Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Zaraki left that afternoon, Yachiru on one shoulder, Yoruichi as a cat on the other. Kuukaku stood and watched them leave, and then spent the rest of the day in her workshop with the fireworks. That was the first day.
On the second day, Kuukaku dug up all the reiatsu dampeners from around her property and brought them to her workshop. They were outdated, anyhow.
On the third day, she sent Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko scouting for a wide open space around the other side of Sereitei.
On the fourth day it rained, and Kuukaku spent her time in the workshop with kidou instead of gunpowder.
It was on the morning of the fifth day that Yoruichi appeared once again at the entrance to the Shiba household. She was in human form, wearing shinigami robes and drying patches of blood that did not belong to her. In her right hand she held firmly the wrist of a small, scared-looking youth. Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko did not appear as she made her way across the lawn, but Kuukaku stood up to meet her.
"Kuukaku." Yoruichi's tone was clipped. "I believe this is yours." She brought the boy forward so that he stood in front of her.
"Ah, Ganjyu," Kuukaku began, but he didn't look at her, and Yoruichi looked at her tersely. "Go wash up; you're filthy," she changed what she was going to say, giving him an affectionate push on the shoulder.
"Hai, nee-san," he muttered, turning to leave, but hesitated. "Nee-san, I - I'm sorry!" he blurted out before running for the house.
Kuukaku's face, solemn before, took on a grim cast. She looked a question at Yoruichi, who, in response, tossed a hand-sized object at Kuukaku's face. Catching it, the Shiba clan-head turned it over.
"Eleventh division," she commented, and looked up at Yoruichi.
"I knew him," Yoruichi said, impassively. "Not well, of course. He was a good fighter; he deserved vice-captain rank."
"What happened, Yoruichi?" Kuukaku asked, deadly serious. "Where's Zaraki and the girl? And what does my brother have to do with all of this?"
"I'll make it short, because I don't have much time," the woman said. "We were ambushed in the 56th district, just after nightfall. It was raining pretty heavily; we were looking for shelter. They hit the Kenpachi and the girl with binding kidou; I was able to avoid it, and they weren't aiming for a cat, anyways. The rain was loud, and I couldn't hear and see much of anything because of it. There was a lot of confusion...from what I've managed to piece together, the Kenpachi broke mostly free of the binding spells by releasing his reiatsu, and began to fight back. They'd surrounded him, but he was holding his own, until one of them grabbed Ganjyu, out of nowhere."
"He has friends in the 56th," Kuukaku interjected. "He probably saw a fight and wanted to watch; he loves that kind of thing."
"Well, he got more than his share of view, because one moment the Kenpachi was going beserk, fighting his way out, and the next he's presented with a boy in front of his sword, and he hesitated. They hit him with more kidou, grabbed the girl, and shunpo'd off."
Kuukaku let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. "So that explains Ganjyu. And Yachiru-chan. Where's Zaraki?"
"That's the reason we don't have much time," Yoruichi said, and suddenly transformed into her feline self. "He just gave me a look, and went pelting off after the shinigami. I don't think he knows how to use shunpo, and he was injured and tired. He's probably around tenth district by now, if he ran all night. But he's gotta rest."
"He's not planning on breaking in to Sereitei..." Kuukaku said disbelievingly, but then caught Yoruichi's eye. "No...you know, I actually think he might. I wonder why that kid is so special to him?"
"Maybe you should ask why that kid is so special to everyone else," Yoruichi commented, extricating herself from the robes she had been wearing, and beginning to pad off across the lawn, towards the house. "Follow me; you're going to start packing."
"For what?" Kuukaku said, and edge in her voice. Yoruichi was forgetting just whose house it was.
The cat stopped and sat, looking back over her shoulder. "Kuukaku, this isn't time for a clan superiority match. I'm going back to Sereitei to confront the eleventh division captain about his actions, and I need you to find the Kenpachi and keep him from getting killed trying to get into Sereitei in the first place. Lead him to Jidanbou's gate, if you can't stop him: you could probably talk Jidanbou into letting him in."
Kuukaku began walking towards the house. "And what will be the result of all this? You'll make the captain say he's very sorry and give the girl up? Zaraki will walk up all nice and polite and Yachiru-chan back?"
"I don't know, Kuukaku," Yoruichi sighed, her cat's voice sounding very weary and aggrieved. "At the least, I'll take the captain up before Room 46: he's been conducting covert ops without the knowledge of other captains, or at the very least the special forces, and that's my territory he's trespassing on. Your job is to keep Zaraki from ryoka status: he doesn't want to be an enemy, or else all of Sereitei will be after him."
Kuukaku, who had reached the doors of the house, turned around to say something, but Yoruichi had already left: a faint breeze stirred the grass.
The head of the Shiba clan entered her household, mentally compiling a list of things she needed. So busy was she that she nearly tripped over Ganjyu, dressed in a towel and heading towards the bath.
"Ah, nee-san!" The boy stumbled back a few paces, clutching his towel and looking apprehensive. Kuukaku opened her mouth to speak, but Ganjyu plowed ahead, seemingly determined to get something off his chest. "Nee-san, what happened back there with Yoruichi-sama and the warrior...I'm sorry! I just wanted to see the shinigami, but I messed up and got caught, and it's all my fault that the girl got kidnapped and I'm so sorry!" He ended in a wail.
Kuukaku, recognizing self-blame when she saw it, squatted until her face was level with her little brother's, and put her hand on his head, mussing his hair affectionately. "Hey, hey, don't cry, sissy. It's not your fault, so don't go taking credit for it, okay? Yoruichi-san and I are going to fix it, don't worry."
Ganjyu sniffed a little. "Promise?"
"Yeah kid, I promise." Kuukaku stood up and began walking again, but halted at Ganjyu's voice.
"Er, nee-san...the shinigami? It wasn't...I mean, Kaien wasn't with them, right?" His voice, trembling at first, got stronger as his loyalty to his idolized older brother began to come through. "Kaien would never, ever do something like that to anyone, right? So he couldn't have been with them, right, nee-san?" His voice was hopeful.
"No, Ganjyu. Kaien would never do that." Kuukaku said, feeling older than her years. "He's...shinigami are just human, kiddo. Some are good guys, like Kaien. Some are bad guys, like the ones that tried to use you as a shield. Kaien's in another division, anyways," she added, "so he definitely wasn't there. Now go bathe; you smell."
"Hai!" Ganjyu trotted away, and Kuukaku put her mind back to the task at hand, very conscious of the time. It was best to travel light, anyway.
A/N: Well, this chapter turned out differently. I tried to write the action, I really did, but it was turning out clunky and uninspired. So instead, you get dialogue and little!Ganjyu.