Quick update (I'm procrastinating again!) Yachiru annoying people again. Much love, but not much crack. A few of my theories displayed here including where Uruhara's hat comes from.

Away

"Kisuke-sa-an, I'm bored." Yachiru whined as she sprawled across Uruhara's office desk. Outside was raining and everyone had decided it was time for overdue admin business, even Ken-chan. Well, the sotaicho had decided that he'd pull the sake and beer budget if he didn't get anything before five that afternoon, and now Ken-chan had everyone in 11th Division employed to complete the mountain of paperwork.

"Well, un-bore yourself." Uruhara gently swatted the top of her pink head with a fan.

"Whattaya doing anyway?" She pointed at the large diagram he was poring over.

"I, young fukutaicho, am making another gigai. A special one." He commented. Yachiru perked up her head.

"Hey, can you make me some playmates?" Yachiru asked cheerily. Uruhara turned to look at her in surprise.

"Why would you need playmates? I thought your division would provide enough playmates." He asked. Yachiru looked down bashfully.

"Well, they're all fun and all, but I wanna have secret bases and play hide-and-seek and catch dragonflies and play dress-up and play dolls and do all that without my friends being big, tough men!" She said in one breath. Uruhara's mind skipped to someone like Zaraki playing with dolls or catching dragonflies. His brain promptly broke.

"I see your point, chibi-chan," He scratched his scraggly chin, "I know, do you want to help me design a gigai?"

Yachiru nodded her head earnestly, "Yeah!"

"Right!" Uruhara replied cheerily, "What would you like in your gigai?" He reached for a pen and notepaper.

"Well, I don't know if I want a boy or a girl. Ok, I'll have a girl."

"Young Female." He wrote.

"And I want her to be strong too, so we can play racing games and stuff."

"Strong and fast."

"Cute and nice." She hummed.

"Obedient." He chuckled.

"Hey! I didn't say obedient! I said cute 'n' nice!" Yachiru threw a paperweight at him, which he caught promptly without looking up from his notepaper.

"Fine; cute, nice and obedient," He added, "anything else?"

"Well, I'd also like a boy," she twiddled her fingers together bashfully, "so he could be the daddy in Mommy and Daddy games and stuff."

"Well, we'll take one thing at a time. Now scram, I got work to do." He began shooing her out the door.

"Will you tell me when she's finished?" She asked.

"Of course. See ya later, Yachi-chan!" He waved as she put her shoes and jumped up ready to go. She paused, turning to him.

"Ya know; you'd suit a hat." She said.

"I would?" He asked quizzically.

"Yeah, you have hat-hair, but no hat." She stated. He rubbed the top of his head cautiously.

"Maybe you could make a hat for me in return for making friends for you." He smiled.

"Ok! See ya, Kisuke!" She waved as she disappeared into the rain.

………

A few weeks later as she was riding Kenpachi's back, a Hell Butterfly alighted itself upon her head.

Come to my place, chibi-chan, your friend is nearly ready It had said. Yachiru was down by 12th Division long before Kenpachi knew she's left his presence.

"Well, that was quick!" Uruhara exclaimed as she kicked off her shoes at the door.

"Yeah, I just got the message. Where is she?" She jumped up in excitement. Uruhara lead her to the assembling theatres and showed her one table with a small body on it. It seemed that the black-haired girl was alive and sleeping, but Yachiru knew it was just a shell on the table.

"Cute, isn't she?" Uruhara smiled.

"Yeah. It's funny; she's even got the same funny-lookin' bangs as you. 'Cept you've got short blonde hair and she's got long dark hair." She pointed out. Uruhara looked cross-eyed at his own bangs. He shrugged.

"You've got to name her, you know." He said, indicating to the body on the table.

"Me? Name her?" She pointed at herself.

Uruhara nodded, "After all, she was mostly your design."

"Ummm, well, you made her, so I'll join our names together! Her name is: Kisuchiru! No…Yasuke! Kusahara! No, not good either." She floundered for a name.

"None of them sound nice for a girl; what about Momo? Or Mariko? Or Haruka? Yue? All of them are nice girls' names." He suggested. She shook her head.

"I know, her name is Ururu! Sounds cute, ne?" She said triumphantly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, her name is Ururu."

"Well then," He walked away from the table, Yachiru following him "I'll activate Ururu within the next few weeks…the soul takes a lot longer to build than the body does." He explained, Yachiru nodded.

"I've nearly finished making your hat…I've lotsa mistakes and I've used up so much fabric, but the one I've got now is the best one; once I've finished it, I'll bring it over right away." She said as she was shown the door.

"I can't wait to see it." He smiled cheerily as she pounced away.

Yachiru redoubled the efforts on the hat as soon as she got home, shutting herself away as she concentrated on doing the fine stitching, often unravelling the hat and starting again. One night she completed the hat. She was happy, it didn't fall apart, the stitching was strong and it actually looked like a hat, instead of the sock Kenpachi initially thought it was. She wondered briefly if making a gigai was similar to making a hat: making things didn't off or apart or out, and actually making a human look human. She jumped away with the completed hat to 12th Division.

When she opened the doors, she found it unusually quiet for a late evening. Often Uruhara would invite 2nd, 6th, 13th, 11th and 8th Divisions together for large meals and parties. She snuck off to his office and saw silhouettes of people flickering against the oiled paper of the door. They were talking in hurried voices and there was lots of scuffling. Yachiru thrust that hat under her armpit and drew her zanpakuto. The sound drew attention from on of the people inside and a blade came flying her way, missing the top of her head by less than an inch. She was glad she wasn't taller.

The door slid open and Yoroichi-taicho, Tessai-fukutaicho with a bundle in his arms and Uruhara stood in the doorway.

"It's just Yachiru," Yoroichi sighed.

Uruhara lifted his zanpakuto to Yachiru's neck, "What are you doing here?" He asked menacingly. Yachiru's eyes began to fill with tears. She could face three Menos Grandes, no problem, but facing a serious Uruhara was a different story.

"I…I brought you your hat." She held out the offending clothing item. Uruhara lowered his Zanpakuto.

"I'm sorry," he dropped to one knee, "we thought that…never mind. We're sorry."

"Where are you going?" She trembled in the darkness.

"Away."

"Away? But…but…" She stuttered, shocked.

"We'll be going to the living world for a long time, Yachiru. We may not be back. It's a long and complicated matter, but we have to leave, and soon." He patted her shoulder. She just nodded and gave him the hat.

"I just finished." He smiled and put the green and white hat on.

"It actually suits you." Yoroichi whispered. Tessai nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, Yachiru. Here, I have someone to show you." He took the bundle from Tessai and opened the fabric to see Ururu staring wide-eyed out of it. Yachiru smiled tearfully.

"Hi, Ururu-chan. My name's Yachiru. I'll come and play with you later." She waved. Ururu blinked, not yet understanding speech, as was typical for a newborn soul. Uruhara lifted her up and gave her back to Tessai. They walked out together to the front door into open air.

"We've got to go now," Uruhara tipped her hat at Yachiru, "It was nice knowing you, Yachiru-chan. Stay safe and farewell." And the four of them disappeared into the night leaving Yachiru waving into the empty air, tears on her face.

Da-aw, fluff. I actually try you use American spelling from time to time because I know a lot of you out there are used to "Mom" and "Bangs" instead of my New Zealand spelling of "mum" and "fringe".