Shinobu opened the door quietly and peeked in.
The room was dark, the faint red and green lights of the apparati glimmering like small lighthouses. The steady, sleep-induced breathing created a soft undertone for the undisruptive humming of the machines.
Her heels clinked gently against the floor. The screen, data and graphs flickering around, reflected in the purple eyes. Turning away from the monitor, Shinobu glimpsed down at the man in the bed.
Kyojuro's face was lost in sleep. An IV line was attached to his arm, supplying his body with blood and medicine. The blanket was pulled right up to his chin. Shinobu sighed and pulled the blanket down, careful not to disturb the bandages. He was slightly feverish, so it was best if the warmth was reduced just a bit.
Shinobu switched off the monitor and noiselessly walked over to the next screen. Allowing her fingers to type on muscle memory, the insect hashira shifted her gaze to the neighboring bed.
Obanai was sleeping quietly in a chair. Shinobu could barely hear his breath, even with his mask off and the lips partly open. His fingers were intertwined with Mitsuri's.
An involuntary, sad smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Swiping the screen off, Shinobu stepped up to the bed and leaned over the woman. The air tensed immediately. Even though he didn't move at all, she still felt his questioning gaze. The insect hashira didn't say anything and simply tucked the thin sheet up to Mitsuri's hips.
Faint blood stains were visible on the bandages, but that was all. Shinobu straightened out and turned her head to look at the young man. His eyes gave off a holographic glint, making the colors in his irises glow unnaturally. However, there was no menace to them.
"No signs of infection," Shinobu whispered. Obanai only nodded and, closing his eyes once more, slouched back in the chair. His fingers tightened around Mitsuri's. The insect hashira fixed the sheet so it covered her friend and, making her way around the chair, walked out of the room.
The hallways were quiet. The TV screen hung up in the waiting lounges were black, and all sounds were muted by the sensors embedded in the walls. The lights were dimmed. It was sleeping hours in the district.
Shinobu was the only passenger inside the elevator. Leaning against the wall, she stared at the gray floor. Her thoughts whirled aimlessly in her mind, head hurting from lack of sleep.
The doors gave a soft ding, and Shinobu stood up abruptly. The lab coat flapped around her ankles.
She stepped out on the fourth platform in the virii center.
Cylindrical tanks radiated blue in the spacious, dark room. Most of them were empty, but there would be an occasional patient floating unconscious in the gel-like liquid.
Robots and nurses huddled next to the tanks, and spherical drones flew among them to deliver the necessary medicine.
Tucking her hands into the lab coat's pockets, Shinobu walked quickly down the metal platform, heels catching slightly in the gaps. The blue hue melted across her face.
Shinobu stopped next to the tank where the liquid was drained. Drones clambered inside of it, cleaning the glass and the bottom, and several nurses leaned over the tank's controls as they recalibrated it. Shinobu observed them for a moment, before walking up to a young intern girl taking notes on a clipboard.
"Everything okay?"
The girl jolted from suddenness, nearly dropping her pen, and wheeled around.
"K-kochou-sensei?!"
"I'm sorry for startling you." Despite her exhaustion, Shinobu gave a warm smile. "Did everything proceed smoothly?"
"Yes, Kochou-sensei," the intern cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. "We've just completed the first treatment. All the patient's systems are stable, and we're preparing to send him into the ward."
"When is the second one scheduled?" Shinobu inquired, walking towards the group of nurses crowded next to the rolling stretcher. The intern girl hurried after her.
"In forty-eight hours, Kochou-sensei."
The nurses backed away respectfully when Shinobu paused next to the stretcher, but the insect hashira gestured with her hand for them to continue working. The nurses nodded and resumed fixing IV tubes and monitoring devices to the man's body.
"May I?" The female hashira asked quietly, wrapping her hand around the IV stand. The nurse next to her glimpsed up and shook her head in affirmation. Shinobu moved the stand slightly to the side and sat down carefully at the edge of the stretcher.
A thin sheet was spread over the man's bare body. Droplets of the viscous liquid shimmered on his skin, and the wet hair was plastered to his forehead, cheekbones, and neck. The swollenness and blistering from the acid were alleviated significantly, but Shinobu could already see the lace pattern that the scars would arrange themselves on his face. The wrinkles on her forehead collapsed into a single line.
There were two sounds when the acid ate through the speakers:
The static in her ear, and the high-pitched ring in her head.
The creases on top of the lab coat shivered, indicating that the hand inside had gripped into the fist.
Kanzaburo praised her for reacting on the spot and ordering the robots to dump gallons of wisteria into the blood pool to poison the demon's circulatory system. In reality, Shinobu knew that quick thinking had nothing to do with her decisions.
She wasn't thinking about anything. She was completely numb — and in the first half of a second, she just sat, paralyzed on the chair and cold from sweat.
"We'll transport him to room 249," the voice of the intern called out next to her. "He'll regain consciousness in about an hour."
"Notify me when he wakes up."
She was acting on pure autopilot. Ordering the robots, watching how the blood coagulates from the wisteria, delegating med crews into the different regions of the Lower Level - it was all mechanical. She didn't realize it, didn't even remember it, until this morning.
The stretcher creaked when Shinobu slipped off quietly. Clipboard clutched to her chest, the intern bowed politely as the insect hashira walked away. Staring in front of herself, Shinobu turned the corner and walked into the elevator.
The doors clinking against each other was like a gunshot signaling the start of... what?
Eyes squeezing shut, Shinobu pressed her hands to her mouth. Tears ran down her cheeks and onto her fingers.
It took him several moments to realize that the breathing he was hearing was his own. His lashes fluttered, but didn't open, shut down by the pain that tore through the eyelids.
For several seconds, Giyuu lay still, trying to understand what was going on. His body felt soft, but weak, and his skin scratched. The young man flexed the muscles in his right forearm. There was no movement - the prosthetic was removed.
Assured, Giyuu diverted his energy to the other limbs of his body. It wasn't too successful, but the systematic process helped shake up his brain. He already felt the plastic texture of the IV tube resting on his left arm. His toes twitched carefully, and the sheet slid slightly on his hips.
"Awake?" Someone asked quietly.
Giyuu jerked from suddenness, and the edges of the plaster holding down the IV needle cut into his elbow. His eyelids trembled violently, and a faintly-colored blur streaked in front of his vision; then, two damp pads pressed softly on top of his eyes, effectively shutting them down.
"They're scarred. Don't open them."
"Shinobu," Giyuu made out hoarsely, and the dry, bubbled skin across his neck snapped. He winced, and the open wounds at the corners of his lips stung when they came in contact with saliva. His fingers jerked against the mattress, but then a cool, gel-like substance touched his forehead.
"Try not to move too much." Her voice chided him gently. "The virii prevented any initial infection that may have occurred, but the injuries are still very fresh and sensitive. You'll feel that right now." The gel gave off a typical synthetic smell, but that held Giyuu's attention only for a split-second; the moment it touched the exposed tissues, he focused solely on not letting the pain display on his features. His eyes scrunched up on their own, and the pads slipped slightly towards his temples.
Her fingers massaged around his jaw, rubbing circles around the bone.
"Relax," Shinobu carefully shook his chin in an attempt to loosen his teeth. "You'll only strain your damaged muscles more. Relax."
With difficulty, Giyuu unclasped his jaw, and his contour slackened into her palm. He swallowed and suddenly felt that he was extremely dehydrated.
"Water," he rasped. Shinobu's fingers traveled along the column of his neck, and the young man instinctually closed his mouth.
"Can you wait a little after I finish applying the balsam? My hands are dirty."
The thirst was strong, but Giyuu nodded obediently. Her fingers disappeared, and by the smooth shuffling, he understood that she was applying the ointment to her hands. In a moment, both her palms wrapped on both sides of his neck. Giyuu was unable to hold back the pained inhale when the medicine entered the flesh.
"What happened... after?" He whispered, trying to find something to distract himself with. The last thing he remembered was sitting down against the large tires of a bulldozer. Did he lose consciousness after that?
"Well..." there was hesitation in her voice. "At around the same moment when the demon you were fighting disappeared, AB-4517 turned into a hologram and vanished. The evac team picked up Rengoku-san from there."
"Picked up?"
"He was falling through the traffic towards the wisteria district."
Doing his best to ignore the tugging in the scars, Giyuu digested the information. Memories shot through his mind in vivid splashes, but they were all over the place. He wanted to draw out a conclusion, make the conversation professional, but his head was empty. In the end, he circled back to the information Shinobu said.
"Is Rengoku alright?"
"His abdomen is pierced, kind of similar to what happened to Mitsuri." Her hands traveled down to his collarbones and massaged him there slightly. "The injury caused internal bleeding, but he scrambled out. His ribs and arm will heal in due time."
An involuntary shiver traveled over his body. Giyuu didn't comment on the information, but he was unnerved. Instantly, the image of the demon seared in front of his closed eyes.
Average height and tattooed shoulders. Grey eyes. An occasional smile.
The warmth of her hands disappeared from his chest. All thoughts unraveled in his head, and his arm jerked as if to catch her; nevertheless, he didn't move. In complete darkness, Giyuu listened to how her heels echo against the floor and walk over somewhere. The water splattered in the sink, and the young man understood that she was washing her hands.
"Hold on, I'll put another medicine on you." A towel ruffled. "It's a tonic, so it won't hurt as much. But before that..."
There were some other noises that Giyuu couldn't pinpoint, but by the sudden proximity of the perfume scent, he guessed that she was next to him. He felt her fingers slip underneath his neck and tap him carefully on the nape.
"Lift up. I'll give you some water," Shinobu said gently. Her hand supported him firmly by the neck. Giyuu dug his elbow into the mattress and, overcoming the unwieldiness of his body, strained upwards.
The sheet crinkled, falling from his chest and pooling at his abdomen. The two wads of cotton on his eyes plopped down on the sheet. His eyelids were damp and feeble, but Giyuu forced himself to keep them open.
She was leaning towards him, holding him up as much as possible, and a glass of water in her hand. However, at this moment, she seemed to have forgotten about it.
He was unable to look away. His gaze lingered at her eyes, before traveling down across her nose and cheekbones, her lips, then back at her eyes.
She cried. Even in the darkly-lit room, he saw the unusual fragility in her expression, almost reminiscent of a caught animal. Guilt clasped his throat, and he opened his mouth. At the same time, the cold glass touched his lips.
"Drink," Shinobu told him quietly. Desperation mixed with grief reflected in her eyes. Giyuu gazed at her, the glass clouding from his breath and the water wavered right next to his lips.
"Shinobu," he whispered. He didn't know what to say, how to react, and so all that was left was the single word with which he reached out to her many years ago. Shinobu didn't reply. Her fingers tightened on his neck, before readjusting slightly. Her hand is getting tired, Giyuu realized. His eyes dropped, and Shinobu silently tipped the glass.
He leaned away when he drank half, and she didn't insist on more. As he lowered in exhaustion back on the pillow, Giyuu watched how Shinobu placed the glass on the counter and took out a bottle of liquid from one of the drawers. Guilt and longing clawed him from the inside.
"Back then..." he started quietly.
"Back when?" Shinobu asked without turning around, pouring the liquid into a small bowl. Giyuu caught his breath carefully, but after drinking water, speaking was easier.
"At the construction site. When I collapsed off the crane after the demon's blood turned into acid."
She stilled. Giyuu gazed at her back, wishing that she would look at him once more.
"Thank you for teasing me. It snapped me into reality."
Her head tilted slightly to the side.
"Teasing you?"
"Yes." Giyuu closed his eyes. The strain from the vision waned, allowing him to remember better. "You asked me if I was enjoying the flight." His breathing deepened, as if he was falling asleep. Even so, Giyuu's mind was absolutely clear. "You also said that you couldn't decide which is more pathetic, me dying because of acid or hitting the concrete."
At first, there was silence. Then, he heard her walk noiselessly towards him. The bowl clinked against the night table when she set it down. The bed dipped slightly, and the young man felt her body brush his.
"I never said anything."
Giyuu opened his eyes slowly. Shinobu held his lost look for a moment, before turning away and sinking the towel in the bowl. The water splashed loudly as she wronged the towel.
"When the demon's blood turned into acid, it ate away at the speaker. I didn't hear... know anything." She hesitated. "I didn't say anything either. I just sat."
The towel descended gently on his face, and the warm, tickling scent of the tonic filled Giyuu's nostrils. Slowly, he lifted his hand and lowered it on top of hers. It became harder to breathe as the weight on top of the towel increased, but Giyuu didn't care.
"I'm here, Shinobu."
He sensed how her fingers twitched under his. Without a single word, Shinobu took the towel off his face, his hand dropping down, and ducked it into the bowl. Pressing it dry, she wiped his neck in silence.
Giyuu opened his eyes one last time when she was leaving. He watched as she washed the bowl in the sink and discarded the gloves in the trash can. As she held the door open, Shinobu glanced over her shoulder. Her face was sad.
"I won't pull through something similar again, Giyuu."
Giyuu simply gazed at her. He could've told her that she was being selfish in her emotions — afraid of his death, but not of her own. Not thinking that he would feel exactly the same if the situations were reversed.
If he told her that, he'd be heartless.
"Alright, Shinobu."
A/N Hello, hello!
After every action-packed/fight scene, I seem to have a rebound effect that I can't write for about a week. I hate it because it disorients my sense of time.
Anyways, a very... quiet chapter. I'd say this is the bridge between the end of the last arc and the next. For some techy notes, virii is my rip-off from the bacta tanks in Star Wars. The things can basically heal anything in SW because they're filled with some special fluid and bacteria, but my version is a little more realistic. It has a restorative nature to it, especially for any physical injuries (Giyuu's scars), but being able to penetrate the skin and heal organs to the original state... I guess not that much. Otherwise, everyone in this story would be super-people since all they'll do is swim a night in the tank :)
I'm really thankful for all your patience. I hope this chapter lives up to the wait :) Reviews always welcome.