I would like to thank my editor Jorgmund Piper for straightening out all the messed up tenses I had in this chap. as a result of my flu and all the nice, syrupy flu medicine that went along with it. Wee!

Chapter 3: Darkly Dreaming

A couple of months earlier...

A fat, silvery moon is draped above the forest, like a bright porcelain knob on the doorway of the sky. Ancient, twisted tree branches criss-cross the wooded floor below, making a spider web over the lush green earth. A spider's web. That is exactly what he is walking into. Again. Even though he is running, running so fast in his black hat and cloak, running with Tessai by his side. He is running, but he knows, in the end, that he will be too late. Again. He also knows exactly what kind of horrors await him on the other side of the woods: the twisted bodies being engulfed by hollow masks, writhing on the forest floor, blood and carnage littering the clearing. And he knows that Aizen will be there, too; Aizen, with his cruel demeanor and even crueler intentions. Aizen, who manages to stay a step ahead of him, always manages to stay a step ahead of him, despite all of Urahara's guile and supposed genius. Aizen, who will come to say the words that will haunt him, that will be the final nail in his coffin:

"You're exactly the kind of man I thought you were..."

"NO!"

Urahara awoke in his bed with a violent start, his heart drumming out a rapid tattoo of fear, his mind's eye still focused on all the fallen, contorted bodies on the forest floor. Just a nightmare! A nightmare! It's not real! His hands rubbed agitatedly at his face, they raked back through his shaggy, sand-colored hair. His eyes stared wildly around the room. He was at home, in his bed, and shades of oncoming twilight could be seen filtering through the blinds. There was no moon, no forest. A relieved sigh poured over his lips. Not real! None of it real!

Oh, but it was real, once! his inner voice chided him. Ignoring it, Urahara grabbed up his favorite tea mug from the bedside table, and on wobbly feet he headed toward the shop's kitchen.

Indigo dusk greeted him through the shop's windows as he traversed the unlit hallway which led to the kitchen. He tried to put the nightmare/memory out of his mind. Instead, he allowed his thoughts to become occupied with more useful endeavors: like making hollow detectors out of simple cell phones, or using the physics of a Mobius continuum to open portals into other dimensions. Normal, everyday stuff. He was deep in thought, muttering slightly to himself, as he entered the stark black and white comfort of his own kitchen.

"What were you saying about a Mobius strip?"

Startled, Urahara's head snapped up. He had thought the kitchen empty. But no, sitting at the small kitchen table with an open school book in front of him sat Uryuu Ishida. His dark blue eyes were trained on Urahara, the lenses of his glasses refracting light in the gloom. His presence had gone completely undetected.

Just like Ryuken, thought Urahara.

Urahara's hands fluttered up to his hair, and he immediately fell into his harmless clown routine. He grinned sheepishly. "Mobius strip? Ha-ha! That was nothing...just nothing."

Uryuu arched one delicate, dark eyebrow and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Again, just like Ryuken. "Isn't that an equation you would use, say, in a physics theory or for-?"

"Portals," said Urahara flatly.

"Portals?"

Urahara started gesticulating wildly with his hands. "You know, for creating portals to other dimensions, using the theory of a Mobius continuum, it's like the idea of a single strip that appears to meet, but doesn't meet, and it-" Urahara broke off, suddenly realizing that he was sounding like a lunatic. And lunatics could only be understood by other lunatics, which was why he and Mayuri always got along so well together...

...except, of course, Mayuri was also a psychopath who liked to dissect dead things.

"And that's something you're currently working on?" asked Uryuu quietly, with something akin to awe in his voice.

"Uh, not right now, no. Right now, I've just been making hollow detectors out of cell phones."

"Really? And do they work?"

"Sometimes. I haven't quite gotten all the bugs worked out yet. Sometimes they just randomly pick up the location of a Starbucks."

Uryuu's shoulders started shaking with gales of full-blown laughter. "Starbucks? You're kidding, right?" The boy's eyes were shining above the brightest, widest smile. And Urahara was suddenly struck by something: he realized that this was the first time he had ever seen the Quincy smile, ever. The boy was always so serious, so self-contained. Always with a down-turned mouth. The smile did wonders for him; it warmed up his glacial features.

Not like Ryuken, thought Urahara.

Gesturing at Urahara's empty mug, Uryuu said, "Would you like some tea? I already have some made." A small pause, another absent-minded push at his glasses. "That is, I hope you don't mind. I mean, Ichigo said-"

"-no, I don't mind at all. Please, make yourself at home here," Urahara answered quickly, settling down on a plump cushion across from the Quincy. After the nightmare, he had intended to put something a great deal stronger than tea into his mug. But refusing seemed impolite, so Urahara watched without protest as the Quincy boy poured the kettle.

Urahara glanced nervously about the room. He was nervous because, without the safety of his hat and fan and cane, he felt defenseless, too exposed. Urahara didn't pause to think about why he would need to defend himself or hide from the young boy sitting across from him. Instead, he opted to fill the awkward silence of the room with simple questions. "Where is our dear Kurosaki, anyway?"

There was the flash of cold sapphire, the return of the down-turned mouth. "Out fighting. There was a hollow sighting by the school."

"Oh." Urahara's eyes flicked toward the boy's bare wrist. The silver cross was still missing. Urahara fidgeted on his cushion; his hands scratched in agitation at his mane of untamed hair. After a tense moment, he said, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I let everyone know that you had lost your powers. I didn't realize that you hadn't informed them."

Uryuu's gaze was flinty. Just like Ryuken's. "It's alright. They were bound to find out sooner or later." There was a flat sort of resignation in his voice. That, along with something else. Something very close to sadness.

It's hurting him, thought Urahara. "Do you...do you wish you were out there? With him?"

Blue eyes narrowed into slits behind the glasses. "It doesn't matter what I wish. I can't-" The boy stopped and suddenly slammed the heavy text book shut; the action was forceful enough to jar the tiny table. Tea splashed over the rim of Urahara's mug, staining the surface, making blood-red rorschachs. He stayed silent as the boy stood up with his books. With slumped shoulders, Urahara whispered quietly, with downcast eyes, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

"It's my fault that I told your friends."

"Ah, because you always know everything. About hollows and detectors and Mobius strips. Everything." Urahara looked up at the Quincy's face. He had expected that sentence to sound patronizing, but it came out just as flat as all the others. The boy was staring down at him, with an odd, intense expression, and it was enough to force Urahara's gaze to the ground. His fingers itched for the concealing folds of his fan.

"You know, I never noticed, but...you look really young when you're not dressed as a beach bum," Uryuu said casually in a low voice, before turning and leaving the room. Urahara remained frozen in his spot at the table. He didn't turn his head but instead listened for the tell-tale clack of the back door being drawn shut. Gone. Thank goodness for that. Urahara let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and took a long sip of his tea. He didn't analyze why he felt so unnerved by his and Uryuu's exchange. He thought of only one thing:

It was pity that the boy didn't smile and laugh more often.

End Chapter 3.

Please don't get too comfy with all these rapid updates. Those will slow down come next week. That being said, the next update will be Saturday.