A/N: Sorry about how late this is guys! Finals week sort of killed my brain… in other news, Sungsun won the poll for Tesla's pairing and will be most likely introduced next week! This chapter is not really centered on anyone and is probably pretty sporadic considering it was written at about midnight…. Again, sorry about this. :l

Homecoming… Almost

"A drinking contest?" Tesla asked several hours later as evening began to fall, a towel still hanging around his shoulders and his hair tousled from where he had tried to rub the tap water out of it. There were slight pink smears on the white cloth that marked where Ggio's blood had rubbed off from the blonde's fingers and onto the fabric, "Why the hell would you think I'd agree with that?"

"Three reasons," Ggio said with a smile, "One, as celebration of the fact that I came back alive, albeit slightly damaged and in a fucked up car."

"What did you say about the car?!"

"Two, my pride is at stake," the black haired man continued, his grin widening. He suddenly grabbed Tesla by the collar of his shirt and dragged him forward so that the two were nose to nose, "And three, my shoulder hurts like hell thanks to you, and the pain killers aren't doing shit."

"You're going to do what you want regardless of what I say," Tesla sighed as Ggio released him, "So go ahead, just don't drag me into your madness."

"We're good!" Ggio cried to Yoruichi, beaming, "Tes gave permission! You should join too Soi Fon!"

"I think I'll stay with Tesla," the woman replied, distaste obvious on her features. Ggio shrugged and turned to Kisuke.

"What about you Hitchhiker, you sticking around?" he asked, wiping away a thin runnel of blood that was starting to trickle from his shoulder.

"Ah, no," the blonde replied with a grin, "As I was explaining to Soi Fon, I called Tessai to come pick me up... he should be here quite soon actually. I'd rather not be inebriated the first time the kids see me after a couple of months."

"Your loss man," Ggio shrugged with only one shoulder before turning to Yoruichi, "Let's do this!"

Several minutes later, the two feline-like people sat down across from one another, ochre-amber gazes setting on one another as Tesla sat a couple of tables away with a calculator and a notebook for banking. Kisuke settled down to watch, and Soi Fon reluctantly joined him.

"Ready?" Yoruichi asked, "Keep track now…"

"Born ready," Ggio answered, then thought for a moment, "Actually that's not quite true, I took sixteen years to actually be able to drink."

"Aw, shaddup," the violet haired challenger laughed, popping open her first bottle of booze, "No technicalities tonight."

"If you insist," the black haired man grinned in return, taking his own bottle as he spoke.

…

"I said no, Ggio," Tesla said firmly, swaying a bit in his seat and fumbling for his reading glasses so he could actually get some work done, "Even though I specifically asked you not to involve me in this…"

"C'mmon Tes, don't be a pussy, just do it… and you're the one who gave in and started drinking anyways," his black haired friend laughed woozily, pushing the shot glass at the blonde.

"Fuck Ggio, I'm not… ugh… like you! A man can only handle so much alcohol!"

"Vega's right, take the shot Captain!" Yoruichi cheered, her own bottle in her hand. On the table top there were various empty alcohol containers due to the contest that had taken place between Ggio and the violet haired woman.

"Captain?" the blonde asked, confused.

"'Cause 'o the eye patch," the dark skinned woman laughed.

"Screw you," he replied in an even, if slightly slurred tone, downing the shot.

"What the hell is Soi Fon doing?" Ggio wondered, looking at the woman as she seemingly drew pictures on the table top with her finger, her head resting on her arms.

"Who knows, she's wasted," Yoruichi shrugged, "She hold's liquor like a baby."

"I'm fine!" Soi Fon protested a bit thickly, "I'm not that bad, I was just bored! You two are going to die of liver failure!"

"I'm with her," Tesla cried, "Thank God, someone sane… I have no idea why I even agreed to this!"

"Ehhh, well…" Ggio sighed, slumping low in his chair with a vacant grin in place, "At least my shoulder doesn't hurt any more, ya know?"

"I'm starting to get tempted to join in on this," Kisuke muttered, looking at his watch, "He said he'd come though, so…"

"Yeah man, I wouldn't suggest it," Ggio nodded sagely, raising his bottle to peer through the rounded glass at the rest of the room, "Doesn't do a kid good to see a father-figure all drunk and shit."

"Like you'd- hic- fuckin' know!" Soi Fon cried suddenly, slapping a hand on the table angrily before looking at Kisuke and leveling a finger at him, "You better not!"

"Alright, alright, I won't," the blonde laughed as Tesla started muttering to himself and scratching things off in his notepad, clearing his calculator to start over whatever he was working on. Ggio stared at Soi Fon, surprised by her outburst, but decided to leave it alone.

At that moment, there was a knock on the front door, which was locked as Tesla had closed the bar for the night due to Ggio's return. The black haired man in question stumbled upright out of his chair to get the door, the button up shirt he was wear open over his bare chest fluttering behind him. He pulled open the door and paused for a moment, then looked up into the face of a six and a half foot tall giant of a man with cornrows and a handlebar mustache. The man stared down at Ggio over the rims of his square glasses until the shorter of the pair cleared his throat.

"Uh, hey," the ochre eyed man greeted slowly, "You're… Tessai?"

"Jinta stop it, that hurts…" a very soft voice came suddenly.

"No way! It's not fair that you got to ride in the front seat!" a louder boy's voice snapped. The giant, who still had yet to answer Ggio, turned to look behind him and dragged a small red haired boy forward by the ear. A smaller girl with watery blue eyes and black pigtails sniffled and wrung the hem of her shirt, staring up at Ggio who gazed back down at her with just as much confusion as she was sending his way.

"Um…" she squeaked, "Is… is Mr. Urahara here?"

"Mr…. oh, you mean Kisuke. Yeah he's here," Ggio answered her, turning around and yelling down the hall, "Oy, Hitchhiker! Your ride is here, grab your shit and get out!"

"Language, my drunk, bleeding host, language….There are children here," the blonde reprimanded lightly as he entered into the hall.

"Bleeding?" Ggio wondered, looking at his shoulder where a thin line of blood had welled along the lips of his wound, "Oh, fuck…"

"You took your time, Tessai," Kisuke said coolly, staring up at the man who stood six inches taller than his own stature as the bespectacled giant pushed his glasses up his nose.

"You're one to talk," Tessai answered, "Almost three months since you've been gone. They missed you," he indicated the children.

"Hey boss," the redheaded boy grinned, pulling away from where Tessai held him and sticking his hands in the pockets of cargo pants.

"M-Mr. Urahara," the little girl squeaked from the threshold, tears welling in her eyes which she quickly wiped away with the long sleeves of her white shirt.

Kisuke knelt down on the floor and opened his arms, allowing the girl to run forward and wrap her arms around him in a tight hug, sobbing into his shoulder and he patted the top of her head.

"Sorry Ururu, Jinta" he murmured, "I missed you too."

"S'all right," the boy said, wiping his streaming nose on the sleeve of his jacket, "We had Carrot Top and the Midget to keep us company. Stray Dog Renji too…"

"You want a hug too?" the blonde asked, making room for the boy, who shook his head.

"No, hugs are for sissies! I'm- hey!"

Kisuke dragged the boy into his embrace, and despite his protesting Jinta didn't try to escape, he just hugged the man in return. Ggio watched all this go on and then winced as he felt something prod his shoulder, turning to see Tessai looking closely at the wound.

"Whoa, hey, step off!" the ochre eyed man cried, backpedaling a bit and almost spilling his drink, "That hurts you know!"

"I could patch it up a bit better," the tall man said, regaining his full height as he had had to bend down to even get on eye-level with Ggio, "Staples don't seem to be the most conventional way to do that."

"No, thank you, I've gone through enough shit today," Ggio answered quickly as Kisuke stood up. The man stuck out a hand for a handshake from Ggio, which the shorter man complied with.

"Well, thanks for springing me," the blonde smiled, "No doubt I'll I have to lay a bit lower than usual, but it's better than nothing. I'll make sure I reimburse you somehow."

"I hope you weren't planning on leaving without saying goodbye to your cellmate?" Yoruichi asked, coming up behind Ggio with a smirk, "And you better come visit, you hear?"

"Of course I'll come visit!" he said with a melodramatic look of hurt, "Why would you think any different?"

"You have the air of a wanderer," Yoruichi said more seriously, leaning forward and kissing Kisuke on the cheek, "Just make sure if you go wandering I get a forwarding address, alright?"

"I don't think I'm going anywhere soon," the man smirked as Jinta made gagging motions in the background and Ururu blushed furiously, "But sure thing."

"Yeah this is great and all," Ggio broke in, "But I'm going to go back to the taproom, I'm apparently not needed here."

"I'll be back in a bit," Yoruichi winked, "Don't be running out on my challenge now!"

The black haired man laughed and rambled his way back to where Tesla and Soi Fon were sitting, dropping himself beside the sleepy woman and looking across at his friend. Tesla glanced up and went immediately back to his work, but too late; Ggio had seen the look in his eyes.

"What's up?" the black haired man wondered, leaning forward more alertly, "You've got something on your mind."

"No I don't," Tesla answered too quickly, attempting to correct himself, "I mean, what would give you that idea?"

"Tes, we've been together for almost twelve years, I know when something's bugging you. Spill."

Soi Fon looked up drowsily to watch the exchange, curious. She had noticed that Tesla had been fidgety, but had passed it off as concern for Ggio and maybe the aftereffects of weeks of stress, but….

"Ggio… look, it's just…. well there's no easy way to say this…"

"What?"

"Um…" the blonde swallowed and began to fiddle with one of the strings holding his eye patch in place, "Someone got to Yylfordt, Findorr and Di Roy."

There was a pause, and Soi Fon's fogged mind took a minute to absorb this information. As it did so, her heart dropped a few inches in her chest; Ggio seemed frozen, staring at a spot on the table before he spoke again.

"What do you mean, 'got to'?" the feline man asked without moving.

"They… they were found in a warehouse on the outskirts of town and it looked like they'd been killed execution… style," the blonde finished slowly, watching as Ggio dropped his head onto his hands.

"Fuck, and Szayel didn't tell me…" the black haired man growled, "All that for just having contact with us, huh?"

"Seems so,"

"Agh, dammit!" Ggio stood so quickly his chair flew backward and almost tipped over, buttoning up his shirt and snatching up his jacket.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Tesla queried, an edge in his voice as he grabbed Ggio's wrist, "This isn't our fault. There was nothing either you or I could have done to prevent this!"

"I don't know where I'm going," Ggio said, suddenly sounding tired as opposed to his furious energy from the second before, "I just… I'm gonna go visit someone."

"Oh," Tesla dropped Ggio's arm, sounding almost angry as the black haired man went back to the hall, "I see. Going to forget your problems in the company of a woman."

Soi Fon held her breath; the alcohol was really playing havoc with her brain, she thought… why the hell would it concern her who Ggio spent his time with? For some reason the thought of him with another woman was constricting her chest and giving her the strangest urge to run up and kick him between the legs.

Ggio, who had frozen on the threshold of the back door at Tesla's cutting words, turned around.

"Actually," he said scathingly, "I was going to go talk to your sister."

Tesla looked like he had been punched in the stomach, mouthing soundlessly as he tried to find words to express his feelings on the subject.

"You knew where she was?" he finally got out.

"Of course," Ggio snorted, "As if I'd let Menoly get anywhere without my knowledge. I've known where she's been since the day she's left, had phone calls with her about once a month and even sent her checks to help her pay her bills."

"You knew where she was… and you didn't tell me?" Tesla didn't even sound upset, just hurt and shocked.

"If I'd said anything to you, you would have had gone after her."

"Well if that's the case what are you going to talk to her about now?!"

"I'm going to bring her home," Ggio said flatly, "If they've started offing people associated with us, Menoly isn't going to be able to defend herself."

Ggio turned back and stepped outside, the cold air fogging his breath as he spoke.

"Aizen is no gentleman. He won't play fair and he won't leave her alone just because she never had any real involvement."

Then what, Soi Fon wondered with the smallest beginnings of apprehension tugging at the back of her mind, does that mean for Yoruichi and I?