A/N: So when the pack was down a while back, I had this idea and wrote the Uruhara section, but then Lull was awesome, found us the kits and everyone perked up so I stop writing it. I then realized that it was the perfect piece of utter fluff for you guys and so I finished it as a Birthday fic for SesshomaruFreak and GanymedeLullaby. I'm posting on the 13th because it splits the difference in your BDs. I hope the rest of my awesome packmates like it too (please give them reviews). Special thanks to TheDrunkenWerewolf for letting me use Cherry and for helping with the ending. Please do not look for logical consistency here I didn't even try, just roll with it.

A/N 2: I own nothing, TheDrunkenWerewolf owns Cherry though

Uruhara

"You alright?" Tessai asked a hand on his shoulder.

"As rain! See?" Uruhara replied, raising his foot to show a clog and laughing at his own joke. It sounded a little hysterical even to his own ears and he stopped, forcing himself to keep smiling. Tessai gave him a doubtful look but said nothing. Uruhara trotted off to the roof of his shop. Good old Tessai was like a father to him and like a father it seemed he always saw through the act. Tessai had lost so much to help him and the Visored, just another casualty of his ego.

He'd racked up too many of those in his two centuries of life. He laid his hands on top of the roof-wall and leaned forward, watching the sun set. His smile faltered slightly as tears burned his eyes, it was so beautiful. What right did he have to be there, doing nothing, when so many young Shinigami would never get the chance again, when more were recovering from grievous wounds Yoruichi included? He blinked back the traitorous tears and smiled through the pain. Had to stay positive, had to or he'd drown. It was so damn hard sometimes.

He caught a flash of white to his left and swiped his eyes with a sleeve, horrified that someone had caught his private moment of self-pity, but it was only Cherry. The little fox must have followed his scent, she darted to the far corner and looked at him, yipping as if to say 'watch this!'. She began chasing her tail and after a minute or two he sank down cross-legged to the gravel to watch, exhausted with life in general.

A short while later Cherry caught her tail with a yelp of surprised pain and stopped stock-still. She pulled her head back in surprise, staring at her tail, ears pricked to their fullest as though shocked by the development. Then she growled, ears flattening back, deeply offended…and began chasing in the opposite direction.

Uruhara laughed at her antics and couldn't seem to stop. It wasn't even that funny but he laughed like a drunk, laughed til his eyes watered and tears of mirth—that was his story anyway—streamed down his face.

Tessai went looking for his boss sometime around ten that night and found him sleeping on the roof a smile on his face and the little white fox sleeping with its head on his arm. He felt a weight lift from his own shoulders as he returned to the shop.

Renji

They'd won the winter war. He should have been over the damn moon. He gritted his teeth. It was funny how life always seemed more difficult without something to fight. The week since Aizen's defeat had been a lot of rebuilding, reorganizing and paperwork. He shifted his back into a more comfortable position on the tree he was leaning against.

Byakuya did seem to tolerate him more now and insulted him less which was cool, but his fantasies of respect and close camaraderie had gone out the window. The noble remained as closed off as ever and was, if anything, more contemplative. How that was possible was beyond Renji's understanding, Rukia had told him that the captain was happy they were both safe, but she refused to say anything more on the subject.

In one of those twisted jokes life played, now that he had the status to actually hang out with her, Rukia was accepting more responsibility for an increasingly ill Ukitake-taichou and had little time for socializing. Everything sucked, now that the joy at just being ALIVE had worn off, all the stress, terror, worry and guilt seemed to hit at once. He felt shaky, alone and he was lucky to get this hour of free time before he had to go to bed and do the whole thing again tomorrow. He tore a weed from ground he was sitting on and toyed with it a bit.

He could be spending this time with friends if any of them were free, which he doubted. Somehow though as alone as he felt, the thought of pasting on a smile to laugh, drink and tell war stories like he wasn't having nightmares about that damn castle, made him shy away. The fucking laughable thing was that he'd gotten out of the battle far more intact than most of his comrades, so he had no right to feel this way. Hell he'd spent what little free time he'd had the past week visiting them in the hospital. He should be there now but he just…couldn't. No he didn't want to. He didn't want to see Momo silently staring with her horror filled eyes or Ichigo, still unconscious or Soutaichou who he'd always thought was invincible, now missing his sword hand. How much of pussy did that make him? He couldn't even try to cheer up the wounded? What kind of piece of shit was he?

He swallowed hard and took a shaky breath. Goddamnit, everything was better, everyone'd lived, so why did it suddenly feel like everything was crumbling down to bury him. His chest felt tight and he closed his eyes trying to breathe calmly. True meditation was beyond him, but after a few minutes he had himself back under control.

He still had a half hour or so he should…do a lot of things. He didn't move, wondering idly how Byakuya handled it the way he did. Does he ever feel like this? Maybe not and I'm just a bitch but if not… At least he could talk to his friends. He wouldn't, they were still recovering and he didn't want to lay his petty issues on them but the option made things a little better. He would have offered his captain the same support if he'd been allowed.

That train of thought had just brought him back to his injured friends and just how shallow he was being. The fight was over he had nothing to be scared of, he deserved the guilt, and yet it didn't help. He was still a mess as the feelings he'd put aside for the sake of battle now hit him with interest.

Something struck his arm and he tensed, half striking out before he realized that it was just Cherry's nose nudging him. He lifted his arm and she walked into his lap rising up to put her paws on his chest staring at him with startling intelligence.

"Hey Cherry," he said pushing her down gently. She sat up as though listening. He petted her enjoying the soft fur under his hand. "So how's your day been? Cus mine's been shit," she gave a whine and cocked her head questioningly. She really was a cute animal he smiled and began to recount his day as he petted her. Somehow he wound up talking about everything, including a rant about how much his captain pissed him off, at which she flicked an ear as if to say 'I'm not buying it'. Which led to how pissed he was that his comrades were injured, Which in turn led to pretty much everything else. Cherry thankfully didn't seem bothered by the fact that about halfway through he started sobbing so hard that she couldn't have understood even if she were human. When he gave up trying to talk she laid contentedly on his lap while he petted her and tried to calm down. When he more or less had a grip she put her paws on him again licking his face. He tried to nudge her away but she returned.

"Ugh Cherry stop," he laughed. He stood, wiping fox drool from his face. "Fine, fine," he said and scooping her up, headed back to town. His step and heart far lighter now.

Ken/Yachiru

Kenpachi sat at his desk doing yet another fucking yard of motherfucking paper. On any other day he would have said 'fuck it' and gotten the hell away from his desk. It would be even easier today, old man Yama was in fourth ward like a bitch, the spineless first division lieutenant was no concern of his. The flowery bastard filling in was worthy of some respect, but cared about as much about busywork as Zaraki did and more was likely to swing by for sake than say shit.

He could go drinking with his squad but they'd be expecting blood and hellfire stories about the battles with Too-many-fucking-limbs and Fat-ass. He didn't feel like sugarcoating shit. He'd go if they wanted him to and give them what they expected, but he didn't particularly feel like boasting about a fight that could have killed Yachiru, cracking jokes about a worthy opponent he'd been forced to kill or shitting on a guy he'd shared a fox-hole with. In a week definitely, but not tonight. looking for a fight felt strangely pointless with the ryoka boy still being a potato in fourth ward like a pussy. He could train the squad, but if he participated he'd wind up killing some of them. So he was doing goddamn paperwork because it was pathetically the best distraction he could find.

Yachiru was watching silently. She'd been disturbingly quiet since they returned. Worried about strawberry she'd said and goddamn if he could do anything about that.

"Fuck off and play," he said.

"Kay," Yachiru replied hopping out the window. She sounded so dejected, clearly taking it as a request rather than an offer, that he immediately regretted saying anything.

Half an hour and two pages later he gave up on his shitty attempt at distraction and went looking for Yachiru to correct things. He found her eventually and watched, from the roof he'd paused on. She was crouched on all fours in the alley below, growling at a white fox that was in a similar stance tail wagging. They rushed each other and Yachiru cuffed the fox not putting any force in it. The fox spun with the 'blow' and nipped her leg, letting go as she dove on it. They rolled over, she landed on top and tried to hold it down. Somehow the fox twisted away and bolted. It paused at the end of the alley tail wagging like it was saying 'come and get me' Yachiru let out a shrill laugh as she gave chase. Zaraki watched them wrestle and chase each other for a while a gentle smile on his face. Yachiru was laughing and happy everything was right with his world. Fuck everything else.

Toshiro

Toshiro blinked back tears as he rubbed Momo's hand. He hoped that she was too out of it to notice, though that was the one thing she would- had-never teased him about. That thought alone was almost enough to make him breakdown, and he bowed his head for a moment, composing himself before he swiped a sleeve over his eyes and rose.

"I have to get back to work now Momo. I…I'll be b-back soon," he said. She didn't answer of course, wasn't able to. He wiped his eyes again and took his leave, dragging his exhausted body back to his office, the fourth's chairs didn't seem to be made for sleeping in, as he had done for the last week.

He settled down behind his desk and got to work. Tense, exhausted and itching to be doing anything else. He forced his hand to draw the flowing calligraphy required for formal documents knowing full well how immature he was being. He was never going to reach the pedestal everyone had prepared for him by acting like a little kid. He wasn't going to reach it remaining at the level he was at either, if his failure in the winter war was anything to go by. He would train after he got through the mountain of paperwork before him. He rubbed his eyes, in exhaustion this time and picked up the pen again.

A white streak flashed in front of him and he found himself staring cross-eyed at Cherry standing on the stack of forms, a ball clutched in her mouth as spilled ink pooled around her paws.

"Damn you," he snarled tossing her from his desk and frantically trying to clean the pages before slamming them into the trash as a lost cause. He took more off the stack and turned to find Cherry back on his papers. Hissing in frustration, he took the ball.

"You want me to throw this? is that it?" he asked rhetorically and heaved it as hard as he could through the open window. Cherry shot from his desk jumped onto the cabinet, through the window and was gone. "Good riddance," he said to himself as he sat down to continue trudging through the paperwork.

Of course, he'd spoke too soon, Cherry was back on his desk three minutes later. She panted, her tail wagging as she dropped the soggy ball on his papers again. Okay it was like with Rangiku: just ignore her and she'll go away. Unfortunately Cherry had nothing better to do and he did. On to plan B, maybe he could just tire her out. She was small how long could it take?

Taking her outside he tossed the ball again. It felt good to be in the fresh air. With everything that'd been going on he couldn't remember the last time he'd been outside except for training and battle. Eventually Cherry tired of returning the ball and insisted on tug of war, he sighed and obliged her, not really that bothered. Finally she laid down, rolling over to expose her belly and he knelt to rub it.

"Oh Taichou! It's good to see you smelling the flowers for a change," Rangiku shrilled too-happilly.

He winced, "Cherry was interfering I thought tiring her out was the most efficient option. I'm going back to work in a minute."

Rangiku frowned. "That sucks. I'll see you tomorrow then?" she asked uncertainly.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked the smile falling from his face. Wait why was he smiling?

"It's five. Are you feeling alright?" Rangiku asked. Toshiro stared at her for a moment then looked up at the sky. Damn, it was probably closer to six. It'd been three hours?

"Fine," he replied reflexively and Rangkiku walked on, having already forgotten the exchange. He rubbed Cherry's belly again. "I should get caught up," he said resigned.

Cherry rolled to her feet with a yip, picking up the tug-of-war rope. Toshiro smiled it could wait until tomorrow, he grabbed the rope.

Byakuya

Byakuya sat on the couch in his living room following a particularly volatile monthly clan meeting. He stared at the wall lost in thought, the room was tastefully decorated with wall hangings of trees and birds, landscape paintings of the manor, and a small bonsai tree in the coner to his left. All courtesy of Hisana of course, his own tastes were more Spartan, outside the trappings of his station. With the exception of a single portrait of Hisana, which he'd moved to her shrine, he'd touched nothing and would kill anyone who did, propriety be damned. Shamefully he'd wept the night after he removed it, confirmation that she was really gone, but he couldn't bear it hanging there as a constant reminder. Coward.

He turned his thoughts from the past to less painful subjects. The recent war, he'd almost lost Rukia, how close it'd come still gave him pause, had almost lost Renji too if the after action report was anything to go by. He owed Mayuri now which was just distasteful, but better than having to find a new vice. Speaking of debts the ryoka boy had been stripped of his power. He almost had to respect that. The boy'd made his choice for the greater good, though they'd manipulated him enough to bring his agency in it into question, he was certain that the boy would have made the same choice anyway and hated the subterfuge. He remembered how upset the boy had been when that mask had taken over during their fight, he certainly would have made the right choice. He strove to think about anything else, that fight brought to mind things he really did not want to think about outside of actual meditation.

He sighed in the dark running a hand over his face, exhausted. He heard a noise and immediately snapped his head up expecting assassins even if none had tried in almost three decades. Instead he saw the small, tame fox that was always skulking around, trot across the hard wood floor. How she'd gotten in was beyond him. She pawed at his leg he ignored it until the third time; commitment was worth something. At any rate while it was unclean and unseemly to have an animal on the upholstery there wasn't really a problem if she stayed on his lap. She laid down obediently and he found himself stroking her absently.

He found his thoughts settled with the stroking, like an active meditation. It was good, Companionship without the need to talk. The room remained dark, blessedly silent and yet the warm fur under his hand reminded him that he wasn't alone. There were no judgements, no pathetic, meaningless words of 'absolution' for almost letting the two most important people in his life die. They were the most important, never mind that they both hated him, Rukia if anything more so after what had happened to the Ryoka boy. There was none of that though, just warmth, silence and the dark. He drew a breath and it shook a little with relief. Maybe he shouldn't use 'dog' as insult, it was offensive to actual canines.

"Arigato," he whispered though of course the fox couldn't understand.

It was much later that he realized he had it backwards dogs were dogs they just had their good points.

Ichigo

Ichigo sat on the bench outside the hospital ward, relieved. His friends were gone, he was alone and could finally spot pretending everything was okay. Yay it was true he'd had his fill of war but every time he walked and got tired could feel the all-too-human ache in his legs every time he realized that he was as frail as his companions now, more so really. He hated it.

He saw cherry come up yipping to join him on the bench.

"Go'way," he snarled, very much NOT in the mood. She butted him with her head he shoved her off the bench, instantly hating himself. She was just a fox and it wasn't like Gin'd trained her.

He heard her growl and looked up to see her looking back at him…with his substitute badge in her teeth. Shit. He leaped to his feet.

"Give. Drop?" he tried on the off chance that Gin had given her some training. Certainly Aizen, manipulative bastard that he was, would have made sure…right? "Give!" he tried again authoritatively.

If he didn't know better, he would have sworn she grinned at him as she turned and bolted.

"Get back here you goddamn mutt!" he roared taking off after her and tripping as he tried to flash step.

He was back on his feet running like a madman in seconds, "I'm gonna have your pelt you filthy mutt!" Renji looked up eyes wide with fear as he ran by. He said something but Ichigo didn't hear. After about three miles his legs were on fire, lungs burning as he ran through the forest but, he could see the whelp trotting ahead of him having slowed as well. She stopped and turned as he trotted up on shaking legs.

"You gonna…gasp… give it to… gasp… me now?" he snarled. She growled around the badge. He dove for her and she leaped away. He scrambled up and spit a mouth full of dirt. "You're as sneaky as your bitch master then," he acknowledged. Smiling at the challenge now he had her measure and he was going to get his damn badge. They circled he feinted, she dodged, he grabbed her put she twisted away leaving him with only a few pieces of fur.

They circled again and he backed her towards a tree she edged too far one way and with a lunge he landed on his stomach and grabbed her collar. She was too close to the tree to dodge. She tried to twist away and he gripped tighter. She cocked her head, dropped the badge and he let go. She whipped him in the face with her tail before prancing back the way they'd come. Cheeky bitch, he thought as he picked up the badge and got to his feet. She had spirit though. He returned to the city feeling like himself for the first time since he'd woken up more than a week ago.

Gin -six months earlier

Gin got home from work to see Cherry sitting in front of his house.

"Ah! Che-Che! Was wonderin' where ya'd got to. Ya been fishin fer th' koi 'gain?" he laughed at her wide-eyed 'who me?' look as he picked her up and entered the house. He poured himself a glass of sake, a difficult task with an arm full of fox but he was well practiced, and settled on the couch with Cherry on his lap. He drank as he petted her and heard her sleep sounds before he finished the glass. He chuckled.

"Why're you so tired? I'm th' one tha' works all day lon'." he asked the sleeping fox. He was so glad he'd found her, just her presence made everything seem so much better even if she was as lazy as he was.