Author's notes and catching up to where the plot stands: I didn't actually ever expect to write anything else for the epic my Tale of Two Souls series had become but after certain events in the manga/anime I got to thinking about a lot of things and certain plots got stuck in my head from unrelated comments from friends of mine. I'm odd that way.

Now for plots: In my first fiction, Aizen was downed without Ichigo losing his powers, in the second, there was an enemy totally unrelated to the manga and series itself. Since the end of my last fiction where Kagome and Byakuya were married I will be skipping the sword plotline and instead picking up somewhere in the future to be described in the fiction. Overall I recommend as I will reference the last two fics reading them if you haven't done so just so this makes more sense. For example: In my fiction Byakuya's sword is a woman as I started writing this series before the sword arc. This fiction will be much darker than my previous two, enter in understanding that please. Without further ado I give you:

Remember: A Tale of Two Souls - Part Three

Chapter One: Unimaginable Interlude

"Night-dreams trace on Memory's wall

Shadows of the thoughts of day,

And they fortunes, as they fall,

The bias of the will betray."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Memory

Today-Heaven's Gate-Sestran

The sunset would have been breathtaking for most, the view from the large balcony where the golden haired King of Soul Society stood was heavenly – logical given that the palace where he resided was the closest any conscious soul would get to the celestial plane. The eternal end of the day was a constant in his plane; it was the distant heaven, the end of one part of a soul's existence. That was what his father had told him many times when he was centuries younger than he was now; the world where souls that have moved past the cycle of reincarnation would dwell.

There were dark circles under his eyes, a physical sign of the ache in his temples, he'd used the relic so often lately that it had begun to take a physical toll. Sestran's gaze was opposite the serene horizon, a storm of dark clouds churning frantically his irises. Those unique eyes were not focused on the eternal sunset that lay beyond him. Instead his focus was on a large crystalline pearl floating over the center of the balcony. It reflected his stormy gaze like a mirror.

The item was akin to what many would call a crystal ball in that it allowed him to view any where in any realm that he could stand on. Many mortals had tales about it: the lost eye of the All-Father Odin in the Norse, the tapestry woven by the fates in Greek, the fumes that represent entering the Dreamtime in Aboriginal Culture. All across the planet people have always had items that represented reading the future. From the ageless ways of reading bones or staring into water to the more modern beliefs like tarot there wasn't a culture that didn't possess such superstitions. In the end, none were particularly wrong; Sestran had been told by his father that the tool for sight appeared differently for every ruler of the soul society. Perhaps it had once been any or all of those things. The overlarge crystal seemed a fitting reflection of him. The storm trapped within it only clearing when he wished to use it to see the other worlds and what happened there.

"Kagome. I'm sorry things must be this way. I wonder if you'll ever willingly speak to me after this trespass. I can't help but think you will have run out of the ability to forgive me." He spoke softly, his lovely voice tinged with sadness. Talking to himself, for there was no way for him to send his voice through the small gate the orb could also become while Heaven was sealed. Perhaps speaking aloud would be the only thing to help him retain his own sanity in this plane where he functioned as both guard and prisoner.

Closing his troubled eyes, Sestran had to resist the urge to act as opposed to linger and watch those things he could not change or alter. What good was all his power when he was unable to reach out and help those people he loved.

"Am I no better than those who came before me? Was I wrong all along, were father's stories about grandfather nothing but a farce to keep me from asking the questions I should have? Why would you destroy so many records of the past if you were right, was it the loneliness that finally destroyed you, father?" He knew his questions wouldn't be answered; for all his power there was no way for him to look back on those things his father had erased. The orb could show him only the present, not the past or the future.

Sestran knew he was supposed to be an impartial judge in matters of reality yet the world had cursed him with a heart. "What a paradoxical existence mine is. I could open the gates to save one that I love but risk destroying everything else. I know the logical choice has been made, the one I am duty bound to stand by. That is supposed to be the correct choice. Yet it doesn't stop me from feeling otherwise."

He opened his eyes again. There was a bitter edge to the music his voice made at the single laugh he let out. The least he could do for Kagome was watch, even if he would have rather been anywhere else. He refused to look away from what he owed her.

Today - The world of the living - Kagome

Kagome struggled for breath as she approached the distant disturbance at a crawl. The uncomfortable feel of pine needles under her bare hands and knees was nothing. Not compared to the destructive energy of the released spiritual energy of the pair of combatants she was intent on reaching even if it pulled her apart at a cellular level. Which she feared might come to pass. Every fiber of her being felt as if it were likely to explode each inch she moved into the clearing where the fight was taking place. Her body and mind, every instinct she possessed as a living creature was screaming at her to flee yet by willpower alone she continued toward her goal.

Sesshomaru was wrong. There had to be another option. Beneath the man that had been manipulated by the enemy. Byakuya was still there and she had to fix him. Somewhere beneath what had been lost was the man she'd fallen in love with, her husband was there beyond the pandemonium of his unclear memories.

Certainly he'd made many mistakes, and perhaps he had been tricked into turning against the soul society but it didn't matter to her. Whatever his sins, if he might still harm millions, if his madness had the chance of destroying all of existence, if he would turn on her with his own hand - she wouldn't cease to love him. Her husband was there, lost perhaps but he was not dead, only sick. Her heart would always find the room to forgive him for what had come to pass; she must continue forward, she had to rescue him. If she couldn't fight for him, what good was the love she felt?

The pain was incredible, she could feel lines of sticky moisture down her face and along her ears, and her tears had mixed with the blood that was being sweat as a result of the massive powers facing off ahead of her. Even with her healing abilities she could only do so much, if she was anyone else she probably couldn't have made it this far. She could barely make out the scene, so blurred the world was with static created by energies never truly meant for the mortal world.

Even the battlefield itself was breaking slowly; the earth split in many places, grass was turning brown, tree's continued to splinter. Pebbles floated slightly over the ground, as if even gravity was hesitant to tread in the clearing where gods and demons stood.

On one side a gilded demon. Silver hair framing the deep azure crescent mark of Sesshomaru, it with the claw-like scarlet marks on his face and wrists signs of his terrifying lineage. His regal face was elf like, slightly longer pointed ears, pointed nose, thin eyes and sharp lines to his face. Clad in the white and red kimono she remembered from his days in the feudal era, over it the black and silver armor with the usual extended clawed piece of metal around his left shoulder. In the yellow and blue sash tied at his waste were three blades, the Tensaiga, Tetsuagia and the last one that made her heart sink; the Bakusaiga. The hilt and pommel both crafted to look like blank white puzzle pieces. The sword that was capable of completely disintegrating that which it poisoned. On his right side and over his shoulder lay a long boa like attachment of fur that was waving wildly in the winds, his tail in his human form to the best of her knowledge. Golden eyes were narrowed and staring at his opponent as thus far it was only their spiritual pressure that clashed.

At the other end of the field stood a man that was slightly similar and yet gave off an opposing image. He wore black robes; his face was similarly regal, though longer and more rigid than his opponents; Byakuya's stygian strands of black hair seeming almost to absorb light where Sesshomaru's platinum locks seemed to possess their own illumination in the moonlight around them. His eyes were charcoal grey, though they matched the superiority of the man he faced. He wore the plain uniform of a soul reaper, white and black, without a captain's coat or the green scarf he normally wore.

"You have grown in strength. A pity it will do nothing to change your fate. You should feel honored; you will fall to my father's fang." Kagome could hear Sesshomaru though she couldn't manage to catch enough breath to cry out. To a point she was thankful when he drew out the Tetsuagia.

"Senbonzakura will slash through your ego as well as your resolve; your fang will be easy to cut down in comparison to your pride. If you insist on this foolish pursuit she will shear you slowly to your destruction one layer of flesh at a time." Byakuya replied, his voice mirroring the vain tone of the demon lord.

"As foolish as ever you were spirit." Sesshomaru was losing patience and Kagome could hear it. "I only still my hand for the sake of Kagome. Step down or her mercy will not save you from my wrath this day. It is troublesome to offer even that small benevolence."

"Large words for a demon. Perhaps it's time you were cleansed from this world for overstepping the bounds of what you are capable of dealing with." Byakuya's comment was followed by him drawing his sword. The ground of the clearing started to sink as the extreme pressure somehow only increased further, disintegrating the ground of the clearing steadily.

"No…" Kagome couldn't get it out as the scream she wanted it to be, she could barely hear herself over the din of the wind and the static curling across the air. "Please…stop…Sesshomaru…don't…I'll do anything…please…"

Sesshomaru's reply however was a sure sign if he had heard her plea he was done listening. "In this you match my thoughts exactly."

The pair vanished from view, a crater of dust and spray of stones erupting from the ground beneath Byakuya as he parried the demon's blow. The sword's striking against each other sung a bitter dirge of finality as the battle began…

6 days ago – Soul Society - Kagome

Kagome sighed as she looked at the pot in the distance, it had only been five months since her marriage to Byakuya, and she still hadn't improved much in this particular skill. Fixing things as opposed to people seemed beyond her priestly ability, accented by the pieces of the last vase that had been on the pedestal her aim was pointed toward now that a new item had replaced it.

"Won't you eventually run out of pots and vases?" Kagome asked as she looked toward where Sestran was watching her. Handsome as usual, but she only wanted to punch in his nose at mildly amused expression he was offering.

"There is a lot of clay for more crafting." Sestran commented, giving a tiny dismissive shrug. "Do not concern yourself with running out of things to break."

"I'm not trying to break them!" Kagome huffed back at him. They didn't see each other often but he always managed to both inspire and annoy her when they had lessons. "I think you aren't showing me the right way of doing it on purpose so you can laugh when I blow things up."

Once a month he would spend a day with her, aiding her continuing development of powers, she was doing much better in other areas and could even cast many low level and a few medium level kido. She just couldn't repair physical objects, when she tried she ended up with explosive results more impressive than when she was trying to be aggressive.

"You'll figure it out." Sestran raised a golden brow at her insinuation he wasn't helping. "Keep working at it. I recommend studying structure and engineering if you have the time; having a deeper understanding could allow you to better picture them the way they should be."

"You want me to take up Ceramics?" Kagome eyed him skeptically.

"If it helps you to repair these pots and vases, it gives you an idea of what you need to study to fix other things. I'd also recommend signing up for more math and physics classes at your college." Sestran answered her, and while she could tell he was being serious, there was always a musical part of his voice that made him come off as a little whimsical.

"I've never studied medicine but I can heal people just fine." Kagome pointed out with a shake of her head. Somehow she figured an object would still implode even if she knew just what it was suppose to be.

As usual, he was very difficult to stay angry with, and while Kagome didn't like that she let the calming aura of his presence wash over her. It did help her focus. She was turning to try again at his gesture when the door opened as she stopped. They hadn't met many times, this was only the sixth, but they had never been interrupted. It was only close to noon, so it was very early and made her concerned as to what could justify someone coming in.

It was Ukitake, the captain of squad thirteen was who the average person believed she was studying with. Her lessons with Sestran were only known by them and a handful of others, as his movements being the King of Soul Society needed to be kept confidential.

"Continue." Sestran gestured lightly to the vase, his movements naturally graceful. Even though she'd never offered him her complete obedience as many in soul society had Kagome immediately desired to listen; such was his natural ability for command. She shook her head and refocused on the pot, looking it over in hopes of being able to better picture what it should look like without the crack running along one of its sides.

The white haired captain was using hushed tones with Sestran and Kagome couldn't make them out, she was curious but she tried to avoid eavesdropping so instead she focused on her magic, planning to try to fix the small break. Though the vase cracked more and fell from the pedestal, her concentration as broken as the clay by a chill wind that passed through the room. Her eyes moved to Sestran, but his face was its usual slightly amused expression by the time she'd glanced his way.

"We'll need to pick this up next month." Sestran said to her and began to head out of the room as he finished his statement. "Please, go with Ukitake, he'll escort you to Byakuya's office. You are to wait there until Captain Kuchiki can stay with you."

Kagome wanted to ask questions but he was already out the door as he finished his commands. Instead she turned to the older captain that was often sick. "Ukitake?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you Kagome. I'm under orders; though try not to be concerned." Ukitake offered kindly, holding the door for her.

Kagome's lips curled into a half-frown, half-pout but if there was one thing for certain, there are some orders the soul reapers couldn't break. She would have pressed if it was Byakuya, but she knew she wouldn't get anywhere prodding Ukitake for information right now. She sighed as she stepped out the door and walked back toward sixth squadron with him. Likely Sestran knew already she would want to know what was happening as soon as possible, why he ordered her to wait for Byakuya – he knew that her husband would tell her what she could safely know.

Resisting the urge to sigh as she followed him along, patience wasn't one of her best virtues.

End Chapter

Whew…so lots of drama and don't worry, we'll catch up to the end of that Byakuya/Sesshomaru scene in there later. Much to come!

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Well as this is the first chapter I have no reviews yet, however I'll generally post a reply to any comments/questions in reviews that warrant one. I won't answer questions about upcoming plots but I'm always happy to hear predictions!