02 - Follow

The white tombstone stood in the midst of the the greenery. The cherry blossom petals drifted as carried by the gentle breeze and landed on the tombstone as though decorating it. Snow white with pink, what a combination.

It was March, when the cherry bloosoms were at their full bloom, when spring is at her most beautiful, when one wakes up every morning to feel nature smiling back at them. But to Byakuya, this was the saddest season of the year, sadder than cold harsh winter, sadder than the dying fall because this was the season when his heart was forcefully ripped from him.

This was the season where she died.

Byakuya bent down at the tombstone and felt for the engravings on the tombstone, letter by letter.

Kuchiki Hisana.
Wife of Kuchiki Byakuya.

When they constructed her tombstone, they wanted to put more descriptions of Hisana, like how she was always kind, how she was always gentle but Byakuya vetoed all of them. Those were nothing more than embelishments to her already perfect character. All that he wanted the world to know when they read her tombstone was that, she was his wife and it was more than enough.

Kuchiki.

What an irony. He was the heir of the richest noble house in whole of Soul Society but yet no amount of money could redeem Hisana back.

Captain Kuchiki.

What a joke. One of the 13 most powerful in Soul Society. But no amount of practice could help him win a battle against than angel of death who had decided to bring his beloved home prematurely.

All he ever wanted was to be with her.

Was it that hard?

--

Byakuya descended from the marble steps, now littered with the fallen cherry blossom petals only to spot a figure sitting at the end of the steps, hand on his jaw. His the other hand took one of the loose stones and threw at a tree lining the marble steps. The red hair alongside the obvious spirit power gave his identity away almost instantly.

"What are you doing here?" Byakuya asked from behind with his usual stoic tone.

The red haired vice captain turned around and scratched his head, "Em, em. I thought you might need some company."

Byakuya stared at Renji for a moment before looking away and walking off non chalantly "I don't need any company," Byakuya replied.

Renji followed.

He kicked a branch that came along his way while keeping a safe distance between himself and his captain. So why did he follow? Didn't Captain just rejected him? The truth was, Renji did not know why he was going out of his way to accompany his captain. This was the only day of the year where his captain did not report to work. the only day whne he had the full control of the Sixth Dvivision, the only day of the year where he can come in hours late and need not answer to anymore. But he tagged along his captain for no reason. He just wanted to. He just felt a need to. What was it, he could never tell. But one thing he knew for sure was that the gulit that would hit him if he did not follow. It must the stupid conscience, he concluded. And it shall remain as that, though at the back of his mind, something was screaming that there was more.

--

Byakuya's face softened as he felt Renji's spirit power a slight distance behind him. He never expected Renji to follow. But he was glad that he did. A warmth that he had not felt for a long time rushed into his heart.

Thank you Renji, he thought, Thank you for caring.

--

As usual. reviews? I am doing this one in short one-scenes to capture the emotion at that point in time. While writing this, it actually felt a little like using a camera and taking a picture and this fic somehow feels like a small photo album of the relationship between Byakuya and Renji.

I hoped you enjoyed it nonetheless.