Author's Note: I'm so sorry! For the first time, I got behind with uploading! I was at London Comic Con all weekend. I know that's not an excuse, but it was very distracting. :p

This is a story of Hisana and Byakuya. For previous stories in this sequence, please see my profile and look for the numbers at the end of each story summary.

With thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing.

Byakuya has brought Hisana to live in his house…..

True to his word, Byakuya did not try to kiss her again or take her hand or rest his own hand on her shoulder. But he did spend every hour of the day that he was not at the barracks in her company. Summer passed like a dream. Life within the walls of the mansion was simplicity itself and she wanted for nothing, waking each day to the changing colours in the garden. She had time to waste and time to think. Time indeed to start believing that she wasn't dreaming. The cracks in this perfect picture did not break it apart, but they made it more real for her: the servants who had taken a dislike to her, the grandfather whom Byakuya would not let her see, the other captains who treated her with a mixture of curiosity and pity. Somehow, she didn't mind. They were people and she had never before been surrounded by people: people who knew her or at least knew a little of her. As she became real to them, she began to believe that they too were real: parts and pieces of her new life.

Then the winter came and the trees in the garden were black lines against the snow, like strokes of ink on a white page. Byakuya would read to her long into the evenings and she often fell asleep to the sound of his voice and the gentle flickering of the firelight.

Then, one night, after the sun had set, but before he had returned home, she had just lit the fire and a voice called to her from behind the screen door, which she did not recognise at once:

"Lady Hisana. May we speak with you?"

"Yes." She stood up from where she had been reading on the bed and smoothed down the silk kimono, as the door slid back, revealing the figures of two men. The first, the one who had spoken, she recognised at once as Captain Ukitake. He entered with a nod of respect. The second was an older man whom she only knew when he stepped into the light: Byakuya's grandfather. "What's wrong?" she asked. His eyebrows lifted as if she had spoken to hastily for his tastes, but Ukitake answered:

"Byakuya Kuchiki entered the world of the living today. Last year there was an – incident – that resulted in the loss of the captain of Sixth Division and, this morning, the hollow that was involved was identified in the real world. Kuchiki has taken a detachment to apprehend it."

"What – what does that mean?"

"It means that he will be gone for a few days. He was unable to return here so he asked me to let you know."

"Thank you," she managed with a bow. Ukitake's face softened:

"You mustn't worry, Hisana-san. He is strong and his skills in combat are unmatched amongst the Gotei Thirteen."

"Thank you."

Ukitake stepped towards the door, but the older man remained, his grey eyes fixed on Hisana.

"Are we done here?" asked Ukitake.

"You are done here," answered Ginrei Kuchiki. Ukitake bristled:

"I see. Then I will bid you both good night."

He swept out of the room, leaving Hisana alone, for the first time, with the only man she really feared anymore. He stood there, staring at her, and then he said one word:

"Leave."

She stared back. "You have outstayed your welcome," he said: "If you wish to take some of these – things – with you, then do so." He gestured at the room, the books and the clothes: "Take them, wherever it is that you are going. I will give you one day to gather your belongings."

"I have nowhere to go."

"That is no concern of mine. You have poisoned my grandson's mind. For that, I will not forgive you."

He left her then, standing in the firelight, the brightness having passed from the day.