Disclaimer- I do not own bleach

A/N- Shiro's up to his old tricks again and this time Renji is his unwitting victim. Hope you enjoy. Please review and let me know how I'm doing.

Chapter Seven- Hide and Seek with Uncle Renji

Ever since Head Captain Ukitake had turned Squad Five into a living world liason squad he'd required the entire squad to return to the Seireitei once a year for a group meeting. This meant that every member of Squad Five had to travel to Soul Society and it also meant that Rukia once again needed to find a baby-sitter for her small son.

Unable to find anyone suitable in the world of the living Ichigo and Rukia were forced to bring the child with them to Soul Society. Now they were frantically trying to find someone to watch him so that they could attend the meeting with the Head Captain, which was scheduled to begin in less than fifteen minutes.

"I have an idea," Rukia said suddenly, scooping her young son up into her arms. "Ichigo, you go ahead to the Head Captain's office. I'll be there in a few."

Without another word to her fiance Rukia turned and rushed off, leaving Ichigo to stare at her retreating back in utter confusion. Knowing that she didn't have any time to lose Rukia jogged across the Seireitei to the Squad Nine barracks. When she arrived Rukia quickly made her way down the hall to the captain's office and banged loudly on the door.

"What do you want?" a gruff voice called out from within.

Smirking at the familiar hostile tone of her best friend Rukia slid the door open and stepped inside the office.

Renji glanced up to see who it was who'd interrupted his work and the Squad Nine Captain's features softened when he saw who his visitors were. "Hey Rukia. What brings you here?"

"I need a favor Renji," Rukia replied as she placed Shiro down on the floor. "And I don't have time for an arguement."

Renji eyed the small, white-haired boy who was standing in front of Rukia, a wary look in his eyes. He knew exactly what the favor she needed was and he also knew that he wasn't qualified for the job "But Rukia. . . I don't know anything about watching kids."

"It isn't rocket science Renji," Rukia told him, unwilling to allow him to use that as an excuse. "All you have to do is play with him for a couple of hours so I can go to my meeting."

Renji still looked uncertain. "I don't know. . ."

"I didn't want to do this but he leaves me no choice," Rukia thought to herself then turned a smug look toward her best friend. "Ichigo does it all the time. Are you telling me that he can do something that you can't?"

"I. . . uh. . ." Renji stammered before he narrowed his eyes. "Of course not! I'll watch the kid, you go to your meeting."

"Thanks Renji," Rukia said with a smile. She placed her hand on top of her son's soft hair. "Shiro you stay here with Uncle Renji and be good okay? Mom'll be back in a couple of hours."

Shiro nodded and watched as his mother turned and left the office.

Renji also watched as Rukia left the office and then his gaze shifted to the little boy, waiting. Shiro was no longer the timid little boy that he'd been when Ichigo and Rukia had first taken him in. Now he was a little bundle of energy and it was only a matter of time before that energy erupted.

"Uncle Renji! Uncle Renji!" the child exclaimed as he bounded across the room. "Let's play a game!"

"Here we go," Renji thought to himself as Shiro climbed on top of his desk and caused a stack of paperwork to topple to the ground.

"Oops," Shiro said as his gaze shifted from the scattered papers to Renji, looking slightly guilty.

Renji sighed, deciding to leave the papers where they were since it would most likely be a waste of time to pick them up. "It's okay Shiro. It was an accident but you can't climb on my desk. You could get hurt and then your mom would kill me."

This said Renji picked the little boy up and placed him back on the floor. "How about we play the quiet game?" he suggested in a hopeful tone.

Shiro's little brow furrowed as he thought about this suggestion for a few minutes, gazing up at Renji, and then he shook his head. "No. That sounds boring."

"Somehow I knew you'd say that," Renji said with another sigh. "So what game would you like to play?"

Shiro held a thoughtful look for a few minutes and then replied, "Let's play hide and seek!"

"If we must," Renji said. "But not in the office. We'll have to go outside for this game."

Shiro fixed the Squad Nine Captain with a 'duh' look and said, "We need more people."

"Of course we do," Renji muttered, smacking himself in the forehead. "How could I be so stupid?"

Shiro shrugged and opened his mouth however Renji quickly pointed his index finger at the child in warning. "Do NOT answer that."

Shiro immediately closed his mouth.

"Come on Shiro," Renji said, offering the little boy his hand. "Let's see who else we can talk into playing this game."

Shiro smiled and grasped the hand that Renji was holding out to him. With the child's small hand clutched in his own, larger one Renji led the way out of the office and down the hall of the barracks. On their way down the hall Renji and Shiro ran into Renji's vice-captain, Chojiro Hanari.

"What a stroke of luck," Renji thought to himself as his uptight vice-captain came to a stop in front of him and bowed. "Hanari what are you doing?"

The confused vice-captain held up a stack of papers. "I was just on my way to your office to deliver these sir."

Renji waved off the paperwork that his vice-captain held out to him. "That can wait. I have something else for you to do. Put those papers back in your office and then meet me out in the courtyard in about fifteen minutes. Dismissed."

And without waiting for any reply from his shocked vice-captain Renji continued on his way down the hall.

"What in the world was that all about?" Hanari thought to himself as he turned and watched his captain and the small child walk away. The man shrugged. He'd find out soon enough what his captain had in store for him.

Renji led his young charge down the hall to an inside training facility, where they found several members of Squad Nine sparring. All eyes turned toward the sound of the opening door and as soon as they saw who the new arrival was they all jumped to attention. "Captain!"

Renji waved off their respectful stances, which he didn't think he'd ever get used to. "Calm down." Then he turned and gazed down at the little boy who was standing beside him. "Go ahead and tell them what you want Toushirou."

Shiro gazed over at the group of Shinigami and smiled. "Come play hide and seek with me and Uncle Renji!"

"Uncle Renji?" Squad Nine third seat, Daisuke Satake, said in a confused tone.

"It's a long story," Renji said with a sigh. "Anyway come on. You've all been chosen to play a game with little Shiro here so let's go."

The Squad Nine members all hesitated. None of them showed the slightest bit of enthusiasm at the prospect of playing a game with the small child who stood in front of their captain. They all had other things they needed to do and even if they didn't they wouldn't want to engage in such childish behavior.

Seeing the looks on the faces of his subordinates and aware of exactly what they were thinking, since he'd had the same thoughts earlier, Renji fixed his subordinates with a piercing gaze and placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "You all know who this is right?"

"Captain Kurosaki's kid," one of them said, after a moment's hesitation in which he contemplated whether or not it was a trick question.

"That's right," Renji said with a smirk, about to unleash his secret weapon on his unwitting subordinates. "So which of you wants to explain to Ichigo why you felt the need to make his kid cry by refusing to play a simple game?"

There was a collective groan and then the group slowly made their way toward the door.

"That's what I thought," Renji muttered before calling out, "Meet out in the courtyard." Then he turned his attention back to the child. "Come on Shiro, I think we have enough people to play now."

Shiro nodded and followed Renji out of the training room, down the hall and out into the courtyard where the Squad Nine members were all assembled. "All right," Renji called out, instantly gaining the attention of his squad members. "So who's going to be it?"

"You are Uncle Renji," Shiro said.

Renji groaned under his breath. He'd really been hoping that someone else could play that role however apparently Shiro had other ideas. "Fine."

"Close your eyes and count to one hundred Uncle Renji," Shiro ordered. "And we'll all go and hide."

Renji rolled his eyes at the absurdity of being ordered around by a three year old however he none the less placed his hands over his eyes and began to slowly count. "One. . . Two. . ."

Shiro immediately dashed off to hide however the members of Squad Nine felt the need to whine about the situation. Renji uncovered his eyes and glared at them. If he had to play this childish game then dammit they did too, whether they wanted to or not. "You WILL go and hide or believe me Ichigo's wrath will be the least of your worries."

A light breeze was stirred up by the simultaneous flash-steps of his subordinates, which caused Renji to smirk.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Renji muttered darkly as he continued with his counting. When he reached one hundred Renji uncovered his eyes and gazed around. There was no one in sight however Renji smirked and quickly searched for their reiatsu. It only took him about fifteen minutes to locate the members of his squad however he found himself unable to trace the reiatsu of the small boy whom he was supposed to be watching.

"Damn!" Renji swore as he surveyed his surroundings for any sign of the child. "Didn't think about that before I agreed to play this stupid game."

Growling low in his throat Renji turned to face his subordinates, who had all fallen into step behind their captain once they'd been found. "We have to find that kid before something bad happens to him."

"But sir," Squad Nine sixth seat, Haruki Takei, said with a smirk. "You're it. You're supposed to find him. Didn't Shiro explain to you how this game works?"

Resisting the urge to blast his smart ass subordinate with the kidou that he'd never learned to fully control Renji narrowed his eyes at the group. "I forfeit. Now help me find the kid."

The group of Shinigami immediately realized that their captain was in no mood for their usual friendly teasing and they all jumped to attention. "Yes sir."

"We'll split up and search the Seireitei," Renji ordered. "He can't have gone too far."

His subordinates all nodded and the group split up to begin their search for the white haired child.


An hour passed by and still there was no sign of Shiro which caused Renji to become slightly frantic. "I can't believe I lost him," he thought to himself as he walked across the Seireitei. "Rukia's going to kill me."

"What's going on Renji?" a new voice called out, jarring Renji from his thoughts. "You look stressed."

Renji turned and saw the Squad Ten Captain walked toward him. "You could say that Matsumoto. Rukia asked me to watch Shiro for a little while and I've managed to lose him. And if I don't find him soon then I'm a dead man."

Matsumoto's eyes softened in sympathy. "How'd you lose him?"

"He wanted to play a game," Renji began to explain.

"Hide and seek," Matsumoto supplied before he'd finished his explaination, a knowing look in her eyes. "He tried to get me to play that game last week and Momo the week before that. I can't believe you actually agreed to it."

"What was I supposed to do?" Renji asked angrily.

"You should have suggested another game," Matsumoto said, the tone of her voice telling him that the answer she was giving him should have been obvious to anyone with half a brain. "Or else simply told him no. You are the adult after all."

"Easy for you to say," Renji grumbled before he turned pleading eyes to her. "Could you please help me look for him Matsumoto?"

"Well," Matsumoto said, drawing out the word and enjoying watching the man squirm. "I was going to go work on my paperwork but I guess that can wait. Sure, I'll help you look for him."

"Thanks," Renji said, resisting the urge to yell at her for adding to his torment.


Head Captain Ukitake had just dismissed the members of Squad Five and Rukia immediately turned to her fiance. "Could you go and get our son please? I have a few more things I need to discuss with the Head Captain but I promised that I'd only be gone for a couple of hours and it's already been longer than that."

"Sure," Ichigo said with a shrug. "So who did you con into watching him?" Ichigo knew that there were a limited number of people in the Seireitei who were willing to take that particular job at this point.

"Renji has him," Rukia replied.

Ichigo nodded, a feeling of doom descending upon him. With a sigh he turned and left the Squad One barracks, grumbling under his breath as he went. "I can't believe she left him with Renji. Renji. What the hell was she thinking?"

Ichigo made his way to the Squad Nine barracks but when he slid the office door open, without even bothering to knock, he found the room desserted. "Why am I not surprised?" Ichigo groaned as he turned and left the office, not even bothering to close the door behind him. Once he was back out in the courtyard Ichigo attempted to track down the Squad Nine Captain by focusing in on his reiatsu unfortunately it was a wasted effort.

"Why the hell didn't I ever learn to track them by their reiatsu?" Ichigo growled, angered by this difficiency even though he'd always had it.

"Ichigo," a soft voice called out, causing the Squad Five Captain to jump in surprise. "Are you okay?"

Recovering from his surprise, Ichigo turned toward the sound of the voice and watched as Hinamori walked toward him. "Hey Momo. Yea I'm fine. Listen have you seen Renji around anywhere?"

Hinamori shook her head. "I've been in class all day. Why do you need him?"

"He's watching my kid," Ichigo replied. "And I feel the need to retrieve him before something bad happens."

"Well I don't know where he is," Hinamori said. "But I can track him down for you." This said Hinamori searched the Seireitei for signs of Renji's reiatsu and in a matter of minutes she knew exactly where he was. "Found him. Come on Ichigo and I'll take you to him."

"Thanks," Ichigo said, falling into step behind her.


"This isn't working," Renji said in a frustrated voice as he and Matsumoto wandered around the Seireitei insearch of Shiro. "Matsumoto are you sure you can't trace his reiatsu?"

"No. I've told you ten times already that Shiro's reiatsu pattern isn't constant. Believe me if I could trace it we would have found him already. This isn't exactly fun you know."

"I'm sorry Matsumoto," Renji apologized.

Matsumoto shrugged off his apology. "Let's just focus on finding Toushirou."

Renji nodded.

"Oi Renji!"

Renji froze in horror at the sound of the one voice in the world that he would know anywhere. "Shit!" Renji turned slowly and watched as Ichigo and Hinamori walked over to the spot where he and Matsumoto stood frozen in their tracks.

Ichigo's gaze swept around the area as he walked toward Renji and then he focused a narrow-eyed gaze on the Squad Nine Captain, who looked extremely nervous. "Where's my kid Renji?"

"Um. . . Uh. . ." Renji stammered. "We were playing hide and seek and. . . um. . . apparently Shiro's really good at it."

"YOU LOST HIM?!"

"Not lost," Renji said quickly, averting his gaze from the furious Squad Five Captain. "Just temporarily misplaced."

Ichigo's hands clenched into fists. "I can't believe you. . ." His words were interrupted by Matsumoto who held up her hand and effectively broke up the fight before it had a chance to begin. "Now Ichigo, how many times have YOU lost him?"

Ichigo looked sheepish and chose not to answer the question. His hands relaxed and he sighed. "Okay, no fighting. Let's just find Toushirou."

At this suggestion the panicked look returned to Renji's eyes. "We've looked all over the Seireitei. I don't know where he could possibly be."

"Renji," Hinamori said softly. "You said that you and Shiro-chan were playing hide and seek. Did you set up any guidelines or boudaries for this game?"

"Do I look stupid to you Momo, of course I. . ." Renji paused at this point as he recalled exactly what he'd said to the kid. "I said we couldn't play in the office. . . that we had to go outside," he finished lamely.

Hinamori nodded, having suspected something like this. "I don't think Shiro-chan's inside the Seireitei anymore."

Renji's face paled.

"How the hell are we going to find him if he went out into the Rukongai?" Ichigo asked, his voice filled with concern, surveying the group.

"Well," Hinamori said softly. "It's a long shot but I know a place we can look. Come on."

Grateful for any help that she could offer Ichigo, Renji and Matsumoto all fell into step behind Hinamori, who quickly led them out of the Seireitei and into District One of the Rukongai. Once they were outside of the Seireitei Hinamori led the group through a thick grove of trees, down a slightly over grown path.

The group walked in silence for awhile, each lost in their own thoughts. Then they noticed that the trees were beginning to thin. A few minutes later they stepped into a clearing, where a slow moving river was flowing. And standing on the bank of the river, staring off into the distance, was a certain white-haired little boy. Apparently Shiro had lost interest in hiding since he was standing out in plain sight, staring at the river.

"Toushirou!" Ichigo and Renji both called out at the same time, relieved that the child was safe and unharmed.

Shiro turned around and stared at the group of adults who were walking toward him, his eyes wide and his gaze accusing. "Uncle Renji," he said, pouting slightly. "You cheated!"

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at this statement from his son however he knew that he had to address the fact that the child had left the Seireitei without supervision or permission. He walked over to the spot where Shiro stood and knelt down in front of his son, placing his hands on the young boy's shoulders and gazing into his blue-green eyes, a serious expression on his face. "Toushirou. . ."

Shiro glanced up at his dad, slightly nervous about the fact that Ichigo was calling him by his full name. That was never a good sign and the young boy knew it. "Yea Dad?"

Ichigo could tell that the child was nervous and he quickly sought to releave the tension. "Don't worry Shiro, you're not in trouble. This time. But you're not allowed to leave the Seireitei without an adult. You could have been hurt or gotten lost so don't do it again okay?."

Shiro nodded. "Okay Dad."

While Ichigo was having this discussion with his son Matsumoto turned to face Hinamori, a slightly impressed look on her face. "You led us right to him Momo. What made you think of this place?"

A sad look appeared in Hinamori's chocolate colored eyes as she stared toward the river. "This is where Toushirou used to come whenever he was mad at me. It never failed, everytime he and I had a fight he would disappear and this is where I would find him. When I heard that Shiro-chan was missing I knew it was a long shot but I thought that it would be worth looking into."

"I see," Matsumoto said, feeling a sense of pity for the younger woman. She'd just been reminded of her best friend and that was a touchy subject for her. "I'm sorry Momo."

Hinamori shook her head. It was painful for her to think about Hitsugaya however she knew that Matsumoto had also been devastated by his loss and somehow it comforted Hinamori to speak of him with his former vice-captain, who'd known him better than anyone except maybe for her. "It's okay Rangiku, really. It's easier to talk about him now."

Matsumoto nodded.

Ichigo lifted his small son into his arms and then walked over to stand beside Hinamori. He gazed down at the small woman, a look of genuine gratitude in his brown eyes, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for finding him Momo."

"You're welcome," Hinamori said softly, gazing at the small child that he held in his arms with the same sad look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Shiro said softly, seeing the unshed tears that were glistening in Hinamori's eyes, and misunderstanding the reasons behind them. "I didn't mean to make you sad Auntie Momo."

Hinamori quickly banished the grief from her eyes, not wishing to cause Shiro any distress, and she smiled at the little boy and ran a hand through his white hair. "You didn't make me sad baby. I'm just glad that we found you and that you were safe. That's all."

"Well," Ichigo said, turning to face Renji, whose face still held a look of utmost relief. "We should probably head back to the Seireitei and tell Rukia what happened. If I don't return with Shiro soon she'll send out a search party which, in case you didn't already know, would be B-A-D."

Renji's face paled. "Why do we have to tell her what happened? We found Shiro and he's safe and unhurt so can't we just pretend that none of this ever happened?"

"Afraid not," Ichigo said, shaking his head. "Think about it Renji. With the amount of people who were involved in the search for Shiro you know as well as I do that eventually Rukia will hear about it. And do you really want to face her wrath if she finds out about it from someone else?"

Renji shivered involuntarily as a mental picture assaulted his mind. He quickly shook his head, in an attempt to rid himself of the disturbing image. "No I guess not. This really sucks."

"Come on," Matsumoto said, placing a comforting hand on Renji's shoulder. "I promise we won't let Rukia kill you."

"Yea," Hinamori said offering her friend a smile. "I don't get why you're so worried. Just look at how many times Ichigo's lost him and he's still alive. I think your offense was fairly minor compared to that."

"Hey!" Ichigo said, turning to face Hinamori and scowling.

"It's the truth and you know it Ichigo," Matsumoto said, coming to Hinamori's defense.

Ichigo growled low in his throat however he chose not to further pursue the matter. Instead he closed his mouth and led the way back toward the Seireitei. Now that his son was safe in his arms Ichigo felt the tension from earlier disappear and he walked with a much lighter step. Renji on the other hand was still a bundle of raw nerves, looking as though he was being led to his execution, and he gazed over at his former rival.

"How is it that you're in such a good mood?" he inquired, his gaze narrowed.

Ichigo turned and gazed over his shoulder at Renji, a grin on his face, as he replied, "Because, for once, I'm not the one in trouble."

"Don't get used to it Ichi," Matsumoto said.

"Oh shut up," Ichigo snapped at the Squad Ten Captain.

"And he's back to being the grouchy Ichigo that we all know and love," Hinamori said with a smile.

Ichigo didn't have the heart to snap at Hinamori after what had happened earlier so he settled on glaring in her general direction.

When the group arrived back in the Seireitei Hinamori and Matsumoto parted ways with the guys, each saying that they had work that they had to get done. Renji watched as the two women left, wishing with all his heart that he were going with them. He was NOT looking forward to facing Rukia and telling her that he'd managed to lose her son.

"Come on Renji," Ichigo said, turning in the direction of the Squad One barracks. "It won't be THAT bad."

Renji shrugged and followed his former rival. If Ichigo said it wouldn't be that bad then it probably wouldn't. After all the Squad Five Captain had been in similar situations enough to know. But there was the possibility that Ichigo was lying to him in an attempt to lure him into a false sense of security.

"Would he really do that?" Renji thought to himself as they made their way toward Squad One. "Yes," he decided finally, after a few minutes thought. That was exactly the kind of thing that Ichigo would do and he resolved to keep his guard up until he knew for a fact that it was safe.

"There's my boy," Rukia called out from the courtyard as Ichigo walked toward her, Shiro held in his arms and Renji trailing along behind him. She held out her arms and Ichigo relinquished his hold on the child, allowing him to go to his mother. "Did you and Uncle Renji have fun?"

Shiro nodded. "We played a game." Then the little boy stuck his lower lip out into a small pout. "But Uncle Renji cheated."

"He did?" Rukia said, raising an eyebrow and giving Renji a questioning look.

Shiro nodded. "Uh huh."

Rukia noticed the slightly guilty expression on Renji's face. "What happened?"

"Shiro wanted to play hide and seek," Renji explained, gulping. "So I rounded up some members of my squad and we started the game. Unfortunately I was stupid and didn't set boundaries for the game and Shiro wandered out into the Rukongai to hide. I couldn't find him and had to get help."

"I see," Rukia said once Renji had finished his explaination. "So where did you guys find him?"

"At a river in District One," Renji replied.

Rukia nodded, she knew the spot. She and Hinamori had spent some time there themselves when Hinamori had been trying to get over her depression over the death of Captain Hitsugaya. Apparently that had been one of Hitsugaya's favorite spots when he was younger and going there seemed to help Hinamori deal with her grief. "Well Renji next time I hope you think before you agree to play a game with him."

"Believe me I will."

Rukia nodded once more. "Well come on Ichigo. We've been away for most of the day and I think it's time we went home. See you later Renji."

"See ya," Renji said as the small family turned and began to walk away from him. He couldn't believe his luck. He'd been so sure that Rukia would beat him up for having lost her kid and yet she hadn't even lectured him. This had to be his lucky day. As soon as the small family was out of sight Renji turned to return to the Squad Nine barracks, vowing to himself that he would never again agree to baby-sit for them. It simply wasn't worth the risk and yet he was forced to admit that a small part of him, a VERY SMALL part, had actually somewhat enjoyed the game before it had taken a turn for the worse.

Renji shook his head upon arriving at this realization. "I must be out of my mind," he mused to himself as he walked toward his office. "There just isn't any other way to explain it. Ichigo's insanity must have rubbed off on me. Man, I knew it was only a matter of time. Ugh!"

A/N- Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of Shiro-chan's story. Until next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.