Broken Charcoal Heart

Enjoy

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It was early morning when he finally said it, and when he finally accepted it. It had been a silent agreement between the two that they wouldn't speak of it. They wouldn't speak of the end. In their world the end was what they lived, but this end was something that they wanted to refuse to live.

But it was time.

Captain Unohana had just left them but they both knew it was coming anyway. The woman's presence was calming, but in her fleeting shadow many anxieties arose.

"Shunsui," came the quivering voice of the man laid out on the futon, the voice was normally so strong, so competent. It was painful to have to hear the voice like this. So weak and dilapidated; so much, now, like the man.

"Jyu-chan?" asked the voice in reply. This new, heavier voice came from the man desperately and piteously crouched beside the futon. His normal façade had faded hours ago. He was desperate now.

"It's time-."

"No! Now don't be saying lies like that, Jyu, you'll be better in the morning, you always are," the darker haired man was sitting straighter now, and tears were starting to become apparent in his eyes.

"You shouldn't lie, Shunsui, it's not becoming of you. You and I both know this time is greatly different," said the sick man. He shakily reached out to clasp hands with the other man. The long slender fingers gripped Shunsui tight; tight enough to feel callouses from years of swordsmanship.

"Ukitake Jyuushiro you are not now nor ever leaving me!" said Shunsui harshly. "Besides," he said, his voice attempting to lighten "Who would terrorize Yama-jii with me?"

He was glad that he got Jyuushiro to crack a grin, even if it was probably his last.

It was quiet for many moments after that, the only sound was the labored breathing of Jyuushiro. The silence didn't last however; no one expected that it would.

"You know, it won't be long before I join you," Shunsui said quietly. He couldn't fight it forever he knew the one he loved was going to die. So many people had felt this pain before, the pain of losing a loved one. Still, Shunsui wasn't ready to face it.

"I love you, Shunsui," said Jyuushiro, and Shunsui couldn't help but think this would be the last time he would ever hear those words from that man. He sat up proper, and tried to convey his feeling as well as he could through his voice.

"I love you, Jyuushiro."

And with that the pale beauty on the futon closed his eyes, letting his life fall away, and his reiatsu diminish. He only took a few more shaky breaths, and then he passed. It was peaceful.

It was the worst sound Unohana Retsu ever heard, the sound that brought her running through her division hallways. They were howls of anger and loss, cries of desperation and pain.

It was grief.

Captain Unohana knew all of Seireitei would be crying that night.

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Ise Nanao was the one that had to bring her captain back to the division headquarters that night. When she did, the first moment she saw him, she knew it was never going to be the same. Nothing could be the same after seeing the absolute raw loss and sadness in her captain's eyes.

The man in front of her was no longer her captain it seemed; the care free drunkard was gone, as were his lopsided grins. He was the shell of that man, his heart had faded. His soul vanquished by loss. All that was left of him was sadness and regret, regret for not being able to save the one man he ever loved.

For days all he did was sit, but Nanao knew that wasn't going to last for long. She went back and forth half hoping that something would happen that would give her a sign, and half hoping that it would stay the same, just to know that it was real.

And so like a good lieutenant it was she, Nanao, who found her Captain. He was lying peacefully in his bed, he was still in his ridiculous pink haori and his sun hat was lying to the side of him. This was the image that she would always remember, as the dutiful lieutenant.

And the thing that made her collapse was that he was clutching the charcoal drawing of Captain Ukitake which had sat by his bedside for centuries.

And no autopsy was preformed because like Nanao knew, everyone knew what he had died from.

Captain Kyouraku Shunsui had died from a broken heart.

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Lol, It made me tear up and I'm the one that wrote it. Please review!

-AnimeSiren