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assassins-krieg · 3 months ago

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Food for Thought - Chapter 1

Summary: You often wonder why you feel so alone even when you spend time with other people. An outsider even in a packed room. But a chance work project with Urahara Kisuke provides a strange comfort... so strange that you continue to spend time with him after your project is over.

Content warning: Reader is written with self-esteem issues/insecure thoughts, food is a large part of this story. Kisuke will become a yandere in this, he is also promiscuous. This chapter has no smut, but it will become very NSFW soon.

Read on AO3 here.

Chapter 1: Blini with caviar and crème fraiche

“You’re still up for karaoke tonight, right?” Your co-worker Hanatarou asked, as he peered over your cubicle.

You smiled brightly at him, eyes filled with mirth, “of course! I don’t back down from a challenge, especially one from Madarame” you snickered. Hanatarou laughed as he thanked you again for agreeing to come with him to a singing showdown. You knew Hanatarou since you started working at the Senjumaru & Hikifune Diagnostics Company. While you and Hanatarou were new in your roles, you sensed that there was an ongoing rivalry between your department and Madarame Ikkaku’s - the marketing team.

But before you could figure out your song list for the night, your manager, Sarugaki Hiyori shouted for you, “Oi! C’mere quick. I got a new project for you, newbie.”

It had been over two years since you started your job here, but you couldn’t help but laugh at Sarugaki still calling you “newbie”, but the casual behaviour you two shared was something you appreciated in your role.

“I got a new project for you.” Hiyori explained, walking you towards the meeting room. “The higher ups were impressed with how you dealt with the immune checkpoint inhibitors assessment.”

“Thank you, but it was a team effort after all.” You explained, which was true to a degree, but you were the lead analyst on the project.

“Don’t be so modest,” Hiyori scoffed, “anyways they want you to do a review on the prefecture’s medical imaging inventory.”

“I see, but that’s not my area of expertise, wouldn’t Akon or Nemu be better fits?” You asked, knowing that their team, led by Kurotsuchi Mayuri, were the health technology team.

“In all other cases, yes, but they turned down this project.” Hiyori huffed, entering the empty meeting room. “They said some bullshit about other projects of theirs being of higher priority.”

Well, that’s fair you thought, but Hiyori’s face looked like she didn’t buy it. “From the look on your face, you don’t think it’s true.” You laughed as she clenched her notebook.

“It’s because they don’t want to work with the consultant tied to the project.” Hiyori explained, her scowl growing deeper. “Not like I want him to work with you either.”

“I’ve worked with frustrating consultants in the past, Sarugaki-san.”

“I know, I know” Hiyori sighed, looking dejectedly at the window. “This guy’s annoying, and frankly, just plain weird.” She admitted. “I worked with him for a short while, he wasn’t completely a bad guy then. He just gets on my nerves.” She explained, honestly.

“Well, if you were able to tolerate him, then it should be fine.” You said, wondering what type of person would not only upset Hiyori (who was already quick to anger) and Kurotsuchi-san (who was already easy to annoy). You figured this person must have been normal to some degree, since the two people who have worked with him were a bit odd in their own ways.

Your manager explained in more detail the work you’d be doing and the finer technical details of the expectations senior management had for you. “The consultant is an expert in this field, which is why he’ll be assisting you on this. Apparently, he used to work for the national health board way back when.” Hiyori explained, as you diligently took notes.

“Anyways, that’s about it. I sent him a meeting invite to this board room in 5 minutes. I’ll email you everything we shared for your records. I gotta bounce, but send me a message if anything comes up.” Hiyori waved you goodbye as you sat alone in the room.

You checked your phone, scrolling through your calendar for the week. You were relatively social at work, with colleagues sending you invites to things to see, do and eat. You didn’t see the harm in participating, and you weren’t much for drinking to begin with, so you made sure your colleagues got home safe. Either way, you were appreciative of them inviting you out.

Five minutes turned to ten, and still no show of this infamous consultant.

You continued scrolling through your phone, going through your social media accounts. Acquaintances from school and previous jobs, were sharing engagements, wedding photos and many other milestones. You couldn’t help but smile sadly, with cold, belittling words ringing through your head.

This stuff isn’t meant for me anyways. You thought, as you continued to scroll through your feed.

It wasn’t until you saw the time, that almost half an hour had passed. You began to type a message to Hiyori about the no-show consultant, until he barged through the door.

Pale, disheveled blonde hair, and what you assume a white button down and a poorly tied dark green tie around his neck under a brown sweater, paired with dark grey slacks.

He immediately grabbed your hand and gave you an intense handshake. The suddenness threw you off and confusion was evident across your face.

“Ah, sorry about that! I’m Urahara Kisuke the technology consultant, and I suppose you’re the analyst I’m working with?” Urahara-san asked.

You nodded your head, while you flexed your poor hand that was caught off guard by his tight handshake. You introduced yourself and offered him a seat next to you. The two of you went over the technical details and scheduled to meet again tomorrow before your lunch break. Your phone began to buzz as your coworkers and friends began to barrage you with texts.

“My my, you really are popular.” Urahara teased, as he stared at your phone with curious eyes.

You couldn’t help but feel embarrassed from his comment, “no, not really” you explained, “I agreed to karaoke tonight, that’s all!”

Urahara gave you a soft smile, “that must be nice. Karaoke sounds wonderful. Have a great time.” You thanked him for his time today and rushed off to your coworkers.

He wasn’t so bad. You thought, as your coworkers waved at you near the elevators. You told them to wait for you in the lobby as you grabbed your belongings, unaware that Urahara was watching you from the hallway.

The karaoke bar was lively. Drinks were ordered, snacks were shared and laughter erupting from your private booth. You smiled at your friends who sung along badly to old pop hits, and laughed as they sang dramatic renditions of tearful ballads. You sang along, clapping with them, until you felt a gentle tap on your shoulder.

“I heard you met Urahara Kisuke today.” Rukia quietly whispered.

You stopped clapping and turned to face her as the rest of the room kept singing along.

“Oh yes I did Kuchiki-san! He was quite polite and knowledgeable. He really knows his stuff.”

Rukia gave you a puzzled expression, “really? I heard he’s kind of shady.”

“It’s funny you say that, my manager said that as well, and she mentioned Kurotsuchi-san saying something similar.” Rukia’s face turned to one of concern, “but I’m going to be meeting with him for the rest of the month, so I’ll tell you if anything interesting comes up.” You laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

“Ok, but just be careful. I heard from Rangiku at Payroll that they weren’t able to fire him because he has deep connections to some of the executives.”

That surprised you. The company itself was old, nearing 50 years (or so they say). You didn’t know much about Urahara Kisuke as his field of work was different from yours. You made a mental note to look into him later tonight. “What was it that made them consider firing him?” You were curious to know why everyone you’ve spoken to about him, had such poor opinions of the man.

“I’m not sure, I heard he was doing insider trading?”

“Really!?” You exclaimed, “wouldn’t the cops be involved then?” Pointing out the discrepancy within the rumour.

“Oh… yeah..” Rukia was stumped, “I’ll ask Rangiku next time I see her then. Maybe she doesn’t know either.”

“Or maybe it’s just a baseless rumour?”

Rukia gave you a look of uncertainty, “just be careful around him, ok? Rumours start from somewhere you know…”

You laughed her comment off and treated her to favourite snack. You were left with an uncomfortable feeling the rest of the night and excused yourself to leave early.

At home, you looked into Urahara Kisuke. Several of his papers came up, all of them focused on some aspect of biomedical engineering. You saw a Kurotsuchi-san’s name come up frequently as a collaborating author, and another person, “Aizen Sosuke” come up. You ran a quick search on him and saw he was working as a professor in the top university in the country. Nothing else came up in your search though, which left you more questions than answers.

You always tried to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and Urahara-san was no different, maybe it’s just a baseless rumour after all. Whatever the case may be, work was work, and you resigned yourself to be professional and complete the project to the best of your abilities.

You had meal prepped your lunch for tomorrow then prepared for bed. You still couldn’t shake off everyone’s comments today, so you hoped sleep would wash the thoughts away.

It had been several weeks now of meeting with Urahara-san. Your time with him made you doubt the comments made by your colleagues and friends when you first started the project. Now it was nearing the end of it, and if anything, if someone were to ask you to describe “Urahara Kisuke”, you would say he was a “curious, yet brilliant man who tries to be funny.” You laughed at yourself when you remembered the terrible “jokes” Urahara-san made, but he was certainly an interesting person.

Today was your last meeting with him though, and a small part of you was sad. You liked spending time with him. You watched him skim your report on the laptop screen with an intense focus, typing in tracked changes sparsely in between.

“I’m impressed!” Urahara said to you, “you really nailed this review. I know the execs will love it.”

You smiled at his compliment, “I’m flattered, Urahara-san, but it’s your vast knowledge that really helped me. I wouldn’t have even known to look in the formulary database and disability policies!” You said, shaking your head.

“They really are right about you.” Urahara remarked in a serious tone.

You looked at him with curiosity.

Urahara chuckled and in a teasing tone, “that you’re incredibly studious and hardworking! I barely did anything.”

“Well I have to say people are wrong about you.” You beamed at him, “people were telling me all sorts of rumours about you, and to be cautious.”

Urahara raised his eyebrows, but let you continue on.

“But you’re actually quite friendly and diligent.” You give an awkward laugh, “and I’ll miss working with you.”

Urahara looked surprised. He had never heard that before. Most people found him, in some ways, too difficult to work with. His unorthodox approach to analyzing and finding results, and dubious ethics, made finding people to work with slim to none. Yet here you are.

They really are right about you. He thought to himself. It bothered him, to some degree. Initially he wondered what angle you would be playing at while working with him. Would you fish him for gossip? Would you be a bother and ask about his past research? An annoyance who wanted access to his connections, his work?

No, none of that came up. You approached him with sincerity and kindness, something he wasn’t dealt with in his years of working as a researcher.

“Urahara-san, if you have some time,” you ask, your face growing warm, “would you care to join me for lunch?” To say he was startled was an understatement, but he accepted.

“Is that all you’re going to eat, Urahara-san?” You ask, noticing his canned coffee and prepackaged rice ball.

“Oh this,” Urahara laughed, “I had a hearty breakfast, so I wanted a light lunch.” He lied to you, while wearing a large grin on his face.

“If you want, you can have some of my food.” You offered to him. “I don’t think that’ll last you through the afternoon.” You gave him a sheepish smile.

Urahara’s eyes widened, but he chuckled, waving you off. But you were full of surprises, you pushed forward your lunch to him, “why don’t you have some of mine?” Your face grew hot as you began to ramble, “I know I may not look it, but I’m a pretty decent cook.”

He was hesitant, but the earnest tone in your voice, and the way you avoided his eyes told him enough. He picked up the utensil and took some food for himself.

Urahara’s eyes widened but quickly shifted. “My, you certainly know your way around the kitchen!” He joked, a slight smile on his face as he noticed the way your eyes avoided him, but the pleased smile on your face.

It felt unusual to him, to enjoy someone’s company like this, it put him on guard. He would listen to you talk, watch your reactions, and try to rationalize what you wanted out of him. But before he could make a definitive conclusion, your lunch break was over.

“Thank you for spending your lunch break with me, Urahara-san.” You said softly, “if you’re free the rest of the week, I’d like to do this again.”

His mind raced, maybe you were interested in something more personal from him, his under-the-table work, maybe you were sent by Kurotsuchi or the higher ups to investigate him.

But a small part of his brain knew that wasn’t right, he’d have to get to the bottom of this. “Yes, I’d love that.” He gave you a smile.

Two weeks had gone by where, for the most part, you and Urahara had lunch together at work. You were dismayed by his lack of lunches some days. He would say he was too busy to prepare something, or having a larger breakfast made his appetite quite small. But you had your suspicions.

“Urahara-san, what’s your favourite meal to cook?”

Urahara made an exaggerated sigh and cupped his chin, “why lately, it’s been what you’ve shared with me at lunch.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m serious! I’d love to know what you make. I want to try new recipes.” You gave him a sincere smile.

It’s what bothered Urahara about you, you were too sincere, too earnest with someone like him. He suspected you didn’t know the actual rumours surrounding him, and a part of him hopes you never do. His heart, much to his dismay, would flutter seeing you smile, seeing your eyes light up. He would watch, as he wandered around the company’s different units, how you interacted with other coworkers and colleagues. You were polite and friendly. So… disarming.

Urahara let out a sigh, it would be so easy to let you go if you were only spending time with him for nefarious reasons. He wouldn’t have had any qualms about leaving you high and dry. But even on the weekends, he would send you a short text, something about how your weekend was going.

A small part of him was growing jealous at how you would hang out with some of your coworkers after work. Your social circle seemed so large compared to him… but he wanted to be at the centre.

“I don’t have one. I can’t say I’ve cooked much for myself.” Urahara murmured, scratching his head.

You looked at him with shocked eyes, “no way! Not even scrambled eggs?”

Urahara let out a laugh, “ok, maybe one.” He looked at your now empty bento that he had nibbled on, “if you have the time…”

You looked at him with such an eager expression, the knot in his stomach tightened, as he tried to ignore the thudding of his heart. He wouldn’t act on feelings; this was a plan to let you slip up what your real reasons were to spend time with him.

“Would you teach me how to cook?”

And as he suspected as much, and denying his own relief from your words, you agreed. “Why don’t you pick a recipe you want to try and you can come over to my house on Sunday?”

“Sure,” Urahara said, his brain already laying down plans to ensnare you, “but won’t your boyfriend mind if I come over?” He asked, with a hesitant look on his face.

“If I did have one, maybe!” You laughed, “You don’t have to worry about that, trust me.” You looked away from him, a sad look on your face. Urahara narrowed his eyes, but before he could ask more, your smile was back, “just let me know what ingredients to buy.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Urahara said, “I’ll bring the ingredients. It’s the least I can do since you’re offering your kitchen.”

“Oh alright! Thank you for going through the trouble.” You smiled, “let me know how much it is and we can split the bill.” Urahara laughed at your comment, you really were so honest.

“No, it’s on me. Especially after feeding me lunch these past few weeks.”

You let an awkward laugh, before avoiding his gaze. “My only request is that,” Urahara lowered his voice, bring his face close to yours, “don’t invite anyone else – I want your undivided attention.”

THANKS FOR READING MY FIRST CHAPTER!!

I've already have drafted over 5 chapters for this story and I have an ending in mind for it too. As a personal goal, I want to complete this, so I hope you join me along for this ride!

#kisuke urahara #bleach

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