Title: Black Flower

Author: Wilwarindi

Main Characters: Kuchiki Byakuya, Kuchiki Rukia, Abarai Renji, Aizen Sousuke

Pairing: Aizen/Byakuya and Renji/Byakuya

Rating: M

Warnings/Spoilers: M/M, Character Death

Summary: The attack on Soul Society let dangerous criminals loose. While most mourn the casualties of the thousand-year blood war, a certain criminal mastermind already has another plan in mind. And that involves bringing the fallen back. TYBW/CH502 canon divergence.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters (if any appear) and the plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Notes: I have decided to rewrite parts of this story due to additional information from TYBW arc and my change in perception of certain characters - mostly Aizen's - which may as well affect my characterization and plot. I apologize to those who have read this story and been waiting for an update for years, and now it turns out, if you are still reading this, that I only directed you back again to the start. At least, I can promise you that I will get the rewritten chapters back up the soonest possible before continuing with this story. Hopefully, you and any new readers who stumble upon this story would find it more or less enjoyable.

B.L.A.C.K.F.L.O.W.E.R

PROLOGUE

Forty years were too short.

"We, shinigami can live up to thousand years. A hundred years, for us, are nothing more than a short span of dreams that pass by. We sleep and dream of things, so many things. And yet, when we wake up, time - many cycles of time - has already passed, and we see a butterfly instead of a tiny caterpillar. And it is not the same caterpillar that we have once seen but its great, great grandchildren."

She remembered that speech somewhere in her distant past. It rang clear in her ears despite her lack of effort to remember it. She had never agreed with it. For someone who had started in Inuzuri where lives rose and fell like grasses in the autumn breeze, every ordeal - every pain, every sadness - and every rare happiness - every single smile and laughter - had always been fresh. A hundred years, for her, would not be a short span of dreams. Yet she had learned the harsh way, that even forty years were too short as she tried to recollect the memories of her time with her brother.

Kuchiki Byakuya had fallen. The thousand-year blood war against the Quincy had finally ended, but the casualties Soul Society received exceeded beyond any expectation. It had not at all been expected. How could someone ever knowing him expect it? Someone like Kuchiki Byakuya; beautiful, noble and powerful… How could someone like that ever die? She still could not believe it. It was too surreal - like a bad dream that she hoped would end when she finally woke up - even as his body lay motionless before her eyes.

Forty years were too short. And her reality was a nightmare that she could never wake up from.

"Nii-sama…" She whispered, small hands clasping his cold, lifeless one. His body was cleansed off the blood now and he was clad fully in formal clothing fit only for the clan leader. The fabric was as fine as silk spun from giant spiders and neatly embroidered by the most skilled hands of craft. He looked so beautiful lying there, like a perfect picture of purity. Everything of him seemed to radiate white; the very reflection of his name. And yet…

Rukia could not help thinking his skin too white despite the blackness of his hair, could not help seeing how those rose-colored lips were now pale as his blood had stopped running. She tried to swallow back the lump in her throat, trying to be strong just like how he had taught her to be.

"We should not shed tears for that will serve as the defeat of our bodies to our hearts. It is then nothing more than proof for it to be said that our hearts are things beyond our ability to control."

She failed. She could not stop the sound of sobbing. She cried.

When he arrived at the place, Rukia was already sleeping. Renji eyed her sympathetically and made a move to take her back to her room. He had to stop when he noticed that her hands were still clasping around Byakuya's. From the first look, his captain looked like he was just sleeping, lying on the futon in his most lavished clothes, his face devoid of those stern emotions he had always worn during the day when he had played the perfect role of infallible duty. His captain looked so calm and relax in his 'slumber'. It was the face Renji had wanted to see more. He had observed Byakuya during those long years he spent running after the man's shadow and yet he had come to know more about him in these past recent years. He no longer hated Byakuya, and his feeling toward his captain had deepened beyond respect and admiration.

He wanted to see his captain's face when he was not stern but relaxed.

He longed to see Byakuya's smile and could not help indulge in those rare ones directed toward him and indulge the other's disbelieving way of joking.

And he had come to love everything about him…even that mask of coldness and strict duty. Even that pride of nobility that he had once hated and wanted to trample.

And he would trade anything and everything just to have Byakuya back…so that he could say the words he had never gotten to speak aloud:

"Byakuya, I love you."

But it was too late, was it not?

Too late to bring back the moon that the stray dog had always striven to reach. For the dog had been too afraid to speak its wish to the moon, fearing the moon's coldness that would leave the dog howled for its sorrow and abandonment.

He only wished - a wistful, hopeless wish - for a second chance. So that he would not be afraid. So that he could tell him. But he could do nothing now that the moon had left the sky and the dog was left to wander in the darkness.

After the war, he had been occupying himself with all the division's work and the reconstruction that Soul Society needed. Buildings had been destroyed and many souls were missing. Central 46 was one of the places close to complete demolition. The place lay now in rubbles. It could not be ascertained whether some criminals were able to escape before the place had been buried or - if Soul Society was fortunate enough - those dangerous criminals were all killed in the process. Still, it was best to take precaution. Security level had been raised to the highest and guards and patrols were everywhere. Renji had thought these would be enough to keep his thoughts away from his lost captain, but it was completely the opposite: The more the sixth division worked, the more they missed their captain.

Renji himself was trying his best not to think of the vacant space where Byakuya used to be. He thought he was succeeding, even for the briefest of time, but he was wrong. He was oh-so-wrong.

The more he tried not to think about Byakuya, when reality came back to him, it slapped him so hard in the face.

"Captain…" He paused then started again. "Byakuya…" To dare call the name he had never dared let slip from his tongue. His sunset-colored eyes fixed on the man's pale face, taking in everything that he knew he would miss after the years that seemed like an eternity to come - if he did not get the fortune to die before he lived his shinigami lifespan out. For he knew, after the Kuchiki's burial ceremony, he would never see the face he loved so much again.

"I…miss you…"

Slowly, he moved, leaning closer and closer toward the lifeless beauty. He would later call himself a coward for stealing the kiss the dead man never allowed, but he could not, would not stop himself. His lips closed in on Byakuya's, feeling their softness that was as delicate as a petal. A sakura petal…so faded in color that it was close to pure white. Here was the dog…saying goodbye to its beloved moon.

Eventually, he withdrew. Gently gathering the sleeping Rukia in his arms, he carried her out and back to her room. He lay her on her futon, putting the sheet over her small form and then left the Kuchiki manor. It was almost time the sixth division switched with the tenth for the patrol duty.

Not at all had Abarai Renji noticed the shadow that slipped into the manor he had left…and into the room that the lifeless body of Kuchiki Byakuya lay.

The unyielding sakura was shattered. Silence deeper than any silence. Silence that was not betrayed by the gentle sound of breathing.

The figure before him was not sleeping. It was the same phenomenon that Aizen Sousuke was so familiar with - either from witnessing or causing it by his very own hands.

"Is it not ironic how Shinigami are regarded by humans as Death God when they too suffer the same phenomenon called 'death'? The souls of dead humans become peasants in Rukongai, and when they die, they return again to the world of the living. But what of those who were born pure souls and never fit into the balance?"

The brown-haired criminal mused, watching the form of the lifeless noble. The news of the Head of the Kuchiki Clan's death traveled fast throughout Soul Society like a rush of sweeping wind. It was indeed astonishing even Aizen himself wished to witness this with his own eyes. He remembered that brash young kid, so full of life energy, full of determination, with a glorious future ahead of him. The criminal once considered robbing the noble clan of its brightest heir. Unfortunately, that boy's rebellious spirit died as years after years of the clan's drilling enslaved him with chains of duty and status. Byakuya's other paths had long been sealed since the day Kuchiki Ginrei forever departed.

"When a soul like yours gets reaped, you have nowhere to go."

Chained. Even when free of duty. Even in death.

"But it would be a shame to just let you wilt away, would it not?"

He smiled as he traced Byakuya's lips with a thumb. Yes, this would serve well his purpose.

"Come with me, Byakuya. I will let you live once again."

To Be Continued