Shunuki- our story Chapter one

Jushiro fell onto his knees as another wave of violent coughing threw him off balance, he grabbed on to the edge of the large wooden dresser as he tried to pull himself up, but found himself letting go of it to cover his mouth when another even more violent cough escaped from his lips, this time along with a fair amount of blood.

He sank to the floor as more coughs splattered blood onto his hand and his white academy robes, tears threatened to spill over his eyes, how much longer would he have to put up with this? Alone, scared, and in a lot of pain.

Thick red blood covered the wooden floor of the small room he was required to share with a nonexistent roommate, Jushiro's robes were stained red and his hands were coated with his own blood, but at last the coughing ceased and he hauled himself from the floor, trying not to touch the furniture around the room.

He padded over to the small bathroom door and used a part of his robe to cover his hand as he twisted the handle, it was at times like this that Jushiro greatly appreciated the en-suite that was situated inside the dormitory room, things would certainly be harder if he had to stumble down a hallway to reach a public bathroom, what would everyone else think about him being covered in his own blood?

Jushiro shook his head at the thought and soaked his bloody hands in the fresh soapy basin that he had run for himself, the water quickly turned a shade of maroon. A long time ago the sight of his own blood used to make Jushiro sick, and he would often faint at a glimpse of it, but not anymore, he had become quite accustomed to the metallic smell of the thick red substance. And now he did not even require the assistance of the nurses.

Jushiro quickly stripped himself of his blood stained clothes and jumped into the bathtub, he turned the tap for the bath and the shower as he left the bloody robes at the bottom of the basin; it was a better idea to get as much blood off as possible before he took them to the laundry room.

Jushiro turned his face towards the warm water and sighed as it washed the drying blood from his face, the water in the basin turned pink as it travelled down the plughole, Jushiro waited until the blood stopped running from himself and his clothes and then pulled the robes out, the water that dripped off of the fabric was fairly clear so he presumed he had gotten most of the blood off. He washed the remaining blood from around the basin before he turned the tap and shut off the water; he had to sort out the mess in the other room before he could have a bath.

He quickly wrapped a towel around his waist before he carried the robes and a wet cloth into the other room, he threw the dripping robes onto the windowsill before he leant down and started scrubbing the dried blood from the wooden floor.

Before long, Jushiro had removed the blood from the floorboards and he stood up, just as the door to his room flew open, causing him to fall backwards on his behind, still clutching the bloody cloth.

Jushiro stared in shock at the surprised figure at the door; the large brunette looked down at him with gray eyes, a slight blush tainting his cheeks, that was when Jushiro remembered that he was sprawled on the floor with only a small towel covering his waist. The heat rose to his cheeks as he scrambled from the floor, holding the towel with both of his hands to prevent it from falling off and revealing his private body parts.

The young man at the door laughed and smiled at him warmly, not even questioning Jushiro's lack of clothes or the red stained cloth in his hands.

"My name is Shunsui, Shunsui Kyoraku, nice to meet you, sorry for barging in like that. Jushiro, I presume?" The man lifted his hand for a hand shake but quickly thought better of it due to the awkward situation and proceeded to scratch the back of his neck.

Jushiro's heart was beating so fast that he thought he was going to fall over, not only had a large brunette just barged into the room, giving him the scare of his life, he had seen his naked body, and the bloodied rag he was clutching in his hand as well.

Jushiro continued to stare wide eyed at the man like a frightened rabbit, the blush on his cheeks standing out against his white hair and pale skin. The man coughed, looking at him expectantly. "Jushiro?"
"Yes?" Jushiro said suddenly, snapping back from his thoughts and attempting to control his breathing. The man laughed again and walked inside the room, shutting the door behind him.
"I guess i caught you at a bad time, I'm your new roommate, sorry for not telling you earlier, but i had a lot going on and couldn't make the tour."

Of course, things slowly clicked into place, the main office had told him that he had a new roommate, but he couldn't meet him before he moved in because he didn't come to his academy tour.

They would have told him about his illness, so that was why he wasn't shocked at the blood covered cloth that Jushiro was still clutching tightly.
"Ah, sorry, I forgot you were coming, oh gosh, this isn't the best way to meet, sorry you had to see this." Jushiro quickly scrambled around picking up his robes from the windowsill and removing the boxes from the lower bunk.

Shunsui placed his bag on the floor next to the bed and sat down on it, sighing loudly and smiling at him warmly.
"That is quite alright Jushiro; we're roommates now aren't we? And none should be judged on first appearances." Jushiro paused what he was doing and looked at the man in surprise, most of his last roommates had freaked at his illness, which was why the main office had decided to tell the students before they moved in.

The brunette opened his eyes because of the silence and Jushiro quickly continued what he was doing, which was grabbing clean clothes from the drawer and slipping into the bathroom to change.

The door shut behind him and he slid the bolt across, for the first time in a long while. He quickly looked through the bathroom, making sure that every drop of blood or anything else was nowhere to be seen, which wasn't that hard, because Jushiro made sure to keep his living spaces crystal clean. He discarded the towel into the wash basket along with his still damp robes; leaving them on the windowsill to dry wasn't an option anymore.

Within minutes his new clean robes were on and his hair was reasonably dry, he took a deep breath before unlatching the door and walking into the other room, Shunsui was relaxing on his bed, and he looked over when Jushiro came in and gave another one of his dazzling smiles.

He had unpacked his clothes and placed them into the top drawer which was reserved for him, but by 'placed', 'threw' would be more of a suitable explanation, the drawer was still open and two pairs of blue and white academy robes hung over the tip, along with some casual clothes, like a red flower-print shirt and jeans which were actually supposed to go in one of the lower draws. Jushiro attempted a smile at the larger man and pushed the draws closed, trying not to look at the mess inside. Shunsui gave a guilty smile before he sat up and stretched his arms.
"Right, seen as I need to be shown around, where shall we go to first, Jushiro?" Jushiro sighed and wondered over to the door, it was inevitable that he would have to show him around.
"This way."He said as he opened the door and stepped into the hallway, he received several waves from his friends as he made his way to the stairs leading to the base of the dorm, Shunsui followed him quietly, and Jushiro could hear his footsteps behind him.

They reached the door and Jushiro happily breathed in the fresh air outside, it felt nice to finally feel the warm sunlight on his face, he continued down the path towards the training grounds, looking back to make sure Shunsui was following him every minute or so, each time Shunsui smiled at him again, which made Jushiro wonder if he ever stopped.

As they entered the large academy building, a number of students waved and shouted greetings to Jushiro, who waved at them and smiled, one of the group, a blonde man taller than Jushiro, but slightly smaller than Shunsui walked up to them with a huge smile, the man was obviously pleased to see Jushiro.

"Hey Jushiro! Who's this?" He said, gesturing towards the man standing behind Jushiro.
"Hello Anuka, this is my new roommate." Anuka raised his eyebrows and smiled at Shunsui.
"Oh right, I'm Anuka Toshin, nice to meet you, take care of Jushiro for me huh?" Shunsui smiled back politely and cleared his throat.
"Shunsui Kyoraku, nice to meet you too, and i certainly will, though it might end up the other way around." Both men laughed and Jushiro sighed, Anuka bumped his shoulder with his elbow.

"So what you up to? I'm not sure that there is anything fun to do around here." Anuka said while putting his arm round Jushiro's shoulder and smiling up at Shunsui. Jushiro narrowed his eyes and attempted to escape from underneath Anuka's arms, only to be put in a headlock and have his hair rubbed, to which he groaned loudly. Shunsui rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat.
"Jushiro was just showing me around the academy, i missed the tour due to personal reasons."
Jushiro finally managed to break free from Anuka's grasp and patted down his ruffled hair.
"Oh right? Well, I know for sure that Jushiro would miss out a very important part of the tour."Anuka said, while winking at Jushiro, the white-haired shinigami sighed and shook his head. Anuka smiled mischievously and looked around.
"Follow me."He said and walked casually towards the exit of the building. Shunsui looked at Jushiro for instructions, Jushiro sighed and shrugged.
"Mind's well." He said, and they followed Anuka outside.

After five minutes of sneaking around behind the academy training grounds, Anuka stopped by a large hole in the wooden fence that led to the woods, he looked around and motioned to them to be quiet before he slipped through the hole and into the green trees beyond.

Shunsui looked to Jushiro for reassurance, Jushiro bit his lip and waved his hand dismissively, it wasn't like they could just go back now. Shunsui stared at Jushiro a moment longer before climbing through the hole. The smaller Shinigami looked around to check for pursuers before he too slipped through the fence.

A/N:
reviews are most certainly always appreciated , as well as faves and follows, they really inspire me to keep writing, as i don't tend to stay interested in writing a story if no one likes it x3 so even an error correction or a smiley emoticon would really help, and it only takes a second of your time XXX