Urahara Kisuke, captain of the twelfth division, did not wear geta clogs until this day.

tags: Urahara Kisuke, Urahara Kisuke & Sarugaki Hiyori, Sarugaki Hiyori, Kurotsuchi Mayuri (mentioned), geta

Silent Steps

He could see the change, as he walked around his division and shinigami of all levels just looked up, a confused frown on their faces. They blinked, and their eyes fell on him, and it was so obvious – they didn't understand.

Then they looked down, and, oh! – that was it.

They didn't usually notice Kisuke until he spoke to them, or unless their line of sight just happened to fall upon him. He was much, much more powerful than most of them, but decades in the second division – decades serving the Onmitsukido – had taught him to suppress his reiatsu until none could be felt above standard shinigami level even if someone surprised him – he might be working on a cloak that isolated reiatsu completely on his spare time, but that was another matter entirely. He'd also learned to walk so silently no one heard him come, and that had become something he did without even meaning to.

But he wasn't Onmitsukido anymore, as he'd told Sarugaki-san the very first day of his captaincy.

Letting people know when he was getting near them was only polite, was it not? – especially as it would just add another layer to the things people expected of him; before long, they would expect him when they heard, and they would forget how they used to be unable to tell. Before long, they would consider that he wasn't here, if they couldn't hear him.

He wasn't trying to deceive them – no more than Kyoraku-taicho did, wearing a straw hat, a pink kimono and hairpins, and behaving like he didn't take anything seriously, when the man could probably take on most of the other captains and barely break a sweat; no more than Unohana-taicho did, being all kind and gentle when someone who'd gone and done their research would know she'd been at the head of the eleventh division for a little over a millenium and a half; no more than Ukitake-taicho, who was truly the kindest soul amongst the ranked officers but had also survived nearly two thousands years as a captain; no more than Sasakibe-fukutaicho, who followed behind the captain commander and didn't make a show of himself even if he had at least the level of an ordinary captain; no more than Hirako-san, who was almost as laid-back as the captain of the eighth and gave anyone a chance, but still watched everyone with mistrust.

He didn't need to flaunt his power – or, in this case, to hide his skills, especially as hidden skills should not be acknowledged – and sometimes, you had to make concessions to be able to work with others, whether they knew it or not.

But, speaking of high-ranked officers – here came Hiyori, grumbling about one thing or another. Probably Kurotsuchi-kun, as it was. Kisuke wasn't particularly convinced his social reintegration plan was actually working on the man, but at least he was being useful on top of creeping everyone out, which meant there were benefits for all parties. With some luck, the younger scientist would eventually develop – not a work ethic, or morals, that was asking for too much – a comprehension of what was and what wasn't allowed – and what would get him thrown back into jail – after a few more decades of supervision. As others had been taken out of the Maggots' Nest and were in fact doing better, like Akon-kun, Kisuke didn't feel particularly guilty about Kurotsuchi-kun... yet.

He'd still need to keep an eye on the man.

Hiyori looked up from whatever paperwork she'd been doing, more than probably ready to yell at the idiot who'd chosen to wear geta of all things, and blinked when her eyes fell on him.

Sure, she kept calling him a dumbass anyway, but that – that wasn't the kind of dumbassery she'd come to expect from him.

Kisuke waved as he walked over, as if nothing was different from usual.

"Sarugaki-san! How is the paperwork going?"

There was a moment of silence, and then.

Hiyori made a face at him, jumped, and kicked him in the face – he was him, though, and with his spiritual pressure against hers, well. It didn't exactly do much damage. It wasn't what he'd call pleasant, and a drop of blood rolled down one of his nostrils, but he pinched his nose and here it was, back to business.

"Why the hell did you go and get those freaking loud geta clogs, dumbass! If you actually don't want to go around in socks like you used to, can't you wear sandals like everyone else? I could hear you from..."

Ah.

She got it.

He didn't say anything, didn't deny or explain, but he saw the look on her face.

She wasn't going to say it out loud, because that would mean admitting she never heard him come around and got surprised whenever he spoke and she hadn't heard him coming. That would mean admitting there were a lot of things he was really, really good at, starting with moving silently, as his time in the second division and the Onmitsukido did imply – before being a warden, before being the third seat, he had gone through the same training as everyone else – and Hiyori just didn't do that.

It was alright with him. He didn't particularly like being underestimated, or disrespected, but it could be useful – and moreover, he didn't really care either, even if he wouldn't say he appreciated it when people just didn't seem to realize that he made captain with more than just Yoruichi-san's approval.

He could still be silent, even with the wooden clogs on, but that was that point: he had to make an effort to be silent, now.

Everyone would hear him come – amongst other, less honest reasons.

Sure, the geta weren't exactly the most useful to run around when push came to shove, but. If he needed to, he could always take them off.

It wasn't like going around in only socks had ever been a problem for him before.

Did you know some people were stupid and hateful enough to leave pornographic spam reviews on fanfictions just because they were assholes? Yes, no? Well. It happens. (on , but I don't think it couldn't happen on AO3 too)
Did you know that expressing support to the author who has to deal with that kind of stupidity through a review might get your own works to be spammed in the same way as retaliation? I mean, I'm not exactly surprised they did that to me, but that's still a proof of a second level of hateful stupidity.