like the light was all i had, i struck the book with my last match

[unburden]

Weeks have passed since Rukia last spent any meaningful amount of time around Urahara Kisuke. They see each other almost every day with Rukia being a regular employee at the café, but helping with the cats is a far cry from the type of counsel that Rukia and Urahara usually provide one another. The reason for Rukia pulling back is simple. However much she has learned to expect Urahara to extend his influence wherever possible — provided it's an area of interest — being fully cognizant of how little control she has leaves her feeling uneasy. Angry, as well.

And sometimes, deeply lonely.

But Dean Winchester isn't just any subject. He is, in his own way, a deeply trusted partner whose interests she wishes to protect. And if there's anything that Urahara doesn't have as much patience for, it's teaching the regular discipline and foundational work that every shinigami needs to learn. So she sends Dean an invitation to join her for training one day, curious to see how far he's come, and wanting to make sure the new power he wields is enough to protect the additional attention he's sure to attract.

She settles on a meeting place far into the forest, where she practices her aim by slicing the falling leaves neatly in two with her sword.

Comments

[always_enduphere]

"I used to shoot'em," says Dean, standing on the edge of the clearing. He has his nicest flannel on, of all things, beard trimmed and hair combed, mouth set in a determined, if self-conscious line. Even now, with his sword in one hand and a perfectly willing teacher standing across from him, Dean feels like an impostor, an experienced but clumsy hunter playing at techniques far above him.

"To practice my aim," he says, nodding towards the leaves. "That was before bullets got scarce."