It was a mild day in Serentei. The air was sweet smelling and clean, the wind fanning his face delicately, ruffling his already unruly hair. The sun shone just warm enough to be pleasant, and if he listened carefully, he could hear birdsong riding the wind from the forest beyond the clearing.

Kyouraku Shunsui, newly appointed Captain-Commander of the Gotei thirteen court guard squads, ambled along the cobble-stone path that wound between memorial stones with absent-minded ease. Souls that died in Serentei were reborn in the transient world. There were no bodies to be buried, so there was no need for traditional graveyards like the ones humans used. Instead, their legacies were immortalized here: in the Planes of Memory.

Kyouraku's eyes swept over the numerous dedications, the innumerable fresh-cut flowers in every conceivable colour blanketing the landscape. He sighed and tilted his hat down.

Too many lives lost, always too many…

Beyond the rise Kyouraku spied the most recent dedications, made to those who passed on during the Sternritter invasion. He stopped before the central-most memorial stone, raised slightly higher than the rest, and read the inscription with his one good eye.

Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto

Founding Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads

May he stand for all time as the shining example of the true resolve of the Shinigami, and the enduring strength of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. May his deeds pass into legend, and his glory remain undiminished by the passage of time.

"Here's to you old man," he drawled.

Kyouraku knelt before the memorial and pulled out a small bottle of sake from inside his robes. He poured one out for his mentor and kept the rest for himself, mind wandering through a field of memories as he idly sipped. The stripes on his back, long since scarred, seemed to burn anew. It felt like he was back in the academy, and Jushirou was rubbing salve into the lashes the old man had given him with gentle hands and a worried frown. He was such a brat back then. Bad enough that it took ten lashes and weeks of painful recovery for Shunsui to stop acting out and get serious about his training. Jushirou, of course, was the perfect student. The old man loved Juu. Loved them both, in his way. Shunsui tilted his hat down.

There was a rustle of grass behind him, and Kyouraku felt Aylie come up on his right side and rest her sleek white head on his thigh. Absently, he ran his fingers through her long coat. She peered up at him with all-knowing green eyes, but remained tactfully quiet as he grieved.

Just as Aylie was beginning to nod off, Kyouraku nudged her over to scratch her belly and she came alert again, tail wagging happily.

Kyouraku smiled, despite his sombre mood. "You're such a dog sometimes Lee-Lee"

Aylie scrunched up her snout and looked at Kyouraku disapprovingly, nipping reproachfully at his fingers.

Kyouraku chuckled. "I know, big bad wolf. I'm sorry."

Aylie huffed, but she was too agreeable a daemon to give him much grief about it, or hold a grudge. As always, Kyouraku was eternally grateful for her leniency.

"How is he?" Kyouraku asked.

"He overextended himself," said Aylie, sounding exasperated, but not surprised.

"Shagra is keeping him happy?"

Aylie huffed a laugh. "She always does. Damn cat, pushing him too far as usual. Has him up and moving around if you can believe that? I blame you y'know."

Kyouraku laughed, unsurprised by her grumbling. Aylie was a notoriously protective daemon. "You know Shagra hates it when you call her that," he said, because Shagra the panther hated cat almost as much as Aylie the wolf hated dog. When it came to their pride, the two daemons were almost too much alike. Given that Ukitake had an ego-driven competitive streak a mile wide (that the man would absolutely never own up to), and Kyouraku was notoriously vain, and something of an egotist himself, he couldn't say he was particularly surprised.

Aylie shrugged, green eyes dancing teasingly beneath a ruffled section of her otherwise sleek white coat. "I know," she said, tongue lolling out of her mouth happily. Kyouraku moved the hair out of her eyes and Aylie snuffled, rolling over onto her belly and resting her head on her paws. "If she really hated it the lazy ass would tell me so, but she loves the attention too much. Big vain lug of a cat."

Kyouraku got a good grip on her scruff and shook a bit. "Hey, watch who you're insulting," he teased.

Aylie stood and shook out her coat, displacing his hand. "Yeah yeah. Let's go make sure your stupid daemon hasn't killed Shiro yet," she said with a sharp-toothed canine grin.

Kyouraku let Aylie lead the way back to her division, amused as always by the double-takes the pair got from roughly half of the officers they passed on the journey. The other half, undoubtedly under the impression that Aylie was his daemon rather than Ukitake's, didn't spare the pair a second glance. It was something of a local legend in Serentei that no one knew, between Ukitake and himself, which daemon belonged to which Captain. As far as Kyouraku could tell, it was split roughly fifty-fifty one way or the other. A small percentage (Kyouraku called them the romantics—Nanao called them the idiots) believed that the two captains were soul mates and Aylie and Shagra belonged to both of them equally. Needless to say, this was Kyouraku's favourite theory of the bunch. If only because it never failed to make Jushirou smile, and shake his head in that exasperated, slightly embarrassed way that made Kyouraku feel like a schoolboy with a crush all over again. Even after all these year, Juu never failed to make his heart leap up into his throat with a single warm look or an easy smile.

Kyouraku shook his head at himself, amused, as always, by how easily and completely Ukitake Jushirou had ensnared him.

Up ahead, standing just before the bridge to Ugendo where Ukitake was resting, Kyouraku saw the Central 46 messenger he had been avoiding all morning lying in wait.

Kyouraku stiffened and tipped his hat forward to cover his eyes. Really, it figures they would look for him at Ugendo. Where else would he be when Ukitake was recovering? Aylie hung back to flank his side, walking close enough that he could feel the heat of her body through his uniform. Somewhat relaxed by her presence, Kyouraku sighed and forced himself to acknowledge the messenger, instead of breezing past in a burst of shunpo like he wanted to.

"Morning," he greeted casually, tipping his hat up just enough for the man to verify his identity. He spied the red wax seal on the letter tucked under the man's arm. "My my, that's official looking."

"Captain-Commander Kyouraku Shunsui, you are hereby summoned to appear as witness for the prosecution in the trial of Sousuke Aizen, beginning in three days' time. Details pending." The messenger handed Kyouraku the gold embossed letter under his arm, and Kyouraku raised an eyebrow at the lavish presentation. Immediately, he deduced the letter was not Central 46's doing. The heft of the paper alone said there was payment of some kind inside, and the quality of the paper said noble family. His lips turned down in distaste. He did not appreciate being bribed. Especially not by nobles. Especially when he was in the dark about for what purpose he was being bribed. "Additionally, you have been requested to attend a pre-trial meeting at the honoured Tamura family manor residence. Invitation is enclosed."

The messenger bowed perfunctorily and disappeared. Kyouraku stared after him, troubled and thinking deeply.

"Shun," Aylie said quietly, sounding concerned and a little disgruntled. "Whatever this is about, it isn't good."

"No," he agreed. "No it isn't."

Aizen himself was bad enough, add in one of the four great noble families, and various underhanded deals, political power plays, and noble family politics, and it was very nearly disastrous. For whatever reason the Tamura family was personally invested in the trial of Sousuke Aizen, and Shunsui needed to find out why.

Aylie looked up at him, a furrow between serious green eyes. "How do you want to do this?"

Kyouraku knew what she was really asking: do you want to tell Jushirou now, or wait? Aylie was something of an anomaly when it came to daemons. She would keep things from Jushiriou in the interest of keeping him healthy if Shunsui believed it was for the best. She trusted him to make decisions that affected her and Jushirou's life, and she did it without hesitating.

Shunsui scratched behind her ears fondly. "I think we should tell him, don't you? We wouldn't want a repeat of last time."

Aylie winced, no doubt remembering the dressing down they both got last time they kept something from Jushirou 'for his own good'. "Yeah…Probably a good idea. Shiro didn't look at me or pat me for a week last time. It was horrible."

Shunsui grimaced. "You and me both."

Her ears flattened in displease at the memory, but she gave him a fierce look. "I'd still do it though. If you wanted me to. If it was the best thing for him."

"I know Lee-Lee. Now let's talk strategy…"

Ukitake Jushirou sipped his tea, and looked at the co-conspirators sitting opposite, both far too eager for comfort. Shagra curled around his back lazily, her head nestled against his hip, her sharp grey eyes tracking Aylie's restless, thumping tail with amusement. The panther daemon made an excellent backrest, and doubled as a heat-pack for his sore muscles. His whole body was pretty much one big ache at the moment due to the strain constant coughing put on his body. Shagra was a godsend. Her other half on the other hand…

"I don't like it, but I unfortunately understand why you'd think it was a good idea," he admitted, looking at Shunsui in way the other man couldn't possible interpret as positive. It was tacit acceptance at the most. If Shunsui was going to continue bringing him idiotic plans that put the man's position in jeopardy unnecessarily then he was going to continue getting a lukewarm reception. Honestly, there was no need to jeopardise his career for the sake of some information he could easily get through family connections. "You don't want to go to your family," he said, making no effort to disguise his displeasure.

Shunsui titled his hat forward to hide his face, and Aylie obligingly knocked it from his head, responding automatically to Jushirou's annoyance. Shunsui rubbed the back of his neck. "Eh, Juu, you know how my family are. It's too bothersome."

Jushirou placed his teacup down carefully, and Shunsui tracked the movement with trepidation. "So your plan is to break into the Central 46 archives, over which you have no jurisdiction, in order to steal sealed files pertaining to the financial backing the Tamura family has provided to members of the Central 46 judiciary over the years. This, you say, may or may not provide evidence of some kind of pattern of suspicious spending on the part of the Tamura family, which is somehow connected to the trial of Sousuke Aizen. Is that right?" Shunsui nodded. Jushirou smiled pleasantly. Aylie's tail stopped wagging. "So to recap, you are not only planning to risk your position as the Captain-Commander of the Gotei Thirteen by committing treason—a role, I may add, that no one but you is currently able to step into, myself included— you are also risking your life." Jushirou leant forward, eyes narrowing. Shagra grumbled in displeasure against his hip "All of that instead of going to your mother, the head of the Kyouraku, and the gossipiest nag I have ever met, and asking discreetly, because—and I can't stress enough how idiotic this sounds—it is too bothersome."

Shunsui opened his mouth, and closed it again. He did this two more times before apparently giving up on providing a rational explanation for not wanting to ask his mother for help. "It sounds stupid when you say it like that," he grumbled, mouth twitching wryly.

Despite his exasperation with his long-time friend, Jushirou felt himself responding. "It is Shunsui. It really really is. If you go forward with this idiotic plan and somehow manage to come back alive, I will think less of you for eternity. That is how stupid this plan is compared to your many and varied other options."

"Ah, you think I should go to Kuchiki then?" Shunsui looked like he had considered this briefly before deciding he would rather walk around with hot coals attached to his nether-regions. Jushirou didn't blame him. Old Ginrei was notorious for calling in centuries-old favours in situations that usually ended up costing the indebted individual their life. No one wanted to owe Kuchiki Ginrei anything if they could help it.

Jushirou shook his head. "God no. I think you should talk to Byakuya."

Shunsui hummed, doubtful, but considering. "He's only been the head of the Kuchiki for a handful of decades. You really think he'd know anything of importance? The Tamura were making back-door deals when the Kuchiki were still under old man Yama's thumb. They haven't been active in politics in a century. If they did anything incriminating, it would have been long before Byakuya was in a position of influence."

Jushirou took a long sip of his tea, thinking. "Byakuya would have access to the Kuchiki family archives. The Kuchiki have been the unofficial record keepers of the Gotei since the beginning. The heads of family have always taken down a personal history of their time as clan head. Byakuya is currently writing his own. It would be biased information, of course. You would have to be prepared for exaggerations and inconsistencies in the accounts, but it would be useful. The Kuchiki, along with the Tamura and the Kyouraku, were all very involved in the formation and the running of Central 46 up until about century ago. They still are, just to a lesser extent. At the very least you would know what cases the Tamura took a personal interest in."

Shunsui moved around the low tea-table and slid in beside Jushirou, displacing Shagra's hind legs. Shagra grumbled and cracked open a sleepy eye, going back to sleep almost immediately when Aylie padded over and curled up next to her, their sides pressed together.

Shunsui wove their fingers together and pressed his mouth to Jushirou's white hair, just breathing. Shunsui closed his eyes and sighed, ruffling Jushirou's hair. "What would I do without you?"

Jushirou closed his eyes as well, hand drifting upwards to rub along Shunsui's bicep under the captain's haori and shihakushou. Shunsui hummed happily, parting Jushirou's hair to kiss behind his ear and nuzzle the soft skin. Jushirou manoeuvred Shunsui into the curve of his body, let him press his forehead into his neck and rest for a while.

"Tired?" he murmured.

Shunsui grumbled, low and rough along with Shagra. Jushirou smiled fondly, scratching Shagra behind the ear where she was still occupying his right side, while he settled Shunsui against his left. He ran a hand through Shunsui's hair, removing his hair tie and the fresh flower sprig, cut from Jushirou's own personal garden. He touched the flower fondly. Not many people realised, but Shunsui cut a fresh flower from his private gardens before he left Ugendo every morning. Shunsui said it was so he could keep Jushirou with him all day, since he couldn't be by his side where he belonged. Jushirou pressed the flower to his lips and rested his head against his partner's crown. His eyes fluttered closed, and his hand reached out to Aylie and Shagra, touching the place where the two daemons pressed together. Just like that, the four of them slipped into sleep.

Hitsugaya Toushirou stood up from his desk in the offices of the tenth division headquarters and beckoned for the runner from the first-division to deliver his paperwork to Kyouraku. The runner left with a quick bow. Hitsugaya smiled wryly to himself as he packed up his desk to head home.

Kyouraku. He still couldn't believe that layabout was Captain-Commander. There was no way Toshirou could look that man in the eye and call him Sir with a straight face. It just wasn't going to happen. Good thing that didn't seem at all important to the recently promoted General. Just this morning he actually missed the Captains meeting he was meant to be running. Ukitake was absent too, but the man was still recovering from having his internal organs restructured after his communion with the right hand of the spirit king—or something (Toshirou missed a lot when he was an almost-zombie). It was to be expected that Ukitake was absent. Then again, he considered, lips twitching, if Ukitake was missing wasn't it expected that Kyouraku would be also? That was the way things had always worked as far as he knew. Their partnership was legendary: notorious for being both a thing of harmony and beauty in day-to-day life, and utterly terrifying on the battlefield. Personally, Toshirou would rather slit his wrists than face the two of them in battle. Toshirou was honestly surprised that they weren't promoted together. A Captain-Commander with Kyouraku's healthy body and razor-sharp mind, and Ukitake's dedication and strategic genius was one he would follow to any end. They were already practically joined at the hip. It would make sense— if they had the Captains to spare.

Already, Abarai, Madarame and Hisagi had been promoted— too early in his opinion, and the opinion of most of the senior captains, even Kyouraku who had personally signed off on the advancements. All of them had achieved Bankai within the last five years. Usually a captain trained with their Bankai for decades before they were promoted. Toshirou had only had his Bankai for three years before he was elevated to the rank of captain, but he was told he was something of an anomaly among shinigami, and probably shouldn't be used as role model for young officers wanting to move up in the ranks.

(Also, there were extenuating circumstances involving his own captain's disappearance influencing his rise to power that he deliberately did not think about, because he was pretty sure that also came back to that traitorous bastard Aizen, and if he thought about Aizen, especially after the summons he got today to appear as a witness at his trial, he was literally going to scream with rage.)

He completed the shinigami academy curriculum in under a year, and released his shikai within one week of receiving his zanpakuto. Abarai and Hisagi had completed the regular six year academy program, and Madarame hadn't even gone to the academy. He'd bullied his way into the eleventh division along with Hisagi's new lieutenant Ayesegawa.

Toshirou frowned and settled Hyourinmaru over his shoulder.

They weren't ready. In an ideal world they would be mentored by existing Captains for years until their releases were up to scratch, but because of the war they no longer had that luxury. They needed to restructure, build up stronger than before, but they just didn't have the people.

Already seated positions were being taken by promising green academy recruits because they were the only ones with shikai releases left to fill the positions. The only saving grace was that Kuchiki hadn't been promoted to Captain yet. Her Bankai was decent, but she'd need to be mentored for, ideally, forty or fifty years before she was ready to become a Captain. Hopefully she would have the opportunity to develop a strong Bankai before they made her a captain. She'd get herself killed otherwise. It was bad enough the other three were still fresh enough to think having Bankai made you invincible. Bankai, like any other technique, needed to be honed through dedicated practice. Of the three, the only one who trained consistently was Hisagi, and that was only because he was training Kira to release his Bankai.

Toshirou sighed to himself. He really hoped this wasn't going to end as badly as he thought it would. Maybe peace would stick this time and he would have no reason to worry.

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to laugh. Barely.

Peace.

Right.

Hitsugaya took out the doona and pillow he kept in the stationary cupboard and gently maneuvered Matsumoto so she would at least be comfortable passed out on the couch tonight. After a moments consideration, he moved the hair out of her face too, grimacing at the drool that came with it.

Hitsugaya caught sight of the gibbous moon, shining starkly silver against the abnormally clear night sky. It was going to be a cold night. He tucked his dozy lieutenant in, just to be sure she was warm enough. God knows he didn't want to be called an ungrateful brat for leaving her to freeze. Just because the woman was old enough to be his mother didn't mean he enjoyed being treated like a kid. In fact, he hated it. He hated it a lot. Not that he could tell her that, because she'd call him an ungrateful brat and the cycle would repeat. Really, it was just easier to make sure she was warm so she had nothing to complain about.

Hitsugaya left Matsumoto snoring on the couch, placing a kido barrier on the doors and windows before he left the office. It would keep anyone from entering, and would alert him if Matsumoto passed through, without impeding or alerting her. Hitsugaya created the kido spell after Hinamori broke out of her hospital room during Aizen's fake death and public betrayal. It took a bit of trial and error to get it right, but he managed to get something he was happy with in the end. It was the equivalent of a mid-eighties kido barrier. Overkill probably, but Hitsugaya was a cautious man. It had saved his life more than once in the past.

On his way home, Hitsugaya detoured through the tenth division training fields, flash-stepping past training ground 14 and into the forest at the base of the small mountain-range that separated the outer-limits of the tenth and eleventh division. He slowed to a stop where the trees started to taper off and rocks that size of small houses became the norm. A little further up the rock and shale incline, and he was at the base.

From where he was standing at the base of the foremost mountain—a monolith about the height of Sougyoku Hill—Toshirou could just make out what he was looking for: an entrance to a cave about the height of Toushirou himself. He reached a hand out and touched the kido barrier that surrounded the base of the mountain, stretching up to seal the small mouth of the cave. His touch created a feedback of blue and purple light that rippled through the barrier like it was a sinuous body of water. The light condensed close to where he was standing, the purples and blues forming a series of small, smudged handprints (and what looked like, but couldn't possibly be) bite marks near the base. Toshirou frowned. Fifty years he had been checking this barrier for signs of tampering, strengthening it as he learnt more advanced kido, developing his own kido to modify the initial barrier so it was next to unrecognisable, keeping it hidden behind layers and layers of see-me-not spells, and he had never had any trouble. Today, evidence suggested a child found the barrier and tried to naw its way through like a wild animal.

Toshirou glowered. His eye twitched.

He only knew one child feral enough and stupid enough to try and bite their way through a kido barrier, and coincidently, she lived next door. "Tomorrow I'm paying Zaraki a visit," he muttered angrily, before disabling the barrier using his rietsu signature and flash-stepping up to the mouth of the cave.

Once inside, he reset the barrier and breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how many times he did this, he was always anxious until he was safely inside with the barrier closed behind him. No one could ever find this place. No one could ever know. Above all else, it had to be kept hidden.

Toshirou stepped through the entrance to the inner cave and was immediately met by blazing teal eyes that matched his own, and a plume of fire hitting the spot where he stood a moment ago. Having prepared himself to flash-step in time, he was, outwardly, barely ruffled by the hostile greeting, but inwardly he ached. It always hurt seeing her like this: angry, hurt, scared, betrayed. She'd never admit to any of it. She was too proud. But Toshirou knew his own soul.

"Vashni," he said quietly.

"Burn!" She bellowed, breathing more fire in his direction.

This time he flash-stepped so he was standing on top of her snout, right before her eyes. This close, Toshirou was uncomfortably aware that he was approximately the height of one of her luminous teal eyes, that she could blow fire out of her nose and roast him at any moment. He was equally aware though, that those plumes of fire she aimed at him before were smaller and far slower than ones he'd seen her blow against their enemies in the Rukon. If she wanted to kill him, she could. They both knew it. They both knew everything. It was impossible not to. They were one being after all—one soul in two bodies. She could no more kill him than she could kill herself.

"What do you want brat?" She growled. "Why do you persist in seeing me when you so obviously loathe my very existence?"

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to sigh. He couldn't count how many times they'd been over this. How many times he'd apologised for locking her away. "I don't hate you Vashni. You know that."

"Do I?" She sneered. "Tell me more about what I know, little idiot."

His eye twitched. "I'm trying to be mature about this. The least you could do is talk to me like I'm an adult."

Vashni smirked. He felt her upper lip rise and it almost knocked him over. "I'll treat you like an adult when you start acting like one brat."

"What?!"

"You heard me. Let me out of here and then we'll talk."

Did you just try to blackmail me?

A vein throbbed in his head. "I can't just let you out Vashni! Why do you think you're in here!"

"I assumed it was because you were an egotistical little brat who didn't know how to handle a powerful, majestic, beautiful, strong daemon like me! You were so scared when I presented. You're still scared!" She roared, plumes of smoke billowing from her nostrils.

"It was a rhetorical question!" Hitsugaya roared back.

They stared at one another and panted. Hitsugaya gritted his teeth. "And I'm not scared."

"Are too," Vashni muttered.

Hitsugaya growled. "I'm not doing this with you!" He ran a hand through his hair, momentarily frustrated beyond words. "God, why are you so annoying?"

Vashni looked affronted, or he imagined she did. He couldn't see all of her face from this angle.

"Why are you so annoying?" she shot back. "I'm not the one that locked his daemon away in the dark like some kind of prisoner. I'm not the one who turned his back on his soul. I'm not the one who separated us!"

Hitsugaya threw his hands up. "And I'm not the one that settled as a dragon! A dragon. You're the size of my division barracks. Where else was I supposed to put you? You don't fit anywhere! You're a monster!"

The moment he said it, he regretted it. He didn't think she was a monster. Heloved her. He wanted her to love him again too. He was just so angry with her. Angry with her for not understanding why he couldn't, in good conscience, just let her go. They were separated—as much as it is possible to separate a shinigami and a daemon. She could go anywhere, do anything, and he couldn't control her. She'd killed before. It was his responsibility to make sure that never happened again. Compared to that, his feelings meant little. Her feelings meant less.

Vashni's eyes grew cold. "Well. Now we get right down to it don't we? You haven't said that word in a while. Feel good?"

Hitsugaya jerked his chin. "You deserve it," he said, voice strained with emotion—and fear. She could probably smell it. Still, despite how much bigger than him she was, despite how afraid of her he was, despite the fact that she was his fucking soul, the words wouldn't stop coming: "Monster is too small a word for what you are," he said, venomous. God, he was just so angry.

Vashni sneered, sending him sideways so he had to grab one of the shining silver scales on her snout to stay upright. Then she started to laugh, great booming gales of laughter that sent him flying back against the far wall of the cave. He hit the wall in a crouch, pushing off and flash-stepping to a rocky outcropping close to Vashni's blue, white and silver scaled face.

Her laughter tapered off and she looked at Toshirou, cruelly amused.

"You know you just called yourself a monster right?" She mocked. "I am you."

Toshirou clenched his teeth, resolutely looking away from her probing eyes. It was sickening, looking into those eyes—his own eyes—and knowing his own soul hated him so intensely, knowing he would never be able to bridge the cavern between them. At this point, he didn't know if he even wanted to. Maybe they were better of separate.

"Face it," said Vashni, slinking closer, each footstep seeming to shake the very foundations of the mountain. Dust rained down from the ceiling. "As much as you wish you had another daemon, you're stuck with me. Stuck with the monster. Stuck with you." Vashni pinned him with a cruel, cold look, her eyes slitting and narrowing like a predator stalking prey. "We both killed him Toshirou."

He froze, eyes flaring wide.

No…

"No."

"Yes," she hissed, eyes lighting up with fanatic fervour. "Come back when you can face up to what we did. If you come back before then, I'll kill you," she said, voice dark and deadly serious.

Toshirou turned and fled.

The whole way home, his hands shook, and no matter how many layers he wrapped himself in that night he could not get warm.

Aylie and Shagra lay at the foot of the futon, curled around one another like ying and yang. Shunsui watched them sleep, fingering the blunt edge of the cream and gold invitation restlessly. Tucked against his side, forehead pressed against his hip, Jushirou slept as peacefully as their daemons. Shunsui swept the hair obscuring his face behind his ear, and Jushirou- long accustomed to Shunsui's brooding insomnia- blinked up at him with hazy green eyes full of concern.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"I just have a bad feeling about all this," he admitted, honest as he was prone to be at this hour of the night, in this company. "My gut feels all wrong."

Jushirou hummed, nuzzling his hip, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Whatever happens we'll get though it together. We always do."

Gently, Jushirou reached up and took the invitation out of his hand, placing it on the bedside table without reading it. "Come to bed," he said, tucking his thigh between both of Shunsui's, moving up his body in a single, slow slide that pressed them together and made him ache.

Shunsui rumbled, low and instinctive, taking Jushirou's earlobe between his teeth, panting into his ear as he started to move.

Later than night, Jushirou rose from bed and slipped on his pale blue robe. He checked to make sure Shunsui was asleep before he picked up the invitation he discarded earlier and read it twice over. Satisfied he knew the details, Jushirou stepped out onto the balcony and summoned a hell butterfly. It perched delicately on his finger and he whispered a message in its ear.

Jushirou watched it disappear into the black of night. He sensed, more than heard, Shunsui come up behind him. Arms slipped around his waist and pulled him back against a firm naked chest.

"Alright?"

"Just needed some fresh air," Jushirou said, "It's easier to breathe out here."

Shunsui hummed and kissed his neck. A hand parted his robe and rubbed his chest in soothing circles. "I'm glad you're here," Shunsui said.

He didn't need to elaborate. He never did. There had been many instances in their long lives where Jushirou had come close to death, though perhaps none quite as close as the last. Jushirou would die for the Gotei, for soul society—but if he was granted a choice, he would live for Shunsui.

Jushirou turned in his arms and tilted Shunsui into a kiss that ached and lingered, swelled and ebbed like the tide. Shunsui sighed against his lips. "What would I do without you?" he murmured

"You keep saying that. Should I be worried?" Jushirou teased.

"I don't want you to worry about anything."

"We can't work miracles Shunsui," he said wryly, laughter in his eyes.

Shunsui smiled, a little sad, a little fond. "Still. I would keep you safe forever if I could."

Jushirou looked up at him, eyes dimming, growing serious. He placed his hands on either side of Shunsui's face. "You can't keep me forever Shunsui," he said, soft and regretful, "but I wish you could. I would keep you too."

Shunsui bent to kiss his forehead, and after a while, led Jushirou off to bed. Once Jushirou was asleep, Shunsui closed his eyes as well.

Behind his eyes, he saw a little black butterfly fluttering away in the darkness.