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Both Shunsui’s and Jūshirō’s bodies were littered with scars. They’d gained them over what felt like several lifetimes of war, training accidents, and close calls. Each one told a story, ignited a memory – both good and bad.
The scars on Jūshirō’s body starkly contrasted his pale skin. Stabs wound, slashes, bites, scratches, and the scar from when Wonderweiss’ arm went through his chest were among the different types of scars visible. Most had faded over time and with the aid of scar-reducing kidō, but some had remained prominent. Among the worst scars on his body was the scar Shunsui had left on him during their bakudō practice at the Academy. Shunsui had used Hōrin to immobilize him, but the incantation had gone wrong, and the tendril had wrapped around his chest and burned into his skin. The pain had been indescribable, and he’d spent three days in the infirmary. Shunsui had been beside himself with guilt, even though Jūshirō had tried to assuage his friend of his guilt – it could have happened to anyone, and it could have been so much worse.
The scars on Shunsui’s body virtually blended with the colour of his skin. One of the largest and nastiest scars on his body was on his back, from Starrk’s point blank cero blast. It covered most of the surface of his back, and he’d stopped looking at in the mirror long ago. He did not consider himself to be a vain man, but the unsightly scar made him grimace more than any of the others he possessed. When he and Jūshirō had become seated officers they had spent many afternoons practicing their sword work. The reason was twofold: it gave them a chance to spend time together after they’d been placed in separate divisions, and it allowed them to improve their technique. One afternoon during their practice, Shunsui had been distracted by something he’d seen out of the corner of his eye, and the momentary distraction had thrown him off guard, ending in part of Jūshirō’s zanpakutō being buried into his flank. It was painful, but the shock quickly numbed that pain; the look of shock on Jūshirō’s face would have been comical under other circumstances, but the blood loss had negated that. In the end he’d only spent a few hours in the Fourth division – he was lucky that none of his organs had been damaged. Jūshirō had worn his guilt like a cloak for a week until Shunsui had threatened to stop talking to him unless he got over it.
Whenever someone saw the scar that wrapped itself around Jūshirō’s torso, their initial reaction was one of shock. Jūshirō always had to resist the urge to laugh; the scar was ugly but the story behind it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. He never told anyone the true story behind it, he’d never discredit Shunsui like that; but every once and a while Shunsui would bring it up and they’d laugh. After all, not all scars were representative of bad memories.
Shunsui’s scar blended in with the rest of the ones he had; no one who looked at it would assume he’d been stabbed by his oldest and best friend. Whenever someone spotted it, he’d spin an outrageous tale of being stabbed by Ukitake – a tale that no one believed, but made everyone laugh nonetheless.
Jūshirō and Shunsui had known each other long enough to have been witness to most of the injuries that had marred each other’s bodies. However, there was a special acknowledgement for the scars they put on each other. It was a testament to their friendship that they’d been able to cause each other so much discomfort, and still be almost inseparable years later. Neither scar was done with malicious intent, which is what set them apart from the others they’d collected over the years. The scars caused smiles and laughter, instead of tears and nightmares, which was an unusual phenomenon.
They’d put many other scars on each other throughout the years, but none as major as those. It was an occupational hazard, they didn’t have the liberty of going easy on each other, doing so wouldn’t force either to improve, and improvement was the key to continued existence in the Gotei 13.
Despite that, it didn’t prevent either of them from dropping casual hints about the injuries they’d caused when a favour was needed.
Particularly when it concerned paperwork.