Odd allergies
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of the characters about to be shown. The show and characters belong to Kubo Tite. This is my first fan fic so please be gentle.
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The lieutenants of Soul Society were having a party to celebrate the new graduating class from the academy (however none of the graduates were here because they are not yet apart of the gotei 13). Everyone was encouraged to bring various dishes to have at the party some brought finger food and others brought main dishes.
All of the dishes were varied and looked like a rainbow of colors along the 2 extended tables that lined the eighth squads' barracks.
As is usual for a party, there was plenty of sake, especially for the regular drinkers: Rangiku Matsumoto, Shuhei Hisagi, Kira Izuru, and Ikkaku Madarame. Captain Kyoraku was obviously there watching (because it is his squad's barracks after all) and enjoying the party while he drank his third bottle of sake.
All of the lieutenants and some of the seated officers commented about all of the food and how it looked good, except for one dish which no one ate (or even wanted to eat) – Matsumoto's very green Potato green gelatin salad.
"That food is a…..interesting color there" exclaimed Izuru.
"What is that? It looks like a cat threw up a hairball" said Ikkaku.
"Ikkaku that wasn't very nice. I'll have you know this delicious dish came from Orihime's own personal recipes. She made it for me while I was in the Living World and I absolutely loved it!" Rangiku proudly exclaimed.
"Well that explains it" whispered Yumichika to Ikkaku who nodded in reply.
"Well looks can be deceiving. I guess I will be the first to try it." Izuru said as he slowly put a very small amount onto his plate that already had several other foods that were more appetizing (use your imagination to insert delicious food here). Rangiku looked on with trepidation as Izuru brought a tiny spoonful to his mouth and bit into the green food. Yumichika and Ikkaku looked a little green and curious to see Izuru eating the interesting dish.
"Well this isn't … all bad" Izuru said very nervously as he managed to swallow the food.
"You really like!! It was so much fun to make because it has….."
"We don't want to know!!!!!" was the response from the small group.
"Well I am starving so I will go eat. My, my all of the food here looks delicious doesn't it, Nanao" Rangiku exclaimed to the ill looking eighth squad lieutenant.
"I think I just lost my appetite, Rangiku. I'm going to go sit down." In her head, I can't believe Izuru managed to eat that disgusting looking food I can't even stand the smell. She nervously looked back at Izuru who appeared to look normal but noticed Izuru quickly eating several rice balls that were sprinkled with what looked like sugar.
Back at the food table:
"Oh well, I do hope she starts feeling better. It is so hard to be sick at a party" Rangiku exclaimed sadly as she went to pile on all kinds and colors of food from the giant spread.
Shuhei thought in his head, she wouldn't be sick if you hadn't made that fungus you call food.
Then a quiet Nemu came up to the table carrying a large dish with what looked like a salad having dark lettuce and red slices mixed in, you could also smell a little vinegar in the salad which made it very appetizing.
"What kind of dish do you have, Lieutenant Kurotshuchi?" Yumichika asked politely.
"This is a recipe from the Living World that my master tells me many people eat to make them healthier. I believe he called it Beetroot salad" was the quiet Nemu's response.
"That actually sounds quite good" replied Yumichika.
"Those are vegetables aren't they? I don't eat vegetables, I would much rather have meat, lots and lots of meat especially steak" exclaimed Ikkaku.
"I guess that you were the one that brought the diced steak?" Shuuhei asked, he was pretty sure of the answer but he didn't know who stuck them with toothpicks.
"Yes that is right Ikkaku grilled the steak and was going to bring it whole. Since it would be very ugly for these guests to tear those steaks apart with their teeth, so I cut those steaks into nice cubes and conveniently put the toothpicks in for everyone to eat beautifully," Yumichika kindly responded. He was flattered that someone had noticed the hard work that had been put into the dish brought from their squad.
While everyone was talking, no one noticed that Rangiku was not only consuming a rather large amount of sake but also eating everything in sight. Nanao felt her nerves had calmed down enough for her to return to get some food, but she turned green again as she watched the tenth squad lieutenant eat. The buxom woman consumed all types of food. Nanao watched different food that was red, green, white, some black disappear into the woman's mouth. Nanao could not tell what the lieutenant was eating because she was consuming the food so fast it was only a blur of colors. Then Rangiku noticed Nanao again as she finished her fourth bottle of sake.
"Ah….Nanao are feeling you better? There is still so much food you haven't tried" asked Rangiku as she swayed just a little, showing that she was drunk yet again. You see, Rangiku had just finished having drinks with Captain Kyoraku before the party began. So Nanao figured the woman had consumed nearly 8 entire bottles of sake and she was beginning to show it.
"Um…Izuru, Shuuhei, I think it is time that Rangiku left the party. She looks smashed and I'm afraid that she will pass out before you can get her back to her division" said a rather concerned Nanao.
"But I feeeeeel fine, oh Izuru just look at the pretty rainbow in the ceiling" Rangiku said as she pointed to the ceiling and twirled about to fall when Izuru caught her.
"Rangiku I think that Nanao is right, it is time to go back to the tenth division" Izuru cautiously said.
"Oh alright if you insist but I can't approach my Captain without some help; oh Izuru, Shuuhei will you please come with me so that my Captain is not too angry?" Rangiku asked giving her best puppy dog eyes in her current drunken state – it looked more like a pouting fish.
Izuru and Shuuhei carefully steered the very drunken tenth squad lieutenant out of squad eight toward squad ten. This was more difficult than it appeared seeing as she decided to stop and "talk" to every door post and wall that she ran into. "Ran into" being the literal phrase. She was acting very odd; Izuru and Shuuhei began to be very concerned.
"I have never seen Rangiku this drunk." Izuru whispered to Shuuhei.
"I know. Before even as she passed out drunk she never tried to talk to inanimate objects before" replied a very concerned Shuuhei.
"We must let Captain Hitsugaya know of this before we leave her."
"Then we must be taking her to the office."
"I don't want to think about what would happen if we left her at her apartment in this state."
"OHHH BOOOYYYYYSSS. You better –hiccup- come on. I reeeaallly don't want you two to fall in that big –hiccup- hole in the ground" Rangiku said with great difficulty.
"Thank goodness we are almost back at tenth squad, Captain Hitsugaya should know what to do with Rangiku when she gets like this" replied Shuuhei to Izuru.
"Why is it so hot all of a sudden…?" Rangiku drowsily said as she passed out.
"Rangiku, RANGIKU! Shuuhei go get the Captain Retsu and bring her to the tenth squad. Something is very wrong with Rangiku" Izuru ordered of his old friend as he picked up the collapsed lieutenant who was burning up with an extremely high fever. Shuuhei shunpoed as fast as he could to help his fried.
Inside the tenth squad office, Captain Hitsugaya sat at his desk with the usual mountain of paperwork that never seemed to grow any smaller no matter how long he worked. He nearly gave up for the night when he heard Izuru.
"CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA! Help"
"What's going on? W-What happened to Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked Izuru as he brought Rangiku into the tenth squad office and placed her on the couch.
"I don't know Captain Hitsugaya. We were at the party and Matsumoto was drinking and eating a lot as usual then she started to get delirious and so Shuuhei and I brought her back here. She just now passed out outside of the office and she feels like she has a very high fever. I sent Shuuhei to get Captain Retsu" explained a worried Izuru.
"Cap-Captain, I don't feel too good. I feel like I'm going to…"
Hitsugaya quickly brought the trashcan beside Rangiku as he realized what she was about to do. He made it in time so she threw up red vomit in the trashcan. This worried both Hitsugaya and Izuru because not only was Rangiku's fever getting worse, but the puke smelled like a lot of iron and reminded Hitsugaya of blood.
Matsumoto, what did you do to throw up blood thought the small captain.
"The fever is getting worse, Captain. What should we do? She needs to be cooled down." Izuru was very worried about his old friend who was burning up and throwing up again into the trashcan.
"Kira, hold Matsumoto for a minute," instructed Hitsugaya as he walked over to remove Hyorinmaru from its stand. Hitsugaya walked back to the couch where Izuru was holding Rangiku when Hitsugaya cut the couch calling for Hyorinmaru's power.
"That was…..my favorite couch. Why, Captain, why?" Rangiku quietly asked as Izuru put her on the now iced couch with a blanket wrapped around her.
"Your fever is too high, Matsumoto. I had to find some way to bring it down without turning the office into frozen tundra. Besides the couch can be thawed and be as good as new" quietly explained the tenth squad captain.
Just then, Shuuhei ran into the office followed by Captain Retsu and Lieutenant Koutetsu.
"I've brought Captain Retsu as requested"
"Good, thank you Lieutenant Hisagi."
"What have been her symptoms, Captain Hitsugaya?" Asked the gentle Captain as she walked over to the frozen couch where Rangiku lay.
"She was brought in here by Lieutenant Kira and placed on the couch, and then she started to throw up what looked like blood. While she has been here, her fever has risen at an alarming pace and so the couch was frozen to help cool Matsumoto down." Hitsugaya replied, carefully eyeing the medical captain.
"I see, thank you. Even with this ice, her fever does not seem to be going down. This is very troubling." Unohana calmly replied with some concern in her eyes.
As Hitsugaya watched Unohana look over Matsumoto, he got an idea and took out his cell phone and dialed a number to the Living World.
"Renji here" answered a weary Renji Abarai as he just came back from slaying several hollows along with Rukia and Ichigo. There seemed to be an unusual number of hollows in the area.
"This is Captain Hitsugaya. Abarai, I need to speak with Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Yes sir, he is actually right here" as Renji passed the phone to Ichigo "it's Captain Hitsugaya."
Ichigo took the phone from Renji with a curious expression "Hey Toshiro, what's up?"
A large vein popped up in HItsugaya's head at Ichigo's lack of respect but there was no time for that.
"Kurosaki," Hitsugaya began his voice barely a growl and noticed Matsumoto with Unohana; "your father is a doctor in that town, right?"
"Yeah, he manages the clinic. Why do you ask?"
"My lieutenant is very sick and Captain Retsu doesn't know what is wrong with her. I think it might be something that she contracted from the world of the living. It is important that I speak with him."
"Okay sure let me go get him, we're actually at my house right now. Hold on a minute."
Hitsugaya waited on the phone when he heard a door open and a loud crash that sounded like someone had fallen to the floor after being kicked by an impatient son.
"We don't have time for this old man!!! We have a medical emergency."
"An emergency; well why didn't you say so? Dr. Isshin Kurosaki speaking, may I ask what the matter is," was Dr. Kurosaki's calm reply. Amazing how he could get up so quickly after being thrown to the floor by his active son.
"This is Captain Hitsugaya. My lieutenant is sick and I think she may have gotten sick while we were in your hometown. One of our doctors is looking at her but she unfortunately doesn't know what to do."
"Alright let me speak with her and I will do my best to solve this mystery" was Isshin's solemn reply.
"Captain Retsu, Dr. Kurosaki from Karakura town. The Substitute Soul Reapers' father is a doctor at his clinic, he may be able to help" said Hitsugaya as he handed the phone to Captain Retsu.
"I will take this outside for a minute. Thank you Captain Hitsugaya" replied Retsu as she calmly took the phone.
Hitsugaya waited as Unohana spoke quietly Dr. Kurosaki.
After several moments with Isane trying to make Rangiku comfortable, they were startled with Unohana's rushed entrance. Before she could say anything Izuru looked green and ran outside to throw up, his vomit also looked red and smelled like blood.
"Isane, I need you to gather all of the guests at the party that was held earlier. Do you know everyone who went?" Unohana asked very quietly. Isane looked scared as she heard the unusual apprehension in her Captain's normally calm voice and her smile was gone.
"Yes, Captain. I will bring everyone to the fourth squad."
"Very good but I suggest you get thirteenth squad's Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki before they are around Captain Ukitake for too long."
Isane and Hitsugaya looked shocked for a moment before Isane disappeared in a speedy shunpo. Unohana summoned a hell butterfly and gave it a message before she turned to Hitsugaya who was approaching his desk.
"Captain Hitsugaya, where are you going?" She asked in that eerily peaceful tone.
"I have a lot of work to catch up on since both my lieutenant and I were in the Living World at the same time. I have a month's amount of paperwork to do. I have just finished the first 2 weeks that we had been away. Why do you ask?" Asked Hitsugaya, secretly afraid of what the medical captain of squad 4 was about to say.
"Captain Hitsugaya, I am afraid that this office must be sealed off and have a cleaning barrier put up. I'm afraid that Dr. Kurosaki thinks the illness that Lieutenant Matsumoto contracted is Typhoid fever. It is not always fatal but it is highly contagious. Since we may be dealing with a foreign illness we cannot take any chances. That is why all of the participants at the party that was held earlier will be quarantined in squad 4 until we have made sure that an epidemic will not break out." As Unohana calmly spoke what she had learned from Dr. Kurosaki, Captain Hitsugaya began to show a look of shock and fear on his face as he barely noticed the other squad four members enter the tenth squad office behind Unohana's back.
Back at squad 4:
All of the participants at the party were behind quarantine barriers all looking bored and angry but Izuru was a little green because he was still ill in a separate barrier from everyone else.
"I can't believe that we are all in here because we went to a party" exclaimed Shuuhei.
"I have paperwork that needs to be filled out. Let me out of HERE!" Yelled a very exasperated Hitsugaya at the nearest squad four member who was running to Captain Retsu, who was currently in Rangiku's room making the lieutenant comfortable as she prepared for the treatment, and carrying a blank piece of paper.
"Ca-Captain Un-Retsu" stuttered the very frightened squad member holding a blank piece of paper.
"Yes, what is it?" Unohana calmly spoke to the member with a serene smile on her face to calm the boy's fears.
"Um….we was cleansing the tenth squad office as you said. We followed your orders to the letter, but well……..here." The young boy handed the captain a blank piece of paper with a confused look on her face. She glanced at the boy about to ask when he burst into tears: "These are the papers that Captain Hitsugaya had completed. We didn't know that the cleansing barrier would erase the words as well!!!! What are we going to tell Captain Hitsugaya?"
With another look at the now plank piece of paperwork from squad ten and a glance at the resting Lieutenant she slowly turned to the boy with the same serene smile and said "Everything will be alright, now I will deal with Captain Hitsugaya. But I want you and a few strong members to do me a favor.
Outside in the quarantine barriers, the small group within the barriers:
"I wander what was that kids' problem" asked a confused Ikkaku.
"I don't know but he did look scared, maybe he was frightened of you, Ikkaku" replied Yumichika.
"Why was that kid carrying a piece of paper?" Shuuhei asked trying to figure out why his stomach suddenly fell when he saw the kid running with the paper that was apparently blank.
"Who knows, maybe it had something to help Rangiku since she is so sick" exclaimed a very sleepy Izuru as he was lying down in a separate cleansing barrier from the other four.
"What I can't figure out is why everyone is getting so worked up when the only two people sick are you and Matsumoto" asked Captain Hitsugaya.
"That is because they are not the only ones who are sick, Captain Hitsugaya. There are other participants from the party that are sick as well among them are: Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki of squad 13, Lieutenant Tetsuzaemon Iba of squad 8, as well as the second squad lieutenant Marechiyo Oomaeda," was the reply of the eighth squad lieutenant, Nanao Ise.
"What about Kyoraku?" Hitsugaya asked the lieutenant.
"Sadly, my captain is also sick but I have a pretty good guess that it is because of what he ate."
"Well, what did he eat?" Ikkaku asked for the entire group.
"Among other things, he ate a dish that Rangiku made from the Living World – Orihime's Potato green gelatin salad."
At this all of the members turned a little green when Izuru spoke up….
"Yes, it tastes as horrible as it sounds."
"Poor Izuru, you just had to eat that food didn't you? I don't blame you, it is very ugly to hurt someone's feelings by refusing a meal they cooked." Yumichika sympathized with Izuru as he remembered the brave lieutenant eat the very green food.
"Here comes Captain Retsu" Shuuhei exclaimed to everyone.
"Why Captain Hitsugaya, you look absolutely miserable. Is there anything I can do to help?" Unohana asked politely.
"Yes you can let me out so I can finish the paperwork that has been piling up for over a month now" was the Captain's icy reply.
"Here at the fourth squad we want to make our patients happy while they recover from their illnesses. Now Captain what would make you happy?"
Isn't it obvious! "I would like to return to my office and work on all of my paperwork."
"Come with me and let's see what we can do." Unohana removed the barrier that was surrounding Hitsugaya and led him to an empty room across the hall.
While the two were walking off, Shuuhei saw several squad four members rolling a cart with what looked like a desk on it followed by a member carrying a chair and two more squad members carrying two very big boxes that looked to be filled with paper.
"Guys, doesn't that desk look familiar?" Shuuhei asked the other three soul reapers as they saw the number ten emblazoned on the side of the desk.
All four of their jaws dropped to the floor as they still could not believe that Captain Retsu was bringing the tenth squad captains' desk along with his paperwork to him.
"I guess it is to be expected, seeing as Captain Hitsugaya said he would be happy in his office" Nanao said (she had been standing there watching the entire exchange).
"You know what, earlier I saw a kid running into Rangiku's room with a blank piece of paper. I didn't say anything because I think I know what it is……"
Shuuhei was suddenly interrupted by one Hitsugaya's scream as he found out all of the work he had been doing over the past week was destroyed. The squad four members and Captain Retsu left Captain Hitsugaya with his beloved paperwork as the five saw the young captain clench his fists and felt the temperature drop several degrees muttering something about freezing someone if he was interrupted.
"I can't believe that all of this is because of Rangiku" Izuru exclaimed.
"Can it be that she ate something that didn't agree with her?" questioned Yumichika.
"Could be, but I don't know of anything that she is allergic to" replied Ikkaku.
Izuru quietly spoke up as he said "I know something that she is allergic to……"
"NO, no, no. I mean even Rangiku is not that stupid" came the nervous reply of Shuuhei.
"But she had been drinking rather heavily all day; I don't think she even knew what she was eating."
"I can attest to that, I was getting sick just watching Rangiku inhale all of the food in sight." Nanao exclaimed as she turned a little green at the memory.
"Now you two, what are you keeping from the rest of us about Lieutenant Matsumoto" questioned a now very curious Yumichika with Ikkaku staring at both Shuuhei and Izuru.
"Well, you see…….Rangiku has a very interesting food allergy"
"What kind of food allergy?" Nanao was afraid to ask.
"She is allergic to beet root" was the answer from Shuuhei.
Nanao looked aghast at the both of them as she realized that some of the food Rangiku had inhaled was the Beet Root salad that Nemu had brought.
"Oh dear, this is bad. I will go tell Captain Retsu."
"Wait, Nanao please ask her not to tell Hitsugaya yet." Izuru quietly begged.
"Don't worry I don't want go anywhere near that subject" replied Nanao as she ran off to tell Unohana that there was no contagious disease.
In Captain Hitsugaya's makeshift office in the squad four barracks, he could not explain why he became so angry that ice started forming everywhere and then he sneezed, scattering the papers all over the little room. Rangiku, you had better not be too sick because I expect you to stay in the office until all of these papers are finished and I will not allow you to leave until it is done.
In Rangiku's room, Oh man, what happened….I do feel a little better now that I threw up a lot. UGHHH, what is that taste in my mouth?!? BEETS!!!!! I CAN'T EAT BEETS! I hope not too much has happened because of this little mishap. Oh well, I'm tired, time to sleep. Why did it suddenly get a little cold in her? Oh well I'm too tired to worry about it. Rangiku yawned and fell asleep on her side as her fever had broke and she had a very restful sleep.
As was soon found out later, the other squad members were sick because they all had eaten some of Rangiku's special salad. It was made a rule from then on that no one was to bring any type of beets to any parties in the future and Rangiku was banned from brining any type of homemade dish to any further gatherings.
Not only had squad ten's paperwork been ruined but Captain Ukitake was confined to his office behind a cleansing barrier for fear of his catching the sickness. Captain Kyoraku was also prevented from hosting any more parties at squad eight since it was found out that Kyoraku had also spiked some of the food which only made everyone's food poisoning worse.
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On the way back to eleventh squad, Yumichika and Ikkaku talk about their interesting experience.
"It is such a strange allergy to have. It is not normal to be allergic to such a healthy food."
"Well there really is nothing normal about Lieutenant Matsumoto, Yumichika."
"That is so true. I wander why our lieutenant was not at the party? It is to celebrate the graduates, I was under the assumption that all of the lieutenants were to be there."
"I don't know. Maybe Captain Zaraki heard that Captain Kyoraku was going to host that party. Everyone knows how much that man likes to drink and he tries to get everyone to drink with him. Do you really want to think about what Lieutenant Kusajishi would be like if she were drunk?"
At this statement both men shuddered at the thought of a drunken Yachiru Kusajishi.
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What did you think? This is my first fan fiction so please be gentle with your comments. Please read and review.