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Akari gripped her arm, blood pooling around her fingers as she tried to stop the bleeding, to little avail. She gritted her teeth, stumbling forward to lean against a tree, catching her breath. She had killed the demon that had been tormenting this small trade town, but in the process she injured her arm, a deep gash running from her shoulder to the inside of her elbow, making the rest hang limply as the damaged muscle twitched.
Maybe throwing her body in the way of the demon wasn’t the brightest idea if she had a perfectly good sword to use, but either way, it had spared the life of a civilian, so it was worth it.
Her vision swam as she slumped down heavily, leaning against the tree. At least the beast was now dead. A sharp, panicked coo cut through the ringing in her ears. Nijiiro no fluttered down from above, landing in the dirt before hopping closer, feathers puffed as she took in the blood soaking Akari’s sleeve. The pigeon let out another call before taking off, wings beating hard as she flew, most likely searching for the Kakushi.
Akari’s eyes felt heavy, she hadn’t noticed she had closed them to begin with. Her body was heavy, the kind of feeling one gets when you wake up from a nap, thirsty with crusty eyes - not knowing how long you were out for. As she squinted her eyes open, she was met with the distant sound of voices in the hall. Why would she need her eyes to hear, she didn’t know, she wasn’t a doctor.
She blinked away the blur from her eyes and turned her head slightly to gaze around the room. Aside from a few medical beds and seating arrangements close by, there wasn’t much to see. For a moment, her brain didn’t catch up, but she realized she must be back at the Butterfly Mansion. A Kakushi must have found her after she passed out. Or been led to her by her pigeon.
There were only two other patients in her room with her, one wrapped from head to toe with bandages, each of their limbs stretched straight away from their body like a starfish as they continued to sleep, unmoving. The other person in the room didn’t seem to be badly injured, a bandage around their side and leg. He was also fully asleep.
Nijiiro no perched atop the headboard of Akari’s bed, chest rising and falling rapidly as if she had only just arrived. At the sight of Akari stirring, the pigeon gave a short, insistent coo.
Akari pushed herself to a sitting position, her arm protesting against the strain. Someone knocked on the door of the room; she guessed one of the nurses.
She cleared her throat before saying, “You can come in.”
It had been a while since she ever needed to invite anyone into her space, since she usually didn’t have anyone to invite or a space to speak about. The door opened, revealing a young man with short black hair and cool blue eyes. He shuffled in, carrying a bowl and some bandages. A shiver ran down her spine and her eyes narrowed for a moment before she quickly put up a neutral expression.
Something didn’t feel right.
The man set down the bowl at her bedside table. It was filled with some warm water and a rag. Then he set out bandages that were stored under the small table.
“Hello,” he greeted her, not unkindly. “My name is Hakuji, and I am one of the nurses here. I came by to redress your wounds as well as clean them.”
He spoke in a soft voice, his face carrying no malice, but Akari got the strange, vulnerable, unnerving feeling that he could see straight through her with those cold, blue eyes, as if he could see the very fiber of her soul. Either way, she just nodded in response.
This man gave off a strange vibe, but she couldn’t pinpoint it, as if his truth was veiled under a thick fog. Maybe it was her imagination.
Hakuji started unwrapping the bandages covering her arm, pressing the wet cloth against them so they didn’t stick to her wound and risk tearing anything. It was painful, but Akari assumed whatever drugs she was on were taking most of the pain.
“How bad is it?” she rasped, her voice sounding rough as she was reminded of just how thirsty she was. A cup was handed to her, and she took it with her uninjured arm, sipping at the contents as if trying to savor the cooling feel in her mouth.
“It’s better than it could have been,” Hakuji started, running a finger over the prayer beads at his wrists. “It will most definitely scar, but otherwise it should heal well. Infection hasn’t set in, and if we upkeep the treatment, your movement shouldn’t be impaired by the scar.”
Akari nodded, not taking her eyes off the man’s movements as he took the jar in his hand, coating his fingers in a cool, clear-looking gel and smearing it on and around the gash. She didn’t want to look at it, feeling queasy at the idea of seeing her own flesh twitching on the inside.
The initial touch stung a little, but the gel felt pleasantly cool after a few seconds. His fingers were cold against her skin, though she wasn’t sure if that was because her temperature was higher than usual, the gel being cool, or this guy having weird cold fingers. Akari shivered again, a wave of unexplained unease washing over her. It wasn’t the pain; the drugs were clearly doing their job. It was him.
Hakuji’s movements were precise, almost like he’d been doing this his entire life, though clearly he was new at the mansion. He worked diligently, his blue eyes focused entirely on her shoulder, tracing the terrible length of the gash. He was an excellent nurse, she had to admit, yet something about his intense concentration made her skin crawl. But as she watched him work, she had the distinct feeling his mind was elsewhere.
He finished applying the gel, then began wrapping fresh bandages around her arm, starting from her shoulder and working his way down to her bicep. The clean white cotton felt soft against her skin.
“You’re lucky the muscle wasn’t completely severed,” Hakuji mused. “A few more inches, and your arm might have been useless.”
“Yeah,” Akari replied, not sure how else to answer. They lapsed into silence.
After a few minutes, Akari cleared her throat again. “How long have you been a nurse here, Hakuji-san? I haven’t seen you here before.”
Hakuji’s eyes snapped to her for a moment before he finished up his work with the bandages. “Only a few weeks or so, but I had been helping out around the mansion before that.” He rubbed the back of his head as he leaned back. “But I’ve had… experience with sicknesses. And care taking."
Akari hummed. “I see.”
She did not see. The man before her was an enigma. The energy he gave off didn’t feel right, but if the Insect Hashira had trained him as a nurse, she felt she could do nothing but trust in her judgment.
“You should get some rest now,” Hakuji said, gathering up his things and standing up. “It’s actually quite late at the moment, and your body needs the rest.”
Akari nodded, glancing at the darkened window before watching as he left the room. Something felt very, very odd about him. She didn’t think she would be able to shake that impression anytime soon. Why was he even awake at this hour? She would have expected a more experienced nurse to take over the night shift, not a newly hired one. She wriggled back under the covers of her bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Nijiiro no fluttered down from the headboard to perch beside her pillow, feathers still slightly ruffled. The bird faced the door long after Hakuji was gone, remaining alert. Akari doubted she would get much sleep, having just woken up from a long rest. This was gonna be a long, boring night… she wondered if demons felt this way when they had to wait out the day, not being able to just close your eyes and sleep through the hours. It was an odd thought to cross her mind, but she guessed the beasts would busy themselves with something else. Could demons have hobbies too keep them occupied? Or did they only have a single drive in mind? She sighed, reaching up to pet Nijiiro no. At least she had something to think about now.