It took about five days before Jūshirō was allowed to leave the healers' wing but he wasn't allowed to return to class just yet.
Jūshirō and the elderly healer, Kiyoko walked out of the healers' wing and there, he saw Shunsui lean against the wall.
"Shunsui why are you here?"
"Kiyoko-san asked me to come"
"Since you just recovered from that bad attack, I didn't want you to go all the way to the dorms alone so I asked Kyōraku to take you there, Kiyoko explained.
-Take it easy now for a few days. Yamamoto-san as well as your Kidō teacher has been informed that you are under my orders to only observe their classes for the next week. Understood Ukitake?"
"Yes ma'am"
"I'll make sure he follows your orders, Shunsui said"
"Thank you Kyōraku"
The two friends then began to walk towards the dorms.
"It's good to see you up on your feet again"
"Thank you. I'm glad it was an attack that I could recover from quite fast. In worse case I would have been stuck in the healers' wing for weeks"
"We wouldn't want that"
"We wouldn't
-By the way, how did you get permission to skip class this morning?"
"Kiyoko-san gave the teacher a not yesterday saying that she needed my help with escorting a patient to his room this morning and he just let me skip class"
"I see"
The two then reached their room and walked in.
"The notes from yesterday's classes are on your desk. I decided that since you were leaving the healers' wing today, I might as well leave them there for you"
"Thank you Shunsui"
"No problem. That's what friends do.
-Speaking of friends. Masaru and Koji have been asking about you. I didn't tell them anything about your illness, just that something happened in Yamamoto-sensei's class"
He couldn't help but smile when his friend sighed in relief.
"Thank you for not telling them"
"I thought that it was up to you if you wanted to tell them the full story or not"
"Do you think they can handle the truth?"
"Masaru maybe"
"You're right. He is more calm and understanding than Shiba"
Shunsui chuckled at that before he walked over to the door.
"I better get going or you'll kick me out because I'm gonna be late.
-I'll see you later"
"We do Shunsui"
The dark-haired student then left the room and Jūshirō decided to have a look at the notes from his classes. The other assignments he had missed had been given to the respective teacher by Shunsui during the days he had been in the healers' wing.
There wasn't any assignments among the papers, just notes on what they had started to talk about during the previous day which he would be able to catch up on quite fast.
Beneath all the papers from the teachers, he found an envelope with his family crest on it.
"I can guess what this is about. Yamamoto-sensei must have informed father about what happened"
He took the envelope and opened it.
Jūshirō
Yamamoto-san sent a message a few days ago and told us what had happened during your class. I know you want to do a good job there at the academy but you also need to think about your own health and put that above anything.
Yamamoto knows about your condition so taking days off when you're not feeling well won't be bad for you.
So please take more care of yourself from now on and send a message when you're back in class.
I'll see you when you come home during your break, your brothers and sister miss you.
Your father.
Jūshirō sighed when he put the letter down.
His father was right that he should have stayed in his room to rest on the morning he felt the tightness in his chest instead of going to class believing he could get through the day.
He put the school notes on the floor next to him before picking up a blank piece of paper to answer his father's letter.
Father.
I'm sorry if the letter from Yamamoto-sensei worried you but on the day it happened, I felt well enough to attend class, guess I wasn't ready for a bad attack myself.
I was released from the healers' wing today and will return to class tomorrow but I'm only allowed to observe my Zanjutsu and Kidō class for the next week or so.
I promise to be more careful from now on and if I don't then I'm gonna hear it from Shunsui, he's my roommate and he's become a good friend. When I told him the truth about my health, he didn't react like everyone else has done and told me he wouldn't let it get in the way of our friendship which made me happy.
Tell everyone I miss them too and that I will be happy to see them during break in next month.
Your son Jūshirō.
In the corner of the letter, he wrote the date so his father would know that he was back in class by the time he get it.
He then started to look over the notes again to make sure he got it memorized for the next day.
When Shunsui returned by the end of the day, he immediatly crashed onto his bed.
"That Shiba has really gonne me and Kuchiki on our nerves today"
"What did he do?"
"He wouldn't quit bugging me with questions about when you get back and when Kuchiki tried to stop him, he got angry at him"
"Good thing I'm coming back to class tomorrow then so you won't have to hear him ask you about it again"
"That is a relief"
He then sat up and looked at his friend.
"So what have you been doing?"
"Just looking over the notes from class and then I found a letter from my father that I read through and wrote an answer too"
"Oh yeah. Sorry I didn't give it too you earlier but it must have gotten lost beneath the papers"
"It's fine Shunsui. The important thing is that I found it now"
"I guess Old-man Yamamoto told him what happened to you"
"Yes. He told me to be more careful and think about my health before anything else sine Yamamoto-sensei knows about it.
-I won't send it until tomorrow but I wrote that I will be more careful and I'm gonna hear it from you if I'm not"
"You can count on that"
The next morning.
"Ready to go Jūshirō?"
"Yes"
The two left their room and made their way to the first class of the day.
They entered the room were they saw Masaru talk with a dark skinned young man.
"Hey Kuchiki, Shihōin, Shunsui called out to them"
Masaru turned around and a slight smile appeared on his face.
"Good to see you're back Ukitake"
"Thank you"
He then looked at the other student.
"This is Yamato Shihōin, he transeferred to our class just a couple of days ago because his family allowed him to attend the academy"
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Jūshirō Ukitake"
"A pleasure to finally meet you. Kuchiki, Shiba and Kyōraku has told me about you"
"Speaking of Shiba, were is he, Shunsui asked"
"Oversleept I guess, said Masaru"
"Aren't you two roommates?"
"We are but I didn't want to distrub him. It's his own fault for staying up past midnight to finish that extra work a teacher gave him"
The door to the classroom then slammed opened and there stood Koji with a slightly annoyed look on his face.
"Kuchiki! Why didn't you wake me up this morning?!"
"I didn't want to distrub you and it serves you right since you stayed up past midnight"
Koji looked at the other nobleman before he sighed to calm himself.
It was then he noticed the three sets of eyes looking at them.
"Ukitake you're back"
"Yes. I'm perfectly fine now but for the next week I'm only allowed to observe Kidō and Zanjutsu class"
"So what happened to you? Kyōraku just told us something happened during Yamamoto-sensei's class after the rest of us left"
"Well my health is slightly weaker than other peoples' and I get sick easily if it's too cold or hot. I must have caught something the day before that grew slightly worse than I expected.
-I would probably have ignored it if Yamamoto-sensei hadn't noticed and told Kyōraku to take me to the healers' wing"
"That explains the situation, said Masaru
-And I guess the healer ordered you to only observe those classes to make sure you're fully recovered"
"Yes. Since I was released from their care yesterday, they wanted me to skip a few days to make sure everything is fine.
-I'm used to that since back home if it happened, father didn't want me playing with my siblings until a few days after I recovered"
"We understand, said both Masaru and Koji"
Their teacher then came and class began.
Couple of hours later.
Lunch was over and it was time for Kidō class.
"Hello everyone"
"Good afternoon Nishimura-sensei"
"Today's lesson is about the Red Flame Cannon spell, Shakkahō.
-Anyone know which number it is?"
"Number 31 sir"
"Correct Ukitake.
-Observe"
Nishimura turned towards the targets a bit away and held ut his right hand.
"Ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all things in the universe fly. That which names all in nature. Gathering of heat and war. Beyond the seas in reverse, take steps to the south.
- Hadō #31 Shakkahō!"
A ball of fire appeared at his hand and he fired it towards the targets, hitting one perfectly in the middle.
"I will now divide you into three groups and once I give the signal, you are to walk up to the line and try the incantation you just heard me say
-Ukitake, the healers informed me about you so you will stay on the sideline watching the others. Maybe take this time to memorize the incantation"
"Yes sir"
The rest of the day went smothly and Jūshirō was happy to be back in class again.
He took the midterm test he had missed a few days later and a couple of weeks after that, it was time for the first break.