13
The journey to Urahara shop took less time than she had expected. Maybe because she kept speeding up all the way back without using shunpo. Urahara and his smile greeted them at the door again as they entered the protected territory of the shop and its garden. Despite the chills running down her spine, she felt majorly relieved to be back inside the safe zone.
"Welcome back, Seiko-chan!" Urahara waved at her, completely ignoring Hitsugaya. Seiko managed to fully swallow her automatic response this time and was pleased with herself; but she didn't answer back. Hitsugaya walked forward while she stood there like a statue.
"Oh, Captain Hitsugaya! Welcome to you too!" Urahara said.
"Yeah." Hitsugaya greeted him back. Seiko snapped out of her statue act and followed her captain towards the door. Just before they got inside Urahara turned serious – which wasn't so freaky compared to his smiling self, Seiko noticed.
"So, anything weird?" Urahara asked, theoretically to both of them; but his eyes were fixed on Seiko's own. She knew that the question was meant for her.
"Sort of." she answered, "Let's get inside and we'll tell you the story." then she continued walking after her captain into the back room. She hoped that Urahara would get the hint. He had asked if there was anything weird and she had answered yes; but of course she couldn't say that in front of Hitsugaya, she needed Urahara in private.
After they went back inside their gigais, they sat around the low table again and Ururu served some tea. Seiko finished it in one go and got a refill, she felt thirsty. Urahara took a sip from his tea and sighed.
"So, tell me what happened now." Urahara literally ordered, though his tone was soft. There had been a comfortable silence while he was quiet, Seiko realized, as his question made her tense again.
"Not too much, but it's worth telling, I guess?" Seiko breathed. Urahara stayed quiet and waited patiently for her to continue.
"I believe the owner of the reiatsu is almost strong enough to destroy both this world and the Soul Society; but it can't control that power properly which is pretty much fortunate for us." Hitsugaya interrupted the patient silence surroınding them.
"Yeah." Seiko said, relieved that she didn't have to think where to start anymore, "This means it won't do much harm as long as we don't disturb its flow."
"Or the owner." Urahara added, hiding his face behind his fan.
"What do you mean?" Seiko asked, feeling a little silly.
"Acts that disturb the owner of this much uncontrolled reiatsu won't work for our favor." Hitsugaya answered quickly.
"Exactly." Urahara approved.
"We can manage not disturbing the flow itself; but how do we deicede what will disturb the owner and what won't?" Seiko asked after a very short silence.
"That's the problem. We don't." Urhara said in a matter-of-fact tone, "So we have to be extra careful about our actions until we figure something out.
"What are you going to do about it? Do you have any clues about how to..." her voice trailed off, leaving the question unfinished. She wasn't sure how she'd continue that question; but Urahara somehow knew what she wanted to ask.
"I didn't figure out much yet; but don't worry about it." Urahara smiled at her, creeping her out again, "We do have plenty of time to figure something out."
"How do you know that?" Hitsugaya asked exaclty what Seiko was thinking.
"From my sources, here and there." Urahara smiled sweetly. This was exactly what always freaked Seiko out. This sweet sweet smile that carried such deep danger inside. This smile that told her there could be anything under his disguise. She had to remind herself that he was an ally in this mission – her only ally maybe. She had to trust her and remember that he was on her side, that his danger wasn't meant for her, that she was safe in his care. Though that was a hard job, looking at the sweet smile that lingered on his face.
"How reliable are those sources of yours?" Hitsugaya asked, his voice full of doubt.
"Reliable enough." Urahara answered him, his smile getting even more sweet. Seiko watched anxiously as some kind of understanding session went on between the two men – or the boy and the man, to be more precise. Then the tension she felt in the air dissolved.
"Guess I don't have a choice but to trust you anyways." Hitsugaya said, closing his eyes and lowering his chin a little. It looked like some kind of surrendering to Seiko; then she beat the weird thoughts right out of her mind. Her imagination was overly active nowadays. How often would someone imagina his captain as a puppy anyways? Oh, well; maybe Matsumoto would do that often, but...
"So, before you go to rest, would you mind telling me what exactly happened out there?" Urahara asked; closing his fan and tapping it lightly on the wooden table.
"We were using shunpo; then the flow of reiatsu lost its stability when we were at north, came at us in waves. They subsided in about one minute. I'm guessing our reiatsu disturbed the flow or the owner somehow." Seiko summed quickly.
"I see, then it's somehow safe to say that the root is close to north district. Good thing you found that out." Urahara commented, "Anything else?"
"Nope, nothing." Seiko said, she had decided not telling him about the kid in front of Hitsugaya wasn't a good idea. Urahara then opened his fan and stood up.
"Now then, please rest." he said before getting out of the room. Ururu entered right after he got out.
"Please follow me." she said timidly, then turned around and started leading the way with her usual distinctive penguin-walk. They stood up and followed her further inside. Next to a little door she stopped.
"Your room is here, Hoshikaze-san." Ururu said, "Rest well."
"Thanks." Seiko tried to smile at the girl before going inside. She didn't know how successful she had been, though. She heard their footsteps go further inside and listened to them until they disappeared – it didn't take long since both footsteps were very light. Then she leaned against the door and looked around the tiny room. There was a futon, a little window and a tiny space to walk around in the room. She wasn't expecting much anyways. She was okay with anywhere as long as she could sleep and with her energy condition right now, she could fall asleep very soundly just about anywhere.
She didn't open the light and went next to the window. The moon looked beautiful. She liked daytime better; but the crescent moon somehow managed to enlighten the night just so beautifully that Seiko couldn't bring herself to look away. She let her eyelids lower on her eyes and tried to find enough strength to think about the day's events.
She sighed. There was a lot. It had been such a long day. And a really weird, tiring, scary long day at that. And she knew almost nothing. The idea really annoyed her; but that was the truth this time. She tried to get her thoughts in order, so much had happened that she was starting to get confused. What had happened? She was working in the office, then Hitsugaya came and told her they were going to real world. He was absolutelty not himself, then in Senkai gate, he had fainted. At the real world, after getting their gigais, she had learned that people had been dying and going missing. Then Hitsugaya had wanted to go on a search and smiled at her which was absolutely out of character for him – he never ever smiled no matter how happy what had happened was. Seiko had agreed to go with him, then the reiatsu had lost control. After that passed, they had seen the absolutely weird little kid. Then returned to the shop.
Now that she thought about it, there hadn't been too much that happened. When she organized and simplified it, it didn't sound too much. But when her own feelings and questions came in, everything messed up. What had happened to Hitsugaya? What was changing him this much? She could pretty much guess it was the colorless reiatsu; but what exactly was this reiatsu? How could it be that powerful? Who or what exactly was the owner? What was its motive? How was it affecting Hitsugaya? How could she save him from it? How could she beat... beat... beat what? What exactly was she trying to fight? She shook her head, it always became such a mess whenever she let it free just a little. She sighed again.
"Did you know, Seiko-chan, that every sigh takes away half of your life away?"
Seiko shivered from head to toes and turned to look at the door slowly. She could swear her eyes were scattering lightnings around.
"Don't sneak up on me, Urahara Kisukeee... you're scary enough as it is already!" Seiko grumbled, her voice shaking just like her body.
"Haha, that hurt." Urahara laughed it away, "May I come in?"
With that Seiko noticed he was still standing next to the door. She was kind of surprised to see such behaviour, she still remembered the time he woke her up poking her forehead rhythmically. She wondered if he had been affected by the reiatsu too; then remembered that the shop was the safe zone and threw away the thought. Maybe he had just wanted to annoy her back then and was usually like this. Well, she didn't have to think about this right now. She took a deep breath to stop her shaking.
"Sure, go on." Seiko said and sat on her futon, crossing her legs. Urahara sat in front of her the same way. There was a very short silence, then Urahara started talking.
"I assume... no, I'm sure you have noticed too."
He didn't say anything more. Seiko knew he meant the same thing. She nodded softly.
"Tell me everything, every single thing, in detail." Urahara practically ordered. Seiko didn't feel that way, though. Somehow she was sure that he meant good and trusted him completely, without a hint of eeriness.
"Have any theories?" Seiko asked, just out of curiosity.
"I do have some. What you tell me might make some things clearer, so I will explain after you tell me, if you don't mind." Urahara said. These words were supposed to annoy her; but she didn't let them. He was her only ally and the only one that she could hope help from. So she started to tell the story, from the start, not skipping one single detail. Urahara listened to her, never interfering, never commenting. He just nodded as she kept telling the story. When she finished, there was a silence. She looked at Urahara as he thought, looking down, his face hidden under his hat.
"So?" Seiko asked after a while, "What will you say about it now?"
"I can say that I'm not too surprised." Urahara breathed, then looked back up at Seiko. His eyes were glowing with some kind of light Seiko always failed to understand.
"I expected that much." Seiko muttered.
"What bugs me the most is the little kid you saw." Urahara continued. Now that would surprise Seiko.
"Why would he bug you? I know I told you he was acting very weird; but..."
"No, no; his very existance is weird. You said he looked directly at you, like he could see you, correct?"
"Absolutely."
"Which means, even if he couldn't see you, he must have sensed your very presence. I can say that his spiritual energy is pretty higher than usual. The thing is, all of the people like him have either disappeared or died. Including one newborn and seven other kids."
"So you say him being alive is an issue itself." Seiko said, finally understanding.
"Exactly." Urahara nodded.
"So what do you think it could be?" Seiko asked.
"I'm not very sure yet, I'll research it thoroughly tonight." Urahara said, stayed quiet for two seconds, then continued, "And about Captain Hitsugaya's case. He was affected by this in the Soul Society first, you must have noticed too. Senkai Gate is naturally weaker to reiatsu changes, so the reiatsu must have been more effective in there. Whatever it did, it did in there and you saw it as Hitsugaya fainting. All I found out from this is that the owner of the reiatsu uses pure reiatsu to attack; he doesn't give it any shape."
"Couldn't it be something minor?" Seiko asked, hoping the answer would be positive.
"To tell the truth, I have started the analysis of Captain Hitusgaya's reiatsu the best without his cooperation and I'm not getting very good results. I'd rather assume it's serious, just in case." Urahara said.
"Then, what about your theories?" Seiko asked. She really wanted some answers.
"Those aren't complete yet, Seiko-chan." Urahara said, hiding his face behind his fan. Seiko knew he wouldn't tell her anything. Not yet, at least. As much as she hated being left in the dark, not knowing anything about how to protect her captain; but she also knew that Urahara had his reasons, so she couldn't pressure him further. Well, she probably wouldn't be able to help if she knew anything either. She sweeped away her emotions for once and thought clearly. Thinking rationally, in this situation, she just needed some commands. No more doubts, she told herelf. She wasn't the one with the information or qualification for such a mission, so she would simply obey.
"What should I do?" she asked firmly. Urahara lowered his fan, his smile was very small but a real one this time.
"What you've done today. I'll be satisfied with it. Act normal, observe, look after Captain Hitsugaya. Look out for the kid. That's all." Urahara said with a soft voice.
"Okay." Seiko nodded firmly, but then suddenly lost all of her strength and bowed her head to hide her expression. No matter what, she was still a teenager and she could say that she had an obsession for her captain that could be pathological if uncontrolled, even if she would never admit it to anyone. But more than that, she had been with him for such a long time, she was so attached to him, she valued him so much. Maybe more than her own life.
"Will he be alright?" she asked, almost like a whisper. She couldn't help it, she needed to know. Maybe, she needed someone to tell her that he'd be okay.
"Do you really want the truth, or would you prefer if I lied to you?" Urahara asked back. The question itself explained so much. Seiko snorted though she definitely didn't have fun.
"Neither." She answered, not raising her head. After a very short silence, she felt his hand on her head, ruffling her hair. She was more than surprised, she was shocked. She raised her head and saw him smiling at her. Another smile that was real, that didn't creep her out but warmed her up.
"He might be, but only if you try your best." Urahara said. Seiko tried to collect herself, closed her opened mouth and nodded. Urahara then stood up and went towards the door. Before he went out he turned to her and smiled with his usual freaky smile.
"Good night then, Seiko-chan!"
"Don't call me that, freak." Seiko said softly, not meaning a word of it. Urahara smiled even wider, hid his face behind his fan and closed the door after him.
"Good night to you too." Seiko said after he closed the door, then she changed into her pajamas and laid down in her futon. Watching the ceiling, she realized that her questions were much more well-behaved than before in her head. Now they weren't messing up everything, they were just staying quietly at their corner, waiting to be answered. Tomorrow was probably going to be another long day. She was going to do her best and hope Urahara found out something soon. All she wanted was to save Hitsugaya from whatever was happening to him. She drifted off to sleep praying to whatever god that might exist.
A/N: chapter complete! finally... took me years, i cut away half of the original story in the red notebook, changed the rest and added lots of parts. it was like writing it a second time and i'm not so good at writing fast you know. whatever. not too many questions answered, i know, and i know it might be boring; but these are the chapters that must be written, please understand and please be patient. the end of the talk with Urahara... well, i really like Urahara so i wanted Seiko to like him too; but i just can't make it happen without a reason and she really really really doesn't like him... didn't like him, should i say? cuz i think she kinda does right now. oh well. hope you liked this chapter too! please review, thanks!
P.S: the quality probably wouldn't drop too much, Unnamed. I have the story written down in my red notebook; because right after i started the past, i started writing this weirdness part in my red notebook. it was supposed to be just an excuse for my own fantasies about Hitsu; but it somehow turned out this way which i'm pretty much happy with. hope you're still liking the story though it's a little boring right now.