SPOILERS: MANGA VOL. 2 CH. 7 AKA ONE OF THE GREATEST CHAPTERS TO EVER EXIST

IT'S MY FIRST HATARAKU SAIBOU FIC YASSSS AND I'M A SHIPPING TRASH AND SO ARE YOU IF YOU ARE READING THIS. All the love for Erythrophil

"Which way? Which way? Which way?" Red Blood Cell AE-3803 muttered, looking at her map, "Is it… this way?" She took a peek to her left but all she saw was a wall.

With a sigh, she walked towards her right, holding against all hopes that this was the right way to the heart.

"This body's so complicated," she thought with a sigh, "Would it look okay if I got myself a senpai who would bring me to all places?"

She turned a right, then a left, then another left, all according to her map.

"Another dead end." She groaned in frustration when she came up and ended in front of a wall of a building, "Will I ever get the hang of this?"

Just as she had turned around, a strong force from behind her knocked her to the ground, her package wheeled away from her. She felt a weight from above her, still but also trying to get away.

"Antigen si-! Oh."

She got up slowly, brushing her elbows.

"Red blood cell,"

She turned around at the voice, "Oh, White Blood Cell!" She smiled a little bit at the company of an acquaintance, "What…" she peeked behind the other, "how did you go through that wall?"

"Migration," the other answered, "Were you delivering something?"

"I was delivering carbon dioxide to the heart," Red Blood Cell answered, "I'm glad you came though. I really needed someone to tell me where I am."

"You're not far off," he responded, "I was patrolling towards the heart anyways."

"But weren't you fighting a bacterium?" Red Blood Cell asked.

"The others probably caught up to it. I was… a bit lost," White Blood Cell admitted.

Red Blood Cell chuckled weakly, "You? Lost? I don't believe it."

White Blood Cell shrugged, walking over to the package and grabbing the handles of the cart, and starting to walk away, "You can't be the only one getting lost around here, I guess. Let's go?"

Red Blood Cell turned a bit red in the cheeks out of embarrassment as she followed him, "Hey, I'll have you know, I already completed a cycle here, and that's without any help."

"Mhm." He nodded with a small sly smile, "I remember that time. You told me all about it."

"See? I'm not so bad at navigating," she pointed out, "It's just that the maps might be wrong at times."

"I believe that," White Blood Cell responded although he didn't fully say the truth, "It can be hard for me as well."

"See! The problem's not on us cells, it's on the undergoing construction." She grinned, "But it was really nice to bump into you. Well, it was more like you bumping into me but you get the point. A-and can I get the package from you? I don't want it to be a burden."

When she was about to grab the handles from him, he pulled it away from her, "Maybe I wanted to be a Red Blood Cell for a day."

"Oh if only you could get my job," she muttered, earning a side glance from him, "I-It's not that I don't like being a Red Blood Cell, it's just that… ever since I was an Erythroblast, I never got the chance to perfect the routes. I even got in so much trouble this one time."

"Maybe you just needed to have some time to get used to it?" He offered. He was most likely wrong, with all the time she was spending running around hopelessly, maybe she was a bit off with her directions. But still, she was useful and she did her job, that was the point of it all.

She pouted, "Maybe? I hope so. I don't want to be a bad blood cell. I mean, you guys protect everyone else from everything and yet, here I am, and having to deliver is my only job," she paused for a while, "I can't even do it right."

"What makes you think that?" White Blood Cell asked, "I mean, I see everyone getting their dose of oxygen. Doesn't that mean that you're doing your job right?"

"Well… yeah," Red Blood Cell admitted, "But I guess an Erythroblast's better than me. And I think you'd agree on that."

"They're babies, right?" White Blood Cell questioned, "How would a trainee be better than you though? You know how to run and hide from bacterium when you see one, they don't yet."

"Actually…" she trailed off, "Nevermind."

"When I was a Myelocyte, I wanted to cry when I saw a bacterium," White Blood Cell stated, "But I'm alright now. You are too."

Red Blood Cell sighed, "It's really… I mean… Erythroblasts… they know how to hide and run though. We studied how to do so. I was the only one who sucked as well."

White Blood Cell raised a brow, "Really now?"

"Yeah." Red Blood Cell nodded, "Back in the Red Bone Marrow, we had trainings where we'd hide and run while a Neutrophil would dress up as a bacterium."

White Blood Cell smiled weakly, "Where do I sign up for that?"

She chuckled, "Maybe we could go to a Red Bone Marrow on the way back? Anyway, there was this one time when I really thought I was messing up so much that I hid outside the room we were all in. I heard some voices and saw Erythrocytes working. I was so amazed by them that I didn't realize that there was a bacterium right beside me."

"The Neutrophil?" White Blood Cell asked.

"I thought so too. It was a real Pseudomonas aeruginosa. So you can say that I'm a favorite target amongst us Red Blood Cells," she answered with a laugh.

White Blood Cell waved at a platelet passing by then turned right, Red Blood Cell still hot on his trail.

"So what happened next?" He asked.

"I ran for my life. It was my first encounter with a bacterium, of course I just had to. I think at some point I threw my hat at it?" She narrated, "I wanted to grow up to be a Red Blood Cell so badly so I just ran and ran."

"I was… I was hopeless back then though," she commented, "I didn't think I would be found. I thought I'd get eaten right there, but I got lucky! A myelocyte was just in time to save me. He even got hurt because of me," she couldn't help but be a little bit sentimental, her life was saved afterall, "If he wasn't there, I probably won't be here."

"Wait." White Blood Cell stopped in his tracks then turned to her, "This was all in the Red Bone Marrow, right?"

Red Blood Cell nodded.

"You were that Erythroblast?" White Blood Cell muttered, "Huh."

Red Blood Cell's eyes widened, "W-. You're kidding, right? You can't possibly be that-,"

"The Myelocyte got hit by the bacterium and the Neutrophil and the Macrophage found the two of you afterwards," White Blood Cell continued, "Then the two of you cried. And then the last thing you asked was whether you'd see each other again."

Red Blood Cell screamed, "It's you!"

White Blood Cell offered a small smile, "Well I guess we somehow did meet again."

"I… can't believe this!" She exclaimed, "What are the odds?"

"Got lost back then, still getting lost until now," He teased as he continued walking.

This earned him a nudge from Red Blood Cell, "Hey, at least you're still here, trying to protect me."

"Will this go on until who knows when?" White Blood Cell asked.

"Are you disappointed that I still get lost though?" Red Blood Cell frowned.

White Blood Cell shook his head no, "Whom, of all the red blood cells, would I be friends with then if you didn't get lost? I'm actually glad."