DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.

The House of Kuchiki

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Rukia...? Hisana bolted around the corner and looked around for any signs of the source of the young voice, or a girl with black hair. Now put in this situation, she realized that she has no idea what her sister would look like by this age... What if she walked right passed her each night and didn't realize it?

A small boy with red hair was running off in the distance; was he the one who had called for her sister? Hisana followed quickly, all the while looking around. It was getting late; the children were probably going to go finish playing their games soon. As she reached the outskirts of Inuzuri, Hisana looked around frantically for traces of the boy, or a girl who could have been Rukia, only to find herself come to the banks of a river that had no signs of children.

Turning back with an immense feeling of defeat, she head back into the main area of Inuzuri. She looked around and approached a person she had assumed to be a merchant. It never hurts to ask if he knows of Rukia... "Excuse me, sir..." The man turned to face her. "Do you know... if there's a little girl in this district named Rukia...?"

The man raised his eyebrow. "Rukia? No, can't say that I do..." He motioned in the direction the boy had run off in. "There's the boy named Renji... Quite the trouble makers, him and his friends. They have a new kid in their group of vandals now... those children are doomed to be failures..."

"Renji...?" Hisana frowned. "Is there anyone else I could ask...?"

The man nodded with a smirk. "Just in there." He pointed towards a doorway that was closed off by a tattered cloth. "Someone in there might know."

Inside the building, Hisana found herself feeling even more out of place than ever. The few women who were in the room weren't wearing very much at all, their tattered outfits purposely made more revealing to attract the vast amount of men sitting around the bar.

Unfortunately for her, her entrance hadn't gone unnoticed. Many heads were turned, mutters and gestures in her direction followed, and snickers from some of the men were soon the main source of Hisana's nervousness. She was approached by a man from the bar who seemed to be the cleanest of the bunch; his hair wasn't as disheveled, his outfit was less tattered, and he even looked friendlier than most of the men in the room. "We don't see many like you around here."

Hisana nodded slowly. "I'm... looking for my sister."

The man raised his eyebrow. "Your sister? Sorry, miss. We doubt your sister would be in a place like this. Not if she's anything like you."

"Her name is Rukia... she should be around seven years old." Hisana glanced around the room once more nervously. "The man outside said I could ask in here... he said someone might know."

"Tell ya what. Come sit at the bar and wait a while. I'll ask around for ya." The man began heading towards the bar and forced two people out of their seats, motioning for Hisana to come over. Hisana looked around once more before hesitantly walking towards him and sitting down. The man placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll need some sort of... payment, however. For my services."

"Payment?" Hisana frowned, looking towards the door. "I have nothing to pay with... I could come back?"

The man smirked and ran his hand down her arm. "No, you have plenty to pay with."

Hisana's eyes widened and she jerked her arm away from his touch. "I'm sorry, I have nothing I can give you. If you're not going to help, I can search on my own."

The man's smirk grew. "No, I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He reached his hand out and grasped her wrist tightly. "You'll have to stay."

Hisana pulled her arm back in an attempt to pull free, but to no avail. "Let go of me!"

A few more men stood from their spots, the man holding onto her wrist letting out a chuckle. "I love it when they struggle..."

---

Byakuya sat at the dinner table, elbows on the table, fingers laced together and hands brought up to rest under his chin. The argument he had with Hisana just over two hours ago had been tormenting him continuously and now that the dinner table had been set and there was no sign of his wife, he couldn't help but worry. While their argument had certainly had, at the time, a valid reason to occur, it seemed almost childish to him now that he had gotten upset at her. He knew that she wanted to find her sister more than anything, and he had thought that he respected and accepted that.

It was obvious that part of him hadn't and try as he might, he was unsuccessful in keeping this selfish part of himself tucked away once THAT touchy subject had been brought up.

But it shouldn't take Hisana so long to get back, should it? Just a quick look around Inuzuri and she should have returned. She wasn't the type to hold a grudge, or to stay out long enough for people to worry. Something must be wrong, he realized, standing up abruptly. "I'm going to Rukongai," he announced to the members of the clan that had looked curiously in his direction. "You may commence the meal without me."

---

Hisana struggled to keep the man at an arm's distance from her, all the while trying to pry her wrist away from the man. Why had she decided to go out alone? And without her soul slayer, no less. Had she honestly thought she wouldn't run into trouble in a place like this?

Just then, a pale-faced man burst into the bar. It was the merchant from earlier. He looked around nervously.

"What is it?" the man holding on to Hisana's wrist asked, sounding annoyed and bored all at once.

"A shinigami captain!" Another man had burst into the bar as well, pushing the merchant out of the way. "There's a shinigami captain on the way!"

"A captain? Impossible. Why would they waste time here?" The man focused his attention back to Hisana with a grin. "Now... where were we?"

The red light of the sunset now shone directly into the bar, the cloth that made up the door of the entranceway pulled aside by a man in a black uniform and a white haori, one of his hands on his soul slayer's hilt.

"Byakuya-sama!" Hisana's face immediately showed signs of relief as she tried to tug her arm away from the man once more, still unsuccessful. Her relieved smile faded when she realized Byakuya still hadn't looked at her.

"A captain, huh?" The man tightened his grip, looking at Hisana. "What brings you here, sir?"

Byakuya didn't respond. Vanishing from the view of those in the bar, he immediately reappeared next to the man who was holding Hisana's wrist. "Let her go."

"Oh? And why should I?" He tightened his grip even more, Hisana wincing from pain.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "I see you do not wish to keep your arm. You will release her, or face the consequences."

The man smirked and turned back to Hisana, ignoring Byakuya's demand. While those around them didn't see Byakuya do anything, the man's eyes went wide and he instantly let go of Hisana's wrist. Grasping his own wrist, the now pale-faced man watched the blood trickle down to the floor before looking up at the death god who had inflicted the damage.

Hisana was quick to latch on to Byakuya's arm, and buried her face into the sleeve of his uniform. Still not looking down at his wife, he turned towards the door silently and flashed stepped out of the bar, stopping just beyond the corner where Hisana had heard, or thought she heard, her sister's name.

A few moments of silence passed between them, neither of them moving. Hisana raised her head and looked up at him to see two very relieved eyes looking down at her.

"I figured you would know what type of people lived here after living here yourself..." Byakuya frowned. "That was careless..."

Hisana nooded slowly, looking down the path the red-haired boy had run down just before. "But... you have to understand. I think I've almost found my sister."

Byakuya, who went to continue on to say something else to his wife, stopped and looked at her with a look of mild confusion.

"I heard... her name." She looked back up at her husband with a smile. "She's alive."

Byakuya nodded slowly with a smile creeping across his lips. The newly found hope and joy in her eyes had melted away any and all of the ice that had momentarily returned to Byakuya's demeanor. He looked up at the sky to see the sun had fully set. "We can come back tomorrow, then. Early. She must have already gone to bed by now."

Hisana nodded happily and went to take her husband's hand when he had offered it. Upon making contact, Byakuya's smiled faded. Hisana, who didn't notice, started to walk back towards Seireitei only to be stopped short when she realized Byakuya hadn't moved. Turning back, she looked at him to see his face full of concern. "What is it?"

"Your hands..." Byakuya stepped up and took both of her hands in his and brought them together to be cupped in between his. "They're freezing..."

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Chapter 33 up on or before wednesday. ;D As far as having a happy ending, I want to start a new fic that'll have a 'happy ending' for Byakuya and Hisana. So, I'm sticking with my decision of having Hisana die at the end of this one, and making an AU fic once this one is done.