A/N: New Story! Yay! This story is dedicated to TealEyedBeing . I hope this is to your liking!
Story: HichiIchi (reversible), AU, set during after Ichigo has graduated from college is now a nurse at the local hospital.
Rated M for later chapters. ^^
Enjoy!
The cigarette glowed briefly as he inhaled, pulling the smoke deep into his chest. The nicotine spread through his blood and he felt just a bit lighter as he sat on the rooftop of the random building he'd chosen. He flicked the ashes of his cigarette into the pile he'd started and then watched as the tip burned while he supported it on his bent knees. He licked the bitter taste from his dry lips as he took another slow drag from his cigarette. With his other hand he casually flicked open his pack and noticed that he only had 3 left. What an unlucky number, Ichigo mused.
The night was as dark as it been the night before, the moon was hidden behind a thick, suffocating layer of clouds that lent no light to the residents of Karakura Town, much less to Ichigo. His sneakers grated the cement of the rooftop and the coolness of it permeated his thin jeans and left him slightly cold. But this was better than home, better than an empty room, empty walls to stare at. Here, atop the roof, he had a view, a breeze, city noises and car horns. He had something here, even if it wasn't his own. It was better than nothing.
His job at the hospital was bearable to some degree. There were a few friends he'd made but had no inclination to spend time with away from the job. They weren't that good of friends. But he sometimes wished they were. They smile and joked with him, ate lunch with him in the small break room between shifts and they'd wish him happy birthday when it was marked on the staff calendar; but he could hardly say that they knew him.
He felt the heat on his lips and fingertips as he took the last pull of his cigarette, pinching it between his fingers like a small, poisonous bug. He lit another one up and started all over again. Two is a much better number.
He absently checked his watch for the time and realized that his next shift started in two hours.
The sun was still a few hours away and the morning city buzz wouldn't begin for at least an hour. He'd seen the early risers that tumbled sleepily out of their doors and donned their headset and running shoes for their morning jog; seen the creeping, pale smoke rise from the restaurants that served breakfast at 5AM and the mailmen and newspaper boys that carried their bundles of information like a well guarded secret.
He'd seen enough of the city from his various perches to know its inner working, but that didn't make him feel like he was a part of it – a member. He hadn't felt that way since he left college and started his job. His high school and college days were over and he'd slowly fallen into the hole he was now in. He felt completely lifeless some days.
But he had his nighttime smoking session to look forward to. Ichigo eyed his single cigarette hanging from the rumpled carton and decided it was time to go buy another pack.
He shoved the wrinkled duffel bag that held his clean scrubs into the small locker that each on-call employee had available to them and grabbed his I.D. tag from the side of his locker. He had noticed how some people put photos and stickers and other useless shit on the inside of their doors, but his was horribly void of anything. The bare metal was clean and shiny and Ichigo slammed the door before he could contemplate it anymore. He didn't need anything like.
"What hall do you have today?"
Ichigo looked up from tying his shoes to see his friend of some odd years pulling on his scrubs, "I've got it easy today," He grinned. "Alpha Ward."
"Shit, man! I've been on clinic for 3 days and I'm gonna go crazy if they don't switch me out!" Grimmjow Jaggerjack fussed, yanking the cord of his pants roughly. "It's Maggie – that stupid bitch is still pissed at me for dumping her. I mean…I told her nicely that we were through. What more could she want?"
Ichigo laughed at his friend, "Dude, that's why I don't date co-workers."
"Yeah, yeah…" Grimmjow grumbled. "See ya around."
"See ya."
The Alpha Ward was by far his favorite place in the hospital. The Ward was located on the 6th floor of the hospital and held coma patients, the physical therapy center, psychiatry department and it also had the best snack machines in the whole damn building. Ichigo was one of the only nurses to regularly request the Ward; he supposed other people couldn't handle all the families with loved ones in a coma or see the troubled people that visited the psych center. Ichigo didn't mind. Everyone was quiet and solemn up here and he seemed to find some sort of peace with the patients and workers here.
Ichigo pushed his I.D. into the reader that granted him access to the file room and began pulling the charts for the doctors that made their rounds at 8AM. The room was full of several 10' foot tall shelves that held all the patient files within the last 10 years and one or two of the shelves held even older files that the hospital was bound by law to keep. Ichigo stayed away from those.
The small file cart he pushed had a small squeak in it and he cringed as he hit the door frame and it gave a long whine.
"Hey, Ichigo." The secretary greeted. She waved him over and gave him a handful of files. "These are the new ones. And this one here is our John Doe of the day." She gave him a thin green folder and pointed across the hall. He nodded and began his daily duties.
He placed each updated patient file in the door slots for the doctors to find and then he entered the room and wrote his name on the staff board, indicating that he was the head nurse on duty for the day should any of the family need him. He checked the rooms equipment for problems and made sure the coma patients were correctly positioned and that no arms or legs where oddly placed. He finished the usual patients in a short amount of time because they'd been there so long and there was usually nothing new to report, but the families always check with him and the doctor for reports. He didn't blame them.
By 7:30 he reached the green folder in his cart, the John Doe patient. Ichigo fingered through the few pages that were there and made his way to the patient's room.
He looked up to find several people outside of his intended room.
"Ichigo, get a look at this."
He pushed through several people to get in the room.
"You gotta brother, Ichigo?"
"No." He uttered harshly under his breath. He looked behind him at the staff and he blushed slightly at all of them watching him check on the patient – man, in fact, as indicated by his files.
"You sure, Ichigo? He looks an awful lot like you."
Ichigo finally looked at the man lying on the bed. His hair was a soft white that nearly blended with the pillow beneath his head. His extremely pale skin looked softer than the gown he was dressed in and his thin, delicate hands were curled lightly atop his stomach. His face was one that Ichigo had often seem in his own mirror at him. But how…
Ichigo felt his mouth open as he gazed at the motionless man.
"See. Told ya," Someone giggled from the doorway. He heard then all speaking softly as they left and finally closed the door with a soft click.
His mind was river of activity as he contemplated how this was possible. He had no brothers, no cousins that he could think of that would explain the man in front of him. So how did they look so inconceivable alike?
He had no answers and neither did the file in his hands; this man was a John Doe and in a coma.
TBC
It's short, I know. The next chapter will be much longer.
Reviews are always love.
