Characters: Byakuya, Hisana
Summary: Sometimes, his dreams are kind.
Pairings: ByaHisa
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for Soul Society arc
Timeline: None needed
Author's Note: I decided to do one that isn't as blatantly tragic as most of my ByaHisa pieces for a change; enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Sometimes, he dreams of her, and Byakuya sees only death. He sees the slow, inevitable descent from vitality to weakness and recoils from it. He sees Hisana as what she became, a shadow growing more translucent with the passing of each day with skin so fine and pale that Byakuya could trace veins with his fingers all the way back to the heart.
Sometimes, his dreams are kind.
This, Byakuya supposes, is his subconscious occasionally giving up the fight to be so masochistic as to drive him to suicide. He closes his eyes and his body grapples with consciousness before claiming victory and drifting away. Sleep will claim him. Perishable breath grows all but still.
And he sees her.
What death and illness and Byakuya's own consciousness has done to Hisana melts away from her like a snake shedding an old and faded skin. Byakuya no longer sees the hollows in her cheeks. He no longer sees the deep shadows like deadly, unfurling flowers underneath her eyes. He doesn't see the melt of flesh off of bones or the webbing of veins beneath her skin.
He sees Hisana, smiling at him, that gentle, faintly wistful smile that never showed any teeth but was always so much like the passing of spring onto her face.
It still is, even in death.
She holds out a hand, and he takes it, eager. Anything to feel her skin again, even if it is only in death and the sensations are all numbed. Byakuya can only rely on memory. He still smells the sweet scent of her hair, still hears the silvery words of her mouth, but somehow, the exact sensation of what her skin felt like against his escapes him.
That doesn't matter.
Nothing seems to matter now.
They just walk, in silence, up the road glittering with starlight and moonbeams. This is just a dream, but Byakuya always prays that he will lie down to dream this dream some night and never have to wake up.
Sometimes, when he dreams, he gets there first, and waits for her.
Byakuya isn't sure if it's the stars he hears singing from afar, or Hisana.