Jyuushiro was surprised when the door to his home was opened without any warning, a familiar brunet walking straight into his house. With a sigh, he stood up from his desk and walked over to his friend. He was honestly surprised when, for the first time since their experiment in the Academy, Shunsui did not pull away from their close proximity.

"What is it, Shunsui...?" The white-haired male was too weary to put up with his friend today; unless the older was here for important matters, it would be better for him to leave.

Shunsui narrowed his eyes before he spoke, his voice cold. "Captain Hitsugaya and I had a... talk today..."

Jyuushiro's heart sunk at these words. It wasn't bad enough that Shunsui was disgusted in him for his orientation, but he had to take it out on a child, too...? He raised a hand to his forehead as his eyes slipped closed, his exhaustion hitting him like a cement truck.

"...Please..." The slighter man's voice was weaker than even in his sickest moments. "...Please... Treat me as you will, but Toshiro... Please..."

Kyōraku didn't respond to this verbally; he instead grabbed the younger's shoulders and slammed him against the wall beside them before crushing his lips against pale ones with the force of a tsunami.

Jyuushiro whimpered and pushed at the stronger Captain, trying to break the kiss by turning his head to the side. He was torn; one half of him wanted to allow the taller Shinigami to embrace him, to show his body all the love it could handle, but the other, more rational part, wanted this to stop, knowing that this was most likely nothing more than an act of jealousy, no real emotions or deep feelings behind it. Above all, this would be nothing more than cheating on Toshiro if he allowed this to go any further.

"Shunsui...!" Jyuushiro's frail, delicately long fingers found room against the strong chest before them, pushing the stronger male away with a sharp movement. He panted in an effort to catch his breath, wiping away the saliva that had come from his friend's tongue against his lips. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

"...I..." Jyuushiro's voice trailed off before it sounded again, angrier than it had ever been. "I am not an emotionless object for you to play with, Kyōraku! I have feelings! All you're doing is using me! You're just jealous that I've finally moved on from you and that I'm happy with someone now! Why can't you just... let me be happy...? It's all I wanted... To be happy..."

"Be happy with me," Shunsui whispered, pressing himself against the younger male again. "You don't need Hitsugaya."

"You had your chance!" Jyuushiro shouted. "I felt like I was filthy for how much I loved you! It was all you ever made me feel! I could hardly even look at you and you'd act like I had tried to rape you!"

"I'm sorry," Shunsui said. His arms tightened around the slighter male, no intention of letting Ukitake go.

The white-haired man shook his head. "That's not good enough. I'm your friend! You...! You've really hurt me..."

Shunsui ignored these words and tried to kiss the younger again, only to receive a harsh slap to the fact. He pulled away at this action, watching his friend warily for a few seconds before he stepped back. He sent a filthy glare towards the frail male before he left without another word.

Jyuushiro just slid down against the wall behind him, dropping his face into his hands as he cried. It hurt. It hurt so fucking much. He wasn't good enough for Shunsui – even now. All the brunet was, was jealous.

"I hate this..." Jyuushiro whispered to himself as his body begun to shake. "...I hate this so much..."

While Shunsui disappeared back off to his own division, Jyuushiro curled up on the floor, crying himself to sleep. It wasn't fair that his heart was being played with like this; all he wanted was to be loved.

~~With Shunsui~~

The brunet had been so caught up in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice when he bumped into someone on his way back to his office. He apologised automatically, unseeing of whom he had knocked over, and he almost didn't care until the familiar clearing of a throat caught his attention.

The brunet growled as his eyes narrowed, glaring down at the white-haired boy on the ground. "What do you want?"

"A sincere apology." Toshiro's eyes slitted back, his jaw tense. His blonde-haired Lieutenant was by his side, helping him back to his feet, but he paid her no heed. "You really are an immature child. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, you'd know all about immaturity, wouldn't you?" Shunsui did not speak to Rangiku, not wanting to drag her into this; she was not the one attempting to take his best friend away from him – hell, she probably didn't even have any idea of what was happening. "I'll only say this once more; stay away from Jyuu."

"He's not your property." Toshiro was back on his feet by now, his hand resting on the hilt of Hyorinmaru. "I have had enough of you treating him like he is. Do you not realise what you're doing to him?"

Shunsui just rolled his eyes before he continued on his way, muttering a small greeting to Rangiku. He didn't want to waste his time on someone like Toshiro – not when he could be using it to work out how to get his friend away from the Tenth Captain and into his own arms.

Toshiro just glared after the brunet, his white haori flapping in the strong winds. His attention was drawn to his Lieutenant when the woman rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, her confusion showing in her blue eyes.

"What's going on, Captain?" Matsumoto bit her lip, almost afraid of the answer; Shunsui was such a happy, gentle person and it was frightening to see him angry. "Is... something going on with Captain Ukitake?"

Hitsugaya nodded. "Yes... He does not approve of me being with Ukitake. He wants Ukitake to himself. He's a very selfish man."

Rangiku had never seen her drinking buddy in that kind of light before; Shunsui had always seemed so selfless to her. Maybe he... Maybe the stresses of being a Captain were just getting to him. Surely no one was immune to stress, right?

"What's going to happen to your relationship, Captain?" Rangiku couldn't say she wasn't worried about her superior; she knew that Ukitake meant a great deal to Hitsugaya, and they made such an adorable couple.

The strawberry blonde woman hoped, for the two captains' sakes, that their relationship would be okay. They both needed someone to love in their lonely lives, after all.