Title: New All Over
Timeline: Between chapters 27 and 28 of Entropy
A/N: This one never would have fit with Entropy's "doom and gloom" tone.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
At first, Uryuu's nervousness at the fact that the floor is moving beneath his feet and vibrating slightly is nearly palpable. All Ryuuken has to do is give him a cursory glance to see the paleness of the one who sits in the seat next to him. Well, the fact that Uryuu is so pale is probably more due to the fact that he was roused from bed at a little earlier than five in the morning, but Ryuuken does suspect that some of it comes from this as well.
Uryuu soon overcomes that nervousness, though.
Ryuuken is attending a conference in Shinjuku that will go on starting today and lasting until late in the afternoon tomorrow; he'll be away from home longer than he would have liked, but that can't be helped. Since Soken is sick and can't take care of Uryuu for the time he'll be away, Ryuuken has had little choice other than to take his three-year-old with him. The building where the conference is being held has a daycare center; that will have to do for a babysitter, though Ryuuken still doesn't like the idea of handing Uryuu over to a public establishment.
Oh well. I suppose if he starts going on about ghosts and Hollows they'll just chalk it up to him being a toddler babbling about nothing. The worst I have to worry about is Uryuu being overwhelmed by being around so many people at once. So long as that doesn't happen, it should be fine.
-0-0-0-
"Father, what is this we're in?"
"It's a train, Uryuu," comes the slightly curt response, and Uryuu winces. "It's a vehicle like a car; people ride in them to reach desired destinations."
Though Uryuu has no idea what the word "destinations" means, Ryuuken's explanation is enough for Uryuu to know that a train is like a car, just shaped differently. They even have their own special roads, he thinks, remembering vaguely the tracks he saw when Ryuuken lifted him up into the train car shortly after six in the morning.
This is the first time Uryuu has ever been inside a train. In fact, the drive to the train station was the first time he'd ever left Karakura Town. At first, the fact that the floor is vibrating and the sound of wheels hitting the metal rails is more than a little disquieting to Uryuu. He doesn't particularly like unfamiliar noises. But soon after, he's able to remind himself that this really is just a big car.
Uryuu was tired, on the point of sleep, when they arrived at the train station before six. He's not tired anymore. Though it's still dark outside, the lights are bright within the train itself and it's no use trying to sleep. His father's engrossed within a book thick enough to last him all the way to Shinjuku, nose disappearing into the pages. Uryuu doubts he would have gotten anything in the way of talk from him, anyway. Talk, happy talk, to be exact, only comes from his grandfather; from Ryuuken, there are commands and explanations. Not small talk. Uryuu supposes he might do better just to keep silent and sit in the seat he occupies next to his father.
I wish I could read, Uryuu thinks to himself, after stealing a glance in Ryuuken's direction. It would pass the time better than just sitting here and staring out the window into a darkness punctuated only by flashing neon lights. He even goes so far as to take a peek at Ryuuken's book, but alas, there are no pictures, only written characters that mean about as much to Uryuu as squiggles drawn in the sand, and he has no idea what's going on in that book.
Not wanting to be scolded by his father, Uryuu is able to sit in his seat and be quiet, simply alternating between staring out the window and casting surreptitious glances his father's way. At least, he's able to do that until dawn peaks its rosy fingers over the horizon dotted with skyscrapers, and Uryuu can properly see what is going on around him.
This isn't like a car at all. They're going so much faster on this train, so fast that if Uryuu blinks he might miss the sight of a whole strip of buildings. And they're so much higher up that Uryuu can see the whole landscape of cities so much more clearly than he would in a car.
The train passes over cars and highways, and little blurs of blue, red, green and white pass by below, like toy cars racing along a track. Sunlight glistens off of buildings seemingly made of glass; they glitter and dazzle as would cut and polished diamond under a lamp.
Hot sunlight pouring through the windows (there's no longer any need for the overhead lights; they turn off as soon as there's enough light), Uryuu no longer wants for entertainment. Now, wide blue eyes turn towards the windows, staring raptly at the sights that go zipping by. He forgets his apprehension of Ryuuken, tugging on his father's sleeve to point at landmarks, at buildings, at gardens and strange sights, asking excitedly what they could be.
Ryuuken will answer, either with an explanation, or a "Don't point, Uryuu. It's rude to point." or "Keep your voice down. You're not supposed to talk loudly on a train." The only time his eyes ever lift from the book he is still in the process is to spy out whatever it is Uryuu's indicating. He never lets those same eyes fall on Uryuu.
At skyscrapers lost in a haze of woolly white clouds, at glittering neon signs, he smiles. At pools that gleam like glass in verdant stretches of green, the oases in concrete deserts, he smiles. That ability to feel joy has not yet been blunted, and there is still so much to see.
However, those eyes that see are drooping fast. For all his excitement at new sights and sounds, at sailing in a barge of steel and glass, sleep can not be denied. He was woken up an hour before he normally would be, something that wouldn't affect someone older but, for a toddler, makes all the difference.
By the time a smiling woman comes around with food on a breakfast cart, Uryuu is asleep with his head pillowed in his father's lap, hot sunlight providing all the blanket needed, lulled by the vibrations of the wheels.
For whatever reason, Ryuuken doesn't push him away.