X
"Why don't we start at the beginning?" Kyoraku asked, now sitting behind the desk of the Head Captain. The haori of the Squad 1 Captain hung heavily over his shoulders, the new responsibility weighing him down.
I sat across from him, wrapped in a kimono, as we sipped green tea together.
I slowly started to explain. How I had gone through everything alone at first, the losses we had sustained, and then my first slipup that led to all of this beginning. I explained that, yes, I had lied to them for several decades at least, not counting the time in between that and my second jump to the third timeline.
"And you said that Tsukishima directed you?" Kyoraku asked, wet brush paused from where he was scribbling down notes.
"Yes, but I'm not sure I trust him."
Kyoraku nodded. "I see." He continued to write.
My eyes fell to the freshly printed and framed photo on his desk. "What…What happened?" I swallowed, unwilling to say his name. I don't think he would want me to cry over him.
Kyoraku put his brush down, resting it on the holder. He sighed. Slowly but surely, he explained what had happened to JuushiroJushiro Ukitake.
I put a hand over my mouth, wiping my tears whenever they sprang forth unwillingly.
"I see," I answered as he finished. "I can't—I can't use my bankai again. So don't worry about that." Kyoraku gave me a questioning look. "The effects are too great. I wouldn't survive another jump."
He nodded, taking one final note. Pausing, he looked out over the Seireitei. The power in his new position clearly was changing him. He didn't laugh as often, his eyes more serious now. "Your friends are looking for you right about now." Ever the spiritually attuned, he picked up on their reiatsu blotting toward us from far away. "Would you like to go with them?" he offered me an out.
I nodded. "I really miss everyone," I confessed. "But…" My eyes lingered on the photograph.
"I'll be fine. I have Nanao to keep me company," Kyoraku said, and a resounding scoff was heard through the door to his new office.
I smiled at him, eyes gentle. "You can always call me," I promised.
"I know." He gave me a small smile.
X
"And then she—hey, you listening?!" Renji investigated my prone head on the table.
"No, I'm drunk," I complained, face brilliantly red.
"What? You've only had one beer!" Matsumoto exclaimed, setting the next round on the table.
"Should have stuck to tea like Rukia and me." Hanataro nodded sagely.
"I'm a cheap date," I complained, sitting up.
"Hey, guys, my story!" Renji tried to regather the group.
"Story! Story!" Mashiro cheered next to Ikkaku and Yumichika, who were drinking much quieter than the rest of us.
"Right!" Fueled on, Renji began his tangent anew. "She did this crazy move where…"
X
"Yo!" Yoruichi greeted me happily as I stepped into the Byakuya Estate. "How's it going?" She smiled at me, carefree and wild.
"Good!" I chirped happily. "Seeing everyone has been so…" I looked up as I searched for the word. I threw my hands up. "You know!" I avoided the happy wetness that was threatening my eyes from within.
She nodded at me, eyes and feral grin softening. "Yeah," she agreed, putting a hand on the top of my head and mussing my hair up. "I heard you were coming to see Byak-boy today, so I wanted to say hi before I left." We strolled through his mansion, enjoying the various views as we headed to his study.
"You're leaving again?" I asked curiously.
"Yup!" she answered happily. "I want to experience the West Branch," she informed me.
I nodded as she pushed open the door to Byakuya's study without asking. "Yeah, I hear things are different over there." It would probably be exactly to her tastes.
"Yoruichi." He dropped the papers in his hand to glare at her from his desk across the room.
"Don't be like that!" she chided him, bringing me forward and pushing me toward him like an offering. "I brought her!" She smiled widely, knowing that he was going to let her off the hook.
Eyes focusing on me, Byakuya's face remained impassive. His reiatsu, however, softened. I suppressed a shiver as he said my name. "Why don't you stay for tea?" He surprised me with the offer.
I nodded happily.
"Thanks!" Yoruichi invited herself, making me laugh.
X
"I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you!" Tessai sobbed dramatically into one arm while he crushed me to himself with the other.
"It's okay!" I tried to comfort him with kind pats while simultaneously trying to escape by clawing my way out.
"My own brother's partner, and I…!" Tessai set me down so that he could cry into his other arm.
"Tessai, it's okay!" I stressed, patting his back as the Vizards watched us in amusement. I had been visiting them in the warehouse with Shinji when Tessai had suddenly rushed over.
Kisuke totally spilled the beans, I deduced with an amused frown.
"This doesn't make us even, idiot!" Hiyori yelled at me, apparently tired of other people's shenanigans and wanting to cause her own.
"Oh? Really?" I gave her a poppy, rude nod, knowing it would set her off. I laughed as I dodged her immediately incoming blow, sandal and all.
I gave one glance to Love, finding him and Shinji sorting through his final decisions of the record music they were splitting up.
"Bye, Love!" I called out, flash stepping away before Hiyori could get me good.
X
I landed just inside the Shoten lightly. Kisuke was instantly on me, holding me tightly to him and kissing my forehead.
"Worried I was going to leave forever?" I asked playfully.
"No, you'll always come back," he answered confidently. "I just missed you," he confessed before giving me one last squeeze.
Kisuke went and sat at the table in the living room, looking over some paperwork.
"What's that?" I asked, curious. Usually he just skimmed it and forged what he needed, but it seemed like he was actually reading this.
"A pardon. From the new Head Captain," he admitted.
My eyes widened. "That means—!" I stopped short, realizing that Kisuke had already managed to find a workaround for the ward that had kept him out of the Soul Society for so long.
He chuckled. "Yes. That," he agreed, putting the papers down. "Um…" he started and then hesitated.
I waited, surprised that the cat had finally caught his tongue.
"Where will you be living?" He stared at his tea as he grabbed it.
I hesitated, now understanding. "I assumed I'd just…spend half my time here and half there," I confessed.
I didn't think I'd ever get this far. I kept the depressing thought to myself.
"I see." Kisuke gave me a reassuring smile as he grabbed my hand from across the table. "Then that's what we'll do, then."
X
"Rose!" I yelled happily as the man hugged me overexaggeratedly.
"Hi!" he greeted back happily, rubbing his head against mine. Our hollows purred in unison. He let me go, brushing his haori flat.
"Kensei!" I brightly greeted the man whose frown seemed less severe today. He grunted in return.
"We thought we'd stop by! Is Shinji here?" Rose smiled apologetically for his partner.
"Oh, he's—" I went to turn around.
"Yeah, come on in!" Shinji materialized by my side, making me jump. "Scared?" he teased me, and I laughed.
X
I hesitated on the edge of the senkaimon, turning back to look at Shinji. He waved at me happily, likely cursing my freedom internally since he hadn't been able to get the time off.
I jogged through the senkaimon, a hell butterfly following me to illuminate the purple Precipice World.
I don't know if I can keep this up forever, one foot in both worlds.
I shoved the idea to the back of my mind as the Shoten came into view.
X
The shop was a mess. Fire was spewing from the kitchen, big gaudy flames easily claiming the frying pans and the saucepans.
"Kisuke!" I shrieked, dragging him out of the way of the fire while I spun around to look for the extinguisher. "Where's the extinguisher?!" I yelled at him wildly, not seeing it in its usual place.
"Under the sink." He blushed, looking away at his mishap.
"The sink!" Goal in mind, I whipped around. "The fire's taken the sink!" I blanched, hands flailing as the fire easily ate up into the steel.
Kisuke looked up with a small frown. "I wonder why the—"
A horrible, pressing screech from above as God began to piss on us.
"Kisuke." I turned around, looking sullen as my hair was soaked through. The fire started to sizzle as it died down behind me.
"Yes?" He had the nerve to look only somewhat sheepish.
"Did you happen to adjust the sprinklers again?" My voice was eerily calm.
"Um…no?" He laughed nervously.
My eyebrow twitched as I resisted the urge to wring his neck.
Almost as if he was looking for an escape, Kisuke's eyes lit up as he sensed our partner coming closer.
"Shinji's coming home!" He smiled much too widely and innocently as he took my shoulders and pushed me into the living room.
Crossing my arms, I counted every screech of the infernal fire alarm above our heads as I felt Shinji flash step toward us.
The door to the front of the shop flew open. "I'm home!" Shinji announced grandly, arms open for one of the two of us to fly into like usual.
The absolute pandemonium of the screaming fire alarm, the sprinklers, and the small leftover flames in the kitchen greeted him.
"What—what happened?!" He stared in disbelief.
I shivered lightly.
"Let's go for takeout!" Kisuke decided, pointing upward as if it would eliminate his mistake.
I made a face at him as Shinji looked at him deadpan.
"Takeout?" Shinji asked, glancing between the kitchen and Kisuke.
"Takeout," Kisuke repeated himself, jamming his finger up to enunciate the syllables.
"Take out that kitchen much?" Shinji blanched at the few charcoal remains he could see, knowing there were more.
"We're due for a revamp." I held my chin thoughtfully, looking away.
"No!" Kisuke pouted. "We don't have the money for that!" Ever the penny-pincher.
The three of us looked up as the sprinklers finally gave up. I smiled, my mood immediately improving. "Why not go to The Chipped Apple?" I suggested.
Shinji shrugged. "Sure!" he agreed. "Anything other than that." He waved his finger past Kisuke and me, making Kisuke pout.
"I was just trying to cook my beautiful lovers a romantic dinner!" He tried to defend himself as we left.
I put a hand around Kisuke's waist while Shinji's arm automatically went over me and onto Kisuke's shoulder.
"Nothing tastier than charcoal," Shinji agreed dryly.
I giggled. "I'm not sure we'll be able to find someone to redo the kitchen surface that hasn't been arrested for counterfeiting." The distinct weight of 101 Jokes to Use Forever! rested heavily in my back pocket. I silently thanked Ichigo for the anniversary present as the men thought about it.
"Ha!" Shinji agreed while Kisuke smiled.
X
"Cindy!" I excitedly waved at my friend as she gave us a knowing look.
"Hi! Another adventure, Mr. Urahara?" She dragged the word out as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"That's the word for it!" Shinji clipped as Cindy laughed.
"We'll be doing to-go tonight." I smiled at her between the two men, ignoring their jousting over my head.
"Right!" She grinned, handing us menus as she readied her pen pad.
X
The shop reeked when we got home. There was a suspicious smoke rising from the remains, and the black that now stained the floors touched the edge of the living room. Carefully sitting around that, we studiously ignored the mostly burnt paper sliding door that was liable to break any second as we gathered around the living room table.
"How are the kids?" Shinji worried about our day trip to the World of the Living.
"Good! Ururu's recital went perfect. I think she'll win the Kohaku Uta Gassen," Kisuke boasted. "Jinta won their recent baseball match, so it looks like they'll be going to the World Series."
"Oh, wow!" Shinji and I oohed and awed around our noodles.
"What about you?" Shinji asked me, and both pairs of eyes looked at me expectantly.
"Everyone's good! It's crazy that the twins are already in finals week, though." I had gone to the World of the Living today to visit with my siblings and to celebrate Karin's engagement to Toshiro.
"I thought those were next week?" Kisuke asked, slurping loudly.
I put a finger on my cheek. "I think I mixed them up with Ichigo's final translator exam when I said that," I admitted, blushing.
Shinji leaned over to squeeze my hand and give me a warm look before going back to his own food.
"What about you, Shinji?" I asked, smiling at the bold blond.
"Oh, you know how it is," he spoke around his food. "Little of this, little of that, lotta paperwork."
Kisuke laughed.
"You've got it so easy," Shinji remarked, looking at Kisuke enviously.
"Easy?" Kisuke snapped his fan out, ready for a fight as he hid behind it. "I have to slave away all day selling goods to ungrateful souls!" he bemoaned jokingly.
"Oh!" I interrupted suddenly. "How's Tessai doing with the first shop?" I asked before I forgot.
"Good!" Kisuke smiled. "He's a natural at it!"
"He's been doing it for over one hundred years," Shinji remarked dryly.
"I help!" Kisuke argued back.
I made an obvious face at the kitchen, and Kisuke hid back behind his fan in embarrassment.
Realizing that we had all finished, I was quick to gather up our plates so that we could move the table and cozy up for the evening. "I'll take these to the dumpster out back!" I gave an aborted wave as Kisuke started fiddling with tonight's promised movie in the player.
"Where's the remote?" Shinji asked, head spinning as he tried to remember where it had last run off to.
Stepping outside the shop, I closed the doors to keep the bugs out before walking around the bend. The neon sign for the Urahara Shoten 2! flickered overhead. Plugging my nose against the smell, I tossed our junk inside the bin before something caught my eye.
Walking a little ways away from the shop, I stared into the sky.
The sky in the Seireitei was always blue, a strong lapis lazuli. Reliable. But the sky during sunset and beyond, that was a little more unexpected. If one had the power to open their reiatsu, to see the reishi and spirit ribbons that bound the very foundation of the three worlds together, they were in for a real treat.
At night, while most slept, their spirit ribbons ascended into the sky to wave pleasantly in the breeze. The multicolored pieces of fabric bent around each other, twirling, dancing as they played. The show was truly magnificent if one had the power to see and the bravery to look up.
And look up, I did, unafraid and unaghast of the light.
"Found it!" Shinji declared loudly, his voice carrying into the alley I stood in while the two celebrated loudly.
In time, this insurmountable display would fall with the dawning of the day. But for now, my two wishes beckoned me inside.
Tomorrow, I promised myself, thankful for the ever-clicking watch of time. Tomorrow I'll watch.
Author's Note:
it feels so weird to finally be done with this. in total, it took me over 365 days to write, finish, edit, draw, and commission the rest of the art. i am extremely proud of this work. i hope it shows. but i also hope that you all enjoyed it. that would mean a lot to me. a lot.
i have an idea of what my next project will be - but you all will have to wait and see. i'm hoping this next project can inspire me to grow just like this one did.
i may create one more chapter on ao3 showcasing all the art, including the pieces that were created and not published here, and also explain how i went about creating this for those who are curious. but that will likely be down the line, as this finishing is a really raw almost wound like emotion for me.
if you want to download this or do a voice-fic, please go ahead with the rules of you must credit me and leave a link in the comments so that i can also enjoy it :)