A.N. Happy day 21! Or should I say – Happy Birthday Jūshirō Ukitake! I was excited from the get-go that I was going to be writing something on his birthday. I just love him so much. Hope you all had a great day. Enjoy!

Jūshirō had started forgetting about his birthday when the number had reached into the thousands. It wasn't an intentional act, but after having celebrated so many, there didn't seem to be much of a point any longer. The number itself didn't bother him, he just didn't care much to keep track.

As soon as he stepped into the office, however, he was reminded very quickly of what day it way.

"Captain Ukitake!"

"Happy Birthday!"

"Have a good one captain!"

Jūshirō greeted everyone enthusiastically. Everyone looked genuinely happy for him, and their enthusiasm was contagious. When he slid the door open to his office and took in the scene, he arched an eyebrow and chuckled slightly.

"I'm almost entirely certain that it's against the law to open up someone else's mail."

From behind Jūshirō's desk, Shunsui looked up at him briefly before resuming what he'd been doing.

"You get so much mail on your birthday, Ukitake! So many young ladies swooning over you!"

Jūshirō smirked, walking over and snatching the letter from Shunsui's hands. "I do not," he asserted. "Even if I did, that doesn't mean you can open up letters addressed to me."

"I don't get any fan mail on my birthday," Shunsui pouted.

"Nice try – you couldn't care less about how much fan mail you get on your birthday." Jūshirō said as he put the letter with the numerous others on his desk and arranged them into a makeshift pile.

"Let's go for drink," Shunsui suggested.

Jūshirō gave him an incredulous look. "It's not even mid-morning yet, Kyōraku!"

"So?"

"I have work to do; I don't have the day off. Speaking of which, you should get back to the Eighth – it's too early in the week to stress Ise-san out with your antics."

Shunsui scratched the underside of his chin, "Nanao-chan doesn't need me there to run the division, she's very proficient that way. Come on, Ukitake! I'm sure Kuchiki or your third seats could hold the fort for the day."

Jūshirō crossed his arms over his chest, "The day? Just how much drinking were you planning on doing?"

Shunsui waved away the comment, "I don't know why you're putting up such a fight. Do you remember when we skipped class on your birthday at the Academy? That was a fun time."

"I ended up with a concussion and you broke your arm," Jūshirō deadpanned. "Exactly which part of that day was fun?"

"The story, Ukitake! Sometimes you have to do outrageous things just for the story."

Shunsui spoke as if his explanation made perfect sense. Although he would be hard-pressed to admit it, some of the best stories that Jūshirō had to tell were the result of Shunsui's antics. That wasn't to say that Jūshirō was entirely innocent – quite the opposite in many cases – but he had mellowed out some as he'd aged.

"I still don't thi-"

"CAPTAIN UKITAKE!"

Years of training and familiarity were the only reasons Jūshirō didn't flinch as both Kiyone and Sentarō burst into the office at the same time, brandishing absolutely massive birthday cards.

"Captain Ukitake," Kiyone began, without waiting for proper acknowledgment. "please tell this…oaf that my card is the larger one!"

"No!" Sentarō snapped, "My card is the larger one! Anyone could see that!"

Jūshirō and Shunsui shared a look at the two third-seats devolved into shouting and arguing.

"How'd you think they got those through the door?" Shunsui asked.

Jūshirō shrugged, "I don't know. They are rather large…"

Suddenly, the arguing stopped and Jūshirō came face-to-face with his two rather distraught looking third-seats.

"You don't like them?" Kiyone asked.

Sentarō smacked himself in the forehead, "Of course he doesn't like them! How could we be so stupid?!"

"No that's not it," Jūshirō said, shaking his head. "Of course I like them…I'm just trying to decide on a place to put them!"

Both Kiyone and Sentarō gave sighs of relief, smiles blossoming on their faces. Jūshirō thanked them for the cards and ushered them from the office with excuses about privileged information. In truth they were just a bit too much energy for him to deal with so early in the morning, and he was truly at a loss with what he should do with the two oversized cards.

"So…" Shunsui began. "Drinks?"

"After work," Jūshirō acquiesced.

He'd barely made the porch outside the head quarters when Shunsui appeared, a playful grin on his face.

"I don't know why you're so excited," Jūshirō said. "Alcohol is not exactly a special occasion for you."

"Don't be like that," Shunsui chided. "It's your birthday! We're going to celebrate the fact that you get even more handsome as the years go by."

Jūshirō laughed, "Nice try. Let's get going."

They arrived at the bar within moments. Jūshirō was glad that Shunsui had chosen a place that served some form of substantial food; he hadn't eaten since lunch and without food the night was going to end very early. As the approached Jūshirō was surprised that there wasn't almost no sound coming from inside the establishment. Although it wasn't really late enough for drunken antics, usually there was quite the crowd at the end of the day.

Jūshirō hesitated when he would have stepped into the bar. The lights were off, perhaps they were closed –

"SURPRISE!"

Jūshirō bumped back into Shunsui as the lights were turned on and nearly every captain and vice captain, along with several others, jumped out to greet them. The confusion must have been evident on his face because Shunsui laughed heartily and clasped him on the shoulders.

"Surprise party?" Jūshirō murmured.

Shunsui nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! Pretty nice, eh? Nanao-chan helped me organize it."

"'Helped'? How exactly did you contribute in any way?"

Jūshirō looked to his side where Nanao had appeared. Contrary to the annoyed look she gave her captain, when she looked at him her gaze softened and she smiled.

"Happy birthday, Captain Ukitake." Nanao said as she handed him a card.

He smiled, "Thank you, Vice Captain Ise."

As Shunsui and Nanao began to bicker, Jūshirō began to make his way through the crowd, greetings and well-wishes came from everyone he encountered. Despite the fact that he didn't go out of his way to celebrate, Jūshirō had to admit that seeing everyone together was nice.

He was deep into conversation with the Tenth division when Shunsui finally rejoined him, dropping down into the booth next to him.

"What going on here?" Shunsui asked before refilling his sake cup.

"Captain Hitsugaya gave me a book about bonsai tree-trimming!" Jūshirō exclaimed.

"Bonsai tree-trimming?" Shunsui repeated slowly.

Jūshirō nodded as he gestured to the book on the table, flipping through the pages enthusiastically and stopping every couple of pages to point something out that he thought was particularly interesting.

"Isn't it great?" Jūshirō asked.

Shunsui nodded, and glanced at Tōshirō who almost looked like he regretted buying the book. It was a well-known but seldom talked about fact that the bonsai trees in the Thirteenth division looked like someone had gone at them with a hacksaw, however, Jūshirō took so much joy from the act that no one had the heart to say anything to him.

As the night progressed, both Shunsui and Jūshirō took amusement from watching the others get progressively more drunk. Both had nonverbally agreed to enjoy the night without getting excessively drunk. Soon enough people were getting ready to leave, and when most had gone Jūshirō decided it was time for him to call it a night as well. The night air was cold, and Jūshirō regretted not bringing an extra haori as he and Shunsui walked back towards the Eighth.

"That was really great, thanks Shunsui" Jūshirō said.

Shunsui winked, "Don't mention it. It doesn't take much to get people to celebrate this close to the holidays anyways,"

Jūshirō laughed, "Maybe so, but I appreciate it nonetheless."

Shunsui nodded, "Did you figure out what to do with those two rather…overzealous cards?"

"I got rid of them."

Shunsui tipped his hat back to get a better look at his friend, "Oh?"

Jūshirō grimaced, "They both wrote my age in rather large numbers on the inside."

Shunsui's laughter could be heard from the Fourth.