We are still in Hueco Mundo! If you are really squeamish beware; there's some blood in this chapter.

Sacrificial

Hanatarou Yamada and Isane Kotetsu worked quickly, their hands darting in and out of first-aid kits; hastily tearing open packets of gauze and packing them into the deep wounds of a gravely injured Rukia Kuchiki.

"How's her pressure?" Isane asked, grabbing more gauze as bright red blood saturated the squares she had just laid down.

Hanatarou placed two fingers on Rukia's wrist to find her pulse, concentrating as he quickly inflated and deflated the cuff wrapped around her upper arm.

"Systolic's down to seventy," he reported. "She's just lost so much blood…"

"If I could just locate the source of the bleeding we could stop it," Isane said in between muttering kidou spells. She suddenly perked up. "There! See that tear in the artery? Can you fix it?"

Hanatarou leaned over to where Isane pointed, squinting to see the small rip in the weakly pulsating vessel.

"Yes! Right away!" He held his hands over Rukia's midsection, quickly reciting the proper kidou incantation.

Isane sat back on her heels. "Her pressure should stabilize soon. I'll leave the rest to you"

Hanatarou glanced up at her, nodding. "All right."

Isane stood up, grabbed her first-aid kit and walked towards a man standing about twenty feet away. His left arm hung limply at his side, blood creeping out of a gash and dripping down off of his fingertips.

"Captain Kuchiki? I can begin healing you now," offered Isane.

Byakuya Kuchiki glanced at her, and then shifted his eyes to where Rukia lay.

"Have you finished with her?"

Isane shook her head. "Well, no…but Hanatarou can handle the remainder-"

"Please complete her treatment before you proceed with mine," interrupted Byakuya, his gaze back to Isane.

She frowned. "But aren't you in pain?"

"That is none of your concern."

"I see." Isane fidgeted with her first aid kit. "She's going to be all right, you know…"

Byakuya turned away from her, closing his eyes.

"I don't believe I asked you that."

"Oh…"

"But thank you."

I have no idea how the fourth division goes about healing people...something tells me they have something cooler than a blood pressure cuff haha.

Systolic pressure refers to blood pressure when the heart is contracted for those wondering. Because it's so interesting, right? I'm well aware of how big of a nerd I am.