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Well, consider this the end of my self imposed hiatus.
I know I said that this fic would be on hold until I finish 'The Good Times are Killing Me," but this chapter has been sitting in a state of semi-completeness for too long, so I decided to get it out of the way. I've agonized over it, and I still don't think it's up to snuff, but I've probably over though it at this point. I sincerely apologize for the wait.
Which brings me to my next point; I'm not sure what to do with myself. Should I suspend "The Good Times are Killing Me" and focus on this, or vica-versa. I can't work on both fics at the same time. I've updated the poll on my profile so you all can help me decided what to do.
Speaking of my profile; you can find there a link to all my fics that aren't published here for length reasons.
Kyoraku sat up at the sound of soft knocking. Stretching, the mildly inebriated man turned his head, searching for the source of the disturbance. It wasn't coming from the front door, which meant that it wasn't Nanao, which in turn meant that he wasn't in any type of trouble, at least that he knew of.
"It's open!" Kyoraku called out to the visitor asking for entrance. Yoruichi slide the back shoji to Kyoraku's room open and entered the quarters in a surprisingly meek manner.
Ever since the "surprise" Yoruichi received yesterday when she entered Sui-Feng's quarters, she was completely at a loss for what to do. The sight that she saw was so completely and wholly unexpected that it totally threw her off her equilibrium. She didn't know how to handle the situation. She felt compelled to talk to someone, but she didn't know who. Kukaku wasn't exactly supportive person in times like these and now that the Aizen kerfuffle has been sorted out, Yoruichi felt no need to spend any time around the man that created the device that ruined hers' and so many other's lives. So, she decided to go to the one person she usually went to in situations that were similar to this.
"Hey, Kyoraku." Yoruichi forced a friendly smile. She really wasn't feeling anywhere near happy at the moment, but far be it from her to actually show that.
"Yoruichi!" Kyoraku greeted his old friend jovially. "Grab yourself some floor. I'll get you something to drink." With a nod, Yoruichi cleared herself a spot on the floor next to Kyoraku's bed with her foot and sat down. Kyoraku handed her a cup of sake, which she took and drained in one gulp.
"Wow," Kyoraku breathed, and before he could say anything else, Yoruichi was already offering up her cup for a refill.
"So," Yoruichi wiped some wayward sake from the corner of her mouth. "How have you been since…well…" Yoruichi could quite finish the sentence.
"I've been fine, I guess." Kyoraku answered with a hint of melancholy. "There was a nice ceremony honoring everybody that died in the Winter War. I tried to get a hold of you so you and Urahara could be there." Kyoraku sloshed the liquid in his cup and stared at it sadly. "There's a monument in his garden, in front of his bonsai tree, if you ever get the urge to visit…"
"But, life goes on." Kyoraku sighed. "Lisa's been coming around here lately." He changed the subject.
"Really?" Yoruichi blinked. She was under the impression that the Vizards had cut all their ties with the Shinigami.
"Yeah, she stops by every once in a while." He paused for a moment. "I thought it would be great, having her around again."
"It's not?" Yoruichi asked.
"Well, Lisa is still Lisa." Kyoraku replied. "It's Nanao that's acting weird. They used to get on so well. I was looking forward to having my favorite ladies together again, but whenever Lisa's around, Nanao get's all snappy and irritable. When Lisa leaves, she's back to normal." He took a sip of sake. "It's the strangest thing.
"Women, huh?" Yoruichi laughed unto her cup and took a drink.
"Oooh!" Kyoraku let out an almost girlish squeal. "You're having lady problems too?"
"Not really," Yoruichi turned her head. "Well, sort of…I mean, it just always seems like all the good ones are taken, you know?"
"Tell me about it." Kyoraku lamented. "The other day I was out in Rukongai, just flirting like I normally do." Yoruichi nodded knowingly. "I came across this fine young woman and started to chat with her. She got real indignant all of the sudden and stormed off, shouting about how her husband would get me discharged for being so rude and disrespectful." Kyoraku finished. "So how about you? Is there a story behind your lament or was that just a general observation?"
Yoruichi mumbled incoherently into her cup and finished the fluid within.
"It was nice seeing you again, but I have to get going." Yoruichi lied again.
"Oh well," Kyoraku shrugged. "You're welcome to stop by whenever you like."
"You just never turn it off, do you?" Yoruichi chuckled.
"You're implying I have to turn it on." Kyoraku retorted with a smile.
Unohana always wondered why all medical grade soaps smelled the same. Over the years, the head physician of the Seireitei had stocked the sinks of the Fourth Division infirmary, hoping that one of them wouldn't leave the air smelling of the pungent odor that was typical of hospitals.
But with every new soap came disappointment. The smell was so pervasive that it had soaked into Unohana's skin. No matter what she did, she couldn't get the sterile smell to leave her.
Removing a towel from a nearby bar, Unohana dried her hands as she watched the red blood circle the drain.
The blood belonged to a new recruit that had failed to pass his entrance exam. He had the particularly bad luck of running into an abnormally strong hollow on his first outing in the World of the Living. Since the entrance exam is conducted by the Gotei 13, he had been brought to Unohana for treatment.
Unfortunately, even Unohana's prodigious healing skills were unable to save him. He was too weak and his wounds were too grave. Soon, the red tint in the sink before her would be all that would be left in this world to testify to his existence.
The Onmitsukido and the Eleventh like to espouse the virtues of solitude. They claim that attachments are a source of weakness. But they both rely on the sense of brotherhood their shared experiences create.
The rhetoric was all designed to create a false sense of independence and strength. The reality was that the division that was most commonly thought of as the weakest actually had the emotionally strongest people.
The members of the Fourth Division could not afford to get attached to people, especially patients. The members of the Fourth were in a very different position than the members of other divisions. It was one thing to make though order that resulted in an injury; it was another thing entirely to fail at saving an already endangered life. It created an incredible amount of stress on the medics, more stress than the most hardened warrior could probably handle.
"Hey, Unohana." The matronly woman turned at the unexpected sound of Yoruichi Shihoin's voice.
"Hello, Yoruichi-dono." Unohana smiled warmly. There was no evidence of the recent loss on her face.
"How have you been?" Yoruichi asked as she followed Unohana as she walked down the halls of the infirmary.
"Things have been hectic." Unohana answered as she flipped through a chart that was just handed to her. "The War took a heavy toll on us, but even though the hostilities have ceased, the wounded keep piling up." Unohana stopped in front of the bed of a groaning Shingami. "Most of the experienced Shingami were either incapacitated or killed in the War, so we have been forced to send the new recruits out to patrol the World of the Living, a task that they are not prepared for. So even though we are no longer at war, we have a much higher casualty rate than we normally do."
"Sounds like they've been keeping you busy," Yoruichi responded.
"Yes," Unohana looked at the clipboard in thoughtful silence. "I am sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't have time to talk right now."
"No, that's okay, I understand." Yoruichi expertly hid her disappointment. She had hoped that Unohana would be able to help her, if she mustered up the courage to actually tell her about her predicament. "I'll stop by later." Yoruichi left Unohana with a wave.
With a surprisingly calm hand, Rei cut off the excess thread from the suture that she just sewed.
Regenerative and healing kido are very taxing on the user, which is why they were reserved to emergency and combat situations. Many patients became violent and angry when they saw scalpels and bandages.
The misconception was that healing kido was a magical fix-all, capable of mending any injury. The truth was that healing kido is only good for mending minor injuries or stabilizing those in serious condition. Even for someone of Retsu Unohona's skill, healing kido is only a stop-gap; a stall until proper treatment is available.
"Gah," The man on the hospital bed groaned as Rei wrapped the wound in bandages. He was a burly man from the Third Division. "Why couldn't you have just zapped my arm and be done with it?"
"For a little cut like that?" Rei laughed lightly. The man was brought to the Fourth with a gash from a wayward Zanpaktuo. Rei really wished people would pay more attention to what they did. Over half of the people in the infirmary were there because of carless accidents, either on theirs or someone else's part. "Besides, I thought a tough guy like you could handle a few stitches."
Grumbling, the man gently rolled down his sleeve and stood up off the bed. Rei turned to the tray on the stand next to the bed and grabbed a bottle of pills.
"Here," She handed the bottle to him. "Take one of these whenever you need to. They're for the pain." The man took the pills and left.
Humming softly, Rei peeled off her blood stained rubber gloves and threw them into the medical waste bin. Patting her hands on her hakama to dust off the powder that kept the latex from sticking to her skin, Rei picked up the tray that held her medical implements and took it over to the counter, where they awaited sterilization.
With that taken care of, Rei turned her attention to the rest of the patients in the room. There was a man with a ninety-nine degree fever and a woman with a broken leg that was awaiting a cast. Rei walked over to the man with the fever and increased the medication in his I.V. The woman with the broken leg was asleep, so she decided not to disturb her.
Rei walked to a nearby cart and grabbed a tray of instruments off of it. Now there was a patient in a room down the hall that was under her care and it was time to change his bandages.
She was halfway down the hallway when she realized that she hadn't bothered to check just what instruments were on the tray. All she needed were scissors, and maybe a scalp if the scissors didn't work. But what if the wound reopened? She would need clamps and maybe…
Deciding to err on the side of caution, Rei lowered her eyes to take inventory of the instruments on the tray before her.
Yoruichi hated hospitals. They smelled bad and all the hallways looked the same, making it easy to get lost with just a single wrong turn.
The brown-skinned woman rounded the bend and found a woman walking towards her, her head hung low, seemingly examining the tray she was holding.
The polite thing to do would have been to move out of the way, but the narrow hallways and Yoruichi's sour disposition made that an unappealing prospect. There was no way she was going to inconvenience herself because someone wasn't paying attention.
Yoruichi didn't realize that her naturally stealthy movements were only exacerbating the situation. Her footsteps were silent and her reiatsu was completely masked.
The woman showed no signs of raising her head, so Yoruichi squared her shoulders and braced herself for impact.
The inattentive woman walked into Yoruichi, bumping the tray out of her hand and startling her so much that she fell down. Given the substantial difference in reiatsu, Yoruichi felt more like a brick wall.
"I'm sorry!" Rei apologized reflexively, even though it was really her fault.
"It's okay," Yoruichi replied. She had been prepared to lecture the woman on observing her surroundings, but the apology subdued that urge.
"I was so caught up in work that I didn't even notice you." The brown haired woman sounded contrite enough for Yoruichi to offer her a hand up. Yoruichi extended her hand and the woman accepted.
"Thank you." The woman brushed offer her hakama, then looked up.
"It's okay. No harm, no foul." Yoruichi reassured the apologetic woman. The two women finally looked at each other, and time seemed to stop as they locked eyes.
A moment of tangible awkwardness fell over them. Neither of them had ever been in a similar situation before.
Yoruichi's head was spinning with thoughts and emotions foreign to her. She couldn't ever remember being so consumed with so many different emotions at one time. The thought of Sui-Feng touching this woman over her filled her equal parts jealousy and rage.
"I…uhhh…" The brown haired woman fidgeted nervously. "I'm fifth seat Rei Komatsu."
"Yoruichi Shihoin." Yoruichi smiled, effectively covering up the fact that she was repressing the urge to literally rip the woman in half.
"Forgive me for saying so, but I already knew that, Yoruichi-sama." Rei bowed, using the same suffix as Sui-Feng had.
"Don't call me Yoruichi-sama." Yoruichi snapped. She wasn't allowed to
"I apologize. What would you prefer?" Rei asked.
"I'm not a noble anymore, so just Yoruichi will do." Yoruichi's face quickly regained its carefree façade.
"Very well." Rei nodded.
Yoruichi Shihoin was a mystery to Rei. By now, hers' and Sui-Feng's fight during the Ryoka incident had become legendary, though nobody knew the whole truth of what happened during. Beyond that, she didn't know much about Yoruichi. She knew that she used to be Sui-Feng's superior officer and that the two were close but that was about it.
The way people talked about them made Rei nervous. What was Yoruichi to Sui-Feng? A friend? A mentor? A lover?
"I don't know how much longer you plan on staying in the Seiretei, but I am sure that Sui-Feng would be delighted if you joined us for dinner this evening." Rei offered. Normally, she wasn't so up front about the nature of her's and Sui-Feng's relationship. But given the nature of their first meeting, Rei saw no reason for pretences.
"Dinner?" Yoruichi thought for a moment, still cringing inwardly at Rei's use of the word "us".
In all honesty, the last thing she wanted to do was eat dinner with the woman that was sleeping with Sui-Feng. But it was an excellent opportunity to gain valuable information on her situation. She knew virtually nothing about Rei, and this dinner presented an excellent opportunity to better get to know her enemy.
"Sure, that sounds like fun." Yoruichi flashed her brightest, fake smile.
"Great," Rei smiled. "We usually eat at around six-thirty, but you are welcome to stop by earlier if you like."
"Sounds like a plan." Yoruichi nodded and the two women parted ways, both wondering just how much information they could get out of one another later that evening.