Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Chapter Six - The Disappearance

Once Head Captain Ukitake had given Toushirou over to the care of the members of Squad Four, with a brief description of what had occurred out in the training grounds, the white haired man stepped back out into the hallway. Captain Unohana had informed him that she would send word the moment that they completed the child's treatment but Ukitake didn't want to leave the boy alone.

Because, although Toushirou hadn't said anything and had done his best to hide it, Ukitake had still picked up on the fact that the young boy had been at least a tiny bit frightened the last time that he had been here. And he wanted to be able to offer Toushirou comfort the moment that he regained consciousness.

Many wouldn't understand the feelings; after all, Ukitake had known him for less than a week. But to Ukitake that didn't matter. He had grown fond of Toushirou and he didn't want to see the boy go through any more trauma.

He'd already suffered more than enough for a child his age.

So Ukitake sat down in the corridor to await word of the youth's condition. And as he sat there, with his knees folded under him, he thought about how frequently he visited Squad Four.

And about how strange it was to not be the one being treated by the medical corp.

"Hey Jyuu!"

Ukitake glanced up as he heard the familiar voice calling out to him and he smiled as he watched his best friend walking down the corridor toward him. Wearing his customary pink haori, which was decorated with flowers, Shunsui Kyouraku, Captain of Squad Eight, definitely stood out in a crowd.

"Hello Shunsui," the Head Captain called out as his friend walked toward him. "What brings you to Squad Four?"

"Well," Kyouraku said, his gaze focused on the man that he had been friends with since their days in the Academy. "I was looking for you and since you weren't in your office I thought that the next logical place to look would be here."

"I see," Ukitake said, realizing as he did so that he really must spend way too much time at the medical corp if that was where people chose to search when he wasn't in his office. "Well you found me."

"I did," Kyouraku said as he sat down in the corridor beside his friend. "Although not in the condition that I was expecting."

"I didn't come here for myself," Ukitake said, offering his friend a smile.

"So then does your visit to Squad Four have anything to do with that tremendous reiatsu that rocked the Seireitei earlier?"

Ukitake nodded, his mind flashing back to the moment when Toushirou had lost control of his powers and they had erupted. "The child that I told you about, the one that was found in the Rukongai, was the source of that reiatsu."

Kyouraku was somewhat stunned by this pronouncement. He would never have guessed that such a young child, and one who was completely untrained, would be able to wield such strong powers.

"Unfortunately Toushirou can't control his powers yet," Ukitake said, once again feeling guilty for the fact that he had pushed the child so hard. "And he lost control of them. Captain Unohana said that he's going to be alright though."

"I see," Kyouraku said, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

"So what exactly was it that you were coming to see me about?" Ukitake asked, realizing that his friend was being uncharacteristically serious.

"You recall the large group of Hollow that were assembling in the world of the living?"

Ukitake nodded. Soul Society had received reports that a tremendous group of Hollow had assembled near a small village. Such groupings of Hollow were rare so a group of Shinigami had been sent out to look into the occurrence.

"Well," Kyouraku said, realizing that the news he had to give his friend was going to make him feel even worse than he did currently. "We recently received word that the entire group has completely disappeared."

"All of them?" Ukitake asked, his eyes wide and horrified. "What about Captain Aizen?"

"No trace of their reiatsu can be found," Kyouraku said. "Not even that of the Sousuke. I've dispatched a group to search but so far they've came up with nothing. We can't confirm that they're dead but it doesn't look good."

Ukitake's gaze shifted away from his best friend as his mind struggled to process the news that he'd just been given. He hadn't thought that the group of Hollows gathering had been particularly strong so how had they managed to kill an entire scouting group? And one that was headed by a captain no less.

This didn't make any sense.

"We will continue to search for them," Kyouraku said, picking up on Ukitake's feelings. "And if they're out there anywhere then rest assured that we will find them."

Ukitake nodded. He knew that his friend spoke the truth; if the missing Shinigami were out there somewhere then they would be found.

"What about the Hollow?"

"They seem to have disappeared as well," Kyouraku replied, removing his hat and rubbing the back of his head. "It's almost as though they vanished into thin air."

Now that was really odd. The only explanation for why the Hollow were gathering was that there was something in that village that was attracting them. Therefore the only explanation for why they would have just left was that they got whatever it was that they wanted.

Which boded ill for Soul Society.

"I'll have someone from Squad Twelve look into it," Ukitake said with a sigh. It would only add to the things that Urahara was already investigating but at least he wouldn't be bored that way.

"Good idea," Kyouraku said.

At that moment the door of the exam room opened and the Squad Four vice-captain, Isane Kotetsu, stepped out. She immediately noticed the two captains who were sitting in the corridor and bowed politely to them. "I was just about to come and search for you Head Captain Ukitake," she said in a quiet voice. "The child is awake if you'd like to come and see him."

Ukitake immediately got to his feet, followed closely behind by Kyouraku, and together the two captains entered the room.

The moment that he stepped inside the room Ukitake's gaze shifted about, in search of the child. His eyes focused upon the bed that was located in the center of the room and he saw that Toushirou was lying there however it was only the gentle hand of Captain Unohana that was keeping him in that position. "Toushirou," he said, his voice somewhat stern. "Must you always be so difficult?"

The boy's teal eyes immediately turned toward Ukitake and, underneath the defiance, the Head Captain was certain that he saw a slight trace of fear. Walking over to the child's bedside Ukitake reached out and gently tousled Toushirou's snowy hair. "You're alright so calm down."

Captain Unohana took her hand off the child's shoulder and, although he still didn't look happy, Toushirou made no further attempts to get out of bed.

"What happened?" the child asked, his voice somewhat shaky.

"You don't remember?" Ukitake asked, gazing down at the child.

"Wouldn't be asking if I did," Toushirou muttered.

"I suppose that's true enough," Ukitake said, offering the boy a smile. "Well your reiatsu got somewhat out of control and then you collapsed."

A thoughtful expression appeared on the young boy's face as he tried to recall the incident. Unfortunately, try as he might, Toushirou found that he couldn't remember anything past Ukitake teaching him some basic kidou.

"I'm sorry," Toushirou said, his gaze downcast. Ukitake had stated that his reiatsu had gone out of control which, to him, sounded as though some damage had been done.

Reaching out to the boy once more Ukitake placed a comforting hand on Toushirou's shoulder. "You don't have to apologize Shiro-chan. I shouldn't have expected so much from you. We'll take it slower from now on."

"No," Toushirou said, determination shining in his large teal eyes. Now that he knew that he had powers the boy was determined to learn how to control them.

So that something like this wouldn't happen again.

Hearing the strength in the boy's voice and seeing the determination in his eyes came as something of a shock to the Head Captain. He gazed down at the child; so small to be going through so much. And yet he respected the boy's wish to learn to control his powers. "We'll talk more about it when you're feeling better."

"I feel fine," Toushirou maintained, once again making an attempt to get up.

"You're being difficult again," Ukitake said, giving the boy a look.

Toushirou blew out a frustrated breath but once again discontinued his attempts to leave the bed. Didn't look like he was going to have any luck at it anyway.

A/N - Hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Had a little Ukitake/Toushirou bonding moment. And one of our captain's has disappeared.