February 10: the lost husband
bleach, isshin & kaien & byakuya with mentions of their wives
I'm hesitant to do Bleachfic because I fear I won't do it justice.
...But then I go and screw with it anyway and actually kind of like what I come up with later on. HAHAHA.
Three Short Eulogies
I. Complainte de la Butte
Love is stronger than death.
It was a poetic sentiment, as were most things involving Kuchiki Byakuya. And it helped him to remember her fondly and not slip into grief. To find her sister. Though he couldn't deny that it felt as if seeing a memory manifest itself into the living, he was moved to look forward. To fulfill her last wishes and, afterwards, do all that he could do: Remain himself. Poised, dignified, capable.
He returned to the beginning and started again. It was a poetic ending.
II. The ocean breathes salty
It was a poetic ending. Almost like it was out of an old, dreary fairy tale. Whether this particular story gave a moral, no one could really decide, but it somehow lessened the pain to let one's self think of it in romantic terms. It was sad. But it was not a charge into suicide, or pride and anger's hands covering his eyes, or the desperate last acts of a man driven beyond reason. It was not.
Shiba Kaien was a man following his love through everything until the end, they had described it.
...she crossed it out.
Ammended: a man following his love past the end and to the other side of it. True devotion.
III. All the Aliens
'True devotion.' Kurosaki Isshin re-read that last specific listed on the grave. He didn't need to, he had it memorized. Did it anyway. Again, and again, and again, and he could play it all out in his mind. His son running across the street, his wife shielding him as the hollow struck.
Saying he felt regret would be an understatement, and saying he was glad she did it would bring a bitter taste (from the conflicted feelings and the blood-- he would have punched you in the mouth in response). But saying he didn't respect her decision or truly think it in her nature to save her son would have been lying. If given a prediction beforehand, he would have said he expected her to do what she did.
Knowing this allowed him the strength to look at his family beside him and believe that everything would be okay. Hard, but true.
Love is stronger than death.