Saviors [GiyuShino] [Apocolypse AU]

Chapter Four: One Step Closer

"Oh good morning, Captain!" Doctor Kocho says, setting a steaming plate of bacon and eggs on the table in front of me. "Eat well. And take your time. Today will be a rest day for you and your soldiers. My girls and I finished preparing for the apocalypse yesterday, so unless the zombies reach us today, there's no work for you to do."

I stab my fork into my egg and cut out a small piece with a knife. "Okay."

She smiles again, and I notice that it's fake. I think back to yesterday. All her smiles were fake except when she smiled at Nezuko and her sister. It seems there's more to her than she lets on.

"We should get along. After all, we're all going to be living under the same roof for a while." she puts a couple eggs onto her plate and takes a seat across from me.

"You're not eating bacon." I observe.

She shrugs. "I don't eat much meat." she explains.

I take a bite of bacon. "You have a lab."

"You don't know how to ask a question, do you? And yes, I do have a lab. It's where I do all my research." the doctor replies. She pauses for a second before she speaks again. "Can you please not talk with food in your mouth? I'm sorry."

I reply with silence.

Our comfortable silence is broken when Hashibira dashes into the kitchen, loudly demanding breakfast.

"Please don't shout. And don't run in the halls either. If you run into Naho, Kiyo or Sumi, they could get hurt." Kocho reminds him. "There's bacon and eggs on the counter, there's enough for each of you to have two eggs and two pieces of bacon."

"I'm very sorry about Inosuke's behavior, Doctor Kocho." Kamado apologizes for his friend, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he straightens up from his bow. He heads towards the counter to serve himself and his friends.

Zenitsu smiles nervously and greets us. He looks around the kitchen. "Um, forgive me for asking, but where are the girls? Nezuko isn't here either."

"They woke up an hour ago and they already ate." Kocho explains.

"Oh okay. Thank you." Zenitsu goes to take his plate.

Kocho finishes her eggs and sets the plate in the sink. "When you're done eating, you can find us in the lab. Stand in the doorway, but don't come in. We'll get know each other after my work for the day is done."

"Okay!" Kamado and Agatsuma chorus.

"See you soon!" she waves and leaves the room.

The four of us eat quickly and head to the lab. Kamado carefully opens the door. What we see inside is something we'd never seen before.

Doctor Kocho's lab is a large, white room, with two huge metal tables in the middle. There is a sink built into each table, and shelves piled with beakers and test tubes line the walls. The doctor and her helper all wear lab coats and masks, and have their hair tied up, out of their face. Nezuko watches Aoi mix together two colorful liquids with barely contained excitement, her eyes sparkling.

The doctor herself is peering through a microscope as she carefully mixes many chemicals I've never seen together in a small test tube. She uses an eyedropper to squeeze a drop of something into it and jumps back. Whatever she put in causes a chemical reaction, making a cloud of potentially poisonous smoke erupt out of the glass tube. She waits for the cloud to dissapate before she leans back in.

She studies the solution through the microscope with careful eyes and pulls back, a satisfied smile turning up the corners of her lips. She murmurs something to herself and picks up the beaker.

I can't tear my eyes away from her. I can see how dedicated she is to her work, and the amount of focus in her eyes is astounding. There's something enchanting about her. Something is different about her when she works. She looks so at peace, and, in that moment I try to imagine what she's feeling.

Forgetting about all the horrible things she's ever seen, every negative thought erased from her mind, replaced by numbers and questions and hope for success. There are no emotions in science. This may be the only time of the day when she isn't sad.

She takes a deep breath, and everyone in the lab turns to stare. They watch anxiously as she pours the solution over a sample of something. She gasps and hurriedly moves it under her microscope. She looks through it silently for a what seems like forever, and, although I'm clueless as to what she's looking for, I find myself holding my breath.

Finally, she pulls back.

"Yes. Yes! We're one step closer to finding the cure!" the doctor gasps breathlessly. Her eyes gleam with a mixture of complex emotions that I cannot understand. She steps away from the microscope so her helpers can take a look.

The three little girls squeal happily, dancing around the lab. The second oldest grins like the Cheshire cat, gripping the edge of the table to keep herself from falling to the floor. The oldest sister's eyes light up and her hands shake uncontrollably as she adjusts the tool.

Doctor Kocho herself doesn't waste much time on celebration, although the scientific light in her eyes is noticeably brighter as she tucks the chemical formula away in her file cabinet.

The government is right. This doctor will be the one to save us all. It is my duty to make sure she lives long enough to do it. And maybe, just maybe, it is my wish as well.

A/N: I hope you liked reading this! Please let me know what you think. I hardly know a thing about chemistry, so I didn't know what I was writing about this whole chapter, but I improvised. I hope it was good!