Kushina swears to herself, pacing the length of the room as Urahara eyes her with amusement.

"So you're saying i'm dead-"

"I thought we moved on from that, but yes."

"Shut up, 'ttebane! So i'm dead," Kushina continues, sending a scathing look at Urahara before resuming her pacing. "But I didn't go to this Soul Society thing."

"Correct. Which is fascinating-"

"Keep it in your pants, Hat and Clogs. Tell me what that means, again."

"Well, you're not a shinigami, but you do have high spiritual energy which means you can become one. Probably a powerful one. I don't know why you were sent here instead of the Rukongai, but I guess it might be linked to how you died."

Automatically a hand goes to her stomach and Kushina winces. She doesn't remember all the details, but she knows something bad happened. There's a flash, something like a claw sliding right through her and the wail of an infant before everything goes black.

There's also Naruto , but Kushina decides to open what that can of worms means at a later date.

"I don't remember much," Kushina admits. "But something killed me. Maybe it was one of those hollow things?"

Urahara hums. "Possibly."

Kushina huffs, raking a hand through her hair as she stops, uncertain, and looks over to where Urahara is leaning against the wall.

"So… What now?"

"What do you want to do?" Urahara asks instead, snapping back open his fan. "I'm sure a Shinigami will appear eventually, and you can get sent to the Rukongai if you wish. You could probably get into the Academy and train to become a Shinigami the traditional way."

"Or," Kushina asks, eyeing him knowingly.

"Or," Urahara repeats, playfully. "Stay here and let me train you myself. It'd be nice to have such a fresh, young, beauty like you around." (The option to become a hollow is left unsaid, but both know she'll go down kicking and screaming then becoming one willingly.)

Kushina snorts, throwing him a glare for the comment. "Why don't you tell me the real reason why going to the Soul Society would be a shitty idea?"

Urahara signs. "There's no getting around you, huh?"

"Maybe trusting you is stupid, but something tells me there's something in the Soul Society that's worse than you."

"Ouch!" he says, but despite the playful tone there's something serious in his eyes that makes Kushina stand up straighter. It's a warning and a threat all wrapped up in one sentence. "You're right that there's something there that's worse than me. I'd hate for you to fall under his spell as well."

It unravels Kushina's spine like silk, and it takes everything in her not to shiver at the cold look in Urahara's eyes. "No shit?" she asks quietly. Something about that warms Urahara's eyes slightly, and Kushina can breath again. "No shit."

Kushina sighs, but it's easy to see in the way she squares her shoulders and lifts her chin that she's come to a decision.

"When do you wanna get started?"

Urahara smiles.

"How about right now! Oh, and what's your name again?"

Between one second and the next Kushina's face twist, and she lunges fast, but Urahara slips to the side with a laugh.

"Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane! Make sure you remember it so you know who kicked your ass!"

The fight only escalated each time Urahara dodged Kushina's increasingly angry attempts at strangling him, until finally she said fuck it and-

There's a yelp, a crash, and part of the wall falls as Kushina slams into Urahara with all the force of a train. The blond goes down, hat flying and fan lost seconds before as Kushina straddles him, pressing his face into the ground.

"Ha!" she crows, and it's only when there's the sound of a cough does she pause, not caring for the whimpering man below her.

"Oh," Kushina blinks up at the three in front of her, and it's almost like she's a completely different person when she beams at a confused Ururu. "Oh!"

Ururu doesn't even have time to open her mouth before Kushina is on her, smooshing the girl to her chest as she grins widely. "You're so cute! I could just eat you up!"

The girls blush deepens, and she stutters, but Kushina pays her no mind. "Hey! Hat and Clogs! Why didn't you tell me you had such an adorable girl around here?"

Urahara wheezes, using Tessai to pull himself off the floor. "I didn't-was that really necessary?" he asks, bemused, but Kushina is too busy cooing over Ururu to pay him any mind anymore.

Not that he's complaining, mind you, getting tackled through a wall hurt, ex-shinigami or not.

"What the…" Jinta murmurs, edging away from the two girls, but he's not quite fast enough to avoid the hand at snaps out and drags him into the cuddle fest.

"Oh! You too! Your hair is just like mine, 'ttebane!"

"Let go! Ack!"

Well, Urahara thinks, wryly, it surely won't be boring.