The infirmary barracks were a rush of activity as the wounded were brought in off the battlefield. The battle had been won, the Arrancar's were defeated and Soul Society was safe, but the cost had been high, many were injured and a few brave souls had given the ultimate sacrifice and died protecting their home and families. The attack had happened suddenly after years of quiet after the defeat of the Aizen and his army. It had been a fairly normal day, nothing out of the ordinary to suggest that the day would end with bloodshed. The first wave of Arrancars attacked with the rising of the sun, under the cover of twilight. The Rukong district was the hardest hit area and it was there that the casualties were the greatest. Naturally, Squad 11 was the first to engage the enemy on the field and once they were joined by squads 6, 13, 2, 9, and 3 victory was almost guaranteed. It was the time it took to get al the squads dispatched however that was almost the undoing of the Gotei 13. Squads 11, 3, and 6 were engaged against the enemy the longest and thus sustained the greatest casualties. Squads 13, 9, and 2 joined and helped seal victory for the Soul Reapers. The battle was long and bloody, extending over the course of almost three days before the Arrancars finally began their retreat, only to be picked off and finally destroyed. However, victory was bitter sweet, as the long line of wounded and dead continued to come into Squad 4 barracks.
Captain Unohana and Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu were kept busy dealing with the most severely injured. Hanatarô Yamada was indispensable as usual and had helped to save many lives that day. In a brief moment of inactivity Mayu brushed her long red hair back from her face and looked around as her thoughts drifted, for a moment, to her two children who were safe in the stronghold with all the other children. Reina and Kiyoto, both only three years old, they were her precious children. She knew they were safe and she was grateful for that. Reina was just like her mother, fiery red hair and piercing green eyes, and a kind heart that was evident even at such a young age. Kiyoto was like his father, short blond hair covered his head and brown eyes smiled at everyone he saw. Mayu took a breath and sighed, yes her children were safe, but… her husband, she did not know about him. He was out there somewhere still fighting to protect them all. She wasn't too worried about him, he was captain of one of the high squads in soul society, he could take care of himself- he had done so for years before she had even met him. Yet, she still worried for his safety.
Shouts from the other side of the barracks broke through her thoughts as she turned towards the noise, seeing Unohana and Hanataro bringing in yet another stretcher. Mayu made her way over, as she tied her hair back and pushed it behind her shoulder. As she approached the bed where they were, Isane walked over to her.
"Another one Isane? "
The woman nodded without a word, a look of sadness and fear in her eyes as she looked at Mayu. Isane was always a quiet one, devoted to her work and her duty, and careful to help anyone who was in need. Mayu had found her to be a truly delightful person when she had first joined the ranks of Squad 4, and the two had quickly become not only co-squad members but friends.
"Who is it, Isane?" Mayu asked as she tried to walk past her friend, who gently pushed her back.
"Mayu, I…"
Mayu looked at her friend and knew the look in her eyes. There was something she was hiding from her, something she didn't want her to know. The woman pulled free of her friend's gentle grip and ran over to the bed and stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at the beaten and bloody figure laying on the bed. Her knees buckled slightly as she looked at the man lying on the bed. His pale skin was streaked with blood and dirt, his shinigami captain's robe was torn and stained as well. By his side was his zampaktou, still tightly clutched in his right hand, as if in a death grip. Mayu slowly steps closer, ignoring Unohana's words as she knelt down beside the bed. With a trembling hand she reached out and brushed back the blonde hair from his face as tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"Izuru…" she whispered softly.
Mayu was lost to everyone and everything but what was right in front of her. Her husband, the man she loved more than her own life, the man who had saved her from her meaningless existence, it was him who was lying on that bed, barely alive. She watched as his breath came in short shallows gasps, her eyes drifting to the massive wound on his chest and shoulder. She faintly heard Unohana explain what happened.
"From what we have gathered, Captain Izuru and Lieutenant Renji were at the front lines of the battle, chasing after the remaining Arrancars as they retreated. They fell into a last resort ambush the Arrancar's had laid. The enemy was destroyed but unfortunately Renji and Izuru were both terribly wounded."
Captain Izuru Kira, the famous captain of Squad 3, seemed to be barely clinging to life as he laid there in the barracks, surrounded by many of his injured comrades, including Renji Abarai. Mayu didn't say anything as she slowly leaned over Izuru and started removing the tattered remains of his robes and started examining the wound. A deep wound covered his right shoulder and chest. Kira's short ragged breaths gurgled from his chest and his skin was pale and cold. After removing his robes, they also saw the ugly bruise on his side where he had been kicked or hit somehow, and it was obvious several ribs had been broken, if not worse.
"The cowards, they were too afraid to fight him hand to hand like true warriors," Mayu said as her voice cracked. "They used Bala Cero attacks; they tried to destroy him before he could get close enough to fight them."
Hanataro slowly walked over and put a hand on Mayu's shoulder. He had come to admire and respect this strong woman ever since she had joined the ranks of squad four.
"Captain Izuru is strong, he will be alright" he said sincerely as he glanced at his captain who nodded slowly.
Mayu nodded without a word and blinking back tears, started tending to the life threatening wound. As she worked, Mayu's thoughts drifted back to what her life had been like before she had med Izuru Kira, the man who would later become her husband and the father of her children.
For most of her life, Mayu had been on her own in the world. When she had come to Soul Society she was alone, no one to call her family, no one to call mother or father, it was just her and the brutality of life in the Rukongai district. Like almost all of those who dwelt in Soul Society, Mayu held little to no memories of her past life as a living breathing human. What she was left with were feelings and sensations around certain things and in certain situations, like water. For some reason, unknown to her, Mayu was terrified of water. She lived near a river that flowed through the Rukongai district and always felt a twinge of uneasiness about that body of water. Little did she know that when she was alive, it was a river, much like the one she lived by now, that had claimed her life. She was young, in her early 20's and had been out on the river with a friend of hers when the boat they were in turned over. Mayu drowned that day, and though she held no memory of the event that took her life, the fear of that river still remained with her even on the other side of the grave. It was a miracle she survived as long as she did, so many others had given up hope and many of her friends eventually died. Mayu did have a glimmer of hope though, she had heard of some from the Rukongai and other districts who had made it into the Soul Reaper Academy . If there was ever any hope of her getting a better life and an actual future that was it. It was a long shot, but it was all she had and that hope is what got her through the years of hard work and pain. And years it was, before she knew it she was older and seemed destined to forever be stuck living life of a meager existence. However, her fate changed one day when a rogue group of Bounts invaded Soul Society.
There had been uprising and small attacks on the outskirts of the Seretie for years, and this one event was not much different than any of the others. It was the second or third one Mayu had been through, they all blurred together for her, just one more thing she had to overcome in her life. It was because of these attacks and raids that she discovered what her true gift and skill was. Mayu soon discovered that she was a very skilled healer. While she was not much use in direct hand to hand combat, she had great skills at healing and had been the saving grace for many through the years. During this particular raid, several squads of the Soul Reapers had been called out to deal with the Bounts in an attempt to drive them away for good.
Mayu had been up in a tree scouting the Bount's location as they approached. Because she lacked skill and strength at hand to hand combat, she usually opted for trying to hide and wait out the raids and then help those she could. So she sat in the branches, her back pressed against the large rough trunk of the tree as she silently wished there was another sturdy branch higher up. There wasn't one, so she would have to make do with what she had available to her. Closing her eyes, Mayu held her breath as she heard footsteps under her and voices shouting. In the midst of the commotion someone let lose a kido blast, Mayu recognized it and then she felt the tree shake and someone or something big and heavy slammed into the tree. The top of the tree swayed violently and she lost her grip on the branch and felt herself start to fall. At the last second she closed her eyes, expecting to hit hard ground, but instead, she landed on something semi soft, which broke her fall. A muffled groan immediately caught her attention as she looked and saw that she had landed on top of a soul reaper. Scrambling to her feet Mayu felt the color drain from her face. He was wearing a captain's hinaro. She had just fallen on a Captain of one of the 13 Squads.
"Oh, I… I'm terribly sorry! Pl…please forgive me…" she muttered as she bowed low.
The captain she had landed on slowly stood and started brushing himself off. He turned and looked at Mayu who was still bent low and seemed to be trembling. Walking over to her, he put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up. Mayu flinched slightly in fear but as she looked up at him, all fear and concern faded away. He was smiling at her.
"You're not hurt are you?"
Mayu shook her head no, that she was fine.
"What are you doing out here? It's not safe with these Bounts still roaming around."
Mayu stared at him. Golden blonde hair fell over covering the left side of his face and fell to his shoulders. Warm gently brown eyes smiled down at her. He wore the robes of a Soul Reaper and a Captain, though Mayu couldn't see what squad he was with. As she stood there staring at him she finally managed to speak.
"I know there are Bounts, I was… scouting for them. And when they were gone, I was going to start tending to the wounded like I always…"
Mayu didn't get to finish. Just then a rather large man came running up to the captain. He was a good bit older than the captain even though he wore the arm band of a lieutenant. His hair was short and black, he had fiery blue eyes, and he had a scar down the left side of his neck. Mayu thought about the possible ways he had gotten that scar- probably some battle against a dangerous foe. Torie knelt before his captain as he started to speak.
"Captain Kira, the Bounts have fled and left Soul Society. Shall we give chase?"
"No, our orders were to protect the Sereite, and we have done that. Tell the men to pull back; we will tend to our wounded. Thank you Torie."
Mayu watched the exchange between captain and lieutenant and marveled. She would have assumed their roles were switched, that the older, more mature looking man would be the prime candidate for a captain, not the young friendly man she saw wearing the Shinigami robes. They seemed such opposites at first glance. The timid smaller man who did not have the years behind him that many others had, somehow had gained the rank of Captain while one appearing to be more experienced and indeed stronger was at a lower position and rank. She stood there silently and watched as Torie bowed once more to his Captain and then hurried off to gather the men. A few minutes later the blond haired man turned back to her and smiled.
"I apologize for the interruption, I believe you were saying that you have some skills as a healer?"
"Y..yes.. I do… captain…?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm Captain Izuru Kira of Squad 3, Scouting Party and Relief Team.""
Mayu stared in shock as the Captain bowed to her slightly.
"I'm Mayu Asen," she said softly.
Kira stood and looked down at the tiny woman standing before him and smiled kindly. She was so thin and her simple worn and faded dress hung around her tiny frame loosely. Her face was dirty and her hands were worn from long years of work, yet her eyes shone brightly and when she smiled. Kira sensed it was a true and honest smile- not a fake smile like he had grown so use to putting on those long years ago.
"Well, Mayu Asen, there is always a need for skilled healers, and in the Rukongai especially."
Kira gave a slight bow as he glanced over to where his men were now gathered and waiting orders from their captain.
"I must be going, I have to report to the other captains."
"Will… will I see you again?" Mayu asked softly. She didn't even know why she had asked. Why would she care if she saw him again and why would he even want to see her again? He was a captain of one of the 13 Protection squads and she was a nobody from the 30th district of the Rukongai. Mayu lowered her head, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her face.
Kira smiled as he turned and faced her, silent for a moment.
"I am sure we will see each other sometime" Kira said as he started to walk towards his men. Stopping for a moment, he looked over his shoulder back to Mayu as he smiled. "This is my designated patrol area after all."
Mayu stood and watched, in wonder, as Kira and the rest of his squad faded away, back towards the great wall, that forever seemed to keep her blocked out and held back. She stood there until the gatekeeper closed the gate once more, leaving her alone in her pitiful instance of life. After staring after them for some time, Mayu sighed and made her way back to her tiny shack that served as her home. Her heart was lightened somewhat after her encounter with the Captain, but she also told herself that she would never see him again.
