Admiration (Bleach Fanfic)

The Joy of Flight

When Isshin arrived back at tenth division, he found things somewhat in a form of chaos. Left and right, he found the members of his division talking about something that had happened about half an hour to an hour ago. He also quickly learned as he approached his division offices, that it involved Rangiku, Toshiro, two other division members and sake.

He inwardly groaned, knowing that he was going to quickly develop a headache over this whole matter. As he opened the doors, he had to quickly close them as Rangiku threw something against the door. "How dare you give a child sake?"

"What exactly is this about you two giving Toshiro sake?" Isshin stated, himself becoming a little upset upon finding that little tid bit out.

One of the two man sighed. "Apologies sir, but we found Lieutenant Hitsugaya out and about, ready to collapse. When we got him back to the division, his body temperature was cold, so we gave him a small bit to try to warm him up."

"It was only a traditional sake cup size," the second protested. "Rangiku wasn't back yet, and we were becoming worried."

"How did she find out?" Isshin pinched the bridge of his nose. "And where is Toshiro?"

"He's out cold on the couch taicho, but when I got back he was livid because they forced it down his throat," Rangiku muttered.

"All of you leave, now… and no trying to kill them Rangiku, they probably did the right thing… a little sake is an old remedy," Isshin stated firmly. He then added before she could come up with any profound idea, "And no… that doesn't give you an excuse to get drunk during work hours."

He went over to the couch and leaned over the back, to see the small boy curled up in a ball on the couch, snoring softly. His cheeks were a bit flushed, either from the small amount of sake in his system, or because he had been yelling. Isshin reached down and shook his shoulder. "Shiro-chan?"

"Oto-san?" the small boy opened his eyes, then sat up. "You are back again… how did the captain's meeting go?"

"You've been practicing Bankai again, haven't you?" Isshin raised an eyebrow.

"Isshin-san taicho, you need to answer my question first," the small boy leaned into the couch and rubbed his temple. "So tiered…"

"They asked about you, Toshiro," Isshin stated, laughing a bit. "Word has gotten around about you ending up in fourth for mysterious reasons."

"You are the one who told me not to tell anyone I am doing Bankai," Toshiro let out a yawn.

"Yes, well… I spoke with Yamamoto about it, and he says that it should continue to be that way," the tenth division taicho moved to go and sit next to the small boy on the couch. "You do realize you called me father a few minutes ago."

"Ehh… did not," Toshiro's eyes were half lidded.

"Of course, you are out of it right now," Isshin found himself able to pull the small child close to him.

"Ne, taicho… if you and Yamamoto spoke about it, that means that there is now a definite reason why you don't want me to tell people, right?" the small boy began to fall asleep.

"Not really, just it is a trump card as I told you," Isshin smiled.

"I am going to fly soon," two teal eyes suddenly fell shut.

"What?" Isshin stared at the boy, but figured that this was a joke similar to the freezing of oneself that hadn't been meant to be taken as serious.

M

After a couple of weeks of forced recovery, Toshiro was allowed back out and to train again, though unbeknown to him, Isshin had decided to keep an eye on the young sub-taicho. As he walked to the place that he and Hyorinmaru had found in the division to practice, he actually smiled about the whole thing.