Chapter Text
Kairi gasped as she looked around, seeing she was on the play island. Those colourful monsters had been scary.
“What do you wish?” asked a melancholy blue-haired woman.
“To deliver healthcare to everyone who needs it!” Kairi replied with determination, before being overtaken with light.
.
.
.
“Ow! It hurts!”
“That’s definitely broken.”
“Somebody help!”
.
..
…
Kairi gasped as the residual panic from the dreams she had been having slowly faded from her consiousness. Sighing as she ran through her morning routine, Kairi snatched some breakfast before dashing out of the door to the clinic.
It did not take long for her to reach her destination.
The wooden building was larger than the surrounding buildings, and as she walked in the main entrance to central ER, she noticed a familiar face sitting on one of the chairs set out for patients awaiting treatment to sit on.
“What are you doing here, Sora?” she asked, sighing for the second time that day.
“Jellyfish sting.” Sora replied shortly, glancing down at his leg.
“Of course,” Kairi huffed. “Let me get changed and I’ll see you in exam room 1.” the redhead ordered, seeing it was free.
Destiny Islands Health Clinic West - commonly abbreviated to just simply “Destiny West” - had 2 bays in the emergency room, and 2 examination rooms. Although the clinic covered a large area, the population density was lower than in other areas of the Destiny Island chain.
Kairi headed for the locker room to quickly get changed into her scrubs, passing the receptionist and administrator who was currently sorting some paperwork at the central emergency room desk. Since the clinic was fairly small, it also doubled as reception.
“Afternoon, Kai!” he replied cheerily. “Sorry for giving you the twilight shift today. Chiyo-sensei’s ill.”
“Shit happens,” Kairi responded with a shrug, unbothered, as she leant on the reception desk. “Anything interesting happen today?”
“Not really. Mizuki-sensei and Iroh-san are handling a moderate laceration in 1, we got a call that we have a broken arm incoming from a neighbouring island in 30, and there’s the tetanus vaccination clinic at six.”
“Gotcha. I’ll deal with Reckless-kun over here.”
After getting changed into her green scrubs, Kairi met Sora in the examination room. Pulling back the curtain, Kairi was greeted with her friend and patient lying on the medical bed.
“What have I told you about jellyfish?” Kairi asked sternly as she prepared to remove the residual tentacles with appropriate gloves.
“Wash them in seawater?” Sora replied sheepishly as Kairi treated Sora’s leg, removing stray spines that still remained. “Can’t you just use a potion on this?” he complained.
“No. You know my stance on potions: you can build a tolerance very quickly, and then they won’t work when you really need them. Anything else?” Kairi asked impatiently.
There was an awkward pause.
“Don’t go swimming if jellyfish have been reported in the water.” Sora mumbled, knowing that Kairi wouldn’t budge.
“Good. Please at least try to remember what I tell you?” she pleaded. “There. Keep this hot pack on there for at least 30 minutes. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain are you feeling right now?”
“Hmmm, I dunno. About a six?” Sora replied far too casually for someone with several long and likely painful red marks on their leg.
“Okay. I’ve already applied 2% lidocaine cream, and I’ll prescribe some for you to take home. Use it up to 3 times a day for 7 days.” Kairi rattled off, already writing the prescription and handing it to Sora.
“Thanks Kai! You’re the best!” Sora grinned as he moved to get up.
“No problem, but you’re not getting out of this one. 30. minutes. You have some swelling there. While you don’t have a history of a reaction, let any of the clinic staff know immediately if it gets worse.” Kairi lectured, and Sora slumped back onto the bed. “I’ve got to prep for an incoming patient, so I’ll see you later.”
“You sure I can’t do 15 instead?” Sora asked hopefully as Kairi turned to exit the room.
“No. 30 minutes, and I’m telling Mamoru-san you’re staying here until every second of your time is up.” Kairi replied flatly, and Sora knew he would not get any more leeway out of anyone today. Perhaps it was worth being a bit more careful next time?
Of course the slowest day in weeks had a catch. grumbled Kairi that evening as she sat down to deal with her paperwork. There’s always a catch.
It was now late evening, and a fierce storm was raging outside.
“Yo, I’m heading out in 10. I’ll walk with you if you like - this storm’s nasty.” Iroh-san, one of the nurses called across central ER as he headed to the locker rooms.
“Sorry, I’ve got another 2 hours on the clock.” the young red-haired doctor denied. “Thanks though!”
“Stay safe!”
After finishing her paperwork, Kairi checked on her patient with the broken arm she had operated on earlier that day. It had been a complex break, but the surgery had gone well and now they were sleeping peacefully in recovery.
Looking out of the window, the storm was intensifying rapidly.
It was getting so bad that both Kairi and Mizuki-sensei - the evening crew, since they were a small clinic that was short-staffed they had to operate an on-call system if additional staff were needed - were starting to get nervous.
“Lucky we don’t have anyone on life support right now.” Mizuki-sensei, a kind old man, commented in relief.
“What is that?” Kairi asked nervously, peering out of the window towards the play island.
Kairi’s memory went fuzzy after that.
A purple orb in the sky ate the entire world piece by piece.
Strong winds tore everything to shreds, leaving her and others hanging on for dear life.
Darkness crept in on her vision, before she finally lost consciousness.
When she next awoke, she was in a completely different world.
A week after that fated day found Kairi in the third district on Traverse Town in the vacant house. There was an informal ‘Traverse Town Safety Committee’ meeting that was about to start, which basically meant the small group of people who took it upon themselves to keep the second and third districts safe (or as safe as they could without a keyblade, anyway) got together in a room.
That group now included Kairi, whose strong personality had refused to back down when Leon and the others had attempted to protect her to ‘keep her safe’.
A lot had happened in the week since Kairi had arrived. Sora had left with Donal and Goofy with a keyblade on a mission to save the Realm of Light. The number of people arriving in Traverse Town had accelerated - it was estimated that in 2 weeks time Traverse Town would have to do something to house the influx of new people.
Kairi had been forced to adapt to living in a completely different world.
She wasn’t sure which was worse: the whole ‘adapting to a new world’ thing or the fact that Traverse Town never saw the sun - something that all Destiny Islanders had an intimate connection with.
“Okay everyone - thanks for coming.” Leon announced as everyone stood around the table. In total, there were 8 people there including Kairi and Leon (who was basically the de-facto leader no matter how many times he tried to deny it): Aerith, Cid, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Merlin the Wizard. “I’d like to introduce a new member of our little ‘committee’ today. Say hello, Kairi.”
“Hello,” she waved nervously. She still didn’t know anyone here all that well. “I’m from Destiny Islands - the same as Sora.”
There was a chorus of hellos as Kairi mentally kicked herself for not introducing herself as a medic. Maybe adjusting to a completely new world was getting to her. They wouldnt’ve believed her anyway; inexplicably she’d woken up in Traverse Town in her civvies rather than in the doctors’ scrubs she had been whisked away in, with only the advanced first aid kit she’d grabbed before she lost consciousness.
“Welcome, Kairi. We’re here to discuss patrol shifts for this week.” Leon opened the meeting. “Along with an influx of the new arrivals, we’re also seeing an influx of heartless.”
The mood in the room sobered at that thought.
“To this end, I propose implementing a buddy system.” Leon suggested. “Nobody would be on patrol alone.”
“Sounds sensible. If one of you gets into trouble, the other can get help.” Merlin agreed, twirling his staff absent mindedly.
“But that would mean doubling ever’one’s shifts!” Cid raised his voice in indignation. “Yer crazy lad if you think we can keep that up - we’re stretched thin enough as it is!”
Murmurs of agreement went around the room.
“I think we need to recruit some of the new arrivals to help.” Aerith mediated tactfully.
“We’ll have to do it quickly.” Leon sighed. “At least having the keyblade-”
“Sora,” Kairi corrected firmly.
“Right, Sora. Sorry.” Leon coughed awkwardly. “At least Sora cleared some of them out for good before he left with Donald and Goofy, which buys us some time. Huey, Dewey, Louie, can I leave it to you to recruit us some extra people for patrols? Here’s our current schedule.”
“Leave it to us, Leon-san!” the three young ducklings chorused.
“Great. The other thing I wanted to discuss was that of newcomers.” Leon moved on professionally.
“Confound it all, they keep getting lost!” Merlin exclaimed, exasperated.
“Our current system isn’t working any more,” Aerith agreed.
It wasn’t. Now that people were arriving almost daily - and often in a panic as soon as they woke up - which often resulted in them ending up in the second or third district completely unprepared for the heartless that often roam around everywhere but the first district.
“We’ve noticed that new arrivals often check the café, but it isn’t always manned.” Louie pointed out.
“Maybe if we had someone staffing it 24/7, it would help?” Huey added.
“More people.” Leon sighed. “Can you find some people to do that?” he asked hopefully.
“Leave it to us!” Dewey replied enthusiastically, Donald’s three nephews jumping up and down.
“That’s one less problem.” Cid commented, seemingly relieved.
“You said it.” Merlin agreed.
“Right, thanks you three.” Leon thanked. “Those were the two big things I wanted to mention before opening to discussion. Does anyone have anything to mention?”
“Yeah. The-” Cid started, but he was interrupted by the door to the vacant house that the meeting was being held in being smashed open with a loud bang.
Everyone jumped and was instantly on guard against the intrusion - including Kairi, who had pulled out a pair of daggers she had strapped to her hips. When she hadn’t been on shift as the local trauma surgeon, she had sparred with Sora and Riku. She was nowhere near as good as they were, but she had enough of a grasp to defend herself.
She never thought she’d have to use those skills in life-and-death situations on the daily, but hey. Her skills as a surgeon worked strangely well with daggers as weapons!
“It is I, the great ninja Yuffie!” a loud voice shouted, before the voice let out a shout of pain. “Ow! Shit. Running on adrenaline from a broken wrist.” Yuffie finished in a decided lower voice when she saw the panicked and defensive positions the occupants of the room held.
Everyone dropped their defensive positions as the door creaked shut once more on its own accord.
“Yer gotta stop scarin’ us all like that Yuffie!” Cid yelled to fill the silence, before the penny dropped and the panicked looks returned.
To all except Kairi of course, who sighed.
“Yuffie… what’ll do with you?” Aerith shook her head. Aerith paused to consider her words, taking a breath and releasing it again.
The air in the room shifted tone once more to a decidedly tenser atmosphere.
Kairi bit her lip to keep herself quiet. She wanted to see what they would do. Yuffie was at least supporting the weight of her broken wrist, so there was that.
“Yuffie, my dear girl, you do know how fickle the healing arts can be, right?” Merlin asked, uncharacteristically serious.
Oh boy, Kairi thought to herself.
“You can just heal me up, right?” Yufiie asked, not yet getting the hint.
“Not so fast. If I used Curaga right now, it would not heal the bone correctly.” Merlin explained, face knotted in thought to desperately think of a way around the issue.
“What about a hi-potion then? The moogles have an elixr for like 2500 munny right?” Yuffie asked, her own panic starting to rise as she faced walls she didn’t expect.
“Yeah, ’cause that’d work so much better.” Cid grumped. “You and I both know it kid, we’ve all used so many potions we’re all built up such a tolerance that wouldn’t work.”
“Not to mention even a megalixr can’t set a broken bone.” Merlin added.
“I hate to say it Yuffie, but we’re stuck on this one. Without some way to set the bone, I’m afraid there’s little we can do.” Aerith explained with a sad smile.
Yuffie’s anxiety skyrocketed, and just before she was about to speak, Kairi exploded.
“What have they been teaching you?!” the destiny islands medic roared, both her sense of justice and her medical knowledge thoroughly ticked off. Her anger had been steadily building until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Everyone turned to look at the redhead who had been silently listening in shock.
“You call yourself first aiders and a healer?!” she asked rhetorically, forcing her mind to remain calm but keeping her voice raised. “Honestly, even Sora could do better than that.” she raged. “Yuffie, come here. set your wrist on the table and don’t move.” she commanded.
Spooked, Yuffie wordlessly complied.
“Kairi, that is no manner to speak-” Merlin started, but was cut off.
“What’s yer deal, redhead-?” Cid started to rant at the same time.
“Kairi!” Aerith gasped.
“Be quiet.” Kairi commanded the three with the all the authority of a doctor.
“What are you gonna do?” Yuffie asked with some trepidation, moving and setting her wrist down as instructed and sitting on a chair.
The room’s other occupants subconciously stood back to give the pair space.
“Why, I’m going to fix your broken wrist - or try to, at least.” Kairi responded, matter-of-factly.
“How…?” Yuffie asked, before Kairi cut her off too and explained.
Sue her, she was stupified by the sheer level of medical incompetence that had been on display in this room just moments earlier.
If she had been in her right mind, maybe she wouldn’t have been so rude to a powerful wizard and a soldier just under twice her height. On second thought, she absolutely would have done anyway. She did it all the time back on destiny islands when people talked down to her about her medical abilities.
If there was one thing she excelled at, it was medicine.
“We don’t have an x-ray machine, so I’m going to use a spell as a replacement. If its a clean break - which it looks like it might be - I’ll perform a closed reduction to set the bone, before wrapping it in a cast. It’s quite a painful procedure, so I’ll administer an injection of lidocaine to numb the pain.” Kairi explained professionally, like she had done hundreds of times before.
“Woah, that sounds cool.” Yuffie enthused.
The adults who now stood behind the two wisely kept silent upon seeing Kairi’s glare that was directed in their direction.
“The scan may feel quite uncomfortable - like a horde of ants crawling over your skin. Do I have your consent to proceed?” Kairi asked, now calmly focused on treating Yuffie.
Nothing else mattered except the two of them right now.
“Sure, Kai-sensei - hit me with it!” Yuffie replied with altogether far too much cheer for someone with a broken wrist.
“Okay. Give me a moment and hold still. Do you have any other pre-existing medical conditions?” Kairi agreed, and started to whisper under her breath. Heh, she’s not too far from the truth! she smiled to herself.
“No.” Yuffie responded, not wanting to disurb her focus.
After a moment, her hand lit up with a dim white glow. Kairi traced a circle above Yuffie’s wrist, before filling it with finger-drawn runes.
It definitely wasn’t her first choice of spell to cast on an evening - or at any time of day really, given the mana cost it took. Mizuki-sensei, the kind old doctor and surgeon who had taught her basically everything she knew - had sent her one night to one of the village elders to learn the basics of the art of magic. It was a lot of meditating and learning a strange language, but it had paid off when Mizuki-sensei had taught her the spell she was about to use.
“Needs must,” she muttered as she drew, finally completing the circle a few minutes later, adding a series of extra runes so her patient (and those looking over her shoulder) could see what she was doing.
“Close your eyes. Sight!” Kairi shouted as the spell grew in brightness to blind everyone who hadn’t heeded her warning.
Once it had dimmed, a small transclucent loupe with fuzzy edges replaced the magic spell. She’d coded it to display x-rays, so it currently showed Yuffie’s wrist.
“Woah!” the room gawped at the display of magic before them.
“My word, I’ve never seen a spell like that before!” Merlin exclaimed. “Where did you learn it?”
“Questions later; I can’t keep this up for long.” Kairi answered shortly. “That’s definitely a simple closed break of the dorsal angulation. Hold still while I draw the lidocaine.” Kairi tilted the sight spell to the sides.
Nobody dared disobey her as she worked. Hastily but accurately Kairi opened her medical kit and extracted a small vial of unopened lidocaine and prepared to draw some into a needle.
“30 gauge needle, 2% lidocaine… you’re about my age. Quick, how much do you weigh Yuffie?”
Yuffie looked offended for a moment, before remembering where she was and the situation she was in. “About 47kg*.” she stated with some amount of annoyance at being asked.
“Thanks.” Kairi replied, distracted. What kind of medic was she: she should’ve asked Yuffie for that before! No wait, treat patient now, overthink later. “47… 2%… 200mg lidocaine.” Kairi mentally calculated, completing the draw. “You might feel a little pinch. All done.”
“That’s weird. It’s there, but I can’t feel anything anymore!” Yuffie observed a tense minute later.
“Good, because the next bit won’t hurt then.” Kairi stated flatly, preparing the sugar tong splint she kept in her medkit before gently picking up Yuffie’s wrist and raising the x-ray lens.
She paused for a moment, before making a series of movements to set the bone quickly enough that nobody had a chance to protest.
“Ouch!” Yuffie yelled, reflexively trying to pull her arm back, but the movement was expertly stopped by Kairi’s hand.
“I said hold still.” Kairi reminded. “I’m almost there. You’ve done really well, just a little longer.” she encouraged, wrapping Yuffie’s forearm in the splint.
“All done!” she announced, dropping the spell with a sign of relief.
The tension in the room was replaced with disbelief. Quickly before anyone could quiz her, Kairi rattled off the care instructions. “No lifting anything with your right arm, but otherwise try to use it normally. I’ll do a checkup every 2 weeks - it usually takes about 6 weeks before we can remove the cast. The lidocaine will wear off in about an hour: I’ll write you a prescription for pain, and some care instructions.” Kairi lectured, and for once in her life Yuffie paid attention to the instructions Kairi was giving her.
“You’re the best, Kairi-sensei!” Yuffie thanked profusely.
“No trouble at all. Behave yourself now - I don’t want to have to set that again.” the redhaired doctor reminded, and Yuffie nodded in understanding.
“How did you do that.” Leon asked in a warning tone, receiving a glare from Aerith.
“I’m a doctor.” Kairi replied simply, an innocent smile lighting her up face. “Misaki Kairi-sensei, trauma surgeon on shift from Destiny Islands Health Clinic West at your service.” she finished with a small bow.
The look on everyone’s face was priceless.
Kairi held the moment for long enough they’d know she was serious, but then she couldn’t help herself from laughing.
“Are you mocking the seriousness of the situation?” Leon growled, offended.
“After she just fixed my broken wrist? Awww, give over Squall.” Yuffie objected playfully, turning to stare up at the tall man.
“It’s Leon,” Leon reminded automatically, knowing he wouldn’t get Yuffie to change.
“No, no,” Kairi reassured, regaining her composure. “I really am a trauma surgeon. I was qualified to perform surgeries on my own just over a year ago, but I’ve been helping out at the clinic practically for as long as I can remember. I’ve performed numerous surgeries and procedures. Just ask Sora: I’ve been patching him and Riku up for years.”
“It was most impressive.” Aerith praised. “We don’t have medicine – or spells, for that matter – like that on our home world.”
“And I thought Destiny Islands was bad. I dread to think what healthcare is like on your world.” Kairi grumbled as she started to write out a prescription and care instructions.
“Hey! We had potions…” Yuffie countered weakly.
“Nope, not gonna think about it.” Kairi declared as she stamped the prescription, mostly to herself. “Here, take this. It should be accepted by all moogles. And for the love of everything read the care instructions!”
“Right.” Kairi continued, not giving anyone a word in edgeways, sideways, or upside down, “Since you clearly can’t be trusted to have any medical knowledge whatsoever, hi-potions and above are hereby a prescription drug only. I’ll also teach a first aid class every Wednesday evening that I expect everyone on patrol duty to attend.”
“You can’t do that!” Leon declared, voice rising despite himself.
“I can, and I will.” asserted a resolute Kairi. “As the highest-ranking medical person here, I have the final say on all medical matters.”
“Get schooled, Squall!” Yuffie laughed, pointing.
“That applies to you too, Yuffie.” Kairi pointed out. “You’ll notice I prescribed paracetamol/ibuprofen instead of a potion.”
“Nooo! Para-whata?” Yuffie asked and complained at the same time, confused.
“Paracetamol. You know, pain medication? Hi-potions and above should ideally be reserved for managing serious and/or life-threatening situations only. You’ve compromised that, so it is critical we reduce that tolerance as fast as possible.” Kairi lectured once more, and nobody found they could argue with her. “Thank goodness potions aren’t addictive.”
“Okay, okay, we get it doc.” Cid waved her off.
“Since this meeting has clearly been derailed, I move that we all retire for the night.” Merlin suggested, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief at the suggestion.
As the moment broke, everyone collected their bearing and started to head out of the house, moving in groups back to the apartments the town had created for them to stay in.
“Thank you, Kairi. I had no idea you were so highly qualified. I shouldn’t have doubted you: we honestly don’t know what we would have done without you.” Aerith thanked genuinely.
“It’s no trouble.” Kairi answered easily as she, Aerith, Yuffie, and Ducklings split from Leon and Merlin to head through the first district.
“You should set up a clinic.” Yuffie suggested jokingly.
“You know, that’s a fabulous idea.” Kairi grinned, and everyone gulped.
“You’d need people, materials, a building…” Huey, Dewey, and Louie started to list off.
“Knock on enough doors and I’m bound to find the people I need. I’m sure Traverse Town will provide a suitable building, and as for supplies…. I’m sure moogles can be negotiated with.” Kairi answered airily. “I’ll turn healthcare in this entire town upside down!”
Negotiating with moogles? For that kind of thing? Aerith and Yuffie thought simultaneously. Kairi was one heck of a scary girl.