Byakuya wasn't sleeping very well at night. By the end of each day, he was so tired, he nearly fell out of the saddle before Renji could even stop the horse.

The ground was lumpy; no matter how he turned and tried to settle, something always ended up poking him through the bedroll from the ground below.

It was cold, too. He shivered throughout the night, finding reluctantly that he envied Rukia, who had the warmth of her captor's body pressed against her own each night. Of course, he found the arrangement disgusting, but his sister was a very practical girl, and so far, she said, Ichigo hadn't tried anything. He was, however, made to face away from her, but Byakuya noticed (as he always woke first—if he even managed to fall asleep) that at some point Ichigo always turned during the night, so that he held her once again in his arms. The sight burned him inside, and he would have to turn his eyes away before his fury ate his heart entirely.

Then he would turn his eyes to his own captor.

Renji continued to spend his nights out in the open, allowing Byakuya to claim the blankets and bedroll. He felt no remorse in doing so; the man was his enemy, after all, and it ought to please him to see how he suffered.

But it didn't.

Renji shivered all night, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his knees drawn in close. He kept his eyes staunchly shut, as though refusing to admit that he could not sleep. Byakuya hated how stubborn he was. Renji was so soft-hearted he had given up his own bedroll to his enemy. Yet he was too proud to admit that he regretted that decision each night.

If it weren't for these ropes…

Yes, if it weren't for the ropes, Byakuya knew he would have no trouble overpowering the man. But Senbonzakura still would not come to him, no matter how often he called to her. She did not even answer, though he could feel her humming presence in the back of his brain, taunting him with the warmth of her nearness. Sometimes, he would feel the creeping presence of the other zanpakutou, and he would have to retreat, furious over Senbonzakura's apparent betrayal over him, and her tolerance of their enemy.

"You awake back there?"

Renji's voice jerked him from his reverie—jerked him upright as well, as he realized he must have been leaning forward in the saddle, against the taller man's back.

He felt Renji chuckle, and tried to sit up even straighter.

"I guess you haven't been sleeping much," the redhead continued. "Me either." He paused to yawn, not bothering to cover his mouth. Byakuya turned his face away in disgust, letting his eyes linger on the never-ending line of trees.

"Look at those two, though. Snug as a bug in a rug each night. I catch them sleeping like babies, and I just wanna go over there and stuff a buncha snow down the backs of their shirts."

Byakuya remained silent, though he found himself reluctantly agreeing with the sentiment.

"It won't be so bad, next couple of nights. That front's moving on. See?" He pointed up at the grey, overcast sky, though how he was able to glean so much simply from staring at the clouds was beyond Byakuya's comprehension.

"Yep," Renji continued, "Tonight'll be a lot warmer, you'll see. At least it won't snow. Man, I swear, that stuff's almost as bad as rain, maybe even worse. It falls on my face, melts, and runs down like sweat. I keep wiping at it. Drives me nuts."

Byakuya could think of at least one thing which was driving him nuts.

Renji remained blessedly silent for a few more minutes, then: "You don't talk much, do you?"

His only response was the clopping of the mare's hooves against the stony earth.

He cleared his throat. "Well, okay. Maybe you're shy. Or maybe it's just like a prince thing. Is it a prince thing? Are all royal people as silent as you?"

"No," Byakuya said, forcing the short word through his teeth like bricks.

Renji nodded. "I didn't think so." He was looking ahead at Rukia, who was riding behind Ichigo, the pair about twenty feet ahead of them. The princess had her hands on her hips, her low, no-nonsense voice ringing in the crisp, mid-morning air as she berated her captor for something or other. Ichigo replied just as rudely, though Byakuya thought he was starting to look cowed, his shoulders hunching forward, his responses growing progressively shorter and more bewildered.

"Rukia is common-born," he felt the need to point out. But then as soon as he said it, he wondered why he did feel the need. It was no concern to him what preconceptions Renji had regarding the nobility.

Renji blinked. "Really?" He reached up to scratch his head, long red hair rumpling back and forth. "I wonder why Lady Kuukaku never told us that."

"Your Lady Kuukaku was obviously woefully misinformed," he said, eager to seize on a new opportunity, one which might allow Rukia to go free. If their captors did not think she was worth keeping…

"How come she's a princess then?" Renji wanted to know. It was a valid question.

"She was my wife's sister," Byakuya replied.

Renji looked back at him, obviously surprised. "What? You're married?"

"Was," Byakuya said pointedly.

"You mean you got divorced?"

"No."

His answer hung in the air between them, and he could almost feel Renji working out the most logical conclusion in his head.

"Oh," he said after awhile, his tone a bit less light-hearted. "Sorry to hear that."

Byakuya hated how he really did sound sorry. It made it very difficult to dislike someone who offered him genuine condolences, which was more than his own family had ever given him.

He decided to return the conversation back to Rukia.

"Now that you know my sister is common-born," he said, "She is of little use to you."

Renji shrugged without looking back. "Not necessarily."

"How can she be?" He frowned, frustrated with the younger man's refusal to follow his logic. "My family will pay you no ransom for her. They do not care whether she lives or dies." When Renji remained silent, he went on, persisting. "I am the only heir of importance. You should let her go, leave her—"

"Where?" Renji interrupted. "Just drop her off on a dry patch of land somewhere? Leave her here with no provisions, no shelter, no protection, nothing?"

"You could leave her some of your provisions," Byakuya replied stiffly.

"Nope. Can't do that."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Just can't. Besides," Renji continued, his voice a bit jaunty now, "How do I know you're telling the truth? Maybe she's noble-born after all. Maybe they'll offer us a bajillion gold pieces in exchange for her life."

Byakuya scoffed. "There's no such thing as 'bajillion.' That's not even a number."

Renji turned slightly, grinning over his shoulder at him. "Oh yeah? Well, a billion then. Yeah, that's right. We'll set her up for a billion bucks."

He could not resist flitting his eyes upward a bit. "Even if my family had such a ridiculous amount of money, they would not spend it on the likes of her. How many times do I have to explain this to you? She is not—"

"—Of noble blood. Yeah, yeah. You mentioned it." Renji chuckled. "Geez. I think I liked you better when you acted like your lips were sewn shut. I mean, you're kind of a pain in the ass."

Byakuya could not possibly fathom a response. He was too busy being utterly shocked at being spoken to in such a rude and forthright manner.

They continued in relative silence for awhile, even Ichigo and Rukia eventually quieting down. Suddenly, both horses came to a stop, Renji's mare tossing her head and snorting into the cold surrounding air before stretching her neck out towards a patch of dying grass.

"Why are we stopping?" Byakuya asked, forgetting himself in his curiosity.

"Shh," Renji cautioned, finger over his lips. He paused for a moment, then cupped both hands over his mouth and made a fluting, bird-like sound, his fingers waving up and down to produce the call. Ichigo looked back at them, his left hand resting absently on the hilt of his zanpakutou.

They waited in breathless silence until an answering call came, echoing from the depths of the surrounding forest.

"Allies," Renji whispered, as he heeled the horse gently forward. "They'll take us to Lady Kuukaku."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes, his hands resting lightly on the other man's shoulders. So, he was to finally meet this meddling "Lady" Kuukaku.

"You'll like her," Renji continued, apparently totally unaware he was encouraging his captive to like the woman who had orchestrated his entire kidnapping. "She's not like most other nobles. Not all tight-lipped and tight-assed like you. She's funny. And she only has one arm, too."

Byakuya was about to say something about that "tight-assed" comment, but the comment about the one arm gave him pause.

A woman with one arm…

He shook the distracting thought from his head, his fingers on Renji's shoulders squeezing reflexively.

"Why did you make that noise?" he asked, keeping his voice low. Something about the entire atmosphere of this place, not merely the situation itself, made him uncomfortable. The mare seemed to agree; she kept tossing her head, occasionally snorting, forcing Renji to tighten his grip on the reins. He whispered Senbonzakura's name in his heart, and she pulsed back, seeming to share his unease.

"So they'd know it was us." Renji nodded at the hidden branches of the surrounding trees. "Trust me, there're about a dozen archers up there, each with an arrow that's got all our names on it. If I hadn't alerted them to our presence, we'd be dead by now."

Byakuya looked at him, slightly askance.

Renji caught the look and chuckled—softly. "You're thinking I'm a pretty recognizable guy, huh?" He smirked. "You know, I could take that as a compliment."

"As you wish," he muttered absently. Renji went on, saying something about magic-users, and false identities he referred to as "gigai," but Byakuya was no longer really paying attention. Senbonzakura was practically humming in his head now. She was restless, attempting to warn Zambimaru—Zabimaru? he wondered, startled, until he realized that must be the name of Renji's zanpakutou.

Zabimaru is a beast, she murmured, her steel voice singing in his heart. He only wants to touch my petals.

Byakuya was so shocked, his fingers must have clenched reflexively, because Renji suddenly grunted and shot him a look over his shoulder.

"Nothing to be scared about," his captor reassured him. Byakuya ignored him.

A man suddenly stepped out from behind a clump of bushes, his mouth set in a thin line. A long, trailing series of scars ran down one side of his face, the other marred by a rather eccentric tattoo. His lean, muscled arms were bare to the surrounding cold, as if he were above something as omnipresent as winter. He carried his zanpakutou in his right hand, the blade resting over one shoulder.

"Abarai Renji…" he said, his hard dark eyes running over them. "And Kurosaki Ichigo." His gaze flicked briefly to Byakuya before shifting forward again, apparently resting on Rukia. "Did you accomplish the task Lady Kuukaku set you?"

"Yes, sir," Renji replied, his back straightening unconsciously. Byakuya wondered why his captor should want to please such a rugged, unkempt looking man. It bothered him for some reason.

The man nodded. Then his gaze settled back on Byakuya, who stared coldly back at him, his own gaze unflinching.

"Who's this?" he finally asked. He looked at Renji again. "You were told to take only the princess."

"Seems Abarai's caught himself a consolation prize." Another man stepped out from the bushes, this one completely bald, a long staff resting between his shoulder blades. He grinned at Byakuya, letting his eyes pass languidly over him before smirking in appreciation.

Byakuya did not appreciate his obvious regard. And judging from the sudden tenseness in Renji's shoulders, neither did his captor.

Which was right about when he realized he actually was gripping Renji's shoulders. He dropped his hands abruptly, his own back straightening, rigidly upright, his chin tilted slightly upward.

"Oh, hush, Ikkaku," came another voice, this one from above. Byakuya glanced quickly up, but by then, the third man had already leapt down from the branch he had apparently been perched on.

"You're just jealous," he continued, smirking. He was obviously one of the bowmen Renji had spoken of, his long, curving weapon strapped to his back, along with a quiver of arrows. The colorful feathers braided into his hair seemed to brighten with him, adding to the impish sparkle in his gray eyes. "Poor Ikkaku! He wishes he could find a friend as pretty as Renji's."

Ikkaku just snorted and rolled his eyes.

The first man, the one with the spiky hair and hard eyes, spoke up again. "Ikkaku has a point. You had better explain yourself, Renji."

"You had better watch your pretty friend," the sparkly bowman added. He beamed a smile at Byakuya, who was becoming too perturbed by the man's intimations to notice Sebnonzakura's increasingly warning siren call in his head.

"He's not my consummation prize!" Renji finally snapped, his eyes blazing reddish brown as he glared down at both Ikkaku and the bowman. Byakuya was surprised to notice he was blushing—unfortunately, his captor's adjectival mishap brought a slight heat to his own cheeks, and Rukia's quick glance back at them, followed by the shared smothered laugh between herself and Ichigo, certainly didn't help matters.

Since when was his sister sharing smiles with that orange-headed cretin? Wasn't sharing her bed with him each night enough?

"Lay off him, Hisagi," the orange-headed cretin said, finally speaking up. Byakuya noticed the other two give him a look for not addressing the spiky-haired one as "sir."

"That's the prince," Ichigo continued, nodding in their direction. "Renji caught him by mistake, but we decided to bring them both back. If Lady Kuukaku doesn't like it, she can send him back herself. But the way I see it, we piss them off twice as much now, so they're twice as likely to listen to our demands."

Byakuya's head snapped up, his eyes narrowing. What demands? All along, he had simply assumed their captors' plan was to trade them in for a ransom. He looked at Rukia, but she didn't seem surprised. She was glaring down at Hisagi along with Ichigo, as if she were completely in agreement with him.

Surprisingly, Hisagi proved he had a head cooler than most people with power. He merely nodded, seeming to put an official end to the discussion. "All right. Ikkaku and Yumi will lead you to her ladyship's camp. You should reach it by day's end."

"Aren't you coming with us, Shuu-chan?" the bowman asked.

Hisagi shook his head. "No. I'll stay with the others. There should be a rescue party not far behind. We'll stay and take care of it."

Yumi didn't look particularly happy about that, but he didn't argue, either.

An abrupt silence passed amongst them, captives and captors alike. Byakuya wrinkled his nose, finally becoming aware of a highly unpleasant odor wafting beneath his nose—a strong musk, like the smell of the exotic beasts kept in the tiny, ornamental cages of the Kuchiki garden.

"You smell smoke?" Ikkaku asked suddenly.

Renji's mare reared up, startling them both, Byakuya's arms flying around the younger man's waist lest he be unseated. Renji tried to settle her, but she was clearly losing it, fidgeting from hoof to hoof, tossing her head, and showing the whites of her eyes. At the same time, Ichigo's horse let out a strident neigh, his head coming up as well, ears flicking back and forth.

The neigh echoed through the otherwise silent forest.

And was met back with a deafening roar.

"Dragon!!" someone shouted, and abruptly the forest became crowded with people, archers dropping from the trees and swordsmen and women emerging as well, all of them training their weapons towards the sound of something huge crashing through the trees, rapidly approaching.

Renji's horse reared again, Byakuya tightening his grip around his waist. Sebonzakura! he called, but she continued to ignore him, and he knew that without her, even with all his training, he could not stand up against such an opponent. He saw Renji reach for Zabimaru, pulling the sword free from its sheath, and raise it up high—

"No!" ordered Hisagi, his own zanpakutou held at the ready.

"But we can fight!" Ichigo cried, reigning in his fidgeting horse, his unsheathed sword in hand.

"No," Hisagi repeated. "Run! Protect the prince and princess! We'll hold it off!"

Ichigo took one look at his own captive and nodded, turning his horse decisively around and heeling it into a gallop, racing off in the opposite direction.

Renji seemed more hesitant, obviously unwilling to turn his back on a fight. Byakuya found himself grudgingly admiring the younger man for his reluctance to flee, but neither was he willing to give his life for the idiot's own foolish sense of pride. Renji turned his head, then, and their eyes met briefly—something seemed to click, those fierce brown eyes softening momentarily. He reined the mare in, causing her to rear yet again, before digging his heels into her sides and urging her after Ichigo's horse.

As he leaned forward over her neck, Byakuya was forced to lean with him. But the alternative was to either fall off the horse or strand himself out here in the unknown forest, empty-handed, since Senbonzakura continued to deny him.

He wrapped his arms around Renji's waist and held on tight.