As soon as he felt he had a solid grasp of the route to the Capital and the route he needed to take once inside the city, Kaito excused himself and returned to the room where he and Ishida had taken up temporary residence; it was late enough in the evening that he wasn’t surprised in the slightest to find the teen asleep, curled up underneath one of Kaito’s kimono and still as death but for the slight rise and fall of his chest.

He pursed his lips, made a mental note to ask Cleo about proper bedding in the morning, then left the teen to it; Ishida needed his rest even if Zethia had healed him, and Kaito had no reason to wake him.

Instead, he settled on the floor, crossed his legs, and slipped right back into jinzen, hoping that no one would disturb him this time as he set to work.

His power was a tangled mess, almost as twisted about as when he and Ichigo had first merged; the major difference this time, however, was that they were confident in who they were and all of them had some skill in reiatsu manipulation.

It made all the difference.

(*S’all kinda weird,*) Shiro mused as he plucked at a few stray threads, keeping them from forming another knot as Kaito moved on. (*Our power ain’t been this contrary in years.*)

(*I suspect something about this world’s natural power resonated with our Hollow nature,*) Zangetsu said as they worked.

Kaito hummed softly as he pried open another knot and smoothed it out, running mental fingers over the black threads lacing through his green power. (*I’m not so sure it’s our Hollow nature specifically,*) he mused. (*It amplified the outcome for sure, but… the natural power here is wilder in general than the reishi we know. Until we adapt, I suspect that any great use of power will result in things going sideways for us.*)

(*Then we’ll just hafta adapt,*) Shiro declared as if it was a foregone conclusion. (*Th’kid’s imprinting on these jokers, an’ I bet it’ll only be worse by th’time we get back. Ain’t no way we’re leaving a’fore shit’s sorted out.*)

(*We’ll see,*) Kaito said with a touch of exasperation, knowing exactly what having someone like Euden around would do for his past self; still, there were worse fates out there than being labeled a dragon and finding a new family in a strange world. At least here, the burden of fighting wouldn’t fall so heavily on Ishida’s shoulders. (*Right, enough talk, lets get this sorted out before morning comes. And if we can get some understanding of how this world’s power works in the process, all the better.*)

He lost track of time, working alongside Zangetsu, Shiro, and Ichigo to hunt down all the strange knots and tangles that calling upon their Hollow power had introduced into their system; none of it quite wanted to come undone, and looking away for even a moment could result in the knots reforming if they weren’t careful.

Still, they’d managed to undo the change well before daybreak, and settled into shared meditation, trying to discover the secrets of this world’s power before it sprang other surprises on them.

A careful, cautious brush of power against his senses called him back to his body, and he blinked against the morning light, tipping his head back to stare up at Ishida in question.

“It’s morning,” Ishida announced a touch awkwardly, glancing towards the closed door then back to Kaito. “Euden wants to know if we’re coming to breakfast.”

“Feel up to it?” Kaito asked quietly as he carefully stretched his legs out and worked the stiffness from his limbs; staying in jinzen all night was probably not the best idea he’d ever had, but it had been useful.

(He’d make up the sleep later.)

Ishida grimaced and stepped back a bit, watching him with wary eyes as he slowly rose to his feet. “I… suppose? Last night wasn’t terrible.” He hesitated, fingers twitching as if he wanted to grasp something, then swallowed and asked, “Are you leaving today?”

“Right after I eat, I think,” Kaito said with a nod, remembering the fear-worry-anxiety in Euden’s expression as he spoke about needing to find out the truth. “Euden’s justifiably worried, and it’ll take me a couple days to get there, find out what’s going on, and return. The sooner I can do that, the better off we’ll all be.”

Ishida’s lips pinched together and he looked away, clearly bothered by Kaito’s words but just as clearly not wanting to argue it. “You should find better clothing than those, then,” he said instead. “If how the others dress is how this country dresses, you won’t fit in wearing that.”

Kaito paused at that, surprised by the suggestion, then huffed a soft laugh and said, “I suppose I should. That will be… odd.” At Ishida’s puzzled look, he shrugged and explained, “I stuck to kimonos and jinbei at first to better fit the role of a person from the Rukongai, and… never really bothered to change my wardrobe after a while. They’re comfortable.”

“You’re weird,” Ishida declared, nose wrinkling at the idea.

Kaito laughed at Ishida’s words and reached over to tug the door open, nodding a greeting to Euden as he did. “Morning.”

Euden’s eyes widened as the young man looked him over. “O-oh! U-uhm, good morning?”

“I did say that a bit of meditation would have me looking human again,” Kaito said with a teasing smirk, then stepped past him and beckoned for Ishida to follow. “Come along then, Ishida mentioned that food was on offer, and I’m starving.”

“R-right,” Euden said faintly, then shook his head and hurried his pace to catch up. “I’m sorry for doubting your word, Urahara.”

Kaito frowned over at Euden. “Forgiven, though I don’t quite understand why you think you need to apologize. For all you knew, I was making things up.”

“That doesn’t excuse anything,” Euden insisted earnestly. “You said you could do something, just like you said could you scout for us, and I keep doubting you or trying to convince you otherwise—”

“Stop,” Kaito ordered with a scowl, ignoring the soft snort of amusement from Ishida. “A little healthy skepticism is good. Don’t apologize for it.” Euden made a disbelieving noise and Kaito rolled his eyes in exasperation; heavens save him from hero types. “How about this, give me some of the local currency and I’ll call us even.”

Euden’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he quickly reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small wallet that jingled as it moved. “Here you go,” he said as he tossed it to Kaito.

Kaito snatched it out of the air and nudged it open, peering at the golden coins inside and biting back a grimace; hopefully he could figure out how the currency worked before he got in trouble and had to rely on a friendly shopkeeper this time. “This better not be all of your funds,” he said as he tucked the wallet into his kimono. “I only need some money to buy clothes, not a king’s ransom.”

“It’s really not that much,” Euden reassured him, then laughed and raised his hands in surrender at the look Kaito sent him at that. “I promise! I’m not that out of touch with how much things actually cost. That should buy you some clothes and also be enough for meals along the way.”

“You better be right about that,” Kaito grumbled as he started down the stairs. “I don’t want to call attention to myself because I’m carrying more currency than I should be.”

“You won’t. We got here with that, after all.”

Kaito arched an eyebrow at Euden. “You’re also a prince. Carrying excessive amounts of money is almost expected of you.”

Euden shook his head, a tiny, awkward smile on his face as he explained, “I’m the seventh son, and until recently I didn’t even have a pact with a dragon. Outside of my family and some friends, I’m… really not that well known. My sister is the one people are familiar with.”

“Seventh child?” Ishida squawked, then blushed when both of them turned to look at him. “Sorry, just… seven children?”

“Eight, actually,” Euden corrected with a laugh. “Zethia was born after me.”

Ishida stared at Euden in shock, then shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Eight children,” he muttered just loud enough for Kaito to hear. “Who would ever want that many…?”

Kaito laughed and hopped the last few steps to the ground, then turned to look up at Euden and Ishida. “Some people like children,” he said with a smirk, making Ishida freeze and stare at him warily; it was lucky that he’d had a crash course in dealing with actual children in other worlds he’d visited, or else he wouldn’t have dared tempt fate by implying that he liked children. That was just asking for trouble given the sort of luck he’d inherited from Ichigo. “But enough talk, I’m starving and I want to leave before midmorning.”

With that, he turned on his heel and strode down the corridor towards the scent of food, leaving the two to catch up as they would.

(Hopefully, tempting fate about children appearing would spare him difficulties during his upcoming mission.)

(Not that he had high hopes on it actually working.)

(He had a bad feeling about this…)