12. Theory and Practice
Kotetsu Isane slammed the door and sat down on the floor of her quarters, her back sliding down along the door and thanking whomever that the weekend was about to start. Two blissful days where she could concentrate on her important research on the ancient healing kido spell without having to put up with the incompetence, stupidity and stubbornness of her students.
When she had read the reports of class three she knew that Unohana had given her quite a difficult task. However, after just five days working with these young shinigami, the fuku-taicho was forced to revise her judgment. This was not a difficult task – it was a cruel, exhausting and mentally painful task. Letting out a deep breath, Isane reflected on the events of the past days.
Day 1:
After Kotetsu Isane had introduced herself formally to her class, she started her theory lesson about the necessary precautions regarding personal hygiene when dealing with open wounds. In general there where two basic rules: always work with clean hands and always wear gloves. Usually, students understood these rules and followed them – usually. Of course that was not the case with class three.
"Why should we always disinfect our hands and change into a new pair of gloves? It is a waste of supplies and time, especially when we have a lot of patients waiting," one of the students asked with a voice dripping of self-confidence.
"Oh let's see – because a healer should never expose a patient to further infections, or maybe to protect himself from infections or because it is simply yucky to treat someone with unclean hands or with already used gloves?" Are these enough reasons for you?"
"No. I mean, if I treated a patient who did not have an open wound, why could I not simply continue working on the next patient?"
"There are germs, bacteria and viruses everywhere: not only inside a body but also on your skin, on the patient's skin and in the air around you. That is why we always have to keep our hands clean," the fuku-taicho explained calmly but through clenched teeth. She couldn't believe she had to stand here in front of these greenhorns, discussing basic rules of healing patients. She, the fuku-taicho, right hand of Unohana-taicho, best healer in Seireitei, seriously had to put up with that?
"Now, I expect you to follow these rules to the point. If you don't there will be dire consequences. Is that understood?"
"Hai, fuku-taicho," the class responded in unison.
The rest of the morning was spent going through details of personal hygiene and wound treatment. At noon Isane felt already exhausted, having endured the constant questions and arguments of her class. She had about an hour before the practical part of today's lesson would start. The fuku-taicho chose to use the time for more learning – this old kido spell fascinated her more and more the longer she familiarized herself with it. It was a genius way of modifying one's own reiatsu to heal wounds immediately. On top of it, there really seemed to be no side effects for the patient at all.
The break was over too soon and the fuku-taicho returned to her class. Practical lessons took also place at the academy, however not in a normal class room but in treatment rooms specifically designed for young shinigami to get hands on experience in treating the ill and injured. These rooms looked exactly like the standard rooms within the squad four building, with the exception of not having every medicine available there.
Entering this part of the academy Isane felt like home. Oh how much she wished, she could go back to squad four right now, instead of being stuck here with her class, waiting for patients that had been sent over by her squad because of their minor injuries.
The students were given the task of assessing every patient's wound, name the proper diagnosis and treatment and then perform the treatment under the watchful eyes of the fuku-taicho. A task quite simple in itself but not with this class, Isane had to realize very soon. During lunch break half of her students apparently had forgotten everything they had learned this morning, the other half seemed to have forgotten everything they had learned so far at the academy altogether. As a result, Kotesu Isane had to monitor everyone and everything, raising her voice more than once in the process to prevent any harm from the patients.
At the end of the day, Isane felt utterly exhausted. She had managed to keep her class from inflicting any additional wounds, every patient had received an appropriate treatment and as a bonus her students finally seemed to have understood the basic rules of hygiene. This success came however at a high price – Isane had lost her voice, her throat feeling like sand paper was constantly rubbing over its inside. The fuku-taicho was just in the process of getting her stuff out of the classroom when Karito Yaata entered the room, a big smile on his face and bowing.
"Congratulations Kotetsu-fuku-taicho!"
Isane turned around to him in bewilderment. Why was Karito-sensei saying this? She had merely survived her first day without anyone dying in the process. She tried to express her thoughts but when she opened her mouth no sound came out of it. Seeing her mouth moving the old man was quick to catch on the situation.
"Fuku-taicho, what happened to your voice? Are you ill?"
Isane quickly shook her head. Looking around she found a pad, wrote down something and showed it to Karito.
"Just overexerted my voice," the old man read aloud.
"Well, I suggest you return to your squad. I am sure Unohana-taicho can do something about it."
At these words Isane immediately shook her head furiously again. No way, she would bother Unohana with something as little as a sore throat. The taicho surely had much more important things to attend to. Besides she was perfectly able to take care of the problem herself. Focusing on her own hands, Isane summoned healing reiatsu in her hands and moved them up to her throat.
"With all due respect, I wouldn't do that if I were you, fuku-taicho."
Stopping in her actions, she looked at her associate with a questioning look, silently asking him to elaborate.
"First of all, you cannot heal yourself completely – you could only diminish the symptoms. Secondly, I am sure Unohana would want you to seek help in squad four in order to get your health completely restored, wouldn't she?"
He was right, of course. Sighing she lowered her hands, the reiatsu vanishing out of her hands, and nodded in agreement. Turning around again, she grabbed her belongings, bowed to Karito Yaata and left. Little did she know that the old man immediately contacted Unohana-taicho and gave her a report of today's events as soon as Isane had gone out of his sight.
Kotetsu Isane brought her bag back to her personal quarters thinking how to best deal with the situation: she had better someone help her with her missing voice; but that someone must not be Unohana-taicho. The thought of facing her superior right now sent goose bumps right along her spine. It had been only one day so far and she had already managed to hurt herself. And she wasn't even close to completing her task, which was given to her as punishment: class three was countless miles away from producing excellent results. Well, fortunately squad four had several good healers – surely any of them would be willing to help her.
Having made up her mind, Isane walked over to her squad. At the entrance she met Hanataro Yamada, who was just busy cleaning the area. Touching him at the shoulder, the fuku-taicho got his attention quickly.
"Good evening, Kotetsu-fuku-taicho. I did not expect to see you here tonight. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Isane nodded. Having brought a note pad with her, so that she did not have to use some kind of sign language, she scribbled down a few well-chosen words to explain the situation to Yamada.
"Ah, I see. Well, I think I can help you with that. Why don't you head down to treatment room four and I will join shortly, right after I have finished my work here?"
Showing her agreement, Isane went straight to room four. She did not know how long it would take Yamada to finish his work, so she simply settled down on the treatment table and closed her eyes. She felt completely drained so every short break was welcome before she would go back to her room and resume her learning.
In the meantime Karito Yaata had finished his report to Unohana Retsu. After having heard the report, she did not regret her order in the slightest to have the old teacher inform her about everything concerning her dear Isane every day. She had been very pleased to hear that thanks to Isane class three managed to finish their assignment for the first time ever. However, when Yaata described the fuku-taicho's initial reluctance to seek help for herself, Unohana was not happy about it at all. Why did her fuku-taicho need convincing to seek medical help from one of her associates?
Well, at least Karito-sensei had been able to send Isane to squad four. Concentrating, Unohana searched for Isane's reiatsu signature. Apparently the fuku-taicho was in the entrance hall together with Hanataro Yamada. Wanting to talk to her assistant anyway about her great success with class three, the taicho walked out of her office to the entrance area. However, arriving there she only found Hanatro there – her fuku-taicho was nowhere to be seen.
"Hanataro-kun, do you know where Kotetsu Isane has gone to?"
"Hai taicho. I do. It seems that the fuku-taicho has lost her voice today due to constant shouting. In order to help her, I asked her to wait for me in treatment room four. As soon as I am finished here, I will go to her."
"Actually, why don't you just finish your work here and head home? You have been working very hard today and deserve to go home early."
Looking up into his taicho's kind and smiling face, the seventh seat bowed and thanked her before continuing his cleaning. Unohana then went to room four. Arriving there, she found her fuku-taicho sitting half asleep on the table.
"Isane, please wake up," the taicho called her with a soft and kind voice.
Instantly Isane was jerked awake hearing her superior's voice. She blinked a couple of times before realizing that indeed Unohana-sama was standing right before her and not Hanataro Yamada. In her surprise she stumbled off the table, trying to speak some apologies for falling asleep and escaping the room at the same time. Of course with her voice gone she could not utter a single syllable and feeling Unohana's hand holding her arm she couldn't leave the room either.
"Please fuku-taicho. Calm down and take a seat again."
Looking down in her taicho's smiling face Isane had no choice but to obey. Calming down a little she threw a questioning look at Unohana. Why was she here and not Hanataro-kun?
"Karito-sensei told me about your good work with class three today. I was very pleased to hear that these young shinigami can actually treat people without exposing them to further damage when sufficiently supervised. I believe today was the first day that ever happened."
Isane couldn't believe her ears. Was her taicho actually praising her for the little work she had accomplished today? After all, at the end of the day her students were only following the basic rules – no more, no less. Certainly that couldn't be considered an achievement. Still, it must have been the case because looking into her taicho's face she could only make out a serene and kind expression. Seeing this, Isane's face flushed a little and she quickly drew her eyes to the floor. She would have thanked Unohana for her unsubstantiated compliment if her voice hadn't decided to take a vacation at the worst of times. Of course, the fuku-taicho's reaction did not pass unnoticed by Unohana Retsu. Using her right forefinger she lifted Isane's chin up, forcing her to look at her again.
"Isane-fuku-taicho, you really did well today. There is no reason for you to feel anything else but content. Now, I was also informed that you had to use your voice in a rather loud fashion today resulting in you being hoarse. Is that correct?"
Isane nodded slightly. Despite her taicho's kind words she still did not want to be here right now. She rather would go back to her quarters and take care of her throat herself. And not waste more of Unohana's time! However, she had no say in the matter, so she took a deep breath and waited patiently for Unohana's next order.
"Alright, I want to take a closer look at your throat. Open up, please."
Isane did as she was told. Peeking down her throat Unohana could see that her fuku-taicho's throat was slightly red and upon closer inspection her voice cords looked very strained. Fortunately there were no signs of a new infection. Summoning some healing reiatsu within her hands, Unohana moved them slowly over her fuku-taicho's throat. Isane felt the effect instantly. The sand paper feeling had gone completely. Clearing her throat she was also aware that her voice was back.
"Thank you Unohana-sama. I feel a lot better now," Isane said in a very low voice.
"No problem Isane. Hopefully in the future you do not need any additional convincing to ask for help the next time you need it. I want you to come to me whenever you are in need, be it for medical reasons or other. Is that understood?" Unohana asked in a very serious tone.
"Hai Unohana-taicho."
"Good. Now you better get home. I believe you have another long day tomorrow at the academy."
Isane got down from the table and was on her way to leave the room when she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Is there anything else fuku-taicho?"
"I just wanted .. wanted… Never mind. Good night taicho-sama."
"Good night Isane. Sleep well."
With these words Isane finally left. She had just wanted to ask her taicho how long she would have to continue to teach at the academy but at the last moment she decided against it. She couldn't ask Unohana right after her first day of her punishment. Maybe after a couple of weeks she could ask for a transfer back to her normal work, or if she had mastered the instant healing kido spell. As neither condition was fulfilled yet, she did not ask. Instead she walked back to her quarters and started studying again. As fascinating this spell was it was equally complicated. The user had to be in perfect control of its reiatsu to transform and transfer it to the patient in order to heal his wounds and injuries.
Thus her first day at the academy ended with Isane falling asleep over her books. Her second day was rather uneventful in comparison. She had ordered her students to practice collecting a patient's medical history and to learn what medications are never to be used at the same time due to their interaction.
Day 3:
On the morning of day three, Isane entered the class room finding a note by her taicho laying on her desk. After reading it, she addressed her class.
"Good morning students. It seems that the eleventh squad is having a special training session in which all new recruits have to fight against the third and fifth officer. Unohana-taicho is expecting several injuries and has asked us to take care of the minor wounds while she and the other seated officers take care of the more serious wounds. That means, we all will not only spend the whole day in the squad four medical facilities but also that you will present yourself at your best. I expect everyone to remember what you have learned so far and use that knowledge. Also you will follow every order that is given to you. Is that understood?"
"Hai fuku-taicho," her students answered with one voice.
The first hours passed fairly well. Isane's students worked very concentrated and had avoided making any mistakes so far. Suddenly a yell filled the area. Rushing to the sound's origin Isane was met with a scene of complete chaos. Treatment room ten lay before here in complete shambles, Zaraki-taicho was busy trying to stabb one of her students while Yachiru-san, the obvious source of the scream, was sitting on the floor furious for no visible reason.
Being already out of breath and completely shocked Isane rushed to her student, drawing Itegumo to prevent Kenpachi from inflicting more harm.
"Zaraki-taicho, please refrain from wounding this student anymore. I am sure, he had no intention of hurting you!" the fuku-taicho pleaded desperately.
"Hurting me? Are you kidding? This kid couldn't hurt me even if he were a thousand times stronger," Kenpachi growled.
"Then why are you attacking him?"
"First this bug denied Yachiru some candy and then he tried to give her a shot, even though my fuku-taicho doesn't like that. Well, isn't that enough to squash him?"
Gritting her teeth Isane answered: "No taicho - that is not enough. I am sure there is a good reason why Yachiru-san needs a shot. Please give me a chance to assess the situation completely by talking to my student. I will also see to it that Yachiru-san will get some candy. Please?"
"Kenpachi Zaraki-taicho, kindly put your sword away so that my subordinates can continue with their work."
Hearing this all too familiar voice, Zariki slowly turned to the female voice, being terrified to the bone. Sure enough, Unohana-taicho was standing right behind him giving him one of her scary smiles. The strongest men in Seireitei gulped hard and slowly withdrew his sword.
"Thank you. Kotetsu-fuku-taicho, please take this young shinigami to the next free treatment room and see to his wounds. Meanwhile I will take care of Kusajishi-fuku-taicho."
Wasting no time Isane quickly left the room carrying her injured student. As soon as she had taken care of his massive bleeding the fuku-taicho interrogated him about the incident. It turned out the young man found out that Yachiru never had her blood taken for basic analysis. As for the candy he simply refused to give her any because he thought it would be bad for her health in general and her teeth in particular. Sighing Isane explained to him that one should never draw somebody's blood unless it seems absolutely necessary and that it is never a healer's task to judge someone else's lifestyle.
"But what happens when the young fuku-taicho eats to much candy and gets a stomach ache because of it?"
"Then we will help her and recommend a diet consisting of less candy. However, we will not keep her from eating any candy if she really wants it after being released from our care."
The young greenhorn thanked his fuku-taicho for the lesson and after having gained enough rest returned to his work. Steeling herself for any more disasters to come Kotetsu Isane returned to her work as well. Fortunately the third day with her class had no more troubles in store for her. Still, at the end of the day Isane was once more completely spent, having kept her students concentrated and working diligently.
Day four was almost exactly like day three, only without a major incident.
Day 5:
After having spent almost two thirds of the night practicing reiatsu manipulation the squad four's fuku-taicho greeted her class with bleary eyes.
"Good morning class. Today we are going to join squad ten on an excursion in Rukongai. There have been reports of increased hollow activity and we will be there as a backup in case anyone gets injured. Hitsugaya-taicho will personally lead the mission so everybody without exception has to follow his orders. "
After her little speech the whole class headed out and met the tenth squad party. Hitsugaya-taicho was as cool as always. Actually his coolness was seeping a little which caused several shinigami to quiver a little.
"Alright everybody - we got reports of several hollow appearances in the districts 60 and 61. We have no intel about their strength nor about their number. So I expect everyone to be very careful and on constant vigilance. Further, no one is taking on a hollow alone – no matter how weak it may seem. Questions?"
As nobody had a question the whole unit headed out to the districts 60 and 61. At first everything worked out like planned. After two hours they had taken care of three hollows when suddenly everything turned wrong. Feeling way overconfident Isane's most difficult and stubborn student, Gundai Jira, had left his group and was now searching the area on his own. Sure enough after five minutes he encountered a hollow – a huge massive hollow. And instead of running back and calling for help he drew his zanpakuto and faced it alone.
Of course the young inexperienced shinigami was no match for the hollow and was soon in desperate need of help. Crying out loud, screaming and kicking Hitsugaya Toshiro heard him and immediately came to his rescue. With the help of Hyorinmaru the situation was resolved soon enough, unfortunately only after the hollow had pinched through the taicho's shoulder.
Hitsugaya's wound wasn't life-threatening but serious and bad enough that only Isane could properly take care of it. Even though she had a lot of experience with such wounds, she had a hard time healing this one as Hitsugaya-taicho was very angry and thus did not shield his reitsu completely freezing everything around him as a result. Isane had a very hard time preventing her hands from shaking too much and focusing her reiatsu instead. Only Gundai Jira was freezing even more than the fuku-taicho. Having disobeyed a direct order Toshiro had him imprisoned inside an ice pillar, this way making sure that the young shinigami would not foolishly risk his or anybody else's life anymore.
After another four hours all hollows had been purified and the whole team returned back to Seireitei after Gundai had been unfrozen unceremoniously by Hitsugaya-taicho. Back at the academy the fuku-taicho sent her students home after giving them plenty of homework for the next two days. Sadly she couldn't go home with them as she still had to write this week's reports. Though being very familiar with paper work it took her another three hours before Isane was finally able to go home. It had been a very long week, so all Isane did this evening was crashing on her bed falling instantly asleep. Tomorrow she could concentrate again on her studies.