Nanao was asleep on the extra bed behind him. He'd finally talked her into sleeping about an hour and a half ago after their third game of Go and her constant yawning. He'd almost laughed out loud when she'd petulantly told him she wasn't tired and she'd lie down and close her eyes to make him happy, but she wouldn't fall asleep. Some things never change.
Shunsui glanced at the machines monitoring his friend and was glad to see everything was steady. A 4th division member had stopped by to check on him every hour on the hour after Retsu's first initial visit, but Shunsui had spent so much time here he'd learned what most of the machines read and what was normal. Retsu often joked that if he ever wanted to quit being a Taicho she'd give him the night shift at the 4th. He'd always replied honestly that the only things he knew were the things Jyuushiro needed, and he'd be quite useless as a whole. Besides who wanted his ugly mug as a nurse?
He still remembered the first time in academy when he'd had to rush his friend to the 4th. The healers had actually had to sedate him because his reiatsu had been panicking every which way, but at the time he hadn't known what else to do when his friend had doubled over and started coughing uncontrollably to the point where he wasn't just coughing blood but basically throwing it up due to the force that wracked his body. It had taken the two of them a while to get back on even footing after that one. Shunsui had become overprotective and smothering for weeks to the point where Jyuushiro had had to literally scream at him for behaving like his mother. When the screaming hadn't gotten though to him, Jyuushiro had literally attacked him which had devolved into a fist fight that'd nearly killed Shunsui as he'd at first refused to participate for fear of hurting his friend. His refusal to fight had been an insane reaction because they'd been practicing together for years already at that point, but witnessing Jyuushiro's fit and changed him, made him afraid.
It wasn't until Jyuushiro had demanded to know how he was supposed to convince anyone else he was worthwhile when his own best friend thought he was useless that Shunsui'd given any response besides just taking the beating. For one he'd never been called anyone's best friend before, for another he knew how horrible feeling useless was. So he'd punched Jyuushiro. They'd beaten each other up until it was clear there would be no real winner and then they'd both laid panting and bleeding in the dirt.
"You aren't useless," Shunsui had said finally.
"I am if everyone coddles me," Jyuushiro had replied.
"We care about you so we worry," Shunsui'd explained simply.
"I'm aware," Jyuushiro had said. "But frankly I'm more afraid of living my entire life in a cage than dying outside of it."
That was a feeling Shunsui had also known only too well. "Am I really your best friend?" he'd asked changing the topic.
"Unfortunately, it would appear so," Jyuushiro'd answered.
"Does this mean I have even more responsibilities?" he'd asked. "Like I'm going to have to start telling you when I'm going out and when I'll be home?"
"Its not like were dating," Jyuushiro'd said rolling his eyes.
"Ok," Shunsui had answered. "I've never had a best friend before."
"Not surprising," Jyuushiro had said dryly.
"I'm going to beat the crap out of you," Shunsui had announced getting to his feet. Jyuushiro had bolted and Shunsui had followed eventually tackling him into a Koi pond. The sensei that owned the Koi pond hadn't been particularly happy with them and they'd gotten detention for a week, but it had at least settled a few things for them in their own way.
Shunsui had never stopped worrying though, and Jyuushiro had eventually had to accept that as part of his personality. If anything it'd gotten a bit worse as they grew older and became even more integral to each other's lives. Even now sitting next to his friend in the early morning hours knowing he'd more than likely recover once again, Shunsui couldn't entirely fight off the panic that welled up in him. Losing Jyuushiro would not be something he'd bounce back from. Jyuushiro was more family than his own family was and if he died a chunk of Shunsui's own soul would go with him. They'd made a promise once when they were both gloriously smashed after a particularly gruesome battle that they'd die at the same time so that when they were reincarnated they would be sure to find each other once again. Shunsui didn't even know if Jyuushiro had been sober enough to remember that promise, probably not or he never would have made it assuming his own premature death would force Shunsui into an early grave, but Shunsui remembered it clearly. The only thing that'd changed his mind recently about any of it was the possibility that that would leave Nanao alone. He stared down at his friend's limp hand and wondered how he would continue on without him or if he even could.
"I must have been really close to dying this time," Jyuushiro rasped out, causing Shunsui to snap his head up and see his friend was awake.
"How do you figure that?" Shunsui asked quietly, trying to quell the overwhelming flood of relief that nearly had him in tears.
"Well, I think that's Nanao-san sleeping on the extra bed, and not only are you not trying to molest her, you're staring at me instead," Jyuushiro said with a strained chuckle. "I can't imagine I'm more fun to look at."
"Near death wins over a pretty face," Shunsui said with a smile and then glanced back at Nanao. "But not by much."
Jyuushiro started to laugh and it quickly turned into a cough that, while not starting a fit, certainly sounded painful. "I'll go get Retsu-san, tell her you're awake," Shunsui said starting to stand up.
"Wait," Jyuushiro commanded, and Shunsui wavered for a moment. "She'll come soon enough. I'm not going to drop dead. Just give me some peace before all of the probing and prodding."
Shunsui sat back down and both men just stayed silent for a few minutes. "You need a fukutaicho," Shunsui stated and noticed the look clouding his friend's face. "I'm not saying its because you're getting weaker or any such bullshit. It would just help. Running a division on your own is hard. Trust me, I now know."
"If Rukia-san is allowed, I'd consider it," Jyuushiro said as he always did.
"Nanao-chan is going to talk to Kuchiki and see what she can do," Shunsui replied softly.
Jyuushiro's eyebrows raised up to his hair line. "She really is seeing him then? I'd assumed that was a rumor."
"Just training with him," Shunsui grunted trying to feel happy about it. "Still he's always seemed to respect and like her. Maybe she'd be able to change his mind."
"Wouldn't that set the gossip mill going," Jyuushiro commented starting to sit up and struggling a bit. "People are already saying they were practically humping in the street."
Shunsui let out a low grumble and restrained himself from trying to help Jyuushiro up. He knew his friend wouldn't appreciate it. "She says nothing is going on. She was supposed to have a date with Hisagi last night though."
"I take it she came here instead," Jyuushiro said with a half smile. Shunsui nodded and Jyuushiro snorted. "Well, glad I could help."
"Find a different way next time," Shunsui said with a grin.
"Hey, last time I tried to get you out of doing something you didn't want to do with a different excuse it royally backfired," Jyuushiro replied with a tired smile as he finally settled himself into a comfortable upright position.
"Yes, well you didn't know my mother very well at the time," Shunsui said fondly as he poured and handed his friend a glass of water from the side table. Shunsui hadn't wanted to go to a gathering of nobility once, and Jyuushiro had kindly said they had a 'thing' and Shunsui had to go too. His mother, being his mother, had grilled the new graduates about this so called 'thing' and not receiving an answer had eventually demanded to know exactly what it was they thought they were doing that couldn't be announced in polite company. Jyuushiro had panicked and lied, saying they were going to a brothel. Shunsui's mother had then proceeded to escort them to the nearest whorehouse and told them to pick out the girls they wanted on her dime. She'd then told them that being young it couldn't possibly take them that long so to hurry upstairs, take care of business, and then they'd be on their way to the gathering. Needless to say Shunsui hadn't been in the mood and Jyuushiro had been too horrified to even lift his eyes up from where they were staring at his feet. His mother had then spent the rest of the evening asking what was wrong with them and asking if they'd have preferred she'd bought them boys. This had then brought on the inevitable panic attack about Shunsui never having children. The two friends had resolved to never share that story with anyone and Shunsui had told Jyuushiro to stick with his illness as a cover from then on out.
"Brothels have never worked out well for us," Jyuushiro said contemplatively.
"How was I supposed to know Lisa-chan would enjoy it?" Shunsui said with a laugh. He'd planned to scare the woman off as he'd done many female fukutaichos before her by bringing her along to a red light district in the living world. Usually he didn't even have to do anything there, just flirt with a few of the fawning prostitutes and the woman would get disgusted, storm off, and request a transfer the next day. But with Lisa she'd ended up doing most of the flirting and had eventually started grilling the women on sexual positions while he and Jyuushiro looked on in shock. She'd even asked to watch one of them in action. Shunsui had quickly realized this particular fukutaicho might just work out after all.
"Didn't Lisa-san date one of the girls from there for a while?" Jyuushiro asked.
"Yeah," Shunsui said with a grin. "It was hell making excuses to go across to the real world, but man it was worth the effort to get in on some of those threesomes."
"Classy," Jyuushiro said rolling his eyes.
"You'd have done the same in my position," Shunsui said confidently.
"I don't like to share," Jyuushiro replied with a smile. "If I'm sleeping with someone they better only be moaning my name."
"Whoever thought you'd be the selfish friend?" Shunsui joked.
Jyuushiro opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of a clumsy 4th division member dropping something with a loud bang in the hall. Both men flinched and glanced over at the sleeping woman. She shifted tiredly and blinked open her eyes.
"Morning Nanao-chan," Shunsui said warmly.
"Mmm, morning," she answered sleepily sitting up and dangling her legs over the edge of the bed. "You're awake," she commented in Jyuushiro's direction. She stood up lazily and ran a gentle hand through Shunsui's loosely bound hair down to his neck as she moved up next to him to look down at Jyuushiro. He savored the unthinking gesture, and knew for a fact it would not have been given were she more awake.
"Looks like I survived again," Jyuushiro tried to joke, which was made less humorous by the rasp in his voice.
"Wonderful," Nanao said warmly and honestly. She leaned over and planted a kiss on the man's forehead as if he were a child getting over a fever. "I'll go get Unohana Taicho."
"I'm really ok," he said quickly. "I'm sure she'll be checking in shortly. No need to bother her before then."
"You really are a terrible patient," Nanao commented stretching and then plopping down in the seat next to Shunsui. "And I'm a terrible person for listening to you. So what do we do till Unohana Taicho gets here?"
"Well, we were talking about brothels and threesomes," Shunsui supplied in his usual blunt way. He was kind of sad she was still just waking up as usually statements like that could get at least a mild flush and an eye roll out of her.
"Lovely," Nanao said sarcastically. "Well by all means don't stop on my account."
"Your tags up," Shunsui said suddenly, having noticed and been distracted by the little offending piece of material as he looked her over discreetly. He reached up and tucked it back into her shirt letting his fingers graze and linger a moment longer than he probably should have. He just couldn't resist. There was something about the way she looked when she first woke up that always made him feel like the whole world could erupt and he'd never even notice.
"Thanks," she said softly. "So how are you feeling?"
"Right as rain," Jyuushiro answered grinning, but the effect was somewhat lost due to the hospital bed and the breathing tube.
"Mmm hmm," she hummed skeptically with one eyebrow raised, obviously becoming more and more awake.
"Well I'm alive," Jyuushiro said with a weak smile. "You really didn't have to stay the whole night."
"You'd think he'd have given up telling us that by now," Nanao said to Shunsui.
"Well, you know Jyuushiro," Shunsui said with a shrug. "He's a nice boy, but none too bright."
"So what do we do?" she asked trying not to grin.
"Smile and nod generally works," Shunsui replied after a moment of faked thought. Both turned back to the bed-bound man and smiled and nodded at him.
"You're both terrible friends," Jyuushiro said glaring. "Mocking a dying man."
"You said you were right as rain," Nanao said quizzically.
"You know what? Being unconscious is starting to look good," he said glaring.
"But then you wouldn't be able to see my lovely face," Shunsui pouted.
"Yeah, that was pleasant to wake up to," Jyuushiro said sarcastically. Then a cough rolled up in his throat and Shunsui and Nanao tensed. The coughing continued for a few seconds and Nanao was already on her feet and headed for the door. "Sit down," he got out during a pause.
"But Jyuushiro-san," she said wavering uncertainly at the exit.
"Come on Nanao-chan," Shunsui added reluctantly. "He knows himself best. If he thinks it'll be fine it will be. Retsu-san will be here soon enough." He saw the indecision shimmering across her face and then she finally came back. It was a sign of how worried she actually was that she took Shunsui's hand again when she resumed her seat.
"You're both a pair of old nervous women," Jyuushiro grumbled once he got his coughing somewhat under control and accepted the tissue Shunsui handed him to wipe his mouth.
"Says the biggest nervous old woman of us all," Nanao chastised trying to hide her fear and make light of the situation.
"Since when?"
"Don't you remember when I broke my leg out at Ugendo and you nearly killed several shinigami with your head long dash to the 4th? Then you wouldn't leave my bedside for the next two days even though Unohana-san said I was going to be just fine," she teased.
"You were an itty bitty little kid," Jyuushiro defended. "And Shunsui specifically left you in my care during the holiday while he was in the living world. I was more afraid he was going to skin me alive than that you were going to die."
"Great," Nanao said with a glare. "Glad to know you cared."
"I wouldn't have skinned you," Shunsui said with a shrug. "Wasn't your fault she suddenly got it into her head to be a tightrope walker."
"No, it wasn't," Nanao replied switching her glare to Shunsui. "That was all you."
"I took you to the circus," Shunsui argued. "I didn't tell you to go string up a cord between the balconies of two buildings and try to cross it."
Nanao flushed violently and then looked down at her lap. "Still you did put the initial idea in my head."
"Why the blush, Nanao-chan?" he asked curiously, twisting to look up at her down turned face.
"Nothing," she snapped.
"You had the hots for the tightrope walker, Shun," Jyuushiro supplied grinning. "Went out of your way to talk to her after the show. Nanao-san thought it was the tightrope walking you were impressed with."
"You swore you wouldn't tell," Nanao growled.
"Hey, you insulted me and brought the whole thing up in the first place," Jyuushiro said with a grin.
"You aren't allowed to repeat information someone shares when under the influence of severe pain," Nanao argued. "It's like a law or something."
Both men just laughed. "I don't think that's a law Nanao-san," Jyuushiro replied with a smile.
"I think it's cute," Shunsui put in grinning. "Baby Nanao-chan just wanted to impress me."
"Yes, well I was a rather stupid impressionable child that had yet to see your more obvious faults," Nanao said with a sniff and her nose in the air.
"No need to be mean just because you're embarrassed," Shunsui scolded jokingly. "It's not your fault you had a crush on me. I'm hard to resist."
"Ha," Nanao said grinning like a cat that got the cream. "Shows what you know. All I wanted to do was show you I was a good division member. In fact I had a rather large crush on Jyuushiro-san at the time!"
"Ha," Shunsui yelled back triumphantly. "I knew you liked him longer than you admitted when I asked you! You little liar!"
"You asked how long I'd been giving him Valentine's Day chocolate, not how long I'd liked him," Nanao said with a devious grin. "Not my fault you were asking the wrong question."
"Evil woman," he said.
"Smart woman," she replied and stuck her tongue out at him.
"You're both idiots," Jyuushiro said smiling.
"Takes one to know one," the replied in unison.
"Oh kami, it's like being with my 3rd seats," Jyuushiro said with a feigned sigh.
"There is one minor difference," a deceivingly warm voice said from the door. "Your 3rd seats would have done as asked and come to get me when you woke up."
"Now look what you've done," Shunsui said barely hiding his smile. "You've gone and gotten us in trouble with Retsu-san."
"If you both don't mind, I'd like to see Jyuushiro-san for a moment," the healer said smiling the polite smile that meant if you don't do exactly what I ask you to do there will be severe trouble. "But don't go to far."
"You're on your own friend," Shunsui said happily as he followed Nanao out the door. The both wandered down the hall and resumed their seats in the waiting room.
"Looks like he'll be alright again," Nanao commented and Shunsui could feel the anxiety draining out of her.
"Yeah," he said leaning his head back against the wall. Now that the fear was passing, the easy atmosphere of people simply relieved to escape disaster was waning too. The silence lengthened and he could nearly feel Nanao remembering all the things she'd let herself forget in the course of her worry. He watched her from the corner of his eye and could practically see her posture get stiffer and the uncomfortable frown as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to act now after the brief break from hostilities. He glanced at her throat and saw a nasty black and blue mark rising up from her collar that he'd been too distracted to notice the night before. He swept his eyes over her cataloguing her newest visible injures and sighed.
Reaching out he touched the bruise lightly and he felt her go absolutely ridged underneath his fingertips. Yes, there would be no more absentminded caresses or handholding from her. "I'm sorry," he said lightly, letting his hand drop away.
"For what?" she asked staring straight ahead.
He chuckled low and leaned back again. "Now that's always a dangerous question from a woman. Answer the wrong thing and you not only make her mad, you run the risk of exposing a fault she was previously unaware of."
"I'm pretty aware of your faults," she said dryly.
"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did to your injuries," he said plainly. "I was surprised and worried and it came out wrong. I just, I always feel like I've screwed up horribly when I see you hurt. I never want you hurt."
To his surprise she sighed and said, "I'm sorry too."
"For what?" he asked echoing her earlier words.
"I knew it would upset you and I didn't care," she said. "I could have handled your concern better, but I was just so angry."
"I want to protect you," he said. "It will take me some time to get used to the fact that I am no longer allowed to. Not that that will slow me down in the least if I think you need it."
"We aren't dating anymore. You don't have to come to my rescue," she said frostily.
"Nanao-chan, you could sleep with the entire populace of the Seireitei and, while I would not be pleased, I would still come to your defense," he said honestly. "I don't give a shit what our official relationship is. You're my Nanao-chan, and even if you're married to another man with fifteen children that will never change. You're my family and my friend and the woman I love. Scorn me all you like, but I will never not come for you when you need it," he finished seriously.
She looked at him for a long moment as if deciding whether to be angry or not and then a softness entered her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long while. "That goes both ways," she said firmly. "I may not like you right now, but I would never not come."
"I know," he said with a weak smile. "You're here after all."
"Jyuushiro is my friend too," she defended.
"Yes, but for the past few hours you were here with me, not just here in the same room as me," he said. "There's a difference and I thank you for that. I needed you."
She nodded her head and swallowed hard. "I'm not going to be with you much longer."
"I know," he said sadly. "Retsu-san is going to come out and tell us everything will be ok again and then you're going to leave me. But not just yet." He took her hand one last time and they sat and waited in comfortable silence.
Not long after, Retsu came out and told them Jyuushiro would make as full a recovery as could be expected, but that he needed his sleep. She chastised them both again for not getting her instantly, and told them they would be in trouble if they ever ignored direct orders like that again in the future. Nanao's hand slid from his as they both stood, and as the healer began to depart Shunsui's mother and the now obviously pregnant Kiyoko entered the waiting room clearly searching for him. They hurried over, as Nanao moved away, saying they'd heard about the coughing fit and wanted to make sure everyone was ok. Kiyoko had brought food having heard the 4th's mess hall was not the greatest, and they chattered on at him senselessly after Shunsui informed them Jyuushiro would survive.
He watched over their shoulders as Nanao talked to Isane fukutaicho briefly, and could do nothing as she headed for the exit. It didn't matter either way though. The second her hand had left his she'd left him completely. Her physical departure didn't really mean anything at all.
A/N: Alright so I'm still a bit slow updating. September is a crazy month for my work and this past week has seemed like it lasted a month.
For all of you that were worried about Jyuu, he'll be ok, ha. I actually realized I'm more likely to kill off my main characters than Jyuushiro. I was never a huge Ukitake fan, but he has wormed his way into my heart over the course of my writing :) Also for those of you asking about Kiyoko, she's about 4 months along.
Anyway please review as they one) really make my day two) keep me inspired to work, and three) make me feel slightly guilty when I'm being a lazy updater and kick my butt into gear.