A/N: A drabble-ish oneshot. No warnings are necessary. ByaHisa.

Discord

It started out gently. So lightly that it steadily grew as the wind whipped at the atmosphere and the clouds released their water. The light grey the skies emitted was turning a dark sombre colour as huge cumulonimbus clouds hovered to darken the world.

A crack of lightening came to change everything. The downpour was instantaneous commencing after that light dribble. The raindrops became heavier and came down from the lowest heaven harder than ever seen in many years. In the late afternoon midsummer's day, it was relief rain that cast above their roofs and their heads. Certainly, the scorching heat of the last week and that of the last few hours ensured that the storm would last several hours.

A figure stood still as if in a trance or simply unable to look away from the spectacular show of beauty. He stood upon a side patio, a covering high over his head to keep him out. Gardens to his right flourished with the rain. He watched it all.

Kuckiki Byakuya closed his perpetually half-lidded eyes. His black hair was loose of his usual indications of nobility and was being whipped harshly by the wind of the rain. He looked tiny, a small thing gazing at the vast heavens above. The sweet smells of the rain met his nose and he inhaled instinctively. Remarkable that the flowers around him gave their fragrances to the storm… Fresh, chilling it seemed as the rain chose to be that kept his kimono sleeves flying about.

The noble took a step forward. Somehow he wanted to be one with the chaos. Lost forever in its depth, freedom would perhaps touch him and leave him liberated. Nature did what it wanted and family prevented what it wanted.

The drops became heavier still, impossibly large drops landing on the earth just inches from his bare feet. The drops bounced and lightly landed there until it made Byakuya aware of their chill for the first time.

Large puddles were forming now. Some short, some inches deep and enough to wholly engulf the tiny, tiny blooms on the ground, to bathe them.

A sunflower, the out-of-place singular flower so much taller than him, stood out in its vivid yellow petals as the rain poured over even that. Nothing left untouched. Except me…

Byakuya took another step forward, without realising it led by his often infuriating will. So close.

Now the heavy rainwater touched his face, kissed his cheeks and Byakuya stopped himself, finally noticing the clenched fists at his sides. Holding only himself back from the beauty…

He took in his surroundings again. This time including him instead of just the storm and took one small breathe. To let go…

And he walked forward, unheeding of the cold. He allowed the kimono to become soaked in the water and turn the silk into a much darker lavender and off-white. His slim left hand which touched his own heart lightly was water ridden and the ring upon his hand was not unaffected. His hair clung to his face and rain water ran down his neck in rivulets and he looked up, keeping those eyes closed. Feeling the droplets land on his face, Byakuya thought there was really no other feeling.

The rumble of thunder shook over his head and he felt it.

If I scream, will anyone hear me?

Perhaps the noise alone would silence it.

If I run, will I slip?

The rain was a different pressure, so different and comforting him in his moments of lamentation.

(Will you be there to catch me? His rather romantic mind desired to know.)

There he stood in the pouring thunderstorm, small feet bare and clothes soaked, without audience to witness the unravelling of a colder man. The cold didn't affect him anymore and the droplets plummeting on his eyelids were not malign but rather benign.

"Byakuya-sama…"

He felt warmth envelop his sides in the form of slender arms snaking around his waist. A flash of eggplant and plum colours wove over his periphery. The bangasa she held tapped the back of his head and Byakuya felt it poking his side as it fell sideways, still half covering his beloved clinging to his back. Her head rested beneath the back of his neck and her chest melded to his back and they stood in perfect harmony.

"Hisana."

His cold fingers joined hers above his stomach finding warmth in his wife's delicate limbs.

Awareness filled him completely and he noticed the chill for the first time in many moments and could not contain the shiver that ran through his spine. She noticed, of course, and tightened her grip further perhaps hoping to protect him from it. She didn't ask him if he was alright. She knew him better than that, knew what exactly he longed for. She felt she was a bad wife, but nothing could be better than being with her.

"You're cold." She said softly into his back, breathe so warm on his skin even over the soaked cloth. "Let's go inside, Byakuya-sama."

"Yes, my love. Let's go…" Still they didn't move instead resting where they were and Byakuya felt contentment he hadn't felt in decades settle in the pit of his stomach. He forgot the decades past.

Stay with me, Hisana…

I cannot bear to part with you.

The rain continued its downpour.

"Are you alright, Nii-sama?" Another unwanted voice penetrated into his mind.

His eyes shot wide open. Suddenly, incredibly painful awareness filled his being. Back to where he was, where he stood instead of the previous wandering mind. The weight on his back…imagined from decades past, his wedding ring a reminder.

Rukia stood a few feet away from him, as soaked as he was, the concern in her eyes apparent.

Speechlessness enveloped him and he couldn't utter a single word for the heaviness in his throat. He looked away from his sister, instead looking downward to his feet, where dirt from the soil was being washed away by the pour.

Thunder sounded overhead and he finally turned back to his sister, nodded to her once, and swept away after indicating she should also come in, that there was no reason for her to be out in such weather.

"Come, Rukia."

His beloved's little sister hurried behind him, matching his steps and upon finding more silence on her brother's part, understood his strange mood and headed down the dark corridor to the wing that contained her room to give her brother some space.

Unheeding of the rainwater dripping to the floor, Byakuya sighed, shivered and finally approached his own bedroom. No longer hers to share.

Clutching her frame in his hand close to his chest and his heart clenching for the thousandth time, his grey eyes remained closed. He felt the familiar melancholy and misery of loss strike him.