Kazumi made the final adjustment to her finely-embroidered obi and paused, scrutinizing her image in the mirror. Tucking an imaginary strand of stray hair back into the smooth and elaborate bun at the back of her head, Kazumi mentally ran through the list of everything that still had to be accomplished before the event at the Kuchiki manor this evening. Barely over an hour remained before guests were due to arrive, and still the food must be artfully arranged, the choicest sake set to warm, the musicians had still to arrive much less tune their instruments...

"Anything I can help with?"

With a tiny jump, Kazumi threw a glare towards her mirror at the black shadow hovering by the window. "Have you taken up the art of reading minds, Cousin?"

The harsh, masculine voice chuckled as black ears twitched. "Hells, no. I already know what most people think of me, and those I don't know I could care less." Alighting delicately on the ornate rugs, the tiny black cat padded over and leapt effortlessly onto Kazumi's vanity.

"You're of no use to me without opposable thumbs." Kazumi smirked. "Why on earth are you here in that state?"

The cat managed to pout. "I haven't picked a dress yet." Yoruichi sniffed delicately at a perfume orb and then promptly sneezed. "Besides, it's easier to climb through windows when I'm smaller than a breadbox." The tiny black form yawned, suddenly bored. "If you really need help setting up the party, I could have your army here in a heartbeat."

"It's your army," Kazumi replied without hesitation. "And you seem to be doing just fine with them so far."

It was quite possibly the understatement of the decade. The SMC and those who commanded them had been smart enough never to send super-soldiers anywhere near a fully hale and conscious Kazumi for fear that she would take control of them. In every 'assassination-cum-kidnapping' attempt, it had only been regular SMC soldiers that had been sent after their former prodigy. However, they had made the gravest tactical error in centuries that day of Byakuya and Yoruichi's invasion of Twelfth. Desperate not to lose Kazumi again, and operating on the assumption that Kazumi was half-dead and would not be anywhere near conscious, they had sent every super soldier on the roster into the fray to stop her rescue. Kazumi's brief moment of coherence had rather unexpectedly turned the tables, and sent over a hundred years of planning on the part of the Shihouin faction into complete ruin.

Yoruichi had wasted no time whatsoever cashing in on her military good fortune; the retribution she'd visited upon the Shihouin clan faction that had ousted her over a century ago had been positively cataclysmic. The repercussions of the former princess reclaiming her ancestral title and bringing justice to those who had caused both herself and Kazumi so many miserable years would probably ripple on within the clan for eons. Of course, in true Shihouin fashion, all was done in utmost secret; few outside the clan had had any indication that anything at all had changed.

Except, of course, that Shihouin Yoruichi had finally moved back to Sereitei and taken up residence in her home once more. But as that had happened right about the same time Urahara Kisuke had returned and resumed his place as captain of the Tweflth squad to replace a certain missing mad scientist, there was already another big story circulating among the Sereitei gossip circles. Quite a few of those circles lost money betting on whether or not Yoruichi would challenge Soi Fon and reclaim her own captaincy; when no such thing occurred, the pools started up again in favor of Yoruichi assuming the vice seat in Tweflth. Again disappointed, the rampaging scandals settled down after much hubub as to what the Shihouin princess was doing with her time. However, when Kisuke also took up residence in the Shihouin manse not long after his reinstatement, those rumors took a decidedly licencious turn and all political intrigue was forgotten.

Which was exactly how Yoruichi liked it - mysterious and unexplained. Soi Fon continued as captain of Second squad and leader of the SMC, while Yoruichi quietly reigned over the latter with her secret and undefeatable army; how they shared power no one knew, and neither woman was the type you asked about that sort of thing. Whatever they had worked out seemed amicable to both of them, and after a while the whole scandal was quite forgotten. And frankly, that suited Kazumi just fine as well; although Yoruichi constantly offered to turn the superarmy over to its creator, Kazumi could imagine no worse horror than staring into the eyes of someone she herself had stripped down to nothing, and then using them as a tool to kill. It had taken much explanation to her husband, who still struggled with understanding her reticence in accepting power rightfully due her, but while Yoruichi continued to make the offer she seemed to understand the refusals with all grace.

As such, the cat simply nodded and licked at a smudge of rumpled fur. "Very well, then - I'd better get home and make a wardrobe decision so I can return in style. Hell, it's going to take me at least an hour to convince Kisuke to put something somewhat dressy on, much less getting him to shave..."

"Did you find out if the kids would be coming, too?" Kazumi inquired.

Yoruichi leapt across the room and onto the windowsill with a snort. "Ururu will, but Jinta's S.O.L. - grounded again." With a final chuckle, the cat dropped out of sight into the garden beyond and vanished.

Kazumi found herself chuckling as well. While she knew little of the backstory behind the former Twelfth vice-captain's relocation to the real world, she was all too aware of the fact that the girl had taken up the management of the Urahara Shoten and showed no signs of returning to Soul Society anytime soon. If Kisuke's stories were anything to go by, the girl Nemu had taken to running the business as effortlessly as a fish takes to water, and was just as enchanting to the customers as she was efficient at turning a healthy profit. She also ruled the shop's other regular inhabitants with an iron fist, protecting young Ururu with a sort of preternatural vigilance - much to Jinta's eternal chagrin - and appearantly had Tessai wrapped around her little finger.

With a final pat of hair and one last check in the mirror, Kazumi promptly put everything but the evening ahead of her out of her mind, and went in search of her husband.

Life, Kuchiki Byakuya decided, was an incredibly infuriating experience.

An unholy mix of all things glorious and horrifying, intoxicating and fearsome, it did whatever the hell it wished and stubbornly dismissed all efforts to control, predict or govern it. And no matter what one thought on the matter, no matter what higher evaluation or philosophy one discerned, life simply kept on its own path and velocity and didn't give a damn about anyone's opinion.

In this, Byakuya decided, it was entirely possible that the fragile humans of the real world and the god-like warriors of the afterlife were equals. Time and circumstance, fate and destiny, all cared nothing for the sensibilities of any sentient being regardless of power or status. What was, simply was.

It was the duty of every living being to make of that what they may.

So Byakuya thought, immersed among the blooming sakuras of his private garden, the gentle petals raining down around him like pink snowfall and absolution.

That is, until small hands clapped over his eyes and darkness descended.

Byakuya sighed, fighting off a smile. "I wonder - do you honestly believe that I do not know who it is that assails me? Wife?"

A giggle from behind him. "No, but it's fun to catch you off-guard nonetheless. You're oozing sentimentality all over the place, it's a wonder you didn't sense my approach." Warm fingers pulled away even as Byakuya turned to look over his shoulder into the sparkling eyes of his beloved. Kazumi giggled again. "Are you sure you are up to being 'lord of the manor' this evening? I know how much you hate parties."

Byakuya caught a tiny hand, his lips grazing a delicate wrist before he replied. "I am sure," he murmured against the pulse that fluttered in his grip. "And I do not hate them as much as in the past."

Kazumi just grinned at him, a slightly impish twist to the expression. "Oh, really? Then why is it Senbonzakura came out last time...?"

If Byakuya thought that he had long ago gotten used to his wife twigging him, he was constantly proven wrong. A slightly irked, defensive tone sprang readily to his lips. "If Kurosaki insists on mauling my sister before my very eyes, then it is my duty to teach him manners. He cannot presume to join this family without any pretense at etiquette..."

Kazumi's hair in his mouth shut him up as she engulfed him in an amused hug. "Oh, is that what you were doing? Teaching Ichigo the impropriety of kissing his fiance in public?" A snicker warmed Byakuya's ear. "And what about the time the servants caught us in the library-?"

Such insolence could not be borne, so Byakuya captured his wife's lips and made sure she could say no more. By the time she managed to break his kiss, she was considerably more breathless than she had started.

"Seriously, Husband," she giggled against his lips, a certain immutability appearing behind her eyes. "You must get changed immediately; the guests are due to arrive within the hour."

"An hour," Byakuya murmured, leaning in to trail kisses along the elegant slope of Kazumi's neck. "That is just enough time..."

"Papa!!"

Byakuya stiffened and drew back with a subliminal growl of frustration, catching Kazumi's eyes in the process; she seemed amused and identically frustrated in equal measure. But there was nothing for it - once Ichiru found them, there was little that would dissuade the tiny hellion from being properly attended to. Turning, Byakuya tried to appear that he had not been moments from ravaging the mother of his children.

Like a miniature whirlwind, his progeny emerged from the house and raced towards them with unfettered glee.

"What is it, son?" Byakuya forced an imposing frown to his face. "Have I not instructed you that such an unannounced intrusion is impolite-?"

As usual, his glower - which was designed to inspire respectful obedience and no small amount of fear - was thoroughly ignored as his boisterous son darted energetically around the sakuras. "We're having a paaaaaarty tonight!! Whee!!!" The boy roared with glee and seemed determined to fell the flourishing lavender with a slender reed. His young face, though it showed promise of maturing into a mirror of Byakuya's own angled features, as usual was darkened with dirt and suntan from endless hours of outdoor mischief. The child's bright blue eyes gleamed with keen intelligence and energy as he launched capered around the garden.

"I tried to tell him, Papa." The quiet voice accompanied the solemn expression of his daughter, as Hisame proceeded with all the dignity her tiny, seven-year old figure could muster down the prim garden path, each step carefully placed and deliberately graceful. "He never listens." This, accompanied with a weighty sigh of the much-beleaguered, caused Byakuya's eyebrow to rise slightly. His pale, quiet daughter with her enormous black eyes never ceased to stun him with the promise of unparalleled beauty that would one day be hers, even when she managed to sound like a tiny librarian most of the time. For his part, Byakuya - war hero several times over and powerful noble to boot - feared little more than the day when suitors would come calling on his little gem.

Kazumi jumped in, darting after Ichiru with a patient look on her face. "Well, he's just excited..."

"It's my birthday it's my birthday it's my birthday!!" The boy hollered ferociously, leaping out from behind a sakura to land in the middle of a lavender plant with a growl. Kazumi got there just in time to save the plant before it was beheaded on top of being trampled. Undeterred, Ichiru began jumping up and down, absently wreaking destruction on the undergrowth. "When is everyone coming?! They'd better bring a LOT of presents, or Papa will beat them up! Won't you, Papa!?"

"You father is not going to beat anyone up," Kazumi interjected, exasperated.

Ichiru remained unconvinced. "But, he did last time-!"

Kazumi spared a single, withering look at Byakuya before grabbing firm hold of her son. "Enough of that - I've already talked to your father and there won't be any such nonsense tonight. Now, let's get you changed into some proper clothing before everyone gets here and sees you looking like a fithy street urchin." She proceeded to lead Ichiru off, dirty clothes and all and protesting up a storm.

"I'd better go help Mama, you know what a handful he is." The small voice at his side drew Byakuya's attention; his prim daughter often did that, her presence all too easy to forget despite her cherubic beauty when her whirlwind of a twin was bouncing around.

She is too serious, Byakuya fretted within his own mind, resting a hand on Hisame's head and allowing a fond smile to grace his face. "You should wash up and change as well." It was an irrelevant statement; Hisame was never dirty, and her fashion sense easily outpaced even her mother's.

Hisame realized it too, giving her father a flat look that was eerily similar to the one Kazumi had given him only moments before. "Of course, Papa," she replied, for all the world as if she were indulging him. "It's my birthday, too, after all." Simply spoken and succinct, she drifted off into the shadows and disappeared.

Byakuya watched his family retreat towards the manse with an all-too-familiar sensation that he had yet, after all these years, to properly categorize. It was the same sort of weightiness that he felt with Senbonzakura, the same contradictory lightness, but without the calm confidence he experienced while handling his zanpaktou with mastery. This was more like watching his soul leap and dance about beyond his control, never knowing when or if some harm would come to it. He had heard that having children was like having your heart beat outside your body, but had never considered its veracity until the day he had witnessed the birth of the twins, beautiful as the moonlight and as different as night and day.

And with perfectly healthy psyches, well within normal parameters. Or so Kazumi constantly assured him, despite Byakuya's concern over his wild son and frighteningly prepossessed daughter.

"It is natural for them to diverge and differentiate from each other," Kazumi had told him time out of count, always with a hint of patient indulgence. "Trust me - I would know if they were damaged in any way." Then her eyes would shadow, her voice grow too serious, and Byakuya would be forced to kiss the memories away and smother Kazumi with his own assurances.

A loud crash emanating from the house drew Byakuya back to the present...and once again, a tiny part of his brain wondered about his offspring. He trusted Kazumi's evaluation, of course....but he could not fathom where such wild rambunctiousness could have come from. Certainly not from Kazumi...

With a sigh and a firm determination not to explore that mental path any further - and a stoic dismissal of Senbonzakura's subliminal chuckle - Byakuya trailed off towards the house to don more proper attire and to see what priceless heirloom his son had destroyed this time.

"Well, that could have gone better."

Byakuya ignored the statement long enough to make sure Senbonzakura was properly re-sheathed and placed on her stand, before turning and meeting his wife's onyx eyes with a level gaze. "I beg your pardon?"

"Don't play innocent with me!" Kazumi snapped, trying to look furious. The slight upcurve of her full mouth ruined the effect. "Was that absolutely necessary?"

"My behavior this evening was impeccable," Byakuya insisted, moving across their private suite towards the dressing area and beginning the arduous process of removing his formal robes. He could not have been happier that the birthday party was over, the distant sounds of the last few lingering guests making their good-nights echoing through the halls.

"Huh, really." Kazumi drifted over to join him, positioning herself so the he could help with her obi; he did so from long practice, staring down at the soft tendrils of ebony hair at the base of her skull. Kazumi continued, her voice heating. "You all but gave Abarai-san a new set of tattoos..."

"He was reaching for the birthday cake," Byakuya returned, his voice rising over his wife's attempt to protest. "Before the candles had been blown out. His manners were reprehensible."

"That's no reason to send your shikai after his arm! Honestly, he's a captain now too; must you continue to bitch-slap him whenever the opportunity presents itself??" Byakuya should have had something to say to that, but he was far too distracted by the layers of clothing that were obediently sloughing off his wife's body. "You know, I seem to recall us having a tiny little conversation about keeping Senbonzakura sealed this time around..."

"I did as instructed and did not threaten Ichigo," Byakuya maintained, leaning down to place a tiny kiss on the warm, fragrant curve of spine.

Kazumi spun around, eyes flashing and having none of it. "I meant everyone, Byakuya! Honestly, if you keep drawing on all our guests, events at the Kuchiki manor will be sparsely attended."

"And that would be a crime?" Byakuya pulled his wife into his arms, insistent. Gazing into the wells of her eyes from this close did terrible things to his self-control. "Is the thought of spending your evenings alone with your husband so odious?"

"Hrm, odious. Something like that." Kazumi teased, allowing herself to be pulled in for a kiss. By the time she drew back with a smokey grin, Byakuya's heart was throbbing right out of his chest. "I think I know the real reason you pull out your sword like that."

Hearing an entirely different level of meaning in his wife's luscious tone, Byakuya pressed a very urgent part of his anatomy hard against her, his embrace tightening with desire. Leaning down, he breathed hotly across her tiny pink earlobe. "And that would be...?"

Kazumi pulled his lips closer, her own sweet breath caressing his lips. "I think she gets you hot."

With a low growl, Byakuya scooped Kazumi into his arms and strode towards the sleeping chamber. "Not nearly as much as you do, Wife."

Kazumi twisted in his arms with a delicious purr, squirming until she had her legs firmly wrapped around his waist; it was all Byakuya could do to walk straight and place her on their bedmats without actually dropping her. Managing a rather graceful movement considering the state of his ardor, Byakuya lay his wife down amidst the soft blankets and drew back enough to drink in the sight of her slender body arching beneath him. For a long moment, he trailed his fingers gently along the elegant, firm curves of her body, watching with barely restrained delight as her skin pricked and quivered beneath his touch. The low moans the reverberated from deep within Kazumi's throat nearly drove Byakuya over the edge, and long before he thought he would succumb, he found himself unable to restrain himself any longer.

He leaned in, feverish to bury himself in his wife's sweet softness, but Kazumi wasn't prepared to let him have his way with her quite yet. Ingeniously squirming at just the right angle to keep his throbbing member from its destination, she took her own time running fingers across Byakuya's pale, wide shoulders and down his back, teasing the taut muscles of his buttocks until Byakuya was quivering with need. Eyes closed, he drank in her ministrations and wondered, as he often did, how she knew exactly what way to touch him that would bring him the most pleasure....

Impossibly, a thought suddenly struck Byakuya and in shock, he wondered why it had never occurred to him before. Gazing at his wife with intense, hooded eyes, he managed a hoarse whisper.

"Kazumi," he gasped, losing a moment as she teased a nipple. "Do you ever 'look' to see how to please me?"

She giggled, a light flick at his chest stealing his breath away. "Of course, silly. Why," she suddenly pouted, her eyes darkening seductively. "Don't you like the results?"

The next few moments required no words as he answered her question quite thoroughly. When they both found a moment to breathe, Byakuya felt a tiny smile curving his lips as he met Kazumi's gaze again. "Yet, it is a shame that I cannot return the favor..."

Kazumi grinned, kittenish. "What makes you think that?"

Byakuya froze, the sweat on his skin prickling. "You can...share your thoughts as well as you can read others?"

Those stunning, midnight eyes widened as Kazumi nodded, breathless. "Of course," she murmured, drawing him close. "I thought you'd never ask..."

Her insistent fingers on his hindquarters drew Byakuya into her hot core, the motion nearly undoing Byakuya completely. The moment his manhood made contact with her, Byakuya was flooded with the duel sensation of entering as well as being entered, Kazumi's own pleasure doubling back onto his own and catapulting him into an entirely new arena of ecstasy. Like standing between two mirrors, when one's image is replicated ad infinitum, so Byakuya and Kazumi shared and mirrored and heightened each other's pleasure until they were both rocked to completion, their bodies united as one as they soared through the heavens.