hatician | PSLs

[The shop was closed. The kids had their dinner and everything had been locked up. Presented with an empty closet, save for a shrink-wrapped suit, Kisuke looked dejected as he showered up, got dressed and stepped out of the side door in an outfit he did not want to wear. Still, Gin had come to him in total honesty and asked him to go to a party and waited for him to cave to pressure to say 'yes' before mentioning it was formal. He might have said 'no' if not for a little weakness he had for her brand approach to being upfront and direct.

She could be cute when she twisted his arm and he worried she realized that.

He knocked on her door, shoulders hunched, hair tied in a pony-tail that barely held scrutiny even when he was in his basement doing lab work. Somehow, he figured it would look better in a suit than not.]

I've arriiiived.

[At the time, he was falling apart. Surviving just long enough to see her. The last person he'd ever see and she was quite the looker.

'Don't look so glum. There's nothing more satisfying than protecting someone you love.'

When he faded and everything passed, he knew he would never see her again. Not unless he made a wish. Lucky for him, he already had a wishing star in his hand.

-

Naoyuki woke up to that dream at least once a week though it was always somewhat nebulous. Tough to grasp. The only clear thing had been that woman's face. Even so, he understood it wasn't just his brain making up stories out of parts he didn't have. Dreams collected things that were left behind that needed to be processed. Before he grew out of that dream? He wanted to find out where it came from. The rabbit hole he fell into came with a world of danger. A wealth of information to process.

He didn't expect to get as far as he did. Running along on theory alone? His 'sliding door gate' worked much more effectively than it should have on paper... or, well, in his virtual notes.

Alarms were firing off in the Twelve Division. Surveillance couldn't piece together where their new intruder came from. Only that he was in the Seventh Division barracks. Standing in front of a crowd of surly-looking men in old-fashioned shihakusho and swords, Naoyuki waved and tried to make his way over to the door... only to be stopped by an utterly enormous man.]

Oh, I thought I'd just... politely step out?

Interesting strategy, invader.

[He didn't actually want to put the man's face through the door but a few swings of his sword told him their weapons were the real deal. Scrambling along a number of walls, he hopped from point to point and came to a dead stop at the peak of a gate. Naoyuki pulled his hood loose and shook out his shaggy hair, looking over the massive expanse of walls leading into green and brown mountains in all directions. The land of spirits.]

Well, how about that? Knew it was real.

[It took hours for him to revert the real Karakura, returning it to its space. It certainly wasn't something that could wait as every resident had been rendered unconscious through the process. He couldn't leave a single person aside though, at both Yoruichi and Tessai's insistence, he made the effort to rest once it was complete. He'd been working throughout it all, concealing the depth of his injuries to allow everyone else that priority.

'Kisuke. It's over. Settle like the rest of us.'

Yoruichi, knowing him too well to bother trying to force him to let himself, watched impassively as he set up his console at the kitchen table and began making more work for himself. Monitoring the fourth's data on Hiyori's recovery and beginning to piece together research to return Ichigo's powers to him only a few hours after they were lost, Kisuke loosed a sigh.]

I'm sitting and enjoying tea. Resting.

[Yoruichi left, responding with her own exasperated sigh. It didn't surprise her than Kisuke went back on his promise less than an hour after making it. Rather, she decided she simply didn't have the energy to convince him to stop. Instead, she offered the shop's new guest a curious look and smile before disappearing into her room down the hall. Kisuke must have been quite distracted by his work and the exhausting pain he was in to not notice her.]

It's not going to end here, after all.

[For most, refusing to plan out a date might have sounded impersonal and a bit rude but for Kisuke, it was the kindest way he could reasonably think to approach Monika as himself. If he sat down and ran through plans there was a realistic chance he would overdo it. If he thought about places they could have gone then it would have turned into a night's worth of research to weigh options and he'd spend an painstaking amount of time simply looking to gauge her mood on the right time to ask.

So, instead, he simply waited until he had a free afternoon and called out to her while she was stocking a shelf. He'd wrapped up his smoke break a little early when the idea came to him.]

Monika. Do you want to go downtown with me to pick up a few things?

[There was a certain privilege in being given access to his own lab for research and development that Kisuke swiftly sought to abuse. Among the faculty, there was hesitance in investigating misconduct among students as exceptional as he was though, so it took a great deal of reconciliation to even call for someone to be sent to look into things.

That meant that Kisuke, of course, had been very surprised when he heard footsteps at the end of the hall beside his lab, rushing to stuff his dice and cup into his clothes as a number of other students retreated to their work stations to pretend that they were well into numerous tests and trials.]

Hello, hellooo! [So that, when the door swung open, the very pantomime of a well-oiled branch lab was falsified.] Oh, Madame President Akutagawa, to what do I owe this honor--

@ghaist,

@GHAIST - Sad AU pt 2 w/ Sato Naoyuki...

@ghaist childhood friends!!

@peninhand

@cloths - soul reaper academy because why not