A/n: Hello everyone Psycho Jack here again with another chapter of a Pair of Perverted Goofballs. Wow it looks like Keigo has unintentionally destroyed his first hollow, however the power he wields seems to be a double-edged sword as he also sabotaged Yoruichi when in the middle of combat. We find our hero resting at Urahara's. Let's see where the story takes us next!
--Unknown–
"Oh…my head…" A voice can be heard aching in pain.
Two brown eyes opened, their vision currently fuzzy as they analyzed the room to and fro. It appeared to be a classical Japanese stylized room, as he rested on a futon and the doors of this place seemed to be shoji (Japanese panel doors). The other thing he couldn't help but notice was that this room in particular, had a strange aroma of candy.
He looked around a bit more, noticing that this room had some stray candy wrappers. They had some stray crumbs emanating from within their respective wrappers. One of them had a wrapper that had the label Spirit Gummies.
"Spirit Gummies? I know that brand!" Keigo tried to raise himself before an aching pang could be felt throughout his body. His body felt sore, as if he exercised for an extraneous length of time.
"Ouch! Oh my back!" Keigo let out as the majority of his body pains seemed to come from his back. He felt like an old man when he said it aloud.
Keigo struggled forcing himself up from the futon. He moved slowly to not further rupture any muscles he may have pulled or strained.
Following the loose wrappers of candy, Keigo couldn't help but notice that there was a mumbling in the walls. Someone was having a conversation beyond the room.
He saw another shoji door and slid it open.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty. At least thats what I would normally say if it was morning." A jovial voice said.
Keigo's vision was still a little blurry from his exhaustion and vulnerable state. He had to squint a bit as a little bit of light emanated form the nearby window, though not one of the sun. Currently the lighting that peered through the door of this place came from the artificial lighting of the outdoor street poles or from nearby buildings.
Keigo focused his eyesight to see an individual wearing an iconic bucket hat that obscured his eyes. The man wore a dark green Shihakushō without an undershirt. Over this, he wears a black haori, which sports a white diamond pattern along its bottom half. He knew this guy, it was the local candyman, Urahara. Currently he was sitting on the floor that was suspended above the stalls where you would buy candy products.
"Keigo, looking for Spirit Gummies? They're on discount 2 for 1 today!" Urahara said in a laid back manner as he walked towards him. He held one of the aforementioned treats in his right hand.
Keigo snapped back to reality. He already knew now after talking to Yoruichi about Urahara's real identity as an ex soul reaper.
"Hell no! How the hell did I get in here? Why was I stuffed in the back like some kind of Yakuza target!" Keigo protested, nearly keeling over from the pain in his body. He held on to one of the shoji doors products for balance.
"Woah, looks like someone's a bit angry! Yeah sorry about that, we would have taken you to a hospital but I'm sure by now you know that no hospital could have treated you in your earlier state." Urahara said while looking at a book before placing it on the floor that said Seireitei Communication Monthly: Medicine for Morons.
"Did you know Spirit Implosion is actually rare nowadays. It's so easily treatable and common knowledge that practically no one gets it. So when someone finally gets it, you pretty much can guess their intelligence…or in your case a lack of-"
"Hey screw you! I'm not one who built a catastrophe in a damn rubix cube! I'm no scientist, but I know an ass when I see one!" Keigo retorted.
Urahara sweatdropped. "Touche…not really one of my best moments, or decades."
Keigo looked aghast. "Wait a minute! Decades, just how old are you!"
"You know it's rude to ask someone's age so blatantly. Might hurt their feelings!" Urahara said in a faux hurt.
"Never mind. I'm outta here! I gotta find someone who actually gives a damn!" Jeigo tried to walk before Urahara got in his way hands in a placating manner.
"Now wait a second! No need to rush! Wouldn't want to make a certain kitten bear its claws on lil ol' me right? Why don't you take a seat for a sec!" Urahara was sweating as he seemed to treat Keigo in a desperate attempt to avoid certain consequences.
Keigo couldn't help but notice the kitten comment. "Where's Yoruichi?" He asked.
Urahara then sighed, relieved that Keigo allowed him to sit him down.
"She's resting now. Not sure exactly what happened earlier but her gigai was practically falling apart, so I had to give her a backup just to prevent her spirit from being in the same condition as you were.
"Wait, Yoruichi had Spirit Implosion too? Why? She's got powers right!?" Keigo looked flabbergasted.
Urahara looked at Keigo in a more serious manner. His eyes seemed analytical.
"To put it bluntly, it was because of you, Keigo."
Keigo's eyes widened. "M-me? What did I do?"
Urahara sat down in front of Keigo, getting comfortable.
"Don't sweat it too much, I know it wasn't on purpose. Your near death experience awakened your spirit and as a result you got a little nifty trick. The problem was none of us could understand what it was until you actually used it. Spirits are tricky, you never know what abilities one has until they decide to run amok with it. For some reason it always happens at the worst times." Urahara took a fan from nowhere and began waving it in front of his face.
Keigo listened.
"In your case, from what Yoruichi told me, she said you healed her, but when she tried to fight, she was pretty much blocked from her own power, and her gigai broke down as a result of pushing herself." The store clerk explained.
"Gigai?" Keigo asked.
"A human body for soul reapers. I would be invisible to you without one unless you had spiritual awareness." Urahara informed Keigo.
Keigo had a realization. "So that's why I could see Yoruichi before-"
"Grand Fisher, the big baddie who attacked you, yup! Couldn't help but notice that your nose is bruised, where'd you get that?" Urahara asked.
Keigo looked at his nose, cross eyed. It still had a dried droplet of blood from earlier when he accidentally fixed Yoruichi's tail.
"Someone…crushed her tail. I ended up fixing it, but I don't really know how." Keigo spoke in recollection.
Urahara nodded and closed his fan.
"I think I may know what happened. Your little ability wasn't really healing. You pretty much gave her a bit of your energy and took a bit of hers, specifically that which was damaged. You literally exchanged her energy with some of your own. The problem is my gigais are tailored to their owners, so Yoruichi's gigai was rejecting her because it thought she was you." Urahara surmised, his analytical skills were prominent.
Keigo sweated, he almost caused his own death and Yoruichi's, albeit unintentionally.
"Hey, no need to get moody on me. We now know what happened, and no one was hurt, well except for you! That little tussle with the hollow at the gymnasium was a definite risk on your part, but you survived, and that's what matters. Your soul's good now!" Urahara said with optimism.
Keigo sighed. He felt a little better but he still wanted to ask Urahara something.
"Urahara. Why did you invent the-"
"The rubix cube you mentioned? It's called the Hogyoku. I originally made it to help a few friends and like you I made a mistake. I couldn't help but notice that during the time of its creation, there was an increase of hollow activity, as well as the strength of the hollows that were starting to show up. All I could do was bury it and wait. I would've disposed of it sooner, but like your powers I didn't understand it until…well I think Yoruichi already filled you in for the most part." Urahara answered, his fan open again.
Keigo didn't know what happened but if it was to help his friends, Keigo can see the potential mentality behind inventing the Hogyoku.
"'Screw the natural law' huh?" Keigo mumbled to himself.
"After centuries of living, one thing I've come to know is that you can't give up the desire to connect with others. You can try to bury it, but it has a nasty habit of coming out. You experienced that yesterday, right?" Urahara asked.
Keigo nodded. "Ichigo's my friend. I didn't want to leave him to get killed! My father always said 'a good friend is hard to find, don't leave them behind'. I just didn't think of myself fighting a ghost to live up to that." Keigo chuckled at how crazy it sounded.
Urahara smiled. "I don't think I've ever seen your dad around here but I would say he's a smart guy. It's a pain at times though!" Urahara leaned towards Keigo before laughing, Keigo following suit. The two jokers shared a bit of camaraderie amidst this otherwise strange meeting of a mortal with a literal reaper. Urahara stood up and turned around, small claw marks all over his back.
Keigo who was laughing sputtered, spitting out some Spirit Gummies he had ate while sitting to get some form of food in his gut.
Yoruichi seemed to have gotten mad at Urahara about something earlier.
The shoji door opened, revealing said kitten. Yoruichi was currently in her normal combat attire, orange vest with black pants. She seemed a bit tired, as she dusted off her eyes before looking at Keigo.
"Finally you're up! I was wondering if I should wake you up with a kiss, sleeping beauty!" Yourichi teased, kneeling down towards Keigo before feeling his forehead, sensing his spirit and noticing its stability.
Urahara's eyebrows rose in a knowing fashion. "I think you gave him enough of that I'm sure."
Yoruichi's eyes twitched.
"You were fawning over him during the kid's whole stay. I thought you'd never leave!" Urahara teased as Yoruichi looked angrily in his direction, shutting him down. Urahara simply whistled looking away from Yoruichi.
Keigo was blushing as was Yoruichi who simply picked him up and carried him off elsewhere, closing the shoji doors behind her.
"Oh and be sure to keep the noise down. You'll scare the customers with all your babymaking!" Urahara teased before laughing his ass off, loving how he heard Yoruichi bump her foot against the wall letting out a grunt in frustration at what he said. It's not every day that the scientist gets to tease Yoruichi and catch her so off guard. Its just funny to watch her unexpected nervousness around someone.
--Urahara's Shop: Dojo--
"Hey where are we going, Yoruichi?" Keigo asked, looking around as he wasn't sure where they were going. He's never went so deo within the candy shop like this before. What else was in this seemingly small store.
"Now that you finally recovered, it's best to learn about the fundamentals of protecting your spirit from a hollow. We can't have a repeat of this afternoon at the gym." Yoruichi explained.
Keigo gasped at the size of this rocky arena.
"This place is huge! How the hell did you guys build this under a candy shop!?" Keigo asked.
"Years of time! It wasn't easy. Take off that robe and put this on." Yoruichi stood a bit away from Keigo tossing him a white shirt a pair of shorts.
Keigo looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Um Yoruichi, my body is killing me right now, I can't even stand right without getting aches!"
"For this we are not doing anything physical. This is about spiritual energy. I'm going to teach you how to use it at will. Considering how you tore a hollows mask with your bare hands, this should be easy enough." Yoruichi explained.
"If by some miracle, you end up getting hurt, don't worry, we've sent for someone to help out."
Keigo gulped as a mischievous glint came from Yoruichi's eyes.
"Now strip!" She smirked.
CHAPTER END