Torin stepped into Aurora's room, followed by Rida. Aurora was in a standard hospital style nightgown, laying on her bed propped up by several snow white pillows. Hikari sat in a chair by the bed, and she didn't look too pleased about being made to wait for so long.
"About time you two showed up! I've been done for hours, I was starting to consider tracking you both down and dragging you here by your ears!" Hikari said, practically foaming at the lips as she stood and faced the two friends
"Sorry, I made myself difficult to find" Torin apologized
"And I'm a horrible tracker" Rida added
"Whatever" Hikari said "I'll leave you two to watch over her, try not to destroy the barracks this time."
With that Hikari vanished, leaving the trio alone together. Aurora moved her head to look at Torin and Rida. "So, let me guess, you two fought over something stupid, Hikari scolded you, Torin went to the rukongai to calm down and you got enlisted to track him down, that sound about right Rida?"
"how did you…?" Rida started
"I know you two, do I really need anything else to tell what happened?" Aurora interrupted
"I…No…" Rida said dejectedly
Aurora smiled, then looked at Torin "can you come closer Torin? I'm still a bit weak from the poison and I'm having a hard time seeing you.
Torin nodded, then walked over, removed his haiori and placed it on a chair, and knelt by Aurora's bed "how's this?" he asked.
"Perfect" Aurora said, then in a whirlwind of white sheets and pillows Aurora shifted in bed so that she was holding herself in the air with both hands and lunging forward to firmly plant her foot in Torin's face
Torin tumbled head over heels back into the door, narrowly missing Rida, who had hastily stepped to the side and made himself as unnoticeable as possible.
"Gah! What the hell!?" Torin said as he sat up and clutched his face, the kick had given him a nosebleed and left a red imprint of Aurora's foot in the center of his face.
Aurora, who was obviously not as injured as she had claimed, stood, stormed over to Torin, and picked him up by the collar.
"I should say the same to you!" Aurora shouted "what the hell were you thinking!?"
Aurora began to shake Torin forward and back as she continued ranting, making his head bang against the wall repeatedly. "Fighting that arrancar alone with your bare hands! That's the stupidest, most selfish, egotistical idea I've ever heard of! Do you realize what could've happened because of your stupid idea!?" Aurora screamed
Rida recovered from his shock and realized that Torin was getting pummeled too much to speak, and if he let things go Aurora would probably wind up giving him brain damage. So against his better judgement, he decided to try and intervene. "Aurora. Torin's beat himself up enough about nearly getting you killed… you don't need to…" Rida began
"I don't care about what might've happened to me!" Aurora shouted as she threw Torin over her shoulder and slammed him upside down into another wall. Torin hit the wall and stuck to it for a few moments, then slowly slid down and crumpled on the floor, his legs twitching in the air.
"I don't care… about if I died" Aurora said, her rage subsiding.
Torin, thinking that Aurora had calmed down and that it was safe, took the opportunity to shift into a sitting position.
"What I'm angry about is that you nearly got YOURSELF killed Torin!" Aurora shouted as she kicked Torin in the crotch.
Torin crumpled again, then assumed the fetal position and decided to stay that way for a while.
"Even if I had lived, if I found out you were dead I…" Aurora said, tears welling in her eyes and her voice becoming choked with emotion "I don't know what I'd do…"
Aurora began to cry "don't you ever do something like that again… I couldn't bear it… so please… promise me you won't do something stupid and reckless again… ok?"
Torin uncurled and stood up, the sound of Aurora crying overriding his fear of further pain. "I'm sorry Aurora, I wasn't thinking about how you would feel if I died" Torin began
"Damn right you weren't!" Aurora said as she threw a punch at Torin's face. Fortunately for him, Torin saw this one coming and caught her wrist, then pulled her into a warm embrace.
"I promise Aurora, I won't do something stupid like that again, can you forgive me?" Torin finished "and if you can't, can you please stop beating me up before my injuries open up again?"
Aurora nodded weakly, then buried her head in Torin's chest and sobbed. Torin held her close, tears or relief welling in his own eyes. They were both safe, and Torin was thankful for that. All he wanted now was to hold Aurora for as long as he could, but he knew his duties would soon call him away.
Suddenly, and a tad predictably, a young shinigami recruit from squad 3 burst in, "Captain Inzanki!" he gasped "we have an emergency!"
Torin reluctantly released Aurora "What seems to be the problem Yamato?" he said, addressing the young squad member by name to subtly remind him that he didn't like being addressed by his last name.
"Captain Torin, enemies are swarming the West gate! Jidambo can't hold them off! We're about to be invaded!" Yamato panted, noting the reminder and correcting himself.
"What!?" Torin, Rida, and Aurora said in unison
Torin reached over and grabbed his haori off the chair and donned it in the same motion. "Rida" he said, the rest of the message didn't need words, Rida knew exactly what Torin meant, lets go.
Rida nodded, grabbed Torin's zanpakto from where it had fallen when Torin got kicked, and tossed it to him, then picked up his own.
"I'll be right behind you guys, I just need to change out of this nightgown" Aurora said.
Torin was about to protest, but Rida pulled him along. "We don't have time for another lover's spat Torin" Rida said. Torin reluctantly followed along.