Unexpected

The two girls were still outside looking in. They were about to leave, but Renji asked his taichou a question that sparked the girls' interest.

"Taichou... can I ask you something?" Renji asked.

Byakuya nodded as he ate.

Renji took a deep breath before starting. "Well... I sort of have feelings for someone but they don't know it and I think they would kill me if I told them. But you've been married before so... erm... what exactly would you do?"

Byakuya went wide-eyed then put his mask back on. "W-well, I would just tell them... I would think that they would feel the same if you have a close relationship. And you'll never know how they feel until you ask them." Byakuya's heart sank as he said that. He already loved his fukutaichou and he didn't even tell him. Now Renji liked some other person. But the noble did not know who it was. Why don't I ever listen to my own advice about this type of situation? Byakuya thought to himself. He didn't let his mask falter

"That's true..." The redhead said as he thought about it after a while. "But I'm still not so sure they feel the same, Taichou." Renji said in a defeated tone. I still think Taichou would let his Bankai loose on my ass if I ever told him how I really felt.

"Abarai, don't sound so defeated when you haven't even asked this person yet." The noble said calmly as he did not want Renji to hear him sound so defeated that he was losing the person he loved.

It was like in one of Rukia's BL mangas. She was shocked Renji would ask such a thing and they would actually discuss it. But it only came to show her how much the two men really grew closer to one another. She knew she and Mana were right that the other two needed to be together. She looked over at the other female Shinigami and saw she turned into her cat form of a small white tiger with her same smokey grey eyes and the golden rings around them. Mana usually only changed into her feline form because she was nervous or had an extremely difficult battle and had to connect with her Zanpakuto while in that form to finish the fight quickly. They looked at each other and then back into the window.

The two male Shinigami were quiet for the rest of the meal. When they were done they stood, were about to pay, and then head back to the office.

"Rukia!" Mana hissed softly. "We should go. I want to tell you how we are going to get them together! But I can't do that here we have to go back to Kuchiki Manor."

Rukia turned her head to look at the small white tiger next to her and nodded. "Hai, I think we've seen enough now. And they are about to leave anyway. We'll be caught if we linger."

The two flash stepped quickly back to the manor then.

Renji and Byakuya got back to the office only to be greeted by a Hell Butterfly on Renji's desk.

"Tch... These things are annoying as hell." Renji said in annoyance as he approached his desk and coaxed the offending insect on his finger. He sent some of his reiatsu into it and the butterfly spoke its message.

"Renji," the black butterfly began in Rukia's voice. "I need to talk to you. Come by the manor this evening. Oh, and bring Nii-sama, Mana-san would like to talk to him also." it finished then flew off.

"Huh? What does she want?" Renji asked mostly to himself than to anyone else.

"Nani?" Byakuya asked from his desk where he was finishing up the last bit of paper he had.

"Rukia wants to talk me and Mana-san wants to talk to you, Taichou." The redhead stated. "I don't have any idea why though."

Byakuya put the last report into his out folder and looked over to the redhead as Renji sat down. "It's most likely minor. Probably wanting to discuss Kurosaki Ichigo or a mission."

Renji leaned back in his chair as he spoke. "Probably. Or..." He trailed of as he thought for a moment. "She has been asking if I would teach her how to play the cello for a while now..."

Byakuya was shocked he didn't know that Renji could play the cello. His eyes widened and Renji caught the surprised look on his taichou's face.

"Nani? You didn't know I could play the cello? I can play the guitar too."

The noble shook his head and his usual calm returned. "No, I didn't know. Where did you learn? I'm certain it wasn't in Rukongai."

Renji nodded. "Hai, I didn't learn in Inuzuri." He began. "The academy started the music program during my second year. So I decided I wanted to learn an instrument or two. I tried playing most of the stringed instruments even a few percussion; but the only ones I were most comfortable with were the guitar and cello." Renji explained. "I started to play and really liked it. I was a quick learner and even a tutor to some of the first year students." he went on. "You honestly didn't know I played, Taichou?"

The noble only shook his head in response. The redhead was shocked. Renji often practiced in his private quarters and he was sure he wasn't quiet. He always liked to play loud. And often the dynamics of certain pieces he picked were mostly in forte or fortissimo. But then again Byakuya didn't stay in his private quarters often.

Renji grinned at a thought that popped in his head. "Would you like me to play a piece for you Taichou?" he asked.

The noble was very interested in seeing how well Renji played the cello. So he nodded in response and Renji went and got his cello from his quarters. When he came back he pulled his chair from behind his desk and sat a few feet in front of Byakuya's desk.

"How about I play a more classical song for your liking." Renji said as he rosined his bow. "Its long, but I actually like Suite no. 1 in G. There's something about it that I really like."

"It's probably because it's in G which is a lower string. Also Suite no. 1 is a semi-fast paced piece." The noble said with certainty.

Renji shrugged and grinned. "That could be it." He's going to shit his pants when he hears this. But I still can't believe he hasn't known all this time. I know he plays the piano and has a beautiful voice so why doesn't he know this? The redhead mentally shrugged.

Renji quickly tuned the strings of his red colored cello. After he tuned, he took a deep breath and he began to play. Byakuya was amazed how well Renji played. He even got every dynamic right. His shifting was also correctly in tune every time. Renji's whole arm moved gracefully as the bow glided across the silver strings. So instead of excelling in kido, he excels at music. He thought as he watched the redhead continue to play.

Renji paused for a moment like he remembered the score said to then began to play the second segment. As he was playing he looked up and saw the noble staring at him with his usual calm on his face but his eyes showed he was shocked. He smiled then looked back down at the strings.

Byakuya noticed when Renji looked up he smiled then when he looked back down determination swept across his features. He noticed that, like any musician, the redheads facial expressions changed. He liked how it looked like Renji felt the music he was playing. The noble knew that the usual hot headed redhead was really putting his all into playing the about seventeen minute piece well.

The redhead noticed it was almost time to go to the training grounds as he looked over to the clock. But he wanted to finish the song before they left. So he gradually picked up the tempo so the noble wouldn't notice the difference much. It still sounded right as he played faster and only picked up the speed in the forte parts. As he was about finished he saw his taichou had a sweet smile swept across his face. Even his eyes were smiling. Renji's own features lit up as he guided the bow down and had finished playing.

It was time to go to the training grounds and now Renji was already sweating and his arms ached from playing so long. But it was worth it to see his taichou, the man he secretly loved, smile like that. He quickly took his cello back into his quarter and grabbed a towel. He met Byakuya at the door of the office with a smile still on his face and it didn't look like it was going to fade anytime soon. He suddenly remembered he had almost forgotten Zabimaru and had to run back to his desk and grab it from it's stand and then walked back to where the noble stood waiting.

They walked towards the training grounds and saw everyone had a smile on their face which quickly turned into shock as they saw their taichou also had his smile still plastered across his features. Renji knew the rest of the squad heard his playing which made him blush. He wasn't used to everyone staring and smiling at him for how musically talented he was. The raven head noble looked over to the flushed Renji. His smile only widened. He is quite a talented young man. Too bad its not shown off more often. He thought. He turned back to rest of the squad and cleared his throat and started speaking orders on how training was going to go that day.

"Mana, What are you doing?" Rukia questioned the purple haired Shinigami when she saw the other was setting up the patio table for only two people with candles and sakura petals on it.

"Ah, Rukia! Did you send the Hell Butterfly?" Mana asked as she finished with the table.

The raven head nodded. "What are you doing?"

"I'm setting the table for Renji-san and Byakuya-sama."

"This is what you had in mind for them? A moonlit dinner for two?" Rukia queried.

"Hai, why not? It's romantic and it should bring them closer together. It also may even spark out confessions and a few kisses." Mana grinned.

Rukia thought about it and shrugged. Maybe she's right. This could work. I just hope it doesn't back fire. She thought to herself. "Well, what else do we need to do?" She asked.

Mana couldn't think of anything else that needed to be done. The table was set the menu was already set and being seen to. Then she thought of one thing that she had almost entirely forgotten. "Music!" She exclaimed.

Rukia giggled. "Ah, I see you almost forgot that detail. It's not a 'romantic dinner for two' without music."

"Come, we should pick out some music to play for their dinner." Mana took hold of the other girls hand and led her back into the manor.