Sorry for the wait all. I've been super busy. Hope you enjoy it. More to come soon.

Hanataro was lying propped up against several pillows so his head was elevated. Every time he lay down he felt nauseated, and as he sat with his eyes closed, he groaned slightly, waiting for the feeling to pass. The pregnancy hadn't been too hard yet, but he was feeling sick more and more often and had been told that it would more than likely get worse before the end.

He heard footsteps enter the room and didn't bother opening his eyes; there were always people running in to take a sample of something or check his levels of something else, and being a healer himself, he didn't really need the explanation. As he heard the person pause next to the bed, he all but ignored them, until he felt a course hand lightly brush against his cheek. His eyes shot open.

"Ikkaku? You shouldn't be out of- "

"Ya, your lieutenant already gave me the lecture." The man started, sitting down on a chair beside the bed after turning it to face the healer. "I just really needed to talk to ya." Hana watched as Ikkaku looked around, anywhere to avoid eye contact and more awkward than Hanataro had ever seen him before. As he watched the man fidget in the chair, the healer prompted him to go on.

"I was just… well… Damn it, Hana, why didn't ya tell me you were pregnant?" Hanataro blinked back in surprise. He had wanted to tell the man, but hadn't known how to do it, and coupled with his lack of courage, he had been unable to bring himself to just spit it out. Wanting to tell the other as much he opened his mouth, but what came out wasn't what he wanted.

"I, uh, w-uh, I…"

"Ya should've told me, Hana. I don't get it. I had ta hear it from Yumichika. How is it that Yumi knows before I do?" He hadn't intended to get upset, but found himself getting louder as he went until he was yelling at the healer. "We've been together every day, it's not like ya didn't have the time. What about last night when ya were asleep in my bed huh? Couldn't 'a mentioned something then? Just a heads up at least?"

"And what was I supposed to say, Ikkaku?" The suddenly yelling Hanataro startled the fighter into silence. "Just out of nowhere, 'hey Ikkaku, by the way, I'm pregnant, and everyone thinks it's your baby, but I can't tell them it isn't because then they'll ask whose it is and I don't ever want to tell them about it, so if you don't mind just keep pretending that you actually ARE the father and that everything is fine when it isn't?" His face was red and he was on the verge of tears but the loud voice that the man had used didn't fade.

"And it isn't fine is it Ikkaku? I mean I know you like me but a BABY? Really? What kind of a reaction can I expect from someone like you to something like this? Of course you'll FREAK out and then where will that leave me? Alone with a child that I was not ready for and whose real father is a… a…" tears pooled in blue eyes and the briefly empowered Hanataro visibly collapsed. He squeezed his eyes shut as his head spun for a moment right before grabbing the trash bin to the side of the bed and retching into it painfully. Ikkaku was seething.

"First off, what makes ya think I'm goin' anywhere, eh? Have I said that? NO! I came in here to talk to ya, BAKA, not ta LEAVE Ya! What, ya think I'd just abandon ya because of somethin' that ain't even yer fault? And another thing! What the HELL d'you mean someone like ME, EH? So who I am was fine when ya were in trouble and needed yer ASS SAVED, but I aint good 'nuf fer ya now that yer knocked up? 'S'allright ta be strong when yer in trouble but then when it comes to a family or ta anything long term ya look at me like I'm just some kinda BRUTE, is that it! Just some GOON like all them out there? Like the ones that done this to ya? Is THAT what ya think?" He was on his feet, yelling quite loudly, but Hanataro just stared, blue orbs gleaming. When the man before him didn't react, Ikkaku swore loudly and stormed out, nearly hitting a surprised Isane with the door on the way out.

"Get the FUCK out of my WAY!" Ikkaku snapped as he passed her and stomped back down to his room. The lieutenant frowned and considered briefly reprimanding him for talking to a superior in such a way, but then decided it was best to check on Hanataro first. Apparently their talk had not gone so well.

Though she hadn't intended to listen in, the conversation had been rather loud and though muffled by the walls, she had caught the end of it from the other side of the door. Ikkaku had quite the temper on him, and he had been yelling seemingly without holding back at the healer. Isane had just been about to break up the so called 'discussion' when he had stormed past her.

She entered the room to see a sobbing Hanataro holding his head in one hand and his stomach in the other. When he noticed his friend and superior in the room, he spoke.

"I guess you heard that, huh?" he sniffed loudly and she grimaced.

"Well, not clearly. The walls muffled most of it." She sat down on the bed beside her friend. "You know Hana, this type of thing is to be expected from someone like him. People like that, they just don't-"

"What does that mean, 'people like him'? He's just like anyone else! No, not like anyone else; he's a nice guy, Isane, a really good guy." He got sad again and his voice got quiet. "I should have remembered that." He buried his face in his hands, then spoke through his fairly long, thin fingers.

"What have I done?" He looked miserable and Isane suddenly felt almost as bad as he looked. Hadn't she just finished hearing Ikkaku talk about love and been wondering herself how she had so misjudged the man? He had seemed comfortable enough about the news of the baby at the time, and still she had jumped to the conclusion that the man had come in ready to start a fight.

"Hana…" She wasn't sure where to go with the situation, but laid a hand on her friend's arm to comfort him. "What did he say, Hana? He seemed fine when he was on his way here." The boy rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand angrily.

"He was fine. I was an idiot. I thought he would, I don't know, want to run away, but he was actually planning on staying with me. I was the one who made the assumption. I was the one who accused him of abandoning me, and now he's gone and I don't know if he's ever coming back." He leaned into Isane's shoulder, tears rolling silently onto her uniform. "I messed up."

The lieutenant wrapped a gentle arm around the man as he rested against her, taking in the warmth and comfort she had to offer.

"He'll come back Hana. I know he will." She looked down at the top of the man's dark haired head resting in her arms. "I talked to him, and you know what? I didn't think it was possible, but Hanataro, he loves you." She watched as the man blinked slowly, and then looked up at her questioningly. Not planning on leaving him when he was pregnant with another man's child had been something the healer hadn't expected, but this? There was no way Ikkaku loved him, was there? He sat up and examined his superior's eyes thoroughly.

"Lieutenant, you're serious!" She gave him an incredulous look.

"Of course I am! Why would I lie about something this important, Hana?" She took his hand, hoping he didn't see the shadow of doubt that lay beneath her words. As much as she wanted to believe that the bald man was truly a good man like Hanataro thought, and as much as he had seemed to be when she had spoken to the man earlier, she couldn't help but think of the angry and impulsive man that she had long since known him to be. If there was a chance that her friend could get hurt, she knew she should stop this from going any further, but yet… She had seen as plain as day the love in the fighter's eyes when he spoke of the smaller man, and Hana clearly felt the same. If the two could make it work, who was she to stand in their way?

In either case, right now what the pregnant man needed was rest and hope, and Isane knew he would get neither if he were to dwell on the events that just took place. The best thing she could do for him at the moment was to keep her doubts and worries to herself and hope that she would see through to the truth before it was too late. As she left the room so the man could sleep, her heart was filled with the worry that she knew she had taken from the resting shinigami in the bed behind her.

ooooo

Ikkaku tried not to moan in pain as he bent to dress himself. His uniform was more difficult to wear than the simple hospital yukata he had been wearing for the last four days in the fourth division, and though he hadn't complained at all, he still ached all over constantly, a feeling that was greatly multiplied when he moved. The trip out to see Hana had not been the easiest one to make, and the angry march back had pained him even more, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. He was a fighter, after all. He had left the small little boy who cried himself to sleep at night that he used to be back in the rukongai when he had run away from his so called home, and he had never looked back. He had been fighting for his life and the lives of others ever since, and he would be damned if he was going to stop now.

He was still standing in the middle of the hospital room, topless, trying to figure out the least painful way to put on his shitagi and kosode when Isane walked in. He scowled at her.

"Kami, ya should knock! I coulda been naked, ya know!" She shook her head at what the man was doing and took the uniform out of his hands despite his protest.

"Where do you think you're going, Madarame? You aren't well enough to leave the health center."

"The hell I ain't. I'm goin' back to my own place ta heal there. At least then I'll have some decent food," he grumbled, snatching the uniform back from her and getting dressed with a barely hidden wince. The girl sighed loudly and sat on the bed.

"Well, go then. Just don't tell Hanataro that you'll take care of him when you won't even take care of yourself." That stopped him. He glared at her but sat in the chair next to her, his expression sad. He seemed suddenly without energy, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the man for once.

"He doesn't want me. I'd just mess things up more. He's better off just gettin' you and the rest of yer squad to help him along and leavin' me out of it; less pain for him that way." He rubbed a hand over his bald head, feeling the fine hairs that had crept in since he had neglected them while in the hospital. Another few weeks and he would have a full head of hair again. "Besides, Lieutenant, I'll be fine on my own. Wouldn't be the first time I had ta take care of myself after almost getting' killed. I won't be goin' back into combat or nothin' and I'll make sure I come in to get checked up if I feel like I need it." He met her eyes honestly. "I ain't a complete idiot."

The silver-haired girl shook her head slowly. "Yes you are." She stood up, putting a hand on a strong shoulder, and meeting the man's gaze with ease. "He needs you more than you know." With that she left, and as the fighter sat, thinking about what she had said, he wondered if it could possibly be true. He wanted it to be true, he knew that much, but really, how could it be? They had only just begun their relationship, and even if they had been spending time together, Hanataro had still refused to admit any kind of commitment. Ikkaku knew it wasn't as if there was anyone else the man would be involved with, but there was definitely something that had held him back when it came to admitting his feelings for the bigger man. Though this hadn't bothered him at first, as he had simply assumed the man needed more time to come to terms with everything, now it bothered him a great deal. The fact that he hadn't heard about the pregnancy from the little healer himself, but had to hear it from Yumichika, made the man's heart sink in his chest. If Hanataro didn't want him to know about the pregnancy, was it because he didn't want him to be involved? He hadn't planned on leaving the man, but what if Hana had planned to leave him? The thought had been something that had not crossed his mind at first but which was steady upon it now. Why else would he not have told him about his 'condition' if not because he didn't want the third seat to be a part of it.

His mind made up and his heart broken, he donned his black kosode and gathered his Zanpakto from the stand on the wall. It was time to go home.

Oh, my boys! So many problems. I wish they would just talk to one another, but then the story would be far less interesting.

Stay tuned! And make sure to check out my blog ^_^!

~Andromeda