"I am sorry if it seemed as if I was taking advantage of your kindness. The love that you, Byakuya-sama, bestowed upon me, I am unable to requite…for that, I am sorry. These past five years that I and you have spent together have truly been a dream for me, Byakuya-sama." — Hisana Kuchiki.
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Rukia did not know what to think as Byakuya carried her towards the Seireitei. Everything was happening so fast, both literally and figuratively, that the last 24 hours felt like some farfetched tale she must have dreamt up.
It was all happening so fast that she hadn't even had a few hours to herself to just contemplate what it meant – what it might mean for her. Hours she might have had if only she hadn't taken up the easier way of sleeping through it. Now here she was, being whisked away in the arms of a man she didn't know, her sister's supposedly husband.
The thought was still weird for her that she managed to stop her mind from going down that tunnel.
The hours went as fast as Byakuya travelled, which was ridiculously fast – another thing she couldn't wrap her head around – and before she even had the time to calm herself Byakuya had told her that they had arrived as he slowed down to a stop.
They were in a garden or something of the sort as Rukia was graced with the sight of the most beautiful arrays of flowers she'd ever seen. It was so big and vibrant that she found herself lost in the scenery until Byakuya snapped her out of her trance, leaving her both mortified and embarrassed.
"Let's not keep Hisana waiting."
Rukia swallowed a gulp and nodded stiffly. This was it, she thought. Part of her hoped Byakuya was right while another part equally hoped he was wrong. Those two parts warred against each other and left her thoughts a jumbled mess.
She had no idea of what she'd do if things turned out either way she expected and so she slowly trudged behind Byakuya.
Even from the hall, Rukia was blinded by the sense of 'fortune' that assaulted her. Everything felt like it cost a fortune, which it probably did and yet all it did for Rukia was increase her tension and made the short walk feel like a death march.
They came to a stop and Rukia had to take a deep breath as she braced herself for whatever laid on the other side of the door.
Byakuya knocked on the door twice but got no response and slowly pushed the door open.
'This is it!' Rukia repeated to herself like a mantra as she stepped through the door. It was a graceful room, soft in its ambience. It felt welcoming somehow, as if there was no way it would send out anyone who came through that door.
Like a tug on the soul, it drew her in almost hypnotically and let her feet glide her behind Byakuya towards the bed, and the figure that lay on it in a soft sleep.
Rukia's heart thumped loudly in her chest as the figure on the bed became clearer as she drew nearer and soon found herself staring at what was no doubt the sick visage of her elder sister, Hisana.
It was only when she laid her eyes upon Hisana that everything started clicking in place and becoming more real than a play on her by her delirious mind.
If it was true that Hisana was here and sick, in the Seireitei, then… she looked at Byakuya from the corner of her eye where he had taken Hisana's hands in his. 'Oh..'
And if that was true then… then that meant Hisana really left her behind. Her sister had abandoned her when she was a child.
Honestly she did not know how she felt about that. The two different images she had of her sister were starting a fresh clash at that moment and it left her more lost than anything else.
"Hisana… I'm back." She heard Byakuya's soft voice and Hisana's waking breath.
"My lord… you're back. I'm glad." There was a smile on her face, one that Rukia remembered but it also felt different, that it was directed at Byakuya caused a distinct feeling to creep up Rukia's chest.
"I am," Byakuya brushed aside the hair streaking over her face. "And I brought someone with me."
Hisana's eyes darted slowly around the room and then froze as it saw the person who was half hidden behind Byakuya. Her eyes shook with emotions it had long forgotten as Rukia stepped forward, unsure and uncertain.
"R-Rukia?"
Rukia nodded. Her eyes were cloudy and her breaths were labored. She felt light and heavy at the same time. "Big sister.."
"Rukia…" Slowly she sat up, which to Byakuya meant that she had more energy than she did when he left. That was already a good sign.
"Hisana." Rukia said softly as she came closer. At this point she couldn't see clearly as her vision was bleary.
She didn't so much as dive as her legs failed her and she fell in soft, welcoming hands. Just as she remembered.
With the two sisters crying in each other's arms, Byakuya silently retreated from the room to give them space and privacy for whatever had to be said between them.
But just because he left the room didn't mean his mind wasn't locked in on the two Reiatsu in the room.
"I see you've returned."
"I have." He said without turning to look at his grandfather. The man's disappointment was something he has been on the receiving end of lately.
"She's doing better." He said.
"Hn. Hardly." His grandfather remarked. True. She had little strength now but when he checked her condition was more or less the same, but he was a patient man. Urahara gave him his word, and as much as he didn't like or trust the man, he'd consider his words until proven otherwise.
"You have been neglecting your primary duties for the better part of a month now. Your father and I had to step up despite your presence being available."
"I know, and I will apologize to father, but I've had more pressing concerns."
His grandfather, the epitome of calm and collected, snorted. It wasn't derisive, contempt, or chiding. It was more or less a neutral snort, one that refused to show where exactly his displeasure was hidden.
"Sympathies where they are due, but do not forget that you are first the patriarch than anything else. And as such your primary duties are to the Clan before anything else."
After saying his piece the former patriarch left Byakuya alone.
Byakuya sighed.
He was… distraught.
On one hand he had Hisana, on the other hand he had his duties to his Clan. Like anyone else who had been in his shoes, he never thought there would be a day when his duties as her husband and his duties as the Clan Head would collide. Not in such a way, he did not.
And that was the crux of it, wasn't it? Duties and obligations. For someone who had been brought up and himself thought that upholding the Clan was the foremost duty of every noble, more so a noble like him.
For the first time, he had been forced to put on a scale, in perspective, his wife and his Clan, and for a moment when he did Byakuya hated himself on where the scales threatened to tip.
His senses went back to the room where the two Reiatsu had changed. One was torn between sadness, disbelief and an edge of hate… no, nothing so deep, cold anger perhaps. The other was deeply sorrowful and drowning in guilt. Byakuya frowned.
He wanted to go into the room and see what they were up to but the more sensible part of him told him that this was needed. If either of them wanted a chance to heal then whatever they had to say now had to be said.
As for him, he now had to have a talk with his father and grandfather, probably with Captain Retsu, and most definitely with Captain Urahara. He also had a meeting with the Tsunayashiro Head and the Kasumioji Head.
He forgot how long he had been standing outside the door, lost in his thoughts, until he heard Hisana's faint voice.
"My lord, are you there?"
He sighed again. He had told her to call him by his name instead, and she'd done so, only to turn around and say she preferred calling him this way.
He stepped back into the room and could tell that the tension hanging in the air had not yet been completely resolved.
Though Hisana had her sister's hands in hers and her sister did not seem uncomfortable by it, so what still remained unresolved between them probably wasn't that big.
She smiled when she saw him. "My lord, I am beyond grateful—"
"Don't be, Hisana. Not for something like this." He knew the tangent of what she would have said and he didn't want to hear it, not from her.
Hisana hesitated and nodded, but that didn't stop her from giving him a bow, even smiling when she saw how exasperated she left him.
Gesturing towards Rukia whose hands she held, she introduced the younger girl. "My lord, this is my sister, Rukia, who I greatly wronged in my moment of weakness, and yet is still kind enough to forgive me. I truly don't deserve her." Her smile at the end fell brittle but it held strong, or at least tried to.
She then gestured at Byakuya to Rukia. "Rukia, this is my husband, Lord Byakuya. He has shown me nothing but the greatest kindness and love since we met. He's one of my two greatest fortunes in this life."
Maybe, Byakuya thought, it didn't have to be that complicated.
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