AN: So, obviously this is turning into another monster. I meant for it to be a quick fic, but my brain keeps giving me ideas that I feel I have to add, which of course makes the story grow. Now I'm looking at something more along the lines of 10-15 chapters, as opposed to the 2-4 I originally planned on. I'm sure my followers are very happy, lol.

OK, I'm going to try to get in all of the info about the base that I can here. I'm still debating if I should allow our three Shinigami friends into the 'Gate room…or if only Yoruichi should be able to sneak in there, since she IS a spirit and not in a gigai…Hmm…tell me your opinions! Either way, the evaluation of the "artifact" will be in the next chapter…and a bit of excitement. ^-^

Oh, and I just HAD to title this chapter "Evaluation of Fate." I wrote half of this chapter on my phone, and the autocorrect changed it to that from "evaluation of his" for some reason. It sounded cool so I went with it. ^_-

Enjoy!

Evaluation of Fate

It was while Urahara was getting examined that Dr. Fraser noticed something a little off. Yes, all of his readings and tests came back perfect for a man of Urahara's weight, height, and age…but it was all too perfect, in Fraser's opinion. No matter how sheltered a person might be, they always had scars somewhere on their body, or their joints and skin showed signs of aging. It was almost like his body had been stored somewhere, perfectly preserved; as if he had just been born. It was more than a little odd, in her professional estimation.

As for the young Ichigo, she didn't know what to think. If Urahara's body was like a newborn, then Ichigo's was a battle-hardened man's twice his own age. There were scars littered all over his body, and several she wondered how he had even survived. One was directly over his collarbone, as if a pipe or tree had been shoved through the bone and tissues there, and a bit had come out his back.

And she had only wanted him to remove his shirt so she could hear the sounds from his heart and lungs better through her stethoscope.

She shared some of her concerns with Daniel as the younger man was getting dressed, he talking to his elder in Japanese. "Daniel, I don't know how to explain it. That kid has survived more than is humanly possible, and doesn't appear to have any issues with those old wounds. Most people would feel self-conscious about it all, but to him it's more a badge of honor than anything else. It's just very...odd."

Daniel had to agree with Fraser. He had caught a glimpse of the scars just on the young man's back, and those were many. The two that really caught his attention were on his shoulders, going from the crest to nearly the middle of his back in long, jagged (if very faded) marks. The amount of pain that he had gone through...no wonder he seemed mature for his age.

While the doctors of medicine and anthropology were talking, Ichigo and Urahara were talking about much the same thing.

"Hmm...this is actually quite astounding. I didn't know that spirit wounds like this would eventually be visible on the human body. Though, to be honest, you are the only Substitute that we have that I can get my hands on and actually observe and study." He scratched his chin in thought, watching as Ichigo put his shirt back on. "What is the extent of the scarring that shows? Is it only ones that have others reiatsu placed in them, or is it even the every-day cuts and scrapes?"

Ichigo shrugged after pulling his shirt over his head and sliding his arms through the holes. "Honestly, I've never really even thought about it. It took quite a bit of time for the scarring to appear on my physical body; it was so gradual that it was like one day they just started showing up. As for what ones appear...so far only the ones that had reiatsu pushed into the damage, like the hole Uluquiorra made in my chest and the cuts from Renji's zanpaku'to. But who's to say? The last one to appear was a little over a week ago, and it was a moderate cut from my fight with Kenpachi during the rescue of Rukia." Ichigo stood up, glancing in the direction of doctor Fraser and Daniel. Switching back over to English, he said, "Well, we might as well join them and get the tour over with. Why they had to do a physical is beyond me, but hey, that's why I'm not in charge here."

Daniel noticed their approach, and stopped doc Frasier from continuing the conversation about the two foreign scientists. To her, he whispered, "We will finish this discussion later. For now don't alarm the General…they are only going to be here temporarily, and they have no signs of Goa'uld infestation, so they shouldn't be a threat to our operations." To the other two, however, he said, "Well, are you ready to be introduced to the rest of the team, and maybe even the General? It's not a long walk, but it is one level down from where we are right now." At their nods, Daniel said his goodbyes to the good doctor, and led them to the secondary elevator that would take them down, and end up two doors down from the lab.

As the elevator doors opened at the lower level, however, the small group encountered O'Neill. "Ah, Daniel! There you are! And who are these people with you, friends of yours?" Jack crossed his arms, looking the two Japanese men up and down.

"Hey, Jack. Remember last week we were told that there would be a couple scientists coming over from Japan to help with that…artifact that we found at site PX-601349? Well, they came a little earlier than expected. This is Dr. Kisuke Urahara and his assistant and student Ichigo Kurosaki. I was just taking them to the labs to show them around, then the mess hall. Why, do we have a briefing? Is something going on?"

"Yea, we're supposed to have a briefing in about half an hour…plenty of time for you to show your new science freaks around. We're meeting in room 1; be sure you're there!" Great, more science punks for Daniel to play with…as if I don't hear enough about his obsession as it is, now he has more minds to bounce ideas off of that he will just have to share with me because of how 'astounding' they are, Jack thought, running his right hand along his jaw line for the briefest of moments as he walked away. There was something about the two scientists, though, that was setting alarm bells off in his head; he didn't like it one bit.

Daniel watched Jack go, wondering about the briefest expressions of wariness that had crossed his face as he turned away from the small group. He would have to compare notes with Frasier, and now Jack as well, after the briefing. "I'm sorry about that. Jack O'Neill is the man who leads our expeditions into…sometimes hostile territory."

Ichigo's eyebrow quirked. "What kind of hostile territory, if you don't mind my asking."

Daniel sighed, one corner of his mouth pulling up in a crooked smile. "Sorry, I don't know if you have a high enough clearance for me to tell you. All I can say is that the hostile groups are no one that your country, specifically, counts as an enemy." No, it's just the whole world that does—everyone that is aware of the Stargate project, at least, Daniel thought, turning away from Ichigo's probing eyes and Urahara's quizzical look. "Well, here we are! This is the main room that we study new artifacts in, under the supervision of either I, myself or one of the other high-clearance level archeologists." He looked at the two Japanese men again, a question in his eyes. "I'm curious; why haven't you guys asked why archeologists are needed in a military base? That was one of my first questions when they brought me on this project."

Urahara grinned, and answered so Ichigo didn't have to flounder (seeing as he hardly knew anything about what was going on in the first place). "Well, you see my good man, our government told us the bare bones of what was going on. I was told that you all had discovered a certain ancient device that…proved the existence of hostile extraterrestrial life—" here, Ichigo raised a startled eyebrow beyond the vision of the two scientists—"and that there were many unexplained phenomenon that accompanied said ring. I have my own guesses as to what this 'ring' is, as well as the word 'unexplained' before 'phenomenon.' Usually that's just bureaucratic crap meaning that they don't want to tell us the whole story, so we aren't going to get it."

Daniel chuckled as he opened the door to the research lab. "I hear you on that one. I may be one of the leading researchers on the 'ring,' as you have so graced it, but even I find myself floundering in the BS quite often. Anyway, here we are. Most people who work here are on vacation right now…it's just that time of year. No one here likes to take breaks from the work, so usually we are sent out en-masse to vacation spots or our homes with orders not to return unless called or a week has passed."

He chuckled, leading them down a narrow aisle to the back of the room where a few crates were stacked. "This is all the stuff we brought back from the site, so once I leave you to it you can explore these all you want. The specific artifact that we are having troubles with is in the large red crate over there—" he pointed to a crate by its self in the right hand corner—"in that corner. If you want to just start with that, be my guest. Now, for the rest of the areas that you will be allowed access to…where did they…ah! Here they are; Sam must've moved them." He held up to key cards attached to lanyards, and handed one to Ichigo and one to Urahara. "These will either let you into the areas of the complex that you have the clearance for, or an armed guard will look at them and tell you if you have access to the area or not. Now that you have ID's, go ahead and set your equipment down and then follow me to the mess hall. I bet you guys are hungry after your long flight from Japan."

After showing them the mess hall and a quick bit of breakfast/lunch (as it was 10:40 when they got to the hall,) Daniel showed them the guest rooms for quick naps and the like, then left them to their own devices. "I should be back in the lab in an hour or two. Don't wait up for me, just go and do your thing." And with that, he left them in the hallway leading to the lab.

"Well, that was easier than expected. I thought for sure that they would leave us with the senior-most scientist the entire visit…though I guess this will give us the time we need to see if the artifact really is made of sekki sekki," Urahara stated, walking up the way to the door leading to the lab.

"Heh, yea…for once luck seems to be going our way. Like THAT never happens. Oh, right! When luck starts to appear to be going our way, it always balks at the last second, leaving us high and dry until another wave of luck comes along and floats us past our obstacle," Ichigo said, a small hit of sarcasm found in his voice.

And Ichigo's opinion proved true, for once they walked into the lab, someone followed them into the lab. "Oh, I'm sorry. May I ask…who you guys are? What division are you with and why are you in the main labs?" It was a younger woman, seeing to be around the same age as Daniel. She had short-cropped blonde hair, and was wearing a military uniform complete with dog tags around her neck.

Urahara smiled, and once again that fan came out of his sleeve. "Maa, isn't it usually more polite to introduce yourself before you go demanding the names of others? But, I suppose because we are on your base you have a right to be wary. My name is Ura…I mean Kisuke Urahara, and this young man behind me is Ichigo Kurosaki. We hail from Japan, and were invited over to partake in the investigation of a certain artifact-"

"Oh! You're from that group. My name is Major Samantha Carter; I'm a teammate of Daniel's, the head of the anthropological teams here**. The General told me you were probably still down in the mess hall; I guess he is a little behind." As she gave her name, she held out her hand for both men to shake, which they took in turn. "I was originally supposed to be at the briefing that Daniel is at now, but they decided that I should come down here and help show you were everything is located. I'm usually the more technological researcher of the group, but I do use this lab every once in a while." She grinned at them, showing a row of straight, white teeth. "So, do you want to get started with looking at our specimens, or looking at the equipment?"

Urahara glanced in Ichigo's direction, a distinct 'you were right,' look on his face. "Hmm…let's go with the lesser specimens."

AN: ** Once again, I stress my basic knowledge. I thought at some point they say that he is the head of the department while being on the SG-1 team…but I could be wrong. If I am, someone correct me…or I could just change this to AU, and call it all good. ^_^

PS: Sorry about the false update...it messed up a bunch of my italics and page breaks...like usual...lol

EDIT: Changed "pukes" to "punks"...that's what it was supposed to be anyway, and thanks reviewer ulsha for pointing that out. I will give you credit again in the next chapter, in case you don't see this. ^-^