Straitjacket Feeling

"Look, I... I said I was sorry!" Isane called through the door that separated them. She cringed at the stomach-wrecking sounds that echoed from the inside and tried to figure out where she went wrong exactly. She was just trying to heal him. From what she could tell from a very brief examination, because he insisted that she didn't touch him, he had a bruised lung and his jaw bone was broken from place with two sidelining fractures; each one on opposite sides of the break. There was a bit more bruising around the back of his neck and just a little bit of swelling around his right eye; the one right above his broken jaw. If she had to make a guess, it was probably just a miss hit. An aim to break his jaw bone further and instead missed to hit the eye socket instead. Hell, she was surprised that it didn't break it instead... then again she couldn't get a good look at it.

Either way, somewhere between trying to heal what she could, she guessed something went wrong. It might've been some blood leakage in his lung or just overall nausea, because the next thing she knew there was this door separating them and she could hear him vomiting on the other side. She had no clue how things progressed to that but... she didn't do it intentionally; it was just an accident.

"... Are you okay?"

It seemed like a few minutes of silence before he eventually pulled the door open between them; one hand carefully wiping away the traces of blood that had spilled from his lips. He might've seemed a little out of breath, maybe a little bit more paler, but overall still in suitable condition.

"It's a side effect from your healing technique." he started as he stepped out and moved past her; heading back into the small corridor. "It's really nothing of direct blame."

"Still... I took an oath to try and not do harm, you know." she replied as she slowly turned after him; taking note of the large bruising that showcased which lung had been weakened. Hell, she was almost afraid it had started to collapse when he left for those brief moments. She tried not to look like she was staring but... eventually the scars that dressed lines over his body took over her attention. "... You know, if we had been here for those injuries, you probably wouldn't have so many scars."

"Probably not, but I'd be throwing up a lot more."

She had half expected him to sit back down on the bed but instead watched as he seemed to opt to walk around the room a bit first. "How did you get them?"

"Oh you know, from a multitude of experiments and other fun-filled activities." he answered as he reached the other side of the small room; his muscles had been aching slightly and he had a feeling it had been because of lying down for so long. Plus he just really didn't feel like sitting down again. "I've been vivisected twice now, I think they wanted to do a third one but something always came up; I've had various body parts taken out, removed and replaced. I'm pretty sure one of these lungs isn't mine; I think the other one either collapsed or got punctured, I can't exactly remember now. My left eye was ripped out once before but that was more because I pissed off Captain Ugly far too many times to be healthy. There was a lot of blood in that one, it took forever to get the blood out of my glasses too. My right arm was skinned completely for a day, no clue why; and there was this 'accident' with acid once that burned completely to the ribcage. Anything that's medically-possible, just take it a bit further and completely break the line."

"That's uh... that's inhuman and disturbing." she started; trying not to get too much of a grasp on what he was saying for fear that her imagination was going to take it too far. "How did you... survive all of that?"

"Science has the ability to do a lot more than medicine can... because we don't take oaths to 'do no harm.'" he replied. "You'd be surprised at how far you can take the human body before it collapses and then revive it shortly afterwards. Not to mention, my regenerative properties were fairly high- or at least they used to be. It's kind of like being on constant life-support. You get used to it after awhile, which is the frightening part of it."

"Oh Gods..."

"You want to know something even more disturbing?"

No. "Sure..."

"There's a scar right here on my right side that's about five or six inches in length from an accidental disembowelment. That one actually came from Lady Kurotsuchi herself."

She narrowed her eyes slightly at his remark and watched as he gave into a light stretch that only seemed to emphasize the multitude of thick scar tissue that covered his back. "... But why would she do something like that?"

"You wouldn't believe how many homemade surgeries we had to perform to fix some kind of mishap that happened during the day. There was some kind of... object of some sort that had managed to twist around in my lower intestines; it compressed them together and they were pretty much well on the way to rotting because of it. Now, she absolutely hates performing surgeries but she'll do it if it's asked of her; she likes to see herself more as a bodyguard rather than a scientist half the time. She prefers chemicals over cadavers any day. But... she said she was willing to cross that line if it was necessary. She had to bloody her hands so many times because of it though."

She waited momentarily and watched as he eventually turned back to her; starting to move back towards her direction. "... Well... I guess I'm just finding out more and more about you than originally anticipated."

"You'll find out just how fun of a person I can be." he seemed to reply fairly sarcastically as he moved past her once more. "If you'll excuse me a second time, I think that lung thing is beginning to act up again."

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"Yes, how terribly unfortunate that you'll be having to depart in the midst of this operation. As sudden as it is, I'm sure you already have things settled out and taken care of in the case of your absence."

"I suppose in your case, it would be unfortunate that that is indeed true." the other Captain replied as he slowly shuffled through the mess of papers on his desk.

She waited for him to continue but saw that he seemed to become engrossed in another matter and seemingly forgot about her presence already. She lightly cleared her throat for a moment before she pressed on with the previous matter. "Well, since my presence will remain here, I would like to hear about your plans. After all, I wouldn't want to cross them while I stay."

"I'm sure you wouldn't."

The sharp sarcasm in his voice was impossible to ignore but she did her best to remain polite and un-provoking. "Despite out differences and conflicts, I still respect the order you hold in your Division, Captain Mayuri; all I ask is to know of what will happen in your absence."

"Until my return, Officer Akon will take over this project; I expect that you'll give him your respect. He has been briefed on the overall situation and has been informed of what to do next. I suppose it would be naive to expect for you to merely stay out of his business while I'm away."

"Despite my... distaste for how this situation is being handled, I wouldn't dare try to sabotage you. That is not how I would handle your absence. I wouldn't try to take advantage of it or of Officer Akon in an attempt to... merely change the perspective or handling of this matter. I trust that you know what you're doing. I'm only here to help."

Hell, that was bullshit and even she knew it.

But now was not the time to try and fight him. She had to convince him that it was safe to leave his Division- even though he didn't really have a choice in the matter- and still be able to keep her freedom of going in and out of the building as she pleased. Although... she wondered if she could do so even against his wishes- no, she didn't want to abuse that kind of power. That wasn't how she operated.

Just a half hour left.

That's all she needed to wait for.

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The upsetting curl of her stomach made her physically exhausted, but the recent news that Captain Unohana had passed on to her kept her awake. She was caught between being worried about her Captain's departure or... being relieved by it. It was... difficult to try and choose a side between the two men who had ultimately dominated her life.

There was her Captain, who had created her, who had given her the first sense of life; he was who she was created from, she technically was him biologically. Nothing but a clone. She spent what she knew of a life serving him; doing everything she could to protect him, to follow him, to... to do anything and everything he asked of her. Never before had she ever questioned or crossed him; she made herself out to be perfect because that's how she had been created to be.

Then there was him.

The man, the 'monster' who had entertained himself by tormenting her during their brief encounter in battle. The same person who had taken her knowledge and experience of pain and pushed it to the brink of death. But he had taken her entire aspect on living and changed it completely. For once, he gave her a reason for her existence; he gave her a reason when she couldn't find one on her own. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate that the one person who had once completely terrified her... was the only one who seemed to notice.

It felt like she had to make a choice between the two.

And she wasn't entirely sure which one to choose anymore...

Although the further cramping of her stomach seemed to want to make that decision for her.

Pushing herself away from the wall piece behind her, it felt like her legs were finally stable enough to support her now as she carefully left the small bathroom area; re-introducing herself into the empty bedroom that laid out to greet her. Isane was gone when she woke up and Captain Unohana eventually excused herself an hour ago, which left her isolated once more. It was probably for the best anyways. Maybe at least now she could see if she could convince herself to get a few more hours of rest- even though the thought of lying around even longer didn't settle well. She was so used to being up and about, and being productive... just sitting around staring at the wall was nearly mind-numbing.

This must've been how he felt being locked away in that small prison on the other side of the building.

How he managed to survive that for as long as he has... she didn't know.

Still, she stretched lightly and forced herself to get back into bed; preferring to lay over the thin covers as the recent spark of illness left her skin feeling hot and feverish. She wasn't going to stay for that long of a period... just a few minutes to get her mind off of things. Whatever they were.

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"Lieutenant Isane, are you in here?"

"It was an accident, I swear-" she started as she turned at the call only to watch as the familiar, blue-haired Division member stepped in; thankfully it wasn't her Captain- yet anyways. A quiet sigh of relief left her before she nodded briefly. "Uh yeah, ignore that. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Captain Unohana asked that I come find you; she just wanted to make sure that you were still in this location."

"Yeah well... we just thought we'd split up the work and you know... go from there." Isane replied. "I figured I could drop in and see how he was... which might've been a good or bad thing..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh well... various reasons."

He started to reply but the stopped when he heard the faint echoes of obvious upheaval. "Yes, well... unfortunately there are certain side effects that do come into play when the two different energies are mixed. For some odd reason earlier exposures didn't resort to these kind of results but there hasn't entirely been much testing dedicated to it. It could just be a temporary thing. Or one just stuck on a specific injury or something of the sort."

She definitely made sure to keep her tongue in check and only faintly nodded with him. "Yeah, it probably had something to do with that bruised lung; there might've been a lot of busted vessels on the inner membrane. Or maybe just more injuries I haven't gotten around to examining just yet. Hopefully it's not too worrying. I'll just have to keep an eye on him for awhile and make sure it doesn't get worse."

"We could do a scan if you want but it's probably unnecessary."

"No, that's quite alright. I trust in my own healing abilities enough to make sure that it's nothing fatal. I'm probably just overreacting a bit to it, that's all." she replied. "Did uh... did Captain Unohana give you any reason why she needed to make sure I was still here?"

"Not much, she wanted to speak to you about something but didn't reveal any details about it. It... may or may not have something to do with the unexpected event that's recently come to our attention."

She narrowed her eyes briefly and tested herself to see if she even wanted to question it; then again, if it was something Captain Unohana wanted to speak to her about then... it probably wouldn't hurt if she got just a little bit of information for it. "What kind of event? What's going on?"

"Well... it appears as though an upcoming expedition suddenly had an open spot that needed to be filled; it was recommended that the Twelfth Division be brought in with it. So, as of now, Captain Mayuri has been deployed with some of the other respective Captains on this expedition of some sort. He left just a few moments ago."

Wait, what?

"So... just like that? He was up and gone?" she questioned.

The sound of a light chuckle took her attention as the door to her right was pulled open once more. One hand was in the midst of repositioning his glasses as more blood fell over his pale lips. "I must remark, that Captain of yours is unusually cunning."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Isane questioned before the answer seemed to dawn on her quickly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait... are you saying that Captain Unohana had something to do with this?"

"It's merely a theory, a work in progress if you want."

"Captain Unohana would not-" she started only to stop herself. Okay... given the situation and recent events... maybe it wasn't so impossible. "You know what, I think I'm going to wait until she gets here or until I can get a chance to speak with her before I even give out an opinion on this whole thing."

"Well, at least you're gathering your facts first."

"Yes well... Captain Unohana is not normally easy to misinterpret but she does have her moments."

"So it seems." Akon started. "She should be dropping by soon enough, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see when she gets here."

"Okay, wait... if Captain Mayuri is gone- for who knows how long either- who's going to be here for the Division? And who exactly is going to be looking after this whole 'situation' as well? Because I know for a fact that he wouldn't trust any member from our Division and he sure as hell wouldn't dare leave anything to Captain Unohana's liking." Isane questioned. "That would be far too dangerous for him and... whatever his motives are in this matter."

"While I cannot provide far too many answers for your questions... I can provide one that may bring some mild sense of reassurance. In the case of Captain Mayuri's absence, I have been put in charge of the Division. I've been briefed on what is to continue on for this assignment and it's my responsibility to make sure everything goes as planned and remains on the given course-" he stopped in mid-response at the sound of brisk laughter; his dark eyes turning to take note of how the pink-haired man seemed to find some kind of humorous aspect in his words.

"You'll have to excuse my behavior but... what kind of 'planned' and 'given' course are you expecting to find, yet alone follow? It must be a promising aspect that your Division has fallen low enough to give you a chance at leading it but you're only being pushed into a dead-end. When it comes down to the female body and such an occurrence as pregnancy... there really is no 'given' course to follow."

"... While no two pregnancies are alike... most of them do follow a fairly familiar path." Isane started. "Although I can't really say much, I've only handled a small handful, maybe two or three; Captain Unohana's dealt with far more but she's usually quiet about her experiences."

"Well then... I suppose there's even more things to add into the growing list that remains to differentiate our two species." Szayel started.

"What's what supposed to mean?" she asked.

A semi-heavy sigh escaped him as he rubbed at the space between his eyes. "You remember all those different Arrancars you killed quite awhile back?" he questioned; waiting and watching as the two Shinigamis eventually nodded back in answer. "And you remember how some of them were female?"