Until Then

AN: Light references to 502. I think Byu-Kun will be fine, it's just Kubo being a meanie and teasing his readers again. I hope :/ Contains slight spoilers and slight ByuRen.

Pain, blood, coldness. It consumes him with the sensation and than ebbs like it was never there. The pain of loss was so heavy: his parents, then Hisana, now him…. And yet now there is warmth not just in his heart, but to his fingertips and toes. He would ever go as far as saying joy was in every part of his being, down to his hair and eyelashes.

She's there. He always knew that at the end she would be there with color in her cheeks and light in her eyes. She looks so healthy, healthier than she had ever looked alive. She wasn't sick anymore. She looked like she did the day they met.

He is flat on his back and she rests upon him, as weightless as ever and giving him a look of playful admonishing. She kisses him, and though Soul Reaper training has taught him that he is simply energy now, there is nothing about her kiss that feels intangible.

"You found Rukia. You saved my sister. Thank you."

"I swore I would." He is breathless.

"I'm very grateful for that love. Still it's not time yet. Go back to Rukia. Finish the battle."

"I… I can't leave you again"

"You will see me again. Until then, finish your battle. Protect Rukia. Grow old. Then, I'll return for you. You have my word."

Even as she's speaking he can feel the pain of his wounds returning, slowly but surely. He doesn't want to go back. A minute ago he didn't want to die, and now he's content with the new state of events. Such cruel irony.

"I know it hurts to be alone. Find someone new. You have my permission."

"How could I betray you like that?" Rukia is yelling for her brother, and Renji is screaming to avenge his captain. He's going back. She will fade.

"Because I am dead and you are alive. I want nothing more than for you to be happy, and we both know you're never happy unless you're in love."

"Hisana….."

"Live a few decades more, love more. Then, I will come back for you. I promised myself that for all you did for me, that I could only do that much."

"Hisana."

"Until then."

"Hisana!"

The pain is back. The blood is back. The cold is back.

Rukia is weeping. Renji has blood from his sword, no doubt from the Quincy that had dared to murder his Captain.

"Captain!"

"Brother! Oh brother, you're alive!"

'Go back to Rukia.'

She crying. His wife's sister is crying over him. He will never cause her pain like this again.

'Fall in love again.'

"We need to get you to the Fourth! Hang in there Sir! You're not dying on us today!" He finds himself swung over Renji's shoulder, opposite the one he's carrying Zabimaru on.

Rukia is following closely behind, yelling at Renji for carrying her injured brother like a sack of potatoes.

"I promise you Hisana, that I will take your words and honor them. I will protect Rukia. I will try to fall in love again. Until then…."

"You can't carry him like that! He's injured so badly! Who are you to carry my brother like that?!"

"Idiot! Shut the hell up will ya? I don't wanna lose him either!"

'Until then wait for me Hisana.'