Disclaimer: Byakuya, Hisana and all other characters from Bleach belong to "Tite" Kubo and the other various entities involved with the production of the manga and anime. I do not profit from this piece, nor is any copyright infringement intended by it.
"He knows."
Byakuya felt the waifish girl stiffen in his arms as the words left his mouth. It was a thing they both feared; his grandfather, Ginrei, former head of the Kuchiki clan and a man who he had idolized from childhood, had finally discovered the secret outings he had been making to see her.
Their relationship was forbidden. Someone of his stature was expected to court women who also came from families of power and means, not some ragged street urchin whom he quite literally stumbled upon in the midst of a battle in Rukongai. The four noble clans even had rules specifically stating that fact. Devoted though he was to the concept of law equating order, he found himself unable to tear himself away; doomed from the moment his eyes met her hypnotizing violet ones. Those eyes lingered in his every thought, pulling him back to her that night, and nearly every other night since.
He had been seeing her for months now, silently slipping out of his manor in the dead of the night and into Inuzuri, one of the poorest and most wretched districts in the entire Soul Society. His escapades coming to light would bring great shame upon his family; upon himself. He could be stripped his title as head of the Kuchiki clan. He could be banished from his own clan, losing the only family and home he had ever known. Hell, with the clout his family possessed, he could even lose his position as a lieutenant in the Thirteen Court Guard Squad. She could truly cost him everything.
Was she worth it?
"Byakuya-sama . . ." Hisana whispered, pulling him from his thoughts. She shifted, propping herself up on one elbow as she faced him, those eyes glistening like amethysts as slivers of moonlight streamed in through the tears in the tattered curtains over the window, piercing him to his core with a single melancholy look. "If you need to go, I will understand."
"It isn't as simple as that," Byakuya said as he raised his hand to run his fingers through her tousled hair, his grandfather's stern words of warning echoing in the back of his mind. "When I leave tonight, I cannot return."
"I know." Hisana turned her head and placed a soft kiss on his wrist, closing her eyes as she gently nuzzled her cheek against his palm. "But I can't ask you to give up your entire life for someone like me. It isn't fair to you."
"And it is somehow fair for you?"
"I lost the right to complain about my fate a long time ago." Her eyes squeezed shut as she fought against the tears that threatened to fall. Without asking, he knew where her thoughts were—years before they met, in an alley, running away from a tiny baby girl wrapped in a blanket. The memory of that one mistake, made in an act of desperation, tormented her, driving her to now search relentlessly for the sister she abandoned so long ago; driving her to think that she was unworthy of anything remotely reminiscent of happiness.
She deserved better than this.
"Come with me."
Her eyes widened in shock. "What?"
"Come with me, Hisana," he said, softly grasping her chin to turn her face back to his. "Come with me and be my wife. Be the mother of my children. Be the woman I see every night when I go to sleep and every morning when I wake."
"No, Byakuya-sama, you can't do this," she said, furiously shaking her head. "What about the rules of your clan? You could be expelled! Where would you go? What would you do?"
"I don't know. But even if they stripped me of everything I own, I would still have you. And that is all I require in this world." Byakuya rolled to his right, gently pinning her small form beneath him; his long black hair falling around them like an ebony curtain. Leaning down, he claimed her lips in a soft, lingering kiss. "Just you. I cannot go back to living any other way."
"Byakuya-sama . . .," Hisana whispered, her eyes growing glossy as tears began to form. So much uncertainty clouded her face. It was painful to witness, knowing that she might deny him all in the name of trying to save him.
Didn't she know he would be lost without her?
"Please, Hisana," his own voice low and raspy, "just say yes. Do not make me return to that empty bed."
"O . . . okay," the girl stammered nervously, slowly nodding her head in agreement. "I will. I'll come with you, Byakuya-sama." She paused for a moment, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, a serious and determined look had replaced the uncertainty. "On one condition."
"Anything."
"You must allow me to continue to search for Rukia. I have done her such a great injustice by abandoning her. I must at least try to make amends for that."
Byakuya brushed a stray wisp of dark hair from her eyes. "I could never keep you from something that is so important to you. You need not ask permission for such things."
"Thank you." Slender arms wrapped around him, pulling him even closer to her.
"No, Hisana," Byakuya replied, shaking his head as a rare soft smile graced his visage. "Thank you . . . for staying with me."
He kissed her again, deeply, more urgently; his tongue slipping between her lips to taste the sweetness of her mouth. He reveled in the warmth of her embrace and the feel of her smooth skin against his as her legs wrapped around his waist; the sensations sending his blood racing through his veins like fire.
Yes, he could hold her like this forever.
A/N: Thanks for reading!