Thank you so much for your reviews they were really lovely. The delay updating at the moment is that my work has gone mad and I'm filling in for my manager who is off with depression, leaving me to do a six day week. I wonder how long before I am off sick myself! Still the paycheck is nice. Shame there's no time to spend it!

Ichigo didn't need to say how he was feeling, his fear was radiating off him in waves. They moved through the arrivals lounge towards customs all the while Byakuya had pushed their trolley of luggage and kept Ichigo close by linking his arm around the teens and holding one hand over his on the trolleys handle. It was a national statement to anyone who saw them that they were unmoved by anything the press did. They were a couple and they'd act like one. But it concerned Byakuya just how Ichigo was going to take this trip through the throng of people and no doubt press on the other side of the double doors ahead of them. From the moment they had woken up in London, he'd been on edge, agitated and restless. The flight had been long, longer thanks to weather delays at Heathrow and the kid was almost bouncing off the walls by the time they landed in Japan.

Both tired from little sleep on the flight and the continual need to distract Ichigo's mind, they were ready to fall into bed at home and do nothing but sleep for fourteen days straight. However, it seemed that customs had other ideas.

"Sir, your bags please." The official beckoned them over. Byakuya cursed inwardly, he wasn't a fool; Ichigo looked like he was on drugs the way he was trembling and his eyes wide and darting all over the place. His anxious nature was on full display as the trolley was brought to a stop and the bags pulled onto the table.

"Will this take long?" Byakuya asked coolly as his belongings were thrown randomly out of his case. Another official, non uniformed, whispered into the guard searching the bags and they looked at each other. The search stopped. This was not good.

"Your passports please."

...

"What the hell do you mean you are giving him a strip search!" Byakuya roared across the desk of the interrogation room. His fists slammed on the table. Fatigue was hitting him hard and he'd had enough of controlling his temper.

"If you would just calm down sir." The official looked unmoved by the outburst.

"I'll calm when I can see my partner."

"Your partner may well be placed under arrest."

"For?"

"His papers do not match. He is travelling under a different name to that on his official documents."

"We just got married. I told you that, no doubt he did too."

"Your Marriage is not recognised in this country." The door opened and the speaker spoke.

Byakuya looked at the stiff woman entering and just leaned back in the chair letting out a very undignified curse. "Fuck." He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "So, now I understand." He said to himself and looked back to the woman, his face pinched and his eyes narrowed with pure hate. "Soi Fong."

"You brought this on yourself."

"Did I?" Byakuya pushed back the chair with his legs and stood slowly causing the two previous interrogators to warily head towards the security buttons for back up. "You want me, let Ichigo go."

"That's a little too easy isn't it?" She watched him step closer, one step at a time.

"I'll be very straight with you Soi Fong. I'm tired, I'm thirsty, hungry and missing one legal family member."

"Who is travelling on what could be assumed is a false name." She was not phased by the intimidation, she knew enough about the subject to write a thesis on it, been there and got the badge. "It is in my jurisdiction to have the book thrown at him."

"Where I will counter sue you. His medical records will leave you high and dry and looking very foolish. Push him too far and your going to have trouble on your hands, he was already getting to a critical point." He knew he was laying it on a little thickly, but he might as well use the news articles before he left as leverage.

"You know you really don't have a leg to stand on Byakuya. What ever power you once had, as little as it was, has long gone. No one in this country sees you as part of the royal dynasty any more."

"Then they are a little late in arriving at the party. I only ever saw myself as a man." He stood a hairs breadth from her. "Lets cut to the chase shall we."

"The palace wants you home."

"The palace threw me out."

"Because...."

"As I see it, if they wanted me back, they'd have to meet my terms and conditions."

"If it involves your lover, then they wanted you to see how easy we can delve into his life and bring a little misery. See sense Byakuya." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Its safer for him that way." She leaned in to kiss him on the lips but he shifted his head back enough to leave her high and dry and looking like a fool. She snorted and turned abruptly away. "I hope I have made myself understood. You are to return to the palace, under restricted freedom of course. You will marry and father an appropriate heir. In return, the palace will see that Kurosaki..." She spat the name. "Ichigo, will be placed in the hands of the Royal Academy of arts on the fast track scheme. He will graduate with honours, find a nice easy job working with the Royal Orchestra and get the best treatment for his mental condition from Retsu herself. Surely you want him happy Byakuya see reason." Through her tirade, Byakuya found himself pushed further and further towards red rage. It all made perfect sense again. The stories were leaked by the palace themselves, only they had the power to find the kind of information they had and tie it all together. Without warning, his clenched fist swung to attack the woman, who barely had enough time to avoid the blow to her jaw.

Byakuya found himself pinned to the floor, his arms and legs flailing in pure anger as Soi's loyal band of guards tempered his resistance. Several angry and violent moments later, Byakuya lay panting exhausted, limbs restrained. Blood trailed from the side of his lip and he looked at the woman before him with pure venom.

"You would dare attack a woman!" The first interrogator shouted at him.

"She is no woman!" Byakuya hissed back.

"No?" Soi looked down at him with the kind of smug smile that suited her ugly contemptuous face. "I'm apparently woman enough to be baring your child Byakuya." His eyes widened. "How does it feel knowing that in eight months time, you're going to be a parent."

"H.H...How?"

"Retsu was very thorough was she not in trying to get Hisana pregnant? Your samples were kept and its just as well isn't it?" She laughed at the horrified face he pulled. "You and I as man and wife, it will be such a wild torrid relationship."

"No." Byakuya could hardly get the shocked word from his lips and his body ached with the desperation to punch her again. He tensed and fought against the four men holding him down just so he could get up and wipe her out of his life. Wipe out the possibility of anything ever happening between them and saving that poor child a life like his. "NO!" He screamed at her figure as she laughed loudly leaving the room. "Don't you dare walk away!" To say that Ichigo was the mad man hell bent on violence, would be a stretch of the imagination when looking at Byakuya, throwing off four men and almost getting enough of a head start on beating them, it took several long and knuckle busting minutes to get that upper hand back in their favour.

...

"I want to see my partner." Ichigo stated again for the umpteenth time.

"Soon." The large hand patted his. Ichigo leaned forward and let his head rest on the table. He was so tired. He must have dozed off, waking sometime later as a click of the door shutting woke him with a jolt. His bleary eyes looked at the woman standing there, imposing, angry.

"Soi Fong." The man who'd been with Ichigo for the past couple of hours stood.

"Aizen Sosuke I should have thought this a little beneath you."

"I am Ichigo's legal representative." He smiled. Almost.

"Yet you are here before he requested it."

"That is where I also benefit from being the transport to get the couple home. A home they rent off me also."

"Well it seems the shameless fag found himself traitorous deviant."

"We cannot be all as virtuous as those in the royal command." Aizen countered. "If you have no evidence to hold these two men, I will be taking them now."

"Assault against a member of the royal house is a serious crime." She uttered but her eyes watched Ichigo wondering what the fascination was. What ever it was, it was beyond her understanding.

"I will not let you near the boy."

"Who is talking about the boy?"

"Let me guess..." Aizen put a finger to his chin in mock thought. "You thought it would be fun to detain my clients and use a little mental pressure to aid your cause? Byakuya somehow believed you had already been in to see Ichigo?"

"Your warm, but not very." She smiled sickly. "I'll get what I want eventually."

"And what is that exactly?"

"Byakuya." She smiled looking into the tired and confused eyes of Ichigo. "In my bed."

Ichigo looked at her with a frown and shook his head. "In your dreams."

"Or in yours Kurosaki?" She purred taking the door handle in her palm. "Whilst you watch yourself stabbing him with a knife...Blood, lots of it all over him, all over you." She winked opening the door. "After all, it would be the same as looking back at your mothers body wouldn't it." Aizen's hand fell quicker on Ichigo's shoulder than he could himself get up.

"Who was she?" Ichigo's voice was full of anger.

"Soi Fong. Head of Palace Security. Therefore a leading figure in the countries intelligence and stealth forces. Very powerful and someone we do not want to mess with. Her ideals are very rigid, she believes that the palace should regain parliamentary control and rule the country as they did in the great days of the dynasty's. She is not the only one to think it. Yamamoto shares that view point, you do know who he is?"

"Yeah. The bastard who had Byakuya last time."

"His methods are much softer that hers." Aizen paused. "Wait here and I will see what is keeping us now." If that woman were here, she might well have seen Byakuya already, hence the delay. Aizen had little power to speed things up if the customs officials were ordered to wait for Soi to complete her own interrogation. But with any hope, her leaving just now meant that the two men were free to go.

Ichigo watched the man leave and stood in the chilled room. He suddenly wouldn't have put it past them to have left the heating low on purpose if they were that sadistic. His arms wrapped around his chest and he shivered lightly. His head dropped down to watch his feet lightly stomping on the spot to keep warm. His mind beginning now to open up to the idea that had just been planted there. After all, it wasn't too far fetched from Hichigo's body in the class that time. His pale albino skin was a stark contrast to the red blood that had been dripping off him. Ichigo stared at his hand, able to recall the blood on his fists as if it was yesterday. A sound behind him caused him to turn, but there was nothing. Another sound again came behind him and he flashed around quicker, sure that this time he had seen a blur of movement with white clothing. The fluorescent lighting flickered on and off, twice, in its momentary darkness there was something in the shadow. A shape. Once more the lighting tripped off and as it flashed on, the shape became a person.

Ichigo held back the involuntary scream, as he jolted back away from the corner of the room just as the lights seemed to redeem themselves and Aizen stepped back in. He stopped in his footsteps looking at the boy. He didn't need to voice his question, he didn't need to have an expression on his face, Ichigo had thrown himself into a nervous laugh as he explained.

"I slipped." He grinned, but his body was shaking.

"We can leave now." Aizen said nothing more, but Ichigo watched him walk to that corner of the room and take his coat from the coat stand. Ichigo held his breath, waiting for the figure behind the stand to reveal itself and stood struck dumb by the empty rack. "Ichigo?" The man said looking at the kid. His behaviour was strange.

Ichigo sat back in his chair, scrubbing his eyes and rolling his head around on his stiff neck. "I'm just really tired." He just wanted a hot shower and a bed. Byakuya in the hot shower, then the bed. He snorted, even as tired as he was, he wouldn't turn down that beautiful body. "Can we go now?"

Aizen accepted that answer, it was not his place to put his opinion into the mess that was this evening. Besides, now he had to sort out a real problem. "Byakuya is being charged with assaulting an officer. I will take you to my car, we can leave without passing through the terminal."

"Byakuya's what!" Ichigo felt sure he misunderstood. "I'm not leaving without him!"

"Then you shall wait in my car." That was probably the best idea anyway. "Byakuya will need..." Aizen looked back to the boy. "You love him?"

"Course!"

"Then we you see him. Say nothing."

"What the fuck is going on?"

"I do not know yet. But I will. When you see him...you will understand. Say nothing." They had to leave this government building with its camera's and listening devices as soon as possible. If Ichigo or Byakuya said anything to further incriminate themselves, he knew that Byakuya would be spending more than just this brief period at the hospitality of the local police, no doubt with a relocation to the palace in the dead of the night. All this talk about protecting Ichigo when he had let his own defences down was a farce. Byakuya would need some stern words. Just free of the hold his family had had on him and he had let them get him in a vulnerable state. They were all treading a fine line right now and one wrong word and they'd be held for treason against the emperor.

...

The limousine was the height of luxury, back on a par with when Byakuya first began to date Ichigo. It was warm, too warm, comfortable and secure thanks to Aizen's henchmen standing around. Ichigo laid his head back on the rest and tried to keep his eyes open whilst he looked at the one assigned to sit with him. The guy was so familiar with his long hair and goatee. Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"You." Ichigo said quietly. The man looked to the kid addressing him. "What's ya name?"

"Stark." He uttered as if he was bored and began to view the world outside the windows again for any sign of inappropriate movement.

"Well Stark." Ichigo stopped to yawn. "Ya going to be following me again?" Stark snorted as he looked back at Ichigo.

"Might." He gave one nod.

"What about the other one? The fat one?"

"What about him?"

"Following me asshole."

"He and I do not work for the same people."

"Right."Ichigo let his thoughts wonder a moment and Stark wondered if the kid had fallen asleep, that was until he spoke again. "He works for the chinky girl then?"

"I fear so." He nodded, reassessing the kids intelligence.

"What did I do to piss them off?"

"I don't actually know. But it wouldn't be too far from the truth would it to say you stole something of theirs. They want it back."

"I'm not a thief, I never took anything when I was there."

"A beautiful gem of ebony and ivory. Graceful and sleek." Stark said hoping the kid would understand without it having to be spelt out to him.

"You gay?"

"I appreciate looks on legs. What they are doesn't matter to me." Ichigo sighed and did begin now to doze. He hadn't misunderstood who Stark was speaking of. "Following you had been enjoyable." Stark added with a smile at the kids snort.

"Byakuya won't like it if your gay. You best not tell him!"

"Then we best not talk any more, he is coming."

The car door opened and Ichigo found himself wide awake, stunned, as he watched Byakuya being helped into the car by Aizen. His clothes were torn and bloody, looking like he had scrapped on the floor. His face bruised and his lips bleeding. Now Ichigo knew why not to say anything. His tired and aching body was already stiff and hurting, his face ruined but his eyes were alight with a flame of anger that would have taken nothing to ignite into a roaring fire again. It wasn't too much a stretch of the imagination to wonder at why he was in such a state and who was the cause of it. But the noble, usually reserved, calm and measured had been pushed to react. Ichigo didn't know what would have done that in such a short time.

"Ichigo!" Byakuya's face filled with relief. His scuffed knuckles brushed Ichigo's face as he searched for any sign of the ordeal he must have been through. "Your fine?" He asked.

"He is." Aizen said shutting the door. "Which is more than can be said for you. Is this any way to behave Byakuya? Think of your standing. You cannot be seen to act out of place you jeopardise all you have fought for." The car began to drive.

"It matters little. They have their own agenda." Byakuya said bitterly allowing Ichigo to push him back into the seat and wipe the damp blood from his face using his sleeve. He uncurled a hand and plucked the whole molar tooth from his palm and with on momentary wince shoved it root and all back into his jaw. Blood flew from his mouth, he coughed it into his hand and accepted the crisp white handkerchief that Aizen held out for him. It had been quite some years since he'd had the pleasure of having his back side whipped in a fight. Being outnumbered wasn't usually a problem; had he not been tired and worried about Ichigo he would have acted like the gentlemen he was. That or he would have easily over come the odds. He clenched his aching guts and let out a sigh.

Aizen watched his mind racing, so angered by his failing that he was ignorant to the silent way his lover was tending to his wounds.

"You know what this is don't you!" Byakuya looked back to his oldest confidant. "If they think they can threaten me, that I will be intimidated by this, they are very wrong."

"Just how did they threaten." Aizen's smooth voice asked. Byakuya answered with a glance towards Ichigo, one hand closing around the boys fussing ones. Body language was enough. "Stark will deal with that." Aizen supplied a quick answer. "Gin will be there for you."

"This is war Sosuke. War."

"You cannot engage in a battle of wills with them Byakuya. They have the power to do this again. Act outside the law and they will have you hung drawn and quartered."

"You forget that my background is politics. Newspapers hungry for..."

"Newspapers are not free from censorship. They will be jumped on from a great height."

"Not the ones I am thinking of." Byakuya grinned a bloody grin. It looked sinister. "These ones have been our side all along and have become a whole lot louder since my defection. Maybe they would benefit more from my visible support." That and the foreign papers had always been happy to print stories for him before to aid the Emperors war work. The same contacts could start a global whisper that all was not well in the government here.

Aizen almost shuddered himself when Byakuya grinned next. "Did you know that there is going to be a Gay Pride march on Tokyo next month?"