"Alright, Matsumoto and Karin go with Abby tonight. Toshiro goes with DiNozzo, and Ichigo with McGee."
"What about me, Gibbs-senpai~? Gibbs unnoticably flinched at the title, he knew this Kisuke Urahara wasn't being serious, and that just made it worse. "You're with me tonight."
McGee had taken the white haired captain home last time these arrangements were made, and now it was DiNozzo's turn. He wasn't exactly sure how to interact with the young looking captain.
"Hey kid-"
"I'm not a kid."
"Whatever, want to watch a movie?"
Toshiro replied with a simple no. He wanted to get that awkward night over with then get back to work, they needed to find this black market dealer and find away to get him out of this defective gigai. He assumed Urahara had a way and just wasn't doing anything about it yet.
"C'mon, I'll show you a classic! Or something new. Maybe something in between? Actually you know what would be perfect?"
"What?"
"The Sixth Sense!"
Toshiro groaned.
Urahara had been set up on the couch, he couldn't exactly remember when he first got to Gibbs' home. He only thought it strange that the NCIS agent didn't lock his door. A crook could easily get in here! Well, not that there was too much to steal.
Getting up off the couch, the soul reaper walked around the home. He had been everywhere except the basement, where he knew his host for the night was.
"What's your purpose for being here?" Gibbs asked, as Urahara had finished going down the wooden staircase into the basement.
Urahara smiled, "Well, to spend the night here of course! Why else would I be in your home?"
Gibbs knew this man was a joke on the outside but had a very serious inside. Not only did his gut tell him this but the man had his little quirks and tells about him.
Urahara finally took note of the mood and sat on the last step of the staircase.
"This is a serious issue, I'm sure you're aware of the ramifications of these gigais. Souls could live again. Bad men and women could come back and cause destruction to this world."
Gibbs nodded, he had gotten the implication from the dead living again. Not only could terrible people come back and cause havoc of their own, but if the dead were living again the actual living population would fall into a state of confusion and psychological confusion.
"Would you bring your loved ones back?" Urahara sprung on the stoic boss, watching for his reactions.
Gibbs took no moment to think it through, "You better get back to that couch, it'll be a long day tomorrow."Urahara's face turned dark, only for a moment, before he picked himself up and climbed back up the wooden staircase. Glancing over his shoulder, Kisuke Urahara caught agent Gibbs take a drink of what he could only assume to be alcohol.
"Why is it so dark in here? Everything is black!" Matsumoto gasped, very upset with the color scheme of Abby's apartment.
"What's wrong with black?" She replied, shrugging it off. "You two can take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch."
"You don't ha-"
"Aw, thank you!" Matsumoto said, cutting off Karin. If she came all this way in this gigai, after the first particular disaster of a defective gigai, she wanted the bed.
Everyone was in the bullpen early that next morning except DiNozzo and Toshiro, who were fashionably late due to DiNozzo. Karin and Matsumoto were also present, but Abby had gone back to her lab. She did want to desperately be there, but she had work she needed to finish. When the DiNozzo and Toshiro did finally arrive both looked tired, everyone did. With the exception of Ichigo and and McGee who somehow got along fabulously and were able to sleep.
By the looks of everyone, Ziva was glad she didn't have to take anyone home. She could've been stuck with Karin or Matsumoto, the latter seeming difficult to deal with. "So, how was your night Tony?"
"Great, besides the massive back ache from sleeping on the floor."
"And why did you sleep on the floor?" Ziva couldn't help but smile.
"He-" DiNozzo made a large effort of pointing to Toshiro, "was too polite to take the bed so I decided I'd sleep on the couch. But no, he was too stubborn to give up the couch! So I guilted him into sleeping into the bed while I slept on the floor."
McGee was laughing by the end of Tony's story, while Ziva rolled her eyes at Tony's absurd stubbornness, "And, how did that guilting thing work out?"
"Toshiro-"
"Hitsugaya."
"What is with you and your titles? Anyways, Hitsugaya over here was still asleep on the couch when I got up."
McGee was laughing harder by now and Ziva had joined in. What the two didn't notice was their boss. A head slap to each stopped the laughter as Gibbs had arrived with Kisuke Urahara in tow.
"DiNozzo, McGee, you can get the boys."
The two agents left with a, "Yes boss," and McGee was still snickering at DiNozzo's foolish decision. They went to the holding cell of the three brothers, while everyone else stayed in the bullpen.
Matsumoto approached her captain from behind and leaned over his shoulder, trying to get Urahara's attention. "Urahara!"
"Hmm~?"
"Will you help with Hitsugaya-taichou's gigai? He can't stay in there forever!" Toshiro shifted under his lieutenants weight, edging out of her grasp on his shoulder. He did agree with Matsumoto. This gigai needed to go, soon.
"There wouldn't be a new gigai for you dear captain, I don't know any of the soul reapers here, not even any shop owners. You'd be in spirit form."
Hitsugaya thought about it, not for long, and concluded "That's fine."
"It might cause trouble for these lovely NCIS agents."
Toshiro looked and Ziva and Gibbs, both trying not to pay attention to the conversation, yet it was easy to tell they were interested.
"NCIS can't just lose a witness," Ziva finally spoke, "And how would we see you?"
"Abby and McGee would be able to see him. And we don't know if anyone else can or not yet," Karin offered.
"Go ahead," Gibbs replied, watching Urahara carefully.
Urahara smiled, and pulled out a cane. In a single blow he hit Toshiro right in the middle of his forehead, leaving a scorching red mark. Standing above the empty gigai stood Toshiro Hitsugaya, back in his soul reaper form.
"Finally," he breathed.
The gigai at his feet suddenly started cracking and turned a dusty grey, the flesh turned to ash and the body collapsed. The what was once a gigai was entirely gone and instead a pile of ash remained instead.
"They aren't built for multiple use."
Toshiro and the group whipped around to see Taro and the brothers, watching as the once gigai continued to break down into nothing.
"They're incredibly unstable, the stronger the soul the harder it is on the gigai. That's why leaking spiritual pressure was common with you, Toshiro."
Toshiro looked at the speaker, the oldest child. He knew a lot about the gigais for someone who was just a goon for the dealer. Yet, he was the one to cooperate first. Toshiro didn't entirely trust the three boys, which made it hard to accept the decision for NCIS to handle them as witnesses.
"What's the purpose, of these gigai?" Gibbs suddenly asked.
Nao, the youngest, smiled. It was a tiny tight lipped smile. But a smile none the less, "To give a second chance to souls."
"Even the bad ones?" Matsumoto interjected.
"Of course."
"Wait, that was Toshiro?" DiNozzo asked, referring to the pile of ash on the ground that was breaking down even further.
Toshiro sighed, "Yes, that was me in the gigai, but now I'm in this form. It's surprising you can see me in it."
"Who all can see Toshiro like this?" McGee suddenly asked, curious to see who could see the soul reaper.
Everyone, including Gibbs, voiced that Toshiro was still a visible entity to them. "That's good." McGee said, relieved.
"So what now?" DiNozzo asked, voicing what everyone was thinking.
"We need to get the information about the dealer, and if the Soul Society grants it, then the boys will go into NCIS protective custody," Toshiro said. He highly doubted the Soul Society would grant protective custody to NCIS. The boys would either enter a deal with the Soul Society or be punished for their crimes. "NCIS is not needed anymore, in regards to finding this dealer."
"Unless she's in this world," Taro pointed out. He knew his, now ex, employer sometimes liked to hide in this world.
"How so?" Matsumoto asked, not exactly getting it. Her and her captain could hunt this woman down. They had done it before.
"They know the area better. You've only worked in Japan."
Toshiro didn't want to admit it, but the kid was right. His lieutenant and him only worked in Japan, they weren't familiar with America.
"Before anything else, we need our zanpakuto."