Conflict

"Back up or I blow your head off here." A low voice cut through Shinji's panic and he took a stiff step backwards.

Slowly his hands rose in front of him, palms out towards the gunman, and his mouth opened. He wanted to tell the man that whatever he wanted it could be done, just put the gun away, but nothing would come out. Old fears uncoiled in his belly and he felt as if he were going to be sick; wanted to be sick if only to get rid of that feeling. Flashes of his father being gunned down sprang up before his eyes; wide eyes, open mouth, blood gathering and soaking the off-white shirt he had been wearing. Suddenly instead of not being able to breathe, he couldn't seem to stop. His inhales were becoming painful, his chest burning, his throat going dry, the sound harsh and loud to his ears.

"Shin-…." Tesla started, walking out of the kitchen only to stumble upon a hyperventilating Shinji and a wild looking Takashiro.

Wide and red rimmed dark eyes turned to Tesla, the gun staying trained on Shinji's forehead, and the short, round man kicked the door closed behind him with a jerk of his leg. Tesla's mouth drooped open and a whispered cry of surprise escaped before he managed to stop himself. Takashiro's hair was unkempt, his clothing the same from the night before and disheveled enough to make it look like he had slept in them. If he had slept, that is.

"T-takashiro-sama…." Tesla breathed, eyes darting from between the gun, Takashiro's wild look and Shinji's increasingly panicked form.

"Pack a bag, Tesla. We're leaving." Takashiro said, his voice surprisingly lucid and almost gentle in tone. It was a far cry from his outward appearance.

Shinji blinked unconsciously and saw a man raise a gun to shoot Ichigo in the head. He heard Grimmjow scream out for it to stop; saw Ichigo's face go slack as his life flashed before his eyes. Shinji's body began to tremble, his vision began to blur and he felt himself sway a bit but couldn't control himself. He'd thought he had gotten over this fear, at least to some degree, but it was blindingly clear that he was far from passed it.

"What the hell are you doing just standing there?" Takashiro asked Tesla in a low voice and Tesla shook his head.

"Move!" Takashiro shouted and both Shinji and Tesla flinched.

Tesla turned slowly, keeping his eyes darting between Shinji and Takashiro, and inched his way towards the hallway. All three men froze when the sound of a baby fussing interrupted them and Takashiro turned his wild eyes to Yayoi's tiny form. A sneer pulled at the man's lips, making his thick beard twitch and he slowly moved the gun away from Shinji's face. Shinji's watched the barrel move, heard Yayoi cry out, louder this time, and felt his shoulders jerk. For the first time since he had opened the door he was able to move and he jumped back in front of the gun that was well on it's way to being pointed at his daughter.

"Get the fuck out of my house." Shinji breathed, arms now wide as he did the only thing he could think of at the moment and hid his daughter from view.

"I'm not leaving without Tesla." Takashiro said and he bared his teeth at Shinji.

"You aren't leavin' with anyone." Shinji's mind worked overtime now, his thoughts only on protecting his daughter and making sure no one got hurt.

"Yer…"

"Shinji, it's okay. I'll get a bag and go with him." Tesla said, worried look on his face and tears gathering in his eyes.

Shinji's head shook briefly but he couldn't manage to make himself look away from the gun yet. There were too many things going on inside his head; panic, fear, anger, confusion. He wasn't thinking straight, couldn't think straight. Tesla moved quickly down the hall, running footsteps sounding off and a door slamming open as Tesla burst into his room to ready himself as quickly as possible. Takashiro returned his attention to Shinji and cocked the gun to the side as he regarded the blond.

"I should shoot you anyway for getting in my way." He said, voice dripping with venom before his eyes flickered down and caught sight of a few baby items on the floor.

"Or maybe I'll start with that thing."

Shinji's blood went cold and his skin broke out in goose bumps. Bile rose in his throat at the thought of his baby girl getting hurt and finally Shinji's eyes filled with fire.

"You touch her and I will make you wish you never learned how to breathe air." He spat vehemently.

"A faggot like you couldn't touch me." Takashiro taunted and cocked the gun in his hand.

A loud thud was heard from Tesla's room and Takashiro's head whipped away from Shinji and Shinji took the chance while he could. He didn't think before he responded, lunging forward and grabbing Takashiro's gun arm and yanking it upwards and away from any living body. Takashiro struggled with Shinji, trying in vain to pull his arm free and stepping backwards to try and get some leverage. Shinji reached up and grabbed the gun, twisting it and trying his best to pull it free of Takashiro's hands. He wasn't going to let anyone get hurt today. He wasn't going to see pain or blood today. He wasn't going to hear the sound of a gunshot in his dreams for weeks after this.

"Let the fuck go of me!" Takashiro screamed and Shinji shook his head.

Tesla came running out of his bedroom with a small bag and saw the fight, yelling out for the both of them to stop; that he would go willingly and no one had to get hurt. Tesla ran to Takashiro and grabbed his rumpled suit jacket, tugging on it and pleading with the man to just leave with him. He'd go… he'd go anywhere just stop. Stop this. Takashiro kicked out and managed to catch Shinji in the hip, forcing the blond back and his hands to slip a little. Takashiro kicked again, this time managing to get Shinji to stumble and let go of his arm. Shinji fell back a couple steps and looked up just in time to feel the impact of a bullet in his left shoulder. He didn't hear the shot and at first he couldn't hear anything after it had struck. Couldn't feel anything. Shinji looked down and saw the blood now seeping out of the hole the bullet had made in his body and finally, finally, the pain hit him like a tidal wave. He reached up and grabbed his shoulder, looking back up to see Takashiro still holding the gun on him. He could see Tesla moving, screaming at Takashiro that he needed to stop, tugging at the man's jacket and crying that they should just go now, before someone got hurt again. Shinji watched as Takashiro slowly shook his head and pulled the trigger again, this one going wide and missing Shinji completely.

Shinji's breath caught and adrenaline pumped through his veins as he took one step forward to try again to get the gun away from the lunatic holding it. Takashiro fired again, this time catching Shinji in the side but only barely. Shinji stumbled forward and heard Yayoi scream for the first time. He turned to look over his shoulder, stomach in his throat, but saw that she seemed to be fine. Tesla's screaming became louder, his tugging fiercer and Shinji turned back as if in slow motion.

"Stop! Stop it, you'll kill him!" Tesla screamed and Takashiro sneered at Shinji as he pulled the trigger again.

Shinji felt as if he had been kicked in the chest, the force of the bullet knocking him backwards and dropping him to the ground. He didn't hear the next shot. Didn't feel it skim his forehead as he fell with a sickening thud to the carpeted floor. All Shinji knew was pain in that moment. Pain that throbbed with each beat of his heart and blossomed out over his body as if tryin got make a cocoon with it. Shinji coughed and rolled, a sound he didn't realize was coming from him loud in his ears as he scream/groaned his agony.

"SHINJI!"

Takashiro grabbed Tesla's wrist and dragged him out of the house, leaving the door wide open behind him as he raced to his car to flee the scene. Shinji heard Yayoi screaming and tried to roll over, whitehot pain making everything difficult and the last shot making it very hard to breathe. He coughed and didn't register the blood that came up with it. He needed to get to his baby girl. Papa was still here. He needed her to know that. He felt something move next to him and looked down, realizing it was his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. He should call someone, he thought briefly, movements becoming sluggish as he pulled the small phone from his pocket and fumbled with it to answer. The blood from his wounds made his hands slippery and he nearly dropped it twice before he finally managed to answer it. Shinji coughed and again more blood came up with it. He couldn't catch his breath enough to speak but over Yayoi's cries he heard a familiar voice.

"Yo, Blondie?"

Shinji choked out a sob and leaned his forehead on the phone, moving his mouth and trying yet again to speak. All that came out was a wheezing squeak and Shinji suddenly found that he couldn't move anymore. He was cold, his body was starting to shake violently and he worked his mouth to find words he knew he wasn't capable of using.

"Shinji?" Nnoitra's voice came through Shinji's pain clearly and another sob shook the blond.

"The fuck's wrong?" Nnoitra shouted again, anger in his voice. The only thing he could hear was the baby crying and what sounded like Shinji crying as well.

Shinji took a short breath and tried one last time to speak, managing a breathy, wheezy word that he hoped sounded like what he wanted it to. Shinji's body went limp and his world went dark and soundless as the cold and clammy hands of death reached out for him. Yayoi continued to scream and Nnoitra, listening intently on the other end of the line, felt his world crumble away as that tiny, wet sounding plea met his ears.

"Help."

Nnoitra came crashing back into Starrk's apartment, he had just been about to leave for his job when he had called Shinji to say goodbye, and looked at the man with a wild violet eye.

"I need a ride." He said in a clipped tone and Starrk stood, not having to be asked twice when Nnoitra's face looked like that ; panic and fear and anger mixing into something Starrk had never seen Nnoitra show before.

Starrk grabbed his keys and the two of them rushed to his car, throwing themselves inside. Starrk shoved the keys car's in the ignition and took a second to look at Nnoitra again.

"Where to?"

"Shinji's." Nnoitra grit out, phone still pressed to his ear and the only sound Yayoi's screaming.

"Use yer phone to call an ambulance there." Nnoitra said next, his voice far quieter than before. He hoped he was wrong. He hoped to whatever god may be out there that he was fucking wrong about it all. He had to be.

Starrk pulled out his phone as he backed the car out of his parking spot and turned onto the road. He made the call as short as he could and drove as fast as he could without getting caught.

"What is it?" Starrk asked, hoping that by getting Nnoitra to talk he would help the other man relax.

Nnoitra's body was stiff as a board and Starrk could now hear the cries of a baby leaking from Nnoitra's phone. Starrk cleared his throat and returned his attention back to the road. Whatever was wrong, he hoped the ambulance would get there before he and Nnoitra did. Usually Nnoitra didn't want anything to do with things like hospitals or police, and rightly so with his experience with them, so it had surprised Starrk more than a little when he was ordered to make the call.

It was a tense and silent drive, the whole time Nnoitra listening to Yayoi's cries as his face grew darker and darker. A few blocks away from Shinji's apartment Nnoitra heard a new noise, men talking, someone shouting to get a stretcher. Nnoitra's stomach dropped and he must have made a noise because Starrk's gaze snapped to him briefly before returning to the road.

"His pulse is weak, pack those wounds quickly and get me an oxygen mask!" a man shouted and Nnoitra's heart stopped beating for a long moment.

"On it!"

"Shit, I can't feel a pulse anymore. Get the defibrillator."

A fumbling bit of noise and the sound of ripping fabric greeted Nnoitra's ears before someone called out, "Clear!" The apartment complex came into view and Nnoitra almost leapt out of the car before it had stopped. There were two ambulances present and a police cruiser had just pulled into the parking lot, lights and siren blazing. Starrk pulled to the side of the road and didn't bother trying to stop Nnoitra as the man flew out of the car and across the street. Starrk pulled out his cell phone again, glad that he had retrieved it earlier that morning from Etta's house where he had left it, and called the woman to tell her that she was needed at her son's house. He didn't want to have to be the one to make the call, he didn't have all the information, but he knew enough about the woman to know that if it involved her son she would want to know.

Nnoitra flew up the stars and down the short hall to Shinji's apartment, flying inside the room and stopping dead at the sight. Two paramedics were leaning over Shinji's prone body, blood was coloring the carpet thickly under Shinji's pale, fragile looking form and both paramedics leaned back as one of them called, "Clear!", again. Shinji's body jerked, the machine beeped once before finding an irregular rhythm, but a rhythm nonetheless.

"Get him up so we can get him out." One man said and another paramedic came into Nnoitra's view to help lift Shinji onto the stretcher.

One of them noticed Nnoitra standing there and called out to him.

"Hey, you can't be here."

"I know him." Nnoitra managed, eye fixed on Shinji's face. It was covered in blood, lips parted and slack, eyes closed. Blood matted long blond hair to one of Shinji's body and for the first time in his life Nnoitra felt like he was going to be sick at the sight of it.

"You still can't be in here, sir. You need to leave."

They strapped Shinji's body to the gurney after covering it with a thick blanket and began to roll him towards the door. Nnoitra stepped to the side and watched as one of the men placed a plastic mask over Shinji's face and began to pump a small balloon on the side of the mask. An officer approached Nnoitra and asked him what he was doing there and Nnoitra answered in a dull voice.

"I know him. He… he asked for help."

"Do you have any idea what happened here this morning?" the officer asked and Nnoitra shook his head once.

The officer looked at Yayoi and back at Nnoitra before he asked his next question. "Does the baby belong to… Mr. Hirako?"

Nnoitra turned and looked at Yayoi a moment, nodding slowly before looking back out of the apartment over the officer's shoulder at the ambulance as it began to drive away. He took a step forward and was stopped by a hand on his arm. Before he could react to it Starrk was in his vision, shaking his head slowly and Nnoitra forced himself to relax a little.

"That's his daughter." Starrk said, bringing the officer's attention to him instead of Nnoitra.

The two began to talk as one asked and the other answered and Nnoitra began to grow impatient. He wanted to go to the hospital with Shinji. He needed to be there with him. This was taking too fucking long damn it!

"I'm out." Nnoitra said, pushing passed Starrk and the officer and heading down the stairs again. He'd walk to the damn hospital if he had to. Fuck, he'd run the whole way if it meant getting there faster.

""Nnoi-san!" Starrk called after him and managed to halt him halfway down the stairs. "What about the kid?"

"Then gimmie yer keys."

Starrk shook his head. "Can't let you drive like this man. Just wait until Etta gets here." Starrk said calmly and Nnoitra sneered at him.

"Fuck that, Starrk! Fuck that!"

A vehicle came to a screeching halt and Etta jumped out of the truck, followed by a still very sick looking Nana. Etta ran up the stairs and pushed passed Starrk and Nnoitra on her way to Shinji's apartment. They heard a scream and Starrk frowned, looking at the cement stairs he was standing on. He lifted a hand and placed it on Nnoitra's shoulder before heading back up the stairs to make sure Etta was going to be okay. Nnoitra swallowed and looked at the bottom of the stairs, his eye meeting a small, black haired woman he had never seen before. Her black eyes were wide as she looked up at him and she took a deep breath as her eyes flickered upwards.

"What happened?" she asked quietly but Nnoitra refused to answer her.

Inside the apartment Etta tried her best to put a diaper bag together as quickly as possible with her hands shaking as hard as they were. She didn't want to think about the blood on the floor. Didn't want to think about the spatter that was on Yayoi's onesie. Her goal was to get her grandbaby and get to the hospital where her son was, in the officers' words, in critical condition. Starrk grabbed the car seat and bag from Etta and frowned down at her.

"Are you okay to drive?" he asked and she nodded stiffly.

"I drove to the hospital when my husband was shot, I can drive now." Her voice was far stronger than Starrk had anticipated and he nodded before heading out the front door. Etta took one look around the room and covered her face as a silent sob shook her body. She took one deep breath and tried to compose herself before she followed after him.

"Code Blue to the emergency room. Code Blue to the emergency room. Code Blue to the emergency room."

Ichigo's ears perked up and he took off towards the emergency room. He was the only one available that was qualified to attend an emergency at the moment because all the other doctors were busy with other trauma cases that had come in an hour before. A hit and run accident had left one dead and two fighting for their lives. Ichigo burst through the emergency doors and watched as a gurney entered triage.

"What happened?" he asked as he approached, not looking at the body yet.

"Multiple gunshot wounds. Went into cardiac arrest when we showed up but we managed to restart his heart with the defibrillator. Severe loss of blood."

Ichigo looked at the nurse that had approached and was about to order blood when he finally saw the face that belonged to the man on the gurney. His own face went pale a moment and the nurse frowned at him.

"Doctor."

Ichigo shook himself and cleared his throat. "B negative. Get me B negative."

"But doctor, we don't know this man's blood type."

Ichigo ordered the gurney to be taken immediately to surgery before looking at the nurse again.

"I know him. He's B negative." Was all he said before taking off at a run after the man; his best friend.

He knew he shouldn't be the one doing this. That working on someone that he was so close to was usually against the doctor's code, but he had no choice in the matter. He was the only one there at the moment that could find those bullets, pull them out and stop all that bleeding. He was the only one at the moment who could possibly save Shinji's life. Fuck his job, fuck all the hard work he had put into coming this far, he wasn't going to wait around for someone else to do something he was already capable of doing. Ichigo burst into the sterile washroom off the side of the surgery room they were using and ripped off his white coat, hanging it quickly before, pulling a cap over his head and turning on the tap as he reached for the soap. He was halfway through washing when the door opened and another doctor walked in. Brown eyes met black and the both of them paused for a brief second before the other man began to scrub up as well.

"Ishida."

"Kurosaki."

"Why are you here?"

"Idiot. You need another hand in there. I just happened to not be doing anything."

Ichigo nodded and shook his hands dry, turning and stepping into a waiting gown a nurse was holding open for him. It was tied behind him and a pair of gloves were pushed over his hands before mask was pulled into place over his face. Ichigo stepped into the room, took a deep breath as he looked at Shinji and saw for the first time how much blood was caked to his clothes, and steeled himself for what he was about to do.

Nnoitra, Etta, Starrk, Nana and Yayoi were crammed in the busy emergency waiting room, all waiting for someone to tell them what the hell was going on. They'd been there for an hour and not one word had been said about Shinji other than, "He's currently in surgery." Etta hugged her belly and rocked gently as she waited, old memories coming to the surface as she tried her best not to lose it. She couldn't lose both her husband and her son this way. She didn't think she'd be able to take that. Starrk was seated on her left, one arm around her shoulders and the other laying limply in his lap. Nana rocked Yayoi as she fed her. She had changed her out of her onesie that had blood on it because it had made her sick to see it there. Nnoitra stood against the wall, irritably glaring at the doors that led back into the emergency area. He wanted to go back there. Wanted to see what the fuck was going on. He wanted to go hunt down whoever had done this to Shinji. Wanted to kill them slowly and painfully, bring them back and do it again, all with his bare hands and maybe some with his teeth. He hadn't been filled with this kind of impotent rage in a long time and the feeling didn't settle well with him.

All four of them jumped when Nnoitra's phone rang and he quickly pulled it from his pocket, not bothering to check the number before answering.

"What?" he snapped and he heard a broken sob on the other end.

"N-nnoitra-s-sama." Nnoitra's eye narrowed and he stood up straighter.

"What do you want?"

"Is… is Shinji… is he okay?"

"What the fuck happened." Nnoitra growled and Starrk slipped his arm free of Etta's shoulders to approach the man.

"I'm so sorry!" Tesla wailed. "I tried to stop him but he wasn't listening to me and then… then he just kept shooting…." A loud sob was heard and Tesla words began to become unintelligible.

"You were there?" Nnoitra shouted and several heads turned in his direction. Starrk put a hand on his arm and pulled him outside.

"I'm sorry." Tesla sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"What the fuck happened?"

"T-takashiro-sama… he…."

Nnoitra growled at the name and placed a bearded man's face to it in his head.

"Where is he?" Nnoitra asked, his tone deadly quiet.

"We're… we're at a hotel. Sakura in Ikebukuro."

Nnoitra hung up the phone and looked at Starrk before demanding the man's car keys. Starrk shook his head.

"I can't do that, Nnoi-san."

Nnoitra grabbed Starrk by the front of his shirt and slammed him back into the wall of the hospital.

"Give me the goddamned keys!" he shouted.

Starrk looked Nnoitra in the eye and calmly replied to the threat. "You can't leave until you know he's okay."

"Fuck you." Nnoitra spat. "Fuck you."

"You know I'm right." Starrk added and Nnoitra slammed him hard into the wall again.

"FUCK YOU!" Nnoitra bellowed, slamming Starrk one last time before he let go and stomped off.

Starrk cleared his throat and fixed his shirt before he followed after Nnoitra. Nnoitra pulled his cigarettes from his pocket and dropped them, kicking at them and missing before he bent down to pick them up again. He pulled one out so forcefully that he broke it and he tossed it aside before grabbing another and shoving it in his mouth as he searching for his lighter. Someone cleared their throat and Nnoitra looked up to see Starrk holding a lighter out for him. Nnoitra sneered and yanked it out of Starrk's hand, lighting up and taking a deep pull before blowing the smoke out through his nose. He couldn't get his thoughts straight; could only see Shinji covered in blood and lifeless looking. Could only feel impotent rage as he stood there, doing nothing to the fucker that had done this to the man he loved. That man… the only person in the world that really truly meant life to him. He ground his teeth and took another pull from the cigarette only to realize it had burned down to the filter. He flicked it away as hard as he could and stared after it.

"We should head back in. See if we can find anything out again." Starrk said in a level tone and Nnoitra sneered at him.

Starrk didn't wait for an answer and began to walk back and after a moment Nnoitra followed. The moment he found out Shinji was okay he was gone though, and the both of them knew it. Starrk wouldn't hand over his keys until then though. Nnoitra spit the bad taste out of his mouth onto the sidewalk before entering the hospital once again.

Ichigo pulled the bloody gown and gloves off and tossed them in the biohazard trash before pulling off his mask and cap and doing the same. Three hours of surgery but they had managed to close every wound and retrieve both bullets that had been lodged in Shinji's body. Heart monitors beeped steadily, Shinji was being cleaned up to be moved to ICU, and more blood was being sent up from the lab to help replace the astonishing amount Shinji had lost. Ichigo sighed deeply and ran a hand back through his hair as he closed his eyes. He wanted to cry. He wanted to curl up in a little ball next to his friend and hold him until he woke up, but he couldn't do that. He was a doctor and now he had to go out there in the waiting room where he knew people were waiting to hear Shinji status. Someone pulled up beside him but he didn't bother looking right away.

"You did surprisingly well, Kurosaki." Ishida said in a clipped tone. "I'll be sure to let my father know of your performance today."

With that the black haired man was gone and Ichigo was alone again. He grabbed his white coat off the rack and slipped it on before reflexively tossing his stethoscope around his neck. He took one look at himself in the mirror above the large sink and took one more deep, steadying breath before he left to go tell everyone who was waiting, just how Shinji was doing.

A/N I warned you, didn't I? This chapter is probably the first one to get to me quite so bad. My hands were shaking as I wrote the first part of it, tears streaking down my cheeks and every few second punctuated by a hearty sniffle. I miss being able to get so in tune with a piece of work that I become a part of the emotion I'm trying to create. I just hope that you all felt at least a little of what I did. not because I want you to feel bad, but because it means you love the story as much as I do. This wore me out in the most fantastic way and I think some of my fellow writers out there know the feeling I'm experiencing right now. I know it's left a little high here but the next chapter offers more drama and I need to at least get the thoughts out of my head for it while they are extraordinarily fresh. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if it was gut-wrenchingly hard to do so. Thank you for reading and i look forward to hearing what you all think.

~Penny

*Oh, fun fact for those of you that may not know this, but they actually do require the "coded" calls to be announced three times. At least that's how it is in America. I should know, I used to work at a hospital and had to make several of those announcements while I was there :D**