This is the prequel to Unbreakable Bonds. This story talks about Jushiro, Shunsui, and Yui's time in the Shin'o Academy, although it starts with Jushiro and Shunsui's first year, so there won't be much mention about Yui until the second or third year.
Opening Song: Distance by LONG SHOT PARTY
Chapter 1: First Day
Ukitake Jushiro's first day at the Shin'o Academy was a bright and sunny day. There were no clouds in the blue sky. Birds sang from their perches in the leafy trees, and a warm and gentle breeze blew past. Academy students were milling around in front of the Shin'o Academy, waiting for the headmaster of the school to come and give them the welcoming speech.
Jushiro was dressed in the male uniform for the Academy, which consisted of a blue undershirt, a white shirt with blue stripes, blue hakama, white socks, and sandals. There was also a circular symbol on both breasts of the white shirt. Females had had the exact same uniform, but theirs were red instead of blue.
With his white hair, Jushiro stood out among the other first-years. His hair was naturally black, but due to a disease that he was born with, his hair had turned white in a span of three days. Fellow students who walked past him would stare for a few seconds before looking away. Jushiro was used to this, so he didn't particularly mind.
The white-haired Ukitake was so busy looking around that he didn't notice where he was walking until he bumped into someone else. Stumbling back, Jushiro regained his balance and looked up to see a tall, muscular, black-haired male looking at him with piercing green eyes.
"Ah, I'm sorry," Jushiro apologized, "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"That's alright," the other student said. He stuck out his right hand, "I'm Kurosawa Gorou. Nice to meet you…uh…"
"Oh, I'm Ukitake Jushiro," Jushiro shook Gorou's hand, "It's nice to meet you as well, Kurosawa-san."
Gorou nodded. "So what do you think of the school so far, Ukitake-san? I have to say that it looks impressive. I can't wait to start the classes."
"Me neither," Jushiro agreed, "Which dorm are you in?"
"I'm in Room 120. What about you?"
"Room 145. We're going to be pretty far apart."
"You'll have a maximum of three other people sharing your dorm," Gorou informed, "Each room can house four people. If you get the dorm to yourself, then at least you'll have a quiet place to study and plenty of room to relax."
Jushiro wanted to have other people in the room to talk to, but he knew that with his disease, that wouldn't happen. Most people were disgusted by him, and they would stay away. His possible roommates would probably do the same thing.
The arrival of the headmaster, Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, brought Jushiro out of his thoughts. The chattering of the students fell silent as they waited for the welcoming ceremony to begin. Even the brown-haired boy who had been flirting with a group of girls stopped reluctantly to listen.
"First-years!" Yamamoto's voice boomed across the school grounds, "Welcome to the Shin'o Academy, where you will be taught the skills needed to be a proper Shinigami!"
The ceremony finished rather quickly, and the first-years were finally allowed into the building so they could find their dorms, put their luggage away, and receive their schedules. As Jushiro and Gorou entered the building, Jushiro couldn't help but notice Yamamoto speaking to the brown-haired boy who had been flirting earlier.
He was reluctant to say goodbye to Gorou when they parted ways to find their rooms. He shuffled with the crowd, peering at the open doorways for Room 145. Finally managing to find it, he quickly slipped into the room before the crowd swept him past it.
The room was a lot bigger than he expected. Two sets of bunk beds were pushed against opposite walls with a window between them. Below the window was a desk, no doubt used for studying. There was another door in the room which led to a bathroom. There was a garbage can next to the desk, and a laundry basket placed next to the doorway to the hall.
Jushiro walked over to a bunk and placed his bags on the bottom bed. Suddenly, a voice spoke from the doorway, making the white-haired student jump and turn around to see a dark-skinned boy with purple hair standing there.
"Ah, sorry if I scared you," the boy said apologetically, coming into the room, "I'm also in this room. My name is Shihouin Isamu."
"Shihouin?" Jushiro squeaked in shock, "You mean the noble Shihouin family?"
Isamu's golden eyes twinkled with amusement at Jushiro's reaction. "Yeah, but please don't be formal with me. I would prefer being called 'Shihouin' or 'Isamu' instead of 'Shihouin-san' or 'Shihouin-sama.' You haven't told me your name yet."
"Oh, sorry. I'm Ukitake Jushiro. Nice to meet you."
"Ditto. Are you taking the bottom bunk?"
"I prefer sleeping on the bottom but if someone else wants it, I can sleep on top."
Isamu grinned, showing his perfect upper teeth. "Well, you won't have to worry about me. I like sleeping on the top bunk." With that, he scrambled up the ladder so that he was above Jushiro. Stretching his arms, he sighed, "Aaah! These beds are really comfortable!"
Jushiro smiled at Isamu's friendly attitude. His gaze fell on the desk, where four stacks of papers were laid out carefully. He moved towards them and saw that each stack consisted of a map, a schedule, a guide, and a small ID card.
"Hey, Shihouin," Jushiro held out Isamu's stack, "These papers are yours."
"Hmm? Oh, thanks, Jushiro."
There was a silence as both boys glanced through what was written on each sheet of paper. Both of them were in Class 1, which was the advanced class. They were still comparing schedules when someone said, "Excuse me."
Isamu and Jushiro looked up to see a boy with scruffy red hair and jade green eyes standing in the doorway with a scowl on his face.
"I am Kamikaze Kaito," he introduced himself in a monotonous voice, "May I ask your names?"
Another noble, huh? Jushiro thought. "I'm Ukitake Jushiro. Nice to meet you."
"Shihouin Isamu," Isamu added, "Let's be friends, Kaito."
Kaito glared at Isamu. "Don't address me so informally when you've just met me, Shihouin-san," he retorted coldly, "Nobility has to set an example for the lower class." His eyes flicked to Jushiro at the last sentence, who felt anger rise in his chest at the insult.
"Okay, okay," Isamu held up his hands in surrender, "I'll call you Kamikaze-san, if that's fine with you."
Kaito's only reply was the turn of a head. Isamu rolled his eyes as Jushiro swallowed his indignation at the uptight redhead. The white-haired turned to the desk, where one final stack of papers remained. He picked up the ID card, reading the name.
"We have one more," he told Isamu, "This Kyouraku Shunsui still hasn't shown up yet."
"That would be me," a voice drawled from the doorway.
Jushiro, Isamu, and Kaito looked around to see someone leaning against the doorway lazily. Jushiro immediately recognized the newest arrival to be the boy who Yamamoto had been speaking to, as well as the one who had been flirting with a group of girls.
Shunsui had short, messy brown hair and gray eyes. There was a lazy smile on his face as he waved to his roommates casually, "Morning."
"Morning," Isamu returned cheerfully. Jushiro greeted Shunsui as well while Kaito gave him a mere nod of acknowledgement.
Shunsui came in, closing the door behind him. "Top or bottom?" he asked Kaito.
"Top," Kaito said as he climbed the ladder. Shunsui flopped himself onto the bottom bunk, kicking off his sandals and throwing the blanket over himself. Jushiro and Isamu exchanged looks.
"Hey, Shunsui," Isamu started. The brown-haired boy opened an eye.
"Hmm?"
"Are you in Class 1?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Shunsui yawned.
Jushiro raised his eyebrows at Shunsui's tone. It almost sounded as though he didn't want to be in Class 1. Before Jushiro could ask, however, there was a tapping noise at the window. Everyone turned to see a fierce-looking hawk pecking at the glass, a piece of paper tied to its leg.
They were surprised when Kaito jumped off the top bunk and hurried to open the window. Once the paper was untied from its leg, the hawk ruffled its feathers and took flight again, flapping its powerful wings to gain speed and height. Kaito swiftly scanned the contents of the paper before crumpling it up and throwing it in the garbage.
"What was that, Kamikaze-san?" Isamu asked.
"None of your business," Kaito replied coldly as he exited the dorm.
There was a long silence before Isamu muttered, "We should lock him out."
Choosing to ignore that suggestion, Jushiro said, "He uses hawks to carry his messages?"
"It's not just him, Ukitake," Shunsui answered, surprisingly, "The entire Kamikaze family uses them. The current head of the family is supposedly obsessed with birds."
"How do you know my name?" Jushiro asked, startled.
Shunsui shrugged. "My father told me about an Ukitake who had white hair, so I guessed that it was you." He turned to Isamu, "And judging by your dark skin and purple hair, you must be a Shihouin. Only members of the Shihouin family have purple hair."
"Yup," Isamu grinned, "Shihouin Isamu. Nice to meet you."
"Ukitake Jushiro. Pleasure," Jushiro said once he had gotten over his initial shock.
"And you know my name already," Shunsui waved his hand, "Kyouraku Shunsui."
"So you're from a pretty high-ranking family, too…" Isamu mused.
Shunsui snorted somewhat derisively. "Yeah. High-ranking family. Great."
Isamu blinked at Shunsui's attitude. "I'm sorry if I offended you with anything I said…" he began.
"No, no. You said nothing wrong," Shunsui interrupted mildly. He looked like he was about to say something else, but was stopped by the arrival of two more students, girls this time.
"There you are, Shunsui!" A tall girl with spiky, black hair and a stern expression on her face said. A shorter girl with shoulder-length black hair and gray eyes stood behind her, peering cautiously into the room.
Shunsui jumped out of bed immediately. "Chouko-chan, my beautiful flower! Have you come to whisk me away in your arms…?" he shouted as he ran towards the spiky-haired girl with his arms outstretched.
"Never!" Chouko snapped back, punching Shunsui in the gut. He collapsed to the floor with a grunt as Jushiro and Isamu stared in astonishment. It was as though neither of them had seen such a display before, and they probably haven't until today.
"A-Are you okay, Kyouraku?" The second girl asked Shunsui in a soft and concerned voice.
"Oh, my dear Aimi-chan!" Shunsui cried, jumping up and throwing his arms around Aimi, "Save me from the beast; I beg you!"
"What did you call me?" Chouko growled as Aimi tried to stop her from ripping Shunsui's head off.
Isamu chose this moment to clear his throat, bringing the trio's attention to him and Jushiro. Chouko's eyes narrowed dangerously while Aimi blushed and managed to escape from Shunsui's hug.
"Yes?" Chouko asked, eyeing Isamu and Jushiro warily, "Are you Shunsui's roommates?"
"Yes, we are. I'm Ukitake Jushiro and he's Shihouin Isamu. It's nice to meet you," Jushiro said before Isamu could say something stupid and direct the scary girl's anger at them.
"Shiba Chouko, and this is Kuchiki Aimi," Chouko tilted her head towards her friend, who bowed slightly to the boys.
"A lot of noble children are attending this school," Jushiro commented, "I've met six people so far and only one isn't from a noble family."
"Who?" Isamu asked curiously.
"Kurosawa Gorou-kun."
"If you ask me, I think that nobility is just an excuse people use to act as though they have a stick up their ass," Chouko snorted, "Thank goodness not everyone's like that."
The boys' thoughts immediately went to Kaito, who obviously wouldn't get along with Chouko.
"Anyway, Shunsui," Chouko continued nonchalantly, "Aimi and I came to ask if you have any paper you can spare."
"Sorry, nope," Shunsui yawned, "What do you need it for?"
"We want to send a letter to our friend," Aimi answered quietly, "But neither of us have paper to write on."
"A friend?" Shunsui gasped excitedly, "A girl? Can you introduce me?"
"Yes, she's female, and no, we're not going to introduce you," Chouko replied, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. Shunsui pouted.
"Why don't you just write on the back of her letter to you?" Jushiro asked, "Or you could ask one of our instructors for paper. You could also wait until you have paper before you reply to your friend."
Chouko stared at him for so long that Jushiro began to feel slightly uncomfortable. "What?" he asked nervously, feeling like a cornered mouse under her gaze.
"You are my new best friend," the Shiba girl declared.
"Oh, okay…" Jushiro agreed uncertainly while Isamu snickered.
"Paper aside, Aimi and I are going to take a look around the school. Want to come?" Chouko questioned.
The three boys agreed, Shunsui quite eagerly. Jushiro brought his map and the group decided to find the rooms for their classes first.
Their first destination was the Kido Theory class, which was located on the first floor, near the front door. The five of them tromped downstairs and almost immediately ran into a lost-looking Gorou.
"Ukitake!" Gorou exclaimed in surprise when he saw Jushiro's white hair.
"Kurosawa!" Jushiro greeted, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm lost," Gorou admitted embarrassedly, "I thought that I would explore the school, but I forgot my map, and I don't know the way back to my dorm to get it."
"In that case, come with us," Jushiro offered, "We're exploring the school, and I've got my map right here. After we're done, we could go find the way to your dorm together."
Gorou's eyes brightened. "You don't mind?"
"Of course not," Aimi reassured, "If you are Ukitake-san's friend, then you're our friend as well. I'm Kuchiki Aimi. It's nice to meet you." She bowed to Gorou, who hastily bowed back.
"Kurosawa Gorou," he answered hastily, "The pleasure is all mine, Kuchiki-san."
"Please just call me Aimi, Kurosawa-kun."
"I'm Shiba Chouko. Just call me Chouko. And I'm warning you now: I don't take crap from anybody."
"Shihouin Isamu. Just Isamu is fine, Gorou."
"Kyouraku Shunsui. Nice to meet you."
"Alright. Now that introductions are over, let's get going," Isamu said excitedly, "On to the Kido Theory classroom!" He charged off down the hall.
"Shihouin! The classroom's this way!" Jushiro called after him. Isamu ran back, blushing with embarrassment as the others laughed.
"I knew that," he said as he dashed off in the direction Jushiro indicated. The others followed quickly, some still exchanging chuckles.
The teacher for Kido Theory was a man in his early 70s. His name was Yukimura Daisuke. He was quite friendly with kindness dancing in his eyes as he greeted the new students. His classroom was pretty big, and the window gave a good view of the academy's grounds, despite the heavy bushes growing in front of it.
Next was the room for Soul Society's History class. The teacher was a young, stern-looking man who had a dull drone of a voice. As they left the classroom, Isamu leaned over and whispered in Jushiro's ear, "I'm definitely going to fall asleep in that class."
Seireitei's Law and Government class was on the top floor. The door was locked and the room was dark, signaling the absence of the teacher. Zanjutsu class was on the first floor in a large, spacey room. Rows of bokken lined the wall on the far side.
The group took the time to go to the cafeteria and eat lunch before heading to the back of the school, where classes for Hakuda and Hoho were held.
The field behind the school was huge, with a section of it fenced off for Hakuda class. The rest of it was reserved for Hoho lessons.
Aside from some storage rooms that were off-limits to students, the group had gotten a good idea of the Shin'o Academy's layout by nighttime. They had dinner together before parting ways to head back to their dormitory.
When Jushiro, Isamu, and Shunsui finally arrived back at their room, Kaito was sitting on his bed, reading a sheet of paper. Judging by his wet hair, he had taken a shower not too long ago.
"Hey, Kamikaze," Shunsui drawled, "What's up?"
Kaito glanced up sharply before folding up the sheet of paper and tucking it under his pillow. "Nothing, Kyouraku-san. Family business." He laid down, threw his blankets over himself, and turned so that he was facing the wall, clearly not inclined to speak to the other three. Shrugging, Shunsui made his way to his bed and threw himself onto the mattress without bothering to change out of his uniform.
"Better get some rest, Ukitake," Isamu yawned, "We're starting classes tomorrow."
Kurosawa Gorou (黒澤 五郎) – Kurosawa means 'black swamp' while Gorou means 'fifth child.'
Shihouin Isamu (四楓院 勇) – Isamu means 'courage.'
Kamikaze Kaito (神風海翔) – Kamikaze means 'god wind.' Kai means 'ocean' in this case and to means 'to fly.'
Shiba Chouko (志波 蝶子) – Chouko means 'butterfly child.'
Kuchiki Aimi (朽木 愛美) – Ai means 'love' and mi means 'beautiful.'
In this story, there are seven noble houses: Shihouin, Kuchiki, Kamikaze, Shiba, and three others of which only one will be introduced later.