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Okay, yes, it seemed like this story has been dead for the longest time, but I finally decided to update it, although I think that I might have lost all my readers since it's been so long since I've given y'all an update. (Either that, or you're waiting in the shadows with torches and pitchforks.)
Anyway, I'll do my best to make this a good chapter to make up for the lack of updates!
Picking Up The Pieces
Chapter Three: Her First Day
A yawn emitted from the lips of the mentioned brown haired girl, but she didn't stir.
"Tohru-kun." Kagura repeated with a firmer tone.
Tohru only turned on her side and laughed loudly in her sleep, much like a child.
"TOHRU-KUN!"
The Honda youth sat up with a squeak, the covers flinging themselves from her thin frame. Her eyes were wide, yet were slightly drawn at the corners from lack of sleep the night before. Tohru looked to the girl who stood in her door way, "K-Kagura-san? What was that for?" She asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hand.
Kagura sharply pointed to her alarm clock, "You're going to be late."
Tohru's eyes became as wide as saucers as she began to panic, "Oh, no, Kagura-san! I can't be late! Hatori-san hired me and I am going to be letting him down by being late and I have to - "
Kagura walked over to the spazzing girl in front of her and put a soft hand over her mouth, "You might want to start by getting dressed..." She said, giving the younger woman a feminine smile to ease her worries.
The brunette blinked twice as her roommate's advice sunk in, "A-Ah..." She mumbled against the hand that was pressed limply over her lips and mouth.
Kagura then patted Tohru on the head, "Good."
She then left Tohru to get dressed for the day ahead.
It only took her about ten minutes to find a skirt and a long-sleeved top to wear over to the office. She figured they would give her an outfit or uniform or scrubs or something else to wear. After she pulled her hair back into a simple, low, ponytail, she was ready to head off to her first day at the job.
Hopefully Hatori wouldn't fire her for being late the first day!
The lounge was a simple one, with counters with food and drinks and a coffee pot settled on it's somewhat messy surface. A couch and three reclining chairs were gathered in the center. This was where the dark haired Sohma got his coffee each morning before he had to go in and meet with his patients.
He took a paper cup from one of the cabinets that was above the counter and made his way over to the coffee machine. As he poured the steaming black substance into his cup, he found his mind wandering to that Honda girl that he gave the job to.
She seemed like a bright, optimistic, cheery girl, which was just what this sometimes dreary hospital needed. Many doctors other than Hatori worked here as well, and they were mostly boring, rich, pompous bastards with no other interest besides getting their paycheck. Most of these so-called "doctors" couldn't care less about the people themselves, although they were brilliant diagnosticians, for they most likely had gotten into the practice of medicine for the perks - money, power, superiority...
None of that interested Hatori, however.
Despite his cold exterior and usually icy approach to things, he actually loved his job. He was very kind and caring toward all his patients, although most of the time it didn't show through his voice, but his actions and the ways he acted toward his patients - unless they were just being babies about a scraped knee, like Shigure was capable of doing - showed that he genuinely cared about their welfare.
Getting payed handsomely to help people...Hatori had no idea that was a possibility when he was younger.
This girl, Tohru Honda, seemed to want to help people as well. That was an admirable trait about the girl that Hatori noticed right away.
Not only was she kind, considerate, and sweet, she was rather - dare he admit this to himself? - cute.
Hatori shook his head, getting that thought from it. He had no time for romance.
In fact, he didn't want to be in a relationship.
Not ever, ever again did he want to feel the joy of loving someone ripped away from him by that loved one dying.
The despair, the hopelessness, the...thoughts that ran through his head nightly. He had hushed the thoughts in his head that wanted him to harm himself. He wouldn't sink to that. He didn't want that...and, more so, Kana wouldn't have wanted that, either. And he had seen his share of suicides, of self-inflicted wounds, that he knew for a fact, that no matter how depressed he might be on the inside, he would never let him cause that pain to himself.
The doctor walked out of the lounge and checked his watch as he sipped on that steaming coffee, noting that the time that he had on his watch was well past the time that all the nurses on the day shift were supposed to be at the hospital, dressed and ready to start, "Hm, Honda-kun is going to be la - "
Suddenly, a flash of brown entered his vision as a small girl charged around the corner, colliding with his solid chest, pushing the coffee against the white of his doctor's garb. He muted his stunned gasp as the hot liquid seeped through and made contact with his skin.
He was almost certain it was her.
"Honda-kun."
She hadn't moved from his chest, but used her petite hands to push away from his form when she heard his voice, "Ha-Hatori-san! I-I-I'm so, so sorry!" Frantic, azure orbs scanned over his lab coat and saw the large, brown stain where the coffee had spilled onto it, "Oh, no, that's going to stain, Hatori-san! I'm really, very sorry that I did that - "
"It's fine, Honda-kun." He reassured, putting an awkward hand on her head.
"But...but you might have to see a patient and then they'll wonder if they have a doctor that can't handle his coffee, then what will he do to me in surgery?" The Honda girl said, genuinely worried.
"I have more coats," Hatori said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I can go change right now."
She raised her innocent eyes to meet his own, more serious, ones, and a scarlet color stained her cheeks, "O-Oh..." She then let out a nervous laugh, as to try and hide why she was embarrassed, "Okay, then..."
"You might need to get dressed too..." Hatori took in the sight of her attire. "We have nurse outfits and scrubs if you don't want to wear the skirt..."
"Ah. Okay," A bright, cheery smile washed over her features, "Where would they be?"
"In the changing room down the hall, last door on the right." Hatori pointed to illustrate his point.
"Alright, thank you very much, Hatori-san!" She closed her eyes in an even brighter smile. She politely bowed to thank him even further before she raced off to get changed.
The doctor just stood there, his mind whirring with the recent events that seemed to go by in just a millisecond. He closed his eyes and was met with a pair of bright blue orbs in his subconscious, and they comforted him, although he had no idea why.
She's an odd girl... He thought to himself before he walked into the waiting room to call on his first patient of the day.
"Oi, it's the new nurse."
Tohru turned, looking at the voice that called her. Immediately, her eyes brightened in familiarity, "Kyo-kun, Uo-chan!"
An orange haired man by the name of Kyo Sohma looked at the shorter woman across from him with a pair of scarlet eyes. A woman beside him, Arisa Uotani, was supporting him on one of her shoulders, blonde hair being caught under his arm as she did so. Azure blue orbs looked at Tohru with familiarity, "Tohru, how's the new job going for ya?"
"I haven't yet gotten started, Uo-chan, but I think it's going to go good!" Tohru smiled at the two, not yet noticing the large gash on Kyo's knee that was bleeding profusely.
"Um, Tohru..." Uotani started, closing her eyes in sympathy for the somewhat scatterbrained brunette girl.
"Yes?"
"We kinda need some stitches..." The blonde yankee pointed to Kyo's rather large wound. "Idiot here fell off the roof again."
"Oi, it wasn't my fault!" Kyo defended, turning his face to meet Uotani's, noses almost touching, "You were the one who yelled at me to 'get my scrawny ass in the house before I freeze to death'!"
"I was only keeping you from getting sick! It was late at night and cold, too!"
"Oh, is making me get stitches keeping me safe?" Kyo smirked at her, his eyes dancing with the thrill of getting her agitated.
She lightly bonked his head with her fist before turning to Tohru and smiling a toothy grin, "Anyway, we have been in that damn waiting room for a while, and they finally called us in here...and we saw you, so we thought we should say hi at least."
"And, also, the woman who called us said I would be getting stitched up by the new nurse." Kyo said, his eyes meeting Tohru's, "I asked her what the new nurse's name was and she said you were the one who was going to do it."
Tohru gulped. "M-Me?"
Uotani and Kyo both laughed at the horrified expression on the shorter girl's features.
"Oh, and look at that." Uotani pointed to a door that said 'Room 14' on its mahogany surface in golden letters, "That's the room they assigned us to - oh, Tohru, you even got your name beside the door!" She said with almost suppressed excitement.
True enough, under the number was a interchangeable sign that said Tohru Honda on the current card. Her eyes brightened at the sight of it, "Uwah..."
I'm officially a nurse Tohru thought, a feeling of pride and accomplishment finally hitting her out of no where.
Kyo hissed through his teach, "Dammit..."
"Ah, Tohru?" Uotani lightly bonked the shorter girl on the head. "Kyon's over here, 'member?"
The brunette shot to attention, eyes dancing back toward the twosome, "Oh, yes! That's right. I apologize, Uo-chan, Kyo-kun." She opened the door and extended her hand toward it, "This way."
She closed her eyes in a brightly innocent smile as she followed the two into the room.
I can finally make Mom proud. I am so happy!
The Sohma doctor pushed his chair in under his desk and rose. He was due to check on the nurse stitching up some idiot who fell off of a roof. The idiot being one of his many relatives in the far expanding Sohma family. Particularly Kyo Sohma.
He stretched languorously, closing his eyes as he did so. When he opened them, they lingered on the picture of Kana he always kept on his desk. After her death, he never had the heart to remove it. He had loved her, after all.
A feeling of gladness shot over his frame as he viewed her image in the frame. Short, straight, light brown locks cropped just under her chin. Warm brown eyes, like cocoa, were smiling along with the playful smirk she had across her full lips. She was dressed in a yellow sun dress - Hatori always said it was one of her better colors, although she looked stunning in everything - and she held a white floppy-brimmed hat above her head as to keep it from flying off.
Kana...
Even in the picture he could see the ring on her finger, and a sense of longing washed over him. Longing to be with her. Longing to feel her lips on his. Longing to feel her body against hers.
And he remembered the happiness they almost shared together.
He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts as he shut the door behind him. There was no use for a depressed, mopey doctor who had his mind preoccupied with his downfall in this hospital.
It took him no time to get to the room where the procedure was taking place. His dark eyes scanned the nameplate and he smiled inwardly when he read the name, Tohru Honda...she must be nervous, having to stitch up a boy the first day on the job...
Inwardly, he chuckled, imagining her apologetic expression after she had stitched a piece of cloth into the wound. Or after prodding the wrong area with a needle. Or after messing up. It was surprising to him how much he could predict about the girl after only interacting with her a few hours in the past two days.
His slender fingers jarred the door open and he walked into the room. Hatori's eyes immediately landed on the newbie nurse, who was stuck in her work, carefully, and precisely sewing up the crater of a wound on Kyo's knee, whilst the orange top and his girlfriend watched with muted breath, as to not disturb the innocent girl in her duties.
The blonde girl - Arisa Uotani if he wasn't mistaken - spoke up as soon as she connected her azure orbs with his dark ones, "Tohru, there's a visitor." She smiled a toothy grin at her friend.
As if just realizing that Hatori was in the room, Tohru looked quickly up, keeping her hands steady with the needle as she did so, "Oh, hello Hatori-san!" Her eyes took on a kind expression, a far cry from the serious look she was giving Kyo's knee injury, "What are you doing here?" She snipped the remainder of the thread from Kyo's knee and threw it into a trash can.
"Just came to check up on the patient..." Hatori replied. "And to see if you hadn't messed anything up." He finished with a slight smirk, signaling that he was approachable.
Tohru countered that with a smile, "Ah ha ha!"
And somehow, Hatori found himself smiling along with her.
It was odd...
This girl was somewhat like Kana, and she intrigued him all the same.
But she and Kana differed greatly. Where Kana was more mature and kind, Tohru seemed to be more innocent and childlike as well as optimistic. Hatori thought that if he had gotten to see Kana when she were younger, Tohru would be the mirror image of her.
Ridding that thought from his mind, for he had other matters to attend to, he walked over Kyo's knee and inspected the stitches, "Ah, well done, Honda-kun. Hopefully you weren't too disgusted by his condition."
"Oh, not at all!" Tohru replied brightly with no hint of malice whatsoever, "I am not a very squeamish person, Hatori-san. Otherwise I wouldn't have become a nurse!"
The laugh that emitted from her was like a fresh breeze the washed over him. Once more, he found himself smiling despite everything.
He laid a hand on her head in a gesture of a job well done. Smiling, he voiced the words that his motions had said on their own, "Good job, Honda-kun."
Tohru found herself flushed at his sudden sign of approval. "Um...ah...thank you very much!"
His hand slowly left her head, and found a place at his side. With a nod that dismissed himself, he walked out of the door.
And Tohru never realized that her eyes lingered on his thin form until he was out of sight, a slight blush tinging her cheeks.
Alright! There it is! I tried to make it as good as I could to make up for not updating in like a year! (Which I am still very, very sorry for! Haha.) It's longer than the previous ones, I know that. So that alone should make ya feel better for your time and trouble wondering if I was gonna continue this fic or not!
Well, anyway, I'm not making things move too fast. Just at the end, Hatori had to do something to show that he approved of Tohru's skills as a nurse and, well...I could imagine Hatori doing that... And Tohru's reaction is just natural. It doesn't mean she's falling for Hatori right away. I mean, if you had someone as gorgeous as Hatori put his hand on your head and smile down at you, you'd blush! Just assuming everyone's like me in that way. Ha.
Okay, so please press the pretty buttons and leave me some nice things to make me happy!
Arigato!
