Title: The New Competition
Fandom: Bleach
Characters: Rukia, Ukitake, Sentaro and Kiyone. Mentions: Byakuya and Kaien.
Pairing: Ukitake/Rukia and sort of Kiyone/Sentaro
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Sentaro and Kiyone suspect that Captain Ukitake might eventually see that Rukia could become the lieutenant of squad thirteen if she improved her skills. They will not stand for anyone to be closer to their beloved captain other than themselves. They will have to compete against Rukia instead of each other.
Chapter Summary: Sentaro and Kiyone observe Ukitake and Rukia and decide that something is up.
Author notes: This is my first ever Bleach fic so please do give constructive criticism if you have any as I welcome it.

Byakuya had adopted Rukia into his clan, one of the four noble houses of the Soul Society, the Kuchiki clan. Rukia was to be assigned into one of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad's. She was assigned into squad thirteen, as an unseated officer under Captain Jūshirō Ukitake.

Being a respectable man, Ukitake liked to meet all of his new Squad members and then in a few weeks time ask how they were doing. He would do so as individuals and then arrange for time to meet as a squad and talk about the happenings in the Soul Society and to get to know his members and for them to know each other. Ukitake also did this because he knew that his squad members would have to know and understand each other to work better together as a team – they were comrades in the same squad after all. The same processes went for after there was a tragedy. When Kaien Shiba was killed... Rukia was involved and Ukitake understood the bond that she had with Kaien so it was important that he asked her around to see how she was doing some weeks after the incident.

He'd invited her to have some tea with him when his symptoms had supposedly been put at bay, as they had been bad at the time of the incident.

"Captain," Kiyone called while sliding the door open.

Ukitake was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed waiting for some water to boil; he lifted his head to see Kiyone and Sentaro standing in the door way. Kiyone continued with a salute. "Rukia Kuchiki is here to see you, sir!"

Sentaro turned to Kiyone with his hands on his hips and an enraged expression on his face. "Kiyone, we had a rock, paper, scissors match and we agreed that the winner would bring the captain news and messages for the day. I won, so why'd you-"

"You cheated, that's why!" Kiyone turned to Sentaro with her fists raised ready for their usual high tempered arguments over the most stupid of things.

Sentaro, being taller than Kiyone bent down and to raise his fists to Kiyone. Their eyes locked and they stared at each other coldly. "How can you cheat in rock, paper, scissors match?It's not like I can read your mind!"

They both grit their teeth and growled at each other. This was followed by a full on slap fight. "Damn you Sentaro!" Kiyone cried out. "I didn't cheat!" Sentaro yelled.

"That's enough!" Ukitake yelled. He had seen and heard enough; although these sorts of arguments between Kiyone and Sentaro in the name of being the best kiss-ass were amusing, there were those times where Ukitake honestly wished he carried duct tape and rope with him...

Kiyone and Sentaro stopped their slap fight with stupid facial expressions and they turned to face their captain – it was rare that he would raise his voice as such. They stood up straight with one of their hands at their foreheads. "We're terribly sorry sir! We will send quad member Rukia Kuchiki in now, sir!" they said simultaneously.

Rukia entered. She bowed, removing her sword and placing it on the ground in respect. "Captain Ukitake, it is good to see that you are feeling better sir."

"Why thank you, Miss Kuchiki. I hope that you are feeling better now yourself." Ukitake smiled warmly. "Come, sit across from me. I've boiled some water for us to have some tea while we talk and I've even had Kiyone make some of her wonderful short bread."

"It has been a difficult thing to deal with. But I am feeling much better now sir, thank you for inquiring." Rukia said as she sat down.

Kiyone and Sentaro stood at the side of the room. Sentaro, hearing what Ukitake had just said turned to Kiyone. "So you're making sweets from the world of the living for the Captain behind my back! How come I didn't know about this! I can make the best butter snap biscuits in all of Soul Society!"

"Ha! Sentaro, baking is a woman's specialty! And I also thought it would be better to leave it to the professional of the two of us!" Kiyone said. This started yet another fight. They took it outside.

Rukia crossed her legs and sat on the floor across from Ukitake. "Sir, I'd just like to remind you; I know that I come from a noble house, but please, you don't need to give me any special treatment because of it. Treat me like you do the other squad members." Rukia said.

"Oh no, I wasn't treating you special at all. Kaien told me about that and I will respect your wish Rukia; you should already have understanding of that by now. You see, I like to do this to all of my Squad members whoever they are, from whatever background they come from and who have ever been affected as such..." He said with a smile. The smile was not due to what he said as being a good thing, but as a comforting gesture.

"Oh... I see. Thank you, Captain." Rukia said smiling back.

A good hour or so of conversation between Ukitake and Rukia had taken place when Kiyone and Sentaro returned from outside to sit at each side of the door. Sentaro had crumbs all over his uniform, as did Kiyone. They'd decided to keep each other quiet by exchanging their associated specialty baking dishes, for the Captains sake, of course, seeing as the felt bad for causing him to raise his voice.

Ukitake was handing to Rukia a second cup of tea when his tuberculosis began to make him cough and he split the tea all over her. He kept on coughing. "I'm.." he coughed again. "I'm terribly sorry about this Rukia. Kiyone or Sentaro get me something to clean Rukia up with."

"Ah! Captain! No, I can do it myself. It wasn't your fault!" Rukia exclaimed waving her hands around crazily trying to put her message through.

Kiyone and Sentaro were shocked and took in the fuss which Ukitake was making over such a small incident. They stood up and looked at one another. Kiyone beckoned Sentaro to come close. "After this is over, we need to talk." Sentaro nodded and they both rushed off to fetch a damp cloth before the other could.

More soon!