Under the Sakura Trees
It was a love that pained his heart.
When her hand slipped from his into the world that even shinigami can never return from, he desperately sought a pulse.
He recalled the times when they walked alone under the sakura trees, and their blossoms fell gently and scattered throughout the wind.
The wind blew her hair back, and she smiled, laughing as she took his hand.
Her laugh was the soft tinkling of silver bells, and the wind blowing through the blossom filled branches.
He cherished deep in his heart the golden five years of peace that they spent in love.
He remembered how hard he fought for the marriage against his predecessors, knowing that he was breaking the law.
He knew he was its inforcer.
Though he would cast that aside for her.
He won the bitter struggle, but not without regrets of breaking that rule.
There wasn't a day where he didn't think of her, and her beautiful smile.
She would laugh, and tell him secrets only for his ears, telling him also how much she loved him.
The first time she fell while they crossed a small bridge, he was instantly concerned for her health, yet she brushed it off like it was nothing.
When he sat by her sickbed and she coughed blood, sorrow consumed his heart that he could do little for her.
She smiled weakly, her hand, clasping gently onto his like fragile glass, whispering that those five years were like a wonderful dream.
His heart broke when the dream came to an end and he woke up, crashing into the terrible reality.
The sakura blossoms of his heart withered away, leaving the bare, stark branches devoid of any life.
The feelings he kept locked away in the tight confines in his heart always threatened to overwhelm him.
Yet, for more than a decade, perhaps even half a century, for the shinigami age so slowly, he walked a lonely path in solitude to fulfill their last promise.
When his promise was fulfilled and he had found Rukia, he felt the small buds of sakura opening once again in his heart.
Hisana.....aishiteru.
Author's note: Good? Bad? I really have no idea how this got inspired, but in any case, it made me look at Byakuya in a new perspective. Pretty short. I don't know whether its good or bad, but whatever. Reviews are appreciated.
Disclaimer: If we owned Bleach, Urahara would get a little more screen time. "You killed my hat!" He has such an awesome sense of humor.