After a fitful night's sleep, Nami returned to the lab first thing in the morning to assist with tending to the bizarre newcomer to the base. She avoided looking at Major General Zaraki who was standing close to her and glowering at her so intently she could feel it. Talking to the half man half bat who was sitting on the examining table distracted her a little from the vicious glare while they waited for Kisuke to return with more supplies and equipment for a more thorough examination of the creature. Her husband stood beside the Commander General across the room and they talked in hushed voices in what was apparently a very serious conversation judging by her husband's angry expression that included keeping his teeth bared in a semi-permanent snarl. Her ears just could pick up on their low voices to hear as they talked.
"He wants to reopen the experiment. The one Kisuke was working on with Mayuri," Muguruma informed him.
"The one that made me?" Grimmjow hissed in return, a deep rumble of a growl rolling around in his chest. "Fucking idiot! Does that crazy bastard know what he's getting into?"
"No. No, he doesn't," the Commander returned. "It's just plain wrong. No human has the right to play God. It destroys too many lives."
"We have to fight fire with fire," Zaraki interjected, shifting his gaze to the creature. "Otherwise, how will we stop these..." He paused, allowing his face to contort with revulsion before spitting out the word,"things? I don't like this anymore than you do, but how else do we go after them? You've knowingly had one in your midst for years so what's the problem?"
Grimmjow snarled at the Major General and had every intention of attacking him but was interrupted by Kisuke who passed right in between them. His eyes followed the man's path to the table, releasing a low growl when he saw his wife pushing the young man down onto his back. He did not like his wife being so close to Ulquiorra.
"They can't be serious. Are they really going to reopen the experiment and make more beings like Grimmjow and Ulquiorra?" Nami asked Kisuke in a whisper, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of Ulquiorra's hand as Kisuke prepared to take a blood sample.
"I'm afraid they are," he answered, chewing on his lower lip when the young man winced from the insertion of the needle into his arm. "I know it's asking a lot, and I fully expect you to say no, but would you be willing to be my assistant on the project?"
"Yes, I'll do it," she answered swiftly without hesitating. She smiled when his surprise widened gray eyes met hers. If it was going to happen, she wanted to be a part of it to oversee the treatment of these new beings; to make sure they were treated kindly and with respect since they would still be half human and not mere animals.
"Are you sure?" he inquired, half hoping she would tell him no or at least request time to think about it.
"I'm sure," she responded confidently, looking down at the white hand that was squeezing hers. "What are you going to do with him? He's not an animal. He can't be kept in a cage."
"Well, some of the patient rooms are still set up here. We will put him in one of the rooms with a functional lock," he said, ignoring her crestfallen expression.
"Kisuke, that's still a cage," she said sadly.
"It has to be done. It's better than that," he grumbled, nodding toward the huge iron box with air holes built for holding zoo animals they had used to transport Ulquiorra to the lab.
Nami kept her mouth shut realizing arguing was useless. Glancing toward the three men across the room deep in conversation, she felt her heart begin to sink as she heard them discussing specifics of how the experiments would proceed. Men would be recruited to the project on a strictly voluntary basis and still had the option to decline once all of the specifics were explained to them. All of the men, whether accepting or declining to join the project, would have to sign a gag order and if they dared to speak of the experiments, drastic measures would be taken to keep them quiet. After the new creatures were sufficiently mature, Grimmjow would be responsible for training them and turning them into an army of a new breed of soldiers. The first priority was to find the lab Ulquiorra came from and shut it down. Then they would be responsible for tracking down and trapping as many of their kind as possible. After that, who knew? Those options would be discussed later.
"Their kind," she snorted angrily, feeling the hair rise on the back of her neck.
"Nami," Kisuke whispered in a barely audible voice.
"What?" she snapped, turning her gaze to him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he regarded her suspiciously.
"What?" She pretended not to know what he was talking about.
"When did it happen? When did it come back? What else is there besides the hearing?" he questioned her in rapid succession forgetting all about the new and interesting creature on the table.
"About three years ago. It started with the hearing, then the sense of smell. Over the last few months, my sight has improved drastically and I can see at night again. I didn't want to tell you. I wanted to pretend it wasn't happening," she mumbled, lowering her eyes to avoid his. "So far it's just my senses. There's been no physical changes."
"I need to find out for myself. I need to do a thorough exam, blood work - " He was brusquely interrupted by his new assistant.
"There's other more pressing matters to attend to, Mr. Urahara," she reminded him, touching the cheek of the sleeping young man on the table who had transformed into a fully human appearance.
"Amazing. How did they engineer them to do that so fast? Do they have control over it?" he asked himself, shifting into scientist mode.
"Find out," Zaraki barked, catching a glimpse of the human Ulquiorra. "We're counting on you, Urahara. You might even be promoted to Major for this if you pull it off."
~\..'../~
Seven years later...
The day was quickly approaching when they would be ready to mobilize and put their plans and theories into action. It was almost time for a full assault on the laboratory that had produced Ulquiorra. They had located the lab in the United States that was indeed covered by an actual working pharmaceutical research company. The additional activities of the human and animal experiments went on in the very same building as the legitimate drug research. It was going to be tricky invading and seizing the covert, unnatural part of the operation without causing too much of a commotion and causing innocent lives to be lost. Over the years since Ulquiorra's arrival, two other creatures had made their way to the military base from the American lab. At the beginning they were regarded as spies and treated as such. However, time proved they were only escapees looking for a safe haven. One was a white tiger hybrid named Luppi Atenor who managed to be a permanent burr in the backside of Grimmjow. Arrogant and self-centered, he preferred to annoy the blue-haired man more than doing anything else on earth. The other being was a half wolf by the name of Coyote Starrk who was hopelessly lazy and unmotivated and preferred not to do anything at all.
Nami was busy tending to a wound on Luppi's shoulder inflicted by Grimmjow during training when her cell phone rang. She slapped the last piece of tape on the edge of the bandage covering the deep gouge he had received, ignoring the grumpy hiss of the pained hybrid. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she groaned when she saw the base school's phone number. She had become very familiar with that number since it popped up on her caller ID so much. Pressing the green phone button to answer, she braced herself for the shrill, panicked voice of Mrs. Soloman, Yusei's teacher.
"You're son has been fighting again!" she shrieked into the phone causing Nami to pull it away from her ear.
"I'll be right there, Mrs. Soloman," Nami sighed, pressing the button to end the call despite the fact the teacher was still ranting.
"Who did he beat the hell out of now?" Kisuke asked, watching her as she grabbed her purse.
"I don't know. Hopefully it wasn't the Major General's kid again. He still punishes Grimmjow for that one every chance he gets," she muttered, slamming her desk drawer.
"Good luck, dear. Don't worry about coming back today. Just take care of your son," he told her as she was leaving.
~...~
Nami could see both of her sons sitting in the chairs by the principle's office. Yusei had a cut on his right cheek and a split lip. Hisoka did not have a mark on his face but the knuckles of both hands looked as if he had repeatedly scraped them across a cheese grater. What the hell had happened here? And why were her boys the only ones in trouble?
"MOM!" Yusei yelled, his brown eyes opening wide with excitement. He jumped out of the chair and ran to meet her, flinging his arms around her waist.
Nami looked up at the boy who was barely taller than her before her eyes moved to his brother who had stood to his feet and towered over them both being as tall as his father and just as wide despite being only thirteen years old. She released a noisy sigh of resignation as she glared at the orange haired kiss up who still held her tightly around her waist.
"Yusei, what the hell have you done dragging your brother into your crap? What happened?" she demanded, staring at the reticent blue haired boy who stared at his big feet in obvious shame.
"Oh, Mama, you should have seen it!" Yusei rattled excitedly, launching into a detailed story of the event.
Hisoka had gone to save his sister after some of their older male classmates had trapped her in a corner of the playground. He had simply pushed the boys aside before extracting his sister from the grip of the biggest brute in the middle who was about to kiss her. The idiot kid who purposely picked on the wrong sister was none other than Takeshi Zaraki. Armed with more brawn than brains and not to be deterred from winning his prize, he had thrown a punch at Hisoka while attempting to retrieve Mitsuhime but had accidentally pushed her to the ground in his effort to grab her. Upon seeing his crying sister and the leering, unapologetic Takeshi, Hisoka lost his temper and found his wild side which he promptly unleashed on the unsuspecting adversary. When the bully's friends jumped into the fray, Yusei noticed and that's when he had to get involved as well. No fight was a good fight until he jumped into the middle of it. Or so he thought.
"It was great, Mom! You should have seen him! Hisoka beat their ass and went back to give them more if they dared to move. They never laid a hand on him. Not one single hit!" Yusei exclaimed, his voice cracking and rising so high he screeched.
Nami glanced at her quiet son who wore a soft pink blush over the tops of his cheeks and looked mortified rather than proud. She hugged Yusei and moved away from him to stand in front of Hisoka.
"I'm sorry, Mom," Hisoka mumbled, continuing to stare at his feet to avoid her gaze.
"Baby, there's nothing to apologize for. You were protecting your sister. Sometimes it's okay to fight. There are noble causes that occasionally require physical force to protect them," she said, patting him on the cheek. She smiled at him when he raised his bright blue eyes to her face.
"Yeah, like Mitsu's virginity!" Yusei yelled, slapping his brother on the back proudly. That boy knew no shame.
Nami smacked him across the back of his head when his brother turned a striking shade of crimson.
"Ow, Moooommmm," he whined, rubbing his sore skull.
"Dammit, Yusei," she growled. "Would you learn to just shut up?!"