AN

Sorry for the delay!! Ditto with "Arcana" for all you who read both. Mid-terms were this week. So this chapter goes out to all those who joined me in suffering.

AN

"Three days?" Ichigo looked at Hisana and Senna, praying that what they were saying was a joke, "three days?"

"I wish it was different," Hisana said softly, "but that's the truth. We were just informed."

"How?" Rukia asked, "no letters came," she looked at them.

"Its a way that members of the Guard communicate," Senna said, "its kinda like a voice in your ear--or in our ears. Its for quick messages, thats all. Its an easy way to communicate since its not like the Guards have physical form."

Hisana was looking at the ground like she wanted it to swallow her up. WIthout saying another word she got to her feet when the conversation swelled up and slipped out of the room. The cool air of the night hit her face as she stepped onto the roof of the building. She breathed out, letting the cool air slip through her hair as she tried to calm her racing heart.

The past few days had been like a wonderful dream. Even when they were running for their lives, it was wonderful. She felt, for the first tie in fifty years, alive again. Alive and completely forgetting that this would all come to and end soon. She was still a member of the Guard, and if history was any indication even if she found a way to run they would simply take her physical form again and recall her. It may have been selfish but Hisana never wanted to feel that again. Dying was a horrible feeling, especially the powerlessness of it all. She couldn't do anything except grow weaker and weaker, slip away and leave everything she loved behind. And now it seemed that history was doomed to repeat itself.

"Hisana?"

Hisana turned to see Rukia standing behind her, worry written on the lines of her face. Hisana made no move to appear happy, turning her gaze back to the city as Rukia stepped forward and approached her, standing next to Hisana as the older woman turned to face her.

"What is it?" Rukia asked softy.

"I need you to do something for me," Hisana said, "and even though I have no right to ask you for anything, I hope you'll agree to it."

"What is it?" Rukia asked, fear spreading through her.

"I'm going to die again," Hisana spoke turning to face Rukia, "that's how we go back to the Royal Dimension, our bodies degrade and we die. I was forced to do it slowly. It was--" she closed her eyes, "it was hard for me and for Byakuya. I don't know what it will be like a second time--" she looked at Rukia, "I need you to keep him away."

"What?" Rukia gasped in horror.

"I don't want him watching me die a second time," Hisana said firmly, "I need you to promise me you'll keep him from seeing that. I don't want you seeing it either. I'l get away but you have to stay away when I go."

"I'm not going to leave you to just--to die!" Rukia cried.

"You have too," Hisana said firmly, "I won't have either of you going through more pain because of my decisions."

"But--" Rukia began to protest.

It was horrible to think that this woman who had just come into her life was going to leave again. Three days? Three days was all the time she had to catch a glimpse of the family she would have had? It was so unfair. Her own heart hurt but far worse was the thought of what it meant for her brother. He had already watched his wife fade away once, what would watching her die a second time do to him? Nothing good, that much Rukia was certain of. And Hisana--she was beginning to see that the fifty years her brother and his wife spent apart were not happy ones for either of them. Hisana was all alone, locked somewhere, imprisoned for choosing love over duty. Byakuya was trapped in duty and tortured by the knowledge that his wife was somewhere he could not reach--and he was stuck with her. With Rukia. With the spitting image of his wife.

For some reason Rukia had always imagined Hisana to be a delicate, quiet woman and always wondered how she could have attracted the eye of Byakuya. But seeing her, seeing her strength and personality, she was beginning to see how Byakuya had fallen in love with her. In Rukia's eye Hisana had always been on some untouchable pedestal, much like Byakuya had been once upon a time. But just like her brother had come off it, so had Hisana and Rukia decided she liked them much better this way. But Hisana was leaving, she was going to die and asking Rukia to keep herself and Byakuya away to spare them the pain. She was going to try and die alone.

"I can't," Rukia whispered looking at Hisana. Hisana sighed and opened her mouth, "did you know Kaien Shiba?" Rukia blurted out.

"Yes," Hisana said with a slight frown.

"H-he died," Rukia said quickly, "he was taken by a Hollow and I-I killed him to save me and the Division--but mostly to save myself. When he died, he told me that when you die you can't die alone. That when you die you pass your heart on to your friends--to your family," she looked at Hisana, "I can't let you die alone."

Hisana looked away. Impulsively Rukia reached out and grasped Hisana's hand.

"You're so stubborn," Hisana muttered looking down, "I should have known you would be."

Rukia smiled faintly before Hisana looked at her.

"Will you--" Rukia bit her lip, "will you come back?"

"I don't know," Hisana said grasping Rukia's other hand, "but I promise I'll try as hard as I can to do that."

The door opened softly as both women looked to see Byakuya step onto the roof, one arm still loosely wrapped around his mid-section. His eyes widened fractionally at the sight of the two of them. Hisana's own eyes widened as well before both quickly smoothed out their expressions. Rukia gently released her sister's hands and stepped back.

"Excuse me," she said, "I believe I need to go speak to Ichigo," she slipped down the stairs, leaving the two of them alone.

"Should you be up?" Hisana asked with a slight frown.

"I do not wish to sleep," Byakuya said. Hisana nodded, knowing that dreams just after being tortured were rarely good ones.

"Understandable," she said with a shrug as she turned back to the city. Byakuya seemed to hesitate for a moment before he stepped forward and joined her at the ledge of the roof, "this place is so bright, I always feel as though I'm in the stars when I'm here."

Byakuya said nothing as he looked at the artificial metropolis in front of him. The flickering neon seemed strange to him, even though he had visited the Living World many times. He wondered if the Kuchiki Manor was still in any kind of order, if the gardens that played such a role in their romance were still there at all. He had never tried to change them and they had obediently remained the same, or so he had been told. Most nights he couldn't bear the thought of going to them. Not without her. And now they were gone and she was standing next to him, a world away from the home they had once shared.

"You know," Hisana said softly, her voice breaking the silence, "I never thought, if I saw you again, it would be like this," he looked at her, curious, "I mean, I knew it would probably be when I was with the Guard, but I thought it would be--" she sighed, "different."

"I did too," he said finally looking out at the city instead of her, as though the words pained him to speak, "I've changed," he frowned slightly, "and I am not sure it was for the better."

"When I asked you to take care of Rukia," Hisana said, "I never thought of what it would be like for you. It was terrible enough for you to watch me die--but making you take care of her, of someone who looked so much like me," she closed her eyes, "I cannot dream of how that must have hurt."

"The past fifty years must not have been easier for you either," he said quietly.

"No," Hisana said with a soft, bitter laugh, "they were not. Boring really, more than anything else. Probation is not a pleasant thing, neither was my brief imprisonment," she frowned slightly, "I used to lay awake at night and wonder what you were up too."

"Running the Kuchiki House, being the Captain of the Sixth Division," he said, "not terribly exciting work."

"Still so modest," she teased, "I'm sure I'll be hearing from Mizu later tonight about Senbonzakura's abilities."

"I'm sure she is happy to have her companion returned," he said.

"As is he," Hisana replied, "no matter how brief their time together may be."

"After everything?" he looked at her, true confusion in his eyes, "after all--"

"Of course," she said with a soft smile.

Silence rose up once more between them but when Byakuya's larger hand encased her smaller one, Hisana was not afraid of it anymore.

Break

Hitsugaya didn't know what to think. He wanted time to stop. Three days? Three days was not enough time for him. Three days to decide if it came down to it, could he cast his feelings aside and kill Hinamori? Could he ignore the connection they shared so he could do his duty as a Soul Reaper? He had always thought that he would be able too, that he could put aside his feelings and be half as cold as people assumed him to be.

But this was Hinamori they were talking about. God this was Momo. The one who never cared if he was a fabled reincarnation, who called him Shiro or Hitsugaya despite his repeated angry demands not too. She hadn't cared when he suddenly went from 'freak' to 'freak-with-an-awesome-power'. Being with her, being at her side, it was like the world he usually lived in had ended, like he was in a world that made sense for once.

And then it had all been ripped away.

He knew. He knew she was unstable, that there was a remote possibility she'd join Aizen somehow. He should have stayed or Matsumoto, or anyone should have stayed and kept the young woman in her hospital room. They shouldn't have made it so easy for her to do that, to go to him with Tobiume and display the power she so rarely did. But they had and she had and now he was in some cheap hotel room with the oddest assortment of people he'd ever been with in his entire life. And still he missed her, he missed her so much it hurt.

Back in her own room Matsumoto could hardly think. She had appeared strong for her Captain, she knew Hitsugaya's pain was horrible and prayed that she could give him some comfort by telling him that Hinamori was not an enemy--at least, she didn't think she was anymore. But inwardly she was fighting her own war.

"Damn it" she whispered, furious.

How could he do that? He knew she wouldn't have left him again, not for anything. And so instead of accepting her, trusting her like anysane person would have the bastard hit her with Kido and made sure she got out of Soul Society. Was he not expecting her to fight in the upcoming battle? Matsumoto may not have been a prodigy but she was a good fighter and between him and her Captain she spent enough time in the company of prodigies so that they lost their impressiveness. Ice dragons, shooting blades, she'd seen it all.

Why the hell did they have to be so stubborn? He'd always been stubborn about, well, about everything. She had to stay behind while he went off, she had to be protected since she was a girl and he was a boy and that was how things worked. He always wore that stupid facial expression even though she asked him how he could see properly and he always said that he saw well enough to get by. Stupid, stubborn fool, she never should've let go of his hand when he got caught in that light She should have dragged him back to Soul Society and beat some sense into him before it got to be too late.

Maybe she was the stupid one after all.

"Sulking Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked coming inside to join her.

"I could ask the same of you," she said softly looking over at him as he flopped onto the bed next to her, "are you worried about her?" Hitsugaya looked down, "its okay if you are. I'm worried about h--"

"We shouldn't be worried about them," he said angrily, "they betrayed us."

"They did," she agreed, "but we can't help who we love, Captain."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as his head flew up. He looked at her with surprise written on his face. Matsumoto arched an eyebrow as she looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Y-you knew?" he demanded.

"Captain everyone knew," she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"They did?!" he cried, "d-did she know?"

"Captain the person you're in love with never knows," Matsumoto said rolling her eyes.

"Being in love sucks," Hitsugaya muttered darkly dropping his head into his hands.

Matsumoto couldn't help but agree. She just hoped war didn't include a lot of papework since she had a feeling nothing was going to get done around the 10th Division for a while.

Break

"Hold it, you were what?!" Ichigo cried looking at Shinji.

"Fifth Division Captain," he said, flexing the fingers of his damaged hand, "you deaf or something?"

"Deaf?! You just--you--" Ichigo stared, "you were a Captain?"

"We were all ranked officers," Shinji said rolling his eyes, "geez even you should've been able to tell that."

Ichigo stared. It seemed that every one of his teachers who he thought was just crazy/insanely powerful happened to be just crazy/insanely powerful and totally badass to boot--oh and they all seemed to be Captains as well. Urahara was talking to Hiyori on the side. Urahara seemed genuinely happy to see her and under her usual frustration Ichigo could see she was happy to see him as well.

"What was Hiyori?" he looked at him.

"Twelfth Division Vice Captain," Shinji frowned and picked at his tooth.

"Hiyori was your Vice Captain?!" he demanded looking at Urahara. Both he and Hiyori turned to face him, arching their left eyebrows in a 'so what' expression, "damn it why does no-one tell me anything?!"

"You seem to find it out when you need too," Shinji said with a smirk, "besides, life without surprises would be kinda boring doncha think?" he grinned genuinely, "I can't wait to see Aizen's face when I show up alive."

"And I'll have to drag your ass back to safety again," Hiyori muttered angrily.

"I thought she was your Vice Capta--" Ichigo trailed off looking between Hiyori and Shinji, "are you two together?"

Suddenly he was flat on his back, his nose flowing freely thanks to Hiyori's foot and his jaw aching from Shinji's fist. The two glared and walked off. Urahara laughed and walked over, helping Ichigo to his feet despite him still leaning on Benihime. Ichigo grumbled and rubbed his jaw.

"Geez they're really defensive about that," he muttered.

"Hiyori and Shinji are just one of those pairs that everyone knows about but no-one mentions--like, uh, Unohana and Ukitake or me and Yoruichi."

"You and Yoruichi are together?" he demanded.

"You really are an idiot sometimes," Urahara muttered.