Chapter 89 - Hueco Mundo I

"Perhaps the companionship of an evil person is preferable to loneliness." — Gaara.

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[POV: With Ichimaru Gin]

The moment Rangiku showed up, his mood changed and he was certain that Itachi Uchiha noticed it. He didn't care much for Itachi's observations as it meant nothing in the end, nor was he worried that Rangiku would tell him anything. The both of them were practically strangers.

The abrupt appearance of Rangiku thwarted any plan he had to prod Itachi. It wasn't exactly a serious thing, just him wanting to see how he could casually push the stoic Lieutenants buttons before he flared up.

"Can you just stay away?... Just for a little bit." He muttered forlornly.

It hurt him greatly to see her hurt by him every single time she looked at him and it hurt him most when he knew that he'll continue hurting her until he got his revenge.

"Damn you… Shinigami."

...

[12th Division Research Institute]

Mayuri tinkered with his equipments, grumbling and grunting to himself at the ineptitude of his assistants, while altogether ignoring the person who had unknowingly entered his lab without tripping any of the security systems.

Mayuri, a pale-white young man with permed-back blue hair and dim golden eyes and a dark paint painted across the area of his eyes as well as golden come devices for ears, was a very eccentric character even among the most eccentric of Shinigami.

He hit the glass culture tube strung up in the middle of the lab in anger and cursed irritably before he finally turned around to look at Itachi who had been watching him in silence for a few minutes.

"At least you can take a hint and know when to keep quiet." Well his bedside manner left much to be desired and Itachi wisely chose to ignore it.

Mayuri scoffed in mild annoyance when he saw how Itachi reacted to him. The man was hands down the most straight-laced and stern looking Lieutenant.

"Don't look at me as if I owe you something, you ungrateful inbred." He was still pissed off at Itachi for refusing to part with a token of his DNA as payment for figuring out how to go to Hueco Mundo.

A Fullbring Shinigami. Now wasn't that some prime research material right there? But the inferior ingrate wouldn't agree even when Mayuri threatened to decline his request and report him to the Head Captain.

Still seeing no reaction, he snorted and went about idly with his work.

"Do you have any idea of how immense the task of opening an artificial Garganta is? There was old information in the database but it's rarely anything to make it conclusive and while I can figure it out, it'll take more than a few weeks since I have other projects to see to." Mayuri drawled on nonchalantly and waved dismissively at Itachi to leave.

"Now if I had a willing Hollow to show me how they do it… I could figure it out faster."

Even without vocally replying, Itachi's gaze made it clear that he wouldn't hunt down any Hollow for him to experiment on.

"Tch."

"I know you're close to figuring it out, Mayuri. I hope you're done the next time I come back." Itachi said and slowly started fading away.

TRRKKK. DOOUUUMMM.

Mayuri suddenly attacked him with his released Zanpakutō, Ashisogi Jizō – A golden deformed serpentine trident with a baby's face on its guard –, right before he started fading away.

"Hehe, you think I haven't observed how your illusions work? I patiently waited for this moment to— kurrghh!"

An explosion knocked him out of his reverie and when he stood back up, he saw that what he'd stabbed and thought was Itachi was one of his experiments – the huge culture tube in the middle of the lab.

"You… damned… WORM!" He let out a crawling shriek as he just destroyed years of important research.

…..

[World of the Living]

With the diversion successfully set with no one being the wiser, Itachi walked through the human world as a soul while completely hiding his Reiatsu so as not to cause any havoc by having the full brunt of it being released.

Since no one knew he was here in the human world, his Reiatsu was no longer under seal so he had to take extra care in keeping it tightly locked in.

As for the unsuspecting diversion, he had spent weeks directing huge amounts of Reiatsu to a clone to make it as indistinguishable from his real body as he could.

The reason for this was because he had told exactly three people about his plans to go to Hueco Mundo; namely Yamamoto, Soi Fon and Mayuri, but he couldn't be entirely sure whether or not Aizen had gotten wind of it, and if he had, Itachi hoped to pull the wool over his eyes with him trying to access Hueco Mundo on his own while everyone else and his clone waited for Mayuri to complete a travel model.

He walked through a small quaint town and from the conversation he listened to as he went on, it looked like this was wartime and everyone was very nervous and in fear of a sudden attack.

He paid no mind to it, knowing fully well that he couldn't interfere in human strife, and went on his way until he came across a little house at the end of a barren path.

He slid the door open and stepped inside what looked to be the abode of a hermit.

"I'll be right with you, my good sir." A quaky voice shouted from within the house which was soon followed by the sound of hurried footsteps and things being kicked over.

"Welcome s—"

"I need to talk to you, Urahara." Itachi cut off the hermit's welcome as soon as the man came into view, silencing the enthusiastic greeting and bringing about an eerie hush about them.

"Don't move."

Tessai appeared behind Itachi and instantly restrained him with a high level Kidō spell.

'Bakudō #99. To be this instant means they sensed me when I arrived at the door.'

Kin was a #99 sealing spell that wrapped the target in black spiritual binding cloth and staking the cloth to the ground with pillars.

Even he had no way of getting out of this as it completely sealed his Reiatsu and physical strength, leaving him almost completely immobile.

'Tessai Tsukabichi. His title as Kidō Grand Chief was no fluke.' Itachi didn't resist, not like he could, more so when he did not come here to fight.

"Oh, if it isn't Lieutenant Uchiha. My, what brings you here?" Kisuke asked chippily, smiling unfazed at Itachi but that smile failed to reach his eyes.

Itachi responded easily, not appearing worried that he was currently sealed up. "I need your help in reaching Hueco Mundo. It's either your help or finding a Hollow and forcing it to open a Garganta, though I'd prefer if that was my last option."

Tessai and Kisuke stared at each other with a certain look and looked back at Itachi to inquire more.

"What business do you have in Hueco Mundo?" Tessai asked with his intertwined finger squeezing tightly against the other, pressuring the seal Itachi was bound in.

"Personal curiosity." Itachi said, before clarifying further. "I want to know how Aizen could manipulate the emergence of Hollows. I'm doubtful if it's all because of Hollow bait. That and I want to observe the nature of Hollows in their home world."

Kisuke looked at Itachi as if he was crazy, unable to figure out why he would want to do something so useless, not to mention outright dangerous. This made him all the more suspicious of Itachi's words.

Kisuke slowed down and asked firstly, not yet commenting on Itachi's words. "How did you find us?"

The look Itachi gave him at that question made him think Itachi was mocking him with what was supposed to have been an obvious answer.

Tessai grunted in warning, making Itachi slowly shake his head.

"I used to be a ninja. Tracking people is my specialty, especially when I had a few years as a time limit." Itachi answered evenly and matter-of-factly, but to Kisuke who was staring down at him like a hawk, it felt smug.

The ex-Captain and ex-Kidō Grand Chief exchanged a look and the former nodded, prompting the latter to slowly release the spell he had Itachi wrapped in.

"Well, come have a seat and let's talk." Kisuke offered, gesturing at the small table in the middle of the room.

Itachi knew he was still under suspicion and in danger but still he sat down. The results of their talk will tell if he could trust Kisuke, at least in matters pertaining to Aizen and the truth behind the Hollowfication.

"So," Kisuke pushed forward a plate of snacks towards Itachi, "How did you really find us?"

Itachi pointed to his eyes. "With the use of these." They briefly turned red before going back to his normal black.

Kisuke stroked his chin in interest while Tessai just remained staring silently at him.

"The 'Sharingan' I believe you said they were called. And hereditary too." Kisuke's face settled in a slight frown while his eyes bore into Itachi behind his grown bangs. "I tried but I couldn't find anything remotely similar to them, both back in the Soul Society and even here."

"That aside, you said you wanted to go to Hueco Mundo. My question is what motive or result does that give to you?"

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