“Well that could have gone better,” Tatsuki announced dryly as their missing teammate flew away without a backwards glance.

“Yeah. Could have gone worse though,” Ichigo agreed, turning away from Kingfisher’s vanishing form and looking the rest of his team over. They were all varying states of exhausted from two difficult battles less than a day apart and, for all a part of him rebelled at following Kingfisher’s heavy-handed order, ‘go home’ sounded like the best piece of advice he’d ever heard.

(How long would it take them to adapt to fighting as sentai?)

(Did they even have enough time before something major happened?)

“Urahara-san did say it would take time to get him to trust us,” Inoue said slowly, thoughtfully, like she was feeling her way through her words. “If he’s been working on his own for so long…”

Chad made a considering noise, then shook his head when Ichigo turned to face him. “Not here. We should go back to Urahara-san.”

“Might as well,” Ichigo said with a shrug, then fumbled for the odd communicator that Urahara had handed him the previous night. Most of the ‘grand introduction’ had already slipped his mind — three AM on a school night was really not the best time — but Urahara had mentioned something about not walking everywhere.

He just couldn’t remember if Urahara had meant that they could fly like Kingfisher or if he’d meant some sort of teleportation.

“I think… this one?” Tatsuki said as she leaned in and pointed to a small button at the bottom labeled with the alien abduction image. “Seems his style.”

It really did, Ichigo conceded. He’d only known Urahara for a day but… yeah. Alien abduction as the icon for the teleportation button absolutely seemed his style. “Everyone ready to get out of here?” he asked. When they all nodded, he pressed the button—

Light flared around them, followed by the disconcerting feeling of being moved. Tatsuki yelped and Inoue cheered and Chad reached out to grip his shoulder—

The light faded. Left them standing in the vast, desolate training ground that existed beneath Urahara’s shop.

“Welcome back!” Urahara greeted them cheerfully from his perch atop a boulder. “You did well out there.”

“You were there?” Tatsuki asked sharply as she reached up to pull off her helmet.

Urahara hummed and tapped his fan against the boulder. “Call it curiosity,” he said with a shrug. “I can’t learn everything from monitors and cameras, after all! Sometimes the best way to learn is to actually be there.”

Ichigo took off his helmet and stared up at Urahara thoughtfully; the fight hadn’t been any different from the previous night except for Kingfisher’s arrival. And perhaps it was simply a matter of Urahara watching out for them — the man seemed invested in them despite his casual attitude — but Kingfisher’s arrival implied otherwise.

(Urahara had been there for Kingfisher.)

“Ah…” Urahara fidgeted a bit under Ichigo’s stare, fan coming up to hide his lower face and his gaze sliding to the side. “W-well! I’m sure the four of you are tired after all of that. I’ve had Tessai make up a room for you — I’ve only got the one for right now, so I hope you don’t mind sharing — and he’s made up some food that I hope you’ll appreciate—”

“Thanks, Hat’n’Clogs,” Ichigo interrupted Urahara’s uncomfortable ramblings. He cast questioning looks at his friends, wondering if they wanted to stay, then said, “We’ll stay for at least the food, then see how we feel afterward.”

“Right, right. Off we go, then! I’ll have Tessai set the table.” Kisuke hopped off the boulder and gestured for them to follow before darting away, not even checking to make sure they were following him.

“That’s the man we’re entrusting our lives to?” Tatsuki muttered, running a hand through her hair and shooting Ichigo an exasperated look. “Not sure I trust him, Ichigo.”

“I do,” Ichigo told her firmly. “Someone’s been keeping Kingfisher alive for the past few years, and I bet it’s him.”

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, fingers drumming on her helmet. “That’s… true,” she said. “You think he’s doing this for Kingfisher?”

“I think Kingfisher’s been alone for years and Hat’n’Clogs wants to fix that,” Ichigo agreed as he turned to follow Urahara out of the training ground. “And we’re going to do our best to make sure it works out.”

Chad nodded and fell in step with him, voice soft as he said, “Kingfisher isn’t welcome amongst most sentai because he’s known for working with Hollows. He’s not going to trust us.”

“Wait, he works with those monsters?” Tatsuki leaned around Ichigo to frown at Chad. “Why’d he help us, then?”

Chad shook his head and clarified, “He works with some, not all. People think there’s three distinct groups he works with, but no one really knows.”

Inoue darted forward enough to see all of them and added cheerfully, “Kingfisher’s incredible! He’s the reason we don’t get many attacks around here, and his allies are really, really cool looking! I love the centaur lady the most, her green hair is so beautiful!”

“That’s who you’ve been crushing over lately?!” Tatsuki yelped. “I thought you meant some punk who’d dyed her hair green!”

“She’s amazing!” Inoue defended with a pout, helmet thumping against her side as she crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s like some knight out of legend, all graceful and brave and noble!”

Ichigo snorted in amusement and tried to shoo the group along. “We’ll withhold judgment until we meet them,” he said firmly. “If they’ve been helping Kingfisher, then maybe not every Hollow is an enemy.”

“Maybe,” Tatsuki said, tone dubious, before she sighed and shrugged. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

“Thanks, Tatsuki.” Ichigo tilted his head to give Chad a questioning look, wondering what he thought. His friend met his gaze calmly with no sign of discontent, reassuring Ichigo that he’d have no protest from him. And Inoue just smiled brightly at him, clearly taken by the idea of meeting one of her current crushes. “Alright then, if we’re all in agreement… let’s go up and get some food.”

“Right!” Inoue cheered, spinning around and bolting towards the ladder up. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

Ichigo laughed, shared a challenging look with Tatsuki, and took off after Inoue, his two friends on his heels.