with red flowers on it, he ultimately decided that said yukata was the best decision. Taking the yukata downstairs to change into it later, he opened up liquor cabinet and took out a bottle off sake. Popping off the cork with his teeth, he took a swig, wiping his mouth off afterward. Even though Rukia was going to be there, he was going to need some alcohol in his system to survive a night of eating dinner with his captain without passing out from nervousness.

Rukia sighed as a servant did her hair up with a clip. She still had a hard time believing it. Her brother had mentioned the idea of having Renji over the previous night, and she had been internally shocked by the suggestion, but agreed to it nonetheless. Thinking back, it was a good thing Rukia had learned the skill of hiding one's emotions from her brother, because if she hadn't, she was sure that she would have chocked on her food when he brought it up. Even though it was surprising(to say the least), she was happy about it. She often thought about how much she loved that big oaf, but knew that making a move would cause something bad to happen, something controversial, something that would tarnish images or ruin reputations. She was afraid of something like that to happen, something that would get both of them in trouble. She was fine with herself being in trouble, heck, you couldn't get much worse than nearly being executed, but she knew that Renji didn't deserve to have anything messed up in his life. And sometimes she thought that a little part of her was also afraid of rejection, of him not returning her strong feelings for him. She set her thoughts aside, though, as the servants ushered her out of the room to pick a kimono. She was glad that this wasn't formal, or she would have had to put on makeup and had all kinds of expensive combs in her hair and so many layers of clothing that she would have suffocated.

After deciding on a purple kimono with tree branches and cherry blossom petals winding around it, she returned to her room with a servant to put it on. She was sure that, with her brother and best friend eating at a table, this was going to be a long, and possibly entertaining, night.

Byakuya was walking by the eleventh division, waiting for his contact. He saw them winding around the corner, air tense and heavy, reiatsu serious and dense.

"Do you have the payment?" they asked, stopping beside him, facing the opposite direction.

"You remember the job, correct?" asked Byakuya, mimicking the seriousness.

"Yeah. Cause a commotion. Get everyone distracted. Clean up afterward if something goes bad. Am I wrong?"

"No, that's it to a dot. The first half of the payment is in your office. You will receive the second half after tonight," he replied. The servants would think it was real, and they knew the protocol for said situations. Tell the head of the household the details first, and only tell anyone else that he tells them to tell. The plan would be perfect.

After the statement, the contact ran off toward the first half of their reward, probably to make sure it was legit. It was. Byakuya had made sure of it.

Welcome, Abarai-fukutaicho!" said a female servant who greeted Renji at the door. "Allow me to lead you to the dining room. Byakuya-sama and Rukia-sama are waiting there right now." The servant had a faint blush on her cheeks, which Renji took as a sign that he looked good, a fact that he was glad about. The servant showed him to a door and quickly left after. He opened it and was met with the sight of his emotionless-as-usual captain and a beautifully-clad Rukia. He really was amazed at her appearance, and knew that it would be a test of his willpower to not stare. Sitting down in seiza at the table, he spoke, "Good evening taicho, Rukia."

"There is no need to address us so formally, Renji," said Byakuya. Both Renji and Rukia were surprised by this statement, but stayed calm.

"If you say so, captain," replied Renji. The three began to converse, mostly small talk between Renji and Byakuya, however Renji and Rukia talked like they usually did, like very good friends, which they were, and Byakuya didn't seem to care or even notice. Eventually the tea was brought out and when it was, Byakuya readied himself.

And, sure enough, right on cue, a servant opened the door, bowing respectfully.

"I apologize for interrupting, Byakuya-sama, you are needed for an urgent matter," said the servant.

"How long will this take?" he asked.

"Probably a while," replied the servant, still bowing.

Byakuya stood up, following the servant out of the room. "It appears that I will not be present for the rest of this. Please enjoy yourselves and the food while I attend to this. With that Byakuya departed, and when they could hear his footsteps disappear down the hallway, Renji scooted over next to Rukia to discuss what the hell was going on.

"Rukia, could you please tell me why Kuchiki-taicho invited me over here?" he asked her.

"Honestly, I don't know," she replied. "It surprised me just as much when he mentioned it." She noticed that he was staring at her and couldn't help but taunt him about it when she added, "And, by the way, may I ask why your staring at me like a buffoon?"

Renji blushed and turned his head away. "I am not!"

Rukia laughed at his childish behavior, noticing that he looked pretty handsome himself. But before anything else could be said, there was a knock on the door.

"Your dinner is ready," came the muffled voice of a male servant from the other side.

"Come in," they said simultaneously, as Renji moved back to his spot and the two composed themselves. The servant entered, placing down a platter with several pieces of sushi arranged in a heart on the table, then quickly left.

Both Renji and Rukia's faces went completely and utterly red at the sight that greeted them.

"Uh, Rukia...is the food always shaped like a heart,"asked Renji, pointing to the platter of sushi while avoiding her gaze.

"N-No," she replied, also looking away. Neither of them knew what was going on, but before they could comprehend the situation the lights suddenly went dim, and two tiles on the ceiling opened up. Out of them came rose petals which scattered all around the room, accompanied by romantic music. At this point both of them were blushing madly and uncontrollably, and Rukia had her legs pulled up to her chest in embarrassment, face buried in her hands.

"R-Renji," she asked.

"Y-yeah," he asked, barely able to speak, let alone look at Rukia at all.

"D-Do you want to l-leave now?" she asked, giving both of them an opportunity to get out of this highly embarrassing situation.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," he said, standing up and swiftly exiting the room.

Rukia waited a few minutes before standing up, face still red beyond belief, and walking out the door. This had to be some kind of prank or joke. It had to be! No one in the Kuchiki house would ever do it, she knew that. She was going to inform nii-sama but before she could get two steps away from the door, he appeared in front of her.

Noting the tint of pink on her cheeks from the incident, Byakuya asked, "Where is Renji?"

"He left," she replied. From the situation and her tone Byakuya could tell that nothing had transpired between the two but embarrassment. Internally cursing himself, Byakuya thought that maybe he shouldn't have been so straightforward...

Not bothering to ask why Renji left, Byakuya simply began walking towards his room.

"Nii-sama, wait," said Rukia. She blushed. "I think someone pulled something in the dining room because-" Byakuya cut off Rukia's statement as he opened the door to the room, revealing it to be clean and tidy, the way it had been when the captain of the sixth division had left. Impressive, Byakuya thought to himself. Yachiru has done well.

Rukia gaped, staring in disbelief at the spotless room. Not wanting to make her brother think she was crazy, though, she simply told him that she must have been mistaken and departed to her quarters. Byakuya did the same, and on the way, he made a mental note to make his Renji-and-Rukia-getting-together plans more subtle, and for the umpteenth swearing to himself that, one way or another, he would succeed in having them confess their love to each other. Someday.

END OF FIRST CHAPTER

Yay, the first chapter! *Jumps up and down in excitement* I'm so happy because I wrote this all in one go, and it took forever, but it was worth it! I will try to get the next chapter up within a week or two. Hope you enjoyed, and I would really like to know what you guys think. And, oh yeah, I just remembered I have to do a disclaimer _ I don't own Bleach at all, or any of the characters. Trust me, if I did, Renji and Rukia would have gotten together a long time ago and had beautiful red-haired babies. ^_^ Bleach is the sole property of Tite Kubo.