UkitakexHitsugaya

God I love this pairing.
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"Ukitake-taichou?" The white haired man in question looked up from his stack of paperwork to look at the speaker curiously.

"Toushirou-san?" He inquired. The boy had been visiting him ever since Matsumoto introduced the two. They had hit it off immediately. Soon they were training together, Toushirou would almost always drop by his office to do some school work, or to ask a question. Sometimes Ukitake regretted his saying that the boy could always ask anything he needed. Ukitake still couldn't quite erase from his mind when the boy had asked about sex. That was one hell of a conversation.

"Well… ah…" The student turned a slight pink and averted his eyes for just a moment before speaking up again, rocking back and forth on his heels. Ukitake started to pray that this wasn't another sexual question.

"What's wrong with you?" Icy, sea-foam eyes looked up at the taichou with worry settled deep in their depths.

"What do you mean?" Ukitake asked, taken aback by the subject of the question.

"Well… your always coughing and resting… and you're always asleep. What's wrong? Can I help?" Ukitake stood from his desk, walking around the heavy wooden furniture to stand in front of the so-called prodigy boy that had just started to attend shinigami school. Putting a hand on the white haired boy's shoulder, Ukitake smiled.

"It's nothing to worry about. Just a cough." Toushirou frowned. He wasn't stupid. He had visited this particular taichou enough to tell that something wasn't right. Especially with his two subordinates running around the taichou all day like they were afraid he was going to drop dead any moment. Something was up with the older man, and he wanted to know exactly what that was.

"I'm not a child even though I may look like one. You can tell me what's wrong, I assure you I can handle it." Ukitake sighed. The boy was right. Even though the boy may be naïve and just learning his combat skills, he was at least fifty years older than he looked.

"It's a deep sickness. One that makes my chest burn and bleed. One that makes my throat constrict painfully. One in which chills, fever, and nightly sweats plague my body. One that takes away my hunger. One that takes away my color. One that makes my eyes burn. One that has no cure. It is very painful at times. But at other times, I forget that I have it. It's always a surprise when I have an attack. There are no warnings. There is really nothing you, or I for that matter, can do. I will die and I accept that. Just please don't worry about it."

Silence.

Toushirou was looking at the taichou with large watery eyes. His favorite taichou was so strong, but so vulnerable at the same time. He never knew how serious the sickness was. He wanted to help, but as the white-haired man just said, there was nothing for him to do. Toushirou took Ukitake's hand in his.

"Can you come down here for a moment?" Toushirou asked quietly with glazed eyes. Ukitake smiled and leaned down.

Toushirou looked uncertain for a moment, before he leaned forward and kissed the taichou lightly in the lips. Just a brush of skin. So innocent. But Toushirou didn't stop there. He softly brushed his lips on the ill man's neck, leaving kisses all the way down his throat. Toushirou breathed hotly on the taichou's collar bone, but leaned in eventually to brush his lips against the hollow of Ukitake's throat. Moving farther down, Toushirou kissed until he met black cloth. Moving the shinigami standard black away from the taichou's chest, Toushirou lightly kissed right in the center of his chest.

Ukitake felt the boy start to shake a bit, and Toushirou's grip on his taichou's cloak and standard shinigami wear tightened almost fractionally.

"I know…" Toushirou began, albeit shakily, "I know that this may seem stupid a-and childish, but Matsumoto said that…" The white haired prodigy gulped air down desperately, "that kisses are the best cure for things that hurt the most. I know that it's stupid and probably won't work… but it's worth the try," Toushirou looked up into Ukitake-taichou's eyes, revealing that the boy was crying lightly, "right?"

Ukitake looked down at Toushirou with wide eyes, before closing his eyes and letting his face relax into a smile. Placing a hand on the smaller one's head, Ukitake leaned down and kissed the boy on the forehead.

"Right."