Where Our Lives Changed

Author's note: Sorry. After such a ridiculously long wait, this chapter will still not be revealing the Grand Plan. Please don't be angry with me.

Disclaimer: 'Bleach' and the characters as well as the storyline featured in the works of Kubo Tite do not belong me.

Chapter Eight- The Wrestle Scene

If there was one thing that Jyuushirou knew for sure, it was this: The day he met Shunsui was the day that his life first changed.

If he had never met Shunsui, his life would never have been so unpredictable, so messy and yet, so fun. Yes, as much as Jyuushirou liked to deny the fact in the presence of Shunsui just to annoy him, deep in his heart he was really thankful to Shunsui - not thankful for all the troubles of course, but thankful for the colours that Shunsui had added to his hitherto grey life. Sure, his life had always been filled with some uncertainties, what with his wretched unreliable body. But as contradictory as it might sound, the so-called "uncertainties" were always things that Jyuushirou could easily foresee. He could not predict when his ailments would strike him, but he could easily see that if he had never met Shunsui, his whole life would hardly be more exciting than lying in bed sick. That was the kind of life that he was prepared for - until Shunsui changed everything.

Before he met Shunsui, his life was a depressing one. Sure, he had a wonderful family - loving and doting. Too loving, in fact. He adored them. He enjoyed every minute with them. But whenever he falls sick, his days turned agonising. For days he would lie in bed, delirious and unable to move. His parents' and siblings' faces would be stricken with worry, and no amount of whispered reassurances from the patient himself could relieve them from the pain in their hearts. It was heartbreaking for Jyuushirou to look at them. In order to not become a bigger burden to his family, Jyuushirou often reminds and forces himself to be optimistic. But stopping himself from feeling frustrated when his eyes meet those sad ones of his family members was sometimes a challenge. When he enrolled himself into the academy, Jyuushirou expected himself to spend most of his days in the sickroom with nothing but lessons to look forward to, but meeting Shunsui changed everything. With Shunsui, there was always something to be happy about; to be excited about; to be upset about; to be worried about. Every time Shunsui visited Jyuushirou, he would always talk about things to do when Jyuushirou becomes well again. Sometimes he would suggest lazing under a tree during a sunny day; sometimes he would suggest playing a trick on a male classmate that had incurred his wrath because the classmate had caught the eye of a female classmate that he liked. Sure, there were times when Shunsui seemed bothered when Jyuushirou was in extreme discomfort, but that did not stop him from talking about those future plans of his that must be carried out no matter what. He always assumed that Jyuushirou would become well again. Because of him, Jyuushirou lived everyday in the academy believing that there will always be times when he would be well.

One day with Shunsui could easily be filled with many different events. If Jyuushirou had thought that his morning with Unohana-senpai and Shunsui was already chaotic enough, he would soon find out that he was greatly wrong. The short few minutes that he took to change from his sleepwear into his school uniform was nothing more than a short show break. Once he started his walk with Shunsui to classes, the show started running again too. And the stage for the starting scene? It was the corridor.

Any audience present in the corridor to view the show that Jyuushirou and Shunsui were putting on would undoubtedly agree that, save for the time when Jyuushirou was dragged by Shunsui to chase after a girl, there was no other more peculiar scene. Jyuushirou had set aside the thoughts of Shunsui's great plans for later and was walking down the corridor with his best friend. He was going to class. He had the intention to go to class. He thought he was going to class, and so when he reached the part of the corridor path that splits into two - one to the right that led to the school garden, and one to the left that led to the lecture hall where the Shinigami Knowledge lectures were held - he turned to the path on the left. He was going to class.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the smirking Shunsui when he saw Jyuushirou head for the path to Nakazawa-sensei's class.

"To class, of course," answered Jyuushirou immediately, as he turned around to look at Shunsui, who had been following him slowly all the time with a suspicion-worthy smile on his face. In his eagerness to get to class, Jyuushirou had taken no notice of that smile. It was a mistake on his part. Shunsui's smile was a dangerous one, especially when he had some "great task" at hand.

Hearing Jyuushirou's reply, Shunsui's mischievous smile turned into a full grin as he declared, "No, we're not." He pointed a thumb to the direction of the school garden and winked at Jyuushirou. "We're going this way, silly. There are more important things to do now than to attend those silly classes."

The effect of Shunsui's words was dramatic. Jyuushirou's eyes widened with surprise while his pupils contracted with great displeasure. He looked at Shunsui as though he had never before seen the person standing in front of him. His best friend might be lazy, but Jyuushirou had never before dreamed that Shunsui would ask him to play truant! After all, Shunsui was - well, sensible in his own way, Jyuushirou always thought. Overdramatic as Jyuushirou's response might have seemed, "truant" had never been a word found in Jyuushirou's dictionary before. A person like Jyuushirou - no, a good student like Jyuushirou - would never contemplate the idea of playing truant! Shunsui ought to know that! He ought to know that Jyuushirou - serious Jyuushirou who always pay rapt attention in class - would not agree to something like that! Playing tricks on teachers was something that Jyuushirou could accept to a certain extent as a part of healthy school life, but having the audacity to declare a personal holiday? Good lord, no!

"Are you suggesting that we skip classes?" exclaimed Jyuushirou in a scandalised tone that sounded as though he thought that there was nothing more sinful in the world than skipping classes. "Don't be ridiculous, Kyouraku! Nothing in this world - let me repeat, nothing in this world - can compel us TO NOT GO TO CLASS!" And with an immense strength peculiar to a man like Jyuushirou's size, he tugged Shunsui's arm and dragged him towards the direction of Nakazawa-sensei's precious teachings.

Unfortunately for Jyuushirou, Shunsui was not somebody who gives up on something easily though. With a similar great strength, he dragged Jyuushirou back towards the opposite direction instead. "You are the one who is being ridiculous, Shiro," said Shunsui in an extremely calm tone, "Classes are plentiful! We have them every day! Skipping some of them is fine, I'm sure. Now, be a good boy and come. I really must brief you on our utmost important plan."

"No!" Jyuushirou cried in protest, as he used both hands to grab Shunsui tightly on the shoulders. "I've already agreed to join your great plans, whatever it is! But this is skipping school that you're talking about. There's no way that I will compromise on this! This is my pride as a student on the line!"

From Jyuushirou's tight grips on his shoulders, Shunsui knew: His best friend's determination in going to class was no joke. If there was a flaw in their friendship, it was that the both of them were too different in thoughts and yet too similarly stubborn in character. Failing to shake off Jyuushirou's tight clasps, Shunsui gave a deep sigh. "There's no helping it," he said. He placed both his hands on Jyuushirou's shoulders and began his attempt to wrestle Jyuushirou into going along with him. It was a strange sight: two students wrestling each other in a corridor. "Look Shiro," started Shunsui, as he exerted all his efforts to push Jyuushirou towards the path to the garden, all the time resisting Jyuushirou's own attempts to push him towards Nakazawa-sensei's lecture hall. "I respect all other types of pride you have, but pride of a student? A student, you said? That's not something to be proud of! Burden should be the word! Now, listen to me! You've already missed so many days of lessons, so what's one more day to you?"

"What's it to me?" cried Jyuushirou agitatedly, "I'll tell you what it means! It means one more day of missed lessons after so many days of missed lessons! Oh, and without somebody to take notes for US!"

"Nonsense! I'm sure you can easily seduce one of your fan girls into offering their notes to you!"

"I don't do any seduction, Kyouraku!"

"You just did, remember? To that senpai?"

"That was no seduction! That was an accident!"

"Look, if you go along with me, I'll treat you to something nice during the holidays!"

"I will not be so easily bribed!"

If it was not for the ringing of the start-of-class bell, the both of them would have continued their side-tracked quarrel and wrestled on to the end of eternity. Fortunately, the loud and bright ringing of the bell brought them back to their senses. Upon hearing the first few chimes of the bell, the both of them flung their arms up and away from each other, collapsed to the floor, and starting breathing and huffing deeply to catch their breaths. Once they had regained their breaths, the two friends looked up at each other with tired frowns on their face, but the frowns lasted only for a second. The next moment, the both of them bursted out laughing, finding hilarious their crazy quarrel and ridiculous wrestling.

It took them a long while before they finally regained themselves. Shunsui was the one to first gain control over his laughing self. Without a word to the still-laughing Jyuushirou, he stood up and turned (much to Jyuushirou's astonishment) to the direction of Nakazawa-sensei's class.

"Where do you think you are going, Kyouraku?" asked Jyuushirou quickly, as he stopped his laughing immediately and blinked blankly at Shunsui.

Shunsui did not look back at his friend. With his back still facing Jyuushirou and his head bowed, he answered the words that Jyuushirou had used earlier, "To class, of course."

"Huh?" was Jyuushirou's confused answer.

A pause of silence interrupted them for a while. "Ne, Jyuushirou..." mumbled Shunsui finally, in a soft and apologetic tone, "I'm sorry." The apology was delivered with some great impact.

Shunsui had many peculiar traits that intrigued Jyuushirou a lot, and one such trait was his strange ability to deliver everything in a dramatic and impactful fashion that was difficult to shake off and ignore. Even something like a sincere and soft apology by Shunsui came off unintentionally dramatic. "I was being really wilful, was I not?" Shunsui continued. "I shouldn't have forced you to do things that you do not really want to do." Then, turning back to face Jyuushirou again, he gave his friend a sheepish grin. "Stop lazing on the floor, Shiro!" he cried with his familiar loud booming voice as he wagged a finger at Jyuushirou mischievously. "We're late!" His sheepish grin then changed into a grin of satisfaction as he pumped an arm into the air in a boyish way and chuckled. "That felt good! I've always wanted to try bossing somebody for once! Mutsuki-baachan always makes it seem so fun!"

Jyuushirou, however, gave no response and made no effort to move even an inch from his sitting position. A small smile had crept to his face, and in his attempt to hide it from Shunsui, he bowed his head in a similar fashion to what Shunsui had done just a moment ago. "Kyouraku," he started softly, "I don't seduce people."

It was a strange sentence to make, and Shunsui made no attempt to hide what he thought of it. His forehead furrowed in bemusement as he wondered what Jyuushirou was driving at. With great uncertainty, he answered, "Erm… Yeah… You told me just now already. It was stupid of me to even suggest it though. You don't even have to seduce any one of them and they'll give their notes to you all the same if you'll just ask," he continued.

"I… don't really want to ask those girls for anything."

"…" At that, Shunsui was struck speechless for a few seconds. His frown deepened with worry for his friend's sudden strangeness. "I know that too. That's why I told you to hurry up and head to class now. We might not miss much if you'll just get your arse off the floor immediately," he finally managed to say.

"But there's no helping it. We're already late anyway." At the end of his sentence, Jyuushirou finally looked up at Shunsui, revealing the small smile that he was hiding earlier. "I'm only going to make an exception just this once. Do you understand me, Kyouraku? I'm doing this for you only because you sound like you really want to carry out this great plan of yours. By the way, you're buying me lunch for the rest of the week," he said, his eyes twinkling a little. "Now, what are you standing there like an idiot for? The direction that we're going-" he rose to his feet and pointed a thumb towards the garden, "-is this way."