Oneshot

It was a normal day at the dojo Ryouzanpaku. Kenichi was tutored like always and needed to endure hard training seasons when everyone suddenly stopped in their tracts and looked at the huge gate. Kenichi was curious and started to stare at it as well when it suddenly started to move. No ordinary person should be able to move it and so Kenichi was already shaken in fear. Maybe it was another master to challenge the dojo or it was someone that wanted to challenge him. The door moved as any normal door would move when pushed open. It didn't seem that he had any problems with pushing it open even thought the gate was quite heavy. What you could see next was a boy who was about his age with bright orange hair. A scowl was present on his face but Kenichi didn't feel any evil or anger behind it. The boy spotted him of all persons and came toward him. Kenichi was in the flight or fight mode already but tried to resist the urge to run away!

"Excuse me, do you know someone named" the orange haired boy looked at a piece of paper "Kousaka Shigure?" At that everyone looked up. It wasn't often that someone asked for her and it was a young boy at that. Normally there where only persons that wanted to challenge her and they were already pretty old.

"Yes Shigure lives here. What do you want from her?" Kenichi asked with a bit of curiosity.

"You will know when I talk to her. I don't want to say it two times." Kenichi nodded and left to get Shigure. It was reasonable to not want to repeat something. He arrived at her door and knocked.

"Shigure, are you in there? Someone wants to meet you and is waiting at the gates. Kenichi waited a few seconds and the door opened. Shigure came out and asked in her normal slow way: "Did…he…say…what…he…wanted?"

Kenichi shock his head and said: "He wanted to talk to you but he didn't say about what." She nodded and they both left for the gates. Kenichi was surprised when he saw that his masters had surrounded the boy and were talking to him casually. Most people would be nervous or more like scared, but the boy spoke to them as if they were the same size and the same age. He didn't seem to mind that they somehow had a weird aura around them. Kenichi noticed for the first time that the boy seemed to have a huge backpack with him. What might be in there?

"What…do…you…want?" Shigure asked standing almost next to him. Kenichi had probably screamed because he had been frightened by her sudden appearance but he only moved his head toward her and said:
"A friend of mine said that you would be able to teach me how to use a sword probably. I have a sword that was handed down in the family and I would like to be able to prober use it. Do you want t o see it?" Shigure nodded and everyone looked at his backpack with curious eyes. Ichigo grabbed into his backpack and pulled out a gigantic sword that didn't have any normal form. There also was no sheath around it, only some bandaged were wrapped as a self made sheath. Ichigo gave it to her carefully and she took it from him.

"Have…you…ever…done…anything…with…this…sword!" Ichigo nodded and told her: "I have tried to use it and fight it with in the right way but my fighting style is based more on instincts than anything else. I wanted to use it right and not just based on instincts so I came to you." Ichigo told her. The others were interested. A fighting style almost only based on instincts. That was a very good and problematic fighting style.

Shigure nodded and looked at the sword. To be real she was fascinated. It was a beautiful sword even thought it got no guard or sheath. It also seemed that it was somehow made perfectly fitting the boy before her. It was also well taken care of. There weren't any scratches and other thing that would damage the sword. She really wanted to use it at least ones but it seemed that the boy seemed to have a strong connection with it and was already moving around uncomfortable. She gave it back to him and asked:

"What…is…your…name?" She looked him into the eyes, wondering if he would tell them his true name or of he would lie. "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo." There had been no lie and she nodded.

"I…will…teach…you!" Everyone was surprised. She had never helped any outsider so far and hadn't taken any direct disciple (she doesn't teach Kenichi with a few exceptions so he doesn't count!).

"Does…this…sword…have…a…name?" She suddenly asked. Ichigo looked a bit surprised at her but nodded. "It's called Zangetsu." He said it almost proudly and the sword suddenly seemed to shimmer but stopped right away again so Kenichi wasn't sure. The masters had however seen it and were now intensely staring at it.

"Come…with…me…we…will…train…in…the…backyard." Ichigo nodded and followed her. The other also followed, having already forgotten that Kenichi should be training right now. When they arrived Ichigo had already taken on a fighting stance. Shigure had said that she wanted to see his.

"You…have…quite…an…interesting…stance.I…have…never…seen…one…like…this…but…it…isn't…so…bad!" She said with an almost happy voice. Ichigo nodded and she took on a fighting stance as well. She told him that she wanted to test what he does first and so they should attack each other. He understood and nodded. The fight that happened next was gigantic. The boy was a genius when it came to the sword. He seemed to be able to parry every slash of Shigure's sword and Kenichi was surprised how elegant he could move the sword even thought it seemed to weight so much.

When they stopped Kenichi noticed that Ichigo seemed to be tired while Shigure didn't show any such signs. It seemed like she was still better in endurance.

"You are really great." Ichigo said out loud. "I would have been already dead with all the hits you would have landed at me!" Ichigo said while wiping of the sweat. Kenichi's eyes widened. He hadn't seen that Shigure had landed hits on him.

"You…are…pretty…good…yourself! I…haven't…met…such…a…young…man…that…was…able…to… use…his…sword…so…well!" She said looking a bit happy. "Since…when…have…you…started…to…use…this…sword?" She looked at him with a questioning look and he looked down at his fingers. He moved them like he was counting something and said: "I started to use it about a year and two months ago. It was hard to use it at first but I somehow managed." Now Kenichi was really staring at him. Did that mean that he was almost a master class after only a year and two months? That would be so mean. It seemed that his lack of talent really made it hard for him to quickly learn anything.

"Did…you…fight…with…someone…before?" Shigure asked and Ichigo nodded.

"I had some pretty weird problems and somehow the people started to just appear before me challenging me to a fight. One of them is really insane and he still runs after me every time he sees me, wanting a rematch. It was pretty much a live and death situation every time and I probably leaned quicker knowing that I wouldn't survive if I was beaten. So I think that I learned it more from instincts than anything else. I haven't killed anyone till now but I know that it will probably happen if they are stronger than me. I can't hold back in those cases or I am dead meat so I won't be able to spare their lives. That's why I came here to train!" Ichigo said truthfully. He didn't want to repeat the mistake with Ulquiorra even thought he had purified him instead of killing. The masters smiled at Ichigo after he had said why he wanted to learn and the elder came up to him.

"You are much more know ledged than I thought someone your age would be. You really have a good heart. If you want I would teach you too!" Ichigo smiled at him but shock his head.

"I need to concentrate on only one thing. I can't come here often because I will pretty far away." They nodded and Ichigo focused on Shigure again. They trained the whole day and when the masters had noticed Kenichi 'slaking' off, they restarted his training even harsher. It was late at night when Kenichi was finally allowed to stop and he only wanted to go to bed when he suddenly heard the clash of two swords. It couldn't be that Ichigo was still fighting Shigure right? Even thought he was sore his curiosity overweighed his tired body and he moved toward the backyard. What he saw surprised him. Ichigo was still fighting Shigure and the others had gathered around watching the fight.

"He really has improved greatly since they started!" commented Koetsuji. Kenichi really couldn't comment on his statement but his other master nodded.

"Is it because he has talent?" Kenichi asked a bit depressed about his own slowly process.

"No, I think it's because of his strong survival instincts. He also is very determined and doesn't want to hurt anyone. What he had said this morning was true. You can't hold back against an enemy that is stronger than yourself and you won't be able to always spare them if they are much stronger than you. Ichigo seemed to have realized that and so he has decided to become stronger and not kill anyone."

Kenichi nodded and looked in awe at Ichigo. He would become stronger too even if it was slower. He also didn't want to accidentally kill anyone. He didn't see it but his masters noticed his determined look and smiled. It seemed that that Kenichi had been influenced by Ichigo's principles. It seemed that Ichigo had also helped Kenichi with his training through a small influence.

They stopped when the sun was about to rise. Kenichi had been so focused on the battle that he hadn't noticed how the time had gone by. Ichigo stopped and stretched a bit. He bowed toward Shigure and said:

"Thank you Shigure-san. You really helped me a lot!" He looked up with a small smile. Shigure smiled back and said: "The…pleasure...was…on…my…side. Come…back…any…time!" Ichigo nodded and took a paper and a pencil out of his backpack after having put the sword inside. He wrote something down and said:

"If you ever come to Karakura town than come to this address. You are always welcome. I will also take you up on your offer. I will come and I hope you will be able to fight me again. It had been fun!" Ichigo said already turning and waving one last time, saying goodbye. He went to the gate and was gone.

"Today was interesting wouldn't you say?" Everyone around Akisame nodded. The boy had been quite interesting. Shigure was still staring at the address and Akisame moved next to her to look at it.

"It seemed like he wasn't lying about living far away." He said while tugging on his mustache a bit. The others looked at it also and smiled. Kenichi was staring with wide eyes and an open mouth at it. He lived almost at the other side of Japan (don't know if that is true but let's just say it's true).

Ichigo himself was pretty happy about the outcome of today's training. He had really learned much from her.

"Aibou, it's seemed that it was a good idea to come here nee?" Ichigo nodded and smiled a bit. He would surely come again. It had been fun!

Hope you liked it!

If you want me to I can continue it. Please tell me your opinion.