Childhood Innocence

"You know, for a rich bocchan, Shun-kun, you're not bad at scaling trees."

Saku sat back against the sturdy trunk, sending her companion an amused grin as she gazed upwards into the heavy branches over her head. From his vantage perch, Shunsui stared down at her, mischief in his dark eyes as he casually shrugged his shoulders.

"Hiding in trees is something the son of a Kyouraku noble disdains." He said firmly, in a startlingly accurate imitation of his Uncle's stiff, unyielding tones. "Therefore I have studied the art to perfection, as you can see."

Saku burst out laughing, getting to her feet and brushing the stray leaf litter from her rough clothing as she did so.

"You sounded scarily like Kyouraku-sama just then." She remarked. "Though you ought to be more careful. If he hears you, you'll be in for a whipping, won't you? Especially if he finds you've been clambering round the forest like a wild boy in his absence."

"He's been particularly tense of late." Shunsui agreed, sprawling out on his stomach as he gazed down at her pensively. "Twitchy and on edge, so I've done my best to avoid contact with him except where absolutely necessary. I've learnt to drown out the lectures about my studies at the dinner table – that aside, I don't usually see him more than briefly during a full day."

He kicked his legs idly against the tree trunk as he did so.

"He knows that bringing me here was a mistake, and he's said so a few times, too." He added casually. "He's stopped forcibly dragging me to the schoolroom and locking me inside with the tutors, too, so perhaps he's given up on trying to educate me to his way of thinking. I do hope so, in any case. It's a lot too much hard work, right now, slipping out and spending time to myself."

"The irony of it being that you probably work harder at evading his attention than you ever have at gaining it." Saku snorted. "But if he thinks it's such a mistake, why has he kept you here? When we first met, Shun-kun, you were a brat of six or seven. Now you're fourteen – surely eight years is a long enough time to regret and repair whatever he thought he was doing when he brought you to his estate."

"Are you saying you want rid of me?" Shunsui pouted, and Saku pulled a face, shaking her head.

"You know I don't." She said frankly, her tones no less matter-of-fact than usual, but Shunsui's sharp eyes picked up the faint pink that touched her cheeks at his question. "But I know you're not happy here, and I know he's kept you away from your Mother. Considering that, if he's starting to regret it, why doesn't he send you home? I might not want rid of you, but he evidently does."

"He never really wanted me in the first place." Shunsui swung himself round, descending neatly to the ground and casting her a grin. "He didn't take me because of that, after all. The Noble Families are a ton more twisted and messed up than you know, Saku-chan. It's all to do with clan politics and dynasty and power struggles between family. Nothing to do with affection or anything like that."

"I always thought it was because your father died, that he took you in." Saku reflected, reaching up to pluck a stray leaf from Shunsui's un-groomed, wavy mop of brown hair. "Honestly, to look at you, no one would ever believe you were a blood-descendant of the previous Kyouraku Lord. You look more like someone who's been running between villages as an errand boy. If it wasn't that the clothes you're wearing are woven from expensive fabric…"

"And torn in places, too, from the tree." Shunsui glanced at himself with a grimace, fingering a fresh rent across the folds of his shirt. "Uncle will catch on, if he sees that."

"That's simple enough to solve." Saku slipped her hand through his, offering him a conspiratorial smile. "I'll fix it for you. Come back with me, all right? It won't take long to stitch up, and I can do it neatly, I promise."

"All right." Shunsui looked relieved. "If you don't mind. I'd rather he didn't know where I was going when I slip out of the house – it would be inconvenient if he found out my hiding places."

"Well, it would be inconvenient for both of us." Saku said frankly. "Your Uncle might be strict where you're concerned, but he has done a lot for my family, after all."

"He has?" Shunsui paused in the prodding of the tear, staring at her in surprise. "In what way?"

"Idiot." Saku cuffed him gently across the back of the head. "Why do you think we're here, anyhow? Living on Kyouraku land? We're not kinsfolk, and we're not employed by the main manor in any especial way."

"I hadn't ever thought about it that much." Shunsui admitted. "I know your mother passed away, and that you moved because your Father needed to find a more stable market for his skills. But I didn't know it had a connection to Uncle. I didn't realise he had anything to do with it at all. After all, it's not like your family are from Rukongai. You're from Seireitei, like me."

"Well, I don't know his feelings on the subject." Saku admitted. "I've never seen him face to face, let alone asked him questions about his politics. But when Mother was sick, Father spent all of the family's savings on physicians and medicines to help her as much as he could. Plus he lost work because he was nursing her and looking after me, too. So when she died, we had pretty much nothing to fall back on."

"And Uncle helped you?" Shunsui's eyes became huge, and Saku nodded.

"Father petitioned him and he accepted the petition." She agreed. "Father does a certain amount of craftwork for the Kyouraku-ke here, and in return we have housing and stability. When I'm eighteen, I'll probably go into service at the estate, too – at least, that's always been the plan. Father refused to let me go in earlier and be broken by the work – but in a year or two's time I'll probably be taking up working myself."

Shunsui's eyes narrowed as he digested this, and for a while they walked in silence back towards the building Saku and her father had called home for the past seven and a half years.

"I suppose it helps a man who stole his title to be generous to the people whose lives he's taken control of." He murmured at length. "But I don't suppose he ever did it out of kindness. It's because he has to, that's all. Because he's a Kyouraku and he's taken the Clan leadership. This area of Seireitei is Kyouraku land. And perish the thought that we'd drop in the eyes of our neighbours by refusing to help a citizen in distress."

Saku gazed at him for a moment, then she sighed.

"Sometimes you say the most horrible things, Shun-kun." She murmured. "And you don't seem like a child at all, then."

"They're not horrible. They're true." Shunsui defended himself. "And fourteen isn't as much of a child as six or twelve, either."

"It's still two years shy of my sixteen." Saku reminded him. "And besides, it's the truth in them that make them so horrible. But I don't like thinking of Father and I as forced charity done as a publicity stunt to boost the Kyouraku name. I'd like to believe there was some kindness in it. After all, you're his blood kin, and you can be kind."

"I'm nothing like my Uncle." Shunsui said firmly.

"You said he was agitated of late." Saku reflected, pushing open the door and ushering him inside the small yet neatly decorated home. "Stand there and don't break anything – I'll find a needle and thread and I'll fix you where you are, so don't even think about undressing."

Shunsui, whose fingers had already drifted to the ties of his clothing paused in mid movement, sending her a sheepish glance.

"You said that without even looking at me." He objected. "Do you have such a negative opinion of me after all then, Saku-chan?"

"No, just that of all the young men in this area, you're the one I need to keep my wits about with most of all." Saku turned, shooting him a playful grin. "You might be fourteen, Shun-kun, but I know how that mind of yours is working. There's no innocence in it, even if you'd like me to believe there is."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shunsui leant idly up against the wall, folding his arms loosely across his chest as he met her gaze easily. Saku laughed, shaking her head slightly in amusement, then disappearing into a back room to find what she was looking for.

Left alone, Shunsui's own lips twitched into a grin.

It was fun, after all, spending time with Saku.

It had begun as a simple friendship – the kindness of a local girl to a tearful young boy ripped away from his mother and his home by a cold, unsympathetic man. Through his time at his Uncle's manor, Shunsui had come to look on Saku as his friend and his confidant – even, sometimes, his sister. Yet over the course of the past year, even that had undeniably changed.

Saku was no longer his sister. Saku had become something more. And these days, he never called her 'Oneechan'.

She had grown up well, he reflected absently, picturing in his mind's eye her sleek, wavy dark hair, her indigo violet eyes and the easy and natural curves of her body when she moved. She was not skinny and stiff like the woman his Uncle hired to keep the housemaids in check, nor was she dumpy and broad like the woman who cooked his and his Uncle's meals and who had always insisted on calling him 'Shunsui-bocchama', no matter how many times he had objected. Saku was not like either of these women. Saku was young and full of life, beautiful yet somehow there was nothing delicate or remote in that beauty. It was as though she sparkled with life, Shunsui had often thought. That in her eyes, the light he saw there was freedom, and being in its glow had somehow become intoxicating.

Nobody had ever explained such things to him. On the contrary, his Uncle had steered clear of the subject of women, ensuring that his nephew's strict education regime was overseen entirely by male tutors of age and rank considered trustworthy enough not to lead the impressionable youth astray. Even the female maids and house staff had been forbidden from spending time alone around the growing youngster – and though he had not been able to pinpoint it entirely, Shunsui felt certain that at the root of it had been his Uncle's deep contempt for his brother Matsuhara.

The meaning of words such as 'licentious' and 'philanderer' had never been fully explained in Shunsui's presence, and he had never managed to find enough time or energy to look them up for himself. But he had deduced enough to realise they were aspects of his father's character, and aspects that his Uncle found offensive.

To Shunsui's young, resentful mind, this suggested they were values to be properly explored. And by indulging in Saku's company as often as possible, he already felt he had learnt far more than he ever had in a dusty classroom with an aging, droning male teacher.

However, he was still only fourteen. And though he had never been fooled by his Uncle's motives towards him, he had deliberately not questioned his reasons for enjoying Saku's company so deeply. In some ways, he knew, the answer to that question was complicated and problematic, so, in his characteristic way, he had preferred to take the easy path, simply leaving the thoughts unanswered.

Saku was the person he trusted, after all, and that was as much as he needed.

"All right. I got it." At that moment the subject of his thoughts re-emerged, needle and thread in hand. "Stand still, Shun-kun, else I'll prick you and you'll have blood staining that fine cloth as well as my stitches."

"That's a nice thing to say." Shunsui objected, nonetheless standing more firmly upright. "Is that how you treat your close friend, Saku-chan? I'm hurt."

"You will be, if you carry on." Saku warned him. "Don't twitch, all right? You're at least as tall as me, now, too, so you can make sure you keep your eyes at their proper level. The excuse that my chest happens to be in your line of sight won't work now – since your growth spurt last spring, you've shot up."

Her gaze narrowed.

"And no trying to look down my clothing, either." She warned. "I know you're a virtual prisoner here and I know I'm about the only female you ever come into contact with – but some things are above and beyond the call of friendship, Shun-kun, and I'm not your life teacher."

"It would be more fun if you were." Shunsui sighed. "All right. I was only teasing you, anyway. I think you're pretty, Saku-chan. It's not bad manners to think a girl is pretty, is it?"

"Depending what comes next, I suppose not." Saku eyed him wryly. "Don't play the innocence card, Shun-kun. I told you. I'm fixing your shirt. That's all."

"You're really mean, you know." Shunsui reflected. "I haven't said or done anything, yet you're all suspicious around me today. You're no fun this way, Saku-chan. You're as agitated as Uncle – and it ruins your pretty face."

"Now you're doing it again, trying to be the Casanova." Saku rolled her eyes, but the pink tint was back in her cheeks, and Shunsui felt a sense of satisfaction swell up inside of him that he'd managed to provoke such a reaction. "No one ever told me noble sons were this much trouble, you know – no wonder your Uncle locks you up. Otherwise the housemaids probably wouldn't be safe from your games."

"I'm not interested in them. I only have eyes for you, Saku-chan." Shunsui grinned mischievously, and she glared at him, stabbing the needle purposefully through the fabric until it pricked against his skin.

"Ouch!"

"I warned you." Saku said unrepentantly. "Behave, or else."

"I'm behaving!" Shunsui objected, though there was humour in his gaze. "It's just that I like how you are when I say things like that. That's all. S'why I do it. Because it's too much fun."

Saku sighed heavily.

"Maybe your Uncle does have the short end of the stick, after all."

"Uncle's frustrated with me, but I'm not the reason he's wound up like a top at the moment." Shunsui shook his head. "It's not me he's worrying about at all. It's Tokutarou-niisama that's got him concerned."

"Tokutarou…niisama?" Saku stared at him, and Shunsui nodded.

"Yes. My older brother."

"I didn't even know you had one." Saku looked accusing. "You've never mentioned him before."

"Well, there wasn't a need, since I've never met him." Shunsui said casually. "His Mother was Shiba-ke, so he went to live with them when she died. Uncle's had a bee in his bonnet about it a while, it seems. S'why he wanted me. Because he figures the Shiba-ke are going to try and take over the Kyouraku land and clan, if Tokutarou-niisama is able to come of age and take control of the clan. But he's running out of time, see. Father's death meant that Tokutarou-nii was too young to take charge. So Uncle did. But when Tokutarou-nii is twenty, the rest of the clan will want him to take control. And that means Uncle will be out of luck."

"So he took you for insurance?"

"No. I'm pretty sure he took me as a weapon." Shunsui said calmly. "Except I don't want to fight my brother over anything. Even if he is a stranger to me. I'm not interested in the Kyouraku family title or estate or any of that. It's too much work and I don't like my Uncle's way of doing things."

He sighed.

"Tokutarou-nii's birthday is sometime soon. This week, I think." He added. "Then things will start to happen. And Uncle knows it too."

"You sound almost as though you're looking forward to it."

"So long as I don't have to play a walk-on part, I guess I am." Shunsui admitted. "They're all strangers to me, in any case. And I've no real tie to the clan, after all. It's not like with you, Saku-chan. You and your Father are close. I barely knew mine. I'm no longer able to write to Mother, and I never met my brother. It's a different kind of world – and I'm happy enough keeping out of it."

"I won't pretend I understand." Saku admitted, finishing her stitching and breaking the thread with her teeth. "But you're done, now. Just be careful, okay? I've sewn it neatly, but it won't take a lot of strain."

"It looks fine." Shunsui shot her a grin. "Thank you, Saku-chan. I owe you one."

"You owe me several, but I'm used to that by now." Saku teased him. "Well? Do you have to get back to the house or shall we walk down by the lake a while? Father's not due back till sunset, and I've done my chores this morning, so there's nothing for me to worry over."

"The lake sounds good to me." Shunsui agreed. "Maybe we could go swimming."

"Maybe not." Saku said firmly. "Just walk, will you?"

"Fine." Shunsui held up his hands in mock-surrender. "You lead, I'll follow."

"The other way around seems a better idea." Saku teased him, pulling him out of the door and down the pathway that led down to the sparkling lake that fell within the Kyouraku grounds. "So your brother will come here, then? Tokutarou-sama, you said? And what, he'll try and take back the clan?"

"He might challenge Uncle for it, and if Uncle resists, there might be a fight." Shunsui agreed.

"A proper one? Swords and all?"

"Mm. Something like that." Shunsui's eyes shadowed. "It happens, in noble families. That there are fights to the death sometimes over clan leadership."

"And no one does anything to stop it?"

"It's not something that's easy to stop." Shunsui said sadly. "It's just a Great Noble thing, I think. I don't understand it either, to be honest. And even though I don't like Uncle, I don't really want him to get killed, either."

"Well, right. He's your family, after all."

"Hardly." Shunsui was amused, despite himself. "I just think that if you start killing people for pride or vengeance, it will never stop. In the end, someone will die who shouldn't die, and then people around them will be hurt. That's all."

"Sometimes, Shun-kun, you sound grown up." Saku sighed. "You're right, I suppose. Death always does change things, after all. Mother's death changed a lot for me. And your Father's meant you came here. So it's better, if it can be prevented."

"If it can." Shunsui murmured. "I don't know. Tokutarou-nii...what sort of person he is. The Shiba-ke have a reputation for being strong and resourceful in combat and so on. I'm sure he's strong. And maybe he'll be angry with Uncle - so I don't know what might happen. Which is why I hope I'll be well out of the way when whatever happens, happens."

At that moment they reached the water's edge, and Shunsui sank down onto the grass, pulling his companion down with him.

"Enough of that, though." He said firmly. "It's depressing. You're lucky after all, Saku-chan. Your Father and you are close, even though you only have each other. I don't really have anyone like that. I was close to Mother, once - but I haven't seen her since I was six, and I can't write to her now. So I'm more or less on my own most of the time."

"You're not alone." Saku objected. "You have me, don't you?"

"That's true." A smile twitched at the edge of Shunsui's lips. "Which is why you shouldn't be so mean to me. I don't have anyone else who I can rely on, after all."

"Oh, you..." Saku gave him a little shove, and Shunsui laughed.

"It's true, though." He said softly, suddenly aware of how close she was to him. "There are a lot of things you can teach me about, Saku-chan."

"Things?" Saku stared at him, and Shunsui nodded.

"Lots of things." he agreed.

"Such as?" Saku eyed him warily, and Shunsui sent her an unrepentant grin.

"Things like this." He said softly. Then, before she could respond, he leant across, kissing her firmly on the lips.

"Shun-kun!" Saku pushed him back, staring at him in dismay, and Shunsui laughed.

"You've gone all red." He said, his heart flickering with warmth at her expression. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You're really such a kid sometimes, you know that?" Saku sighed, but she did not make to put space between them. "I suppose I have to teach you everything, don't I? Honestly, you're such a pain, Shun-kun. You really have no idea how much of one, sometimes."

Gently she leant forward, kissing him gently and as she did so, Shunsui was aware of something else stirring inside of him, a sensation unlike any he had ever felt before.

As they broke apart, he stared at her, and Saku grinned.

"Now you're red too." She teased. "If you can't stand the heat, Shun-kun, you shouldn't put your cards on the table. Should you?"

"Shunsui-sama!"

Before Shunsui could respond, a voice cut through the warm atmosphere like a knife, and as one the two youngsters froze, Shunsui's heart leaping in his throat as he heard the footsteps crossing the grass towards them.

He had recognised the voice immediately.

His Uncle's aging, austere, prudish houseman, Shikimura.

And he had not sounded amused.

A firm hand grasped itself around the collar of his shirt at that moment, hauling him to his feet.

"What do you imagine this is?" Shikimura demanded, meeting the boy's gaze head on, and Shunsui stared at him, for once completely lost for words as he registered the steely darkness in the man's gaze.

At Shunsui's lack of response, Shikimura turned his gaze on Saku.

"You are dismissed." He said softly. "The Lord will be hearing plenty from me about your disgraceful conduct with his nephew this afternoon, so do not make your situation worse by lingering here now. Go back to where you belong. Shunsui-sama is coming with me."

Saku's eyes widened, meeting Shunsui's gaze with a frightened look of her own. Then without a word she got to her feet, bowing towards Shikimura and hurrying away from the lakeside.

Now alone, Shunsui found himself dumped unceremoniously back on the ground.

"Your Uncle will have plenty to say, I imagine, about today's actions." Shikimura said coldly. "I advise you to think well before you answer his questions. The honour of the Kyouraku clan is not a matter to be taken lightly. You are not in your Father's care now, after all."

"I wish that I was!" Shunsui found his voice, and Shikimura's eyes narrowed, a hand coming down firmly across Shunsui's cheek at the insolence.

"You need not say anything more." He said flatly. "Stand, and follow me. Insubordination will not be tolerated. I act on your Uncle's distinct orders in this regard, so you would do better to obey without complaint."

His eyes narrowed.

"Otherwise, I think, the consequences for yourself and for your young friend will be all the worse."

Author's Note:

Woo, look! Shunsui got Chapter 8! :D I hadn't realised but that means Juu will also get Chapter 13. How geekish is that??

Oh yes, the other thing was...

Ukitake and his father (previous chapter)

It seems that I've managed to cause some confusion up to this point about why the Hollow was in Seireitei and why it attacked Juu - therefore for anyone who's confused still, let me clarify.

In Ukitake's Chapter 2, Kamikura and Juu then Kamikura and Juu's father discussed the Gotei and the fact Rukongai was overrun with Hollows that the Nobles did not or could not keep under control. At this point Yamamoto's Academy was a new venture. It was also explained that Soul Society is even bigger than Seireitei, but Seireitei covers much more land and living territory than it does in modern day Bleach (because of families like Ukitake's and the neighbouring Kira-ke living there in the way they do).

In Ukitake's Chapter 3, it was made clear that where Ukitake lives is within view of the Rukongai border, at the edge of District Six, far from the Kuchiki-ke manor, since this is where his Father took him during their training session.

In Ukitake's Chapter 4, a Hollow attacked Juu in the forest and his father intervened.

At that point, six years have passed since the conversations about the Gotei and Rukongai. With nothing improving, of course Hollows are beginning to stray into Seireitei more and more and are not being kept under control. The actions/behaviour of Kyouraku Matsuhara in Kyouraku's chapters also help explain part of this.

It's also Bleach canon that Hollows attack those with the highest reiatsu. We know Juu has high reiatsu and that he and Shunsui are unmatched by their peers at even the Academy. Therefore outside of the Kuchiki-ke, there are probably no other children in District Six with the same kind of spiritual potential.

Ukitake lives near enough to the Rukongai border to be a target. He has high enough reiatsu to be a target. Therefore he is a target.

I'm not the kind of writer who likes to state everything baldly into the chapter, and so I didn't see the need to say directly "The Hollow came to Seireitei because of x and y and it attacked Juu because of z". That kind of explanation is called 'Info Dumping' and it makes a story jerky and stilted. Besides, I rather thought people would've inferred those things from what had already been said in earlier chapters. Juu and Shunsui are living in the same world even though they are not acquainted, too. There is a whole picture of how I see their Soul Society being painted in the chapters alongside their own development.

My sincere apologies, however, to anyone I've confused along the way :)