Author's Note: CH12's typos, errors, and prose issues should be fixed by now.
Toshiro's morning shower was lukewarm on the cooler side of the mixer. Droplets rained down on him from a bulbous metallic device. This luxurious, auto-heated, high-tech, walk-in shower was from the living world, brought to the Seireitei by the Research and Development Institute. Out of the many improvements and inventions they had made, this was by far Toshiro's favorite. No longer did he have to put up with accidental scaldings.
As he scrubbed his back, the sliding glass door was pulled open.
Soifon walked in, naked, with a haughty strut to show off her hips and pretty slit flower. She had stayed up well past midnight with him and Rangiku, gotten fewer than five or four hours of sleep, but her face was full of energy. She lazily Flash Stepped to him. Her smaller breasts jiggled once. "There you are, I thought you ran off."
"Why would I do that? This is my house," Toshiro drawled and dismissed weak echoes of lust. He had filled her up with his white goo five times, and Rangiku four times. He felt empty inside—in a good way. Still, he took this chance to touch her body again. He helped lather liquid soap on her breasts. The pineapple fragrance was nice.
"You know how this shower works, right?" Soifon dialed up the water temperature to a steamy boil. She pulled up the pressure knob as well.
"I like it colder." The heat was making him a tad dizzy. His spirit energy cooled him down.
"Because of your ice element?"
"Yes."
Soifon massaged her scalp with both hands, pushing her chest forward. "Your Zanpakuto. I've forgotten its name."
"Hyorinmaru." He didn't ask for hers. Suzumebachi.
"Right. And you know its Bankai name as well. Sometimes I forget you're a big boy, Lil Shiro."
After last night, he was used to her teasing. He slapped her butt. "In a decade I'll be taller than you."
"A decade. Very optimistic."
He lathered bubbles on her legs, working his way up her slim thighs. "You're hoping that I stay short for longer."
"Delusional."
"To put it bluntly, yes, you are."
"You're delusional." She firmly grabbed his hands before they touched her pussy.
He looked up at her in question. "What is it?"
In the voice of an Academy teacher, she said, "You should let your body rest. When you orgasm too often, it can negatively affect your health over time. You must have noticed last night, you ejaculated less fluid during each consecutive orgasm. Now, you don't even have a full erection when I stand naked in front of you, and you're hardly affected by my spirit energy. This means your body is in a state of sexual recovery."
"I can still get erect," he said in a meek, childish voice, but his penis disobeyed him.
She rubbed his upper arm. "Don't be ashamed. You orgasmed nearly a dozen times last night. At your body's stage of maturity, that's impressive. Listen to me, deprive yourself of sex for a week and you'll be back to your regular self. You'll enjoy your sex life a lot more if you practice self-restraint and control."
After a moment of tender eye contact, he grumbled, "Okay then."
"Trust me." Her knuckles lightly brushed against his cheek. "You're a naughty boy, but you're good at heart. I'm trying to help you. Ask any of the male captains if you don't believe me."
"I trust you, Soifon."
"Then finish washing up. Are you done?"
He nodded. "Are you?"
She turned off the water flow. Steam lingered. "I already was. I used a sanitation talisman. Unlike you, I don't have the time to shower often."
His eyelids blinked twice. The Stealth Force was a part of Squad 2. It was easy to overlook she was in charge of that. As Squad 10's captain, Toshiro was weighed down by crates full of paperwork. He couldn't imagine how much more hectic her days were, especially being a girl. Her daily routine probably involved a lot of sex.
Soifon rinsed off bubbles, saying, "I'm leaving for the living world."
"Why?" He didn't want her to go. He wasn't done with her.
"Do you remember what I said at yesterday's meeting?"
"Of course." About Ichigo's family.
"Ten minutes ago I received an urgent report. Yuzu Kurosaki's powers are awakening."
Toshiro's back straightened. "But she's still a Human." Sure, she was Captain Shiba's daughter, but even then…
"It's not surprising," Soifon said off-handedly. "It's amazing they've gone unnoticed for so long." Her hyper alert eyes flicked to Toshiro. "Right, you don't know."
"Know what?" His stomach clenched. He hated when information was kept from him. This had to be something big for it be kept from yesterday's captain meeting. "So? What is it?"
She was about to say something, then her face blanked, staring at marble tiles on the wall. She looked at him. "As captain of the Stealth Force, I have authority to request for any member of the Gotei to assist me in missions. Do you accept my request, Captain Hitsugaya?"
"I accept."
"Then I can tell you." Soifon sat on the bath tub's rim, legs crossed to his annoyance. "This is secret information currently known only to the Head Captain, Captain Kurotsuchi, the Royal Guard, Central 46 elders, and myself. Masaki Kurosaki was a Quincy. We don't know how it's possible, but she and Isshin Shiba were able to sire children. The three of them, they all have captain-level potential, minimum. Remember Ichigo's unidentified burst of spiritual pressure that saved him—it was his Quincy powers. This was redacted from Kurotsuchi's report."
Souls possessing both Quincy and Shinigami powers. Absurd. Toshiro didn't know what that could mean, but he did understand captain-level potential. A highly broad term to describe souls that could be of value to the Gotei. All lieutenants could become captains eventually. Many third-seats and fourth-seats too. Naturally, not all captains were born equal. Toshiro knew well what his own potential was. This was one massive lottery, and he had won perhaps the second or third best prize. A prize and a burden.
"What happens now?" he asked in a glum voice.
"Observe and wait."
His frown at that was unintended. "Then why do we have to go today?"
"I have to go," Soifon said, "because Isshin Shiba seems to have regained his powers within the past few days. What will happen to him is still undecided. Since you personally know him, we can perhaps talk peacefully and avoid a violent confrontation."
Toshiro deduced that the Kurosaki sisters could soon be in breach of secrecy laws. Those in the living world weren't supposed to know about Soul Society and its inner workings. Their spirit energy would also attract increasing numbers of Hollows, and if the Quincy side of their powers were dominant… This whole situation was getting messier and messier. Captain Shiba would be lucky to receive a fifty-year sentence and not an execution order. Unfortunate, all of this, too unfortunate.
"Has Rukia reported?" Toshiro asked.
"Not yet," Soifon slowly said, "but Ichigo seems to be cooperating, so far. There was a Gillian raid at his location yesterday."
Surprise flinched through Toshiro. "How bad was it?"
"Forty or so deaths. Rukia arrived in time to deal with the Gillian."
The scene failed to piece together in Toshiro's mind. He rambled, "But she was at the meeting. She must've been using Sentan Hakuja. Even then, it would've taken her three to five hours to reach Rukon 73."
"That's right," Soifon said, "the raid hit hours after the Hollow bait went off."
"Are you sure?"
Soifon nodded stiffly. "It's not improbable. Reasonably, the Gillian was assembling forces."
Toshiro wasn't convinced. "Something is happening."
Soifon laughed. Her rare laughter was musical. "Really? I didn't think that until you said so. Your intellect is as imposing as your height."
Doing best to not let her teasing bite, he clamped his teeth, and looked away. Frosted glass sparkled in sunlight. The window was taller than him. True, he was many decades away from full adult maturity. He would skip this adolescent phase if he could.
Soifon gently took hold of Toshiro's chin. "You'll only be this young once. Enjoy it while it lasts."
"Shut up," he drawled.
"I'm just saying." She smirked, though it was more of a sneer.
A yawn in the corridor gave away Rangiku's approach. "She's right, you know? You'll only be this small and cute for another two to three decades at most." Rangiku pulled open the sliding door. She was fully dressed. Not in the mood for a shower today, apparently. Those sanitation Kido talismans were getting more and more popular these days. "Captain, what's with the disappointed look? Don't tell me you're still not satisfied. You don't have an erection, so…"
He wore a commanding face. "We're leaving for the world of the living to assist Captain Soifon. Give our officers a cover story."
"Why? What's happening?"
"We'll fill you in on the way," Soifon said.
"Let's go," Toshiro said. With a sweep of spiritual pressure, he froze and wiped droplets off his body, then walked past his lieutenant. She smelled of pinewood and spicy mint today, tickling his inner nostrils. A bit of an eccentric perfume choice. He preferred her tropical fruit fragrance. He preferred her naked.
Ichigo again adjusted his new Shihakusho. The sleeves were baggy, and the hakama was an inch too long. Evidently, Rukia hadn't guessed his size correctly. Or she had bought this anticipating a growth spurt. After all, he still had a few years of growing left. Or was that a few decades, being a soul? This slower aging rate gave him mental whiplash.
Rukia passed him that custom-made white coat. "Here, try it on."
"Sure, whatever." The fabric was higher-quality than the rest of the Shihakusho, thicker and smoother. The coat was sleeveless, resembling a lab coat, except the front parts didn't meet together, leaving a wide column of his Shihakusho exposed. Thin black diamonds decorated the hems. This white-on-black look wasn't bad, he had to admit. Yuzu would say he looked stylish.
"It suits you," Rukia said. "I knew it would."
"Thanks, I guess." He tied his Katana and Wakizashi to the Shihakusho's broad white sash, under the coat. This uniform marked him as a proper Shinigami. No more mistakes from Rukongai residents. And he had to act the part. He was their protector. Their superior.
Rukia slipped a wooden pentagon up her left arm. A badge of sorts. An ink symbol was faded and flaking away. "Don't ask, it's an old tradition," she said, dismissively waving her hand. "Alright, now you need learn the the basic of Hoho, otherwise I'll have to carry you all the way to the Seireitei."
Ichigo looked over his shoulder. They were at the foot of mountains far south of the town. "How much further do we have to go?"
Rukia tied strings around the bundled-up tent. She then picked up a twig and drew a tiny circle in the dirt. "This is the Seireitei." She drew a far larger circle centered on the tiny one. "This is Rukon districts one to forty, known as the Inner Districts" And another circle, larger by a greater magnitude. "Districts forty-one to seventy-two, known as the Outer Districts. Beyond that are the Lawless Districts. In terms of land mass, the Lawless Districts are far vaster than all of Inner and Outer Districts combined. An inner ring of mountains separates the Inner and Outer Districts, and a outer ring separates the Outer and Lawless Districts. We are at the outer mountain ring. Some call these the Sekkiseki Mountains. Are you familiar with this stone?"
Sekkiseki. The name clicked. "Haruka told me about it. It blocks spirit energy."
Rukia nodded. "The rocky outcrops you see here aren't Sekkiseki. It's only found deep underground, but it still blocks all teleportation Kido. We'll have to traverse both mountain rings on foot. Captain-class Shinigami also come here to train without holding back, either inside quarried pockets or natural caverns. There happens to be a small quarry site not far from here. That's where I will train you, Ichigo."
"So let's get moving," he said, hauling the bundled tent onto his shoulder. "Oh, yeah, how does Flash Step work?"
"It's easy," she merrily said, "simply bolster your body, primarily your feet, with your spiritual pressure, then move as fast as you can, whether it's running or jumping or however you see fit. It should be second-nature for someone of your caliber."
True to her words, it was quite easy. But this didn't seem like a Flash Step. He wasn't disappearing and reappearing. He was merely running, though granted, he was running faster than any powerless Human could. It did make sense; some insects flew faster than the eye could see. The same principle had to apply here.
Rukia effortlessly kept up at his side, answered his unasked questions, "There are two fundamental pillars of Hoho. The first is quickening one's movement. The second is quickening one's perception. Unless you are awfully untalented, your skill in perception will increase in tandem with along your skill in movement. Right now you are at Academy Graduate level."
"But that doesn't include graduate healers?"
"Those with talent in healing Kido are offered a separate pathway into the Gotei. Hanataro is something of a prodigy in that regard." Rukia's strides suddenly quickened two-fold, which he matched with considerable effort. She was quiet for a dozen steps. "He told me your body was burned and nearly ripped apart by your own spirit energy. Try not to forcibly release your Shikai before learning its release command."
"Release what? And you don't have to tell me."
Eyes closed, she kept running uphill and lecturing: "There are three ways to release one's Shikai. Firstly, one may forcibly release by simply knowing the name. Secondly, one's Zanpakuto spirit may teach a release phrase, which allows one to release in a controlled manner. Thirdly, when one attains the Bankai release, neither speaking the Shikai name nor release phrase is required."
He made sure to remember that. It would be a good way to gauge a rival's power level. Or to deceive an opponent. He asked, "If I concentrate all my spirit energy into a single jump, is there a limit to how fast or far I could go?"
"No, but there comes a point where diminishing returns make it a waste of energy. It's called the Shihoin Law. For long distances, it's better to sustain slower speeds. Only do what you're suggesting if your life depends on it."
"Got it." He was half a second from testing how far he could leap when her words reminded him of something rather important. Abruptly he skidded to a stop. "Rukia."
She turned on her heel, instantly going from one-hundred to zero. "What is it?"
He wasn't sure where to begin. This was going to be awkward. "So… when I was Jinzen, my Zanpakuto spirits told me about an ability I have. They weren't very clear." He scratched the back of his head.
"Go on," she carefully said, cold wind tossing her hair and skirt about.
No other way to say it… He cleared his throat. "If you willingly drink an ounce of my blood infused with my spirit energy, I'll be able to save your life if you're grievously wounded."
She blinked, once, twice, a third time, before a ludicrous smirk scrunched her cute face. "You can't be serious. That's disgusting."
"That's what I said," he chuckled.
"Do I have to drink it now?" Her eyebrow arched. "Or when I'm wounded?"
"I'm pretty sure… Tensa Zangetsu meant drink it beforehand."
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah. Do you have a cup?"
Rukia's eyes rolled—a first for her. "You idiot. Talk to your Zanpakutos more before asking someone to drink your blood."
"Right now?"
She exhaled. "You really are an idiot. If this can save my life one day, then of course do it now. Don't leave this to the last minute as I'm about to die in your arms. It amazes me that you haven't mentioned this already. Fool."
So dramatic. Typical girls.
"Fine, give me a moment." He grabbed his swords.
White and blue and black spirit energy swirled. Red-Eyes Tensa Zangetsu was suddenly standing before him, out here in the real world. The tattered hems of tight-fitting black overcoat were immune to the wind. "We meet again." His voice didn't reverberate.
"Oh, hey," Ichigo said, "didn't know you could come out. This makes it easier." Ichigo glanced around. "Is the other guy not coming?"
"Only I need to be here," Tensa Zangetsu said.
"Alright." Ichigo held in a shrug.
Rukia, however, was speechless and unblinking, as though she were witnessing a strange occurrence. She promptly regained composure: "Tensa Zangetsu, may I ask how this blood-drinking ability works?"
"You seem surprised to see me," the red-eyed teen said. "I assure you, Ichigo couldn't be further away from attaining the power of Bankai. I am here for your sake, Rukia Kuchiki."
"I see," Rukia mumbled.
And Ichigo stowed away this tidbit for later—Bankai training.
Tensa Zangetsu held out bony fingers. Glowing white particles collected on his palm, formed a solid mass, and was gradually shaped into a small narrow ceramic cup, like a shot glass. "By drinking the infused blood, it will irrevocably link your souls and allow Ichigo to perform the Auswahlen on you, Rukia. This ability is a transfer of more than spirit energy between any linked souls at Ichigo's choice. To save someone from death merely asks for a drop of Ichigo's energy. Be warned, it is fatal if everything is taken from a soul… or if the transfer is done too often."
Finally a straight answer. Ichigo nodded. "I understand. I will use this power only as a last resort. Thank you for teaching me." He would to sacrifice everything of his soul to save hers. He owed her that much and more.
"Thank you," Rukia repeated, almost bowing.
"Ichigo, hold out your hand," Tensa Zangetsu said, and with a flick of his wrist, he sliced into Ichigo's left-hand palm. Blood pooled from veins, dribbled then steadily flowed. Spirit energy was siphoned, mixed into the cup as it filled. The crimson liquid took on a near-invisible bluish-white sheen.
Ichigo offered the cup to Rukia, tried to joke, "Pinch your nose."
She snatched it. Zero hesitation, she poured the single ounce into her mouth. One ounce of blood really wasn't much at all. She swallowed. She licked her lips. "Definitely tastes like blood. I don't feel any different."
"Neither," Ichigo said.
"It is done." Tensa Zangetsu was pleased. Proud.
"So how do I perform the Auswahlen?" Ichigo asked, noticing the cut on his palm was gone.
"When the time comes, you will know." Tensa Zangetsu crushed the cup into a hundred white sparks. "Once you are stronger, Ichigo, there will be more for you learn of this."
"Both of us or just him?" Rukia asked.
But Tensa Zangetsu retreated back to Ichigo's inner world in a brief vortex of black and white spirit energy.
Rukia puffed mist. "I asked a question."
"Don't mind him," Ichigo said, "he's usually that way. At least he's talkative unlike my other spirit. Forget about them, let's go before it rains." He eyed the dark clouds gathering on the western front. A storm was heading this way. Hopefully this place wasn't going to flood.
Rukia took out her oil lamp from her backpack as they ran onward in slow continuous Flash Steps, leaping forward every two dozen steps. Stalagmites were teeth in the gaping mouth of a vast cave system. This was the perfect place to do unspeakable things to a girl; Ichigo was very aware of it. His lustful teenage desires were creeping back, his eyes relentlessly drifting toward her body against his will.
Author's Note: And so it begins...
Review responses
- Ichigo won't be getting together with his sisters. There won't be any incest scenes between them.
- The tone of Rukia's dialogue is definitely a little different. Good that it's showing well.
- Ichigo said he has no regrets. That error should be fixed by now.
