Author's Note: ANNOUNCEMENT: Okay, I've decided as a way to show my appreciation for my lovely reviewers, I'm now going to randomly select ten reviewers every chapter and send them an additional omake. They won't be too long, definitely under 500 words, and they're just going to be extra scenes that didn't quite fit into the chapter. So…extra motivation to leave a review, muahaha (yeah, I'm a shameless review whore. Like, I would NEVER withhold a chapter for extra reviews, but I figure a small reward wouldn't hurt either).
Also, I've decided to do a fanfic rec every chapter. To anyone looking for a short, well-written Bleach fic, I highly recommend Parenting Made Easy with Zaraki Kenpachi by Peroxidepest17. It was actually what inspired me to write this entire story in the first place; hence, the recommendation. If you have the time, check out their other fics as well (I'm a particular fan of their Squad 11-centric fics including By the Sword, In the Line of Duty, and Infamy).
And now onto the actual chapter- in which Miwa learns the art of dissection, Hisana's family is scarily overprotective, and I bullshit a lot of healing kido terminology.
"Gah! Shishou, did you see that? I swear its leg just twitched!" Miwa shrieked, pointing at the very still, very dead frog lying on the table. I sighed, resisting the urge to massage my temples. Maybe I should have waited another month before starting dissections, but Miwa had insisted that she was ready. And, well, it had been four months since her training had started. Without any access to textbooks or anatomy pictures, there was only so much I could teach her without demonstrating on an actual animal. She was far from the skill level required for me to trust her with an actual person, and it wasn't like there was an abundance of dead bodies for her to work on, so the best way for her to see and learn how a body worked was to experiment on dead animals—in this case, a frog.
"I promise you, Miwa, that frog is very, very dead. You don't have to worry about hurting it. Now make an incision at the cloaca, right between its legs just like I showed you." I pointed to the neat incision I'd made on my own frog, right next to hers. Miwa winced, but picked up a scalpel timidly and slowly cut where I pointed. I eyed her incision critically. It was shallow, barely more than a scratch really, and sloppy from where she'd hesitated before pressing forward.
"Again. You aren't going to be able to open it up like that," I said. The second time she showed more confidence—still wasn't ideal but it'd do.
"Good. Now I want you to make a transverse cut just under the head and another one across the hip region," I continued, demonstrating on my own frog. "After that, you just reach in…" I resisted the urge to grimace, missing the days when latex-gloves were a thing. I'd brought alcohol to sterilize our hands after, but it just wasn't the same. "…and fold the flaps back, just like this."
"That is the grossest thing I have ever seen in my life," Rukia remarked, looking slightly ill as she observed the frog's gastrointestinal tract. On the other hand, Miwa seemed to have gotten over most of her reservations and was now leaning in for a closer look.
"Is that really what we look like inside?" She asked, fascinated. I smiled slightly.
"Well…there are some key differences. Our respiratory systems are completely different and a frog heart only has three chambers while we have four. The liver of a frog is also structurally different than a human liver—they have three lobes, we have four. But other than that, most of the major organs are very similar."
"I can't believe that I look like a frog on the inside," Rukia grumbled, making a face. I rolled my eyes at her.
"You'll find that your internal organs resemble those of quite a few other creatures. Now if you're just going to sit around and make unnecessary comments, you're free to leave. No one's keeping you here," I said with a pointed look towards the door. Rukia stuck her tongue out at me.
"Fine, I'll find Renji and some other guys to come play tag, while you two sit around cutting open poor amphibians like a pair of creepy scientists," she sniffed, before flouncing out the door. I sighed at her antics while next to me, Miwa seemed to have forgotten Rukia's existence completely and was now in the process of repeating my actions on her own frog.
"Now, look closely. You see this yellow stuff here? Those are fat cells. This large organ on the lateral right side of the body. Across from it, you can see the stomach, and this tiny green organ here is the gallbladder…"
"So you're saying that after this, we can start on cats next?" Miwa asked two hours later, eyes shining.
"Mmhm," I hummed, eyeing today's selection of fish and debating whether or not to get salmon or tuna for dinner tonight. "There's plenty of strays around the district. It won't be two hard to get one." Not that I would purposely go out and kill a cat. That was like just asking for bad karma. But plenty of cats died from disease or from fights with other animals. "After that, you should have a pretty good grasp on converting your reiatsu to healing kido and you can work on helping me heal the animals people bring me." Of course, only the more well-off people actually had pets…but Rukia alone brought me an injured animal about every other week so that wouldn't be a problem.
"What do I do after that, Shishou?" Miwa asked hesitantly. I looked up in surprise.
"Well, it'll be a long time before I'm satisfied with your progress on animals. Probably a year or so, maybe longer. But then after that, you'll start dealing with actual people of course. More specifically, me." Silence. Turning to Miwa, I saw that her eyes had gone very wide.
"I'm…my first patient is going to be you?" She squeaked, voice high. I still didn't know why she was reacting like this.
"Well…yeah. This way if you mess up, I'll be able to fix it. I mean, my first patient was myself." That…had not been fun. In fact, I still had faint scars and burn marks from my first few attempts at healing my self-inflicted wounds. But it wasn't like I was going to refine my skills on my family before I was confident enough to use them on myself.
"Don't worry so much about it. You have a long way to go before you get to that point," I continued. "And it's not like I'm going to let you start off with one of my patients. Do you have any idea how much damage that'd to my reputation if you messed up? People aren't going to keep coming to me if it gets around that I let my clumsy apprentice experiment on them." She flushed, looking away.
There was another reason why Miwa would refine her skills on me, and not, say, herself. Aside from the obvious that it was so very wrong to let my kid apprentice deliberately hurt herself, using myself as a test patient would motivate her to learn quickly, if nothing else. It was one thing to fail to heal yourself—it was another thing entirely to fail to heal someone you were close to, knowing that they would suffer because of your mistakes.
Nothing had quite motivated me to improve as much as Tatsuya's and Horio's deaths had.
"I think I'll stick with the salmon today, Reo-san," I said finally to the vender in front of me.
"You got it, Sensei. And who is this?" He asked curiously, looking at Miwa who was half-hiding behind me.
"That's Miwa-chan. She's my new apprentice," I said, a faint hint of satisfaction entering my voice. Next to me, Miwa straightened up subconsciously in pride and I had to hold back a fond smile.
"Oh?" Reo asked curiously. "Well, it's about damn time, I say. I've always thought it was a shame that a nice, young girl like you had to work so hard. Maybe now that you have an apprentice, she can pick up some of the slack, yeah?" Turning to Miwa, he added, "You're damn lucky to have her as your Shishou, Miwa-chan, so you better work hard, okay?"
"I will," Miwa murmured determinedly. "I won't let Shishou down." He gave her a look of approval, then handed the bag of salmon over to me. "Here, Sensei. Free of charge." When I started to protest, he added, "Think of it as a congratulatory gift. It's not every day that you get an apprentice, after all."
I was just about to thank him again, when two small blurs ran into me, almost toppling me over. I looked down to see both Rukia and Renji looking slightly panicked and out of breath.
"Nee-chan, you have to come quickly-"
"Hisana-nee-san, hurry, come on-"
"Hey, hey, calm down, one at a time," I said soothingly. "What's the matter?"
Renji looked at Rukia before whispering urgently, "It's Oni-sensei. He's back. And he's got another Shinigami with him, who's injured." I felt an odd jolt in my chest at the mention of Byakuya and was already moving by the time the rest of her words registered.
"Where?" I asked sharply, shooting an apologetic look at Reo before turning to go. "Tell me what happened."
"He's at the house; Mitsuo got both of them in through the back door. Nee-chan, it looks bad, there was blood everywhere-"
"Oni-sensei was hurt too, he looks like he got burned pretty badly by something—"
"Miwa," I interrupted her, "run to the clinic and grab bandages, burn paste and any salves that might speed up the coagulation process. Go quickly." She nodded, seeming a little pale but her eyes were determined. Turning to Rukia and Renji, I snapped out a curt "Let's go," before sprinting in the direction of the house. A grim looking Kazuki greeted me at the door.
"Back family room, come on," he said. Coming into the room, I saw that Byakuya half sitting, half lying on the floor and was leaning over another Shinigami who was unconscious on a cot, blood clearly seeping through her clothes. Upon seeing me, a look of both relief and desperate hope flooded his face as he tried to stand up.
"Hisana, thank Kami—please, there was a mission, we were outnumbered…Nakano-san got hit, I don't know how bad it is, I think she might be poisoned, and she's been unconscious for a while-"
"You idiot, sit down!" I hissed as Byakuya staggered, the rest of his words trailing off as what little color he had before left his face. "Mitsuo, could you bring me a basin of warm water here?" I asked, assessing Byakuya's injuries. Clearly exhausted, suffering from a mild case of reiatsu depletion, a painful looking second-degree burn on his right shoulder as well as bruised, possibly broken ribs…but overall nothing life threatening. On the other hand, his companion looked like she'd been stabbed almost clean through the abdominal area two times. Removing her black outer robe and gingerly lifting her white undershirt away, I fought to keep a calm expression at the dark red, almost black streaks extending from the wounds. While Shinigami tended to be several times more durable than regular souls, I highly doubted anyone lower than lieutenant level would be able to shake off that injury.
"What is it?" Byakuya asked, worry lacing his voice as he tried to lean in for a closer look.
"It's nothing," I lied, my voice perfectly steady. Byakuya's expression said that he clearly didn't believe me but before he could try to get up, Miwa entered through the door.
"Sensei! I got the materials you asked for!" She called out gasping, face flushed from exertion. I nodded. "Okay, Miwa, you're going to help Byakuya to the next room. Get him settled on a bed and treat his burn—you know what to do."
"What is it? Hisana, what won't you tell me? Is it really so bad that I can't even be in the same room as her?" Byakuya asked. Only the slight shaking of his hands gave away his desperation.
"Not at all. But she does require peace and quiet in order to treat your comrade effectively. Something she cannot attain with you in the room," Kaori said, having just entered the room. She gave Byakuya a pointed look. "If you want your friend to live, I'd suggest you follow her orders." For a moment I thought Byakuya would refuse, but then he allowed Kazuki to pull him up. Before he left though, he reached over and grabbed my hand. The look in his eyes said everything his pride wouldn't permit him to. Save her. Please.
I squeezed his hand lightly and nodded.
"Come on, come on, work with me here," I nearly growled in frustration. While I'd managed to temporarily slow the bleeding by applying a salve to speed up the clotting process, it wouldn't be doing me much good if I didn't get rid of the poison. I'd never seen anything like it before. It seemed to be almost eating away at the spirit energy around the puncture wound. Every time I tried to direct the Shinigami's—Nakano's- reiatsu to the area in order to begin the repairing process and seal the wound, the poison would just…dissolve the spirit energy and I'd be left where I started. I'd already tried drawing out the poison, directing it elsewhere, using my own reiatsu to attack it…all with a spectacular lack of success. During the last attempt, the thing turned on my own spirit energy, ate through it like it was nothing, and somehow seemed to get even stronger. Maybe if Nakano had higher levels of reiatsu, her own spirit energy would instinctively attack and crush it. Right now though, it was like trying to fight an infection that targeted white blood cells with an already weak immune system. Worst of all, the poison was spreading so even if I managed to stop the bleeding, it would just feed upon her reishi, decaying tissues and cells until nothing was left. It almost seemed alive, like a hungry beast eagerly devouring everything in its reach…
I blinked. If I thought of it as something sentient…like a part of the hollow that had transferred over and was now sustaining itself on the Shinigami…well, I already knew that it was attracted to spirit energy. Stupid thing couldn't get enough of eating mine, for one thing. And everyone knew that hollows preferred eating souls with higher reiatsu…
"So you like bigger meals, huh?" I murmured. It was a long shot, and I had no guarantee this would even work or that it wouldn't backfire on me…but hey, it wasn't like I had any other ideas and the Shinigami would be dead in a couple hours at the rate the poison was spreading. Normally, my reiatsu levels wouldn't be high enough to tempt the poison away from the Shinigami, but if I condensed it…
Taking a deep breath, I infused my hands with spirit energy and gently sent out probes into the wound. Instead of just layering the injured area with a coat of reiatsu, I compressed my reiatsu into thin, creeping tendrils and tentatively prodded where I could sense the poison seeping. As expected, it attacked and ate away at the tip of the probe…but it also stopped spreading forward. Hesitantly, I sent out another tiny tendril towards the poison. This time I didn't withdraw the probe, and like luring a bird away with a trail of breadcrumbs, the poison followed my spirit reiatsu, eating away at my improvised trail the entire time, while I prodded it at different points to make sure I drew all of it out. At the same time, I set numerous probes out towards the other puncture wound, creating a makeshift net of spirit energy over her entire abdomen.
Honestly, it was slow exhausting work. I had to constantly replenish my probes as they were eaten away to draw the poison back towards the entry point, make sure my probes were focused enough that they would provide a more attractive food source than the Nakano's own spirit energy but not enough that they would start cutting through tissue, make sure my net reached all areas of the poison…I didn't think I'd had this much of a challenge since, well, ever. Usually hollow attacks ended with the victim dead and swallowed—few survived to get to me. Most poisons weren't this complex either, and tended to attack cells, not spirit energy itself. I'm not sure how long it took—an hour? Two? But eventually I managed to lead all the poison back to one area, where I took what remained of my net and commanded my reiatsu to wrap up the poison in a ball. Once the poison was safely contained in a ball of my own spirit energy, I was able to remove it from my patient's body relatively easily. I scowled at the glowing ball of green floating above my right hand—I could still see the poison inside, a streak of ugly toxic black writhing inside its container, already eating its way out. Taking the basin of water, I released the energy from my hand into it, where the toxin contained within immediately turned the liquid a dark purple.
I leaned back, fighting a wave of sudden dizziness. Now wasn't the time to pass out from exhaustion though, as much as I would've liked to. Even though the poison problem was removed, she still had two gaping holes in her chest. First things first—I had to do something about the damaged internal organs. Shinigami or not, I doubted she could shake off torn intestines. Ignoring the pounding migraine beginning to form around my temples, I reached in again, this time guiding the Shinigami's own spirit energy into stitching the smooth muscle back together again.
By the time I was satisfied that Nakano was going to live, it was well into nighttime and I'd had to finish suturing up the wounds with thread since I'd ran out of my own spirit energy sometime after hastily repairing the damage done to her spleen. Staggering slightly, I made my way over to the door and just barely caught sight of Kaori's alarmed expression before stumbling, the edges of my vision blacking out. A pair of steady arms caught me.
"Hey, easy there," Mitsuo's soft voice came from somewhere above me and then I felt myself being gently lowered to the ground and maneuvered so that my head lay on his lap. Gentle fingers carded through my hair, massaging my scalp lightly. I sighed in content.
"She'll b'alrigh'," I slurred, syllables merging together. I struggled to get the words out. "She almo' died- stoopi' poison, bu' I kill' it. Tell…tell Bya'ya tha' she'll live." The last thing I heard was Mitsuo's quiet reassurance before the world faded out on me.
The first thing I registered upon waking up was a pair of muffled voices yelling in the next room. Well, that was the second thing I registered. The first thing was I noticed was how heavy I felt, like gravity had suddenly quadrupled overnight. I shifted tiredly, already trying to fall back asleep, but the annoying voices in the next room persisted.
"See, this is why I didn't want her taking you in. You damn Shinigami are nothing but trouble!" A voice—Kaori, my still mostly asleep mind registered—was snarling. "For some goddamned reason I don't understand, Hisana seems to have taken a liking to you. And now because of some stupid promise you forced on her, and the fact that she doesn't want to disappoint you, she exerted herself to the point that her life was actually in danger! All you do is take and take, expecting more and more, and now my sister is lying in the next room half dead because of you!"
"Kaori!" Another voice whispered reprovingly. Mitsuo. "I understand your anger, but please try to keep your voice down. Hisana is still sleeping and she needs her rest right now."
"I…did not intend for Hisana to exert herself so much." A new voice stated, this one laced with guilt.
"I don't give a damn what you did or didn't intend. Fact of the matter is, Hisana has been unconscious for half a week because of you and your kind," Kaori spat, uttering the last two words like a curse. "Why are you still here anyway? What do you care? Your little friend is alive and well, right? That's all that matters to you—it wouldn't matter even if Hisana died so long as you got what you wanted-"
"Do not," and I'd never heard Byakuya's voice sound so cold, "imply that I ever wanted to cause Hisana harm of any kind. Blame me if you must—I admit that I am largely responsible for her current state—but don't you dare say that I don't care about her."
"You've got a funny way of showing it then, Shinigami-san," she hissed out, though she lowered her voice. "Come on, tell the truth. Is this the real reason you befriended her? So that you could conveniently have a healer at your beck and call whenever you went out on missions in the area?"
At this point, I finally gave up on getting any more rest and with a massive effort, managed to open my eyes…and stared in bemusement at the wide assortment of fruit baskets, baked goods and flowers filling up the room. For a moment I wondered if I was still dreaming, because the last time I checked my room did not look like the offspring between a Hallmarks store and a candy shop.
Trying my best not to make any noise- Rukia, Renji and Miwa were lying on a mat next to me, slumped over each other like a pile of puppies—I stood up and took a package of mochi resting on top of what looked like a lifetime supply of pocky. Turning back to the puppy pile in front of me, I had to resist the urge to coo at the sheer cuteness in front of me. Rukia was curled up in a tight ball, clutching about 75% of the blanket tightly to her chest and guarding it jealously even in her sleep. She always had been a bit of a blanket hog. Next to her, Renji was drooling slightly on his pillow, one arm covering his eyes and his right leg sprawled over Miwa's. On her part, Miwa was mumbling slightly into her pillow—something about angry frogs, red pineapples and bunnies with swords. After taking my own blanket and draping it over Renji and Miwa (Rukia didn't need it, the little brat), I took a deep breath, shoved about five mochi balls into my mouth, and prepared myself to face the shitstorm outside.
I entered the living room just in time to hear Byakuya say, "I understand your dislike for me, but please cease your attempts to keep me from Hisana. I have no intention of leaving until I have ascertained for myself that Hisana will make a full recovery and repaid her to the best of my abilities. Unless Hisana herself insists that she has no desire to see me, I will not be going anywhere." Next to Byakuya, Nakano—now awake—gaped at him with an incredulous expression.
"Such concern touches me, Byakuya. I'm moved, really." I said, deciding now was a good time as any to make my grand entrance. Byakuya's eyes widened and I ducked my head, a bit uncomfortable at the open relief on his features. I'd become used to him opening up a little over his time here, but seeing blatant emotion on his face was still unnerving. To my relief, Kazuki could always be counted on to break the tension.
"Wha—you—when—the hell are you doing up?!" He sputtered, dashing over to my side in less than a second. For a moment he flailed, not seeming to know what to do, before he slammed one hand on my forehead in a poor attempt at checking my temperature while the other seemed to be tugging me towards the couch. I swatted him away.
"I don't know about you, but the last time I checked walking around was a fairly common thing to do," I said dryly, popping another sticky rice ball into my mouth.
"You should be resting!" He all but shouted. Behind him, Kaori snorted.
"Mother Hen Kazuki strikes again," she murmured. Mitsuo chuckled. I glared daggers at both of them.
"I'm fine," I insisted, refusing to sit down due to the principle of the matter, though I internally acknowledged that Kazuki had a point. The couch was looking really comfortable right now. "Byakuya, it's nice to see you again and under better circumstances this time." Giving him a quick once over, I hummed in satisfaction, a burst of pride at Miwa's progress rising up in me. "Miwa did well. You're almost completely healed. Nakano-san, your condition looks considerably improved—I can probably take those stiches out this afternoon."
"Your hands are shaking," Kazuki frowned, completely ignoring my attempt to turn the attention away from myself. "That's it. Bed. Now. And Mitsuo, bring some more food over will you? She can't recover if she doesn't eat." His tone left no room for disagreement. "Kuchiki, Nakano, leave us for a moment. Hisana needs to relax and she can't do that if she's tempted to diagnose you every time she sees you." For a moment, Byakuya hesitated and looked about to argue.
"Go. I'll be fine," I said, shooting him a reassuring smile. Byakuya nodded, still looking rather reluctant. "Very well. We'll talk later." A pause, then—
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Hisana. Your presence was…sorely missed these last few months." With a final short bow, he exited the room with his normal grace.
A hard tap on my head jolted me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see Kazuki raising an eyebrow at me. "What?" I asked defensively. Kaori looked about two seconds away from banging her head on the wall. "Clueless," she muttered.
Kazuki stared at me for a long moment before shaking his head in resignation. "It's nothing. Now march and get your ass on the couch."
"This is totally unnecessary," I complained as Kazuki practically forced me to sit down. "It's not like I'm injured—I'm just suffering from a slight case of reiatsu exhaustion. As you can see, I'm perfectly okay."
"'Perfectly okay,' she says. 'Slight case of reiatsu exhaustion', she says," Kaori scoffed incredulously. "Please, as if we needed any more proof that your mental facilities were irreparably damaged. You were in a coma for almost three days, Hisana. That is not 'fine'."
"Since you seem so convinced that I'm damaged mentally, remind me again—who exactly is the healer here? Oh right…I am," I grumbled, trying to hide my surprise. Unconscious for over two days? That was…unexpected.
"A fact that worries me more every day," Mitsuo intoned solemnly. "It's a sad state of affairs when our healer can't even take care of herself."
"I get no respect around here. No respect at all," I sighed mournfully. "Fine. But can someone please explain to me why my room looks like it contains half the food in Inuzuri?"
"You're Inuzuri's darling, Hisana. When people heard that their beloved doctor was sick…well, what did you expect?" Mitsuo answered, smiling slightly. I blinked in surprise, looking down at my hands.
"Oh," I said softly, swallowing. My throat felt oddly dry. "I—
At that moment, the door slammed open as Rukia came bursting through the door. "Kaori-nee-san, Kazuki-nii, come quick! Nee-chan's missing! I don't know what happened, oh my god, what if someone came in and kidnapped her while I was sleeping I'm such a horrible sister-"
"Rukia, calm down. I'm right here," I said, mildly amused. She blinked and stood still for several seconds before realization dawned. I braced myself.
"Nee-chan, you're awake!" She shrieked, voice hitting a pitch normally reserved for dog whistles. The next thing I knew, my back was hitting the couch as I was tackled by ninety pounds of emotional, teary-eyed teenager. I gasped for air as she half-strangled me, doing her best impression of a clingy octopus. "Oh my gosh, I was so worried and I don't care what Oni-sensei said, you just wouldn't wake up and…and you were so still it was like you were d-d-de-"
"Hey, it's okay now, I'm okay," I said softly, stroking her hair gently. "Besides, you know what reiatsu exhaustion is like. You've seen me like that before."
"Yeah, sometimes you pass out for a coupla' hours, but never for three days," she said indignantly. A flash of red at the corner of my vision made me look up. Renji was standing at the doorway with his mouth wide open, Miwa right behind him looking torn between joining Rukia and allowing me to recover. I sighed in resignation and opened up my arms obligingly. Then the breath was knocked out of me yet again as two more teenagers piled on top of me. Looking up, I caught sight of Kaori smirking in the background, Kazuki's arm around her shoulders. Help me, I mouthed, staring pleadingly at them. Kaori's smirk just widened, while Kazuki huffed a laugh.
"No way. You brought this on yourself, brat," he said tone completely unrepentant.
"You scared us half to death, Hisana-nee-san. Rukia was unbearable. So we're just gonna sit on you until we're sure you ain't gonna do somethin' like that again," Renji added.
"You can't do that again, Shishou," Miwa spoke up, voice uncharacteristically serious. "One of the first things you taught me was that you can't help other people if you don't take care of yourself first. You…you can't tell me that and ignore your own advice!" She said fiercely. I blinked in surprise. Where had my meek, shy apprentice gone?
"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I didn't mean to worry you."
"Dumbass," Kaori grumbled. "I don't want you to say you're sorry. I want you to say you'll never do it again."
"You know I can't do that," I answered, shaking my head. I wasn't willing to make a promise that I might not keep. If any one of my family members was heavily injured…if Rukia's life was on the line…well, forget a three day coma. I'd become the next Sleeping Beauty and sleep for a hundred years if it meant they'd be okay. "But…I have a better grasp on my limits now. I do promise that I'll be a lot more careful."
"Well, I guess that's the best I'm going to get," Kazuki sighed. He reached over and ruffled my hair. "You're a troublesome, reckless, downright idiotic brat with the self-preservation instincts of a retarded lemming, you know that right?" Ouch. I might be hurt if Kazuki hadn't been calling me variations of the same thing for over half a century now.
"Takes one to know one, moron," I muttered over Rukia's indignant 'Hey!'
Kaori laughed and nodded in agreement. "Sometimes I think that that's the only thing we all have in common."
"A family of common-sense lacking, dysfunctional misfits, huh?" I asked, smiling. "I can live with that."
As it turned out, it wasn't until tomorrow that my family deemed me well enough to give Byakuya and Nakano a final checkup and that was only after an hour straight of wheedling, arguing, and outright demanding. It wasn't even like I was going to use any healing kido—Byakuya was pretty much completely healed and I just needed to remove Nakano's stitches.
"I'm sorry for the wait, Nakano-san," I said, rubbing an alcohol-based antiseptic over the suture marks. "My family has a tendency to…overreact."
"Just call me Rin, Sensei. I'm not much for formalities," she answered. "And there's no need to apologize. I'm in no hurry and their concern is understandable."
Using a pair of forceps, I picked up the knot of the first stitch and cut it with a pair of small scissors, before using the forceps again to pull the thread from the skin. "So, if you don't mind me asking, which district are you from?" I continued, simultaneously cutting another suture. By now it was just instinct for me to keep up a conversation with my patients to distract them. While I was sure Rin, being a Shinigami, wasn't too squeamish about pain and needles, keeping her attention on more trivial matters wouldn't hurt either.
"Fifty-sixth of North Rukongai. I only became a Shinigami a few years ago." She replied. Pausing for a moment, she added, "It's my first time going so far out. Before this, the furthest I've traveled from the Seireitei was the sixty-second district."
"Not what you were expecting?" I asked.
"It's a bit more…organized than I was expecting," she answered diplomatically.
"You mean civilized," I laughed, "We're not all barbarians, you know. Just because there's less…regulation here than in other places doesn't mean we don't have our own rules."
"I didn't mean to imply…" Rin stuttered, cheeks turning slightly pink.
"I know you didn't. There's no need to apologize. Trust me, it takes more than this to offend me." I was almost done removing the stitches.
"I'm just surprised…I mean, from what I've seen, it's hard to get decent medical care anywhere further out than the tenth district, and even then you have to pay through the nose. I mean, maybe it's different here in South Rukongai, but…"
"No, you're right," I smiled wryly. "I can't say much for the other districts, but at least here in the 78th, I'm the only healer who provides aid at a reasonable price." Or any price at all. My services, reasonable or not, wouldn't have been nearly as valuable if they weren't in such high demand. In a place where over fifty percent of the population couldn't even read, doctors, even incompetent ones, were next to nonexistent. "If nothing else, it's a pretty stable career choice and allows me to gain some much needed experience, so don't feel bad that I overexerted myself. I can't improve if I don't challenge myself after all."
With a final tug, I pulled the last of her stitches out. "There, all set. You're free to go, Rin-san. Aside from some scarring, you'll recover nicely."
Rin stood up and bowed. "Thank you, Sensei." She then reached into her Shihakusho and pulled out a bag of money. "It's not much, but I'd like to show my appreciation anyway. And…even if it was just as a favor to Kuchiki-dono, you saved my life. If you ever need anything, as long as it doesn't go against the Gotei 13, feel free to call upon me."
"Thanks for the offer," I said, slightly surprised. "But I'll tell you the same thing I told Byakuya—the only favor I need right now is for you to keep my involvement quiet."
"You don't want the Gotei 13 to know about you." It wasn't a question. I grimaced. "Bringing their attention to me would be asking for complications I really don't need right now." Rin eyed me for another second before nodding. "I understand. You have my word." I smiled gratefully at her, before adding after a hesitant pause, "Take care of yourself, alright? And even if he is your superior, can you keep an eye on Byakuya for me? I think…having another friend will do him a lot of good." Rin nodded firmly.
"Of course." She hesitated before adding, "He was really worried about you, you know. I don't think I've ever seen him so scared. I didn't get why—that Mitsuo guy told me he'd known you for less than six months—but I think I understand now."
"Well…" I didn't really know how to respond to that, "I should have a talk with him if he's still feeling guilty then. Taking responsibility for my actions isn't going to help either of us."
"No, that's not it. I mean, he does regret what happened—but that's not—what I'm getting at is," Rin shook her head in frustration. "Look, aside from you, no one but his family is allowed to address him so informally. Anyone who does otherwise is just asking to get shredded by Senbonzakura. And I've never seen him as relaxed with anyone as he is around you. Just…think about what that means."
The soft sound of footsteps made me look up. "Hey," I greeted Byakuya and motioned for him to take a seat by me.
"The roof, Hisana? Really?" He asked arching an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.
"It's quiet and the view is great." I nodded towards the sun setting in the distance, enveloping all of Inuzuri in a soft golden light. "Why? Worried that I'll fall off?" I asked with a teasing smile. He eyed me disapprovingly.
"It's not safe, and if you do slip, I know exactly who'll get blamed for it. I'd rather not give your family any more reasons to dislike me if I can help it," he said dryly. "It does tend to make my stays here rather uncomfortable."
"Oh, so that's how it is. You're worried about your own wellbeing. I'm touched, Byakuya. You're truly a paragon of virtue and selflessness," I grumbled in mock offense. He chuckled and sat down next to me. What I really wanted to know was how Byakuya made what basically amounted to 'flopping down' look like a freaking ballet act. There was just no fairness in the world.
"Don't be upset, I was only joking," he added, his eyes glinting with humor. "You know I'd catch you if you ever fell."
"Thanks for the reassurance, but it's unnecessary. Who'd be there to catch you then? You'd have to deal with hitting the ground and my body crushing you."
He eyed me dubiously. "I don't think I need to worry about that."
My eyes narrowed. "Exactly what are you implying there? I could so crush you if I wanted. I'm not that small."
"That's debat—um, what I meant was that since I am a Shinigami, I don't have to worry about falling off a roof. I would be a pretty pathetic seated officer if something as small as a jump from a roof defeated me," he corrected hastily at my darkening expression. I snorted but decided to let it go.
"You know, sometimes I wonder about that. Most of the time I see you you're injured in some way or another. I have no idea why Rukia and Renji aren't scared off from becoming Shinigami yet."
"Ah, but see, we know that you'll always be there to patch us up afterwards," he said lightly before his tone turned serious. "I don't think I've ever thanked you properly for what you did for Nakano-san, Hisana. You went above and beyond anything I ever expected you to do, and you saved her life. For that, I am truly grateful."
"You're welcome. Now stop feeling guilty—don't deny it, I know you do—you didn't force me to do anything and you're not responsible for my…period of unconsciousness. You're my friend; if pushing myself a bit means that you don't have to mourn for a comrade, then I'm willing to do that." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened? You don't have to answer—I was just curious." A shadow crossed over his face.
"I suppose if anyone has a right to know, it's you. I led a team consisting of me, Nakano and two others—an unseated officer, Okamoto-san, and a medic from the fourth-to investigate a series of reported hollow attacks just outside the 75th district. One of the hollows had the ability to turn invisible; he caught Okamoto off guard while I was dealing with two hollows with the ability to fly and spout fire. Our medic was also killed in the process," Byakuya grimaced. "I did not know either of the deceased that well, but Okamoto was a friend of Nakano's. She was…distracted." I nodded in understanding; it wasn't too hard to figure out what had happened after.
"You couldn't lose her too," I murmured. Byakuya's jaw clenched. "The other members of my team may have been only acquaintances at best, but they were still my responsibility. I'm a fourth-seat. What use is that rank if I don't even have the power to protect those under my care?" He asked, self-loathing evident in his tone. I smacked him on the forehead, hard. It was by far the best cure for brooding-itis I'd found yet.
"Things happen. People die, and there's nothing you can do about it. That's life," I scowled at his dumbfounded expression. "The only thing you can do is train harder, get better, so that the next time something like this happens you're strong enough to stop it." Byakuya stared at me, causing me to shift uncomfortably. "What?" I asked defensively. A strange look passed his face.
"You're not going to tell me that it wasn't my fault?" He asked.
I sighed, leaning back and looking at the sky. "I doubt you're looking for platitudes right now. Besides, if you believe that you're responsible, me saying otherwise won't change your mind." I pulled out a familiar dagger from inside my yukata and twirled it absentmindedly. "See this?" I asked.
"I didn't know you fought with knives," he said curiously. "May I?" I handed it over to him and he flipped it around, testing its sharpness by gently pressing it against one finger. "It's a fine blade."
"It's not mine. Or at least, it wasn't always mine," I amended softly. No matter how many decades passed, I would always think of it first and foremost as Tatsuya's dagger. "It once belonged to one of my closest friends. He's dead now—was killed years ago in a fight gone wrong, along with another friend of mine." Byakuya refrained from saying anything, for which I was grateful. A 'sorry for your loss' wouldn't have made anything better. It never did.
"I carry this knife with me everywhere now. As a constant reminder that I couldn't save them, and to never become complacent with my skills. No matter what, there's always room for improvement." After I once spent over fifteen minutes performing CPR on a patient, not giving up even after his ribs had cracked from the force of my compressions, Kazuki had commented that I didn't deal well with failure. He was partially right, I supposed. The truth was more along the lines of, I didn't accept failure period.
"I know that nothing will bring them back," I continued quietly, staring at the dagger in my hands. "But if by constantly honing my skills and challenging myself I can prevent any other members of my family from going the same way, then I can live with that. I can't change the past—no one can—but I can plan for the future."
For a moment, neither one of us spoke. Then, a heavy weight dropped abruptly on my lap, causing me to grunt in surprise and look down. "The hell?" I muttered, glancing at Byakuya questioningly. "Books?" They were thick, worn-looking…I flipped through one, eyes widening at the thorough descriptions and diagrams of the human body. There were even annotations written neatly in kanji in the margins.
"Byakuya…what…" I stuttered, eyes wide. Even I could tell that these books were probably worth…well, I didn't even want to think about it.
"I've been meaning to give these to you for a while now," Byakuya replied, shrugging lightly. "I brought them along when I heard my mission was in the 75th district in case an opportunity to visit you came up. They're from my family library—Unohana-taicho recommended them when I mentioned that I was taking a light interest in healing kido." He looked down, the faintest tinge of pink coloring his cheeks. "The first one delves into anatomy, how souls function, how spirit energy affects body, and theories of reishi, reiatsu and reiryoku; how they're related, and the differences between them. The last two focus on healing kido; how to use it, different incantations, theories, along with advice on channeling it most effectively. No one's looked through them for years. I have a feeling that you'll put them to better use."
"I don't think-" I protested, trying to hand them back. Against my will, my traitorous fingers curled around the books longingly. "I can't accept this; what if someone notices they're missing?"
"Hisana." Byakuya's hands wrapped around mine and he gently pushed the books back in my direction. "My library contains thousands of books. I doubt anyone is going to notice that three of them have gone missing. Please, just take them. If you must, think of them as a thank-you gift for your hard work."
"…alright. This means a lot to me, Byakuya. Thank you." I said gratefully after a short pause and leaned forward, wrapping my arms around him in a brief hug. Byakuya stiffened before relaxing and hesitantly putting a hand against my back. Absently, I noticed that he smelled nice—like fresh ink on paper with a hint of sandalwood.
A thought suddenly struck me, distracting me from my musings (was it just me, or was his face a hint redder than before?). I narrowed my eyes at him warningly, pulling back. "I'll accept things as payment, but don't start bringing me random things for no reason, okay? This is already bordering the edge of overly-extravagant. I don't want charity." He frowned, obviously reluctant to agree.
"I do not understand your aversion. From what I understand, exchanging gifts between friends is a relatively common practice, is it not?" Byakuya asked, confused. "It would certainly be of no inconvenience to me; I am more than capable of affording even the most expensive luxuries."
I tapped my fingers against my chin, pondering how to put my thoughts into words. "Hmm, how should I explain this…if you want to bring me gifts as a friend, then fine, but tone it down a notch or ten. What I'm trying to get at is, I don't want you to feel obligated towards me. Just because I helped you doesn't mean you owe me nice things—that's not the type of relationship this is. I'm didn't do any of this because you're Kuchiki Byakuya, unbelievably rich heir to the Kuchiki clan, capable of buying pretty much anything under the sun. I'm doing this because you're Byakuya, the guy who indulges my shopping trips, eats ramen with me, puts up with my overprotective family and enjoys coming up with devilish training regimens in his free time. Do you get it now, idiot?"
For a long moment, Byakuya just stared at me, an odd expression on his face. Then he huffed a laugh, tilting his head to look at me fondly.
"You're the strangest girl I've ever met, you know that?" He murmured softly.
I flushed, getting to my feet. "Don't go reading too much into my words, hime," I retorted, holding out a hand to help him up. "All I meant was that I'll be treating you the same way I treat everyone else; you don't get any special treatment just because you're rich. That reminds me, I still need to wash the dishes, take down the laundry, and give Rukia's rabbits a bath because she probably forgot again and you'll be helping me. I don't care if this is your last night here, you can still do your share of the work."
"Is that any way to treat a guest?" He complained, taking my hand and standing up gracefully. "Someone needs a refresher course on hospitality." I whacked him on the head again.
Byakuya spent the rest of the night bitching about "commoner cleaning methods" and the "pitifully low thread count" of my cotton sheets as well as squabbling with Rukia ("Rukia-chan, if you do not control your rabid pets I will quadruple your training schedule the next time I come"). Despite all that, however, I got the feeling that he was rather enjoying himself. I shook my head in confusion.
Nobles, I thought exasperatedly. I'll never understand them.
Author's Note: Not…entirely happy with this chapter, but oh well. *Shrugs* Again, ten lucky reviewers will receive an additional omake/deleted scene! (Hint hint, nudge nudge). Not as much Byakuya-Rukia-Renji interaction, unfortunately, but I wanted to make this more about Hisana and her family. Also, despite the CLEAR romance hints, there probably won't be any actual romance until like at least three chapters later. Probably. Who knows? But yeah, they both have to go through a shitload of denial and other issues before they get to that point. Currently, they're on their way to becoming besties (Kaori, Mitsuo and Kazuki don't count for Hisana, she's closer to them but they're more like older sibs) with a side order of sexual tension. Muahaha *cackles evilly*
P.S. What did you think of my description of Hisana treating the poison? If it was total crap, I promise I'll try harder next time. If you thought it was good, please tell me (I need the ego boost).
