Straitjacket Feeling

 

"How long has it been?"

"Four days, sir."

A calculated exhale left the Captain as he seemed to pace back and forth behind his desk. "That's long enough. Make the arrangements to have the subjects called back and we'll carry on with the testing; it's a little early, so we may have to do some... extensive testing to pick up on any positive traces. And if not, have them called back in a week or so to repeat the tests- just to make sure."

He nodded and made a quick note on the clipboard in hand. "If I might bring up another topic... Lieutenant Kurotsuchi has made a small request to meet with this Espada again. She says there are necessary conversations that she wishes to carry on with him. I was wondering if-"

"Yes, yes, I heard enough about that from that Fourth Division Lieutenant; I suppose you can carry on that exchange while I do the testing- however, I expect you to overlook it as well. And tell that other Lieutenant to be present as well so we can have two accounts of their conversations."

"Yes, Captain Mayuri; I'll be sure to carry on those orders as quickly as I can."

"Also, Akon... if anything interesting is said during this 'conversation' of theirs... be sure to make a note of it."

"Yes sir."

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"Uh... excuse me, Captain Unohana but uh... how exactly is this testing going to be... conducted?"

The dark-haired woman glanced up at the remark and offered a sympathetic smile in return. "Don't worry about a thing, Hinamori, I'll be looking over the physical aspect of it; it'll be just like before, I promise."

"Ew, haven't they taken enough blood already?" Kiyone remarked with a scrunch of her nose as she planted herself somewhat comfortably in one of the stiff-back chairs that was offered to them. "And I'm tired of them always squeezing my arm."

"I'll make sure that everything will go about smoothly."

Nanao sighed softly as she moved to readjust her glasses; fingers lightly pressed at the tip of her nose. "What'll happen if one of us actually managed to successfully conceive? What then? Are we going to be handed over to these... Science freaks to be poked and prodded every day?"

"Oh... Lieutenant Nanao, I assure you, should conception occur I will be looking over your health as well; Captain Mayuri and I have agreed to 'share' this project. Nothing will get passed without my consent and should you begin to feel uncomfortable with the procedures, I will do what I can to change it; this isn't just about Science- this is about Medicine as well and as you know, I dictate that branch quite efficiently." Unohana replied; noting that it seemed to give the woman some comfort as she rested her hands more comfortably at her sides now.

Kiyone sighed and draped her arms behind the back of the chair; looking around the rather barren room they had been herded into. She took note that Captain Soifon wasn't anywhere in sight but perhaps that was more of a blessing than anything else. "You know... that Espada guy told me that... it was near impossible for us to actually conceive successfully. Do you think he was being serious?"

"I think he told me the same thing." Hinamori nodded as she tried to busy herself with lightly pacing about the room- trying not to seem the least bit distressed.

"Same here." Nanao nodded.

"Well at least he's consistent with his answers." Kiyone chuckled as she ruffled her blonde hair before she moved her fingers to massage the back of her neck. "You know, I still kind of wake up sore."

"Kiyone."

"What? I'm just saying... even if it was for an experiment that just seems... inhuman... it was kind of hot."

Nanao glanced over towards the woman, who seemed to have chuckled the last part to herself. "Really?" she questioned sharply.

"You were there; you could agree with me."

She only shook her head and tried to ignore the blonde; trying not to recall on the event that still left burning impressions in her skin. "I'm not getting in on this conversation with you."

"That's fine, I'm happy to have the conversation to myself." Kiyone replied; almost singing the words on the tip of her tongue. "Don't get me wrong, I'm insanely attracted to Sentaro with about the same hormonal levels of a thousand wildcats in heat but... I don't know, it's hard to explain about the other guy. Probably because even though it was forced on him, he didn't actually seem to take it out on us. Ooh, I still get goosebumps thinking about it."

"... You know, I wasn't going to say anything about it but... now that you mention it..." Hinamori started as she paused for a moment; her hands slightly intertwining with one another. "It was pretty... satisfying."

"Wasn't it? I tell ya, some of my exes could take lessons from that man. Although... now I'm kind of wondering if there's something different with them. Like, do you think it's because they're supposed to have these kind of... 'animalistic' tendencies or something? If so, I want to know what animal he was."

"Oh dear..." Unohana whispered with a light shake of her head. She was certainly not quite expecting... that kind of response. Her dark eyes shifted as the door on the far end creaked open; revealing another unknown Division member; she took it from his small hand motion that there was someone outside who wished to speak to her. "I apologize, if you'll excuse me for a moment, ladies; I'll be back shortly. Do try to... not rile with one another."

Kiyone watched as the braided Captain eventually disappeared behind the locked door; leaving the three of them in minor solitude. "So... wanna talk about it?"

"No thank you." Nanao replied.

"You sure? I mean... they say talking helps ease the stress and... well needless to say, you look really stressed right now."

She pushed up on her glasses once more and let out a sharp exhale. "Okay fine, fine I'll talk about it. Do you want to know a secret?"

"... Is that a trick question? Because I really do." Kiyone slowly nodded.

A rough sigh followed her exhale as she motioned for the woman to move in closer to her; urging for their third member to take a seat between them as well. "Okay well... you guys can keep quiet about this right?" she waited for the other two to nod before she continued. "Well we didn't actually... have sex."

"Girl, you missed out."

"Is that really the first thing you had to say?" Hinamori questioned before she turned back to the Eighth Lieutenant. "But that was part of the experiment... how did you not...?"

"I don't know, we just... I got nervous and I froze up; I think he noticed that and decided not to completely go through with it. I mean... we still did other 'things' but ultimately we didn't finish out the sequence."

"Well at least you got a taste of it."

"Kiyone... you just seem too... excited over this whole thing." Nanao remarked towards the blonde.

"Hey, all I'm saying is give the guy a little credit; this decision wasn't easy for us and you could tell he didn't want it either- even though everyone has to admit it was enjoyable at one point. Besides, afterwards we kind of talked and... it's weird when you get to know something about someone who generally was supposed to be the worst of the worst."

"... She's right." Hinamori nodded slowly. "I mean... given the situation, he didn't have to be so... 'gentle' about it."

Nanao sighed and brushed aside a stray lock of hair as she leaned back in her chair; listening to the painful squeak of the chair's bolts. "... it was pretty amazing."

"I know, right? I was tempted to go another round but then I would've ruined it for Hinamori."

"Well thanks for the consideration at least." she chuckled.

"But this conversation and these comments do not leave this room." Nanao quickly added. "I don't know what Captain Shunsui would do if he know where that man put his tongue."

"Don't tell Isane; she will kill me for getting involved with this." Kiyone remarked.

"How did Sentaro take it?"

"Oh, like I assumed he would; I think he found it more kind of erotic and he put a lot of effort into reminding me of that insane attraction I have to him."

"You guys just had even more sex, didn't you?" Hinamori suggested.

"Oh yeah."

XXXX

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"So I have good and bad news."

She glanced up at the remark and watched as the silver-haired Lieutenant closed the door tightly behind her. Setting aside the book she had been busying herself with for the past few hours, she pushed herself up into a more reasonable sitting position; feeling the motion almost pull at her stomach. "What is it?"

"Uh well, good news first." Isane started as she ran a hand through her messy hair. "Captain Mayuri has agreed to let you converse with the Espada for an unset amount of time. Bad news is... is that both Akon and myself must be present to supervise the event."

She couldn't exactly understand why they would need supervision- it wasn't like they had anything planned. But she supposed she should just be glad that they were at least given time to be together. "When is he going to get here?"

"They're both on their way here now, so I'd give them a few minutes or so." Isane shrugged. "On other news, apparently the subjects were brought back in today for testing; here's to hoping for good results... whatever 'good' means in this kind of situation. You guys aren't going to like... do or talk about anything weird or embarrassing are you?"

"To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure about what we'll be talking about so there's no guarantees for you; however, I'll apologize ahead of time in case such occurrence happens."

"Hmm, okay, I'll try to keep that in mind. I mean, I'm sure at this point you just want to see him again."

"Something like that, yes."

The creak of the bedroom door being pushed open interrupted their shared conversation and turned both their attentions to the noise; waiting in anticipation for who would be on the other end. She didn't care much for the blue-haired fellow Division member who continued to keep that ever so familiar clipboard with him; she barely even noticed the look he passed off in her direction; every inch of attention turned to the man who followed in after him. There was little physical change to him, which she had been hoping for- he looked just about the same as when she last saw him. She supposed for this occasion, he decided to slip on one of the pale-colored sweaters she had provided for him months before; he had yet to wear one and she could see why- while it was slightly form-fitting, it did little to enhance his form, in fact it was almost ill-fitting to say the least. But she could push that fact aside as she removed herself from the comfort of her bed to approach him.

"Well just try not to imagine us being here- observing." Akon remarked. "We'd prefer if there was little interference with this confrontation."

"Confrontation? You make it sound like they're going to beat each other." Isane commented.

"Can I ask you a question?" she started; pausing when only a foot or two of space separated them.

He had stepped forward to greet her and stopped about the same time she did; allowing the short space to separate them for now. Those green eyes of hers were unchanged but he still appreciated the soft shade that looked back to him. "Yes." the single word fell simply and easily from his lips; no hesitation at all. The quickness of the answer seemed to catch her by surprise as he caught just the smallest hint of a frown on her lips. "Can I ask one in return?"

She searched those amber eyes for some form of hesitation only to find nothing; just pure, stable... something. How could he answer so quickly like that? It was like he put no thought into it... or maybe he put enough thought into it to where he didn't need to question himself about it. "No." while she didn't answer quite as quickly, it was bold enough to erase the presence of the millisecond of hesitation. For once, there seemed to be a sense of relief to him.

Isane looked back towards her fellow observer, only to be greeted with the same expression she was sure she had. The questions made absolutely no sense to her... it wasn't even like there was a question; just an answer to something that hadn't been asked. She wanted to say something but thought better of it; it would be best if they didn't interference, like Akon had said before- oh forget it. "I'm sorry but... what?"

"I'm afraid I want to ask the same thing." Akon nodded.

A light chuckle escaped him as he pushed a hand through his hair. "It's simply impossible to get even a second of privacy around here; there's always someone breathing down our necks." although he supposed he couldn't blame them for wanting to know- just about everyone wanted to know what the hell was going on now and days. "I think it's easy to believe that we've both given careful thought to this moment and prepared a list of questions for one another in the event that it did happen; I tried to focus on what the first thing she would ask me and how I could answer it in the simplest form. Fortunately, the simplest form was the only form: just one word."

"I did the same; it was a bit of a battle to try and get inside of his mindset to figure him out but... I believe we both managed to pull it off somewhat successfully although... the answers are surprising."

"Ah well... what did you 'ask' her?" Isane questioned.

"He asked me if I was upset about the situation with the subjects; if I was upset with him." Nemu answered.

"And... what did you 'ask' him?" Akon started.

He didn't reply immediately and instead decided to give a moment's time to the silence. "You know what, it's really quite a personal topic right now; I'd greatly appreciate it if you left that topic to just us for now." he was sure they were disappointed by the remark but it was true, he'd much prefer if they just didn't question it for now. He felt the warmth of her hand glide over his own before she took it within her grip; pulling his attention back to her now as she ushered him to follow her. He gave willingly into her and stepped with her as she pulled him back towards her bed.

She waited for him to take a seat before she carefully returned to her usual spot; watching as he seemed to adjust his own position to better suit her. Legs lightly draped over his own as she reached forward and lightly traced fingertips against his jawline; her thumb touched at the bruise that seemed to conquer one cheek- she didn't know how it got there and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know. "Is this how you feel every time I show up with the same mark?"

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead; fingers cupping the gentle curve of her jaw. "You mean like the one you still have?" he reminded. "But we'll go with something like that."

"It must be difficult to deal with."

"You get used to it unfortunately, but I'd rather not waste time debating on such an issue." he started; pushing aside her dark bangs with the tips of his fingers. "How have you been doing lately?"

"Nothing's changed, it's really all the same." she replied. "I'd ask about you but... I'm not entirely sure if I want to know."

He chuckled lightly. "I don't blame you and even if I were to answer, there would not be very supportive things to say."

She moved her hands to push through his hair before she knitted her fingers together over the back of his neck; watching the way he seemed to find just a small amount of discomfort in the touch. "Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no it's just... one of the subjects got a bit violent during the whole procedure."

"You should get it checked out."

"It's fine."

He didn't seem to want to move from his stance on the situation and she really had no say in changing his mind. Fingertips pushed beneath the high-collar of the pale sweater and slipped down to brush the rather uneven flesh that layered the back of his neck; she could trace the long drag marks left behind by nails- the injuries had healed in the passing days but there was still a sense of sensitivity to them. It was almost by a subconscious habit, she found herself circling her fingertips along the inked number that still remained tattooed into his flesh; almost already forgetting about the cuts from before. It was almost therapeutic really.

"Not a lot to observe." Isane whispered.

"I'm sure something will come along."

"They really do entertain themselves with watching, don't they?" Szayel whispered.

She broke from her slight subconscious trance and glanced over to the two in one corner; to be honest, she had almost forgotten about them. "They are merely doing what has been asked of them."

"So did I but doesn't mean I was entertained that much by it." he remarked.

"I will be honest with you, I'm surprised my Captain would actually... 'trust' you enough to assume that you would actively participate in those experiments; that you would successfully have intercourse with those subjects." she started. "For all he knew, you could've made a bunch of noise, layered yourself with sweat and call it done."

"I was actually surprised by that fact as well but... I think it might partly be due to two factors: the risk and that second Captain." he spoke. "He knew I wouldn't run the risk of faking it; not to mention, it's nearly physically impossible for a member of the male species to... reject certain activities after a given amount of time- which isn't really in the sense of this case. Not to mention with that second Captain around, I don't believe he's willing to cross her path; she's taken it upon herself to take care of these subjects- after all, they've all been 'traumatized' by this event and to further that trauma would only derail this entire experiment. It's all about risks at this point and right now, no one has grounds to run one."

"Why wouldn't you run the risk of just 'faking' it?" she questioned.

"Because the temptation of doing so would have you taken from me once more and it would be certain that neither of us would see the other again. It's hard to admit but he does hold the greater power in this situation solely because he holds you; I can't afford to risk it." he admitted; although keeping to himself the small abundant lie that was geared towards the end of his words. He had pressed that risk but he had very little doubts that it would be found out about. "Not to mention, if I gave any more objection to the matter, he would no doubtingly have me drugged and tied down for the next group to enjoy- and frankly to say, that is not the least bit appealing to me."

"Would it be wrong to say that it is to me?"

"That's only because you've experienced it before and I have no recollection of it."

"I may have found out something that I had no intentions of knowing." Isane muttered to herself with a soft groan. She glanced back at the soft click of the doorknob and watched as her own Captain walked in. "Captain Unohana... what are you doing here?"

"Well... we finished testing on the first group of subjects." she started; taking note that everyone's attention seemed to be drawn to her now. "Needless to say, out of the four of subjects... one of them did come out positive."

The room itself seemed to suffocate with a tense silence.

"Which subject was it?" Akon questioned.

"Subject Three."

"Which was who?" Isane asked; taking sharp note of how the two seemed to stiffen slightly at the question... like they were hiding something. "I know it's not proper of me to ask but... I'll be looking over them if the tests are correct and I think I deserve to at least have a name."

Unohana sighed lightly. "You are correct, Isane; I have no right to hide this from you since you may be in charge of their care soon enough. Subject Three is... Kiyone."

It felt like every drop of blood rushed away from her head and clotted together in the pit of her stomach; twisting every inch of her intestines until it felt like they were going to come rushing up her throat any minute. There was a sense of being light-headed that was quickly over taken by a deeper case of nausea. "I... you can't be serious. I didn't see her at all in this facility. How could she... how could she have-"

"In truth, you were in this room during that length of time." Akon reminded.

"I just... why would she do that? Why would she just... throw everything away like that?" Isane questioned; the rush of questions in her mind seemed to entangle themselves on her tongue. She ran a hand through her hair and gripped at her locks as though it would help organize her thoughts. "This doesn't make sense... wait-" she slowly turned back to where the two were seated on the bed. "You knew about this..."

The state of the news had more of a numbing effect on him really; not quite the reaction he had imagined but... he supposed it wasn't as dramatic nor as drastic as it could've been. He carefully folded the hands in front of him in his own fingers and brought her knuckles up to his lips. "You looked nothing like her, so I supposed I never really connected the pieces; after overlooking the names though, she did mention your name and she requested specifically that I not say a thing about this. She was... really quite worried that you would find out about her involvement."

"Ugh... just the fact that you slept with my sister is... disgusting and now... now she's pregnant with-"

"Ah ah, that's where I would like for you to hold your thought." he interrupted. "This is going to start off sounding rather irresponsible but I'd appreciate it if you just listened through for now. Yes, this early testing proved to be positive and yes, I can see why you would be disturbing upset; but... considering the odds and chances... she may have successfully conceived but I don't believe the paternity of that offspring belongs to me. Believe me, if I gave even the slightest hint of believing in those chances, I would've stepped forward for the responsibility; but I don't believe in those chances. Now... I'm not saying the test is wrong, in fact it's more likely to be more accurate than anything else; I'm just saying you're pointing fingers at the wrong person."

"Then who? Who else could've just happened to get her pregnant around this exact time frame."

"I'm actually glad you brought that up; for you see... this is going to sound remarkably awkward, but during our time together she always talked about another man; her 'boyfriend-'"

"Boyfriend? I'm not even certain if she's dating anyone."

"Yes well... she liked to share stories about taking the free time when their Captain was away? Does the name Sentaro ring a bell? That might help?"

She paused for a moment at the response as a rush of thoughts seemed to course its way through her mind. "... I- You'll have to excuse me; I have to go speak to Kiyone about something!"

"Lieutenant Kotetsu-" Akon started but could do little to stop the woman in her hasty leave. "We were both supposed to stand in observation."

"You know... perhaps you should go and let Captain Mayuri know of this information." Unohana started as she turned to the remaining Division member. "I mean, I will gladly stay back and take over your positions until you return and you can tell Captain Mayuri that I allowed for your leave; in fact, that I really quite encourage it."

"I apologize, Captain Unohana but I believe I must really stay and observe this to reduce the risk of... skipping key events or details."

"I understand; I'll be sure to rely the news to him on a later occasion, until then I suppose I will stay in Isane's place until she... gets this mess sorted out."

He sighed and felt her hands pull loose from him for a moment before they touched at his face once more; pulling him forward enough brush her lips against his own. "For that split moment, what were your thoughts?"

"I'll be honest, they were selfish." she replied as she tugged him through the short space that separated them and continued to use the curve of her lip to tease him. "All I could think about was that I would have to share you with someone else... I'm not sure if I liked the thought of it either."

His hands touched at the flat of her ribcage before a gentle grip pulled her into his lap; finally sealing the space between the two of them as she seemed almost just as eager to welcome the embrace. It felt like he had been starved of her taste and touch; giving into every inch of her mouth that silently begged to be stroked by his tongue. Fingertips dug lightly into his jawline as she held the tight embrace between and refused for even the smallest breath of air to run between them.

How long had it been since outside factors had refused her to kiss him like this?

Refused him to hold her like this?

Fingers gathered in the dark material of her kimono as he pulled her to rest in his lap; forcing her legs to separate on either side of him- which really seemed quite like a common feature for them. This was the part that she didn't want to share. It was the affection and the attention... every little touch and every little kiss. No one else deserved that.

Her lips softly parted from his own; both of them mimicking the quiet inhale for air. "How do we talk about this?"

"We talk about how it's going to make it to the end; how it's going to hopefully be healthy; how it's going to have your eyes." he started; brushing fingers through her hair. "There are endless possibilities to discuss on this topic."

"Why would it have my eyes?"

"I just want it to."