Itachi sat completely still, his back slightly hunched, one of his hands holding onto the sleeve of the other, dipped brush held in his other hand which was slowly moving and leaving black streaks on the stark white paper on the small table in front of him.
Calligraphy, one of the few hobbies he had, had become a way for Itachi to express the current state of his thoughts. It was a hobby he barely had the time or the clarity of mind to dabble on, but he engaged in it every now and then, and today was one of those days.
After the class he recently took out was cleared out of the hospital, Itachi had called them together and given them the individual analysis he had promised them. A few of them were thrilled, even if his general words to them was 'you did a bit better than average, but there are more vital areas to be improved on', while most had left the classroom with dejected faces.
That had been a few hours ago and now here he was, trying to paint a picture of his mind in words on a sheet of paper.
"It seems your assessment exercise helped you just as much as it did those children. You are more relaxed than the last time you were here."
He wasn't alone. Most of his calligraphy time was done in the company of the person who convinced him to try it.
"So it would seem, Retsu."
"Ufufu, so it would seem indeed." Her brush stroked along the surface of her sheet with a confident stride. "Mind sharing?"
"Mn." The brush finished its run and to the bottle of ink it returned. A new journey awaited. "If I had to put it in a word: sensational. A new experience, and I am glad to have seen the beginning of its growth. Their growth."
The ever gentle smile on Unohana's face spread out for a bit as she gave a soft nod to Itachi's words. "You are not wrong. It is always a, well, sensation, as you put it, to see the young grow. It is one of the best things I've come to experience in my own time as Captain of the 4th."
".... It's the first time I've seen it happen so close, in so many different ways." Itachi admitted softly, the barest hint of his voice wavering at the start but his brush didn't.
"I understand." The softness of her spoken words told Itachi that, yes, she did understand.
Although she knew the answer, that didn't stop her from asking. "So I take it you won't be stopping your teaching profession anytime soon?"
"I see no reason to. I can manage quite moderately as it is. It is strangely therapeutic."
She chortled, a strange sound to hear from her but it still came out gentle and warm. "I doubt anyone will say teaching a class of overenthusiastic youth is therapeutic. But then again, that unique perspective is something I quite enjoy. It's quite 'sensational', as you so aptly put it."
She laughed even more, a very soft sound that sounded like tiny jingles, when she saw the subtle eye raise Itachi gave her. It was basically his version of a sarcastic deadpan.
People might say he was too inexpressive, and while it might be a bit true, it didn't mean he couldn't be read. The subtle reactions of his body told more than most people would ever hear him say.
To be fair to other people, Itachi didn't exactly make talking to him easy for other people. He was a great conversation partner, but that depended on who he wanted to have a conversation with.
Their silence was invaded when the doors slid open and a perpetually excited energetic voice blasted into the room before they even had the grace to see the face.
"Oh my." Unohana covered her mouth with her sleeves as the chaotic missile launched itself inside the room.
"Retsu! Tachi-tachi! Are you guys here too?" The compact-sized mischief gremlin gasped in genuine surprise as she saw two of her favourite people (after Kenny of course. Kenny will always be her favourite) in the same room.
She flipped in the air, her trajectory putting her in Itachi's path, who anticipated it and calmly pushed the ink bottle farther as she did her second flip and sat a bit straighter.
She landed perfectly by sitting square on his shoulders. Tachi-tachi's shoulders weren't as broad and tall as Kenny(again unfair to Tachi-tachi. No one could be like Kenny) but he never turned her away or even said his shoulders hurt. Not like that colourful sissy, Yun-Yun, who starts crying after she sits on his scraggly shoulders for a little bit(five hours).
"Heh!" She gasped in surprised shock as she saw what they were doing. "What are you guys doing? Are you drawing? Are you drawing? Pick me, pick me! I can draw too!"
She waved blindly in the air as she swayed freely on Itachi's shoulders while surprisingly managing to stay balanced. Child or not, she was still a Lieutenant.
Unohana just laughed, not at all bothered by the presence of the smaller girl. She was just a child after all. An unfairly adorable one at that.
She kicked her legs excitedly at the prospect of showing them her drawings. Sadly that was not to be as Itachi's words put a stop to that avenue.
"We're writing." Itachi had said, before reaching up and patting her legs to console her disappointed pout. "We'll draw another time." He promised.
Yachiru smiled at that. This was why Tachi-tachi was one of her favourite people, as well as Retsu.
Retsu would let her do anything she wanted and just laugh aloud with her, she was real nice like that. Tachi-tachi, not that funny, always takes care of her and gives her treats. And now he just promised her that they would draw. One thing about Tachi-tachi was that he never breaks his promises.
"Okay! Pinky?" She brought her finger to his and locked it up. Mwahaha, now nothing will stop Tachi-tachi from drawing with her now.
Tucking her newly acquired pinky promise into her sleeves, she turned to the other person in the room and clicked her hand as she remembered something.
"You were absent from the meeting yesterday, Retsu. Did something happen?" She asked curiously with her legs swinging off and back off Itachi's shoulders.
"Last minute work. Courtesy of your friend over there."
"Eh, Tachi-tachi?" She looked down at the man and waved her fingers at him. "Not cool, Tachi-tachi. No extra work on meeting days."
"I was unaware. I'll endeavour not to from now on."
"Good." She gave herself a satisfied smug smirk and hopped off Itachi's shoulders. "I want to surprise Kotetchin, see ya!" She waved and promptly disappeared as she went on her prowl for the completely exhausted Lieutenant of the 4th.
They watched her go and then resumed their writing that had been put on hold since her arrival.
Yachiru's presence was like a chaotic wind. All you could do was endure and persevere once she hits you, and pray you remain strong by the time she leaves you.
They set their previous work aside for it to settle and dry up and clipped up a blank new paper.
"It never ceases to amaze me every time I see it." Unohana started out of the blue.
"What does?" Was Itachi's question as he picked up his brush and stared at the blank page laying in front of him.
"Your bond with Yachiru. You might not know this but she hardly sits on just anyone's shoulders. She usually hangs off the shoulders of others, yes, but she rarely ever sits on their shoulders. Including you, I can't count more than five she does that to."
Having got an image of what he wanted to write out, he dipped his brush twice and started his first stroke.
"And that matters why?"
Unohana shrugged. "Nothing much you'll understand yet. And the fact that you're the person she's closest to after Zaraki speaks a lot, and also something I'm thankful for. So there's that."
Itachi retrieved his hand from the soft short stroke he just drew and dipped his brush again. His eyes remained on his work as he spoke to Unohana.
"And pray tell, what does your gratitude mean in this scenario? This isn't the first time you've offered me your gratitude for something I may or may not have done for Zaraki. Why is that?"
"Ara? Won't you leave this woman to her own little secrets?" She replied with a silent smile.
Itachi sighed and shook his head. "Then that is that."
She raised a sceptic brow at him. "Just like that? Aren't you still a little bit curious?"
"I am, but that is just all it is to me. I trust you a great deal, Retsu, and if something I did for someone else helps you in any way or means something to you, then it is fine by me." He gave a genuine remark and went back to begin another stroke on his sheet of paper.
Unohana blinked, once...twice, in surprise before a certain smile danced over her lips. "Ara? What a dear."
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