Just an edit. Found a few mistakes and felt the need to correct them. Nothing really major I don't think, but continue reading anyways.

Please read, review and enjoy :)


Chapter 7

"You do that every day!"

"Something like that." Meg looked at the redhead aghast. Her legs were tighter than they had ever been, bad enough that it caused her to walk with a bit of a limp. How could he stand doing that kind of workout every day? Damn. He must be in much better shape than I thought. The four got food and sat down; it wasn't great but after their workout none of them really cared. Eventually they left the overcrowded cafeteria and opted for a shady spot under a tree behind one of the dorms. Ichigo leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. He was glad to be training again. For too long he had been weak and powerless and now he was finally getting back to normal. He scoffed. Yeah, normal.

"What were your classes like?" Ao asked the girls. Both sat up and looked at each other. Ichigo opened his eyes too. Though they were in the regular class it would still be nice to know something about what might happen during kido.

"Well hakuda didn't seem so bad, but we were only doing basic attacks and blocks." Kida said with a slight blush. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at that but didn't bother asking.

"Yeah, it's probably going to get a lot harder though," Meg added. "But I'll still take short, boring, and gloomy over our crazy kido teacher. I'm pretty sure she's bipolar." She lowered her head to the ground and thought for a minute. "Or maybe she's schizophrenic, or maybe she has that disease with multiple personalities." She cocked her head to the side and threw her hands up by her head. "I don't know. But something is definitely wrong with that woman." Ichigo closed his eyes and had to suppress a groan. A crazy kido teacher? God, please let my kido teacher be sane.

"What about you? What's zanjutsu like?" Ao's smile fell a little. It wasn't too hard of a guess for Ichigo as to why. He was small which when first learning how to wield a sword could be a real disadvantage.

"I couldn't do it." Kida could see a bit of disappointment but also determination in the little boy's eyes and hers softened. Being in the advanced zanjutsu class must have been really tough on the small boy but he wasn't going to give up. "I'm just going to have to work harder so I'll be – ".

"Don't be stronger." The three turned to look at the redhead incredulous. Was he really telling Ao not to get stronger? Meg was just about to yell at him when he continued.

"Be faster." Ichigo opened his eyes and stared at him. "If they can't keep up, they can't hit you." It finally clicked; for all of them. Ichigo knew that because of his size, Ao wouldn't have the strength to compete in a battle of blows, but if he was faster he might stand a chance.

"You were better than almost everyone else during the hoho practical so use that. You still have to be strong, but being the stronger one doesn't guarantee you the fight." Ichigo stood and the three stared up at him. He was an imposing sight. They could see determination, confidence, and experience all reflected in his eyes. Ichigo moved to stand in front of Ao.

"Be smarter, be faster and be able to outlast your opponent." The brown eyes lost their hard edge and Ao smiled up at him determined. He would do it. He would train so that he was faster than the others and work hard so he could fight longer.

Meg put her arms behind her and leaned back. She sent a knowing smile in the redhead's direction, though it went unnoticed. Kurosaki Ichigo. You're a better teacher than you think.

Ichigo woke up the next morning with a headache. He had a dream about his kido class, mainly about causing everything around him to explode. He groaned and got up, not looking forward to it in the slightest.

There was a heavy thud and Kida, Ao, and Meg jumped a bit. The sound came from Ichigo's tray being dropped on the table. Their redheaded friend sighed – although it came out sounding kind of like a growl – and slowly began eating his food. Kida stared at him wide-eyed and turned to look at the other two. Confusion and caution lined their features as they all tried to figure out what happened, but not wanting to ask. Breakfast was quiet that day and the three watched as Ichigo walked out the door with a glare that caused some of the students to move out of his way. Ao followed after him but didn't get as close to him as he normally would have. Ichigo got to the classroom and took a seat.

"Well, well, look who we have here. If it isn't the annoying insect who doesn't know his place in the world." Ichigo raised his head and stared at the black haired boy. It was the arrogant noble from the other day: Sengoku Segashi. Damn. As if kido wasn't bad enough already. Ichigo glared back at him.

"And it's the arrogant noble bastard who thinks he's better than everyone." The boy visibly bristled at that. He stared at the redhead, his green eyes never leaving his.

"I am better than the rest of you." Ichigo leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms, still not breaking eye contact. He was already in a bad mood for having kido this morning and didn't want to have to deal with the noble.

"So just because you were born in a fancy house with servants you think you can order everyone else around?" Segashi smirked; that was exactly what he believed to be true.

"It is my birthright to stand above the weak and idiotic and to give them orders." Ichigo stood up and got right in his face. By now everyone in the room was watching – many wondering who had the gall to stand up to a member of the Sengoku house – and hadn't noticed that the instructor had walked in.

"No one is born to order people around and – " Ichigo didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he found himself bound on the ground. He along with the noble who was also on the ground turned when they heard a sickly sweet voice behind them.

"If you boys are finished I would like to start the lesson now." She released the kido and the two boys stood up. They glared at each other before Ichigo sat back down and Segashi grabbed a seat on the other side of the room. The woman waited for the class to quiet down before she began.

"Welcome to kido. I am Arina Mona and I have been charged with teaching you the demon arts this year." Mona gave the students a smile that reminded Ichigo a lot of the deceptively kind smiles that Unohana would sometimes give her patients. The redhead gulped. He was pretty sure he would rather deal with the fight crazed Kenpachi than an angry Unohana. He had never seen her truly angry and didn't want to. One thing was very clear though, if there was one teacher in this school who you didn't want to be on the bad side of, the woman in front of them was her. And it seemed like he already was.

"There are three types of kido that shinigami need to know. They are hado, bakudo, and healing spells. However, before you are able to use higher level spells it is an imperative that you learn to control your reiatsu." Mona went on to explain how to control their reiatsu and Ichigo for the first time paid attention in class. He needed a lot of help in this area. After a full hour-and-a-half lecture about controlling reiatsu and communicating with their zanpaktou, the class moved to a larger room for the practical.

"Please take a seat. Now, I want you to concentrate on your reiatsu. Finding it may take a while, but when you do, reach for it." The students did as she said and one-by-one fell into quiet meditative states, Ichigo too. He felt around for just a short while before finding his reiatsu and when he reached for it found himself waking up in his inner world. He sat up and put a hand to his head.

"Huh, so that's how that's supposed to work." He shrugged and stood up. As he looked around a small smile crossed his lips. It had been far too long since he had been there. As strange as the place was, he missed it, sideways buildings and all. The redhead sighed; it was good to be back. When he looked up, Ichigo saw that the grayish sky was starting to clear and the sun began to peak out from the clouds, but what really made him smile was that his inner world was no longer the small town it had been and had begun to grow. The skyscrapers were back and as he watched he noticed that some of them kept growing farther into the inverted sky.

"Ichigo." The redhead spun, nearly giving himself whiplash, and stared at his zanpaktou. He stood there just like he remembered; long, ragged black coat, brown sunglasses, and on top of the pole, the same as when Ichigo first met him.

"Zangetsu."