“If I prepare a thousand options, all I need is for one of them to work. So I make a habit of preparing anything and everything that shows any kind of promise. That’s just how I work.” — Kisuke Urahara.
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After the ambush which hadn’t really taken them by surprise, but had left them with a few, Kisuke had no choice but to move to another hideout due to the tensions in the Visored group.
It was easy to blame the guy who created the Hōgyoku for everything and while he would accept the blame that came from creating a dangerous relic like the Hōgyoku, Aizen was not someone he would take either the blame or responsibility for.
Sometimes it was hard being the smart one, and sometimes even more despairing when you realize that you are the smartest of everyone you know. A disparity of views – that was what Kisuke dealt with everyday after realizing that fact. And something Aizen also dealt with, albeit in a vastly different way.
He could sympathize with Shinji and the others, even if they wouldn’t believe it. Kensei and Love had been his comrades too. He had given up everything and would’ve happily gone the extra mile just to save them when Aizen had Hollowfied them.
He would have done that for his comrades, he was smart enough to figure out how to… he was also smart enough to know what the Hōgyoku meant to someone like Aizen.
Most people frowned at the concept of ‘greater good’ but were surprisingly understanding of the concept of ‘greater evil’, ‘lesser evil’, and ‘necessary evil’ – as if they were not all one and the same.
At the end of the day things like sentimentality, morality, duty, and even the greater good were all dependent on how little people were unwilling to lose.
They were adamantly unwilling to sacrifice the people or the things they love, or even themselves, even if it meant salvation for greater people/purpose.
It sounded harsh and heartless, but that was the difference between a selfish hero and a selfless leader.
No one seemed to understand just why he couldn’t hand over the Hōgyoku to Aizen.
Thousands of souls, not just Shinigami and resident souls of the Rukongai, but also those from the World of the Living and Hueco Mundo. That was what was at stake if he gave Aizen the Hōgyoku. He would be condemning hundreds of thousands of souls, plus the lives of innocent Shinigami who would be forced to stand on the frontlines to stop him.
He had always been the one to make the hardest decisions which most wouldn’t think of, because they either weren’t too smart to see and accept the consequences or they were just blissfully ignorant.
He couldn’t. His intellect didn’t give him that reprieve.
It was so shackling that he had once been forced to mentally accept the fact that he wouldn’t even give up the Hōgyoku to Aizen if it meant saving Yoruichi. That was how damning his mind could be.
And that was also why Yoruichi was the only one who remained his true friend to this day. She was the only one, despite lacking the intellect, who understood the immensity of the choices he made.
So much so that she’d been the one to tell him that her life wasn’t worth giving the Hōgyoku to Aizen back when they’d exiled themselves from the Soul Society.
Knowledge was a curse, but he was blessed enough to have someone who would willingly bear the burden with him. And surprisingly he gained another true friend in Tessai. They were the ones who gave him the conviction to keep making the hard choices.
…….
“Captain Uchiha, can’t say I’m not surprised to see you here.” Kisuke waved when Itachi and Junpei arrived at their temporary hideout.
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Kisuke tipped his hat in an embarrassed manner. “The reception is not as it used to be. We’re in a bit of a pickle, but I can assure you that the atmosphere is anything but dull.”
Itachi did not reply and instead swept his gaze over the faux-natural underground. The fact that there was a fake sky was already unnerving but neither of the newcomers commented on it.
“Where’s Starrk?” Itachi asked.
Kisuke covered his mouth with his fan while his exposed eye gained a sharp light to them as he stared at Itachi. “Isn’t that a bit heartless, Captain Uchiha? A Shinigami Captain worrying more about a Hollow than his dead comrades, former ones or not, is that not grounds for something treasonous?”
Yoruichi immediately whacked him from behind and sent him comically into the ground, her face already spotting an admonishing glare.
“We don’t have time for your jokes.” Whether it was really a joke or not was not up for question, she made sure of that. “Or would you rather deal with Isshin and Byakuya?”
After an awkward cough, he turned to Itachi, the former look in his eyes gone. “So, other than the courtesy visit, why else are you here? I already speculated that the only reason no one showed up was because you somehow had your hands busy over there or communications somehow didn’t go through.”
“A rebellion issue from the Noble Families.”
“Oh? Is it that time already?” Kisuke said jokingly and laughed alone to his joke.
“He also sent a group of Bounts our way.” Junpei who had been silent all along finally spoke, his words finally making the ex-Captains in the room remember his presence.
Yoruichi raised a brow in surprise while Kisuke looked intrigued.
Sensing Itachi’s silent patience slowly waning, Yoruichi pointed in a direction where they could sense multiple barriers standing.
“He’s over there. Tessai is keeping an eye on him.”
He left, leaving Junpei to inform the former Captains on what had happened in the Seireitei.
Getting to the barrier, he couldn’t help but be impressed when he couldn’t even feel a whiff of Starrk’s Reiatsu. The barrier itself was on another level. He doubted he’d be able to go through it with his usual tricks if he didn’t use Amaterasu.
“Captain.”
“Tessai.” The two silent men stood silent for a second before Itachi asked. “Mind letting me in?”
Tessai hummed and with a few hand gestures, a door fitting Itachi’s stature opened on the barrier and he walked through.
He was half expecting a somewhat wild Starrk and upturned earth but all he found was Starrk sitting on a rock that was almost on surface level with the ground.
Without saying anything he sat beside Starrk, a solemn air sitting between them.
“Here to make sure I don’t rage?” The somber Hollow asked.
Itachi shook his head softly. “No. Mostly here to apologize.”
Starrk hummed. “He tracked us somehow. Must’ve had to do with us being Arrancars. I know he won’t kill her yet, but the fact that I have to entertain a thought that he might is what irritates me.”
Kisuke and the others didn’t understand. Just the fact that he let himself be put under a barrier was proof that he wasn’t really angry with them. He was probably the most levelheaded one among the bunch.
“After all this time hating my strength, for the second time I have failed to keep her safe even with all the power at my fingertips. It’s… exhausting.”
He turned to Itachi and asked, his eyes gaining the barest hint of a resolve that had never been there. “When are we attacking Aizen?”
“Probably very soon. We’ll need to alert the Soul Society first before we make any move.”
Starkk nodded and closed his eyes, and Itachi taking that as the cue to leave, made way to the door in the barrier but Starrk’s voice reached him before he could step through.
“I won’t wait long, Itachi.”
Itachi nodded and left.
……
[POV: With the Visored]
The moment Isshin and Byakuya arrived, they could tell that something was very wrong, especially Isshin who had been here before.
The air was thick with sadness, mourning, and a heavy dose of anger that had once assaulted them with full force when they had arrived.
The Visored had been on the edge of losing control to their Hollow masks when the Captains had arrived and was a second from attacking them had it not been for Shinji and Isshin putting themselves between the two groups.
“Sorry to inform you on your unannounced visit but we are currently not accepting guests.” Shinji had said with false humor, one Isshin knew too well.
“Miyako…. Where is Miyako?” Kaien asked frantically after not seeing his wife and not sensing a lick of her Reiatsu among the group.
“You have ill timing, Shinigami.” Shinji said with a degree of levity that Isshin couldn’t quite place.
Only it had not lasted long before they got the story from Shinji and it had sent both Shiba men down a spiral of wrenching emotions and dark thoughts.
One of them lost his wife. The other lost his niece-in-law, and two of his long time comrades.
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A/N: It wasn’t until I started writing this chapter that I started drawing the similarities between Kisuke and Itachi. Both of them are no strangers to hard choices. They have no issues with being seen as the villain, or being blamed for choices they were either forced to make or had little to no choice to make. The scales aren’t comparable but the similarities or there… or am I just reaching out?