"Goddammit, this is taking too long! If you're not going to get out of that gigai, then I'll make you!"

The eyes of all three teens snap up to the rooftop, the direction the new voice came from, but the black clothed figure vanishes in a burst of speed. The newcomer appears in the trio's midst, and before any of them can react, he grabs the hand Ichirou has the gokkon tekkou on and shoves it into Ichigo. Uryuu instinctively forms his bow to try and defend against the attacker, but before he can do anything further, the newcomer grabs Ichigo's ejected soul and stabs through her sternum with a katana, causing the orange-haired shinigami to cough blood and drop her zanpakutou in pain. The katana — No, it's a zanpakutou, Uryuu corrects himself — slips back out causing blood to spurt freer from the now unimpeded wound in her chest, and Uryuu starts to form the arrow.

I'm not going to make it! Uryuu thinks as the blade is thrusted towards Ichigo's stomach, not questioning in the heat of the moment precisely why he's defending someone he wanted to fight a few minutes earlier.

A split second before the blade cuts into her a second time, Ichirou's foot slams into the figure's chest, sending the attacker flying backwards from the sheer force and skidding to a halt a handful of meters away. "Who the hell are you?!" the teen demands in a rage as Uryuu trains his now drawn bow on the attacker.

"Heh," the man says as he rises to his feet and slides the goggles he's wearing up onto his forehead. He has no eyebrows, and in their place he has tribal style tattoos that rise high up across his forehead and into the deep ridges on either side of his widow's peak. His bright red hair is pulled back into a ponytail that flares out into a voluminous ponytail. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. The name's Renji Abarai."

Bright Queen
By: Eva Grimm
Chapter Three: Shining Moon

"Born and then fall
Is the same as death."

Tite Kubo, Bleach vol. 35

Chapter Summary: Ichigo, Uryuu, and Ichirou experience the strength of a vice-captain. Well, one fifth of it, anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Bleach. Bright Queen is a fan-based work and not sold for profit.

***SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for any Bleach book — they're going to happen. You've been warned.

"Renji Abarai," Uryuu mutters darkly, eyeing the man's shihakushou. "You're a shinigami, so why are you attacking one of your comrades?"

"Comrade?" the man says with a laugh. "Is that what you've been told? Listen, kid, that human you're protecting is no comrade of mine. In fact, she stole her powers from one of my comrades: Rukia Kuchiki."

"I've heard the story," the quincy says in a clipped tone. "As I understand it, the theft was quite unintentional, so why are you trying to kill her?"

"Idiot, I'm not trying to kill her." The shinigami lefts his zanpakutou and points it at Ichigo, who is kneeling on the ground and trying to put pressure on the painful wound in her chest while keeping her eyes on her attacker. "A shinigami has two points on their body called the saketsu and hakusui, the shinigami equivalent of the chain of fate and the source of a shinigami's reiatsu respectively. If you pierce them both, then that shinigami will lose their powers and never be able to get them back."

Ichigo gasps, her eyes widening. "And you just pierced my…"

"Your saketsu," Renji finishes, his lips twisting into a dark grin as he slides his feet and blade into a battle ready stance. "All I need to do now is get your hakusui, and you'll be a regular human again. Captain Kuchiki said that whether you die in the process is inconsequential."

"Liar!" Ichirou snarls, slashing his hand through the air as if he's dispelling the lie hanging before him. "Rukia would never order an attack on Ichigo, much less a fatal one!"

"You really don't know anything, do you?" the red-haired shinigami remarks. "I'm talking about Rukia's older brother, captain of the sixth division of the Gotei 13 and head of the Kuchiki clan, one of the four noble clans of Soul Society. He's already retrieved Rukia and taken her back to Soul Society to face execution."

"What?!" all three of them cry at once, and Ichigo adds after, "Execution for what?!"

The shinigami darts forward in a black and red blur of motion, hoping to take advantage of the trio's shock, but the Uryuu recovers near instantaneously and fires off multiple arrows in rapid succession, forcing the redhead to abandon his assault.

"You really don't get it?" Renji says as he tries a different tactic, dashing around the trio in a circle to hunt for openings in the quincy's guard. "Two shinigami are dispatched to the human world on a joint mission, one to destroy the stolen shinigami powers in a human, even if that human must die, and the other to retrieve the shinigami from whom those powers were stolen… You really don't think those two aren't related?"

"She's going to be executed because of me?" Ichigo hoarsely asks, the pain in her chest flaring at the thought.

"Bingo!" The shinigami bursts inward once more, but Uryuu sends a flurry of arrows to meet him, unyielding in his assault until the redhead once again backs off. "Giving a human shinigami powers is one of the worst crimes a shinigami can commit. Once we found out what she did, Captain Kuchiki and I were immediately sent out here." Renji abruptly stops running and casually lays the back of his zanpakutou on his shoulder. "Obviously, this kind of thing is extremely rare, so imagine my surprise when I find that in addition to that, Rukia had given her powers to a one of those rare humans who has a soul different from her original body. What are the chances of that, right?"

Now that this guy mentions it… I've seen Kurosaki as a shinigami a couple of times now, and he has looked different… Almost like… Uryuu's eyes widen at his belated realization, but he resists the urge to look away from Renji and examine the hunched over shinigami behind him, knowing that even a momentary distraction is all the redhead needs to fulfill his mission. Still, he can't help but remember her words from earlier that day: "N-no! I'm not… I was never… never Ichirou. It's a lie! It's always been a lie…"

"But anyway," Renji says, placing his palm against the flat side of his zanpakutou, just above the tsuba. "I'm done playing games with you, human. I've got a mission to complete, so I'm done with this idle chatter. Howl, Zabimaru!" His zanpakutou glows with red light, and as he swipes his palm along the side of the blade down to the tip, the katana morphs into an entirely different sword. The blade becomes thicker and divided into seven segments, and on the sharpened edge of the blade at the point on each segment closest to the tip of the zanpakutou, a tooth like blade juts out, the final tooth at the tip extending out nearly three times as far as the rest.

Still standing at a distance, the shinigami swings his blade, and the steel extends in towards the trio, the segments separating from each other while remaining connected by metal bands running through the length of the blade with what appears to be a spine in the center of them. Shit! Uryuu internally cries as he sends an arrow flying out to intercept the transformed zanpakutou, and though his attack strikes one of the middle segments, the segments closest to the quincy still lash out, slashing open his chest and sending him sprawling to the ground in pain as blood gushes out of the gash and his bow dissipates.

"Uryuu!" Ichigo cries in dismay at the same time Ichirou shouts, "Ishida!"

"Woohoo, that looks like it hurts!" Renji comments with a grin. "You know, I didn't really want to hurt you, but that's what happens when you stand between a shinigami and his mission!"

The fallen quincy's instinct is to give up, to just put pressure on his wound and let the redhead get on with his mission, but in spite of all that, he summons his bow once again and awkwardly aims an arrow at the shinigami. Both the bow and arrow are flickering, his control over the ambient reishi faltering from the severity of his wound. "I hate shinigami," he mutters, trying to still his shaking arms, "but a shinigami who speaks so casually about his self-proclaimed 'comrade' being sentenced to death, who speaks so casually about killing a gu— girl for doing what she had to do to protect her family… I hate you more."

Ichigo's free hand clenches around her zanpakutou, forcing herself to stand and fight even as she feels her body grow sluggish from blood loss. "It figures you'd finally stop being such a jerk now of all times…" She weakly jokes as she takes a shaky step towards the fallen quincy. "Stupid Uryuu…"

"Stop this, Ichigo!" Ichirou cries, grabbing her arm. "This guy's going to kill you! We have to get you out of here!"

"Let me go, Ichirou!" she responds, her voice hard. Despite being weak from her injury, her brother's strength is all in his legs, so she manages to pull her arm out of his grasp and continue slowly making her way over to Uryuu while Renji watches with grim anticipation. "Didn't you hear me earlier? I promised to use my power to protect the people in this town. I'm not about to let a shinigami kill someone on my watch!"

"Kurosaki, listen to him!" Uryuu shouts. "I might hate you, but I'm still not going to let you die! So go, get out of here while you can!"

"You idiot!" she growls as she finally reaches him. "Still going on about hating me at a time like this! Ugh! And didn't I just say I'm not going to let you die? I'm not going anywhere,so crawl out of here while I hold him off!"

"What?! Who do you think you are?! Now I'm going to stay here just because you told me not too!"

"Ugh! You're ridiculous! Fine, since it's obvious neither of us is going to back down, I guess we'll just have to fight together and beat this guy!"

"Work with you?! Dream on! You'll just get drag me down, weakling!"

"What'd you say?! You take that back, blockhead!"

"No way, you pain in the ass!"

"Don't talk to girls that way, you jerk!"

"If you two lovebirds are quite finished…" Renji interjects, sweatdropping at their very poorly timed argument.

"We're not lovebirds!" they both shout out at the redhead before abruptly remembering exactly where they are and readying themselves for the shinigami's attack.

"You know what? You're right. I know what you are…" he darkly replies as he slashes with his zanpakutou once more, the whip-like blade cutting through the air towards the wounded substitute shinigami and quincy. "You're done for!"

Uryuu sends his arrow soaring through the air, and despite aiming for the tip of the extending blade, his attack misses its mark because of his shaky arms and position lying on the ground. The arrow ends up striking the middle segment again, and when the last three segments continue to slice through the air towards Ichigo, she manages to deflect the blow by slashing at the last segment. To both the teens surprise though, the deflected blade abruptly changes course in mid-air and lashes out at Ichigo once more. The orangette just barely manages to position her zanpakutou between her and the unexpected attack, and steel clashes against steel. The force of Renji's attack is too much however, and Zabimaru cuts straight through Ichigo's zanpakutou just below the tsuba, cutting open part of Ichigo's right hand and severing the red and gold hilt from the tsuba and blade. Ichigo falls forward onto her right knee and cries out in pain as the detached blade and tsuba clatter to the ground, but she continues to clench the hilt of her zanpakutou in her right hand, some part of her refusing to release it.

Renji begins to laugh at the sight as Ichigo struggles back to her feet. "Oh wow, that's pitiful. You know, I thought you might actually be a worthwhile fight, since you had that huge ass zanpakutou, but I should have known better than to think a human like you could be a real challenge. I bet you don't even know your zanpakutou's name, do ya?"

My zanpakutou's name…? the struggling substitute shinigami wonders. What he said earlier, 'Howl, Zabimaru…' Was he calling out his zanpakutou's name?

You should give up.

Ichigo's eyes widen as a tall man dressed in nearly all black appears just behind and to the side of Renji with his tattered black trench coat, long black hair, and upturned, tattered collar waving gently in the wind.

Who are you? she asks.

"Tch, figures," Renji comments when she says nothing in reply. "Like I said earlier: I should have known better than to think a human would reach out to her zanpakutou."

I've tried to tell you since that first day, but you have never heard me, the man says his eyes piercing through her from behind brown tinted, transparent sunglasses made of nothing but glass. His stubble covered face is set in a frown. Now that you can, listen well: You should give up and let your foe seal away your shinigami powers. If you do that, you might live. You can't stop his attack in your condition, much less with just a hilt.

"This fight's over. Now just stay still while I pierce your hakusui."

No, Ichigo replies within her mind. I swore I would protect everyone in this town, and that includes Stupid Uryuu. Even if I let Renji seal my powers, would he really let Uryuu live after all of this? No, I need my powers… Without them, I can't protect anyone.

The red haired shinigami extends his right arm behind him, preparing to strike once more and deal the final blow. "Any last words?"

The tall, darkly dressed man's frown deepens. I figured that would be your answer. You're so troublesome, fixated on protecting everyone but yourself. I guess I have no choice but to help you out then.

"Yeah, I do," Ichigo says as she lifts her zanpakutou's hilt and holds it against her waist on her left side.

Call me out!

"Rise up and illuminate my kingdom, Tougetsu ("Shining Moon"; 燾月)!" she proclaims, her voice unyielding as she says the words and tears the hilt through the air in front of her.

The red and gold hilt explodes in a tremendous burst of reishi that causes the dust on the ground around Ichigo to kick up into a cloud, forcing everyone else to shield their eyes.

"What the hell?" Renji mutters, his zanpakutou no longer held at the ready and his eyes widening as the dust begins to settle. "No, that's not possible…"

Ichigo stands before him, still weak from her wounds but nevertheless holding herself with poise. The long scabbard and buckle harness she previously had is gone, and in their place is a short, white scabbard that hangs from her shihakushou's hakama-himo by two silver ashi on her left side at her waist. In her right hand and held down and to her right is a reformed zanpakutou different than the one she wielded before. The weapon is a kodachi, which is not only smaller in size than its previous form but also smaller than a katana. The blade is silver and emits a silver light; the tsuba is a white, metal cross that connects at its tips with a white, metal circle; and the hilt's red and gold pattern is now silver and white.

I'll help you for now, but so you know…

"Ichirou, Uryuu," she whispers while keeping her mouth still so Renji cannot tell she's speaking. "Please keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them. When I do, I need Ichirou to kick Renji over here, and Uryuu to aim an arrow at his hakusui without firing it." I have no idea where the hakusui is, so I'll just have to hope he does.

I'll be mad with you if you get yourself killed.

Ichirou closes his eyes without question, and Uryuu follows suit, the substitute shinigami's tone clearly conveying to him that she has a plan.

And I won't care if it happens because you're protecting someone.

The red haired shinigami snarls and is so focused on Ichigo's zanpakutou that he doesn't notice her companions' closed eyes. "You think you change anything just because you finally got a clue?! You're finished, Kurosaki!" he screams as he moves his zanpakutou into position once more.

So what is your wish, little 'bright queen?'

Adrenaline courses through Ichigo, temporarily renewing her strength. She knows that she only has one chance — one hope to save her brother and Uryuu. Lend me your power, Tougetsu! She whips her kodachi up into the air so the tip is pointing straight above her and proclaims, her reiatsu swirling within her, "Mikotonori: Mouko ("Edict: Blind country"; 詔: 盲国)!"

The blade of her kodachi immediately flares with brilliant silver light, saturating the street that blinds everyone but Ichigo. Renji howls with pain as he flings his left arm up to block the light, but the damage is already done.

Dispelling her blade's light, Ichigo fiercely whispers, "Now!"

Both of the boys open their eyes, and Ichirou immediately sprints forward, the powerful legs his mod-soul nature grants him allowing him to move at speed comparable to a shinigami. Renji, a seasoned warrior, hears the teen's approach, but even the most seasoned of warriors cannot fight at full strength when they've lost one of their senses. The shinigami swipes at Ichirou as he approaches, keeping his zanpakutou in its condensed form, but the attack is altogether too easy for the fleet-footed Ichirou, who deftly ducks under the blade as it slices through the air the teen had been a moment prior. In a flash, the orange haired boy dashes past the blinded shinigami, sweeps his feet out from under him, and delivers a devastating kick that sends him flying over towards Ichigo and Uryuu, where he painfully lands on his back with a grunt.

With the last of her adrenaline, Ichigo falls to her knees besides Renji and drives her kodachi into the middle of his sternum — straight into his saketsu. Uryuu, like Ichigo, is so badly damaged that ordinarily he could only barely move, but also like her, he can sense that everything is riding on the last ditch attempt. Adrenaline fills his veins, pushing him to pass his bodily limitations, and so the quincy violently yanks himself up onto his knees, summons his bow, and takes aim at Renji's stomach, directly above his hakama-himo.

"Move and I'll… shoot your… hakusui," Uryuu manages to say between gasps for air.

"It's… over… Renji," Ichigo finishes, only barely managing to hold herself upright now as her adrenaline fades away, leaving redoubled pain in her sternum and an utter lack of energy in its wake.

"Hainawa," a voice from somewhere nearby clearly calls out.

A yellow rope made of reishi slams into Uryuu, knocking the quincy back to the ground as it swiftly encircles his body, tightly restraining his arms against his sides.

The weary Ichigo can only manage to turn to face the speaker as another word is chanted, "Rikujoukourou," and six beams of light rocket out of the rope wrapped around Uryuu and pierce through Renji's fallen form, forming a six-pointed star parallel to the ground.

Standing on a nearby rooftop is Kisuke Urahara, his left hand clutched around his cane, and his right hand clenched around his closed fan while he points his index finger pointed at Renji. "Well done! You all did sooooo well!"

"Mister… Ura…hara?" Ichigo murmurs faintly as she feels her consciousness start to fade, the severity of her wound finally catching up with her. The silver light emanating from the kodachi in Renji's chest dims slowly until it fades into nothing, leaving just a silver blade rising out of the shinigami's black kosode.

"Right you are, Miss Kurosaki!" the man replies as he jumps into the air and smoothly lands next to the group, idly opening his fan and holding up to obscure his face as he does so. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'll take over from here. Right now, all of you should just sleep."

Goddammit, Ichigo thinks just before succumbing to the kidou spell. Of course he can do it too.

Ichigo's chocolate brown eyes snap open as she abruptly awakes from a nightmare she can't quite remember. She panics at the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling instead of her room's familiar view and quickly pushes herself up into a seated position and hisses in pain as the nerves in her chest scream in protest.

"Uh-oh, you shouldn't move around, Miss Kurosaki," a familiar voice says from nearby. "Your injury hasn't fully healed."

The teen turns her head to find the source of the voice and is unsurprised to find Urahara nearby, though she is surprised to find him kneeling down beside a sleeping Uryuu while checking bandages. "What happened?"

"I should think it obvious," the blonde haired proprietor replies as he stands up from his position and turns to face her. "You and your companions managed to subdue Mr. Abarai, and I brought you back here to take care of your wounds because I'm such a nice guy." He flips open his fan as he finishes, an utter lack of seriousness in his eyes as the fan and his brimmed hat obscure his face.

Ichigo moves her eyes to the two nearby boys and finds them just starting to wake up. "What were those kidou spells you used at the end of our fight? I mean, the chain of light thing was pretty obvious, I guess, but that other one was…"

"Bakudou #61, Rikujoukourou, is a binding kidou," Urahara explains. "And it can be activated using the light from bakudou #4, Hainawa. Mr. Abarai losing his powers would have been unfortunate, but at the same time, the kikanshinki I won't work on shinigami, so I had to take Mr. Abarai prisoner to prevent his reporting to the Gotei 13."

"Kikanshinki?" Ichigo and Uryuu ask simultaneously. The pair's eyes meet one another for a moment before returning their gaze to Urahara.

"It's my memory substitution device," the shopkeeper remarks as casually as he would talking about the weather. All three of the teens stare at him in horrified fascination. "Surely you had to suspect such a thing existed? How do you think Rukia Kuchiki was able to enroll herself at Karakura High with no formal records of any kind? Or for that matter, how you, Miss Kurosaki, were able to do so as well?"

Realization dawns upon the orangette, and in that moment of silence, Uryuu turns his eyes to face her once more and examines her. The teen has no shirt on, but her breasts are bound up by tape, no doubt because of the severe wound to her sternum from Renji's first attack. He can just barely see the top of her school uniform's skirt poking out from under the sheet covering her bottom half, and though her blouse, bow ribbon, and hair ornaments are lying on the ground next to her, her shihakushou and the kodachi she acquired mid-fight are nowhere to be seen. So this 'Urahara' can clearly see souls well enough to have put Kurosaki back in hi… her body, can cast shinigami spells, and is the one who gave Rukia the equipment she needed to masquerade as a normal human… Then he must also be: "I take it that you are the one who gave Kurosaki a new body?" the quincy asks, having never met Urahara before.

"Bingo! My gigai are top notch, mirroring the soul's image perfectly!" the shopkeeper remarks with a pleased tone.

Ichigo abruptly realizes Uryuu is staring at her with an intense look, and she swiftly grabs the sheet and holds it so it covers her front half as she looks away with a light flush on her cheeks. "Stupid Uryuu, didn't your parents ever teach you to not look at girls like that!"

The quincy quickly looks away, a flush of his own rising on his cheeks. "I… I think I…" The normally well-spoken struggles with his words for a moment, not wanting to admit fault but knowing that he really ought to given how badly he treated her earlier. "… owe you an apology. I've seen you in shinigami form a couple of times before today, and I noticed that you looked different. Those moments were always fleeting though, so I never realized just how different you were. I didn't really remember those moments or understand what they meant until after that shinigami mentioned how a soul like yours is rare… I'm sorry for treating you poorly."

Ichigo, slowly turns to face the raven haired boy, and though he's facing away from her, she can see that his expression mirrors the sincerity in his voice. "Apology… accepted, Uryuu. But just so you know… You're still a jerk."

Ichirou, who has remained silent while watching the two interact, rolls his eyes. Stupid Ichigo… Why are you being so tsundere?

Uryuu just smirks. "And I still hate you, Miss Shinigami."

"Hey! That's Miss 'I totally saved your ass back there with my shinigami powers' Shinigami to you!"

"After I got cut up. You really need to work on your timing if you're going to keep going on about wanting to protect people."

"Stupid Uryuu!"

"Pain in the ass."

"I already told you you're not supposed to call girls names like that!"

"I'm not calling you names. I'm merely pointing out a fact."

"Um…" Urahara cuts in while sweatdropping. "Returning to the part where I mentioned holding Mr. Abarai prisoner…" The duo abruptly stop their bickering and turn back to Urahara while studiously ignoring one another. The shopkeeper wisely elects to say nothing more about their argument and instead continues. "As I'm sure you know, Miss Kuchiki has been abducted by her older brother and taken back to Soul Society for execution."

"How do you know about that?" Uryuu inquires, suspicion writ upon his face.

"I watched your entire fight, of course!" Urahara replies cheerfully.

"You what?!" all three teens shout in bafflement. Ichigo further adds, "Why on earth would you let that shinigami beat us up so badly?!"

"Ah, I see," Uryuu mutters, drawing confused looks from Ichigo and Ichirou and a pleased look from Urahara. "The moment you heard that Rukia had been abducted, you knew that Kurosaki would want to save her, and you wanted her to know what she's up against."

"Right in one. And I should add that Mr. Abarai wasn't even fighting at full strength."

"He… wasn't…?" Ichigo murmurs worriedly.

"The reiatsu of a vice-captain like Mr. Abarai is too powerful to be allowed into the human world without being restrained. Captains and vice-captains use limiters that typically reduce their power to one fifth of its full capacity. If you infiltrate Soul Society, and there is a way, then you will be facing the full might of the Gotei 13. Thirteen vice-captains of a strength approximately five times greater than what you faced earlier today, thirteen captains whose powers can be hundreds of times greater than even that, and countless foot soldiers whose powers range more widely. That is what you face, should you decide to try and save Rukia Kuchiki."

Ichigo and Ichirou both stare at Urahara in abject horror, and the normally more stoic Uryuu tightly clenches his sheet with his hands and his dark blue eyes are wide.

"The Soul Society usually provides a grace period of a month before a convict faces execution, the maximum penalty. If you wish to save Rukia Kuchiki, then I will prepare the way into Soul Society if, and only if, you agree to train under my supervision for ten days, Miss Kurosaki. The preparation will take seven days, so you will have thirteen days upon arrival." He snaps his fan shut, his gray eyes watching her carefully from beneath the brim of his hat. "What will you do, Miss Kurosaki?"

Uryuu abruptly stands, the slightest grimace of pain crossing his face for a second from the effort, and says in a monotone voice, "Thank you for your care of my wounds, Mr. Urahara. I think I'll take my leave now."

"Oh, is that so?" the shopkeeper remarks, while Ichigo stares at the boy, a myriad of emotions crossing her face. "You're quite welcome. Please see my assistant Tessai as you leave, and he will give you a bottle of pills. Starting now, take one every hour, and you'll be fully recovered by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you again," the quincy says before bowing and leaving.

"Uryuu," Ichigo whispers after he's left, her fluctuating expression finally settling into one of disappointment. "So I'm the only one who will go to save her…"

Urahara opens his fan once more, hiding his secretive smile. "So you've decided?"

Ichigo nods, her chocolate brown eyes filled with resolve. "Yes. I'll do your training."

"Then it's settled!" the shopkeeper declares, his voice light as he turns to the still seated Ichirou. "Mr. Kurosaki, you have no wounds, so I'll see you to the door. I trust you'll relay the situation to your family?"

"Yeah," Ichirou answers as he rises to his feet, his tone half pleased from the reminder that he now has a family and half pissed that he is the one saddled with doing the explaining. A minute later, Ichirou exits Urahara Shop and starts walking home down the darkened streets of Karakura Town. Home… That really does have a nice ring to it.

Behind him, Kisuke Urahara watches silently while standing outside the shut door of his shop. After Ichirou is completely out of sight, he says, "Have something you want to discuss, Isshin?"

"Yeah, I do," Isshin Kurosaki remarks in a casual tone as he steps out of the shadows cloaking the alley between the Urahara Shop and the building next to it. "I sensed two hollows attacking my daughter's friends a few hours ago. Imagine my surprise when I checked the locations of both fights and discovered trace amounts of hollow bait. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"I do, of course," the shopkeeper answers, snapping his fan shut and sliding it into his coat's pocket. "I used the bait to coax out those hollows."

"I see," he replies, his tone growing sharper. "I figured that might be the case. What are you playing at?"

"Surely some hollow attacks aren't the only things you sensed today," Urahara answers, his tone still calm. "Two shinigami arrived. One of them kidnapped Rukia Kuchiki, and the other attacked your eldest daughter."

"I'm aware…" Isshin responds, wondering what the exiled shinigami is driving at. "I could tell you were near her, and I knew you wouldn't let anything bad happen."

"Good to know that your senses haven't dulled in that special gigai. The reason I mention it is this: Miss Kurosaki was very adamant about wanting to protect her friends. When she woke up, I told her about the odds she'd be facing if she wants to rescue Miss Kuchiki. She still wants to do it anyway." Urahara leaves that revelation hanging in the air for a moment, watching as the man's eyes widen for a moment before becoming stoic once more. "She needs allies, and those two friends of hers had latent powers resting within them."

"I still don't like it," Isshin finally says as he turns and starts walking in the direction Ichirou left a few minutes prior. "Good night."

"Good night," Urahara quietly murmurs as he turns around and slips back into his shop. "And sorry."