Chapter Four

'Where? Where are you!' Byakuya's mind screamed. His feet crunched through the thick snow that lay on the empty street. His heart beat fast, the small clouds that formed from his breath well noticeable. For the past few weeks, Hisana seemed to have disappeared- never leaving any sign that she would be gone. The Elders of the Kuchiki's have noticed Byakuya leaving the mansion every once in awhile, but never knew where or why. They've been keeping him in the household as much as possible by scheduling more appointments. Them thinking in fear that Byakuya might be meeting someone that wouldn't benefit the rank of the family. Ever since the lord and lady's funeral, the Elders have grown suspicious of him.

However, keeping Byakuya's disappearances secret from other noble families was a necessity to prevent rumors to spark about him being with another girl. The Kuchiki's would want to keep that out of their reputation. Not only that, but to frustrate Byakuya even more, the council arranged a marriage meeting with the daughter of the Kamenashi's.

What worried Byakuya the most was keeping their relationship and Hisana's identity safe in case the Elders find out and decide to take any measure to erase her. But Hisana's missing presence disturbed him to no end.

The sun was high in the cool sky, but drew closer to the earth as Byakuya continued to search. This time he wore ordinary, bland clothes in disguise himself, enabling him to go ask other people of Rukongai. He saved the first district for last, remembering the time when they first sat by the river bank, now probably frozen. Byakuya hoped to find her sitting there, but when he arrived there was no one. What remained was the once blooming cherry tree now bare and grey. He walked along the river, thinking that he may have ended up at the wrong tree, but still no being was present. The winter chill brushed past him, his determination diminishing.

Then, a slight movement to his right brought his attention out to the distance, where Byakuya could hear the crunch of feet walking on snow. Across the frosty water was Hisana, limped over and clutching her abdomen as she smiled at him. Relief fell over Byakuya. He didn't see the strewn hair on her head, the bruised skin, the shaking body, and the tiny, ruby droplets falling near her feet. He didn't see any of it, until he saw Hisana's eyes roll to the back of her head and fell face first into the snow.

It was like slow motion, the devastating action dawdling in time for all to see. In actuality, it only took a second, but it would continue to pound in Byakuya's mind for the rest of his life. His lungs tried to take some air, but were clogged by the instantaneous jolt that sprang throughout his limbs. A silent whisper.

"Hisana?" Her name hissed with air. "Hisana?" Louder.

Instinct took over as Byakuya dashed his way across the river to where Hisana had fallen. His feet cracked through parts of the incomplete frozen water, but recovered fast enough not to fall in.

Byakuya reached her and slowly turned the chilling body face up. His pupils shook with despair when he saw the deep gash spewing blood from her stomach. Hisana breathed heavily in obvious pain. Turning her head to the side, she violently hagged, splattering the snow's whiteness red. Her eyes shot open, gasping when the wound opened wider and the bleeding was immense. Byakuya ripped open her kimono, which exposed the atrocious split in her center. He took the thin yukata that hung over his shoulders in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but the cloth only soaked the continuous flow that dyed the crystals beneath her. Still, Byakuya kept saturating the cloth till it dripped and his hands stained. In aggravation, he tossed it aside and tore a sleeve from his thick kimono, hoping it wouldn't fail.

"Bya..kuya…" Hisana used whatever strength to call out his name. She weakly laid her hand on his forearm. The young man frantically looked at her scratched and torn face, but her lips still managed to tug at its corners to form a soft smile. Her smile, it was like heaven to Byakuya whenever he saw it. It calmed him and made him want to be with her.

"I…"

Hisana was interrupted with another fit of coughing and this time it took longer for her to recover. Snapping out of his trace, Byakuya didn't hesitate to tear another sleeve off, knocking off Hisana's hand when doing so.

"No!" She pushed Byakuya's hands away from her, he was exasperated. Silence halted everything. "It's alright. You don't have to save me. You don't have to sacrifice your clothes for me. I'm not worth it, so just stop. It's alright to just leave me here and just…forget."

Tears were on the brink of both pairs of eyes.

"I knew. I knew from the beginning that someday, in some form, I would leave you, that I would send you to live in a lonely world. I could have run away that day. After you saved me, I could have just took off and never see you again. That way, your life would be so much freer, never worrying about me. But I was selfish. I thought that if I could befriend you, then I could live that much longer and have that much more time to find her. In the end, I failed. You and Nami." Hisana took a hazed breath; the tears broke at the corner of her eyes. "And I am so sorry for everything."

No wind blew. No water ran. No animal or person made any sound. The world felt distant to Byakuya. He picked up her limp hand, cold as ice, and felt the shallow heart rate on her wrist.

"Hisana, please don't go. Don't leave me alone!" Byakuya's teeth bit and Hisana's hold on his weakened. "I forgive you, so please. No matter what you did, I still love you."

"I see you need some help there." Byakuya twisted his head up to see a tall figure approach to Hisana's side. "Nice to meet you! The name's Urahara Kisuke."