Disclaimer: I do not own bleach.
Chapter Two: The Lie
When I opened my eyes I snapped them close. The daylight burned. Seconds later my head was remembering a heavy pain that had been sleeping all night with me. It was like my head were bleeding on its inside. Grunting I slowly straighten up, holding my head and blinking slowly unto the room. Disoriented I looked around. The room didn't stopped spinning. I rubbed my eyes. Oh, how much I loved hangover.
When I recognized the room I stared dazed at it. What was I doing in my office? Did I spend the night here?
Great. That meant that I passed out like a bitch while doing something important I presumed. What a trip yesterday. I wondered what else I did in those blank hours of my life. I chuckled, would've been awesome if I'd scared everyone out as I came here. Yachiru once told me that I looked like a crawling laughing demon when I was drunk and we both agreed it to be cool.
It would've been much cooler if that bitch Unohana had happened to pass by and I'd scared the hell out of her. Of course that would've been possible. If so she would've taken me in as a patient on her hospital and I would've ended as a fool once again.
Trying to stand up I almost lost balance. My sides were swinging. I covered my eyes with my head and headed for the door. This deserved a good long bath. The spikes on my hair were messed up for having slept in over them. My haori probably was stained of alcohol or something, all the more reason to head out home. But when I went down the corridor my fifth seat yelled at me.
"Argh! Don't shout, shit!" I told Yumichika.
"I didn't shout Captain." He tilted his head to a side, "What's the matter? Hangover?"
"Runover more like it."
"Tsk, tsk. So ugly. The worst part is the vomit. So disgusting."
"I don't puke" I glared at him, "And don't make me change my mind. Why the hell you called me for bitch?" I asked holding my forehead as the dizziness clouded me little by little.
"Mail is here" he said handing me a picture, "The lieutenant sent this along with best of wishes and some drawings of you."
I looked at the paper he gave me. It was a picture of Yachiru smiling at me pointing out at a sculpture of a red dragon behind her. Over a corner of the picture she had written: "Hi Ken-chan! I wish you were here! I'm having fun but I miss you! I miss you! I miss you! I miss you! Hugs, Yachiru!"
I chuckled. Her handwriting was improving. It looked like the Friday night classes were finally paying off.
"When are they coming back?" I asked passing the picture to notice a collection of eight drawings of me with Yachiru. This made me smile; more pictures to hang up in my office.
"I think I remember Matsumoto saying something about the twentieth." Yumichika said thoughtful, scratching his nape, "Can't say for sure Captain. The World of the Living is an odd place."
I scoffed, the headache remembering me where I was heading, "Whatever. I have to go, take a shower. I want no one to interrupt me. If someone asked, I died."
With that I turned on my heels and began to walk away from him, massaging my temple and watching the drawings Yachiru had given me. Once bathed and dressed I did my hair once again and went to wonder around my Barracks. My dizziness had gotten worse but I wasn't gonna lay on bed like a leper all day. But taking a walk around the barracks didn't helped at all either. I just liked to complicate things for me. The light of the sun was irritating. I had to cover my eyes every time I passed by an opened door of a bright room with open windows. This was getting annoying. How can I make it through the day like this?
In the barracks everything seemed in order. My men were playing like fools as always. When I passed by them they bowed at me and saluted me a good morning. I raised my hand as giving them the same; I was too ached to move my head. Nausea tempted to break at any minute. I had never puked but this could be a pretty first time.
I had no option than to return to my office. When I opened the door a strange Déjà vu thundered in my head. I was paralyzed at the door staring at the floor next to my desk. I began to think about her, the Captain of the Healing Squad. Her herbs scent came to my nose, as if she were there. And then a strange feeling about forgetting something hit me square on the face.
I shook my head. How could I possibly be thinking about her again? I was pathetic. What the hell was I doing?
I needed to clear my mind. Wasn't dreaming about her far enough but now I wanted to think about her too? Was I out of my mind? I sighed. Why wouldn't that woman just leave me alone?
I was about to turn when my eyes caught up with something shinning on the floor. I stared at it, with no clue of what it was. I came over to it and picked it up.
It was a small, sealed, crystal bottle with some brownish green plants inside. I didn't have any idea of what the hell it was, but it smelled strong. Must've been a medical plant of some sort, but…what the hell was it doing in here?
I looked around for some other sign of something else left out. But this was about it. It source was the more bothering. Only one person could carry this with him at all times…and that was her.
I started to panic. What was Unohana's bottle doing in here? How long this has been here? When did she ever come to my office…?
And then I thought about yesterday and that blank time in my life when I was drunk.
Wait…Was it possible that…No. That couldn't be! Was she here when I was drunk? There was no way that she couldn't have come and left without anything else happening in between that time!
I shook my head. I was overreacting again. I was really beginning to become weak. Why would I ever bother if she were here or not? It wasn't surprising. She has been here before just as she has seen me shirtless and wounded. What was the difference now? It was her job after all.
I just needed to face the task ahead; give this little crystal thingy back to her and say that she must've drop it a long time ago. That's it. No need to feel intimidated. I was just going to give this back to her. What could possibly go wrong?
Her squad barracks seemed bigger than before, but then I thought I was just nervous of getting in there without a physical reason or an invitation. In my time here on Soul Society I had never thought of entering there just to see her and much less, to do her a favor. From the moment I had stepped in the fourth squad barracks I was a magnet of attention. As I passed by the officers and nurses they gasped and whispered between each other as I went. Some others more politely bowed and saluted me although there were much more afraid than the ones that didn't.
After a long journey through those assholes, I felt Unohana's spiritual pressure near by. I followed it until I reached a door. Her muffled voice was in the other side. I slide it open and the room appeared lighted up in front of my eyes.
It was a big room full of beds in each side. Three tall windows let the sun in at the bottom of the room. Right in the middle of a hall made by the aligned beds Unohana gave me her back as she spoke to some nurses gathered in a meeting circle. They were the first ones to spot me at the door. They told the Captain to look at my way. Unohana turned puzzled and when she saw me my heart jumped. She smiled at me, "Captain Zaraki?" her voice seemed surprised and in a hurry, "Hold on a minute. I'll be right there" she told something else to her officers that were still staring at my direction before dismissing them.
I didn't know what I was doing there by then. That place had always been so aliened to me that when I always faced her, it was like facing a stranger who knew me. When she turned my pressure raised and I forgot everything about the world around us. She was coming right at me now and I felt cornered, regretting ever coming here in the first place.
"Morning Captain Zaraki" she said with that sweet and irritating voice of hers. Her hands were always down and her eyes up at me as I gazed them down, "How may I help you?"
I couldn't hear her. My heart was so noisy and her eyes so deep and alive I couldn't concentrate, "Um…I-ah…"
Unohana tilted her head, "Now, now, I'm in a hurry Captain. Please tell me why you are here."
Dammit. I needed to snap out of it, but it was so hard with her so close. "I…I came here…to give you something I think you dropped…" I searched in my shukahusho pockets and handed her the small bottle. I sure got that right because at gazing it she gasped and took it.
"My basil." She stared at it for very long minutes before raising her head back to me, "Where did you found it?"
"At my office" I said, being careful with my words not to sound too suspicious of her, "I think you must've dropped it a long time ago."
Unohana closed her fist around the bottle without looking at me, "Yes. Probably a long time ago"
I arched my eye brows. I was sure playing it cool, but she seemed otherwise. Her voice folded in sarcasm. So she did know something I didn't. I glared at her for the long minutes that had passed in silence. Just what the hell was she hiding from me?
Something told me this wasn't the right time yet to find out, "Well, be careful next time Captain" I said turning in heals to head for the door.
"Captain Zaraki"
I had slid the door open, "What is it?" what could she probably say to me at this point?
She waited so long to speak that when she finally spoke, I hold my breath, "I was just wondering," She began, opening a question that surpassed the barrier of professionalism, and I saw nothing good coming out from this, "There is an activity my squad is throwing up for my third seat tomorrow…Would you, I mean if you have nothing else to do, would you like to pass by and pay me a visit some time tomorrow night?"
I glared at her down, "What?" I snapped.
She shrugged, "It's just if you liked to…I mean, my lieutenant is out on that trip and I'm here so lonely. I would like to have a little company.
Was she serious? Was she really asking me to go to a party with her?
Once again that woman has bewildered me completely, "But you've got your squad with you. Isn't that enough company for you? Besides why the hell do you want me there for?"
"I was just asking, Captain" she interjected, "It's alright if you don't want to come." She gazed up at my eyes for the first time, "When I asked you I was expecting a more understanding no rather than a yes, so it really doesn't matter." She smiled at me, "But thank you for your time. If that is all, I must continue. I have a lot of work to do. Good day Captain Zaraki"
And with that she left, side stepping next to me and avoiding my stare. I felt confused at first, but guilt was the one to wash me over at the end. What was I doing here in the first place? I asked for none of this! When Unohana's spiritual pressure was long gone, I left as well exiting this fucking barracks in a contrary direction. I've had enough of this bullshit! That woman once again has proven herself out of her mind. How could she bring that up and then drop it like that all of a sudden?
Stammering back to my squad with hell in my mind, I called out for my third seat. I was feeling pissed of today and I wasn't going to flap about it to my pillow. I unsheathed my sword in our squad's gym and began to stretch. By then Ikkaku appeared at the door, "Good!" I said, "Excellent timing Ikkaku"
My third seat seemed disoriented, "You called me captain?"
"Yes I did. Call all my high ranked officers. Today we are going to sweat like beasts!"
The sun was setting over the buildings when my men crawled out from the gym, all moaning in agony and panting of exhaustion. I, however, was doing great. After all that discharge of energy I felt alive again. All that bullshit about Unohana seemed nonsense now. I could finally let go and be free of her. My best medicine had always been taking it on my men, and I assumed that they felt grateful for it. No one else could have the privilege to learn from me and live long to tell the tale proudly.
I was sitting over a windowsill at the gym, clinging to my bloody sword as I gazed the sunset through the window. My mind wondered back to this morning although I couldn't believe myself I was still thinking about that. She looked so sad when I she left me. Did I really hurt her feelings? After all this years she has never shown her soft side; if she had ever had one. She had always seemed so straighten forward and so strong I gave up to the idea that feelings for her were nonsense or a burden to her professionalism. And that, at that time, had been the only thing I saw that Unohana and me were alike. Feelings were chains that dragged us back in our duties as Soul Reapers, or in my world, hold us back in a good fight. It was like a sin for me.
But today she had showed me otherwise. She had proven me that she wasn't as strong as I thought. What made her like that? Was she truly expecting me to go? Didn't she say that she was waiting for me to tell her a no? Then why did she ever ask in the first place? Did she somehow think this would leave a guilty feeling in me and I'll end up dragging my guilty ass to that stupid party? No way! I wasn't a fool! I wouldn't let her play with my head. Who did she thought I was?
"That bitch"
I stood in my feet, placed my haori on and left the gym, not knowing where I was heading, but knowing for sure that my mind was set up. I wasn't gonna waste my precious time thinking about her again.
On the next day, I had been sitting in my office all day struggling over reports with my fifth seat helping my boring stay between tons of paper get more tedious. The sun was setting behind me quite much more different than the day before at the gym.
Today was Unohana's party.
I had made my mind so why had I counted down the hours for the event? Was I really enjoying this torture? I never stopped glancing at the clock hanging in my wall, that hideous clock which so many times I've tried to dismember, but with the risk of it being something with an important background for the squad and consecutively the Old Man, I have hold my impulses down.
Writing and reading. Signing and proceeding. While Yumichika served me as a living companion to me, my grudges to Unohana kept at bay. The real things in front of my eyes were distracting me, helping me to control myself, to forget about tonight.
But as I thought harder and harder about forgetting it, Yumichika interjected, "We are almost done, sir." He placed a piece of paper in front of me, "Just sign there and there and we are done"
Sighing I did as he said. He removed the paper from my desk, "All right that's all for today. Thank goodness we finished right on time" he said looking at the clock I've been glancing all day.
"Right on time for what?" I didn't really cared; I was just trying to find some other distraction before the grudging thoughts reappeared.
"A party" Yumichika said turning to me, hugging the papers with one arm, "Squad Four it's throwing up a party for Captain Unohana's birthday. Nothing that we of squad eleven should care, but they promised free food and sake and by looking at our cafeteria cook I can't help but say that I can not let this opportunity pass b-"
I pushed my chair back standing in a jump, "What did you say?"
Yumichika jumped startled, "What? No need to over react Captain! I never actually said that our cook was an awful one-!"
"No, you dumbass! The thing you said before that! About the party"
My fifth Seat brushed his hair with his fingers, "Take it easy Captain. I just said that the party is for Captain Unohana. It's her birthday, no reason to overreact. That is so unlike you Captain."
"But she said it was her third seat's …" I was so in shock that I hadn't realized that I thought out loud. She lied to me. No wonder she was so sad when she left me after I had said no. It was her birthday. But why didn't she say so? Dammit! And why did I care? Damn! She's so stubborn!
"That idiot!" I said, stammering out of my office, ignoring Yumichika's stare until I was at the hallway.
…
Once again I had the Squad Four barracks high in front of me. In the distance I could hear the faint conversations and ambient music of a party. I took a deep breath not knowing clearly what I was doing there. I just knew I had to get things straight with that woman. No more lies. What the hell she thought me for? The hell with her!
I stepped in, the music and distant voices guiding me. It wasn't long until I found myself in an interior garden with a lot of Soul Reapers in there. There was a long table with dishes to my right and to my left tables with Soul Reapers eating and drinking sake. I devised the Old Man in a corner talking with Captain Soi Fon and with his faithful lieutenant Sasakibe drinking by his side. Most of the thirteen Court Guard Captains were gathered there with glasses on their hands. The only one missing was that Kurotsuchi freak and me…
In that instant I figured that I had been invited just like everybody else to this freak show…but then again, I'll probably had been the only one lied to.
I placed a foot over the grass when I herd my name called. I lifted my eyes. Her voice had been gasped and when she went at me she walked in stride. It had me stunned how alive her eyes had turned. When she cached up on me I could see Unohana clearly. Her face was shining like the moon, "I knew you've come!" she said. The air in my lungs had been stolen but my heart was beating faster, suffocating me.
Her deep blue eyes were quite more different than I had remembered. I could fell into complete hypnosis with them. I restrained my impulse to caress those soft cheeks of hers as I restrained myself into lounging over her to cover her in my arms. Just how did she hypnotize me like that?
"Why didn't you told me this was your birthday?" it was all my mouth could say.
Unohana smiled, "Is that why you came?" I frowned. Was I being interrogated again by her.
Small fingers took mines. I froze and looked down. She had taken my hand and I wasn't jerking it away. I was so stunned at how soft and delicate they were that nothing else seemed real. My chest boiled with something that made my stomach feel strange. With our hands together she guided me deeper into the party and the crowd. "Why you never asked" she answered.
As she guided me and everyone looked at our way, I realized that I wasn't holding her back.
A.N: I hoped you liked this chapter. This story will go on, probably ten chapters or so, I can't say for sure. O_O...I have to let the inspiration decide. If I find more drawings KenUno the better X3! Well next chapter is coming soon. Please review if you have anything to say! Reviews are like gasoline to me.
