3.
The portal closed, the shoji screens sliding across and disappearing. Black Hell butterflies fluttered around them in the moonlight as they stood floating there in the air over Tokyo city, Karakura district. Both had hands resting deceptively casually on their swords.
"Why they had to send both of us, I have no idea," Captain Hitsugaya muttered.
He was a teenage boy with artfully messy white hair and brilliant green eyes, handsome enough to warrant a plethora of gifts from secret admirers every Valentine's Day that always both puzzled him and made him skeptical. It was his reputation as a "genius," he thought, that made it that way, his powerful zanpakutoh and his penchant for icy reserve. Surface things. He was content alone. He didn't interact with people much outside of Vice Captain Matsumoto and his grandmother back in the Rukongai.
"Ten Shinigami so far have been killed. The Hollows are increasingly larger and the trail leads here," said Captain Kuchiki simply.
He was a man who looked, in living world standards, in his late twenties or early thirties. (He was of course, in reality, centuries old.) He was tall with long black hair and pale, sharp, aristocratic features. He wore a Kuchiki noble's hair ornaments and a scarf that cost more than ten Seireitei mansions put together. Many nobles had vied for his hand in an arranged marriage since his wife's death, but he had chosen no one. He ignored his adopted sister Rukia, mostly out of a sense of personal pain since she looked so much like Hisana, and he only interacted with her old Rukongai friend Vice Captain Abarai because he had to. He'd felt it his duty to request the boy. He was head of his clan, but a cold and distant one, dignified.
Both wore Captain's cloaks, and both were admired and feared for their reserve and their talent, but they had another similarity - both were, somewhat by choice, almost completely alone. Each carried their own separate guilts.
"I still don't see why they couldn't have sent my Vice Captain with me," said Captain Hitsugaya, sounding slightly irritated. "No offense, Kuchiki-taicho, I defer to your expertise, but I just don't see the point of sending us together."
"The Council has made up its mind and we must follow it," said Captain Kuchiki softly. "In any case, we have more important things to worry about. Sense the air."
"I know. I felt it the moment we arrived. The spiritual concentration here is amazing," said Captain Hitsugaya seriously, frowning. "That must be why Hollows are descending on this area.
"So if we find the main hub of spiritual activity -"
"We predict where the Hollows will land," said Kuchiki, nodding. "And from there, we destroy them."
In a moment they were gone, flash-stepping away. They wanted the mission to be done with as quickly as possible, preferably within a 24-hour period.
It would not turn out to be that simple.
The teenage girl, beautiful and in a tight high school uniform, bent over the ruined offering to the little dead girl with her face in her hands, crying delicately and artfully. "It's ruined - it's ruined -" she sobbed.
The skateboarders who had smashed into the offering accidentally in the alleyway started to feel genuinely bad. "Hey, don't cry, we -" one of the men said, getting close and bending over towards her -
Suddenly, a foot arced out and smashed into his face; he fell over, unconscious. As the thugs stood there, stunned, the girl flashed out in a series of moves and within five seconds they were all down in various states of pain. She grabbed the leader by the throat and slammed him up against a wall, her face twisting viciously. He choked, his eyes blinking open and watering.
"Wake up!" Kurosaki Ichigo spat. She hadn't been crying at all. She leaned closer into the guy's face and hissed, "You and your goons have been messing around in here every afternoon for exactly five days, ruining things, including my offerings to the dead girl, leaving graffiti and broken beer bottles, causing ruckus and noise.
"Well, I've got news for you. You ever come here again and I will know, I will know you little fucker, and I'll cut your dick off and put it on your head for a hat. You got me?"
He said nothing and she kicked him in the groin. He moaned, bending over.
"I said you got me?!" she shrieked. The other thugs were backing away from her slowly and fearfully along the ground.
"I got you - I got you -" the leader choked, his face turning purple from lack of air, his nose bleeding. Ichigo released him, hands on her hips, as he fell to his knees below her.
"Keep visiting this place and people will be bringing you flowers," she said flatly. "I hope I've made my point. Later days, gentlemen," she added with mocking sweetness, curtsying, and she marched out of the alleyway. They gaped after her.
As she took up her hidden book bag again, the ghost of the little girl came floating down behind her. "Thank you, Onee-chan. Now I can rest peacefully." The little girl smiled.
"No problem. I'll bring fresh flowers soon and clean the alleyway up for you. Be at peace," said Ichigo, quiet. She hadn't meant what she'd said. Scare tactics could be very effective, but at heart Ichigo was gentle.
Ichigo walked up to her apartment doorway, and paused. "Hey, man," she said, waving casually to the ghost of the older businessman she saw floating there. "Exorcism is closed for the night. Follow me to school tomorrow and after extracurriculars, exorcism will open back up. I'm free tomorrow after extracurriculars, so it's your lucky day.
"Have good a night." Ichigo went past him casually and opened the front door.
She walked into the apartment she shared with her mother, who looked up from the kitchen table. "I ate ahead, but I kept dinner warm for you," said her mother, nodding to the microwave.
"Thanks," said Ichigo, putting down her book bag, opening up her microwave and grabbing the food.
"Helping the dead again?" Mom asked as Ichigo sat down beside her.
"Yeah. Mrs Ohara at the hospital needed some counseling through leaving her grandchildren behind," said Ichigo stoically.
"Cancer?" her mother guessed.
"That's the one." Ichigo nodded. "Then that little girl I told you about needed me to get rid of some punks bothering her final resting place."
"What did you do?" Masaki frowned.
Ichigo smirked. "Heh. Beat the crap out of them and threatened to cut some guy's dick off."
"Just as long as you don't actually cut anybody's dick off," said her mother, sighing and shaking her head. "Sometimes, I swear, you remind me far too much of your father and his side of the family."
Ichigo smiled and looked sadly over at the shrine. "I still have to burn my incense and say my prayers for the week," she reminded herself absently.
"Well, you've been busy, I'm sure he's not worried," said Masaki. "You know your father, he was always very easygoing with us."
"Come on, Mom, you know he never became a ghost. Some don't," said Ichigo.
"Just because you can see ghosts, Ichigo, doesn't mean you know it all about death. How can you be sure he can't sense us?" her mother scolded her gently.
Ichigo shrugged, frowning down at her food as she chewed.
Masaki decided a change of subject was in order. "I know your extracurriculars are keeping you very busy. I can't even keep track of them all," she said in amusement. "Or of all your friends. It's a good thing. You make the most of the time you have. What was it again today?"
"Lunch with the usual crew," said Ichigo. "Then book club, and kendo club with Mizuho. Writer's club and karate club are Tuesday-Thursday."
"Ah. How is kendo going?" said Masaki, nodding. "I took archery in school, so I know nothing about it." She smiled cheerfully.
Ichigo's Mom had never tried to force her own hobbies onto Ichigo. Ichigo appreciated it. "I'm getting into the more advanced stuff now," said Ichigo. "Mizuho said I'm progressing really nicely. Anyway, I have to go. Homework." She stood up from the table and grabbed her book bag.
"Study hard!" her mother called as Ichigo retreated into her room.
Ichigo took out her notebooks and sat cross-legged on her bed, chewing on a pencil as she studied. But then something happened to make her look up - something very unexpected.
A black swallowtail butterfly fluttered through her bedroom wall and past her head.
"What the hell -?" she began in bewilderment. And then two guys in black samurai gear with real katana swords floated through her bedroom wall after the butterfly, and ghost butterflies became the least of her problems.
They floated downward until they touched the floor. The white-haired one looked to the black-haired one. "We're near the epicenter," he observed seriously.
Whatever that meant.
Ichigo walked up to them, stuck her face into theirs, and observed them closely. "Huh, weird," he said thoughtfully. "I've never seen ghosts like you before. Where are your chains? And why aren't you transparent? And... uh... what's with the swords?" She looked puzzled.
"They're called zanpakutoh," said the white-haired one automatically, but they were both staring at her, caught off-guard.
"... Captain Hitsugaya," said the black-haired one into the quiet, "I think we have found the source of the spiritual presence."
"Indeed, Captain Kuchiki."
"Captains? Spiritual presence?" Ichigo raised a puzzled eyebrow.
"It is none of your business, human," said Kuchiki distastefully. "Stay out of our way and we shall protect you."
Ichigo scowled, instinctively disliking the tone of command. "Protect me from what? And what's with the whole 'human' thing? You look pretty human to me." She eyed him up and down.
Kuchiki made a sudden move so fast she couldn't even track it, as did Hitsugaya. In a flash of half a second, Hitsugaya was blocking Kuchiki from making a move to attack her. "... Provisional spirit law forbids unauthorized executions," Hitsugaya reminded Kuchiki cautiously.
The fire in Kuchiki's eyes faded; he paused and straightened coldly. "... Yes," he said softly, eyeing Ichigo with intense dislike. "Of course. My apologies."
Hitsugaya glared over at Ichigo. "Look, all this is all a little above your head. I suggest you stay out of our way," he said seriously.
"What, so you just invade my home and I don't even get an explanation?" Ichigo challenged. "Some moral stand for guys who are wearing outfits showing off the paramount of honor." She glared back, refusing to be fazed.
At this, at last, they paused.
"You're dead," said Ichigo searchingly. "... Right?"
They paused, and Hitsugaya sighed. "Yes," he said resignedly. "Technically. We are spirits that come to ferry dead souls to the afterlife. We are called Shinigami."
The Hollow lifted its head from feasting on the blood of the dead little ghost girl. She lay still, her insides ripped open. She smelled delicious, but did not taste like much - it was not her the Hollow was after.
It was someone she had come into contact with recently.
"It's close..." the Hollow whispered, sniffing the air. "With... Shinigami..."
The human girl had a great deal of questions, as Byakuya had dreaded. The minute she heard about the Soul Society, she wanted to know everything: about life, death, reincarnation, and Shinigami patrol routes, paperwork, and missions. Things Toshiro and (privately) Byakuya had always found commonplace and dreadfully dull.
But it was all new to her. She leaned forward on her bed, eyes lit up in interest, and to their mutual surprise - Byakuya's somewhat greater as a Soul Society noble's - she actually asked intelligent questions. Perhaps this particular human had been gifted with greater intellect as well as greater spiritual presence.
Hitsugaya Toshiro seemed to enjoy explaining things seriously and with enormous drama, so Byakuya left him to it and wandered around the room, looking to the walls, looking for things, anything, something that could explain why some human girl could see two Shinigami Captains.
He paused at her desk. "... You write poetry," he said, expressionless.
Hitsugaya and the human girl paused and turned to him in surprise.
"Oh." The girl smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. That's me." She stood up, long, slender legs unfolding, and she went over to her desk. "Kurosaki Ichigo. Ichigo. That's my name." She noticed him reading some of it, and nervously slid the poetry underneath a folder. "It's, uh - it's not that good."
He was reminded strongly of Hisana. She, too, some commoner, had been a great deal more intelligent than many a stuffy noble he had known. And she, too, had been ashamed of her work. Perhaps it was the doom of an artist to forever be self conscious of one's own endeavors. It certainly was in Byakuya's experience.
"I highly doubt that," he said, and she was surprised by how gentle and understanding he seemed for a moment. "It is not the first time a poet has told me such a thing. It was not true then either. You should own your own work."
She blushed, but smiled. He was nicer than he'd first seemed, but that old-fashioned Soul Society thing Hitsugaya had told her about really hit home with Kuchiki.
"... You read?" She turned around. Hitsugaya was wandering along the bookshelves. "Oh. Yeah!" She ran over to him and pointed upward brightly. "That's pre recorded music - that's my instrument over there in the corner. That's movies and TV - a kind of pre recorded theater. And those are my books! I have - too many."
"Cultured," Byakuya observed thoughtfully. "I did not know humans had such things." But Toshiro was focused on something else. He'd wandered over to a framed photograph on the wall of a young Ichigo, big eyed.
"... That's you?" There was something indefinable in his voice.
"Yeah. I think I'm seven in that picture." She walked over to stand next to him and looked into it, trying to see what he found so fascinating.
Toshiro thought it was like looking into a memory. Take away the pretty orange curls and replace them with straight chocolate brown hair, and it might as well have been an exact replica of Momo. Sweet innocent smile, pigtails - she was even reading a book.
"Ichigo, seven years old," said calligraphic lettering at the bottom of the photo. The handwriting looked familiar, but Toshiro couldn't place from where.
"What do you like to do?"
"What?" He turned to look at her, confused.
"You've learned about my hobbies. What about you two?" She turned to the two men.
"Eating. Sleeping. Visiting family and friends back in my hometown," said Toshiro puzzled.
"Oh, come on, you must have something."
"... Games," he admitted. "I like gaming."
Ichigo beamed. "I really do have to introduce you to video games. And you." She turned to Byakuya, eyebrows lifted. "What do you like to do?"
She sounded somewhat insolent, and he wasn't sure he liked the idea of being in the middle of a pow wow between a human and someone from the Rukongai, but he was so caught off guard that he answered anyway. "Peaceful things. Walks, calligraphy, meditation, reading."
"Shinigami do have hobbies. Nice to know. So... look... I have to ask..." They turned to her. "How do I know you all are telling the truth, or that you're not just crazy?" She shrugged. "I mean, you have to see how it looks. Some bizarre looking ghosts come in here and tell me they're almighty Shinigami Captains from another world. It sounds -"
"Implausible to someone only familiar with humans," Byakuya realized, frowning.
Toshiro flew out a hand and Ichigo fell to the ground paralyzed. Byakuya gave him an exasperated look. "What?" said Toshiro. "She wanted proof!"
"What the hell is this?!" Ichigo demanded, struggling.
"Kido," said Toshiro, shrugging. "They're high level spells only a Shinigami can cast. We use them alongside our zanpakutoh to fight Hollows. I figured the easiest way to show you proof was by using a kido spell."
"There's also this." Byakuya unsheathed his sword - and put the hilt to the forehead of the ghost of the old businessman. He'd come in so quietly, Ichigo hadn't known he was there.
"P-please - I don't want to go to Hell -" the man pleaded.
"What awaits you is not Hell. It is the Soul Society," said Captain Kuchiki, observed, removing the blade and revealing a glowing blue "RELEASED" stamp in its place.
The ghost turned to Ichigo, the only sane looking one, in bewilderment.
"You're going the other way," she clarified. He looked relieved as he dissolved into a little blue dot. A black - Hell butterfly, Hitsugaya had called them? - carried the soul up through the ceiling and into the beyond.
"The other way?" Hitsugaya and Kuchiki were staring at her, puzzled.
"Humans used to believe that good souls lived on clouds in the sky and bad souls lived in a pit of fire below the ground. We weren't always as cultured as we are now. In the twenty first century most people don't believe souls exist at all," said Ichigo, matter of factly and with some amount of sarcasm. "So... you're all real, huh?" she mused. "... Do you think my Dad could be up there with you guys? He died a few years back... he never became a ghost."
Kuchiki and Hitsugaya shared a look she couldn't identify and then gazed at her in sympathy. "... Perhaps," said Hitsugaya at last.
"So." Ichigo shoved herself upright with her arms and legs still bound tightly together. "What?" she said when they stared at her. "You guys look at me funny a lot."
"... How..." said Hitsugaya in a kind of disbelieved pain, "... are you moving... under a Captain's binding spell?"
"Uh." Ichigo looked down at herself, puzzled. "I just stood up." She looked back up at them, confused.
"You just... stood up," Kuchiki repeated slowly.
Ichigo blushed. "Well it sounds kinda stupid when you say it," she muttered. Then she shuddered to a halt, looking up and paling, eyes widening. The look bothered both of them more than either of them cared to admit.
"... What is it?" said Toshiro, tensing.
"That horrible, piercing howl," said Ichigo, sounding shaken. "Isn't that what you're looking for?"
Kuchiki and Hitsugaya paused. "I hear nothing," said Byakuya seriously. "But now that you mention it... it's like something's blocking me."
Then there was a shake in the room beside theirs and a high pitched female scream. "Mom!" Ichigo screamed, and before they could stop her, she'd broken free of the gold binding spell in a surge of energy and run stupidly into the room beside theirs. Stupid - but brave.
The minute she moved away from them, the block dropped and the Hollow reappeared on their sensing radar. "The Hollow was right beside us and we didn't even realize it?!" Hitsugaya snapped, frustrated.
"Never mind that, the girl -!" Byakuya began alarmed.
"It's going to kill her," they realized as one.
They speed-stepped into the room just in time to stop the Hollow from eating Ichigo. She had charged out there, pushed her Mom out of the way and leaped in front of her, and Toshiro cut off the Hollow's hand just as it was reaching out to grab Ichigo.
"Mom!" Ichigo turned to her mother as the two Shinigami went to stand in front of her. "You have to run," she said urgently. "Just trust me, and run."
"But Ichigo, your father -!" her mother began, alarmed.
"Never mind that, just RUN!" Ichigo shouted. Her mother fell backward, slammed out the door, and started running. The Hollow didn't move to chase her.
"Why isn't it following her?!" Ichigo asked, confused.
"Because Hollows are attracted to souls with high levels of spirit energy - souls that can see Shinigami, and break binding spells, and block the senses of a Captain," said Byakuya seriously. "Souls like yours."
Hitsugaya scowled.
"So wait... it's attacking places I go and my friends and family... because it's looking for me?" They turned around. Ichigo's eyes were big and guilty.
"... Do not think on it," said Toshiro, strangely ashamed, thinking of having to leave his grandmother. "Many souls with high levels of reiatsu are burdened with endangering the people around them until they gain control over their power."
"It is considered among our people a glorious burden," said Byakuya quietly.
Then: "... I thought you said your father was dead," said Toshiro.
Ichigo frowned. "What do you mean -?'
"Your mother mentioned your father. Where is he?"
"Oh, she was talking about his shrine," said Ichigo, relaxing. "It's over there." She pointed. They turned around - and their eyes fixed in disbelief on the photo.
That was an exiled Shinigami noble. That was Toshiro's ex Captain - Shiba Isshin. The handwriting on the photo of a child Ichigo... that was why it had looked familiar.
And Ichigo's mother was obviously a human. Why he'd never returned.
They turned back around to Ichigo in disbelief. "That's your father -?"
"SHINIGAMI!" Ichigo screamed, but it was too late. They'd stopped guarding their flank. Their eyes widened in a rare show of surprise as the Hollow crept up behind them and slammed a claw into them. They crumpled into the side of the apartment and were temporarily knocked out.
They groaned and blinked their eyes open... to find Ichigo standing in front of them. She was talking, though she didn't know they could hear.
"It's okay. It's my fault my father died. I ran into a street full of cars, chasing a ghost, and he ran after me... All I ever was is a burden to the people around me, back then. Seems that hasn't changed. The longer I'm alive... the more Hollows will attack the people I love." She smiled bittersweetly.
Both were affected by the speech in different ways. Her talk of being a burden on her family affected Byakuya. Her talk of her powers giving her a guilt complex affected Toshiro.
Then it happened. The Hollow turned back, and flew out toward her, jaw opened to attack her.
"... Perhaps I deserve to go this way," she whispered, and she threw her arms out on either side of her, steeling herself in a stance. Prepared to sacrifice herself for them, and for everyone else she knew.
Byakuya was reminded of Hisana, her words coming back to him. Her stance, her protectiveness, its reminiscence to Hinamori... that was what got to Toshiro.
"NO!" Both of them shouted it, both of them threw themselves in front of her, neither aware of what the other was doing - The Hollow crunched around their forms instead.
And then - they registered it through the blood and the pain - this was how powerful Ichigo was. It had two Shinigami Captains in its mouth, and it spat them back out and retreated, wounded from their sword strikes, because they were not Ichigo.
Ichigo stared down at the two Shinigami bleeding to death below her. "You should have let me die," she whispered. "It would have made more sense that way."
"Foolish human!" Kuchiki spat, looking very irritated at having to die at the hands of such a mediocre Hollow.
"Is it despair for you, then?" Hitsugaya challenged, raising an eyebrow, still with authority even from a prone position on the floor.
"Well how would you like me to feel now? Clearly you two can no longer fight," said Ichigo, frowning. Kuchiki and Hitsugaya both tried to stand up - and collapsed back down.
"Shit!" Hitsugaya suddenly spat, breaking his cool just for a split second.
"So." Ichigo smiled softly. "We die together then. I'll go first -" She made to step forward, and Toshiro grabbed her foot.
"You most certainly will not be going first," said Byakuya, suddenly severe. He and Toshiro paused - and looked at each other.
"There are two of us," said Toshiro. "It would work."
"No," was the first, unusually ineloquent word out of Byakuya's mouth.
"What do you mean?" said Ichigo, puzzled, looking from one to the other.
Toshiro sighed and looked at her. "It would take two men... to transfer their Shinigami powers temporarily to one woman," he admitted reluctantly. "It makes sense. You, at least, are uninjured."
"But for two Captains to debase themselves so far..." said Byakuya distastefully. Then he looked up at her - and his expression changed for a moment. "Let's do it," he said, determined. Senbonzakura was protesting, and he knew Hyourinmaru must be doing the same... But Toshiro was the one who had suggested it, after all.
They weren't doing it to save themselves. Damn themselves. They were just doing it to save some human girl. But, he thought back to her father and her resemblance to Hisana... She wasn't just some stupid human girl. And he knew, looking at her, that she was only agreeing to it for the chance to save them. He would respect the full repayment of a debt, but he'd already begun to guess that was just how Kurosaki Ichigo was.
Maybe it was a Shiba thing.
They each sat up, and Ichigo got between them. Byakuya was behind her, Toshiro facing her. "So how does this work?" she asked, sounding nervous. The Hollow was slowly healing itself nearby...
"We stab you," said Toshiro flatly. She looked more anxious and he winced. His Captain's half human daughter, the girl who had leaned forward with such a bright, curious light in her eyes as she asked to learn about Shinigami from him, the girl who had once so resembled Momo... He didn't know if he could do it. Stab her.
Ichigo smiled through her fear. "Don't worry," she said to him. "One way or another... We're all going to the same place." Toshiro saw Byakuya give Ichigo a gentle look that was definitely not entirely befitting of a noble. He was almost irritated at the both of them - falling all over Captain Shiba's daughter. "I should know your full names - you know, considering you're about to kill me and all." Kurosaki Ichigo smiled.
"... Hitsugaya Toshiro."
"Kuchiki Byakuya."
"Excellent." She was brisk and all business. "Now, how do I heal you two?"
They glanced at each other. "Imagine us being healed as the transfer process is complete," said Toshiro at last, cautiously. "Your reiatsu should do the rest."
"But you should really focus on -" Byakuya began.
"Oh, just stab me already," she said, annoyed.
Toshiro and Byakuya looked at each other one last time - each disbelieving as to what they were about to do. "First time I've ever heard anyone say that," said Toshiro, and their swords flashed out as one, stabbing her from the front and behind.
Hyourinmaru and Senbonzakura, far less kind than their wielders, pounced, ready to devour the fledging soul whole... There was a chance the human would not survive the process. They hadn't told her that.
But what both zanpakutoh encountered was something that, if possible, was even more powerful than them.
Toshiro and Byakuya both felt every last drop of power suddenly sucked out of them by an unstoppable force, and then in an explosion of energy Ichigo's soul flew out of her body and landed - in full Shinigami uniform, with an insanely large asauchi for a rookie - in front of the Hollow. Far from looking pained, she looked deadly serious, almost fearsome.
"Aim for the head!" Toshiro shouted, and in a single clean kendo stroke Ichigo leaped upward, tore her zanpakutoh through the Hollow's head, and destroyed it. She landed on her living room floor - and turned to look at them, sheathing the sword.
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.
"Shit!" They stumbled to their feet and ran over to her, rolled her onto her back... She was completely unconscious.
"Her soul is still adjusting," said Byakuya, looking at its uneven edges. "That is why she passed out."
They looked from her body - to her new Shinigami soul - to each other. Both were in white under robes, and sure enough, Ichigo had healed them both, as promised. "Can you feel...?"
"... No." Toshiro looked downward. "I can't feel Hyourinmaru at all."
"... Damnit." Byakuya's face twisted.
"I take it you can't feel Senbonzakura anymore either," said Toshiro flatly. He winced. "... How long will it take for our powers to return?"
"Months," said Byakuya desolately.
There was a horrified silence.
"We broke the biggest law on the books," Toshiro whispered disbelievingly. "We're traitors. We could be executed." For a moment, he looked very young.
"I am aware of that," said Byakuya, sitting backward in exhaustion and irritation. It hadn't really hit him yet.
"Well, look what we have here." They whirled around. A man was standing there in a boat hat and clogs, Masaki's body over his shoulder.
"Who the hell is that?" said Toshiro, tensing.
Byakuya's face twisted. "Urahara Kisuke. A Captain class traitor whom I'm sure you'll have heard of." They both reached for zanpakutoh - that weren't there.
A smile passed over Urahara Kisuke's place. "Ah, but I believe you two have just reached the same dishonorable status," he said. "And I'm a Shinigami equipment black market salesman who resides in Karakura, and that girl needs your help. Just how picky can you afford to be?"
"That speech sounds canned," said Toshiro suspiciously.
"It should," said Urahara, setting the unconscious Masaki down. "I gave it to your Captain." He said it so matter of factly.
Toshiro would have attacked him - but over what? And with what?
"What an interesting choice, Aizen Sousuke," said Urahara, breaking the Hogyoku in half in his laboratory that night. One piece went inside Hitsugaya's gigai, one inside Kuchiki's. "Now here's my answer."
He briefly considered that he was ruining both men's lives. But he figured Aizen had already done that.
Fitting into his new gigai, Byakuya dressed in fancy clothes - button up shirts, nice dress pants. He refused to let go of his remaining dignity.
But... in his private dressing room, he slowly took out his hair ornaments, one by one. They were a sign of noble status, and he had just lost that in spectacular fashion.
As he calmly put his black hair up into a ponytail, tucking the scarf around himself and getting into a dark button up coat, he considered that he had broken one of the last things remaining to him - his promise of proper decorum to the graves of his parents.
Toshiro had his own thoughts fitting into his new gigai - black skinny jeans, nice dark collared shirts.
His Captain's cloak was gone. He didn't even have anything to take off, it had just... disappeared. The rank he had been so proud of, worked so hard for, the rank that had forced everyone to take him seriously - it was gone.
He hoped his grandmother never heard about this - he was the remaining child, and it would destroy her.
But he had the suspicious feeling he hoped in vain.
Carrying uniforms, they both walked out into the Urahara Shouten the next morning.
"She and her mother are all set in their beds at their apartment," said Urahara. "Her mother's memory has been wiped, hers has not.
"So." He gave a mocking smile. "Shall I show you both to your new school?"
They glared helplessly.