Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach obviously

Chapter 26 – Resolution

The trip back from Hueco Mundo was a larger pain in the ass than Shiro had anticipated it being but through some miracle the white-haired Shinigami prodigy did manage to get all of them back in one piece. And with only some minor whining from the twins about how it was taking forever and how they were NEVER going to get back home. He took all of that with as much patience as he could, reminding himself that they were little and that it was to be expected, but still when they arrived back in Soul Society he couldn't help looking at the little ones with a smirk.

"Told you so," Shiro said to his siblings before once again looking over at Kasumi. "You coming with to the Head Captain's office?" he asked, not outright willing to ask her to do that but all the same really hoping that she would take the initiative on her own.

Mainly because it would make his life infinitely easier to have her there to back him up.

Not that he was expecting Ukitake to be unreasonable or to refuse to listen to them, that wasn't the case at all because he knew that the Head Captain was nothing if not fair. It was just that things would be easier the more people that they had in their corner right now.

Heikichi was going to need all the help that he could get.

"Of course," Kasumi said with a nod of her head, giving Shiro a look like 'I can't believe you had any doubts'.

A look that gained a slight smirk from the white-haired prodigy.

"The twins are coming too," Kasumi added with a smile, knowing that the more people they had the easier this was going to be for them. And she was thinking that they were going to need all the help that they could get.

She didn't have as much experience with Head Captain Ukitake as Shiro had and so she wasn't as confident as the other teen that this was going to end well for them.

So she was trying to stack the odds in their favor.

"Yesh, we're coming!" Kaien and Masaki chimed in unison, the little ones bouncing up and down in excitement. It seemed that they didn't realize the seriousness of the situation, not that this was really surprising given their young age.

"Okay, group field trip," Shiro said with a smirk, the white-haired teen looking at Heikichi as he added, "Time to go face the music!" For whatever reason he actually sounded excited about this prospect.

A fact that sort of bothered Heikichi if he were being honest.

But he kept that thought to himself and just nodded his head, taking a deep breath and trying not to look as nervous as he was feeling right now. That was easier said than done but somehow he managed, outwardly appearing stoic even though inside his heart was racing.

The meeting with Head Captain Ukitake was a rather long one and the children were all very animated in their defense of their friend. None of them, not even the tiny twins, were willing to stop until they knew that their friend wasn't going to be in serious trouble for what had happened.

And until they knew that Ryuu was going to pay for what he had done.

Not that there was going to be any question of that when Ichigo learned of what had happened, the orange-haired Shinigami captain was in all likelihood going to seriously make the man pay and likely wish for the completely oblivion of soul death.

In the end Ukitake decided that while his actions had been ill advised he was just trying to do what he thought was right and the man decided that there would be no punishment. He did make the teen promise that he would never do something that reckless again.

A promise that Heikichi was more than happy to give if it meant that he wasn't going to end up executed or something even worse than that. What was worse than that he wouldn't have been able to say but he was thinking that there had to be something.

After the meeting the quintet of children left the Head Captain's office and made their way to the Squad Four barracks so that the injuries that Heikichi and to a lesser extent Shiro had suffered could be treated.

"Next time I start to do something so abysmally stupid just smack the hell out of me," Heikichi said with a shake of his head, ruefully trying not to move too much since his entire body hurt at this point. He knew it felt worse than it was but that didn't really make things any better for him.

"I'm pretty sure that's what I did…and why we're going to see the medics," Shiro said as he gazed at Heikichi.

"Yea but you did it after the fact, next time do it before," Heikichi said bluntly, leaning a bit more heavily against Shiro as they made their way to the medical corp to get this taken care of. He was starting to get a bit weaker but even so he still didn't think that any of this was life threatening.

For which he was surprised considering the vengeance that Shiro had attacked him with.

"I hope everyone knows not to mess with your siblings," Heikichi said wryly. "Cause hell hath no fury…that was scary." There was a serious note to his voice as he said this, that encounter having actually caused him to fear for his life even while he was trying to defend it.

That was a first for him.

"If they don't then it's on them if they try it," Shiro said, a serious note to his own voice since he would fight and he would kill to protect his siblings. There was no doubt about that, his family was everything to him.

Kasumi was walking behind the pair, still holding the hands of the twins, and she smiled slightly as she heard this exchange between them. It seemed that things were finally settling back to normal, or at least as normal as they ever really got in Soul Society.

For which she was extremely grateful.

"Hopefully things will stay this way for a while," she murmured, her words meant more for herself than for anyone else in the group. "I've had more than enough excitement for a while and I'm sure that Shiro has as well." As always her priority was making sure that Shiro was safe, something that she had been doing since they were children.

And something that she intended to keep on doing.

For always.

A/N – And that's the end. All's well that ends well and all that. Hope you enjoyed this journey. Thanks for reading.