Cruel to be Kind Chapter 10
And here's chapter 9, from, yours truly, TsukiakariNoMichi! Thanks for all the reviews people! And, in response to Nickstar1991, sorry but there won't be any romance in this story. The reason for that is that I'm not sure I can particularly deliver on the romance part. I don't want to end up disappointing people with…well…a bad romance. I'm sorry I could not meet your expectations in that regard.
But still, I'm glad people like the story, despite the lack of romance, and hope that the new chapters will be enjoyed by readers, so with that…
Previously, Grimmjow attacks! Ichigo at first maintains his weak façade, but after Yin is attacked by Grimmjow, he shows his true strength and easily beats Grimmjow, as well as releasing a powerful reiatsu that unnerves Hitsugaya and his teammates. Tatsuki, who's spiritually aware, witnessed the fight, and realizing that she is one of the people really close to him, like his family, Ichigo tells her his secrets. Tatsuki is grateful to Ichigo for considering her close enough to trust her with such deep secrets, and leaves.
Story Proper
The next day at school
Tatsuki: Hey Ichigo, how are your wounds?
Ichigo: All healed. Yin's fine too.
Mizuiro: Wounds? What are you two talking about?
Ichigo: Oh hey Mizuiro. I got in a small fight last night. I was injured a bit, but nothing serious.
That was the cover story they had decided on in case anyone asked. Hitsugaya's team had been healed by Inoue, so they did not have any noticeable injuries. Isshin was also a reasonably good healer, so he had patched up Ichigo pretty well.
Tatsuki took a gulp of water from her bottle, then looked over to the side and found that Chizuru was trying to flirt with Inoue again. Immediately, she got pissed off. Suddenly she felt something hot in her hand. It was the bottle! She dropped the hot bottle, wondering how it got so hot, when it had just been refilled with cold water at the water cooler. Ichigo had been observing it.
Ichigo said softly: Tatsuki, meet me at the rooftop during lunch.
Tatsuki: Huh? Ok, I guess…
Hitsugaya: Kurosaki! You have some explaining to do for last night!
Matsumoto: Yeah! Was that dark, cold reiatsu really yours? It was several times your strength! Or was there someone else there?
Luckily, at that moment, the teacher walked in.
Hitsugaya: Meet us later in this classroom during lunch, Kurosaki.
Ichigo: No can do, I'm meeting someone else then. I'll explain things later when I have time.
Hitsugaya bristled angrily, but returned to his seat instead of pressing further.
Later at lunch time, on the rooftop
Tatsuki: So why did you ask me to come up here?
Ichigo: Earlier, with the water bottle-what exactly happened?
Tatsuki: I got pissed off at Chizuru for flirting with Orihime, and then the bottle just felt very hot, and I had to drop it.
Ichigo: You know, that probably means that you have developed special powers. Inoue and Sado both have their own special powers, this is probably yours.
Tatsuki: What, really? Wow that's so cool! Now I'll be able to keep up with the likes of you guys!
Ichigo chuckled: Yeah, maybe. But you need training first. Do you actually know what your powers are though?
Tatsuki: Well, not the exact nature, but I'm pretty sure it's got to be something to do with fire.
Ichigo: Well, maybe. Let's find out later. Later, after school, make a detour and come to my house. We can train there, and I can help you develop your powers further.
Tatsuki: What, you're going to train me?
Ichigo: Yeah. I may not look it, but I can train people reasonably well.
Later after school, in the Kurosaki home secret training room
Tatsuki: Wow! How on earth did you guys keep the existence of such a massive room secret?
Ichigo: Well, I myself didn't know about it until I was 9 years old. Ask my dad how he built it and kept it secret. Anyway, we're here to train. Show me your powers.
Tatsuki: How? I don't even know the nature of this power.
Ichigo: Well then let's recreate the circumstances when you used the power this morning. Here, put your hand in this mug of water.
Tatsuki took the mug and placed her hand in it. She willed her powers to come forth, and was surprised at the result. Half of the water had evaporated, but the other half had frozen.
Ichigo: Well, this is a surprise. Who would've thought a person could have the power to freeze and burn? What did you feel as you did that?
Tatsuki: I felt power travelling from the water, through my hand, and back to the water. And then half the water evaporated and the other half froze.
Ichigo thought about it for a while.
Ichigo: I think I got it! Your powers probably made your hand into an exchanger of heat energy. You removed thermal energy from half of the water, freezing it, and transferred that same energy to the remaining water, causing it to evaporate. That's pretty versatile power.
Tatsuki: Wow, I was expecting something more along the lines of burning stuff.
Ichigo: Well, that may also be possible. If you absorb enough heat energy, you should be able to create flames. You could also use your freezing abilities to form your own improvised weapons out of ice, or form shields of ice. You also have to rely on your hand to hand fighting skills, since you don't have a formal weapon.
Tatsuki: Alright then, let's start training!
And so they did. Firstly, Ichigo evaluated the maximum heat energy she could absorb before she had to release it. Training to increase that limit followed. Then, they went on to weapons and shields training. He brought in several buckets of water and poured them on the floor, since water was relatively easy to freeze. Tatsuki trained timing her freezing capabilities to make small, sharp javelins out of ice and use them as throwing weapons. Then, Ichigo evaluated her burning abilities, and how well she could control her flames. Them he gave more training on controlling the flames.
Ichigo: Note that we trained today with a lot of water in the surroundings. In a real fight, you won't be so lucky. Make sure to use anything you can to give yourself the advantage. If you see a water tank, destroy it to give yourself things to freeze and weapons to create. If you see oil, draw your enemy near it, and ignite the oil to injure him. Also, try freezing different things. You could defeat an enemy by removing sufficient heat energy from his or her body.
Tatsuki: Wow, you've thought this out quite well, even though it's just been a few hours since I first used this ability consciously.
Ichigo: Yeah, I was trained since 9 years old to be able to analyse situations, weapons, abilities and the like well. If you want, I can give you a much shorter version of that training.
Tatsuki: I have to get stronger to protect my loved ones, Ichigo. I accept the new training as well.
Ichigo: Very well.
And he trained her to be analytical, to keep a cool head in difficult situations, to rationalize. He also taught her the same skills he taught Uryu some time ago: To be able to quietly escape and surprise enemies, to mask reiatsu, and some other skills. To be able to effectively get information from enemies, to tell lies without flinching, and other similar skills.
All this was done over the course of the next few days, after school. Ichigo had effectively avoided Hitsugaya and his team. However, there was one group of people whom he could not escape from just yet, as he discovered when walking back home with Tatsuki after school one day.
"Strawberry Dickhead!"
Ichigo was surprised. There were two sources of Shinigami-hollow hybrid reiatsu behind him. Turning, he found Shinji, and another girl whom he did not know. The girl was blond, with her hair tied in two tails, and wore a red jogging suit. She also had a noticeably long tooth that showed even with a closed mouth. She wore flip flops, and was holding up one of them in her hand rather than wearing it on her feet.
Ichigo: Who are you? Another Vizard? Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to join your group?
Hiyori: We aren't taking no for an answer dickhead! You're coming with us!
Ichigo: Why? I've already suppressed my inner hollow.
This time, Hiyori lost her patience and tried to hut Ichigo with her flip flops, but he dodged.
Shinji: I tried to get her to listen, but she won't take no for an answer. At the very least, could you come over to train with us?
Ichigo: Oh, alright then. Can Tatsuki come too? She's got her own powers, and she could improve greatly if she got a chance to use her skills in a real training battle.
Shinji: Sure, whatever.
At the Vizards' base
Ichigo and Tatsuki met the other Vizards, and after a round of introductions, Hiyori went to train with Ichigo. Tatsuki also asked for someone to train with her, and Mashiro volunteered, being the best hand to hand fighter among the Vizards.
The training pushed Tatsuki to her limits, as Ichigo had gone slightly easier on her, and now she was dealing with a hyperactive, ex-lieutenant with hollow powers. She realized that she had to think fast to beat her adversary. She decided that even with her spiritual energy-enhanced hand to hand attacks, she could not defeat her enemy, and her special powers were required.
Looking around her, she found that there was a barbeque pit with some still hot embers behind a rock. Using her own version of a flash step, which she had developed by herself after observing Ichigo's flash step, she reached the pit. She placed her hand on the hot embers and applied her powers to absorb the heat energy from the coals. She felt no pain from touching the coals, as they froze almost soon as Tatsuki started absorbing the heat.
Silently, she marvelled, and thought to herself,"Ichigo really is a good teacher…within a few days, I learnt to absorb a large amount of heat energy at really great speeds…"
With that, she took the frozen coals and threw them at Mashiro who swatted them away, but closed her eyes for a second from surprise. Seeing her chance, Tatsuki threw a fireball at Mashiro. The green haired Vizard was shocked. She could not avoid it in time, and ended up losing to Tatsuki.
All the other Vizards: Whoa…
Hachi quickly lumbered over to treat Mashiro's injuries.
Love: Wow, not bad. It takes a lot to knock out one of us like that. You're pretty good.
Tatsuki: Thanks!
Soon, training ended, and Ichigo and Tatsuki left. Then, they felt a large reiatsu. The espada had appeared in the town once again.
End Chapter 10
And thus ends chapter 10! Tatsuki develops her abilities and trains with the Vizards.
Tatsuki's powers involve heat transfer. She can transfer heat by a simple touch, freezing objects by removing heat energy, or burning them by adding more heat energy. Her hand to hand fighting skills are greatly enhanced because of her spiritual energy. She also can perform a reasonably fast flash step, which she learned by observing Ichigo's own flash step.
Now the Espada are in Karakura town, on their mission to kidnap Inoue! What will Ichigo and Tatsuki do now? Stay tuned to find out more!