My Second Home Is Where The Heart Is [Erica, Ranma]

There was a noticeable raising of the eyebrows as Erica headed towards the room of her next patient, green eyes glued to the notes that were attached to the clipboard in her hands. She'd come across her fair share of gung ho types in her time but from what she was reading, this guy just seemed to love hurting himself. It was a concerning scenario and while the healer had her usual smile across her face to relax those around her, she was slightly worried. Constantly this Ranma was coming to her barracks with the same injuries and Erica couldn't help but think that perhaps it was deliberate self harm. If it was, then she'd put a stop to that, for not only was it her duty but also because she just hated seeing anyone in pain. Hated it with a passion.

Before she could enter the room, a rather frustrated looking nurse came out to meet her, much to the chagrin of the pink haired healer. She recognised the annoyed expression instantly, having been on the receiving end of it a few times herself in the past. Erica kind of felt sorry for the guy who had just had to deal with this steely eyed gaze and before she could say hello, the nurse spoke first.

"Good luck trying to get Ranma to listen to anything you say because it just goes in one ear and out the other with him."

Before Erica could say a word, the nurse bustled past her and off down the corridor with her muttering and mumbling being easily heard by all those that she walked past.

"Cheerful as always." Erica uttered to herself, once the coast was clear and with a chuckle, before entering the room.

Her chuckle only lasted up until the point that she set eyes on her patient, who was laying on the bed, with the brows of the pink haired healer soon enough furroughing with concern. He looked like he'd been in a fight with a menos or something and she wasted no time in approaching him, her healer senses already running rampant as she began to look him over. The notes had said that he'd managed to do all this from a fall and she didn't even need to look over the details again to understand the kind height that he must have jumped from.

Without any hesitation, she'd place her clipboard on the table beside his bed and start to tap into her kido powers, with the result being that her hands would turn a light shade of blue. Placing them just above his body, she'd then start the process of healing him, her green eyes starting to glow a little as she worked. There'd be no pain for him and more than anything, it should have felt quite relaxing and it was Erica herself who'd probably feel the fatigue later. Yet, she was skilled and hadn't trained in the field for nothing.

Her gaze turning to look at him in the eyes, she'd take the time to introduce herself.

"Hi there. My name's Erica Tolvan and I'll be the one taking care of you today. You've certainly taken quite the battering here and I'd very much like to hear about just why you've been jumping off of so many high buildings. It seems that you've been doing this regularly and I'm concerned about your well being."

He didn’t give her much of an answer as to why he was leaping off of buildings and the pink haired woman wasn’t entirely convinced by his story. It showed a little on her face too and didn’t do an awful lot to ease her concerns. Given the amount of times that he’d already been in the infirmary and his seemingly complete lack of care towards his own safety, Erica couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that he’d probably end up back under the care of the second division again at some point.

“You’re quite the sweet talker and I appreciate the compliment, Ranma, yet you didn’t answer my question. I don’t understand why you feel the need to risk your life by trying to leap to your doom. I’m no expert on communicating with zanpakuto and mastering its abilities but there’s surely a safer way to do it. Honestly, it sounds to me as though you have a death wish and that’s something that many of the nurses have written down in your notes too. If you need to talk to someone about what’s going on in your head then I’m all ears. Your mental health is just as much a priority to me as your physical.” Her tone was soft and she spoke in such a way so that it wouldn’t appear to be a scolding. She was just worried about him and from what she’d heard so far, Erica had every right to be.

Her attention would be perfectly split between her words and her actions though, with her hands adjusting slightly as she maintained her focus. She had a lot of work to do here and while for the moment, Erica was focused on his torso, she’d soon enough be moving along to sort out the rest of his issues. His legs were in fairly bad shape and she wasn’t all that eager on leaving them that way for long.

There was something else as well and after a few moments of silence, she’d add with a touch of dry humour. “Unless this is to do with your insatiable lust for booze. That’s something else that’s mentioned in your notes.”

He was relentless with the sweet talk and if the situation wasn’t serious then Erica might have been a little more responsive to it but as it was, she was determined to keep the conversation focused on where it should be. Ranma opened up a little bit, at least, which was a good start although Erica couldn’t help but believe that he was drinking to get away from his problems. That’s what it sounded like and when you put that together with his numerous accidents, it painted an unpleasant picture and one that the healer didn’t like at all. Whatever baggage he was carrying, it seemed clear that it was having a negative effect on him and the pink haired woman honestly thought that bringing it out into the open would help in the long run. Bottling up your worries never solved anything, it simply made everything worse.

His torso was healing nicely and as she continued her work, Erica began to extend the range of her kaido, so that it began working on his damaged legs and shoulders. The green eyed shinigami adored the healing arts and even though it forced her to face some of the most horrible wounds, the ability to do something about them was enough to bolster her resolve. One day, she truly wished to be able to heal any wound and that was a goal that pushed her onwards every day. There were those who probably wished for the power to destroy hollows but Erica didn’t want it for that purpose. To save a life was so much more rewarding in her opinion. A lesson that she had learned from her mother, when she was just a small child.

“I’m not going to strap you down and force you to tell me anything but you might feel just a little better if you do. We all have periods of our lives that we aren’t proud of, mistakes that we’ve made or choices that we wished we’d picked differently but we can’t change the past. All we can do is learn from it and keep pushing forwards. It sounds to me as though you’re drowning your sorrows in order to shield yourself from the past and are pushing yourself beyond your limits in an attempt to cause permanent harm to yourself or worse. We’re going to be here a while though, so you might as well take the chance to open up to me while you’re here. Nothing you say will go beyond the walls of this room and I won’t write a word of it in my notes. Just tell me a little bit about yourself to start with and we’ll go from there.”

A smile crossed her features then and there was just a momentary sparkle in those green orbs of hers. “You can keep going with the compliments too while you’re at it.”

The hands of the healer continued to move as she listened, now having moved on completely from his torso and down towards his wounded knees and legs. They’d taken the brunt of the fall and Erica could detect the stress that they were under even now. Dedicating some time to them, the pink haired squad two member would do her utmost to bring him comfort, her reiatsu feeling like a comforting blanket around his own. Of course, she hoped that perhaps it would help soothe his restless spirit a little as well although Erica knew that it was going to take more than that. He had his burdens and from the sounds of it, they were severe. The nickname that he mentioned was not one that she’d ever heard of before but honestly, she didn’t need to. It painted quite a mental image for her and his words only confirmed it.

“I don’t know much about the higher numbered districts, except what all shinigami are told but I can only imagine just how tough it was for you to have to grow up living there. Fighting is key to survival in such places, isn’t it? Where the seediest of the soul society spend their lives. It’s not a place that I’d like to grow up in but the fact that you’ve made it here and want to change is surely a sign that you want better for yourself, right? It’s like I said before, you’re never going to forget your past and it’ll always be a part of you but surely you can use all that experience for good, yeah? You obviously can do it, having got through the academy and into the eight division and clearly you have the potential, so what’s holding you back still? Are you afraid that Vengeful Retsu will appear when you least suspect it and harm those you mean to protect or those in your squad?”

She’d pause her healing then for a moment and move to a jug of water that was placed by his bed, pouring a glass of water for him. “I’m afraid that water is all I can offer you at the moment and there’s no way that I can let you have alcohol while you’re here. I haven’t gotten around to healing your arms just yet though so you’re going to have to let me help you sit up. You don’t mind, right?”

Now that she had his permission, Erica would take the utmost care in helping him up into a sitting position, doing her best not to cause him any discomfort. She was confident that his body would be alright now but there was still work to do. She’d need to get back to working on his knees soon and the healer didn’t want to waste any more time than she had to in getting to work. So far, the pink haired kaido user didn’t feel all that fatigued herself, mainly due to the many hours that she’d put into increasing her skills in the field. The infirmary was where she wanted to be and Erica had focused her entire time in the academy in achieving that. It wasn’t easy but she’d stayed the course, thanks to her parents' support and her own determination. She took so much satisfaction from her work and every day was another chance for her to help those in the greatest need. It lit a fire under her that never seemed to go out and she experienced such joy in what she did.

Erica only opened her mouth again once she was sure he was resting comfortably. “You don’t need to be Vengeful Retsu anymore, Ranma. There’s no longer any need for you to have to be that scrappy brawler from Rukongai who got in fights all the time. Sure, there are going to be times where you’re going to be under stress while on the job but you’re a shinigami now and we fight to protect the soul society and the innocent. We’re a shield against those who seek to harm us and I want you to remember that whenever you use your fists from now on. Leave Retsu where he should be.”

She was about to help him with the water when he complimented her again and his suggestion simply caused her to shrug her shoulders. “No, I’m not seeing anyone, if you want the truth. I’ve spent so much time with my training and work that I haven’t had much time for it. Oh, I get the odd compliment now and again but it never goes past banter.”

It was then that she raised the cup to his bandaged face, curious as to just why he was wearing them. She didn’t detect that his jaw had taken any damage. “I’m going to need to lower these if you want a drink. Is that alright with you?” It might have seemed like a stupid question but from what she’d learned about him already, Erica assumed that there was a reason why he wore them.