Battle Front: Chapter Twelve
Chaos. It was utter chaos. The first familiar face Kaoru saw was that of Soujiro Seta. He rushed to her side, a grim expression on his face.
"It's bad Kaoru, we were on a reconnaissance mission and things went awry," he explained. "We accomplished the mission, but at great sacrifice."
Kaoru looked past him to see a familiar head of dark hair. "Sano?" She started to rush to his side, but Soujiro grabbed hold of her arm to stop her.
"He's being taken care of, you're needed in O.R. 2 right now."
"But Sano is my friend, I have to help," Kaoru protested pulling away from Soujiro.
"Captain Yukishiro is in O.R. 2, he was shot on our escape to the helicopter. He flew it all the way here, without letting anyone know he was hit. He's had a great deal of blood loss."
Kaoru's face went ghostly white as the blood drained away. "Enishi?"
Soujiro nodded solemnly, guiding her towards the operating room in question. "His last words before he passed out was his request that you be in on his surgery. Otherwise, he'd rather bleed to death."
Kaoru shook her head with tears swimming and obscuring her vision. Enishi was probably the most stubborn man she'd ever met. "I'm no surgeon. I'll just get in the way. He needs someone who specializes in gunshot wounds."
"You're working trauma, sis. And it doesn't matter whether you assist or not, he wants you in the room even if it's just observation." Soujiro pulled her down the hall. "If I have to, as your superior officer I can just order you to come."
"No need for orders," Kaoru said drying her eyes with the back of her hand determinedly. Enishi wanted her in his surgery because he trusted her. She wasn't about to disappoint him by being some overly emotional female. If he found out he'd just give her more grief and she didn't need any more of his teasing. Though, at the moment she'd settle for a round of teasing if it meant he was okay.
OOOOOoooooOOOOO
Megumi was all business when she arrived at the emergency room. She observed the scene and saw several soldiers injured. Most of the wounds looked fairly simple, easily mended. Nothing worthy of an "X" marked across the forehead signaling a mortal wound in the triage. Just as she was thinking this a dark head of unruly gravity defying hair had caught her attention.
From the corner of her eye she saw Kaoru and Soujiro going to the Operating Rooms. She hurried toward Sanosuke, not recognizing the doctor working on him. The doctor looked at her, something akin to madness in his sea-green eyes. He read her name tag.
"Dr. Takani, I was waiting for you. He's going into surgery next. We have a neurosurgeon on his way and the vascular surgeon is getting prepped," he explained as he began to wheel the familiar patient to the Operating Rooms. "I'm assisting the vascular surgeon. The neurosurgeon requested you."
The patient opened his eyes, both red, evidence of the hematomas in his head. "Fox, are you going to guide me to heaven?" he asked, voice raspy before his eyes rolled up and he fell back into unconsciousness.
Tears slipped from Megumi's eyes as she reached for his hand and squeezed it with her own. "Don't you dare die on me, Sanosake Sagara. Don't you dare!" She looked up to meet the other doctor's eyes. "We can't let him die."
"We won't," he agreed pushing open the door to the operating room with his back. Several nurses and operating techs were preparing the room for sterilization. They left the prepping of Sano to their capable hands and began to scrub for the surgery.
"Who are you?" Megumi asked.
"Shinomori, Aoshi Shinomori," he answered focused on scrubbing under his fingernails with the abrasive scrub brush.
Megumi recognized that name immediately. It was the name of Kaoru's old boyfriend. What was he doing at their base?
OOOOOoooooOOOOO
Kaoru was gowned and ready to help in whatever way possible. She stood by Enishi's head and his eyes were focused on hers as the anesthesiologist began the sedation process. She was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.
At first they thought Enishi had been shot in the right shoulder, but it was more serious than that. He'd been shot in both the shoulder and a second bullet had passed through his right lower ribs. The radiology technician in the room was giving radiological images for the surgeon to assess the damage prior to jumping in scalpel happy.
The surgeon was grim in his assessment but optimistic that the liver had been missed and that the bullet had passed straight through the base of the right lung—mostly due to the gurgle-sound that hissed from Enishi's chest with each breath he took. It was too close and they wouldn't know until the surgery was under way. The bullets were nasty and sent off bits and pieces as they pierced the flesh. There was no telling what the internal damages would be like.
The sound of Enishi's heartbeat slowing caused a tightness in Kaoru's chest but it had stabilized. She realized it was just the affects of the anesthesia and not the result of sepsis or him bleeding out or anything of the sort.
Kaoru held the instruments in place for the surgeon alongside another resident in general surgery. At least she was the only one out of her element. It made her feel better to be on a surgical team that was competent in their tasks. She worked hard to control her anxiety as the surgeon continued to open up the man lying defenselessly on the table. The bullet may have passed through his chest but little bits of shrapnel kept being pulled out by the surgeon's magnetic tool.
It seemed like hours before it was over, thought it was only a two and a half hour long surgery—short compared to most surgeries.
Kaoru yanked off her soiled gloves and gown and tossed them in the biohazard waste basket in the corner of the room. Enishi was closed back up with a row of perfectly aligned stitches courtesy of her own skill. The surgeon had wanted to use staples, but she convinced him to allow her to do the sutures manually as she knew the scar would be less noticeable.
At least that was something she could contribute to the surgery.
The anesthesiologist gave her sympathetic smile as she took out Enishi's intubation tube. "He'll probably be awake in half an hour."
Kaoru nodded mutely, no words wanted to come out of her parched throat. She could only imagine Enishi's discomfort when he would awaken with his raw throat from the tube. A silent tear fell from her eye as she, the first assist surgeon, and two of the nurses took Enishi's sheet and managed to transfer him to the waiting gurney. The arrogant white-haired man was too fragile looking and all too human in his current state.
"I'll take him to recovery," Kaoru said.
The first assist started to argue, "I'm sure you're needed elsewhere Dr. Kamiya," he trailed off.
The head surgeon interrupted before he stepped out of the room on his way to his next operation. "Look Kamiya, f you're not emotionally stable you're more detriment to the patients than help so why don't you bring the patient to recovery and free up these nurses for the next soldier?"
Kaoru wanted to thank the grumpy man, but he was gone before she could. With a determined set of her jaw she began pushing Enishi toward recovery where she could happily embarrass him by letting him know just who had been the lucky one to insert his catheter.
OOOOOoooooOOOOO
"Is something wrong?" Misao asked her unusually glum looking patient. Usually Mrs. Himura was very positive of late. Her physical progress had been an inspiration to several of the other patients even.
Tomoe lifted up her cell phone that she'd just flipped shut. "My husband just called."
"Oh," Misao said unsure of how to react. While Kenshin may seem like a perfectly nice guy he tended to put his wife through some several emotional turmoil.
Dark eyes looked at her with a dazed expression before Tomoe lost her balance. Misao hurried to the frail woman's side and helped support her weight until they reached one of the cushioned chairs nearby. "Enishi's been shot," she whispered.
Enishi? Misao racked her brain on the name. Wasn't that the same guy that her sister had talked about? Tomoe's brother? "Are you sure?"
She nodded slowly. "I thought at first the general might have tried to reach me and that maybe Kenshin had answered the phone or something at the house. But, he was there, Misao." Her dark eyes looked to Misao imploringly. "Kenshin led the mission that got my baby brother shot. He might have just led my only family to his death."
Misao's throat constricted at the thought. Selfishly, her thoughts were more on her sister's happiness regarding the injured man, and then her thoughts were on Tomoe's well-being. It was only natural to think of how the event affected those she loved. She'd never even met this Enishi character so it made it hard to relate to him. But the thought of her losing either Kaoru or Soujiro would be irrecoverable.
"He called to say Enishi had just gotten out of surgery. He said that your sister had assisted in the surgery and was with him now."
"That's great!" Misao grinned broadly. "No reason to stress yourself then. Enishi's in the best hands possible! Don't you doubt my big sister."
Tomoe blinked at her with glistening eyes. "Maybe you're right. He's probably fine. But, why would my husband be there? He quit that kind of work years ago."
"He's a hero, Mrs. Himura. Just like my Soujiro and Kaoru and your Enishi. They're fighting over there so that we can be safe over here. Sometimes being a hero means you don't get to enjoy the peace you fight so hard for, but that doesn't stop you from securing it for your fellow countrymen."
Tomoe rubbed her fingers over her temples and gave a weary laugh. "You sound like some advertisement for the armed forces."
Misao grinned cheekily. "What can I say? I take the Pledge of Allegiance responsibly!" She stood and offered her hand to Tomoe. "Now let's get you up. Your legs won't regain their strength by you sitting around all day moping!"
The older woman gingerly accepted Misao's help and started back toward the walking bars. "Maybe this is good news. Maybe it means Enishi will finally be coming home," she murmured.
"See! Always a rainbow after the storm!"
OOOOOoooooOOOOO
"Ugh. My head is killing me. Can I get some water? You'd think almost dying to save the world would get a guy some special treatment," Enishi grumbled sitting up in the recovery room.
"I can offer you some ice chips," Kaoru said holding out a pink cup full of them toward his parched lips. Enishi reached out for the cup and begrudgingly tossed a few back and waited for them the dissolve in his mouth. He would have preferred water—or better yet a nice brew of especially dark beer. "So, you saved the world, huh?"
He shrugged handing the ice chip cup back to her. "Played an important part in a successful mission." Enishi lifted his hand and started to pull out the IV. Fortunately it was the one with the bum shoulder so he could reach it with his left hand.
"Don't! You need that!" Kaoru's hand covered his with her own to prevent the action. "It has pain medicine in it not to mention you're still in need of the blood transfusion on the other line. Your chest was practically cut open. You're going to want the morphine."
Enishi grunted but didn't attempt to pull out the line. Instead he turned his hand over and grasped Kaoru's in a firm grip. "I think you just want me drugged up." His eyelids were already feeling heavy. "How did it go?"
"It was bloody and gross. But at least you're not fat so I didn't have to see all that gross yellow adipose tissue getting in the way. One time last year I was helping in a hip replacement in this really overweight man and…"
"Kaoru, can you keep on track. I don't need to relive your horror memories from medical school. I've got my own post-traumatic stress to deal with." Enishi gestured toward his bandaged chest with his free hand.
"Two bullets, we managed to get out all the shrapnel. We put it in a little jar in case you wanted it for a souvenir. I thought that was gross, but the surgeon insisted."
"Cool. I'll be sure to put it on my mantel." Enishi laid back down on the bed no longer feeling the strength to stay sitting up. His eyes were starting to close. He cracked one open to glare at her. "Do I have a catheter?"
She couldn't help but giggle at his expression. "Inserted by yours truly."
"Great. I guess it could be worse. It wasn't like you weren't going to see it eventually," he mumbled.
Kaoru blinked comically at his words unsure if he really said what she thought he said. She knew the morphine tended to make people say things they wouldn't normally say but still, that was so, crude!
"And now you're wondering if I really said that or not. I did, but don't worry." Enishi yawned widely. "I'll just pretend to have no idea what you're talking about if you bring it up later when I'm no longer drugged up." He squeezed her hand before his grip began to grow slack. "Don't leave," he whispered.
"Not on your life," Kaoru vowed, grimacing at her own choice of words. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go and looking around the recovery room. The woman in charge had wanted her to signal when Enishi had awoken so that they could move him to a regular room. They needed the space as the room was quickly filling.
A teenaged boy, a son of one of the officers on base, who volunteered at the hospital came to help her push Enishi out of recovery toward his assigned room. Kaoru couldn't help but fret about the significant absence of one rooster-headed friend.
Note: So sorry for the year-long delay. It is amazing when inspiration strikes and when it holds back for a year. Feel free to check out my bio on information on the original novel I wrote.