Sanada cleared his throat, looked at the fold-creased paper in his hands, and cleared his throat again.

Yukimura looked expectant--patient, but expectant, his hands folded neatly on top of the bedclothes over his lap.

Sanada looked at him, then at the paper, then cleared his throat. Again.

He took a deep breath and read. "You must have a ninja in your pants, because your ass is kicking."

Yukimura did not say anything.

"Do you like sleeping? Me too; we should do it together sometime."

The captain's silence continued. Sanada stared harder at the paper, gripped it tighter. "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" Yukimura may have made a small snorting noise, but Sanada couldn't be sure. "Do you have a compass? Cause your eyes are as blue as the ocean and I think I'm lost at sea."

Yukimura definitely made a noise that time, but Sanada couldn't tell if it was an, "Aww, how sweet of you, Genichirou; come kiss me" sound, or--more likely, in his opinion--"Oh god, kill me now."

He frowned and held the paper closer to his face so he wouldn't have to look at Yukimura. "You should smile more often. It's the second best thing you can do with your mouth."

The sound was muffled, as if Yukimura had pressed the back of his knuckles against his mouth like he did when he didn't want people to notice he was laughing, but also like he did when he was vexed.

"I wondered why there were no stars in the sky tonight, and then I realized the most heavenly body was sitting right next to me." He folded up the paper again, stuck it in his pocket, and stared at his knees.

"Sanada, where did you get those?" Yukimura asked in a strangled voice.

"Renji and Jackal. And Niou." He didn't sound like he was going to hang himself with his bedsheets, at least, so Sanada glanced up at him--just a glimpse from the corner of his eye.

Yukimura was pressing his hand against his mouth and shaking a little bit--his eyes were bright and his smile was evident even past his fingers. "Are you trying to pick me up? Because it might be easier if you pushed me up against the wall."

"What?" said Sanada.