The room fell silent, broken only by the sound of the tarp hitting the wall frame, while Karin kept aiming through the hole.
"He's watching us," she repeated, her voice low and inflectionless.
Ichigo moved closer to her, narrowing his eyes toward where she was looking, and saw that the black cat was motionless on the utility pole, a dark silhouette against the steadily brightening sky.
"It's just a damn cat, Karin," Ichigo said, rubbing his face, since he was exhausted and his patience had run out hours ago. "It's probably looking for trash or a mouse. It's not plotting against us."
"This cat isn't looking for trash," Karin insisted. "It hasn't blinked. It hasn't moved its tail. It's been sitting there still ever since Dad got home. It's too still. And it's watching us."
A creak came from the closet and the makeshift door opened a little more.
"She's right, Ichigo."
Rukia's voice was a tense whisper. She came out of the closet, still wrapped in the blanket, and joined them by the hole, staying in the shadows of the room to stare at the cat.
"You too?" Ichigo said, exasperated.
"I feel... something," Rukia murmured. Her purple eyes were fixed on the creature. "It's not a Hollow. It's not a human soul. But it is... strong. It's a spiritual presence, a very controlled one. It's not a normal animal."
"Great," Ichigo snapped. "Just great. Now even stray cats are mixed up in this."
"Ichigo, it's not a joke," Karin said.
"I'm not joking! I'm tired! I have a hole in my wall, my dad thinks I'm a terrorist, and right now I'm supposed to be worried about a math test, not a cat that's staring at us!"
The cat moved its head.
It was a small, almost imperceptible movement. A slight turn.
"It's moving," Karin said.
"See, I told you, it's going to..."
The cat jumped with a fluid, fast motion, disappearing from the utility pole.
"Where did it go?" Ichigo said, leaning out further.
"Shh," Rukia said, grabbing Ichigo's arm tightly. "There."
A figure had emerged from the street's shadows, wearing wooden sandals, geta, which made a rhythmic clack clack sound on the silent morning pavement.
The man stopped on the Kurosakis' lawn. He wore a dark green kimono and a striped fisherman hat that covered his eyes, while holding a closed fan in one hand.
He looked directly up at the second floor, right at the hole in the wall.
"What the hell?" Ichigo whispered. "Is that a neighbor? Is he going to complain about the noise?"
The man smiled. It was a wide, carefree smile.
He lifted the closed fan and waved.
"Well, well!" His voice was cheerful, but perfectly clear in the morning air. "What a sight for a quiet morning in Karakura, eh! It looks like someone had a rather... explosive night."
Karin instinctively took a step back. Ichigo moved in front of her and Rukia.
"Hey!" Ichigo shouted. "Who the hell are you? Get off my lawn!"
The man chuckled. "Oh, such manners. Is that any way to treat guests who come to help?"
Ichigo was about to shout another curse word when he felt Rukia stiffen behind him.
"No... it can't be," she whispered.
The man on the lawn pushed up the brim of his hat with the fan, revealing a smiling face and intelligent gray eyes.
"It's been a while, Rukia san."
The blood drained from Rukia's face and she grabbed the wall for support.
"Urahara Kisuke?!" Her voice was a choked squeak. "What... what is he doing here?!"
Ichigo looked from Rukia to the man. "You know him? Who is he?"
"He's...!" Rukia swallowed, her panic palpable. "Ichigo... he's... he's dangerous."
"Oh, 'dangerous'!" Urahara said from below, laughing. "Rukia san, you wound me. I'm just a humble candy merchant. Do you mind if I come up? It seems the front door is... well, I prefer this entrance. It's more scenic."
Before Ichigo could answer, the man vanished.
"What? He's gone?"
"No," Karin said, pointing to the edge of the hole.
Urahara propelled himself upward with a single, silent leap, landing softly on the remnants of Ichigo's windowsill. The black cat jumped from his shoulder and landed on the floor of the room, sitting down and beginning to lick a paw.
"There," Urahara said, opening his fan and covering his mouth. "Much better. We need to talk."
The silence in the room was total. Ichigo, Karin, and Rukia were clustered against the back wall. Urahara had hopped down from the sill and was examining the room with idle curiosity.
"My, my," he said again, tapping a piece of broken wood with the toe of his sandal. "You really did a number here, Kurosaki Ichigo san."
"Stop saying my name," Ichigo snapped. "How do you know my name? And how the hell did you get in my room?"
"Oh, I know everything," Urahara said cheerfully, not looking at him. He stopped in front of the broken closet. "And I came in through the hole you so conveniently left open. Although, technically, I didn't 'come in'. I'm still on the ledge. Are you inviting me in?"
"No," Karin said.
Urahara looked at her, and his smile widened. "Ah. And this must be Karin san. A pleasure to meet you. You have good eyes. Most people don't notice the cat."
"What do you want?" Ichigo said, taking a step forward. Rukia grabbed his arm.
"Ichigo, no!" she whispered. "Don't get near him!"
"Rukia san, really," Urahara said, feigning being hurt. "I'm here to help. You've gotten yourself into a tremendous mess."
He turned to her, his gray eyes turning serious for a split second. "Last I heard, you were supposed to be patrolling Karakura. Purifying Hollows. Not... well... feeding a human a rather potent spiritual cocktail."
Rukia's panic turned to anger and shame. "You...! You know everything?! How much do you know?!"
"Hmm, 'everything' is a very big word," Urahara mused, sitting on Ichigo's broken desk, which creaked under his weight. The black cat jumped into his lap. "But let's just say I have a keen interest in unusual energy spikes. And what happened here last night... was not 'usual'."
Ichigo stiffened. "Were you spying on us?"
"Spying is such an ugly word! I prefer 'monitoring'," Urahara said. "I've been monitoring this town for a long time. And last night, a mid level Hollow appeared. Then, a Shinigami appeared. Then... boom!" He snapped his fingers. "The Hollow vanished. But it wasn't purified. Right, Ichigo san?"
Ichigo clenched his fists. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course you do," Urahara said, his voice losing its playful tone. "You 'ate' it. Or rather, your sword did. A very peculiar ability. And then, the Shinigami's energy... disappeared. All of it."
He looked directly at Rukia. "You lost your powers, Rukia san. All of them. You gave them to him."
Rukia flinched, unable to look at him.
"But it wasn't a clean transfer," Urahara continued, his voice almost clinical now. "It got tangled. With what, I wonder?"
Urahara leaned forward, his smile gone. He stared at Ichigo.
"With the other tenant, right?"
Ichigo felt a chill. "Shut up!"
"You don't know anything about that!"
"I know everything, Kurosaki san," Urahara said quietly. "I know what you are. And I know what you just did to her."
"And," he added, turning playful again, "I know you two have a little proximity problem. What's the radius? Ten meters? Five?"
Ichigo and Rukia stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Half the staircase," Karin said, her voice firm.
Urahara looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Oh. My. That is a problem."
He stood up, putting away his fan. "And with school about to start... well, you're in a considerable bind."
"A Gigai!" Rukia blurted out suddenly, her eyes desperate. "You... you have a shop! You have access! I need a Gigai!"
"Ah, the Gigai," Urahara said.
"If you have one, give it to us!" Ichigo said. "You're here to help, right? So help!"
"Generosity is a virtue, young man," Urahara said, "but it's rarely free. And Gigai are... expensive. Especially the 'special' ones."
Karin stepped forward, positioning herself between Ichigo and Urahara.
"What kind of conditions?" she asked.
Urahara looked at her, impressed. "Direct. I like it."
"Stop playing games," Karin said. "What's the price? You're not going to use us for your experiments, are you?"
"Oh, 'use us for experiments'! What an imagination," Urahara said. "No, no. Nothing so... messy. My price is simple. First, observation. A connection this unique... well, it deserves careful study. You will come to my shop. You will buy candy. And you will tell me everything that happens. Every... itch. Every... outburst."
"And second?" Karin said.
"Second, payment." Urahara opened a normal looking briefcase that Ichigo hadn't noticed him carrying. "I have a Gigai right here. A perfect one for you, Rukia san."
"What's so special about it?" Rukia asked, suspicious.
"You see, a normal Gigai wouldn't work. Your powers aren't 'gone'. They're 'over there'," he said, pointing at Ichigo. "You're connected to him. If I put you in a normal Gigai, the container will reject your soul because it's incomplete. Or worse, the 'leash' will snap and... well, you already saw what happens."
"So this Gigai..." Ichigo said.
"This Gigai isn't just any Gigai," Urahara said. "It's designed for a soul with a... peculiar situation. A prototype I've been working on." After saying that, he pulled a body from the briefcase.
It looked like a real girl, pale, with short black hair, dressed in a simple school uniform, completely unconscious.
"What the hell is that?" Ichigo said, backing away. "Is that a corpse?"
"Of course not!" Urahara said, offended. "It's a deluxe Gigai. The price? Simple. This Gigai needs to stabilize your soul, Rukia san. And to do that... it will have to draw a small amount of spiritual energy from its source."
His gray eyes landed on Ichigo.
"It will have to draw energy from you, Kurosaki san. Constantly. Just a little bit. A small toll for convenience, wouldn't you say?"
"You mean," Ichigo said, realizing, "that this thing will draw energy from me to keep her stable."
"Exactly!" Urahara said, with a very wide smile. "See, you're quick. That's how we solve two problems at once. She gets a body. You keep your sanity. The 'leash' gets longer. And I get to observe."
He looked at Rukia. "So, what do you say, Rukia san? Do we have a deal? The clock is ticking. School starts in... oh... forty minutes."
Rukia looked at the Gigai lying on the floor of Ichigo's room. It was pale and looked fragile.
"This... this is a standard Gigai," Rukia said, shaking her head. "It looks like the ones from the academy. It won't work. My energy... my soul is... broken."
"Oh, it's not standard, my dear Rukia," Urahara said, waving his fan. "Nothing I make is. The exterior is regulation. The interior... is much more interesting. Think of it as a... prototype. Designed specifically for unique situations like yours."
"What if... what if it rejects me?" Rukia whispered.
"Only one way to find out," Urahara said.
Rukia took a deep breath. She looked at Ichigo, then at Karin, and finally at the body on the floor.
"Fine."
She closed her eyes. For a moment, her spiritual body, the one in the hospital gown, flickered. Then, it simply... collapsed.
Ichigo shouted, "Hey!"
But before he could move, the Gigai on the floor convulsed and its eyes snapped open. They were Rukia's purple eyes.
The Gigai sat up, coughing a dry, harsh cough.
"Ugh! Blech!" The voice was Rukia's, but it was different. Deeper, more... real.
"I'm... breathing," she said, touching her throat.
"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked, moving closer cautiously.
Rukia looked at him and stood up, but she staggered, so Ichigo grabbed her.
"Don't touch me!" she snapped, but she leaned on him. "It feels... weird. I'm itchy all over."
"That's the artificial nerves," Urahara said cheerfully. "You'll get used to it. Or maybe not? Who knows?"
Rukia straightened up, swatting Ichigo's chest. "I feel..."
"What?" he said.
"Heavy," she said. "I have... weight. My spiritual body doesn't... this is awful. How do you people live like this?"
"Great," Karin interrupted, her arms crossed. "The princess is in her new body. Did it work? The leash?"
Everyone looked at Urahara.
"Test it!" he said. "Leave the room."
Rukia looked at Ichigo. "Let's go."
They stepped out into the hallway. Ichigo stopped on the landing. "Do you feel anything?"
"No," Rukia said. "I feel... the pull. The one I felt before. But it's not... stinging."
"Me neither," Ichigo said. "No headache. No panic."
"Farther," Karin said from the doorway. "Go downstairs. You," she pointed at Rukia, "stay up here."
Ichigo went down the steps. One. Two. Three. He stopped at the spot where the panic had hit him before.
Nothing.
"Keep going," Karin said.
Ichigo went all the way down the stairs and stopped in the entryway. He looked up. Karin and Rukia were watching him from the landing.
"Anything?!" Karin shouted.
Ichigo concentrated. "No! No pain!"
"And you?!" she yelled at Rukia.
Rukia shook her head, a look of pure astonishment on her face. "No! I'm not transforming!"
"It's working!" Ichigo shouted.
"Wait!" he said. "I feel... something."
The panic returned to Karin's and Rukia's faces. "What?"
"It's not pain," Ichigo said, touching his stomach. "It's like... a slight cramp. Right here. A constant pull. A feeling of emptiness."
Rukia ran down the stairs, her new feet hitting the wood clumsily. She stopped in front of him.
"I feel it too," she said, touching her own stomach. "My energy... it feels extended. It's borrowing a small part of yours to maintain itself. It's... annoying, but it's working."
"Great," Ichigo said, sighing in relief. "Now I'm your personal energy source. Again."
"Splendid!" Urahara's voice boomed from upstairs. "It works! My prototype is a success!"
He descended the stairs calmly. "Eat well, Kurosaki san. You're going to need the calories. That drain isn't going away. It's the price of stability."
"What about my clothes?" Rukia said suddenly, looking down at her school uniform. "And my things. I don't have... anything."
"Oh, handled," Urahara said. He pulled a school backpack from inside his kimono and handed it to her. "Books, pencils, and a change of underwear. All set."
"You're a..." Rukia started.
"Ichigo! Karin!"
Isshin's voice boomed from the kitchen. The three of them froze.
"What is all that noise?! And who is in there?!"
Isshin appeared in the kitchen hallway, drying his hands on an apron. He stopped short when he saw Urahara, Ichigo, and an unknown girl in a school uniform.
"Oh," Isshin said, blinking.
"Good morning, Kurosaki san," Urahara said, bowing. "Just a humble merchant passing through. I came to see the monster truck damage! What a tragedy!"
Isshin stared at him for a solid second. Then he looked at Ichigo. Then at Rukia.
"Ichigo... who is...?"
Before Ichigo could stammer out a lie, Karin stepped forward.
"She's a friend, Dad," Karin said in a calm voice. "Rukia chan. Her house had... a gas leak last night. It was crazy. She stayed here."
Isshin's eyes went wide. "A gas leak? Oh, dear! What a night! Are you okay, Rukia chan? You poor thing!"
Rukia, trapped in her new Gigai, stiffened. "Uh... yes. Thank you. Kurosaki san."
"Wonderful!" Isshin said. "Well, sit down! The Yuzu honey tea is almost ready! Tea for everyone!"
"We can't, Dad," Ichigo said, grabbing his own backpack from the chair. "We're late for school."
"School?!" Isshin yelled. "Ichigo, the house is destroyed! The second floor is wide open!"
"School is more important," Karin said, grabbing Rukia by the arm. "We can't miss it. And I have to take Rukia chan to register as an exchange student."
"Exchange stu...?" Isshin started.
"See ya!" Karin said.
She yanked open the front door and literally dragged Ichigo and a very confused Rukia out of the house, pulling the door shut behind them and leaving Isshin and Urahara alone in the entryway.
"Well," Isshin said, staring at the door. "An energetic girl."
"Indeed," Urahara said, smiling.
The morning sun was bright and it was cold. The school bell rang in the distance.
"Crap, we're gonna be late," Ichigo said, breaking into a run.
Karin and Rukia ran after him.
"Exchange student?" Rukia panted, running awkwardly on her new legs.
"Shut up and run," Karin said. "It worked, didn't it?"
They ran through the familiar streets of Karakura. It was surreal. Everything looked normal. People were going to work. Cars were driving by.
"How do you feel?" Ichigo asked Rukia as they ran.
"Weird," she said. "And I feel the pull. It's constant."
"Me too," he said. "The cramp in my stomach isn't going away."
They reached the corner of the school just as the final bell stopped ringing.
"Great," Karin said, stopping. "We fixed one problem and created three new ones. We're tied to that hat guy. He's using you as an energy source. And I have to lie to Dad about a gas leak."
"We'll survive," Ichigo said.
"And he's watching us," Karin said.
Ichigo turned and looked back down the street they had just run up, but Urahara Kisuke was gone.
But on the nearest utility pole, motionless and staring right at them, was the black cat.
*****
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