To say that Byakuya was surprised would be an understatement. He was shocked, flabbergasted, dazed, confused, nonplussed, you get the picture. What had him so surprised you may ask? Well it wasn't the fact that an elder had just given Rukia a gift. After all she was a relatively new member of the clan and gifts from the elders were customary. She had received quiet a few already. It also didn't surprise him that the elder had given her a toy, a stuffed animal. He was a really old man, one of the oldest in the clan, and to him Rukia must have seemed very young, even though she had already graduated from the academy. No, none of this had surprised him in the least. What did surprise him was her reaction to the gift.

His sister, the usually quiet, stoic, polite (at least at home, although Byakuya had heard her trading some rather inappropriate barbs with some of her squad members) QUIET sister was squealing. Not only was she squealing, but dancing. Yes dancing holding the stuffed animal rabbit to her chest in complete delight. You could almost see the hearts surrounding her head. What she did next made him gasp, barely supressing his shock as she threw herself at the elder who had given her the gift, thanking him profusely, exclaiming rather loudly how "cute" it was, over and over again. What was worse? The fact that this was happening in broad daylight, in public, right outside of the kuchiki mansion.

"If I didn't know you so well Kuchiki-Taichou, I'd think you were suprised" Ukitaki-Tiachou said coming up behind him from seemingly out of nowhere. The look on the other mans face was amused when Byakuya turned to stare at him. "Didn't you know about Rukia-san's obsession with rabbits?"

"I did not." He replied coolly. As he watched his sister continue to dance around now holding the toy out at arms length to see it better and he wondered, not for the first time, what exactly he had gotten himself into. "Well" he thought to himself, suppressing a smirk, "at least birthdays will be easy."