Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24472198-20140127004340/@comment-1387259-20140127190856

Sternritter M wrote: Perhaps Kubo intended to kill Byakuya, but for some reason changed his mind between the chapters

I don't really see that. Kubo may seem erratic, but he does plan in advance. He was probably planning to keep Byakuya alive the entire time while throwing off all the fans for a good few weeks/months.