Disclaimer: We do NOT own Bleach, otherwise there would have been a lot of yaoi in it :).
It had been a great week for Ukitake, and furthermore, also for his division. His illness seemed to be less bad than usual. The painful attacks he was used to have four times a week appeared to have just disappeard. It made him smile just thinking about the fact that he was able to play a whole day with Yachiru again after a long time being not able to. And seeing Ukitake smile, left the whole 13th division smiling all together.
Though he knew perfectly well that his sickness was not something he could trust. Of course, it's a nerve wrecking, very exhausting sickness, but he awlays held hope that he would be free of it someday. Unfortunately, that hope was soon to be crushed by a throbbing pain in his chest.
Ukitake was currently sitting on his wooden desk, in the captain's quarters of the 13th division. Rukia sat a few meters away from the desk on the ground, going through a huge pile of paperwork. He saw sweat dripping from her forhead, which wasn't abnormal since it was a particurarely hot day. Ukitake was sweating a lot himself and felt his body heaten up bit by bit. He noticed a headache getting worse by the second. unfortunately for him, he met Rukia's very worried eyes after he looked down at her.
"Ukitake-taicho, are you feeling alright?"
"Yes, I'm feeling fine, Rukia-san."
Rukia simply accepted Ukitake's answer and quickly got back to work. Ukitake also put his concentration back to his paperwork, but the headache was still throbbing in his head. The pain made him feel dizzy, so he closed his eyes for a second to regain his focus. It seemed to work for a couple seconds, until his chest began to tighten painfully and he began to cough vionetly. Rukia quickly rose from the floor and rushed to Ukitake, who's hands were now covered in crimson blood.
"Captain, I'll bring you to the 4th, 'Rukia said while supporting the white haired male's back.
"No...please...I'm fine...Really...,' Ukitake spoke weakly in between his coughs.
Rukia just ignored her captain stubborness and laid his right arm on her shoulders for support. Ukitake kept coughing along the way out of the quarters, but then passed out in front of the exit, exhaustion and drowsiness taking over his body. The last thing he heard was a screaming and panicking Rukia. 'I'm sorry, Rukia, for causing you so much trouble for over an old man like me.'
Captain Unohana was just checking up on the patients when a panicking Rukia entered the squad 4 barracks, along with Sentarou who carried an unconsious Ukitake. The vice captain's face was drained with sweat and was panting heavily. Unohana walked over to the guy who was carrying Ukitake and she looked at him worriedly. She laid a hand on the man's head and immedeately felt a high temperature raging from his body to Unohana's hands.
'He doens't look very good, Rukia-san,' Unohana began.
Rukia's ayes grew wider with concern and tried to remain focussed on the situation. She started to talk with much effort.
"i was just doing my paperwork when suddenly, Ukitake-taichou, I-I mean he looked unwell and…and then he just-"
"Calm down Rukia-san, it will be alright. You shouldn't be worrying so much, Ukitake-taichou wouldn't like that."
Unohana called a few soul reapers from her division who carried Ukitake away from Rukia and Sentarou into a room. They carefully laod him on the bed and examined him.
"I'll take good care of him. Now, Rukia-san, please go home and rest a bit. You look tired."
Rukia simply nodded and left the room, still with a concerning look on her face. The third seat followed her without any regrets.
As soon as the three were out of sight, Unohana began to take a closer look at the sick captain. Just by looking at him, she instantly knew that this wasn't just a normal coughing attack Ukitake is used to have. She tried several medecins, but after a few hours she noticed that none of them seemed to work. Rukia had came back multiple times, but Unohana just said to her that Ukitake was slowly recovering. In reality, his condition only worsened. Ukitake had a look of pain on his exhausted face. Unohana knew she had to take drastic measures. So with that, she headed to the last person she wanted to face on a day like this: Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Unohana flash stepped towards the 12th squad's barracks to attend Mayuri about Ukitake's illness. She honestly would never ask him for help since she thought he was an insane
a-hole. But Ukitake's health always came first, so she eventually looked into the eyes of the blue haired maniac and began to speak politely.
"Kurotsuchi-taichou, you may have heard already, but Ukitake-taichou isn't doing very well at the moment.'
Mayuri just stood there, his face having a bored look and quickly losing eye-contact with Unohana, along with his interest in the conversation. Unohana ignored the disrespectful grin on the man's face and continued discussing the problem.
"So I know you have plenty of medecins here. Vaccins, to be precise, which Ukitake-taichou urgently needs."
On Mayuri's face appeared a devilish smile that even Gin would have been afraid of. He suddenly seems interested in Onohana's words. He walks away from her towards a steal door, which he opens slowly and with much effort. Unohana carefully follows him through the entrance into a very light and large room. She watches Mayuri walking to a specific shelf and picking one small bottle filled with a pinkish liquid among thousand of bottles. His slender, cold hands handed the bottle over to Unohana's warm ones.
"One dose of this will be enough."
Then, as quickly as she came, Unohana left Mayuri and flash stepped back to Ukitake. 'Although, it is an odd colour for a medecin...'