Psychic Chick

Part One: Becoming a Shinigami

Chapter Twenty Nine: Teach Me


Main POV

"I need to train for bankai," I said after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Renji turned to me.

"What are the qualifications for becoming a captain?" I asked.

"There are three different ways you can go about becoming a captain," Rukia explained. "There's the Captain Proficiency Test, which requires the ability to preform bankai. Almost all shingami captains have used this method. And at lest three captains including the Head Captain have to witness the test.
There's personal Recommendation, where you would need personal recommendations from at least six captains and approval from at least three of the remaining seven. But it'll be much more difficult for you since we're down two captains still.
And lastly, Trial by Combat. You'll have to defeat a captain in one on one combat with at least 200 witnesses from that captain's division. Which is the method used by Captain Zaraki Kenpachi, who you haven't met yet and should be thankful. This method is the rarest and the least refined of the three. It's usually looked down upon by other captains and seen as barbaric compared to the other refined methods. It allows for allows one to bypass having mastered bankai and other abilities required in captains, which other captains would normally be allowed to judge for. And although rare in other divisions, Eleventh Division has been set up exclusively to utilise this method, each captain having attained their rank by killing the predecessor."

"Forgive me," I said. "But I don't exactly plan on gaining trust and respect by murdering a captain."

"That's good, because killing another captain would only put us in the same position as before you killed them, by leaving two open spots in the ranks," Rukia smiled.

"So I either have to get 9 people to like me, or I attain bankai and showboat for a while," I crossed my arms. "What's the fastest anyone's ever achieved bankai?"

"That one's mine," Ichigo replied. "I got bankai in two days."

"Show off," I rolled my eyes.

"So, which method did you chose?" I asked.

"Well I wanted to do the bankai thing, but everyone had all already seen it. Seeing as I used it during the Ryoka Invasion. But it apparently wasn't that hard to get all the captains to vote in my favour, I guess I'm likeable guy," he replied.

"Not that I've seen so far," I replied dryly. "So, I need a place I can train undetected by the masses for a while. Any ideas?"

"I know a place," Ichigo replied. "But it's going to be difficult for you to suppress your spiritual pressure while you're training since bankai requires the manifestation of your zanpakuto's spirit."

"That kido I used earlier," I thought out loud. "Kyōmon, can that be used to block spiritual presence? If you were sealed in a barrier of it, would it make me more undetectable?"

"You'd be better using Hachigyō Sōgai," Hitsugya's voice sounded from behind me.

"Does everyone know I'm here?!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Not as subtle as you think you are, hey Tina?" Renji teased.

"How does everyone keep finding me?" I asked. "I keep trying to go places people wouldn't expect me to go."

"Which is what makes you so predictable," Hitsugaya said, coming into the room and sitting down on the couch with his arms folded.

"I found you because I knew the first place you'd go was 11th division. Nobody messes with those guys and if you needed a place to law low that wasn't with me, that's the first place you'd think of. And after that I guessed you'd been using the Seireitei Communication to get your information from, I'd suspected it since I found you in Hisagi's office this afternoon. I figured you'd go back there for at least a little while."

"And I found you because the person most likely to not turn you in when asking for help is Kurosaki Ichigo," Hitsugaya answered.

"Right," I nodded. "So how much of the plan did you hear?" I asked.

"You plan on making yourself a captain to force everyone into telling you the truth," Hitsugaya sighed. "And if you want to do that the most likely way to succeed is by mastering bankai and displaying it to three captains."

"So everything then," I replied. "My only problem now is that I can't cast Hachigyō Sōgai, or anything more advanced than the explode-y tennis balls. Yumichika even commented on how shitty my kido is, which is incredibly hurtful coming from and 11th division member."

"You must not let his division cloud your judgement," Hitsugaya commented. "Yumichika is a kido expert and only keeps it quite due to his division."

"Right," I nodded. "So are you telling me to ask him to cast Hachigyō Sōgai?"

"No, I'll cast it for you," Hitsugaya told me with another sigh. "But my involvement with this whole plan is to be kept off the radar. I don't want any of the other captains finding out."

"Deal," I replied. "I don't want them finding out about any of this either."

"Alright then," Renji said. "Tina and I are going to gather supplies and you guys rest up, we'll meet back here a 3am."

"Yeah, just you try resting when you're living with a screaming baby," Ichigo told him flopping down onto the couch beside the sleeping bundle.

"You don't want to move him to his crib?" Rukia asked.

"If you want to pick him up and risk him waking up again, be my guest," he replied.


"Are you writing on my mirror in lipstick?" Renji asked, coming into his bathroom with a fully packed bag.

"Listen," I said to him. "I want nothing more than to have you by my side..."

"But you're going to tell me I can't come," Renji replied.

"I'm going to tell you I don't think you should come," I explained. "If I fail and you're with me we're both going down."

"Don't fail then," Renji replied. "Plus, not even Ichigo could train for bankai entirely by himself. So I'm coming with."

"Fine," I agreed. "Although it makes my heartfelt message a bit redundant," I gestured to the crudely written hiragana around the boarder of his mirror.

"Oh Renji I love you so much?" he laughed.

"That wasn't quite what I meant," I replied with an eye roll.

"We need to work on your penmanship when we get back," he told me. "And your Japanese."

"I'll work on my hand writing when you work on your kido," I laughed beside him. "Now come on," I grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

We phased out of existence and shunpo-ed to Ichigo's, waiting outside quietly for them instead of knocking and waking up their kid. Hitsugaya arrived and I made a small noise to notify him we were there.

"Your powers can extend to another person?" He asked.

"At least one," I told him. "I've never tried more."

"You guys ready?" Ichigo asked. He kissed Rukia on the cheek before she shut the door on us and he lead us out of the main streets and round to a hidden area in the cliffs. "Yoruichi took me here when we invaded. Here's the spot I trained for my bankai. Toshiro, if you cast the kido barrier, whatever it was called, over that door just there, it should keep Kiseki and Renji hidden until she's mastered bankai."

"What're you going to do then?" Hitsugaya asked.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "When they find me there's no doubt they'll take me to another captain's meeting. But I can't unleash my zanpakuto there."

"Do you ever plan anything all the way through?" he sighed.

"Go to Sōkyoku Hill and leap off the edge," Ichigo said.

"Excuse me?" I turned to him.

"That's where the ruins of the old division are. If you go there you can demonstrate it without anyone getting hurt or breaking any laws," he explained.

"As soon as you show up, I'll gather the captains there," Hitsugaya said. "There you can make as many dramatic speeches as you want and show off your cool new powers. Just make sure, I'm not seen as being involved."

"Done," I agreed. "Thanks guys."

"Any time," Ichigo replied with a wave and flashed away. Renji flashed with me up to the entrance and Hitsugaya stood at the door.

"You can back out at any time till now," he said.

"I'm not going to back down on this," I told him.

"So long as you know what you're doing," he sighed, putting his hands up and casting Hachigyō Sōgai in front of the door. A large orange wall formed over the front of the cavern and Hitsugaya disappeared.

"This is it," Renji said holding a bag next to me.

"What's in that thing anyway?" I asked. "I was too busy drawing on your mirror to pack anything."

"You're cleaning that off when we're done here, you know that right?" He told me and then lead me over to a sheltered area, upstairs and away from everything else. He put the bag down next to a bad he rolled out and unzipped the duffel. Once opened, he revealed he'd brought extensive first aid supplies, food and changes of clothes. "We might be here a while. For most people it can take 10 years of practice. I figure that wont be the case considering how quickly you got shikai, but still, it could be a while."

"You think of everything," I told him, kneeling beside him. "Are you really okay with this?"

"When I got you back," Renji said. "When I found you in Japan and you told me how much you loved me, I was hurt. But once I'd let that go I made a vow to myself. No matter what you decided, what choices you made, where we were, I'd support you. I'd do whatever you asked and I'd be by your side as long as you were in my life. I love you and I'm not about to let you get away. If this is what you want to do, then I'll follow any harebrained scheme you come up with."

"Renji," I looked at him, trembling because of what he'd just said.

"Don't say anything," he told me. "It's alright, you just go out there and train. I'll keep an eye on things from up here."

"But Renji," I said. How could he just say something like that.

"Go Tina, we might not have much time," he told me and I nodded. Every second counts. I headed back down the stairs and into the training room.

"Hisakata, are you ready?" I asked as I sat down. "I really need your help on this one. How about we make it fair, I'll come in there and battle you and if I win, you please help me with this. If not, I'll never ask you again."

"That's a big promise," Hisakata said from beside me. I opened my eyes and we were sitting on the sand again in my inner world. "I'll tell you what, fight me now, prove you're ready for bankai, and if you lose you can't train for it again until I decide you are."

"Sounds like a good deal to me," I told her.

"Are you sure you're ready?" she asked.

"I have no other choice," I told her. "I need this, I need to do this and I'm going to fight for it with or without bankai. I'm training for this, training for bankai because I'm asking for your help. I'm asking you to lend me your strength completely and totally so that we don't lose our freedom."

"Alright," she nodded. "Take this," she handed me a copy of my sword. "But heed this warning. I am not in that sword. Only you and whatever spiritual pressure you put into it are there. I won't help you at all this battle and if you break that sword, if you can't fight anymore, that is us over."

"Okay," I said unsheathing my sword and pushing back across the sand.

I got into a stance and got read for her coming. He using all her power against me probably meant that this sword was very fragile, the only thing keeping it together was the spiritual pressure I kept in it. She came out me full force and I put as much energy as I could muster into the Asauchi she had given me. I put it up to block as I held it in both hands and she made contact. An enormous clap of spiritual force erupted from the collision and sent shockwaves across the beach. A palm tree to my right exploded and to my left the sea parted like Moses had recently visited.

"Is that all you've got," I panted, my arms shaking a little from the hit.

She recoiled and swung hard and heavy for her next attack. All I could manage with the strength of her hits was to block and try as I might to keep the blade intact. Whatever this fight was, I was supposed to be learning something. I didn't know what it was, perhaps I was too dense, but I needed to figure it out before time ran out.

"Pay attention!" She called at me and came forward for another heavy swing.

"Arg!" I growled as I just managed to block it. "I am paying attention!"

I lifted my sword up to counter when she swung round and almost cut me in half. I had to quickly bring my katana back down lest I want to be a flat pack version of myself. She was quicker than me, she wasn't concentrating as hard on her blade and had more freedom to attack at will. If I was going to keep my pressure in the blade, I had to figure out if she was following some kind of pattern or something. If not, I'd be toast for sure.

I leapt backwards away from her, she would have to travel more to get to me for her next attack. I felt a rush of air behind me and had to quickly jump again, she used shunpo to get behind me.

"Damn it!" I yelled as I leapt away.

"You forget, in here, if you can do it, so can I," she told me and I hit the ground, rolling away from her. I hoped that didn't mean she had my psychic abilities.

"I'm an idiot!" I yelled out in frustration before dodging.

"Blanket statement, or would you like me to comment?" She asked mimicking Renji from all those months ago.

"Just you wait," I told her and vanished from view.

Irked, I turned myself invisible and suppressed my spiritual pressure. I ran around her and pulled back a fist, trying to land a hit on her back. I loaded my hand with spiritual pressure and launched towards her. She turned towards me last minute and matrixes herself out of the way.

"Nice try," Yoruichi commented, grinning at me. She swung a leg up toward my face which I only just had enough time to catch. "But remember that we're training in sand and you leave your footprints behind."

"You can't hide from me for long," Hisakata said. "Did you really think you could sneak up on me? This is sand, the moment you take a step I'll know where you are!"

I took a deep breath and gathered up all my might into the Asauchi I held in my hands and then let go with one hand. I directed my hand out towards the ocean and telepathically sucked as much water and sand up from the side and thrust it at her as hard as I could. She cried out and I charged at her, loading all the spiritual pressure I could into the blade and swinging it down onto hers. It crumbled and snapped under the weight of my hit and she grinned at me.

"Alright then," she smirked. "If you want it that badly."

She reached a hand up and smacked me hard in the face, like she had the first time I'd interacted with her only much, much harder. I slammed backwards through my inner worlds and right into the physical one. I hit the training room floor with a thud and coughed.


Renji POV

I sat watching the clock as Tina remained unmoving in her mediative state. I wondered what she was doing that was taking so long. She couldn't train for bankai inside her head, she had to do it by manifesting her zanpakuto's spirit. Ichigo had left me instructions that there was a cut out here that would help her if she needed to force it out, but she could only use it for a maximum of 3 days. I was starting to think we'd need it.

"I'm an idiot!" She growled from her spot on the floor and then went back to her motionless state. I got up and walked over to her, I shook her a little.

"Tina?" I asked. I looked at her with concern when she didn't answer me. "Strange girl," I said and went back to my spot.

After a while of sitting, observing her she flared her spiritual pressure and flew backwards into the ground.

"Tina!" I yelled as she made contact with the hard rock. I dove towards her, kneeling above her as she opened her eyes.

"What a bitch," she said and then shook her head, coming out of her state to look at me.

"What?" I looked at her, running a hand over her forehead.

"My zanpakuto," she answered. "She keeps slapping me."

I sighed. "Come on, up you get," I said helping her up.

"What the hell was that for?" Tina yelled at the woman who was now standing in front of us.

I had to assume the said woman in front of us was Tina's zanpakuto. She was standing in a short white skirt and sleeveless white shihakusho shirt and blue tie around her waste. No shinigami I'd ever seen dressed like that. That and you'd have to be pretty skilled to break though one of Captain Hitsugaya's kido spells. The woman just shrugged and flipped her dripping wet, white-y/purple hair over her shoulder and shrugged.

"Seemed fun," she replied.

"You're such a bastard," Tina growled. "Are you going to teach me or not?"


Main POV

"Very well then," Shimizu sighed. "You never bring me out to play. It's always work, work, work, train, train, train. I wanna have fun."

"Okay," I sighed. "Look, I promise if we don't all get arrested and stripped of our powers and or murdered I'll bring out out some more. But right now we don't have that luxury."

"Fine," she sighed again and tossed me an ordinary asauchi.

"This again?" I asked.

"I said I wanted to have fun," she told me. "So day one, we're training without any releases."

"Alright," I sighed, readying myself.

She charged at me and I packed my spiritual pressure into my sword. It was going to go on like this all night.