Just a little Yumichika meet-cute one-shot. May or may not turn into something longer.
Also, I'm not fluent in Japanese, so if something I wrote needs to be fixed, please let me know.
Washing her hands for what felt like the hundredth time that night, Rei winced as she reached over to grab a paper towel. She could feel her skin drying out, could clearly see the whitened creases on her hands. They looked like she'd been dunking her hands in flour rather than water.
Sighing, Rei reached into the pocket within her shihakusho and pulled out a small blue glass jar. That tiny jar alone had cost her more than she dared to spend on even food. Still, she couldn't deny that the magical hand cream within, though expensive, was very effective in remediating dryness. It never failed to give her immediate results.
"Rei!" Eyes tightening, Rei sighed and massaged the last of her cream gently against her palms before tucking the small jar back in her shihakusho. Straightening herself up off the counter behind her, Rei pressed her, now moisturized and hydrated, palm into her aching back in an attempt to massage the pain away. Her efforts were futile. Sighing once again, the tired medic lifted her gaze then proceeded to grimace. Everything was beginning to look… hazy. The harsh lights above her were beginning to trigger a headache. She was even squinting against the brightness. How long had she been at work now? Fifteen hours? Seventeen hours? Jeez. She enjoyed a festival night just as much as anyone except when she was on duty. Long hours, drunk patients, and, worst of all, missing out on all the fun!
"Rei?!" Remembering that someone had been calling her name, Rei hurried out of the room, running right into the shinigami, who had been looking for her. He saw her, and instantly his expression flooded with relief. She was immediately suspicious.
"Rei, you've got one from the eleventh." Rei looked up at her teammate; he was holding out a clipboard to her while one of the nurses, probably the one who'd taken in the eleventh's information, practically hid behind him. "Looks like he's been doing what the eleventh do best." Rei smothered a laugh.
"Any particular reason why you can't handle it?" She asked nonchalantly, a small smile pulling at her lips despite the exhaustion dragging at her mind and body. It was not uncommon for her teammates to leave the notorious eleventh division members to her when they came. Thanks to her more kindly nature, she hadn't really noticed that when she'd joined the fourth. Once she had though, she often called them out on it, but not because she was bitter about it; actually, she was often rather amused by it.
"Oh, well…" Rei watched quietly as her friend searched for a legitimate excuse for having passed on a patient to her, the nurse now fully concealed behind his back. After a full minute of floundering, Rei decided to show them both mercy and chuckled wearily as she took the clipboard from him.
"Name?" She asked, and the shinigami before her slumped in relief.
"Madarame."
"Oh." Rei was relieved that at least it was someone she'd treated before. Lieutenant Madarame wasn't that bad of a patient… at times. If she was lucky, he might actually just stay quiet and let her do what she needed to do without complaint. "Okay. I'm on it."
"Um, Rei?" The weary medic paused and looked back at her colleague; her brow rose when she saw that he was still shifting nervously. The nurse behind him was nowhere to be seen.
"Ayasegawa is with him." He said. She wasn't surprised. Though she had never tended to Ayasegawa before, she was aware that the two were basically a packaged deal.
The way he said it, though, it told Rei that there was more to what he was trying to tell her.
"And?" She inquired curiously.
"He's in bad shape… and in a very bad mood." Ah. Understanding what he was trying to warn her about, Rei sighed.
"You owe me." She said simply, waiting long enough to watch his face brighten with gratitude before tucking the clipboard under her arm and turning away. Rei weaved her way through the halls toward her next patient, ears, and eyes roaming as she did. The fourth was always bustling with activity. With nurses and medics running everywhere, groans and moans coming from every room, and a general clamor of pained or irritated complaints. The latter seemed to be the most popular then, and, of course, most of those complaints came from the eleventh division members that her teammates hadn't managed to pass on to her.
Those meatheads tended to take advantage of festivals to get excessively drunk and often— no, usually get into countless, meaningless brawls with anyone and everyone. Including members of their own division.
Turning the corner that led to the duo's room, Rei found herself tumbling right into the Lieutenant himself.
"Lieutenant Madarame, what are you-" It was then that Rei realized that the hallway in front of their assigned room was full of very anxious fourth division members. Three nurses were almost in tears, and two medics were shifting uneasily and fiddling with their hands nervously. Oh, and one eleventh was leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest and face tense.
"What is going on here?" Rei asked her teammates.
"Third Seat Ayasegawa locked himself in the room."
"He's agitated and angry."
Rei felt her blood boil. Once again, an eleventh settled on his very high horse felt entitled to bully her friends and keep them from doing their job.
"He's angry, huh," Rei muttered through clenched teeth, unaware that she'd lost control over her reiatsu. It lashed out abruptly, angrily. She considered herself to have decently good control over her reiryoku. Her exhaustion, and temper, always seemed to slowly thin that control, however.
"R- Rei?" Eyes refocusing on her friends, the enraged medic found herself being watched with wide eyes. She cursed mentally and tried to reign in her reiatsu, one hand rising to massage her temple where her headache had begun to throb.
Okay. Deep breaths. Composing herself quickly, Rei looked at the Lieutenant's impassive face. Okay. One eleventh at a time.
"I'm alright." She promised her friends and gently smiled at them. "You all can go tend to the rest of the patients. Leave Lieutenant Madarame and his friend to me."
They were out of there faster than she could think shunpo. If she weren't so tired, she would have laughed.
Rei allowed herself one more second to collect herself before turning to look at the Lieutenant, who had yet to say anything. "Lieutenant, you're complaining of internal pain?" She asked calmly, keen eyes examining him from head to toe as she waited for his answer. He was still leaning against the door, arms folded, jaw set. He didn't look like he was in pain.
Finally reacting, Madarame grimaced in annoyance but didn't move. "Cracked rib or something. Took care of the rest."
That made Rei pause.
"How?" She asked slowly, eyes narrowed, and tone wary. Eleventh division members tended not to have any medical training. At all.
"I just did, all right?" Catching onto her tone, his own took on a bit of a sharp edge when he responded. He wasn't about to discuss his mediocre patch up work with a medic. Since she wasn't exactly in the best of moods herself, Rei decided not to press the matter further.
"Fine, fine." Rei sighed and gestured for the Lieutenant to follow her into the room in front of the one Ayasegawa had barricaded himself in. "Let's get you fixed up." The Lieutenant grimaced as he straightened up off the door, his breath hitching as he pulled himself up onto the gurney. It concerned her, but Rei knew better than to offer him any help. Damn stubborn, alpha-male idiot would probably take it as an insult to his manliness and would likely just snap at her, which would piss her off and make her snap right back. She really wasn't prepared to get into a verbal fight with the eleventh division's Lieutenant.
Madarame's breath caught as Rei started prodding at his ribs, prompting a sliver of sympathy in the medic. "So, how did this happen?" She asked casually in an attempt to distract him.
"Heard someone badmouthing my division." He muttered and would have continued his complaint had he not seen the medic's eyes take on a look he didn't appreciate. A common one he saw in most of the fourths. "Tch. Just hurry up and fix me, would ya?"
Rei's shoulders tensed, her temples were beginning to pound, but she pushed aside her irritation and started the healing kido to reknit his cracked ribs. "Yes, Lieutenant," Rei said with such a sickeningly sweet tone that it made the eleventh blink. It was far from professional. Bordering on petty. Realizing this, Rei sighed audibly and tried to scrap the attitude when she next spoke. "What's wrong with your other half?"
Madarame's jaw tightened visibly. "He didn't want to come."
"Why is that?" Rei asked idly, not really caring but needing to keep the Lieutenant's focus on something other than his discomfort, which would, in turn, keep him from snapping at her.
"He didn't want to be seen." He said, his eyes on Rei as she healed.
"By a medic?" She assumed.
"By anyone."
Rei's brow rose, and she paused her work long enough to look up at her patient. She was a medic, a damn good one in her book, and because of that intensive training, Rei was very good at picking up on things not many would. From what she was hearing, Rei understood quickly that Ayasegawa had received a face injury. "How bad is it?"
Madarame's nose scrunched up into a scowl. He had no doubt she was going to get that look in her eyes again once he told her. "Pretty bad," He muttered lowly. "Got hit with a bottle. Had to drag him here."
Rei very nearly rolled her eyes but thought it unwise to do so in front of the Lieutenant. That definitely explained why he had wreaked havoc and locked himself in the fourth division waiting room like a child. Ayasegawa was notorious for being obsessive about his appearance.
Rei bandaged the Lieutenant's ribs in silence, irritation prickling at her nerves with every movement she made. Was he really that vain? For the life of her, she would never be able to understand the moronic tendencies of these eleventh division blockheads.
Finally finished, Rei looked at Madarame and surprised him with her request."Open the door."
Startled, the Lieutenant sat up abruptly, then winced when it jarred his still tender ribs. "What?"
"Open the door so that I can take a look at Ayasegawa's injuries," Rei said coolly, stepping back to allow him to move past her. "I'd knock it down myself, but I'm too tired to manage it right now."
Rei was both surprised and thoroughly irritated to see the Lieutenant hesitate. "You sure about this, medic? He's not in a good mood."
"He'll be in a worse mood when he scars," Rei said, her free hand rising to massage her temple. "Come on, I'm getting a massive headache, and I'm already on overtime as it is."
The Lieutenant strode over toward the room Ayasegawa had locked himself in, clearly still wary of opening the door for her. Rei was absolutely exhausted, her head felt heavy, and her temper was on its last threads. Her very walk was on edge, uncommon for a fourth, especially for one on the job. The Lieutenant gave her a sidelong glance as they approached the door, but Rei wasn't in the mood to care about her manners and facades. As far as she was concerned, they were all absolute imbeciles in need of getting their heads knocked together, especially Ayasegawa. He wasn't going to escape medical treatment because he was a pretentious, narcissistic fool. He'd get treated, even if she had to call Bakkin to hold him down for her.
"This isn't a good idea," the Lieutenant said from beside her. She looked dead on her feet, Yumichika would rail right over her.
"Oh, and getting into a fight was?" Rei said acidly; the medic stopped walking abruptly and turned to face the Lieutenant. Normally she wouldn't have snapped at a seated officer, but her temper had reached its limit. "I've been cleaning up other people's messes for seventeen hours. I'm tired, hungry, and my head feels like it's going to fall off my shoulders. I've had my fill of temper tantrums. No matter how pissed Ayasegawa is, it's nothing compared to me."
Wisely, Lieutenant Madarame didn't respond. He'd never known the fourth had someone so… sure of herself, in their ranks.
Turning back to Ayasegawa's door, Rei knocked, hard, and waited. No answer. She could feel Lieutenant Madarame looming behind her, arms folded, eyes focused, and his spiritual energy felt oddly vigilant to her. It was almost like… he thought she needed his protection. Oh, please. Irritation spiking, Rei knocked sharply once more. No answer. Stepping aside, she gestured at Madarame to open the door. He reached out for the handle and gripped it firmly before abruptly pulling the sliding door open sharply. She didn't let herself be impressed by his strength as she pushed in ahead of him.
"Ikkaku, I told you to-"
Rei ignored the voice and strode into the room, shutting the door in Lieutenant Madarame's face with only a muttered 'stay' in his direction.
She turned in the same moment Ayasegawa did and was immediately struck by his state. The entire left side of his face was covered in blood. His forehead was a torn mess of blood and skin. She could see shards of glass glinting in the lamplight. His left eye was swollen shut, his jaw purpled with bruises. Rei had seen much worse in her time in the fourth division, but the severity of the injury still made her pause in the doorway. His good eye flashed with anger at the sight of the medic, and he surged to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded. "Get out!" The temper in his voice woke Rei from her daze and prompted her own temper to lash out.
"You'd do well to remember your in the fourth division barracks, Ayasegawa." She said coldly as she turned toward the cabinets in the room to retrieve her supplies, ignoring the angry pressure that lashed at her as she went. She piled her tools into her hands quickly, then turned back to him and gestured at the chair he'd just stood from.
"Sit."
"Get the hell out!" He spat at her, and Rei snapped.
She moved forward easily, surprisingly fast considering her exhaustion, and dropped her supplies on the gurney beside him, then gripped his shoulder with one hand and pushed down firmly. To his surprise, Yumichika thudded into the chair, but he quickly lifted his gaze to glare up at Rei as best he could with just one working eye. The medic ignored his glower and reached out to push aside the clutter he'd gathered on the gurney. She paused then for one more moment to take in the situation. There was a handheld mirror on it, right beside a bowl of bloody water and a small mountain of bloody rags. She wanted to scream when she saw the large pair of bloodied tweezers soaking in the bowl. He'd been trying to pull out the glass by himself.
"Idiot." Rei sneered, bedside manner promptly ignored. Seventeen long, tiring hours at work, and now she had to deal with this little peacock and his narcissist complex. "Do you want scars? Is that it?" Her tone heavy with irritation and anger, Rei jabbed a finger at the first aid supplies he'd taken from the shelves. "This is how you get them." He didn't respond. She hadn't expected he would really.
"Tilt your head back," Rei ordered, she continued to be glared at, but he did as he was told. Eyes intent on his injury, Rei pursed your lips as she considered the damage. She could definitely get the glass out; it wouldn't take her long at all… something he would have known if had chosen to shut his mouth and listen to the medic's as Madarame had. Feeling prickly once again, Rei glared back at his good eye and pointed at him, "Stay." She said firmly.
Turning toward one of the drawers nearby, Rei pulled out the tools she'd need and caught a scent she hadn't noticed when she'd come into the room. "Have you been drinking?" She asked as she reached up into the cabinets above her head to pull down a clean bowl.
"Disapprove, medic?"
Rei scoffed.
"Not at all. I'm more jealous than anything."
Muttering to herself as she moved, Rei stepped into the adjoining bathroom to fill her bowl with water and grab one of the softer towels they kept stored in the bathrooms. Washing her hands, Rei walked back to fuming shinigami and brandished her tweezers like he would his blade.
"I'd offer you something to numb the pain, but I'm fairly sure the sake you've had will do just fine," Rei said with a tone of sickeningly sweet cheer, not commenting when he grimaced subtly just as she pulled the first shard of glass from his face. "Besides, a big strong eleventh division boy like you doesn't need any painkillers." Petty, petty, petty. But Rei wasn't in the mood to care. Ayasegawa said nothing. To Rei's great relief, he actually settled into silence, sulking up at her with one glowering violet eye while she removed the glass. The only sounds to be heard in the room was the clinking of shards against the bottom of the bowl, the dripping of water when she swabbed away blood, and the scraping of Ayasegawa's nails when he clung onto the arms of his chair.
The last shard was the worst. His jaw clenched as Rei worked it free, his eyes squeezed shut, a growl of pain rumbled from his throat.
"Almost done," Rei said softly, instinctively slipping into soothing tones in reaction to his pain.
He said nothing, but his nails dug into the chair audibly.
Finally free, Rei dropped the shard into the bowl and quickly made to wipe the site of the wound. Summoning what little energy she had left, Rei pressed glowing green fingers to his forehead. In a matter of seconds, the swelling on his left eye subsided, and the heavily lacerated skin on his forehead began to knit together. Lips pressed together, Rei's own throat emitted a sound of strained pain as she forced out what she didn't have until his skin was reddened, but whole.
Sensing the end of his torture, Ayasegawa immediately sagged back in his chair, hands loosening from the arms. Pale and exhausted and still in more than a little pain.
"Not bad," Rei said wearily as she rummaged through the drawers for a particular jar. "You didn't move a muscle."
"I don't want scars." He said simply, reaching up a hand to touch his forehead, which was promptly smacked down by the dark-haired medic. "Not from a bar fight with some ugly rukongai toad. If I take scars, it'll be in battle."
"Uh-huh," Rei muttered as she screwed open the lid of the small jar. The white cream within looked like any other, but it was truly magical. "Look at me."
Cupping the back of his head to hold him steady, Rei leaned over Ayasegawa to clean away the last of the blood that had dried in his eyebrow and the creases of his mouth and nose. His eyes closed as she moved the cloth toward his lashes. She realized then that Ayasegawa boasted lashes any woman would kill to have, long and dark and thick. They shadowed over his fine cheekbones in the lamplight, his uninjured skin smooth and firm, his bone structure sharp and well-defined. His hair gleamed healthily and felt like cool silk against her hand.
Okay. So maybe he had a reason to be a little bit vain. Just a little. That still doesn't excuse stupidity, though.
Scooping up some of the white cream, Rei paused, slim fingers hovering over his face. "This might sting a little," she warned, "but it'll work wonders. By morning you won't be able to tell you were ever injured."
His eyes opened, fixing on Rei's face. His pupils were wide, darkening the violet around them into a deep, royal purple. Probably the alcohol, Rei surmised. Smoothing the mixture carefully along the arch of his brow, Rei tilted her head and craned her neck a little lower to get a better look at the reddened skin. It was then that she realized that he was watching her closely, eyes moving slowly over her features. Heat threatened to flush Rei's cheeks; she was suddenly thankful her body was too tired to react normally.
Trying very hard to ignore his close assessment, Rei carried on applying the healing cream but didn't miss the way that his eyes lingered on her every feature from her hair to her lips. "Almost done," Rei said, her voice suspiciously breezy. She hoped he'd perceive the tone as tired rather than sheepish. "Are you feeling alright?" She asked, trying not to move so much… she was suddenly very conscious of the shapes her lips made when she spoke.
His eyes suddenly shifted back to Rei's. She wasn't sure whether she preferred that to the way he had been looking so closely at her mouth.
"You're really quite pretty, medic."
Rei nearly dropped the jar of cream.
Um.
What?
"I haven't seen you before." His voice was low, smooth. She'd never imagined Ayasegawa's voice could sound so… sultry. "That might have been for the best. Your beauty… it's best seen up close, where it can be fully appreciated. It's in the details. The shape of your nose, the color of your eyes, the curve of your lips…"
Heart racing, Rei attempted to control her breathing. He was drunk. Yeah. That's it. Ignore it.
Reaching for a damp cloth, Rei dabbed at his face gently, trying and failing to keep her eyes firmly focused on her work. His eyes were fixated on her. She stepped back abruptly, smoothing down the front of her shihakusho and turning to busy herself with the cleanup, she could feel the prickle of his eyes on her as she did. Taking the bowls and rags from the room, Rei walked away carefully.
Behind her, Yumichika watched, tilting his chin down, hair falling forward over his ears as his gaze followed Rei until she was hidden behind the wall.
Taking her time washing her hands and composing herself, Rei took one more deep breath before bustling back into the room. After this, she would report back to the Captain to be dismissed. She'd go to bed, maybe have a snack, and forget all about the beautiful violet shade of Ayasegawa's eyes.
He was on his feet, examining his face in the mirror.
Of course.
Rei approached quietly and reached for her supplies, only for a strong, thin hand to clasp her wrist. Her pulse raced. She looked up, and Ayasegawa leaned in close.
"You did a good job." He practically purred- no, he did purr. Warm breath brushing against her face, smelling of flowers and sake. "Feisty little medic. What's your name?"
He was so close. "Aki- Akiyama. Rei." She breathed. Feisty? She didn't feel very feisty. Where the hell did her feisty go?
"How lovely." His mouth curved into a smile, and he moved, pulling Rei forward by her wrist. "Just like you." She was stunned silent. He thought she was… lovely?
"And you saved my face, too." He added huskily, bending his face closer to Rei slowly, molten violet eyes half-hidden by the thick black eyelashes she'd admired earlier, gaze enticing. "I'm grateful." He released her wrist to take her face into his hands as he moved so close that Rei had to practically look straight up to see his eyes. Thumbs brushed across her cheek gently, and Rei suddenly found her voice but did not get the opportunity to use it to ask him just what the hell he was doing.
His mouth covered hers, and Rei stiffened in shock, hands half raised to fend him off, her mouth captive to a gentle ravishing from the third seat of the eleventh division. Her vision was full of Ayasegawa's silky blue-black hair. And stars. Wow. She could see stars.
His hand slid down her arms and swept along her back in a long, luxurious caress, the way one might pet a cat. Rei's eyes slid shut, her knees weakened. She was dazed by the sweetness of his lips moving against hers, by the soft nibble on her lower lip, by his sigh of satisfaction.
He pulled away, stroking a finger down the side of her face. "Hmm...I'll see you again soon, little medic."
He walked over to the door and opened it, spotting Ikkaku waiting just outside quietly. "Let's go. It's time for my beauty rest." The Lieutenant looked at his friend, stunned at how much better he looked. Had he not been there during the fight, he would have never even known he'd been hurt.
Turning to look into the waiting room, Madarame found the medic standing in a stunned stupor.
"You go ahead," he said. Ayasegawa shrugged and waltzed down the hallway. Madarame waited until he was out of sight before going into the room slowly.
Rei was at a loss. Ayasegawa had just kissed her.
She swore she'd seen stars.
"Medic?" Rei flinched, eyes flashing toward the voice. It was Madarame. What was he doing here? Eyes still wide and dazed, Rei's hand unconsciously rose to touch her lips.
Madarame stood in front of her, waiting, watching her.
"He kissed me," she said in a wondering monotone, fingers still pressed to her lips. "He said I saved his face."
Madarame glanced toward the door, then smirked. "Good luck getting rid of him now."
That snapped Rei out of her daze. "What?"
"Nothing. Thanks, medic." Madarame said, then vanished.
Rei stared in the direction he'd gone for a long while before stumbling out the door, forgetting about her cleanup entirely, and toward her rooms in the barracks. Her mind was fuzzy with exhaustion, confusion. Her mouth was still warm and tingling. Once in her room, Rei fell into bed and dreamed of a purring, sultry voice and smoldering purple eyes.