There might be some spoilers if you haven't read the manga.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor any of the Bleach characters. There are a few OC (like the whole Kurayami family), but the rest of the characters are works of the mangaka of Bleach.
"And who might you youngsters be?" asked an elderly man when Kyoraku and Kurayami arrived at Ukitake's.
"Kurayami Haruna and Kyoraku Shunsui," replied Kurayami.
"Oh," said the elderly man. "You are Juushiro's friends from the Academy, am I right?"
"Yes," Kyoraku replied politely.
"Are you here to see him?" the elderly man inquired.
"Yes," Kurayami said, "and there's some medicine I have to give him as well."
"You may come in. Go straight down this hallway and the first room to the left is Juushiro's room. Take as long as you need."
"Thank you," both of them said and bowed their heads.
They found Ukitake's room and knocked the door. Kurayami and Kyoraku heard a weak voice say, "Who is it?"
"Haruna and Shunsui," said Kurayami.
"Oh," said the voice more cheerfully. "Come in."
Kyoraku opened the door for the two of them to enter and found Ukitake laying down.
"Yo, Ukitake," said Kyoraku. "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better, thanks," replied Ukitake while trying to sit. Kurayami hurried next to him and helped him get up.
"Don't push yourself too much," she told him.
"I'm okay," Ukitake said with a smile. He turned to look at Kyoraku, and Kyoraku went in and sat next to the other two.
"So," said Kyoraku to break the silence, "how long until you get well enough to go to the Academy?"
"Well," Ukitake replied, looking at Kurayami, "they told me until I could breathe without any difficulties while walking."
"Which could take a couple more weeks," said Kurayami. "Here's the medicine. Sorry we didn't have it yesterday. We've never had anyone need it."
"Thanks," said Ukitake.
For the next few minutes, nobody said anything. Kyoraku just looked around Ukitake's room, while Kurayami stared at the floor thinking about something unknown to the other two. Finally, after much hesitation, Kurayami spoke.
"Juushiro," she said, "can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Ukitake replied.
"It might be a little personal," she looked at Kyoraku.
"It's okay," Ukitake said. "There's nothing I want to hide from either of you that you might want to know."
Kurayami seemed to hesitate a lot.
"It's okay," Ukitake reassured her. "I'll answer honestly, since it's probably about my health."
"It is," she said. "My question is..." she thought of the "right" words to say, "what's wrong with your lungs?"
This surprised Kyoraku.
"I mean," she continued, "my brother said there was nothing wrong with them, but I know there IS something. Back in the academy, right after you fainted, I checked your lungs for a sign of anything being caught or something, but I felt nothing. Even if there had been nothing caught, which by the way there wasn't, there should have been some kind of rough feeling coming from your lungs after coughing so much. But I couldn't feel anything. You can't have a cough as bad as the one you had without any harsh breathing afterwards, and I should have been able to sense it in your lungs."
Kyoraku and Kurayami looked at Ukitake with an intense curiosity and concern.
"You're right, Haruna," Ukitake said. "I guess you could say there is something wrong with my lungs." He looked around as if he was making sure there was no one else listening. "This is a rather long story, so get comfortable."
Kyoraku and Kurayami looked at each other and then at Ukitake, waiting for him to start talking again.
"You see, I've been sick since I was really young. I can't even remember when I wasn't sick. When I was three, I developed a lung disease, and all of the doctors lost hope. They told my parents I could not be cured, and that I would die pretty soon. At that time, the disease, whatever it is that I have, turned my hair white. I guess that explains why I have white hair and black eyebrows. Anyways, my parents were very superstitious people, and they took me to a shrine in the 78th District of East Rukongai. It was the shrine of Mimihagi-sama, the right arm of the Soul King and a fallen god. My parents prayed to him that I would be saved. It kind of worked since, as you can see, I am still alive, but it didn't entirely cure my disease. Mimihagi-sama took my lungs, and in their place, he himself came in. He is the one giving me life right now, but some of the symptoms of the disease stayed with me. That's why I still cough blood sometimes."
The three of them stayed in silence. Kyoraku and Kurayami were trying to process all that they had heard, and Ukitake was waiting for them to do so.
"So," Kyoraku broke the silence, "what you're saying is that you don't have lungs at all?"
Ukitake nodded.
"No wonder I didn't feel anything from your lungs..." said Kurayami.
"It makes sense since he doesn't have them," said Kyoraku.
"Yeah," said Ukitake.
There was silence for another minute.
"I guess you just have to be careful not to move too much," Kyoraku said looking at Ukitake. Then he turned to Kurayami and playfully said, "Right, Doctor?"
"Yeap," Kurayami replied, "but it shouldn't be a big problem. That medicine I brought will basically coat the inside of your throat. You won't cough as much, and as long as you don't overexert yourself, you won't cough blood at all." She handed the medicine to Ukitake and continued talking. "Remember to drink one cup of the medicine per day. If you drink less than that or less often than that, the medicine will have no effect, but if you drink too much or too often, there will be some bad side effects you don't really want to know about. So be careful."
"I will," replied Ukitake. "Thanks."
"Oh," she said remembering something. "Don't stay in heat nor cold for too long either. It will affect you."
"Thank you," Ukitake said again.
"You need to stop saying 'thanks' to everything," Kurayami said looking away and blushing.
Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at each other and just smiled.
"So how were the classes?" Ukitake asked after a long time of silence.
"Boring as usual," said Kyoraku. "There's nothing really new, except the fact that Hiroshima was transferred to the Second class."
"Oh?" said Kurayami. "And here I thought he was still suspended..."
"Nope," said Kyoraku. "He was suspended for a week only, and then they transferred him."
"I feel bad for him," said Ukitake. "It's not like he actually did something wrong." He shrugged.
"Are you kidding me?!" exclaimed Kurayami, in anger. "If that kidou had hit you, you would have been seriously injured!"
"But it didn't hit me," Ukitake replied with a voice full of compassion for Hiroshima.
"Well," said Kyoraku before Kurayami could say anything, "that wasn't the only reason why he got transferred."
"Huh?" the other two expressed their confusion.
"Sensei told me himself that there Hiroshima's grades were not good enough to come to the First class, but they were too good to go into the Second class. Because of his trouble-making personality, the elders were going to put him in the Second class, but he made a proposal and promised that he would do his best in the First class. The elders accepted this proposal with the condition that he would be transferred to the Second class if he caused any trouble or was deemed unworthy of being in the First Class."
"Still," said Ukitake, "we were in a battle training, and he saw an opening. I don't think that's considered as causing trouble."
"But—" Kurayami was interrupted by Kyoraku.
"And you're absolutely right, Ukitake," he said, looking at Kurayami straight in the eyes to calm her down. "That's not the reason he was transferred." Kyoraku stopped talking for a few seconds to let the other two think of any other possible reason. When both stopped thinking and looked at Kyoraku, the latter continued speaking. "On that day, after both of you left, Hiroshima said some pretty nasty things, basically disrespecting you, Haruna. That behaviour was seen as a behaviour unworthy of the First class. That's why he got transferred."
"But what exactly did he say to get him transferred?" Ukitake asked.
"That teamwork is useless, and that Haruna was just jealous because she lost to him," Kyoraku replied, glancing towards Kurayami to see her reaction.
Kurayami suddenly started laughing. "Is that seriously what he said?" she managed to say in between her laugh.
Kyoraku and Ukitake just stared at her in confusion.
"Sorry," she said, composing herself. "I just thought it was kinda funny."
"I guess it kinda is," said Kyoraku with a smile.
"Yeah," said Ukitake, also smiling. "After all, he got transferred but you didn't."
For the next hour or so, the three of them talked about what Kyoraku had done in class, what the other two had missed, and what was going on around the Academy.
"There were strange rumors of both of you going around," Kyoraku mentioned during this time.
"Like what?" inquired Ukitake with curiosity.
"Like you not being sick," Kyoraku said looking at Ukitake. Then he turned to Kurayami, "and the both of you faking everything to defame Hiroshima. Stuff like that. They were also wondering why you weren't going to classes, Haruna."
"Ohh," Kurayami said. "Well, it couldn't be helped."
"Yeah," said Ukitake. "It really couldn't be helped." He looked at Kurayami and smiled a grateful smile.
"You guys aren't mad?" Kyoraku asked rather impressed by the reaction of his two friends.
"Why would we be mad?" replied Kurayami.
"There's no reason for us to be mad," Ukitake agreed with Kurayami. Then, smiling at a confused Kyoraku, Ukitake added, "It's not like those rumors are true, so as long as we remain calm about it and explain how things really are, the rumors will die eventually."
"He's right," Kurayami said, also smiling at Kyoraku.
Kyoraku smiled and said, "I really didn't have to worry after all." The three of them laughed.
"It's getting pretty late," Ukitake said. "The sun is setting already. You guys should head home."
"Yeah," said Kyoraku, stanging up, "that might be a good idea."
"We'll come back tomorrow," Kurayami told Ukitake, and then she stood up too.
"Actually," Ukitake said. "I'm going to the Academy again starting tomorrow."
"What?!" both Kyoraku and Kurayami said in surprise.
"I told you it will take at least two weeks for you to get well enough to go back outside and move!" Kurayami said.
"You really shouldn't go," Kyoraku said.
"I know," Ukitake said, lowering his head, "but I really am feeling a lot better, and I don't feel comfortable when I'm in bed doing nothing."
Ukitake and Kyoraku looked at Kurayami, who was now deep in thought.
"I guess that's okay," she said tentatively, "since we already made you miss two weeks of class." She looked at Ukitake in the eyes. "But I'll be watching over you carefully, so that you don't faint or anything. You're okay with that, right?"
"Yeah," Ukitake said. "As long as I can go back to the Academy."
"I guess there's no helping it then," Kyoraku said. "Haruna, I'll go pick you up and then we can come together here."
"It's okay," Kurayami said. "We'll just meet here in the morning."
"Alright," Kyoraku and Ukitake gave their consent.