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Prize of Victory	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 87205 -:- Recommendations : 8 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor make profit from this snippet

Chapter List
- 74
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Karin walked home with a happy Ajuga going on about how her day went. She was surprised her daughter had been with Szayel instead of Orihime, but the scientist had explained, in a rather pleased-with-himself tone, what had happened.

Ajuga seemed fine and happy, but Karin was ready to kill that old bastard Barragan. Espada or not, how dare he look at her daughter like that! Grimmjow would be lucky to have anything left to shred by the time Karin was through with the prick.

She was just glad that Ulquiorra had shown up in time. She was going to have to thank him since she knew Grimmjow would sooner eat a frog than thank the Fourth for anything.

Thinking of her mate, she determined that he was still out in the field. She had been deployed with her own Division while he had been sent farther out to set up one of Szayel�s precious sensors. Most of the Arrancar had been deployed long range due to their higher speeds.

Karin opened the main gate to the Estate with a sigh, and nearly tripped over Ajuga as her daughter came to a full stop two steps in.

�Ajuga-chan?� Karin questioned tiredly, wondering what could have possibly caused her daughter to freeze like that.

�TAKE-JII� Ajuga suddenly roared and bolted towards the house.

Karin stared after he daughter in shock before racing after her. She was stunned at the speed the girl was putting out. Ajuga was running so fast she was actually running along the walls, forcing Karin to either slow down to take the corners or ricochet painfully off of them.

�TAKE-JII,� Ajuga cried again, panic in her voice.

On Ajuga�s second frantic cry of alarm Karin quickly sought out Jushiro�s reiatsu, only to find she could barely make out a very weak signature from his own chambers.

She had never seen his reiatsu so faint and her own panic quickly surpassed her daughter�s. Without a second thought Karin quit wasting time running through the corridors and gathered her reiatsu about her body in a protective shield before simply busting through the walls in a straight path.

Despite her more direct path, both her and Ajuga arrived in Jushiro�s room at the same time. They paused for just a second before Karin ran to the bathroom and pushed the door aside.

Ajuga darted between her legs and violently pulled the shower curtain aside, crying out in anguish as the white haired Taichou was revealed.

�Jushiro,� Karin cried in shock.

� �take-ji,� Ajuga sobbed, shaking his unresponsive body with her small hands.

There was a sickening amount of blood around him, mostly surrounding his head and his body shook violently. Karin rushed to his side, pausing only to turn the now-freezing water off.

�Ajuga, blankets, quickly,� she ordered crisply. �Why must I always find my patients in the bloody shower?� she couldn�t help but wonder cynically, her clothing soaked from the cold water.

�Jushiro?� she called softly.

There was no response and his breath was very, very weak and ragged. His skin was chilled and his shakes were no doubt from the cold. She quickly ran through her first aid training.

�A. Airways. B. Breathing. He�s breathing, but it�s very ragged. Nothing visible seems to be obstructing his airway. C. Circulation. His pulse is there, but it�s weak and very erratic. I see no signs of any major wounds, where did all this blood come from. His mouth smells like blood. Did he throw this up?� she thought frantically in horror.

�Mama,� Ajuga came back into the room hauling the blanket from Jushiro�s futon.

Karin quickly wrapped him up in the blanket and after doing a quick check of his body to make sure there were no signs of serious injury, she deemed it safe to move him carefully out of the shower.

Picking him up carefully, she watched for any sign of discomfort, but all he did was tremble in her arms as his breathing was still very, very ragged.

�Dear Kami, it sounds like his lungs are full of water,� she thought frantically. �Did he breathe in a lungful of water from lying unconscious in the shower? Why was he unconscious in the first place?�

�What�s all the commotion? I could hear the walls splintering from�,� Nanao never finished as she entered the room with a curious Hana by her side.

�Oh Kami, he must have had an attack. To the 4^th Division, now!!� Nanao snapped.

Karin didn�t need to be told twice. They used his porch to get outside faster and launched into the fastest Shunpo they dared.

�What attack?� Karin demanded as they ran.

�He has tuberculosis. It has been so long since he last had a major attack and we have been so busy with the invasion that I had almost forgotten about his condition,� Nanao explained.

�Tuberculosis?� Karin exclaimed, looking down in shock at the pale-haired Taichou cradled in her arms.

He was so chilled from the shower she could feel the coldness seeping through the blanket and into her own flesh. If anything, the faster speeds helped to cool his damp flesh even more and his shakes increased, as did the ragged gasps for breath.

�Fucking hell,� she cursed.

She didn�t dare move slower though. He needed to get to the hospital fast to get the fluids out of his lungs before he drowned in his own blood.

�Son of a bitch at this rate he�s going to have hyperthermia on top of his tuberculosis,� she hissed.

They arrived at the 4^th Division in record time. Karin burst through the front door, instantly drawing attention to herself, attention that skyrocketed when the staff caught sight of her pale haired patient.

�Get Unohana now!� she ordered, marching to the nearest flat surface to set the ill captain down. Spying a gurney, she gently made sure that his head was elevated, to help with his breathing.

�Unohana-Taichou has gone home for the evening,� one member stuttered.

�Then go get her,� she snapped in irritation.

�She is not to be disturbed, per Aizen-Kami�s orders,� one of the nurses stated fearfully.

�This is a little more important,� Karin snapped. �Go. Get. Her. Now!!�

The others bristled, but she could tell they were terrified of the potential consequences for disturbing the �royal couple.� A part of Karin understood their fears; Aizen was a bastard after all, one that didn�t take well to interruptions or disturbances. Even if Jushiro was an acting Taichou, what did Kami care for one Shinigami�s death?

She pushed her morbid thoughts aside and started untangling the blanket from Jushiro and settled him onto the gurney, not at all concerned with his nudity. The staff at least made themselves useful by handing her warm, dry blankets and she wrapped him up in them, concerned with how blue his lips and nails were turning.

His pulse was still erratic and weak while his breath was clearly still laboured. He was beginning to struggle at little in delirium and that did not bode well either. Making sure he was secure enough not to fall off of the gurney, Karin looked up only to find that Nanao was gone, presumably to go get Unohana herself since the others were too scared to do so. One of the nurses stood ready to direct her to the emergency ward and she found herself gritting her teeth.

If she didn�t take charge now, Jushiro wouldn�t make it through the next few hours.

�You there!!� she shouted to the nurse, pulling the gurney away from the wall and pushing it towards the doorway.

�Hai, Kurosaki-Fukutaichou?�

�Get something to write with. I need you to get the following things and I don�t care if you have to go to the Living World to get them� understood?�

　

　

　

Jushiro woke up to the sounds of medical equipment beeping and hissing, meaning someone must have found him. There was also something rather heavy and warm lying by his side. No, wait� make that two things, one to either side of him.

Ever so slowly he opened his eyes, aware of the uncomfortable, yet very familiar feeling of tubes going down his throat and IV needles inserted in his arms. His limbs felt heavy and he noticed his wrists and ankles were tied to the bed with some kind of leather restraints. In addition, he felt an odd twinge between his pelvic bones, a pressure that was slightly uncomfortable but not terribly so.

The weight on his left stirred at his slight movements.

� �take-ji?� a sleepy voice yawned.

�Ajuga,� he quickly surmised.

His vision was very blurry at first but slowly the black and white blur hovering above his head came into focus to reveal the little girl�s concerned face.

�You�re awake,� she chirped happily. �I�ll go get Lily-chan,� she promised before darting away.

The heavier weight on his other side stirred and he wasn�t all that surprised to see Hana blinking at him.

� �take-ji?� she questioned worriedly.

Unable to speak, he weakly raised his arm to give her a soft hug, or tried to. It was pinned under the blankets and he found he didn�t have the strength to fight against the restraint. Hana seemed to understand his intent though, because she shifted about and dug under the blanket to clutch his hand in hers. She fiddled with the buckle on that strap and after a moment, his freed hand squeezed hers back.

�See, see, he�s awake,� Ajuga�s happy voice brought his attention to the door.

Ajuga was quickly back by his side and his eyes slowly revealed Lilinette as the Arrancar approached.

�You sure got yourself into one hell of a mess, Shiro-chan,� she scowled, crossing her arms and glaring at him with a toss of her green hair. Still, it was hard to miss the relief that underlay her words.

He chuckled weakly at her, and instantly regretted doing so. His throat was raw and scratched from the tubing.

How long had he been unconscious? Was it night or day? It was impossible to say inside the emergency ward. In fact, as his brain started to shake off the drugs they�d given him, he was surprised Hana and Ajuga had been permitted to stay with him unmonitored.

Unfortunately with several tubes down his throat, talking was not something he could easily do. He held up the hand Hana had freed and wrote in the air. Ajuga and Lilinette looked at him confused before Hana made a sound of exclamation and handed him a pad of paper and a pen.

Judging by the numbers sprawled all over the page Hana had been practicing her numbers again, numbers that made him blink in surprise and his head hurt trying to make sense of them.

Her aptitude for mathematics was something astonishing, but he set that aside for now. He would congratulate her on her talent when he could actually talk again.

�Date? Time?� he wrote out.

�You have been sleeping for five days. It�s just after midnight,� Lilinette answered. �One would think you�re trying to imitate Starrk, with how long you�ve been out.�

Five days? He had never been unconscious for five days before. Apparently his illness was making up for its long remission with a vengeance.

�Karin seemed pretty upset that you were suffering from�. tuber locust?� Lilinette tried.

�Tuberculosis,� Hana corrected.

Lilinette made a face, then continued.

�Yeah that. She muttered something about micro bacteria,� Lilinette said the word carefully in an obvious attempt to get it right ��and something she called Baskel Calmite Gourine.�

�Bacillus Calmette Guerin,� Hana corrected again.

�Whatever,� Lilinette muttered, glaring at Hana. �Anyway, she wanted to know why they hadn�t been giving it to you or something. Something about it helping or preventing or something.�

�Mama said it would fix it, or had a chance to or something,� Ajuga added. �She said a lot of strange things. I bet Hana-chan remembers them!� she said, and the others turned to look at the girl.

�That�s because I wrote it all down.� Hana smiled smartly as she pulled out several pieces of paper with barely legible kanji on it. �Okay, Karin-bachan said you had something called �tuberculosis�, and that people in the Living World take a �vaccine� she called Bacillus Calmette Guerin. She made sure we all got a shot of it.�

�Sometimes the strain is really strong and she thinks you were infected with a really strong one. She also said something about Rifampicin and Isoniazid. I think they got you on Rifampicin because Karin-bachan said Isoniazid is quickly neutralized, or something like that.� Hana finished, having slowly pronounced each of the medical terms in an obvious effort to make sure she got the words right. �She also said that in order to keep your bladder from bursting while you were asleep, you had a catheter put in and that you better not accidentally pull it out or it would make things worse.�

Hana looked at her notes a second time and then back up at Jushiro, a little perplexed.

�She didn�t tell me what that meant but she said you would know what it was and not to mess with it until the nurses came,� she said warningly.

She then looked at Lilinette and Ajuga, both of whom just shrugged.

Suddenly the odd pressure below his navel made sense and he was doubly grateful that whoever had put him in this bed had also seen fit to at least dress him in a hospital garment before the girls had fallen asleep next to him. Now that he thought about it, he could feel another tube like the ones down his throat snaking its way down his leg. He was also suddenly glad his throat was preoccupied by tubing; it made it that much more difficult for them to ask questions he wasn�t sure he was up to answering.

He absorbed the rest of the information in surprise. He knew Karin had a nurse�s training from her time in her family�s clinic, but he had no idea she was this knowledgeable about his disease. Thinking of Karin, he wondered where the adults had gone.

He wrote the question out, his own kanji hardly legible as his hands shook violently with weakness. They seemed to get the message though.

�Fighting,� Ajuga answered.

He blinked his eyes in surprise.

�The swarm attacked at sunset. It took us all by surprise since this is the first time that they have attacked at night,� Lilinette answered grimly.

�Mama and Papa and Szay and everyone was ordered by Kami to go fight,� Ajuga added, a little crestfallen.

�We didn�t want to stay at the Estate all alone, so we begged to stay here with �take-ji instead,� Hana continued. �We didn�t want to leave your side while everyone else had to leave in case something happened.�

�Yep! The attack happened while we were visiting and since we didn�t want to leave you alone we are taking care of you,� Ajuga added proudly.

�How are you feeling?� Lilinette asked concerned.

Truthfully, he felt like shit, but he didn�t want to worry the young girls. Of course, having tubes down one�s throat and an IV in both of one�s arms wasn�t comfortable, even had he been feeling well.

� �take-ji still feels warm and smells like blood,� Ajuga said sadly as she rested the back of her hand on his forehead. �A lot less blood, but still like blood. Should we get a nurse?� Ajuga looked at the two older girls.

�I�ll go see if I can find one, but they are all pretty busy with the wounded from the battle,� Lilinette frowned.

The Arrancar headed out, leaving him with the two young girls looking at him in concern.

�Can we get you anything?� Hana asked concerned.

He gave his head a soft shake. Right now there was nothing the girls could do for him, nothing that rest and the medicine Karin-chan had ordered for him wouldn�t do. He closed his eyes and just basked in the presence of those that cared for him.

He felt the girls return to his sides like little sentinels, curling up on the blankets and clutching a hand each. Smiling softly, he gave their little hands a squeeze in silent thanks, one they returned.

He had to admit he was happy the girls had been allowed by the 4^th Division staff to remain. Waking up in this room alone would have not been pleasant. It would have given his drugged mind a chance to remember that Shunsui and his former third seats would never be able to be here to offer him comfort again.

By the time Lilinette returned with a nurse in tow, the three of them were once more lost to slumber. Lilinette sighed in exasperation while the nurse quickly checked his charts and asked her a few questions.

�What time did he wake up?�

�I don�t know, a few minutes ago. I think Ajuga-chan got me pretty quick after he woke up. They were awake when I went looking for you� Lilinette answered.

�Did he show any signs of distress?�

�No. He wrote out he was feeling okay, which is an obvious lie. I mean come on, he�s breathing through plastic tubes. Stupid Shiro-chan, he never worries about himself,� Lilinette groused, glowering at the man propped up in the bed.

The nurse smiled softly and knowingly, causing Lilinette to turn her fearsome glare on the woman.

�What?� she demanded with a snap.

�Nothing,� the nurse demurred as she moved about and checked the monitors, and the catheter tube and bag before recording the information on the charts. �He still has a bit of a temperature, but his vitals are all looking much better. If he wakes up again let us know. Hopefully we can get him off the machine in the morning.�

�That would be just swell�� the little Arrancar sighed and then flopped down in one of the room�s two chairs after the nurse left.

Jushiro drifted in and out of consciousness through out the night. Lilinette was the only one apparently still awake and both of them left the girls to slumber by his sides. He would only remain conscious for a few minutes before succumbing to slumber again.

When Jushiro woke up again he was pleased to notice that someone had removed the tubes from his throat and was surprised to see someone sleeping on the old, worn chair that Shunsui once lived in when he�d woken from similar bouts of his illness in the past.

At first he thought he was hallucinating, for the shadow did resemble his old friend until his eyes cleared and he was surprised to notice his guest was Starrk. The two girls seemed to be gone, leaving the two of them in the room.

�Time?� he croaked through a very dry throat.

�You shouldn�t speak,� Starrk said, shifting about to look at him and handing him the pen and paper.

�Date? Time?�

�Mid-morning. The girls said you woke up around midnight last night� Starrk answered. �I told Lilinette to take them down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. They haven�t left your side since Ajuga and Karin found you.�

�Division?�

Indeed his next thought was his Division. He vaguely recalled the girls saying there had been a battle last night and he worried over his charges.

�Karin talked to Aizen-kami before walking in to take over. I am not sure how that conversation went, but I got the impression Aizen-kami wasn�t too bent out of shape about it. He was smiling for most of the day afterwards. She�s been running it with some help from Yammy�s pet.�

�Byakuya?� he reflected on that, surprised. �I never thought I�d see the day that monster that Claimed him would permit Byakuya any level of freedom, let alone any responsibility like assisting in a Division.

Starrk must have followed his train of thought.

�Yammy wasn�t too pleased with it, but Kami made it an order to let his pet assist her until you manage to recover enough to resume your duties and that there had better be no un-pleasantries because of it.�

He felt a bit of relief. Hell, he might even take a bit longer to �recover� if being bedridden meant that Byakuya got a bit of relief from the rather uncivilized Espada. Still, he was surprised Karin had been the one to step forward to take care of things.

But then again, given her family history and reputation for audacity, perhaps it shouldn�t have been that big of a surprise. He was unable to dwell on any other thoughts, because at that moment in time the girls returned.

� �take-ji.� Hana and Ajuga squealed happily as they raced to the bed, mindful of the IV and catheter lines.

He offered them both a smile as they crawled into bed with him and nearly tackled him into a hug. His smile widened as he held each girl in an arm and gave them a firm squeeze.

It was moments like this that he was happy he had decided to live, to accept Starrk�s offer and kneel before the other once a year in submission. He looked over the girls shoulders to see Lilinette smirking at him while Starrk seemed just as happy to reclaim the comfy chair and doze off again.

　

　

　

　

I did some research on tuberculoses, which is where the terms came from. Still, I would not be surprised if some of the data was still wrong.

Welcome to the large slew of new readers. I commend you on catching up to this monster, more so if you were crazy enough to do it in one setting. I think the last chapter had the largest number of hits by far, just over 700!!.

In other news, apparently I am three months along and will be due in mid to late June. No clue on gender and don�t plan on finding out.

The reason Starrk wasn�t the first to respond was because he was too far out in the field and Jushiro really didn�t have a lot of time to panic before passing out. So all Starrk would get is a jolt of panic and then calmness again, no different than say, if a cat leaped out of the bushes at you and then ran off.

See you all next week.
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Prize of Victory