Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine
Ukitake Jushiro and Kyoraku Shunsui wandered around the accident scene, invisible to the investigating police.
It had been easy to find.
They'd been first senior officers officially on scene, regrettably almost six hours after time of death. The police were finishing their investigation, Ichigo's body had already been removed.
Of Ichigo himself there was no trace.
Jushiro sighed. That was going to be a problem. A certain diplomacy was called for, that was why the Captain Commander had sent the pair of them. He'd hoped to find Ichigo sitting on a park bench or something, receptive to a few kind words and a promise of a visit to his family.
Meanwhile Shunsui was using kido.
"He was here but he left. Very strange."
"How do you mean?"
Shunsui turned, as usual a shade hard on the eyes in his pink haori. "The shock of the death of his body should have put out waves, there should be echoes, but there's nothing." Shunsui tiled his straw hat.
"That's crazy," said Jushiro, "how on earth could-" Jushiro snapped his fingers. "Wait."
"Hmm?"
"He had that mod soul, one of the old B models that were discontinued. Is there any chance Ichigo wasn't in the body when vitality ceased?"
"Almost had to be," answered Shunsui. His brows crinkled. "What on earth was he doing with a model B mod soul? I thought those had been recalled."
"Apparently one got missed," answered Jushiro. "Or so Urahara says, he might just have kept one as a souvenir." Jushiro looked at the police as they packed the last of their cameras away.
"So the mod soul is out for a walk in Ichigo's flesh, steps in front of a-" Shunsui paused.
Jushiro said "I think those ones are called buses."
"Really? I thought buses were the other ones, the ones on the metal tracks." Neither captain had spent a great deal of time in the mortal world since the advent of electricity.
Ukitake's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure? I could have sworn buses went on the roads."
"Then what are the ones on the tracks?"
Jushiro was at something of a loss. "I have no idea. Nanao would know."
"Ah, my Nanao-chan. We should have brought her with us."
"Shunsui, come over here."
"What?"
Jushiro pointed at the street, where a little green slimy mess lay around a thin broken shell.
"That's the pill there. How-"
"-Did it get broken?" finished Shunsui. He looked around. "There's nothing around here that could have broken one of those things. What the hell happened here, Jushiro?" The captain of eighth division stepped into the road, gathered up a few fragments of the pill. One of the human vehicles drove through Shunsui's immaterial body.
"We've missed something," said Jushiro. "I think we should go back now."
"I think you're right, my friend. What do you think Urahara-taicho is doing right now?"
"Perhaps we should find out." Jushiro spared a last look around the accident scene. "All of this is just a little too perfect Shunsui. Something isn't right."
Shunsui drew one of his Zampakuto, used it to open the gate.
It wasn't long before the captains passed a red-faced Isshin Taicho coming out of ninth division's headquarters. He grunted by way of greeting and stalked off.
"Poor bastard," said Shunsui.
The captain of ninth division looked up from his desk and smiled.
Jushiro sighed. Despite the outer robe of a senior captain, Urahara still wore the green hat-and-clogs combination he'd grown so attached to in the real world. Jushiro simply couldn't approve of the striped bucket hat.
He'd mentioned that once. Kisuke had smiled politely and one appeared in Ukitake's office the next morning. So far the thirteenth division captain had been able to resist the temptation to wear it.
Though he'd privately admit a certain temptation to see whether his third seats could be tricked into fighting over it.
"Urahara-Taicho, a word?"
"Certainly," replied Urahara. "I'm a popular man today. What may I do for you gentlemen?"
"A mod soul, one of the forbidden ones. How difficult would it be to break one?"
"How do you mean? Break the pill itself?"
"Yes."
Urahara thought about this.
"Depends on your definition of difficult. Most second seat officers could probably smash one. Or captains of course."
"What about accidentally?"
"How do you mean?"
"One of those no-horse carriages, those great truck things in the mortal world," said Jushiro. He really needed some more time in the mortal world, he had no excuse for being this out of date. "Could one of those destroy the pill?"
"What?" replied the bucket hat. It hid Urahara's eyes. "You mean run over it?" He asked it like he didn't understand the question.
"Exactly."
"No," said Urahara. "Nothing like that. A steamroller might drive one into pavement, but it certainly wouldn't crack the casing. They're not subject to normal physical force. Don't get me wrong, the mortal world has weapons that could break the pill but those weapons hit a great deal harder than the wheel of a truck. Simple pressure? Nothing on the planet is that heavy."
Shunsui reached absently into the pocket of his haori, pulled out the fractional shell.
"What's that?" Asked Urahara.
"The mod soul."
"No it's not."
The other captains looked at Urahara.
"Kon is a model B mod soul," explained Urahara. "There were problems with putting the extra power into the standard casings. To get around them I had one of my chemists come up with a special coating for the inside. If that were a model B casing the inside would be red."
"Are you sure?" asked Jushiro.
Urahara nodded.
"Who would know this?" asked Shunsui.
"Nobody, probably," replied Urahara. "The original chemist, but it was a small aspect of the program, it didn't involve anyone else. The guy who ran the production line, but it was small scale, and there was only one batch made. And me, as head of the program. I know the chemist is dead and I doubt the production engineer even noticed. So I'd say nobody would know this, except the three of us."
"If this isn't Kurosaki Ichigo-san's mod soul," said Jushiro, "where is it?"
Shunsui didn't try to answer the question. "Thank you Urahara-taicho, you've been a great help. Jushiro? Care for a drink at my office? Excuse us Uraraha-taicho."
"Of course," said Urahara.
After they left Urahara Kisuke said "We'll just keep this our little secret."