Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Pairings: Ichigo/Rukia…etc.

Raitings: T for language and strong themes

Genre: Romance/General

Summary: There are battles we must fight and wars we must wage. The hour that eavesdrop death has fallen, upon the sheathes of cold remorse the blade has been drawn. Now is the hour, before dawn arises. Amidst the Spider lilies bathed in blood. Sequel to Himegoto

I was thinking of a sequel…here I have a prologue for it….let's hope that i dont fail you..

-Higanbana -

-Prologue-

-The Ghost Flower-

A thousand years of bloom, a thousand years of wither.

The leaves shall never meet the flower.

A crimson twilight dipped in poison…

Love without loss or regret…

She only blooms in the paths of death…

Small porcelain hands delicately caressed the flower, mauve eyes lost in distant glass as she sat on the light creaking floorboards made of wood. "Pitiful flower…" She whispered lowly while examining the fragile thing. Its crimson hues seem to melt in her touch.

They say she blooms in the graveyard and smiles at the moon in hell. The fragments of her petals try to reach him, lost in the whirlwind of despair, drowned in a covenant of tears.

A lonesome teardrop fell down her ashen pale cheeks. "Even in death…you weep." In her choked sob she managed to speak those words of desolation only in a faint whisper.

Light footsteps came behind her, soft silent breaths as he closed their distance. "The court of pure souls has decided, there is no way to bend their will." His dark eyes seem to soften considerably while gazing at her frail form yet remained guarded, nevertheless. "Rukia…" he called out to her in the attempt to break her from the clutches of her misty dream. A dismal dream she had been living in for quite a while now.

She turned to him with eyes that no longer held their usual vitality; there was only cold, hollow vacancy mirrored in grief. "I am only a fleeting memory in his reality…one he will forget." She clutched the naked flower tightly in her grasp while rising up to meet him. "nii-sama…still I wish to break that reality." She struggled to walk to him and collapsed midway, but his strong arms caught her in fluid momentum.

"Happiness is just as fleeting, there is no forever." He enveloped her petite frame tightly into his broad ones. "I learnt that when I lost your sister." There was a bitter edge in his tone, one he would never reveal freely in the face of others.

"nii-sama…" Her shoulders shook as she buried herself deeper into him.

He led her carefully to the futon and she lay without refusal.

Byakuya secured the white sheets to warm her, "let go of that flower…" he said while laying his hand above her clasped ones. "This lily brings tears." He closed his eyes momentarily as she released the said flower in her clutches.

"the red lilies that bloom beside the graveyards are always in my dreams…" she whispered before lulling herself to sleep.

Byakuya's gaze sharpened, he held her more tightly.

This is not the path his sister must walk on.

The glorious sun was setting, surrendering his reign over the sky, but tonight the silver moon did not awaken to take over and only the forlorn stars tried to shed light across the haze of colors that tinted the heavens.

He slumped flat on the bed. It had been days since someone had been able to strike a decent conversation with him. His face buried deep in the pillows, almost suffocating him to death. He seemed lifeless as his right arm hung limply on the side of the bed.

"you look more awful each day." Kon remarked while looking down at him from his place on top of the desk, standing proudly while his paws were on his pretend hips. He insensitively enjoyed an air of pride while seeing his present desolation, even more his current vulnerable state. But he could not lie to himself that he also felt a weighty burden of emptiness.

Ichigo did not respond, in fact he did not even tilt his head to the side to acknowledge him, he remained as if he was a puppet cut loose from the strings of tension that kept him in tact.

Despondency and sorrow were contagious; he'd die from it sooner or later.

Kon felt himself lose enthusiasm, if even such still existed within them. He allowed himself to sulk in a frown as his paws fell to his sides. "I know it's hard to get used to it." Somehow he offered him empathy, though in a body of a mere toy he still had a heart beating somewhere in that bulk of cotton.

Still there was hollow silence, as if the existence of the boy in front of him was imaginary.

"what? Gone mute already?" Irritation started to fill the stuffed lion, irked of how he was being disregarded, how his efforts were put in vain. "you're not the only one who's hurting!" he snapped even if it was useless to the likes of him.

"You're not the only one nee-san left…..everyone...everyone, lost an irreplaceable friend!" he had declared while attempting to ease his own restless heart, but it seemed as if time would not allow them to heal so suddenly.

Ichigo did not mutter a word; he only turned away from him, gazing at the wall on his other side. His eyes were glassy as if lost in some elsewhere no longer in this plane of reality.

A blank glint was in his amber orbs and a soulless visage reaching out to nowhere.

Kon continued to look down at him with an unwavering glare.

So these many nights of solitude upon misery continues on, amongst the sharp clutches of the moonless sky and the treacherous hurricanes of turmoil.

She gazed at the faux heavens that he created meaninglessly and wondered if this same sky stretched out through the other worlds. Was this the same sublime cradle that lulls the earth? Does it see how each life lives on and turn back to ashes? Did god only create it so out of his own whim?

And her deep train of thought was broken by a betraying presence.

She turned to face the intruder.

"aint you dumb enough to be staring?" Grimmjow Jeagerjacques stood arrogantly behind her, a haughty smirk pasted on his lips. "you're the weakling he revived aren't yah?" he discourteously remarked.

The raven haired woman only gazed at the floor, not responding to his mockery.

Entirely irked of her disregard, the blue haired espada grunted, "che, you're a rude one…." he hissed as he grabbed her by the jaws, "look at me when I talk to you, you fucking piece of shit." Blood oozed from his finger nails that were almost buried in her face.

She gazed at him with defiance burning in her violet eyes. "get your filthy hand off me, it smells like stale fish." She retorted, the fire in her mauve orbs was not extinguished.

He forced her towards the wall; pushing her hard against the concrete it was creating cracks. "He gave you that face out of a whim…." He whispered venomously and pressed her harder against the concrete. "you're just a worthless doll." His fierce glare pierced through her menacingly, overwhelming her as she winced.

He threw her aside and turned his back at her as if she was some insignificant junk he discarded. "know your place, garbage…" he hissed resentfully cynical while walking away, hands on his pockets.

She sat on the floor vulnerably while resting her back on the equally cold wall, she watched his semblance as he left and disappeared.

His words all the while true…

Garbage….

That word rang through her senses and she could not neglect its weight upon her heart, if arrancars were permitted to have one that is.

A cold tear fell to her cheek as she bit back the whimper she almost released. Was she this weak to even shed tears when tears themselves were a fallacy to the espada?

Or was it this face she stole that gave her such godforsaken emotions…?

Blood dripped down her chin from the fingernail marks engraved on her porcelain skin.

She bit her lips and red fluid trickled from them as well...

Or was it the heart of this "Hisana" that now beats..?

She clutched her white uniform in frustration, even amongst these white garbs she was still worthless and her identity, another complete deception.

"Why am I crying…?" her voice shattered.

"you've been making hasty decisions lately, Sosuke." Kaname Tosen's voice intercepted from behind.

"I have my reasons." Aizen did not tear his glance from the omniscient sky before him.

"and when will our true purpose be met?" the dark skinned former captain queried without waver.

"patience….we just gave them a bit of a surprise…" Sosuke Aizen sneered, a malicious flare in his eyes and they both instantly knew the foreboding fate that awaited them all.

"by the way, where is Gin?"

"so it's true, the news that's been going around." Rangiku sat with them while shifting her gaze to the clear sky just outside the division. She sighed heavily as if burdened about what she just heard.

Empty bottles of sake cluttered on the table.

"yeah…it is." Renji replied while grabbing the cup from the table and drinking its contents straight. He was having sake with Ikkaku, Kira, and Shuhei after Rangiku invited them all over. "she's been locking herself in the Kuchiki Manor ever since she came back from the material world." He said tastelessly and reached for the bottle to pour himself another cup.

"so you're not going to do anything about it?" the light bulb asked as his naked head glistened from the reflection of light.

"I cant do anything, even taichou's having trouble talking to her." He replied gulping down his sake.

"You've been friends longer than anyone else could remember; I don't believe she won't listen to you." Rangiku proposed while emptying her own cup, "gaah..that was good." She made an unwomanly sound.

"she's been staring at this flower all day…" the crimson haired lieutenant frowned, a heavy feeling tore him apart on the recollection of the look on her face; that solemn look that wiped out all the life in her eyes. "those…what's their name?…" he tried to remember, the evidence of drunkenness already surfacing. "Higanbana…" he finally recalled.

Shuhei turned to him, "higanbana? Those flowers are bad luck in the north." He muttered, cupping his chin in his hand resting on the table. "they bring mourning …" he added.

The blond man nodded. "ah, I've heard of those stories. They call it the graveyard flower for a reason…" Kira stated remembering a tale he was told long ago.

There was a fracture of silence between them as they contemplated on the existence of such a miserable entity.

"the boy means so much to her, doesn't he?" Ikkaku remarked aimlessly while twirling his cup.

Renji heaved a deep breath then placed his cup on the table with a loud thud.

He bit back, a bitter sensation hanging in his throat

"More than you'll ever know..."

Her gaze was lost in the portrait of crimson melancholy staining the ground.

An indefinite sensation of hollow relief filled her as she watched them bow when the wind sang and sway as the breeze chuckled.

Crimson flowers vibrantly clustered they reflected a pool pf blood.

"they're beautiful aren't they, even as tragedy stains their petals?" a warm voice flooded her senses immediately tearing her away from her reflection.

She instantly turned to meet him.

A tender smile and soft eyes greeted her. "Kuchiki…" he called her nostalgically.

"Kaien-dono…" she responded with a silent utterance of his name yet there was no glimmer in her eyes, only emptiness.

He walked towards her and sat on the grass just beside the petite girl. "do you know what these flowers are called?" he asked her while he himself was falling in the soft allure of the scarlet dyed blooms.

"Higanbana…" she whispered while returning her gaze to the cluster of red. She remembered a fragment of her past, when she was still a girl from Rukognai. She had seen flowers similar to these red lilies only the ones she had held on a river that sunset where white spider lilies. Still she could not forget their beauty.

Shiba Kaien nodded, "Higanbana…the flower of separation…" with no logical explanation he was now delicately holding a red lily by the stem with no leaves like it was made of glass. "It only blooms when the leaves have all withered."

Rukia's amethyst eyes reflected a heartbreaking specter.

She spoke, "…just like lost lovers…never to meet even in death…" there was a sharp haze of anguish in her tone, hopelessness and sorrow enveloped those words.

Kaien tilted his head to the side to glance at her, "yet still she smiles without regret….doesn't she?" He rested a hand on her cheek and caressed it with outmost compassion. All of a sudden the life seemed to rush back in her eyes as they widened at his unexpected kind gesture.

He murmured something quite uncaught of in her ear."that is her beauty…." A smile crept his face while feeling the warmth of her porcelain skin.

Tears threatened to fall from the sides of her eyes.

Kaien only grinned at her, "Rukia, go back now." He called her by the name he'd only use for now. "wake up." The edges of her panorama seemed to blaze in an intense flame.

And with a fluctuation of an intensely bright light her eyes snapped open, feeling cold moisture flowing from the sides of her face.

Darkness slithered in every corner of his room; amidst the clutches of the shadows he lay there immobilized by the futile solitude in his heart.

He seemed to have not moved a single muscle since earlier; he was in fact in the exact same position.

The night was undeniably cold and the silence made its artic loneliness all the more biting. Swallowed in the whirling oblivion he tried vainly to overcome the pain of losing.

He remembered the last words he heard from her lips and could not stop himself from rupturing.

It was a deathly cold night, much similar to the breeze this hour.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry…" she said subtly while breaking away from his possessive hold. Blood has stained their uniforms, their swords grew dull from the too much that had been slain.

"Rukia." He tried to cease her, to keep her close to him as much as possible.

But fate was no longer on their side and even the heavens have abandoned their promises.

Her eyes were firm and unforgivable, "it's no use…" and just like that he watched her disappear.

Her voiced echoed repeatedly inside his head, bouncing in his skull, ringing so loudly a trice more he'd rip his hair off.

But he only shut his eyes hard while attempting to drown everything in more darkness; when he found it was no use, he rose from slumping in the bed.

His gaze perfectly landed on the open window permitting the frosted wind to pierce deeper.

Blonde hair ruffled by the breeze with green robes.

Kisuke Urahara smirked, sitting on the pane while pointing his cane at him.

"need some help…?" His stripped hat hid the fickle glimmer in his eyes.

Half of my heart died…

Half of it still beats…

The red flower burns in poison

She cries with crimson tears…

Undo me as a liar…

Even when death fails me…

End of Prologue

Author's notes: there we have the prologue, the pilot chapter of this sequel. I hope I didn't fail your expectations. Initially, the revolution of the plot will be revealed before long…

It may seem a bit of a haze for now but it would get clearer in time…hehe…so there we have it….

And a little trivia by the way if you were wondering about the connection of this red flower, the higanbana to bleach…well it's just a hypothesis:

The flower rukia was holding by the river when she and renji were kids, I think they were white spider lilies and the flower that bloomed in the op. song of bleach between the bount arc. I think those ones too. Well, just a guess though… higanbana are amazing flowers!

Higanbana: surprise lily, the spider lily, the hurricane lily, and the naked lady, the equinox flower, the flower of the dead, the ghost flower, the funeral flower, the grave flower, the hell flower, the poison lily, flower of love-sickness, broken heart, or unrequited love and the flower of twilight. So many names to call such a tragically beautiful flower, You'll learn more of it soon….

Hope to hear from you guys in the near future…

thanks for reading!

Reviews are very much delighted…

One question that will determine the fate of this sequel,

Will I continue?

Take care

Love,

Amerie