Disclaimer: I still do not own Bleach...T_T
Author's Note:As I've said before, all comments and contructive criticism are most welcome and very much desired! A lot of people are clicking in to the story, and I'm delighted about that. But I'd very much like to hear what you think, and what you like and dislike so far! That will help me to edit and improve future chapters. Anyway, to show my appreciation for reviewers, I make sure to respond to every signed review I receive. And to the four people who reviewed last chapter (outlaw hunter, SleepingForce, IchigoKurosakiSotaicho, and DarkJason): Thank you again!! I appreciated your comments immensely!


Rukia rushed straight to the Urahara Shoten after making her decision, eager to begin her training, and needing the underground training room to do it. She raced into the front yard and stopped dead in her tracks. The shop was clearly closed and locked up. There was a sign pinned on the door decorated with drawings of a beach, a palm tree, and a grinning Urahara waving his fingers in the peace sign, all badly colored with blunt crayons. Her mouth dropping open slightly, she read the words on the sign: 'Aloha, friends! We're at the beach! Sand, sun, and ocean surf, here we come! Everyone else, come back next week.' Each period was shaped like a stylized sun, with eyes and a huge smile within.

Her mouth working furiously, but with no sound emerging, Rukia whirled sharply and stalked to the edge of the yard. Then turning on her heels she stormed back. When Ichigo emerged from the senkaimon in the middle of the yard ten minutes later, she was still pacing angrily. In fact, she nearly walked right into him. Luckily, Ichigo's arrival was enough to calm Rukia down. She was very interested in finding out what had been discussed at the Central 46 meeting. Her curiosity only increased when Ichigo took one look at the crayon sign, snarled, "That bastard," and ripped it off the door in disgust. What would Ichigo need from Urahara that he couldn't get in Soul Society?

"That bastard!" He growled again, his hands trembling as he willed himself not to shred the paper he held. "They told him about the offer. He knew I would be coming to ask him for training. And he still up and disappears. I'm gonna rend that bastard limb from limb!"

Rukia blinked at him, confusion overwhelming her own irritation. "Um, Ichigo?" She asked. "While I'm sure Urahara deserves it, why are you going to kill him?"

"Oh, I won't kill him," Ichigo told her. "I'm just going to hurt him. He needs to be alive long enough to teach me kido, at least."

Rukia's jaw dropped. "Kido? Why on earth do you need to learn kido? What the hell did the Central 46 say to you?" She paused, then asked incredulously. "You didn't let them talk you into becoming a captain after all, did you?"

"Of course not! They asked, but I turned 'em down. They gave me another offer, though, and I accepted that." Ichigo sighed, then explained the Academy position.

Rukia could only stare at him in disbelief. "You, a teacher? Don't make me laugh! Those poor students!"

Ichigo glared at her as she started to laugh, then twisted his voice into a mocking tone. "What about you, why are you here? You hoping to bribe Urahara-san to switch from selling candy to Chappy merchandise, or something?"

Rukia stifled her laughter and opened her mouth to protest, but stopped, wondering briefly if she should actually try that. Then she shook her head to clear such frivolous thoughts from her mind. Pulling a glare onto her face, she told him coldly, "All I need is the training area. I've made up my mind to try for bankai."

Ichigo's eyes widened, and then his whole expression softened and he nodded in approval. His only spoken response, though, was, "Follow me."

Rukia had to scramble to keep up with Ichigo's shunpo as he made his way across town. They finally stopped near a run-down warehouse that seemed vaguely familiar to her eyes. The orange-haired substitute strode confidently into the building, not giving his petite partner a chance to question him. She followed him inside, and found him pulling at a dusty lever. Even as she opened her mouth to speak, a huge trapdoor in the center of the floor began to creak open. She stared as a staircase leading down into darkness became visible below.

"This is the old hideout the Vizards used," Ichigo told her quietly. "They haven't been here for months, and I have no idea where they disappeared to. Anyway, there's a training area as big as Urahara's just down those stairs. Why don't you use that?"

Rukia's eyes lit up in delight. She wouldn't have to wait a week after all! "Thanks Ichigo," she said, meeting his eyes. A sudden idea came to her mind. "Hey, why don't I try and show you the basics of kido? Urahara can take over next week."

Ichigo smirked, and started down the steps. "Let's get started, then!"

In the basement, Rukia scouted around and quickly located a slightly more sheltered area. It was circular, about 20 feet in diameter, and surrounded on three sides with rock walls. "Why don't I start you out with learning to concentrate your reiatsu, and you can practice that here while I get to work on my own training."

It wasn't a question, but Ichigo smirked at her. "Concentrate my reiatsu? Like with that trick of Ganju's?"

Closing his eyes, he called Shiba Ganju's advice from the long ago cannonball training into his mind. He pictured a deep, dark circle in front of him, and felt his power hum into being around him. It was like staring at a vast ocean, spinning in a perfect sphere, right before his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he plunged in. Immediately, he felt overwhelming exhilaration, as if tremendous confidence and power had taken the place of the blood within his veins. His very life was in this power, and the power was his life. He felt as if he could do anything.

His eyes slid open, and focused on a boulder about ten feet away. Raising his right hand, using his left hand to steady it, he pulled a set of words he had heard countless times from Rukia's lips, into his own.

"Oh Lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man, truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadou 33, Soukatsui!"

The spell fired perfectly, if off target, slamming into the ground almost a foot to the left of the boulder, and sending the earth flying in all directions. Rukia's jaw nearly hit the ground as she stared in stunned disbelief. Ichigo, casting a near perfect mid-level kido spell without any training whatsoever? Acting solely on memories of other people using spells? That was impossible!

"Um, Rukia…?"

The hesitant and worried tone in Ichigo's voice brought her out of her daze, and she looked over to him. Immediately, her brows snapped together into a frown. Hovering just above Ichigo's hand was a ball of electric blue light, spinning rapidly, and sending off occasional sparks into the air. He raised his eyes from where he had been gazing at the ball, meeting Rukia's eyes. He raised his hand a little, as if to show her the unexpected result of the spell, and started to ask, "Wha-"

The ball's shape abruptly warped, twisting violently into a weird, writhing worm. For a moment it seemed as if all sound, as if the very air, had disappeared. Then everything exploded. A concussive blast of wind slammed into Rukia, sending her flying backwards nearly ten feet, as earth and rock shattered around her. She landed outside the rock circle, and lay there stunned for a moment, before scrambling back inside. Her terror for Ichigo kept her from even regaining her feet, and she half-crawled for several steps before finally finding her balance enough to rise.

She looked frantically for her partner, squinting through the dust and grit that had been thrown into the air. Finally she spotted him, lying crumpled and still against the rock wall. She ran to his side and dropped to her knees. He was unconscious, a small trickle of blood running down his forehead where it had collided with the wall. There were deep cuts all over his cheeks and chest and legs. But it was his right hand that truly horrified her. The hand and arm that had been directing the kido spell was nothing more than raw meat. The skin had been completely burned away, leaving only bloody flesh behind.

Swallowing hard against the bile rising in her throat, Rukia pulled out her cell phone and dialed Orihime's number with trembling hands. The other girl answered on the second ring, and in seconds she was promising to be there as quickly as possible. Hanging up the phone, Rukia set to work with her own healing kido. Ichigo's hand, at least, would need Orihime's skill, but Rukia would do as much as she could before the healer girl arrived.

******************************

Rukia walked slowly back into the warehouse that night, the moonlight glinting in through the broken windows. Ichigo was resting comfortably back home. His injuries were fully healed, thanks to Orihime, but he was very tired, not to mention confused. Rukia was bewildered also. She had no idea what had happened that afternoon. It had something to do with the immense raw power the teen possessed, of that she was certain. But she would have expected the explosion to happen during the spell, not after it was successfully completed. In any case, she wouldn't be letting Ichigo try any more kido until after they had spoken to Urahara. For now, at least, the Substitute was in complete agreement, and was relaxing with a movie while Rukia got to work on her own training.

Reaching the bottom of the steps beneath the trapdoor, Rukia unsheathed her zanpakuto. For a moment, she hesitated, not sure what she should do. Then she let her eyes slide shut and called for Shirayuki.

"Yes, Rukia? Are you ready to begin?"

Rukia's eyes snapped open, and there in front of her hovered the beautiful woman with wings of snow. She blinked in surprise, shocked that it was so easy to call her zanpakuto out.

"I desire this also," Sode no Shirayuki told her gently. "If that were not so, more effort would be required."

Rukia nodded in acceptance, then straightened her shoulders and raised her blade into a ready stance. "Ichigo told me about his bankai training. I have to defeat you, right? I know that will be difficult, but I will succeed!"

Shirayuki's silvery-blue eyes pierced through her, as she stayed silent for a moment. There was no expression visible in her perfectly chiseled face. Then she lowered her gaze with a small sigh. "Very well," she said. "We will work first with ice."

Rukia didn't take the time to consider the strange words, but immediately lunged forward, blade leading. Shirayuki spun gracefully, twisting easily out of range, her feet moving through the air as she flew with motions as if she was skating on ice. And suddenly, with an elegant gesture of her hand, the ground of the training area was ice. Rukia's feet slipped out from under her and she fell hard, crashing down on the smooth, frozen surface. Her blade skittered away, nearly tearing itself out of her hand. Somehow she kept her grip, and struggled back to her feet, turning to face the zanpakuto spirit again.

Sode no Shirayuki's unfathomable eyes tracked her movements for a moment, and then she gave a small shake of her head. She lowered herself out of the air and landed smoothly on the ice. With effortless steps and perfect balance, the spirit glided forward over the frozen ground, turning to the side as she reached Rukia, so that she looped around behind her. It was all so fast and hypnotizingly beautiful that the raven-haired shinigami couldn't react at all. Shirayuki skated past her other side and came to rest at the precise place where she had turned to start the circle.

Rukia's flash of understanding came too late, and her attempt to leap out of the circle proved futile. A column of ice, identical to that she could produce with the first dance of her shikai, shot up around her, freezing her in place. It melted away almost immediately, but with it disappeared the snow fairy as well. As Rukia looked around her in confusion, searching for the missing spirit, Shirayuki's voice rang through her mind.

Silly young one, there is more to our existence than ice. Perhaps next time you will do better.


Author's Note: You didn't think I'd make it easy for either of them, did you? :) What Shirayuki is talking about is supposed to be confusing, and more information will be shared gradually over the rest of the story. What happened to Ichigo will be explained soon.

Stay tuned next time, as the training progresses for both Ichigo and Rukia! Also, we'll be jumping back into the main action concerning what's happening with the hollows! Chapter 7 will be up on Wednesday 22!