Kuchiki Byakuya is an enigma. Many people know of him, many people speak of him, but few people know him, and even fewer understand him. He is a presence widely wondered about, but to this date, no one- not even the famed Matsumoto Rangiku, nor the pink menace of the 11th division, Kusajishi Yachiru- has dared to pry into his personal life.
Outwardly, there is no other way to describe him but beautiful. It is like the beauty of a marble statue. Cold, pristine, carved into place. His mask and visage are ever unchanging. There was once a time when he was young, volatile and free; it was a time before he was suffocated by loss and duty and an overbearing sense of loneliness. His temper fueled by his passion, his now steel grey eyes were molten silver-blue. Those who remember those eyes wish they had remained so.
Byakuya is elegant, and beautiful. Feminine, but masculine. One could even call him divine in beauty. There are a great many people who sigh at the mention of his name, swoon at even a glance of him. He is like ice, cold, but burning. Ice-fire. His passion may be quenched by the burdens on his shoulders, but there is no questioning the frosted scorch of his glare. It makes a number of people shudder in both fear and pleasure. But it is when his eyes soften slightly, and his lips curve just slightly upward into a ghost of a smile when he is most beautiful. At rare moments like these, there are many who would do anything to ensure that smile stays on that face.
Rukia is definitely one of them. Renji as well. Yachiru, for all her annoyances, adores her Byakushi, and wishes he'd smile more often. Even Kenpachi, as a result, for his want to keep Yachiru happy. If that means making the "princess" smile more often, so be it. The list goes on. The point being, many people love Byakuya, for all of his faults and subtly cold nuances. But they do not understand him.
Currently, there are only five people aside from the person in question who understand him. The list is as follows: The first is his grandfather, Kuchiki Ginrei. The next is Ukitake Juushiro. The third, Head-Captain Yamamoto. The fourth, Unohana Retsu. The last, surprisingly, happens to be Aizen Sousuke.
Shihouin Yoruichi fancies herself one of the people on this list. Unfortunately, while leading him on merry chases for his hair ties, she never did manage to get rid of his distrust and dislike of her. When she betrayed the Seireitei and left with Urahara Kisuke, she unintentionally placed a rift between them. This rift will never be closed. Bridged, possibly, but never closed.
Rukia, for all her adoration of her older brother, her precious "nii-sama", doesn't know much about his past. She knows who he is now, honor-bound, mourning soundlessly. She knows his habit of sitting with tea in the garden then walking in it barefoot, his daily ritual of speaking to Hisana in her shrine about varying topics. She knows that even while he is quietly grieving, he still helps guide her the best he can. He shows his love as best he can. For her, that is enough. But for all the love she gives him, and he gives her, she is far from comprehending her brother.
Hisana, in her own right, was his rebellion. They had a love that was eternal, a softly smoldering passion that was birthed from longing for freedom, change, and friendship. They were different, different enough to fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces. They were compatible, and with time, she could have been the one to know him best. But time takes away many things. Hisana was one. Though he had loved her dearly, she died with only a glimpse into the heart of the man that she loved.
Renji doesn't give himself enough credit, because he understands more than most do. Aside from those who completely understand him, he is probably the person that understands the current Byakuya the best. After all, as Vice-Captain of the Sixth Division and directly under Byakuya, he probably spends the most amount of time with him, on average. But that's not to say he understands completely. He doesn't know of the person that he used to be. He hated Byakuya, idolized him, and set him as his goal, but he never thought to look into his history and see what had made him into the person that he was. And so he never learned of the young boy with a hair-trigger temper and easy smile, desperate to prove himself to his grandfather.
All of these people, and many, many more have some sort of a grasp on the basics of what Byakuya is. But he is complex. Though he seems an immovable, constant being, under the surface, he is volatile, changing, unpredictable. Throughout all the years of duty being piled onto his shoulders, that is one thing that will never change.