"What do you mean, Isshin's missing?" Rangiku demanded, startling the baby at her breast. Kinta whimpered and flailed about, more angry than frightened by his mother's sudden shout. "Oh, hush!" she exclaimed, too upset to try to calm him properly. Her voice was more pleading than calming. "Kinta, you're fine."
"That's all I've heard," Miyako told her over the sound of the crying infant. "Please try to stay calm, Rangiku-chan. There's no reason to believe he's anything but fine, wherever he's gotten to. You know the captain; he's as likely to have decided to take a vacation as anything else."
"I know, I know," Rangiku agreed, finally managing to calm herself down enough to convince the baby to return to his meal. "I just-I don't like it," she said softly, focusing on Kinta's precious face to calm herself. "He shouldn't have been there alone. I should have-"
"He wouldn't have taken you even if you weren't off on leave, so don't start feeling guilty. Whatever's happened, it's not your fault."
"Who do they have looking for him?" Rangiku asked.
Miyako paled. "They don't-it's not that-I'm sure they will send someone eventually."
"They're not sending anyone!" Rangiku hissed, forcing herself not to upset Kinta again.
"The thing is no one's sure what happened, and if he was hurt they don't want to send anyone who might not be strong enough to deal with-"
"Shiro," Rangiku said, stopping Miyako's explanation abruptly.
Toshiro raised his head from the book he'd been studying. He frowned, seeing how worked up his mother was. He wasn't going to tell her about Captain Isshin going missing. He thought his father had called that one right for once. She'd been sad and depressed since Hisana's death, and Kinta was just making her more tired and emotional. "What?" he asked, finally.
"Go tell your daddy I want to talk to him now," she said.
The boy nodded and hopped off the porch, running toward his father's office. He was pretty sure his father was gonna get it this time for keeping everything that had happened from his mother. It seemed like it was about time. His father was getting away with keeping way too many secrets.
"You shouldn't be mad at Gin for not telling you," Miyako said. "I'm sure he was only waiting until they knew something concrete. He didn't want to upset you unnecessarily."
"SInce when do you defend Gin?" Rangiku demanded.
"Sometime he keeps things from you to protect you. Because he cares about you. We've all been worried about you," Miyako answered.
"I know," Rangiku said, shaking her head to clear away those unhappy thoughts. "I'm not mad at him. I want him to do something for me."
"And what's that, Ran?" Gin asked. He was standing on the porch, leaning calmly against the open door, like he'd been standing there the whole time. She really hated when he did that. "Your wish is my command," he added with a nod of his head.
"Find my captain," she said.
Gin's eyes widened. "You want me to find Isshin?"
"Rangiku-chan, it could be dangerous," Miyako protested. "What if something did attack Captain Isshin, and it's still there?"
Rangiku's eyes met Gin's. "You could do it, couldn't you? Check the entire area without being noticed by anyone. It's what you're best at."
Gin smiled and any real emotion vanished from his face. "Of course I can," he declared lightly.
"I have to know," Rangiku pleaded with him to understand. "I can't lose someone else, not like this, not when there's a chance. I'm sorry. I-" Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears. "Gin, I can't lose you. I shouldn't even ask you. I want to go myself-"
"Don't be silly," Gin interrupted. "You're terrible at this sort of thing. Even if you were up and about I'd still be the better choice for investigation. When it comes to sneaking about and never being noticed I'm the best there is. Even the Stealth Squad's jealous of me."
Rangiku smiled. "If they aren't, they should be," she answered. Then her expression changed. "But if there's any danger at all you come right back here-immediately. I need you more than I need a thousand captains, ok?"
"Of course you do," Gin agreed. "Ran, you're not worried about me, are you? That's silly. I've done things a lot riskier than this back in Rukongai, and I always made it through fine. I'll make a quick trip, take a look around, and be back in time for dinner. You won't even have time to worry."
"You're going now?" Rangiku demanded.
"Yep," he agreed and vanished.
"Alright," Miyako said, staring at the place Gin had stood only moments earlier. "Your husband does have a couple good points-but I still don't buy that he's actually a kind person."
"That's because he has to hide it. Everyone would take advantage if they knew," Rangiku told her.
"A-ra!" Urahara Kisuke exclaimed. "Now I have a captain visiting my shop? I haven't seen this much traffic in decades!"
Gin raised his head, smiling pleasantly. Urahara was impressively gifted at playing ignorant. He had no doubt that Urahara knew more of what was going on in the World of the Living than anyone. He doubted Urahara had missed the arrancar attacks and very likely had already connected them to Aizen-and through Aizen to himself. The likelihood of Urahara giving him any information on Isshin, knowing that, was slim to nil-unless the man hadn't made it after all. Urahara might be willing to give him a clue to find a body to bury; surely that would just be good manners.
"Was Shiba Isshin one of your recent customers?" Gin asked.
"Could have been," Urahara said, making a show of thinking it over, scratching the back of his neck and tapping his fan against his hand. "I really can't remember. There have been so many shinigami passing through lately, and not just the usual local lot, there've been all sorts, even students.
"What makes you ask, Captain Ichimaru? I don't believe I've seen you in the World of the Living for a decade at least."
"Captain Isshin has gone missing," Gin said. "And I've been sent to look for him."
"They sent you? Since when does the Gotei send captains after missing persons?" Urahara asked. "Isn't that more the work for the Stealth Squad-or the Punishment Force if someone thinks Captain Isshin's taken an unauthorized vacation?"
"I think they're debating that idea in Central 46 at the moment, but my dear wife is worried about her captain and wasn't willing to wait."
"Your wife?" Urahara said, and a huge smile spread across his face. "And how is dear Rangiku-san? She used to be one of my best customers, but I haven't seen her in ages, not since her promotion. She does send the occasional order and I send them along when I can-you know I think I have a box for her somewhere." Urahara glanced about him and hopped to his feet.
"Tessai!" he shouted, still looking about, like the box might helpfully appear at any moment. "Do you know what I did with that box for Matsumoto-san, I mean Ichimaru-san, no, Lieutenant Ichimaru; that's her name now, isn't it?"
The shoji door at the back of the store slid open, and Tessai, with his thick arms folded across his chest, frowned down at Urahara. "Do you mean the new manga for Rangiku-chan?" he asked. "You sold it all to the Academy students who were down here last month. You told them it was good human cultural research material, and they would need to understand the inner workings of mechs if they wanted to be able to blend in, in the World of the Living."
"Well, the box was taking up a lot of space," Urahara said, suddenly remembering the wonderfully gullible students. He'd sold them quite a few other products that had been taking up too much space. Young souls were such wonderful customers.
He turned back to Gin, holding his fan in front of his mouth to hide his smile. "I am afraid that due to a mistake in labeling I've sold your wife's order. Do let me send her some chocolate to make up for it."
Gin continued to smile. "I'm sure she would love some chocolate. I should probably buy your entire store out. She's always starving when she's nursing."
"Does that mean the new Ichimaru has arrived?" Urahara asked, looking really interested for the first time.
"Another boy," Gin answered, smiling and pulling out a picture. Because so few shinigami ever had children, they always seemed to be fascinated by his family. And of course everyone loved Rangiku anyway, so they were always asking about her, but he still found it odd. Many people, even the General, who would never speak to him otherwise, approached him for news about Shiro and now the new baby too. "His name is Kinta. He was born last Thursday night, the same night Captain Isshin disappeared."
Tessai snatched the photo from his hand because Urahara was a second late. He had been distracted by what Gin had said. The baby had been born the same night Isshin disappeared.
He regained his composure almost instantly and pulled the picture away from Tessai. "Oh, look how happy dear Rangiku-san looks, and Shiro-chan, he's not too happy, is he? Aren't children funny? They don't like the idea of sharing their parents. I bet it was quite the task keeping him busy when the new baby was coming; he wouldn't appreciate being kept away from his mother."
"I'm sure Miyako spoiled him so thoroughly he forgot all about Ran," Gin answered. "I'm really concerned that when Miyako finally decides to have a child of her own she's going to stop borrowing mine. It's ever so handy having someone who actually wants to spend time with him. So much easier than convincing him to cooperate with Lieutenant Suzuki all day, and Suzuki's almost as whiny as Shiro is. Seems to think babysitting isn't part of a lieutenant's job. Odd, isn't it?"
"Lieutenant Suzuki has always been very serious about his work," Urahara said.
"I know," Gin sighed, as though being serious about one's work was an enormous character flaw. "I've no doubt he'll abandon me the first chance he gets, and I'll have to train my own lieutenant, and who wants to go to all that trouble?"
Urahara nodded in sympathy. It did indeed sound like a lot of work, and he was no more of a fan of that than Gin was.
Tessai spoke up suddenly. "I will wrap a box of chocolates for Lieutenant Ichimaru," he announced and stepped down into the shop itself.
"Oh, that reminds me, Tessai! Did Captain Shiba Isshin drop in at all in the last-when would it be?" he asked, turning back to Gin.
"Any time since last Thursday," Gin said, though by now he was certain Urahara had no intention of telling him anything, which probably meant Isshin was still alive, and Urahara was likely hiding him somewhere. The big question was why. Surely if he was able he'd return to Soul Society. Was he hiding from Aizen? But he couldn't even know about Aizen, so why?
"Captain Isshin?" Tessai said as he wrapped up a large box of chocolate bars in red and gold patterned paper. "I don't think so, boss. I haven't seen any captains here since Captain Kyoraku and his lieutenant came for a New Years visit."
"That was very nice of them," Urahara said, pleasantly. "Though he did drink all that brandy we'd gotten. It's nice to know there are no hard feelings; most of Seireitei isn't nearly so understanding."
Urahara turned back to Gin. "Did you know it was thirty years before they stopped sending the Punishment Force after me? It was terrible for business. I kept having to disappear, and some of them would wreck the shop, but we've negotiated a nice comfortable exile now, and I suppose everyone's happy."
Gin couldn't imagine being comfortable in exile. The World of the Living was nice to visit, but the idea of living there permanently was horrifying, even if it was at the top of the list for escape plans that had no chance of working anyway. He sighed and said, "I suppose I will have to go look around a bit, but I haven't much hope. A captain should stand out like a sore thumb in the World of the Living. He's probably lying dead somewhere in a ditch or something. I hate to have to tell Ran."
Urahara frowned. "Poor Lieutenant Ichimaru. She's had a difficult year, hasn't she?"
Gin shrugged. "She'll get over it eventually. She always does. It's probably just the baby that's made her so weepy recently."
He liked that it bothered Urahara to know that Rangiku was unhappy. He should feel bad, not giving her captain back to her. He might have a good reason for hiding Isshin, but it seemed more likely to Gin that Urahara was like Aizen, always planning a dozen steps ahead and not overly concerned with what happened to all the little people he manipulated to serve his purposes. Aizen had once said that Urahara was his most dangerous enemy, and Gin believed it. But brilliant as Urahara was, he still had one weakness, he did still care about other people.
"Give her and little Shiro-chan our love, and let Lieutenant Ichimaru know that I will get a new order together as soon as possible and send it to her with the local shinigami," Urahara said. "And we do hope she enjoys the chocolate."
There was nothing to find in Karakura, and Gin spent a painfully long time looking. The longer he looked the more frustrated and determined he got. A captain could not simply disappear. It simply wasn't possible. Even if Isshin had died, his body should leave a reiatsu signature that would slowly fade over time. And if he was hiding within some sort of reishi barrier there should be some sign of the barrier itself, but there was nothing. The people of the town were unexceptional; beyond a singular Quincy, there weren't even any humans who could see a shinigami, much less help one hide. The only place Isshin could be hiding, Gin finally decided, was in Urahara's own home. The place was such a mess of seals and barriers and random bits of reishi that he couldn't make heads or tails of most of it.
In the end he had to give up. He would tell Aizen what he guessed, and he would tell Rangiku her captain was dead. It would be better if she just mourned him than living in constant hope and fear and never knowing what had happened. He'd report to the General as well. Whatever had happened to Isshin, Ten needed a new captain. Rangiku couldn't be expected to run the Division indefinitely, and Gin knew he'd feel better if there was a strong captain to keep an eye on his impressively foolhardy wife.