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There might be some spoilers if you haven't read the manga.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor any of the Bleach characters. There are a few OC (like the whole Kurayami family), but the rest of the characters are works of the mangaka of Bleach.
Kyoraku ran looking for the girl. He managed to catch Kurayami and saw she was crying. This surprised Kyoraku. Just a few moments ago, Kurayami had been a strong, mature girl who confronted a guy twice her size. Now, she looked like a little girl who was crying because she got lost. She looked helpless.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
She sniffed a couple times and wiped her tears while nodding, telling him she was fine.
"You were really brave," he put his hand on her shoulder. "Any other girl I've seen would have freaked out and ran away, but you stayed calm and tried to help my friend. Thank you."
"He was coughing blood," she said in a low voice. "I've never seen anyone this young coughing so much blood after moving only that much."
"Yeah," he replied, looking at the floor. "I didn't know he's that weak."
"You knew he's sick?" she questioned.
"He told me he can't be out in the sun for too long nor move too much because he will faint. That's how much I knew."
Kurayami just stared at the sky, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out again.
"So where did they take him?" he finally broke the silence.
"Probably to my brother," she replied.
"You have a brother?" Kyoraku raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," she said while nodding. "Kurayami Hayato, head of the Kurayami Family, experts in medicine and healing."
"Oh!" exclaimed Kyoraku. "No wonder your family name sounded so familiar."
Kurayami smiled.
"That smile," Kyoraku said, "is beautiful. Try to put it on more often. It makes other people happy."
"Thank you," she said, looking away and blushing. "I'll try." She smiled, and he smiled back.
"Let's go see how he is," Kyoraku suggested.
"Yeah. Let's go."
They walked in silence to the Kurayami house to prevent from asking unnecessary questions. When they arrived, they were welcome by a group of servants both male and female.
"Welcome home, Ojou-sama," they all said at the same time, bowing down.
"Where's onii-chan?" Kurayami asked.
"Hayato-sama is in the Fifth room checking on a young white-haired man," replied one of the female servants.
"Fifth room?" exclaimed Kurayami. "Is the patient that bad?"
"Apparently so," said another servant, a male.
Kurayami just nodded at the servants. She turned to Kyoraku and led the way to the so-called Fifth room where Ukitake was. She saw the confused expression of Kyoraku's face and stopped to explain.
"Our house also works like a hospital. We divide the patients that come in five different rooms. The patients who are not so severely injured as to endanger their lives go to the First room, and those with the most serious cases go to the Fifth room. That's where Ukitake is. In the Fifth room."
When she finished saying this, she looked extremely concerned. Her frown made her look like the strong, mature girl she was back in her confrontation with Hiroshima. They kept walking and walking for a few minutes before they reached the Fifth room, and when they did arrive, they had to wait outside of the room until the medics came out with the results.
The skies were dark outside, and still no one came out. Kurayami had sat on the floor and fallen asleep while Kyoraku paced back and forth in front of her, without noticing she was sleeping. When he finally saw her sleeping, he sat next to her and put her head on his shoulder so that she could sleep better. Another couple hours passed before a tall man wearing a white gown came out. He had the same hair and eye colors as Kurayami.
"Haruna," the man called her.
Kurayami woke up and slowly lifted her head. When she saw the man, she jumped up and said, "Onii-chan! How is he?"
Kyoraku stood up when he heard her call the man "Onii-chan," and walked up closer to them to hear what the man was going to say.
"He's okay," the man replied, trying to calm his sister down. He his arms around her and hugged her. "Thank you for acting so quickly. He would have died otherwise."
"So what happened?" Kyoraku asked.
"Who are you? And why were you with my sister?" the man asked.
"Umm... My name is Kyoraku Shunsui, and well..." Kyoraku only managed to say this much, for the man was now staring at him, carefully examining him.
"Onii-chan," said Kurayami, while pulling him away from Kyoraku, "he's a friend of the patient. He came with me because he was worried about him."
"Oh!" exclaimed the brother in relief. "I'm Kurayami Hayato. Nice to meet you."
Kyoraku was surprised by how fast this man had changed his attitude towards him.
"So," said Kyoraku, "can I go in and see him?"
"Yes," Hayato replied. "In fact, I want the two of you," he pointed at his sister and Kyoraku, "to go in. He was looking for both of you."
Kyoraku and Kurayami looked at each other in amazement that the patient would be conscious enough to ask to see the two of them, especially Kurayami as they had never really talked before. After a moment of hesitation, Kyoraku and Kurayami went in to the room, where they saw one of the beds surrounded by men in white robes. Hayato came in behind Kyoraku and Kurayami and said to the other medics, "Clear the way. Let him see them."
All the medics moved and Kyoraku and Kurayami saw Ukitake in bed, covered with a white blankey. Ukitake had some wires on his lungs that helped him breathe, as Hayato said. His face was pale and wet with sweat, and he looked so much older now than when he was in the academy smiling. Despite all the pain he seemed to be going through, Ukitake smiled at his two friends who waited for him during his treatment.
"Thank you," he said to Kurayami, "and I'm sorry that I got both of you so worried."
"Don't worry about us," said Kyoraku. "Just focus on recovering."
"Yeah," added Kurayami, trying to hide her concern and sadness. "We're fine, so don't worry about us. How are you feeling?"
"I feel..." Ukitake searched for the right word to say, "funny."
"Huh?" exclaimed both Kyoraku and Kurayami.
"I haven't had a cough like this in years," explained Ukitake. "It feels funny and unreal, like it didn't really happen."
"That's a pain reliever that we gave you," said Hayato, now standing next to his sister. "It's a very strong medicine used only in the worst case scenarios, and if abused, it can kill you."
"Onii-chan, Father said not to use it," exclaimed Kurayami.
"Unless," he corrected her, "the situation is bad enough. I made sure to use as little of it as possible so that there are no withdrawals. Don't worry, Haruna." He turned to look at Ukitake again. "You're going to feel like you're dreaming, but you should feel normal again after a couple of hours. If not, call us and we'll check you again."
"Yes," said Ukitake. "Thank you, Kurayami-sensei."
"No problem," the medic answered. Then he turned to his sister, again. "Are you going to stay with him?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"Alright then," he said. "Everybody else is dismissed. You may leave."
At these words, the rest of the medics left the room.
"I have to go see another patient in the Third room," Hayato told Kurayami. "Come find me if you need me, although I doubt it."
"Alright," she replied. "Good luck."
Hayato turned around and left the room, closing the door and leaving out any distur- bances from outside.
"Is it okay for all the medics to leave?" Kyoraku finally voiced the question that had been roaming around his head since Hayato had dismissed everyone else and then left himself.
"Kyoraku," said Ukitake. "From what the other medics have said, everybody in the Kurayami household is trained in medicine since they are very young. That includes her," he pointed at Kurayami.
"Haruna," she said. "Just call me Haruna. No need to hesitate on that."
"Are you sure?" Kyoraku said. "As far as I know, all three of us come from noble families. Aren't we supposed to 'respect' each other and call each other's surnames?"
"Are we really going to get there?" Haruna asked. "Let's just be friendly and call each other by the name. At least I will call both of you by your names and I want you guys to call me by my name. You can call each other whatever you want."
The two guys stared at each other in amazement by how easy she had become familiar with them.
"Alright, Haruna-chan," said Kyoraku first.
"Thank you, Haruna," said Ukitake.
She smiled at them. "That's more like it. Juushiro, Shunsui, let's get along well."
"Of course," said both.
"Shunsui," said Haruna, "it's rather late. Shouldn't you go home?"
"Oh my," said Kyoraku. "I didn't realize it was so late. Yeah, I should probably go. But I'll come back tomorrow after class."
"You don't have to, Kyoraku," said Ukitake, with a very weak voice.
"And you probably can't even come in to see him," said Haruna.
"But I'm here right now, and so are you."
"That's because Juushiro specifically asked to see you. As for me, I may not look like it, but I'm also a doctor here."
"Right," said Kyoraku. "I forgot you got trained too."
"Yeah," she told him and smiled at him, "so don't worry about him. I'll make sure he gets better."
"'Kay," Kyoraku said and left.
"You should go too, Haruna," said Ukitake. "You look tired."
"Look who's talking," was all she said. Then she brought a chair next to Ukitake's bed and sat down. "I told my brother I would stay here. That's why he dismissed the others."
"Thank you," Ukitake said and smiled at her.
"No need to thank me," she replied. "I'm also a doctor here in this household. It's kind of my job to take care of anyone sick." She looked at him for a couple minutes without saying anything. Then she said, "Get some sleep, you need it."
