It had been like a blessing from on high when Renji proposed the perfect excuse for Byakuya to train Tsukiko. Of course the baboon had no idea what he was doing, but that only made it better. Let him believe he was simply doing Tsukiko a favor, when in truth he was making his captain's life infinitely easier.

Byakuya knew it had been a good idea never to fire him, even during the times when all he wanted was a Renji-free life.

The day after Renji's unknowing stroke of genius, Byakuya sped through drills before returning to his office. He pulled the file containing the squad's weekly schedule out of his desk and flipped through the pages until he saw all names beginning with H sound characters. A quick glimpse at "Hokutan" informed Byakuya that Tsukiko had half an hour between morning drills and a shift patrolling District One of Southern Rukongai. While he was not especially fond of hunting her down, it turned out that he didn't have to, for even Tsukiko's location was thrown in his lap: he'd hardly glanced out the window for a bit of reprieve when he saw Tsukiko sitting cross-legged in his garden, of which he had an excellent view from his office. She was sitting cross-legged in front of the koi pond, her back to him and either end of her bare Asauchi poking out from its position on her lap.

In an effort to preserve an air of nonchalance, Byakuya returned the schedule to its drawer and began to sift through the minute stack of paperwork on his desk. He only meant to sign the sheets that required just his signature, but unfortunately, that involved bypassing what were no less than fourteen transfer requests (not one signed by Rukia) from a certain Kontori Emi, all of which declaring that her life in Squad Thirteen was "deplorably boring" and that as a member of Squad Six, she would "absolutely flourish and be the very best squad member evaaaar if you just let me in because I LOVE YOU KUCHIKI BYAKUYA MARRY ME I KNOW YOU'RE SINGLE."

Starting to wonder if he should be concerned, Byakuya fed each request into the shredder.

Minutes later, with the appropriate papers signed and his window view confirming that Tsukiko had not moved, Byakuya at last walked out into the garden. The summer blooms were still strong and gently fragrant, though in just a week or two they would begin to wane with their season. Mourning the garden only slightly, Byakuya stepped before Tsukiko. Her Asauchi hadn't moved from her folded legs, and her hands rested on her knees. Her head was bowed low in concentration.

Speaking softly but firmly, Byakuya said, "Hokutan."

There was no response.

Raising his voice slightly, Byakuya again said, "Hokutan."

This time there was certainly a response, but not the one Byakuya expected: an enormous snore louder than any he'd heard in years came out of Tsukiko's mouth.

I must say, I was starting to doubt she'd inherited anything from her mother, Senbonzakura said with a chuckle.

Byakuya exhaled, even though it was very true that Tsukiko and Hisana had at least one thing in common—unfortunately. "Hokutan, the barracks are over there if you wish to doze off," he said at last, his voice not loud but of piercing authority.

Tsukiko gasped awake in an instant, and her Asauchi went flying as her legs flailed. She glanced around in confusion, but the color drained from her face when she saw who had woken her. Quickly dusting herself off, Tsukiko stood and bowed to Byakuya. "Captain Kuchiki, I beg your forgiveness for falling asleep in your garden!" she said, retaining her bow. "It's a beautiful location, a-and so tranquil—!"

Byakuya cleared his throat, and immediately she stopped, bending back up at the waist. His eyes briefly met hers, and again he was surprised by the familiar shade of gray. But there was a more important matter to attend to. "Have you nothing better to do, Hokutan?" Byakuya asked.

Tsukiko shook her head. "N-no sir. I have a break before my shift—"

"And so you chose to nap in my garden?"

"No sir! I was attempting to meditate—" Tsukiko scanned the ground and grabbed her Asauchi, holding it up as though its presence would prove her innocence. "Y-yes, I was attempting to meditate and…I, uh…."

"Fell asleep in my garden."

"…Yes sir." Tsukiko looked down.

Byakuya stepped closer to the pond, staring at the lightly rippling water and twirling koi. "I won't ask about meditation, as it is clearly not a strength of yours, but I assume you're adapting well in all other regards?"

"Uh, yes sir," Tsukiko said. "Being in Squad Six provides sufficient challenge, but I don't find it discouraging. I can find help whenever I ask, and for all else I am willing to work hard."

"Except with sword meditation." Byakuya glanced at her blushing face. "I suppose it's only natural to have a flaw or two. An Achilles heel, I understand they call it in the West."

"An Achilles heel?"

"A reference to Greek mythology," Byakuya said, training his eyes on a pair of squad members who had entered the garden. Upon catching their captain's gaze, they immediately turned around and left.

Oblivious to them, Tsukiko considered Byakuya's words for a moment. "I should hope I become more than just a myth, sir," she said. "If you will forgive my ambition."

Byakuya may have shrugged were he anyone else. "That you remain ambitious after a month in Squad Six is telling, Hokutan." He steeled himself. "Do you wish to improve faster?"

A look of what might have been triumph crossed Tsukiko's face, but it faded just as quickly as it had appeared. In its place, she nodded. "Yes sir, but how?"

Byakuya faced the koi again. They had gathered before him in wait of their usual summer treat of watermelon, but while he had no melon for the fish, he had news for Tsukiko. "Lieutenant Abarai recently informed me of your meditation struggles, so I thought I might train you myself to keep the squad relatively balanced," Byakuya said. "If you can forgive my ambition."

To his surprise, Tsukiko did not gasp or express her shock. Rather, it seemed as though she was not at all amazed by his offer. While he didn't anticipate the waterworks of her crazed friend, Byakuya expected even a gasp. Had he perhaps said something wrong? Senbonzakura mumbled something about rumors or eavesdropping to contrast the impending guilt, but Byakuya hushed him as Tsukiko shook her head and stood up straighter.

Taking a deep breath that did nothing for her shaking voice—ah, there it was—Tsukiko said, "Captain Kuchiki, i-it is an honor that you consider me worthy of training. I-if you mean it—"

"Would I have proposed the idea if I did not?"

Tsukiko gave him a small smile. "No sir, I suppose not. But yes, I gladly accept your offer."

"Excellent." Byakuya looked once again at the pond, where the koi fish were still clustered together. "…I have another question for you, Hokutan," Byakuya went on, deciding right then to disguise a question he'd had for some time now as a captain's curiosity.

"Sir?"

"Your talent, while certainly imperfect, exceeds that of most other recruits I've had join my squad over the years. Have you a Shinigami background?"

"I'm afraid not, Captain," Tsukiko said. "My parents were both from Hokutan." She paused. "They died before I was two, so our neighbor took me in. She passed while I was at the Academy, but I suppose that's for the best. I don't exactly have much time to visit—" She cut herself off, perhaps regretting what surely sounded to Byakuya like a complaint about her workload.

But he let it go, consumed as he was by Tsukiko's answer. It was exactly what he'd instructed her nurse to say, but no amount of success could counteract the sinking sensation in his stomach.

Byakuya shifted, the physical movement helping him move forward rather than back. "That is unfortunate, your family situation," he said, "though experience has taught me that diamonds in the rough are typically more eager to learn than those born with a silver spoon in their hand."

"Like Lieutenant Abarai, sir?" Tsukiko offered.

Byakuya almost raised an eyebrow. "He is certainly one example that comes to mind, yes…." He turned to face Tsukiko, and his typical noble bearing returning in full. "But for now, you are simply carbon atoms floating in space. You won't become a diamond any time soon." He began to walk away. "I understand your Tuesday afternoons are free, Hokutan. Meet me next Tuesday, three PM, at the Kuchiki manor. Prying and jealous eyes from the rest of the squad will do nothing for your progress."

Shuffling fabric behind him told him Tsukiko was bowing. "Captain," she said.

Wordlessly, he left the garden.

"Meet me at the Kuchiki manor?" Senbonzakura shouted as Byakuya made for the Hell butterfly cages. You haven't even told the family!

I am telling them now, he said to Senbonzakura, scaring a rookie out of the butterfly room with just his presence. They will understand, and if they don't, they will.

Senbonzakura scoffed. They all say you grew out of your arrogance, but I know the truth: it increased tenfold!

Byakuya ignored him and selected a Hell butterfly. He gently pressed his reiatsu into it to record his message: Jii-sama, I request your presence in half an hour—

Byakuya's soul pager chirped loudly, interrupting the recording. Though Kurosaki's return to the Seireitei had vastly accelerated the development of soul pagers, making them more like phones in the World of the Living than, as he put it, "glorified pagers like we're all stuck in the fucking nineties," Byakuya rather favored the pagers' older model; at least then they were quieter. Exhaling slowly, Byakuya withdrew his reiatsu from the Hell butterfly and pulled his pager out of his haori, hardly checking the screen. "Kuchiki Six," he said.

"Nii-sama," Kuchiki Thirteen said. Rukia's voice was urgent, and in the background Byakuya heard Ichika screaming. "I'm sending Hisana to the manor. Ichika came over while Ichigo was home."

"Say no more," Byakuya said, all thoughts of Tsukiko flying out of his head. "Do you need assistance?"

"I can manage alo—Ichika, stop—!" The screaming morphed into a bellow of pain and a cry of vicious victory, and a loud thump sounded through the microphone as Rukia dropped her pager.

Ending the call, Byakuya recorded a new message for the Hell butterfly, this one telling his grandfather to keep Hisana busy while he assisted Rukia.

When Byakuya arrived at Ichigo and Rukia's house, one of the front windows was shattered, through which a suspicious silence billowed into the front yard. Among the window shards on the lawn, Byakuya distinguished the remains of a teapot he'd once gifted Rukia for her birthday.

Keeping a hand firmly planted on Senbonzakura's hilt, Byakuya slid open the unlocked front door and stepped inside, where his ears were met not with angry shouts, but low, clipped voices. As he moved into the sitting room, he found the table broken into pieces. The tatami mats were covered in teacup shards and tea stains, and the sitting cushions were laying anywhere but at the ruined table. There was no blood on the floor, but nor was there an active fight.

"…may have attacked you, but you didn't have to provoke her," Byakuya heard Rukia say through the open door to the kitchen.

Kurosaki was quick to respond. "She started going—ah, hell, that stings—after my mother. Did you really think I'd let that go?"

Rukia scoffed but didn't answer.

Byakuya stepped into the kitchen then, and Ichigo and Rukia looked up from where they were standing at the counter. Rukia was in the middle of cleaning a fresh cut on Ichigo's bared arm, a reddened gauze pad raised to the bleeding wound. Other than that, neither she nor her husband seemed injured. Ichika was nowhere in sight.

Breaking from Byakuya's entrance, Ichigo looked away, leaning hard on the counter. "Hey, Byakuya…" he said, his voice less than pleased.

Rukia nodded at Byakuya. "Thank you for coming, Nii-sama, but we have this under control now." She once more dabbed at Ichigo's arm with the gauze, but she stopped, and not because Ichigo hissed in pain again. "Where is Hisana?" she asked.

"I was at headquarters when you called," Byakuya said, examining the kitchen; while not particularly neat, it wasn't any different than its usual appearance. That meant that the fight had been contained to just one room this time. "I sent Jii-sama a Hell butterfly to expect Hisana-chan. I came because it sounded from my end like things were escalating."

Rukia sighed but lowered the used gauze pad to the counter. "Thank you, Nii-sama," was all she said as she studied the cut on Ichigo's arm. It wasn't particularly shallow, but already the bleeding was slowing.

"Where is Ichika-chan?" Byakuya said.

"Hisa's room," Ichigo said. He was quieter, with Rukia now pressing a fresh gauze pad to his arm and wrapping it securely in a bandage. "Rukia had to knock her out, she was getting so worked up." His eyes briefly widened. "She can get so damn hysterical…."

Rukia tsked. "It's not as if she was ever a calm soul."

Ichigo glared at her. "You say that like I should just forgive her for cutting my arm open."

"Okay, and who punched her in the eye?" Rukia said, her voice raising.

"Enough," Byakuya said, willing to be peacekeeper even for a fight he didn't expect. "Is Ichika-chan otherwise injured?"

Both Ichigo and Rukia shook their heads, and trusting in their continued silence, Byakuya moved down the hall to Hisana's room. The door was partially closed, and he slid it open in full, revealing walls decorated with Hisana's brightly colored drawings, some of them picturing people who looked rather like rabbits (Byakuya silently acknowledged his own long-eared visage in a few pictures). A lilac-colored rug covered most of the floor, and a pile of toys sat along one wall, arranged as though Hisana had been playing with them and only just left the room. However, in the corner where Hisana's futon would unfurl at night lay the full-grown Ichika and her sheathed Zanpaku-to, her black uniform contrasting harshly with the bright, youthful room. Her red hair offered a stark heat against the rug's cool colors, though this red was pure hellfire, better suited for burning than warming. Ichika's face was smoothed by unconsciousness, but as anticipated, her nose and left eye were swollen and irregularly blotted with black and blue. While Byakuya didn't at all like the thought of Ichigo hurting Ichika, it was readily apparent that Kurosaki could throw a solid punch. And if what Rukia had said about Ichika insulting Kurosaki's mother was true, perhaps Ichika had deserved it.

"I don't like fighting her," Ichigo said quietly, and Byakuya turned to face him.

Ichigo swallowed and leaned against the doorframe on his good arm. "I know it's better for us to stay apart because fighting's all we ever do, but I do want to have a normal conversation with her again some day."

Byakuya slowly crossed his arms. "What if she doesn't wish to have a conversation with you?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "That's what I'm getting at, Byakuya. I don't want to fight with Ichika anymore. I always liked her, and we got on well enough before the divorce, but…." He sighed. "She picked a side and is sticking to it.

"Anyway, how's it going with your kid? Have you told Tsukiko she's yours yet?"

A stab of panic pierced through Byakuya's chest, and his eyes examined Ichika for any sign of consciousness. As far as he could see, her eyes hadn't fluttered, and her chest still rose evenly. Even so, Byakuya narrowed his eyes at Kurosaki. "Are you that daft not to start this conversation elsewhere?" he said.

The idiot brat held up his hands innocently. "Hey, Rukia promised she was out for another half hour—"

"Out, Kurosaki. Now."

Not waiting for Ichigo's response, Byakuya marched into the hall. Upon tampering down the usual urge to strangle his brother-in-law, he said, "If you must know, I told Tsukiko just today that I wish to train her."

Ichigo smiled. "There we go. Certainly took you long enough."

"I was waiting for the right moment."

"More like putting it off," Ichigo said as they re-entered the ruined sitting room. "You really didn't just want to make an exception and get it over with? She's your kid after all."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed once more. "You understand how delicate the situation is, Kurosaki. I needed to bide my time—quite like you're doing with Ichika."

That silenced the brat.

"In any case, this room is still a disaster," he said, lifting his foot off the remains of a teacup. "I will call a cleaning service—"

"Oh, c'mon Byakuya, not this again," Ichigo said. "We're perfectly capable of straightening up—"

"You and Rukia are high-ranking Shinigami. It is beneath you—"

"Fine, but Rukia and I are paying for it this time, not you!"

"I insist that I pay. Oh, Rukia, a word about one of your squad members…."

The conversation, and Ichigo's insistence that he pay for the sitting room's repairs, carried down the hall and back into Hisana's room, where the door had been left open. The words touched Ichika's ears, but they did not wake her.

Rather, her eyes slowly open as she processed what her uncle and that piece of shit Kurosaki had said.