His friend had done some dumb shit throughout his long life. Jyuushiro had been there for most of it, but this one was a doozy. He'd brought Nanao to his home for lack of a better idea. She hadn't cried long and had mostly been done crying altogether by the time he reached his front door. It didn't help to make her look any less miserable though. He still wasn't altogether sure he believed the story, but Nanao obviously did, and right now that was all that mattered.

She'd asked to use his bathroom to clean up, and he'd complied willingly enough. Frankly, he was at a loss for what to say to her. Then he'd headed out to his own front porch to wait for his oldest friend. He knew Shunsui had probably already figured out her method of fleeing and where he'd taken her to, so it was only a matter of time until the pink clad man arrived.

"Jyuu," Shunsui said quietly as he stopped a few feet in front of him moments later.

"What the hell is going on, Shun?" he asked equally as serious.

"Obviously you already know if you picked her up and ran from me," his friend replied.

"I want to hear it from you," Jyuushiro said calmly.

"There is a woman claiming she had sex with me and is pregnant," Shunsui said angrily.

"Claiming? So you didn't?"

"I wouldn't!"

"Then why is Retsu-san saying its yours?" Jyuushiro asked logically.

"She said it was a Kyouraku, she never said it was mine," Shunsui said, shaking his head. "So its someone else's, or the girl put some sort of paternity defying kido on it, if that's even possible."

"You really think Retsu-san wouldn't see through a spell like that?"

"Then it's someone else's," Shunsui said fiercely.

"Because you didn't sleep with the girl," Jyuushiro supplied helpfully.

"Exactly," Shunsui agreed, and his eyes flickered to the doorway of the house. Jyuushiro had felt Nanao coming to the door as well, but said nothing. She didn't come out and didn't open the door. "Nanao, come out and talk to me," Shunsui pleaded.

Silence was the only answer he got, and he looked at Jyuushiro for help. "There is no chance at all that the baby could be yours?" Jyuushiro asked one last time, prepared to believe Shunsui on his word alone. His friend shifted on his feet and paused a beat before saying no. "Shunsui," he said sharply. He'd known the man long enough to be able to tell when he was uncertain.

"I didn't sleep with her," Shunsui said more firmly. "I got really drunk at one of the parties one night, but I don't even remember her."

Jyuushiro cursed in his own head. Shunsui had been trapped there with a bunch of stuck up self-congratulatory nobles in a room full of host-funded alcohol, of course he'd gotten wasted. Jyuushiro couldn't even count how many times Shunsui'd done the same thing at noble parties and events throughout their long lives. Old habits die hard. "How drunk?"

"I don't know, Jyuu," he said tiredly. "Nanao, please come out."

"Blackout, perhaps?" Jyuushiro pressed further, although he almost didn't want the answer.

"Look, I just know the last I remember I was alone wanting to get the hell out of there," Shunsui said upset, "And then I woke up equally alone."

Jyuushiro cursed and saw his friend flinch. "Then you don't know for sure?"

"I wouldn't have," Shunsui defended. "Nanao, you know me. I wouldn't have! For kami sake, please come out and talk to me."

"Retsu-san is rarely wrong," Jyuushiro said quietly when the woman still didn't respond. "And the problem may be that she does in fact know you. The man that's spent her entire life without a relationship lasting more than a few months."

"Nanao is different, you know that. It's got to be Seichii's then," Shunsui argued.

"A bit out of character for him isn't it?" Jyuushiro asked, hoping with all his might that it was true, and that it had been Shunsui's prideful rule abiding brother who had suddenly decided to go out and get some after decades of unwavering loyalty to a wife who barely even tolerated him.

"I don't know what to do," Shunsui admitted, looking as miserable as Nanao had.

"I think right now, you need to leave," Jyuushiro said.

Shunsui's eyes snapped back up to him, and he could see the anger there. The two friends rarely fought anymore, but even Shunsui couldn't always stay calm in regards to Nanao. "I need to talk to her," Shunsui stated firmly.

"In this particular situation, I think she has the right to chose whether or not she speaks to you," Jyuushiro said, really not wanting to deny his friend anything.

"Jyuushiro, I didn't do this, you can't think that I did," Shunsui argued.

"Look, Shunsui, you know I want to believe you," Jyuushiro said calmly. "You know more than anything I want that to be the truth, but right now it just isn't looking like it is. You don't even remember that night. How can you say for certain the child isn't yours? In either case, you have quite a bit to sort out, and perhaps it'd be better if you did that sooner rather than later."

"Are you willing to stop me from entering that house?" Shunsui asked coldly.

"Yes, old friend," he answered solidly.

"She's going to have to talk to me eventually," Shunsui replied.

"Yes, but not now," Jyuushiro stated. "Give her time."

Shunsui looked over Jyuushiro's shoulder towards the house again, and for a moment looked so desperate that Jyuushiro wanted to let him pass regardless of what he may have done. He'd seen the look before, and it never ceased to make him feel for the other man. Even when they hadn't been friends, that forlorn look had worked on him.

"I'll be back soon," Shunsui said, looking defeated.

"I would hope so," Jyuushiro replied. "Sort this out and put it to rights, Shun."

The man gave a quick nod, and one last lingering look at the house, and then shunpoed away. By the time Jyuushiro walked back through his door Nanao had disappeared again, and he felt her reiatsu in the back guestroom. Debating whether or not to go talk to her, his choice was made for him by the closed bedroom door. She'd come out and talk when she was ready, and he'd be there when she was.

Jyuushiro sighed as he entered his kitchen and started making tea if for no other reason than to give his hand something to do. The girl could be lying, but he doubted Retsu would have made such a grievous error, especially when she knew the cost. As a whole, Retsu was quite fond of Shunsui and Nanao's relationship, and he had a feeling she wouldn't have lightly announced that he may have impregnated someone else.

It could have been Shunsui's brother, but it was oddly out of character for him. The man didn't even visit prostitutes as far as Shunsui'd ever been able to tell. He adored and hated his wife in such a complicated mess of emotions that no one had ever been quite able to figure their relationship out. Seichii'd wanted her more than anything, and she'd settled for second best when she couldn't pin down Shunsui. It'd been a point of contention between the brothers for most of their lives. Seichii's wife was more liable to sleep around than he was. Beyond that, the girl had pointed to Shunsui. If she was just after the Kyouraku name, it'd make more sense to point at the actual man who'd done it. If it truly was Seichii she'd be bearing the first heir to inherit everything. It was common knowledge that Seichii's wife appeared to be barren. In order to have an heir, the Kyouraku's would have readily accepted the girl, and not given Seichii's wife much choice. Consorts weren't a big deal within noble lines as long as the baby was legitimate.

If it wasn't a mistake, and Jyuushiro had a growing unsettling feeling in his stomach that it wasn't, particularly after Shunsui's revelations, then Shunsui had screwed up irrevocably. Ignoring the fact that Nanao would probably never have him back, he was going to have to protect that woman and her child for a long time, especially if it was a boy. This was one problem the Kyouraku family couldn't throw money at and make go away.

As far as Jyuushiro was aware, there had only been a few other times as bad as this in Shunsui's personal life, and he'd been there for most of them. For one, Shunsui counted telling Lisa to go to that last fight his own error, though Jyuushiro wasn't of the same opinion, but one of his largest mistakes had been in their academy days. Shunsui'd gotten another boy killed, and it had changed their future forever.

They'd been on one of their first missions in the living world, and Kyouraku had been more interested in the women than the mission objectives. It was supposed to be routine, take out a few low level hollows and make the appropriate check points at the right times. Everyone, including himself, had groaned when they'd learned Kyouraku had not only been assigned to their team, but for once had actually shown up to class on time. Most people, who didn't have to live with the boy, liked Shunsui quite a bit. He was fun, wild, and rich. What more could they ask for in a friend? But nobody wanted him in the field with them, Jyuushiro included. He and his roommate had reached a sort of strange truce, but despite Kyouraku's power levels, he had always been too lazy to do anything worthwhile with them.

All in all, the mission had been a boring one. There were a couple low level hollows that had been easily dispatched and they'd been on their way to their last checkpoint and then home. Kyouraku had been particularly loud and eager to return as he'd been telling everyone about the date he had with a hot easy Rukongai girl that night. Jyuushiro had at the time, simply rolled his eyes at his roommate, and assumed the newest girl was yet another attempt in a long line of them to piss his family off.

Everything had been fine until a mid-level hollow had come barreling out of the forest with no warning. The hollows tail had whipped around and caught their mission leader hard across the body slamming him into a boulder and knocking the man unconscious almost instantly. Then the hollow had turned on their small group and gave its own defiant roar, not bothering to make small talk and charging instead.

Jyuushiro had been in the process of moving forward, knowing for a fact that most of the members of their team were not ready for this power level yet. He'd had to dodge quickly as spikes launched from the Hollow suddenly, slamming through one of his teammate's throats and killing him instantly. Jyuushiro hadn't had time to stop and help and had instead continued his forward lunge cutting the hollows left front leg off at the elbow. The creature had stumbled, suddenly unsteady and had turned all its rage on him as it caught its balance on its remaining legs. He'd stood his ground, knowing he couldn't get out of the way in time as the hollow's massive jaws opened and came towards him. It had probably been a lost cause, as the hollows open maw was twice the size of him and the dagger-like teeth would have shorn him in two before he'd been able to launch a counter strike, though he'd had a kido spell building, but just as suddenly the hollow had lurched sideways and away from him as a hard impact rocked its body and pinned it to the ground.

Jyuushiro had glanced around and seen the other shinigami equally as downed, and it had taken him a few seconds to realize what had happened. For lack of time or a better plan, Kyouraku had simply released his reiatsu full force and brutally forced the hollow down under his spiritual pressure. As much as it had been effective, Jyuushiro had instantly assessed the problem. He'd killed the hollow quickly and then in two quick shunpo steps he'd bolted to the unconscious leader and grabbed his communication piece.

"Ukitake to base, squad A-9 needs immediate backup, high level hollows on the way, possible Gillian contact," he'd said urgently and prayed it'd gone through as all he'd heard was fuzz on the other side. The communication device must have taken a good hit too when its owner had slammed into the rock.

Kyouraku had resealed his spiritual pressure, but it was already by far too late as their comrades helped each other regain their feet. "Help me get him up," Jyuushiro had demanded, struggling under the unconscious team leader's weight. Kyouraku had come forward, being the only one not still weak in the knees, and gotten under the man's other arm.

"A thank you would be nice," the noble had said sarcastically.

"A thank you for what?" Jyuushiro had hissed. "Hurry, we need to make the gate now!"

"For saving your life," Kyouraku had clarified exasperated.

"Saving my life?" Jyuushiro had yelled back, starting the whole group forward and motioning the rest of the group not hampered by a body to move ahead. "You just announced our presence to every high level hollow within at least a 15 mile radius. If we don't make this gate, you've killed us all."

"Calm down," Kyouraku had said, shrugging under the man's weight. "The gate is like a two minute walk away."

"Why the hell did you think that was the most effective way to fight? Could you not have done some kido?" Jyuushiro had demanded, irate beyond all belief. The idiot was so damn lazy he couldn't even fight properly. "Brute force doesn't fix everything!"

"It worked didn't it?" Kyouraku had asked, starting to get pissed off too. "If I hadn't done that, you'd be in two pieces right now."

"You could have fired off a binding spell or something and had the same effect without the added danger," Jyuushiro had said coldly.

"I missed that day in class," the man had replied, looking completely unconcerned. "The only binding spell I knew would have taken too long to say, and my shunpo would have had me there a moment too late."

"So now everyone has to suffer for your inability to show up to class or learn anything when you do," Jyuushiro had growled. "Natural talent isn't going to get you by for the rest of your life. You shouldn't have come today if you weren't prepared."

"I have more power in my pinky than this entire group of men," Kyouraku had boasted.

"Yes, but at least they've worked hard for their power and know its value. At least they've learned the basics and know how to fight as a team," Jyuushiro had said letting his voice rise as he got angrier and angrier. "Not everything can be bought or half assed, Kyouraku! At least not here, not where your noble name means shit. The others are right. I don't know how I live with you. You're just a pathetic rich boy who thinks everyone should bow at his feet because he was born with power, regardless of the fact that he hasn't earned anything in his entire life! Your family is right to treat you the way they do. You refuse to think anything is worthwhile, and all it serves to do is make you useless. You aren't a rebel, you aren't a cool disaffected youth. You're just a pathetic, lazy hopeless waste of space. So do us all a favor, and get out of the academy so the rest of us can actually accomplish something without fearing for our lives whenever you're scheduled to be at our backs. At least your family has to tolerate you because you're blood."

"What the hell do you know?" Kyouraku had yelled back, dropping the man's dead weight and letting Jyuushiro stumble underneath it and try to recover. "You think because you're learning to fight hollows your life will mean something? All you're doing is being a pawn for the noble's games. The only reason the academy is allowed to exist is because it gives the royal family and the nobles behind it a strong fighting force and a protective shield. They're using you all as hollow fodder so as not to have to do it themselves. All that loyalty and honor crap they feed you is propaganda to make you feel like you did something worthwhile when you find yourself lying in a field, screaming in pain, as a hollow rips you in two, and your friends are dying all around you."

"I could give two shits less about the royals," Jyuushiro had said regaining some of his calm and continuing to drag the man's dead weight forward. "The worlds have to be in balance, and besides that, talk to any insignificant soul who's been saved by a shinigami from a hollow and see how little it mattered to them. Let the nobles think what they want, I know why I'm here, and it's not to protect pompous self-righteous asses like yourself. It's to protect the people that would never be able to protect themselves. You'd know that if you'd ever bothered to show up to any of Yamamoto-sensei's lectures."

Their argument was interrupted as the team that had gotten far in front of them without their noticing came running back towards them. Jyuushiro had instantly put the unconscious man down and taken the defensive. "What's happening?"

"Menos Grande," the boy panted coming to a stop and pointing at the crack forming in the sky.

"Get to the gate," Jyuushiro had yelled and had resumed dragging the team leader. They weren't ready for menos grandes. For kami sake, this was one of their first independent field missions. They needed backup and they need to get through that gate.

Kyouraku had resumed his spot on the other side of the man and they had begun their steady march forward once more, but this time it had been in silence.

"It's not open!" a team member had yelled as they'd entered the clearing where the gate was supposed to be.

"We must be early," Jyuushiro had shouted back, trying to keep calm in his tone. "It will open, just give it a minute."

Unfortunately, they hadn't had a minute. Kyouraku's reiatsu hadn't just attracted the menos grande. As they'd stood in the middle of the open field, hollows had begun to encroach on all sides. Their team had fought valiantly, but all the energy served to do was to attract more. Ukitake had realized quickly that if they gate didn't open they were all going to die.

As it happened the gate had opened, reinforcements tumbling out. Yamamoto Sensei himself calmly striding out of the gate and taking stock of the situation. Hollows had quickly been dispatched and the menos grande taken care of. It was only as they were examining the area later that they'd found three shinigami dead. Jyuushiro had been doing one last outer sweep of the clearing when he'd found Kyouraku, who'd been separated from him during the battle, standing over the dead body of one of the boys from their team.

"What happened?"

"Hollow claw ripped him open," Kyourku had said, sounding oddly distant. "I couldn't get there in time."

"Help me get the body back," Jyuushiro had said with a sigh, moving forward.

Kyouraku hadn't moved, and then had asked quietly. "What was his name?"

"You really want to know?" Jyuushiro had asked, getting angry all over again. "Will it change anything? Will it help if you know that his name was Takahashi Omi, and that he had an adoptive mother and sister in the Rukongai's 12th district, and that the only reason he joined the Academy was to support them? Now, help me get him home, so his loved ones can at least grieve for him."

Kyouraku had been silent after that, but had put the boy over his own shoulders and carried him back by himself ignoring it as blood and fluid ran down his shoulders and back. Jyuushiro had walked a pace or two behind and mourned his fallen friend internally, while trying to keep his outward appearance calm and in control.

His roommate had been silent and kept to himself for most of the following week. It'd been a strange occurrence, and by the end of a few days Jyuushiro had begun to wonder if he needed to get medical attention for the boy. Kyouraku had taken to being out late at night, which while not unusual, had been a change as he'd always come home just as silent, sober, and alone as he'd left.

When the next week of classes had begun again, Jyuushiro had been surprised to see Kyouraku in class, awake, and paying attention. He'd wondered viciously how long that would last. By the following week, he'd begun to wonder if Kyouraku would ever speak again.

He'd known his roommate had gotten a lecture from Yamamoto in private and that his family had come, but he'd doubted that was what had had an impact. It never had before. Jyuushiro had been stunned to spot Kyouraku in a training room when he'd left the library late one night. He hadn't stopped and Kyouraku hadn't noticed him, but he'd wondered briefly if that's where he'd been all those nights.

By the fourth week of the silence, one of their classes had been ordered to form up partners for the rest of the semester to practice offensive and defensive swordplay. As usual, the class had deteriorated into a jumbled mess as friends tried to locate other friends and pair up. Several people had approached Jyuushiro, and he'd silently cursed himself as he'd watched his roommate question several classmates and get turned away. Nobody would have wanted to work with Kyouraku in the past on school work, and now that rumors were flying everywhere about the failed mission, no one would touch him with a ten foot pole in the academic realm. He'd sighed and hated himself for the good will his mother had trained into him since childhood.

"Sorry, Kiko-san, perhaps another class," he'd said to the girl smiling hopefully up at him. He'd strode over to the spot where Kyouraku stood looking out of place. "Do you need a partner?"

The boy's eyes had flickered to meet his for the first time since that day, and even Jyuushiro had been affected by what he'd seen there. A sort of sad resigned desperation that had sealed both of their fates. "You don't want to be my partner," Kyouraku had stated matter-of-factly.

"No, I don't," Jyuushiro had replied honestly. "But no one else will."

"Why be kind to me at all? You hate me," Kyouraku had said.

"Are you going to go back to screwing up all the time and leave me with all the work?" Jyuushiro had asked brutally.

"No," was all that he'd said.

"Then this is the only chance you're going to get to be something other than a total waste," Jyuushiro had said with a shrug. "If I'm going to be put in the field with you because your family can buy your way out of every screw up, then I might as well feel like you have my back."

He'd seen fury flash through his roommate's eyes and he'd been glad to know it was still possible to eek another emotion out of him. "This isn't about my family," Kyouraku had said darkly.

"Good, maybe it's time you started making something about yourself and not what you think will piss them off," Jyuushiro had replied equally as coldly.

"I learn fast," Kyouraku had stated almost as a challenge.

"I can keep up," he'd replied. "It'd be nice to finally see what you're capable of."

Kyouraku had been telling the truth, when he actually put his mind to something he grasped it with ease. Once Kyouraku had caught up on the basics, they'd challenged and pushed each other to new levels faster than anyone, including themselves, had expected. It hadn't been long before Yamamoto had started giving them private sessions and they'd grown in leaps and bounds. Friendship had developed slowly from the mutual respect that had taken root and began to grow, and Jyuushiro had often thanked whatever karma had forced him to lend a hand to Kyouraku that day.

Kyouraku had, of course, gained more and more of his ridiculous personality back as the days went on, but he hadn't been able to hide the deeper layer beneath it all from Jyuushiro ever again. Beyond that, despite his antics and his occasional half assing of a homework assignment or two, Kyouraku was serious about the academy now. Jyuushiro was half convinced he acted the way he did just to convince everyone else that he still didn't care, and any backhanded praise from his family only served to make him pull some sort of prank that would land him in discipline before you could blink. So everything had returned to normal as far as most people were concerned except that now Kyouraku's grades told a vastly different story.

Jyuushiro had found out years later that Shunsui had tracked Takahasi Omi's adoptive family down in the weeks following the attack. He'd supported them financially for years afterward. The mother had died a few decades ago, but Shunsui still visited the sister on occasion, who now used his generous donations to run a sort of orphanage in the 9th district. It was a pity that a man with such a good heart was so prone to screwing up.

He'd finished making tea while he reminisced, and he suddenly became aware of Nanao standing in the kitchen doorway. "Would you like some, Nanao-san?" he asked, purposefully ignoring her red-rimmed eyes and disheveled hair.

"That'd be nice," she said quietly as she took a seat at the table.

"You heard Shunsui, I presume," he said as he poured the tea.

"As usual, being drunk should be an excuse for all misdeeds," the woman said, and though it was meant to come out as harsh, it sounded more pained than anything else.

"There could still be a mistake," Jyuushiro said calmly.

"Yes," she said sarcastically. "Perhaps the girl drugged his drink and took advantage of him, or maybe she tied him to a chair and forced him to drink so much he blacked out."

"It could have been Seichii," Jyuushiro offered.

Nanao snorted and shook her head. "Of course, maybe it was the brother who didn't drink himself into a stupor. The brother who's been married for decades to a total shrew and yet has never shown the slightest inclination to cheat. It would completely make sense that rule abiding, noble loving, Seichii went out and did this, especially when the girl expressly said it was Shunsui."

"He loves you," Jyuushiro said wearily, knowing he had no response to her criticism.

"Yes, he does," Nanao replied, taking the proffered teacup. "Too bad it wasn't enough."

Jyuushiro sighed, but knew nothing good was going to come of this conversation. "How's your brother doing?"

"Quite well," she said, relaxing a bit as she noticed the obvious subject change. "I heard one of your sisters is expecting?"

"Ah, yes, her third," Jyuushiro said sipping his tea. The rest of the afternoon was spent in mild talk about innocuous subjects and ended with him challenging her to a game of Go. He knew that all he could offer her right now was the chance to keep her mind on other things. Hopefully Shunsui would sort all of this mess out and things could go back to normal in the next few days.

A/N: Argh, I'm sorry! I wanted to get this up way earlier this week, but I'm going on vacation next week which means my work load has doubled to make up for it :( Anyway I'm glad no one tried to verbally kill me via reviews. You all have so much faith in Shunsui-kun :) Please review again, I love hearing the little ding of my inbox!