For the fourth week in a row, Byakuya Kuchiki was being trailed by Renji Abarai. The doing of Uryuu Ishida after finding out about his outburst, no doubt. Ishida knew how to flex his muscle without overstepping. He'd think it were clever if it were not annoying. It was getting to the point where he feared that he was beginning to monopolize the boy's education. He saw marked improvement from the first time that he'd gauged his skills, however. Was that due to the quality of the teacher, or the student's ability to learn?

The first week had been awkward. Their altercation was fresh in their memories. Was it even fair to call it an altercation? Byakuya hadn't even given him the chance to retort. But as time went on, he found their interactions to be less stilted, more fluid, more conversational. It was becoming easier to communicate.

A breath left Renji's lips as he clutched the chart in his hands. It wasn't good news that he bore. A patient's scan had come back, and the aneurysm he'd spotted was enormous. The thing was a ticking time bomb.

"Dr. Kuchiki?" he asked, opening the door to the consultation room. Byakuya was staring at CTs and MRIs for another patient. That one, he could do nothing for.

"Yes?" He took the scans down, and held out his hand for the new ones.

Renji handed them over, and shifted awkwardly on his feet. "Sir, I wanted to apologize for the other week. I allowed my desire to impress you to override my abilities. It won't happen again."

For a moment, Byakuya was quiet. He looked the scans over, then beckoned Renji closer. "Would you recommend embolization or clipping in this case?"

"Clipping." The answer was immediate. "No question. It's too big and too likely to rupture."

Byakuya chuckled to himself. "I want you to see this one up close. Do you mind assisting?"

Renji lit up. "Absolutely! Thank you, sir!"

"Go prep the patient for surgery." Renji's shoes could have started a fire with how quickly he moved. "And Abarai?"

He screeched to a halt.

"I should be apologizing to you. My behavior was reprehensible and a clear overreaction." He took the scans down and tucked them into their envelope.

Renji didn't respond verbally. He just beamed and took off in the direction of their patient's room. Byakuya, on the other hand, had to take a moment, braced against the desk, trying to calm himself down.

He wasn't going to return the crush, that was for certain. Not after what had happened all those years ago. But he did have to admit that Abarai's eagerness, his demeanor.. He was endearing.

Renji was the only one among them experiencing any sense of stability. Rukia had spent a week with Aizen, a week with Urahara. Ukitake had been her favourite, by far. Aizen was amazing, but he was amazing in himself. He didn't like to teach. Urahara was an excellent teacher, but he was definitely eccentric. Ukitake spoke to her in a way that she understood, let her try before he stepped in to help, and gave her time to ask all of the questions she wanted.

"That's because he's a Pediatric Surgeon. He's good with kids," Shuuhei pointed out.

Rukia gave him a blank stare. "Are you calling me a child?"

"I'm insinuating that you might need a nap and a juice box."

Izuru held Rukia back as she reached across the table to strangle him. "I think we all need naps," he grumbled. He dropped his classmate, however, when Dr. Ishida made his way over to the table.

"Why do I always interrupt weird moments?" he wondered aloud.

"Actually, Dr. Hitsugaya interrupts the really weird ones.."

He pretended not to hear that. "Anyway. Kira, you're on Cardio."

Izuru squeaked.

"Not with Ichimaru. You'll be shadowing Dr. Otoribashi today. You need a change of pace. Kuchiki, you're with Ichimaru. Lung transplant for a Cystic Fibrosis patient, should be good." He turned to Shuuhei with a dark look.

"Hisagi, since Abarai is monopolizing Dr. Kuchiki's time, you will be serving a Neuro rotation with Dr. Kurotsuchi. Just.. don't make any sudden movements, and try not to stare."

Okay, Hisagi wasn't one that could be warned in such a way. He was going to stare. He was going to make sudden movements, all because Dr. Ishida had told him explicitly not to. It was a curse.

"Also, please let Hinamori and Abarai know that, this Sunday, the surgical staff is expected to attend our yearly Gala. All elective surgeries are canceled, and the floor will be staffed by a small group of select surgeons. You are welcome to bring a date, and don't be surprised if you are asked by a doctor who pities you. The Board of Trustees really likes to think we take this seriously, even if we do treat it like a prom." He rolled his eyes.

"It's pretentious. But if I have to go, so do you. And don't forget to warn Hinamori and Abarai."

The three of them shared an unbelieving expression as Dr. Ishida walked away.

"Hey, wanna go to the prom with me, Izuru?" Rukia asked with a grin.

Izuru stood up and walked away without a word.

Meeting new doctors was less nerve-wracking the more Shuuhei did it. In fact, he barely bothered to introduce himself at all. He just asked the closest nurse, grabbed a chart, and went with it. Interns were expendable and interchangeable. The thought would offend him if that feeling hadn't been beaten out of him.

"Hi, Nurse Ise," he greeted, on autopilot. "Can I have Dr. Kurotsuchi's charts?"

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline as she handed the chart over. "If you insist," she mumbled. That poor kid had no idea what was going to happen. She was going to stay close, though, and monitor the situation.

And by monitor the situation, she just really wanted to see his reaction.

With Uryuu's prior warning fresh in his mind, he opened the door to the patient's room slowly, peeking in as if something was going to jump out at him. He sighed with a smile. There was a very pretty redheaded doctor- a Resident, maybe- standing to the side of another doctor. The other doctor's back was turned, and Shuuhei couldn't see his face. No matter. The face he was looking at was pretty enough to make up for whatever old man he had to look at.

"Dr. Hisagi! Finally!" The male doctor's voice was shrill and startling..

..But not as startling as his face.

How was that face makeup professional? How was it sanitary? The man's entire face had been painted white, with the inner portion filled in with black. His eyes were large, beady, and browless. His lips were thin, revealing much of his teeth.

Shuuhei screamed. Not only did he scream, but he tried to run out of the room, and fell flat on his ass.

"Dr. Hisagi! What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "This patient has just had brain surgery! You can't be screaming near him! Well, lucky for you, he's in a coma.." He gestured for the other doctor.

"Dr. Inoue, take him to get my CT results! I'll be in my lab."

Panting, Shuuhei scrambled to his feet after Dr. Kurotsuchi stepped over his body to exit. The female doctor who had been observing gave a little giggle.

"Don't worry! You get used to it! Dr. Hitsugaya still gets startled when he sees Dr. Kurotsuchi," she smiled, picking up the patient's chart. "Anyway, it's rare that he comes out of his lab. Not many cases are interesting enough for him, so he says. I think it's because Dr. Kuchiki has a better rapport with patients- oh, are you okay? You look like you're going to faint! I have a juice box, if you'd like one."

He was never going to mock his classmates again.

As he followed the woman to the lab, he caught sight of Momo walking close to the heels of another doctor- Aizen, wasn't it? The girl was starstruck. The air of indifference that surrounded Aizen was strong enough to choke.

"Dr. Hinamori," he smiled, turning to the girl. "Please go do the post-op exams on my patients in 56-C and 73-D."

She smiled and nodded. "Absolutely, Dr. Aizen!"

As soon as she was out of sight, Aizen let out a breath and looked down at the chart he'd put down on the nurse's station desk. He signed a page before placing it in his stack and turned to Dr. Inoue and Dr. Hisagi.

"Dr. Inoue, please go do my post-ops."

She looked confused. "But you've just asked Dr. Hinamori to do them?"

"The girl is distracted and brainless. Please make sure she doesn't kill anyone."

"B-"

"Now, Dr. Inoue."

With no more than a pissed off grunt, Dr. Inoue stormed after Dr. Hinamori. Shuuhei watched, stunned, blood pressure rising.

Aizen was smart enough to know what was going through the man's mind. "I can guarantee that the other doctors double check your work," he rolled his eyes. "Go back to whatever business you were assigned to."

Red clouded Hisagi's vision. He'd heard, of course, how egotistical some doctors could be, but Aizen was in a whole different league. Dr. Hitsugaya was blunt. Dr. Kuchiki was cold. Dr. Ayasegawa was crude. But Dr. Aizen was a dick. Plain and simple.

"Actually, sir, they trust us with simple tasks. It's how our competency grows."

Aizen flipped the next chart closed.

"No. Scut is how you learn. Finish what you were doing, then sign all of these charts, file lab results. Do not go near a patient."

Hisagi looked outraged. "I'm not on your service."

"You want Dr. Ishida to know you're being insubordinate?" He raised his eyebrows. "Do as you're told, intern."

It took every ounce of strength to not throttle the man. It wasn't worth his career.

Their relationship wasn't a well-kept secret. That was no excuse for overt public displays of affection, however. It was only in the privacy of a dark on-call room that they came together on hospital property. Uryuu ran his hands over Ichigo's shoulders, fingertips digging into the muscles. The other man was laid face-down on the bed in the on-call room, looking as content as a happy cat in the sun.

"You know, the hospital should really provide massage service. We do hard work," Ichigo purred, snuggling his face into the pillow he was clutching.

Uryuu's eyebrows rose. "You really want the hospital to provide this? You want a large, Swedish man named Sven doing this?" He ran his hand over Ichigo's backside.

"If he gets the knots out- ow!" He laughed as Uryuu slapped his ass. "I mean, you do things they can't," he admitted, rolling onto his back with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Don't you have a surgery?"

"Hip replacement in an hour. I've got time. What about you?"

"Craniotomy in thirty."

Ichigo grinned, wiggling out of his scrub bottoms. "Sounds like we can squeeze this in.. you up for it? I am."

"I can see that," Uryuu chuckled, kneeling on the floor and pulling Ichigo's hips over the side of the bed. He reached out to hold Ichigo's erection steady, and licked once up the side.

Knock. Knock.

"Shit," Ichigo hissed. He held Uryuu's head in place, however. "Who is it?"

"Uh, Dr. Hisagi!" the reply came. The handle jiggled, but the door didn't open.

"What do you need?" Ichigo hissed as Uryuu took him into his mouth. Fucking tease.

Hisagi hesitated. "Do you know where Dr. Ishida is? Dr. Aizen took me off Dr. Kurotsuchi's service to do his busywork."

Uryuu rolled his eyes and shook his head. He didn't answer- his mouth was full.

Ichigo clutched his lover's hair. "That bastard," he groaned. "Just.. wanna scrub in with me on my hip replacement in an hour?"

"I-I'd love to!"

"Great. Go away. I'm sleeping."

"Thank you so much, Dr. Kurosaki!"

"Yeah.." His voice trailed off and his head rolled back. When he was sure that Hisagi wasn't listening in anymore, he stroked Uryuu's hair down and ran his fingertips over his cheek.

"You're fucking bad," he laughed, hissing with pleasure.

Uryuu pulled his mouth away. "I could stop."

"You wouldn't dare."

Dr. Otoribashi was everything that Izuru Kira had ever wanted in a teacher. He was calm, patient, gentle, and not at all creepy. He was Dr. Ichimaru's opposite, in that regard. His approach to patient care was commendable, and he was very supportive of his learning.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Dr. Otoribashi," Dr. Kira smiled as they scrubbed in together, getting ready for a mitral valve replacement.

"Oh, don't thank me, Dr. Kira," he waved, reaching for his guitar-covered scrub cap. It took two nurses to help, but all of his immense, curly blonde hair fit into the cap. "I am just a small component in your journey. You will learn from so many skilled doctors here. I have great hope for success in your future."

Izuru blushed as he started to clean under his fingernails.

Conversation was easy in Dr. Otoribashi's Operating Room. "Rose," he corrected. "Otoribashi is such a long name, isn't it? Please, call me Rose."

Dr. Ichimaru made him feel.. frozen. His presence chilled his heart. It was as addicting as it was terrifying. He'd never felt that before. Normal people would be deterred, but he couldn't help but be drawn to the man. But Rose.. Rose was so different. He was warm. He was sincere. There was so little mystery. He'd been in the presence of the man for only a few hours, and he already felt safe and comfortable. Both were excellent, world-class Cardiothoracic Surgeons, but yet they were night and day. Rose was the sun. He was bright and straightforward. Gin was the moon, cold and unknown.

"Dr. Kira?" Rose's voice brought Izuru out of his thoughts.

"Yes, sir?"

"I don't mean to presume, but would you like to accompany me to the Gala this Sunday?" he asked. "I haven't had anyone to dance with at this event since my Residency. Mostly because my friends and colleagues don't like to dance," he chuckled.

Izuru was taken aback. Really? So fast? It was a work-related function. It would be acceptable.. Expected, even.

"...Yes. I would like that very much."

Rose smiled in relief. "Excellent. Do you mind going to update this patient's family?" he asked. "He now has a wonderfully functional heart."

Izuru was floating on air as he made his way out of the OR. He threw out his mask, step light as he wandered off to the waiting room. Then, out of the darkness stepped an all-too-familiar figure.

"Dr. Ichimaru! Aren't you supposed to be doing a lung transplant?"

Gin reached out to stroke Izuru's cheek. "Now, Izuru, you know that there have to be lungs available for a transplant, and you know how hard they are to keep breathin'.. We couldn't do the surgery today."

"..Oh."

He shifted awkwardly. Gin was, honestly, the last person that he wanted to see at that point in time. He felt like he was cheating on some… imaginary relationship they had. Sex wasn't a relationship. Izuru was being silly.

Gin ran his fingers over Izuru's shoulders as he walked past.

"See you at the Gala."

..Oh, shit.

"So you're saying there's no lungs?"

Laid out in front of Rukia was Kaien Shiba. He was the sickest person she'd seen that was still breathing. See, Kaien had Cystic Fibrosis. Mucus clogged pretty much every internal system he had, from his intestines, to his pancreas, and especially his lungs. 'A cesspool in yer chest,' Dr. Ichimaru had called them. Most people with the disease didn't reach their fortieth birthday. Kaien was thirty.

Rukia grimaced. "No lungs. Sorry, Mr. Shiba."

He waved his hand. "Isn't the first time I've come in to see The Snake without any benefit. Lungs expire faster than fish on a hot day."

It was too bad. Kaien had been dealing with broken lungs all of his life. He couldn't have a snack without a handful of pills. He took pride in showing off the amount of mucus he'd coughed up. People like him, who suffered through life, were Rukia's inspiration. They were why she'd decided to go to medical school.

"So, what do we do next?" he asked, leaning back against the bed. She turned around and wheeled over a nebulizer machine.

"How about we give this a try?"

He groaned. "Let the puking commence."

Cases like Kaien's were exhausting. There was nothing they could do. He wasn't a child anymore. The bacteria thriving in his lungs were immune to pretty much every antibiotic on the planet. He was borderline diabetic, way too skinny, and couldn't take the stairs if his life depended on it. He was racing the clock. Without new lungs, he was going to die.

"Kuchiki. He likes you," Dr. Ichimaru chirped, interrupting her from notating her patient's chart. "He made the last intern cry. You're stuck with Shiba until he dies or gets new lungs, whichever happens first."

Rukia was confused. They'd barely spoken, what gave him the impression that Shiba liked her? "..Yes, sir." That wasn't depressing at all. Oh well. He was just a patient, wasn't he? If he got lungs, great. She'd get to scrub in on an amazing surgery. If not? Well.. there would be another one. There always was.

The rear driver's side door to Shuuhei's car slammed shut as Izuru dove in, halfway landing in Momo's lap.

"'Bout damn time! Where were you?" Renji complained. "I'm scrubbing in on a craniectomy in the morning, I need my beauty sleep."

"...I'm sandwiched between two men," Izuru muttered.

"..Excuse me?" Shuuhei looked behind himself at Izuru.

"I should go with Dr. Ichimaru, right?" Izuru fretted. "I mean, I've slept with him. But Dr. Otoribashi is so much nicer…"

Shuuhei turned back around. "Are we really saying that Izuru has two dates and I don't even have one?"

"I have a date," Renji volunteered.

"Who?" Rukia and Momo asked in unison.

Renji put his feet up on the dashboard. "It's a surprise."

Momo waved her hand. "Don't worry, Shuuhei. I'm sure it's a very professional event. It doesn't matter if you're asked, you'll get to dance with someone there!"

Rukia raised her eyebrow at Momo. "...You don't have a date, either, do you?"

"It doesn't matter."

Shuuhei turned back to Momo. "Wanna go with me?" he asked. She pointed at herself, making sure he was speaking to her, and nodded enthusiastically.

Rukia's jaw dropped. "Wait. Does everyone have a date except for me? No- hey! Turn this car around, Shuuhei! We have to go back! This is bullshit!"