lessons from dad and the mentor
Isshin and his son where in the kitchen enjoying their morning drinks after the girls had left for school, it had been a bit odd for Ichigo not to be involved in the morning rush beyond trying to help his sisters. He would have to make his way to school later today to hand in the assignments and check in with the school for his own study, but right now it was nice simply to sit and enjoy some time with his, increasingly serious, father.
"You know, when you're not acting like an idiot you're not too bad to be around old man," he commented.
"Heh, I'm a doctor and a Shinigami, Ichigo, of course I know how to be calm or serious. I've just found over my life that if you don't smile and have some fun, you're going to go insane, that and your mother liked the craziness and I've never really let go of it."
"Guess you never really moved on huh?"
"What I had with your mother, it's not something you can move on from, not completely, you always remember."
"Well I wouldn't know too much on the subject, I've always had something else on my mind, mom's death, Shinigami, Aizen and now the general state of the soul society. It's not that I'm not interested in women, I just have so much to do that I don't have time for anything like that and I refuse to enter a relationship with someone when I can't give them the time and effort they deserve, it just would be right."
His father nodded, "Well it's good to know you take that sort of this seriously. It was the same for me back in soul society but you never know what life will throw at you, just don't run away from it when it happens."
Both sat in peaceful silence for a bit.
"Did we really just have that conversation? Us of all people?"
"Afraid so son."
"There are so more important things to be talking about!"
"Like what you plan to do now your head of a great clan and how you're going to fix your kido problem?" Ichigo's father inquired
"Well," Ichigo started leaning forward "I told Yama-jii about the modern idea of combined arms, basically using one weapon to help another."
Isshin nodded, "After studying the history of the living realm for a while the answers obvious."
"He said the Shiba clan couldn't control the corruption in their ranks," Ichigo continued, "but the Shihouin and the Onmitsukido are masters at rooting out that sort of thing. They even have an internal investigation sub-division, problem is they focus on the military and the clans don't normally work together."
"That's not the biggest issue you're going to face, as soon as you try to get them to work together the lower houses will have a collective epileptic fit. A lot of them make money off of the lower districts, whether its legitimate, if morally reprehensible, like owning the slums or food supply and charging far too much or illegal like slavery, people smuggling or extortion. The only thing I can guarantee is that you will see some very unpleasant things and that they will fight to the bloody end, and that's without mentioning the ones that will oppose you out of spite or because they don't what the clans to have any more power than they can avoid. Heck some actively work to reduce their influence, look at what happened to us, but if you want the Onmitsukido involved, you best talk to Kisuke, he was head of the detention unit for a long time and served in the patrol corps before that, he should be able to point you in the right direction."
Ichigo sat mulling over his father's words, it was clear he had a long struggle ahead of him, and this was just the first part of his plan.
"As for kido have you tried barriers or energy kido yet?" Isshin asked his son.
"No not yet, so far it's a mix of low and high level hado with the four basic elements, though we have looked at the elemental mixes like lightning and wood. Energy isn't one of the elements anyway. Rukia and Hinamori have said the power input doesn't matter but I'm not so sure."
"They're right; power input doesn't affect the stability of a spell. It only increases the power of it up to a point, after that it's more efficient to use a higher level of spell. An example would be hado 31 shakkaho, after it reaches the maximum power it can hold it just sprays into the atmosphere. At this point it's better to go to hado 33 soukatsui or another higher level fire spell. As for the energy kido, that's true but you're a Shiba, we have no element to our reiryoku."
"That's apparently a good thing dad."
"You're not hearing me boy, we normally have no element. When someone usually says that, what it really means is that the four elements are in a balance leaving no preference, what I'm saying is that you don't even have that. Fire, water and the rest? Not there in the slightest. We Shiba have had some pretty bizarre skill sets over the years, like your cousin Ganju turning stuff to sand. We don't know how it works only that we can do it, the only kido you're going to be able to learn is direct energy manipulation; don't even bother with normal stuff."
"So is this good or bad?"
"Well, it can swing both ways. Most shinigami worth their salt will have a repertoire of at least a dozen combat spells, you're going to have trouble even getting that much, and that's the bad bit. Now the good, as the girls said it's not an element but this makes it easier for you to learn it. For most they need to work to remove any trace of the elements from the spell, you don't, if you get high enough you can use spells like Senju Koten Taiho, it's basically pure energy hurled at an enemy that goes boom, powerful but very, very few spells are like that. With bakudo, communication, barriers and again, energy is all you got. They have to be a simple a shape or an area effect, nothing more. Take sai, rikujokoro or saju sabaku, one has to control the target arm muscles to move their hands behind their back, the other may look simple, but it has a complex paralyzing effect and the last is a complex shape that has to wrap around its target as much as possible, don't aim for any of that. Below the 70s all you got is kakushitsuijaku, okasen and enkosen and geki other than that you could look at modifying a spell like Kisukes jugeki byakurai. Over the 70s is where you get going with stuff like tenteikura, kuyo shibari, danku, kurohitsugi and as I already mentioned, senju koten taiho, with barriers as long as you keep out extra effects, you can make it any shape or size you damn well like. Of course there is also kaido, the art of healing." Isshin finished.
Ichigo sat thinking for a bit before "Hang on, Rukia said her fukutaicho, Shiba Kaien, was bloody good at kido. How does that work?"
"Ah, remember those bizarre abilities I mentioned? Well your cousin, Kaien's, ability was to manipulate the element of his reiryoku, there wasn't a kido spell he couldn't have learnt."
Ichigo sighed in exasperation, "So how the heck am I supposed to learn this stuff? Rukia and Hinamori can't cast that high, they can't grasp half the principles of it and Tessai is busy with the others."
"Ukitake, he's sick most of the time but he's still a taicho for a reason you know. Bar his sickness he would have been head of the kido corps a long, long time ago. There isn't a kido master in soul society that even rivals him, not even Tessai or the old man. What's with the stunned look? You think Kyoroku and Ukitake are two of the longest serving taicho for no reason? I reckon that old drunk could give Unohana a run for her money in direct combat, I once saw him take on a field of hollows after drinking half my division under the table and come out without a scratch. Ukitake can block mid-level ceros and spells with his bare hands; you don't mess with that pair. Now get up and get me a new cup of coffee will you boy? Mines gone cold with all the talking."
"Whoa...old people rock." echoed through Ichigo's head as he climbed to his feet.
"Urahara-san you here?!" Ichigo called as he entered the familiar shop, he was greeted by silence, "Yeah you better hide, after what you did to my body I'm gonna kick your ass."
A rather wary shopkeeper poked his head out from behind a shelf, "Now let's not be too hasty Kurosaki-kun I have a perfectly good reason for my acti-hoof!" the man went silent as Ichigo slammed his fist into his gut.
"Now I'll hear your reasons." the young man replied.
"Well it goes something like this. I'm looking at expanding my line of products into cosmetics and such and needed a test subject that wouldn't struggle so..."
"So you used me, that's not a very good reason you know and my body better be back to normal when I get back next time or you better start looking at some form of high speed regeneration for reproductive organs." Ichigo snarled back, "I know I have the reputation of a thug, but I don't want to look like one too."
"Then may I point out your hair colour?" the man relied waving his fan.
"Alright, any more then I already do. Now we have business to talk about."
"Of course Kurosaki-kun how can this humble shopkeeper be of help to you today?!" Kisuke cried exuberantly.
"I need to know a few things, first tell me about the patrol corps and the detention unit."
"Hmmm, I will freely admit to my loyalty's being with you over soul society but that's some high level stuff. Even if you are lined up to take over after the soutaicho I'm not sure if you won't get in trouble for knowing some of it, are you sure?"
"I'm sure, I've got a few ideas on where to start improving things, at least I hope they will lead to improvements."
Urahara stood there taping his trademark fan before asking, "So where do you want to start?"
"That's up to you, what way do you think it will best make sense?"
"Let's start with the detention unit shall we?" the hatted man answered as he lead Ichigo deeper into the shop.
"Now the first thing you need to know about, is the different prisons." Kisuke started over a cup of tea.
"A prison is a prison, isn't it?" Ichigo queried
"Not exactly, well not in the soul society. The most common are the regular ones that are built to hold criminals, however there are two other specialty prisons. One is the pit of lost souls, designed to hold hollows of interest to the twelfth division. The second is the maggots nest that holds political prisoners, rouge elements and other such dissenters that threaten the stability of the soul society." the shop keeper answered
"Political prisoners? Rouge elements? Hang on have these people actually committed a crime?"
"In most cases no, no they haven't, most haven't had a trial. They are people that, as I said, have been deemed a threat to the stability of the soul society; it's a form of pre-emptive action. In truth, if you're not careful with how you do things you may find yourself as a resident sooner or later; actually, I would count on it"
"What the hell partner!? Do we really want to help these people when they're probably going to lock us up for it?
'What choice do we have? We HAVE to do something, the soul society as it is doesn't deserve to be called heaven but we can sure as hell improve it.
Be prepared for trouble at every turn Ichigo, remember what your father said about the lower houses this morning, and don't underestimate how far you may have to go or how far they will push you.
'I understand guys, but just know I refuse to sink to their level to win.
'Don't put to many limits on yourself partner, this is going to be a battle to the death whether it looks like it or not'
'Remember, there is no honor or glory in battle only valor and duty, that is a lesson none of us must forget, even if it will take some getting used to.'
Ichigo withdrew from his mind with a sigh
"Anything useful?" Urahara inquired.
"No not really, just coming to realize just how truly BIG this job is and how far I may have to go to accomplish what I've got in mind," the young man replied, "but I can't say I really agree with locking people up without a trial."
"Ahh I completely agree, however I also see the need for it. You see the nest is actually the newest prison, it came about after a civil war that, while won by the seireitei, left them severely weakened leaving the world of the living chronically undermanned. It was one of the darkest times the soul society has ever seen, the choice was even supported by the Ottori despite the potential for misuse. Before I left, I was looking into putting them to use in some way, however the only one i managed to find a place for was Kurotsuchi and I don't really consider that a success."
Ichigo glared at his mentor, "Are you telling me they had him locked up and you let him out?" he growled out.
"I'm afraid so Ichigo-kun, I honestly believe to this day he can have a positive effect on society, and a number of the things he's done support my idea. The problem has come in from lack of regulation on his activities, they seem to have forgotten that, despite the good he is very capable of he is also quite insane."
"So attempted genocide and the abhorrent abuse of those under him, no matter their relation to him or the inhuman experiments I've heard of are fine if some good come from it? Is that what you're saying?!" Ichigo barked back
"No, no that's not what I'm saying at all. I am very aware that there is a very real possibility that he orchestrated the grand fishers attack on your mother and may very well have experimented on her, conclusions that you have no doubt reached yourself judging by your shift in attitude towards the man. What I'm trying to say Kurosaki-kun is that he can be USED, you just have to know what buttons to push and watch him very closely. An activity I have taken great strides to do since my pardon by the central chambers, it's a large part of the reason I agreed to work with him in studying your friends' unique powers." Kisuke answered
Ichigo calmed himself down with visible effort "Alright, doesn't mean he's off the hook but I'll try to find uses for him that can't cause to much pain, I hope. Now onto the patrol corps."
"Ahh yes, sorry about the distraction. The patrol corps act as internal police, it is their job to investigate any suspicious activity by any shinigami or noble as well as hunt down deserters and traitors, they also patrol the seireitei as an everyday police force. Basically they do the same job as what the Shiba clans security squads, those that remain, do but are equipped and trained to handle other shinigami." Urahara explained
"So basically militay police, why don't they help out the rukongai?"
"They try, however the skill set needed for their jobs limits the number of them and at the end of the day the shinigami must remain their top priority, a single trained shinigami can cause more pain and misery in a week then a whole gang of greedy rabble can in the same space of time."
Ichigo sighed, the more he learnt the more it seemed like the soul society was barley limping on from day to day. He knew they were powerful, he had first hand experience with that, but it seemed like for all the good they did or attempted there was a force hidden inside doing its utmost to destroy that work. He knew what it was, corruption, all forms of true evil were sent to hell but that didn't overcome the simple selfish greed some people were capable of, and it only needed one of them in the right place to spread like a disease to all corners of the realm. But at the same time it wasn't as bad as it first appeared the soul society had men and women of virtue within it like, bright burning lights in the dark that fought tooth and nail against it every day of their long afterlives. It was simply a matter of tipping the scales in their favor, and Ichigo was determent to do so.
A/N first off sorry about the late chapter, it was from a mix of miscommunication between me and joker619 (my ever impressive beta reader) and a failed internet connection on his half (something he couldn't do anything about) this chapter has actually been done for about a month now, again sorry
second, I am going into surgery in about two days with about a month of recovery so updates may be faster or slower depending on how I feel afterwards. I am hoping for faster, I generally feel not to bad after something like this