It was early in the morning when Kuro woke in the now familiar hospital room. It had only been a week since he first opened his eyes here, but it felt like a lifetime. Kuro was looking forward to getting home. The place he lived was a small apartment, but it was his, and no one could just walk in to talk to him. He didn’t exactly dislike spending time with people, but the solitude was peaceful.

As if to counter his thoughts, Mai suddenly appeared in the doorway pushing a wheelchair in front of her. “It’s time to get you out of here. Hop in and we’ll get you home.”

“You know I can walk right?”

“Hospital policy. Now get in and I’ll get your things.”

Kuro slowly and cautiously got himself out of the hospital bed. He tried to seem confident walking over to the wheelchair to take his seat. He’d been able to walk around the hospital for the last two days. It was painful but nothing he couldn’t deal with. He wanted to look capable, especially if it meant he could go home without anyone thinking he needed a nurse to take care of him.

Mai wheeled Kuro out of the hospital to the door of a luxurious black car; it was longer than most other cars but not quite a limousine. A man in a pristine black suit and tie opened the door to let them in. Kuro felt a bit uncomfortable but complied without complaining. Once they were seated and strapped in, the car sped away from the hospital. The whole situation was just awkward for Kuro. Spending so much money on something a bus could do seemed ridiculous to him and it was odd facing someone while in the back seat of a car. Mai seemed at ease with everything though. She ran her hands over her skirt, smoothing out some wrinkles and asked, “Are you looking forward to getting home?”

“I guess so. It’ll be nice to get settled in again. Does the driver know where to go?”

“Yeah, you’d be surprised what my dad can figure out when he wants to know something.”

“That’s a little disconcerting.”

“He means well, and he genuinely seems to like you.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing yet...”

“He’s usually pretty standoffish with guys my age so it’s nice to see him loosening up.”

The car came to a stop and Mai patiently waited her door to be opened. Kuro didn’t wait for someone else to do something he could do himself. He opened the door on his own and stood in front of his familiar apartment building, relieved to be there. The building was a single story and appeared old and poorly maintained. There was a row of similar buildings, each with four apartment doors. Kuro led Mai to one them.

“This is it. Building two, apartment four.” Kuro said as he twisted his key and opened the door. The apartment really was small. Almost everything fit in one room. Kuro’s bed was laid out at one end while the wall closest to the front door made up the kitchen. The only separate room was the bathroom.

“I suppose you won’t have much trouble getting around the place after all.” Mai said looking around the room and closing the door behind her. “The room may be small but its clean and well organized.”

“Thanks, I guess. A mess goes a long way in a smaller apartment but that also means it takes less work to keep it clean.”

“Do you need any help getting things around? I can help you get lunch ready if you like.”

“I appreciate it, but I would like to take a bath and prepare some things for work tomorrow.”

“I understand. If you need anything…” Mai narrowed her eyes and looked at Kuro with an annoyed expression. “I know you're not trying to go to work tomorrow.”

“I just want to get ahead on a few things before I-” Kuro was cut short as the front door flung open. A pretty woman, a little older than Kuro, stood in the doorway. She wore a dark blue blazer and business skirt with matching pumps. She had shoulder length fluffy dark red hair that framed her face, which held an angry expression.

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“I take time out of my busy day to come check on you and what do I hear? A dumbass who doesn’t know how to follow instructions blatantly announcing his intent to do exactly that?” The red-haired woman stepped closer to Kuro and placed herself right in front of him.

Kuro took a step back and bumped against the edge of his bed. “I wasn’t going to go in, I just wanted to-”

“To what? To get hurt again and put yourself out of commission even longer? I don’t wanna hear it. You’re no use to me if you die, you know?”

Mai seemed very surprised to see the red-haired woman and lightly tapped on her shoulder. “Um, Ichigo? Are you all right?

Ichigo turned to Mai with a bright and warm smile. “I’m doing very well! How are you sweetie? Is your voice feeling better? It sounds better for sure.” Ichigo’s attitude with Mai was like night and day compared to how she spoke to Kuro.

“My voice is feeling much better, thank you.”

“That’s good news, I’m happy to hear you’re feeling better. You’re such a nice girl taking care of this thick-headed idiot even when you’re recovering yourself.”

“It’s not all that bad.”

Kuro sat on his bed as the two women spoke. “I’m glad you two are besties now but I still want to get around for a bath and I would rather do that after you’ve gone home.”

“The nerve of this guy!” Ichigo said as she faced Kuro again. “You could at least pretend to be grateful!”

“I am grateful, for both of you. Mai has done more than enough for me over the last week between helping me get around, making me food, and keeping you up to date. And Ichigo, there’s no other boss out there who would be so accommodating and do so much for their employees. I just think you’ve done enough for me. I promise I’ll be careful and only go back to the office when the doctor says its ok. I can take care of myself so there’s no reason to worry about it.”

“You really are a dumbass.” Ichigo said crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Is there a finite amount of help someone can receive? You need to get over this phobia of yours.”

Mai sighed and shook her head. “Ichigo is right, you really should just accept help when you need it.”

Ichigo wore a more serious expression now. “I don’t understand why you’re so averse to having others support you once in a while. You work so hard for the company and you go out of your way to assist the younger employees whenever they need help, so what makes you any different than them?”

“The difference is that I don’t need the help. I can handle most things by myself so there’s no need for anyone to spend time on me.”

“Well, even you need help sometimes. Surprise, this is one of those times. So suck it up buttercup.”

Kuro slowly stood from his bed and walked over to his kitchen area. He dug through a few cupboards and pulled out a kettle. “As long as you’re here did either of you want some tea?” He began filling the kettle with water and pulling out cups before waiting for an answer. His wound was aching but he thought if he could show that he could handle things they would feel better about leaving him alone.

“I appreciate it but I actually have other plans I need to get to and it looks like you’ve got things handled here for the time being. I’ll head home now but you better call if anything comes up.” Mai replied.

Ichigo glared at Kuro for a moment and finally said, “Fine, I’ll leave for now too, but I expect you to heal up as quickly and thoroughly as possible. If you don’t, you’ll have a lot more to deal with than a little bullet wound.”

Mai pushed Ichigo to the front door and said, “We’ll be leaving now. I’ll check up on you in a few days so take care until then.”

Kuro thanked the two women a few more times before finally wishing them farewell. After closing the front door behind them he turned off the kettle and made his way to his bed. He let himself fall back onto it, grunting from the impact. I’m finally home. I can enjoy the stress-free solitude.

Kuro rolled over onto his side, which helped a little with the pain. I do feel bad for making them worry but it’s easier like this. Letting people get too close just makes things harder in the long run. I don’t even know why they’re so insistent. Mai barely knows me, and Ichigo only deals with me because she’s my boss. Kuro let out a long sigh. Everything will go back to normal with enough time. I just need to keep things from getting out of hand in the meantime.

Kuro sat up and carefully walked to the bathroom to prepare himself a bath. He was really looking forward to a good soak, especially after remembering that awkward sponge bath with the male nurse. I could have ended up with any nurse and it had to be the one guy working there… Kuro shook his head and laid out his clothes on the bed while the hot water was running.

Kuro took his time cleaning up before hopping into the bath. He was grateful the bandages were waterproof. He broke his arm as a kid and remembered having to wear a plastic bag on his arm every time he needed to get wet. As he lowered himself into the hot water it felt like every stiff muscle he had loosened up. “This is so much nicer, alone at last.” He said aloud as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“You certainly enjoy your alone time, don’t you?”, a dignified young woman’s voice came from above him.