Started March 27th.
Completed March 28th.
Authoress: Desperatembrace
Disclaimer(s): I do not own Bleach. If I did, Rukia's zanpakuto power would be shown way more often.
Warning:
Violence
Alternate Universe
Language
Sexual Content
Yaoi
Chapter 3
"Patient"
When Grimmjow and Ichigo walked through the doors of the doctors office, there was one thing that the orange-haired amnesiac noticed that he hadn't noticed before. Every person that they passed, male or female, no matter who they were, would turn and look at Grimmjow. And it wasn't just any kind of look or glance. It was most definitely a look that would scream either 'fuck me', 'look at me' or 'good god, hello sexy'.
At first he found it a little disturbing. But when they stepped up to the check-in desk and the woman behind the desk looked up from her computer only to have her eyes widen and a flirtatious smile cross her face, he found it... annoying.
He wasn't exactly sure why it was annoying. He just knew that it was. Ichigo ruthlessly squashed the urge to roll his eyes as his blue-eyed savior relayed his information and told the lady of their appointment.
Looking elsewhere to take his mind off of things, he glanced around at the rather large waiting room behind himself. It was very open-spaced, but crammed full of chairs, almost each seat taken up by a sick or injured person. He mused that it must be a rather popular or well-off doctor's office. After all, not many other doctors offices are quite so full.
At the quick and simple thought, he paused. He wasn't supposed to remember something like that. He had amnesia.
Why did he know that?
As Grimmjow quickly filled out the sheet handed to him by the desk-lady, Ichigo thought long and hard, delving into his mind as far as he could to pull out the memories that had almost resurfaced. But they kept on dancing out of his reach. He could vaguely feel the nostalgia left behind of the memory, but he was unable to catch the evading memory.
He sighed aloud in frustration, his small light of hope being crushed mercilessly.
Well, it's okay, I suppose. I do have amnesia after all. It's not like it's all just going to randomly come back to me... He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Grimmjow raise his voice, saying his name.
"Yeah?" Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow, his attention not fully on the man as he still half-ass tried to grasp the memory.
"Come on. The doctor is waiting. We almost lost the appointment because we were a few minutes late." At this, Ichigo cringed a bit before stiffly nodding and mumbling a quick agreement.
Grimmjow watched him for a moment before guiding him to the nurse that was waiting at the inner-door to show them to their private room. They headed deeper into the building, weaving through the blank white hallways. The nurse finally stepped up in front of a simple door and opened it, allowing the two men in before stepping in herself.
She closed the door behind herself and turned to where Ichigo and Grimmjow were standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. She waved her hand to both the chair in the corner and the examination bed. "Go ahead and sit. I'm just going to ask a few questions before I take down the basics-height, weight, blood pressure, and all that other stuff."
She settled herself into the stool next to the small counter and turned toward Ichigo, successfully (and amazingly) ignoring Grimmjow altogether.
"Alright, I noticed on the filled out sheet that you don't have a family name written down... or an age or anything like that. There is actually not very much information on here at all. Just your individual name... and a few injuries that you have." She watched the orange-haired man, curious for his response.
Ichigo nodded slowly. "Yes. I have amnesia." At this the woman leaned back a bit, her eyes widening in surprise as she brushed her brown hair out of her face, motioning for him to continue.
"The only thing I remember is bright lights, an immense relief... and then waking up in his apartment in a lot of pain." He pointed in Grimmjow's direction who was perked up slightly at the interesting new information. The brown-haired nurse turned her head in his direction, looking for affirmation.
The blue-haired man was crossing his arms, his face blank. He finally replied, "Yeah. He was unable to get out of an 18-wheelers path in time and his arm was hit, making him slam his head into the sidewalk. I imagine he already had many injuries before then but..." He shrugged slightly. "I just brought him home and had a friend look at him and then after he started feeling better, decided to bring him here."
The nurse nodded quickly, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Almost like some kind of thing you read about in books, or see in movies!" Grimmjow frowned at this comment, thinking it over before replying. "That's usually only for romance stories."
The woman seemed to be surprised by this as she coughed into her hand slightly and frowned. "Oh, yeah. Sorry..." She gave a small sigh before reaching forward to tug on Ichigo's arm to pull him toward the weight scale, only to have jolt backwards out of reach. She gave him a questioning glance as he pinned her with an apologetic expression. He stood up and slowly made his way to the scale that she pointed out.
They quickly took down the basic information. He was rather healthy, actually. His blood pressure was really good (for someone so injured), his eye sight good although a bit fuzzy from the previous accident. He was a little happy when the nurse told him his height was a perfect 5'11", only to have his happiness ripped away from him when Grimmjow mentioned his own 6'1" stature.
They were finished relatively quickly with almost no incident (only Grimmjow having to wrap the blood-pressure pad around his arm and hold the stethoscope in place when the nurse was swatted away). The nurse put away her stethoscope and picked up the clipboard containing all of her notes on Ichigo's condition.
"Alright, I'm just going to go give these to the doctor. He will be with you shortly." She gave a half-moon smile and stepped out of the room, leaving the two men alone.
They sat in a simple silence, not quite awkward, but not quite comfortable. Ichigo began to wander through his head again, searching for the elusive memories. After many minutes a confident knock resounded on the door, opening and revealing a rather average almost-middle-aged man, his long blond hair tied back into a ponytail.
He gave a smile to the room's occupants as he stepped in and closed the door behind himself. He strode over to the previously occupied stool and sat down, flipping through the papers on his clipboard.
Ichigo just stared at the man for a moment. Wasn't this man supposed to like, say hello or something whenever he first walked in? Isn't that the manners that doctors and nurses were taught, to be friendly with their patients? After all, everytime he visited the doctor they would...
The orange-haired man cringed, the flash of a memory flitting through his mind. He shut his eyes, desperately chasing after it, but again, it escaped.
His eyes slid open as he heard Grimmjow calling his name again, turning to the blue-haired man. He had an irritated look on his face, most likely annoyed that Ichigo kept retreating into his mind.
Ichigo mumbled out a small apology as he turned to the doctor that had apparently been trying to converse with him and discuss his problems. He quickly reviewed all of the injuries listed on the sheet, confirming that there were in fact no other injuries.
"Well," the doctor said as he pushed his glasses further up his crooked nose. "It seems as if that doctor friend of yours did a rather good job with his injured cuts." He glanced at Grimmjow who was holding a squirming Ichigo down as the doctor looked at his marked up back. Every time the doctor would even think about touching his back, he would desperately try to get away from the probing and analyzing hand. Eventually the doctor had given up and just resorted to close visual examination.
"This wound right here," he pointed to the large slash across the expanse of Ichigo's back, "is very well stitched up. It will heal beautifully. Although there will still be scar tissue..." He gave the squirming orange-haired man an apologetic glance even though he was unable to see it.
"Well, I sincerely hope that Szayel doesn't hear that. It's only obvious that he'll go around gloating like the fucking annoying ass he is," Grimmjow murmured darkly under his breath. The doctor finally leaned back, obviously not having heard the blue-haired man. Grimmjow took that as his cue to release Ichigo. The orange-haired man slowly sat up, minding his broken arm. The doctor watched the defensive action before clicking his tongue.
"We're going to have to replace that with a stronger cast. That one will fall apart pretty quickly. Plus, it looks like you bathed with it." Ichigo gave the doctor an incredulous look. "What am I supposed to do? Not bathe until my arm heals?"
The doctor chuckled loudly, uncaring of the scowl that took residence on the man's face. "No, no, silly boy." Ichigo's scowl only deepened at the word boy. "You just have to keep it out of the water. Wrap it in a plastic bag or something." He stepped to the door and poked his head out, calling to a nurse and asking her to bring something.
The blonde doctor turned back around and faced the two, Grimmjow having fallen back into his seat in the corner of the room. "I'm going to have to give you a numbing shot and then break the thin cast that you've got right now." He pointed to the thin layered cast on Ichigo's arm. "Then I'm gonna redo the cast and make a 4 layer cast for you. It should be kept on the arm for..." He glanced at the sheets of information, nodding thoughtfully. "About four and a half weeks. You've already had that simple cast on for about a week and a half, so that should work out just fine."
Ichigo nodded slowly, still not fully understanding the process of casting his arm. Grimmjow let out a low sigh in his corner of the room before standing up and heading over to the amnesiac, sitting beside him. Ichigo tensed slightly, glancing at Grimmjow in a questioning manner.
There was a knock at the door, the young nurse from before stepping in with a small case of needles and the numbing solution in one arm and gauze and plaster in the other. She haphazardly dumped the armload of gauze and plaster onto the counter and situated the case of needles and the solution delicately next to it.
The doctor stared at the young woman for a moment before shaking his head and muttering under his breath as she turned around, scratching her head with an embarassed expression. She pulled one of the larger needles out of the case, quickly sterilizing it and filling it with the numbing solution. She handed the needle to the doctor who had already pulled on his plastic gloves.
Grimmjow, knowing what was going to happen, put his hand over Ichigo's eyes, who immediately began to try and squirm out of his grasp. He had to hold Ichigo down by the upper arm as the doctor leaned forward and poked the needle under the skin of his left arm, right above the elbow.
Ichigo let out a pathetic whimper, his fear escalating to unprecedented heights. He couldn't see what was going on. He had to know what was going on. He had to be able to see. There could be danger. And he would have to run.
Almost immediately after his flight instincts began to surface, Grimmjow pulled his hand away from Ichigo's face, slowly releasing him from his grasp. The amnesiacs eyes shot open, darting back and forth between the nurse and the doctors as he backed up on the examination bed. After a few moments of utter stillness from both the doctor and the nurse, he began to relax, glancing in Grimmjow's direction.
Grimmjow was watching his actions quietly, analyzing his every move. What made him fear being touched by a doctor? By a nurse? By anyone? He had to be physically held down by the blue-haired man himself for anyone to be able to come within a foot of him. The only person who could physically touch him was Grimmjow.
And he had begun to realize that very quickly. Thus why he took up the job of holding the poor frightened man down each time the doctor had to come close. It was interesting, but at the same time...
Frightening.
What in the world could make a man so afraid of people?
Grimmjow pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He had to push those thoughts back. Right now, the doctor had to get up very close and very personal to be able to do what he was about to do.
Pushing the thoughts aside, he leaned his torso in Ichigo's direction, a serious look on his face. The orange-haired man stared at him, waiting for what Grimmjow was going to say.
"You're going to need to let him get close to you," he muttered. Ichigo stiffened. "It's the only way that arm of yours is going to heal. I'm not a medical professional-no matter what way I do it, it won't turn out right. You're going to have to let him undo that cast and rewrap your arm."
Ichigo was frozen, staring at Grimmjow. The words rolled around in his head, sending a dreadful, flopping feeling down to his stomach. He stayed quiet for a few moments, contemplating before he finally gave a very stiff nod and released a shuddery whoosh of breath.
"Okay." It was said very quietly. So quiet, that the nurse standing behind the doctor only a meter away had to strain to hear the word.
The orange-haired man slowly scooted toward the doctor, to the edge of the examination bed. The crinkling of the layed out paper on the bed was the only sound heard in the room. He slowly held out his arm in the direction of the doctor, muttering to him, "it's already numb."
The doctor nodded his head, his eyes still on Ichigo as he reached back for the small shears. As soon as he leaned forward to cut off the cast, the amnesiac almost immediately began to hyperventilate, his eyes sliding shut. He grasped the fabric of Grimmjow's pants with his uninjured right hand, tightening it into a clenched fist. The doctor noticed the change, quickly doing his work and pulling the plaster material off before unwrapping the cotton padding underneath.
The arm was a little hard to look at. Anyone who saw it could most definitely tell that it was indeed broken. It was swollen quite a bit and was covered in a large, blue-yellow bruise.
Grimmjow put his hand over Ichigo's, awkwardly rubbing the top of his hand to comfort him. He wasn't really sure how to comfort anybody... it was a completely new concept to him. Ichigo's eyes stayed closed but his breathing had begun to lighten up significantly.
The doctor quickly pulled out a fresh roll of cotton padding from the drawers behind him and wrapped it around the arm. He then began wrapping the gauze and applying the custom plaster, repeating the pattern of gauze and plaster until 4-5 layers were done, the plaster finishing up the process. It was a special quick-dry plaster, to ensure that they wouldn't be waiting for it to dry for a long time.
When the doctor finally leaned back, Grimmjow shook Ichigo's hand lightly, signaling him to open his eyes. Ichigo's eyes slid open, anxiously and cautiously regarding the doctor who had scooted a ways back. After a couple moments, he finally regarded the new cast around his arm. It was a simple white cast, but as he lifted his arm and moved it around, he could tell it was sturdy.
As Ichigo observed the cast, poking and staring at it, the nurse collected the case and disposed of the needle in its special bin, wrapping up the cotton padding and stepping out the door with a smile directed in Grimmjow's direction. The door shut behind her with a click and the doctor cleared his throat.
"Alright, now the nurse has informed me of your amnesia." Ichigo glanced back up at the doctor, a wary expression on his face. The blonde doctor leaned forward, lacing his fingers together as his elbows rested on his knees.
"In some cases, the amnesiac's memories are not regained." He held his hand up as he saw the twin expressions of horror cross Grimmjow's and Ichigo's faces. "But in most, the memories come back over time, usually with certain triggers. You might experience something similar to something that has happened in your past, or even see somebody that you once knew and have some memories concerning that person come back. There are many different triggers that could bring back memories. You most likely fall in the latter category, and will regain your memory with time." Grimmjow nodded along with the doctor's words as Ichigo stayed silent.
The doctor specifically turned to Ichigo, speaking only to him. "Chances are that you will begin to have small memories make their way back to you very soon, so I want you to tell him," he pointed at Grimmjow, "each time you remember something. He will keep track of it." He eyed Grimmjow pointedly. "When you come back to have the cast removed, we will go over the progress of your memory recovery and analyze it from there."
Both men nodded in affirmation as the doctor stood up and made his way to the door. He opened the door and waved his hand to the outside. "Now all you have to do is talk to the receptionist, get your written prescription and then you may leave. Set up a new appointment for roughly 4 and a half weeks from today and we will have the cast removed and track the progress of your memory recovery."
Grimmjow and Ichigo walked out of the room, Ichigo wincing at the dull pain making its way up from his cut-covered feet. The doctor guided them back through the weaving hallways to the front desk. Grimmjow stepped up to the desk, beginning the arduous task of filling out more paperwork. Ichigo poked the man's side, gaining his attention.
"I'm going to run to the bathroom," he said as he turned and crossed the hallway with a slight limp and headed into the small bathroom. Grimmjow merely nodded and turned back to the paperwork.
Ichigo quickly took care of business and began washing his hands, lathering his hands up with soap and rinsing them. He glanced up at the mirror as he was washing his hands and paused. There was a flash across his eyes, a memory of long ago dancing through his mind. It was all run together and fuzzy, too-fast played, and yet... clear.
It was back from when he was young, and visited the doctor after getting injured in a fight. It was a small doctor's office that rarely had more than 10 patients in it at one time. He could remember arguing with the doctor about being a phony... and being told that smiles were the common courtesy. He had been about to punch the guy, but... The memory was interrupted when a burning sensation spread through his head, a major headache presenting itself to Ichigo.
He gripped his head tightly with both hands, leaning against the tiled wall of the bathroom and hissing in pain. The memory was trying to disappear, but he couldn't let it. He couldn't lose it.
He wouldn't.
He tried to press further into the memory, desperately grasping at the nostalgia that was wrapping itself around him. Just as he was about to grab the rest of the memory, a hollow, echoing voice pulled him away from it.
Don't. Not yet.
Ichigo let out a desperate gasp, the voice leaving as quickly as it came. He slowly released his head, the burning sensation of the headache slipping away. He stared at the opposite wall for a moment, contemplating what had just happened. Well, at least he had finally regained a memory.
That counted for something, right?
After thinking about it for a minute, his spirits were raised. He had to tell Grimmjow about what had just happened. The doctor had specified it.
He unlatched the lock and stepped out of the bathroom, a small smile on his face. He began to make his way back to Grimmjow only to freeze in his steps. The blue-haired man was standing in front of the nurse from earlier.
The nurse had her hands behind her back, her thumbs twiddling nervously. Her cheeks were flushed in an uncomfortable blush as she spoke to him. She reached into her pocket pulling out a slip of paper and quickly wrote digits on it.
Ichigo's stomach dropped. A phone number. She was flirting with Grimmjow and giving him her phone number. His lips pulled into a scowl.
Just like the rest of the women.
Ichigo turned on his heels and headed back into the bathroom to splash water on his face. When Ichigo did so, he missed Grimmjow shaking his head and pushing the slip of paper back to the nurse. The brown-haired woman frowned and walked away, her gait spelling disappointed.
Ichigo exited the bathroom again and walked up to Grimmjow, stopping beside him. The blue-haired man silently glanced at him before taking the slip of paper that the clerk behind the counter held out to him. With Ichigo's prescription list in hand, Grimmjow lead him out of the doctor's office and to the car.
When in the car, Grimmjow glanced at his watch before turning to Ichigo. "It's still a little early. Even though it's a little dark out, do you want to go somewhere? The park, maybe?"
The blue-haired man half-expected the amnesiac to harp on him about not being a kid. So he was pleasantly surprised when Ichigo had stared thoughtfully at the street in front of them and nodded slightly.
"The park would be nice." Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at the statement before starting the car and putting it in drive, heading to the park nearby his house.
By the time they arrived at the park, it was already dark, the streetlights having lit up and illuminating the sidewalk with a yellowish glow. Grimmjow parked next to the sidewalk and got out, Ichigo following suit.
They quietly walked through the simplistic empty park, enjoying the greenery all around them. It was the most greenery in one spot in that particular city. Many of the citizens liked the park.
When Grimmjow had turned and glanced at Ichigo, he gave a large frown. He had forgotten that the man didn't have a jacket on. Ichigo was shivering, goosebumps covering his visible skin. And to go all the way back to the car just to get a jacket...
Grimmjow just shrugged. No harm, right? He pulled off his own jacket and plopped it on Ichigo's shoulders. Ichigo jumped slightly, not expecting the sudden weight on his shoulders. He turned and looked at Grimmjow, clutching the fabric closer to him with his uninjured arm. A smile lit across his face, thankful for Grimmjow's thoughtfulness.
They continued to walk in silence as Ichigo snuggled into the jacket. He could smell Grimmjow on it. A spicy, sweet smell-so contradicting, like cinnamon. He recognized it as the scent of the shampoo that he had used earlier that day.
The blue-haired man guided him to an empty bench, sitting down and motioning for him to follow suit when he noticed Ichigo's limping becoming more profound. They sat together and enjoyed the quiet night in silence. Ichigo stared straight ahead, across the street at a small group of street-side stores.
The stores were still open, but didn't have customers. Ichigo lazily looked from window to window, glancing at each display item. Finally, his eyes stopped in one particular window, focusing on a particular item.
Grimmjow noticed Ichigo's attention was absorbed on something and glanced in the same direction. Ichigo was staring into an art shop's window, at the small display of art supplies. A small case of pencils, erasers, pastels, and other supplies stood up at an angle. But in the middle of the display, stood a simple leather-bound sketchbook.
Nothing was really special about it. It was just a sketchbook. Ichigo continued to stare at it for a moment before shaking his head and standing up slowly. "Let's go back." He received a nod from Grimmjow and they headed back to the car, buckling up and going back to Grimmjow's apartment.
They got prepared for bed, Ichigo using some of Grimmjow's clothes for the night. He quickly got on the couch and snuggled up under the covers, hopeful for sleep to claim him.
Just as he began drifting off to sleep, Grimmjow tapped him on the shoulder, telling him he was going out to get a pack of cigarettes and Ichigo's prescriptions and that he'd be right back. Ichigo nodded sleepily and drifted back off, uncaring as he heard the main door shut behind Grimmjow.
When Ichigo woke up to the sound of Grimmjow's bedroom door clicking shut roughly a half hour later, there was a leather-bound sketchbook laying on the coffee table, illuminated by the glow of the moonlight streaming through the window.
-Chapter End-
A/N: Review?