Title: Brothers By Experience
Author: Saigo no Hajime
Summary: On the eve of a life-altering decision of Rukia's, Byakuya considers the parallels between her relationship with Ichigo and his relationship with Hisana. He must decide whether to accept Rukia's wishes, or act to prevent her from making a terrible mistake.
Pairings: This story is both ByaHisa and IchiRuki. It starts with IchiRuki, so for anyone who clicked in because it was marked Byakuya & Hisana in the character listing, at least read until the first section in italics, ok?
Authors Note: I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think! Reviews and constructive criticism will be read repeatedly, treasured, and responded to.
normal type = present time
italics = past
For yet another time, Kuchiki Byakuya was conflicted as a result of his sister's actions. She had returned just that afternoon from the living world, apparently for the last time. Struggling to contain her tears, she had explained that she had requested a change of assignment from Ukitake-taichou, and he had granted it. She had assured her brother, with her eyes suspiciously bright, that Ichigo would not be coming after her this time. She had made sure of that.
When he had acknowledged her words with a nod, she had practically fled to her room. He knew she was in there now, curled in a ball on her bed, sobbing brokenly. He had stood for several minutes outside her door, listening to the anguished cries. His immediate reaction had been fury. Pure, unadulterated rage toward the orange-haired human child that had affected his sister's emotions so deeply. That insufferable brat had ripped her heart in two!
He had stood there frozen, listening to Rukia's despair, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly. He had been so very tempted to storm over to the living world himself and rend the Substitute Shinigami limb from limb. Somehow, though, he resisted the urge, and went instead to the Kuchiki dojo. Sixteen shredded training dummies later, his anger had subsided.
He knew all too well what had happened between the human brat and his sister. He had been expecting it for some time. He didn't doubt that the boy was guilty of nothing more than falling in love with someone who should have been out of his reach. And that was something Byakuya understood all too well.
From the day he had first set eyes on the bright-haired child, swinging the oversized katana Rukia had loaned him, he had known that they loved each other. Even if neither had realized or been able to admit it for a long time, the feelings had already been there even at that early date. He had seen it in his sister's eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, as she pleaded for her brother to spare the boy's life. And he had seen it in the human's eyes, amber darkening to chocolate, as he stared in disbelief and betrayal as Rukia had treated him like they had never met.
"What is this, my son? Consorting with commoners? Such disgraceful behavior! Perhaps you should not be allowed in Rukongai, after all!"
Byakuya stared in shock at his father, frozen in the wooden stool drawn up to the bar. How had he known how to find him here, in this remote 5th district teahouse? He had taken such care to hide his trail, and to conceal his reiatsu, to avoid exactly this event. Ever since his best, and only, friend, Shiba Kaien, had given him a tour of the first few districts, he had known he needed to be careful. It was so interesting, so colorful and, well, fun, here in Rukongai, especially compared to the stiff formality of his noble home!
Out here he didn't need to be constantly reminded to reign in his temper. He didn't need to listen as each and every member of his family lectured him about good posture and proper etiquette. For the first time since Yoruichi had disappeared, he could allow himself to behave as he wanted to, instead of how he was expected to.
And of course, there was Hisana. Beautiful, kind, resourceful, and oh so sorrowful Hisana. The one woman he had ever been attracted to. The one woman he had ever thought he could spend his life with happily. Hisana, who could make him smile and laugh and joke when no one else could even bring an expression to his face. Hisana the peasant, whom his family would revile and sneer at should they ever meet. Hisana, who was standing from the seat next to him, her hand releasing his without hesitation, and bowing as deeply as she could.
Hisana, who was saying, "I beg you, do not punish your son for my actions. I had not known who he was when I sat down and started to speak with him. I promise you, I will never approach him again. You have my deepest and humblest apologies for having done so even this once."
Byakuya's father glared at her in disgust. Then his hand lashed out, backhanding the young woman's cheek. Unbalanced as she was by the bow, Hisana was sent crashing into the side of the bar, her head slamming into the stool as she fell. Byakuya jerked, instinctively starting to move to catch her, but stopped himself before he could. It would be Hisana who would be punished the most harshly if her lie was revealed.
When his father turned and strode toward the exit, calling sharply for his son to follow, Byakuya had no choice but to obey. He looked back, though, his heart stinging with the pain of knowing he might never see the woman he loved again. And it hurt so very much, even if he knew the reasons, that Hisana could so easily deny all the laughter, all the happiness, all the gentle kisses they had shared over the previous few months.
He had looked back, and Hisana's beautiful eyes had been shimmering with unshed tears. He had seen those same tears, and those same eyes, shining out of Rukia's face the night he had forced her to return to Soul Society. And looking into Kurosaki Ichigo's dimming brown orbs, he had perceived the same pain that he had once seen in his own eyes, when he had looked into the mirror at the end of that long ago day. Thus he had known, right from the start, that once again two people from different worlds had fallen in love.
He had been surprised that the boy had survived his injuries. He had been surprised by the power, and the amazingly rapid growth, that the orange-haired human had demonstrated. But once those two facts had been established, he had not been at all surprised by his rescue attempt. Had Byakuya not defied his parents to return to the 5th district teahouse to reunite with Hisana? Had he not snuck out of the mansion with Kaien's help, creating elaborate diversions that had left even Yoruichi impressed, when she had finally been told of them?
Perhaps the scale of the matters had been very different, but the meaning behind them had been the same. Byakuya had needed Hisana, and he had been willing to do anything it took to keep her with him. So too did Ichigo need Rukia.
Having recognized the similarities so early on, Byakuya had long expected the upcoming difficulties the two would face. And not just the outward ones, either. Anyone could predict that there would be outside forces that did not want to allow a human and a shinigami to have a relationship. No, Byakuya had predicted the internal obstacles. He had not needed to listen as Rukia complained to Renji about all the times Ichigo had disregarded or ignored the rules of Seireitei.
"So stiff, Byakuya-sama!" Hisana was laughing at his furious expression. "All those rules are so pointless! Let yourself relax for once. Enjoy yourself! Come with me, I'll show you something really fun!"
He had almost smiled at the embarrassment in his sister's tone as she recounted all the new experiences in the living world that she had misunderstood.
Hisana was laughing again, doubled over and clutching her stomach. Byakuya sagged against the wall of the teahouse, panting desperately for air. Ten feet away, just beyond a wooden fence, a furious goose honked and hissed at the boy that had escaped just beyond the reach of its snapping bill.
"I'm s-s-so, ha ha, sorry, heeheehee, Byakuya-sama!" Hisana stammered between giggles. "I kn-know I s-said that goose eggs tasted good, but-oh, hahaha-, I didn't m-mean to go and t-try to take one from its mother! Didn't you know it would chase you?"
And he'd sighed in recognition and a flash of sympathy, not for his sister but for Kurosaki, when he'd heard her say things like, "Ichigo deserves a human life," or, "He deserves to live without the burden of fighting hollows and protecting the dead," or, "He would be so much better off if he had never met me."
"I am at fault, Shiba-sama," Byakuya heard Hisana saying as he approached the field behind the teahouse. "It is because of me that Byakuya-sama will never look at those noble women. His family is so disappointed in him, and he is forced to listen to their lectures and accept their disgust. And all because he refuses to let me go. All because he won't listen when I tell him a peasant and a noble cannot be together. It would have been better if you had not brought him here, all those years ago. I wish I could give him back his father's pride, and his mother's praise. It is because of me that they are no longer given to him."
And now, he knew, Rukia had taken it upon herself to leave Ichigo. She had abandoned him in the hopes that she could give back the old life that her introduction had ended. She had turned her back so that he would find happiness in the way he was supposed to find it: as a human, with a human, and in the human world. As had been the case in so many things, Rukia had acted exactly like her sister.
"Where is she!?" Byakuya was shouting at the teahouse owner, his composure completely gone. "I am ordering you to tell me where she went!"
The owner was cowering on the floor, his forehead pressed against the ground. "I am sorry, my lord! I am sorry! I cannot tell you! I swore! She made me swear not to tell you of her whereabouts! She made me swear on my own soul never to tell! Please, my lord, do not make me break my oath! Please!"
Byakuya stared down at the man, who had now begun to sob in terror and anguish. The young shinigami's reiatsu was rising rapidly and he made no attempt to check his power. Though normally he would have backed off, feeling as strongly as he did that vows should never be broken for any reason, this time he could not bring himself to care. This was Hisana! This was the woman he loved, the one person he had allowed into every corner of his heart. If she was gone, then so too was his heart. There was not even the tiniest shred of it that Hisana did not own. Without her, his life meant absolutely nothing.
He started to draw Senbonzakura from its sheath, and the poor man on the floor screamed in abject terror, scrambling backwards on his knees until he came up against the wall. Byakuya strode after him, raising his blade, and shouting furiously, "Tell me where she is!"
The owner threw his arms up in front of his face to protect himself, but he didn't speak anything other than panicked gibberish. Byakuya gave a roar of pure rage and started to swing his sword down. Before the blade had moved more than an inch, a hand shot out and captured his wrist.
"Stop this, you idiot!" It was Shiba Kaien, his normally cheerful grin replaced by a deep-set scowl. His eyes weren't angry, though. Instead there was a definite tinge of sympathy and understanding. "Stop this," he said again, his voice becoming softer. "This guy hasn't done anything wrong. Don't worry, Bya-chan, I know where she is."
Ever since that day, Byakuya had felt that he owed no one a greater debt than Shiba Kaien. He truly believed that it was thanks to Kaien that he still lived. 'Without Hisana, his life meant absolutely nothing.' That thought had never left him, and he had never changed his mind. He honestly believed that he would have died, at least in spirit, had Kaien not guided him to Hisana that day, or if he had not finally convinced the love of his life, mere hours later, to marry him.
Even after her death, he had found his life in the search for Rukia, whom he would never have even heard of had it not been for his beloved wife. He owed Kurosaki Ichigo his life now too, for without Rukia, the last piece of Hisana left to him, his soul again would have been doomed to wither away into nothing. And now, he knew without any shadow of a doubt, that the same fate would await the orange-haired Substitute if someone did not help him come again to Rukia's side.
"Ichigo will not be coming. I made sure of that," his sister had said. No doubt she had forced Urahara to promise her not to open a gate to the Soul Society, though what she had used as a means to do so, he did not know. Unlike that long ago teahouse owner, Urahara Kisuke would not be in need of protection from the enraged and jilted boy. But he also would not give in and allow Kurosaki to pass.
So now, in a move he would never be able to fully understand, Kuchiki Byakuya was standing on the sidewalk just in front of the Kurosaki house contemplating whether or not he should actively help the mere half-human Substitute to reclaim Byakuya's own sister. And in an act of compassion that was equally incomprehensible, he pushed open the door and entered the home of the man who would, only two months later, become his brother. It was an decision he would never regret.