Some people argue that Ikkaku is completely bald.

But he has eyebrows.

This is my proof that he shaves his head.

Thank you and goodnight.

(Of course, anime logic dictates that my logic is useless, so there is a counter-argument for all who still want to insist that he's bald. I do not care, but if he is naturally bald... Why does he have full eyebrows? Am I being ignorant somehow? Or do I have a point to take to Tite Kubo and force an answer?)

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"Nemu!" A furious and familiar voice came from down the hallway. Hanataro jumped at the sound of the eleventh division's captain but Nemu stood still except turning towards the direction she heard her angry father call her. He stomped into the view of Hanataro, his make-up on but without the strange hat, or golden paint on his teeth, showing them to be rather white, but carrying the strange almost bluish sheen of false replacements that Akon made.

Mayuri looking so strangely was frightening by itself, and if Hanataro had his way, he'd be hiding behind the inhumanly calm lieutenant. "Nemu, why are my things not in the bathroom as they should be?"

"I wasn't aware," she bowed her head and said without emotion.

The painted white hand of Mayuri rose as if he were about to hit his daughter until he realized she was accompanied by Hanataro. Being on probation and not wanting necessary attention brought upon himself, he lower the hand again and frowned deeply. "Do you know where the rest of my paint, and my hat, are?"

"No," she replied, head bowed still. "You said last night you tired of the wardrobe, and tossed the hat out the window. When I motioned to retrieve it, you told me not to bother."

He seemed to be satisfied by this. "That's right," he mumbled to himself. "Well, I can't let very many people see me like this. I think I liked my previous hat, and find my white paint for my teeth, I look a mess."

"Yes, Captain Kurotsuchi," she bowed deeply before excusing herself, and Mayuri's reptilian eyes slide to look at Hanataro.

"G-g-good morning," he stuttered, brain going to mush under the scrutiny of those frightening eyes.

"I apologize for Nemu's incompetence," he sighed and shrugged. "If this is as far as you got on your tour, then it doesn't concern me. Come, we have work to do, boy."

Without replying, Hanataro followed Mayuri, whose steps were dramatically different from his daughter. They were uneven, going fast one moment and leisurely the next, arms swinging slightly by his side, and there was a metallic element that Hanataro could hear as Mayuri walked, as if one of his joints was completely mechanic. A few minutes later, Hanataro noticed that the large clothes did well to hide weaknesses in Mayuri's self, him having a slight limp and his right shoulder was paining him.

Various experiments on his own body left him in this shape, and Hanataro knew he'd probably been left in more pain as a result of his own scalpel prodding him, but there wasn't any amount of money in the universe that would have Hanataro ask Mayuri a single question about his state. Within minutes, Mayuri used his left hand to open a large metal door, as it seemed the right arm was injured from the way he walked and let it swing without him trying to move it once.

"All right," Mayuri began, and threw a doll which was an exact replica, to size and everything, of Hanataro's zanpakuto's spirit, in Hanataro's general direction. He was listless this morning, much like his daughter seemed to always be. The doll's surface was hard but slowly it was shrinking and deflating in Hanataro's hands, though he had no idea what was wrong. "Put your spiritual pressure into it, you dolt!" he screamed before dragging his left hand over his face. "Forget that, I didn't mean to shout. Slowly start to pour your spiritual pressure into it. Now."

Slowly? Now? Hanataro was confused but did what he was told, as best as he could, by beginning to pour his spiritual pressure into the doll and not asking questions despite his curiosity. Being yelled at always silenced Hanataro into a state of fearful shock.

The doll returned to its original size, and once it did Hanataro looked up at the frazzled Mayuri, expecting further instruction. It was plain to tell the man wasn't a morning person (or maybe just not a people person), and having his daily rituals interrupted, even though it was he himself who had put a dam in the river, had made him worse. He glared at Hanataro's expectant eyes. "Don't you know anything?"

"U-um-"

"Of course you don't. I came early. There I go again, expecting too much. Is it so wrong to have expectations?" He spoke to himself, not expecting or wanting an answer from Hanataro. "Is the doll speaking yet?"

"What?"

"Is it saying anything, boy?"

Hanataro focused on the doll for a moment, since he hadn't been listening he wasn't sure if he would have missed anything. After a silence, he shook his head to answer his temporary captain.

"I see. Well, it's too used to the artificial pressure I've been feeding it here so it would grow," he was speaking to himself again. He walked past Hanataro, putting his hand on the smaller man's shoulders for support for a moment before quickly retreating it. He was comfortable in letting Nemu know his weaknesses, but not this boy.

As he shuffled some papers around on the desk, Hanataro noticed that even though this room was very similar to the one he'd seen Mayuri in the previous day, it was different. In the rush, he hadn't seen the colors were different, though still dark and relaxing. There were pale capsules along shelves, which Hanataro assumed were unmade dolls though there was no being sure, and there were only two doors here.

Mayuri was back before Hanataro had time to assess the room completely, but he did notice that there was a chamber like what he had entered the previous day. "All right boy, do you hear anything?"

"U-um," he focused on the doll again. He heard his zanpakuto's voice, though a little bit deeper. The murmurs the doll was making, he couldn't understand. "Yes, but no words."

Again, Mayuri raked his good hand across his face and glared at Hanataro, though ending the gaze as soon as he had started it. "A few more minutes. The artificial pressure is designed to leave quickly. If you weren't so weak then the doll would already be working at its desired capacity," he sighed and looked through a few papers, remaining silent, and Hanataro just noticed, keeping a careful cap on his own spiritual pressure, though whether it was for fear of Hanataro or just he didn't want to interfere with the doll was unknown. "Now?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes," Hanataro answered. "It's saying... Yes."

"Hopefully this creature will listen better than you," Mayuri spat and tried to lower himself down to look at the doll at "eye" (the doll didn't have eyes per say, or at least it didn't seem to be using the eye that it had to see yet) level. The mechanical joint, which seemed to be his right knee, well as his injured arm, seemed to pain him greatly when he did this. His picture as a mad scientist was complete at this moment, Hanataro thought. He was almost acting fatherly for a moment to this new creation, before his self-induced pains brought him back to reality.

"Are you okay?" Hanataro asked, though his voice gave out halfway as he met his ocean blue eyes with Mayuri's reptilian yellow eyes, him squeaking out the last few words.

"Shut up, boy," he said lowly. "Speaking out of turn may be allowed where you come from, but you're only a test subject here. I wouldn't push your luck if I were you."

"Y-yes sir," Hanataro squeaked and seemed to shrink away.

"Is it saying anything else?"

"No," Hanataro lied. He didn't want to voice what the doll was voicing, for fear that the words would make him victim of Mayuri's anger.

"Yes it is. Tell willingly, or make me angry and I will make you tell me, whatever it takes."

"Stubborn," Hanataro squeaked and took a timid step back, out of immediate hitting range.

"Stubborn? It's saying stubborn?"

"Yes..."

"Cute. It's worried about daddy," Mayuri said affectionately, though his demeanor changed back to harsh after he cooed over his creation. "Tell me, what does it sound like?"

"U-um, its voice is deep," Hanataro stuttered.

"It will get higher as it develops The deep baritone that you're hearing takes less energy to produce. Give it more spiritual pressure."

"Yes sir," Hanataro replied, steadily pouring more and more of his pressure into the doll. He didn't know what was going on, and truthfully he didn't want to know because if he did it would only be a gruesome story that would keep him from sleeping.

"Is that all the spiritual pressure you can muster?" He asked angrily.

"I'm a non-combat unit," Hanataro replied lowly to defend himself, looking at the doll in his arms. For a moment he felt like a wet-nurse having trouble feeding a child, Mayuri being the enraged mother yelling at him to do his job.

"That's no excuse!" He screamed "You don't see your saintly, disgusting captain going out on the front lines, but she's got enough spiritual pressure to blow that Zaraki bastard away if she wanted to."

A part of Hanataro told him to defend Retsu, and while he would've normally repressed this masochistic/suicidal voice, he was too upset from all the yelling to do as he normally would. "You said saintly as if it's a bad thing," he said lowly. "But Captain Unohana is a great person and you-"

"Don't speak out of turn, boy," he hissed lowly. "Do you forget what you are just told?"

"You're the one speaking out of turn!" Hanataro snapped. "Talking about someone who you hardly know!"

With Mayuri's anger growing, his spiritual pressure did as well. It began to lash out and it seemed to grow more and more intense by the second. Before he knew it, Hanataro found himself hardly able to breathe. He had to get out, he thought. He'd die if he didn't get away.

The doll in his arm popped loudly as if it were a balloon and at the same moment, Nemu walked into the room, bowing and carrying the items her father had asked for. The two disturbances snapped Mayuri out of his rage, if only temporarily. "What a waste of time," he mumbled and turned towards Nemu. "Bring me those."

The melancholy that was Nemu walked to her father, giving him the requested items without a word, seeing as he hadn't bidden her to speak, and he left without a moment's pause, Hanataro standing in a kind of shock.

"You'll do well to keep Captain Kurotsuchi placated, Mr. Yamada," she told him after she was sure her father was out of earshot. "please don't say anything to upset anyone again. It's not worth the effort, and certainly not worth your life. It's especially selfish for either you or me to die meaninglessly."

"W-what do you mean selfish?" Hanataro was a bit offended, and still upset from the ordeal with Mayuri.

"I mean only what I said," she replied, turning to leave. "I must continue to research and contribute to the Soul Society, my work helping countless others. You must continue to live so you can help others live, isn't that true? The price of your life includes all the lives you've saved and will save. Isn't that worth holding your tongue?"

She left before Hanataro replied, though he didn't have anything to say anyways. He wanted to help Nemu, but here she stood, giving him advice.

Was anything ever simple? Did Karma have a vendetta against him?

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