Skeleneko's Note: This isn't my story. I have permission from Twilight Countess (Amy) to repost this. If you like this story be sure to look out for her book "Eris"!

Senbonzakura

Chapter Four: Byakuya's Discovery

Present day, during the Bleach series (This is when the gang is trying to save Orihime)

Byakuya's P.O.V.

Byakuya woke up with a start. He was drenched in cold sweat. Hisana…

He looked out the window of his bedroom to see the half moon glistening back at him.

Why had the night decided to plague him with bittersweet memories from long ago? Yes, he remembered all too well when he had brought his future wife to the Court of Pure Souls. That was the day she had accepted Ukitake's offer of training to become a Shinigami. Hisana wasn't sent to the academy like most, but was taught personally by Ukitake-taicho himself.

"Takuaji…" Byakuya whispered to himself. Takuaji, Hisana's zanpakuto, was the very first who had ever bested Senbonzakura. To say that Byakuya was shocked when Hisana had defeated him would've been an understatement. He had been utterly stupefied. Hisana insisted that she won not because of superior talent, but rather because his own arrogance was blinding him.

Being beautiful and powerful, Hisana captured the hearts of many of the male Shinigami in the Gotei 13. Byakuya scowled at the memory of before they were married, when she had a different suitor every week coming to call. Even though she rejected them all, Byakuya couldn't help feeling the pang of jealousy.

Finding sleep impossible, he rose from his bed and wrapped himself in a blue robe.

Byakuya slid the screen door closed behind him and proceeded to stroll down the hall.

His minded drifted to Rukia. Despite how little he showed it, Byakuya cared deeply for his adoptive sister. It was his own weakness that made him never get close to her. Rukia's innocent, yet sassy personality was just the way Hisana's had been. They both shared many things, their appearances, the way they interacted with the world. It was too much for Byakuya. He couldn't bring himself to be the affectionate brother Hisana no doubt had hoped him to be.

Byakuya finally came to a halt at a door in the East Wing of the manor. He pressed him palm against it and stared. Sighing, he slid the screen open and stepped inside. He now stood in the room Hisana had used before she became his wife. He probably hadn't been in this room in nearly thirty-five years.

After a quick scan of the room, he saw that everything was in place. He drifted over to the mantle of the fireplace where one picture was propped up. It was Hisana in her gypsy skirt with Senbonzakura's petals floating around her.

Quickly breaking eye-contact with the image, he made to return to bed when something caught his attention on the ground. The lower left corner of the carpet was turned upwards. He bent down to correct the flaw when he thought he saw a lump underneath in the middle. He pulled the carpet off completely to be met with the handle of a trapdoor.

In all his years of being the head of the Kuchiki clan, he never realized nor had anyone told him there was a secret passage here. Curiosity getting the best of him, he lifted the handle and opened the door. He saw a set of stairs descending below. He climbed down them and found himself and the beginning of a tunnel made of stone.

Byakuya hadn't been walking for very long when he saw a red stain on the stone floor.

Blood.

Byakuya lowered himself on one knee and touched the blood with his fingertips. It was dry. It was an old stain, at least twenty years old. Byakuya lifted his eyes and saw the trail of red going down the tunnel. He stood up and pressed on. As he looked at the walls he saw the print of a small bloody hand sliding down the hallway as well.

Byakuya stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a familiar piece of cloth lying on the floor. It was Hisana's gypsy skirt. Byakuya picked it up and ran his hand through the fabric. It was just as stained as the floor.

Byakuya's heart was starting to race. As a Shinigami, Hisana had sustained many injuries in her line of duty, but Byakuya couldn't once recall an incident when Hisana had been wounded while wearing her gypsy garb.

Byakuya got to his feet and continued on, following the blood trail he could only imagined was Hisana's. The trail of blood also yielded Hisana's orange sash and white blouse, both covered in red like her skirt. He folded them in his arms and quickened his pace.

The trail finally ended with the tunnel as Byakuya entered a small, semicircular room. There were no other doors or continuing passageways.

If Byakuya had been holding anything made of glass, it would have been shattering at his feet. He sucked in a breath as his eyes widened at the single word written on the wall in blood.

AIZEN

Author's Note: Oh, my God! The plot thickens... What shall our Byakuya do now?