AN: Thank you so much for the reviews! Here's the next chapter. I'm trying to have the story done by Christmas or it unlikely to ever be finished. Luckily the Christmas Carol seems to be everywhere I turn at the minute.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or A Christmas Carol
When Byakuya awoke, it was to the bell outside signalling that midnight had approached. He was tempted to just go back to sleep, then he remembered with dread the visit from Aizen, and the ghost that was supposed to drop by in an hour. He hoped that it was all a bad dream, but decided to wait up until one o'clock just the same.
Keeping a firm grip on the poker at his side, Byakuya stared up at the ceiling and jumped when a loud clang filled the air as the clock struck one.
"No spirit," Byakuya muttered to himself. "I'm going back to bed and I'll laugh at my stupidity tomorrow morning."
He'd just closed his eyes when a burst of ethereal light made him open them again quickly. He had to squint in order to avoid the light hurting his eyes, but he could just make out a figure. As the light slowly dimmed he could make out that it was in a white robe. His dark purple hair shone in the darkness and he wore a visor. If Byakuya guessed correctly then he was blind.
"Who are you?" he asked the figure, edging slightly closer.
"I am the Spirit of Christmas Past" the ghost spoke, and held out a hand. "Let us walk together." Byakuya followed him, but stopped as the spirit approached the window.
"Spirit, I'm mortal. I am liable to fall."
The Spirit stared at him with unseeing eyes and grabbed his hand. In a flash of light the bedroom faded and when Byakuya looked around he recognised the place immediately. "I was a boy here!" he told the Spirit, with just the start of a small smile spreading across his face. All around them boys were running. Byakuya tried to call out to a few but they paid him no attention.
"These are but shadows of what was, they cannot see or hear us," the Spirit told Byakuya.
Byakuya only half heard him, for as all the boys ran out the door to go home for Christmas, one solitary figure remained seated at a desk. Byakuya was staring at a younger version of himself.
"You did not go home for Christmas?" the Spirit asked.
"My father's orders," Byakuya spoke, and found that there seemed to be something lodged in his throat. He coughed, trying to clear it, but it made little difference. "I wasn't to waste time with holidays. I had to study at school during the holidays and prepare myself for taking over the family businesses and start one of my own."
"You must have been lonely," the Spirit commented with a little sympathy.
"Every year…was much the same," Byakuya said, mostly to himself. "Nothing changed."
The Spirit took Byakuya's hand again, and the schoolroom faded and they were now in an office, decorated for Christmas. Byakuya recognised it as Mr Ukitake's, the place he'd first been apprenticed to!
"I used to work here!" Byakuya exclaimed, and looked around to see himself and another boy. "There's Kaien Shiba," he pointed, and then spun round, as a familiar, cheerful voice echoed round the room.
"No more work tonight, it's Christmas Eve, put up the shutters, the guests will be arriving soon." Mr Ukitake entered with his wife, who used to be the famous healer Unohana before she married her husband, behind him carrying drinks.
"It's Mr Ukitake!" Byakuya almost shouted in the Spirit's ear, looking more excited than he had done in years. "The kindest of men, and his wife was the kindest of women. They used to throw a massive party every Christmas Eve."
"So, little," the Spirit told him. "It only cost him a couple of pounds each year."
"You don't understand," Byakuya snapped. "It wasn't how much he spent. He had the ability to make our work easy or hard. The happiness he gave us was quite as great as if it had cost a fortune."
Byakuya wandered around as guests entered and Mr and Mrs Ukitake sang, and ordered everyone to dance. He froze when he saw one particular woman enter the party.
"Hisana," he croaked, watching as his younger self rushed over to help her with her cloak. The young Byakuya looked as though he could not see anyone but the girl he was leading to the dance floor, and happier than older Byakuya had ever felt.
"There is another Christmas with this young lady," the Spirit spoke.
"No, Spirit I do not wish to see. Take me home."
But the Spirit ignored him, grasping his hand and transporting them to a snowy field, where sat the previously happy couple looking solemn.
"It matters little," Hisana spoke softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, then I have no just cause to grieve."
"What idol has displaced you?" young Byakuya asked, sounding slightly impatient.
"A prideful one."
"My father died and I inherited the family businesses, only to find them in poor order. Give me time to sort it out, then we shall get married."
"Our contract," Hisana said quietly, and Byakuya tried to turn away, only to find himself frozen to the spot, unable to look away from the woman that could have been his wife. "Is an old one. It was made when you were content to have a poor wife, with no connections or money, when the opinions of the rest of your family mattered little to you. You've changed, you are not the man you were when our promises were first made. Therefore I can release you."
"Stop," Byakuya cried, tears threatening to fall, "stop you fool."
"Have I ever sought release?" younger Byakuya asked, looking at his fiancée incredulously.
"In words, no, never."
"Then in what?"
"In a changed nature. Tell me, if we met now for the first, would you seek me out and try to win me?" Hisana waited for an answer, and when none came, she shook her head sadly. "No, you would not. I hope you are happy with the life you have chosen."
Taking off her engagement ring, she left it on the bench and walked off, not looking back. Young Byakuya just sat there staring at it, making no attempt to move.
"After her, after her you fool," Byakuya was crying now, and the Spirit beside clapped a hand on his shoulder and Byakuya's bedroom reappeared.
"She died shortly after that meeting. You adopted her sister into your family did you not?"
"Leave me Spirit," Byakuya cried, turning away, "Haunt me no more. Leave!" And Byakuya swung the poker at the apparition as it disappeared, muttering something that sounded like, 'that's the last time I do a favour for Aizen'.