Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or have any rights to it.


After school Ichigo made his way to the park as quickly as possible. He was on full alert since he didn't want anyone or anything to surprise him while he was all caught up in the excitement.

When he finally entered the park he heard Yoruichi's voice.

"Good, you came."

He looked up at one of the trees and saw Yoruichi perched on it as if she were still in her cat form.

"Follow me Ichigo." Yoruichi leapt down from the tree and led Ichigo deeper into the park. They went off and away from the park trails and into an area where the trees could provide ample cover.

They entered a small clearing and Yoruichi turned back to Ichigo. "This spot will do. Are you ready?"

Ichigo nodded. He then put his things down under a tree and used his substitute's badge to leave his body.

"I'm ready, so what's on the agenda for today Yoruichi?"

"Well, we won't be doing anything major just yet. We'll need to get you into shape first…not that you're not already in shape, but I'm sure some of your skills have gotten rusty."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "Yeah…I haven't trained in a while."

"Alright then. First you'll do some pushups."

Ichigo was slightly surprised. "Pushups?"

Yoruichi smiled deviously. "Sure. Nothing special, just do some pushups until you reach your limit."

"Um…okay." Though it'll probably take hours for me to reach my limit with just pushups.

As Ichigo started, he noticed that the pushups were more difficult than he had previously thought. How? Have I slacked off that much? It was then that he registered the extra weight on his back.

Realization dawned on him. "Yoruichi? Why are you on my back?"

"What's the matter Ichigo? Having a hard time coping with my added weight?"

"Um…no…It's just unexpected that's all."

Yoruichi let out a light chuckle. "Did you think I would be patient enough to wait until you tired yourself out with regular pushups?" Ichigo remained silent, and by now he had stopped doing his pushups to listen to what she had to say.

"Listen Ichigo, don't you dare call me heavy, but I've found that the added weight of another individual can drastically increase the challenge in doing pushups. This exercise will help you greatly. Now continue."

"Right." Ichigo continued doing the pushups. This time he increased the amount of power he used to better cope with the extra weight.


"Ah…head captain. What can I help you with?" Urahara spoke into a screen through which he could see the head captain and his lieutenant.

"Kisuke Urahara. I understand that we've had a disagreement in the past, but right now I need your help."

"Oh that? You need not worry head captain. So what can I do for you?"

"I'd like you to build a Garganta and stabilize it so that captain level soul reapers can infiltrate Hueco Mundo."

Urahara raised an eyebrow. "And why, may I ask, do you want to be able to do that?"

"From the information I have received, Aizen has been able use Garganta to allow his high-level Arrancar to pass through to the human world. Allowing them to infiltrate the soul society would be a step above that. We need to be able to take the battle to him before he can do it to us."

"I understand head captain and don't worry. I will be able to finish it within a month."

"Thank you. That will be all Urahara." The screen turned off and the captain's image disappeared.

Urahara cupped his chin. The situation must be really bad for him to come to me with a request like that. I just hope Yoruichi can find a way to help Ichigo control his hollow self before this all comes crashing down.

"The situation sounds dire," said Tessai as he walked in.

"It is, and it will only get worse."

Tessai solemnly nodded before continuing with his chores.


After a solid hour of pushups, Ichigo finally collapsed. His soul reaper body was sweating.

"Man that was a good workout."

Yoruichi got off of him and helped him sit properly. "You did well Ichigo. A solid hour is a good start. How about you do twenty minutes of pushups like those for a warm-up in every training session following this one?"

"Sounds good," said Ichigo. Ichigo stood up and stretched out his arms and back. "I feel sore all over. Guess that's a consequence of not training."

"You would've probably felt that way anyway. I doubt you've ever done pushups for a solid hour."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So what are we doing next?"

"I think we'll just finish off for today with a jog. You'd probably want to rest a little before doing your homework and if you finish all your homework during the week, we'll have a lot more time to train over the weekends."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "You're right again, that's two for two now."

Yoruichi giggled before lying down in the grass with a sigh.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, giving his mentor a confused look. "Weren't we supposed to go for a jog?"

"Do you think you can handle a jog in your current state. Let's wait a few minutes for the soreness to die down."

"That's three for three now, Yoruichi," said Ichigo as he lay back in the grass next to her. "Ah…lying down feels good after that exercise."

Yoruichi's mind was racing as looked over at Ichigo's form. Even though most of his body was covered in that black robe, she could tell he was sweaty and sore. Oh…how I wish I could sooth him with a massage. She turned back to look up at the sky again. There I go, being a pervert again.

"Hey Yoruichi."

Yoruichi turned to look at Ichigo again and saw that he was smiling at her.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done."

"Really…well, that's out of the blue."

"I know…but I've been thinking about it a lot lately. How you helped me with my bankai training, and how you helped me and my friends get into a position to rescue Rukia in the first place."

"That's sweet of you Ichigo. Although I think Kisuke deserves most of the credit."

"Yeah…but still. I can't ignore what you've done for me. If you ever need any help, you can come to me for it."

Yoruichi blushed, but her dark skin hid it. "I'm touched Ichigo. So, has the soreness gone yet?"

"Um, actually it has."

Yoruichi jumped into a standing position. "So why don't we start that jog?"

Ichigo sat up and smiled. "Sounds good to me."

After getting up they stretched their legs to avoid cramps.

Yoruichi then turned to Ichigo with a devious grin. "You think you'll be able to keep up?"

Ichigo answered her with a confident smirk. "You know I will."

Yoruichi started running through the woods with Ichigo close behind. After a few minutes they were neck and neck.

"Heh, you're doing well Ichigo," said Yoruichi.

"You kidding? I'm not trying yet."

"Then let's take it up a notch." Yoruichi increased her speed until she was flash stepping. Ichigo followed suit and they continued that way for the rest of the jog.


It's been a while since my last update, but I've managed to get some of my inspiration back. This chapter was shorter than the last one, so I hope the tender words between Ichigo and Yoruichi made up for that.