A/N: Because I have nothing to do and this popped into my head. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own the OCs and plot. Anything that looks like it could be from Bleach probably is and thus I don't own it.

Takeshi Inuzuri, the fourth seat of the Eleventh Divison, was the most unsettling part of Eleventh if you polled the other Divisions of the Gotei. Though he currently visibly appeared to be at least 8 years old, he was silent and never spoke a word, leveling a penetrating gaze at you that gave you the sensation that he knew everything about you and found you beneath him (rumors abounded that he was actually Byakuya Kuchiki's long-lost sibling, one who had died and been reborn and had finally returned to the Soul Society. This also conveniently explained how well the two got along; for all that the captain was centuries older and more prone to talking. Everyone conveniently overlooked that Takeshi got along well with Hitsugaya-taicho, and that they also shared similar attributes ) Not that anyone was stupid enough to say so in front of any Eleventh member, if they valued their (after)life. Except for Ichigo, but Ichigo was practically Eleventh anyways, the Eleventh didn't take (too much) offense.

If you had to ask the Gotei, the level of unsettling landed somewhere above Mayuri Kurotsuchi when he had just come up with a new experiment and was planning on experimenting on you, below Ichigo's bankai aimed at you, and somewhere between Unohana-taicho smiling at you with her eyes open and Kyoraku-taicho's bankai , though well below having all the taicho's aim their bankai at you. If the Shinigami had to describe his unique brand of unsettling, it was like knowing that the Head of the Kuchiki clan was watching you and preparing to destroy you, but had no intention of reigning in the bloodshed that was about to occur or of you having a hope of defeating him. Or like Kyoraku taicho decided to unleash his shikai and take off his hat, maybe even if Unohana decided to draw her blade and fight you (nobody could recollect if anyone ever had seen Unohana fight, but the mere thought terrified them to the point that they decided that it was best to never speak of it again or even think of it since that most likely meant that anyone who had ever seen it occur was dead or worse.)

It was a good thing that Eleventh never heard any of this, because had they heard, they would have tried to prove that their Fourth was probably as scary as Aizen (though, in hindsight, they discovered that their fukutaicho and taicho would probably mercilessly end them and this near-miss with the destructive force of the two combined was never forgotten) Barring that, they might have gone around and tried to prove the opposite, since they knew that their Fourth was nothing if not loving and caring and funny (he was just really self-contained!) – though they might have had a spot of bother proving it. While good natured and always self-contained, few had heard him ever speak, and no one could remember if he had ever raised his voice above a whisper. (The running theory was that his yelling was to Takeshi as smiling was to Unohana, or Soutaicho opening his eyes fully. There was a concurrent theory that his voice was actually his bankai; no one's ever gotten any proof for or against so the secret statistics book that Yumichika keeps lists Takeshi as having attained bankai, just in case.) And his sense of humor was of the dry variety, said in a flat monotone and with little indication that he had meant to say something funny – the kind of thing that you had to be there for.

Even Eleventh held him in awe, since he was a skilled fighter and held his own with live weapons with Ikkaku and Yumichika regularly.( The other divisions have long since realized that if Eleventh is in awe of someone, then it was a wise decision to fear them.)He was feared because he had impeccable timing, walking in coldly on schemers plotting to do something not-quite-this-side-of-socially-acceptable, look at them both distantly and distainfully (The SWA was keeping a careful eye on him, since they figured that he was going to have a massive fan base one day; they were going to market him as the ideal mix between the Kenpachi and Byakuya. As long as Yachiru doesn't find out – but that is a tale for another story) and then proceed to ignore them and whatever they were doing to the point that they gave up trying to plot anything in his vicinity because he made them too nervous to do anything so it usually ended up with the plotters running out after the pressure had built too high for them to withstand. (Needless to say, it was all in their heads; Takeshi, if ever asked about these incidences, would cock his head to the side and stare at you in askance until you yourself felt uncomfortable and left.)

However, if we were to ask his adoptive mother, she would have had plenty of examples to prove Takeshi wasn't quite as scary as everyone made him out to be. She had pictures of him cuddling with his stuffed bear, cuddling on the Kenpachi's shoulder as they both lay in the shade of tree sleeping (though Ikkaku claimed that the mere fact that such a young child was okay with sleeping with the heavily scarred warrior was a testament to the fact that he was equally scary. Yachiru dyed his head hot pink for that.) We have to take her point of view with a mountain of salt – the stuffed bear was made from the remnants of his baby blanket, and everyone knows how people are attached to their baby blankets; the Kenpachi adored his grandchild, doing normal grandfatherly things with him like teaching him how to sword fight and letting Takeshi ride on his shoulders and secretly feeding him candy when he thought no one was looking (much like Komamura's divison, Eleventh turned a blind eye to the Kenpachi's actions, if only to keep themselves from being killed and not to save their taicho's pride. Even Eleventh division members have a shred of self-preservation instincts, even if it doesn't work in battle) We must also consider that Yachiru discovered her bankai after some fool (or as Eleventh refers to him, 'that &#$*% who messed with our Takeshi') tried to take advantage of Takeshi, and it has never been spoken of since (those who saw it shiver in fear when it is mentioned, the Kenpachi was ever so pleased). One must also consider her own unconventional upbringing, and conclude that of course as a mother and as a child raised in Eleventh, she wasn't going to see anything wrong with her son. Even if he could already beat a seated officer in less than 30 seconds and keep up with the Onmistukido Corp and out maneuver them on a regular day.

In reality, the only one who can actually give some credible report of how Takeshi is not a scary monster is in fact Juushiro Ukitake, for reasons that few would ever guess. Because what Ukitake taicho knows is that Takeshi Inuzuri is terribly shy. He can hold his own in a fight, yes, and has absolutely no fear of tugging on Soutaicho's beard or of getting caught in the Kuchiki manor without invite (though everyone presumes that he has no invite, everyone also assumes he gets caught or that he has been taught secret ways by Yachiru – everyone doesn't think that he simply walks through the front door) or of calling Komamura a 'doggie' where a normal person would be terrified to even reference how Komamura looks (In telling you that this, we must also report that no one actually saw it happen, merely overheard. Had they seen, they would have found a toddler pointing to images in a picture book, of what was indeed a 'doggie'. Komamura simply hasn't the heart to correct the rumor.) But Takeshi is shy in front of people he barely knows, and much prefers to watch people and not say much. He can have long conversations with Yumichika or Ikkaku or Yachiru, but if you stuck him in front of a new divison member or someone he barely knows, he does his best 'stone wall' act and everything goes downhill from there. But, he has a thirst for knowledge, and though he still stutters in Ukitake's presence (a far cry from their original meeting which consisted of Takeshi creeping in like a mouse when no one else was around and leaving a note asking for permission to get into the Gotei Library before disappearing), he's at least comfortable enough to try and talk. Plus, Ukitake keeps a careful eye on what Takeshi reads - monsters don't read books on agriculture or calligraphy, he's sure. (Or how to attain shikai, but that one was up for debate. Though Ukitake seems to always forget that Takeshi has the maturity of an eight year old, and such topics are slightly worrying for an eight-year-old to be consuming.)

Of course, disregarding everything that made him scary in everyone else's eyes, Eleventh always knew that their Fourth was no monster (this coming from the division that was led by a real monster), because of the simple fact (that they all agreed they would never spill, even at their drunkest, because kami smite them, their precious Takeshi was too adorable and loved to ever be put through such a humiliation at such an age) that he sang when he though no one was listening. It was a clear sound, one that harmonized well with his mother and grandfather's voices, though no one will admit that they secretly listen for the sound. It was rare to get the Kenpachi to sing, like pulling teeth to get Yachiru to sing, and even rarer to hear Takeshi. To hear the three together was something Eleventh swore would never be spoken of because it was so magical (their exact pact includes references to unicorns and angels singing)and they also swore to never mention how they hid in the vicinity to listen to the singing. Mostly because it was as un-warrior-ly as one could get, second because they didn't want the singers to discover that they were being listened to (although it could be argued that Takeshi knew, since he had stumbled upon a group of them listening once, though no one ever found out.)

Trying to publically insinuate that Takeshi was not ranked highly in the list of what makes the Gotei unsettling to a member of Eleventh, however, would be suicide.

A/N: The end. Until next time.

ModernArt