Chapter 7: Mornings

Kisuke Urahara yawned as he stared at the steam curling into the air from his teacup. It was only eight in the morning but he was already looking forward to his usual nap in the sunbeam that came in through the windows mid-afternoon. If he could make it that long, anyway; it had been a particularly long night. He was familiar with long nights and he had pulled more all-nighters in his lifetime than he could ever recount, but that didn't mean he liked them. There were many different kinds of long nights; good, bad, fast, and slow. Nights with people he enjoyed being around and nights he wished would just end.

Last night had been…well just not fun. And that always put him in a particular mood.

Luckily, the morning had been less stressful. The kids finished their chores without an uproar (miracle, that) and Tessai was doing a good bit of spring cleaning which Kisuke knew he should be helping with, but he couldn't very well let his tea go cold now, could he? He had other work that needed to be done as well; work, on top of work, on top of work. Work that he had to do and work he didn't exactly need to do and other work he wanted to do. Some that should have been done last week and some that needed to be done today while other works could wait another week or two, but the latter was always the more fun stuff.

But there was a change in the air recently and that was more of a reason for his mood and lack of sleep than anything else. Not for any small amount of time had he noticed that the spiritual pressure in Karakura Town was changing. It wasn't as smooth anymore. It was heavy and turbulent. He would walk down the street and hit a patch that could knock someone who wasn't used to heavy pressure off their feet.

So when the shit hit the fan last night (oh and did it go everywhere) he was already up and prepared to lose sleep.

Still, being tired sucked and if last night was any indication, then Kisuke knew there were going to be many, many more nights that were going to be exactly the same coming up.

Probably in a row. Because that would be just his luck.

At first, Kaien had trouble adjusting to the pace of things in the human world. Sometimes he ran around for a couple of hours, chasing problem hollow after problem hollow and other times he found himself completely at a loss for what to do.

It was an issue he hadn't run into in…. well, a very long time. It put into perspective just how busy he had been ever since he joined the Shinigami academy what felt like ages ago. Graduation sat him directly into a seat on Squad Thirteen and from there he only went up and his days only got busier. It was never something he complained about; why would he? He was on one of the best squads with a captain who had a good personality (something that seemed to be dwindling lately) and he had great squad mates who never let tedium take a day over.

Mundane was certainly never a word he would use to describe his life. Other people might not agree with him, but he always figured that was because he made sure not to let things get boring. That's why he was the jokester, the one that made up all those crazy ideas that got people in trouble.

Though, since Miyako passed he wasn't that person anymore. No wonder this past month had gone by so slowly.

Man, I must have been a real buzzkill recently.

Now, after three weeks in the human world, he was slowly settling into a regular schedule. He had never really had any solid day-to-day habits before; each day was different in Soul Society: different matters to deal with, different people to talk to, and different levels to train in. For as stagnant as it seemed with time passing so slowly, soul society was actually consistently changing more often than the human world was.

Kaien only began to notice this when he himself started his own routine. The humans had routines; people got up and went to bed at the same times and were in the same places at the same times every day and some of them ate the same things and some even wore the same clothes. Others did similar things, but just slightly different And he didn't know if that was their habit to change it a little or if they were just doing it to keep things from getting boring. So he too started going to some of the same places each day or walking along the same paths as long as there weren't any hollows in other parts of the town.

His favorite thing to do was to go to the park in the early morning. That was where he could find the most predictable people out of the entire population of Karakura Town. He soon began to recognize the people who would show up in the park and when they would show up and who they would be with and what they would be talking about or doing.

Just as the sun was rising, the early morning runners would jog through the park; two college aged boys would usually show up first running together while chatting and not too long afterward a younger girl would run by, the music playing from her phone was always loud enough for Kaien to hear and it wasn't long until he recognized the beats of the same song she listened to day after day. An elderly couple would walk through the park twice in the mornings, once to where their destination was and once back to wherever they came from. A giant of a man would come dressed in a fancy suit with buttons stretched so much that they looked ready to pop off and he would sit down and eat bag of fresh steamed buns.

It was never long after the heavy gentleman left that an array of school uniforms would begin to appear: teenagers heading to their various junior and high schools. Some would pass by earlier on random days, usually complaining about classroom cleaning duties in the morning or getting themselves hyped up for an early morning sports practice. But most passed by at the same time every day, walking with the same people or by themselves.

One group of girls walked over the bridge that Kaien made his usual post on giggling about the class president and the captain of the football team (apparently they would never be able to agree on which one was cuter and more gentlemanly) and he wondered if their conversations ever varied. Eight days in a row they walked passed him and he could tell you the names, heights, weights, and hobbies of each boy they mentioned.

Maybe I should find a new place to sit in the mornings.

But that would negate the idea of a daily routine. Settling down on the railing of the bridge; Kaien easily balanced himself on the thin banister; his legs dangling down to just above the ground. People passed him by without a single glance in his direction. None of them had the slightest clue that he was only feet from them; close enough to hear their words or touch their clothes. It was an odd position to be in, all things considered. Kaien was used to being always being seen, heard, and watched.

Always being watched. As a vice-captain he was like a goldfish in its bowl. Every move he made was watched from every angle; he couldn't do much without someone knowing. Every decision he came to and every emotion he displayed was for everyone to see and interpret as they would. That was just part of being a leader and something Kaien had gotten used to very quickly.

But now that he wasn't in everyone's view, now that he could sit there and not have eyes on him, he was beginning to realize that it was kind of nice to have the solitude. He could take a minute or seven and be introspective if he wanted. He could think about things he usually wouldn't have been able to. He could let out that sigh that he normally would have bit back or put his face in hands in a moment of self-gathering.

Maybe this way Kaien would find it easier to move on because he didn't have to pretend to be who he was. He could take the time to figure everything out for himself first, then the others could see.

When Captain Ukitake was right, he was right. The assignment wasn't that bad; still not what he wanted to be doing… but perhaps it was what he needed to be doing.

Maybe. He was still baffled at how anyone approved of putting a vice-captain on town watching duty. It just wasn't normal.

"Out for a morning stroll?"

Kaien grabbed for the railing he sat on as he looked up and suddenly tipped back, startled. Brown eyes and orange hair looked down at him with raised eyebrows.

"Geez…" Kaien breathed as he righted himself and put a hand to his chest. "You really shouldn't sneak up on a guy like that."

Even though I probably should have noticed a person with hair as bright as a the sunrise walking towards me…

"Can anyone here actually sneak up on you?" Ichigo looked around the park. "I got the impression that seeing you isn't exactly the norm for…erm, humans."

"Nope, I think you're the only one." Kaien looked up at the teen and frowned.

He hadn't seen Ichigo since the day he met him by the river and that was almost a week ago now after the teen had raced off spouting about how his sisters were going to kill him for leaving after dark without any shoes. Kaien had tried looking for him for the first couple days after the hollow bought them together, but he quickly decided that maybe it was best to let it be. He had already made the mistake of letting him go without fixing his memories and if Ichigo was content in not seeing Kaien again he didn't really have much of a reason to look for Ichigo in the end. Heaven only knows why he let that slide in the first place.

Then again if Ichigo didn't want to see Kaien again why was he here? Kaien narrowed his eyes at the teen. "You…don't usually come this way in the morning."

Ichigo shook his head as he leaned against the railing next to Kaien. He set his school bag down by his feet and looked up at the cloudy morning sky. "I left a little early this morning, decided to take the long way to school."

Kaien's hand went to the memory device in his pocket and he turned it around in his fingers. Maybe he should fix Ichigo's memories now and just be done with it. Both the fact that he hadn't done so in the first place was something Kaien found himself thinking about quite often. If this kid could forget him than may Kaien could forget Ichigo.

Which was really hard to do.

The kid's spiritual pressure was massive and now that Kaien was sitting next to Ichigo, it was hard to ignore it. It was a wonder that Kaien didn't notice his presence earlier and no wonder as to why that hollow had gone after him.

There seemed to be a lot to wonder about in Karakura Town.

"You come here every morning?" Ichigo turned to look at Kaien. "How long have you been in town anyway? It's a little weird to think I've never seen you before. You or any of those…monsters."

Kaien bit his lips together. Harmless questions…kind of.

He really should fix the teen's memories and let it go. But…

"I haven't been here very long." Kaien said taking his hand out of his pocket, empty. "I replaced the old Shinigami who used to patrol this town a couple of weeks ago."

"There was a different one of you here? How did I not run into him?"

"Her actually." Kaien shrugged. Good question. "I don't know, if you can see me you would have definitely been able to see her and if you could see that hollow I have no idea why you've never seen one before a week ago. They seem to be in abundance here compared to most places."

"What happened to her? The other Shinigami?"

Bad question. "She died."

"Oh…" Ichigo's cheeks flushed a little and he looked to the ground. "Sorry, I didn't know. Wait," he paused as he looked back at Kaien. "Death gods can die?"

Kaien locked eyes with the curious brown ones staring at him and gave a simple nod as he stood up to his full height and looked down at the human. He felt something fall in his chest as he dropped his voice to a monotone whisper.

"Yes, yes we can."