"Exactly," said Shunsui, slapping his hand onto the shoulder of Juushiro's white kosode. "I tell you, she has the greatest eyes—they're even better than her lips. But when she looked at me and told me that she didn't feel ready for me, I felt like a great wave was tearing apart the bond that we used—" Mid-sentence, he slumped against the wall in abandon, sighing loudly and melodramatically to make sure he got his point across.
Juushiro Ukitake smiled slightly and pulled his best friend up. He was used to this sort of drama from him—after all, since they had entered Shino Academy four years ago, there hadn't been a single week when Shunsui wasn't talking about some girl. "It's not the end of the world, Shunsui," he said as he patted his friend on the back. "Come on, there's got to be some girl who'll appreciate your new status as an eligible bachelor." For the third time in a fortnight. Wasn't it just last Thursday that he had said the exact same words?
He picked up the books Shunsui had thrown on the ground in a fit of frustration and followed after him into the courtyard. It was springtime in Soul Society, and the flowers outside were in full bloom. Students sat on the warm grass in clumps, chatting as they picnicked or lying down on the lawn. Shunsui crumpled to the ground and put his head in his hands. Putting on what he hoped was a sympathetic face, Juushiro sat down beside him.
Juushiro tried not to roll his eyes as Shunsui groaned mournfully. "I can't stand this feeling! It's like everyone else in this huge world has a special someone whom they can dedicate the very particles of their soul… but I suppose I must accept that love will never come to me easily." He pointed across the grass at a couple twisted up in an embrace, red and blue tangling together as they kissed. "Why can't my love life be as simple as that, Juu-chan? Why do I always have it harder than everyone else?"
"I don't have a girlfriend either, Shunsui," Juushiro said, sighing. "Neither do a lot of people. You don't always need a girl to make you happy."
"Yes, you do! It's—oh—what did you say?" He sat bolt upright, almost knocking his white-haired friend to the ground. Juushiro saw his face light up, and instantly regretted the words that had just come out of his mouth. "You're right. You don't have a girlfriend! You've never had a girlfriend before, have you, Juu-chan? Have you?" Shunsui leaned back and played with a cherry blossom between his thumbs, clearly in his element now. "You've probably never truly partaken of the divine fruits of passion. You're probably young and inexperienced in the vast garden of love, am I right? Well, that means that it's my responsibility, no, my duty—"
Juushiro could feel himself blushing. "I have had a girlfriend before! But I just—I just don't think that—"
Shunsui's hands clapped down hard on his back. "A girlfriend, Juu-chan? They don't count, not a single one of them. Trust me, I've had enough tragic encounters to tell. It's not love if your lips aren't burning with passion every time you think of her! It's not love unless you could compare her to the stars and really mean it in here." A palm came down hard on his heart, and he resisted the urge to cough. "All those girls your parents made you take tea with? Don't count. All those days second year you flirted with Aiko without even knowing it? Don't count. That time Kiku kissed you because you were depressed and she felt like it was 'her duty'? Definitely doesn't count. Girls should want to kiss you out of something more than pity."
"But I actually liked Kiku that time. She was so nice to me."
"Her looks weren't bad," said Shunsui thoughtfully, ruffling his hand over his friend's long white hair. "But that's beside the point, she's not in Seireitei anymore. What I was going to say was that with you being such an 'eligible bachelor' or whatever you call it, you need to prove your manliness to the world and hook up with someone!" He saw his friend's apprehensive expression and stopped. "What? Is there some problem?"
"I'm doing perfectly fine without a girlfriend. I really appreciate your effort, Shunsui, but that sort of thing's not for me, okay?" Juushiro pulled a piece of candy out from the pouch attached to his obi, hoping to distract the anxious matchmaker. "Why don't we just focus on your love life instead? Now, that girl over there with the flowers in her hair, she's not bad at all, and I think you might be her type."
"You forget, Juu-chan. 'That girl over there' is Sumiko and I already asked her out three weeks ago." He rounded on Juushiro, hands on shoulders. "I'm serious, Juu-chan, more serious than I have ever been about a girl. Shunsui Kyoraku is not a man to be trifled with when he wants something done, and I will make it my life's goal to see you in love!"
He hoped it had sounded as dramatic as it had in his head. Shunsui snickered, mussed up his dark hair, and looked around the quad, casting about for any glimpse of a pair of red hakama. There—a girl who was sitting in a shady corner reading a book, a dark, thick braid draped down her back. She looked studious enough to satisfy Juu-chan's more, well, academic urges, and pretty enough to satisfy any physical urges that, with any luck, could possibly develop in him.
"That girl! She looks like your type, Juu-chan." Shunsui's grey eyes sparkled, and Juushiro's mouth fell open when he realized who it was. "What's her name again? Unohana. Retsu Unohana. She looks lonely, sitting by herself." He grinned and elbowed Juushiro gently in the side. "Top in our Kido class, if I remember correctly. Bet you she has magic fingers."