Late night visitor.

Unohana sighed and rubbed her eyes for a moment. She was tired, but there was no way she could give in to sleep, not even for an hour. Aizen, the same man who had volunteered to help her division with the sick many times, was now the cause of most of the wounds inflicted of the people in her hospital. The man she had just visited would not make it. There was no longer the will to live behind those grey, old eyes. Both his legs had been cut off. She could do nothing for him but soften the pain.

"Taichou!"

She turned around, a serene smile on her face. "Yes, Nemura-san?"

"Is it all right to open the window in room 7? Abarai-san is complaining of the heath," the young man said, looking exasparated.

"Move him to a smaller room," she said, not wanting the other patients in room 7 to get a cold.

"Yes!" Nemura bowed and ran off.

Unohana went up the stairs, wondering how Matsumoto was doing. The woman had been blinded during the last fight, but she had still been lucky compared to some. Earlier this day, her captain had come by to ask how she was. Unohana knew he was genuinely concerned for his vice-captain, but also that he had come to find out when she could assist him again. He needed her at a dire time like this.

The young captain had been a bit surprised that Matsumoto had been placed in a seperate room so far from the other patients. Unohana had said it was to get her to adjust to her lack of sight in peace, so she could start to find a cure. It was part of the reason why she had placed her there, but not the main one.

Matsumoto Rangiku wasn't someone she had treated often. She was better at keeping herself from unecessary harm than someone like Kuchiki-sama's vice captain. She had come a few times though, like some of the other shinigami women, for watseke herbs. They were to be taken in with water or tea just before or after intercourse, to keep a woman from getting pregnant.

Unohana hadn't really wondered who her lovers were. It was Matsumoto's own business and she clearly didn't want people to know. She had never heard rumours.

It was once at night, when she looked out of the window on top of the hospital for a quiet moment, that she had seen Matsumoto walk about with Kyouraku-taichou. They were obviously drunk and especially Kyouraku-taichou was speaking loudly, while she laughed. He put his arm around her and they swaggered to the next bar.

It wasn't this what had caught her attention though, but a figure in a sidestreet, protected by the shadows. Unohana was quite used to seeing people sneak around at night, but she hadn't seen Ichimaru Gin do this before. There had been a tension in his posture as he had looked at them. The moment Kyouraku had put his arm around her, his hand had moved down, just stopped before he touched his soul slayer. A moment later he had stepped back and disappeared from her sight.
It had been weird, and a number of explanations could be given for it. He was one of those few persons that she couldn't really read.

About four months later, at a meeting of captains and vice-captains, she had been talking to Ise Nanao and Matsumoto, when Ichimaru had come in. Matsumoto's eyes had immediately drifted, unnoticed by anyone else, but clear to her. There had been the slightest turn in his step that had made it clear he was aware of her also, before he went to his proper place.

Unohana had known then. Just like she knew now that he would come.

The best cure against blindness was not to be found in Soul Society, but in the 78th district. The Suhi flower grew there, between the slums. Last month she had used her last supply on another shinigami and she hadn't yet had time to get new ones. She instinctively felt he would come, if not today, then soon. It would save her trouble, but she had rather he staid away as far as possible from her hospital. There was no telling what he might do if he was discovered.

She called up her shikai and let herself drift up, unseen or heard by anyone. There were many secret passages and rooms in the hospital. Only Yamamoto knew about most, as he had she had shown him her designs for approval. But even he didn't know about this one, which she had never drawn on any map. It was a small attic, reachable only from above and by removing a spell that she had put in front of the only entrance, a hole in its roof.

Easily, she disolved the spell, putting her hand just above it. She slid in, landing noiselessly on the wood and started waiting. Through a little hole in the wood, she could look down into the room. Matsumoto was sleeping, her breathing a bit ragged. She was still weak from the fight. It was a bit chilly in the room, but not enough for her to worry about it. Sitting on her knees, she waited.

After about two hours, when the night had deepened, she caught the slightest trace of well-hidden spirit power. Had she not been trained to know everything about Shinigami bodies, she would not have noticed it.

Ichimaru was coming up the stairs, quiet as a mouse. Matsumoto was still sleeping when he came in and looked at her. He was no longer wearing the clothes he had worn when he had still been captain of the third division. His kimono was black, probably to be less noticable in the night. Unohana wasn't able to hear his footsteps as he approached the sleeping woman. In his hand was a small bottle with some darkbrown liquid in it. Unohana immediately recognized it as Suhi leaves extraction.

He put it down on the cupboard next to the bed. Then he paused. Unohana couldn't see his face, but he paused for a fews seconds, before he reached out his hand for the sleeping woman. Unohana tensed up, not sure if he would harm Matsumoto in some way, even if he had brought the medicine.

He only reached for her hair though, a bit of it in front of her face, and stroked it back behind an ear. Just one more moment he remained, then he turned around and started heading for the door. Unohana sighed, glad he was going and just hoping he wouldn't be hanging around her hospital any longer. If he was far enough away she could contact some of the other captains and get him captured. Her relief was shortlived.

"Gin..."

Ichimaru stopped to stop himself from making a sound, but didn't look back. Matsumoto was not so easily fooled though. She sat up, pulled her legs from under the blanket.

"It's you, right?"

He sneaked on, hand reaching for the door, when she stood up. Her hands were in front of her, like she wanted to make sure she wouldn't stumble against anything now that she couldn't see. The blanket fell to the floor, leaving her in the small white garment that all the patients wore. Unwavering she went forward, trying to feel where he was.

Now he looked back, saw her come for him and he seemed to hesitate before once more heading for the exit. She stumbled then, a box of bandages not put away quite where they should have been. Her unseeing eyes widened as she fell forward, her hands outstretched to stop her fall.

She never reached the ground. He was holding her and her hands landed on his chest. Matsumoto gasped, her hands touching the fabric, moving upwards to his face. When she had found his cheek, he turned his face away a little, probably regretting he had let her catch him.

"How did you get here?" she asked, as he helped her stand upright again.

"You better go back to bed," he said quietly. "There's medicine now, for your eyes."

The expression on her face changed. Her hand, aiming for his cheek, hit his chin instead. "How dare you!" she whispered. "How dare you come here?"

Calmly he took her by her arm and pulled her to the bed. She let out a sound of anger, but was already pushed down the next moment. "Gin!"

He sat down next to her and took the bottle. After opening it, he let a bit of the liquid drip on his fingers. "Don't move."

For a moment she seemed about to resist, but his fingers were already above her eyes. "Close them."

She sighed, and did as she was told, but she scowl had not disappeared from her face. Carefully he smeared the liquid on her eyelids, exactly as it was supposed to be done. Unohana wondered where he had learned that. He hadn't exactly been a frequent visitor at the fourth division headquarters.

Matsumoto's tension seemed to disolve a bit. "I once treated you like this," she said quietly.

Ichimaru said nothing, just concentrated on his task. A bit of a breeze came in from outside and Matsumoto shivered, the blanket still on the floor.

Unohana wondered if Matsumoto was aware of what she was doing to him. Her gown left a lot of skin bare and clung to her round curves. It was thick enough to keep people from seeing through, but did not hide how her nipples had hardened because of the cold. She doubted this man had had any sex since he had run off with Aizen.

He hid it well though, helped by the fact that Matsumoto couldn't see.

"There, ready," he said cheerfully. "You can open your eyes now."

She blinked, then completly opened them. For a moment she strained them and held her hand near her face. "It's all blurry."

"It'll get better, next time be a bit more..."

He stopped when she had reached out her hand, holding his wrist. "You are thinner," she said, accusation in her voice.

His eyes were closed and his breathing kept even with a bit of effort. "Only got to eat myrncarrot lately, not very tasty."

"I'd have made you eel and miso," she said, with a sad smile. Unohana heard the rest of the sentence, even if Matsumoto didn't say it: if you hadn't been so stupid.

Matsumoto pulled back her hand. "But you were never one to stay constant, where you?"

Ichimaru grinned, but wasn't amused. "I'd have gotten you the best liquor in all planes of existence, every day."

"If I had followed you after you went?" she asked, voice trembling a bit. And Unohana knew then she had considered it once and had forced the thought away.

"You could never betray your captain... or your inferiors."

Matsumoto let out a humourless chuckle. "So we were doomed from the beginning, weren't we?"

"So?"

She froze, startled. "So...!"

He shifted closer, face near her ear. "It doesn't matter tonight, Rangiku."

A shiver went through the young woman, and Unohana knew they wouldn't be able to resist each other anymore. What bad luck to be caught in this situation. There was no way she was going to let Ichimaru unobserved in her hospital, so he could take out a few off her patients after Matsumoto had fallen asleep again. Still, she was also not very happy about the prospect of being witness to something as privy as this. She could always get him to be captured still, but a fight here was the last thing she wanted. She closed her eyes, imagining what would happen. Abarai-fukutaichou who would jump from his bed, not caring about his injuries and attack, probably crashing a few walls in the process. Kurotsuchi-taichou would blast the place, finally having an excuse to do so. Then he would request the remaining patients to be transferred to his headquarters. Other shingami forcing their way in... no, that would not be wise.

So Unohana decided to compromise and remain in the attic, without watching. She could still hear everything though. The tearing at clothes, sound of kisses and sighs. Both were breathing heavily soon. Obviously they were taking their time and she sighed. She guessed that if she had been someone else she would have cursed them back to whatever dump in Rukongai they had crawled out off for having to listen to this. Then there was the shifting on the bed, movement, moans. They were awfully reckless, both of them.

Still, she felt somewhat sad for the girl. This might well be the very last time they had.

Unohana called up her soul slayer and quietly drifted out into the nightsky, heading for the window of the kitchen, several floors below. An apprentice almost jumped a yard when he saw her float in, but the cook just smiled. "Good evening, captain."

"Thank you, can you make some tea?"

"Green?" the cook asked.

"Please."

As the woman went to her task, she walked to the cabinet with herbs and opened the heavy doors.

A few minutes later she had put everything she needed on a plate and headed up. When she was at the middle of the stairs, she heard a door open very quietly and close again. Ichimaru's steps were undetectable, but so were hers.

He froze when he saw her, hand on his soul slayer, clothes slightly ruffled. She passed him by like he was a ghost. Her message had been clear though; get out of here, right now.

She waited a minute before knocking on Matsumoto's door.

She guessed she was covering up, for it took more than two seconds for her to answer. "...Yes?"

There was still a blush on her face and she held the blanket around herself, probably to cover up a hickey. Her eyes tried to focus on Unohana, wondering if she knew.

"Are you feeling better?" the captain asked.

She nodded, pulling the sheets over her even further.

"I brought you some tea," Unohana said, putting the tray on her cupboard. "And some herbs."

"Herbs?" Matsumoto asked, then froze when she recognized them. "Watse..."

Unohana picked up the bottle Ichimaru had left. "I Have to check on my other patients now, but be sure to put more of those drops on your eyes every three hours."

With his she headed for the door and disappeared through it, leaving Matsumoto.

The End