Theme: 4. our distance and that person
Acknowledgement: To my dearest little brother Tetsuya Shiraishi.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, wish that I did but they belong to Kubo Tite and his people, me only borrowing them for awhile.
Author Note's: I decided to change the piece, I wasn't satisfied with the other one and hopefully this will be more agreeable for everyone. Also there might be slight spoilers of chapter 179 of the manga due the situation involving Hisana.

Also I know that Retsu and Hisana never met, but this was in partly inspired by "The Untold Stories" by hello heartbreak that had a mention of such a meeting happening in the chapter "Dear Diary" besides as my lil bro put it, well it's fiction.

This is also unbetaed, will replace it with the betaed eventually.

He barely reacted when the door to his room was opened keeping his gaze steady outside the window and didn't turned even when the door was silently closed, he really didn't needed to turn around to see who his visitor was since the spirit pressure was enough clue as to its identity, the presence of that particular person was something that he had gotten rather used now being the most obvious result to the constant visit at the same hour every day.

"How are you feeling today, Kuchiki-taicho?"

It was the same question everyday and his answer had rarely changed with each passing day but still he always answered "…Fine"

"Glad to hear that" The sound of a chair being placed besides his bed echoed in the room followed by a shift of robes arranged to take a proper seat "Would you please turn to look at me?"

Expelling a rather imperceptive sigh Byakuya turned to face Retsu, the gentle healer smiled at him with her that patented quirk of lips filled with such a deep compassion that could touch almost anyone but there wasn't a reaction coming from him, not that she was very surprised since it was quite normal a thing now. Raising her arm she extended it towards his chest giving him a last look she rested two fingers against his chest to check his condition…

"Did you do this with her?" He suddenly asked her

The fourth division captain looked up at him "Why?"

"Because it will explain why you arrived to a diagnostic so quickly" He countered turning look at her with quite a blank expression "So did you?"

A deep silence fell around them, she looked down at her glowing green digits pressed against his chest and with a deep sigh she finally nodded her answer trying to ignore that onyx eyes that were now fixed on her…

•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•

A fresh wisp of spring air mixed with the scent of the flowers that were the first to bloom filled the room instantly freshen it up from the stale scent of illness and closure that had enclosed on it for days now, it had been a scent that had started to make her dizzy if she could be frank but understood why she was being kept in those conditions but that didn't meant that she didn't wanted to have fresh air after being closed up for so long and her sudden visit had allowed it to feel it.

"Has the plum tree bloomed?"

"If you are referring to the one in your garden it's still bare, but I'm sure it won't take long for it to sprout its first flowers of the season"

"I hope so…Unohana-san, I want to see the first bloom like I have done every year"

"Hmm…" The fourth division captain finally took a seat besides the futon of the ill woman she had come to see "I understand your want to see the first bloom, Hisana-sama, but I must admit that I prefer to see the last bloom of every spring"

Hisana tilted her head slightly to the side "How come?"

"It's all due to my mother I suppose…" A small wistful smile appeared on Retsu's face, her mother was always a nice memory "She always said that the last bloom was the most beautiful because it took longer to show all its magnificence to hold on and bloom the last"

"Your mother was a very wise woman" Hisana finally said with a smile

The fourth division captain smiled back before she instructed the smaller woman to move to face her, very slowly and carefully Hisana tried to do just but quite obviously Retsu had been forced to help her, quite apparently her illness was causing her to be more exhausted than usual and Retsu took a mental note of just how much that small exertion had exhausted her and made her breathing a bit more difficult and demanding.

Giving the customary kind and gentle smile that she had reserved for her patients Retsu raised her arm and then pressed her middle and fore finger against Hisana's chest, the ill woman watched with some interest and curiosity when a glowing pale green light enveloped the fingers of the healer, a small sigh of relief escaped Hisana's lips when a warm feeling seemed to envelop her completely relaxing her tired muscles and relieving some pressure from her lungs.

When the healer retrieved her fingers Hisana felt a bit better with the wisps of that strange feeling clinging to her limbs and body yet despite that she knew that she wasn't good just yet, what Retsu had just done was a small healing to alleviate her a bit while she tried to figure what was wrong with her to begin with, she looked into the fourth captain but nothing was revealed in her expression.

"I will help you to lay down, Hisana-sama"

Mutely the woman nodded and allowed her to help her back to the futon; the feeling of the bedding against her back gave Hisana a sudden revelation. The healer didn't needed to say anything, Hisana perfectly understood her situation, she had suspected it since she had became ill but had denied to believe it just yet but in the silence of the healer she found all the confirmation that she needed.

"I will provide you with some medicine, Hisana-sama" The fourth division captain primly rested her hands over her lap "I'll send a member of my division to instruct to whomever that's going to administrate and prepare the medicines correctly"

A small sigh escaped Hisana's lips "Why?"

"Hisana-sama?"

"Why are you going to leave me medicines if you know that I'm going to die regardless?" A small smile appeared on her tired face when she was met with sudden silence "I have been aware that my condition is very bad and there's nothing that you can do"

"If you had approached me the when you started to feel anything was wrong I will have been able to help you properly and you'll be fine" There was no point in lying now yet Retsu's tone of voice wasn't reproachful or anything, the woman must have had her reasons not to speak and she wasn't about to judge them "The medicines are to alleviate some of your discomfort that some of the symptoms might bring upon you"

"…I can help but feel that you wasted your time, Unohana-san"

"I didn't it, even though I'm limited to what I can I was still able to help you even if it was to alleviate your pain and…" For a few seconds she tilted her head to look at the door before returning her gaze to her patient "My presence will relieve some of the worry Kuchiki-taichou feels"

"I don't deserve Byakuya-sama worry"

"Do not say that, Kuchiki-taicho loves you and…"

Before Hisana could help it she shot up in the futon and was crying against the healer chest pouring her heart out, the woman had inspired a sense of security and trust on Hisana and she really needed someone to confide what she felt and had kept bottled for years, the hate she felt for herself for having deserted her little sister, the attempts to search for her, how bad she had felt when she had momentarily forgot her sister when she had enjoyed some instants in that mansion when her sister was probably suffering, the feeling of uselessness of being in bed instead of looking for her yet feeling that this illness was her punishment and her guilt for not loving Byakuya as much as he had loved her.

Retsu could do nothing more than to let her vent herself of all that and try to soothe her as best as she could, when the small woman finally dried of from the tears and her sobbing had stopped, she helped her to somehow clean her face and then to lay back in the futon.

"Unohana-san…" Hisana's voice was a bit dry due to all of her crying and her eyes were fixed in the ceiling "What would you do in my place?"

"…I don't know, part of me will keep things as they are to spare him any pain even if I condemn myself to my own lies but there's other part of me that will tell him the truth, as painful as it might be for him in some part, but I will pass away feeling free without the lies to chain me down…"

"Hmm" Hisana closed her eyes for a little while and opened them when she heard the shift of robes only to see the healer up and walking to the door "Thank you, Unohana-san, you're really a remarkable woman…I'll have wanted to posses some of your qualities"

"You have more than enough qualities, Hisana-sama, you don't need more" Retsu briefly turned to give her a small teasing smile "Besides if you had some of my qualities I don't think Kuchiki-taicho will have fallen in love with you"

Hisana smiled back "I beg to differ; I think that will have appealed him more"

"I will tell Kuchiki-taicho to change you to a more open place where you can have fresh air and probably sight of the plum tree so you can see its first bloom"

"Hai that will be lovely" Hisana could feel herself relaxing all the more at the prospect of being in a fresh and open place looking at the sakura tree before she passed "Arigato Gozaimas, Unohana-san"

A warm friendly smile appeared on Retsu's face before she turned and slid the shoji door open, Hisana watching her retreating back with a small smile of her own before she started to reflect on the healer words, in no way had she told her what to do and the choice was hers and hers alone so she needed to chose the wisest one…

•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•§•¨¤¨•

"…She died two weeks after your visit"

"I know" Mutely she retrieved her digits away once again concluding that he was getting better and she will be able to release him soon "Kanoe-san informed me of it"

"When you told me what was wrong with her, you were very vague with it and though I don't wish to have further knowledge of her illness I do wish to ask you something…" His voice died on his throat for a few moments not really sure if he wanted to know the answer, but he needed an answer "If Hisana had gone to you or at least told me of her symptoms as soon as they started, she will have lived, wouldn't she?"

It will be so easy to lie to him but she couldn't bring herself to do that, as painful as the truth was he needed to know "Yes, but you must understand that most of her focus and worry was put to find Rukia-san not in her own health"

"…Would you have overseen your health, Unohana-san?"

"If I had been in her situation I will, though I tend to oversee my health in a daily basis Kuchiki-sama, I don't have time to worry about myself when I have others to worry about" She answered quite truthfully and it was the true, she rarely concerned more for others than herself "That's why I presume there's a human saying that states that doctor's are the worst patients"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Byakuya's face finding it a bit ironic that the captain of the fourth division would admit that but it was probably the truth, the last few days she had seen her working nonstop treating and keeping a check on the wounded that the deflection of the three captains and the ryoka invasion to prevent his sister execution had left behind.

Even now when he looked at her it became obvious to him that she was tired, her skin was to pale and her eyes lacked a certain glow that was always present on them.

"Sumimasen, Kuchiki-sama" She finally broke his observation on her, not that she had really noticed

He cocked a perfectly black eyebrow "Why are you apologizing?"

"For not being able to properly help Hisana-sama, for making you suffer maybe if I had tried or researched further I might have been able to help her instead of only alleviating her discomfort, maybe I…"

"…You did more than enough for her, she told me that she knew since she was bedridden that she was going to die…and you made her last days as painless as they could be…" He took a deep breath and finally turned to look at her "…I wouldn't have been able to see her in the pain her illness would have brought upon her if it hadn't been for the medicines you gave her"

A blank and guarded expression appeared on her face "It was also kind of my fault that Hisana-sama told you that she didn't reciprocated your feelings"

"What?" His tone was blank but his shoulders suddenly tensed

"…She told me everything, all the feelings that she had carefully locked within herself for so many years, after she calmed down she told me what I will do in her position and I told her…" With a slight air of guilt she lowered her face "I told her that part of me would leave things as it was and that the other will tell you the truth as painful as it could be for you"

He was quiet for a few minutes trying to process what she had just told him, finally he took a deep breath "…That wasn't your fault either, Hisana made her own decision to reveal the truth and you had nothing to do with it"

Nothing was said after that because merely for the time being there was nothing more to say, Hisana was still a very tender topic but at least some things had been cleared, Retsu leaned against the chair and looked out of the window now.

"You know in every spring I tend to look at the first and last blooms" She kept her eyes fixedly outside not really wanting to look at him "Those are the most beautiful blooms each spring"

He didn't said anything to that not really knowing what to think of that new piece of information that he had just been provided therefore he decided to settle for staying quiet and quite apparently she hadn't expected him to say something anyway and for a strange reason while he felt a very odd urge to kiss her, he really didn't understood why but he did but he didn't acted up it.

The fourth division captain stayed with him basking on a deep silence till Kimiko appeared for her also daily visits for him, politely she excused herself and left them alone to speak freely; Kimiko occupied the vacant seat to start to talk about everything like she always did.

There I feel a bit more satisfied with this piece, feel that it's a lot more decent that my first one that pretty much sucked, in this one I felt more connected and more content, granted it might not be that amazing but it is a great improvement for the last one, which is why I wanted because the last one was bad very bad. I think I accomplished to deliver a more acceptable response to the theme since it is implied and not boldly mentioned in a sentence which I think gives a better feel to the piece and it was how I interpreted the theme in the idea my bro gave me.

Also I think that I was more fair to Hisana on this piece, something that I didn't feel in the other one which bothered me a lot but I think this turned out quite good with how I think Hisana might have felt or behaved in her last days.