The Common Thread: Part 35

"C'mon you guys! We don't have all day! The train arrives in an hour and we need time to get everything ready before our patients arrive."

"If you're so anxious to get out the door, wouldn't it be a better idea to actually help us with all these supplies rather than just standing there?"

"What's all this racket? Oh, it's just you two."

"And just what is that supposed to mean, Kyan?"

"It means that even though you two have been here for almost two years, I still can't get used to the sound of you two shrieking at each other like a couple of deranged banshees."

"Kyan, that wasn't very nice."

"Your sister is right, Kyan. Keep that unkind behavior up and your soldier boyfriend might fall out of love with you."

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me."

Orihime figured that she had better step in now and break up this argument before things got ugly. She sighed as she thought about all the times she had hoped that her friends would be able to find peaceful resolutions on their own, but as of yet, they still needed a mediator to control the situation.

Holding up her hands in a calming gesture, Orihime said, "Now, now, there's no need to be so unkind to one another. We're all tired and worn out from the last group of wounded soldiers who came in for treatment."

Nano rubbed her head and let out a long breath as she said, "You're right, Orihime. That was an unusually large amount of soldiers coming in all at once and they were all in serious need of advanced treatment."

Rinu shook her head ruefully as she said, "And not a reasonably good looking one in the entire bunch."

Kyan folded her arms and rolled her eyes as she said, "Leave it to you to be so shallow when it comes to taking care of patients. If she ever develops her own practice, you'd better be good looking or she might not give you proper care."

Before Rinu could shout in protest, Orihime stepped in between the two girls saying, "Here Rinu, why don't you give me a hand taking that box of bandages out to the car?"

Rinu bent to help Orihime without complaint, but Orihime clearly saw the pointed look Rinu gave Kyan before walking out the door with Orihime.

Orihime gave a mental sigh as she sat down inside the car when all the medical supplies had been loaded. While she was grateful that everyone had basically moved forward in life and were not quite as desolate as they had been when they received the news of Iymo, Uminu and Chad's 'demise', now they were back to their old selves and the playful banter and all around arguing had returned full force. There were still a few times when someone would become abnormally quiet for a few minutes and everyone knew the wisest course of action was to leave that person to their thoughts. Despite the fact that Orihime knew for sure that he was alive, she had moments when she would become unusually depressed thinking about Iymo and wondering if he really was alive. If she were anyone else, Orihime would probably have said that to believe that someone was alive simply based on a feeling rather than hard evidence was a bunch of hogwash. However, she had seen and experienced so many things that simply could not be explained or proven with hard evidence in the 'real world'.

"Orihime, oh Orihime," came the sound of Rinu's voice from the driver's seat.

Orihime was about to respond as she pulled herself out of her thoughts, but Nano whispered to Rinu, "Don't disturb her right now, Rinu. She's got that look on her face."

Rinu paused for a moment before she said in a soft, sad voice, "I see. The poor girl, she's still not over him, is she?"

Orihime didn't want to eavesdrop, but something inside her said she should just sit still and stare out the window as Nano responded, "Well, it's almost May, so almost five months have passed, but a relationship like they had…I don't think five months is enough."

"Especially due to the fact that he proposed to her."

"Wait a minute…Iymo proposed to Orihime? Are you serious?"

"Don't you remember? When the telegrams came, Iymo's final letter arrived as well. In it he proposed to her. It was very sweet. I told you all about it later that night."

"You're right, you did tell me, but I never heard Orihime say anything about it, so I forgot."

"Well, can you blame the girl? She receives news that her boyfriend is dead just before she gets a final letter from him asking for her hand. Actually, it's better that she got the telegram first so she didn't tell everyone and then have her heart broken all the more by all the pitying looks she would have gotten at the memorial service."

"I guess you're right. Still, don't you think it's a little odd that she didn't cry more at the memorial or even since that time? I always thought it was because it was just too much to absorb all at once and after all was said and done she would call us over in order to have a big cry session to help heal her broken heart, but I've never seen her shed more than a tear or two at a time and even then she doesn't look all that depressed."

"What are you trying to say, Nano? That she didn't really love him? Don't you remember that she lost her brother and only family member a few years ago and she told us how she cried herself to sleep for months? While this isn't quite the same, I would imagine that she knows how to carry her grief better and maybe she doesn't want to burden us with her problems until she's worked them out for herself. When she's ready, she'll come to us, just you wait."

Orihime closed her eyes as she thought about what she had just heard. More than anything in the world, Orihime wanted to explain to her friends her intuition's knowledge of Iymo's safety and to beg them to forgive her for not confiding in them sooner, but something held her back. Her instinct said that she would soon be able to reveal her secret to the entire Karci residence and to be patient until then.

Upon their arrival at the train station, Orihime cheerfully helped Rinu and Nano set up a kind of make-shift examination area to look over the patients who would soon arrive and determine what kind of treatment they would receive upon arrival at Karci Hospital. This was not their first time setting up 'shop' and so things moved along quickly giving Orihime, Rinu and Nano plenty of time to laugh, talk and joke with each other and friendly employees at the train station.

"So Mr. Crandon how is your daughter-in-law and son? Their baby should be coming any day now."

A man of about fifty with silver hair streaked with a few remnants of the original dark chocolate brown strands with a pleasant smile and sparkling emerald eyes who was the janitor of sorts for the station became very animated when he replied to Orihime's inquiry, "Oh yes, the baby could come right now and the boss said that should anything happen I can cut out early to go and greet my new grandchild. I've never seen my Patrick so excited in his life. It's their first and he is positively convinced that it will be a little girl. Una rolls her eyes and says that the baby will most definitely be a bouncing, colicky boy just like his father."

Nano looked surprised as she said, "Well, that's the first time I've heard something like that."

Rinu asked, "Like what?"

Nano shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "Not to be whatever, but usually it's the other way around. The father wants a boy and the mother desires a girl. It's not always that way, but for the firstborn both parents usually want a boy so they either have an heir if they are wealthy or if they are tradesmen, a boy to carry on the family business."

Rinu looked thoughtful as she said, "I guess you're right there," her face then took on a dreamy look, "Well, it's very romantic that Patrick says he wants a girl who looks just like her mother."

Nano shook her head with an amused look on her face as Rinu let out a long sigh, which caused Orihime to grin before she turned back to Mr. Crandon and said, "I'm glad to hear they're doing well. Do you know if they need anything else? It's been about a week since I last saw Una and I'm sure she's getting to the point where she can't do as much anymore and I told her to let me know if she needed anything, but I haven't heard from her…"

Mr. Crandon reached out and gently grasped Orihime's hand as he said, "Ms. Orihime, my Patrick and his wife told me specifically to let you know that they greatly appreciate all your help these past few weeks and that they would hate to impose on you, but they would love to have you come over to help after the baby is born, if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for you, that is."

Orihime beamed at Mr. Crandon as she said, "I would be delighted to help anytime!"

Mr. Crandon was about to reply when they all turned at the sound of a train whistle sounding in the distance and said instead, "Well, it's five minutes late, as usual. I'd better leave you young ladies to your work. I'll be sure to send Linus and Rick over to help oversee the patients."

Rinu waved at the kind man as she said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Crandon."

In the moments before the train came to a stop, Rinu looked back at Nano and Orihime, grinned and said, "Well, here we go again."

As soon as the train came to a complete stop, things erupted into controlled chaos. Almost all the cars were filled with injured soldiers who all needed to have their wounds assessed in order to make a preliminary diagnosis as to what treatment they would be given on their arrival at the hospital, unless they were staying on the train and going to the hospital at the next stop, so they also had to make sure that all the disembarking patients were actually supposed to come to Karci Hospital.

Orihime was trying to deal with all the patients in wheelchairs and getting them off the train with the help of the train medical staff who had been escorting and taking care of the soldiers up to this point and was asking one of the doctors, "According to my list, we are also treating Sergeant Hamilton Sanders. What is his condition, Dr. Keinto?"

Dr. Keinto was a fairly young doctor who was just under thirty years old, yet acted like he was a fifteen year old hormonal teenager. Orihime had dealt with him in the past and she tried to ignore his meaningful glances that he sent her way every so often and she put up with it since he had never tried to touch her or harass her in any way. As long as she stayed professional and task-oriented, Orihime figured that Dr. Keinto would as well. Today, she would be sadly mistaken.

The doctor made a small step to the left to come closer to Orihime's right shoulder as he said, "Sergeant Sanders…Sergeant Sanders…he's on my list somewhere…ah, here he is. Sergeant Sanders is wheelchair bound due to a bomb explosion. Shrapnel became imbedded all over his body and doctors on the field removed as much as they possibly could, but they believe some pieces have penetrated deep enough to touch the bone."

When he moved to flip a page from his files, his arm brushed against Orihime and she decided to ignore it and moved on to the next patient.
When they had finally confirmed and checked all the patients, Orihime turned to Dr. Keinto and said, "Thank you for your help, doctor."

Dr. Keinto began to reply when suddenly he looked very surprised and stumbled forward as if someone or something had bumped into him. Orihime did not know how to react and before she knew what was going on, Dr. Keinto fell into her and the two of them started toppling towards the pavement with Orihime underneath Dr. Keinto. He reacted quickly and grabbed Orihime around the waist and managed somehow to flip around so that his back struck the ground and Orihime collapsed on top of him. Despite the good doctor selflessly cushioning her fall, Orihime still had the breath knocked painfully out of her for a few moments. Surprised cries filled the air and before she could regain her composure, more people than she had thought possible had swarmed around them all talking in concerned voices at the top of their lungs so that Orihime could not even manage a coherent thought.

It wasn't until Dr. Keinto shifted underneath her that Orihime snapped back to her senses and promptly began to struggle to her feet saying, "I'm so sorry, Dr. Keinto! Are you all right?"

Dr. Keinto placed a firm hand on Orihime's shoulder to still her before he said, "I'm just fine. I'm just glad I was able to prevent you from hurting yourself too badly in the fall."

During this exchange the voices had died down somewhat so Orihime was now able to hear Rinu and Nano's voices calling out for her from the back of the crowd so she turned and responded, "I'm just fine! And so is Dr. Keinto!"

Looking at the crowd around her, Orihime could not help the blush rising in her cheeks as she tried to think of what to say in order to assure them that they were both fine and could get back to whatever they had been doing before. Again, she was saved by Dr. Keinto when he said in a magnanimous tone that he had made sure to keep the beautiful Nurse Inoue from harm but that she needed space and air in order to recover fully. Fortunately, everyone took the hint and quickly dispersed until only Rinu and Nano remained with Orihime and Dr. Keinto. Finally, Orihime managed to convince Rinu and Nano that she was perfectly fine and that the patients still needed to be attended too, so they reluctantly went back to work.

Orihime turned one last time to thank Dr. Keinto when she discovered that he was almost uncomfortably close to her, but she swallowed the nervous feeling welling up in her stomach and said with a smile, "Well, I have to get back to work, but thank you again for your help. I can be quite clumsy at times and I hope I didn't hurt you too much in the fall."

Dr. Keinto leaned in close to Orihime's ear and said, "I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, but let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

Orihime blinked at Dr. Keinto in confusion as he continued, "You are a very attractive woman, Nurse Inoue, and I wouldn't mind getting to know you…much better in the near future. What do you say?"

Despite the fact that it was the last thing she had expected to hear from Dr. Keinto, Orihime recovered her wits quickly and said in a firm yet kind voice, "As kind as your offer is, Dr. Keinto, I have to tell you that my heart is already spoken for."

The response he gave Orihime was unlike anything she had ever heard before, "Who said anything about wanting to win your heart? I just want to get to know…your person, if you know what I mean."

Completely taken aback by his response, Dr. Keinto seemed to take Orihime's silence as a sign that she was considering his proposition and so continued, "After I'm finished dropping off the rest of these soldiers, I can come back here for a few days before I have to go back to London, so we coul-"

Orihime interrupted Dr. Keinto with an upraised hand as she said, "I am going to rephrase my earlier statement and tell you that I have no interest in developing any relationship, attachment or any other term you would use to describe what you desire to have me in any way shape or form. Outside of dealing with you here in public where I can be quite sure that any action or advance you make towards me that is questionable in its decency will be met with swiftly and severely, I have no wish or desire to see you at all."

"Excuse me, let me get this straight. You're actually turning me down?"

Orihime gave him an uncharacteristically condescending look as she said, "Don't make me repeat myself. Good day, Dr. Keinto. I have other patients to attend too."

As she turned to leave, Orihime found her progress hindered by a hard hand roughly squeezing her arm and she heard Dr. Keinto grind out, "Nobody refuses me, do you understand?"

Orihime did not bother to look back at him as she replied, "I just did. Now let me go."

When he didn't let go, Orihime started preparing to kick him in the shin and call out for help when a firm and very familiar voice called out, "Hey! Let her go, you creep!"

Orihime heard Dr. Keinto turn in order to address the other person but she didn't have to turn around to know that any protest about to escape Dr. Keinto's lips had died when the same voice said, "Let her go right now, if you know what's good for you. And if I catch you bothering her again, let's just say it will be a while before your face will be healed enough to try and seduce any other women."

The painful pressure around Orihime's arm was released and she heard footsteps retreating as she turned and looked at her rescuer as he said, "Are you all right?"

Tears welled up in Orihime's eyes as she visually confirmed what she had known all along. Iymo was standing before her, alive and well. Well being a relative term as he had a rather bloody bandage wrapped around his head and his left arm once again broken and in a cast. Despite these facts, Orihime could not hide the absolute joy and relief flooding her face and heart as she took in the sight of Iymo standing before her looking at her with long missed look of concern for her wellbeing.

Instead of answering his question verbally, Orihime nearly jumped into Iymo's arms and did the first instinctual thing that came to her mind: she kissed him full on the lips. Wrapping her arms around Iymo's neck, Orihime took the liberty of running her fingers gently through his hair to see if it was really as soft as she had thought it was and she discovered that she had been right all along. It was several seconds before Orihime pulled away and looked into Iymo's face.

Iymo looked completely dumbfounded for a few moments before he managed, "Well, I've never been thanked quite like that before. Glad I could be of service."

Orihime was slightly taken aback from the response, but smiled and said, "I'm sorry for being so bold, Iymo. It's…I've missed you so much, but I knew you were alive and now you're back and…it's so good to see you back safe."

Before Iymo could say anything, Orihime noticed two other familiar faces making their way towards them and promptly greeted them saying, "Uminu! Chad! You're back!"

Uminu's face had looked slightly pained as he had been walking up, but at Orihime's greeting his face had lit up as he replied, "Well, it looks like someone suspected we were alive all this time since you don't seem all that surprised to see us alive and well despite receiving those telegrams."

Orihime blushed as she said, "Yeah, I just knew somehow that you were all still safe. Especially after I got the last letter from Iymo, I just knew that he wouldn't send me something like that and then not come home."

Iymo had been looking at Uminu and Chad in confusion before he turned to Orihime and said something that nearly made her heart stop.

"I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but do I know you?"