"You really aren't coming?" he whined. The dark haired woman shifted unhappily in the bed and chucked a pillow at him.

"No," she said. "I'm not allowed. Now go away before your mother comes back."

His mother had stormed their room bright and early, knowing Shunsui's tendency to sleep through, well anything. She'd started by ripping the blankets off of him and opening the curtains, and then moved on to shoving him off the bed and threatening to gather all the girls he'd slept with in academy together and introducing them to Nanao one by one. Nanao, for her part, had sat up in the bed, moved her legs when his mother had to climb up on it to shove him off, and watched all of this happen with an amused face before going back to sleep once his mother had marched him into the bathroom. His mother had left with a threat to call that nice masked Taicho gentleman and ask him to experiment with ways to get her lazy son into gear, if he wasn't ready to go in an hour.

"Please, Nanao-chan," he whimpered.

She cracked an eye open to look at him and then turned her back to him. "No."

"So mean," he said. "I'll go with you to your next family event if you come to this one."

"You beg to go to my so called family events," she said.

"Nanao-chan, what are you going to do if I don't survive and never come back? Then you'll have to mourn and blame yourself for the rest of your life for my untimely death," he said.

"I'm sure I'll get over it, sir," she said yawning.

"I hate when you do that," he said with a touch of harshness in his tone. She still had the habit of calling him Taicho or sir, and it drove him up the wall. He understood that she had a point when she said she'd called him it for a hundred or so years and still did in the office so it was hard to change now, but he still didn't like it. It made him feel like he was taking advantage of his position, and as much as he knew it wasn't like that, he didn't like being reminded that they had a relationship outside of the romantic sense.

He'd had women call him Taicho in relationships in the past, because that's what did it for them, but they'd never been long term, and it'd definitely not been a turn on for him. He was willing to use his position to get casually laid, but he never wanted it to be the actual reason a woman he loved wanted him. It was similar to why he despised the noble women that went after him just for his family name and title. Again, he hadn't minded sleeping with them and having some fun, but he'd never wanted to be married to any of them. As much as he knew Nanao didn't ever mean it that way, or have any interest whatsoever in his position or family ranking, it irked him whenever she called him by his titles outside of work.

"Sorry, Shunsui," she said honestly, turning back over to face him. "Look, the faster you go, the faster it will be over with. Then I can fake a migraine, and you can take me home to the Seireitei, and it will be over for another year."

"Will you stay at my place if we do that?" he asked pouting. They'd been together for a while, but Nanao had still stubbornly insisted on keeping her own residence. She'd been weakening as of late though, and he had a feeling that he'd be able to convince her in the next couple months or so.

She laughed outright at him. "Are you still afraid of Boo?"

"You're cat is a demon sent from hell to punish me for all the mistakes I've made in my life," he grumbled.

She just laughed harder at him, and he made a put out face. "He doesn't attack you in your sleep anymore so that's a step in the right direction."

"I still have scratch marks on my leg from the last time I was over," he pointed out.

"Well that was your own fault," she said grinning brilliantly. "You shouldn't have distracted me with a kiss right when I was about to put his breakfast down for him. Obviously breakfast comes before kissing in Boo's world."

"It's a monster that cannot be reasoned with," Shunsui complained. "I do everything I can to win it over and it never works. I even bought it all that catnip."

"You just did that so he'd be stoned out of his mind and leave you alone," she said. "He could feel the intentions behind the gift were not altruistic, and it didn't help anything the time you spiked his milk with kami knows what, and he was sleepy for a week."

"It's not fair! I'm trying, I am, and then Jyuu does nothing, and when he's over the demon curls up in his lap and purrs. It likes your brother just fine too, so you can't use that 'it hates all men' crap."

"You are so tortured," she said in mock sincerity. "If I were you, I'd just dump me and not put up with my evil cat anymore."

"Never," he said leaning down to kiss her. "Yuck, Nanao-chan has morning breath."

She grabbed her remaining pillow and smacked him over the head with it. "Well, I certainly didn't ask you to kiss me!"

"So cranky in the morning," he commented.

"Shunsui-kun! You better be making your way out here," his mother's voice echoed through the house.

He groaned and glanced at the door. This was going to be highly painful.

"I have Rangiku feeding Boo tonight and tomorrow morning too, as I didn't think we'd be coming back until tomorrow afternoon," Nanao said. "So we could just not tell anyone we're back, and I'll stay with you."

He knew she just caved to cheer him up, but he couldn't deny it worked. "Nanao-chan has to keep her promise about making it up to me when we get home."

"Pervert," she chastised half-heartedly.

"Enjoy the hot springs and your book, love," he said kissing the crown of her head.

"Mmm hmm," she agreed nestling back down into the bed and her pillow. He smiled indulgently and tucked the blanket in more firmly around her before exiting the room.

She'd relaxed quite a bit in his presence over the past year and a half, and he had to admit he liked the changes. He knew that half of it was because she wasn't worried about her father finding her anymore and knew her brother was safe and sound, but he liked to think the other part of it was some of his effect on her.

He especially liked to take credit for occasionally getting her to sleep in now. She'd never slept for a healthy amount in the past. He also enjoyed being able to force her to eat whenever he thought it was necessary. Everyone thought she was the one that did all the caring and mothering in the relationship, but that just meant they didn't know how hard she liked to push herself when left to her own devices. She could take care of everyone around her with admirable ease, but often forgot to factor her own well being into the equation. It was half the reason he'd dragged her with him. While it wasn't totally selfless, he did enjoy having a buffer from his family, he also knew she felt like his family was his problem and didn't feel the need to intervene or put things to right. Well, at least as long as they weren't giving him too hard of a time. She didn't take well to his father and brother insulting his character. Given, her times with his family were also by far more stressful now that his mother had taken an active interest in her, as opposed to ignoring what before had just been his subordinate officer, but still he took the brunt of the annoyance here, and it seemed to amuse her so it at least added some slight benefit to putting up with his family.

"You're late," his father bit out coldly.

"Yare, yare, Daddy-chan," he said lightly. "Keep making that face and it will stick that way. Or has it already?"

His father narrowed his eyes at him and his brother rolled his eyes next to him. "Oh good!" Shunsui exclaimed. "It's not too late! It isn't stuck yet!"

"Shunsui, stop being a child," his mother chastised.

"But if I stop being what I am, then whatever shall I be?" he asked quizzically. "Perhaps a dog, so I can sleep all day and get my belly rubbed?"

"If only you'd been born mute," his brother said as their father turned and started walking in the direction of the family temple where everyone would be meeting.

"You don't have to try and be annoying," his mother muttered.

"Of course not, but it's by far more fun," he commented and started to whistle a tune that was sure to give his father a tick.

"I know you're upset that they requested Nanao-san not come," his mother said as they trailed behind the other two men. "But it's only going to be family. If you'd hurry up and convince her to marry you it wouldn't be an issue."

"Except that they'd still treat her like a second class citizen because she dosen't come from a noble family," he pointed out darkly.

"That's just the way it is, Shunsui," his mother said with a shrug. "No use getting upset over it. It's not like they'll stop you from marrying her. They know the state of the family just as well as anyone else."

"Well it hardly matters either way as she continues to say no," he said, waving a dismissive hand at her and not wanting to get into family politics.

"Why is that?" his mother asked, almost to herself. "You've got a good job, a good family name, and enough money to do practically anything you like. What's not to want to marry?"

"Nanao-chan hardly cares about any of the things you've listed, and she may or may not have witnessed me screw around with hundreds of women in just her lifetime," he commented dryly. "It creates a slight trust issue."

"Well you haven't screwed around in the last year and a half have you?" his mother asked looking at him sharply.

"Of course not," he answered.

"Then I don't understand her hesitance," his mother pouted looking dramatically put out.

"She doesn't see any reason to rush," Shunsui said with a shrug. When his mother wasn't busy being crazy, she wasn't so bad to talk to. "She says if I'm serious about staying with her forever then we have all the time in the world. She doesn't think putting a legal binding contract on it makes a relationship anymore legitimate."

"Except that it does," his mother supplied. "And besides it isn't about you leaving, it's about her leaving. You aren't getting any younger. You need to trap her now."

"Lovely way of putting it, mother," he said dryly.

"Well if she doesn't care whether she's married or not, but knows that it would make you happy, then she should just do it since it doesn't matter one way or another to her. It'd be a small sacrifice," she said.

"I don't care," he replied honestly. "Whatever makes her happy is fine with me. As long as she has no intention of going anywhere, then I'm fine as we are."

"Shunsui, you know there are reasons," his mother said and he heard the stress in her voice.

"You worry too much," he said nonchalantly. "We've been fine for this long, I don't know why it would suddenly get out now."

"It'd be safer, though," she started.

"Mom, I'm not going to force Nanao into doing anything she doesn't want to do," he said firmly. "So lay off."

"Isn't her family upset that she's living like a trollop?" she demanded.

"Her family isn't quite as judgmental as mine," he said sincerely, "and simply wants to see her happy. Besides her brother probably agrees more with Seichii and father on my character than with her."

That wasn't altogether true. Mamoru had always treated him politely, but there was no love lost between them. As long as Kyouraku kept his baby sister happy, Mamoru seemed to be more than willing to allow the relationship to progress however it may, but Kyouraku had no delusions that her brother would remain civil if he ever did anything to wrong the man's little sister. Beyond that, at least Mamoru didn't just dislike him on some abstract principle as his family did with her. Mamoru disliked him because he thought his sister could do better, which was probably true.

"So then it's the brother stopping her from marrying you," his mother said, and her eyes got that glint Shunsui had learned to avoid. "You said he works out of the Rukongai didn't you, darling?"

"Stay away from her brother," Shunsui demanded. "He isn't the reason she says no, but if he ever meets you I'm sure he'll start being swayed that way. He's the only reason she agreed to date me in the first place, so leave him out of this."

"But you just said he dislikes you," she replied confused.

"I also said he likes to see his sister happy," he replied.

"Well whether you want to believe it or not, you can't do everything the lazy way," his mother said with a sniff. "Even though your brother hasn't produced any children at least he's tried."

Shunsui just laughed. "Pitting us against each other in competition ceased to work years ago."

"At least on you," his mother agreed with a sigh.

"Can we talk about something else?" Shunsui asked lightly.

"How is Jyuushiro-kun?" his mother asked.

"He's doing alright," Shunsui answered sincerely.

One of the things he'd always respected in his mother was her kindness to his best friend. His brother had taken an instant and violent disliking to the other man, and his father hadn't cared one way or another except to comment that the Ukitakes barely counted as nobility at all. His mother, on the other hand, while not treating him as a third son, had at least been nice to Jyuushiro and taken an interest in his life. His mother's blood related family and Jyuushiro's had lived in relatively the same area of the country, so she'd been at least acquainted with his mother before the two boys met at academy. She'd also had enough sense to put together their growing friendship with Shunsui's rise in grades. Shunsui had been sent to the academy as a last resort to get him into some kind of proper shape, and he'd spent most of the first year sleeping through classes, attending parties on the weekend, and failing out.

He'd gotten to know Jyuushiro quite by accident. It was a rule that for the first couple years of academy everyone lived in the barracks, and for the nobles who found this unacceptable, they at least had to have one other roommate. The Kyouraku family, of course, had to have their son in one of the more private rooms, which had worked out just fine for Shunsui as it was incredibly difficult to talk a girl into your bed if there were ten other beds in the room and no lock on the door. In fact, bringing girls back and stumbling in drunk, was exactly what had made his first roommate request a room change. He couldn't even remember the kid's name to be honest, just that he'd been a minor noble from one of the outer territories. Shunsui had always referred to him in his head simply as the weasel. The boy had had the features of one and always seemed to be muttering to himself about something or other. In fact, Shunsui had been pretty sure getting laid would have done the boy a world of good, but he couldn't blame the women for not wanting to do the task.

Either way, his old roommate's departure had left the room blissfully to himself for a few weeks, until Yama-jii had pulled him into his office, told him to shape up or get the hell out of his school, and then informed him he'd have a new roommate within the week. Shunsui had not been considerably concerned about being thrown out of the academy. His family had been donating quite a bit of money to keep him there, and he'd learned throughout his lifetime, that money got you everywhere.

Ukitake Jyuushiro had walked in on Shunsui studying healing spells with an upperclassman. At least, that was the way Shunsui always liked to tell it. If Jyuushiro was ever asked, he always replied that the first thing he ever saw of Shunsui was his bare ass, and it wasn't pretty. Shunsui had honestly hoped at the time, although the introduction hadn't been planned that way, that the new roommate would turn around, walk right back out, and demand a room change. As it was the white haired boy had turned bright red and whipped around to exit the room, but had been so flustered he'd walked into the wall, which had alerted Shunsui and the girl to his presence. The girl had screamed and scrambled to throw her clothes on before bolting from the room.

"Who the hell are you?" Shunsui had demanded while pulling on a pair of pants. He'd been trying to get that particular girl into his bed for weeks, and hadn't been pleased at her abrupt departure.

"Ukitake Jyuushiro," the boy had introduced himself, still faintly pink. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't think anyone would be here at two in the afternoon. Don't you have classes?"

"Don't you?" he'd shot back.

"I was given the day off to move in," Ukitake had explained.

"I was given the day off because there was a beautiful woman that needed some stress release," Shunsui had said sarcastically.

"I am sorry," Ukitake had apologized. "I should have knocked. I'll apologize to your girlfriend too the next time I see her."

"She's not my girlfriend," Kyouraku had denied quickly. If that rumor got started he'd get turned down left and right. There were quite a few girls who wouldn't sleep with you if they thought you were committed to someone else.

"Oh," the boy had replied stupidly, obviously not sure how to respond to that

comment.

"So you're the roommate Yama-jii sent," he'd said finally tugging a shirt on. "What'd you do to piss him off?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ukitake had asked confused.

"You must have done something to piss the old geezer off if he put you with me," Shunsui had commented stretching.

"He did my family a favor," the white haired boy had admitted looking embarrassed. "My mother wanted me to have a private room due to my health, but we couldn't exactly afford it."

"A favor," Shunsui had snorted. Looked like it'd be an easy task to scare this kid off too. He looked less intimidating than even the weasel had. "What's wrong with your health?"

"I have coughing fits sometimes," Ukitake had said, dropping his bag on the other bed. "It's really not that bad. My mother is just overprotective."

"As long as you're not going to keel over on me," Shunsui had said with a shrug. "Ladies don't find that attractive in the least."

That had been the longest conversation they'd had for the first month of living together. The rest of it their interaction had been restricted to Ukitake getting up and going to classes, returning to study, and awkwardly trying to find other places to be when Shunsui brought girls back. For Shunsui's part, he'd spent most of his days like he always had, sleeping, drinking, and picking up girls. The boy had put up so little fight that he'd honestly almost forgotten he had a roommate, which worked out just fine for him.

It wasn't until semester finals had rolled around that anything notable had happened. Shunsui had been out drinking and met a girl he'd been with a few times before. The bars had been remarkably empty, as most students were busy studying for their academy tests, so he'd figured he didn't have any better options that night.

The two of them had stumbled back to his room laughing about something or other, and Shunsui had finally gotten the lock on his door undone. He'd ignored his roommate sitting at one of the two desks in the room and moved towards his bed with the girl under his arm. He'd muttered a 'don't mind us' in Ukitake's direction and been glad he'd chosen that particular girl, as she wouldn't care one way or another if there was another person in the room.

They'd tumbled into the bed as Ukitake had cleared his throat rather loudly. "Er, Kyouraku-san," the boy had finally said. "Do you mind doing this somewhere else or on another night? Usually I don't mind, but they closed the library early due to one of the students having a mental breakdown and setting some of the aisles on fire."

"So go somewhere else," Kyouraku had said with a shrug, running his fingers up the girl's side and making her laugh.

"Kyouraku-san, nothing is open this late. I really need to study for this tactical test tomorrow," Ukitake had said more firmly.

"You'll be fine," Kyouraku had said barely paying attention. "All you do is study." The girl had latched on to his neck, and he had smiled and refocused on her.

"Kyouraku-san, I must protest," Ukitake had replied, trying to stay polite. "I'm only asking for one night."

"I've heard that before," the girl had giggled, and Shunsui had laughed along with her.

"Me too," he'd smiled flipping the girl over in his bed.

"Kyouraku-san," Ukitake had continued.

"Oh, go tell a teacher if it bothers you so much," he'd said, intent on ignoring the other boy for the rest of the night.

"Kyouraku, I mean it," the white haired boy had said darkly. "You might not care whether you waste the rest of your life, but I have things to do, and I'm not going to let some spoiled noble brat ruin it for me. If all you want to do is screw around, then you might as well go back to your family and lounge around in leisure. I'm sure they'll make you an appropriate arranged marriage and you can spend the rest of your life cheating with the maids, but don't waste everyone else's time who actually want to do something with their future."

"What the hell do you know?" Shunsui'd demanded, standing up and forgetting the girl in his bed quickly. He hated when people thought he was like all the other nobles. Didn't he do everything a noble didn't do? Wasn't his family ashamed to call him their son? How dare this kid think he was anything like them.

"I know that the only reason anyone puts up with you is because of your last name and your money," Ukitake had said, obviously having been pushed to the edge. "Including three quarters of the girls you sleep with. Take those away and no one would ever be bothered to look at you twice."

"You don't know anything about me," Kyouraku said angrily.

"Whose fault is that? Besides, I don't have to know anything about you. You are just like every other pretentious self-righteous noble who thinks the world should bow to them just because they were born into privilege."

"I'm not like them," Kyouraku had said and let his reiatsu flare. He'd also learned that any protest was easily squashed with a brief show of power. He'd put down more than enough servants his father sent to talk to him in just the same fashion.

Surprisingly Ukitake had simply raised an eyebrow and stood up out of his chair taking no notice of the increased pressure. Kyouraku had frowned and kicked it up another notch.

"Excuse me," Ukitake had said, pressing Shunsui's shoulder and having him take a step to the left. Kyouraku had watched him in confusion, not bothering to reel his reiatsu in. The white haired boy had reached his hand out, helping the girl in Shunsui's bed stumble to her feet, and had supported her as he'd helped her walk to the door. Obviously Kyouraku's reiatsu had had an effect on someone. The boy had helped her outside and given her a brief apology for their rudeness and asked if she could get home all right. She'd given a shaky nod and taken off.

Then Ukitake had shut the door and turned back to Kyouraku and let his own reiatsu flare brilliantly. It'd amped up to match Kyouraku's in a moment. Shunsui had simply raised an eyebrow and kicked his up another notch.

"Is this how you usually win a fight?" Ukitake had asked sighing. He had however also matched his power to Shunsui's own again.

"Haven't lost yet," Kyouraku had said simply, which hadn't been altogether true. His mother had put him in his place several times throughout his lifetime, and he was sure Yama-jii would do the same if he'd ever been stupid enough to challenge him.

"Fine then," Ukitake had said exasperated. The next few minutes had been a silent war of raging reiatsus and while both boys were sweating neither were backing down or showing a lead.

A loud banging had started up on their door, but neither boy had shifted their attention. "Kyouraku, Ukitake," a stern voice had addressed through the door. It was one of the academy teachers. Kyouraku had recognized him as the history teacher only because that was one of the few teachers who had bothered to track him down and give him a hard time about not attending class. "Knock it off now. I don't know what's going on in there, but you're suffocating some of the new recruits. Stop now, or I'm breaking the lock off and coming in."

Shunsui had watched Ukitake, expecting the meek respectful boy to shut down the second a teacher was involved. Ukitake had merely stared back calmly and then, to Shunsui's surprise, had turned it up another level. Shunsui had matched him and couldn't stop the grin that graced his features. He was surprised to find he was having fun. He hadn't flexed his own spiritual muscle in quite some time, and it felt good to let loose with someone that didn't balk or fold instantly.

"I mean it, knock it off now," the teacher had yelled again.

"I have studying to do," Ukitake had said plainly, although it was evident it wasn't because he was worried about matching Shunsui.

"Well, you got your wish as the girl is gone," Shunsui had pointed out.

"You still snore like a bear," Ukitake had replied.

"I suppose I could stay up and do some reading for a while," Shunsui had said shrugging one shoulder.

"That would be appreciated," Ukitake had answered calmly.

"Whatever you need," Shunsui had said sarcastically. By some unknown signal both boys had snapped their reiatsus under control simultaneously.

"Yamamoto-sensei will be hearing about this," the teacher had threatened.

"Oh go away, we need to study," Shunsui had called good-naturedly.

The teacher had left grumbling, and Ukitake had quickly gone back to his desk. Shunsui had appraised the boy once more silently and then pulled down one of his own books. Contrary to popular belief, he did enjoy reading, he just didn't like it getting around that he did and thus didn't do it in public.

By some miracle, Shunsui had passed the semester just barely. It helped that, unlike many of the Rukongai kids in school, he'd had private tutors since he was a child and also a natural talent for bullshitting. Ukitake had passed too, finding that in the second semester Shunsui had taken to reading silently while Ukitake studied. What had begun that night hadn't been a friendship, but it had at least been respect, and it had been a start.

"Uncle Shunsui," a small voice called, bringing Shunsui back to the present. He glanced down at one of his cousin's kids and realized that they'd made it to the meeting place and all the adults were politely greeting each other.

"Yuji-kun," he greeted the child pleasantly. The boy shifted, looking uncomfortable in his formal kimono. Shunsui sighed remembering his own youth forced into uncomfortable clothes.

"Is Ise-san going to come too?" the boy asked looking around.

Yuji had become particularly attached to Nanao the last time she'd come with him. Yuji had a talent for kido, but was smaller than most boys his age and picked on because of it. While he was no where near the talent level Nanao had had as a child, she'd still patiently taught him a few simple spells, and it'd been enough to protect himself from some of the larger bullies. "Not today, Yuji-kun," Shunsui said apologetically.

"Oh," the little boy said looking disappointed.

"Your uncle isn't good enough?" he asked, giving the boy an overdramatic pout.

"Oh, no! You're really good too!" the boy said eagerly. "But mom said we aren't allowed to play in our nice clothes," he added, nodding over at his parents where his two little sisters stood looking equally uncomfortable in their tiny kimonos.

Shunsui scanned all the children looking downcast and bored. Some of the older children were trying to look mature and interested as they all entered the temple, but all the younger children looked just as miserable as he imagined he used to. "You know what, Yuji-kun?" he said offhandedly. "I saw a hill that looked just wonderful for rolling down on the way here. I don't imagine your parents could get too mad if I went down first." The boy grinned up at him and he winked. "I'll race you there after we are done in the temple. Spread the word to all the others."

The boy bounced off, considerably happier, and ignored it when his mother yelled after him not to run. This family event might be fun after all, Shunsui thought. Then he fully planned on getting Nanao and going back to the Seireitei. Just a few more hours to go.


A/N: More Ukitake love for everyone :) I'm so happy everyone is excited for the sequel. Hopefully I can live up to expectations. I only got the chance to edit this once as I have to catch a train out to my family's for Easter, but I tried to catch the big errors. As always, please review!