Rukia and Ichigo managed to let themselves be convinced by Seree to go back inside. There was an uncomfortable silence until Yaso broke it with a small smile.

"Tea? I'll put the kettle on."

"Ah. Y-Yes, thank you..." Rukia answered, somewhat shocked. The three of them sat on the large sofa and she turned to Seree when Yaso was out of earshot, talking in a whisper. "Way to go Seree-chan, he actually smiled!"

"Kuchiki-dono! Don't say anything stupid please."

"Huh?"

She was taken aback by the young Shinigami's direct response. Still respectful, but with an unusual edge to it.

I'll have to ask her later.

"Kuchiki-dono, Kurosaki-kun, why are you here?"

"It's not like we meant to interrupt." Ichigo replied, somewhat embarrassed.

"You're the one who pointed at the open door."

"Shut up Rukia! And who's the one who woke me up in the middle of the night for an emergency?"

"Emergency?" Seree interrupted.

"Yes." Rukia turned to her, and Seree flinched at the penetrating, angry look she was given. "You can't guess?"

"I suppose..."

"I suppose my butt! You stole a Hell Butterfly, came back to Karakura without warning or permission, and all in the middle of the night! What were you expecting?"

Seree fidgeted nervously.

"Your Lieutenant called me almost in a panic! Do you have any idea how much trouble you just got yourself into?"

"But... Kuchiki-dono, I read what you sent me, and I..." She involuntarily gazed at Yaso, who was coming back with the tea.

Rukia caught her gaze, looking back.

"So it's him who's taking that medicine?"

"Kuchiki-dono!" Seree reprimanded her in a slightly too loud whisper.

The three of them looked at him as he put the tea on the coffee table, and then he spoke with a soft, calm voice.

"She's here because of me." There was no accusation in his voice. "My mother died last night."

Rukia and Ichigo looked both shocked by the revelation, and a bit unsure about how to react. Yaso reached for one cup, and all the others did the same, sipping in silence. Rukia took a second look at him.

No wonder he was so tense.

"There's no need to say anything." Yaso continued. "I'm not too clear on what's going on, but I don't want you to get into trouble."

"Yes." Rukia replied. "It's a good thing we found you on our first try, you have to go back!"

"I can't leave now!"

Seree was suddenly silenced by a hand landing on her multicolored hair. She looked up and saw Yaso was standing next to her, looking at her and smiling.

He's smiling? He's smiling!

"You've done enough today, don't you think? If..." Hesitation, again. "No, I don't want you to get into more trouble."

"Yaso..."

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other, and hurriedly standing up they smiled uncomfortably. It was Rukia who spoke.

"Well, well, we'll wait for you outside, ah-hahaha."

They practically fled the apartment. Their wait outside was rather silent, Rukia leaning against the building and Ichigo against the lamppost in front of it. The discomfort had left them, and they were just thinking. He was the first one to speak his thoughts out loud.

"So, what's the deal, you told Seree something about the medicine, it's that the one you made me ask my father about?"

"Yeah. Seems like Seree-chan found out Itou-san is taking it."

"Hmmmm." Ichigo hummed in reply, with his usual intense expression on his face.

"What?" Rukia asked, recognizing the disapproval in his eyes.

"Nosy girl."

"I'm not disagreeing with you on that."

Rukia remembered the time when Ichigo had fought the Grand Fisher. She wanted to say 'we', but the fight had been Ichigo's, and Ichigo's only. That day, she had clumsily put her foot somewhere she had no right to. She looked at Ichigo, and a wordless understanding passed between them.

"So..."

"I'm not going to ask her." Rukia interrupted, looking away towards the window of Yaso's apartment.

"Sheesh, I wasn't going to say that!" Ichigo retorted, annoyed. "I was going to ask what should we do."

"Hopefully nothing, but it depends on what Seree-chan has done."

"I thought you weren't going to ask her."

"I'm not!" She looked back at him. "We just have to figure it out, but as I said, nothing is the best thing to do."

"Right, right. You know..." Ichigo looked at the apartment. "I don't think it's unusual to think you're going crazy if you suddenly start seeing all this weird stuff. Although he seems to have taken it a bit too far."

"You didn't think you were crazy."

"I didn't believe you at first, remember? You freaking bound my arms to my back with kidō when I complained! Besides, I had family history on gho-"

Ichigo stopped talking mid-sentence. They looked at each other and then turned simultaneously towards the apartment window.

"Do you think his mother..."

"Seree will know." Rukia answered his unfinished question, then huffed exasperated. "I am not asking her!"

"Asking her what?" Seree said, coming out of the building.

"Are you... Well, done?" Rukia asked with some mischievousness in her voice, but failing completely to faze Seree even one bit.

"Yup!"

She was more than smiling, she was practically beaming. For a moment, Ichigo was reminded of Orihime, only with a much smaller cup size and an even more outrageous hairstyle. He noticed the butterfly perched atop her head, looking rather comfortable. He had to stifle a laugh.

"Hm?" Seree looked up. "Oh, that! It seems to be its favourite spot, hehehe."

"You look awfully upbeat for someone who's about to get into all kinds of trouble."

"Yup! Completely worth it."

"You'll probably be spending some time in a cell, not to talk extra punishment duties."

"Completely worth it!" She replied, pumping a fist into the air. "Let's go!"

Rukia sighed and shook her head.

What a girl.

"At least I hope you have learned a lesson. It may have ended well this time, and I understand that your heart was in the right place, but that's no way to do things Seree-chan." Rukia reprimanded her.

"I know." She sighed, but immediately regained her energy. "I know! But sometimes people push you away because they want to be left alone, and sometimes they want you to go after them."

Rukia looked at her for a few moments, pondering where she had gotten that from.

"So which one was it?" Ichigo asked.

"To be honest, I'm not too sure. But! I think that a few days locked away so that I don't do anything silly is probably a good idea."

"So you do have self-awareness, just no self-control." Rukia poked her, which got a giggle and a playfully poked out tongue from Seree. She unsheathed Sode no Shirayuki and, taking a stab at the air, opened the Senkaimon. "Off you go then, I'm assuming I don't have to escort you back."

"No, no, it's fine. Thank you Kuchiki-dono! Bye Kurosaki-kun!"

She left with more than a spring in her step, she was literally hopping. For a moment Rukia considered whether she had just put Chappy in her gigai to throw them off. No, that would be too silly, even for her.

"She really owes me for tonight." Ichigo said.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's no way my idiot father will let me sleep in until late tomorrow." He replied, obviously annoyed.

On the other side, Seree was greeted by a very annoyed Isane and six Shinigami guards carrying spears. She didn't lose her smile at all.

"Seree!"

"Eh-hehe, hello Lieutenant."

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused?"

"Not really... I kinda half expected I'd have to run away or something when I went across the Senkaimon, but everybody just ignored me and I waltzed trough."

"Because you had a Hell Butterfly! And then they found me, and asked me why were you going through this gate without warning at this ungodly hour! You're lucky it was me and not the Captain, and that Rukia-san found you so quickly!"

"Yes, thank you Lieutenant!"

"And why are you still smiling?"

"Because it was worth it!" Seree replied, full of energy.

The response she had expected didn't happen, and at that moment Isane looked more surprised by her answer than annoyed. She then steeled her resolve, but Seree smiled inwardly. Isane didn't stay mad for long, she just didn't have it in her. Sometimes it felt like she was going through the motions merely because it was expected of her rank. Whenever someone got really chewed up by one of the captains, she always looked more worried about the Shinigami on the receiving end of the reprieve.

"We'll talk about this in the morning. Just take her away."

"Sure! I'm sorry for the troubles, Lieutenant."

"You don't look very sorry."

"I am! It's just that I'd do it again!"

Isane regarded her with some curiosity, then simply waved at the guards and they took her away. It was just too damn late and in the middle of the night to have that kind of conversation.

Once Seree was in her cell, she sat on the cot, took one of the butterfly feed ampoules from her pocket and, cracking it open, offered it to the Hell Butterfly perched atop her head. It sipped slowly, as if it were savouring every drop.

"If there's anything else you want, just let me know!"

The butterfly moved its wings slowly a couple of times, but that was all the answer she got. It looked rather content at the time. After it had fed, Seree fell back on the cot, and the startled butterfly fluttered away for a few seconds before settling down again on her forehead.

"I'm just glad Yaso looks so much happier now..." She blushed slightly, thinking of the first kiss, and of the last one, and how she now was calling him...

Yaso.

"Tee-hee." She couldn't help giggling. "Still, Kuchiki-dono is right. At least I could fix it this time. You know..." She looked up and managed to see the tip of the butterfly's wings. "I'm not sure he really believes me. Rather, I'm still not sure he believes his eyes I guess. But it's a first step. I kinda hope they'll lock me up in here for a few days so that I don't do anything stupid now."

She stayed awake almost until morning again, only aware of it when the sun broke through the window of her small cell. Her head was filled with a thousand and one possibilities for the future, but it wasn't until then that she focused on the most immediate one. Morning was almost here. And that meant Captain Unohana. She tried a dozen times to imagine what it would be like. She had only heard about her being scary when mad, she had never experienced it, the only exception was when she had almost contradicted her before being sent to the real world (and how long ago that felt!). The best she could come up with was imagining her face and demeanour at being disappointed in Seree. That felt bad already.

Reality was a thousand times worse.