Author's note: Hello friends! From this point on I feel like the story and the characterization just picks up and gets better and better. This chapter contains two major time skips. The first half of this chapter takes place approximately 10 years after the events of chapter 3. The second half is another 5 years later, the story will stay with the latter timeline of about 15ish years into the future. Byakuya and Renji are well into their thirties by this point. Don't forget to follow for updates and comment to keep me motivated, lol. Thank you as always for reading.
Chapter 4 Content Warnings: Illness, mentions of death
Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters are the intellectual property of Kubo Tite. I do not own Bleach or its characters.
The whirring and clicking of the machines started to stir him out of his dream state.
Beep, beep, beep.
The sound to which he was accustomed seemed almost like background music to his feverish dreams. But the tug of the persistent sound encouraged him to stir from his slumber. He blinked heavy silver eyes, trying to make out the source of the commotion.
"Oh, did this wake you?" a small, soft female voice apologized. "Honey, I'm sorry. But, please don't worry. I just finished another routine blood transfusion."
Routine and blood transfusion shouldn't be in the same sentence.
"It's alright, my dear. There's nowhere I'd rather be than here with you." Byakuya's voice was thick with sleep as he reached out, placing his hand on top of his wife's.
Hisana Kuchiki smiled. Her beauty remained the same in her frailty, "I'd prefer if you slept more than two hours a night."
"Can it be helped?" Byakuya retorted, using his free hand to graze her cheek. "How is your pain today?"
"Oh, it's fine." Her amethyst-colored eyes flitted closed, a clear sign she was holding back.
Byakuya caught on to her subtleties, "I'm calling the nurse."
Hisana's hand grasped onto her husband's with all the strength she could muster up.
"Please. Bya-kun, don't," she pleaded quietly, her pale face pallid.
"How are you supposed to get better without treatment?" the dark-haired man spoke in vain, realizing how foolish he sounded.
"My love," Hisana now touched Byakuya's cheek with a bruised IV-laden hand. "We know I won't be leaving here."
"Now, that is hardly an attitude for healing." The noble's hand came to rest on top of his wife's, sighing in silent bliss as he enjoyed her touch.
"Is death really the worst option?" the small woman questioned, rubbing her thumb across Byakuya's cheek, lips, and chin.
He seemed to ponder this seriously, closing his eyes, "Not always."
"I don't mean to scare you, but," Hisana's words faltered as a wave of pain overtook her for a moment, "I don't know how much longer I can do this. My body is betraying me."
"I'd give you mine if I could," Byakuya declared without reservation.
"Oh no, my love, you are meant to go far with that splendid soul of yours. I would never dream of taking that away from you." She smiled through the pain.
"You are too selfless," he chided, running his hands through her sweat-dampened hair.
"I might have learned it from you." She sighed as if to release the pain through her breath.
The time passed in quiet understanding. Byakuya combed through her hair gently as if he were cradling a newborn child. Every touch was gentle and fleeting, deliberate.
"Say, would you open the window, dear?"
"Of course."
Byakuya walked to the window, gazing out on the hospital grounds in the springtime twilight dazzle.
"Hisana, the cherry blossoms, they've just barely begun to open."
"Oh, how lovely!" Hisana strained her neck as she tried to get a better glimpse.
Byakuya's mouth tightened into a thin line as he noticed his wife's feeble attempt at viewing the outside. He sighed, briefly disconnecting her from the heart monitor but leaving the IV intact.
"Here, let me show you." He gracefully lifted her into his arms. She was shockingly lightweight, and he could feel her spine poking at him from underneath her hospital gown. It shook the Kuchiki to the core, but he wouldn't show it.
They sat at the window, Hisana gently perched in her husband's lap as she took in the beautiful sight of spring blossoms.
"Oh, Byakuya, remember when we spent spring in your family vacation home and went to the cherry blossom festival?" Her small face lit up in delight as she recalled the memory. "There must've been a thousand petals in the air. It was so magical."
Byakuya's smile mirrored his lover's. "I don't remember the cherry blossoms as much as your beauty among them." He placed a soft kiss on her temple.
She laughed, relishing in his affection. "How was I, then?"
"Oh, my love, just like a goddess." He kept his forehead pressed there at her temple as he continued to confess his love. "Your yukata brought out the dazzling shades of lavender within your eyes."
"I'm not sure I could ever be quite as stunning as you, Byakuya." She turned her head, kissing his cheek with chapped lips.
"Nonsense. I am nothing compared to you."
"Do you remember when we met?" she recalled with a nostalgic sigh.
"How could I forget?"
"You had just returned from your time abroad at boarding school, and I was shocked to see such a handsome young man wandering the slums." She chuckled. "I'm surprised you weren't robbed on the spot."
"Ah," Byakuya remembered the scene like it was yesterday, "I told you I was looking for my friend."
"Yes, your wonderful friend, Renji. So sad you never did find him, though."
"It's alright. I found you instead." His lips placed more kisses on her soft hair.
"I think your family would've preferred you had not." She frowned at the notion. "They will probably have a party at my funeral. So please just stop them from literally dancing on my grave."
"You will be treated with the utmost care, next to my parents." Byakuya then realized with guilt his acknowledgment of his wife's death. "Not that you will be needing that gravestone anytime soon."
"Byakuya," she chided him, "stop the foolish denial. I would much rather just enjoy the time I have here with you while I still can."
Then, she clung to him, hiding her face in his collar, "I'm scared, I must admit. But I also don't want to live like this anymore. But you, you will be all alone again. So, I'm worried for you."
He returned to petting her hair, trying to soothe her anxiety. "I will be fine."
"I know you and how you recluse back into yourself." Her eyes welled with tears at the idea of her beloved alone and sad again. "My only wish is that someone may love you the way you deserve. I only selfishly wish it was I who had lived to be that person."
"I will always love you," Byakuya naturally held her closer. "How could I ever love another?"
"I really hope you will. If not for your own sake, for mine." Hisana's tears wet her husband's button-up shirt. "In another lifetime, I would've been the one."
Byakuya clicked his tongue once in disapproval, "You are the one. You always have been."
"Thank you," she sniffled softly, "but that isn't true. My body will not allow me to love you how I want to. I will never have our children. I will never walk by your side as we are old. I will never be there to dry your tears when you are alone. For this, I am deeply sorry."
"Shh…" He silenced her with a gentle press to her lips with his own. "You were made to be perfect. Our love was– is– perfect. Just the way it is."
"Agreed," his wife spoke softly against his lips.
They turned to look at the fluttering petals that danced past the window.
"The worst part about these blossoms," Hisana began, her lilac eyes glistening with fresh tears, "is that they are gone too soon."
"I wish I could stop time." Byakuya's eyebrows creased as he fought off a wave of sorrow. "I would hold you here, just like this. And the blossoms, too, would remain."
They embraced one another, holding on for what felt like dear life. Hisana then came to rest her head on her husband's chest, listening to his precious heartbeat reverberate through him.
Byakuya knew he should hook her back up to all her wires and monitors and put her back to bed, but he simply couldn't obey. So instead, the last rays of sunset danced off the light of her royal eyes, illuminating her ivory skin and making her glow like an angel. That is how he would choose to remember her, forever.
They did, in fact, not dance on her grave. That would've been too obvious. But in the months and years that followed Hisana's passing, Byakuya could practically feel the, I told you so, in the air. The head of the Kuchiki family could not bear any more losses, any more despondence towards life itself. In the years that followed, he vowed on his parent's grave to never disgrace the family again, never risk their reputation and his heart. That was until he found the note detailing his wife's dying wishes. She had a younger sister named Rukia, who she had abandoned in the slums. Hisana had never spoken of this heavy burden during her life but rather left this request as her final wish. Byakuya was to find the girl and bring her into their wealthy family, providing her all that this privileged life had to offer. He was meant to give a family to his late wife's sister. Or rather, maybe Hisana wanted to give Rukia to Byakuya. A companion in the cold mansion he called home. No matter how hard he tried, he could never be the rule-abiding Kuchiki he was supposed to be.
"Adoption?" She almost spit out the coffee in her mouth before apologizing. "Sorry, but I don't understand the purpose of this. I'm twenty-four years old. I don't need adopting."
Byakuya could hardly bear looking at the woman who bore a striking resemblance to his late wife. They may as well have been near identical twins.
"You don't have to live with us, take our name, or even tolerate us. But please allow me to pay for the rest of your schooling and help you."
Rukia knitted her brows together in the center, obviously uncomfortable with the whole thing, "You must understand how weird this is."
"Of course." The nobleman avoided her eyes, staring into his latte.
"I didn't even know I had a sister." Rukia was still in a state of shock, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.
Byakuya pulled out his wallet, procuring a photo of Hisana. He placed the image on the table. "Here."
Rukia's eyes widened with shock as she took the photo from the table with shaking hands. "S-She looks so much like me…."
Byakuya simply nodded, choosing not to look at the young woman's face.
"It must be hard for you to be near me now. Sorry for that," Rukia surmised with a slight frown. "May I ask how old she was when she passed?"
"Only thirty." Byakuya sighed inwardly, gazing out the window. "And that was 5 years ago."
"Thirty? Barely older than I am now." Rukia chewed her lip as she continued to gaze at the photo of her older sister. "You might find this incredibly offensive. If so, please feel free not to answer. Could I ask what happened?"
Byakuya finally had the strength to meet Rukia's gaze. His steely eyes were cold and unwavering, "Cancer."
"Oh, God," Rukia fumbled over her words, her palms sweaty. "I'm really sorry."
"Me too." Byakuya chose to straighten his tie instead of focusing on his pain. "It was quite difficult to find you. I am truly sorry for the delay. But this fortune is rightly yours, and it would bring me great relief to give it to you."
"Can I– Can I think about it?" Rukia slid the photo of her sister back over towards the Kuchiki.
He deflected the photo with a swift hand. "Keep it."
Rukia's eyes filled with sympathy as she tried to deny the photo again. "No, I couldn't."
"You must." Byakuya pulled his hand off the table. "To be known by you, that was her final wish. She wrote so regretfully about the day she left you at the orphanage. Please know that it was with a heavy heart that she left you behind."
Rukia dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, taking the photo and putting it in her purse. It was all too much to take in at once.
The Kuchiki head rose from the table smoothly, offering a bow to the woman before him. "If you'll excuse me, I should be on my way now."
"W-Wait!" Rukia called out, chasing the tall man out of the cafe.
Outside, in the pouring rain, the man had opened up his umbrella and prepared to leave. Rukia's hair and clothes were already getting soaked as she dashed to catch up with him.
"I-I want to know more about her. Please teach me. You don't understand. I have no one to call family." Her hot tears mixed with the rain that slid down her cheeks.
Byakuya extended his umbrella to protect the short woman, leaving himself to take the brunt end of the rain instead. "I may not look it, but I understand, Rukia."
Rukia gazed up at the man with wide, searching eyes. She could not read his face or his emotions.
"Please, let me meet with you again. I can't make up my mind right away, but I have to know my sister."
"Consider it a promise." Byakuya passed off his umbrella to Rukia, using his free hand to hail himself a taxi.
Rukia watched as the man entered the car. He never once looked back in her direction. She stood, cold and alone in the rain as he drove off into the night.
