Author's Note: Well, I wish I had a good excuse for not updating in so long. Life just seems to get in the way. (and this idiot lost every bit of her notes so some characters are having to be scrapped/re-written as I know a lot about them, but their names and looks have slipped by me after so many years) So, I'm working hard on getting new character sheets worked up, and catching up on research. I hope this small little tidbit will hold you over just a little bit.

Mayuri Kurotuschi Part 3.2

Mayuri stood in the middle of his destroyed office, unable to take his eyes off of the only few things not destroyed. His photos of his family: Nozomi, Yasahiro, and Fumio. The other thing was the divorce papers. They were crumpled, but far from destroyed. After all, she had drafted them herself. Her non descript hand writing was well known to him. Something he had become used to seeing by reading her notes, or reports on progress from her research team.

Sometimes, she had even left small notes for him. 'Love notes' some might have called them. She would always send some poor hapless recruit with it, knowing once he realized it was technically his wife interrupting him, the recruit might live. The notes were normally the same things though: 'Time to eat, stop what you're working on.' 'The boys miss their father, where are you?' 'I'm going to bed, I'm wearing nothing. You have ten minutes from receiving this note to be here, or I'll take care of my problem myself.'

The third type notes had always been his favorite. Who would have thought that the fearsome Captain of Squad Twelve, could be led so easily by the wiles of a woman?

There wouldn't be anymore notes like that now though, would there? Because Nozomi had came back faster than he had anticipated. He wanted to have the boys procedures done before she ever even knew about it. He had broken her trust though. Done one of the few things he had promised to never do.

"Nozomi." He whispered, picking up the frame. He wiped his thumb over the glass trying to remove some of the lose debrise from the destoryed furniture that had settled on it. Another swipe and the glass cracked. He stared at that crack for several long seconds. The longer he stared, the more his thoughts seemed to turn to turmoil within his own mind. Spinning faster and faster until they were screaming in his head.

It wasn't until Nemu busted into the destoryed office that he even realized he had been screaming out loud.

Nozomi set with her boys in the Squad Four medical rooms, watching the boys play. They didn't seem to realize what had happened to them. No scars proving their father had experimented on them had been a small blessing. The healing arts of Squad Four were the other major factor in it. The boys were up and playing soon and had no real idea why they were seeing 'doctors'. Nozomi and Captain Unohana had decided it best to leave the reasons to themselves. The boys need never know their father was a cruel man.

"When do we get to go home?" Yasahiro asked, coming to stand before her. "I miss dad."

"Daddy!" Fumio chanted in excitement beside his brother.

"Well, that's the thing boys. Your father and I. . .had a fight. We decided that it was best that we. . .not be together anymore. So I took you with me. And. . .and maybe its best that we just left daddy alone." Nozomi tried to explain gently.

"But I want to see my dad!" Yasahiro burst out.

Sensing the mood dropping, Fumio began to tear up. His lower lip trembled and fat tears began to make their way down his face. "Daddy!" The toddler wailed.

Nozomi could feel her own eyes burning. "I'm sorry, my sons. But this is better. Please believe me. Have I ever lied to you?"

Yasahiro shook his head no, then buried his own face within her shirt. His tears soaked through quickly, and Nozomi could do little more than hold her sons to her. It would be hard, but she knew that they would make it through whatever came next.

Nozomi had been gone a week and he had experimented on himself no less than thirty eight times. Still though, he could not get his body to run at optimal level. Something was wrong. He couldn't concentrate. Small things destracted him. Sights or smells that he would have easily dismissed pulled at him.

It was all her fault. Nozomi was getting revenge on him. She had always known just how to throw him off.

Mayuri gritted his teeth as he pushed the scapel through his flesh, blood pooling to the surface. As it dripped down on the steel operating table, it let out small hisses, the acid within his blood eating at it. He glanced at the eroded scapel and through it to the side before grabbing a new one.

Mayuri had experimented on himself no short of thirty nine times.

Nozomi sat on Captain Unohana's exam table, feeling a cold pit in her stomach. Fate was having a good laugh at her expense.

"You're about four months along. With all the stress you've been under, and trying to keep the boys from being depressed, its not wonder that you didn't realize you were pregnant again." Captain Unohana told her gently.

"I can't let Mayuri know." Nozomi whispered, her hand protectively resting over the small bump. "We have to find a way to make sure Mayuri never finds out!"

"He hasn't left his lab or barracks since you left him. He hasn't even shown up to any Captain's meetings." Captain Unohana reminded her gently.

"But he will at some point!" Nozomi exploded. "And what am I suppose to say when he just walks into a Captain's meeting and see's me the size of a whale!? 'Oh, sorry Mayuri, looks like I was pregnant before you decided to carve into our sons. You won't get your hands on this one though!'"

"I will speak to Captain Yamamoto." Captain Unohana reassured her gently. "We will make sure that we do all that is within our power to protect this little one."

"I won't let him hurt another child of mine." Nozomi whispered, tears flooding her eyes. "I can't. I don't think I could live through that pain again."

Mayuri snarled as he entered the Captain's meeting. He wasn't willing or ready to put up with whatever the others had to say about his wife leaving him. That he had failed as a husband where he was perfect in all else. More importantly, he wasn't sure he could handle seeing Nozomi. However, one quick glance around the room told him that she wasn't there, and instead, her lieutenant was there in her place.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. The pain in the center of his chest however, was something had didn't expect to feel. He'd have to look into that later.

No Captain spoke to him, or made any attempt at contact. Once the meeting was over, all of the Captain's hurried away. Probably to get back to their own husbands, wives, and children.

Mayuri had nothing but time on his hands now. No wife or children to distract him from his experiments. He was going through test subjects faster than these people could be sentenced to prison. He tried more and more experiments on himself as the days passed by. Now he had to find out what was causing the pain in the center of his chest.

Nozomi had been gone one month.

Mayuri had experimented on himself no short than one hundred and fifty four times.

Nozomi smiled at her sons as they showered her with all kinds of drawings and such for her birthday. She 'oh'ed and 'ah'ed at every single one as Yasahiro explained what they were. Even Fumio in his garbled half sentences that only a toddler could form tried to explain what his colorful messes were.

"You boys are so sweet." Nozomi told them, gathering them at her sides and snuggling up with them. At six months, she was already bigger than she had been with her previous two children. She had thought that maybe she was pregnant with twins, but Retsu had assured her that it wasn't the case. She was just simply larger. It happened.

Izuru Kira poked his head into the room and gave her 'the look'. She smiled at her children and made excuses as she followed her Lieutenant out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"What is it?" She asked once she could hear the boys playing, assured that they wouldn't overhear.

"Something arrived for you." Izuru told her softly. "Something from Captain Kurotsuchi."

Nozomi felt her eyes widen and she hugged her arms around herself. "What is it?"

"I don't know. The box is wrapped. I wanted your thoughts before we did away with it or tried to open it." Izuru explained, leading her down the hallway and into one of the few empty room in the barracks. There, a box with bright gold wrapping paper sat, with a simple blue bow.

Nozomi felt her lip curl into a sneer as she approached the box. He didn't need to send her anything in his colors to remind her of him. She thought about him all the time. It angered her. Made bile rise in her throat to think that she could still love that monster after what he had done. However, he had been her first. The first man she had truly made love too, and the first man she had ever loved. He gave her two sons and now another child was on its way. And he would never know it. It broke her heart to think of that, but also strengthened her resolve.

She carefully knelt before the box and began to unwrap it. She was surprised to find a pot of flowers within the box that she didn't know. She carefully lifted them out and smelt softly. Their scent was light and highly pleasent. The petals were a soft white, though the tips were a dark green, much like the flowers stems.

A glance inside the box told her there was a note. She set the flowers to the side and lifted the note out, unfolding it and scanning it.

My Nozomi,

You've been away from me for far too long. Four months and I can hardly think anymore. I cannot concentrate. Certain things stand out however. . . Your birthday, for example.

These are for you. I created them within my lab, just for you. Something rare and special that will never been seen by those who do not understand the true beauty of science and experimentation. I called them, nozomi. After you.

Your Husband,

Mayuri K.

Nozomi felt her lip curl into a sneer as she trashed the note, ripping into into fine pieces. She reached for the flowers to destroy them as well but stopped herself. Much like her sons, these flowers were just victims of Mayuri's sadly brilliant mind.

With Izuru's help, she stood with the flowers in her hand. She placed them in her room on her nightstand where she knew they would get light. Part of her feared that he would take this as a sign that she still was willing to try with him. She wasn't though. She honestly didn't know if she would ever want to see Mayuri Kurotsuchi again.

She was still legally bound to him. His refusal to sign the divorce papers was a constand source of her ire. As long as they were married, Captain Yamamoto insisted she go by her married name. Two Captain Kurotsuchi's was one way too many. She was honestly sure that the old man was doing it to provoke her.

Her fingers brushed the flowers again.

Mayuri gasped at the photo before him. The camera hidden in the flowers was only good to take a few photos. As soon as she had lifted them from the box, they had snapped sixteen photos in quick session, and their images appeared on his moniter.

Nozomi was pregnant.

Rage filled him so intently that he couldn't breath. Was it his? It had to be. She was large, so she had to be pregnant with his child. Did she know she was pregnant before she left him? Was she never going to allow him to be apart of his sons lifes, nor the child she carried now?

But that wasn't the brunt of his anger. It was her lieutenants hand on her shoulder that made him shake in an uncontrollable rage. Izuru Kira was touching what was his. HIS WIFE! Only he would touch her. Anyone who tried to even make a move on her would die by his hands.

Izuru Kira would die by his hands.

Mayuri continued the experiment he had paused in to look at the images.

He had experimented on himself no short of three hundred and ninty two times, and still, he could not fix what was wrong with himself.

Nozomi was sitting peacefully in the Squad Three gardens when one of her squad members busted in with an ashen face.

"Report." Nozomi snapped, struggling to stand.

"Captain Kurotsuchi. . .Lieutenant Kira. . ." the shinigami panted.

"What about Izuru?" Nozomi asked now, standing up and looking down at the young girl.

The girl shook her head and pointed toward the west. "Captain Kurotsuchi of Squad Twelve. . ."

Nozomi didn't stay to hear the rest. She began her journey, slower than she ever would have liked toward where she could feel her husbands spiritual energy, and Izuru's depleting one.

When she arrived at the scene of the fight, everyone parted to let her through. The area was circling with a miasma that kept them all out. Without fear, she walked through it. If she was sickened, it wouldn't take Mayuri long to give her an antidote. She was sure of that.

"What are you doing?" Mayuri screeched as she approached.

Nozomi glanced down at her hand to notice a small dark spot forming. She was obviously already infected.

"I came to put an end to this. Why have you attacked my Lieutenant?" Nozomi asked, walking past Mayuri to help Izuru to his feet. "He has done nothing wrong and yet you attack him."

A glance in her husbands direction showed him shaking with rage, his eyes pinned on her arm that was drapped over her shoulders as Izuru leaned against her.

"The Antidote please, Mayuri." Nozomi murmured, slowly making her way toward him.

"He's touching you." Mayuri hissed, his eyes wild.

"Of course. I am helping him stand and we are friends." Nozomi deflected easily. "The antidote." She held her hand out.

Mayuri's eyes fell into the infected spot on her hand, which had grown larger. Then, his eyes swept to her swollen stomach and his eyes softened. He reached inside of his robe and pulled out a vial, softly placing it in her hand with a lingering touch.

"My child?" He asked softly, his eyes coming to meet hers.

"My child." Nozomi stated firmly, keeping her gaze meeting his. "And stop experimenting on yourself Mayuri. You don't look good."

With that, she turned and slowly made her way away from him.

"I can take them away from you."

Nozomi stopped at her husbands soft whisper. For a moment, she thought she may have imagined it, but a glance over her shoulder show that he was in fact watching her with a predatory gaze.

"Captain Yamamoto sided with me on this matter." Nozomi stated firmly, though inside her heart was racing in fear. "You can have nothing to do with my sons."

"Our sons." Mayuri corrected. "And we shall see."

"Why try and take them?" Nozomi sputtered in anger now.

"Because, if I had them, I know you would come back."

Then Mayuri was simply gone, taking his miasma with him.