Notice: I don't own Bleach, but this story is my own.
Chapter 11: Strengthening Souls Zwei
"Okay you two, show me what you've got. First Uryu, since I think you already know how to control your power." Masaki looked confidently at her bespectacled nephew. Uryu blushed a little, unaccustomed to praise from a female figure, especially one that reminded him of his mother.
"Y-Yes, right!" Uryu calmed himself and charged his spiritual energy. The pressure coming from him was a calming howl of white mist, indicating very good control of his power. Then after a few seconds he let go, and the energy and pressure dissipated.
Ichigo was impressed and clapped in praise, "Great work Uryu, I knew you had been training but you're far stronger than when we were in Karakura Town!"
Masaki smiled and commented, "Good display Uryu, you have fine control over your spirit energy, as expected of a trained Quincy, Ryū should be proud!"
Uryu flinched a little at that and huffed, "Yeah, well tell him that. He's given up being a Quincy anyway. I'm the only Quincy in the Ishida family now."
"Really? What did he say?" Masaki was curious because the last time she saw Ryū he was still a Quincy and even helped her out sometimes, especially that one time when she encountered a maskless hollow. That was a little off-putting for her to fight against, and Ryū just happened to be close so he helped.
"He said – I have no interest in being a Quincy, and you have no talent – can you believe that!?" Uryu folded his arms in disgust.
"From what I know of your father, he's still a Quincy and said what he said to you out of concern for your safety. Ryū always sounds too harsh though, but he's a good father."
"Well he was before mother...passed, but now he spends more time working at the hospital, then actually taking care of me. I was actually trained by my grandfather Sōken!" Uryu's chest puffed out in pride.
'Wouldn't've thought Uncle Sōken would train Uryu. Then again perhaps the loss of me and Kanae forced his hand, just so Uryu could defend himself?' She was deep in thought. So much so that Ichigo started calling out to his mother, waving his hands to get her attention. He then went up to her, and touched her.
"O-Oh, sorry Ichigo, was spacing out a little, huh?" She adjusted her posture to continue her lesson. "Okay, now that Uryu has accomplished this, I want to see what you can do Ichigo."
Ichigo was a little unsure, but tried to remember what his mother showed them, and what she specifically said, 'Okay deep breaths, then search for my well of power, and let it out as calmly as I can.'
Ichigo concentrated, and found his power 'reminds me a little of what Kisuke taught me, but it's different.' Then he exploded...in uncontrolled power.
"Ichigo! I told you to be calm, and NOT let it go out of control!" She was impressed by her son's raw power, while bracing herself a little 'could give Isshin a run for his money here'
Uryu wasn't as lucky, as he was almost blown to the back of the room, and had to use hirenkyaku to keep stable. 'Damn it Ichigo, what did Aunty just tell you!'
"I-I can't...control...it...ARRRGH!" Ichigo screamed as if he was in pain. The spiritual pressure was a mix of his usual blue, but started to have tinges of dark mixed in. The energy started to expand outward, waves of energy bursting forth from Ichigo.
'Th-this is...!' Feeling a dark power emanating from Ichigo, Masaki reacted. Using hirenkyaku, she quickly attacked Ichigo's pressure points to make him pass out. Ichigo's power stopped going haywire. Masaki caught her son before he collapsed on the floor. "There Ichigo, looks like that was a little too soon for you." She had a wry smile, having an inkling as to what dark power that was.
A certain terrible memory resurfaced, fighting against a white and black creature...
Ichigo awoke a few minutes later, "Wh-What happened...mom?"
"It's okay Ichigo, you just need to learn better control. I think focusing that power will be key here, since you have a lot of it. I'm impressed son!" The smile she gave him, made him blush, and he turned his head away from her. He nodded a reply.
"Ichigo, there's a rest area over there, just lie down there for a bit. I'll continue training Uryu while you rest up."
"M-Mom, but I can go on!"
"No, not like this. Pushing yourself is fine, but what you've just gone through isn't something you shrug off easily. Now go!" She pointed to the rest area that was located on the left side of the training room. Ichigo slumped a little, but complied, dragging himself over to rest.
Masaki, looked over to Uryu, who was still a little dazed from the display earlier. She looked directly at the Sanrei Glove, 'Yes time to deal with that problem.' Uryu spotted her staring and knew what her focus was on; he reflexively clutched his arm.
"Uryu...that glove...it's the Sanrei right?"
"Y..Yes Aunty..." his head fell in shame.
"I figured as much. You wanted an ace in the hole and you only had 10 days to train yourself to a high enough level."
"Yes."
"However, that isn't the answer." She was sad that Uryu was forced into a corner like this. She knew one wrong step, and the Sanrei Glove would be the end of his Quincy powers. Well technically not the 'end' but it would be a difficult road to get that power back. And she wasn't going to put her nephew through that terrible ordeal.
"Instead I will remove that glove from you, using an ancient ritual. Then I will train you myself so you won't need to rely on that glove for anything!" Masaki directed a stern look at the boy.
Uryu's eyes widened at the declaration. He nodded slowly, keeping his eyes locked on Masaki.
"Good! Now I'll train you for a little while, before we get Ichigo to join us. Maybe about an hour or so should be good? That would leave us with another hour of team training to go before the morning is over and the rest of your friends are awoken by Lady Shiba."
Author's Note: Well that's the end of a shorter chapter. As you can see I am slowly building up to a lot of things here. Some will come to fruition faster than others.