An: I don't have much of an idea of why I am writing this, maybe it's because I just read a reincarnation fic and well, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and I never will. I also don't own this afterlife idea, it's based off of a real religion.
Ten no Sou
Byakuya couldn't explain what he was doing there, lying on the ground in an undignified heap that was unlike his usual proper self, a large bush observing his view on the battle field. Wounds dug in to his body, but medical attention would save him at this point if it arrived in time. He struggled to get up, fighting his body and gravity to get up and perform his duty as a captain. The sixth division needed him in this battle against Aizen and his arrancar.
The captain managed got get his elbow's to press the ground with as much strength as he could muster before they gave out under him, his head spinning and navy blue ink shrouded the peripheral of his vision. 'Bloodloss,' he noted grimly.
He was very close to death.
As a Shinigami, he knew what death was for mortals and ghosts passing on in the realm of the living to the soul society. No one however could explain what happens after death a second time. People assumed that they were reborn in the human world, but that would never explain why those who look for loved ones would never find them in either the human world or back in the soul society.
Byakuya couldn't feel the bleeding from his wounds anymore, his world closing in to become nothing more then the bloody grass beneath him, and the bush branches and blue sky above.
Then he felt something else, something that didn't feel like the dulling pain or the cold numbness that he tried to fight back. A warm almost distracting pressure upon his lips, the source he could barely see, for it was a glittering form that resembled a person, a very familiar person. Byakuya lifted his head slightly before his neck muscles gave up and his head crashed on to the cool green foliage.
His eyes slowly closed.
When they reopened again, the warm pressure took on a more familiar form of lips, lips he hadn't felt since….
His eyes widened as Hisana pulled back, softly smiling.
"You're dying when it's not your time," she said.
"Hisana," Byakuya began before she placed a finger over his mouth. It was then he noticed that she was wearing a yutaka that seemed to glimmer in pure light. Her face was glowing in absolute health, unlike the weak and sickly face she had at the time of her death.
"Don't speak right now. I will tell you this; you are in between two worlds, dying in one, and about to be reborn in another. Like I said, you are not ready to be reborn, nor are you ready to die."
"Worlds?" Byakuya asked.
Hisana smiled softly, "Ten no Sou, also called layers of heaven. The living world is the first world—or layer—followed by the soul society as the second, I am living in the third world out of seven worlds. When we die our souls move on to the next world, needing less and less help to pass on as we die and are reborn in to the next world. There is so much to explain." Hisana sighed gazing in to her widower's eyes. "As we move on, all of our happy positive memories stay with us and become part of our soul. The bad unhappy memories and experiences are left behind. I don't remember being sick, but I do know that I was sick. I do remember however our time together."
Byakuya's head was confused, but he did feel… joy.. at the fact that his wife's joy and happiness did get to stay with her soul.
"There's so much I want to tell you, but there is not much time, you are not ready to join me Byakuya, and don't protest," Hisana began before he could. "I've been very happy when we were together, but now is n—" She stopped for a moment to glance at something beyond his visual range. " You're doing a fine job looking after Rukia."
Rukia… Byakuya remembered the events that unfolded when Aizen's plan to execute Rukia had almost gone into motion, how he, almost sent his wife's sister to her death.
"Hisana," Byakuya began again.
As if reading his thoughts Hisana continued, "I know about the near execution, and I am proud that you made the right choice in the end." She gently stoked his hair. "I don't know what I would do if I lost both of you. Now it's time for you to wake up. I can wait until you are ready, I am in no rush."
Byakuya glanced at his wife, she seemed less sad then she did in life, wiser too, and more content.
"The changes in personality are side effects to moving on from world to world," Hisana explained, once again reading his mind. Gently she bent down and kissed his lips, Byakuya made an effort to return Hisana's kiss before something moved to the side and something else grabbed his hand.
The world became more solid, pain was returning slowly, and his ears were reporting the sounds of voices of Rukia calling for her "Ni-sama" to awaken, Renji's voice saying that he was off to go get a fourth division medic, and even Ichigo's voice telling Byakuya to stop giving Rukia a heart attack and wake up.
He closed his eyes and reopened them to glance at someone who looked a lot like Hisana, but instead of searing a yutaka of glittering white, she wore the black uniform of a shinigami. Dirt smeared her face and clothing and a few minor cuts were on her arms, and possibly her legs.
"Ni-sama!" Rukia exclaimed.
"Renji's got a medic and they're almost here," Ichigo replied holding the bush branches out of the way as Renji and Hanataro came in to view. All three men looked as battered and in Ichigo and Renji's case, weary from the prolonged battle that seemed to lead to a Shinigami victory.
But before anything else happened, Byakuya heard someone say, "Take your time and live a strong happy life, I can wait." Before he turned his attention to being cared for by the fourth division shinigami, his adoptive sister, his vice captain, and a substitute shinigami, he decided to do just as Hisana requested.