“ Ah, but a delivery service just wouldn’t have the same charm as your little shop in the living world. The trip is half the fun ! ”

          Ukitake shared a similar sentiment to his banished friend– while the peace was enjoyable, it was certainly fleeting, and that they did not know when or how it would end was worrying at best. The captain made no mention of his concerns, however. Such talk could wait until the pleasantries were over with…and the children that resided in Urahara’s shop had wandered away.

          And on the subject of children…a bashful chuckle escaped Jushiro, along with a small cough. “  A way with kids ? No, only a mind just as childish as theirs. I’ll be sure to thank her, though– I’ll bet her tea is delicious. ”

          Tea was a certain passion of Ukitake’s, and never would he pass up a chance to partake in the drink. It was always exciting, to try new tea brewed by new people. Even if it was a flavor he’d already tasted ( which was most likely, anymore ) , it was fun to experience the personal spin others put into it. Ururu’s tea would be a new experience, and thus no matter the flavor, enjoyable.

There was something relaxed about the affable 12th Captain, easy-going and endearing. The sort that people warmed to and came to like, but a man who came from 2nd division should never be taken lightly. While Aizen had been able to read Urahara’s ‘eureka’ moment as he came up with an idea, the rest of the time it was rather difficult to discern what the man thought versus what he displayed. It was irksome in its way and impressive in another.

This man was a conundrum, and not easily solved…

And then the arm descended around his shoulders and for a moment Aizen blinked, before offering a polite smile in reply. For now, at least, it seemed there was no cause to be wary of the 12th division captain; merely cause to be fascinated by his mind and his character.

“Ah… is that so?” he cast a curious chestnut gaze toward the other man, “A drink? Well… I don’t have any plans beyond the fact that I was thinking of staying in the office a little later to complete some paperwork, but that could most certainly wait until the morning.”

The prospect of picking this man’s mind apart was too alluring to reject; it presented an opportunity to get to know Urahara Kisuke a little better –– and that could only be useful to him.

“I’d be very interested in a shadowing programme, Urahara-taichō, and immensely grateful that you’d consider offering me such a thing,” a smile rivaling Urahara’s affable own graced the brunette’s lips, “Well, shall we go and get that drink? Do you have a preferred bar? Otherwise there’s one Hirako-taichō frequents that seems to be a good place to relax…” 

Why the hell was this so difficult? She might have been better off asking Ichigo after all. “No, no the straw is very important! This isn’t a toy, it’s very serious Urahara! The straw is the whole key to the thing!”  It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t getting worked up and heated, but part of that was the aftermath of their previous conversation. She doesn’t know of the drinks he’s talking about, but she’s to stressed in trying to get what she specifically desires to partake in any interest in something new. Scratching her head she is trying to wrack her head for any other pieces from her memory that can give any more hints between the two of them. “It’s a little box, and square, and softer than a can I think. Surely it can’t be that hard for you to know if it?” 

With a roll of her eyes, she crosses her arms. “If this keeps up I’ll have to end up getting you one too and showing off my prowess in regards and add you to the people I apparently need to show it to.“ Such words are spoken bitterly, but not without honestly and truthfulness. 

“I’m a glorified messenger, carrying paperwork between divisions. I guess it makes sense since if i were to actually try and spar with anyone short of a captain. They’d be in the fourth for a few weeks, if not months.”

“Putting it on someone else isn’t the answer!“ Once more, he seems to infuriate her, even if she knows it’s partly(surely) in jest, and his response is enough for her to aim a chop at his shoulder. She can’t help but raise her voice at such a ridiculous idea, of which the other seems to be full of. 

Rukia would tag along, following after the shopkeeper with the same pace, only about a foot behind him, but her size made her move at a faster rhythm to keep up just as well. 

She had hoped that she had already supplied a good enough answer and had been specific enough for what she meant. Now she is forced to recall memories of years age. “Well they’re like–“ Not knowing where to start, her hands are far from still and nothing close to clear,  opening and shutting just as her lips do the same. Finally, she makes a kind of rectangle shape with her hands, gesturing as if she had a invisible box right in her hands. “They have these ‘straw’ things’ that are the trick to them and there’s a drink inside?“ Even as she speaks, she sounds unsure, hesitant to speak thinking she might be remembering something quite wrongly and maybe even making quite the fool out of herself depending how far off she is from the mark. 

The warm, sweet summer breeze lent itself well to lazy days spent sat on a patio with little more than time to kill. And yet, Aizen’s mind rarely took to sitting idly and watching clouds drift by.

Instead he was in a state of perpetual hypothesis; testing out theorem after theorem and laying the foundations he needed to realise his ambitions.

However, that didn’t mean he was incapable of appreciating the attractive vista that encircled 12 division: the previous captain had insisted on a variety of handsome fruit-bearing trees. Such plants offered both visual and olfactory stimulation, it was one of the more attractive and curated of green spaces within the Gotei 13.

Aizen’s vague musing was interrupted by Urahara’s words, the lieutenant’s eyebrows lifted at hearing that his own advice was comparable to Captain Hirako’s, “Oh… Is that so?” he smiled slightly, “Well… if the advice is coming from more than one person then perhaps it’s worth listening to…”

He tilted his head while he studied the 12th division captain, it was clear the blonde was thinking of something – in fact it was rather blatant, “Ah it seems you’ve come up with an idea… if I can help at all please do not hesitate to ask, Urahara-taichō.”

“See even in their current form they could be useful… manage to shut grimmjow up for longer then a few minutes being one of the first things that comes to mind.” 

“I figured that making it disappear would be impossible, even for you. But as a favor, i’d help you test any prototypes. Far more exciting work then what Shunsui has me doing.”

Two weeks? It was a little longer than they hoped, but he supposed they didn’t have much of a choice. Dondochakka gave a shrug while Pesche sighed. “We waited this long, right?” They could entertain themselves a few days longer. 

“I guess you can just send a message to Hueco Mundo somehow whenever they’re ready.” And then the real work would begin.  

‘One of those people’ – right, wrong, good, evil – all just monikers deployed by those who yearned for logic, needed reason and rationale in order to live. A formula, a path, a code. The hopeless sheep who clung to dogma so that the world might make some semblance of sense.

The same blinded rabble that relied on ‘fate’ and ‘luck’ to explain away shortcomings, and who relegated those they could not comprehend to the realms of ‘mad’, ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’.

If it made him a sociopath to deny the humdrum mundanity of this flawed world then perhaps the label was appropriate, but of course that was not what it meant. Instead it was an attempt to explain him and his motives and to dilute them with a condition rather than accepting him for what he was. A visionary.

“Hmh,” he smirked slightly, “Did right and wrong always exist, Urahara Kisuke? Or did people, desperate in their search for a means of understanding the world, craft such things? The world is not good or evil, nor is it right or wrong, it’s simply a mass of contradictions that are played out by pliant little puppets.”

And then he stopped himself, “… You and I will never see eye to eye on this issue, so I won’t waste my words further.”

‘Let me know how that plan works out for you…’ a similar taunt was once leveled against him by the shopkeeper in Karakura Town; when Aizen proclaimed that the next time he and Urahara met it would be as God and subject. Clearly that had not ‘worked out’ particularly well.

“My… As ever you are quite the provocative so and so,” the traitor’s eyebrow furrowed and he glanced at Urahara as he braced to a stand, “Oh, leaving so soon?” Aizen’s lips drew into a smile, “And do not fret, I’ll be sure to let you know how it’s all working out for me…”

Surely the man that created the object was aware of the capabilities of it more than anyone; Rukia would hope that he knew the danger that it could possess as well… right? Before she messed with it another second more, she would only grumble, finally ridding the harmless weapon from her possession with a carefree light toss in the air, as if it would magically drift left and right, like a feather to the other’s hands, but it falls far more suddenly and harshly. She can only rid of it in that fashion because she knows that the blade lacks an edge and she’s more than confident in the shopkeepers ability to play catch with her, even on short notice, she would even have such certainty that she would turn her back. “Just make sure it’s gone. Your place is cluttered enough as is.” She would shoot a ruthless comment at his abode, despite her current welcome in it, but it was the least that he deserved for his previous comments at her. 

She had actually just been planning this course of action, having sent in the message to her superiors earlier that day. “I’m heading back tomorrow morning actually. What, are you wanting to be rid of me sooner than later? I see how it is~” She seems purely confident in the matter, able to joke fully wholeheartedly. Somehow, in one way another, since her execution she has had more certainty in her home of the Seireitei, and even if a trip to Karakura could bring back the nostalgia of those few months she had spent here, she would no longer run so hopelessly from her own world. Of course it was only right that as the previous shinigami she makes sure that the little town of Karakura and Ichigo is all safe and sound. But there was one matter that she had been concerned for and it was her reason for still sticking around; concerning the fullbringers and Ichigo. However, it had seemed to settle itself nicely, just as she thought that it would. Her trust there would feel validated toward the recently renewed substitute shinigami, and a relief would fight off all concerns when she had found that all of her friends were back to normal and unharmed. Of course the shinigami had been cautious in coming here, but Rukia, having been the most trusting and sure of Ichigo’s conviction, deemed that she would be the last to leave– and now given the results she was at peace once more. Now, her previous nervous energy being able to be spent on far more joyous ones. 

“Ukitake-taichou sent me here full well knowing that I would be absent while things settled. This place has always seemed like a weirdo magnet.” Someone had to be here in case the ripples ruptured. But it seemed that with the fullbringer girl finally awakening that all was right and the pond was becoming smooth like water. “And it’s nothing Renji shouldn’t be used to. He’s fully knowledgeable about my choice.” Since her promotion– no since their reunion at her execution, they’ve been more of the tag team. pulling her around to things she had started to shrug off or venture off from in their absence. 

Though, now that it had come to mind, it might be a good time to snag a few things from the world of the living and share it with her squad and Renji when she had the chance. It would be the perfect chance to show off her experience where she was vastly superior, and remind them that she had the upper hand, not to mention she could forever capture their reactions in her mind. Only a peck of a grin pulled at the corner of her lips, but such subtlety is hidden by the thoughtful bridge of her finger on her lips. “Hmmm, you wouldn’t happen to have any sort of juice things for sale would you Urahara?”