Kimi arrived early for work to pull the patient's files for that day. She also set up a tray to bandage whatever wounds the doctor came in with today. The first patient arrived bringing a gift.

"Good morning, Mrs. Nakimura," she greeted the friendly old woman who handed her the bag of oranges.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you here, my dear. I brought these for the doctor but you can have them. I picked them from the tree in my backyard. So you've lasted a whole month with Dr. Kurosaki. I'm amazed," Mrs. Nakimura commented good-naturedly smiling broadly.

Kimi was pretty amazed herself. It had not occurred to her that being here one month was something to celebrate. She certainly felt like she deserved a special acknowledgement for putting up with the overzealous doctor. After last night's dinner and Ichigo's tantrum, it appeared the son held strong potential for being a pain in the ass as well. At least the doctor was likable and endearing. The orange haired, bad-tempered kid was not quite so charming as his father. Of course to be perfectly honest, she had a bias toward Isshin anyway.

Kimi led Mrs. Nakimura to an examining room to get her ready for the doctor who would hopefully be in soon with only minor injuries. She immediately lost hope of the minor injuries when she heard glass breaking and shouts of curse words.

"What is that?" the pleasant little lady asked.

"The doctor and his son telling each other good morning," she replied calmly, shoving a thermometer in the woman's mouth. That would keep her quiet for three minutes. She hurried to get her other vitals done before the doctor arrived to be treated.

"Kimi!" Isshin yelled.

"I'll be right back. The doctor will be in to see you soon," she assured the woman ignoring her gaping face.

"Room two," she told Isshin, walking into the hallway. She bumped into a tall gray object. Looking up she saw it was topped with orange spikes. It was Ichigo in his school uniform sporting a wide gash on his cheek. "The old man got you today, huh?"

"Yeah," he snorted in disgust and aggravation.

"In you go," she said, pushing him into the room with his father. "I swear, sometimes I feel like beating the hell out of you two myself. Mrs. Nakimura is waiting for you in room one," she informed Dr. Kurosaki.

"I'll go on in there," he told her, standing up to be jerked back down.

"Not until you're cleaned up. Another black eye? How are you not blind?" she admonished him, getting the ice pack out of the cooler. She put it in his hands because she would have smashed it against his eye. Using a washcloth, she wiped the blood off of his face like a mother cleaning a dirty child.

It was Ichigo's turn to be examined. Kimi boldly edged apart the teen's knees so she could stand between his legs to get close enough to look at the wound on his face. The slash was deep but straight on each edge which was a good thing. "All right you, suck it up buttercup because you're about to get stitches with no anesthia."

"You're doing that on purpose aren't you?" Ichigo asked her, scowling deeply as blood ran down his face.

"No. By the way that cut is positioned there's a chance the anesthetic could seep into your ocular nerve and it could cause damage. I'm not risking it," she stated flatly. She used a peroxide soaked gauze pad to remove the blood from the edges of the cut before picking up a tube of something.

"What is that?" he inquired, leaning back while glaring at the tube suspiciously.

"It's medical grade glue. I'm going to glue you back together," she advised him.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Had you scared for a minute earlier didn't I?" she asked with a mischievous grin.

"No," he barked grouchily. She could just forget being cute and sweet to make him like her. It was not going to work. He crossed him arms, staring up at her face as she concentrated on applying the stuff to his wound.

Kimi chewed on her lower lip while deeply focused on pressing the edges of the gash together. She was glad the cut had not been jagged otherwise she would have had to stitch his face the old fashioned way. That would not have turned out well for either party involved.

"I'm going to tend to Mrs. Nakimura. You get to school as soon as you're done here," Isshin commanded his son.

Ichigo almost unleashed a smart aleck retort then he realized how close the woman's knees were to a very sensitive part of him. She had already knocked him to floor. It would not be past her to knee him in the crotch. He looked up at her face seeing that she was staring at the wall and seemed to be counting as her fingers lightly pressed into his face. When he moved his eyes, he wished he had kept looking at her face because her breasts were at his eye level since he was sitting in the chair. Well, this was suddenly a very awkward situation. He cleared his throat feeling blood rush in opposing directions for different reasons. His face warmed considerably as something grew between his legs making him wish she would step back from him. He could not deny she had a particular type of attractiveness if a man liked the bitchy nerdy type. She was somewhat pretty despite her overly curly hair and glasses. She could never compare with his beautiful mother.

"I know what you're doing," Ichigo muttered in an accusatory tone.

"Excuse me?" Kimi inquired, losing her count. Dammit. Now she would have to guess when the glue was set.

"I know you're trying to seduce my dad. You can try to lure him into a relationship but it won't work. He's still totally devoted to my mother. You could never replace her," he growled, gritting his teeth together.

"I'm here for a job. Not romance. You don't know anything, kid," she snarled back, carefully removing her fingers from his face. "You're done. Get out."

"I'm not a kid. I don't believe you. Whatever you're up to, I won't let it happen," he warned her, hovering over her intimidatingly.

"You're late for school. You should be going," she told him icily. She refused to argue with the petulant teenager.

Kimi stalked out of the room when he refused to move. How dare he accuse her of such a thing? All she came here to do was a job, not his father. So far she was extremely proud of the job she was doing. The office had been organized. More patients were coming in. She kept the doctor on a schedule which was a miracle onto itself. She went up front to see that another patient had arrived so she brought the man back to a room to get him ready to be seen by the doctor.

Kimi forced away the anger toward Ichigo so she could concentrate on her job. She had more important things to think about than an ill-tempered teen with a wrong idea built up in his head. There were patients to be treated and a rambunctious doctor to herd and keep on task.

...

"You're coming to my soccer game right?" Karin asked when her father and Kimi were locking up the clinic.

"Of course. Um…is there any way I can take a shower here? I brought extra clothes. I did not want to make Karin late for her game," Kimi explained when Isshin looked at her questioningly.

"Sure go ahead. The bathroom is at the end of the hall," he directed her, staying to talk with his daughter.

Kimi greeted Yuzu who left the dinner preparations to give her a quick hug. She really liked the sweet, affectionate girl. Taking off her coat as she walked down the hall, she slung it over her arm. A hot shower sounded like heaven right now. She closed the door and locked it before undressing. Turning the water completely on hot, she stood under the boiling stream allowing the heat to soak into her tired muscles. It would be preferable to go home, but she had promised to go to the soccer game which she knew was important to Karin. When the water began to cool, she hurriedly washed off the soap and rinsed her hair thoroughly. After dressing in jeans and a t-shirt, she was ready to go.

Kimi was checking her watch as she walked down the hall and bumped into something. She pretty much knew what awaited her when she looked up. Orange hair and a scowl met her gaze.

"So nice to see you again, Ichigo," she remarked without tempering her sarcasm.

"The feeling is mutual," he shot back caustically.

Kimi stepped to the side and walked past the annoyingly persistent and aggravating young man. She had to go make sure Isshin was ready so they would not be late. It appeared as if they were waiting on her when she walked outside to see them standing beside the car.

"Are you ready to go?" Isshin asked, smiling broadly at her. He had taken off his doctor's coat to reveal the horrid red and yellow Hawaiian shirt he was wearing.

Kimi groaned inwardly attempting to keep the distressed look off her face. She was not sure if the man was color blind or fashion impaired but either way it was disastrous. She smiled and nodded eagerly, hoping they were going to leave Ichigo.

"But Dad! What about brother?" Yuzu queried with sad eyes.

Oh, dammit!

Kimi had been lucky enough to sit beside Isshin in the front seat on the way to soccer field while the kids were crammed in the backseat together in the small car. Her luck ran out at the game when she landed a seat between Ichigo and his father on the bleachers. This was about to be the longest game ever. She hoped the boy would regard her with cold indifference like he usually did. When he scooted as far away from her as possible, she breathed an audible sigh of relief. Providence had not totally forsaken her. Now she could relax and pay attention to the action on the field.

Ichigo watched her with interest while maintaining and expression of bored apathy. Maybe she was telling the truth when she said she had no interest in his father. So far he had not seen any flirting or excessive physical contact between her and his father. She maintained her professionalism even when pushed to a point that would cause most women to explode with tears or anger. He still did not trust her, and he certainly was not going to like her for any reason.

Kimi was aware she was being observed closely but chose not to acknowledge it. She saw Karin going for the goal and stood up to cheer her on. Screaming her head off in excitement when the girl scored the game winning goal, she hugged the big man standing beside her in joyous elation. Her eyes met her boss's dark, depthless eyes, and she could feel herself blushing hotly. Her heart thumped against her ribs painfully when he did not let her go despite comprehending that she was enveloped in his arms.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to…I was just happy…I'm sorry," she repeated, pulling away from him.

"It's all right," he responded, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously. "That was an incredible score."

Since that was the end of the game, Kimi used the opportunity to rush from the stands to congratulate Karin so she could escape the unbearable awkwardness of hugging her boss. She was startled when the girl gave her a brief hug in her euphoric victorious state.

"I think the girls really like her," Ichigo commented to his father in the stands as they watched.

"What do you think, son?" Isshin asked, looking straight ahead.

"Since when have you ever cared what I thought?"

"I've always cared what you thought. Why did you think I've chosen to stay alone all these years? I chose to raise you kids by myself so I would not be betraying your mother…or all of you."

It had been almost nine years since Masaki died. Isshin had never even gone on a date in all that time. He still cried at night sometimes while talking to her picture. It seemed like the pain would not go away for him and the gaping wound in his heart would not heal properly. Despite all of his foolishness, he worried about his children and wanted to be the best possible father.

"Dad, I – "

They were interrupted by the arrival of all the females who were chattering ecstatically at once. Ichigo shielded his ears with his hands from the noise. Isshin announced that he would be taking everyone out to dinner to celebrate. Kimi made excuses as to why she needed to go home saying that she would take a cab so they could go for the family celebration.

"Well, I think you're a part of the family now so you should come too," Isshin insisted.

"Please!" Yuzu and Karin begged in unison.

Ichigo stayed quiet with a grumpier expression than normal on his face. No surprise there. Kimi reluctantly accepted and off they went.

Isshin ordered sake for the two of them. Dinner was filled with lively conversation, except for Ichigo not offering a single word, and good food. There were many laughs and the grouchy one even allowed a smile to curl his lips a time or two.

By the end of the meal, the adults were plastered so Ichigo drove them home. He did not know where Kimi lived and neither his father nor her was in any shape to give him directions. There was no choice but to take her back to their house. He dragged their father in the house which was no easy task while his sister's helped Kimi stagger in the right direction by steering her into the house.

Once the adults were safely tucked away, Isshin in his bed and Kimi on the couch, all of the young people went to bed as well. It was quite difficult for them to get to sleep with the two drunks snoring at each end of the house making a cacophony of noise that would inhibit the most exhausted person from dozing. Eventually, everyone fell asleep.