Chapter Twenty
"I'll miss you, Yuzu. I hope you can come back soon." Ichigo said, hugging Yuzu as she stood at the portal to go back to the Human World. Yuzu could feel tears coming to her eyes. She hugged Ichigo back, pulling Karin in as well, kissing each of them on the cheek.
"I love you, Nii-san, Karin-chan… I hope I can come back soon. I don't know when, but maybe in a week or two." Yuzu said, tears filling her chocolate brown eyes.
"We'll count on it." Karin said. She had left training with Soi Fon early so that she wouldn't miss her sister leaving. She and her sister were as different as could be, but they were still very close.
"Good luck with your Quincy training." Karin finished. "You need to follow in our mother's footsteps. Ichi-nii and me are taking after Dad. You need to take after Mom." She said. Yuzu nodded.
"I know. I actually have lessons with Mr. Ishida later today.
"He says I'm doing much better at controlling my Reiatsu, and that I need to keep meditating and training with target practice and with my physical training and spiritual training. He's starting to teach me lower level Quincy techniques. I'm excited. I'm starting to get a hold of them." Yuzu said happily. She was happy to be able to help Ichigo. She could be the First Response and Control Team while Ichigo and the Shinigami could be the raw power that took out more powerful Hollows.
She didn't delude herself into believing that she was powerful enough yet to take on extremely powerful Hollows. But she could respond more quickly to them, and control them while she waited for Ichigo to come. Ichigo seemed to notice this in her.
"Yuzu… I need you to promise me that you won't go off half-cocked and get yourself hurt by a Hollow… Promise me." Ichigo said sternly.
Yuzu shrank back slightly. She couldn't promise him that.
"I-I need to do all that I can, even if I get hurt…" She mutted. Ichigo grabbed her.
"No! If a Shinigami gets injured by a Hollow, even a severe injury, they can heal. Do you know what happens when a Quincy gets injured by a Hollow? If their Reiatsu mixes with the Quincy's, their Reiatsu and their body itself get corrupted. That's what happened to Mom.
"Dad was able to save her by bringing her to Urahara. But she lost her powers because they had to seal them away to save her life. Otherwise, she would have died of the corruption. Hollow Reiatsu is like poison to a Quincy! You need to promise me that you won't try to fight any Hollows!"
"I… I… O-okay… I promise, Nii-chan…" Yuzu muttered, feeling bad, but knowing that Ichigo had her best interests at heart. Still, eventually, she would be powerful enough, and when that happened, she would fight Hollows. After all, what were her powers for if she didn't use them, she reasoned. Ichigo nodded. He would need to get in contact with his father to make sure that Yuzu didn't get in over her head with being a Quincy.
Yuzu said goodbye one last time before she headed through the gate, returning to the Human World. Ichigo sighed. It had been nice to see his sister again. It had been a while, and she was getting bigger, taller. After all, she would be fourteen soon. He would need to get leave to go down to the Human World to celebrate her birthday with her. It was only right. He wondered how his friends were doing. How was Riruka doing?
She had gotten a job working for that jerk, Yukio as a fashion designer. It worked well for her, he thought. She had a good eye for fashion. She had been dating Tsukishima… He may have made mistakes in his life, but it seemed like he was straightening everything out.
"Okay, class… You're done for today." Tsukishima said, telling them to put their swords away, and get changed. He headed to the front to see Tatsuki and Orihime up front, holding hands and waiting on him.
"Hello, ladies. How may I help you?" He asked politely.
"We'd like to sign up for classes." Orihime said excitedly. Tsukishima's eyebrows went up slightly. He had thought that perhaps Tatsuki would want to take classes.
But Orihime had never seemed the fighting type.
"Are you sure, Miss Inoue? As I understand, you've always been something of a pacifist."
"That's not entirely true. I can fight if I need to. Besides, martial arts isn't about fighting. It's about discipline." She said cheerfully. Tsukishima couldn't argue on that point. She was right.
He had lived a life with a lot of fighting. But that didn't mean that fighting was the only way.
"Okay… I'd be glad to train you. What classes would you like to take? Silat? Iaijutsu? Kendo? Kenjutsu? I teach a number of weapon based styles, mainly for swords, but Silat users can wield something called a Kerambit. It's useful for tactical and precise strikes, mainly for quick kills." Tsukishima said, taking out a tiny curved blade.
"It looks like a tiger's claw." Orihime said, taking the Kerambit and inspecting it closer. It looked very sharp and very dangerous.
"It was designed after the Tiger's claw. They studied the way a Tiger hunted and fought and they tried to mimic the style. It was largely used by the peasantry. It's up to you what classes you take." He said, leaning in.
"I assume your interest in furthering your martial arts training is as a result of your recent encounter, Miss Arisawa?" Tsukishima asked, hoping he was being tactful. Tatsuki scowled, but nodded.
"Yes. I don't want to ever be that weak again. I know that it's unfair to expect myself to be able to stand up to a superhuman person. But I've always progressed by expecting more of myself than I currently was able to do. That's how I came in second place, despite having a broken arm.
"That's how I became a master of the martial arts that I practice. There's no other way for me. Maybe you could teach me ways to undermine an opponent's power. Sneaky styles of fighting."
"I can. Outmaneuvering an opponent is hard when your opponent is stronger, faster and more powerful than you. But it can be done. I'll start with teaching you Hapkido and Taekwondo. Do you know either of those?" Tsukishima asked. Tatsuki shook her head.
"I'm mostly skilled in Karate, though I know Aikido and Vale Tudo, I'm hardly a master of either." Tatsuki said. Tsukishima nodded, seeming pleased.
"Good. I can advance your knowledge of all of those styles to some degree. I've never competed professionally, but I got black belts in multiple styles of martial arts, including MMA."
"Really? You seem like you always use a sword." Orihime said, impressed.
"I do. I prefer the use of a sword, mainly because that's what my main Fullbring is, my Idiosyncratic Manipulation affects a sword. But that doesn't mean I didn't learn other styles. I was only about five when Ginjo took me in and taught me to use my Fullbring. He taught me a mix of martial arts that would allow me better use of it. I would be happy to teach you, both of you." Tsukishima said politely.
"Great. How much are the lessons?" Tatsuki asked, worried.
She didn't actually have that much money. She was living with her parents at the time, but her mother and father encouraged her to pay her own way in life, and she had just bought a one month anniversary gift for Orihime. Orihime had been embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that, and promised that she would get her something in return. Tatsuki tried to tell her not to worry about it, but Orihime wouldn't hear of it.
"Miss Arisawa… I can sense significant power in you. Do you happen to be a Quincy?" Tsukishima asked. Tatsuki raised an eyebrow.
"A what, now? Isn't Quincy a last name? Or a first name, or something?"
"Never mind. Can you see spirits, namely Shinigami and Hollows?" He asked. Tatsuki nodded.
"Yes. I've seen Ichigo walking around in his Shinigami clothes. Why?"
"Have you ever been attacked by a Hollow and wounded by that Hollow, as in an open wound of some sort?" Tsukishima asked. Tatsuki thought back.
"Yes. Twice, I was attacked. Once, I got a severe cut from a Hollow. One named Acidwire. The cut hurt so badly, I couldn't believe it. I'm usually pretty high on pain tolerance. But I could barely stand the pain." Tatsuki said, thinking back unwillingly to that night.
"Mm… I thought that might be the case. You may have been healed fully from the wound, but the Hollow's energy stayed inside you, and spread and increased. Even a tiny amount will spread. It will cause no physical damage, but your spiritual awakening may be a result of a mix of circumstances. Kurosaki's spiritual energy, aka, his Reiatsu, was unstable at the time, with a tendency to leak out of his body, well, more like pour out in waves.
"He was impossible to miss. A spiritually inept and blind common Plus could have found him. I suspect that the mix of his Hollow power and his Shinigami power affected much of the class, or at least his closest friends, namely you, Miss Inoue, and a few other friends of his, namely Sado, and the two nitwits that I met that one time. But the Hollow's touch, and cut would have awoken a very specific set of abilities in you, Miss Arisawa."
"Set of abilities?" Tatsuki asked. Tsukishima's eyes narrowed.
"Fullbring… You have the same powers as Miss Inoue and myself. They are not fully realized yet, but if you train in them, they will come out. I suggest you do some soul searching, and find what item matters most to you in your life. A piece of jewelry, a teddy bear, a set of chopsticks, even. It ultimately doesn't matter, as long as it's very important to you.
"For Miss Inoue, it was her hair clips. For Sado, it was his own arms, for Mr. Kurosaki, it was his Substitute Shinigami pass, for me, it's this bookmark, and so on. For now, I will begin training you in the most basic aspects of Fullbring. Those lessons are free. Martial arts… I'll charge you 10,000 yen (approx. 90.00 USD a month. You can just wear sweatpants or whatever you feel comfortable in." Tsukishima said. Tatsuki and Orihime bowed, thanking him.
"Good. We can begin tonight if you like. I have an open area that I go to sometimes to watch the stars with Riruka… We can practice there." Tsukishima said. Tatsuki smirked.
"Great! I'm ready whenever you are!"
"Tatsuki-chan… Maybe we should let Tsukishima-san rest tonight and take him up on his offer tomorrow?" Orihime suggested. Tsukishima shook his head.
"No. I'm not that tired. Besides, I teach martial arts almost every night, other than Sunday. So it would do me no more good to skip tonight than it would tomorrow or the next night. We can begin whenever Miss Arisawa is ready." He said politely. "If you're ready now, I'm happy to start your training now. I'll call Riruka. I need to tell her I'm going to be late. Pardon me a moment." Tsukishima said.
"Hello? Riruka?" Tsukishima said. Riruka snorted.
"Who else?" Riruka demanded.
"Of course. I'm going to be late tonight. I'm helping Miss Arisawa train in her Fullbring. I've sensed one in her since I first met her, but she's never said that she wanted to learn to harness it.
"Today, she came to my dojo and asked me to continue her training in martial arts. Since I was sure it was about her assault by Megumi, I felt it was time for her to fully harness her powers."
"Great. I'll be right over. You're training in the field outside Karakura?" Riruka asked. Tsukishima nodded.
"Yes. We'll be there until late in the evening. Come whenever you feel like it."
Tsukishima hung up then, and took Tatsuki and Orihime to the field, where he began explaining the basics of Fullbring.
"Everything has a soul in it. Living things have stronger souls than inanimate objects, and animals have stronger souls than plants and such. But even this bottle of water has a soul. Watch." Tsukishima said, waving his hand over the water, and drawing it out, pulling the water into his mouth.
"You see? My power resonated with the soul in the water and drew it out. Now, another name for this is Idiosyncratic Manipulation, or at least, once you have your special object, it will. Your soul will specifically correspond with the soul of your item, and will draw out its true power. Do you understand, Miss Arisawa?" Tatsuki nodded.
"Good. Then look down at the ground, and close your eyes. Try to feel the soul in it. Expand your spiritual senses, and feel it." Tsukishima said. Tatsuki took a deep breath, and sought the soul in the ground. She kept looking, but found nothing. Tsukishima wasn't surprised, though, and told her to get ready for combat. He wasn't going to use his Book of the End, but he would have her access her powers by practice.
As soon as he was sure she was ready, he moved towards her, making sure that she could see his Bringer Light. Tatsuki stepped aside, shocked at how fast Tsukishima was. He took a bokken and swung at Tatsuki, who blocked with her forearm, gasping at the force of the blow. He hadn't swung that hard, but it was more powerful than she had expected. She had seen a slight flicker of light around the sword as it swung through the air. Had he brought out the soul of the sword?
"You shouldn't use your arm to block my bokken. You'll end up with broken bones." Tsukishima said quietly, twisting and attacking for a second time.
As she dodged again, she tried to counter, but hit only air, and was rewarded with a blow with the bokken to her stomach. Tatsuki gasped as the wind was driven from her lungs, and she collapsed to her knees.
"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cried, running over to her. Tatsuki put her hand up, though.
"No! I'm fine. Really." She said, taking shallow, gasping breaths and standing up.
"I'm… Ready."
"No. Catch your breath first." Tsukishima said, putting his sword down at his side as Riruka ran over to them. She smirked annoyingly at Tatsuki.
"You've beaten her already? She must not be much to speak of. She's kinda cute. I'd bang her once… Give her a try. But not too strong, apparently." Riruka mocked. Tatsuki sneered at this.
"Perhaps you'd like to spar with me. We'll see how strong I am against you?" Tatsuki goaded. Riruka laughed.
"You wouldn't last a minute against me. But sure. Let's see…" She said pompously, walking over to stand across from Tatsuki and getting into a fighting position, activating her Fullbring.
Tatsuki could tell just from looking at her stance that she wasn't a practiced fighter. She might have superior speed and maybe superior strength. But she wasn't a fighter. Tatsuki had beaten people twice her size before, and men much stronger than her physically. It wasn't hard if you knew where to hit. She prepared for a rough battle. She prepared as if this Riruka was much better than she looked. After all, Riruka couldn't possibly look any less threatening.
Riruka moved first, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Tatsuki blocked her punch and countered, moving her fist underneath her guard, making several quick jabs in her side, throwing her off balance, and kicking her in the chest, and forcing her back. Riruka snarled, brushing her dress off, and charging at Tatsuki again, who had more trouble dodging this time, but made it in the nick of time, making another jab at Riruka's Solar Plexus, dropping her in one shot.
"You're stronger and faster than me. But I've had no shortage of people who were stronger and faster than I was. As long as I can account for that in my fighting style, I can beat it. Tsukishima beat me because he's a better fighter. You were never a fighter, were you? I can tell by your style. You avoid getting dirty at all costs, and your fighting suffers because of it." Tatsuki said proudly, offering her hand to help Riruka stand up. Riruka swatted it away angrily, though.
"Again! Fight me again!" She demanded. Tatsuki raised an eyebrow.
"Why? The next fight will go the same way. The one after that will, too. You have no eye for battle. I'll beat you again and again until you practice and stop worrying about getting dirty." Tatsuki said.
"No! I just wasn't ready! You surprised me… You were… A little better than I expected…"
"Fine. I'll fight you again. Tell me when you're ready." Tatsuki sighed, getting into a fighting position. Riruka smirked, taking a deep breath and catching her wind again, getting into a fighting stance that roughly mimicked Tatsuki's. Mimicry wasn't going to win Riruka that fight. But maybe if she got in even one hit, Tatsuki would stop looking down on her. She had learned Fullbring so that nobody could ever look down on her again, so that she would be better than normal people.
And now this complete novice who couldn't even harness her Fullbring properly was showing her up in a fight. It simply wasn't right.
"I'm ready." Riruka said. Tatsuki nodded, and rushed Riruka, kicking where her stomach had been, but missing. Riruka ducked and stepped around toward Tatsuki's back, aiming for her head. Tatsuki twisted and grabbed Riruka's foot, tripping her and punching the air directly over her face.
"I win. You did better this time, though. I can teach you to fight if you want." Tatsuki said, offering her hand again. Riruka once again swatted her hand away.
"I don't need your help, you dyke bitch! Shuu-kun can teach me to fight."
"Okay, one… Don't call me that unless you want your pretty little nose broken…" Tatsuki growled irritably. She wondered if Riruka pissed off everyone else the way she did with her.
"And two, fine. I offered to help. You don't want my help, I don't care. I just need to learn to use Fullbring. I refuse to be a target ever again." Tatsuki finished. Tsukishima nodded, gesturing for her to sit under the tree.
"Okay… Now, you've seen the basics of what Fullbring looks like. But you haven't really gotten a complete picture of what that means.
"Picture the ground beneath you. What is the ground made of?"
"Dirt… And grass…"
"Well yes, but what are the dirt and grass made of?"
"Grass is made of Chlorophyll and plant cells and dirt is made of eroded stone." Tatsuki replied.
"Good… And what are those made of?"
"Molecules." Tatsuki said. Tsukishima nodded. "Good. At their most basic level, everything is made of molecules. I want you to visualize the molecules, and visualize what the soul of those molecules most be like. To do so, extend your spiritual sight outwards. You're not as powerful a being as a Quincy… Yet. But you are capable of seeing Pluses, Hollows and Shinigami.
"That's a good start. Even amongst Spiritually Aware beings, you're several steps ahead."
"This is sounding an awful lot like that spiritual mumbo jumbo, Chakras and Chi and all that stuff." Tatsuki said skeptically. Tsukishima laughed mildly.
"In a sense, it is. But it's spiritual power, not physical power. Ki and Chakras are an expression of the body, where as Rei, or spirit are expressions of the soul.
"Now please, close your eyes, and imagine the ground below you at its most basic level." Tsukishima said, sitting down in front of her and closing his eyes as well. Tatsuki took a deep breath, and focused her spiritual sense, trying to feel everything in the area, aiming specifically for the ground below her. It was a start. Finally, she could feel something in the ground… No, those were just the ants and other insects. She kept going, and finally sensed the slightest light, and gasped.
"Good… You've sensed it. Now you need to be able to do that on a moment's notice. And realize that just because the object is not living does not mean that it doesn't contain a soul. Stand." Tsukishima said. Tatsuki stood up, and Tsukishima told her to close her eyes again.
"Now, focus on the soul in the ground, and command it to repel you. Have you done that?" He asked. Tatsuki nodded.
"Good… Now, jump. Good… Good… Now, jump again the minute you land." Tsukishima said. Tatsuki jumped again, and leapt almost fifteen feet in the air. She screamed as she reached the arc of her leap, and began to freefall.
Orihime leapt up and caught her, falling back down to the ground, bending her knees when she hit the ground, putting Tatsuki down and kissing her.
"Good job, Tatsuki-chan! You're learning really fast!" She said brightly. Tatsuki blushed slightly. She still wasn't quite used to Orihime's affection towards her. She had had feelings for Orihime for years now, but she had never expected Orihime to return them.
It had been a strange conversation that they had that day. But one that she would remember forever.
"Tatsuki-chan… Are we going to talk about what you said to me that night?" Orihime asked. Tatsuki looked up, a little bit puzzled as to what her friend meant.
"What on earth do you mean? Did I say something offensive?"
"No, no! Of course not! You… You confessed to me… And it's been almost a month since then, but we've been ignoring it… I was just going to let you bring it back up when you were ready, but…"
"I'm sorry, Orihime… I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Tatsuki muttered, blushing deeply. Orihime laughed, hugging Tatsuki tightly.
"You didn't make me uncomfortable. I'm happy you feel like that about me… I know it sounds weird… I've always been so vocal about my feelings for Kurosaki-kun… With you, anyway. But I've always sort of had feelings for you as well, Tatsuki-chan. Is that weird?" Orihime asked.
Tatsuki actually laughed about this question.
"A lot of things you do are strange, Orihime-chan… But this isn't one of them. I'm relieved, I guess that you feel the same way. Maybe we could go on a date some time?" Tatsuki asked. Orihime nodded, smiling cheerfully. "I can't wait."
"You're doing well, Miss Arisawa." Tsukishima said quietly. "You have the basics down, and you learned much faster than I expected. We can call it a night if you like." Tatsuki shook her head vigorously.
"No! Not until I've trained more! How do I make myself faster!" She demanded. Tsukishima seemed surprised by her enthusiasm.
"The principle is similar to jumping. However, you need to Fullbring both the air and the ground. Watch as I do it." Tsukishima said, taking a breath and Tatsuki saw a tiny flicker of green light appear under Tsukishima's feet as he took off, and made it to the other side of the field in a few seconds and then back to Tatsuki's side.
"So you need to improve your ability to multitask, in this case affecting the souls of multiple things at once. We'll continue this lesson tomorrow. Have a good night, ladies." Tsukishima said politely. Tatsuki, feeling like she had been cheated on time, spoke up immediately.
"Come on! I'm paying for these lessons! Keep going!"
"No… I won't overwork you, first of all… And second of all, I'm not charging you for these lessons. I'll charge you if you join one of my martial arts classes, but not for this. This is just teaching you the basic self-defense you need to protect yourself against opponents like myself. Go home and rest. Come back tomorrow at the same time. Am I understood?"
"Yes." Tatsuki muttered grudgingly, taking Orihime's hand and walking off.
