A/N: Happy Valentine's Day. :) I'm a sucker for holiday fics, and this one is no exception. This is a two-shot. The next chapter will be posted on March 14th, White Day. The "T" rating is for later. I'll be posting the next chapter for 26 Stories this weekend. Be sure to look out for it! Reviews are love and spicy chocolates! Don't forget that!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I just toy with the characters a bit.

Byakuya Kuchiki didn't really hate Valentine's Day. After all, it was a day just like any other; just with a few extra speed bumps that he could do without.

Byakuya closed his eyes, his fingers mechanically weaving the white kensaikan through loose strands of hair. He worked slowly, sliding his arms into his haori and deftly wrapping the windflower scarf about his neck. Finding no other reason to delay himself, he left the room.

He expected the bright mounds of red to assault his vision the moment he entered the dining room, but the sheer volume surprised him. The SWA went all out this year.

"Some of these chocolates are actually homemade, sir," said a slight woman, a heart-shaped box in her hands.

"It appears that they are more abundant than usual," Byakuya frowned, picking up a box and opening it to examine the tiny chocolates wrapped in red tissue. It did, indeed, appear as if they were homemade.

"Sir?"

"You may distribute them amongst the other workers, Fuu," the cold noble sighed, placing the opened box back on the pile. "I have no use for them."

"Of course, Lord Kuchiki," the female servant replied with a bow.

With that taken care of, Byakuya headed to the office, already willing the end of the day to come quickly.

"Byakushi!"

Of course, Byakuya thought with a sigh before nearly being bowled over by the tiny pink-haired shinigami. Sticky fingers wrapped tightly around his neck and it took quite a bit of strength to finally peel Yachiru off and place her on the ground.

"I brought you a gift!" she squealed, clapping her hands together. Byakuya said nothing, assuming by the mess of chocolate covering her hands and face that she had already partaken of his "gift". He continued walking. Yachiru followed.

"It was in a pretty red box, almost as red as pineapple-head's hair!" she yammered on, describing the present of candy that she had devoured.

The Kuchiki noble reached deep within his shihakusho and pulled out a sweet bun for just such an occasion and promptly shoved it into Yachiru's open mouth. The eleventh division lieutenant smiled, chewing happily before running off to bother some other poor soul.

Byakuya continued on his way, bringing his thoughts to the last thing Yachiru Kusajishi had said.

Renji Abarai seemed like the kind of person who would enjoy this holiday. It was a day devoted to the fiery, passionate type, and his lieutenant certainly fit that description. The burning red that marked the holiday suited him well, and the stoic captian thought of those crimson tresses continuously tied up in the customary pony-tail. Of course, it helped that the tattooed man was quite attractive by anyone's standards. Byakuya could imagine Renji waking up to piles of valentines sitting outside his door, a wild smile lighting up his face as he sifted through each box, consuming the sweet candies one by one. The steel-eyed shinigami wondered if his lieutenant would answer any of those blatant symbols of affection, confused by the twinge of sadness that squeezed his chest at the thought.

As usual, there was no sign of the fiery lieutenant when Byakuya arrived at the office. Ignoring the piles of red outside the door, Byakuya sat at his desk and got right to work.

It was a couple hours later that Renji finally invaded Byakuya's sense of calm with his burning reiatsu, making a show of bursting through the door as if he tried everything in his power to be on time for once.

"Sorry I'm late, Taichou!" Renji apologized, out of breath.

The raven-haired captain dismissed his lieutenant's abrasive entrance with a flick of his hand. "Get to work, Abarai."

Renji nodded, settling down in his chair and bending over the piles of forms on his desk. Byakuya was almost disappointed to feel the redhead pull in his wild reiatsu. It was a feeling he had gotten used to over the years of working so closely with Renji and he actually enjoyed the touch of pressure in the air.

The sensation had changed dramatically with time, starting off as a violent lash of reiatsu that Byakuya had no qualms with crushing with the gravity of his own. After some time, the feeling had changed to an almost caress, brushing softly, tentatively at first, against Byakuya's skin. Startled, the noble had roughly shoved the pressure away the first time he felt it, but after realizing that Renji seemed to be oblivious to his own reiatsu's actions, eventually gave in to the light touches.

"Uh, Taichou?"

Byakuya looked up, realizing that he had been frowning at the same form for ten minutes.

"Yes, Abarai?"

"Well," Renji smiled warmly, "I got ya somethin'."

The icy captain said nothing, watching as the other man walked over to his desk, pulling a small red box out of his shihakusho and placing it on the wood surface. Byakuya slowly reached for the box, lifting the lid to find the usual small, round chocolates wrapped delicately in red tissue.

"I know ya don' like sweets," Renji said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So I made these. They're wasabi truffles."

Byakuya silently picked a truffle out of the paper, placing it in his mouth and closing his eyes as a delicious mix of sweet and spicy attacked his taste buds. After the chocolate had dissolved on his tongue, Byakuya opened his eyes to find Renji staring at him nervously.

"They are exquisite, but why present me with such a gift?" Byakuya questioned.

"Uh . . . well, ya see . . . um . . ." Renji babbled, growing quiet when his captain frowned and settling for a quick shrug.

"I see," the sixth division captain said, bringing his attention back to his paperwork. "I thank you for the chocolate, now get back to work."

Renji nodded and walked back to his desk, glancing up at Byakuya and smiling when his cold captain placed another spicy morsel on his tongue, savoring the taste.

Unbeknownst to the volatile shinigami, Byakuya leaned against the sudden surge of affectionate reiatsu lightly brushing against his skin. The candies were, indeed, delicious, and it seemed as if Renji had put in a lot of effort to make them.

Perhaps, Byakuya thought, closing his eyes as a tendril of pressure nuzzled against his cheek, I should return the favor.