Title: Origami

Author: Tuliharja

Summary: Folding origami never has been so hard. At least for Ukitake as he tries entertain his Zanpakuto, Sogyo no Kotowari, with his origami skills. But what happens when Byakuya comes for a visit? And it seems the twins haven't been so well behaved. Can Ukitake manage to clean the twins' reputation?

Disclaimer: BLEACH belongs to Tite Kubo. I'm merely just writing fan fiction about it.

Author's note: Thanks for Sunstrom raining betaing this.

Origami

Carefully, the captain of the 13th Division folded the paper in front of him as two pairs of eyes looked upon with wide-eyed excitement. The eyes belonged to his two, small Zanpakuto spirits, who followed every movement of his with careful attentiveness. The movements were elegant and precise; as Ukitake didn't want receive any number of paper cuts while folding the paper.

It was already late afternoon and the sun's rays painted warm colors on the walls around them. The whole atmosphere of the division was quite relaxed and many shinigami were working rather drowsily. That peacefulness, however, had been broken once Ukitake's twin Zanpakuto's had rushed inside, shouting out to their wielder that they were bored. Hence, the reason why the white haired captain was now folding a square piece of paper, trying to amuse his twins and relieve Sogyo no Kotowari of their combined boredom. Ukitake had known that if he hadn't promised to rid the monotony, the entire division would have been in shambles. Even though he loved his twin Zapakuto spirit, he knew that not everybody would be happy about the noisy spirit children.

Lifting a dark eyebrow, Ukitake eyed his 'master piece' with skepticism, as it wasn't really the 'master piece' the white haired captain would've liked it to be. He wasn't really sure anymore what his origami represented but it definitely wasn't a bird. Sweat dropping, he looked into the twin pairs of green eyes which blinked at him from their place on the other side of the low table.

"It seems I've become rusty over the years…" he said slowly in an apologizing tone as he lifted up his deformed paper bird by an askew wing.

The duo in front of him frowned up at their wielder, eyes wide above the level surface of the chabudai, before slamming their small palms to the table. The table let out a small cracking noise, breaking the silence which had landed at Ukitake's office. The white haired captain blinked his eyes, as few dust bits floated up from the table, like it truly would crack into two pieces, before he looked pair of green eyes.

"Again! Again!" they shouted in their childish voices, looking at Ukitake excitedly as he nodded his head before simply saying: "Very well."

The man knew better than to argue with his Zanpakuto as he looked to his side, his eyes landing on top of a wooden closet. Reaching his hand out, he pulled a hidden drawer and pulled new paper from it. Carefully, he placed it in front of him and started folding the square paper. As he proceed to complete this task for the twins, some wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he tried his very best to remember how to fold the paper into the accursed bird. The instructions seemingly buried somewhere deep, deep down in his mind.

An almost frustrated sigh escaped from back of his throat as he finished the folding, just to notice the paper still hadn't taken the shape of bird. Rubbing his temple, he slowly lifted his gaze to look at the twins, who had now lightly pushed their lower lips forward, making them absolutely adorable.

'Oh no…I won't fall for that,' Ukitake thought as he looked at Sogyo no Kotowari, noticing how their looks turned to irrefutable pouting in front of him. The white haired captain let out a sigh, lifting his palms up in the sign of defeat.

"Very well, I'll try once more, okay? But then I have to return to work," he gently told his soul cutting sword's spirits who nodded eagerly at him.

Sighing, Ukitake rubbed the side of his nose in annoyance as he took one more piece from his open drawer and looked the paper. The truth was, he still hadn't any idea how to fold the paper into a bird-shape. It was almost ridiculous! He knew it was one of easiest animals to do, yet he struggled to recall the clues to ensure the fragile paper morphed into the avian shape. Sighing one more time, he looked to the two waiting faces before he looked once more to the unsuspecting paper, gulping in apprehension.

Just as Ukitake was about to fold the first part, his office door was flung open to reveal, to his surprise Senbonzakura. Behind the soul cutting sword's spirit form was his wielder Kuchiki Byakuya. Blinking his eyes slightly in surprise, Ukitake recovered quickly and nodded his head to his former student and the accompanying Zanpakuto spirit.

"Good afternoon Byakuya, Senbonzakura," he greeted with his trademark smile.

The head of Kuchiki clan nodded his head, while his Zanpakuto mimicked his master's actions, only to breathe out a small "ow" sound as Sogyo no Kotowari greeted him with a glomping. The white haired captain managed to hide his light chuckle behind his haori's sleeve as Senbonzakura fell to the floor, tackled by madly giggling twins.

"You two-…!" Senbonzakura started with a frustrated tone as the twins jumped away from him and rushed behind Ukitake, like children do when they upset a neighbor only to run behind their father.

"Uh," Ukitake started as Byakuya shot a meaningful look at his Zanpakuto's spirit to be quiet, before looking back to his old mentor. "What brings you here?"

The head of Kuchiki sat elegantly down, taking the place where Sogyo no Kotowari had just been sitting moments ago, before settling his eyes to Ukitake.

"I've received multiple reports concerning your Zanpakuto spirits, Ukitake," the noble stated coolly, his slate grey eyes looking at Ukitake emotionlessly. The white haired captain sweat dropped at this, looking to his twin Zanpakuto who were staring innocently at him. Sighing, Ukitake put down his origami attempt and asked quietly, "What did they do?"

The Sixth Division's captain coughed lightly, obviously in embarrassment as his Zanpakuto's spirit moved to sit next to him in a perfect zen-position.

Lifting his brow and slightly tilting his head, Ukitake looked at the duo sitting across from his desk, wondering if Senbonzakura was, too, embarrassed under that mask of his. At times it was almost impossibly hard to determine what the samurai-like Zanpakuto thought, just like Byakuya at times. But because Ukitake had centuries ago taught Byakuya, he had somehow managed to read the seemingly emotionless man. Even though, he could still miss the subtle changes: trying to read the changing emotions with Byakuya, needed lot of attentiveness. Because while other people, like his lieutenant, expressed loudly their changing emotions; Byakuya's could just be light coughing. And it seemed his Zanpakuto spirit had adopted this habit.

The small tug of his haori's sleeves brought Ukitake's attention back to the noble man and his spirit. He gave a quick, thankful look to twins at his sides, before settling his gaze into Byakuya.

"They posted drawings," the noble finally managed to say which made the older captain blink his eyes in confusion. "The drawings…weren't as appropriate as they should have been."

Ukitake's eyes widened slightly before looking Sogyo and then Kotowari, as the twins at times used their names separately like this. The 13th Division captain furrowed his eyebrows, not believing his two innocent Zanpakuto spirits could possibly do anything like that! The two were just…too innocent.

Ukitake sighed, rubbing his temple again as he thought the situation through. He had heard a few times already other shinigami wondering about how he, one of the oldest shinigami in the whole of Seireitei, could have children as Zanpakuto. Others wondered if they truly were just devils in disguise. Sure, Ukitake and his fellow shinigami knew that Sogyo no Kotowari liked to play, and at times drove said people nuts by wanting to play with them. But it was never anything bad. They were just children; even though they were technically centuries old. However, the white haired man couldn't help but see them as children as he looked speculatively at them.

The duo just blinked their eyes innocently at him, as Ukitake shifted his look back to Byakuya. He could sense the Sixth Squad's captain's reiatsu was slightly higher than usual, obviously not liking the situation any more than Ukitake himself. But Ukitake knew Byakuya didn't have any other choice than to investigate this issue, because his squad was known for having a high sense of pride. And if there had already been several reports about the issue, it would have only been foolishness to ignore it. But if there was at least one bright side about the whole issue, it was that Byakuya had come himself to Ukitake. Sending some lower ranked shinigami would have been even more awkward than it was at the moment.

Exhaling, the white haired man allowed himself a look outside the window to see how noon was slowly turning into evening. Shaking his head lightly he turned to look at the twins, deciding that now was time to settle this issue once and for all.

"Sogyo no Kotowari…Did you draw disapproving drawings of the Sixth Squad?" Ukitake asked the twins in a stern yet reassuring way, so that they were encouraged to speak the truth.

The two looked at each other and then up to the taller Ukitake, shaking their heads slightly in the negative.

"No, we didn't!" they told him in unison to help their case, blinking their innocent, large eyes at him. Ukitake couldn't help but smile at the duo, their goodness melting his heart. He then looked across the table to the emotionless Kuchiki. He could also notice how the evening seemed to cast Senbonzakura into the shadows, the Zanpakuto unmoving like a statue.

"There's your answer, Byakuya. They didn't do it," Ukitake told the head of the noble family in a stern voice that offered no argument.

The head of the Kuchiki silently shifted his gaze from his old mentor to the Zanpakuto spirits, his cold look turning colder as he all but narrowed his eyes at them. The duo let out a whimper, tugging at Ukitake's haori's sleeves, pleading him to rescue them from Byakuya's silent wrath.

"Byakuya…" Ukitake started softly, not wanting to upset the raven haired man.

"Are you implying Ukitake-taichou, that my division members' reports were incorrect? That your Zanpakuto has not been around my division for the entire day?" Byakuya asked calmly, yet Ukitake could hear the sting in his speech.

Even though Ukitake usually brushed off things like that, acting almost naively when someone tried to upset him by using hidden meanings and stings, he couldn't just ignore this. Byakuya had almost accused his Zanpakuto of lying, which would make him one too! Because after all, the Zanpakuto spirits were the manifestation of the wielder's very soul. But the older man knew better than to start an argument with his fellow captain. He turned back to Sogyo no Kotowari. "Have you two been to the Sixth Division today?"

The twins looked at each other and then to Ukitake's somewhat concerned face, sensing he was becoming stressed out.

"Yes, but we didn't draw!" they exclaimed, rescinding their previous claim and ignoring the dangerous flash in both Byakuya's and Senbonzakura's eyes.

"Chimpette and Snakey stole our chalks!" Sogyo complained as his counterpart, Kotowari, continued on. "That's why we came here."

"We got bored after they took our chalks and started drawing by themselves!" they cried out again in unison.

Blinking his eyes, Ukitake looked amused at the duo before frowning at them.

"But why did they steal it in first place?" he asked puzzled as the twins looked to each other for answers.

"We were searching for a good place to draw when we encountered Chimpette and Snakey," Sogyo started, which made Ukitake smile lightly. Even though they were still children, they still could use big words as 'encountered'.

"They asked what we were up to," Kotowari continued without missing a beat. "And we told them we were searching for a place to draw. Then they wanted us to show our chalks to them…"

"…so they could draw too! So they borrowed them!" Sogyo continued as they both frowned, looking rather sad.

"But when we asked for them back, they told us they couldn't do that," Kotowari continued as Sogyo puffed his cheeks cutely, "because they wanted to show Senbonzakura!"

"That's why, we came here!" they both ended in unison.

The older captain continued to look amused, before gesturing for them to come closer. The twins walked up to their wielder, who then took them both into his arms, smiling to them lightly, his eyes sparkling with pride. The green eyes answered Ukitake's look, as the twins started smiling, knowing their beloved wielder was no longer feeling so stressed out. The trio looked at each other for a while, enjoying the others' company before Ukitake settled his look on Byakuya. The captain had the sense to look down to hide his embarrassment. Because in a way this whole 'mess' was his own fault, due the fact his lieutenant had rivalry between his captain, which made that his Zanpakuto had too.

"It seems, Byakuya, that there has been a misunderstanding. I hope you'll correct this quickly, so Sogyo no Kotowari can continue their drawing," the white haired captain told Byakuya. A slightly disappointed look graced his face as he gazed at his former student, who had come here and accused his Zanpakuto spirits, without any proper investigation before coming with him.

"I'll-," was the only reply from the noble as he stood up and bowed slightly to Ukitake and Sogyo no Kotowari before Senbonzakura did the same and they left. Sighing, Ukitake looked at the twins, stroking their cheeks gently.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Byakuya will soon return your chalks –with a note apologizing," he said to the twins, hoping secretly that his comrade wouldn't go too overboard with the apology gift. Usually the noble didn't apologize to anyone, but instead sent something ridiculously huge as an apology. Ukitake couldn't scold Byakuya for that habit though for, he himself had passed on that habit. But in this case…Sogyo no Kotowari probably wouldn't mind something ridiculous huge as an apology.

"Show us how to make a bird!" two voices suddenly shouted in unison, cutting Ukitake's thoughts off as he looked down to his table where the still untouched paper lay innocently. Sweat dropping, he nodded his head as Sogyo no Kotowari cheered him on, rushing to the table's other side to allow the shinigami the room he required. The other twin, Kotowari quickly rushed up to the switch and turned it on, before returning to his twin. A small, thankful chuckle escaped from Ukitake's lips because of this nice gesture. The shadows at the corners and around the room were already quite heavy, so there wasn't that much light to do such a task as folding origami without getting at least few cuts in the progress.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, the white haired captain started again on the hard task and as he finished, he allowed a smile to cover his lips. He had finally managed to do a bird.

"Can you do a tiger too?"