Chapter Four
Black Jack slowly took Kiba's short kimono off her shoulders, thankful of the bandages she had wrapped around her chest. He held the end of the stethoscope in one hand warming it as he used the other to cover her with a blanket to keep her warm.
He leant over her and gently put the metal onto her skin, listening first to her heart rate before moving it down so he could listen to her lungs.
"Breathe in as deep as you can," he instructed her, as she did so he listened to the sounds her lungs were making and frowned. He moved the end to the other side and asked her to breathe in again. As she began to breathe in her breath caught in her throat and began to cough. He held her for a moment against the floor trying to listen to her coughing but she fought him desperately. He let go the instant she began to choke and helped her turn onto her side, his stethoscope still pressed to her chest.
Pinako ran into the room and spread out a cloth o the floor. Blood splattered from her mouth as she coughed uncontrollably, her hands gripping the blanket that had been placed over her. Pained whimpers slipped through her gritted teeth as she gasped for the precious air she desperately needed.
Megumi slammed the door open and ran in, her hand slipped under her and lifted her up so that she was sat, the cloth in her hand gently wiping off the blood from Kiba's face.
Kiba snarled in pain before weakly pushing Megumi away as she knelt, her head on the floor, holding her arms around her body as if she was trying to hold herself together.
"There's nothing more I can do for her, other than letting her stay here for her last few days," Megumi said, her sad eyes looking at the red haired woman who was curled in pain, her coughing becoming less. Jack looked at the fox like woman with a thunderous expression on his face.
"So, you have already given up on her," he murmured, Megumi slapped him, the harsh sound echoing around the room.
"Sensei," Pinako whispered, tears springing to her eyes as she watched Jack's cheek redden. His eyes hardened dangerously for a moment before he looked at Megumi who was weeping, the female doctor quickly stood up and left the room, shutting the doors behind her.
Jack started when he heard a thud behind him and turned to see that Kiba was now lying on her side, facing him.
"Don't worry about it," she said, her voice rasping from the attack she had just suffered, "I already know she can't do anything. Medicine isn't very advanced at the moment; the higher ups' of this country were too involved in the war to spend their money on something like the development of medicine until 10 years ago. Even now they are too concerned with lining their own pockets rather than taking care of their subjects."
Black Jack stared at her, soaking in the information she was disclosing to him. He noticed shameful glint in her eye and suddenly he knew her secret.
"You know what's wrong with you, don't you?" he whispered, Pinako gasped and span round just in time to see a guilty grimace flash across her face, she nodded.
"I know that your lungs are filled with liquid but you don't have any symptoms of any disease that would cause it," he said, she smiled at him.
"it's not a disease, it's an old wound," she whispered, her eyes flickering in and out of focus as she felt exhaustion take over her body.
Jack walked over to her and gently picked her up to lie her back down on the futon.
"No," she whispered, "Prop me up against the wall, it eases my pain."He nodded and did as she asked before wrapping the blanket around her. She mouthed her thanks, too exhausted to even speak and her eyelids slowly closed, hiding her ocean blue eyes from view.
"Sensei," Pinako whispered, fear in her eyes. Jack's face creased into a frown and approached her when she beckoned. She pointed at the floor where Kiba had been knelt coughing, his eyes widened as he saw the sheer amount of blood that the small red haired woman had coughed up.
"Pinako, go ask either Megumi-san or Kenshin if we can have a rag and a bucket of water. We need to clear this up before it stains," he whispered, Pinako ran off, silently opening and closing the door. Jack sat down next to Kiba, making sure that he didn't wake her and watched for any changes in her breathing patterns.
10 minutes later, Pinako crept back in, followed by Kenshin who quickly started clearing up the blood on the floor, clearly Pinako had told him what had happened in the room and wasn't surprised as he already knew that Kiba would vomit blood during her coughing fits.
"Is she alright?" he whispered, the worry he felt for her obvious in his eyes. Black Jack nodded and sighed.
"Yeah, she's resting now," he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the headache which was beginning to make itself known.
"Sensei," the red haired man caught Jack's attention, "I'll watch her. Please, get some rest." Black Jack opened his mouth and was about to argue when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see Pinako rubbing her eyes in an effort to stay awake. He smiled down at her and pulled her into his arms; Kenshin gently put a blanket over them before sitting on the other side of Kiba and settled himself down for a sleepless night.
Black Jack woke roughly two hours before dawn when a weight suddenly dropped onto his shoulder. He turned to see a head of red hair and realised that Kiba must have slipped sideways in her sleep.
"She hasn't made a sound all night," Kenshin whispered, his head drooping tiredly.
"Thank you for watching over us," he said as he wrapped Pinako in the blanket that was covering both of them and laid her on the floor, "surely you would want to be asleep right now, I'll keep watch now." Kenshin nodded and slowly moved his tired bones out of the room and towards the room he shared with Kaoru.
As soon as he was sure that Kenshin was gone, Jack slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around the frail woman and positioned her so that her back was resting on one of his arms and he head was nestled in his chest.
"Pinako won't be very happy if she wakes to see you holding me like this," he started at the voice and looked down to see Kiba smiling up at him. He sighed and brushed a lock of hair out of her face.
"You said you knew what is ailing you, will you tell me?"he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I have internal bleeding," he stared at her in shock, "When I arrived in this time I was near to a battle field. They fired a volley of arrows and unfortunately I was hit," with a slow movement she motioned to a small scar on her back, "A medic found me and tried to remove it but fortunately for me the shaft came out leaving the arrow head wedged inside me."
"Fortunately?" Black Jack asked in disbelief.
"The arrow head pierced my lung, if the medic had pulled out the head as well, I would have died soon after from heavy internal bleeding. The arrow head is wedged in my lung so tightly its almost like a plug; however if I move in a certain way, it displaces the metal allowing blood to enter my lung and hence the coughing fits. It's just my body's way of keeping itself from drowning," she whispered. Black Jack frowned in concentration for a moment as he took what she had said on board. He suddenly felt a flick to his forehead and looked down to see Kiba smiling at him.
"You frown too much," she said before she started to giggle quietly. He marvelled at how lively her laugh sounded despite the shadow of death she had been leaving which for goodness knows how long.
He suddenly noticed her hand tighten around his shirt as she began to cough; before she could pull away from him he wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"It's okay, I've got you," he said gently as he held her, feeling each spasm her muscles went through as he coughing shook her entire body. She went silent despite the spasms her body were going through and he realised that she didn't want to get any blood on his shirt.
"It's okay," he whispered again, "You can let it out." She shook her head, Jack lifted an arm from around her waist and placed it on the top of her head.
"Let it all out," he whispered. She pushed her face into his shirt and whimpered. Tears began to flow down her face as she cried for the first time in a very long time. He held her as he felt her blood and tears soak into his shirt, staining it with her life.
"I can save you," he felt her still when he whispered that, "I have the skills to remove the arrow head and close up your wound."
"I had almost given up hope," she whimpered, scarcely believing that this man, whom she saved what seemed so long ago, would return the favour, in a time when everyone had given up on her and treated her as if she were a being made of glass.
"Almost," he hummed, "that's a good sign, it means that you haven't given up hope just yet." He grinned in the dark. She sniffed and let out a chuckle, she turned her head and looked at the faint light coming through the paper of the door.
"Can we watch the dawn?" she asked him, he smiled and nodded. Jack stood and picked her up, slid the door open and was greeted with a sky that had been painted with so many colours it was breathtaking. He slid the door closed behind him and sat with his back resting on a pillar and Kiba resting against his chest, her head tucked under his chin. He pulled the blanket around them and wrapped his arms around her to keep her warm. She sighed and closed her eyes, letting the warm light caress her face, Jack smiled for a moment before closing his own eyes, his face relaxing as he fell asleep.
He woke to the sound of footsteps walking towards them and sleepily looked up at Kaoru and Kenshin as they approached him. He grimaced when he shifted, the pole digging into his back. He coughed painfully and grimaced again.
"Sensei, are you alright?" Kenshin walked up to the man who was lying on the floor. Jack looked up and tried to speak but he couldn't find his voice at that moment. He nodded slowly, a frown appearing on his face.
"He doesn't look so good. Kenshin, I think we should move him inside," Kaoru said gently, Kenshin nodded. Jack sighed and leaned his head back on the pillar and tightened his grip on the woman asleep in his arms. The rest of his body was still asleep and wasn't reacting to the commands he was giving it.
Kaoru lifted up the blanket and gasped, catching sight of the blood on his shirt as well as Kiba lying there unmoving with her eyes closed, blood staining her chin where she had forgotten to wipe it.
"Kenshin," Kaoru started before tearing up and a sob cut off what she was going to say. She pulled away the blanket to let her red haired lover see what was hidden beneath. The man's eyes widened and crouched down beside the doctor.
"I'm going to touch her, okay?"Kenshin said slowly and clearly as he slowly reached out his hand. Jack looked at him as if he had grown two heads, not understanding why the man was treating him so delicately. Kenshin put his hand Kiba's neck and Jack felt her hand, which was clutching his shirt, tighten, so on instinct he tightened his arms around her. Kenshin froze for a second, checking Black Jack's eyes for any sign of attack before carrying on what he was going to do. He placed two fingers on his neck and searched for her pulse. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on his task then sighed in relief.
"It's fine, she's only sleeping," he whispered, Kaoru broke down into tears of happiness and hugged Kenshin who Oro'ed.
"I could have told you that," Jack rasped out, his body finally deciding to wake up. Kenshin jumped in surprise before he began to laugh.
"I thought that you were in shock, that I did. You weren't moving or speaking and you clutched at her so tightly when I tried to take her pulse," the red head shook his head, "Can you blame us for fearing the worst, after all that's happened." Jack snorted but didn't make a move to get up, he didn't want to disturb her now she was getting some rest. He knew that she would need as much rest as possible for the surgery he was going to perform on her.