He was uncertain of when they had slid down from their seated position against the wall to laying on the floor of the cave. What he did know was that the grumbling of his stomach woke him up, and he found himself observing that while he had slept she had gone off alone to gather firewood, build a fire, and caught a few fish that had been scaled, gutted, and were now cooking over the open flame of the fire. He also noted that the storm was raging on outside of the cave.

She glanced over at him and smiled as she greeted him, "you're awake again."

He gently wiped some sleep from his eyes while replying, "Hmm. How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours, not the whole night, it's late evening now," she answered as she handed one of the cooked fish to him.

He accepted it but almost snapped, "It's only late evening? If the storm stopped long enough for you to gather all of this stuff, we could've headed back by now! Why didn't you wake me up?"

Tama blinked as she admitted, "I didn't have the heart to. You were sick earlier from the poison, and although you felt better, I thought maybe it was still affecting you a bit but you didn't want me to worry."

His shoulders sagged a little as he processed the information and then recalled, "and I said we could look for that house you remembered."

He closed his eyes momentarily before opening them again and agreeing, "Alright. It's better for us to take turns sleeping when we're outside of the manor anyway. Since I've already slept I'll take over watch while you sleep after we eat."

He shifted so he was sitting cross legged and began to eat the fish off of the twig that had speared it. Tama was eating her own fish as well. The flavour was a little blander than he usually liked, but there was some added flavour from the fish being cooked with the twig through it. It wasn't quite what he was used to but it was definitely palatable. Tama was also eating her fish, methodically removing the bones from her mouth as she encountered them. He did the same, tossing them onto the floor of the cave by the fire.

He finished eating his fish and set the stick down by the fire, gently poking at the fire to keep the embers burning. He caught a glimpse of her from the corner of his eye, and noticed she seemed troubled. Without hesitation he inquired, "what's wrong?"

Tama's eyes became downcast and she seemed to take a keen interest in the fire. He kept observing her, waiting, in his head he counted to ten, once, twice, three times. She wet her lips and confessed, "I'm a little nervous about looking for that house."

She had his complete attention, and he moved a little closer to indicate he was listening intently. She kept her eyes downcast, not looking up at him while she continued, "Lord Sojun did mention that he thought my parents are a noble born woman and a former Shinigami Lieutenant—a Lieutenant of the second division—and that the noble born woman was the daughter of a kido chief—if that's true why am I so bad at Shinigami skills?"

He had an idea of why. He knew that Fennikusu Yokusei didn't just provide a means of cheating death, it ultimately put restrictions on the reiatsu the person the spell is used on can access, and those restrictions can only be removed by the person being brought to the brink of death and reviving. It also comes at the cost of retrograde amnesia. Those two effects, he knew, were the primary reasons why it was classed as a forbidden kido. Spells of sacrifice or spells that can have devastating effects on a large scale are typically prohibited. Ultimately Fennikusu Yokusei isn't a spell of self sacrifice or target sacrifice in a literal sense, unlike Itto Kaso, which literally requires you to sacrifice a piece of your body to activate the spell—but it does come at a high price. Too high a price to be reasonably used in most situations, that he knew to be true, but he also knew that knowledge wouldn't help the feelings she was having.

After a moment he replied, "I don't know what happened before you woke up in that village, but whatever it was—I'd imagine it had to be pretty intense. If we're right about this it's likely that your mother would've been the one to cast it on you as a means of being able to protect you even if she couldn't save herself. If I'm right, she likely had a lot of conflicting feelings about it, a sense of guilt and remorse but also a strong desire to protect you in any way she could. It would've ultimately been done out of an act of love, not malice."

The corners of her mouth slightly curved upwards as she nodded in agreement of his view and stated, "could well be. If I'm honest—I hope you're right."

"Whether I'm right or wrong, I'm seeing this through with you," he promised.

"You'll be putting yourself in danger," she pointed out. He rolled his eyes in response while he countered, "getting out of bed in the morning can be dangerous. Stub your toe, trip on your yukata, fall through a wall and drown in a hot spring. Anything's possible."

She sat wide eyed before she gave a small giggle at the mental image he'd conjured for her and admitted, "there's truth to that."

Her shoulders sagged as she reminded him, "but you're not just anyone. You're a future head of your clan… a greater noble house. You shouldn't be involved in a commoner's drama."

His objection was immediate, "If we don't involve ourselves when someone is in need of help but has no resources to obtain that help on their own, can we truly call ourselves noble?"

He gained a small smile as he added, "I know the laws well enough to act within the confines of them, however each law does have at least one loophole that can be exploited when it's necessary to do so. Father is quite skilled and knowledgeable he knows how and when to do so, sometimes I worry that I'll grow up to be too restrictive like grandfather. I enjoy my conversations with grandfather, whenever they happen—but sometimes he's too—rigid. It's almost suffocating."

"He cares about you, I suppose it's his way of showing it," Tama offered. She smiled before admitting, "knowing the law, the loopholes of the law and when to exploit them—that's a tricky line to walk. Though I do think once you figure out those three things, you'll be one of the best heads of any greater noble clan. You have an equal amount of both your grandfather and father in you and that's not an easy contrast to maintain, I'm confident you'll be able to. You're brave, strong and intelligent, I think that's what makes a good leader more than anything else."

At this, a pink blush lightly dusted the tops of his cheeks as he thanked her for her view of him. She gave a small shrug of her shoulders, which he knew meant that she was only being honest with him. He shifted closer to her and she rested her head on his shoulder. He found himself smiling again, but his gaze landed on her lips. Briefly wondering how soft they'd feel against his, he wondered what her mouth would taste like, probably the fish they just ate. He became aware of how deep his breathing had become, and that although her head hadn't left his shoulder, she was currently looking directly at him. His blush intensified a little, realizing he'd been caught by her.

"Byakuya?"

He hummed in acknowledgement, and she shifted so her head was no longer on his shoulder. Was it his imagination or did she just glance at his mouth as well? He swallowed a bit harshly before he gently leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.