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feelingfredly · 5 years

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The Fox Guards the Wolf

Part Sixteen

Counting Chickens Before They’ve Hatched

“What do you mean he’s gone?”

Kisuke turned slightly in his seat and cocked his head as he looked at Tessai. “Did the words somehow change meanings when I wasn’t paying attention?”

Tessai raised a hand before the Director could explode. “What Urahara-san is trying to say,” he said calmly, “is that after his meeting with Okura Kagetaka, Kurosaki Ichigo packed his belongings and vacated his Onmitsukido supplied apartment without leaving any contact information. He has not, as far as we’ve been able to discern, moved back into the apartment he had before the incident at the coffee house, or back into his family’s home.”

The Director frowned at Kisuke’s carelessly swinging geta, each slap of it against the bottom of his foot cranking the man’s temper another notch higher. Kisuke kept the rhythm constant, a small aggression in lieu of the larger ones he would prefer.

“I thought you said he was in danger from Okura?” The Director pinched the butt of the cigarette in his mouth and pulled a long drag from it, blowing it towards the men across the desk from him.

Kisuke stilled. “He is still in danger from Okura, and it isn’t as if I could stop him.”

Kawasaki Ryō had been Director for as long as Kisuke had been in the Onmi. His methods had never changed, no matter what the world around him did, and he sneered at Kisuke’s denial.

“Sure. And I’m Ultraman.” His lips twisted in a smirk as he sucked on his cigarette. “You brought him here to get Okura’s attention, and now that you have it you’ve sent the kid out as bait. I didn’t think you had it in you anymore, Getaboshi. It’s almost like the old days.”

Tessai shifted in his seat but didn’t say anything.

“Actually,” Kisuke said, snapping his fan open and waving it in counterpoint to his swinging sandal, “I didn’t.” He raised an eyebrow at the man who’d become his second biggest concern. “Kurosaki signed a contract with Taka-chan that promised him more money than he’d seen in ten years as a med student or an entry level doctor and then he just… left. Stopping him, while probably in his best interests, would have been beyond my purview. He’d done nothing wrong, and his presence was strictly voluntary.”

The Director leaned forward and slapped his palms on his desk. “You’re telling me that you don’t have a line on him? He really is just gone?”

Kisuke nodded, fanning himself as he watched the red creeping up his boss’s neck.

“What is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?” He was getting into full rant mode. “That kid has been running loose in the building for almost two months now. He’s had access to your labs. To the other agents. And you just let him go.”

Tessai made a small sound of disagreement. “It was his right to leave. He was…”

Kawasaki exploded. “I don’t give a damn what his rights are! You find that bastard and you bring him back. I don’t care if you have to dust off your shibari skills to tie him up and drag his ass back, you get him back!”

Kisuke snapped his fan shut. “I’m not going to just kidnap an innocent off the street on a whim.”

“You will do exactly that if I tell you too, Urahara-san.” The Director’s eyes were dark and angry. “The situation with Okura is your fault, and any of this… all of this… is because you chased him away. He had the potential to be the best agent in the Onmitsukido, and your…”

“Morals? Unwillingness to target civilians? Regard for the law?” Kisuke didn’t even look at him as he spoke, but he could hear the offended intake of breath across the desk. Pfft. Kawasaki’s ego was as sensitive as Taka-chan’s. Two insecure men with more power than sense. It was no wonder they got along so well.

Kawasaki growled under his breath, his anger an almost palpable thing. Kisuke made a production of looking at a dry cuticle.

“Your regard for the law.” The words dragged over broken glass. “What a joke. You know as well as I do that in the end you will do exactly what I tell you, or I will personally give Okura Kagetaka access to you, your research, and your precious little civilian.” He spat the last of the threat out like poison. “I think I could almost convince him to come back to us if I gave him that kind of welcoming present.”

Kisuke shifted in his chair and yawned delicately. “How lovely. It finally becomes clear. It isn’t just me you’re willing to sacrifice to get what you want.”

Tessai stood up. “Director,” his voice was aloe on a burn, soothing and bland, “I quite understand your frustration with having lost contact with Kurosaki. Would it be appropriate for me to assign a team for surveillance of his known locations?”

Kawasaki unclenched his jaw, forcing his eyes away from Kisuke. “Surveillance to start. Once his location is known, I want him brought in.” He bared his teeth in a shark’s smile. “For his own safety of course.”

Tessai bowed briefly to both men. “I will get right on that, then.”

As the big man left, the Director waved a hand for him to close the door behind him, leaving him an arm’s length from Kisuke.

It would be so easy to just break his neck, Kisuke thought. It wasn’t the first time, and Kisuke was certain it wouldn’t be the last. Other things needed his attention first, though.

“You wanted to say something else… Director?” He paused before the title, making his distaste clear. This man didn’t deserve his position, and Kisuke made no attempt to soften the cutting edge of his disapproval.

Yoruichi’s voice hummed in his ear. Only two life-signs in the room, Kisuke. Starting independent recording now.

Good. Now he could get things moving without having to worry about Tessai. No one else would be leverage in this fight.

“I did.” Kawasaki shook another cigarette out of his battered pack, trigger-calloused fingers making quick work of the action. “This thing with Okura has gotten out of hand.”

Kisuke pretended to misunderstand. “I agree. He has never publicly involved himself before, especially with a civilian. Clearly he is deteriorating.”

The Director blew a cloud of blue smoke. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I mean the snake. Involving Mamushi. You are the one who is deteriorating. You crossed a line, Urahara-san.”

Not exactly the tack he was expecting, but it supported his theory that there was a direct line of communication between Kawasaki and Okura. No one in Taka-chan’s circle would have been made privy to what happened. He couldn’t afford for his weakness to become public knowledge. Attacked in the security of his own center of operations? He would never give that information out.

Except to the Director, apparently.

“Hmmm. Pillow talk, Kawasaki-kun?” He gave a prurient little grin and crossed his legs, swinging his sandal again. “You must have hidden talents. I never pegged Taka-chan for sharing his little secrets, even during his afterglow, but then I never expected him to be attracted such an older man, either.”

Kawasaki surged to his feet, his desk squalling in objection as it gouged tracks in the tiled floor. “Shut your fucking mouth and listen for once, Ki-chan.” His face was purple, and he flung the lit cigarette at Kisuke, just missing his open neckline where it would have burned bare skin. “This is your last warning. Stay away from Okura. If you don’t—if I hear one fucking whisper about you following him, interfering with him, delivering a fucking letter to his building—I will make your life short, ugly, and miserable. And, just so we’re on the same page, consider anything that I might be able to do you to be in the cards for your little friend Kurosaki as well.”

He bared his teeth in a rictus of a grin. “Do you understand me, Ki-chan? Think before you open that mouth of yours. This is the only chance you’re going to get.”

Kisuke picked up the cigarette where it had landed in his lap and made a distasteful moue. “You know that this,” he waved the white cylinder, “is going to be the death of you. You should know better at your age. I suppose, though, that they’re right. Old dogs really don’t learn new tricks, and you are definitely,” he reached across to the over-flowing ashtray on the Director’s desk and stubbed the ember out, “an old dog. You’re lucky you’ve lasted in this game as long as you have. Have you considered what you’ll do after the powers-that-be decide that they need to drag the Onmitsukido into the 21st century? If you’re not careful they’ll just take you out behind the building and put you out of your misery.”

Silence stretched between them, the Director’s hands clenching in fury on the desktop. Kisuke made a sympathetic sound.

“Such a shame, too. After all your years of devoted service.” He looked at the older man through the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. “Maybe you could get a job working for Taka-chan. I’m sure he’d be happy to help you, even after you retire from the field. Who needs contacts or leverage, hmm? Loyalty is so much more important.”

Kawasaki scowled and jabbed a ragged-nailed finger in the air. “You know nothing about loyalty, you bastard. I’ve watched you for fifteen years. Always thinking you know best. Disregarding orders. Breaking the chain of command any time it suits you. When the time comes, I’ll be happy to sign the kill order with your name on it. Yours, Kurosaki’s, and your little friend Shihouin. Give me a reason, Ki-chan. One reason. I’ll drop you so fast you won’t know you’re dead until you’re dining in Yomi.”

Kisuke planted both feet squarely on the floor, facing his old mentor. It’s come to this.

“Have you been to the training rooms recently, Director-san?” His voice was light. Harmless. “I hope that you have. Keeping track of your subordinates’ skills is so important in these situations. Knowing exactly what talents to match with what task. Your newest batch of recruits is very different from the class I entered with. Much more independently minded. And, while they all have honed their physical skills, many of them have never even seen combat.”

Kawasaki glared, tired of the dance.

Finally.

Kawasaki leaned forward, a look of almost delight on his face.

“Oh, I know you’ll kill some of them. Maybe all of them. I don’t care. That’s the thing you never understood. I. Don’t. Care. Plus, it has the added bonus that I know killing all those so-called innocents will destroy you. I will send everyone from the senior agents down to the mail boy if I must. You are just one man. You’ll screw up sooner or later, and I will be there to laugh as you bleed out. You with your convenient morals and your ridiculous belief that the Onmi exists for any reason but what I tell it to. I know where all the bodies are buried. No one will touch me. You are out-gunned, out-classed, and out of time, Ki-chan. Today is a new day. Okura-san understands that.”

Kisuke tsked at him, rolling his eyes derisively. Such a drama queen.

“Taka-chan understands better than you do. He understands that he has you in his pocket. He gives you scraps of power and keeps you on a leash. You’re his very own pet Onmi Director. I can’t even imagine the hard-on it gives him when you two get together. Do you always kneel for him, or is that something he reserves for blowjobs?”

Kawasaki’s rage was incandescent. “How dare you speak to me that way? I’ll kill you myself. But first, I’ll have you court-martialed. How’d you like to be convicted of treason, Ki-chan? And Kurosaki, too. You can watch yet another innocent life be destroyed because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut.” He almost smiled, but there were too many teeth. “I’ll ruin you first, and then I’ll have you killed. Then I’ll make your body a present to your protégé so he can take it home and piss on it. I think that will pretty much guarantee my retirement, don’t you? How’s that for a new trick, you little bitch? Hmmm?”

“Not a new trick,” Kisuke answered blandly. “Hell, not even a new family to ruin. You had Kurosaki Masaki killed. Taka-chan told me you approved it personally. Something about her connections to Mamushi’s lieutenant at the time. One of the other convenient casualties of the turf war you two engineered.”

Kawasaki dropped back into his chair and grinned. “Ah, so good of you to remember. Killing her worked even better than we’d hoped. And now, you couldn’t have done me a bigger favor than pulling Kurosaki Ichigo into the frame. What better reason for you to turn on your old yakuza associates than a new young lover whose mother was killed in a turf war? Your friend Shihouin won’t like you going against her dear Uncle Mamushi, so you’ll have to kill her, too. Then, once it’s come out that you, an Onmi-trained assassin, have killed them both, it will start a new turf war, but this time it will be between the Onmi and the yakuza. The gangs will target agents everywhere, and we will be then be able to take them out with impunity. The branches will be decimated in weeks, leaving a very nice power vacuum. Then, the public—scared to death of the yakuza—will be thrilled to accept the assistance of the Okura keiretsu. Such a respectable business, run by a retired civil servant who wants nothing more than to give back to the community that has given him so much. In the end, you will be brought in and that will be the end of Getaboshi. The irony is wonderful, isn’t it? It is practically poetic that your undoing will be the keystone of Okura-san’s success.”

“You can’t just kill me, though,” Kisuke said quietly, and Kawasaki chuckled at how much less confident he sounded.

“Oh, can’t I?” Kawasaki sat back, nicotine-stained fingers steepled. “What if you tried to kill me?” He pulled a drawer open and laid his service pistol on the desk top. “It would be easy. My word against yours.”

Kisuke snorted. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

Kawasaki nodded. “True. You are a born killer. Everyone knows that. But that works to my advantage as well.”

The pistol disappeared back into the desk, and Kawasaki leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially.

“You are the greatest killer the Onmitsukido has ever trained.” His voice was oily. “No one will have any trouble believing that you managed to kill the old snake where so many others failed. All I must do is convince them that after a decade of killing you’ve gone over the wall. It wouldn’t be difficult. I have reams of documents proving that you have always had zero respect for the rules, and I have dozens of people willing to testify against you. They will say anything I tell them to say.” He lit another cigarette and dragged the smoke deeply into his lungs with a satisfied sigh. “You’re trapped, Ki-chan. Even a Go master like you won’t be able to find a way out. Now, get out of my office,” the Director ordered, sneer firmly back in place. “I can’t wait until I never have to see your face again.”

Kisuke stood and stared down at the man, his face blank, before turning to leave.

“For once, something we agree on, Director,” he said. He stopped at the door and looked back over his shoulder. “I will be happy to never see your face again.”

His lip pulled up slightly at the corner as he saw the Director’s expression fade to one of doubt. He pulled the door open, and left, the seed of fear well planted behind him.

Yoruichi murmured in his ear. One life sign remains in the room. Heartrate just spiked.

Kisuke smiled.

#Urahara Kisuke #Kurosaki Ichigo #UraIchi #Bleach #Kisuke stirs up trouble #Yoruichi is listening #Tessai's smart and gets out of the way

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jedifighterpilot2727 · 7 years

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Failing Physics

Just a heads up but I'm going to try and go through my prompts on here the next few days, and some of them will just be little short fics that don't get posted on AO3 so I’ll try and tag everything appropriately!

The story of how Lexi and Taylor meet - AKA the rom com beginning that no one asked for but I decided to write anyway.

Taylor is failing physics.

She’s not even exaggerating at this point, because it’s right there; written in red ink on her test paper.

Forty-six.

She didn’t even know test scores could go that low. Granted she’s also never taken college level physics, so that probably has something to do with it.

Once again, she curses herself for forgetting to sign up for the mandatory science class until the last possible minute; because of course the only option that fit in with the rest of her schedule had been physics. Of course.

Groaning, she watches the rest of the class file out, debating on whether or not she should cut her losses and drop out of school entirely or try and beg the professor for extra credit. She isn’t exactly sure what extra credit in a physics class would look like, but it couldn’t be THAT horrible?

Right?

She watches as Dr. McGregor packs up his bag at the front of the class, debating.

Just as she’s made the decision to throw herself at the mercy of the extra credit gods, she hears a voice.

“Dr. McGregor! Hi! Ummm, I just had one question about the test - “

A figure laden with books steps up to the desk, drawing Dr. McGregor’s attention to her outstretched test paper.

Lexi, Taylor thinks her name is.

That’s a lie.

She knows for sure that that’s what the girl’s name is, just as sure as she knows that Lexi is one of the reasons for Taylor failing her latest test.

It’s hard to pay attention when the prettiest girl she’s ever seen in her entire life is sitting just a few rows up.

Lexi, with her dark brown hair, and her bright blue eyes, that stupid sunny smile that absolutely no one should have during an 8am class. She watches as Lexi’s free hand pushes her glasses up her nose before gesticulating wildly at the paper in front of her.

Since she’s been spared from her begging for another few moments, she takes the opportunity to give her crush an appreciative once over. As flustered as the girl sounds, she LOOKS put together, from head to toe. The braid containing her hair looks nearly impossible to wrangle, and Taylor absently wonders just how long the other girl spends on her hair in the mornings. Her outfit just screams ‘money’, from the black designer button up and the brown Hermes belt and the black Givenchy pants . . .

Taylor doesn’t even want to think about how much her loafers cost. Two month’s rent, probably.

She has to hand it to the rich girl though, if she didn’t know fashion, she would never guess that any of it was designer. It was subtle, and Taylor likes that. Not enough to flaunt, but enough that it probably kept the other rich kids off her back.

Well other than the popped collar and the fact that she seems to be debating an answer to a physics test. That probably didn’t make them consider her less of a dork.

A cute dork though.

She considers for a moment that she doesn’t really know much about Lexi other than the fact that she wears designer clothes, sits at the front of the class everyday, and that she never speaks to anyone other than the professor.

Oh and that she’s insanely attractive, but Taylor would have to be blind to miss that.

She’s startled from her thoughts by Dr. McGregor’s voice.

“Now Lexi, I know that you’re only in this class because the Dean turned down your request to bypass it for the higher level course; and I’m also aware that he turned you down only out of spite because of his long standing feud with your mother, but that doesn’t change the fact that in this class we’re dealing strictly with Earth based physics. I understand that on Mars or even Vucarra that the principles determining the result of the test mentioned in question 7 would be vastly different, but this is about how the test would play out on Earth.” He chuckles. "Try to dial back your vast knowledge of extraplanetary physics for this class, please.”

“Sorry, it’s just- the different systems got mixed up in my head, I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t understand the concept.”

“Lexi, you missed half a point on the entire test, you’re in no danger of me doubting your ability to grasp the concept of entry level physics anytime soon.”

That seems to appease Lexi, because she tucks the test paper in one of the folders balanced on her arm.

“Thank you, sir.”

Taylor is standing before she even registers what she’s doing.

Only her feet don’t take her up to Dr. McGregor’s desk, instead they follow Lexi out into the quad.

She isn’t exactly sure which part of her brain decided this was a good idea, but she’s going to blame it on the gay part.

Sappho have mercy.

“Lexi?” She calls out, and the other girl stops and whirls so fast that her papers and books fly everywhere.

Great way to start a conversation, good job Taylor.

“Oh, Rao! Sorry! I hope I didn’t hit you! I just have a really exaggerated startle reflex sometimes.” Lexi blurts out as she scurries around, picking up papers from the grass; and Taylor drops to her knees to help.

“Completely my fault, I didn’t mean to startle you!” She passes Lexi a stack of papers, pretending not to notice the electric current that passes between them when their hands brush.

Lexi clears her throat, but makes no attempt to get up or pull away.

“Was there something you needed?”

Taylor doesn’t think she’s ever seen eyes that blue.

“Pardon?”

Lexi’s fingers brush nervously at her glasses.

“You called my name?” Her voice squeaks at the end and Taylor almost melts at the adorableness.

“Oh! Right, sorry. I just - well I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Dr. McGregor, and well, I need a tutor.”

“A tutor? For what?”

She might think that Lexi is simply being mean, but she doesn’t think there’s a way to fake the look of genuine confusion on her face.

“Intro to physics? The class we were just in?” Taylor jerks her thumb back towards the door.

“Oh! Of course! Yeah, no, duh, I mean obviously -“ Lexi shakes her head. “The science center has a really great tutoring program, or I think there are some private tutors posted on the bulletin board outside the lab.”

“Actually,” Taylor hesitates for half a second before taking the plunge. “I was hoping, maybe, you could tutor me?”

She isn’t sure how to read the hesitation on Lexi’s face, so she stutters forward.

“I mean you don’t have to, obviously, and I can’t pay you - because, well broke college student - but I work down at the corner coffee shop, and I can get you all the free coffee you can drink. Plus you’d have my undying gratitude for helping me not flunk out of college.”

A twinkle lights in Lexi’s eyes and one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows arches upward.

“I am running a little low on undying gratitude.”

Taylor doesn’t let herself imagine that Lexi is flirting.

“Well, if you can help me pass physics then you will have mine, I have no idea how you even understand what he’s talking about half the time.”

“Oh!” Nervous Lexi appears to be back, tilting her glasses once again before reaching out a hand to pull Taylor to her feet. “My mom has been teaching me physics since I was like, five; so. . . . it’s just kind of . . . ingrained in there, I guess.”

“Five! You were five when you started learning this stuff?!”

“Well, Mama and I would always be worried when my Mom was . . . out on assignment, so we did science experiments. It sort of became our thing.”

“You have two moms?”

That must strike a nerve, because Lexi straightens to her full height, and even though she’s shorter than Taylor by a few inches she looks menacing.

“Is that a problem?”

“No, no, of course not! Huge lesbian here.” Taylor points to herself, trying not to wince at her own sudden awkwardness. “Just wanted to clarify! It’s always nice to hear about other lesbians having families and succeeding - out there teaching their five year-olds physics!” Lexi seems to have relaxed, but she rambles on anyway. "What does your mom even do? That she knows so much about physics, and that she apparently has beef with the Dean of the science department at USC?”

“You don’t - you don’t know who I am?”

Of course she should have know that a person dressed like they belong in a fashion show for high end tomboy wear would have an ego.

“Should I?”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that; I wouldn’t expect you to know who I am, I was just trying to say . . . .” Lexi trails off with a sigh. “Most people form opinions about me based on my family before they even meet me, so it’s just surprising to hear someone say they don’t know who I am.”

Taylor feels herself relax. Maybe Lexi doesn’t have that much of an ego after all.

“Oh, well I can see how that might throw you off.”

“I wasn’t trying to be snobby or whatever, I just -“

“Lexi, it’s totally fine! I don’t think you’re being a snob! Hell, I don’t even think I’ve told you my name!”

“Taylor!” Lexi blurts. “Not that I’m creepy or stalky or anything, I just -“

Taylor saves her from whatever apology is about to come by extending her hand for a shake, warm and giddy off the fact that her crush knows her name.

"Taylor Mitchell, pleasure to meet you.”

Lexi’s handshake was firm.

“Lexington Luthor-Danvers, and the pleasure is all mine.”

Smooth. How could someone go from blubbering mess to suave in exactly 0.25 seconds? And -

"Wait. THE Luthor-Danvers? As in the Luthor-Danvers empire?”

“That’s the one.” As uncomfortable as Lexi may seem with her social status, there’s a hint of pride in her voice at the family name.

“Well, I can see why your mom started teaching you physics at five!”

“She’s kind of a legend among science nerds, so since I’m a science major, pretty much everyone I’ve met here has already known about me beforehand.”

Taylor vaguely remembers ‘the Luthor-Danvers heir’ making headlines on magazines for some sort of scientific research a few years back and she vows to google it when she gets home.

“Well, I’m an art major, and I know absolutely nothing about science; hence the failing grade in physics.”

Lexi’s mouth quirks upward.

“Right, well I can probably help you with that.”

“Like I said, undying gratitude.” She teases and Lexi starts to say something only to get cut off by a shriek echoing out across the quad.

“Lexi!! A little help here! This Dargorian poodle is a little out of control!!” A huge beast streaks by- one that resembles a St. Bernard only without the fur - dragging behind it a person on roller skates.

“Uhh,” Lexi begins stuffing her books into her backpack. "I - I have to go, that’s my cousin. Tomorrow at 1? Does that work for you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Study date? Tomorrow at 1pm in the library, second floor?” Lexi slings the stuffed bag over her shoulder with surprising ease and Taylor tries not to drool.

“Oh! yeah, perfect!”

“Great! I’ll see you then!” There’s a blinding grin tossed in her direction, and then Lexi is gone, running after the animal and its handler.

Taylor still isn’t sure what possessed her to follow her crush and ask her for help; but it’s easily the best decision she’s made all week.

So let me know what you guys think about this one!! This is the closest to an original fic that I've ever written - all of the speaking characters are original characters - so i'm a little nervous!

#supercorp #Lexington Luthor-Danvers #the lexington chronicles #Taylor the Girlfriend #a major part of the reason that Lexi is such a bumbling mess is because she has a HUGE crush on Taylor #fanfiction

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