Ukitake was confused, really. Why would Akon want to see him? The yearly checks of the structures of Thirteenth's compound had been conducted a month earlier. Akon had no reason to be here. Besides, Mayuri was oddly protective, over-protective one would say, off his subordinates. Something about trade-secrets or whatever.

And who was the kid that Akon had with him? Then again, Ukitake was not exactly sure whether there really was a kid. Knowing Sentarou and Kiyone, they did have a tendency to exaggerate. But the presence of a kid, that was a scary thought. Because if somehow, that scientist guy had come across a kid, here Ukitake shuddered, then something had to be kind of wrong. He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

Said bad feeling was only further heightened when he sensed a semi-familiar reiatsu outside the door. Well, to tell the truth, it could be Akon, but Ukitake was not really familiar with the guy, outside of the occasional inter-divisional business. As such, it could not possibly be Akon. Damn.

Hang on. The reiatsu had a familiar feel to it. A very familiar feel to it. But still, he couldn't really place it. Hm… This was a rare thing. Very often, Ukitake had very good judgment. Identifying reiatsu was usually as easy as breathing for him. Well, excluding the times when he did have a difficult time breathing due to his condition, but those times did not really count. A slight frown found its way to his face.

"Come in." His voice rang out, and sure enough, the shoji door slid open. Sighing slightly, he turned away from the window to the door. His jaw dropped.

Akon straightened up and swung the giggling boy off his shoulders, placing him on his feet on the floor. Both shuffled nervously under the shocked yet intense gaze of Ukitake-taicho. Now, why did Akon have a feeling that said taicho knew exactly who the kid was? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ukitake taicho was probably old enough to have met the kid when he had been a kid?

Akon's guess was pretty far off. Ukitake had not met Kuchiki Byakuya when he had been little, had had no further contact than when he had visited the man's father when said father had still been a captain. But still, the grey eyes, sharp features and black hair were unmistakably Kuchiki in nature. There was no mistaking the reiatsu either. This was definitely Kuchiki Byakuya.

But dear lord! What on earth had happened to him? For one, Kuchiki Byakuya was about the same height as him on a normal day, and by the gods, he did not smile. Nope, Kuchiki Byakuya did not smile. Ukitake took a closer look at the kid. Hang on… What was the little tyke wearing? Was that… Oh yes. It was. It was the captain's haori. Goodness gracious. Now, exactly what had happened? What in the heck was going on? And what on earth had Mayuri done to him? He said that aloud. Rather loudly.

Or maybe he should not have done that. Little Bya-kun, or at least that's what Ukitake saw in front of him, shrank back slightly in fear, casting a fearful glance down at himself. He immediately softened, bending down to Bya-kun's level. Grinning, he teased, in a tone which was unmistakably, well, teasing.

"Ne, I don't think I see anyone with the name of Mayuri in this room." He paused faux-thoughtfully, every movement exaggerated. He cast his glance around the room, taking in every single detail which he already knew. (Duh. It was his room.) "Do you, Bya-kun?"

The kid stared back at him with widened eyes, before shaking his head. Ukitake beamed. "Then why the unhappy face?" The kid giggled, and Ukitake's smile only grew bigger. Akon wondered how the man managed it. It was probably some taicho thing though, to be able to do stuff that ordinary shinigami were unable to.

"Goody then." The captain reached into those all encompassing sleeves, and pulled out a box of candy. Ripping open the wrapping, he held out a piece of the candy. "Candy, Bya-kun?" Akon was a little worried when Bya-kun (Oh dear god… When had he started thinking of the intimidating taicho as Bya-kun? Akon's brain winced. Yes, that was possible.) shook his head, eyes drooping like a puppy.

"Hm? You don't eat candy?" Ukitake blinked, before settling with mock-spluttering. "B-b-but… It's candy!" Here he waved the piece of candy around in the air. "Candy is the foundation upon which civilization is constructed! It is the one essential thing in every shinigami's life! Don't you want to be a shinigami, Bya-kun?"

Okay. That was definitely a lie. Akon knew that. But it seemed… His head turned from Ukitake-taicho to Bya-kun. The kid merely looked back at Ukitake-taicho with a semi-mournful look in his eyes.

"I'm not allowed to eat candy. Otou-sama will be angry if I do." He chewed his lip nervously, determinedly not looking at the box of candy or the piece of candy just inches from his nose.

"But your otou-sama isn't here, is he?" Ukitake made another show of looking around the room. The things he did for others, really. (Of course, he was not about to admit that it was ingrained in his personality to be nice to people. And it helped that little Bya-kun was adorable. Very adorable, especially when compared to his adult form.) Seeing as Bya-kun did not seem to believe him, he nodded as convincingly as he could. Gesturing around him, he continued. "See? Your otou-sama isn't here. He won't know. Besides, a little candy is good for you. It makes you happy."

"Otou-sama knows everything." He shot back indignantly, eyes flashing and daring Ukitake to say otherwise. Gee. Ukitake would have burst out laughing at the extremely cute image of Kuchiki Byakuya staring indignantly back at him. As it was, he contented himself with a slight smile.

"Well then, we can say it's Ukitake-taicho's fault then." Ukitake pointed to himself as he leant forward, taking the opportunity now that Bya-kun's mouth was slightly open in surprise. Quick fingers pushed the candy into said mouth, and a hand shut his jaw gently. "There. Wasn't too difficult, no?" He beamed and popped an identical candy into his mouth. These were his favorites, melting in the mouth to release flavors depending on what type of candy it was.

Ooh. Blueberry. Byakuya's face dissolved into a happy grin as he sucked on the candy. It wouldn't be too bad if otou-san knew about it. This captain was a nice person. He clambered awkwardly onto the chabudai, barely missing upturning the dish of sweets, quickly yanked out of reach, before hopping happily towards Ukitake, hugging the taicho around the waist.

When he recovered from the shock that he had just 'force-fed' Kuchiki Byakuya some sweets, and said person was now hugging him around the waist, Ukitake beamed at the happy little kid. Gee. Now, why couldn't every day be like that? Ruffling the now messy black hair, Ukitake gently pried the limpet-like former taicho off him, placing him on the chabudai itself, and looking him up and down with a critical eye.

"We're going to need to get some new clothes for you, Bya-kun." Yup. There was no way he could let the kid go out there awkwardly wrapped up like a dumpling in a captain's haori. For one, the haori was too big for him. Secondly, he looked like some death row prisoner, being wrapped in all white. (The designs on the hem, as well as the large character on the back (or where the back normally was) were not visible.) This would not do.

Byakuya blinked back at the friendly person. "New clothes? What will otou-sama say when I…" He looked down at himself. "Oh." He paused, confused, index finger creeping to his lower lip as he thought. "Do you think we can find the clothes I was wearing before this, Ukitake-sama? I think otou-sama will be angry if I lost the clothes. He says that they are expensive and should not be dirtied or lost but that's very difficult to do."

"Hm… I think that might be a little difficult, ne, Bya-kun, since we don't really know where you were before this." He surreptiously signaled to Akon to hide behind a vase. Why he did that, Akon was not sure, but he ducked and hid anyway. Time to leave the room. Kurotsuchi-taicho was probably looking for him. And besides, it was not as if Bya-kun was going to disappear soon, so there would be other times to see the kid. He slowly crept away.

"Eh? Where did Akon-san go? Oh dear then. I guess we can just blame the losing of the clothes on me then. I think that'll be fine. And don't call me Ukitake-sama, Bya-kun. Just Ukitake-san will do." He winked, both at Byakuya and the leaving Akon, who gave a slight wave back.

Ukitake gave Byakuya a moment or two to ponder about it, and was pleased when the small smile reappeared on his face, accompanied by a quick nod. "Okay then. We'll be off, no?" He reached over and picked the grinning kid up, swinging him onto his shoulders, sliding the shoji door open and leaving the room. Every bounce in his step brought giggles, and Ukitake decided that paperwork could wait for next day.

Besides, the looks on Kiyone and Sentarou's faces were absolutely priceless.

--

I apologize for the delay in the chapters. RL has been busy, and will continue to be busy for the next month or so. I will try to update as often as I can, but there can be no guarantees. Do bear with me in the meantime.

Cheers,
Tanequil