Chapter Twenty-Five: Storm Clouds

For once, it was Ichigo who fell asleep first. Rukia lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. She could not stop thinking about the Oken. Could Ichigo be the key? She was sure Urahara suspected this, it seemed so obvious. Then why hadn't Aizen tried to use Ichigo to enter the King's dimension?

Her head ached dully. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind. After a few hours, though, with no respite in sight, she got out of bed and pulled on her uniform. Picking up her zanpakuto, she headed down to the practice grounds. A little training would help clear her mind.

The practice grounds under Urahara's shop were empty. Rukia walked to the large, open area in the center of the grounds and drew Sode no Shirayuki. She ran her hand gently over its blade and felt the vibration of spirit energy resonate through her fingers. Then she held the sword straight out in front of her and said, "Tsugi no mai, Hakuren." Ice shot from the end of the zanpakuto and hit an outcropping of rock in front of where Rukia stood. Her hand vibrated with the release, and her palm felt warm.

She followed this with another blast, which she aimed at a cliff off in the distance. The attack carved a gash into the side of the rocks. The accuracy, distance and strength of her attacks had improved markedly since she had returned from Hueco Mundo. She had truly mastered shikai. She could draw no more power from her zanpakuto in its current state.

Breathing deeply and focusing her energy, she said, "Bankai." She felt the familiar warmth rush through her veins and an intense focus, which cleared all remaining thoughts of the Oken and of Ichigo from her mind. She had not released her hollow since her practice match with Ichigo. She would not let her fear paralyze her.

"I can do this," she said to herself, putting her hand to her face as the glittering white mask formed, covering her skin in coldness. She was relieved as, yet again, she sensed no other presence intruding on her mind. The hollow was hers alone.

"Need a practice target?" Ichigo stood about thirty feet away from her, grinning with anticipation. "Bankai!" he shouted, as dust swirled around his feet.

"Couldn't sleep either?" said Rukia, aiming her zanpakuto at him. She sent an attack of ice crystals swirling in the air which landed in a circular pattern around Ichigo. Ichigo had not moved. He knew she had not been aiming to hit him.

"This one won't miss," she warned and, closing her eyes, Rukia willed a cloud of crystals to form in front of her. Touching the tip of her zanpakuto to her dagger, she aimed the crystals at him. They shimmered with a red glow and rose up high in the air, split into multiple streams, and flew down with amazing speed towards the place where Ichigo stood.

Ichigo was able to move, just in time. Even with the incredible speed of his bankai, several of the crystals caught one of his sleeves, and silver smoke rose from the spot where they had touched him. He laughed.

"No kidding!" he said, and sent a shower of flame in her direction.

Rukia turned slightly, and used the edge of her zanpakuto as a shield. Ichigo's attack was deflected back at him, and he moved quickly out of its path, leaving a patch of scorched ground where he had stood.

"Nice move!" he shouted as he put his hand to his face, revealing his hollow mask as he withdrew it. "Time for payback!" Ichigo moved with blinding speed and aimed his zanpakuto away from Rukia.

"I'm going to try something different this time," thought Ichigo.

Rukia blinked beneath her mask. Had she heard him, or had it just been her imagination? Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

"Getsuga Tensho!" he yelled, and swung Zangetsu parallel to the ground and out to the side. Ichigo's attack arced around a huge boulder that stood between them and towards the spot where Rukia had stood. She was nowhere to be seen.

"What the…" began Ichigo, but it was too late. She was standing right behind him.

"Some no mai, Tsukishiro," she said. In her hollowized form, the attack was far more powerful. It spread out in a circle from the place where she stood, crystals forming on every surface around her.

"Shit," said Ichigo, looking around him. The entire training ground, every rock and every surface, was covered in shimmering ice. Ichigo's feet would not move.

Rukia closed her eyes and willed the ice to rise around Ichigo. He was encased in a wall of frozen particles, and light sparkled like thousands of tiny mirrors from every rock face that surrounded him.

"Surrender?" she asked, her grin visible at the bottom of the hollow mask, which also reflected flecks of light in its crystalline white surface.

Ichigo's answer was a massive explosion, created as he channeled his spirit power onto every inch of his body. The waves of energy sent ice flying in every direction, and Rukia had to shield herself from the force of it with her own reiatsu.

"I don't think so," he replied, as he aimed yet another attack in her direction. This time, he was so fast, she could barely see him move. She felt a bit of her mask crack off as the edge of the stream of energy flew by her head.

"Cero," she thought as she touched the tip of her dagger to the blade of her zanpakuto.

A huge red ball of energy, ringed with ice, rushed through the air towards Ichigo. At the exact same moment, Ichigo shouted, "Getsuga Tensho!" again, and black flames shot towards the cero, encasing it. Another deafening explosion, and both Rukia and Ichigo found themselves on the ground, covered with ice and dirt, masks gone.

"How did you know I was going to do that?" asked Rukia, dumfounded.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," replied Ichigo, dusting himself off and giving her a hand up off the ground.

"I knew what you were going to do," Rukia said, looking puzzled. "Not your thoughts exactly, but I could see the attack in your mind." Ichigo's look told Rukia that he had had the same experience.

"Ah, Rukia-chan, Ichigo-kun, up early today, aren't we?" Urahara said, startling both of them. Urahara looked around the grounds with a slight smile, "I see I'm going to have some cleaning up to do."

"Cut the crap, Urahara," said Ichigo, clearly irritated, "how much did you hear?"

"Ichigo-kun, why so testy?" said Urahara, smiling. "Besides, you were going to ask me about it at some point, anyhow, weren't you? Why don't you both join me for some breakfast, and we can finish our conversation from last night."

Ichigo started to say something, but Rukia cut him off saying, "I think that would be a good idea, Urahara-san. We would be happy to join you."

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A half-hour later, Urahara, Rukia and Ichigo sat eating breakfast. They found they were both starving. Food and drink did Ichigo's mood good; the scowl on his face had been replaced by a frown.

"Well?" said Ichigo, after inhaling three bowls of rice, assorted fish and several pieces of fruit. "You were going to explain the connection between the two of us, weren't you?"

"Of course," said Urahara, smugly, "but first, why don't you tell me exactly what you have experienced."

"As if you don't already know," snapped Ichigo. Rukia unfolded her leg and gave Ichigo a kick.

"Why don't I explain, Urahara-san," she said. Things would go faster this way, she knew.

Rukia described their apparent ability to read each other's thoughts during battle. "I can't usually read exactly what he's thinking," she said, "it's more that I understand what he intends to do."

"Interesting," said Urahara, looking at Ichigo. "And you?"

"Same," grumbled Ichigo as he swallowed a large gulp of tea.

"We also can see into each other when we…ah…" Rukia blushed slightly, then, deciding that she was far too old to be ashamed of her physical relationship with Ichigo said, "When we make love."

Urahara smiled his usual coy smile.

"It's the same, I think, as when we fight. We can't read specific thoughts most of the time, but we can look inside each other and sense feelings, wants, fears. General concepts and feelings." Rukia paused for a moment.

"There is more, though," said Urahara. It was more a statement than a question. "It troubles you, Rukia-chan."

The way Urahara seemed to know things that he should have no reason to know made Rukia uncomfortable. She shifted her legs slightly, not sure how to explain it without it sounding as though both she and Ichigo had completely lost their minds.

"We dream the same dreams," said Ichigo, bluntly, saving Rukia the trouble.

"What kind of dreams?" asked Urahara, peering out from under the brim of his hat, clearly interested.

Ichigo described the dreams, the woman in red, the white room. He did not add that many of the dreams had ended with him being run through by the woman's zanpakuto. He had not told Rukia about that part, and he didn't want to worry her.

"And you?" asked Urahara, looking to Rukia, "have you experienced these dreams the same way?"

"Not exactly," Rukia answered, explaining that, although the dreams took place in the same surroundings, there was a different quality to her dreams. "The woman wasn't asking me for something tangible, like the key. She seemed to be using me to get to Ichigo. She wanted me to hurt him. To kill him." She shuddered inwardly, remembering.

"The last dream, though, was different," she said after a moment, remembering what she had seen. "We both dreamed it at the same time. I was watching Ichigo in the dream. I saw the woman in red speaking to him. I felt his fear. I tried to speak to him, but he couldn't hear me."

"When you felt each other's thoughts during your fight, had you released your bankai?" asked Urahara, deep in thought.

They nodded.

"Interesting."

"Dammit! Is that all you're going to say? 'Interesting?'" barked Ichigo, getting to his feet. "You have no clue what's going on, do you?!"

"No," answered Urahara, nonplussed, "but I have my suspicions."

"Do you intend to share them with us?" demanded Rukia, standing up, irritated as well. Her head was starting to throb again, and her patience was slowly evaporating.

"Of course, Rukia-chan," came the reply, "but please, both of you, sit down and have some more tea."

Rukia sat back down again. Ichigo did not. She grabbed his wrist and pulled, hard. He sat back down, scowling again.

"More tea?" asked Urahara.

"No," said Rukia, still irritated with Urahara's casual attitude, "No, thank you." She was sure she had an inkling of what Ichigo was feeling. "Please, Urahara-san, we'd really appreciate hearing about your suspicions." Urahara put down his cup of tea.

"I am not sure, of course," said Urahara, "but I believe that the connection between the two of you is related, at least partly, to the Hogyoku." This was no great surprise to either Rukia or Ichigo.

"It appears that the connection is strongest when your emotions and spiritual power are at their most intense. Your spiritual powers are most concentrated when you are in your bankai or hollow forms. Similarly, when you are," he paused, smiling demurely, "making love, as you put it, your spiritual energy is also very strong.

"I do not, however, fully understand the nature of your dreams," continued Urahara, watching Ichigo and Rukia carefully from under the brim of his hat. "You probably share these dreams because of your spiritual connection. More than that, I do not know."

Ichigo was still scowling at Urahara. Other than the Hogyoku being a possible catalyst for his connection to Rukia, he had learned little from Urahara's speech. He made to get up to leave, but Rukia stayed seated.

"Urahara-san," she said, thoughtfully, "do you believe Ichigo is the Oken?" Ichigo was surprised to hear Rukia ask the question, although he had certainly entertained the same thought. He leaned on the door, interested to hear what Urahara would say.

"Hmmm," Urahara said, now holding onto the brim of his hat. "I think that is possible. However, that particular theory does not explain why Aizen let Ichigo go, or why he did not come after Ichigo all these years."

"He didn't let me go," said Ichigo. "We were able to escape because Rukia destroyed the Hogyoku." Still, even as he said this, Ichigo felt a nagging doubt. Leaving Hueco Mundo with Rukia and Byakuya had been much easier that he had originally anticipated.

"That may be," said Urahara slowly. "Still, it is unlike Aizen to act carelessly. Leaving the Hogyoku so easily accessible…" Urahara paused for a moment in mid-sentence and then, shrugging, said, "But, even the best of us make mistakes from time to time."

Rukia and Ichigo exchanged knowing looks. In their experience, Urahara's mistakes were generally life-threatening.

"We're leaving. We're not going to learn anything else here," said Ichigo, opening the door and gesturing for Rukia to join him.

"There is one more thing you should know about the Oken," said Urahara, as Rukia stood up to join Ichigo.

"Yeah? What's that?" asked Ichigo, over his shoulder, not expecting anything new.

"Even the possessor of the Oken," said Urahara, "must have the King's permission to enter the King's Realm."

"I don't understand," said Rukia, clearly puzzled. "The key opens the gate between worlds, doesn't it?"

"That is true," said Urahara, smiling at them. "However, legend has it that opening the passage without the King's permission would result in the destruction of the Soul Society and the annihilation of every soul who lives within it."