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The first morning that Shunsui suspected he might have been coming down with the flu was when he woke up feeling achy. He hadn’t done anything particularly strenuous the previous day – drills and teaching advanced sword work classes were not exactly enough to give me sore muscles. The thought of illness had briefly crossed him mind but he’d pushed it aside; he was a healthy man with a good immune system. Besides, he hadn’t been in contact with anyone who had showed any signs of sickness in his recent memory. He’d resigned himself to spending more time stretching, enough tea to open up his own shop, and a long bath at the end of the day.
When he’d woken up the following morning feeling congested and with even more aching muscles it had been harder to ignore the obvious. As much as Shunsui enjoyed days off, it was much more fun to try and find spots to hide from Nanao and take naps in the afternoon. Besides, he doubted Nanao would have any sympathy for him at all. Although he couldn’t deny that he was definitely coming down with a cold, he could put his faith in his immune system and hope that he’d be feeling much better when he woke up the following morning.
He wasn’t.
Shunsui groaned and pulled the sheet up over his eyes, he hadn’t even opened them but the sunlight against his eyelids aggravated his pounding headache. He was drenched in sweat but he feared rising from the bed – every muscle in his body ached. His head was fuzzy and the nausea was unrelenting. His sinuses were completely blocked, which had caused him to sleep with his mouth open, drying out his throat in the process and making it extremely sore. He rolled over in the bed, putting his back to the window, and wondered how long it would be before Nanao stopped by to chastise him for skipping work. Maybe if she saw the state he was in she would take pity on him and bring him some medicine or some soup.
It took an hour.
In truth, he was surprised when he woke up as he sensed someone’s else spiritual pressure, that it had taken so long. He wasn’t generally late to work, perhaps something had come up? The thought didn’t worry him – Nanao could take care of anything that came up at the office.
“Nanao-chan,” he greeted hoarsely when the door to his bedroom slid open.
“Captain,” Nanao sniffed. “You’re sick.”
“How observant of you,” he murmured.
He sighed when he heard her retreat and resigned himself to a day spent in bed. He’d almost dozed off again when he heard her come back into the room.
“Do I smell ginger?” He asked.
Nanao made a sound of confirmation as she knelt at the bedside, putting her in his line of view.
“It’s ginger tea – good for your immune system and it might warm you up, you’re shivering. First open your mouth, I need to take your temperature.”
Quite a few jokes went through Shunsui’s mind as the various ways a temperature could be taken occurred to him, but he was feeling too awful to voice any of them. Instead he opened his mouth obediently and closed his lips around the thermometer, waiting patiently for the reading to complete.
When the thermometer beeped to signify the reading was complete Nanao pulled it back and read the number. The irritated tsk sound she made told him all he needed to know.
“You’ve probably got the flu,” Nanao said as she put the teacup on the bedside table. “If you had gotten your flu shot like Captains Unohana and Ukitake had suggested you could have avoided this situation entirely.”
“I don’t like needles,” he grumbled.
“Do you like how you feel right now?” She countered.
“I would feel much better if my Nanao-chan would stay and give me a sponge bath.”
“Absolutely not,” she snapped, her eyes flashing with annoyance.
“Cruel, cruel Nanao-chan,” he pouted, pushing himself up to a semi-sitting position so that he could try the tea.
Nanao ignored his comment, pushing her glasses higher on her nose. “There are pain killers on the table and I’ll send third seat Enjōji around to deliver some soup later on his lunch break. You should also try and bathe at some point – you look horrible.”
“Easy on the flattery Nanao-chan,” he murmured dryly.
Nanao arched an eyebrow, but her expression softened nonetheless. “Try and get some rest Captain. If you miss too many days of work, I’ll have to bring the paperwork here for you to complete.”
Shunsui grimaced, “So diligent Nanao-chan but I doubt that will be necessary.”
Nanao grinned as if she’d just won some sort of battle, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. She bid him farewell and after she’d gone Shunsui focused of finishing the tea. It warmed him from the inside-out and helped to clear the fuzziness in his head, although he still felt horrible. The prospect of food was unappealing to him, but he was sure that the soup would be delicious and enticing when it arrived. He didn’t even remember putting the cup back at the bedside before falling back asleep.
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He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but later that evening he felt even worse. Nanao must have notified the Fourth division because Hanatarō had stopped by in the middle of the afternoon with a course of antiviral medications for him to begin taking and strict instructions for bed rest and plenty of fluids. Enjōji had placed a pitcher of water and a glass by his bedside along with the soup before he’d gone, which Shunsui was eternally grateful for as whenever he woke up he was parched.
He’d managed to drag himself out of bed for a bath, and had temporarily felt much better. The warm water had soothed his muscles and helped to clear his sinuses. Afterward he’d had enough energy left to change the damp bed sheets before collapsing into the new ones and burying his head in the pillows.
When he did wake up again – feeling horrible – it was to the smell of very enticing food. He did notice that it was much darker in the room; someone had closed the blinds. Shunsui rubbed at his temples, the pain medication he’d taken for his head and body aches was beginning to wear off.
“There’s more medication on the bedside table,” a familiar voice said.
“Ukitake,” Shunsui croaked.
“Oh! I brought some more soup as well. That other stuff is good but it doesn’t taste good cold or reheated. Trust me on that one.”
“Everything hurts,” Shunsui complained.
“How many times did Captain Unohana and I tell you to get your flu shot? Maybe next year you’ll listen to us.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Well you can speak, so I’m fairly certain you can breathe.”
“Ukitake…” Shunsui whined.
Jūshirō laughed softly, before moving to the bedside and filling the glass with water and gathering two pain tablets off the table. When Shunsui had maneuvered himself into a sitting position, Jūshirō handed him the pills and the water, which were downed in one gulp.
“Is it safe for you to be here?” Shunsui asked.
Jūshirō shrugged, “I’ve had my flu shot but I probably won’t be hanging around much until you’re well again.”
Shunsui nodded slowly before letting his head fall to rest against the headboard. The period of time between taking a pain pill and having it begin to work was frustrating to Shunsui. Patience wasn’t always a virtue he possessed. When he felt one of Jūshirō’s hands at his forehead, brushing the hair back, he leaned into the touch – and was pleasantly surprised when the headache began to fade. Ukitake had become quite proficient at healing kidōs after years of being subjected to them.
Shunsui had all but fallen asleep when Jūshirō finally pulled his hand away. He didn’t even have it in him to complain as he felt himself tucked into bed as one would tuck in a child.
“Feel better, Kyōraku.” Jūshirō said quietly.
Shunsui was gone before his head even hit the pillow.