Chapter 45: Hogyoku-kai (1)
Being one of the last ones to exit the tense hall, the moment the doors to the captain's hall closed, the entire Kurosaki family let out a huge collective sigh of relief, grateful and contented that they at least managed to keep Cirucci and the Arrancar safe from a proverbial and possible literal hell.
"I don't think I can take much more of those kinds of meetings." Senna muttered nervously, hand resting against her heart-pounding chest.
"I'm actually kind of glad that I was relieved of duty." Soifon admitted whimsically, hand caressing her slowly growing belly, "I don't believe frequent stressful meetings like that would be healthy for our baby girl."
The lone man of the group pressed his hand against his forehead, as they made their way down the stairs. "Next time, I'll be pregnant, and you go to all the meetings." Ichigo griped, practically feeling himself aged several years after that meeting.
"Oh, quit complaining, Aìrén." A bemused Shaolin chided her partner. "I used to do these meetings all the time and not come out feeling like the world was ending."
Ichigo further deflated upon remembrance of his wife distinguished and unquestionably longer tenure as captain. "And you led the Onimitsukido too…?" he slowly dragged his hand down his face, groaning deeper. "Ugh! How in the hell did you find the time to do it all?"
Shaolin giggled to herself, since she knew -to an extent- she cheated to manage it. "Well, I…may have misapplicated the speed clone technique back in the day to get things done around the office when Shinjiro and Subaru weren't available." She admitted, leaning in to rest her head against his arm, "But since you know the cicada and dare I say are almost as fast as me, I suppose I can show you that technique to help manage your time, Ichigo-kun."
Appreciative of her vote of confidence, Ichigo gave her a peck on the forehead, nuzzling the top of the short woman's her head affectionately.
Just as they were beginning to wind down and put the meeting behind them, a familiar voice called out from behind the group. "Hey Ichigo!"
Stopping to look back, the family saw Kisuke jogging up to them, his apparent information splurge with the Sotaichō finished up.
"What's up, Urahara?" Ichigo asked, prying his arm from his wife, focusing on the scientist.
Catching his breath, Kisuke pointed at Senna and Cirucci, "Just double checking that the girls here delivered my message."
"Oh." Shaolin stuttered, looking at her beloved. "That's right. They did mention a meeting with Kisuke earlier. I completely forgot about it."
Scratching the back of his orange hair, the man eyed his weary group cautiously, "Is it really that important?" he asked hesitantly, seeing the mental fatigue in their body language. "After that damn meeting, I don't think we can take anymore near-crises today."
"Yeah, I hear you." The man replied tiredly, empathizing with their plight. After saving the entire foundation of existence from a megalomaniac and his army, the most they should have had to worry about was everyday work troubles or struggling to decide what color to paint the baby's room, not more of Soul Societies political BS. "But it really can't wait. It's about the baby."
Seeing the abrupt stiffening of their postures and hardening of expressions, the shopkeeper held up a hand, preemptively silencing the barrage of questions. "It's nothing bad per say." He sugarcoated for their peace of mind. "But I need you to come with me to Unohana's. I promise we'll explain everything there."
"Alright." Ichigo said without hesitation. Kneeling down, he glanced at his wife, who got the message and started climbing his back.
"Senna, hop on." Kisuke mimicked the gesture. Without a fuss, she quickly climbed on, knowing that speed was clearly of the essence.
Within a matter of minutes, the group arrived at the main building of the fourth division. Expertly navigating the labyrinth-like medical ward, they came to Unohana's office, a small sign hung from the wooden door, the message scrawled in script kindly asking any comers to not disturb her. Being one of the first to leave the meeting, the doctor was no doubt also trying to wind down, avoiding the normal stresses of life as a MD after exchanging in the madness and misfortune that plagued the Kurosaki family.
Giving a quick reiatsu sensing to be on the safe side, confirming that the doctor was indeed in, Urahara knocked on the door. "Captain Unohana," he called out. "it's me, Urahara. I've got Ichigo and Soifon here for the meeting we talked about."
Once the declaration was made, the group sat in silence for the occupant to respond. After a moment of two passed with no answer, Urahara raised his knuckle to try again, when a resounding 'click' of the door lock echoed throughout the empty hallway.
"Come in." Came Unohana's muffled reply.
Pushing the door open, the group saw a large projector in the middle of the room, the beautiful doctor's work desk moved to the far side, with several chairs lined up in a row and two more placed beside the projector. Closing the blinds at the backwall, the healer turned back around to greet her guests only to pause upon seeing more than the intended company.
"Should she be here?" she asked Kisuke, pointing at the Arrancar, the purple haired fraccion trying to make herself scarce under her digit. "Or Senna?" she further added, clear disapproval in her voice. "Not only is this a clear breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, but can we really trust them to not speak of this? You know how sensitive this situation is, Urahara-san."
Kisuke gave a bashful glance behind him, quickly thinking of a sound enough reason for the pair to be here and get her ire off him. "My research has involved Senna for some time and besides I'd think she'd want to know what going on with her niece, so she should definitely be here."
A little more appeased, Retsu nodded, "Understandable." Her eyes shifted to Cirucci, "I can make at least some exception for her, but Sanderwhicc-san…"
"As for Cirucci…" Kisuke started only for the vigor in his voice to fall away, as he wracked his brain to come up with a suitable response for the doctor. 'Crap.' he sweatdropped under her solemn gaze. Sighing reluctantly, he decided to bite the bullet. "I got nothing." he admitted, "But" he continued, down but not quite out. "I do know that Doctor-Patient confidentiality can be set aside, if the people it involves, in this case the mister and missus, say it's okay."
The group watched as Retsu glanced away, giving it due consideration. "True." she acknowledged with a nod, before turning to her Sensei's son and daughter-in-law. "Ichigo-kun, Soifon-san, is this acceptable to you?"
"Well…I don't mind." Ichigo consented, as he glanced at his wife for her input. As everyone expected, Shaolin held no objection on the matter, but appreciated Retsu's professionalism on the matter. Although, part of her did wonder what was so bad about this information that the number of people informed of this had to kept to an absolute minimum.
"Alright, then please take a seat, all of you." She said, gesturing to the row of chairs she had lined up.
Doing as commanded, the married couple took the middle two seats, while Senna sat at Ichigo's left with Cirucci taking the far-right chair.
Prepping up the projector, Unohana turned to her co-host and asked, "Have you discussed anything already, Urahara-san?"
Taking a seat beside her, the man replied, "No. I only said that it's impacting the baby. I knew it would be enough to get them over here, but with that meeting happening looming earlier…"
"You didn't want to overwhelm them." She concluded, finishing the set-up on her end.
"Exactly."
"So, what's wrong with our daughter exactly?" Ichigo snapped impatiently, clearly not cool with them having a casual side conversation about her while simultaneously keeping them -her parents- in the dark.
Feeling the heat in the young man's tone, Kisuke held up a hand, "Before we get started on the slideshow and my explanation, I have to give you the lead-up; otherwise, you aren't going to understand. So, please be patience for just a little while longer okay?" he bartered, trying to cool down their heels.
While not particularly eager to do it, Ichigo leaned back in his chair. Warring with this new mixed paradigm of being a dad along with his old of being a guardian, he tried to reason and appease these halves by taking solace in that Kisuke always did right by them on the important stuff. Whether it was fighting a war, checking the Hogyoku, or looking after their child's development, he did his best, so the least he could do was give him a chance, before jumping down his throat demanding an answer. "Alright." He said glancing towards Senna and Shaolin sitting beside him. When the pensive girls nodded, agreeing with him, he glanced to his fraccion, who nodded respectful of his decision as well.
Letting out a breezy sigh, knowing that the initial hurdle was over and done with, he prepared himself for the next bouncing betty in this mine-littered conversation. "Now…I need to ask you two a very personal question." Shaolin and Ichigo nodded solemnly, indicating they were listening, he honestly wished they didn't look so eager and expectant. "H-h...have..." Closing his eyes, he tried to come with a way to say it without really throwing himself under the bus, but alas, when he knew there was no way to avoid except by running it out, he threw it out there. "H-have you two had sex recently?"
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For a clear fraction of a moment, Kisuke silently marveled over the fact that neither of them had immediately flashed stepped over and caved his face in. The next split moment, when he saw Ichigo's express morph into a cynical death glare, he readied himself for the blow.
"Urahara…" the man annunciated much like an executioner, as he spared a small glance at his emotionless looking wife, "Are you messing with us?"
"No." he said with all the courage he could muster.
Seeing that he was being genuinely tepid in asking, Soifon relaxed her features, as did Ichigo. "Is it…really important?" her face flushed slightly, "This isn't some elaborate joke like that 'armor of justice' crap you pulled on Senna, right?"
Kisuke leaned forward and looked them both dead in the eye. "On my life, I am being completely serious."
Both man and woman turned to each solemnly, both silently gauging what the other thought. "Yeah." Ichigo confirmed, breaking eye contact with Shaolin.
"Within the last two months?" Retsu spoke up, interjecting to ease the informational transition.
Shaolin glanced at Unohana, clearly uncomfortable about discussing their sex-life aloud, still she persevered, trusting them completely. "Yes, two or three times within that time frame…" her face reddened further, as she held up her pointer finger precariously. "A-and…one time within the last seven days."
Ichigo wasn't far behind in his embarrassment, "We've slowed down considerably. Both for our work schedules…and for the baby's safety." He clarified for them in case it was relevant. Though, he kept quiet about whatever flirtatious bonding activities occurred between Senna and them.
…they didn't need to know that, he was sure.
"Thanks for the honesty." Kisuke bowed gratefully, before turning to his partner, beckoning their audience to turn their attention to the projector. "Unohana, would you please?"
Turning on the projector, a silhouetted image of Ichigo appeared on the wall. "As everyone here knows," Urahara started with his explanation, "after Ichigo-kun defeated Sosuke Aizen, he got possession of the Hogyoku."
A blip slide change showed a dual mirror image of a small crystal attached to both the hilt of his Shikai Zangetsu and to the end of Tensa Zangetsu's black chain. "The Hogyoku infused itself with his Zanpaktou, Zangetsu, which as most of us know is part of his soul."
"I think you mentioned that during the captain's meeting. When you were talking about us and the experiments you did." Senna spoke up, looking to Ichigo observantly. "You said it was the key to reversing the Hollowfication process."
"That's correct, but not quite where I'm going with this. Unohana!" a shift in slide showed a side-by-side still, with a bunch of circular arrows flowing between Ichigo and his Zanpaktou. "Like I said during the meeting: For better or worse the Hogyoku has merged with Ichigo; it's power is under his control."
Walking over to the image, Kisuke continued his explanation, "However, what I omitted to say was the byproduct effects."
"What do you mean by 'byproduct effects'?" Shaolin asked
"Newton's third law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Hogyoku is under Ichigo's control, but Ichigo also merged with the Hogyoku. In short: The Hogyoku is doing things in return."
That caught everyone's attention, "It is?" Ichigo repeated, surprise ill-concealed.
Gesturing to Retsu, the man looked back at the wall, as the slide changed. Red arrows were now present circulating throughout his body from his heart, much like blood; however, what everyone saw at the center of the body wasn't a heart, but the Hogyoku, pulsating rhythmically, the artificial crystal eerily…mimicking its fleshy counterpart.
"That's right. It's affecting you not only on a spiritual level, but also on a biological level. The Hogyoku is actually re-vamping your DNA."
Kisuke and Retsu watched as Ichigo, Shaolin and Cirucci frowned slightly, "How?/I don't get it./What…?" They all replied, the importance of what was just said to them clearly going over their heads.
Thankfully, one of their numbers had some basic scientific knowledge. "Wait. Are you saying Ichigo is no longer a Vizard?" Senna asked, scratching the side of her, trying to wrap her mind around this. "Like…uhh, is it…trying to turn him into a mutant or…" she looked at the image on the wall and pointed at it, "I guess a Hogyoku in this case?"
For a moment, Kisuke was proud that his hard-earned tax money was fueling good public education, "Glad to see high school biology is still top of the line in Japan." Kisuke applauded sincerely, before growing serious.
"While you are slightly wrong Senna, you are on the right train of thought. Remember how I said Ichigo has become a conduit for the Hogyoku? Well this is how." He pointed to the image, "The Hogyoku is breaking down and replacing any inferior genetic coding that it can find and reinforcing the existing alpha material."
"In laymen's terms:" Unohana cut in for the group, in case they didn't quite grasp the full implications of what he meant. "It's making your natural strengths that much more potent, while slowly mitigating or even eliminating your weaknesses."
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"Oh…" Ichigo finally broke the silence with his vastly underwhelming reaction. "Alright…I guess that's alarming…?" he said slowly, cupping his lips as he furrowed his brow, digesting the information they were providing, still not completely sure of its significance. "But I don't see how this would cause a riot or anything. I mean…" holding his hands up to signify his confusion, he stated the disconnect he was having. "getting stronger shouldn't make them want to automatically kill me, even if I am a hybrid with a Hogyoku. Soul Society can be paranoid, but they aren't idiotic."
While he lauded the man for giving the benefit of the doubt, Kisuke shook his head disagreeing. "While that's another discussion for another time, that's not what I'm getting at either. Remember when I said it was possible for you to hollowify people by using the Hogyoku?"
"Wait." Soifon spoke up next, a horrifying realization that she wanted to deny dawning over her. "You said this entire meeting was about our daughter." Her hand slowly cradled her stomach, as she looked down. The other's catching on to what she meant. "Are you saying…?"
"To an extent…" the couple held their breath desperately. "Yes."
Then all hell broke loose.
"But how!?" Ichigo roared, jumping straight out of his chair.
"Calm down." Kisuke snapped at him. Hubby stood there for a few tense seconds, before slowly sitting back down, awaiting the scientist's explanation. "As I was saying, the Hogyoku is everchanging Ichigo's DNA, for the better I might add; however, it's also affecting his little swimmers too."
Senna shook her head, clearly confused by what he was suggesting. "Even, if that's the case, Soifon-chan was pregnant waaaay before he got the Hogyoku. You can't impregnate someone whose already pregnant!"
"This is true, but by Ichigo and Soifon's own admission, we know the cause." The slide changed and showed a silhouetted form of Soifon with a small child inside of her, side by side with Ichigo, whose shadow darkened completely.
The red arrows that had once been circulating like veins throughout his body were completely absent, replaced instead by a mesmeric crystalline-pattern encompassing everything. "They admitted to having sex. Well, I'm willing to hypothesize that Ichigo's swimmers went through Soifon's" the man blushed, as did Shaolin, "upper and lower…umm 'orifices'."
Slowly matching crystal pattern appeared around Soifon's mouth and pelvis regions, before spreading outward, inch by inch until she too was fully covered in the crystal. "As you can see, it's affecting her body too."
"It's like a virus…" Ichigo whispered, completely in disbelief even as he saw the images before him.
"Yeah, except, if we were being completely fair in our assessment, one we actually want to spread around and infect Humanity at large with." Urahara confirmed, trying for a hopeful spin but only really getting mixed result. "As you can see Soifon's DNA has been infected and altered. While it's not quite at the same rate as you, it is taking root and spreading to complete bodily saturation. Honestly, with a little more personalized training and can-do attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if the two of you surpassed and overshadowed the Sotaichō's strength in a decade or two, maybe sooner."
Ichigo cringed, "Are you…serious, Urahara?" he asked, desperately hoping it was just his trademark eccentric hyperbole shining through.
Shaolin also grimaced, thinking the same conclusion as him. "If word got out on this, I could see why there would be…'unrest' amongst the public."
"Mmhmm. Being full time Shinigami and graduates of Shino academy, you two know better than anyone of the existence of the set limit theory: The point in which one physically and spiritually max out their powers and cannot be increased further. This limit is different for everyone, but it always exists."
Looking back at the graph behind him calmly, he stated his definitive inexorable conclusion on the subject. "However, this Hogyoku virus is utterly re-writing your limits, the same as what the Hogyoku was created to do."
"Case in point:" Unohana interjected, "Commander Soifon's spiritual energy should be near or already at maximum potential due to her advanced age and training ethic. To illustrate: Imagine Soifon's power being like a glass filled with water. No matter the shape of container, the amount of water, her limits, remains the same, regardless of it being tall and narrow or short but thick. She could increase her repertoire of abilities with knowledge and practice, but that is only growing stronger on a lateral basis, expanding on a foundation, not adding more power and room for her to grow."
The woman turned her gaze to the crystalized silhouette, "But, after several preliminary tests to check her vitals and monitor the baby's health, we've discovered that her spiritual energy is strengthening and increasing at the exact same rate a student at Shino academy studying to be a Shinigami would: In short, it's like her body is trying to strive towards a higher limit and is giving her the leeway to train to this new height. To go back to my example earlier: You are pouring more water into the cup, which will change the total volume overall, thus giving you more water -more spiritual energy- to use."
"Whoa…"
"Are you serious?"
"That's incredible."
"Due to this incredibly inconceivable phenomenon, we've decided to call it Hogyoku-kai, until we can better understand the changes wrought by it."
"(Snrk)…Hogyoku power? Really?" Senna deadpanned about the cheesy choice in name.
"Hey! Who's the scientist here!?" the blushing man demanded. When the others sighed, exasperated by him, he crossed his arms indignantly. "I discovered this, I made the Hogyoku, I get to name it. That's how this works. And be thankful too, I was gonna give it a classy name like the 'Urahara brilliance Halo', but then Unohana-"
"Urahara…" Unohana warned, her dark aura washing over the eccentric inventor's shoulders.
The man shivered uneasily, "A-anyway, what's important is what happens next." He quickly redirected.
Here Unohana took back over, "As you can see, the baby is still inside of Soifon, still getting its nutrients from her like any other child, but…"
"But because my bodies…changed, it's starting to affect her?" She asked, making sure she was still following along in the face of all this information.
"Yes." She replied, glad to see they finally understood the problem now.
"Ahh…" Cirucci raised her hand up, hailing them down. "Why is this a bad thing?"
Okay, almost everyone understood the problem.
"The reason it's bad, Sanderwhicc-san, is because this child has become a conduit of the Hogyoku's power, just like her parents." Retsu explained more simplified for her.
"Now that he's been turned into a conduit for the Hogyoku, Ichigo has two ways now in inducing Hollowfication, or Shinigamification in the case of a Hollow. He can accomplish this by either: directly using the Hogyoku on them like what Aizen did and transform the individual into a Vizard or Arrancar respectively, this is a method that was briefly hinted upon in the captain's meeting."
"Or?" Cirucci asked on behalf of everyone.
"OR by having his bodily fluids and other cells injected into another person, which is how Soifon-san got infected. The Hogyoku's influence over them has spread throughout their body and can be further spread if: either Soifon and Ichigo transfuse their blood and bodily fluids to others in some way, or, in the case of their respective genders, creating or carrying a child."
Here Kisuke picked back up, "The reason this is bad is because: Outside of coldblooded murder, a maybe mind you, there is no way to stop this outbreak from getting out. We are scientifically ill-equipped to understand at this time, let alone vaccinate. This is our bubonic plague, a real black death."
The room fell completely silent at that bombshell admission. Even Kisuke, the very man that created the Hogyoku had no way of preventing things from escalating.
"Even if we assume, Ichigo-kun and Soifon-chan only have eyes for one another," he stated his hypothetical, "their daughter has already been affected by the Hogyoku's power. So, not only is she going to be a hybrid just like her father, but her projected spiritual energy is going to be through the roof."
On cue, the slide changed to three graphs, the one on the far right was quite low, the middle was about half-full same with the one on the far left. "Take a look at the graph on the far end there. This graph runs the spectrum from weakest recorded spiritual energy, typically someone from Rukongai, to someone as strong as Ichigo, Aizen or the Sotaichō."
Studying the graph, they saw it was close to the weak end, but still a little above what they might have expected, "So how strong is she then?" asked Ichigo, pointing to the graph.
"That Ichigo," Unohana answered from behind the projector, "is what she should realistically be at, given who her parents are. Admittedly, it has been rounded up a bit, for the sake better being able to see, but you get the point."
"Soooo, how strong is her spiritual pressure supposed to be?" Senna asked, trying to make better sense of the information presented.
"About as strong as any normal person getting ready to apply for Shino Academy, without prior training of course."
"Wait…so as strong as a grown man or woman's?"
Kisuke gave a wishy-washy shrug, since it was a hard concept to explain, especially since you couldn't really quantify it consistently across the spectrum. "Sure, let's go with that."
"Something tells me there is more to the story; otherwise, we wouldn't be seeing more than one graph." Ichigo said jadedly. When the scientist nodded, the group braced themselves for more to come.
"Prying your eyes away from that graph, we now come to this graph here in the center. This graph shows the spiritual energy output of someone fresh out of the academy, ready to do some soul reaping." He then took a step back and pointed to the final graph above him, "I'll let you figure out what that would make this eerily similar graph beside it. I can wait."
"Wait. Are you saying she's already as strong as a trained soul reaper!? She's not even born yet!" Senna shouted in sheer disbelief.
The slow grave nod Urahara gave her simply stupefied them. "I know, but that's not actually the worst of it. The worst of it is with her being a conduit for the Hogyoku like I mentioned earlier." He reiterated, returning them back to the major crux of the problem: The Hogyoku.
"Barring some unforeseeable intervention, I can safely say Ichigo and Soifon are going to keep this virus between them." The stony silence that the trio emanated was mistakenly took as seriousness as opposed to embarrassed apprehension.
Thankfully for them, everyone else missed their near imperceptible bristling, as the scientist carried on. "But we won't be able to tell how many sexual partners she'll have in her life without data to put us on a starting point. That said, while multiple sexual encounters will increase exposure, it pretty much only takes one event to spread the influence given its complete domination on the body. Add that she'll be the strongest toddler in existence, and can you imagine how the Shinigami are going to react to this?"
"If they hate us…" Cirucci began, a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek. "A natural evolution of the Hollow chain."
"They'll lose their shit with this." Ichigo finished, a crushing weight falling upon him, as he imagined-practically heard the calls for her blood.
Shaolin paled, her noble upbringing creating a new dimension of fear to be considered. "If they don't kill her, she'll either be ostracized by her peers or they'll try to manipulate her to their own ends in hopes of gaining control of her power."
Her frown wavering, she glanced at Kisuke worriedly, and after swallowing the lump in her throat asked the question she truly did not want to consider. "Kisuke…do you think…S-soul Society will try to practice (gulp) eugenics on her or us? Try to harvest and control this phenomenon?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's calm down here. Aren't we all kind of jumping the gun?" Senna tried to de-escalate the situation, before it got to anything remotely close as dark as that. "I mean everyone already knows about Soifon's pregnancy and Ichigo being the father, and everyone seems to be okay with it, even though he's Hollow and Shinigami. So, do we really need to come out and talk about this Hogyoku infection thing? Couldn't we just say, it was a quirky mutation? It happens all the time in the world of science."
"I don't think that's a realistic option." Ichigo disagreed with his panicking sister. "Not only are people going to want to know anything and everything about me and the Hogyoku, but our daughter is gonna be living under a microscope."
"Ichigo's right. If she so much as sneezes wrong, everyone is going to want to know. Not only would it be completely reckless, but it would be impossible for us to stay quiet about it forever. Think about how easy it would be for it to slip out. If something happens to Unohana or Urahara, who's going to be her doctor and still be trusted to say nothing to the Sotaichō or anyone else?"
The father closed his eyes, acknowledging his wife's point. "And it's not like her abilities are going to be easy to ignore." He said, pointing at the graph on the wall that visually proved his point. "Sure, they're going to accept some things about her as natural talent because we're her parents," he moved his finger away from the tiny bars over to the half-filled graph, "but how about a ten-year-old being able to manhandle a captain or Arrancar? Even Fukutaichō Kusajishi is decades old, you think that'll fly?"
"There is also the double-edged sword of trying to claim this as some 'fluke mutation'." Retsu weighed in, using her vastly superior medical knowledge to further denounce Senna's idea. "It could actually happen. Remember, we don't know all there needs to be known about the Hogyoku, so an actual genetic mutation is possible. While we can say for certain it takes intercourse for Ichigo and Soifon, for the child, as far as we know, her mere presence might be enough to trigger influence in some way, we could all easily be infected during the actual birthing process if it happened."
"I don't like the sound of that." Senna admitted fearfully, truly seeing how it would be a bad idea, especially if it got out.
As fear and dread begin to filter through the room, robbing it of hope, Ichigo slowly looked inward, introspective of the conundrums that seemed to be sent to him one after another. 'Are you toying with my life, Spirit King…?' the head of the Kurosaki's asked himself, pondering the possible machination of the hedonistic spirit king.
"Ichigo?" Shaolin called to her brooding husband, calling him back to the real world. Her soft yet worried tone, gently asking, "Is everything okay?"
"Y-yeah." He answered unconvincingly. As her frown deepened, knowing he was hiding something, he offered her a kind smile. "Don't worry." He reassured, pulling her in closer to his chest. "I'll figure something out."
The woman looked at him, worry in her eyes, before nodding quietly, trusting her beloved's instincts once again, as she rested her forehead against his body.
Looking back at Kisuke, Ichigo decided now might be the best time to call it quits. "Let's set this aside for today, we've got enough problems already today." He shrugged haphazardly, "For all we know, we might just be working ourselves up over nothing."
Retsu's lips morphed into a solemn frown, "Do you really believe that Ichigo-kun?" she asked, hoping that he was taking this seriously.
'Not a chance in hell knowing my luck.' He thought to himself, certainly agreeing with her sentiments. "I think we should try to resolve this overtime. Trying to solve all these problems at once isn't going to get us anywhere except stressed out and pissed off. We need to come at this with clear head, and to do that, we gotta know when to back off and save things for another day."
"I see your point, but…"
"Nah, I think he's right." Urahara surprisingly agreed with him. "A lot of this can change based on our experimentation with the Hogyoku. What we know now might be vastly different in the next 4 or 5 months, depending on the baby's development in Soifon's 'new' body."
Pulling out his trademark fan, the scientist leaned against the wall leisurely, "I'm sure you've all been quite busy, why not take a breather and relax a little?"
Turning her head, Shaolin shook disagreeing with him. "We can't go doing that. The Central 46-"
Kisuke quickly cut her off, "Won't be giving an answer about that hearing that quickly. They should have a lot of things on their plate to review."
"But what about their divisions? They can't just up and run off." Senna pointed out.
Kisuke nodded, already taking that into account it seemed. "Absolutely, which is why they should give their soldiers a day off as well." He responded, leaning back into his chair whimsically, finger twirling in the air. "Kyoraku does it all the time. I'm pretty sure Mr. War-hero and Ms. Captain-Exemplary can get away with it once in a while."
"I don't think that such a bad idea." Ichigo said a relieved smile on his face, warming up to Kisuke's suggestion. "We can just think of it as a family outing. I mean hell, when was the last time we spent more than five minutes with each other, before having to run off and do work?"
Leaning back off her husband, Shaolin did seem a little more willing to consider the idea. "Well…I guess it would be nice to go out and have some fun, at least for a little while." She admitted, before leaning forward and looking to the woman on the other side of Ichigo, "But what about Senna? It would definitely be far too risky to take her to the human world and aside from Health Land or the S.W.A there really isn't much to do in Seireitei that can be considered 'fun'."
"Oh yeah…" Ichigo deflated as he looked at his baby sis, momentarily forgetting about her health condition. Turning back to his wife, he saw Cirucci as well, and that weighed heavily as well, "There's Cirucci too. We can't just leave her by herself either." Sighing tiredly, the man admitted defeat on the matter, "So much for an outing…"
"Hold on, there is still Shino academy." Kisuke pipped up amicably, "They are having their annual fall festival, you can take them there. Cirucci can stay near Senna, like you ordered her too, and then I can stay near Senna to make sure she doesn't overexert herself."
"Hey, yeah…" Ichigo's smile started to return, seeing the well thought out plan by the man. Senna would be in a place full of spiritual energy, Cirucci wouldn't leave Soul Society custody, Kisuke could assist medically…
"That could actually work-"
The man suddenly fell quiet, the full weight of the man's words sinking in. Looking at his wife questioningly, she looked back at him and began to think on his words before realization began to dawn on her. Looking back over his shoulder, Senna stared at him equally puzzled for a second, before watching her boyfriend's eyes go over to Kisuke. The hybrid followed the action for a split second, until finally it clicked to her, as did the others.
"Hold on a sec. Kisuke you didn't just bring that up because you wanted to get out of work, did you?" Ichigo asked him point blank, a growl of irritation in his tone.
Kisuke blushed, quite embarrassed at being found out, he was so close at convincing them too! "Ummm….w-well hahaha…"
Soifon crinkled her nose, "Disgusting." She barked, almost wishing him to be an insect she could grind her beneath her heel.
"And here I was having a new respect for your thoughtfulness." Senna said mirthlessly, previous enthusiasm totally drained.
Cirucci sweatdropped from the overt hostility of her master's, not that she didn't understand. "No wonder K.A.T club is so popular with the people that know señor Kisuke."
"Don't you have a Hogyoku reversal plan you need to be working on?" Ichigo asked rhetorically. "You kept saying over and over that it would take a long time to figure out the quirks and mysteries during that captain's meeting; Perhaps you should, oh, I don't know, GET WORKING ON IT INSTEAD OF DICKING AROUND!"
It was here that Kisuke unexpectedly snapped back, "Don't try to change the conversation, buster!" Kisuke yelled, pointing dramatically at Ichigo, "I've noticed it!"
The soul reaper looked at the man incredulously, "Noticed…?" he started, shaking his head, bewilderment written plainly on his face. "Noticed what?"
"YOU! Hogging all the girls!" he accused the dumbstruck man. Pulling out a list that he'd been keeping in his pocket this entire time, he began to rattle off rapid fire whatever he had written down.
"From the top: You've got little Mrs. 'Waifu-for-you' Soifon-chan over here working hard in the kitchen of your love nest, bun in both her ovens, ready to give you a 'welcome home' special every day!"
"What gave you that idea?" the woman forced out, clearly confused by this man's delusions.
"Next: You've got Senna-chan there following you around, clinging to you like a lost puppy with a 'Please notice me, Ichigo-senpai!' look, ever since our invasion, you know, whenever she's isn't washing your NAKED body in the hot springs or shower with HER NAKED BODY!"
"What." Mouthed Unohana, clearly not expecting that information.
"That was out of context!" Senna yelled hastily, calming the captain down. "And besides I already explained it to them what happened."
"Then: You've got 'Anything for master-sama~!' Cirucci over there, her body ready and willing to listen and satisfy your every sick pervy command you might give her."
"Aside from protecting la familia and not killing people unnecessarily, he hasn't really order me to do anything." Cirucci interjected, hoping to clarify the situation between them. "Ah! Mi Espada es muy facil de complacer. Que afortunado."
"Is he projecting here? Cause that doesn't sound remotely close to me or anything I'd do." Ichigo mumbled quietly to the girls beside him, who also sweatdropped, catching his meaning, even if Kisuke wasn't too far off the mark from…certain perspectives.
The scientist kept rattling off names, oblivious to the side conversation. "Next is Kukaku Shiba, who said she'll always offer you a place in her house along with her 'eternal gratitude'," the man shifted in his chair and pointed at Retsu, much to her surprise that even she wasn't safe. "Unohana, from what I hear, has been buddy-buddy with your mom and involved in your life when you were a kid, so she's OBVIOUSLY got sisterly Florence nightingale affection for you."
"He's totally projecting." Senna concluded quietly, a twinge of pity for the mental breakdown the genius was clearly suffering from.
Shaolin did not share her mercy. "More like jealous." She put it bluntly.
"You certainly know a lot of women, Ichigo-sama." Cirucci said, turning to her embarrassed Espada. "That's kind of impressive siendo tan magnetico."
"It's…been an interesting life I've led." He replied hesitantly, unsure what to make of the man's meltdown.
"And then finally you've got not only a confession of love, which you turned down by the way, from Matsumoto and Hinamori, but one from a pair of sisters, Kiyone, while her older sister Isane speaks highly of you. YOU!"
Ichigo turned away scratching his cheek lightly, an amused smile on his face. "Well," he blushed, "I guess when you put it like that…"
The man's cocky smile ticked off the inventor even more. This was war! "Stop acting so smug you bastard!" he then pointed to the girls, who, for reasons that boggled his genius mind, were more impressed by what he did than angry. "And you three! Why aren't any of you angry about anything I've just exposed!?"
Senna smiled demurely, as she scratched her cheek, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of her head, "I…don't think I have a whole lot of right to judge here." She answered, sidestepping the issue, since she'd be a massive hypocrite, if they knew the true dynamics of things.
Shaolin looked at her 'playboy husband' neutrally, the expectation the shop owner was looking for nowhere to be seen in her body language. "Ichigo and I have a bond of trust and understanding between us. We talk things over all the time." She informed coolly, before giving a carefree shrug. "Besides, I'm not going to go psychotic just because I catch him attending other women around him, it's just normal everyday interaction."
Finally, Cirucci at the end of the line shook her head, clearly in the negative of the accusation's implication. "I can feel lust and sexual tension to another," she then shook her head sadly, "But I cannot feel amore, due to my lack of heart. Anything more than the occasional fling would never work until I regain some more of my humanity." She then turned to her lord and ladyship, "But do not worry. I would never involve myself in your happiness. I have burdened you all enough as it is."
"It's alright. Don't worry about it, Cirucci." Ichigo said to her, trying to pick her back up.
"Yeah, that's what friends are for." Senna chimed in, while Shaolin gave a nod in agreement.
Cirucci bowed gratefully, "Thank-you for your kindness."
"See that's the kind of shit that I'm talking about!" the scientist shouted as he grabbed the hair on his head, completely bewildered by their nonchalant response. "Not only does he flirt with her in front of you, but then you just go along with it! I thought women were jealous!"
Striking a sore nerve, Ichigo leaned forward, eyes narrowed, "Wait. Was all of this just an elaborate way to stir up trouble?"
Removing his hand from his head, the shameless man just looked at him and said, "Absolutely."
Before Ichigo could introduce his fist into the man's skull, Kisuke's head was unexpectedly shoved through a wall courtesy of Unohana. "Oh dear." The woman 'apologized', 'accidentally' digging the man's head in further. "My hand must have slipped. I only meant to tap your shoulder to get your attention Kisuke. How careless of me!"
Turning away from unconscious scientist, she looked over at the quartet, a terrifying darkness emanating from her slit-eyed smile. "You saw that unfortunate 'accident' right? I was just trying to be helpful."
Ichigo crossed his arms, no sympathy given. "Of course."
Shaolin was also in the same boat. "Obviously, you were trying to get his attention."
Senna was a bit less heartless. "H-happen to everyone." But certainly, not any more forgiving.
Cirucci sweat dropped, "Ustedes Shinigami vas loco…" she said frankly and honestly, taking comfort in the obvious language barrier.
"I'm so glad you understand." Retsu replied more expressively, dark aura dissipating from appeasement. "Oh!" she suddenly realized, the full implication of her…non-intentional actions. "I suppose with Urahara…sleeping, I'll have to go in his stead to keep an eye on Senna, while he recovers."
"…" For some reason, Ichigo felt an almost sinister undertone in the woman's words, hidden just underneath the overt sadism in harming Kisuke for his casual mentioning of her and his…girls in his little rant. "Unohana…" he started, gulping slightly when she turned to him, hesitant to ask. "Retsu-san," he said more casually, "Did…did you just want to get out of work and go to the festival too?"
The long-haired woman let her hand drop from the back of Kisuke's head and walked over to him quiet as the grave. Kneeling down to eye level, she placed her hands on his shoulder and banishing all sense of nonsensicalness said to him. "Yes, Ichigo-kun. Absolutely."
The entire group seat dropped at her admission of having the same intentions as Kisuke, albeit less pervy and underhanded. "But." She continued, standing back up, hands sliding back down to her side, a concerned look on her face. "I think it's been a while since we've hung out, outside of my hospital of course."
Walking back over to her desk, she flipped over one of the photos sitting on it, revealing her, Masaki and a much younger Ichigo standing together, doing the peace sign. A photo taken of them at a much simpler time, back when fighting and battles were the furthest thing from anyone's mind.
"Retsu-san…" Ichigo muttered, he like others beginning to realize how lonely the doctor must be. He was almost reminded of what his mother had said regarding Yamamoto, while invincible and well-regarded on the outside, they were deeply troubled on the inside.
Looking at her husband's troubled expression, Shaolin turned back to the doctor, caught off guard by this side of her. 'She's always taking on other people's problems, but I've never really thought about who is taking on hers.' The expectant mother looked down at the ground miserably, almost ashamed by how she used to act.
'I guess Unohana-san and mom were close.' Senna thought to herself as she took in the photo, that seemed to have taken place at a festival of sorts. 'I don't think I've ever seen her look so happy, even at the SWA meetings…now that I think about it, she's not particularly close to anyone at those meetings. She's almost like…a motherly advisor rather than a friendly participant.'
"I'd just like to enjoy myself in your company. You're the only ones I feel I can stop being the prim and proper Unohana and let my hair down to be 'Retsu'." Retsu smiled softly, unaware of their subtle concern for her.
"Oh," a small realization occurring to her. "I suppose, Ichigo aside, you'll get to see a more whimsical side of me. Well, don't worry, I won't interrupt your little date. Just a little quality time like the good old days. We could head right on out after Senna's rehab training tomorrow."
"Well," Ichigo started, gauging the expression of the ladies beside him, who seemed to know what he was going to say. "I'm alright with it." He leaned back in his chair and turned the floor over to the others. "Ladies?"
Shaolin bowed, as best as she could. "I'd be honored, if you accompanied us, Unohana-san."
Senna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're kind of like a big sister to all of us. How could we turn you down?"
Deeply touched by their understanding, the kind doctor smiled gently, as she clasped her hands together. "Wonderful! Now is there anything else you wish to discuss before we end this meeting?"
Senna raised her hand, hailing her attention. "Umm, not that I don't mind, but do you plan on being with us all day?"
Tilting her head to the side quizzically, the doctor quietly replied, "Unless some emergency comes up than yes, I should. I can watch over you and monitor your health, Cirucci will be 'secure' and be allowed to see more to Shinigami culture than discontentment, and I get to spend some quality time with you all." She stated, hoping to alleviate whatever concern she might have had for asking.
Equally puzzled by the odd line of questioning, Ichigo turned to Senna, "Any particular reason why you ask Senna?"
Swishing her lips to-and-fro, she motioned with her fingers for him to lean in. Doing as asked, she whispered something into his ears that none of the other women heard. They watched as his expression slowly morphed to a more deeply contemplative one, his wife merely looked on curiously. "Ahh…" he breathed, leaning back now also realizing the hitch it had thrown in to things.
Closing his eyes, he brought his hand to his lips, thinking over the problem, before eyeing Retsu carefully, and then turning to his beloved. Seeing her puzzlement match his earlier one, he mimicked Senna's gesture and silently called her close.
Once again, Retsu watched as the group shared another secret and, this time, Commander Soifon's expression changed ever so slightly. The pregnant woman shook her head in tandem with his words, sparing a glance over the man's shoulder, as he jutted his thumb to his worried looking sister behind him. As his thumb moved away from his shoulder, and extend into an open palm to Retsu, Shaolin turned her head to the doctor still listening intently, as she examined her carefully for some reason.
Unohana furrowed her brows and was going to ask what they were talking about, before, her sensei's son moved his hand away from her and to the unconscious form of Kisuke. 'What are they talking about?'
"Is something wrong?" She asked cautiously, taking the whispers as a sign for secrecy, but still curious nonetheless. Ichigo seemed to finish explaining as he leaned back, as did his wife, a shared look of determination in their eyes, before he looked over at Senna calmly, and nodding, which was returned in kind.
As the three of them turned to her, Unohana bit her lip wondering if she should pry. While yes, it seemed to concern her and technically Kisuke by the looks of it, they seemed to want to keep it to themselves, unless heavily deliberated over. 'Dare I press them?'
Her thoughts were answered, when Ichigo finally spoke up. "Well, it's nothing serious per say. I mean, at least compared to the Hogyoku-thing affecting us and the baby."
"But it is still kind of a big deal." Senna followed up nervously.
"Yeah." Shaolin agreed with her.
"Well, if it will make you more comfortable. I will to swear to you on my honor as a doctor that I won't tell a soul."
"Well…"
"…Aìrén?"
Ichigo nodded to himself, knowing she took her word on the matter quite seriously. 'Well, here goes nothing.' With a huff, he threw caution to the winds. "Well, what we wanted to inform you of is that:" he looked at Senna, and clasped her hand lovingly, lifting it up high enough into the air, for Retsu to see their interlocking fingers. "We're dating."
As the trio expected, the woman's facial features froze in place. Her eyes remained focused on the pair of hands, as she processed his words. Slowly, almost mechanically, her eyes wandered over to Shaolin sitting beside him, calm as ever. "Ichigo," she said in a calm tone, which surprised even herself given what she just heard, before pointing at the Chinese woman pregnant with his child. "Are you-"
Seeing where she was going with it, the singled-out woman corrected her, "No, he's not cheating on me, Unohana-san." She answered, waving her hand in front of her to dismiss the thought. "I'm well-aware, in fact, I'm dating her as well."
"Q-que!?" Cirucci shouted in clear surprise, her pointer finger swinging between the two girls and her master. Her eyes went swirly, as she tried to process it all. 'W-well, I guess that's why they are so open minded…?' she tried to rationalize.
Shaolin sweatdropped, "Oh, right. I forgot she was here too." She sighed, at least looking at the bright side. "Oh, well, it was going to come out eventually. At least we don't have to hide it around her now."
From the other side of the room, Retsu's mind was following suit with Cirucci's reaction, her train of thought flying from one end of the spectrum to the other. The who's, how's, when's and whys. Details. She needed details. "Senna" she called to the younger woman.
As the girl turned to her, indicating that she was listening. The doctor closed her eyes and steeled herself wanting to approach this with both a calm head, but mindful to not hurt them, they were dear friends.
Pointing to Ichigo, she calmly said, "Ichigo is aware of your…" she paused, before glancing to Soifon, wondering if she should put it out there. After all, it might hurt Ichigo's and Soifon's relationship, which wouldn't be good for them or the baby. Being tactful she ended with, "Relation, correct?"
"Yes, we're all aware." Ichigo answered her, "I'm Senna's brother."
"Tuyo hermano!?"
"Except Cirucci." He amended, as he glanced at the fraccion, whose head was releasing black clouds of smoke from her ears and mouth.
'I'm glad someone besides me is having a normal reaction to this kind of news.' Retsu thought to herself, beside herself at his complete lack of subtlety. Shaking her head, she decided to follow his lead and be open about her opinion then. "I don't approve and think you should break it off."
"We kind of figured that, but we aren't really looking for your approval, Unohana-san." Senna squeaked timidly, trying to be both polite but firm on the matter.
Retsu went quiet for a second, considering a few things, before crossing her arms over her bust, preparing to dig herself in. "Then I suppose you wouldn't mind me telling all of Soul Society about this?"
Shaolin quirked a brow, at the doctor's understandable if sudden change in attitude. "What happened to swearing an oath of secrecy?"
The long-haired doctor held a hand up, "That was before I knew you were doing something like this." Retsu shook her head dismissively, "As a captain, I have a duty to report such abnormalities for the good of soul society."
'What aren't you saying Retsu?' Ichigo frowned, as he picked up the hypocrisy of her words and actions. "If you were really so concerned with that, you'd be reporting the Hogyoku's effects on the baby as well as us."
Shaolin nodded warily, "Yeah, why are you acting like this Unohana-san? IF you don't approve just say so, you don't need to lie about your intentions."
Retsu paid no concern to her words, "How do you think Soul Society -your parents- would react to hearing this?" she posed to them; a cross look on her beautiful face. "Do you honestly think they'd approve?"
Straightening up in his chair, Ichigo's frown deepened, "I don't give a damn what Soul Society thinks." His tone dropped further, clearly indicating his disappointment in her. "As for mom and dad? I don't know, they'd probably be reluctant, maybe even disapprove as well, but they'd be willing to listen and understand, Unohana."
Slumping into her chair, the older woman buried her face into her palms, shaking her head all the while. Pulling away, Retsu sighed tiredly, "Is there nothing I can say or do to change your minds?"
"Uhuh."
"No."
"That's for us to decide."
Nodding acceptingly, Retsu smiled softly, surprising them by the switch in attitude once again. "If you are that adamant about it, I have no choice but to accept." The woman bowed respectfully, "Please accept my apology."
"Our acceptance depends on why you acted in such a manner." Soifon told the woman flat-out, her voice neither contemptuous nor comforting. "You've really put our opinion of you in question."
"That's understandable." Retsu replied, knowing she owed them an answer. Laying her hands on her lap, she explained. "I was seeing your commitment to this course of action and acting on sensei's behalf."
Ichigo tilted his head to the side, "I had a feeling there was more to it, but what do you mean by acting on 'mom's behalf'?"
"I…" her eyes darted away to the floor guiltily, since she did know she did overstep her boundaries. "Considered it my duty to make you think about how Masaki-sensei might have felt about this situation."
Looking back at them, a thin frown formed on her face. "I don't think she would approve of what you are doing as you say and I believe she would have urged me to talk to you in her place, to reconsider what you are about do."
'Okay, so she was feeling guilty and obligated. I think I see where she's coming from now.' Ichigo thought to himself with a slight nod, "But you do know she'd eventually come accept it, right?" he posed, placing a hand on Senna's shoulder. "She might not approve, but she'd accept it because she would never ever cut Senna out of her life; especially, knowing how our family got separated in the first place."
Senna gave a sideways glance, "Yeah, from what I hear, mom was a really nice person, who'd welcome strangers with open arms. I think, if she was forced to choose between this or me not being there, she'd call me daughter-in-law and welcome me."
"I know." The student replied, knowing that deep down in her sensei's heart, she would always focus more on the good than the bad in a situation. She took in a deep breath, before sighing even heavier, her body bowing slightly from the weight she felt on her shoulders. "I just…" she closed her eyes, unable to meet their gaze. "I just felt like I'd be failing her, if I didn't try and serve as her voice, or try to stop you from facing unnecessary problems or pain."
"We know." Ichigo said with a small smile.
"And we thank you for your concern, Unohana-sama." Shaolin bowed, quite relieved now.
"Thanks for understanding." Senna said grateful
Accepting the situation for what it was, Retsu nodded solemnly. "I appreciate your trust for telling me." Her eyes then wandered over to the side and judging by what she saw, she lowly said. "However, please heed this warning."
"What would that be?" The trio asked leaning in to hear her dire words.
"The first would be everything that we mentioned here, might just apply to Senna as well. So, to be safe, I'll conduct a private test with her at a later date, but I would ask that you…limit any more nightly escapades."
"I understand."
"We don't know the nature of this, but if you are committed to this relation, at least we know it will remain contained. Just…please be careful."
"We will." Senna said, squeezing Ichigo's hand tighter.
The man gave a reassuring smile, before turning back to the eagle-eyed doctor. "And the second?"
Retsu smiled, as she pointed beside them, where Cirucci lay frazzled, eyes spinning in circles, after taking in so much scandalous information at once. "Be mindful of the company you say this information in front of."
A heavy embarrassed weight fell over the trio. "R-right, thanks Retsu." Ichigo said with a nervous chuckle, while Senna frantically tried to revive her, and Soifon facepalmed, both frustrated and embarrassed.
After the successful revival of the families' fraccion, the Hollow gave skittish, but reassuring pledge of trust to take this secret to the grave, even if personally uncomfortable about it, it was still a miniscule price to pay to have masters as kind as they.
"Well," Retsu said, voice filled with renewed mirth, "I guess I'll be seeing you all tomorrow. Be sure to dress to relax." She smiled pleasantly, "Doctor's orders." She sang.
Sharing a chuckle, the group got up from their chairs and, after bowing to the doctor for all her help, left one by one. Once the last of her guests departed, save the KO'd Kisuke, the older woman sighed to herself, as she sank into the chair, her eyes darting towards the ceiling and the heavens that lay beyond it. "Sensei…" she called out, "Please give me strength."
The woman closed her eyes, as visions of her sensei and the time she spent together with her family played in her mind's eye. The childhood of Ichigo, the playful antics and spankings she endured to become a 'proper lady', all of it clear as day…up until the day her hollowfied master smiled at her, before turning to dust, her words and pleas falling to her ears, before being consumed in the wind. Time and precious memories taken not only from her but from her family…all by Aizen.
She steeled herself as she looked over to the monitor, to the life depicted in the ex-captain's womb, the future to beheld amidst Soul Societies uncertainty. She'd do it for not only Masaki, but for her granddaughter yet to be born and her loving family. "To protect and guide them, come what may."
Blackout2010: To review what we learned this chapter: STD's are real. No glove, no love. Always practice safe sex or you or your partner might turn into a Hogyoku. And no one wants that.
Guidepost of the soul:
The phrase Hogyoku-kai was actually a phrased borrowed from The bleach online game: 'Bleach online'. In it Zanpaktou had a set number of stages, lvl 1 is Asauchi, lvl 2 Shikai, lvl 3 Bankai and Lvl 4 Hogyoku-kai. While it was presumably just a thing they had to use as filler for name and had nothing to do with the Hogyoku, I liked it and decided to repurpose it. Also Kisuke naming something lamely sounds like something he would do, but that Urahara brilliance Halo though...
