Uryuu stood a loose guard over Inoue while she healed the residents of Rukongai who had mustered up the courage to approach her. He scanned the crowd, wary and watchful, but all he could see was hope, and reverence, and a myriad other emotions that he couldn't place but left him feeling out of place and unnecessary.

The people of the Rukongai were already falling under Inoue's sway.

And maybe he'd need to worry if they stayed longer, if the citizens had enough time to lose that reverent edge, but for now it was unlikely that any of them would harm a hair on Inoue's head.

(It set his teeth on edge.)

It was almost the same regard that his senpai gave her, and it made made Uryuu feel like hurting something. Every moment they spent in Soul Society was an exercise in restraint, and Uryuu knew that Kurosaki agreed with him.

(Kurosaki wasn't that reckless, not anymore. That Urahara-senapai hadn't even caught on to Kurosaki's blatant grab for attention for what it was…)

The last time he had seen Urahara-senpai's expression so empty, so frozen, was that night a few weeks ago, after the fight with Kuchiki and his lieutenant. His senpai had stepped out into the street with mechanical motions, staring at Kurosaki's broken body like he was seeing the end of the world. Nothing had mattered to the man in that moment, not even his allies.

Uryuu had watched in stunned disbelief, unable to move, unable to comprehend, as Urahara-senpai had thrown Tsukabishi like the larger man weighed nothing. As he called his bow and forged his arrows and aimed to kill.

(Like he had aimed to kill Uryuu himself.)

Only Tsukabishi's skill with barriers had kept the man whole, flaring to life seconds before the arrows struck. Shards of reishi scattered like fireworks, blackening pieces of the rubble that surrounded Tsukabishi.

(Uryuu's grandfather had moved like that some days, arms rising and reiatsu flaring when a Hollow's roar reached them unexpectedly. To see the action carried through, instinctive and vicious and raw, by someone who looked his age was terrifying.)

'I've seen far too much death,' Urahara-senpai had told him, and in that moment, Uryuu believed.

'I understand,' Uryuu had wanted to say, thinking of his grandfather, of his mother, before he bit his tongue and changed his words. He hadn't felt it his right or his place to comment. Hadn't felt comfortable with the man who had nearly killed him just the other day.

(Tsukabishi's skill had rendered the initial attack harmless, but if Urahara-senpai had pressed the attack…)

And here, in these echoing streets, under the weighted gazes of the souls of the Rukongai, Urahara-senpai was once more drawing in on himself. The banter with Yoruichi had faded away as quickly as it began, and Urahara-senpai had settled into an unnatural quiet, his gaze darting about and his steps a predatory stalk.

Uryuu's body had flushed cold and his mouth went dry the moment a soul called out, breaking the uneasy silence. Urahara-senpai's arms had risen, stance changing to one that Uryuu knew, and he knew in that instant that he couldn't allow his senpai to continue.

He had inwardly braced himself, enhanced his body and loosened his stance and prepared to flee the moment Urahara-senpai hurled him away.

(He would survive. A powerless soul would not.)

But Urahara-senpai had restrained himself. Had halted his actions and breathed out and stepped back to allow Kurosaki and Sado to interact with the young soul that had shouted at them. And as the souls of the Rukongai had crept out of the houses, Urahara-senpai had begun to relax at last.

(It made sense. This wasn't the man's district, but they were still his people. To be treated like a leper, like a danger to everyone… it had to hurt.)

So Uryuu stood overt guard over Inoue, and kept an eye on his senpai, and hoped with everything in his soul that he didn't need to step in. But the citizens of the Rukongai left Urahara-senpai alone, let the man rest against a wall and observe them all with a blank, hunted gaze.

The look faded slowly, and the lines of stress slowly eased from Urahara-senpai's face and body, until at last he breathed out and shook his head and finally saw the world around him. His gaze swept over the group, marking where each of them were, and only settling when he'd placed all of them.

Uryuu tensed as a soul approached Urahara-senpai soon after and struck up a conversation, worried about his senpai's reaction. But Urahara-senpai only twitched in surprise—

(It was strange to think that his senpai could be caught off guard so easily. But no one was perfect, and Uryuu needed to remember that.)

—and began to speak with the other man. Uryuu could see nothing hostile about the interaction, or about his senpai's stance. Whatever they were discussing, it was nothing Uryuu needed to worry about just yet.

(He had the feeling his hair was going to be as white as Ryuuken's long before they left Soul Society.)

(A small price to pay, for the man who had helped him so much in so short a time.)