*cough* Next chapter! woo! This is the first time I've even contemplated doing anything longer than a two chapter story, so yay, but also my apologies if it isn't great, as I've never done this sort of thing before ^_^

That said...I hope you enjoy this!

He had said he didn't care about their 'problems', but this was just too much. The brat was refusing to sleep in his room and, he had discovered, had been sleeping in Ikkaku's room for the past week. "Why?" Kenpachi snarled, his frayed nerves threatening to finally snap.

The boy stared at him as if the answer was blindingly obvious, and only a moron could miss it. "The colour, the colour of course! You can't expect me to sleep in a room that's that sort of disgusting green grey!"

Extreme vanity? Unohana hadn't been kidding, the teen saw everything in terms of 'ugly' or 'beautiful'. 'the room was ugly' 'the garden was ugly'... Kenpachi scowled. "That's the colour it is, lump it."

Yumichika glared at him sulkily but before he could reply Yachiru bounded round the corner, skidding to a halt between the two of them. To Kenpachi's surprise the little girl had taken instantly to the two teens, and constantly demanded their attention, much to their irritation. She tugged at Yumichika's sleeve. "What's wrong? What's wrong? Where's Cue-ball?"

Sensing the malevolent aura emanating from the increasingly frustrated boy Kenpachi picked her up. "Leave Yumichika alone, go find Ikkaku yourself."

The little girl pouted but left as the large man shooed her away. One problem sorted, but there was still the issue of the room. He turned back to Yumichika, who was looking sullen. "Listen to me. That is your room, you will sleep in it, no negotiations. I don't care what it looks like, it could be pink and frilly, or vomit coloured, you will still sleep in it!"

An odd expression came into the other's face when Kenpachi had finished, and he nodded slowly, his eyes wide. Glad that the exhausting argument was over, Kenpachi grunted and left the boy to his thoughts.

They were, he could see deep down, all right kids, but they were uncooperative in the extreme and argumentative, and they were wearing down his nerves with their whims and difficulties. If they both had the same oddities then it might have been easier, but as it was they were very different, and he had to employ different tactics to deal with them. The saving grace of his life was Unohana, who would visit occasionally to see how the pair were getting along and was a huge help with advice on how to deal with the two. It was from her that he learned of Ikkaku's interest in Kendo, and he was making arrangements with a friend to have him learn. Yumichika's fondness for gardening had also come as a welcome surprise, and he had soon got into the teenager's good books with a present of some gardening gloves and a few pots of flowers.

As he sat and thought, a small head poked around the door frame, followed by the body of Yachiru, who crawled onto his lap evidently tired of her search for the elusive Ikkaku. "Ken-Chan? You look happy."

Rearranging the child on his lap he grunted. He had never thought that he would enjoy parenting this much, especially not with the two pain-in-the-necks that he had found himself with, but, in its own way it was oddly exhilarating. With children you never knew what they were going to do next. Never before had he considered that you could get something approaching an adrenaline rush from a child. "Yeah" he muttered gruffly, "What do you think of them?"

Yachiru paused, her childlike face thoughtful. "They argue a lot, and Cue-ball is always grumpy, but Yumi is nice, he lets me help in the garden"

"Why do you call Ikkaku cue-ball?"

Her face brightened as she replied "Because his head is all shiny, like a ball. If you got a stick, you could use it to knock the other balls around!"

Kenpachi really couldn't think of a reply to her innocent logic, so he just left it at that. They sat for a while in relative quiet. Ikkaku was nowhere to be found for the moment and Yumichika was probably sulking, so there were none of the loud outbursts which had become commonplace in the now slightly cramped house. It was a welcome reprieve.

Upstairs, Yumichika sat on his bed, the horrendous colour of the walls temporarily forgotten as he thought, his violet eyes occasionally darting from the carpet to the walls. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the doorway and he looked up with a small smile. "Yachiru was looking for you, Ikkaku." he commented.

"Bah, little brat. I don't know why someone like him would take someone like her. You have to admire his bravery though."

Yumichika nodded. "He's not like anyone else we've been put with."

"Nope! He doesn't try to connect, or understand us. His word is law. Its...refreshing." Ikkaku grinned. "Did you give in over the room?"

Eyes bright Yumichika shook his head. "No, but I had an idea. I need your help carrying some stuff."

XXXX

Kenpachi was beginning to get suspicious. He had seen no one for about an hour, they had come in carrying something, bustled around with some newspaper and then it had fallen oddly silent. Soon after that Yachiru had disappeared too. Kenpachi was all for quiet, but there was quiet and then there was quiet, and it was unheard of for the three of them to be in a room and not make noise that could be heard at the other end of the street. The two teenagers had never learned the value of silence and Yachiru was just naturally loud, but now there was a sort of industrious silence about the place.

With a sigh he heaved himself up, supposing that he should go and find out what they were doing. As he ascended the stairs he could hear quiet murmuring (and some not so quiet from Yachiru) coming from Yumichika's room and he slowly crept forward, cracking the door open. The sight inside left him speechless

The floor was covered with a layer of newspaper from wall to wall with not an inch of carpet showing, which was just as well because the paper was splattered with a deep, sea blue paint, especially around where Yachiru was merrily brandishing a paintbrush at the wall. A safe distance away Ikkaku was also working on a wall while keeping a wary eye on the girl. On the other side of the room the thin frame of Yumichika could be seen struggling with the bed, trying to prop it against the wall to save it from the droplets of paint being cast around the room by the pair's over enthusiastic helper.

It was a surprising sight, not because they were painting the room without asking him, but because they were working together, all three of them, like...like a family, a concept which both Ikkaku and Yumichika had vehemently denied they wanted a part in. Without a word he strode into the room and took the bed frame from the struggling boy, easily leaning it against the unpainted wall before turning to him. "You planned this yourself?"

Yumichika reddened. "You did say it didn't matter what colour it was..."

"It doesn't."

"I paid for it myself..." The teenager was getting increasingly defensive.

Kenpachi frowned a little "Idiot. If you wanted to do it that bad I'd have given you the money."

Eyes wide Yumichika opened his mouth and then shut it again, before finally asking, a little hesitantly. "You don't mind?"

Surprised at seeing this side to the normally sharp tongued boy Kenpachi shook his head. "It's your room" He muttered gruffly. "You can do what you want with it." Looking around he could see Ikkaku watching him, his clothes covered in splotches of paint. "Nice to see you today Ikkaku."

The shaven headed boy looked at the floor with an uncertain frown as Yachiru waved her brush excitedly. "Lets all paint!"

Kenpachi looked at Yumichika who just looked back at him confused. "This is your operation, you call the shots." The large man said finally. "You want some help?"

Both Yumichika and Ikkaku stared at him for a moment, they had never encountered someone who treated them like... adults, with the sort of unconcerned, gruff mixture of respect and care that he did. No adult, save Unohana, had ever asked them what they wanted, and no one, absolutely no one, had ever asked their permission to do something.

Eventually Yumichika nodded mutely and cast about himself. "But we only have three brushes..."

"There's one somewhere" Kenpachi vaguely recalled there being on in the rickety little shed at the end of the garden. "I'll go find it."

The four of them spent the rest of the day painting the small room. Together. Whenever Kenpachi glanced at them he found a new expression in Yumichika's eyes, something similar to respect and without the resentment which had been there previously. Even Ikkaku's perpetual scowl was missing as he focused on the task in front of him and for the first time they were almost like a proper family.

When they had finished and were cleaning the brushes, and Yachiru, who seemed to have got more paint on herself than the wall, Kenpachi turned to the two boys. "You can do the hall too" he said, before adding, "If you like."

The smile on Yumichika's face, and the almost smile on Ikkaku's, was entirely worth it.

They had taken a step forward.

Any information on what people liked or what could be changed/improved would be greatly appreciated! ^_^ Go on...you know you want to.