So this is a fan fic about this pairing. I don't own Bleach (although I wish I did). I love this anime and this pairing is cute, so I did a little experimenting. It's partly based on an earlier fan fic about the same pairing, though I forgot the author. Sorry. But I give credit to you sir/ma'am, because I got the idea from you. Here it is, the Healer and the Sick.

Please review! Go easy on me. I'm HitsuHina07, formerly my pen name is directX07, an IchiHime author and fanatic, but I lost the password to my old account, so I made a new one. It's complete!

Unohana Retsu and Ukitake Joshirou

Unohana Retsu and Ukitake Joshirou

Chapter 1 – Gossip

Shinigami Academy

Ukitake Joshirou and Kyouraku Shunsui sat at the back row of Yamamoto-sensei's class.

Kyouraku had been babbling about this hot girl named Akira Fujiwara while Ukitake just smiled, aware that the girl Kyouraku was planning to target next was sitting near the front, turning her head once in a while to look at Ukitake.

"See that Joshirou?" Kyouraku boasted. "I think she has the hots for me."

"I think so too," he replied, just averting his gaze from the swooning girl to his paper, to her utter disappointment.

After classes, Joshirou and Shunsui walked along the corridors, gathering admiring stares from girls and jealous ones from men. The two were the top of their studies and quite possibly, the best students in the academy. Shunsui was known as a charismatic and frightful playboy who used his charms and smarts with women. Joshirou, on the other hand, was the school heartthrob but cared less about it. Although he was weak and sickly, he was very popular and he was the silent and kind type of guy who attracted girls without their consent.

Girls' Dormitories

Akira Fujiwara let out a high-pitched bubble of laughter as she talked with her friends – Hikari, Ayane, and Yumi.

"Ukitake looked at me in Yamamoto-dono's class!" squealed Akira, blushing to the roots of her auburn hair. "He looked really cute and handsome!"

"Lucky you 'Kira-chan," Ayane said with a sigh. "Ukitake Joshirou doesn't even know I exist."

"But really Akira, I think that Shunsui guy is the one who likes you," Hikari said.

"Kyouraku Shunsui? Ukitake-kun's best friend?" Akira said. "Isn't he the play boy?"

"Yeah," Yumi said. "Be careful with him Akira. I see the way he looks at you every time you pass by."

"Who cares? All I want is my beloved Joshirou…"Akira said with a sigh.

"Hey! Uno-chan! Stop studying first and join us. You need a rest," Yumi said. She was referring to the girl with jet black hair walking by. Unohana Retsu was known as the smartest and plainest girl in the Academy. She talked less and just resorted to reading books and taking short walks in the Shrine, a garden and known as the most peaceful and quiet place in the school.

The three girls looked at their friend with concern. Retsu seldom joins them but they consider her as a close friend with a good helping hand. They always felt a bit pitiful towards her for striving so hard that she lost track and concern for her personal life. Every guy who tried to attract her attention or hit on her ended up frozen at the spot by kidou. So after many similar incidents, no man ever dared approach her again. And she was dubbed 'plain' and 'nerdy'.

"Take a break for a while," Akira said.

Unohana sighed and gave in. She still had to finish an essay she was making for Sasakibe-sensai's class. She sat beside her friends.

"Akira-san, you look happy today," Unohana commented with a gentle smile.

"It's because my beloved Ukitake looked at me in class!" Akira said, her eyes glowing again.

"Ukitake Joshirou?" she said. Unohana knew that this boy was one of the smartest males in the Academy, but they seldom be together in a class and Unohana knew very little about him. She knew that every girl at school swooned at the sight of him, except her. And most of the people find this behavior of hers strange.

"Do you even know Ukitake-san?" Ayane said."

"He's like the most popular guy in the history of Soul Society," Hikari added.

"Of course I know him," Retsu said. "But I just don't notice him as much as you do."

"Awww… Retsu-chan," Hikari said, patting her friends' shoulder. "You are so busy that you forget what's going on around you and your personal needs."

"Personal needs?" she asked, utterly bewildered.

"Yes… Love," Akira said, sighing like an idiot.

Unohana looked at her friends' flushed faces. She knew love but never felt it for a man. She certainly didn't want to look like a fool the way her friends are looking now. Her usual cool, collected and dedicated self strictly forbade this things to get in the way of her studies and her dream of helping people.

"Uhm… I think I have to go," she finally said, getting up. "I have to finish the Demon Magic Essay Sasakibe-sensei gave us."

"Okay…" the three said in unison, all of them looking at Ukitake Joshirou's huge picture plastered on the wall.

Unohana Retsu got up gracefully and went to her most favorite place – the Shrine.