UraIshi AU Ch.12
Title: Unravelling Threads of Fate
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: UraIshi
Summary: AU. Ishida has had a hard life. With the help of some friends, it finally looks like things are going to work out. When he meets a bizarre and cheerful man named Urahara Kisuke, the two are inexplicably drawn to each other. But when Ishida discovers the truth about Urahara's past and its ties to his own, difficulties arise.
Notes: I keep on forgetting to thank kirstian for her quick beta-read every time. XD You rock.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the genius KT. ♥
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11
“Inoue-san, do you know where Ishida-san is?”
“E-Eh?!” Orihime started, and then stared at Rukia nervously, fidgeting a little at the top of the stairs. It was the beginning of a new workday and the tiny designer was frowning at the empty desk.
“It’s odd - he’s always here before anyone else.”
“Ah, Ishida-kun… Ishida-kun’s not feeling very well so he decided not to come in today.”
Rukia glanced at the orange-haired girl quizzically. “How do you know that?”
“… huh? Oh!” Orihime laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of her head. “He called me this morning!”
“Why didn’t he call the studio? Or me?”
A bright smile froze on the girl’s face as she mentally scrambled to come up with an answer. “A-ah… Ishida-kun didn’t want to disturb you at home, Kuchiki-san, and uh, he thought it would just be easier to call me.”
“Ohh, I get it.” A slow grin spread across Rukia’s face. “He’s too ‘busy’ with Urahara-san and didn’t want to tell me. Okay, the next time he calls you, inform him that he doesn’t have to hide from me - I won’t bug him… much.”
“Er…” Orihime watched as she wandered off to check on one of her dresses and sighed. She was bad at lying but at least Rukia didn’t seem to suspect anything close to the truth.
She had woken up to find Ishida curled up on her couch, staring blankly at the wall with red, puffy eyes. After some gentle questioning, she had learned that he had only slept for an hour or two. Exhausted and miserable, he was in no shape to go to work and had told her as much, requesting that she not say anything about his current situation. Orihime had promised that she wouldn’t, even though she still had no idea what had actually happened. After a failed attempt at getting him to eat breakfast - wasabi pancakes with peanut butter and eggs - she had given him a comforting hug and left for the studio.
Seeing Ishida in such a state worried her and she was determined to find out what had gone wrong with Urahara when she went home. But that was hours away and at the moment, she had to go pin some fabric into place.
~~~
Isshin set the last dish on the drying rack before turning to the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of sake. Yuzu and Karin had gone off to a friend’s house for a sleepover, tumbling out the door into the mother’s van. He had reluctantly let them go after a good portion of wailing from him and a kick to the face from Karin. Just in case they got homesick, Isshin had shoved in life-size posters of him and their mother into their bags - when they weren’t looking of course.
Relaxing onto the couch, Isshin gazed up at the large image of Masaki hanging on the wall. With a grin he lifted the bottle in a toast before taking a sip, releasing a long, contented sigh as the alcohol burned down his throat. Ichigo had moved out with a year left of college and the two girls only had two years left of high school - Isshin felt it was something worth celebrating.
“It’s a shame you’re not around to see them, Masaki,” he said quietly, a smile on his lips. “You would have been so proud.”
The sound of tires screeching to a halt broke his silent reminiscence and Isshin got to his feet. He peered outside and blinked at the blood-red convertible that was parked at an angle in the driveway. The car door opened noisily as a figure fell gracelessly out of it and onto the ground.
Isshin frowned as he stepped out of the house, finally recognizing a familiar hat. “Kisuke?”
“Isshin~!” Urahara climbed to his feet, swaying a little in the night air. Stumbling over to the man, he pat him on the cheek a few times. “How are you~?”
“I’m fine, but you smell like you took a bath in alcohol. What happened?” The doctor paused to glance at the car then back at the drunken man before him. “And how in the world did you drive here without getting yourself killed?”
“I’m ta-len-ted~”
“Come on, let’s get you inside.”
Swiping the bottle of sake Isshin had set down on the coffee table, Urahara walked unsteadily over to the kitchen and practically collapsed into a chair. When he started to drain the bottle, Isshin frowned once again.
“Kisuke, what happened?” he repeated.
There was a break in his drinking as grey eyes squinted up at him. “Uryuu didn’t come around here, did he~?”
“No, I haven’t seen him.”
“Yeah~ I thought so~” The empty bottle landed with a loud, hollow noise on the table and began to roll in a lazy circle before stopping against the head that blocked its path. “Of course he wouldn’t be here…”
Isshin stared down at the man who was now sleeping - or unconscious - on his kitchen table and sighed, scratching his head a little. For Urahara to go and drink himself into such a mess meant that it was probably serious; from what he could gather, it was obvious something had gone wrong with Ishida. So what to do?
He could attempt to wake him up and ask what had happened yet again, but that would most likely be unsuccessful. What Isshin needed was someone who could get Urahara’s attention, someone very determined and who knew the secretive man well. There was only one person he could think of and if he wasn’t mistaken, Urahara was still in contact with her. Eyeing the small weight that swung gently in the drunken man’s jacket pocket, Isshin pulled out the cell phone and searched through the address book.
Ah, just as I thought.
Pressing the dial button, he waited patiently for the other end to pick up.
“Hello there, Yoruichi-san! I’m not sure if you remember me but I used to be Kisuke’s roommate back in college. Kurosaki Isshin. I have a bit of a problem with our hat-wearing friend here…”
~~~
“Ishida-kun, I’m back! I brought some groceries for dinner - what do you think of chocolate-covered beef with green onions in yogurt…?” Orihime trailed off as she glanced up from the bags to see Ishida sitting motionless on the couch, staring down at his sketchbook.
She shuffled over to him and peered over his shoulder at the delicate graphite lines that looped and crossed. Her eyes flickered to his face - it was blank again, showing no sign of his earlier anguish - before shifting back to the drawing upon seeing a slight movement. Ishida slowly stroked the three words scrawled on the corner of the page with a finger. It seemed he had been doing so for a while from the faded and slightly smudged letters.
“Ishida-kun…”
He stopped, fingers curling away from the words into a fist, and let out an almost inaudible sigh.
“… why do I still care, Inoue-san? Why is it so hard to just forget about him and move on?”
“Well, it has been only one day!” she remarked cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere that filled her living room. After a silent moment, she sighed and set down the grocery bags, moving to sit down on the couch beside him. “You really loved each other - we could all see it. Of course it’s hard to forget. I hope you don’t mind me asking what happened?”
“He lied to me. I trusted him and he lied to me and…” The quiet murmurings grew louder, filled with more emotion as his forehead creased. “Why does it hurt so much when I think of never seeing him again? I should hate him!” Ishida cried out, resting his forehead against the palms of his hands. “But I don’t hate him. I don’t know if I even care about what he did or didn’t do - I do hate that I had to hear everything from my father.”
Orihime frowned and rested a comforting hand on a hunched shoulder. “Hear about what?”
Ishida’s back stiffened, his entire body tense as he replied with a faintly sharp undertone, “It’s nothing… just a lot of complications from my childhood that you and the others don’t really need to know about.” He lifted his head and sat back, trailing fingers across the sketched drawing again. “What should I do?”
A moment of silence settled over the pair as they considered the situation, Orihime gazing down at the sketchbook thoughtfully.
“Here’s my advice, Ishida-kun. I think you still love him - it’s hard to fall out of love once you find someone you really care about. I don’t think whatever Urahara-san did was to purposefully hurt you either. You have to ask yourself if all of this really matters, if you’re willing to give up this relationship because of it.” She glanced over at him. “If not, are you willing to forgive him?”
After another silent moment, Ishida sighed and shook his head helplessly. “…I don’t know.”
~~~
“Where is he?”
Isshin led Yoruichi into the kitchen and watched as she slammed her briefcase down on the table beside the sleeping man’s head. After hearing about the sort of condition their mutual friend was in, she had immediately left her office where she was putting in a few extra hours of work. The last time Urahara had gotten this drunk, he had almost driven off the side of a bridge.
“Kisuke, wake up,” she snapped, propping a hand on her hip. “I know how you get when you’re drunk so I know you can still talk.”
A muffled sound issued from the head pressed against the table as it rolled over. Urahara blinked blearily at the face glaring down at him before breaking out into a lazy grin.
“Why, hello, Yoruichi-san~!”
“It’s about Ishida, isn’t it?”
He appeared to sober up immediately, turning back over to stare at the empty bottle before him. “Hm, so you know what happened, don’t you?”
“I can take a guess.”
“Are you going to say, ‘I told you so’?” A hand reached out to shove the sake bottle roughly off the table, the shatter of glass filling the room. “Go on, I deserve it. I deserve all of this… ah, sorry, Isshin.”
“It’s fine,” the doctor replied, stepping over the pieces to find the dustpan.
Yoruichi sighed, slumping down into the chair beside Urahara. “No, I’m not going to say, ‘I told you so’. You should know that above all, as your friend, I want you to be happy. Surely there must be some way to fix this?”
“Not unless you can go back and prevent me from leaving 15 years ago,” he muttered, climbing to his feet and nearly tripping over the chair. “He left, he’s upset, and I don’t think he’s coming back. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home~”
“Like hell you’re driving.”
“Then stop me~”
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, a faint smirk touching her lips. “Very well, you leave me no choice. Isshin?”
A fist flew out and connected with a stubbled chin, sending Urahara to the floor with a noise of surprise; his hat flew off and slid to a stop a short distance away. He lay there for a moment before slowly sitting up, blinking at Isshin thoughtfully.
“It’s been a while since you’ve had to do that.”
“Well, Kisuke, it has been a while since college,” Isshin remarked, grinning with a slightly apologetic look on his face.
“You’re quite unreasonable when you’re drunk too. This was my last resort to get you to think properly.” Yoruichi picked up the hat and held it out to him. “Hopefully it worked.”
Dusting the hat off, Urahara placed it back on his head with a quiet sigh. “Whether I’m thinking reasonably or not, that still doesn’t change the fact that Uryuu probably never wants to see me again.”
“What makes you think that?” she asked, crouching down before him, her head tilted slightly.
“Oh, come now, Yoruichi-san. You really think he’s willing to speak to me after having to hear everything from his father? He believes I am completely selfish for abandoning the company and leaving his family at the hands of Mayuri-”
“Wait, wait, wait. Did you tell him why you left? Yes, it may have been selfish but at the same time it was your right to leave.” The silence that greeted her caused Yoruichi to inhale slowly in frustration before swatting the blond on the shoulder. “I cannot understand how you can be so stupid sometimes.”
Standing up and plucking her briefcase off the table, she stormed towards the front door. “You had better get me a present - you’re lucky to have a friend like me to help you out of the messes you make.”
As the door slammed closed, Isshin stepped up beside Urahara with a grin and held out another bottle of sake. “Drink?”
The man looked up at him and laughed.
~~~
It wasn’t until late the next afternoon that Yoruichi managed to track down Ishida. She had her own things to do, of course, and when she made her way to the Hell Moth studio, the one person who knew of his whereabouts had stepped out to buy more pins. So she sat at the designer’s empty desk and waited while Rukia paced before her with a worried expression.
“Why didn’t Ishida-san tell me what was wrong?” Rukia snapped. “That bastard Urahara… Ichigo!” The orange-haired boy jumped a little in his seat by the window and scrambled to keep his textbook from falling to the ground. “Why didn’t he say anything to me about this?!”
“I think you just answered your own question, Rukia. Calm down.”
“Kuchiki-san, they only had the small boxes left so I bought four. I hope that’s okay?”
“Inoue-san!”
“Eh?” Orihime glanced up from the bag she had been peering into and blinked at the outburst. “Is something wrong? I can go return them if you want…”
Rukia shook her head as she pulled the girl over to where Yoruichi sat. “No, no. This is Shihouin Yoruichi, a friend of Urahara-san’s - she wants to talk to Ishida-san. You know where he is, don’t you?”
“Oh…”
“Please, I really do need to speak with him,” Yoruichi said. “He needs to hear Kisuke’s side of the story.”
“He didn’t want to talk to anyone,” Orihime’s fingers twisted together as she frowned slightly, “but I think he needs to talk to Urahara-san too. Ishida-kun’s been staying at my apartment - I’ll take you there.”
Rukia ushered them out, stating that leaving work an hour early would not cause the destruction of the world, despite Orihime’s protests. When the two arrived at the apartment, Ishida was attempting to cook something edible for himself.
“You’re back early, Inoue-san. Is it okay if I-” He fell silent as he turned around and noticed the tall figure standing behind her.
“Ishida-kun… Yoruichi-san wanted to talk with you.”
Stepping aside, Orihime retreated to her room to leave the two alone. She hoped Ishida wasn’t mad at her.
“How are you, Ishida?” Yoruichi asked gently, setting her briefcase down on the floor.
“What does he want?”
She frowned slightly and walked towards the kitchen counter; he stood there clenching the edge tightly with fingers white from the pressure. Leaning forward, she rested her arms on the cool surface and gave him a hard stare.
“To be frank, he doesn’t want anything other than to drink himself into a pit of guilt and blame himself for everything; I came here to tell you that you ought to give him a chance to at least explain himself.”
“Why should I?” Ishida asked angrily. “He had four months to do that.”
“I’m not saying he wasn’t an idiot for doing that, I just think you should hear from both sides before making a judgement. I can’t tell you why he left because it’s not my place to do it, but it wasn’t a completely brainless decision nor did he know of Mayuri’s plans. If you want to know more, you’ll have to go meet him yourself and at least talk things through.”
Ishida’s grip on the counter had loosened and his shoulders sagged as she stopped speaking. Straightening, Yoruichi stepped around to touch him on the arm lightly.
“Listen, I’m not saying all of this just because I’m Kisuke’s friend. The two of you were happy together - why should something from the past ruin that?” Turning back to the door, she picked up her briefcase and glanced at him once more. “I hope you decide to speak with him, Ishida; he does love you.”
After Yoruichi left, Ishida picked up his sketchbook and flipped to the drawing he had stared at for hours on end. The text on the corner was terribly smudged and the lines had faded slightly, for he had had started to trace them as well. Trailing his fingers a final time over the grey lines, he closed the book and placed it back in the duffel bag.
~~~
A week later, Ishida stepped into the familiar penthouse, gripping something in his hands. The suite was empty except for the nearly empty bottles of alcohol lined up on the dining room table. He walked up to it and gently placed the object down.
It was the key for his studio.
Ishida had found it at the bottom of his bag yesterday and figured that he must have stuffed it in there without knowing that night he left. He must have stared at it for more than an hour, silently debating and considering everything Yoruichi had said as well as his own feelings. He had tried to make a decision many times before but always failed - the key seemed to bring everything into perspective, making him finally able to decide.
His eyes widened at the sound of the door and he spun around to see Urahara, who stared back at him in surprise.
The distance between them felt like miles, the air heavy with unspoken words as they gazed at each other. It had only been a little more than a week of separation, yet it felt like years.
“Uryuu.”
A/N: Er, sorry for the sort of cliffhanger. XD ... and for the long wait. lol
To Chapter 13
X-posted places
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: UraIshi
Summary: AU. Ishida has had a hard life. With the help of some friends, it finally looks like things are going to work out. When he meets a bizarre and cheerful man named Urahara Kisuke, the two are inexplicably drawn to each other. But when Ishida discovers the truth about Urahara's past and its ties to his own, difficulties arise.
Notes: I keep on forgetting to thank kirstian for her quick beta-read every time. XD You rock.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the genius KT. ♥
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11
“Inoue-san, do you know where Ishida-san is?”
“E-Eh?!” Orihime started, and then stared at Rukia nervously, fidgeting a little at the top of the stairs. It was the beginning of a new workday and the tiny designer was frowning at the empty desk.
“It’s odd - he’s always here before anyone else.”
“Ah, Ishida-kun… Ishida-kun’s not feeling very well so he decided not to come in today.”
Rukia glanced at the orange-haired girl quizzically. “How do you know that?”
“… huh? Oh!” Orihime laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of her head. “He called me this morning!”
“Why didn’t he call the studio? Or me?”
A bright smile froze on the girl’s face as she mentally scrambled to come up with an answer. “A-ah… Ishida-kun didn’t want to disturb you at home, Kuchiki-san, and uh, he thought it would just be easier to call me.”
“Ohh, I get it.” A slow grin spread across Rukia’s face. “He’s too ‘busy’ with Urahara-san and didn’t want to tell me. Okay, the next time he calls you, inform him that he doesn’t have to hide from me - I won’t bug him… much.”
“Er…” Orihime watched as she wandered off to check on one of her dresses and sighed. She was bad at lying but at least Rukia didn’t seem to suspect anything close to the truth.
She had woken up to find Ishida curled up on her couch, staring blankly at the wall with red, puffy eyes. After some gentle questioning, she had learned that he had only slept for an hour or two. Exhausted and miserable, he was in no shape to go to work and had told her as much, requesting that she not say anything about his current situation. Orihime had promised that she wouldn’t, even though she still had no idea what had actually happened. After a failed attempt at getting him to eat breakfast - wasabi pancakes with peanut butter and eggs - she had given him a comforting hug and left for the studio.
Seeing Ishida in such a state worried her and she was determined to find out what had gone wrong with Urahara when she went home. But that was hours away and at the moment, she had to go pin some fabric into place.
~~~
Isshin set the last dish on the drying rack before turning to the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of sake. Yuzu and Karin had gone off to a friend’s house for a sleepover, tumbling out the door into the mother’s van. He had reluctantly let them go after a good portion of wailing from him and a kick to the face from Karin. Just in case they got homesick, Isshin had shoved in life-size posters of him and their mother into their bags - when they weren’t looking of course.
Relaxing onto the couch, Isshin gazed up at the large image of Masaki hanging on the wall. With a grin he lifted the bottle in a toast before taking a sip, releasing a long, contented sigh as the alcohol burned down his throat. Ichigo had moved out with a year left of college and the two girls only had two years left of high school - Isshin felt it was something worth celebrating.
“It’s a shame you’re not around to see them, Masaki,” he said quietly, a smile on his lips. “You would have been so proud.”
The sound of tires screeching to a halt broke his silent reminiscence and Isshin got to his feet. He peered outside and blinked at the blood-red convertible that was parked at an angle in the driveway. The car door opened noisily as a figure fell gracelessly out of it and onto the ground.
Isshin frowned as he stepped out of the house, finally recognizing a familiar hat. “Kisuke?”
“Isshin~!” Urahara climbed to his feet, swaying a little in the night air. Stumbling over to the man, he pat him on the cheek a few times. “How are you~?”
“I’m fine, but you smell like you took a bath in alcohol. What happened?” The doctor paused to glance at the car then back at the drunken man before him. “And how in the world did you drive here without getting yourself killed?”
“I’m ta-len-ted~”
“Come on, let’s get you inside.”
Swiping the bottle of sake Isshin had set down on the coffee table, Urahara walked unsteadily over to the kitchen and practically collapsed into a chair. When he started to drain the bottle, Isshin frowned once again.
“Kisuke, what happened?” he repeated.
There was a break in his drinking as grey eyes squinted up at him. “Uryuu didn’t come around here, did he~?”
“No, I haven’t seen him.”
“Yeah~ I thought so~” The empty bottle landed with a loud, hollow noise on the table and began to roll in a lazy circle before stopping against the head that blocked its path. “Of course he wouldn’t be here…”
Isshin stared down at the man who was now sleeping - or unconscious - on his kitchen table and sighed, scratching his head a little. For Urahara to go and drink himself into such a mess meant that it was probably serious; from what he could gather, it was obvious something had gone wrong with Ishida. So what to do?
He could attempt to wake him up and ask what had happened yet again, but that would most likely be unsuccessful. What Isshin needed was someone who could get Urahara’s attention, someone very determined and who knew the secretive man well. There was only one person he could think of and if he wasn’t mistaken, Urahara was still in contact with her. Eyeing the small weight that swung gently in the drunken man’s jacket pocket, Isshin pulled out the cell phone and searched through the address book.
Ah, just as I thought.
Pressing the dial button, he waited patiently for the other end to pick up.
“Hello there, Yoruichi-san! I’m not sure if you remember me but I used to be Kisuke’s roommate back in college. Kurosaki Isshin. I have a bit of a problem with our hat-wearing friend here…”
~~~
“Ishida-kun, I’m back! I brought some groceries for dinner - what do you think of chocolate-covered beef with green onions in yogurt…?” Orihime trailed off as she glanced up from the bags to see Ishida sitting motionless on the couch, staring down at his sketchbook.
She shuffled over to him and peered over his shoulder at the delicate graphite lines that looped and crossed. Her eyes flickered to his face - it was blank again, showing no sign of his earlier anguish - before shifting back to the drawing upon seeing a slight movement. Ishida slowly stroked the three words scrawled on the corner of the page with a finger. It seemed he had been doing so for a while from the faded and slightly smudged letters.
“Ishida-kun…”
He stopped, fingers curling away from the words into a fist, and let out an almost inaudible sigh.
“… why do I still care, Inoue-san? Why is it so hard to just forget about him and move on?”
“Well, it has been only one day!” she remarked cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the heavy atmosphere that filled her living room. After a silent moment, she sighed and set down the grocery bags, moving to sit down on the couch beside him. “You really loved each other - we could all see it. Of course it’s hard to forget. I hope you don’t mind me asking what happened?”
“He lied to me. I trusted him and he lied to me and…” The quiet murmurings grew louder, filled with more emotion as his forehead creased. “Why does it hurt so much when I think of never seeing him again? I should hate him!” Ishida cried out, resting his forehead against the palms of his hands. “But I don’t hate him. I don’t know if I even care about what he did or didn’t do - I do hate that I had to hear everything from my father.”
Orihime frowned and rested a comforting hand on a hunched shoulder. “Hear about what?”
Ishida’s back stiffened, his entire body tense as he replied with a faintly sharp undertone, “It’s nothing… just a lot of complications from my childhood that you and the others don’t really need to know about.” He lifted his head and sat back, trailing fingers across the sketched drawing again. “What should I do?”
A moment of silence settled over the pair as they considered the situation, Orihime gazing down at the sketchbook thoughtfully.
“Here’s my advice, Ishida-kun. I think you still love him - it’s hard to fall out of love once you find someone you really care about. I don’t think whatever Urahara-san did was to purposefully hurt you either. You have to ask yourself if all of this really matters, if you’re willing to give up this relationship because of it.” She glanced over at him. “If not, are you willing to forgive him?”
After another silent moment, Ishida sighed and shook his head helplessly. “…I don’t know.”
~~~
“Where is he?”
Isshin led Yoruichi into the kitchen and watched as she slammed her briefcase down on the table beside the sleeping man’s head. After hearing about the sort of condition their mutual friend was in, she had immediately left her office where she was putting in a few extra hours of work. The last time Urahara had gotten this drunk, he had almost driven off the side of a bridge.
“Kisuke, wake up,” she snapped, propping a hand on her hip. “I know how you get when you’re drunk so I know you can still talk.”
A muffled sound issued from the head pressed against the table as it rolled over. Urahara blinked blearily at the face glaring down at him before breaking out into a lazy grin.
“Why, hello, Yoruichi-san~!”
“It’s about Ishida, isn’t it?”
He appeared to sober up immediately, turning back over to stare at the empty bottle before him. “Hm, so you know what happened, don’t you?”
“I can take a guess.”
“Are you going to say, ‘I told you so’?” A hand reached out to shove the sake bottle roughly off the table, the shatter of glass filling the room. “Go on, I deserve it. I deserve all of this… ah, sorry, Isshin.”
“It’s fine,” the doctor replied, stepping over the pieces to find the dustpan.
Yoruichi sighed, slumping down into the chair beside Urahara. “No, I’m not going to say, ‘I told you so’. You should know that above all, as your friend, I want you to be happy. Surely there must be some way to fix this?”
“Not unless you can go back and prevent me from leaving 15 years ago,” he muttered, climbing to his feet and nearly tripping over the chair. “He left, he’s upset, and I don’t think he’s coming back. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home~”
“Like hell you’re driving.”
“Then stop me~”
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, a faint smirk touching her lips. “Very well, you leave me no choice. Isshin?”
A fist flew out and connected with a stubbled chin, sending Urahara to the floor with a noise of surprise; his hat flew off and slid to a stop a short distance away. He lay there for a moment before slowly sitting up, blinking at Isshin thoughtfully.
“It’s been a while since you’ve had to do that.”
“Well, Kisuke, it has been a while since college,” Isshin remarked, grinning with a slightly apologetic look on his face.
“You’re quite unreasonable when you’re drunk too. This was my last resort to get you to think properly.” Yoruichi picked up the hat and held it out to him. “Hopefully it worked.”
Dusting the hat off, Urahara placed it back on his head with a quiet sigh. “Whether I’m thinking reasonably or not, that still doesn’t change the fact that Uryuu probably never wants to see me again.”
“What makes you think that?” she asked, crouching down before him, her head tilted slightly.
“Oh, come now, Yoruichi-san. You really think he’s willing to speak to me after having to hear everything from his father? He believes I am completely selfish for abandoning the company and leaving his family at the hands of Mayuri-”
“Wait, wait, wait. Did you tell him why you left? Yes, it may have been selfish but at the same time it was your right to leave.” The silence that greeted her caused Yoruichi to inhale slowly in frustration before swatting the blond on the shoulder. “I cannot understand how you can be so stupid sometimes.”
Standing up and plucking her briefcase off the table, she stormed towards the front door. “You had better get me a present - you’re lucky to have a friend like me to help you out of the messes you make.”
As the door slammed closed, Isshin stepped up beside Urahara with a grin and held out another bottle of sake. “Drink?”
The man looked up at him and laughed.
~~~
It wasn’t until late the next afternoon that Yoruichi managed to track down Ishida. She had her own things to do, of course, and when she made her way to the Hell Moth studio, the one person who knew of his whereabouts had stepped out to buy more pins. So she sat at the designer’s empty desk and waited while Rukia paced before her with a worried expression.
“Why didn’t Ishida-san tell me what was wrong?” Rukia snapped. “That bastard Urahara… Ichigo!” The orange-haired boy jumped a little in his seat by the window and scrambled to keep his textbook from falling to the ground. “Why didn’t he say anything to me about this?!”
“I think you just answered your own question, Rukia. Calm down.”
“Kuchiki-san, they only had the small boxes left so I bought four. I hope that’s okay?”
“Inoue-san!”
“Eh?” Orihime glanced up from the bag she had been peering into and blinked at the outburst. “Is something wrong? I can go return them if you want…”
Rukia shook her head as she pulled the girl over to where Yoruichi sat. “No, no. This is Shihouin Yoruichi, a friend of Urahara-san’s - she wants to talk to Ishida-san. You know where he is, don’t you?”
“Oh…”
“Please, I really do need to speak with him,” Yoruichi said. “He needs to hear Kisuke’s side of the story.”
“He didn’t want to talk to anyone,” Orihime’s fingers twisted together as she frowned slightly, “but I think he needs to talk to Urahara-san too. Ishida-kun’s been staying at my apartment - I’ll take you there.”
Rukia ushered them out, stating that leaving work an hour early would not cause the destruction of the world, despite Orihime’s protests. When the two arrived at the apartment, Ishida was attempting to cook something edible for himself.
“You’re back early, Inoue-san. Is it okay if I-” He fell silent as he turned around and noticed the tall figure standing behind her.
“Ishida-kun… Yoruichi-san wanted to talk with you.”
Stepping aside, Orihime retreated to her room to leave the two alone. She hoped Ishida wasn’t mad at her.
“How are you, Ishida?” Yoruichi asked gently, setting her briefcase down on the floor.
“What does he want?”
She frowned slightly and walked towards the kitchen counter; he stood there clenching the edge tightly with fingers white from the pressure. Leaning forward, she rested her arms on the cool surface and gave him a hard stare.
“To be frank, he doesn’t want anything other than to drink himself into a pit of guilt and blame himself for everything; I came here to tell you that you ought to give him a chance to at least explain himself.”
“Why should I?” Ishida asked angrily. “He had four months to do that.”
“I’m not saying he wasn’t an idiot for doing that, I just think you should hear from both sides before making a judgement. I can’t tell you why he left because it’s not my place to do it, but it wasn’t a completely brainless decision nor did he know of Mayuri’s plans. If you want to know more, you’ll have to go meet him yourself and at least talk things through.”
Ishida’s grip on the counter had loosened and his shoulders sagged as she stopped speaking. Straightening, Yoruichi stepped around to touch him on the arm lightly.
“Listen, I’m not saying all of this just because I’m Kisuke’s friend. The two of you were happy together - why should something from the past ruin that?” Turning back to the door, she picked up her briefcase and glanced at him once more. “I hope you decide to speak with him, Ishida; he does love you.”
After Yoruichi left, Ishida picked up his sketchbook and flipped to the drawing he had stared at for hours on end. The text on the corner was terribly smudged and the lines had faded slightly, for he had had started to trace them as well. Trailing his fingers a final time over the grey lines, he closed the book and placed it back in the duffel bag.
~~~
A week later, Ishida stepped into the familiar penthouse, gripping something in his hands. The suite was empty except for the nearly empty bottles of alcohol lined up on the dining room table. He walked up to it and gently placed the object down.
It was the key for his studio.
Ishida had found it at the bottom of his bag yesterday and figured that he must have stuffed it in there without knowing that night he left. He must have stared at it for more than an hour, silently debating and considering everything Yoruichi had said as well as his own feelings. He had tried to make a decision many times before but always failed - the key seemed to bring everything into perspective, making him finally able to decide.
His eyes widened at the sound of the door and he spun around to see Urahara, who stared back at him in surprise.
The distance between them felt like miles, the air heavy with unspoken words as they gazed at each other. It had only been a little more than a week of separation, yet it felt like years.
“Uryuu.”
A/N: Er, sorry for the sort of cliffhanger. XD ... and for the long wait. lol
To Chapter 13
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