I am SO SORRY for taking so long to update! School was very intense for a while, and then it was Royai day (which will make sense if you know what it is haha), but now I am BACK and I am so excited to keep writing this fic! :D
I'm splitting this chapter into two parts, since otherwise it would be obscenely long. So here is part one, I hope you like it! And thank you all for reviewing!
Hide and Seek (I)
"Is…is that a demon?"
"I don't know…but I'm afraid…so afraid…"
Renji and Ichigo knelt on the ground, staring up at a very, very infuriated Rukia. She glared down at both of them, the late afternoon sunlight casting a dark shadow on her stony face.
"…You have ten seconds to explain to me what you two IDIOTS are doing out here," she growled through clenched teeth, her eyes widening.
"We just…we just thought that if Ichigo and I made a competition out of the whole kidou training it would…you know…m-motivate him?" Renji stuttered frantically. Ichigo nodded vigorously, intently studying Rukia's face for traces of mercy.
Rukia sighed, closing her eyes. "Explanation…DENIED!" she shouted, pushing back her sleeves and holding her hands out in front of her.
"What are you…what are you doing? Rukia?! HEY!" Ichigo cried, stumbling backwards and tripping over a bush. Rukia slowly advanced on the two cowering men, and Ichigo could have sworn he saw a hint of amusement in her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak.
"Hadou thirty-three: blue fire crash down…" she recited softly. Ichigo stared in horror as a mass of blue flames collided with his face. He lay sprawled out amongst the leaves and branches, cringing as he heard Renji yelp and fall violently to the ground.
"Are you CRAZY?!" Ichigo yelled, blinking open his throbbing eyelids.
"Am I crazy…? Am I crazy?" Rukia repeated slowly, her voice escalating. "You're asking me that when you two stupid, stupid CHILDREN are threatening the well being of half of Karakura Town with your pathetic displays of manliness?! And what do you have to say about this?" she spat, turning to a charred Renji. "I would think you'd know better, seeing as all of your past experiences with kidou have been complete disasters."
Renji sighed. "Well it worked, didn't it? For a little while Ichigo was able to completely suppress his reiatsu. And…well, tell her what happened," he said, nodding towards Ichigo.
"Yeah…it was kinda weird, but when I suppressed my energy enough my zanpakutou…changed," explained Ichigo, plucking leaves out of his hair.
"It changed? What exactly do you mean?" demanded Rukia, examining the large, cleaver-like weapon fastened to his back. "It looks the same to me."
Ichigo shook his head. "It was different. It was smaller and shaped normally, the way yours and Renji's are now," he said, pointing to the sword hanging at Rukia's hip. "But once I stopped the training it turned back." Ichigo shrugged his shoulder under the familiar weight of his zanpakutou. For the brief moments it had changed shape the shock of feeling a slender blade in place of his usual sword nearly made him break the concentration he'd struggled so hard to maintain. It was cold and foreign, yet at the same time he could barely sense Zangetsu pulsing from deep within its core. It called to him, pleading, no, begging to be set free. Ichigo shivered at the memory, both frightened and thrilled by it. Although, he reminded himself, which part of Zangetsu was calling to him? As much as he wanted to believe it was the old man, he knew better than to fool himself that way.
"There's a simple explanation for that," Rukia snapped impatiently. "If you two weren't so thick you'd probably have figured it out for yourselves. Ichigo, your sword is constantly in a released state because you are unable to reign in your spiritual pressure. That constant outpour of reiatsu forces your zanpakutou into its shikai state. Once you stop the outpour, your zanpakutou reverts back to the way mine is now. Understand?"
Ichigo nodded, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "Yeah, it makes sense…it just felt…weird," he admitted, although "weird" couldn't begin to describe it.
"Do you think I care?" scoffed Rukia, circling behind Ichigo. He braced himself, knowing full well what was to come, and fully aware that resistance was futile. He stumbled forward, propelled by Rukia thrusting her foot into the middle of his back. "Get going back home," she ordered, pointing him in the direction of his house.
"Jeez…do you really have to do that?!" Ichigo groaned. "Besides, what about Renji?"
Rukia grinned. "Oh, he's got one coming-"
"That's not what I meant!" Ichigo quickly interrupted before Rukia had the chance to strike. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to stay with Urahara?"
Renji shook his head. "Nah…I should be getting back to the Soul Society. If I stay here any longer the Captain will pitch a fit…"
Rukia's expression softened a bit. "You're leaving now?"
"Yeah…as much as I'd like to stay here and help Ichigo out – I mean…stay out of his way," he added quickly as Rukia shot him a nasty glance, "I just can't. So I'll see you two around…Ichigo, Rukia," he nodded.
"Tell everyone I said hi," Ichigo said, nodding in Renji's direction. "Have a safe trip back."
"Give everyone my greetings as well," Rukia added, waving as a black butterfly fluttered around Renji's head, creating a portal through which Renji could reenter the Soul Society.
"I will…don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, Ichigo," he called, disappearing through the gate.
"That idiot…as if he didn't increase the number of stupid things you do…" grumbled Rukia, making her way back to Ichigo's house.
Ichigo scowled, not exactly thrilled with Rukia's reaction to what he felt to be a great advancement in his training. He hoped he would impress her with his progress and give her something to smile about. He'd noticed these past few days how tense she seemed; this business with the Elementals had undoubtedly bothered here more than he would have liked it to. It wasn't like her to be so unsure. Ichigo knew he had to be stronger; at least enough to be one thing Rukia didn't have to worry about.
Hmm…I like that resolve, whispered his hollow, his voice just barely reaching Ichigo.
"You've gotta be kidding me," he groaned, although he was pleased that the voice didn't seem as strong as before.
"What was that?" asked Rukia, turning back to look at him as they walked.
"Nothing…" Ichigo sighed, shaking his head. "It's fine."
"Ichigo," Rukia began, staring at the ground, "will you really be all right for Yoruichi's test tomorrow? I know you always manage to pull off the impossible, but this is different…"
"Che…I'll do it," Ichigo answered.
"Don't 'che' me," Rukia snapped, glaring back at him. "You could really hurt yourself! Or someone else…I just…"
"Rukia," Ichigo cut in, "I'll be fine," he assured her determinedly, figuring that now was as good a time as any to quell all of her doubts, even if, although he hated to admit it, they were somewhat well founded. The truth of the matter was that even if he could completely suppress his reiatsu, he couldn't maintain it for very long. He had no idea what type of "test" Yoruichi had in store for them tomorrow, but knowing her, it wouldn't be easy.
Ichigo stopped himself. It didn't matter how difficult the test was. The only thing he knew was that he had no option other than succeeding. Whether it was willpower, adrenaline, or sheer desperation, he would find a way. Although he had definitely quieted down over the past few days, Ichigo knew all too well that his hollow had no intentions of leaving him alone anytime soon. If Ichigo couldn't find himself again, if he couldn't regain the passion he had lost, he didn't know what would happen…but he wouldn't allow himself to be near Rukia anymore, not when there was a chance she could get hurt…
He clenched his jaw together, feeling his stomach drop at his most recent thought.
"Something wrong?" asked Rukia, glancing up at him.
"Nothing," replied Ichigo. He grinned, hoping to lighten the mood. "Just thinking about what Ishida's face will look like when I pass that test tomorrow."
Rukia smiled. "You had better," she sighed, "or else I'll have to make Pyon watch over you to make sure you don't try anything stupid while I take care of this mess…"
---
"Ichigo…"
Ichigo rolled over, shoving his pillow over his head. It seemed as if he'd just gotten to sleep after a long night of tossing and turning when someone rudely jolted him out of his slumber by repeatedly poking his head.
"Leave me alone," he groaned.
"Tsk. Such insolence…wake UP!" Rukia ordered, wrenching the pillow off of Ichigo's head and repeatedly hitting him with it.
"I'm awake! I'M AWAKE!" he yelled, causing Rukia to cease her attacks. "What kind of way is that to wake someone up?!" he spat groggily.
"Silence! Just be grateful that I let you sleep for as long as you did! We're going to be late at this rate! You won't be able to pass Yoruichi's test if you can't even show up on time!" she retorted.
"Shit, I almost forgot…how much time do we have?" Ichigo asked, throwing the covers off of himself and jumping out of bed.
"Fifteen minutes," Rukia said, grabbing Kon by the arm and forcing the soul candy out of his plushy body before he had any time to react. "Take it!" she demanded, thrusting the pill at Ichigo. He popped it into his mouth, his shell of a body collapsing behind it while he stepped out as a shinigami. Rukia dropped the soul candy into his lifeless mouth.
"Stay here and don't cause trouble!" she barked as Kon sprung to life in Ichigo's body. Ichigo and Rukia didn't stop to listen to his confused shouts as they left the house, jumping swiftly out the window and landing softly on the ground below.
"Can you keep up?" Rukia asked Ichigo, glancing back as he ran behind her.
"Yeah," Ichigo said, picking up his pace. I guess it's a good thing I woke up so late, he thought as he watched Rukia's back. I don't even have time to be nervous…
"We're almost there," Rukia called, pointing to a small cluster of people standing outside the Urahara Shop.
"Of course Ishida's there early," Ichigo mumbled bitterly, Uryuu's thin frame coming into view.
"Yes, everyone is there except us. So if you can whine about Ishida you can RUN FASTER!"
"Will you calm down?! We're almost there! Geez…"
Ichigo slowed down, eventually coming to a full stop in front of a smirking Yoruichi.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show," she teased, raising an eyebrow.
Ichigo stared at her as he caught his breath, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile.
"Not likely," he said. "So what is this test anyway?"
Yoruichi turned to face the rest of the group.
"All right…since you're all here, I'll explain the game to you."
"Game?!" Ichigo interrupted, taken aback. "I thought this was some kind of-"
"You will be quiet when I'm speaking to you," said Yoruichi softly, glaring at him.
"Y-yes ma'am…"
"As I was saying…the game we're going to play is called hide and seek. I'm sure you've all heard of it before?" she asked, scanning the four anxious faces staring back at her. "Listen carefully while I explain the rules, because I won't repeat myself.
"I will split you up into pairs, and for exactly one hour yourself and your partner need to hide yourself from the 'seeker', which will be me, while staying within the limits of Karakura Town. Obviously, the only way to do this is to completely suppress your spiritual pressure." Ichigo felt his heart race. This 'test' was going to be more difficult than he thought. He just hoped he would be assigned Rukia as a partner.
"Each pair will take one of these," Yoruichi continued, holding up two red ribbons. "If at any time during the game I take your ribbon from you, the game is over, and I will not allow you to accompany me on the mission tomorrow. Granted you still have your ribbon at the end of the hour, both you and your partner must return here together. If you fail to return as a team, you both will be disqualified. If, for some reason, you feel you are unable to complete the test, you can disqualify yourself by releasing your spiritual pressure in three short burst. Your partner can continue to play the game, and they will not be penalized for your decision. Are there any questions?"
Ichigo, Rukia, Michiko, and Uryuu shook their heads. Ichigo quietly began to pull in his spiritual pressure, hoping that by the time Yoruichi began the game he would be finished and able to move freely.
"All right. Ishida and Kuchiki will be one team, which leaves Kurosaki and Nakamura on the other. I'm going to wait in the Urahara shop for fifteen minutes to give you a head start, and then I'm going to use everything I've got to find you all," said Yoruichi, grinning. "Your time starts…now!" she yelled, darting into the Urahara shop and slamming the door behind her.
Ichigo glanced over at Michiko, who walked swiftly over to him, scowling. She didn't seem terribly thrilled at the prospect of being his partner, and although Ichigo supposed he couldn't blame her, he still felt irritation building up inside of him.
New goal, he thought. I need to finish this stupid game just to get back at her.
"Here's the plan I've come up with," she said quickly and quietly, her tone leaving no room for argument. "You are not going to completely suppress your spiritual pressure for the next five minutes. During that time we're going to run as far as we can in the opposite direction of where we plan to 'hide'. No offense, but Yoruichi-san is probably expecting you to take a while to be able to completely mask yourself anyway. And since this game was designed to test you in the first place, she's going to be extra tough on our team. Oh, and I'll carry the ribbon. Sound good?"
Ichigo nodded bitterly. While he didn't like her reasoning, he had to admit it seemed like a good idea.
"So where are we gonna hide?" he asked.
"That's where I need your help. I don't know this area very well. It will be your job to lead us to the most crowded area you can think of. If we can disappear among a crowd of humans it will it that much harder for Yoruichi-san to find us."
"Uh…well that would probably be the mall," Ichigo said, pointing in the direction of the busiest place he could think of.
Michiko nodded. "All right. Are you ready to run? After that I'm trusting you to lead us to this 'mall' of which you speak."
Ichigo grinned, the adrenaline rising. This test suddenly didn't seem so difficult. They had a plan, and the extra five minutes he had before he had to hide his spiritual pressure would just make things that much easier.
"Let's go," he said, and with that, they were off. Michiko ran a few paces ahead of him, expertly dodging pedestrians, as if she could predict their movements.
"You're pretty slick, you know that?" Ichigo said, pushing himself to keep up.
"If you can compliment me you can run faster," replied Michiko coldly. Ichigo scowled. It sounded a lot better when it came from Rukia.
When their five minutes of sprinting finally came to an end Michiko stopped, turning to Ichigo as she caught her breath. "This should be enough. Take a minute to suppress your reiatsu," she instructed.
Ichigo nodded. He closed his eyes, trying to make his ragged breathing as even as possible. As he always did, he visualized Rukia's name, feeling his waves of spiritual pressure calmly drifting back in towards his center. When he was confident that he had sufficiently hidden himself, he opened his eyes. Michiko stared at him impatiently, the scowl she wore from earlier not quite gone from her face.
"Lead the way," she said.
Ichigo silently began to run towards the mall, keeping himself focused only on reaching his destination. He figured that if he could narrow down his concentration as much as possible he would be able to hide himself for a longer period of time.
"So what is a 'mall' anyway?" Michiko asked from behind him.
"Don't talk to me," Ichigo said sharply, trying to keep his focus.
Michiko scoffed. "Have it your way…but I'll say this now: if you don't think you can finish the game you need to forfeit. There's no reason for me to go down with you."
"Che." Ichigo tried to roll off her remarks, willing himself not to see the truth in them. "There won't be a need for that," he replied, more to himself than to her. He wouldn't let himself get to that point. There were no other options.
The mall loomed into view, cars weaving their way through the congested parking lot.
"I take it this is the place?" Michiko asked approvingly as Ichigo slowed down to avoid running into a car.
"Yeah. I guess we can wait inside."
"Fine."
"So anyway…a mall like this is a place where humans go to buy things or hang out. There are a lot of different stores inside," Ichigo explained, able to loosen his concentration as the atmosphere relaxed. Yoruichi would be hard-pressed to pick them out of a crowd like this.
"I see…" Michiko glanced around as they walked inside, streams of people rushing in and out of overflowing shops, fidgeting with bulky bags and trying to restrain their over excited children. "How interesting."
"Don't they teach you stuff like this in the Soul Society?"
"It depends on which captain you have. Some of them like you to be educated on human culture. Others could care less. None of the captains I've served under have deemed human behavior important information," she replied, stepping up to a fountain in the center of the mall and examining the various paths of water that cascaded into the base of the structure. "What purpose does this machine serve?"
"It's just there for people to look at, I guess," answered Ichigo, sitting down on a bench behind where Michiko stood. "So who were your captains then?" he asked, trying to make conversation.
"For the past ten years I've been under Captain Soi Fon in the second division," Michiko answered, kneeling down to study the patters of tiles at the bottom of the fountain. "But before I was reassigned there I served in the sixth division."
Ichigo snickered. "Everything makes sense now. I can see why that guy wouldn't want to teach you anything about humans."
"You should have some respect," Michiko said shortly, throwing a nasty look at Ichigo over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah…so does that mean you knew Renji?"
Michiko shook her head. "Vice Captain Abarai joined the sixth division some time after I left."
"Oh." Ichigo leaned back, looking around at the people walking past him. Every so often one of them would stop and look at him strangely, recoiling in fear as they saw Zangetsu hanging on his back. However, for the most part, the mall-goers were unable to see him in his shinigami form. "How much time do we have left?" he asked, beginning to feel the strain of having to suppress his spiritual pressure in its entirety.
"Thirty minutes," Michiko answered. Ichigo sighed. "We should get moving. It would be bad to stay in one place for too long."
Ichigo stood up, gritting his teeth as he struggled to quell his reiatsu.
"Are you all right?" Michiko asked, glancing up at him skeptically. Ichigo nodded. He refused to give up after he had come this far.
"Let's go though some of the shops," he said, walking quickly towards a group of people heading into a clothing store. He paced around the racks of shirts for a few minutes, staring at the ground and willing his churning spiritual pressure to settle back into its slumber. Suddenly he turned around, checking to make sure Michiko was still behind him. She had been awfully quiet. Ichigo had expected her to have tried to talk him into forfeiting by now. However, to his horrifying surprise, she had disappeared.
He looked frantically around the store, his eyes automatically jumping to anyone wearing black.
"E-excuse me," he said, pulling aside a woman who had been eyeing him apprehensively. "Have you seen a woman around here, about twenty years old, dressed like me with black hair kind of like this," he said, waving his hands horizontally on the sides of his head in an attempt to describe the symmetrical layers of bangs surrounding Michiko's face. "And she's about this tall," he said desperately, raising his hand to his shoulder. The woman shook her head, stumbling backwards away from Ichigo.
"Shit…SHIT!" Ichigo slid down against the wall, letting his head fall into his hands. His first priority was to keep his spiritual pressure under control. If he couldn't do that, this was all for nothing.
Having some trouble, are we?
"Get away from me!" Ichigo growled. What in the world could happen that would make this day any worse?
And how exactly do you suggest I do that? snickered his hollow.
Ichigo held his breath, feeling as if even the slightest movement would cause his spiritual pressure to pour out of him. He gripped his hair between his fingers and tightened his hands into fists, the resulting pain giving him something to focus on as his hollow screamed inside of him.
And then he felt it, a sliver of his reiatsu seeping through a crack in his body and spilling out into the open.
The first thing he felt was relief; he could breathe easier, his body felt lighter, and his spiritual pressure stopped churning inside of him quite so much. However, the relief quickly gave way to panic. Ichigo's heart pounded against the inside of his chest as he quickly pulled the stray wave back to him. He needed to get out of the mall, and he needed to do it quickly.
"You…incompetent idiot," someone hissed. Ichigo looked up to find Michiko glaring down at him. "Even if we got separated, you shouldn't under any circumstances have released your reiatsu. We would have eventually just met back up at Urahara's shop at the end of the hour. We need to get out of here now," she said, pulling him up off of the ground. Ichigo nodded, feeling that it would be better not to tell her that the real reason he'd let out a burst like that was because he simply couldn't control himself. Besides, he felt much better after his accidental slip up; it seemed all he needed was a small break before he resumed masking himself, even if the experience had nearly made him lose his mind.
"We can go out the back way," said Ichigo, leading Michiko out of the store.
"Get back in here!" she gasped suddenly, grabbing the back of his robe and pulling him behind a rack of pants. "Don't move," she whispered, nodding out the door towards the other side of the mall. Yoruichi walked slowly across the floor, scanning the area around her.
Ichigo jumped, as if a shock ran through his body. Although faint, and fleeting, he distinctly sensed the familiar and reassuring feeling of Rukia's spiritual pressure for a second.
"Did you…"
"Yes," Michiko said quietly. "I hope something hasn't happened to her."
Ichigo felt his heart race once again. Why would Michiko think something had "happened"? But then again, what other explanations could there be for Rukia's lapse? She was probably the best at kidou out of all of them; this should be no problem for her.
Yoruichi seemed to have noticed it as well, as she suddenly darted out of the mall in the direction of the small spark of Rukia's reiatsu.
"Come on, now's our chance," Michiko said, running out of the store and towards the exit. "I'm sure she'll be fine," she reassured Ichigo. "And if she's not, Yoruichi-san will find her soon enough. There isn't anything you can do. Come on!" she ordered, grabbing Ichigo's wrist and dragging him along behind her. "We've only got about ten minutes left to get back."
"This way," said Ichigo grimly, redirecting Michiko towards the back exit. He contemplated leaving to go and find Rukia, but even if he did try to find her he would have no idea where to start. He couldn't discern her location from the brief spurt of reiatsu he'd felt, and she had Ishida with her, and Yoruichi would undoubtedly be able to help her if she needed it…
"FOCUS!" Michiko snapped as Ichigo nearly ran into oncoming traffic.
"Sorry…we still have a ways to go, how much time do we have?"
"Five minutes!"
"SHIT!"
"All right, this is what we'll do," said Michiko, grabbing his arm with both of her small hands. "Don't move, and don't resist," she instructed, closing her eyes and muttering something under her breath.
"What…what the hell are you doing? Are you putting some sort of curse on me? Let me go!"
"Silence! I've used an advanced kidou spell to mask my presence. Now I can freely use my spiritual pressure without being detected. Are you ready?" she asked, bracing herself and squeezing Ichigo's arm.
Ichigo opened his mouth to speak, but before any words had the chance to come out he felt himself being pulled forward and whipped through the streets of Karakura Town. The wind screamed in his ear as his feet repeatedly made contact and then left solid ground. He closed his eyes, his stomach beginning to feel uneasy. After a couple minutes of this Michiko stopped, gasping for air.
"We're…almost there," she said between breaths, pointing towards the storefront of the Urahara shop.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" Ichigo yelled, his head spinning.
"JUST RUN TO THE DAMN SHOP!" Michiko countered, pushing Ichigo and breaking out into a sprint.
Ichigo began to run, finally realizing that he had almost passed the test. After losing control of his reiatsu and an unwelcome visit from his hollow, he had still somehow managed to survive. He slowed down as he reached the shop, frowning in confusion as four figures entered his line of vision.
He couldn't help but smile as he recognized Rukia's small frame. But his relief was short lived as she looked over at him, her face heavy with exhaustion and a small gash under her right eye.
"What happened to you?" he said, looking from her face to Uryuu's, which didn't look any better. "And…what are you two doing here?" he asked, suddenly realizing that the other two people standing outside of the shop were none other than Chad and Orihime.
"Who are these people?" Michiko asked, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.
However, before anyone had the chance to answer, the door to the Urahara shop opened and Yoruichi stepped out.
"Congratulations; you have all passed," she said, nodding at the people standing before her. "And you're all just in time, for it seems we have a bit of a situation on our hands…"