Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
Her sister has bought a new pack of colorful sharpies especially for this day. She is probably just trying to make her feel better about the cast, but Karin feels as if it is a waste of time. She has fallen into a state of gloom ever since she found out her team lost the match, and all because she was careless enough to get hurt and abandon them.
Her teammates assure her several times that they do not blame her; the other team played dirty and only won because the referee was too oblivious. But Karin still feels as if the blame falls on her. As the captain, she should have been there to knock the ref upside the head and force him to red card those cheaters.
Her father tries to cheer her up as they make their way to Karakura Hospital.
"This just means that you're one step closer to being completely healed," he points out, and she feels a little better. He might have been a complete idiot, but at least her dad knew when to keep his stupidity to a minimum.
"And until then, I'll buy a whole bunch of mustard and cucumbers!" Strike that. Apparently, his seriousness had a time limit.
When they enter the hospital, she has a huge scowl on her face, and her father is sporting a huge bump on his head.
A nurse leads them to the same room she had waited in, and met the strange white haired boy in, only a few days prior. The nurse apologizes profusely after informing them that the doctor would be very late to their appointment. There was a large car pileup not too far away and the entire hospital staff is needed to assist the number of casualties.
Her father, forever the compassionate doctor, offers his assistance. The nurse sighs in relief and accepts, because Kurosaki Isshin is well known in this hospital for having a "close" relationship with the owner, and for being a highly respected doctor.
She is left to wait alone, and is unable to move by herself because of the state of her ankle.
So, she counts the ceiling tiles. There are exactly 156 white tiles arranged in a ten by fifteen grid, with a few peculiar ones added because of turns and corners in the room. Every fifth column is followed by a panel of light, stretching from one end of the room to the other.
There is a footprint on one of the tiles. Huh. She wonders how that got up there. Did someone take off their shoe and throw it at the ceiling? Or did one of the workers step on the tile as the room was being built?
She is about to lose her mind from the sheer boredom (and a little bit because of the mystery of the footprint) when she sees it.
A clump of white appears in the doorway, and is immediately followed by the all too familiar face.
Hitsugaya Jyuushiro notices her arrival when a nurse leads someone into the usually unoccupied room beside his own. Well, it became unoccupied when the cancer patient that had previously resided in it had passed on. Curious, he peeks around the door frame and recognizes Karin as the intriguing girl he had met a few days before. He notices she notices him.
"You know, you look like a creeper," she informs him, looking rather amused.
He chuckles as he realizes she is correct, and straightens himself to stand in the doorway.
"I thought I recognized you. Did you come here for your cast?" She nods as he seats himself on the bed next to her.
"I'm just waiting for the doctor to get here."
"Yes, I heard about the accident. It is such a shame for all those poor people." And he looks so genuinely concerned that Karin cannot help but appreciate his existence. This was a person who truly cared for others and held no bad sentiments.
"Well, my dad went to help out so I'm stuck here alone." Her new friend smiles.
"Well, if you will permit it, I would love to relieve you from your desolation." She chuckles and informs him that he sounds like a textbook. He chuckles too.
"Well, I was raised this way. My little brother is the one who speaks as, what one would describe, a normal person, although he is hardly normal."
She is surprised to learn he has a little brother, until she realizes that she knows next to nothing about her new acquaintance, except that his name is Hitsugaya Jyuushiro.
She feels as if she needs to learn more about him. After all, she knows the entire life story of all of her other friends – even some of the repugnant details she never wanted to know – although this comes from years of companionship. But still, to build a true friendship, she needs to trust him. And to trust him, she needs to know him.
"Yes. He's rather shy, though please don't tell him I've said that. He doesn't get along well with other people very much; he is just not very trusting."
"Sounds just like my older brother."
"Really? From the short meeting I encountered with him this past week, I would have inferred different." She laughs, remembering her brother's animated behavior, and he laughs along too. It sounds polite and proper, but well used.
"Well, that was a one time deal. You count yourself lucky you got to see that because it only happens every once in a blue moon. Most of the time, he's a depressed loner. Even he knows it!"
"And you?" he asks her, sounding decidedly curious. "What are you usually like?"
The question is innocent, yet to her it seems so unfamiliar that she cannot help but feel embarrassingly timid. No one has ever cared to inquire about her before.
"I'm...just me. What you see is what you get."
"How refreshing," he replies kindly, and she feels her heart thump loudly.
She wonders if she is possibly coming down with something. This is her second time in a hospital this week, and perhaps she has caught one of the many viruses present in the building. One that deregulates the beating of her heart, and redirects all of her blood flow to her cheeks.
She makes a mental note to ask her doctor.
Deciding that it is best to change the topic, she searches around for a subject and notices the clock hanging above the doorway. It reads three o'clock. Visiting hours have only just begun, and this observation opens a gateway for a topic she has been pondering ever since their first meeting.
She asks him for his reason for being in the hospital. It has occurred to her that although they made a promise to meet here, there had been no guarantee that he would show at the right time.
Her companion offers a grim smile before pointing at his clothes.
A feeling of dread twists her heart as she notices the hospital gown he is wearing, identical to ones the many sick patients she had seen on the way to this room had been clothed in. She is at a loss for words, never having been one for comforting words and reassuring gestures.
Her sister has always told her she needs to be more observing and compassionate of others, although that was when she was facing suspension for starting her third fight of the semester, back in eighth grade. She suddenly wishes she had taken her twin's advice.
She is unsure of how to ask the question without sounding heartless. However, he understands her silence.
Tuberculosis, he informs her. The doctors once attempted to treat him with antibiotics, but his immune system is particularly weaker than the average human, proven by the fact that he contracted sickness very easily from other children when younger. The bacteria slowly overcame his protection and spread. As a result, he was admitted into the hospital to be monitored.
She is still unsure of what to say, having never encountered someone living his lifestyle. She awkwardly tries to look sensitive, but not pitying, and definitely not sympathetic. She has learned from years of being a nurse in her family's clinic that claiming to be understanding of someone's harsh conditions, when you can never truly understand, will only be upsetting.
She is saved from the awkward air when a loud voice is heard coming from the room next door – his room.
"Shiro-nii?"
Jyuushiro apparently recognizes the caller, because he replies.
"I'm in here, chibi me!"
The caller follows the sound of his voice and an unfamiliar figure appears in the same doorway her recent friend had been standing in moments before.
Karin is shocked to learn that there are two young men that sport the same white hair color that usually characterizes an old man. The one in the doorway is a lot shorter than Jyuushiro and has very vivid green eyes, but the two look shockingly similar in every other aspect. They look more like twins than she and Yuzu!
She is so caught up in her own analysis that she does not notice the glare she is receiving from the stranger, but is brought out of her thoughts by Jyuushiro's introduction.
"Karin. Meet my baby brother, Hitsugaya Toushiro."
"What's she doing here?" the younger version of her friend asks. Jyuushiro smiles.
"This is my new friend, Kurosaki Karin." The arrival looks unimpressed.
"I know who she is," comes the short reply, and both occupants on the bed look at him in surprise.
"The violent tomboy who's captain of the Karakura High soccer team, right?" It does not sound like a question; he is sure of himself. And he is correct.
"Yeah. How did you know that?" she asks. He rolls his eyes.
"We go to the same school," he informs her airily. She flushes slightly, and is irritated that he speaks as if she is dense. Though she must be to have missed him in the hallways.
Jyuushiro apparently does not feel the tense atmosphere between them because he smiles widely.
"How wonderful," he says. "You two can be such great friends."
She ignores the look she is getting from the stranger at the door; the superior smirk that obviously states that she not get her hopes up, because that's not happening. Instead, she tries to be the bigger person – what better revenge than being seen as the better person in Jyuushiro's eyes? – and grins.
"What a great idea!" she exclaims, purposely sounding overly enthusiastic about the idea that makes her want to upchuck. She turns to Hitsugaya Toushiro. "It's very nice to meet you!"
He realizes she has upstaged him, and she smirks when she notices the look on his face has changed into a scowl.
What she doesn't notice – or chooses to ignore – is the warm feeling she experiences when she notices Jyuushiro beaming in her direction.
Her father chooses to return in that moment, and is closely followed by her doctor, who is profusely thanking him for all of his help. He laughs loudly, and thumps the poor doctor so hard on the back that his glasses become askew on his nose, all the while exclaiming boisterously that there was no need to thank him.
"After all, I did what any muscular, intelligent and devilishly handsome man would do in the situation. Right, my dear and darling daughter?" He begins flexing his arms, and adopts a foolish grin that makes it obvious to the people in the room that he is the type of man to own twelve pairs of overalls, in bright assorted colors, which he chooses to actually wear in public.
She inwardly groans at the skeptical he is making of himself. The doctor looks unsure of how to react., but what angers her most is the triumphant look she is receiving from Toushiro, as if to suggest that it is obvious this foolish man is related to her.
She herself curls her fist tightly, futilely attempting to resist the punch she so badly wants to administer to her father.
In a last ditch effort, she grabs her leg, dramatizing a fake look of pain. Her father suddenly adopts a professional seriousness at remembering his daughter's condition. The doctor is broken out of his trance and informs the two fair headed brothers that they must exit the room in order for him to tend to her injuries peacefully.
She is not sad to see the younger immediately head out, but feels a strange sense of loneliness when Jyuushiro follows. An odd sense of relief washes over her when he turns back.
"Will I ever see you again?" he repeats the same question he had asked during their last meeting.
She ponders his question, and then promises to come visit him the next day, during visiting hours. She has her license; her father has only accompanied her today because she is underage, and not allowed to sign her own medical forms.
A large smile splits out across his face and she returns it. Over his shoulder, she can see the younger Hitsugaya glaring at her, as if she has personally wronged him by agreeing to take up more of his elder brother's time. She resists the urge to stick out her tongue.
I am so unsatisfied with this chapter. I am so sorry to disappoint you guys with this one, but I just needed a chapter in which to explain Jyuushiro's condition and progress his relationship with Karin. Which reminds me, does anyone actually know Ukitake's disease? I've read that it's tuberculosis, but I think it's just a fan assumption.
If you remember, I hinted at Karin and Toushiro's bumpy first meeting in the last chapter, and here it is.
And in case any of you are wondering about Isshin's remark at the beginning of the chapter, apparently rubbing hot mustard oil or cucumbers on a broken foot is suppposedly an old home remedy for helping swelling go down. I'm not denying that it works, but the idea of it sounded so ridiculous that it seemed like something Isshin would suggest.
It seems I'm still experiencing the euphoria of my first published story becasue I still get the jitters everytime I see a review for my story. So please share any thoughts (though I expect to get flames for this chapter - which I will allow because I didn't like this chapter either)!