Hey Interwebbers! This one's a little longer, with more dialogue. Please let me know what you think, good or bad. Thanks.
After spending another day resting in Ikkaku's apartment, Hanataro's injuries were fading from his body, if not his mind. He had spent the day before mostly alone, while Ikkaku himself was out doing whatever it was the man normally did, Hanataro supposed. He didn't mind being alone. Even though it was a bit dull, he was still more than a bit worried about making the bigger man angry, so he was glad to be out of his way.
The bald man came back at mid-day to make the two of them some lunch, as he had each meal so far. It turned out that Ikkaku had expressed an unexpected love of making meals and was a fairly decent cook. Hanataro at first didn't believe that the man had any culinary skill, but after realizing that the first meal he had been left had in fact been made by Ikkaku, he was convinced to try the fighter's food, and it happened to actually be good. Since that first meal, the bigger man had come back to cook for the healer, and they had eaten together, mostly in silence, for every meal. Now was more of the same.
"How is it?" Afraid to anger the man, the answer was always the same.
"It's good, Ikkaku-san," He gave the other a small smile. In truth, the meal was good, quite good, not that he would have said any different even if it hadn't been. Ikkaku nodded, but the look on his face was troubled, and Hanataro noticed. He was still trying to decide whether to say something or just let it be when the other broke the quiet.
"Have ya thought about pressing charges, Hana?" The expression on the man's face had become one of the deepest scowls Hanataro had seen in the past few days, and he wasn't sure how to respond. The question had come from nowhere, though obviously it had been weighing heavily on the other's mind.
"Uh… well, no, Ikkaku-san, I…" he stammered.
"Well you aughta." The bald man's scowl diminished a bit. "They deserve it." Hanataro was shocked.
"You… want me to… press charges against your men?"
"They aint my men, ya hear me?" Ikkaku barked back, a little more forcefully than he intended, "If it was up to me, they'd be outa the squad faster'n you could blink, but it aint, alright?" His voice calmed a bit and he sighed.
"Thing is, Hana," The third seat went on, "There's only so much I can do ta punish 'em. If you want somethin' really done, ya gotta do it officially. I'm all for personal justice an' all, but the best thing for you ta do would be to report them. I can put through the paperwork for ya in place of Zaraki, like I said, or your captain can do it, but DO it. Alright?"
Ocean blue eyes met piercing black ones for the longest moment since the healer had been staying with the fighter. The man was speaking truthfully, Hanataro finally decided; the honesty in his eyes ran deep. After years of working in the fourth division, he had developed a good sense of when words were true or not. He dropped his gaze.
"O-ok, Ikkaku-sa-"
"Don't do that." Ikkaku cut him off, with a stern voice, making him drop his spoon in a moment of fear.
"Wh-at?" he fumbled with the spoon, getting it back on the table and wiping up the mess it had made when it fell.
"Don't be so formal with me. Yer not my subordinate, Hana. Ya don't have to treat me like I'm gonna rip yer head off if ya say the wrong thing, 'cause I won't. I'd of thought you'd of figured that out by now." His voice was firm, but not harsh or threatening, though Hanataro still felt intimidated. He watched as the man sighed and quietly finished his meal. When he was done he left without another word, leaving the smaller man sitting alone at the low table, wondering what exactly had just happened.
An hour later the slight man had cleaned up the remnants of the meal and tidied up the apartment before wondering what else could pass his time. He was still trying to decide whether it would be safe for him to go out, knowing that he was currently in the middle of the eleventh division barracks, when there was a knock on the door, followed by a sing-song voice.
"Oh, Hanataro! Are you in there, little healer?" Before the man could respond, the door swung open with the swish of elegance and drama that only came from the eleventh squad's fifth seat.
"Oh, hi Ayasagawa-san." Hanataro bowed to the man, who flew forward and took the healer's face in his hands.
"Hmm… You look fine to me." The beauty noted as he inspected the small man, "A little unkempt, perhaps, but not like you've been through any trauma. I've always thought you to be one of the more beautiful people in your division, you know." He laughed a bit as he let go of the other's chin. "Not unlike myself in some very basic ways." Hanataro was confused. He had not seen the vain fifth seat for the first two days he'd been here, but now here he was, out of the blue.
"Uh, Ayasagawa-san, what are you…" He didn't get to finish the question, as the man chose then to drag him by the wrist out the door of the apartment, out of the building and into the courtyard outside.
"Come with me, Hana, you need some sun." Yumichika said as he pulled the other along, "Ikkaku is a bit dense and doesn't always realize that people other than him have needs."
Out in the courtyard, the early afternoon sun was bright on the grass, and a gentle breeze blew the blades softly. Looking at the clean walls of the buildings surrounding the well-kept lawn you would never guess that some of the most blood thirsty shinigami of the seretai lived, slept and ate within these barracks. The taller man sat at a picnic table in the courtyard and patted the seat next to him for the other to join.
"So tell me what happened." Violet orbs looked intently at the healer as he took a seat next to the manicured male.
"Uh, what happened?" Yumichika nodded.
"He's gotten himself all in a knot about something and it only got worse when I mentioned you, so something must have happened." The man flipped his hair as though he had just said the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean he's been all agitated for days now – since you came to stay with him out of the blue – but even more so since he came back from lunch." Hanataro frowned a bit. Ikkaku was actually bothered by the fact that the slighter man was afraid of him, something that baffled him. He had never seen the bigger man care that others feared him before, so why now?
"So? What is it? And while you're at it, tell me why you decided to pay our division a visit, too." The feathered face gave a smile, and Hanataro frowned more.
"I thought… you already knew." Yumichika shook his head.
"Normally Ikkaku doesn't keep things from me. He doesn't lie in general principle, but normally when I ask, he tells. Not this time. Not a peep. He just keeps saying it's no one's business." He frowned disapprovingly, and then went on, "Of course, the men in the division have their ideas, and Ikkaku's reputation doesn't help the situation. They keep saying he's sweet on you and finally got you, but I know there's got to be more to it than that." Hanataro nodded, then realized what he had said, and balked.
"What? You think he's sweet on me too, Ayasagawa-san?" The man just smiled in response.
"No, Hanataro, I know he is. I've known him longer than anyone else, and I can tell from the way he talks about you. But that's nothing new; he's liked you for a while now, so I know something else must be at play. He just won't tell me what."
He sat, staring with questioning eyes at the smaller man as what he'd said was processed by the other's mind. Hanataro couldn't believe what he heard. He had never gotten the impression from the third seat that there was any sort of attraction, and from what he'd heard of Ikkaku, the man was not one to be shy when it came to flirting. When the man went to the bar, anyone and everyone there were in danger of becoming the most recent target of his attention. The only thing that seemed to stop him from sleeping with the entire seretai one shinigami at a time was the fact that he often got so drunk that he passed out long before it could go any farther than some harmless banter. Even so, the man certainly spoke his mind, and if he liked someone, surely they would know it… right?
Hanataro was even more perplexed then he had been moments before now, and with his head spinning and an eager Yumichika still prodding him for an answer with those brilliant wisteria eyes, he heard himself giving out the truth more readily than he would have normally liked.
"I was attacked." If the healer had thought this would provoke some sort of reaction in the other man, he was mistaken, as the collar clad shinigami simply nodded understandingly.
"I thought that might be it. It was one of the idiots in our division was it?"
"Yes," The healer answered softly, "They were."
"oh." That at least caused the other to turn his head, his eyes opening a bit wider. "I'm sorry to hear that… If it makes any difference, Ikkaku has had them killing themselves training for the past few days. He forbade them from going to the fourth for healing, too, so they've been groaning and moaning a lot more than normal. And then there's that lie he got me to tell your captain about you helping us out around here…" Hanataro didn't know how to tell the other man that, no, it didn't really make him feel any better, but as it turned out he didn't have time, as the man went on before there was a chance.
"But now, Hanataro, little Hanataro, tell me what happened this afternoon that has Ikkaku's panties in a bunch." He laughed again, seemingly at his own imagery, "He's the worst he's been yet, and he wasn't like that this morning." Hanataro considered it for a moment, and then decided it would be easier to tell him.
"I think he got upset because, well, I'm kind of… afraid… of him." He looked up to see a smiling Yumichika rolling his eyes.
"Yes, that would do it. He seems to forget sometimes that to those that don't know him well enough he can be intimidating, even downright scary at times." He stood up and Hanataro did too, feeling that the quaffed beauty had gotten what he'd come for.
"Don't worry about him, Hana, I'll straighten him out before I send him back. You know, though," he said before he turned to leave, "You really don't have to be afraid of him. I know he'd never hurt a hair on your pretty little head."
As the fifth seat left, he waved back at the healer, who stood out in the courtyard for a moment, watching the other go and thinking about what he'd learned. Firstly, that Yumichika hadn't known he'd been attacked, and hadn't known the extent of it, he'd only guessed, so he couldn't have been the one who had treated his wounds. Also, the brutes that had done this to him – as well as the entire division by the sound of it – were being drilled hard by Ikkaku in lieu of punishment even though the healer had never expressed a desire for justice. And, finally, that Ikkaku Maderame, feared fighter and third seat of the most intensive combat division of the Gotei 13, had a soft spot for little Hanataro, a healer with no combat skill and very little self confidence when it came to much other then medical triage.
A few minutes later he was still rooted to the spot, head spinning with the strange information, when he felt a strong reiatsu approaching and realized he was still out in the courtyard, unprotected, in the middle of the eleventh squad barracks. He quickly shuffled back inside to Ikkaku's room to wait for him to return and to ponder more on the completely odd and unexpected situation. He had a feeling that life was about to get a lot more complicated.
I know, not too much Ikkaku in this one, though he was discussed a lot. We did get to hear from Yumi though. Yay! He's going to be important I think.
Hope to post again soon.
~Andromeda