A/N: WOOT! I made it this far! If you'll please remember, Airflow only had three chapters. So, welcome to Chapter Four! I think, actually, the part in here about my one OC has got to be one of my favourite things I've ever written. You'll see why. AND, I got it e-mailed from home, which I really didn't want to do, so love me.
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Chapter Four - Careful Watch
Slowly opening her eyes, Unohana became aware of the situation around her. She lifted her head, finding that she had not been laying in her bed like she had thought, but she had fallen asleep against a large stack of paperwork in her office. It was unlike her to sleep anywhere but in the safety and comfort her own room, but it was that time again. Every year. Every single year on the day that Ukitake and Kyoraku had died, she just wasn't the same. And it was notably getting worse. She cursed herself inwardly for her actions; falling asleep at midday, and then awaking to two shinigami standing in her office was humiliating, even for Unohana.
"Unohana-taichou?" The younger and concious of the two asked. She looked worried for the captain of Fourth, and then also confused. What was it about that time that threw so many people off? Unohana, of all people.... And her captain! All in one day. She tried not to shake her head with pity for the two, biting her lip to keep from saying anything. "Are you alright?"
"What can I help you with?" The healer avoided the girl's question completely. To have to explain yet another display of displacement to another confused subordinate would break her heart. One more time, she told herself, and it would be the absolute last time. Then the harsh, cold reality would finally - after twenty years - hit her, and hard. She wanted to stay away from that for as long as possible, though if anyone asked again, she would tell them. She had to. Unohana found that it was nesseccary to begin her own healing; she would have to face the music eventually and sooner was definatly better than later, lest the saddness and tears build up.
"My taichou's been drinking.... I don't know what can be done for her, but is it possible to at least keep her here until she's well again? I'm beginning to worry, and not just about her. Everyone's so thrown off." Saki knit her brows in pure confusion; of course she wouldn't know, though. She had only just become a shinigami, no one would expect her to know; and in seeing this, Unohana caved.
"It was exactly twenty years and three days ago that the Seireitei lost two of its most treasured beings. Two captains by the names of Ukitake Jyuushiro and Kyoraku Shunsui. The former Thirteenth and Eighth Division captains. They were so dear to all of us; we loved them with everything within us." Unohana sat back up straight, then stood and cleared her robes. Making her way around her desk, she began to check over a limp Nanao, continuing the story. "Nanao-san was Shunsui's wife, and his Vice-Captain for several decades. She loved him more than life itself, so it makes sense that she'd put herself in this state. I was very close with both of them. Ukitake was in and out of Fourth more frequently than any member of Eleventh for his lungs, and Shunsui was always with him. He was a very ill man, and it eventually killed him. He and Shunsui were best friends... no, that's not enough to describe their bond.... Their souls were so closly joined that both their zanpaku-tou were doubles, the only two of their kind. So you can see how unique they were." After a long pause, Unohana straightened herself out once more and took Nanao's other arm over her shoulder to help support her. "I'll keep her here until she's ready to go back to working again. You may return to your squad, if you wish."
"No, I think I'll stay and watch over her, Unohana-taichou. She needs someone to lean on." Saki's midnight eyes sparkled as Nanao's limp body was lead into one of many sickrooms and hoisted into one of the beds. It was a semi-private suite with two beds, and the other was vacant. The room was bright and airy; Saki was sure it would help her captain heal faster, if a broken heart could ever be healed. Unohana left once Nanao had been put to bed, and not too long after, one of her subordinates entered silently as not to disturb the two frozen in their tableau. After only a few minutes, she got bored though, which was completely understandable, and at the same time, confusing to anyone who knew her name and not her personally.
"You're that dedicated to your captain? You'd sit there and watch her sleep? That's kind of creepy, Saki-chan." The girl in the doorway chimed. Saki jumped at the bouncing voice, then turned with a look that bled pure and utter shock. Looking the girl over once, and confirming her identity, she realized that someone never would have matched her to the regal name she carried.
Kuchiki Kozakura slumped into the doorframe, bent at the waist in a casual if not lazy pose. Her eyes, a vibrant amethyst, danced with passion and heavy badgering, knowing that Haruhi had promised that she would be in the Eighth Division because of her eternal warship over Kyoraku Nanao. Framing the smug look on a waxen visage was champagne locks cascading down around her shapely body, falling just to her waist with lush shine and bounce. She was such a rare and exquisite beauty, and then... her musical voice didn't actually belong to her. It was true that Kozakura could not speak; not exactly anyway. What she did was much more amazing. She had not been able to use her reiatsu for several years, and it was looked down upon in the Kuchiki Clan, especially with the fact still hanging that she couldn't speak and - as Unohana had said - never would. However, only six years ago her reiatsu suddenly sprang up strong and proud, like any Kuchiki's should be.
And she toyed with it, twisting it and manipulating it and forcing it out of her until it could be heard. At first it was only as a sharp buzzing, annoyingly loud and upsetting to many ears, but it was progess. Soon, she could move it to match her thoughts, not yet in words, but it played to the tune of her emotions, and people could understand how she felt and feel the attitude she had brewing, only by the pitch of the buzzes she emitted. From there, she could only climb farther as, soon, some words came out clearly, and then slowly more and more until she could finally give vent to whatever thing it was that came to mind. As an additive, she moved her lips to the words, so anyone would swear she was actually speaking.
At first, her father, the elite Head of the Clan, was infinitely proud of her while not actually admitting it; and then he began to become infinitely annoyed with her when he found that she was very much like her mother, and one of Kusagawari Yuka was absolutely enough. The two of them could now plan him birthday parties in which the cake would explode or something would jump out of it, and that was the least of his worries.
Especially when Kozakura discovered a new talent using her reiatsu. Before she learned that she could use it to heal. Before she learned that she had a dangerous zanpaku-tou, not linked by any means to her healing abilities, that's shikai almost rivalled Senbonzakura. This new talent could only ever be a curse in the eyes of her enemies, namely Kuchiki Byakuya. She could transmit her thoughts into the heads of others at any distance, without even changing face. It would be a very useful development, no doubt, excellent for carrying out sneak attacks. Byakuya found that he was usually the target of said attacks lead by his daughter and wife, and for some unfathomable reason, he just didn't see how it could possibly be any fun at all.
"Gee, Koza-chii, and you're not?" Saki huffed, crossing her arms in a defiant manner. It was a jab made frequently, and was expected by the Kuchiki child who smirked in just as defiant way, if not more devious and somewhat snakish. The two seemed to have identical qualities, mostly the bad ones such as torturing the beloved members of their families.
"Sometimes, maybe." It was an instant cave. After hours of working on the battered and broken bodies of Eleventh, Kozakura was too tired to protest, despite the evil look on her face. Usually, the argument over which girl was the stranger of the two would rattle on for hours if not stopped, and hardly anyone would bother stepping between them. "Otou-sama wants me moved from Fourth to Sixth, so if you're wondering why I'm in this state," At this she motioned to the black lines under her otherwise brilliant eyes, and the almost oddly sallowed look to her moonwash'd hide that only a best friend would notice. "It's because I've been juggling Eleventh, and transfer papers for the past three and a half days. Unohana-taichou's been way out of whack because of this tragedy that happened ages ago, and she's apparently still not over it. I don't even want to know what's up, it'll probably just make me feel terrible."
Saki nodded, russet curls bouncing around her shoulders as she looked back at her captain. She knew the reason now, and for being exasperated at her captain's actions, she felt horrid. Nanao had all the reason in the world to be upset, though in all fairness she still had small parts of him that she loved just as much as her deceased lover. She had a son, and two grandsons, and Saki felt that that should've been enough to keep her happy if only a little. The girl, though, admitted to herself that she couldn't have possibly understood the love if it were that great. If it still hurt twenty years later, it must have been an overpowering emotion sinking into eternity and becoming the air that Nanao breathed. She must have needed it - needed him - more than anyone could fathom, or even put into words. And in that same thought, Saki found that it must have been a beautiful thing.
"I know." The only words the tiny girl could muster were delicate and fragile; so soft they barely even left her throat. Kozakura could feel a weight in the atmosphere, and it was slightly uncomfortable. The next few minutes were left silent, and Kozakura, for as talkative as she was, couldn't find words. Eventually, she sent a short thought to enter her friend's mind and then turned shaply on her heel, standing unimaginably straight. It was something so foreign coming from Kozakura, and when Saki turned to question it, the Kuchiki heir had already vanished.
I have work to do.
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"Are you sure this thing is stable?" A worried-looking Jyuushiro asked, tapping the wall of the Senkaimon gently with one tentative finger. Kisuke looked absolutely apalled at Ukitake's inquiry, then pulled his hat down farther over his eyes. He was still upset that both Shunsui and Jyuushiro had received their memories so soon. He had hoped that he could toy with them only a little longer, popping up unexpectedly whenever he felt. He just couldn't do that now that the two remembered how to read familiar reiatsus again, and unfortunatly his was one of many.
"I'm positive." Kisuke held back a growl at his old friend's mistrust, and then just huffed brattily instead, crossing his arms. Taking another look at the newly silver-haired teen, he wanted to laugh. Jyuushiro had been kidnapped so suddenly from his hospital bed that he hadn't gotten time to change and was therefore still wearing the rediculous blue paper gown that patients were forced to wear. Then before he knew it, he was shaking his head as Shunsui made another one of his famous remarks.
"Only idiots are positive!" Shunsui crowed from the other side of the lot in front of Urahara Shouten. He was still half-ways taking in the size of the gate and wondering how no one noticed it.
Urahara had to think quickly to get himself out of this one. And he could only manage something that he knew would end out with Shunsui making himself look like a moron. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive!" The teen chimed, then stopping short from making any other responses as he pondered the converstion carefully. It took a few long, agonizing minutes for the boy to come to the harsh reality, but as soon as the protests began, Kisuke started shoving the two off towards the great gate before them, spilling all the tips and tricks he could.
"Be careful you two, and whatever you do - don't stop running."
The two took off, totally bewildered and running for their lives. Kisuke watched them disappear into the darkness before retreating back into the shop to find a crowd awaiting him with looks that could kill. At that moment he knew that he should've mentioned the cleaner, which was the one thing he always seemed to forget. He wondered if they would end up dead, but hoped to the Gods that they would retrieve that half of their memories - the small and seemingly irrelevant details from ages ago. He had also forgotten to test their minds to see how much they actually did remember, whether or not it was beginning to wear off, and any side effects that might have been starting to show. The small things slipped his mind. The fact that they should have been given a guide had been lost on him as well. He had just assumed that the former captains would be able to make it through. It was going to nag at him until he found out if they were alright, that he knew for sure.