Koenma was decidedly impressed by Ichigo's power levels, more so when he mentioned the conversation with the Forlorn Hope before the glass was cracked.

Too bad he didn't know how to help Ichigo awaken his natural abilities. While he was in communication with the Captain General (usually joining him in a long tirade against paperwork, which was a hell in itself) he had no clue on how to awaken his soul reaper abilities without getting another soul reaper into hot water.

And frankly they weren't that desperate yet.

He did, however, direct Ichigo to the Spirit World Armory to get a sword he could use in place of the ring Botan had given Yusuke since his power levels were just barely above D rank.

Ichigo walked out with a sword that had been causing a few spiritual disturbances before Koenma sent someone to bring it to the ReiKai and a communicator so he could get a hold of Yusuke. Apparently the slicked backed teen had trouble keeping track of his detective tools, so they handed them over to Ichigo since he lived across the hall and was aware of ghosts.


"So this Genkai lady might be able to help me control my spirit pressure?" asked Ichigo.

"And if Yusuke manages to pass her test, she'll double as his training," said Botan.

"Oh he won't be happy to hear that. Can I be the one to break it to him at the worst moment imaginable?" asked Ichigo with a pleading look in his eyes.

Botan snickered. At first she thought Ichigo was grumpy and moody. Then she realized he just didn't like interacting with people who didn't know how to fight all that much and had a lot of difficulty remembering names. Well, that and he had a real sense of humor, as proven by the pranks he played on Yusuke. Informing the boy of the fact that he was going to be stuck as an apprentice for six months with a grumpy old woman who could kick his ass was just going to make Ichigo's day.


"Kuwabara, I know you have limited sixth sense, but I don't know if you're ready to join this kind of thing," said Ichigo. The three teens had gravitated to each other in a show of solidarity.

"Dude, ever since the incident with the fire my spirit sense has been driving me nuts! It's bad enough I can just barely hear them..."

"I've been able to see them since I was 13, and I've always been able to hear them. The trick is to learn when to ignore them. Thankfully they always seem to disappear after a month, though Karin hasn't had the same issues I've had," said Ichigo.

"Who's Karin, your girlfriend?" asked Kuwabara.

Yusuke winced beside him. Ichigo glared at the red head.

"Karin is my younger sister, and her twin Yuzu can't even see them just yet. The only person in my family who can't sense the damn thing is my dad, though sometimes I wonder if he's faking it," said Ichigo.

"You see ghosts?" asked Kuwabara.

He really hadn't bothered to get to know Ichigo or Yasutora (Chad) because they had become quick friends with Yusuke. All he knew was that Ichigo had a temper if he saw bullying and that Yasutora was the strongest student in the school. Even some of the older students didn't try to piss him off, though for some odd reason he never used his strength to defend himself. Usually Ichigo would appear out of nowhere and beat up anyone bothering his friend.

It was rather strange.

"Like I said, it's sort of a family trait. Though it does have it's downsides..." said Ichigo darkly.

"Like what? I mean besides the fact they can get annoying..." said Kuwabara.

"My mother died because I was too young to figure out the difference," said Ichigo deadpan.

The two shut up rather quick, realizing it was a very touchy subject.

It was around that time that the doors opened to reveal a short old woman with light pink hair that had as much gray as it did pink. But what caught his attention was the look she was giving the teens, who were easily the youngest people there aside from some short guy who was dressed as a young monk.

Ichigo may not be the most adept at sensing spirit energy, but even he could tell something was off about the guy.

He did choke back a laugh when he heard what the first test was.

He picked out a lot, and waited until told to open it. It wasn't just red, no, it was a bright cherry red as opposed to Yusuke's blood red and Kuwabara's magenta.

From the look the old woman was giving him, the color of his paper was very unusual.

Two people weren't happy with their lots, and challenged her decision and it warmed Ichigo to see her kick their asses without even lifting a finger.

Even if the next test made him cringe.

He couldn't hold a tune to save his life.

Ichigo stepped up to the machine with trepidation. He just knew

Yusuke would never let him live this one down. Luckily for him, it seemed the machine had the opening theme to a show he had started watching recently, because he remembered at least half the words.

"Listen closely and you should be able to hear

A door is faintly calling you.

Deep in the darkest part of the forest, in this world

Someone is screaming loud

To pry open the night.

Secret World, I'll come and save you

Come out and open up

Close your eyes and fly away, to a world you cannot see.

To the distant, ancient secret world, secret world."

(This is the opening theme song to a show called 'Tactics'.)

Yusuke and Kuwabara sniggered, but Ichigo wasn't nearly as bad as he believed. Genkai was more interested in the song choice.

Unsurprisingly, he had the highest score in the karaoke game, and the highest in the punching one, since Yusuke didn't want to blow his cover. He thought he was only there for the demon Rando.

Ichigo didn't mind pretending to be the Detective.

However it was the results of the Jen Kan game that surprised him. He scored somewhere in the middle, getting nearly sixty percent of it right.

He didn't expect to get even a third of them right.

"Those of you who have passed at least two of the games, follow me. Those of you who failed, get lost."

Once she outlined the terms of the next task, which happened to be running through a forest to a single tree on the hill, they all took off. Those with weaker spiritual sense quickly became lost.

Ichigo, on the other hand, followed the odd tang of Genkai's spirit pressure all the way to the tree, but he was the second one there. The first was Kuwabara. The old psychic gave him an odd look.

"You know I'm curious about you brat. You have far too much spirit energy to be seriously considering my technique. So why are you really here?"

Ichigo shrugged.

"Partly boredom, but mostly because while I have an absurd amount of energy (according to others anyway) I can't seem to access it worth a damn. I did have an interesting conversation with a mirror that was considered a priceless artifact by Enma called the Forlorn Hope that said I had the inherited powers of a shinigami. But I don't really see it."

"Did this mirror specify which type of shinigami?" asked Genkai sharply.

"No, but Koenma did let me borrow a sword from the Armory. Something about how it was easier than asking a shinigami to share their powers to kick-start mine or something."

Genkai didn't need help putting those tidbits together. A sword to channel energy and inheriting shinigami powers. The kid was a born soul reaper. And he looked damned familiar at that.

"What's your name brat?"

"Huh? Kurosaki Ichigo. Why?"

'Damn. It IS him. That explains the power pouring out. Spirit cuffs tend to break after a few years and this kid had them put on after his mother died...'

"Nothing. If you survive this tournament I recommend sticking around for a bit before I send you off."

Ichigo didn't understand why she said that, but figured she had a good reason.


It all boiled down to a tournament. It wasn't until Ichigo went up that something interesting actually happened. The guy had a bokken made of some spiritually enhanced wood, not that you could tell. Ichigo could barely land a fist on the jerk, because it was too dark. Finally he landed a hit, only for it to turn out to be the blasted sword. He broke a quarter of it off, and it landed somewhere near his foot. He picked it up, figuring he could always stab the guy in the eye if he had to.

At least, that had been the plan.

Without warning everyone was flattened by a massive spiritual pressure. Ichigo and Genkai were still standing, and but she was having trouble breathing. Ichigo was perfectly fine, but there was something odd about the piece of wood in his hand.

It was in the shape of a massive meat cleaver without a guard, and was as long as he was tall. It seemed really, really familiar to him and he didn't have a clue why. The name was on the tip of his tongue.

Suddenly the guy came from the right and Ichigo parried instinctively. The bokken was cut by another quarter, and was half it's original size.

The man stared at his wooden sword in disbelief. Even for spiritual pressure, it was ridiculous to think that an untrained brat could break this special sword.

Right?

Ichigo didn't think, he just acted on instinct. He slashed at the man who went down like a tree, but was relatively unharmed. He would later realize that his spiritual pressure had caused him to pass out.

"Winner, Kurosaki," said Genkai. Ichigo put the piece of wood in his pocket, and the pressure dropped like a rock. Everyone slowly stood up and stared at him in disbelief.

"Dude, what the hell?" asked Yusuke.

"I haven't the slightest idea," he admitted.

Yusuke spotted Botan, who quickly ushered him outside.

"Yusuke, we just got a massive spike of energy from here. Have you seen Rando?"

"That wasn't Rando. It was Ichigo," said Yusuke.

"WHAT?!"

"I don't know what the hell happened. One minute he was fighting the next this weird pulse hits us and only Genkai was able to remain standing," explained Yusuke.

"DUMBASS! GET BACK IN HERE OR FORFEIT THE MATCH!"Genkai yelled at him.

Yusuke growled, but went in anyway. He did note the odd look Genkai was shooting Ichigo though.


Yusuke's fight was the last one before they went outside, and everyone was shooting Ichigo weird looks because of the surge earlier.

"Same as before, you'll fight until one is the victor," said Genkai bored.

Luckily for Yusuke, Ichigo went first. The guy was a really annoying ninja type and he kept throwing stars that blew up if it got to close.

In Ichigo's case, whenever one was five feet from him. He was about to draw the piece of wood again when he slipped into a bog. The shuriken, unable to find him over the spiritually active grounds, hit the ninja instead. Yusuke laughed himself hoarse when he realized Ichigo only won because he slipped and fell.

It was Ichigo VS Shorin, and Yusuke had beaten Kuwabara. Ichigo knew this creep had to be Rando, because he had been giving off a weird vibe all day. When Ichigo gave the fake monk a strong kick to the head, the demon had had enough and transformed into his true form.

Ichigo and Yusuke were decidedly unimpressed.

"I don't know what kind of demon you are, but it won't matter when I'm done with you," he sneered.

"What kind of dumbass would come to a psychic known for being able to kill demons if he were a demon himself?" asked Ichigo.

"No human could possibly leak that much power and not be dead yet!" snapped Rando.

"He's not fully human, I'll give you that much," muttered Genkai.

Yusuke and Kuwabara snapped their heads at her in shock.

"What do you mean he's not fully human?" asked Yusuke. As far as he was aware, Ichigo was human. He was nothing like Kurama or Hiei.

"That kid is a Shinketsu. One of the first ones in over two hundred years."

"Shinketsu are a myth!" said Rando derisively.

"Hardly. It's just hard for them to be born in the human world. Most end up becoming stillborn or are killed off," Genkai corrected him.

Ichigo had enough common sense to bring out the piece of wood he had broken off. Like before, a giant cleaver type sword appeared. At least this time they got a good look at what it looked like.

Ichigo moved like he had done this a thousand times before, the weight of the sword comfortable in his hand. Rando tried to kill him, but Ichigo's power, in physical form, was stronger than the demon ever had been even with his stolen tricks.

Ichigo cut him up but left enough that Botan could take him to be tried for his crimes.

Genkai had only one thing to say since the last two were best friends.

"Well, since it's obviously going to be a fight between Captain Dumbass here (OI!) and Mr. Stabs-a-lot, who wants to just flip a coin?"

Ichigo raised his hand. Yusuke was still tired and he didn't fancy having to try and beat Ichigo with that huge sword of his.

In the end Yusuke got the apprenticeship, to his annoyance.


Genkai took Ichigo deeper into the mountain. That way when she told him why she knew of him he wouldn't cause too much damage. It was bad enough his reiki was breaking out so much, even with the cuffs on him.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"To be blunt kid, we've met before. The trauma of your mother's death simply covered it over," she said flatly.

"What?"

"Your dad brought you here because you were attracting the wrong sort of attention, and I put spirit cuffs on you a month before your mother was killed. You were spilling out just as much as now, only if it had kept up your body would have failed within a year."

"My...dad? But he can't see ghosts!"

"He can see them alright, he just quit reacting. He lost his power some time ago, but after you and your sisters were born he started to regain enough that he could see them again. Anyway, you'll need to remove the cuffs since they're failing."

"What exactly do spirit cuffs do?"

"In a nutshell? They put you under extreme reiki training. You have to keep up 100 percent output with your spirit pressure just to be able to move. Back then it wasn't really a problem, since you were leaking like a sieve. But after a few years the cuffs will start to break down, more so if the power behind it is starting to act up. You had a lot of reiki as a kid, and the older you got the stronger it became."

"How do I remove it?"

"The key to the cuffs is a single word. Abvitis."

"Why that?"

"It's a word no one would ever use in a sentence," shrugged Genkai.

Ichigo agreed and decided, 'Meh, what the hell?'

"Abvitis."

The reaction was instant.

Genkai was flattened, as were the trees in a 10 kilometer radius. They were reduced to splinters! She saw the form of his spirit, and to be honest it did scare her just a bit. The boy was a mixture of Hollow and Shinigami, a perfect amalgamation of both. It was something Isshin never mentioned. Either that or he hadn't known Masaki was a very high class hollow who had managed to keep a gigai for that long.

It was his eyes that caught her attention. Before they were a calm hazel...but now they had a glow that was mostly associated with reiki. She had known spirit cuffs started to break down after five years...but the amount of power this kid naturally gave off was ridiculous.

"So what now?"

"Now? Now I plan to get a stiff drink before you and Yusuke try meditation my way. With the amount of power you naturally have, there isn't a chance in hell you're getting my spirit orb," she said flatly.

"I was never after it in the first place. I just wanted to know how to use my energy like Yusuke does so I wouldn't be a burden during cases."

Genkai sighed. At least his heart was in the right place.

"Let's get started brat."