A/N: COMMENTS: Bleach and all characters belong to Tite Kubo, Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine alone. This started out one way and took a different direction. That can happen in fanfictions. The muses make up their own minds.
A message to you.
Each squad had a person who ran special messages. These messages were usually ones that the sender did not want to send by official means. Private or personal messages were sent using the fastest runner in the squad. One that could be trusted to not read or open what was being sent.
Juushiro Ukitake captain of squad thirteen usually depended on his third seat co-holders to do the running for him. And usually it was Kiyone Kotetsu for with her smaller size and eagerness to please her captain made her run swiftly.
Only she was on vacation at the moment as was Sentaro Kotsubaki the other co-holder of the third seat.
"Kuchiki?" Ukitake glanced at his lieutenant, "Could you do me a favor?"
Her eyes widened in surprise, "Of course Taicho, what ever you need."
"I have a personal message to send to Byakuya would you mind taking it to him? At your leisure of course."
"Right away sir." She took the note from him, clutched it tight and left.
She delivered the note to her brother. He nodded his head in thanks and began to read it. "Does he require a written response?"
"No, Taicho said a verbal response will be fine, Nii-sama."
"Very well! Tell him Yes." He lowered his head to return to his paperwork. Rukia stood her ground for a few moments, slightly perplexed. "Was there anything else Lieutenant?"
"Umm.. oh no sorry." she blushed slightly. Bowing formally she turned, give Renji a finger wave as a goodbye and left the office of Squad Six.
Renji Abari; lieutenant of squad six, stretched his arms upward and chuckled, "Looks like Ukitake-taicho decided to give her some busy work."
Byakuya Kuchiki arched an eyebrow at his lieutenant's words. "How so?"
"Well I reckon that she's been overworking herself again and he decided she needed to get out and stretch her legs a bit."
Byakuya frowned slightly, "A Kuchiki neither over works or under works, but does just the proper amount."
Renji rolled his eyes a little. "Well when I've talked to her, she said there were several times with Ukitake-taicho made her go home because she had been in the office too long."
"Are you implying that Rukia is slow in anyway?"
Renji really wanted to slap his own forehead. "No sir. It's just that she takes her responsibilities very seriously and sometimes she tries too hard."
"Ukitake-taicho is just concerned that she's going to burn herself out by trying to take on too much. He's really concerned about all members of his squad. And I think he feels really protective of Rukia in particular."
"I see." Byakuya lowered his head once more to get back to his work, but not before Renji saw the tiniest little smile slip across his face.
Meanwhile; Rukia Kuchiki deep in thought was not really paying attention to her surroundings. She completely missed being addressed until there was a gentle shaking of her shoulders. Looking up she was being watched by Nanao Ise; co-lieutenant of squad one and the captain-commander... who was standing right next to Nanao, smiling softly at her. Rukia stumbled back a few steps. "I...I'm sorry Captain-commander. I didn't see you."
"Never mind the formality Rukia-chan." he crooned at her. "You were obviously lost in thought."
"Yes sir," She bowed several times.
"Where are you off to?"
"Back to my squad, sir."
Shunsui rolled his remaining eye as she continued to be formal. "Well that's good timing, that's where we're going. If you're not in a rush you could walk with us." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand.
"As long as it's not an imposition."
Nanao made a little snorting noise, "Trust me, it's fine. Besides it'll save me from hearing the same old boring stories over and over again."
"Naaanaooooo-chaaaan." Kyoraku whined at her. "I thought you loved my stories."
"Did. Past tense. After the first half dozen times it gets quite tedious." Nanao fidgeted with her glasses as Kyoraku continued to glower at her. "I'm sure Kuchiki-fukutaicho hasn't heard them."
Shunsui's face brightened slightly, "Oh that's right." He was grinning now. "But first... what had you so deep in thought, young lady?"
"Oh just Nii-sama, sometimes he confuses me."
"Ah ha. He's a ... " Shunsui stopped what he was going to say. It wasn't exactly pleasant and he didn't wish to disturb the girl any more than she was already. "Byakuya can be a bit difficult at times."
"Since you offer sir, I have a question." The small group began to move forward. "Are the rumors that I heard about you during your academy days, true?"
"Yep!" He smirked. "Every last one of them."
"Really? Even the bubbles in the fountain?" Rukia was astonished.
"Several times actually. The last time on the day we graduated was the best though." Shunsui winked. "Bubbles combined with various low grade kido spells made for a colorful and explosive celebration."
"You didn't."
"Sure did. I was pretty incorrigible back then." There was another snort of mirth from Nanao. "Most of my pranks have never been copied or beaten to this day."
"What did Ukitake-taicho say about you getting into so much trouble?"
"He mostly laughed."
"Taicho's so nice and understanding."
"Oh he's not all that innocent." The smirk spread across Kyoraku-soutaicho's face. "Don't let that sweet-innocent face fool you. He did a pretty legendary prank too."
"No way."
"He managed to convince the commissary chef that he was a twin, so he got a second full portion of food." He let out loud braying laugh. "he managed to do it for a whole year too."
"Ukitake-taicho did that?" two astonished faces looked in his direction. "I just can't believe it." Rukia said.
"Have you seen that man eat?" Shunsui's hand went up to his chin. "He's like a bottomless pit at times."
"Oh that reminds me," Kyoraku continued. "You have to keep an eye out for when he really begins to shovel food away, that's usually a few days before he has a bad attack. It's like his body is preparing for the duration of bed rest."
"Yes sir, I'll watch out for that."
Soon Rukia realized they weren't really near her squad headquarters, they had wandered into a rougher section of the rukongai. She was mildly confused again. They stopped in front of a modest home. She wondered what they were doing there.
She hurried to catch up as Kyoraku-soutaicho swept through the door with Ise-fukutaicho trailing behind. A moderately dressed woman greeted them and Kyoraku-soutaicho asked how things were and if anything was needed. She responded that they could use more blankets and the rice supply was getting low. Nodding and directing Nanao to take notes, Shunsui flung open a door and floated through.
There were high pitched squeals of joy as he was swarmed by little bodies. Rukia realize now that this was an orphanage. She watched wide eyed as he took several small packets out of his sleeve and began to hand them out to the children. There was another round of excited squealing.
One tiny boy sat alone in a corner, "He's our new one," The matron stated. "He hasn't learned to trust anyone yet."
Shunsui nodded and walked cautiously up to the child. "For later." He spoke softly as he placed a treat bag on the floor in front of the child. Turning he spoke to the matron once more. "Just send a message by the usual means if anything comes up." They nodded and bowed to each other, Rukia belatedly bowed and scurried out the door.
"Sir?"
"You're wondering about that home?" Kyoraku cast a glance to the side.
"Yes."
"A long time ago we decided to set up homes for stray children in some of the districts. I wish we had been able to do that in all the districts, but the shinigami in charge of those areas warned us to not interfere in their areas." The expression on his face grew sad.
"We would have taken in you and your friends if we had been able to."
"It doesn't matter now, sir." Rukia beamed understandingly. "We made it. Not everyone is so lucky. And I have a great life now."
"Good attitude." He reached over and ruffled her hair.
"I'll just head back to the office Taicho," Nanao jabbed him with the tip of her pen to gain his attention. "At least one of us should get some paperwork done today."
"Go home Nanao-chan, you work too hard."
She scoffed at him and turned toward the squad one office.
"Stubborn child." Shunsui shook his head with a chuckle.
When they reached squad thirteen's office they ran into Ukitake who was just leaving. "Oh my... Shunsui?" The pale captain took a few steps back. "I was just about to leave to look for Rukia. I sent her out with a message a while ago and I haven't heard from her."
Rukia stepped out from behind Kyoraku, "I'm sorry Taicho.."
"...That's my fault handsome, I dragged her along on one of my little walks."
"Oh! Well at least you're safe." He gestured to Rukia, "I suppose there's no harm in taking a little walk with a friend."
Rukia blushed but nodded. It was kind of nice to know there were people who worried about her. "Ah Taicho... Nii-sama's response to that note was 'Yes'."
"Goodness I should get going then, I wouldn't want Byakuya to think I was tardy for a meeting I requested."
"Hey wait a sec," Kyoraku started.
"I wish I had known you were coming Kyoraku, but I really need to get this meeting with Byakuya taken care of."
Rukia meanwhile had returned to her desk and began to ink up her brush to work on the pile of papers.
"Don't stay to long tonight, Kuchiki. I don't want to come back to find you've fallen asleep at your desk. You do too much."
"Nonsense Taicho, I have a lot to make up for."
Shunsui looked slightly thunderstruck. "You're really leaving?" he questioned Ukitake. The response he received was a nod and a wave as the long white hair fluttered in retreat. "And you're doing paperwork?" He glanced at Rukia. She nodded and got right to work.
"I have no choice but to go to my office and do work." There was a loud groan as he shunpo'd away. "I hate paperwork."