Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Tite Kubo. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.
Let Every Man Be True
A/N: For Anithene; post-Winter War; pre-Fullbring; mild allusions to Aizen; "Let every man be true, and every god a liar." - Samuel Butler
"I never wanted you to leave."
Just how is she to respond to this, words the likes of which she's never heard from a man so stoic as he? Not once had she meant to leave, to whisk Kisuke away from the punishment that ought to have been served elsewhere. It had been a spur of the moment, that of pure impulse with the wish that no harm would come to that foolish man.
Yet, they had all taken it so hard. Her subordinates, Soifon, and now Byakuya, too.
But what use is there in rehashing the past? Had she known that he hadn't wanted her to leave, what would she have done? Would she have been able to sacrifice Kisuke and Tessai, to allow them to be banished and imprisioned for a crime that they did not commit?
"Man or god?"
He furrows his brow, watching her from across the table. "What?"
"Are you a man, Byakuya, or are you a god?"
Should he state that he is the first, it will assuage her fears that his words are a lie. She will accept them. The second will say that he is far too confident in himself, in the strength he has reached over the past century. And it will send her away.
"Man may dream of perfection, of a godly state, but it is unattainable within this life. Any man who would call himself a god is not worthy of the rewards that await him." He reaches across the table, taking her hand. "I have only ever been, and can only ever be, a man, Yoruichi."
With eyes like that, and a truth to match, she will remain.