Beyond Words
Chapter 2
Taking his friend's advice, Ukitake Jyuushiro observed the petite Unohana for the rest of his final year at the Shinigami Academy. Kyoraku Shunsui was right in his assessment of her. Although she was reserved, she was exuded grace, quiet elegance and was kind to anyone who spoke to her. Any fool stupid enough to tease her would be certain to remain rooted to the ground for five minutes, sometimes more. While she had a serious mien permanently etched on her face, her face always lightened with a slight smile whenever she was reading and sipping tea. Ukitake noticed that she favoured the same books as him – books on philosophy, medicine and kido. Such a lady, he reminded himself, concerned with only the ultimate virtue of knowledge – such a creature was truly beautiful. To his mind, Unohana Retsu had it all. Ukitake saw that she good taste; she was sensible; she possessed a keen mind and a seemingly frail porcelain body belying her tenacious spirit. She had such fire, such life, and such passion for her work; such genuine kindness. It was in stark contrast to her classmate, Aizen Sousuke. Oh, Aizen had a warm smile, but that smile never reached his eyes. It was as Kyoraku pointed out – it was as if Aizen's eyes were dead and devoid of feeling. Unohana Retsu did not give Ukitake the same uncomfortable feeling. She was made of genuine warmth.
She excelled in all her classes. She was very young too – she had skipped the third year and progressed to the fourth year after the final exams in her second year. In fact, so skilled was she that she was reserved a position in the Fourth Division before her graduation. Ukitake had only spoken to her once after his recovery. She was in the healing section of the Shinigami Academy library and he was walking towards the kido section. As the library was the coldest place in the Academy in winter, it was relatively empty that day. A plain grey haori hung over her uniform and she was tiptoeing in her socks atop a stack several large thick books strategically placed on top of a chair. Apparently, she wanted a book at the highest shelf. Ukitake could not help but smile to himself at her independence. She had spirit; that much was obvious – otherwise why did she opt not approach a librarian for assistance. He had momentarily forgotten the books on his list as he stood there entranced by her little movements. Her pale thin wrist reminded him of a porcelain vase as it reached the book she wanted. Her slender ankles twisted ever so slightly as she struggled to maintain her balance on her precarious self-made ladder. Then she slipped. Her kido spell would have saved her from breaking anything, but Ukitake rushed forward anyway to catch her. He only succeeded in cushioning her fall, for she and her book landed squarely on his chest. She blushed prettily and apologised profusely when he began coughing. Hastily, she thrust her handkerchief into his hand and examined him before telling him that his lungs were still all right. He had offered to wash the bloodstained handkerchief for her, but she only urged him to keep it as a charm against people falling on top of him.
Ukitake sighed silently at the memory. Here they were some two thousand years later – he was a Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Kyoraku Shunsui was the Captain of the Eighth Division, and i she /i was the Captain of the Fourth Division. Ever since they became captains some one thousand two hundred and sixty-eight years ago, he started the custom of sending lilies to her on her birthday. She would reciprocate by giving the practical gift of extra large bottles of cough syrup. He still had the bloodstained handkerchief in his desk drawer and he still silently watched Unohana Retsu. Ukitake mentally kicked himself in the arse – he was a pathetic man.
"Still watching her, Jyuushiro?" a loud voice burst into the Thirteenth Division Captain's reverie.
"How's your Nanao?" he asked, without moving from his perch on the veranda watching Captains Unohana and Kurotsuchi's conversation as their two attendants followed behind.
The Eighth Division Captain sat down beside him and followed his friend's eyes to the conversing Captains. "She's stable and awake. Presently, she has enough strength to tell me off, but she's so delicate that she can't smack me with a book yet. I can't ask for more. I'm relieved she lived and I relieved you didn't die. Aizen and his blasted arrancars took away a lot of our people, good people. Thank goodness Ichigo cleaned up that bastard's mess and put Fifth Division to order. I hope he doesn't turn out to be like his father. Remember how Kurosaki Isshin handled the Third Division before Ichimaru was promoted to the Captaincy? It was akin to the situation in Eleventh Division. Everything had to be rebuilt so frequently. But it wouldn't make a difference now, given that we're building almost everything"
"Indeed, here we are, Shunsui – rebuilding our mangled lives. However, it is a comfort to think that our world and the living world are safe for another millennium or so," he opined, sipping his sake.
"Until the next megalomaniac, eh? You think we'll live that long?"
"You might if your Nanao does not club you to death with her book. Yamamoto sensei has seen three megalomaniacs in his lifetime. I, on the other hand…" Ukitake stifled a cough rising in his throat.
"Ha. I only wish my lovely Nanao-chan would club me with her book again," sighed Kyoraku wistfully before continuing gravely. "It's not same if someone else does it. Heh, at least I killed that idiot arrancar who thought he could scar my pretty one. I need her back on her feet again. The paperwork's piling up and the rebuilding efforts are best supervised by a sensible head like hers – mine is too sake addled. Still, I do wish she would take me seriously. Doesn't she realise I only flirt consistently with her?"
"Shunsui, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself, you would have noticed that she knows you are in earnest. You have to wait for her to overcome her pride and her personal code of ethics," laughed Ukitake as he refilled his friend's sake dish.
"Yare, yare, you presume to advise me when you've spent nearly two thousand years watching her!" he teased, gesturing in the direction of Captains Unohana and Kurotsuchi.
"Ah, but you have learnt the value of valuing the person you love most above all others," laughed Ukitake before giving in to the cough fit rising from his lungs.
His friend's condition wrought a pain in his heart and he promptly removed his gaudy pink haori so that he could place it over the Thirteenth Division Captain's shoulders. "It's almost dusk, you'll catch your death if you linger out here without extra clothing."
"I'll… stain…" wheezed Ukitake in between his increasingly violent coughs, desperately clutching the edges of his sleeves, "your mother's…haori… Impolite…"
"Don't try to act cool and noble when you're like this, Jyuu-chan. Leave it to the handsome bucks like me!"
Recovering a little, Ukitake smiled feebly as he fixed his eyes on the Fourth Division Captain. "I thought I was voted the handsomest Shinigami by the Women's Shinigami Association this year," came the breathless comeback.
Before Kyoraku could say something witty in response, he observed the faint quiver of his friend's mouth and glanced in the direction of Captains Kurotsuchi and Unohana. "She laughed and touched his arm," murmured Ukitake with a pained look whether at the attack he just or the sight before him, Kyoraku did not know. "She laughed at something he said. He held out a hand to help her over a monsoon drain. He didn't even do the same for Nemu. Shunsui, do you think they're…If they are, why am I not surprised? He was voted sexiest Shinigami Captain after Nemu used a nude picture of him for the Women's Shinigami Association Charity Calendar."
"Was that self-pity, pretty boy? Or was a self-deprecatory remark? Either way, I shan't tolerate it," said Kyoraku as he leant back and placed his hands in his sleeves before tipping his straw hat back to a rakish angle. "Why am I not the sexist Shinigami Captain? Just look at me. I posed naked too. Sweet Nanao-chan knitted me a scarf to drape over the strategic bits. I was the pinup for July!"
"Yes, yes," came the contemplative reply as Ukitake waved a hand dismissively. "You would appeal most to the young ladies who like rugged men. Kurotsuchi however has now gained a cult following of young ladies who are desperate to see him without his makeup and clothes."
"Let a lady's man tell you something, Jyuu-chan," began Kyoraku with a hearty slap to his friend's back. "You're imagining things. That," he pointed to the conversing Captains, "is a business conversation. Kurotsuchi only gesticulates in that crazy staccato way when he's rambling on his latest project. Think, pretty boy – you are dubbed the sickly scholar after all – if you were to go a-wooing, would you bring your Lieutenants along?"
Ukitake closed his eyes and rested his cheek on the back of his hand. His old friend did make a logical point. Besides, he had noticed that no one had dared to flirt with Unohana Retsu, except Urahara who was then trying to win a bet against Kyoraku. Poor Urahara was soundly beaten by Shihouin Yourichi when she found out. No, i his /i Unohana Retsu was not the sort to encourage flirtations. She had rejected a marriage proposal from the Kuchiki family some two hundred years ago on grounds that she was already married to her work. "I know," declared Ukitake with sudden inspiration. "I shall invite her and Isane to tea. Kotsubaki can be sent out on an errand. Isane and Kiyone can gossip to their heart's content and I can talk to her."
"Talk?" laughed Kyoraku merrily, his eyes dancing in amusement. "There's more to flirtation than conversation, pretty boy."
Ukitake only waved his hand in mock contempt at his old friend. "My dear vain fellow, you haven't realised that conversation is everything. Anything that happens outside conversation is merely incidental."
"Yare, yare, getting all philosophical again, are we? Oh, she's sending Isane up here," said Kyoraku, looking out at the running lieutenant.
"Kiyone will intercept her; she always does."
True to his prediction, the third seat of the Thirteenth Division ran towards her sister with a cheery, "Nee-san, do you want a snack? I made fish cake today. My taichou said they were delicious when I made them last week. Do you want to try?"
The Eighth and Thirteenth Division Captains exchanged a knowing smile when the older Kotetsu sister backed away a few steps and announced in a wary tone, "Unohana taichou instructed me to hand the latest mixture of new improved cough syrup to Ukitake taichou. Kurotsuchi taichou worked on it himself, following Unohana taichou's recommendation. It's not to be taken with alcohol or after seafood. Please inform Ukitake taichou that there's no need to worry because Kurotsuchi taichou already tested it on ten…"
Kurotsuchi spun around and interrupted the Kotetsu sisters' conversation loudly at that point. "That's twenty-five eightieth district Rukongai scum, girl! Nemu, can't you correct her. You had a hand in the developmental stages of the syrup too!"
The Kotetsu sisters only bowed to the President of the Research Institute whose ego was soothed by a few of Unohana Retsu's quiet words when he sought to lash out at his daughter. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the Fourth Division Captain, took Kurotsuchi's extended hand and prevented him from hitting Nemu. Her words were inaudible to all but him and made his outstretched hand go limp. Whatever she said certainly put him out of humour though it was obvious from his spiritual presence that he was cross, for he stormed off after bidding her good evening. Nemu only bowed her thanks and scurried after the scientist.
"She's an indomitable force," whispered Ukitake, slightly awestruck by his colleague's handling of Kurotsuchi. At that moment, the Fourth Division Captain looked up at Ukitake's veranda with a slight smile and bow. Then she called her lieutenant and strolled back in the direction of her division headquarters.
"I think she knows you were watching her, you little voyeur," teased Kyoraku as he supported his friend indoors. "You had better act before Kurotsuchi starts think about the only person besides Yama-ji who could keep him in check. 'Night, handsome." Draping his florid haori over himself, he departed Ukitake's place with a joking, "Don't die tonight, you hear!"
"I'll be sure to let you know at least a day in advance and we can go drinking!" was Ukitake's reply. As soon as his friend left, he dropped back into his seat and clutched his chest at another coughing fit.
7