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A Beneficial Arrangement	By : vbruce Category: Bleach > General Views: 3827 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. That honor goes to it's original author and creator. Making no money from writing this.

Chapter List
- 9
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- 11
Inari smiled down at the two men in the bed, they had naturally gravitated to each other when she’d gotten up. It was sweet, she thought wistfully. She missed that closeness more than anything else. Shaking her head a little, she tightened the belt on her sleeping kimono and quietly slid out the doors onto the wide deck leading to Jyuushiro’s garden. She smiled again thinking about the fact that they’d waited until Byakuya had safely headed for home before absconding with her. They always amused her but she was still restless after everything. She sat down on the steps and looked out over the dark garden, still thinking about the past and missing her husband. Oddly enough, every once in a while her thoughts wandered to a certain nobleman whom she’d been keeping company with earlier. Something kept happening around him, something Rin had predicted and she hadn’t wanted to listen to what he’d been saying at the time.
She wasn’t terribly surprised to feel a very familiar reiatsu, as deep and powerful as the oceans, press against her senses a few moments later. Jyuushiro sat down next to her and they just enjoyed the silence for a few minutes before he spoke.
“Inari, what’s wrong?”
She sighed heavily. “That obvious, is it?”
He smiled and put an arm around her. “Only to those who know you well. Now, what is it?”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Byakuya.”
Jyuushiro nodded. “Not surprising. Everyone seems to be pushing both of you very fast on this. Anything I can do to help?”
She chuckled at that.
“What’s amusing you?”
“You.”
“Because?”
“Just you being yourself. But no, this isn’t anything you can help with. It’s . . . something that Rin told me would happen before he . . .”
Jyuushiro nodded. “What is it?” he asked, absently stroking her hair.
“He said that when I met the person I was supposed to be with after him, I’d hear a certain song around him. I blew it off at the time because I didn’t want to listen, didn’t believe he’d be gone so soon. Even though something in me knew he’d had a vision of it. I didn’t want it to be real.”
“I think that makes sense,” Jyuushiro said, pulling her tightly against his side. “I take it you hear the song when you’re with Byakuya.”
She nodded miserably.
“Why does this upset you, Inari?” he asked gently.
She buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t think I can be what he wants, Shiro,” she said. “It isn’t in me to be meek and silent. This is supposed to be a business arrangement, not a romantic match anyway. It’s just so strange but you know for a fact that Rin was never wrong about anything he’d had a vision of.”
“Would you like my most humble and honest opinion?”
“You know I value what you say over nearly everyone else.”
“I think you and Byakuya need one another as a balance point. He used to be . . .”
“Temperamental?”
Jyuushiro smiled. “In a word, yes. His perceptions on what a wife should be are largely due to the way Hisana was. Hisana was everything he thought he needed in a wife and she settled him greatly but I don’t believe he needs the same sort of person now, Inari. He’s grown a great deal over the last three quarters of a century. Grown fully into his abilities, settled into his power nicely both as a Captain and as head of the family.”
“I feel a but coming on,” Inari said with a grin.
“But he needs someone who’ll push him in the right ways and I know you will. Someone who will support him when his family tries to push him too far and his honor demands that he bow to their wishes rather than his own.”
“I’m still not wild about this, Shiro,” she said, leaning heavily against him.
“I’d gathered that, all things considered. However, you must have known the nobles would start pushing either you or Isshin about marriage since the two of you are still young enough to carry on the lines,” Jyuushiro pointed out.
She smiled, looking into his face. One of her two favorite men in all the universe, she thought. So many of the major firsts in her life were with them. First her playmates when she was a child because really Shunsui was just a big kid anyway. Then her first crushes, Jyuushiro originally, she’d learned to appreciate Shunsui later in her life. Her first trainers to a certain extent and sparring partners. Her first lovers and first advisors. She shook her head a little, amazed by her good fortune concerning the men in her life.
“I should have just married you and Shun. At least that way I know I’d be happy,” she said.
“Inari,” Jyuushiro said warningly. This was something that had been discussed on very many occasions and it usually came back around to the same thing. Neither Jyuushiro nor Shunsui had sufficient rank for her to marry either of them and to marry them both was out of the question. She had gotten away with marrying Rin for the simple fact that she had possession of the throne at the time and there was no one who would have tried to dissuade her. None of them were under any delusions that she’d manage to get away with marrying again beneath her station.
“Don’t use that tone with me, Jyuushiro Ukitake,” she said, eyes narrowed. “I’m not a child anymore.”
“Thank all the gods for that,” Shunsui said as he slid the door back. “Or half of the things we did tonight would have been illegal.”
“Only half?” Jyuushiro said, lifting an eyebrow.
“Okay, so the vast majority. I woke up and both of you were gone.”
“Sorry, Shun,” Inari said, reaching up and tugging him down on the other side of her. “I’m just . . . having a restless night is all.”
“I’d be surprised if you weren’t. Especially considering what you and Isshin think happened to Rin and Masaki. Knowing you, you’ve been thinking up new tortures specifically for them when they get caught,” Shunsui said.
Inari smiled slightly. “I was thinking about letting Ookami use them as a chew toy at first but she plays rough and might accidentally do them in. I want them to suffer for as long as possible.”
Both men laughed. “Where is she anyway?” Shunsui asked. “I haven’t seen her all night.”
“She’s with Senbonzakura. I think she wants to use him as a chew toy of a very different variety,” Inari said.
“Now that could be an interesting combination,” Shunsui mused.
“Without a . . . did you hear that?” Jyuushiro asked, tilting his head slightly.
The other two listened carefully, hearing first what sounded like an explosion then the shrieks of many hollows coming from the direction of the palace. Then more of the same explosions and the sounds of fighting in another direction. All three of them were on their feet instantly, moving to find clothing and their weapons.
“Ookami, come to me,” Inari commanded. Within seconds a female with the ears, tail and claws of a wolf appeared in front of her.
The wolf woman dropped to one knee. “Inari-sama, there is fighting at the palace.”
“I know. We need to . . .”
“That isn’t all,” Ookami interrupted. “I was with Senbonzakura when his master summoned him. There is an attack mounted at the Kuchiki compound and unlike those at the palace, Senbonzakura’s master is alone in the fight and there are just as many there as at the palace.”
“Damn it! Shiro, Shun, I’m going to help Byakuya,” Inari said, already moving toward the Kuchiki compound and not caring she was only wearing her night clothes. The people at the palace were used to fighting together and could probably rout just about anything that had hit them. Both Quincy would take great pride in showing off, that much she knew. Plus with Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Isshin, probably Yoruichi and Kisuke there as well, nothing was likely to get away from them. Byakuya, on the other hand was alone in the fight against hollows. The guard at the Kuchiki compound were more than competent in dealing with other souls, just not hollows. While Byakuya himself was far from defenseless, she thought he needed the back up more just then. She squashed down that irrational sense of fear that had suddenly roared through her at Ookami’s words.
Shunsui leaned on Jyuushiro for a moment and looked at the spot Inari had just vacated. “Y’know, Jyuu-baby, I think we’ve lost our princess for good this time.”
Jyuushiro smiled faintly at that. “I believe you are correct, my love.”
- 9
- 10
- 11
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A Beneficial Arrangement