Characters: Soken, Uryuu
Summary: There's always bleeding somewhere. /Silver scales flash from the water./
Pairings: None
Warnings/Spoilers: No spoilers
Timeline: pre-manga
Author's Note: Not much to say here.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
He sees the strain behind bright, watchful blue eyes, even if Uryuu tries to hide it—he's just a child and as such isn't very good at hiding his emotions (yes), and Soken's made a career out of being watchful of his surrounding and other people.
Small pale hands skate over the glassy surface of the water as Uryuu leans over the small brook and beckons his grandfather over with jabs at the air with a hand still soft and rounded—he's that young, though sometimes he seems older. The day is soft gray and gently overcast; it rained last night and the ground is still soft.
Soken blinks and can't quite smile. He sees more of his son in Uryuu by every day, in the analytical take on the world around him, the perfectionism, the reticence. But it's impossible not to see everything when in situations like these.
Tense set of the shoulders and back, eyes not quite focused on what he watches, looking past and beyond at something only he can see. Uryuu's doesn't smile very often (at least not nearly as much as other children do) and when he does it never seems quite wholehearted—like something keeps him from really smiling. Even when he's happy, truly happy, those smiles seems strained and pale imitations of the real thing.
Blood drips away in places no one else can ever see. Soken can read the story beneath the fleshy mask but never the best judge of solutions to human situations isn't sure what to do.
Uryuu seems happy enough when he's with him, in an incomplete way. There's not much more Soken can do but try to engage in damage control.
Groaning slightly from arthritic limbs he kneels down beside his grandson and sees what Uryuu is pointing at. Silver scales flash from the water, a single fin glittering as fish fly down the current.
"Yes, Uryuu, I see them."
Uryuu smiles up at him and continues watching the fish with the single-minded concentration only a small child can have.
He really does have a sweet smile, Soken thinks absently, even if it's never quite all there, even if he can still hear blood dripping.