"What'cha doin', Kisuke?"

Yoruichi rested her chin on Kisuke's shoulder, staring at the project in front of him. Kisuke's reiatsu flared momentarily in surprise, ruining the delicate work he had been doing. She laughed softly and pushed herself up from his shoulders to stand behind him. Kisuke clicked his tongue in irritation and spun to face Yoruichi. He tried to glare at her, but it was difficult. The large magnifying goggles strapped to his head made it hard to focus on anything larger than the size of his fingertips.

"Where... Yoruichi?" Kisuke reached out with his hands to try to find her, and they struck something soft. Oh. Thirty centimeters higher? His eyes focused in on one of her golden irises. "There you are. Well, it WAS going to be a tracking device. Before you made me break it." Kisuke turned to give the tiny apparatus another look. Hmmm... Maybe it's not a total loss.

"A tracking device? What do you need that for? I thought you were working on some sort of map last month that would-"

"The Locat-o-matic? Oh, yeah, I finished that weeks ago. This one isn't for me." Kisuke pushed a button on the side of the headgear, causing the lenses to retract and returning his vision to normal.

Yoruichi stared at him blankly. "I didn't ask you to make me anything, Kisuke."

Kisuke rolled his eyes. "Yes you did. You want an extra one of my zanpakutou-inhibitors to practice with; you want a set of ten of the exploding robot pigeons, 'Because it's so cute to watch Soi Fong jump' I think you said; and you want some of my homemade chocolate-covered cherries. But no, you didn't ask me for a tracking device. There are OTHER people who want things too, sometimes, Yoruichi."

The blank expression didn't waver. "There are?"

"Fine. It's for Byakuya."

A sparkle shone in Yoruichi's eyes. "Byakkies? I haven't seen him in AGES! But why would he want a tracking device?"

"Honestly? I dunno, he didn't tell me. Maybe he just wants it for hollow-hunting. Maybe he wants it so he can find his zanpakutou the next time you decide it'd be fun to 'borrow' it for a while."

Yoruichi had the good grace to blush. "Well, Senbonzakura is really pretty... And he's always hanging out in Soul Society, so he's not allowed to release it anyway. I just thought it'd be fun to play with."

"You just thought, since Soi Fong likes cherry blossoms, she'd like his sword too. Did you at least warn her that they can cut?"

Yoruichi's cheeks grew even redder. She stared at the ground intently, wiggling her feet. "I... kinda forgot that part."

Kisuke laughed in spite of himself. "What did you tell Fourth Division when you brought her in?"

Yoruichi looked up, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Oh, I never took her over to Fourth Division. I can make her feel better all by myself. Anyway, she's cute all wrapped up in bandages."

"Is THAT why she's not with you today," Kisuke asked, his eyebrows lifting.

"Yup!" Yoruichi smiled. "She wanted to come anyway, but I told her 'Good girls stay in bed and get better. Bad girls get punished.' Soi Fong doesn't like it when I punish her. Anyway, Kisuke, I wanted to ask you-"

"For another favor, right? What is it this time?"

Yoruichi stooped down and whispered in Kisuke's ear.

"Ooooh. Now that might be fun!"

"I'm very sorry, sir. Captain Unohana is away on business this week, supervising the comprehensive examinations for the Academy students. There are usually a fair number of injuries, you see, and she thinks it's good to be involved with the process. But you know that, sir. I thought you always went and-"

Kisuke clapped his arm around the young shinigami's shoulders. "Never mind what you thought, boy." His voice came out as a deep rumble, sounding strange to his ears. "Well, if Retsu-chan isn't here, maybe you'd be kind enough to give me and Choujiro a tour?" Kisuke rapped Benihime, altered to look like a gnarled walking staff, on the paving stones for emphasis. Yoruichi hiccoughed, and Kisuke shot her a glare.

"O.. of course, Captain General! Wha... What is it that you want to see?"

Kisuke ruffled the boy's hair. "It's been a while since we visited, hasn't it, Choujiro," Kisuke bellowed. "Why don't we start with the supplies. I know Retsu-chan keeps an efficient shop, but SOMEONE should check up on her from time to time, don't you think? Choujiro?" Yoruichi was about to start giggling again. Kisuke whapped her ankles with the walking staff.

"Hee... Ouh... Yes, of course, Yamamoto-sama. You are wise beyond measure, as always." She gave a stiff bow, clutching her middle. Kisuke was sure she was just trying to hide her laughter from the Fourth Division initiate. It wouldn't do to have him see the First Division vice-captain laughing uncontrollably.

"Well then, boy... What was your name again?"

"Kita... Kitamura, Captain General. Ryou Kitamura."

Kisuke smiled warmly, his eyes closed. That was just how Yama-jii did it, wasn't it? "Okay then, Ryou! Lead the way!" Kisuke slapped the boy on the back, nearly sending him sprawling. Kitamura gave a quick glance over his shoulder, and then began leading the way. Kisuke hobbled after him, hunched down under the enormous captain's cloak draped across his shoulders.

Yoruichi slipped up beside him, leaning down to whisper. "Kisuke, this is awesome! I didn't know you had costumes! And they're so good, too! I can't believe how much I look like Sasakibe!"

Kisuke raised a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "Of course, Choujiro. A captain must be prepared for any opportunity. I, of course, most of all," he boomed. Yama-jii couldn't be seen whispering with his lieutenant - it wasn't the proper image. "I'm surprised you hadn't realized it yourself."

"Right this way, sir," Kitamura squeaked. "Captain Unohana has us keep all the supplies warehoused in the outer court, here."

"Very good, very good." Kisuke's voice was a low buzz. "Now would you mind showing us the insides of one of the repositories?"

"Ye...yes, sir! Of course, sir!" Kitamura led them to the right, to a wide one-story stockroom. It had tall double-doors that Kitamura hurriedly unlocked and pulled open.

Kisuke rapped his walking staff on the ground again, and a spark flared above the grip, coalescing into a ball of pale white light. Kisuke had always liked that trick. Without waiting, he shuffled through the door. Inside, rows and rows of shelves held more medical devices and medicines than Kisuke could imagine. Most of them were duplicates of each other, yes, but even so it was a fearsome collection. Kisuke hurried to one of the shelves that held some sort of complex apparatus, and began fiddling with it.

Yoruichi coughed loudly behind him.

Annoyed, Kisuke rounded on her. "Can't you see this is INTERESTING? What do you want, Yorui... Oh. Oh yes. Ryou? Ryou? Where are you, boy?"

"I... I'm right here, sir. By the door, sir." If Kitamura didn't stop squeaking soon, Kisuke was afraid he might do something untoward, like clubbing him over the head and leaving him here.

"Well, what are you over there for, boy? Come here!" Kisuke used the light on top of the staff to wave Kitamura closer.

"Yamamoto-sama, didn't you want to ask about-"

"Yes, yes, Choujiro. I know. Now, Ryou. Choujiro here has been having some... difficulty lately. He keeps getting injured in his training. But I can't afford to send him over to the fourth division every time he hurts himself. I need him with me. Is there anything you could give me, maybe some sort of DEVICE that would help with healing, say... a very large number of very small cuts?" Kisuke found it hard to keep from laughing. Poor Soi-Fong.

"Oh, and it would be super if it didn't heal everything right away," Yoruichi added. Then, a second later, "'cause... uh... You know, it's good to practice fighting while injured too."

"Yes, Choujiro," Kisuke muttered. "Because I can't imagine any OTHER reason why I'd want to heal slowly."

"Well... I'm not sure we have exactly what you're looking for, Captain General, but..." Kitamura went to a shelf near the back of the aisle and pulled something off of it. "This here is a machine the last captain of the Fourth Division had made. I don't believe Captain Unohana has ever had reason to use it, so I doubt it would be missed. It will heal injuries, and quickly, but it takes all it's strength from the reiatsu of the person being healed. You could think of it as an accelerator for natural healing."

"And why do you think this would be a good choice, Ryou," Kisuke rumbled.

"Well, it takes a lot of energy for the body to heal. So if you speed up that process, it takes even more energy. If... If Lieutenant Sasakibe wants to use it for training... Well, if you tried to practice fighting after healing yourself with this, it would probably be about like training immediately after running a marathon. I've never seen this machine used myself, but I remember we learned about it in lectures. Mostly, whenever it was used to heal, whoever it was used on was so exhausted they could hardly climb out of bed for over a week. "

Yoruichi giggled excitedly.

"Yes, yes, I think that would do nicely, Ryou."