Kisuke resists the urge to press his cheek against Rerugen’s head, knowing that he has no right to such a blatant show of affection when the man can barely stand his presence; it’s a testament of exactly how exhausted Rerugen is that Kisuke’s reiatsu trick actually worked on him instead of the man just shrugging it off, and Kisuke’s not going to jeopardize this opportunity.
Not when he almost lost the man just now. Not when he still might lose the man—
(No, no he refuses, he refuses to fail another friend.)
(He’ll… he’ll figure out something, figure out some way to pull the invader from Rerugen’s soul, or— or some way to strengthen Rerugen’s soul to support another, or something.)
(He’ll figure something out!)
(He has to…)
Kisuke shoves his spiraling thoughts aside and takes a deep, shuddering breath in an attempt to calm himself; nothing’s happened yet, and despite the, eh… violent introduction to Reregun’s hitchhiker, the other being doesn’t actually seem like a bad sort. A bit drastic and final in his decision-making, but considering they’d just come out of a life-or-death battle against the Quincy Progenitor—
(And fuck, wasn’t that a trip?)
(He’s going to need to research if there are any other mythological skeletons lingering in Soul Society’s closet.)
(He never wants to be blindsided like that again.)
—Kisuke can’t really blame the being. And there’s no telling where the other being is from or what situation he came from, so… maybe reacting so viciously is justified in the other’s eyes. Not that Kisuke has a leg to stand on in that regard, given, well… everything he’s ever done.
“Urahara-san,” Unohana prompts him, snapping Kisuke out of his wandering thoughts; she’s standing a few feet away, her eyes sharp and her brows furrowed, and he doesn’t know when she approached him, fuck. “May I look him over?”
Kisuke nods, but doesn’t offer to set Rerugen down, not that Unohana seems to expect it of him; she simply steps closer and reaches out, kido blooming around her hand as she lays it on Rerugen’s shoulder. The furrow between her brows deepens as she takes in what her kido is telling her, and Kisuke… well…
He understands her reaction. He might not know what damage is a result of the fight against Yhwach and what is the result of Rerugen’s body hosting two souls instead of one, but either way it’s… a mess.
“I see your concern,” Unohana says at last, even as her kido shifts from diagnostic to proper healing. “He’ll need to rest for at least a week, though I would prefer more. And if you can keep him from using any more abilities — his or his guest’s — for twice that, do so.” She pauses, grimaces, and then adds, “And keep that guest of his from ingesting any more blood,” so softly that Kisuke barely catches it.
Kisuke starts at her words — his scan hadn’t indicated anything like that! — then nods sharply in agreement: whoever or whatever Rerugen’s guest really is, Rerugen is just a regular Quincy soul with a regular human tolerance for blood.
“What’s wrong with him?” Ishida interrupts before Unohana can say anything else. He pauses just out of reach, hands twisting together and knuckles white from pressure, and glances from Rerugen to Kisuke to Unohana and back. “I… he brushed us off in the palace, said he was just exhausted, but…”
Unohana purses her lips and then straightens up to give the Shinigami lingering nearby a look that sends most of them drifting off as if of course they had other things to do and places to be. As soon as the area is clear of everyone but she, Kisuke, Ishida, and Kurosaki, she says, “His body has recently been put under a large amount of strain, both physically and spiritually. I can heal most of the physical damage, but there’s too much to heal all at once, especially with how drained his reiryoku is and how raw his channels are.”
Ishida’s lips pinch together as he stares at Rerugen. “He made an effort to keep Yhwach’s attention on him, not us,” he admits awkwardly, shoulders hunching and chin dipping towards his chest. “Yhwach could… he could…”
“That bastard was able to control us through our Quincy blood,” Kurosaki says when Ishida falters. He crosses his arms over his chest and scowls darkly at Rerugen, clearly annoyed by how the fight had gone, then looks up to meet Unohana’s gaze and says, “Rerugen-san resisted after the first time. It… looked like he was fighting himself. His body would be still, but you could tell that it was… that it wasn’t a good sort of stillness.”
“That would explain the tearing and microfractures, and likely most of the spiritual strain as well,” Unohana agrees as she finally lifts her hand from Rerugen’s shoulder. “For the rest of it… that second being did his body no favors. I can barely sense its presence now, but it’s still there and still putting strain on Rerugen-san’s soul.”
Kurosaki blinks in surprise, then darts a questioning glance at Kisuke and asks, “So that wasn’t something that can just… happen?”
Kisuke rolls his eyes in exasperation and says, “Kurosaki-kun, I assure you that nine-tenths of your experiences are decidedly uncommon, including having another being controlling your body.” He makes a face at Unohana’s dry look and clarifies, “And I mean both versions you just ran into— Yhwach controlling you three and a strange soul stepping in to fight on Rerugen-san’s behalf. That just… that just doesn’t happen.”
“Sure as hell looked like it happened to me,” Kurosaki deadpans back, then reaches up to rub at the back of his head, scowl edging towards worried as he focuses on Rerugen’s sleeping form. “But I get your point,” he continues thoughtfully. “Especially given the way the other fought. That wasn’t… that wasn’t how Rerugen-san fights at all. Yhwach made him attack me early on, and he still— it was still his fighting style, you know? But that second presence…”
“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before,” Ishida says grimly, even as he casts a glance as the macabre result of the stranger’s attack on Kurotsuchi. “Either time.”
If the fight in the throne room was anything like the brutal, ruthless culling of Kurotsuchi he witnessed, Kisuke can certainly believe that Ishida has never seen the like before; the teens have so far been lucky with their opponents — at least for the most part — which Kisuke is grateful for. There’s a stark difference between fighting someone assured of their superiority and fighting someone who is desperate to survive, and Kisuke… Kisuke’s pretty sure the unknown in Rerugen’s soul is very much the second.
But none of that really matters right now; Unohana doesn’t seem too worried about Rerugen’s ‘guest’ at the moment, so Kisuke will leave it be until the other proves itself a danger.
(If he’s lucky, maybe the other will just… fade away and leave Rerugen be.)
(…he’s not going to be that lucky, is he…)
“Should I bring him back when he wakes?” Kisuke asks as Unohana steps away. “Or— anything else I should keep in mind?”
Unohana makes a thoughtful noise as she glances at Rerugen then looks at the devastation all around them. “No,” she decides with finality. “I’ve healed the worst, and you and Tsukabishi-san should be capable of handling the rest of the physical damage when he’s had some rest. I will of course assist if something unexpected happens and you need my skills, but otherwise… well. I hardly have a hospital to restrict him to, do I?”
Kisuke snorts wryly and shakes his head, glad that sorting out Seireitei’s destruction isn’t going to be his problem in the slightest. Though given the way Kyoraku and Ukitake are lingering just out of hearing… someone might be aiming to recruit him back into a Captain’s position.
(Not that he’ll ever accept.)
(The Vizard can do what they want, but he’s finally, finally content where he is.)
(Besides, Rerugen would never agree to follow him back to Soul Society—)
(Not that that matters at all!)
(Not at all!)
“If that’s the case, then I think we’re going to head back,” Kisuke announces as he inclines his head slightly in thanks. “Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun, come along. We all need rest after these past few days, and the best place to do that is at home.”
Ishida huffs in agreement and falls into step with Kisuke, being completely obvious about the quick, concerned glances he keeps sending at Rerugen. Kurosaki instantly settles on Kisuke’s other side, and it’s… it’s honestly a bit ridiculous, being flanked by the two teens like an honor guard — or more likely it’s Rerugen who’s being guarded — despite being entirely capable of fighting.
(Though it would mean needing to set Rerugen down, so… hmm…)
(He supposes he’ll let the teens do their thing without complaint.)
They don’t make it more than a few meters before Kyoraku and Ukitake just happen to come within speaking distance and Kyoraku opens his mouth—
“No,” Kisuke says before the Captain can get even a single word out.
Kyoraku startles and Ukitake’s hand comes up to cover his mouth, shoulders shaking with repressed amusement.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Kyoraku says with an exasperated huff.
Kisuke casts a pointed look at Kyoraku’s tattered haori, then at the destruction all around them, then finally, pointedly, at the very former Captain of the Twelfth. “Don’t I?” he asks.
“Aaahh… I guess I can’t convince you to return, then?” Kyoraku asks in return, though by his tone of voice he doesn’t expect to get his way.
“I have no desire to become a Captain again,” Kisuke says firmly, then hitches Rerugen higher and adds, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I would like to return home.”
Kyoraku’s gaze slides from Kisuke to Rerugen, something thoughtful-considering-understanding glimmering in his eye before it vanishes behind Kyoraku’s typical laid-back mask. “Of course,” he murmurs with a small nod.
Kisuke tightens his grip on Rerugen, fighting the urge to snarl protectively; he has no idea what conclusion Kyoraku has come to, but he doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like the attention, or the attention on Rerugen, or anything like it. Not when he knows — intimately! — how Seireitei and the Gotei Thirteen work.
(Not when he knows exactly how easily things can get twisted!)
(How long until Rerugen and Ishida are declared potential enemies of Seireitei?)
(How long—!)
Kyoraku takes a step back and raises his hands, attention firmly on Kisuke. “Ah, sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to imply anything, Urahara-san,” he says with a tired, wry smile. “Just… figured something out. Let me assure you that nothing will happen to you or yours, I promise. I offered, you said no, that’s it. And no one’s going to be going after our saviors for anything.”
“Don’t promise things you can’t,” Kisuke grumbles, hating exactly how much he wants to believe Kyoraku; he’s always looked up to the man, always admired him and his ability to… to be everything a Captain should be, and it’s a bit disconcerting to realize that even a century later he still wants to trust the man’s words.
Ukitake’s hunches over as his laughter finally bursts forth, one arm around his chest and the other spread over his face as he laughs and laughs and laughs, each gale making Kyoraku’s expression turn sourer and more downtrodden.
Kisuke blinks. Casts a questioning look at Kurosaki, then at Ishida, only to find equal confusion on their expressions. Which is great, it’s a good thing, it means it wasn’t some social misstep he’s made that made Ukitake laugh, but… it also isn’t because it means he has no idea what’s so funny and he just— after everything that’s happened—
“What Kyoraku-soutaicho has forgotten to mention is that he does indeed have the ability to promise that,” Unohana announces mildly. “So rest assured, Urahara-san, that you will encounter no trouble from us.”
“Oh.” Kisuke blinks again, takes in Kyoraku’s mournful look and Ukitake’s mirth, and decides that he doesn’t have a problem with this outcome what-so-ever. “Good luck with that.”
“Thanks,” Kyoraku says with the most dust dry tone Kisuke’s ever heard out of him, even as Ukitake’s laughter continues. “I appreciate it. Really. I do,” he continues, entirely unconvincing, even as he reaches an absent hand out to brace Ukitake as the man’s breath begins to wheeze slightly. “Jyuu-kun, please don’t give Unohana-senpai any more work today.”
“Yes, please don’t,” Unohana repeats sternly, before turning her attention on Kisuke, smiling sharp-deadly-dangerous and adding, “Off with you. Rerugen-san might be the worst of you four, but you all need rest. And I mean actual rest, Urahara-san, not tinkering in your lab for the next several days in lieu of sleeping.”
Kisuke wrinkles his nose but doesn’t bother refuting the idea that tinkering in his lab isn’t resting; it might be almost a century since he’s been under Unohana’s care, but he still remembers what it’s like and he has no desire to tempt fate.
When all she does is huff and turn away, her attention settling on Ukitake instead, Kisuke considers it a win. And a fine time to make his escape!
He catches Ishida’s and Kurosaki’s attention, then jerks his head towards the crumbling remains of Seireitei’s walls and takes off.
Let Seireitei sort itself out, he has other places to be.