A/N: Hi everyone reading this…I don't know why… but thanks to everyone who does. Thanks to Soraking1311 for reviewing this. And to everyone else who read the last chapter. Anyways, here's the latest chapter.
Cain was exhausted. His formerly pristine clothing was in near tatters, his breath was ragged and the dust was stinging his eyes. "Tired already? You can last longer than that can't you?" The silhouette in front of him taunted, its infuriatingly feminine tone driving him up the proverbial wall.
"SHUT UP!" Cain retorted, furious at the woman in front of him, he then took a deep breath, 'Calm down and analyze the situation at hand, then decide the best course of action based on the information available to you at the time.' He grabbed a handful of the dirt from the ground, taking full advantage of his small respite.
He heard the telltale sound of her shunpo behind him. "WINGING IT WORKS TOO!" he shouted as he leapt up, pushing off harder with one of his hands so as to send himself into a spiral, as he landed, he threw the dirt he had picked up towards where he suspected the crazy person was.
He felt something pressing on his back as arms wrapped around him and forced him into a submissive pose. "You've got a good battle sense kiddo, but ya can't pull one over on me that easily." He felt himself lifted up and thrown over her shoulder, as he landed he felt her foot place itself on his neck, effectively immobilizing him. He kept his eyes closed as, this being who she was and all, she had absolutely nothing to speak of on.
"Yare, yare, Yoruichi-chan, you can't expect the kid to fight you seriously if ya aint got clothes on do ya? Kisuke tittered from the sidelines as he ate his popcorn.
"Please put some clothes on PLEASE!" Cain coursed, his face a very deep red, he was no dummy and was not going to open his eyes just yet…its not that he didn't WANT to see her naked, his just didn't want other people to KNOW that he wanted to see see her naked. Also he was just too plain shy to look. Never mind how much his instincts were screaming at him, he had a hard enough time trying to relate to people as it was, he was…subpar in that regard.
He felt the pressure on his neck lessen to nothing and stood up. He kept his eyes closed until he heard the rustling of clothes being put on in the direction of Yoruichi. He peeked…it wasn't much but at least she had her underclothes on…it was enough for him to be able to focus for the first time since he had seen her transform…he would never forget THAT particular image.
"Can I take a break please?" Cain gasped out…exhausted from the near endless training with Yoruichi and Kisuke…they were absolutely brutal taskmasters and he had to admit…his swordsmanship had improved markedly, his skill in hakuda, the Shinigami martial arts, was at best, passable… he'd never be a master but he would definitely be able to hold his own with the best of em with enough training. If he could only figure out this shunpo thing he'd be having a good day. He just couldn't get the hang of it, not matter how many times he'd seen it from Yoruichi he just couldn't get his reiryoku to shape itself in that particular manner. So far he just couldn't analyze the structure of the shunpo like he could the kido and other techniques...
"Hey Urahara!" Cain shouted, "I've got a question for you!"
"Ask away then, especially if it is to whether Yoruichi is single fufufu" Kisuke teased. Cain, ignored the obvious jab at him, although the thought had crossed his mind, fuelled as it was by both his intellect and his instinct.
"Would it be possible that there would be some Shinigami techniques that it would be impossible for me to use?" Kisuke looked surprised, as if he had not taken that possibility into account, or he was just trolling like he usually was.
"It could be possible that there is a technique that can be used by hybrids like you or some such and that it would be impossible to learn another because your body is refusing the new technique in favor of an inborn one from your hollow half… fascinating, if that is true then there's really only one thing to do then." Kisuke flashed over to Cain, his Benihime already drawn from her sheath and approaching Cain at record speed, "Force your instincts to unlock that move!"
Cain brought his blade up just in time to intercept the incoming Benihime, and since Kisuke's method of training was 'learn or die' he had long since been using her released form in their sparing sessions, the end result of this was Cain being thrown back from the resulting clash of swords.
"Behind you kiddo!" came a dreaded voice from behind him, he was heading straight for Yoruichi, her fist drawn back for a punch, and from the front he saw Kisuke rapidly approaching him. His life was literally hanging by the thinnest of threads; his intellect couldn't get him out of this one… 'What do I do? I'm drawing a blank here, I'm going to die if I don't figure out this high speed technique, think…think man!' 'Let go, trust me'. The voice of his instincts insisted 'just move, if you can't run then don't, simply move out of the way'. He let go of what his intellect told him was impossible, and then his reiryoku finally responded. Instead of just his feet being pushed from the reiryoku output, it was more like he surrounded himself in a skintight suit of it and used that to push himself in the direction that he wanted. He moved, just as the two death bringing blows were about to land.
The two blows landed, the impact from them causing an explosive wave that stirred u[ the dust around the impact point. "Yare yare, it seems that young Cain has been holding out on us Yoruichi chan!" He put Benihime back into her sheath, the hilt turning once more into a cane handle shape, "Let's see if he can do it again shall we Yoruichi-chan! Keep him at it until he drops!"
"You're both psychotic!" he was about ready to resume the torturous game of 'tag' with Yoruichi when he felt something enter the world, a massive reiryoku signature that was head and shoulders beyond anything he had ever sensed before, it was accompanied by a lesser signature, but a strong one nonetheless, he could also sense Rukia walking towards the two massive signatures. He didn't trust this, not one bit, and his distrust was only furthered by the apprehensive looks that Urahara and Yoruichi were giving each other. Obviously this was something either unexpected or something that they didn't think would happen till much, much later.
His instincts told him Rukia was in danger of something really catastrophic happening to her and, while he had very little contact with her personally, she seemed to be somebody that Ichigo valued immensely…and despite what anyone else thought, he felt that, given a chance, he and Ichigo could become, if not great friends, then at least good ones. Plus he hated the thought of anyone being hurt for reasons out of their control.
"Sorry Urahara, I've got to do something…I know I might not be able to do much of anything right now, but if I don't do something, I know I'll always regret not having tried, besides, my blood wants to see just how much more training I need…I can feel something is about to happen, like a calm before a storm, and none of it is gonna be good is it Urahara?" Cain inquired of the shopkeeper.
"Yare yare," Kisuke sighed to himself, "that intuition of yours is spot on Cain-kun. Go, im gonna make some preparations for you and Ichigo, because, let's face it, neither one of you is getting out of there unscathed, I'll follow shortly after." Cain was surprised to see the shopkeeper so serious, something that meant something really was going down. And without another word, moved away with his as-yet unnamed technique, he would have to think of one later.
At the place where Ichigo is fighting Renji(you know the one)
Cain fazed into existence, startling the two combatants, and quickly took stock of the situation. Ichigo was battered and bleeding profusely from a deep gash in his shoulder, the opponent was of about the same build as Ichigo, the major difference being the other's red spiky hair and tattoos. His zanpakuto was in shikai, the segments possessing what looked like fangs that grew in size from the bottom till at the top was an intimidating fang. Uryu was on the ground to the side, bleeding from an injury of his own. There was Rukia, was standing next to the injured Uryu, and behind Renji, at some distance, was the source of the massive energy signature. He knew he would stand no chance if that guy got involved in the fight, the best he would be able to do would be to run.
"So, Ichigo, want some help, or have you got this handled?" Cain asked, trying to buy time for the eccentric shopkeeper to get there. "And who would you be? It seems like you are trying to take a friend of mine somewhere she doesn't want to be." He drew his own Zanpakuto, "I don't take kindly to that kind of thing." He motioned to the man in the white Haori, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you're in charge here." He motioned to the man with the released zanpakuto "that means that you have been hurting my friends, how about you fight me instead," he stepped in front of Ichigo, "try and get her out of here, if you can, I'll take on this clown." He pointed his index finger at Renji "what's your name?"
The man smirked, feeling cocky after his win against Ichigo, "Its Renji, Renji Abarai!" he swung his sword at Cain, the segments disconnecting as he did so, the blade flying towards Cain at breakneck speed. Cain lifted his own zanpakuto to block it, only as blocked one, another section bit into his right shoulder, much like how Ichigo had fallen for the same trick.
"Damn, that stings." Cain said aloud, "but that was a bit shallow dontcha think?" it was true, the wound was far shallower than Ichigo's had been, a fortunate side effect of his skin's added toughness. Although it was an injury that he should have been able to avoid, he needed to figure out the opponent's ability. Now that he had the gist of it he could finally see how much his training with Kisuke and Yoruichi had paid off, he pointed his index finger at Renji. "Hado #4 Byakurai!"
Pale lightning shot out from his fingertip at the shocked Renji, it pierced his left shoulder just above the lung, leaving a small round hole in the lieutenant's shoulder. Cain smirked at the success of his attack, "Surprised? I'm just getting started Renji, I…"
Cain looked down, a slim sword had pierced his stomach and his chest, puncturing his left lung. He looked behind him to see the noble looking Shinigami, "oh…shit". Cain began to fall, and he saw Ichigo rush in, and then he saw it. It was fast, he barely caught the faintest afterimage of what happened next but he did see it. Whoever the man was used a super-fast shunpo and pierced Ichigo in two separate places, causing him to fall to the ground as well. As he was fading into unconsciousness his only regret was that he didn't see it sooner, not that he has any delusions that he would have been able to stop it in the first place, but he would have been able to help Ichigo in some way. His last thought as he faded into unconsciousness was how cold the concrete was.