I posted Chapter 30 in the middle of the week, so if you missed it, please go back and read it before reading this one! Also, it's been brought to my attention that the part about Ichigo not knowing that his hollow is Zangetsu disregards what he learned while learning the final Getsuga Tenshō, so for the sake of this fic, we'll pretend that topic during the discussion between Ichigo and Tensa Zangetsu wasn't covered.

Chapter 31: Training Day

Ichigo's Inner World

"I am your zanpakuto!"

Ichigo floated in the underwater version of his inner world, brows knotted in confusion. After a moment, he shook his head briefly and replied, "No, Zangetsu is my zanpakuto. You are my hollow."

The hollow looked at Ichigo with a half-smile and narrowed eyes. "You know what they say about assumptions, right partner?"

"Huh?"

"When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me."

Ichigo groaned silently.

"No? Have it your way, King," the hollow said, disappointed, slashing at Ichigo.

Ichigo barely dodged, powering up his blut vene and conjuring a bow.

"You're not going to get far without my speed, partner," the hollow called out from behind.

Ichigo took that as a challenge. Smirking, he took off toward the desaturated copy of himself in a burst of hirenkyaku. He landed behind the hollow before the hollow noticed, and drew an arrow on him, arrogantly announcing his presence: "Shows how much you know." He loosed the arrow. He missed.

From a distance, he heard the hollow's watery laughter. Ichigo lowered his bow, frowning in offense. The hollow's laughter died down as it approached Ichigo at a moderate pace, its expression changing to one of pseudo-sympathy.

"Poor King, you really don't have a clue, do ya?"

Seething, Ichigo flexed his shoulders in a subconscious effort to make himself look more intimidating.

The hollow only laughed in response. "How many times do I have to tell you, partner? I AM YOU. You can't scare me."

Ichigo had grown beyond irritated. He had been training unsuccessfully for weeks, and his patience was gone. He charged at the hollow.

The hollow put out a hand, catching Ichigo by the forehead and tossing him to the side like it was nothing. When Ichigo crashed into a building, the hollow shunpo'ed over to him, kicking him onto his back. "That's enough now, partner. Can we have that little chat now?"

Ichigo opened his hate-filled eyes and trained them on his hollow, but said nothing. The hollow took that as his invitation to speak. "So, you'll notice there have been some changes around here, none so noticeable as that old creepy guy's absence."

"Yeah I noticed! What happened to Zangetsu?" Ichigo said, before he was cut off by a coughing fit.

The hollow waited, casting a disappointed look in Ichigo's direction, until his coughing had stopped. "That's what I have been trying to tell you. Why did you assume the old dude was Zangetsu?"

"What?"

"You assumed he was. Why he never corrected you, I'll never know. Anyway, what I've been trying to tell you this whole time is that I am Zangetsu. I have always been Zangetsu."

Ichigo shook his head in disbelief. "If that's true, who was the old man?"

"Hell if I know. Some geezer pervert if you ask me. Something to do with your Quincy power. He was getting real excited when you and the Queen got together, but then he fucked off to god knows where. Maybe he was consumed by the neighbor upstairs."

Ichigo was not following again. "Who?"

"You heard him, sounds like a rabid bear. He's the reason we're down here."

"Hold on hold on hold on. You're Zangetsu?"

Zangetsu tsked in disgust, and knocked Ichigo out with the hilt of the zanpakuto.

xXxXx

Urahara's Training Grounds

"I've never used one of these before," Orihime admitted, looking at the red fingerless glove currently on her hand, "but I think Rukia-chan used to just put it on and slam her palm into Kurosaki-kun's chest, like this," she said, winding her arm back and preparing to strike Ulquiorra in the sternum.

Ulquiorra grasped her wrist gently right before she made contact. "I don't believe that amount of force is necessary. Just firm contact," he informed her, his voice wavering slightly in relief.

"Oh, alright," she said, "I wonder why Rukia used so much force if it wasn't necessary."

Ulquiorra thought it would be unwise to share his opinion about why one would want to inflict pain on the former shinigami and replied, "I do not know. Now, I'll sit over there and save my gigai some jarring before you try again. Follow me."

Ulquiorra walked behind a rock that would provide his gigai some protection in the event that the training session got rambunctious and sat against it. "Do it."

Orihime bit her lip and nodded, kneeling beside Ulquiorra and raising her palm toward him. Somehow, in this small, sheltered place, and with Ulquiorra in a more vulnerable position, her unhurried movements felt intimate. She blushed and raised her eyes to him shyly, before releasing her lip from her teeth and asking, "Is this alright?"

Ulquiorra's eyes darkened slightly as he nodded. He had sensed the change in the atmosphere between them, as well. His breathing shallowed as he watched her hand make gentle contact, and then he was suddenly freed. He stood up from his gigai and stepped aside. Orihime was still looking at the gigai somewhat horrified – the life had been literally sucked out of it. She squeaked in surprise when Ulquiorra spoke from above her shoulder, "Come, woman." He turned his back to her, smiling as he walked toward the open area ahead, amused by her response.

Orihime stood, but did not follow before taking a deep breath of relief. "I thought you would look different, for some reason," she finally said with a sunny smile.

"Would you prefer it if my appearance was different?" he asked, stonefaced. He looked exactly as he did in the gigai. He didn't let on, but her statement made him doubt his presentation.

"Oh, no, I think you look fine like that," she answered casually. Ulquiorra's lips thinned and eyebrows lowered, unappeased. He had hoped for better than a thoughtless 'fine'.

"So, how should we start?" she asked, not noticing his displeasure.

Ulquiorra set aside his bruised ego for a moment. "First, come to me," he ordered. She obeyed, and when she stood before him, he slowly walked around toward her back, his eyes never leaving hers. She watched him until she could no longer see him in her peripheral vision. She paused a moment before turning around, and when she finally did, he was gone.

"Ulquiorra?"

Suddenly she felt something around her neck. Her reflexes kicked in, and she spun around poised to attack whatever had touched her. Once again, Ulquiorra grasped her wrist gently and redirected her forward motion upward and away from his face. "Well done, woman. Had I been human, you would have connected," he said with an appreciative half-smile. After Orihime's breathing and heartrate began to slow, she returned the smile, pleased with herself. Ulquiorra lowered the arm in his grasp and brought his hands up toward her face. Now she could see what had touched her neck: the suppression necklace he had taken from Urahara's office. He brought it over her head, and then, very carefully, and trying not to make any extraneous contact, he slipped his right hand between her turtleneck collar and her cinnamon hair, pulling her mane up over the necklace so that the chain laid flat against the back of her sweater. Orihime blushed in response to his gentle actions.

Although Ulquiorra was suppressing his reiatsu well on his own, Orihime had been enveloped by it until the necklace was in place. What surprised her about it was how light and soft it had felt; nothing like it had in Soul Society or at Ichigo's intervention. It seemed to caress her in warm, soothing pulses. After the necklace had been put into place, she found that she missed it. She didn't have time to ponder on it for long, however, because a moment later, Ulquiorra thrust himself several yards backward, and taunted, "Training will be completed when you do make contact. Come at me."

Something in the way he said it, or in the arrogant gleam in his eyes, or both, ignited Orihime's competitive spirit. She lunged into an offensive position and called out for Tsubaki.

"What is it, woman? You've no killing instinct now. Why bother calling me?" Tsubaki grumbled, his tiny foot kicking her in the shoulder.

Orihime brushed it off and looked at the little sprite in irritation, although her voice was sweet when she scolded, "Tsubaki-kun, that's not what I had in mind and you know it. You know what I want you to do."

Tsubaki groaned. "This is a waste of my potential, woman!"

Orihime shot a pleading gaze in his direction.

"I could have killed you one hundred times by now, woman," Ulquiorra's bored-sounding voice called across the field.

Orihime narrowed her eyes at Ulquiorra. How dare he say something like that so flippantly! "Koten Zanshun!"

She watched as Tsubaki zoomed through the air toward Ulquiorra's location, except, as her eyes followed to that spot, Ulquiorra wasn't there anymore. Before Tsubaki could even turn around, she felt a pulse of warmth behind her, and heard Ulquiorra's silky voice just behind her ear, "You missed."

Orihime swirled around breathlessly, her mouth open in a silent scream. Ulquiorra breathed hard through his nostrils, trying not to laugh at her. Tsubaki returned to the pair, flying past Orihime and grabbing hold of Ulquiorra's ponytail. "Do you want me to cut it all off? I could make him bald!"

Orihime's wits returned to her, and she smiled again, answering, "No, Tsubaki-kun. Just one strand, please."

Before she even finished what she was saying, Tsubaki yanked hard, pulling a hair from Ulquiorra's ponytail out, and before flying back to Orihime's hairpin, he dropped the hair in Ulquiorra's hand.

Orihime smirked. "So, I guess that counts as contact," she gloated good-naturedly.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at her, "A technicality."

Orihime's smile grew wide. "A win, I think you mean!" She giggled and pumped a fist in the air.

"Don't think I'll release you with such a petty victory, woman," Ulquiorra said darkly, but his eyes were bright when Orihime's met them.

Orihime smiled at him warmly, "I hoped you'd say something like that. I'd have been disappointed if we were finished so soon."

Ulquiorra's cheeks dusted a soft rose, and Orihime didn't miss it. She thought it was cute and her smile brightened further than he thought was possible. "Er, right," he said, his voice cracking slightly, before he cleared it and continued, "Next we'll work on tactics. Have you ever used your offensive ability to try to cut something other than your opponent?"

Orihime tilted her head quizzically, as she tried to guess what he was getting at. She slowly shook her head negatively when she couldn't think of a time when she had tried what Ulquiorra suggested.

"As I thought. Now, imagine your enemy under that cliff," he pointed to an outcropping of rock in the distance. "Cut through the rock to imprison or crush your enemy."

Orihime nodded. With nothing on the line, it would be fun, she thought. She focused on the rock and called out, "Koten Zanshun!" Tsubaki flew out as fast as a bullet, slicing through the cliff. A loud boom rumbled the ground and dust flew up in all directions.

Ulquiorra looked at her to see her eyes wide with wonder. "I did it!" She looked at him, excited. He gave her a nod of approval. "I did it, Ulquiorra!"

Ulquiorra could not help but smile. "Indeed. Next, try it while trying to escape from a pursuer. I'll give you a ten-second head start. Go."

Orihime started running, as Ulquiorra counted down from ten out loud. As soon as soon as he finished saying, "One," Orihime felt a pair of strong arms pull her off of her trajectory.

"Try again," Ulquiorra said harshly, setting her back down on her feet.

Orihime didn't wait. She took off again, this time with a plan. Right before Ulquiorra got to one, she called out her shield to buy her more time. Ulquiorra crashed into her shield, surprised. However, when he looked at her through the shield, his eyes smiled. She saw, and spared him a smirky glance in response. Before she knew it, he was past the shield and stood before her, finger touching her forehead. "Cero. You lose."

Orihime groaned. "It's not fair, Ulquiorra. You are way too fast. I'm just a human, you know."

"I do. Try again," he demanded.

They repeated this exercise several more times, and each ended without success for Orihime. Each time he ordered her to try again.

Orihime's mouth set in a firm line and her eyes narrowed in determination. This time, she had a new plan. She streaked toward an overhanging rock and called Tsubaki. Just as she was under the rock, Tsubaki cut it.

Ulquiorra's heart stopped as he watched the rock begin to crumble over her head. In an instant, he had pushed her down and was on top of her, shielding her body with his from the falling rocks above.

"Ulquiorra!" she shrieked. This was not part of her plan. She watched helplessly as the first of the crumbling rocks pelted his back. She squinted and called her shield just in time to protect him from the larger chunks that fell next.

When everything finally went quiet, she opened her eyes to see him hovering above her with a pained expression. "Ulquiorra! Are you alright?"

Slowly, he brought his expressionless eyes to her. Slowly, those expressionless eyes turned angry. "What were you thinking, woman! You could have been killed!"

Orihime heard the panic in his voice, and her eyes softened. She waited for his breathing to calm down before she responded. "No, Ulquiorra, I was ready to call my shield when you interrupted; I would have been fine. My goal was to lure you toward the rocks, but I figured you would have escaped them anyway…" She saw his eyes change from anger to something nearly unrecognizable on him: fear. She began to tear up, and gently, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him off of her. "I'm sorry, my plan wasn't good. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Ulquiorra sat up silently and looked away from Orihime. He rubbed a sore spot on his shoulder, and then he heard her call her healing fairies. It felt like heaven.

"No. Your plan was perfect, woman," he admitted, and after a moment he looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry I overreacted."

Orihime smiled and shook her head. "No, I should have known. This isn't the first time you've protected me."

Ulquiorra's brows knit together. He couldn't recall doing such a thing before. He let her see his confused expression.

"You must not remember. In Hueco Mundo, you protected me against other arrancar, and even against Kurosaki-kun. You never would have admitted it though, I think. You probably didn't even realize it at the time."

"I did?" He asked, dubious.

"Mmhmm," she answered, nodding her head as she pulled back her healing powers. "There we are, good as new." She walked over to where he sat, and knelt before him, searching for his eyes. "Look at me," she asked gently. "Please? I want to make sure you're alright."

He slowly rose his shocking green eyes up, and let her see how he felt in that moment. Relieved. Afraid. Proud. Emotionally exhausted. "I think that is enough training for one day, woman. You have done well."

Orihime beamed at him. He sighed, allowing that smile to wash away his tension.

xXxXx

Ichigo woke up to the sight of Zangetsu, the hollow, pacing back and forth, swinging his zanpakuto around like a toy. Ichigo groaned and stood, catching Zangetsu's attention. "Look who's up? Are you with me now? You know who I am?"

Ichigo grabbed his head and nodded gingerly.

"Alright," Zangetsu replied. "So, now you know the first thing. The second thing is that big bastard upstairs. He is the reason you can't keep your shit together."

"Who, or what, is he?" Ichigo asked in a rough voice.

"Fuck if I know, King. You made him. Well, you and Queen. See, me, I mean, you and me, we're the same. He is different. He's new. He came along after."

"You're not making any sense. After what?"

"After you let me out!" Zangetsu shrieked. "After that, she started 'restoring' you or whatever you like to call it. The more you two do that, the bigger and more ornery that guy gets."

Ichigo was suddenly livid, "Oh, so you're going to blame it all on us now? You were the one telling me to do those awful things to Inoue."

Zangetsu's face held a wounded expression. "Oh, dear, King. You really can't take responsibility for anything, can you? Like I keep trying to tell you: I am you. That voice was your own. You were jealous."

"Maybe I was, but I would never, ever, even think something like that, much less say it!" Ichigo argued desperately hoping it was true. If those thoughts had come from himself, he was no better than the monster upstairs.

"Well, I wasn't the one who thought it. I'm your instinct, remember? Your instinct wants the queen, and any other number of women, no doubt, but not like that. That would be his influence," he said, pointing up.

Ichigo shook his head. He still didn't understand, but at least this was a starting point. "So, what do we do? How do we get rid of him?"

"I'll help you with that next time, partner. Take some time off first, get some rest, and come back here when you're refreshed and really ready to fight. But whatever you do, stay away from the Queen."

Before Zangetsu even finished speaking, Ichigo was being pulled back to consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around; he was back where Urahara had left him. He stood up and looked around, spotting the shopkeeper napping a short distance away. Ichigo's movements seemed to disturb him, and he tipped his striped hat up his head, looking in Ichigo's direction.

"So, how did it go?" Urahara asked, genuinely surprised that the entire process had gone so peacefully.

"I guess I'm supposed to take a break."

Urahara raised a confused brow. "For how long?"

"For a while. He told me to get 'refreshed and ready to fight.'"

"Who's he?"

"My zanpakuto."

xXxXx

Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think!