Rukia looked at the device, then at Urahara Kisuke's shrewd merchant face, gritted her teeth, and finally took it.
"...Thanks," she squeezed the words out through clenched teeth, then turned and quickly left the shop.
With Rukia's departure, the room fell quiet once more.
The smile on Urahara's face faded slightly, and his eyes, which had been perpetually narrowed, opened a little wider.
He slowly turned his head to look at Sasuke, who hadn't uttered a word the entire time, and snapped his fan shut.
"Well then..."
He resumed his signature grin, his tone carrying a hint of meaning.
"And what might your business be, sir? You don't seem to have followed Kuchiki-san out of concern."
Sasuke stepped out from the shadows by the wall, walked directly to the tatami mat, sat down cross-legged, and met Urahara's gaze calmly.
He didn't beat around the bush.
"I sought you out to ask about one thing."
Sasuke's voice was flat, but it wasn't hard to detect a note of respect in his tone, "Shopkeeper Urahara, I wanted to ask if you know of a method to cross the world's border."
Urahara, upon hearing this, lightly tapped his palm with his fan and asked with a smile, "Oh? What do you mean, sir? Are you saying you want to return to the Soul Society? While it's a bit troublesome, it's not impossible, you know."
"No." Sasuke shook his head decisively, "It's not the Soul Society I want to go to."
"Not the Soul Society?"
The smile on Urahara's face widened. He feigned surprise, opening his mouth slightly, "Then perhaps Hueco Mundo? My, my, that's not a good place to go. It's full of starving Hollows, very dangerous."
"However, I do know some methods, though the price might be a bit..."
"It's not Hueco Mundo either," Sasuke interrupted him directly. He paused for a moment, as if weighing how much information to reveal.
"Not long ago, I accidentally ended up in a completely unfamiliar world."
Sasuke said slowly, "A world that belongs neither to the Dangai, the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, nor Hell. Another world entirely."
"Oh?" Urahara Kisuke's fan stilled in his hand, and his eyes, which were usually half-closed, opened fully.
"Another world?"
He leaned forward slightly, his tone becoming a bit more urgent, "What was it like there? And how did you determine it was another world?"
Seeing his reaction, Sasuke knew he had successfully piqued the man's interest.
He didn't continue answering the question. Instead, he slowly raised his right hand and began forming hand seals.
They were a series of gestures Urahara Kisuke had never seen before, not belonging to any known form of Kido incantation.
"This is..." Urahara's eyes instantly became focused.
Bang!
Amidst a puff of white smoke, Sasuke's figure vanished from his spot, replaced by Kuchiki Rukia, who had just left not long ago.
She was wearing the same Shinigami's Shihakusho she had on before entering the Gigai, but with a hint of Sasuke's signature arrogance on her face.
"A trick?"
Urahara's eyes narrowed, but he immediately sensed something was wrong, "No, the Reiatsu is completely simulated... even the minute details are impeccably mimicked..."
In this aspect, it was quite similar to one of the Mod-Souls Urahara created.
That Mod-Soul possess the ability to transform into anyone and even acquire some of the abilities of the person they mimic.
Before he could finish his analysis, an even more astonishing scene unfolded.
The 'Rukia' that Sasuke had transformed into formed a different set of hand seals with both hands.
Bang! Bang!
Two more puffs of white smoke, and two identical 'Rukia' appeared beside her.
All three Rukias tilted their heads simultaneously, looking at Urahara with a scrutinizing gaze.
Urahara stood up completely. He walked quickly up to one of the clones, his face unable to contain his excitement. He extended his cane and cautiously poked the 'Rukia's' cheek.
The cane made contact with a tangible sensation.
"...They're actually physical clones with substance!"
Urahara's breathing became slightly rapid, "Moreover, the energy composing these bodies isn't Reiatsu… it's another type of energy I've never seen before!"
He whipped his head around to look at the 'Rukia' that was Sasuke's original transformed body, his eyes blazing with fervent light.
"Fascinating, utterly fascinating!"
He opened his fan and agitatedly fanned it in front of himself, "Another form of power, and another world... my, this is simply unbelievable!"
The white smoke dissipated, the clones vanished, and Sasuke reverted to his original form, sitting there calmly.
He looked at the flushed Urahara before him and spoke plainly, "Now, do you believe what I said?"
"Believe? Of course I believe!"
Urahara snapped his fan shut, quickly walked back to his spot, and sat down again.
He leaned forward slightly, his tone urgent, "Young man, could you elaborate? How did you get to that world? And how did you return?"
Sasuke's tone was calm, as if stating something unrelated to himself, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Urahara was taken aback.
"Mhm." Sasuke nodded and began to recall, "The first time I went there was not long ago. I had just slain a Hollow, and then a voice appeared in my mind."
"A voice?"
Urahara's eyes sharpened, "What kind of voice?"
Sasuke's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, as if recalling an unpleasant sensation.
"A sinister, resentful voice that kept urging me to unleash the hatred within."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "Right after that voice started, the world before my eyes suddenly began to distort. Then I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, I was in that world."
Urahara rested his fan against his chin, lost in thought.
'Slaying a Hollow, an inner voice, and forced world transfer.'
"And the return?" Urahara pressed, "Did you hear the voice again when you returned?"
"No." Sasuke shook his head, "The return was equally sudden."
He began to recall the scene from not long ago, within Naruto's mental world.
"I was inside someone's Inner World at the time, confronting a massive, sealed energy entity."
"After I used my sword to damage part of the seal, causing energy to leak out and collide with that power, I returned."
Urahara keenly grasped the key point, "You mean to say, in that world, you entered deep into someone else's soul?"
"That's one way to put it." Sasuke said succinctly.
"Ha..." Urahara let out a long exhale, then couldn't help but chuckle softly, his shoulders shaking slightly, "That is incredibly... spectacular beyond imagination."
He slowly put down his fan, his eyes shimmering with inquisitive light. He looked at Sasuke, his tone very serious.
"Uchiha Sasuke, correct?"
He accurately called out Sasuke's full name.
"To solve this mystery, and to find a way for you to return, could I ask a favor of you?"
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