The Butterfly Effect

Chapter Ten: Stabilize

Stabilize: transitive verb, \ˈstā-bə-ˌlīz\

1. to make steadfast or firm
2. to hold steady

***

Uryū sat on the narrow edge of the Fourth Division hospital bed, both sides of his shihakusho dropped to his waist, exposing the half-healed cuts on his back from his fight with Kuchiki. They still stung every time he moved, and the medics had deemed his injuries severe enough to call for additional treatment.

Despite being in Soul Society, the room they'd put him in wasn't that different from any other hospital. The walls were stark, sanitized white, with pale green curtains on the windows and the same starchy sheets as his father's facility had. He clamped down on the desire to scowl.

The woman working on him, Unohana-taichō, was far above Hanatarō's level of ability, considering how much she accomplished in a short time, and the utter lack of further pain from the healing process. "You're just about done," she informed him, her voice mild and pleasant. "I'll do the reiryoku restoration next."

Uryū lifted his head sharply. "I still have reiryoku?"

She blinked at him, and then dipped her chin. "Ah, yes. Quite a bit of it, in fact. I assume you must be referring to the loss of your ability to filter reishi, but I assure you, the two capacities are completely separate." Her hands glowed a soft jade color as she passed them an inch above his skin, the myriad cuts on his arm closing over completely, leaving not even scars in their place.

He'd... sort of known that, but maybe he hadn't understood it as well as he'd believed. "The technique I used... it was supposed to seal off all my spiritual power."

Unohana gestured for him to offer his other arm, which he did. "Well, misunderstanding is to be expected, when one is only first learning. It doesn't help that different people use the words in different ways, and spread the misunderstandings. What I mean to say is that you still have power within yourself, like we do. What has been impaired is your ability to draw power from outside yourself. Do you understand?"

Uryū nodded, watching idly as more sections of his broken skin melded together, smoothing out into new flesh, slightly pink compared to the rest. "I just thought that I'd lose them both, when I did it."

For a long moment, Unohana studied his face. "I'm sorry to say I'm not an expert on Quincy techniques," she said, "but you should not dismiss the possibility that it is the explanation that is typical and you that is strange, rather than the other way around."

He compressed his lips, but elected to change the topic. "I don't want to seem rude, Unohana-taichō, but you're the captain of the entire division. I don't really understand why you're healing me."

"As opposed to what? Letting you die?" Uryū's brows knit. It was hard to tell, but she seemed almost amused somehow.

"Actually, I just meant that you probably have more important patients to work on. Hanatarō did enough work that I wasn't in any danger of actually dying, and besides that, I'm both a ryoka and a Quincy, so—" He pushed his glasses up his nose where they'd slipped down.

The kidō in her hands changed color, gaining a golden tinge, and she moved her gloved hands to his temples. "Your instincts in such matters are not entirely mistaken," she agreed, conspicuously making no apology for it. Uryū found he didn't mind that—for someone so polite, she made her meaning very clear between her words.

Where before she had merely been repairing his wounds, now she seemed almost to be restoring something else, something he would call energy or vitality if he didn't already know the name. It felt oddly like a mild electric shock, or the pin-and-needle sensation after a limb had fallen asleep, only over his whole body. "But you are also, now, someone with powerful friends. You have two of the Seireitei's most senior captains firmly insisting upon your value, and the support of three of the four great noble houses, even if one is only indirect."