Ichigo again had to take a raincheck on Sunday brunch. Not because he was called away to fight a powerful Hollow, but because with Byakuya on honeymoon, Suzuki took over Captain duties, and Ichigo, even though he was just the freshly promoted 7th Seat, was shoehorned into Lieutenant duties.

He had to do a lot of things he'd never done before, like leading whole Division drills, assigning patrols, and answering correspondence from other Divisions, and it all took a hell of a lot longer than it would've if he'd known what he was doing. He spent an hour alone puzzling over how to respond to a very tart letter straight from Captain Soi Fon.

Just when he was starting to get a feel for it, Byakuya came back from his honeymoon, looking positively cheerful, which was bizarre, and Ichigo's duties almost returned to normal.

Almost. Suzuki still had him taking on more responsibility than before, and the Lieutenant might say it was his new responsibilities as 7th Seat, but Ichigo wasn't thick. Suzuki's joints creaked in the morning and he was thinking of retirement. So he was grooming his replacement.

But worrying about that was for later. Isshin kept insisting that he bring Rukia to the next Sunday brunch.

Sunday brunch was always at Division 10.

Division 13 he could slip into easily, whereas Division 6 had unreasonably tight security, in Ichigo's opinion. It wasn't like anyone would sneak inside to steal the paper screens or the koi from the pond. But it was part of the whole discipline shtick so Ichigo let it slide.

Division 10 was in between and titled strangely. No one ever tried to stop him from entering, but they definitely knew he was there. Shinigami stopped what they were doing and turned to watch him. Since he was an outsider. That had mostly settled down over the weeks of Sunday brunches, but with Rukia at his side as they walked through, it ramped back up.

"What is this?" whispered Rukia, uncomfortable with the stares.

"Division 10," he answered, "has a very strong sense of identity."

"So does 13," said Rukia. "It's not like this."

"There's a sense of being apart," Ichigo explained. "To them, we're practically Ryoka."

Passing through the stifling attention, they reached the Captain's residence, a two-story building at the back of the Division, bigger than the home he'd grown up in, but far, far smaller than the main building at Kuchiki Estate, and rang the bell twice.

After a minute, the door was opened by a blonde woman. She was younger than she'd used to be, but her large breasts spilling out as obnoxiously as ever.

"Ichigo-kun!" she said.

Ichigo crossed his arms in front of himself so she couldn't hug him. What exactly was she doing in the Captain's residence?

Matsumoto Rangiku, recently promoted Lieutenant of Division 10, hugged him anyway, but only briefly, Ichigo keeping his hands fisted so there wouldn't be any accidental groping.

Releasing Ichigo, Matsumoto said, "And you must be Kotsuki-chan!" She moved on to Rukia, who made the same defensive gesture to keep her face from being mushed into the woman's cleavage.

"You're so cute," Matsumoto said, hugging her tighter.

Rukia was tiny, and her raised arms only helped so much. "Lieutenant Matsuomoto," Rukia gasped, "I can't breathe."

"Nonsense," said Matsumoto, releasing her. "They're waiting on the veranda."

Though Ichigo knew the way, Matsumoto led them to the veranda. A large, covered porch overlooking a small koi pond and a corner of the Division's grassy training yard. Isshin and grandma were already there, seated at table covered in lidded dishes.

"My son!" said Isshin, standing.

"Hey grandma," said Ichigo, bending down to greet her.

"I'll be going then," said Matsumoto. "Have fun with your lunch." She sashayed away, hips moving with every step.

When she was gone, Ichigo looked suspiciously at Isshin. "What's Matsumoto doing in your house?"

Isshin sighed. "Not much sadly. But she takes a strong interest in the living world, so she helped me organize this traditional western breakfast." Isshin began taking lids of dishes. "Pan-kake-su. Wa-fu-ru. Scrambled eggs. Bacon. Orange juice. Cold pi-tsya."

The pizza wasn't actually pizza. Flatbread with slices of unmelted cheese over diced tomatoes. Close enough, all things considered. Though Ichigo didn't think cold pizza was a traditional western breakfast.

"Itadakimsu," they all said together.

Pouring himself orange juice, Ichigo said, "Matsumoto doing any better with the paperwork lately?"

Isshin guffawed. "She scrawls a line on whatever 4th Seat Parachin throws at her. But she's good on assignment and good with those below her. That's enough. Rukia-chan, how's Jushiro treating you?"

Rukia reported on her doings in Division 13 as they began to eat and serve themselves, Rukia loading strawberries on her waffle.

"Ehhh?!" said Isshin. "Rukia-chan, Ichigo, you already know how to use western utensils?"

Rukia dropped her fork. Ichigo felt like slapping himself. They'd been pitch perfect for four years, performed perfectly in front of Aizen, and their first real trip up was being obviously familiar with knife and fork.

Ichigo said, "It's not like it's hard. You know I've been spending a lot of time in the Living World."

Isshin said, "But in Japan! And you don't have a gigai."

"There's western food in Japan. And you don't need a gigai to try the local food."

Isshin looked proud yet pained. "My son. Willing to sit so long on the toilet to have a new experience. But you must be more careful of your health! Promise me, no more Living World food without a gigai!"

"Fine, I promise."

Isshin said, "And Rukia-chan. Have you also been giving yourself the shits?"

Unlike Ichigo, Rukia hadn't sought any solo missions to the Living World. The few times she'd gone, she'd been part of a group. She said, "No, but Ichigo described how westerners eat to me. In detail."

Isshin said, "Excellent, Ichigo. Communication is key to a good relationship."

"You're one to talk," Ichigo muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Shiba Azuki was looking at Ichigo and Rukia oddly, so Ichigo said, "Rukia and I have started cross-training at Division 4."

"Wonderful," said Shiba Azuki, smiling brightly. "You know, Mashiro was an excellent healer."

"Yeah." Grandma had told him the stories. Several times. He wasn't anxious to hear them again, and especially not with Isshin's commentary.

Rukia said, "7th Seat Kenko Youji is pleased with Ichigo's progress. I, however, have been selected for individual training with Captain Unohana herself."

Ichigo said, "They're impressed that she's already so good given her lack of experience."

Rukia preened, and there wasn't a damn thing he could say about it.

Isshin started a story about his early years in the 4th, and all the trouble he'd gotten into with Captain Unohana. Those stories always ended with him having 'special time' with an appreciative woman, followed by Captain Unohana ordering him to clean the bedpans.

Ichigo was just about to cut him off when Grandma did it instead. Shiba Azuki said, "Rukia-chan, How are the Kuchiki treating you?"

"Byakuya Nii-sama has been most kind."

Shiba Azuki raised an eyebrow.

"And the others have been polite."

"I'm sure," said Shiba Azuki. "And you have a suite in the main house, I hear."

"I spend most nights at my Division." Rukia smirked. "I still feel a little lost amid all the luxury. I imagine it's a great deal like your family home."

"There isn't one," said Shiba Azuki.

Rukia was momentarily nonplussed. "I knew that the House of Shiba isn't what it once was, but I didn't know that." She blinked. "Where do you live?"

"I live here," Shiba Azuki said. "With Isshin. The old Shiba compound in Seireitei is partly sold off, and the rest is rented, though we do maintain a shrine. There's land in Rukongai, but not a great deal. You've heard the story of our 'fall?'

Rukia shook her head. She'd heard lots of rumors, but had never worked up the nerve to ask Kaien about them. Other nobles surely knew, but it wasn't a subject they'd talk about openly, and other nobles had always gossiped about Rukia, not with her.

Shiba Azuki said, "My Mashiro. It seemed to him that the money he got from his tenants was all out of proportion to the value he provided them. So can you guess what he did?"

"He started a charitable foundation?" said Rukia, who had spent a lot of time with nobles, even if they wouldn't gossip with her.

Shiba Azuki said, "He sold most of the land to his tenants, at a very steep discount. Yes, it was quite the scandal. As a result, we are only wealthy, rather than fabulously wealthy. Tragic, isn't it?"

It was shocking. Nobles didn't sell land; they owned it. That's what nobles were. People who owned a lot of land, talked a big game about how many of their ancestors had been born in Soul Society, and scrounged up a title one way or another. Rukia said, "Did he, did he not realize what would happen?" Many nobles were remarkably bad at finances, which was they had accountants.

Azuki said, "We knew. And as a result, a great many families in Rukongai own their own land. It expanded the ranks of the minor nobility substantially."

No wonder no one talked about it. Nii-sama gave generously. More than he needed to for his reputation's sake. But she couldn't imagine him doing that. For a noble family, one of the Four Great Noble Houses, to make a conscious decision to humble itself, to give away not just money, but wealth… It was unthinkable. Uncomfortable.

Shiba Azuki took another slice of bacon, smiled, an old woman with few regrets. She continued her questioning of Rukia. Practically an interrogation. Questions about her likes and dislikes, her hopes for advancement, her thoughts on water access, even her opinions on marriage and family.

Ichigo thought of how they'd just messed up with utensils and wondered if Grandma suspected something.

Grandma's questions wound down, and they ate in relative silence for a little while. None of the food seemed quite how it should be, but all of it was good.

Finishing a pancake, Isshin said, "So, Ichigo, how about it? I'm bringing it up again. Become a Shiba, officially."

Ichigo froze with orange juice halfway to his mouth. He didn't want to give up Kurokento as his name. It was an adaptation of Kurosaki, and to cast it aside would feel too much like casting aside not only who he'd been, but also his mother. It would be as if she never existed. But how to explain that to Isshin and Grandma?

Rukia said, "You should do it. There are lot of advantages to being part of a noble family. It's safer."

Rukia had intimated as much before. A noble might, in exceptional circumstances, be publicly executed by order of Central 46, but they didn't get disappeared by the Onmitsikido. But he still gave her a betrayed look. She should understand why he was saying no.

Isshin said, "My son, asserting his independence by rejecting Daddy's name. I'm so proud. Or," he waggled his eyebrows, "Is it because Rukia-chan gave you that name, and you wish to give it to her as well someday? As her husband. What a romantic." Isshin sighed theatrically, hand over his heart.

In the past, Ichigo might've responded with violence, but he'd learned that didn't work with Grandma in attendance, because she'd try to help whoever was losing, and she might fall and break her hip.

"Ack," he said instead.

Rukia said, "Captain Isshin, Ichigo and I are not getting married."

Isshin nodded sagely, "Of course you should wait until you're older."

Groaning, Ichigo said, "Get off this. We're not 'waiting until we're older." He nearly said that he didn't see Rukia like that and she was like a sister to him, but some small inner voice warned him not to say something he might not always mean. "We're not involved like that at all."

"Why not?" said Isshin. "What's wrong with my dear Rukia-chan?"

"Other than being a haughty, ill-tempered midget?" He ignored Rukia's reflexive slap to his shoulder.

Isshin drew himself up, face reddening with anger. "I won't let my future daughter-in-law marry any man who doesn't fully appreciate her! If you don't shape up, I won't grant you permission to court her."

"Why the hell would I ask for your permission, Goat Chin?"

"You'd have to," said Isshin. "For propriety's sake. I'm her father, after all."

"Father-in-law." Ichigo corrected. "Future father-in-law!" And he caught himself. "No. That's not." Not how it worked. "Argh!" He face palmed in frustration. His dad was the worst. The worst. Well. The worst dad who wasn't a serial killer. Otherwise, the worst. And he couldn't even hit him, with Grandma there.

Glancing up, Ichigo risked a look at Rukia. She seemed amused, maybe even touched, but also shrewishly overwhelmed, and he knew how quickly that could turn into temper and peevishness.

Ichigo said, "Grandma, didn't you have something you wanted to talk to Rukia about? Privately? Away from the veranda."

Amused, Grandma nodded and stood, fetching her cane from where it leaned against fence. She said, "Come, Kotsuki-chan. I will show you the frogs."

"But-" said Rukia.

"Come," said Grandma, tugging Rukia along.

The screen shut behind them, leaving Ichigo and Isshin alone on the veranda. Ichigo glared at Isshin and said, "Do you have to be so embarrassing? It gets people to underestimate you and all, and gets other people to not be intimidated by your status and position, but really?"

Isshin boomed with laughter. "Daddy is happy that you see so much, and sad that you see so little. It really does reflect an aspect of Daddy's personality. Being ridiculous and weird and even creepy is great fun, even by myself." His voice lowered and his face turned serious. "But there's another reason. Consider. The proper and dignified Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain and Head of one of the Four Great Noble Houses, engages himself to a respected artist previously living in District 4, and all the nobility is thrown into disarray. They hardly speak of anything else for months. The legality of it is even briefly brought up in Central 46.

"But mad Shiba Isshin, Captain and Head of one of the 4 Great Noble Houses, starts treating a bastard of unknown maternal heritage as his heir and hardly anyone bats an eye. It's last week's news before the day is out. No one cares. Because that's just what you expect of mad Shiba Isshin. A mad person is liable to do anything.

"It gives me freedom. Freedom to walk around in my bathrobe. To play games with children in the street. To ignore certain rules. To have an openly active sex life with willing women far below my station who I nonetheless treat as equals. Even, and this is the biggest one, Ichigo, to speak the truth.

"There are all sorts of truths that everyone knows but hardly anyone can say. Yama-ji needs to cut his eyebrows. Kyouraku needs to stop borderline harassing his prettier female subordinates. The Quincy Massacre was too drastic and cruel a measure. And the situation in Outer-Rukongai is utterly deplorable and utterly our responsibility.

"Someday, Ichigo, I shall even be known as mad enough that I shall be able to speak the truth about our system of governance."

Mouth dry, Ichigo said, "What do you think of it?"

Isshin glanced around and contorted his expression and tone into ridiculousness again, but his words remained sense. "Consider, Ichigo, a few basic facts. Central 46 is made entirely of Nobles. Sages and scholars, yes, but sages and scholars drawn from nobility, and not minor nobility. Many shinigami hail from the nobility. In fact, two heads of Great Noble families, if you consider the Shiba a Great Family still, are Captains. Yet no shinigami has ever been raised to Central 46. Two Kuchiki are on Central 46, but even though he is their head, I doubt that Bya-kun may tell them what to do. And they rule over us, their verdicts absolute and unappealable, requiring no justification.

"They rule over Rukongai as well, and of course no member of Central 46 has ever hailed from there, nor have any started out in a trade or worked their way up as a merchant. They even, in some sense, rule over the Human World, but it goes without saying that no Konsoed soul has ever ascended to their rank. And this is key, it is they who chose their new members.

"So, Ichigo, considering those few basic facts, draw your own conclusions. And Ichigo, my son." He grinned. "As for gaining freedom by aggressively flouting social norms, isn't that why you speak so casually? And didn't you recently and intentionally perform a heightened version of it for Yama-jii? You're growing more like Daddy every day."

Ichigo was filled with horror.

:::

All the words that naturally came to me for Shiba Azuki were focused on gender. I started her as a blunt and earthy character, but she should be wider than that.

Ichigo and Rukia each slipped up at brunch. Rukia, with the silverware, and Ichigo with calling Isshin, "Goat Chin." Isshin can relax people like that.

...And my politics begin to come through. Unavoidable, that. If I actually get deep into this story, it will become a story about politics. The politics will be things that most of us can probably agree on, like 'authoritarian aristocracy is bad,' but idk. There sure are a lot of Marvel movies going around glorifying Kingship.

"The Shiba family fell because it's just that awesome," was a bit gratuitous.

Why Division 10 feels set apart will be addressed later.

Yeah, short chapter, I know. I've reached the end of the contiguous lump written before I posted the story. No promises regarding updates.