In the morning, Urahara was surprised to find his five guests at the table eating breakfast with Yoruichi, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu. "What is this?" He asked in a curious tone.

Yoruichi looked up to find the shopkeeper standing looking dumbfounded to find Byakuya and Renji actually talking and smiling softly at one another. "Yo Kisuke, we need to…" She trailed off seeing that the blonde was not paying attention to her and instead staring at the two male Shinigami. She stood and walked over to the ex-captain and punched him in the nose causing him to have a nose bleed.

"Aye!" He said turning towards her. "What was that for?" He asked while holding his nose and grabbing a tissue from his jacket pocket.

"You were not paying attention when I was explaining why we have guests that need our help." She stated simply while folding her arms across her chest.

He held the tissue up to his bleeding nose and a confused look came across his face. "Help?"

Yoruichi nodded. "Hai, sit and we will explain." She said then sat down.

"Yo, Urahara-san! What happened to your nose?" Renji teased.

Urahara's eyes shifted towards the cat woman, who was eating quietly and then back at the red head. "Nothing for you to be concerned about freeloader." He replied while waving his open fan in the air.

Renji scowled and crossed his arms. "Heh, whatever. Will you help us or not?"

"Depends on what you need help with freeloader."

"Oi! Stop calling me freeloader!" Renji bellowed.

"Abarai, calm yourself." Byakuya said quietly before he took a sip of his tea.

Renji looked over to his taichou who was smirking slightly behind his teacup. "Hai, sir."

Urahara then noticed the small familiar Arrancar child sitting across from him talking to Ururu. His brow furrowed. "Why is there an Arrancar here?"

Rukia let out a heavy sigh. "Her name is Nel and she was attacked in Hueco Mundo."

"Okay, but why is she here?" Urahara was getting quite confused now.

"You moron, isn't obvious?" Yoruichi piped up. "She was attacked by some of those hollows who were given a power boost I told you about. Her friend or to her he is her brother, Pesche pushed her through a garganta the hollows opened to keep her safe." She was getting annoyed by Urahara's slowness. He was always like this in the morning. He was always slow, persistent questioning, not his normal care-free self until after breakfast.

The shopkeeper started to eat after Tessai gave him a plate of food. "I believe there is more to that story, Yoruichi-san."

She nodded. "Soutaichou wants her for some reason. Soi Fong has already said that she is going to arrest these four and take Nel to Soutaichou for questioning." She glanced over to the five others who were now wanted by the Seireitei.

"Now, that begs the question: why does he want her, ne?"

"Hai."

"Of which, we do not know." Miyako chimed in.

Urahara folded his arms and hid his hands in his sleeves. He bent his head down, thinking of an explanation. But he couldn't figure one out.Why would Soutaichou want Nel? She is a former Espada but now she is in her child form. Wait… child form… He looked up to where Nel sat eating an egg. I wonder…

"Nel?" He called to the child.

Her big hazel eyes turned to the shopkeeper. "What?"

"Can you turn into your adult form?" The blonde shopkeeper asked.

Nel nodded and instantly turned into her adult form. "Is this what you wanted to see?"

He nodded. "Why didn't you turn into your adult form in Hueco Mundo, Neliel-san?"

She sighed. Her long green hair waved softly in the breeze coming in from the open door. "Pesche said it was too dangerous for me to walk around in this form, since I was once part of Aizen's army. So I always stayed in my child form. When we were attacked I was going to change but Pesche pushed me through the garganta first, I fell through, and it closed before I could go back. Then Rukia-san, Miyako-san, Renji-san, and Byakuya-san found me." She explained.

"Hmm…" Byakuya hummed, placing his chin between his finger and thumb.

"What is it, Taichou?" Renji asked, looking over to his lover.

The raven head looked over to Renji who was sitting next to him. "I'm not sure." He admitted. "It seems as if Soutaichou needs Nel for something."

"He needs her?" Renji asked. "For what?"

Byakuya shook his head. "I do not know."

Urahara thankfully had Renji, Byakuya's, Rukia's gigai stored in his lab. But he needed to make two more for Nel and Miyako. He took his toast to his lab so he could eat in there while working on their gigai while everyone ate and tried to come up with some kind of plan. But all agreed Nel should stay in her child form for the time being.

Tessai took the dirty dishes to the kitchen after everyone finished eating. Urahara said he was going to send the group to a nearby safe house for their safty and privacy. "In here." He showed the others his lab where he was working on their gigai. "I added a few tweaks to your gigai. They should help conceal your reiatsu. This should be easier to move around for the time being, ne?"

Byakuya took his gigai and put it on. "This won't do something unexpected, will it?" He asked as he straightened his jacket's collar. His gigai was wearing a white shirt and a dark blue jacket, with black jeans and black shoes.

"Why Byakuya-san! You think I would let you use something that is faulty?"

Byakuya couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Your inventions do not always work as planned." He pointed out while crossing his arms over his chest.

The shopkeeper grinned. "No, not always, but you shouldn't have a problem with these."

Renji walked up to them wearing a plain red t-shirt with blue jean bellbottoms. He had a purple head band on covering his tattoos and sneakers. He stretched; trying to loosen up his artificial body. "Why do these things have to be so tight until you stretch them out?" He grumbled.

"Cease your complaining Renji; its only until we find out what Soutaichou is up to." Byakuya chided softly.

He waved his hand dismissively. "Hai." Renji crossed his arms. "So where is this safe house and how safe is this place?" He asked the ex-taichou of the twelfth.

"I'll take you there." Urahara replied. "Nobody knows of existence except for Tessai and I. So it should be pretty safe, considering."

"Considering what?" Miyako stepped in while Nel was in her arms fussing over her new artificial body with Rukia at her heels. Rukia was wearing her blue dress that Ishida made her with her slip on shoes. Miyako on the other hand was wearing a purple dress with sneakers while Nel had on a light blue shirt with jean pants on.

"Considering how much danger you are in right now, Miyako-san." He glanced over to the child. "Are you alright Neliel-san?" The shopkeeper asked. He had to make her a special one since she was an Arrancar and had a mask on top of her head when she was in spirit form.

She stopped fussing for a moment. "It's twite in thwis thwing." She complained.

Renji chuckled at the pint sized Arrancar and ruffled her hair since her Urahara made it so her mask was absent from her gigai. "I agree completely with ya kid."

"Weally?" Nel asked.

The redhead nodded. Nel smiled brightly and stretched out her arms so Renji could carry her.

"I believe she can walk." Byakuya said with annoyance.

"Aw come on Taichou!" Renji said as he plucked Nel from Miyako's arms. He got a funny thought and leaned towards his lover so no one else could hear him whisper seductively into the others ear. "Or is someone jealous?"

Byakuya's cheeks were dusted with a bright pink hue. Renji smirked and leaned back.

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?" Urahara asked. He was trying dreadfully hard not to laugh behind his fan as he already predicted their answer.

Rukia crossed her arms over her tiny chest and smirked. "They are in a relationship now." Her face took a more serious look after she saw Urahara's eyes widened with shock and burst into laughter. "But more importantly can we leave now? I want to get to that safe house as soon as possible."

The shopkeeper cleared his throat and sobered but still smirking. "Of course, follow me." He burst into flash steps with the others following.

They arrived within moments of a huge house that was protected by a reiatsu barrier.

"Whoa!" Renji yelped almost waking the sleeping child in his arms. Nel seemed to fall asleep sometime since she was tired from all of the excitement. "Urahara-san?"

"Hai?"

"How in the hell did you manage to get this huge house… no... More like mansion?" The redhead asked in a bewildered tone. The house was huge. Renji seemed to recognize the place they were in but not by much.

The shopkeeper chuckled. "It was not easy. Tessai, Isshin, and I took over this house from the fullbringers."

"Huh?"

"They rebuilt it Renji. Can't you tell?" Byakuya was not very surprised by his lover's reaction.

Renji glanced over to the house again and seemed to remember it more clearly now. "Ah, I guess you're right."

Rukia shook her head at her best friend's stupidest realization. She kept her mouth shut however and looked at Miyako's concerned expression. "What is it?"

Miyako was startled by Rukia's voice. "Hmm? Oh, nothing."

Rukia wasn't convinced but let it go for the time being.

"Here are the keys and the car is in the garage in the back." The shopkeeper explained while handing the keys over to the raven haired taichou.

"You gotta car too?" Renji asked in disbelief.

The blonde nodded. "Hai, try not to crash it freeloader."

The redhead scowled. "Hey, I took the driving test all Shinigami are required to take!"

"And thankfully you passed." Byakuya said. "At first I thought you were going to crash into a pole."

Renji's scowled deepened but Byakuya made it go away easily by giving him a kiss.

Urahara was shocked the taichou would actually kiss his lover openly in front of everyone.

Nel woke up then and looked up to the redhead with sleepy eyes. "Nel is hungry…" she complained quietly.

"Well I suppose we should get some food."

Byakuya nodded and Urahara said there was already food in the house then flash stepped away after giving Byakuya the number to the shop.

They made their way into the house and Miyako said she was going to make some lunch for them. She quickly found the kitchen and Rukia had followed her. Byakuya and Renji gave each other curious looks.

"Those two are hanging out a lot aren't they?" Renji noticed.

"Hai, they do that quite a bit." Byakuya commented. "Come, we should find out where everything is since we are going to be staying here for a time."

Renji and nodded with Nel still in his arms. She seemed content there so he wasn't going to put her down until she wanted it. Byakuya led them to the stair case to the second floor and found the bedrooms. Each were furnished with a simple queen sized bed, a dresser, a table with a few chairs, and a desk in the corner.

"Hey Byakuya." The red head called and stepped into one of the rooms. Byakuya followed Renji to the window and saw the backyard. It was big and had a lot of space with the garage in the right hand corner with pavement leading to the front.

"It's very spacious." The noble commented. He started to turn away and found that each room had its own bathroom. He shook his head. "I think Urahara-san may have spent a lot of funds in this house."

Renji grinned. "Well, I'm not complaining. I don't know how he could afford this though."

"It's likely due to the fact that no one wants a home left empty in this world. Someone must stay here sometimes."

"That's probably it."

They walked out of the room and found what looked like a library and a music room put into one. Nel looked at the books with excitement. She remembered when she was a part of Aizen's army she would read a lot. She loved the library and read. It had many historical texts about the living word and such. She fussed in Renji's arms. The redhead seemed to get the point that the little one wanted down. He stood Nel on her feet and she walked to one of the bookshelves and plucked a book from it. She was thankful that she could still read in this form. She sat down near the bookshelf and read the book silently.

Byakuya smiled softly. "I think she is content there."

Renji huffed an amused laugh. "I think your right." He turned to the other half of the room and he was surprised he found a piano, cello, guitar, and violin. He nudged the raven head softly on the shoulder. Byakuya turned.

"What is it?"

"Look." The other pointed.

The noble looked over to where his lover was pointing and saw the instruments. He walked over to the piano and pressed a key. He sighed with content that it was in tune. He sat down and started to play. Renji sat down next to him. He recognized the song from his academy days when he would sit in the music room with Momo who could play the piano and cello also.

She would play a few songs for him and then he would play a few songs for her and they would try to learn them just from hearing it. She loved that song because it reminded her of Hitsugaya Taichou for some reason. Or more like it explained what she felt for him.

Renji set his head on Byakuya's shoulder as the raven head continued to play. Neither said anything, they just stayed as they were; listening to the soft sound of Byakuya's playing. Renji heard the door open softly and glanced over to see who came in. Rukia and Miyako came in with two trays one with food and one with tea. They quietly set down the food on a nearby table and sat down listening also.

Renji set his head back down on the pale shoulder and waited for the song to end. He really didn't want it to, but his stomach was telling him to eat also. When the song came to a close Byakuya turned slightly, to now see Rukia, Nel, and Miyako waiting for the men to join them. Nel seemed to finish the book she was reading and picked another from the shelf and took it to the table with her. He nudged the redhead to signal it was time to eat. The redhead nodded and walked over to the table with the noble and sat down.

"That was beautiful Nii-sama." Rukia complimented.

Byakuya nodded. "Arigatou."

Miyako poured the tea while everyone took their food. Nel was too busy reading her book and munching on her apple to care about what the others were talking about. Rukia sipped her tea and saw the cello near the piano. She thought of what it would be like to see her brother and Renji play a duet. She turned her gaze over to Miyako who seemed to have the same thought.

"Byakuya-sama?" Miyako said.

Byakuya looked over to his cousin and his slate grey eyes met her gold and grey ones. "Hai?"

"I wonder if you would play something on the piano while Renji-san plays the cello."

Renji almost choked on his ramen as he heard the others request. "W-what?" He croaked. "Like a duet?" Miyako nodded. He pondered it for a moment and thought it wasn't such a bad idea.

"Hmm…" Byakuya hummed. "If Abarai wishes it, then I do not see why I would deny it to happen." The noble was intrigued by the request. It never thought of playing something with his red headed lover.

"I would love to." Renji said, looking over to his lover who was eating calmly.

Renji saw a soft glimmer of happiness in the other's eyes as the noble looked at him. Renji was ready to go and grab the cello now and play but with his stomach still growling softly to him, it wasn't likely they would make it far without it interrupting them.

"Have you heard of the American composer Brian Crain?" Byakuya asked.

The redhead nodded and knew where this would lead to. "You wanna play one of his songs?"

The noble nodded. "Which have you heard and have played?"

Renji grinned. "I've played them all in my quarters. You just never realized when you were in your quarters."

"I don't stay in my quarter much, do I?"

Renji shook his head. "Nope, but I think we should play Moonrise."

Byakuya smiled softly and nodded. "After we eat."

"Hai."

After they were done eating, Renji went over to where the cello was on its stand and tuned it while the women were clearing the table and Nel sat down with her book on the sofa in front of the two who were about to play. When Rukia and Miyako came back from the kitchen, they joined Nel and waited.

Renji was tuning but couldn't seem to get his C string right. He shifted his eyes where Byakuya sat on the bench in front of the piano. Byakuya catching his eyes and seemed to get the message, he played an C for Renji. Renji was relieved when he could get it in tune after the noble played.

"Arigatou." He said after he put his cello in playing position.

The other nodded and as soon as Renji's hands were on the string along with his bow they began to play. Renji played softly then gradually began to play louder. Byakuya played keeping the same tonality. They were in perfect harmony with each other. Which Miyako thought was amazing. Not many people can play that easily with each other. She thought to herself. She noticed her cousin's hands seemed to glide over the keys with ease. And Renji's arm moved gracefully with each passing note that was played with his bow.

The corners of her eyes held in tears that were likely to fall at any moment. Rukia was the same way. They cursed silently to themselves at the men who should have told them that this piece was going to have the crying by the end of the three odd minutes of their playing. It was just too beautiful and even Nel looked up to the ones that were playing. She smiled and silently began to read again. The two Shinigami women wiped away their tears as the two stopped playing and the music faded out of the room.

Renji looked over to his lover with a loving gaze; as did the noble. They loved how they played with one another. It seemed to feel right to their ears and it felt natural even for their first time duet.