I'd just like to say thank you to all of my reviewers and to apologize for the long wait. School has been taking up quite a bit of my time lately, as well as getting sick. I just recently got over a bad case of the flu and my anemia has been leaving me very tired. It kinda makes typing out a new chapter extremely difficult lol. Your feedback is a great help and a great pleasure to read! If you have questions don't be afraid to ask in the review! But you must allow me to answer you back because I hate to answer questions in the chapter. Drop me a review or a message! Also, today is my birthday! (03/03) So more reviews would be a great gift! Thank you guys for the support!
Summary:
While walking home after an outing, Orihime, Tatsuki and Chizuru are caught off guard by a group of hollows, but they are saved by a powerful, but critically wounded vasto lorde with more than a few secrets and a gift to give.
"This….is absolutely infuriating."
Uryuu tucked his face more into his handmade scarf in a futile attempt at warding off the chill that had already sunken into his body. It was already around 12 in the afternoon and he was up, but certainly not because he wanted to be. After a night of tossing and turning and finally getting to sleep around 8 in the morning, his father decided to wake him up at 10 in the morning, on a Saturday, to, request, that he go to the convenience store to pick up a pack of cigarettes along with a few groceries. What pissed him off was that his father had actually come into his room, uninvited, opened his curtains so that the light would shine directly into his face, left a list of what he wanted him to buy clipped to some cash and then left before Uryuu could even wake up enough to tell him to go fuck himself.
His gloved left hand clutched the bulging bag of groceries tightly while his right pulled his thin windbreaker jacket lower over his hips in an attempt to shield his legs from the ice cold breeze. This was all his father's fault. He had been so pissed off at being woken up after barely getting any sleep that the thought of actually getting dressed properly for the weather had escaped his usually keen mind. Not only that, but because his father was particular about what brand of cigarettes he wanted, a quick trip to the convenience store turned into a more than an hour long trek to find a store that actually sold the brand his father wanted.
Once he did finally buy everything on the list, and a large fancy coffee and cream cheese bagel combo for himself, (because his father owed him at least that much) he set out on his trek home, which was about 30 minutes away. Personally, it wouldn't have been that much of a problem if it wasn't currently colder than Jack Frost's nipples.
After a few more minutes of walking he came upon the familiar surroundings of his neighborhood, and he sighed in relief, his breath coming out in a puff of air even through his thick scarf. His relief was short lived, however, when he felt the familiar unpleasant feeling of a hollow nearby. He barely had time to ponder where the creature could be before his mind and body screamed at him to MOVE. Never one to doubt his senses he quickly moved to his left, and, seeing where he was previously standing was now crushed by a large scaly tail, armed with spines and attached to a large snake like hollow, he was glad that he'd learned to never second guess his instincts.
He quickly cursed to himself and set his groceries down into the bushes, praying that no critters tried to abscond with them while he dealt with the soul hungry creature, and summoned his bow.
"Dammit, I don't have time for this. I just want to go back to bed. Is that too much to ask?"
The creature didn't respond, of course, just hissed at him and flared a previously hidden hood, making it reminiscent of a cobra. A rattling sound caught his attention and he saw the end of the tail come up, revealing a rattle at the end of the hollow's tail, armed with a large stinger. His eyes widened when the tail moved and revealed that the sidewalk where the tail had struck, was melted. If he hadn't moved, it would've been him that was a pile of goo instead of that sidewalk.
His attention turned back to the creature, whose head seemed to be bobbing side to side, its eyes focused solely on him. He moved to get into a better stance and that's when the hollow struck. Fast as lightning, its head shot toward him and he quickly jumped out the way and into the air, took aim, and then fired a volley of arrows at its back. He was relieved when he knew that the creature wouldn't be able to dodge in time, but that relief quickly died and turned into horror when his arrows hadn't pierced the flesh. Instead, they had bounced harmlessly off of the thickly scaled hide, and the creature didn't look harmed at all. In fact, its being struck despite being not being hurt at all seemed to piss it off even further, and the rattling tail and sharp hiss gave away its mood as it lashed said tail in his direction, the stinger meaning to run him through.
He quickly rolled in the air, dodging and landing, then fired a few arrows at the exposed area under its tail, to see if its thick hide only applied to its upper scales. He was sadly disappointed when like the first, these arrows also bounced off harmlessly, and unfortunately, the hollow's ire grew and it attempted to crush him under its tai. A quick *Hirenkyaku ensured that he was well out of the way before he was flattened and he landed on a nearby roof while the hollow looked around for him.
'This isn't good. Its hide is a problem, none of my arrows can get through and a direct shot to its mask isn't a great idea either. It would see that coming a mile away and just dodge….And I'm guessing that its mask is also reinforced by whatever is reinforcing its scales…..This can't be a normal class hollow. Its too powerful. Powerful enough to sneak up on me, and enough that its armor is hard enough to deflect my arrows…..It has to have a weak spot somewhere….'
He watched it closely as it continued to look around for him, its glowing yellow eyes rolling around in its mask, glimmering in morning light. After a minute, it hissed in frustration, and a long tongue flicked out. Within moments, the hollow turned its head in his direction and spotted him, flaring its hood again and hissing, its tail rattling.
"Damn…..I forgot about that trick…."
As he tried to quickly come up with an idea before the hollow decided to resume its pursuit of him, something clicked.
Quickly looking at the hollow's gaping mouth, he grinned. It may have armored scales, but he highly doubted that the hollow's insides were as fortified as its outsides were.
Before he could expound on his sudden revelation, the hollow's tail was shooting at him again. He dodged again and rapidly fired up and down its body, knowing that getting hit with his arrows would only infuriate it further. He was right, while he was still firing his stream of arrows, the hollow roared, and he saw his chance and fired straight into the foul creatures mouth before it even knew what was happening due to its haze of fury.
It roared again, but this time in pain as its innards were pierced with dozens of arrows, no doubt some of them reaching its internal organs. It slumped to the ground, bleeding, dying and defeated. Uryuu then jumped down from his perch and walked away from the still dissipating hollow and grabbed his nearly forgotten groceries. After a quick check, he was relieved to find out that nothing was missing, and even better, no bugs had gotten into them either. Without even sparing a glance to the dying hollow he began walking home again.
"Honestly, this wasn't how I planned to spend my Saturday. At least the fight warmed me up a bit-"
He quickly moved to his left, but unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to avoid the large fang that nicked his arm, causing hot blood to rush out of the open wound and spill onto his jacket and the sidewalk. The fresh wound was burning with white hot pain and bleeding rapidly. He looked to the side to see the head of the still dissipating hollow a few feet away from where he had been nicked. The damn thing was grinning and continued to grin even as it disappeared out of sight and out of existence.
He savored the fact that the corrupt soul was permanently gone for all of two seconds before the burning pain he felt began rushing up his arm. He clutched it instinctively and dropped the groceries, not even in the right mind to care that the gallon of milk that he'd bought was now spilling out into the street. His breathing became heavy, and he began to sweat. It didn't take him long to realize that the hollow's fangs were poisonous, and that the only reason he was even still alive at the moment was that he was only nicked and hadn't received a full bite, which is obviously what the dammed fiend had intended. He began running home, knowing that the poison would only spread faster with his accelerated heartbeat, but he had to make it to his father.
After a few agonizing minutes, in which the pain had spread all over his body, he finally arrived at his doorstep. At this point, he could barely even think to get the keys out of his pocket and instead began banging on the door. A moment later, Ryuuken opened up, expression discontent without his daily dose of nicotine.
"What took you so long-"
The moment he opened the door, Uryuu fell into him, no longer having the strength to stay on his feet. The lighter he had in his hand, which was ready to light up a cigarette the moment Uryuu returned, dropped out of his hand as he quickly caught his son. He could feel something seeping into his shirt and realized quickly that it was blood. Uryuu was shaking in his arms and whatever discontent he was feeling moments before quickly left him as the icy feeling of fear creeped up his spine.
Uryuu lifted his head, and Ryuuken could tell that even that had taken quite a sizable effort for Uryuu to do by the way it kept threatening to fall back down, and he was shocked to see that his son's skin was turning grey, like a corpse. His eyes were in the process of clouding over and he seemed to be soaked in sweat.
"D…Dad…."
Ryuuken's eyes became the size of dinner plates, shocked at hearing his son actually acknowledge him as his father and not by his first name. That fear that began creeping in had suddenly had him in its icy grip and something within him clicked into place, shaking him out of his shock. His son was dying. He was his father, and his son was currently bleeding out in front of him, on him, in fact, and he was standing around. With their terrible relationship, he'd actually forgotten that the boy in his arms was his child, and not in fact, a roommate. All of those parental feelings that he'd blocked out a long time ago suddenly rushed back, filling up his entire being. At that moment, he picked up his son as gently as he could without making his still bleeding injury worse and rushed out, not even bothering to lock the door behind him and put the injured teen into the car before driving like a bat out of hell toward the hospital.
"Hanako! How goes the quest to finish the paperwork?"
Hanako looked up from her pile of paperwork with a wry grin at the bespectacled nurse who, by her amused expression, knew exactly how well the paperwork was actually going. She had 15 patients currently at the Karakura Hospital, and with each of the patients came at least 10 pages of paperwork for each one. Not to mention the 50 page packet on the medicine the hospital ordered from her including a 10 page inventory that she had to check through to make sure that there wasn't anything missing or the correct dosage was being given according to her prescriptions.
"You know damn well how the paperwork is going Midori-chan."
Midori snorted and giggled, taking in Hanako's dismayed expression. "I'm just poking fun, I don't get to see you all that often and honestly this place needs more of you around here. At the very least to help scare off the ruffians. Just the other day we had an orange haired teenager come in demanding to see three patients who had already been discharged. He was scary too, gave me quite a fright when he slammed his hands down on the desk and demanded I tell him everything he needed to know. Surprisingly, he knew the director's son. I suppose they were friends since it looked like they wore the same uniform, but why such an intelligent kid would be friends with a guy like that is a mystery in and of itself. Kinda like how you and Chikako-san are such great friends even though she's….well, you know….."
Hanako snorted and grinned, returning her gaze back to the mountain of paperwork in front of her.
"Well, life is a crazy thing. You never know what circumstances bring people together."
A chorus of raised voices and footsteps suddenly sprang out of nowhere, with one being the loudest of them all.
"Get the hell out of my way or you're fired!"
Hanako knew that voice anywhere and quickly moved from behind her desk to find out just what the heck was going on. Before she could even begin to make sense of the situation. Ryuuken Ishida zoomed right passed her, holding someone in his arms. She couldn't see who it was he was holding but the split second view she had of Ryuuken's face as he ran by her was something she knew would haunt her forever. She had never seen the strong stoic man look scared in all the time that she'd known him, and he looked downright frantic. As she watched him continue to run, she saw something shiny on the ground and picked it up. It was a bracelet of some sort and she had a gut feeling that it'd fallen either off of Ryuuken or the person he was holding. Deciding that this was the best time to figure out what was going on and to help, she decided to go after the fleeing director. Passing by her desk, she saw the jar of the paste that she'd brought with her sticking out of her bag, and something in her screamed at her to bring it with her. Having no time to ponder the strange feeling she grabbed it and ran after Ryuuken.
'Jeez…..Just what the actual hell is going on?'
"What the hell do you mean there's no anti-venom?!"
'I'm sorry sir! There hasn't been any poisonous snake bites in about a decade so it wasn't a high priority to restock-"
"I don't want your excuses! Call whoever you need to call and get me that anti-venom! I don't care if they have to get it here on a fucking rainbow just get it here and get it here NOW!"
With that final word, Ryuuken slammed the phone down onto the receiver and paced back and forth in front of the hospital bed where Uryuu was currently fighting for his life. During his frantic ride to the hospital, Uryuu had been able to convey what occurred and that he had been poisoned by a snake hollow. From the symptoms he was seeing, he was extremely glad that he hadn't actually been bitten. Otherwise Uryuu would have perished immediately.
Looking over his son's condition, however, didn't make him feel any better about that fact. He could tell that Uryuu was in agony. When they'd gotten to the room, Uryuu began to have trouble breathing, so he set him up on a respirator and gave him something for the pain, except that whatever poison that he'd been subjected to was resisting the pain meds and he couldn't give him anymore, otherwise he'd overdose. He'd already called Urahara and explained the situation and for some reason, he called Isshin. For what, he didn't really know. Maybe it was some misguided panicked belief that if so called his best friends were here with him that everything would be alright.…At this point, he was seriously considering putting Uryuu into a medically induced coma so that he wouldn't have to suffer….but….
He was afraid that if he did, Uryuu would never wake back up. And that scared him the most.
Roughly pulling his glasses off, he rubbed a hand over his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the impending tension headache. It was times like these that he really needed a cigarette…..
With a bitter laugh, he covered his eyes again and clenched the fist holding his glasses. Cigarettes….Those were the whole reason why his son was laying in a hospital bed with a mangled arm, poisoned and for all intents and purposes, looked like a corpse-
His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a green-haired head peeked in, her eyes lighting up with recognition when she realized that he was who she was looking for. He groaned aloud. Not her. ANYONE, but her. She was a constant pain in his ass, but even he had to admit that she was a great doctor. The fact of the matter was, however, that she would be of no help here.
"Sheesh Ryuuken…..What happened? You look like a horror show…"
He knew she was referring to the blood that stained his attire, but he certainly didn't need to be reminded that he was covered in his son's blood.
"Hanako….I'm not in the mood right now for one of your games…Get out."
She came in anyway, despite the glare he sent her way when she did. Her eyes took in Uryuu on the bed and her face softened in pity, and then she turned to him, holding up her hands in mock surrender.
"Take it easy Ryuuken, I came to help. Not only that, but…"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the bracelet, and his eyes widened in recognition.
"Where did you find that?"
"It was on the floor next to me. You must have dropped it when you ran by."
Ryuuken's face relaxed somewhat, realizing that in his haste, he didn't even remember running by Hanako. He had been too focused on getting Uryuu care.
"….Is this your son?"
He was snapped out of his thoughts by her question and looked to where he had last seen her, only to realize that she had moved from there and was now at his son's side, looking him over with sadness. She looked hurt, like his plight was somehow her own. She gently brushed his sweat drenched hair from his face and Uryuu seemed to respond by turning his head more into her hand. Somehow, in spite of everything going on, the scene was oddly domestic.
Realizing that he hadn't answered her question, he cleared his throat to gather himself and to clear his voice of any emotion.
"Yes. I'm surprised that you've never seen him before."
She snorted softly and gently began stroking Uryuu's head, who seemed to relax more at her touch.
"Is it really so hard to believe? I only come into the hospital twice a month. He looks about seventeen or eighteen, so I'm sure he's a student. Its not hard to see how our paths have never crossed until now…. The resemblance he has to you is uncanny. He'd be your carbon copy if he had that freaky white hair of yours."
Ryuuken's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but his ire went unnoticed by her.
"You know, I'd never thought I would ever say this, but you made a handsome kid. If I wasn't so sure that you were his father, I'd doubt that you'd even had sex at all to make him. I can tell that he's like you, otherwise I'd think he's a heartbreaker."
"Your input and opinion on how my son came to be was not needed, requested and nor was it appreciated." He said, his face pulling downwards into a small frown.
She gave a small sad smile, as if she weren't currently making fun of him and his slowly dying son.
"If he's anything like you, I bet he's the top nerd in school. At least he's good looking."
Ryuuken said nothing, and pretended that he didn't feel at least a little bit of pride for the praise of his gene pool, and annoyed for the obvious jabs at his love life and or the lack of it, and how it may or may not have resulted in his son coming into existence. At the very least, arguing with her brought some familiarity back, and he grudgingly admitted that her being there to annoy him was actually making him feel better.
Pulling out a small handkerchief, she lightly dipped it in the standard pitcher of water that was in every room and gently wiped Uryuu's face to cool him down. His face seemed to relax in his fitful rest more, once he felt the cool piece of fabric on his skin. While she continued, her attention completely on Uryuu's care, she decided to see what she could do to help with his condition.
"What happened to him?"
Ryuuken, distracted once again by the scene of Hanako comforting his son, almost didn't hear her question but quickly snapped himself out of it and answered her.
"He was…poisoned by a large snake. Thankfully, he wasn't actually bitten but whatever toxins it had has taken its toll…."
He frowned, remembering his earlier rage at not having any anti-venom at the hospital. For as long as he had been running the hospital, it was beyond infuriating that the one time he needed things to go smoothly, they were unprepared. Even worse still, was that now it was personal because this oversight could cost Uryuu his life.
Hanako didn't need to look at him to know how he felt. She knew first hand how the hospital hadn't bother to restock on any anti-venom. There hadn't been any bites in years and because this was the city where attacks weren't likely to happen, it was a cost that higher ups hadn't seen the need to pay.
Except now, Ryuuken, the one who made sure that the hospital was ran correctly and efficiently, might lose everything because it.
"He looks like a strong kid, he'll pull through in time….He's probably just as stubborn as you are."
Ryuuken glanced at her for a moment before looking away with a bitter grin.
"You have no idea."
A sharp knock interrupted whatever response Hanako might have made and soon after, the door opened, revealing Isshin Kurosaki dressed in his scrubs and medical garb. Behind him was Urahara, none of his usual jovial demeanor present as he took in the sight of Uryuu.
Ryuuken released a breath he hadn't know he'd been holding in relief, his shoulders visibly relaxing at the sight of them. Isshin came in and immediately got down to business, quickly checking over Uryuu's status. Urahara came over to Isshin and watched, making sure that everything went smoothly and to remain on standby until Isshin gave him the details.
Hanako gave Isshin a small smile, having recognized the usually jovial man whenever he came to the hospital as a favor to Ryuuken.
"Hey there Isshin-san. Its been a while."
He gave a small smile, his attention still focused on Uryuu's care as he took in his condition.
"Yeah, it has. I wish it was during better circumstances though…."
She gave a small humorless laugh. "Ain't that the truth…."
Her eyes ran over Uryuu's form again, wishing that in some way she could take away his pain and suffering, when her eyes caught something strange. She blinked, thinking that maybe something was in her eyes, but when the strange anomaly was still there afterward, she began to grow concerned. Gently as to not cause him anymore pain, she pulled up the light sheet covering his arm and her eyes widened.
Purple. His entire arm from the tips of his fingers to just below the beginning of his shoulder was a sickly purple. His veins were a bright red, which she had never seen before ever in her career. His lower forearm had been bandaged but she could tell that if were to remove the bandages, the wound would be black.
"Oh my God….."
Isshin glanced over at her muttered words and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates when he saw the severely infected limb. In all honesty, he was pretty sure that if his arm hadn't been noticed, Uryuu would have perished within the span of the next hour. A quick glance to Ryuuken and Urahara informed them of the situations severity and he came to a decision.
"Shit. Hanako, I think its time you get out of here. This is about to get messy."
Not even sparing him a glance, instead working on unwrapping the bandages around the damaged arm, her brows creased with frustration and anger, the previously friendly air between them replaced with tension.
"You must have lost your mind if you think I'm going anywhere. I came here to help and I'm not leaving until I do."
Ryuuken and Urahara by the time had come over to look at Uryuu's arm and both turned sheet white. Ryuuken then turned to Hanako, knowing that she wasn't gonna like what he was about to do.
"Hanako. Leave. This is way out of your league. Just let us handle it."
When her eyes finally left Uryuu's arm, they were used to pin him with the most spine tingling glare he'd ever seen. The pure fury that clouded her eyes was almost otherworldly. Her pupils had shrunken so much that they resembled pin pricks, and her usually grinning face was practically snarling at him, revealing her pearl white teeth. Along with her obvious anger, there was something else that was there, just beneath the surface. It kept him still along with her glare and he was almost afraid to move, some instinct telling him that if he did that whatever was being held back would be unleashed onto him.
She took a few deep ragged breaths as if she was feeling the same thing he was and then spoke, her eyes never leaving his the entire time.
"I said…I'm not going anywhere. I don't care if I have to fight, it'd give me great pleasure to finally stick my foot in your pretentious ass. Its either gonna be you, or its gonna be me, and I'm pretty sure you know who I'm going to choose. So go ahead Ryuuken, make my day."
Against his and his two acquaintances' wills, they all audibly gulped. Something in the tone of her words made them believe that she would act out everything she'd just said with absolutely no problem. In fact, Ryuuken was pretty sure she would have no problem attempting to take down Isshin and Urahara as well, almost daring them to act out against her.
Before any of them could even think about what to do next, the machines started going crazy. A moment later, Uryuu began convulsing violently, caught terribly in a horrendous seizure. All eyes turned to him instantly and a second later, Isshin whipped into action, doing everything he could to quell the seizure. In Uryuu's condition, something like this could easily kill him. If it wasn't stopped fast, his heart could stop.
Ryuuken's fears amplified a hundred fold, but then it turned into anger. Turning his gaze to Hanako, who instantly looked back at the quick action, it was now his gaze that pinned her where she sat.
"This is not the time for petty arguments. I'm the director here, and I want you out of here immediately. This isn't any other patient, this is my son and your word doesn't matter here, so just do us all a big favor, and get out."
His teeth were clenched, and his carefully constructed control had crumbled to his irrational anger. It made him feel better to finally release the tension that'd been building since his son collapsed into his arms. But it did nothing but make Hanako feel humiliated. She was just trying to help when he couldn't get help anywhere else, or at the very least, offer support. Despite his dramatic entrance to the hospital, no one but her had bothered to follow him, too afraid of losing their jobs to even think of being in his presence. When she'd seen that poor boy in bed, something in her just downright refused to even let her think of leaving his side. It just wasn't in her nature to leave anyone who needed help…..
But if he was that adamant in his decision then she would leave, as much as it pained her to do so.
With that, she got up without a word, leaving the bracelet that had been forgotten once she sat at Uryuu's side next to the pitcher of water. She turned to leave, not even having the courage to face anyone in the room, let alone Ryuuken. Reaching the door knob, she thrust her other hand in her pocket for her ID badge, since it was needed to open the door. Instead of meeting the thin plastic, her hands met a metal lid and glass. Her brows furrowed in confusion and grasped the item firmly before pulling it out, revealing it to be the jar of the Purge Paste she'd grabbed just before following Ryuuken.
At first, she almost considered putting the jar back in her pocket and resume leaving, until she realized that maybe, this could be her way of helping Uryuu. She couldn't explain why, but for some reason, she had a feeling that this was the only way that Uryuu would survive.
"-yuuken, we may have to amputate his arm."
Her head immediately whipped around to the situation behind her. Isshin and Ryuuken were glaring at the man in the hat and clogs, and unbeknownst to her so was she. Ryuuken's face was pinched with anger and his voice was tense as he spoke.
"…No one is cutting his arm off."
The man then ran a hand over his face, showing that the decision he made wasn't any easier for him, but there was a resoluteness in him that showed that this was the only way he could think of to stop Uryuu's suffering.
"Look, I know this isn't easy for you. Its not easy for me either, but right now, if that arm isn't amputated, its gonna spread to his heart."
"He won't be able to use his bow! He'll be defenseless!"
Urahara glanced at him. "Have you forgotten about Orihime-chan? This isn't the first time his arm has been taken off. She told me so herself. If anyone can bring it back, its her. But right now, if we don't cut it off, he'll be dead."
What were they talking about? Uryuu's arm had been injured before? And Orihime….That name sounded familiar to her, but at the moment she couldn't worry about it. Her focus went back to the situation at hand when the arguing between Ryuuken and the other man got more intense.
"And what if his heart can't handle the procedure? He'd die anyway! His heart is already weak because of the seizure-"
"And if he has another seizure he will die!"
Hanako's breath left her, and she glanced at the boy lying in the bed, sweating more profusely than he had before. If something wasn't done soon, he'll be a goner, and with the two of them bickering, nothing was gonna get done.
Making up her mind, she moved quickly back to Uryuu's side, unscrewing the lid of the jar on the way and tossing it in her haste. She would find it later. Pushing Isshin aside, she tore off what was left of the bandages and nearly gagged at the smell that hit her once they were removed. Like she suspected, the wound was black and it was emitting a foul odor that reeked of infection. It was oozing a black liquid that she desperately hoped wasn't putrefying blood. Trying her best to hold her breath, she reached inside the jar and slathered a generous helping directly onto the wound. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Uryuu flinch harshly, no doubt feeling the pain of the wound and the harsh sting of the herbal paste.
"Hanako, what are you doing? What the hell are you putting on his arm, this isn't the time for one of your herbal bullshit."
She ignored Ryuuken's inquiries and instead tried to remember what her grandmother had done when she'd gotten bitten all those years ago. Reminded of the tenderness and care that she'd had when she'd been treated, she held onto that feeling as she gently grabbed his wrist and began massaging the inside of it with her thumb, humming the same otherworldly tune that gave her comfort during that time.
Isshin glanced uneasily at the two of them who could do nothing but stare at Hanako in disbelief. It'd seemed that Hanako had finally lost it and was desperately trying anything she could to help.
"Hanako…"
"Shhhhh! Isshin-san, be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate.."
"Hanako, its not working. Whatever you thought would work isn't making him any better."
She clenched her teeth in as desperation took hold of her. Why wasn't it working? What was she missing? This same paste had worked on her as a child! If she could survive a bite from a Japanese Mamushi thanks to this, then what was wrong? Had she made the paste wrong? Was she doing everything right? She was doing everything her grandmother had done, so then…why…
"Now now child, don't cry, everything will be alright. Its just a little bite."
A young Hanako looked up to her grandmother's face, her expression watery and her eyes overflowing with big tears.
"B-But Grams, it hurts! It hurts really bad…"
The aged woman clicked her tongue in a comforting way and gathered the weeping girl into her lap. "Just close your eyes and let your Grams work some magic okay?"
The young girl nodded and felt her grandmother kiss the top of her head. She then reached into the jar with something smelly in it and she put it on her arm. She immediately jerked her arm back when she felt a painful sting.
"Ow Grams! It stings!"
"Shhhhhh…..I know child, but remember what I told you."
She sniffled again and looked up at her. "The best medicine is always the most bitter."
"That's right. Now, let Grams work her magic."
She continued to slather the strong smelling substance on her arm and then began rubbing the inside of her wrist with her thumb and began humming. Hanako began to get sleepy, but then heard the humming switch to words.
"Morbus genitus, vos es non exspectata huic vas, Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…."
Her grandmother continued to repeat the lyrics over and over, and the more she repeated them, the better she felt, and the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was a bright light that she could see from her already closed eyes….
Her eyes lit up in realization. This was the first time she'd ever remembered there being lyrics to the song. She'd never thought about it before and in her defense, as a kid she hadn't realized that her grandmother was actually singing in another language and not just babbling nonsense. Which was why she hadn't really cared to remember it, but she was glad that the buried memory had resurfaced, and right on time.
Immediately, she resumed her previous actions, instead this time she began singing the lyrics quietly to herself, hoping against everything that she wasn't crazy and that what she was doing would actually save the boy's life. Closing her eyes, she let the words flow through her and out of her mouth as she continually massaged his wrist.
"Morbus genitus, vos es non exspectata huic vas, Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…."
She began to repeat the phrase over and over again, getting faster and faster as the foreign tongue she was speaking became easier and easier to say. Her body relaxed and her body began to grow warm as she unknowingly slipped into a trance.
Ryuuken massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration and disbelief. This was great. Just fucking great. His son was about to lose his arm and quite possibly his life, and Hanako was speaking in tongues….
He turned to Isshin and grimaced. "I don't know why you're entertaining this, but it needs to stop. She doesn't need to be here-"
He was cut off by a loud gasp, and all eyes turned toward Hanako as her eyes began to flutter wildly, her back arching and her head falling back, her hand never stopping its motion on Uryuu's wrist. The room darkened around them, the only light remaining coming from the small lamp on Uryuu's side, barely illuminating them.
That is, until circles of light began forming under Hanako's prone body, still caught in whatever was possessing her. The moment the circles completely formed, her body straightened, and her eyes opened, revealing glowing white eyes that were completely blank.
Her head turned to Ryuuken and she began speaking, her voice echoing after every word.
"Operor non fatigo, Ishida Ryuuken, totus ero puteus."
Isshin and Urahara's eyes briefly switched between them before focusing solely on Hanako as she began her chant again, this time, every word she spoke echoed endlessly until the sounds began melding together, sounding as if a chorus was speaking instead of just one person.
A sudden movement from Uryuu drew their attention to him, almost forgotten due to Hanako's unsettling transformation. He began writhing mindlessly, his uninjured hand clenching the sheets beneath him. His legs began kicking and Urahara snapped into action and attempted to hold his legs down. After being caught in his chin by a stray kick, he was finally able to hold them down. Isshin took the initiative to hold his arm, which had began flailing. Ryuuken was too confused to do anything but watch as the faster Hanako chanted, the more frantic Uryuu became. He looked at where she still had a grip on Uryuu's arm and realized that the arm that had been purple began steadily regaining color as the paste that was previously green began to turn black. The veins too, that had been bulging and red began returning to normal, making it apparent that whatever Hanako was doing, as strange as it was, was actually working.
When his arm was no longer black, the paste began to harden and crack, revealing a bright light that seemed to blind all but Hanako, which the majority of light was directed toward. Yet, she continued on as if it had no effect on her. Her strange ritual reached its peak when her voice began breaking through the chorus that she herself had created, echoing louder than the rest.
"Morbus genitus, vos es non exspectata huic vas, "Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…."
"Morbus genitus, vos es non exspectata huic vas, "Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…."
"Morbus genitus, vos es non exspectata huic vas, "Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…."!
With that final chant, a shockwave spread throughout the room, knocking the power out of the entire room as the paste blasted apart into harmless lights and dissipated into the air.
The room was in total darkness. But, after a moment, the room's power began functioning again and the machines turned back on. The light coming from the magic circles on the floor disappeared, taking with it whatever had possessed Hanako as she tiredly blinked her eyes. Remembering where she was, she looked down to Uryuu to see him sleeping peacefully, breathing on his own since the mask had been knocked from his face while he'd been struggling, and his arm completely back to normal and not even a scar left of the terrible pus emitting wound he'd had earlier.
"Hanako."
She turned towards Ryuuken, and then looked into the stunned faces of Isshin and the other man, who she still had no idea of who he was. After a moment, suddenly feeling as though she'd just ran a marathon and climbed Mt. Everest while carrying boulders, she closed her eyes and smiled.
"I did it."
With that last word, her body began to fall as her world became darkness.
Isshin immediately moved to catch her and was nearly too late, but he'd managed to save her from a terrible headache due to her head cracking against the floor.
Ryuuken let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding once he saw Isshin safely catch Hanako. Once he realized she was safe, he turned his head to Uryuu, whose vitals read normal and whose arm was back to normal without even a scar to show for it. He was breathing normally and sleeping peacefully. He sighed in relief and placed his forehead against Uryuu's, lightly brushing his disheveled hair from his face.
He might not have been the best father, but at the very least now he had a chance to improve things.
The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped him out of his thoughts as he turned to Urahara, who was covering his face with a paper fan, no doubt trying in vain to hide the enormous grin everyone knew he sported behind it.
"Well now, I didn't know you had a…..softer, side to you Ryuuken. I'm touched-"
"I know how to kill you and get rid of any forensic evidence. Just a fun fact."
Urahara's hands immediately went up in mock surrender, a wry grin on his face. "Okay Okay, I won't tease. But…."
His jovial mood suddenly became serious as the grin fell from his face and his shadowed eyes narrowed in seriousness. "Can anyone tell me how, a Witch of that power and magnitude has remained under the radar for so long until now?"
Isshin looked down to the woman in his arms, then at the jar of the strong smelling substance that she used to save Uryuu's life and sighed. "Things just became more troublesome….."
Ryuuken massaged the bridge of his nose, except it wasn't doing anything to fend off the headache that had already made itself known by way of the pounding he felt at the base of his skull.
"Troublesome isn't even the half of it. She was troublesome to begin with, and now she's an even bigger pain in my ass."
Isshin rolled his eyes and tried and failed to hide his growing grin.
"Its not that she's a pain in your ass, its the part of you that wants her ass that's upsetting you so badly."
A laugh escaped Urahara's mouth before he could cover his mouth and stop it, but he was able to swallow down any remarks about Ryuuken's love life when he saw the white haired man's hand begin to root around in his pocket.
He definitely didn't want his throat slit with a scalpel.
Isshin shook his head in amusement and grinned even more even as Ryuuken's glare increased in intensity.
"I do not, in any way, shape or form, want that nuisance of a woman."
"You keep telling yourself that. If she was that horrible, you wouldn't make her come in twice a month for something she could easily do at home."
Ryuuken turned his gaze to her for a scant moment before he looked away. "She has patients here too. She has to come in check up on the ones who can't make it to her clinic. Its a mutual partnership. She supplies us with herbal medicine and we house the patients who can't make it to her clinic. Its that simple."
"With the added benefit of you being able to see her, as much as you claim you don't want to. I've seen you two argue. If it were anyone else, you wouldn't have paid them any attention at all. Yet you have full arguments with her, for stupid things. I've been keeping track. You've had at least 20 arguments that I've personally witnessed, over her hair color alone."
"Its unprofessional-"
"She comes here twice a month, to fill out paperwork and do her rounds with her patients. You don't even have to see it everyday."
"She's loud and uncouth-"
"So am I and you never give me as much shit as you give her, and I'm here way more often than she is."
Ryuuken glared and began walking towards the phone on the wall, seemingly giving up on the argument.
Urahara grinned, hiding behind his fan again. "You know, they say that when a boy bullies a girl, its because he actually likes her-"
"Dr. Ibiki, do you have an appointment free? Good. I need you to perform an emergency vasectomy-"
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Don't do anything drastic!" Urahara said, skin suddenly pale and his expression one of horror as he desperately tried to stop the angry man's attempts at harming his family jewels.
"-yes, the patient needs it desperately-"
The phone suddenly went dead as Isshin held down the button. "That's enough, you know we're only poking fun."
Ryuuken sucked his teeth in annoyance and noticed that Isshin's arms were no longer holding Hanako. A quick look around revealed her location…
She was currently in the bed with his son curled into her curvy form.
He glanced at Isshin who shrugged, finding it no big deal. "I couldn't put her in the chair, she'd fall out of it. It was the only place I could put her."
Ryuuken drug a hand down his face in exasperation. He was surrounded by idiots….
Urahara cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to him, the jar sealed with its lid in his hand. "All fun and games aside, this is a serious problem."
Isshin and Ryuuken made their way back to the bed, Ryuuken sitting on the edge of it while Isshin slouched into the chair.
"The power she let out was incredible, and I'm surprised that she was not discovered earlier. She clearly knew what she was doing, and no practicing Witch stays inactive for long periods of time. They simply find places to practice in that can't be found."
"You're forgetting something, Urahara," Isshin said. "She might not have even known she was a Witch. As hunted as they were in the past, I highly doubt that past generations of Witches would teach their children if it meant they would be hunted. I mean, I didn't teach Ichigo about his heritage. It happened under dire circumstances, just like this did."
"That still doesn't rule out the fact that she knew what to do." The scientist said, looking over the woman who had singlehandedly saved the slumbering boy beside her.
"If she really knew what to do at first, she would have done it way before you both came here." Ryuuken said as searched his pockets for a cigarette before remembering that Uryuu hadn't made it back with them.
Isshin rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out his own pack and tapped it, offering the cigarette that came out to the nicotine starved man.
Ryuuken immediately snatched it without any thanks or gratitude and lit it up with the spare lighter he always kept in his pocket. He breathed in the acrid smoke deeply, relishing the rush of nicotine into his lungs and then exhaled, finally settling himself down after a nerve-wracking day that wasn't even anywhere near over yet.
"She was here for at least ten minutes before you both came in. If she really knew what she was doing, or if she was truly a presently practicing Witch who has been practicing long before what we saw her do today, she would have already done it and saved him. She's not one to let people suffer. Especially not children, teenagers or otherwise."
"Then that means she learned it from someone else, right?" Isshin said as he eyed both of them. It certainly seemed to appear that way. Even if they were just acquaintances, he could tell that Hanako just wasn't one to keep something to herself if she knew how to make the situation better.
"Seems like it, the circumstances certainly fit that scenario." Urahara said as he removed his hat, running a hand through his unkempt blonde hair. "And that means, she either knows someone who practices, or she knew someone who used to."
Ryuuken took another drag and blew it out, letting his gaze secretly fall on the green haired woman who'd not only been a thorn in his side the moment he first met her, but the one to save the last remaining family he had left.
Oh, and she was a Witch, who would no doubt be hunted down if any unfriendly shinigami found out about her, including the three girls who'd also recently become sisters to the Craft.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
He looked at his nearly finished cigarette and frowned to himself.
Looks like he wasn't quitting any time soon.
Honestly guys, I meant to put this out on Tuesday but soooo much stuff came up that I couldn't get it done in time. At the very least, its done now, and with some added drama. I hope you guys don't get upset with me for nearly killing Uryuu but it was vital to the plot! Also, for those of you who are worried, once again, NO. This is not turning into a FROZEN fic.
Its really not. Like I keep saying, its the situations. What Rukia was hearing was Arabella's MEMORIES along with her final moments. So please don't think this is gonna be anything like Frozen, because I repeat, its NOOOOOTTT.
:)
Thank you guys so much for the continued interest in my story! I'll try to post chapters more frequently!
…
Please Please Please review! Your reviews keep me going and it also gives me important feedback! :)
"Morbus genitus , vos es non exspectata huic vas" - (Latin) "Sickness begone, you are not welcome in this vessel"
"Quicuimque est immunda vadum exsisto tersus, Ego to order vos…." (Latin) "All that is unclean shall be clean, I command you"
"Operor non fatigo, Ishida Ryuuken, totus ero puteus." (Latin) "Do not worry, Ishida Ryuuken, all will be well."
*Hanako- "flower child."
Please look here for any and all translations so that you guys won't get confused! I want you all to be able to comprehend every part of the story so that you can get the best experience! Thank you so much!
