as years pass | kyoraku shunsui

two - 'troublemakers'

When Shuriken had first moved into the Soul Reaper Academy dorms after the unfortunate massacre of her family, the last thing that she had expected was to actually find comfort in some new friends. Up to the point that she met Shunsui and Jushiro, Shuriken had been convinced that no one would want to talk to her; really, she thought it was for the best. Every night the poor girl squirmed in bed, tormented by horrible nightmares of her uncle returning to finish his job and end her life. If she were to make friends, Shuriken believed, they would become easy targets for Mizuno. After all, it did seem as though Mizuno's main purpose for killing their family was to make not only her father suffer, but Shuriken as well. Why else would he have spared her on that dreadful day?

Yet, it seemed that no matter how hard she tried to keep the two chipper males at an arms length, it just wasn't possible. Every single day, Shunsui and Jushiro would pop up and welcome Shuriken into their company. After a while, it became impossible for her to push them away; Shunsui had been right when he said that there were worse people to spend her time with.

The more relaxed that Shuriken became around Shunsui and Jushiro, the more that her old self began to return. She slowly began to regain the upbeat, social personality that she had once been known for. She'd taken more of an interest in her class work as well; that was to say, she enjoyed learning how to fight. When it came to the massive piles of homework that she seemed to be stuck with day in and day out, well... Shuriken didn't much care for that.

"Hey, Ri?" Shunsui whispered to Shuriken as the two sat, side by side, in their kendo class. The nickname was one that he had recently given the girl, his own special twist on the typical 'Shuri' that others called her.

"Hmm?" Shuriken hummed in acknowledgement as she copied down the notes from the board as their teacher spoke.

"Do you remember that girl Jushiro was talking to last week? The one that he ditched lunch with us for?" Shunsui, of course, was referring to one of the fine young ladies that was studying healing techniques to become a member of the Fourth Division. The day in question had been the weekend prior, a day where there were no classes and the students had been able to relax and prepare for the week ahead of them. While Shunsui and Shuriken had enjoyed their lunches in the shade of the gang's favorite Sakura tree, Jushiro had been with this other girl.

"He was sick that day!" Despite the seemingly scolding tone of Shuriken's voice, Shunsui could detect a bit of amusement. She had some sort of idea of where Shunsui was going with this, but she wasn't entirely sure of what he'd come up with.

- - -

The first time that Jushiro had gotten sick around Shuriken, she had been terrified; absolutely, one-hundred percent frantic. The two had been alone in his and Shunsui's dorm room to do some homework while Shunsui fucked around with his fling of the week. Although Shuriken was grateful for Shunsui toning down his flirting with her since they had become friends, the moment that Jushiro began coughing up blood, she wanted to see the flirty brunette more than ever.

"J-Ju?!" Shuriken had rushed to his side. She placed a gentle hand on his heaving shoulder as he coughed; she was particularly careful with Jushiro, as she was extremely worried that she'd just wind up making things worse on her poor friend.

"I'm-" Jushiro broke into another fit of coughing. The sleeve of his uniform, which he had been using to cover his mouth, had begun to drip with blood. Shuriken's head moved from left to right as she tried to find something - anything - that she could use to help Jushiro.

At this point, she hadn't even been told that he was sick. Shuriken truly believed that at that precise moment, while Shunsui had left them alone to get some ass, Jushiro was dying.