Another chapter is here.
Akutsu Junya: Lol! I certainly did. And that is why this is great.
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ahsanrox: read and see.
Orange-Knight-in-the-Moonlight: Thank you.
Guest: I will.
JoTerry: Thanks for the praise.
Rc1212: Of course.
Enjoy!
Ichigo watched impassively as Rukia and Renji swung a pair of wooden swords back and forth, over and over, with little alteration in the pattern.
They were at his hut in the woods, where he had first arrived in the past. He had repaired the damages it had sustained before his arrival, improving the structure overall with his knowledge of carpentry. Now Renji called it home for the time being, resolving to stay until he improved his swordsmanship and skills to become stronger.
Rukia was there too, panting. Her arms ached, being so slender and unused to doing something so strenuous for such a long time, and sweat left her clothes sticking to her skin while glistening on her forehead. She was the first of the pair to fall onto her knees
"My arms are throbbing," she whined. "I never knew something like this could be so tiring…."
"Hmph," Renji let slip as he continued his motions. "This is easy. You're only tired because you're weak."
Rukia pouted, insulted at his words. "Don't pretend you aren't tired too, Porky!"
Now it was Renji's turn to be insulted. He turned towards her and scowled. "I told you to stop calling me by that name! Do I look like a pig to you?"
"That enough," Ichigo said, before Rukia could. He was sitting against the wall of his home, with a branch that he was carving into the shape of another wooden sword. "It's about time for both of you to take a break. You can go and get your water canteens."
Rukia rose to her feet and ran inside to do just that, while Renji simply kept swinging his wooden sword.
"You should go rest too, Renji," Ichigo told him. "I can tell that your arms are aching nearly as much as hers from the way you're breathing, and how your motions have shifted."
"I need to get stronger faster," Renji insisted. "I can't waste time by resting or sitting around like some lazy people."
Rukia, who was now standing at the window inside and drinking water from a canteen hollowed out from bamboo, stuck her tongue out him. "I was still faster than you when we jogged this morning, and I can at least call up my spiritual power when I need to. Just because you can swing a sword a little longer doesn't change that, Porky."
"Rukia, you have more control than he does over your spiritual power, but Renji has more stamina," Ichigo noted, checking over the branch in its current state. He rose to his feet and then pointed it at Renji. "Tell you what, if you land a single blow on me or dodge mine, then I'll help you out a bit with that."
The red-haired youth thought about it for a moment, and then gave Ichigo a skeptical glare. "That's not fair. You're a Soul Reaper, an adult, and well-rested. I wouldn't be able to touch you to begin with."
"Don't worry," Ichigo said. "I won't use all my strength and I won't move around all that much, or Flash Step. All you have to do is land a solid hit on me to win, or dodge the one hit I'll send your way… or you take your break now."
"If you're so tired that you can't beat Ichi-nii when he's not even being serious, you can always come inside, Porky," Rukia said, teasing him.
Renji growled through gritted teeth at that. "Hmm… fine! Let's do this!"
He drew his wooden sword back and charged at Ichigo, intending to close the distance and then strike at his foot. It was a cheap shot, but if it worked then it worked. However, his charge paused when Ichigo took three steps forward, bringing him into striking range sooner than anticipated. Renji stopped in his tracks and then swung the sword, only to miss by about a foot.
"Is that the best you can do?" Ichigo asked, sounding a bit bored as he yawned.
Incited by this, Renji came in with a flurry of attacks that were as fast and as hard as he could make them. Yet, he never touched Ichigo, who seemed move faster than his eyes could track. It wasn't even funny how clear the difference was between them.
Then the Soul Reaper decided to be decisive and swung up with the branch. It hit the wooden sword at a sweet spot that resulted in it bouncing back and out of Renji's hands with very little strength. Just like that, it was over. "And we're done."
Looking at his trembling hand, and unable to keep in his frustration anymore, Renji snapped. "You said you weren't going to Flash Step!"
"I didn't," Ichigo claimed in a nonchalant tone of voice. "That wasn't a Flash Step."
"Liar!" Renji shouted. "You were always moving too fast to see!"
"No, he wasn't," Rukia chimed in. "Ichi-nii only took a step or two before you swung, and I could see him fine. He wasn't moving fast, you were just flailing around."
"Basically," Ichigo started, "it took you too long to make a judgment in a fight—how to swing, where to move, etc. The time it took you to make those decisions was slower than it took me to make mine, so you couldn't keep up when I decided to move. It didn't help that you basically telegraphed everything because you're still thinking about it."
Renji scratched the back of his head in thought. It didn't seem that way to him, but Rukia was looking from an outsider's perspective compared to his. "Then what do I do?"
"You need to get used to swinging a sword around before you do anything else to build up muscle memory," Ichigo said, hoisting the half-carved branch on his shoulder. "That way when you see an opening, you'll go for it naturally and not think on it. That being said, if you work too hard and deny your body rest, your reactions get slower and you begin spending time thinking on what hurts and how to do this and that. That's why you needed to take a break."
"… Fine," Renji finally conceded. "I'll take a break."
Ichigo smiled. "Good."
[-o0o-]
Hisana was in the middle of cooking when the door to her home slid open.
Ichigo had returned, carrying Rukia in her arms as she slept from the exertion of the day of practice. Renji was behind him, seemingly fine at a first glance. But, considering he nearly stumbled over his feet, he was likely in a similar position and barely able to stay awake.
"I thought you were going to go easy on them," Hisana said in a chiding tone as she rose to her feet. "They're exhausted to the point of sleeping!"
"Training is hard work," Ichigo claimed. "And all they did was swing around a sword to get used to it. If they apply for the Academy, it'll be a lot harder than this."
"Even if you say that, they're still growing children and you should go easier on them," Hisana insisted. Then she cringed when she caught the scent of their efforts wafting off of them. "They both need a bath before they can eat, but looking at them there's no telling that they would be able to remain awake in the tub."
"Nmmm…" Rukia let slip as her sister stirred her awake. She made it three steps when Ichigo lowered her to the ground before curling up there and going to sleep again.
Hisana sighed and woke Rukia up again. "I'll go and give Rukia a bath and change her. Keep an eye on the food, will you?"
"Sure." Ichigo blushed when Hisana leaned on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek and then watched as the sisters disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door, leaving the boys to their thoughts. He then noticed Renji sitting down next to the fire and staring at him with a raised brow. "What?"
"Nothing," Renji said, turning his attention to the fire and the food cooking on top of it. The rice was looking mighty tasty, and his stomach growled at the thought of eating. The only reason he didn't was because he wanted to oblige the house rules and wait until he had bathed first. "I hope they don't take too long."
"The easiest way to push away the hunger is to think on something else," Ichigo suggested.
"I know that," the boy said. "I've been hungry more often than I've been full. There's just not a lot to talk about."
Ichigo begged to differ. "Sure there is, you just need to ask the first thing that pops into your mind."
Renji drummed his fingers against his thighs in thought. The way that Ichigo fought came to mind first. He wondered if there was ever a time that his mentor struggled in a fight. "Okay, what was the hardest fight you were ever in?"
"That… was another Soul Reaper," he admitted with a note of hesitation. "I've fought against a lot of Hollows, even ones known as being stronger than Captains in the 13 Court Guard Squads. But he was on an entirely different level…."
"Why were you fighting?" Renji asked. "Aren't all of you supposed to be on the same side?"
"No, he didn't think of anyone as an ally," Ichigo explained. "He killed people, civilians and his comrades, just because he thought it would make him stronger. It came down to a fight between me and him in the end, and I killed him at the cost of everyone I cared about."
"Oh… sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Renji said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"… You remind me of one of them," Ichigo confessed. "He was stubborn, and we'd tried killing one another at first, but we got along in the end. He was probably the person I considered my rival the most, and we both achieved Bankai at the same time for the sake of rescuing the same person."
"Ban… kai?" Renji's face scrunched up at that. "What's that?"
"It's the second stage of a Zanpakuto," Ichigo explained as he held up one finger. "The first stage is Shikai, and having access to it is a requirement for seated officers. It usually gives your sword the ability to do something like firing off a blast of spiritual power, or turning into a different weapon."
"Like what you did?"
Ichigo nodded and put up a second finger as he continued. "Bankai is the second release, and they can change a lot or have different effects depending on what they are. It's a requirement for Captain-level Soul Reapers to have them… well, there was one guy who didn't, but he was a monster in terms of strength. Anyway, even if they aren't Captains, all the strongest Soul Reapers have them. "
"Do you think I'll get one someday?" Renji asked.
Ichigo smiled at him, and for a moment he saw the older version of Renji in place of the younger boy now. "I'm positive, but you'll have to put in a lot of effort to master it once you do get it. Maybe even a decade."
Then again, Ichigo couldn't really talk on the subject of time. He initially got one with Urahara's device, and his father had to buy him about three months to master it. Compared to those who spent longer trying to attain it, he basically cheated every step of the way. Even then, those were supposedly the Old Man's doing rather than his true power.
The door to the bathroom opened up shortly after that, and the girls came out freshly bathed and dressed. Rukia was wide-eyed and awake now, while Hisana fussed over her hair for a moment before she sent her over to the fire. The older sister then turned to the red-haired boy.
"Your turn, Renji," Hisana said, holding up spare clothes and towels. "Do you need me to help you wash too?"
He shook his head vigorously. "I don't need someone helping me clean myself!"
"If you insist, but make sure to clean every inch of your body or I'll make you do it again," Hisana warned. "Dinner will be waiting for you."
Renji grumbled to himself as he went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, while Rukia skipped over to Ichigo and sat down in his lap. When Hisana gave her a chiding glance, she stuck her tongue out in response. Ichigo, watching this exchange, silently sent Hisana a questioning look.
"It's nothing," she told him. "It's just a little talk between sisters. One that we will be having again soon enough, it seems."
He took her word for it and switched topics. "So, the festival is coming up soon, isn't it?"
"That's right," Hisana said. "I received another commission request, but with my arm in its current state, I'm not sure I'll be able to do them all very well. I don't want to cancel on it, but—"
Rukia cut in with an eager, "I'll help!"
"Hmm…." Hisana put her hand on her cheek and looked away. "Well, you can do the clay-shaping, but I'll take care of the painting. You need a lot of improvement there, I'm afraid."
Ichigo struggled to stifle his laughter. It seemed that even with Hisana in her life, Rukia's art skills still left a lot to be desired. While her older sister was rather talented in that front, it seemed as though she couldn't teach Rukia any better.
Rukia looked up at his face and pouted. "Ichi-nii, you're laughing at me!"
"No, no," he said, getting his voice in check. "Not you. It's just… I remembered something funny, that's all."
Rukia didn't buy it. She leapt off of his lap and went over to the backroom to silently brood.
"I feel guilty now," Ichigo said once the laughing stopped. "I really hope I didn't hurt her feelings too badly."
"She'll get over it by the time the food is done," Hisana assured him. Then she took a deep breath and her expression shifted, becoming gentler as her voice softened. "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Yeah," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
"You always have this look in your eyes when see the fireworks, and you still won't tell me what's wrong," she pointed out. "I've already said I wasn't going to press, but it does pain me to see you like that."
"… They need it," Ichigo said after a pause. "We've all gone through a dramatic event, and the scars are still there. They need to have some fun, and what better place than a festival. Whatever discomfort I feel is worth it as long as they're happy."
Hisana moved over next to Ichigo and nestled against him, laying her head on his shoulder and resting her hand on top of his. "Ichigo, you really are sweet. We're all lucky to have you in our lives."
The words were soothing in their own way, and it brought a warm smile to Ichigo's face. Her presence had that effect on him, and he cherished it like he did no other. If he couldn't tell before, he could definitely tell now that it was love that he felt for her—for all its fragile nature wrought.
But he couldn't let it distract him from his mission in the long run.
He still needed a way to track down Aizen, preferably before the Visored's were turned. There were maybe forty or so years before that happened, if he had the time-table right. The sooner he dealt with the power-seeking madman, the sooner he could simply enjoy moments like these.
[-o0o-]
Aizen slipped back into the Soul Society as easily as he had left it, undetected.
There were more than a few times now that he had to leave the solid and sturdy walls for the sake of experimentation. Being discrete required learning of patrol patterns and when the onmitsukido might have agents watching for any entrances. Now though, he found the lack of challenge boring, if efficient.
That was simply the way of things, he supposed. He was always overcoming challenges as they faced him, and now few could match him other than the Captains. And he was certain it wouldn't be long before he surpassed them.
What really disturbed him was that it would only be a matter of time before he hit the limitations of what he could accomplish in his current state. Limitations were the bane of both man and science, something that prevented progression from taking place. His own growth would soon be hampered, not because of his skill or effort or dedication, but because he had reached the limitations of what a Soul Reaper could accomplish.
That was a wall he had to break down, and he intended to do so by breaking down the boundaries between Soul Reapers and Hollows. That was why he had first visited Hueco Mundo, years ago. And it was why he had helped a Hollow slip into the Soul Society to possess a member of the Patrol Corps, as well as kill the rest of the team members associated with them.
It was rather easy to do so, but since his Zanpakuto's true power lied in deception that was to be expected as they were picked off one-by-one. If only the circumstances to be able to release it in front of others without suspicion weren't so few and far between when it came to the Captains, he could do so much more. Alas, he had to wait until he was in a better position to do so.
He was certain it wouldn't be long before he was a Lieutenant, and then a Captain. He had cultivated his reputation to get himself into the position as soon as possible, to accomplish his goal. So, for now, his primary concern was the fact that his Hollow had been killed by a Soul Reaper that far out.
He had ruled out kido, so that meant it had to have been a Shikai that was used. Your standard rank-and-file Soul Reapers wouldn't have access to that ability, and every Captain and Lieutenant was accounted for. That meant either a seated officer or potential ones was responsible, and if any of them were responsible for the Hollow's destruction then they would have filed a report.
Aizen was able to slip into the 9th division with ease, even late at night. Though he used kido to do so, he had already made an effort to ensure he had a number of the younger division members under the effects of his Zanpakuto. It was done under the pretense of a sparring match between the 5th and 9th divisions some time ago.
He had done so because of the fact that they controlled one aspect of the information flow within the Seireitei. All the Lieutenants filed their reports to this division, and they handled the newspaper as well. Through controlling them, he controlled a majority of what got out and could plan accordingly.
Among the reports he poured through were the deployment schedules for each division. It served as a means to guide and direct the numerous forces towards one another in the event that assistance was needed. There was no one scheduled to be in the Inuzuri district, the outskirts of which the Hollow had been slain.
Aizen found this to be curious, and decided to keep a closer eye on developments from that region. Where there was a mystery, there was always a chance that beneficial discoveries could be made from them. Plus, a new challenge never hurt to overcome.
He put away the files and then made his way back to the 5th division barracks.
