Told you guys it wouldn't be long! (I feel successful for managing that haha). Although I don't know when the next chapter will be posted. Thanks a lot for the reviews for the last chapter! I really do appreciate them! (Thanks a lot for the story alerts and faves as well). Anyway, onto the chapter!

SUMMARY: Karin struggled to look at the scene in front of her. Being a nurse in a local clinic and tending to severe shinigami injuries were two very different things. Especially when it's a shinigami you care about.

Chapter 11: Bandage

Karin watched with horror as Tōshirō, among a fair few other shinigami, were brought into the Urahara Shoten, all severely injured. They had been fighting against arrancars, and only just won. Karin didn't now a lot about arrancars, but form what she gathered they were an evolved, much more powerful, form of hollows. She stood in the doorway of the room the injured had been put in, shocked that they had been put in such a state. She was starting to understand why her brother had tried to keep shinigami and hollows a secret from her for so long.

Tōshirō had very deep gashes in his shoulder, chest and stomach. His entire torso was bloody. Rukia had an entire hole in her stomach, Karin could see the floor underneath her. Another shinigami she didn't recognise had two of their limbs ripped off. Or at least it looked like it. They certainly hadn't been cut cleanly off. Karin shuddered and scrunched up her eyes, unable to look at any more injuries. By the time she opened her eyes again Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai and Orihime were treating and healing them. Except there were four people treating the injured, while there were five injured. Tōshirō wasn't being tended to yet, him being left for last as he was in the best condition, the only one actually managing to stay conscious. Orihime was working on Rukia, who was in the most critical condition. Karin wasn't even sure she was alive any more.

Karin took a deep breath, grabbed a box of medical equipment and walked over to Tōshirō. His eyes widened slightly when he saw her. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be involved."
"Shut up, you need to use your energy to stay awake."
Tōshirō's voice was quiet and strained. "I don't have a concussion."
"I'd rather be sure. Your blood is everywhere, including your head, now shut up."

Tōshirō stayed silent and watched Karin treat him. She leaned over him, trying to observe his wounds but struggled because of all the blood. Instead, she got a good idea of where the wound are, grabbed a bowl of clean water and a flannel and knelt down beside him. She started to dab at his wounds, carefully cleaning them, trying to make it as painless as possible. She couldn't stop herself from noticing every time he winced.

She sighed. "I need you to sit up so I can do the rest properly." Karin spoke again very quickly when she saw Tōshirō started to move. "But! You need to let me help you get up. Tōshirō, it's gonna hurt like a bitch as it is, you don't need to make it worse."

Tōshirō paused for a moment before agreeing. He hated being injured and feeling weak, but there was no sense in making it worse. He let her help him up slowly. Afterwards she knelt on the floor again, one knee to the side of him, one knee between his legs so she was at an angle so it was easier to wrap the one shoulder with his chest and stomach. She leaned over and pulled the box of medical equipment closer to her.

She grabbed the flannel again and cleaned up his shoulder, which she previously couldn't reach properly. Karin grimaced when she was done, noticing just how pink the originally clean water was. He had lost a lot of blood. He'd have to have an IV put in later. She grabbed a roll of bandages and started to wrap his wounds. Delicately but tightly, starting with his shoulder. She temporarily pinned the bandages together, so that they would stay in the right place while she moved on to the rest of his torso.

Karin smiled slightly as she saw that his bleeding was starting to stop. She continued to wrap his wounds, going all the way round his chest and stomach. By the end she had practically covered his entire midsection. She held the end of the bandage tightly against his chest while she searched for glue designed to keep bandages stuck together. Finding none, she sighed and grabbed a couple more pins instead and put them in her mouth, needing two hands for the next job. She made sure the bandage was pulled tight in one hand, and grabbed a pin with the other and used both hands to pin the bandage securely to itself. She pulled another one out of her mouth, knowing she would need a few to make sure it was secure.

While she was working she caught Toshiro's eyes, which had been watching her the entire time, causing her breath to hitch slightly, not expecting it. The two ended up staring at each other while Karin put on the last pin. She finally broke eye contact to make sure the bandages were on ok before looking at his face again. "You...Er, didn't bump your head did you? It's just blood from your chest in your hair?"
"Yeah, I didn't bump my head at all."
"Really? You seem to be struggling to focus your eyes. You keep staring at me."
"Oh, I wasn't staring at you because I wasn't focused, I didn't zone out, I just, I was staring at you because..."

Karin looked over to him and tried to ignore the burning feeling on her cheeks. She gently put her hands on either side of his face and tilted his head up slightly, looking into his eyes. "Well they don't seem cloudy and your following me pretty well, so it looks like you're ok, just exhausted. You should get some sleep."
Karin started to get up when Tōshirō grabbed her wrist, surprising her. "What?"
"Thank you, for-"
"Don't worry about it."
"It's not like you had to-"

Karin knelt back down again, stopping him, and looked straight into his eyes. "Yes I did. I did have to." Tōshirō didn't bother to hide his surprise at her words, honestly being far too exhausted to even think about controlling his facial expressions. "Get better soon, ok?" Karin got up and dusted her knees off a bit. "Oh, and please get some sleep. The quicker you recover the less I worry." Tōshirō stared at her, watching her leave the room, thinking about what she had just said.

Karin came back in a few minutes with a blanket in her hands and an irritated look on her face. "Why are you still sitting up? You should be trying to sleep. You can move on your own now, seeing that I've bandaged you up."
"Oh...Sorry."

Karin sighed as she watched him lean back onto the floor, before unfolding the blanket in her hands."You're not really with it, are you? Anyway, I know you say that's better for you to be cold, but not when you're injured. Bodies have an optimum core temperature where they work best so you need to be warm. You need to reproduce a lot of blood."

She bent down and draped the blanket over him before kneeling down. She put her hand on his forehead. "Good, you don't feel warm. With the size of your wounds I'm worried that you'll pick up an infection."
"I never feel warm."
Karin looked at him, a sad expression on her face. "You're warmer than you think you are."
Toshiro turned his head towards her, knowing she wasn't talking about temperature any more. "Why did you heal me? You work in a local clinic, I'm sure you're not used to these kinds of injuries. You could've just left the others to do it."
Karin shook her head. "No I couldn't." She bent down and kissed him lightly on his forehead. "I'll always try to heal you."

I have to admit, I actually quite like how this chapter turned out. Hopefully you did too! The next chapter is 'Intoxicate', I hope you look forward to it! Thanks again for the reviews, faves and alerts, I love getting the emails telling me about them, they make me smile every time. I honestly don't know when the next chapter will be posted (certainly not in the next couple of days, but maybe by the end of the week), it's pretty long, so it'll take longer than usual to edit. I hope you look forward to it though!