This Byakuya/Hisana scene is an extract from my story 'Memories By The Sea'. Though it is a story on Byakuya/Rukia doesn't mean Byakuya/Hisana cannot be appreciated. It may seem a bit confusing but I'm afraid you have to read it as it is! Since it is unlikely that ByaHisa fans would be reading my story, I thought I would share this as an one-shot. I slightly edited the end part from it's original.
My beta: Tomas-the-betrayer! :)
I present to you a timeless love story!
A gentle tug.
Like that would win him over. It became more forceful. He had clearly underestimated the force of stubbornness.
A mountain. He was falling off its peak.
"Byakuya-sama." Soft and sweet. He was falling towards it...
It was Hisana.
"What's the matter, Hisana?" he asked groggily while his eyes slowly opened. He had not been that lethargic in a while. His hand went for his forehead. It felt as though someone had slaughtered him in his sleep leaving only his neck up alive and well.
He turned to see her right beside him in seiza. She was already dressed for the day as the Lady Kuchiki should be, but it was never over-exaggerated on her part.
Always simple, yet elegant. She never danced on the money like any other woman would have done in her place. Just the way she had been since the very first glance but he admired her even more now. And yet it would be nice if, once in a while, she adorned herself in one of those lavish garments for his his wealth was for her only. Normally, he would not demand anything other than respect and obedience from others, because that would make him seem dependant. And that showed weakness as a noble figure.
But when it came down to her, every rule seemed senseless.
He never forgot that she had other things weighing down her mind which for some reason seemed more personal than what they had together. He had loved her and always would; she had returned all of it, too, giving him the right to be concerned and impose. He would understand if it was a one-sided affair, yet he never pushed for his share because he feared he might not actually comprehend it at all.
He was happy just to be there if a time came for her to reach out to him.
It had been five years since he became her husband and eight years since the first time he had met her. Well, it was his grandfather who found her first in the wedding of Megata Kuchiki, daughter of one of the fellow houses. Kuchiki Ginrei pulled him out of a conversation that he was playing hardly any part in. His grandfather soon came to a halt, as did the grandson.
"Listen to it, Byakuya." He turned his attention towards where his grandfather was looking, to find a lady who was dressed in a plain white yukata with a dun-coloured haori. Her hair was not done up like all the other ladies present. A strand carelessly rested atop her forehead.
Nothing attractive.
"The substitute Koto player," Byakuya stated plainly while slightly wondering about his grandfather's interest. The tune echoed off those silky strings like all the others; it was nothing special.
"She is playing for food." Ah, so that was it. Usually it was the money. Now he understood her chaotic appearance. She seemed very malnourished. He could not pity her. Well, he did not feel anything, so he just stood as he was commanded by his grandfather.
He would have asked for leave to withdraw were it not that right then, what was meant to be melodious in such a gathering turned into melancholy sosmoothly that he could not catch onto the transition.
People started to turn their heads in her direction in annoyance and soon a few gasps of horror followed. Her pale fingers were bleeding to the tune that was singing deep within her heart and not a wince came from her form. Nobles were not quite used to seeing blood unless they were part of Gotei.
Were her fingers already cut before playing? But her concentration never faltered, nor did the chain of that strange melody. Unique would be the word here. Never had he seen a Koto composer this connected with her piece, to the extent they were getting injured like that. Before he could call it pathetic, he felt he was being washed by her blood as the sad tune from those strings resonated in his ears. He was forced to admit that it was, in fact, a masterpiece by its own merit.
"Impossible," remarked a few of the attendants. No one wanted the blood of a commoner tainting the grounds of the Court of Pure Souls.
The tune dropped with a 'ting' sound. She looked up, apologetic. What saddened eyes! That was the first time he had actually seen pure grief, which radiated from her as more than just an impression; he found his eyes to be lost in the waves of those violet seas. Those sapphire gems could not belong to her, because he wanted them.
In response, surprise and curiosity bled from his pride. It was the first time anyone had ever caused that to him, and a woman no less. Her sadness was not the sort that attracted pity, but a rarity that struck wonder in everybody present, regardless of whether they wanted it to or not. Nothing could escape it oncetangled within its territory.
No, it was just her playing, he argued. Kuchiki Byakuya was not weak, certainly not indebted to anything. Since he was not, there was nothing in existence that was worthwhile.
He was a man free of emotions and attachments. He was without need.
But he had also made sure to not let her slip away. Soon enough he had granted her permission to take the place of musician in his house. After all, the Kuchiki always had the very best. If food was all she required, he could give it quite easily. At first, it was her tunes that drew him, but soon even their owner seemed to have become the centre of his very being. He still had not thanked that nameless soul reaper who had found her playing just outside of Seireitei, in the first district of the Western Rukongai.
It was the first time he learnt that every rule was senseless beside her. And so one dusk, he got up from his honourable seat and sat in seiza before her. She was too lost in her art to notice him until her tunes stopped without her permission.
She had always been quiet unless she was playing. Delicate and mysterious. Grateful.
Too many of his favourite traits.
And sad. He frowned at the thought.
Byakuya removed his fingers from the bundle of strings, sending a haphazard collection of sounds to roll off their surface, and proceeded to take both of her hands into his. Like a gift.
He gazed at the player directly as the cold touch of her hands seeped into his.
"Kuchiki-sama, has my playing displeased you?"
She was worried. He gave a smile in response, causing her eyes to widen.
That smile did not belong there, she thought. Nor did the tender voice that was about to shock her into a trance of reality.
"You grant me the greatest enchantment with your art."
"Thank you. You have been very kind to me." She wondered if he had found someone better and perhaps, that was his way of bidding farewell. Even that could not sit well with her.
He was still enclosing her hands. "But it would do me far greater honour if you would bring your tune to my life from now on, for I find myself to be sinking constantly into their very melody."
The lady remained speechless, only partially out of confusion.
The Kuchiki prince looked at her with slight accusation. "It is not just your music alone, my dear Hisana."
He was in love for the very first time, and anything that was for the first time was not something to let slip by. Just as he could not see what hid within her heart, he could not spot the clear attraction that he had felt towards her since the beginning. Byakuya marveled at his discovery.
Violet eyes widened even more if that was possible at hearing her name on his lips for the very first time. She looked away in embarrassment.
"Will you not bring me to the shore?" Byakuya asked silently, causing her to draw her hands back to herself.
"Our shores are quite different, Kuchiki-sama. Like the sky and the earth. Though they seem to meet at the horizon, they never do." Her eyes looked away from him and rested on the surface of her instrument.
"They never turn away from each other, though, so perhaps one day they may overcome it." He was slightly hurt from her earlier action.
"Impossible," Hisana remarked helplessly.
"Would you rather I did it alone?"
By himself? Was he that confident? The woman shook her head timidly this time. "But how?" Was it even possible for a noble to genuinely love a woman of her status?
She heard a soft sigh escape him. "Perhaps, the first step would be by calling my name and sharing the sadness that you carry."
Hisana looked up at him in astonishment. She certainly had one stubborn man in love with her to deal with.
"I could try, Byakuya-sama," she said, sending a nod in his direction.
To her surprise, that movement ended with her mouth caught against his lips. The gesture caused tears to roll down her cheek.
Affection.
Within the same year he would have married this woman, who perhaps played a more joyous tune in her previous life, if it was not for all the formalities, not to mention convincing the house. Even Hisana seemed reluctant after keeping his simple request; well, he could not blame her. His social standing might have proved to be daunting. In the end, he had wasted his time because, well, he listened to no one who dared to object.
Now that felt like something to be proud of.
Byakuya's eyes blinked open. This day Hisana was now looking at him in a puzzled way, seeing the edges of his mouth to turn slightly upwards. She was his peace and that was more than he could ask for. No, more than it was possible.
"There you go again." Sending a nudge to his shoulder, his wife gave him a look of harmless pity. "You got so carried away with your training at dawn that you must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. I am afraid your men await you, Captain, and therefore I must commit the crime of breaking your sleep." He saw her shifting to gather his uniform from the closet.
"I have committed no worse and more worthwhile crime than you, Hisana," he said in a daze.
"That you have," she replied demurely.
The sight was so comforting. He found himself drifting off to slumber. Eyes shut once more.
"The sun is well up now," Hisana warned him without even looking back.
That got him on his feet straight away. "I will deal with you when I return, Kuchiki Hisana." She was cruel to do this to him.
And that was the last time she ever woke him up. After that it was him by her side. If he knew that was going to be the case, he would not have left her side that day.
She had finally committed a crime in truth by dying, but she had reached out to him in her last words. He had kept her words after paying a small price. From then on, he just let things come to him rather than rushing after it. And so, when Rukia's execution order came, he was waiting on a miracle.
But he could not put aside one undying question.
"Hisana, have I reached you?" No answer came from the other side of her grave.
Clueless, he might have been at that moment but as he gazed up at the clear blue sky of Seireitei, he knew one truth and it was the depth of his love for her which pierced through the sky, breaking all the limits that was around him.
Everything.
Hisana was a Koto player when she was a human, so it doesn't seem too surprising that she can play it!
I hope you enjoyed because I enjoyed writing it a lot! The reason why I don't write this pair is because it has so much depth and sadness to it that no matter what I write, I can only manage to float on its surface. I will try in future. I love this pair so much!
Thank you!