[love_bingo] Yami no Matsuei -- "Student-Mentor-Patient" (PG-13)
This is going to be the last of my love_bingo fics: I got stuck on one of the prompts and I simply couldn't get any ideas for the last two prompts, if I was going to do a border bingo. No shame in admitting to one's short-comings. The deadline is approaching and work plus my recovery from the flu isn't likely going to allow me time and energy to finish those last two fics.
Prompt: love is blind
Pairing: mild Muraki/Abiko, references to Tsubaki/Muraki (unrequited)
Word count: 808
Kakyouin was quick to introduce Tetsuhiro Abiko to rest of the guests in the VIP section, quick to help him matriculate among the others. It only stood to reason that a young man like him should start forging his own connections with the movers and shakers in society, like Senator Wakabayashi.
But perhaps the one who stood out the most was the ship's doctor, a pale man whose face Abiko recognized from the cover of one of the medical journals, a surgeon from Tokyo who had continued to practice medicine, even after an attempt on his life cost him the use of one eye. The magazine photos didn't do Muraki's looks justice: they didn't capture his impressive height, much less the shape of his face, which managed to look strong and delicate at the same time, as if his features might have been carved out of alabaster.
"I have to admit, I'd been looking forward to meeting you someday, Doctor Muraki," Abiko admitted. "I've read a lot about you: your story is inspiring. It must have taken a lot of courage to convince the medical board to let you keep your license."
Muraki smiled, glancing away as if to hide his embarrassed smirk. "It wasn't a matter of courage: it was simply a matter of performing procedures as I'd always done them, only this time, I was doing it with one eye permanently closed, as it were," he replied, with a modest pride.
"And is it true that you saved the life of the ship-owner's daughter?"
"Tsubaki pulled through due to her youth, strength, and good spirits," Muraki replied. "I merely performed the surgery that made it possible for her to keep up that strength."
"Well, I hope that someday I can say the same thing about one of my own patients," Abiko said.
"Perhaps you will, though I hope that fate is considerably kinder to you than it has been to me and that your abilities are never questioned," Muraki replied, taking off his eyeglasses and giving them a polish with a handkerchief, uncovering for a moment his right eye and showing the fixed look of the glass one that replaced it. "I was wondering... I'll be needing an assistant to help me manage the ship's sick bay. Would you be interested in acting in this capacity?" he asked, slipping his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
Abiko jumped at the chance. "Would I? I mean, yes, please, I'd be honored to work with you, Sensei," he said, bowing deeply.
"Very well, then I'll see that this goes toward your work experience. You're studying at Shion University, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'd just finished my general practice studies there."
Muraki beamed. "Good, I know a few people there with whom I can put a good word on your behalf.
The prospect diverted Abiko's attention for the moment, and he read the intent look in Muraki's good eye as the gaze of an enthused mentor looking on his student with approval.
The offer proved a good source of experience, though most of their cases were minor: sprained ankles when people had tripped on staircases, hangovers, sea-sickness, stomachaches from overeating. The only downside was that the clinic was rather cramped and small, which meant that as the two of them worked together, it wasn't unusual that the one would brush against the other, no surprise as Dr. Muraki was very long-limbed.
Later that first day, Abiko had the good fortune to meet the ship owner's daughter and his mentor's primary patient. Muraki had charged him with acquainting himself with the girl: she'd undergone heart surgery some months ago and was still taking medications to aide the healing process.
Tsubaki was a fragile yet graceful girl, a few years younger than Abiko, but she looked younger than that.
"You're lucky that you get to work so closely with Doctor Muraki," Tsubaki said.
"I am: It's an honor to work with someone so well-known in his field," he said, his cheeks warming just a bit.
"My father probably told you that he was my doctor for several years: he found a new heart for me and even did the transplant. He's a gentleman and a gentle man: I owe him my life."
"He is brilliant, and I'm enjoying the chance to work with him so closely," Abiko said.
The girl clearly was smitten with her own surgeon, blind to certain things about him, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something that would disappoint her: Muraki clearly had no interest in her, and he suspected that the physician's interest lay with his student. Abiko didn't mind this: it wasn't unusual for samurai and the young warriors they apprenticed to become enamored of one another, he saw no reason why it couldn't carry over into the modern times. He hoped when her eyes were opened to her beloved doctor's preferences, that she did not take it hard.
Prompt: love is blind
Pairing: mild Muraki/Abiko, references to Tsubaki/Muraki (unrequited)
Word count: 808
Kakyouin was quick to introduce Tetsuhiro Abiko to rest of the guests in the VIP section, quick to help him matriculate among the others. It only stood to reason that a young man like him should start forging his own connections with the movers and shakers in society, like Senator Wakabayashi.
But perhaps the one who stood out the most was the ship's doctor, a pale man whose face Abiko recognized from the cover of one of the medical journals, a surgeon from Tokyo who had continued to practice medicine, even after an attempt on his life cost him the use of one eye. The magazine photos didn't do Muraki's looks justice: they didn't capture his impressive height, much less the shape of his face, which managed to look strong and delicate at the same time, as if his features might have been carved out of alabaster.
"I have to admit, I'd been looking forward to meeting you someday, Doctor Muraki," Abiko admitted. "I've read a lot about you: your story is inspiring. It must have taken a lot of courage to convince the medical board to let you keep your license."
Muraki smiled, glancing away as if to hide his embarrassed smirk. "It wasn't a matter of courage: it was simply a matter of performing procedures as I'd always done them, only this time, I was doing it with one eye permanently closed, as it were," he replied, with a modest pride.
"And is it true that you saved the life of the ship-owner's daughter?"
"Tsubaki pulled through due to her youth, strength, and good spirits," Muraki replied. "I merely performed the surgery that made it possible for her to keep up that strength."
"Well, I hope that someday I can say the same thing about one of my own patients," Abiko said.
"Perhaps you will, though I hope that fate is considerably kinder to you than it has been to me and that your abilities are never questioned," Muraki replied, taking off his eyeglasses and giving them a polish with a handkerchief, uncovering for a moment his right eye and showing the fixed look of the glass one that replaced it. "I was wondering... I'll be needing an assistant to help me manage the ship's sick bay. Would you be interested in acting in this capacity?" he asked, slipping his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
Abiko jumped at the chance. "Would I? I mean, yes, please, I'd be honored to work with you, Sensei," he said, bowing deeply.
"Very well, then I'll see that this goes toward your work experience. You're studying at Shion University, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'd just finished my general practice studies there."
Muraki beamed. "Good, I know a few people there with whom I can put a good word on your behalf.
The prospect diverted Abiko's attention for the moment, and he read the intent look in Muraki's good eye as the gaze of an enthused mentor looking on his student with approval.
The offer proved a good source of experience, though most of their cases were minor: sprained ankles when people had tripped on staircases, hangovers, sea-sickness, stomachaches from overeating. The only downside was that the clinic was rather cramped and small, which meant that as the two of them worked together, it wasn't unusual that the one would brush against the other, no surprise as Dr. Muraki was very long-limbed.
Later that first day, Abiko had the good fortune to meet the ship owner's daughter and his mentor's primary patient. Muraki had charged him with acquainting himself with the girl: she'd undergone heart surgery some months ago and was still taking medications to aide the healing process.
Tsubaki was a fragile yet graceful girl, a few years younger than Abiko, but she looked younger than that.
"You're lucky that you get to work so closely with Doctor Muraki," Tsubaki said.
"I am: It's an honor to work with someone so well-known in his field," he said, his cheeks warming just a bit.
"My father probably told you that he was my doctor for several years: he found a new heart for me and even did the transplant. He's a gentleman and a gentle man: I owe him my life."
"He is brilliant, and I'm enjoying the chance to work with him so closely," Abiko said.
The girl clearly was smitten with her own surgeon, blind to certain things about him, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something that would disappoint her: Muraki clearly had no interest in her, and he suspected that the physician's interest lay with his student. Abiko didn't mind this: it wasn't unusual for samurai and the young warriors they apprenticed to become enamored of one another, he saw no reason why it couldn't carry over into the modern times. He hoped when her eyes were opened to her beloved doctor's preferences, that she did not take it hard.