femslashficlets | [2] Janelle Monae Lyrics (Bleach)

Title: The Waiting Game
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Dokugamine Riruka/Inoue Orihime
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: None
Prompt: "Pink like the halls of your heart"
Summary: Riruka worries over Orihime and hates herself.

When Inoue Orihime comes back from the battle with Yhwach injured and in pain, Riruka tells herself to let it go at least three dozen times between the palace and Soul Society.

Her hands are trembling. There are tears brimming in the corners of her eyes and she sniffles at least twice as she goes back with the others, keeping her head down and turned away so no one else can see the level of her distress. Yukio is the only one who notices but he knows her well enough to keep it to himself, not to draw any attention to how she feels right now. Instead, he kicks his foot against hers and that is it. Nothing more, nothing less, and the perfect response to how she feels right about now.

Orihime is in bad shape. Even without having any knowledge of medicine beyond a very rudimentary knowledge of how antiseptic works, Riruka can tell she must have suffered a strong blow against Yhwach. That she stood against him at all is commendable but Riruka wishes she hadn’t for a variety of reasons. None of those are personal, she thinks.

All of them are personal. She knows this better than anyone else.

When they reach the Fourth Division building in Soul Society, newly-appointed temporary captain Kotetsu Isane takes Orihime in to begin healing her immediately. They need her healing powers for the rest of Soul Society, left in ruins, so they need her in perfect condition as quickly as possible. Someone asks Riruka if she is okay, if she needs to be attended to; she watches them take Orihime away until she can’t see her anymore.

A soft-spoken young man with a nervous voice sits her down in a chair and wraps her hands around a mug of tea that warms the numbness in her fingers. “We just have to look after her for a bit! I promise she’s going to be okay. Kotetsu-fukutaichou is amazing.”

“Right.” Riruka stares down at her tea. “Thanks. Take care of her.”

The shinigami smiles, pats her on the shoulder, and leaves her in the quiet. Only when Yukio’s hand brushes her shoulder does she bother looking up at him.

“She’s okay,” he says, and Riruka exhales roughly and nods, draining her cup and setting it aside. “Go see her. I think it’d do her some good to see a familiar face.”

Riruka is on her feet in an instant and tells herself this means nothing even as she follows the signature of Orihime’s reiatsu through the building. She finds her resting quietly in a room alone, her eyes closed, autumn-orange lashes resting on her cheekbones, her cheeks flushed a soft, soft pink. It’s cute and Riruka bites down hard on her tongue as she takes up a seat at her bedside. She came this far. She may as well wait for her to wake up.

How had it come to this? The annoyingly bright and bubbly girl who managed to snatch up Riruka’s entire box of doughnuts by doing nothing more than being cute. Too cheerful for her own good, too optimistic despite all of the dark horrors of her childhood. The sun when Riruka had only known darkness for most of her life.

She takes Orihime’s hand in hers and waits.