Chapter 20: Unconscious Confessions

Word of Kirara's injury had spread amongst the Lieutenants by the next morning. Seinosuke had mentioned it during the Lieutenant's meeting, giving the reason why his sister wouldn't be attending.

They didn't know the full story, only that she had suffered a terrible injury and was now in Squad 4's domain. Natsuki had almost kicked the door down to leave the meeting early and check up on her best friend, but Seinosuke had idly threatened to ban her from the premises if she did. Natsuki managed to reign herself in, but not before calling the Lieutenant of Squad 4 a few choice names.

So naturally, by lunchtime, the majority of the Gotei 13 knew about it. She hadn't woken since she'd been stabbed by the broken sword, and while they had managed to stabilise her injury thanks to Michi's hard work, there was still a level of uncertainty that she would even wake up.

Rose had found himself with an abundance of free time, and while that usually meant he would have been off composing music, he found that the almost constant melody in his head was silent. Not that he was very surprised, considering the news he'd heard. Kirara always helped his melodies flow easier, and without her around he knew they would suffer.

Unable to even think about writing music, the Captain went for a walk to clear his head, wondering if it would be worthwhile to go visit Kirara while she slept. He almost smiled as he thought about it, not quite sure when exactly he'd become so fond of the Lieutenant.

"I'm surprised to see you here," he looked around as Shinji approached, hands shoved into his pockets and a grim look on his face. Rose straightened a little as he watched Shinji approach. As impossible to read as ever.

"I take it that you've heard the news too?" he asked. Shinji almost snorted.

"I don't think I could have missed it. That Watanabe girl was bawling so much I had to send her home early," he said, keeping that bored tone. "Sosuke mentioned it to me," Shinji said, shifting a little as he spoke.

"Yes, Lieutenant Iba was the one who made mention of it to me," Rose said, pushing his curly blond hair from his face as a breeze blew past.

"Fastest way to spread anything around this place. Tell the Lieutenants," Shinji shrugged, lifting his gaze to the sky. Rose had to agree. Lieutenants seemed to catch word of everything before anyone else did.

A moment passed, before Shinji's words dawned on him. Rose's sleepy eyes narrowed in confusion, and he looked over at the other Captain.

"Why are you surprised to see me here?" he asked, disliking how spacey it made him seem to ask it now. Shinji just shrugged, keeping his gaze on the sky.

"Thought you'd already be round at Squad 4 with the Princess," he said, which only made Rose's confusion grow.

"Why would I be…" he trailed off as Shinji finally looked at him. Realisation dawned on both of them at the same time. "You thought that Kirara and I were-"

"Why wouldn't I?" Shinji spluttered, looking caught off guard for once. Rose would have delighted in being the one to throw him, if he wasn't so flabbergasted by it. "You're always together!" Shinji defended, and to his horror he could feel himself starting to blush in humiliation. He'd revealed too much by what was supposed to just be an idle greeting.

Of course he'd thought Kirara and Rose had some kind of thing going on. Half the Gotei 13 were convinced of it. The two spent a lot of time together, with Kirara regularly visiting the man for tea. Plenty of people had seen them walking around together too, and Shinji himself still remembered Kisuke's induction ceremony when Rose had been the one to help Kirara fix her hair. Not to mention when Kirara had told Rose that he was her favourite Captain. Admittedly, that last point had been when she had been teasing him, but the affection in her voice had been real.

It had only made his guilt grow, that night he'd found Kirara crying. To be the one there comforting her. To have wanted desperately in that moment to kiss her, resisting only because he knew she wasn't in the right headspace with how emotional she'd been. To know that he had feelings for her when his friend was already with her.

But he wasn't. Rose wasn't dating Kirara. Instantly his mind went elsewhere.

"Kirara is nothing but a dear friend to me," Rose said, seeming to sense this as Shinji's gaze moved in the direction of the Squad 4 barracks. "She has never been, and never will be, anything more than that," he said with utmost confidence. Shinji didn't speak, and Rose smiled. "I believe that one of us should be there, but we both know it isn't me," his words made Shinji's eyes narrow.

"You're so pushy," he complained.

"Perhaps," Rose shrugged, looking delighted by the turn of events. From the moment Kirara had admitted her feelings to Rose, he'd hoped that Shinji felt the same. They were chaotic as hell together, and Rose's life had only gotten louder when the two had become friends, but the melody he saw before him made him only want to encourage them more. "Now go, before I tell her exactly what you thought," Rose threatened. Shinji's glare grew.

"If she ever gets wind of this, I will make you pay," he warned, before vanishing. Rose chuckled to himself, as despite Kirara's condition, he felt somewhat delighted by the turn of events.

"You would truly have to annoy me, Shinji, for me to utilise this," Rose promised.

Kirara's sleeping expression was oddly peaceful as she lay in bed in one of the side rooms, as still as she had been since they had brought her in. She was stable at last, and in no danger, but the recovery was going to take some time.

Haruki sighed as he watched over her, checking Kirara's vitals to make sure she wasn't suddenly taking a turn for the worse. He'd been the first to volunteer to look after her, but he could have sworn that Seinosuke actually seemed somewhat worried about her. He denied it profusely, but Haruki couldn't quite shake the feeling that despite their attitudes towards one another, Seinosuke did care for his sister deep down.

Satisfied that Kirara was in stable condition and not in any further risk, Haruki stepped back from her bed. He'd known from the moment he'd joined Squad 4 that he would see people in terrible shape; worse than when he had helped his father out in his small clinic before he'd become a Shinigami, and Haruki knew that inevitably he would end up seeing someone he cared about there.

He just never expected it to be Kirara. From the moment he'd met her in the Academy, she'd almost seemed untouchable to him, and he admired her for it. Haruki berated himself for such foolish thoughts, finally leaving the room to get one with the rest of his duties for the day.

Kirara remained where she lay, her chest slowly rising and falling, showing no signs of waking even as the door opened and closed again, and Shinji stepped into the room. He studied her face for a long moment, noting that she was paler than usual, but whatever her injury was, it wasn't visible to him.

As she lay there, he couldn't help but notice her hair was down, splayed around her and draped over the edges of the bed. It was almost as long as his, and almost made her seem elegant in sleep.

"Well, Princess. You can't get mad at me for not visiting this time," Shinji's voice was low. Kirara didn't respond, her eyes staying closed. Shinji cursed quietly. "I should have visited you back then, in the Academy. When you got hurt and I…" the memory flashed in his mind again, of Kirara falling from the sky with blood streaming behind her.

Shinji's fists clenched as he drew closer to her bed. "Damn you, Yamada. You're as reckless as you were back then," he breathed. His relief that she was okay frustrated him. It was too much. The feelings had crept up on him, and despite thinking that she was with Rose, he hadn't been able to stop himself. For someone who tried to stay in control, he found that he just lost all semblance of that control the moment Kirara was involved.

He glared down at the woman lying on the bed, as if he blamed her for it all. "You're reckless and stubborn and you think you have to take on everything by yourself. Stubborn…impulsive, disrespectful pain in my ass…" as the words spilled from his mouth, he leaned closer over Kirara.

Even as Shinji's hair slipped over his shoulders and brushed her arms, Kirara didn't move. "That's what I'd told myself. But then you had to be all annoying and charming and fun. Loyal, determined…you're so much more than you let people see. And I want to see more," Shinji's low voice was nothing but a whisper as he leaned in and brushed a feather-light kiss against her forehead.

It was then that Shinji heard footsteps down the corridor, and grimaced. As much as he wanted to be there, he also didn't want gossip spreading around the Gotei 13 about him being there. Not yet, anyway.

So instead he looked at Kirara again, and found himself grinning. "Get better soon, Princess. It's way too dull around here without you causing chaos," with that, Shinji vanished from the room.

Once he'd gone, and the footsteps outside faded, Kirara's eyes slowly opened and she took a long, deep breath. Her heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, and it took every ounce of Kirara's control to keep her breathing steady.

"Hirako…" she whispered, lifting one hand and ignoring the pain in her side to run her fingertips along her forehead where she still felt the kiss. The words she'd heard burned into her memory, and she wasn't sure how exactly to process them. How to feel. She'd told herself that she wasn't going to do anything about her feelings, and then the idiot went and told her exactly how he felt.

Despite the pain that burned in her side as Kirara pushed herself to sit up, she couldn't help but laugh. "How the hell am I going to face him after that?" she wondered, before noticing something on the table beside her bed. A piece of paper was lying there, rolled up and tied with a blue ribbon, and Kirara couldn't resist reaching over to look at it.

Pain burned down her side at the movement. It was muted and nowhere near as bad as it had been the day before, but at that moment Kirara knew that she wouldn't be working for a while. The thought almost made her grimace, before she undid the ribbon to unfurl the piece of paper.

'Just so you can't get mad at me for not visiting you this time, Princess,' the note was short and sweet, and Kirara couldn't stop the shy, happy smile that spread across her face as she read it. She'd kill him for using that damn nickname later.

"Oh, you're awake?" Kirara jumped as Seinosuke pushed the door open. She quickly shoved the note under her pillow and clasped the ribbon in her hand as Seinosuke approached her. If he noticed, he didn't make a comment on it. "You should be lying down, genius," before Kirara could try and fight it, he pushed her back down.

"Ow, easy!" she protested as her side sang with pain.

"I learned long ago that I can't go easy on fools like you," Seinosuke's eyes danced with glee as she glared up at him.

"You're enjoying this far too much," she complained, and he gave a light laugh.

"I am simply glad that I am able to tend to my darling sister in her hour of need," Seinosuke replied, and Kirara grumbled under her breath. She turned her head away as if trying to ignore him. "I don't know what you were getting yourself into, and I'd rather not know. But try to avoid actually dying out there doing whatever it is. I can only force you to live when I know where you are, and most of the time I don't want to know where you are," his words made Kirara's eyebrows furrow.

"Careful, little brother," she turned back to him, but the words were slower now. The adrenaline that had rushed through her minutes before had worn off, leaving her in pain and tired. "You almost sound like you were worried about me, and both of us know that's not true," Kirara struggled to keep her eyes open as her brother stood over her, monitoring her.

"It would seem the medication is working," Seinosuke sniffed as his looked down his nose at her. "Because you're imagining things," he said flatly. Kirara laughed, surprising them both. They traded barbs and sarcastic quips, not laughter. The surprise quickly faded and the healer sniffed. "Our sweet little brother however. Now he would care. Try not to die, for his sake," Seinosuke's words were far away as Kirara lost the battle to stay awake, her eyes closing and her head dipping to the side.

Seinosuke studied her for a moment longer, making sure that she wasn't in danger, and that she was only falling asleep. Then his shoulders slumped, and he cursed his sister quietly. "You always have to be a problem," he muttered, before spotting the ribbon still in her clasped hand. "Now where did this come from?" Seinosuke wondered. He reached out to pluck it from her hand, but as if sensing him, Kirara's grip tightened, and he quickly lost interest.

Once he had finished his checks, Seinosuke turned away with a delicate sniff. "I pray that Hanataro does not give me as much of a headache as this idiot," he said to himself, leaving Kirara to sleep.

Kirara didn't have much time to think about the events that had led to her being bedridden, and she definitely didn't have much time to think about how sloppy the information had been. It wasn't like her team to miss something as vital as an extra person, but while she was recovering, she didn't get the chance to dwell on it.

It surprised a few people, not least of all Kirara, with how popular she seemed to be within the Gotei 13. Multiple people came to visit her, including Natsuki, who tried to smuggle in a bottle of sake into the room. She had been instantly caught, and warned by Unohana herself not to try again. Kirara had laughed so hard she almost reopened her wound.

Lisa had visited too, leaving a stack of books that were far more steamy than Kirara had been expecting to read while in Squad 4's care, but she binged through them all. The Squad 8 Lieutenant was a massive pervert, but she had great taste in reading material. Kirara was already planning on getting more from her once she had recovered.

Rose came to see her, of course, chatting to her about his latest composition and how it would flow much more smoothly now that she was on the road to recovery. It was his way of telling her that he was glad she was okay, but Kirara sensed there was something that he was wanting to ask her and was refraining from doing so. She also had a suspicion that she knew exactly what it was.

Kisuke dropped by at one point, offering to share some of his latest experiments to help her feel better. Kirara declined, a little wary of what he was cooking up in his lab. Especially with Mayrui Kurotsuchi as his second in command in there.

To Kirara's surprise, Kyoraku and Ukitake even stopped in to see how she was doing, with Kyoraku making a comment about their drinking nights being a lot quieter and less fun without her around. Kirara had been a little overwhelmed by their visit, embarrassed by just how popular she seemed to be. Natsuki teased her relentlessly for it.

Even Hiyori visited, making it very obvious that she wanted to know just what happened. But she managed to refrain, and spent most of her time complaining about Kisuke and Mayuri, who bossed her around like he was running the show.

To Seinosuke's relief, Kirara recovered quickly enough to be allowed to leave Squad 4 within a short amount of time. Not only because she seemed to have a constant stream of visitors disrupting Squad 4's work, but also because Kirara was a notoriously bad patient.

She had been insisting for at least two weeks before they finally allowed her to leave that she was okay, but Captain Unohana had personally made sure before allowing her to leave. Even with that, Kirara was told she wasn't allowed to return to work for a minimum of a month, leaving her with an abundance of time.

"Easy does it. A steady flow. Keep focused," Kirara's words were patient and gentle as she watched the green light flickering in the palm of the small child sitting opposite her. He was dressed plainly, not yet a Shinigami, and his mop of black hair fell into his big blue eyes that were filled with focus.

The two were sitting on the outer porch of Seinosuke's home, where Kirara had been staying for her recovery. Seinosuke had been the one to suggest it, and at first Kirara had been shocked, but then she realised it was so she could take care of Hanataro while he slept at the Squad 4 barracks.

The green light continued to flicker, and eventually petered out. The child leaned forwards, realising that he was breathless and worn out. Kirara laughed, but it was a pleased sound. "Great work Hana, you're improving real quick," she patted her youngest brother on the head, ruffling his hair so it stuck up.

"R-really?" the young boy was a nervous little thing, and always had been. If anyone were to compare him to Seinosuke and Kirara, they might have refused to believe that they were related, if not for his appearance. He was strikingly like his brother, only his big blue eyes were much more like Kirara's.

"Absolutely. Keep it up and you'll be the new Lieutenant Yamada of Squad 4 in no time," she teased, and panic flashed across his face.

"Wh-what? N-n-no, I cou-couldn't!" he stammered with fear at the idea of replacing Seinosuke. It made Kirara's laughter grow. "Kirara!" Hanataro whined, not enjoying her teasing or her laughter, and pushed at her. Kirara fell backwards, but her hands shot out quickly and grabbed him. Hanataro yelped as she hugged him close, still laughing.

"I see you like to torment everyone," Haruki's amused comment earned Kirara's attention. She sat up, still laughing as she refused to let Hanataro go. "I'd say even family, but I've seen how you get on with Lieutenant Yamada," he smiled as his attention moved to the little boy that Kirara was hugging.

"Seinosuke brings it on himself," Kirara was unapologetic. Finally she released the still struggling Hanataro, who fell backwards with a yelp and made Kirara grin. "This is Hanataro. My favourite little brother," she introduced him, and Hanataro went red.

"Kirara…" he whined.

"Hana, this is Haruki. A friend from Squad 4," Haruki blushed at the introduction, a little taken aback by her introduction. "What's wrong? You're not my student anymore. We're friends, right?" Kirara tilted her head, not having missed his embarrassment, and Haruki didn't miss the mischief in her eyes. He knew she was teasing him, but he couldn't help but react.

"Right," he nodded, and Kirara's smile widened. "Lieutenant Yamada sent me to check up on you," Haruki told her. As he predicted, the smile instantly vanished and she groaned.

"I'm feeling much better! You lot need to stop fussing," Kirara complained, but got to her feet anyway. She could see the determined look on Haruki's face. He wasn't going to leave it be, even if Seinosuke hadn't been the one to boss her around.

"Perhaps, but if you want to be cleared to return to work, you need to be checked over," Haruki said firmly. Kirara nodded.

"Sure, sure. Hanataro, can you go wash up? Once I'm done with Haruki, we'll make dinner," she told the boy. His eyes lit up, and he rushed off quickly. Kirara chuckled, and glanced over at Haruki. "Come on then," she jerked her head and led him inside.

"He seems like a sweet kid," Haruki commented as he started to check the healing wound on Kirara's side. While he was nervous by nature, Haruki wasn't bashful to say the least, surprising Kirara. He hadn't batted an eye when she'd stripped down her top half, remaining completely professional as he pointed out that he'd grown up helping his dad in a clinic in the Rukongai.

"He is. No idea how, considering me and Seinosuke," Kirara snorted, but tried to stay still as Haruki checked her injury. It was healing well, but would leave a nasty scar. Kirara hadn't minded that, well used to scars littering her body. She'd even told Haruki about some of them and how she'd gotten them.

The one that traversed her entire back, however, had made Kirara close up instantly. Haruki could tell by now, after a few years of working as a Shinigami in Squad 4, that it was caused by a Hollow, but that was all he knew. Kirara's silence on the matter told him not to question it.

"He seems to be very attached to you," Haruki said as he changed the bandages. Kirara hummed.

"I guess. I don't see him that often, so I guess having me for as long as he does at the moment is a bit of a novelty," she told him, her voice quiet as if she worried Hanataro would hear them from the other room. "With my…other job, it's too dangerous to have him around," Kirara said, and Haruki swore he saw guilt in her eyes for a moment. Worried, he quickly changed the subject.

"Have you heard these rumours lately?" he asked, and Kirara glanced up with furrowed eyebrows. "Souls around the Rukongai have been going missing lately. Not just leaving or passing on. Whenever they vanish, they leave their clothes behind," Haruki told her.

"What? How?" Kirara asked, curiosity lighting up her eyes once more. He knew by now that Kirara was impossibly nosy, so hearing something strange was bound to get her attention.

"Nobody knows. They're still rumours at the moment, but something tells me it's not going to be long before the higher-ups start looking into it," the healer told her, finishing what he was doing and stepping back. "I'd give it about another week, and then you can get back to work," Haruki grinned. "And I have no doubt you'll be looking right into this whole thing," he shrugged. Kirara was quiet for a moment as she fixed her clothes and stood once more. She then gave a feline smile.

"You know me so well," she said, already looking forward to it.

Certainly not an intentional confession for sure.

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