In comparison to the training grounds, this place made her feel like she was suffocating, there wasn't much in the way of nature, and she couldn't tell which turns they made to get here because it all looked the same. But, hey, it reminded her of home. The architecture probably fascinated her the most. How did they keep all these white buildings so clean all the time? She wasn't familiar with any of the Japanese kanji either, so she couldn't even tell what squad area they were in.

"And these are the barracks, Claire. And that is where Central 46 is, Claire. And, if you look way out into the distance, you can see a wall that separates the Seireitei from all the districts where souls live. Isn't that right, Claire?"

"Alright! So the first one I gave you was fake! But don't tell me that you didn't get a kick out of it. I saw you ready to laugh in the World of the Living."

By the time she had stopped, everyone's hearts did. "No way Ichigo!" Rukia couldn't take it in. "You were laughing at something?"

"He makes the freakiest noises when he does. It reminds me of a mutant duck being strangled."

Orihime tried to picture something along the lines of it and put it into sound, "You mean like this? Quuuuaaaaaeeeekkkugh!"

"Claire" made a little hum while she compared the two, "Pretty close but not shrill enou-"

"Alright. One, I don't sound anything like that! Two, I wasn't actually laughing! And three, where did you hear or even see a strangled mutant duck?"

He never found out. Like a crossing guard stopping cars, Lyn had her hand raised, if you can call something as limp as that "up in the air", in need of an answer. She didn't need them to say anything first. She didn't even wait for them to look, "There were a handful of people dressed in white robes on top, right? Is that an honor or are those little signs on their backs targets?" She gave a little grin to it, trying to signal that she had attempted a joke.

It didn't quite reach Rukia though, "You must be talking about white Captain robes. They aren't something to be taken lightly, Lyn. It's a great position that comes with power, respect, responsibility and required devotion to the squad you are put in charge of."

"I see. Good afternoon Captain."

"Captain" had come like a flame to a candlewick: silently, barely noticeable, but found when searched for. Long black hair had been held back in, if the Substitutes didn't know any better, what looked like a barrette. He seemed much too serious to wear something so feminine and childish. The scarf, however, was throwing them off.

"Good afternoon Brother."

"Hey Byakuya. What are you doing here?"

"I believe that I should be asking you that considering these are my squad's barracks. Also, it is only proper that you add 'Captain' in front of my 'family name'." Each word was slow and deliberate as though he doubted Ichigo could keep up if it was any faster. His superior attitude made it look like he was talking down to him even more.

Trying not to disturb their flow of conversation, the seven, Orihime and Chad began their own little discussion.

"That's her brother, huh?" Jaylin opened the topic.

"They do look a bit alike," Danio commented.

Orihime nodded in agreement while saying, "It's a real coincidence since they're not even related."

Suzette had her head cocked to the side, "Huh?"

"She's adopted," Chad noted when he found a point to say something.

"They like messing with Ichigo too much to not be related," A.J. tried to joke.

"I guess I can see a difference," Fujita admitted while looking over to Ichigo.

He was twitching a little while Rukia had a contrasting grin and exaggerating gestures to the captain with face unchanging. Whatever the captain said next had hardly made him look any different but Ichigo was a different story. He was shouting loud enough for the old Central 46 members to hear, "I was not!"

"Oh that's just great! If they're going to be in someone else's barracks, they should have some respect." Renji had been working at his desk for hours and couldn't take this distraction. Mostly, he was grateful to get an excuse to leave. "Let's just see what this is all about."

"Yo, Rukia! Ichigo!"

Rukia was more than happy to talk, but Ichigo just stood there scowling, "Hi Renji! What are you doing?"

"I was doing paperwork, but then there was some shouting. What does Ichigo have to be ticked about?"

"He's just mad because I found out that he laughed."

"You mean when we were in the World of the Living and he made that duck noise?"

"That's the one."

"You should have been there, it had this strangled sound to it at the end."

"Oh, for the love of crud!"

Normally, I don't like to use character abuse, but when I started thinking about how OOC chapter 5 was for Ichigo, I couldn't resist.

This isn't quite as long as I would like but I'm having trouble piecing the next part I planned together, so that will come next. When it does, it will be 1200+ words long. *Pinky Swear*

2000+ hits! YES! Thank you sooooo much!

Enjoy and please review ^_^