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"Haruka-san~!" The demon yelled, kicking my door open. I jerked awake, falling out of the chair I was in. Akatsuki looked down at my position on the ground, raising his eyebrows. "Why on earth are you down there?"
I rose to my feet quickly. "Is there another test already? I'll be there in a moment!" I scrambled around the room, sliding my fingers through my hair in a vain attempt to brush it. I'd taken several trials- and that's exactly what they were- to apply for the Healer job already, and they didn't give a single care for the time, springing tests at every hour of the day. They'd fire off questions nonstop, about every subject imaginable, almost always a pair of advisors, one writing down my responses with an unreadable expression. They tripped me up in the last test; I mixed up the different social offences that can be made with fox and wolf demons. "But not this time, no sir." I muttered, gathering together my notes, while the warrior just laughed.
"Relax, Haruka-san." I looked up in confusion. His hand dangled something in front of my face, grinning triumphantly. I quirked an eyebrow, hesitantly accepting it. It was a simple but sturdy chain, with a pendant spinning from the bottom.
I held it up to the light, seeing that the pendant was fairly simple, like the chain. It was a metal rectangle, etched carefully with kanji. 'Haruka, Head Healer of the House of the West.' My eyes widened, and I looked at him in shock.
"Congratulations, Hani-sama." He grinned. "That's your identification necklace, for entering the castle. Nice, ne?" He poked the necklace, watching the light shine off of it as it swung through the air.
I pulled the chain over my neck, letting the pendant fall down to my chest. I couldn't think of anything to say, and Akatsuki continued talking, clapping his hands and looking around the room. "Well, the Head Healer can't go around living in this room. I'll have your things moved to your new room while we're out."
"Out?" He pulled me to my feet.
"Well, you've got to get introduced to your duties, ne? Get ready, I'll wait in the hallway." I hurried through the motions, and he was whistling when I finally left my room, pulling my hair up into its usual style and holding it up with my comb. The demon made a face, looking me up and down.
"Right, first things first. You need some healer-oriented clothes. You can't be walking around in clothes like that as an official." You were the one that picked these clothes out. I thought bitterly as he tugged me along.
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I tried not to laugh as the orange-haired demon sighed in disappointment. "All that time and you just come out in the same style as last time." He said, sounding depressed. I looked down at the yukata, fashioned just like the ones I preferred wearing: the hem nearly up to my knees to make it easier to pick herbs, the front slightly longer than the back, brushing the back of my knees, the collar slightly more open than the average yukata, and made out of the least-elaborate fabric I could find, an imprint of the House of the West's seal, a crescent moon with a flower- light green, to show my role as a healer- on the back. Something that Akatsuki seemed to disapprove of.
"You know, for a warrior, you're very concerned about fashion. If I didn't know any better, I'd think-"
He snorted, seeming to already be over my choice in clothing. "Why don't we look around the castle? You're going to need to be able to get around it quickly."
And quickly was how he showed me, speeding along the halls and pointing out every room and its purpose, listing out names given to the areas and rooms. I realized, as we moved around, that the entire castle was very organized, with no more servants then necessary, the entire estate on one floor, and I was able to make a vague mental map easily. The lord's study was slightly apart from everything, along with the council room- where I'd been given my tests- and the lord's private rooms. The guests had plenty of room to the east end of the castle, the kitchens, spice garden, main dining hall, and minor dining hall to the south, the library and ward's rooms close to Sesshomaru-sama's, to the west. The main garden was closer to the north, surrounded by a high wall for safety, with the servant's quarters, guard's barracks, sparring centers, hospital, and my quarters in the center of it all, connected to each room by a main hallway. The secondary garden was connected directly to my room and the hospital, both of which were also closely connected, in case of an emergency.
The hospital had rows of mats going down the wall, with a section in the corner for working with herbs and a table for paperwork, a cabinet in the wall filled with bowls and supplies, and with just a yell I could have a guard or servant there to help me. The garden was amazing, larger than either of the other gardens, with rows upon rows of plants, a constant flow of water coming in, and tarps near the walls able to be pulled over the garden in case of rain. It was like a small forest in some places, with trees and plants growing together perfectly, the entire place made to accommodate the plants' needs. Akatsuki and I sat down on one of the chairs leaning against the walls.
"All of the rooms down this hall are used for private caring for patients, and my room is down the hall, in case you were wondering. So, impressed with your new job yet?" He grinned, fangs flashing, and I nodded. "Well, you should probably learn all about it, so you don't get surprised early on. As the Head Healer, you've got several duties to acknowledge." He absently leaned extremely far back on his chair, balancing easily as I waited for him to fall. "First of all, you have to authenticate all new spices used by the kitchens. Akilah had that job originally, and you saw how that turned out. You also have to attend all official meetings with Sesshomaru-sama and his advisors. Technically, you could say that Ayumu was taking over the role as the Health advisor until your position was filled, but now that's up to you. I have to know if you go anywhere, what with me being your guard in all, but you probably already knew that. You're in charge of restocking our herbs and plants when we start to run low, just mention it during a meeting and they'll give you a budget for buying more. You're allowed, at the most, four assistants or apprentices, and they're allowed only one apprentice themselves. Oh, and you have to be there to greet visitors with the other advisors." Oh, was that all?
He grinned, landing on all four feet with a thunk. "Whew, I think that was it. Blech, so many rules to follow... Yep, that's it." He nodded, looking proud.
"How will I know when a meeting's going on?"
"Ah, they send a messenger at least an hour or so before hand. There's only meetings when Sesshomaru-sama is around though."
I tilted my head to the side curiously. "He's not usually here?"
"Not sometimes. He leaves occasionally with Rin-chan and Jaken, but returns regularly. Oh!" He hit himself in the head. "He also mills around the castle, making sure everyone's doing their jobs and checking up on the employees. Don't be worried if you bump into him." He smiled, as if that was a simple thing.
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The last stack of papers thunked on the table, and I sighed. Apparently, the first thing I had to do as the Head Healer is review over medical records, and I'd never been more thankful for the fact that youkai kept such extensive records. It may have taken nearly all day to go over, but I'd finished, making sure to keep the papers organized and neatly sorted on my desk, and the detailed records were a nice change compared to the few and far between records humans kept. More often than not, they just went with what they remembered, leaving huge holes for me to guess at. Here, though...
I put the last stack in the medical chest, locking it securely. I stretched slightly, turning and heading for the garden. The former head had the garden sorted by importance, healing herbs immediately out the door, poisonous ones towards the back. I recognized all of them, the youkai plants first and foremost, with the ningen plants toward the middle, likely not considered as important in comparison. I went down the rows of plants, checking to see which there seemed to be less of. Of course, I was going to have to see myself which ones were used more often, but at the moment there were more than enough of most of the herbs.
From the back of the garden, I heard voices in the other room, and someone yelled. "Healer!" I quickly navigated through the garden, running into the hospital. Several of the guards were being carried in and laid on the mats on the floor, groaning and grimacing in pain. Ayumu and another youkai I recognized as one of the advisors were standing there, waiting for me.
"What happened?" I asked shortly, kneeling next to the closest guard and checking his heart beat. The youkai groaned, looking like he was trying his best not to move.
"Training exercise. Sesshomaru-sama was sparring with some of them." The advisor responded, and I shook my head, grabbing the youkai's arm gently, prodding at the muscles there. He hissed, barring his teeth at me. I ignored him, pulling on his arm to get it to stretch out. He yanked it back, cradling his arm to his body and growling, a red tint going over his eyes. I narrowed my eyes.
"Now stop that." I said sharply, and the demon looked slightly surprised as I turned back to the advisors. "It looks like it's just badly bruised muscles. They should be out of here in no time. How many of them are there?" I looked over the other guards, heading toward the garden when I confirmed that they all had the same problem.
"About thirteen." The advisor said, his voice carrying as I started collecting the herbs I needed. I crushed the herbs, carefully mixing them into a thick paste, scraping it into several canisters and taking over half an hour to make enough for all of them, while the two uninjured demons just watched. I carried one of the canisters and several bandages to the youkai I'd looked over before, and he looked at me warily as I sat down next to his mat.
"I need to put these on your bruises, to make sure that you recover quickly. Or you can do it, if you feel like moving." I waited for the demon to decide, and he narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes, slathering some of the past onto my arm to show that it didn't do anything wrong. He looked at something over my shoulder, likely the two demons behind me, and then nodded, slowly. He hissed quietly as I slathered on the paste, his arm jerking slightly. I made quick work of his bruised muscles, moving on to the next guard similarly. All of them treated me with suspicion, but a quick look at the demons behind me and they grudgingly allowed me to do my work. Some growled insults and threats quietly, just loud enough for me to hear, but I ignored them, continuing my job. One, however, was insistent on not allowing me to treat her, no matter what I or the advisors said.
"Don't touch me, filthy ningen." she hissed angrily, shrinking against the wall. I narrowed my eyes at her, hand still held out.
"You need my help if you want to make it to your post later. Quick healing or no, your muscles will become stiff and it will take at least a day, maybe longer, for you to heal on your own. And even then-"
She growled. "I don't care. Just leave me be, I'll heal on my own."
I sighed. "Don't be stubborn. I'll leave you the paste if you want, and you can put it on yourself or have someone else help you." I vaguely realized that she was the female guard that had been in front of the council chamber last week. I remembered thinking that she was familiar at the time, but still couldn't recall from where.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I have no intention of accepting anything you've made, Dokusatsu-sha." I raised my eyebrows. 'Poisoner?'
"Er, you realize that I not only put the paste on myself, but have put it on several of your fellow guards, and there's been no negative effect whatsoever, right?" Someone laughed behind me, and I saw Akatsuki standing there, grinning.
"You might as well give it up, Haruka-san. Aoi here still hasn't forgiven you for knocking us out when we tried to talk to you." Ah. So that was where I recognized her from. She was the partner that I'd poisoned so that I could get away, several months ago. Oops.
I glanced back at the smiling demon. "Would you mind convincing her to take the medicine? I don't have to give it to her, but she does need to take it." He nodded, walking over to talk to the female demon quietly while I continued giving the medicine to the other guards. Some merely allowed me to leave the paste there, but most just allowed me to help them grudgingly. Akatsuki met me just as I finished, grinning regretfully.
"Sorry, she's not budging on this." I nodded, considering other alternatives. I could always have Akilah do it, but, to be honest, I really didn't like him. Maybe it was the arrogance, or the fact that I'm pretty sure he was planning on killing me in my sleep. Who knows? I could also drug her and apply the paste while she was asleep, but I suppose that wasn't the most healer-like thing I could do.
"I'll figure it out later." I said, partly to myself, and then turned to Ayumu and the other youkai. "So, should I be expecting something like this to happen regularly?" I gestured towards the guards, some of which were helping each other with the medicine.
"Sesshomaru-sama likes to make sure the guards are performing at their best. He only pushes them to this level occasionally." The advisor shrugged.
"This isn't all that bad, considering what he's done before." Ayumu said. "What do you plan to do about Aoi?"
"Hm. From what little I saw, she has moderate bruises on her arms, legs, and mid-section. I suppose, without the herbal paste, she'll recover enough to leave within two days or so, and will fully recover several days after that. So long as she doesn't try to kill me and nothing else comes up, she can stay here until she can leave." I shrugged, and Ayumu quirked his eyebrows.
"You aren't going to force her to take the medicine?"
"Ordinarily, I probably would have just drugged her and put on the paste myself, but I decided that it wasn't necessary, considering that she wasn't in any immediate danger from a few bruises." The other advisor looked shocked at my confession.
"Drugged her? You would have drugged one of my guards?" He asked, sounding slightly outraged. Ah, so he was the one that would usually be training these youkai.
"Would you prefer that your guards be killed if they've been poisoned but don't accept my remedies?" He opened his mouth to reply, but I just rolled my eyes and continued. "Yes, I would have drugged her, because the moment you brought her in here she was my patient. If you have a problem with that, you can bring it up with Sesshomaru-sama." I smiled slightly, and saw Ayumu nod slightly to himself as I turned around, heading back into the garden to continue cataloguing the herbs.
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