The battle of the Fake Karakura Town was over and the Soul Reapers had emerged victorious thanks to Ichigo who defeated Aizen.
The 4th division were busy loading the injured onto stretchers so they could be taken back to the Soul Society.
Shunsui had escaped from serious injuries minus a slight burn on his shoulder from were Starrk had fired his Cero. Retsu wanted him to sit down and rest but he couldn't, not yet.
He had to find Jūshirō.
His friend had been impaled by an Arrancar and Shunsui needed to find him so Retsu could help him.
After walking around a bit, he reached the placed that was below were they had fought Starrk.
It was there he saw him.
Jūshirō laid face down on the ground and his sword was laying in its sealed form close to him. Shunsui quickly ran over to him and saw the hole from were the Arrancar impaled him.
He quickly created a Hell Butterfly that he sent to Retsu who appeared not long after that.
"Captain Kyōraku please turn him over as carefully as you can"
Shunsui nodded and carefully turned Jūshirō so he laid with his face up. Retsu started to heal the wound immediately and Shunsui watched as her healing reiatsu started to first heal Jūshirō's damaged lung and then the rest of the wound.
The dark-haired man took a hold of his friend's hand as he saw the wound get closed up and Jūshirō's breathing imporved much to his relief. Retsu then kept healing him for a while, Shunsui figured that he may have internal injuries from the long fall to the ground.
"I've done what I can for now but we need to get him back to the Soul Society. I'll go and find some of my officers that can move him"
"Right"
Retsu got up and disappeared in a quick Flash Step. Just a short while, four officers from the 4th divsion came and Shunsui had carefully put Jūshirō on the stretcher they had with them.
About an hour later, Shunsui was sitting by Jūshirō's bed in the 4th division. When they had got back, both Isane and Iemura had worked on him and he was now in stable condition but still unconscious.
"If I only had seen that kid move then this wouldn't have happened to you Juu-chan.
-I'm sorry"
A few hours later
It started to get dark outside when Retsu entered the room and checked on Jūshirō.
"Has anything changed?"
"His condition has improved but nothing more than that. All we can do is wait for him to wake up which may take a day or two"
"I see"
Retsu could see the worried look in his eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"There's no need to worry Shunsui. He will recover but it will take time since it was a serious injury"
A kind smile then crossed her face.
"You may stay with him for as long as you want"
"Thank you Retsu"
Retsu nodded and left to check on the others.
When Retsu looked into Jūshirō's room the next morning she saw that Shunsui had fallen asleep in the chair by his friend's side.
"Since he doesn't want to leave his side yet it only shows how strong their friendship is and how much they care for each other"
"Captain Unohana"
Retsu turned around and saw Yamamoto.
"Head-captain. How's your arm?"
"It's gonna take a while to get used to not having it but it's my own fault for using forbidden Kidō"
The old man then looked from his missing left arm to Retsu.
"How's Jūshirō doing?"
"I was just about to check on him but I believe that if captain Kyōraku hadn't found him when he did it would have been too late to save him"
"Shunsui has always been like that. He cares for Jūshirō's life more than his own. If he knows that Jūshirō is injured, he will do anything to get help quickly. That's how close those two have grown over their thousand years of friendship...
-You could say that they're almost like brothers"
"They sure are a good example on inseparable friends"
"They are. I'm proud to been the one who have taught them what they know"
Yamamoto then walked away while Retsu walked into Jūshirō's room. She examined him as quietly as she could so she wouldn't wake Shunsui, the man needed sleep after worrying the whole previous day.
"Wake up soon captain Ukitake. We're all worried for you, especially captain Kyōraku"
She gently pulled up the quilt so it covered Jūshirō a bit more and placed a blanked over Shunsui before she walked out.
A few hours later, Shunsui woke up and noticed the blanket over him.
"Must have been Retsu"
He then sat up and looked at his still unconscious friend.
"I can't help but think how much this reminds me of the first time I saw you really sick Juu-chan.
-You know when were training alone with Old-man Yama and you had a really bad attack"
Flashback.
Shunsui and Jūshirō were sparring against each other while Yamamoto watched them. The man wanted his two best students to train alone so he could see what they really can do.
But it was then Jūshirō fell to his knees, coughing very badly.
Yamamoto quickly walked over to him and saw crimson droplet between his fingers.
"Shunsui get him to the healers wing quickly"
"R...right"
Shunsui picked up his friend and carried him out of the room and to the medical wing which luckily wasn't far away.
Once he got there, he placed Jūshirō on a bed and healers started to work on him.
"Please wait outside"
Shunsui just nooded and walked outside were he slid down against a wall.
After a while, he heard someone approach him and looked up at Yamamoto.
"Master, what happened to him?"
"He never told you?"
"Told me what?"
"That is up to Jūshirō to tell you when he wakes up but I'm surprised that he hasn't told you about this, seeing how close friends you two have become"
A nurse then came out to them
"He's stable now but will probably be unconscious for a few days"
"I see, said Yamamoto
-Can Shunsui here see him?"
"Yes"
End flashback.
"I followed the nurse back into your room and there I stayed for the five days you were unconscious. Once you woke up, you told me about your illness.
-I'm surprised that Old-man Yama didn't complain about me missing classes during those days"
"He knew you wouldn't leave until you were sure I was okay"
Shunsui's eyes immediately looked up when he heard the voice saw that his best friend looked at him with tired eyes.
"You're awake"
He moved a bit closer as a big smile crossed his face.
"Don't you ever dare scare me like that again"
The white-haired man chuckled a bit before smiling.
"I guess we won"
"Yes and it's all thanks to Ichigo once again"
Jūshirō then noticed the half sad look in his friend's eyes.
"Did something else happen?"
"Ichigo is going to lose his powers"
"Why?"
"Kisuke told us that the technique Ichigo used to defeat Aizen came with a price and that was that he would lose his powers"
"That's not good"
"Indeed.
-He's been uncounsious since the battle ended yesterday. His friends are looking after him at the Kuchiki manor"
"I see"
Shunsui watched his friend as he turned his head towards the window.
"This world isn't even his but he was willing to go that far to save it"
"I guess it's because he sees us as his friends and wanted to help us"
"You're right Shun"
They then heard the door open and Retsu came in.
"Oh, it's good to see you're awake captain Ukitake.
-How are you feeling?"
"I've been better"
"Well that Arrancar did damage your right lung along with leaving that hole in your chest"
Shunsui stepped aside and Retsu opened Jūshirō's robe a bit to have a look at his injury.
"It's healing nicely. You're probably gonna have a scar from it but nothing serious.
-But you need to stay here for a few days so I can make sure you're fully recovered from this injury before returning to your duties"
"I understand"
Retsu nodded and closed his robe.
"I'll be back later to check on you again"
"Okay"
She then left the room and Jūshirō turned to his best friend.
"Could you help me get up Shun?"
"Of course"
Shunsui placed a hand on his friend's back and helped his sit up with his back against the bedframe.
"Thank you"
"No problem"
"So besides Ichigo defeating Aizen. What else happened after I was taken out?"
"Well let's see. Not long after you were taken out, these seven people showed up to help and you can't guess who it was"
"Who?"
"Hirako and the others"
"They're alive?"
"Yes. Turns out they've been in the world of the living all this time"
"So that's were they disappeared to"
"Yeah. Anyway, they showed up and helped us defeat the Espada but that Arrancar that attacked you freed Aizen from Old-man Yama's flames so we had him and those other two to worry about.
-Komamura and Hisagi defeated Kaname. Ichimaru mostly stayed away and once Aizen entered the battle, all our focus was on him"
"I guess it didn't go that well"
"No. After Ichigo arrived, we tried to protect him from Aizen's hypnosis powers. But when it looked like we had him, it turned out that we had all been under his powers"
"What happened?"
"It turned out that the one we had fought was lieutenant Hinamori and Hitsugaya got so angry that he tried to attack the real Aizen but he was cut down, same with myself and Hirako.
-After that I only know what I was told afterwards. Old-man Yama used forbidden Kidō and lost his arm"
"He used Forbidden Kidō?"
"Yes. Number 96 at that so his left arm is gone"
"I see"
Shunsui kept tellling his friend everything that had happened during the battle.
It had started to get dark outside when Shunsui stood up.
"I better go and see how things are going at the 8th or my dear Nanao will scold me"
"You haven't been there?"
"I've been here since we got home. I wanted to make sure you were okay.
-This is after all the second time I've almost lost you"
Jūshirō saw the pain in Shunsui's eyes and he knew exactly what time he was talking about. The bad attack that he had miraculously recovered from a couple of years back.
"I'm sorry to have worried you that much again"
"It's okay. You're still here aren't you"
"You're right"
Shunsui smiled and walked to the door.
"I'll come by tomorrow again"
"Okay. See you then"
"We do"
It took about a week before Jūshirō was able to leave the 4th and a few days later, he followed Shunsui to the 1st were his best friend, Kenpachi and Byakuya were being scolded by Yamamoto for losing their Haori.