Doctor, doctor, gimme the news

[thepull_mods]

Who: Sick people and their well-wishers
When: May 13th-June 4th
Where: Hospitals and clinics all over the Port
Summary: A catch-all log for hospitalized people and their visitors all over the Port during the sickness plot. Everyone feel free to centralize your hospital visit threads here for convenience!
Warning: Please mark your threads if you'll need any.

Comments

[plum_that_snaps]

[She can't help but smile at the response, even as her chest aches to hear the wheeze in his voice.]

You're awake.

[She sniffles and wipes a sleeve across her face.] I'll stop when you stop. Shirou-chan. [Defiantly. Childish. A gauntlet, thrown down. Go ahead. Take it. But at the same time serious—get better, won't you?]

[She waits for his retort. Hopes it comes. As long as everything could stay the same, they would be alright.]

[icy_heavens]

[He's aware enough to know what she wants, and it takes a little energy, but he'll give it to her. Because she obviously needs it.] Not gonna die, Bedwetter.

[And he won't. He refuses to. For all that he's failed in protecting her for so long . . . he won't even be able to try if he's dead. And so he won't. Because he says so.]

Too hot in here. [The room is mostly at a normal temperature, with him keeping his reiatsu close. Almost like he's afraid to let it fill the room. It just . . . doesn't seem like it's okay to do that for some reason.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[Her lips vibrate, because she's not sure whether to laugh or cry. You say that now... But Captain Kuchiki hadn't meant to die either. Just all of a sudden, she had gone to visit and he had been... gone. Her stomach lurches as she thinks about it, and her hand wraps a little tighter around his.]

[There's the urge to stamp and pout and correct him, but she can't bring herself to do that, either. He's too tired, and it just isn't the time.]

[She coughs a hollow cough, and then smiles a little apologetically.] I'm glad you're awake, even though I know you need your rest. [Because watching him slip into those feverish, tormented delusions was torture. Torture she accepted willingly for the chance to be by his side when he awoke, but torture nonetheless.]

[icy_heavens]

[He frowns at that coughing. How sick is she now? Should she even be moving around?]

Get plenty of rest. I think the nurses are spiking my food. [Paranoia? Maybe. But he's been rather intractable with them when he's been conscious and they get frustrated with him. He wouldn't put it past them to use something to knock him out for a while.]

[plum_that_snaps]

I try, I— I'm fine. But don't worry about me; you're the one who needs to get better.

[She looks around for a window to open, an ice pack, something to make him feel better, but the ward is already overcrowded with little children and understaffed, and there's nothing close at hand. And she doesn't know why, but... she doesn't want to leave him. Paranoia of her own, she supposes. Doesn't want him dying on her while she's away.]

I don't think the nurses are 'spiking' your food. [She hopes they aren't, or they would see a rather different side to Momo than the sweet, attentive friend they've been purring over.] But it is stuffy in here. I never realized how many people were sick... Maybe when you're feeling better, we can go out into the garden. I saw it while I was waiting, and it looks really lovely.

[icy_heavens]

[See, that's part of the reason he's been being "difficult." They've put him in with the children, despite repeated attempts to explain to them that he's not a child. And what does he get for that? Patronizing head-pats, and sickly-sweet voices trying to "humour" him. He hates these damned nurses.]

[A quiet sigh, and he struggles a bit to keep his eyes open.] Wish I could just make it colder in here.

[plum_that_snaps]

Y-you can, you know. I don't think anyone would mind.

[icy_heavens]

[Closes his eyes, shakes his head.] No. Can't. Makes her sick.

[He doesn't sound like he's quite as with it as he should be.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[Worry in her eyes again. She's seen this already, this fading in and out.]

[Makes who sick? Makes me sick? Oh. He's probably right, though. But I told him not to worry about me. I can always get a coat, or a blanket.]

Your comfort's more important.

[icy_heavens]

[No, no, no. Doesn't she get it? Stupid girl. Does he have to spell it out for her?] Makes her sick. Made her sick for years, could have killed her. Can't keep doing that to Granny.

[He has little concept of what he's saying. Except that it's maybe something he shouldn't. But he's too weary to care.]

[plum_that_snaps]

Gran...ny? [Hinamori brow wrinkles in confusion. What... is he saying? He made her sick? Could have ki... Why is he saying these things? Even in confusion, even in fear and delusion, to imagine something like that... Her eyes stare in disbelief at his lips.]

[It couldn't be true... could it?]

[She steps back in fear, instinctively, pulling her hands up to her chest. Was it true? Had he been responsible for Granny's sickness? Was that what had happened while she was away? Had she really missed so much?]

[She can't blame him; he was just a child, and more powerful than almost anyone she knew. He couldn't have known; maybe wouldn't have even known how to stop it if he tried. No, there was no blame. Only guilt on her part, for she was the one who had left him alone. It was her fault—she had left both of them alone, to go to the Academy, to pursue... Captain Aizen... (oh if only he were here right now, he would know just what to say, he would calm me and comfort my beating heart)]

I'm so sorry, Shirou-chan; I—I wanted to learn to protect you, but to do that I had to leave, and... I never meant to leave you with the burden of caring for her all alone. I wish I had been there. I could have helped. I would have done... something. I didn't know. I... I never knew.

[And it only makes her guilt worse, to know that she never knew. She should have known. Should have asked. She had optimistically assumed that everything was alright, would be alright, if she just kept on her way; that things would work out for the best, as they always had. She steps back towards his bed, even though her whole body aches. She refuses to run away this time.]

[icy_heavens]

[He can hear her stepping away. It hurts, but he doesn't blame her. Though what's all this babbling about. She's being an idiot again.]

... Not your fault, stupid. It's mine. [It would have happened even had she stayed. Her going away to the Academy had nothing to do with it.

[His face softens into something like relief when she approaches him again. She's staying? All this time, he's kept that from her, subconsciously fearing she'd run away like everyone else if she'd known. And now she knows. And she's staying.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[And that clinches it. That he's cognizant enough to say that, to reassure her, means it's really true. Her stomach sinks sickeningly. But she still doesn't agree with him.] It isn't! You didn't do it on purpose. You can't take responsibility for something you didn't mean to do.

[icy_heavens]

[The hell he can't. He takes responsibility for everything. It's what he does. It had been his power, and he hadn't controlled it.]

Can take responsibility for whatever I want. [Even when he's only half lucid, he manages to be stubborn.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[She moves her hand to take hold of his. Hot. He's still too hot. Stupid fever, go away.] But you shouldn't.

[icy_heavens]

[His sentiments exactly. Go away fever, you're making his life hell.

[He's normally one to jerk away from displays of affection, but he just doesn't have the energy for that right now. Besides, it's reassuring to know she's still here, after knowing what he's done to Granny.

[Even though there's even more he's done -- and not done -- to her. And all he can bring himself to say about it is:] I'm sorry.

[Which may be a bit alarming in and of itself; he doesn't apologize for much.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[Her first thought is that he's still talking about what he'd done to Granny, even though she'd told him he doesn't have to be sorry. And it is weird that he's apologizing. If she wasn't so worried about him, she might even find a way to tease him about it. As it is, it only makes her anxious that his mind isn't where it ought to be.]

[But it seems like he's apologizing to her, and that doesn't make any sense. She's not the one he'd have to be sorry to.] Sorry for what?

[icy_heavens]

[He's made his apologies to Granny already; he'd had her forgiveness long ago. It had just been the worry that his only real friend would fear him like everyone else if she'd known . . . It had been rather a big secret to keep from her.]

[That question . . . Oh. Right. She doesn't know about all that, yet. If she did, she'd understand what he means. He has to spell everything out, doesn't he? It's always like that.] Didn't protect you from him.

[plum_that_snaps]

[It's not your job to protect me, is what she wants to say. That's her job. She's the older one.]

[But who is he talking about? There's no 'him' that she knows of in her life that she needs to be protected from. It's been ages since she was bullied; she's a lieutenant now.]

[For some reason, Ichigo's face flashes into her mind. He's the missing piece, here. The one who knows her but she doesn't know him. The human who is also a shinigami. But she doesn't think she needs to be protected from him. He's been nothing but kind to her. No, he said he was a friend of Hitsugaya's (Toushirou, she remembers). So who...?]

H-him?

[She doesn't mean for her voice to come out as squeakily as it does. But even as the word passes through her lips, she gets a chill of fear. He's been avoiding this. She knows it. She's not always as oblivious as she seems. And she's not sure what he's going to tell her. Isn't sure if it's something she wants to know. She's of the opinion that sometimes it's better not to know, better to go into things with an open mind and a clean slate, and take the consequences as they come.]

[icy_heavens]

[When he's more in his right mind, he might start thinking that it's not the vomiting, the fever, or even the patronizing nurses that are worst part of being sick.

[It's the delerium. The delerium that lets this answer so easily and quietly fall from his lips.] Aizen.

[Still not someone she'd have thought she'd need protection from. Even he hadn't, for the longest time. He's not one that easily trusts most people, and Aizen got under his radar somehow. How could he have missed it all that time? How could he have missed it at all when Hinamori's well-being had been at stake?]

[plum_that_snaps]

[She just blinks. And blinks. Aizen. Captain Aizen, she corrects automatically. With Captain Kuchiki dead and Hitsugaya-kun ill, she honestly hadn't wanted to think about him. Too much loss. Too much pain. But when he says that name, it's like... an echo, reverberating in a canyon until it's just a sound. She can't register that. Can't comprehend what he's saying.]

[He's confused, she thinks. More confused than she'd realized. Or he's trying to communicate something else, changing topics, something about her captain—her noble, good, kind captain. Her—it almost breaks her to remember it—dead captain. He'd been slain by that treacherous, sinister Captain Ichimaru and... She has to stop herself from remembering. Forces herself out of her reverie. You're here now. Here. By Hitsugaya-kun's side. Let it—let it go.]

[What had he been saying? Something about protecting her. But he wasn't making any sense.] What—what about Captain Aizen, Hitsugaya-kun?

[icy_heavens]

[It's easy to believe it's just the fever talking. In a way, that's even true, as he wouldn't so casually mention this otherwise.

[The only thing that's getting through to him is that she's confused.] Stupid. I told you. Should have -- [He has to stop for a coughing fit here.] -- protected you from him.

[plum_that_snaps]

Don't. Don't. [What is she saying 'don't' to? His coughing fit, of course—don't push yourself; don't try to talk if it's too much. But from somewhere else, deeper than conscious thought, it has a second meaning. Don't. Don't say those things about my captain. I don't care how delirious you are, how confused. Don't.]

[She looks around worriedly.] I'll get you a glass of water. Stay there.

[icy_heavens]

[He's barely able to hear that, over the coughing. But when she gets up to find him a glass of water, the fit subsides.

[For a few seconds, before a gut-wrenching nausea sweeps through him, and he has to lean over the basin next to the bed before he gets vomit all over the sheets and floor.

[Ugh. This damn sickness. He flops back onto the bed, taking measured breaths. No more vomiting. Vomiting is hell. Fresh air is much better.]

[plum_that_snaps]

[Hinamori returns to the stench of vomit and has to cover her nose. She can only think that it's worse for him, though. Sliding closer to the bed, she holds a plastic cup of ice water in one hand.] Do you want me to help you sit up?