Corroded Spirits

Corroded Spirits: 25

Chapter 25: Dangerous Cases

 He never knew he did, but Kon seemed to have always had good night vision. He'd been noticing it for the past few nights, when he stayed up and sat against his drawer-bed (it was his only 'safe' place in Ichigo's room whenever said boy wasn't around), and just simply watched his somewhat owner lie awake on his bed. Kon knew very little of humans, but he knew just enough to deduce that humans (half Shinigami or whatnot), weren't supposed to stay up all night for several days in a row.

 It was unnverving. It wasn't Kon's business, because it didn't involve him and/or his incapability to uphold himself in defense and offense, but regardless of this, he still managed to get worried over it anyway. He's known the events that had been happening without being told to. He knew that Ichigo was having some sort of problem with this Ginjo Kugo person.. and that they'd just buried their precious healer. Kon had always seen Orihime as someone who was simply pretty and attractive to him. But now that she was gone, he felt more longing for her than he had ever did for anyone.

 "Kon.." The stuffed plush silently perked up in his place. He hadn't known if Ichigo could see where he was, or just knew that he was awake. "Y-yeah?" Kon inquired. "What do you think?" Ichigo asked. "Inoue-san's death?" Kon said. He thought he heard Ichigo nod. "Yeah. To tell you the truth it sucks. And it had to happen with us not with her.. You know." Kon said. Ichigo shifted in his bed and faced the plush in the dark. "That's the first I ever heard you say... something like that."  He said. Kon doesn't recoil in embarrassment or defense. He just stays the way he is.

 "I don't wanna believe it." Ichigo said all the sudden. "No. I don't believe it." He corrected himself immediately. "There's just no way that Inoue would've died all the sudden like that. There's just no way." Ichigo now sharply sat on his bed, as if something had just been made clear to him. "Kon, I need your pill." He demanded. The plush doesn't protest like he usually would of. "You going to Clogs?" He asked. "I need to confront him about something." Ichigo said dangerously.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

 Too bad for the roguish and fuming teen, the person whom he wanted to confront, wouldn't be where he would be going. Kisuke wasn't going to be at the shop, at least not the real one. It was a nuisance for the shop-keeper to have to keep using his doppleganger invention (especially as of late), but the last thing he needed right now was a breadcrumb trail that lead to him in the midst of two agendas.

 When he saw the woman take the tray by the bed-side and leave the room, Kisuke finally revealed himself. "Good evening, hope I'm not intruding." The figure that lay in the bed, looked up sharply, and upon seeing who had come, he managed to sit up. "Urahara-san! What are you doing here?" Uryu asked in alarm. Kisuke brought his fan to his face. "Is it bad for me to visit an old friend? And an injured one at that?" He asked casually. Uryu slanted his eyes at the man. "The hell with that. We're not even acquaintances." He snapped. Kisuke is quiet, looking down at the floor. "What is it? Uryu asked.

 Kisuke's eyes wandered about for a while, before he set them on the child before him. "I'm pretty sure that you know by now, what has befallen, Inoue-san." Kisuke said quietly. Instantly, Uryu's eyes fell and he looked away. It was obvious that he was embarrassed with his reaction, but couldn't seem to hide it. Kisuke colud only give him the time he needed to compose himself. "What about it?" Uryu asked. "You didn't come all the way here to just tell me that again, did you?" Kisuke's grey eyes glinted like a dagger about to slit someone's throat. "Do you believe it?"

 Uryu looked back at the shady man. "What do you mean by that?" Kisuke moved forward into the room, standing just at the end of the bed. "I mean exactly that. Do you believe that Inoue-san has died just as Soul Society has said?" Kisuke repeated. A light flickered in Uryu's eyes, so bright that it was impossible to dismiss the thought of what his feelings for the healer were. Or in this case, was. "Is she alive? She's alive?!" He nearly billowed. Kisuke silently shushed him. "There, there now. We don't want to alert your father." He said.

 The bespectacled boy sat back in his bed, but still a bit flustered. "So she is.." He mused to himself. "I can't say for sure about that." Kisuke said. "Now what do you mean by that? Could you complete your thought!" Uryu protested. Kisuke sighed. He was almost as trying as Kurosaki, if not more. "I've been visiting Inoue-san, the real one, in Soul Society, where they are keeping her hidden to protect her and Seritei." He began. "Where?" Uryu asked quickly. Kisuke brought up a hand. "I will not say yet where and why, but I can say that she is alive, and not dead as Soul Society had made us to believe." The shopkeeper interjected.

 "During my visits I have been gathering disturbing data that I believe would lead me to the conclusion of Inoue-san's condition." He added. "Condition?" The Quincy mimed. "The one she developed while in Hueco Mundo. The one that Soul Society, seems to have never cured her from." Kisuke said darkly. "And you think that's the reason why she's locked up as you say, and is being orchestrated dead by the Gotei 13?" Uryu asked anxiously. Kisuke nodded miffly. "A little edgy on the details, but yes, that's about right." Uryu slammed his good hand on his knee, cursing something quietly under his breath.

 "Ishida-san... It's a bit too much to ask of you, looking at your current state, but I need- no, want you to come with me to my next visit to Inoue-san." Kisuke said after a while. Uryu didn't say a word as he looked up at the man. "I'm sure  that you would like to see, how she is holding up, and to prove to yourself that my words are not mere lies." Kisuke said carefully. The Quincy boy was such an intelligent being. Much like his father, really. But just like his father, he was also very difficult to gain trust from. But Kisuke knew that he could count on that. "Why are you telling and asking me of this, Urahara-san? And not Kurosaki?" Uryu asked, the very question that Kisuke had mentally prepared himself for. "Because I know about your plan, Ishida-kun."