Disclaimer: No I do not own Bleach.

Heart of Wind

Chapter 8: Jumpstart

Ryushin felt the air in his chamber being disturbed, and with great effort managed to pull his mind back to the outer world. "Urahara, what is it? Is time up already?"

Urahara slowly walked into the small, almost lightless room, his sandals clicking on the wooden floor. "Oh, not quite yet. I just decided to come and check in on you while I let those three have a break." He sounded as cheerful as ever.

Ryushin knew the truth behind those words though. "Is it really going that badly?"

Urahara's cheerful expression dissolved and his head tilted down to look at the ground quietly, one hand resting on top of his head. "In five days they've made almost no progress. Their physical skills haven't gotten much better. In two days the Time-Slip will break, and this isolated moment in time will be returned to the time stream. When that happens, I will be unable to…"

"I understand that. I have been training my spirit hard and am slowly wearing down the strength of the seal." Ryushin sighed and then chuckled tiredly. "Even though this faux body is that of a teenager, I suddenly feel so old…do you feel that way on occasion, Kisuke?"

Resting his back against one of the wooden walls of the isolation chamber, Urahara didn't reply.

"After all, you still have your full power, more or less." Ryushin's grey eyes looked down at his hand, and he watched it flex in slight anger. "I don't even care about the loss of power, but I care that I need to train to beat Kemura!" His fist clenched tight, the knuckles popping from the pressure. "He's my ex-Vice Captain…why can't I defeat him? Before, I probably had the power to do so, if I pushed myself…"

"He isn't your opponent, is he?" Urahara made it sound like a question, even though honestly he knew the truth. "Ito-san will be fighting him for the win, I know it."

"That's your personal wish, because of your relationship with that girl…" Ryushin sighed. "You're hopeless, Kisuke. You can act the relaxed super swordsman all you like, but I know the truth behind it. I know why Takai hasn't improved. The other two aren't my worry, but Takai has the power to crush Kemura, and if he is the one destined to do it, then he has to be ready to fight at full strength." He slowly stood up, his legs making loud cracking noises from suddenly being moved after staying still for five days. "So be it…"

Urahara still said nothing, his eyes hidden from sight by his striped hat.

Ryushin walked towards the door, his bokken in hand. "Do as you wish, Urahara. But I know the truth, and that is you can't bring yourself to do such horrible things to the boy, because her spirit is his. Well, then let me do it for you. I make no promises though, so if he dies…so be it." Then he stepped through the door and slid it shut.

As he sat in darkness, Urahara's mind lingered on Ryushin's words. ("Am I really that weak-willed? Am…am I failing her again?")

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Takai slowly stood up and brushed some of the dust off of his robes, even though it honestly was a waste of effort. He was so covered in dust and dirt that he felt absolutely filthy. ("Jeez…fighting for five days straight...") Then he thought a little about that statement and grumbled. "Fighting…yeah right…it's him attacking, me trying to avoid dying."

He was barely surprised when he heard the sound of someone approaching him from behind rapidly. "Jeez, that was a short break…." He drew his Soul Slayer and got ready for what he knew was coming. ("And now I block, and his spiritual force sends me flying.") It was a pattern to him now.

Then his blade clashed against the opposing one, but instead of that overwhelming and nearly invincible spiritual pressure that he felt from Urahara, it was simply a strong push instead. Then he realized that the blade his was pressed against was much smaller than Urahara's weapon.

Ryushin scoffed and kicked Takai right in the stomach, blasting the air from him and sending him rolling backwards. "Too slow, Takai!" He was right on the rolling boy's heels, and without hesitating he slashed a deep cut in Takai's back.

Takai's mind flashed with signals of excruciating pain, and suddenly his body was moving on its own, stopping his roll and bringing him to his feet just in time to block another sword swing from a weapon that was now stained with his blood. "Ryushin…what the hell…"

"You're too soft, Takai. This training was far too easy." The much shorter and smaller gray-haired boy turned on one heel and slapped Takai's sword away. But just as quickly that sword came back into a defensive position. "Even now, it's not you I'm fighting. It's just your body, and the reflexes she trained that are protecting you. If it wasn't for those things, you'd have died by now." Taking a couple steps back, he frowned in utter distaste. "Far too easy."

"Easy?" Takai stomped his foot a couple of times. "What are you talking about? Do you know how hard it was for me to even stay on my feet against that guy?"

"That's the problem…" Ryushin closed his eyes and sighed in irritation. "I should have realized beforehand that his connection to you would make this training useless."

"What connection?" Takai was truly angry now. He didn't like Ryushin when he thought the guy was just a high and mighty jerk, but now that he understood why the guy acted that way it made him like Ryushin even less. "Don't start throwing weird little hints around if you aren't going to explain them!"

"You don't get it do you, Wind Princess?" Ryushin smiled slightly as he saw Takai's face flinch slightly, though by the look on the boy's face he didn't realize it. "You understand, deep down inside, what all of these memories you have are in reality. And you also understand why you are so powerful, considering you apparently have the fighting skills of a little child!" He launched in, and when Takai's arms began to move to block, he stopped in mid-charge and hopped back a couple of feet. "Even now her spirit is keeping you alive, though whether it is because she cares about you or for self-preservation, I don't know."

"Whose spirit?" Takai's arms were shaking now, and he wasn't sure why. "Who are you talking about?"

"No." Ryushin placed a hand on each side of his sword. "The time for talking is over! Takai Ito, prepare yourself! Dance upon the grave of the sun, dance upon the cradle of the moon, sing of the fall of heaven, sing of the rise of hell…and cast off your coil! Saezuru, Haiiru Tenshi!" There was a loud explosion and a spray of silver sparks as the small blade transformed into a full-fledged sword with a cross-guard that resembled the spread wings of a bird and a blade with a pure gray color to its blade.

Takai barely had time to react before that same grey blade slashed across his chest. As he watched his own blood spray out, his mind screamed at him and suddenly he was moving, sword clashing with Ryushin's weapon. For about five seconds they were simply there, their only intent to slash the other down with their weapon. And then when that moment passed Takai was sent sliding backwards, while Ryushin didn't budge an inch. "See that, Takai? For those five seconds you were fighting at your optimum level, but already that moment has passed. Can you hope to beat Kemura in those five seconds, Ito?" Then he realized he was about to get hit, and did a casual back-flip to avoid a roundhouse kick coming in at his side.

Asura growled and glared at the Ex-Captain. "Hey, ya bastard! If you've got beef with Takai, you got beef with me too."

Ryushin glanced behind him, and noticed that Homorue was sitting on a nearby rock. ("Three on one? Even in my current state, they'll most likely win. No…I don't have time to train you two, my target is Takai!") "Get out of my way!"

"Not a chance in the seven hells." Asura cracked his knuckles and sneered crazily. "Come on, pretty boy. Let me bust your Soul Slayer and your face."

"I'm not joking around." Ryushin let his spiritual pressure leak out, and was surprised when they barely budged.

"Is that it?" Homorue smirked. "Sorry, Enjeru-san, but if that's the extent of your power then intimidation won't do anything to us."

Ryushin was already re-evaluating his opinions of these two…until he realized that Takai was shaking. ("Urahara really is letting all of this get to him…he didn't even realize that the other two were improving so steadily.") "I see now. The only one who hasn't made any progress at all is you, Takai. Just you."

Takai's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Ryushin spat onto the stone. "These two have gotten much stronger, but your level of power is still the same. It was impressive before the training began, but now you're the weakest guy here."

Takai's eyes flared up with anger and he seemed to blur across the distance between himself and Ryushin, his Soul Slayer glittering in the false sunlight of the underground cavern they were fighting in.

Ryushin snapped up his blade and blocked the attack, barely moving at all despite the anger in the strike. "Don't you get it?" He elbowed the boy right in the ribs, and then slashed his sword down across Takai's chest again, getting that same spray of blood as he slashed another near fatal blow on the boy. "At this rate you'll die, Takai. In fact, you're probably already dead now."

Asura stepped past Takai quietly. "Sorry slacker, but you aren't allowed to die here. Leave this snot-nosed little wimp to me."

Ryushin sighed. "It can't be helped, can it?" His eyes met Asura's, both of those normally grey orbs glowing silver. "Asura-kun, I'm about to cut you down like a dog. Sorry in advance."

Asura snickered. "Let me show you something I was working on while fighting the Sandal Hat Loser." He punched the ground as hard as he could. "Rock Destruction!" Then the ground around him exploded, spraying large chunks of rock everywhere at once.

Ryushin hopped back a couple of paces, out of the range of the rocks. "Do you expect to catch me off-guard with that kind of diversionary tactic?"

"Yup," Asura said from right behind Ryushin, and then he drop-kicked the boy in the shoulder, satisfied when he heard a nice crack noise. "Dislocation makes it difficult to wield a sword, huh?" Then he instantly switched from a drop-kick to a knee in the face, using the same leg to both disable and knock down Ryushin.

Homorue whistled. "Nice hit."

"That wasn't nice, it was a warning shot." Asura cracked his neck and waited for Ryushin to stand up. "Hurry and climb to your feet so that I can beat the living crap out of you."

Ryushin stumbled to his feet. "Beat the living crap out of me, you say?" He chuckled calmly and cracked his dislocated arm back into place, not making a single sound. "You're mistaken, Asura-kun." Picking up his Soul Slayer, he turned to face his new opponent. "I'm going to cut you down, just like I said."

"Nice…come and prove it!" Asura went charging in, but right before he could reach Ryushin he found himself facing Urahara. "Where did you come from?"

Urahara turned on one heel and punched Asura in the face, using the force of his body's turn to increase the strength of the blow. There was a sound like a gunshot, and then Asura was stumbling backwards. "I'm sorry Asura-kun, but please take your fighting elsewhere." He turned to face Takai's standing form. "I have decided…that for her sake…" Holding up his cane, he pulled his sword free from the hidden sheath and dropped it to the side. "Okiro, Benihime." A crackling noise came from the thin blade as it grew and changed into its unlocked form.

Homorue grimaced. "Hey, you're making a mistake Urahara-san. Don't you understand that Takai is injured? He's…" Then he froze as a powerful wave of spiritual pressure fell down on him, nearly sending him to his knees just from that. ("What is this power? Where is it coming from?")

Takai chuckled coldly. "Hey…old man." He turned to face Urahara, eyes glittering emerald green. "I've been waiting for a chance to meet you again."

Urahara was only mildly surprised by this sudden turn of events. "It's nice to see you again, Wind Princess." He tipped his hat to Takai.

"Don't give me that crap…" Takai snapped up his Soul Slayer, those emerald eyes suddenly murderous as they stared down upon the man who had ruined his life. "Because of you, he died. Because you held back, he died…"

Homorue blinked a few times as he struggled to recover his composure. "What exactly is going on here?"

Ryushin bit his lower lip and then glanced at Asura. "Come along, dog!" Turning, he ran away as fast as he could. ("I knew she'd come out if I injured Takai's body enough, but I didn't expect her to be like this. It's dangerous for anyone but Urahara to be near Takai for now.")

Asura snickered and chased right after him. "Again with the dog comment, I'm going to stomp on your head once for every time you've called me that!"

Homorue didn't move though. Even though this intense spiritual pressure was painful, something about this encounter intrigued him. Maybe it was the fact that he would finally figure out why Takai was so dangerous, or maybe it was because he wanted to see if his training had paid off. ("Either way, I will not miss this.")

Urahara sighed and tilted his hat up a little bit. "Are you actually blaming me for what happened? I wasn't even there."

"That's not why I'm mad! I'm mad because your training was too soft! Because of you I wasn't strong enough to save him!" Takai threw his Soul Slayer up into the air. "Gyou, Arashi Karyuudo!" The weapon dissolved into nothingness. "Prepare yourself, old man. I intend to kill you."

Urahara sighed in displeasure. "This is not how I intended this training to go at all. Come now, dear, do you really think it's wise to go all out against me?"

"Not only will I go all out, but I'll go beyond that to make sure you wind up in your grave!" Takai snapped one arm up and a pulled something out of thin air. It was a long chain of connected blade segments, each one about the length of a person's arm. "I will hunt you until the ends of the earth!" Then he grabbed one end of the chain and cracked it like a whip, the entire bladed chain swinging widely towards Urahara.

Urahara leapt upwards to avoid the attack. ("I have to be extra careful against this type of opponent. Her Jigen Kizu has the power to cut as long as I'm in line with the blades, and unlike Ito-kun she has the ability to fire that technique off as many times as necessary.") This would not be an easy fight, but it apparently was going to have to be a necessary one. "Very well…" He touched down on the ground. "I will fight you."

"Good, because I wasn't giving you the option to decline!" Takai launched into the air and stopped about twenty feet up, floating in the air with the blade-chain around him like a snake when it wraps around a person's body. "Jigen Kizu Arashi!" Then he grabbed one end of the chain and pulled, sending the entire length into a wild dance. And from the segments of blades came incredibly quick crescents of light that expanded as they rocketed towards the ground.

("Jigen Kizu Arashi…It's a dangerous attack that allows the user to send a spray of Dimension Wounds down onto the ground.") Urahara hopped back a couple of times and then flash-stepped out of the way of one of the crescents as it burned into the earth. ("This is very dangerous…")

"Are you running?" Takai snapped the blade-chain into that wild dance again. "Don't play around too much, old man! You might just die!" Then another storm of glowing crescents came raining down around Urahara. This time though, he didn't move.

"Is this the best you can do, Kyaru?" Turning, he snapped his Soul Slayer up and a blast of energy launched from it, slamming into the nearest crescent and destroying. "You're the one who needs to stop running. If you continue to blame me, then what good are you? How will you avenge his death at this rate?"

Takai slowly lowered onto the ground. "I will not listen to this…no…not if it's you!" His eyes narrowed as he looked at the chain that was wrapped around him. "So be it. Against you I cannot hold back at all." Then he disappeared within an explosion of visible spiritual pressure that exploded to life around him. "Prepare yourself, old man."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Urahara knew what she was gathering energy for. ("So early in a fight, and yet she's preparing to summon her Bankai already.") He knew the real risk behind this though. With the seals preventing her soul from destroying Takai's soul in place, trying to use Bankai would result in complete and utter spiritual annihilation for both of them. "Don't you understand what the repercussions of your actions will be?"

"I don't care!" Takai sneered angrily. "I'll bring you to hell with me, old man. Ban…"

To be continued…

To Nanashi Minamino: What can I say? Sometimes after a thing has been explained it still is confusing.

To G.O.T. Nick: They can't muster anything against Urahara. The guy's a freaking Ex-Captain. However, the Wind Princess is at nearly the same level as him, hence why this is whole situation is a bad thing.

To Time Mage: He didn't freeze time itself, that's a toughie for anyone or anything to do. No, he just manipulated the time around our guys, and pulled them out of the timestream.

To Darksoulkai: Those were just the vocal commands for the Soul Slayer. Ryushin's Soul Slayer, Grey Angel, has a lot of them.

To Seeker of the Soul: See above at Time Mage's reply.