Chapter 4: The Sleeping Dragons
Arisawa Tatsuki frowned as she surveyed the room. Keigo and Mizuiro showed signs of being worried about Ichigo but were not overly so; after all, he could survive gods and demons, a car that did not even hit him was not going to kill him (even if everyone that knew him personally knew that the story was a lie and that something else happened to Ichigo). Orihime was worried but more in the 'he is my crush, I don't want him hurt' sort of way; knowing the unfortunate reality that Ichigo really could be grievously injured and dying but rejecting those thoughts out of hand. Sado-kun was calm, confident in Ichigo's durability, except for frequent glances at Ishida-kun. Not without cause either.
Ishida, according to Mizuiro, had been at the Kurosaki home when he had gone over to join up with Ichigo to come to class; finding the agitated introvert instead. From what Mizuiro was able to gleam from the teen's father, who is the director of the hospital and personal friend of Kurosaki Patriarch, they arrived after the 'car accident' that took out a wall and Ichigo was already passed out from stress exhaustion. They were to be assured that the scowly, orange haired teenager would be back at school the next day. Ishida, despite not being overtly obvious, had looked like he wanted to commit murder, or at least, some serious battery when he caught sight of the new transfer, Kuchiki Rukia. Tatsuki wondered if it was because of the slightly off feeling she gave or if Ishida knew more than what was being said. All she could tell with her own senses was that Kuchiki-san seemed to be looking worriedly at the door as though she was waiting for someone to come in, too.
Tatsuki glanced at the clock for the nth time that day. Thirty minutes till lunch and Ichigo still had yet to show up. She did not know why she expected him to; his family had officially called the school to let them know of the absence, but she felt like that it was important Ichigo arrived before then. Tatsuki called it a gut instinct; you did not need to be a Celestial Envoy staring down yokai who did not care if a person died or not to recognize a situation about to get ugly. Someone knocked on the classroom door and the whole room snapped their attention to it.
'Please be Ichigo, please be Ichigo,' Tatsuki prayed silently as their Sensei stopped her lecture and pulled open the door. Tatsuki nearly went boneless with relief at the sight of Ichigo's orange hair bowing politely.
"My apologies for being late and interrupting class, sensei," the teen stated as he straightened. The martial artist cringed at the dark circles visible on the Celestial Envoy's face from where she sat at the back of the room. He certainly looked like he got hit by the metaphysical car that left a hole in his house. "I would have waited for the end the period to join, but I did not remember if there was a test this period and I had hoped to catch up if that was the case."
"Kurosaki-kun, I am surprised to see you at all," their Sensei told him. "Your father said that you were home sick."
"He worries too much," Ichigo dismissed, obviously waiting for their sensei to clear the doorway so he could enter. "Overly warm and overly tired doesn't make one sick."
"If you say so," their Sensei relented, stepping aside. "Ochi-sensei had placed a late transfer next to you before you were marked as absent. I'm certain your classmates can continue to help her out if you are not feeling up to it. And the test is scheduled for next week."
"No worries, I can do it," Ichigo said quickly. Tatsuki gave a speculative frown as a few of the stress lines vanished from his face as he walked around to his aisle, leaving a note for Ishida as he walked passed; smooth enough that the only reason Tatsuki noticed was because she was expecting it. Was he relieved to see the transfer? Did she really have something to do with last night?
She must have, Tatsuki amended to herself as she noted that the transfer also seemed relieved at Ichigo's appearance; giving a small, shy wave in response to Ichigo's careless one as he sat down as Sensei continued the end of her lecture. Tatsuki did not know why she bothered; it was not like half the class was not paying her any mind anymore. At least Ishida did not look like he was going to murder anyone any time soon. Not that he looked completely pacified either. Tatsuki could sympathize; anyone with 'dragon' in their name had to have a ferocious rage somewhere in them. It was why the martial artist was sure to not let it build up too much; since becoming a Celestial Envoy, Ichigo learned a whole new set of stories about dragons. Including how many 'freak natural disasters' were really blinded by anger dragons on a rampage. Europe had reasons for thinking all of their dragons were spawns of demons and disaster.
The bell rang for lunch to start, leaving their sensei to end class lamely as the class stopped paying attention all together. Almost as one, the class turned to stare at Ichigo. Ichigo stared back with his bland 'this is a waste of my time' look. When the curious students didn't back down (Ishida, Sado, Keigo, Mizuiro, Orihime and Tatsuki herself just packed up their bags to move to where they normally had lunch), Ichigo sighed and glared at them with a slouch and a scowl. "There is, presently, a rather bored Kitsune pretending to be my wall so my Dad can treat patients in peace," Ichigo declared carelessly. "Do you want me to give him any of your addresses?" The class fled. "Che, cowards."
"They probably remember the Nogitsune," Sado pointed out as he pulled up his bag over his shoulder.
"I think only the very stubborn will forget the Nogitsune," Mizuiro said with a sigh as he led the way out of the room.
"Why are we talking about Nogitsune?" the transfer said suddenly, making her continued presence known. The way her hand was twitching, it looked as though she wanted to either cling to or drag Ichigo off.
"Oh, you missed it," Orihime said companionably as though the outsider was not an outsider at all. "At the beginning of the school year, a Nogitsune started tormenting the school. Kurosaki-kun, Sado-kun, and Ishida-kun were able to subdue it before anyone got hurt."
"It was young enough that it was more comparable to a teenage gangster rather than a full grown Yakuza hit man," Ichigo explained, scratching his head in embarrassment. "It took a while to convince the superintendent of the school that the classrooms that were destroyed were the best case scenario and not suspend us."
"At least the police super is a friend of yours so he took our side," Keigo said.
"It was hardly 'our' side, Asano-san," Mizuiro interjected. "We barely did more than hide."
"So cruel!"
"Of course I'm sure Kuchiki-san, I believe we were told that was your name, has better things to do than listen to us go on," Ishida broke in, glancing at the shorter teen sideways.
"Not really," Ichigo corrected with a grimace. Tatsuki shared a glance with everyone else as Ishida's grip spasmed on his bag. A heavy silence fell over their group as they went up to the roof, their unofficial school yard base of operation. Once everyone was clear of the doorway, Tatsuki slammed the door shut and bolted the door to keep any of the other students from wandering up. The only way on or off the roof was the side of the building; a feat she knew Ichigo could pull off but would likely avoid while in his obviously poor condition.
"Alright," Tatsuki declared with her talk or get beaten to a pulp tone. "One of you needs to explain what is going on. Now."
Kuchiki's eyes narrowed in a way made Tatsuki think that this serious face was her more normal look even while Ichigo huffed and pressed his lips together. His eyes cut across to Keigo, Mizuiro, and Orihime. "You three," he said in his Celestial Envoy voice, the one that was comparable to anyone in a command of a team that risks their lives semi-regularly. "Corner. Now."
"What!" Keigo cried exaggeratedly. Tatsuki knew that he would probably shake off any hurt feelings relatively easily as he was relatively aware of his limitations and knew that Ichigo was aware of them, too, and would not tell him to back off if he did not think it was beyond Keigo's capabilities.
"Of course," Mizuiro said with a sigh.
"No!" Orihime protested bravely.
"Inoue-"
"You're hurt," she continued, her voice wobbling dangerously as she stared down Ichigo. "Maybe not badly, or maybe it's not a physical hurt, but it is in a way that makes me worried. And I want to know what happened so if it really isn't a problem anymore, I can have the facts so I can keep my mind quiet and not make me worried needlessly."
"This is a dryer socks situation, though," Ichigo warned. "Nogitsune kind of dryer socks. Once you know it you can't un-know it."
"Considering we have already been exposed to Nogitsune," Mizuiro pointed out dryly, "It might be better if we have an idea of what is coming so we know how to run from it."
"If you are sure," Ichigo drawled, eying the three down to see if they would waver.
"Ichigo," the transfer hissed under her breath. Ichigo waved her down.
"I like knowing what the bad guys look like," Keigo pointed out, holding himself still under Ichigo's scrutiny. "I don't like getting caught in a situation where I am suddenly about to be pounded by thugs I would have avoided if I knew they existed."
Ichigo nodded with a frown. "Just as long as you know that I can't tell you everything as you do not have the Takamagahara seal of access," Ichigo told them. "But you're right, you do deserve to know the general situation so you can react accordingly."
Orihime beamed as Tatsuki leaned against the roof door. The martial artist wondered how much the story was going to change after the three left.
"The quick version is this," Ichigo said plainly, eyes bouncing back in forth between Ishida and Kuchiki; neither of them looked terribly pleased. "Kuchiki-san is under my protection until further notice. I was injured when the power under her command called 'Sode no Shirayuki' slipped from her control when one of the things I was supposed to be keeping an eye out for when she had a chance to inform me attacked her while we were talking and I had to act in her stead. Since her power is Yuki-ona ice based, it took a while for my power, which is more closely aligned, at the moment, to spring and summer Kodama, to adjust to the shock of being caught in the ice based energy.
"The long version," Ichigo continued as Kuchiki seemed to relax some though she still seemed to eye him oddly. "Kuchiki-san is from an isolated village in the north, near to where Shiranui-sama and Sakuya-hime are going to be later in the summer. The large majority of the people in her village have special abilities tied into the local kami powers. Her school's master, Ukitake-san, was worried over her safety after his second and his wife, Shiba-san, were killed by an unknown monster that Kuchiki-san was able to kill more out of luck than skill. Because this was only one in a series of odd monsters, Ukitake-san wanted Kuchiki-san out of danger; like in witness protection. Because her brother has a close friendship with the kodama of their sakura grove, he contacted Sakuya-hime and Shiranui-sama offered me as a form of protection. Kuchiki-san only arrived last night with her letter of introduction when one of the monsters that followed her dropped in. It had the ability to disrupt the energy flow of anyone it hits so rather than a column of ice that froze the monster, there was a wave of ice that got me too. Adrenaline kept me up until after we killed it, at which point I passed out."
"So, you are okay now, right?" Orihime asked, her voice a little brighter than it had been.
"Another night of sleep and I should be fully recovered," Ichigo agreed. Orihime beamed happily though Keigo spoke before she could.
"So how do we know if we are being chased by one of these things?" Keigo asked, shaking with a reasonable level of fear.
"While I doubt they are creatures that will take notice of you yet," Ishida explained. "They wear masks and have holes in their chests."
"If you can see them and they refuse to remove their mask," Ichigo continued, "or do not identify themselves when you ask as a kind of Tsukumogami, assume that they are one these creatures. We should have a couple of days as a grace period where I'll be setting up some warded areas to act as safe zones around town so people can run to them if they are being chased, but the local Yokai are presently making themselves more present than the police force is normally so praying out loud to any of the kami for the area or one of the major deities should get you aid before they return to their normal level of vigilance."
"So they Yokai are presently doing 'Neighborhood Watch: Yokai Edition' like most quiet areas do after violent crimes?" Mizuiro asked.
"Pretty much," Ichigo confirmed. "Good thing about beings with strong territorial instincts is that they are very thorough in finding things that do not belong."
"Are they covering Naruki City?" Keigo asked, reminding Tatsuki that he actually lived in a different city from them all together.
"The whole of Shiranui-sama's territorial domain is under heightened watch, which includes Naruki City," Ichigo confirmed again. Keigo sighed with relief while the Celestial Envoy continued, "The rest of the details are confidential, though, so if you all could go over there while we talk specifics and strategy…."
"Of course," Mizuiro sad calmly as he started walking towards the far end of the roof. "Come along, Asano-san, Inoue-san."
The five remaining teens watched as the three others got out of earshot, talking amongst themselves happily. A few moments passed before Sado-kun broke the silence. "I thought that fallen souls were not something we needed to directly concern ourselves with?" he asked lowly.
"Going to have to," Ichigo said with some unease, motioning to the transfer student. "Rukia-san is the newly assigned Shinigami patroller for Karakura. When she got injured last night, she tried to pass along enough of her power for me to wield her Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, like she's supposed to but instead of jumping across a small fissure to solid ground and then jump back across, I now have a Yuki-ona type weapon stuck in my soul.
"Of which," he continued, his attention focused of the transfer, the Shinigami, "Shirayuki-san apologizes for giving away so much confidential information, especially since I did not inherited Nejibana, but my lawyer wanted to be sure that you were not directly responsible for last night and made me press her for more details. Though the information we got from her made us think that what happened to your fukutaichō was possibly related. I mean, this was supposed to be a safe assignment."
"That's alright," the Shinigami said with a down casted look. "I'm just glad she is alright. I can't believe I did not notice that my reiatsu control was affected before this happened."
"My Dad pointed out it might have been an act of Shiranui-sama as she had been evoked by that time," Ichigo added, looking even more embarrassed than before. "Part of my contract with her is that I would always have the means to protect myself, and until you passed over Sode no Shirayuki, I did not have the means to properly defend myself from the Hollow."
"If I may ask," Ishida interrupted. "What exactly is it that is making these Hollows different to be of note?"
"The one last night had regeneration comparable to a Menos class Hollow in addition to its ability to disrupt energy flow, and I could not get a fix on how much strength it actually had," Ichigo answered. "The one that killed her fukutaichō, the second strongest in her entire division, invaded his body and started to eat him from the inside after breaking apart his Zanpakutō."
Tatsuki grimaced with disgust even as Ishida adopted a stricken look and greened a little. "My condolences, Kuchiki-san," Ishida said honestly, almost as though he was surprised at himself for feeling that way. "I suppose you killed it before it completely succeeded?" At her weak nod, he continued. "I think you gave your superior a commendable favor by ending it cleanly. Being purified by Zanpakutō is the only thing I can think of to remove such influences from a soul cleanly, as much as I am to loath to admit it."
"How do you all know so much?" Kuchiki-san asked. "Mortals aren't supposed to be involved in the affairs of Soul Society."
"We usually end our involvement with the dead with the wellbeing of normal ghosts that have recently died," Tatsuki answered, opening her lunch box. "It is hard for us to ignore them entirely because all four of us can see ghost clearly, now. We usually just work with Yokai, though, for the exact reasons you said."
"I'm more concerned with how the Hollow got near enough to damage your house, Ichigo," Sado-kun pointed out as he did the same.
Ichigo grimaced and pulled out some items from his backpack. Tatsuki realized that they were three of the warding ofuda that he used for his home and the schools. "These are one from each of the ward from my home, the girl's school, and here. I assume that this is also the case for the Hospital, Uryū-kun, but I was already going out of my way to get here by stopping by to see Karin and Yuzu first to stop and check." Ichigo flipped them over so that bulk of the omamori warding was visible. Tatsuki inhaled sharply at the revealed sabotage.
"Is that the portion that actually wards away dark spirits?" Sado-kun asked, eyes narrowed with controlled anger.
"Yeah," Ichigo said with a dissatisfied frown. "I'm going to have to make a completely different ward scheme now. This design was picked because it is strong for its relatively simple design. The major flaw was exposed in this event."
"How do we know that the Shinigami were not actually involved with this," Ishida asked, giving Kuchiki-san a suspicious look.
"I can't say that there was not a Shinigami involved," Ichigo answered. "But Sode no Shirayuki is a part of Rukia-san's soul and is in a position where lying to me is rather impossible without my knowing. She says that they were preforming their duties as they were taught to do so, so I believe that is what Rukia-san was doing, and by doing so, gave me enough time for me and my family to act and not be caught by surprise and killed.
"You should also note that, as far as Soul Society is concerned, Rukia-san is a commoner born, heir by default through sibling adoption of one of the highest ranked noble families in a feudal system closer to how it was two hundred years ago," Ichigo continued after Ishida gave a derisive snort. "This could be purely politicians gone stupid and either did not really know what we stood for, or hoped to direct Shiranui-sama's anger at either Rukia-san or at the Kuchiki clan on a greater whole. We going to have to do all we can to investigate from here."
"What if they, whoever they are, were targeting you specifically and Kuchiki-san's interference was unexpected," Tatsuki asked, stating what she thought should have been obvious.
"That is how the yokai perceive this and are perusing that front," Ichigo said. "Until then, if you are confronted by a Hollow, Takamagahara will cover any defeat or destruction of said Hollow as a necessary means to defend its interests. I do ask that you give me an opportunity to purify them as a Shinigami would if at all possible to maintain status quo as much as possible."
"Roger."
"Hm."
"Just know that if you are lagging to an unacceptable level, I will make full use of my skills, regardless," Ishida aquested grumpily.
"You will likely be handed more of the jobs that you will actually get accessible money from with my being more unavailable to perform the Shinigami duties," Ichigo pointed out.
"As long as my buttons do not get eaten, I believe we are at an acceptable compromise," Ishida said, changing his tune quickly at the prospect of having more relatively easy (or at least, fun) jobs for a better than average pay. Most people do not get asked to take items of seemingly junk value across town (or prefecture) for the equivalent of a few hundred dollars. Not that it was always as easy as that; but Tatsuki remembered the look of pride on Ishida's face a couple of weeks ago when, armed with a normal bow and arrow, Ishida had been the one to force a crow tengu to drop a stolen hoshi-no-tama by startling it with an arrow through its flight feathers when it had successfully dodged Ichigo's own attempts at knocking it out with Tenraifude techniques.
"Do you really have a heavy work load as a Celestial Envoy?" Kuchiki asked after a while of eating, when the others were waved back over, signaling the end of the classified discussion. "My family is not unaware of the Celestial Envoys, but I do not think any of us have actually encountered one for over a thousand years so the basics are we really know."
"We probably do more than the proper job description," Ichigo confessed. "But a lot of the yokai are unsatisfied with the current situation with the human's casual disregard of their existence and a lack of proper priests. Having a group of humans that acknowledge their existence and work to sooth the tension between them and humans, even if it is just having the opportunity to order some humans around, has boosted general moral of the whole nation's yokai population."
"It helps that you have a success story that made national headlines," Mizuiro pointed out. Ichigo just shrugged.
"Sorry for my ignorance," Rukia said politely. "But we do not always get the same news back home that you do most everywhere else. What headlines are you talking about? Or is this about the Nogitsune that you were talking about earlier?"
"That is quite alright, Kuchiki-san," Mizuiro said happily with a light flirty tone. "It happened a few years ago; everyone in Western Tokyo remembers it well because it affected urban development of the Tama hills area."
"There was a plan for a large development to be built in an area to the south east of here that would clear out the majority of the rest of the flatland forests in Western Tokyo," Orihime picked up. "But the Tama Hills was home to the large majority of Kanto yokai; most prominently, the majority of the Tanuki clans."
"The different species were not organized together," Ichigo continued, adding his insight of being a participant. "But Shiranui-sama eventually got requests from the large majority of the different populations when they heard that she had taken me on as a human student and representative even though the majority of the area slated to be torn down was outside her territory. With Karakura and the surrounding areas already developed except for the mountains that already have their own long standing population, she could not offer sanctuary to the would be displaced yokai, so she requested and was granted my becoming the Celestial envoy of Takamagahara in order to have me act in her stead outside her territory. As I was just beginning to learn from her, I was mostly just used as a mouth piece to the media and other human organizations. It just stuck afterwards."
"Eventually there was a big wildlife preservation protest and a Ghost Parade with all of the illusion casters trading off to make cool tricks," Orihime added exuberantly. "Some of them even made a Gundam illusion! It was so cool!"
"Eventually, between the human protesters and the acts of yokai that politicians did not want to openly acknowledge but had no evidence to pin it on the protestors, the greater majority of the remaining Tama Hill forests was turned into a wildlife reserve and nature park," Mizuiro finished as the warning bell for the end of the lunch period rang and everyone hurried to finish their lunch and pack up.
"In short," Tatsuki said as she opened the door to go down stairs, "There is a greater demand of people like us than there is a supply so we can get busy easily. We are even working on becoming a legitimate business."
"I see," the secret Shinigami said brightly. "I'll do what I can to not burden your work to much with my presence."
Urahara Kisuke, former Shinigami Captain and R&D President, swung his cane that was a sword as he easily dodged the 'sane people' on the street. Really, what made them sane for not seeing thing that went on in front of their noses was beyond him. Then again, even other Shinigami seemed to think he was crazy and they could see the same things he did. Perhaps there was more to the genius' getting along with his Tanuki and Kitsune clients (oh the wonders of knowing where to look for a demographic to sell to) than he did with many other people than he originally thought. Oh well, there was so much to be happy over, Kisuke just had to come by and tell his dear friend.
Stopping in front of the Kurosaki Clinic, Kisuke hummed to himself before going past the entrance to look at the hole in the wall. Or at least what should be a hole in the wall. "Oh my," the genius gasped breezily. "I was told that there was a terrible accident that happened here, yet all I see is a couple of grooves in the ground. Hardly the sight of terror I was told to expect."
"We cleaned up most of last night," the wall answered serenely. "Are you a friend of Kurosaki-sensei, Shinigami-san?"
Kisuke blinked at the wall, hiding his surprise. He knew the wall was a Kitsune; somewhat hard to miss now that he knew what to look for. He also knew that, despite his measures to hide from Seireitei, they did not prevent a Shinigami of his power to hide what he was from masters of transformation. Never had one assumed that he was friends with the Kurosaki's, though. "What makes you say that, Kitsune-san?" he asked in the same breezy tone.
"You can drop the act, Urahara-san," the former captain of the tenth said from behind the 'wall'. "Apparently healing Kido leaves a telling energy signature that declares the user from Soul Society if you know how to look at it. As far as the Kitsune are concerned, I've ousted myself."
Kisuke allowed his face to drop to his more normal look of solemn resignation. "So, your son knows then?" he asked heavily, leaning against the part of the wall that was actually a wall.
"Not yet," the other man sighed with the same weight. "They seem to be willing to let me hang myself or regain enough power to do a show and tell. Whichever comes first." The wall rippled and the dark hair of the other man popped through the wall. "You might as well come inside. We are only hearing each other because I've asked this guy to, so it's private enough."
"Ah, but I was going to take you to lunch if were free," Kisuke fluttered, snapping his fan open as he did so.
Isshin gave the other man a look that said that they both knew that meant that the mad genius did something more mad than genius. "Sure, I guess," Isshin grumbled. "I'll see you out front." Kisuke snapped his fan shut as the other man's head disappeared back into the house and walked calmly back around the building. It did not take long for the two former captains to be strolling down the street. They both side stepped into an alley where Kisuke grabbed Isshin securely and flashed them away.
"Now that we are well and truly secured," Isshin said dryly when they were sitting in the genius' home, a cup of tea being set in front of him by the former Kido corps commander. "What did you want to tell me?"
"I put the Shinigami and hōgyoku into an untraceable gigai," the former twelfth division captain said bluntly. "If I'm right, Soul Society should think her becoming human a result of her bouncing off a Celestial Envoy. Ichigo has the authority of Takamagahara pretty much whenever he wants to, so it is more than believable. Everything that we have regarding the interactions of Takamagahara and Seireitei says that the sōtaichō will not risk getting them angry and should order Shinigami to steer clear."
"The girl is a Kuchiki," Isshin argued. "This is not just going to go away that simply."
"Perhaps not," Kisuke had to agree. "But with hope, most of the problems will be dealt with in the political arena of the Central 46 and not with us."
"Since when are we that lucky?" the dark haired man grumbled.
Kisuke eyed the man carefully behind his fan. "Do you already know something that would make this ineffective?" the scientist asked.
"Ichigo was able to talk to the girl's Zanpakutō," Isshin told him not unkindly, but not too gently either. "Managed to get quite a bit, actually. The girl is already a part of the conspiracy, if an unwilling participant. She was there when the bastard got my cousin; put him out of his misery before he could do more damage. Ichigo linked that to the girl having had heard rumors of other strange Hollows to the one last night and knows that last night was a deliberate attack. He just can't get a fix on the intended target."
Kisuke contemplated that for a minute. The Kurosaki boy might not be a genius in the same way that Kisuke was, very few could boast that feat; but he was a highly intelligent individual if not a genius in his own right. Definitely more a kinetic learner than a scholastic learner, like Kisuke. Most assuredly one of those individuals that would have military leaders slobbering over each other to get with his combat intuition. Certainly could be more refined, but, even by human standards, Ichigo was young and the outline of his learning was broad enough that if he got dropped into a hotspot he would survive to learn from it with more than just guts. Honestly, Kisuke wished he could claim that eventual gem of combat prowess if only to have the right to shove it into the government of Soul Society's face. Unfortunately for the genius' dream of lording it over the ass-hats that made up the Gotei 13 and Central 46, Kisuke knew that if asked, Ichigo would claim the honest answer of it being Shiranui-kami (and maybe that police man the teen had a tendency to follow around when supernatural ran into mundane life) rather than a sad example of a scientist no matter if he begged. Perhaps he could teach him some scientific theories relevant to Soul Society? Too bad his conscious would not let him try to claim kido training from Tessai.
There was one thing for certain though; if Ichigo was working this like a detective would, the chances of Aizen being dealt with before things got worse just shot up exponentially, Kisuke's plans be damned. "What was his take on Kuchiki-san?" Kisuke finally asked.
"Thought she was being trained-to-be-arrogant Shinigami when she appeared until he realized that she was panicking and not being arrogant," Isshin answered. "He has determined her presence and insistence to check the wards the as only reason why everyone is still alive and, in turn, is making sure every Yokai in the area knows that she is under his protection. One of the sparrows that had been hanging around since last night offered to take word up to Takamagahara and Shiranui-sama, so the higher ups should know by the middle of next week at the latest. Everyone is to be vigilant otherwise. Kiko-san mentioned something about a notice board somewhere, but I don't know exactly what was supposed to be on it."
"Well," the genius said finally, "I'm thinking I should start planning things out with your son from now on. Think of what we could accomplish if we actually collaborated our plans? Even without communicating with each other, Ichigo-kun improved upon my plan. 'Show us what is rotting or else' rather than 'Back off or die'. Much more effective for rooting out traitors."
"What are you going to do about the Hōgyoku?" Isshin asked. "Ichigo is going to be looking for a way to return the Zanpakutō to Kuchiki-san so she can return to Seireitei. If it is still there…"
"I'll just remove it before she leaves then," Kisuke said easily, waving away his friend's worry. "I'll let her know that if she returns the gigai before she leaves she can get some of her money back. She has already placed an order for a gikon, so I'll let her know when she picks it up. Then it's just a matter of 'oops, something seems to have stuck to you, give me a moment please' and everything should be cleared up."
"They'll know where we are," Isshin persisted.
"As I said, your son is a Celestial Envoy for Takamagahara," the scientist continued in his airy, confident tone. "Who'd be moronic enough to get rolling a lynch mob of angry Kami directed at themselves?"
First off, let me know if I just posted the wrong thing. Second off, my apologies for taking so long. My grandfather just died and I couldn't muster myself to write for two weeks. I am writing again now, so I will be updating again, but his death has lead me to not renew my lease so I can move back to my home state so I can be closer to my family. This means I might not be updating regularly for another two months as I get ready to move half way across the country.
Story wise, I am going with the theory, as I honestly cannot fathom when Urahara would have put the Hogyoku into Rukia before this point, that Urahara just no put the Hogyoku into Rukia. Or was that covered during the turn back the pendulum arc?
Oh well.