The Hunter and the Shinigami

Nikumu looked around the shop with a keen eye noting all the nooks and crannies around him as he followed Urahara to the back of the shop where he was shown a spare room for him to stay in while he was here.

"Thank you for the hospitality Mr. Urahara." Nikumu said with a practiced ease, his sister had beaten into his skull the need of manners if he wanted to get a better payment from clients as good manners were considered respectful and made people more inclined to hire you again.

Although Dante has somehow been able to do his job and find clients wanting to hire him again and again despite his rude behavior and habit of destruction. Nikumu thought as he listened to Urahara lay out some ground rules.

"Well that should be everything so would you like something to drink Nikumu?" Urahara asked his holding his fan though it was closed for now.

"Ice cold water will do." Nikumu said as his body finally caught up to the events that had happened to him particularly his need for rehydration after his time in the Fire Hell.

Urahara nodded and called for one of his people a red haired boy he noted to bring them water.

"So Nikumu care to explain what you did earlier as I said not many can defeat a Gillian and come out unharmed on their first time." Urahara asked his black clothed guest as the boy, he was almost positive he was a boy, sat down on the cushion next to him as he took another as his own seat.

"Not much to tell really just a technique I've been working on for some time now and finally finished during my job." Nikumu said to the ex-captain while his fingers taped to a beat Urahara didn't know.

"I see and what was your last job if I might ask?" Nikumu eyed Urahara as he considered answering. He could tell the man was fishing for information and couldn't really hold it against him either considering he was an unknown to the soul collector if his guess was right.

"I was dealing with a particularly annoying group of demons and one of the locks they set up to stop intruders was set that certain pillars were to go off at set points meaning you needed several people or the door to be opened from the inside to get in hence the time gap in the explosions plus it also lets me stop them if I need to at any point in time."

Urahara nodded but found himself wondering at Nikumu's choice of wording again as he recalled what he said earlier at the school.

"I see, well than that explains the time gap but I was wondering more about the weapon you used." Now Nikumu narrowed his eyes at Urahara as his body tensed at the question.

"And what exactly has you so fascinated concerning my blades?" he asked while he subtly build up his demonic energy to be ready to release should the conversation turn violent. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to steal Lucifer from him and considering the Order did a while back he wasn't too keen to talk about his Devil Arm with a stranger at the moment.

"Ma Ma no need to get defensive just curious about it I haven't seen anything like it before so I figured I would ask." Urahara half lied, he had seen a few Zampakto similar to what Nikumu used but the energy wasn't the same and the scientist in him was crying out to study it but he had a feeling Nikumu wouldn't like it if he tried.

Before anyone could speak the door was opened and a girl with purple hair stepped in carrying a tray with a pitcher and two cups and set it down on the table near the two before bowing and left the room.

Nikumu quickly grabbed the nearest cup and filled it with the water from the jug and drank greedily but not before he gave it a quick scan with his demonic energy to see if there was anything else in the drink. Finding it free Nikumu proceeded to drain the pitch cup full by cup full much to Urahara's surprise.

When he finished Urahara finally spoke, "My my you were thirsty what happened you get stuck in hell for a week?"

"Two weeks and four days in the Fire Hell." Urahara blinked at the statement as his brain computed what was just said.

"Wait you mean as in actual Hell, the place where all the souls of the dammed go, that Hell?" Nikumu nodded as he shuddered at the memory. For someone like him who hated hot places to be stuck in literally the hottest place in Hell would be the worst form of torture anyone could do to him.

Kisuke for his part had gone tense as his guest just revealed he had been to Hell, the place all souls who committed grievous sins were sent to. That realization brought everything Nikumu said into perfect clarity as he realized the boy had said about demons.

"No need to get tense my job is to make sure everything in Hell stays in Hell which unfortunately often leads to having to go in there to make sure the demon doesn't try to come back out at a later date." Nikumu said as he watched Kisuke tense up after learning of his time in Hell. He didn't need the soul collector to be edgy around him as that would make asking for help harder than it needs to be.

"If it helps I am very much alive and not some spirt wandering the earth or an escapee from Hell." Kisuke did relax somewhat after that but his had was still gripping his cane ready to draw his sword if he needed to.

"Well than that's good to know but I must ask why you're here because we are having a hard enough time with hollows and I don't want to worry about a demon invasion on top of that." The statement said so casually got a chuckle out of Nikumu as he shifted on his cushion before he said.

"No demon invasion thankfully had to deal with two of those and I don't want to make it a third but there is a demon wandering around here though and he's a big one so to speak as he has most likely taken a human form for the time being." Nikumu said as his eyes went from joking to serious as he spoke and Kisuke frowned. He had hoped that he might be able to get Nikumu's help but if he was busy dealing with his own problems than he (Kisuke) didn't want to get in his way.

"Actually I was wondering if you could help me with that Mr. Urahara as you can no doubt sense demonic energy from when you asked me why my energy was so similar to a hollow earlier I was wondering if you could either keep an eye out for the demon or if possible get me something that could help me find him quicker." The request came as a surprise at first but pretty quickly Kisuke was smiling as he figured he may have just had his wish granted.

"I can probably make something to help with that but I would need to study this demonic energy more to be sure but you see I'm in need of some help myself." At this Nikumu really started to relax. This was something he was familiar with the one principal of life he truly believed second only to his belief that family should stick together, nothing in life didn't come without a price.

"Now Mr. Urahara you're speaking my language if I help you out with your problem you will help me with tracking down the demon I'm hunting sound fair?" Nikumu asked as looked at the blond haired man in front of him. Kisuke smiled as he held out his hand for Nikumu to shake while he said.

"I can agree with that you help me I'll help you."

"Before I agree to any deal I would like to know a little bit about your problem if I'm going to help you I would like to know what I'm getting myself into." Kisuke pulled back his hand but the grin on his face didn't fade at all as he explained the situation concerning Rukia and how Ichigo along with several others were preparing to try and rescue her.

"So you want me to help a couple of brats bust into basically heaven to rescue one of their friends from the Shinigami otherwise called Soul Reapers that the gist of it?" Kisuke nodded and Nikumu grinned. He was not only getting help with tracking down Kuroi-Ho but he was also just asked to mess with heaven, the one place he was absolutely certain he would never see given what he was. Nikumu knew his answer and reaching up he took of his hat revealing his pale face and dark navy blue hair as he held out his other hand to Kisuke.

"Kisuke Urahara, I Nikumu the Devil Hunter do by accept the job of rescuing the girl Rukia for the agreed upon price and as such as my client you get to see my face so that you know just who your hiring so where do I sign?" the formal act up until the end threw Kisuke off for a bit before he chuckled as he waved his hand.

"No need for that I'm just glad to know were getting more help but if you really need to sign something I have an employee sheet for my shop if you want to." Nikumu snorted as he fished for something near his neck. Kisuke watched with fascination as Nikumu pulled out an amulet of some kind red on one side and purple on the other. Holding it out so that the purple so that to purple side was facing up Nikumu started chanting something Kisuke couldn't understand but it made his skin crawl and a small purple portal opened in between them. Nikumu reached in with one hand as the other held the amulet and pulled out a suitcase before letting the portal fade away and stuffing the amulet down his shirt.

Opening the suitcase Kisuke could hear the sound of shifting paper before Nikumu closed the suitcase paper and pen in hand as he quickly started writing down something before passing both paper and pen to him.

"Give that a quick look over and sign at the bottom and the deal will be complete." Nikumu said while once more thanking his sister for always insisting he keep some contracts for cases where the client didn't have one for him to sign or if he didn't like their contract for a counter contract for them to sign instead.

"Should I be worried that you have these in the first place or is it something common for people like you?" Kisuke asked as he went over the contract finding nothing wrong with it or any small print tricks most people use nowadays.

"Not really just something my sister said would be useful in our line of work and seeing as there are four active Devil Hunters for hire including me and my sister she figured it would be a good way to avoid getting screwed over by someone trying to give us a raw deal." Kisuke nodded but filed the bit about four Devil Hunters for hire away for later. Signing it with a flourish Kisuke handed the paper and pen back to Nikumu who put both back in his suitcase as he fished out his amulet again and placed the suitcase wherever he got it from.

"Now then what now sense as I understand this Ichigo person is recovering from a test of yours involving knocking your hat off and the others are training or resting at the moment." Nikumu asked as he put his hat back on and shrouded his face in shadow again.

"Well at the moment we'll probably be getting some sleep but I do have one more question." Kisuke started as he waited for Nikumu to give him permission to continue. Receiving a nod from the young man Kisuke continued.

"How in the world do you get your hat to do that?" Nikumu laughed long and hard at that before he got his air back long enough to say one sentence.

"Trade secret I'm afraid." And started laughing even more at Kisuke's dejected frown.