Urahara accepted the dirty towels that Mayuri handed him. Mayuri had just come out of the bath, which he had entered after much coaxing on Urahara's part. If Mayuri was rattled enough to not even begin to care about his appearance, something had to be very off. More than any bit of information that Urahara now hungered for, he needed to get Mayuri to relax before he accidentally got himself into a worse situation.

This was one of the first times that Urahara had seen Mayuri legitimately scared. This didn't count times when an experiment was going wrong and the only thing left to do was duck and cover. No, there was a tightly gripped panic that he could see in those golden eyes, even though Mayuri was very good at covering most of it up. They were the eyes of a cornered animal that would do absolutely anything, no matter the cost to survive.

"I've got some tea ready in the kitchen, please come in when you are ready."

Urahara sat down at the table and poured two mugs full of the steaming liquid. Mayuri still stood in the doorway, waiting.

"Relax, Mayuri-san. Nobody knows that you're here, and no matter what has happened I will not tell a soul. It must have taken a lot for you to come to me...I'm actually quite touched that you're here."

Urahara gestured to the spot in front of him. Mayuri warily sat down and sipped the drink he was offered. The majority of his makeup had come off in the rain, but now it was completely gone. His headdress had been removed, so that now only the attachment for his chin and his ears remained, glittering gold, and his hair was relaxed, falling down his shoulders. His captain's haori had been hung up to dry, and now he simply wore a simple, blue, typical men's jinbei.

They sat in silence for a while, with Urahara trying not to pry and Mayuri still in barely concealed shock.

"I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong," said Urahara gently. "Remember, I'm an exile, after all."

Mayuri sniffed, not amused. "You could have come back had you wanted to, now that Aizen has been dealt with."

Urahara waved a hand. "Details, details." He side-eyed Mayuri. "You weren't researching anything...illegal, were you?"

Mayuri frowned. "Some of my work may skirt the edge of questionable, but as far as I'm aware, nobody knows about that. And most of it is based on things I've been asked to do anyway. If you get good results, they tend to turn a blind eye."

"You're still as cautious as you ever were." Urahara traced a circle on the table. "But you could tell me simply what's good enough. It could be bad after all if something questionable could be pinned on me, and I know you'd never do that to me."

For the first time, Mayuri smiled. Urahara relaxed a bit.

"Fine," said Mayuri. "I suppose it can't hurt to tell you, since I'll be gone as soon as I have those gigais." He paused. "Half of the Seireitei has been blown up, and I have been framed for a crime that I had no desire to commit."

"Fascinating." Urahara took a drink. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's not like you to be caught off guard."

Mayuri can't help but clench his jaw at the tiny jab. Even with the preface he's feeling a bit sour.

"There's a first time for everything." His voice was dry.

Urahara decided to let it go. "Did you manage to dispose of anything that might depend on the eye of the beholder?"

Mayuri shook his head, still looking flat and pensive.

"I wish I was. If anybody breaks into my files, there are a few things that could be taken out of context, but I didn't have time to get rid of that."

"Ah. Well, knowing you, there's probably many levels of defenses still. Even if you didn't anticipate this, if you've bought enough time with it, hopefully it won't matter."

Mayuri sighed, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"A lot of people in Soul Society don't like me, though I can't understand why not." Mayuri frowned. "Ever since you pulled me out of the nest, there are those who have viewed me as little more than a ticking time bomb."

Urahara cocked his head. "So, who framed you?"

"I don't know." Mayuri took a swig of his tea.

"What!?" said Urahara in disbelief.

"I said I don't know who did it!" Mayuri growled. "Are you going to believe me or not?"

Urahara bowed slightly. "It's okay. I believe you." He laughed nervously. "We've got quite a job on our hands then."

Our hands? Mayuri made a face at the proposition.

"Out of the question," said Mayuri. "I require only the gigai from you, and I'll conduct my own investigation. Once I have sufficient evidence to prove my innocence, I will leave this world and return to the Seireitei."

"Ne, Mayuri-san, it would be better for you to stay here. My laboratory is at your disposal and you may have access to all of my equipment. I can request information on your behalf about what is happening in Soul Society, and best of all nobody will expect you to be here." Urahara's voice dipped lower. "You're a practical man, after all."

"Nobody would do all of that and expect nothing in return." Mayuri's gaze was somber.

"I'd just treat you the same way I treat anybody else who stays here for a time," said Urahara. "Help me do odd jobs around the shop, come with me on errands. You have to put up with me after all, so I think that's fair and punishment enough."

"I am not going to be your handyman or chore workhorse," Mayuri scoffed. If he was going to be stuck doing menial tasks, Urahara was sorely mistaken.

"What a coincidence, you won't have to be." Urahara grinned. "You have a special set of skills that the people staying here usually don't have."

Mayuri wanted to leave. He needed space to dig into his mind and process the insanity that he'd just lived through. But as much as he wanted to act upon his instincts that told him to run far far away...he's still a pack rat mentally. He's going to leave, there's no question about that, but he knew that Urahara's network of contacts and knowledge were things that he didn't have the luxury of casting aside right now. As much as he didn't like it...well, he's done many less palatable things in the name of discovery.

"This still sounds like a very bad idea, but I accept for now. I reserve the right to leave whenever I wish."

Urahara tapped the tips of his fingers to one another as he considered everything that he would now get to do.

"Fine, I accept those terms. I hope you'll make yourself at home." Urahara gestured to the hallway behind him. "You can keep whatever you like in my room, and I'll bring in the spare futon."

That was something that Mayuri didn't expect..and now he's not quite sure just how to extract himself from yet another thing that he didn't plan for.

"What about that guest bedroom you had when we went to Hueco Mundo?"

Before he'd left, he'd stayed in a relatively modest but suitable room.

"Ah, well, about that." Urahara scratched his head. "Jinta and Ururu are growing up...so we decided to give them their own bedrooms instead of having to share, since Jinta's a boy and Ururu's a girl."

Mayuri rested his forehead on a palm. "I see."

"So yeah, you'll be staying with me. But let's be optimistic, it won't be for long. We'll find out what happened and get you back in your rightful place."

"It beats a sharp stick in the eye," muttered Mayuri under his breath.

Tea finished, Mayuri put the mug in the sink. It was obvious that Urahara wasn't going to fit him for a gigai now, so he'd push the matter tomorrow. And after his neurotic flight away from Soul Society, he had to admit that he was rather tired now that the adrenaline was wearing off. As much as he hated to admit it, Urahara had succeeded in making him feel somewhat calm.

"Oh-Mayuri-san, one quick question," Urahara said.

"Yes?"

Urahara tugged on his hat. "What happened to Nemu-chan?"

Silence echoed in the room. It made Mayuri even more aware of just how rattled he was, not even having considered that Urahara would ask about her. He glared at him. "I don't know."

"Huh, that's odd considering that she clings to your heels," Urahara mused. "Did you lose her somehow, or was she injured?"

"I said I don't know what happened to her and it's not important anyway." Mayuri turned away from him.

"No worries, I'll inquire about her the next time I talk to people in Soul Society." Urahara smiled disarmingly. "Something tells me that you're the one who'll be the talk of the town. Mentioning her name in the same breath as yours shouldn't draw any attention at all."

Mayuri paused. He stood up, pushing in his chair. "I need to be alone."

Urahara watched him walk away through the doorway, down the hallway to the bedrooms. But, Urahara wasn't stupid, not by any stretch. Mayuri was lying about something, hiding something that he didn't want Urahara to know about. The questions were what and why...but it would take time to crack Mayuri's mind. Now, like he had done over a century ago, he would tease more and more out of that beautiful mind.

xXx

The lights flickered on, revealing a starkly decorated room. Concrete, cinderblock, white, grey, and steel. Drab, all except for a red chair in the center, with a rather disgruntled man sitting on it, and the dull, glowing ember of a cigarette. He leaned it back so that his shoulders rested on the wall, the front two chair legs rearing forward like they belonged to a horse.

"You are Akon, correct?"

Akon gazed flatly into space.

"And?"

The interrogator cleared his throat.

"Do you know the whereabouts of your former captain, Kurotsuchi Mayuri?"

"No." The ember flickered as Akon took a drag on the cigarette. He exhaled harshly, the smoke rushing out through his nose, his horns only adding to his dragonesque image.

"You were one of those taken from Maggot's Nest with him, and have conducted research under his tutelage for more than a century. Considering the average career span in the 12th division before transfer or…umm…retirement, from an outside perspective, one could even say that he may have favored you. Surely, with a history so entwined, you must have some ideas."

Akon glared at the interrogator, who blinked in surprise. "My captain is a paranoid sociopath."

"I see!"

The interrogator excitedly fiddled with his notebook, readying himself for the promotion he would surely get by extracting information on the most dangerous attack that had occurred on Seireitei grounds.

"So, you don't know his location, but you do know his motives?"

Akon rolled his eyes. "No."

"Let me get this straight. Kurotsuchi Mayuri was a dangerous paranoid sociopath who named you as Assistant Director of the SRDI and you accepted this partnership because why?"

"Because he was easy to get along with."

Akon crushed out the stub of his smoke on a bar of the chair, then promptly flicked the dead butt away.

"If you stayed out of his way, did your work, and weren't dumb about it…he really didn't care who you were or what you did. I wish I could say the same about—"

"That doesn't change the fact that hundreds of people have died." The 2nd division captain stepped out from the shadows. "How do I know that you are not in league with him?"

Everybody was running scared, and the tensions in the room could be plucked like a string. Akon was a pinnacle of logic in most situations, but now more than ever he recognized that he was the lone bastion of rationality in the room. So, he smiled mischievously.

"Easy. You don't."

Soifon lunged forward, grabbing the front of Akon's haori. "You will tell me absolutely everything that you know. Somehow, some way, even if I must get special permissions, I will get it out of you."

Akon stared into her ice grey eyes without blinking. He had to admit, when he made that last gigai for her, he'd really done a stunning job.

He shook his head. "You really don't know anything about him, do you?"

For as many captains' meetings she had attended with him, and those few times she had seen him when he was still in special detention, all she had seen was that mask. Yes, that mask, a temper, and the haughtiest demeanor she had ever encountered. Akon was right. Soifon let go, but still glared at him.

Akon relaxed back into the chair.

"The Director is one of the most intelligent minds ever to walk these halls. He had no need for a second person's input on something like this. Assuming he had a true accomplice is your first mistake."

Akon waved a hand.

"If the information is anywhere within the 12th, it is probably access restricted and encrypted in any matter of puzzles, traps, and codes." He paused. "If this is true, he probably deactivated Nemu somehow, unless he took her with him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"She's probably the only other person who could have known anything about this. Certainly not other members of the 12th. He and I were close, but there's a certain length that he keeps his friends."

"Well, you are correct on one account. Nemu is in the 4th squad infirmary in critical condition."

Soifon studied Akon's face, the horns, a self-made graft that blended man and beast. Only a few special types of personalities were drawn to the 12th squad, and she had little experience with any of them. But one thing was for certain, out of anybody, Akon was probably going to be of the most help through this ordeal, whether she liked it or not.

"Nemu," she said. "Can you repair her?"

"Perhaps. It depends on how she's damaged and how badly he did it. Hiyosu is the only other person on staff I've seen repair her."

"Fine." Soifon put her hands on her hips. "You both are to report to the infirmary immediately to provide support."

"Will do."

"And I will be expecting your cooperation for the length of this investigation."

Akon raised an absent eyebrow. "With all due respect, Soifon-taichou, I didn't get to be where I am by disobeying orders. The 12th squad isn't a democracy, after all."

Slowly Akon stood up, his much larger frame towering over the pint-sized ninja. She still stared at him, not letting her guard down for a second. He sighed. He understood, but he also knew that now was not the time to be infighting.

Akon pulled another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. Nonchalantly, he left the room, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

Soifon stormed off into the next interrogation room where another member of the 12th was being detained.

xXx

Somewhere far away, a beat pulsated, shimmery as if it were shrouded in mist. She oriented herself to it; it was steady, calming, soft, her breath coming and going involuntarily to match it. The purple haze around her thinned, and the sounds became louder, and more focused. Voices bled into the background, the scurrying of carts, the hum of electricity… This was familiar, and yet not familiar at all.

Her eyes were open, but she couldn't remember waking, or even being asleep. Halfway between dreams and dawn, her world was steeped in fog.

"Nemu!"

Yes? She tried to ask, but no sound came out.

Nemu glanced down at her arms, which showed faint bruises, and cuts that had nearly healed even if a few still had a twinge of rawness. A pair of cool, soft hands clasped hers momentarily. Nemu went to squeeze back, or pull away, but her body was dumb to her orders. She was little more than a pretty sack of meat.

She turned her blank stare to the small, wiry male shinigami who had been tending to her. Yes, she felt the moist trail of a cloth across the back of her neck. The orange of iodine solution and the smell of antiseptic was present as well, mixed with the tang of freshly scrubbed wounds.

"She's opened her eyes! I'll go get Unohana taichou!"

He skittered off out of the room. A tall, slightly awkward Great Dane of a woman now walked to her side and patted her shoulder affectionately. Nemu couldn't focus her eyes on her at all; they kept making wild sweeps at her, up and down her body, but then would go off in another direction. To most people, this inability to control even a line of sight would be dreadfully annoying, but Nemu was patient. It's how she was programmed to be. The best always came to those who waited, after all.

Regardless, she knew the person beside her was Kotetsu Isane, a fellow vice captain. She didn't have to tax any of her mental reserves to pick up that fact. But the main question in her brain was 'why'.

"Nemu, can you hear me?" The gentle voice asked.

Yes.

Again, Nemu was trapped in her own dumb body. All she could do was wait.

"I don't know if you can, but I'll say it to you anyway. You were attacked by Kurotsuchi-taichou two days ago and we're not sure why. He attacked Soul Society and is now on the run. When you're able, we'd like it if you could help us."

Nemu pondered this information. It made her reality make a little more sense. Usually when she was injured, it was Mayuri who fixed her, not the 4th division. And if she was in this semi-lucid state, she had some sort of brain damage. Given Isane's words, it was likely from Mayuri's attack. She wondered what she must have done to make Mayuri angry, so angry that he'd try to destroy her brain and not take her with him. She was always by his side; it was her place.

Why had she been cast aside? A deep, lonely ache resonated in her chest.

Mayuri-sama...

She was alone. Sure, she was here in the 4th squad headquarters, but these people weren't her people. She belonged to the Twelfth, through and through. When it wasn't Mayuri tending to her, it was Akon or Hiyosu. Where were they? Had Mayuri taken any of them? Or were they lying in a hospital bed like she was...or because they were less hardy, were they dead?

The thoughts flitted in and out. There wasn't much else that she could do besides think, and in a way, that suited her fine.

"That's enough, Isane." Another familiar voice appeared. "She's been through quite a bit already. We don't need to be stressing her out more. Things will fall into place, so long as we work hard and work together."

Isane stepped back. "Yes, of course."

Unohana knelt down next to Nemu, observing the wound above her left eye. Nemu's skull had been fractured and a weapon, most likely a released Ashisogi Jizou based on the shape of the wound, had been plunged deep into her brain. Luckily the stab had gone through the non-essential parts of Nemu's brain and the reptilian brain stem was completely intact. Though, it was thanks to Nemu's tough design that she was still alive after losing over 80 percent of her blood. This would have killed anyone who was not Nemu, and it was no mean feat.

She observed the erratic movements of Nemu's eyes. Nemu was no longer comatose, but it was hard to tell whether she was fully conscious.

"Here."

It was yet another voice Nemu recognized. Akon stepped into her field of vision and placed a set of gummy electrodes on her head that were attached to a small machine. He showed the display to Unohana.

"This shows where she has brain activity. If she's awake and trapped in her mind and can't communicate with us verbally or otherwise, we can use this as a bypass to find out."

"Yes, I've read some human world journals on the subject, actually." Unohana tapped a finger to her lips. "I've always had some interest in fMRI work. My Minazuki scans with reiatsu anything I put in its mouth in order to diagnose the issues to heal. I can get similar readings."

Akon nodded and touched the side of Nemu's face, tilting it towards him. Their eyes connected for just a second.

"Nemu, if you can hear me, I want you to imagine running through the rooms of the 12th barracks," Akon commanded.

A flurry of activity appeared on the screen. Parts of the brain dealing with movement and spatial relations flickered as Nemu thought as hard as she could.

"Good...this is good." Akon rubbed his forehead. He studied her still absent-minded face. "Now I want you to count to 10 in your head."

A different pattern came on the screen, the circuitry belying the phonological loop, language and numbers now in plain view.

"Excellent." Akon sat on the edge of Nemu's bed. "We now know that you can hear us. Do you remember how you got your wounds? If yes, imagine running through the 12th barracks, if no, imagine counting to ten."

Isane gasped as the screen lit up again. The methodology of Akon's work was simple, but the result itself was powerful in implication.

"No? Well, maybe that was too hard a question. Are you a member of the 12th squad?" Akon asked. "You remember what to do."

The action oriented pattern flashed on the screen.

"Yes?" Confirmed Akon. "Good. Unohana-taichou here is your captain, right?"

The pattern changed to the counting.

"No? That's good as well." Akon paused before asking the next question.

"Do you know why the Director attacked the Seireitei?"

A single tear rolled down the pale cheek. It was clear that Nemu had no control over her body, but something had broken through. Gently, Akon wiped it away. He looked down at the screen.

"No," he said. He looked back to Unohana. "At least for right now, it looks like she knows about as much as we do."

He turned back to Nemu. "I'll let you rest."

Akon pulled off the electrodes that stuck in her hair and handed the brainwave reading device to Unohana. "You've seen how I work it. It's kind of a pain, but it should help a little bit until we figure out something else. The areas of the brain needed to process counting versus imagining movement provide one of the strongest neurological contrasts."

"Thank you, Akon. And you were saying earlier that you may be able to help her regenerate cerebral tissue?"

"There's no guarantee, since I've only talked about it in theory with the Director...err well...with Kurotsuchi...san." Akon looked a bit horrified at his realization that there was nobody in the Twelfth that stood above him. The moment Mayuri ran, he was automatically stripped of all titles. "I suppose this makes me the Director now doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." Unohana's eyes were both kind and cold at the same time. "They are big shoes to fill, but he wouldn't have named you second in command if he didn't believe you had potential."

Akon smiled darkly. "Or he named me there knowing full well what my deficiencies are, so that the world would be hobbled in his favor when he ran."

Isane shivered at the atmosphere in the room. She hadn't known Akon or Mayuri very well, but she certainly knew this uncomfortable tension from watching her captain interact with the Twelfth in the past. Both men had come out of the Maggot's Nest over a century ago, and there was something in Akon's mannerisms that was even more predatory looking than the aura that Mayuri had projected. Perhaps it was because Akon kept his appearance understated and his desires hidden deeper... Either way, even though she did trust him, just as Unohana did, she didn't deny the danger he wore like a cloak.

"Perhaps," said Unohana. "I'm sure you know what you're doing either way."

Unohana lightly stroked Nemu's hair. She checked the flow of her IV and adjusted the rate of flow of the fluids and nutrients.

"We will continue to care for her. When you and the SRDI have finished with a satisfying solution with regards to regeneration, please send a butterfly so we may make arrangements."

Nemu tried to watch Akon as he bowed and left, but her eyes were take away from it. Unohana's hand was still in her hair and she assumed Isane had grabbed a hold of her other hand. Even simply just being awake was exhausting. Though she tried her hardest to place things into an order that made sense, right now Nemu wanted little more than to sleep.