Title: Only Half
Universe: Bleach
Theme/Topic: N/A
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: lightly KyourakuxUkitake, but mostly gen.
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers through ch 362; also OOC probably. LOL
Word Count: 1,830
Summary: After Kyouraku and Ukitake's fight with the Primera Espada, the Twelfth Division requires the details.
Dedication: juin! Thanks for the hot water tip. 3
A/N: I read the latest two chapters and about DIED for what it implied for the ShunUki pairing. I am sorry my writer's block made this way lamer than it should have been. I swear my flail over their perfect love is much stronger than I can write it. XD
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.

Following the Karakura showdown there are no particular gains of note made by either the shinigami or the arrankar camps; as such, both sides opt to leave the field injured but alive at the end of the day, reconvening to their respective principalities in order to inventory their losses and contemplate what next move will be of the most strategic advantage to their purpose.

It is, as Yamamoto-soutaichou likes to put it, a time of deep contemplation.

Kyouraku Shunsui is—as one of the more notoriously lazy members of the captain class—perfectly happy to simply call it a time of rest, and plans to leave everything of the aforementioned strategic and advantageous to the excellent judgment of Yamamoto-soutaichou and his many advanced years.

Kyouraku personally wants nothing more than to spend the next few weeks liberally playing up the severity of his battle injuries in order to earn the reluctant sympathies of his adorable vice-captain and consequently, get a little more leeway in shirking the most monotonous of his leadership duties in lieu of taking afternoon naps and plenty of afternoon libations.

He thinks, in short, that after the fight he's just had, he is due some proper peace and quiet. Preferably for the next hundred years or so.

However, he soon finds that despite his best wishes, his hard earned peace and quiet is going to be nothing but short-lived at best, as not two hours after his admittance into the fourth division infirmary for injuries sustained in combat, several anxious twelfth division members swarm his sickroom in earnest. They are all, very clearly, on a mission.

More specifically, the young researchers are rather eager to be given an interview on the particulars of Kyouraku-taichou's recent battle experience, with emphasis on any recollections or points of note he might have regarding his fight with the Primera Espada in so much that they would be relevant or helpful in the twelfth division's attempts to catalogue all of the known facts regarding this new and surprising development in arrankar evolution.

"The number one that was really two! Can you note any differences in physiology comparative to other Espada you've battled in the past, taichou?" one white-coated shinigami asks him loudly upon taking the room, and holds a strange recording device up to the tired captain's mouth in eager anticipation of his undoubtedly fascinating response.

Kyouraku sighs a little, and when he does, is troubled that it is in such a way that the air rattles inside his chest. It is the sound of age, and one he is sure he does not like very much yet.

Despite that however, he looks back at the fearless researcher and feels the edges of his lip curl up into something akin to smile, though not necessarily as friendly as the one he is often known for amongst his contemporaries. "The gotei-13 must be very proud to have so many people who are as eager as this to do their jobs," he murmurs to no one in particular, in a tone that means he is half annoyed and half amused. He thinks that these young shinigami can't be blamed in particular for their lack of tact; it seems to him like something they must have picked it up from their captain along the way. They are very much like Kurotsuchi-taichou after all, so intent on their purpose that they have become mindless of things like timing, or consideration, or more importantly, Kyouraku's immediate aversion to doing anything work-related at the moment.

In the bed beside his, Kyouraku hears it when Ukitake laughs good-naturedly around a warm cup of tea, looking serene as ever despite the bandages wound around his head and one eye, despite the bruises and gashes up and down his arms that are just beginning to turn the colors of healing flesh. "It's so very important that we recall these things while the incident is fresh in our minds, don't you think, Kyouraku-taichou?" the white-haired captain begins, with a telltale look of mischief in his longtime companion's direction that means he has read and acknowledged Kyouraku's sentiments and is inclined to agree with them.

The sparkle of laughter in Ukitake's eyes as he speaks with such facetiously calm elegance never ceases to energize Kyouraku, and despite his earlier reluctance to do anything but nap, the eighth division leader suddenly finds himself in the mood for a little teasing as well. He naturally feels his smile become much more amused than annoyed at the prospect.

None of the twelfth division shinigami notice the silent communication that passes between Ukitake and Kyouraku. To be fair, the two of them have been doing this for a very long time.

"Yes, yes! We are happy to hear that you understand the importance of our purpose, Ukitake-taichou! To commit your statements to record while the incident is still fresh in your mind will keep you from contaminating them with false recollections later," the researchers declare in the meantime, and promptly shove one of those recording things up into Ukitake's face as well. "Now tell us all about the Espada!"

"A very calm young man," Ukitake responds then, unhelpfully.

"But she was also quite animated," Kyouraku adds to Ukitake's report, faithfully.

The twelfth division shinigami blink at the conflicting accounts. "Yes?"

"A young man…that's a she?" one puzzled researcher repeats, and looks down at his notes with a furrowed brow.

"Calm but animated?" his companions murmur as well. They also sound unsure.

"Very tall," Kyouraku adds next, without hesitation.

Ukitake puts his cup of tea down and looks very grimly thoughtful. "But diminutive."

"A seasoned fighter," Kyouraku continues.

"But so strangely young," Ukitake amends.

"Cautious."

"And quite fearless."

The researchers look puzzled, while the captains attempt to remain gravely solemn, both very admirably holding back their particular desire to burst out laughing at any moment now.

"I believe his hair was dark as well," Kyouraku gamely continues.

"White as snow," Ukitake nods, sounding as if in complete agreement. "Despite how young she was."

Silence.

"I…see," the researchers say emptily, and stare down at the notes displayed on their ltitle recording devices.

Then, after about a minute, they all—miraculously— seem to latch onto something monumental, despite the fact that they are very clearly being teased and don't know it.

To be fair to them, the two captains have been doing this for much, much longer than any of them have been in the gotei-13.

Regardless, it seems that they have found something of note anyway.

"When they split in two…"

"…their characteristics must also split…"

"…accordingly."

A beat.

Then, all together, "How fascinating!"

They turn to one another then, each happily expounding upon their common theory in rapid-fire, as new ideas and possibilities assault their well-oiled minds in quick succession.

"Their split down the center leaves them in clearly weakened states; as a side effect it also makes them prone to extremes."

"It can be speculated then, that when they join and reach the height of their power, it is because they have once again fused into a rational being, no longer prone to behaving in the skewed manner they do as individuals!"

"Balanced; their true power is in coming together and forming a balance, both in physical attributes and behavioral characteristics!"

"If that is the case, why split in the first place? It's much more convenient to share power with a zanpakutou and retain one's base personality, isn't it?"

"Perhaps it's an easier state of being," one starts, "the levels of energy needed to maintain their normal equilibrium as a whole are too taxing and so they split in half to halve the burden of containing certain aspects of their characteristics' reiatsu. Much like how the power of bankai is stored equally between shinigami and zanpakutou and requires both parts to control a targeted amount of energy to activate it. Surely being singularly responsible for such a great amount of energy would be detrimental to the health of the carrier unless they found a way to physically ease the demand somehow."

"Then you're saying that this Espada was so powerful that he…she… it needed more than just a zanpakutou to contain its full energy! It needed an additional arrankar body!"

A general murmur of distress.

"We must, we must go back over the data collected during the battle! The reiatsu reading patterns should give us a more comprehensive view!"

"Yes!"

The lot of them scurry out of the room after that, completely forgetting the two injured captions in their wake, as they have clearly outlived their usefulness on the matter.

Peace and quiet returns to the two captains in the moments immediately thereafter—for now anyway— and Kyouraku laughs a little incredulously to himself, before leaning back against his pillows and closing his eyes.

"I'm too old for this," he murmurs, wryly.

"Kurotsuchi-taichou certainly has a lively division," Ukitake responds charitably in lieu of agreeing, around a gentile yawn.

Kyouraku can think of half a dozen or so words that would be more fitting to use than lively, but none of which are nearly as nice. Luckily, Ukitake has always been there to make up for the things that Kyouraku feels he is not as good at, and so, rather than continue complaining, all he does is smile at his companion and say, warmly, "You're too good sometimes, Ukitake-taichou."

Ukitake seems pleased and embarrassed at the praise all at once. "To be fair to their behavior," he replies eventually, coughing lightly into his hand and trying to remain sensible, "what we faced today isn't the kind of situation that the gotei-13 has ever run into before. It is most likely an ability that will have to be looked into very carefully, especially considering how physically similar the arrankar have become to the shinigami in recent times."

"If you say so," Kyouraku replies, with a smile and a lazy shrug. He yawns—not nearly as delicate as Ukitake's—and settles more comfortably into his bed, ready for the first of many lazy afternoon naps to come.

In the meantime, Ukitake clucks at him fondly if a bit disapprovingly, and says that they can rest for now, but that they must report these new developments as needed to Yamamoto-soutaichou later in the week.

"Fine, fine," Kyouraku acquiesces with an absent wave of his hand, as he tips his hat over his eyes. "As needed, Ukitake-taichou. As needed."

Though to be completely honest, Kyouraku isn't so sure the practice is as new or noteworthy as Ukitake is making it all out to be. He feels that in light of the very similarities his old friend had been speaking of just now, it shouldn't be particularly surprising to anyone that the arrankar have learned how to split themselves into two halves of the same whole over time.

Kyouraku falls asleep to the familiar sounds of Ukitake's breathing and thinks that it is an ability the shinigami have had for centuries now.

END