With a groan, Ukitake slowly forced his eyelids open.
They felt gritty, like sandpaper; for an age, his vision refused to focus and his lungs felt like they had been scoured from the inside out with acid. Jyuushirou made an attempt to wade through the fog in his head but found no firm memory of anything after graduation. Only a blurry mix of impressions came to his consciousness: jostling about in the jinriksha with the flustered figure of old Katashi hovering over him, endless coughing...pain....drowning...
Jyuushirou stifled another groan. This level of memory loss usually meant an especially bad episode. Merely thinking along those lines made him want to set off again, so he concentrated on drawing one careful lungful of air after another into his aching chest. With time his vision cleared, along with other sensory input; the smell of earth and spice and jasmine, the distant sound of babbling water, the quiet thrum of familiarity that wrapped around him like a warm blanket.
Ugendo. Home.
Ukitake sighed minutely in deep and abiding contentment.
After an eternity, Jyuushirou tentatively stretched his stiff limbs, gritting his teeth at their recalcitrance. He must have been out for days, if not weeks, to be so immobile. He was just setting to the task of working life back into his muscles when, at the edge of his sight, a shadow stirred and quickly vanished through the door to his bedroom.
A servant, off to tell his family that he was awake. Another sigh; Jyuushirou knew all too well which of them would be the first to present themselves.
On the whole the Ukitake family was warm and loving, completely different from the staid and formal miens with which most noble families comported themselves...but his mother was a being unto herself. The Ukitake matriarch was a she-lion of the fiercest kind and when she made up her mind on something, she was not to be crossed. Of all Jyuushirou's family members, his mother had capitulated last to his terminal prognosis, effortlessly shifting from a staunch refusal of his condition to a determined campaign to keep her firstborn son alive as long as possible.
For his part, Jyuushirou had learned well from her example – his fierce determination came almost entirely from the maternal side of his parentage. Which meant, of course, that he had just as deep a stubborn streak when his resolve was set. Still, while he had words to trade with his mother about the letter she'd sent to Yamamoto-dono, Jyuushirou was hardly up to a verbal battle at the moment. He also knew that his poor health was not enough to deter his mother, and steeled himself accordingly.
Sure enough, within moments, the door to his room slid open.
The manner in which Ukitake Kimi swept into the room was designed to draw admiring gazes from any virulent male within a considerable distance. Not that she was putting on such a display for her own son; everything Kimi did was calculated to raise herself above the common element. She was a glorious study in dichotomy; born a breathtakingly beautiful heiress of a higher caste, Kimi had stubbornly married for love but never ceased in her efforts to elevate her subsequent family into proper society. Indeed, whatever level of begrudging respect the Ukitakes had earned over the decades could be attributed fully to Kimi's efforts alone. Her husband was entirely unconcerned with noble life and preferred to occupy his time with family and household matters. Ukitake Hiroshi treated everyone as if they were dear and trusted friends, high-born and servants alike, much to the disdain of proper nobles and his wife's eternal chagrin. Kimi had yet to reconcile her deep and abiding devotion to Hiroshi with her frustration that the very qualities she loved most about him kept the Ukitakes from the lofty social circles where she so clearly belonged.
Gliding to a halt at Jyuushirou's bedside, Kimi's elegant entrance was only slightly marred by her brushing his forehead in genuine maternal concern.
"How are you feeling, dearest?"
Ukitake smiled faintly. "Much better," he wheezed, trying to sound stronger than he felt.
She wasted no time at all. "I knew it was a terrible idea to send you to this so-called academy, and I can clearly see that I have been vindicated." Kimi frowned prettily, her worry evident and heartfelt even as she mastered her delight. "You will not be returning, of course, which is all for the best. The Flower Ball is right around the corner, and I could certainly make use of you at the Dragon Festival this fall. You will be well enough for both, I should think." Kimi generally discussed Jyuushirou's health as if it were a truculent servant; something that did what you told it to, most of the time, and only inconvenienced you enough to consider trading it for another if you could be bothered with the paperwork.
"I will be well in time for the Flower Ball," Jyuushirou agreed, but then allowed his tone to harden. "And I will be returning to the Academy at the end of the summer. Seeing as that conflicts with the Dragon Festival, you will just have to make use of Jiro for that particular excursion. He enjoys that sort of thing better than I do, anyway." He dropped his second brother's name expertly and waited for the cooling of his mother's gaze. He was not disappointed; effortlessly, Kimi's expression shifted into a lovely woundedness, designed to make any man instantly search his soul for what offense he might have caused and repent of it immediately. Jyushirou, however, noted well the tightening around her eyes, the slight stiffness in his mother's shoulders. His mother wasn't hurt, she was feeling thwarted.
"Jyuushiro, pet..." Kimi started in her most reasonable voice, her frustration carefully smoothed down, but Ukitake quietly cut her off.
"I have been top of my class all year, and we both know it would reflect well on the family to set a precedent in achievement at the new academy. It certainly would not do to drop out unceremoniously." Kimi's left eyebrow flickered faintly, annoyed at the truth of his parry. Jyuushirou shrugged in a studiously nonchalant manner. "Besides, I am enjoying myself at school." It was the truth, and he was hoping it would disarm his mother long enough to see reason.
He couldn't have been more wrong. Between one eyeblink and the next. Kimi's the expression of concern vanished, replaced by the distinct impression of a hawk that had just spotted a field mouse. "Yes," his mother chirped. "I hear you are indeed enjoying yourself." Something in her tone made heat rise to Jyuushirou's cheeks. Kimi rose and glided around the end of his bed, pointedly busying herself with a floral arrangement. "Tell me," she purred in her most innocent voice. "Have you made any friends at this academy?"
"Some," Ukitake admitted, his lip twitching as he suddenly realized where this was going. "Most of them are Rukogians, not families you would know."
Kimi nodded thoughtfully. "Most," she allowed, continuing in a too-casual lilt. "But not all. I worry about the influences...others might be having on you."
Ukitake very nearly smiled. Had his mother always been this obvious, or had a year away from home really opened his eyes so much? "Kyouraku-san." Jyuushirou refused to grant his mother the satisfaction of pronounced familiarity. "He is...interesting."
Kimi emitted a small sound that would have been a disgusted grunt in anyone else; without warning, she switched tactics on him.
"This is all my fault. Too long I've kept you from the more...common elements of life, and you are naturally curious. It's not surprising you would find such a comrade interesting." Slender shoulders dropped in a show of delicate disapproval. "Just be sure, dear son, that you keep such associations in their proper perspective."
"You worry too much, Mother," Jyuushirou countered smoothly, his voice like arctic silk, temper flickering to life. It burned like ice. "I would have thought you'd approve of my attachment to such a high noble House."
He made the mistake of looking up and meeting his mother's penetrating gaze.
Kimi's eyes narrowed prettily, dangerously. "Good gods, Jyuushirou, I hope you are not adopting any sexual proclivities that would threaten this family with scandal."
Baseless though her conclusions were, the implications cut deep. Jyuushirou's chest tightened, his sudden cold fury translating into an expression that revealed far too much, too easily misinterpreted. For once in his life, Jyuushirou didn't think he cared. He found that feeling exhilarating. "And if I was, Mother?" he asked, too softly.
A flash of something crossed Kimi's face as she reached for her most reasonable tone. "Jyuushirou, we've talked about this. It's perfectly natural to want physical...intimacy," she spat, her opinion on presumed orientations all too clear in her expression. "But you're heir and must choose wisely. To get carried away in...unproductive indulgences of the flesh is hardly wise..."
He'd been around Shunsui too long. A rebellious streak surged through Jyuushriou, quick as lightning and impossible to resist. The words were out before he could stop them.
"Do not fear, Mother. I will not make the mistake of getting myself too well loved."
He was rewarded by the paling of her skin, the flinch of his mother's eyes as she buried the cut.
Jyuushirou almost reveled in it, too angry to measure his revenge - this was an old argument, and he was tired of losing it. Kimi fought tirelessly to see her family line well established, but Jyuushirou knew all too well that sooner or later that any mate he might choose would be required to watch him die. Asking that of his family was inevitable; asking that of someone else was unconscionable, in his mind. The fact that his mother's conclusions about Shunsui were baseless was irrelevant; for once Jyuushriou held the upper hand on this subject and could not back down. If he didn't held hold his ground now, he would never regain it later.
He met his mother's eyes ruthlessly, unflinchingly. Mutually hurt, equally stubborn, they sat in agonizing tableau for an endless moment, when suddenly, the door flew open and scattered the tension like a pile of autumn leaves.
"Niiiiii-san!" A small figure hurtled across the room and launched itself at the bed.
"Ooof!" From long practice, Jyuushirou just barely managed to catch his youngest brother Yokio before the human missile could land squarely on his weak chest.
"Hey there, nugget," Ukitake wheezed, laughing as much as he was able.
A veritable avalanche of family members followed in short order.
"Hey there, yourself!" Amarante, Jyuushirou's next-youngest sister, turned the full effect of her mega-watt grin on him as she slipped into the room. Poetry had been set to her indefinable luminescence. "How are you feeling?"
"Bombarded," Jyuushirou gasped, grinning back. He tilted his head to catch the eye of his third sister, her skinny figure half-hiding behind Ama'. "How are the bees, 'Nari?"
Tiny Inari granted him a rare smile, slight as her frame.
"Buzzing," came her soft reply; the quietest of the Ukitake children, Inari could most often been found seeking solace among the honeycombs at the north end of the estate. She rarely spoke to anyone except the bees, and Jyuushirou; most of the rest of the family found her quite odd.
Jyuushriou nodded solemnly, as if her answer made perfect sense. "Kana hasn't been bothering them?"
"As if!" The stout sibling in question charged into the room, an oft-worn combative expression painting his strong features. " 'Nari can keep her stupid bees. I've got better things to do." Despite his words, Jyuushirou's incorrigible third brother scratched surreptitiously at what looked suspiciously like a sting on his upper arm. "I nearly caught the papa carp, Jyuu!"
"Oh no, you didn't!" Jyuushirou shot back in dismay, ignoring the twinge in his chest as his eyebrows drew together. "I told you to leave the fish alone!" he fretted, wondering how many of his beloved carp had survived his absence.
"He's exaggerating," piped in Makoto, slightly older than Kana and with a more assured presence, despite his younger brother's broader build. "What he means is, he was clumsy enough to fall into the lake and nearly drowned." Makoto twined slender fingers together as he shared a knowing grin with his eldest brother.
"I did not fall in!" Too easily provoked, Kana fired back with fists clenched, quicksilver temper instantly ignited.
"Peace," interjected Yasuo, Jyuushirou's fourth brother, in a tone that quickly defused the animosity in the room. No one knew quite how Yasuo managed to do that, but he had the uncanny knack of bringing calm to any situation. "Our brother is barely recovered, this isn't the time for fist fights."
A short but poignant silence met that sobering statement, one which affected the youngest Ukitake son not a bit. Yokio wriggled like a gleeful puppy in his eldest brother's affectionate grip.
"Come outside and play with us, Jyuu-san!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Yokio, Jyuushirou is barely out of the woods." Kimi snatched her youngest out of Jyuushirou's arms, which were just starting to tremble from holding his exuberant brother. "You want to make him sick again?" she chided affectionately, not without an edge.
That momentary silence reigned again for a split second. Yokio looked so dejected that Jyuushirou couldn't help but smile at him reassuringly.
"I'll be up and about in no time, nugget. I promise you can help me feed the carps soon, ok? Whatever ones Kana has left alive..." He winked at his third brother before the fiery Ukitake could ball his fists up again.
"Take your time, they're fat enough already." Hiroshi announced amiably as he ambled into the room with a crooked grin. His warm eyes roamed across his familial brood, coming around to rest on his eldest son. "You look terrible."
"Thanks a lot. You try coughing yourself inside out and see how well you look afterwards," Jyuushirou groused affably, barely suppressing a grin as his father ruffled his pale hair, just the way he used to when Jyuushirou was no older than Yokio. He turned an earnest gaze up into paternal hazel eyes, the spitting image of his own. "How are the bonsai growing this year?"
"Better, without you around to denude them," his father returned with an affectionate chuckle. Jyuushirou blushed, but his father just roared a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder. "Now, I hear you're making quite a name for yourself at this Academy." Oblivious, Hiroshi failed to catch the flash of annoyance in his wife's eyes.
Jyuushirou didn't, and swelled at the show of support. "I'm top of my classes," he affirmed, cheeks pinked with pride.
"Of course you are," Hiroshi said, as if there would be any other outcome. "I bet you're driving all the ladies to distraction; that takes out at least half the class..."
"Hiroshi," Kimi interjected with a roll of her stunning eyes.
"Oh, he knows I'm kidding," the Ukitake patriarch replied jovially, either missing his wife's tone or ignoring it completely. "Jyuushirou, you aren't taking any botany classes by any chance? The sakuras have been failing and I'm quite at a loss as to what's causing it. I thought aphids, perhaps..." He trailed off, a look of vague distress on his aging features.
Jyuushirou shook his head slightly, well used to his father's meandering thought patterns. "It's not exactly that kind of academy, Fath," he replied, utilizing his favorite paternal nickname.
"Oh, what a shame. Ah. Hrm," Hiroshio looked at quite a loss as to what other kind of academy there could be. Finally, he shrugged. "Ah well, at least the plague is isolated. The zinnias are looking lovely, and I'm sure the tulip beds wouldn't mind you visiting them. They've missed you, I think..."
"When you're well enough," Kimi said firmly, sending her husband a pointed look that he mostly missed. Hiroshi waved a hand in an absent manner.
"Of course, of course," he returned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "The gardens can wait. Right now my dear, we should probably wrangle up our brood and see about dinner; they're all surely hungry, and Jyuushirou will need a nap before facing the carps, I would think." Hiroshi reached over and tickled Yokio's tummy, making the boy squeal in delight as the rest of the Ukitake children chimed in their eagerness for sustenance.
Letting the familiar cacophony wash over him, Jyuushirou fought his drooping eyelids amidst a flush of reassurance. His father seemed to have a preternatural sense of his health, always knowing when to push his son or let him rest.
"Dinner's a good idea...I'll join you in a few hours, perhaps..." Jyuushriou assented sleepily, stifling a yawn. Woozily, the room dipped into darkness as his large eyes drifted shut.
The room whispered the soft sounds of family members drifting quietly away, accustomed to this scenario. A last touch on his forehead, the sound of Hiroshi's gentle tenor, as the room faded around Jyyushirou.
"Rest, my son. We'll be here when you wake up..."
_________
Summer waxed full as Jyuushirou healed; not his longest recovery time by a long shot, but not nearly as short as he'd hoped either. In the privacy of his thoughts he wondered if Academy was indeed taking a larger toll on him than he realized, although he would run himself through with a zanpaktou before openly admitting it. So Ukitake kept his niggling doubts to himself, ignored his mother's pointed glances, and slowly regained his strength. By late in the summer, he was taking long strolls around the family grounds, reveling in his mobility and the healing serenity of Ugendo.
It was on one such walk on a fine July day, the air warm and fragrant and seasoned with birdsong, that Jyuushirou discovered a trespasser.
He was just meandering near the outermost walls of the grounds when he heard an odd sound coming from within a small and nearly abandoned chashitsu. Situated against the banks of one of the mountain streams that fed the lake around which Ugendo was built, the former teahouse had proven to be too cold and damp for entertaining and had long ago been converted to a storehouse for fine beverages.
For all the world, the intruding sound from within was like a crash, followed by a muffled grunt of pain. Intrigued, since the Ukitake clan was notably unwealthy and had few earthly goods worth stealing, Jyuushirou found himself fiddling with the locked door and letting himself inside the dim building. Noting a small window, high near the ceiling and most decidedly broken into, Jyuushirou was just seizing reiatsu to defend himself and immobilize any threat when he recognized an unmistakable aura.
Stifling a groan, he rounded a stack of barrels.
In the gloom, Jyuushirou could just make out an unforgettably pink figure. Kyouraki Shunsui was sprawled inglamorously on his hind side in the middle of an aisle of barreled wine, staring at enough sake casks to drown a small district in Rukongai.
Eyes wide as saucers, Shunsui looked at him with something frighteningly close to ecstasy.
"Marry me," he whispered hoarsely.
Jyuushirou threw him an exasperated grimace. "Don't give my mother ideas. How did you get in here?"
Shunsui flashed his most incorrigible grin. "Present are both you and alcohol. The question you should be asking is - how did I not get in here sooner?"
"You could say that again. It's been two months since school ended," Jyuushirou tossed back, trying to be cross. Perversely, he felt unaccountably light-hearted.
Shunsui grinned and threw his arms out. "Ha! I knew you missed me!"
Jyuush sighed deeply and dodged a very clumsy attempt at an exuberant hug. "Like a bad habit," he fired back. "Shouldn't you be in jail or something?"
"I got out early on good behavior." Kyouraku winked in a ridiculously exaggerated manner. "Had to perform sexual favors, but luckily the warden was female..." Another chuckle, coupled with a dirty wink.
Dropping his shoulders in a semblance of defeat and fighting the inexplicable desire to grin like an idiot, Jyuushirou turned for the door. "Come on. Now that you're here, we might as well get you introduced."
Shunsui gave a look to the sake casks that would have broken the heart of Scrooge himself, but shuffled after his classmate. "Introduced? To whom?"
"My mother. She should be in the west tea room, this time of day." The slender, pale figure ghosted gracefully ahead of Shunsui in the dim light.
"Mother, hrm?" Shunsui mused, seeming to memorize every vintage he passed. A lopsided grin twisted his face. "Is she a looker?"
"She is stunning." Jyuushirou replied.
There was something in the simple admission that made Shunsui's blood chill. Whistling a meandering tuned under his breath, Kyouraku's off-key rendition turned into a hoot of appreciation as they emerged onto the expansive eastern lawn of Ugendo.
Jyuushirou quirked an eyebrow. "What?"
"Not bad, not bad at all." Shunsui's vague gesture took in the open fields, the lake glistening nearly to the horizon.
Jyuushirou took it wrong, flushing defensively. "It's not like the High Houses, I know, but..."
"No, no - it's beautiful." Something in the wide spaces, the simple landscaping, the clean lines of the modest buildings of the Ukitake shinden-zukuri, was open and inviting without being intimidating. It was totally unlike the Kyouraku estate in every possible way.
Shunsui liked it immediately. "You live here, pretty boy?"
The slender Ukitake grinned. "You know I do, that's why you broke in." Dark eyebrows frowned curiously. "Do you really like it?"
"Would I lie?" Shunsui grinned like an idiot, hoping to hide the honesty in his admission. "Yoush, if I lived here I would never leave."
"Yes, you would," Jyuush replied, a little too forcefully. "With a whole world out there to discover? You would take off the minute the opportunity presented itself, too..." His angular jaw snapped shut, a faint hint of color rising to his cheeks. The summer heat pressed heavily against the two trekking youths.
Discomfited by an unexpected swell of commiseration, Shunsui sought safety in banter. "Okay, good point. Matter of fact, let's skip the introductions. I know a great pub less than 50 flash steps from here..."
Jyuushirou let out a musical laugh, cut off short. He pressed a hand to his mouth briefly, but waved Shunsui off when he drew closer with concern on his face. Ukitake spoke a moment later, his voice slightly breathy with strain.
"Come along, you big coward. She already knows you're here, and it would be the height of rudeness not to say hello."
"How does your mother know I'm here?" asked Shunsui, who was awfully proud of his sneaking abilities.
"Because you got in," Jyuushirou countered drolly, noting Shunsui's wounded glance. "No offense to your talents, friend, but nothing goes on within these walls the Mother doesn't know about. You would not have made it past the outer walls if she hadn't let you, and that means she is eager to meet you. And Mother gets what she wants."
"Ahhh...it cannot be helped. Rumors of my prowess, once again, precede me!" Shunsui donned his most beleaguered, Don Juan expression.
Jyuushirou threw him a warning glance. "I know what you're thinking, Shunsui, but it would not be wise to play with her. Again no offense, but she is a master at these little verbal games, and the damage you could cause would take me quite a while to fix. Every look, every nuance will be noted and evaluated, not always correctly. Do not give her more things to harp on, please."
"Aw, come on, Jyuushirou. What more ideas could I give her?" Kouraku's loopy grin slid into shock at Ukitake's pained grimace. An earlier comment suddenly became relevant.
"Wait...you mean she thinks-"
"Yes."
"She thinks that we're-"
"Yes."
"Huh. Does she now?" Shunsui's voice was decidedly amused.
Jyuushirou gave him a glance that was pure murder. "Shunsui, I beg of you - for once use some discretion. For all her intelligence, Mother believes what she wants to believe. If you care for me at all," he stopped Shunsui just outside the screen doors to one of the nicer tea houses on the edge of a garden. "Keep your tongue in check. Be polite, and gods have mercy, be brief. And pray to High Heaven that she is in a good mood."
"Hey, pretty-boy, come on - it's me!" Shunsui's grin was nearly as contagious as it was infuriating.
With a sigh, Jyuushirou turned and reached for the shoji screen. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."
Within seconds of drawing back the screen door, Ukitake knew this was going to go very badly. First of all, the prim and benign look on his mother's face told him that she was in a very bad mood indeed.
In the second place, before he could so much as speak a word to formally introduce Shunsui, the man swooped past him and threw his arms open wide.
"Mamasita!!" Kouraku cried in absolute delight.
"Hey, there you are!" Kyouraku huffed, rounding an especially dense copse of trees on the western end of lake Ugendo.
This day could hardly get worse. Not only had Shunsui gone way out of his way to find Ugendo in the first place - prompted by an irrational desire to make sure the Ukitake kid was alright, he'd looked like hell at the end of graduation - but no sooner had he found Jyuushirou then the kid had taken off in a fit of pique. Hours had passed since the pale Ukitake had fled the tea house wherein they'd been enjoying - Kyouraku thought - a delightful afternoon of tea and pastries. Ukitake's mother had proven to be an exceptional verbal opponent; Shunsui rarely had the pleasure of annoying so worthy a subject. She very nearly gave Shunsui's own father a run for his money...
But the fact remained that without sake the tea was quite bland, and without Ukitake the company had eventually cooled as well. As the sun had begun to golden and dip lower in the sky, Shunsui had actually begun feeling badly about running off his host and eventually excused himself. At which point, Kyouraku's task became quite clear: find Jyuushirou and smooth things over.
Preferably, the latter would involve large quantities of sake...actually, sake first sounded delightful, but that niggling guilt pressed Shunsui into doing things in proper order.
Unfortunately, Ukitake had proven much harder to find than a sake house, a fact which annoyed Shunsui to no end. Ugendo might not be well appointed but the grounds were vast. Truthfully, Shunsui would have given up at one point if he hadn't run into a tiny, slender girl in the woods, smelling of honey and staring at him solemnly. Wordlessly, she'd simply pointed toward the west end of the lake and, thoroughly creeped out, Shunsui had set off in that direction for little other reason than to get as far away from her as possible.
Oddly enough, finding Jyuushirou was relatively easy after that. Once Shunsui had a general direction, it wasn't too hard to find Ukitake's reiatsu drifting on the breeze coming off the lake. It was only a matter of time, stubbed toes and curses before Kyouraku stumbled into Ukitake's favorite hiding spot. Pale, smooth granite blocks tumbled across each other and jutted out into the lake, surrounded by dense overhanging branches that framed the space and kept the worst of the summer heat at bay. If not for the cool breeze coming off the lake and stirring snow-white hair, Shunsui might not have even noticed the stock-still figure sitting at water's edge. Kyouraku overlooked the tiny cove within which huddled his quarry.
"You gave me a merry chase," Shunsui grumbled, traipsing down towards water's edge. The granite felt farm through his sandals, off-setting the cool breeze nicely. "What the hell are you doing all the way out here?"
"It's my home, I can go where I please. No one asked you to follow me," Ukitake returned in a sour tone; sharp chin resting on criss-crossed arms, he continued to stare out at the water.
This brought Kyouraku up a bit. "Hey, I don't usually go to this much trouble to find something I can't drink." Pointedly, he rubbed an itch that stood a good chance of being poison oak.
"You're the one who started trouble," Ukitake shot back, unmoved.
Instantly, Shunsui began to splutter. "I caused trouble?! I came all the way out here to visit a school friend-!"
"You broke in." Ukitake dug in his heels.
"...I was sober!" Kyouraku's best put-upon expression went thoroughly ignored.
"I found you in our sake cellar, Shunsui."
"But I wasn't drinking any of it!!" Kyouraku roared back, flailing his arms, much aggrieved.
Finally Ukitake whirled on him. Hazel eyes glared daggers. "Don't you dare act like the victim here! I practically begged you to be nice to my mother..."
"You introduced us!"
"... who no doubt has a very lasting impression of you." Ukitake finished. His expression passed angry and swung around to something deeper; something pained. "Why do you have to make a mess out of everything!?"
Coupled with that look, Kyouraku found himself surprisingly wounded. A hand flapped, as if to wave the unusual feeling away.
"Ehh...what can I say? It's a talent." he quipped, backpedaling and trying to sound light-hearted.
Ukitake continued to pin him with a scathingly perspicacious look. "No, it's not," he said suddenly, anger banked but still potent. "It's deliberate. Why?"
Kyouraku's discomfort peaked. "Everyone's gotta be good at something, right?" A disarming half-smile didn't quite come out right.
Ukitake's widened eyes caught the sunlight and turned a deep shade of green. "So, you're succeeding at failing?" Anger melted into confusion. "What's the point of that?"
A safe quib died on his tongue; Kyouraku found himself jostled into honesty. "Misdirection." Lips twisted wryly. "If everyone's looking one way, that leaves you free to go another."
Ukitake's dark eyebrows drew together as he wrestled through the dubious logic. "So, you actually want people to underestimate you?"
"Fewer things in life are more precious than low standards, my friend. If people think you're useless, they ask nothing of you." Kyouraku winked. "Life is less...complicated that way. People look right through you. It's like being invisible." Feeling unexpectedly relieved by this confession, Shunsui found himself nearly knocked over by a sudden clap of reiatsu that tore across the lake.
Ukitake stared at nothing, his face a thundercloud.
Shunsi gaped. "Hey, what's the matter with you!?"
Ukitake fought with himself for an endless moment that nearly frightened Kyouraku.
"I can't imagine anything worse," Jyuushirou finally choked out, eyes bright and locked on the distant horizon. "That would be like...being dead already..." His hoarse whisper set Kyouraku's hair on edge. He swallowed hard and seemed to gain back a modicum of control. "Is that really how you want to live your life?" Ukitake asked bleakly.
Kyouraku had never wanted a drink more badly in his life. His lips moved, against his will. "Some lives aren't worth living."
All Ukitake did was turn, and meet his eyes. And Shunsui was filled with the deepest sense of shame he'd ever experienced. He fumbled for words.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"Yes, you did." Ukitake, replied. He sighed, his voice suddenly tired. "Don't apologize, I'm glad you're being honest. It explains a lot, actually." He barked a harsh, bitter sound. "You, with endless years ahead of you...why not waste some of them? Why live every single moment to the fullest..?" His angular jaw snapped shut.
Dawning realization blossomed in Kyouraku's head. He felt a moment of insight crash down on him, the type of which he usually avoided by being drunk as often as possible.
Truth sparked as blindingly as the sunlight dancing on the water. "That's why you joined the Academy."
Ukitake sagged, all the fury blowing out of him like a summer storm, there and gone. "Sort of, although that's hardly the only reason." He toyed the surface of the water with his toes. "I just...wanted something I did to matter."
A long silence, within which Kyouraku found himself drowning. "You're top of the class..." he supplied, lamely.
"So far. Last year was easy - almost all academics. Even an invalid can look good on paper," Jyuushirou returned, his voice anguished. "Next year we start training."
"Ah." Kyouraku suddenly realized where this was going. "So what's wrong with that? I seem to remember you taking out half a dozen upperclassmen pretty easily."
"I ended up in the hospital, Shunsui!" Ukitake's wail echoed across the waters as he huddled in around his anguish. "There is no way anyone will take the risk of training with me."
"That's assuming anyone knows..."
"They know enough, or at least they suspect," Jyuushirou finished bleakly. "Even those upperclassmen backed off, the moment they realized who I was." Kyouraku flinched; he'd rather hoped Ukitake hadn't remembered that. Ukitake continued, frustration paramount. "I'm going to be treated differently no matter what any of the Academy staff says..."
Kyouraku was suddenly furious; something about a despondent Ukitake annoyed the hell out of him. "Reality check, Jyuushirou: you are different. Your lungs don't work and you've got pretty good chance of dying at any moment. You can't just pretend that's not a factor."
He let Ukitake wilt under his fury for a long moment before finishing quietly. "The question is, what are you going to do about it?"
Pale lips twisted bitterly. "You've just pointed out how little choice I have..."
"Bullshit. Find a way to keep fighting. Train anyway, and to hell with everyone else."
"Who would be stupid enough to train with someone like me!?" Ukitake yelled, blazing green eyes at war with the hollowness in his tone.
In another irresistible moment of clarity, Kyouraku smiled brilliantly and did what he did best: blundered in over his head.
"You even need to ask? I'll train with you."
A moment of shock. Ukitake gaped at him with what Kyouraku decided was an insultingly dubious expression. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I," stated Kyouraku with a mountain of pomp, "am never ridiculous."
Jyuushirou's lip twitched, a wisp of amusement ghosting his eyes. He regarded Shunsui for a long breath.
"Think about what you're offering, Kyouraku-san."
"I'm offering to beat your skinny ass into the next millenium," Shunsui returned, eyes sparkling. "Pretty sweet deal, in my book."
Lip curling higher, Jyuushirou took the bait. "Assuming you could. I'm not as helpless as I look."
"Never said you were," Kyouraku bandied back. Another jibe rose in his mind but Shunsui quelled it, disarmed by the espression that stole across Jyuushirou's face. Shunsui shrugged off the unspoken gratefulness. "Don't thank me yet, baka; training with me might actually kill you."
It was Jyuushirou's turn to shrug. "There are worse ways to die," he returned softly, training his gaze back across the lake.
Kyouraku grunted, but said no more.
Together they watched the sun set over the glimmering water. The sunset breeze sighed through the trees above them, counterpart to the music of evening setting in.
"You realize," Jyuushirou suddenly piped up. "This means you have to go back to school?"
"Yeah," Shunsui confirmed, taking a moment to quell the panic that had risen as the idea settled in. He poked Ukitake in his bony ribs. "Just means you owe me twice over."
"I doubt there's enough sake in our cellars," Jyuushirou fired back with a wry grin. "I'll spend my whole life repaying you."
Kyouraku settle back onto the warm rocks, absorbing their heat as the sun dipped lower. "Well, make it a long life then, and we'll be even."
A long pause. This time Jyuushirou's voice was softer than necessary. "You know I can't promise that."
"Don't tell me what I know." Gruff, Shunsui lept to his feet and gathered reiatsu for shunpo. "Now, if you don't mind, the day is slipping away and I'm still sober. If I don't find a woman and a sake bottle, I'm going to become downright unattractive. Unless you'd care to join me..?" He waited for the predictable shaking of Ukitake's head. "Then I'll be off. If I've got another year of school ahead of me, I've got a lot of debauchery to accomplish beforehand. It's only decent." Without thinking, he ruffled Jyuushirou's white hair.
"Get yourself back together, you're gonna need it."
"For what? I'll mow you down at the first training session." Ukitake's eyes finally carried a the sparkle of anticipation.
"We'll see, pretty boy." Kyouraku thought his face would split open.
In the blink of an eye, before either of them could say another word, Shunsui was gone.
