Post by Asuka Was Here on Dec 28, 2005 23:54:49 GMT -5
Title: What it Means to Care
Rating:: G
Characters: Hanatarou, Unohana
Description: Hanatarou has a problem with his pet guppies, so he seeks out the advice of Unohana.
Spoilers: Only possible spoiler is if you don't know Hanatarou's rank in the 4th Division , and that's so minor that I don't think it counts.
Beta: None. If you see any dumb mistakes, please point them out to me.
---
AN: I was going to make this a crack drabble involving Unohana giving guppies a lecture on good parenting, which, admittedly, would have been rather funny. However, along the way I realized it would be horribly out of character for Unohana, and I couldn't bring myself to do it. So it evolved into this - a short, somewhat mushy-sweet drabble with the sort of motherly tone that one can only pull off with the medical division's taichou involved.
This is my first time ever writing something this... fluffy. All I ever write is crack, but I suppose had to end up writing something like this eventually. Heck, I'm willing to try writing anything, so long as it's not smutty. Asuka shall not write pr0n for you!!!
So, without further ado, I give you much 4th division fluff:
---
What it Means to Care
---
Yamada Hanatarou had a problem. For once in his life, though, it had nothing to do with the 11th Division - or any other shinigami, for that matter. No, Yamada Hanatarou's problem was his aquarium full of guppies. Yes, guppies. Poecilia reticulata, if you prefer binomial nomenclature.
Unohana-taichou had recommended that all of the seated officers of the 4th Division take up fishkeeping as a way of improving their ability to care for patients - after all, raising fishies required the same attention, love, and care that healing injured shinigami did. However, the only officer to take this suggestion seriously was the little 7th seat, who immediately ran off to buy some. That was about a month ago, and things had gone well in his aquarium... up until now.
And so it came to be that said 7th seat was on his way to the office of Unohana Retsu, to get some advice on his guppies. As he knocked lightly on her office door, he heard her kind, motherly voice signal that he was permitted to enter.
"G-good morning, Unohana-taichou."
"And to you, too, Hanatarou-kun. How can I help you?"
"Well... it's... it's my guppies..." he stammered, afraid to admit his failure.
"Your guppies? But just the other day you said they were doing wonderfully, and that one of the females was due to give birth."
"Y-yes, but... Unohana-taichou, it's terrible!" he wailed, unable to hold back his emotion. "She ate them! She had all those adorable little babies, and then she ate them all, except for the ones that the other guppies ate! She devoured her own children, as if they were potato chips!" If her subordinate hadn't been so distressed, Unohana may have wondered at his choice of comparison. "And now another one of them is going to be a mother and what if they get eaten too!?"
"Calm down, Hanatarou-kun. Take a deep breath." Hanatarou looked up at his taicho with teary eyes as she put a ressuring hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with your guppies. From the moment they're born, baby guppies are always in danger. Their mothers don't take care of them because life is hard for all fish - they have to fend for themselves first. And because of that, if a guppy sees a baby, it can't tell that it's its own child. It eats it because it looks just like any other bug in the water, and the guppy knows that it needs to stay alive another day to have more babies."
"But Unohana-taichou, that's so awful. Why can't they recognize their babies?"
"Because that's just the way they are. There are so many baby guppies born at one time that the environment can't sustain them all. The big guppies have to eat some so that the population balances out. So they weed out the ones they find so that all the ones that live have a better chance to be alive."
"...So that means that only the strongest guppies live..." Hanatarou was dismayed at this, being one of the small, weak types.
"No, that's not right. Sometimes it's the smallest guppies who live, because they're so good at hiding. They're resourceful, and that's what keeps them alive. Everyone has their own talents, Hanatarou-kun, and those that learn to use them to their advantage, whatever they may be, are the ones that get to live. That's true with people, too - it doesn't matter how strong they are physically; if they do what they're good at, and work hard, they'll succeed."
Hanatarou felt better for a minute, but then he realized that that still didn't solve his problem. "But what about my baby guppies? I can't help t hem to learn to use their talents now that they've all been eaten!"
"Did you have any plants in your aquarium?"
"Of course; it looks nicer that way."
"Your guppies haven't all been eaten, Hanatarou-kun. Come on, let's go see."
And so the 7th seat took his taichou to see his aquarium. He was a little puzzled, though, when she kneeled down really close to the tank to study one of the plants - did Unohana-taichou have bad eyes? Hanatarou thought the plant was pretty easy to see.
"Come here, Hanatarou-kun, and look closely."
Hanatarou bent down next to Unohana, and stared at the plant. He received a huge shock, though, when Unohana pointed out the little baby guppies that were hiding amidst the leaves, where the big guppies couldn't see them. They were alive!
"See? They're all using their talents - their small size - to keep from being eaten."
He was speechless. His babies had survived, and he felt just like a mother. Not a mother guppy, though, because he didn't want to eat the little babies.
Then it dawned on him.
"Unohana-taichou, I can't just leave them in there! They can't stay hidden forever; how will they eat?"
"I think I can help you with that. Excuse me for a moment." And she rushed out the door, only to return two minutes later with a little fine-meshed fishnet and a small plastic aquarium with tiny little holes in the bottom and a pair of hooks on one side.
"This is called a baby trap. You hang it on the side of the tank and water comes in through the little holes. Then you can catch all of the babies with this and put them in there. The holes are too small for the babies to get out, so they'll stay safe from their parents. Then when they get big enough, you can put them back in the main tank."
"Thank you, Unohana-taichou, for everything!" And the now-gleeful little shinigami set out to save all of the little babies.
Even if he wasn't strong enough to save people, it made Hanatarou feel good to be protecting his guppy babies. If their mother wasn't going to care for them, he would have to do it for her. And it was on that day that Hanatarou learned what taking care of someone really meant.
And as Unohana Retsu watched him, she couldn't help but feel a little like a mother herself.
---
END
---
What'd a tell ya? Fluffy.
Anyway, comments, criticisms, feedback, and the like are all welcome. I love to hear from you all ^.^
Rating:: G
Characters: Hanatarou, Unohana
Description: Hanatarou has a problem with his pet guppies, so he seeks out the advice of Unohana.
Spoilers: Only possible spoiler is if you don't know Hanatarou's rank in the 4th Division , and that's so minor that I don't think it counts.
Beta: None. If you see any dumb mistakes, please point them out to me.
---
AN: I was going to make this a crack drabble involving Unohana giving guppies a lecture on good parenting, which, admittedly, would have been rather funny. However, along the way I realized it would be horribly out of character for Unohana, and I couldn't bring myself to do it. So it evolved into this - a short, somewhat mushy-sweet drabble with the sort of motherly tone that one can only pull off with the medical division's taichou involved.
This is my first time ever writing something this... fluffy. All I ever write is crack, but I suppose had to end up writing something like this eventually. Heck, I'm willing to try writing anything, so long as it's not smutty. Asuka shall not write pr0n for you!!!
So, without further ado, I give you much 4th division fluff:
---
What it Means to Care
---
Yamada Hanatarou had a problem. For once in his life, though, it had nothing to do with the 11th Division - or any other shinigami, for that matter. No, Yamada Hanatarou's problem was his aquarium full of guppies. Yes, guppies. Poecilia reticulata, if you prefer binomial nomenclature.
Unohana-taichou had recommended that all of the seated officers of the 4th Division take up fishkeeping as a way of improving their ability to care for patients - after all, raising fishies required the same attention, love, and care that healing injured shinigami did. However, the only officer to take this suggestion seriously was the little 7th seat, who immediately ran off to buy some. That was about a month ago, and things had gone well in his aquarium... up until now.
And so it came to be that said 7th seat was on his way to the office of Unohana Retsu, to get some advice on his guppies. As he knocked lightly on her office door, he heard her kind, motherly voice signal that he was permitted to enter.
"G-good morning, Unohana-taichou."
"And to you, too, Hanatarou-kun. How can I help you?"
"Well... it's... it's my guppies..." he stammered, afraid to admit his failure.
"Your guppies? But just the other day you said they were doing wonderfully, and that one of the females was due to give birth."
"Y-yes, but... Unohana-taichou, it's terrible!" he wailed, unable to hold back his emotion. "She ate them! She had all those adorable little babies, and then she ate them all, except for the ones that the other guppies ate! She devoured her own children, as if they were potato chips!" If her subordinate hadn't been so distressed, Unohana may have wondered at his choice of comparison. "And now another one of them is going to be a mother and what if they get eaten too!?"
"Calm down, Hanatarou-kun. Take a deep breath." Hanatarou looked up at his taicho with teary eyes as she put a ressuring hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with your guppies. From the moment they're born, baby guppies are always in danger. Their mothers don't take care of them because life is hard for all fish - they have to fend for themselves first. And because of that, if a guppy sees a baby, it can't tell that it's its own child. It eats it because it looks just like any other bug in the water, and the guppy knows that it needs to stay alive another day to have more babies."
"But Unohana-taichou, that's so awful. Why can't they recognize their babies?"
"Because that's just the way they are. There are so many baby guppies born at one time that the environment can't sustain them all. The big guppies have to eat some so that the population balances out. So they weed out the ones they find so that all the ones that live have a better chance to be alive."
"...So that means that only the strongest guppies live..." Hanatarou was dismayed at this, being one of the small, weak types.
"No, that's not right. Sometimes it's the smallest guppies who live, because they're so good at hiding. They're resourceful, and that's what keeps them alive. Everyone has their own talents, Hanatarou-kun, and those that learn to use them to their advantage, whatever they may be, are the ones that get to live. That's true with people, too - it doesn't matter how strong they are physically; if they do what they're good at, and work hard, they'll succeed."
Hanatarou felt better for a minute, but then he realized that that still didn't solve his problem. "But what about my baby guppies? I can't help t hem to learn to use their talents now that they've all been eaten!"
"Did you have any plants in your aquarium?"
"Of course; it looks nicer that way."
"Your guppies haven't all been eaten, Hanatarou-kun. Come on, let's go see."
And so the 7th seat took his taichou to see his aquarium. He was a little puzzled, though, when she kneeled down really close to the tank to study one of the plants - did Unohana-taichou have bad eyes? Hanatarou thought the plant was pretty easy to see.
"Come here, Hanatarou-kun, and look closely."
Hanatarou bent down next to Unohana, and stared at the plant. He received a huge shock, though, when Unohana pointed out the little baby guppies that were hiding amidst the leaves, where the big guppies couldn't see them. They were alive!
"See? They're all using their talents - their small size - to keep from being eaten."
He was speechless. His babies had survived, and he felt just like a mother. Not a mother guppy, though, because he didn't want to eat the little babies.
Then it dawned on him.
"Unohana-taichou, I can't just leave them in there! They can't stay hidden forever; how will they eat?"
"I think I can help you with that. Excuse me for a moment." And she rushed out the door, only to return two minutes later with a little fine-meshed fishnet and a small plastic aquarium with tiny little holes in the bottom and a pair of hooks on one side.
"This is called a baby trap. You hang it on the side of the tank and water comes in through the little holes. Then you can catch all of the babies with this and put them in there. The holes are too small for the babies to get out, so they'll stay safe from their parents. Then when they get big enough, you can put them back in the main tank."
"Thank you, Unohana-taichou, for everything!" And the now-gleeful little shinigami set out to save all of the little babies.
Even if he wasn't strong enough to save people, it made Hanatarou feel good to be protecting his guppy babies. If their mother wasn't going to care for them, he would have to do it for her. And it was on that day that Hanatarou learned what taking care of someone really meant.
And as Unohana Retsu watched him, she couldn't help but feel a little like a mother herself.
---
END
---
What'd a tell ya? Fluffy.
Anyway, comments, criticisms, feedback, and the like are all welcome. I love to hear from you all ^.^
Hanatarou!!