Hello all!

Been a long time since I uploaded anything, but since today is Byakuya's birthday, I conjured up this little thing here.

Disclaimer? Really? "I solemnly swear I don't own a thing. Maybe a little thing here and there, but certainly NOT Bleach."

There. Enjoy the read~

For all Kuchiki Byakuya knew, the eleventh's division lieutenant was very dangerous. Her small size and childish behaviour was just a pretense game to mask something.. utterly terrifying. He never knew what to expect from the dimunitive fukutaichō. From what he heard of the gossip going among various shinigami around, he gathered the zanpakutō she weilded was not just for show.

She could certainly hold her own in a fight, should it come to it – not like her riding around on the shoulders of the ruffian of a captain didn't put her in a harms way more often than not – she just never needed to get truly serious.

Another thing he heard was that the strength of her reiatsu was not to be trifled with. Ever since the Kurosaki brat showed up and fought with Zaraki for the first time, Byakuya heard how she threw one shinigami off of his feet with a massive burst of reiatsu.

He would never admit it to a living soul (or any soul, for that matter), but he was just a slight bit intrigued about the fact that her spiritual pressure was, in fact, pink.

Kuchiki Byakuya therefore tolerated the ever-present Kusajishi Yachiru whenever she showed up at his office, or his home, or wherever he presently was.

Many shook their heads about their unlikely.. 'relationship', some called it. She would come, pester him for who knew how long, and he wouldn't even twitch an eyebrow at her antics. The fact that Byakuya was in all honesty cautious about the girl, didn't occur to the entirity of Seireitei.

Perhaps another thing that most of the shinigami didn't realize, quite a serious topic, if he said so himself, was Yachiru's actual age.

The Kuchiki noble realized this particular truth, which perhaps drew the 'young' Yachiru to him the most. Even Zaraki, who took her under his wing when she was an actual child, didn't treat her any differently in decades, which slightly annoyed his petite lieutenant bit by bit more and more. They all treated her the same, even the sixth division captain himself, but for some reason beyond his comprehension, she kept appearing wherever he came to, demanding his attention. Which he seldom granted her, true, but still she kept on coming to him.

One day it was to crash at his house during his calligraphy session, to get candy out of him. Another it was in the middle of the street to poke him in the nose and flash-stepping away so fast he didn't even manage to blink – which he interpreted as an attempt at training, should he actually give in and chase her rapidly retreating form. Then she simply kept on raiding his office for hidden 'goodies' (which he never kept, but she still insisted they were present) until a stash of candy mysteriously appeared in one of his drawers.

Which of course led to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings with his subordinates who wrongly assumed their captain developed a sweet tooth.

He never stopped to question her behaviour throughout recent years, since the change was so gradual he never actually noticed until it was too late.

So it happened that she became his regular companion for the afternoon tea, sometimes joining his quiet company in his midnight strolls whenever she couldn't sleep as well, and nobody even questioned her mere presence upon the Kuchiki grounds anymore.

"Ne, Bya-kun."

Torn out of the thoughts about his current companion who was seated next to him at a porch watching the moon with rapt attention, his brow lifted slightly as he turned to her. She focused her eyes on him and smiled at his unspoken question.

"Do you think anyone would really notice I was gone for a while?"

Kuchiki Byakuya was rarely surprised, but for once he couldn't stop his eyes from widening in astonishment. She usually didn't say mature things. Yachiru simply didn't act her age on purpose. He suspected she wanted everyone to underestimate her for some reason or another. Which was why he was taken aback by her question; even in front of him she was childish and immature, but never actually an adult.

"Now, why would you say such things?" he wentured cautiously.

"See, I slowly grew tired of the charade," the young girl pouted, which was quite a familiar sight upon her features, but for some reason it suddenly felt so very wrong. "It was fun and all, but I want to be treated my age already. But I can't really do that when I look like a ten-year-old girl."

Yachiru took a moment to gather her thoughts, playing with the hem of her shihakushō. A small sigh escaped her lips, her eyes concentrating on the sakura trees overlooking a quiet pond.

"Which means..." Byakuya probed gently.

"Which means I need to go away for a while, to grow into my age. I've accepted a five year quest in the World of the living. I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

The noble nodded after a while of pondering her answer, convinced by her reasoning. She could be quite mature when she truly wanted to be. He appreciated this new side of her. Yachiru wanted to 'grow up', so to say. He higly approved of that notion and he'll support her about her decicion. She deserved every bit of respect, for it will be a hard earned one. Actually going away for so long would let her gain a lot of experience, about a life outside of being a fukutaichō of eleventh squad. In his opinion, she was far too young to be appointed such a position. He didn't doubt her abilities, just the simple fact of her youth.

"Byakushi~"

His eyebrow twitched slightly at the nickname.

"Since this is my last night with you while being a kid, would you honour me the privilege of giving a chase? For the first and the last time?"

Sighing quietly in mock annoyance, he stood up.

"As you wish."

Yachiru stood up as well, reaching as high as she could with her little hand, flicked his nose and grinned up at him with poorly concealed mirth.

"You're it!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and disappeared from view.

Just the swish of his robes in the quiet night announced his departure, the moon being the only witness of his smile.

There you have it. Feed the happy button if you feel like it :D