disclaimer: this goes for all the chapters, including chapter 1; I don't own bleach

It's set after the TYBW arc, assuming that nobody except Ywach dies and Ishida comes to his senses.

arigato: thankyou

mina: everyone

shunpo: flash step (moving very, very fast)

nakama: friend/comrade

shinigami: soul reapers.

reaitsu: spiritual pressure.

taichou: captain.

rokubantai-taichou: 6th squad captain.

taichou haori: a white coat worn by all captains showing their division no. on their back and conveying their rank, like the lieutenant's badge.


"W-what?" stammered Rukia, rejecting with all her might what she had just heard.

"You have the same illness as your sister, Kuchiki-San. But it has progressed so much you barely have a week left. I'm sorry Kuchiki-San." explained Isane Kotetsu, sorrow filled in her face.

She said something else but I couldn't hear, all my senses were paralyzed. Total despair hit me like a thousand stabbing knives. I had broken my promise, I couldn't protect her. My little sister, my precious sister was going to die. Just like Hisana.

We walked back in silence. Out of all the grave perils she had faced with that boy I never would have imagined that the one to take her down would be a measly virus.

'Am I really that incompetent? Not able to defend her from even something like that?' I wondered to myself. Who would have thought that Rokubantai-taichou, Kuchiki Byakuya would be deterred from something like a non-existent being. That was the day I realized I was really, truly powerless.

When we reached back, I instructed the servants to give her anything she was in want of.

"You should rest, Rukia. I will convey about your situation to Ukitake. Don't worry, Kotetsu and Kotsubaki will handle your squad as usual." I said to Rukia, the mask of indifference set on my face. I am a noble, after all. I can't let the death of someone get the better of me. Even if that someone is my sister.

After that, I immersed myself in work. I met my targets two weeks early, became a victim of insomnia, finished reports well before time and trained my squad members. Outwardly, I was the same Kuchiki Byakuya, the noble everyone expected to see. Inside, I was screaming.

It was that day, when Renji came up to me asked permission to go to the real world. I should have known, I couldn't fool everybody.

The next day, I reported in early. I hadn't actually slept, the news still kept me awake. I was assembling some papers at my mahogany desk when I felt an unusually heavy reiatsu. It was unmistakable, it was him.

The door slid open, harshly. I saw a small tuft of bright orange hair, before it was completely in my face.

"You bastard! What are you doing here?! Don't you have to take care of Rukia?" Kurosaki shouted at me as he grabbed my collar.

"Careful, Kurosaki Ichigo. That is pure silk." I warned him, my voice dead.

"Damn that to hell! I don't care about that. What I care about is Rukia! Why aren't you with her? Don't you get it?" Kurosaki screamed, his palm clenched into a fist, his expression raged and his eyes mad.

"You're never going to see her again. She'll be gone out of your life, forever. Rukia, your sister, is going to die. Rukia, the one you swore to protect. Rukia, the one you were willing to break the laws for. Rukia!" he cried, his voice considerably softer as he slid his gaze downwards to the floor.

But his words mellowed me. They turned me soft. Something snapped inside me. I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I know, I know I'm never going to see her again. I know she'll be gone out of my life forever. I know she's going to die. But I am not that strong. I can't watch her like this. I can't watch her wither away, dying like Hisana. Once was bad enough, but I don't have the strength to face it again. I'll crumble down, I'll be shattered into pieces." I explained in a brittle voice.

"Do you know how proud I feel when I see her lieutenant badge on her arm? Do you know how proud I feel when I see her Bankai? But that's not it." I continued, almost overwhelmed now, "I wanted to see a taichou's haori on her, I wanted to see her as the next head of the Kuchiki clan, I wanted to see her getting married -preferable not to you- but most of all, I wanted to see her happy! Not dissatisfied, not defeated, not devastated, not ... dying." I was tearful now, my eyes glistening with the ghosts of my past. Without another word, I turned around and walked out of the room, without anymore revelations of my emotions.

I ran to Inuzuri, 78th district of Rukongai, where Hisana and Rukia were born, and sat myself atop a cliff. Drowned in my thoughts, I didn't even notice the presence of somebody who sat beside me.

"You found my favourite place, taichou. Rukia, I and our friends used to come up here and look at the horizon. The different colours the sun throws off when it finally goes to sleep, how the whole sky is on fire with its orange hue, how the wind feels on our face, how the trees seem to dance. It's pretty special to us. After all, It's the place where we decided to become shinigami." Renji said, his eyes far away, staring into the horizon.

"I know that this is hard for you, but think about Rukia. Her own brother didn't even come to support her. It seems to her as if her own brother doesn't care about her." Renji spoke, his tone strong and bold yet soft. "She has a lot of people around her; Ichigo, me, Inoue, Ishida, Chado, everyone from her squad, her fellow vice captains, even some of her friends from the real world have come too. It's like she has everyone, everyone but her own Nii-sama. It's hard for you, that is right, but are you really willing to let her go broken-hearted? She needs you, taichou. This is a request from me. For one day, Instead of being the Rokubantai-taichou, the nobleman Kuchiki Byakuya, be her Nii-sama. Be with her till the end."

Renji's words shone in my heart. It was like I had seen a new light. I was struck by the depth of them. They awoke the dormant part of me, the loving part, the caring part, the part that couldn't bear if anything happened to my pride.

I lost no time to shunpo the way home, my talk with Renji gave me an epiphany, a long overdue epiphany.

As I reached the manor, numerous reiatsus struck me at once. Some heavy, some light and some almost non-existent. One of the latter ones, I realized, was Rukia's. I made my way to the room with a bustling noise. All eyes darted towards me when I entered, but after a split-second they were back to the cynosure i.e. Rukia. As my eyes glided over to Rukia's shrivelled body, my eyes met hers. Her violet orbs unveiled countless emotions at once: Melancholy, surprise, patience and finally...happiness.

I walked over to her, taking in her form. It was clear she had only hours left. Her eyes had dark bags underneath them and every bone was visible through her skin which had grown thin. Her hair had become thinner and her body seemed to have shrunk in size. Still the air around her was filled with dignity. That was the thing I liked the most about her, whatever she did, she did with dignity.

I took her free hand in mine, the other clasped tightly in the hands of Kurosaki Ichigo. Several eyebrows rose in response but none said anything.

The entire evening I sat beside her like this. Everyone talked about anything they could find, even the most random and nonsensical topics were welcomed. They talked about her adventures in the real world, about chappy the rabbit; they teased her continuosly about her and Ichigo, how she used to vehemently deny being in a relationship with him. It all made Rukia laugh and everyone laughed along with her. Even I smiled when I witnessed her punching Kurosaki and chuckled when I was told that it was not an uncommon occurrence. Soon the dark colour of the sky deepened, and with it, Rukia's breathing. It was apparent to anyone that those were her final breaths.

She managed to utter a few final words. "Arigato, mina-san, for supporting me and being with me right till the end. You all made this a little easier. Specially you, Inoue, who cried for me. You, Chado, who tried to save me even if you barely knew me. You, Ishida, who made all those pretty dresses and tried to help me, a shinigami. You, Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro, who accepted me and befriended me as if I were one of you. You, Isshin oji-sama, who took me in as your third daughter. You, Renji, who played with me when we were young and stuck with me till the end, my best friend. You, Ichigo, who always protected me, who gambled his own life to save mine, one who bickered with me endlessly, my precious nakama. And you, Nii-sama, who welcomed me into his home. These past few years have been the best of my life and being your sister was the greatest honor I have ever felt. Thank you, Nii-sama, for I can leave my heart here."

With that, my pride closed her eyes, never to open them again.


How was it? okay, I know a few lines - a lot of them- were derivative, but go easy on me. I am young and since it's my second fic, inexperienced and not very creative. Please review, even criticisms will be accepted!

Also I am thinking of doing Ichigo's pov next but the events won't be similar. Tell me if you want an Ichigo pov of this one too.

Please review