Author's Note: Takes place sometime during Chapter 23. For the prompt 'Unohana compares Hisana to her past lieutenant.'
"Oh, for—you guys can't come up with a single decent idea outside of 'someone needs to do it' and 'my mom thought I'd die in the field so I took a job here so that she wouldn't be worried'? I didn't use my own money to buy refreshments for you guys just so you could sit around like useless lumps and say nothing." Unohana Retsu paused in her steps as Hisana's frustrated voice echoed down the hallway. A not uncommon occurrence these days.
Feeling rather curious about what her intern was up to now, she quietly masked her reiatsu and headed towards the Fourth Division lounge, where Hisana appeared to be conducting a meeting of some sort. She was currently pacing at the front of the room, a large piece of paper titled 'Ways to Increase Our Frankly Pathetic Number of Applicants' pinned up on the wall behind her. Sitting at a table in front of her were several Fourth Division members. Retsu recognized her fifth seat and seventh seat amongst them.
"Okay, change of plans. Since apparently all of you have temporarily forgotten why you applied here in the first place, let's start from the other side of the spectrum. Give me some reasons as to why someone wouldn't want to apply here," Hisana said after a long moment of silence, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Iemura-senpai, since you were the only one who answered my initial question, let's start with you."
"I do not see what the point of this exercise is," he answered stiffly. "What would be the use in coming up with reasons to dissuade people from joining?"
"So that I can give you guys a much needed lesson in having the right attitude," she muttered. "Indulge me."
With a heavy sigh, he crossed his arms before reluctantly saying, "I suppose that some people might find the lack of…opportunities to prove oneself in the field…discouraging." Hisana nodded, reaching up and writing 'fewer opportunities for promotion,' along with 'see less battle' onto the paper in large characters..
"Right. Thank you, Iemura-senpai. Tsukuda-san, your turn."
She jumped, looking vaguely dismayed. When Hisana's gaze didn't waver, she deflated before muttering something inaudible.
"What was that?" Hisana asked, not unkindly.
"I-I said…w-we um…we're responsible for…for maintenance and cleanup, so uh-" Her voice trailed off, but Hisana didn't seem bothered, instead turning around and writing down 'janitorial duties' and 'unglamorous' before looking expectantly at the nervous-looking boy behind her who stammered out something about sewer duty.
As the meeting went on, Retsu had to admit that even she started feeling unsettled as the list got longer and longer. Still, Hisana never blinked an eye even as 'no one respects us' went on the paper, followed by 'it's a job for girls.' It wasn't until she filled up the entire left side of the first sheet and half of a second that she stopped at Tsukuda's quiet, "Sometimes the people from the other squads order me to…to d-do things I don't want to do." As innocuous as that statement seemed, there was something in her tone of voice…in the way she looked down at the table, bottom lip trembling, that left Retsu more uneasy than the rest of the complaints—words made bitter by resignation—put together.
"Thank you, Tsukuda-san," Hisana's voice was quiet now, a solemn understanding in her eyes that caught Retsu off guard. Shaking her head briskly, she turned back to the list behind her. "Now, the reason I asked you to do this is because all of these things? What you just came up with?" A steely glint entered her eyes. "They're all true."
Whatever Retsu was expecting her to say, it wasn't that. She pursed her lips in thought even as half the room flinched. Where are you going with this, Hisana?
"Wha—Yukimura! You can't-" Iemura sputtered, the indignation in his voice only tempered by his shock.
"Can't I?" She asked breezily. "After all, you're the ones who came up with that list. Who am I to tell you you're wrong? And if you go up to anyone…anyone at all, regardless of what squad they're in and ask them if they agree, they will—even if they're too polite to say it out loud. You know that as well as I do, Iemura-senpai, so there's no point in denying it. I didn't come here to lie to you guys; in my experience, there's never much use in ignoring the truth."
"Then why…" Tsukuda's voice shook as she looked up angrily, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Why would you join here, then? Why bother taking that stupid internship at all if you think our squad is so awful, huh?"
Retsu narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Tsukuda's unexpected outburst. As taken aback as the rest of the room had seemed with Hisana's response, there had been something personal in the seventh seat's words. What exactly was Hisana to her to warrant such an emotional reaction?
Hisana blinked in surprise before her eyes softened. "Tsukuda-san, you didn't let me finish. The things on that list are all true, and they're all reasons why our division is scorned by the others. But I look at that list and I don't see a single reason to be ashamed." Her lips tilted up in the faintest smile, expression gentle.
"The reason I asked you all to do this exercise was because I wanted to show you what I see when I look at our division." She pointed to the top of the sheet. "It's true that a Fourth Division member generally has fewer opportunities to earn a promotion. An officer can spend decades working hard without getting moved up a single seat. But that just means that when they do get promoted, it's because they truly deserve it. Because they devoted their lives to saving lives, to stopping bloodshed with no promise of a reward—and really, isn't that what a shinigami is supposed to do in the first place?"
The way she turned back to write 'more deserving of promotions' on the as-of-yet blank right side of the paper meant that she didn't see the stark relief that flashed across Iemura's face, as if something that had been knocked truly off-center in his world had suddenly aligned in its proper place again. Retsu had to suppress a smile—it was nice to see that he valued his 'kouhai's' opinion more than he let on.
"Number two on the list…'see less battle.' Well, to be honest, I don't see what the problem is here. I mean, when it comes down to it, isn't a drastically lower mortality rate a good thing? Doesn't mean we're cowards, it just means that we're pretty much the only squad with common sense," Hisana continued, looking puzzled. Shrugging, she lifted her arm and wrote 'aren't masochists—don't enjoy pain' next to her original statement, causing several people to choke.
"What about the next one?" The boy sitting behind Tsukuda called out eagerly. Hisana glanced up and grinned.
"Oh, the extra 'chores' we have to do?" She asked, using her fingers to make quotation marks around the word 'chores.' "So we're the squad with the greatest variety of jobs. I don't see that as a bad thing? Personally, I think it's nice that I get to take a break from healing sometimes by painting a wall or cooking or building a fence. And since our jobs take us all over the city, whenever I want to visit my friends in other divisions, I just request a cleanup job to that squad," she shrugged. "It's a great way of balancing my work life with my social one."
"Okay I'll give you that one, but even you can't make the sewers sound nice," he challenged. Hisana raised an eyebrow at him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. We have intimate knowledge of a secret network of tunnels under the city. Do you know how many times I've managed to avoid Ichimaru Gin by ducking into the nearest sewer entrance?" At this, Retsu had to hide her smile behind one hand even as Iemura shook his head exasperatedly. If nothing else, Retsu thought in amusement, no one could accuse Yukimura Hisana of not having an interesting way of looking at the world.
"And when people call us weak? That we're so pathetic a lot of us don't even carry our swords around?" A small, brunette girl spoke up from the back. "I m-mean even you…even you don't, Yukimura-san."
Hisana snorted. "The only reason I don't carry Tenshi no Tsubasa around is so I won't be tempted to castrate half my patients and murder the rest whenever I have a bad day," she said flatly, causing the brunette's eyes to widen. "A quick piece of advice. If anyone calls you weak for not carrying a giant weapon around, remind them that if you were to have a psychotic break—say, one brought on by having to deal with an excessive amount of irritating comments—it would lead to a disaster. A massacre of epic proportions, considering the amount of time we spend around relatively helpless injured shinigami. So really, when you choose not to carry around a weapon, it's for their own good, as well as the good of the general population. It's far easier to subdue an unarmed opponent, after all." Turning to the rest of the room, she added, "The same goes for if someone calls you useless. Remind them that the mortality rate of shinigami would be over ten times higher without us. And that chances are, we've saved their life at some point or another. So when they call you useless, they're really calling their own life worthless."
"What about when people say healing is a 'feminine' job?" A blond-haired boy—Retsu vaguely recognized him as having joined last year—asked. At this, Hisana tilted her head to the side thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess that one makes sense. As you all know, we see a lot of blood in our line of work." Several people nodded and she paused for a moment before moving on. "So it only makes sense that healers would need tougher stomachs. And it's a fact of life that females see more blood in their lifetimes than males do."
"What are you talking about?" He interrupted, confused. Hisana blinked, before her eyes curved into happy crescents—an expression almost disturbingly reminiscent of Ichimaru Gin's. Out of the corner of her eye, Retsu saw Iemura Yasochika wince.
"Isn't it obvious? We shed the insides of our organs once a month. Given the amount of blood and tissue that comes out of our genitals, of course girls see more blood than boys," she said sweetly as the boy paled, slinking back into his seat. The brunette girl from before ineffectually tried to hide a giggle behind her hand and Hisana quirked a smile at her. "If you consider that, it's only logical that most healers are girls—a lot of men can't handle the stress of the job. If you need any more proof about how hardcore women are…well, taicho's a woman. You should be honored to have such a feminine occupation." Retsu touched a hand to her lips, unable to keep from smiling softly at the implied praise in her student's words. Oblivious to Retsu's presence, Hisana then clapped her hands together and smiled. "Now that that's taken care of…any more questions?"
There was a long silence before Tsukuda spoke up quietly. "Just one. The last thing on the list…it's easy to talk about saying 'no,' but what do we do if someone…hurts us for not doing what they want us to do?" A hush fell over the room and Retsu stiffened, her expression hardening even as she waited for Hisana's answer.
A shadow passed over Hisana's face. "I can tell you what not to do," she said, eyes hardening. "What you don't do is face them alone. Everyone in this squad knows what it's like to be at the bottom. Well, except maybe taicho, but almost everyone. And that means we have to support each other, because if we don't, who else will? So if someone hurts one of us…well, Squad Four may be the healing squad, but if someone harms one of us, I have absolutely no compunctions against making them bleed." An unmistakably vicious smile crossed Hisana's face—one Retsu couldn't help but approve of. "Because that's the thing about us healers, isn't it? We're good at putting a body back together, but that also means we know exactly how to take one apart."
Looking at Hisana now—the way she casually, effortlessly, took command of a room, despite being the newest, smallest, arguably most delicate-looking figure there, Retsu couldn't help but compare her to another incredibly talented young man she'd once known. Yamada Seinosuke had been much the same—hopelessly charismatic, intensely driven, frightfully intelligent. And yet…that wasn't quite fair, was it? As much as Retsu had loved Seinosuke, had thought of him as a son, she'd never been blind to his faults and he'd always been too ambitious for his own good, so determined to escape the stigma of his Rukongai background—and in the end, it had caused him to leave. But Hisana…
"Ack! Taicho, I didn't know you were there! Did I keep you waiting? You should have said something!" Hisana exclaimed as she almost bumped into her on her way out, face reddening. Retsu laughed, reaching out to grasp one of her wrists as Hisana began gesturing wildly in embarrassment.
"You had such a lovely speech. I didn't want to interrupt you," she replied. Hisana smiled sheepishly.
"You exaggerate, taicho. Any speechwriter would cringe at my presentation," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "There was no structure whatsoever."
"But it was effective," Retsu said, raising an eyebrow. "You managed to take most of their insecurities and turn them into things to be proud of. Not everyone can do that."
"Ah, that was nothing. Sometimes you just need a different mindset," she deflected.
"Hmm. Well, it's a useful skill to have," Retsu said, smiling. "And you're quite good at it. How did you learn to do such a thing so successfully?" Hisana coughed, looking slightly awkward.
"Um…resume writing," she mumbled. "I got very good at turning my faults into admirable traits."
Retsu's lips twitched. "Well, however you came by it, I must say that you were very motivating."
"I wouldn't say that. Still…" Hisana's voice trailed off softly as she looked towards where Tsukuda was talking to Iemura, an animated light in her eyes. "I…I think I helped them feel a little better. About themselves. And that's…that's enough for me."
No, Retsu thought to herself as she contemplated the girl standing next to her—still so young, so inexperienced, but so full of a kindness that practically shone. No, Yukimura Hisana was nothing like Yamada Seinosuke.