Characters: Byakuya, Hisana
Summary: Byakuya has questions.
Pairings: Byakuya x Hisana
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for Soul Society arc
Timeline: Can be any time, past fifty years before the story starts.
Author's Note: Feedback would be appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

I ask questions of her, constantly. I can now, now that she no longer seems so frail and delicate. She no longer looks like brittle glass, and I don't have to worry about breaking her anymore.

"Why did you wait so long to tell me you had a sister?" I was never upset with her for this; but it did surprise me, and I felt that, after everything, I deserved an answer. If she is going to entrust this task to me, than Hisana must tell me why.

Violet eyes fall on me, wide open and strangely opaque, and I bite back a sigh, having seen this expression over and over again when Hisana was taken aback or surprised by something happening around her. I loved her so much, but I always felt pain when she chose not to be completely honest with me.

"I was ashamed." Hisana can speak of it now without pain or tears; the time for tears has long since passed, and she can adopt a tone that sounds stunned that I even have to ask. "I abandoned her in Inuzuri; do you think that was something I was eager to own up to?"

"Yet you kept it a secret," I point out. My voice is flat; I can't help it. It all seems a little incredible, but I can't pretend to have much perspective on what compelled her to make this decision; I never had to live in abject poverty.

Her pale face falls into sadness, and I feel a twinge inside of me, regretting causing her pain. "And not a day went by when I didn't think of her, and regret what I had done." Hisana's voice is now small and quavering. The urge to reach out and just hold her is strong and pervasive, but there is more to be said.

"Hisana…" I lick my lips; why is this so hard to say? Why do I hesitate at this question. "Why didn't you tell me you were so sick?" My composure slips; my voice cracks, horrifyingly. "Why did I have to find out through the physician?"

For a moment, she does not seem to know what to say, but then, her sweet face softens, lacing her fingers together. "For the same reason you never told me what your relatives always told you about me, how they tried to persuade you to renounce me after my second miscarriage." Somehow, she seems stronger now than she has ever been before. "I didn't want to hurt you."

Hisana smiles slightly, nervously, and it doesn't seem a real smile so much as a mask. I close my eyes tight. I was never enough to make her smile the way others do, when they are happy and caught in joy.

"Are there any other questions, Byakuya-sama?"

Slowly, I nod. "Just one." I narrow my eyes, and stare down at her, intently, searching her face for anything to recognize, to latch on to, to cling on to like a memory. I draw in a deep breath. "So long ago…but I remember it vividly.

"Why, when I asked you, so soon after our wedding, if you were happy, didn't you answer me?"

The change that comes over Hisana is at once palpable. Deep, ancient melancholy that is to me all too familiar. Painfully characteristic of Hisana, through all of her days.

"Byakuya-sama…" Her voice is sad and gentle, a knowing gleam entering her eyes. "You know I can't answer that."

She reaches out to touch my cheek, but when I finally lose my control and reach for her, to touch her one more time, feel reality under my fingertips, there is nothing.

Just as there has always been nothing there.

This is how it will be, from now on.

There are those who say it is of no use to seek answers from the dead.

I beg to differ.