Patience Soi Fong hadn't said a word the whole time Yoruichi sped behind their police escort, and though she felt like now would have been the time for comforting words, the older girl declined to speak as well. When they finally reached the hospital's Emergency wing, the policeman handed Soi a small stack of papers and a pen set on a clipboard. "As his only surviving next-of-kin, I'll need you to fill these out to the best of your ability," he explained as he sifted the legal forms through calloused fingers. Soi glanced at each document in turn, only offering the slightest of nods that she understood. Before long her feet had lead her to the ICU, Yoruichi standing a short distance apart and an indifferent receptionist clacking on her computer's keyboard before her. "E-excuse me," Soi whispered, slightly surprised at hearing her own voice after her silence, "...I-I'd like to see Zhou Fong, please?" "Hmm?" The shaggy-haired woman popped a strip of orange-flavored bubblegum into her mouth before continuing. "What's the name again?" "...Z- His name is Zhou Fong," the freshman caught herself getting ready to scream at the receptionist, taking a deep breath even though her shaking hands betrayed her building dread. The woman at the computer sighed as she pulled her headphones out of her ears, then typed into the machine in front of her for a few minutes. "...Sorry, he's in surgery right now. 'Should be out in an hour or so, though." "Wait! How bad was he--" Soi tried to ask, but before she could finish the receptionist had already gone back to ignoring her. Forcing herself to breathe, Soi walked away from the desk, crossing the bustling hall to the nearby waiting room. "Soi?" The girl blinked, glanced over to see the source of the familiar voice standing a few feet away; she'd completely forgotten Yoruichi was here. Yoruichi stood in place for a moment with something on the tip of her tongue, but then she simply placed a reassuring hand on the freshman's shoulder. "...I'm gonna call Kisuke, but I'll be back in a minute, okay?" Soi nodded, then sat down to concentrate on the stack of papers still in her hand. ---------- By the time Yoruichi got back Soi was mostly finished. There was some forensic-investigations show blaring on the ceiling-mounted TV; acknowledging that no one was watching it she turned the machine off with a click. "Hey, you want something to drink?" "...No. I'm okay." The smile Yoruichi had put on in the hopes of lightening the mood fell at Soi's answer, and she sighed quietly as she put her handful of change into the nearby soda vendor. The eventual halt of a pen scratching on paper signaled the completion of Soi's task, and as the freshman set her clipboard down Yoruichi settled into a chair not far away from her. "He's going to be fine." Soi looked at Yoruichi, surprised at the conviction in her words. "...I don't think he'd leave you like this, Soi. He's too good a man for that." Even though the older girl wasn't looking her directly in the eye, the Chinese girl did feel just a little less frightened. "...Thank you." A knock on the glass outside the waiting room made them both look up, and to Soi's mixed relief Urahara walked in, giving them a small wave for a greeting. "Have you heard anything yet?" "No," Yoruichi replied to his query. "...He should've been out of surgery at least half-an-hour ago." "Hey-- you're the ones waitin' on 'Zhou Fong,' right?" the receptionist asked from the doorway, holding a clipboard in her hand and the same disinterested expression plastered on her over-madeup face. "He just got put in Room 339. East hallway." ---------- "Well, isn't this a small world." Yoruichi blinked in surprise as the school nurse stood outside the door to the elder Fong's room, smiling warmly at the youngest of them. "Ms. Unohana?" Yoruichi asked with a puzzled look on her face. "...I didn't know you worked here." "Just part time," the motherly woman said nonchalantly. "To be honest, I'm here as an intern-- made the mistake of not going for a Master's my first time through med school. But that's neither here nor there," she finished as she turned to Soi. "...He's in here, if you want to see him. I'm afraid he's resting though." The freshman nodded fervently, though the anxiety was still clearly written on her face. Yoruichi took a step forward only to be stopped by Unohana's arm and an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but it's family only right now..." "It's fine," Soi muttered. "...No one else will be coming anyway." Yoruichi's face fell at her friend's cold statement, but said nothing as she followed the girl inside, with Kisuke pulling up the rear. Soi clutched the side of the hospital bed as she stared down at her father; other than his face he was practically indescernable below a thick mess of bandages, and in spite of that he was even sporting a few cuts over a patched right eye. "...Is he--" "Don't worry, Miss Fong," Unohana said with a smile. "...It actually looks a lot worse than it turned out to be. He's going to be just fine." At this Soi's death grip on the bedrail loosened, accompanied by a rather loud sigh of relief, and though Yoruichi wasn't nearly so obvious in expressing her satisfaction a small smile flitted on her lips nonetheless. "Still, he'll be here for a while before he'll be able to go home. Probably a week at most." "Well, that's a relief," Kisuke said with a chuckle. "...When exactly did the accident happen?" The nurse furrowed her brow for a moment before coming up with an answer. "The surgeon admitted him as soon as the ambulance got here around 8:00 P.M. I haven't looked through all the records yet, but it happened at 7:36. Someone called his place of employment and found out that he'd gotten off around 7:03. He kept mentioning his daughter's name all the way to anaesthesia." No one in the room noticed Soi flinch as something in her head clicked, the pieces falling into place as if they were right in front of her. But she said nothing as her friends kept conversing with Unohana, swallowed hard as she felt knowledge forming a knot in her stomach. "Well, it's already late, Miss Fong," the nurse said regretfully as she brought Soi back to reality, "...I should really let you get home." The freshman wanted to protest, wanted to stay here for as long as it took for him to get better, but fatigue and her own guilt made her too weak to do anything but offer a compliant nod. "Oh, and if you could give me the forms you filled out I can take them to filing for you." "Hey Soi-chan," Urahara asked with a hint of a worried look on his face, "...Are you gonna be okay on your own?" "...I'll be fine, Urahara-san." Soi handed the papers to Unohana with a feeble 'thank you,' then followed the upperclassmen to the outer hall. "...I've got food and stuff at home." "That's NOT what I mean and you know it," the blonde said seriously. "It's no problem. I just need to get some sleep." Yoruichi glanced over at Soi, caught the bleak look in her eye that betrayed her distress. The idea of her stuck alone at home for God knows how long...it didn't sit right with the older girl at all. "Soi..." At Yoruichi's interjection the freshman turned around, caught the pensive look on her face before she continued. "...You know, there's always my place." "No, Yoruichi-san," Soi answered quickly. "I couldn't impose..." "It'd be no such thing," Yoruichi insisted with a smile. "I've got too much room anyway." When Soi made no protest, Kisuke patted the younger of his companions on the head. "It's settled then. On the way back, we'll stop by your house so you can get some clothes, all right?" "...Okay."
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