Akon winced, sweat-soaked fingers loosing control of the tweezers held too tightly in his hand. He switched the tweezers to his free hand, wiping off his hands on the pristine labcoat.

He frowned at himself in the mirror. The pock-marks on his forehead were filled with sticky with half-dried blood. He bit his lip, trying again to insert the lightly-yellowed bone into the readied hole.

A click behind him and he froze, eyes straying from his face in the mirror to the opened door. His instruments clattered to the tray beneath the mirror. He whirled around, bowing to the man who had entered his lab.

"Mayuri-taichou," he murmured, fear-tinged voice echoing softly through the small room.

"Stop sniveling and get up. You don't have time for that," Mayuri's sharp hiss of a voice reprimanded. The 12th division captain swept quickly into the room, his almost lordly spiritual prescence choking the air.

"Of course, Mayuri-taichou," Akon replied, deferentially rising, "May I ask what brings you here?" His oddly animalistic eyes followed his captain, markedly curious.

"Do I need a reason, Akon?" Mayuri glared at his subordinate, dark eyes surveying the scientist's current work. "I saw your light on so late I became curious what could be keeping you up. As far as I know you have had no projects that would require this."

"Sorry, taichou," Akon looked a bit embarassed at the tray, "It's nothing official, just cosmetic changes."

Mayuri would have raised an eyebrow, had he seen any need to keep the useless things. "Show me"

Akon bowed his head, exhibiting the three lone pock-marks. "I had hoped to-"

Kurotsuchi Mayuri's response wasted no time, "Insert those horns into the skin?"

Akon gave his captain a feral grin, "That would be it."

Mayuri returned the smile with a manic one of his own, white teeth glinting against the black facial coverings. He lifted a withering hand, carefully trimmed and blackened nails pressing against the blood-stickied holes on Akon's forehead.

"Fascinating, but you're going about it entirely wrong," Mayuri snapped. From the depths of his captain's robe he pulled a clawed nail, attaching it to his hand. With an almost mechanical precision and unwavering concentration, he began to sculpt the flesh about the hole.

"Hand me your bits of bone, don't dawdle," Mayuri commanded.

Akon quickly handed over the horns to his captain, transfixed by his captain's serious face. He had watched the captain in operation prior to this, but nothing could compare to seeing it just inches from his face. He took a deep breath, calming himself.

"You're not forcing the skin to support the new additions," Mayuri explained, hardly as if speaking to Akon at all, "You've got to make sure the skin will scar enough to keep them locked into your body."

Akon didn't dare respond as the captain finished up the operation. Mayuri drew back, removing his clawed nail. "That is satisfactory, I presume?"

Akon glanced quickly back into the mirror, fingers lifting to feel the bloodied skin around the horns.

"Don't touch them, you imbecile. I didn't do that for you to ruin it only second later," Mayuri snapped, frowning, "Turn off your lights and get some sleep. They'll be better healed in the morning. I'll find you something to do in the morning if you find your work so little that you can spend time with such purely cosmetic work."

As the captain stalked out of the lab, Akon smiled, fingering his newly implanted horns.

"Yes, Mayuri-taichou."