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takes place shortly after this thread

The little Tanaka's day was not going as well as she'd hope. First, she'd fallen out of a window and landed in a muddy puddle, bruising her tender little bottom as she landed unceremoniously. Second, she'd been molested by some weird man in the woods, where she had gone to enjoy some peace and quiet (and maybe hide from her father forever and ever and ever). Then some old jerk had the audacity to insult her, her, the soutaichou's daughter! and then get away with it after she slipped and landed on her bottom again.

Not to mention that whole sprained ankle thing. That was about a six year stretch of badness. The bruises, the stains on her hair and face and clothes, the scratches, the rips, the sticks in her hair, and the throbbing mess that was her ginormous ankle. Oh, and the chastising. Always with the chastising. She didn't think there was any physical retaliation, but then again, she couldn't remember much of the return, so if Malik had hit her - purposefully or on accident - she had no idea.

But he was so worried!

Didn't he know she was a big girl now? Couldn't he tell that he wasn't wanted around? That she wanted to be alone and that she wanted to do what she wanted? That she could take care of herself? She'd been by herself for five years, ever since her mother had to leave her, alone, with him. She didn't need him then, she didn't need him now!

He put a leash on her once! Treated her like a dog!

She had just wanted some peace and quiet. Now she was stuck in the loud, obnoxious waiting room in agonizing pain, berry stains on her bruised face, sticks and needles hanging out of her hair and clothes. Blood was congealing on her dirty palms and somewhat cleaner knees, and on that scratch over her eyebrow. The longer, shallower scratch on her cheek was itching, but her shoulders were too sore to even get her to raise her arms. Just as well they couldn't rise; the easiest place to put them was across her chest and rolled inward, making her skulking that much more obvious.

Her face wasn't helping either; she was red and puffy from crying her eyes out at the jerk chopping wood, swollen where she had been smacked by a light branch, bruised and battered from her fall into the brambles. The berry stains in her hair and on her skin made her look even worse – she only had the one real injury, aside from the few scratches on her face and the shiner where the branch had made contact. The red and purple stains, however, painted a much different picture. There could be a hidden head wound in her scalp with all that nasty gross mess on the top of her head. There could be huge open, oozing wounds beneath her clothes. There could be a broken bone and she could have been bleeding under the skin.

Except for the ankle, with the torn ligaments from tripping and then wrenching it through a grouping of vines after the resulting face-first tumble into that patch of brambles, and the scratches from her thwarted escape, she was in excellent health. Completely and utterly enraged, and somewhat painful, but in excellent health. So there she sat, fuming and glaring and belligerent as could be, waiting for this healing-thing to get good and done so she could go shut herself away from the world.

And Malik.

Harupia was doing fine if anyone was curious.

Indeed, it was a pretty good day for the Fukutaicho. He had given an afternoon report to the Taicho (or his father, as he would refer to him outside of the division...during work though it was all business) and now was just free to do as he saw fit...of course within his workplace. After taking a small break to get himself a warm cup of tea, he walked through the hall's, trying to see if anyone needed any help.

Though some still liked to poke and prod at him about his past misguided actions, he worked hard every day to make the blemish on his name vanish, and he was making good progress if he could say so himself. most of the patients either weren't really awear of it, or just didn't care as he tended to them, or just talked to them trying to make them feel better. And even if there was a bit of question if his past deeds really effected his work ethic, he was quick to prove that he was worth of his spot, being probably the best medic besides his father. So he was feeling rather good with himself.

The feeling was not spoiled at all as he walked into the waiting area, in its usual state of nosiness and chaos. To him though, it was pretty much what he grew accustomed to. He would even risk saying it was pretty calm. Taking a sip of his tea, he saw the various people, coming alone or with their children, asking for help for different reasons, bruises, colds. Yep, just another day in the of...oh my.

One of the ladies in the waiting room was looking a bit more...well, while she wasn't looking like she was in a critical medical state, she was most likely in a rather rotten mood. The visible scratches looked harmless, but her general state of being looked like she had quite an adventure. Though she seemed quite angry about the fact...probably why no one approached her yet.

Well, he wasn't going let her sit there for long. Approaching quickly to the slightly younger looking girl, he would say "Ive already took a drink from it, but you can have my tea if you don't mind that...its nice and warm, it always helps t sooth my stress a bit, hehe* chuckling slightly at the end of his sentence. Smiling warmly at Mai, trying not to agitated her more he would say "My name is Hitoshi Harupia. If I may ask, what injury forced you to wander into the 2nd Division?" asking the question while sitting down next to him, still offering her the warm tea.

By the time Mai managed to extricate herself from herself, Harupia had become comfortably seated; her nasty face had contorted into a hilarious mask of pain when she reached out for the cup, muttering a raspy thank-you to the fukutaichou before taking a very slight sip. If anything, she was a lady. An ugly, angry lady. An ugly, angry, glowering lady.

She had been abandoned by the person who put her here. How dare that rotten Malik! First, he makes her get hurt, then he dumps her in the care of this stranger...what if he was a predator or something?! He looked normal, somewhat, and had offered her his tea (AFTER drinking it, but to be polite instead of scared and/or angry, she did take it), so he couldn't be too bad.... But still, she was abandoned. What kind of father did that?!

A mean, nasty old jerk of a man who was prone to child endangerment.

As she glared at the poor tea cup, she licked her lips; she wasn't prone to lying to anyone but her father, but the sheer embarrassment of the situation was enough to make her consider it. Well, until she told Harupia her name; once she did that, the cat was out of the bag. Maybe the doctor guy didn't mean her any harm, so he could be trusted. Not that she had a choice. Hoarsely, she explained her situation, conveniently leaving out the fact that she all but tried to run away (that's what it amounted to, at any rate). She did explain that she fell on a root and then into a patch of brambles "whilst traipsing through yon forest," but did not tell him that she was being chased by her father.

It was the bare minimum, the most basic of details needed to get the job done so she could hobble her tiny self out of the medical facility and back to the safety of her own room.... She would figure out the stairs later, as she had more pressing matters to attend to, like the melon in her ankle. Using her head, basically the only bit of her body that didn't hurt to move, she gestured toward her swollen ankle, mumbling, "My ankle really hurts now."

He was glad to see she has taken to his offer and took a sip of his tea, though he still felt a bit bad about having drank from it first...if they had the time he would make her a fresh one. But that was something for later, he was here to I've medical aid, not to be a waiter, hehe.

As he sat down he listened to her explain the situation briefly, nodding as she spoke. So running through the forest...well, it must have been one hell of a jog to have her come in such a state.It seemed a bit odd a simple walk in the woods ended up like this...then again, there was no real signs of a struggle, so she couldn't have met a Hollow...or at least couldn't have gotten into a fight with it.

Still, pondering on what happened to her to much wasn't really serving any purpose. He would simply say "I see...well, you had quite an adventure in he woods huh? Its a good thing that you managed to get back to the city in one piece, especially with a hurting ankle...speaking of which, we should probably take a look at that first.

Now Ill take a wild guess and say you don't want me to check your leg here in the middle of the crowd right?" he asked rhetorical (at least he though so) laughing a bit before saying "Now my office is upstairs, but I think Ill manage to do everything we need in one of the rooms o this floor. You'll need to hop a bit on one leg but we should get there quick. And don't even think about going there on you own, no need to strain the ankle more." he concluded standing up, and leaning down gently towards her, offering to support her as they moved to an empty room. Now he had the slightly inkling to offer and carry her, but he wasn't sure if she wouldn't take it as a form of patronizing. Besides, it always carried the risk of both of them getting hurt by some freak accident...best not take you chances if not necessary.

With a great effort, as she did not want to harm herself or spill the free tea, Mai struggled to her feet; she wobbled precariously right on the edge of the seat, accidentally dropping the cup of tea and clutching to Harupia for support. He appeared to have expected it, given by his posturing, but hopefully he would collapse on top of her...that would be really bad.

And bad things were bad.

If they managed to keep their footing, or Harupia managed to keep Mai from crashing to the floor like the teacup, Mai could manage a haphazard half-hop down the hall to the room the Fukutaicho had specified. Her face would be red regardless, and tears were welling up in her eyes..both from the pain and the embarrassment she was going through.

[sorry, that's all i got D:]

Hmm...perhaps he should have be more thoughtful...guess he should think more about whats good for the patient rather then what she would feel dignity wise...either way, he managed to hold her up good, though the tea cup would be lost for the ages. Oh well. Trying t not make much of a fuss about it, seeing that she was getting even more distressed and a few heads turned towards the broken teacup he said with a chuckle "Its all fine, just need a small clean up here!" before heading towards the first empty room they could find, holding the girl with all the strength he could muster, almost carrying her towards the room , though making sure he didn't grab her in some improper way, holding her tight by the waist

Still, as they entered the room, he felt that wasn't such a good idea, since he still wasn't the most physically strong Shinigami around. The room was a typical doctors office, a a few cabinets with supplies, a nice seetee in by the wall with a sink next to it, a set of curtains to let patients dress or undress when needed and a desk. Setting the girl quickly on said seetee, he would bend over a bit and while panting and say "S-sorry for grabbing you like that, I guessed we shouldn't waste time... Just need a small...breath..."

After the small break he would take a deep breath and then say "Alright then, lets take a look at you leg...this might hurt a bit, but Ill try to be careful...So in the meantime, would you mind sharing you name with me? It would make talking to you a bit easier without having to come up with some nickname" he said with a chuckle, as he crouched down. Not wasting time, talking to her in an attempt to try and distract her, he would move on to take of her shoe, and then roll up her pants to reveal the leg. After that he would gently prod, just to see how bad it was. While swollen, it didn't look broken, twisted at most. This shouldn't be to hard to deal with. It was just the accumulation of bad events that made her so distressed, he was pretty sure.

In order to prevent Harupia from crashing down on top of her as they walked, Mai tried her hardest to put as much of her weight as she could on her outside leg - the one that wasn't sporting the injured ankle. She was a good twelve inches, at least, shorter than he was, so it made for quite an odd shamble down the hall. Managing about one assisted step for every three of his, they made it to safety with only the cup as a casualty.

At least he didn't grab her inappropriately. That would have been very bad, which was much worse than bad. Even when he went to set her down.

While he was busying himself with the horrendous process of removing her muddy shoe and rolling up her sodden and mudcaked hakama, she pondered on the use of an alias. "I'm..." she winced as her ankle shifted position slightly, the searing pain sending her face into a steady stream of contortions as she fought to keep it even. "...Tanaka Mai," she finished, alias forgotten due to the pain.

Curiosity undulled, however, she peered over Harupia's head and gasped at the motley ankle. Her tiny, delicate foot was grossly swollen, heel bluish and purple from all the bruising. The joint itself was a huge, shiny mess, shaped not unlike an apple; were Harupia to prod it, even gently, he would send the poor girl into a fit, no doubt. It was gross...and fascinating, all at the same time.

And it hurt really badly.

Hmm...it seems that he misjudged the wound at first...though he still was relatively sure the bones weren't broken. Still, as he discarded more of the soggy, muddy clothing, he could see just how swollen the foot gotten...it must have hurt really badly, which he confirmed to himself as he saw the painful expression on he face...it made him feel a bit bad, but he needed to know what he was dealing with so he could treat it.

To make things more comfortable for them both, he gently let go of the wounded leg, and stepped back to bring a stool to where the young Tanaka was sitting, as well as a small vial with some dark looking pills in them. He then gently propping the leg upon it. The healing would take a bit more time then he thought, and he didn't want her to keep her leg suspended int he air all the time.

After that was done, he would get out one of the pill's out of the vial and pass it to her, saying "Take this please. Its a pill made out of herbal ingredients. Its should help numb the pain out just slightly...don't worry, its not strong so you wont get knocked out or something, though you might feel a bit sleepy. I don't really think you need anything stronger. You got here in spite of the pain, so you must be a tough girl" he said with a smile. Once she took the pill (or refused to do so) he would continue "Id give you something to drink but...offices don't usually have drinking water in them sadly. And just one more thing... Your absolutely sure nothing really bad happened during you walk? Some kind of Hollow attacking, or some mugger trying to assault you? If you don't want me, I wont tell your father about the accident, but if its something more serious, it would be best to tell him bout the troubles...but if it really just is a case of bad luck, don't worry, he wont find out anything embarrassing from me" he concluded with a wink.

He was a bit surprised to see the SouTaichos daughter, but then again, he was just a normal Shinigami as any of them, prone to injury. To think he met the daughter of one of his heroes in such circumstances...it was a bit amusing. Still, he didn't really need such motivation to try his best to ease her pain. As he stopped talking and went to one of the cabinets, he took out some destilated water and some cotton. By now the medicine should be slightly dulling the pain, so he could do what was needed first, clean the wounded area. and so he did, making sure to be as careful as possible to not cause her to much pain, while being as quick as possible with it.

Obediently, Mai took the capsule presented to her, making a face at the taste it made. Her ankle throbbed in time with her heartbeat, but it wasn't so bad now that it was elevated, and surely the medication would kick in and dull the pain further. And she was already tired, so whether or not the remedy would sedate, she'd fall asleep when she got home anyway; even as her father would probably scream and yell like he always did.

"He carried me," she stated bluntly. "After he chased me into the bush. He tried to cut me." Not necessarily a lie, as Malik had chased her as she ran away, and he did deposit her outside the Second Division per her demands, and he did try to cut her out of the vines. "I just wanted to take a walk, be out in the trees. But he came for me and chased me! I didn't want to be chased! I wanted to be left alone!" she began crying suddenly, large tears running down her face as the emotions took over. "I don't want him to yell at me! I was so scared! It hurt so bad!

"I miss my mommy!" she wailed, unintentionally providing enough of a distraction so that Harupia would have to console her before going to tend to her wounds; her body was shaking from all the crying, and while the fukutaichou was no doubt skilled with striking moving targets, he surely wouldn't want to cause her further harm by accidentally poke her in the eye....

[x.x]

Harupia was glad she started talking, that always helped to calm someone down....Most of the time at least. As he worked a bit on cleaning the swollen leg, Mai shared more details about the whole event...it sounded a bit harrowing to say the least. Though he wasn't quite sure why would Malik-Taicho (who he assumed was the "he") would try to cut her...maybe it was some mistake she made out of stress?

And then it went a bit more in depth, the girl getting more and more emotional as she poured out her worries...of course, the fact that she was shaking considerably made it harder for him to do what he needed, but he was more worried about her in general. Especially after mentioning her mother. He did hear about her untimely death...it was a rather gloomy day in their household as his father relayed the message to Tanaka-San...he guessed the girl took it even worse.

Ceasing any healing treatment for the time being he set away his tools, and slowly moved in a bit closer, making sure the leg was still suspended on the chair. He would slowly move in closer in case she would react he would offer her a soft embrace, gently patting her back as she cried, while saying "There there...let it out now. Bottling up you feelings like that wont do you much good most..."

Who would have known that a gentle hug was all Mai needed to feel better?

Certainly not her; though she was stiff at first, and sudden contact did have that effect on some people, she eventually clung to Harupia until her sobbing had subsided. Unstable as she was, this would take some time.

(Sorry for ickiness its all I got D:)

sent from my notsosmartphone of breakingthingsness

He remained still as she held onto him, sobbing more, until he felt her calm down slightly. He would try to sooth her a bit more rocking gently, while he said "That's right...there's no shame in crying. It just show how much you miss her...I'm sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how it must feel... Tell me Mai, did you try and run away from home? Or did you just need a walk alone?" he asked, a bit curious about some details of the whole incident. Of course he probably would have to pry a bit longer to get more details, but they weren't in much of a hurry now anyways.

Harupia wouldn't get an answer to his question, however much he would have liked to know. Gradually, Mai's sobbing subsided, her clingy grip lessened, and her breathing assumed the slow, even pace of one asleep. The fukutaichou, at least, would get a chance to heal the poor girl without her making a fuss.

Though how the child would get home would be a story, and maybe one to be told another time.

(awesomecraptastically crappy exit here D:)

Hmm...guess the combined physical and emotional strain of the whole ordeal had taken a toll on the young girl. As she dozed of, he let her lay down in peace, while he worked on healing up her leg. By the time she awoke she should be fine...maybe laying down a day or two to make sure the leg healed up nicely. After that... well, that is indeed a different story.

(Exit as well)

cain i think you forgot this one D:

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Thread closed and locked, points distributed as follows:

Mai - 7

Harupia - 7

Points to be added shortly. Note, a PM for notification works too