Hello everyone!

I didn't expect all of this love for the fic since posting the last update! So here's a big thank you to all that favored/ added STW to their alert list: MesmerizingMermaid, BlueMarch4, Celestial Moon Lady, saberis, Megan Case, KirikaAndo, FutureFalls, jazztae, The Witchy Writer and nesrineceleste.

And of course, a really big thank you to grakei, SenSen-chan, momo5577 and KirikaAndo for reviewing!

Now it's time for Byakuya to pay for his sins.

Please enjoy this chapter - I hope that it was worth the wait! I won't be updating until next year, so until then, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!

Chapter 22

Investigation

Tucked away in his home office, Byakuya was kept company by the light of a lone lanturn, lost in thought.

Upon his arrival back at the manor, he barely stepped two feet into the foyer when a servant had stopped him. Deep down, he didn't want to be bothered - he just wanted to eat and lock himself away for the night. What could possibly be so damn important?

Holding back a sigh, he looked down on the servant.

"This letter arrived for you earlier today." he continued, bringing attention to the golden letter.

Offering it to him, he waited to be relieved of the letter, a letter that would soon make him nauseous. "I was told to ask you to read it promptly, sir."

Taking it from him, bowed again before the both of them departed from each other.

In his office, he didn't waste any time opening the letter that proudly boasted the golden crest of the Shihouin Clan, sending a shiver running up his spine. It stared him dead in the face, commanding him to read its contents. He grew more nervous. Was it from Miyako? Did she finally want to speak with him again? But why would she go through this much trouble when she could've delivered it at the barracks, he thought. With his mind swirling and nausea brewing, he needed answers. He quickly opened it and indulged in its subject matter. His eyes grew wide at the content of the letter.

Captain Kuchiki,

You're cordially invited to be our honored guest for dinner tomorrow night at the Shihouin Manner to express gratitude for your tutelage of Lady Miyako Shihouin.

Please respond at your earliest convenience.

His eyes fell on her name, his brows furrowed in disappointment. 'Miyako…this isn't really from you…'

Another shiver traveled down his spine as he reminisced about their relationship.

He could still feel the warmth of her body pressed against his, whether it was from them training together or when they shared those carnal filled kisses. The luscious taste of her soft lips lingered on his more often than he'd like to admit; always taunting him with a craving akin to forbidden fruit…and of course, how could he forget the bright, sweet smile that used to greet him daily and her carefree laugh? Those treasures were the things that she now gave to Isshiki, the little bastard.

It hurt him to turn away from her every time he saw her. He told himself that he'd respect her wishes and stay away from her…but he had to admit that it felt like he was being cut repeatedly with Senbonzakura as he snuck glances of her from afar.

There was no doubt that his soul grew colder each day and a hollowness filled his chest. Byakuya frowned as he clenched the letter.

'This feels just as bad as when Hisana died…or even worse…'

He skimmed over the letter again. Byakuya knew that he was playing with fire. He had no idea how this dinner was going to end.

Looking towards the direction of the family grave, he let out a heavy sigh as Hisana's ghastly image flashed in his mind. With pursed lips, he forced himself to swallow the knot in his throat.

'I'm sorry Hisana, but I have to go…'

Quickly writing up a response, he sprung up from his desk and turned to call for a servant. He had no choice but to oblige, especially if he had this precious chance to get close to her once more.

'I have to go and see her…'

The following night couldn't come soon enough. Like clockwork, Miyako had made a maddash out of the barracks after dismissal, even turning down Isshiki for a night out, giving Byakuya much joy. That joy was fleeting, as he remembered that he had a dinner to attend. He wondered if Miyako even knew about his invitation and how much more awkward it was going to be if she really wasn't aware.

At this point, there was nothing he could do about it; he was already standing at the edge of the cliff. It was now time to prepare to jump.

Upon arriving at the manor, Byakuya was greeted by none other than the silver haired Kimura, flashing a gentle smile. "Welcome to the Shihouin Manor, Captain Kuchiki."

Byakuya watched as she motioned him to follow her. "Please come this way; everyone is expecting you in the dining room."

Before making their way down the long walkway, a heaviness built up in his throat. He had to know. "Will I be dining with just the master and lady of the house tonight?"

"No, sir. The princess and Lieutenant Marechiyo's niece will be joining as well."

Byakuya instantly felt sick. Now this dinner would increase to a whole new level of peril.

"But Lady Miyako was informed of this dinner just hours earlier, just as I was. I'm not sure if the two young ladies are aware of your attendance. I'm sure that they'll be elated to have their esteemed mentor at their side for dinner."

Byakuya was quick to hide his discomfort. 'I would have to disagree with you.'

He didn't waste any time in hiding his reiatsu in the fear that Miyako might run away; he had to see her.

"Come along now, dear captain or we'll be tardy."

Following the old woman, he could feel Miyako's reiatsu getting closer. Doing well to hide his nerves, he continued until they arrived at a double door.

"Please wait here, sir. Another attendant will announce your arrival. I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy your dinner."

The captain replied with a nod. "Thank you."

Once she left him, he took a quick moment to prepare himself. He could feel her reiatsu on the other side.

'Miyako…'

"Presenting the honored guest for the evening: Captain Kuchiki of the Sixth Division."

An eternity passed as the doors opened to allow him inside the dining room. Byakuya walked inside and set his eyes on Miyako. Taking in her appearance, he kept his composure. It had been the first time he had seen her in a kimono in quite some time. The kimono in question was a striking long sleeve white kimono decorated in a blue and silver floral motif, complimenting her silky twilight hair. Her hair was pulled into a side ponytail, curled and pinned up with a large white lily kanzashi, highlighting more of her beauty. Her light make-up highlighted her soft lips that he wanted to taste once more. Miyako's look complimented what he admired in her - her strength, beauty and purity.

'She's stunning…'

While it was nice to finally be in close contact with her, he could imagine how awkward this dinner was going to be for the both of them. As he made his way to his seat, his heart took another blow; she still wouldn't look his way.

'Miyako…I'll make you look at me one way or the other…'

That thought turned out to be wishful thinking.

The only word that Byakuya could use to describe this dinner was "catastrophic".

After a disastrous dinner, Miyako had reached her breaking point, screaming her frustrations not only at him, but her father as well, and storming out of the dining room. Lord Shihouin didn't waste any time in ordering the servants to retrieve her. By hook or by crook, she was going to apologize for her less than stellar behavior.

Clearly embarrassed, Lord Shihouin tried to remedy the situation, but Byakuya didn't care about his apology; he was more worried about Miyako.

It didn't take long for the servants to return. Everyone grew more concerned when they observed the look on their pale faces.

"What is it?" her father asked. "Where's Miyako?"

Trying to catch their breath, a servant managed to speak up.

"Lady Miyako…she's gone!"

Lord Shihouin jumped up with the report. "What do you mean she's gone?!"

"She ran towards her room and locked the door…when we were able to enter, she had disappeared!"

Byakuya jumped up without thinking, running to her room as he followed the waning trail of reiatsu, the others followed in tow. When he arrived, he saw nothing but an empty room. It was neat and tidy with the faint aroma of her perfume wading in the air. Nothing seemed out of place, except the large shoji doors that were left wide open to the garden. Byakuya walked to the open door and looked around.

"Well, Captain Kuchiki? Can you deduce where she's gone to?" her father asked. "Nothing is out of place."

Byakuya put on his famous frown. "Her reiatsu ends here…it's as if she's vanished from this very spot."

"That's impossible! How could she have done that?! I wasn't aware that Miyako was a master at hiding her reiatsu completely!"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "That's because she's not, but she's very skilled at hiding most of it…and somehow she was able to do it."

'When did she learn how to do that?'

Obviously frustrated, Lord Shihouin tried to compose himself; the whole dinner was nothing short of a complete disaster.

"Servants! Call for Captain Soifon! We need to gather a search party at once and find Miyako! Don't let the knowledge of her disappearance leave this manor!"

Acknowledging his orders, they ran off to the barracks as Lord Shihouin turned to Byakuya.

"Captain Kuchiki, I'm deeply sorry about tonight; it's been a disaster and brings shame to the Shihouin clan. I hope that you can forgive us and forget that this ever happened."

Byakuya turned his gaze away from him. "I understand; consider this water under the bridge."

He could hear him breathe out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for your understanding."

A moment of silence fell between them. Closing his eyes briefly, Byakuya could see Miyako standing there in that beautiful kimono. Instead of the blank stare that he had witnessed, he could see the warm smile that he came to love…but that room was empty and bleak without her. He had to see that smile again.

"If I may, I'd like to join in the search for Miyako."

Lord Shihouin raised a brow. "You would? But why would you concern yourself to this extent when she's only your student?"

He was no fool - it was evident at dinner that something was going on between the two nobles, but he was afraid to ask at this point in time. What came next shocked him - the stoic noble and Division Six captain turned to him with a look in his eye that he'd never seen before: yearning, if only for an instant.

"Because Lord Shihouin, she's not just my student…she's my friend."

With that, Byakuya didn't allow any more conversation to be had. Quickly bowing, he thanked Lord Shihouin for the dinner invitation and excused himself. He had to find Miyako and repair what he had broken.

The night was long and dark. Despite everyone's best efforts, they failed to locate Miyako in the Seireitei. Only once that night, a burst of her reiatsu was detected out to a forest in West Rukongai. Unfortunately, her reiatsu disappeared as quickly as it came and ended abruptly, just like back in her bedroom. After that, the search was suspended and was due to reconvene in the morning.

It was safe to say that Byakuya didn't sleep very well. So many questions kept running through his head: how did she manage to completely conceal her reiatsu on multiple occasions? How far could she have run away when she was dressed in an elegant kimono? Then again, she managed to run pretty well in those when they were younger - that's when he met her for the first time. From that point on, she was always there to be a nuisance with Yoruichi…until he married Hisana.

'That's when it all began…didn't it Miyako?'

That's when Miyako and Yoruichi stopped coming to the Kuchiki Estate. The Shihouin family was present at the wedding and a memory came back to him…when he and Hisana had finally completed their wedding ceremony, he remembered that the Shihouin family was front and center, but Miyako's dull and empty eyes were more focused on the ground than the newly married couple.

'That's when I broke your heart…I never noticed because I was too in love with Hisana…and now I've broken your heart again…'

"Damnit…"

Quickly rising from his futon, he got dressed and headed out for the day. He really had to find her, no matter what.

More hours had passed and everyone ended up with the same results - the princess was still missing. More search parties had split their resources outside of the Seireitei, but Byakuya didn't believe that she had gone that far away from home. Arriving at a bazaar where he had seen her window shopping before, he started to search there until something caught his eye - a woman with long twilight blue hair was shopping among the stalls.

"Miyako!" he called out, grabbing her by her shoulder.

Startled, the woman was about to give him a piece of her mind. Byakuya was embarrassed when he saw that the woman in question wasn't Miyako - they shared the same hair and skin color, but she had amber eyes.

"I apologize; I had mistaken you for someone else. Please excuse me."

Before the woman could respond, he was gone. "Oh phooey! He was pretty cute!"

Now the sun was starting to set once more and she was still missing. Byakuya had tried looking in other markets, each gate of the Seireitei and other hot spots within the Seireitei. His latest area of interest was Restaurant Row. He recalled that she would often visit with her friends and Isshiki. Dinner service was underway and more shinigami were coming and going. Among all of the faces there, he didn't see Miyako.

'Where are you, Miyako? I hate to admit it, but I need a miracle to find you.'

He conducted a closed-area search of her reiatsu, but wasn't successful. He then decided to wait at the entrance to see if she would pass through in the chance she would purchase some food. Unfortunately, he didn't wait for very long.

"Captain Kuchiki," a heated voice called out. Turning around, he was met with no other than two women that he had briefly met before. Both women, one with green eyes and the other with her lavender eyes, stared him down in full force.

"May we have a word with you?"

With the tone of their voices, he had no doubt who they were and he was no fool. With those glares, he knew that he was in trouble.

"You're friends of Miyako Shihouin, are you not?" he replied.

"You're damn right!" Rumi shouted, moving one step closer to him. Irritated by her tone, he stood his ground.

"You'd do your best to -"

He paused when Shirayuki pointed a lone finger to him.

"No!" Shirayuki spoke up, with a glare that rivaled Captain Unohana's. It was safe to say that it effectively shut him up. "You can save that for someone else. We need to have a word with you urgently. Come with us, away from Restaurant Row."

With that being said, the two ladies began to walk away from the entrance, but Byakuya wasn't quick to follow. Feeling him dragging his feet, Rumi stopped and glared at him once more.

"Hurry up and follow…especially if you want to know where Miyako is."

Rumi and Shirayuki had quickly flash stepped away, with Byakuya quickly following behind. Soon, the three of them were in a small woodland area away from the Seireitei in West Rukongai, not too far away from where Miyako's reiatsu went cold the night before. After confirming that they were the only ones present, Shirayuki and Rumi held their indignant stance against the captain. Pushing that aside, Byakuya didn't waste any time.

"I'm certain with you two knowing about Miyako's disappearance, that you have knowledge about our relationship."

"That's correct." Shirayuki replied. "We already knew sometime ago that Miyako had feelings for you, but she always tried to deny it."

Byakuya fought back a sigh. "How much did she tell you?"

Rumi huffed with folded arms. "Enough, especially when we ran into her last night."

Byakuya's eyes widened as an image of Miyako flashed in his mind. "You saw her last night?"

"Yeah, and through her tears, she explained that you broke her heart into a million pieces! How dare you stomp on her heart like that?! Nobody makes our Miya cry!"

The proverbial guilt spirit threw another block on him. He could only imagine how she confessed everything to them. Byakuya closed his eyes and tried to focus. He couldn't believe that he was getting scolded from a couple of common shinigami-in-training, but he knew that the bonds of great friends ran deep and strong. He had to fight back a smile; he was grateful that she had such good friends that stood up for her, risking it all…but he had to admit that he was far from that to her now.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!" Shirayuki asked. "We've never seen her behave like that before!"

"With the way you treated her, you don't deserve to be anywhere near her! Some friend you turned out to be!"

Byakuya's throat grew heavy, his fists clenched.

"I understand and appreciate your concern." he replied, shocking them. "Miyako is blessed to have such good friends as you two. You're correct - with recent developments between us, I don't deserve to be in her presence, let alone her friend, but…it's because of what has happened, I need to see her. I desire nothing more than to repair the damage that I've caused."

Rumi and Shirayuki glanced at one another, not knowing exactly what to think.

"How do we know that you're not lying? You could be saying anything to get what you want!"

Shirayuki nodded. "If what you say is true, then you need to prove it."

Byakuya's patience was growing thin. "Are you both so adamant to paint me as a villain? I've already expressed my intentions with the utmost sincerity."

"There's sincerity and then there's untrustworthiness. I'm sure that you know where you stand with us right now. If you want any help in finding Miyako, prove to us that you care about her."

Byakuya let out a deep breath and looked upwards to the sky, namely the crescent moon.

"Miyako reminds me of the moon; she luminates my dark world. Her moon shines bright with the sun that burns inside of her, the same sun that warms my heart with her gleaming smile and golden eyes. I haven't laughed in decades and she's managed to help me reconnect with a part of myself that I thought was lost to time…"

Rumi and Shirayuki exchanged surprised glances at each other.

"Miyako is not only beautiful, kind and intelligent, she is tenacious and has a drive that I wish more shinigami possessed. Her talent and heart is much to be revered. Miyako appears to be rough around the edges and has the ability to drive me to insanity, but in all…she's akin to an iridescent, beautiful pearl hidden away in a shell…a treasure that should be protected and valued…and I've done nothing but that as of late because of my own transgressions…"

Looking back towards their shocked faces, he raised a brow.

"Does that suffice in expressing how I feel towards Miyako?"

The pair looked at each other again. "Wow…" Shirayuki whispered.

Rumi nodded. "Yeah…we never thought we'd hear such words from such a stoic person."

Byakuya scoffed. "I'll pretend that I didn't hear that," he replied. "Now that I've done what you've asked, can you please inform me of where Miyako has run away to?"

The women's eyes softened at the question with pursed lips.

"Honestly…we can't tell you where she is." Rumi replied.

"But you said that you knew where she was." Byakuya said sharply, not happy at all. Byakuya glanced around them. "I detected Miyako's reiatsu near here last night, but she was nowhere to be found!"

Shirayuki nodded. "That's correct. She was in this area last night. That's how we found her."

Rumi cut her eyes at Shirayuki and gasped. "Shirayuki!"

Shirayuki shot her a 'just go along with me' look and continued.

"We apologize, Captain Kuchiki, but even she didn't tell us where she was going."

"Were you able to see which direction she fled in?"

Rumi shook her head. "No…she just…disappeared and we couldn't track her reiatsu as she left." she replied, leaving out some important details.

"She also told us not to tell anyone that we saw her, but that was one thing we couldn't agree to, a hundred percent…but we had to help her in our own way. She just wanted some time to herself to figure things out." Shirayuki added.

Byakuya remained silent. "I see…although this meeting was less than desirable, I thank you both for giving me an update on Miyako, albeit how little it was."

The two continued to eye him intensely. "You should be so lucky…" Rumi muttered, prompting Shirayuki to shoot her a frown.

Byakuya raised a brow. "What was that?"

"Nothing." Rumi quickly answered. "Just promise us that you'll make things right with Miyako and bring her home. You wouldn't want to see us again if you mess up again!"

Her words earned her his iconic scowl while Shirayuki cleared her throat.

"We wish you good luck in your search. Good night, Captain Kuchiki."

"Yeah, and remember: you never heard any of this from us!"

Rumi and Shirayuki quickly left the area, leaving Byakuya by his lonesome. Grabbing his soul phone from his pocket, he quickly skimmed over the entry and exit logs for the main senkaimon.

'She didn't pass through to the World of the Living, so she's still here…I know for certain that she wouldn't resort to stowing away in nature, so where would she go?'

After pondering for a moment, it finally came to him.

'Of course…that's where you've hidden away at. Why didn't I come to that conclusion earlier?'

He didn't waste any more time leaving the forest.

Quickly sneaking past the gates and guards of the Second Division, Byakuya made his way down the familiar path to Miyako's secret compound. Standing in front of the cloaked entrance, he let out a large sigh. Gathering his nerves, he readied himself to enter the cave. Shock replaced his nerves when his hand didn't pass through. He ran his hands up and down what was supposed to be the entrance and frowned; it had been sealed with a very powerful kido barrier. The only good thing was that he knew for certain that she was in there since the barrier was laced with traces of her reiatsu. Byakuka's mind raced for solutions on how to get in without drawing attention to himself. After a moment, his stomach was in knots once he knew what he had to do to get inside. This was one route he wished that he didn't have to travel, but his relationship with Miyako was hanging in the oh so delicate balance.

'Dammit.'