"Izuru, I'm back! I bought the soba buns you requested."

Shuhei quietly pushed his way through the sliding door that led into the squad nine living quarters. He thought it odd not to hear Izuru's hurried footsteps approach to greet his longtime friend. Since the abrupt leave, or more appropriately, betrayal, of squad three's Captain Ichimaru, Izuru had spent most of his free time with Shuhei. If the squad three lieutenant wasn't doing paperwork, he was drinking heavily, attempting to drown the memories of the captain he had known so fondly. Shuhei quickly found it a daily mission of keeping his depressed friend sober.

Hisagi snapped to attention when he heard glass shatter in the direction of the kitchen. He dropped the grocery bag and dashed into the kitchen.

"Izuru, are you alri-!"

Hisagi stopped, catching sight of a sake bottle now in pieces on the floor. His gaze traveled up, where numerous empty bottles of alcohol were tipped over. Izuru sat hunched over the table, another bottle pressed tightly to his lips. He barely noticed Hisagi until he ripped the bottle from the tipsy lieutenant's grip.

"What the hell, Hisagi?"

"You're drunk…again. What I told you about drinking during my absence? You always go overboard."

Izuru leaned sideways to grab back the bottle, only to fall to the floor. Shuhei dropped to his knees to aid the drunken shinigami, but was stunned as Izuru grabbed his shihakusho and curled against Hisagi's chest.

Shuhei remained still, letting the smaller shinigami cry against him. The tears rolled off Izuru's cheeks and fell against the tensed fabric gripped in his fist. Izuru choked on his tears as he attempted to speak.

"I-it's all my fault, Hisagi-san! Ichimaru-taichou betrayed the Seireitei and there was nothing I could do but watch as he turned his back to me."

"Nothing can be blamed on you, Izuru-chan. Ichimaru-taichou left because of his own reasons, those of which we don't know. He certainly didn't leave because of you. On top of that, nobody would have been able to stop him. There was no evidence to go by to suspect him of betraying the Seireitei."

Izuru remained quiet for a moment, wiping away his tears on Hisagi's shihakusho. He sniffled and gazed up at the older man.

"Arigatou, Hisagi-san." Izuru smiled gently at Shuhei.

Without hesitating, Hisagi drew Izuru into a hug, holding the still shivering lieutenant close. In this embrace, Izuru found warmth and love, things he had been craving for too long now.

"This is what I'm here for, Izuru-chan. I'll be always be here for you, whenever you need me."

Izuru just sighed and buried his face against Hisagi, mouthing inaudible words. Hisagi didn't need to hear them to know what was said.

This is my first attempt at ShuuKira. This pairing has become one of my new OTP's and I wanted to write about them. Enjoy and review!