1. Wanting to help

"Oh no, not again", Kotetsu Isane lamented silently, while seeing ten members of the 11th squad being brought inside the care unit of the fourth devision by their fellow shinigami. It had already been a long day with two hollow attacks. Normally shinigami could easily deal with them but this time also menos grande where fighting. In the end 20 shinigami and a huffing Hitsugaya-taicho were injured and brought in for treatment.

It was 8.00pm and the fuku-taicho of the fourth squad was just feeling on edge. She had been working tirelessly alongside Unohana-taicho the past six hours, aiding her to treat all wounded shinigami, and finally finished all the paperwork of the day when Hanataro Yamada entered her office announcing the arrival of the 11th squad members.

"What happend Hanataro-kun?

"Zaraki-taicho ordered an extra training session with his squad and decided to partake in it himself", Hanataro answered.

"Apparently, it was a fight until the last man standing. Naturally Zaraki-taicho won. And now he and the other nine have to be treated for excessive bleeding wounds. Unohana-taicho has asked us to take care of the injured men, while she herself is treating Zaraki."

"I see. Then let's go and get the job done."

"Kotetsu-fuku-taicho, are you alright? You sound tired. Shall I go alone? I think I can handle these injuries by myself", Yamada said in a worried tone.

While giving his report, he had time to take a closer look at his fuku-taicho. It didn't go unnoticed by him, that she looked exhausted with dark rings under her sunken eyes and that her voice sounded very raspy and tired. He knew very well, what the day had in store for her and the taicho. Yamada himself on the other hand was not so tired, because he just arrived at the squad's unit for his night shift an hour ago.

"No, I am alright. Thank you for asking. We will both take care of the eleventh's, and then I will see, whether or not Unohana-taicho needs my assistance or not. Trust me, you will have plenty to do tonight, even without treating these men alone. The menos grande Hitsugaya-taicho defeated today, showed some very nasty fighting strength, inflicting such severe wounds to the tenth's shinigamis, that we could not allow all of them to return back to their barracks, due to high blood loss and possible infection."

"I understand."

They both went down the halls to the treatment rooms and after another hour all, except Zaraki Kenpachi, were cured and released to their squad. While leaving Hanataro to his duties, Isane went over to the room, she knew her taicho was treading Zaraki in. Even before she opened the door, she could hear their voices arguing.

"I do not need any more treatment, Retsu-san. I am perfectly fine!", Zaraki's deep voiced sounded agitated through the corridor.

"While it is true, that your injuries are not life threatening anymore, you are not fine", the calm but determined voice of Unohana responded.

"You need to stay here for another hour. You suffer from anemia due to the several deep cuts along your chest. And thus you will stay here until the blood infusion is through and your circulation is stable again."

Isane couldn't help but smirke. She just imagined the look on her taicho's face. The calm but dangerous smile, Unohane always saved for the difficult and stubborn patients. Usually, this smile would make everyone turn around and run away, because nobody wanted to be on the fourth's squad leader's bad side. This seemed to hold true for Zaraki Kenpachi as well, because she could only hear Zaraki growl but not another sound of protest. Isane then quitly knocked on the room's door.

"Come in."

Isane entered and bowed her head slightly to her taicho.

"Taicho-sama. We finished healing all injuries from the 11th squad members and sent them home. 7th seat Hanataro is now taking care of the remaining patients from 10th squad. Do you need me for anything else or shall I get started on the last incident's paperwork?"

Unohana smiled hearing her fuku-taicho. No matter how long a day would be, her fuku-taicho would always try to relieve her from some work, in this case the paperwork Zaraki's training session inevitable produced. She always wondered what it was, that made Isane to go to such great length to help her, sometimes even forgetting to take care of herself in the process. Unfortunately, that was something that happened rather a lot lately and Unohana had found herself quite often in a situation, where she had to gently stop Isane from overworking herself and reminding her, that even the most accomplished healer needs sleep to work sufficiently.

"I am mostly done here as well. Thank you Isane."

"Very well. Then I will finish the paper work and see if Hanataro needs some additional help."

"Isane?", her captain's voice suddenly sounded very concerned.

"How long have you been working today?"

Isane was dumb strucked by this question. Why would her taicho suddenly ask this, especially as she already must know the answer?

"Well, it is now 10.00pm and we both started at 7.00am today. So that would make 13 hours", Isane answered reluctantly, feeling suddenly very nervous.

She just remembered a lecture given to her by her taicho about working hours and the necessity of sleep and rest not too long ago. At that time, Isane had worked for almost 15 hourse before succumbing to sleep at her desk. Her taicho had found her the next morning lying in a very uncomfortable position. When Unohana woke her up, she had winced feeling several muscles torn in her neck and back. This had not gone unnoticed by Unohana. In the end, her taicho had eased her pain and sent her to bed, warning her not to make a bad habit out of staying late and overworking herself.

"Isane, I remember telling you two weeks ago, that I do not appreciate it, when my staff is overworking itself. The look on your face just now tells me, so do you. I understand, that today we both could not help to work less due to the attacks and Zaraki-taicho's training results, but now I see no reason why you should continue to exhaust yourself."

"But Unohana-taichcho, I can fini..."

"Isane!"

And there was the scary smile again. Isane gulped hard being on the receiving end of that smile and lowered her head.

"Isane. I want you to go home now and get some rest. Do not worry about the paper work. I will finish it, while waiting for Zaraki-taicho's infusion to drain and to release him. As for Hanataro-kun, I am certain, he will have no trouble looking after the injured you and I have so carefully tended to today."

For a moment Isane was lost for words. Why couldn't she continue to help her taicho? After all, she must be as worn out as she herself. Even more, given that she always has to see to the most difficult patients and the most severe injuries. And nobody expects anything less of Unohana-taicho but perfect work at all times. So why was it, that Isane was not allowed to ease her burden just a little bit by doing some more paperwork?

"Isane? Are you alright?"

Isane suddenly remembered where she was. Looking up she met Unohana-sama's concerned eyes.

"Hai, taicho-sama. I am fine. Just tired, as you said. I will go home now. Good night."

With that she bowed and left the room, still thinking about ways to help her captain in a more efficient way. Because one thing was certain. It was her duty as fuku-taicho to help Unohana-taicho as much as possible. Unohana was the best healer in Seireitei. And Isane's task was to ensure that Unhona could always work a peak efficiency. And if that meant, that she needed to work harder and faster, so be it.

"How can I be of better help? Of course, by learning more and improving me healing skills. From tomorrow on, I will do some research in the main library on healing techniques."

Having made up her mind, Isane finally reached her private quarters and almost instantly fell asleep in her bed.