A/N: Ahem. I know this is like, a year late. I apologise. A lot happened to me last year and the worst of it was not the writer's block. I would give anything for writer's block over that. But here I am again and I'm determined to finish. So… most of this was written within days of the first chapter being posted but for various reasons I never posted it. The main was actually the ended, totally wrong for the story, so let's see how this goes instead.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm not Japanese, a guy or, you know, a mangaka, so not mine.

Ni

Byakuya's first order of business once he'd settled into his room was to call home to Rukia. He had to know if the SWA had something to do with Matsumoto's presence on his vacation and if anyone would tell him of the group's activities when he asked it was Rukia. His lovely little baby sister would never lie to him.

Coincidentally, his calling her had nothing at all to do with him just wanting to hear the sound of her voice.

She answered the phone sleepily, her voice slightly hoarse. "H-hello?" Why was she sleeping? According to the sync feature on his phone it should be the middle of the afternoon in Soul Society, though night had already fallen in the Living World. Did she work herself to exhaustion?

"Rukia," said Byakuya in response and waited for the sound of his voice to snap her to alertness. It was all he ever needed to do.

As expected, Rukia's next response was markedly more aware than her first had been. "Nii-sama? You're at the onsen now?"

"Yes. I am pleased with your decision. Thus far it has been acceptable," replied Byakuya. He omitted the fact that he'd long before decided that the onsen would be to his liking after having his personal secretary conduct a thorough inspection of the place before Rukia had first gone there with the SWA. There was no way Byakuya would've let his little sister go there if he hadn't approved. "How are things at the manor?"

"Everything's fine. But you shouldn't be worrying about those things now that you're on vacation, Nii-sama. Everyone knows what to do and the steward has very specific instructions in case of an emergency," Rukia replied.

Was that a sigh he heard in her voice? No, probably the sleepiness seeping in again. Why was she sleeping in the middle of the day? Did Renji do something? Did Kurosaki Ichigo do something? But no, he would certainly have been alerted by his investigators if that were the case.

Byakuya asked then, "And at work? I hear that Captain Ukitake has taken ill again?"

"Yes, Nii-sama, he has, but everything's fine there too. I have Third Seats Kotsubaki and Kotetsu to help but nothing has been overwhelming so far."

Byakuya considered her response for a bit and decided that it was satisfactory. Rukia had a duty to uphold to not disgrace the Kuchiki or her position and he doubted that she ever would. There was that one time in the Living World with the Fullbringers but Byakuya liked to think of it as a victory for Rukia too. It may not have been a physical one, for she had not managed to overpower her opponent in battle, but she had done something far greater in changing their mindset and thus prevented further unnecessary bloodshed. Rukia lived by the shinigami code that sought the best interest of humans over her own life, sometimes to her own detriment (the Kurosaki incident for one) and Byakuya was very proud of her for it. Yes it made him worry but what kind of big brother would he be if he didn't spare a thought for his sibling at least once a day?

"And at the Sixth Division?" asked Byakuya, knowing that Rukia would have been round to check on his lieutenant.

There was a slight pause before she replied, at a pitch a little higher than normal, "Fine, fine. Renji has everything under control."

Byakuya definitely did not like the sound of that. Abarai Renji was a hard worker, doubly so for the way he stuck out like a sore thumb in the straight-laced Sixth Division when he looked like a little punk, but he could be careless at times. He was another one thoroughly wrapped around Rukia's little finger, less able to resist her whims and fancies than Byakuya. That was because, in addition to having been her childhood friend, Abarai had fallen in love with Rukia. Byakuya pretended that he didn't know, but there was no denying the way the younger man's eyes tracked Rukia's every movement when she was in the room, or would seek out her reiatsu when she was out of sight, or would drop everything to rush to her side when she summoned him. It was actually quite comical at times. Not that Byakuya was going to encourage it if Abarai (or anyone for that matter, and especially Kurosaki Ichigo) ever decided to actively pursue Rukia, but for the time being he was content to sit back and watch the show.

Reminding himself though, that Rukia was probably not going to share if he asked for details on what might have gone wrong at his division (she would not lie, but she would not speak either if it meant getting her friends in trouble) Byakuya decided to get around to what he really wanted to know. Doing his best to phrase it as casually as possible, though knowing it to be impossible in the circumstances, Byakuya asked, "Tell me Rukia, has Captain Hitsugaya misplaced his lieutenant?"

Not expecting the question, Rukia blurted the first thing that came to mind. "What?"

"Or perhaps I should put it this way: is there any particular reason that Matsumoto Rangiku should be here with me, perhaps something in relation to a project for the Seireitei Communication Monthly or Shinigami Women's Association?" asked Byakuya, choosing to ignore her first response.

"No, no, not that I know of," said Rukia. There was a pause, in which she appeared to mull this bit of information over, and then she said, "But oh, Lieutenant Matsumoto's on holiday. Captain Hitsugaya gave her two weeks off because she hadn't taken any days off since the end of the war. Wait, she's at the onsen?"

"Indeed," said Byakuya.

"Oh, well if that is the case, could you look out for her, Nii-sama?" asked Rukia.

Byakuya could have dropped the phone. He nearly did, no one would've seen if he had, but he managed to secure his grip on it at the last minute before asking, "Rukia?"

Rukia's voice took on an entirely different tone, one that was shy, nervous and hesitant, as if what she was about to say embarrassed her but she would do it anyway. It so just so cute!

"W-well you see, Nii-sama, Lieutenant Matsumoto has not been acting like herself of late and everyone's worried. We all know that she can take care of herself but she's in the Living World and there's all kind of trouble for her to get into in this state. I'm not saying that she doesn't know that she has a responsibility to keep Soul Society a secret and that she won't do what she has to, but we can't help but worry. Lieutenant Ise actually sent some people to look for her today when they found out that she wasn't at home. If she's with you this is the best possible thing," said Rukia.

Byakuya had actually stopped listening when he realised that his little sister had just asked him (after repeatedly insisting before that he was on vacation and should not be worrying, mind) to look out for the lieutenant. What made it worse was that from her tone it was clear that she expected him to do it, as if this was going to be no trouble at all and not beneath him and an insult not only to himself, but to the lieutenant as well. He was going to do it anyway, yes, but that did not stop him from being offended by the whole thing.

"Rukia," he said. "Lieutenant Matsumoto is not only a grown woman but a competent shinigami of many years' experience, well capable of taking care of herself and others should the need arise. She does not nor has she ever required a babysitter and it would be a terrible insult to her for me to act in such a capacity without her permission. Not to mention that should she disgrace herself as a woman and a shinigami by her actions here she would deserve whatever punishment her captain or the Captain Commander decide to deliver upon her."

"Yes Nii-sama, understood," said Rukia. His sister's voice was soft, chastened by his reproach. It made him a little sad inside.

He suppressed a sigh at the thought of her unhappy face, and continued, "You should also understand that her actions suggest that the lieutenant wishes for some time to herself. In that regard, I cannot be expected to intrude upon her privacy to satisfy others."

"Of course, Nii-sama. It-it was too bold of me," said Rukia.

"However," said Byakuya, deciding that she'd been subjected to enough punishment. "You may inform Lieutenant Ise and Captain Hitsugaya that I shall keep watch over Lieutenant Matsumoto as best I can until we return to Soul Society."

Rukia's voice was notably brighter when she spoke again, saying, "Yes, Nii-sama! Thank you, Nii-sama! I shall let them know immediately, Nii-sama!"

Byakuya did not bother to hide the rare smile that lit up his face at the sound of her joy. Would there ever be a woman that Byakuya could love as much as he did Rukia? No, he didn't think so. His love for Hisana had been and would always be greater, far greater than anyone could ever imagine. Hisana, his wife, had been the answer to everything. She had calmed him, tamed his wild soul, tempered his mood and kept him sane when his duties had threatened to overwhelm him. Gone too soon, now it was Rukia who did so, though in a far different manner, and Byakuya hoped that she would maintain that role for as long as possible.

He was brought out from his thoughts by Rukia saying, "Ah, Nii-sama, I'm going to have to go now. Please, continue to enjoy your holiday."

"I will," said Byakuya. "Be safe, Rukia."

"I will do my best, Nii-sama," said Rukia, and then she was gone. Byakuya knew she would, and just in case he'd made it clear to Abarai and Kurosaki to make certain of it on pain of their respective deaths. It pleased him immensely that they immediately and unhesitatingly agreed.

Having spoken to Rukia now, and satisfied (somewhat) that Matsumoto was not a spy, Byakuya found that he had a new problem: how was he going to keep an eye on the Tenth Division Lieutenant without her knowledge or suspicion? The two almost never interacted, given that they moved in different social circles, and quite frankly Byakuya had never found a reason to initiate any form of conversation with the woman, even when she came to his division to pick up Abarai. Despite their interaction on the ferry, Byakuya was sure that if he approached Matsumoto now she would think that something was up. The woman was not just a pretty drunk and gossipmonger. To hear Abarai tell it, Matsumoto's friends among bartenders, shopkeepers and gossips made her well-informed on various matters within the districts under the Tenth Division's jurisdiction. Any approach not initiated by Matsumoto was bound to lead to trouble.

What on Earth had Byakuya just allowed Rukia to talk him into doing? Again?

Byakuya took a deep breath, exhaled heavily, swept his hair out of his face and then decided that he wasn't going to worry about it. They were next door neighbours, he was bound to run into her again at the onsen and when he did he would figure out what he was going to do. Besides, the brochure on this onsen had stated that their hot springs were "world famous" and he wanted to see for himself what made them so.

Thus decided, Byakuya stood from his place at the balcony and went back into his room to go to the bath.

If it would not have been so undignified, the moment Byakuya sat down in the bath when he got down to the springs, he would have allowed his body to slide all the way down until just his face was visible on the surface with a happy sigh of "Ahhh..."

But he didn't. He might have wanted to but this was not the behaviour of a Kuchiki, no matter where he was and so Byakuya did what was expected of him. In this case, it meant that when he stepped into the water he sat against one bank, leaned his head back on a pillow of shrubbery and closed his eyes for some quiet meditation.

At least, that was the plan.

He had been in the water for no more than a few minutes before the sound of voices alerted him to the arrival of others and he opened one eye to see the salarymen from earlier coming into the room. And as they had most certainly had been doing since meeting her on the boat, they were discussing Matsumoto Rangiku.

As can be expected of salarymen of course, this was hardly in a non-sexual manner.

"Did you see those legs? I wonder how they'd look wrapped around my neck. I haven't been able to get them out of my head since I saw them."

"If I was drowning I'd definitely want her to come in and save me. Did you see her floats? If I was dying I'd want to die on them."

"She spoke perfect Japanese but do you think she's one of those foreigners? They're supposed to know a lot of interesting tricks, and if you ask, they'd be willing to do them too."

"Didn't that model man call her 'Matsumoto'? That's a Japanese name, but maybe she has foreigner blood in her. What was the man's name? Do you think he's her husband? They rode here together."

Bristling slightly at the idea that he would ever be wed to Matsumoto Rangiku (the very idea, tempting yes, would certainly make him the most envied man in the Seireitei a third time given that he also rich and handsome, but come on) Byakuya waited for them to notice his presence. To his surprise though, they remained oblivious to the fact that one half of the topic of their discussion was seated right there. Perhaps the covered bath had become too steamed?

In fact, the men continued to talk about Matsumoto as they went about their pre-bath cleansing and then slipped into the water with Byakuya. And their lewd discussion became increasingly detailed to the point that Byakuya forgot about wanting them to notice him and stop talking about Matsumoto to just plain shutting them up before Senbonzakura took a cue from Kurosaki Ichigo's inner Hollow and took over the show.

Unbidden their loose talk was filling his head with ideas, so that he began to wonder himself just what Matsumoto Rangiku's expression would be if he ever decided to make her follow through on her flirtations. He could just see the pretty blush that would spread across her face when he kissed her, could picture the shyness that would overwhelm her as he disrobed her, could just imagine the flush that would flow across her skin as he embraced... okay, time for this to stop!

Byakuya stood up suddenly, the water rushing off his gigai's warmed epidermis exposing and defining the full scale of Urahara's attention to detail to anyone who looked. (Seriously, those gigai were a little too detailed for Byakuya's liking even if they adjusted according to the shinigami's build once worn.) The men, startled by his movement, were then further stunned to discover that he'd been there all this time they'd been talking about him and Matsumoto and immediately launched into profuse apologies.

"Oh! Forgive us, sir, we did not see you there!"

"We meant no disrespect to you or your wife, sir! A thousand apologies, sir!"

Byakuya ignored them, and having decided that after his move it was best not to remain, quietly got out of the spring and went to the changing rooms to go back to his room. The woman was not even with him and already she was stirring up trouble. He really needed to do some research on who he had to apologise to from his former life to spare him further pain. Also, he really needed to look into onsen where he could have the hot springs to himself. Perhaps there was even a way to have one constructed at Kuchiki Manor or, failing that, purchase property where that might be possible?

He was so caught up in this thought on business, now obsessed with the idea if it would rid his mind of the deluge of images of him and Matsumoto together, that he did not notice her until she walked right into him. The force of the collision threw them both off balance, entangled their legs and sent them both tumbling to the ground, Matsumoto squeaking and Byakuya trying as best as possible to angle their bodies so that he would absorb most of the blow. He landed on his back and right elbow hard, Matsumoto dropped onto his chest grasping hold of his yukata to keep herself from slipping to the ground and her long hair came cascading over their faces so that he was assaulted with the scent of the bath she'd just had, a little bit earthy and sulphurous.

"Ah! Captain Kuchiki! I'm so sorry! Forgive me sir! I didn't see you there," said Matsumoto, scrambling off of him as quickly as she could manage.

Byakuya looked at Matsumoto's retreat, her face red in embarrassment and eyes averted with no sign of the playfulness he imagined she would display if this had occurred between her and Renji. He ignored the twinge of jealousy at the fact that she had made no attempt to display such behaviour to him. He stamped down on the memory of her body over his, put down to his overactive imagination the idea that he'd felt every inch of wherever they'd touched as if his body had caught fire. None of this internal struggle he showed as he calmly got up off the floor and replied, "See to it that it doesn't happen again."

"It won't, sir," said Matsumoto quickly, her eyes still averted. His kosode had opened in the fall and he knew that she could very clearly see and was not trying to look at his bare chest as he straightened his clothes.

At least, he thought she wasn't until she said, with a saucy smile and a twinkle in her eyes, "Very nice, sir. We knew that whatever you were hiding under that uniform was worth the consequences on finding out."

"Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku," said Byakuya sternly.

She was unapologetic, and undeterred. "There's nothing to be ashamed of there, sir, I can assure you. Renji's got nothing on you. You really have it all, don't you?"

When had she seen Renji undressed? Why had he allowed that when he was supposed to be playing at courting Rukia? As a man, Byakuya understood that one could not be expected to wait eternally on the woman he desired to notice that he was alive and sometimes needed ways to "alleviate the pressure" so to speak, but this was a bit much. And how come he'd never come across the boy gossiping about it with Kurosaki or the other lieutenants, as he normally would?

Byakuya turned and began walking down the hall to his room. Why wasn't he in an extremely exclusive onsen again? Why were all these insufferable people allowed to interact with him so freely? Matsumoto followed him all the way back chattering incessantly, "I should get some pictures. Would you mind posing, sir? I know we usually don't ask but that's because we know that you're just going to say no and that's no fun. I promise I'll do it tastefully. I got some wonderful pictures of Captain Hitsugaya one time and he was just so adorable."

Byakuya listened to this with increasing irritation the further they went until finally he snapped. Already dealing with the stress of an impromptu holiday, meeting her on the ferry, the comments from the salarymen and his odd attraction to her, her incessant needling was the final straw.

He acted without thinking. Reaching out faster than she could see, he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her into the first available room they came to and shut the door, pushing her up against it. That shut her right up, and left her staring at him stunned; unsure of what the hell was happening, how it had happened and why.

Whoops.

Well, since he'd already gone and blown it, revealing to her a side of him that he'd just earlier considered under control, Byakuya asked, a touch huskily, "How about I take some pictures of you? I imagine the Shinigami Men's Association would love that?"

Give Matsumoto credit, the woman could recover quickly. At his question she went from stunned to serious and said coldly, "Pictures of me don't come cheap, and I don't do nudes."

Byakuya let his gaze roam the length of her and felt a thrill of pride when she shrank back into the door a little under it. He looked up at her face again and said, "I wouldn't dare ask you such a thing." Then he stepped back.

For a moment she glared at him, her eyes bright with anger and her face flushed with fury, and then she dropped her gaze from his face and took a deep breath. A beat and then she looked up at him again with her usual happy smile and said, "So you do have a dark side. Rukia would never believe me."

He refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing his mortification on his face. He knew he had done a very seriously stupid thing and he did not even really understand why. This was not the way he planned on approaching her, ever. Maybe he could blame it on being in the bath too long? But hell was going to freeze over before he apologised, so he said, "Unlike some people, I know that some things are better kept private."

A mischievous twinkle appeared in her eye and she gave him a saucy smirk, and then she said, "So do I. No one would ever know."

Byakuya forced himself to remain unmoved. It was difficult. A lump had formed in his throat and instead of the cold disgust he expected he felt heat pooling in his groin. Soul King help him, but this woman was doing terrible things to his libido. But where his body was determined to betray him, his brain and tongue would not. He said, "I know you don't mean that offer and even if you did I have to decline. That would be highly inappropriate, Lieutenant Matsumoto."

"Says the man who just dragged me into an empty room as if he wanted to have his way with me away from witnesses," she muttered. Then louder, and with a mocking salute, "Understood, Captain. We shall never speak of this again. In fact, we're not having this conversation now. I'll just let myself out." She turned to do just that but then paused and looked back at him over a shoulder. The grin returned, and Byakuya felt a cold chill in his bones. Oblivious to this, she said, "But you know, sir, it would not do if something of this got out. In fact, I know some people in the Shinigami Women's Association who would be frankly outraged that such an incident occurred."

He was no fool. He spat, "Are you trying to blackmail me?"

Her grin widened and she replied, "Oh no, never, but I think that if anyone out there may have seen us just now and this becomes an issue the next time a shinigami decides to take a holiday here it is best to have a cover story… perhaps something that would account for you dragging me away… something like, I don't know, maybe I had finally talked you into taking some pictures for our album?"

"This is blackmail," he said.

"This is a cover story," she corrected, still grinning. "In fact, it is so good no one would ever question it."

"No, it's horrible and if I did it there would be questions," said Byakuya. "I would never willingly pose for anything for you."

"I'll say Rukia arranged it," said Matsumoto, the grin gone, all business now. It was unnerving how quickly this woman could switch off her playfulness when the need required. No wonder she had been in a relationship with Captain Ichimaru, but where that man was a fox, or better yet a snake, she was a cat. Her zanpakuto fitted her perfectly. One could never tell where they really stood with a cat.

Byakuya gave her offer a moment's serious consideration and decided that actually this might work. Once he gave Rukia a very heavily edited version of events first of course he was sure that she would not object to corroborating their story. After all, she was the one who put him in this position, never mind his actions thereafter. That was the fumes and the heat talking. He said, "That seems… reasonable."

"Wonderful!" said Matsumoto with a bright smile, and then she winked at him and swirled out of the room.

The moment the door shut behind her, Byakuya dropped to his knees and said, "What have I done?"