Straitjacket Feeling

A/N: I apologize for the wait, I had to give myself some time to really feel for the chapter and even then it came up short- only five pages I think. Oddly enough, I had the first half typed and saved but then for some reason forgot about it for awhile, so when I found it, it was kind of like finding lost treasure in a sense. Also, I know this question was asked for the other story but I'll just answer it here because it's easier for me. Points of Contact was actually written before this story but I used the same idea for it and merged it into a few chapters here; I just recently updated PoC and decided to upload it as such. And believe me, as much as I would like to continue it on, I don't think I could balance this story and my four other stories on another website lol. Although I do have quite a bit planned for it, I believe I'll be leaving Points of Contact where it is for now- it might change in the future, it might not. Not to mention, its complicated as hell. Anyways, thanks for the insightful reviews, hopefully the next few chapters come to me a bit smoother than these last few have.

"What are you doing?"

A short yelp escaped her at the question as she mistakenly planted her hand into the growing ashes of the reports in front of her; as though her hand was supposed to hide the small fire and the brief cloud of smoke that was carefully rising to the ceiling above. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming again and simply pushed the growing ashes off the table edge and into the small waste bin on the ground as she turned back to face the question. "Uh, nothing... I was just getting rid of some reports for Captain Unohana." she spilled as she closed her hand together to try and hide the fresh bloodied burns that incinerated her palm.

A slightly puzzled look seemed to come from her shorter Division member as he kept a load of freshly pressed sheets in his arm. His messy dark-brown, maybe black hair was always disheveled and the deep circles under his eyes were almost permanent at this point; he always held this kind of tragic look to him and she couldn't help but to feel bad for him at times, mostly because he was the butt of all the Division Four jokes- she didn't join in on those though... not always or on any of the more severe ones. His black uniform always seemed a size too large for him as his smaller frame was fragile just by sight alone.

"Oh... okay..." Hanataro slowly replied with an equally slow nod. "Um... are you alright? You seem a little jittery."

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"It's nothing, I just... it feels like I haven't slept in weeks; I've been donating a lot of my time to Division Twelve and helping Captain Unohana with a few of things. It's been non-stop chaos from time to time." Isane carefully answered as she chanced a brief look into the wastebin nearby- just to make sure the fire was going out and not spreading around. "And with Captain Mayuri's sudden absence now uh... there's quite a bit of things we're trying to rush around and do before he gets back."

"Yeah, I've heard a lot of rumors about that." he remarked. "How is Nemu doing anyways?"

Don't say anything incriminating. Please.

"She's doing well, she's just been sleeping for most of the day and you know, getting over all the sicknesses and whatnot." she commented. While she probably could've bypassed the answer quite easily... well, she would've felt bad about doing it. She knew the shorter man had once had a crush on the Twelfth Lieutenant and while they had given him playful hell about it... she always thought it would've been cute if he had tried to go through with his feelings. Of course, it was too late for any of that and he seemed to move on from it. "I'll tell her you asked about her though."

"Thanks, just... just be careful up there." he started. "We've lost a few Division members before to that Division... I don't think Captain Unohana would want to lose any more."

Hmm, yes a brief explosion in one of the off-camp lab facilities had called their third Emergency Response team to the scene to try and recover survivors and tend to the injured; of course, they were ill-informed that if there was to be a chemical leak in the building... that it would seemingly self-detonate to keep the experimentation under wraps. They lost an entire team and all Captain Mayuri would tell them that it was an accident and they should've kept themselves out of his Division's business.

Hence why she always considered him to be quite the asshole.

Fourteen members gone... the scars were still fresh on that one.

"Don't worry about me, I know where to mind my footing and I don't go too far from Captain Unohana." she nodded.

He gave her a small nod in return before he moved to continue on to where he was going. "Wait, actually, Officer Yumichika dropped by earlier; he was looking for you but I told him that you were out at the moment- he said he would leave something on your desk."

Oh Gods... she had completely forgotten...

"Alright, thank you. I'll go check on it in a minute after I left these reports finish burning." she spoke; watching as he settled for the answer and continued on his way. She waited just a few brief seconds to make sure he wasn't going to be turning back around before she looked down at the bloodied mess of her palm. The skin had almost been peeled completely off while the outside of the wound was charred to a black crisp. She really should've handled that a bit more carefully and shouldn't have panicked so easily... but still, this was a sensitive matter and she didn't want to be caught in the middle of it. Shaking her head, she moved to walk out of the room and into the corridor outside; slowly allowing for her own energy to flow outward and seal the wound with an artificial mask for now- she would have time to properly heal it later. At the moment, she just needed to see what was on her desk.

Her recent 'job' had her out of her own Division for long periods of time... she must've missed every single visit from him. Hell, she couldn't even properly recall the last time they had spent a moment or two together. She really needed to fix that; she really needed to stop spending her time worrying about other people's relationship and focus on her own. Perhaps this was a reason why she was never in a long-lasting partnership; she was always throwing time away from other Division matters.

Fingers gently rubbed at her sore temples as she followed the track of the corridor before she arrived at the door that had been labeled with her own name on it; both Captains and Lieutenants were granted their own offices and while hers wasn't as extravagant as Captain Unohana's, it was suitable enough for her- maybe a little small for her frame, but still suitable nonetheless. She couldn't remember the last time she was here either... it probably could use some cleaning up now, maybe she could take some time out and get some chores done around here first before she reported back. Shouldering aside the door, she stepped in and frowned briefly at the mess of things... there were stacks of papers, unmarked folders, and far too many flower bouquets around for- wait, where did the flowers come from?

She slowly moved forward towards the rather large collection of them on her desk and looked over the brightly decorated vases; fingertips taking their time to run over the smooth petals of the blossoming flowers. "And just who put you here?"

"Oh I don't know, I mean I guess they could've just grown there."

She turned back at the remark and allowed for a brief smile to pass as she took note of the violet-haired man in the doorway of her office. "I haven't been gone long enough for vegetation to grow like this; I still check back now and again to pull out the weeds."

"Really now?"

A brief sigh escaped her as she leaned back against her desk, making sure not to tip any of the flowers over. "I know, I haven't been giving out a lot of time for us to spend together... this recent 'project' has all my free time tied up and the few moments I get to come back here... well they're short and brief, if that."

"Look, I know you're trying to help out, so you don't have to explain yourself to me; at least you're trying to bring some sense of good to that rotten Division." Yumichika remarked as he slowly stepped inside and pushed the office door closed behind him. "I mean, as long as you're not sleeping with that... 'Espada' either, it's fine with me."

"Oh don't worry about that." she chuckled. "I may be spending a lot of time in that Division but there's no way in hell that I'll get involved with the experiment on that kind of level. After all, he's not just 'free game' as everyone assumes... he's already bonded with Nemu and it's clearly evident that... it plans to stay that way. I've never seen a pair so mentally linked before, it's kind of like they're functioning on the same brain wave."

"Well, a few years ago they were functioning in the same body too."

"Ayasegawa!"

He chuckled at her reaction and slowly pushed himself closer to her. "I'm just saying... there's probably a reason why they're so close."

She shook her head and merely rolled her eyes at him before she moved to rest her hands on his shoulders when he drew closer. "Let's just not... let's not talk about them anymore; let's not talk about anyone else but us from now on."

"Hmm, that sounds pretty reasonable." he hummed as his hands lightly moved to wrap around her waist. "How long are you going to be staying here?"

"Well I was just going to burn some documents but... I mean, I don't think they'll notice my absence for a little while." she mused in return. "Why? What did you have in mind?"

"Not a lot, I mean... there's all that talk about babies recently... maybe we should take up practicing."

She couldn't help but to chuckle lightly at his exaggerated response, which he purposely spilled for her amusement. "You hate kids."

"I dislike small babies and children... that doesn't mean I don't like the practicing art of it." he teased; watching as the usual solemn expression she bore lightened up with that beautiful smile of hers- he wished he had the chance to see it more often.

"Alright, you know what... you only try to make me feel better when something's upset me, which means that you're doing it in advance because... I missed something, didn't I?" she questioned; watching as he seemed to bite into his lower lip and answered her question without words. She released a tense sigh and brought her hands to her face. "Don't tell me, I'll figure it out eventually."

He tried not to chuckle too loudly as he took her hands into the possession of his own and brought her knuckles to his lips. "Ah well... it's not like we've been together for three years now or anything..."

"Oh my Gods... we were going to go out tonight, weren't we?"

"It's fine, we can just reschedule it for another time."

"But you've had those reservations for months now..." she reminded with another sigh. "And we'd be put on another four-month waiting list anyways."

He seemed to sigh along with her before he pressed her hands together and closed his own around them. "Look, I understand, we both have work and things get busy and we lose track of time... you have a good reason and you're doing it for a fairly good cause... no need to worry; we can reschedule it and... have our own little anniversary some other time."

She frowned briefly and looked at her hands cupped inside of his. He was only trying to make her feel better about it but still... there was that lingering sickness in the pit of her stomach that emerged from the situation. How could she had forgotten something as important as that? Three years marked her longest relationship yet; she was surprised he had been as patient with her throughout the years as he currently was- never once speaking up about a remark or even making a comment about it.

... She wondered if anyone would really notice her absence for awhile.

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"So tell me, what is on your agenda now?"

She glanced back at the question and looked towards the blue-haired man who followed after her. "I actually don't have all too much planned for now; there was a few things I wished to speak to the Espada about but... I'll just have to see if he is willing to speak to me right now. Or rather, if he has the time to see me."

"What other topics are there that are wished to be discussed?" Akon questioned.

"Countless ones at this time; there are many, many things that are still needed to speak of and a lot that would be useful but not necessary to know. It's a complicated matter really that steps out of the boundaries of both Science and Medicine and rivals along the border of Psychology really. It's just a few topics that I would like to follow through with and see what happens at the end of it. Is there a problem with that? This is your Division after all, I won't make a move if it offends your leadership."

He took a moment to think over her words; trying to relay mostly on what Captain Mayuri had spoken to him about- although there had been quite a bit that he... might've had an opposing opinion about. "You can speak to him as much as you wish for now, it was just that once some of the subjects returned, outside contact was to be lowered to a minimal. In other words, if there are things that you want to speak to him about, I would suggest that you would do so now."

"I will try to get as much as I can done before so." Unohana nodded as she turned the next corner and continued her way down the familiar corridor. "If he is busy now then I suppose I'll have to carry on wondering where Isane went."

"Where has Lieutenant Kotetsu gone?"

"Oh, I sent her back to my office to check on something; I thought Captain Byakuya might be dropping something by and I didn't want to miss it. Of course, she might be speaking to some of the other Division members as well, and checking in on how things were going." she answered. "In that case, I hope she takes her time to solve everything thoroughly in the chance that there is a problem there."

"Would she not inform you of such problem?"

"Only if it was terribly urgent and in the case of such I would've already known about it." she assured; looking up as the door at the end of the corridor finally came into view. "Now then, let's check in and see how these two are doing." Placing her hand lightly on the door, she pushed it open and peeked in. "Oh dear, just look at this."

He watched as she pushed the door open even further and stepped in; giving some space for him to step in after her. The two were slightly intertwined together on her bed with her resting most of her body on top of his own. He had one arm just lightly dangling off the edge of the bed as fingertips barely touched the floor below. She had herself mostly buried into his chest with her hands curled against his naked flesh; her legs falling into the space between his own. They were both passed out currently and from the looks of it, there didn't seem to be anything that could wake them for the moment. He glanced over to the Captain to speak but noticed that she seemed partly... what was the word, delighted maybe at the scene? "It appears as though you'll have to lose a few hours of speaking."

"Oh do not worry, this is time well lost on my part."

"It is such stages like this that makes me wonder if he will be able to spread that same kind of affection to the other subjects just as equally."

"Equally amongst the others, yes; but she will have the most- he favors her above all else." Unohana reminded; watching as he seemed to shift slightly in his sleep before he moved one hand to rest against her back and pull her in against him. "He has already expressed views that should some of the other subjects come back positive, he will do what he has to to keep them comfortable; he expressed a kind of... sympathy almost for them. Such an expression surprised me when you bring in certain aspects of his species and even himself as well but... when you see how he reacts around her, I suppose there are always different sides to every man."

"I suppose so..." Akon remarked before he glanced back behind him at an adjoining pair of footsteps; watching as another Division member was making his way towards them. "If you'll excuse me, there's another matter I must attend to at the moment."

She nodded and watched as he stepped away and headed off to meet with his fellow Division member before she turned back to the open bedroom. Already in her mind she was saving up all the questions she wanted to ask of him when the next opening of time came. There was a lot concerning what he already knew of the progression of a Hollow pregnancy, he had already remarked that there were suitable differences but that they were also similar in nature as well; still, she wished to carry on a longer discussion of it when the time came- which hopefully it would. Or perhaps not. They needed moments like this to further their bond; he needed to spend more time around her and gather a connection to the unborn child that was growing inside of her body. Although, moments such as this were not wasted between them, she guessed that even should another period of separation pull them apart, this leisure time would be enough to keep them together.

"Captain Unohana, I believe you should come over here and see this."

She didn't question the request and followed through with it; quietly closing the door behind her, she walked towards the blue-haired man who had just dismissed the third member. He was holding a clipboard tightly in hand as fingers flipped through the papers now and again. "What is it?"

His face lacked all sense of expression, which was notable with him- or really anyone of this Division, and it took a few moments before he looked back to her; fingers flipped to a specific page before he handed the clipboard over to her. "Two of the subjects were recently tested and both came back positive."

"... Is that so?" she questioned lightly before she took the offered clipboard; her eyes immediately drawn to the highlighted lines that resided in the middle of the report. Sure enough, two names, two Division members with the results reading positive. She wasn't entirely sure why but it felt like her stomach dropped just slightly before she nodded back to him. "Alright, what's the next plan of action then?"

"The subjects are already inside of the Division house, we'll run them through a few more tests for the time being and then we'll rely the news to him; we may possible introduce the two back together and see what happens. We'll keep the subjects separated for now to get two different reactions and if all goes well, then we'll eventually bring all the subjects together for their extended stay." he answered; half-expecting the Fourth Division Captain to interrupt him at any given moment. "It'll still be a few good hours before the testing is done, so we'll leave them for the time being."