Zorome X Miku: The Forgotten Plantation

13: A Visit

 Miku smiled as she watched one of the feral cats eat from the dish she'd given it. Its beautiful glossy black fur was pleasing to look at and to pet. She'd told Ichigo she would take care of the cats while she was busy assessing Zorome for any further injuries. Now that he was awake he would be able to tell them about any pain he was feeling. All anyone could do at the moment was hope it wasn't something that could only be fixed with the help of the adults. It had been a long time since anyone in the squad had gotten injured or dangerously sick. 

It had stopped raining completely now and the ground was completely wet. Puddles stuck out here and there. At least the squad would have water from barrels they'd put out to catch some. They wouldn't need to go back to the lake to fetch water for a while. It had rained hard! 

Although the storm was over, the temperature itself was unfortunately quite cold. Miku felt sorry for the cats that had to sleep outside in the rain, though they didn't seem to mind living in the wild. 

The black cat she'd been feeding purred, rubbed her legs, and trotted away once it had finished its meal. She gazed after it fondly. She was pretty sure cats were starting to become her favourite animal. 

The door opened behind her and she looked over her shoulder. Ichigo stepped out of the boarding house and went to stand beside her. The blue-haired former pistil watched as the cat made its way back to the woods. 

"Thank you for feeding him," Ichigo said gratefully. "I wasn't able to feed him yesterday morning and I felt bad. I didn't want to skip out on it twice."

"No problem! How's Zorome doing?" Miku eyed her leader's face as she waited for a response. Ichigo's face was unreadable now, though that wasn't uncommon for her. 

"We confirmed that he has a broken leg." Ichigo let out a sigh. "Ichigo says we have proper supplies to care for it somewhere but he'll be out of commission for a while. We also do have crutches somewhere we can give him so he can move around. I'd imagine he wouldn't listen to us if we tried to make him stay in bed."

Miku let out an amused snort. "Ha! There's no way he would let that happen." She felt a wave of relief. She had been worried about his leg but she knew that recovering from a broken bone was fairly easy. We just have to make sure that idiot doesn't overdo it until he heals. 

"Ikuno thinks he has a concussion but we both agree that there are no signs of further brain damage." Ichigo also sounded quite relieved about the situation.

Miku looked at the door. "Is it alright if I check on him?"

"Sure. He doesn't seem to be terribly tired or out of it. Just don't piss him off. We don't need him to have that happen on top of it." Ichigo's voice was both stern yet light-hearted at the same time. 

"If anyone he's the one who pisses me off," Miku remarked as she left to go into the boarding house. She was happy to be out of the cold as she walked through the building. When she reached the boys' room, she saw that Zorome was eating something while Ikuno was messing with some medical equipment. 

"Kokoro sure knows how to make some hashbrowns!" Zorome remarked as he ate his meal. He looked up at Miku and swallowed down a big mouthful as she went to stand closer to him. "Oh, Miku, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Of course, I have," Miku replied. "I literally went down to eat breakfast before, remember?" 

"Oh. Yeah, oops." Zorome's cheeks flushed slightly, though he immediately turned his attention back to his food. "Kokoro made a special batch of hashbrowns just for me! She said she saw it in a recipe book. They're so good!" 

"I know. Kokoro made them for us for breakfast as well." Miku looked away from Zorome and turned her attention to Ikuno. "What are you doing?"

"I'm preparing a cast for Zorome's leg," Ichigo explained without looking up at her. "The bandages he has now are just temporary but they won't hold well. He needs a proper cast to keep his bones and muscles in place so they can heal properly. I found everything I need in a supply closet. It shouldn't be too much longer until I'm finished."

"That's a relief." Miku let out a sigh. Her body was still exhausted from having helped carry Zorome home the day before. She was beginning to feel mentally exhausted as well. "I think I'm going to go nap for a bit soon."

Zorome finished wolfing down his hashbrowns right after she finished speaking and then let out a loud burp. "That was some good breakfast!"

Miku made a disgusted face and stepped away from her partner's bedside. "Ew. Well, on that note I think I'm going to go for a nap now. Thanks to you, I am extremely sore and exhausted."

"I'm not even that heavy! You must be weak if that exhausted you." There was a challenging glint in Zorome's dark purple eyes. 

"I am not!" Miku protested. "If I was strong enough to pilot with you, I think I'm pretty damn strong."

"Hmm...maybe you have a point," Zorome admitted. "I am the strongest member of the squad, aren't I?"

"Well, I'm just going to go nap now. Wake me up if something happens." Miku rolled her eyes and left the room, trusting Ikuno to take care of her partner. He's a moron. But, honestly, he's my moron. Sure, he may be an obnoxious, stupid, reckless pain in the ass a lot of the time but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

As Miku walked back to the girls' room, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. Zorome was alright and it looked like he was going to make a full recovery.