DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.

A/N: 'kay so. I made a boo-boo. :D I hadn't watched a whole load of Bleach when I started writing these fic so the timeline of who went to school when wasn't exactly clear to me. That, and I was egged on by someone to include some Toushiro x Momo stuff, so that's why they're at school / graduated in the wrong order and blahblah. That, and I was a bit lazy (I'll admit it) to try to find or think up new names and I really didn't think people would get bothered by a couple of names in the wrong time period if they were never really going to show up again, so I picked random characters (like Tousen and Shuuhei). I know NOW that Momo went to school with Rukia (thanks to Byakuxhisa4eva and a careful rewatching of a number of episodes). My mistake. If it irks people enough, let me know, and I'll go back and change it all.

Oh, and thelovablechelsea! I'll forgive you if you forgive me for not updating when I said I would. Deal? Haha, my mom changed my cello lesson to be a day earlier so I had to cram like crazy to be able to pull it off. T-T

The House of Kuchiki

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

As the wedding celebration continued on, guests slowly began to give their congratulations before leaving for their houses. Eventually, only a handful of people actually remained at the manor, a very drunk Matsumoto included. The remaining few had stayed because she had threatened their lives if they left, Captain Ukitake, who was very amused by this, among them.

After chugging down another small bottle of sake, Matsumoto finally passed out, the guests who were forced to stay standing up quickly, bowing and congratulating the married couple and leaving as fast as they could without making things too obvious.

Hisana had gotten very sleepy and ended up leaning her head against her husband's shoulder, and had, in turn, fallen asleep there. Byakuya hadn't noticed that she was asleep yet, too preoccupied with making sure Matsumoto didn't break anything in her drunken fury that people were leaving the party 'early'. Now that she had finally pushed herself to the limit of falling asleep from the alcohol, things were finally starting to clam down.

Ukitake approached Hisana and Byakuya with a smile. "I believe it's time for me to go. Give my regards to her when she awakens, hm?"

Byakuya looked down at Hisana, his tired and plain expression turning into a smile as he nodded. Ukitake gave a slight wave, and left the estate. At this point, the passed out Matsumoto was the only one who remained out of the guests.

Byakuya had assumed she was going to want to stay the night and had taken the necessary preparations; she was to stay in one of the guest rooms. Arisu had, at one point or another, pointed out that since Hisana really didn't need her guest room any longer, Matsumoto could simply stay there, since it was already set up. To Byakuya, it wasn't a bad idea.

Signaling servants forward, he quietly commanded them to somehow get Matsumoto to her room, and then allowed them to call it a night afterwards. They could clean in the morning, he decided, and the servants, too tired to function much longer, were certainly pleased with his decision.

"Hisana."

She stirred in her sleep opening her eyes slowly. "Hm...?"

"We have to get inside, Hisana." Byakuya smiled softly as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. How could someone be so adorable?

"But I'm comfy here..." She snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his arm as she closed her eyes again.

Arisu, whose eyes were starting to close as she walked from being tired and a little drunk, slowly approached them. She scrunched her nose, realizing that the chairs they were in were impossible for him to get out of with a sleeping woman latched onto his arm. "That's a bit of a problem... I was going to suggest you carry her. Oh well. Good luck with that." And with that, Arisu headed into the manor to call it a night.

Byakuya sighed and decided to try again, this time, moving his hand to her shoulder to shake her lightly. "Hisana..."

Hisana sat up this time, rubbing her eyes once more and looking around. "Everyone left...?"

Byakuya nodded, successfully suppressing a yawn. "With the exception of your friend, that is."

"I didn't get to say goodbye... they must think I'm rude." Hisana yawned and frowned.

Byakuya shook his head at this and stood, stretching a bit before offering his hand to her. "They stayed too long; you grew tired. Of the two situations, yours is far less rude."

---

Hisana stopped once they had stepped into the manor and looked around. "Which way do I go now? Do I have to get my stuff?"

"It's done already, Hisana-sama." Kanaye approached the two of the with a tired smile. "And your things have been transferred into the master bedroom as well, Byakuya-sama."

Hisana blinked in a sleepy confusion, not noticing the change in honorifics used by Kanaye. "Transferred? Your room wasn't the master one?"

Byakuya shook his head. "That's the room I've had since I was a child. I never wanted to move into the other room alone; it's far too big and lonely for just one person."

Hisana's jaw dropped, the realization of how big the room must be knocking the sleepiness away. "The other room... is... bigger?" His current room could easily fit four people, dozens of kimonos, allow movement, and still have tons of room to spare. Was a bigger room even POSSIBLE?

Kanaye nodded. "Do you wish for me to come with you in case you need anything, Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya shook his head with a smile. "It's alright, Kanaye. I'm sure I'll be able to fend for myself for the night. You can go to sleep."

---

"Oh... my... goodness." Hisana took a step into the room and blinked several times, jaw dropped. "This is..."

"Our room." Byakuya stepped into the large room and walked over towards a closet, sliding its door open. "I need to figure out were everything is now... No, this one's yours."

"Mine...?" She watched him slide the door shut and open the closet right next to it. She approached the closet and slowly slid the door open. "But these kimonos aren't mine..."

Byakuya looked over. "They aren't?" He slid the closet the door of the closet he was looking through shut, standing next to Hisana to look at the kimonos carefully. "No, these are yours."

"Are not. I know what I own, and these most certainly are not mine."

"They are. Now, at least." Byakuya half-smiled, the effects of the small amounts of sake he drank and the lack of sleep in recent days finally catching up to him. "They come with the whole marrying a noble business."

"... they... you..." Hisana's eyes went wide, as she quickly shut the closet door shut. "You didn't!"

"Didn't what? You didn't expect to get nothing for a wedding gift from the clan, did you?" Byakuya slowly opened his haori and went back to his closet to hang it up.

Hisana frowned and looked around the room. She sighed and looked back at Byakuya. "I can't accept all those kimonos, Byakuya-sama. Or all this."

"You can't turn any of it down. If you did, they would end up being mine. Thus, yours regardless, because, unfortunately for you, we're married." He smiled before continuing, "Anyways, let's get ready to sleep..."

"That's all the exploring you're going to do?" Hisana looked around the room again.

"We can explore tomorrow morning. I'm tired."

Hisana forced down a giggle. He certainly sounded like it, and, for some strange reason, she found it adorable. She walked over to her closet. "Now which of these are meant for sleeping...?"

After finally figuring out what she was going to wear to sleep, she wandered off across the immensely large room and into what she thought was going to be a bathroom. She found herself to be correct and after fussing with the over-kimono to get it off, she struggled in opening her obi and failed miserably. Stepping out of the bathroom, she found Byakuya taking out his hairpiece, already changed into his night clothes.

"...I need help." She blushed a deep red as he looked towards her.

"With?" He put the hairpiece down and ruffled his hair slightly, making it fall down across his face as it naturally would.

She blushed a deeper red and turned around to reveal a tightly knotted obi. "This."

"Did Arisu do it?" Byakuya approached her slowly and saw her nod. "She did it on purpose so I'd have to help you get it open. Plotting things as always..."

She felt him tug on the obi gently and felt it come loose.

"There."

"Well... what exactly would result from you helping me open the obi?" Hisana turned her head over her shoulder, watching him collect the fabric of the obi slowly, frowning when he didn't respond but simply held up the fabric for her to take it.

---

Hisana walked out of the bathroom minutes later to find Byakuya already under the covers of the bed, the lamp on the bedside table the only source of light, aside from the moonlight, in the room. She shyly walked over and sat down on the bed next to him, slowly lifting the covers and scooting closer to him. "Now..."

"Hm?"

She snuggled close to him, resting her head on his chest. "What's the deal with the whole obi thing?"

"It's nothing."

Hisana frowned and sat up. "Tell me..."

Byakuya shook his head. "It's not a big deal, Hisana."

She furrowed her brow, beginning to get annoyed. "You're not supposed to keep things from me... If it's not a big deal, why can't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't want to." Byakuya forced himself to keep a straight face, finding her stubbornness more adorable than usual.

"Why can't you just... why must you... why do you..." Hisana felt flustered, something about the way his hair fell into his face and the expression on his face had an effect on her she had never experienced before. "If you won't tell me, you could always show me!"

"Show you...?"

Hisana nodded. "Why? Is that a problem?"

Byakuya shook his head slowly and leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers briefly before pulling back a small distance, their lips brushing as he moved to kiss her cheek softly before reaching back to turn off the lamp.

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Sorry it took me so long; had a bit of a conflict with my mom that totally destroyed my mood and will to write for a bit. But it's all better now, kinda. Oh, I started to finally use the LJ I've had for months, so if anyone has a livejournal and wants to add meeee, the link is in my profile. :D My life is actually very boring, though, so yeah. :P Update up tomorrow.