Kuchiki Byakuya stood on his balcony, the night wind whipping his hair back. Since his apartment was the penthouse, his balcony also happened to be the roof of the building. The city lay sprawled below him, a sea of sparkling lights. Those lights made it look as though all the stars in the heavens had fallen to Earth, and continued to shine there. It was a beautiful, peaceful sight, but tonight he found it couldn't calm his heart the way it usually did.
It had been seven years already, since Hisana, the beautiful girl he'd gone against his family to marry shortly after his eighteenth birthday, had died from cancer. The part of her which he'd held within his heart had gone, leaving a terrible hole which nothing could fill. His father had died five years later, leaving him to run their multinational corporation. His nickname in the press was 'the Prince of Japan'. It was actually fairly apt. One of his ancestors had been the Emperor, a few centuries ago.
This night was Hisana's birthday. It was nights like these when he couldn't stop thinking of her. He'd gotten her the best doctors his money could buy. He'd done everything in his considerable power to take care of her. Nothing had been enough. His grandfather, his chief advisor in the company, had been pestering him ever since his year of mourning was officially over to remarry, reminding him constantly that it was his duty to create Kuchiki heirs to the company.
Byakuya wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't think he could love anybody again, not after losing his beloved wife. He wasn't going to marry for convenience either. He respected the sanctimony of marriage far too much to defile it that way, even if it really was his duty. It seemed that his clan's fate was sealed. He had no siblings or cousins to carry on the name. Once his time on Earth was up, there would never again be a Kuchiki. He would be the last rightful owner and President of Senbonzakura Incorporated.
Tonight, as on so many nights before, Byakuya couldn't help but find himself wondering what his life would've been like if Hisana had lived, if she'd never gotten sick in the first place. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was eight, and her sister Rukia was one. Her and her baby sister had been raised by an uncle, but he was a violent, drunken loser. She'd run away when she was eleven, leaving her sister behind. She'd never forgiven herself for it.
She was sixteen when Byakuya found her in one of the city's parks, struggling to get out of the grip of a park official, who was dragging her over to a pair of police officers. Vagrancy was not tolerated in that part of town, where only the filthy rich could afford the apartments. The young pair married just three months later. She was diagnosed four months after her wedding.
She'd died one month after their first anniversary, at just seventeen. Before she'd died, she'd begged her husband to find her sister, and take her in. Going against his family once more, Byakuya had done just that. It had taken him three years to find her, because she too had run away from home at a young age, but for the last four years Byakuya had been the official guardian of Kuchiki Rukia.
She was already seventeen, but she acted more like she was thirty. She was so responsible. She was a bit damaged from her time with her uncle, and living on the streets, so their relationship was a bit strained. However, Byakuya was fiercely protective of her as her big brother, and she worked very hard at her schoolwork. She was still in high school, she'd missed a couple of years after she'd left her uncle's place, but she had big plans.
She wanted to study to be a doctor at Tokyo University. She wanted to join a search-and-rescue organisation after her graduation. She was mildly ambitious, and she knew what she wanted. All things considered, it could have been much worse. Still, every time Byakuya looked at her, the girl who looked so much like her sister that they could've been twins if not for the seven-year age difference, that empty place in his heart gave off a dull ache.
Byakuya hated it. He didn't want to forget Hisana, but he was so tired of missing her. He wished he could move on, but he honestly didn't know how to. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and moved inside. Thinking things through was getting him nowhere. Just for tonight, he needed to forget. He grabbed his car keys, a white full-length coat, and his pale blue silk scarf, before leaving his apartment and taking his private elevator down to the basement, where his car waited for him.
It was a black Rolls Royce with silver fittings. He had a midnight-blue Lamborghini as well, but that was a birthday gift from his college friend Zaraki Kenpachi. He almost never drove the sporty, frivolous thing. It didn't suit his tastes in the least. In his opinion, it wasn't nearly as classy a vehicle as his Rolls. Still, tonight he needed speed. After a moment of hesitation, he slipped into the slick machine.
