Title: Smaller Steps
Word/Page Count: 1,699/6
Author's Notes: So, in Hropkey's first foray into Bleach fanfiction (hah, I know! So used to this PoT OC stories, huh?), she… does a crack pairing. A COMPLETE crack pairing. This is gonna be a kind of fun, mellow fic- I don't plan on a lot of drama. (HAILEY, YOU CAN STOP SNICKERING NOW.) Lots of thanks to my absolutely wonderful beta, dartigen, who made sure that you, my dear readers, could actually understand the story this time.
Summary: As Hropkey steps knee-deep in Bleach fanfiction (as opposed to, you know, neck-deep in PoT fiction), an unlikely friendship brews in Sereitei.
It's common
knowledge among the 11th division that the 4th division is full of,
well, weaklings. Weaklings who misplaced their zanpakuto. Weaklings
who were only good for healing. Feh. How useless.
And
everyone in the 4th division knew that the 11th division was full of
violent, idiotic brutes that killed and thought without thinking,
without reason. And dear god, all those injuries. Half the people who
came into the infirmary were from the 11th division.
They
stayed far away from each other, just in case. Because you never
know.
-
Hanatarou has a spot. Just above his elbow on his left
arm; you can only see it when he wears western-style clothing, very
small but very noticeable. Most people think it's a freckle, but he
knows better.
He knows that when he first joined the 4th division, a 3rd division member had been temporarily paralyzed during a fight. As Hanatarou leaned down to pry the sword from his hands, the blade sliced through his arm. Not wanting to make a fuss, he simply wrapped the wound in cotton and went on his way.
He has another spot, too, hidden away from the rest of the Soul Society. If he didn't know it existed, he would believe it existed.
On the edge of the 1st district of Rukongai, behind a long row of houses, a little bit past the beautiful river that sits there, it's what Hanatarou considers the most beautiful site in all of the Soul Society- a bird's eye view of Karakura Town that the ryohkas accidentally opened up a few months prior . Karakura Town. It has the highest concentration of spiritual energy in the human world, he muses. Of course, it wasn't always like this. Only when Kurosaki Isshin came to town to raise a family.
Wait, he thinks, that's wrong. It
started a year ago, when Kurosaki Ichigo became a shinigami.
How
odd, Hanatarou thinks, that a place as strange and primitive
as the human world would have someone like Ichigo.
-
Kusajishi
Yachiru was born in the 79th district of Rukongai- or, rather,
discovered there. How she found out about the small cliff overlooking
Karakura Town is still a mystery. She sits there, sometimes for a few
hours, sometimes more. Kenpachi always knows where she is, of course-
otherwise Ken-chan would get worried, and she didn't want that. But
just sitting there, watching the people watching the strawberry boy
who had made Ken-chan so happy just a few months ago- it made her
happy too. She thinks things there that she usually says out loud,
things like:
"I hope Ichi and Big Boobs are okay. And Tall Guy and Glasses guy, too. But mostly Ichi."
"And I wonder if they'll let me use that mallet during the SWA meetings again. That was FUN! And loud. But that's okay."
"And Why hasn't Icy-taicho kissed Peachie-fukutaicho yet?"
But
mostly she just hoped Ichi was okay.
-
Hanatarou had never
thought someone would take his spot. It was his, only his; there was
never the slightest trace of someone else's reiatsu.
But there sits the fukutaicho of the 11th division, Kusajishi Yachiru, legs folded up to her chest, her shinigami attire hanging off her like a paper bag.
She looks so small, he thinks. So tiny and skinny and small.
But she notices him first.
Her neck moves slowly, very slowly. Hanatarou can imagine the sound her neck would make if she were an owl. Crick crick crick. But she's not an owl. And the first words out of her mouth are sharp, but not at all birdlike.
"Who are you?"
He starts to say, 'Yamada Hanatarou' but then he remembers what Unohana said to him this morning- to be proud of his position. That being a seated officer in the 4th division is definitely deserving of honor.
So he stands up a little bit straighter and says, "7th seat of the 4th division, Yamada Hanatarou."
And she simply blinks. Simply blinks and mutters something that sounds like 'oh'.
Suddenly she brightens up. "You're Ichi's friend!"
"I-Ichigo?"
"Yeah, yeah, Berry-kun! Is he okay?"
Hanatarou suddenly realizes why Unohana seems to be the only one willing to baby-sit the pink-haired fukutaicho when needed.
"Well, I haven't been down to the human world. Just watched it."
"Oh! This is your spot too?"
Why, yes, yes it is.
"Why,
yes, yes it is."
"Can we share it?"
Well, that was unexpected.
Hanatarou had always considered his spot his spot. Not someone else's spot. His. It may be selfish, but in the 4th division you shared everything with everyone. Nothing was ever 'you'. It was always 'us'.
The spot was his only true secret. But a girl barely coming up to his waist has discovered it.
He wants to say no. But he can't. And yet he desperately doesn't want to share.
"How about," he starts, picking each word carefully, "We share for a little bit and see how that works. Okay?"
"Okay!" she cheers. "Oh, and 7th seat-kun?"
"Yes?"
"How do you get back to the 11th division?"
"I'm not
exactly sure."
-
The 11th division is in uproar.
"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT BRAT?" Kenpachi yells through gritted teeth.
Which isn't too unusual, but he says it with this sort of ferocity that makes the whole 11th division cower.
"YOU! IKKAKU! GO FIND HER!" he yells. Ikkaku, wants to walk away and cover his ears. But instead, he gives a little grunt and starts searching.
He finds her sitting on a bench outside the 4th division, one hand holding a banana and the other tightly gripping the wrist of the boy next to her.
"Wow, these are so yummy! Hi, pachinko head!" she cheers.
"Ah, Sumimasen, Yachiru-fukutaicho -" Hanatarou can't bring himself to call her by her last name "- How long did you say you were out there?"
"Oh, about 11 hours!"
Hanatarou gulps.
Ikkaku gives Hanatarou a wary glare. "You let fukutaicho out to Rukongai by herself? For 11 hours?"
"I just met her a couple hours ago! I swear!"
Ikkaku grabs the collar of his kimono, as if to punch him, but instead simply twists his fist to check the insignia. "4th division," he scowls. "Can't expect anything less." He lets go, as Hanatarou falls to the ground. "Let's go, fukutaicho."
As
they walk off, Hanatarou stands up, each step slow and
painful.
-
"Evening, Unohana-taicho," Hanatarou says
warmly. "I just need to get a few splints. Don't worry, I'll be
quick."
"Ah, Hanatarou-kun." Unohana nods. "What happened?"
"I just twisted my ankle." He sits down in a chair, wrapping each ankle in a splint. Unohana glances over for a moment.
Both of his ankles are bright red and swollen.
What Unohana really wants to do is sit down and
put her arm around him, to ask what was wrong like she'd always done.
But he's old enough now to make his own decisions, she
realizes. He's old enough now to put his ankle in a splint if
needed.
-
"7th seat-kun!" Yachiru is walking
toward Hanatarou with Hitsugaya-taicho in tow. "Take her.
Please." he says, voice desperate. Hanatarou wants to smile but
he restrains himself. Seeing a frazzled Hitsugaya it a rare
sight.
"Don't worry, I'm in the 4th division," he smiles. "It's our turn to baby-sit her today, right?"
"Please. Just take her. NOW."
Even when he's frazzled, he's still scary, Hanatarou realizes, scooping up Yachiru before an early winter comes.
"7th seat-kun!"
"Mhm?" Why do people always hate
babysitting her? She's so cute and small and-
"Have
you ever jumped off a cliff?"
Well then.
"Um,
no, I haven't."
"Why not?"
Oh dear.
"Well, because you can get hurt."
"But you're in the 4th division! You heal!"
Arrgh. Maybe
After a few hours of
babysitting, Hanatarou just wants it to end.
But there's still more.
Yachiru asks questions about anything and everything. She knows no limits, his or her own.
By six o'clock, Hanatarou wants to faint. As Yachiru runs off, he doesn't even make it to his living quarters and simply collapses in the infirmary.
A new girl, Inaka, tiny and ginger-haired, looks and Hanatarou and giggles. "Does he do this a lot?" she asks quietly.
"No,"
Unohana smiles, pulling a blanket around his shoulders. "Only
when he's been babysitting."
-
Hanatarou is
dreaming.
When Hanatarou was three, he died. It sounds young, but he clearly remembers parts of the human world. Remembers the cold, snowing winters of Hokkaido, holding his mothers hand as they would walk through beautiful parks, and playing hopscotch with his sister and neighbors.
For years and years after he died, Hanatarou kept checking Earth to see how his family was doing. Everyone who'd been alive when he'd been small had died; he did die almost 120 years ago, after all. Most everyone was doing well.
But this night he has a nightmare, an awful, vicious nightmare.
They'd all died- Mom Dad, Ina-chan- but he didn't know. And he went looking for them, but he didn't find them.
They just disappeared. Vanished.
He wakes up sweating under an infirmary
blanket. He looks around and realizes he'd only slept for half an
hour.
-
"Ah, Hanatarou-kun, you're awake. Can you show
Inaka-chan how to tie the splints?"
"Sure," he answers. "I just need to get a couple more for me. I think I sprained one of my ankles."
"Oh, that's not very good."
"I'm fine, honestly. But running circles
around Yachiru-fukutaicho hurt my ankles when they were already
twisted." He pats the ground next to him.
"Here,
Inaka-chan. You put the edge right over your inner ankle and wrap it.
It's really easy- you just go up and down like this. Then you tuck it
into the top, and there. Now it keeps the ankle from moving too
much."
Inaka smiles. "Thank you, Hanatarou-sa-"
"7TH SEAT-KUN!" Yachiru hugs Hanatarou around the waist while Yumichika stands at the door, examining his cuticles.
"Ano, sumimasen, Yachiru-fukutaicho, but it's the 3rd division's turn to baby-sit you tomorrow."
"Don't call me that!"
"What?"
"Yachiru-fukutaicho! Call me Yachi-chan! YA-CHI-CHAN!"
Hanatarou smiles. "Alright, Yachi-chan it is."