A Weak Foundation... [Erica, Ranma]

It was chaos and as Erica completed the treatment of what felt like her 100th patient, she felt a particular spiritual energy that broke through it all. She would’ve recognised it anywhere and after a final check of the brutally beaten Shinigami before her, the pink haired woman would confirm that her work was exemplary, before dusting off her hands and returning to her feet. The woman before her would survive, thankfully, with the green eyed woman having done enough to save her life.

The moment her confirmations were complete, she was gone, moving quickly across the ward as she headed towards that pressure that she knew so well. Erica had been worried sick about her boyfriend, a knot in her stomach so tight that it felt as though it would never be undone. Never had she experienced such worry and while she kept herself as chipper as she could, a horribly difficult task given the circumstances. Her time working in the hospital had taught her well when it came to handling herself in a crisis but this was something else entirely.

Her zanpakuto would work as usual, releasing its sweet smelling aroma in order to not only help calm the healer but everyone she passed as well, doing her utmost to help as many as possible.

Yet, her path was strictly in one direction though and soon enough, she heard a familiar voice, one who was under the bodies of three Shinigami as they tried to keep him still.

Without waiting a moment, she’d move forward and make herself known “It’s alright, Ranma! The 2nd is fine and so am I.” Smiling, she’d motion for the Shinigami to leave him be, while scratching the ear of the ginger cat with her free hand. Snuggles always seemed to know where he was needed. “I’ll take care of you, as I promised I would.”

Taking his hands in return, Erica would do her best to hide the concern from her face. He looked like he’d taken another beating and while the healer managed to keep her emotions under control, her zanpakuto released another burst of flowery pollen in order to help everyone relax nonetheless. She could feel her shoulder relax after a moment or two and even Snuggles seemed to respond, purring a little as he refused to leave Ranma’s side. They’d become such a tight knit family in so short a time and the pink haired woman couldn’t have been happier.

“I’m glad that all of your hard work with Kido paid off and I’ll make sure that I’ll teach you another trick or two when you’re ready.” Erica replied with a smile, squeezing his hands gently as her healing senses started to look him over, figuring out her game plan for repairing the damage done “For now, I’d better focus on getting you all fixed up.”

As she gently held his hands, the woman’s limbs would turn blue as she began to heal her boyfriend’s injuries. “Who was this woman that you fought?”

It wasn’t a pleasant tale at all, causing Erica to sigh as she started to properly heal him. His opponent sounded like one of those people who simply harmed others for fun, a concept that the healer couldn’t understand. It was the antithesis of how the pink haired woman lived and she sadly shook her head as he continued with his story. While she hadn’t been on the front lines, Erica had already seen plenty of victims, knowing full well that by the time her task was done, she would probably be completely exhausted but that was her joy and she wasn’t going to turn away from it. The wounded needed her now, more so than ever.

“There’s no point dwelling on the past now. You fought with all your heart and soul, which is as much as anyone could have asked you to. Both you and Komugi will survive this. For now, just focus on healing up and then getting back on that training ground when you’re ready. That’s all any of us can do now.” She replied sagely, doing her best to smile for him as she went about her work. His hands had taken a severe battering but it wasn’t beyond Erica’s talents to heal.

“I don’t have much information regarding the Rukongai besides one area being hit.” She replied to his question. “They were never going to be able to annihilate it due to the size and it does appear that they were aiming here rather than there. I’m sure your Kido teacher will be just fine, given how strong she is. The woman may not be in the Gotei anymore but she’s still a Shinigami and I doubt she could sit idly by while innocents were at risk.”

“It’s not all that rare for Shinigami to become disillusioned with the Gotei.” Erica replied after some thought. “My mum is the perfect example of that. She didn’t want to deal with all the politics and aggravation so she just left. I don’t know what she was like when she was in the Gotei but I’ve rarely ever seen her without a smile. She knows that she can do more good for people outside the organisation and that maybe your teacher feels the same way. We all have to follow our own part, after all.”

“From what you told me about her, it sounds as though she teaches because she enjoys it more than anything. Kido is such an enjoyable art to learn and I get more than most the fun that comes from tinkering with it. The academy can only teach the basics after all and sooner or later, we have to experiment to get any better, right? Perhaps that’s why she doesn’t teach there.” She went on, continuing to heal him as she spoke.

“The thought of learning from someone new is always enjoyable although I admit the last person I asked for training turned me down.” The healer added after a moment thinking back. “Her name is Hannah and she refused to teach me because she said my path wasn’t one which would include much combat. I couldn’t argue with her to be honest as that was before I got over my fears.”

“Sounds like her time in the Gotei must have been rough then if she’d go to the trouble of making training dummies of them.” Erica replied with a sigh. “I don’t know anything about her besides what you’ve told me but considering how tough our job is, I’m not surprised that her experiences might have deeply hurt her. All we have to do is look around us now to see just how horrible being a Shinigami can be sometimes and it probably is too much for some.”

As he moved on to speak about his desire to work on his Kido, Erica managed to summon another smile, pleased that he was so eager to work on the art. “No you can’t and I reckon all masters eventually turn away from the norm and create their own spells. It’s something that I certainly hope to be able to do one day and I don’t see why you couldn’t either. You’re improving all the time.”

Getting into the groove of healing, her eyes seeming to gain a bright hue, she’d move on from his hands to the other parts of his body that had been struck, putting her all into healing him. “My mother is as stubborn as ever and while I haven’t heard from her yet, I’ve no doubt that she defended our home with little trouble. She’s tough.”