Chapter 10

A week later

Ukitake

His illness had not acted up these days, which he was grateful for. There seemed to be less paperwork than usual, probably because everyone was trying to make things less stressful.
Unohana or one of her assistances went around the divisions once a day, keeping track of who was infected, recovered, or needed help.
Ukitake also went around his division a lot, once he finished his other duties, just talking to everyone, trying to help people. He knew Kyouraku did the same in his own division, though his method often was just lying down to sleep in a public place, which meant he was visible and approachable for those that were worrying.
On the second day, they had decided that they might as well walk through the Seireitei together.
Kyouraku had said 'People just need normality to get themselves in order. So we should walk around together, because that is normal. You can be your usual nice being, to put them at ease, and I will ask embarrassing question if someone is really out of it. It will reassure everyone.'
Ukitake had thought and how reassured they will be when their captain is put in a coma, feeling guilty again, but agreed nonetheless.

They had then always spend their lunch breaks and evenings walking and talking together. He didn't know if it calmed other people, but they had talked to many, and it had certainly calmed Ukitake.
They also had tried visiting the other captains and lieutenants, which had some times worked more than other times. Captain Kuchiki had politely accommodated them, but refused any comment on anything to do with himself. He hadn't seemed worked up, but one could never tell with Byakuya.
Renji, on the other hand, had seemed stressed, and also admitted as much, but refusing to say anything else, and Rukia had complained that he wasn't talking to her about it either.
They hadn't tried visiting captain Kurotsuchi, and Nemu did not have a Zanpakuto.
Captain Hitsugaya was stressed and serious as usual, but he had actually come to talk to them himself, stating that he was so far not affected, and thus perfectly fine, but that he was worried about Matsumoto, since she had done all of her work the last few days.
Ukitake also had the impression that captain Hitsugaya was worried about them, and came to check on them, but neither of them had commented on it. T
hey had then tried to talk to Rangiku, when they met her at the next drinking night, but while she had talked to everyone about their personal live, as she always did, she soon noticed that they wanted to ask her about her life in return, and hid from them for the rest of the evening.
Neither of them had a good connection to Sui Fong, and she had just thrown them out of her office when she realized they had nothing serious to talk about with her.

There had been other cases. Captain Komamura and his lieutenant had seemed like they had just waited to have a confidential conversation with someone, and had told them quite a lot.
Some parts of the conversation Ukitake had just pulled himself out, gladly letting Kyouraku take over, but they had agreed afterwards that they had probably helped them.
The visits with captain Otoribashi and captain Hirako had also gone well.

Kyouraku and himself had not talked much about the subject on their own, maybe because they were both tired of it by now. Kyouraku had again told Ukitake that he would help him if he needed help with this problem, and Ukitake had smiled and returned the offer.
He had not asked Kyouraku who Katen Kyokotsu liked, not wanting to intrude, and not wanting to trigger the same question in return, and he was glad that Kyouraku had not asked him either.

They also had trained together a few more times, drawing calm from it.

Afternoon

Kyouraku

'You have been infected, since around midday as far as I can tell.' captain Unohana told him calmly. 'May I ask what you are planning to do?'
He gave her a sad smile. 'I'm afraid I will require your assistance by putting me under. I will hold out for a while, maybe do it in three days?'
There was no judgment in her expression and her voice stayed calm. 'I see. I will be checking on you daily, and if you feel yourself loosing control, do not hesitate to contact me. Do not force anything because of your pride.'
Her expression changed to strict/scary for a second at that, and Kyouraku nodded quickly.
'Since we do not know how long everyone will have to stay in a coma, I advise you to make the necessary preparations for a worst case scenario. I will inform the head commander after I put you in the coma of the situation, unless you wish to talk to him before? You also could prepare letters.'
Please write your last will? Kyouraku thought dryly, and answered: 'I will. I also will report if I find out anything new with Katen Kyokotsu. Thank you captain Unohana.'

He sat in thought for a while after she had left.
Should I tell anyone? Yama-jii? Ukitake? Nanao-chan?
The head captain would undoubtedly be cross with him for his decision, and he did not want to explain it to him. Yama-jii would try to change his mind, which would not work, and then he would accept his decision, so he might as well not tell him and just let his actions speak for him.
Nanao-chan would be angry as well. But she had a right to know, since he would force her to take over while he was unconscious.
Ukitake… he could not tell him. He would try to find out who it was, to convince him otherwise, to find a way to help him. At least he wouldn't have to waste his energy on that is he only found out once Kyouraku was in a coma.
But he did not like to keep things from Ukitake. Even his attraction to him had he not hid in the beginning, openly flirting with Ukitake, who never noticed. The only thing he did not do was openly say anything, because he didn't want to force Ukitake to face it like that.
Keeping this illness from him would be hard, especially since he could already feel that his mind was working less precise than usually.
But he would manage somehow.
He was going to act normal, not show anything wrong. Then tell Nanao-chan on the day he would be put under, so she would at least hear it from him, and leave the rest to Unohana.

Examining his emotions, he found that he was not at all worried for himself. He was worried how Ukitake would be able to deal with his own turn to be ill, but there was nothing he could do to help now.
He calmly went back into his office, and continued his work.

Through the afternoon, he found that he had trouble focusing, his mind being more easily distracted than usual. It would often drift to think about Ukitake, and he once found himself getting up to visit him, only to halt at the door and realize.
He felt that the others presence would calm him, and strangely missed him after having meet for lunch earlier. Apart from that, he also found himself distracted by various other things, like topics mentioned in the reports he was reading, or sounds he heard from outside.
His thoughts were more random than usual, and he had to keep from laughing some times at his mind.

When the evening came, he prepared himself to go out drinking and socializing with Ukitake. His preparation was different than usual.
He did take two sake jars, as usually, but unusually, he poured nearly all of the liquid into a sink, looking sadly at the lost delicacy.
He flinched as a headache suddenly hit him, but pushed it away and continued.
He only left a rest of about a centimeter on the bottom, and filled up the jars with water. It did not seem like a good idea to get drunk in his current state, but being seen getting drunk would cover for any craziness in his actions.
He put the lids on the jars, and left to find Ukitake.
Finally.

Ukitake

He carefully ordered his desk, and went to the door when he felt Kyouraku's spiritual pressure approach. 'Hey Ukitake, ready to go?'
He returned the other's smile, answering 'Of course.', falling in step beside him.
They would first get something to eat in one of the canteens, and Kyouraku probably some sake, and then sit at one of the training grounds, where people often meet in the evenings.
'Any news from your division ?' he asked, sensing a slight uneasiness in the other, through he couldn't put his finger on it. His spiritual pressure felt somehow… 'Nothing unexpected really. Except that Nanao-chan threw out one of my liquor stashes.' Kyouraku reassured him quickly, giving him his usual smile.
Sensing his honesty, Ukitake quickly abandoned his worries, instead returning his smile. 'That, too, can not be considered unexpected, can it now?'

They spend the first half of their evening at division thirteen, then walking through the Seireitei to division eight.
Kyouraku got drunk rather quickly, and was being quite silly by the time they arrived. He pointed out everything he saw that he considered interesting on the way.
'Look, there is a blue flower. I wonder what it's called, who do you think I should ask? You know, I think they recently replaced the stones on this road, they look a little different than twenty years ago.'
Giving Ukitake a serious look 'Careful that you don't trip. Oh, look, there is a nightingale.'
Ukitake was constantly laughing.
Kyouraku usually only got mildly drunk, since he could drink quite a lot before being affected, but he sometimes got very drunk, and he always started being slightly more random in his thoughts. Though this was a rather extreme case. He quietly wondered if it was because they usually weren't walking around when Kyouraku was drunk, so there were less things to see.

And indeed, Kyouraku calmed down when they sat down on the grass at the edge of division eight's training grounds. That was something else Ukitake had noticed long ago, Kyouraku had the ability to appear nearly normal when drunk if he wanted to, and he usually acted more composed around other people.
Ukitake liked that Kyouraku acted up more when they were alone… which was rather silly of him and very much besides the point right now.

He smiled at the 7th seat they were currently talking to, and they spend the next hour talking to different division members. It was getting late, and dark, and less and less people were at the training ground.

Ukitake lay down to look at the stars, Kyouraku beside him, now silent.

I should really remember to bring a blanket next time. He thought, feeling the air growing gradually colder. Kyouraku moved closer to him, drawing him in a half embrace and putting part of his pink Kimono over them. Attentive as always, even when he's drunk, Ukitake thought, and gave the other man a grateful smile, before relaxing while looking at the beautiful sight above him.
This was also normal for them, and he really enjoyed it.

After it had gotten fully dark, they finally stood up again.
Kyouraku stretched. 'Can you get back on your own? I'm too tired to flash step right know' '
Sure' Ukitake answered. He saw Kyouraku to his quarters, always slightly worried when he got this drunk, and they bid each other good night there.
Ukitake then flash stepped to his own rooms, happy having spend the evening this way.

Kyouraku

He had allowed himself to mostly let go of his control when he had drunk enough of the flavored water, enjoying the freedom of being 'drunk'.
He had also discovered that he had to increasingly fight his desire to be physically closer to Ukitake the less people had been around, just lean against him, take his hand, cuddle.
Then he had noticed that Ukitake was getting cold, and was of course not saying anything or asking for a blanket or something sensible like that. So he had moved closer, warming him with his body.
He had reasoned that it was not unusual for them.
Kyouraku had always been a rather tactile person.
So even not counting carrying each other when Ukitake was ill or Kyouraku was drunk, not counting the many times they had touched each other when training together, holding and throwing the other during hand to hand sparring, or all the times they had landed on each other when training with Yama-jii (which had actually happened several times), they had shared many embraces through the years.
When Ukitake would sometimes be strongly affected by his illness, being barely conscious, Kyouraku would embrace him, knowing no other way to reassure him of his presence.
When Kyouraku got clingy sometimes when he was drunk, falling asleep half on the other.
When one of their divisions or other acquaintances got seriously hurt, they comforted each other, drawing strength to be strong for their divisions.
So it had been normal, when Ukitake had smiled at him, and relaxed, continuing to watch the sky, while Kyouraku hardly could watch anything but him.
Yes, he was already quite affected by this illness. On the other hand, he had spent many years not doing anything more with Ukitake, he had quite a lot of practice.
So he had not kissed him, not drawn him tighter, not buried his face in the others hair. Maybe being so used to being attracted to Ukitake without acting on it had its advantages in this situation, though he usually did not notice all the things he didn't do just this much.

So he had relaxed, and he was happy that they had spent this time together.

Though it had been hard to let him go.