A bit longer chapter for having a longer wait. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you're all having a happy Valentine's Day.

Okay :)

As always, Read, Review, and Enjoy :)

Chapter 10

The lecture, which Ichigo had figured would pass slowly considering he knew everything, went by incredibly fast and before he knew it, it was time for the practical. Nervous students mixed with excited ones piled out of the room and into the larger arena style room, complete with benches along the walls.

"Alright everyone, go over and grab a sword and partner up." Ichigo turned to look at the swords they would be using only to find that they kendo shinai. Shinai, really? He growled. Well I guess it's to make sure people don't kill each other. Ichigo sighed and walked over to grab one. He went wide-eyed when he picked it only to narrow them shortly after. It was ridiculously light, like he holding a stick. Distantly he wondered how long it would take him to break it, but his thoughts were soon interrupted but a short, stocky guy.

"Hey, I hear you're pretty good. Well," he said taking a stance. "So am I." Must be another noble, he thought as the other teen lunged at him with a downward swipe only to keep falling when Ichigo spun out of the way. Taking the stance he had adopted while learning to fight with a sword a foot longer and significantly heavier, the boy turned to laugh at him.

"Pretty good? You must be joking, you don't even know how to hold a sword correctly." Teru couldn't help but snicker from the sidelines. That kid, Etorin, didn't have any idea what Ichigo was capable of. As if to prove his point, Ichigo darted forward and swung from the side, forcing the noble boy back a couple steps. The look on his face was priceless. People turned when they heard the assistant laughing and saw him hunched over, holding his stomach. He stayed like that for most of the one-sided fight.

Ichigo stepped back from the other teen and took a wide stance once again. They exchanged a few more hits, most of which were on Ichigo's part, before Etorin swung down. From everyone else's point of view it looked like the noble was pushing Ichigo down to the ground but nothing could be further from the truth. The orange haired teen had bent his knee and was slowly lowering himself to the ground. He glanced up and saw the conceded smirk covering the noble's face and smirked back.

"You're arrogant." Suddenly he pushed up, throwing Etorin's arms up over his head. The noble, too shocked to defend himself was then hit with a powerful swing as Ichigo followed the motion with a big one-armed winding swing and crashed the shinai into his side just below his ribs. Etorin cried out in pain. There wasn't a doubt in Ichigo's mind that the noble would have a lovely purple bruise the next day. He lowered the "sword" to his side and stood looked down at the hunched over teen.

"How dare you," Etorin huffed at the orange haired teen who just shrugged.

"No one's going to hold back in a real fight. You might as well get used to it." Everyone watched as the two teens just stood there having a staring contest, neither willing to break contact. A tense atmosphere filled the large room as no one said anything. At least until a stern voice sounded from the back of the room.

"Kurosaki-san," said teen looked over his shoulder at the instructor. He had his hands clasped behind his back and walked over to him with a strong stride. Kenjiro looked at the boy interested. It seemed that Teru had been right about the boy's skill. The man signaled over to the assistant and told him to fight with him. Teru's smile grew before turning to Ichigo with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Let's go Ichigo." The two started fighting and Kenjiro immediately noticed that is was a much more evenly matched fight than he had imagined it would be. He'd had a hunch that Ichigo had been holding back against Etorin and wanted to see if he was right, but he hadn't thought that he would have been holding back that much. One thing that specifically caught his eye though was that everyone once in a while Ichigo would throw in a one-handed swing. He wasn't sure where he had learned to fight that way; it wasn't a commonly taught zajutsu style and the strikes appeared to be just as powerful as the two-handed ones. Kurosaki Ichigo, just who taught you how to fight?

The other students went back to practicing themselves while Etorin, with bruised side and ego, walked over to the wall holding his side and glared at the orange haired teen. Many of the students kept sneaking glances at the talented first year. He was able to keep up with their assistant and wasn't being completely overpowered. It was incredible. Two students in particular were paying closer attention to Ichigo: Hunter and a girl by the name of Akame Maira. After doing some damage to her opponent in the form of compliments and flirtations, he had rolled over like a puppy and was watching her with adoring eyes. She smirked, thinking about the fool. He had some muscle to him but was rather plain otherwise but it didn't really bother her; just another boy under her thumb. But as she watched the fight, Maira became more and more interested in the orange haired teen. He was strong and handsome, exactly her type. She watched as Ichigo's shinai met Teru's before the two jumped apart only to attack again moments later. When the instructor finally for them to return their "swords" back to the rack on the wall both were panting heavily.

"Damn, you're good." Teru laughed. Ichigo just met his eyes and smirked before returning the shinai – he refused to call it a sword – to the rack. He then walked out after a quick glance back at the smiling, panting shinigami. On his way out he ran into the girl who had been watching him earlier, not that he had noticed.

"Hey," she said making him look at her.

"Yo."

"I'm Akame Maira. Sorry, but what's your name again? I didn't catch it earlier." Maira looked up at him from beneath long lashes and placed one hand on her neck, the other under her well-endowed chest. He looked over at her, scowl in place.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Hmm…It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurosaki Ichigo." She practically purred out his name but to her annoyance he seemed completely unaffected by it. "Are you doing anything right now?" Ichigo walked past her before turning slightly to look at her.

"Fitness training," he called over his shoulder and walked off. It irritated Maira greatly that he wasn't just caving to her but at the same time she kind of liked it. From what she had seen, the orange haired teen didn't seem to be someone weak who would just roll over when push came to shove. No, she would have to work for this one, but they all fall in the end. She smirked to herself and walked off in the opposite direction of the gym and was soon followed by her "opponent" from class.

"You're not seriously going to go workout again are you?" Meg looked at him disbelievingly. She was still sore from the day before and Ichigo was going back already. Said teen just shrugged.

"Yeah, figured I should probably get into a regular routine again." The loud girl just stared at him as they walked back to find the other two. Soon Kida came up to them, breathing deeply, and Ao shortly after her, rubbing his arm with a sad frown. However, the boy brightened up considerably when he saw the rest of them.

"Hey, is your arm okay?" Kida asked. She had seen the boy rubbing it and then remembered that he had just come from his hakuda practical. The little copper looked up and nodded.

"Yeah. I just got hit in hakuda. Only once though, but I got him back." The smirk that appeared on his face seemed a little out of place and Meg feared that he might soon start taking after Ichigo and start scowling all the time. She shook her head and pointed over at Ichigo.

"That's cool, now will someone please help me in trying to figure out why this fool is going to go train again." Kida and Ao looked over at him curiously and slightly surprised at what their blue highlighted friend had just said.

"You're going to go train again? Didn't you just get out of zanjutsu?" Ichigo nodded and started walking in the direction of the gym again. Not knowing what else to do, the three followed him. They got to the gym and Meg groaned. Why she had followed was a mystery, but since they were there she was probably going to be forced to train, if not by the not-so-helpful Gigano then by Kida. She groaned again but slumped down next to Kida and started stretching. With that they all dove right into their workouts; Meg's, Kida's, and Ao's being less strenuous than Ichigo's. After one day they all quickly discovered that if they were going to be working out frequently like he did then they were going to die if they tried doing everything he did. Some of the people from the day before had returned as well, albeit not many. After noticing Ichigo previously, some of them took the hint and started doing exercises other then simply trying to lift weights in awkward motions, having no real idea if they were doing it right. With about fifteen minutes left Ichigo called for Ao and walked outside with the small boy running to catch up. The girls finished up what they were doing and five minutes later joined the boys outside. In a small field out back, Ichigo and Ao were shunpoing around. Ichigo looked like a bit of a blur to the girls but they could see Ao. He seemed to be chasing after the orange haired blur and as they watched was growing more stable with each step. Meg crossed her arms and watched, slightly jealous that they made it look much easier than it really was while Kida was watching the small boy with a smile. He seemed so focused and yet so happy about being able to train with Ichigo after having heard his advice regarding zanjutsu: don't be stronger, be faster. Ao soon came to a stop by the girls, smiling even though covered with sweat. Ichigo did a minute late.

"Come on. Let's go get something to eat." Kida said.

"Yeah," Meg agreed. "I could use it." They headed to the cafeteria, got more bland school food, and took a seat at one of the long tables before getting into mindless chatter. Ichigo zoned out when Meg began talking about guys were arrogant and thought that women were weak and shouldn't be allowed to be ranked officers or something like that. Her loud voice faded into the background as Ichigo focused on his inner world. He hadn't noticed it the last time, but his hollow hadn't been in sight and he hadn't heard his maniacal laugh or any snide comments for his albino double. While he liked the peacefulness, it was disconcerting to not know what had happened to a part of his soul.

Hey, Zangetsu. Where is he? The old man didn't answer for a moment but he soon heard his zanpaktou's reassuring voice.

[He is fine, Ichigo. Much like how I was asleep when you didn't have your shinigami powers, he was asleep as well. Do not worry. He should wake soon.] He sighed at that. Soon the annoying hollow would be back but at least then he wouldn't have that nagging feeling of being off kilter. Suddenly there was a snapping in front of his eyes and he jerked back slightly. The perpetrator, Meg, looked at him curiously, strangely, and all over confused about his unresponsiveness.

"Welcome back to Earth. Care to share what it was you were spacing out about?" Ichigo shook his head.

"Just thinking about something." He shook his head again at her raised eyebrow. Just as Meg was about to start pumping him for information Kida, ever the mediator, intervened.

"Meg, I'm sure it is something Ichigo-san would share with us if he felt the need to." Their rambunctious friend let it go in the end and conversation returned to normal before they all went their separate ways, promising to meet up for breakfast the next day.

After a quick stop in his room, Ichigo went down to the bath and let the warm water loosen his tense muscles. It had been a long day between the Sengoku noble prick, the zealous zanjutsu assistant, and the training afterwards. His thoughts drifted to his short conversation with his zanpaktou. His inner hollow was still sleeping. Zangetsu hadn't outright said it but if Shiro had been awake odds are he would have replied with some snarky comment about how his king was so worried about him. Ichigo sighed and soaked for a bit longer before going back to his room. When he got there he noticed a piece of paper on the desk.

"Midget," he said with false annoyance. He had missed everyone but the letter reminded him of the first one he had gotten right before Rukia had been taken back to Soul Society with her brother and Renji. There were all sorts of drawings of Chappy on it, that stupid bunny the girl was obsessed with. After deciphering the clue at the bottom of the page, he read the note.

Good job dying, Strawberry.

Thought you should know that no one from the Gotei 13 is

allowed to visit during your time at the academy.

At least without specific instructions to do so.

Yamamoto Soutaichou's orders.

I'm glad you're back.

~Rukia

Ichigo smiled slightly at the note before turning off the light and crawling into bed.