7th division barracks.

Whilst walking Goro the pet dog at the back of the squad building, the 7th division's captain, Iba Tetsuzaemon, went around the premises to collect the previous day's paperwork.

The typical collection method is that after work, each soldier submits their paperwork of the day to the collection box in front of the office, but the former captain Komamura Sajin did this in a specific way, "Morning collection walk", which Iba continued to this day.

Upon finishing the collection, Iba returned Goro to his pen, he took a seat on a bench that was placed next to that pen. The bench was right under the growing shade of a Yamamomo tree, and a refreshing breeze was blowing. Iba took out a bundle of reports from the documents container, he shifted his sunglasses to his forehead and eyed the contents thoroughly, he then inked areas of concern in red.

When the paper bundle reached half its original amount, Goro who was sprawled out by Iba's feet with a white fur coat that swayed in the gentle breeze, pricked up his ears, and then raised his body.

"What's wrong, Goro?"

Goro barked once as if to bring attention to something, he gazed intently at the alleyway beside the squad building and wagged his tail excitedly. Before long from that alleyway appeared two young werewolves wearing student's hakama indicating they were students of the Shino Academy, they started sprinting into a tumble.

"Urui! Shouma!"

"Tetsu saaaan!"

The older brother Urui, who's grey fur fluttered, jumped at Iba's right leg as he stood up from the bench.

"Tetsu San, Tetsu San!"

The younger brother Shouma who had an ivory-white coat of fur, clung to the left leg also. Goro delightfully ran laps around Iba.

"What have you been up to so early in the morning?"

After patting their heads, Iba grasped the back of their collars, peeled them off of him and then lowered them back to the ground. The pair playfully followed and pet a slightly disheveled Goro whilst talking.

"Since we are starting the apprenticeship from tomorrow, throughout today we are learning the path leading to the barracks of the division we are temporarily affiliated with, sensei told us to examine what's around us!"

Shouma declared, "it's the last day off before things become terribly busy!" Urui added.

"So then, Tetsu san! We…"

Pulling Urui's sleeve whilst breaking him off mid-sentence, Shouma said "Big brother that's unfair! I will also say it!"

"Well then, let's say it on go! Ready, set, go!"

"We were assigned to the 7th division!"

From around his waist height, two sets of cute round eyes stared up at Iba.

"Both of you! That's amazing!"

"Right! It's awesome! Since it's 1 out of 13 and 1 out of 13…err…"

"1 out of 169!"

"Ah! That's the probability! Big brother calculates fast…!"

With a "that's right!" Urui placed his hands on his hips and threw out his chest. The thick bushy tail that protruded from his hakama swayed left and right.

Normally, the former apprentices were selected at random, the head of the academy probably allocated them both to the 7th division whilst considering their feelings, Iba thought.

"Ah, that's right! We wanted Tetsu san to make us a tail hole again, today we've brought our Shihakushou's hakama given to us by sensei!"

Urui tucked up his sleeves, from a bag he took out a black hakama accompanied by a small sewing box which he then handed over to Iba. "Mine too" Shouma also took a hakama out from the bag.

"Of course…even though I'm not your mother…"

Despite uttering that complaint, Iba opened up the sewing box and began working. Contrary to that manly appearance, Iba was nimble fingered, from carpentry to housework and sewing, he could do anything. It was also Iba that made a hole in their student hakama for their tails to pass through which the werewolf brothers were currently wearing.

Urui and Shouma sat on both sides like they were sandwiching Iba, they watched fixedly, captivated by his skill.

"Hey, Tetsu san. We went to meet Sajin sama yesterday night. We informed him that 'we are starting our apprenticeship from the day after tomorrow'."

Urui said whilst focusing his gaze on the tip of the needle sowing forward with a *prick-prick*.

"You snuck out of your dormitories again!…then, was Sajin dono doing well?"

"Uh huh! When we went and hunted such a plump pheasant!"

Shouma spread both of his hands widely with a complacent smile.

"I see. that's good"

"It was still warm and delicious"

Urui watched as Shouma licked his lips, "That's bad manners!" he chided.

"Sajin sama wanted us to tell Tetsu san that as a leader of people you must, more than anyone else, take care of yourself"

As Urui said that, Iba's hand suddenly stopped moving.

"Tetsu San was at the training field late at night and was discovered by Sajin sama" Shouma giggled.

"…He can see through anything… I'm no match for Sajin dono…"

Iba sighed and then laughed a little.

Komamura Sajin did battle using the secret "Humanisation technique" handed down to him by his werewolf clan in order to strike down the enemies of Genryusai, in the end, the price he paid for that was transforming into an animal that could not speak.

Along with becoming a wolf, Komamura survived through the Great War, he remained hidden in the hills behind the training fields, Iba reported to everyone that "Captain was killed in action".

All the existing captains and vice captains felt the spiritual pressure of Komamura - although it became much smaller and could not compare to before - but respecting the decision of Iba, they dealt with it as if he were killed in action.

Even when it became a popular topic of conversation that a large wolf had settled in the hills behind the 7th division's training grounds, everyone in the inner circle thought "it's Komamura Sajin…" whilst maintaining an air of indifference towards the subject.

One night, after half a year had passed since Komamura began living on the hillside.

Iba thought that it seemed as if Sajin was summoning him, he jumped up from his futon. He grabbed his haori and rushed out the front.

"It's going to be getting reasonably cold…"

Iba walked upon the training grounds, Komamura sat at the foot of a grass covered hill. When he caught sight of Iba's figure, he got up and gave a small bark, he then lead Iba up the hill. As he followed, he tread firmly on the soft ground were fallen leaves had accumulated, he was guided before a hole, approximately one meter in diameter, dug directly into a steep slope.

"Is there something inside…?"

Iba stooped down and concentrated his gaze inside the the pitch dark hole.

"Who is it? Sajin sama…?"

He thought he had imagined hearing the small voice coming from inside. Komamura barked towards the inside, there were sounds of something stirring about, two young werewolf boys creeped out. They were wearing clothes that were similar to rags, their fur was slightly dirty, only their eyes were a breathtaking vibrant orange colour.

"This is…! Are they werewolf children…!?"

Looking at the surprised Iba, the two werewolves with cute eyes said "Wooow!" in a raised voice.

"It's Iba Tetsuzaemon San!"

"Awesome, awesome! It's the real Tetsuzaemon san!"

The pair delightfully ran around Iba.

"Sajin sama called him here! Thank you very much!"

The young boy with grey fur threw his arms around Komamura's neck. Komamura responded with a sniff and softened his eyes.

"Tetsu san! We came here because we want to become shinigami!"

The other young boy with ivory-white fur, jumped about whilst grasping Iba's clothes, he teared himself away and said "hey! When people meet people, they introduce themselves first!"

The pair kneeled alongside each other whilst resting on both hands in front of Iba.

"It's nice to meet you! I am Urui of the werewolf family! I'm this guy's older brother"

"I am called Shouma! I'm the younger brother!"

In unison they voiced a "pleased to meet you" and bowed.

"I'm Tetsuzaemon Iba. 7th division captain."

Iba bowed sternly, "we know!" Shouma laughed.

"We read this and decided we want to become shinigami!"

Urui carefully took out a worn out magazine that was inside his pocket, he showed the front cover to Iba.

It was a squad 7 special feature issue of 'Seireitei communication' published many years ago.

Iba carried the two back to the squad house, they both took a bath first of all. Meanwhile, he quickly prepared rice balls and soup in the kitchen, the pair got up from the bathtub and put on new clothes, they then sat in front of the hibachi*(*traditional Japanese heating device)and ate their meal. Komamura hated the idea of heading inside, but he was pulled in regardless given no choice by the brothers, thinking "good grief" at the situation, he settled himself down in the corner of the room.

"So you guys, how did you come here?"

Iba asked the two who were now completely clean, whilst he was warming up with hot sake.

"We were packed into uncle's* cargo!"(Note:this 'uncle' person isnotactually their uncle, ojisan is not uncle in this context but using other words like 'mister' didn't flow well with the text so he will be referred to as 'uncle')

"Shouma, he won't understand if you just talk about that all of a sudden! Tetsu san, is it okay if this becomes a little long?"

Watching as Iba nodded, Urui put down his soup bowl and began talking.

"Because our werewolf clan normally live inside a den, we almost invariably don't know anything about the situation of the outside world. Even if we ask adults they say they don't know, so I thought I should go see for myself, together with Shouma, we secretly sneaked out of our den at the dead of night…"

"We went to a nearby town! The stars that came out were amazing!"

"The werewolf clan live on top of a large mineral deposit where various gems are mined, they are extracted for business. Since we knew that once a month, an adult takes the gems to a nearby town to exchange them for clothes and other supplies, we followed the scent and went there. It was night so there was no one on the streets but, the both of us got to take a look around for a while."

"Then, we met uncle!"

At the edge of town, a large refined looking man with a muscular build, was happy to see the two small werewolves and gave a broad smile.

"That person, he always carried out the gem transactions with our werewolf clan, he was uncle goods transporter."

"This book, he gave it to us!"

Shouma put aside his food and instead picked up and embraced the "Seireitei communication" magazine.

"Since we knew uncle would be in town in the evenings of the days the adults would go bartering for goods, we went to meet up with him many times, we heard about the outside world…stories of the Gotei squads. The fact that a very powerful ryoka came, that there was a battle to protect a human world town, that there was an awfully huge war and a lot of shinigami lost their lives…"

"Apparently, a lot of the 7th division shinigami also passed away. Sajin sama too…we were told he was dead. However we would not believe that! Such a big, strong and cool person like Sajin sama could not be dead…!"

"So then, we decided to go and confirm it. If he had truly died, at that moment…we said, let's become shinigami in Sajin sama's place!"

The Hibachi's glowing embers were reflecting in the eyes of the two who looked directly up at Iba. The original orange mixed with red, it appeared as if the insides of their eyes were set ablaze.

"If we said that to our mother, she would tell us 'don't say say such reckless things!' She'd get so angry that she'd lock our bedroom door from the outside at night…in the daytime the adults are watching and we can't sneak out, we were worried about what to do, on the day our father had bartering duty, he took us with him to town"

Before departing, their father said "since they've been secluded in a den the whole time, they've started talking about becoming shinigami. If I show them around outside a little it may calm them down." He persuaded their dissenting mother and then took the pair out.

"Our father did the business transaction at the edge of town with uncle goods transporter, at the end he said "won't you transport these guys to Seireitei".

"At that moment father handed over a red gem wrapped in a cloth, I saw it!"

"It was a ruby I think. I guess that was our transport fee.…father said 'shrewdly follow down the path that Sajin sama has opened up' with a smile he sent us off."

Watching his father's figure as he waved his hands enthusiastically, Urui suddenly thought that their father also might in fact have wanted to become shinigami. 'Did he give that up when we were born'.

As they both remembered their father, they seemed lonely, their ears turned downwards. The quiet room resounded with the noise of crackling charcoal.

"Uncle gave us cloth to hide our faces, so we wore that and walked through Rukongai for several days…we were then concealed inside a wooden box and loaded onto a cart before a huge gate."

"We were taken in swiftly without being exposed but, we were told we couldn't be unloaded in a place where there were people watching, so we went to uncle's delivery destination! It was a very big workshop called 'Omaeda Jewels'."

"The Omaedas' company buy gems from our werewolf clan…!"

'Omaeda Jewels' is one of soul society's Jewelers run by the Omaeda clan. The second division's vice captain Omaeda Marechiyo serves as the manager of the precious metals department; it was a familiar company Iba thought, but he's never heard of there being any relation to the werewolf clan before.

"To start with, we thought we should meet Tetsu san, we asked uncle about the location of the 7th division. In order to not be discovered by people, we only traveled at night time, we passed through mountainous terrain and forests…on the night of the third day, in the middle of the forest we detected the scent of a fellow wolf…!"

"We thought, Sajin sama is alive after all! We followed the scent and arrived at that hole, finally we found Sajin sama!"

At that moment their excitement returned, Shouma stood up and started hopping up and down on the spot.

"We explained to Sajin sama about everything until we came here, 'Tetsuzaemon will surely be of help to you' he told us…"

"Wait a minute! You guys can understand the captain's speech…!?"

"Eh? Tetsu san doesn't understand?"

"Shouma, people don't understand wolf language. That's normal."

Urui declared, Shouma sadly lowered his tail and walked towards Komamura. Sitting beside him Shouma said "Sajin sama is there anything you want to tell Tetsu san? I can relay it for you", he brought his ear close to Komamura's mouth. After pondering on this for a little while, Komamura gave several low barks, catching his words, Shouma came back in front of the hibachi with a smiling face.

"What did captain say…?"

"First of all he wants you to stop calling him 'captain'! Since Tetsu San is the captain now, it's uncomfortable to be called so"

"I, I see…! I apologise, ca… Sajin dono!"

Facing towards Komamura, Iba bowed his head, "you saved it at the last moment just now!" Urui said.

"And one more thing, 'Tetsuzaemon is well suited for parenting' he says!"

"Huuuuh…!?"

"Hahaha! I also think so too Sajin sama!"

"Me too I also think so!"

Watching as the pair rolled with laughter, a slightly embarrassed Iba took a gulp of his sake.

"What in the world do you think the time is right now…captain Iba!?"

Vice captain Iemura Yasochika, who came to give a warning to what seemed like soldiers staying up late, was lost for words when he saw the line up of faces illuminated by the Hibachi.

(Who are those wolf children!? And could that big wolf in the corner possibly be Komamura Sajin sama then…!? So does that mean those wolf children are members of Sajin sama's clan…!?)

"Ah! I know this guy!" Said Shouma pointing at Iemura whose mouth was agape.

"He's the person that's third seat of the 4th division!"

"If I'm not mistaken…that is Iemura san! Hey Tetsu san, why is there a 4th division member here so late?"

"You both might have read in 'Seireitei Communication' that this guy is in the 4th division, well he's my vice captain now"

Hearing that, the pair exchanged a glance at each other's faces "vice captain!?" they rushed over to Iemura.

"Nice to meet you! I'm called Urui, of the werewolf clan!"

"I'm called Shouma!"

Together they said, "Pleased to meet you lieutenant Iemura!" and they bowed.

"Th-that's very kind… I'm Iemura Yasochika, vice captain of squad 7…"

"These children, I will take responsibility over these werewolf brothers"

"Tetsu san, you're accepting us!?"

"Hooray!"

The two kicked off the floor, flying past the hibachi to embrace Iba. Behind his sunglasses, Iba looked fondly at them, he gently placed his hands on the two heads.

"What are you mumbling about Iemura, it's off-putting! Spit it out clearly!"

"No, that…it's just that captain Iba makes that kind of facial expression too…"

It was the first time in half a year seeing Iba with a smiling face. Naturally he was a man who didn't smile very much, after the Great War and since the captain's inauguration, his face was always tense and stern.

"What, you have the cheek to say that…!"

Iba tried to throw his sake cup at Iemura after feeling embarrassed that his smiling expression was seen but was stopped from doing so by Komamura. Komamura barked several times in a row, before long Urui translated the contents.

"You get too worked up. You need to loosen up the tension in your shoulders some more"

Dropping his raised arm, Iba apologised to Iemura, "sorry".

"Please don't apologise…it was on the spur of the moment. I will understand if I get a scolding right now however, if you will just allow me to say this…"

Iemura came closer to the hibachi, he sat on his heels in front of Iba and pushed his spectacles up.

"Captain Iba, I believe you have the tendency to be a little too stubborn. You train until late every night, regardless of the late hour I have to wake up to heal your wounds. It seems as if I was seated as vice captain because of the fact that I was from the 4th division. Even if I tell you to take a little rest, you do not listen, you relinquish your day off to train again and again…watching the captain being like that, the troops also train all the time until late, they barge into my place to fix their broken arms and fractured bones. Even when I have vice captain duties. Everyone says 'I want to be strong like captain someday', 'I want to be able to support the captain someday', truly…you are a wonderful captain. Except in just one place, you don't seem to appreciate your vice captain much."

Iemura said almost without taking a breath, he fearfully raised his face, Iba silently held out a sake cup for him.

"…thank you very much"

Iemura accepted it and remained quiet as the sake was poured.

The werewolves who were exhausted fell asleep atop Iba's knees, their light snoring could be heard. Settling against the Hibachi's embers, the two continued to drink together in peace.

"Look! How do you like it?"

Having completed sewing holes for their tails to pass through, Iba handed over the hakama one by one to each of the two.

"Thank you Tetsu san! Is it okay if we also wear them now?"

Shouma said hastily, raising his hands to the cords of his student hakama, "wait wait" he was halted by Iba.

"Keep it for tomorrow! I have to return to work already"

"Okay…"

Shouma disappointedly put the hakama back into the bag. "Hey Shouma let's go!" Urui urged, whilst waving enthusiastically at Iba they dashed towards the alleyway beside the squad building.

Rukia and Renji who received a numbered ticket at the reception desk of the Personnel Record administration Bureau, decided to use the lengthy waiting time to visit the 7th division barracks which was nearby to the administration bureau, they ran into the other pair in that alleyway.

"Wh-what! Those are the kids people have been talking about…!"

The young brothers of the werewolf clan who pass through the academy are rumoured to be 'super cute', they were particularly quite famous amongst the female troops who liked cute things.

"Awesome! Two vice captains!"

Shouma's eyes sparkled as he looked up at the couple.

"Tetsu san! Lieutenant Abarai and Lieutenant Kuchiki have arrived!"

Urui went back to the rear of the squad building to call out to Iba.

"Yo, wolf kid! What's your name?"

Renji bent down, his line of sight connected with Shouma's.

"I'm Shouma! From tomorrow, I'm an apprentice shinigami of the 7th division! …cool! I wish I also had that sort of hair colour!"

"Hehe, you think it's a nice colour? My real hair?"

Looking at Renji's crimson hair, Shouma wagged his tail.

"Yeah…!"

Rukia approached closer as though she was being drawn in by that fluffy tail, Shouma suddenly pricked up his ears and began sniffing. Following the source of the scent, his nose was brought near Rukia's body.

"Hey, hey!"

Renji caught the back of Shouma's collar and held him up.

"You can't just go boldly sniffing a woman like that! If you sniff around like that it will look bad!"

"…Don't sniff around in the first place"

"I'm sorry! But I did that because there was a sweet scent, I instinctively…"

Hearing 'sweet', Rukia said "I see, was it the scent of this?" from her sleeve she took out a small pouch. Opening the mouth of that pouch, she showed the inside to Shouma.

"Candy!"

Looking at the multicoloured candy, Shouma unconsciously licked the tip of his nose whilst sticking out his tongue. Rukia closed the pouch and handed it over to Shouma.

"Eat it together with your older brother"

"Yay!"

Shouma hoisted up the pouch and hopped up and down, from behind him Urui, who had returned with Iba in tow said "Thank you very much Lieutenant Kuchiki!"

"We must go now! Shall we look around the premises?"

"Oh yeah, right! Tetsu san thank you for the tail holes!"

"Tetsu san see you again tomorrow! Goodbye, lieutenant Abarai, lieutenant Kuchiki!"

Iba urged them forward, ahead of him the pair looked as if they were competing with each other as they left.

"The brothers are very pleasant…"

"They seem quite popular at the academy from what we hear."

"I strongly understand that feeling…!"

"That fluffy tail, it's making me want to touch it or something"

Rukia's thoughts ran away to that wagging tail, as if it had seared itself into her memory just now.

"So what did you guys come here for? By the looks of it, it seems like you're off duty but…"

Renji was wearing his shihakusho but with his vice captain badge removed, Rukia was clad in a cool, pale blue-green kimono.

Iba put his hand on his chin whilst looking in the direction of the pair who lowered their heads together.

"We're going to be getting married now, so we've come to pay a visit"

"We will continue as lieutenants together with being a married couple, so we came to say, please continue your support towards us"

"I see, right! Fellow vice captains getting married, this is a joyous thing!"

Iba clapped his large hands, applauding the shy couple. However, suddenly attaining a thought about something, his hands stopped.

Marriage, marriage registration, Personnel Record Administration Bureau, waiting time — inside Iba, everything linked together into one.

"Right now the both of you, you're under the Personnel Bureau's damned long waiting time?"

"That's right! Really, how is it this long!?"

"We thought we'd use the opportunity to come here, sorry to disturb you, captain Iba…"

"I don't mind! I suppose we're busy with one thing or another, thank you for showing up!"

Iba clapped Rukia's shoulder with a pat, he struck Renji's shoulder with a fist.

"Ouch!"

"Keep it up, Abarai!"

Iba grinned. Renji answered back with a "yes sir!" and a bow.

"I have to return back to work, since I'm still in the middle of filling in paperwork. I wish you happiness!"

Iba glanced at the documents tucked under his arm, he then lightly raised his hand at the pair as he went to return back to the squad barracks.

—–

When they returned to the path leading towards the Personnel Record Administration Bureau, Rukia asked Renji a question.

"Renji…captain Iba, was he always that way from the beginning…?"

"Even though I was told he was 'a certain way'… I didn't think anything in particular about it you know?"

"I see…"

Rukia appeared as if she was thinking about something, "what is it?" Renji enquired.

"I don't have that much of a deep relationship with captain Iba but… I suppose I was surprised by how easy it was to talk like that… I had the impression that it would be difficult for me to talk to him"

"Well… he's not the easy to talk to type"

"What would be good to say…uh…amicable…like he's become gentle…"

Rukia shifted both hands, trying to represent something fluffy and round.

"That shape…are you thinking about those small wolf kids…?"

"That's right, that's it Renji! Perhaps captain Iba had changed because he has become the acting parent of those children…!"

Even though it was through sunglasses, when Iba looked at the werewolf brothers, his eyes were very gentle.

(… certainly, if such a fluffy thing is wandering around near oneself, it's impossible to come off as being unapproachable forever…!)

Rukia strongly thought whilst at the same time deeply lamenting the fact that their apprenticeship was not at the 13th division instead.