“we were hoping you could .. you know, get through to her.” she can hear the other speak to ichigo, even though she’s lying down on the infirmary bed, back to the two at the door. “she’s been non-communicative for… a week now, and the higher ups don’t want to place her on personal leave.” they’re still talking about her like she’s not even there, sends shivers of irritation down her spine but she doesn’t move. “we’re thankful for any help you can give us, kurosaki-kun.”
It sickened him how willing they all were to ask this of him. To use his relationship with her as a means of getting her to “ snap out of it ” despite everything she’d been through. All the hell she suffered through in that goddamn hellhole Kurotsuchi called his division.
At the mention of ‘higher-ups’, he bristled. They couldn’t mean Toshiro or Rangiku-san, could they? No. Neither of them would even ask him for any of this. It had to be some other seat…or the 46 maybe. He didn’t know and he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let them put her back out there for her to pretend to be fine when she so obviously wasn’t.
Nevertheless, he nodded and the officers let him be.
“ I’ll bet you’ve been wanting to deck those guys, huh? ” he could see the line of tension in her shoulders signaling her displeasure even as she faced away from him. He took a seat at her bedside. “ ‘m not gonna do anything they ask, just so y’know. ”
She wasn’t the type to listen if she didn’t want to, but that would not keep him from speaking now. Aiko was still his little sister, memories or no and he wasn’t going to just let her think he’d do as ordered because it was inconvenient for them for her to be affected so. “You don’t own anyone shit after all that.”
That’s all Shinji had said about it. Like she’d been through hell.
If he wasn’t so worried about her, he’d kill that clown faces bastard right then and there for what he’d done. He just might do it anyway when he was done here. Shinji would look after her---unlike anyone else here, he actually gave a damn about her. But... no... It would be selfish of him to abandon her yet again when she was suffering like this. It would be selfish to do that in her name when more than anything, it would serve no purpose other than alleviating his anger---if only slightly.
He ground his teeth together as let his head fall against the wall. There was a question, bubbling at the back of his throat, but Ichigo wasn’t sure he could bear to voice it. Something he needed to know, but dreaded the answer to. “ Do you... ” He hesitated for a moment before his own lack of resolve angered him. ‘ You’re not a goddamn coward! ’ he seethed internally. “ Did it work? ”