5: Trip

Watanuki was stuck, and he knew it. He couldn't outrun these spirits, they were too close to him, and even if he could, the only safe haven was through the demons- Yuuko's shop. He didn't have any salt, either. Very few times in his life had he been in such fatal situations. He was stuck. The last time, he'd been saved by Yuuko-san's fence. He doubted that today would yield such handy dues ex machina.

His options were few- and none of them would do any good in the end. He could run, but the spirits would catch him. He could throw the watermelon, but that really wouldn't do any good, and standing still hoping they didn't notice him was an option that never really worked.

Watanuki Kimihiro was going to die.

The only good thing about the situation was that at least that jerk, Doumeki, wasn't there to witness his demise due to sheer carelessness. He had gotten soft, working for Yuuko-san. Being under her protection, fewer spirits bothered him, (Watanuki conveniently forgot that this was due to her orders to hang around near Doumeki) and consequently, he hadn't needed to be on guard constantly.

And now, he was paying the price for thinking he could turn his brain off like any normal human.

The spirits began lumbering and glooping towards him, and Watanuki closed his eyes. A breath later, he opened them. Watanuki Kimihiro was going to die, but he was going to die fighting. Maybe, just maybe, he could get to Yuuko-san's shop. Maybe he could get to the fence. Maybe he could live.

Just as he had mustered his courage to charge through the spirits in a last ditch attempt to get to the safety of Yuuko's shop, the spirit closest to him exploded.

The other two spirits didn't acknowledge the disappearance of their comrade, and continued forward after their delicious treat.

"Way of Destruction 31! Shakkahou!"

Another spirit was destroyed in a red blast. The last spirit continued its oblivious advance toward Watanuki. Watanuki himself looked around for the thing that was destroying the spirits.

"Way of Destruction 31! Shakkahou!" The last spirit vanished in a violent fiery red blast and Watanuki finally found his savior.

Taicho stood on a phone poll, veiled in the smoke from the- whatever it was he'd done, glaring at the scene before him. As Watanuki stared up at the strange spirit, he got a vivid impression of power. The smoke cleared, and Taicho jumped down from the poll. Close up, Watanuki could see that the youthful looking spirit was panting.

"You… you did that?" he asked, slightly awed. He'd never seen anything so… flashy before.

"Yes," was the curt reply. Not that Watanuki could blame the spirit; he sounded really out of breath, and looked paler than normal. "Come on. Back to the shop." Taicho tried to turn decisively and stride away, but he stumbled as he took the first step. Watanuki rushed up to him, ready to help in any way he could, not even sure that he could help.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Taicho said savagely, pushing the human away. "Don't treat me like a kid!" Watanuki flinched back from the acid in the spirit's voice.

"Ok, ok." He tried to placate the out-of-breath spirit. "Um, let's just get to Yuuko-san's shop? Once we get to the fence then we don't have to worry…"

They had managed to get within sight of the shop, and Watanuki let himself relax. They had made it without another hungry spirit appearing, or Taicho collapsing on the street.

Whatever the grumpy spirit claimed, those attacks had taken a lot out of him, and it showed in every step as he wearily trudged toward the shop. Unfortunately, Taicho's legs carried out what they had been threatening the whole way to safety and he collapsed. Watanuki managed to stop the spirit's head from cracking against the pavement, but lost hold of the watermelon in the process. It smashed into goop on the street, and Watanuki was very glad that he only had to see a watermelon in gooey chunks on the pavement and not… something else.

"Taicho?"

The white haired spirit looked blearily at him. "Let go of me. I'm fine."

"Yeah, um, can you stand up?" Watanuki was pretty sure that Taicho wasn't fine, but he wasn't about to say that to a spirit who could shoot fire or whatever it was he'd just done, even if he was feeling low.

Taicho tried to struggle to his feet, but he didn't get anywhere, slumping back into Watanuki's arms. "No…" he growled.

"When we get to the shop you can try again," Watanuki suggested, dragging the spirit to his feet. With more of Watanuki's help then he'd ever admit, Taicho made it to the path that led up to the shop's door where Maru and Moro were waiting with solemn faces.

"Mistress says you've done well, Taicho."

"Mistress says we should bring you to your room."

Taicho didn't argue. Getting some sleep sounded wonderful, especially now that his eyelids had somehow gained weight.

Watanuki followed the two girls as they lead (carried) the exhausted spirit into the shop. He paused once they entered the building, wondering whether to go with them, or report to Yuuko-san.

"Watanuki-kun!" Mokona launched itself through the air onto Watanuki's face. "Watanuki-kun!" It said happily again, jumping onto his shoulder.

"What do you want, pork-bun?" Watanuki snapped, irritated at the artificial creature for startling him.

"Yuuko wants to talk to you," it said, in a suspiciously smug tone. "And she says to get the sake."

"She would. Before or after she says suspicious things to me?"

"Hm…" It tapped its chin as if trying to recall an elusive memory. "After!"

"Fine…"

Yuuko-san was wearing a traditional-style white kimono today, with a light blue dragon coiling around the obi. "Ah, Watanuki-kun. I'm glad I decided to send Taicho to check on you."

"I should have known…" Watanuki muttered.

"Really now, Watanuki-kun, you act like saving your life is a bad thing!"

"It's not! It's not!" Yuuko-san had said she wouldn't kill anyone, but you never knew with her. "Wait… how did you know that I was in danger? How did you know that Taicho could help?"

"I didn't." Yuuko smirked. "Taicho was the one who insisted you were in danger, and that he could help. I simply put my faith in him, and let him go. Much cheaper that way."

"What?" Cheaper? Watanuki shuddered. Even if his life was on the line, Yuuko-san was still Yuuko-san.

"Well, if Ii made him stay, he'd have to rediscover some of his abilities in a much more unpleasant way," she informed her part-timer. "In some situations, people know what's good for them. It's called 'instinct.' And it's quite cheap."

"So, are you saying that Taicho has to fix himself? You couldn't grant his wish?" This was strange and very unlike the Yuuko that Watanuki knew. She would grant any wish she could, even wishes of people who hadn't known they wanted to wish for something before she pointed it out. Why wasn't she even offering to grant this spirit's wish? Wait… Er… his wish is for his memory back, right?"

A smile ghosted across the lips of the space/time witch. "It is, but we could not afford the cost of me granting his wish."

Watanuki wished that Yuuko-san would just give a strait answer for once. He hated trying to work out what his employer meant whenever she went all cryptic on him. It was especially frustrating because the information he was looking for was often important for his survival. It made the job of continuing to exist harder when important nuggets of information were given to him in this strange, coded way.

He couldn't ask for clarification, however, because Yuuko-san reminded him of the second part of her orders. "Sake, Watanuki-kun! All this talking has made me thirsty!"

"And we have to get there… how?" Ichigo asked incredulously. He, Renji and Matsumoto were standing outside Urahara's shop as he explained how they were going to get where they needed to go to rescue Toshiro. The little captain in question, according to Urahara's contact, who sold dreams according to Urahara, or something, was in a different world. This world was apparently not Soul Society, or the Dongai Precipice World, which was confusing for Ichigo, but then again, a lot of things were kind of confusing for Ichigo, so he just shrugged this one off. Hey, it was as plausible as some of the other stuff. But, getting to the world where Toshiro was by walking between the fence and telephone pole? Urahara was officially crazy.

"Come now, Kurosaki-kun, I just explained it!" Urahara exclaimed, waving his fan around in mock shock. "In order to rescue Hitsugaya-taicho, you have to get to the world of the Dimensional Witch. To do that, you have to walk between this pole and this fence."

"How the hell do you expect that to work?!" Renji demanded angrily. He and Matsumoto were in gigais, standing in the small street just outside Urahara's shop.

"Um… because it's always worked in the past!" Urahara said cheerfully. "Really, you don't have time to debate weather or not this is the portal to the world Hitsugaya-taicho is in, or not. If it is, you only have a limited time. If not, I'm the only lead you have, and I happen to be eccentric. Humoring me may be the only way to get the information you want. Either way, you have to walk the walk." Despite the serious emergency, Urahara seemed to be genuinely enjoying this.

"Fine!" Matsumoto snapped, eyes flashing. "We'll do what you say." She started towards the pole.

"Wait a minute," Ichigo called. "I'm all for rescuing Toshiro, but why do I have to go with them? And why is Renji coming with, anyway?"

"Well, according to the Dream Merchant, the world where Hitsugaya-taicho is practically identical to this one, as far as Real-World culture goes," Urahara said, patiently. "You're going as a sort of cultural guide. While Abarai-fukutaicho and Matsumoto-fukutaicho have both been in the real world before, they're really bad at it. As for 'why,' it's obvious, isn't it? Matsumoto-fukutaicho came to you about rescuing someone. You can't resist, because of your hero-complex. You should get that looked at, by the way."

"Hey!" Renji objected. "We didn't exactly have the time Rukia had to study human literature and culture!"

"… When you get right down to it, Rukia's 'study of human literature' didn't do squat," Ichigo said, ignoring Geta-Boshi's comment about him having a 'hero-complex' whatever that was. He didn't have one, why should he argue about something that wasn't true when there were people to rescue? The shinigami, however, needed their view of the real world corrected. "Frankly, it made her seem even weirder." Seriously, no one talks like that anymore."

"That's very nice, we have to go!" Matsumoto insisted, not really paying attention to the conversation. It didn't have useful information on how to find her captain; therefore, it wasn't important. All this talking seemed to just waste time, and the busty vice-captain was seriously considering just shoving Renji and Ichigo through the little space. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she was supposed to have at least two captain-class shinigami with her at all times, and Ichigo, her only viable option (all the other captain-class shinigami were too busy to come or Kurotsuchi-taicho) was only coming out of good will (or his insane obsession with saving people). He might not feel like coming if the person he was doing the favor for was shoving him through strange places.

"Renji is coming for the second reason you are, Kurosaki-kun," Urahara continued, nonplussed. "Your both captain-class Shinigami. If you can't handle whatever is in that world, no one else can. Renji, specifically, is going because he a) has been in the real world, and b) while being captain-class, isn't a captain himself, and can be more easily spared than one of the remaining captions. You, Ichigo, are very familiar with the human world, very powerful, and don't have any responsibilities the Gotei 13 consider too important, so there's no way your getting out of this one. Not that your saving-people compulsion would let you."

"Fine," Ichigo grumbled. "If I can't get out of this, I might as well get it over with."

"Yes! Let's go!"

"You didn't ask why Matsumoto-fukutaicho is here," Urahara pointed out.

"That's obvious, isn't it?" Ichigo snapped at the weirdo. "She's his vice-captain, for cryin' out loud! Why wouldn't she be here?"

"Good job, Kurosaki-kun!"

"What the hell? That doesn't even make sense!"

"We're GOING now!" Matsumoto said, grabbing Renji and Ichigo. Favor or not, her captain needed her RIGHT NOW. They needed to leave. "Come on!"

"Ok! Ok! Ow, ow, ow… don't! That hurts!" Renji objected as he was shoved roughly toward the alleged portal.

"I'm going already!" Ichigo tried to shake her hand on his shoulder, but couldn't break the vice-like grip. "Calm down!"

Renji was the first to be shoved through the gap. After Matsumoto compressed him through the gap, he disappeared.

"Hey, what the-?" Ichigo didn't finish that sentence. He was the next victim, and Matsumoto could be a force of nature when she really, really felt like it. This was undeniably one of those times.

It was a tight fit, but he managed to get through without displacing any ribs, fortunately. He staggered as he popped out of the strangely placed "portal." Renji was on the other side, rubbing his ribs and looking around.

"It looks like any other human city," he grumbled. "I'm starting to think that living among you humans is bad for shinigami sanity."

"Hey!" Ichigo protested. "This is Urahara we're talking about. D'you think he started out sane?"

Ichigo didn't hear Renji's reply, because at that moment Matsumoto crashed into him, knocking them both over. He went perfectly still in self-defense. If he moved, or reacted in any way, this situation would most definitely get worse. He'd had experience with the women of Seireitei, and they were insane. Very, very insane. Especially… all of them. But, he hoped that this way, Matsumoto would leave him alone once she got off of him.

He needn't have worried. The buxom vice-captain in question was too worried about her superior to tease Ichigo that night. She jumped upright, looking around, as if she expected her missing captain to be somewhere in this street. He wasn't, unfortunately. She rounded on Ichigo, who was still laying on the ground in self-defense. "What the hell are you laying around for?" she demanded, dragging him upright. "We have a captain to find!"

"Right!" Ichigo decided that hell may hath no fury like a woman scorned, but a woman scorned hath no fury… or whatever- like a woman who lost her precious captain. He decided that the best thing to do would be to simply do whatever she said, at least until she calmed down. Or they found Toshiro. Whichever came first. Hopefully whatever came first would come soon. There's only so much a man could take in those sorts of circumstances.

Watanuki ambled towards Yuuko's shop, carrying the groceries for tonight's dinner in one hand, mentally going over the options for dinner. He hadn't bought another watermelon yet; there wasn't a point. Taicho had gone to sleep yesterday after returning to the room that Yuuko was loaning him, and hadn't woken up yet. Watanuki worried that the small spirit had over exerted himself in a life-threatening way. Yuuko-san claimed that he was simply coming back to himself- sort of. Watanuki didn't know what she meant by that, but all she said was "He can't come back to himself until he does."

Was there a part of Taicho roaming loose out there in the world? Watanuki wondered. Was that even possible? How would that even work? Was it was that part of his (Taicho's) soul that Yuuko-san was talking about?

Watanuki shook his head. Thinking like Yuuko was like inviting headaches to take up permanent residence in his skull. She probably thought that way because of all the sake she drank. Yeah, that was it.

A frigid wind sliced through his coat, and the bespectacled boy sped up. It was freakishly cold this year, even though the weathermen kept predicting normal weather. They predicted weather patterns that were a lot warmer than what actually happened. While weathermen being wrong was nothing new, having the weather consistently drop roughly ten degrees under whatever the meteorologists predicted was.

He was passing through the park now, and the weather seemed colder than ever. As he passed by the forest, the temperature plunged like a heavy stone dropped off of a cliff. That wasn't natural. Not in the least. A sudden pressure made Watanuki look up.

"D-d-dragon…" he breathed in shock. It looked at him with crimson eyes, and Watanuki thought that the great beast was looking through his very soul. He didn't know whether to run away as fast as he could, or bow.

The dragon leaned toward him, and Watanuki could see the waning light shine off of its light blue scales. But as the dragon got closer to him, the blue-eyed boy could see the scales in more detail. They weren't blue, not exactly. They seemed to be made of ice. The whole dragon seemed to be made of ice. How did that work? Then again, this was a spirit; the laws of physics –and common sense, for that matter- never seemed to apply to them.

The air was even colder now, and the great head was about thirty feet away. Was the dragon making the weather colder? Watanuki wondered. The stories said they had the power to do that, control the weather, but usually they made it rain, not freeze.

Suddenly, the dragon's head jerked up, as if it had heard something, and the human whose gaze it had ensnared was freed. Watanuki jogged quickly out of the park.

The white haired spirit with only the title 'Taicho' for a name vaulted into wakefulness.

Yuuko looked unsurprised at the spirit who had just sat strait up. After exhaling smoke from her pipe she asked, "Well?"

Without looking at the woman who had addressed him, the white haired not-child said, "Something… something is coming. Something is here."

Edit: I went back and put divider lines in chapters 3-5. Check it out.

A/N: So, we have another chapter completed. I would like to take this time to thank my wonderful reviewers, Reidluver, Exclamaited, Fanasyname, and Bokmal14. Thank you for your lovely reviews!!! I also have to mention Poe-of-Nothing for letting me basically bully her into beta'ing for me. You know you love unsquished me!

Urahara is INSANE. Seriously, he is. I'm not sure if I have him in character, or not. S'freaky. Really freaky. Anyway, notes on the chapter:

Bowing: As most(all?) of you know, people in China and Japan actually like their dragons, and respect them. So, if one were to meet a dragon, one would show respect. By bowing. Watanuki is just very used to running. Very. (Poor him)

Real Life Corner: I almost couldn't post this chapter today. I did, however, probably give a collage student a heart attack. It's rather strange, and sad. I was walking on the sidewalk, coming up to an exit of the parking lot of an apartment complex when a car pulls up to the stop sign, and the driver is getting ready to pull out onto the road.

Her head is focused on one spot: a car that's on the road that she has to wait for, even though there is a quite obvious sidewalk, and therefore might be pedestrians. The car passes, she hits the gas, starts moving, and THEN turns her head, to spot me calmly standing not five feet from her, as she is moving. I could see the shock and horror on her face as she said 'Oh my Go-' pulling away. (I didn't see her finish the end of that sentence. She moved out of my line of sight.) Yes. She probably would have hit me if I hadn't been paying attention. The lesson here? LOOK EVERYWHERE WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING.

Sorry for rambling, I'm done now. Please review, as always.