Captain Ukitake had been fairly certain why he had been asked to oversee Ayasegawa's Lieutenant Exam; of course he would join Yamamoto for a mid morning cup of tea afterward. There was no reason for him to suspect any ulterior motive in the invite. It had been their tradition for centuries: simply to give him a chance to rest, he had joined the General for a cup of tea nearly every time he visited the First. There was no reason to expect anything out of the ordinary, but he had still had to force himself to accept the invitation.

Even knowing, the moment Ukitake was shown into Yamamoto's private sitting room, he nearly turned around. Kurotsuchi was sitting near the fire speaking to the ancient general. The real reason for the invite was obvious, and, for once, he was not willing to play the part of a diplomat.

"I will not discuss Nemu as though she is a thing to be commanded," Ukitake said, meeting Yamamoto's eyes with an uncompromising gaze. "She is a lieutenant of the Gotei, and she is pregnant; what she chooses to do about that is not the right of one man here to decide."

Kurotsuchi scoffed at that. "You know as well as I that she will do exactly what you tell her. There's no point in trying to reason with her; she is all 'Shiro-chan says this' and 'Shiro-chan says that'. And now you've told her it's her right to decide--who do you think has been in charge of her care since the day of her creation? I decide what is right for her. She was created for a purpose, and your nonsense has distracted her from that purpose, convinced her that she is real--"

"She is real!" Ukitake snapped back. "However she was created, her mind and her soul are her own. If anyone wanted to argue otherwise they should not have given her the rights and responsibilities of a 'real' person."

"Her position as Lieutenant of the Twelfth was always conditional, Jushiro," Yamamoto said softly. "You know that."

"Her position as my wife is not," he answered. "Either of you could have objected when she was added to the Ukitake family roll. You did not. Mine may be an insignificant house, but if you intent to try to rob my wife of her rights as lady of that house I will go to the Four Great Houses. I have every confidence they will intervene on her behalf."

Seeing as Shiba Kaien was Ukitake's lieutenant and Kuchiki Byakuya had studied with him in his youth there was almost no chance he was wrong, and Soifon was likely to become interested too when she heard men were trying to bully Nemu. She wasn't much for kids herself, but she was definitely of the opinion that men did too much pushing women around in the Gotei.

"This is Gotei business, not the business of the noble houses," Kurotsuchi protested. "Nemu is my lieutenant. She is absolutely necessary for the upcoming mission. There is no one else who can perform the high level calculations quickly enough to adjust the containment unit for every possible variable to maintain its integrity while we bring it back to Soul Society. In my opinion this pregnancy is nothing more than sabotage by the enemy. When you discover sabotage you repair it. It is as simple as that."

"You are right; it is simple," Ukitake answered. "Nemu wants the baby. No one is going to take it from her."

Kurotsuchi rolled his eyes. "You see why I brought this to you?" he said to Yamamoto. "The man is completely impossible to reason with. He will not listen."

"Jushiro," Yamamoto said. "I know what this means to you, a child after all these years, but there will still be time for that. Aizen is threatening the very fabric of reality, and we must all do whatever is necessary to stop him. Byakuya and Zaraki have agreed to go to Hueco Mundo with Kurotsuchi to capture an Arrancar for study, but to contain it safely requires Nemu. If she does not go with them the risk of mission failure increases. Someone could die because of your choice, Jushiro. Could you live with that? What if it is Byakuya? You have known him all his life."

Ukitake smiled. "Tell them of the change in plans and tell them why. If Zaraki or Byakuya-kun or any others assigned to the mission are afraid to go, tell them I will gladly take their place."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kurotsuchi muttered.

"I believe I am still a captain," Ukitake said. "And if Aizen notices your mission I might be more useful than either of them. Byakuya has already failed against Aizen once."

"You know no one will accept your offer," Yamamoto said in irritation. "They'd be insulted to even hear it. They are foolhardy, every last one of them, and would never admit fear, even in the face of certain death, but it is my duty to do what I can to ensure their safety."

"And this time it is out of your hands," Ukitake said. "I'm sorry, General, but this conversation is over. I will do my best to forget it ever occured."

"Jushiro!"

"We both know that if it had been any other woman, the suggestion would never have been made. I think I will find it hard to forgive the fact that you believe Nemu to be less than a person, and I wonder what status our child will have in this Gotei of yours. If Ichimaru Gin feared his son, born of two parents whose rights you respect, would be in danger of abuse by the Gotei, what should I fear?"

He turned and walked swiftly away, ignoring the general's calls. He'd had enough, and in any case he felt an attack coming on, and he did not want to collapse here. He drew together enough reiatsu to shunpo away from the division and vanished.