Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Thanks for all the love, folks. Author's notes for targeted feedback below. Thanks! -njx

Kuukaku's anger melted into soul-shattering astonishment, and her stance softened, arm hanging loose and completely incapable of believing what she had just seen.

To drop his sword? It was unfathomable. For Byakuya to forsake himself? That was unimaginable.

She was completely confounded. "Byakuya-san...!"

"Enough."

Kuukaku waited for him to do something. Anything.

Indeed, something then happened. The bright full moon in the dark sky, the ants and grass and trees and all that existed in between, everything that was present at that moment in that place witnessed something that even the Omniscient Eye of Fate itself never would have conceived. To the complete and utter disbelief of Shiba Kuukaku, Kuchiki Byakuya began to cry.

"Shiba Kuukaku," he spoke, his voice firm and determined but betraying the overflowing tears that were streaming down his face and staining his scarf. "I am sorry."

Kuukaku was struck by his apology like someone had just injected it into her chest. It was not a mere three word sentence. Whether it was woman's intuition, or something much deeper, she didn't know; but Kuukaku could tell those words were layered with years - maybe even decades - of grief, sadness, shame, and regret. They beheld a gravity so immense that the earth and sky and sea could only appear as mere specks against its vast enormity.

And as much as it sounded like it was an apology to himself, for some reason that Kuukaku did not quite understand, she could tell that the words were truly, deeply, and completely aimed at her alone.

Kuukaku carefully stepped towards him. Slowly and cautiously, she reverently picked up his katana; and with grace and elegance not typically associated with the Head of the Shiba House, Kuukaku carefully handed it back to him. "Like I said before," she said gently, "I'll forgive you, but only if you smile."

Like before, he didn't smile, but he didn't grimace either. He hesitated; and with eyes closed, Byakuya took the blade back from her respectfully and gently resheathed it.

"Byakuya-san, talk to her. It may be different, but Rukia-chan loves you just as much as Hisana-dono did. You owe it to her."

He sighed, too emotional to speak. Fortunately for him, it came out the same way all of his other sighs of exasperation did.

Kuukaku dared to wipe the tears off his cheek. He didn't stop her. "Promise me, Byakuya-san."

"I... I promise."

She paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. He was gazing past her, his stare distant and forlorn; as though he felt his soul belonged somewhere else. Somewhere where the unforgiven go. It hurt Kuukaku to see him like this - it wasn't what she had intended. She didn't mind riling him up a little bit if it would let her find the man she wanted to see, but she didn't know that when she found him, he would be so dead inside.

Putting her courage to the test, Kuukaku tried to find the words to comfort him, but knew she would not find them. With hesitation, she chose to break the heavy silence with a praise he would accept. "Hisana-dono must have been really special," Kuukaku commented quietly.

His voice was solemn but genuine. "Hisana did not know Kuchiki-sama," he said, the honorific laced with nonchalant contempt. "She knew Byakuya."

Kuukaku had never heard him ever refer to his own honor with disgust. It was eye-opening. "I know both men," she replied softly, "although I prefer the latter one." Kuukaku took his hand and pulled him forward. "C'mon, it's late. Take me home."

***

They walked for another fifteen minutes until her home was in sight. Although he had quickly let go of her hand after his little outburst, Kuukaku noticed that Byakuya allowed an aura of solace to hang between them. It wasn't quite companionable silence, nor could it be best described as an amicable silence, either - but the rest of their walk home did not have a heavy or awkward tension as it had when they left the Kuchiki estate earlier that night. It was, perhaps, a peaceful consolation; a humble man's acknowledgement that maybe, just maybe, she did indeed respect him, rather than just the man who reflected the position and title he carried.

The night air had begun a quiet breeze, and from the distance they could see the sway of tall grass in the fields beside her unusual house. Kuukaku had expected Byakuya to leave her there and return home, but she was pleasantly surprised that he chose to accompany her all the way to her front door.

She spoke first, her tone sincere and personable. "Thank you for walking me home, Byakuya-san."

"You're welcome, Kuukaku-san."

She smiled coyly, unable to resist. "Did you just voluntarily call me 'Kuukaku-san'? My, my; you're very interesting today."

He sighed for what must have been the 17,635th time that evening. "Indeed."

Kuukaku laughed. "I must admit, Byakuya-san, I enjoy your company. You're quite the fellow."

Byakuya responded with hesitation. "You are a most interesting woman."

She playfully pushed him on the chest, deciding that some lighthearted banter would do him some good. "C'mon, now, Byakuya-san. Surely you can give me a better compliment than that," she teased. "Proper ettiquette dictates you be a tad more forthcoming," she added suggestively.

Byakuya could not help but feel like this woman had ensnared him with every conceivable trap ever devised. "I... I found your company most enlightening."

"How about 'entertaining'?" she said, stepping into his personal space.

This woman was infuriating. "Yes," he relented. He was too spent; anything to get this woman off his back. "Most entertaining."

She laughed loudly as she took the hint and gave him some room. "Oh, Byakuya-san, you always sucked at lying. It doesn't suit you. You can just admit that you would have preferred I hadn't joined you this evening."

"No-- no," he quickly denied with true sincerity. "I... I am truly grateful." It was true. He may have not been thrilled at first, but Kuukaku had defused all of the awkward moments at the Kurosaki home, and had been an eloquent conversationalist who kept the meal lively. Without her there, he was sure it would have descended into something incredibly uncomfortable.

As much as she turned him inside out all evening long, she was sociable with him. Sociable company was not something Byakuya often experienced, and he always appreciated the opportunity to be at ease; or as much as could be expected, given the churning anguish that was storming through his soul at the moment. The last thing he wanted was for her to misinterpret him and feel underappreciated, or even unwanted. Even more than that, he did not want to leave her with the impression that he bore her animosity for the evening's unusual turn of events. "I am glad that you accompanied us today, and I appreciate the opportunity that it afforded me to walk you home this evening."

Her eyes beamed high in half-mocking surprise. "Such a compliment I never expected from you, Byakuya-san."

"Good night, Shiba Kuukaku-dono," he said as politely as he could muster given the circumstances. He was worried that with all of his emotional turmoil, it may have sounded curt rather than civil, and he had not intended it to come across that way.

Kuukaku inched closer to him and kissed him on the lips. He didn't kiss her back at all - she might as well been kissing a block of marble. She guessed that he was at least marginally receptive, though; even if only as not to offend her. Personally, she doubted that was the case. He certainly didn't pull away, and Kuchiki Byakuya had ample time to do that. His soft haori felt nice up against her breast, and she could faintly feel his heart beating against it. For a moment, she hoped that he would give in, but he didn't.

"Good night, Kuchiki Byakuya-dono."

Kuukaku pulled away slowly with a smile powerful enough to overthrow a kingdom. It would have taken enough willpower to contain the entire universe for a man not to follow in after her - but she knew Kuchiki Byakuya had a lot of willpower, so she didn't expect him to move.

She looked at him one last time, her seductive smile still present, and closed the door behind her.

It was late. The bright full moon was descending in the otherwise dark, blackened sky. Kuchiki Byakuya knew that if he wanted to get some sleep, he would have to shunpo home. Yet this evening, he opted to walk the entire way; soaking in the miracles of nature, the jarring poverty of the shacks in the Rukongai, and the solemn quietude that afforded him a chance to think.

***

Dawn arrived as Kuchiki Byakuya arrived at his estate. He was beyond tired, both physically and emotionally; and he would have to be in the office in a few hours. With a new acting lieutenant, Byakuya could not afford to even entertain the notion of not being in the office early. Impressions and expectations needed to be set.

Byakuya headed quickly to the memorial shrine room, disappointed that he would not have the opportunity to sit his usual amount of time, but he could not sleep unless he paid his respects first. He shut the door to the room, lit the incense that the servants had set up for him, and opened the screens to see Hisana's picture - but a note fell out.

Lifting it off the floor, he recognized it as Rukia's distinct handwriting:

Hisana will never forgive you if you die alone.

Byakuya was instantly enraged. He was angry, sad, frustrated, irritated, ashamed, agitated, offended, irked, disgusted, despaired, crushed, annoyed, infuriated, outraged, revolted, and overwhelmed. But at that moment, there was one feeling that physically brought him to his knees and caused his eyes to explode in salty tears; one singular emotion so powerful that it swallowed him alive and pushed the others out of the way, dwarfing them all.

Kuchiki Byakuya was lonely.

"Kuchiki, that's why you must never, never, never die alone."
~Shiba Kaien

And thus the cherry blossoms wither to the ground - Fate's Curtain closes again, for here endeth Act II.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

1. Almost all of this act was originally written in one sitting. I basically started with the idea of a Byakuya coming for dinner to meet the Kurosaki family, and Rukia and Ichigo conspiring to give him a blind date. Kuukaku was a good choice, since she's sassy and can go toe-to-toe with him as a fellow Head of House. I wanted to use Kuukaku's arm as a plot device anyway, so this was a perfect setup. What flowed from there just came out so perfectly that I stuck with the idea. The Kuu/Bya interplay (even when one-sided) just seemed so perfect that I fell in love with the idea. I don't want to say that it was spontaneous, but I will say that once I wrote the rough draft for Act II, I was so happy with it that I went back and heavily revised my initial outline. I'm glad that happened, too, because I think the story is (and will be) much, much better this way.

2. I only had four major thematic concepts that I wanted to do in Act II: get Karin to the wedding, a nice first kiss scene, expose the villains, and prepare for a scene in Act III between Rukia and Byakuya. Like I said, when I started, I wasn't exactly sure where I was going to end up, but I definitely accomplished those goals, and I think that this was just really satisfying. Of all the pieces I've written as a fanfic author, this act is one of my favorites.

3. Any non-crackalicious pairing done with Byakuya is extremely difficult, since he is so cold. I got a lot of feedback, though, that implied he has no emotions whatsoever. I disagree completely. Byakuya is actually very emotional - he just keeps it all to himself. His deep conflicts in the Soul Society arc, how he misses Hisana terribly, how he was brash, hot-headed brat as a kid - it's all there, it's just buried under an iron mask that he imposes upon himself. That's why Byakuya seems so remarkably human, rather than robotic - yes, he's cold and stoic, but not because he doesn't care but because it's his coping mechanism.

For those of you who thought Byakuya going all Senbonzakura over Kuukaku was a bit of a stretch, I think I disagree. In my opinion, it's the same thing - Byakuya hiding his emotions behind his sword. If you go back and re-read the portions with Byakuya during the Soul Society arc, I think you can see it. He hides his turmoil behind a theoretical duty to protect his pride - in Byakuya's case, pride is a synonym for the mask he wears to hide his inner conflict. It's that "duty" that causes him to bring blade to Kuukaku. The instinct to protect his pride is so strong because that's the lie he tells himself to hide from the truth - that he's really hiding from the true man he is, the one he doesn't like or respect.

I think that's how he deals with his grief, and why he deliberately avoids expressing his relationship with Rukia to her in manga canon. It's obvious he cares very, very much about her (witness the scene between Byakuya and Zommari), but the fact that Rukia doesn't really see that side of him is something that requires a lot of explanation. I crafted this backstory for him to explain why he's so emotionally constipated with her - because it seemed obvious to me to assume that he has trouble expressing his care for Rukia because of her resemblance to Hisana, and that alone just makes him so uncomfortable that he can't deal with it. If you take this characterization of Byakuya, it's not hard at all to fit it in to the manga's representation of him.

4. Once I had that perspective on Byakuya, I wanted to reveal him that way. Prying him open just seemed to be a lot of fun, so I assaulted him from all angles. I think that part of it was this: I wanted to justify why Byakuya would actually let Ichigo marry Rukia. I needed to portray Byakuya in such a way so that he would support Rukia's decision rather than fight it. Obviously, I could have made Byakuya the villain in an IchiRuki wedding story, but that's been done before and that dramatic conflict seemed trite. So I decided I wanted him as a "good guy", but then I needed to justify his acceptance. Putting his own loneliness front-and-center made it easy for me to demonstrate why Byakuya would be supportive of Rukia rather than antagonistic. Building towards the ultimate idea that Byakuya was really drowning in loneliness took some effort, but I liked what I produced.

5. Writing Kuukaku is an absolute blast. She is by far one of the best characters to write for. I was inspired by a story called 'Nonchalance' by DreamScene, which had a sassy portrayal of Karin as an older teen. Imagining Kuukaku in the same vein was easy. Kudos also to Lil' Monk, for his (hers?) very deep and thoughtful interpretations on Kuukaku.

6. Kudos to Etiena for her story 'Catalyst' that gave me good inspiration for crafting Kurosaki Karin in this act. I don't know that I would have gotten her right with Etiena's help and many discussions.

7. Some of you did not quite get the 'dropped sword' gesture. In the code of the samurai, dropping your sword is the ultimate act of dishonoring one's self. It is preferable to commit seppuku / hari kiri (ritual suicide) than to do so. The closest verbal equivalent I think of is this: "You embody honor, and I possess all shame in existence. Even if heaven and earth were to stand between us, it would not be an adequate separation between your vast honor and my despicable shame." Dropping one's sword is the equivalent of stating that one is incapable of being honored; it is an act of extreme cowardice - almost as if you never had the courage to lift a sword in the first place. It is an extreme act. In the context of this story, Byakuya is effectively saying that the moment he raised a sword to Kuukaku, he lost all honor. When Kuukaku picked it up off the ground and gave it back to him, it was an even greater display of forgiveness and kindness; as if to say that honor is not a matter of importance between them, and that he can wield his sword again with respect. The entire exchange is fundamentally dramatic, and incredibly personal. I would say that if anything, Kuukaku picking up his sword and handing it back to him - and him accepting it - is a much bigger deal than kissing him.

8. Comments on romanization: yeah, forgive me for botching the Japanese language. English isn't my primary language either, so you can't expect me to get two languages right all the time. I try, really I do. Sometimes, I admit, especially with swear words, I deliberately misromanize to provide a more evocative expression (e.g. "ksa" versus the properly romanized "kuso"). In any case, all corrections are greatly appreciated.

Request for targeted feedback:

1) If you're going to talk about Byakuya being OOC, please let me know whether you think it works or if it didn't work. Some of you said he was OOC, but I couldn't tell whether that meant "you did a good job of showing how and why he is OOC, and therefore it's awesome" or "that's so OOC I think that's a load of crap WTF do you think you're doing". So please clarify. :)

2) You have to tell me what you thought about the Kuu/Bya kiss. I really need to know, so 'fess up. Thanks.

3) What did you think of Rukia's note? Did you expect it? Like it? Hate it? What about Byakuya's reaction? Well-written, at least?

4) Please tell me that you cried at least once in Act II, or at the very least felt your heart wrench inside your chest. Many of you told me how absolutely outraged you were to find out about the injustice done to Kuukaku. That feedback is really, really precious - so if you ever felt some raw, strong emotion while reading this, please let me know.

5) Tell me how much that opening/closing quote from Shiba Kaien fooled you. I'd love to know.

6) How are you liking the plot twists so far? Hikifune sounds badass, doesn't she? Tanabi sounds so evil you can't even describe him, huh? Clue me in, clue me in. If you think you can see where this story is going, you are so wrong you don't even know it. Heh heh heh.

Act III coming soon - the Wedding!!! Hurray!!!

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