Life can take some interesting turns Kuchiki Byakuya though. He never would have imagined that life would bring him here. And all because he had fallen in love with a woman from Inuzuri, the 78th district of the Rukongai and married her instead of a noble woman from the Seireitei.

When he first married Hisana, Byakuya couldn't remember being happier. Here was a beautiful, kind woman who loved him just as much as he loved her. They would walk in the Kuchiki gardens from time to time. Her favorite time was spring when the cherry trees were in bloom. She said it almost felt like being surrounded by his beautiful zanpakuto.

For a time, life was perfect.

But it lasted only so long. Because of her time in the Rukongai, Hisana had a fragile health and soon succumbed to a grave illness. Then Byakuya learned that love not only brought deep happiness, but also painful sadness. The last few days of Hisana's life were the worst of his.

When Hisana told him about her younger sister, he had mixed feelings about her. In some ways he'd hoped she would be just like her sister, but Byakuya thought that might be too painful to bear. But then if Rukia was nothing like Hisana, then to him it would be a disgrace upon her memory.

Then, when he found Rukia, Byakuya was even more conflicted. He had both of his wishes. Rukia was very like Hisana, and at the same time wasn't. But did it have to be the way it turned out? Rukia looked so much like Hisana that it was rather painful to see her. And at times when he wasn't expecting it, Rukia would appear around a corner and he thought she was Hisana.

And even though Rukia had the same kindness as her sister, life in the Inuzuri district had also hardened her as it hadn't Hisana. Rukia had learned to hide that kindness behind a tough exterior.

But Byakuya would have rathered it the other way around. That Rukia had a more similar personality to Hisana, and looked less like her. Then the pain might have been easier to bear.

He had also promised Hisana that he'd protect her sister, and at first that wasn't too hard. If he didn't let her advance too far into the Gotei 13, then there wouldn't be anything she couldn't handle easily without being in danger of her life. Byakuya could tell that Rukia had immense potential strength. But despite that strength, if she advanced enough Rukia would eventually come across an enemy that would be too much for her. He couldn't let that happen, he had promised Hisana.

But despite his precautions, Rukia still came across a hollow she couldn't defeat, and lost her powers, to a human boy. And not just any human boy, but one that was reckless, stupid, and disrespectful. Qualities that he despised.

Then once again Byakuya was conflicted. Rukia was sentenced to die and there wasn't much he could do about it. He had made a promise to his parents and himself that after he had adopted Rukia into the Kuchiki family that he would obey all the rules from then on. But he had also promised his wife that he would protect her sister. And now the two promises were in contrast with each other. He hadn't known what to do.

But then he had been shown the ways, by two mere boys. One of whom was his fukutaichou, and the other was the human boy that had taken Rukia's power, thus putting her and him in that predicament in the first place. It was rather humiliating to be taught such a lesson by two who were so much younger than he was. But he tried to take it in good stride and even admitted his failings to Rukia.

Then, things changed for the better. Rukia still eventually went into great danger herself when she went to Hueco Mundo, but she was with both Abarai Renji, and Kurosaki Ichigo. Both of which were strong. He may not like Kurosaki much, but he would admit his strength. The boy had defeated him after all, even though Byakuya had countless more experience than Kurosaki. In both battle and in bankai.

Not only that, experience had taught him that the best way to protect Rukia was to teach her to protect herself. So, when Taichou Ukitake made Rukia his fukutaichou, he gave Rukia his blessing.

Then when Rukia cut her hair, he was secretly relieved. Even though her face was still a lot like Hisana's, the different hair style made it easier to bare. He had never said anything about it to Rukia, it wasn't her fault that she looked like her sister after all. But Rukia may have thought of it herself, or maybe just wanted a different look. Either way suited him.

Then the current trouble with the Wandenreich started, and once again they had to call upon the human boy turned shinigami for help. Even the captain commander wasn't able to stand up to them, and Byakuya himself was on the brink of death after his battle with Äs Nödt. If it wasn't for Shutara Senjumaru of the Zero Division, he wouldn't be alive.

He here he was, fighting along with his adoptive sister, or sister-in-law (whichever way you wanted to look at it) when just a year ago, he wouldn't have even let her out of the house to fight the enemies.

"You became strong. Rukia."

For the reaction upon Rukia's face when he said that, he would be willing to do a lot more. In the past, he had kept Rukia at a distance on purpose. But within the past year he had come to care just as deeply for Rukia as he had Hisana, if in a different way. Rukia was his sister, as dear to him as if she had been his blood sister, and couldn't be more proud of her.

"It was a splendid bankai."

And it was, the bankai handled by his sister was wonderful to behold. But as with every bankai, it was dangerous. He'll have to work with Rukia to help her with her control.

And now, Byakuya watched as something with a very familiar reiatsu fell from the sky. He knew that even though they may take heavy losses that the shinigami would triumph.

And all because he had married a commoner with a little sister that had brought the boy into their lives.

A/N: Well that was rather fun. This was a prize for someone on DeviantArt for winning first place in a contest. SThey wanted an insight upon Kuchiki Byakuya's thought process, perhaps even some pretty imagery with cherry blossoms and this is the result

I had been thinking for a while that (besides Aizen's part of the story) all of Bleach wouldn't have happened if Byakuya hadn't married Hisana. It was because of Hisana that Byakuya brought Rukia to the seireitei and thus brought Ichigo in to disrupt their lives (lol).

So in my opinion this is kinda a mix between a fanfic and a drabble. It's too long to be a real drabble, but it doesn't really have a story line like a fanfic should have