HEY! For those of you who have read Love Always Comes Back, I have decided to write a fic about Hisako and Byakuya and how they came to be! So, here is the preface! Sorry it's so short, but the next chapter will be longer! I promise!

WARNING- MAJOR SPOLIERS FOR FUTURE BLEACH ARC!

PREFACE

110 YEARS EARLIER

A troubled fourth seat named Hisako Manataki dashed down Squad One's barracks, desperately trying to find the captain's meeting room. She heard about the accident regarding the captains and lieutenants who were somehow changed into hollows. The report still hadn't stated which captain's and lieutenants were involved, and her heart was aching with worry. The Squad Eight member turned down every corridor until she saw the large symbol 'one' on large double doors. She pumped her legs harder, and she saw some figures walking down the hall, opposite from her. Hisako couldn't tell who is was at first, but happy tears came to her eyes when the pink haori stood out on one of the figures. Her energy suddenly refilled, "Captain Kyoraku! Captain Kyoraku!" she called, getting closer to him. He glanced up and smiled at her, but it was a sad smile. A tear went down her cheek as she collided in his arms, "Captain Kyoraku! I thought you had been one of the captains that was turned into a hollow! I was so worried!" he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. She had always been a dedicated subordinate, and was the only one who didn't hit him with something when he complemented her beauty. His friend Captain Ukitake smiled at the young fourth seat as she held on tighter to her captain.

"I'm sorry I worried you Hisako. But, there is bad news." she let go of him and glanced up, seeing his sad face, "It seems that our Lieutenant Lisa was one of the casualties." Hisako's hand flew to cover her mouth as she gasped, shaking her head as she didn't believe what she just heard.

"No! It can't be true! I just saw her yesterday! There's no way she could have been there!" Captain Kyoraku nodded, sadly looking to the ground.

"It is my fault. She went instead of me last night. She was listening in on the captain's meeting last night and offered to go, and I let her. If I hadn't, maybe she would still be our lieutenant." Captain Ukitake put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't know what would happen. Nobody did." Captain Kyoraku nodded. Hisako wiped her cheeks dry.

"This just... doesn't make sense. Who could have done this? Lieutenant Lisa... What's little Nanao going to think? Lieutenant Lisa would read to her every week! This can't be happening! Things like this just don't happen to the 13 Court Guard Squads!" she leaned against the wall, breathing deeply with wide purple eyes. Captain Kyoraku was by her side, holding her shoulders.

"You need to calm down Hisako. You'll have a panic attack." she looked up at him.

"What do you think is happening right now?!" she asked, holding her hand over her chest as she heaved air in and out of her lungs, "I loose one of my best friends because of an unknown reason and you're telling me to calm down? You know me well enough to know what I do when I'm shocked!" she sank to her knees, breathing deeply to restore her normal breathing tempo.

"I know, I know. Right now you just need to wait for the report just like the rest of us. It should be coming in soon. I'll tell you as soon as I am authorized to do so. Until then, why don't you go rest? This has been a hard two days for all of us." she nodded slowly... reluctantly... before listening and trying to walk away. But she couldn't. She loved her captain deeply... not in the romantic way, but he was her role model. And she didn't want to leave his side now that something was on the loose that could turn soul reapers as powerful as captains into hollows. She had known the man since she entered the academy, and trained every day in hopes of joining his squad. And now that she was, as his fourth seat, she wanted to keep the vow she made to protect him, no matter what. So she turned back to him, a fist over her heart.

"If... If I'm quiet, can I please join you in the captain's meeting as Lieutenant Lisa's stand in? Isn't that allowed in cases like this?" he was silent for a few seconds, pondering the thought until she grasped his haori sleeve and put her forehead on his shoulder, "Please. You're like a father to me captain. I don't want to lose someone who is like family to me. Not after I lost my mother." her knuckles were turning white from her harsh grip on his haori, "I'll stay in the back and will be quiet, I promise. I just, don't want to leave your side. I want to keep the vow I made upon entering the 13 Court Guard Squads as your fourth seat. I'm begging you." she whispered, her eyes slightly open, almost fully closed. A warm hand rubbed her back as her captain brought her into another light hug. Captain Ukitake gave a friendly wink to his friend, along with a slight chuckle.

"You'd better let her Shunsui. Being the stubborn woman she is, I'd say she'd follow you even if you told her to go away." Hisako nodded, not lifting her features from his chest. He was too comfortably warm. She didn't know why all the other women detested him for complementing them. To her he was like a giant teddy bear who liked to hug and tell women how pretty they were. Although sometimes he was drunk and would flirt with them, but still, to Hisako he was a great man, and gave him the respect he deserved as a captain.

Captain Kyoraku nodded, patting the troubled girl on the head, "Alright. You can fill in Lieutenant Lisa's spot at the meeting for today." she smiled, hugging him around his neck.

"Thank you so much captain!" as she promised, she was silent as she followed them into the meeting room. There, she saw that four captains and three lieutenants were missing from the group, as well as Captain Urahara. Hisako also took not that the captain and lieutenant of the kidou corps. were missing as well.

"This is bad." Captain Kyoraku quietly whispered. Captain Ukitake nodded in agreement. They all took their places in the lines, Hisako standing right behind her captain, her hands behind her back. The head captain walked in and sat down at the head of the room.

"This meeting shall now come to order. As of last night, Squad Two's team have told us the list of captains and lieutenants. They are: Captain Love, Captain Muguruma, Captain Shinji, Captain Rose, Lieutenant Mashiro, Lieutenant Lisa, and Lieutenant Hiyori, and the lieutenant of the kidou corps. Hatachi. Also, they discovered Captain Urahara at the site of the incident. He has been taken into custody along with Captain Tessai of the kidou corps, in beliefs that Captain Urahara was the cause of this accident. Tessai has been taken into custody for performing forbidden kidou without permission, and the captains and lieutenants were found this morning in Urahara's lab, hollow masks on their faces. They will be dealt with by execution." a silent gasp came from the covered mouth of Hisako. Tears, so many hot tears wanted to fall from her eyes. All these captains and lieutenants... There was no way Captain Urahara did this! Captain Urahara was loved by everyone! There was no way he could have betrayed them! "As of tomorrow, the Central 46 has declared that Captain Urahara and Captain Tessai will be stripped of their reatsu and will be banished to live out the remainder of twit lives in the World of the Living. Tomorrow is when the prisoners will be punished and when the execution will take place. Captain Shihoin, you have your punishment team sorted out to carry out the punishments and executions?" Captain Shihoin's tanned hands were balled into fists. She slowly nodded.

"Yes sir." she answered, sadness enveloping her for having to take away her childhood friend's soul reaper powers away from him. For Hisako, this was too much to bear. The second the Head Captain's staff hit the floor in dismissal, she bolted out, allowing her tears to finally fall.

60 YEARS LATER

Order had seemed to fall back into reality in the would of Sereitei. New captains had been placed, as well as new lieutenants. Ever since Captain Shihoin broke Captain Urahara and Captain Tessai out of the Central 46 chambers, they had been in hiding for the past 60 years or so. The other captains and lieutenants who were caught in that accident vanished as well, probably also due to Urahara and Shihoin when they escaped. Hisako, now a third seat, was walking down a hallway through Squad Eight's barracks, humming a light tune, when someone covered her eyes, "Guess who." she giggled, reaching behind her. "I give up." the mystery person turned her around and her eyes went wide.

"Yumichika?!" she gasped, looking at him in his new kimono, "You're a soul reaper now?!" he nodded, "Oh! That's great!" she jumped at him and hugged him. It was not a secret anymore about their relationship, so she wasn't embarrassed to show her affections towards him as she quickly pecked him on the lips.

"What's all this squealing I'm hearing out here?" Captain Kyoraku walked out from his office, soon to get a hug from Hisako as well.

"Good morning Captain Kyoraku! How are you on this new spring morning?" he shrugged.

"Good I guess. I haven't had a good drink yet today, so come back when I have." they both chuckled, "Come on, let's go eat something." with a nod, the couple followed Captain Kyoraku to his favorite restaurant.

On the other side of Sereitei, things weren't as bubbly. In fact, it was quite gloomy. Deep in the Kuchiki household, a husband was holding his lover's hand as she slowly passed away. Byakuya wanted to be strong, for her, but seeing her in this state literally ripped his heart in two. Five years, five damn years was all the time he was given to be with Hisana. Now she was slipping away, and there was nothing he could do. His heart felt heavy, his world was crashing down on him. He did everything for her, to make her his, and all karma gave him was five years. He was kneeling by her side, her hand in his as she told him what a burden she was to him. He just shook his head, denying that statement. When did she think she was a burden to him? She was his everything. He purposefully skipped work on some nights just to be in her presence. He loved her with such a passion, every minute with her was like an early heaven to him. She completed him, she made him loosen up, forget he was a noble even. If she asked him, he would drop anything he was doing just to be by her side. And now, now that was ending. Her frail body was failing as she laid there, begging Byakuya to find her sister Rukia. With a sigh of his name, she was gone. Her hand went limp in his.

Byakuya bowed his head, a tear dropping from his closed eyes. His entire body trembled, her hand growing cold in his. He cupped her cheek in his hand, "Hisana. Please, no. Don't go." he pleaded. His grip on her hand tightening. An arm slipped under her neck and the other under her knees as he pulled her limp body to him. Her head rested on his shoulder as he held her to him. His other arm was around her waist, holding her in his lap while the tears fell silently. He buried his head in her raven black locks. She smelled of cherry blossoms. A hand ran through her hair, his tears staining his pale ivory cheeks. He pressed his forehead to hers... How cold she had become in those few minutes. What did he do to deserve this? Was it something he had done as a child? What had he done that was so bad, that karma had to take away his world, his everything, his lover? Why did they have to take away the only one who saw him not as a noble, but as a man? He wanted to hear her voice again, see those eyes, her smile, anything that would give him a glimpse of her. His eyes slowly reopened, his mouth barely parting to say one simple sentence, "I will never love again."