Straitjacket Feeling

A/N: In all honesty, I was just not feeling this chapter and was basically just typing to get it finished. Yeah, not entirely the best thing to do seeing as it comes out choppy and essentially useless but I like to think it plays in some sense of importance. Or not. On a bit of good news, I have figured out more to do with the storyline, so hopefully I'll be able to start expanding on that sometime soon and get things rolling. I'd like to blame a majority of it on my college classes right now but that's just me making excuses. I apologize for the long wait with the last chapter, I'm hoping not to have another wait like that again but right now I can't say that I'm in the position to make a promise like that. Hopefully the next chapter won't be as disappointing as this one is.

By the time she got to the end of the corridor and reached the door at the end, she was almost certain she had broken all the locks in her rush to get to him. The room was fairly calming though, which was enough to leave her partly questioning the brief second of panic that had destroyed her. Fingertips pushed the door closed behind her although she figured with the partly mangled locks that it wouldn't cause too much of an interference or an obstacle if they decided to go for her. At this point, she didn't really care for it. She needed to speak to him, or at least just see him.

He wasn't anywhere in current sight but the soft rush of water from the next room was enough to detail her of his whereabouts. She slowly worked her way down the short corridor and stepped into the small room; stepping her way closer to him, she listened to the weakness in her own footsteps across the ceramic tiles.

"You fall for it every time."

The quiet sound of his voice wasn't enough to give her a sigh of relief; that only came when she turned around to see him just as he pushed the bathroom door closed- revealing his momentary hiding place. Green eyes briefly scoped over what part of him was revealed from his half-masked uniform; looking for any kind of mark or fresh injury that would've provoked a deeper situation. It was her own relief that fell through when nothing more than old scars remained on his skin; a few small injuries were only the cause from other... 'lovers' who had gotten caught up in that romantic capture of his arms. "I was worried. I panicked."

"You don't panic that often. It must've been something serious."

"I didn't want a repeat of last time."

The brief, slender narrow of his eyes seemed to hint that they were carrying two different types of conversations between themselves. "... What last time?"

She started to answer only to merely brush it aside as it no longer tended to her care. The distance between them seemed far too large of a space as she slowly stepped her way through it. "... Nothing, it was nothing. I just... I had a bad feeling."

"A feeling of what?" he pursued; taking care note that while her overall expression didn't change, the movement of her eyes didn't seem well suited for the stoic facade. Hands carefully pushed himself from the wall as he met her halfway in the distance between them. His own eyes moving to scope her out just the same as she had done to him moments before. It was... odd that she would show up as of now... these moments were rare and beginning to become further and further between; a length of time that would only become more and more distant in the future. Fingers carefully moved to brush aside her sometimes unkept bangs. "Your behavior is strikingly suspicious."

She moved to push aside his hands when they came to touch her. "I spoke to the recent one, she said something seemed wrong with you. The last time something just 'seemed wrong', you were with me; three hours later, you needed almost fifty stitches in your neck. I don't want that... I don't want to repeat that experience because I don't think they'll let me keep that close to you again. It's part of your fallout... we've only been able to witness a few mental ones and that one physical breakdown... and as frightening as those two have been, it's the emotional ones that top the list. The other two, you don't have control over what you're doing but for this one... you do. That's my bad feeling."

"... You worry too much, that's frightening in the least."

"Then tell me nothing's wrong."

"The last time such an accident happen... I lost control momentarily; it was only for a few brief seconds, which is technically all I need. Back then, I knew your name and knew who you were, that was it. But now... I wouldn't pull that same thing; I know more about you than what I did before and there's more at risk. Do you think I would be stupid enough to make that same kind of mistake? Do you honestly think I would risk such an act?"

"I would hope not."

He carefully placed his hands on her shoulders; partly tightening his grip when she seemed to move away from him. "... I will admit though, when this test is over and a suitable amount of time has passed... I can't promise that I'll keep that same sense of sanity."

She found herself wanting to break the stoic expression that had robbed her any other emotional outbreak. Part of her had wished she misheard him or at least misinterpreted him but it would be a misjudge of character to do so. "I had always wondered if you shared that kind of sentiment; if you had ever thought those kind of things before... I won't try to change your mind. I... I'll assist you in any way I can."

"Why can't we have decent, well-leveled conversations?" he replied as a quiet chuckle followed him afterwards; hands moving to cup the curve of her jawline as though in a sign of empty comfort between them.

"Because nothing's decent nor well-leveled anymore." she answered.

Yes, well she did have a point there.

He started to format a response but stopped the moment something else drifted into his range of acknowledgement; amber eyes glanced over one shoulder and even though a bare wall was all that stood in his vision... there was more. "I don't believe he's going to be too happy."

She had quickly picked up on the surge of energy that was steadily making its way closer to them; her Captain was clearly not the least bit happy with her performance at the moment. Not that she could really blame him all that much... she had disobeyed several of his orders at once. "He may be rather outraged at me..."

"It doesn't seem like you're the only one he's outraged at." he started; continuously distracted by the growing sense of energy that coursed itself closer and closer towards them. He almost didn't notice her sudden absence from his hands until he watched as she casually walked away from him and pulled open at the secondary door. "What are you doing?"

"It would be best if I faced him without your presence."

"In what kind of mindset does that seem like a good idea?"

"He wouldn't make the mistake of interfering with-"

"To hell he wouldn't." he interrupted as he stepped in front of her to cut off her path. "You know as well as I do he'll continue to do as he wishes; he is a tyrant and an ugly, old fool."

She narrowed her eyes towards him and caught the same kind of resilient expression shot back towards her. "He would have no hesitation in killing you; he wouldn't risk killing me, not that he could even if he wanted."

"I'm sorry but was that sentence supposed to be convincing in the least bit?"

Before she could so much as get a word in, the door was nearly pushed completely from its hinges and had he not managed to pull her away in time, she would've been struck by the now partly broken frame. Her eyes instantly went to the clearly outraged expression of her Captain; seemingly caught in the sheer fire that seemed to spread across his retinas.

"And just what the hell is going on?!"

"Well, we were having a minor, marital disagreement." he snapped easily back towards the Captain; drawing his attention away from her. "If you had so much as given us five or ten more minutes, you could've saved yourself the hassle of walking in on this conversation; interruption, might I add, is a rather crude and disappointing behavior point, I was half-hoping we had gotten past that by now."

She wanted to put herself between the two of them but found that he didn't seem intent on moving or letting her by to do so. Instead, the thin space that separated the two rivaling men seemed to be far too narrow and the close-distance between them was not the least bit comforting to her. She could tell neither of them were the least bit willing on furthering that space and if anything, they were going to close it instead. "Captain-"

"You weren't given permission to speak."

"To hell with you."

Another quick snap that did not settle well with the man. She tensed slightly as she watched the muscles in his face twitch for a moment before they settled out again. "Officer Akon, do escort this failure of a Lieutenant back to her wing; I'm going to have a little talk with this Espada."

Those were just a few words she wasn't looking forward to.

Her attention had been focused solely on her own Captain... she had failed to see the other Division member break into the room. The sudden tightness around one arm pulled her away from the tense confrontation and nearly pulled her from her feet just the same as she felt him seemingly drag her out of the door; the shattering echo of the door slamming back closed behind her didn't settle well. "Akon, stop-"

"Order are orders, Lieutenant Kurotsuchi."

Their earlier confrontation seemed to sour his respect and attitude towards her as he didn't even bother to speak to her fully; he didn't even so much as glance out of the corner of his eye back to her. His grip only tightened every time she even so much as thought of struggling against him. It would've been easier to just go along with him, to surrender to this matter and submit to the rules she had broken. But, ever since the start of this, things had not always been easy; in fact, it almost seemed as though she went out of her way to make them all the more complicated. It was easier for her that way.

Captain Unohana was no longer present when they stepped back out of the corridor; her energy no longer in range as though she had simply dissipated into thin air. She decided to push the matter from her mind for now, after all it seemed as though there would be plenty of time for her to worry for it later. He continued to drag her through the organized maze of corridors and labs as she continued to fully accept his lead; allowing for brief moments of resistance to remind him that she was not the least bit happy or accepting with him either. As far as she was concerned, they were through; whatever silent 'pact' had been made beforehand or whatever kind of 'treaty' they had had with one another... it was over.

He was beginning to reflect so much from their Captain... it was almost sickening to her.

He shoved open her bedroom door and made an easy note of leading her inside; perhaps now realizing that he should be watching his actions around her when she was in such a state. "You seem to think as though I enjoy having to do this."

"What else is there to take from your actions?" she questioned as she subconsciously rubbed at the red print of where his fingers had dug into her arm; she caught his eyes giving the mark a brief glance before he looked back to her. "... I want to tell you something, Akon."

"What is it."

"If you so much as touch me like that again or come near me, I'll separate your Atlanto-occipital joint and ensure a little to no survival rate."

She watched as he only replied with that emotionless expression that curved his attitude so well before he turned to dismiss himself. The faint click of the door closing behind him was enough to solidify his absence now and assure her a few hours without his presence. Pushing herself away from the door, she moved through the small bedroom and forced her way into the much smaller bathroom. Hands pulled aside the shower door before she moved to encase herself completely in the small glass box; fingers lightly grasped at the knobs and twisted them until a flood of water rained down from the showerhead. She didn't even bother to settle out the temperature differences, almost preferring the striking cold water over the comforting heat; she didn't even bother to remove her black knit uniform and instead allowed for the thing material to wet itself against the skin beneath. Her black bangs matted themselves to her forehead as her braid soon found itself hanging straight down along her back; far too heavy to support its own style or weight.

Pushing herself from the knobs, she pressed herself against the opposite wall before she slowly allowed for her body to slide down; eventually pressing herself into one corner of the small glass box.

Why were things suddenly this complicated?

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Black eyes watched and waited carefully for the two women part before she slowly made her way across the room; taking note of the pure exhaustion that seemed free to spread itself across the face of her Lieutenant. "Isane..."

She was halfway with running her hand through her hair when she heard the call of her name; looking up in time to see her Captain slowly making her way towards her. "Captain Unohana-" she started before coming to a sharp realization. "I uh, I was going to go find Nemu as soon as I could but-"

"It's alright." Unohana nodded. "I understand the whole situation; she's with her Espada right now. I figured that was more important to her and decided to drop by and see how Lieutenant Matsumoto was doing."

"Uh well... I wouldn't exactly say she's doing well after the whole 'situation' but... she said she'll be fine and I believe her." Isane replied. "I just... I don't know, this whole thing feels like it's dropping a lot faster than I thought. I mean, I never really even believed in it but it feels like it's falling apart before it can even get together."

"I was thinking the same thing." she sighed lightly. "I believe it would be best if we left for the night; I think everyone needs to have their own space right now and let things solve themselves out."

"Are you sure? That just... it just doesn't sound safe."

"Perhaps not but for now I think it would be proper if we gave everyone their space; we'll return in the morning and see how things are going over."

"Yes ma'am." Isane nodded, almost relieved at the thought of being able to return back to her own room, even if she wasn't entirely sure if she felt comfortable with leaving Nemu just yet. She turned to follow after her Captain but stopped when she noticed the familiar Division member walking towards them; or maybe he just happened to be walking in their general direction instead. "Akon, how are-"

"What are you doing out here?" he questioned; purposely or accidentally interrupting her in the process of his own curiosity.

"Well I... we were going for a walk and I ran into Lieutenant Matsumoto and we stopped to talk for a bit." she started to answer; watching as her struggle to do just that seemed to confuse the man in the lightest sense. "... Why?"

"I... had assumed you were with Lieutenant Kurotsuchi this entire time."

"No, she left to go speak with that Espada- is she not with him anymore?"

He seemed to pause lightly at the question, as though re-evaluating his own answer to it. "No, she's alright; they're merely discussing a few things out right now."

"Are you sure? Captain Mayuri didn't seem entirely pleased... in fact, she didn't seem too happy either." Unohana remarked as she stepped her way into the brief conversation. "Perhaps we should go check in on them-"

"No, that's quite alright. Captain Mayuri was reluctant and objective at first but he settled down soon after you left." Akon answered as he seemed ready to leave. "I assure you, everything's quite alright. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few reports I must finish and file by tonight. Have a good evening."

Isane narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the man just suddenly up and leave; seemingly disappearing as soon as he could. She looked back towards the black-haired woman with her; taking note of her matching expression. "Should we-"

"I'm sure everything's fine, just like he said." she answered swiftly before she too moved to continue on. "After all, Officer Akon has not yet proved us wrong, correct? We should remain trustworthy of his word... for now."