Back in the old days...(Ukitake)

A blue sky with small white clouds here and there, a mild breeze that rustled through the blossoming sakura trees and a scent of flowers in the air...the typical weather in soul society. Shinigami patrolled the streets of seireitei, the 12th division was doing research in order to improve the equipment the shinigami used, and the 11th division was using their dojo to their daily morning training. Everything seemed normal in the home of the death gods, but was it normal? The answer was no. You could feel it in the air if you came around the 13th division barracks, you could see it on the faces of the captains(most of them), the lieutenants and other high seated officers, but mostly on the members of the 13th division. It was sorrow, a deep sorrow that had come due to the death of Shiba Kaien, the 13 division lieutenant through many years. The cause of his death was that he was had gotten eaten by the hollow whom had killed a couple of shinigami and Kaien`s wife two days before. The real cause of death wasen`t far off from the lie that the shinigami had been told, the only two people who knew the real death and what occurred that night was Ukitake Juushiro and Kuchiki Rukia, the younger sister to the captain of the 6th division, Kuchiki Byakuya.Many had already come by the 13th division`s barracks to express their sorrow and say some comforting words to the 13th division the night before, yet everyone knew it would take more than that to heal the deep wounds the death of Kaien had left in Ukitake and Rukia.

Most of the 13th division was out on morning patrol already, meaning no one had noticed or even seen the young shinigami who had fallen asleep onto the wooden pathway with her back against the wood railing, right in front of Ukitake`s office door with a few feet between the sliding door and the girl. She was wearing the standard shinigami uniform. white socks and flat wooden sandals. Her shinigami robe was held together with a white standard obi. Her zanpaktou was laying in her lap, her hand loose holding around the hilt. She had white hair that reached the start of her shoulders and was tied up into a slightly high ponytail, meaning the ponytail itself reached her neck. A armband was tied around her left forearm, it had the kanji for vice captain and the symbol of the third division imprinted on it. A blanket was placed over her but it looked like it was done after she had fallen asleep, it could have been anyone who knew her that could have placed the blanket over her. She was holding two white flowers loosely in her free palm, maybe she had been wanting to give them to someone but had fallen asleep?

Her name was Reikou Yuuri, a bright shinigami who had been a third seat of the third division for around 25 years now. Even through she was rather flat chested and her face and body seemed to only have begun to mature, she was actually very old. Yuuri was actually older than her captain, named Ichimaru Gin, but unless someone was told her age they would think she was younger than him. Even through she was only a few years from turning 200, she always acted as if she was under 100.

Ukitake had gained some wounds due to the incident, and his healing was slow, he awoke in at the sickness bay of the 13th squad, the 13th squad had been on high alert ever since that "incident" and their captain had taken great grief ever since, unable to even leave the sick bay for days since he got wounded and his sickness acted up...

For the first time since that incident Ukitake woke up, he instantly knew what had happened, an officer opened the bamboo door and he instatly wished it would have been Kaien, for a few seconds he saw an imaginary reflection Shiba kaien Shi... he now noticed the officer and looked really sad, it was after all too good to be true... Shiba kaien had passed away, the officer asked if he could stand up, he seemed worried enough but Ukitake managed to stand up none the less even if he was a bit unsure with his feet almost appearing drunk let alone his facial expression that tried to smile and clear that worried face of the officers face Im all right, thank you he said while now regaining his balance fully...

Once leaving the medical bay Ukitake took a look at the lake that surrounded the medical bay, the garden and everything else that had been set up, he strolled towards his office slowly, once inside the barracks Ukitake was in deep thoughts he had failed as a Friend, Captain and Teacher.... he bit his lip slightly, he did not even notice Yuuri sleeping there peacefully but stumbled upon her feet waking her up and collapsing in the process, he fell hard against the mahongy floor and seemed to lose counciouness briefly, a single word escaped his lips in a whispering manner Shiba kaien... in his arm he held a bloody seal of the 13th division liutenant that normally would rest on their shoulder....

Yuuri was awoken from her rather restless sleep by something hitting her feet and a loud thud in front of her. As she slowly opened her eyes, the first thing that meet her gaze was a "ocean" of white. After blinking a few times she saw that all the white was a captain haori and long white hair. Knowing that the only captain with long white hair was Ukitake, she instantly sat up and rolled him onto the back. He haden`t coughed any blood up, so it wasen`t his sickness that had caused him to fall over her. Being a former high seated member in the forth division, Yuuri instantly began a routine check on him, such as checking his breathing and pulse. After ensuring he wasen`t dying or anything, she noticed the bloody lieutenant badge in his left hand. Yuuri wriggled it loose from his fingers and held it between her own hands, running her thumb over the kanji of the 13th division. "...your always making sure that no one worries for you..no matter what, don`t you?". With a light sigh she stood up, slided open the office door and dragged the taller man into his office without much trouble, he had lost some weight in the past few days...

Yuuri managed to lay him onto the coach that was located next to the eastern wall. She leaned against the wall for a moment to catch her breath while looking down at the badge. "...I never really knew you...Shiba Kaien...not as good as Kuchiki-san and Ukitake-sama did...yet i feel sorrow now seeing that the people closest to you are in so great pain..". She finished speaking and walked over to the edge of the coach. Yuuri fumbled a little with Ukitake`s haori and uniform until the mid part of his chest was free. She ran reaitsu into her hand, placed her slender fingers against his surprisingly musclear chest and poured the reaitsu into it with a swift thrust. It was a basic method of awaking patients that had passed out, it was a requirement to know this trick in order to enter the 4th division.

Yuuri kept her hands onto his chest, laying no pressure on it so he would`t feel pain. Even if she did press hard down it would`t hurt him much, she was quite light. Yuuri leaned slightly over him and looked down at his face, to be more correct his eyes, looking for any signs of him awaking. Her short ponytail fell down over her left shoulder, tickling her neck. "Ukitake taicho? Are you awake?"

Ukitake held a tight grip onto the liutenant badge despite being unconscious, after some effort she was able to wiggle it loose from his firm grip, showing just how much he had grieved for the loss of his liutenant despite waking just up moments ago, soon Ukitake awoke, at first everything was a single blurr with mixed colors, he no longer was in the hallway but in the office, that he would soon notice...

There was someone who had brought him here that much he could tell at the moment, the blurr started to become one visible picture when he opened his eyes blinking, suprised to see Yuuri next to him, he sat up in a single quick motion but he got motion sickness as soon as he tried to move to fast which he ended up regretting as he pulled his head back down into the soft couch, he felt a short stinging pain in his chest moment`s after wards, he glanced down and noticed his haori open to the point where his chest was almost entireley reveal, he was unsure why, but came to the conclusion that Yuuri must have opened his haori in order to check him as an patient, she had been in the 4th division after all...

Awake and alive... sorry to make you worried i must have passed out he said while not being quite sure why, maybe it was his sickness acting up again, now that you meantioned it his head was hurting pretty badly did he fall?

what brings you here Yuuri-san on this beatiful day? he asked with a honest voice... Suprisingly Ukitake was not blushing today in front of Yuuri even when his chest was exposed, giving him slight chills, he was too concerned about his squad and Shiba Kaien`s death to be thinking about such trivial matters (at this point he thought of them as such)

He could instantly see on her eyes that she didn`t fall for his acting like everything was fine. "Stop pretending like everything is okay! Kaien-sama just died....i may not me so smart, but i know when someone is lying into my open face...". Yuuri pulled a chair over to the side of the coach and sat down, untying her ponytail so the necklong hai fell down around her shoulders. Using the black ribbon that her ponytail had been tied with, she cleared off most of the blood on the lieautnant bagde, letting some stay through. With a light sigh she placed the badge back into his hand and looked at him with her deep blue eyes. She had that look in her eyes, that kind of sorrowful look that would make your heart feel heavy if you just looked at them for a moment. She haden`t had those eyes since...well since she was forced out from the "safe" walls of the 4th division and first laid her eyes onto the grinning foxy-faced Gin...whom`s now, 30 years later, was the person she respected the most...

Yuuri stood up and walked outside for a moment, returning with the blanket that someone had put over her when they had seen her sleeping in front of his office. "...taicho really needs to stop walking around other people`s division`s without reason..it makes him appear more creepy than he really is....its odd Aizen taicho acts friendly towards him, they are the complete opposent in personality..". Yuuri spoke as if she knew the one who had put the blanket over her was the "fox" captain...

Ukitake avoided to look at her instead he covered his exposed chest I don`t want to sound disrespectful, but don`t talk like you knew him... Rukia she too suffers, the entire squad does... do not look at me like that Yuuri-san he spoke now much calmer than at first... I apologise for being myself, it would be wrong to lie to you either way, but honestly i still can`t belive hes gone... he sat up slower this time... looking a tad bit sad down at the couch and his legs... clutching onto the badge even more firmly this time....

Ukitake then looked back at Yuuri when she went to pick up the blanket and at her mentioning about her captain and Aizen, normally Ukitake would have replied something about being suprised about the entire affair with the two captains, but at the moment he felt like doing neither, almost as if the words simply slipped past him....

With a light sigh she sat back down onto the chair directly in front of him, hugging herself slightly. "I never spoke like i knew him...im not trying to say that i feel the sorrow you and Rukia-san is going through...but you think im not sorrowed over seeing you and her like this?...its just my weak heart, you know when i am when it comes to things like this...i guess Gin taicho is right when he calls me overdramatic.."". Yuuri tried to smile a little, but the sight of the white haired captain looking sorrowed down at the bloody badge was to much. She walked over and opened the window slightly, letting the refeshing spring breeze flow through the room, playing with her not-so-long hair.

"This weather is to much..", she mumbled in a annoyed way, closing the window again. She walked over to the coach and lifted her hand slightly, hesitating in a moment. Yuuri placed her slim hand firmly onto his shoulder, tugging it slightly. "...that sad face of yours makes you look even more like an old man..".

Ukitake stared at Yuuri for a moment as small smile wandered over his lips Your right as always, im in no position to judge you just because you did not know him, you have as much rights to be worried about us as anyone else in the squad, i am sorry if i appeared rude... his efforts to put a smile on his face seemed to catch the better of him, while he did smile he made sure to think about Yuuri only when he did so, the last thing he wanted was to make her depressed like himself, so with some effort he put up that face of a smile... even if his heart was in deep grief... It would take time to heal, something that Ukitake knew that Yuuri understood...

Gomen... he said when she responded about his sad face looking older when he was sad, he had to change that for her right? she was his secret crush after all...

He had heared her comment about the weather, he had not made any notice of it until now he looked out trough the window it was spring... Did you by any chance know Kaien shiba`s wife? he asked with soft smile on his face she was a wonderful woman, something i respected... i think she was in the 4th division before... he got quiet again...

Yuuri noticed his soft smile and felt a heavy burden lifted slightly from her shoulders...he was still able to smile, she had been thinking it would take months to even get his usual smile back. Of cause the smile wasen`t complety happy, but the fact that he tried to smile meant her words had reached him. With a light sigh she removed her hand and smiled a little back. "Stop saying sorry all the time..its me who should say sorry for saying such rude words...". Ukitake broke the brief, yet pleasant, silence by asking if she knew Kaien`s wife, who he was remembering to once have been in the fourth division.

"Miyako Shiba right? When shinigami that aren`t the very best in their area finish the acadamy, they end in the fourth division until they discover their talents. It`s been a couple of decades since i left the division...but of cause i remember my ten wonderful years there, after all it was were i meet Kira-kun...back then he was much more open...wasen`t afraid to smile in public..these days, all he does is following Gin taicho and me around on patrols, missions or training...". Yuuri had begun to look towards the window when she began to speak about the blond shinigami. She wasen`t blushing as she talked about him, but the words was spoken in a soft and gentle manner...it was clear that Izuru meant alot to her, but it was a fact that it would´t turn into a love relationship.

"Ah, gomen, gomen....i guess i got onto a side track there..", she said while scratching her neck embarrassed. "..Miyako-san was the fifth seat back then..even through i was a few years older than her, i always saw her as my big sister...maybe because i was so immature back then, i shuttered every time i had to speak to a captain and Gin taicho scared me...anyways..". She was smiling abit to herself and finaly looked back to him, it seemed like talking about the old days calmed her abit. "Unohana taicho always said she was proud of us, she said we was keeping the fourth division running with our bright personalities...even through Miyako-san came in during my sixth year, it felt like we had been together for longer..now that i think of it,.." , she said, placing the back of her hand against her cheek to think abit.

"..Say, Ukitake-sama...Miyako-san was transferd to the 13th division the same day as me and Kira-kun was transferd into the third division, wasen`t it?". The only reason Yuuri could`t clearly remember the date of Miyako`s transfer was because of the drama during her own...she had been sad when she was told that anthoder division captain had found interest in her shikai abilities and she was gonna been transferd, but it helped that Kira was transferring to the same division as her. When she heard that it was the third division, she had thrown a rage tantrum of rage to Yamanto, refusing to join the division who`s captain had given her nightmares...after a brief talk with Gin alone through, she mind had changed complety...