"You're delusional if you think this will only take three days." Kana told Yoruichi as soon as they returned to the cave. They had laid Ichigo back down on the mat out front, and the women had worked together to redo his bandages. Now they were in the back of the training grounds, playing Yoruichi's favourite game of tag. Ichigo should be waking within the next hour, as the drugs Yoruichi had injected right into his bloodstream through the wound was a fairly low dosage and with how hard Ichigo's reiatsu was working to expel it it would likely not last very much longer. The very tips of Kana's fingers brushed against the end of Yoruichi's ponytail, but with a distortion in the air in front of her Yoruichi was suddenly 10 feet in front of her instead of almost within arm's reach. Kana huffed and put on another burst of speed.

"You're leaking too much. You need to pull your reiatsu even tighter. Think of it less as an aura around you, and more as part of your skin." Yoruichi explained, and Kana scowled slightly, coming to a stop. Yoruichi did as well, turning to face her and watching carefully as Kana tried to focus on the sparking of reiatsu. Shortly after learning Arashi's name, it had slowly changed and was no longer a rolling flow like water. Now it was more like the sparking of static electricity. She stared at her hand as she tried to move her reiatsu, frowning at how difficult it was to pull in any tighter than it was. It was almost like she was pulling too tight on a rubber band, and she wasn't sure how bad it would be if it snapped on her. There was a shuffle of noise from the front room, and Yoruichi held her hand up in a 'wait a minute' gesture. Kana turned to look at the entrance of the cave as Ichigo stumbled towards them, seeming both half-awake and entirely furious. He approached Yoruichi and with a lunge was grabbing at the front of her shirt.

"Why did you do that?" He yelled and Kana almost flinched at how hurt his voice sounded. Yoruichi continued to just give him a cold stare, even as his strength started to return and he lifted her until her toes barely brushed against the ground.

"Why was I the only one you brought back!?" Ah. That made sense then. As far as Ichigo could tell, they had betrayed him by taking him away from the situation instead of saving Rukia.

"I was the only one who had half a chance of surviving back there, and now thanks to you, Ganju and Hanataro and Rukia will all be killed!" Well fuck, Ichigo, how many people did he think they could carry at once?

"Don't be so vain." Kana grinned at the cold piercing look Yoruichi gave the teen with a blank expression.

"You had no chance of surviving, none of you could have defeated Byakuya." Yoruichi moved, her arm shifting and knocking Ichigo backwards. He was already falling before what had happened seemed to register with him, and he collapsed with a groan of agony, writhing from the pain that no doubt came from his wounds being jarred.

"Stop trashing. You'll reopen your wounds and then Rukia will surely die. In any case, I could only carry one person and still escape Byakuya, and I'm so out of practice that I might not have even made it if Kana hadn't held the brunt of your weight." Ichigo seemed to only just notice Kana was there, rolling onto his front and peering up at her with a glare. She advanced, half tempted to stop on his head and wipe that look out of his eyes.

"Why didn't you take Rukia then? That's the whole reason we're here." Yoruichi turned away from him, walking towards Kana and laying a hand on her shoulder to stop her coming any closer.

"We could have, but Rukia wouldn't have a chance of defeating Byakuya any more than the rest of them back there would have. You alone have the ability to do that, given the right training. So I brought you back here with me in order to give you that training."

Yoruichi started to head back into the training grounds and Kana followed as Ichigo stood.

"Besides, I'm sure the others are safe with Captain Ukitake there." Oh, so that was the white haired captain then. Weirdly nice guy, made Kana feel slightly uncomfortable. She could deal with Shinigami wanting to kill her, but one gave her a polite smile and a wave and she didn't know what to do about them.

"He's Rukia's superior, and a very decent man. Even though Ganju's an intruder, and Hanataro a traitor, he wouldn't kill someone who tried to save Rukia." Ichigo was stumbling behind them, and Yoruichi turned her head slightly to give him a smile.

"Don't worry about them, Ichigo. Stay here to regain your strength and become more powerful than Byakuya." Kana hummed as Ichigo's reiatsu flared and she glanced back to notice a determined look in his eyes.


Kana grunted as Yoruichi's leg connected with her side, grabbing it and twisting. Her finger's ached as Yoruichi pulled her leg back, and Kana's knee came up only to be blocked by Yoruichi's hand. They had been sparring and chasing and racing for what felt like days, and she wasn't even tired. She wasn't entirely sure what drug Yoruichi had given her, but she would love to have more of them when it came to days she needed to pull an all-nighter. Ichigo was still struggling with the manifestation of his Zanpakuto, after getting the most simple speech about what Bankai was from Yoruichi. Why Ichigo didn't know beforehand and Kana did was a mystery to her, but she just chalked it up to her actually paying attention when people talked.

"Faster!" Yoruichi growled, attacking Kana again with a flurry of movements. It took Kana everything she had to counter them, let alone preform a counterattack.

"Your reiatsu is too wide! Tighten it!" Kana did as was told, but it was strenuous, and felt like it was going to snap.

"Tighter!"

"I can't! It'll break!" Kana growled in response, taking note of how unsteady her limbs felt the tighter she pulled her reiatsu.

"I said tighter!" Kana hesitated a moment, and then gave her reiatsu a harsh tug closer to her body. There was the sensation of snapping, and then what felt like being struck by lightning, and then her vision faded.