[CLOSED] we're painted red to fit right in

[predomination]

CHARACTERS: Urahara and Shuyi
DATE: 10/17
WARNINGS: Excessive references to the song "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons, because I have no shame.
SUMMARY: Urahara asks Shuyi to show him what she can do, because he is a nosy bastard.

Presented with a puzzle, a conundrum, or something entirely new, Urahara can't help but put himself right into the middle of it, whether it's in his best interests or not. He's already pressing more closely to the Audentes than he initially intended to, due to not being able to simply remain in his shop and allow life to continue while he mulls about what he needs to do. Being in the thick of all this has made him bolder, determined to either solve every problem or uncover every fact, and this is neither fact or problem.

This is just curiosity, which is more dangerous, because he can't simply retreat to his shop when he pushes too hard.

Benihime is chuffed and awake, because she knows what he's thinking about- like anyone as invested in particle physics as he is could resist analyzing and understanding something like this. A majority of that intense interest makes up his entire shikai, even if it's just manipulating reishi. And that's not even started on his Bankai...

At the same time, like any good Zanpakuto, she's concerned.... in her own way.

One of these days, dear heart, you're going to wander into something and not like what you find, she chirps, far too gently. Like him, she's usually at her least sincere when she speaks politely.

And, like he usually does when he's set in his mind about what he wants, he ignores her, and continues walking towards the field the girl had indicated. When he arrives, he's all casual- nothing to see here but a cheerfully delighted man in outdated clothing and a hat that covers his eyes.

"Shuyi-san, I presume? Unless you have another name you'd prefer..."

Comments

[gunah]

Sly isn't the word she would use to describe herself. That implies some intent driving her curious jabs, when she quips only to amuse, to incite a reaction, and nothing more. She hasn't yet learned all the tricks of the trade.

So she chuckles when he calls her that, rather pleased with herself despite the reprimand contained in his words.

"Do I not look weak enough?" A beat. "Perhaps I speak too much."

[predomination]

"I think you'll end up being underestimated regardless of how much you speak," he lilts jovially, more than happy to mock casual sexism, because while Soul Society has far fewer concerns about things like that the Living World, it's still an issue. And one he finds no use in, beyond how well he can use it to take advantage of. In those cases, it's well-deserved.

"It's no fault of your own- people just tend to look at pretty young women and forget the old adages about roses and thorns. You could say you tear apart bonds in matter all you wish, but they'll still downplay it until they see it themselves." A beat, from his end this time. "I doubt that's anything you need me to tell you, though. I'm sure you've seen it a time or two."

She seems like the type who has been vastly underestimated- maybe that's why she's so bold.

[gunah]

Shuyi has no words to explain why her role was to sit pretty and keep quiet while her former husband's part was to speak and make his thoughts known. Why her father told her sister to stop playing with swords and to lower her voice, when she is twice more skilled than even the imperial guards. But she sees it and knows how to navigate it as best as she can.

So she smiles in a conspiratorial manner. Bold, yes. "I am lucky in that manner then, but what of yourself?"

"Urahara, do you pretend to be a rose without thorns?"

[predomination]

One would argue that it isn't so much that people doubt his thorns as it is they don't quite realize they're often poisoned. Poor Rukia learned that the hard way, and he hasn't quite stopped regretting that poor decision.

One would... argue a lot of things about him, really. He contains multitudes, which isn't as abstract a metaphor as it might be otherwise with a shinigami. His heart, body, and very soul belong just as much to Benihime as they do to him, and he'd do wise to never forget that if he wants to keep her happy.

No one likes an unhappy Zanpakuto.

He laughs jovially, his mask of innocence as transparent as cellophane. "We~ll, I don't know that there's so much pretending, Shuyi-san. I can't help that people tend to think I'm a buffoon just at first glance." His tone lilts into a dramatic wistfulness. "It can be a bit insulting sometimes, you know? I run a quaint little shop back home, so I have professional image to maintain. It's just people take it so seriously."

And that's entirely the reason for it, isn't it? No ulterior motives, no subterfuge, no desire to keep himself closely guarded. And of course, he doesn't work hard to make sure people take his acting at face value. It's all just a professional front, and people are silly for falling for it so consistently.

Of course.

[gunah]

Hiding in plain sight. Perhaps that's the common denominator between them. No one ever suspected that she would be so bold, so powerful and so full of rage as to inflict such misery upon her world for the sake of a handful people she hates, but she has never hidden her audacity, never kept the blood that courses through her vein or her hatred for tyrants any secret.

They only didn't believe her. Come to think of it, he's among the few who accepted her claims so readily.

She keeps up her smile, but this time it is only fond, no longer mischievous.

"I know too much now to insult you, Urahara."

[predomination]

He lifts the corner of his hat up just a bit, enough that the dark shadows that usually obscure his eyes fall away, and the two of them can actually have this moment of understanding eye-to-eye, rather than have the emotional intimacy obscured by this simple little barrier that keeps Urahara's front so well-maintained.

It's easy to see why such a silly little article of clothing serves as a shield for him- when you can actually see his eyes, no amount of playful subterfuge and deflection can hide the fact that he looks deeply, deeply tired.

"Thank you." He smiles- it almost reaches his eyes, but not quite, and he slips the hat back down on his head in the hairsbreadth of a pause after he says it. "I am a shopkeeper, and I'd like to think that's the whole and sum of it now, but I haven't really had much luck. All those cliches they say about tigers and stripes hold true."

If he thought he could retire after centuries of correcting past mistakes and a single Winter War, he was sorely mistaken. ALASTAIR had other plans. And to be fair, had they not intervened, he would have found something else.

[gunah]

The eyes are windows to the souls, and all that.

Shuyi may not know how rare an honor it is to look into the eyes of one Urahara and walk away unscathed, but she knows to spot the moment someone lets their guard down, even for a little bit. And for all the years she spent witnessing and learning the ins-and-outs of manipulation and political intrigue, none of that have swayed her belief that trust must never be betrayed. It is sacred, non-negotiable, whether or not the other person reciprocates.

"One day, Urahara, you will be just a shopkeeper and I--" what will she be? "I can be someone you would be right to underestimate."