Chapter 4: Failure is not an option

"Sir, I have a report regarding Fang squad's mission," said the disembodied voice somewhere from the shadows.

"I already now, no need to tell me," Genryusai said, "Summon the captains now!"

Soon the captains started appearing one by one. Curious chatter among them was interrupted by old grey-haired man with two scars on his forehead.

"Silence!"

There was something in his voice that made them all become quite. He was captain-commander but he usually would not interrupt them and would patiently wait for them to calm down. This time it was different. The worried face of Genryusai Yamamoto, captain of 1st division and their superior was clearly showing them that something serious was happening.

Captain-commander was just walking among them, thinking about what he was about to say. He glanced at white haired kid captain and then sighed.

"There is something very important I have to tell you. We might be at a verge of a new disaster," He started.

He observed all the captains again only to notice they were carefully listening to him.

"Good I got their attention" he thought.

"What is going on Yama-jii?" asked the unshaved man with long brown hair and straw hat on top of his head.

"Somehow I knew you were going to be the first one, Kyoraku," Genryusai answered "There is a person in human world we must kill."

"A person?" asked the man furthest away from the end of the room. He looked like skeleton, his face was painted black and he had no ears. He had the strange, almost mad look in his eyes.

"One you will gladly experiment on," Genryusai said.

The man with painted face licked his lips, obviously liking what he heard right now.

"Same old Mayuri I see," Kyoraku said.

"But there is a problem. He is currently residing in Ichigo's house," Genryusai finished talking.

"Why don't we tell Ichigo that he is the enemy and to bring him over here?" Asked the white-haired kid.

"I never said that person is enemy, just that it must be eliminated," Genryusai answered.

The look of disbelief was present on every captains face, even on Mayuri's. Even he, who experiments on people and doesn't really like anyone, was surprised by coldness in captain-commanders voice.

"You can't be serious old man!" man with long white hair raised his voice.

"Unfortunately I am, let me explain…"

"So you know how to enter your shinigami form, but can you control your power?" Urahara asked Akio.

"Not really, I had help last time, or at least that's what I've been told," Akio answered.

"Told by who?" Urahara asked again.

"I wish I knew." Akio answered.

"Well, that is not important right now, first you need to learn to activate your shikai" Urahara continued "As you can see your zanpakuto is now just plain and ordinary samurai katana. From what I've heard your shikai is curvy, red, thin and quite a big blade, kind of like Ichigo's."

"I think so."

"Well to activate shikai form you need to learn the name of your zanpakuto." Urahara explained.

"The name of the sword?" Akio was astonished to hear that swords have names.

"Yes, usually shinigamis hear it the moment their powers activate, tho we know that it's not always the case," Urahara glanced at Ichigo.

Akio was thinking. The name of his zanpakuto, what could it be? That blond boy never gave him the name. Wait, didn't that monstrous creature behind the wall of flames tell him that he gave him power? What was its name, Diablo, Dibol? No… It was Diabolus.

"Urahara-san I think I know the name of my zanpakuto" Akio said.

"Oh great, then I need you to concentrate and think of an energy flowing through your body and building up in your sword." Urahara said.

Akio did as he was told. He closed his eyes, started thinking of the last time he used the power. But nothing happened. He couldn't imagine the energy, reiatsu flowing through him. He couldn't remember how it felt. Suddenly he felt a breeze and remembered the wind in his hair during his talk with a boy. What if reiatsu feels just like wind, only in his body? He closed his eyes again and tried imagining wind flowing through his body. He was close, he felt it, not much, but he knew he was close. The warm feeling built up in him. He thought of Diabolus and then the warmth exploded and turned into heat. He was no longer holding ordinary samurai katana. He was holding sharp, curved red blade.

"You are fast!" Urahara was amazed by Akio's ability to activate shikai so fast.

"Now you need to show us your power, foc…" Urahara started explaining but Akio interrupted him, "It's ok, I know what to do next."

Akio raised his blade above his head. Again he thought of winds. He imagined his own veins extending to sword and reiatsu flowing through them fueling the sword. When he felt that there is enough energy he made a move like he was going to swing the sword, but instead the energy that built up in it exploded and covered him in sand and wounds. Wounds were not serious but Inoue came to him immediately and healed him. Akio wondered what went wrong when Urahara said "Timing must be perfect. You mustn't overdo it. You should be able to feel when you are ready to release your attack."

Akio stood up again and raised his sword above his head for the second time. Again he felt reiatsu rushing from the middle of his body to his hands and finally to his sword. He swung the sword and witnessed the dark red flames coming out of his sword. Flames took the shape of a wave. They rushed through the desert leaving a deep cut in the ground. Finally the wave hit one giant rock and turned it to dust.

"Great, now it's time for the hard part. You will fight Ichigo" Urahara said.

"Urahra-san are you sure?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes it is very important. He still has a lot to learn." Answered Urahra.

Ichigo and Akio faced each other. Akio was unsure, but not nearly as much as Ichigo. Ichigo's reason was different. He was aware of his massive power, and he was uncomfortable with fighting against a new shinigami. Akio on the other side just didn't want to fight. He felt scared. He was brave just moments ago, but now when it came to this he was not feeling so confident.

"Well, what are you waiting for, start!" Urahara said.

Akio looked at him and suddenly felt pain in his chest. He was hit by Ichigo. He couldn't bread. He heard Urahara's voice telling Ichigo not to stop and not to help him. This was the fastest way for him to learn.

"Well if that is the case I'll fight back!" Akio thought.

He got up and raised his sword collecting reiatsu when he was thrown down again. But this time Ichigo didn't stop, he tried to stab him. Akio was lucky to roll away from the Ichigo's zanpakuto. He glanced at Ichigo's eyes and felt fear so strong that he wanted to escape this and just forget everything. Ichigo's eyes were no longer warm and caring. They were cold and set to kill. So this is how it has to be?

Akio started running towards Ichigo with his sword behind him. Ichigo just stood there and waited for him. He easily deflected the first attack, then second. Suddenly he disappeared and Akio felt stabbing pain in his back. He turned around just to see Ichigo pulling out his zanpakuto from Akio's back. Then he fainted.

"You ready for another round?" Ichigo asked Akio.

"Are you crazy, you could have killed me?" Akio screamed in disbelief.

"Exactly, now I am not going to ask again, are you ready?"

Akio reached for the place he was stabbed in not that long ago. There was nothing there. No scar, no wound, not even torn clothes. Inoue must have healed him again.

Next twenty attempts all ended the same way.

"Ok now we are going to change the rules a little," Urahara said, "Next time you get wounded you will either endure it and wound Ichigo back or you will die, Orihime will not heal you again."

Akio couldn't believe what he just heard, but determined faces of everyone showed him he is serious. Akio didn't like the idea but he went along with it.

This time Ichigo let him attack. Akio just stood in place thinking. If he gets wounded again he will die. And how is Ichigo moving so fast? He was calming himself down. Akio started thinking of all the fighting movies he watched. Yes, all fighters are calm and watch opponent's movements to anticipate attacks or to land a blow. But reading Ichigo's movements wouldn't be the problem if he wasn't so damn fast. What if the trick to that speed is the same as with the zanpakuto? You simply focus energy at your feet and use it to move faster.

"If you are not going to attack then I will"

Akio looked up and saw Ichigo in front of him. Soon Akio was on the ground in pain. Ichigo cut his face, right over his old scar. He made it even deeper. He saw Ichigo's shadow in the sand and felt stabbing pain again.

"Why am I so pathetic?"

"You are not."

The smiling face of a blond boy appeared in front of his eyes. Akio endured the pain and stood up. He concentrated the energy at his feet. Ichigo attacked him again, but this time Akio moved faster than him. Although it looked to him that he is moving slower, Akio was actually moving faster than the ordinary person could. He stepped behind Ichigo and tried stabbing him, but Ichigo deflected the attack and tried returning the blow. Akio stayed calm and read Ichigo's movements, so he was able to block it. He jumped away from Ichigo and noticed that he is standing few inches away from land. He was walking on the air. He raised his sword getting ready to release his power when he heard Ichigo "Too slow!"

"I know!" Akio thought with a smile on his face and then disappeared in front of Ichigo's eyes.

"TENGOKU TATSU NO KIBA!"

Flames were reaching Ichigo, his kimono caught fire…

"Almost got me there," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, but you put down the fire using only your reiatsu" Akio answered.

"Well, important thing is that you learned how to use your powers. We will wait a little then teach you to use your bankai." Interjected Urahara.

"Anyway Urahra-san, how is my body doing?" Ichigo aksed.

"It's going to be healed soon, the wounds you suffered were really serious." Urahara answered.

"Glad to hear that, I hate this gigai body, it's so complicated" Ichigo said.

"You are the only one who said so" Urahara laughed and others joined him.

"Now you know the situation. Ichigo must not know of this, he must not be involved." Genryusai said.

All captains were looking at their feet, not one was able to look at captain-commander. The mission ahead and the dark path they were going to take were the only things they thought about.

TO BE CONTINUED…