Hold your Colour
Today things felt all the more serious. Now, there was no chance of an announcement that the boy was lost and the trip was off. Ichigo was a soul reaper and she was sure the trip to the soul society would happen. Though her pupils might be oblivious to it, the cat felt both calm and under pressure; there was true purpose to this training; finally, they were at the point where they could begin to push one another and test the control of their powers. Urahara had suggested a place and, well, if she was going along with his one big plan, she might as well try some of his ideas: an abandoned quarry. It was a long walk out of town: this, in itself, part of the training. All of the travelling in the soul society and through the precipice world would be on foot; she needed them fit to run fast and able to endure long hours' walking. They both bore this well: not complaining despite the heat. Yoruichi felt quietly satisfied that they might be able to cope with this basic thing. After all, there was no time to train them in endurance. They followed the cat's lead and climbed down the slope to the foot of the wall of rock.
"OK, now show me this Chado catapult of yours." With Sado-kun, silence didn't necessarily mean he didn't know what to do, but questions like this did:
"You want me to throw Inoue?" He had, after all, only told her that he'd used this technique to throw the Kuchiki girl at a hollow. Yoruichi couldn't resist the chance to try and tease even a person like Chad, but he showed no reaction beyond puzzlement; Inoue, on the other hand, seemed terrified at the prospect.
"No," stated the cat; Orihime looked incredibly relieved. "I want you to throw these boulders at Inoue-san."
"Eeehhe!" Orihime immediately panicked.
"Your shield or flower cannon are both capable of protecting you; just pick which one to use when the boulder's in flight." Again the girly flinches! It was hard not to be annoyed; Yourichi must try to remember how young and unused to battle they were, by anyone's standards, but all the more so by those of a soul reaper. Though this gave them all the more reason to try hard.
"I don't want to hurt Inoue." Chad's objection was, at least, more articulate.
"You're training together now. She's more than capable of stopping a boulder, and if she uses her shield, you might have the repelled boulder to deal with." Afraid to even train seriously? The cat had no illusions; some of their skills would fall away when faced with real situations, but Orihime had to try or she could protect nothing. "They don't play baseball in the soul society: you're helping her. Inoue-san's got to be able to face up to the kind of force you can deliver or she won't stand a chance." He seemed hesitant still. "How can she protect even herself is she's never been tested?"
"Are you ok with this, Inoue?" he said. The girl really didn't have the option to back out and the cat needed to tell her so.
"Only those who can do this can come to the soul society." Orihime nodded, determined. She'd caught the hint: if she couldn't deflect a boulder, she wouldn't be able to stand up to any of the forces that would be coming against that boy, and if there was one thing this girl wanted more than anything, it was to be by Ichigo's side. The cat wished it was a desire she could relate to less: was her younger self just as naive? Inoue waited, shield up already; ideally she should throw up the shield while the boulder was in the air or, even better, split it with her flower cannon, but it was a beginning. Chad's first rock was perhaps a tentative demonstration of his power and the shield easily held against it; it only had enough force to make it to the girl, where it bounced off her shield gently and rolled a few feet . This first success allowed the children to lose their fear and, just as Yourichi knew it would, Orihime's shield held rock after rock as Chad's strength increased. Thus the ground shook as boulders rebounded off her shield, crashing, sending dust into the air. The girl, probably more than Chad, seemed certain about rescuing the Kuchiki girl for Rukia's own sake: her desire to support Ichigo was a belief in his cause as well as in the boy himself; it was often easy to lose that behind her more obvious devotion. To hold two desires in your heart at once was all too easy. The cat wanted to expose Aizen, as much as her other motivations. Maybe the training was for her as well. She was developing a desire to support the humans for their own sake as well as for the plan. At this time, the courses of both flowed together, but perhaps she would choose Urahara's goal over their cause once they reached the soul society. The earth shook and Yoruichi was forced to move to avoid a fall of small stones. If she couldn't give them all her help later, all the more reason to give them her full attention now. She kept her mind on the training and off the future.
Using the flower cannon seemed far beyond Orihime's comfort zone, but she was able to practise getting her shield up and strong while the boulder was in the air. This went on all morning, the ground shaking and the cat giving praise as both her pupils tested their powers. They continued until both children were exhausted but sure of their own abilities. The walk back into town further tested their stamina and was taken more slowly. The cat was surprised that she wasn't asked more questions. Why had they been happy to follow her silently, even when they knew nothing of her past and nothing of the danger that awaited them. But then Yoruichi did not know what answers she could give. What was the soul society like? What would happen? It had all seemed too far away. Be vague on details. Tell them nothing a captured child could use to betray you. And the plan had still been unformed and so much left to chance. But at least these humans were not abandoning their responsibility as she had done. Perhaps it was no accident that only the students with no family had grown to power; there were others of potential in the area. Had Kisuke somehow managed to direct the Hokoyku's powers only onto the ones no one would miss? Her mind ran from worrying for him to accusing him these days. Yoruichi wondered if the training at the shop would be over tonight. Soon she might see him again. Was she as stupid as Orihime, wanting to run back early to the shop and wait? Just to contradict her own desires, whether for news or company, she held off until dusk, stalking the streets long after Chad and Orihime headed home. Until, unmistakeably the boy but so different, Kurosaki Ichigo's spiritual pressure was once again on the streets of Karakura Town, just as Tessai had said he would be. Yoruichi could hold back no longer. She had every right to go back to the shop after all, but the Urahara Shoten was still silent when she returned.
Authors notes:
(quick note added without the help of my editor so apoliges if its not up to standard, I'm dyslexic so being brave enough to publish anything on the internet at all has been a big deal for me)
Ok so you can't break up the narrative with notes on here, it had to be the beginning or the end. The beginning has already begun and the end is constantly moving, but i guess its ok for me to put some note here and delete them just before i publish the next chapter, right?
Ok firstly I know the training chapters are not the most exciting but they are kind of necessary so if you've stuck through them, thank you! And better things are to come . I had a lot of freedom to create the scenarios for the training but couldn't have them getting more powerful than they are shown to be in the SS arc and Yourichi can't tell Chad or Orhime much as they both seem to be pretty ignorant about the soul society and the plan for the trip later on.
I was never an Orhime fan before writing this but i feel much warmer towards her as a character since.
A few people expressed surprise that I brought Isshin in with the last chapter, the evidence that he was aware of Ichigo's life as Shignami is there when you look back. Isshin was even there to see Ichigo off and give him a good luck charm that once belonged to ichigos mother, so he even knew when Ichigo was leaving. Even though he's not shown to be involved in the death god world at all until much later I think Urahara Shoten would have been aware of him from the start, and that what I wanted to demonstrate there .
Also last chapter - Tessai there's one panel of evidence that Both Urahra and Tessai spent some time or live with Yourichi in her mansion and that they all know each other pretty well before the turn back the pendulum arc. I will expand on this idea a lot more later, Tessai address both Yoruich and Urahra as 'dono' in TBTP so we can assume he see himself as inferior to both of them in some way despite being a captain in his own right, more on this later...
And as iv had no opportunity to do so before (as most of them are guests) I want to then everyone who has reviewed so far!
