Rain on the Sea

Because Bleach is a ridiculous shounen canon!

Spiritual Power
Bleach has a concept called reiryoku, which is similar to qi/lifeforce. Basically every living sentient thing has it at some level - the average human is pretty low, though it can vary. In this case, it's mostly important because Jyuu is likely to notice if it's unusually high for a human, or not actually a human despite being human-shaped. So! Feel free to let me know here!

Sogyo no Kotowari
This one goes in the opposite direction - for characters who can sense spirits, there is an extremely powerful one living inside Ukitake's sword. It may appear like two to those not checking closely enough, but while Sogyo no Kotowari manifests and speaks as two beings, they're basically two halves of a single whole. If you can talk to spirits, you are welcome to poke them.

"You know, you hit pretty hard for a-"
"Don't finish that sentence." Her voice was tired, but there was an edge to those words. It was clear Kyouraku was tense, and was trying to lighten the mood, but she couldn't handle it, not right now. "We'll talk. /Later/." For a moment it looked like he was going to ignore the implicit warning there and stay, but the young healer standing by the door gave him a 'stop bothering my patient or I'll make your life hell' look, and he vanished rather promptly.

Once he was gone, Jyuushiko sighed, and collapsed back into the pillows. The healer was still standing by the door to the room, glancing awkwardly at the floor. "I'm very sorry, I didn't realize..." Jyuu resisted the urge to grind her teeth in frustration. It was bad enough that Kyouraku was being an idiot about this. She managed to muster up a smile for the young woman. "Ah, it's fine. I don't really have the energy to worry about it right now." The healer nodded, looking a bit less tense, and moved to take the seat Kyouraku had vacated. "What happened? I just remember having another coughing fit, and then...pain." It was the healer's turn to sigh heavily. "Your left lung collapsed and started filling with blood." Ah - that would explain why she felt like a horse had kicked her in the chest. "You're also running a fairly high fever - I sent some of the blood to be checked for infection." Jyuushiko's hands tightened slightly on the blanket. What went unspoken was that the tuberculosis could be active again - and she would have to leave the academy if that was the case. "I'll let you know when we know more - you should rest, for now. I'll make sure your teachers know you won't be attending classes for the next few days."

Jyuushiko did her best to suppress a few coughs, and then gave the healer a small smile. "Thank you - I'm sorry, I don't think I've met you before." The healer bowed slightly, and then gave her a smile. "Unohana Retsu. I'm in my last year of training here." She returned the bow as best she could, ignoring the protest from her ribs. "Thank you, Unohana-san.
I'm Ukitake Jyuushiko - it's a pleasure to meet you." She had to admit, it felt good to be able to tell someone her /real/ name. A small weight lifted - but even a little helped. Unohana's smile widened a touch, became a little more than just a polite gesture. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Now - I'll leave you to your sleep, for the moment. If Kyouraku-san returns, should I allow him in?" Jyuushiko considered this for a moment, and then nodded, sighing as she did so. "I have to face him eventually. I may as well get it over with."

"Alright." The healer made to leave, and then paused right before the door to turn back and speak again. "Oh, and - in the future, you should bind less tightly. You can't breathe properly if it's too tight." Unspoken in those words was 'your secret is safe'.

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."
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After a moment a moment of awkward silence, Shunsui finally spoke. "And to think, all this time I just thought you were too shy to use the public baths." She gave her roommate a small, awkward smile. "Well, you're at least partially right." At Shunsui's raised eyebrow, she continued. "It was alright if I was with family, but by myself...I look different from everyone else." She ran her hands through her shaggy white hair to make the point clear. "It got frustrating after a while, when I got old enough to realize it was me that everyone was staring at." He looked surprised at that. "You've been sick that long?"

"Ah - I never really told you, did I? I hate sounding like I'm complaining, so...I don't, really." She drew her knees up to her chest, mostly as an excuse not to meet Shunsui's eyes as she spoke - this was awkward enough as it was. "I was five - the healers didn't think I'd make it through the end of the year. In retrospect, I'm a little surprised I was the only one in my family to get sick - it was a rough autumn..."

"You're still here, though," Shunsui prompted.

She nodded, a wry smile ghosting over her face. "I've always been stronger than I look. And the strength of my spiritual power helped, too. Even if it had some odd side effects."

"The hair?" Shunsui hazarded, and she nodded in reply.
"As far as anyone can figure out, yes. It didn't start changing colour until I got sick. All of my siblings have black hair - though my two sisters are shaping up to be tall, too."
"Though I doubt they'll match your willowy beauty." The jest hit home this time, and though she rolled her eyes at it, Jyuushiko was smiling, too. "Did you /want/ me to hit you again?"
"Ah, you wound me!" Shunsui sighed dramatically, flopping back in his chair.
"As if I could - your ego is as tough as Sensei's reiatsu. Did you want to ask anything else?" She was feeling calmer, now - the exchange had diffused the tension between them.
"I suppose...why? You're strong, you're smart - your gender doesn't change that."
Jyuushiko sighed, looking pensive again. She had been expecting this question. "How many girls do you see here? Ones who /aren't/ training to be healers."
"Not nearly enough!" Shunsui looked serious again a moment after. "You're right though - there aren't too many here in the general ranks."
Jyuushiko nodded. "And most of the ones left aren't from noble families, or are exceptionally strong - and stubborn. They make it hard for girls from noble families to get in - too much controversy otherwise. We're supposed to stay home and do our best to carry on the bloodlines. And with my illness..."
"Not a chance in hell," Shunsui agreed. "What a stupid rule! Which means my father was probably in favor of it," he added with an eyeroll.
Jyuushiko shrugged. "It is what it is. But...that's why. There are so many children in my family, nobody but us can keep it straight anyway, so nobody noticed when an extra son turned up."
"Hmph. Well, if we ever end up in charge, we'll change that for sure! You shouldn't have to hide who you are."
She smiled at that. "Thanks, Shun." That was the worst of it over, and she felt both relieved and drained. "I think...I'm going to take another nap, alright? We can talk more later, if you want."
Shunsui nodded, and stood to leave. "Sounds fine. Hope you're feeling a bit better soon, ne?"

Ukitake genderswap. Born out of seeing a genderswap!Ukitake fic on FF.net which I thought had an interesting premise but kind of awful execution (Ukitake is secretly a girl, you've already established this, reinforcing how delicate and feminine and fragile she is every other sentence is annoying). So I sort of set out to do it right, sort of as a way of building up backstory for a possible AU journal for the Bleach DR. There will be more of this if I don't get lazy - I have a bunch of other scenes half-planned in my head already. This one is fairly early on - there is an Epic! Fight! Scene! before it that I haven't written yet and which will probably be very Exalted when I do. Basically, nasty Hollow attack, parents take most of them out but die in the process. The commotion wakes up the children, who come to investigate. Jyuushiko realizes that if someone doesn't do something, they're all dead, and she's the oldest and the biggest. Cue moment of epic Exalted badassery followed promptly by passing out, because that tends to happen when you get tossed around by a Hollow some and then use up all of your spirit energy in one blow.
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Jyuushiko opened her eyes and then wished she hadn't - the lamplight felt like it was trying to pierce her skull. She groaned slightly, and a wide-eyed ten-year-old face immediately blocked out the light. "Jyuu! You're awake!" She gave her sister a tired smile, and tried to sit up - also a mistake. As soon as she put weight on her right arm, pain shoot through her injured shoulder, and she strangled a whimper. Right away, Fujiko was at her side, helping her up. "..Thanks." She glanced around the room - it was empty, aside from the two of them. Jyuushiko could feel a surge of panic rise up. "The others...is everyone alright?" Fujiko nodded vigorously. "We're all staying with the Tanakas, 'cause the house is still messed up." Jyuu could hear a tremor in her sister's voice that she couldn't really blame her for. But they'd get to that eventually. "We've been taking turns watching for you to wake up," Fujiko continued. Jyuushiko frowned at that. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three days...we were really worried, but Kana-san said you had just worn yourself out."

There was a rustle as the door to the room slid open, and the healer, no doubt alerted by their talking, came into the room. "You did - and woke up half the village with that flare, I think." Jyuushiko looked chagrined at that, which only made Kana laugh. "Don't worry about it - I think you're far the more worse for wear than any of them. You should probably rest some more - I did my best, but you cracked two ribs, and that shoulder was torn up pretty badly." She nodded, and then coughed a few times, painfully. The healer frowned at the coughs. "I know you don't like the cough syrup because it makes you sleepy, but your ribs won't heal like that."

She sighed, but then nodded again. "...I guess it's alright for now." Kana nodded, and left the room, leaving the two sisters alone again. There was along silence, and then Jyuushiko spoke, broaching the topic she didn't really want to talk about, but knew she had to. "Mother and Father...?" Fujiko's hands tightened on the folds of her kimono, but when she spoke, her voice was mostly steady. "The guards me and Hideo brought back helped us - one of them knew a kido spell so they'd be okay. We didn't want to do the ceremony without you." By the end her voice was shaking badly, and Jyuushiko pulled the younger girl close, tucking her head under her chin. That was all it took - the tears Fujiko had been holding back came spilling out, soaking into the fabic of Jyuu's yukata. "It'll be alright, I'll make sure of it. I know Hideo's the heir, but I'm the oldest - I'll protect all of you."