A/N: *wipes shards of glass off of sleeve* Okay, that wasn't really that bad. Now that we've got the cliffhanger out of the way, let me just apologize for Azami, and let me point out that I promise, this story will not suddenly revolve around her. She's meant to introduce conflict and stir the pot, not to drag on incessantly—we have Kyoka Suigetsu for that.

The next few chapters are going to contain a LOT of Karin. Like a LOT. HOWEVER, because of circumstances involving not being in Seiretei, they're going to have a severe dearth of HITSUKARIN. So. When Karin gets back, this will be corrected. For now, enjoy depression and awkward all around.

MisplacedWit, replied to you via PM~ Sorry for spoiling too much in my PM.

Codry, I'm just replying to let you know that I laughed out loud from your review, and am now getting odd looks in the lab (I haven't cracked, I swear, even if 5 14-hour days in a dark windowless room full of instruments have made me nearly throw a science-tantrum that would impress Mayuri…let's just say you don't mess with my specimens in the middle of the night, dammit). I now cannot get the image out of my head of an enraged reader reaching into the story to strangle Byakuya with his own hair. XD Thank you.

Lina1991, *ducks behind couch, shielding self from impending glassware* MEEP!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.

Chapter 27: Just past each other

"Kenpachi!" shouted Kurosaki Ichigo from the vicinity of the Eleventh Division. "Where the hell is my sister?!"

"How the hell should I know?!" Kenpachi's voice was loud in the early morning. Loud and annoyed. "Who has time to keep track of that shit?"

"She's your fourth seat! You're her goddamn captain. You're supposed to know, you bastard!"

"Oh yeah? You wanna make somethin' outta it, Ichigo?"

Toshiro sat at his desk, his eyes moving towards the window as the clash of sword against sword rang in the air, a pair of reiatsus clashing with each other. He studied the window for a while, his head propped up in his hand, before his eyes moved slowly down to the folded piece of paper on his desk. His name was penned on the front, in a quick, bold hand that he had long since learned to recognize.

"Taicho, aren't you going to do anything about that?" asked Matsumoto from over the window, her arms folded under her chest. She watched the scene with concern. "They're going to wreck the place at this rate."

"What for, Matsumoto?" asked Toshiro, picking up the next sheaf of papers on his desk and starting to look through it.

"Well, considering they're talking about Karin-chan being missing, I'd think you'd be a little more concerned," said Matsumoto, turning her eyes on him. Toshiro didn't look up at her, his grip tightening on his paperwork.

"She left a note," was all he said, flipping to the next page.

"A note?!" Matsumoto's eyes glossed over, and in an instant, she was at his desk, bracing her hands against the edge and leaning over so that her face was uncomfortably close to his. "What did it say? Is she alright? What's she—?"

Toshiro reached out, and with the ease of years of practice, pushed Matsumoto out of his personal bubble. "It says—," he said, as he held her at arm's length. "—that she wants to be left alone."

"And you're okay with that?" asked Matsumoto, frowning at him. "What if she gets hurt?"

"She's Karin," said Toshiro, turning his face so that it was pointed away from her and focusing his eyes back on his paperwork. "She'll go whether or not I want her to, and she isn't going to like it if I bring her back. Now get back to work."

"But with the state of emergency—," Matsumoto began.

"Like I said," said Toshiro, lifting his eyes from the papers to give her an impatient glare. "I trust her. And so should you. Now get to work."

He ignored Matsumoto's next arguments, his eyes studiously fixed on his paperwork as Ichigo and Kenpachi's reiatsus continued to flare outside. When Matsumoto eventually walked back to her desk, his eyes moved, turning towards the folded piece of paper again. He'd read it three or four times since finding it on his desk this morning, and had practically memorized it by now. The words played through his mind again, as they had many times that day.

Toshiro, it read. I know you're not going to like this. In fact, you're probably going to be pretty pissed. But I'm pretty sure your orders to keep me in Seireitei expired the minute my sister came back. I'm not going to tell you where I'm going—that way you won't get in trouble for keeping your mouth shut. All you need to know is that I'm not going after Kyoka Suigetsu. I'm not stupid, and I'm not going to charge alone into a fight that I know is going to happen anyway. But there's some things I have to deal with on my own.

You know me. I'm not the kind of person who can just sit still and wait for things to happen. Especially not when my family gets hurt. Kyoka Suigetsu's going to be back, and when she is, I want to be ready for her. So I can fight her with all of you.

Don't feel like you have to cover for me. Zaraki-taicho's not going to care, but if Ichi-nii or my old man ask, you can tell them I left a note. I would have told them something too, but you're closer, and I didn't want to get caught. If the soutaicho asks, you can tell him the truth. I'm training for bankai. Again. Let's see if I can actually get Ongetsu to cooperate this time.

I'm sorry to put you through this, and I'm sorry that this letter sucks. I'm bad with feelings and words, and you know this already. For some reason, you've stuck around for ten years, so I'm guessing you're okay with that.

I like what we have, and I'm not letting some crazy bitch take it away. When she shows up, I want to be standing beside you. So wait for me.

Karin

P.S: Matsumoto has a stash of sake under the loose floorboard by the couch. Thought you should know.

A vein pulsed in his forehead as he remembered the last line, but he decided not to bring it up now. His eyes moved away from the letter, going back to the paperwork on his desk. I trust her, he'd told Matsumoto. And he did. But still…

Hurry up and finish your training, he thought, listening as someone—probably Ichigo—crashed into a wall.

We'll all be waiting.

The nice thing about Rukongai, in Karin's opinion, was how easy it was to get lost in. Not accidentally lost, like what had happened to Yuzu in Inuzuri, but lost on purpose. There were so many districts with so much space in between them that it was easy enough to pick one direction and go, and know that the Gotei 13 wasn't going to waste time looking for one errant shinigami when they had an actual emergency on their hands.

The spot Karin had chosen for her training was a forest on the outskirts of the 48th district of Eastern Rukongai. Far enough away from Seiretei to know that no one would be looking, close enough to it that she could sleep at night if she had to—not that she was planning on doing much sleeping. She walked into a clearing in the center of the thick forest, a determined look on her face. She slipped off her cloak and supplies, leaving them bundled underneath a tree, then stepped out into the center of the clearing, Ongetsu's sheathed form in hand. Karin stopped close to the center and unsheathed the blade, then threw it down onto the ground without ceremony.

"Alright, you little brat," she said. "You know what I want, and I know what I want. So why don't we just quit the games and cut right to the chase? Come out of there. You and I have unfinished business."

"Is that how you talk to a part of your soul?"

Karin had expected Ongetsu to be unhappy when she drew him out, but she didn't expect this. A tendril of shadow wrapped around her neck suddenly, pulling her to the ground and squeezing so tightly that for a moment she couldn't breathe. Shadows emanated from the blade as Karin struggled to get this one off of her, her heart pounding in her chest as she gasped for breath. She reached for the shadows, but they slipped right out of her fingers, her hands moving through them like they weren't even there.

"Silly me," said a voice from beside her. "Of course it is."

She watched, eyes wide, as a pair of sneakered feet moved into her field of view, shadows carpeting the ground around the figure. Ongetsu stared down at her, a smirk on his face. He was holding the rabbit now, in both hands. It was nearly as big as he was, and it looked down at her. The shaft of his scythe form was tucked into the crook of his arm, the blade hanging over his head.

"I've told you, you weren't ready," said Ongetsu. "And you clearly didn't understand what I meant. So I guess I'll just have to show it to you."

Karin's eyes narrowed, but the pressure around her neck didn't ease. She couldn't speak like this, but she could think, and she glared at him, releasing a slew of invective that would make any of her fellow Division members proud. Ongetsu didn't even flinch. Instead, he reached down, smoothing her hair out of his eyes so that he could look into them. Dark gray met bright gold, the two of them staring at each other.

"You hate me, don't you, Karin?" asked Ongetsu, his voice sounding like it was coming from far away. His voice sounded sad again, the way it had when they had fought the last time. It wasn't mocking like she was used to, and she didn't know what to make of that. "You wish I would just die? Yes, that's a lovely idea. Wouldn't it be better if we just died?"

The world faded, her eyes fixed on the rabbit that Ongetsu was holding in his hand. A large, black rabbit, bigger than he was. Ongetsu's words rang through the air as darkness took over, her eyes glazing over as her hands went limp at her sides.

…if we just died…

It was a dark night in a quiet house, the sound of sobs coming from a room downstairs. A little girl was curled up in the hallway, barefoot, wearing a frayed dress. Her hair was long and black, falling down past her shoulders. Her eyes were a dark gray and filled with tears. They ran freely down her cheeks; no matter what she did, she couldn't make them stop. Her arms were wrapped tight around the stuffed animal she was holding, a black rabbit almost as big as she was.

She was five years old.

And it was raining.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Yuzu banged her head onto the wall of her bedroom, her eyes squeezed shut. How could she have been so stupid? Her eyes opened, landing on the collection of folders and files strewn unceremoniously over her bed. There were a thousand ways she could have handled that better. A million! But she'd been caught off-guard, and had done the only thing she could think to do. Run.

Yuzu squeezed her eyes shut again at the memory.

She had stood there, stunned, as Byakuya's words rang through the air between them. Her mind slowed, her thoughts feeling like they were coming through at one word per hour. She couldn't think, couldn't speak, could hardly breathe. She must have heard wrong. Hadn't she?

He was still looking at her that way, and so was she. That woman. Azami.

No. No, she hadn't heard wrong at all.

She stood in the doorway, and found that she couldn't help the smile that came onto her face, her eyes still fixed on Byakuya. "Oh, that's—," she said. "—that's great, taicho. That's really…great. I'm very happy for you."

No, you're not.

The smile remained fixed on her face all the same, and she felt like an outsider, like her body was speaking while she wasn't even in it. She turned towards Azami, offering the woman as polite a bow as she could manage with her midsection still feeling like fire. "It's—uh—it's very nice to meet you, Azami-dono. Thank you for stopping by. I'm sorry for my rudeness, but I'm still not fully recovered, so if it's okay with you, taicho, I'm going to take some paperwork to my room."

"…No, Kurosaki, you don't have to—," Byakuya began.

"—I want to," she said, interrupting him. The smile was still firmly plastered to her face even as she moved over to her desk, turning away from him. Yuzu grabbed file folders and stuffed them into the crook of her arm without looking, fully aware that his eyes were on her.

Why can't I stop smiling? she thought to herself, picking up a random assortment of files without even looking to see what they were. Why can't I stop…?

"—I'm very busy, taicho, so if you excuse me, I'll leave you two alone. It's nice to meet you again, Azami-dono."

"Likewise," Azami murmured, sounding slightly confused. Yuzu should have turned to look at her, should have turned towards him. She should have said…something. But what was there to say?

She turned around, moving stiffly towards the door.

Stupid…she thought to herself, leaning her head against the wall. She let her eyes fall closed, gritting her teeth as pain flared up from around her stomach. Her arm went out, wrapping around the wound, and she felt her strength leave her as she slowly sank down onto the ground, pulling her knees up close to her chest. The wound throbbed, but she didn't have the energy to get up and get the painkillers that Unohana-taicho had prescribed for her.

She suddenly didn't have the energy for anything.

Why am I so…

Her hands went up, covering her face. She could feel herself shaking as her fingers curled in her light brown hair, the heels of her palms pressing against her cheek.

…stupid?

She sucked in a breath.

I should never have left the Fourth.

"She seems…interesting," said Azami, the two of them walking out of the office and into the courtyard. "Nice enough, I suppose…"

Byakuya was barely paying attention. From this location in the courtyard, he could see that Yuzu's window was closed, the shades pulled shut. She never closed that window when she was in residence—not unless it was raining or it was winter. She claimed to like the sun and the fresh air, and rank had given her the privilege of having quarters that looked out onto the garden.

"Byakuya," said Azami, a note of irritation in her voice. "Are you even listening to me?"

He tore his eyes away from the window, glancing at the woman next to him. Azami had a frown on her face, her arms hanging stiffly at her side as they came to a stop. Her green eyes were narrowed, fixed on him, and she had drawn herself to her full height, with the same proud bearing that he remembered. He wouldn't have thought that the elders would find a candidate so quickly, or that it would have been her. He wondered how long they had kept her waiting in the wings for this.

He hadn't even been sure that she would agree. He didn't believe she had truly forgiven him for the last time.

"I apologize," he said. "It appears I am distracted."

Azami snorted. "You're always distracted," she said. "At least as far as I'm concerned, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed at the rebuke, but he held his tongue. It was warranted. Azami exhaled, her expression growing impatient when he refused to say anything. "It doesn't matter," she said, waving a hand. "After seventy years, I suppose it's water under the bridge. But I will not go through that same humiliation again, Kuchiki Byakuya."

That, he supposed, looking away from her, was also warranted. "That is…fair," he said, fixing his eyes on some point in the distance. He forced himself to put all thought of his vice-captain and her closed window out of his mind—certainly it wasn't any business of his what his subordinates chose to do with their rooms. "I will do my duty."

"And I've long since given up on being more than a duty for you."

The bitterness in her tone made him look up, but the noblewoman was already moving, heading towards the gate. "It's good to see you well, Byakuya," she said, as if she hadn't spoken at all. "I apologize for the suddenness of this arrangement. Expect one of my servants to come by with a time to discuss the particulars. One of my male servants, this time."

He walked her to the gate, ignoring the unsubtle rebuke in her statement. Byakuya held the door open for her, letting her step out into the street, where a palanquin was waiting. He supposed, given what he had put her through seventy years ago, he should at least be glad she was being civil. "I will…await that message," he said, as one of her servants held out his hand to help her in.

She paused at his response, looking over at him. "I suppose I can expect you to be on time, at least," she said. "Isn't punctuality important for you shinigami?" Azami let out a long sigh, her features softening as if she realized how testy she was being. "Well, never mind," she said, settling into her seat. "I apologize. I'm being rude. We should make a fresh start of this, Byakuya."

"Agreed."

The barest hint of concern crossed her face, one of her footmen moving to close the door. "Try not to get killed before I see you again."

"I will endeavor to ensure that that does not happen."

Azami nodded as if that answer satisfied her, then settled back into her seat fully, letting the footman close the door. Byakuya watched as the palanquin made its way down the street, then turned and walked back into his Division, his mind still spinning with the abruptness of the past few days.

He would have expected anyone else, he thought as he stepped back into the courtyard. Anyone but Nishimori Azami.

"Nishimori Azami?" a younger Byakuya asked, standing in the door to his grandfather's study. Kuchiki Ginrei sat on his heels, penning out a missive on the desk in front of him. He turned towards Byakuya, offering the young man a small smile.

"Yes," said Ginrei. "Surely you remember her. You played together as children."

He remembered a girl with green eyes and a quick laugh, the two of them chasing each other around the Kuchiki courtyard. But they had only been children then. He had no idea what she would be like now.

"When is she arriving?" he asked.

"Today," said Ginrei, picking up his brush again. He dipped it in ink, writing a few more characters. "You should get ready, Byakuya. You'll want to be there to meet her."

Byakuya nodded, giving his grandfather a respectful bow as he slipped out of the study.

It was a few hours later that he found himself standing in the courtyard of the Kuchiki Manor, watching the procession come in. His own retinue of servants stood around him, prepared to greet the guests. He found himself nervous for a reason he couldn't name as he scanned the approaching train, looking for a sight of the woman his grandfather said he was to marry.

He spotted her at the head of the procession, riding in a palanquin. The curtains had been pulled back, allowing him to see her face. Azami had grown beautiful in the years that they had been apart. She was tall and slender now, and no longer wore her brown hair loose, instead tying it up in an elaborate bun in the current fashion. Her kimono was burnt orange, contrasting sharply with the green of her eyes. She should have been a striking figure, but the woman beside her…

"Maki, who is that?" he asked, muttering the question to the servant who stood next to him.

"That is the lady, Byakuya-dono," said Maki from beside him, her tone as neutral as always. "The lady Nishimori Azami."

"No," said Byakuya. "Beside her."

"Oh, that?" asked Maki. "I believe that is Azami-dono's serving maid. Her name…" Maki frowned for a moment, thinking.

"…Her name, I believe, is Hisana."

Rain fell steadily from the sky, the clouds shadowing the moon. It landed on the ground of the inner world, a steady deluge onto the cracked surface of the pond. It had been raining for hours now, the rain drowning out the first few hesitant flowers that had begun to grow around the pond's edge. It even slipped through the cracks left from the battle, penetrating the surface beneath.

Jungetsu curled up in a ball on the other side of the surface, her white kimono fanning out in the water around her as she wrapped her arms around her knees. The zanpakuto spirit rested her head on her arms, listening to the sound of water against glass, the occasional crash of thunder. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself as the downpour continued, the wind beginning to pick up on the other side of the pond.

The spirit closed her eyes, willing away the sound of the downpour, willing herself somewhere else, somewhere away from here.

I hate the rain…

"Ouch!" said Ichigo, hissing in pain as he jerked away from Rukia. "Watch what you're doing with that!"

Rukia's eyes narrowed in impatience, and she grabbed at his arm, forcing him to sit still. "Be quiet!" she said, holding up the cotton pad soaked with antiseptic. "No one told you to pick a fight with Zaraki-taicho, idiot."

"Can't you just heal me with kido?" asked Ichigo. He forced himself to sit still, sucking in a sharp breath as Rukia pressed the pad to his wounded shoulder.

"Ichigo," said Rukia, her eyes narrowing. "I've done what I can, but let me reiterate. You picked a fight with Zaraki-taicho."

Rukia waited, her hand on Ichigo's arm, until he exhaled, slowly relaxing. Then she released her hold on him, keeping the pad there for a few more moments to let the antiseptic do its work. The two of them were standing in the living room of their house, the window open to let in the cool air. Most of the contents of their first aid kit were spread out on the table beside her. Ichigo sat on a chair next to the table, shirtless, his bloodied shihakusho and haori set aside to be dealt with later.

"Honestly," she muttered to herself, moving the pad down towards the lower half of the sword slash. Ichigo tensed, but this time he didn't move, and she placed a hand on his unwounded shoulder until he relaxed, before slowly removing the pad. Her hand moved up from his shoulder, gently moving through his hair. "You reckless man. What am I going to do with you?"

"If it's all the same," said Ichigo, leaning against the chair as she picked up a roll of bandages. "Could we start with the bandages and go from there?"

Rukia gave him a sharp rap on the head as she turned. Ichigo winced, rubbing at it. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Sorry," said Rukia, with a sweet smile. "My hand slipped."

Ichigo snorted. "Like hell it did." He leaned back further in the seat as Rukia got to work, his eyes fixed on a corner of the ceiling. He exhaled, feeling her small hands start to wrap bandages around the long slash across his chest. "Anyway, it didn't matter what I did," he said. "She left Toshiro a note."

"I would have gone to Hitsugaya-taicho first," Rukia noted, her voice soft as she pulled the bandages a little tighter. "It would have been easier for all of us."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly thinking," said Ichigo. He paused as her hands stilled, glancing over at her. "What? What's with that smile?"

"I'm just wondering if I'm supposed to be surprised," said Rukia, smiling slightly at him as she got back to work. "Hinamori says you left the office through the window."

"I…" Ichigo paused, thinking back. Did he do that? Yes, he supposed he did. This morning had been a blur for him, first hearing the news about Byakuya, then hearing that Yuzu wanted to leave the Fourth, then hearing that Karin was gone…He leaned his head back, his neck resting against the back of the chair as he closed his eyes. "It's been…a hell of a week," he said.

"You can say that again," muttered Rukia.

Even now, it was hard to fight the urge to go after Karin. He could see Toshiro's point—that Karin was probably safe wherever she was, and in less danger than they were here, but it was hard to clamp down on that instinct to rush to her aid. He reminded himself that Karin had done alright in Kenpachi's division for ten years, so anything she faced in Rukongai would be a cinch.

But he guessed old habits died hard.

He pushed the thought out of his mind, opening his eyes again. "Speaking of siblings," he said, changing the subject. "You heard from Byakuya lately?"

"Since yesterday?" Rukia finished wrapping the wound, tying the bandage off and going to wipe her hands. "No. Why?"

"Nothing." He supposed it was none of his business, this news going around of Byakuya's engagement, but for some reason, he couldn't quite get the images out of his mind. Byakuya in Inuzuri, the glare he'd shot him when he tried to take Yuzu, the way he went barging into the Fourth in the middle of the night. Byakuya sitting at her bedside for two days.

He was sure he wasn't the only one who thought it was strange. Everyone noticed that.

But now there was engagement going on, and Ichigo found that he didn't understand it. Not that he wanted whatever…whatever Byakuya's concern might have been to be true, but this didn't make any sense.

"This whole engagement thing," said Ichigo. "…How's that playing out?"

"I don't know," said Rukia, starting to put the first aid kit away. She paused, her expression far off as she closed the box of supplies. "I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," said Ichigo, looking back up at the ceiling.

Maybe it was just that he knew Byakuya better now, or maybe it was just that this whole week had put everyone's nerves on edge, but he couldn't shake the feeling that his brother-in-law had just done something horribly, incredibly stupid.

Wouldn't be the first time.

TO BE CONTINUED

Omake

"Well?" asked Kurotsuchi Mayuri, holding out a tray of seemingly innocuous looking cookies. "Go on, take one, take one. They're perfectly safe—only three casualties so far. Take one."

Yuzu hesitated, standing with Byakuya at the Gotei 13 fundraising fair on the streets of Seiretei. Behind her, Shiyougi and the others manned the Sixth Division's booth, which wasn't seeing much traffic. Probably because they had stocked it full of Seaweed Ambassador taiyaki again.

It was probably a good thing that Byakuya was independently wealthy.

She picked up one of the cookies as Mayuri shoved the plate at her further, holding it in her hands and trying not to look too suspicious as she stared down at it. It looked like a regular chocolate chip cookie. Beside her, Byakuya took a bite, which told her that it was probably safe. Probably. It was hard to tell with him sometimes.

She took a bite as well, the smallest she could manage while still looking polite. It tasted like a normal chocolate chip cookie…

…The fact that Nemu was now staring her down and scribbling something onto a clipboard was a little unnerving, though.

"Kurosaki-fukutaicho, how do you feel?" asked Nemu.

"I feel…a little…" Yuzu blinked, staring down at the cookie. "Funny. Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho, what is—." Before she could get the words out, there was a popping sound, a cloud of white smoke appearing in the air beside her. A similar cloud of pink smoke appeared next to Byakuya. Yuzu's eyes widened as clouds of smoke started appearing beside most of the shinigami at the fairgrounds, a wave of angry muttering rising up.

Byakuya's eyes narrowed, and he rounded on Mayuri. "Kurotsuchi, what is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"An experiment," said Mayuri, rubbing his hands together. "In an attempt to solve the mystery behind our new enemy."

"You will explain—," said Byakuya, taking a step forward. He stopped as a masked and armored figure stepped out of the cloud next to him, looking around curiously.

"Oh?" said the figure. "It's been a while since I was here."

"Senbonzakura?" asked Byakuya, turning towards the man. "Why are you here?"

"This is Senbonzakura-san?" asked Yuzu, blinking as she looked up at the masked samurai.

"He is," said Byakuya, nodding.

"I felt a pull to leave the inner world, so I followed it," said the spirit, his arms folded. He looked around, studying the scene. Various other zanpakuto spirits had erupted out onto the street. Yuzu looked, and caught sight of Ukitake chasing what looked like a pair of twins as Yumichika argued loudly with a blue-haired man in a turban. "It appears things have become quite chaotic here."

"Remain at my side," said Byakuya, with a glance at the spirit. "I will attempt to solve this."

"As you wish," said Senbonzakura, nodding.

"You guys too?" asked Renji, running over to them.

"Abarai," said Byakuya, turning towards him.

A woman and a small boy followed him, two of them linked together. Yuzu guessed that that must have been Zabimaru. "This is a problem," said Renji, coming to a stop. "A lot of the lower ranks don't know how to control their zanpakuto spirits. If this keeps up, people will—."

X

—Senbonzakura had stopped listening. The samurai had been watching the street with idle curiosity, picking out zanpakuto spirits that he knew, when his eyes landed on a figure stepping out of a white cloud. He paused, his eyes widening as he stared at her. Brown hair, brown eyes, a demure expression, an elegant white kimono—she even covered the lower half of her face with a white fan. Her eyes lifted, meeting his, and he felt his heartbeat quicken.

She was…

X

"That sounds like a decent plan," said Byakuya, looking over his shoulder. "Senbonzakura—." He froze. There was no sign of the spirit. Yuzu's eyes widened, and she turned to look as well as Byakuya started to call out. "Senbonzakura, where are—?"

Senbonzakura stood on the other side of the street, kneeling in front of a woman in a white kimono. One that Yuzu realized looked just like her, and one that looked more than a little taken aback by this turn of events.

Jungetsu?

"Ohime-sama," the samurai was saying, "Please allow this one to pledge himself to your service."

Byakuya and Yuzu froze at the scene, both of them taking a step to the side so that they were standing apart. Neither of them looked at each other.

"Oho?" asked Renji, straightening up and looking at the shinigami on either side of him. He was grinning.

A vein pulsed on the back of Byakuya's head as Yuzu's hands fiddled nervously with her zanpakuto sheath, trying to look busy.