"Okay, before we begin your training, I'd like to see the full abilities of your zanpakuto," Urahara said. Shinta nodded and unsheathed his blade.
"Blossom, Kurohana."
The blade in Shinta's hand disappeared and reformed into its shield form. The shield itself floated a few feet behind him.
"Kurohana's power is the ability to nullify spiritual power. When it's in this form, it can act like a shield and stop any form of spiritual attack. I can control the shield to float around me, so long as it's at least four feet around me. As such, I can separate the blades and fire them off at high speeds. However, I cannot control them once they are more than four feet away. I'm not...really used to fighting like that so instead..."
One of the blades then separated from the shield and floated towards Shinta's hand. Once he grasped it, blood began to flow from his hand.
"I prefer to fight like this since I am better at close range combat. Because of Kurohana's spiritual nullification ability, my blade will ignore any sort of spiritual defense that my opponent may have. It doesn't matter how strong they are, my blades will cut them. As an added effect, if my blades are implanted into an opponent for at least four seconds, Kurohana's nullification ability will force their own spiritual energy to destroy them from the inside," Shinta took a deep breath, "I think that's about it."
"Um, doesn't it hurt to hold those blades like that?"
"...A little. I've gotten used to it by now."
"I see. Well, I guess the best method would be to test your abilities and see how strong you are. Then we can figure things out from there."
Urahara then clapped his hands.
"Are you ready?"
Shinta nodded and rushed towards Urahara. As Shinta swung his blade, Urahara lazily parried the attack and tossed him off to the side. Shinta hopped on one foot a few times and resumed his battle stance.
"You need to work on your fighting stance. You also shouldn't have trouble with your balance in the middle of a fight."
Shinta then attacked in a flurry of blows, of which Urahara began to easily parry each attack.
"Your attacks are easy to follow and are predictable. You said that you can attack with your other blades, right?"
"But I'm not used to-"
"Then get used to it. You need to learn how to use your zanpakuto to its fullest ability and take every advantage that you can get. You need to learn how to attack in unexpected ways and catch your opponents off guard."
Urahara then wrapped his leg around Shinta's and tripped him.
"He's got a point there-nya," Kurohana chimed in. She then stepped onto Shinta's chest to prevent him from getting up.
"If you want to fight against Xzayvion Sitruk, you will have to learn to use me the way that I'm supposed to be used-nya."
"...I don't care if I use you correctly, I'll get stronger the way I decided to."
"You're so stubborn! Neko Cut!!"
"Gah!"
Kurohana began frantically swiping her claws at Shinta's face.
"If you don't learn to use me the way I'm intended to be used, then you'll nyaver defeat him-nya."
Shinta quickly pushed Kurohana off of him.
"I've done fine up until now, what's listening to you going to change?"
"Y-you're so cruel-nya!" Kurohana cried. As she fell to her hands and knees, a lone spotlight shone upon her.
"My master's cruelness
It makes my stomach grumble
I want tuna-nya."
"...Where did that spotlight come from? And what's with the sudden haiku?"
"Murakami-kun, may I ask you something?" Urahara suddenly spoke up.
"Huh? Oh, sure."
"Just right now, were you speaking with your zanpakuto?"
"Yeah, of course. You mean...you can't see her?"
"Of course he can't-nya. You aren't skilled enough to materialize me completely yet. Didn't you pay attention in school?"
"O-of course I did! I graduated didn't I?"
"Oh? Then why did you fail the exams twice then-nya?" Kurohana snickered.
"You little-"
"Murakami-kun, I have an idea that will help your situation. At this moment, it seems like you are subconsciously materializing the soul of your zanpakuto. In the future, you may one day be able to materialize it completely. But in the meantime, I have a way to force it to materialize right now."
"So...what will that do for me?"
"You...didn't pay much attention in class, did you?"
"I-I did! I did pay attention!"
"Tell him how you failed twice-nya!"
"Shut up!"
"Well, if we materialize it completely, then it will be able to train you instead."
"But...why would-"
"By the looks of things, you and your zanpakuto are out of sync. If you train together, then you'll both become stronger," Urahara explained, "Also, if you manage to force the soul of your zanpakuto to submit to you, you could learn to use bankai."
"B-bankai?! Seriously?!"
"That was a joke, Shinta. You are a long ways away from learning bankai-nya."
"If I can learn bankai, then I'll easily be able to defeat Xzayvion!"
"Whoa! Did you even listen to me-nya?!"
"Urahara-san, let's do it!"
"Alright then, just let me get things set up."
"Ah! Don't ignyore me-nya!" Kurohana shouted.
As Kurohana continued to object, Urahara set up a strange humanoid looking object.
"All you have to do is stab your zanpakuto into this tenshintai and you're good to go."
"H-hey, Shinta! Don't you dare stab me into that thing! You'll regret it-nya!"
Shinta ignored Kurohana's warning and went ahead with stabbing one of the blades into the tenshintai. The blades shattered as a bright light enveloped the area. Once the light was gone, Shinta looked around.
"Huh? Where is-"
Looking down, Shinta saw Kurohana looking up at him with a very irritated look on her face.
"Shonekoken!!'
"Augh!"
Kurohana's uppercut connected with Shinta's jaw and sent him to the ground.
"Shinta! When a girl says nyo, she means nyo-nya!" she yelled at him.
"Now now, there's no need to be angry," Urahara said calmly. Kurohana then glared at him.
"You! This is all your fault-nya! Because of you, nyow Shinta will nyaver stop bothering me about bankai-nya!"
"Just give me a moment and I'll explain myself. Murakami-kun, is it alright if I borrow her for a moment?"
"S-sure. Go ahead..." Shinta answered while still trying to get back up.
"Okay now listen, this is the kind of training that Murakami-kun needs the most. In order to get stronger, he needs to get more in sync with you. You know that more than anyone else."
"Well...That is true..."
"I don't expect him to get you to submit to him; I only used the possibility of bankai as a way to get him more motivated. All you have to do is come up with some sort of impossible task. Murakami-kun will get the training he needs and you won't have to worry about him anymore."
"I like the way you think-nya."
Satisfied, Kurohana walked away from him.
"Alright, I've changed my mind. If you can force me into submission, I'll teach you bankai-nya."
"R-really?!" Shinta asked excitedly.
"BUT, only on one condition. You must use me the way I'm supposed to be used from nyow on, understand?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"Nya nya nya...I should have done this ages ago."
"What was that?"
"Nyathing! Nyow for your training..." Kurohana paused for a moment. And at that moment, a great idea came into her head.
"Okay Shinta, I'll submit to you if you manage to get my collar!" she proclaimed. Shinta gave her a strange look.
"...You have a collar under there?" he asked. Most of Kurohana's body was either covered in a robe or in blanketed in shadow.
"Of course I do-nya! It's gold and shiny and sparkly and...Well, that's besides the point-nya! You have one week to get my collar. You may use the blades as you please to try and defeat me."
"Uh, if you go past three days-" Urahara started. At that moment, Kurohana pulled a scythe out of nowhere and pointed it towards him.
"We're going for one week. Any problems with that, Mr. Sandal Hat-nya?"
"N-no problems..." Urahara backed off. Kurohana then pointed her scythe towards Shinta.
"And if you don't take this seriously...I'll kill ya-nya!"
"D-don't joke about that!" Shinta complained.
"Okay! Here I come-nya!" Kurohana shouted as she rushed towards Shinta.
"G-give...it back..." Yuki moaned in her sleep. Hisagi drew in closer as she tossed and turned.
"She must be having a nightmare...Hey! Captain! Wake up!"
"NO!! That's my ice cream!" Yuki screamed. She then shot herself out of her bed; smacking Hisagi in the process.
"Huh? Where am...?" she started. After glancing around her room, she noticed Hisagi lying on the floor.
"Shuuhei! When did you get here and...why are you on my floor?"
Hisagi groaned as he slowly got back up.
"I got her about three days ago, you've asleep since then," he explained.
"Three days?! W-where are the others? And Soul Society, what happened?"
"Calm down, everyone is fine. Matsumoto just went out and Renji and Murakami left a few days ago to train. As for Soul Society, one of the arrancar was killed and another was captured. Many Shinigami were killed in battle and a few of the lieutenants and captains were badly injured. From what I know, everything is alright now."
"Okay, good," Yuki sighed in relief.
"This might not be the best time, but head captain Yamamoto would like to hear your report as soon as possible."
"Yeah, just give me a moment to get ready."
Hisagi quickly left the room while Yuki changed clothes. Afterwards, the two entered another room with a large monitor. Yuki flipped a switch and Yamamoto showed up onto the screen.
"Captain Hitsugaya Yuki, I see that you are well," he greeted her.
"Yes, head captain. As you know, two arrancar attacked the human world three days ago. The one we fought called himself Xzayvion while the one Kurosaki Ichigo fought called herself Dainora. Although we fought, both of them retreated once another arrancar showed up. According to Shuuhei, Xzayvion told Murakami Shinta that they would return to the human world five days from now."
"Can this Xzayvion be trusted?"
"I'm not sure...He seemed to be openly defiant of Aedric and didn't care about the consequences. He also said something about a full moon."
"In our battle, Aedric Nat mentioned that his powers were similar to the phases of the moon. If a full moon is in the next five days, then that will be when he attacks. I'll ask captain Kurotsuchi to question the captured arrancar once more to verify this information."
"Head captain, have you found out what the arrancar are up to?"
"Indeed. According to captain Kurotsuchi, they plan to perform some sort of ritual on Karakura City. This ritual will activate the spiritual leylines around the city and sacrifice the citizens all at once. Aedric plans to take all this power for himself and become some sort of hollow king."
"A...hollow king?"
"Precisely, we have no idea of what he plans to accomplish afterwards, but we cannot allow his plans to succeed. In five days, we will move the citizens of Karakura to Soul Society once again and go on an all out assault against Aedric and his arrancar. I'll call you again if anything new develops."
"Yes, I'll do the same."
And with that, the screen turned black.
"Captain, what should we do now?" Hisagi asked Yuki.
"We'll wait for Matsumoto and join Renji and Shinta in training. I refuse to be caught by surprise again."
"Haaaaaaaaah!'
Shinta swung his blade down towards Kurohana. Kurohana parried the blade with her scythe and with one quick motion; she smacked the blade out of his hand and swung horizontally. Shinta quickly jumped back and grabbed another blade from the shield.
"Again? That's nyot going to work-nya..." Kurohana warned.
Shinta ignored her and rushed towards her once again. Kurohana easily dodged his strike and used her scythe to sweep his legs from under him. As Shinta tried to get up, Kurohana placed the point of her scythe under his chin. From his position, Shinta could see her emerald green eyes staring at him.
"It's been three days so far and you have yet to improve your skills. At this rate, you'll never learn bankai!" she said in a serious tone. Shinta noticed that she was no longer talking like a cat.
"By the way Shinta, I wasn't kidding when I said that I would kill you if you didn't take this seriously. If you don't want to die, then-"
Kurohana jumped back a few feet. Immediately afterwards three blades embedded themselves into the ground. Kurohana then swung her scythe towards Shinta, only to be stopped by four blades made like a small shield.
"Hanabira Dansu."
All twenty of the blades then started swirling around around Shinta like a tornado. Kurohana quickly backed off and smiled.
"Nya nya nya...I see that you are finyally learning."
The blades slowly stopped spinning and reformed into the shield.
"I'm starting to get the hang of this..." Shinta commented.
"Well, you should. After all, that's the way that I'm supposed to be used-nya."
"Well, regardless of how this ends up, I'll be cutting of that collar of yours with a blade in my hands!"
"...If you say so-nya."
The two of them then rushed towards each other for their next assault.
Shonekoken means Flying Cat Fist (And yes, this was a Street Fighter joke for those who got it)
Hanabira Dansu means Petal Dance