Chapter 10

Matsumoto Rangiku peeped around the large stacks of paperwork adorning her desk, careful not to let her Captain see that she was looking. Her caution was unnecessary. Hitsugaya was staring out of the window, his chin resting on the heel of his hand, in the exact same position that he had been in the last time she had looked, and the time before, and the time before that. In fact, he had held the same position for the last three hours.

A bright flash of red caught her eye, and she turned to see Renji pulling a face at her from the doorway. Warningly, she shook her head at him, motioning towards Hitsugaya. Well, it probably looked like she was pointing at a stack of paperwork, but Renji seemed to get the message. He pointed at the window behind her and raised an eyebrow. Motioning for him to wait a minute, Rangiku again leant carefully around her concealing stack of paperwork.

He was still staring out the window.

Carefully she slid out of her chair and tiptoed backwards until she felt the hard edge of the windowsill against the top of her thighs. Renji winked at her and vanished from the doorway. Carefully she inched backwards onto the windowsill, getting her feet underneath her before jumping backwards. Bending her knees she relaxed her muscles in preparation for landing. She did not expect a pair of warm hands to grasp her firmly by the waist before she hit the ground. Renji couldn't have got outside so fast, so who had caught her? A strangely familiar warm chuckle reached her ears as she tensed, ready to spring out of the hold whoever-it-was had on her.

"Relax, it's only me."

She did relax, once she recognised that Kurosaki Ichigo was the one who had hold of her.

"I should have guessed that if Renji was skulking about you wouldn't be far away," she teased as he set her down.

"I was hardly skulking," Renji protested as he jogged up to them.

The two Vice-Captains turned towards the exit and began walking on either side of her. "We have a bit of a problem," Renji began as he steered them towards the large gates.

"Does it have anything to do with why my Captain has been staring vacantly out of the window all morning?"

Ichigo snorted. "He's only staring out the window? He must not know the full story then."

"What is the full story?"

Renji sighed. "From what we have been able to piece together, Rukia and Toshiro went on a date last night. Kuchiki-taicho stumbled across them, and got pissed."

"Rukia is being removed from the Division, and not just that, he's taking her from the Gotei 13 completely," Ichigo added, having seen the paperwork on Ukitake's desk that morning.

"I reckon Kuchiki-taicho is planning on making her more of a noble, giving her etiquette lessons and shit like that, before he marries her off to someone he thinks is 'suitable'," Renji groused.

Rangiku stared at him in horror. "But… he can't do that!" she protested.

"Unfortunately, it looks like he can," Ichigo replied. "Toshiro doesn't know, right?"

Matsumoto stared over her shoulder at the window to the office. "I really don't want to be around when he finds out," she whispered.

Renji sighed. "I really need to get back to work, and you should probably make sure those third seats of yours aren't bothering Ukitake-taicho, Ichigo."

"Nah, he can handle them. I was gonna go see if I can get permission to talk to Rukia; she pulled me back from the Real World this morning with a hell butterfly. I'm supposed to be visiting my sisters right now."

"Did they mind?" Rangiku asked. She had met the pair a few times, and Karin didn't seem particularly forgiving.

Ichigo grinned. "I took Hisagi Shuuhei with me this time. They thought that teaching him how Karakura works was a great idea. I think they're trying to get him to pay for them to go to the cinema today."

The three of them shared a laugh at the thought of the tough Vice-Captain being dragged around by two small girls that barely came up to his waist.

Xxx

Kira stared around the once-pristine office that used to belong to Ichimaru Gin and sighed. A large poster of a woman that he hadn't managed to catch the name of now adorned the wall opposite the door. Her smiling face had cheered him up, until he had caught his new Captain sobbing beside her with a broken communicator on the floor next to him. Between the hiccups he had made out the words 'daughters', 'puberty' and 'missing everything'. Deciding that it was imperative that he examine the kido skills of the new recruits that morning, he left his new Captain to it, after making a mental note to order another box of communicators from the 12th Division. Kurosaki-taicho seemed to go through three a week.

In the morning light streaming through the window, the office was almost unrecognisable. Around the poster a flock of smaller photographs and letters had been stuck to the wall. Most of them pictured two small girls, one with brown hair and one with black. The one with black hair looked a lot like Kurosaki Ichigo. The large desk that Ichimaru had sat behind was covered in a bright chequered tablecloth. A large pile of home-baked goodies sat in the middle, and there wasn't a single sheet of paperwork to be seen. Kira's desk looked boring by comparison, and he briefly contemplated finding a potted plant or something to brighten it up, before dismissing the thought as ridiculous. The room was an office; it did not need to be cheerful.

He sat down and pulled the stack of reports he needed to look over that morning out of a drawer, angling his head so that the spike of hair that fell across his face shaded his eyes from the bright sunshine pouring through the window. The sudden lack of light was his only warning before his eccentric new Captain, who had jumped in through the window, was peering closely into his face, completely disregarding all the unwritten social rules regarding personal space.

Kira yelped in an embarrassingly girlish way and wrenched himself backwards, managing to tip his chair over in the process. He lay on the floor, adrenaline pumping through his veins, and contemplated the new bruises that had formed. Kurosaki-taicho crouched on his desk, peering down at him with tears in his eyes.

"Kira-kun!" he bellowed. "Aren't you pleased to see me?"

"O-of course I am, Kurosaki-taicho." Kira replied, trying not to cringe – he knew that that would only make the man more upset.

"Good!" suddenly the tears vanished and Kurosaki was bouncing over to the other side of the room. "My beautiful daughter sent me some of her delicious cooking. You have to try it!"

Kira stared at the large pile of food on the desk. He was pretty sure that if Kurosaki-taicho sat down, he would be hidden behind it. It looked delicious, but Kira felt a shiver of dread nonetheless. Would he be expected to help Kurosaki-taicho eat all of it?

"Maybe you should invite Kurosaki-fukitaicho," he said as he approached the mound of food. "I'm sure he misses his sister's cooking."

Kurosaki beamed at him. "That is an excellent idea!" he crowed. "I knew that you would break the blond stereotype!"

Kira stared after him in astonishment as he bounded out of the office in search of a hell butterfly, not sure whether to be amused or insulted.

Kurosaki reappeared less than five minutes later, dragging his son in one hand and a spare chair in the other. He deposited the chair at the edge of the desk, and Ichigo into the chair, pointing at the pile of food in a menacing fashion. Kira cringed.

Ichigo was obviously more used to this treatment than Kira was. His brown eyes lit up at the size of the pile, and the frown that usually bent his eyebrows faded slightly.

"Yuzu?" he asked. "Awesome. This almost makes up for you kidnapping me."

"I did not kidnap you!" Kurosaki roared in protest.

Kira sighed and pulled his own chair out from behind his desk, sat at the edge of his Captains and began to look over the mountain of food. There was a small pile of plates and napkins next to it, he noticed. The argument continued on the other side of the heap.

"I was minding my own business-"

"Looked like you were trying to sneak into the Kuchiki Mansion to me!"

"-trying to visit a friend!"

"What are you doing visiting friends anyway!" Kurosaki bellowed. "You are supposed to be visiting your beloved sisters!"

Kira, peering closer at the food, noticed a small container with his name written on the top and reached for it curiously. Perhaps his Captain had been writing about him in his letters? Kira opened it carefully and found that it was full of individually wrapped Mizuyōkan*, and a small note that read:

'I haven't tried to make this before, I hope that you enjoy them! Yuzu'

Kira smiled and bit into his favourite treat, ignoring the argument still occurring on the other side of the table. Perhaps having Kurosaki Isshin as a Captain wouldn't be so bad after all.

Xxx

Toshiro looked up in surprise as a small paper bag was deposited in front of his nose. Ukitake's smiled at him, but the smile did not reach his dark brown eyes, eyes that were sadder than Toshiro had ever seen them. He almost asked what was wrong, but that would have been preemptive, so he settled for raising an eyebrow, purposefully ignoring the bag of sweets.

Ukitake sighed and leant against the desk. "I have some bad news for you," he said, staring out of the window rather than meeting Toshiro's eyes.

"What is it? Has Matsumoto done something?" He had noticed several hours ago that his Vice-Captain was missing, but hadn't worried too much about what she could have been up to – he had assumed that she had crept out to drink sake. Whatever it was, it must be pretty major to have Ukitake looking as sad as he did.

"No, it's not Matsumoto. It's Kuchiki Rukia." Toshiro suddenly shivered, an odd feeling settling into his stomach. He knew that he really did not want to hear what Ukitake-taicho was about to say. "Kuchiki Byakuya has seen fit to remove her from my Division, and from the Gotei 13 completely."

"What?"

"He intends to have her start etiquette lessons and learn to play the mandolin, I expect."

Toshiro frowned as his stomach knotted into a hard lump. He didn't want to believe it, but Ukitake's sad face told him that he was telling the truth.

"I can't challenge it," Ukitake continued. "I tried speaking to Yamamoto, but he said that there was nothing that he could do about it – he wasn't particularly happy about it either. Rukia was shaping up into a fine Shinigami, but there's some obscure rule that Byakuya has dug out of the archives that allows it."

Toshiro's chest began to ache as he realised that if Byakuya had his way, he and Rukia would never see each other again. Anger filled him at the realisation, and he barely noticed when Ukitake left the room. Toshiro moved to the window, so torn between anger, disbelief and despair that he didn't know what to do. He could feel the tight hold he normally kept over his reiatsu slipping as the storm of emotions raged inside him. With dry eyes he stared out of the window, knowing that he couldn't see the Kuchiki Mansion from his office, but hoping that somehow the buildings and towers in the way would magically vanish.

He wanted to see her.

xxx

Renji looked up in surprise as something cold landed lightly on his cheek. The sky was clear and the sunlight bright; he hadn't expected rain. Bright blue arched over his head, a deep colour that seemed to shimmer… snow was falling. Renji took a moment to admire the contrast between the azure sky and the sparkling white snowflakes, before allowing himself to realise what the sight meant.

Someone had told Toshiro.

Careful to keep his emotions from showing on his face, Renji continued on his journey to the Kuchiki mansion. Byakuya, sitting behind his desk like an unconcerned marble and ebony sculpture, had ordered him to check on Rukia that afternoon. Renji found himself slightly reluctant to face his childhood friend. He couldn't stand it when she cried.

He spotted her before he reached at the front door, standing on the walkway overlooking the koi pond, her face turned to the sky. She was wearing a light blue and white kimono and looked as fragile as the snowflakes that drifted down around her, dancing a little over the palms of her outstretched hands. Hesitantly he approached her, not wanting to intrude on her moment.

"He sent these, didn't he?" she asked in a whisper that somehow still managed to reach his ears.

"Yes," Renji replied, his voice sounding harsh in the quiet of the garden.

"They're saturated with his reiatsu," she continued. "He is so sad and angry… can't you taste the lonliness?"

Renji stepped up to her as quietly as he could and stood in silence as she stared over the garden, not wanting to disturb her. She turned to look at him, and although her eyes were red from crying, they were wide in wonder.

"What is it?" he couldn't help but ask.

Rukia shook her head slowly. "I never expected him to care this much. It's only been a few days…"

Renji smiled at her. "If I know anything about Hitsugaya Toshiro, I know that he wouldn't enter into a relationship that he wasn't sure about. I expect he's been admiring you for years. You match."

"What, you mean our Zanpakuto?"

"Not just that. You have similar personalities, you're both so serious most of the time. People expect great things from both of you, and yet underestimate you at the same time."

Rukia nodded and turned back to the garden. "Renji?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Nii-sama will change his mind?"

Renji shrugged. "I dunno. I hope he does. I really hope so."

xxx

* Mizuyōkan is made of agar-agar, which is down in Bleachwiki as Kira's favourite food. Seeing as I don't think you can eat it on it's own, I looked into what could be made from it, and Mizuyōkan looked tasty.

A/N: Sorry that this chapter ended up being so depressing... still, we're in a depressing part of the story, and everyone knows that there will be a happy ending, right? Apologies also for the delay! This chapter was finished two weeks ago, but the beta-ing took ages. I sincerely apologise.

Omake:

Shuuhei: You left me with two children!

Ichigo: Yeah, so? They can't hurt you.

Shuugei: The last time I was left with children I ended up with a new tattoo!

Isshin: What is this? Ichigo, you left my beloved daughters with a gangster?

Ichigo: *facepalm* Shuuhei is not a gangster!

Isshin: I cannot believe that you would be so careless as to leave your siblings in such a predicament!

Ichigo: And what predicament is that?

Isshin: And what if he gets them pregnant?

Shuuhei: wait, what? They're, like, over 100 years younger than me! That's sick!

Isshin: Oh Masaki! I'm too young to be a grandfather!

Ichigo: It's best if we leave now...