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"Rukia" - Regular Speech

'Ichigo' - Thoughts

*Kaien-dono* - Zanpakutō speech/thoughts

"Bankai!" - Spiritual Technique

Chapter 6: Return to the Seireitei

T-Minus 3 Days until the Invasion of the Soul Society

Abandoned Warehouse

Kirika, still wearing the mask of Kokken Asa, looked proudly at her students. Both Chad and Orihime had come far in the fourteen days she had been training them that they were worlds beyond their previous power levels.

Chad was now able to fire off his spiritual energy blast at his initial strength up to twenty-five times in succession, only being slightly winded in the effort and ready again after five minutes. He had also created a version of the Shunpo, which he called Paso del Viento (Step of the Wind). At the moment, it was still a work-in-progress, but it was still good enough to outpace a Tenth Seat who had regular skill in the Shunpo.

He had also learned the rudiments of Hakuda and had mixed it with his natural strength and street fighting skills to create an unusual style that Kirika knew would leave most non-Onmitsukidō operatives unconscious after encountering it. When she had sparred with him, he had very nearly broken her mask from a single blow!

Orihime, on the other hand, had focussed most of her efforts into mastering Kidō and her Shun-Shun Rikka. She had taken to the healing technique of Kaidō like a duck to water and had surpassed Kirika's own skills with the technique, although Kirika had only learned the technique recently, so that had to be taken into account.

When it came to Hadō and Bakudō, she was, at best, average. She had only just mastered Byakurai, Sai and Geki and was currently working on Shakkahō. Yet again, her dislike of hurting people was getting in the way of her doing anything that might hurt them. Kirika didn't understand why this also applied to Bakudō as all that did was bind and/or paralyze the targets, but somehow the orangette mentally equated it with causing pain.

Kirika pencilled it a talk with her for later on. Hadō was one thing, but Orihime being bad at Bakudō because of her whacked out assumptions was something that irritated Kirika a lot.

As to the Shun-Shun Rikka, the ditzy orangette could now invoke the Santen Kesshun and the Sōten Kisshun without the kotodama (Words of Power) that they had required before. The Shiten Kōshun and Koten Zanshun still required the chants in order to use them, the former because it was a relatively new technique, and the latter because of Orihime's pacifism.

Kirika had decided that experimenting with the fairies could wait until after they had returned from the invasion, so had banned Orihime from experimenting with combinations unless the fairies themselves told her to try something, and even then only if they knew what would happen.

As for the redhead herself, she had been trained into the ground, repeatedly, by both Tessai and Yoruichi. Kaidō, Hadō and Bakudō had been drilled into her incessantly by the former until she found herself muttering the incantations for Shakkahō, Sōkatsui and the newest two Bakudō, #4 Hainawa (Crawling Rope) and #61 Rikujōkōrō (Six Rods Prison of Light) in her sleep.

Her favourite sensei had become the drill sergeant from hell and had forced her to improve her Shunpo until it was at entry-level Onmitsukidō, which had had the effect of allowing her to almost complete Utsusemi. Now the evil werecat was forcing her to try to learn another technique that she called Shunshin: Shunbunshin (Goddess of Flash: Flash Clone).

It was a technique that created speed clones, copies of the user that act as they would and are indistinguishable from the user in all aspects. Unfortunately, this was even more difficult than the Utsusemi was, which was hardly surprising considering this was a technique that Yoruichi herself had created at the peak of her speed as the Flash Goddess.

Urahara had been busy configuring the machine he had added to the portal to Soul Society that they would use to convert Ishida, Chad and Orihime's bodies into spiritual form, so she hadn't seen much of him, aside from a half-hour of Zanjutsu practice that had left her drenched in sweat and with a ripped and torn Shihakushō.

"Very good, both of you." she called over to her students who were currently sparring against one another, "You can stop now and take a rest."

The pair backed away from each other and sat on the ground, panting at the exertion they had just put themselves through.

"Today is the last day of training." she told them both as she gave them bottled water to re-hydrate themselves, "You need to rest and spend time with your friends before you head off to the Soul Society."

"In case we don't come back?" Chad guessed.

"I'll be along with you, as will Yoruichi-sensei, so you will be coming back, never doubt it." Kirika promised them. She hadn't done anything to stop them from being caught up in all this, so the least she could do was do her best to protect them during this invasion plan, "The point of having a rest is so you are at your best when we go through the portal. Training up until the last minute will be nothing but detrimental for your combat abilities."

"I see." Chad said calmly, "Kokken-sensei, before we started training with you, I recall you saying we were both at around about the level of a Nineteenth Seat. What level are we at now?"

Kirika paused for a moment before answering his question. "As of right now, you, Chad are a Mid-Eighth Seat, while Orihime is a Low-Ninth Seat. This will change once we enter the Soul Society in general and the Seireitei in particular."

"Why's that?" Orihime asked curiously.

"In this world, the World of the Living, there is very little in the way of ambient spiritual energy." Kirika explained, "The reason why some people awaken to spiritual powers, even without someone like Kurosaki Ichigo around, is because they live in areas of powerful spiritual potential. Karakura Town is one such location, but these locations are rare.

In the Soul Society, the entirety of the land, the buildings and the inhabitants, even the air itself is made out of Reishi, or Spirit Particles, and thus has unsurpassed ambient spirit energy. This means that your powers, as strong as they are now, will become even stronger there."

"Wow…" Orihime breathed.

"It is quite amazing, isn't it?" Kirika smiled beneath her mask, "The four of you who will enter the Soul Society have an additional advantage; all of you are alive."

"How is that an advantage?" Chad asked with a frown.

"The Soul of a resident of the Soul Society has a limit on how much it can grow and how fast it can get to that maximum growth, because everyone there is dead." Kirika explained, "The Soul of a living human, however, continues to grow as long as the human in question is alive, and has rapid growth because of how short human lives are. The oldest humans live to is, at maximum, a hundred and twenty. Kuchiki Rukia is a hundred and fifty. The Captain Commander of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads is over two-thousand years old."

The dawning comprehension on her students faces was edifying, so Kirika chose to add to what she had said, "Case in point, you two. It would take a regular Soul Reaper at least a couple of decades to make the kind of jump in power that you have made in only two weeks…if they trained themselves into the ground on a regular basis."

"What…what about Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked timidly.

"Even although he has the powers of a Soul Reaper, he is still a living Soul, so he has the best of both worlds." Kirika replied before clapping, "Now, enough talking. It is time for your final lesson. Both of you shall spar with me. I will hold nothing back, save for my Shikai. You should hold nothing back either. Last for five minutes and it is your victory."

Judging by the rather worried expressions the two spiritually aware humans had on their faces, Kirika had the feeling she had emulated Yoruichi's drill sergeant attitude too much during the last two weeks.

Nevertheless, the two teens stood up and assumed combat stances. Chad summoned forth his armoured arm and Orihime stood braced at his side, her hands touching the hairpins that were her power.

'Very good. Orihime is prepared to shield Chad the instant I rush in to attack him.' Kirika thought as she slowly drew Nejibana from her sheath, 'Meanwhile, Chad is ready to attack at any sign of hesitation on my part. Neither of them are so close as to trip up the other, yet at the same time, not far enough apart for me to defeat them in detail. I'm going to have to work for this victory.'

Raising her blade, Kirika pointed it at the two teens, "Up until now, you have not felt intent to kill from one who is stronger than you. Allow me to remedy that."

Mustering her willpower, Kirika let loose a wave of KI at her friends at the same time as raising her Reiatsu and mixing the two together. The result was Chad and Orihime sweating and panting from the combined force of her technique.

Kirika charged in with a thrust at Chad, but was blocked by a hastily thrown-up Santen Kesshun. She flashed around to attack Orihime, but was blocked by Chad's armoured arm striking at her blade, knocking it off course.

"Hadō # 4: Byakurai!" she said, sending the spell straight at Chad. While it wasn't a strong spell, Byakurai was very fast at short-to-mid range and she doubted that the orange triangular shield of Orihime's defensive technique could interpose itself in time to actually do any good, meaning he would have to improvise.

With a shout, Chad blasted the low-level spell away with one of his blasts and forced Kirika to Shunpo out of the way of the Mexican youth's attack.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!" Kirika muttered as she circled the two carefully, concealing the hand that the yellow rope of Reishi was being formed on behind her leg. Once the Bakudō was fully built, she sent it flying to wrap around Chad, binding his arms to his sides.

While not the strongest of the binding spells, it would take a proficient user of Kidō tens of seconds to break, and even if Chad managed to break it through physical force, it would still take tens of seconds for him to accomplish that.

More than long enough to put Orihime down.

As she charged towards the orangette, however, Kirika was surprised to hear her chanting her kotodama, the one for her only offensive technique.

"Tsubaki, Koten Zanshun…I Reject!"

The ninja-like fairy shifted into his arrow-like form and sped towards Kirika like a demented hummingbird. The redhead really didn't want to know hat it felt like to have Orihime reattach her arm, so she again Shunpo'd out of the way.

'At least I'm getting some good Shunpo practice out of all this.' she thought wryly, 'Time to turn it up a notch.'

Kirika held out her palm towards the two teens and began to chant an incantation. "Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shōnetsu to sōran, umihedate sakamaki minami e to ho o susume yo! Hadō #31, Shakkahō! (Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Way of Destruction Number Thirty-One, Red Fire Cannon!)."

As she spoke, red energy gathered into an orb the size of a tennis ball a few centimetres from her palm. As Kirika completed the incantation, the Hadō flew towards her students like a comet.

Chad, who had broken free of her Bakudō by this time, used his spiritual energy blast again, but this time Kirika's spell overcame his attack and hurtled straight at him. Before Orihime could put up her shield, the tall teen slammed a punch into the approaching Kidō spell with a roar, dispersing it into its component energy.

The masked Soul Reaper was agape at this. 'He used nothing more than physical force and the resilience of his armour to destroy a Hadō, with no damage whatsoever! Just what the heck is his power?!'

"That's enough." She announced, "Five minutes are up."

The two teens relaxed as Kirika sheathed her Zanpakutō. Orihime thanked her fairies for their help before they returned to their hairclip forms, and Chad allowed his armour to dissolve from his arm.

"I must confess to being rather impressed." Kirika said once the two had settled down again, "You both work together well."

"Chad-kun and I have been working together for the last fortnight, sensei." Orihime pointed out softly, "It would be kinda weird if we didn't get to know each other's moves well."

"Ah, but some people just cannot work together." Kirika said knowingly, "Sometimes through clashing personalities, sometimes because of reasons we know not, but you two didn't have that problem. That makes combat easier for both of you."

Chad and Orihime nodded at that.

"Now…Chad, that was a very dangerous move you performed at the end." Kirika scolded him, "You are lucky that that particular Shakkahō was at half strength, otherwise you would have been hurt badly."

"It was a calculated risk." Chad replied stoically.

"I'd advise you not to try that with a real Shakkahō." Kirika said dryly, "I deliberately used that particular spell because it is the most common Hadō used by Soul Reapers. It is one of the Kidō taught at the Soul Reaper Academy and is known by every graduate with varying degrees of success. The size of the orb created during the incantation will tell you how powerful it is, so dodge any that are larger than a grapefruit."

"What about interrupting their chanting?" Chad asked.

"Depends on how puissant they are with Kidō." Kirika replied, "A Kidō Master will be able to disperse the Reiryoku that they were using to power the spell, while a regular Kidō Practitioner will have the spell blow up in his face, usually with light burns although that is determined by how powerful they were making the Shakkahō."

She looked between the two in order to gauge their reactions. Chad was just as impassive as always, so reading him was the next best thing to a lost cause. Orihime, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.

"To complete your education -the basics anyway- I will tell you three rules about the Zanpakutō, the primary weapons of Soul Reapers." Kirika said at last, "Rule Number One is to never, ever, touch the hilt of a Soul Reaper's Zanpakutō without the owner's express permission."

"Why?" Orihime asked.

"As I told you two weeks ago, the Zanpakutō is a part of a Soul Reaper's Soul made manifest." Kirika replied, "Touching the blade and even the Tsuka with your fists or blade in combat is allowed, but the handle would be the equivalent of that red-haired bespectacled lesbian friend of yours reaching under your skirt and touching you down there."

"Eep!" Orihime flushed at the image.

"Rule Number Two is to never ask for the name of someone else's Zanpakutō unless you are well acquainted with them." Kirika continued, "It is highly improper to do so otherwise. The Third and final Rule is to adhere to the two previously stated rules at all times, unless you are dealing with Squad Eleven."

"Squad Eleven?" Chad asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Each Squad in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads has its own assigned duties and specialisations." Kirika explained, "Squad Eleven is the Heavy Combat Squad, specialising in Zanjutsu. Almost universally, they are the roughest and most ill mannered Squad, caring nothing except who is the strongest fighter among them. They are the Seireitei's Dogs of War, unleashed only when either the Seireitei is invaded or when a suitably large number of strong opponents makes themselves known in the World of the Living."

"So…thugs with swords and spiritual powers?" Chad summed it up.

"By and large, yes." Kirika agreed, "But do not judge them on the stereotype of their Squad. Soul Reapers differ from one another at least as much as humans do."

"Noted." Chad said, with Orihime nodding along with him.

"Very good." the masked Soul Reaper nodded before handing them both a piece of paper with an address written on it, "I will leave you both for now. In three days time, come to this address and be ready for battle."

With that, Kirika vanished in a blur, leaving the two teens to head home.

Later on…

Quincy Training Ground, Unknown Location

Ishida Uryū paused in the middle of his training as he felt one of the Spirit Ribbons he was using to track those who possessed spiritual powers in Karakura Town react.

A glance was all he needed to know that it was one of the red ones, the ones that indicated that the person it represented was a Soul Reaper. Moreover, it was the one that had recently taken to fading away at set periods of the day.

"You can come out now…Kurosaki Kirika." Uryū said aloud as he glared at the location that she was coming from.

Kirika Shunpo'd into view in her Soul Reaper form, a smile on her face and her helmet in her hands.

"Ishida-san." she greeted him politely, "I hope your training has gone well."

"Not that it is any of your business, but yes it has." he replied coolly, "Was there a reason that you came here or did you merely wish to bug me?"

"It is my business because I'll be coming with you in three days." she replied, the smile still plastered in place, "And I thought it would be best if we had a little chat about it before hand, just to clear the air."

"Oh?" Ishida raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. My brother and his friends have no idea that I am a Soul Reaper and I'd like to keep it that way." the redhead stated, "I'll be wearing this helmet, or one similar to it, in three days time and I'll be going under the name 'Kokken Asa', so I would appreciate it if you could address me as such."

"Even assuming I agree, your Reiryoku and voice will give you away." Ishida pointed out.

"This helmet disguises my Reiryoku and alters my voice." Kirika replied, "So, will you do as I ask?"

Ishida narrowed his eyes at her. "I fail to see why I should do so. Your brother has every right to know about your abilities."

"I plan on telling him in my own time. Now is not right and would only distract him from his goal." Kirika retorted, "But, as payment for your cooperation in this matter, I would be willing to tell you the name of the person responsible for the death of your grandfather."

In an instant, Ishida used the Sanrei Glove to create a Reishi bow and point it at the female Soul Reaper, a look of rage on his face. "Tell me!"

"Only if you give your word as a Quincy to not reveal my identity until either someone else does or I give you permission to." Kirika said placidly. She looked entirely unconcerned at the bow being levelled in her direction.

Ishida growled before lowering his weapon. "Fine. You have a deal. I do so swear on my honour as a Quincy that until either you or someone else reveals yourself, I will keep the secret of your identity and refer to you as Kokken Asa while in your disguise. Satisfied?"

"Indeed." Kirika nodded, "I am a person of my word, so here we go. The identity of the Soul Reaper responsible for manipulating things to the end of causing the death of your grandfather is the Captain of Squad 12, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. To give you fair warning, he is a sociopath who sees no value in the lives of others except as experimental material. Tread cautiously while around him as he is as intelligent as he is insane."

With that, Kirika vanished in a Shunpo.

Uryū considered the information he had been given and dredged up what he knew of the Soul Reapers from his grandfather's tales when he was a boy. Captains were the highest-ranking members of the Soul Reapers, said to be stronger than any of their subordinates by a factor of at least ten.

'With my current skills, I would have to remove the Sanrei Glove in order to match that level of power.' the Last Quincy concluded grimly. That was not something he wished to do, as it would mean the end of his life as a Quincy, not to mention disobeying his grandfather's teachings yet again.

For a moment, Ishida turned the problem around in his mind. The skill of Quincy: Letzt Stil (Destruction Sage: Last Style) was not one he could turn to with ease or willingly, so it was removed from the equation. The bow granted by the Sanrei Glove was certainly better than his regular one that he has used previously in both number and potency of arrows.

His skill at Hirenkyaku (Flying Screen Step), the Quincy analogue to the Shunpo skill of the Soul Reapers, was proceeding apace, but it was a very difficult technique to master.

The backup skill he possessed was that with the Gintō, silver tubes that contained his Reiryoku, which could be used for spellcrafting in a similar manner to the Hadō of the Soul Reapers. Until this moment, he had not considered taking any with him, but perhaps twenty or so would be a useful addition, just in case.

Briefly, he considered turning to his father for aid, but then dismissed it. Ishida Ryūken had made it clear that he thoroughly disapproved of his son's determination to continue with the Quincy traditions and insisted that saving the dead was a problem for Soul Reapers, not for the spiritually aware, who should focus on aiding the living.

'Yes, well, that's all very fine for you to say, Otou-san and I respect your opinion, but that doesn't give you the right to keep all of grandfather's materials from me!' Uryū thought sourly.

Dismissing his father from his thoughts, the Last Quincy concentrated on inventing tactics for his current skill set when up against a vastly more powerful enemy.

The murderer of his beloved grandfather would pay for what he had done. Uryū swore it, on his pride as a Quincy.

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T-Minus 2 Days to the Invasion of the Soul Society

Underground Training Room, Urahara Shōten

"So how was Aniki?" Kirika asked Tessai as he used tiny brushes to draw intricate patterns on her arms.

"Very bull-headed and stubborn." the man replied, "I did manage to explain the basics of Reiryoku and Reiatsu to him, but he spent most of his time learning how to wield his true Zanpakutō with the manager once he regained his Soul Reaper powers."

"Figures." the redhead sighed, "Well, he has so much Reiryoku and so little control over it that even a Shakkahō would blow up on him. We can beat some common sense into him once we get back from the Soul Society."

"Do you plan to reveal yourself then?" Tessai asked her neutrally.

"Afterwards…yes, I think so." Kirika said hesitantly, "I'm worried that they'll all be angry with me for hiding the truth from them though. It's a reasonable reaction, after all."

"I'll help you break it to them." Yoruichi said as she strolled into the room from the living quarters, still in her cat form, "What about the Quincy? He already knows you're a Soul Reaper."

"I convinced him to keep quiet yesterday." Kirika replied softly, "I think he'll stay silent."

"Problem solved then." her feline sensei said with a stretch. She could guess exactly what Kirika had bargained with the uptight boy in order to obtain that silence and, while she wished it hadn't been necessary, the werecat knew that if Kirika hadn't told him of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, there would have been no chance of him keeping quiet about Kirika's identity as Kokken Asa.

"Switch arms, Kirika-kun." Tessai directed her.

"Sensei, what's all of this for?" Kirika asked as she dutifully presented her other arm.

"These are seals designed to slow down the degradation of the Bakudō that keeps Shiba Kaien's memories locked away." Tessai replied, "They not only slow it down, but break the memories into bite-size sections so you are not overwhelmed by them. For now, you will receive memories to do with the layout of the Seireitei and a smattering of memories about Kaien-dono's life."

"Exactly what I'll need." Kirika nodded, "I've been working on the Zanjutsu and Hakuda techniques that Kaien-dono's memories and I'm still falling short at performing them because his body and mine are so different."

"You'll get them down eventually." Yoruichi assured her, "Quite a few of the sword techniques Kaien knew were fairly advanced though, so I'd focus on the Hakuda techniques first."

"Fair enough." the younger female nodded, "Are you going to take Manekineko with you when we head to the Soul Society?"

"I can't exactly carry much as a cat, Kirika-chan." the black feline replied waspishly, "There is a reason I'm naked when I transform."

"I have a bag that I can carry it in." Kirika offered.

Yoruichi hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I hope I don't have to use it, but if my Little Bee is as angry as I suspect she is, I rather think I'll have to."

"Soi Fon-sempai, right?" Kirika asked.

"Yep. Her Zanpakutō Suzumebachi (Hornet) has a Shikai similar to mine in appearance, but hers is especially suited for the role of the Onmitsukidō. Two touches in the exact same place and you are dead." Yoruichi replied, "If she draws her blade, do not stick around."

"She's faster than me, sensei." Kirika pointed out, "You taught her most of what she knows. Her Shunpo must be close to yours after all this time. If she wants to catch me, I doubt I can do anything except let her."

"True, but don't sell yourself short, Kiri-chan." the werecat said seriously, "It took me a century to bring Soi Fon up to scratch, although part of that was because of her crush on me."

"…you left someone with a crush on you behind without telling her anything?" Kirika asked flatly, "No wonder she's pissed at you."

"Weeeelll…it wasn't so much a crush as she was head-over-heels in love with me." Yoruichi replied bashfully, "And I kinda-sorta asked her out not long before the whole Aizen situation popping up."

Kirika just stared at the cat for a moment before shaking her head slowly in disbelief. "And people say that Aniki is slow on the uptake with romance. You had a century and you asked her out at just that particular time? Jeez, she's probably going to go all 'jilted lover' on you and stab you a couple of thousand times."

"Meh. She'll understand after everything is said and done." the cat said dismissively.

"Right, that should do it." Tessai said as the brushes clattered to the ground like needles, "It should be ready to use aright now."

"Do it, sensei." Kirika replied, putting her only female sensei's romantic complications to one side for the moment.

The large man nodded before sketching a kanji in the middle of the air before slamming his palms together.

"Daijū Fūin: Kaijo! (Tenth Seal: Release!)" he intoned.

Suddenly, the ink lines covering Kirika's bared arms glow blue and a few of them vanish. Abruptly, Kirika's mind is assailed with images of white traditional Japanese-style buildings, with terraces, towers and barracks all over the place.

"W…wow…" Kirika whispered, "The Seireitei is huge…"

"Yeah, it is." Yoruichi said, "You are fairly lucky; most Soul Reapers don't get out much, but Kaien was always a curious sort. He'd wander around and explore places when he wasn't busy with his work."

"Yeah, I can tell. He was even in the Fourth Squad for a while, wasn't he?" the redhead asked as she recovered from the sudden influx of information, "I saw images of an underground sewer of some kind."

"Yeah, cleaning the sewers is one of the Fourth's many and varying duties." Yoruichi chortled, "Which, just so you know, is anything the rest of the Squads don't want to do. Cleaning, cooking, sweeping…anything at all."

Kirika turned this over in her mind and frowned. "That…doesn't seem anything approaching fair."

"Indeed." Tessai rumbled, "Yet it is effective nonetheless. The Fourth is full of those whose Zanpakutō are unsuited for combat, thus they are made to be healers. In peacetime, healers are rarely needed, so they perform auxiliary duties, which allow the other twelve Squads to carry out their training and combat missions more effectively."

"It's still not right." Kirika muttered rebelliously.

"Focus, Kirika-kun." Tessai admonished her, "Once Aizen and his cohorts are dealt with; you can turn your mind to persuading the Captain-Commander to do something about the discrimination against the Fourth."

"Ara, fermenting social revolution are we?" Urahara asked as he wandered over from the strange device that he referred to as the 'Reishi Henkan-Ki' (Spirit Exchangers).

"I take it you've finished tinkering around with your addition to the Senkaimon then?" Yoruichi asked.

"Hai, the device just needs Tessai to check it over and I think it will be ready." the eccentric shop owner replied, "As for the new mask/helmet you requested, Kirika-chan, I'm off to finish it off right now."

The redhead nodded before walking towards her Gigai. She had to get back before the fireworks display started. Her family was going out to see them that night.

After the Fireworks Display

Urahara Shōten

"Urahara-san…who is that?" Kirika asked in confusion. She had come to the Shōten after being called by Yoruichi and had walked in to discover Urahara standing next to a girl.

She was a petite girl with short blond hair and blue eyes, and wore a pink coat with fur trim on the sleeves, a black cape and red boots. She was grinning at Kirika in a way that was making the redhead nervous.

"This young lady? Why, she's who will be temporarily taking your place at school and home while you are away, Kirika-chan." the shopkeeper replied cheerfully, "Her name is Rinrin, a Mod-Soul I created."

This made Kirika sigh. "First Kon, now this? Urahara-san…"

"Hey! Don't be confusing me with that perverted idiot!" Rinrin said indignantly, "He can only enhance his kicks! I can use illusions!"

"I was more referring to the fact that Mod Souls are illegal in the Soul Society." Kirika replied dryly, "And Kon's power may not be as…flashy as your own; it still has its uses. Don't knock it."

"So…you don't have anything against me?" the Mod Soul asked warily.

"Hell no." Kirika snorted, "The Soul Society should have switched the whole using-corpses idea over to using Gigai. They have no imagination, I swear. Project Spearhead could have been used for a lot more than it was and I refuse to let the laws made by a bunch of senile, reactionary old men dictate my actions or beliefs. Welcome to the team, Rinrin-chan."

The small girl teared up at Kirika's words before turning her head to one side with a flush.

"H-Humph! It's not like I need your support!" she muttered with a blush.

"Maa, maa. Now that the introductions are out of the way, Rinrin should be filled in on your daily life and how you interact with people, especially your family and friends." Urahara said as he whipped out one of his fans to hide his face.

Sharing a look of mild irritation, Kirika and Rinrin went of to one side to begin the Mod Soul's briefing on how to emulate Kirika well enough to fool her friends and younger sisters.

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T-Minus 6 Hours to the Invasion of Soul Society

Arisawa Tatsuki's Home

Kirika, in her Gigai, rang the bell of Tatsuki's home and tapped her foot on the ground nervously. She had decided that Tatsuki needed to be at least somewhat aware that her life was in danger because of her powers grown so fast.

"Yes?" Tatsuki herself opened the door and grinned a bit when she saw Kirika. "Hey, what's up?"

Tatsuki still had her arm in a sling from the Hollow attack and was a bit pale. Other than that though, she was looking well.

"I need to talk to you, Tatsu-chan." Kirika replied seriously, "Can I come in?"

"Sure." the martial artist replied and stepped back, opening the door wide for her.

Entering the house and changing her shoes for slippers, Kirika followed Tatsuki up to her room, which had training weights and a bunch of other muscle-building equipment scattered over the floor, with posters of female karateka on the walls.

"Whatcha need to talk about?" Tatsuki asked as she sat on her bed.

"First things first…" Kirika said and placed one finger on Tatsuki's forehead, "I return what is lost. Break, Spell of Amnesia!"

Tatsuki's face went for confused, to pained, to horrified as the memories of Acidwire's attack and the time she was controlled by the Hollow Numb Chandelier during the Hollow Bait incident, as well as the memories of Kuchiki Rukia that has been rather crudely sealed a fortnight ago, were unlocked and restored to her.

"The…what the heck…?!" the martial arts queen gasped before looking at Kirika in a mix of suspicion and curiosity. "Kirika…what did you do to me?"

"I undid a spell that was cast on you that sealed the memories of every time you have had anything to do with the supernatural." the redhead replied diffidently, "When Orihime's brother was turned into a Hollow and almost strangled you to death…when that purple Hollow took over your body, along with your classmates and forced you to attack Orihime…as well as all of your memories of the Soul Reaper Kuchiki Rukia…all of those memories were locked up by a magic device of sorts. I merely undid the seal."

"I…I really attacked Orihime?" Tatsuki looked horrified again.

"It wasn't your will to do so." Kirika told her firmly, "That Hollow had the ability to control people using those seeds of hers. Without special training, you had no way of resisting it."

"Hollows…those monsters with white masks?"

Kirika nodded at Tatsuki. "Yes. They are negative spirits who attack humans, especially humans like you, Aniki and Orihime who possess spiritual powers."

"Ichigo was attacked?! When?" Tatsuki leapt to her feet in alarm.

"The first time was when our mother died." Kirika said sadly, "Nothing else happened for years until a month and a half ago. Anyway, that isn't important right now. What is important is your life is at risk, Tatsu-chan."

"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked, looking taken aback.

"As I said before, you possess spiritual powers." Kirika started to explain, "You have reached the point of the second level of spiritual power and can now see Hollows…meaning they can track your spiritual energy now."

"Hell." Tatsuki cursed.

"Yet again, that isn't the real issue, however." Kirika continued, "An acquaintance of mine is going to help you out with that. No, the issue is that, thanks to Aniki and me, you have far too much Spiritual Power, or Reiryoku as we call it."

"Huh?" Tatsuki said in confusion.

"Both of us have spent far too much time around you and have raised your Reiryoku to high levels thanks to Spiritual Contamination from our more powerful Reiryoku." the redhead told her friend apologetically.

"OK, so if you both have more powerful 'Reiryoku' than me, why am I the one in danger?" the ravenette asked.

"Because you have no anchor. Aniki and I are Soul Reapers, so we have our Zanpakutō, our swords, to act as anchors for our powers." Kirika explained, "Chad and Orihime each developed unique powers as anchors. Ishida Uryū has his own way of controlling his own powers thanks to his heritage as a Quincy. You have no Zanpakutō, nor have you any unique powers, nor are you a Quincy. With no anchor, this puts your Soul in grave danger of either destroying itself, which is called Soul Suicide, or of turning into a Hollow."

"I could turn into one of those…monsters?!" Tatsuki asked in horror.

"Yes, you could." Kirika said stoically. She didn't want to think about that eventuality, so she quickly moved on. "I don't want that to happen, so I came here to tell you how to slow the process down."

"You can't stop it?" her friend asked.

"I can't risk it at the moment." the redhead replied, "I'm going off with Chad, Orihime, Ishida and Aniki to save Kuchiki Rukia tonight and I don't know how long It'll take. That acquaintance I told you about will likely do something to slow it down as well, but if you are proactive, you can slow it down even further."

"What do I do?"

"Meditate." Kirika replied, making Tatsuki raise an eyebrow at her.

"Seriously?" she asked in mild disbelief, "What the heck is contemplating my navel going to do to stop me becoming a monster?"

"One of the reasons Aniki has so much power is because he is physically active. This applies to myself, Orihime, Chad and Ishida as well as yourself." Kirika told her sceptical friend, "What you need to do is mediate, actively draw in and control your power to stop it from splashing out everywhere like it has been doing. This will slow down your descent to Hollowfication or Soul Suicide long enough for me to return from…my mission."

"Can you tell me what you plan to do to help me?" Tatsuki asked.

Kirika hesitated for a moment before sitting down, taking a ring from her pocket and pressing it to her head. Immediately, her Soul Reaper form emerged from her body, startling Tatsuki.

"Whoa! What the…?!" she yelped, "You really are a Soul Reaper!"

"Yes, and in that lays your only hope." Kirika said as she drew her sword, "This is my Zanpakutō, my Soul Cutting Sword. By plunging this into your heart and infusing you with my Reiryoku, I can give you the powers of a Soul Reaper. The chances of both of us surviving and the transfer being successful are only one-in-three, however, which is why I want to give my acquaintance time to do research to figure out how to raise the probability a bit."

"Wait…you could die with me if this goes wrong?!" Tatsuki asked in alarm.

Kirika gave her a weak smile. "One-in-three. That's how the results are divided. Success, death of the recipient or death of both the donor and the recipient."

The martial arts queen looked like she wanted to say something, but Kirika pressed on.

"Tomorrow, my body will be occupied by someone else, someone who will act like me and speak like me, but will not be me. Ditto for Aniki." she said urgently, "Go along with it, don't give any indication that you know about the switch and try to cover up any slips they make. I promise to be back ASAP."

"I'll be waiting." Tatsuki replied with a weak smile.

Kirika returned to her Gigai and ran her friend through the mediation exercise that would grasp and control her power without letting in grow. A holding pattern mediation exercise, in other words.

After she left Tatsuki's home, she found a cat on her shoulder before going two paces away from the door. Yoruichi regarded her for a moment before speaking.

"That was very good of you."

Kirika shrugged and replied, "There's any number of reasons to do this. Orihime will be inconsolable if anything happens to Tatsu-chan for one, ditto for Aniki. For another, having an extra sword that the Central 46 doesn't control will be useful."

Yoruichi chuckled at this. "Yes, but another factor is that you would fall to pieces if Arisawa-san Hollowfied or committed Soul Suicide. You like her."

"I'm not a lesbian." Kirika refuted with a blush, "I am not Honshō Chizuru."

"She gives lesbians a bad name." Yoruichi sneered, "Just have a thought as to why the thought of Arisawa Tatsuki turning into a Hollow, or worse committing Soul Suicide, fills you with dread."

Kirika refused to answer her sensei. "What happened in the Shattered Shaft?" she asked, "I've been asking for weeks and you refuse to tell me."

"…he Hollowfied fully for ten seconds before forcing himself to return to his form as a Soul Reaper." Yoruichi replied, allowing her pupil to divert the conversation…for the moment. "He has an Inner Hollow now, just like you do."

Kirika's face tightened at this. She had been aware of the beast within herself for the last couple of years, which was still asleep thanks to Nejibana.

"Aniki doesn't know, does he?" she asked quietly.

"No. He suspect nothing." the werecat replied, "Once his Hollow starts to gnaw at his mind, Kisuke will bring in the Visored to help with it."

The redhead made a sound that was halfway between a growl of anger and a spit of contempt. She hated the Visored for not being able to stop Aizen a century ago. Tessai and Yoruichi had told her they bitched about what had been done to them.

'Yeah, like half an hour of experimentation compares to three and a half years of experimentation and torture.' was her opinion on the matter. The Visored got a break from paperwork and no duties for a century, practically a holiday for them, and they had the nerve to complain?!

Granted they had negative spirits inside their Souls now, but they had a handle on that now thanks to Urahara. Kirika was also not impressed by their insistence that they were no longer Soul Reapers. She had never met the exiled Visored and hoped never to have to meet them.

"All the 'control' aspect is made up of is him going in and beating up his Inner Hollow, getting stabbed by it and accepting it as part of him, while someone fights him on the outside to stop him attacking anyone." Kirika said, "Yes, having more people would be to an advantage, but we don't need the Visored. Me, you, Urahara-san and Chad can handle it."

"Don't underestimate the power of a Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrid, Kirika-chan." Yoruichi warned her pupil, "It isn't just an additional power source that you can draw on, it adds its power to what you already have. Rather than doubling it or whatever you assume it is, think about it like this. Ichigo is going to become a Captain-class Soul Reaper by the time we finish this plan of ours, right?"

"A reasonable assumption." Kirika agreed.

"An Inner Hollow grows in sync with its host. At the moment, it is merely an exceptionally powerful Big Hollow. Once Ichigo becomes a Captain, it will bypass the mindless Gillian stage and become an Adjuchas, a mid-rank Menos Grande, albeit a weak one." the werecat told her, "Eventually, it will become a Vasto Lorde if Ichigo's growth curve keeps climbing. When he was defeated, he was a Fifth Seat in power, now he's High-Third Seat."

"Aniki's already more powerful than me…" Kirika sighed, "Still, raw power isn't everything. I can still kick his ass six-ways to Saturday with Kidō."

Yoruichi nodded in approval. So many were hooked on the outlook that superior Reiatsu meant that fighting someone stronger than themselves was suicide and, up to a point, it was true. Fighting an opponent several levels higher than you was suicide, much like what Ichigo had tried to do by fighting both Kuchiki Byakuya and Abarai Renji simultaneously.

However, if the difference was small to middling and you didn't charge in with the attitude of a bull in a china shop and used your head, you could accomplish much. That was what training in the Onmitsukidō was all about, defeating superior foes with cunning, skill and tactics.

"Anyway, that's enough about that. Head back to your home and swallow Rinrin's pill so we can get prepared." the werecat told her pupil before leaping off her shoulder and vanishing in a blur of Shunpo.

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T-Minus Ten Minutes to The Start of the Invasion of Soul Society

Underground Training Room, Urahara Shōten

Kirika walked into the room from her living quarters, wearing her new mask. She had gotten tired of sounding like Darth Vader and had demanded a new one that merely distorted her voice.

Urahara being who he was, had whined about his masterpiece before Kirika started to draw her sword. This new mask did distort her voice, but still made it sound like a film or cartoon character.

She now sounded like Asajj Ventress.

She didn't have time to suitably punish the shopkeeper, but resolved to do so as soon as she got back from the mission. My, she was saying that a lot recently.

Already present in the room were the three exiled Captains, all of whom were going over final preparations. Tessai was muttering incantations over the machinery where the Senkaimon would be opened, Urahara was muttering calculations under his breath and Yoruichi…was stripping her clothes off and placing them in Kirika's bag, along with her Zanpakutō.

"Here ya go, Kirika-chan." there purple-haired beauty said as she handed over the bag, utterly uncaring of the fact she was stark naked.

"I'll look after your stuff properly, sensei." Kirika said as she kept her eyes averted from the Shihōin Princess' nudity.

With a last grin, Yoruichi shifted into her cat form and bounced over to Urahara, as he headed up to the store proper to greet the incoming group of teens.

"Tessai-sensei, I'm nervous." she confided in the man as he walked over to her, apparently satisfied with the machinery and having concealed it behind an illusion Kidō, "Should I keep acting like I have been as 'Kokken Asa' or should I be more…superior?"

"Keep on as you have been, Kirika-kun." he advised, "Merely treat your brother as an acquaintance and he shall not suspect a thing."

"Right." Kirika nodded, "Here they come."

Down the ladder came Urahara, swiftly followed by Chad, Ishida, Orihime (who was carrying a purring Yoruichi) and a stupefied Ichigo. Evidently her sensei had played her favourite 'look, I'm a cat!' prank on him.

Chad was wearing black trousers and a white vest with a dark red stripe going vertically from the head hole to the bottom of the vest. Ishida was wearing what she assumed was a traditional Quincy outfit, a western all-white outfit that practically screamed 'PRIDE!' to the world at large.

While Orihime, clad in a pink t-shirt and grey trousers, rhapsodised about the coolness of the underground training room (much to Tessai's delight), Ichigo looked at Kirika with his habitual scowl on his face.

"Who's that?" he asked gruffly.

"I am Kokken Asa, Kurosaki-san." she replied, "You might recall I am the one who prevented that redheaded Lieutenant from killing you."

"You sounded different back then." he pointed out.

"Urahara-san was playing a prank on me, as is his wont, if you recall." she replied.

Ichigo scowled again and nodded in agreement.

"Hai, hai! Everyone please pay attention!" Urahara called, "Here we go!"

With a snap of his fingers, Urahara altered the illusion spell that Tessai had cast on the machine and made it appear seemingly from nowhere.

'Urahara and his theatrics!' Kirika grumbled in her mind.

"Now, this is the way you all shall be getting to the Soul Society. It's called the Senkaimon." the man said, "Now, listen closely. But first…"

He struck Ichigo in the head with the base of his cane, which held something similar to Kirika's ring. Ichigo was forced from his body and both Soul and body was sent sprawling to the ground.

Kirika took in her brother with the eye of a warrior rather than a sister. He actually had some control over his Reiryoku so it wasn't spilling all over the place like usual. The large Zanpakutō strapped to his back resembled an oversized Khyber knife wrapped in bandages. It had no hilt or tsuba and was permanently stuck in Shikai.

So like Ichigo.

Kirika tuned out the exclamations of the other three, tuning back in when Urahara started explaining the gate he had built.

"Everything and everyone in Soul Society is made out of Reishi, or if you would prefer, it is a world of Souls." the man explained, "Unless you are a Soul, it is impossible to enter it. As of now, only Ichigo and Kokken Asa, both of them being Soul Reapers, can move around in their Soul forms. The device you see before you will convert the bodies of the rest of you into Reishi, kind of pseudo-Soul bodies if you will."

"So you are turning us into spirits with this device." Ishida summed the man's lecture up in a few words.

"Let's go then!" Ichigo tried to move forwards, but was hit in the side by Urahara's cane.

"Unfortunately," the man said as if he hadn't been interrupted, "The time we can keep this gate open for is very limited. Four minutes to be precise."

"EH!?" everyone in her group barring Yoruichi exclaimed. Hell, even Kirika was taken aback. Four minutes? She had taken ten at least when she had run through the Dangai, and that had just been a quarter of the distance!

Then again, she had only been five and a half, so…?

"Is it even possible to make it through in such a short amount of time, Geta Bōshi (Hat'n'Clogs)?" Ichigo asked sceptically.

"Well, this entire venture is ludicrously risky, after all." the man replied easily.

'Liar. You have everything planned out, down to this speech.' Kirika thought sourly.

"Four minutes is all we can do. Longer than that and you'll all be trapped between the Soul Society and the World of the Living…forever." Urahara concluded.

While Yoruichi said some bracing words to the others, Kirika tried to remember the spell Ichimaru Gin had used to transport her ten years ago. Unsurprisingly, she could only remember a few words of the spell, so she abandoned the idea.

Once Ichigo stood forwards and inspired the others, they were ready. Urahara and Tessai used their Reiryoku to empower both the Senkaimon and the device, turning the doorway silver.

"Now!" Yoruichi ordered.

With Ichigo leading the way, the five teens charged through the gateway into the Precipice between the Worlds.

The Dangai was exactly as Kirika remembered it, although she was glad to have tabi socks and waraji between her feet and the almost organic floor this time around. There was one major difference though.

The fact that the damn passageway that they were using was collapsing in on itself behind them!

"Why is the damn wall collapsing behind us?!" Ishida yelled as he ran like no one's business.

"If you have time to look behind you, you have time to run faster!" Yoruichi called back, "If you are caught by the Kōryū, it's all over!"

Ishida was going to ask something else, but had his half-cape caught by a tentacle-thing from the Kōryū. Chad grabbed the cape and ripped it in half, freeing him.

"That's why you do not wear flapping clothes in the Dangai, Ishida-san." Kirika put in as she dragged the bespectacled boy away from the rapidly encroaching purple muck of the Kōryū.

"Shut up." the boy muttered. He then yelped as Chad threw him over his shoulder, as the boy wasn't running fast enough.

A familiar feeling crawled its way up Kirika's spine. "Yoruichi-sensei, the Kōtotsu is approaching!" she warned the werecat.

"Damn, of all the bad timing…!" she cursed.

"The what now?" Ichigo asked as he ran.

"The giant cyclopean snake thing about to appear behind us." Kirika informed him tensely, "If we're sucked in by it, we'll be sent to a random destination alone the timeline and die."

Sure enough, the towering form of the Kōtotsu emerged from the muck behind them like a relentless Juggernaut, inching its way closer to them by the second.

"Damn it! That damn thing comes through every seven days! Why did it have to come now of all times!" the werecat ranted.

"It's no good! We can't outrun it!" Ishida cried.

"We have to, the exit is just ahead of us!" Kirika retorted.

Orihime abruptly turned around and used her Santen Kesshun to block the Kōtotsu. The resulting explosion sent the entire team flying out of the exit to land on the ground in a crash of dust.

Kirika managed to land properly, as did Chad and Orihime. The rest...not so much. Ishida was faceplanted on the ground with his ass in the air, Yoruichi was doing a good imitation of road kill and Ichigo had landed on his shoulders with his legs over his head.

"Is everyone OK?" Orihime asked.

"No!" Kirika growled before stomping over to her and bopping her on the head, "Are you insane?! You are lucky that none of the Shun-Shun Rikka touched that thing or they and you would have died!"

"What a ride!" Ishida muttered, "I knew things would be rough, but I didn't think my equipment would be damaged this early. I never thought I'd have to use my spare cape this soon!"

With that, he tossed off his tattered old cape, pulled a brand new one out of his top and put it on.

"What the…? He brought a change of clothes?!" Ichigo muttered in disbelief to Chad, who also looked taken aback by the Quincy's…vanity? Stupidity? Whatever.

"Yoruichi-sensei, where are we?" Chad asked as he looked around. The place they were standing in looked like a run-down town designed in the traditional Japanese style.

"This is the Rukongai (Wandering Soul City), the first place newly arrived Souls live in." the werecat replied, "It lies on the outskirts of the Seireitei, where the Soul Reapers reside. Most Souls live in the Rukongai and it is a poor, largely lawless area."

"And over there?" Ichigo asked, pointing at a pristine area paved in white, "That's the Seireitei, right? Let's go!"

Kirika grabbed Ichigo before he could go running off towards it. "Kurosaki-san, sit still please. We are not going to run in headfirst."

"But there's no walls or guards!" he argued, trying to break free.

"The Thirteen Court Guard Squads can detect illegal Senkaimon usage." she informed him, "I would be very surprised if they didn't know we were here already."

As if her words were the audible cue, a large set of walls slammed down around the Seireitei.

"This is…damn. We're in West Rukongai." Yoruichi cursed, "Which means that this is Rukongai District 1, Junrinan, and that means that gate over there is the Hakutōmon, guarded by Ikkanzaka Jidanbō, the strongest of the four Gatekeepers! What kind of terrible luck are we receiving here?!"

Another thump indicated the arrival of aforementioned Gatekeeper.

Jidanbō was a giant of a man in a true sense of the word. He stood four times Ichigo's height and wore a modified Shihakushō that exposed his left arm, which had armour on the shoulder and upper arm. He had long hair tied in a ponytail that extended to his waist and long sideburns, which were also tied into ponytails. Atop his head was a red fez-like hat with a pair of tassels on either side. Clasped in one hand was an enormous axe that was twice Ichigo's height.

Kirika concentrated for a moment. Jidanbō was strong, no questions asked, but Ichigo -and herself for that matter- was still stronger by far. All of the gatekeeper's strength was in his sheer size and physical abilities, which was likely how he had successfully guarded the gate for the past three centuries.

Ichigo took advantage of her distraction to break free of her hold on him and ran off straight at Jidanbō.

"Well, well…it's been quite some time since someone has tried to come through this gate without authorisation!" Jidanbō boomed jubilantly, "You'll be my first 'customer' in a long time. I'll take good care of you…boy!"

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Next Chapter: Flower Crane Cannon

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