She held the traveling silk robe over her head. The last thing she needed was for someone to see her Kuchiki crest, assume she was a clanswoman visiting Jushiro in his private home- or worse, they'd figure out she was Lady Kuchiki and draw even crazier assumptions that would get back to her husband.

She avoided Byakuya during their first five months of marriage with ease. After the third night and his declaration to his family, she went her own way.

She would be lying to herself if she said she loved him. She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't want him. She often laid awake at night imagining what it would be like to share his bed freely and spontaneously. It was her fear of him figuring or discovering something about Aizen that kept her from him emotionally and physically. If he discovered, through his own devices, that Aizen was behind everything he might go looking to avenge her and she could not let that happen.

If she dared let herself love him she'd be the most miserable woman to have ever existed. More so, anyway. By falling for him, she would be throwing him directly in harm's path. She cared for him enough as it was.

The odd thing was that he never pushed her to spend time with him. He never imposed upon her solitude.

He didn't understand why she evaded his every gesture, but it did hurt him. What seemed worse, was the ridicule he suffered from the advisors. They gloated their small victory by reminding him daily that his wife had taken up her private residence on the far side of the estate. They also reminded him that a more legal, binding marriage could yet be had, emphasizing his inability to further seal his union and the need for the next generation to be secured.

She came through Ugendo's back, southern gate and with relief, flung off the suffocating silk. She walked in to Jushiro feeding small, chopped carrots and lettuce to rabbits. She all but squealed in delight. Reading her expression, he smiled widely.

"Such a comely lady you make!" He nodded to her lush silk robes with intricate, hand-stitched patterns. She nodded once in acknowledgment before sticking a finger out towards one of the rabbits.

"Who are these adorable animals?"

"Don't get too excited, these are experiments. We are going to test the three concoctions we've been working to perfect on these three little guys. Well, guys and girl." He smiled as one bunny nuzzled his finger, wiggling their nose up and down rapidly in search for more treats. Hisana had the sudden urge to squeeze one tightly.

"Surely we couldn't harm them," She said in a baby voice, scooping one into her arms and playing with its soft, fuzzy fat rolls in appreciation. It started to thump its powerful hind legs in delight. "Not this one, anyway."

"I didn't know you liked rabbits so much. So much like Rukia," He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. Hisana looked at him with puppy eyes.

"How is she doing?"

"She's doing well, Hisana. Her friendship with Lieutenant Abarai seems to be getting back on track so she's been able to relax since, well, since that night."

"That makes me glad." She smiled back at him, hugging the laid back bunny in her arms. It sniffed at Jushiro and one of its floppy ears perked up.

"You can keep that one, if you'd like. That's the only girl from the litter. Though, I should warn you, they will all be exposed with something similar to the poison within us. They could potentially die. I used the mock-poison on rabbits before to see how long it would take for them to die without the antidote or serum. This time they will all have one of our three mixtures. But if that doesn't bother you then I can give you the cage for you to take it home."

"I'm sure Byakuya would be thrilled." She teased meanly. His smile broke.

"I know he's…rough…around the edges. But he is an honorable man. He can really protect you. If not with money and title, than with his own body."

"The only thing I want his body to do is to stay on his side of the estate."

Not true. Hisana pushed out the invasive voice from her mind. This foreign voice had invaded her thoughts more frequently with every lie she fed to herself.

She pet the rabbit's head with her index finger, frowning at the reminder of her marriage. Jushiro studied her with pity. She seemed so young and beautiful, but the etched lines around her eyes suggested little sleep and worry. Despite the meals she was probably getting thrice a day, her bones still protruded beneath her skin.

"The autumn holiday is approaching. Is Captain Kuchiki having a gathering?"

"Yes," Hisana laughed absentmindedly as she paid most of her attention to the rabbit that hopped timidly around her lap.

"That is strange. I haven't received any invitation." She looked at him and frowned.

Hisana rolled her eyes at the thought of Byakuya spurning Jushiro while sending the invitations. "Don't take it personally. Lord Kuchiki is very possessive. He sees you as a threat to our marriage."

"Does he know of our meetings then?"

"No. I've been very careful to hide my comings here. He bases it off our meetings when I was still a soul reaper."

"Ah."

"You should come anyway."

"I won't go where I'm not wanted." He said pulling out three needles and syringes. He held each rabbit by its scruff before injecting each with a separate experimental concoction. He then gave Hisana the cage for the rabbit in her arms. "You should name her."

"The rabbit?" Hisana mused thoughtfully. "I'll have to think on it." He smiled.

"Make sure to document her symptoms daily." Hisana nodded and grinned at her new pet. "Good luck at the party tonight."

"I won't be present."

"Surely they expect a Lady Kuchiki after Byakuya broke his engagement with the Hirohata?"

"It's possible but it's even more of reason to keep my head low." Ukitake nodded in agreement before sending her away with further well wishes.

She watched each entourage arrive from behind a screen, each more impressive than the last, as though it was protocol to arrive by rank. She was dressed in a simple cobalt usumono. Her lady's maids had insisted she put her short tresses up in case she should change her mind and join the party. To pacify them she obliged. It was a much hotter autumn than the previous year anyway and the humidity was unbearable in the room that she sat silently in; she was able to be partially thankful at having her hair tightly twisted upwards and off of her neck despite how it aggravated her scalp.

Hisana peered secretively at the autumn gathering with many noble families once more and she noticed there were no captains present. From behind cracked shoji doors, all she could see was her husband making small talk with a few of the guests. She observed many pitiful attempts of noble women flirting with him. They probably figured he was now free without his engagement to Lady Mi and seeming there was no Lady Kuchiki visibly around anywhere they openly approached him and it was amusing to her. She kept score on one hand to pass the time of which ones managed to get the deepest scowls from him. A red-robed woman got him to thin his lips, a woman with a gaudy robe earned a pursing of his lips, and a woman with an elaborate coiffure was downright walked away from.

"They seem to be having fun." Hisana jumped, closing the screen doors in instinct before she turned around.

"Grandfather! I didn't hear you come in. Are you feeling well?" She bowed and he nodded.

"You should join them."

"I couldn't." She shook her head.

"As Lady of the Kuchiki family you should make yourself known."

"Lord Kuchiki does not think that it is a good idea."

She bowed as he, without further word, wobbled past and went out into the party. She looked on as he hobbled over to his grandson and began speaking and gesturing to the room where she sat. Her eyes widened in realization and she staggered to her feet in an attempt to make a fast getaway.

"Hisana?" Her fingers froze on the door and she spun around to face him.

"Lord Kuchiki."

"Are you well?"

"Yes. And you?" He approached her and reached out to appreciatively cup her cheek.

"I am unwell without you near." He lowered his voice in concern. "Was it something I did? Or the way I acted-"She pulled away from his touch.

"The party! All your guests will become suspicious if you're gone for too long." She side-stepped him but he gripped her wrist in protest.

"I don't care about them. My grandfather said you were watching. Shall I make introductions?" She could see the longing in his eyes to make their marriage public.

"No!"

"May I walk you to your room?"

"Will it put your mind at ease?"

"It will." She nodded and allowed him to walk by her side.

It was a silent, sticky stroll at twilight. Hisana kept tugging at her collar and she could see Byakuya shifting beneath his own robes out of her peripherals.

"I noticed there were no captains this year."

"The holiday gathering is annual. The invitation of captains is quadrennial."

"Since when?"

"Recent changes were made." Silence. "Should I have invited them?" Startled that he should seek her opinion she looked up at him.

"No. I would prefer if we never invited any of the captains here." She would be a sitting duck if Aizen waltzed onto the estate. Even if he had no idea that she was even there his very presence would probably hurry her poison along. She sneered at the thought of him until Byakuya's hand slipped inside hers, pulling her to a stop, and changing their direction abruptly.

"Where are we going?" She whispered as he walked closer to her.

"There is a straggler that way. We'll cut across the East gardens." He steered her across a mossy path surrounded by thickly blooming hydrangeas. She pushed him in the direction of the West side of the estate when she herself spotted another party-going straggler.

"Another?" He brought his voice low. She squeezed his hand worriedly as he hurried her along at a casual-looking pace.

"Is this a coup?" She was terrified at the prospects of Aizen being behind it, having possibly discovered her.

"Perhaps many of our guests are curious."

"Of what?"

"Of you."

"They know of me?" He pushed her into the vestibule outside of her bedchambers. They both held their breath in intervals for a few painful minutes until the outside footsteps dissipated.

"They know of a woman who married me in Lady Mi's place. They were all eager to talk about my wife tonight." Hisana let go of the heavy-burdening prospect of the people attempting to corner them being under Aizen's direction. She was thankful it was simply innocent, though intrusive, curiosity. They both exhaled.

"Thank you for walking me back. I suppose it was a good thing you did." She bowed and turned to enter her room.

He, however, sweetly kissed her cheek before she could enter her chamber. He strategically hit the skin closest to her lips so that as she jerked her head in surprise, their lips met.

She was about to pull away when he slyly entangled her body up against his. The crinkling of their silken robes whooshed through her ears. The thin fabric enabled her to feel all of his sinews beneath her palms.

She was about to protest when he moved his mouth to her neck and she opened herself up wider to his touch, securing her arms around his broad shoulders. Her mind screamed and raged against her heart; her pulse initially drowned out her thoughts. They both breathed heavily in the small space and she was repulsed as her body arched eagerly against him. Upon his lips' return to hers they shared a wet kiss that made both entirely breathless.

She was about to push away when he flung the doors back. The maids in her chambers jumped sky-high and gave out startled gasps as the couple came crashing into her boudoir. They darted every which way and scooped up various things before hurrying out.

Five months. It had been five months since their third night that bound them together in a legal matrimony. Not a single night had gone by that she didn't think about it as she slept alone. In his eyes, she could see that she was not alone in her pining thoughts.

They took a tumble on her bed, causing her to forget her worries and to laugh lightly with him at their clumsiness.

"How would you like me tonight?" He hummed melodically, looking into her eyes.

Blushing, she looked off to the side. Unable to think of how to answer such a question, she settled with a weak response: "Surprise me."

He kissed the palm of her hand before parting his robes. She shimmied free of her own silks before they met one another halfway.

Hugging his side, head propped up against his shoulder, she slowly recovered her breathing. He buried his face against the top of her head taking in her scent while keeping her tightly locked to his side with the arm he had around her.

"It feels like we're illicit lovers, sneaking off to my private rooms like we did." She giggled.

"We are illicit," He agreed with an adoring smile.

"I suppose you're right. I still can't forget the face your advisor, Minase, made when we announced our marriage." Her thin body was racked with further laughter. His own stomach billowed with her contagious mirth. He turned on his side to face her directly in order to get a front row seat to her elation.

"He looked like a bouncing temari ball. He was so upset." Byakuya recalled the image of the portly advisor's shaking rage.

"It looked like he passed a temari ball through his kidney." Hisana added and they both buried their mouths into the bedding beneath them to stifle some of the noises they made as they laughed. She gave him a playful shove to his unclad chest. "Why, Lord Kuchiki, you never told me you had such a nice laugh."

"Don't tease me, Lady Kuchiki." His smile disappeared and she swallowed.

"I'm sorry," He turned her over in his arms so that she lay beneath him once more.

"I'm a balanced man. You've seen me laugh, so now you have to see me get angry." She snorted at him, unable to take him seriously. She placed her hands on his lower back.

"I think I've seen plenty of your anger for one lifetime."

"That might be true." His face broke once more into a smile and seeing it, she felt a sudden rush of humiliation. She did not deserve to be looked at like that from someone like him. Seeing her faltered expression, he pushed the sweaty tendrils of hair that clung to her skin off of her face. "Is something wrong?" Being physically on top of her gave him the advantage to keep her with him if needed, by force, should she try to leave.

"No. It's just stuffy in here." She played off her oncoming tears as the sweat around her face and turned over to signal her intention for sleep. He hesitantly fell back beside her. She faked sleep until she knew he himself had nodded off.

Sometime in the night, she was jolted awake from her nightmare by a disconcerted grunt. She tumbled out of the bedding, still perspiring from her own terrible dream, and hurriedly reached for a lantern. Once lit, she saw Byakuya frozen on the bed, naked, with a furry white rabbit sitting on his stomach and sniffing him curiously. Her fear and discontent fled her mind. She choked in an attempt to not laugh but his deadly glare aimed at something so innocent was too much.

She quickly went to the rabbit and scooped it up against her bare breast.

"I'm sorry. She must have escaped her cage."

"When did you purchase a rabbit without my knowledge?"

"It was an anonymous gift I received." She cuddled the fuzzy creature.

"You will return it."

"What-why?" She held the bunny away from him as if he would lash out and crush it.

"It could be from the man searching for you."

"I assure you it's not."

"How?"

She frowned and scratched the rabbit's ear.

"Please, may I keep it?" Hisana asked, placing the rabbit back in its cage and going back to the bedding.

"No. I hate animal fur." He disdainfully dusted off the rabbit fur that had settled on his stomach.

"Please?" She found herself begging and he sat up.

"It may cost you."

"But we share the same -"He roughly pulled her into his arms and she let out a squeak of alarm.

Hisana was sitting outside enjoying the cool weather with a warm cup of tea. Byakuya was back in his offices, the holiday over. She was looking out at the overcast sky that created a blank canvas for the colorful, late-blooming garden, and bright, synonymously colored autumn trees.

She heard an ominous shuffling and the footsteps of a three-legged creature careening through the gardens on the other side of the building she was in. She went back to drinking her tea, desperate to get the peaceful feeling she had back, but the shuffling and steps were joined in with the sound of clipping. Curious, she stood up and poked her head around the corner.

Her grandfather-in-law moved slowly around a fenced-in bonsai garden of an impressive stature, using his cane and the railings around for support.

"Grandfather?" She carefully walked over to the stone steps, confused as to why he was out of his bed.

"Ah… Lady Kuchiki. Cold morning, isn't it?" She nodded and he pulled out a cloth from his robes and wiped his forehead before tucking it back inside his clothes. Ginrei's breathing was heavy and his hands trembled greatly. At first, it seemed like he was shaking his hands on purpose, but when she watched him struggle to raise his clippers to the tree branches she knew he had no control over the muscle spasms.

"Are you feeling well?" She asked, stepping down the stairs, and slowly moving towards him. She carefully inspected her steps every inch of the way.

The first month into her marriage it had been early summer and she had accidentally trampled a bed of prized roses. The gardener nearly passed out and probably wouldn't have minded impaling her with his shovel if she wasn't the mistress of the family. She was still trying to gauge Lord Ginrei's temper and she didn't wish to repeat a similar spectacle by accidentally knocking over one of the bonsai pots.

"Better than usual. This cold weather that's… moved in over the past few… days numbs my muscles." She looked around and admired all the exotic shapes.

"Do you need any help?"

"You could cover the marked potted plants."

"Cover? But they're so beautiful."

"Precisely why they need the covers. The first frost could kill them."

"Should I carry them inside?"

"Ah. Keen observation…but not until high winter when… temperatures really drop. They need as much sunlight as possible."

"Huh," She smiled in fascination at the different species and shapes of the plants. "Did you shape all of these?" Ginrei gave a small smile with an affirmative nod. His words were coming slower than the first conversation she had held with him, she noticed, and he seemed to like communicating to others with nonverbal cues. "I'm impressed," She smiled. "And you clip every branch individually? Fascinating."

"You're interested in plants?" She could hardly tell him about her acquired knowledge of different plants and their uses when she lived in the rukongai with her sister. Nor could she tell him about the medicinal plants she had to study in the Soul Reaper Academy. Hisana resigned herself to a brief nod as he often did. He extended his hand to her and placed the clippers into her hands. He then left her to her own devices with the one plant while he went on with his own work.

Hisana was grateful for the silent solidarity he offered her as they worked alongside one another.

"My grandson disappeared…during the autumn party. Our guests…were disappointed." She flushed and squinted intently at a lower branch on the tree in front of her.

"I wasn't feeling well. Lord Kuchiki returned me to my chambers to sleep."

"I suppose he must've fallen asleep as well." Hisana didn't know what to say. Ginrei continued speaking. "I do not approve your marriage. When people learn of your background….. this family will be shamed." Hisana lowered her clippers, disheartened at the sudden mood change.

"I'm sorry."

"Do not apologize. It shows weakness."

"But I am weak." She sighed, putting her clippers down and sitting on a nearby decorative boulder. Getting told what she couldn't and could do or be was beginning to really frazzle her nerves.

"My grandson doesn't love weak things. Never has."

"There's a first for everything. Like marrying someone like me into a family such as this." She frowned and hunched over improperly to rest her chin on her upturned fist.

"No matter how I, or any of the advisors…disagree with the match we cannot swim away… from the tides of fate."

"I'm not so sure our marriage was fate." She referred to the planned three nights that were meticulously documented.

"That feeling of not being able… to imagine anyone else but that one person, and choosing them above all others- …I believe that is fate." She blinked. Guiltily, she hugged her arms and moved her shoeless-feet around the compact earth beneath them.

"Yes, fate," She repeated.

"But I speak for my grandson only, of course." He had put down his clippers and leaned on his cane, staring at her intently from beneath a bonsai branch that jutted up and out. His long silvery hair, adding emphasis to his namesake, was tied back at his neck. His mustache was thin and rather terrifying on his sagging face. His eyes were the exact color as Byakuya's and she noticed other similarities in their facial structure. She wondered if Byakuya's father had looked so similar, or if their child would like just like Byakuya. She shook the hopeful thoughts away. "I've noticed how miserable you've been. Though I don't…know the cause of such…ungratefulness, it must be valid enough to warrant…your unhappiness."

"I'm happy!" She insisted falsely. He sent her a stare that sliced through her. It wasn't angry or impatient, but it wasn't gentle either. She knew this man would be impossible to fool, despite his age and condition, he still had his full wits about him and he seemed able to read her like an open book. She lowered her gaze to his polished cane. "This marriage…it hurts. I'm happy that it hurts. But it also hurts me to be happy." She balled her hands and stood up with a great effort. "Forgive me, grandfather, for taking up your time. I shouldn't talk about my feelings like this." She bowed respectfully. He squinted at her as she walked passed him, baffled by what she meant.

"Hisana…" He began and she halted her gait, waiting for him to continue speaking. She gave it a few seconds, as he usually fumbled for his words but nothing more was said. Instead a thump and the spraying of gravel against the wooden fence resounded from behind. She spun around and her heart stopped its beating for a moment.

Her grandfather-in-law was on the ground, his cane had fallen from his grasp and his right side seemed completely flaccid. She hurried over to him while calling out for help. She dropped to the ground, creating a rip in her silk skirts from the hastened, clumsy movement. His grey hair had spilled from its clasp and covered his face so she pushed it away and frantically calmed herself in order to keep him calm.

He tried to lift his hand and open his mouth but both failed him. Many guards and maids appeared from their posts, gawking in shock. Hisana assembled a small group of guards to help lift Ginrei and hurry him to his chambers nearby so that he would be out of sight and humiliation of the gathering household staff.

Byakuya received the summons a few hours before his work day was supposed to end. He placed his lieutenant in charge, again, before hurrying to the estate. There a thick patrol of guards marched their rounds dutifully and forlornly around the building that housed his grandfather's chambers. If they had been any less uniform in their posts, Byakuya would have mistaken them for a line of funerary mourners. He saw a band of saffron-robed monks speaking lowly with his advisor Taira, and he realized they were from the temple that the advisor once lived at. They bowed solemnly as he passed.

He felt a lump form in his throat as he rounded the inner hall's corner and came to an empty, silent corridor with the one exception: his wife. She was nervously pacing a ditch in the ground, her pallor was a sickly pale, and an unseemly rip ran down the lower half of her robe. The floor did not betray his presence with its sturdy build so as he approached her, she jumped and let out the mew of a helpless animal upon seeing his face. She dropped her head to the floor in an astonished bow.

He crouched to his knees and pulled her gently from the unnecessary display of respect.

"What ails you, Hisana?" He spoke calmly, pushing her frizzy, tousled hair out of her face.

"Byakuya," She whispered weakly. She stretched out her neck and planted an empathetic kiss on his cheek. He pulled away from her with stern eyes. She could tell in the rigidity of his bearing that he was going into a state of shock. He looked at the set of doors she had been pacing near and boldly went inside.

The corridor became silent once again and Hisana was whisked away by her lady's maids to be washed and dressed for bed. But once they had fallen asleep, Hisana pulled on sandals and snuck back out to the corridor. She nestled herself by the doors, knowing, by the smell and sight of drifting incense smoke, that Byakuya was still inside. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the black space around her, but she could eventually make out a very faint flicker of a candle coming from within the chamber. She slid the door back a finger's breadth, and peered inside the dark room.

Her husband made an odd form in the shadows and the cloud of thick incense forced her to slip her arm inside her sleeve and hold it over her nose. Her eyes watered at the intensity of the incense and the figures it weakly masked. His grandfather seemed asleep. But after straining herself, she realized he was speaking low muttered words that Byakuya hunched himself over to hear and understand.

She listened after a few moments of silence stretched on into eternity and Byakuya let out a deep, elongated hum that was accordant to a wail. Shakily, she slid the doors closed and cupped a hand over her mouth. She felt her own tears leak from her closed eyelids. She silently cried, as if Byakuya's pain had reach out and squeezed her lungs together.

Summoning all the emotional strength she could, Hisana mustered an abrupt stop to her tears. She stood herself up and hurried back to her rooms, promising to herself as she went, that the man that had defied his entire station for her, would not feel pain in her presence or because of her presence again.

Author's Note: What a fickle marriage we have here.

I'm sorry this update took so long but I have so much information in my head that a lot of my writings have canceled one another out. It's been a long process of sorting plot lines and scenes. Not to mention writer's block. It always hits me. When I get too many ideas it's like I just self-destruct and can't do anything until one idea stands out from the rest. Needless to say I have no idea when the next chapter will be posted. But if you want the extended versions of the M-rated scenes because you're perverted (jk, I wrote them so no judgment here…) check out my live journal. I'll only post them after their respective chapters and if there was extra- I explained it all there. Thanks for reading and being patient.