A rhythmic knock at the door woke Kumiko the next morning. She opened her eyes slowly, staring into the face of a snoring Urahara. His arm thrown heavily over her waist. Catching his bare shoulders and chest peeking out of the top of their shared blanket, hat missing.
he must have woken up in the night and taken it off she mused silently slipping out of the bed At another knock at the door. The man is like his own personal heater
the cool air of the apartment making her shiver lightly, no longer being kept warm by her friend
light feet ran to the door, opening to discover a smiling ukitake,holding two containers in his hands. with Kyoraku standing behind him
"Captain ukitake!" She breathed shocked
"uh good morning, please come in" Kumiko said embarrassed, still in her skimpy sleeping clothes. Moving out the way to let the men enter her home Kumiko saw Kyorakus face for the first time. He had his head down, avoiding eye contact. Dark circles under his eyes that said he had a rough night. The man looked exhausted.
"thank you Kumiko-san" ukitake said gently, handing her the containers she used to deliver him soup "I just wanted to stop by and return these to you, and thank you again. The soup was delicious"
taking them from his hands and moving past to put them away she said "you didn't have to do that sir, I could of grabbed them another time. Are you feeling better today? You look in better spirits "
he chuckled "I am feeling much better today, thank you. Credit goes to you , I'm sure, for feeding me so well. "
she smiled at him brightly. He really was such a sweet man, "I'll be happy to do it again, if you're ever feeling under the weather captain"
"hey miko, I gotta get going." Said a sleepy urahara, walking into the kictchen, top still off, trousers hung low on his hips, he had one arm straight up in a stretch as his other sleepily rubbed at his eye.
"oh. Morning" he stopped, noticing Kumiko wasn't alone in the kitchen
Kyorakus head snapped up when he first heard his voice, the first time since he had entered the apartment. Kumiko could feel the tension coming off the man in waves. Urahara looked like a deer caught in the headlights unsure of what to do or say next. Slightly nervous the larger man may try and lunge for him the same way he did at Hirako at the captains meeting. He knew he could hold his own in a fight. But didn't much fancy taking on his friend if he didn't have to.
Kumiko knew exactly what this looked like. Her still in skimpy bed clothes, Urahara, topless coming out of her bedroom. The tension was thick in the air and Kumiko didn't know what to do.
"good morning urahara-san". Ukitake greeted him warmly with a smile. Either not noticing or choosing to ignore the icy cold feeling in the apartment "you're off to see captain amagai, this morning are you not?"
"ah, yeah. I actually need to go to the office to get my documents, if you'll excuse me a moment I'll just,". He trailed off turning back toward the bedroom to get dressed Kumiko assumed
"I feel I'll be ready to help with some more training tomorrow Kumiko-san if you're ready to try again?" Ukitake turned to the woman again, eyes darting between her bedroom and Kyoraku who was staring at said bedroom. Kumiko looked up at him in awe, surly he could feel the tension. How is he being so calm?
"yes, that sounds wonderful Captain if you're sure your up to it? I don't want you getting sick again"
"I know my limits Kumiko-san" he said with a smile, hand reaching out to pat her head lightly. It wasn't in a condescending way, more lovingly fatherly way. "I will speak up if needed, you should do the same" he eyed her, knowing how hard she pushed herself laugh time
urahara came back into the room, now dressed, "I'm going to head over to the office miko, come join me there when your dressed and we will head over to amagais" desperate to leave the awkward situation
"ok" she said softly,
"I'll join you on your travels urahara-san" ukitake said, placing a hand on his shoulder, conveniently putting himself between the two men on the way to crossing by the door. Maybe he did feel the tension after all Kumiko thought he's definitely not one to be underestimated
"I shall join you for lunch, shunsui" he added to his friend, not much of an invitation as a warning
"I would like to talk to you about kumiko-sans training" his voice trailed off as the two men walked out of the apartment.
Kumiko looked at shunsui, clearly finding something interesting about his own shoes.
"it's not what it looks like". She said softly "we just fell asleep after talking, I swear "
"its not my business either way though, right?"
Kumiko wished he would look at her. She didn't care if he was still angry, she just wanted him to look at her
"I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. I also shouldn't have told you to "fuck off" it was rude"
he did glance up at her then to ask "are you ok? I didn't realise I was releasing my Reiatsu. I wouldn't have done that knowingly"
"I'm fine, I knew you didn't do it on purpose. Are you ok? You look a little..?" Trying to find the right word to describe the man's haggard appearance without insulting him
" rough?" He offered "I may have hit the sake a little to hard last night"
and the tree, he thought, gently flexing his sore hand
the air was still thick between them, and Kumiko hated it. She just wanted them to go back to normal. She wanted them to go back to that perfect morning spent with the children. Laughing, carefree, flirting. She hated this awkwardness
"shunsui". She started softly
"I better go, I just wanted to check you were okay". He cut her off, walking to the door
"shunsui!" She called louder after his retreating form. The door shut quietly behind him
damn it, it's going to take a while to fix this mess.
Kumiko sighed, heading to her bedroom to get ready for the day, surly it couldn't get worse than how it began
Captain ukitake walked gracefully into the 8ths divisions captains office, stopping at the desk by the door where lieutenant nanao sat doing her paperwork
it seems I always find her with a pen in her hand he thought fondly.
Looking up at who entered the office, nanao greeted him
"Captain Ukitake, hello. captain Kyoraku is in his office. Hopefully finishing his paperwork". She told him, not actually believing her uncle was actually doing any work. He was in such a strange mood today, he hadn't come out to annoy her once
"good afternoon nanao-chan, is it possible for you to take your lunch now? I'm needing to speak with Shunsui privately". He asked her kindly
"of course" she told him standing up from her desk and gathering her things
"thank you"
"I will be back in about an hour" she said walking past him, stopping to add "he's not acting like himself today"
"I will be sure to make sure he is fine, nanao-san, I will see you when you get back" kindly dismissing the woman.
Hearing the door close he crossed the room, opening the closed door to Shunsuis office, stepping inside. Shunsui was sat at his desk, feet up crossed on top of it leaning back in his chair staring at the ceiling. Paperwork left ignored on his desk
Ukitake closed the door behind him for privacy, before taking a seat infront of his friend on the opposite side of the desk
"do you care to tell me what that was about this morning?" He blatantly asked his friend
Kyoraku looked to his friend, patiently waiting for his response, letting out a sigh and putting his feet back on the floor so to face the man
"I don't know what you're on about" he said like a sulky child
" shunsui, you could cut the tension coming off you with a knife. You didn't look up at Kumiko once. Nor did you speak the whole time. You looked just about ready to take a swing at urahara-san" ukitake wasn't going to take any nonsense from his friend today. The man had clearly been up drinking half of the night, and judging by his bruised knuckles he had noticed this morning, he had hit something or someone one at some point the previous day "tell me what has you troubled"
"she slept with him" he mumbled, knowing his friend wouldn't let it rest, no matter how reluctant he was to talk about it
"Kumiko and Urahara? That's a surprise " genuinely shocked by the news, it was the last thing he thought would come out of his mouth. "it doesn't quite explain your mood though, please explain"
Kyoraku sighed, he didn't want to talk about it, he wanted to go home and drink and pass out later.
"I bumped into her two nights ago, after leaving work. Literally, she walked into me and fell over. Absolutely drunk she was . She wanted me to take her home to, you know ". He said, making a ridiculous hand motion of a finger going into a circle made by his other hands finger and thumb. Ukitake smiled at his friends childish antics.
" I told her no. I didn't want to take advantage of her like that juu. You know I like her, I just wanted it to be different with her. I've had my fill of drunken girls throwing themselves at me"
"youve had more than your fair share if my recollection is correct". Ukitake said, finally making his friend smile at him "what happened next"
"she got pissed. Accused me of saying one thing and doing another. She told me to fuck offand stormed away"
"Kumiko did? That's not like her, she's normally really sweet" ukitake said shocked at the words that came from the sweet respectful woman he's enjoyed getting to know
"shes definitely got a fiery temper. It wasn't technically the first time I turned her down though, it happened a few days prior too"
"was she drunk then also?"
"no, but it was after her training with you, it just didn't feel right." Kyoraku tried to explain "I just wanted our first time to mean something, I don't want to just bed her and forget about her. I want something more"
"I see, and had you explained this to her?" Ukitake asked his soft hearted friend
"not exactly, I thought I did, but apparently not well enough. Anyway, I went to see her the next morning and she wasn't home, so I waited. She arrived home about an hour later? Massive hicky on her neck. I got jealous. Which made me mad. I kind of went too Far" he admitted guiltily running a large hand down his face
ukitake sighed. His friend had the biggest heart of anyone he had ever met, but he wasn't very emotionally mature. It was difficult for Kyoraku to understand his own feelings, let alone explain them to someone: it's only because of centuries of friendship Ukitake understood him. He also wasn't the best at controlling his reactions to his emotions. if he was happy? He laughed loudly. If he was sad? He would drink himself stupid so as not to deal with the emotion. And, apparently if he was angry, he tended to swing at things, as proved by the captains meeting
"what did you do Kyoraku?"
He rubbed the back of his head guiltily. He knew he went to far. "I kind of asked her a load of inappropriate questions about sleeping with him. I was too clouded by my anger I didn't I notice my Reiatsu slipping, not until she begged me to stop. I know. I feel awful" he said to the look ukitake was giving him.
"you should have controlled yourself better Kyoraku, especially around Kumiko. It's not fair for her to be in that position. She can't defend herself ". He gently scolded him. He knew he didn't do it on purpose, of course he didn't, but it still wasn't ok
"I know, I know. I did apologise this morning. She seemed to have forgiven me"
"but you've not forgiven her? Or urahara?" Ukitake asked , the tightening of the man's jaw was all the answer he needed
"Kyoraku, they technically didn't do anything wrong. They're both single, and while you tried, you weren't very clear on your feelings towards Kumiko. I'm sure they didn't do it to hurt you. Urahara has been your friend for years, he wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you" ukitake explained to his friend, anger apparent on his face
"I know". Kyoraku punched his desk, angrily as he spat the words. Regretting it instantly; it wasn't jushiros fault "I know" he amended gently, sending him an apologetic look. Ukitake didn't look phased by his outburst at all
" I know Kumiko can sleep with who she wants. I didn't make myself clear. I know Kiske didn't to it to hurt me and I know I handled it poorly. But I'm still mad. I still want Kumiko to feel guilty. I still want to punch Uraharas jaw. I don't know how to stop feeling like this juu"
"talking about it with a friend usually helps". He offered kindly "finding a healthier way to deal with your emotions would also be beneficial, I know you drank too much last night, judging by the amount of empty bottles in your house this morning. How did you hurt your hand?" He nodded gently to the bruised hand in question
Kyoraku smiled at him sheepishly "I punched a tree"
ukitake shook his head slightly "I should be happy it wasn't kiskes face I suppose."
"he wasn't there" Kyoraku said, only half joking.
"how are you going to fix it?" Ukitake asked him, subtly letting the man know he should be fixing something
"yare, I don't know juu-chan. I was just planning on avoiding them for a few days". He said with a smile
"it's nice to know you're at least consistent with your avoidance of things you don't want to do " ukitake said, motioning to the pile of paperwork on shunsui desk he's clearly not been working on like lieutenant had hoped he was
he just grinned wolfishly at him .
Kumiko knocked lightly before entering Uraharas office
"hey, you alright? Sorry I just kinda left you alone to deal with that. I didn't think jushiro would leave with me". Urahara said upon seeing his friend, walking over to greet her with an apology hug. She smiled at him
"I've never seen your ass move so fast. I'm fine though, I told him nothing happened last night. And I apologised for swearing at him, and telling him it's none of his business who I spend my nights with" Kumiko explained "he apologised for not controlling his Reiatsu. He's still mad though, he wouldn't look at me and walked out"
"not the most ideal situation we've found ourselves in" urahara said. He wasn't happy his friend was upset. That he had unintentionally hurt him. I'm not thrilled about the fact he clearly wants my head on a stick either he added ruefully to himself
"im sorry, Kiske . it's my fault, this whole thing is my fault" Kumiko said defeated
"hey? No, we all have a part of blame in this. I could've said no, I didn't. I didn't fully understand his obvious feelings for you at the time. I'm sure you weren't clear either. He also could've handled the situation better. It'll all sort it's self out eventually. Don't worry too much" Urahara told her in a gentle tone
"I don't know what to do to fix it, he won't even look at me"
"just give him some time eh? Let him process it and I'm sure he'll come to you. Hopefully he processes it before he comes to ME". He added with a laugh "I don't much fancy getting my ass handed to me."
That made Kumiko laugh, "I got a feeling it would be a lot harder than you're making out to "hand you your ass" she sighed, having one more thing she needed to know before forgetting about the morning and getting on with their day
"do you...regret it?" She asked feeling exposed "not saying no?"
He looked at the uncertainty in her eyes and felt a strong urge to hug the woman. So he did, tightly. Kissing her on top of her head "no. Not at all. Shunsuis feelings aside? I had a lot of fun" he added, pulling away "plus it had been way longer than I care to admit since I last had sex"
hearing her laugh he felt satisfied enough to go grab the documents on the desk to head over to see captain amagai,
"how long HAD it been?" She questioned cheekily
" never you mind"
