Here is one of the parts I enjoyed most writing in this story — even though it was a long time ago — so I hope you do enjoy it as well! Please review?
She woke up the next morning in a hospital room. Seriously? A little faint and there she goes?
A nurse came in before she could rage too much about it.
"Ah. I guess that I must be at my father's hospital…"
"You know who I am?"
"Hanataro, isn't it?"
This simple acknowledgement seemed to embarrass him enough to make his face turn bright red in record time. She was pleased to note that after some years, he had apparently learned to master his stuttering.
"Oh! I… I, I'm flattered you're remembering me! How are you?"
Well. She was tired, dizzy, and nauseous. Her whole body was aching. So, nothing that could hinder her determination. She fiercely glanced up at him, trying to look as confident as she could.
"Perfectly fine. I should get going."
"Well, it's just that… It would be safer to keep you at least a few hours longer. Some tests have been performed, and the results should be out soon."
"I'm not sick."
"That's what we're making sure of."
"Why on earth am I here? Couldn't someone just bring me back to my home?"
"With all my respect… You collapsed and had an exceptionally violent fever last night. It was for the best to be able to keep an eye on you. It is actually surprising is that the fever went down so quickly. Your temperature seems to be stable now, but that doesn't mean you're…"
"Then I should be able to leave, don't you think?"
"You don't understand. Such sudden changes are abnormal and must be controlled. It is better to check if you're not coming down with something much worse."
"I want to leave."
"I'm going to check with my superiors. Don't worry, you only have a few hours to wait."
"I don't want to…"
"Oh, and someone's here to visit you."
And he left, letting Tatsuki enter the room. Karin was astonished. This guy was so shy and used to have so much confidence issues, and yet he just left like that? Fortunately for Hanataro, she spotted Tatsuki's distraught look before she had enough time to get angrier with him. The annoyance at her friend made her forgot about the former.
"Seriously, you're here? Please don't tell me you were so much worried that you spent the night waiting."
She felt relieved after hearing her statement made her friend laugh.
"I'm glad to see you're well. No, I just came back to see if you had woken up and if you were ok."
"I'm better than ever. I don't understand why everyone makes such a fuss about this."
"The doctor said that you had such a great pic of fever that you might have had hallucinations. Isn't that crazy? You were so fine and all of a sudden…"
"Yeah… Yeah I guess it's crazy indeed."
"And that explain that… That strange thing that happened."
"It sure does."
She realized she didn't want to talk to her. She wanted to be alone. Paradoxically, she was also afraid to be alone. But she couldn't bear the presence of anyone.
"I'm sorry I ruined your evening."
"Oh, don't be. I'm glad to see you're okay. I'll see my friends another time. I should be going now; I've got a lot of work to do. I'll pick you up when they'll let you out, if you want to?"
"Actually that would be nice yeah, since I don't have my car. Thank you."
"You're welcome. See you then!"
At the very moment she was reaching the door, a familiar face appeared behind.
"Hello Miss Kurosaki. Miss Arisawa."
Wait… Doctor Unohana knew Tatsuki?
"Miss Arisawa, I believe you'll see Mr. Zaraki at work today?"
"Yes Madam."
"Could you tell him to pass by when he's done with today's duty?"
"I will."
What the hell?
"I… I'll just leave now. Have… Have a nice day!"
"You too, Miss Arisawa."
Karin couldn't contain a smirk, seeing the great impression Unohana made upon Tatsuki. But then when the door closed, leaving them alone, in the same room, and she felt quite unease too. Something in the frozen smile of the woman was genuinely terrifying.
"So… You know people from the police? Do you often take care of our wounded agents?"
"Yes. Also, I worked there for a while."
"You… What? You worked there? I don't understand. As a consultant?"
"I was responsible of the training for the special forces."
The girl almost choked.
"The… The special force? But… You're a renowned surgeon?"
"I got my diploma very young, but I was more devoted to this cause. When Mr. Zaraki came in and replaced me, I just decided to go back to a field I was still competent in. Since I knew your father, he offered me a job here. But enough about this. The first results are satisfying. You seem very tired and weak, but healthy. We will wait and keep a close watch on you for the next 24 hours, just as a security measure; but you should be able to leave tomorrow for lunchtime. I recommend you to take a few days off, and rest."
The woman's aura and natural superior authority was such that for once, Karin didn't even dare protest. She unconsciously curled up under her sheets and let out a relieved breath out of her lips when the door closed behind Unohana, leaving her alone again.
During her day at the hospital, Karin had the pleasure to be visited by her sister. Yuzu seemed a bit worried but did her best to cheer her up. They finally had their lunch together. Although the brunette did not imagine that would be at the clinic, and even less as a patient. She was however happy to spend some time with her sibling. They both had chosen very demanding jobs, and their schedule rarely coincided. The presence of Yuzu was refreshing.
After her dear sister left, the young girl then had the delectable visit of her father… who was his usual self. She really couldn't understand how such an idiot could run a hospital, and be respected by his employees. He was all gesticulating and jabbering and over-dramatizing everything and jeez, he was so exhausting. Trying to not make it look like it, he nevertheless told her he wanted her to stay as she had been advised to. Although Isshin exasperated her, Karin perceived that her stupid father was worried about her, and tried to hide it as best as he could, so his concern wouldn't bother her. Whatever she would say or pretend, she was grateful of his care.
When she was eventually alone again, it was late in the afternoon. She sighed and texted Tatsuki the date of her release, to make sure she was still ok to come and pick her up. She was. She fell asleep early that night.
When her eyes opened again, everything was dark around her. Still drowsy, she stretched a bit, and reached for her phone to look what time it was. That's only when the screen lit on that she noticed someone was sitting at the end of her bed. She dropped her mobile and started to scream. With a subhuman velocity, the stranger was above her, a hand covering her mouth and the rest of his body preventing her from escaping. She writhed, and the pressure of the body against hers increased, but weirdly enough, without hurting her. At the moment she tried to bite the aggressor, she heard him speaking in an abnormally soft voice.
"Be quiet, love, it's only me!"
It took her a few seconds to process the words she just heard. Then she realized she recognized perfectly the feeling of that silky skin against her cheek. That was Chad's palm. When he felt that she had soothed, he slowly removed his hand from her lips. He had barely made that move that she exploded.
"YOU MORON!"
Aaaand his hand moved back on her face. Her eyes were furiously rolling and flinging him death threats.
"Please, be quiet and I will release you."
Once again, she stopped moving. He carefully withdrew his hand again. She was glaring at him so hard he could almost hear the insults. He could also feel her unease and panting breath on his face however. She was more upset that she'd admit. He finally — and regretfully — straightened up, leaving her some space at last. She did the same, leaned against the back of her bed, crossed her arms and waited. She was still glowering at him. He gently smiled before speaking.
"How are you?"
"I was fine. Until you literally appeared at the bottom of my bed. For God's sake, what on earth are you doing here?"
"Nothing much. I just wanted to check on you."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"I, uh, well, no…"
"Do me a favor."
"Um?"
"Go away and pretend this never happened. If I talk to you about this, tell me it was a nightmare, since there is obviously no way that you could have escaped your cell. Is it?"
"…"
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Please don't be mad. I'll go back anyway. I intended to."
"I… No this is getting worse. You escaped, but you intend to go back? Who does that?"
"I don't want to escape, I just wanted to check on you."
"So all you had to do was going out of your cell, saying "hey buddies don't worry, I'll be back later, see you then!" and walk your way up there? In what universe are we right now? Do you even grasp the concept of detention?"
"Calm down."
"You know what, I don't even want to know how you did, or I think I won't be able to sleep again in my life. If that's so easy to escape that damn jail, it will be the apocalypse soon."
"I missed your optimism."
"I didn't miss your sarcasms."
"Not even a little bit?"
"Oh shut up."
She was even more annoyed to find herself oddly enjoying that moment than she was by his silly attitude. She was a lost cause.
"How did you know I was there anyway?"
"I heard people talk about you. Tatsuki is informing the staff of your situation. I think she's trying to get you a few days off. Rukia is probably taking care of that at the moment."
"That's nice of them, but I'm out tomorrow, and I intend to go back too."
"What happened to you anyway?"
"Nothing, really. I… I just fainted."
"And…?"
"And apparently I had a very strong fever last night, which is why everyone is making a stupid fuss over my health. I'm literally wasting my time trying to explain I'm done with it, but no one will listen to me, because apparently, now a fever is a rational reason to sequester someone in a hospital. I don't know what's wrong with those people, but everything is fine, really. You can go back to your cell and sleep peacefully. And expect to be woken up by me. To be beaten up. To death."
"Good, I look forward to it! So how did it happen?"
She sighed and then chuckled. No wonder why they got along so well in the first place. They both were lost causes and stubborn idiots.
"Isn't it enough to be my overly attached ex-boyfriend, and a prisoner, you have to be my doctor too? You can't play all the roles you presumptuous boy."
"Please?"
"… Fine. I was in the street, and I saw a… a… A dead person. And I didn't realize until Tats looked all frightened by my mental state. Then I felt cold, and I collapsed a short time later."
"I see. I assume that distressed you a lot, didn't it?"
"Stop that will you? Stop intruding in my personal life; what I feel and think is none of your concern anymore. You're not my psychologist. You're nobody. You're not even my boyfriend anymore; you have absolutely no reason to be here! Zero! Nothing! Leave me alone!"
"Come on, I'm sorry. I'm just worrying a bit."
"Well you shouldn't. Everything is fine. Why is nobody accepting the fact that I'm okay? It's just that my body has been unexpectedly giving up on me."
"Well, you might try and listen to it, because if it reacted in such a violent way, maybe that's because you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown."
"Are you kidding me? Nervous breakdown? Please!"
"I am very serious. You know I'm not the only one to notice your exhaustion and going through a lot of stress…"
"OH YEAH? I really wonder WHY!"
"It's just… What I am saying is that this… Encounter was probably the final drop."
"Okay, whatever. That was the final drop, I got a little sick and it was inevitable, now it's done, it can start all over again. Happy? Reassured?"
"Relax. I just meant as a matter of causality that this had avoided you probably worse. You should rest."
"HOW COULD I? GET OUT!"
"Please, just try to take care of yourself…"
"OUT!"
She didn't know why she suddenly felt so angry. She couldn't stand any longer to see everyone worrying about her. She didn't want to care, she just wanted to forget, and ignore what happened. She was so proud of having been able to stop seeing them. She could do it once; she could do it twice. That was enough with people commenting and trying to analyze her problems. And Chad seriously, who did he think he was?
He barely left through the window that she regretted him already. No she didn't. Ah, well. Maybe a little. She got up to look through the frame and check he was safe, but he had disappeared already.
She didn't know what to do with him. While getting back with him was absolutely out of the question, she wondered if she shouldn't try to help him. How was another matter. She knew he was right. She needed rest so badly. She tossed and turned for a while before falling asleep again, from depletion. The sun was already rearing its head.