"Tatsuta's bloody ass, what's taking her so long?!" I start slightly at this, looking up from where I sit in a comfortable lotus to a very frazzled Kiyone. Then I twitch slightly as I get the reference. Somehow she combines the worst of Shunsui and her sister.

Disturbing.

Kiyone begins pacing circles around me, wringing her hands in anguish. I close my eyes again, head bowed in meditative posture.

It wouldn't do to be openly amused while a beloved subordinate frantically worries about the life of her sister.

I fight to keep the smirk off my face and succeed.

Mostly.

"Your sister is an extremely competent healer and a capable fighter in her own right. Captain Unohana would not trust her otherwise," I say this, knowing it is fact, and hoping to reassure her. It seems to work.

For fifteen seconds.

"...she should've sent a butterfly by now, why hasn't she sent a butterfly?" Kiyone mumbles, completing her twenty-third (I think) lap around me.

I remain as I have been: relaxed, composed, head bowed in prayer, fully taking advantage of the public's well-meaning, if ignorant typecasting of me as the serene counselor. Kiyone, more so than most subordinates, often mirrors and amplifies my own moods so I sit here in calm and will her to follow my example.

There's more wringing of hands, vocalized loudly by her trademark gloves, and the twenty-fifth lap comes and goes before the petite young woman abruptly turns on me again.

"Do you think...?" The question is spoken in a plaintively anxious tone-that of a child, before bleeding away to silence.

Her bright, sparking reiatsu begins to dim and cool. There is yet more wringing of the hands before my uneasy aide finally abandons her worn circuit for a seat adjacent to myself, which she reaches by abruptly falling back against the wall and allowing herself to gradually side down the wooden panels. A deep breath, then she's twiddling her thumbs, reiatsu still bright and sparking, but slowly less so.

With my head still bowed and face safely covered by my hair, I allow myself that pleased smile without guilt, knowing this time it for her and not at her that I do so.

A sigh.

"You could teach us all a lot about patience, Captain," Kiyone murmurs.

I chuckle, thinking of Isane's return and the fact that I'm actually due to be given a rather rigorous examination by the same woman tomorrow.

"No, I don't think so," I utter, hidden smile still on my lips and I know I have her attention, "Patience implies having something that you're looking forward to."

I am confused when the dimming spark next to me crackles bright, flashing yellow again before pulsing out into a remorseful red. Soft steps and I feel a tiny hand on my shoulder. I open my eyes at last and find myself looking into Kiyone's own anxious gaze, surprised at her unprecedented daring.

"S-someday we...you should talk about that: about not believing in something to look forward to."

I am robbed of all breath.

"...you misunderstand."

Kiyone's face goes aflame and she immediately falls to the floor in a bow so low and fast that her head hits the floor.

"FORGIVE ME CAPTAIN!!!" A blur of shunpo and she is gone before I can stop her.

The hand that I had unconsciously reached out falls back down to my side.

I am alone now, the only one waiting on Isane.

I swallow, tasting the familiar copper tang and return to my meditation, but the peace I had once had does not return to me.


Inspired by spaceisawaste's The Things Raven Sees, chapter 36.