A Curse to Kill 14
A set of monitors were set around the comatose patient. They were showing a great result from the source. It was remarkable that the body could withstand such enormous power coursing his entire being. He had shown a little to no side effects when the reiatsu finally released from inside him. Every vital signs in his body were normal. He was doing great actually. There were only a handful of slight bump along the way.
Unohana-sensei was taking notes on Ichigo's condition when the patient on the bed suddenly shot his right hand in the air and at the same time, the heart rate accelerated. He started to shout one name that was coma in another room, at the end of the wing.
"RUKIA!"
Beads of perspiration rolled across his forehead and down his neck. His eyebrows were knitted together. Unohana-sensei knew something terrible was happening in the mind of Kurosaki Ichigo. As he continued shouting Rukia's name, the Kuchiki family's doctor jabbed the calling button and tried to calm Ichigo down. It was vain. Nothing she knew was helping. The patient's reiatsu suddenly multiplied and just like what happened when Isshin unleashed it, Unohana-sensei felt the pressure choking her within few moments. Her knees jellied and her lungs struggled to take in oxygen. She was one of the respected and highest ranking member in Soul Society, which meant that she, could handle a really high reaitsu but not this time. Ichigo's reiatsu was too powerful for her to handle. How they managed to conceal this monstrous amount of spiritual power in his body for all these years surprised her.
Within seconds, Isshin barged into the ward, followed by Urahara closed older Kurosaki helped hiscolleague, bringing her to the nearest chair, as Urahara went to the patient. Ichigo's reiatsu was too powerful for Unohana and it would be sometime for her body to put up with his enormous power. Even for Urahara, he had trained long and hard to accustomed with that power the young adult packed. Isshin left the female doctor and went to help Urahara. They hovered their hands on Ichigo's bare torso. In seconds, the hands were glowing greenish white as the reiatsu began flowing through their veins.
It took them fifteen long minutes before they calmed Ichigo down and sealed his reiatsu. The machines around the young adult showed stabilised signs and Isshin was grateful. His son's body could give up anytime with the state he was in. His body was still trying to get use to the enormous reiatsu. Isshin could only pray his son survived this ordeal and save Rukia.
"Isshin, what happened?"
The father turned to his colleague.
"He's reaitsu wasn't supposed to burst like that." Urahara stated the obvious.
Isshin sighed. True. Ichigo's reaitsu should have well kept in body. It wasn't just supposed to go crazy like that. Something must had triggered it. Something or someone and a name came cruising in his mind, Rukia. And as just that name entered his mind, the peacefulness of the ward was once again yanked away by a a nurse, came running in, looking as pale as the wall behind her.
"Unohana-sensei... It's Rukia. She's failing!"
By those three words, their hearts jumped out and they ran out to the ward down the hall where machines beeping wildly, notifying the people around that the patient was in need of an immediate attention.
"Hisana-sensei, what's happening?" A question that every souls in the room knew the answer but refused to acknowledge it. Kuchiki Rukia was like a baby sister to them, to all the staffs that were responsible for her health since the first time she admitted, more than ten years back. Her cheerfulness and happy-go-lucky attitude brought smile to everyone, whether the personnels or the patients, in the hospital. She was the light in the sorrowful hallways of the hospital.
"Her heartbeats and blood pressure just dropped, dramatically. Her liver must has stopped functioning and the toxic build up probably causing her heart stops," as she explained, she continued giving Rukia chest compression by meaning to get her heart beats back. But it was useless.
"Dammit." Unohana cursed under her breath.
The newly arrived doctors didn't waste any seconds. They scrambled to the patient's side and quickly went through the emergency procedures. Isshin intubated Rukia, Urahara checked the flow of reiatsu, Unohana gave her own spiritual power to strengthen her fading soul and Hisana observed the heart monitor, praying for just a tiny bit of positive feedback. It was a total chaos in the ward as Rukia continued to falling. Frantic beeping of the machines, shouting of commands, nurses and medical assistants running in and out of the room as they tried to save Rukia. Isshin had called for an epinephrine shot for her heart to jump back to life when the heart monitor showed a flat line; Unohana increased the reiatsu flow to Rukia with the help of some of Soul Society members while Urahara gave a command to a nurse to call every available person with reiatsu to help them to save Rukia. But it seemed hopeless. Her heart monitor still showing flat lines, with a continuous, high-pitched sound resonated in every corners of the ward, deafening to people inside it. Rukia was dying and it looked like nothing could make her stay.
After a full fifteen minutes with fruitless efforts from the team and three times using electric shocks to awaken her heart, they knew that they lost her. Nothing works, not by defibrillating or reiatsu combined. The flat lines continued showing.
The doctors looked at each other and their patient. They had to call it in but they didn't want to. They actually thought that they could save her. Rukia was progressing quite well yesterday and she only needed to hang just another week for Ichigo. The carrot top was figured to awake fully by the end of today to help her. Why her health suddenly plummeted to the ground? Why didn't she respond to any of the team's effort?
Unohana-sensei shifted her eyes to a figure standing by her side. He was tired, she could see that but he wouldn't stop extracting every single bits of reaitsu in every inch of hia body to save his little sister. Kuchiki Byakuya arrived to the scene around seven minutes after them and since then, he kept flowing the green reiatsu to Rukia. He didn't ask any questions, he didn't complain, all he did was giving Rukia all of his reiatsu.
"Byakuya-san," Unohana-sensei stopped her reiatsu flow and put her hand on his shoulder, indicating him to stop. If he pushed himself too far, he would end up in one of the wards.
"She shouldn't die," his voice was lifeless, just like the body in front of him.
His voice was clearly laced with disappointment and it was lifeless, as if he had lost every will to draw another breath. Rukia was the only remaining family member he had. If he was as strong as his father was, he might be able to have save Rukia. Rukia might still be breathing right now. But no. He wasn't Kuchiki Hikaru. He was Kuchiki Byakuya, the failure. Such a big name for such a loser. He was rich but he failed to save Rukia. He was a useless bastard. He was weak. He couldn't protect the only family member he had left. He failed to keep up with the promise he made to his parents. He failed everyone and more importantly, he failed himself. Rukia trusted him but betrayed that.
An eerie silence engulfed the ward even with the machine ear-deafening alert. Everything seemed lost to them, especially the doctors and her only family member. Hisana and some nurses were already weeping, trying so very hard to stifle it. Unohana-sensei tried not to let a single drop of tear rolled down her cheek. She, among all, had to be the strongest. To Kuchiki family, she was the only link that Byakuya-kun had. Being the family doctor for for the past thirty years, Unohana knew many things about the Kuchiki family, their colourful history, the various natures of them and others. Byakuya and Rukia were the closest being that she had for children. She cared and loved them too much. She had to be strong for Byakuya and herself.
She put her hand on his stiff shoulder, conveying the message that he should stop the flow of reiatsu and let Rukia's soul passed. It was pointless. Rukia's vital points were already in straight line since two minutes back. There was nothing that they could do, either medically or spiritually speaking. They had lost the one and only female heir to Kuchiki throne. A girl that fought hard for every second of her life.
"Bya-san..." Unohana-sensei muttered. That was the only word she could manage. She knew what was happening inside him. The poor boy beside her already lost his parents and now his closest living family? Rukia was his light. She was the only reason he managed to go through hellish life. He loved his little sister more than anything albeit he rarely showed it. The doctor knew that Rukia held a big spot in his heart that even Hisana-sensei couldn't even budge it. Rukia was his world and now that she was gone, his world crumbled.
It took every single will in Kuchiki Byakuya's battered body to finally lower his hands and stopped the reiatsu flow. He accepted the fact, reluctantly. She was already with their parents. He turned to his side, and slowly nodded to Unohana-sensei. It was time to call it in even though it broke his heart to million pieces just to acknowledge it.
"Time of dea-"
The physician was cut short by a sudden crash at the door. Everyone turned their attention from the lifeless body to the entrance. There, resting against the wall was Kurosaki Ichigo. He was unruly, darkened eyes and sweating profusely. He had dragged his tired body from his room to Rukia's place. He knew something was definitely wrong as soon as he opened his eyes. The dream he had, it was too vivid just to be a play in his sleep. The gut feeling he had brought him here and yes, Rukia was dying. No, she wasn't dead. She was still alive, he was sure about it even though machines around her showed flat lines and the alarming sound was already deafening everyone presented.
"She's not dead!" he shouted against the noisy room. He dragged his body into the room. Nurses tried to help him. He refused. Isshin rushed to his son side, aiding the young man to his destination. Rukia's bed. That was the only destination in the strawberry blond man as he knew, despite everything that showed the condition she was in, he could still save her. Only he could and he would.
"Ichigo... Rukia's gone," Isshin stating the obvious.
"I can still save her!" Ichigo retorted back.
His breathing laboured, it was hard for him. Every single time his lung filled with air, it took a lot of energy. Every steps he took, all the muscles in his body screamed in agony. Everything he did now only activated his pain receptors, all of them at once. But he ignored it. This was nothing compared to the pain that would be inflicted if he lost Rukia. That pain would be greater, maybe a million time worst than this. No pain in the world could compare. He didn't want to lose her. He didn't want to give up and she should not too. She was a fighter, he knew. If she could fight for every single minutes in her life since she was three, why would she give up now and why would he give up?
As he approached her bed, the medical team backed away, leaving only Unohana, Urahara and Byakuya around her. His eyes fell on the body as he stood on her right side of the bed. She was as pale as the sheet and when his fingers landed on hers, the brain froze. Cold. Too cold to be alive. He knew the chance to save her was diminishing. Hell, she might not even can be saved. He shoved the thought aside. He wanted to save her and he would. He just had to trust himself and believed in Rukia. She won't leave him just like that right? He was her best friend. He just wanted another chance to be with her, to at least tell her how important she was to him and he was sorry for everything that he did.
Kurosaki Ichigo took a deep breath. The sterile air rushed into his lungs and gave oxygen to his tired body. Feeling refreshed slightly, the young man placed his hands over Rukia. They were barely half an inch above her. He knew nothing about this spiritual healing. He was merely following his instinct, whatever his gut told him to do. In mere seconds, a combination of black and bright red line appeared. At soon as Ichigo's power came out, everyone started to choke, except for the three doctors and Byakuya but even they felt the pressure.
"Everyone get out!" Isshin shouted and as soon as their brain understood the instructions, the team rushed out, leaving only Rukia's doctors and brother.
Ichigo's black and red reiatsu grown as big as his hands. The young man brought left hand just slightly below her lower ribs, above the second biggest organ in the body. His right was on her heart. He closed his eyes, focusing every single bits of reiatsu on her. He pictured the venom that had been violently wrecking her. He needed to take it out. Only by that could his friend be saved.
'Rukia, please, come back to me!'
The sun was shining on her face and breeze caressing it. It felt great. It had been sometime since she felt this awesome. Her body seemed to be hundred percent functioning. She was healthy. It was too good to be true and she knew. This… Rukia took a handful of the warm beach sand. The fine grains danced against the wind as they escaped between her fingers. Everything felt like a dream. This wasn't a dream but it was a reality. A reality that she couldn't escape from. She was dead. This was the afterlife… or maybe the transition to that.
But… up until this moment, she was liked it and didn't want to leave this place. At least, her illness was gone and she could enjoy the sun. Rukia liked it very much to be here and wanted to stay.
For Byakuya, this was the first time he encountered someone with a really huge reiatsu. That boy, Kurosaki's kid…. Ichi- something, Rukia had a huge crush on him. He could see that in Rukia but that boy seemed oblivious for it. Well, that was about few months back when that Ichi-something came over. But right now, this boy was working really hard to save her. He would do anything to make sure that Rukia survived. His reaitsu was enormous, almost at par with the captain commander, Yamamoto-sama and Byakuya knew and believed that the boy was the only one right now that could save her sister.
Ichigo's reiatsu was powerful and with the combinations from the other three captain-level doctors and Byakuya, the reiatsu was over the roof, but after fifteen minutes, there were no changes in Rukia's conditions, still pale and cold. Rukia was not responding to their reiatsu in a way that everyone in the ward hoped for. Ichigo's black reitasu engulfed Rukia's trunk, trying to find the venom that had been making havoc in the young Kuchiki's body. However, thanks to the fact that the poison was made by the arch enemy of Kuchiki Hikaru, it was hard for the reiatsu to find it. The 'Curse to Kill' blended in Rukia's blood, making it harder to be detected by Ichigo.
"Ichigo, focus all of your reiatsu under her ribs, right on that scar," Urahara-sensei pointed on the three inches long, eleven year-old skin injury, just right under her last ribs. It was the entry point of the poison and if Ichigo was lucky, hopefully, he would find the poison in her.
The orange-haired boy nodded and moved his hands on the exposed skin. He never saw it in the entire time being with her. Rukia was so good in hiding things that she didn't want anyone to know and he was so stupid not realising any of it. Ichigo didn't want her to die. He wanted to at least apologize to her face-to-face and to tell her that he loved her the way she did. Ichigo took a deep breath and focused all of his reiatsu to her, trying to find the poison in her.
"Rukia, come back!" with that, he put out all of his reiatsu.
And just second after it, the machines around her jumped into the sound that they all were waiting for. Her heart started to pump independently and blood pressure was rising steadily. Ichigo's reaitsu turned to red as the poison entered. He had managed to extract it a little and still a lot to go. But it was a great sign. Hope seeped into their hearts, knowing that there was a possibility for save Rukia.
New hope filled their beings and the reiatsu output increased. Slowly, bits by bits, the flame red poison extracted into the reiatsu. The poison floated in their reiatsu, above Rukia's body. Within forty minutes, all poison was out of Rukia's system. Finally, after all these years battling with the excruciating pain inside her, they managed to take it out.
Rukia's going to be okay.
Vital signs were all normal and when they stopped the reiatsu flow, Rukia was breathing on her own. This was a very good sign.
"Congrats Ichigo. You saved her," Urahara-sensei gave the boy a good slap on the back.
Big smile was on everyone's faces and of course, the biggest among them was on Ichigo. Rukia was saved.
Byakuya looked at Ichigo, standing beside him. Even though he had used a lot of reaitsu, it was not surprising that he was still standing. Kurosaki Ichigo had the power that was at part with the captain commander of Soul Society, way above Byakuya's own. Byakuya may not really liked Ichigo on the first few times he met him and when something went wrong with Rukia, he knew it was the boy that caused it. Byakuya was pissed but he kept it professional but now he was really thankful to this strawberry blonde.
"Thanks Kurosaki," Byakuya muttered.
Ichigo nodded as he took a deep breath. Rukia was saved and she's going to live. He looked at the ups-and-downs movement of her chest. It was the greatest thing knowing that she made it thanks to him. He took a hold of her hand. It wasn't as cold as before. Warmth flowed to him. He was happy and right now… he blanked out. The last thing Ichigo heard and knew was his body going really light, as a feather and his name being called by his father. He was unconscious just mere minutes after saving Rukia. The depletion in his reiatsu was too great for his body to handle.
"Rukia…" Ichigo mumbled as his eyes lids closed.
A/N: I am so sorry that it took so long for the new chapter! I got so many things on my plate right now I'll try to update! Pray for me people! And don't forget to review~ they make my day and give me wills to read. =D