i apologize for the fluff and for the shortness
Isshin looked at Byakuya as Ichigo and Rukia walked in with him in between the two of them.
"Is there something I should know?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"It's Byakuya, Dad." Ichigo growled. "Something happened to him and now he looks like this."
"He's awfully cute." He said, bending in front of Byakuya. "Can you say Isshin?"
"Isthin…" he said softly, unsure about this man.
Isshin grabbed him up and hugged him, swinging about.
"Oh he's so adorable! He's just like you when you were little and cute and not acting like a know it all. Daw…" he said, rubbing his cheek against Byakuya's.
Byakuya cried out and reached for Ichigo, who plucked the poor child from his father's grip.
"Dad, come on. You're scaring the hell out of him. He can hardly remember himself, let alone withstand you. Be glad he is a kid or you'd be sprawled out and probably stabbed with a million shards of steel if he'd been his normal self."
"But he's not. He's a little adorable thing."
"I'm going to get him away from you, you freak." Ichigo growled, taking Byakuya to his room.
"Itsugo, dat man hurt my cheek." Byakuya said, touching his cheek. "He had pwickwy fings on it."
"That's called a beard."
"How come you don have one?"
"Because I look silly with a beard." He said, going to his closet to see if he could find something to put Byakuya in besides his own clothes.
Rukia entered his room and Byakuya pointed to his cheek again.
"Nee-chan, wook what dat man did! My cheek is itchy!"
Rukia tried to contain herself but couldn't and grabbed her brother up, hugging him to her tightly.
"Itsugo!"
"What is with you people?!" Ichigo growled, grabbing Byakuya back and held him normally. "I swear, you'd think he was a teddy bear or something. You do realize that if he grows back up and he finds out that you all did this to him, he will destroy you guys."
"But right now he's a cute little kid that has no defenses against his big sister." Rukia said with a smirk.
"I think that's why he likes me better anyway, because I treat him like a person… Now, I need to get him some clothes."
"Oh, I got some for him. Lieutenant Yachiru told me where she got hers." She walked over and held out her hands. "Come on, Byakuya, I promise to be civil."
"What's dat?"
"She won't glomp you like a weirdo."
Byakuya trusted Ichigo and let Rukia take him and stand him on the bed. She took off Ichigo's kosode and held out a small pair of undergarments, looking straight into Byakuya's face.
"Put your legs in the holes and then we'll put you in a nice shihakusho."
Byakuya did as told, holding onto Rukia's shoulders to stick his legs in and then Rukia began to put the shihakusho on him. The last touch was to put his little sandals on and Rukia turned to Ichigo.
"Aren't these adorable? I didn't even know these came in this size!" she said to Ichigo.
"They had to have since you and Yachiru wear sandals."
"Are you indicating that my feet are abnormally small?" she growled, putting the sandals on Byakuya.
"Not just your feet." Ichigo mumbled.
Rukia finished tying the sandals and then punched Ichigo square in the stomach, making him double over. She left the room and Byakuya ran to him.
"Itsugo, are you okay?"
"I'm fine… Just remember not to provoke your sister." He stood up, rubbing his stomach where she had hit him and held out his hand to Byakuya. "Come on, let's go."
Byakuya took his hand and walked out with Ichigo.
As Ichigo walked, Byakuya let go of his hand and began to walk behind him, jumping into Ichigo's footprints. At one point he tripped and fell and when he got back up, Ichigo was gone.
"Itsugo? Itsugo!"
He suddenly seemed so alone and afraid, like he was when he woke up in all those clothes and the men fighting with shiny sticks. He was so scared now. Why would Ichigo leave him? Did he make him mad? He tried not to cry but feeling so lonely made him begin to cry and he put his hands over his eyes to try and stop.
"Is this a friend of yours?" he heard a booming voice say over him.
Byakuya looked up and saw Captain Kenpachi looking down at him with a curious stare. Yachiru popped out from behind Kenpachi's shoulder, scaring Byakuya, and she turned her head.
"No, Ken-chan, that's not my friend… He looks lost though."
Byakuya just stared at Zaraki as he bent down to Byakuya's level.
"Why you crying? Men don't cry."
"I- I lost Itsugo."
"Ichigo, huh?" Zaraki looked down and saw the footprints leading from where he had found Byakuya. "I don't think Ichigo is that idiotic to leave a kid near my squad."
"Come on, Ken-chan, let's take him back to Ichigo." Yachiru said, pulling on Zaraki's hair.
"Nah, I think I'll just take him."
"Like hell!" Ichigo growled, coming from around the corner. "There you are, I was looking everywhere for you."
"Itsugo!" Byakuya yelled, running to him.
"What did you do to him, Kenpachi?"
"Nothing."
"He was sad and we heard him crying!" Yachiru offered.
"Itsugo, you weft me."
"I'm sorry, Byakuya. I got lost in thought and started doing shunpo and lost you. I should have been looking out for you."
"Can I be on your shoulder's like dat?" he asked, pointing to Zaraki.
"Ah, well, I'm not even sure how they do it, but I can put you on my shoulders a different way."
He held Byakuya out and then twisted him so that he rested on his shoulders. Byakuya looked around at the higher ground and held onto Ichigo's neck.
"I'm fwying!" he laughed, holding up his hands.
Ichigo smiled a little as he walked along with Byakuya making airplane noises above his head.
~*~ELSEWHERE~*~
"Well, that was a weird development."
"What is?"
"See for yourself…"
The man handed the binoculars to the other man and he looked through them, watching Ichigo carry Byakuya around. He frowned.
"How the hell did that happen?" he grumbled.
"Beats me… but, we got the sword out of the way."
"Yeah, but he still has power. We didn't destroy Senbonzakura, just broke it. If it starts getting repaired, whatever we did to him will be reversed. We have to make a move before that happens."
"Let's go tell the boss."
"Yeah."
uh oh it looks like we have a couple of fiends here. who are they and why would they need byabya out of the way? and baby byakuya makes me feel like hearts are flying out of my head. as we can see, he's so cute that even zaraki couldn't resist him. although byakuya has a thing about people with high spiritual pressures... anyhow, that should be enough cuddling for now and get down to business *nod*
