Hello, hello - looks like we all made it through the FF net face lift :D

We promised an omake though, and here it be - just in time for the weekend :)

Chapter 20 and 1/2 - Where Stark is a bit geeky, but he likes it :)

Stark looked up from his book, but did not frown as Unohana had expected he would. It was, perhaps, the fact that she felt mildly guilty over disturbing him that made her assume he would mind the interruption – she'd watched him sitting in the garden and reading for the past few days, and he'd seemed so focused on the words before him that she had long hesitated in doing anything that might have pried his attention away.

Or well, she thought, feeling increasingly embarrassed as she sat down a foot away from his side, and under the single, young apple tree, she'd long hesitated in doing anything that would have drawn his attention to her. By all rights, she should not even have wanted that. And still…

The intimacy of the two past nights never seemed to survive dawn. For as attentive and giving as he was when he touched her, daybreak rendered him aloof and distant, and he tried as best he could to assure that their paths did not cross – either in the small house, or in the tiny garden. For the first few days, Unohana had felt grateful: it truly seemed as if the Arrancar did not wish to impose his presence on her, or perhaps, he did not want to suffer her presence. Either way, Stark had tried to minimize unwanted contact in a way which, after the added knowledge of him she fancied she had gathered during their nights, she dared assume was no more than him being quaintly discrete.

By venturing into the garden she simply wished to let him know that she did not want to avoid him, and that his presence neither disgusted nor frightened her, Unohana thought.

Nothing more than that.

The day was bright and sunny, and the shadows of leaves above danced merrily across the pages; she peered at the book in open curiosity, but found its letters and horizontal rows alien.

'What language is this?' Unohana shyly inquired.

'French,' Stark answered.

He did not pry the book away; in fact, she had the sensation that he'd inched it towards her.

'Your language?' she asked, not knowing whether the question was appropriate, and not intending to stir painful memories.

'My mother's language,' he replied, once again not thinking what she'd expected him to. 'My mother tongue is German…'

Stark smiled at her obvious confusion, and closed the book.

'In a land far away from the edges of Karakura,' he began, in a mildly ironic, but kind tone, 'to the far west of your world, there is a fairy tale place called Europe, where not all countries are islands.'

'I know,' she answered, a bit rebelliously. He narrowed his eyes, calling her bluff, and she blushed. 'I don't know much more than that, though,' Unohana admitted, lowering her glance.

'France and Prussia – the Prussian Empire, bordered uneasily on each other during the time when I lived. I think this was partly because the border provinces, which often changed rulers, had come to belong to neither land, but rather, have a mixed identity of their own. My father thought he was German and my mother thought she was French, but they spent their entire childhood playing across the street from each other. They loved each other and married, but though they came from the same place, neither of them ever renounced their perceived identity. It was always amusing,' he smiled. 'She grew red in the face when my father spoke German to me, and he was always uneasy when she either berated me or soothed me in French. I think she would punish me – the tickle torture was the norm in our house, since I am terribly ticklish - for saying my mother tongue is German.'

Unohana laughed.

'I understand and don't understand at the same time,' she shrugged. Stark smiled in his turn. 'But I have to say that I envy you a little,' the woman dared.

'Whatever for?' he frowned.

'Because you remember your human life,' Unohana honestly answered. 'I do not even know if I had one, or whether I was born here for the first time. I mean…'

She searched for her next words, yet again fearing she would offend him.

'My memories are not poor; I have experienced warmth, doubt, and growing up while being cherished, and while I cannot fathom the physical sensation, I think I at least recognize the spiritual warmth of the tickle torture you mention. Yet, it has been only once. If I had a human life, and a mother, I would dearly wish I could remember her. You do,' she simply concluded.

'I was not born again in Hueco Mundo,' he distantly said. 'I too remember only one childhood and only one mother.'

'I am sorry – I did not mean…' Unohana rapidly began; the smile in the corner of his lips was just a tad bitter, but was a smile nonetheless.

'I understood what you meant,' Stark said; he gazed in the distance for a moment. 'I think I never saw things in that perspective,' he added. 'Whenever I suffer, it is made deeper by what I have felt before; whenever I experience happiness, it too is enriched, whereas you only have this moment and this lifetime…'

He grinned, suddenly looking confident.

'I think you are right,' Stark said. 'I think you should envy me a little.'

Unohana chuckled, and felt at ease.

'I would like to be human again,' she said. 'Or maybe, I would like to be human the first time.'

'And give up all this glory?' he questioned, arching an ironic eyebrow.

'Soul Society never changes,' the woman answered, with a mild shrug; she questioningly looked at him, then continued, along a different line. 'Szayel Aporro,' she began to explain, watching his face for any sign of discomfort, 'is very young in the cycle. Just like you, I assume, I find most aspects of his personality terrifying.'

She waited for his nod before continuing.

'Yet,' Unohana said, in a tone that bordered on apologetic, 'the way in which his mind works is fascinating to me. It is not simply the knowledge he possesses, but his ability of transcending borders between subjects, and, within a split second, making his knowledge of technology useful to say, anatomy, and genetics – the associations that his mind makes, the sheer freedom and creativity it has…I do not think that I am less endowed, in terms of intellect,' Unohana said, without false modesty. 'But I was taught to think within boundaries; my mind does not freely associate my knowledge of chemistry to my knowledge of medicine. It only does so along learned paths. I have to make a permanent and conscious effort to associate technology with either medicine or chemistry. The world that made Szayel Aporro, with all that is frightening, but also all that is magic about him, must be a truly interesting place.'

'The world that made you,' she said, lowering her glance, 'must have been a fascinating place. But I am here, where I was born, in a place that never changes, and assures that I do not have to change either.'

'Habitude is comforting sometimes,' Stark offered.

'It's been two thousand years,' she whispered. 'I am just…curious.'

'You likely would not remember this if you were to be human again,' the Arrancar said, softly. 'You would not see human life and all of its little joys and mysteries as anything else but moments in which something or another inconveniences you. You'd lack the perspective that you have now, and without the perspective, you would not feel how wondrous it truly is. You'd just think you are suffering through it.'

'I know.' Unohana answered. 'I think the nature of all spirit is to be restless, regardless of the form of its incarnation. It is uncomfortable and perhaps destined to never be truly peaceful, but it is beautiful nonetheless – the fact that we always long for completeness assures that we are never left without aspiration. I like that. What are you reading?' she asked, feeling oddly ashamed of the honesty of her admission.

Stark pursed his lips, then grinned with a touch of arrogance which let her know her feelings had not gone unobserved.

'L'Esprit des Lois,' he answered, offering the cover of the book, and its alien letters for inspection. 'The spirit of laws,' he translated, with a superior smile; she frowned a little, as if to say his irony had been a touch unfair. 'It was written by a fellow called Charles, baron of Montesquieu, and what he was attempting to do is make logical links between the French legal system, and human nature.'

Unohana inched closer, peering at the book's cover with a bit of regret.

'He thought,' Stark continued, 'that laws exist as they do because there are inherent traits of human nature, or simply naturally occurring phenomena which mechanically justify them; there's a hilarious chapter that attempts to link monogamy to the natural ratio of male and female births, and he seems to assume that legal systems which allow polygamy or polyandry exist because in those countries, there really are far more women than men, respectively, far more men than women.'

'Which is not the case?' she asked.

'I do not think so,' Stark shrugged. 'I think that particular issue is determined by culturally created perceptions of self. But – I have some advantage over him, because I might have glimpsed some modern statistics which say that the ratio of male to female births tends to stay constant across geographies, and that large misbalances only occur as a mysterious response to cataclysmic events, such as wars or earthquakes. I am sorry,' he said, scratching the back of his head. 'I do not mean to lecture…'

'What else does he wonder about?' Unohana inquired, not hearing his last sentence.

Stark was disconcerted for a moment, glancing between her and the book's cover, as if he'd found it hard to believe she was interested; still, she read nothing in his doubt, and simply looked to him in anticipation. He surrendered.

'Well,' Stark began, opening the book and hastily searching for a chapter, 'many things. Let me find something that you'll find familiar, there is a section where Japan is quoted as an example. I'll apologise beforehand, he probably knew as much about Japan as you know about Europe, but…'

'It is all right,' Unohana chuckled.

'All right, then,' he nodded. 'The chapter in which he references Japan deals with proportional punishment, and how a legal system must make sure that the punishment is in proportion to the crime; he contends that either too lax, or too harsh penalties equally defeat the purpose of establishing a lawful society. He offers imperial Japan as an example of the latter, I fear.'

'Read to me,' she prompted, with honest, childish excitement. 'If you want to,' she caught herself, inwardly berating herself for being presumptuous. He had, after all, come to the garden to read in peace. 'You do not have to,' the woman said, lowering her glance. 'I did not mean to fragment your thoughts…'

'Extravagant penalties can corrupt despotism in itself,' Stark read out loud. He stopped briefly to look at her, and smiled, while the shadows of leaves danced across the page. 'Let us look at Japan.'

They did not make love that night; between her corrections to Japanese history from a European perspective, and his pointers at the fact that lack of perfect knowledge of the legal systems Charles, baron of Montesquieu described did not fully invalidate the writer's logic, they did not have time to.

Up Next - Elsewhere in Sereitei, Ukitake gets in trouble with taxes. Well, the economy has to keep going, right?