With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Izaya had his hands in his pockets. Yes, hands. Now that he had his arm back, he had been living again. Being disowned wasn't as bad when he knew he could still be a Shinigami. He could use his Shikai again; he could cast a Kido; he could survive. However, his ribs still plagued him. He knew that he could go to someone about fixing them now that his konpaku was fixed and he didn't have to worry about getting discharged.
So, who else should he go to other than the captain of the fourth? What was more, with his arm back he got some confidence again. Did he go to the infirmary? Hell no! He went to the manor of the Yukishiro clan and stared at the door for a bit. He recognized the crest and decided that this had to be the place. With his new, exposed arm he knocked on the massive door before returning it to his jacket pocket. He really needed a new jacket.
He was answered by someone who wasn't the captain so he asked for her. The man kind of eyed him up a bit before pointing him in the direction of the captain's room. As he made the slow journey to her room, he felt kind of awkward about the whole ordeal. Feeling that this might have crossed some lines, he didn't know how he was to ask for this. Well, it was her job so maybe if he was just polite she wouldn't ask many questions.
As he reached the door he took a deep breath (and winced in pain a bit). Then he raised his new arm and knocked the same sharp knock that he had used on her office door once before. He then rolled back his shoulders and uttered the same thing he had uttered once before.
"Yukishiro-taichou, it's Kogi Izaya of Squad Three. May I come in?"
Home was a sanctuary, and one that Suzuka was eternally thankful for. Although she did have a room within the barracks of the Fourth Division (a room that had been occupied by one Unohana Retsu for the last few centuries), she preferred the comfort of her old room within the manor of the Yukishiro family. At the end of a long day at work, she appreciated returning home to a familiar bed.
That day had started off rather normal. She had finished her assigned daily paperwork a few hours early, and even did a few rounds in the infirmary, to check up on the patients. Everything seemed to be in good order, so she decided to take the afternoon off. It wasn't as if her house was far from her office anyway.
She had changed out of her shihakusho and folded it nicely atop a table in the middle of the room. Her haori was beside it, folded as well, while her zanpakuto rested atop her clothing, her blue belt tied tightly around the sheath. Since she was at home, Suzuka figured no one would mind if she simply walked around in a pale blue silk yukata, belted at the waist with a simple navy sash, and a light purple haori. She pulled her hair back and tied it into a low ponytail with a simple ribbon.
One of the family servants had arrived with a pot of tea, which she accepted with thanks. Setting the tray on the table, she took a cup in her hands, poured some tea into it, and walked to the back of the room, sliding the doors open to reveal a small garden. With a sip, the white-haired woman reached into a small bag near the door, pulling out a small cracker. She crumbled it in her hands before tossing it into a small pond, smiling slightly as the fish slowly appeared, plucking the crumbs from the water's surface.
"Yukishiro-taichou, it's Kogi Izaya of Squad Three. May I come in?"
Her brows rose as she turned towards the door. Kogi Izaya? Wasn't he the one that came to her one day with a missing arm, to which she suggested that he ask Kurotsuchi-taichou for assistance? If she remembered correctly, Kogi Izaya was also the one that had a rumoured crush on her subordinate, Sasaki Kin.
Walking back into the antechamber of her bedroom, she placed the cup onto the table and slid the door open.
"Good afternoon, Izaya-san," she replied with a small smile, "I'm rather surprised to see you here, however, it would be rude of me to keep you outside. If you please," she slid the door wider, motioning for him to enter.
She didn't have much to worry about in terms of privacy. Her bedroom was rather large, and consisted of three interconnected rooms. The antechamber was just one of them.
Last Edit: Sept 29, 2012 17:21:18 GMT -5 by Muffin
When the captain opened the door, Izaya was a bit surprised. It was odd to see someone in a different manner than you were used to. When he had first seen Kin in a kimino, he had felt the same way. Now, it was about the same phenomenon. Looking at the captain in her pale blue yukata and her other elegant clothing, Izaya felt a bit raggedy. After all, he was in a tattered and torn jacket with ripped up hakama and shoes that were just plain worn out.
Giving a small bow, he did his best to avert his gaze from the captain. Her appearance made him feel out of place at this instance. After all, she wasn't appearing as a captain right now. She was mainly just a woman whose house he was in. And atop that, she was a very attractive woman. This thought kind of pervaded him as he realized that it had been two weeks since he had seen Kin. Such a thought made him realize that going along without her meant that his mind looked for something or someone else to fill the void with.
"Good afternoon, Izaya-san."
At this he was snapped back into the reality of what was truly occurring. He was here to get his ribs fixed at this very moment. With a small smile, he thought about how to best bring it up. He would most likely need to get out of the way the basic pleasantries of basic conversation. One such pleasantry was the greeting.
"Good afternoon, Yukishiro-taichou."
"I'm rather surprised to see you here, however, it would be rude of me to keep you outside. If you please."
With that, the captain opened the door and motioned him inside to what was her room. He graciously accepted and did his best not to make a fool of himself while walking in. With a quick scan of the room, he noticed the absence of a bed and the existence of more doors. She had multiple rooms for her quarters it would appear. That made sense considering she was of some form of nobility and could probably afford an antechamber in her living quarters.
Turning to face her, Izaya decided to be much more straightforward. Having an arm again had definitely restored his confidence and all the thoughts he'd had about this certainly made being so forward quite plausible. Taking a deep breath for him, he did his best not to get stressed about what may or may not ensue this question.
"Yukishiro-taichou, I hope this isn't too much of an inconvenience but I don't know who else to turn to. My ribs haven't healed in the weeks since my accident and I feel that now they could be. The only other person in the fourth that I could ask about this is...rather upset with me I'm certain. Thus, I feel that I have to ask this; could you please heal me?"
"Yukishiro-taichou, I hope this isn't too much of an inconvenience but I don't know who else to turn to. My ribs haven't healed in the weeks since my accident and I feel that now they could be. The only other person in the fourth that I could ask about this is...rather upset with me I'm certain. Thus, I feel that I have to ask this; could you please heal me?"
Suzuka remained silent for a moment, listening to Izaya's request to be healed. As she listened, she did notice that his arm had been healed, which was always a good sign. Turns out he did seek Kurotsuchi-taichou's help on the matter. Bringing her sleeve up to her mouth, she carefully considered the request.
While it was true that she didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, she would've preferred that he came to see her when she was actually at work. Still, she figured, that captains never really did get days off, but that still didn't mean there was an entire Division full of other healers that could have done the job. She was pretty sure Isane was still at the Infirmary.
But would she send him out of her house when he had gone through the trouble of finding it?
"Very well, Izaya-san." she replied after a moment, "It would be rude of me to ask you to leave without ensuring that you're in perfect condition first, wouldn't it?"
She smiled lightly, "But next time, please make it your priority to see me in my office instead."
Walking to the table where she had left her teacup, she picked up the extra cup and poured some tea into it, before handing it over to her patient, "Here, Izaya-san. It's rather soothing, and helps relax the body."
Crossing the room, the captain slid open another door, revealing n oshiire with a folded futon inside. Pulling it out, she set the mattress on the floor, placing a pillow at its end. She would have preferred a better bed, but she supposed a futon would have to do for now. It was better than making him lie on the ground, after all.
"When you're finished with your tea, please remove your jacket and any other shirt you have on, and lie down."
Izaya stood there while he listened to her explanation that it would be rude of her to turn him away. That's when he realized that this was kind of crossing a line. Coming to someone's home to ask them to work was apparently some kind of social taboo. Well, he was already here and Yukishiro-taichou didn't seem to be openly objecting to this infraction of social protocol. Therefore, it didn't seem like it was too much to expect that she was going to actually go through with this.
"But next time, please make it your priority to see me in my office instead."
Her smile was more terrifying than if she had just yelled. A small smile with such a polite statement was apparently how Captains of the Fourth Company did things. Izaya had never met Unohana-soutaichou but he had the rumors. Apparently she did things the same way Yukishiro-taichou did. She would say something polite but smile in a way that gave you a cold sweat. Understanding this now, Izaya's eyes went wide for just a split second to show his fear. She wouldn't kill him for this inconvenience, but she didn't approve of his approach to things. That much was apparent. The best thing to do in this scenario was to apologize quickly and watch himself from now on. Captains were dangerous.
"My apologies Yukishiro-taichou."
Then she handed him some tea and told him to drink it. Taking it with both hands, he readily complied. Not wanting to upset her, he figured it was best just to do whatever she asked of him and not offer too much back talk. That was the best way to ensure that he didn't do more to upset this captain who could easily injure him or do much much worse. He gave a weak smile in between rather large sips of his tea.
"When you're finished with your tea, please remove your jacket and any other shirt you have on, and lie down."
Izaya set down his empty tea cup on the table that it had once sat. Then he entered this room with the futon and began to fiddle with his jacket. It was hard to get on and off since the blast; he really needed a new one. The zipper didn't want to come down at this very instant and so he let out a small sigh. He knew this day was going to come after he had gotten injured. With a quick motion from both of his arms he tore the jacket vertically to the left of the zipper. This split rendered the jacket useless as an article of clothing now. He was going to have to obtain a shirt or something of the like.
But, for now at least, a shirt wasn't needed. He sat down upon the futon and then laid down upon it after laying what was left of his jacket to his side. As he laid there, his bruised mid-section stood out. All his movements had bruised the skin from the inside because of his jigsaw-puzzle rib cage. It also showed how thin he had gotten because of the lack of eating solid food. Whatever body fat he had was now gone. He simply looked away from the captain as he laid upon the futon. He didn't want to watch the healing process again.
Suzuka said nothing, only smiling once more. The way his eyes grew was an indicator of fright, which was rather surprising, as all she really did was smile. Then again, most people interpreted smiling as a form of subtle threat, and she wasn't about to change anyone's mind soon.
When Izaya had finished his tea and entered the adjoining room, she sat beside the futon, her legs tucked beneath her in a traditional pose. She gave him another small smile as she watched her patient struggle with the zipper of his jacket, before seemingly giving up and simply tearing himself out of the jacket. Suzuka made a mental note to find a spare kimono for his use when it was finished.
He finally laid down onto the futon, and she could tell by simply looking that his ribs definitely needed a lot of work. Just by the fact that she could almost clearly see them through his skin was an indicator that he hadn't eaten solid food in quite some time. The skin was also bruised, and that also needed to be fixed.
"I'm going to examine the current state of your ribs. If anything hurts, please stop me." she said, before placing her hands onto his chest. Her fingers prodded and poked at the skin extremely lightly, feeling the bones beneath, making sure to become even gentler over the bruised area. She started near his neck, feeling the shape of the manubrium before moving down the sternum, moving from one side of the sternum to the other, feeling each bone attached to it.
Suzuka frowned.
"Your ribs are in terrible shape," she said, moving down towards the false ribs. "Most of them are fractured in at least one place. Some of your false ribs have managed to become disconnected from the sternum." Finally, she prodded near his waist, feeling for his floating ribs, "...well that's some good news. Your floating ribs seem to be fine."
With a breath, she removed her hands from his chest and set them on her lap, "Although there is extensive damage, I can mend the bones back. Shall I begin?"
"I'm going to examine the current state of your ribs. If anything hurts, please stop me."
As he laid upon the futon, he looked back at her before nodding quickly. He gave a small smile before looking away again. Izaya knew that if he watched this captain heal him, he would be reminded of the last time he got healed. That would lead him to more thoughts about Kin and where it all went wrong. And then all the thoughts would spiral out of control and he would fall into his depression again. None of the aforementioned were good things for the short Shinigami.
After that she began to poke and lightly prod his ribs. Her hands were warm, but that wasn't what Izaya fixated on most. What he fixated upon was the sheer quantity of pain involved when she got into the ribs that should've been connected to his sternum. Pressing his teeth together with ferocity, Izaya slammed his eyes shut and tried to breathe heavily through the nose. He waited for her to get off of that rib before looking down at her.
"That one hurt...quite a bit."
Then she continued to go down on his ribs. Now she was on what was called his "false ribs." Those hurt too but he tried not to give such a reaction to this each time. However, she got to what were called the "floating ribs" and apparently those were fine. Which made sense, he didn't think he hurt those in the fall. As she finished this, Izaya looked up at the captain.
"Yukishiro-taichou, I think they all hurt except for the floating ribs."
"Although there is extensive damage, I can mend the bones back. Shall I begin?"
"Yukishiro-taichou, I think they all hurt except for the floating ribs."
Suzuka nodded, giving a small smile, "My apologies. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to assess the full extent of the damage without an x-ray."
When he had given her permission to begin the actual healing process, the captain took a deep breath and placed her hands over his chest. Eyes steeling in concentration, her palms began to glow green, a quiet humming echoing in the room as the kido began to take effect. She slowly and methodologically pumped her own reiatsu into his body, pulling Izaya's reiatsu towards the injured ribs. She could feel the bones beneath her hands slowly moving, the pieces binding together like a puzzle.
Mending bones weren't particularly difficult, in fact, she had healed broken ribs before. However, it was very rare that almost every single rib had been fractured and needed mending at the same time. It wasn't a monumental task, but it was one she was not looking forward to. Still, it was her job, after all, and who was she to neglect her duty to an injured patient?
"...if I may, Izaya-san," she said, her hands moving down his chest to Ribs 5-6, "I've noticed your reiatsu is much more...stable than when we last saw each other. Would I be mistaken to assume it has something to do with your restored arm?"
Her kido continued to work, moving down towards the false ribs of Ribs 8, 9 and 10, first working on the bone, before attempting to re-attach the costal cartilage that kept the bones attached to the sternum. She remained silent in thought as she worked, concentrating on the bones, yet a stray thought managed to squeeze into her mind.
"...Izaya-san," she said quietly, "Has something happened between you and Kin-san that you chose to seek for my help instead of hers?"
"My apologies. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to assess the full extent of the damage without an x-ray."
Izaya thought about this for a second. It seemed legitimate. Without an actual picture it would be extremely difficult to actually diagnose what was wrong. Therefore, it seemed pretty valid that she couldn't say exactly what was wrong. However, it seemed like a safe assumption that even if she didn't know exactly what was wrong, she could fix it. She was the captain of Fourth Company after all. Being a badass healer was kind of in the job description.
"I've noticed your reiatsu is much more...stable than when we last saw each other. Would I be mistaken to assume it has something to do with your restored arm?"
There was a small gulp sound to be heard in that room at that very instant. In a moment, Izaya was looking away from the captain nervously before finally glancing back at her. With a small smile, he really wished he could shift around a bit. This nervousness of what she might tell other set in. At this given moment, Izaya had forgotten about doctor-patient confidentiality and began to panic a bit. Honestly, would not telling the Gotei 13 about the extent of his injury be just as bad as not being able to manipulate one's reiatsu?
Thinking about what to say to her, Izaya kind of laughed nervously. Mind racing, he thought of what to say. He couldn't fabricate anything fast enough to be legitimately useful. Therefore, he figured he might as well just be honest with this relatively kind captain and hope for the best in terms of repercussions.
"Yukishiro-taichou, until the restoration of my arm I could not manipulate my reiatsu since my incident. It was most displeasing which was why my ribs could not be healed until this point. I couldn't perform simple Kido or even function well. Honestly, if it had continued for much longer, I don't think I could have continued being a Shinigami."
"Has something happened between you and Kin-san that you chose to seek for my help instead of hers?"
As their conversation progressed, Izaya had noticed that his ribs had felt better. He was feeling better all over. It actually seemed that everything was going to be alright. That was, of course, before she brought up the subject he had been dreading. She had touched upon the one subject that could cause him actual physical harm. Kin.
What did he tell her? Did he do his best to explain their broken relationship paradigm or did he just shirk off the question? How did one simply put into words what Kin meant to him? How did he try to explain how much he thought about her or how many sleepless night he faced over the problem of what they were? Most importantly, how did he explain how frustrating it was that she couldn't show her feelings?
"K-Kin-chan and I have errrmmmmm...I think we have a...or it's kind of...well...yeah; it's hard to explain. Yukishiro-taichou, it's like...Kin's not good with...well she has some troubles with...feelings and stuff. I tried to express to her...or...I tried to tell her that...well, she freaked out on me because I...well I just told her...I was just trying to express...I-I don't want to lose her. And that, that terrifies me. And I think...I think it terrifies her too."
"Yukishiro-taichou, until the restoration of my arm I could not manipulate my reiatsu since my incident. It was most displeasing which was why my ribs could not be healed until this point. I couldn't perform simple Kido or even function well. Honestly, if it had continued for much longer, I don't think I could have continued being a Shinigami."
Ah. So that was it. Suzuka remained silent as he explained the situation, although she noticed that he seemed rather nervous in doing so. She found that rather strange, after all, it wasn't as if he had been the first one to have the flow of reiatsu stopped. But, perhaps being a shinigami was important to him, and losing the ability to do his job seemed embarrassing, so she didn't question in.
"I am glad your arm was healed. Gotei 13 would have lost a budding talent." she replied with another small smile, "While it's true that healing your ribs would've been difficult without a steady flow of your own reiatsu within your body, it's not impossible. It's just a little more difficult."
There was a short pause, "Don't worry, Izaya-san, I won't tell anyone. We might be in my home, but doctor-patient confidentiality still applies, even here."
The green glow of her hands began to fade slowly, indicating that the procedure was almost done. All that was left to do was tie up any loose ends, after which everything should be working properly again.
"K-Kin-chan and I have errrmmmmm...I think we have a...or it's kind of...well...yeah; it's hard to explain. Yukishiro-taichou, it's like...Kin's not good with...well she has some troubles with...feelings and stuff. I tried to express to her...or...I tried to tell her that...well, she freaked out on me because I...well I just told her...I was just trying to express...I-I don't want to lose her. And that, that terrifies me. And I think...I think it terrifies her too."
The captain blinked.
"...ah. I see."
She rested her hands over the sternum, using her reiatsu to examine each rib to make sure that each had been properly mended.
"If I may, Izaya-san, might I suggest that you...simply wait it out?" she suggested gently, "Kin-san is a young girl, with a young heart that is not used to such things. Young hearts are also fragile, so one must be very careful in dealing with them. If approached correctly, a heart such as hers will eventually open up, however, it could just as easily be broken." She neglected to say that she knew how the latter felt. "If you already expressed your feelings for her, there is nothing more you can do except wait for her to sort things out. And certainly, I can't do anything about it; I have no business in the private lives of my subordinates."
The glowing of her hands dimmed away.
"Please sit up, I would like to do a final diagnostic test to see whether the work is complete."