Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters. Tite Kubo does. This story, however, is mine.

Maelstrom

Chapter 2: Rules of Engagement


"Is purple too gaudy? I think it's too gaudy."

The helper sighed.

"Then why don't we go with red? You seemed to be leaning that way twenty minutes ago…"

"No, red's too aggressive. I don't want to send the wrong signal… maybe I should just go with white?"

"Gods damn it, Byakuya," Kochi shouted in exasperation, dropping the garment he was holding into a heap on the floor, "you're worse than my wife was, may she rest in peace. It's not hard, just pick a color! Why do you even care what sort of impression you make, anyway?" the tutor prodded. "This is just a one-time thing, right? Isn't that what you were so adamant about earlier?"

"Well, yes," the prince replied stubbornly, "but I'm not about to go in there looking like a bum, either. I might act like an uncouth, slovenly wastrel, but if I'm going to go down in flames I at least want to look good while doing so."

"No, you don't," the old man shot back as he draped Byakuya in the white kimono. "You look fine in all of these, child. That means you're not just trying to look good, you're trying to look handsome. You're in this for the long haul, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not."

"Just shut up and try red again," Kuchiki fumed, and Kochi's pursed lips twitched up into a smirk.

"Trying to hide a blush, are we?" he teased, and Byakuya's frown deepened, as did the shade of his cheeks.

"I hate you."


"What are you doing here, Yoruichi?" the green-eyed, dark-haired and one-armed Shiba princess groused. "Come to twist the dagger in my back a bit harder?"

"Aw, come on, Kuukaku," the Captain cajoled her younger friend. "Give it a shot."

The noble snorted derisively as she reached for her white bandage hair-covering.

"Yeah, because forced, awkward conversation is always how true love starts; gimme a break. Hey!" Shiba shouted as Yoruichi batted her hand away from the long white strip of cloth. "What gives?"

"You're entertaining a potential suitor," Shihoin parried as she dangled the cloth in front of her like string before a kitten, "not sparing with your older brother."

"A potential suitor?" Kuukaku scoffed, "Are you kidding? Byakuya's turned down women that most guys I know would give up their arms and legs to sleep with. He plays for the other team, without a doubt."

"I highly doubt that," Yoruichi replied dryly, "but if that is the case then there's nothing for you to be nervous about, is there?"

"Who says I'm nervous?" Shiba half growled, and if she hadn't been anxious before she definitely became so when she saw a devilish grin spread over Yoruichi's face.

"I don't know if you've noticed it," she purred as she circled her friend like the cat she was, "but you're wearing your wooden arm."

"What's so odd about that?" Kuukaku asked, looking down at the finely-carved cedar appendage. "I wear this thing all the time, Shihoin."

"Not when you've had visitors of the male persuasion, kid," Yoruichi answered with her typically feline grin. "Usually you hope that your lack of an arm will scare them off, and it almost always does. So why, pray tell, are you wearing it now?"

"Because it'll sting more when I punch him with it," the princess spat, tearing the cloth away from her friend and putting it back down on the table. "Why did you even set this up again, Yoruichi?"

"Oh, no reason," the Captain replied glibly as she walked out of the door, right as a messenger arrived. "Have fun!"

"Bitch," Shiba snarled, and the messenger quailed under her decidedly murderous gaze.

"What is it?"

"Kuchiki-sama is here to see you," he half-stammered out. Kuukaku straightened up her robes with a sigh, cracked her neck and walked calmly out of the room to greet her surprise suitor.

"Good afternoon, Kuchiki-san," she said cordially as she stepped out into the main room, her eyes shut in the middle of a blink. When she opened them, the Shiba princess' first thought was a surge of gratitude that she hadn't opened her eyes in the middle of the sentence, because the form in front of her made her mouth go dry.

Byakuya had decided, after much teeth gnashing, to go with a white kimono and matching hakama, joined by a black silk obi tied around his waist. Overlaying that ensemble was a sleeveless deep crimson haori, embroidered with silver thread and bordered at the bottom by golden flames that seemed to flicker in the light against their background. His violet-gray eyes seemed to be in a permanent state of smoldering with intensity, and his dark hair fell unbound to just past his shoulders. The prince bowed as was custom, before bringing his gaze back up once again to lock with Kuukaku's sea-green eyes.

"Lady Shiba," he said in a voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "It is a privilege to be granted the pleasure of your company."

It was a scripted opener, of course, but that didn't stop Byakuya from delivering it like a master thespian.

"It was my pleasure to extend it," the princess replied smoothly, stepping into her role as cultured noble with total ease. "Shall we have some tea?"

"That would be delightful," Kuchiki answered, and soon enough the pair were sitting across from each other sipping on cups of black tea. The attendants along the walls filed out as everything seemed to be going according to protocol, an act which allowed both of the nobles to relax both their postures and their tongues.

"So, I take it Yoruichi dragged you over here?" Kuukaku asked, and Byakuya shook his head.

"She merely acted as the go-between," he replied smoothly. "I came here of my own accord." Shiba raised an eyebrow at the answer, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, really?" she retorted. "What went wrong; the last princess decide you weren't good enough after all, and now you're crawling to the runt of the litter?"

"Hardly," Kuchiki parried. "The last sycophant I had to entertain was so vapid I wound up spiking her tea with sake. She couldn't even take three shots without passing out colder than a bum in Inuzuri."

Kuukaku's estimation of the prince rose just then, but she was careful not to let it show. Her eyes were drawn then to the beautiful haori he was wearing, and Byakuya noticed her interest.

"This was made in the design of the ancient Kuchiki war haori, which was worn by my ancestors before the formation of the Gotei and the creation of the Divisions," he explained, and Shiba's eyes gleamed.

"Going on any campaigns, Kuchiki-san?" Kuukaku teased, and she was rewarded with a sly smirk.

"I was taught that it pays to be prepared, Lady Shiba," he answered, and a twin smile slowly crept across the princess' face.

"A wise philosophy," she agreed. "And please, call me Kuukaku; if my brother heard someone other than the help referring to me as 'Lady Shiba', I'd never hear the end of it."

"Very well," Byakuya replied with a small nod. "Likewise, you may refer to me as Byakuya. 'Kuchiki-san' is my father."

"Why, thank you for the permission, Byakuya," Kuukaku said with mock-gratefulness, grinning sharply. "Your benevolence is truly stunning."

The prince let the sarcasm glide past him, taking a silent pull on his cup of tea. As he put the cup down once again, his eyes fell on Shiba's wooden arm and narrowed.

"That is carved from cedar, is it not?" he asked, and the princess' eyes widened slightly in surprise before she regained her composure a heartbeat later. Usually the first reaction the wooden arm got from people was the question of how she came to need it; no one had ever mentioned the type of wood before.

"Yes, it is," she answered, he tone slightly wary. "Why do you ask?"

"My curiosity simply compelled me," the prince said as his eyes returned to normal and he took another sip of his tea, "nothing more."

"I see," Kuukaku spoke evenly, but internally resolved to figure out how why Byakuya had pointed that out. "I've always preferred oak, myself," she continued, betraying nothing of her thoughts in the tone of her voice, "but since cedar was in abundance thanks to our grove of it, expediency won out over taste."

Kuchiki simply nodded while filing that fact away for later, should it become pertinent. As an awkward lull settled between the pair, an impromptu visitor walked into the room abruptly and shattered it.

"This isn't where I left my zanpakuto…" Kaien Shiba said lamely while he took a few more steps into the large room, stopping as two pairs of eyes turned to stare at him, one in annoyance and one in mild anger.

"What're you doing here, bro?" Kuukaku asked after another moment had passed, and the recently-elected Head of the Shiba clan shrugged.

"Nothin'," he deflected as he turned around and walked out, casting one last look over his shoulder.

"That punk hasn't made a pass at you, has he, sis?"

"Yes, actually," the princess ground out with forced civility, resisting the temptation to knock her sibling's teeth out, "he has. Why, are you jealous?"

Kaien snorted derisively and left the room in a whisper of shunpo, leaving Byakuya feeling more uncomfortable than before.

"Your brother doesn't like me very much, does he?" he asked, and Kuukaku laughed. The sound was so different from the obnoxious little twitters of the common noblewoman that it seemed almost out of place, but then again everything about Kuukaku Shiba was out of place compared to the run-of-the-mill princess.

"Who cares what he thinks?" she shot back. "I love him, but my brother's a total blockhead half the time. Hey," Shiba continued, her voice changing tones suddenly, "d'you wanna take this elsewhere? I know Yoruichi pressured you into this, but the least we can do is have some fun while we're at it."

Byakuya was stung by Kuukaku's refusal to believe his earlier claim that he had come here of his own volition, which was indeed true, but he kept that to himself.

"What did you have in mind?"

"There's an awesome bar I know down in Zaraki; let's go there, knock back some shots and call it a day."

The Kuchiki prince's jaw might have hit the floor, but he was too numb from shock to know for sure.

"Zaraki?" he repeated dumbly. "Are you out of your—" here he paused for a moment, reconsidered and then continued. "Actually, forget that question. Now I know you're insane. If I go into a place like Zaraki dressed like this, I might as well hang a sign around my neck that says 'I'm a stupid, ignorant rich kid! Please, gut me in an alley, strip my corpse of all its valuables and leave me for the dogs!'"

Kuukaku had to fight to hold back a genuine smile at Byakuya's reaction. So he was still an idiot, but at least he had enough spine not to be intimidated by her and enough fire in his veins to speak his mind. Maybe this wouldn't be such a wasted afternoon after all.

"We're not going dressed like this, you moron," the princess parried, already assuming Kuchiki would participate in the excursion. "I have civilian clothes in my room, and you can borrow some from Ganju. He's my little brother, before you ask."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the insinuation.

"Are you saying I'm equal in stature to your younger sibling, Kuukaku?" he asked with some iciness in his voice, and Shiba shook her head.

"I'm saying the last thing you want is to try and borrow clothes from Kaien. The last guy he had a little 'heart-to-heart' with wound up running out of here crying like a little bitch. Besides," she finished with a smirk, unable to resist the opportunity to get under Byakuya's skin again, "Ganju's clothes may be a bit tight on you, but muscles that defined deserve to be shown off."

Kuukaku stuck around just long enough to see the Kuchiki prince struggle to avoid choking on his own tongue before vanishing with a cackle. Byakuya snapped back to reality an instant later, getting to his feet and sighing. Yes, this woman was certifiably crazy, that was for sure. But hopefully, he thought as his lips twitched up into a smirk yet again, she wasn't also a lightweight; he wasn't going to go easy on her just because she was a woman… with an obscenely gorgeous figure…

Wait, what? Where had that come from? The prince hastily shook off that line of thought and vanished, before he gave his mind any more chances to play tricks on him.


"Okay," the Kuchiki prince conceded as they stood outside of the bar, clad in nondescript brown clothes and hiding their zanpakuto underneath their cloaks, "I'll admit it, this doesn't look too bad. At least no one's being butchered in there."

Kuukaku cupped her hand to her ear theatrically, putting on a surprised expression.

"Why, Byakuya," she said in a hushed tone, "what's that I hear? I believe it's your balls finally dropping! Welcome to manhood, Kuchiki; let's go get hammered and celebrate!"

"You bitch," the prince hissed as he closed his hand around Senbonzakura's hilt, his pride pushed beyond the breaking point. Just as he began to draw the zanpakuto from its sheath, however, he stopped cold as a finger and a thumb were suddenly pressing against his throat in a basic hold.

"I could snap your neck in two places before your sword got halfway to sunlight, Byakuya," Shiba said in a low, throaty growl that made a small shiver lance down Kuchiki's spine. "You sure you wanna keep your hand on that hilt?"

Byakuya froze, his knuckles turning white around the hilt of his blade before he slowly relaxed them.

"Is every woman with more than a shred of personality crazy, or do the Gods just hate me?" he groaned, and Kuukaku flashed a genuine smile.

"Both, probably," she said with an undercurrent of wicked glee, before laughing and slapping Kuchiki on the shoulder.

"C'mon, Byakuya," she encouraged, "let's go. How much you want to bet I can drink you under the table?"

"Winner foots the bill?" Byakuya proposed with resurgent confidence, and Shiba's face lit up at the challenge.

"Done," she answered promptly, clasping hands with the prince to seal the deal before the duo walked into the torch-lit bar. Grabbing a pair of stools, the two disguised nobles ordered a jug of sake each and got down to business. Three shots in Kuchiki was starting to wince at the poor quality of the alcohol that seared as it passed down his throat, but there was no way he was going to bend or break in front of Kuukaku Shiba.

"Stings, don't it," Kuukaku taunted as she caught the twinge in Byakuya's facial muscles when he worked through another shot. "This ain't your grandfather's top-of-the-line sake, pal. This is what separates the strong from the weak, the men from the whiny little punks."

The prince smiled, seeing his opening and pouncing.

"Well, last I check you're not a man, Kuukaku," he parried, "so doesn't that make you a 'whiny little punk'?"

Shiba smiled gamely and downed another shot, gulping it with a flourish.

"I'm the exception that proves the rule, pretty boy," the princess answered, and Byakuya's eyes flared as he matched his opponent once again.

"I'll take that as a compliment, woman," Kuchiki replied as evenly as he could, even when his voice began to waver at the end of the sentence.

"You're done," Kuukaku boasted triumphantly as she saw Byakuya's expression become slightly hazy. "Stop now and pay up, before you hurt yourself. I don't want to have to haul your ass all the way back to your manor in a drunken stupor, Bya-kun," she finished, using a nickname specifically designed to provoke him.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Kuukaku," the prince replied smoothly, taking down another cup without flinching. "You, of all people, should know that."

Shiba was given pause by the implications of Kuchiki's words, and took another drink to hide the affect they had on her expression. When she put her cup down, however, the princess was jarred by a thick, heavy hand landing roughly on her shoulder.

"Hey, lady," a scratchy, edged voice rumbled near Kuukaku's ear. "Why don't you ditch this pansy and come have a good time with me and my buddies?"

The princess didn't flinch even as the grip on her shoulder tightened, sea-green eyes narrowing dangerously as her hand left the sake cup and moved to inside of her robes. Byakuya's hand moved as well, and at the same moment both nobles spoke cataclysmic words.

"Hado number 4: Byakurai."

"Hado number 4: Byakurai."

The twin bolts of blue lightning ripped through one lung each, and for a very long moment afterwards as the man fell to the ground no one said or did anything. Byakuya and Kuukaku stared at each other in surprise, but before they could start arguing time caught up with them and chaos erupted in a flurry of steel and shouted profanities.

"What the hell was that for, Kuchiki?" Shiba spat over the bedlam as the pair took down Shinigami-hating thug after Shinigami-hating thug.

"What the hell was what for, Shiba?" Kuchiki half-growled as Senbonzakura severed yet another artery with savage grace. "I was bailing you out, and I went for a non-lethal strike! If you hadn't been so stupid…"

"I had everything under control, you dumbass!" Kuukaku snarled as her wooden arm shattered another hapless bastard's jaw. "If you hadn't fired off that spell like some idiotic white knight, he'd just be unconscious and we wouldn't be here right now!"

"Remind me to never do you any favors again, hellcat," Byakuya ground out, ramming his zanpakuto through a particularly soft gut with visceral satisfaction.

"If that's what you call a favor, prick, remind me to never get on your bad side. I shudder to think what you do to people you're actually trying to kill," Kuukaku replied as she slammed a head hard against a wooden table and took a berserker's delight in the squishy sound made on impact. A few moments later the bar was quiet once more, and the poor old bartender rose from his kneeling position behind the wooden structure trembling with fear.

The two nobles were breathing hard and spattered with blood by the time the brawl was over, and they immediately flashed away after sharing a quick glance. But the establishment they had left in ruins wasn't entirely unoccupied: A figure sat leisurely in the corner, a small girl perched on his shoulder who was blurry and indistinct in the dim light apart from a bright mass of pink hair atop her head.

"Hey, Ken-chan," she spoke out after a moment, "Why didn't you fight those two?"

"Eh; I ain't got no interest in fighting drunks, Yachiru, and two-on-one battles ain't my style. Besides," the man with flowing black hair and a distinctive scar running down one side of his face spoke with a wicked grin, "it looked to me like those two had some other unfinished business to attend to. C'mon, let's get outta here," Kenpachi continued as he rose sharply from his seat. "I hear there's a really good swordsman 'round these parts, and that's someone I would be interested in fighting. You see a bald punk with a sword on his hip and a swagger in his step, let me know!"

"Will do, Ken-chan!" Yachiru answered with a gleeful giggle, and the two of them left the bar in search of the mysterious swordsman.


Byakuya and Kuukaku managed to tear their way through District after District of Western Rukongai as they chased after each other in a constantly shifting game of tag, all the way to the grassy hills that overlooked both the Rukongai and Seireitei. As the sweet agony of the muscle fatigue in their legs became too much to continue drawing on shunpo, the pair sank into the soft grass and just lay there. Sprawled out and slowly clawing their way back to equilibrium, the prince and princess once again acted in concert and, once again, experienced cataclysmic consequences.

They each rolled over onto their sides at the same moment, bringing them eye-to-eye and closing the gap between them enough that they could see their images reflected in the other's eyes. The blood, adrenaline and alcohol pounding relentlessly through the pair's veins shoved them ruthlessly to the brink of self-control, and the softly encouraging caress of their mingling, heated breath as it passed over their skin blew them insistently over the edge and sent them careening down the waiting grasp of pure impulse as the space between them disappeared with a kiss.

Byakuya was both surprised and captivated by the fire that seemed to burn deep within the Shiba princess, a strength of spirit that had been utterly lacking in every other noblewoman he'd been forced to entertain. She was truly a worthy adversary, one who could look him in the eyes without being intimidated and speak frankly without fear of repercussions. Even though he knew that pursuing Kuukaku was like a hunter chasing prey that could just as easily turn around and become the hunter in turn, he had never wanted a woman more in his life.

Kuukaku was shocked at the raw passion that seemed to rise from the Kuchiki prince and surge forward like a wave, unstoppable and intent on conquering every obstacle it came across. She quickly regained her wits and pushed back with equal strength, hell-bent on discovering just how much emotion was hidden under the calm, calculating exterior he was forced to display in public. Byakuya's mask had slipped somewhat during their earlier conversation and then completely during the vicious barfight, and Kuukaku was going to get another glimpse underneath that barrier if she had to rip it off herself.

The pair dueled for a few more moments before breaking apart, breathless and now completely exhausted but nonetheless feeling more exhilarated than either of them had in ages. Dredging up the dregs of the strength that was still in his limbs, Byakuya rolled the rest of the way over and pushed Kuukaku onto her back as he draped one arm over her abdomen and passed out. The Shiba princess moved her wooden arm up and was about to shove him off and go to sleep, but something happened that made her freeze stock-still.

The Kuchiki prince reached up with his free arm and grabbed a hold of the prosthetic limb with considerable strength, guiding it down gently so that the shoulder of the appendage was scant inches from his face. He took in a single, deep breath and then relaxed instantly, as if the smell of the wood had triggered something within him. A serene smile appeared on his face as the arm he had placed over Kuukaku's midsection tightened its grip ever so slightly, and the Shiba princess' feelings of hostility were erased completely by the change in Byakuya's demeanor. Rolling back over towards him, she let her normal arm wrap around the slumbering prince while she pulled him closer, to the point where he was resting his head in the crook of her neck and snoring softly.

As she drifted slowly off to sleep with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion over what had just happened, Kuukaku failed to see the single tear that rolled down Byakuya's cheek before splashing against the polished wood of her cedar arm.


Kuukaku woke first a few hours later, just as the sun was beginning to set and bleeding red and orange streaks across the sky. Byakuya was still slumbering quietly, his hair falling messily about his face in a way the princess found oddly endearing, so she moved carefully to avoid waking him as she rose. Shiba had almost succeeded when Kuchiki mumbled a petulant 'no' in his sleep and tightened his hold. Exasperated, Kukkaku's considerate side disappeared in the blink of an eye and she nudged Byakuya hard enough to jolt him back to reality. Violet-gray eyes snapped open sharply and the prince started, but relaxed again once his still-scrambled mind figured out where he was.

"'Afternoon, Byakushi," the princess said lazily as she stretched out on the grass, sighing in satisfaction as the cramped joints in her back shifted and settled back into place.

"Ugh," Kuchiki groaned as the last remnants of his hangover popped back up to greet him briefly before fading away for good. Opening his eyes again slowly against the glare of the dying light, he spoke slowly to the woman next to him.

"What the hell did I do earlier?" he asked, and Kuukaku's eyes clouded over with disappointment for a heartbeat at the thought that he'd forgotten what they'd shared in their last gasp of coherence a few hours ago.

"You don't remember?" she replied as evenly as she could, trying to keep the hurt from her voice. Some of it slipped past her weary defenses anyway, and Byakuya's steely eyes softened as a small smile danced across his face.

"I don't think I'm ever going to forget that," he answered, "even if I was smashed half to oblivion at the time. No," the prince finished, his tone shifting into something more melancholy, "I need to know if I did anything… odd… afterwards. After I fell asleep."

The Shiba princess arched an eyebrow in curiosity, her thoughts drawn back to the moment he had drifted peacefully off to sleep clutching her wooden arm. Connecting the dots with a comment Byakuya had made earlier about the prosthetic, she weighed her next words very, very carefully and spoke.

"What is it with you and cedar wood?" she asked, and Kuchiki deflated with a sigh like he was a balloon that had just been pricked. Forcing himself to sit up, he rested his crossed arms over his tucked knees and stared out thoughtfully at the horizon.

"My mother was a beautiful woman," Byakuya began slowly, his voice the far-off voice of someone who was nowhere near reality and buried deep in their memories, "and kind. Even though she was a noble, that never stopped her from going into the Rukongai day after day after day to give alms to the poor, or medicine to the sick. Even though my father told her again and again that it wasn't safe, that something was going to happen to her, she never listened."

"That sounds like a particularly stubborn someone I know," Kuukaku broke in as she sat up beside him, turning her gaze to the dying sun as well. The prince gave a small, rueful chuckle and continued.

"She had this way about her, something I never understood. She could trudge through the filthiest of places, clasp hands with the disease-ridden and the depraved, and always emerge from that cesspool as happy and glowing as she'd been before making the journey. And her voice… Gods, it was…"

Here he broke off, his voice catching in his throat as Byakuya turned his gaze down to hide his face. Kuukaku reached out and took his hand in her good one, squeezing it tightly.

"If you don't want to do this, that's fine," she said gently. "Forget I ever asked, and we can just—"

"No," Kuchiki cut her off, his voice on the edge of ragged. "You asked me a question, and I'm going to answer it." After taking in a breath to calm himself, Byakuya resumed his story.

"She had a voice that could lull a Hollow to sleep, my mother did," he said almost reverently, "and every night she would sing me the same song, no matter how old I got or how many times I told her not to."

"Why did she?"

"Because…" here he paused again, tears stinging the corner of his eyes, "because she said that if that was the last night she was going to spend with me, she wanted me to go to sleep knowing just how much she loved me."

Kuukaku put her wooden limb around the prince's shoulders, and he leaned slightly closer to her as he continued to speak

"She had a pair of cedar wood hair-sticks that she would use to keep her hair in place, and every night when I closed my eyes I could smell their was how I would know that she was there, watching over me."

"What happened to her?" the princess asked hesitantly, almost not wanting the story to arrive at its end.

Byakuya gave a rattling sigh, steeling himself mentally before proceeding to the conclusion of his tale.

"One morning, my mother decided to leave the house early and go give alms to the poor as she always did, before I had woken up. And then she never came back.

"The household guards found her body in the Eastern end of Rukongai, bloodied and muddied and slashed up almost to beyond recognition. That was when my father's decline in health started, and it hasn't stopped since. I went to view the body after it had been cleaned to pay my respects; not only do I regret doing that to this very day, but I will continue to regret it as long as I live."

"Why?"

"Because now when I close my eyes at night, all I can see is her bruised, disfigured face," Kuchiki hissed out, tears beginning to trickle unconsciously down his face. "The music is gone, and I know that's not what she would have wanted."

Kuukaku gave Byakuya time to gather himself together and calm down before she moved again, reaching into her robes and handing him a square of cloth to get rid of the tear-marks on his face. The prince took it wordlessly, but his thanks was visible in his eyes.

"You must think me weak," he said hollowly after a few moments of silence, "don't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Byakuya," the princess shot back. "Everyone has their burdens to bear, and that takes strength. But to come to terms with those burdens and understand why you carry them is the first step to letting them go, and that requires a whole different kind of strength."

Kuchiki looked over at his companion curiously, surprised by her words.

"I never figured you to be the philosophizing type, Kuukaku."

"Oh, I didn't think that up myself; hell no," Shiba refuted sharply with a snort. "That was something my father used to tell Kaien and I every time we were down, back when we were kids. Back before I got this," she added for emphasis, gesturing to her wooden arm.

"But as much as I'd love to dive into that story," she continued after a sharp change in tone, "I think it's about time for us to head back, before Kaien starts thinking you took advantage of me or something absurd. And if he finds us here, of all places, looking like this, we'll still be hearing about it 300 years from now."

Byakuya saw yet another opening and did what he did best: turned it into a slightly juvenile, romantically-charged taunt.

"So," he said slyly, all traces of the vulnerable young man gone as he shifted back into his public Kuchiki persona, "you want this rapport to continue, Lady Shiba?"

Kuukaku realized her slip too late and snarled a curse to herself, but outwardly she immediately regained her poise and fired back.

"At least until next week, Kuchiki-san," she parried smoothly. "If you insist on remaining so insufferably smug, however, I may be forced to wipe that grin off of your face in an excruciatingly painful manner."

"I look forward to your attempt at doing so, Lady Shiba," Byakuya said with a molten voice as he rose and offered his hand to the still-sitting noblewoman. Kuukaku took it and got up, grateful for the support that allowed her to hide the slight trembling in her figure as a shiver shot down her spine at the implications of the Kuchiki prince's words. The pair disappeared in a flash, off to attempt a rescue of Byakuya's clothing from the Shiba mansion without running into the very protective older brother that was Kaien Shiba.

In the small grove of nearby trees, a figure clothed in black took in the scene though sharp blue eyes before vanishing with a whisper.

His mistress would be very, very interesting in knowing what had unfolded here.


With the help of a network of trapdoors the ran throughout the Shiba residence, Byakuya had reclaimed his clothing, changed back into his formal garb and flash-stepped away without a trace. Well, except for the burning kiss he'd left Kuukaku with to remember him by, the prince thought as he lay in his bed attempting to go to sleep and failing again and again. It was as if sleep was Yoruichi Shihoin, and they were playing a game of shunpo tag.

The mere thought of the golden-eyed, purple-haired and mischievous Captain drew a groan of dismay from Byakuya, and as his eyelids finally grew too heavy to keep open he drifted off to sleep with the sound of the demon-cat's cackling laughter echoing in his ears.

Tomorrow's lesson was going to be hell.


A/N: Well, there you have it, Chapter 2. Hope you enjoyed it, and let me know what you think! Things are about to get intense, and I hope to see you along for the ride!