Chapter 19

Author's Note: Good news! Early update is early because I won't have the time Monday... Sooooooo YAY! Enjoy!

It may have been hospital food, but after not having eaten in seven days, it might as well have been cooked by the best chefs in the Seireitei.

Byakuya and Nyruki still sat in his bed with their laps covered with the trays of food. They quietly ate, albeit a bit quickly, because their stomachs were just that desperate for something to eat.

"Thank you for bringing supper, Captain." Nyruki said between bites of food, sitting cross-legged and back against the wall.

Ukitake smiled as he sat back down in the chair, "You're welcome."

"How is it you knew she was here?" Byakuya asked after swallowing a rather modest bite considering how much his stomach was growling.

"Captain Unohana and I discovered it earlier when we came to check on you. There is no cause for worry, however. No one else knows and she put a level 3 restriction on your room. Only her and I can enter... Though I wasn't expecting her to stay after treating your wounds." Ukitake said as he started to lightly blush.

"And exactly how do you know that?" Byakuya asked.

"Nyruki had come to me last night after waking up." Ukitake said as Byakuya shot a cold glare towards Nyruki.

Nyruki swallowed, "What? Priorities." She shrugged.

"Your previous Captain, over your current one?" Byakuya asked, still glaring.

"Adoptive father over my current Captain." Nyruki glared right back, but quickly corrected herself when she realized just whom she was glaring at.

"I'll keep that in mind." Byakuya deadpanned.

"Oh relax! I'm just teasing. I was looking for your room last night, but I found his first." Nyruki rolled her eyes and returned to her food.

"I see." Byakuya finally ceased his glaring to sip his less than satisfying tea that, but would have to do.

Ukitake chuckled, "I see you're as good at being teased as always, Byakuya."

"Don't start."

"Alright... Alright, I'll behave." Ukitake threw his hands up in defense.

"You were saying you would explain what you know while we ate." Byakuya said, taking another bite.

"Oh yes. You're right," he folded a leg beneath him, "Well, I guess I should start by saying I just got back from the Lieutenant's meeting." Ukitake began, folding his hands in his lap.

"You brought the Lieutenants in on this?" Nyruki reeled.

"We had to. They've essentially been running things since we've been out of commission. They deserved to know." Ukitake said with a light shrug.

"How did it go?" Byakuya asked.

"Long. We were there for several hours trying to explain and catch up on what we missed." Ukitake said.

"How is Squad 6?" Byakuya asked plainly.

"No problems. Renji has done rather well in your absence." Ukitake said, smiling.

"I never doubted."

"All the Lieutenants know what my Zanpakutō can do?" Nyruki frowned.

"You're assuming they didn't already from your display the first day you reported." Said Byakuya.

"That doesn't mean I wanted it spread around like the latest edition of Seireitei Communication." Nyruki grumbled lowly.

"It's a little late for that I'm afraid, Nyruki." Ukitake said.

"What else did you learn from the meeting?" Byakuya asked to keep the conversation moving forward.

"Well, it was mostly spent hearing from the Squad 4 Lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu, regarding our treatment." Ukitake said as his face dropped slightly.

"Why that look, Captain?" Nyruki asked with concern.

"Our injuries were pretty straight forward. Nothing really more than some cuts and scrapes. However, you two gave them some problems." Ukitake said, releasing a soft, barely audible sigh.

Both Nyruki and Byakuya stared and waited for him to continued.

"It would appear that the javelin wound had refused to heal at first. Nothing the medics could do would heal it, so Isane decided to test each wound for residual spiritual pressure to see if the problem could be determined." Ukitake said as he inhaled quietly.

"What she find?" Nyruki asked.

"Your spiritual pressure."

"Perhaps from when Nyruki was using her energy to keep us from bleeding?" Byakuya mused.

"Perhaps. Both your wounds were bathed in Nyruki's spiritual pressure which kept any healing Kidō from working properly. It concerned Isane a great deal. She wasn't sure what was going on, so she kept you two bandaged and cleaned the wounds routinely every couple of hours." Ukitake shrugged.

"What happened after that?" Nyruki asked with a short glance at Byakuya.

"Well, Isane contacted Nemu Kurotsuchi for some help, namely for the use of that regrowth serum that Captain Kurotsuchi uses whenever he loses an arm." Ukitake lightly cringed.

"Don't you dare say that she used that concoction on us." Byakuya hissed.

Ukitake shied away, "She did, and it worked."

Byakuya's brows furrowed hard, "So that's why we were suddenly being healed when we were still trapped."

Ukitake nodded, "Yes. And why it was so violent."

Byakuya continued to frown, "What happened next?"

"After Isane was able to seal up your javelin wounds, all she could do was monitor all of us at that point. She continued to track the residual spiritual pressure and we all had traces of Nyruki's on us, but she found something that was a bit more disturbing." Ukitake continued.

"Which was?" Byakuya arced a brow.

Ukitake sighed and rested an elbow on the armrest, "She found minute traces of Hollow spiritual energy."

Nyruki choked, "W-What? W-Wait a minute, that can't be right!"

"Ssh! Keep your voice down, or people will hear you." Byakuya snarled at her.

"Don't you think I have a bit of a reason to be a bit shocked?" Nyruki shot back, balling her fists in her lap.

"Not at the expense of letting more people know that you're in my bed, so hush." Byakuya said stiffly.

Nyruki sighed, "Fine. I'm sorry."

Byakuya nodded once, "There's no explanation as to why there was Hollow spirit energy?"

Ukitake just shook his head.

Nyruki sighed and hung her head as Byakuya continued.

"Why weren't we found for two days? I had specifically told my attendant to check in on us and I would like to think that means more often than a couple of days." Byakuya said as he finished with his meal.

"I actually did some investigating about that. Before coming here, I went to your estate to talk with your attendant and he said something that is rather odd." Ukitake said as he rested a knuckle on his chin.

"How so?" Byakuya asked.

"He said that whenever he would check, which he claims was every few hours just before each meal, he said someone inside said we were all alright." Ukitake explained.

Byakuya's brows furrowed, "Pardon me? How could that possibly be if we were all trapped in Nyruki's inner world?"

"No one should have been able to answer. My thralls can't talk." Nyruki gasped.

"We don't know, but he also said that the voice was a man's, so he assumed it was one of us." Ukitake said, scratching the back of his neck.

"It couldn't have been!-"

"Hush! If you keep raising your voice, you'll leave me with no choice but to gag you." Byakuya snarled with a slight curl in his upper lip.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"I haven't seen Byakuya express this much since he was a kid." Ukitake mumbled behind his sleeve.

"Don't even start, or I'll gag you too." Byakuya shifted his sneer to him.

However, Byakuya's little outburst did little to ease the constant ache in his back from the barely healed punctures. The ache turned into a sharp sting that caused him to softly wince and carefully adjust himself against his pillows that weren't helping to alleviate the pain.

"Are you alright?" Ukitake asked as he helped Byakuya to adjust.

"I'm fine." Byakuya glared.

"You should relax more, Byakuya. I understand this is all a lot to take in, but you're in no shape to do much of anything but listen." Ukitake said as he took the emptied tray from his lap and set it down on the side table.

"We don't really have the luxury of relaxing, Captain Ukitake. Not only are there still a lot of unanswered questions, but Nyruki now only has two weeks to finish training us, or she loses her Zanpakutō and her place in the Gotei 13." Byakuya said as he released a sigh.

Nyruki's eyes widened. It hadn't even clicked with her yet. Her Captain was right. There were only two weeks left to defend all she had worked for and now that all of them had been injured to varying degrees, it would still be a day, or two, before they could resume their training. Things were looking more and more glum with each passing moment and the very thought of having to give it all up made her heart sink to her feet.

She wanted out of the room, to go for a walk to help clear her stuffy head. She needed to think on how she was going to continue, but now, after just finding freedom from the nightmare that the Captain of Squad 12 had caused, she wasn't confident about jumping back in. She didn't want to risk getting trapped again out of the new found fear that maybe this time, they wouldn't make it out alive.

"I need to get some fresh air." Nyruki said softly as she shifted to scoot off the bed.

However, Byakuya raised a leg just enough to push her back against the wall.

"Hey!" Nyruki snarled.

"That would not be wise, Nyruki. There are still quite a lot of people outside that door who could see you exiting my room when they never saw you enter." Byakuya said with his eyes turned down and arms crossed.

"He's right, Nyruki. Just stay put till dark, then you can leave." Ukitake said with a smile.

"But... But I need to bathe. It's been a week and I'm gross." Nyruki whined as she crossed her arms with a huff and pouted.

"Believe me, I know how you feel, but Byakuya's right. You only have to wait a couple of hours anyways." Ukitake said with a smile in hopes of easing her.

Nyruki huffed again, "Fine."

"Good. I'll come by later and let you know when it's safe alright?" Ukitake asked.

Nyruki tried not to look at the man, but her eyes shifted up to him on their own as her exaggerated frown softened.

"Alright." She sighed as she relaxed back against the wall.

"Good. You two get some more rest." Ukitake said as he stood and picked up the trays.

"Yeah right." Nyruki grumbled as he left, leaving her to sit and wait, still in the bed of her Captain.

Luckily, Ukitake had been right, much like he always was. She only had to wait a couple more hours before gaining her freedom from her Captain's room that she was more than grateful for. She could begin to feel like her normal self and that included getting a bath to get rid of a week's worth of grime which clung to her skin like glue. Her hair was a knotted mess and heavy, and in desperate need of strong conditioning with a flurry of combing. She didn't have the best of soaps, but it's what she could afford and right now, that's all she needed to get rid of the grossness.

She had gone back to her room at the Squad 6 barracks and gathered some fresh clothes and her bathing kit before setting off for the hot spring a few streets over. She could have used the bathing suite at the barracks, but it was indoors and at that moment, she wanted as much fresh air as possible. She wanted it under the crystal clear, star peppered sky with the big and bright full moon and she exactly where to get it; The outdoor hot spring.

The air was cool as she walked, but not cold. It was serene and so quiet that she could nearly hear her own heart beat in her chest. No one was around, not even a small animal or other Shinigami coming back from a late night of partying at one of the many restaurants around the Seireitei. Everywhere she looked was completely deserted and that meant she would have the entire hot spring to herself.

A small, welcomed revelation.

She reached the hot spring building and walked inside into the dimly lit room with large banks of bamboo cages dominating most of the space. They were lockers and all of them were empty and open.

She began to undress and didn't bother folding her dirty clothes, instead, balling them up into a wade and threw them into the nearest locker without a care. She removed the golden band from around her arms before she slipped off the black bandaging she wore to cover her modest breasts and tossed her under garment into the locker with the thought of maybe just throwing them away instead of trying to clean them. She felt that utterly disgusting.

Fully undressed, she grabbed a neatly folded towel from the shelf and wrapped it around herself, tucking the end in to keep it secured before she let her hair down, picked up her bathing bag and stepped out into the steamy air of the hot spring.

However, she immediately hid in the doorway as the hot spring was not completely barren after all.

What in all the realms? What is it with my luck today? She angrily thought to herself as she dared a peak around the corner.

The water of the hot spring twinkled beneath the moonlight with the etherial steam so thin that it was only a veil, barely able to hide the shimmer of the water reflecting the night sky. Soft, delicate splashes bubbled softly as its occupant swam, elegantly diving beneath the warm laps as if they were a fish. She could easily see below the water's surface, and the swimmer was just as graceful as they were on land. Every motion, every soft kick, every sweep of their long arms was as fluid as the water itself and every now and again, they would spin before breaking the surface and taking in a breath.

She silently gulped as she watched, her heart thundering in her chest the more she studied the man swimming as if he was born of the water. Why did it have to be him? Why did it have to be the one person whom had earned a monopoly on her confusion? His reputation was supposed to be cold, collected and bordering on arrogant, but he had proven differently as of late. She had noticed a bit of that second side in his dealings with his Lieutenant, but she never thought she would see it so soon after joining his Squad. This man was very much operating outside of her plans.

"You can come out, Nyruki." Said the man in the hot spring, smoothly treading water on his back as he stared up at the sky.

Nyruki's cheeks burned, but she stepped out, a bit stiffly, from her hiding spot and clinging to the towel as if her life depended on it.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked, a bit self consciously as she made sure her towel was secure.

"I can sense your spiritual pressure from miles off. The collar makes no difference." Said Byakuya as he lifted his head from the water to glance at her with an expressionless gaze.

"Oh... I uh... I can go find somewhere else if you want, Captain. I didn't mean to disturb you." She said, starting to turn to leave, but stopped when he so elegantly swam to the hot spring's edge.

"You can stay. I'm just taking some time to relax. I finished bathing some time ago." He said as he rested his arms on the bamboo platform that wrapped around all four sides of the hot spring.

Nyruki silently gulped again, "Um... Alright. I would have figured you'd be at your estate instead." She said as she set her bag down on the bamboo and sat with her legs dangling over the edge into the hot water.

"The sky is bigger here." Byakuya said, turning around to press his upper back against the bamboo edge.

Nyruki, still burning with a blush, glanced at him as he turned, seeing the barely visible darkened spots across his bared back.

"Captain Unohana heal you up some more?" Nyruki asked.

"Yes." He said simply.

"Good. They look much better." She said as she tightly gripped the edge of the hot spring until her knuckles were white.

"They feel better."

Nyruki managed to briefly smile as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, seeing that his head had lolled back against the bamboo so he was looking up at the sky with his eyes closed. It offered her a chance to see more than just the pretty face.

Yes, he was a thin man, lithe as it were, but there was enough muscle definition to prove that there wasn't an ounce of fat anywhere on the man. His hair was longer than it appeared, actually falling to his shoulder blades when wet and underneath the moonlight, his pale skin looked pearl and the embodiment of perfection, save for the slightly rough patch on his abdomen, half hidden by the wrapped towel around his hips.

"The javelin wound looks better too." She blurted out, instantly cupping her hand over her mouth in horror that she had said such a thing without thinking.

Byakuya opened his eyes and briefly looked at her before looking down at his abdomen, "There's no telling what that putrid concoction will do, but I do hope that it heals more than that."

Nyruki caught the grimace in his moonlit features, "Me too. It's... It's-"

"Unsightly." He finished for her.

"Yeah." Nyruki said, picking up her comb to begin the lengthy process of trying to untangle the mess.

She sighed and bit her bottom lip as she combed, grateful for the distraction instead of just staring at him. Her comb was unable to travel more than an inch through her hair before snagging on another impossible tangle, and each time, she hissed as it tugged painfully at her scalp.

"Ow... Stupid hair. I have half a mind to shave you off." Nyruki growled at her hair with her comb snagging on a rather nasty knot that was somehow the same size as the thickness of her thumb.

Again, Byakuya opened his eyes and looked at her, resting a cheek on his extended arm that rested along the bamboo to keep him afloat in the soothing water.

"You are most likely going to need to condition that first before those tangles come free." He said as he rolled over to press his chest against the bamboo.

"Ugh... It's gonna be hours." Nyruki whined as she gave up and dropped her hands.

"Would you like help?" He asked as he stood up, the water lapping against his skin, high on his waist.

Nyruki went ridged at the offer, but near instantly gave up trying to fight it. She had no patience, especially with resent events, to fight with her hair. She'd much rather have someone else do it; Captain be damned.

Her shoulders slumped and her head dropped to her chest with the comb still stuck in her hair.

"Yes." She mumbled.

Byakuya huffed with the hint of a smile on the edges of his lips as he waded next to her and grasped her bathing bag.

"May I?" He asked.

"Sure. Just don't be offended by my cheap shampoos." She grumbled as she yanked the comb from her hair, affectively pulling several long strands with it.

"Ow!" She yelped

"Don't do that. You'll damage it." Byakuya said as he opened the bag and pulled two bottles from inside.

"Sorry." She mumbled again.

Byakuya sighed as he studied the bottles with a mild crinkle in his brow, "These most certainly won't do. It would take all of it just to loosen the tangles."

"I said not to get offended." Nyruki grumbled, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms.

"I'm not. I'm just not satisfied these will be effective." He said as he put the bottles back inside.

Nyruki simply watched as he stepped back away from the edge, spun and dove into the water with grace, actually swimming like a dolphin beneath the surface towards the opposite side of the hot spring where his belongings had been neatly placed. He emerged and shook his head for a moment to rid his face of the extra water before he grabbed his bag and wadded back.

Nyruki's cheeks began to burn again, "I um... Maybe I should just-" She tried to protest, to back out from having agreed, but her curiosity was getting the better of her.

Byakuya set his bag down next to hers and began to dig through it, pulling not one, not two, but four bottles from inside.

"Are you serious?" Nyruki breathed, holding her breath as she stared at the neat row.

"Is something wrong?" He asked as he set down the last bottle and pushed his bag aside.

"Four?" She managed to choke out.

Byakuya's lips twitched up as the perpetual scowl in his eyes softened, "You'll see. Here, lay down on your back on this."

He handed her a large, incredibly soft beach towel that had been hand embroidered with cherry blossoms along one corner and down one side. It was bright white with a thick plush and all Nyruki could do for several moments was squish it in her hands.

"Um... Are you sure you want me laying on this? It seems so nice." She asked with sharp pangs of nerves boiling in her stomach.

"Isn't that what it's for? Or would you rather use those potato sacks they call towels here?" Byakuya asked with the barest widening of his smile.

Nyruki lowly laughed, "I'll um... I'll use this. It's nicer."

Carefully, taking in mind her attire, she laid the exquisite towel down and maneuvered herself to lay down on it with her head resting just over the edge to dangle her nest of hair in the water.

The moment she had gotten comfortable, which didn't take long on the towel's thick plush, Byakuya's hands found there way into the tangled black mess. His long fingers combed through it, or at least tried to as he wet her locks down, using his hands to cup water to her forehead. The heat felt wonderful against the comfortable chill, and with the steam hanging in the air, it was enough to help Nyruki relax and admire the glistening night sky overhead.

"It's kinda weird having my Captain do my hair." Nyruki smiled, but found herself relaxing even more when his fingers began to massage the contents of the first bottle into her hair.

"We all should take pride in something, no matter how small it may seem." He said as he rubbed a large knot between his palms to soak it through with the foaming shampoo.

"And you've chosen your hair?" Nyruki smiled crookedly as she crossed her ankles and glanced up at him.

"Not as my primary source of pride, no. That position is held by Rukia." He said, slowly moving up her hair towards her head, taking time to rub each tangle and pull them apart to make them smaller and easier to manage.

"Ah. You really do love her, don't you." Nyruki said softly.

"As much as I did Hisana. I believe I told you that last week." Byakuya said simply.

"I know. How come... Um... How come you never-" She was having trouble finding the words.

"Moved on?"

Nyruki nodded, grateful to be looking up at the sky instead of him to hide the reddening in her cheeks that seemed to never go away when he was around.

Byakuya exhaled slowly as his hands deftly worked through her hair, "The opportunity hasn't arisen."

She could hear the coldness in his words, but she continued.

"Aren't your clan elders getting anxious for you to produce an heir?" She asked a bit too bluntly for her liking.

"They have been mentioning it more and more often as time goes on, yes. They have brought up the topic of arranging another marriage for me, but as the head of my clan, I have been successful in holding them off." Byakuya said cooly. It was clear this was not a subject he enjoyed talking about.

"Oh... Wait, another? I thought you said Hisana wasn't arranged?" Nyruki tilted her head back just enough to look at him.

Byakuya nodded, "And you would be correct. However, I was betrothed to another when I met and fell in love with Hisana."

"Really?" Her eyes shot wide.

Again, he nodded.

"I bet she didn't like that."

"She didn't and is still holding a grudge because I never showed up to the ceremony." He said as his fingers began to massage her scalp through the thick pillow of foam in her hair.

However, Nyruki spun around onto her stomach to look at him upright, having not been expecting to hear that he had literally ditched the woman whom was supposed to be his bride at the alter for another.

"You're kidding! There's no way you bolted." Nyruki gasped, closing an eye that was in danger of becoming drowned in suds from her hair.

"Yes, I bolted as it were. I was young and in love with the idea of being in love." He said as he rinsed his hands before tossing a couple handfuls of water up onto his shoulders to keep warm.

"How mad was she? Oh, please tell me she was livid." Nyruki grinned. For some reason, she liked the idea that her Captain had so brazenly defied societal law.

Byakuya sighed, "Yes, she was livid."

The sting of the soap began to build in her eye, and she began to rub it in hopes of stopping the shampoo from spilling in, but she was too late. Her eye immediately erupted with a chemical sting that made her wince as she tried to clean it, but his hands had coaxed her back down onto her back where one of those deceivingly gentle hands began to slowly trickle water over her eye from its fingertips.

"Lay still." He said as he cupped another soft handful over her eye.

The water washed away the soap before his thumb gently brushed over her eyelid, cleaning away whatever suds remained. His touch was gentle, almost a soft caress and with each stroke, her eye stung less and less.

"Thank you." She said softly as she lay still with his deadly fingers so close to her eye.

"Is that better?" He asked as he finished, both hands resting on either side of her head

"Much."

She opened her eye again and blinked away the subtle blur, but even upside down, she could see the ultra soft smile across his lips.

"You're smiling again." She said with her own smile in return.

"It would appear so." He said simply.

His hands found their way back into her hair and continued to scrub before he pulled the locks beneath the water to rinse them. Her hair already felt lighter and the subtle scent that the shampoo left behind was pleasant as it hung in the air. It smelt of cherry blossoms after a spring rain.

"I find myself freely talking about such things with you and I'm not sure why, but I suppose it is my turn to find out more about you." Byakuya said after a few moments, cupping handfuls of water into her forehead.

Nyruki blushed for the millionth time, "Oh, um... I'm afraid my history is not nearly as exciting."

"I suppose I'll be the judge of that." He said.

"Um... Ok. Ask away then I suppose."

"Was your father your true father, or was he a surrogate? Much like how Captain Ukitake is to you now?" Byakuya began as he started to run his fingers through her hair with tangles that were much looser.

"He was a surrogate. I never knew my real parents. My first real memory is of when Father found me in the alleyway." Nyruki said as she softly lay her hands on her belly while he worked.

"At what age?" He poured a palmful of the second bottle into his hand.

"Young. I was just a little kid." Nyruki said.

Byakuya began to massage the second liquid into her hair, taking care to keep the locks from falling back into the water as he worked his way up by resting them over his shoulder.

"Continue." He said.

"We lived in the 80th District of the Southern Rukongai for awhile. It was dangerous and Father had to fight on a near daily basis just to get water. As I grew, I became more and more hungry so Father decided to leave the Rukongai period and try to make it on our own." Nyruki said, staring up at the sky as Byakuya's hands stilled with lightly clawed fingers against her scalp.

"District 80? You grew up there?" Byakuya asked, his deep voice sounding a bit sullen to her ears.

Nyruki tilted her head back just enough to look at him, "Mmhmm. Till I was a teenager. We lived in a small hutch at the end of an alleyway. I remember Father was very, very protective of me, especially as I got older. I was barely allowed to go outside by myself."

"As it should have been. One step outside could have meant... trouble for you." Byakuya said with a noticeable pause in his words.

"Yeah," Nyruki's smile had vanished long ago, "I remember there was this one time that Father and I were out to get water the day I turned fifteen and we had taken a walk to the river not far from our hutch. Father was really happy because he had worked and saved up enough to buy me a present, and he kept saying that after we got our water, we were gonna buy it."

Byakuya silently gulped the tightening in his chest away as he continued to massage her scalp, "You don't have to continue."

Her eyes locked with his, "It's ok. I want to," she briefly smiled reassuringly, "The sun was setting as we walked to the shop where Father was gonna buy my present, but we got confronted by a group of men demanding my Father's coin. My Father pled for them to just leave, that we had nothing, but they refused to, saying that he had something they wanted whether he liked it, or not."

Byakuya's jaw began to tighten. He was beginning to know where this tale was headed.

"One of them punched Father and knocked him to the ground while the others tried to come after me-" She was interrupted.

"Stop... Don't continue." He said lowly as he tied her hair up on top of her head.

"Huh? W-What's wrong?" She asked as she carefully flipped onto her stomach to look at his angering face.

"Was this the reason your Father took you and left the Rukongai?" He asked, having to take in long breaths to calm himself down.

Nyruki nodded, "Yes."

"Did they... Did those men-" He tried, but be couldn't finish.

However, Nyruki shook her head, "No. Father got back up and killed them, all of them with his sword. He was so angry that afterwards, we just went home without having gotten my present. We packed what little we had and before the sun had even finished setting, we'd left."

Hearing that, Byakuya began to breath again, "Then you were never?"

"No. Though I would have been if Father hadn't been there." Nyruki said as she tucked a conditioner laden lock behind her ear that had fallen loose from the top bun.

Byakuya took in a deep breath as he sunk down into the hot water and turned around to press his shoulder blades against the bamboo edge.

"Are you ok, Captain?" Nyruki asked, daring to rest a hand on his shoulder which earned her a glance from his silver eyes.

"Yes. That conditioner must sit for about ten minutes before we rinse it." Byakuya said, eager to change the subject.

"I-I... Did that bother you?" She asked, her eyes saddened at the thousand yard stare that had taken hold of him.

Byakuya just nodded once.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to know more about me, so I just-"

"I do. I was foolish to think that your life growing up was... pleasant. But I am happy your... virtue is intact." He said as he released a long sigh.

Nyruki tried to smile, but she just couldn't muster it, "It's not."

Byakuya's brows furrowed hard, but he refused to look at her as the aching in his chest returned. Something was causing the ache, the sudden dread just at the thought. He had lived a life of privilege and elegance while she lived day to day simply to survive each minute as it came in turn. He was given everything while she had to fight for the simplest of things. He was starting to feel like the most horrible person in all of Soul Society.

With another soft sigh, Byakuya turned around and rested his crossed arms against the bamboo, keeping his eyes locked on her, but no longer crowned with the angry glare. She had rolled herself around to sit up, still sitting on the elegant towel with her arms crossed. She had begun to chew on her bottom lip and with each passing second, she seemed to lose her ability to look at him.

"That's... not what I meant. I meant that I was happy that those men didn't... force themselves on you." He said, resting his chin on his arms.

"It's ok... Just forget it." Nyruki said, still refusing to look at him.

"But it's happened... Hasn't it." He said lowly.

Even in the moonlight, he saw the glowing sheen that had begun to build in her golden eyes and it only served to add to that growing ache in his chest.

"Not... exactly." She looked down at her lap.

He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but no words came out. There simply weren't any he could say that wouldn't make him sound like a prying prick, or an indifferent bastard, so instead, he closed his mouth and pulled himself from the hot spring.

The sudden splash of the water was enough to draw Nyruki's attention away from the oblivion she was staring into, just in time to see his arms flex with the effort of pulling his weight from the water. Her stomach flipped, but only for a moment until she looked away once more.

However, when a pair of wet, abnormally hot arms found their way around her shoulders from behind, the gymnastics in her stomach returned with a vengeance and she went instantly rigid with a start and a soft gasp.

"Are you alright? Did I-" Byakuya actually stuttered as he instantly pulled his arms away with worry he had overstepped his bounds.

Nyruki breathed in, "I-I'm fine. Just startled is all." She lied.

Her arms dropped from over her chest into her lap and she opted to stare at something a bit closer than oblivion. Her hands began to pick at her fingernails and she was so transfixed by their actions that she missed when Byakuya had come to sit next to her and softly, gently, cupped her chin.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong to ask." He said so low that it was almost a whisper lost to the steam of the hot spring.

Nyruki shook her head, "You weren't. It's just not something I talk about. I've only ever talked about this with Papa... I mean Captain Ukitake-"

"You can call him that. That's what he is to you and you are no longer under his command." Byakuya interrupted.

Nyruki sighed and took her chin away from his soft grasp, "I cried for days after talking to him about it. In all this time you'd think I would've come to terms with it." She continued staring at her hands.

Byakuya suddenly knew what she meant. He didn't need to asked anymore as his mind had just put the pieces together. No, she had not been forced upon, but she had had to make a decision that would mean surviving, or slowly starving to death on her own out in the untamed woods. She had chosen to survive.

"You sold yourself." Byakuya said lowly.

Nyruki covered her face in her hands and nodded.

It wasn't a moment later that she was shaking with quiet sobs and he knew that beneath those hands, tears were filling their palms. The ache in his chest, at the sheer mention, had reached a fever pitch that pounded against his sternum as if someone was crushing his chest with a boulder. It hurt enough to cause him to roll his shoulders forward and rest a hand over his heart. He had caused this. He was at fault. He had to make it better.

With the chill beginning to bite at his wet skin, even through the hovering steam, he scooted to the edge of the bamboo and slipped back into the water with the quietest of splashes that more sounded like a distant stone falling into a pond.

"Hey... Come here." He said lowly as he reached up and grasped her hands.

Nyruki didn't refuse as he pulled her hands away from her face, revealing the heavy wet streaks of tears that had fallen. He gently tugged and again, she didn't refuse as she carefully, making sure to keep some sense of modesty, slipped into the water that came up to cover her chest in sheer warmth.

"Come." He said again, continuing to tug on her hands until they were standing in the middle of the hot spring with the largest swath of sky above them.

Nyruki sniffled and wiped her eyes, "What?" She didn't look at him.

Byakuya slowly reached his hands from the water and softly grasped both sides of her neck, making her reddened crying eyes look at him, still with little to no resistance from her.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, his gaze the softest she had ever seen it.

Nyruki nodded.

With that barely there smile, Byakuya turned her around so her back was against his chest with her head resting against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back just enough so that she floated on her back, her head against his shoulder, looking up at the starlit sky that sparkled like diamonds above them.

"From here, you can see every star from every sky, tended to by the light of the moon that has been there since time began, watching over every single one like sheep in a flock. It is those very stars that have lead my clan to have a saying, an old adage that has been instilled in every Kuchiki that has ever lived. " He said softly into her ear, staring up at the sky with her.

More tears fell from the corners of Nyruki's eyes, "What is it?" She nearly whimpered.

"Each star that twinkles above, only visible by the light of the moon, is a single moment in time, locked for eternity in the black heavens for us to look at whenever we wish." He said, grasping his own wrists as he supported her in the water.

"What if I don't want to remember any of my past moments?" She asked, softly blinking more tears free of her eyes.

"Then make new ones. No moment is forever, just like no star is forever. When one goes out, a new one is born from what remains. Even stars are apart of the balance of life and death." He said, keeping his lips a breath away from her ear as he spoke.

"You mean like when we forget one memory, to make way for a new one?" She asked softly, suckling on her quivering bottom lip.

"Exactly. Forget what was, and look towards what will be. Forget the Nyruki you were, the one who would do whatever it took to survive. You are far stronger than I could ever be, simply because you have grown up fighting for the simple right to eat and drink. This includes Renji and Rukia. Where I was always given whatever I wanted, all of you survived on your own with your own prowess." He said as he let go of one of his wrists and softly placed it against her tear stained cheek across her chest.

How could words make someone want to cry more than the painful memories stomping through her mind? How could he possibly be able to make it hurt more than it already did? She had to know.

"But you can destroy anything in your path with just a thought. Send billions of blades hurling towards your enemies with reckless abandon. What do I have? I'm a whore with a sword." More tears began to fall.

That word physically hurt to hear cross her lips. In fact, it made his own eyes sting.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare let that word cross your lips again." He said with an angry snap to each word.

"How can I not when it's true?" She asked, lost in the beauty of the night sky above her.

He couldn't handle it anymore, he couldn't bare the thought of hearing how she felt about herself. No wonder she had hidden her power for so long, had lied to protect it from becoming known. No wonder her spiritual pressure had erupted in defense the first time he had touched her and no wonder she had always stayed an arms length away for so long up until she was forced, forced to get close. He hated himself for it, that she had been forced to train them to break free of her Zanpakutō and it was because he had forced her to show its power. He had forced her. Forced. Her.

With the ache no longer able to be resisted, Byakuya unwrapped his arms and let her go, diving into the water and desperate for a chance to be out of her sight. He stayed under in the infinite blackness as he lay on the bottom, staring up at the waving moon with the stars that bled together. Here, he could drown in the forever blackness and try to forgive himself for forcing her.