Chapter 2
"Have you heard that the fraud exorcist has arrived here?" The owner of the ice-cream store asked Urahara.
"Why do you always bother about him? Just leave him to do his 'job'."
"He is one of the reasons why hollows are produced so quickly."
"It's not like you can kill him can you? You don't want to go through the trouble of getting yourself another identity."
"Yeah, fine." The owner stared up into the sky from the compound of Urahara store.
"But if you worry this time, we can drop by the scene as well."
"Buo-hahaha..." came the sound of every Don Kanonji fan at the front of the hospital.
"Are we too late yet?" The owner said.
"Nope, but I think he's still gonna screw things up sooner or later though."
"SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU!" Don Kanonji said his usual entering stage speech.
"I SMELL BAD SPIRITS!" he said as he plunged his stick into the middle of the hollow's chest. "DON'T WORRY, IT HURTS ONLY AT FIRST! I WILL SEND YOU TO HEAVEN, BOY!" he said loudly.
"There he goes again, creating more hollows, giving shinigamis more trouble. If only I could kill him..."
"Now, now, please do not be anxious and let Kurosaki finish the job. This can be a good examination for him."
"STOP!" Ichigo shouted desperately, hoping that it is not too late to prevent the spirit from turning into a hollow.
"Come here, Ichigo! Let me turn you into a shinigami!" However, the security guards blocked them from coming in contact with each other.
"Looks like Ichi-chan here needs some help."
"Well then, my turn to do it." Urahara said as he walked towards Ichigo and raised his stick to push out Ichigo's soul.
"Ouch...Gah...gah...gah..." Ichigo went rolling over the ground.
"Hello~~" Kisuke said.
"Sandal-hat guy? OWNER-san!"
"Hi, Ichi-chan."
"Wha... What are you dong here?"
"Don't waste time here, Kurosaki, looks like you should be in a hurry though.
"Why are you here, Urahara? Are you planning something?"
"Oh no, nothing at all. These kids here just want to watch the show, so I brought them here."
"Damn it, I really can't tolerate him anymore, can I kill him?"
'No, I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Well, there's two benefits here. Firstly, we can get rid of a hollow-producer. Secondly, we can actually get off this by saying he died in exorcism. That's all."
"Aren't you the owner of the ice-cream stall?" Rukia asked after released from the grasp of the security guards with the help of Kisuke.
"Yup, so what?"
"You can't kill a human! A shinigami is not allowed to that."
"Oh? Do you know who I am?"
"No..."
"Thanks for the stick now, Urahara-san." The owner said and hit himself with the soul extraction stick.
"Wha... Why did you come out from your gigai?" Kisuke said.
Rukia was shocked to see the person in front of him. The former captain of the 10th division was in front of him. He was famous for leaving his place as seated officer in the Zero Division, in other words, The Royal Guard.
"You...."
"Yup, me." He said.
Rukia was taking in this information when she suddenly heard Don Kanonji screaming in pain. His body was full of slashes, obviously made by swords. She looked over at said former captain but noticed that he didn't even move an inch when she was staring at him.
"Bad spirits... too.. strong..." Don Kanonji muttered before lying down on the floor dead. Upon seeing this, all the security guards rushed into the scene. People were getting terrified by the sight of Don Kanonji's injuries and started to leave the scene one by one in fright. Fans were obviously disappointed by his disappointing performance.
Meanwhile, Ichigo was curious as to what happened to Don Kanonji. One moment he was alright having a quarrel with him about who's wrong and who's right and the next moment he was seriously wounded. Then, there was a loud scream coming from above the hospital. The hollow was slowly forming, from its leg all the way up to its mask.
Ichigo got into a battle stance, preparing the slaughter the hollow there. He was determined to protect everyone there, especially his family members.
"I WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOULS!" The hollow shouted.
Ichigo was about to jump for an attack when he suddenly notice it burnt into ashes, signifying its purification. He was deadpanned and wondered what happened. It was almost the same condition as Don Kanonji. A momemnt it was perfectly alright, the next moment he was already gone. Who could have done that?
"My, my, Kurosaki could have handled it himself." Urahara said.
The owner who already went back into his gigai said, "Man, let's just say I can't bear to see any hollows created by him." He said, looking at Don Kanonji being brought away by ambulance.
"You... you were the one who killed him, didn't you?"
"How could you blame me for such a crime, Rukia-chan?" he said with a grin.
"You.. What other reasons would you come out of your gigai then?"
He didn't respond but just continued to grin.
"He really is much faster than nii-sama..." Rukia thought so.
"Hello again, Ichi-chan." The owner of the ice-cream shop welcomed Ichigo.
"What did you do the other day at the show?"
"What? I thought you complained to me that you hate shows like that."
"I want to know how Don Kanonji suddenly got hurt and how the hollow suddenly vanished."
"You think I did that?"
"Rukia told me to be careful of you."
"Of course, she just met me. No doubt that she doubts my trustworthiness."
"Who are you? I know that you are not just an ordinary ice-cream seller."
"Like I said many times, I'm just a humble owner of an ice-cream shop.
"That's not a satisfying answer."
"Hello, Kurosaki-kun." Inoue suddenly entered the store with Tatsuki.
"It's Inoue-san is it?" The owner said.
"Yes. A strawberry ice-cream mixed with vanilla please."
"Same here."
"Here you go." The owner said as he handed over two cups of ice-cream.
Ichigo noticed the inappropriate situation of questioning and left the shop.
It is the end of the semester. People were discussing about their planned activities in the ice-cream shop. This was good news to the owner as he had great earnings today. However, he was wondering the reason to the significant increase and then decrease in the number of hollows appearing. Should he help or just sit back and relax?
"You felt that too, didn'r you?" Urahara said.
"Wondering who is playing with the hollows..." the owner replied.
"Wanna come for a walk?"
"No problem." he said with another grin.
"Back to back, it's the easiest way to defend yourself and your companion in battle." Ichigo shouted towards Uryuu.
"Oh? A Quincy?" The owner said as he and Urahara reached there with Tessai and the two children.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three rounds of cannon by Ururu managed to destroy all the hollows around both Ichigo and Uryuu.
"Why did you.." Rukia asked Urahara but was cut off by him.
"Shouldn't you be focusing on that?" he said pointing to the crack in the sky. The crack slowly widened as if something was pulling it apart. It slowly opened to reveal a large hollow in black with a thorn on its mask.
"A Menos Grande!" Rukia shouted shockingly. "I've never seen one in my whole life except in textbook illustrations. It isn't what a normal shinigami could kill."
"I don't care." Ichigo responded, ignoring Rukia's advice to back off.
"Relax, Rukia-san. Let Kurosaki here finish the job, I'm confident that he could finish it all by himself." Urahara said as he casted a binding spell on Rukia.
The combined attack attempt was a failure and Ichigo had no choice but to slay the Menos in front of him. The Menos slowly charged a red ball of energy by its mouth, causing Rukia to shout, "Run Ichigo, it's a Cero! You will be blasted into pieces!"
Nevertheless, Ichigo was able to deflect the attack just by his large zanpakutou. Then, his spiritual energy started rising quickly and in large quantity until he was able to deal a major injury on the Menos, causing it to retreat into Hueco Mundo.
"We have been assigned to retrieve Rukia-san from the human world as she had exceeded with the limit by 2 months. It was said that she transferred her powers to a human and this is a felony which could lead to death sentence. We would leave tomorrow, Kuchiki-taichou." Renji reported on their newly assigned mission.
"Very well then." Byakuya, the captain of the Sixth Divsion spoke in monotonous tone.
"Urahara-san?" Ururu asked in her usual shy tone.
"Yes, Ururu?"
"There is a black cat and a badger in our store compound."
"Oh? They're already here that early?"
Urahara said as he walked out into the compound. As soon as he saw the black cat, he quickly grab it and carry it high up and actually laughed. Jinta was curious, how could a mere cat be able to make Urahara laugh?
"What are those animals to Urahara-san?"
"Probably some of his lost relatives." Tessai answered.
"Come on, guys! We're dropping by at the ice-cream store!" Urahara suddenly shouted.
"Hai!" Jinta and Ururu said unisonly.
"Hello, what's the business today?" The owner welcomed them as usual. Kisuke did not respond but instead just eyed the two animals on his shoulders. "My oh my, look who's here."
The owner said as he went over to grab them hug them as if he had not seen them in a long time.
"Err... I don't think they would appreciate you doing that." Urahara advised.
"Don't worry about..." The owner was cut off by a slash of the cat's claws.
"What are you..." He was again disrupted by the thick bushy tail of the badger's.
"I'll make sure you regret it the next time you try this." The black cat said with an angry masculine voice.
"Alright, alright..." The owner said and placed them down on the floor.
"They will be here tonight." The badger suddenly said.
"Oh my, that's a little too early for Ichi-chan. Is it because of the sudden appearance and retreat of the Gillian?"
"Yes, it is. How long do you want me to be in Soul Society all by myself. It can be very lonely with your zanpukutou to talk to only you know?"
"Don't you ever talk to your lieutenant or seated officers?"
"They can't be trusted, except for my brother and sister."
"Being cautious now, aren't you?"
"Yeah, whatever."
"So, are you warning Kurosaki about their arrival? Knowing Rukia well, she would probably leave a message and leave by herself so Kurosaki does not have to worry." Urahara said.
"Who is this Kurosaki guy? Can I meet him?" The badger said.
"I wonder where Rukia is." Ichigo wondered after he rescued Kon from being the toilet bowl.
"Have you read the letter yet?"
"What letter?"
"Did you not notice the letter on your table? It was there before you even return home yet!" Kon shouted.
"What is this message? It's full of... strange words..."
"Hey, there's the clue." Kon said, pointing to the picture of a tanuki.
"Is this his house?" A voice was heard from Ichigo's window suddenly as it was pushed open to reveal a tanuki talking.
"Ta... ta.. tanu... tanuki TALKING!" Ichigo freaked out after having seen the badger talking.
"Hi, you must be Ichigo?" the badger asked.
"Yeah... Hold on a second, this must be an illusion, it couldn't be so coincidental when a talking tanuki appeared exactly when I am trying to remove the 'ta' from each word." Ichigo ignored the badger and deduced that Rukia left for his sake.
"Are you going to chase after her?"
"What? Aren't you just a toy set up by Rukia?"
"I don't see how stupid you can be." A fox suddenly appeared behind him.
"YOU! I remember you!" Kon suddenly shouted towards the fox as he recalled that this fox was the one who pushed him out of Ichigo's body.
"Correct, 1 point for Kon." The fox said with a grin.
"Anyway, I have to warn you though, the two people coming to capture her are a captain and his lieutenant. With your current strength, you wouldn't be able to even touch them with your sword." The badger said with a wise tone.
"I don't care." Ichigo said as he reached into Kon's body to grab out the green ball. Before he could swallow the ball, the fox already pushed out his soul.
"There you go, isn't that much simpler? Good luck on your rescue." The fox said with another grin.
That grin somehow reminded him of someone but Ichigo just shook off the feeling and went after Rukia as fast as possible.
"Such an arrogant boy." The badger said.
"He doesn't even know his zanpakutou's name." The badger just sighed with the fox's comment.
"Know your place!" Rukia shouted at Ichigo before she was forced to leave with her brother.
Ichigo could not bear the pain anymore and passed out. However, he did notice a large amount of sand covering him before he blacked out.
"Yo!" came the greeting of the fox when Ichigo woke up after his lost to Byakuya.
"You!" he said, looking straight into the fox and the badger. "I remembered sand covering me, who did that?"
"Relax, boy. What's important is your safety."
"I need to save Rukia!"
"Don't worry, Soul Society usually keeps felon criminals at bay in a month's time before executing them. If we plan nicely, we could use 10 days to train you and the other 20 to save Rukia. Nevertheless, I must warn you though, this training I'm giving you isn't going to be easy. Are you willing to accept it?" Urahara suddenly came in and spoke.
"Do I need to answer that question?"
"I see, your decision is final. We shall begin tomorrow."
"Why can't we start now?"
"You need to rest, boy." The badger said.
"The semester ended today and we have a holiday of one and a half month, that should be enough time to rescue Rukia." Ichigo told himself once he entered the secret room under Urahara store.
"Getting anxious now aren't you?" The fox from the other day appeared out of nowhere and pushed out Ichigo's soul.
The moment he was out of his body, Ichigo noticed that he couldn't breathe easily. He was suffocating from lack of oxygen, at least that's what he thought that suffocating feeling was.
"Do you notice anything odd?" Urahara asked.
"I do, why am I feeling so difficult to breathe.... And, I can't even move freely..."
"That's because in your current state, the origin of your spiritual power, Hakusui (sleeping soul) and your booster, Saketsu (chain links) have both been destroyed by little Bya-baka." The fox said with a grin.
"To put it more simply, you are just the mere ghost of a human without any spiritual powers." The badger supported.
"So that's what we are going to do now, to restore your shinigami powers, or else we won't be going anywhere. First, we should get you to move freely in that spiritual body shall we? For starters, spiritual power is the power that works upon and encourages the spirit. That means the more spiritual power you have, the sharper will be the movements of your spiritual body." Kisuke explained. "In other words, if you are able to move better in your spiritual body than when you are in your mortal body, you have fully restored your spiritual powers." he continued.
"So how are we going to do that? Gym training or something?"
"No, no, we're going to do something much more challenging, a running exercise."
"Will you step up now, Gaara-san?"
The badger stepped forward but what made Ichigo freak out again was the sudden enlargement in his body size.
"Gaara-san here has agreed to assist you in your training. He will be chasing you in hopes of eating you up. But if you are able to catch his tail, the lesson's over. So, good luck in your running."
"What? You want me to go against such a large monster?"
Ichigo was scared shitless and before he knew it, he was slammed by its tail all the way to the wall of the other end of the room.
"This is some crazy exercise you organize, Urahara." Tessai said amused.
TO BE CONTINUED...
(A/N: What will be the outcome of the training? Plus, I just revealed a bigger clue as to who the fox is, haha! If you wondered why I wanted to torture Don Kanonji that much, bear in mind that I hate him a lot! So, if any readers here is a fan of him, I'm sorry about it. Though, I doubt if he will even have a fan outside the Bleach world.)