A/N: Yuzu's bankai appearance is a short dress based off of Heian-era Kagura dance costume. (Google is your friend, and "aozuri no omi-goromo" is your keyword.) That style of outfit, but pure white, dress-style, and completely symmetrical.

Rexnos, Aizen is alive in canon. He's canonically stated to be immortal, and sentenced to the lowest level of the underground prison (Muken) for 20,000 years. He also plays some sort of role in the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.

Chapter 43: Goodbye to you

The inside of the castle was white, white walls and white floor forming a long hallway that stretched out in front of him. Byakuya moved through the hallway, his hand on his sword as he glanced around, taking stock of his surroundings. So far, he had seen nothing, no sign of any other inhabitant of this castle. Doors and corridors led off the main hallway, but each time he ventured down one, he ended up in this same place. It was as if the castle had been designed to be confusing, which, given the shikai abilities of its wielder, it probably was. The entire time he walked, the exit remained visible behind him, as if it were a reminder that he could turn back at any time. He ignored it, concentrating on searching for Yuzu's reiatsu. It was everywhere in this place, but some threads were still stronger than others. He followed those threads, his other hand still closed around her letter. He had to find her before she did anything drastic. He had to—

—A pulse of reiatsu drew his attention and he stopped, his eyes widening slightly as he glanced to his left. There, the corridor opened up, a pair of steps leading down from the main hall to a smaller corridor. The corridor had a floor of white stone tiles, bordered on either side by tall pillars. A pale blue carpet covered the floor, connecting it to the main hallway. Beyond and above the pillars, there was only darkness.

He took off at a run, his thumb on Senbonzakura's guard to keep it from slipping out of his sheath as he chased down that thread. Byakuya moved quickly, sprinting past pillars and countless side paths as he ran towards the end of the hallway. There, he thought, as a square of light opened up in front of him. He could definitely feel her there.

He burst into the light, shielding his eyes with his arm. The sheer brightness of the room, compared with the hallway's shadows, was blinding. As his eyes adjusted, he lowered his arm, looking around the room.

He was standing in a square room, brightly lit, with a white floor, white walls, and white ceiling. The room was void of any decoration, except for a single fountain that rose up from the floor, water trickling down from its spire to its basin. His vice-captain was sitting by the fountain, staring up at him with wide eyes. In accordance with her bankai, her appearance had changed. She wore a short dress, pure white, in the style of a formal robe. Jungetsu's fans were tucked into her belt, and her hair was pinned back with a single white clip on each side, making the entire outfit completely symmetrical.

She looked surprised to see him there.

He felt a sudden influx of relief at the sight of her, his hand slackening around his sword and his shoulders sagging as the tension left him in a breath. She was here. She was safe. He wasn't too late.

Yuzu looked up at him, frowning slightly as she got to her feet. "Taicho?" she asked. "When did you get here?"

"Thank you," said Masaryu, as a servant entered his room, bearing a wooden tray. "Please leave those on the table."

The servant inclined his head politely, placing the tray of tea and snacks on the low table between Masaryu and Kohaku. He bowed deeply to Masa, clasping the tray close to himself before leaving the room. Kohaku sat on the opposite side of the table, her hands on her knees. They fiddled nervously with the fabric of her hakama as her eyes followed the servant out.

Once the door had closed, she looked back at Masa.

"Please," said Masa, gesturing at the food in front of him. "Help yourself."

Kohaku nodded, muttering a word of thanks before reaching for a cup of tea. Masa reached for his own cup, considering. He took a sip, finding himself reaching for things to say. This wasn't how he had imagined having this conversation, on the evening of his grandfather's funeral, but he knew, or rather he had a strong feeling that if he let Kohaku walk out the door now, it would be a very long time before she felt comfortable enough to come back, and before he was willing to approach her.

"Thank you…" he said, as he took a pastry from the table in front of them. "For coming to see me."

"It's no problem," said Kohaku, dusting off her fingers self-consciously. "I mean…uh…what are friends for, right? You'd do the same for me—um—" She trailed off, coughing softly into her cup and lowering her head. A blush slowly spread its way up her cheeks, her eyes moving to the table in front of them instead of to his face. Masa took a sip of tea, feeling warmth start to creep into his own face as well. The memory of that night two days before the battle came back to him, and he nearly choked on his pastry.

"Still," he said, managing to keep his voice level. "Thank you…"

Kohaku didn't respond, resting her hand on the table. She hesitated before picking up a pastry, her eyes moving past him to the door the servant had walked through. "I keep forgetting…" she said, her voice soft.

"Forgetting what?" Masa asked.

"You…nobility." She waved her hand in a vague gesture, still not looking at him. "All of this. I joke about it a lot, but you don't act like it at all. None of you do."

Masa paused, setting the half-eaten pastry down onto the plate in front of him. He looked up at her, taking in the way she sat slightly turned away from him, her fingers tracing circles on the tabletop as she avoided his eyes. "Do you…feel unwelcome here?" he asked.

"It's not that," said Kohaku. "It's just—." She stopped short, letting out a puff of air before turning towards him. "—What are we doing, Masaryu?"

The question gave him pause, and he stared at her for a moment, his eyes wide. At length, he blinked, lowering his eyes back to the table as he picked up his cup of tea. "What do you want us to be doing?" he asked, after taking a sip.

"I—I don't know." Kohaku rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand, pushing her glasses up in frustration. "What do you want out of this?" she asked. "What do you want to do?"

"I…" Masa glanced back down at the table, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. The heat that had been starting to gather at the base of his neck had spread to his cheeks—he was sure he was blushing now. He cleared his throat, straightening up. "I wouldn't mind courting you," he said. "If—If you'd like that."

"Because of what happened?" asked Kohaku, her tone slightly challenging. "Because you feel like you have to do the honorable thing?"

"Because I like you," said Masaryu, cutting her off. "Because we're friends, and I enjoy your company. As…interesting as it can be sometimes."

His reply caught her off-guard, and she lowered her eyes to the table, biting her lip. Her teacup sat beside her, momentarily forgotten. "I don't belong here, Masa…" she said after a while, her voice soft. "Someone like me doesn't belong here with you…"

Masa frowned, picking up his cup of tea. "Kuchiki Rukia…" he began.

"…is different," Kohaku finished. "To look at her, you wouldn't even know she came out of Rukongai. But I can't be that, Masa. It just isn't me." She lowered her eyes to the table, her fingers curling into a fist. "…You need some noblewoman somewhere. Someone who can be the lady of the family. Not a street rat…"

"What if I don't want that?" asked Masa, frowning at her.

"You don't even know what you want," said Kohaku, looking up at him.

"Maybe I don't," said Masa. "But I'll never find out what I want if I don't try."

Kohaku's eyes widened and she fell silent, glancing back down at the table. She bit her lip, her fingers curling tighter against themselves. She took a deep breath, as if about to speak.

A single jigokucho flitted into the room through the window, cutting them both off. They turned towards it, watching as it circled the table once, almost lazily, before landing on the table in front of Masa. It paused in front of him, gently flapping its wings. Kohaku's eyes tracked its movement, flitting from him to the butterfly and back again.

"I thought you were on leave," she said.

"I am," said Masa, his frown deepening. He reached out, holding a finger out for the butterfly. It flapped its wings once, moving from the table to his hand. As soon as it touched its skin, Karin's voice rang through his mind, her tone urgent.

"Masa," she said. "Yuzu's missing. We think Kuchiki-taicho went after her. Ichi-nii, Rukia-nee, Toshiro and I are at the Sixth."

"Masa?" asked Kohaku, noticing his change of expression. "What's wrong?"

"We have to go," said Masa, getting to his feet. "Now."

Kohaku was already standing. "Both of us?" she asked, tucking Ayatori back into her belt.

"Yes," said Masa, reaching for Setsuyoku. "Both of us."

"I wanted to achieve bankai so that I could fight Kyoka Suigetsu, so I asked Urahara-san for help," explained Yuzu as the two of them walked together down another long hallway. "I managed it, somehow, but I ended up getting lost." She frowned, her eyes moving past him and sweeping over the walls and floors in front of her. "I guess I just lost control?"

"Bankais can be difficult to control, even for their wielders," said Byakuya, walking beside her. "Losing control of a new bankai is common."

"I guess," said Yuzu, walking a few steps ahead of him. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she walked, her hands clasped in front of herself. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this, taicho. I didn't think it would get so out of hand."

"Hn." Byakuya watched her out of the corner of his eye as they walked, letting her lead the way through the corridors. His mind went back to the things she had written in her letter, the way she had left her vice-captain badge behind. If she didn't want to bring it up, he certainly wasn't about to, but some things couldn't be ignored.

"Why did you leave?" he asked, looking back at her.

Yuzu came to a sudden stop, lowering her eyes to the ground. Her face flushed, and she clasped her hands tightly in front of her. "That is—," she began. "Actually—I—It's because…" She trailed off, her shoulders slumping as she stared down at the ground in front of her. Byakuya watched her for a moment before exhaling, moving past her down the corridor.

"Never mind," he said. "We can discuss this later. I remember seeing an exit near the main hallway."

"Hai, taicho…" said Yuzu, looking up as he passed her.

For a while, they walked together, Yuzu falling into step behind him. The main hallway now seemed to twist on itself, corners, turns and side passages coming up where it had been straightforward before. He studied the architecture as they walked, his eyes moving over the long straight hallway, the high vaulted ceilings above them. It was easier to observe than to think about the words she had written him, and how he felt about them. Easier to study the area than to think about his mistakes.

They rounded yet another corner, appearing in a long expanse of open hallway. He paused, staring at the space in front of him. He was fairly certain that the last four turns they had taken had been right turns, which meant that they should have been right back where they started. Yet, the hallway continued on, as if unbound by physical reality. "This place…" he began.

"…Hakkyokan Jungetsu," said Yuzu softly. "The whole palace is a mirror. Jungetsu said that it reflects my heart, which means I should be able to control it. But it looks like there's more to it than that. We should keep moving, taicho. I don't think we're very far now."

She swept past him, walking down the hallway. As she moved, she lowered her arms to her side, the sleeve of her left arm swayed, the cloth pulling back for a moment to reveal a thin red scar on her forearm, near her wrist. Byakuya's eyes widened as he caught sight of it, his eyes fixing on her.

He reached out, grabbing her arm before she could walk away.

Yuzu's eyes widened and she came to a sudden stop, her left arm still caught in Byakuya's grasp. "Tai…cho?" she asked.

Byakuya said nothing, his eyes moving to her arm. Now that he was holding onto it, he could see the scar clearly, a thin line from where the shooter's bullet had grazed her in Tokyo. He remembered that fight clearly, remembered sending her to the Fourth after their return to Soul Society, when he noticed her bleeding.

"My vice-captain," he said, slowly meeting her eyes, "was injured on her right arm."

Yuzu tensed, quickly averting her eyes. She said nothing, but didn't look up at him, leaving her arm in his hand as she stared down at the ground. He stared at her, his grip on her arm loosening as comprehension dawned.

"Where is she…?" he asked. "…Jungetsu?"

Jungetsu looked up at him, a melancholy expression on her face. As Byakuya watched, she started to fade away, light consuming her from her feet up. "If only you knew…" she said as she vanished. "…how much she loved you."

The light consumed her completely, fading away and leaving his hand closed around empty air. He lowered his hand to his side, his eyes widening as he felt a sudden pulse of reiatsu from his left. It was as if his senses had been dulled before, and now the truth was revealed.

He took off at a run.

The hallway he ran in was dark, shadows consuming the whole path beneath his feet. The only light in the hallway came from a white door at the end, and behind that door, he could feel Yuzu's reiatsu fluctuating, waves of it washing over his skin. He'd noticed before that her reiatsu was never stable, that it oscillated in each battle like the ebb and flow of the tide, but he had never felt it this keenly before. Wrapped in the castle of her bankai, he felt it wash over him as it grew and tug at him as it receded, drawing him to her.

He burst in through the door, slamming it open with one hand as he entered the room.

"Kurosaki!" he called, his eyes wide.

Yuzu stood in the air in front of him, on a platform of light. The light, and the small white ledge that he was standing on, were the only sources of color in the room. The rest of the room was completely black, shadows stretching on forever around them. The ground seemed to fall away in front of him, darkness extending as far as the eyes could see. Light shone in the air above Yuzu's head, an iridescent shimmer that seemed to suck all the light in the room towards it. It wasn't a Garganta or a Senkaimon, but Byakuya's eyes moved to it all the same, recognizing it for what it was instantly.

A door.

Yuzu turned to face him, her light brown eyes downcast and sad. She was dressed identically to Jungetsu, the only difference being the white sash that hovered over her shoulders, encircling her arms and folding into the crook of her elbow.

The platform, he realized, was rising, heading towards that shimmering gateway.

Her eyes met his, and she bit her lip, turning away.

He surged forward, running to the very edge of the platform as he reached for her. Byakuya stretched his arm out, his fingers closing around the fabric of the sash. He pulled back as she continued to rise, and the sash came free, pulling off of her shoulders and falling limp in his hand. The platform continued to rise, coming to a stop in front of the distortion in the air.

It widened, revealing a door. Byakuya stared at it, eyes wide, his fingers still closed around the robe. His blood turned to ice in his veins, his breath catching in his throat. Light flooded the room, coming from the open doorway, and with it came reiatsu, a wave of reiatsu that overpowered hers and drowned it out.

Aizen's. Kyoka Suigetsu's.

She took a step forward, her expression determined as she walked towards the door.

In the back of his mind, he saw plum blossoms, petals falling to the ground from the tree in the garden. He saw violet eyes closing, felt a hand in his, slowly going limp. Saw a smile, slowly fading away.

"Hisana…" he remembered calling once she was gone. His own voice echoed in his memories, coming to him from a different time. "Hisana!"

"Yuzu!"

The word spilled from his mouth before he realized it, his eyes fixed on her as currents of reiatsu swirled around them.

The sound of her name made her pause, a few inches away from the door. She looked back at him, meeting his eyes.

"Goodbye…" she said, her voice soft. "…Byakuya."

She stepped into the open door, and the world around him faded, Aizen's reiatsu sweeping up and swallowing her whole.

Byakuya reappeared on the ground outside the castle, the light that wrapped around him setting him down gently before fading away. The rest of the castle had already gone, motes of light hanging in the air around them. He felt her reiatsu already starting to fade, washing away as though she had never been here in the first place.

He meant to stand, but his knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee, his hand still closed around the white fabric of the robe he had pulled from her. The letter he had tucked into his shihakusho fell out, fluttering in the breeze left by her passing. He made no move to reach for it, his eyes still fixed on the sky.

There was a flash, and Urahara Kisuke appeared beside him, his cane resting on the ground. Byakuya didn't turn to look at him, his eyes still fixed on the last, fading traces of reiatsu. The robe in his hands began to dissolve, fading into light at its edges.

"Where is she?" he asked, not looking at Urahara.

"Hmm, I don't know," said Urahara, resting both hands on the handle of his cane. "If I were to take a guess, I'd say she went to Kyoka Suigetsu's inner world—the Shattered World. If that's the case, then she's in quite a bit of trouble."

He spoke in a monotone, his eyes still fixed on the sky. His grip tightened on the robe, but he could already feel the light starting to spread, the fabric dissolving from right beneath his fingers. "How do you mean?"

"Well, she can only be going there for one reason," said Urahara, looking up at the sky. He wore a faint smirk, an expression of interest on his face as he studied it. "To fight Kyoka Suigetsu. But if she loses, Kyoka Suigetsu will kill her, and if she wins, then Kyoka Suigetsu will die. What happens to the inner world when a zanpakuto spirit dies, I wonder…?"

Byakuya said nothing, feeling his breath catch in his throat. The words of the letter came back to him, and he lowered his eyes to the ground, the last traces of the robe fading away and leaving his hand closed on nothing.

We must all do our duty…

He knelt there in silence, his eyes on the ground in front of him and his hand still closed around nothing. Urahara Kisuke watched him, and Byakuya heard the click of his sandals and cane on the ground as he started to pace, walking around him.

"What would you have done…" he asked, coming to a stop just behind Byakuya. "…if there had been a way to save Hisana?"

"Anything…" Byakuya said, his voice breaking.

Urahara glanced back at him, his smirk widening. "And if I told you there was a way to save Yuzu now…?"

Byakuya took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the ground. The lingering traces of her reiatsu faded away, leaving nothing in its place. His hand closed around the empty air where her robe had been, his expression hardening in determination.

He looked up, his gray eyes fixed on the sky.

"Anything."

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Hakkyokan Jungetsu (白鏡館 純月, white mirror palace, pure moon) is Kurosaki Yuzu's bankai. Like her sister's, it's an area-of-effect bankai. It manifests as a white palace floating upside-down in the air, with its spires pointing towards the earth. The architecture and everything inside the palace represents Yuzu's heart. As such, in order to use it effectively, her thoughts and feelings must be in accord with what she wishes to see in her bankai.

No funny omake this chapter, but instead take this extra scene, to preview the last arc, the Shattered World Arc~

Preview

Karakura Town

"Ushu!" shouted a voice, a dark-haired man walking down the street. "Don't run!"

"But, Dad, it's right over here!"

A young boy paused in his sprint down the street, stopping at the corner to look back at the man behind him. He was dressed in a dark blue shirt and white shorts, and had short black hair, a pair of gray eyes lifting to look up at his father. He looked to be about seven or eight years old, and wore a silver chain around his neck, a cross-shaped pendant hanging from it. Before his father could reach him, he ran off, charging down the street towards the apartment complex.

"Come on!" he yelled, as he vanished around the corner.

Ishida Uryu exhaled as the boy disappeared, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Honestly…" he muttered under his breath, increasing his speed and starting off towards the corner. At eight years old, Ishida Ushu was at the age where boys seemed to be nothing but energy. He wondered as he walked if he had ever been like that, and wondered if that explained why Ryuken seemed always out of patience with him.

"Alright," he said, rounding the corner and walking towards his son. "I'm here."

He paused, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. Ushu had come to a stop in front of the gate, his eyes wide and his face pale. He stood completely straight, transfixed by the scene. As Uryu approached, he saw why. The gate of the apartment complex had been blown completely off its hinges, the building itself looking as if a giant hand had swept down from the sky and crushed it. The pond was filled with debris, and one entire wing of the complex looked as though it had caved in. There was no sign of any member of Kusanagi.

"Dad…" Ushu began, not taking his eyes off the scene. The boy was shaking. Uryu reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back.

"Call your mother," he said, lowering his hand to his side. He gathered reishi into it, his five-pointed Quincy cross flaring as he formed his bow. He started walking, heading towards the wreckage. "Then, stay behind me."

Ushu nodded mutely, his hands shaking as one of his hands reached up, grasping the silver cross around his neck.