The vast manor that was the Kuchiki mansion was silent. Even the sound of the captain of the sixth squad's footfalls was not heard as he walked down the long hallways. A long day spent at his squad's headquarters had left him exhausted, though anyone who didn't know him wouldn't have recognized it. The impassive look on his face was as present as always. Since Soul Society had been oddly peaceful lately, Byakuya found that the only task that he had to attend to was the mountain of paper work that Renji had "forgotten" to fill out. After lecturing his vice-captain about it for a good half hour, Byakuya had retreated into his office for a good 10 hours of generic paperwork. Though he had been friendlier (if saying more than ten words a day counted) since that annoying orange-haired brat had invaded Soul Society in search of his sister, Byakuya felt that he still had a reputation to uphold.

Absently, he wondered where Rukia was, since it was near dinnertime and her presence had not yet made itself known in the mansion. Maybe she had been sent on a mission to the human world, or maybe she had just gone to visit that orange-haired delinquent. Though their dinners together were awkward and almost completely silent, Byakuya found that he had gotten rather used to her presence. And sometimes he'd like to pretend that it was a comfortable silence, and not an awkward one.

He continued on his journey down the noiseless hall, stopping only when he heard the familiar murmur of his younger sister's voice. He froze. The voice was coming from the room in which he kept his deceased wife's shrine. Byakuya had never known Rukia to visit this particular part of the manor, let alone this room. He vaguely remembers mentioning it to her, but had never really expected her to visit it. After all, she barely remembered her sister; he did not expect Rukia to miss something she had never experienced.

The door had been left slightly open, a soft yellow light flooded part of the hallway. Noiselessly, he walked towards the door and peered in. The sight that greeted him shocked him, his eyes widened imperceptibly.

Rukia knelt in front of the shrine, holding the picture of Hisana in her hands. She seemed to be speaking to it.

"Ne, Hisana," she began, unaware of the presence beyond the half opened door that had sucked in a sharp, barely noticeable breathe as she began to speak again, "How are you?" she continued, after pausing slightly, as if waiting for her sister to respond.

Rukia shifted her weight on her legs slightly as she continued, "I'm doing okay, Soul Society has been oddly quiet lately, though I guess that's a good thing," she chuckled. "Without Ichigo…" she trailed off.

"Oh, you don't know who he is, do you?"

Byakuya didn't have to see her face to know that she was smiling gently.

"Well, I'll save that for some other time," she dismissed the topic, "I have other things to tell you," she shifted her weight again, and inhaled deeply, as if preparing herself.

Byakuya told himself that he should just continue walking, that he was invading her privacy, but he couldn't bring himself to move. One minute he had been a dignified and refined noble and captain, the next he had been reduced to an eavesdropper. A little voice in the back of his head told him to hurry up and leave, but curiosity got the better of him.

"Ne, onee-sama," she said quietly, "I'm not mad at you."

Suddenly, Byakuya remembered why he had not visited this part of the mansion in so long. Though he would never truly forget his late wife, he had told himself that Hisana would not have appreciated him sulking (though he'd like to believe that he wasn't capable of doing so) in this room for too long and resigned himself to monthly visits instead of his usual routine of visiting daily.

He vowed not to forget her, but would not dwell on things he could not change. The intense sorrow the filled his being whenever he thought of those last moments spent with Hisana were now assuaged by Rukia's presence in his life.

"And I don't blame you either," she said.

He fought the urge to make his presence known.

"If I had been in your shoes," she said, "I probably would have done the same thing too. Oh, and I don't feel abandoned either, so stop worrying yourself about that. Nii-sama has taken such good care of me."

She paused in thoughtful silence.

"At first, I was sad, you know?" she asked, "I thought maybe…maybe Nii-sama only wanted me around because I look so much like you," she laughed humorlessly.

He stiffened.

"But I know Nii-sama isn't like that," she stopped, and then rephrased herself, "I didn't then, but now I do," she ended cheerfully.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"And then I wondered why we couldn't talk like normal siblings," she said, "but I figure that's just because we're so used to treating each other like strangers."

He flinched.

"It's getting better though," she added, "I found out the other day that Nii-sama is almost as bad at drawing as I am," she laughed.

He frowned. Was he really that bad?

"Ne, Hisana," she said, "Do you think…do you think you could tell Nii-sama that everything is okay? I know it's silly to worry about him but…I feel like maybe he beats himself up over you sometime."

He grimaced.

She stopped and then corrected herself, "Not that I'm saying you're not worth his worrying, it's just that well, even though I don't remember you, I know that you wouldn't want someone to dwell too much on the past."

She read him like an open book.

"Nii-sama is such an enigma sometimes, but you know, he has a lot of patience," she seemed to be laughing quietly at some memory, "He's able to deal with Yachiru, after all."

"But, I bet you already knew that, you were married to him after all," added as an afterthought.

She stood up, and bowed to the picture.

"It's almost dinner time. Nii-sama will probably be waiting for me, so I'm going to go now."

She bent over to pick something up.

"I don't know what your favorite flower is," she apologized, "so I brought Nii-sama's instead. I'll have to remember to ask him what yours is."

A pair of Chinese bellflower's lay in front of the picture.

He smiled.