Until it was pointed out to me a while ago I hadn't actually realised just how many reviews this story has and I was really, truly surprised that it was over 100 already. I honestly hadn't expected it to be so popular, so a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story, especially those anonymous reviewers who I cannot thank individually!

Also, for those who might not know, the Christmas story, titled 'Christmas Spirit' is up. XD

Having finally gathered from Ikkaku that no, Yumichika wasn't literally having a fit, he was just upset, (its a figure of speech, sheesh...), Kenpachi stood outside the teenager in question's door, contemplating the best way to proceed. He had been often told that one of the parenting skills he was lacking in was sensitivity, and while he didn't often go for fuzzy negotiation where other, more memorable tactics would work just as well, he could recognise that this was one of the situations where it was inescapable. In fact, dealing with Yumichika in general seemed to require a great deal of sensitivity, denting the boys ego even slightly could be disastrous.

Gently he slipped the door open, not quite sure what to expect but imagining something along the lines of the boy huddled in his bed, or (perhaps more likely considering his volatile temper) throwing things around the room. What he didn't expect to see was Yumichika sitting serenely on the bed, earphones lodged firmly in and music blaring from them at what was probably an unhealthy volume. Somewhat flummoxed and wondering if this had been some bad joke on Ikkaku's part, or even just a ploy to get him away while he throttled Yachiru, Kenpachi hovered in the doorway until Yumichika noticed him.

"Umm..." Yumichika pulled out the plugs sheepishly. "Did you call or something?"

Kenpachi shook his head, regaining some of his certainty. "No. Just checking you're OK."

The teenager smiled brightly. "Fine. What would be wrong?" Kenpachi noticed that the bruise around his eye had darkened into a painful looking and very noticeable shade of purplish-black.

"I dunno. Ikkaku said you were upset."

Yumichika laid the MP3 player down carefully. "I don't know why he would say that." The boy's jaw clenched momentarily before he continued. "There's nothing wrong in the slightest. After all its only Monday tomorrow and I have to go to school and I have this ugly bruise around my eye and I look like an idiot and I'll be the laughing stock of the whole school..."

"Whoa!" Kenpachi help his hands up hurriedly, halting the teenagers tirade. "Is that all?"

The moment he said it he realised it had been a mistake and Yumichika stiffened as if he had been struck. "Is that all?!" He took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. "Yes. I suppose that's all." He inserted the earphones again, starting the music.

Kenpachi stared for a moment. "What are you doing?"

Yumichika looked up coolly. "Listening to music."

Narrowing his eyes he leaned over the boy and yanked the wires, pulling the plugs from his ears. "Now you listen to me." He growled, watching with some satisfaction as the teenager started backwards. "Don't you dare dismiss me like that again. I come in here because I think something's wrong and I try to help, and then you get all uppity and ignore me. Now that might work with other adults and your buddies at school, but I'm not them, and while you are under this roof, you will show me respect." He straightened up. "And in return I'll respect you and your views."

Yumichika stared at him for a few moments, blinking in surprise, before nodding slowly.

"Right." Kenpachi took the device and turned it off, putting it away on the desk. "Now. Tell me – slowly - what's wrong."

The teenager took a breath. "I have to go to school tomorrow with this!" He pointed at his black eye. "Its horrible! And I cant even cover it up. Everyone's going to laugh."

Kenpachi pursed his lips. To him it just looked like a black eye, he had seen worse, but to Yumichika it seemed to be something entirely different. "Why will they laugh?" He asked, hoping the boy might be able to sort out the problem himself by talking.

"Because..." Yumichika hesitated. "Wouldn't you? If someone like me came in one day looking like a panda?"

He had to admit, he would, but he didn't say that. "Only if you saw it as panda eyes."

Yumichika looked confused. "How else would you see it?"

"As a trophy perhaps? A war wound? You don't have to say you got it when your little sister kicked you in the face. There's lots of other ways you can get a black eye." He continued as Yumichika looked thoughtful, obviously intrigued by the idea. "You like fighting like Ikkaku, right?" He had noticed Ikkaku showing Yumichika some of the things he had learned in his Kendo lessons and the slight teenager seemed to pick it up quite well, even from someone as inexperienced as Ikkaku. "Ikkaku doesn't care if he has cuts or a black eye. He sees it as showing his strength."

Yumichika looked dubious again. "But that's Ikkaku."

Kenpachi shrugged. "Well, there's nothing any of us can do about your eye anyway, so you'll just have to live with it. The nasty looking ones always fade quickly anyway." To his relief Yumichika seemed heartened by the snippet of information, so he decided to hazard something that he had been wondering about. "Is anything else wrong? You didn't look happy on Wednesday."

Yumichika looked at him for a moment, really looked at him, as if measuring up how far he trusted him. Eventually he stood and opened a desk drawer, rooting around until he pulled out a rather crumpled piece of paper. "We got this." He handed it to Kenpachi.

Scanning the text Kenpachi read it. "We wish to remind parents that children will be requiring their Tetanus boosters soon. Further information will be provided closer to the date." He looked at Yumichika. "You got this on Wednesday? Both of you?"

Yumichika nodded. "I took Ikkaku's one so he wouldn't give it to you."

Kenpachi didn't know whether to be angry that he had been deceived or incredulous at the lengths the teenager would go to to avoid any medical procedures at all. It honestly made him wonder what had happened to the boy. "You know, if you don't get this injection then you could end up with something a lot worse."

Yumichika shuffled. "I know...but..."

Looking back down at the sheet Kenpachi thought carefully. Having seen how Yumichika reacted to just the prospect of going to the doctor he was sure that whoever had the task of actually injecting him would have a hard time, and he had seen enough injections to know that the worry was made ten times worse by group hysteria, which would kick in despite all common sense. Any rational arguments Yumichika had with himself about the need to have the injection would be washed away as he waited with his classmates. "I cant let you not have this done. That's out of the question. But..." he held up his hand as Yumichika's face fell. "If you would prefer, I can take you and Ikkaku to have it done at the doctors, so you wont have to have it done at school." His sneaking suspicion that half of the boy's reluctance was due to fear of looking foolish in front of classmates was confirmed as Yumichika instantly perked up.

"Yes please." He hesitated. "If it's not a bother...?"

Kenpachi shook his head with a small frown. "Its better than having you as a miserable wreck for the next few months." He grinned. "You feeling better now?"

Yumichika nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Sometimes Kenpachi couldn't believe how different Yumichika and Ikkaku were considering how close they were. If something was wrong with Ikkaku the world soon knew about it, but if Yumichika was concerned about something you may never know until it was too late. "Next time tell someone. Not speaking about things just makes them worse. Yeah?"

"Sorry."

"An' don't apologise, I'm not telling you off, just telling you."

Congratulating himself on an obstacle overcome Kenpachi was just about to tell Yumichika to come downstairs when the unmistakeable smell of burning reached his nose. Obviously he had been far longer than he intended and neither Ikkaku nor Yachiru had decided that their burning lunch was important enough to intervene, or even tell him. Leaving a bemused Yumichika behind he flew down the stairs; if he could smell them upstairs then they were probably too far gone, but he might be able to save a few.

Either that or he would just have to start again. Sometimes a step forward means taking a step back first.

Does anyone think that I concentrate too much on Yumichika? I'm a little worried about that, so I'd like to hear what you think on the matter. ^_^