Title: Of Fire And Ice
Rating: MPAA: PG/PG-13, Fiction Rating: T
Pairing/Character/s: Byakuya, Senbonzakura, Ukitake
Warning/s: Vaguely resembles crack.
Word Count: 2,160
Summary: Despite his best efforts to forestall any and all emotions, Byakuya is experiencing loneliness. Senbonzakura does not approve and intervenes in a way only an abstract zanpakutou can.
Author's Note: Okay, I'm getting better... no comparisons to the moon in this story. (So I lied, there's one. Sue me. ) This story focuses mainly on Byakuya and Senbonzakura, but follows my ByaRen series (which I have now titled to "Between the Earth and Sky", btw) and is a companion piece to "Slices of the Moon". Basically, it's another drabble in which I fill in the little gaps corresponding to the storyline I've inserted between Kubo's. That having been said, Renji isn't really in here except for one or two vague references, however it's assumed that there is a relationship between them and, moreover, is as I have described it in my previous stories. If you've read "A Petal's Edge" you'll also understand why Ukitake's in the last scene.

Of Fire And Ice
"They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts."
-Sir Philip Sidney

He should have known when he heard the first soft hooting, but instead chose to ignore the superstitious sound. There was far too much to be done for him to waste time and energy on such fallacies. Still, though, he really should have known better than to simply forget about it. Byakuya sighed lightly and laid his hand on the trunk of a smooth white tree. The landscape bent out over the horizon, an impossible set of tall, dead trees, the same dull white as the bleached grass and pale sky. Amaterasu herself seemed to cast the only color across this land: a deep red hue originating from the cardinal orb hovering at the brink of sundown.

"You are unaware of the reason." The ever calm voice of his zanpakutou drifted out of the nearby trees.

Byakuya traced the path of the apparition as it stepped from the woods and into his line of sight. Sanguine eyes and snow-white tresses. Life and death; fangs and blades and fearsome power as calm as undisturbed water. It was hard to keep focused. "I heard an owl this morning," he answered quietly, yet knew his voice would travel the distance in such still air.

Senbonzakura smirked faintly, and tilted its head to the side. "Are not such things beneath your notice?"

"Your presence would deem it worthy," the noble answered smoothly.

"Men will believe in fate long before taking the blame themselves."

Byakuya frowned, matching the other's gaze firmly. "You seem to be of the mind that my every fault is your concern. I have to wonder how you developed such a notion."

The sword spirit stepped forward, extending a hand to gently brush its master's cheek. "I am your blade in battle. I am your senses when you have none… The power to destroy that which opposes you." Long nails brushed the side of his face as the eidolon dropped its hand and merely stayed as it was, remaining close because it knew how the nearness unsettled its charge. "Yet, you know I am more than a tool of slaughter." Its features hardened slightly as it spoke, the first testament to having emotions Byakuya did not associate with the sword it had ever shown him.

It bothered him to hear the hint of emotion in the words, yet even more that he could not identify what emotion was there. Anger? Disappointment? Frustration? It seemed as hazy as the whole world around him. Byakuya stepped back suddenly, ripping his gaze from the bloodied eyes of his sword to take in the world around him. Red like blood, white like death. Cold as pain, still as the grave. Empty. Completely and utterly lifeless. This was his inner world?

"… What happened, here?"

This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. There was no moisture in the air. No water, not even ice. Peripherally, he saw Senbonzakura turn as he walked past it. Nothing moved. There was no wind, and it felt like there was no air at all. He frowned again, turning back to his only companion.

Senbonzakura closed its eyes, slipping its hands within the long sleeves of its white kimono. "What bloomed in spring has long since left." Around them, the plants swayed in a sudden yet gentle breeze. Serene shades of green, pink and yellow seemed to bleed life into them as the pale sky turned blue. Sakura blossoms spun about them in a sudden burst of energy. "Spring gave way to rain, which tore the very ground apart with its intensity."

Thunder clapped loudly overhead, drawing Byakuya's attention immediately overhead as the heavens burst forth with torrential fury. The wind kicked up, blasting water, petals and leaves at them. Beside him, his zanpakutou remained unbothered by the sudden and harsh changes in atmosphere. The noble swung around at the noise of falling trees in time to see what had moments ago proudly sprouted beautiful flowers fall crashing to the ground, uprooted by the wind, water and mud billowing around them.

"The rains did not allow for a summer or fall, only heeding the winter's freeze." Despite the howling wind, Senbonzakura's normal tone of voice was somehow hearable.

The wind blasted once more so harshly that Byakuya was forced to momentarily block it from his face. When he lowered his arm, the world was covered in snow and ice. His feet sank partially into the snow covered ground, the now still air biting effortlessly through his skin to his very bones when the fierce zephyrs before could not break his clothes. He shivered involuntarily; turning his gaze back to the realm's other occupant. Senbonzakura had opened its eyes again, but only just slightly. It gazed down, deep red eyes mostly hidden by a curtain of long white hair.

"It is death's mistake to think pain visits but at its whim and loneliness in its wake. When such things are worn as vestments, men forget and the stars that seemed once close are now perceived far. Reality bends no longer by its own will, destined to show only what remains known; the spaces between. We cannot fight the chill of frozen life anymore than we can stop the rain from falling."

As it spoke, frozen chains of black metal slipped up from the ground, crawling across its form like vines before suddenly constricting around the pale being, ripping through the pure white fabric to the alabaster skin beneath. The sword spirit did not react to the harsh action, as it had ignored the rest of the changes around it. It lifted its head and turned to look at the shinigami it was bound to, shocking the man with the light blue tinge to its previously colorless skin. The image struck something inside the noble, making him move closer before the thought had fully processed. Senbonzakura looked… pained. It was not something he normally associated with the sword spirit.

"Stop this." He was close enough now to see the small puffs of breath mist in the cold air, as if the creature before him needed warmth as he should.

"I cannot."

Byakuya blinked without realizing it. It was rare, if ever, that his zanpakutou spoke so plainly. "Enough." He reached out, catching the figure's cold chin in his hand and forced it to look up. "That is enough, Senbonzakura." His zanpakutou couldn't be the spirit before him. It wasn't this solid, this docile, this weak, and this… human. It made its points with clarity of thought, not simple demonstrations.

A familiar smirk worked its way across Senbonzakura's frozen lips, yet seemed rather sardonic. "Understanding true meaning is not also seeing it. I have always been such. This place has always been as you are. You have merely come to see what truly exists."

The noble found himself unable to pull away from the ancient creature before him. It was some magic that Senbonzakura had always held over him. Something that made him unable to turn away or ignore the being so closely entwined with himself. Now, instead of being confronted by a powerful and demanding shade, he beheld another life whose future depended on him alone. Perhaps he had been closer to the truth than even he'd realized when he spoke to Renji of the moon and those who reach for it, for it seemed as though he would forever be a distant existence upon which people placed their aspirations. Was it in his duty, then, to take responsibility for those who reached him?

He pulled Senbonzakura's face closer, scrutinizing it as if some form of answer lay there. To his eyes, the features softened and for a moment he could see Hisana's gentle gaze, hopeful and ever thankful as she gazed up at him from the pristine white pillow her last months were spent laying on. Slowly, the vision melted away, red eyes coming to the forefront, not the color of blood, but of passion. The white hair and skin darkened, one to flame and the other to dark almond. Belatedly, he noticed a change in temperature and looked away to find the new warmth radiating out from him, melting the snow and once more giving life to the previously barren land.

"Grant me the heat of your soul as I grant you the edge of mine."

He looked back, seeing that while neither he nor the sword spirit had moved from their positions, Senbonzakura had changed as well. It looked healthy again; its pristine alabaster skin properly free of all tints, with an unbound form suitably covered in a flawless white kimono which trailed into a mist now collecting around them. Its sanguine gaze was firm once more, yet still held some emotion he could not yet identify. After a long moment, he inclined his head slightly.

The smirk softened to a smile. "I am your conscience when you will not hear. I am your eyes when you will not see. Are you now aware of the reason?"

Byakuya dropped his hand then, pressing his lips together in a way to that showed that while he did know, he was not inclined to speak it out loud. Knowing something and saying it were two entirely separate things.

"Shall I be your voice when you will not speak?" Senbonzakura's voice was softer than usual, though its gaze markedly intense.

"If you do all these things, we are no longer working together. I learned long ago not to view you as a tool, and yet you do nothing but bend to my will." There was a slight frown of disapproval shaping his features. Kuchiki Byakuya was an honorable man; he did not use people.

"In battle, perhaps, because you have proven yourself worthy of such control," the apparition replied. "Yet out of battle I have done nothing to warrant such judgment. If I am your conscience then it is because you trust my understanding. If I am your eyes, it is because you trust my perception… and if I am your voice it is because you cannot trust your own."

"Even then, we are not equal." Byakuya paused a moment, summoning the words he needed with the ability to say them. "I apologize."

Senbonzakura moved closer again. "Regardless of what happens, you never walk alone. Remember this, Kuchiki Byakuya." The sword spirit raised an ethereally cool hand to the side of the noble's face once more, and then leaned forward, pressing their lips together.

-----

" – Kuchiki-Taichou?"

Byakuya closed his eyes for a moment, drawing himself back to reality before opening them once more and turning to face the other captain. "Yes?"

Ukitake frowned slightly. "… Is everything all right?" Aside from the fact that his former charge wasn't one to simply zone out, he could have sworn he felt a subtle but distinct rise in the man's spirit energy for a split second.

"'Everything' is neither your concern nor my own, Ukitake-taichou." The noble pushed away from the railing of the terrace they'd been speaking on,brushing by his fellow captain and returning to the shade of the building they had been outside of. "What does concern me is the nature of the circumstances that required them to release the restrictions on their powers."

Ukitake followed the other captain back inside, withholding any comments as to the other man's sudden, strange behavior: they had just come outside not a minute ago. "Matsumoto-fukutaichou sent the request through. It affected herself, Hitsugaya-taichou and Abarai-fukutaichou, all of whom were able to defeat their opponents."

"Two vice-captains and a captain were only capable of destroying the opposition after receiving full use of their abilities when fighting Aizen's foot soldiers and you are not concerned. Yet, two of lowest ranked officers on the away team survived their encounters without help and you do not question it. Kurosaki Ichigo barely manages to intervene in time to aide Rukia and yet does not win his battle. What's more; we have no idea of where he is, and you have yet to express any issue with this report."

"That will be decided with the rest of the captains–" Ukitake cut himself off when the noble abruptly turned back around to face him.

"You have not informed anyone else?"

"The second division has already submitted the full report, however the captain meeting is a few hours off and I thought you would appreciate knowing the moment the report was in," Ukitake masked the statement with a calm smile, hoping his guess hadn't been too far off.

After long moment of suspicious silence, Byakuya gave a small nod and dropped the subject entirely, choosing instead to resume the short break the other captain had so thoughtfully interrupted. He poured himself a fresh cup of tea and then returned his previous seat, passively indicating the tray to Ukitake: a gesture just barely within the borders of propriety. He received a smile for his effort and the man's company for the remainder of lunch.