Ukitake heaved a sigh of relief seeing his best friend sat on the roof of his home in the 8ths divisions district. Luckily the first place he looked
"I thought I might find you here" he announced his arrival. Taking a seat next to his friend, feeling the angry waves pulsate off him like heat. Looking out to the distance Kyoraku seemed to be staring down the setting sun
Having not received a response, Ukitake tried again
"not calmed down then?" He teased
pleased to have gotten a reaction off shunsui, even if it was just a huff.
"you shouldn't of let shinji get to you like that. You know how he is"
"a bastard is what he is". Finally getting words out of the man
"a bastard that gets great enjoyment from pushing people's buttons to get a reaction " The swear word sounding foreign coming from the usually sweet man. The surprise of the slur coming from his lips finally getting shunsui to look at him.
"he's lucky he still has his teeth" Kyoraku said, not quite as angrily as Ukitake expected,
"I'm sure Shinji will be sending Urahara a thank you card for his efforts in helping him keep his teeth in his head" Jushiro joked lightly
"what brought on that intense reaction, shun?"
"I didn't like the way he was speaking about her" he sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, anger slowly depleting in his calm friend's presence. "Talking about her that way after what she went through yesterday, it's not ok"
"you sound like you're still harbouring some guilt over it" ukitake probed
"how can I not? You saw how upset she was"
"and you heard from Urahara how she didn't lay the blame at your feet." He reminded him
"she told me the same earlier" Kyoraku confessed
"you saw Kumiko?" Slightly surprised he hadn't heard about it earlier, jushiro asked
"before the meeting, I wanted to apologise properly. I needed to see she was ok with my own eyes" Kyoraku nodded "I brought her flowers"
jushiro smiled at his romantic at heart friend. Given his reputation, started many years ago in their academy days, as a notorious flirt and ladies man, ukitake knew that deep down Kyoraku just in love with being in love.
However shunsui having more female suiters visiting their shared doom room, than jushiro had hot dinners, didn't give the right impression
"unfortunately I don't think the seriousness of the situation was translated very well to the other captains. Not Uraharas fault of course, it was very different witnessing it to hearing about it out loud. I believe they're under the impression it wasn't anything more than an unfortunately funny reaction, made funnier by the fact it was caused by , well. You"
Kyoraku gave his friend a look at his last sentence
"I'm not that bad anymore, juu. I've calmed down loads since school" he defended himself
"yes but your reputation proceeds you, my friend. The jokes will die down eventually, they always do" laying a hand on his friends shoulder
" do you want to know what happened after you left?"
Kyoraku twisted his body to fully engage his friend, nodding his answer
"after Genryusai-sensei scolded us all for behaving like children,". He started, seeing the upturned smirk on Kyorakus face "he decided it best for Kumiko to remain in Uraharas division for now while they discover the other reactions she will have. He wants reports about each encounter as well as weekly reports of her new training. I was ordered to help urahara with that. And it was made clear to captain Kurotsuchi that he is not to involve himself unless Genryusai-sensei tells him otherwise.
Retsu-san also offered her assistance, should Kumiko need medical attention during any of her reactions " he finished with a smile
Kyoraku smiled wide and the fondness his friend had for the only captain, that truly scared the absolute pants off of him. There was just something about that smile that could send shunsui running the opposite direction as fast as he could. A notion that had brought laughter to jushiro many times over the years.
"I'm sure I would hear no objections from you, juu, if she wanted to get a little more...involved. In our efforts with Kumiko" he teased lightly at the years old joke that jushiro was smitten with Captain Unohana
" well if your done sulking like a child" Jushiro teased back, not letting the gab go unpunished. "Perhaps you would like to join me?" He asked standing up
"join you where?" Kyoraku asked, looking up at his friend.
"to join urahara and Kumiko of course" he told him "she needs to be told about the meeting too. If we hurry, I'm sure we'll get there not long after urahara does"
Kyoraku jumping to his feet was all the answer Ukitake needed, falling to step being his friend, realising suddenly he had no idea where Kumiko was actually living.
Lemon pie, cooled and set sat on the kitchen table, next to the beautiful flowers kumikos eyes kept darting too. Laying on her sofa, daydreaming about whatever came to mind, letting the time waste away, anticipating her friends arrival after the meeting.
Urahara entered her home, lightly knocking on the door he was already passing through, letting it swing shut behind him. Walking towards the sofa Kumiko was currently laying on. Lifting herself up at the waist, ready to budge up to make room, Kumiko let out small squeak as her as her efforts were abruptly halted by urahara falling face first down onto her, sandwiching her between himself and the sofa.
"you're squishing me, you lump". Kumiko complained unable to move under his weight. Uraharas slightly shaking shoulders sent a sudden panic into kumikos heart, before realising he was laughing and not crying as she originally assumed.
Blowing a puff of air up her face, to blow away the hair landed there by the sudden Urahara blanket she seemed to have acquired. She started to squirm beneath him, trying to find a way to escape his dead weight. Unable to find an escape, Kumiko started tickling at his sides, causing a very undignified yelp to escape from him. Retreating away her wriggling fingers, deeper into the sofa cushions, finally giving her room to breath
so he's ticklish is he? She mused, filing that precious piece of information away for a later date
"don't be mean miko-san" he grumbled half next to, half on top of her
"me be mean? You just nearly killed me!" She said poking him in the side, causing him to retreat slightly, and more comfortably further off her.
Arm thrown lazily around her waist, left leg thrown over both of hers urahara nuzzled himself into the side of her neck
"what's got you so cuddly?" She asked him, laying her arm over his on her stomach.
"shh, I'm sleeping"
"you could have gone home if you wanted to sleep" she retorted " instead of nearly breaking my sofa with your heavy ass"
"shhh," he said again, eyes closed " pillows aren't supposed to talk"
"friends aren't supposed to cripple friends either, but here we are"
"what's that?" Urahara ignored her, lifting her head from the crook of her neck
"what's what?" She asked her easily distracted friend
"that heavenly sweet lemony smell " he claimed
"I baked a pie to kill some time "
"you baked a pie?" He asked again
"yup, a lemon one"
"a lemon one?"
Kumiko laughed "are you just going to repeat everything I say?"
urahara scrambled up from the sofa, careful not to knee, elbow or otherwise hurt the woman he was climbing over "no, I'm going to eat some pie" he said, finally noticing the dessert on the table. Kumiko jumping up after him. Swatting away his hand reaching to stick his finger in the fluffy meringue to taste it.
"Ouch" he exclaimed, shaking his now stinging hand, as particularly hard blow landed on it .
"animal, don't be sticking your fingers in it" kumiko laughed. "Wait for me to get some plates and make some tea at least"
"I don't think I can wait that long miko-san. It's been a good two hours since I've had any sugar " he whined leaning down on the table so he was eye level with the tempting treat
"you will wait, or you'll be getting a smack to the head next" she laughed, turning the kettle on and gathering some plates.
Urahara, peeling his eyes away from the tempting looking pie long enough to notice the big bunch of flowers,
"where did you get the flowers from miko?" He called to her in the kictchen
"captain Kyoraku, he stopped by earlier to check if I was ok, he bought them for me as an apology " she smiled, leaning against the kitchen counter to look at her friend.
"that was nice of him" urahara admitted, smiling forming on his face "wonder what he would give me if i cried in front of him?"
Kumiko laughed " he would probably give you a reason to cry, I imagine"
A gentle knock at the door caught both of their attention, Kumiko stopped in her tracks on the way to the door by urahara cupping his hands over his mouth calling out "come in! The doors open!"
"you know this is my house right?" Kumiko laughed, "shouldn't I be the one opening the door?" She asked as said door was opened by captain ukitake, captain Kyoraku following close behind.
"if you're opening the door , then your not giving me dessert, I was just saving time" he smiled cheekily . Ignoring her sugar addict friend, she turned to her new, but not unwelcome guests. Bowing lightly she said " captain ukitake, captain Kyoraku, I hope you are both well? Would you like to join us for some tea and some lemon tart?"
Ukitake was the first to respond "always a pleasure Kumiko-san. Would you like any help with the tea?" Genuinely enjoying spending time with the sweet woman
"no, please. You take a seat, it will only be a few moments more" kumiko insisted, turning back to grab the correct amounts of cups and plates before taking them to the table the three men were sitting at.
"is this what you were making earlier miko-san?" Kyoraku asked her, when she placed a cup of tea and an empty plate before him. She nodded at him
"I've never seen anything like it before". He added
"it's called a lemon meringue pie, something I discovered from my time in the world of the living. It's really nice" after giving the last cup of tea to ukitake , Kumiko grabbed the pie away from Urahara, still staring at it, and began to cut four generously sized slices for each of them. Knowing ukitake and Kyoraku probably had enough manners to wait for everyone to be served before digging in, Kumiko served them before placing the final slice on Uraharas plate, quickly removing her hand for fear of it being bitten off, then quickly returning the remaining half of the pie in the fridge before sitting down to eat the fruit of her labour
"this is really good, Kumiko-san" is ukitake praised, "you are quite the cook" taking another bite.
"I agree, it's so fluffy" Kyoraku noted
"thank you" she beemed at them, it has been such a long time since she had cooked for anyone other than herself. She remembered how much she enjoyed it.
Urahara just smiled at her from the seat to her left, cheeks full of the dessert, making Kumiko laugh "chew your food before you choke, idiot"
finishing their dessert in comfortable silence, each captain enjoying it too much to speak. Kumiko looked around her full table, in her home, feeling warm sense of déjà vu, back from her time in the secret service.
The scraping sound of a fork against the plate pulled Kumiko back into the room, laughing she said " try to leave some of the pattern on the plate, will you Kiske?" Stopping him in his goal to get every last bit. " you can go get more from the fridge, I won't finish it all anyway" the sentence hardly leaving her lips before he shot up to go get seconds. Causing Kyoraku to laugh at him, the deep laugh bringing kumikos eyes to his over the flowers. Sitting back at the table with another big slice, Kumiko turned to Urahara. "So how did the meeting go?"
The looks the men shared with eachother made kumikos stomach drop, grabbing her still hot tea she added "that great huh?"
"it was certainly, eventful" ukitake granted the young woman
"eventful? In what way?" She asked
"a bunch of shouting, a fight nearly broke out, captain commander scolded us all, you know. The usual" Urahara said vaguely, still eating his second slice of pie
"a fight nearly happened? With who? "
Urahara pointed a thumb towards Kyoraku, grinning like a naughty school boy, sending her a small wave from across the table .
"who did you try and fight with?" She couldn't help but ask
"Hirako" Urahara offered, "he was spouting some less than tasteful jokes at both of your expense. Kyoraku all but ran me down trying to get at the idiot" rolling his shoulder he used earlier to stop the rampaging captain,
"sorry" shunsui offered with a big smile, not seeming sorry at all for trying to attack the other captain. Urahara waved him off with a dismissive hand
" can you start at the beginning please? I can't take the suspension " Kumiko requested, needing to know what happened
taking pity on the woman. Ukitake started them off "it started fine, with Urahara explaining the reason for the meeting. He explained how you had reactions to strong spiritual pressure, which naturally raised a few questions" Kumiko nodded, keeping up so far,
"some of the other captains asked what kind of reactions you had, Kiske told them about how your were with him and ukitake, he tried to avoid me and you all together " Kyoraku took over from Jushiro
me and you Kumiko repeat in her head. The three words sounding really good together.
"thanks for that, by the way" he added for Urahara
"I tried to avoid it all together, but Kuchiki caught on and asked to elaborate. Head captain then ordered me to do so, I didn't really have much choice in the matter then" urahara continued the story "which is when shinjis first inappropriate joked started"
"what did he say?" Kumiko asked. "Please". She added at their silence. "I can't handle everyone knowing what was said except for me"
with ukitake looking positively uncomfortable with the topic and Kyoraku staring at his twiddling thumbs she looked to Urahara, "please" she asked just him
with a sigh he looked up to the ceiling and said "something along the lines of it being a natural effect, shunsui has on woman. Them falling to their knees. In front of him "
a scarlet flush painted kumikos cheeks at the words she all but begged to hear about, she coughed lightly in embarrassment
"that's when captain Kurotsuchi chimed in" Ukitake got the story rolling again
"which one is captain Kurotsuchi again?" She asked him
"captain of division 12" he offered
"the one with all the black and white face makeup? Blue hair?" She double checked, at ukitakes nod, Kumiko shuddered, remembering seeing him at the first captains and the strong sense of unease she felt
"he scares me" Kumiko admitted softly. Ukitake leaned across the table to lightly hold her hand in a soothing way "he pretty much scares everyone " Jushiro offered, causing urahara to laugh
still squeezing her hand, he continued " Kurotsuchi wanted to know why Urahara was the one taking the lead on documenting everything , and demanded that you should be turned over to him so he could do his own experiments." Hearing that Kumiko jumped in her seat a little, eyes wide, fear gripping her, she didn't want to be anywhere near that man. Her hand gripped his own tighter, breaths coming out shorter.
seeing both Urahara and Kyoraku ready to get out of their chairs to comfort her, jushiro held up his hand not being squeezed by Kumiko, halting their progression
"shh, it's ok, Urahara shut that notion down immediately" words not having the desired effect he twisted slightly in his chair to face Kumiko more head on "I'm going to raise my Reiatsu a little, ok?" Not waiting for her reply he gently stared to raise it. Thankfully seeing the desired result, kumikos wide eyes turned back to normal, her breathing had slowed down and the grip she had on his hand was down to a gentle squeeze. Her head slowly fell to press against the back of his hand holding hers.
Satisfied, ukitake pulled back his Reiatsu, laying his free hand on the back of her head, smoothing her hair comfortingly. Kyoraku watched the scene with a sudden pang of jealousy he's never felt towards his friend before. Wishing once again he had gotten a better reaction to his Reiatsu from the beautiful woman. He would have loved to have been able to comfort her in such a way
Kumiko raised her head, blinking around the table "do you feel better?" Jushiro asked her kindly, accepting her nod. "I apologise, I didn't mean to scare you like that , I should have mentioned sooner that that was never a possibility "
"it's fine, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and gotten myself worked up on what ifs" she smiled.
"none of us would let that happen" Kyoraku added "Urahara, immediately shot him down. When that didn't immediately work, I also told him as much "
"which lead to shinjis next remark" urahara remembered
"which was?" I'm just a glutton for punishment today it seems, Kumiko thought
"that I was getting defensive over my .." Kyoraku trailed off; waving his hand dismissively, not wanted to utter the words
"new sex slave" Urahara finished for him, eliciting a hearty surprised laugh from Kumiko
"sorry" Kumiko said in between laughs shaking her head slightly, causing the three men to grin wildly. Giggling calming down. "He really said that?"
"he did," Urahara confirmed "which caused Kyoraku to nearly dislocate my should to get at him"
"to then promptly storm out of the meeting" ukitake added
"you didnt?" She asked him playfully across the table, mischievous twinkling in her eyes
"not my finest hour" he conceded "I'm sure I'll hear it off Yama-jii"
"he called you an "over emotional idiot" " ukitake added
"he's called me worse" shunsui laughed
"you've been deserving of worse" ukitake added
"to be fair, he called us all children " Urahara mused " then informed us that for the time being," he turned to Kumiko "you will stay under my division. He wants full reports of your exposure to all the captains Reiatsu, to be done as we see fit. So not a huge rush. as well as weekly reports of how your training is going. He also said that captain Kurotsuchi is not to get involved unless instructed so by the head captain himself . "
"but I will have to face him eventually?" She asked
"I will be with you the entire time, I won't leave you alone with him. It'll be over quick I promise." Urahara assured her "I thought we could start from the 2nd division and work our way up, like you originally intended"
"I'm so glad you talked me out of that idea" she smiled at him, "I don't know how I would of managed all this without you, without all of you"
"I've been known to have a good idea once every 50 years or so, you're just lucky it's been 50 years since my last one". He winked at her
" doing it that way also puts Kurotsuchi right at the back of the pile," Kyoraku added,"since you've already seen juus spiritual pressure, that puts him last to be seen, it could take weeks. Months even if you drag your feet"
that did make her feel a little better. Sitting back in her chair she let out a sigh. "So what's next?"
"I think tomorrow we'll go see Yoruichi-san" Urahara said, "add another one to our list before we start your training, it would be good to have more options of who would be best to start with, although I think ukitake is still a good starting point."
"but for tonight, I think you should just rest" jushiro decided kindly "you've had another emotional day, and we need to make sure your taken care of through the whole process, don't be afraid to speak up if you need a break"
Kumiko nodded . "I won't, I'll let you guys no if I need to stop for a while"
"good, then I think we should take our leave. Thank you for your hospitality Kumiko-san" jushiro said, standing up from the table, everyone following him to their feet
" my pleasure, I would love to have you all over for dinner soon? With less serious conversations that is. Gives me an excuse to use the kitchen again" she smiled
"that would be wonderful " jushiro agreed, lightly hugging the woman and moving toward the door to give the other two space to say goodbye . Urahara popped up next, wrapping his arms around her tightly, rocking them both side to side. "I'll see you in the morning ok?" He mumbled in her ear, pulling apart to see her nod, turning to leave he stopped to look back, "so about that pie..?" He trailed off making Kumiko laugh, "go grab another slice for the road" throwing her a huge grin he scurried off to the kitchen "and use a knife! I don't want to see any of your finger prints on it!" She called after him, shaking her head at his laugh.
Kyoraku took his turn to walk up to Kumiko, raising his arms to embrace her, she stepped into them snuggling her head against his wide, hair covered chest, inhaling deeply. He smelt outdoorsy, a Sami liar smell she couldn't quite place
"you sure you're ok?" He asked softly "that was a lot to take in"
"I'm fine. Honestly I feel really good moving forward, I'm not sure how good I'll be at trying to resist the reactions I get, but I'll try my hardest, I promise "
"I know you will love" he said leaning away from their cuddle, He gently cupped her face and lent down to give her a lingering kiss on the lips. "I'll pop by tomorrow to see how things went with Yoruichi" he said, gently taking her hand in his and waking toward the door where he heard ukitake ask urahara "just WHERE do you put all that food, you've had three slices of pie in the last hour"
"I've got hollow legs". Was the reply that made Kumiko laugh, Kyoraku gently letting go of her hand as they came into view of the bantering captains
taking their leave, Kumiko waved them all off at the door, before reentering her home and closing the door softly