Bleached Vampire

Chapter 10: Hollow Training

Tsukune was just getting ready for bed it had been a long day. Finding out about Ichigo and the others and the talks they had made the day go by quickly. He only just now managed to finish off his homework and he was getting ready for bed. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only human here now, sure they weren't what you might call 'normal' humans but he was no longer normal either. Taking off his clothing he thought about taking a shower first but when he pulled his shirt off he stood there surprised.

Looking down he had gotten used to the scars on his body, especially the large X shaped one that was supposed to be on his chest. Looking at it now, there wasn't a mark on him. He felt the skin there and was surprised that there was just normal skin now. He was wondering what happened when he remembered Orihime healing his injuries, even his clothing had been fixed. He hadn't expected her to do the same for the scars. He was actually grateful for that, he really didn't want to explain to his parents how he got so injured the next time he saw them.

He would have to remember to thank her next time he could.

When morning came, so did the usual school day, he got up and brushed his teeth and the usual morning rituals. Now that he knew that Ichigo and his friends weren't yokai he took a bit closer look at them in the morning to see any reactions to when the other students who forgot to be in their human forms. Although he turned out to be a bit disappointed they held no real reactions to any of it. Maybe dealing with Hollows and everything would take a lot to surprise them.

He met up with Moka and of course she took her morning snack, honestly he felt like he was starting to get used to it. He just wished she would at least ask before doing it. Classes were the usual as well and it wasn't until after classes when he knew things would start for their training to deal with Hollows. There were still plenty of questions to ask and he hoped he could pull his weight. They would have a solid hour before the regular clubs called it for the day, some did go longer but this way the others could go to their clubs and the Newspaper Club would be able to get some work done as well.

Since they now had to feed disinformation to the school, they had talked long and hard about this. They agreed to keep the secret as it would only harm the school more, not that they liked the idea. But it was all for the school and maybe stop anyone else looking into these mysterious monsters as well. Rukia was thankful for the help that they were giving her and her friends. She worked hard on her own story just so she could pay them back for their kindness in her own small way.

After the work was done and most clubs let out it wasn't long before Rukia's friends arrived. They just needed to wait for Ruby to show up, given she wasn't a student she still had duties she needed to do for the school.

"So this is the Newspaper Club room, it's really nice," Orihime looked around the room. There wasn't much different really but she could see all the little touches here and there. Looking around she could see books that were part of Mizore's collection, magazines that belonged to Kurumu, magic books and parts of various magical items in development were off in a cover from Yukari. The place had a warm feeling about it, like it was a second home or something for them.

"Thanks we really like it," Moka smiled at the other girl.

"Oh I bet you guys made lots of interesting stories." Orihime had looked around for any older issues. "Do you keep any of the issues you did in the past?"

"Yes we do," Moka said happily as she led the other girl to where they kept them.

"Amazing how well those two get along," Kurumu stated looking at the two of them. "If it wasn't for the Inner Moka, I'd swear those two had the same exact personality."

Tsukune heard this and smiled watching the two they really did get along even if the one girl was human. He remembered how Moka hated humans at first but she had come a long way from that. In fact he bet that Moka forgot that Orihime was even human as the two laughed about something together. It was nice seeing Moka get along with another girl, all the fights with the others was a bit draining at times.

He looked over to see Ichigo talking with Rukia he made some comment on something about Rukia better not be planning on making a comic strip of her drawings. Yukari brightened at the idea as did Rukia but Ichigo told them if she did they would lose all their readers. That brought the fury of both ladies on him. Tsukune hoped things didn't get too out of control with that but it was still nice to him. These two groups of friends were totally different and yet they shared many similarities and seemed to get along.

"What's all the commotion in here?"

Everyone turned to see a confused Gin walking in looking around at all the new people. "Man don't tell me we got a bunch more new members? We might have to expand the room if this keeps up."

"Oh Gin-sempai," Tsukune said and missed the slight twitch Ichigo made at the name of 'Gin', not knowing that had been the name of someone he had fought twice. The others also took notice of the name but any reactions were pushed down quickly.

"So what's with all this?" Gin asked the boy.

"Just friends of Rukia's," Tsukune explained. "We're going out with them. Everyone this is the actual head of the Newspaper Club." Tsukune explained to the non-members and noticed Rukia glaring death at him while keeping her distance.

For his part Gin kept his distance from the 'sorceress' of the club, then he noticed someone else. His eyes lit up as he quickly stepped in front of Orihime. "Well now you must be that new campus beauty I've heard about. I'm Ginei Morioka but you can just call me Gin, don't be afraid to call on me at any time." He smiled at her with a wolfish expression, which was pretty much a given as he looked the girl over.

Orihime felt a bit uncomfortable with how close and how the man was looking at her. She noticed the looks before but never was anyone actually come up to her like this, usually Tatsuki was there to help. Because of that she really didn't know how to deal with these issues she was too kind hearted to say anything against it so she just smiled at him. "Thank you very much Morioka-san."

"Aw why so formal?" Gin whined as he placed an arm around her shoulder. "Any friends of my club are friends of mine too."

He didn't noticed the hostile glares of Rukia who had an idea what the man was up to and was about to jump in, or of Ichigo or Uryu for the simple fact that Orihime was their friend and both had a decent sense on how to treat women.

Gin looked down at he just couldn't help himself he had to know. "You know there was one thing in this world I never thought I would see…"

"W-what's that?" Orihime said nervously.

"Someone with a rank as good as Kurumu's," Gin with his free hand actually cupped one of Orihime's breasts like he normally did with Kurumu. "Wow it's just as good! That's totally amazing!"

Orihime's face went bright red at this, what was she supposed to do now? She didn't like that he was touching her like this, then again she didn't like it when this happened at school but at least that had been another girl. Plus Tatsuki had been there to prevent anything but she was now totally lost on what to do. Thankfully she didn't have long to think on it as a saving grace came to her rescue.

Gin's head flew back at the impact of a fist hitting his face he had been caught off guard and hadn't noticed it until it was too late. Gin fell back onto the floor as his hands went to his face, he could taste blood from his nose although it had been worth it. That girl had a chest that could even rival Kurumu's which he thought he would only come across once in a lifetime.

"The hell do you think you're doing!?" Ichigo roared out standing over him, his fist ready to deliver another blow to the man. He hadn't even known what he had been doing until it was over, but when some strange guy groped one of his friends in front of him, there was no mercy to be had. Not only had Tatsuki asked him to watch over Orihime, he felt something stir at the sight of what the man had done. He felt ready to pound the guy into the ground at the moment.

"Despicable," Uryu said in obvious distain. "Normally I don't like to get into violence with others but in this case I'm only disappointed that Kurosaki beat me to the punch, literally."

Rukia was over by Orihime, "Sorry I should have warned you." She said stepping onto Gin's stomach, hard, while walking over him to get to her friend. "The guy's a major pervert, first day I met him he flipped up my skirt." She glared down at the man now rolling on the ground covering his face and stomach.

"He never learns either," Tsukune sighed.

"He's the enemy of all women," Yukari stated hoping the werewolf would get up so she could teleport something heavy over his head.

"Maybe it's time to finally do what you normally do with dogs like that," Mizore said in her ever calm voice as she lifted a hand up and long ice like claws grew out of them. "I hear if you neuter a dog they get less horny."

"Ohhh, now there's an idea," Kurumu grinned almost sadistically at the thought.

Gin hearing what was going on decided now was the time to have a personal retreat, he quickly got up. Even in human form his body was tougher than a regular human's, although his face did oddly still sting a bit. "Okay no need to go that far ladies I'm sure that we can think of something else right?"

Several ice kunai pinned him to the wall by his clothing as the Kurumu and Mizore grinned at the stuck pervert. He gulped wondering what would happen to himself.

-Later-

Ruby led everyone to an open field that was hidden from the site of the school. It was a good half an hour walk so it was slightly remote so no one would show up. This had been an area offered for training until the Headmaster could develop a training area for them. Ruby wasn't sure where he could get the help, only that he said he would call in for some outside help.

But in her patrols of the school back when the Hollows had been more of an annoyance she found this area. Ichigo and Rukia found a place to put their bodies, those that hadn't seen this watched in interest as Ichigo pulled out a strange badge while Rukia pulled out a red glove with a skull image on it. Both placed their respective items on their chests as they watched bodies and spirits separate.

"Well it's not much but we can use this for now," Ruby told everyone as they looked around after the two Shinigami gently placed aside the now empty bodies.

"Large and remote," Uryu nodded his head. "This looks like it could work although we'll have to keep things from getting to intense." He cast a look at Ichigo.

Said boy noticed it and glared at the Quincy, "What the hell are you looking at me for?"

"Does it really need explaining?" Uryu said smugly.

"Okay so first thing I'll explain is the zanpakutou," Rukia pulled her blade out of its sheath.

"Hey why does it look so different?" Yokai asked seeing a plain katana and not the snow white blade with the ribbon she had seen yesterday.

Rukia smiled at the younger girl, "This is my sword in its sealed state. All Shinigami have their swords like this at first you have to become strong enough and good enough to earn the right to your sword's name. You see every sword is born from the soul of its master. It has its own name and abilities and spirit sealed inside."

"The day you learn the name is a very important day. That's when you've taken your first real step in forming a bond with your weapon." Rukia smiled down at her blade remembering the first day she had summoned her. Those were the carefree days back when Kaien was still alive, she missed those days sometimes. "When you can hear the name of your zanpakutou you can do this…Dance Sode no Shirayuki."

The blade transformed in front of their eyes into the pure white blade they had seen the day before.

"Wow, so pretty," Yukari said looking at the blade and it was to her. She had seen it yesterday and it looked just as pretty now, maybe more so as she was getting a better look at it.

"This is called shikai in this form all blades now have unleashed abilities." Rukia explained.

"You mean ice," Mizore stated after seeing yesterday. Then he looked at Ichigo, "Then why's his blade so weird?"

"Hey what the hell do you mean by that?" Ichigo yelled out defensively.

"It's bigger than a normal blade and its shape is strange and there's no hilt or guard." The snow woman said plainly.

"Yeah like I said every blade is unique," Rukia sighed out. "That's actually his shikai he's got so much power flowing out of him that it can't go back to its sealed state. When it was sealed it looked like a normal katana…only it was about the same size. Honestly he can't do anything normal, even his bankai is strange."

"Bankai?" Moka asked as she thought about the meaning. Shikai meant something like 'initial release', so if bankai meant 'final release' that meant there was something else. "So there is another level other than shikai."

Rukia nodded at how fast she picked that up on. "Exactly, normally it takes up to a decade or more of training to reach this…Ichigo managed to do it in a bit less than that."

"A bit less?" Ichigo said annoyed. "Try three days." Not that it had been an easy three days he had been nearly under constant battle for those three days. Zangetsu didn't pull punches in that time either, it had been a hard fight but he had managed to achieve bankai, with help of course.

"Three days!?" The Newspaper Club shouted out with nearly bulging eyes.

"He cheated so it's not that big a deal," Rukia didn't want Ichigo to get too big an ego.

"The hell I 'cheated' you little midget," Ichigo yelled at her. "You make it sound like I had it easy. You're just jealous that I left you in the dust and got more powerful in under a year than you have in your entire life."

As the two continued to argue the others decided to fill in the rest for the Yokai friends. They explained how there were ranks in Soul Society, from unranked to ten seated positions in each division with a captain at the top. Although Ichigo held no rank, he was at least in a captain class as he had defeated a few captains in the past.

"So then what rank is Rukia-san?" Yukari asked wondering what she was.

Rukia was pulled out of her argument with Ichigo hearing that, she actually felt a bit embarrassed about her rank because she was still part of the unranked members of her division. She was part of a noble house (granted adopted) but still she had wanted to prove herself. But for some reason she hadn't been promoted, she hoped her captain would have after the war but so far nothing. Granted the war hadn't ended all that long and Soul Society were still trying to carry on with so many high ranking members still recovering.

Her own captain had only just gotten out of sickbed a week before her joining this mission, he might not have even gotten around to most of the paperwork as he was on light duties.

"That's not important," Ichigo said suddenly. "Rank doesn't really mean anything she's pretty much as strong as any of the lieutenants if you ask me."

"Ichigo…" Rukia smiled to herself for his words sometimes the guy could be kind of nice.

"So then what's a bankai?" Ruby asked this time looking at Ichigo.

"Pretty much the full release, most guys I've seen get this really big thing. This guy Renji, his turns into this giant bamboo snake monster for starters." Ichigo explained how each bankai was different with the few examples that he knew about. Rukia filled in on any he missed given she knew more about the other captains than he did. After that they went into explaining what happened when they destroyed a Hollow, how its human soul was purified of anything that they did as Hollows. This also led into the explanation of how Hollows form to begin with, of human souls that didn't pass on and later become corrupted.

"So those things were sort of ghosts?" Tsukune asked hearing that those monsters had once been human. It was another reminder of what might happen to himself as he felt the weight of the lock on his wrist a bit more.

"Sort of," Rukia went on to explain the different between Hollows and pure spirits and a Shinigami's job. "But so far we've only seen the regular Hollows. There are others and hopefully we won't have to see them. But mainly the things to watch out for are the Menos types."

"Menos?" Tsukune wasn't sure he liked the idea of more powerful versions.

"There are three basic versions, Gillians which are very big Hollows that are created out of hundreds of them merged together."

"How big?" Kokoa asked curious. A part of her wanted to see if she could match up to those Hollows. They certainly would give her a challenge to be stronger and she wanted to be stronger, so that her Nee-sama would recognize her strength one day.

"Think Godzilla size and you get an idea," Ichigo commented remembering his own first encounter with those things. He saw everyone's jaws drop as they imagined something like that, he had to grin as they were about to get another few shocks. "And those are the weakest of the Menos too."

Rukia nodded ignoring the Yokai reactions, "After them are the Adjuchas, they are more the same size as regular Hollows but much more powerful. The final stage is the Vasto Lords but we've never actually seen them. They are supposed to be the more powerful but they never come anywhere close to the living world."

"Although," Rukia paused gaining everyone's attention. "Because of events I won't go too much into detail at the moment, a lot of other types of Hollows have shown up. These are called Arrancar, Hollows that have removed part of their mask. They are much more powerful then Adjuchas and even have their own swords. These Hollows are more human in appearance for the most part and also their sword release changes them physically instead of their blades changing."

"Although many of the top level of these Arrancar were killed in the Winter War, there is no telling how many were created and are still out there." Rukia finished.

"W-will we have to fight these?" Tsukune wasn't sure how well he could fight if something like this showed up. A giant Hollow was one thing but to learn that there were many more powerful types then the ones they had scene wasn't exactly a confidence builder for him.

"Let's hope not," Uryu stated pushing his glasses up again. "At the moment I doubt you could take on a Gillian class, so let's hope that we just have to deal with regular Hollows for the time being."

"Okay so we pretty much get the basics," Kurumu stated looking at him, "So what about you? If they are Shinigami, then what about the Quincy, you called yourself that so what's your deal?"

Uryu paused not sure how to go about it so he just stuck with what he knew, "I don't know how the Quincy started that part of our history was lost. But from what my Grandfather taught me, we were a proud and noble warrior people that fought Hollows whenever we found them."

"Were?" Mizore asked as she noticed something just now. "You talk in the past tense."

Uryu nodded, "That's because I'm the last Quincy." The Newspaper Club were surprised by this and Uryu really didn't want to go into it at the moment. "I'll save the history lesson for another time. Just know that I fight with bows and arrows and a few other items that rely on spiritual energy. It's like how Shinigami use their abilities but it's slightly different for obvious reasons."

He didn't want to get into how the Shinigami had nearly wiped out the Quincy because they were destroying the balance of spirits in the world. While Shinigami purified souls, Quincy destroyed them. He didn't blame them for it, the Quincy were offered a way out but their pride wouldn't let them stop. He said as much to Ichigo the first day they met, although he made an oath to his father to stop being involved in the affairs of Soul Society he had a few friends that were Shinigami. Granted he could never call them friends to their faces but he did think of them as that.

Kurumu and Mizore looked at the boy in a new light they both knew what it was like to face extinction. Their own respective species were facing a crisis with declining birthrates. How many more generations until there would only be a handful of their people left? Looking at Uryu they felt a chill of what could happen to their own people one day. Kurumu also wondered just how lonely he must be, to be the only one of his kind had to be horrible. Sure he could make friends but if she found herself as the only Succubus…well she didn't want to think about it.

"Alright if we're going to do this let's get to the interesting part," Ichigo grinned as he pulled his massive sword from his back and stuck it into the ground. "Time to see what you guys are capable of."

"I'll be taking Yukari-chan and Ruby-san to see if we can work out a way to learn magic and Kido from each other," Rukia stated as the two Witches took that cue to go with her.

"Well Mizore and I work well together," Kurumu stated.

"Then I guess Sado-san and myself will spar with you two and see how you two fare if you want," Uryu asked. The two girls shared a look, Mizore shrugged and so they went with the boys.

Ichigo looked at who he had left, Orihime, Tsukune, Moka and Kokoa. "Alright I can work with the rest of you."

"What makes you in charge?" Kokoa asked the older boy.

Ichigo hadn't really clued in but Kokoa's personality was a lot like Inner Moka's, well if the girl was eager for a fight then maybe he should show the girl how a real fight was fought. He got the feeling people like her you had to beat them into submission. It had been true with Byakuya and apparently he would have to fight her in order to take this seriously, well he wouldn't fight at full power at least.

"Fine then runt, let's spar and you'll see why." He said to her.

Kokoa fumed at being called that, "I'll make you eat those words," she hissed out grabbing the ever present bat. "Kou-chan let's go!"

"Yes Kokoa-sama!" Nazo the bat said as he turned into a giant war hammer.

Ichigo had already seen this but it was still a surprise to see such a tiny girl swinging something that size. He also would have been a bit freaked out by a talking bat, if he hadn't seen a certain talking black cat earlier in his life. Honestly he felt that ever since he became a Shinigami not much could surprise him.

He watched as the girl came at him and he had a feeling if she ever met the Eleventh Division she would get along great with those guys. Actually the thought of her teaming up with a certain pink haired lieutenant of that division was a scary enough thought to hope that never happened. He watched as the large hammer came down at him but he just raised a hang to catch it.

Kokoa was surprised by the strength he held in this form, the only other person that could have pulled that off was her older sisters and they were among some of the most powerful monsters in the world. At least in her opinion they were, but she didn't like the superior smirk on the boy's face in fact it just seemed to piss her off.

"Don't you dare look down on me!" She pulled it back and transformed her bat into a large claymore sword.

This time Ichigo knew better than to try and catch that, it might not do much but it might just cut him and he didn't feel like it now. Besides she was using a sword now and this was the perfect chance to see if that kendo club was starting to pay off. He took Zangetsu and in a smooth arc blocked her blade. The young vampire may not be as strong as her sister but she was still way stronger than any human and she was quick too. She moved the massive blade like it weighed nothing then again Ichigo was the same with his own weapon as the two duelled.

Moka bit her lip in seeing Kokoa fighting as she really hoped that Kokoa wouldn't take things too far. She knew full well how worked up her little sister could get.

"I hope Kokoa knows when to stop," Moka voiced her concerns.

"Well I'm sure they won't go too far," Tsukune tired to ease her fears although looking at the two of them going at it he wasn't so sure.

"Don't worry," Orihime said looking at them mainly at Ichigo. She looked somewhat serene for some reason as she watched on. "Kurosaki-kun isn't the type to harm a child. He's not even fighting at his best right now, he's only just testing Kokoa-chan and he's having fun."

"Fun?" Moka asked looking at the scene again. Sure enough there was a small smile on Ichigo's face. In fact as the battle went on, she noticed that Kokoa was starting to enjoy it as well.

Moka then turned her attention to watched Orihime. She was sure that Orihime was following Ichigo the entire time. There was this small smile on Orihime's face while she was watching him and what Kurumu stated about Orihime liking Ichigo came back to the pink haired vampire. Looking at the girl, Moka knew that Kurumu had been right.

"Hey Orihime...do you like Ichigo?" Moka asked just to be sure.

Orihime's eyes widened as her head turned quickly to the other girl, her face in a full blush.

Next up Chapter 11: Opening Up

Quick question do you prefer words spelled as say Zanpakutou or Zanpakuto? As I don't know how to get those little accents above the words, you can spell them either way but which one looks better?

Omake:

"Well at least I'm still alive," Gin sighed to himself, although this was one of the more embarrassing moments of his life. There he was hanging upside down by a piece of rope only in his underwear. Mizore had shredded his clothing while Kurumu had tied him up, Rukia had used a sharpie to draw all over his face and exposed body. The girls then proceeded to hang him in the hallway by the second story banister.

Since it was after school no one had seen him but that could change he knew. That or he wouldn't be found until morning.

Gin hoped there was some moonlight at least, then he could break these ropes, whatever Kurumu had used on him they were strong stuff and he'd need help or some moonlight to enhance himself to get out of it.

"Oh well, might as well use this time to plan things out," he mused to himself. He wondered if he could find each room of the girls and have Kon place in little cameras? Kurumu and Orihime were at the top of his list of getting pictures of. Either in underwear to the topless would be a major bonus. He'd have to keep his eyes out for a chance.

Although he would be sure to control himself around Orihime from now on, apparently the girl had some nasty protectors. Plus he was wondering just what was going on with the club. They never really socialized outside of each other, for awhile now he heard the rumours and now with Kon showing up. Well something was going on at the school and he would find out what, that is, if he ever got down from here.