A.N. Hey there! I've decided to take on what's known as an Advent Challenge, meaning that I'm going to be posting one drabble a day from now (Dec 1) until Dec 25. I decided that it was best for me to write about Jushiro and Shunsui - they're probably my two favourite Bleach characters. I don't particularly ship them together sexually or romantically, but they're friendship is so deep and complex that I couldn't resist trying my hand at exploring it more in-depth. If you've any type of prompt that you want to send to me feel free to send it to my Tumblr - same name as found here, or just leave it in a review. Enjoy!

When the first stirrings of consciousness started to come back to him, the first thing Jūshirō noticed was the pain.

Then again, it was always the pain.

It wasn't often that the minor flare-ups of his illness caused him to pass out, but regardless of how severe the attack of his illness was, the pain in his throat and chest were always focal when he woke. His throat burned, it felt like someone had rubbed the lining of his wind pipe with sandpaper, and the burning made him want to claw at his own skin. He didn't, because he knew it would do him no good, and in the end he found that he did not have the energy to do so. The second thing he noticed, as awareness came back to him slowly, was the warm feeling that was spreading throughout his chest. The warmth soothed the pain in his chest, and then moved to his throat, taking the edge off enough for him to become away of other things.

"My my, you're sure taking your time to come around, Ukitake." The voice that spoke was familiar and laced with amusement that almost – but not quite – masked the concern that was also there.

"Kyōraku?" His eyelids were heavy, and when he finally managed to open them he could see Shunsui's tanned hand on his chest alit with blue healing kidō. Neither of them had any particular aptitude for healing, but hundreds of years of being injured in battle had allowed them to become somewhat of experts in battlefield healing. This wasn't the first time that Jūshirō had woken up to Shunsui easing the pain caused by his illness; it wasn't worth it to go to the Fourth every time he had an attack, the milder one could be dealt with at Ugendō for the most part.

"Hello handsome, welcome back," Kyōraku greeted, and Jūshirō was instantly comforted by the easygoing tone of his voice. Jūshirō was grateful for his friendship with Kyōraku for many reason, not the least of which was that he never treated Jūshirō as fragile, and after ensuring that he was okay after an attack, Kyōraku didn't fuss or hover.

"How long?" Jūshirō croaked, the words irritated the state of his throat, and he instinctively brought his hand up to cover the area that hurt. His hand was brushed aside easily by Kyōraku's, which lit up again in healing kidō and eased the pain.

"Not long," Kyōraku answered after a moment, before helping Jūshirō into a sitting position and supporting him until the dizziness passed. Without asking – this was a routine they'd perfected long ago – Kyōraku left him to go and set the water to boil and prepare one of the various medicinal teas that Jūshirō had lining his cupboards.

While Kyōraku prepared the tea Jūshirō tried to compose himself. Even after a few moments of sitting still the dizziness hadn't faded completely, and it hurt to breathe. Slowly, he managed to manoeuver himself into seiza and get a good look at himself; his hand and sleeve was covered in blood, and he pulled the captain's haori off to get a good look at it. Years of practice had allowed him to perfect his method of getting blood out of various items of clothing, sometimes when they were really bad he would ask the Captain Commander for a new one, but even the thought made his skin crawl.

He hadn't noticed Kyōraku's return until the tea had been placed in front of him and Kyōraku was kneeling across from him. They drank tea in silence for a few moments, for which Jūshirō was thankful. The tea did wonders to soothe his throat as well as help him to completely come back to his senses. It was always disorienting when the attacks were so bad they he passed out; Kyōraku had told him that he hadn't been out for long and judging by the amount of light he could see, it really hadn't been that long. Even still, he hated having to take time off and leave his division so abruptly. He was tired, but that was never an appropriate way to judge anything, he was always exhausted after an attack.

"You're quiet today," Kyōraku stated simply.

Jūshirō chuckled and regretted it almost immediately as the pain returned with a vengeance.

"Don't do that," Jūshirō reprimanded.

"Do what?" Kyōraku asked innocently.

"Don't do that. Don't make me laugh, it hurts to laugh."

Kyōraku grinned, but said nothing as he took another sip of his tea.

"Thank you, Kyōraku," Jūshirō said quietly. When he glanced over his eyes met with Kyōraku's for a brief moment but nothing more was said between them. There was nothing more to be said; in the same way that Jūshirō would a have been mortified to have Shunsui hover over him, Shunsui would never have accepted excessive gratitude.

They were friends, and there was no room for such things between friends. Once Jūshirō was settled to sleep and Shunsui was sure that he wasn't in any immediate danger of having another flare-up he would leave, and he would come back to visit each day until Jūshirō was well enough to go back to work.

That was how it was between them, and it worked.