78 Above the Influence + 82 Second Love Muramasa/Hanataro

– cherfleur

Hanataro’s being stalked.

He knows he is, because he’s familiar with the sensation of eyes on him.

What he’s not familiar with is the almost protective edge that sensation takes.

(What he’s not familiar with is the way his usual tormentors end up… tormented. Their plans go awry in the worst way possible, they end up with more training injuries than usual, and even something as innocuous as taking a walk somehow ends up with them in… interesting situations.)

He’s not sure who’s suddenly on his side, or why, and it makes him… worried.

(Historically, being the center of someone’s attention never ends well.)

Except things start showing up in his room, little odds and ends that no one would ever leave him: flowers and polishing cloths and little decorative trinkets. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the things left behind, nor how the person is getting into his room without setting off any of his indicator traps.

Except he starts to feel his zanpakutou spirit stir, Hisagomaru taking an unexpected interest in the goings on, and as soon as that happens the things start… focusing in. More of the flowers he finds pretty. More of the trinket styles that he enjoys. He’s starting to feel… he doesn’t know how he feels, as he holds a little carved stone in his hand and runs his thumb over the carving.

It’s freshly carved by a semi-inexperienced hand, Hanataro decides. It’s a gift made for him, and isn’t that a stomach-twisting realization?

(Hisagomaru’s interest lends a… dangerous cast to the goings on.)

(There’s no reason for anyone to know his preferences. He doesn’t treat the gifts any different that he’s aware of. Only Hisagomaru knows his inner thoughts, and only a certain recently deceased zanpakutou spirit can speak with his own inner spirit, that he’s aware of.)

He should report that Muramasa is not as deceased as everyone believes, Hanataro acknowledges as he slips the stone into a pocket and heads out.

He should inform Kuchiki-sama that the blade he’s set in the family shrine is not as empty as reported, Hanataro accepts as he wanders out of the Fourth Division.

But he won’t.

(Not with the confession Kurosaki-kun gave him in the heart-breaking aftermath of the ‘rebellion’, of Muramasa’s loneliness and despair.)

(Not with the way Muramasa’s pale eyes soften at the sight of Hanataro. With how he wavers, cautious-unsure-hopeful, searching for the slightest hint of acceptance in Hanataro’s gaze.)

(Hanataro’s willing to give him a chance to prove himself.)