-----2 weeks after the Prolouge-----
Two lightning bolts of blue-white Reiatsu flew throughout the Urahara-shoten training area as two bare arms, one heavily tanned, and one relatively pale, met in the middle. Sparks of reiatsu flew everywhere. Zangetsu lay propped up against a rock in his shikai form, having been discarded for the purposes of sparring.
"I told you that you'd get it Ichi-kun!" Came the remark out from Yoruichi, her face split in a catty grin, which was not surprising, considering she was, in essence, a cat. Her golden eyes were lit up in excitement like a kid at Christmas as beads of sweat dripped down her face while she struggled to overpower what she had since recognized as by far her favorite pupil in her 200-some years of...living? She knew he could master shunko eventually of course, he had mastered shunpo almost to her level in three days while trying to reach his bankai state. It wasn't really surprising. Especially considering that the two were evenly matched in speed when it came to shunpo now. Unless Ichigo busted out the hollow mask, at which point she was slightly outclassed simply by him using sonido, the hollow version of flash steps, which he had discovered on his own, in tandem with shunpo.
And now he was evenly-matched with her in shunko too. The only thing that surprised her about that was that her Ichi-kun went from absolutely terrible at kidou, to a near-master at it under two weeks. Same with hakuda. It surprised him a lot more than it did her though, she knew he had it in him. He was just hesitant to try.
She'd also simply begun to ignore it when her mind called him 'her Ichi-kun', although she was certainly enjoying the view she had at this moment...
Ichigo stood smirking slightly as the blue-white reiatsu lightning practically encased and enclosed them away from the outside world. Not that there was anything down here to see except a fake blue sky, with a lot of fake clouds, some fake dirt, surrounding some fake rocks, in a huge fake underground desert. She had failed to warn him that proper use of shunko led to any clothes worn above the waist being shredded. Or at least, any clothes worn above the waist, that had backs and shoulders to them. As it was, a shredded black kimono, white obi, and white kosode lay in various shreds all over the ground. Leaving him wearing nothing but a black hakama with brown straw waraji sandals worn over white tabi socks. His chest and the defined muscles from spending the past year or so as a shinigami doing almost non-stop and fully athletic combat were making Yoruichi drool, and Ichigo figured that alone was the reason she hadn't told him, after all. Free peepshow if she didn't.
Of course, he wasn't one to say anything. He had nearly drooled himself when she had let her long purple locks out of the ponytail she usually kept it in, and thanks to the wild untamed reiatsu flying around, her hair was flying everywhere too. That coupled with the perfection of how she looked in his mind...It sure made it hard to concentrate.
In a flash, both of them had disappeared from that particular section of the training room and were charging at each other again. And both Ichigo and Yoruichi knew that sparring was a new favorite pastime for both of them.
From above them, one Urahara Kisuke smiled and shook his head as he watched the two spar. He was over a mile above them and even he could sense the sexual tension flowing between the two, his mind running wild with numerous images that would be unsafe to mention unto society. The perverted ex-shinigami stared down at his former lover and his former pupil, with a surprising lack of jealousy in his eyes. 'When are the God and Goddess of flash going to get it?' The thought rang through his head as he again shook his head in amusement.
At that moment, all was interrupted as the front door to the Urahara-shoten was blown open. Kisuke turned around so fast his neck nearly cracked as he looked to see what happened. Ichigo and Yoruichi both paused mid-kick, and took one glance at each other before flash stepping over to their equipment. Ichigo grabbed the tentoken cape that Yoruichi had given him before he went to rescue Rukia from the sokyoku. Quickly pulling on the mantle that was the tentoken for modesty and grabbing Zangetsu before he jumped, the tentoken's ability of flight carrying him quickly to the door leading to the Urahara-shoten. Meanwhile Yoruichi grabbed her wand of flight and took off after him.
The pair blasted through the trap-door leading down to the training room, coming out in the front room of the Urahara-shoten to see Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia standing in the space where the front door and wall once stood, zanpakuto's drawn and in shikai form. Both Ichigo and Yoruichi halted for a second in questioning before descending to the floor. Yoruichi's wand of flight compacting down from it's hang glider form as she stuck it in one of her pockets.
A long pregnant silence filled the room as Yoruichi, Ichigo, Renji and Rukia stared at each other. Before Rukia broke the silence with one sentence that made both Yoruichi and Ichigo's hearts sink.
"You, Vizard, are under arrest by the order of the Central 46 Chambers." Came the cold sentence from the smirking form of the 5-foot-nothing black-haired shinigami. Renji looked uncomfortable and sent a chain of questioning glances at Rukia, seeming to ask if they really had to do this. Meanwhile Ichigo tightened his grip on Zangetsu, while Yoruichi silently built-up her reiatsu. Both of them preparing for the fight they knew would inevitably come.
"What the hell are you talking about, midget? And you know I won't go down without a fight."
"As for your question, apparently somebody told the Gotei 13 that you were a Vizard, but then again I have absolutely no idea who that could possibly be, as for your statement, so be it." The sarcasm dripping out of her voice was clear as daylight. And Ichigo noticed that Sode no Shirayuki was completely black, instead of it's usual pure white coloring. He didn't have time to voice his observation as Rukia charged at him with Sode no Shirayuki held high. He quickly threw up Zangetsu to block and he saw out of the corner of his eye as the blue-white lightning bolt of reiatsu erupted out of Yoruichi's back as she flew at Rukia's blindside, Renji likewise charging after Yoruichi. Ichigo quickly sidestepped and twisted Zangetsu away from Rukia, causing her to stumble forward slightly and lose her footing just to the point where Yoruichi was able to land a shunko-enhanced karate chop on her neck. Causing her to fly forward and hit the wooden floor of the shop hard. While Ichigo simply seemed to stand where he was at before suddenly a seeming 'copy' of him appeared behind Renji, blood erupted from Renji a couple seconds later as Ichigo's perfectly pulled off senka/utsusemi combo technique took it's toll. Renji grunted in pain and glanced out of the corner of his eye at Ichigo.
"When the hell did you figure out senka and utsusemi, carrot-top?" The pineapple-head shot at the aforementioned 'carrot-top'.
"You don't spend about a month training with the goddess of flash and not learn anything about flash steps and it's perks." The orange-haired Vizard shot back with a smirk. Delivering a quick slam to the back of the head with the flat side of Zangetsu, he glanced at Yoruichi out of the corner of his eye and when he saw her nod, disappeared from view as he flash-stepped out and away from the Urahara-shoten. Yoruichi quickly following him after picking up her gigai from the back room.
-----300 some flash steps later-----
"What the hell was that about?" Ichigo murmured as he glanced back in the general direction of the Urahara-shoten.
"I have no idea, but that sure didn't seem like Rukia to me." Came the grumble from the goddess of flash as she set down her gigai.
"No, it didn't. And for some reason Sode no Shirayuki was all-black, not white like it should be." He finally decided to voice his observation.
"Hmm...Well either way, if there's one thing we are going to have to do, it's get of Karakura town. If Central 46 really did give the order to bring you in, then those two are just the beginning." Yoruichi voiced her thoughts out loud and Ichigo could almost hear the gears turning in her head.
"Yeah, let's get out of here, we'll have to stop off at my house real quick to tell my dad and get Kon to take over for me here." A weird thing happened with Kon, the semi-insane and completely disrespected modsoul apparently developed some good acting skills since Ichigo had helped the Gotei 13 take down Aizen Sosuke. And now could take Ichigo's place in the living world almost perfectly.
"Yeah, if this is how it's going to be with the Gotei 13, I just might have to teach you how to shapeshift." Ichigo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with a raised eyebrow.
"You can teach me how to shapeshift? I thought that was just some special ability you had for yourself. Otherwise I would have asked you to teach me how to do it a long time ago." The mood lightened slightly as Yoruichi's eyes brightened at the prospect that he actually wanted to learn something from her. The shinigami problem momentarily forgotten.
"Yes, I can teach you. It takes a while to get the hang of it though. But if Kon is going to be taking over your original life, what are you going to use to live in? It's not like you can walk around in spirit form all the time. Luckily I brought my gigai though."
"Well, Urahara did give me an untraceable gigai to keep around in a room at the clinic just in case. I never thought I'd have to use it though."
"Well then, off to your house it is, my Ichi-kun, Race you there!" She said as she flash stepped away from the rooftop they were on and off towards his house. Ichigo stared at where she stood and the gigai that lay next to it.
"HEY! NO FAIR!" He yelled out after her as he scooped up her gigai and flash-stepped furiously after her.
Yoruichi merely smirked as she glanced back at him.
-END CHAPTER 1-
Shikai - First release, generally every Fukutaichou-level or higher shinigami knows this. Most seated officers do as well.
Bankai - Second Release, generally every Taichou-level or higher shinigami knows this. A few Fukutaichou-level officers do as well. With the exception of Zaraki Kenpachi-taichou.
Senka - Flash Blossom, Kuchiki Byakuya-Taichou's signature move. Essentially, it's a flash step combined with a spin once behind the opponent and a quick double stab. Very quick and devastating move that is over within the blink of an eye.
Utsusemi - Cicada, a reference to the molting ability of the Cicada, it's essentially a flash step which allows the user to move out of harms way while leaving a lingering after-image of said user.
Tentoken - Heavenly Dancing Figure, Yoruichi gave this to Ichigo for the fight to save Rukia from the sokyoku. It's like a mantle/cape that allows him to fly, hover, and unlike the flight-wand that Yoruichi gave him earlier, leaves his hands free.
Sokyoku - Big. Fucking. Zanpakuto. Used as a form of execution against capital offenders amongst the shinigami. As far as I can tell, it completely obliterates them.