A/N: Hi hi, chapter two! This will not go the way of that other story. Title change because I kind of hated the last one.

Disclaimer: Soo not mine. Just playing.

Ni

"RANGIKU!"

Rangiku jerked awake and nearly tumbled out of bed. As it was, she caught herself at the last minute, snatched the gun from her nightstand and raced for the living room. That was Toshiro's voice.

She rushed into the main room of their 2LDK and skidded to a halt. Her son was fine. He stood in the middle of the living room glaring at her, white hair wild about his head, teal blue eyes narrowed, still dressed in his uniform and holding a sheet of paper. There was no one else around, no tatted-up gun men, no disapproving nurses with slick talk trying to take her baby away, and no Aizen. She lowered her gun, ran her free hand through her hair and asked, "Ne, Shiro-chan, what's that?"

"Don't call me that!" he snapped, furious. She just grinned at him. She loved when he was angry; it was like watching a frustrated little puppy snapping at her heels. Then she realised what he was holding and gulped. Oops.

"Rangiku, what is this?" he demanded, shoving the certificate at her.

It was her copy of the marriage certificate, already signed and stamped and secured in part, in the government register. The next and possibly last time, she would write her name as "Matsumoto Rangiku" was when she entered it into the Kuchiki records. To her son, she said, "What does it look like?"

Toshiro went even redder, Rangiku imagined she could see the steam rising from his ears, and snapped, "A marriage certificate! Which is odd, Rangiku, because you're not married! And certainly not to someone named Ku—"

He paused and looked at the document again. His right eye twitched and Rangiku wondered if she had finally gone too far and broke his big, precious brain. She liked to test the limits from time to time—to her having a baby was less like having a living doll and more a guinea pig—and so far the most he had done was scream at her and retreat to his bedroom. Now though…

"Rangiku…am I reading this right? Does this say 'Kuchiki Byakuya'? Or am I hallucinating?" Toshiro asked voice low and deadly calm.

At that exact moment there was a knock at the door. Perfect! Rangiku skipped past her son without a word to go open it but then nearly fell over when she saw who was on the other side.

In a more casual suit than the one he had worn that morning, this one lacking a tie, Kuchiki Byakuya, her new husband, stood alone in the hall outside her flat, framed by the late evening sunset. She had told him earlier that they needed to tell Toshiro together what they were going to do and he had come. That earned him more than a few brownie points, not that it mattered though.

"May I come in?" he asked, politely.

He had not yet noticed the white tornado building behind her. Rangiku was very conscious too that she now only wore a pair of shorts and a camisole. She smiled, nodded and said, "Welcome to my humble abode…danna-sama."

His eyes widened slightly at the address but he stepped into the house nevertheless. That was when Toshiro screamed, "YOU?!"

She shut the door behind Byakuya before turning to her son and said, "Now, Toshiro is that any way to greet your new father?"

There was a moment's stunned silence, as if the world had held its breath, where Byakuya and Toshiro stared at each other and Rangiku grinned at them, and then Toshiro exploded again, "RANGIKU!"

It took a few minutes but eventually Rangiku got Toshiro calmed down enough for her to usher Byakuya to a seat on their sole sofa and then set off to the kitchen to make them all tea. The boy was still very, very angry and shocked but Rangiku had no doubt that the worst was over. Fighting with Toshiro was less of a two-way battle and more a series of strategic attacks spread out over time. And she never gave him enough time to recover from one attack before she launched into the other.

When Rangiku walked back into the living room, Byakuya and Toshiro were looking anywhere but at each other. They had not spoken since she went into the kitchen though, so Rangiku knew that it was not because they had said anything odd. She sat down between them and set out the tea, pouring three cups and giving the first to Byakuya.

He accepted it without a word but then Toshiro said, "How could you have gotten married like this? Are you pregnant?"

"Toshiro!" Rangiku snapped. She did not often scold him but she would not tolerate rudeness.

He refused to be cowed but he did look away and she said, "I'm not. Actually, that's why Kuchiki-san is here, to explain what's going on."

Toshiro said nothing but she knew he was listening. Rangiku turned to Byakuya and said, "I think you should tell him, you know, since you're now head of household."

"He is n—" Toshiro started but cut off at Rangiku's glare. She had pushed him hard today, herself too for she was still reeling from the last few hours. She had decided to sign the papers after breakfast, without a lawyer present, which was stupid, and then posed for a few pictures at the government building in a new white Fendi dress and Christian Louboutin shoes Byakuya had bought at the Seireitei mall without so much as asking for the price. The pictures were necessary for the deception but she could not help the twinge of discomfort that followed.

Rangiku had long ago decided that she was never getting married, no respectable man wanted a woman with a child out of wedlock, no matter the circumstances, and especially since she had had him so young. No, it was not her fault what happened to her, but explaining it sometimes brought the other reaction, pity, and then they would become unbearable to be around until she was forced to end the relationship. But she had never been able to escape the daydream of a lovely white dress and a reception hall decorated with more flowers than the Imperial Gardens. It had made her hate Byakuya a little, which was foolish because she could have refused him, but then she remembered that this was only a temporary thing, of course she could become the wealthy divorcee and snag a much better husband and wedding of her dreams in future and forgot all about being angry.

It helped considerably too that mere moments after they walked out of the registry building he told her that it was not necessary to consummate the marriage later, or at all. The trauma of trying to anyway, knowing that she did not love him or really wanted to would have killed her.

She turned to Byakuya then—her husband, she reminded herself—and caught a glimpse of platinum on his left hand. Her cheeks reddened immediately. She had removed her ring almost as soon as he had dropped her off at her apartment, though not before it caught the eye of one of her neighbours, that nosy Mrs Ikeda who was always up in Rangiku's business anyway, but he was still wearing his. How had he explained that to his co-workers and subordinates? Then she remembered the press release Hara had drafted and felt overwhelmed all over again. What the hell had she done?

"Hitsugaya Toshiro," said Byakuya.

Rangiku jerked out of her thoughts just as her son lifted his head at the sound of his name. Byakuya straightened a little in his seat and said, "Let me begin with an apology. It was inexcusable of me to ask for your mother's hand without first speaking with you."

Toshiro looked away again and muttered, "You don't need my permission. I'm just the kid."

Byakuya did not smile but Rangiku thought she could hear it in his voice as he replied, "Be that as it may, I am the intruder. This was my idea and I persuaded your mother into it without consideration for her life. Let me reassure you that her first thought in this is you. She would never have agreed to this marriage if I had not given my word that you and your education are secure. I see that you found our contract and if you read it through you will find that I have made arrangements to compensate you both for the inconvenience…for my convenience."

Toshiro looked back up at him then and said, "I don't care about compensation. Rangiku is smart but she can be silly and do things without thinking them through sometimes. You're one of the most powerful men in Japan; you can have anyone and anything that you want. What do you want with my nobody mother? And don't tell me that you two suddenly met and fell in love because Rangiku doesn't believe in that nonsense and neither do I."

Rangiku felt a surge of pride at her son, for all the good that his protests would do. Then Byakuya said, "I was about to get to that. As I said before, this was my idea and for my convenience. You know of me, so you know of my uncle Kouga. A few weeks ago he made an attempt to destroy my career through his links with the yakuza. He sent me along with an associate of his to an establishment that was under surveillance by the police. Your mother saved me from much embarrassment and complete ruin. When I should have simply thanked her and walk away, I saw an opportunity to prevent my uncle from doing something like this ever again."

Toshiro glanced over at Rangiku and asked, "What's in it for us, for her?"

Byakuya held the boy's gaze and said, "Aizen Sosuke."

Toshiro blinked, considered this and turned to Rangiku, "Isn't that man dead?"

Rangiku closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, and said, "In exile. Rumour has it he has recently returned to Japan and is making contact with former allies. Toshiro…I can't let that man get to you."

She could feel Byakuya's gaze on her. He had not known the depths of her reasoning behind agreeing to marry him. She was not some blushing maiden who got distracted by the gleam of a man like Kuchiki Byakuya. If she was going to align herself with a powerful, dangerous man like this one she was going in with her eyes open and she was going to get what she wanted out of it while she could. Then Toshiro said, "But he doesn't care about me. It was you…and Gin."

Rangiku opened her eyes to look at her son and said, "That was before he found out about you."

Her son's eyes widened, but it was Byakuya who asked, "Is he…?"

"No, that man, Toshiro's father, whoever he was, is dead. Gin killed him, it's one of the reasons he's in prison," replied Rangiku. She exhaled heavily and said, "He found out about Toshiro because of Gin's rebellion, so don't feel too badly, Kuchiki-san, because I did this with a reason too."

Byakuya just looked at her and then Toshiro asked, "So you're not really married?"

"We are," said Byakuya. "I need a legal wife for this to work, for my family will do a background search. I suspect they already have, for word should have reached them by now that I was seen having breakfast with an unfamiliar woman, my sister and my steward this morning at the family restaurant. I expect too, that I was followed here. However, that is of little consequence. I did not come here merely to introduce myself, but also to retrieve you and your mother and bring you both to my home at Seireitei Tower. After all, we are now family and cannot be expected to live apart."

Rangiku had been expecting something along those lines since that morning, but having been drop-dead tired, had put it out of her mind. Now she looked around the slightly messy apartment, kept somewhat presentable only through Toshiro's efforts, for she had given up on housework many years ago, and said, "Oh."

Toshiro turned to her sharply and snapped, "You did not know that?"

She laughed and waved away his anger. "No, no, I did, I did…I just kind of, you know, forgot."

"You forgot?" said Toshiro, eyes narrowed in anger again. "How could you forget such a thing?"

Byakuya interjected then, "It is no trouble. I will send someone around to pack up the rest of your things and collect them for storage. For tonight I suggest you take only what you need immediately."

Rangiku looked over at him to find that he was looking over her and Toshiro, expression pensive, "I will have to get you both new things. If you are truly my wife you cannot be expected to dress as you did before."

"I have nice things!" Rangiku protested, irrationally upset now about having to suddenly leave.

"I am sure you do," said Byakuya, expression unchanged.

Rangiku took a breath again, turned back to Toshiro and asked, "Are you okay with this?"

Toshiro stared back at her for nearly a minute before replying, "Do I have a choice?"

She smiled at him and said, "Nope."

0o0

Renji had called on the drive back to Seireitei Tower to inform Byakuya that all arrangements had been made at the apartment for the arrival of the new wife and stepson. The people to pack up Rangiku's old apartment were already on the way and would be finished by morning, at which time the landlord would be handed a generous cheque for the inconvenience. He still sounded incredulous, and Byakuya thought, fingering the metal band around his hand for the first time in years, that the feeling was mutual. But he needed a wife; this coup would never succeed in the eyes of the family without one, even if he planned on never laying a finger on her.

There was a crowd at the entrance to Seireitei Tower. Some movie star or the other had moved into the floor below Byakuya's and had opted to take the public entrance through the mall. Byakuya directed the driver to take the limousine around to the underground parking. Toshiro had dozed off almost as soon as they were seated in the car, head against his mother's generous bosom, and arms around her waist. She had arranged the boy so though and Byakuya suspected that Toshiro would not be pleased when he awoke. Looking at mother and child, Byakuya could see some resemblances but nothing definitive. How much of the boy came from his unknown belated father? Byakuya was said to be the splitting image of Kuchiki Sojun and now that he was older and had the pictures to compare it was clear. But Byakuya had inherited his grandfather's grey eyes, not his father's blue ones, and nothing of his mother.

Toshiro took a loud breath and shifted in his mother's arms. She waited until he settled again to run a hand through his hair, then bent forward and kissed his forehead. Then she said, "If he was awake he would be so furious. He does not like to be held, or touched. Not since he was a baby. There were people, evil demons who called themselves mothers who liked to speculate and decide things on his own…he had been shunned. He refused to let me change his name when we moved out of Granny Hitsugaya's and insisted on calling me by my first name. This is the only time I can hold him."

She had spoken softly, smiling all the while at her boy. She loved him deeply, that much was clear, despite the horror of his origin. How had she managed it? Most women in her position would have tried to get rid of their rapist's child at the earliest opportunity, and Byakuya could not blame them, for who wanted to endure possibly seeing their attacker's face for the rest of their life? And Rangiku had only been thirteen, barely more than a child herself. How had she survived to this point?

Byakuya did not ask though, and so they entered the underground parking in silence. Then Rangiku woke Toshiro while the waiting valet got their bags and Byakuya led them up to his apartment. Byakuya's suite took up two floors, with floor to ceiling windows along one wall of the great room, marble floors, a great balcony overlooking the main room, five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, an office, a stainless steel chef's kitchen, with chef, Matsura, and a large media centre that was only used by Rukia when she was home from university. She was waiting for them in the foyer.

"Hello!" she greeted, cheerily.

Hara stood beside her with Matsura the chef, Zhen Jing-pei, the housekeeper, and Kanade, Rukia's maid who would now act as Rangiku's. They bowed in greeting, which made both Rangiku and Toshiro blush, and then Rukia said, "I will show Toshiro-kun to his bedroom."

Toshiro started a little at being addressed and turned to his mother. Rangiku nodded, smiling encouragingly, to which he scowled and said to Rukia, "Okay."

"I shall prepare you some tea," said Matsura, heading off to the kitchen.

"Your room has already been prepared, let me put away your things," said Kanade. She stepped forward with the housekeeper and took Rangiku's bags from the valet.

"And I will give you a tour," said Byakuya to Rangiku when they were alone. She nodded and let him lead her away.

Rangiku did not disguise her amazement at the grandeur of the apartment, though Toshiro had been more begrudging and had tried not to show his eagerness as Rukia led him away. Rangiku could not resist touching the pictures, most of which were of Rukia at various tourists sites all over the world from the age of ten when he had adopted her to her first day at Toudai; ornaments, collected on some of those same trips for Byakuya had refused to take anything from Senbonzakura when he left it, and furniture, relatively new, changed annually for the New Year. As they ended the tour, Byakuya said to Rangiku, "I have made arrangements for you to have the second largest bedroom. I am not usually home until late so there will be no problem of me disturbing your rest. Rukia is only home every other weekend or so for she has her own apartment nearer to campus."

"Okay," said Rangiku, looking past him to the glittering city lights. They had come to a stop in the living room. The staff had not removed Hisana's shrine but for the first time since they moved into the apartment, someone had closed the doors of the cabinet it was in. Byakuya's twisted the ring on his hand again and looked over at his new wife.

"I have made arrangements with your commanding officer to have you free for the weekend, and tomorrow you should do the same for Toshiro…that is, unless you intend to leave him with Mrs Hitsugaya."

She did not look at him but said in a low voice, "He will stay with Mrs Hitsugaya…she…she's dying."

He paused, stunned and then asked, "Does he know?"

She shook her head and walked away from him to the window. She wore tights and a long, Empire waist top with a plunging v-neckline, her shoulder-length blonde hair falling softly about her head. As she moved under the down-lighters, Byakuya caught a glint of gold at her neck that disappeared into her décolletage. She said, "We have been trying to find a way to tell him for some time now…she was too old to raise a baby when she took us in, far too old to run around behind a damaged teenage girl and her fat infant. But Gin said…" She stopped, took a breath and said, "We have to tell him soon. I keep saying that but we're running out of time."

Byakuya remembered well how that went, and changed the subject. "There is much to be done before this weekend. Because we only just got married there are a lot of things that it is expected for you to be ignorant about. However, some other things are not. I have already spread information that suggests we crossed paths at work and have met from time to time since."

"And our sleeping arrangements at the estate?" she asked without looking back at him.

He joined her before the window and said, "As expected for a married couple. My family will be suspicious of you and me and more so after the announcement but that is only for this weekend and on occasion thereafter."

She wrinkled her nose and said, "I should warn you, I sleep in the nude."

He caught the reflection of her mischievous twinkle in her eyes in the glass and replied, "Even better."

She stepped away from him a little and sighed. Then she said, "Ah, Nanao is going to kill me."

That perked his interest. He turned to her, "Nanao?"

"My friend, Ise Nanao, we went to high school together," said Rangiku,

"Ise Nanao?" repeated Byakuya, slightly shocked.

She looked over at him, "The one and only. We've been friends a few years now, best friends, though her boss is a cad."

"That he is," said Byakuya, thinking of the lecherous, drunken lout that somehow managed to get himself elected Minister of Justice. "We should have them over for dinner."

Her gaze sharpened and she asked, "Why?"

He turned to face her fully and said, "Your best friend happens to be deputy to a very important man and a prosecutor I have had the pleasure of working with from time to time. I am surprised that my people did not know this but this is wonderful news. It lends credibility to our back-story."

"Oh," said Rangiku, looking away from him. "As long as Kyouraku-san keeps his hands to himself then, it's fine by me."

Byakuya studied her profile. She was not relaxed, stood away from him but not too far. It was not an invitation but not exactly a warning either. She may not have entirely believed his declaration that he would not touch her. He thought back to the information his people had gathered about her. No boyfriend all the way through middle school, high school, the academy and after she started working. She went out with friends but never went home with any of them, not anyone they could find anyway, and mostly spent her time going to kabuki theatre and concerts with her son. She had trained to be a geisha before joining the academy but dropped out before her debut without explanation. Byakuya took an experimental step closer and she stiffened.

He asked, "If it bothers you this much still, why did you choose that particular department?"

She breathed out, as if she had been holding her breath since he moved, and said, "I have to stop this from happening to other girls. There was no one to save me; even if Gin had come up earlier they probably would have killed him and then me too."

Hisana had been working at a hostess club when Byakuya first met her, one night out with friends from Toudai. Her petite features were far better suited to becoming a geisha than Rangiku's voluptuous ones, but Hisana had had a different life. He said, "I told you before, I will not touch you. You are free to live your life as you please except that it would embarrass me or derail our plans."

Rangiku smiled at him and said, "I'm not some damaged stray you picked up. I'm a big girl, I can handle it. The only things I care about are my son…and now, well, stopping that bastard Aizen."

Byakuya did not miss that she had yet to relax. He said, "I need you to understand that I will not hurt you. I—"

"Hey, hey," she said, cutting him off, gaze narrowed. "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. If you get too handsy I'll just shoot you and become a rich widow."

Byakuya quirked an eyebrow, stood back and folded him arms. "Oh? Is that your plan? Did you read our marriage contract? All of my fortune goes to Rukia if you try anything untoward."

Rangiku shifted her weight to one leg and put a hand on her hip. "Oh no, I'm a cop, they would never suspect me and even if they did a generous donation here and there should take care of that. Sleep with your eyes open, buddy."

Byakuya snorted, he could not help it. Rangiku went wide-eyed at the sound, blinked and then burst out laughing. She had a beautiful laugh for she did so with abandon, throwing her head back, mouth wide open. Byakuya had not missed that his new wife was gorgeous. There was not a person he had encountered all that day with her that did not agree with him. If they had not been staring at her bosom or rear or legs, they seemed wholly captivated by her face, the bright blue eyes, the golden hair, the mole sinfully close to her full lips. Standing beside him as one of the new faces of the Kuchiki Corporation, Byakuya was very sure that he would have no trouble winning over the people that mattered.

It was almost a pity that she was not his type. Small, delicate Hisana, with her traditional Japanese beauty and mannerisms was the kind of woman Byakuya preferred, even now simply the thought of his late wife would set his heart racing. Rangiku…needed no protector, and being so flashy and non-traditional, would no doubt grate his relatives' nerves for every moment that she was in their presence. With time Byakuya could even grow to like her and until then he would not make her unhappy, that much he could manage.