A/N: Thank you all so, so much for your reviews! I love writing this story and it's nice to know my work is appreciated.

To answer Shezza88's question, since we won't be reaching that part in the story for a while, during the two year period when Ichigo was a hollow he managed to devour many souls, but luckily the Kurosaki household was kept safe by a shield made by Tessai on the special request of Isshin. No one else of major importance (Orihime, Chad, Tatsuki, etc.) were devoured by the hollow, since I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Disclaimer (for previous chapter also, since I forgot. Oops!): I don't own the characters, just the things I make them do.

Chapter 5: Lucky Number Ichi

"I have to say that you've hit a new low. Kurosaki Ichigo, the once mighty vaizard, feared by many, sparring against a pathetic shinigami with a wooden stick." It was about three minutes into the fight and Ichigo's hollow hadn't stopped chattering since the beginning. "When I felt your energy shift I thought we were gonna have a real battle, not play a stupid little game." Ichigo gritted his teeth and tried to stay focused, which was hard when the voice inside his head wouldn't shut it's big, stupid mouth. "That was completely uncalled for! You get in here and I'll show you a real battle, Your Idiotic Majesty."

The hollow was again ignored as Ichigo put his all into the fight. It wasn't often that he couldn't defeat his opponent with a quick Getsuga Tenshou, so he wanted to take full advantage of sparring equally against an older shinigami to see how he ranked. She's still underestimating me. He thought as Funaki paused during what would have been a good opening for her, instead aiming at somewhere he could easily block. I can use that to my advantage.

He used one last strike that he had picked up from her earlier, in which he quick-stepped to stand the ceiling and immediately jumped down to drive his sword towards his enemy. Only convenient in an enclosed environment, though it might work on walls...he slowed down his blows as he had in hakuda, as if tiring and his examiner slowed to match his speed. Their swords met a few more times until Ichigo saw her guard had dropped enough and suddenly increased his speed to far above when they started out. I've still got it, he thought as he quick-stepped multiple times and feinted around a confused Funaki until finally landing right behind her, his "sword" at her throat.

"So impressive, King. I'm just completely in awe of your amazing abilities with the wooden stick." Ichigo scowled as Funaki turned around. She had another strange look on her face, but he didn't really care what she thought about him. He had to mentally prepare himself for kidou portion of the test. "Have I mentioned that you're pathetic? Oh no, it's kidou! My worst enemy! Save-"

SHUT UP!

--

Rukia kept her composure all the way down the walkway from Kuchiki Manor. She even kept it past the Seventh Division's Headquarters. When she reached the Eighth however, she gave a frustrated yell and punched the wall next to her. Now yelling in pain, she slid down the wall and clutched her hand. I'm not some child that needs to be babysat! She had gone to ask her brother if she could be assigned to the Karakura post and relieve the soon to be retired shinigami four years early. He of course had refused, saying she wasn't ready, and subsequently ruined all her plans.

She couldn't interrogate Urahara (why bother with secrecy when he would find out anyway?), she couldn't develop early relationships with all their old friends, and most of all she couldn't fully investigate the cause of the difference between their old world and this one. She had no idea where Ichigo was, she was barely getting any stronger, and she would have to watch all of her friends die all over again. She sniffed once as she stood up and pulled back to punch the wall again, but stopped at the last second and decided to find something softer exert her anger on.

--

Ichigo watched in horror as the smoke cleared from the wall, revealing a hole larger than the doors he had first walked through. Oh shit. I'm in big trouble. I knew this would happen! The hakuda and hohou had gone better than expected. He had done amazing in zanjutsu. Damn you kidou...

This is what Rukia so aptly nicknamed his "war kidou." He only knew a few Way of Destruction spells, and the few he did know were packed with spiritual energy and unrefined. Of course, in a war situation the only thing you needed to worry about was killing as many things as you could with one shot, not the textbook definition of how the spell should be. Thus the gigantic hole in the wall. Faintly he could hear his inner hollow laughing hysterically, but ignored it once again to slowly turn and look at his instructor. She too was staring at the wall in disbelief. Of course, it was just his luck that the wall he had blasted to pieces led out to the waiting area.

People were running over to see what happened, so Ichigo ran across the room as far away from the hole as possible. Meanwhile Funaki snapped back to her senses. "Is anyone hurt?" Murmurs of dissent answered her as people tried to peek in and see what caused the blast. Minobe Kaeda also looked in and seemed concerned, knowing that Ichigo was going through his examination. "Good. Joshuyo, Tanaka, get a cloth to cover this hole. Testing is supposed to be confidential." She looked harshly down on the other students and they quickly scurried away from the gaping hole.

"Yes, ma'am!" The two shinigami saluted and shunpoed away.

"Okay, Kurosaki. Wait here while I get the Spirit-Energy Level Monitor." She smiled down at him. "And welcome to the Central Spiritual Technique Academy for Shinigami."

--

"It's 'bout that time again, Cap-tain. Me, you, or Tousen?"

"I'll go this time, Gin. Keep an eye on my office."

"You betcha, Captain."

Aizen Sousuke walked out of the Fifth Division offices and headed towards the First Division. Every year since Tousen had joined their ranks one of the three made sure to be visiting the General when Funaki Yuuka, the Vice-Principal of Shinigami Academy and the Chief Official of the Entrance Examinations came to give her report. It was this method that allowed them to discover Kira Izuru and Hinamori Momo, and also to later eradicate the threat of Abarai Renji.

It was halfway through his tea with Yamamoto when Funaki walked in holding large folder filled with the new student's files, looking more agitated then normal. "Applicants worse than the usual, Vice-Principal Funaki?" Yamamoto asked.

"No sir, quite the opposite." Aizen looked up from his tea, suddenly interested. "The majority did as well as expected, but I wouldn't be surprised if one student matched Captain Ichimaru's academy record."

"You mean graduate in only a year?" Aizen inquired, his mind racing. To another person like that on our side...

Funaki nodded, and pulled out a file with a young boy sporting bright orange hair on the front. "The boy was unlike anything I've ever seen. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo, seems to be in his early teens, and he said he's been in Soul Society for only ten years. He was able to fight me almost equally in hakuda and could keep up with my mid-level hohou, and I wouldn't be surprised if he could beat me, a retired high-ranking officer in the Secret Mobile Corps, after a few years. If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd already been through the Academy!" Yamamoto motioned for her to continue after the information sunk in. "Yes sir. His spiritual control needs a little work...by the way, Captain Aizen, I need to speak with you after this."

"And his zanjutsu?" Yamamoto asked, opening one eye and leaning forward a bit to hear her response.

Funaki looked at them seriously. "He landed what would have been a fatal hit on me in less than five minutes. He didn't use any unnecessary attacks, almost as if he could anticipate my every move. I also found that if I used one of my own developed techniques he threw it right back at me after seeing it once. Once in the hakuda exam and once in zanjutsu I decided to test his reaction to techniques he had never seen, but he simply copied the moves I spent months developing! It was incredibly frustrating..." She mumbled to the floor, then addressed to two again. "The boy seems destined for a high ranking position. His growth rate is simply incredible and he seems to have an innate ability to fight."

Aizen was shocked, and didn't even bother to hide it. "What? How...what level was his spiritual energy?"

She looked at the both of them very seriously. "Level 9, or Vice Captain's Level. The last person to have that level at the time of the entrance exam and with a dormant zanpaktou was promoted to the Zero Division over 150 years ago."

--

"You wanted to speak with me Funaki-chan?" They met outside Yamamoto's office and started walking together.

"Yes Captain. Would you dispatch a team to fix the hole in the wall of the exam room? Kurosaki put a little too much force behind his kidou. We're also need a new supply of wooden swords, the current ones look like they're about to fall apart."

Aizen laughed lightheartedly. "Sure thing, Funaki-chan. Also, could you spare me one of those files on Kurosaki Ichigo? I would like to know a little more about him, since I think he would be a great addition to the Fifth Division." He gave a warm smile, nothing out of the ordinary.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," she replied, "but you should come visit the Academy and see him yourself, Captain. We haven't had you in over thirty years."

"Don't worry Funaki-chan. I would love to visit." Now that I have a reason to.

--

"...and then Kira threw up and passed out right on Matsumoto!" Renji and Rukia were bent over in hysterical laughter when Ikkaku and Yumichika walked into the room.

"Do you have anything to spare for two poor fools who spent all morning trying to restrain the Captain?" Ikkaku asked as he sat down. Yumichika just leaned against the wall and started fixing his hair.

"Yeah, sure. What'd the Captain do now?" Ikkaku took the cup Renji offered and downed its contents in one quick gulp.

"He heard the rumor about the newest prodigy and wanted to go to the Academy and fight him. Couldn't get it through his thick skull that the poor bastard hasn't even got his own zanpaktou yet. And Yachiru wasn't helping either." Yumichika made a growling noise in the corner. "Fine, I won't tell them about it." He leaned in and whispered "But pretty-boy had to spend four hours in front of a mirror to-" Ikkaku was cut off suddenly when a decorative statue hit him in the head. "Son of a bitch!"

"What rumor, Ikkaku-san?" Rukia asked before the two could get into a fight.

"Eh? You haven't heard?" The two shook their heads. "They just had the Entrance Exams for the Shinigami Academy, and there's a kid that just got in and has Level 9 spiritual energy." Renji and Rukia were shocked. How did I miss this before? Was I that cut off from everything? Rukia thought. "Not only that, but his entrance exam was one of the highest ever seen. He was on par with the examiner in hakuda and hohou, beat her in zanjutsu in record time, and blasted a ten-foot hole in the wall with Way of Destruction No. 31."

"What the hell? How old is this kid?" Renji seemed skeptical about the whole thing.

"Well, Matsumoto said he's been in Soul Society for ten years, but you know her..." Ikkaku was right. Matsumoto tended to blow out the rumors to make them more interesting, and was therefore known for being unreliable. "But his name starts with 'Ichi'! Didn't I always say that people with 'Ichi' in their names are destined for greatness?" Rukia's eyes widened. Ichigo! Of course!

She stood up suddenly. "I have to go! Thanks for the tea, Renji!" She yelled as she shunpoed away, leaving Renji confused and staring at the spot she occupied only three seconds ago.

Ikkaku just made a face. "What the hell, Abarai? I thought you were drinking sake!

A/N: Next time we'll be seeing Ichigo at the Academy! Please leave a review!