Nanao was happy when Jyuushiro allowed her to excuse herself to the guestroom to read. She wasn't actually doing much reading, but she just couldn't stand his kindness anymore. She'd listened to Shunsui at the door when he'd come by earlier, and there was little to no doubt in her head now that everything had been destroyed.

Regardless of whether or not he'd been drunk, she certainly wasn't the type of woman to simply brush that off and keep going. Beyond that, knowing his family history added an extra burden to the situation. He was going to be responsible now to not only be that child's father, but also it's protector, especially if it was a boy. No matter what way she imagined it there was simply no place in the picture for her.

A tentative knock came at the door, and she had one blinding moment of sheer panic when she thought it must be Shunsui and she was going to have to deal with it all right this instant.

"Nanao?" came a soft female voice through the door.

"Rangiku," she said with relief. "The door is open."

Her friend scuttled in quickly and slid the door shut behind her. "Hi, honey," the blonde cooed kindly. "How are you holding up?"

"It got around that fast?" Nanao asked tired, but not really surprised.

"Well there was an awful lot of yelling in the 4th from what I heard," Rangiku said with a shrug, "Plus your secretaries overheard a good chunk."

"And now you've come to make sure I'm not wailing in agony and tearing out my hair?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that," Rangiku replied. "I also brought you some clothes from your apartment and left out enough food and water for Boo for the weekend."

"Thank you, and as you can see, I'm fine," Nanao said calmly. "It's not like I didn't know what he is. It had to happen sooner or later. At least it happened now before I moved everything into his house or sold my apartment. What a mess that would have been."

"Right, of course," Rangiku said rolling her eyes. "It's not like you'd be heartbroken by this at all. Just glad not to be inconvenienced."

"What am I supposed to do, Ran?" Nanao asked harshly, trying to control her urge to cry all over again. It'd been shameful enough sobbing in front of Jyuushiro. The man must think she was a giant baby. "Crying and arguing isn't going to change the situation. There's nothing left to do."

"Pretending it doesn't hurt isn't going to change anything either," Rangiku said firmly.

"I don't want to cry over him," she said fiercely. "I don't want to care."

"I know the feeling," Rangiku said quietly. "But it doesn't change that you will and you do." She moved to hug her, and Nanao shrank back knowing that the comforting touch would break the last of her control.

"It wouldn't have worked anyway. We're too different," she argued.

"It would have worked. He's just an asshole," Rangiku said angrily, deciding that if her friend wouldn't be emotional she sure as hell would for the both of them. "He should know his limit well enough by now, and you'd think he'd get tired of screwing around one day. You're better off without him, and even though it doesn't feel like it right now, you are going to find someone better, and he's going to be stuck with that pathetic noble woman for the rest of his life. They'll probably have to attend tea ceremonies, and take up bonsai pruning, and do all sorts of horrendously dull things forever."

"Not really helping," Nanao said.

"I hope their kid comes out with a wonky eye and a tail," Rangiku added firmly.

Nanao sighed. "Did you see her? The kid is going to be gorgeous and probably talented too, just to rub my face in it."

"Well, then I'll give it to Kurotsuchi and let him experiment on it," Rangiku said.

"It's not the kid's fault," Nanao defended.

"Fine, let's just give Kurostuchi Kyouraku then," Rangiku suggested. "We'll see how attractive he is after all that probing."

Nanao couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.

"After that we can steal all his pink haoris and set them on fire," Rangiku added looking thoughtful, "And I bet we could water down all his sake stashes, although it'd be a waste of good alcohol. Maybe me and the boys could just drink them."

"You're ridiculous," Nanao said with a weak smile. She didn't dodge this time when Rangiku pulled her into a hug, and her friend didn't comment when the tears began to flow again.

"I really thought it was all going to be happy forever," Nanao sniffed lightly between sobs.

"You and everybody else," Rangiku replied, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"I was wiser when I was a child," Nanao said, rubbing at a tear streak on her face, but remaining in Matsumoto's embrace. "Fairy tales don't exist."

"It's hard not to believe in them when you are around Kyouraku Shunsui for long enough," Rangiku comforted. "We'll get through this."

"The worst part is, I don't even hate him," Nanao said, struggling to get her tears under control. "Not even a little bit. I'm mad at him, and I don't want him near me. I don't want to see him, or touch him, or even think about him, but I still love him as much as ever."

"It'll fade," Rangiku said softly. "Just like hate, love will fade with time if you let it."

"That worked for you?" she asked, pulling away from the woman and studying her face for its honesty.

"With time," Rangiku answered with a small nod. "I don't think I'll ever totally not love him, but I have the capability now of loving someone else. It's not true what they say. Just loving someone isn't enough. You've got to have all the other pieces to sustain it."

"Is it ok if I kind of hope the kid has a wonky eye too?" Nanao asked, still sniffling.

Rangiku laughed out loud at that and said, "Yes, I think so. Come on. Let's get your face washed, and then you can make dinner for me and Jyuushiro-san."

"Why am I making dinner? Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Nanao demanded.

"What? Being emotionally distraught makes your hands and brain not function? I'll poison us if I try, and you should thank Ukitake for being your knight in shining armor. I heard it really was quite dreamy the way he whisked you away from all danger. I hope you don't mind that I may have twisted the rumor a bit so that most people now believe he whisked you away with his shirt off. I figured that would be even better."

Nanao rolled her eyes, but dragged herself to her feet, figuring it'd at least distract her to make dinner in the company of friends. She was pretty sure that'd been Matsumoto's point all along, as the woman was nowhere near as bad a cook as Shunsui, and there it was again, always thinking about him no matter how hard she tried not to. She sighed and headed towards the bathroom. She'd make dinner and then take life one step at a time. She fully planned on crying herself to sleep tonight when she was alone, and then she'd do what she always did and put herself back together again. She'd been stupid to believe in him anyway. Nanao knew his character better than anyone. How could she ever have believed she'd be enough for him?

Dinner was a stilted affair, as everyone tried to think of things to talk about that had nothing to do with the current situation or the man at the center of it. Nanao even borrowed her Taicho's, and it was much easier to think of him as that than anything else, method of dealing and had a few glasses of the offered sake. Just enough to get her pleasantly buzzed and thinking about how nice a long bath and bed would be.

She was seeing Rangiku to the door when he stepped out of the shadows. She had kido burning in her hand before she'd taken stock of who it was.

"Whoa, Nao-chan," her brother said, holding up his hands. "I'd rather not have scorch marks on me tonight."

"What are you doing here?" she asked surprised, as she let the kido go out.

"Thought I'd stop by and see how my baby sister is doing," he said with a shrug. "Is that a crime?"

"You thought you'd stop by Jyuushiro-san's house on a random Friday night just to say hi?" she asked sardonically. "How'd you know? Do you have spies tracking me?"

"Who needs spies when it's the only thing anyone is talking about in the bars tonight?" he asked seriously.

Nanao sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Great," she said sarcastically.

"I'll stop by tomorrow," Rangiku said. "It can't be that bad."

"No, it really is," Mamoru said calmly.

"You're supposed to lie and be comforting," Rangiku argued with him.

"So it's worse when she finds out the truth?" Mamoru asked lifting any eyebrow. "Come on, it's Kyouraku Shunsui, every gritty made-up detail is going to be all over the Seireitei and half of the Rukongai by daybreak. It was half the reason he was a danger to her when our father was still alive. Nothing about that man is private."

"Both of you are too hard on yourselves," Rangiku argued.

"Facing the truth is the best way to survive," Mamoru said with a shrug.

"I'll stop by tomorrow," she repeated, giving Nanao another hug. "You," she said turning on Mamoru, "Play nice."

"Goodnight," Nanao called after her, holding the door open for her brother. "So are you worried I'm going to try to off myself or something?"

"If I thought you were that pathetic I'd have disowned you a long time ago," Mamoru joked as he followed her through the house and out back into Ukitake's garden. Ukitake had excused himself to his study when Matsumoto was leaving and didn't interrupt them now.

"So you're just here to say 'I told you so' then?" she asked, stopping by the koi pond.

"I think I'll save that until it's a little less raw, baby sister," he replied stopping near her. "Want me to kick his ass?"

Nanao snorted. "No thanks, I like you alive."

"You saying I couldn't?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," she said with a fond smile.

"The man's two favorite activities are drinking and sleeping," Mamoru said with grin. "I don't think I'll have too much trouble sneaking up on him and taking a cheap shot."

"Well, in that case, please don't," she said with a small smile. "You'll get arrested for attacking and killing a Taicho of the Gotei 13, and then I'll have to break you out, and then we'll both be fugitives, and that's really the last thing I need right now."

Her brother chuckled and agreed before they both fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes. "It wasn't your fault, you know."

"I know that," she said sharply.

"It wasn't a comment on you," he continued. "He's a screw up and a man whore. You're better off without him."

"Doesn't feel that way right now," she said quietly.

"It will given time," he said.

"Doesn't feel like that," she repeated.

"He's going to be miserable, and you are going to go out and find something way better," Mamoru said firmly.

"Everyone keeps saying that, but we were happy," she said shaking her head. "Kami, Mamoru, I finally felt like I'd found the right thing, like everything was going to work out. I was going to move in with him, and marry him someday, and we were supposed to have kids. Not some blonde waif of a thing. I keep kicking myself thinking why didn't I move faster? Why didn't I just say yes to everything while I could? But then I think about it again, and I thank kami that I didn't because then this woman would have shown up, and I'd have had to divorce him and take our kid and move out, and it would have been an even bigger hell."

"Whoa, Nao-chan," he said grabbing her hand. "Maybe we should stick with the crappy situation that actually exists instead of the worse one that doesn't. He's a waste of human life, and once it stops hurting so much you'll see it too."

"He's not a waste," Nanao said shaking her head. "He just can't keep it in his pants."

"I'm telling you," he replied. "You'll fall out of love with him, and things will be good again."

"It doesn't feel like that," she repeated again miserably.

"It wouldn't right now," he said with a squeeze to her hand. "But I promise it will. And when have I ever been wrong?"

He tugged on her hand and pulled her into an embrace. "I wish you'd been wrong about him," she muttered into his shoulder, only happy that she'd already gotten a lot of the tears out with Rangiku.

"Me too, baby sister," he said softly.

"The baby isn't mine," Shunsui argued again, sitting across the table from his mother, father and brother, the latter two having just returned from their travels late this evening.

"I find that hard to believe, especially given Unohana-san's diagnosis," his mother said tiredly. She'd put the girl in one of their guestrooms for the night with a few maids to attend to her. "Seichii, what do you remember?"

"I wasn't aware that I was there to be his babysitter," Seichii said with a shrug.

"Seichii," his mother said sharply. "You realize what's at stake here."

"Look, the last I saw he was wasted and stumbling up the stairs to his room. Hayashi-san was introduced to me briefly at the start of the evening, and I did not see her again," Seichii said tiredly. "The next I saw of either of them was the next day when Shunsui came down hung over and grumbling about something or another. I did not see the girl again until this very evening."

"At least she's a better choice than the Rukongai woman you've been seeing," his father said with a shrug. "Beyond the obviously salacious way it occurred, I don't see the problem. Shunsui will marry the Hayashi girl, she will have his child, and all will be set to right."

"It's not my child," he argued once again. "Even Retsu acknowledged she could be wrong this early on in the pregnancy."

"Then we'll wait a few months for final confirmation and go on with the plans," his father said with a shrug.

"I'm not going to marry her," Shunsui said shaking his head. "I'm going to marry Nanao."

"Shunsui-kun," his mother said softer now. "Nanao-san has been saying no to you for months now, beyond that I'd hardly think she'd say yes now. Kiyoko-san's family has disowned her for this. You need to step up and take responsibility."

"I didn't do this," he said, as much to convince himself as everyone else. "For all we know it could have been Seichii."

His brother snorted and lifted an eyebrow at him. "Is that really the best you can do? Blaming it on me? Rather pathetic, even for you Shun."

"You were bound to slip up eventually, Shunsui," his father said calmly. "We can all be thankful that it was at least with a woman of some noble background. If you turn her away, and her family doesn't accept her back, she'll be a sitting duck."

"It's not mine," he said again.

"You've put her life in danger, and all you can say is 'it wasn't me'?" his father asked with disgust in his tone. "Always the same from you." That said he stood up and left the room, obviously dismissing the conversation.

"Perhaps it's time to grow up little brother," Seichii said, following his father's example as he got to his feet. "If it's any consolation, you've probably done Ise-san a favor. She's a smart girl. She'll find someone more suitable to her needs."

"Shunsui," his mother tried to soothe as she saw the anger flit through her son's eyes.

"I'm not marrying Hayashi-san," he said seriously. "If this child does turn out to be mine by some freak accident, then I'll support her and protect her, but I'm not marrying her."

"Shunsui," she sighed. "What good will that do? You think Ise-san is the kind of woman that will suffer this indignity? Marry you and ignore the fact that another woman has your firstborn child? You and I both know that isn't the case. Meanwhile Hayashi-san will be shamed for the rest of her life for no reason, her child called a bastard."

"I don't remember anything," he growled frustrated. "I woke up alone."

"She said you told her to leave after," his mother said calmly. "Half the reason she took so long to admit to anyone she was pregnant was because she was convinced you wouldn't have her."

"Why would I tell her to leave?" he demanded, getting up and pacing. "I've never told anyone to leave, not right after at least."

"I really wouldn't know, Shunsui," his mother said tiredly. "Perhaps you started to feel guilty? You've never been in an actual long term relationship before."

"I wouldn't do that to Nanao," he defended.

"Apparently you did," she said harshly. "You need to let that poor girl go and grow up, Shunsui. I hate to say it, but thank kami she turned you down as much as she did. Imagine the mess we'd be in otherwise."

"I'm not giving up on Nanao," he said petulantly.

"Then you're being cruel," she said firmly. "You'll torture her unnecessarily."

"I love her," he said.

"More often then not," she said, getting up to leave the room. "Just loving someone isn't enough."

A/N: More sad stuff :( The good news is I even got a chapter up while on vacation :) Till next time. Please review!