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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.

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Ichigo grinned as he wandered into his aunt Inari's private sitting area. His aunt and his fiancée were sitting at the low tea table, with their heads bent slightly together. The older woman was chuckling softly at something the younger one had said. He leaned in the doorway watching for a few moments, enjoying the view. It was always interesting to see two of the women he loved most in the world sitting together. Plotting. Because that was exactly what they were doing at the moment and he thought he might know what the plot was about.
Rukia glanced up and smiled at him, motioning him into the room. He walked over and paused to kiss her before moving to place another kiss on his aunt's cheek.
“Dad said you broke his nose. Again,” Ichigo said, grinning. This was a fairly common occurrence as far as he knew. Whenever they sparred, Isshin ended up with a broken nose. After so many times it was beginning to show because the healers could only put him back together so well and so often.
“It was well deserved. If he would have kept his guard up it wouldn't have happened,” his aunt replied.
“It probably would have,” Ichigo said. “He said you were pissed at him.”
“I got over it,” she said, looking at him over the top of her glasses.
“Gah! Stop it,” Ichigo complained. “You remind me of Uryuu when you do that. Bad enough you’re pretty much his mother anyway.”
“Ha! Ryuuken and I would have killed one another before we ever got to anything interesting. Might have made for some fabulous hate sex though,” Inari said, grinning wickedly at her nephew. There were days when he was just too easy to squick.
Said nephew shuddered. “Too. Much. Information. Ryuuken isn't an easy man to deal with at any given time,” Ichigo said. “But back to the subject of you breaking Dad's nose . . .”
“Ichigo . . .” his aunt said warningly.
“I don’t think he meant it like it sounded.”
“Oh, really? I’m not certain how I misunderstood the words “I got an offer to marry you off” in the slightest,” Inari said.
“Look, he's just worried about you. Let's face it, there are very few people in Soul Society or in the outside world as a whole who'd have the backbone you need in someone. The least you could do is get a read off of the man,” Ichigo said, shifting to put an arm around Rukia.
“I'm supposed to do that how? With all of you around gushing about him, I'd never get a proper read.”
“So, go when none of us are around,” Ichigo said. “Pretend you're your own servant and delivering an invitation that Rukia set up.”
Rukia shook her head. “The house servants wouldn't let her anywhere near him. They'd just take the message from her and deliver it to him per proper protocol.”
“So, go when he's at work then,” Ichigo said with a shrug. “The worst thing you'd have to do there is keep Renji from blowing your cover.”
“That's so simple, it's brilliant, Brat,” Inari said, kissing the top of Ichigo's head.
“It had to be simple since it's Ichigo,” Rukia smirked.
“Oh, ha ha, aren’t you just too funny,” Ichigo groused.
“I do try,” Rukia said with a grin.
“Good job,” Inari said. “Do me a favor, go find Maki and have her bring me some of her clothes. I'm not going as anything other than a head servant or he still wouldn't talk to me.”
“Who wouldn't talk to you and why do you need my clothes, Hime?” an older woman said, coming into the room.
“A nobleman,” Inari said distractedly, digging into a desk drawer for parchment and ink.
The servant's eyebrows went up in surprise and she looked at Rukia and Ichigo. “Kuchiki-dono?”
They both nodded. “That would be the one,” Ichigo said.
“Good news travels fast, I see,” Inari said, carefully writing out the invitation. She frowned a little at the parchment before looking up. “Will three days be enough to get things together for a proper tea, Maki?”
“Yes, that will be enough time. As to certain news travelling fast, you did break his Majesty's nose over it. Again. His very loud lament was that he just wanted to see you happy,” Maki said, moving over to her Mistress of long service and suffering. “It’s how the whole palace knows.”
“Married isn't necessarily happy,” Inari said. She looked over at Ichigo and Rukia. “Sorry, you two. I know you'll be happy because you're doing it for all the right reasons.”
“No offense taken,” Rukia said, waving the apology away.
“I hear Kuchiki-dono is very handsome,” Maki said with a wink toward the engaged couple.
“They always say noblemen are handsome so their child brides aren't too frightened at first. They're usually disappointed to find themselves married to fat, arrogant bastards three times their age,” Inari said dismissively.
“But you aren't a child, are you, Hime,” Maki pointed out.
“You know, you're really forward for a servant,” Inari grumbled. “Not that you've actually been one for ages. Since you're all more like family to us.”
“Something we consider a great honor. Now, why do you need my clothes?” Maki asked.
“I want to get a read on him without all of the bowing and scraping that goes on around him,” Inari said, signing her name to the bottom of the invitation before closing it with wax and sealing it with her ring.
“Won't he find it odd that a royal princess' invitation is marked with the seal of the Wolf Pack?” Maki said, peering at the invitation.
Inari shrugged. “Since I'm the mother Wolf, anything else I am or do is secondary as far as I’m concerned. But if it will make you happy,” she said, pulling out the gold and silver seal with the family crest and pressing it into the soft wax next to her personal seal. “Better?”
“You are the oddest noblewoman ever, Hime,” Maki said.
“Thank all the gods for that,” Inari said.
888
An hour later, Inari was striding down one of the walkways toward the headquarters of Squad Six. She had missives from herself as leader of the Royal Guard or the Wolf Pack as it was commonly termed, to get her past the guards easily. The fact she was dressed as a servant of the Royal house cleared the way of all other opposition she might have run into. When arriving at her destination, she carefully knocked and waited.
The door slid back and she was confronted with a cranky looking Renji, whom she grabbed by the front of his robes and pulled out the door slightly.
“Blow my cover and I'll beat you to the point you won't even drink comfortably for a year, Abari,” she hissed in his ear.
“You'll explain this later?”
“Yes.”
“This must be good,” he said. When she let go of him he turned back toward the office. “Taicho, there's someone from the Royal house to see you.”
“That was fast,” a baritone rumbled from deeper in the room. “See them in.” He glanced up slightly when the woman walked in with his Lieutenant, taking in her appearance completely and immediately before going back to his paperwork. Wearing the robes and colors that marked a senior servant of the Royal house, her dark hair was twisted up into a knot at the back of her head but what struck him most were her eyes. He’d only seen eyes that blue on two other people and they were father and son. The odd thing was the fact she was wearing heavy boots with the robes and she was obviously suppressing her spirit energy. Interesting. And very strange. He frowned a little, he could have sworn he heard . . . No, that was ridiculous, he couldn’t have possibly heard music. Unless it was coming from somewhere on the grounds. He finished the page he was reading of his paperwork before looking up and giving her his full attention.
Doing her very best Maki impression, Inari walked over and waited in front of the desk until the dark haired nobleman looked up from his papers. When he did look up, she was startled by the fact that the rumors, far from being incorrect, didn't do him justice. He really was exceptionally handsome but there was something about his eyes that spoke of exhaustion and suffering. She frowned a little at the fact that the cool exterior did not match what she saw in his eyes.
“Yes?” Byakuya prompted. It was odd for a servant to stand staring at him for any amount of time. Certainly not as long as this woman had been. But as he understood it, the servants of the Royal house, especially senior servants as this one obviously was, were treated more as useful extensions of the family rather than hired help. That didn’t make it any less unnerving.
“I apologize, Kuchiki-dono,” Inari said, snapping back into her role. “I have orders from the one who sent me.” She pulled the invitation from the sleeve of the borrowed robes and handed it to him with both hands as was customary.
When his fingers accidentally brushed hers while taking the invitation, the backlash of emotion caught her so off guard it almost sent her to her knees. The pain was agonizing and she had to take several deep breaths to steady herself. The grief from loss so closely mirrored her own it was all she could do to avoid crumpling to the floor, sobbing hysterically. She had to take several deep breaths to shake off the residual feeling from that small brush of contact. She frowned, eyes narrowing slightly. Byakuya Kuchiki had a reputation for being and unemotional ice prince. What she’d felt in him in no way matched that description. That bothered her slightly because it made her wonder what else he was capable of hiding.
Byakuya was looking at her oddly and she straightened herself somewhat. “Again, I apologize, Kuchiki-dono. I am . . . sensitive to others emotions through touch,” she explained. When in doubt, tell the truth, she thought.
He frowned a bit more before nodding stiffly. He'd been thinking about Hisana all day today. It would be a small wonder if someone sensitive as this woman obviously was wouldn't pick up on that. “I understand,” he said. “Was there anything else?”
“I was to wait for your reply, Kuchiki-dono,” Inari said.
“Of course,” Byakuya murmured. He looked down at the parchment in his hand for the first time. “Why is the Wolf Pack seal on this as well?” he asked, recognizing the wolf's head backed by four claw marks.
A tiny grin threatened the corner of her mouth. “Every pack needs an Alpha and Kurosaki, Inari is the mother Wolf.”
He leaned back in the chair a bit harder and faster than he'd intended. The rumors that had reached him were that the Alpha of the Packs was a formidable opponent. She had to be as she was the only member of the Royal house allowed to train and head her own guard. Technically, her rank would be above Captain level and it was said that the zanpakto she wielded had an attack few could counter. He hadn’t recalled that when the advisors and family members were trying to push her off on him. He very much doubted they thought of anything beyond her rank as a princess and sister to their Sovereign. He laughed a little, short and hard. “So much for my thinking she was a pampered princess.”
Renji saved her the trouble of snorting a reply by laughing himself sick for a few minutes.
Byakuya waited patiently until Renji's fit of laughter had subsided. “Now that your impression of a hyena has slowed somewhat, Lieutenant. I take it you know her by your reaction.”
“Yeah. I know her, Taicho,” Renji said, glancing over at Inari who shrugged. “Not real well, mind you. Just kinda in passing from when she's been around Rukia and Ichigo while I was with them. An’ we’ve sparred a couple of times. Plus Uryuu pretty much considers her his mother so there’s that as well.”
“What do you think of her?” Byakuya asked.
Renji glanced nervously over at Inari. She shrugged again. “I'm sure she's heard far worse opinions, Abari. Just be honest in your answers.”
“Long as she doesn't decide to kick my ass after. Cause she can an’ will.” Renji shrugged at Byakuya’s odd look. “You always said to challenge people who were better an’ had different fighting styles to learn, Taicho. Cause you never get any better fighting at the same level or with those who aren't as good.”
“Yes. That is something I tell subordinates frequently,” Byakuya said. “Go on.”
“She looks . . . kinda normal I guess. You'd never know she was royalty unless someone told ya. She's got this great laugh. Like she laughs with everything in her. But there's times she looks sad too or like she's somewhere far off. Know she was mad as hell at the family tryin' to marry her off. No offense,” he said with a shrug.
“None taken,” Bykuya said, looking over at the servant to judge her reaction to what had been said. She seemed to be taking what Renji was saying in stride. As though she'd heard it before.
“She really is the mother wolf though. Defends what's hers to the bitter end. Protects those under her command an’ still makes sure they can go out and do things on their own without her hoverin’ every minute. She's what a mom should be. Takes in strays and such. She's a good soul, Taicho. She deserves to be happy. You can say I said so too,” he said, looking at Inari.
“I'll make certain she knows,” Inari said.
Byakuya pondered what had been said for a moment before breaking the seals on the invitation and reading through the paper quickly. “Please inform your Mistress that I will attend as invited.”
“Very good, Kuchiki-dono. And Abari.”
“Yeah?” Renji said sheepishly. Maybe he'd said too much.
“Thank you for what was said,” she said, smiling at him gently. He was one of her strays, after all. The minute he hit Captain level she was absconding with him for the Pack. Of course, that meant taking Uryuu as well if he was remotely willing but as the archer was already deeply respected by Pack members, she didn’t see a problem there.
He shrugged uncomfortably. “Just sayin' what is.”
“Thank you, just the same,” she said, stepping over to kiss his cheek. “I'll take the answer back to the Royal house.”
“I would appreciate that, Miss . . .” Byakuya said, leaving the statement open.
“I apologize, Kuchiki-dono. Members of the Royal house are never to be named outside of the confines of the property. Too many might hold a servant trying to get to the Royal family.”
“I see. That is sensible,” Byakuya said. He couldn't fathom why he was so disappointed not knowing her name.
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A Beneficial Arrangement