Kuchiki Rukia sat with Kotetsu Kiyone drinking tea on a bench in the thirteenth squad courtyard, when a small figure with white hair appeared at the gate, looking as if he was slightly lost. He walked into the courtyard, glancing around. Both Rukia and Kiyone suddenly put down their tea and hurried over.

"Are you lost little boy?" Kiyone suddenly asked. "It is so very cute that you're dressing up as a shingami, but you really shouldn't be here."

"Little boy… I am a shingami!" Toshiro snapped. "I was…"

"Don't lie," Kiyone suddenly grabbed Toshiro's hand, to which he pulled away. The girl glared at him for this. "Look, tell me where you live and I'll take you home."

"I live at tenth division, and I am a subordinate to taicho, Lieutenant Tomo and third seat Matsumoto," the boy folded his arms.

"So that pervert decided to adopt a little kid?" Kiyone muttered, annoyance in her voice.

"That's a new one… I would have expected Rangiku to have used that one, for all the sneak attacks that taicho does on us…" Toshiro sighed. "And I'm not adopted… I graduated recently from the academy."

"Do they let kids as young as you into the academy," Rukia suddenly asked.

"Normally, no," Toshiro narrowed his eyes at the two girls. "I've met some of the other seated officers. Aizen and Gin don't count, as Hinamori told me about them, and neither do Izuru and Abarai as…"

"Oh… they would have graduated recently, right?" Rukia suddenly had a sad look on her face. "I heard that they all got into the fifth division, but Aizen-sama is sending Kira-kun over to forth division to train in healing ability. Rumor has it that after he's had some training, he'll become lieutenant, right Kiyone?"

"Hai!" the girl responded, then frowned at Toshiro. "Since Hinamori Momo told you, those don't count, do they?"

"Soifon is captain of the second division, her stupid, really fat lieutenant is the one who when he called my name at the graduation ceremony, he thought I wasn't there because he didn't even bother to look down. The eighth division captain got beat up by his lieutenant because he tried to give me sake. The sixth division captain is Kuchiki Byakuya…"

"I would know who nee-sama is," Rukia shook her head.

Toshiro gave her a funny look. "I thought that you would be younger because the paperwork I had to recopy had a bunch of scribbles on them."

"Probably the lieutenant of the eleventh divisions work," Kiyone made a face at the small boy, then grabbed his ear.

"Oww! Stop that!" Toshiro snapped, trying to pull away.

"I am taking you back to tenth division," the orange haired girl stated. "We don't need that division's wannabe shingami running around causing trouble!"

"W…wanna…be…shingami! I am not!" Toshiro was suddenly yelling, which brought forth a woman from inside the division quarters.

"Then what seat are you!" Kiyone snapped.

Toshiro gave her a very hurt and angry look. He hissed at the older girl. "I wasn't put on any of the lists."

"Ahh… Hitsugaya Toshiro… your taicho sent word that you would be coming," a woman smiled at him. "I am Shiba Miyako, third seat of thirteenth division."

"You were expecting this little one Miyako-dono?" Rukia suddenly asked.

"Yes… his taicho wanted to have him help me with the preparations for when he, their second and third seat come over," the woman gently took hold of Toshiro's shoulders and led him into a small kitchen area. She took a tray and placed it into his arms and began to put tea onto the tray.

"Is that tea for Ukitake taicho?" came a man with an odd goatee on his face. Suddenly, both he and Kiyone made a grab for the tray.

"I want to take it to taicho!" … "No, me!"

Hot tea suddenly sprayed all over Toshiro, causing him to let out a few choice words to the pairs actions. Kiyone raised an eyebrow. "Miyako… perverted taicho taught the wanna be shingami kid bad words!"

At this, a few more, even worse words came out of the white haired boy's mouth. Miyako raised a black eyebrow. "Some very bad words indeed."

It was then that Toshiro suddenly found the back of his shingami uniform grabbed by the woman and he found himself hoisted by the belt to sit on the counter. He opened his mouth to protest, only to find a small bar of soap shoved into his mouth. He opened it to protest, however, Miyako spoke up. "Do not open your mouth until I tell you to, understand."

Toshiro folded his arms, none to pleased about the situation. The man that had come in made a face at him. "What exactly is so special about this little brat, other then he knows how to cuss really well."

At that the young shingami's face began to turn red, to which Kiyone blurted out, "Or how to become very happy."

Miyako raised an eyebrow, then turned to Rukia. "Kuchiki-san… what were my husband's great achievements?"

"Ahh… Lieutenant Shiba Kaien?" Rukia suddenly became excited. "Shiba-sama graduated from the academy in a very short period of time!"

Miyako then took the time to pat Toshiro on the head, causing his eyebrow to twitch. "This little one graduated from the academy in one year and is the youngest to ever graduate. Kaien's been wanting to meet him ever since he was brought up at a captain's meeting."

"Why would…" Toshiro opened his mouth, his words coming out partially garbled, but received a glare from Miyako.

"My husband fills in for the taicho a lot due to the fact that Ukitake is not always well," the woman smiled," the woman smiled. "Anyways… Rukia, could you take Kiyone and Sentaro to see what the Kuchiki estates look like?"

Sentaro and Kiyone got very sad look on their faces, but Rukia grabbed the back of their robes and bowed as she did. "Understood!"

After they left, Toshiro opened his mouth to say something, but Miyako shook her finger at him. "I didn't say you could open your mouth."

M

Lieutenant Tomo and third seat Rangiku sat inside the room of the thirteenth division's taicho. Isshin was no where to be seen, as he hadn't come with them, and he had also sent Toshiro on a different route in order so that he could have a serious talk with the white haired taicho. Ukitake smiled at the two. "So where is Isshin, Atsuo and Ran-chan?"

"I don't…" the lieutenant suddenly spoke up, only to have two heads pop down from the exterior sliding door, their heads poking out from the roof.

"Yo! Captain, I found an intruder trying to sneak into the building," the man with short hair jumped down.

"Ukitake!" Isshin chimed in, his face covered in the classic burglar gag costume. "Your lieutenant is as alert as ever!"

Kaien rolled his eyes at this as the tenth division taicho hopped down and they both took a seat with the man. "Miyako cleared out the training room like Isshin taicho commanded… asked for."

Ukitake waved his hands. "Nah, nah… it is all right, Isshin has a reason for everything."

"I hope that Miyako is keeping Toshiro occupied until we get a chance to get over there," Atsuo shook his head. "We still haven't told him about what is going on."

Ukitake raised an eyebrow. "You mean this has to do with placing the child in the Lieutenant rank?"

"I believe so," thirteenth's lieutenant suddenly commented. "Should we possibly not see out what is going on?"

Ukitake closed his eyes. "Isshin… you know how I feel about children fighting the battles that trouble the dreams of adults. You know I have my reasons."

"I think, Ukitake… you'll understand when you see his shikai," Isshin commented. Instead of giving his usual goofy smile, it was rather serious.

Ukitake raised an eyebrow at this. "Exactly how many people have seen his shikai?"

"Well… lets say that the number I know that can tell about his shikai is at this point, three, myself, Atsuo and Ran-chan," Isshin smiled. "Also… the general knows about his shikai too… for reasons I can't discuss."

"I've been wanting to see it ever since I heard another child prodigy was coming through the ranks," Kaien smirked. "I think that even if you don't give your support to getting the lieutenant rank, that to see his shikai would be an honor, no?"

Ukitake couldn't help but smile at this, but his eyes stated that he still had his concerns about the whole matter.

M

To say the least, Toshiro was rather miffed at having a bar of soup stuck in his mouth for such a long time. Miyako carefully organized the pillows in the training room. "Isshin taicho will want to sit by Ukitake taicho. The lieutenants should sit on either side of their captains. Kaien wants to meet you, so you'll sit by his right, and I'll sit on the other side of you, while Ran-chan can sit next to me? Does that sound all right to you?"

Toshiro glared at the woman, pointing at his mouth, then quickly re-grabbing the tray of tea that he had been holding. Miyako nodded her head. "Good… someone your age shouldn't say such words… and I can tell that you're glaring at me, even though I'm not looking at you."

It was then that the others came into the room. Miyako indicated which seat they should each take, then took the tray from Toshiro and then set it down in front of Ukitake. She then took her seat. The white haired taicho then spoke up. "I am Ukitake Jushiro, taicho of the thirteenth division. Your taicho wanted me to see your shikai release."

Toshiro's eyes suddenly went wide and he opened his mouth to protest, only a soap bubble came out of his mouth, causing him to clasp a hand over his mouth. Kaien suddenly had his eyebrow rise up and a smirk appear on his face. He suddenly began to laugh out loud. "This is better then I thought… Isshin… the kid is a character!"

Miyako held out her hand, to which Toshiro responded by removing the bar of soap from his mouth and walked over and placed it into the woman's hand. Isshin shook his head. "I warned you about using certain words, didn't I? Seems Miyako-san beat me getting to use the soap!"

"Perverted old man…" Toshiro suddenly muttered.

Ukitake shook his head at this. "Would you like to show us your shikai Shiro-chan?"

"I…" Toshiro closed his eyes. "I am not comfortable doing this… I broke the ceiling the last time I did it inside."

"Just try… I don't think that anything bad happening," Hyorinmaru laughed.

"Says you!" Toshiro pulled out his sword, the holder disappearing then reforming on his back so that he could get the sword lose. He took a deep breath, then released. "Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru."

Ukitake watched carefully as the sword lengthened and a moon shaped blade attached to a chain appeared. Toshiro then carefully moved, causing a Chinese dragon to appear from the tip, encircle him, then disappear. Some snow began to fall in the room, to which Ran held out her hand. "This didn't happen before…"

"You know…" Kaien smirked, "While I was kind of hoping that you would crash our roof like you did your divisions, for a little excitement… seeing such a nice special ability is something indeed."

"Indeed," Ukitake took a sip of his tea, only to open his eyes wide as he found it to have gone from piping hot, to cold with a matter of a few seconds.

"Reminds me of how much we want children," Miyako muttered, then shook her head. "Oh… sorry…"

The lieutenant of the thirteenth division raised an eyebrow, his smirk still on his face, then turned to Toshiro. "What kind of games do you play?"

"Games… I don't have time to play games," Toshiro stammered out, taken completely off guard.

"You grew up in the rukongai, didn't you?" the man suddenly thumped the boy on his head. "Do you know the game called soccer? It is a relatively new thing I hear, and I just happened to learn the rules and was wondering if it might be a good game for training? Want to help me figure out if it might be?"

"Ehh… how can a game be used for training? That sounds… childish… like goat beard type of childish…" Toshiro frowned.

However, Kaien grabbed the shoulder of his uniform and dragged him off. He saluted them, "We are going to be participating in very important business!"

"He's always known how to handle things in a way that seems completely without tact, but in truth possibly has the best tact of all," Ukitake suddenly frowned. "That child… I've never seen one with that much reiatsu of spiritual pressure. It is evident in the release alone."

"Isn't it pretty," Rangiku muttered dreamily. "I want to hug his shikai as much as I want to hug him! They are both adorable! Though he gets grumpy about things like that…"

"Do you now understand why I want to put him into the lieutenant's position," Isshin then asked.

"Unfortunately, I do," Ukitake closed his eyes. "He needs the limiter placed on him… but how did he get into the academy as early as he did?"

"He nearly killed his granny with his reiatsu," Matsumoto murmured.

"In other words," the remaining lieutenant spoke up, "His zanpaktou has been trying to contact him for some time now."

"Sad," Ukitake frowned. "But I do understand… and I will speak with Shunsui about this… I am sure if he finds that I am putting forth my support, that he will too… but… I don't want him to grow up to fast!"

"I was hoping for that," Isshin smiled. "Though I get the feeling he's had few chances to get to be a child."

M

Toshiro had seen some of the other children back in the rukongai district play with kicking the ball around, but he had never been invited to join in. At first, his movements were unsure of themselves, and uncomfortable, but somehow Kaien made him feel comfortable, and he passed the ball back and forth with the man.

Because of this, Toshiro didn't notice that the time was passing, until his body was nearly about to give out from exhaustion and Isshin and the other two came to retrieve him. Kaien laughed as the white haired boy protested Isshin swinging him up onto his back. "Old geezer… I can walk you know."

"Papa says no," Isshin suddenly smirked. "See you later Shiba!"

Kaien saluted them and went inside to see his captain and his wife. Toshiro leaned over from where he was on his taicho's back. "Atsuo-san… why is it that my shikai didn't mess up? I thought that I kept breaking the Kido barriers kept breaking."

"Ahh… about that… you didn't notice the barrier was getting smaller?" the lieutenant of the tenth division smirked. "That was part of taicho's plan to help you get better. Ehh… Toshiro?"

"He's already asleep…" Isshin shook his head at his two subordinates walking next to him. "Don't have to worry about him wandering tonight, do we?"