Summary: Captain Muguruma has gone missing. Shuuhei is not willing to take this sitting down. Part one of many, some, or none.
Notes: So. I have a fic that I owe Ann that is actually partially written. This is not that fic. It is, however, a sort of fun take on her request. Starring chibi!Shuuhei and young!Byakuya. The original challenge was Byakuya and a recently promoted Captain Shuuhei investigating a series of missing people reports. And so, they do. Byakuya is about the equivalent of 14 humans years here, and Shuuhei is about 5? Basically, it's during the same period as the TBTP arc.

The big adventures of little Byakuya and chibi Shuuhei.
In which Shuuhei is promoted and Byakuya is beautiful.

Byakuya was being watched. This was not an abnormal phenomenon – people who held a certain status and level of respect had a habit of being endlessly watched, regardless of where they were. It wasn't rare for poor commoners to turn their eye to him as he passed them by, captivated with his regal glow and stern (but elegant) demeanor. Even nobles couldn't help but part before him, falling in waves to either side even as their gaze remained fixated on his hair, his robes, and occasionally other areas that shouldn't be mentioned in polite company.

Yes. Byakuya was used to being looked out. And yet, in all his years of being irrecusably strong, elegant, beautiful and noble, not once had he actually caught someone spying on him while he was sprawled (elegantly, beautifully, nobly) in the Kuchiki family baths. The eyes watching him felt embarrassingly common, not the least because they failed rather spectacularly to linger on his chest and instead flickered constantly around the baths as though they were expecting something more. The mere thought that someone thought such a thing could exist in the presence of a mostly naked Byakuya soured his mood even further – and it had already been in a particular stingy lemon state after an embarrassingly inefficient training session earlier.

Well. There was only one thing for it. To have his honor disabused in such a way could not be tolerated, and it would surely bring shame upon the Kuchiki house if it were to become common knowledge that the small shrubby to Byakuya's left was apparently just as riveting as the young nobleman in a distinctly revealing state of undress.

"Bakudō 9: Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!"

The thing fell from the tree and into the hot spring with a yelp, splashing water everywhere and making a completely disproportionate amount of noise as it struggled naively to break from the red ropes of Byakuya's binding spell. Byakuya sat regally off to the side as he waited for the thing to calm down, watching how it spluttered and fought before suddenly going very, very still. Bright green eyes glaring up at Byakuya through a tangled weave of leaves, dirt, and what possibly passed in the poorer parts of Rukongai as hair.

Well. This was unexpected. As far as Byakuya knew, trolls only existed in fairytales.

"If you are looking for a bridge to live under, the one over our ornamental pond is reserved for carp only," he stated coldly. The green eyes narrowed further. "You have a name, I suppose?"

Still no reply, and Byakuya did not like being ignored.

"You can speak, can't you?" Perhaps it was simply that the thing did not understand noblesse, but Byakuya was damned if he was going to taint his tongue in an attempt to speak urchin.

"Muguruma," the boy (it was a boy after all, although the term could truly only be applied in the most sympathetic of senses) spluttered, almost desperately. "Kensei Muguruma."

"The Kensei Muguruma, captain of the 9th division?" Byakuya asked dryly, noting the horror reflected in the young boy's eyes with more than a touch of glee. If he could not have admiration, he would at least have fear. "I must say, I cannot remember the last time I was so fortunate to have such an acclaimed visitor while bathing." His words didn't so much as crawl with contempt as they leapfrogged any sense of decorum and politeness altogether and dashed straight towards animosity.

Most men would have crumbled into servitude under such an impressive display of self worth. Byakuya was sure that even the small shrub that had so captivated the boy earlier wilted a little under his toxic tone.

The young boy-slash-mud-monster-from-the-deep clearly still had some water in his ears. Instead of melting into an appropriate mess of apologies and gratitudes, he shot Byakuya a look that was impossibly – ridiculously! - triumphant.

"So you do know him, I knew it!" He blew a puff of hair away from his eyes, his arms still bound at his side. "Tell me where he is." His gaze darted away from Byakuya and suspiciously scoured the hot pools. "I know you're hiding him here somewhere!"

Of all the things Byakuya had been accused of (arrogance, spitefulness, impertinence, unnatural beauty and talent), never once had he been accused of harboring a corpse. Oh, he'd been accused of murdering a fair few men and disposing of their bodies, of course, what Kuchiki worth their weight in salt hadn't? But there was just something so uncouth about someone believing he might just keep an actual body somewhere - and what purpose would he have for the pile of bones that had been all that remained of the former captain of the 9th? As far as he was aware, they hadn't been able to determine which bones belonged to whom, such was the hatchet job performed by the ménage of captains and vice captains that evening. Really. It would have been bad enough if they had all fallen to some devious enemy with an army at his beck and call, to fall to just one traitorous captain and a single, powered up hollow?

Please. And people questioned why the 6th division insisted on only selecting captains with strong breeding. Some insisted that the reason was solely to ensure that the division always had the prettiest yearly spread in the Seireitei Communication, but Byakuya naturally knew better. The truth was, Kuchiki were far too prideful to die in any manner that may cause embarrassment, and as a result where more likely to survive the very missions that other captains failed to come back alive from. Oh, well. At least that slime Urahara was on the run in the human world-

"If you're done with the unnecessary exposition?" The boy's pout pulled him back from his thoughts with a thin frown. "Now, where is Muguruma-taicho?"

"First, tell me your name. Your real name," Byakuya threatened when the boy opened his mouth a tad too quickly for an honest answer to be likely. "And just so you are aware, I personally know each and every person of importance in Soul Society. If you insist on embarrassing yourself again by choosing the name of someone you've heard of, I would suggest at least picking someone slightly closer to your own age."

For a moment, it looked like the boy was almost going to do exactly that.

"Shuuhei," the brat eventually forced out. "Hisagi Shuuhei."

Hisagi Shuuhei, hmm? Byakuya dipped his head to the side, thoughtfully studying the small boy. Yes, that sounded appropriately common.

"Well, Hisagi. You're four days late if you want to meet the mighty Muguruma. He was killed in action." Wait, why was he even conversing with this intruder again? Security could be here in-

"No he wasn't!" Shuuhei's shout startled away all thoughts of security or sensible actions. "I don't know why people keep saying that!" Large, desperate eyes that practically wobbled around the edges sought out Byakuya's disbelieving ones. "I was there when they say he died, and he didn't, he didn't! He beat that hollow and was still there later!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it's common knowledge that Muguruma's team was ambushed upon their arrival-" Wait. Shuuhei had been there? That simply wasn't possible. While the official information regarding Urahara's betrayal was rather sketchy, the Kuchiki were logically privy to a much more detailed account of what had occurred. Tousen had clearly stated that no-one else had been in the general vicinity when the ambush occurred that afternoon, and that his captain and the other seated officers of the 9th division had been killed instantly.

And yet …

"Not that I care, but why hasn't that bratty Yoruichi been around lately?"

The case was strange, Byakuya had to admit. All those supposedly capable fighters taken down so easily, with the exception of one seated officer who just happened to luck out and fall, unconscious, into a ditch?

"It's true," Shuuhei promised, leaning forward in his bindings, all earnestness and puppy dog eyes and promises of rainbows and unicorns and -

"She's been sent on a mission to chase down the traitor."

Byakuya didn't do pity – pity was for people who didn't realize that they had a natural right to be better off than others. However, he also didn't do 5 year olds who suddenly looked like they were going to burst into tears at any moment, and there was one currently sitting in his bath.

"But why has her office been cleared out?"

What was it that his grandfather said? Nobility had some sort of obligation to those that weren't born into acceptability and good table manners. Byakuya generally thought that obligation was to ignore them as much as possible, but the boy really was pitiful and it would be indecent to send him away without something to fill his stomach, at least.

"And why is someone else wearing her captaincy robes?"

If Byakuya just happened to find out if the kid was telling the truth while he was doing that, well. What was the point of being charitable if nothing good came out of it?

And why didn't she say good-bye?

Besides, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do. With a scowl, Byakuya recalled how his grandfather had forbidden him from training for the next couple of days. His last session had done just the tiniest amount of damage to the east wing. And the south wing. And maybe part of the north wing. Bringing home the brat might just be an adequate punishment for the old man…

"Come on then, we'll continue this inside." Byakuya said indifferently. A small, relieved gasp slipped through Shuuhei's lips, although Byakuya's generosity was somehow not enough to bring an actual smile to the boy's face. Byakuya rose to his feet, the small towel around his waist leaving little to the imagination, but then the kid hardly had an age appropriate imagination to make it worth Byakuya's while. Still, the total lack of reverence for the beautiful sheen of his skin as the water slid from his body as he stood, or-

Oh, for crying out loud. Shuuhei was checking out the shrub. Again. The kid could at least have the decency to be awed by the shininess of Byakuya's hair.

He tugged on the rope, taking no small amount of pleasure in the way Shuuhei stumbled towards him.

"Couldn't you let me go? I'm not planning on running away." Shuuhei said pointedly, blowing an erratic puff of hair away from his eyes.

Byakuya smirked. "Oh, I think not. You trespassed on my family's property and interrupted my bath; I think it would be best to keep you on a leash for now."

Shuuhei's horrified expression almost made up for the fact that Byakuya was apparently less aesthetically pleasing than a (poorly trimmed, slightly droopy) bush.

Almost.