Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach in any shape or form. I only own Maya.
Standing off with her arms crossed over her chest, Maya stood silently beside Jinta, Ururu and Tessai as Kisuke showed Ichigo the underground training room underneath the Shop.
"No way, this place is amazing!" The shop owner shouted in fake awe. "Who would have guessed that all this time there was a huge, subterranean training ground under my store?" She rolled her eyes.
"He does this every time." She muttered lightly.
"Oh forget the acting. You obviously knew that this place was down here. But I will admit it's impressive." Ichigo said as he glanced around, his eyes falling upon Maya for a split second.
Kisuke snickered as he turned to Ichigo. "So then, you wanna get down to business?"
Ichigo cleaned out his ear in a casual yet funny way. "Yeah, let's just get on with it. This training session, or whatever you call it." He muttered and Maya had to snicker behind her hand as Kisuke merely grinned.
"Always be careful for what you ask for, Ichigo." Mr. Urahara took his cane and jabbed it straight into Ichigo's skull, forcing his soul to leave his body. He was pushed back by the amount of force Kisuke put behind his cane and fell a far distance away from everyone.
He shot up, a chain connected to his chest and limp body that now laid at Maya's feet. "What's the big idea of knocking me down like that you-?" He swayed a little as he suddenly felt light-headed.
"It's hard to breathe when you're in the form of a soul, isn't it Ichigo?" Kisuke said as Maya watched with slight concern as Ichigo struggled for breath. "Right now, your Soul Sleep, which is the wellspring of your spirit energy, and your Soul Chain, the booster, have been destroyed. So now, your soul is like any odinary human with no spiritual power. So before we can proceed, we must first restore the spiritual power you have lost."
"Alright already, just tell me what to do!" Ichigo demanded and Maya rolled her eyes as she glanced in the distance at Ururu.
"You're so impatient. Alright, let's bring out your opponent and then we can start. Warrior! Are you ready for battle?"
The little girl stood on the other side of them with protective gear being carried in her skirt. "Nice to see you again, Ichigo." She said in a sweet voice as Ichigo merely blinked at her.
"Here's your first lesson: you must go up against Ururu one on one. The rules are quite simple. Lesson one is over when one of you is no longer able to continue with the match. If you can, I suggest going for the knockout punch." Kisuke explained as Maya yawned lightly.
Ichigo turned to them in disbelief. "Are you kidding? You expect me to punch a little girl?" He asked as Kisuke merely shrugged.
"It's always dangerous to underestimate one's opponent, Ichigo," he warned him. Ururu threw white head gear and gloves were thrown in front of Ichigo. He looked up and saw that Ururu was already prepared to fight.
"Please put on all of this protective gear, Ichigo. I don't wanna kill you." She threw a straight punch forward in an adorable fashion that melted Maya's heart.
"This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm not fighting her." Maya rolled her eyes as she rubbed her temples and as soon as those words escaped Ichigo's lips, Ururu sprinted towards Ichigo, slowing down before she threw a punch towards him, causing a large cloud of dust to form in the area she had punched it.
Kisuke had his fan open, covering his smirking lips. "We tried to warn him, didn't we?" He asked and Maya simply shrugged her shoulders, placing her arms over her head she crossed them behind her.
"Where'd he go? I don't see him anymore," Jinta asked as he glanced around.
"Do you suppose he's dead?" Tessai suggested and Maya smirked.
"Hard to say," she replied. "With that kind of punch, I'd be expecting him to-", her sentence was cut off when Ichigo tumbled about, rolling to a stop. She watched as he got up before running towards Ururu.
"It looks like he's going after her," Tessai observed. It seemed like it was the case at first. But as soon as Ichigo had gotten close enough, he kept running away from her.
"Chicken." Maya muttered mostly to herself. "Hey, he just ran right pass her!" Jinta stated.
While running ahead, Ichigo grabbed his gear. "If little Miss Muffin hits me with another punch like that, I'll be taking a long dirt nap. Hat and Clogs! How do I put this gear on anyways?"
Maya turned towards him and demonstrated with her hands on her head. "Strap the headgear onto your head, Ichigo!"
Ichigo skidded to a stop and placed the gear across his forehead. "Like this?"
"That's right! Now yell as loud as you can: Amazing Headband of Justice in place! Amazing Armor of Justice protect me, now! Go on, say it!" She yelled as Kisuke sent her a proud look of appreciation.
"The Amazing Headband of…what?" He slammed the headgear onto the floor. "That's just stupid!" A sound of a torpedo brought his attention to the still active Ururu. She was aiming for his head but missed when he took the gear and ran for his life. More dust had flown up from the rocky earth.
"Interesting how the fear of eminent death can change one's mind." Maya stated and watched as Ururu continued to punch and miss by a few inches.
"Alright, I'll say it!" Once again, Ichigo put the headband on his forehead. "Here goes nothing! Amazing Headband of Justice in place! Amazing Armor of Justice protect me now!"
"Oh, what do you know? I can't believe he actually said it," Kisuke said under his fan, Maya hid a laugh behind a fist as she continued to watch on.
"What!?" Ichigo yelled. "You're gonna pay for that!"
"Look out behind you." Maya yelled as Ichigo turned and spotted Ururu heading towards him.
"Oh, great!" He hurriedly tried the headband on once more, and this time it actually worked. Both his headgear and gloves snapped into place. Ichigo was now ready to fight against Ururu. "Alright, bring it!" He asked for it.
His opponent dived forward and landed another punch into the ground, for Ichigo dodged her attack yet again. He was already dashing away with the small girl on his tail. "Amazing Armor of Justice my ass! More like Armor of Junk! Running for my life is the only thing that's saving my life."
Her eyebrows furrowed together when he skidded to a halt and spun on his heel to face off Ururu. "Here goes."
The girl ran towards him, aiming a punch but he swiftly moved his head out of the way, impressing Maya and Jinta. "Whoa." She whispered watching on.
And now Ichigo started throwing punches towards the girl who continued to dodge them. Her eyes widened as one of his hands missed her but left a scratch on her cheek. She started to rush towards the scene.
Ururu's eyes shrunk and Ichigo stared at the girl, not knowing what the outcome was.
A small, sandal covered foot, planted itself on his arm while the other stretched back and swung forward, making contact with Ichigo's face. The force of Ururu's attack forced Ichigo back, making a trail of dust to fly around into the air. He landed into an enormous rock wall but was saved by Tessai.
"Safe!" Maya called as she dropped the girl's foot she was holding, smiling as Ururu finally came out her daze and inspected the damage she had done.
The dust dispersed and revealed Ichigo and Tessai sitting in front of a hole in the rock wall.
Ichigo winced in slight pain, but he would be alright. He looked behind him and realized the muscular man with the mustache was there. He stood up and faced Mr. Hat and Clogs. "Give me one more crack at her, please."
"Congratulations. I announce lesson one: cleared."
A confused Ichigo stared at the store owner. "What the hell are you talking about? She kicked my ass just now. I lost."
"I never said anything about you actually having to win the fight in order for you to clear the lesson, did I?"
"I thought…" He trailed off frowning.
Kisuke continued. "The fact is, Ichigo, Ururu has the fighting skills to counter even full-fledged Soul Reapers. A mere human would never have a chance of defeating her outright. By the way, are you still having difficulty breathing?"
"No, now that you mention it…" Ichigo checked and felt that his breathing was indeed perfectly fine. Maya smiled lightly.
"Which means that we've successfully restored your spirit energy. The entire point of that lesson was to determine in a one-shot battle whether or not you could dodge Ururu's first attack. Spirit energy increases a lot faster when the soul is in danger of being destroyed. We just needed to find out if you'd be able to raise yours fast enough to dodge that fatal punch."
"And if I hadn't succeeded?" Ichigo asked in curiosity.
"You would have died." Kisuke said casually.
But Ichigo obviously didn't take this in such a casual manner. "Why the hell didn't you say so in the first place?!"
Kisuke merely smiled. "I wasn't worried about it. I had faith that you'd be successful."
"Well, so far so good. Now then, let's celebrate the return of your spirit energy, shall we?" Out of nowhere, Tessai brought down a huge axe and severed Ichigo's chain. "Now let's continue with your second lesson."
Paying attention to what was happening before her, the girl never saw the incoming attack before it was to late. She didn't have any chance to blink at what was happening before she felt her lungs constrict, her eyes widened.
"Good luck to the both of you." Was all she remembered when she found herself falling into a pit of darkness.
A/N: I know this Chapter is a little shorter that the previous one but I promise it'll get longer. Please review.