Straitjacket Feeling

A/N: Long story update, my fifteen percent of my grade presentation got corrupted the morning of turn in and I lost out on my much needed points. Thank you so much computer, thank you. Anyways, short chapter update for now because I was kind of pissed off but I felt like I needed to update the story anyways. I'll try to make sure the next one has a better structure.

"And over here-"

"That's quite alright, I think I've heard enough."

He chuckled briefly at the Captain's interruption and took note of how his face seemed to have paled considerably since they started this little walk of theirs. Well, he supposed he might've gone a bit overboard with the descriptions, or at least the faint memories there were of a few; that was fine by him, seeing as he wasn't in the mood to really relive them for now. "You asked about me, I figured I would give you a full and complete answer; I'm not one to leave considerable notes unspoken of when in a conversation, especially with someone of your stature."

Ukitake briefly nodded as he tried desperately to get the man's description out of his head. "Well... what I meant by that question... actually I suppose I could see how that it came about to that. What I meant was... I wanted to know a little more about your side with this whole situation. I mean, what's your thoughts on the whole matter."

Oh how original. "Oh, well in that case, there's really no answer." he replied as he turned to move around the next corner; watching as the corridor opened up into the other half of the Division that remained on this side. He wasn't all too familiar with it, at least not in a clear sense, but pieces here or there seemed reoccurring. "Or, should I say that there's no answers I'm willing to give away or ones that would better suit the moment right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me."

The Thirteenth Captain paused for a moment and watched as the Espada kept going on for a few more feet. "In all honesty, I really have no sort of input on the given situation. I don't entirely know what you're looking to get from me but... I highly doubt it's going to be something worth saying or even acknowledging at this point."

From what he had gathered so far, the Captain was at least deemably respectful; apparently cautious with what he said and minded his words carefully with every given syllable. The fact that he had come out this far to step in with the situation said something and the fact that he was willing to take a stand against Captains of his own kind said another. Then again, their Society was splitting and fracturing apart... at this point it seemed like they were grasping at straws and hoping for the best of it. He didn't seem like he'd be a deemable threat but still... he wasn't going to let his guard down. "Well at least you didn't run off on some kind of assumption, that says something about you. You could've said that my view on all this was simple enough and that I'd consider your Shinigami females to be quite easy and have the qualities of whores. But then you'd be wrong, and not just wrong but near polar opposite of what I would say. If you want a tiny portion of what I would've answered with... it's that these women deserve more sympathy than anything else. And while I suppose I should be the one offering that, it should be noted that expressing such a 'feeling' is incredibly difficult to do. Mostly blame is settled on my species type but I've cut that section of mentality out and discarded it. I don't feel as though I completely understand why some of them signed up for this, why they would willingly want to put themselves into this kind of situation, but I haven't tried for a deeper explanation; that's for them to keep to themselves. I keep myself busy with making sure they're being taken care properly- or at least that's how it's supposed to go... there's only two of them now and I was only able to meet with them briefly."

"With the way you speak, you seem to be taking admirable responsibility for the situation."

The words caused him to pause once more for a moment before he turned back to the other man. "I wasn't aware I gave off the impression of doing the opposite. Oh, but that's right, since I don't have a beating heart or even require one, I must be more than inclined to pillage, rape and maim, is that correct?" he questioned; watching as the Captain narrowed his eyes as the words that left him had been mistaken and switched around. "I really can't blame you; that stereotype is a hard one to shake and I can't necessary defend some of my former comrades on their actions. But, it should be noted that I was never one for those kind of actions- I never really had fun at those kind of events and I had a much better way to spend my time. They were really quite barbaric anyways. Regardless... sometimes even I'm surprised at my own reactions, but I figured someone had to look after them- and seeing as I'm mostly responsible for it, I'll take the offer. Not to mention, it gives me something to do."

"I just... I'm surprised that's all." Ukitake replied as he started back on with their travels. "I guess I wasn't sure really what to expect from this whole matter."

"You and I both." he shrugged; giving the man enough time to catch up with him before he continued on. "Let me ask something a little random at this point, can you tell me a little more about that other Captain you mention? Captain Shunsui."

"What is there that you want to know? I've known the man most of my whole life, there's quite a lot to say." Ukitake chuckled.

"He just sounded like an interesting figure, that's all." he started. "I was speaking with his Lieutenant earlier and she made a few remarks about him."

"Yes, well Lieutenant Nanao has seen him at his best and worst." the Captain nodded with another brief chuckle. "He always made a spectacle of himself when she was around, just to gain her attention and annoy her. She always made a point to remind him of how ridiculous he is at all times."

"And you said he would be here eventually?"

"He should be... why?"

"No reason."

"I was wondering where you walked off to."

The addition of a third voice caught both of their attention and they glanced up to see yet another figure making his way towards them. A brief frown caught the corner of his lips as he could easily identify the man. "Officer Akon... I was hoping I'd never have to see you again but I see that's not going to happen. What do you need or rather want? I'd imagine that it's nothing I give a fuck about but go for it anyways."

"That's a typical response from you, isn't it?" Akon replied as he neared the two of them before he noticed the second figure. "Captain Ukitake... Captain Unohana didn't tell me of your arrival or else I would've formulated a more proper greeting for you."

"It's quite alright, if anything I should've told you myself of my arrival." Ukitake responded. "In fact, if you do have time later on during the day, I would like to discuss a few things here or there; Captain Unohana filled me in on most of the activities but I'd like to know a few things a bit more in-depth."

"Of course, in fact... I do have some free time coming up right now." he started before he turned his attention to the Hollow man. "There's another positive subject here that I want you to speak with for a few minutes."

"How lovely. Give me her room number and I'll find it myself."

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Another positive subject... he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by that. After all, all the other ones came back just the same, it was the same running theme- something else not to be caught off-guard by. Well now, he was just collecting his own little harem here, wasn't he? Soon enough, the Division would be hauling them all off to some disclosed location and keeping them off-limits to anyone from the Society or any kind of wondering eye that might've found interest in the matter. How fun... what a nice little adventure that was going to be. In the back of his mind, he could already see all the disaster and panic happening; it was going to be a mess but... it was still going to be fun to see how the whole thing crumbled down. Most definitely from his side at least.

It was easy to find the room number he had been given, it was along the same hallway as the other two; it was the room just next to Lieutenant Hinamori's if he remembered correctly. He knocked briefly to announce his presence before he pushed the door aside and entered the small room. The door was barely closed behind him before he felt an added weight collide with his chest. First thought was that he assumed she hit him, which was well within her bounds to do but a second look found the blonde-haired woman attached to him instead. It was an... odd kind of sensation, but he made sure to return the gesture with a more comforting one. Her body seemed to fall at ease with the touch of his hands against her back as he held her more securely against him. There was really nothing to be said at the moment; they were both clearly aware of the ongoing situation.

He was still trying to figure out a few things here or there about her personally but... those matters could wait until later.

A deep inhale moved from her chest before she slowly pushed herself away for a brief moment; leaving just a few inches between them for now. "I uh... well actually you probably already know why I'm here..."

"I could make a guess or two." he replied as he moved to brush aside her blonde strands and tuck them behind her ears.

"... Is it true that Nanao and Momo are here too?"

"They're in the next rooms actually, so the answer to that question would be yes." he nodded. "I checked in on them a day or so ago and they're both doing well... given the situation of course. I'll see if I can't get a more appropriate room accommodation but we might just have to wait until that... move or whatever they're planning. Which, hopefully, the building won't be as shitty as this one is but I suppose we shouldn't get our hopes up just yet."

Matsumoto took another deep breath to try and calm herself; pressing the back of her hands against her eyes- hating the fact that they were wet. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I'm not pregnant." he answered with a light chuckle. "And I don't have a sudden upset in the chemical balance in my brain that's causing havoc on the rest of my body; or hormones getting out of sync with one another." It was supposed to be a light, maybe comical response that would hopefully lift her just a tiny bit; luckily enough for him, it seemed to be working. "I know it's going to be difficult and that you don't want to be here but... I'll make sure someone's with you at every step."

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"Just look at that though."

"It's very natural for women to be physically drained during the beginning stages of pregnancy." Unohana explained; watching as the silver-haired Lieutenant only seemed to stare in awe at the sleeping woman.

A light chuckle escaped her as she only shook her head and momentarily turned away from the other Lieutenant. "Well then, maybe I should get pregnant just to catch some serious sleep like that."

"Oh please, Isane, I think we're dealing with enough pregnancies for now." Unohana remarked with a brief smile. "But unless this is your way of introducing something to me..."

"What? No, it was just a joke!"

The black-haired Captain only laughed at her Lieutenant's expense as she shook her head next. "I was just making sure, I didn't want to miss out on anything. Now then, let's try and keep our voices down so not to wake her."

She wasn't entirely sure if it was possible to wake the woman anyways; she looked like she was sleeping in a coma of some sort... but if that was supposed to be normal, then by all means. "... You know how we did the test earlier to see if we could hear a heartbeat but we didn't?"

"We only did it an hour or so ago before she fell asleep."

"Do you think that means something?" Isane questioned.

She turned her attention back to her Lieutenant and watched as the woman was staring in one direction but wasn't entirely focusing on anything in her line of sight. Yes, it was true that they had performed the minor technique before to see if they could listen in for a heartbeat... and it came out in silence. "It could mean a few things, but my main guess is that it's merely too soon to test it out. I mean, we're riding on the bare minimum for a heartbeat so I'm sure if we wait just a few more days or a week even and try again... we'll get a more successful response."

"And if we don't?"

"Well then... we have to remind ourselves that there are those that can exist without a heartbeat." Unohana spoke.

That was the answer she was seemingly dreading the most. Well, there was that or the possibility that the fetus didn't actually survive up to this point- it was too soon for them to do a sonogram of some sort on it just yet. But if there was no heartbeat but other vitals were present... then that would mean the infant was Hollow... which is exactly what the experiment wished for. "So then... her son or daughter would be a Hollow then? Are we sure that's not going to do anything to her like physically? I mean, it's not going to try and kill her from the inside out, right? Or try to rip itself out or something?"

"I've already discussed matters with the Espada and he said that it would follow as such with a normal pregnancy and a normal delivery." Unohana assured. "Not to mention... he also said that her body is registered as being a mix of Shinigami and Hollow, so there's no need for the fetus to attack her as such like an enemy. And if anything does go wrong, both you and I are present to help."

"But how do we help exactly? I mean... there's nothing in a medical manual that would describe how to help in a situation like this."

"We'll get nowhere if you keep expressing doubt like that... but it is good that you are, you're just trying to prepare yourself for anything possible. Do not worry, we'll figure out a way to help, not to mention we have the Espada on our side to lead assistance as well; if the child shares the same genetics as he does then it will be able to relate with him most and calm itself before anything medically dangerous can happen. There is a way to fix almost everything, Isane, you just have to be open-minded enough to look and accept."

She nodded and turned back to the Captain. "I put all my trust into your judgment, Captain... you haven't failed me yet on it."

"Good, let's keep it that way." Unohana replied. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check in and see how Captain Ukitake is doing. Hopefully I'll be able to find him easily in this maze but... if not then he will eventually make his way back here at some point. I should also check in with Officer Akon and tell him of Ukitake's involvement now, hopefully he won't be too incredibly upset."

"Well, both you and Captain Ukitake are managing to keep the objectors from reaching here, so I think he'll be a bit more thankful than upset." Isane nodded. "I'll just stay here and... make sure she doesn't roll off the bed or anything."

"I trust you with that."