Kisuke set to work as soon as Uryuu left for school the next day, having no interest in wasting time. A change of clothes, neatening his hair, and a tiny touch of kido later had him looking distinctly modern and professional.
(The best way to infiltrate was through the front door, after all.)
(No one looked twice at people who were supposed to be there.)
He didn't bother getting Ryuuken's agreement, not when the man had already washed his hands of Uryuu. If he wanted nothing to do with his son, then he would have nothing to do with his son, not even the moment that legal custody passed into Kisuke's hands.
(He'd long ago memorized Ryuuken's signature.)
Kisuke strode into the municipal office and set to work. He needed to create a paper trail that would stand up to scrutiny, and for that he needed all the relevant forms, stamps, seals, and signatures.
And for that he needed a template to work from.
It took time to sort out, to find and forge signatures, duplicate seals, insert data into the system…
(To add touches of kido here and there to relevant parties.)
(Suggestions, influences, modifications to muddy the waters and ensure the tangled forgeries were never questioned.)
(Powerless humans were so easy to sway…)
It was night by the time Kisuke meandered out of the office, flush with success and with Benihime crooning in the depths of his mind, all vindictive pleasure and possessive joy.
(Uryuu was his — was theirs — and they would not let him go now.)
(Ryuuken could burn for all they cared.)
He made a beeline home. Uryuu was still up, was still waiting, and Kisuke refused to disappoint the boy.
Uryuu looked up from the table the minute Kisuke stepped through the door, eyes going wide at the sight of him and reiatsu signature blazing with curiosity. Curiosity that softened into shy happiness when Kisuke knelt and presented him with proof.
Folder open in front of them, Uryuu flipped through the pages once, twice, a third time, his smile growing wider with each pass.
Papers dropped from Uryuu's hands as the the boy twisted around and lunged, wrapping Kisuke in a spontaneous hug that drove the breath from his body.
(He hoped he could encourage that to continue.)
(It was… nice.)
The next few days passed in something resembling 'normal' for the shoten. Uryuu came out to spend time with everyone, and the Kurosaki siblings cheerfully included him whenever he showed interest.
(Yoruichi howled with laughter when he slipped and called them all his.)
(The traitor.)
Uryuu kept silent about training, but Kisuke doubted the boy would last much longer. In preparation for the day, Kisuke sent Yoruichi back to Soul Society to dig through their records on Quincy and began to draw up plans to raid Ryuuken's home.
(And if it meant Yoruichi wasn't around to tease him, well… all the better then.)
He doubted anything from Soul Society would be useful, but he could always reverse engineer abilities from descriptions. Even mostly untrained, Uryuu could provide him with the basics he needed to extrapolate from, and the rest was just trial and error.
Distracted by his plans for Uryuu's training, it came as a surprise when Ichigo pulled him aside one day and asked to speak in private.
The minute they were tucked away in Kisuke's lab, the boy looked him straight in the eye and asked, "What's a Quincy and a Shinigami?"
Kisuke huffed in amusement, already knowing where Ichigo had heard those words. "Uryuu-kun told you?"
"Well, he mentioned them. Mostly just that he's a Quincy and you're a Shinigami and that Quincy and Shinigami don't get along? But that's it."
He debated his options for a split second, then shrugged and gestured for Ichigo to take a seat. "Alright, but keep this to yourself and Uryuu-kun, okay?" Kisuke smiled secretively and continued in a low voice, "It's a secret to everybody."
Ichigo giggled then quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, struggling to look serious as he nodded in agreement.
Kisuke smiled and started from the beginning, explaining the three worlds and the balance, about souls and Hollows and the Shinigami's role, before moving on to Quincy and their place in the worlds. Some of it clearly went over Ichigo's head despite both of their best efforts; Ichigo asked good questions, but Kisuke just couldn't figure out how to translate what he knew into words that made sense. Not without more technical language than Ichigo currently understood.
(That was okay. They could always speak more on the topic later.)
(He would let the thoughts ferment in the back of his mind until then.)
In the end, Ichigo scowled down at the tabletop and drummed his fingers against his thigh. "So what's that make me?" he asked eventually. "Why can I see spirits? Am I a Quincy too?"
"Ah…" Kisuke fidgeted with his fan and debated the weight of a promise given a decade ago. It had been fine when Kisuke had no intention of interacting with the boy until it was time to train him into a perfect little unpredictable soldier. But now… "That's… complicated."
Ichigo frowned in puzzlement. "Complicated? So… I'm not? Then what am I? You said that empowered humans are rare, so…"
Kisuke snapped his fan closed and set it down on the table next to him, decision made. The boy deserved to know, no matter what Isshin believed. "You're a hybrid. Shinigami and Quincy, and theoretically capable of learning both sets of skills."
"So… so is tou-san…"
"He was a Shinigami once," Kisuke finished. "He gave up his powers in order to stabilize your mother, after she was infected by an unusual Hollow and began to Hollowfy."
Ichigo frowned in thought, then tentatively asked, "So… he really can't see spirits? He isn't lying about that?"
"He isn't," Kisuke said with a nod. "Right now, he's completely human, cut off from his powers and unable to even sense the spirits you see every day. I don't know when that will change, or if it even will in this human lifespan. It might be that he will be entirely human until he passes away and becomes a spirit once more." He doubted that. Already he could sense the seal on both Isshin and Ichigo wearing away, slowly cracking without Masaki as the focal point.
It was only a matter of when it would shatter, now.
"Huh…" Ichigo stared at the floor, then squared his shoulders and gave Kisuke a determined look. "Will you teach me? I know you offered to teach Uryuu, but… can you teach me, too?"
"Why do you want to learn?"
"It just… makes sense, doesn't it?" Ichigo asked. At Kisuke's curious look he scowled and gestured at himself. "I've got these powers, right? Cause I can see ghosts. And… and in the stories, leaving something untrained is bad."
Kisuke smiled at Ichigo's words. Trust the boy to turn to literature to explain his reasoning. "This isn't a story," he pointed out, knowing even as he said it that Ichigo was right. Training even the slightest bit of control into him would be better than nothing; already he was spilling reiatsu everywhere and time would only make it worse.
"I know it isn't," Ichigo told him with a pout, grief lurking just beyond his mask. "But it's true, isn't it? You said Hollows go after strong souls, so wouldn't me being untrained be bad?"
('Haven't I already caused enough death?')
"Oh, Ichigo-kun," Kisuke murmured, rising to step around the table and pull Ichigo into a hug. "They do, but Tessai and I keep watch now. You don't need to force yourself to learn right now if you don't want to."
"I… I know. But… please? I don't… want to be helpless anymore…"
"Maa, maa, no need to beg." Kisuke blew out a breath and pulled back, kneeling to put himself level with Ichigo as he did. "I'll teach you, but it's going to be really boring in the beginning. You're a very strong young man and you're going to need to start from the very beginning, okay?"
"Hai!" Ichigo straightened up, expression determined and gaze focused. "It's like how the dojo made us learn all the basic stances and movements before they even let us consider sparring."
"Exactly like," Kisuke agreed. "Except this is going to involve some really boring lessions like meditation."
"I don't care!" Ichigo declared stubbornly. "I won't give up. I'll learn whatever you want to teach me!"
"Alright then," Kisuke said with a grin. It was nice to see such enthusiasm, even if he doubted it would remain for long. But even a start would be better than nothing; Ichigo could build on it whenever his interests aligned, and something was better than nothing when it came to control. "First lesson is meditation," he continued as he rose and gestured for Ichigo to follow him to a clearer area of his lab. "I want to you try to do this every night before bed, even if only for a few minutes."
Ichigo trotted over and sat on the floor where Kisuke gestured, copying Kisuke's posture as he best he could. He sat and listened as Kisuke began to explain, his entire being focused in a way Kisuke rarely saw.
It was almost breathtaking to be the center of such determined focus, to be teaching someone with such a desire to learn.
(Isshin was going to be so furious when he discovered this.)
(Let him.)
(Ichigo was Kisuke's now.)