Disclaimers & Notes: Bleach belongs to Kubo-sensei. No beta-reader is victimized in the making of this story. Contains minor spoilers for the end of Soul Society Arc and perhaps a little for Pendulum Arc. My crazy muse was being a dictator, and she insisted I write something about Byakuya and Yoruichi. Hence, this oneshot is born. Feedbacks are welcome. I hope I don't make them too OOC.

Erstwhile Resonance

Yoruichi glanced behind her shoulder to make sure she wasn't followed and smirked when she spotted no one on her trail. She then concentrated and searched for a certain reiatsu, and once she found it, she flash-stepped down the corridor and up the stairs to her destination.

She didn't drop her speed until she stood in front of the room she planned to get in, but before she was able to knock the door, it opened and someone bumped into her.

"Aww…"

"Shit!" that person cried. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you all right?"

She looked up at the person who bumped into her and recognized him from a picture that she saw in some magazine in Soifon's office. That red-haired man with tattooed brows could not be anyone else but a second-in-command of the Sixth Division, Abarai Renji. He gave her a dumbfounded look, seeming as if he was trying to search his memories for who she was since she wasn't wearing a shinigami uniform or a nurse uniform. However, Yoruichi didn't feel like wasting her time introducing herself.

"I'm fine. This is Kuchiki-taichō's recovery room, right?" she asked although she already looked past the tall shinigami into the room and saw the captain in question sitting in his bed.

"Yes," Renji replied. "And you are?"

"Shihōin Yoruichi."

The name was spoken in a toneless voice, causing Renji to look over his shoulder to his captain for a second before he turned back to Yoruichi. It was unclear whether the man said the name as a reply to his question or as a form of greeting to the said lady.

"Shihōin Yoruichi, eh?" Renji repeated her name as he looked at her, "Weren't you—"

"I thought you told me you were going to help those brats look for my sister, Renji," the man said again, cutting Renji off before he could finish his line.

"Right," Renji said with a sheepish smile. He could have sworn his captain was trying to get rid of him at that moment. However, he knew better than to make any comment about it and infuriated the man, so he decided it was best for him to leave. "I'll be back later, taichō."

Renji turned to bowed at the man who was sitting on his sickbed again before he turned to the door and gave the mysterious lady a nod since he wasn't quite sure if he should bow at her or not.

Yoruichi gave Renji a grin before she walked past him and entered the recovery room. She waited until the young shinigami had turned around the corner before she closed the door behind and approached to Byakuya's sickbed.

"That's quite an interesting fukutaichō you've got," she observed.

"If you wish to find a subject to test your charm on, I suggest you find somebody else and leave that kid be."

"Ooh, are you jealous?" she asked with a playful tone while her golden eyes glinted with smugness.

The raven-haired man turned to give the mischievous lady an indifferent look as he replied deadpan, "I'm merely trying to save you from losing your face when that kid turns you bluntly down. You see, he's quite smitten by my sister."

"That's what makes it more tempting, but since you ask…" she trailed off and sighed overly dramatically. And before he could suspect what she was going to do, she flopped deliberately onto his bed, causing the younger man to stiffen his posture and glare at her.

"What are you doing?" he inquired.

"Sitting apparently," she replied as though he had just asked the most stupid question.

She had never told him how much she enjoyed getting under his skin, but she suspected he had already known that by now. It was always fun to provoke the noble boy to act in a rash manner, and now that she saw how cold and indifferent he had become, it was even more challenging for her to make him lose his composure. However, it seemed he had been much calmer over the years since he still managed to keep his cool when the boy she had known from the past would already have blown his fuse.

"There is a chair just right next to the door," he mentioned.

Yoruichi glanced at the said chair for a second before she remarked, "Yes, I can see that. And your point is?"

"My point is that you sit there instead of right here in my bed," he replied. His expression still betrayed nothing.

"But I like it here just fine," she remarked, showing no sign that she would move. In fact, she almost bounced on his mattress just to annoy him, knowing that in the end, he would have no choice but to let her do wherever she wanted and that he also knew that.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes for a moment as if to channel his rage.

"Be careful," he warned in an impassive tone. "Someone might walk in and think you're still attached to me after all this time."

If it had been anybody else who delivered that line, Yoruichi would find that person quite cheeky, but since it was Byakuya, she wasn't quite sure how to think about that line just yet.

"Oh, really…" she drawled, leaning closer to him and placing a hand lightly on his chest to keep her balance. She then lowered her voice down as she whispered in his ears as if to share a secret, "…but I think you only said so because you're afraid of your own reaction to my nearness."

She pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes and gave him a cocky smile, which she knew he hated with passion. If it had been a century before when he was still in his adolescent, she was certain he would blush then used his anger as his cover, but now Byakuya stared back at her in his own egotistical way.

Not breaking their gaze, he trailed his finger sensually up her arm before he rested his hand on the crook of her neck.

"As a matter of fact, I am," he admitted, gently caressing her neck and almost sending her to the verge of heart attack as a result. Then he added in a nonchalant voice, "You should know how hard it is for me not to strangle you right now."

The lady Shihōin laughed lightly as she caught his wrist and pulled his hand away from her neck. Not letting go of him, she tilted her head and looked at him. "Is it just me or you really manage to make murder sounds a little kinky?"

"It's just you," he said, deadpan.

"Well, that's a shame," she shrugged, letting go of his hand then propping one arm behind her back to sit more comfortably in his bed.

Byakuya also relaxed his post the way he usually did when he used to spend time with her. It was almost as if she had never left, except for the fact that he was now old enough to understand her nature, so unlike when he was younger, he now knew that she didn't mean anything by her lighthearted teasing.

"So, what brings you here?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I want to see how you're doing," she replied, sounding honest. "I would have been here earlier, but I was busy."

She knew wouldn't be fooled by that excuse. She no longer had any duty to perform since she was no longer a leader of any special force or any division. At that moment, she was merely an honorable guest of the Gotei13, so she was anything but busy.

"And I was under the impression that you're only here because it'd be the last place Soifon would look for you when she found out that you've snuck out of the Second Division without telling her."

He caught her, but that was expected. Anyone with half a brain would.

"Nothing slips by you, huh?"

"It's a part of my duty to keep myself informed about everything that's going on in the city," he replied. "So, do you want to try again?"

"Alright, you're right about me wanting to hide from her for a while," Yoruichi admitted, sighing. "But I also want to spend some time catching up with my favorite playmate and see how he's been doing in the past century."

Byakuya went silent for a moment before he requested, "Please do not refer to me as that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't fit into that description?"

"But you do. I might have been away for a while and found some new people to play and tease with, but that doesn't mean you're no longer my favorite."

The head of Shihōin house wasn't sure if saying so would rub the head of the Kuchiki clan in the wrong way or not, but it slipped out of her before she could stop it. She had finally brought up the subject they had managed to avoid since she walked in, her silence departure. She didn't want to discuss it, but she knew if she wanted to make things right again, she couldn't avoid it forever. Now she had already made up with everyone else, but he was the last she came to see in fear of his resentment.

She was a little relieved that the look he gave her didn't indicate any anger, but still, she found it a little annoying that he managed to keep up his serene façade after all that time. The rash, hot-tempered young Byakuya was much easier to read and make up with, but the much colder and a century older one was something else entirely.

"Have you ever considered," he began, his tone more serious than it had ever been since she walked in, "that perhaps I didn't want to be just your favorite playmate?"

"Huh?" she stared deep into his eyes, attempting to pierce through his cold shell. "Don't tell me that you—"

"It doesn't matter what I thought back then," he said, cutting her off before she could finish her line. "The time was different. We were different. The past is the past and it should just stay that way. But if it means anything to you, I'm glad you're back."

"You are?"

She couldn't hide her surprise. Of all things he could have said, this was the last she expected him to say. It sounded as though he had completely forgiven her, that was to say, if he had held any grudges against her in the first place.

"If you hadn't, Aizen would have already killed me along with my sister, so yes, I am."

Yoruichi couldn't help smiling. While it wasn't the reason she wished to hear, it was enough. To hope he would actually say that he missed her would be too much.

"Then I'm glad I was there in time," she replied. "By the way, now that we're talking about it. Do you mind if I ask you how you managed to have a little sister? The last time I checked you were an only child."

"I am," he insisted. "And that's why they have yet to expel me from the clan for marrying Hisana or for adopting Rukia into the family to honor Hisana's dying wish."

A look on his face was softened a bit at the mention of those two names. With a soft sigh, his expression turned back to its normal stoic state then he remarked, "That's all you will hear about that from me for now."

She smiled and nodded. She wouldn't press him on the subject he didn't wish to discuss, and from his own word, she knew he didn't completely close himself from her, which she secretly took pride in.

"For now," she agreed.

They stayed silence for a moment. Then it was Byakuya who asked, "What will you do next?"

"Huh?"

"Are you going stay in Soul Society now that your name's been clear?"

She shook her head.

"I'd love to stay and beat you a few more times in a game of tag, but I have to see those kids back home."

He nodded. If he was disappointed by her answer, he hid it well.

"I take it you'd be leaving soon?"

She gave him a look. "Now that sounds just like you can't wait for me to leave."

"Perhaps, but let's just say that I know your nature," he said. "Being a demon cat that you are, you can't stick around one place forever no matter how hard anyone tries to keep you. It's just a matter of how long it'd take you to wander off again. This time you have a good excuse to leave early."

"Did you just call me demon cat again?"

"Consider it a term of endearment," said Byakuya with a hint of amusement in his voice. "You didn't hear me complain when you called me Byakuya-bo, did you?"

"Ooh, now someone's being soft," she teased with a smile, knowing the meaning that was hidden between those insignificant lines. They were back to where they used to be, or at least, close enough.

"When will you be off?" he asked again, ignoring her comment.

"I've told the kids we'd be off tomorrow," she replied then narrowed her eyes and leaned towards him again to give him a conspiratorial whisper, "But I could change my mind and tell them to wait for a few more days if you want."

He acted as if he actually considered her offer before he lowered his voice and whispered back to her in the same manner, "But that would be rather suspicious, don't you think?"

"You're right," she agreed, smiling broadly at the way he dropped his façade somewhat to play along with her. "But—"

Whatever Lady Shihōin was about to say was interrupted when both she and Lord Kuchiki heard the door open in a click. Quickly, she jumped off his bed to stand a few feet away from his bed with her arms crossed. Meanwhile, the relaxed posture that the captain of the Sixth Division previously assumed had swiftly disappeared to be replaced by one cold and rigid post that he always took when he appeared in public.

A nurse entered the room, carrying a tray that had a small paper cup that had some medicines that were prescribed to Byakuya inside and a glass of water to take with them.

"Your medicine, Kuchiki-taichō," said the nurse. "Your meal will be served in half an hour."

Byakuya nodded before he took his medicines and placed both the paper cup and a glass back on the tray, so the nurse left.

Once the nurse was gone, the two nobles relaxed again although Yoruichi didn't return to sit on the spot she had previously taken.

"It's dinnertime already?" Yoruichi asked although the answer was already clear to her.

"Yes," he replied, looking out of the window to the quite empty street outside. "And you'd better return to the Second Division before Soifon realizes you aren't there and forms a search party."

"Nah…she wouldn't do that."

Byakuya turned to Yoruichi and raised a brow. "Wouldn't she?"

Yoruichi chuckled since she knew there was a chance that the said captain would send a troop after her. However, she wasn't sure if she should be flattered or infuriated.

Looking back at the Kuchiki lord, the shape-shifter could see how he turned away from her and sat quietly as if to wait for her to say her farewell. Seeing how cold he had seemingly become, she couldn't help wanting to see the rash boy she had left behind if only for one last time, and she believed she knew just the trick.

"Alright then, I'd better go."

Byakuya simply gave her a nod, not looking her way, which was exactly what she wanted.

With a smug smile on her face, she moved quickly and stealthily towards him. She leaned down, planning to give him a peck on his cheek, recalling just how his face would turn into an interesting shade of red whether it was out of embarrassment or anger and how he would blow up and call her names whenever she did it in the past. However, he turned to her direction as if to say something to her, so the kiss missed its intended destination and somehow landed on his lips instead.

For a moment, they stayed still, unsure of what to do.

Slowly, Byakuya closed his eyes and brought his hand to the nape of Yoruichi's neck to hold her in position as he pressured his lips against hers and deepened the kiss. The lady did nothing to protest, but instead she sat back down on his bed and kissed him back with equal intensity.

It was a moment later that they pulled back for air, and Yoruichi rested her hands on Byakuya's chest and looked into his hazy charcoal eyes to study him.

For the first time since she came back to Soul Society, she looked at him as a man he was, not as a boy she always saw him as, and now she didn't quite know how to deal with him.

"Byakuya…" she called his name. "I…"

"Should go," he said, finishing her sentence and catching her wrists to pull her hands away from his chest. Then he let go of her and put his hands on his laps.

While a wicked part of him wanted to know how she would deal with him now that she no longer had an excuse that he was merely a boy and the gap between their ages weren't as wide as it used to be, he knew better than to start something neither of them was ready to finish.

She blinked before she nodded in agreement and reminded herself she needed to move away from his bed in order to do so.

"Right…" she said as she got up and headed for the door.

As she was about to open the door and leave, Byakuya called after her, "Yoruichi."

"Yes?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to him, surprised that he chose to call her by her given name alone.

"What time do you leave tomorrow?"

"Ten in the morning," she replied. "Why?"

He gave her a long look before he replied, "I'll be there."

She smiled. In the end, she didn't say she was sorry, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't have to. Somehow, he understood, and although he didn't say it straightforwardly, she could tell from the fact that he promised to see her off that he had already forgiven her.

"I'll look forward to seeing you, then."

And with that, she was off using shunpo.

Byakuya licked his lips slowly, savoring the sweetness of her that still lingered there. Once again, she didn't bid him goodbye, but there was no need. After all, no matter how far she had strayed, she would always return, and that was enough for him...

...for now.