Rukia, age 125.

Rukia was watching over the 'training' of some of the unseated officers - mostly just watching them beat on each other and breaking things up if it looked like death was imminent - when Jiro came jogging into the training ground. Lazy ass that he was, he hollered from across the grounds rather than get close enough to Rukia that he could speak in a normal tone. "King!" he shouted. "Fresh meat wants to talk to you!"

"What about?" she shouted back. Jiro shrugged in return and turned to leave. "No you don't," she muttered and quick-stepped her way past the fighters. Rukia stopped at Jiro's back, reached up to grab his collar, and yanked it down to the level of her own collar. For a tall man like Jiro, that meant he was pulled so far backwards that for a moment, his chest was level enough to be used as a table. He took a step back and managed to catch his balance when Rukia let go, proving he was less of an idiot than he'd been when Rukia had met him. "You get to supervise," Rukia said, a little miffed that he hadn't actually fallen to the ground.

"It's my day off," Jiro whined.

"Tough shit. Stop 'em if it looks like someone's going to die, and keep on that stunted one or he'll keep pulling his punches. I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU, WAKABA!" Rukia shouted suddenly. The yelp and smack from behind her were evidence that she'd startled somebody into doing something stupid. Jiro didn't even blink, just looked even more resigned. "You can shove it off on one of your brothers if they come by, but finish out the hour otherwise. Clear?"

"Yes, King," said Jiro, resigned. Rukia reached up and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder before she left.

The new recruits to the Eleventh Division still gathered in the same place they'd been since Rukia joined up, so she made her way there easily enough. Rukia wondered if they'd gotten a hot woman in the semi-random assignment, since it seemed the only way an incomer would be able to get someone as lazy as Jiro to fetch a seated officer.

If someone wants to talk about what to do as one of the few woman in a mostly-male division, I'll send them to Yachiru, Rukia decided. She had a(n admittedly lazy) habit of sending her problems towards her vice-captain, who loved to play with new people. Zaraki didn't mind, and actually considered it Rukia's contribution to babysitting duty. He didn't mind Yachiru hanging off of him all day, but if he wasn't actually fighting, Yachiru usually found it more entertaining to mess with other members of the division.

The room the new recruits met in for the first week was empty of anyone but Renji and 15th Seat Harada, who gave orientation and ran the mandated icebreakers, which were mostly races of ridiculous lengths and orders to find things that didn't exist. Renji and Harada both bowed to Rukia when she entered the room, which was a little weird. "12th Seat Abarai," said Harada, "is there something I can help you with?"

"One of my dimwits said a recruit wanted to see me," Rukia explained cheerfully. "I thought I'd find out what it was for before I drove their face into the ground. What's up, Renji?"

Harada smirked and waved a hand toward Renji, who said with a stone-blank face, "12th Seat Abarai, I apologize for my presumption."

"...What?"

"I was the one who asked Hino-san if he would arrange a meeting between us."

"...What?" Rukia repeated, trying to figure out what was going on. 'Hino-san' was probably Jiro, but like hell if she'd remember his real name. That still left the problem of what the hell Renji was doing being deferential and referring to her by rank, and hanging around in the... recruit room...

"Holy shit, did you get kicked out of the Sixth?" Rukia couldn't decide whether she was angry that he'd get kicked out or gleeful that she now had power over her best friend. "Do I need to call nii-san out on this? Holy fuck, do you think I could use this as an excuse to get nii-san and Ken-sama to fight?" Harada, who had been making his way out of the room, stopped in the doorway to listen.

"Sir, I chose to enter the Eleventh Division of my own accord in order to become a better fighter." Renji was standing at attention, which was hilarious and awesome. None of Rukia's normal minions treated her with that kind of respect.

On the other hand, if I lord it over him all the time, he'll probably stop including me when he buys rounds at the bar. "At ease, you idiot, like I haven't known you since we were little and starving."

With no chance that two captains would be fighting soon, Harada left. Rukia was too focused on Renji to care what Harada was doing anyway. "You were a Tenth Seat yesterday, why transfer? I know we've got better fighters, but now you're not even seated!" Most inter-division transfers of a seated officer found a way to keep that person in an officer position at the end, though sometimes they were ranked at a worse seat. The Eleventh was an exception to the rule; everyone except for the captain started at the very bottom. Even Yachiru had technically been unseated at first, although the previous vice-captain quickly offered her the position after she nearly killed him in a friendly match.

"Sir-" Rukia let out a sound that might have been a growl and Renji sighed. "Captain Kuchiki took me aside and said that rising through the ranks was going to start taking a lot longer. Even if I found enough time to train between my other duties, there's a lot of political bullshit in the way. He suggested that I transfer somewhere that would give me time to become a better fighter and transfer back once I reached a higher rank."

"One of you could have asked me for help, I would have smoothed some of it over!" Rukia complained. "Gotten you out of icebreakers or something, at least." She made a mental note to ruin Yumichika's hair or something, since the transfer paperwork would have had to go past him and he hadn't said a word to Rukia about it.

"I think I can handle a week of pointless orders," Renji said with a smirk. "And the captain's not one to ask for favors."

"I'm his sister! He's always telling me to ask for help if I need it."

"Are you sure he knows the help goes both ways?" Renji asked. "'Cause what I see is a lot of him reaching out and you not giving back."

Rukia stepped forward, stung and angry. "He's the Kuchiki head and a captain, I don't have anything to offer him! Except apparently being adopted, which I'm not doing." The restrictions she would be under as sister to the head of one of the Noble Families would be too much.

"You could visit him more often." Rukia knew he meant visit Byakuya ever.

"Since when do you care, anyway?"

"Captain Kuchiki came to me without me asking to," Renji told her, his eyebrows coming down in annoyance. "He offered me advice when I never said I needed help with it, and it was good advice. And when I asked why, do you know what he said?" He paused, waiting for her to reply. When she spent too long in sullen silence, he bit out, "Rukia."

"Fine, what?" she snapped. "What did he say?"

"He said it was the kind of help that should be given to any member of his division, but he came to tell me himself, in person, because I'm your brother."

Rukia closed her eyes tight and ran a hand over her face and into her hair, where she gripped the black strands tight. "Fuck. Yes, okay. I'll visit more often. Meanwhile," she snapped, looking back up at him. "You're minion number seven."

The sudden change of topic startled Renji, who could only reply, "...What?"

"Seven's a good number. Yumi thinks it's pretty, Ikkaku thinks it's lucky, that's pretty much as good as you get here. Be proud!"

"Don't I get randomly assigned to work somewhere?" Renji pleaded. "On one of the hollow-fighting teams, maybe?"

"Not in this division!" 'Don't shoot the messenger?' Hah! Rukia would just torture him instead. "I'll tell Harada to send you to me at the end of the week. Congratulations, seventh son!"

The look on Renji's face said that he was regretting talking to Rukia, or possibly just regretting the transfer altogether. It cheered Rukia up immensely.

Author's Notes: Writer's block sucks. If anyone has a request for something short in this universe they'd like to see written, let me know, I'll see what I can do.

Also, guys, don't pay too much attention to the number of years it's taking everyone to rise through the ranks. Rukia's ages are more of a guideline to what order the chapters take place in. I'll fix the actual time to be more realistic later. The dates when Rukia's in the living world, on the other hand, convey the right amount of time passing. She's only going to be there for a year so I've been more careful about it.

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