Chapter Text
In the Beginning
The landing was not a soft one. Not that he really expected it, but they didn't have to literally give him the heave-ho and toss him out of the carriage, arms windmilling wildly trying to gain some sort of balance.
He nearly bowled over a few people as he landed, using his acquired barroom skills of tucking and rolling when he first hit the ground. But he finally bounced to a stop in front of a small group. They all gaped at him. Sitting there with a bemused look on his face he realized he couldn't get out of being here this time.
"Are you alright?" One of the young men chuckled while he held a helping hand out.
"Yeah! I think I've survived." Once standing he brushed the dust off his backside. "I've had worse exits from bars."
"Knowing you Kyoraku, probably a few red light houses too."
"You'd know Hideki, You were right there with me." There was a small scuffle between the two boys as they playfully fought each other.
"That is quite enough." Rang out an authoritative voice and something pointy jabbed Shunsui in the back. "You've made quite the entrance young Kyoraku."
"It's not my fault Yama-jii." Shunsui grinned while rubbing the back of his neck. "Dad's retainers got a little rough this time."
"I WANT NO EXCUSES." The old man's voice boomed out. "Get into your academy uniform and get to the orientation meeting."
"I don't know where my room is, nor my uniform. So unless you have a spare and want me to change right here, I'll need to know where to go." There were some giggles from the girls in the surrounding area.
"I'd tell him where to go." Muttered Hideki.
"Hideki Shiba.... Your suggestion is noted and will be kept on file for further use. Until then, " Yamamoto turned to his aide, "What is Kyoraku's room assignment?"
"He's listed with Ukitake, sir."
There was a small peep of surprise from the crowd still mingling in the courtyard. "Ukitake please step forward," Yamamoto called out. A pale young man moved forward and bowed. "Please show our straggler to his room so he might change and also make sure he makes it to the opening ceremony. I'm making this your first assignment, cadet."
Ukitake bowed deeply and formally. "Yes, sir. I'm honored to be given such an assignment."
There was some snickering from the remaining crowd and someone said that they pitied the pale kid for being harnessed to an idiot like Kyoraku.
Jushiro Ukitake tapped the taller youth on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. Shunsui followed, mostly out of curiosity.
"So what're these rooms like? I heard they were tiny."
"They are. I expect we won't be in them very much." Jushiro led the way through the winding hallways. "Well we will be too busy with classes and learning from the masters."
"You sound excited about it." Shunsui was following at a more sedate pace, his whole posture was slouched and his steps shuffled slowly behind.
"I am excited about it. It's a great honor for me to be here." The young man's eyes glittered with excitement. "Aren't you excited?"
"Not really." Shunsui combed his fingers through his hair, "I kind of got told I had to come here or I'd be kicked out of the family." He gave a lopsided smile.
Ukitake shook his head as he stopped in front of a door with the number forty-four on it. "This is our room. Your uniform is in there. I'll wait out here so I can help guide you back to the orientation room, it's a bit confusing at first."
Shunsui leaned in close, placing one hand on the door frame beside Jushiro's head, "We could go out drinking later."
Ukitake pushed him away, "Don't get any funny ideas. I may not be of noble rank like most of you, but even we lower ranking clans know of your reputation Kyoraku-san." He slid the door closed in the tall boy's face.
With a snort of mirth, Shunsui quickly changed into his uniform and joined his new friend on the return trip to the welcoming meeting.
"So do you think any of those girls will go out with us tonight to celebrate our first full day here at the academy?" Shunsui nudged Jushiro's shoulder.
"I.. what? Wait just a darn minute, when did it become us? We are not a team, Kyoraku-san." Ukitake's green eyes flashed with anger. "Just because we're roommates doesn't mean I'm going to get involved in any of your schemes." His cheeks were pink and puffed out in displeasure. "Remember I've heard about your reputation, I'm not just some hick from the woods."
Shunsui tossed his hands upward in a defensive motion, "Whoa, whoa... easy there. I'm just trying to be friendly like Yama-jii wants us to be."
"And that's another thing..." Ukitake rounded on the taller boy. "You should have more respect for Yamamoto-sensei. He's going out of his way to teach us how to be strong warriors so we can defend the Soul Society from attack. You as a nobleman's son should know that better than anyone." He added the emphasis on Shunsui's nobility as a stern reminder of their status in life. "Now hurry up or we're going to be late, and I for one can't afford any demerits."
Kyoraku stared at the young man as he jogged away from him. "Well, this is going to be interesting." He grinned and jogged after the pale-haired youth. Once he caught up to him, Shunsui draped an arm around the thin shoulders. "Hey come on pretty boy, I was just kidding."
Jushiro plucked the arm off his shoulder as if it was a bit of seaweed wrapped around him. "I don't care if you were kidding, and DON'T call me pretty boy." He stormed away.
The welcoming speech was a dull affair in Shunsui's opinion. He'd heard such formalities plenty of times in the past. He listened only halfheartedly. He could feel Ukitake glaring at him every time he began to nod off to sleep. And once a pebble bounced off his forehead. From the trajectory, it could only have come from Yamamoto-sensei. He simply grinned, knowing he was going to get punished later.
The old man was fairly tolerant of Shunsui's lavish behavior. He had grown up under Yamamoto-sensei’s tutelage and the two of them butted heads quite a lot. He knew how far he could push his luck, but still.... he enjoyed pushing his limits from time to time, just to see how much he could get away with.
After the welcoming ceremony was over, the students were given free time until the following day. Most returned to their quarters to set up their rooms and get acquainted with their fellow students.
Kyoraku saw Ukitake's white hair moving among the throngs and decided to see if the young man would join him for a drink or something else fun. Somehow he kept missing him. He'd get to the spot where he had seen him, and Ukitake was mysteriously gone. After several more misses, Shunsui decided to let it go and found others to party with.
After getting thoroughly drunk and some playful pawing at the barmaids, the small group of drunken students wobbled to their rooms. Hideki steered Kyoraku to his room after he was found wandering the halls for over an hour.
Shunsui stumbled into the dark room, moving by feeling along the wall. He cursed loudly when he banged his foot on one of the desks they would eventually use for their lessons. Finding the edge of a bed he simply let himself fall forward. Unfortunately, that was the bed that Ukitake had chosen for his own.
When something heavy, hairy and stinking of sake landed on him; Jushiro's first instinct was to kick..... hard. There was a loud groan of pain followed by a thud as the body hit the floor. "What are you doing, Kyoraku-san?" Ukitake growled sleepily. "You stink like a bar."
"..........drunk................. bed." The larger boy slurred as he crawled his way to the next bed. He literally rolled himself into the empty cot and began to snore. Ukitake shook his head and tried to go back to sleep.
Ukitake was not at his best the next day. His roommate's drunken snoring and sleep talking had interrupted his sleep many times through the night. Feeling like he was the one who had been drinking all night, he slowly made his way to his first class.
He was in shock when he got to the room. There was that damned Kyoraku sitting at a desk, acting like nothing was wrong. Ukitake plopped down in an empty seat. Sighing heavily he tried to pay attention to the lesson.
By the middle of the day he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, so he asked the instructor if he could take the rest of the afternoon off to rest. He made it seem as if a sudden onset of homesickness was making him feel ill. He was granted the leave and he wearily made his way back to his room. Sleep came quickly. He even slept through dinner.
When he woke up a soft light shone from one of the desks and the stooped figure of his roommate was reflected on the wall. Jushiro let out a small gasp.
"Hey, sleepy-head!" Shunsui's deep voice purred at him. "I guess I need to apologize for last night, it obviously kept you awake." He was on the floor in an instant, bowing profusely and asking for forgiveness over and over.
"Stop! Stop." Ukitake pleaded. "It's not that big of a deal."
"Well, I'll try to keep it down to a minimum from now on." Kyoraku grinned at him. "Oh, by the way, I got the rest of the lessons from today, and I brought some extra dinner for you."
"You didn't have to do that." Jushiro felt his face turning pink.
"Well don't thank me too much, the old man insisted that the lessons be brought to you. I just happened to be at the wrong place, at the right time." Jushiro wasn't sure if the brunet was joking or not. "And no one should go to bed hungry, so I asked for an extra portion that could be kept in the room."
"How? I thought having food in the bedrooms was against the rules."
Kyoraku's face split into a wide smile. "Hi I'm Kyoraku, Shunsui, I'm known for not obeying the rules frequently." He held out his hand. "I also happen to be a favorite of Yama-jii." Jushiro was still shaking his hand in bewilderment. "I should warn you, I have a tendency to sneak out of the rooms quite easily." Shunsui was grinning from ear to ear. "I have a bit of a bad reputation." Jushiro was stunned into silence.
"I've heard that." Ukitake pulled his hand away. "You sneak things in and out of rooms and no one catches you at all? How can you flaunt Yamamoto-sensei rules like that?"
Kyoraku simply shrugged and continued to grin. "It's just a knack that I have. Now eat up before they do room checks."
Ukitake began stuffing the food into his mouth. There was no way he could afford to get caught breaking the rules like this..... this rule breaker, was the kindest thing that came to mind. Maybe he should see if he could get a room reassignment? He couldn't possibly be expected to remain housed with such a reckless individual. Within the next half hour, the guard came by to check the rooms to make sure all were accounted for. Jushiro didn't know how or where Kyoraku had hidden the tray and bowls, but nothing remained of the misappropriated meal. He grudgingly had to admit that the young man had some handy skills.
"By the way, were you doing homework?"
Kyoraku pressed a finger to his own lips. "It's a secret. I have this reputation as I mentioned, I'm supposed to be a lazy, slacker and an all-around ne'er-do-well. If it got out that I was actually studying I'd be forever embarrassed."
"You want people to think that you don't do anything?"Jushiro's mouth hung open. "Don't you want to succeed?"
"I really don't want to be here in the first place. But my dad threatened to kick me out of the family if I didn't attend."
Ukitake shook his head, "I don't understand that, to me, this is the highest honor to be allowed to attend the academy."
"You're so good, so pure." Shunsui leaned back from the desk. "I can't hold a candle to your expectations. Yama-jii said the same thing to me time and time again. I need my reiatsu more controlled. I should have honor and pride that I'm here." He scratched his chin hair. "I just wanted to get away from the clan home,....." His voice trailed off. "I'll learn this junk, but I'm not gonna put a lot of effort into it. If I pass I pass, if I don't I don't..." He shrugged.
"That's crazy. You have a strong reiatsu, I can feel it. Even when you were drunk and asleep, it was almost overwhelming."
"Sorry about that. Usually, drinking dulls the overflow." Shunsui's spiritual power flared a bit. "The old man said I might need some type of suppressor until I get better control. I had one when I trained with him when I was younger." The brunet revealed a hidden sake bottle and sipped. "I got control and the suppressor was taken off. But he was worried that with so many people with strong reiatsu I might have trouble with control again.”
"Sensei was worried about that with me too, but... " Jushiro hesitated; not many people here knew about his illness, and he wasn't sure he wanted to tell this roommate his dark secret.
"It's because you're sick, right?"
"H – how, how'd you know about that?" Ukitake stammered.
"The old man told me after you were excused from afternoon classes."
Silver bangs slipped over shy green eyes, as Jushiro hung his head. "I'm sorry. If you want to change rooms, I won't blame you."
"Why would I do that?"
"Most people, when they find out, tend to back away."
"They sound like a bunch of cowards if you ask me." Kyoraku closed his lesson book and brought the lamp to his bedside. "You don't look dangerous to me."
Jushiro was stunned silent once more by Kyoraku's simple words. Only his family and close friends back home had ever treated him as if nothing was really wrong. Even though his family fussed over his well being constantly.
"You're a strange man Kyoraku-san."
"Right back at you pretty boy."
Ukitake felt his cheeks flush red. "Stop calling me those pet names."
"Sure thing handsome." The teasing man was soon snoring lightly. Jushiro swore he was going to talk to Sensei tomorrow and demand a new room. This roommate was thoroughly annoying. He was also fighting the urge to give the brunet a thump with one of his slippers.
The next day he was able to draw their sensei aside in order to speak to him in private. "Yamamoto-sensei, with all due respect, why am I roommate's with Kyoraku-san? He's wild, undisciplined and crude. I don't think we are a very good match."
Yamamoto made a quiet hum like noise and stroked his chin through that luxurious beard. "Ukitake-kun! The room assignments stand as they are. I paired the two of you up because your powers compliment each other." He scowled slightly. "Shunsui is also extremely intelligent, talented and very insightful. He's not someone to be taken lightly."
"Sir! He's.... he's so...." Ukitake let it drop. Yamamoto-sensei lightly patted his head.
"I'm sure you two will get along. Give it time my boy." He turned to walk away, "I think you'll be able to keep him stable and grounded. He's fickle and flighty but I know he's going to be worth the effort."
A full week later they settled into the small room and more or less got used to each other.
Shunsui sneaked out of the dorm each night and came back stinking drunk and Jushiro would just sigh and hope that he'd get the correct bed to flop down onto. He had all but given up on hoping that the dark haired boy would just stay in and get his work done.
Oddly enough Shunsui always turned in his assignments on time and fully completed. Jushiro wasn't sure how he managed, but the facts were facts. Shunsui got his work done and there were no complaints from the instructors.
The only thing that was met with enthusiasm from the brunet was sword lessons. He excelled at those. Claiming that he had prior lessons which made learning that much easier. Prior lessons or not he was very good with a practice sword.
Ukitake felt like a fumbling fool. Holding a weapon of death did not come easy for him. He was a peace loving man. The thought of purposely causing someone's death had a profoundly negative effect on him. The fact that Shunsui had no such problem bothered him also.
The other classes he found fun and exciting, Kyoraku passed the classes with ease, Ukitake had a few struggles, but Shunsui helped him by tutoring him in their room. He was a good teacher.
To Shunsui; the classes tended to be a bit boring. He was able to figure out the problems and situations with ease. Helping Ukitake during the evenings became his new favorite thing.
The two were getting used to each other quickly. Jushiro still did not like that Kyoraku occasionally fell on him during his late night stumbles. He even joined his fellow students at parties which had lots of drinking going on. He was no prude, he would get drunk with the rest of them.
It was the still semi sober Kyoraku that got them into trouble with his clever thinking while others were drunk and found his ideas hysterical.
Like skinny-dipping in the Kuchiki koi pond. Old man Ginrei did not find it the least bit funny, and banished them all from the property. Ukitake was sober enough later on to be quite scandalized by the whole affair.
One sunny afternoon; Jushiro was with some acquaintances in the hallway when a loud voice boomed out, “JUSHIRO UKITAKE.” He felt his heart skip a beat while it felt like it jumped into his throat. Turning slowly he caught sight of his roommate’s broad smile.
“Kyoraku… don’t scare me like that.” He scolded. “I thought I was in trouble for something.”
“Why would you be in trouble for anything, you’re perfect.”
“I’m not.” he protested.
“I’ve seen your scores, yes you are.” Shunsui’s grin widened even more. “All the smarts and handsome too.”
“Stop!” Jushiro held up his hand to stave off more embarrassing compliments. “Can you please stop with the flirting?”
Shunsui simply shrugged and held out his hand. “Hi! Let me reintroduce myself… I’m Kyoraku, Shunsui: obnoxious flirt and all around scoundrel.”
Ukitake ignored the hand and stomped away from the scene. Looking back over his shoulder he called out, “Better hurry up or you’ll be late for class. I for one am not going to risk that happening.”
Shrugging once more Shunsui followed at a much slower pace.
One afternoon they were in their one supplemental class of ikebana and bonsai sculpture. It was a calming class for the most part. Everyone took at least one supplemental class per year. Shunsui decided that this one seemed to be the easiest and Jushiro agreed.
Much to Shunsui’s horror he found out that his friend was quite aesthetically challenged.
Jushiro was doing a bang up job of butchering the poor helpless bonsai.
“What do you think, Kyoraku?” the pale lad held out the pot.
Shunsui was trying to think of the politest word he could describe the sculpture, “It’s...um, it’s very unique. I’m positive there’s not another one like it anywhere.”
Ukitake smiled brightly at him, “You really think so?”
“Absolutely! I’ll guarantee it’s a one-of-a-kind design.”
“It’s for you.” Jushiro shoved the haphazard thing into the Kyoraku boys hands.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say thank you, silly.”
“Thank you?”
“See that wasn’t so hard was it?” Jushiro continued to smile at him.