CH 1: Urahara's Super Vacation Bonus Prize!
Rukia stuffed the last of the items into her already over flowing bag. Struggling to hoist the bag, the petite shinigami nearly toppled over. "Rukia that bag is almost twice your size, let me take it before you kill yourself." Ichigo chided, easily lifting the burgeoning bag.
"Thanks" Rukia whipped a bead of sweat off her brow, then turned to the counter where Ururu stood patiently waiting. "I can't believe this was so expensive" She mumbled fumbling in her pocket for her wallet. Grudgingly she handed over the money.
"Ururu! Don't forget to tell her about the prize," Jinta yelled from somewhere in back. Ururu sighed. She was not about to forget. There was no need for Jinta to yell at her but she brushed her irritation aside and turned an impassive smile to her waiting customers.
"A prize?" Ichigo asked intrigued. Maybe they would get so cool new gadget or free information services? Urahara could be a useful guy when he wasn't lazing around. Rukia however was slightly more skeptical. No prize from the Urahara shop was ever what it seemed to be.
"Yes, one lucky winner receives an all expense paid one-day vacation to Seireitei to see the 13 division captains in action!" She said with the poise of a well-practiced sales pitch. "Customers who buy a sufficient amount of product are automatically entered into the drawing and seeing as how you bought so much, you qualify." Ururu stopped her speech to rummage about behind the counter. Before producing a small yellow ticket, which she handed to Rukia.
"Thank you but, no thank you," Rukia replied pushing the ticket back to Ururu. "I can go to seireitei anytime and I'm already a member of the 13th squad."
"Oh, my…um…" Ururu looked frazzled and finally looked down slumping her shoulders. "I understand but Urahara-san would be angry if I did not give every customer a ticket, he is really proud of this sales scheme and you are the only customer to buy enough to earn a ticket today…" Ururu looked even more dejected than normal.
"Rukai, do something!" Ichigo prodded, knocking her with the heavy bag, practically sending her fly across the counter.
"Okay…um...go ahead and give me the ticket Ururu." Rukia decided as she adjusted her robes. She took the ticket and proffered pen then quickly scribbled on the paper and handed it back. "Thank you. Have a nice day." Rukia said as she headed out the door with Ichigo and the giant bag in tow.
"Thank you Ms. Rukia! Good luck in the contest!" Ururu called in response, a half smile on her pale face.
Rukia and Ichigo trudged on in silence for a few minutes. The warm spring sun was unusually hot. Finally Ichigo asked, "Did you really enter? What are you going to do if you win?" Rukia chuckled to herself as she walked on ahead.
"Of course, I entered. I just wrote some unusual foreign sounding name. If my ticket gets drawn, it will have no address, get thrown out and some other person's ticket will win." Rukia smiled broadly at her own cleverness, "Besides what are the odds of my ticket being chosen?" Ichigo nodded, adjusted the pack and walked on. Then again how many people actually shopped at Urahara's store?
---------One month later------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ururu and Jinta looked at the very small number of tickets in the basket behind the counter. "Are you sure you told all the customers about the prize?" Ururu asked fingering the tickets nervously. Jinte glared at her then gave a fierce tug on her bangs.
"Of course, I did! Maybe you forgot." He was about to vent some more frustration on her hair when Urahara walked in.
"Ok, let's draw the lucky winner of Urahara's Seireitei Vacation Bonus Prize!" Holding out his hand expectantly he looked at Ururu. Reluctantly she handed him the nearly empty basket. "That's all?!" he asked a bit shocked. Ururu bowed her head despondently. Seeing her upset Urahara laughed. "No matter, the prize doesn't cost me a thing it is all just some excellent planning on my part." His eyes glinted mischievously from beneath his hat brim. "Let's do the drawing!" Snapping open his fan he held it over the basket and indicated for Ururu to draw a ticket.
Her thin, pale hand reluctantly crept forward, trembling as if it were a wild animals maw not a simple basket. Annoyed, Jinta smacked her hand aside and thrust in his own. He pulled out a single yellow ticket and held it up to his face. His brow furrowed and he turned the ticket a different direction. Squinting his eyes he put it closer to his face his confusion growing. Finally, frustrated he shoved the ticket into Ururu's hands. "you read it!" he commanded.
Ururu looked throughtfully at the ticket. After a moment she handed it to Urahara. "Here Urahara-san. I cannot read this name. I think it is foreign."
"Interesting, I did not know we had any foreign customers in recently." Urahara stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"There is no address. Shall we choose another?" Ururu asked politely.
Closing his fan with a sharp snap Urahara dropped the ticket in his pocket. "No, this is the winning customer." Without another word he headed into the back recesses of the shop to perform whatever mysterious magic he did that gave him all his information.
-----One Week Later (In the U.S.)-------------------------------------------------------------------
I sat at my desk trying to focus on my astronomy textbook. "The first consequence of the assumptions of relativity is time dilation; moving clocks slow down as viewed by an observer at rest…" I read. Then looked at the clock 4:15. It certainly seemed like time was running slow this afternoon. With a resigned sigh I looked out the window. The spring afternoon was calm and still. Lush green trees swayed idly at the window and the lawn below was edged in blooming bushes. The neighborhood was quiet, too quiet.
The faint rumble of an engine reached her ears. It grew steadily louder, the only sound disturbing the peaceful afternoon. Finally, the mail truck pulled up at the curb. Looking for any distraction, I decided to go down stairs and cull through the mail as soon as it arrived. There might even be something good, a new magazine perhaps.
I tossed open the door to see a slightly surprised mailman. He was about to slide a small bundle of mail into the box by the door but handed it over to me instead. "You expecting something?" He asked unsure why anyone would be so interested in what appeared to be everyday junk mail.
I shook my head and smiled happily as I took the bundle inside. Settling down into a chair in the living room, I began to dissect the mail. I did not feel the weight or glossy texture of a magazine, darn. Still I could sort it for the family. Annoyingly colorful advertisements for local stores sat on top; I created a junk pile. "Junk, bill, bill, no idea, bill, advertising…huh?" Near the bottom was an odd bluish envelope with 'congratulations you're a winner' written on the front. I was about to toss it in junk when I noticed Japanese kanji characters on the back. Excited to try my Japanese I concentrated on the label. This letter was really from Japan. Karakura? "Never heard of that city."
I jumped up to get scissors from the kitchen. Carefully cutting open one end I slide out a single sheet of paper and a small yellow ticket came fluttering out with it. The ticket had my name on it but the handwriting was nothing like mine. I set it aside and unfolded the main letter. Luckily, I had my Japanese dictionary in hand but the letter was in English. I was a little disappointed but decided to read on anyway.
"Congratulations!! You are the winner of Urahara's Super Vacation Bonus Prize! Out of the many entrants your name was selected to enjoy a one day all expense paid vacation to the beautiful, exclusive city of seireitei in the soul society. You will be treated to a day of hob-nobbing with the social elite and one-on-one interactions with some of the gotei 13 captains. This is the chance of a lifetime available exclusively to the devoted clients of Urahara Shop. Thank you for your patronage and enjoy your vacation!"
"seireitei???" That word was not in the dictionary neither was "gotei"? Was this for real? What was Urahara shop? I had never heard of it, let alone been a customer. Maybe this was some kind of prank but it seemed pretty involved if this was sent all the way from Japan.
I looked at the bottom. There was a small shiny black rectangle that looked like a credit card. "claim your prize" was written above it with a small arrow pointing to the card. Did they just give me money for the vacation? In that case, maybe I will take them up on the offer. I could always use some new shoes.
Excited I flipped the card over to see if it had a magnetic strip and an amount. Instead I found neat printed instructions.
"Urahara's Portable Prize Redeeming Machine"
1. Inflate box
2. Insert ticket
3. Sit back and enjoy your visit to Seireitei
Inflate? I looked incredulously inside the envelope. There was nothing else there. I looked back at the card. "Is this what I am supposed to inflate??" I asked the air. It must be a prank but still I carefully studied the edges of the card, then I noticed it. One corner seemed a little blacker than the others. When I touched it I could barely make out a slight indentation. A hole?
I looked around to make sure no one could see me. If this didn't work I would feel like a real fool. I placed the card to my lips and gently blew, nothing. I blew a little harder. Was it just me or was the card a little fatter. This time I gave it a gusty blast of air and "pop" the card became a small black box.
"Oh my God! It worked!" Maybe I should be a customer of this shop. If I had stuff like this my school bag would be super light and my friends would be insanely jealous. Why have I never heard of the Urahara shop? Then again it is probably super pricey for stuff this high tech.
Excitedly grabbing the yellow ticket, I inserted it into the box. As soon as the ticket disappeared the box began to hum then a small light appeared on one side. The light shot in a beam across the room. A sparkling line of white light glimmered mid air in the kitchen. Then it widened into a rectangular shoji screened door. I stared on amazed. Was it real? I reached out and touched the door. I could feel the smooth wood and slightly rough texture of the paper. It seemed real enough. I peaked around the other side. Nothing but normal kitchen. Did this door go somewhere? With some trepidation I placed my hand on the circular handles and pulled. The doors gently slid to the side revealing another set of round doors. Intrigued I stepped through to open the next set of doors.
As the doors slide open I was engulfed in a blinding white light and before I could stop to think I was tumbling through. Oh no, what is this Alice in Wonderland?
Woohoo! A new story is unraveling in my twisted mind.
I was doodling some what-if-I-spent-a-day-in-seireitei-hanging-out-with-my-favorite-characters sketches (I will try and post them on deviant art if you want to see them - check my scrapbook for a few pictures ^_^) when the story came to me. I may be the only one with an interest in it (seeing as it is centered around a character inspired by me). Still, I tried to make the OC unnamed and so far undescribed so anyone can imagine themselves in this position.
Anyone care to join me on an adventure in seireitei? Let me know and I'll put up more.