Hi! Sorry that my postings are few and far between, I have another story on the go, which is stupid, I know, but meh...I wanted to write that one as well. I'm going to try to post one for this and one for Hollow Days. So, sorry to try your patience, readers, I AM working! I swear!

Hazy and suffocated. That was how Byakuya felt. Trapped in a bubble of black, suffocated, all alone and far from where he wanted to be. He tried to move his arms, to fight out of the darkness, but he felt paralyzed. Where was he? What was going on? A small crack appeared just in view. It was stark white, contrasting to the black wonderfully. Then, huge pressure squeezed his head, feeling like his head was being crushed. It got worse and worse, doubling-no-tripling in intensity...then vanished. The blackness flushed purple and Byakuya felt...safe.

He groaned quietly as he returned to consciousness. He could feel the eyes on him before he even opened his own. Slowly, he opened his eyes a fraction. Four pairs of eyes were staring at him.

"And he's alive!" a male voice cried happily.

"Told you he would be," called another, "Kuchiki-Fukutaicho isn't going to let some measly Shinihana beat him!"

Byakuya knew those voices.

It was Makki and Jushiree! Which meant the others were Lonos and Kota?

He sat up and looked at the four of them in mild confusion.

"What in the world is going on?" he asked, slightly staggered, "How are you all alive?"

"The Betrayer-san," Kota said, looking at the others, who nodded in agreement, "She managed to hide all of our reiatsu, making it seem like we were dead. Then, she brought us here and patched up our wounds and went after you."

"We all owe her our lives," Jushiree murmured, looking down at t he floor.

Silence fell on the group. Byakuya looked away, around the room. He was happy his subordinated were alright, and impressed that the Betrayer had saved them all, but something felt...off about the whole thing. The room he was lying in was bare, with wooden, whitewashed walls. The wooden floorboards were uneven and uncomfortable, the only furnishings in the room, sleeping mats. It couldn't have been further from the luxury of Kuchiki manner. Something like sympathy twinged in Byakuya's heart. A woman who could easily save five Shinigami could surely afford better than this. Why did she choose to live like this? Come to think of it...where was she?

"Where is Betrayer-san, anyway?" Byakuya asked, watching the men assembled carefully.

Lonos ran a hand through his straw coloured hair.

"She's gone to work, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho," he stated flatly, "she won't be back 'til later."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "To work?" he inquired keeping his tone neutral, "Why is she going back to the Shinihana?"

Awkwardness filled the room.

Makki coughed. "Not that kind of work, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho. She has another...job."

"I'm not sure I understand, Makki. Would you care to elaborate?" he said icily, folding his arms.

"We're not sure but we think she might be a-" Lonos faltered under the glare he was getting from everyone else.

Byakuya's eyes narrowed to slits. He got exactly what he was implying. "Are there any grounds to that statement, Lonos?" he asked, evenly.

"N-no, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho!" he squeaked, quailing under his glare.

"Then do not accuse her of that. She has shown us kindness and saved our lives, is no doubt paying for any meals you have had, is risking her life for us every second and you wish to sully her name like that?"

He had the decency to look ashamed.

"Sorry, Kuchiki-Fukutaicho," he said, looking down, ashamed, "I didn't think of it like that."

"I know."

"That's not even right anyway," Jushiree stated, shaking his head, "she does manual labour. I've seen her, dashing about all over the Rukongai, with mop or sweeping brush in hand. I think she works for small businesses, you know, cleaning and doing all the work no-one else wants to do."

Everyone looked at him. Jushiree looked around.

"What?" he asked self-consciously.

Lonos and Kota shook their heads.

"When did you ever get out of here?" Makki asked, sounding astonished.

Jushiree lowered his head. "I haven't been out of here, but, back when I used to live in the Rukongai, my adoptive family owned a restaurant of sorts. They got her to do the cleaning after closing hours because my 'mother' was incapable and my 'father' was...well, let's say he was a high-risk trader and leave it at that. I asked her about it yesterday."

"You grew up here?" Makki asked, almost cringing, "And you lived to tell the tale?"

"Obviously," Jushiree said, pensively, "It's a hell-hole, with Kusajishi and Zaraki a mere stone throw away. People used to walk into the woods and never come back. Bandits would break into houses and kill people in their sleep, just for fun. That's how my adoptive brother died."

Heavy silence filled the room. Byakuya looked at Jushiree with something akin to sympathy. He couldn't imagine growing up like that. It just illustrated the difference between the Seritei and the Rukongai.

"Well, now that's sorted out," Kota said, trying to break the tension, standing and stretching, "Who's for some supper?"

"Supper?" Byakuya queried, confused, "How long was I unconscious?"

"Almost a day, I think." Kota responded, walking over to a lighter section of wall.

Byakuya kept his expressions hidden behind the mask that was his face, but inside he felt angry. He had missed a whole day? And all because of his foolishness, not heeding the Betrayer-san's warning about Kayo!

Jushiree, Lonos and Makki stood, stretching as well. Byakuya started to get up, but Makki knelt and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll bring the food to you, Kuchiki-Fukutaichou, the Betrayer-san told us not to let you move around too much or your wounds might open again."

Reluctantly, Byakuya sat back down and watched sombrely as they slid back the paper partition that he had thought was a wall. Makki was right, of course. He would respect Betrayer-san's wishes. What right had he to disregard them? Come to think of it...how had she gotten him out of there? What had she done? Byakuya felt foreboding creep into his heart. What was going on? What were her motives? She had claimed that she just wanted to help him, but there had to be something deeper than that. There was a reason she was feared by that man in the jail cell, Sokka. No-one knew anything about her. Nobody trusted her. What reason had she to help them? Quite perplexing. He looked up as Makki set some food down in front of him. Well, food was a rather basic description of what was in front of him. There was, in a worn wooden bowl, a grey, steaming liquid, with unidentifiable chunks floating around on the surface. His expression must have been priceless, because Makki laughed, great gales bouncing off the close walls.

"It tastes better than it looks, Kuchiki-Fukutaichou!" Then, he lowered his voice, "It's as good as it gets around here in the Rukongai."

"Thank you, Makki."

When the man didn't leave, Byakuya looked at him questioningly. "Are you trying to make sure I eat this?" he asked, tiredly.

"Yeah," Makki said, smiling apologetically, "Betrayer-san told us to watch you and make sure you ate something, even if we had to force-feed you."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "There won't be any such need," he said coolly.

"Of course not, Sir," Makki said, bowing his head, "Bon appetite!"

Eyeing the food warily, Byakuya brought the bowl to his lips.

The mixture was warm, which was nice, but it was largely flavourless. The chunks-which were some form of meat- were chewy and slimy. It took all of the noble's willpower not to gag as he swallowed it.

Makki watched his reaction with amusement and pity. Byakuya set the bowl down, coughing into his hand, and watched as Makki picked it up.

"Life in the Rukongai," Makki murmured quietly as he got up and walked to the partition, "is difficult. Everything these people earn goes from hand to mouth. Most of the time, people go hungry if they have any reiatsu. We are very fortunate that the Betrayer-san is willing to share with us."

Byakuya didn't reply. He had no concept of what life was like here. He was truly lucky to have people who were willing to help him, no matter how suspicious they were. But that didn't mean his suspicions didn't have grounds. There was something about that woman that...set him in edge. She was so unpredictable, which wasn't a good thing when trying to win a stranger's trust. Everyone was either wary or resentful of her and nobody knew anything about her. Byakuya sat and contemplated what to do. He nursed two ideas:

1) He and his men could leave, return to the Seritei and report the hostilities and leave money behind for her kindness. That seemed like a good idea; apart from he didn't actually know where he was. He couldn't ask people, as residents of the Rukongai did not like Shinigami under any stretch of the imagination, and it seemed rude to just walk out on someone who had saved their lives.

2) He was still injured, tired and very much at a loss when it came to the Rukongai, so he could send his men back to the Seritei to report the Shinihana aggression whilst he stayed, got better and could study the Shinihana. This idea had merit seeing as then there would be less strain on the Betrayer-san to provide for them, they could deliver the report on time and more Shinigami could be prevented going into the Rukongai and getting hurt or, more likely, killed. However, if his men got recaptured, Betrayer-san would most likely be killed, or-alternatively- the Betrayer-san could actually be acting on orders from the Shinihana to care for them and then torture them for information.

3) They could all sit in the house and pray Yamamoto didn't send anyone after them.

Not great options.

Unexpectedly, he felt fatigue roll over him. His eyes shut against his will and he felt his body slump back onto the sleeping mat. Once again, he heard her voice whisper, "Sleep, Shinigami-sama," in his head. There was an almost maternal feel to the words. Before he realised what was happening, he yielded to her compelling whisper, and sank into sleep.

The Betrayer looked up from the floor she was sweeping, startled. She felt her reiatsu drop, albeit a little. So he had taken the sleeper-soup. She was quite proud of it really. She had used it only once before, on her old mentor Kayo-sama, in an attempt to leave him to the bandits in Zaraki-the 80th district- and had almost gotten away with it, too. It was just her luck that he would wake up just as she was sneaking out of the room they were locked in. Then, she had used it for malicious purposes, but now, for the Shinigami-sama, it was used to give him much deserved rest. She looked out of the half-boarded up window and sighed. The sky was just getting darker, which meant she was nearly done.

"OI!"
The rough voice of her employer shattered her train of thoughts. The burly man stomped over and stooped until he was in her face. She could smell his rank breath through her bandages and see the wispy black hairs sticking out from his face.

"If he gets any closer, I'll introduce his misshapen, bald face to his floor!" she growled internally.

"I ain't paying ya to stare out of the window, ya lazy cow! Get to work NOW!" he snarled, viciously shoving her back.

"S-sorry Sir!" she replied timidly, bowing, playing the terrified innocent act.

"Ya better be! You're so damn lucky anyone will even give ya a job! I don't know what ya did, ya little betraying scum, but if you don't have this floor clean by the time I can see the stars, I ain't paying ya! Got that?"

"Y-yes Sir!" she stammered, hurriedly scrubbing the floor with the greying mop. He watched her for another minute, before slouching back into his kitchen.

Carefully, she weaved her way between the tables and chairs in the restaurant, trying to avoid knocking the perfectly arranged "cutlery", which was really an unidentifiable hunk of wood next to "plates" (more wood, only flatter and with wobbly designs etched into them). She continued to clean the floor, making sure not to leave any mess. Manual labour was so mundane, so basic... well, it payed and that's what mattered.

Twenty minutes later, the man came back and inspected his floor. Begrudgingly, he threw a purse at her, growling at her not to hang around for too long, as she'd scare off his customers. She was angry, but used to this sort of treatment. No-one wanted her to hang around. She wasn't overly surprised. Sighing, she turned and made her way back home. The walk was long, just gracing the forestry between Kusajishi (which roughly translated to certain death), but it avoided the usual Shinihana haunts, and, because of the way she had acted last night, Kusajishi sound a whole lot safer!

It took her ten minutes to walk back to her house. She looked around once to make sure it was safe saw Makki, Jushiree, Lonas and Kota gathered around the prone form of Kuchiki-Fukutaichou.

"The sleeper soup worked, I take it?" she inquired, barely raising her voice above a whisper for fear of waking him.

"Yeah," Makki whispered back, "he didn't even fight it."

"That takes some skill," Kota muttered, "knocking out a Fukutaichou that effortlessly."

She smiled thinly behind her bandages as she knelt next to them. "He needs his rest. Big things are afoot and we need to plan our next move. This is an intricate game we are playing, one in which any number of things could go wrong. To protect not only our lives, but the Seritei and everything we hold dear, Kuchiki-Fukutaichou will need his rest."

The men stared at her in something akin to awe. She flushed, embarrassed. Who was she to gain such looks of admiration from Shinigami? She didn't deserve the looks they were giving her. But she didn't let her distress show.

"You people too! You need your rest also!" she announced cheerily, distracting them.

Hurriedly, they got up and ran over to the sleeping mats they had used the night before, pulling the thin sheets around them. Within minutes, they were asleep. The Betrayer sighed, pulling the sheets tighter around the sleeping Fukutaichou. He looked so peaceful when he slept, that envy tightened her stomach. She hadn't slept peacefully in years.

"Good night, Shinigami-sama," she whispered, gently getting to her feet and leaving the room, "Sleep tight."