It had been going well, Uryuu thought, just like all their training the previous evening. Inoue had briefly lost control, distracted by the world flying by below them, but she'd quickly caught herself and nothing had happened. Yoruichi had even helped him smooth out the meshing of everyone's reiatsu, lessening his burden and giving him more breathing room than he'd expected.

It had almost been enjoyable, knowing that his strength, his abilities, were useful to the others like this. Even with Kurosaki's warning about the danger of what he was doing, Uryuu felt his confidence rise with ever moment that passed. They approached the wall and Uryuu braced himself; they had been told there was a barrier there, generated by the wall, and that breaking through it would be difficult.

They hit with a sound like a struck gong, and Uryuu could feel the way it resonated through his body. But he narrowed his eyes and focused, unwilling to let the ripples in their combined reiatsu shatter their synchrony.

And then it all went to hell.

Uryuu grit his teeth and yanked, forcing his senpai's suddenly-wild reiatsu to focus on him instead of the others. It seared across his senses, wild and fretful and terrified, burning his channels and clawing at his grasp like a feral cat. But he didn't let go, didn't give into the pain; he would not fail any of them. The others were depending upon him to keep them safe, and he knew enough to know his senpai would never forgive himself if any of them were harmed.

('He could drown us without even noticing, or meaning to,' Sado had told him last night. He hadn't understood in that moment, but…)

(Crushed beneath the sharp-edged terror, Uryuu thought he just might understand now.)

As suddenly as it had lashed out, his senpai's reiatsu settled, gentling in his mental grasp. The terror still lingered, lurking around the edges, but his senpai was no longer mindless with it.

(What had caused that reaction?)

"We're through!" Inoue cheered as they crashed into a wall and the protective shell dissipated.

Kurosaki nudged Uryuu as they all sorted themselves out, giving him a grateful look when Uryuu turned to see what the other wanted.

"Thank you," Kurosaki murmured. "I felt that, and what you did. Are you alright?"

Uryuu's mouth went dry and he looked away, an unfamiliar warmth settling in his chest. "I'm fine," he said when Kurosaki poked him a second time. It wasn't even much of a lie; the pain was already fading, and a tentative check confirmed that he hadn't scorched himself. He could still fight without a problem.

"Don't be too quick to celebrate," Yoruichi warned. She glanced around and then hopped atop the wall they had crashed against, giving the world another scan from her new perch. "That was the easy bit."

(The 'easy' bit?)

Warmth forgotten, Uryuu turned his head, meeting Kurosaki's wary look with one of his own; even after all that training, they had nearly failed at the last minute. And that was the 'easy bit'?

His senpai bent to retrieve the Reishūkaku and tucked it away into his bag, then looked up at Yoruichi. "Sensei, will you lead them to safety?"

Wait, what?

Lead them to safety?

"What do you mean, 'lead them to safety'?" Kurosaki demanded before Uryuu could wrap his mind around his senpai's words. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Someone needs to be the decoy," his senpai said flippantly, a cheerful (fake!) grin on his face.

(Even now, Uryuu could feel an echo of his senpai's terror. The way his reiatsu had writhed, lashing out blindly.)

('Decoy' was the absolute last role his senpai should take in this place.)

Urahara-senpai's grin faltered, wariness-uncertainty-confusion slipping through the man's mask as he looked between them. "I can't guide you in Seireitei. I don't actually know much about this place—"

"So your brilliant plan is to run around blindly and make noise?" Uryuu had had enough of his senpai's foolishness. He stalked forward and grabbed Urahara-senpai's kimono, yanking the man close and staring into his eyes. Fury blazed through his mind at what he found there.

(He was running from them!)

"After everything you've pounded into our heads about teamwork and trusting each other and not charging off on our own. After telling us that you, too, would seek out a partner to fight alongside if you knew you were outmatched, this is your brilliant plan? To do everything you told us not to?!" Uryuu raged, grip tightening.

His senpai's mask shattered at his words, leaving the man's expression filled with confusion and wary disbelief. He didn't fight Uryuu's grip despite being partially off-balance, just let Uryuu hold him in place as he stared at Uryuu and then past him to the others.

(Oh.)

(Oh hell.)

(His senpai was worse that he was, wasn't he…)

"He's right," Kurosaki said. "You can't just expect us to be okay with this. Not after everything you've told us."

"There has to be another way," Inoue agreed.

Sado stepped up behind Uryuu, one hand coming to rest on Uryuu's back as he stared down at Urahara-senpai. "We're not leaving you to the mercy of the Shinigami."

Uryuu shivered at the touch and the words, risking a quick glance up at the other teen. Was that… was Sado…

(He and his senpai were both Quincy. Both in danger for that reason.)

Sado's resolute gaze settled Uryuu's mind, even as it appeared to do the opposite for his senpai.

Urahara-senpai looked lost, his mouth slightly open as if to speak, but no words emerged. There was a fragility to him that Uryuu had only ever seen the edges of before, like one wrong word would see the man shattering to pieces.

Uryuu was confident they could do this, could convince his senpai to give up and come with them instead of haring off on his own, they just needed—

"If you won't let any of them go with you, then take me," Ganju spoke up, breaking the moment.

Uryuu could see his senpai gathering himself, tucking away the fragile edges and vulnerability, his mask rebuilding itself. "I thought you didn't like me?" his senpai asked with a shadow of his usual levity.

Damn Ganju!

Uryuu tightened his grip on Urahara-senpai's kimono, feeling the simmering anger coming from his classmates, mirroring his own; with one sentence, Ganju had lost them their chance, and all of them but that annoyance knew it!

"I like the Shinigami less," Ganju said, apparently ignoring the disapproval being aimed at him.

His senpai's gaze moved between them, lingering on their faces even as his hands rose to clasp around Uryuu's where he had grabbed the man's kimono.

(Was he giving in..?)

Urahara-senpai pried Uryuu's grip free, then stepped back.

Uryuu lunged, hand extended to capture his damn-fool stubborn senpai once more and never let him go…

His hand closed on air.

"I'll be fine," Urahara-senpai said from above them, a wistful, fond smile on his face as he looked down at them. "Sensei, see that they remain focused on their goal, would you?"

"I will," Yoruichi agreed solemnly.

Urahara-senpai knelt to pet Yoruichi once, then darted away without looking back.

He was gone before Uryuu realized it.

(Why had that sounded so final?)

(Was his senpai… not expecting to survive this?)