Wow! 11 Favorites, 18 Followers, 2 communities, and 430 views! This is amazing! Thank you so much everyone, it means a lot to me. Still no reviews though, I'd love to have some input…*hint**hint*
I'm sorry it took me longer to get this chapter out, school has now started for me and between Chemistry labs, Art History assignments (already), and Musical rehearsals I've had way less time. And I've been rather sick…yuck. I'm happy I was able to get it out at last though.
Disclaimer: I own neither Bleach nor Naruto. It appears all I own is tea…. seriously I have so much tea…
Thanks again sis for proofreading (or trying, anyway).
Anyway, enjoy!
Cats Again?!
"What was that, Shorty?" Ichigo said, tone sickly sweet with barely contained rage. "I didn't quite catch that."
"I called you Strawberry," Naruto snorted. "That's your name, isn't it?"
A vein in Ichigo's forehead twitched, and he closed his eyes trying to calm himself. Meanwhile, the eyes of the rest of the room darted between the two boys in front of them, waiting for one to erupt. Orihime had to cover her mouth, afraid she'd start giggling, and Uryu was trying hard to fight back a smile. No one had called Ichigo 'Strawberry' since before the Winter War. That is, except for Rukia. Partly because Ichigo had gained their respect both as a person and as a warrior, but mostly because hey were scared of what he'd do to them. Only Rukia had ever been immune. Ichigo had been so somber lately that no one had even tried, but at that moment he seemed more like himself than he had been in months.
"Um, Naruto," Orihime said hesitantly, still holding back laughter with remarkable restraint. "No one really calls Ichigo that…besides, his name really means 'One Who Protects'."
Naruto frowned.
"But Ichigo means Strawberry," he said, scratching his head, ignorant if the imminent danger. Jiraiya leaned over to whisper in his student's ear: It's because they were all afraid of what he'd do to them, Idiot! He was once one of the strongest people in this room.
Naruto gaped at Jiraiya. "Stronger than you, Pervy Sage?" he nearly shouted. His Master only shrugged.
"Wait, once?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "So...now you're a weakling?" he asked, whipping around to face Ichigo again.
The atmosphere in the room turned sober as its occupants cringed, with the exception of Urahara, who pulled his hat down to watch his former pupil out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo's scowl crumpled and his whole body seemed to wither and sink into the wall behind him, so much so it appeared he could almost disappear. The room was totally silent for what seemed like forever before Ichigo sighed and looked back up to meet the eyes of this newbie, this bizarre student who had struck into the very pits of his very soul with unnerving accuracy. However, there was a new fire in his eyes that hadn't been there mere minutes before.
"Yeah," he snarled, standing straighter. "I lost my powers. But don't you make the mistake that I couldn't still kick your ass, ninja or not."
Naruto gaped up at Ichigo before he realized what he was doing and quickly hid his awe under a scowl. What?! Is that punk really that strong? Damn it!
During his little rant Ichigo had unknowingly walked right up to the table, directly across from Naruto, and was now towering over him from between Ururu and Orihime. He spared a quick glance down to see them both watching him with wide eyes, Orihime smiling proudly. He sighed and looked back at Urahara, who was hiding his own smile in the shadow of his bucket hat.
"Do you need me anymore, Kisuke?" he asked. "I should probably be getting home before the Old Goat gets worried and starts running through town looking for me."
Kisuke gestured to the sliding doors with his closed fan.
"Go ahead Ichigo," he said with a grin. "Just make sure you're back here tomorrow at eight. You're going to be giving Yoruichi a hand!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo sighed, pulling open the door. "I'll be there." he called over his shoulder.
Just as he was closing it behind him, Naruto leaped to his feet, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Hey Strawberry!" he called. " Just you wait! I'm gonna get super strong, and I'll beat you for sure!"
Ichigo snorted. Damn cocky bra—
"BELIEVE IT!"
Perched delicately atop a telephone pole just outside Urahara's shop, Rukia watched the events unfolding inside as best she could from her limited vantage point. She would have moved closer, if not for the risk that someone would see her and tip Ichigo off. She just couldn't chance being back in his life when she didn't even know if it would be possible for him to come back into hers. She just couldn't do that to him. Damn Urahara, why did he have to get Ichigo involved? He has nothing to do with this! J-just let him get on with his life. She did have to admit though, from the sound of it this 'Naruto' person had already gotten more life out of Ichigo than anyone had in the past three months. He almost sounds…normal again.
Rukia was startled from her thoughts by the sudden sound of the front doors of the shop sliding open, her eyes widening as the very object of her contemplation strode out of the store and walked right beneath her. Her breath caught in her throat; even though she knew Ichigo couldn't see or hear her she just couldn't steady her thundering heart. Calm down, she thought angrily. Stop this ridiculous behavior.
However, she couldn't keep back a quick intake of air as the Ex-Substitute Soul Reaper turned back slightly and looked up to the top of the telephone pole, her telephone pole. Impossible…she thought, tears springing to her eyes for the second time that week. Ichigo… But even as she stared into his amber eyes, eyes that once had looked back so strongly, they seemed to drift over the cloud-filled sky behind her. He gave a nearly imperceptible shake of his head before bringing his dark eyes down to scowl the sidewalk, shoving his hands into his jean pockets and continuing up the street away from the store.
He didn't even notice the small raven-haired Shinigami watching him go, tears she had kept just barely at bay for months finally pouring down her pale cheeks.
As soon as Ichigo had left, Urahara turned back to his guests, trying to decide how to proceed. The moment Naruto left the shop he would realize something was up. The little ninja was definitely a bit dense, but even he would notice the different buildings, technologies, and clothing styles. The shopkeeper looked across the table at his old friend, a questioning look in his narrowed eyes. Jiraiya nodded slightly, giving the ok to proceed.
"Alright everyone, you are free to go!" Urahara said cheerfully. "Just make sure to keep an ear out, and I will let you know when I need you." His eyes slid across the room to Orihime.
"Except you, Orihime," he said. "You come tomorrow, same time as Ichigo, just in case someone is injured. After all, you never know what will happen!" His happy tone of voice belied that statement; he definitely had something planned.
Orihime nodded and everyone rose to take their leave, exiting quietly until only Urahara, Yoruichi, Jiraiya, and Naruto were left. Kisuke shifted his gaze back to his visitors. Jiraiya leaned back to rest against the wall, clearly giving the impression that he had no plans to assist in the coming explanation. Yoruichi rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she took a seat cross-legged next to Kisuke. He glanced briefly at her before sighing and finally turning his full gaze upon Naruto.
"All right Naruto," he started. "Some things need to be explained, and this may take a while so you had better get comfortable."
Naruto shifted in his seat slightly, scratching his nose before shoving his hand back in his lap. Urahara took this as the sign to continue.
"Alright," he said. "Are you familiar with the concept of parallel worlds?"
"Uuuuum," Naruto dragged out. "Not really…"
"Perfect!" Kisuke said, grinning. "Because it's nothing like that."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the shopkeeper.
"Think of where you came from, before you walked through all those tunnels, as being inside of a soap bubble. Can you do that?" Kisuke asked.
"Sure… all the lands? Or just the Land of Mountains?"
Kisuke sighed. "All the lands, together, are one soap bubble, yes. But…" he paused for effect.
"When you have a bath, there never is just one soap bubble, right? There are a lot of soap bubbles." Naruto nodded.
"Well," Urahara gestured to the space around them. "This is a different soap bubble."
Naruto's jaw dropped, and Jiraiya chuckled slightly. Urahara continued.
"When you crossed that transparent barrier at the entrance to the tunnel in the Land of Mountains, you crossed the barrier between one dimension and another. Not parallel, just different. We have different customs, different technologies, and different people than you are used to. That barrier is just a spot where the edge of the bubbles have gotten a little thin, I just tweaked it a bit so it can deal with the language barrier and make travel between possible if you know how. Of course, knowledge like that is hard to come by and is extremely dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands."
Naruto gapped at Kisuke, apparently still hung up on the 'other worlds' idea. Urahara pulled his hat lower over his eyes while maintaining eye contact with his new pupil.
"This is extremely important for you to understand, Naruto, because there are people who would like to take advantage of this information," he said.
"There are other worlds besides this one that have the ability to easily travel between dimensions. They are known as Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. You might know them better as the World of the Dead and as Purgatory, respectfully."
Naruto's eyes widened even further at that, although he was a bit confused by the last bit. Purgatory? I don't remember what that is… oh well.
"The problem," Urahara continued. "Is that the residents of these worlds are under the impression that these three dimensions-that is, this world, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo-are the only dimensions. Their governments would love nothing more than to enter and exploit your world at the first opportunity."
At that, Naruto gave a shout.
"No way! I'm going to be Hokage and there's no way any stupid old guys are gonna stop me!"
"So you understand then, why I would ask you to not tell anyone where you came from," Urahara said seriously. "You're fine to speak with Yoruichi, Tessai, who is my assistant; and myself when the others aren't around. But please, keep quiet with the rest. "
Naruto nodded solemnly. This was the first time he'd been totally silent since arriving at the shop, so it seemed he understood the seriousness of the matter. He glanced at Pervy Sage, who didn't seem surprised at all. So that Old Man new all along, huh? He scowled at his Master for not telling him before. Jiraiya just smiled.
Urahara sighed, just a little sadly. Yet another secret, but what was there to do? The others, with the exception of Uryu, were too close to the Shinigami for him to trust them to not mention anything if they saw anyone. Uryu was liable to attack these 'foreign invaders' on 'his honor as a Quincy'. Ichigo, who was normally fairly trustworthy, just couldn't be trusted not to share with his friends. And although certain Shinigami had become both friends and comrades over the course of the War, they would likely be honor bound to report the matter to their Captains, who would have to report it to the Head Captain, who would then be required to take it to Central 46. The likelihood of discovery was just too great, the risk too high. But, he thought, grinning internally, that doesn't mean he can't meet them. I'm sure the moocher will show up at some point, and Rukia's been hanging around…they could be very…convenient.
"Well," he said. "That's all for today. I'll have Tessai take you to your rooms." He met Naruto's eyes once more.
"Training starts tomorrow."
The next morning saw Naruto waking up just as the sun was rising. He'd barely slept, despite the long trip of the day before he was tossing and turning with anticipation for hours. As soon as the bright beams of morning sun peeked through the blinds covering his window he climbed from his futon. He ran out of his room, only to screech to a halt when he realized he had no idea where they would be training. Scratching his head and yawning loudly he wandered down hallways and through empty room after empty room until seemingly by chance he came to the same room he'd been lead to the day before, where he found that other man—Tessi? No, Tessai—setting food out for breakfast. Pervy Sage was already there, munching away on a piece of toast. Yawning again, he sat down with a thump at the table, jostling the cups and plates. A black cat he hadn't seen the day before was curled up under the table, but moved to the corner of the room when he sat down.
"Ah, Young Naruto, I was just going to wake you. Master Urahara should be down shortly and Lady Yoruichi has already eaten," said Tessai, eyes darting to the cat in the corner and back again to Naruto.
Naruto nodded tiredly, reaching for the plate of toast in the middle of the table just as the door behind him slid open and Hat-n-Clogs shuffled into the room also yawning loudly.
"Morning Tessai, Jiraiya, Naruto." He also glanced at the cat still sitting in the corner of the room before turning back to his guest. What is she up too? Oh well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.
"Eat up Naruto, you'll be training all day and neither Yoruichi nor Ichigo are very prone to going easy," he said, stifling another yawn.
Naruto nodded as best he could, already shoveling eggs into his mouth. Kisuke joined him at albeit a slower pace.
A short while later their meal was interrupted by Ichigo's shouts from the front of the store. Tessai left to go let him in, the black cat hot on his heels, and both Kisuke and Naruto watching as the pair made their exit. There's something odd about that cat, Naruto thought.
Tessai held open the doors for Ichigo, and Orihime as well, who had joined Ichigo at the door. Ichigo looked sharply at Yoruichi, who was sitting calmly just in front of the door blinking her large golden eyes at her old student. He raised one eyebrow.
"Ok, what is it Yoruichi?" he said, sighing slightly, just imagining the antics she had likely come up with.
"You wouldn't be in that form if you didn't have something planned, so what are you up too?"
If cats could smirk, Yoruichi Shihoin would have a huge one plastered on her feline face.
"I don't know if you noticed, Ichigo," she said languidly. "But our new student is a bit too cocky for my liking. I think it would be best if we took him down a few notches." She eyed her ex-pupil and he grimaced, recognizing the gleam in her eye.
"Besides," she continued. "I happen to know a little tidbit from his past that will make today very…. amusing."
Twenty minutes later found Kisuke, Jiraiya, Ichigo, Orihime, Naruto, and that mysterious black cat in the weird cavern beneath the shop once again. Kisuke was grinning from behind his fan at the assembly before him, waving it slowly just above his nose. Naruto was bouncing from one foot to the other with anticipation at his new training, eyeing Ichigo, who he remembered was supposed to train him today, along with that other lady, Yoruichi.
"Alright, I'll leave this to you Ichigo," the shopkeeper said cheerfully. "Orihime, Jiraiya, and I will just go wait over there." He gestured at a rock formation a little ways off. Ichigo nodded and looked pointedly down at the cat sitting by his feet. Naruto followed his gaze and his eyes widened as realization dawned on him.
"NOT CATS AGAIN!" He shouted, staring in outrage at the feline in front of him. Ichigo just chuckled.
"You guesses it," he said, smirking. So Yoruichi was right. Of course she was.
"Today you'll be trying to catch the cat. No kid—er, Jutsu, allowed. I'm sure you'll find this all very familiar…" Naruto glared daggers at his teacher.
"But didn't Hat-n-Clogs say I was gonna train with you and Yoruichi today? No fair!" he yelled. "He didn't say anything about CATS!"
Ichigo's smirk got wider. "Don't worry, you'll be training with her soon."
Naruto grumbled, but looked back down towards the damn cat.
"Fine, fine. All right, come here you little—" he stopped, suddenly finding himself staring at empty space. What? Where'd it go?
He heard a loud yowl above him and looked up, only to find the same cat staring at him from the top of a huge monolith about fifty yards to his left. His jaw dropped.
"THE HELL? GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID CAT!" he yelled, taking off after the disappearing blur of the Lady Yoruichi.
Ichigo chuckled to himself; Kisuke, Jiraiya, and Orihime were beside themselves laughing, wiping tears from their eyes. Orihime had actually fallen on her back she was laughing so hard. They watched, through blurred vision, the aptly titled Goddess of Flash flick around the cavern with the poor knuckle-headed ninja hot on her heals.
Naruto ran faster than he ever had, trying to catch up to the definitely-not-normal cat, who seemed to just be teasing him. Always just out of reach, slowing down just enough for him to brush its fur before darting away and appearing on the opposite side of the room. That cat was faster than anything he'd ever seen, even faster than Haku with his ice mirrors. And the worst part was, he got the feeling that it could go even faster, and was only slowing down to make the 'training' more fun.
It took twelve times in a row of teasing and running away before Naruto realized just chasing wasn't working. He watched closely; she seemed to always return to the same two cliff tops on opposite sides of the room, directly across from each other, every time he just missed her. Wait a second, he thought. Maybe…Yeah, there it goes again. Yes! This time, just as he brushed the cat's fur he switched directions, running full tilt towards the cliff behind him. Sure enough, that little black blur appeared right at the top and it's eyes widened, seeing Naruto's sudden change in direction. He crowed with excitement at his approaching victory, poring in all his energy and racing forward, feet drumming across the rocky ground and kicking up a dust cloud in his wake. He was already half way up the cliff, eagerly eyeing the cat that just watched him approach, when suddenly it jerked forward. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt a gust blow past him, knocking him off balance and sending him crashing to the ground. Swearing loudly, he pulled himself up and looked around only to groan, seeing that damn black cat sitting calmly just a few feet in front of him. He scowled at it, lurching forward.
"Okay you—"
"Alright, that's enough!" Ichigo interrupted from where he'd stood watching. He strode forward, still chuckling to himself. He stopped beside Naruto and looked down at the cat, which looked back at him, blinking innocently.
"Oh come on, now you're just being mean."
Naruto glared sideways at his new Master.
"Okay, what the hell is up with that cat?!"
Ichigo smirked at Naruto before turning back to the cat.
"Do you want to tell him? Or should I?"
The cat blinked in response before turning back to Naruto and—smiling. What the hell? Naruto thought.
Before he could say anything, a sudden cloud of smoke erupted before his eyes, clouding his vision. As it began to clear, he could just make out the outline of a shape. A woman's shape. The cloud cleared to reveal the most stunningly beautiful woman he had ever seen, all tan curves and supple muscles, huge breasts and luscious hips. He turned deathly pale, blood dripping from his nose at an alarming rate as he gaped at the gorgeous woman before him.
"S-sexy Jutsu?" he stammered, not even bothering to stem the flow of blood.
"Yoruichi!" Ichigo shouted, turning his back on his old teacher as his face grew bright red. Well, what did you expect? he thought to himself. This is Yoruichi after all.
"Relax, Ichigo," she said, grinning. "Kisuke brought my clothes. Damn, you're still such a baby! And here I thought Rukia had gotten through to you…"
"YORUICHI!" he yelled again, going even redder.
"Alright, alright, I'm going," she said, laughing even more. She strolled over to Kisuke, who had to restrain Jiraiya from acting on his more base impulses, covering his eyes and mouth. She snatched up her clothes and disappeared behind a nearby boulder to change into some semblance of modesty.
Naruto turned to Ichigo, who had turned back around once he was sure Yoruichi was out of sight.
"That cat—was Yoruichi?"
Ichigo sighed. "Yep. That's her favorite trick to play on new students. At least she got it over with, she waited a long while before pulling it on me."
"But how—"
"Who knows?" Ichigo interrupted, shaking his head dejectedly. "I try my best not to think to hard about it." Naruto narrowed his eyes in the direction of the boulder.
Yoruichi finally rejoined them, turning to Naruto and grinning.
"So, Naruto," she said, winking. "What'd you think?"
"Ummm…" He stammered, blushing slightly.
"Of the training, moron," Ichigo snapped, rolling his eyes.
"Oh. Well, it kinda sucked."
Yoruichi smiled. "That was the idea." She suddenly grew serious, eyes piercing.
"You need to understand that you can't just overwhelm every opponent with your Shadow Clone Jutsu. And yes, I know what that is," she said, in answer to Naruto's questioning look.
"If your enemy is so fast that they can get past your clones, or take them all out before you can make a move, what's the point? You won't be able to solve all your problems by just using a bigger or better Jutsu."
She looked pointedly at her student, crossing her arms.
"I guess you're right…"
"Of course I'm right. And it will be Ichigo's as well as my job to train you in speed and hand-to-hand combat without the use of Jutsu. We are both something like specialists in both areas." She grinned.
"I'm not called the Goddess of Flash for nothing."
Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"We're gonna try to prepare you for those kinds of tricky opponents. You have other masters that can teach you fancy Jutsu," he said, glancing at Jiraiya, who was watching their exchange closely.
"Just now you were able to use your head to trick your opponent, despite what you were lacking in speed and agility." Yoruichi continued.
"I was impressed, even if you took it a while. If I were any other cat you might have caught me," she remarked, smiling.
"You're off to a good start, but there's still a lot of work we need to do. So this time, you're going to try and get both of us."
She grinned evilly.
"And when I say get, I mean try and hit us. Both of us."
Yes! It's done! 3,889 words, it's my longest chapter ever! I wanted to fit it all in though.
I'm so sorry for IchiRuki pain! I cried so much writing that scene, I had to stop and pick it back up the next day. It was awful, but it needed to be written. I don't know if it's as sad as it was when I was writing it, but I guess sad scenes are much harder to write than to read.
Naruto got the Yoruichi Treatment, as I call it. And yes, I definitely think he would be that awed, despite Sexy Jutsu. She's way better looking than anything he could come up with.
Training continues next chapter, and maybe Renji will make an appearance? Or Toshiro? Maybe Rangiku? Let me know if you have a Soul Reaper in mind to make an appearance in an upcoming chapter. Who knows? Or any other ideas you may have, I'm open to input as long as it's not rude.
Until next time :)