Exciting Proposal

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

A/N: I started writing this chapter a while back, left it for dead because I figured it was obvious how Isane and Retsu would end up together, and didn't want to continue unless I had a not so obvious plot device. Obviously the fact that I'm posting this chapter means I found one, and for obvious reasons I hope you enjoy it.

Duh.

As for Retsu being an insomniac. Why the hell not? I've never seen her sleeping.

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The insomniac met the nightmare girl under perfectly normal circumstances. A routine introduction into the 4th Division involved the new recruits being inspected by the captain. Isane was too preoccupied with nailing the perfect bow and Retsu was observing a twitchy young man a few bent backs over. They paid more attention to each other later that night, when Retsu was walking past the barracks and Isane stumbled out, gasping:

"W-white! My love! My love!"

"Nightmares, new recruit?"

Sure she was the greatest healer Seireitei had ever seen but there were three things Retsu couldn't fix: bad dreams, sleeplessness, and Ukitake Jyuushiro's tubercu-fucking-losis. Damn them. Refusing to quail for Retsu? The nerve.

"Ah...yes, ma'am. Sorry to have disturbed the peace."

"It's hardly your fault, is it? Don't look so frightened, you'll make me feel bad. Do you know, tea helps?"

Isane raised baggy eyes to Retsu's pleasant face. "Really?"

"Yes, I've often used it to soothe my mind on lonely nights." The subordinate wondered just how lonely Retsu must've felt to extend this offer to a rookie. "Would you join me?"

So they kept each other company, because Isane wasn't fond of waking up in cold sweats and warm screams, and because Retsu could only stalk Seireitei's nocturnal streets for so long without being bored to her second death.

"Is the tea to your liking, new recruit?"

Isane sipped. They sat on the porch in front of Retsu's chambers, watching the dark garden that was so chillingly silver when bathed in moonlight. The tea was bitter and rousing on her tongue. "My name is Kotetsu Isane, ma'am. And the tea is fine."

Retsu studied her with unguarded eyes, assuming that the young woman would be too intimidated to study back.

She assumed wrongly. Isane looked frankly back, trying to see something so intently that Retsu's concentrated perusal of her face broke.

"What is it, Kotetsu-san?"

Isane started and turned away. Her captain did intimidate her, but not in the way she seemed to intimidate everyone else. Retsu's fair mask was tightly woven and no hint of her power ever shone through except for the odd, terrifying smile. Isane who looked into her eyes, though, found fascinating stuff in them.

"Nothing, ma'am. Sorry for staring."

"Sorry for staring, too." Isane snapped her gaze back to Retsu, who was smiling as gently as ever. "My name is Unohana Retsu. Nice to meet you, Kotetsu-san."

"Please, ma'am, call me Isane." Well it felt strange to be given respect by a woman so far above her. Especially with Isane calling her ma'am and not even -taichou.

Retsu was taken aback. She couldn't really recall being asked to address someone familiarly before. A moment of deliberation, and she decided she liked the sweet thing before her.

"As you wish, Isane."

Wordlessness. Calm. Comfort.

"Isane..." Retsu was watching the sky. "Have you ever seen Kamo River by moonshine?"

"Um, no. Ma'am."

"Would you like for me to show you?"

How thrilling! Yes, please.

"Ma'am..." Isane's good sense held her back. "It's an early day tomorrow. Orientation."

Retsu nodded. "I forgot. Tomorrow night, perhaps?"

A continuation of this encounter? Isane wasn't expecting...

"Yes, ma'am."

The brunette laughed softly. "You should sound more enthusiastic, or I'll just feel like I'm dragging you along for a ride you don't like."

The sweetheart grinned bashfully. "Yes, ma'am. I'd love to go with you!"

The next night Isane dreamt of a crow eating a baby girl and Retsu drowning in stardust and woke up hollering for a fireman. Her roommate threw a pillow at her and her captain's reiatsu pulsed beyond the closed doors, waiting.

"Your nightmares have impeccable timing, Isane."

"Better than investing in an alarm clock...I only feel bad for Miu-chan, my roomie. She's forced to put up with me."

Retsu took her arm and led her to Seireitei's gates. Yamamoto Genryuusai had long since comissioned a convenient kido key for the woman's use, because of her restless excursions. They walked out easily and found the glittering river under a gibbous moon.

"Enchanting," Isane murmured, crouching at the bank to scoop some water into her palms. Retsu stood a few paces behind and was pleased with her reaction. Appreciative, not overawed.

"Look at the way it flows."

Isane looked. Strands of water twined together in a striking image, white and black under the white and black sky.

"It looks like your braid, ma'am." Isane turned to smile, and Retsu walked to stand beside her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Isane reached a wet, unthinking hand to the woman's hair. "Very much, ma'am."

Retsu's face was impassive, but her eyes were unguarded again. She put her hand on the girl's head, and for a second they stayed that way. The boss released a long sigh.

"Isane, please call me Retsu-san."

The sort of casual camaraderie that grew between two people sharing lonely wakefulness was alarming. It transcended social boundaries. It transcended captain-subordinate relations. Retsu dropped her strolls in favor of staking out the grey-haired girl's room. She was casual, in her formal way: her smile was kind instead of polite, her eyes lingered unabashedly on Isane's famliliar face. At night they became people quite removed from their diurnal roles.

It was unfortunate.

After all their diurnal roles were not to be taken lightly.

000

"Retsu-san! Good morning to you!"

A sort of stunned silence washed over 4th Division headquarters where no one spoke to Unohana Retsu unless spoken to. Isane stood bravely, happily (willingly!) in front of her captain and beamed.

Retsu. Beamed. Back.

"Good morning, Isane. How are you?"

"I'm okay," the girl replied, falling easily into step with the brunette as she walked past her boggling colleagues, "Actually I'm going down to Earth today for soul burial duty! Wish me luck, Retsu-san!"

Several members pinched themselves. They hadn't misheard. Kotetsu Isane was referring to her captain just like that. Retsu-san. No surname or anything. Holy shit! What the hell.

"Good luck, Isane. Please make it back home safely." Retsu smiled. "I'll be looking forward to it."

Everyone was straining their ears to catch the conversation now. They didn't have to strain too hard. The word 'it' fanned the flames of throbbing curiosity. What did Retsu mean, 'it'? Isane's return? Or something more...intimate? Of course there was one 'it' that everyone thought of but no way the straight-laced captain would mean that 'it', not in public, not with the rookie girl.

Isane went pink, and said, "Yes. Me too, Retsu-san," and a whole bunch of people reconsidered. Maybe the captain did refer to that 'it' so boldly precisely because no one would suspect her of it. It would certainly be a brilliant piece of thinking to do so and who but Unohana Retsu could think brilliantly?

If it was that 'it'...

The scandal! The intrigue!

The juicy meat of gossip.

000

Isane returned and Kiyone rejoiced.

"Hey! Hey! Onee-chan! Is it true, is it?"

Kotsubaki Sentarou crossed his arms and waited for his partner to extract some answers. Isane didn't get it.

"Is what true, Kiyone-chan?"

Jyuushiro's blonde fangirl pouted and fanned herself. "Duh! About you and Unohana-taichou! Are you two really...?"

Isane was tired. She had had a hell of a time on Earth and she wanted a bath, some food, and a long date with her bed. An interrogation by her little sister as soon as she stepped past the wooden gates of Seireitei was not on the schedule. Understandably, she was curt.

"Are we really what, Kiyone?"

Kiyone stared at her sister and raised a pinky. "That."

Isane stared at her sister and grasped her pinky. "...That?"

Sentarou sighed. "Are you and Unohana-taichou dating?"

"What? No!"

Kiyone said, "Are you sure?"

Isane said, "Shut up."

Sentarou said, "Surely you can tell your sister, Kotetsu-san..."

Isane threw the thing closest to her hand. It was a glass vase.

000

"Unohana-taichou!" Yamada Hanataro was such a cute little thing, "Um, hello. Good afternoon. I wonder, ma'am. What's the protocol for provoked attack on fellow shinigami resulting in minor injury?"

The brunette took a second to finish binding Zaraki Kenpachi's bandages. The jerk said, "Why don't you let the other ones do it? They're too tight. You suck." And Retsu smiled sweetly before saying:

"Another three days in the infirmary, I think. Your wounds are quite horrific."

Allowing Kenpachi time to curse his luck and learn his lesson, the oldest female captain turned to her young subordinate. "After tending to their injuries we must report to the captains concerned. And also send a copy of the medical reports to Yamamoto-soutaichou...who is it?" Her dainty eyes danced over Kenpachi. "11th Division?"

"Actually, Unohana-taichou," Hantarou picked at his sleeve nervously, in the presence of two of the scariest captains he'd ever imagined, "It's 13th."

No change in Retsu's face occured at the indirect mention of the man who was the bane of her medical existance. But had Isane been around, she'd have seen disgruntled shame in her eyes. Like reading a book!

"Oh?"

"And, um. Also the 4th."

Kenpachi laughed crudely, and Retsu said, "Zaraki-taichou, you're discharged."

"Aw hell no. My wounds are horrific, ain't they?"

If Retsu ever scowled, she might have done so now. "Yamada-san...are you quite sure?"

"Yes, captain! It's...it's Kotetsu Isane-san."

Kenpachi laughed again, and Retsu lost her cool. Turning swiftly she jabbed him with a needle at the nape of his neck. He fell back paralyzed on his bed.

"What do you mean, it's Isane?"

Hantarou wished wildly to be away from here. "She's the one that attacked, ma'am. She, er, threw an object that shattered against Kotsubaki Sentarou and Kotetsu Kiyone's arms. A few scratches..."

Poor boy, he needn't have taken the time to explain. Retsu was swishing out of his sight already, needing an explanation from her friend.

(Friend?)

Retsu froze.

(Oho, so Kotetsu Isane was a friend.)

Retsu frowned.

(What a lovely, lovely feeling sneaking up in her chest.)

Retsu clutched one hand in the other and forced a sigh past her own pretty lips.

(Ha-ha, it feels like acceptance. Isane, a friend~)

Retsu told herself, that's quite enough of that, and yanked open the door to the ward where casualties were attended to.

"Ukitake-taichou sent the fruit basket for me!"

"Why would he send it to you? I'm plainly the worse off candidate here."

"Yeah right, Kotsubaki, you just have a few scratches. Compared to my trauma...hey. Hey! It's Unohana-taichou!"

Sentarou said, "Right, like I'd fall for that one."

Retsu said, "Ahem, may I ask a few questions?"

000

A group of girls walked towards the bathhouse, jabbering excitedly.

"I swear it's true! Kotetsu and Unohana-taichou. No doubt about it."

"But how can you tell?"

"I'm her roommate! She has nightmares and screams; I wake up every time. Well with a voice like that who wouldn't? And Kotetsu goes out, I feel captain's reiatsu when she opens the door...and then they're gone for most of the night. What else could they be up to?"

"What a slut! Seducing the captain. Some girls would do anything to get ahead, huh?"

"You can say that again!"

"But in a way its romantic...forbidden fruit, you know?"

"I guess. I mean it'd be sweet if they fell in love; if Kotetsu's not just using her captain..."

"It probably runs in the family. You know how obsessed the younger sister is with Ukitake-taichou?"

"Oh so am I, doesn't mean I sleep with him. He has the sweetest face."

"And the hottest bod?"

"Well if we're going there I'd actually vote for Kuchiki-taichou."

000

Isane was walking along a thin, tapering branch. Beneath her stretched a white abyss of foggy fear. When she looked back there was nothing, when she looked ahead there was nothing. A shrill cry pierced the whiteness, and Isane fell off her branch which was really a rope that wrapped itself around her legs and she fell and fell and fell.

Unohana Retsu caught her in her arms and held her close to her heart. Isane was safe, at least until Retsu began to crack into a thousand splinters, dropping her...

"Don't let go!"

Miu slurred, "Gosh Kotetsu, I wish for once you'd scream to youurself."

Isane apologized and untangled herself from the sheets. Padding outside into the cold air, she steadied herself with deep breaths and waited for Retsu's voice to beckon her.

It didn't happen.

She turned around and said, "Retsu-san?"

No one answered.

No one was there.

Feeling slightly panicky, Isane ran on silent, socked feet to Retsu's chambers. She peered through the window and her eyes went wide with surprise. Retsu was sleeping. Hmm? Sleeping. Like a doll of the frailest kind. The young girl exhaled relief and amusement. Her captain was angelic. She let herself in and knelt next to Retsu's futon, watching her slumbering form. Retsu was on her side, one arm bent with a palm as a pillow, and the other draped gracefully over her hip. Her legs were curled up too, and her loose hair took up a lot more space than Isane had imagined.

She reached out with a dry, unthinking hand and stroked the dark tresses.

Retsu didn't open her eyes. "I'm sorry, Isane. Every now and then reality catches up with my body...and sleep overcomes."

"Retsu-san, do you really think I'd hold this against you?" Isane smiled. "If you don't mind, may I spend the night here?"

Retsu nodded drowzily, and Isane knelt some more.

The morning was somewhat strange. Somehow it had ended up being Isane sprawled on Retsu's futon, with the captain's arms holding her (like the nightmarish dream!) and her lips crazy close and her breath heady sweet (even. In. The morning) and so, so nice.

But wasn't this what Kiyone had been afraid of?

"Unohana-taichou..."

Retsu opened the saddest eyes Isane had ever seen her wear, and she realized what she'd said.

"I mean, Retsu-san!"

"No," Retsu sighed, "I think you're right. It ought to be Unohana-taichou."

"...Retsu-san!" Isane jerked away and sat up. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Isane. You've heard the rumors. Don't you think it's best for us to stay apart now, if this is how people will interpret our friendship?"

Retsu was still lying down, looking up at her subordinate through sleep studded eyes. Early morning light sprinkled through the windows and brought a cuckoo's cantankerous call into the room. Isane put her hands together and said, "Please."

"Please...what?"

The grey haired girl tugged at her clothes. "Captain, your friendship is a rare and precious thing. I value it. Don't take it away from me."

Retsu sat up slowly, knowing exactly what she was doing. "How much do you value it?"

Isane raised her eyes. "Eh?"

"What price would you pay to keep it? Would you bear the ostracized status of a woman who moves closely with her superiors? Will you tolerate the incessant attention to our relationship people who shouldn't care pay? Is it alright by you to have your talent overlooked and any reward you recieve be attributed to your special place in my heart? Isane. Am I worth it?"

Yes. By golly, yes. Retsu was worth all that and more. Retsu was her friend. Isane thought it might not be healthy this way, but she didn't think she could be happy if it wasn't this way.

"Retsu-san, you are. You really, really are."

The brunette smiled like a jasmine vine's blooming petals. "How dear. Then, I suppose there's only one thing left to do." She rose up and beckoned her companion to do the same. Clasping the girl's hands in her own, she somberly said, "Kotetsu Isane, please become my vice-captain."

Hah!

What reason would they have to begrudge them their closeness then?

A captain and her lieutenant can spend hours together and no one would think anything of it.

And for the sake of that perk, Isane would take the job.

"Captain...!"

"In the public eye, I will be Unohana-taichou to you. In private, please call me Retsu-san. As always."

"Captain...!"

"Is this agreeable to you, Isane?"

"Captain...!"

Very eloquent.

"Yes, Isane?"

"I accept."

"Of course, Isane."

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Canizzaro!