A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back with yet another installment of my Dr. Watanabe x Nurse Kashiwagi series! I know I said before that I'd probably end this at Part 3 but I love this couple too much so...
I hope you aren't getting sick of them. Anyway, this update is an interlude before we get started on the next part. Hope you enjoy it!
lollita90: Don't worry, this series won't be ending just yet. Thank you very much for your support! After reading what Mayuyu said to Yukirin in the latest AKBingo
here, we can tell that Yukirin really spoils her little cyborg a lot. Mayuyu wiping her dirty hands on Yukirin's clothes just makes me LOL and then go awww... They are so precious together. A little team separation is not going to dilute their bond! Regarding Yuko, her situation is different from Yukirin's. I believe Aki-p made Yuko captain to delay her graduation.
Note: This is a genderbend story.---
The S WordKashiwagi Yuki hummed an upbeat tune as she strolled towards the next ward for her morning rounds. Whenever people she knew – colleagues or patients – crossed her path, she would call out a chirpy greeting with a smile so dazzling that it threatened to blind its receivers. Those close to her would know the reason behind her unusually high spirits. After being hospitalised for three weeks, her one and only dearest Dr. Watanabe would be discharged on this bright and sunny day.
“Good morning, Hayashi-san!” Yuki greeted the middle-aged male patient in Ward 54. The pot-bellied man had just finished his breakfast and was sitting against the headboard, browsing through a men’s magazine. Hearing the sweet voice of the lovely nurse, he snapped up and sent a crooked grin her way which she failed to notice as she was preparing his medication.
“Hello, Kashiwagi-chan. You seem happy today,” he remarked, putting his magazine down. Yuki’s smile grew wider as she thought about her recovering boyfriend. Hayashi eyed her every move as she stretched up high to change his IV drip. When she was done, she handed him a few pills.
“Please take your medicine, Hayashi-san,” she held out a glass of warm water to him. As he reached out to take the glass, the pills in his hand dropped to the floor.
“Oops, I’m so clumsy!”
“It’s okay. I’ll get them,” Yuki bent over to pick up the scattered medicine with her back facing the patient. The next thing she knew, a hand grabbed her bottom roughly and squeezed it. She shrieked in reflex and spun around, her hands holding her rear protectively.
“What are you doing?” she stared wide-eyed at the grinning man and took a few frightened steps back.
Hayashi raised his hands defensively, “I didn’t do anything!”
At that moment, Yuki noticed the Weekly Playboy magazine on his lap, turned to a page featuring a voluptuous woman dressed in a skimpy string bikini. Her eyes popped larger, realising he was one of those lecherous patients who she had a tendency to meet.
“You…” she pointed accusingly at him, “touch me!”
“Whoa! That’s not something you can just accuse anybody of! I wanted to help you pick up the pills but my hand slipped again. You know the medicine I take makes my hands tremble. See?” he shook his hands exaggeratedly to prove his point. Suddenly, something hard smacked him in the face, causing him to recoil in pain.
“The hell!” Hayashi cursed, clutching his sore nose.
“Mayu!” Yuki cried out at the sight of a frowning Watanabe Mayu leaning against a crutch on his left side at the entrance of the ward. He was still dressed in his light blue patient’s garb. Flashing her his usual calm smile, he hobbled towards Hayashi’s bed.
“I see you’ve got my apple,” Mayu noted, referring to the red fruit lying on Hayashi’s magazine. The other man glanced down and saw the offending apple in his lap. “I’m sorry my hand slipped. As you can see, I’m still not used to multi-tasking with a crutch,” Mayu explained matter-of-factly.
Hayashi growled, “You think I’d believe that lame shit, you little twerp? How can the apple just fly into my face?”
“It can, if
your hand can slip,” Mayu narrowed his eyes at the shocked patient. “If you are still unhappy, you can call the security and report me. Then they will watch the CCTV tape to see how my apple got into your face.”
Hayashi’s face paled, knowing very well what Mayu was implying.
“Apologise to Kashiwagi-san now,” Mayu demanded, glaring hard. “If not, it will be me calling security.”
Hayashi gritted his teeth. “Fine,” he turned to Yuki and muttered an apology reluctantly.
“Good. Now I need some help from Kashiwagi-san so you pick up your own medicine,” Mayu shot Yuki a knowing nod and both of them made their way out of the ward. At the door, he paused and added offhandedly, “You can have my apple by the way,” before fully exiting the room with his beloved nurse. Once outside, Yuki wrapped her hands around his right arm, steadying his wobbly gait.
“You tricked him! There’s no CCTV there at all!” she exclaimed in a hushed tone so that the people around them could not hear their conversation. Mayu leaned some of his weight onto her as he limped along the corridor.
“It’ll stop him from harassing you or the other nurses again,” he stated, looking a little upset. Yuki detected this and poked his cheek.
“You still angry?”
Shaking his head, he replied, “I’m just worried. This happens too frequently to you.”
Yuki could not help but giggle and inch closer to him, “I like it when you get protective.”
Mayu sighed and gave a resigned smile, “Guess it can’t be helped that my girlfriend is so beautiful.”
“Oh you,” a red hue appeared on Yuki’s cheeks and she pinched his nose playfully, earning a small chuckle. “You are lucky that you are still wearing your patient’s clothes if not you could’ve got a complaint.”
“I know,” he grinned and grabbed the hand pinching his nose, intertwining their fingers.
“Would you two mind toning down the mushiness so early in the morning? It’s making my hair stand even though it’s hardly winter yet,” a voice interrupted the couple. They looked ahead and found an amused Ren walking in their direction.
“Good morning, Ren-san,” Mayu greeted with a small smile, still holding onto Yuki’s hand.
“Ren-kun,” Yuki mumbled, eyes cast to the side, suddenly finding the wall very interesting. Her avoidance shot a twang of pain to Ren’s chest. Things had been awkward between the two friends ever since his outburst at the then-unconscious Mayu about the younger doctor stealing the woman he loved. Yuki had been aware of Ren’s feelings for her shortly after he came to Tokyo but since he never brought up the subject, she thought his feelings had faded over time. Now that his love was out in the open, she was finding it tough to look him in the eye.
Mayu switched his sights between Yuki and Ren. One was studying the ivory paint on the wall as if it would come alive any moment while the other appeared to be checking out his own white sneakers. His observant mind was quick to pick up that something was wrong between the childhood buddies. Squeezing Yuki’s hand, he called her softly, not once but twice, before she snapped out of her daze.
“Yuko-san has something to tell us. Let’s go to the office, shall we?”
Yuki nodded absentmindedly, causing his forehead to crease with worry.
“Please excuse us. We’ll be on our way,” Mayu told Ren who seemed equally troubled. The taller man visibly jerked at being spoken to and quickly shuffled aside to let the couple pass.
The trip to the Emergency Doctors’ Office was a quiet one. When they were a few steps away from their destination, Mayu stopped, prompting Yuki to look at him quizzically.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. Mayu simply raised her hand and drew small, slow circles on her palm. She closed her eyes, relaxing under his soothing touch.
“Something is up between you and Ren-san. You want to tell me about it after we get home?” he asked gently after a while.
“Looks like I can’t keep anything from you,” she smiled in defeat, taking in the concerned face before her. “I promise I’ll tell you everything later.”
“That’s my good girl,” he pulled her in and planted a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “Let’s go in before Yuko-san gets impatient.”
They entered the office and were greeted by the sight of Oshima Yuko stuffing her face with an assorted array of heart attack-inducing gourmet bread and creamy cakes.
“Yuko-san, I really don’t wish to do a bypass for you anytime soon,” Mayu deadpanned but the woman merely brushed off his comment.
“You just want to see me naked, don’t you?” Yuko teased in between mouthfuls of cake with calories-laden white cream lacing the edge of her lips. Mayu almost bit his tongue at the absurd suggestion and protested vehemently, “Heaven forbid, no!”
“Hey! That’s insulting to a fine woman like me, you unappreciative boy!” she pointed her fork at his scandalised face. Laying her eyes on the silent Yuki, she cooed in understanding, “Ah, you just don’t dare to admit it in front of your abusive girlfriend, right? Or perhaps you are already satisfied with Yuki-chan’s impressive jugs?” she wiggled her eyebrows at Yuki’s ample bosom.
“Yuko-san!” Yuki crossed her arms over her chest and hid behind Mayu, feeling exposed in front of their overly imaginative senior. Yuko guffawed loudly and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin.
“Forever the reaction queen, Yuki-chan,” Yuko shot a Cheshire cat-like grin at the blushing nurse. “Anyway, the reason I called you two here is to tell you that we are throwing a party to celebrate Mayu’s recovery two weeks later at Okinawa! It’s going to be a two-night stay at one of the beach resorts there so get ready your sexy swimwear and condo-”
“Wait, who’s we?” Mayu cut in before Yuko could rattle on about something inappropriate.
“Me, Nyannyan, Rie-chan, Akicha, Mocchi, Sae, Ren, and that Mario stick. I’ve spoken with Yamamoto and her team had agreed to stand in for us during that period.”
“Will Mayu be alright by then?” Yuki asked, concerned. “He is still on a crutch.”
“He has to be unless he has the body of an old man,” Yuko replied casually. “If he still doesn’t recover by then, you better not marry him ‘cause it’ll be hard to make babies.”
“Yuko-san!” the flabbergasted couple blushed darkly at her audacious remark. Something clicked in her mind upon their outburst.
“What? Why are you so shy about it? Don’t tell me you two haven’t done that?” she gaped at them disbelievingly. When the pair remained oddly quiet, she smacked her forehead. “You have been living together for like six months and still haven’t had sex? Oh my God! Do you live in the Stone Age or something? No wait, even the cave people were going at it like rabbits. Gosh, you two are ridiculous!”
“We… are not rabbits,” Mayu reasoned lamely, eyes shifting while Yuki snorted in the most unlady-like manner when she tried to hold in her snicker.
“I swear if food wasn’t so scarce in some countries, I would throw this bread at you,” Yuko waved a glazed ham roll threateningly. Then her eyes bulged as a scary thought struck her like a ton of bricks. “Or don’t tell me… Come here, Mayu.”
Mayu eyed his mentor suspiciously.
“Just come here!”
Not wanting to incur her wrath, he limped towards Yuko who roughly yanked him down to her height, almost causing him to fall over. She leant close and whispered into his ear. After the first sentence, Mayu flinched and stumbled back in shock.
“I’m perfectly fine! There is nothing wrong with my- I mean, me!”
Yuko burst into peals of unrestrained laughter while Yuki scowled at being kept out of the discussion.
That was surely a slip of the tongue. What did Yuko-san say to get Mayu so riled up? She kept a watchful gaze on Mayu as he staggered back to her, his face crimson from anger. The skin on her left arm tingled from the heated huffs he was expelling.
Yuko almost choked howling at Mayu’s flustered reaction and slapped her thigh repeatedly in an attempt to catch her breath. “Y-You are getting infected by Yuki-chan, Mayu boy! Be careful you don’t lose your cool image!”
The ill-timed joke did nothing to appease the fuming man who continued to glare daggers at her.
“Fine, fine. Let’s drop the subject,” Yuko surrendered with a long wheeze, not wanting to burst a vein in Mayu’s head. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be packing your things and get going? I know you love the hospital a lot but you are taking up bed space.”
“Come on, Mayu, let’s go,” Yuki had to drag her boyfriend who looked like he was ready to explode, out of the office. After the door closed, Yuko rested her chin on her palm in thought before breaking into an accomplished grin.
“Male pride… That should speed things up,” chortling, she popped another forkful of cake into her mouth.
---
Mayu stood before the wooden door to his house. It had been three weeks since he last stepped into his humble abode and he should be hit by a wave of nostalgia and appreciation towards life, however, at this moment, he was feeling more perplexed than anything as his girlfriend had disappeared into the house and instructed him to wait outside. On his right index finger, he twirled the bunch of keys, waiting for Yuki’s signal to enter.
“Okay, you can come in now!” Yuki’s muffled voice sounded from behind the door.
Smiling at her weird antics, he inserted the key and turned the doorknob. Upon stepping into the house, he saw Yuki standing a few feet away with her hands before her lap, making it a sight to behold for she resembled a devoted traditional Japanese wife. The prospect of finally bestowing upon her the title of Mrs Watanabe brought about a little somersault in his heart.
“Welcome home, Mayu,” Yuki beamed warmly before rushing forward and throwing her arms around the surprised doctor. “I’ve been waiting to say that for so long,” she breathed in deeply, basking in his warmth. The feeling was almost surreal as she had come so close to losing this man, the love of her life. “I missed you.”
Returning the embrace, he surveyed the interior and discovered it to be spick and span with every item in its original position.
“You did a fine job as the mistress of this house,” he whispered lovingly, dropping his right hand to her hip and drawing her closer. Inhaling her sweet floral scent, he realised how much he had missed being alone with this wonderfully gorgeous and dedicated woman. Unconsciously, he slipped his hand under her white blouse and caressed the smooth skin of her back while burying his face in the waves of her soft tresses.
“M-Mayu?” Yuki squeaked. She felt her body growing warm at their close proximity and his titillating touches. When his lightly callused fingers travelled upwards, they lifted her top, exposing her flushed midriff to the cool air. Light butterfly kisses trailed her jaw and before she knew it, a burning sensation attacked the throbbing pulse point along her neck, eliciting a moan from deep within her throat as Mayu’s teeth grazed and gnawed on the tender skin there. Heat pooled in her lower abdomen as her thighs quivered and rubbed against each other uncomfortably. Her mind was beginning to cloud from the sudden invasion of her senses but a gust of wind blew in from the open door and reminded her that anyone passing by could see them. With all her willpower and what remaining strength she possessed, she grabbed Mayu’s shoulders and pushed him back firmly.
“Mayu, stop.”
He grunted in protest as a frustrated scowl graced his features. Staring at the red-faced woman before him, realisation hit and he reeled back, startled by his earlier actions.
“S-Sorry! I… I don’t know what came over me!” he apologised hastily, taking Yuki by surprise. “What was I thinking?” the normally gentle man had an overwhelming urge to bang his head against the wall right there and then. She giggled at the adorable guilty look on his face.
“It’s alright,” she hugged him again as if afraid that he would hobble away in shame.
“I’m really sorry. I promised we won’t do it until after marriage yet I couldn’t control my-“
“If it’s you… I don’t mind,” she cut him off shyly, playing with his shirt collar, “but not here and now. You just got out of the hospital. You don’t want to go back there so soon, do you?”
He shook his head vigorously in response, pouting, “I want to stay here with you… and I don’t like hospital food.”
“At least it’s better than my cooking which you will be stuck with for these two weeks,” Yuki quipped, hooking her hands behind his neck.
“I don’t care. I’d rather have your cooking any day.”
“Really?” Yuki’s eyes lit up with mirth. “Don’t regret your words.”
“I won’t,” he insisted stubbornly and captured those tantalising pink lips again before moving to close the door.
As he locked the door in place, he mentally cursed a certain Dr. Oshima.
---
That night, as they lay in bed together for the first time since the devastating earthquake, Yuki snuggled up to Mayu who could only lie flat on his back due to his pelvic injury.
“Mayu…”
He turned his head at the lulling voice and her breathing hitched at his clean, handsome face framed by the soft orange glow of the small bedside lamp. No matter how many times she had seen it, his youthful glasses-free appearance always set her heart aflutter. The scrapes that he sustained in the building collapse had healed nicely under her meticulous nursing and all that were left were faint marks which would disappear with time. She could not help reddening under his mesmerising gaze.
“Why are you so handsome?”
“Why are you so beautiful?” he shot back with a winsome smile only to deepen the blush on her supple cheeks. “I can stare at you forever,” he added, gazing into her bashful brown orbs.
“The others will surely gag if they hear our conversation now,” a toothy grin stretched across her lips as she recalled their colleagues’ mortified faces whenever they caught the couple being sickeningly sweet to each other.
“Speaking of that, what’s going on between you and Ren-san?” Mayu’s tone turned serious at the change of topic. Keeping true to her promise, Yuki recounted what transpired when Mayu was still in a coma after his surgery.
“What should I do?” Yuki asked, hoping that the insightful man would have a solution. “I feel bad towards him.”
“Will you feel better if you go out with him?”
“N-No!” she shot up, appalled that her boyfriend would even suggest something like that. Mayu smoothly pulled her down to his chest and cuddled her in his lean arms. Speaking into her ear in a low, possessive voice, he said, “Even if you wanted to, I wouldn’t let you.”
She slapped his arm, cheeks puffed in indignation, “You scared me! I thought you’d be so willing to give me up!”
“No way. I will never let you out of my grasp,” with that said, he tickled her sides mercilessly, sending her into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.
“Hahaha… S-Stop, stop it! Hahahaha! I… can’t, can’t… b-breathe! Mayu, s-stop, stop! Ma-Mayu!”
Seeing how breathless his dearest nurse was, Mayu finally stopped his teasing ministrations and allowed her to fall back into his embrace. Frantic hot breaths smothered his neck as she gripped the collar of his white cotton tee and panted hard.
“Were… were you trying to… kill me?” she questioned in between heavy gasps for air.
“How could I bear to do that?” Mayu stroked her heaving back. “I just thought you needed to release some negative energy.”
Hearing his words, it dawned on Yuki that she indeed felt her worries had been lifted off her chest somehow and she was grateful for the oxygen-stealing stunt.
“Anyway, regarding Ren-san, perhaps he needs someone to take you off his mind,” the doctor mused. Yuki raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.
“You mean as in get him interested in someone else?”
“Maybe, if fate decides to help us and him. Love can’t be forced after all.”
Yuki’s other eyebrow rose incredulously, “Since when did you believe in fate?”
Mayu gazed steadily into her searching round eyes. “Since the day I met you.”
Heat rushed to the woman’s cheeks at his simple yet heartfelt words.
“You are so cheesy, do you know that?”
Encircling her slim waist, he grinned.
“Only with you, my dearest. Only with you.”
---
End of Interlude.Thank you very much for reading! I'm very sorry if I made your skin crawl with the overwhelming amount of fluff and cheese
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated