The Common Thread: Part 29
"Orihime. Oh, Orihime. Hey, wake up Orihime!"
"What? What's wrong?"
Rinu sighed as she responded, "You were daydreaming again, class is over and I'm ready to go eat. I've checked all the aisle ways already and there is not a single textbook waiting anywhere you might happen to step, so let's get a move on!"
Orihime smiled as she got up saying, "You really don't have to do that every day now, Rinu. It's been almost four months since the last accident."
Rinu wagged a finger in Orihime's face saying, "You haven't had any more accidents due to my taking precautions. Iymo only just got out of his cast after breaking his arm in that bookshelf incident and it would break my heart to see you in that same sorry state."
Orihime rolled her eyes, "You know, Rinu, I've had broken bones and all sorts of other injuries before and they didn't kill me before."
Rinu placed a hand over her heart and said in a mortified tone, "I never said you would die from your injuries and if anything that serious ever happened to you I would go out of my mind with worry. I simply said that I wouldn't be able to bear seeing you in a cast."
Rinu looked thoughtful before she continued, "All though, if you were to break an arm or a leg…you would be almost entirely dependent on me for everything."
Nano's voice came from behind the two girls as she caught up to them and said, "And all of a sudden, an accident that caused minimal damage to Orihime's person would suddenly put her life in mortal danger due to her lack of wisdom in choosing someone to help nurse her back to health."
Rinu waved a fist in Nano's face as she said, "I am too a decent nurse! Why, just the other day I was able to successfully draw blood!"
Nano rolled her eyes as she said, "That's because you closed your eyes just before you inserted the syringe. As a result, you nearly stuck the needle in the poor girl's neck rather than her arm."
Rinu looked sulky as she retorted, "I'm getting better at seeing blood, and I just think blood should stay in the body at all times."
Another huge eye roll from Nano as she said, "If that were actually the case, then there would be no real need for doctors or nurses, now would there?"
Before Rinu could continue the argument, Orihime broke in by saying, "You both have different strengths. Nano, you would be a great nurse in surgery. Helping the doctor take care of the patients while their life is in your hands is something that you excel at. Rinu has a really kind bedside manner. She laughs and jokes with adults and is really good at putting young children at ease around the other doctors and nurses trying to help."
As they continued towards the dining area, Orihime allowed her mind to travel back to when Iymo had broken his arm. Once his parents had set his arm, made sure there was no other damage to his body, assured him that Orihime was completely well and somehow convinced him not to rip Uminu's head off, Iymo had sat quietly for a time before getting up awkwardly and walking out of the room. Later that day, after Orihime had finished with her classes, she had been heading back to her room when she suddenly felt herself being pulled into an empty classroom. Before she could make any noises of surprise, she had felt a hand clap over her mouth.
Iymo had given her an apologetic look as he said, "Sorry, but I wanted to talk to you alone and this seemed like the best time. I hope you don't mind."
Orihime had nodded and tried to look anywhere but into Iymo's face as she was sure that she would lose her composure if she were to do that and so opted for looking at his shirtfront as she replied, "Oh no, I don't mind. You simply startled me, that's all. What's on your mind?"
Iymo had abruptly turned so that Orihime was looking at his shoulder before he said, "I, um, just wanted to be absolutely sure that you were fine. I mean, that your head wasn't bothering you at all."
Orihime had laughed nervously and lightly tapped the side of her head saying, "Oh, you're still concerned about me? My head is like a rock and it's been hit by much harder things than the side of a table, so I'm just fine. You're the one with a brok-"
Before Orihime could finish her sentence, Iymo had suddenly turned, put his hands on her shoulders (his left arm awkwardly settled on her right shoulder due to the cast surrounding it) and said in a shocked and angry tone, "Who are they?"
Orihime had blinked in confusion before she managed, "What?"
Iymo had looked borderline furious as he said, "You just said your head has taken worse beatings than hitting a table, so I want to know who the people are. The ones who have hurt you."
It had taken Orihime a few moments to fully grasp what he was asking of her until she realized what she had said. She had been referring to her times in Karakura Town and Hueco Mundo, when Arrancars like Yammy, Loly, Menoly and other Hollows had knocked her around during her battles with them. Thinking back her comment, she had inwardly groaned as she realized that Iymo could misunderstand and think that someone in her past had abused her. Well, obviously that was the case, but he probably thought it was someone like her parents, or siblings, or other acquaintance she had known before she came to Cranbury.
Her had mind scrambled to come up with some sort of rational explanation to give the concerned young man and so said, "Oh, I've done my fair share of falling down stairs, tripping and rolling down hills and such like, that's all! No one's ever abused me like that."
Iymo had looked unconvinced as he said, "Are you sure? If you don't feel comfortable telling me, that's fine, I can take you to Mum and she will have a better idea of how to handle things. If someone has hurt you, you shouldn't protect them no matter what they might have threatened to do to you. They deserve to be punished, whoever they are, and I promise that I will protect you from them, no matter what."
Orihime had not responded right away as the determined look in Iymo's eyes had been exactly the same as when Ichigo had come up to apologize to her after they had both been severely injured by Yammy and to promise to protect her in the future. Rukia had been there and so Orihime's joy in seeing Ichigo return to his old determined self had been somewhat tainted since Rukia had dragged Ichigo to Orihime and had not come to her on his own and also because Orihime felt useless due to the fact that she had not been able to play a bigger role in helping Ichigo regain his confidence. Rukia and Ichigo had a connection with one another that was special, but that didn't make her own relationship with Ichigo any less meaningful. Whatever Ichigo's feelings were for her and Rukia was something that only time would reveal and she should not force her love upon Ichigo and would wait for him forever if that was what needed to happen. Rukia was her dear friend and if Ichigo decided that he loved her enough to spend the rest of his life with her, than Orihime would stand by their sides and support them no matter how it might hurt her for a while.
Looking into Iymo's eyes and face, Orihime had realized something that had not occurred to her at the time. Even though Rukia had all but forced Ichigo to come to her and apologize, he would have come to her eventually on his own to make up for his own perceived failings. It lifted a small, ignored burden from her heart to think about that fact. Even if he didn't love her, Ichigo and now Iymo were concerned about her and her welfare and she found herself once again trying to control her racing heart and flushed cheeks from betraying her emotions.
Orihime had forced her mind to focus on the matter at hand and smiled at Iymo as she said, "I appreciate your concern and if I'm ever in trouble, either you or your mother will be the first to know about it if I need help. However, I have never been mistreated in that way ever in my life, so you can set your mind at rest."
Iymo had looked skeptical for a moment before he let out a breath and said, "All right, if you say so."
Iymo's face had turned red as he realized that his hands were still resting on Orihime's shoulders and had quickly removed them and said, "Well, now that we have that straightened out I wanted to ask you…what did I want to ask you?"
He had looked thoughtful and scratched his head for a few moments before he looked back at Orihime, his face had gone red and he had said, "Oh yeah. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't too shaken up about…ahem…Uminu kissing you…"
The last part had been hard for Orihime to hear as Iymo had all but mumbled the words before he continued, "He's a real jerk sometimes and I just wanted to be sure that you were fine."
Orihime memory had blanked for a moment and so said, "Uminu kissed me?"
Iymo had looked scandalized as he said, "You don't remember? Uminu forced you to kiss him so that he could prove I didn't have a concussion. Honestly, I don't understand how he thinks he proved his point, but he forced himself on you and I wanted to be sure that…I don't know…"
Orihime had taken a few more moments before the memory came back and she had waved her arms saying, "Oh no! Uminu didn't kiss me! I mean, he pushed me back and kissed my nose, so I guess you could say that he kissed me, but he didn't kiss me like that, all though I can see why you might think that since all you could see was Uminu's back, but I'm perfectly fine! Really!"
At Orihime's outburst, Iymo had looked startled and by the end he looked even more confused than before, but with a good touch of relief in his expression as he said, "I see. I seem to have overreacted. Well, I'm glad you're all right."
Orihime had smiled and said, "Yes, I'm fine. In fact, compared to you with your broken arm, I'm fantastic."
Iymo had looked sheepish for a moment before he said, "I'm sorry that I dragged you in here and gave you the third degree. For some reason, I just felt like I needed to make absolutely sure that you were all right before I did anything else today."
Orihime had smiled and grasped Iymo's good right hand in both of hers and said, "Thank you again. You're very kind."
Iymo had returned her smile with a small grin before he looked down at their hands and blushed slightly and shifted on his feet. However, he had made no move to remove his hand until Orihime had let go.
Orihime smiled at the memory and her mind was pulled back to the present when Rinu called out next to her, "Hey there guys! Did you turn in your applications yet?"
Iymo, Uminu and Chad approached the group of girls as Uminu smiled and said, "Yes, we just turned them in this afternoon, so all we have to do now is wait for our assignment to be sent to us. I'm really hoping to be put in the 146th Division under General Zakaki, but we'll have to wait and see. We should all be put in the same division at least since we all turned them in at the same time."
Orihime's heart skipped a beat as she remembered the past few weeks conversations at the dinner table about how Iymo, Uminu and Chad were planning on joining the army in order to fight in a war happening all across Europe. Fortunately, Cranbury Village was far enough inland that they didn't see many of the repercussions of war, but that didn't eliminate the fact that their country needed able men to fight and strong women to hold the rest of the country together at all costs. Apparently, the young men had opted to not wait for a telegram to arrive telling them that they were required to sign up in the army and had instead voluntarily signed themselves up. As soon as the topic had come up a few weeks ago, Orihime had known immediately that Iymo at least would want to go as soon as possible as he was bound and determined to play his part in ending the war. His sense of duty to his country and his desire to keep his country and family safe was exactly the same as Ichigo's, and while Orihime did not want him to leave, she knew that he had to go.
The conversation at dinner revolved around the young men's decision and musing over where they might be stationed, what they might have to do and so on. Orihime contributed little to the conversation and merely picked at her food, but did her utmost to look as happy as the others and by the end Orihime was sure that no one suspected the deep worries in her heart as she made her way back to her room. Her mind was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the person trying to attract her attention from behind until she felt a hand grab her arm and firmly but gently pull her into an empty classroom.
