Kuroi Hana

Because a few of you thought I should continue, here you go!

Summary: Of all things, Unohana gets sick! While she's alone, Yachiru comes by for a short visit. Curious after eveasdropping on Ukitake's story to Momo, she asks what happened then. But the rest of the story isn't what she was expecting!

"Ukiii~!" Yachiru said, peeping into his room. Ukitake, whom, was still ill, was back in Ugendo, in his own room, "How are you?" He sat up and smiled when he saw Yachiru pop her head in.

He coughed a bit. "I'm feeling better. I think I know why you're here," he laughed. He reached over and pulled out his bag of candy. Yachiru began to nibble on it.

"Yay! Thank you Uki~! Get better!" She laughed as she ran off, holding the candy in her hand. When she stopped by to see Unohana, she couldn't find her anywhere. When she opened Unohana's door, she found Unohana coughing!

Groggily, Unohana looked over to see Yachiru. "Yachiru-san," she said, wiping her nose. "What brings you here? I apologize, but I'm a bit ill today."

"Just like Uki. It's like you two are connected or something!" Yachiru laughed, but it made Unohana blush slightly. "Re-chan, what happened to you and Uki?" Unohana rubbed her head, thinking that this seemed very familiar, but it also caused her to blush more.

Unohana knew Yachiru was here to say, so she resigned herself to telling the rest of the story, and what exactally happened, which even now made her heart ache. "Well, Ukitake-san and I stayed together through out our days at the academy. We thought things would get more difficult once we joined our respective squads, him at the 13th, and myself here at the 4th, but it actually went very well..."

Having already been at the 4th squad for quite some time, Unohana felt herself become more confident in her abilities, as well as her shyness melt away slowly. She still remained quiet and soft-spoken. Having been bullied and picked on quite a bit by the 11th Division, she used to cry quite a bit, which would cause Ukitake to come and chase them off for her. However, she soon developed a back bone, and would look at them with a soft smile, her eyes closed, "Will you stop that please?" For some reason, the men would get scared and run.

Ukitake, (who has become a vice captain by now), watched with amusement. She turned around and smiled at him. "Jushiro-kun!" She ran over and hugged him. He looked down and blushed, like he always did when she touched him, especially since...well, she had been developing a bit over the past few decades...

"I guess you don't need my help anymore," he smiled, though in truth, she scared him sometimes too with that one particular grin of hers. She blushed and then held his hand. "Let's go eat lunch somewhere." She nodded and followed him.

On the way there, Ukitake began to have a violent attack. He coughed up some blood and began to beathe and wheeze heavily. "Jushiro-kun!" Unohana, alarmed, sat him down against a tree and began to use healing kido on him. It didn't cure him, but it would help stifle his coughing attacks for awhile. After a bit, he began to calm down. She looked at him worriedly. "Are you sure you're ok? Maybe we should go back to your division to rest?"

Neither of them had much appetite anymore, but he said, "No, I'd rather just stay out here with you." He pulled her close. "Thank you, Retsu-chan." She looked up at him and gently kissed him. He kissed her back, both blushing.

"Ok...just take care of yourself..." she said tiredly, as she curled up beside him, slowly falling asleep. That's how they spent their afternoon; together.

When Ukitake wasn't with Unohana, he was with Kyoraku, or on his missions. It was in one of these missions, that everything fell apart.

After a very grueling mission to the real world, Unohana was sent along with several other members to heal the wounded and bring them back. She knew Ukitake was there. She was relieved when she heard Kyoraku's squad wasn't there. She didn't want him hurt...nor Ukitake, but...she couldn't help but worry.

Once they arrived, Unohana went off on her own, (which was not a good idea) instead of staying with her group to find Ukitake. She sighed with relief when she found him. He was injured, but he was carrying another one of the 13th Division members on his back, who was badly hurt. She smiled a bit when she saw him, but stopped once she saw the poor injured man on his back. "Put him down!" Unohana said, as she began to heal him. She then put up a protective barrier, just in case.

"Are you ok?" She said, looking up at Ukitake. He nodded. She looked at the man. He appeared to have several cuts, but none of them life threatening. "He should be ok. It looks like he has a few broken ribs though..." After seeing so much of this, Unohana had learned to compose herself in the face of blood.

Once she healed him enough, she took down the barrier and ask Ukitake if he could carry the man again. "I'll be back soon. I need to see if there is anyone else over here!" He nodded, not really wanting to let her go out there on her own.

Unohana saw a few dead shinigami, but she found a few who were alive, huddled together behind a barrier, looking terrified. "4th Squad has arrived!" She called, running over. They looked relieved.

One man touched his friends' shoulder. "Look, the 4th Squad is here!" They took down the barrier and she began to heal them enough so that they could make their way back to the main site. She smiled, seeing that they were alright. She packed up her things, and began to follow them. One of the men turned around to thank her, when he got a terrified look on his face. "RUN!"

Unohana looked around, only to see a Hollow's face right beside her. She looked down to see that it had torn a chunk out of her leg. Her vision began to go fuzzy, and her mouth dry. The pain shot up as she screamed. She leaned herself against a tree, and knew that she didn't have the time to be chanting any kido. She reached for her zanpakto. "Mi-Min-Minazu-Minazuki!" A green mist began to form as Minazuki was released. Soon, it formed the shape of a creature that looked like a large manta-ray. Although it's primary use was to heal the wounded in its stomache, it could also attack with its large mouth and tail.

Minazuki flew at the hollow, biting its arm off. The Hollow wailed in pain, but soon began to attack Minazuki. Although it sustained injuries, Minazuki had successfully beaten the hollow. However, soon more began to appear, as well as a few other 4th Division members to see what was going on. As Unohana weakened, so did Minazuki, until she called it back so it wouldn't get hurt. Unohana slumped down and began to breathe rapidly. She looked at her leg and realized that this was something beyond what she could treat at the moment.

It was then that she looked up when she saw Ukitake killing Hollows that were coming at her. "GET BACK RESTU!" He yelled.

She tried to stand up, but fell back down. Looking behind himself, Ukitake picked her up under his arm. "Put me down, please!" She cried.

The Hollow began to charge up its cero. Ukitake couldn't run fast enough carrying her to get away from the cero. Quickly, she silently apologized to him and bit his hand so he would let go of her. And he did. She landed on her one good leg and pushed him out of the way while she jumped. She then called out, after muttering the chant, "DANKU!" The shield took most of the blow, before it shattered, sending her flying backward. However, she soon blacked out from the pain before she hit anything.

Unohana woke up in her room, her lower abdomen wrapped up, and her leg healed, but also wrapped up. Her head throbbed, but she slowly sat up. She looked over to see Ukitake sitting on a pillow beside her bed.

He looked at her when she woke up. He looked worried and angry, which was unusual for him. "Go back to sleep. I need to talk to you then," he said quietly. She sadly looked down and nodded.

A few days later, once Unohana was well enough to go outside, she sat on the deck when Ukitake came by, still with the same look on his face. "How are you?" He didn't sit down.

"I'm feeling a bit better now," she said quietly. "Are you-" His look darkened. She bit her lip, and didn't say anything else.

"Forgive me, for what I am about to say." Her heart stopped. "I can't do anything to protect you...even more than that, I failed to protect you. As I am now...how can I possibly protect when I care about most? I can't. Worse, I am a burden to you in the battle field since I never know when...it might happen," he was refering to his coughing attacks. "You have a duty to heal and aid the entire Gotei 13, not just me. But for your sake...and mine..." He looked down, pained, "I must ask you...to move on from me, Unohana-san."

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Please don't do this Ju-"

"Please...don't say anything Unohana-san..." She could tell he was crying too. He slowly walked away.

A few days later, Unohana became the vice captain of the 4th Division. She only took this as a small happiness, as the rest of it had been torn from her...

Yachiru listened as Unohana finished. "I've learned so much growing up and from my own mistakes. Though, even now," she said with a small smile, "I don't regret that decision even once. I was able to protect him, and that was enough for me."

"Do you still like him?" Yachiro asked innocently. Unohana blushed slightly, but smiled.

"As long as I am around, and doing my job, everything should be fine." Yachiru pouted. What kind of an answer was that?

Once she was alone, Unohana laid back down. "Even if we weren't meant to be...time can't change how I feel about you."