Playing With Reality

The Bloodiest Arc
Two: Blood Red Summer

Bleach is the Copyrighted property of Kubo Tite.

Two U's Enters, One U Leaves.
Urahara vs. Ulquiorra
START

-/-

"Tessai, are the kids okay?" Urahara asked calmly, casually ducking around a vicious swipe of the Arrancar's blade.

"Jinta was a bit hot-headed, but there will be no permanent harm." The Spell-Caster replied calmly, as his green-glowing hands went back to trailing across his wounds. "If you wish, I can go back inside and look over them while you deal with our guest?" A barrage of arrows erupted from the mist, the Arrancar weaving in and out of them with an eerie grace, only to lunge himself at Urahara, sword set to pierce straight through the man.

"That would be for the best." Benihime slapped against the Hollow's sword, knocking him off-balance, several lances of red finally landing, shredding through his defences. "Things could get messy out here."

With a nod, Tessai was gone in a rush of Shunpo allowing Urahara to turn his attention back to the bloodied hybrid in front of him.

"Well now… It seems Ichigo was too late… Tell me Arrancar, are you hard of hearing, or did you just decide to ignore me?" He watched the way the Hybrid's muscles tensed as it drew back to its full height, watching it calm itself (Most likely to calm down, make fewer mistakes) his sword drawn level and shoulders back.

"I have my orders Kisuke Urahara, I will leave only after they have been seen through." The tone in which he spoke, Kisuke noted, was empty and clinical. No inflection at all for him to take a hold of and abuse for all it was worth.

"And those orders… Aizen's finally put out a contract for me?"

The Hybrid tilted his head. "Lord Aizen has deemed you a hazard to the success of his plans. I am here to make sure that will no longer be the case." So the head tilt was confusion as to the wording. 'Adorable. An Arrancar that's been living under a rock its entire existence… And here I was hoping for some fun.'

"So… you're my executioner then?" Set lips to twitch and condescend, condescend, condescend. "Now how do you plan on seeing that through? What I've seen so far, well, I can't say I'm all that impressed with what I've seen so far."

"Indeed… I admit you caught me off guard, Lord Aizen gave me fair warning that this would not be easy... However, after dealing with your comrade so handily, I suppose I was a bit hasty in pushing my luck." Almost in spite of the mist in and around him, a burst of presence, far more than he had exerted earlier, pushing the rolling mist back. "So then, I shall see this through not as I am… but with prejudiced haste." And then the Hybrid disappeared in a flash of green, only to end up slashing down at Urahara's unprotected back. "Goodbye, Kisuke Urahara."

And his sword struck true.

-/-

The sun set on the Seireitei in long measure, the meeting of Captains, Humans and a lone Exile dragging on for what felt like days.

Said Exile, one Yoruichi Shihoin, looked on the meeting as, mostly, a waste of time. Words and theories... not even that, guesses, as to what they could do to combat Aizen and the storm that would be sure to follow.

'A meeting like that without Kisuke? Tch, wasteful.'

Of course, they wouldn't listen. For all the proof of his genius, the Gotei 13 tended to be fairly shortsighted on the resourcefulness of those it had declared banished. Not to say it wasn't completely pointless, she mused, the meeting making the perfect place for Ichigo and his friends to well and truly draw their line in the sand. 'And masterfully at that.'She mused, watching the four friends huddled in tight together, whispered words being shot around the small circle they had formed. 'Any question as to where they stand, and just who they'll take orders from, answered clearly, concisely and topped off with a measure of a threat.."

Yes, Yoruichi concluded. The fact that there was, indeed, a third faction in this war, could not be contended. Not anymore.

-/-

There was no blood. That was the first sign that something was wrong.

The second, Ulquiorra noted was that instead of collapsing in a boneless heap, Urahara had, and really there was no better term for it, popped like a balloon.

The third and last sign was the rolling mist sharpening into spears, slashing at his form, striking true but not drawing blood. "Wooo, that was a close one. If not for my Substitution Gigai, you probably would have had me there." Ulquiorra tensed slightly as the man's eyes roamed across his new form. Across his wingspan, to his now complete helm and then across the extended lines of green running down his face from his eyes, he couldn't help but draw an uneasy comparison to being inspected by Lord Aizen, at the moment of his evolution.

"Interesting... Not only has this new form given you a fearsome speed increase but..." Urahara murmured from somewhere within the mist. "Beforehand, you made every effort to dodge Benihime's Song, as if allowing it to connect would be dangerous to your continued health but now... Now you allow it to hit you without a care in the world, like water over sand."

"I no longer have reason to fear your sword's abilities Kisuke Urahara." He intoned slightly, drawing mild enjoyment from the Shop Keep's furrowed brow. "Behold the form of despair, behold Murciélago. The last image you shall ever take in." Black wings unfurled. "Fear the Reaper, Kisuke Urahara, for his name..." And with a sonic boom, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him, sword already in midswing. "Is Ulquiorra Cifer."

"Sing." Ulquiorra's sword smashed against a bloody red barrier, spiderwebbing cracks through the surface, but not breaking through. "Surely that isn't all hiding beneath that pretty, new form, Arrancar? I mean really... For such a fearful visage, you impress me about as much as a man named Kurotsuchi... And he's more a clown than anything..."

Ulquiorra didn't respond, he wouldn't rise to the bait. Instead his hand came up, a pitch, empty black ball of energy gathering on his fingertip. "Cero Oscuras." And the look on Urahara's face as the unholy Cero streaked towards him was actually enough to make the Arrancar smirk.

Then, the black faded.

The form of Urahara on a bended knee, green Haori completely burned away, with blood splashed about the ground, was enough to make the usually apathetic Espada outright grin. "This is the end for you... Kisuke Urahara. For all your taunts and bravado, not even you are enough to combat the might of Aizen's Espada."

"Espada?" The Shop Keep asked weakly, visibly struggling to keep eye contact, swaying in an imaginary breeze.

Was this one of those moments perhaps? The ones that Lord Aizen was always telling him about? Where he should become theatrical, to demean his victims, make them feel tinier than anything they could imagine before ending it all?

"Espada;" He began, the feeling of satisfaction that talking down to this so-called 'elite' Shinigami, hitting him like a swelling tide. "The 10 strongest and most feared of Lord Aizen's army, handpicked to serve as his Captains and Generals... We are the pinnacle, yet still we are ants before Lord Aizen." Levelling his finger at the dying man, he smirked. "If you cannot even deal with myself as I am, what possible hope would you, the one person deemed a threat, hold against Lord Aizen?"

And then, in absolute contrast to the despair that he had aimed to bring about, the man laughed (laughed) heartily and without restraint. "Oh man... that was too good. Tell me, did you rehearse that in the mirror before coming out here?" And then he stood up, without visible strain or discomfort, bringing his sword back to guard. "So you're the creme-de-la-creme huh? The Arrancar élite. Man... If Aizen misses the command structure of the Gotei so much, why even bother with the defection?"

And then it hit Ulquiorra like a runaway train. "You tricked me..."

"It isn't like it was hard you know?" The Shop Keeper smirked. "Kind of like stealing candy from a baby, the first taste is good... but then you realise you didn't really have to work for it, and the satisfaction just becomes sour." With a wince, the man cracked his shoulder. "Not that this doesn't actually sting a bit, because it does... but that's just the neural receptors of the Gigai telling me that I should probably take it easy."

"Gigai...?" That word... it was familiar, a distant long forgotten memory from make when he was a mindless mass of hunger and rage, striving for the level of Adjuchas and a measure of sanity. '...damn you Hollow... if I hadn't needed to wear this forsaken Gigai...'

"Yes..." Urahara continued, completely unaware of the memory niggling on the Arrancar's mind. "Gigai. It's a tool that Shinigami use when we are out in the Living World. Do you know it's purpose?"

'If only I could have at you with all my strength... I wouldn't be here at your non-existent mercies." Ulquiorra started as the man he Lord Aizen entrusted him to hunt down, the man Lord Aizen has trusted him to kill, burst apart at the seams, green and white outfit evaporating as if they were mere wisps of smoke.

"Gigai are false bodies, used by Lieutenant and Captain class Shinigami when we are sent to the Living World. It restricts our power, so we do not adversely affect the living as we go about our business."

And then, in his place, a scruffy looking blond man clothed in the uniform of the Gotei 13, a tattered and torn Captain's Haori draped over his shoulders, wafted into existence. "Admittedly, I would rather not have to take this road... Going from 25 to 100% of my Presence may just raise the drop-of-a-dime hackles some friends of mine are fond of holding on to." With a smirk and a click of his fingers to reassert the rolling mist, Urahara laughed. "But this way just seems easier. At least now, I won't need to use my Bankai to deal with you."

-/-

In the early evening moonlight of Karakura Town, in a uniformly suburban street, a single figure stood still and on alert. Blonde, freakily straight hair, an orange dress shirt and brown tie and slacks. The man made for an unusual sight, the brown newsboy cap topping of the peculiar bouquet in spectacular fashion.

With a twitch of his hand, he pulled the newsboy cap down over his eyes, his hair perfectly framing what parts of his face were exposed. "The kids aren't going to like this..." With a quickened pace, the figure allowed himself to storm briskly through towards the end of the street, back towards the old warehouse he and his kind called home.

"Better not go any bigger Urahara... Hiyori might go and do something stupid." And then the street was empty, no sign that he had even been there in the first place.

-/-

'My, my Kisuke. It has been so long since we were able to sing so seriously... I'm not quite sure if I remember all the words.' Urahara snorted as Benihime's song reached a crescendo, a rolling tide of red seeking to embed itself inside the desperately airborne Arrancar as deeply as possible.

'It isn't that hard to remember my sweet little seductive, sword. Kill, stab, kill some more, stab them till they're on the floor.' With a bored swing of his sword, Kisuke directed the mist, like a conductor in front of his own personal orchestra. 'I'm honestly not sure who that says more about, myself or you.'

The Espada (10 Swords huh? Interesting...) let out a sudden grunt of pain as two crimson notes skewered his wings, bringing him crashing hard to the ground and, more importantly, into the feverishly roiling mists below. 'Well I am a part of you Kisuke my dear, so it is somewhat of a reductive statement, wouldn't you say?'

With a swipe, Urahara watched with detached interest as the bloodied Arrancar stood shakily, the holes in his wings slowly fading. "High speed regeneration? My, my Ulquiorra Cifer, don't you just keep getting more and more interesting as the seconds tick on by?"

And there it was, an understanding and alertness to the exact nature of the situation Urahara had trapped the Hybrid in. Keep fighting and continue to give away the secrets that lurked behind his abilities. Or flee, alert Aizen to the newfound threat of Kisuke's unexpected strength and send some of the harder hitting Espada at the problem. "What d'ya say, Fourth Espada?"

Wide eyes rushed down to the skin of his left pectoral, green eyes widening at the now exposed black inked 4. "I'm sure if you really put your mind to it, you could flee without a problem and, I promise, I won't pursue you past the gates of my humble little establishment."

The indecision was clear... no not indecision, more like... 'Conflict, as if even considering to retreat makes him sick to his very core.' Benihime decided to interject helpfully. 'How... delightful.'

Ignoring the sadistic ramblings of his (adored or course) sword, Urahara made his offer again. "Really, I don't see the complication here, run and live, stay and die. Make your move Espada, before I make it for you."

With sharp eyes, the Arrancar replied. "What assurance do you give, how can I trust that you will let me run without shooting me in the back." Sword high, he tilted his head. "From what I've seen, it would not be outside of your personal morals."

"You are sharper then I gave you credit for..." A snap of his fingers, and a green, white striped beach hat appeared in his hands, before being slid to the Shop Keep's head with slow, precise, determination. "It's simple, I want you to convey a message to your Lord, one far more potent than merely sending him one of his General's bodies gift wrapped with a little card."

The Arrancar's Released form melted back into the one he had held originally, only far more bloody and beaten. "And this message?" He asked nervously, space and physics breaking apart as a Negacion slammed down around him.

Urahara smirked, lifting his hat with a mocking smile. "Next time, Lieutenant Aizen..."

-/-

"...Send someone who actually poses a threat." The holographic form of Kisuke Urahara faded as Ulquiorra's torn out eye disolved into nothingness, a replacement already having grown back into place.

High above the room sat Sosuke Aizen, eyes focused on the spot that the one man with a mind to match his own had been moments before. An amused grin on his lips.

"I am... sorry that I was unable to remove Kisuke Urahara as you wished my Lord. Next time..."

"There;" Aizen interrupted with a raised hand, silencing the Cuatro Espada. "Will not be a next time, Ulquiorra." Gesturing to his right, he beckoned Gin over from the shadows behind him, his ever trusted right hand seemingly as amused by the taunt as he was. "What do you make of this Gin?"

"As you said, i'nit? Urahara is a smart sumbitch, obviously he planned for Ichigo failin' to stop us, in fact I'd say he was more than likely bankin' on it." With a tilt of his head, and a phantom scratch towards his missing arm, he continued. "You catch that part when he ditched the Gigai, about his friends?"

"Yes, in fact I'd be willing to count on the fact that we both know exactly who those friends are." With a quiet, almost nostalgic smile, he sighed. "How good it will be, to see such familiar faces after so long."

"I'm not so sure they'll feel the same Cap'n." Gin's reply was met with an amused twitch of his brow, before he turned his attentions back towards Ulquiorra.

Sweeping himself up, opening his arms up towards the back of the room, in a grand gesture, he spoke. "Do not look down on Ulquiorra as lesser than yourselves." And surely, there were his other Nine Espada, gathered towards the back. Uninvited eavesdroppers, shifting nervously at having been caught out. But there would be no repercussions this time. He had a point to make.

"Kisuke Urahara is an anomoly among Shinigami, a man I would be nervous about combatting myself. He is crafty, devious and unafraid to manipulate terms to his own preference. The fact that Ulquiorra survived long enough to enact such an ultimatum should be commended." Staring down at said Arrancar he smiled. "This was never about killing Urahara, surely that would have been a wonderful act of fortune, but by no means was it expected. This was merely an attempt in getting the man to reveal his Bankai, a release he has shown to only 2 others besides himself." Shaking his head, he plowed on. Words flowing smooth and silver. "But even so, it has not been a complete waste. In fact, it helps me illustrate a very important point.'

"Never forget, my Espada, it is not the Gotei 13, or even Yammamoto Genryusai himself, that you should be most wary of fighting." Flashing down to the bottom of the stairs leading up to his throne, he finished his point with a small, soft smile towards his Cuatro Espada. "Is it, Ulquiorra?"

"No my Lord... It is not."

-/-

BOOM! Chapter done.

And that puts my promised output rate already a month above and beyond what I had planned for, but truthfully its Urahara-centric. How could I not get it done quickly?

I need to offer a very heavy thank you to Rake, who's review and subsequent encouragement gave me the real drive not only to see this story finished, but to actually get to work on it in a very real way.

So thanks mate, it is massively appreciated.

Stay Tuned for more Kurosaki Focused reading next time.

Jordan Out.