Chapter 36

(General P.O.V)

The three of them stood before Ash's sleeping form.

"I know you insist that you don't know what's going on Urahara, but you must have some idea."

Yoruichi was adamant to know. She hadn't stopped pestering him for information.

"The Hogyoku?"

He asked.

"Rukia is outside. She's ready for you to start the transference." Tessai answered.

"Are you sure this is wise?"

He followed up his response with a question.

Yoruichi too stared at Urahara, waiting to hear his answer.

"Mmmh, to be honest, I have the right mind to eliminate him."

He told them, shocking both greatly. Yoruichi grabbed his shoulder roughly and turned him towards her.

"What do you even mean by that?! Killing someone in cold blood? Really? That is what you're suggesting?"

Even Tessai was a little angry. Urahara chuckled slightly, unperturbed by their reactions.

"You didn't seem to care before about his well being, so what has changed?"

He asked, shrugging off her hold.

"Besides, it's just a thought." Urahara frowned.

"I'm considering it because if I use the Hogyoku...and it does actually work, then we might have someone who rivals the soul king in power some day."

Yoruichi stumbled back.

"What? You can't be serious Kisuke!"

Then she looked at the teen's sleeping form.

"That is impossible! He is a normal human."

Kisuke shook his head.

"He is a normal human but not from this world."

He walked around Ash, lightly touching the Ouroboros pendant with his fingers. There was a sizzle of small purple flames, before he dropped it back to his neck and Urahara showed his fingers to them.

A burnt patch was on the skin of his digits.

"How...? Is that his fullbring?"

Tessai enquired, his eyes squinting behind his glasses.

"Not too out of the ordinary. So why are you convinced he's bad news?"

Yoruichi wondered, finding the burn marks unusual but not by much.

"Well, that's before you realize that where he comes from...they cannot access spiritual energy. Something changed his soul. He is not a fullbring. Not the kind we know. Every Soul, whether Hollow, Soul Reaper or Human is subject to limitations imposed upon their conception. Due to not being a native of this world, he does not." He turned to look at them.

"Now do you understand?"

Yoruichi sat down on a chair blinking in surprise.

"Even without the Hogyoku, he can access all the race specific abilities that limit everyone else. He can limitlessly grow."

"He can learn to manipulate his Reiryoku and open a Garganta similar to a hollow, he can absorb and control reishi like a Quincy, he can awaken a Zanpakuto the same as a soul reaper or Learn Kido."

Tessai listed everything down.

Yoruichi's eyes begun to shine. She looked up at Urahara

"Do you realize what this means Kisuke?"

Urahara wasted no time to answer her.

"No, bad idea. We are not training him and then having him fight Aizen because we cannot account for what would happen."

Yoruichi did not let up.

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"But if you're right then Aizen wouldn't see it coming. Based on what Ash himself said, Aizen seeks to break the boundaries between the races and take over. We can beat him before...

"Urahara is right Yoru."

Tessai interrupted.

The Flash Goddess looked between them, growing angry.

"For centuries...we have looked for a way to end Aizen's threat once and for all. And now that there is a viable option you won't even consider it?"

"By arming a bomb to destroy another bomb?"

Urahara answered her with a question of his own.

"Do you realize what would happen if Aizen turned him against us? Or Ash beat Aizen but then the load of power eventually corrupted him? There's a reason why the races are separate."

He turned his attention back to Ash.

"There's really only one choice."

He said, inching his hand towards Benihime. Urahara was not a good man. He knew that some of the choices he had made had been for the greater good and had muddled his soul. He was practical and feeling but not blinded by emotion enough that he failed to act when he should. His biggest failing was letting Aizen's threat remain unaddressed.

In a Flash, Yoruichi was blocking his way.

"No Kisuke, I won't let you lay a hand on him. If we can't help him, use him or let him live, then you better come up with something else and fast."

Yoruichi and Urahara held gazes for a few seconds. This being one of the rare times that they had differing views on something important. Tessai wordlessly stayed on the side, just watching.

Urahara smiled, letting loose a breath of relief. The tension eased up somewhat. Inside he was half screaming at himself for what he had been about to do while another part of him was screaming at him for what he hadn't done. For all his intellect and centuries worth of living, Urahara was still a feeling being. And taking a life while he was prepared to soil his soul even more was something he would rather not do. It's why he avoided the front lines.

Looking at Yoruichi's purple eyes, he realized why he couldn't turn into Aizen despite the two being very similar. It's her. Her and Tessai and Ururu and Jinta and everyone else he cared about.

"There is another way. Just thought of it actually."

The mad scientist soul reaper finally said. Yoruichi breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Good. As long as we do not kill him, then I am okay with whatever it is."

Urahara rubbed his chin.

"Well, here's the thing, we use the Hogyoku on him. Just like planned."

Yoruichi blinked.

"Wait what?"

Tessai was the one who asked. Urahara spared him a glance.

"If you don't mind, could you complete the transfer of the Hogyoku and get it for me? Situate Rukia in another Gigai while you're at it."

Tessai stayed in place for a few seconds before giving a curt nod.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

He left that behind.

"Wait, Tessai..."

Yoruichi tried to stay but he was already gone. She turned to Urahara with narrowed eyes. The scientist raised up his hands in surrender.

"Ara Ara Yoru, the way you're looking at me makes me feel scared for my life."

He told her, stepping back as the shorter Shihoin princess pointed at him.

"You should. What are you planning now Kisuke?"

Urahara stepped away.

"Ok, hear me out. As I told you before, Ash Kun is not limited to one set of abilities. What I didn't tell you is why there was such a commotion when he accessed his reiryoku in the first place. He was absorbing the reishi in the air. Like a vortex of power drawing in more power."

Yoruichi looked at the peaceful form of the teen lying on the mat.

"Which means every second he stays here, he is absorbing the Reishi in the air, even in a passive state."

She answered for herself.

"You don't want us to kill him but we cannot have him stay here. In this world."

Urahara explained.

Realization dawned in Yoruichi's eyes.

"You want to send him back to where he came from, don't you? Reprogram the rift, so that instead of pulling him towards our universe, we expell him towards his own or rather where he was before."

Urahara nodded.

"But...how? I mean we have no idea where he came from."

"But his soul contains a slight energy mark. A sort of frequency that is missing from our own spiritual forms. As you put it, I would repurpose the formation that brought him here and send him back there. He doesn't seem to have an ability to freely travel in-between universes so there is little chance of him coming back. Lastly, with whatever the Hogyoku grants him on top of his own growing spiritual abilities, little can stand before him. He will have the power we agreed upon. It's a win win situation."

Yoruichi shook her head.

"Except instead on believing in someone's inherent goodness, we are knowingly making the decision to thrust him back in a situation which we both know nothing about, because we are scared of what he might do in the future. We're making him someone else's problem."

"Exactly." Urahara vehemently agreed. He looked deep into Yoruichi's eyes.

"Are you willing to bet the lives of everyone we know on the inherent goodness of a stranger? After all the things we've seen? If you can make that decision Yoruichi, then I'll stop all this. I will do my best to make him strong enough to face down Aizen. And at the end, when he stands above everyone else, will your compassion prevail against the thirst for power I saw in his gaze? That determination to go against everything and everyone for what he wants. Will he burn the world as we watch? Or go on a self proclaimed campaign to save it. Either way, it's a choice between a good future and a bad one."

Urahara stood up, closing his eyes to calm himself after the small tirade.

"I'll be outside, helping Tessai complete the process and priming the formation to send him back where he came from. And then we can begin planning how to save Ichigo and take down Aizen."

He slid the door open and left a speechless Yoruichi alone.

She was silent for almost ten minutes, thinking about Kisuke's words. He was right and wrong at the same time. But she knew above all that the decision had been made. She could have stopped him from leaving but had kept quiet. And now there was no going back.

Yoruichi turned to Ash. His chest rose and fell slowly.

"I wasn't your biggest fan when you arrived a few hours ago." She chuckled a little.

"I still don't like you, if I'm being honest. But I guess it's not you specifically that rubs me the wrong way, but what you represent."

"You have a fighter's gaze but also a cowards Spirit. You probably like to run from your problems, making up excuses like, 'I am not strong enough or I'll get them the next time'. I don't like you because I see myself in you. An irresponsible boy who trusts more in their own judgement even when a part of themselves knows they're wrong. You avoid your problems Ash Kun and only face them when you're sure you can win."

She laughed.

"It's a great mentality to have for a survivor but you will never live if you don't try to do more than survive. I don't know you or where you come from, or even what you're facing, but there's more to life than the next battle."

She stood up.

"Good Luck."

She left. There was no reason not to help Tessai and Urahara finish the preparations.