Phew, these exams are killing me! Thankfully, I've been able to finish this chapter in time, but I'm not sure how well the next one will go. I'll let you know of the status of it through my profile.

Now onto some questions.

'If Vizards are going to train with hollow powers, will they be like Ichigo?' - No. Their hollows are artificial, therefore their communication with them is limited. The best they can do is improve their current abilities.

'True version of bankai.' - Hehe, not telling :D. I have to say, new chapters of Bleach made me think hard but I 'll tell you one thing. It won't be the same as in the canon. But some things will be (surprisingly Kubo is thinking similarly as me...)

You may found yourself confused by the end of the chapter, but trust me. Everything will be explained in time.

Hope you'll like it ;)

Chapter 7 – Protector's training pt.2 (The cat, the healer and the Soul)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

'Inner hollow/Zanpaktou speech'

xxx

"I'm happy that you're trying to use the time that you have here in a productive way, however, I'd be happier if it didn't mean ending up in medical care, Kurosaki-san." Unohana scolded Ichigo, who was putting his clothes back.

After his training with Shirosaki, where he finally learned how to use high-speed regeneration efficiently, Ichigo woke up in 4th Division barracks.

apparently, he passed out from exhaustion after cutting off and then healing his arm and Hacchi carried him inside for medical check-up.

Ichigo was still flushed, since Unohana insisted on doing another full body check on him and once again, she couldn't resist not to touch him more than she would with any other patients.

After his dealing with women in Soul Society, Ichigo was slowly realizing what her actions meant and it... scared him a bit.

He wasn't sure how he could deal with kind Captain, who could turn deadly serious in a heartbeat.

"I promise Unohana-san. Since I learned how to use high-speed regeneration, it would have to be a really grave injury that could send me here." He smiled nervously at her and walked away.

"Ah...what a shame..." He heard while closing the doors and shuddered from the eerie feeling he got from her voice.

'I can't deal with her. She's... ' He shook his head.

'I have to deal with Rukia first.'

After a few flash-steps, he appeared in front of the 13th Division barracks, hoping that Rukia would finally be here.

Inside he noticed another petite shinigami he remembered to be the sister of the Lieutenant of the 4th Division, Isane, Kiyone Kotetsu.

"Excuse me, uhm, Kiyone-san?" He called out for her and watched in mild amusement as the papers she was holding, flew in the air from her arms.

"Aaah, Kurosaki-san, you scared me. I almost couldn't feel your reiatsu. What can I do for you?" She asked him breathing heavily from her frightened jump.

'Ha! So my control training finally paid off.'

"Is Rukia here?" Ichigo asked calmly.

"Yes, she was in fact looking for you. She's in the Lieutenant's office." Kiyone replied, pointing at the door on far right.

Ichigo widened his eyes.

'Don't tell me...'

"Did she get promoted?"

The 3rd seat shook her head sadly.

"No, she just likes spending time there." She said and excused herself.

Ichigo braced himself and flashed to the office.

'Here goes nothing.'


'I wonder what will he say...' Rukia thought sadly, sitting in the comfortable chair inside the office.

She has been looking for Ichigo for the whole previous evening, but couldn't find him.

'Maybe he's angry that I was avoiding him?' Her thought was interrupted by a loud knock on the doors.

"Yes?"

"Rukia, it's Ichigo, we need to talk." Ichigo said, surprising Rukia, who didn't notice his presence till now.

'So the rumours of him training were actually true. Didn't think he had it in him. But to lower his reiatsu after only a day... the elders would really like him.' She blushed when the thought of her and Ichigo together invaded her mind.

'Snap out of it Rukia.' She mentally slapped herself.

"Come in, Ichigo." She called out for him and watched him walk inside with his huge cleaver on his back and his kimono revealing a bit of his chest.

'I'm behaving like a fangirl.' She scolded herself, when she felt blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Hey." He greeted her awkwardly.

"Hey yourself. Sit down, Ichigo."

He sat on the offered chair and went silent.

'Well, this is awkward.' Ichigo thought and opened his mouth.

"I want to-"

"Listen Ichi-"

They looked at each other nervously.

"You first." Rukia said and motioned him to continue.

"Thanks... uhm, Rukia. Did you really mean what you said at the party? That you... you ..."

Ichigo tried to finish but blushed instead.

"That I ... love you?" Rukia muttered quietly.

"Yeah, that." Ichigo nodded nervously.

Rukia inhaled deeply and raised her head. She looked him in the eyes.

"Yes."

Ichigo widened his eyes. He expected her to be nervous, to deny that she ever said something like that in the first place.

All he could see in that moment was however pure resolve, not unlike the one he had, when fighting someone.

'She looks completely sure...'

"Why?"

She looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean why?"

Ichigo sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Why do you ... love me? I'm not a great person. I have many faults, I'm not the brightest person either... I'm not even a normal person in the first place... I'm a hybri-"

He couldn't finish his sentence when he got slapped across his face.

He widened his eyes when he noticed Rukia's trembling lip.

"Don't you dare call yourself that! You're an incredible person! Better than anyone else I know! You care so much about others that you always risk your life for them without any fear for yourself! You are smart and strong, kind and forgiving, I don't care what you are. For me, you are the one I admire the most!" She yelled at him and covered her mouth at the end.

Ichigo's eyes widened even further.

"I... I don't know what to say Rukia... it's... thank you. To hear what you think about me is giving me strength to say what I have to say but... Rukia, I have to be sure. I heard about the late Lieutenant of the 13th Division and... " He heard Rukia gasp and sighed.

"Look, Rukia... my appearance is similar to Kaien Shiba and I heard that he was the one you admired the most. Maybe I'm an asshole for even bringing that up, but are you sure that what you're feeling isn't just because of my similarity with him?" Ichigo stopped talking and waited with closed eyes.

Rukia meanwhile had a sad smile on her face.

'Kaien-san... ' She shook her head and inhaled deeply.

"No, I admit, I respected Kaien-san deeply. He was the first person after I was adopted by Kuchiki family, that took me for who I am, talked to me like I was just another officer and didn't care for my Kuchiki status. However, it has nothing to do with what I feel for you. You look almost identical to him, but you don't at the same time. I know who you are and I l-love the person who's standing in front of me, not the one that has been dead for a long time." She frowned when she noticed that Ichigo's shoulders dropped and he turned sideways.

'I guess this is it... I can only hope she won't hate me.'

"Rukia, I..." His breath got stuck in his throat when he glanced at her face. Words, that he planned before he came here were not coming to him.

"Yes?" She asked with small hope.

Ichigo mentally slapped himself. He had to close this.

"I'm sorry Rukia. I care about you deeply. We've spent a lot of time together and you helped me through very bad situations. Your words encouraged me when I was feeling down... but... I don't love you the way you want me to." He bit his lip when a single tear appeared on Rukia's face.

She clenched her hands and put them at her heart.

"Why?" She whispered and closed her eyes.

Ichigo tried to walk to her but she felt his movement and backed a little from him.

With his head down he mumbled.

"I just... I have no answer to that, Rukia. I'm only listening to what my gut tells me. You have many aspects that would make you a good girlfriend... you're smart, emphatic, pretty, strong... sometimes a little bit stubborn... you can keep most people in check... but I simply don't feel it. I know that if I didn't know you, my life would be worse than it is. But is that love?" He smiled sadly and turned to the doors.

He was sure that right now she needed space and his face was the last thing she wanted to see.

"My only hope is, that we can still be friends, but I'll understand if it's not possible." He swallowed a lump in his throat and walked away.

'I'm sorry, Rukia. I hope that you can forgive me...'

When he exited the office, Rukia's legs buckled under the emotional stress and she fell on the ground. Her tears started to pour in great numbers and she was desperately clutching her chest.

'I... I knew that it could happen...but it hurts so much... I can't leave it like that. I need him...'

She was trying not to break down, but there was nobody that could hold her, that could tell her that it would be okay.

'It's alright Rukia... let it all out.' Sode no Shirayuki appeared in front of her and said in a calm, but sad voice as she tried to console her.

Rukia glanced at her Zanpatkou. She almost forgot about her. Shirayuki kneeled next to her and quickly wrapped her in tight embrace.

Rukia couldn't take it anymore and broke down in sobs, while Shirayuki patted her back.

'It'll be okay Rukia, just let it all out... it'll be allright...'


'I wonder what's Ichigo doing.' Yoruichi thought as she was strolling down the streets of Seiretei. She left the Shiba's Manor a few moments ago and was considering returning to the World of Living to apologize Isshin for revealing his Shiba status to his son.

'Ah well, I could always take a nice dip in the open bath.' She grinned and sped to the training ground, she and Kisuke built a long time ago.

What she found, was however slightly damaged area with explosions surrounding it and a heavy reiatsu in the air. She recognized the spiritual pressure instantly.

'Ichigo... I guess he talked to Rukia.' Yoruichi frowned when she noticed that the reiatsu was giving off an irritated aura.

She slowly and stealthily jumped across the open area to the center of explosions.

Her eyes widened at the sight of destruction. Deep craters were everywhere, remaining energy slowly ascending from them. The air itself was even heavier with reaitsu, now that she got closer.

In the middle of the area was panting Ichigo , covered with sweat. His shinigami attire was ripped, showing more skin on his chest, that was too, covered with beads of sweat as he spurted a look of concentration on his face.

Yoruichi was staring at him and swallowed heavily.

In the next moments she felt him build up a reiatsu.

"Hado #4: Byakurai!" He yelled and wide torrent of blue energy shot from his hand, destroying boulders that stood in its way easily.

Yoruichi's eyes widened again.

'So he started to learn Kido and already can use Byakurai with its full strength. Nice, Ichigo.'

She raised her reiatsu a bit, to alert him of her presence so that he wouldn't be too surprised.

Then she remembered, that Ichigo sucked at sensing reiatsu.

She was getting up and going to announce her presence in verbal way, when Ichigo's voice interrupted her.

"What's up, Yoruichi-san?" He turned to her with a small frown, but when he noticed her slightly surprised expression, a small smile creeped on his face.

"You trained sensing reiatsu too?"

He chuckled a little.

"Not much, but even if I didn't, your reiatsu is so familiar to me that I could feel you as soon as you landed."

"Oh..." Yoruichi mumbled awkwardly.

"So? What are you doing here, Yoruichi-san? I doubt you knew I was here, so it's not because of me."

Yoruichi quickly shook off her surprise.

"I thought about going in that bath that's behind you, but now that you're here, we could go together... like the old times." She grinned a little when Ichigo's cheeks gained a slight pink color.

"Nah, I'm too ... restless right now. I wouldn't be able to relax." His smile slowly diminished as he remembered the reason he came here in the first place.

"You talked to Rukia." It wasn't a question and Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah... do you mind if we'd spar a little? Only Hakuda, since I want to improve myself in it too." Ichigo asked her suddenly.

Yoruichi wanted to object but she decided not to.

"I guess, but I heard that you did quite well against my little bee." Ichigo looked at her blankly at first, but he shook his head when it clicked to him, that she was talking about Sui-Feng.

'Talk about accurate nickname... she did sting me a little.' He mentally slapped himself.

"Quite good, but not good enough." He faced Yoruichi and got into a defensive stance.

Yoruichi smirked and did the same thing.

"Show me what you got, Ichigo-chan." She taunted him a little and ducked under a swift kick.

She grabbed the flying leg and with a quick turn, she smashed him on the ground.

Her eyes widened in surprise, when instead of biting the dust, he managed to recover with his hands and ricocheted from the ground, aiming a second kick which she barely dodged.

She jumped back from him and smirked again.

"Not bad, Ichigo-chan... not bad at all." She praised him a little and watched as his mouth twitched in suppressed smirk.

'My turn.' She thought and kicked herself off the ground and instantly flashed above Ichigo's head, trying to drop-kick him in the left shoulder.

'She's even faster than Sui-Feng.' Ichigo grimaced a little as he couldn't dodge entirely and she grazed his skin a little.

'Well, I wanted to improve. Who's better to train me than the Goddess of Flash.'

He was on the defensive, as she shot a barrage of kicks at his midsection, which he had to block with his hands and he silently thanked Shirosaki for his Hierro.

In the millisecond, when Yoruichi was recovering from her surprise at him blocking all of her kicks, he grabbed her knee and sidestepped her, throwing her away in the process.

She landed on all four few meters away from him.

'She's faster than me, I have to admit.' He didn't have time to think more as she flashed again and he raised his hands to block her kick again, when she suddenly flashed in midair and next thing he knew, he was feeling a little sting on his back.

'Damn her Shunpo.'

He recovered from the kick and flipped himself on hands and landed in the crouch.

"You're quite fast, aren't you, Yoruichi-san?"

"Yeah and you're still quite calm, what gives?" She grinned with satisfaction.

"Because-"

Ichigo flashed in front of her.

She was already in the process of throwing a punch at his midsection when he flashed the same way as she did a moment before and reappeared behind her.

"-I'm fast too." He finished cheekily and swiped her legs successfully.

With his instinct screaming at him, he reflexively caught her ankle, which was only few inched from his face as she tried to kick him instantly after supporting herself on her hands.

Swallowing his pride and reminding himself that this was only a spar he kicked her in the stomach and send her flying.

'Well, she IS the ex-captain of 2nd Division. She can take the hits.'

Yoruichi skidded a little, till she used the momentum and flipped herself. She grimaced and clutched her abdomen.

'Damn, he got me. I almost can't believe it. But he held back with that kick, I can tell.' She coughed a little and stood back up. Her smirk now gone she flashed to Ichigo, throwing a sharp punch at his jaw, which he dodged.

His leg already in the air, she jumped and used that leg as a springboard and kicked him in the jaw, spinning herself and landing in front of him.

Ichigo staggered a little and cursed mentally.

Both of the combatants cracked their knuckles and got into the stance again.

After ten more minutes, they were both panting a little, sweat rolling off their faces. Ichigo was spurting a little more sweat, as he was blowing off some steam before they even begun their spar.

Ichigo's attire was now almost completely torn at his upper body and a few scratches and bruises were left on his shoulders, chest and jaw.

Yoruichi, on the other hand, took her top off a little while back. Her hands had some cuts on themselves, she had busted lip but her smirk was back.

With a light breeze blowing off the dust around them, they flashed and met on the halfway, with ichigo throwing a hard punch on her left shoulder and Yoruichi kicking his knee. In the last moment, Yoruichi jerked herself, narrowly evading the punch and spun herself on his shoulders.

She landed on his back with her knees, sending them both at the ground, while Yoruichi crouched on him, pinning him down on the ground.

"Fine, I yield!" Ichigo grumbled making Yoruichi smirk victoriously.

She got off him and helped him back on his feet.

They shook hands with a grin.

"Thanks, Yoruichi-san, I needed this."

She slapped him on his back, making him wince a little.

"No problem, you can always use me." She grinned at him but then froze at the not intended double meaning.

Fortunately, it didn't seem he noticed and she released the breath she seemed to be holding.

"Ow, I think I'll use that healing water. I'm beat." Ichigo grumbled and with a sigh he walked to boulders that shadowed the bath.

A small grin found its was on Yoruichi's face.

'Hmm... I wanted to take a dip in the first place, why not join him.' She chuckled and silently followed him.

She found him already in the water, enjoying it with closed eyes. She dropped the clothes and slowly walked in the bath, trying not to alert him.

"You know, Yoruichi-san. I hope you're in your cat form or this will be quite awkward." Ichigo said, startling her a little.

'Please be a cat, please be a cat...' Ichigo mentally prayed and almost jumped when he felt another skin touching his shoulder.

"Oh, come one Ichigo, loosen up." Yoruichi whispered into his ears, making Ichigo shift his position a little, as her close presence seemed to awaken some ... parts of his anatomy.

"And open your eyes, I'm not gonna bite you." She laughed a little.

'Well, at least not yeeeeet... kitty, you need to stop now...' Yoruichi mentally slapped herself, trying to cool down.

Ichigo slowly opened his eyes and gulped, when he noticed a naked Yoruichi, dipped in the water just enough for him to see only the parts she was comfortable with, leaning on his shoulder.

"You're being awfully brave these days, Yoruichi-san..." Ichigo shuddered as she got more comfortable and accidentally showed him more skin.

"Hm, you don't like it?" She asked in sultry voice.

He sighed and shook his head.

"To be honest, I think I'm slowly getting used to it." He said with closed eyes and therefore didn't notice Yoruichi's surprised face.

She allowed herself a little smile and a content sigh escaped her lips.

"I talked to Rukia." Her eyes snapped open at his neutral voice and glanced at him.

He was keeping his eyes closed, but a little frown appeared on his face, little bit hidden behind his orange hair.

'I almost thought he didn't want to talk about it.'

"So? How did it go?" She asked quietly.

She felt him tense a little and so she turned him around, with his back in front of her.

Ichigo almost yelped in surprise when he felt her small fingers kneading his shoulders.

"What, what are you doing, Yoruichi-san?"

She put a finger on his mouth from behind him and hushed him.

"Shh, you're a bit stiff so I'm giving you a massage. Don't get used to it though."

Ichigo smiled and relaxed into her touch. A small blush found its way on his face when she let him lean on her and he could feel her breasts pushed against his back.

He moaned a little when her hands found an especially sore spot.

Yoruichi fought her own small blush at his moan and cleared her throat nervously.

'Calm down kitten, you've never been embarrassed like this before.'

"What did you tell her?" She asked.

A deep sigh escaped Ichigo's mouth.

"I asked her why she loves me. I wanted to find out, if she was just confused like Orihime. Turned out, she wasn't. I think she really loves me." When he felt that Yoruichi's hands stopped for a moment he tried to turn his head and glance at her, but she quickly pushed his head back.

"You know that I'm naked right? No turning head." She whispered into his ear.

When she was sure he listened to her, she swallowed a lump in her throat.

"That's... that's great, right? She's sure about her feelings and you can now be together. Speaking of that, I probably shouldn't be here with you, if she saw us-."

Ichigo interrupted her with a sharp shake of his head.

"I don't feel the same way she does, Yoruichi-san. I don't know if I handled it well... I swear I could see tears in her eyes... I'm really trash, aren't I?" He dropped his head and clenched his fists underwater.

"I know how she feels and yet I betrayed her by denying her what she wants. She loves and she's a wonderful person too, probably the best I could hope for. Yet I still cast her away, just like I did with Orihime, Tatsuki... I'm a coward who tried to rationalize something that can't be explained... maybe I should have tried it with her... I... don't know..." He muttered in low voice.

Yoruichi watched as his hunched back with a frown and a little bit of...

Ichigo widened his eyes when he suddenly felt her arms around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

"Wha-?"

"Be quiet."

He gulped and nodded.

Yoruichi gripped him more tightly and leaned her cheek on the back of his neck.

"Stop with that kind of talk, Ichigo. You're not a trash just because you didn't respond to her feelings. You're simply young and not sure what you're feeling. Everyone is insecure in your age. Hell even I had my own insecurities when I was your age. Nobody is perfect but you're one of those people who strive to be exactly that. That's what I admire about you. You always want to be the best you can be. You have a strong sense of responsibility. Do you even realize what does this mean? That you're even cursing yourself for rejecting her?" She nudged him with her nose.

"It means you're already far more than a trash. It means you're more than most of people I know. You want everyone to be happy, but I'm afraid that's something that can't be done. In your life, you'll probably learn that for yourself, so I won't try to talk some sense into you. Ichigo, you are a good person and that you don't feel the same way as those girls isn't a crime. It's just how life is. They'll get over it. If it's not meant to be, it won't be. It's just that simple. You'll find somebody for yourself in time. Don't rush it, just because of these confessions. Try to ease a bit and you can rely on those around you. You can rely on me as I'm here for you."

She noticed that one of his hands was gripping hers and she smiled a little. This wasn't Ichigo she knew. The person in front of her was just a young boy with ordinary problems, someone, who wasn't just a machine.

Someone, who was human.

She felt him move and saw him raise his second hand. Since she was hugging him from behind, she didn't know what he did, but she heard him sniffle and her eyes filled itself with warmth.

"Ichigo..."

He motioned her to release him and straightened his back a bit.

"Thank you, Yoruichi-san. It seems that you know me the best... I'm better now." He said without turning and coughed.

"But I'm gonna carve this memory of you hugging me with your bosom into my brain, so that I'll never forget it." He turned and grinned at her cheekily, his blush now visible only as a slightly pink cheeks.

Yoruichi gaped at him and blushed a little too.

She whacked him on the head and ordered him to turn away.

"Pervert." She muttered and went to put her clothes on with a warm smile.

Ichigo just chuckled and inhaled deeply.

'Thanks, Yoruichi-san. I almost gave Zangetsu another rain.'


After relaxing in a bath for a few more minutes, Ichigo dressed and left the training grounds with the intention to further train himself.

'Zangetsu, are you there?' He asked mentally.

'Of course, Ichigo.' Zangetsu's deep voice answered him.

'I promised to train with you so... how do we do it?'

Zengetsu seemed to ponder about it for a moment and then shook his head, not that Ichigo could have seen it.

'Right now, we won't train, yet. I want you to go to the 4th Division and visit Unohana. You mentioned that you wanted to learn healing Kido too and she's the perfect person for that. She'll probably help you further with your control of reiatsu and that could help you out in my training. But after that, I promise, we'll train.' Zangetsu nodded to himself.

Ichigo gulped heavily.

'Do...do I have to go to Unohana-san? You know how she is.' He laughed a little nervously which only amused Zangetsu.

'Oh? Don't tell me you're afraid of an innocent healer, Ichigo.'

Ichigo grimaced and shook his head instantly.

'Innocent my ass... she's ... giving me the creeps.'

'Well, just take it as another form of training. Overcome your fear of creepy healers.' Ichigo pouted when he heard Zangetsu laughing in his mind.

'Screw you, Zangetsu.' He hmphed and shut his mental link with his zanpaktou, who was still laughing.

He found Unohana quite quickly, since most of the patients were already released, leaving only few heavily wounded in the barracks. When she saw him knock nervously on the door of her office, Unohana allowed herself a small smile.

'I'm here for the second time today...must be a new record.' Ichigo thought bitterly.

"Yes, Kurosaki-san? How can I help you?"

Ichigo gulped at her sweet tone and avoided her stare.

"Uhm, if... if it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you... you know, teach me some healing Kido, Unohana-san?"

She widened her eyes in surprise and motioned him to come in. After Ichigo sat down on the chair in front of her, she gazed at him without blinking.

"Why?" She asked simply.

Ichigo raised his head and put his hands on the desk.

"You already know that I've been training for a few days. I was able to learn some Kido yesterday and I'm planning to finally train with Zangetsu, my Zanpaktou. To do that however, he told me to try to learn more control of my reiatsu. I think that learning healing Kido requires an amazing control of your reiatsu so I thought I'd try that. Besides, I may have high-speed regeneration, but my friends do not and there were moments when they were left seriously injured and I couldn't do a thing to help them... no more. If I can learn at least the basics, it would still be great." He said and met her gaze, in which Unohana could only see determination, pure determination.

She smiled more and put her hand on his. Ichigo resisted the urge to run and raised an eyebrow.

"I only wanted to hear your reasons, Kurosaki-san, nothing more. That you want to be able to help your friends in need is ... well, I don't think a healer needs a different reason. Come with me, I can show you the basics quite quickly and after that, Isane will help you to improve further. I apologize for that, but being a Captain, I don't have that much free time." She smiled apologetically at him and motioned him to follow her.

That way she didn't notice the relieved sigh that escaped Ichigo's mouth.

He followed her in silence through the corridors of barracks of the 4th division and after few minutes, they emerged in a small room, with almost no furniture, with a small statue and a table with incense.

She sat down in front of the small statue and nodded to Ichigo to do the same.

"Where are we, Unohana-san?" He asked cautiously.

"This is something akin to a shrine for us, members of medical division. We often come here to relax our minds and bodies. This statue is emitting weak spiritual energy that helps you recover after a hard day and the incense is filled with medical herbs and relaxing odor, which helps you to relax."

She turned and lighted the small accessory.

"It also serve as a training room, where thanks to the statue and incense we can train and improve our skills in more calming enviroment."

Ichigo looked around in wonder and frowned.

"But don't you need an injured person to improve your medical skills?"

Unohana smiled and shook her head.

"Whatever gave you that idea, Kurosaki-san? No, of course not, that would be highly impractical. Only thing you need is control, precision and being calm."

Ichigo laughed embarrassedly and looked at the ground in shame.

"You didn't know. It's understandable that you'd think that, despite what I'm saying. Now. You need to know what to do if you want to use Kaido. It's actually very simple to understand but harder to do." Unohana said and held her hand, which was glowing with green light, in front of his eyes.

"I'm guessing that you can feel what's emitting from my hand?" She asked Ichigo after a moment and looked at him expectantly.

"Yes, it's your spiritual energy... but it's somewhat different... it's almost as if I could feel... kindness? If it makes any sense." Ichigo replied confused.

She gave him a wide smile and nodded.

"Yes, very good, Kurosaki-san. You almost got it completely right. The process of healing a person is by restoring the patient's reiatsu at the beginning, so we could use his own reiatsu to start the healing process and then we mix our on reiatsu. This is quite easy, you simply focus your energy to the palm of your hand, choose the proper amount of energy you want to restore and you will it into the patient's body. Of course, you have to take into account, that every patient is different and not everyone can absorb big amounts of it. You need to be gentle and do it slowly in small doses, so that the body would naturally begin to absorb." She stopped and waited for Ichigo to nod in understatement.

"We can start with that. Try to restore a bit of my reiatsu. I managed to deplete my reserves a bit, so I should be able to absorb quite easily. Oh and before you try, focus on your shinigami reiatsu only. I'm positive that you can heal other hollows with your hollow energy, but I don't think it would be possible with shinigami."

Ichigo nodded and raised his hand. His eyes almost jumped out of their sockets however, when Unohana started to take her robe off.

"U-unohana-san? What are you doing?" He asked trying to look away.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? It's best if you try it while touching the actual skin at first. It wouldn't work just with my hand as you need more surface than a simple hand can offer, since you're a beginner. My back should be good enough." She smiled innocently and turned around.

Meanwhile, Ichigo sweatdropped and gaped at her. He quickly shook his head to clear it, when Unohana pulled her robe down a bit so that her back was visible.

"You can put your hands on my back now, Kurosaki-san." She said, making Ichigo gulp.

With a slight hesitation he slowly touched her back, feeling her jerk a bit from the contact.

'Whoa, her skin is so soft, hmm...'

'...'

'Did I just think that?' Ichigo mentally facepalmed and tried to concentrate.

"Remember, Kurosaki-san. Focus on your energy and let it flow to your hands, then slowly will it on my skin in small doses." She reminded him and waited.

'Okay. Easy enough. I've already did something similar while learning Kido with Hacchi.'

He slowly reached into his reiatsu reserves in form of the bottomless dam and let a small amount to flow into his palms.

When he was sure he had it right, he pushed and willed it into Unohana. His concentration broke when he heard her gasp and shudder a little.

"Are you alright, Unohana-san?"He asked in alarm.

"Y-yes, you just used too much of your reiatsu and it surprised me. Try to lessen the amount. Normal officer could get into shock after being exposed to this much." She breathed out and nodded to him.

'Shit, even this is too much?' Ichigo cursed mentally and furiously tried to cut the flow to his hand into pieces. He allowed only a tiny stream of it into his palms and prepared for his second attempt.

Again he willed his reiatsu into the Captain in front of him. He almost sighed in relief when he heard no more gasps.

Instead he heard a small moan and shook his head exasperatedly.

'Why do I have the feeling that this is not a normal reaction?... To hell with it, this probably isn't even a proper method of training. I can't imagine Hanatarou doing this stuff.'

"Yes, Kurosaki-san, that's good. Exactly like this." Unohana mumbled leaving Ichigo blushing a little.

'Damn my imagination is getting more wild every day. It must be Shirosaki's fault!' He screamed internally and tried to remain focused.

After a few more seconds, he felt Unohana move a bit, so he stopped the flow of his reiatsu and put his hands down.

"Okay, Kurosaki-san, this should be enough. You know know how much reiatsu you can use while helping a Captain class fighter. If you want to help somebody weaker, tone down your flow of reiatsu further."

He watched her put her robe back on and frowned when he remembered something.

"It's strange, though. To help a shinigami, I have to almost completely cut off the flow of my reiatsu, but when I was doing the similar thing to those Arrancars, Harribel and her Fracción, I was using a lot more hollow energy yet I didn't hurt them... " He rubbed his chin in wonder.

"It's probably because of the nature of hollows, as they are used to absorb energy from others as they devour them. The Arrancars are evolved forms of hollows, but their bodies still remeber the sensation." Unohana answered him and turned around to face him again.

She was spurting a little blush on her cheeks and her breathing seemed to be elevated but Ichigo decided to not pay it any attention.

'The less I know, the happier I am.' He convinced himself.

"Now for the second part, Kurosaki-san." Unohana said and shifter herself to get more comfortable.

"As you could see, the reiatsu you were emitting from the palms of your hands didn't have green color. The reason is because you didn't know this most important part. You said it yourself, that you felt something like kindness in my reiatsu, when I showed you the 'healing palm'. The exact term would be...hmm... let me put it this way. To be able to successfully heal somebody, your reiatsu must be devoid of any ill intents. That's why we, the medics, have to calm ourselves a little before the actual healing, and that we are calm people in general. Your mind must be at total peace, you have to be in total control of your emotions. The only thing that your whole being have to be focused on, is to emit positive emotions, the desire to genuinely help the patient, the need to see the one before you get better. It's not as easy as it sounds, mind you." She explained to Ichigo, expecting him to scoff and say 'that's easy'.

It was after she glanced at him, she remembered, who exactly was there with her.

Ichigo's face showed amazement and respect that made her smile again.

"This sounds easy? Are you serious? Acquiring bankai was easier than this. I know very well how hard it is to be in complete control of yourself. So is that the reason why there are ranks even in medical division? I mean, it sounds logical to me, that the higher rank you have as a medic, the more proficient you are in controlling your mind, right? I guess it's about the reiatsu levels too, but this is the main reason, isn't it?" Ichigo was thinking loudly.

Unohana widened her eyes in light surprise.

"Yes, how very insightful of you, Kurosaki-san. It's exactly as you say. The more proficient you are in controlling your emotions and your mind, the higher rank you are. It took me a long time to get where I am now. I hope that one day Isane could take my position, as she has been able to improve herself drastically in a short time and she's only slightly worse in controlling herself than I am myself. She has other flaws, but I trust her skills. I'm very interested, however, in how well you can perform, now that you know what to do, Kurosaki-san." She looked at him expectantly.

Ichigo grimaced and looked at his own hands.

"I don't think I'll impress you, Unohana-san. Since merging with Shirosaki, I'm discovering that my emotions are harder to control than before. Probably because he's my instinct, as he calls it, and it amplifies the things I feel." He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Unohana looking at him with warm smile.

"It doesn't matter how well you do, Kurosaki-san. I was just kidding. It would be a great success if you could heal only a small cut. It takes a great amount of practice to do more."

She took out her zanpaktou and made a small cut on her finger that bled lightly.

"I want you to focus on everything I said so far and try to close this small wound."

Ichigo raised his hands and put them around her bleeding finger. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

'I know the first step and now I have to add positive emotions, right?' His mind started to wander around his happy memories with his mother and with his sisters.

Not long after that the scene shifted to the one with heavy rain falling down on him and with something heavy pushing him down.

It was the memory of the day his mother died.

He tried to push it away as he already lived through this painful memory many times ever since it happened.

He felt however, slightly dizzy as his vision blurred a little and darkness threatened to overwhelm him.

'Always the same, huh?' Ichigo thought.

Every time this particular memory came out, he always blacked out at this point. He always thought that it was because when it really happened in the past, he simply fainted.

This time however, just a short moment before his vision disappeared, he heard an unfamiliar voice.

He couldn't understand what was the voice saying, but at the end the voice laughed just as he finally blacked out.

Unohana was watching Ichigo's face carefully and felt his reiatsu shifting. When he put his hands around her finger and started to channel his energy, she was sure, that he could do some progress. He even managed to change his reiatsu around his hands to a shade of green before it flickered and started to darken.

Alarms went off in her head when the color settled on black and she noticed that he was sweating profusely and mumbling incoherently.

She quickly grabbed him by the collar and shook him a little.

"Kurosaki-san, wake up."

"..."

'What's going on?' She thought in concern and shook him again.

When he didn't respond, she slapped him lightly on the cheek.

His eyes flickered and she sighed in relief as he slowly noticed his surroundings.

"Ugh, what... what the hell happened?" He groaned and held his head in his hands.

Unohana watched him shook his head and immediately he flinched.

"What's wrong, Kuosaki-san?" She was beginning to worry. Nothing like this ever happened while trying to learn medical Kido.

"I... my head hurts like crazy. I think I should go and find some vacant bed." He tried to stand up and staggered a little.

Unohana quickly helped him by letting him lean on her and walked with him to the main medical room.

They found a free bed and Ichigo quickly lied down, groaning again.

She quickly raised her hand and examined him with her healing palm, trying to uncover some hidden injury. Her face formed a frown however, when she found nothing.

"What happened, Kurosaki-san?" She asked quietly.

Ichigo let his hands fall down on the blanket under him and sighed.

"I'm not sure... I was trying to concentrate on my happy feeling but then my mind shifted to a memory on its own."

"What was the memory?" Unohana asked curiously, for a moment forgetting about courtesy.

"When my mother died." Ichigo replied evenly, glancing at her.

"Oh."

He rolled on his right and sighed again.

"If you don't mind, Unohana-san, I think I should sleep it off. I'm very thankful for your help, though. I now know what I should do, if I want to help somebody. I'll be back for some more guidance for sure."

Unohana nodded and before her departure, she turned her head slightly.

"Take your time, Kurosaki-san and don't rush it. Learning how to heal takes more time that you'd think. If I'm not available, you can ask Isane as I said before. Sleep well." She said and left the room, leaving Ichigo alone with his thoughts.

'Who the hell was that person in my memory...?' Ichigo thought slightly angry before slowly drifting to a sleep.


'Wake up, Ichigo. It is time to train... time to release the power that has been sleeping till now.'

Ichigo woke up at the sound of Zangetsu calling out to him. He was feeling rather refreshed, considering the fact that he had a headache before going to sleep.

'Now? I just woke up.' Ichigo whined and stretched himself on the bed.

'Now, Ichigo... your shinigami powers are impatient and they want to be finally used.'

This got Ichigo's attention.

'What are you talking about? Finally used?'

He was met with silence and was already forming another question, when the familiar voice stopped him.

'Later. Go to the training grounds, where you trained with me for bankai.'

Ichigo frowned at the tone but listened nevertheless.

He got out of the 4th Division in a short time and proceeded to flash to the mentioned place.

When he got there, he noticed that nobody was here and he sighed in relief. He was hoping that Yoruichi wouldn't be there, as he was somehow sure, that his zanpaktou will beat the crap out of him during their training.

'I'm here, Zangetsu. What now?'

Instead of answering, man in a black cloak appeared suddenly in front of him with a stern look.

"Uhm, Zangetsu, what's with that look?" Ichigo asked nervously.

"Ichigo. You asked what I was talking about, when I mentioned you'll be finally using your shinigami powers." Zangetsu said, keeping his voice as sharp as his look.

Ichigo nodded with a small frown.

"Yeah."

He watched as Zangetsu looked away and for a moment nobody spoke.

"I meant that you'll be finally using the powers of your zanapktou. Till now, your only attack was Getsuga Tensho... but Ichigo... that's not originally a technique of Zangetsu." Zangetsu said and watched Ichigo's mouth open in shock.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Getsuga Tensho is a simple attack of gathering your reishi into the blade and releasing its condensed form in the form of the crescent-shaped energy... and every zanpaktou of the 'getsu' type can use it. Even Aizen would be able to do it, if he knew about it but I guess Kyoka never mentioned it to him."

Ichigo tried to say something but for the second time in this week he couldn't find his voice.

"You only used your own reishi to fuel the Getsuga. Yes, you borrowed some power from me before, or from your hollow powers, but it's still a generic attack. You don't know the true power of Zangetsu. Since merging with Shirosaki, this power was struggling to get free, so that you would use it. Zangetsu means 'Slaying moon'. Tell me Ichigo, what do you picture, when you think about the moon?" Zangetsu asked the silent Ichigo.

When he noticed that no answer was coming out of Ichigo's mouth he sighed.

"The right answer is 'Darkness', Ichigo. Moon is always surrounded with darkness, as it can only rise in the night. Indeed... the true power of Zangetsu is the darkness or rather the 'Flames of the Darkness'." The cloak that Zangetsu wore slowly shifted its form and was looking like a black flame surrounding him.

Ichigo was speechless. Not even one thought pierced his stunned mind. It was beyond comprehension for him.

"Why do you think that the getsuga in your bankai was black in color? You thought it was because of Shirosaki? Wrong. In your current bankai you used to call upon the true form of your zanpatkou power. It was forceful and thus your Kuroi Getsuga was weaker than the one Shirosaki was able to use. But it was something... even if by small margin, you incorporated your true power into the basic Getusga, changing it into something new. Of course, you could protest that your Kuroi Getsuga had the hollow feel into it, but it's only because you were using it while also unconsciously using your hollow powers."

When Ichigo didn't move, Zangetsu sighed again,

'I just hope that he can take what I'm saying to him... damn you Zangetsu... you could have waited a little bit longer.' Zangetsu cursed and the only response was a slight grunt from the back of Ichigo's mind.

'Yes, I know that... but still, I can't say what I am right now... our agreement must hold a little bit longer.'

After a few minutes he noticed that Ichigo finally started to show signs of life.

"Wh-what does this mean?" Ichigo asked in absolute confusion.

"It means that you need to release you zanpaktou to see its true form, Ichigo."

Ichigo blinked and looked at him in disbelief.

"But how? I'm already in shikai."

Zangetsu only looked at him.

"Amuse me, Ichigo... you should know the phrase by now."

"What are y-" Ichigo protested when he heard a whisper from the back of his mind.

His eyes widened and he raised his blade.

"Set the darkness ablaze, Zangetsu!" He yelled and had to squint his eyes, when a wave of reiatsu phased through him.

He blinked and looked at his zanpaktou.

...

He blinked again.

In his hands was the same old huge cleaver he was used to... only with a small but drastic changes. The hilt was now present, the blade has a slight curve at its beginning and its blade was covered in black flames.

If he wasn't in such shock, he would have dropped his zanpaktou in surprise. Instead, he examined it in awe. He looked back at Zangetsu standing in front of him.

"It's ... amazing. It feels different and yet the same at the same time... I don't know how to describe it... it just feels ... right."

He swung it lightly around himself and noticed that the flames were heating the air around him but strangely it didn't bother him.

"It's your power, of course it can't bother you." Zangetsu voiced Ichigo's thoughts.

"What it can do? I mean the flames?" Ichigo asked in wonder.

"Well, they can burn." Ichigo fell comically on the ground.

"I know that!" He yelled with red face.

"The other thing it can do... every person who's being burned by it feels every horrible thing he did in his lifetime. He feels the pain of his victims, their suffering... every little crime is used against him and force him to feel the darkness within him. It has its weaknesses as anything else. Enemy with a will strong enough, or with a mind in absolute control can lessen or almost completely negate its effects and the darkness can't affect pure beings... the ones, who never comitted any crime. But in their case, they feel their every dark emotion amplified. And the ones who live in darkness are not affected by it too." Zangetsu said in serious voice.

Ichigo shuddered.

"That's ... a nasty ability. I can always extinguish the flames on somebody, right?" He asked with a frown.

He never liked and believed in torturing his enemies.

"Yes, of course."

"But how can I release zangetsu again? I mean, wasn't I in shikai till now?"

Zangetsu thought about it for a moment.

"You can say that what you've been using till now was an incomplete shikai. You never used a real asauchi before, therefore your blade had to be in that incomplete state."

He saw Ichigo opening his mouth and quickly put his hand in front of him.

"That's nothing you should be concerned about right now. What you should be concerned about is trying to learn its new abilities. Today, you'll learn two techniques, one for attacking and one for defending. The first one is called: 'Angetsu no Ka' or 'Fire of the dark moon'. Its main purpose is to deliver the flames of darkness onto your opponent, dealing injuries and the already mentioned effect of the black flames. To use it, focus your energy into the sword, same as with the Getsuga Tensho, but this time, don't think about your reishi as the simple energy, but as the dark flames, then release it." Zangetsu explained and motioned Ichigo to try it.

The said person nodded and still in awe at his slightly new zanpaktou he did as instructed.

"Angetsu no Ka!" He yelled and released the attack.

He almost yelped when a huge wave of black reiatsu emerged from his blade and shot forward, burning everything in its path, leaving scorched ground and roasted boulders after it.

"Wow." Ichigo said impressed.

'The magnitude of the attack is slightly bigger than my regular getsuga, power required is roughly the same but the area affected is wider.' He thought and turned to Zangetsu.

"Very good. You can control the amount of the energy put into it in the same way as with the getsuga. The second ability is called: 'Yami no Tsukitate' or 'Lunar shield of Darkness'. It creates a black shield in front of you, blocking physical and energy attacks and burning anything it comes in contact with. Very usefull ability, especially for someone like you, who likes to jump in every dangerous situation without thinking first." Zangetsu explained the second ability and glanced at Ichigo who looked down in shame.

He rubbed his neck and laughed nervously.

'I think I deserved that one...'

"To use the shield, focus on the energy as the flames, just like with the Angetsu no Ka and concentrate it into one small point at the end of the blade and slash down."

Ichigo nodded in understatement and focused on his energy.

It took him a little bit longer this time, as he had some troubles guiding the flames into the one concentrated spot.

When he was sure he got the amount right, he slashed down and exclaimed.

"Yami no Tsukitate!" And before his very eyes a medium-sized shield, just big enough to cover him, erupted from his blade and positioned itself in front of him, shielding him perfectly.

"As expected from you, Ichigo. Now do it again, this time you have to use it faster. In real battle you don't have that much time to prepare it. You'll train until you can do it in an instant." Zangetsu commanded strictly and a bead of sweat formed on Ichigo's forehead.

'I'm starting to think that Shirosaki isn't the only one who's merciless.'


"Shit, shit, shit. I'm betting that he'll be pissed." Yoruichi cursed under her breath as she was flashing towards the reiatsu of one orange-haired shinigami.

Few minutes ago, as she was relaxing with Urahara in his shop, an unexpected guest showed up, beaten up and in a bad condition with an even worse message.

"I don't envy those bastards who did it." She shook her head and frowned, when she realized that his reiatsu signature was originating from the training grounds, she and Urahara built.

"He's training again?"

As she got closer, she noticed that the air was getting warmer every few meters.

'What is he doing?'

She finally dropped in front of Ichigo, as he was just done with putting his clothes back on.

He jumped in surprise when he noticed her.

"Yoruichi-san? What are you doing here?"

"What are YOU doing here?" She asked him with a frown.

He almost said that he was training but he noticed that she was little out of breath.

"What's wrong Yoruichi-san? Why were you rushing here?" His eyes showed concern and she felt a warm feeling in her chest.

She bit her lip and shook her head.

"It's Nel... she showed up just a few moments ago in Kisuke's shop... Ichigo... she's been beaten quite badly... " Yoruichi said and watched as his warm smile turned into angry frown and the air around him got heavy.

"Take me to her."

End of chapter 7.

I'm sorry about this, but I won't post the name of the next chapter now, since I'm still in process of figuring it out myself.

Only thing I can tell you is the fact, that we'll be leaving Soul Society for a while ;)