When the welcome party finally starts to calm down and no one else seems to be in great need of his presence, Byakuya walks over to where Rukia is curled around her future mate and kneels down, his hand coming to rest on her back. He can feel the steady inhale and exhale of her breathing here and it relaxes a part of him that had been agonizing over her loss, over the expression on her face when she walked away from the pack and from him once and for all. When he had mated with Hisana, Rukia had been part of the deal, and Byakuya loved her fiercely and would have done anything he could have to kept her safe.

Hisana’s death had driven a wedge between them, Byakuya’s decision to put space between himself and everyone he loves meaning that both of them were left hurting when they should have been supporting one another through their grief. It might have been a ridiculous notion, but his week with Renji had been an eye-opening experience as far as his feelings on the matter of his dead mate are concerned, and now he has to mend his relationship with Rukia.

If he leaves things as they are, another argument could drive her away once more, and she would take her friends with her. The last thing Byakuya wants is for his pack to be ripped apart, fully intending on following through on his promise of making this their new home so they never have to think about leaving or end up wandering the wilderness subject to the whims of any other pack around them. Rukia is the core of this group, he can see that without having to try, and it hardly surprises him. She is a natural born leader and has always been.

“Rukia.” Byakuya says her name softly, smiling faintly when she lifts her head from the mane of Orihime’s autumn fire hair to peer up at him with heavily-lidded eyes. “I was wondering if the two of us could speak in private as we agreed to do this afternoon.”

The words have her sitting up with a murmured apology to Orihime, drawing one knee up to her chest as she looks up at him. “All right, Brother. Let’s talk in your room where it’s quiet.”

“I apologize for borrowing Rukia, Orihime.” Byakuya bows his head to her when Orihime looks up at him, and Rukia scoffs at him. “I’ll return her as soon as we’re done talking.”

Orihime yawns and lays back down on the grass. “Just don’t keep her too long, I’ll get cold.”

When Byakuya leads Rukia into his home, a wave of nostalgia washes over him and he bites down on his tongue, willing himself to remain calm as he leads her through the living room and down the hallway that leads to his private quarters. The last time she had been in this building had been during their last conversation, the one that started out quietly enough before escalating into Rukia shouting at him, demanding to know how he could remain so cold, so aloof, so disconnected from everyone and everything and ever be the alpha the pack needed.

She stormed out. Byakuya was certain he would never see her again, certain it was her final stand before she departed for good. Certain he had lost the sister he never knew he wanted in his life, having grown up an only child, and knowing it was all his fault.

“It smells like Renji in here.” Rukia walks around the room, head tilted back as she scents the air and Byakuya huffs at her. Though the housekeepers had tidied the room and changed the sheets on the bed, as well as storing away the extra bedding Byakuya had been using for his nest, there is no denying the heavy scent in the air. “You two were together for a while, huh?”

“My heat was exceptionally long because of the sheer amount of time I spent suppressing it.” Byakuya admits, wincing when Rukia scowls at him, brows drawn together.

She walks up to him, her hand curling in the fabric of his shirt as she pulls him down to meet her eyes. “You shouldn’t be doing it anymore, then. I know you don’t want children but there are other and safer ways. I didn’t even realize such a thing could happen.”

“Unohana admitted she’d never known an omega who suppressed his heat as long as I did, so she had no way of knowing, either.” Byakuya winces when Rukia’s scowl deepens to a scold, resting his hand on top of her head. “I’m fine, Rukia. There has been no permanent damage.”

“Only you would do something so admittedly dangerous and stupid in order to live some standard of life you created sheerly out of convenience.” Rukia looks around the room before sitting down on the futon, folding her legs beneath her. “Was Renji good to you?”

Byakuya hesitates for just a moment before sitting down beside her, legs crossed in front of him, elbows resting on his knees. “He was. We spent an entire week together and he was nothing less than an accomplished and proud alpha. Just as you’d expect, I suppose.”

“That’s good. If I’d known you were going to do that to yourself, I would have stopped you before I—” Rukia stops herself, clearing her throat and looking down at her lap, fingers toying with the bottom of her own shirt. “When I was with my pack, I went into rut. It happened not long after the fight with Aizen, and I was… Tired. Orihime assisted me through it.”

“Ah.” That is hardly surprising, all things considered. Byakuya would have expected nothing less because Rukia has never held herself to any standards or tradition, living her life the way that feels correct to her. He admires her for it. “The two of you did seem very close to me.”

Rukia smiles up at him, almost bashful. “She was wonderful. Everything about her is perfect. I could never see myself with another omega in life now. Not after spending time with her.”

“I’m glad you’re following your heart and pursuing her properly, then. And I promise no one else in the pack will do something so foolish as challenge your claim as long as I am alpha.” They would have to be true idiots, especially after what Orihime has been through at the hands of her first pack. After hearing that, Byakuya would be in favor of booting anyone out of the pack who tried to woo her without her express consent and comfort taken into account.

“You mentioned Aizen.” He doesn’t want to have this conversation. He doesn’t think he can stomach it, but it’s important. “What… Rukia, what happened? ”

The quiet stretches between them for so long that Byakuya doesn’t know what to expect out of her and then she sighs, raking a hand through her hair. “There are no scars because Orihime healed my wounds, but… Remember your shoulder, Brother? His pack must know about the wound, because the man I fought with tried to replicate it on me.”

Byakuya remembers all too well. Aizen’s decision to shift forms before the official challenge had been issued, teeth sinking into his human skin, threatening to rip his torso in half from the force of the strike. It makes bile rise in his throat to imagine Rukia in such a state, ripped open and bleeding and in so much pain. Before he can control himself he’s dragging her into his arms, pressing his face down into the top of her head, arms cocooned around her.

The soothing scent of snow rises to his nose once more but instead of trying to draw away, Rukia wraps her arms around him and he does his best to soothe her with his own scent. “I’m sorry. I forgot everything you told me about watching my own back. I was so upset, I was running, I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t even realize Aizen’s pack was there.”

“I didn’t even realize he had a pack.” If his voice sounds mournful, Rukia does not comment.

Instead, she tips her head up, nuzzling against the front of his throat. “I didn’t, either. There were three of them, they were scouting the woods. He has them high up on the mountain, but not as high as Zaraki, I don’t think. The only available space near our pack. I know it was his pack because he came to see me when I thought I was going to die.”

“Aizen was there.” The thought makes Byakuya sick with fear, that the man had dared to stalk his injured little sister. “I’ll hunt him down and kill him for this atrocity.”

Rukia shakes her head immediately. “Don’t. I held my own. I escaped and was able to find shelter, and that’s where Chad found me. He carried me back to his pack and Orihime saved me. I… I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”

The admittance rings a low keening cry from Byakuya’s throat and he clings to her tighter as tears burn his eyes, dripping down his cheeks unbidden as he folds his body around Rukia’s smaller one. His little sister, the girl who used to follow him everywhere around the pack, her scent flaring angry and violent every time another alpha so much as came near him. Who looked at him like he hung the moon and insisted she wanted to help protect any children he had with Hisana, who loved him so fiercely it almost broke his heart.

He hadn’t been there to protect her. He drove her out of her home and put her in such a dangerous and precarious position and it destroys him, a hot iron between his ribs that jams into his heart so suddenly it hurts. Byakuya sobs against her hair and clings to her, and Rukia, bless her heart, lets him. Her hands rub soothing circles into his back and she lets him hold onto her and cry out the fear and sickness and agony tormenting his soul.

When he finally, finally can bear to let her go, she sits down in front of him once more, and he can see his tears beading on her dark hair. “Brother, there’s more. I need you to listen. I need you to know the truth of what I saw when I saw Aizen again.”

Byakuya wipes his tears away, squaring his shoulders. She’s back, she’s safe, and she wants to help him protect this pack, to prepare for the worst. “Of course. Tell me, Rukia.”

“Ichimaru Gin and Tousen Kaname are still with Aizen. They were flanking him when he came to see me. I believe… I believe Ichimaru misled us as to his identity.” Rukia presses her lips together and she looks doubtful, so uncertain. “It could have been blood loss and my own delusion at work, but I thought… I thought I saw tails. Not one, but many. Nothing like a wolf’s tail. There were fox jokes made, but it seems like Ichimaru is—”

“A kitsune.” Byakuya interrupts her, the sudden jar of the thought making him feel dizzy. “I would not be surprised. Aizen was able to do too many inexplicable things and could not have done so on his own merits. This… Makes the situation very difficult for us.”

Rukia pauses, fingers pressed into her own bottom lip. “You and Ichimaru were friends,” she says slowly, and Byakuya winces at the reminder. “So I know his scent very well by now, the scent of persimmons. But it smelled rotting and sickly sweet. I think he’s unhappy now.”

“It would serve him right, choosing that traitor over our pack.” Byakuya knows it might be cruel, it might be unfair, but it is difficult to soften his heart for those that would endanger his family.

“Of course. The pack is sizeable. It’s large enough to give me pause. I think Aizen has been gathering them for much longer than we knew about his betrayal, perhaps in preparation.” Rukia bites down on her bottom lip and looks up at Byakuya with wide eyes. “So we have to be careful, because there are enough of them to make me think we should be concerned.”

“Thank you for bringing us this valuable information back. It will help us more than you know.” Byakuya exhales slowly and then takes Rukia’s small hands in his own, his eyes intent on hers. “Hisana would be proud of your strength. I am… I am sorry for pushing you away after her passing, for not being better for you. We should have been there for one another.”

Rukia’s eyes widen up at him and he can see the slightest sheen of tears in her beautiful dark eyes. “Brother, you and I both made mistakes. The onus of blame is not yours alone.”

“But it should be, because I did the most wrong. I should have been better for both of us.” The tears are there again and Byakuya blinks them back, not wanting to make this about him, about how he feels. “You are my sister and my only family, and instead of drawing you close and sharing in our pain so that we could comfort one another and move on, I focused only on my position as alpha and closed myself off. I closed my heart off, a dangerous mistake to make.”

“And you know that now. I… I thought maybe you’d never learn that.” Rukia smiles up at him, her lips quivering as a slow tear makes its way over the line of her cheekbone.

The confession is not a surprise. Too many of the pack have noticed Byakuya’s coldness, his distance. “It took a dear friend opening my eyes to what I had done to myself to realize the extent of my many mistakes. And the worst part of it all is that it drove you away.”

“No. I left. You didn’t push me away.” Rukia is on her knees now, her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down into her embrace, her cheek pressed against his own. “I chose to leave. I… It was my mistake. I knew what was wrong. I could see it. And I should have stayed and fought to show you the truth instead of abandoning you and my home.”

“You made the choice you thought was right for you and I can’t blame you.” Byakuya hugs her tight, face pressed into her shoulder, sobs shaking his own. “How could I expect you to stay here when I treated you the way I did? I’m so sorry, Rukia.”

“I’m sorry, too.” Rukia hiccups and Byakuya hugs her all the tighter, almost crushing her in his arms, and he’s sure his scent is overwhelmingly powerful but she doesn’t say anything. The scent of snow is so strong he feels trapped in a blizzard, but warm. “I’m not going to leave anymore. We’ll figure this out together the way we should have in the beginning.”

Byakuya squeezes his eyes shut at the prospect and lets himself break down for the first time in years, the twist of pain and anguish in his gut finally loosening in the wake of his sister’s return. When she left, he deluded himself into thinking it was fine, that she would be back, and then she did not return and he was going to let her go. Hisana made him swear on her deathbed that he would take care of Rukia in her absence, guide her and cherish her now that Hisana no longer could, and Byakuya had promised her. He promised and he failed her. He failed Rukia. He failed everyone who had ever cared about him, who had tried to love him.

No longer. No more mistakes. No more failure. Rukia coming back was a blessing he did not deserve but now that he had her here, he was going to take care of her. He would shield her friends and help them learn to live here, give them the home they all so desperately deserved after what they had gone through. He would protect this pack against Aizen, protect the home Rukia and her companions would come to call their own.

When the bedroom door opens, Byakuya slowly lifts his head from Rukia’s hair, registering the scent of cinnamon sugar just as Orihime appears in the doorway. She looks uncertain and skittish, shifting from foot to foot as she looks at the two of them.

“I’m sorry!” She bursts. “Yoruichi-san said I could find you two here.”

Byakuya’s face softens at her discomfort and he holds his hand out to her, palm up. “Come here, Inoue Orihime. There is no need to be afraid in my presence.”

The young omega hesitates before crossing the room, taking Byakuya’s hand and allowing him to draw her down onto the futon with him and Rukia. If Orihime is to be Rukia’s mate, then she will also be Byakuya’s younger sister, and the last impression he wants her to have of him is that she needs to be afraid of him. His presence should be one she seeks out when she needs him, warm and reassuring and strong, a foundation for her, a shoulder to lean on. But she has no reason to see him that way yet, so he needs to foster it in her himself.

“I was worried when Rukia didn’t come back, so I asked Yoruichi-san where your room was.” Orihime curls herself against his ride and Byakuya tucks his arm around her shoulders, rubbing a hand over her back soothingly. “Is everything okay? The two of you have been crying.”

“We were making up.” Rukia leans over to touch her cheek and Orihime sighs as she leans into the touch, her eyelashes fluttering. “It was bound to happen. The two of us have a long and painful history that we need to work on, but we’re going to do that now.”

Byakuya nods, resting his cheek against the top of Orihime’s head, allowing his scent to envelope her in a comforting cloud. “Yes, that is all. We’ve been talking about that past, but now that things are settled, everything will be fine. Did you enjoy your run with the pack?”

“Yes! It was so much fun.” Orihime links her arm with his and Byakuya finds a cloud of cinnamon washing over his nose a moment later, smiling softly at the consideration. Even though she knows the two of them are fine, she still wants to comfort them. “I can’t wait to do it more often in the future, and I had so much fun helping with the food preparation. It’s so nice here, and so warm, and everyone really does feel like one big family.”

I’m glad you’re already growing used to being here, Orihime. “Excellent. Let me know if there’s anything you need and I’ll ensure that you have it. Rukia, your room here is still obviously open for you to use. I believe you and Orihime can share the space, if you desire.”

He doesn’t miss the slight flush in his sister’s face, the indignation in her eyes even as she smiles sweetly at him. “Of course, Brother. But for tonight… How about letting us stay in here with you? I think we could both use the contact right now.”

For werewolves, skin on skin contact and general closeness is akin to all forms of comfort, far from being just a sexual experience as foolish humans tend to believe. By the end of the night, it’s not uncommon for them to end up in various puppy piles in different sizes, and even after Yoruichi had mated with Kisuke, Byakuya had found himself falling asleep next to her more often than once, the warmth of her skin and her familiar scent soothing. So he nods, because he missed Rukia, and he wants her future mate to feel like he’s truly her family.

He already made enough mistakes with Rukia. He’s not going to mimic those in Orihime.

“Taichou?” A familiar voice has him lifting his head once more, amusement tugging at his lips when Renji peeks into the room. “Just came to check up on everything before turning in for the night— Oh, you have company. Sorry for intruding.”

Inspiration strikes Byakuya in that moment and he lifts his chin. “Stay with us tonight, Renji.”

Renji hesitates, his gaze darting between the three of them before meeting Byakuya’s once more. “Beg pardon, Taichou?”

“Rukia and Orihime are going to remain with me this evening. Join us.” He doesn’t leave any room for argument, already the three of them shifting to fit onto the futon together. “And close the door behind you when you come in, please.”

Renji closes the door and comes to join them, and Byakuya tries not to let himself be too affected when Renji spoons up against his back, nose pressing against the back of his neck. It’s close enough to his heat that Renji’s presence still feels ultra comforting and he sees a flicker of amusement in Rukia’s eyes as she settles down behind Orihime, arms snaking around her waist to hold her tight. Byakuya raises an eyebrow at her and she only smiles up at him.

He presses his forehead against Orihime’s own, draping his arm over both of the women curled up next to him, and he feels better than he has in a long time. His pack beta is near and his family has come home, and Byakuya could not have asked for more if he wanted to.

He has everything he needs to be happy right here.