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- “I’ve got a Pulse!”
“I’ve got a pulse!” A deep voice called from above. Ishida’s eyelids wouldn’t open. He couldn't take the pain and exhaustion of it. Ishida knew there was movement around him. He could hear the man shouting vitals to his partner, then spoke to him. “oung man, if you can hear me, I want you to squeeze my hand. Alright?”
When Ishida felt the EMT's thin palm in his own, he pressed as far as his strength would allow. He trembled as a sharp pain went through his shoulder. Had the temperature outside dropped or was the blood loss to blame? He felt sick to his stomach; not only because of the injury, but at failing to protect himself from whatever or whomever had attacked him. A cold liquid rushed into his veins after feeling a pinch on his forearm. He was relieved as the excruciating pain subsided somewhat to a stabbing throb.
“Can you open your eyes? Please tell me your name.” The other, slightly higher voice of another came into earshot. The other paramedic then. Two male paramedics who were hovering over him and had a professional yet concerned demeanor met his hazy vision.
“Ish…ida…. Ury…uu.” He muttered. Still seeing things as blurry, it finally dawned on him that he needed his glasses. “Glass…es…. please.”
The younger paramedic looked startled but yelped. “Of course!” The man quickly came back and put the eyeglasses back on Ishida's face. Everything returned to focus. Night had fallen, the sky a purple black dotted with stars. How long had he been unconscious?
Ishida's school coat and shirt were peeled off by the medics as they worked to stop the bleeding and stabilize their patient for transport.
“We’re going to move you now, Ishida-kun. Please stay still and relax, okay?” The deeper voiced medic instructed.
He had another flash of pain when he was lifted and set down on a plush but firm surface... a gurney. It was only then that he realized he’d been laying on hard concrete. A soft material was tucked around him up to his shoulder and he was strapped onto it so as to not to move. Despite the dimness of his consciousness, the Quincy could feel a pulse oximeter being placed on his finger, as well as EKG leads. His mouth and nose were covered with a plastic mask, letting him breathe in the valuable oxygen his body would not allow him.
His mind reeled at the man, the being who could fly in mid-air with a spiritual pressure that he didn’t recognize. He certainly would not tell Kurosaki about being cut down…. not at first anyway. Ishida did still possess his Quincy pride after all. But it worried him all the same that a new enemy had appeared that they did not yet know about.
From somewhere he heard Karakura Hospital and winced. No doubt he’d be getting more than an earful from his father.
“Ishida-Sensei?” a feminine voice called to the silver-haired Quincy. The young woman was in her third year of residency, though she remained timid around the stern doctor. She held a clipboard in her hands, and her face was one of worry.
“What is it, Maruya?” Ishida Ryuuken huffed impatiently. It had been a long night already. Several drunk driving accidents had come in and he was loath to admit to his energy flagging so early on in the night.
The nurse’s expression became grave. “We have a patient coming in. Seventeen years old, shoulder sliced open, great deal of blood loss.” She paused, biting her lip. “The paramedics said the boy’s name was Ishida Uryuu. That’s your son, isn’t it?”
Ryuuken's eyes narrowed. “What?” He immediately took the clipboard to read it. It was indeed Uryuu’s name on the patient information list. His mouth pursed. Damn, what had that boy gotten into now?
“Ishida-Sensei?” Nurse Mayura interrupted his thoughts.
His face was stony as he handed the clipboard back, “I will operate on him myself, so make sure OR 3 is available for transfer. Set up a surgical team. Make sure you have a number of AB negative units on hand.”
“Yes, Ishida-sensei. Time of arrival is in five minutes.” She watched the emergency entry as she hurried off to carry out her orders. Uryuu had been wounded more than once because of his steadfastness in using his Quincy status to protect this town and the Living. Silly naive arrogance. Despite all of his self-training, Uryuu had entered into battles for which he was unprepared.
The minutes passed like hours until a gurney rushed through the emergency doors, stopping in front of him. Even though Uryuu was unconscious, agony was still pinching his face.
“What are his vitals?” He questioned the medic.
“B.P. is 106/68. Pulse is 140. Breathing on his own.” Was the reply.
Ryuuken noted the blood-soaked bandage on his patient (for he now was a patient and not his son) with some concern as it was bleeding at a significant rate. Had an artery been hit?
“Get him into ER room three!” Ryuuken ordered, while gripping the rail of the gurney while helping steer it into an emergency bay. He had already lost his wife and had no intention of doing the same with his son. Especially to the boy’s own stupidity.
Two hours later, Ryuuken stood by his son’s bed in intensive care, waiting for him to wake. Uryuu was in worse condition than initially thought, as his subclavian artery had been nicked by whatever had sliced through his shoulder. It had taken half an hour to stabilize him and a further hour and half to operate on the boy's shoulder. Oddly, he sensed an unknown spiritual power in the wound.
The anesthesia would soon wear off, but Ryuuken still didn't think his son would talk about what had happened. Uryuu’s eyes had dark bags underneath them, indicating that he had not been sleeping well lately. The silver-haired Quincy grimaced. He remembered Isshin telling him that his son Ichigo had lost his Soul Reaper powers 17 months before.
‘So that’s what Uryyuu has been doing,’ the doctor mused ‘Eliminating Hallows because Kurosaki’s son can’t do it anymore. At least he will be forced to rest thanks to this. And his friends can find out more about their enemy, so Uryuu’s novice skill won’t get him injured again.’
A cell phone ringing from Uryuu’s school bag jolted Ryuuken from his reverie. When did he get that? Most people nowadays had one and apparently his son was no exception.
Fishing around the bag he soon found it, then began to search its contact list. The first name that popped up was of Inoue Orihime. That was Uryuu’s classmate that was gifted with healing.
Pressing ‘DIAL’, the line rang twice before a cheery female voice answered it. “Ishida-kun? What’s up? I-”
“This is Ishida Ryuuken, I’m Uryuu’s father. He was badly wounded and is in Karakura General Hospital, room 345 on the 3rd floor.”
He heard an audible gasp from her side. “Is Ishida alright? Is he going to be okay? Please tell me!”
He sighed. Never let it be said that Uryuu’s friends didn’t care about him. “He’ll be fine, but he will have to remain in the hospital for a while.”
The revelation caused Orihime to lose her enthusiasm. “I see. I’ll call Kurosaki-kun and then be there in ten minutes. Um-thank you, Ishida-sensei.”
When the call ended, Ryuuken carefully placed it back in the bag. From his pocket, he fished out Uryuu’s glasses and Quincy bracelet, which he placed on the bedside table.
In the very least, Uryuu would keep fighting out of pride, regardless of the outcome.
END