Two days

"How long has he been here?" Unohana asked Gin quietly, looking in at Byakuya sitting still and silent next to Renji's bed.

"Since he got out of intensive care," Gin told her just as quietly, wiping his hands down with a cloth. He'd just finished changing Renji's bandages, and the Sixth Captain hadn't spoken once while he was in the room.

Unohana sighed. "Well, I suppose we should try to send him home." She approached Byakuya carefully and said, "Kuchiki-taicho? Visiting hours are over. I have to ask you to leave." She waited. "Kuchiki-taicho?"

Without a word, Byakuya stood up and swept from the room.

Unohana and Gin stared after him. "I would not like to get in that man's way tonight," Gin finally remarked.

O.o.O

Five days

"Hey." Ichigo rolled his neck on his shoulders and let out a tired sigh, resting his zanpakuto against the wall. "How is he?"

Gin shrugged, hands never stopping their fluid movements as he folded bandages. "The same as always."

"And Byakuya?"

"The same as always."

"Fuck." Ichigo scrubbed a hand through his orange hair, blowing out a frustrated breath. "He never leaves, does he?"

"Only when we kick him out at night," Gin agreed.

"I'll talk to him. See if I can at least figure out why they were fighting. I think their courtship was, uh. A little rocky." Ichigo chewed on his bottom lip, cinnamon-brown eyes fixed worriedly on the door leading to his best friend's room.

Gin shrugged elegantly, returning his attention to his bandages. "If you think it'll help."

Ichigo took a deep breath and entered the room, closing the door behind himself.

O.o.O

Six days

Ichigo slammed into Urahara's house like a miniature orange-topped whirlwind, door banging closed behind him as he stomped through the rooms looking for his old teacher. Urahara looked up in mild surprise, barely saving his tea from ending up all over the tatami mats as the angry fukutaicho slammed a piece of paper down in front of him and snarled, "He was planning on breaking the engagement!"

"Beg your pardon?" Urahara asked mildly.

"Byakuya!" Ichigo said, brown eyes snapping with fire as he began to pace, too angry to stand still. "He wrote out his reasons in very pretty words, but it's all there! Every single thing he thinks is wrong with Renji, and he's using them to break the engagement! That little shit, just wait 'til I get my hands on him, I'll-"

Urahara tuned out his old student as Ichigo continued to rant, instead turning his attention to the slightly crumpled paper that Ichigo had put in front of him. He read it through carefully, eyebrows rising further and further up his forehead the farther down the page he got. When he finished he set the paper down and folded his hands together on top of it, finally looking back up at Ichigo. The younger shinigami had run out of verbal steam a while ago, now simply stalking back and forth across the room with a scowl on his face.

"Ichigo," Urahara said mildly, "this is not a letter that would break the engagement."

Ichigo threw himself onto the cushion across from him, still scowling hard enough to make a baby cry. "But you read it, didn't you! That bastard said-"

"It doesn't matter what he said," Urahara cut him off. "This is merely a letter explaining what sounds like a fight that they had. If Kuchiki-taicho had wanted to break the engagement, he would have written this letter quite differently, expressly said that he was breaking their courtship, and signed and sealed it with his personal seal. This merely appears to be a letter between fighting lovers. Where did you find it?"

"On Renji's desk, in his office at the division," Ichigo replied, his scowl lightening but not disappearing.

Urahara frowned slightly. "Well, that's not… ideal," he admitted. "And if they had fought about this right before Renji went out to battle, it would explain why he hasn't woken up yet. The mind is a powerful place, and if he thinks Byakuya is going to leave him then he might be subconsciously preventing himself from waking back up. I think you need to talk to Byakuya, see if he will tell you anything about it."

Ichigo nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. And luckily I know exactly where to find him." He hopped back to his feet, snatching up the paper and folding it away in his robes, then hesitated before leaning down and pressing a hard, quick kiss to Urahara's lips. "Thanks, Urahara." Then he was gone, dashing for the door as if lit on fire.

Urahara stared after him, stunned. "And we need to talk about that!" he shouted after his old student, long after Ichigo had passed out of hearing range.

O.o.O

Ten days

Unohana swept through the door to Renji's room like a cool breeze, bringing order and calm to the loud room. "Everyone, please be quiet," she said, and everyone instantly fell silent, all eyes on her. She calmly checked Renji's vitals, asking him several questions about his newly awakened state, and then turned to pin the other occupants of the room with a frighteningly mild stare. "He seems to be in almost perfect condition. But please do keep your voices down, this is a hospital and there is quite a lot of power in this room."

And then she swept out again, Renji, Ichigo, Byakuya, and Rukia's eyes following her in complete silence until the door had closed softly behind her.

O.o.O

Twenty days

A letter was delivered to Urahara Kisuke's house sometime in the early morning, written on heavy, fine embossed paper and sealed with the official seal of the Kuchiki family. Urahara found it on his way in from training in the late morning, and set it on his kitchen table as he made himself a pot of tea and some lunch. When he had finally settled at the table with his food and drink, he carefully slit the seal and unfolded the letter.

Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the Seireitei Sixth Division, and Aburai Renji, Captain of the Seireitei Fifth Division, cordially invite you to attend a ceremony celebrating their union in matrimony in this year two thousand and fifteen, on the twenty-fifth day of October…

O.o.O

And here we have it! The second to last chapter. The last one will be an epilogue of sorts, probably a pretty short detailing of the wedding and maybe wrapping up some loose ends. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, or stuck with me for this long!