I Shall Roam the Summer Fields, Chapter 5 [Bleach]
Title: I Shall Roam the Summer Fields ( Master Post)
Fandom: Bleach
Characters: Ensemble, and while this is primarily gen, a number of pairings (mostly but not entirely het) figure in the background. See master post if you need more details.
Word Count: Novel-length overall, c. 2,500 in this chapter.
Rating: R, mostly for language. Also, see warnings.
Warnings/Possible Triggers: Character death. Mentions and some description of pregnancy complications and miscarriage/stillbirth.
Notes: This story is an AU that takes place ten years after Chapter 422, i.e. the end of the Deicide arc. The story diverges from canon just after that last battle in terms of the fates of several major characters (for good or for ill).
The return message from Zaraki was swift and succinct:
Take her to Unohana, you moron.
Byakuya bristled at the insult, but he had to admit it was deserved. He should have thought of Unohana himself. He would have, if he'd been in a condition to think clearly. Fortunately, Hinamori was willing to go along to the Fourth without too much fuss. She had calmed down after a cup of tea, and had spun for herself what seemed to be a perfectly rational explanation for what had happened.
The battle in the false Karakura and everything that happened there was simply a dream, she concluded. A very vivid, very upsetting dream, bad enough that she had sleptwalk from her sickbed in the Fourth Division. No wonder she was so disoriented, she said, laughing at herself nervously.
Byakuya was not about to explain the truth of her present circumstances to her. Yes, it was cowardly on his part, but really, Unohana-taichou would be so much better at the task.
He prepared a hell butterfly to explain that he was on his way over and why. He started to give some more precise information regarding said 'why,' but he looked over to see Hinamori kneeling at the table, smiling at him with innocence and embarrassment, and ended the message with a rushed 'need to return Hinamori-fukutaichou to you.'
No doubt Unohana would think he was insane.
Unohana met them just inside the gates to the Fourth. No one else was around. She was less perturbed than Byakuya would have expected to see him show up with the no-longer-deceased Hinamori in tow.
She did, however, give him a sharp look.
"Hinamori-fukutaichou said she must have had a bad dream. It seems like a reasonable enough explanation," he said carefully, and the look softened to something that might have been approval. He did not mention that his discretion had nothing to do with wisdom.
"You were right to bring her here." Unohana put an arm around Hinamori's shoulders and gently guided her away from Byakuya's side. "Come along, Hinamori-kun. Let me make sure you didn't aggravate any of your wounds while you were out. Please wait in my office, Kuchiki-taichou. Also, please say nothing to anyone about this incident just yet."
Once inside, she and Hinamori headed straight towards the examining rooms. Byakuya went to Unohana's office as bidden. He was surprised to see Hisagi Shuuhei already seated at the room's worktable, ashen-faced and disinclined to say anything. He appeared to be in the first stages of a hangover. Byakuya acknowledged his presence in a manner meant to suggest he would rather ignore it, and so Hisagi slumped forwards quietly and cradled his head in his hands.
The silence was awkward, but less so than any attempt at conversation would have been. Five minutes passed, then ten, and finally the door opened. Hisagi lifted his head and looked nervously at Byakuya as if only now wondering why he was there before fading back into hungover shock.
Unohana was as quiet and calm as ever, but her expression was grim.
"Kuchiki-taichou, I sedated the patient you brought in, just to be safe. At first glance, she seems entirely unharmed." She spoke with unusual care, even for her, deliberately not mentioning Hinamori by name, no doubt due to Hisagi's presence. There was a brief pause, then a slight nod as she amended her statement. "Almost entirely unharmed. She does have a bruised knee and a freshly scraped palm from tripping over a cobblestone a moment before you found her. She thinks that is what woke her from her 'sleepwalk.' Beyond that, there is no sign of any other injury. Recent or otherwise."
"I see." Byakuya thought for a moment. No sign of a mortal wound, but the presence of recent, inconsequential injuries?
A mess started to clean itself up. "I suppose she should count herself lucky that she did not break her wrist when she fell?"
That startled a sharp breath from Unohana. "So this may make it four and not two who have returned from the dead, then."
He noted that Hisagi was not unduly surprised by Unohana's statement, and the math did itself. "Four? Who else came back, Hisagi-fukutaichou?"
"Kanisawa Reika," Hisagi said, affectless and distant. Byakuya wondered what would happen when the shock wore off. "A classmate of mine. She was killed in our sixth year. She didn't look any different than the day she died."
"Ah, I see." Something tickled at his memory. Ah, yes. He rubbed at his upper arm, where a lovely bruise was no doubt beginning to form. "I believe you should explain this to Matsumoto-fukutaichou at your earliest opportunity."
"Huh?" After a moment's befuddlement, Hisagi jerked out of his slump as if he'd just been startled awake. "Wait... someone else came back? When? Who?"
Unohana sighed. "Hisagi-fukutaichou, as I told you earlier, this is the sort of situation that has to be handled very carefully. And while I do believe it is crucial that the other captains and vice-captains be made aware of what is going on, and soon, one simply cannot break this sort of news--"
Of course, that was when Zaraki slammed the door open, grinning like he'd just heard the best joke ever. "Oi! Kuchiki! What the hell's this about you running into Hinamori? Ain't she dead?"
Hisagi's eyes went wide. "What?"
Unohana smiled at Byakuya. He took a step back.
"Wait--you mean the other person you just brought in was Hinamori?" Hisagi stammered. He stood up. "Both her and Kanisawa came back? But... how?"
"Damn good question," Zaraki grumbled. Then he grinned. "Lucky bastard Aramaki. He gets to go out fighting, and now he gets to do it again."
"Where is she? Can I see her?" Hisagi was already heading towards the door, heedless of Zaraki blocking the way. "Who else--?"
"I don't think--" Byakuya started.
"Che... You think this is bad? Wait 'til Hitsugaya gets--"
Unohana cleared her throat. It was a small sound, but it silenced the office completely. "Gentlemen, please sit down."
They all did with as much haste as possible, dignity be damned.
"As I was saying, this is not something we can or should keep a secret for long," Unohana said, gentle as ever. "However..." Her brows drew together slightly. "Zaraki-taichou, where is Kusajishi-fukutaichou?"
"Way the hell elsewhere. I didn't let her know I got your message," he said, turning to Byakuya. "I ain't stupid, you know."
Unohana closed her eyes in relief. Byakuya could sympathize. There was no telling how far the gossip would spread--or in what form--if Yachiru got hold of it.
"Before daybreak, I would like to get a message out to all the divisions explaining what has happened. These four are the only returnees we happen to know about at the moment, but for all we know, there could be others."
"But this... this is good news, right?" Hisagi asked looking at each of them in turn. "I don't get why you're treating this like a problem. It's strange, yes, but--"
"But we don't know why they have come back from the dead," Byakuya said. He almost said more, but then he remembered something Rukia had said earlier that morning.
Unohana nodded approvingly. "Yes. And we also don't know how, or if this is even permanent. And as you yourself have just demonstrated for us, Hisagi-fukutaichou, even good news can be quite unsettling. Ah--what is it, Kuchiki-taichou? You look as if something just occurred to you."
Byakuya frowned as he put words around what he hoped were just far-fetched suspicions. "It came up in conversation early this morning, when Abarai-taichou, my sister and I were talking about the people who we thought had been killed--who had been killed last week. Rukia brought up the possibility that some sort of illusion had been involved."
Unohana closed her eyes again, but not in relief. "Yes. And Hinamori died as a direct result of one of Aizen's illusions."
"And..." Hisagi seemed hesitant to say anything, casting fearful glances in Unohana's direction. "Kanisawa and Aoga were killed by what we now think were some of Aizen's early experiments. We'd never even heard of Hollows that could evade spiritual detection before then."
"Who's Aoga?" Zaraki asked.
"The other member of my team on that assignment." Again, Hisagi's voice had gone flat and far away.
Byakuya vaguely recalled the incident. There had been a stir about it back when he was still vice-captain of the Sixth, and it had come up again in passing when he selected Renji as his own vice-captain. Odd, how the alarming nature of the Hollows had been downplayed in the official report. No, not so odd, considering who had submitted that report.
"I assume you read the reports about what happened to Ayasegawa's team in Fukuoka, Zaraki-taichou," Byakuya said. Once upon a time, he might have assumed otherwise, but now he was not surprised by Zaraki's curt nod. "And about the Hollows they encountered there?"
"Yeah. Sounds like some more leftovers from Aizen's freakshow came out of the woodwork. Not any of the big guns, but still..." He drummed his fingers on the table, and Byakuya strongly suspected he was only disturbed because he had missed out on the fight. "So, you think this Aoga character's gonna show up next?"
"Sixth Division lost eight people in Niigata, and of those, only Tanaka has returned," Byakuya reminded him. "Hisagi-fukutaichou, you said this happened in your sixth year. How long ago was that?"
There was a pause as Hisagi did the mental math. "Fifty-three years ago." Another pause. "Fifty-four in October."
"We sure these people are who they say they are? You got a look at the guys who showed up this morning, right, Unohana? And Hinamori and what's-her-name? Anything feel odd about any of 'em?" Zaraki asked.
Unohana shook her head. "Of the four, Hinamori is the only one I knew well, and so far I have only had time for a cursory examination. Kotetsu-fukutaichou was the one who examined Tanaka and Aramaki. She didn't mention anything seeming odd about either of them. Then again," she said, voice growing unusually hard, "it took me far longer than it should have to see that there was anything amiss with Aizen's 'body.'"
"What do we do now?" Byakuya asked. "I agree we need to get the word out--"
"That mean you're volunteerin' to tell Hitsugaya that Hinamori's alive?" Zaraki asked.
Hisagi flinched, and Unohana gave Zaraki a look that didn't make him wince but that did make him lift one hand and incline his head in a half-hearted apology.
"All I'm saying is, we already saw that her of all people being back is gonna cause a big ruckus. An' that's assuming it's really her. Shit, you all hit it right on the head--people are gonna start asking if Aizen's fucking with us again. Half of Seireitei's still wondering if the bastard's really dead as it is."
"But what if this is just what it looks like? Maybe there's something going on with Obon. It's not here yet, but things usually start getting wound up a week or two before, right? And this year's already been unusually bad. What if something happened this year that really brought the dead back? Our dead," Hisagi said, shock slowly giving way to a disquieting wonder. "Maybe it's really them and they're really back."
Unohana nodded slowly, turning something over in her mind. "There's something I have started telling my young healers in recent years, when it comes to diagnosis. It's a modern saying but no less true for that. 'If you hear hoofbeats behind you, think horses, not zebras.' So often, we miss the simple truth in favor of something more exotic and compelling. But in this case, can we take that gamble? Zebras do exist, after all."
Byakuya nodded. The simplest explanation might usually be the most accurate, but only usually. "Then we keep all options in mind. And so we are back at my original question--what do we do now? What happens if more people return from the dead?"
He would not let himself start dwelling on all the possibilities. He would not. Nothing good would come from that.
Unohana was already several steps ahead of him. "Kuchiki-taichou makes a good point. The other thing we must consider is that not all of our dead would be as welcome as Hinamori-fukutaichou. Aizen has been mentioned several times tonight."
No one said anything. Unohana appeared as calm as ever, but that meant nothing. Hisagi simply looked very, very tired. On Zaraki, on the other hand, was alert and eager. As for Byakuya, he schooled his expression as best he could; between Aizen and all of the other possibilities, his brain was not a very quiet place at the moment.
Unohana finally broke the silence she had provoked. "Fear and rumor alone could take a heavy toll if unaddressed." She laced her fingers together and rested them against her chin as she thought. "I am hesitant to set a precedent by speaking for the captains as a whole..."
"I ain't got a problem with that," Zaraki said.
"... but I think the sooner we get a message out to the divisions, the better. We will need to gather a list of anyone else who may have returned, and the circumstances of their deaths. Anyone who has returned should be brought here at once for an examination, and--although I do have my reservations--I think Kurotsuchi-taichou should be part of those examinations as well."
"You really think you can keep the nutcase under control, Unohana?"
Unohana thought about Zaraki's question for a moment, then nodded. "The more immediate need, however, is to make sure the captains are aware of the possibility, and how to manage the situation should someone return. We already know that repeated exclamations of surprise and 'you're dead!' are not helpful in the least," she said.
Hisagi went pale and tried to make himself as small as possible.
"Kanisawa-kun had to be heavily sedated," Unohana explained sweetly.
Byakuya thought about what he might say to Tanaka, but nothing came to mind. Of course, there was always the possibility that his reappearance was merely a fluke of timing. Perhaps the man had in fact had a miraculous survival and the memory gap was simply due to a blow to the head, but he could not tell if that thought fell under the category of 'horse' or 'zebra.'
"Gentlemen, if any of you has any suggestions on how to break this kind of news, this is the time to speak."
And so, the unlikely group of Unohana Retsu, Kuchiki Byakuya, Zaraki Kenpachi, and Hisagi Shuuhei set to the task of drafting the message that would tell the rest of the Gotei 13 that the dead had returned.
Chapter Six: In which Rangiku ponders her love-life and is made to confront some unpleasant possibilities.
Fandom: Bleach
Characters: Ensemble, and while this is primarily gen, a number of pairings (mostly but not entirely het) figure in the background. See master post if you need more details.
Word Count: Novel-length overall, c. 2,500 in this chapter.
Rating: R, mostly for language. Also, see warnings.
Warnings/Possible Triggers: Character death. Mentions and some description of pregnancy complications and miscarriage/stillbirth.
Notes: This story is an AU that takes place ten years after Chapter 422, i.e. the end of the Deicide arc. The story diverges from canon just after that last battle in terms of the fates of several major characters (for good or for ill).
The return message from Zaraki was swift and succinct:
Take her to Unohana, you moron.
Byakuya bristled at the insult, but he had to admit it was deserved. He should have thought of Unohana himself. He would have, if he'd been in a condition to think clearly. Fortunately, Hinamori was willing to go along to the Fourth without too much fuss. She had calmed down after a cup of tea, and had spun for herself what seemed to be a perfectly rational explanation for what had happened.
The battle in the false Karakura and everything that happened there was simply a dream, she concluded. A very vivid, very upsetting dream, bad enough that she had sleptwalk from her sickbed in the Fourth Division. No wonder she was so disoriented, she said, laughing at herself nervously.
Byakuya was not about to explain the truth of her present circumstances to her. Yes, it was cowardly on his part, but really, Unohana-taichou would be so much better at the task.
He prepared a hell butterfly to explain that he was on his way over and why. He started to give some more precise information regarding said 'why,' but he looked over to see Hinamori kneeling at the table, smiling at him with innocence and embarrassment, and ended the message with a rushed 'need to return Hinamori-fukutaichou to you.'
No doubt Unohana would think he was insane.
Unohana met them just inside the gates to the Fourth. No one else was around. She was less perturbed than Byakuya would have expected to see him show up with the no-longer-deceased Hinamori in tow.
She did, however, give him a sharp look.
"Hinamori-fukutaichou said she must have had a bad dream. It seems like a reasonable enough explanation," he said carefully, and the look softened to something that might have been approval. He did not mention that his discretion had nothing to do with wisdom.
"You were right to bring her here." Unohana put an arm around Hinamori's shoulders and gently guided her away from Byakuya's side. "Come along, Hinamori-kun. Let me make sure you didn't aggravate any of your wounds while you were out. Please wait in my office, Kuchiki-taichou. Also, please say nothing to anyone about this incident just yet."
Once inside, she and Hinamori headed straight towards the examining rooms. Byakuya went to Unohana's office as bidden. He was surprised to see Hisagi Shuuhei already seated at the room's worktable, ashen-faced and disinclined to say anything. He appeared to be in the first stages of a hangover. Byakuya acknowledged his presence in a manner meant to suggest he would rather ignore it, and so Hisagi slumped forwards quietly and cradled his head in his hands.
The silence was awkward, but less so than any attempt at conversation would have been. Five minutes passed, then ten, and finally the door opened. Hisagi lifted his head and looked nervously at Byakuya as if only now wondering why he was there before fading back into hungover shock.
Unohana was as quiet and calm as ever, but her expression was grim.
"Kuchiki-taichou, I sedated the patient you brought in, just to be safe. At first glance, she seems entirely unharmed." She spoke with unusual care, even for her, deliberately not mentioning Hinamori by name, no doubt due to Hisagi's presence. There was a brief pause, then a slight nod as she amended her statement. "Almost entirely unharmed. She does have a bruised knee and a freshly scraped palm from tripping over a cobblestone a moment before you found her. She thinks that is what woke her from her 'sleepwalk.' Beyond that, there is no sign of any other injury. Recent or otherwise."
"I see." Byakuya thought for a moment. No sign of a mortal wound, but the presence of recent, inconsequential injuries?
A mess started to clean itself up. "I suppose she should count herself lucky that she did not break her wrist when she fell?"
That startled a sharp breath from Unohana. "So this may make it four and not two who have returned from the dead, then."
He noted that Hisagi was not unduly surprised by Unohana's statement, and the math did itself. "Four? Who else came back, Hisagi-fukutaichou?"
"Kanisawa Reika," Hisagi said, affectless and distant. Byakuya wondered what would happen when the shock wore off. "A classmate of mine. She was killed in our sixth year. She didn't look any different than the day she died."
"Ah, I see." Something tickled at his memory. Ah, yes. He rubbed at his upper arm, where a lovely bruise was no doubt beginning to form. "I believe you should explain this to Matsumoto-fukutaichou at your earliest opportunity."
"Huh?" After a moment's befuddlement, Hisagi jerked out of his slump as if he'd just been startled awake. "Wait... someone else came back? When? Who?"
Unohana sighed. "Hisagi-fukutaichou, as I told you earlier, this is the sort of situation that has to be handled very carefully. And while I do believe it is crucial that the other captains and vice-captains be made aware of what is going on, and soon, one simply cannot break this sort of news--"
Of course, that was when Zaraki slammed the door open, grinning like he'd just heard the best joke ever. "Oi! Kuchiki! What the hell's this about you running into Hinamori? Ain't she dead?"
Hisagi's eyes went wide. "What?"
Unohana smiled at Byakuya. He took a step back.
"Wait--you mean the other person you just brought in was Hinamori?" Hisagi stammered. He stood up. "Both her and Kanisawa came back? But... how?"
"Damn good question," Zaraki grumbled. Then he grinned. "Lucky bastard Aramaki. He gets to go out fighting, and now he gets to do it again."
"Where is she? Can I see her?" Hisagi was already heading towards the door, heedless of Zaraki blocking the way. "Who else--?"
"I don't think--" Byakuya started.
"Che... You think this is bad? Wait 'til Hitsugaya gets--"
Unohana cleared her throat. It was a small sound, but it silenced the office completely. "Gentlemen, please sit down."
They all did with as much haste as possible, dignity be damned.
"As I was saying, this is not something we can or should keep a secret for long," Unohana said, gentle as ever. "However..." Her brows drew together slightly. "Zaraki-taichou, where is Kusajishi-fukutaichou?"
"Way the hell elsewhere. I didn't let her know I got your message," he said, turning to Byakuya. "I ain't stupid, you know."
Unohana closed her eyes in relief. Byakuya could sympathize. There was no telling how far the gossip would spread--or in what form--if Yachiru got hold of it.
"Before daybreak, I would like to get a message out to all the divisions explaining what has happened. These four are the only returnees we happen to know about at the moment, but for all we know, there could be others."
"But this... this is good news, right?" Hisagi asked looking at each of them in turn. "I don't get why you're treating this like a problem. It's strange, yes, but--"
"But we don't know why they have come back from the dead," Byakuya said. He almost said more, but then he remembered something Rukia had said earlier that morning.
Unohana nodded approvingly. "Yes. And we also don't know how, or if this is even permanent. And as you yourself have just demonstrated for us, Hisagi-fukutaichou, even good news can be quite unsettling. Ah--what is it, Kuchiki-taichou? You look as if something just occurred to you."
Byakuya frowned as he put words around what he hoped were just far-fetched suspicions. "It came up in conversation early this morning, when Abarai-taichou, my sister and I were talking about the people who we thought had been killed--who had been killed last week. Rukia brought up the possibility that some sort of illusion had been involved."
Unohana closed her eyes again, but not in relief. "Yes. And Hinamori died as a direct result of one of Aizen's illusions."
"And..." Hisagi seemed hesitant to say anything, casting fearful glances in Unohana's direction. "Kanisawa and Aoga were killed by what we now think were some of Aizen's early experiments. We'd never even heard of Hollows that could evade spiritual detection before then."
"Who's Aoga?" Zaraki asked.
"The other member of my team on that assignment." Again, Hisagi's voice had gone flat and far away.
Byakuya vaguely recalled the incident. There had been a stir about it back when he was still vice-captain of the Sixth, and it had come up again in passing when he selected Renji as his own vice-captain. Odd, how the alarming nature of the Hollows had been downplayed in the official report. No, not so odd, considering who had submitted that report.
"I assume you read the reports about what happened to Ayasegawa's team in Fukuoka, Zaraki-taichou," Byakuya said. Once upon a time, he might have assumed otherwise, but now he was not surprised by Zaraki's curt nod. "And about the Hollows they encountered there?"
"Yeah. Sounds like some more leftovers from Aizen's freakshow came out of the woodwork. Not any of the big guns, but still..." He drummed his fingers on the table, and Byakuya strongly suspected he was only disturbed because he had missed out on the fight. "So, you think this Aoga character's gonna show up next?"
"Sixth Division lost eight people in Niigata, and of those, only Tanaka has returned," Byakuya reminded him. "Hisagi-fukutaichou, you said this happened in your sixth year. How long ago was that?"
There was a pause as Hisagi did the mental math. "Fifty-three years ago." Another pause. "Fifty-four in October."
"We sure these people are who they say they are? You got a look at the guys who showed up this morning, right, Unohana? And Hinamori and what's-her-name? Anything feel odd about any of 'em?" Zaraki asked.
Unohana shook her head. "Of the four, Hinamori is the only one I knew well, and so far I have only had time for a cursory examination. Kotetsu-fukutaichou was the one who examined Tanaka and Aramaki. She didn't mention anything seeming odd about either of them. Then again," she said, voice growing unusually hard, "it took me far longer than it should have to see that there was anything amiss with Aizen's 'body.'"
"What do we do now?" Byakuya asked. "I agree we need to get the word out--"
"That mean you're volunteerin' to tell Hitsugaya that Hinamori's alive?" Zaraki asked.
Hisagi flinched, and Unohana gave Zaraki a look that didn't make him wince but that did make him lift one hand and incline his head in a half-hearted apology.
"All I'm saying is, we already saw that her of all people being back is gonna cause a big ruckus. An' that's assuming it's really her. Shit, you all hit it right on the head--people are gonna start asking if Aizen's fucking with us again. Half of Seireitei's still wondering if the bastard's really dead as it is."
"But what if this is just what it looks like? Maybe there's something going on with Obon. It's not here yet, but things usually start getting wound up a week or two before, right? And this year's already been unusually bad. What if something happened this year that really brought the dead back? Our dead," Hisagi said, shock slowly giving way to a disquieting wonder. "Maybe it's really them and they're really back."
Unohana nodded slowly, turning something over in her mind. "There's something I have started telling my young healers in recent years, when it comes to diagnosis. It's a modern saying but no less true for that. 'If you hear hoofbeats behind you, think horses, not zebras.' So often, we miss the simple truth in favor of something more exotic and compelling. But in this case, can we take that gamble? Zebras do exist, after all."
Byakuya nodded. The simplest explanation might usually be the most accurate, but only usually. "Then we keep all options in mind. And so we are back at my original question--what do we do now? What happens if more people return from the dead?"
He would not let himself start dwelling on all the possibilities. He would not. Nothing good would come from that.
Unohana was already several steps ahead of him. "Kuchiki-taichou makes a good point. The other thing we must consider is that not all of our dead would be as welcome as Hinamori-fukutaichou. Aizen has been mentioned several times tonight."
No one said anything. Unohana appeared as calm as ever, but that meant nothing. Hisagi simply looked very, very tired. On Zaraki, on the other hand, was alert and eager. As for Byakuya, he schooled his expression as best he could; between Aizen and all of the other possibilities, his brain was not a very quiet place at the moment.
Unohana finally broke the silence she had provoked. "Fear and rumor alone could take a heavy toll if unaddressed." She laced her fingers together and rested them against her chin as she thought. "I am hesitant to set a precedent by speaking for the captains as a whole..."
"I ain't got a problem with that," Zaraki said.
"... but I think the sooner we get a message out to the divisions, the better. We will need to gather a list of anyone else who may have returned, and the circumstances of their deaths. Anyone who has returned should be brought here at once for an examination, and--although I do have my reservations--I think Kurotsuchi-taichou should be part of those examinations as well."
"You really think you can keep the nutcase under control, Unohana?"
Unohana thought about Zaraki's question for a moment, then nodded. "The more immediate need, however, is to make sure the captains are aware of the possibility, and how to manage the situation should someone return. We already know that repeated exclamations of surprise and 'you're dead!' are not helpful in the least," she said.
Hisagi went pale and tried to make himself as small as possible.
"Kanisawa-kun had to be heavily sedated," Unohana explained sweetly.
Byakuya thought about what he might say to Tanaka, but nothing came to mind. Of course, there was always the possibility that his reappearance was merely a fluke of timing. Perhaps the man had in fact had a miraculous survival and the memory gap was simply due to a blow to the head, but he could not tell if that thought fell under the category of 'horse' or 'zebra.'
"Gentlemen, if any of you has any suggestions on how to break this kind of news, this is the time to speak."
And so, the unlikely group of Unohana Retsu, Kuchiki Byakuya, Zaraki Kenpachi, and Hisagi Shuuhei set to the task of drafting the message that would tell the rest of the Gotei 13 that the dead had returned.
Chapter Six: In which Rangiku ponders her love-life and is made to confront some unpleasant possibilities.