Isane's Little Helper

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I don't own Bleach

Hanataro x Isane. Set when Hanataro is a bit older.

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In Seireitei, a calm had descended upon the Gotei 13. Where normally there was hustle and bustle, laughter and shouting of battle cries…there was nothing. There was nothing, just peaceful, blessed silence.

Everyone who had a family to go to had left for the season, and all others had gotten themselves passes for a holiday in the real world, save for those who were on alert duty in case of an emergency.

But aside from the guards who stood watch over the court, one other person stayed. In the Fourth Division Barracks, there was one woman who had stayed behind.

Isane Kotetsu sighed heavily as she unscrewed yet another bottle of pain remedy. She was alone here, all on her own, with on one to help her, and she was getting tired.

It was her own fault though. When Unohana had announced that she would once again be taking the care of the ward on Christmas Day, Isane had been unable to contain herself and had insisted that she be allowed to take over instead. Although her Captain had objected much, mainly based on the argument that Isane had family, her sister Kiyone, Isane had insisted that she wanted to. She and Kiyone always had a sort of early Christmas the day before, it was a childhood tradition they had kept. And besides, Kiyone and Sentaro were living together now, and she wanted to give her little sister some space.

So here she was, alone in a hospital ward, trying to cope on her own. Even though Isane had had many years in the service of the squad, she had never had charge of the Christmas shift before. She wondered how Unohana had done it all these years, she was exhausted.

The patients didn't deliberately set out to make her life difficult, but it couldn't be helped, and Isane knew that. The cleaning up pools of blood and gore, the constant changing of bandages, the delivering of food, the healing kido that drained her such having to be applied constantly…

All of it was too much for one person. But she had volunteered for it, and she and she had to persevere with it.

A disgusting retching sound came from the room she had just left. Isane just sighed again, and went to fetch the mop.

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Outside, unknown to everyone, someone else had chosen to stay behind at the last minute.

Hanataro Yamada walked towards his squad barracks slowly, huddling deeper into his soft silver scarf. He smiled. This was his favourite scarf, and for a reason. Last Christmas, at the break-up party, Isane fukataicho had given him this. Hanataro had been completely shocked, and hugely embarrassed that he had nothing to give her in return. She had insisted that it was fine, that she knew he hadn't been expecting it, but he had never forgotten it.

Now he wanted to give her something. He knew that she was on ward duty for those who couldn't go home in time for Christmas Day, and had groaned silently when he had found out; for he thought that she did several times more than her share of the work already.

Hanataro spotted the familiar doors and slipped through them, hurrying down the polished halls.

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Isane dropped the wet scraggy mop into the bucket where it landed with a thud.

She had finally gotten that mess cleaned up, and now all she wanted to do was sink into a hot bath and then a bed. But she couldn't. Everywhere she looked Isane saw more work to do. Her muscles ached at the very thought of staying standing.

A bang sounded down the hallway and Isane jumped. 'What was that?' she wondered, with her hand on her heart. A second later, she felt foolish for being scared. She was the Fourth Squad fukataicho! It would take more than some breeze to take her down.

Footsteps sounded at the door then and a nervous face peeped in. Hanataro quickly saw Isane standing in the middle of the floor, holding a broom and looking surprised. He decided to explain himself.

"I-I know that I'm n-not supposed to be here, but…I knew that you would be here alone, and I knew how patients there were in at the moment s-so…" Hanataro's stuttering speech was cut off by someone hugging him and forcing the air out of his lungs. He turned his head, and saw Isane had come over and embraced him. Although he blushed scarlet, he did what he thought was the right thing and replied in kind.

After a while a muffled thank you was heard from the general direction of his right ear, she had moved her head slightly. Hanataro kept on blushing while stammering a 'your welcome' back to her.

Isane moved off him, and for the first time that day, her smile didn't seem to be forced. "Thank you, Hanataro" she said again, gratefully. Someone coughed somewhere and both were reminded that they had duties to attend to.

"I suppose we should…get to work, huh?" Hanataro asked shyly. Isane nodded shyly too.

"Yes…"

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Many hours later, the relief was due to arrive, and as for Isane and Hanataro, boy were they glad.

Bedraggled, exhausted, they shuffled outside. Isane yawned he looked at her, covering her mouth with one hand.

"So…"she started, then realised she had nowhere to go from there. Her little helper was the same, fidgeting with his scarf some as he tried to think of something. Isane's eyes widened. She had given him that scarf last year! And he still wore it…

She had given it to him because it was the exact same shade as her hair, and being the shy person that she was, she had hoped that it would tell how she felt. Either it hadn't though, or he was as scared as her that the other person wouldn't feel the same. Perhaps it was time to say it plainly.

Strangely enough, Hanataro had come to the same conclusion at the exact same second. So the result was a garbled mixture of "Um, Isane-kun…" and "Hana-chan, I want to…" They stopped. Well that answered their questions.

Tentatively, he leant forward and pecked her on the cheek, that simple touch causing her to go scarlet regardless and she smiled. Hanataro smiled too, relieved not to have been rejected. He had a sudden urge to kiss her on the lips, and, wondering where he was getting the courage from, he did so.

For a moment, she stayed still, completely stunned. When did sweet little Hanataro get so daring? That ryoka Ichigo's influence probably. Now that she had nothing to lose, she kissed back, noting the release of tension in his shoulders as her trained hands looped around them. It was only then that Isane realised he had a few inches on her now.

They parted, still holding each other loosely. Both blushed profusely, not really knowing what to say after that. Fortunately, they were saved by the banging of the door which signalled the arrival of the relief.

"I guess we better go now" Hanataro said sheepishly. And so they walked on into that snowy night, with the silver scarf billowing in the wind.

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Well I think this is slightly lame. There were a lot of things that were completely unlikely and impossible, I know. I hope you guys think otherwise. Tell me. :D