1/31/06

Title: Beneath the Surface
Author: Raya
Theme: Guardian Senshi / "Evil is obvious only in retrospect." -- Gloria Steinham (optional)
Genre: General / Drama
Version: Manga
Rating: G

Disclaimer: Ami and Mamoru are owned by Takeuchi Naoko. The rest are my sole responsibility.

Winner – Most Original Idea for January at sm monthly Live Journal Community.

Beneath the Surface

"Dr. Mizuno?"

Ami looked up quickly from the magazine she had been flipping through. "Yes?" As she caught sight of the tall, slim, dark haired woman, her eyes widened. For a second, she thought that Setsuna had stopped by the hospital administration office for some strange reason. She realized her mistake almost instantly. The woman's hair was a rich red-brown not dark green, and her skin tone was much paler. As Ami stood up, she realized that the woman's eyes were a pale blue-grey, not Setsuna's rich garnet.

"I am Dr. Schwartzkralle," the woman said in heavily accented Japanese as she smiled and nodded. "I am in charge of the interns here at Minato General Hospital. Welcome to our team."

"Thank you," Ami replied with a bow. "I am Ami Mizuno, and I entrust myself to your care."

Dr. Schwartzkralle's smile widened. "This way, please." She turned and led Ami out of the door and down the hall. "Normally, I would be starting my speech about this not being school anymore and to expect high stress and very long hours. But, I see from your record that you are quite used to that." She turned to Ami and lifted a dark eyebrow. "An entire college career crammed in to four short years. I am impressed. And to graduate only two tenths of a point behind the number one person in your class with that kind of an impossible schedule... We are expecting great things from you, Dr. Mizuno."

Ami gulped a little nervously. She still didn't know why she had felt so driven to rush through college, but she had hoped that her life would be able to settle down a little now that she had graduated. Even with testing out of 90 percent of the courses she needed for her undergraduate degree and several for her graduate degree, her work and study schedule had left precious little time to spend with her friends. It was starting to sound as if the hospital would expect that kind of an effort from her all of the time, not just the first year.

"Yes, great things indeed," Dr. Schwartzkralle continued as she stopped in front of an inconspicuous door. "This is the interns' locker room. You may put your coat, shoes, purse, and other personal items in here while you are on duty," she explained as she opened the door. "You will need to provide your own lock, of course." She stopped and lifted an eyebrow in surprise as Ami pulled one out of her purse.

"Someone mentioned that to me the when I was here for my interview," Ami said softly. Actually, it had been her mother who had mentioned it, but something told her that it would not be wise to say that. Quickly, she put her purse and jacket into the locker that the German doctor pointed out to her.

"And through here is the lounge area," Dr. Schwartzkralle said as she continued the orientation tour. "Not that you will get to spend too much time here," she chuckled.

Ami looked around the beige room, noting the coffee machine, vending machines, microwave, small table and chairs. Her eyes widened when she noticed an exhausted man in a white lab coat sleeping on the room's couch. "Looks like Dr. Ichijou didn't make it home again," Dr. Schwartzkralle said, sounding a little surprised. "His wife is going to get mad at him soon... You're not married yet, are you Dr. Mizuno?" Ami stared at her, surprised by the personal question, and shook her head. "Good," she replied with an approving nod. "That is the smart thing to do. Wait until after your internship is done. You will have enough to worry about learning the practical side of medicine."

Dr. Schwartzkralle led her back out into the hall. "I know you specialized in Pediatrics," she said as she led Ami into the working area of the hospital. "However, our practice is to place all of the interns into a general labor pool, at least to begin with. The senior physicians will get a chance to work with you and learn your abilities. If you are lucky, one of the pediatricians will choose to mentor you. Until then, you will work in all of the various areas on a rotating schedule with the other interns."

Ami nodded. Although she was disappointed, her mother had warned her about this new hospital policy. There were both pluses and minuses to it, and in her mother's opinion the pluses won out just slightly.

Dr. Schwartzkralle came to a stop in front of a nursing station. "Here is where you will pick up your assignment," she said as she smiled pleasantly at the nurse behind the desk. "Nurse Kawada, meet our newest intern, Dr. Mizuno." Ami and the nurse exchanged quick pleasantries as Dr. Schwartzkralle looked through a clipboard. "It appears that we have assigned you to Dr. Suwabara for the first few days," she said as she nodded and put the clipboard down. "He is one of the senior interns, and he will be able to show you more of what your job will entail. He is down in ER today."

Quickly, they walked down to the Emergency Room and located the man in question. He was an averaged size man, Ami noted, with the standard Japanese dark hair and dark eyes. He eyed Dr. Schwartzkralle nervously at first, and then relaxed when he saw Ami beside her. After the older doctor walked away, he quickly found Ami a lab coat and briefly summed up the emergency room work process.

After several hours of fast paced work, he showed her where she could find the local coffee machine. Suddenly, he looked around warily and drew Ami into a quiet corner. She looked at him in surprise. "You look like you enjoy your work," he said softly as he continued to look around nervously. Curious, Ami nodded her head. "You seem pretty good at it, too," he continued looking a little impressed. As she uncertainly thanked him, he spoke over her. "Be careful."

"Eh?"

"Watch out for Dr. Schwartzkralle," he said much more softly. His brown eyes stopped wandering around and fixed on her cobalt blue ones earnestly.

"Wh...Why?" she asked just as softly, surprised by this unusual piece of advice.

He just shook his head. "Be careful," he said again as he turned to walk back to the nurse's station.

By the end of the exhausting day, Ami had forgotten his advice. It came back to her unexpectedly the next day when she saw Dr. Ichijou duck unexpectedly into a patient's room when Dr. Schwartzkralle came down the hall. She greeted Ami cheerfully and asked how she was getting along with Dr. Suwabara. Ami instinctively replied primly, claiming that he was obviously skilled and that she would learn a lot from assisting him. The older woman had laughed and told her to relax a little. Ami wasn't certain, but she thought she had seen a flash of disappointment in her light eyes.

Over the next several days, Ami noticed that the men, in particular, tried to avoid the tall doctor whenever possible. The female interns were not quite as wary around her, but several of them visibly tightened when she was near. Ami also noticed that the other interns seemed to keep mostly to themselves, interacting with her only when necessary. This strange behavior puzzled her. She had always thought the shared stress would build a sense of camaraderie similar to what she had with her fellow senshi.

Even the resident doctors seemed a little stand-offish. She got the impression that she impressed them, but not enough to overcome whatever wariness they were feeling. It was quite frustrating, particularly with the pediatric doctors.

The only one who treated her normally was Mamoru. He had graduated from his internship and was working as a surgeon in the trauma unit. They never seemed to have much time for a private word since they were usually surrounded by patients or other doctors. Slowly, Ami came to realize that he was doing this on purpose. When that realization finally crystallized completely in her conscious, she frowned and resolved to catch him in a quiet corner and ask what was going on.

Her opportunity came a few weeks later. She had been working at the hospital for three months and was finally trusted to work without Dr. Suwabara's supervision. Her eyes narrowed consideringly when she realized that she had drawn the trauma ward. If she remembered the schedules correctly, Mamoru was also working the afternoon shift that day.

She waited patiently for several hours, making the first set of rounds with Dr. Kaiba and Mamoru and assisting with two surgeries, one of which was an emergency. It was after the second surgery that she had her chance. She and Mamoru were left alone together in the cleanup room.

Slowly, she eased her way over to his side in front of one of the scrub sinks. "Mamoru-san, what's going on around here?" she asked softly after glancing around the room. He blinked at her as she leaned over to rinse her hands off, and opened his mouth to reply. She never knew what he had intended to say.

"Well, well, well... Dr. Tsukino, I'm surprised," Dr. Schwartzkralle said from the doorway. When Ami looked up at her in surprise and confusion, she arched a dark eyebrow. "Really. I thought you had a lovely wife at home that you would never think of betraying." A particularly vindictive look flashed across her face. "And yet, here you are. And, Dr. Mizuno." Her voice became overly disappointed. "Really, I had thought much better of you. I thought you were smarter than that."

"We're washing our hands after a particularly bloody surgery, Dr. Schwartzkralle," Mamoru replied calmly as he lathered his hands up once more. Although he looked quite relaxed, Ami was close enough to see the tension in his face. She looked between them with a confused expression on her face. "What is so shocking about that? Surely, you haven't forgotten simple, basic, preventative hygiene?"

Dr. Schwartzkralle merely raised her eyebrow again, and then moved out of the way to let a nurse into the room. "At the same sink? A man and a woman? When there are several sinks to choose from? Really, Dr. Tsukino." Suddenly her eyes narrowed. "I've been watching you. I've seen the looks you and Mizuno-san have been giving each other when you think no one is looking. Quite friendly. A little too friendly, sometimes. But, as long as you kept it out of work, I decided to keep quiet. Now, however..." The nurse looked wide eyed at the foreign doctor, and then at Ami and Mamoru.

Ami suddenly frowned in realization. She opened her mouth to respond angrily, but Mamoru cut her off.

"And what is wrong with trying to conserve water?" he asked calmly. As he turned back to the sink to rinse his hands, he flashed Ami a warning look.

"Indeed," she heard herself say. "We should not be wasteful. As I'm sure you agree, Dr. Schwartzkralle, being wasteful is a crime." Ami couldn't believe that that prim, inane response had come from her mouth. The other woman had practically accused her of having an affair with her best friend's husband, and she was talking about water conservation.

"A likely excuse, don't you think Nurse Tanemura?"

"Um... Well..." the unfortunate nurse stammered.

"And quite deftly avoiding the subject of their familiarity," Dr. Schwartzkralle continued, not waiting for a real answer. "I mean, how much indiscretion do they expect us to overlook? A look here, a touch there, sneaking off alone, sharing a sink... I'm surprised I didn't interrupt something more delicate!"

Mamoru jerked his hands out of the stream of water with a hiss of shock when it suddenly turned ice cold, and quickly reached to turn off the faucet. Ami concentrated on keeping her face calm as she reached for two towels and deliberately handed him one. "What are you talking about, Dr. Schwartzkralle?" she asked trying to sound confused. It came out tight instead, but she decided that was better than furious or defensive. "I do not recall any sneaking off or other questionable behavior."

"You don't think your behavior is questionable? Really, Mizuno-san," Dr. Schwartzkralle asked sounding surprised and dropping her medical honorific once again. "Are you so confident of your little proper act? I'm not the only one who has noticed. People have been talking. Why else do you think no pediatrician has asked to mentor you? If the rumors are to be believed, and they are certainly looking more and more true, there is no way you could be allowed to work around innocent children."

Everyone but Ami jumped when the water pipe under the sink she and Mamoru had been using suddenly gave a loud pop and split open. The older doctor and the nurse looked around the room, trying to identify the noise while Mamoru quickly got out of the way. "What rumors might you be referring to, Dr. Schwartzkralle?" Ami asked coldly as another pipe popped.

"A very good question," a masculine voice said from outside the room, "but one that can surely be answered elsewhere." Dr. Schwartzkralle looked quickly over her shoulder and moved out of the doorway. A grey haired doctor walked impatiently into the room and glared around with dark brown eyes. "Are you going to tie up this scrub room all day?" he asked in a biting, sarcastic voice. "I have a surgery to prepare for."

"Excuse us, please, Dr. Yamada," Dr. Schwartzkralle said apologetically. "Certainly we can take this elsewhere. My office, for instance." She gave Mamoru and Ami a cold glance.

"Do you know a Dr. Tsukino?" the older gentleman asked the nurse, already turning away and unbuttoning his sleeves. "And a Dr. Mizuno?" The nurse nodded mutely.

"I'm Dr. Tsukino, and this is Dr. Mizuno," Mamoru said quietly. "How can we help you, sir?"

"You two? Hmph. Get scrubbed up," Dr. Yamada ordered. "We've got an emergency coming in. Car crash with head and torso injuries, possibly spinal. One adult and three children. We've got the worst: a five year old boy." While Dr. Schwartzkralle looked on impotently, Ami and Mamoru immediately began to scrub up again.

Suddenly, water began to spray out from under two of the sinks, soaking Dr. Yamada and Ami from the knees down. "What the hell?" The older gentleman shouted in surprise as he jumped out of the way. "What is going on here?"

"Looks like we have some broken pipes," Mamoru said calmly as he finished washing his hands and turned towards the air dryer. "Dr. Schwartzkralle, would you please call maintenance and let them know?" He calmly met her cold, hateful glare. "I'm afraid the rest of us are rather occupied."

Clenching her fists, she turned and sailed out of the room. Ami fought to put the incident out of her mind and concentrate on the upcoming surgery. That was more important. The rumors could be dealt with in time.

The next day, Dr. Schwartzkralle summoned Ami to her office to continue their discussion. Somehow, the younger doctor managed to keep her temper while she coldly refuted the rumors and pointed out the obvious falsehoods. The more she fought back calmly and collectedly, the angrier her superior became.

"You will never work out here with an attitude like that, Mizuno-san," Dr. Schwartzkralle said finally. "Please go and gather your personal belongings and..."

"Now why should she do that?" Dr. Yamada said from the open doorway. He looked at the brown haired woman calmly. "She's a fine doctor, and a natural with the intricacies of pediatric surgery." Dr. Schwartzkralle looked at him in shock as he turned to Ami. "I understand you are still in the general labor pool for some strange reason?" When Ami nodded mutely, he shook his head. "Crazy... Do you have some attachment to the general pool?" She shook her head. "Then you're coming to work for me."

"What?" Dr. Schwartzkralle exclaimed. "Dr. Yamada, I know you have been out on extended travel so perhaps you have not heard..."

The grey haired doctor waved his hand impatiently. "Yes, yes, all those standard rumors that somehow seem to fly around about the interns. Really, you'd think we worked on a drama set, not in a hospital the way they supposedly carry on with each other and the patients and doctors. I couldn't care less."

"They're not true," Ami said tightly, still angry.

He looked at her steadily. "I couldn't care less," he repeated. "What I do care about is that you're a damn fine doctor with pediatric training who is obviously being wasted in the general pool. Now, do you want to let them rail you out the door, or do you want to work for me?"

Ami studied his face a moment. Despite the fact that this was her dream staring her in the face, she was quite angry enough to walk and get a job at another hospital. Her grades and previous internship work would practically guarantee her a job anywhere she chose. But, she wanted to stay at Minato General because it was where her friends would come in an emergency. Slowly, she took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll work for you," she said quietly.

"Good. That's settled. Is there anything else you need my intern for, Dr. Schwartzkralle?"

Slowly, the older woman shook her dark head. Her face was tightly controlled, but her eyes were icy. "Not at all, Dr. Yamada. I hope you do not regret your choice."

The Head of Pediatrics snorted, and then gestured for Ami to follow him out of the office.