Chapter 17: Unohana Yachiru

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

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AN:  Bolds and italics now work for us noob authors, so expect more of that in the future. Isn't that neat? Anyways enjoy your dose of momm- I mean Unohana.

Chapter 17: Unohana (Yachiru)

Time has been moving so fast as of late, I've already been living with her for two months. I feel as if most of the ice has broken between us, but she's picked up a rather alarming habit over these past few weeks. On second thought, I reckon "alarming" is an understatement. 

Whether it be during laps, whilst I'm practicing my Hado and Bakudo, or sometimes even whilst I'm falling asleep. She'll seemingly at random just drop silent and, stare at me. She won't utter a word, give me any facial indicators as to what she's thinking, let alone move. 

I don't know what triggers it, nor can I even begin to interpret the reasoning behind it. I'd call her out about it but in retrospect she's not doing anything inherently wrong. 

It's just— creepy. 

As a matter of fact I think she's doing it now, I'm not sure what else could explain the sensation of two needles burrowing their way into the back of my head. 

I suppose I'll have to confront her about it eventually, but I'll just feign ignorance for now until I've actually got a plan. I'd hate to have expended all that effort leveling with her just to unravel it all out of sheer angst. 

Tossing my thoughts into the deep crevices of my mind, I rose my palm and faced it towards an open clearing as pale cerulean sparks of electricity crackled on the brunt of my skin. 

I could feel a faint searing pain gradually worsen in my skin, but I had been told it was merely a result of inexperience, thus I paid it no heed. 

"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"

Streaks of lightning shot forwards, but instead of it hurling in a straight, organized line the crescents seemed to snake all over the place void of rhyme nor rhythm. 

Another failure, oh well, nothing good ever comes easy. 

My attention was drawn by the rustling of leaves and litter behind me, it seems she's finally snapped out of her "trance", or whatever it is. 

"Despite what it looks like that spell is far more effective at close range" My eyes followed her as she walked up to a trunk and gently placed her hand on its bark. 

"Hadō #4: Byakurai" 

An azure circle formed on both sides of the tree, the lightning effortlessly prying its way through the bark as the shrill screech of electricity assaulted my eardrums. 

I imagined what that'd look like done to an actual person— devastating, to say the least. 

"Anyways, let's head on back, I'm starting to get hungry myself" I can sympathize with her there. I'm pretty sure we're having some sort of Yakisoba tonight, not that it matters when everything she cooks is unquestionably gourmet. 

The two of us slowly began to stroll back to the house, which was exceedingly large for what was a one-person home by the way. Along the way I couldn't help but shoot a few worried glances her way, there are times where I wish I'd known what was going on in that skull of hers. 

But on that same note, there are times where I'm grateful that I didn't. 

"Are you— feeling alright?" Maybe they should invent a spell to keep my mouth shut. 

My obviously out of pocket remark caused her to shoot a muddled glance my way, this is what I get for failing to keep my concerns away from my mouth. 

"No" Can't say I was expecting that, but I'll take that over a fist in my face any day. 

"Might I ask, why?" She looked at me with annoyance, turning away from me and subtly clicking her tongue as she tried to mask her discontent. 

"Is it something I did?" Even in this world, women continue to be mysterious creatures. 

"Mhm, and you've been doing it for a while" Oh boy. Over-time it's become slightly easier to deal with, but her pressure is leaking out once again. I recall talking to her about this, but I think I'll make an exception seeing as she's already bitter beforehand.

"That being?" She came to an abrupt halt, walking up to me as she tugged at the collar of my haori. Tugged, not grabbed— I'd call that an improvement. 

"Don't make me say it out loud" She warned, I could've just left it there but a part of me knew that wasn't a wise decision.

"I'm afraid I'm going to need you to" Please let this end well.

"Fine" She took an audible breath, whatever this was it wasn't something I could take lightly.

"We've been living under the same roof for two months now but you still won't look at me" She dipped her head in a rare display of anguish, or so I think. 

"Why?" She asked again, I still had no clue what she was talking about. 

"Unohana, I'm going to need you to be a lot more specific than that…" It was now that I wished more than ever that there was a Kido tailored towards dealing with women. 

The grip on my clothes gradually started to tighten, as she slowly rose her head to meet mine when I noticed that her sclera had become glossy? Don't tell me, is she…sad? Anger I'm prepared for, but sadness? From her?

"You know what I'm talking about!" Her sudden flare instilled me with panic, this was a different type of anger than what I was used to. It didn't originate from her usual possessiveness nor moodiness, it looked like whatever I had done, had genuinely aggrieved her. 

I considered raising my voice but thanks to my better judgment I quickly saw that it would only escalate the situation rather than help it. 

"I don't, I really don't" There was no need for me to masquerade as genuine, since I truly didn't know what the root of her sorrow was. But I was worried that she would misread the faint panic in my voice as lying, she had a habit of being paranoid. 

"Oh really? Even though you insist on turning your back to me every night?" Oh crap, I think I know what she's talking about. She's obviously referring to our "nightly" arrangements. 

"Unohana I—" 

"Am I not pretty enough? Is that it? Or were you lying to me about Yasui?" It was hard for me to match her gaze in the state she was in, but turning away was possibly the worst thing I could do right now. 

"I cook for you every day and night, I put my sweat, tears and blood into training you— but you won't even return half the sentiment, why?" Even though she lowered her voice, I didn't feel as if she had calmed down even in the slightest. 

"First of all, that's a no to your first three questions, and as for your second…" Her face warned me that anything less than a direct answer would not end well for me, but that's fine by me, I'd rather confront this now as opposed to letting her get even more pent up. 

"Yes, you do all that for me, and I'm nothing but thankful, for everything" My voice remained stern, I didn't want her doubting me even a tiny bit. 

"But I never asked for any of this, I mean you even said it yourself. You 'took' me away from Yasui, remember what happened when all I did was bring up the notion of me returning?" 

She took a brief moment to reflect upon my words, before planting her forehead into my chest to prevent me from seeing her expression, not that I'm sure I'd want to. 

"So that's it?" Her voice was grim, and the wrath from before seemed to slowly fissure out. 

"No matter what I do, I can't get you to look at me?" It was then that my train of thought landed upon a railway I hadn't visited in a long time. For a second she gave me the impression that if I asked, she would actually let me do so. 

But the question was— what then? Not to sound like an ego-maniac but at this point what could I possibly learn from Yasui? It might be nice to see her again but could I really leave Unohana in these woods? 

At least Yasui had Okita, all Unohana had…was me. 

And she isn't wrong when she says that she's done a lot for me, she could've just kept me bedridden, she had no obligation to train me let alone go through the trouble of cooking for me, not to mention doing it daily. 

"What if…" A lump formed in my throat upon realizing that if I went through with what I was about to say, there was simply no taking it back. 

But even my hesitation couldn't stop my lips from moving. 

"I changed that? Starting tonight?" I've definitely opened up Pandora's Box. 

She rose her head once more, staring at me with the most hope infested look I'd ever seen, and I mean ever. 

"Are you…serious?" She questioned, and to be fair not even I can believe the words that are coming out of my mouth. 

"Yeah, I am" And now there are two lunatics lurking in these woods, wonderful. 

And just like that, we, or should I say she decided that dinner had been rendered unnecessary and rushed me straight to the bedroom. Sparing no time dragging me under the sheets with the most giddy expression I had ever seen, completely contradicting everything I knew about her character. 

As I had so foolishly promised, her face was nuzzled deep into my chest rather than my back. Her arms were like chains around my torso, intent on keeping me in place for all eternity. 

I could feel my heart racing with each waking moment, I hadn't been in a situation like this since my college days. Her breathing was blatantly audible. 

Whilst she seemed like the most relaxed person in the world, I was definitely the most tense. It was only now that the gravity of what he had agreed to began to sink in. 

Does this mean we're? I quickly shut that course of thought down as I calmed himself down, slowly I found himself gently placing my arms around her waist. 

Which she didn't seem to mind one bit, on the contrary I'm pretty sure she was enjoying it.

"Don't worry, I won't push you any further than this— for now~" Her whispers caused me to shiver in agitation as well as another emotion which I was clearly in denial of.