A/N: Thousands of thanks to my wonderful reviewers, as well as those that told me their preference on the hollow's name! I'm sorry that the explanations in this story can get a little long, but they're needed to set up the background and for a little foreshadowing (hint hint).
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, only the things I make them do. Also, the quote from paragraph 39 is taken directly from the Bleach anime series and doesn't belong to me either.
Chapter 7: Great Balls of Fire!
BONG! BONG! BONG!
"AUGH!" Ichigo flew out of bed and slammed on the floor, proceeding to get tangled in the sheets he had brought down with him. It took him a full minute to realize he wasn't being attacked by an Arrancar, and then another minute to find his way out of the sheets. What the hell were they thinking, making the morning bells so loud? He rubbed his head and blearily opened his blinds to look outside.
The sun was barely starting to rise, which meant it was only six in the morning. Why so damn early? Why-y? Ichigo dragged himself up to his dresser, the adrenaline from the sheet attack worn out, and found some fresh academy robes. He then slowly walked to what Minobe had pointed out as the food hall and sat down at a random table in the corner, resting his tired eyes for a little bit. He had had another horrible nightmare last night and it was tough not to let it get to him...
Minobe found Ichigo face first in his bowl of rice, snoring loudly. She snickered and sat opposite him, staring intently at him and savoring his ridiculous position before she kicked his shin. Ichigo started and slowly opened his eyes to find another pair of eyes directly in front of him. He yelled and fell backwards in his chair, meeting the floor for the second time that day.
"Sleep well, Kurosaki-kun?" Minobe asked sweetly as she looked at him from over the table.
"Gutuheh." He said from the floor.
"What?"
"Go to hell!" Ichigo crawled back to his seat and methodically began to eat his rice while Minobe smiled and returned to her own large meal.
"Yeesh, somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed. Not an early riser?" She said while shoving large amounts of rice into her mouth. He glared at her and shook his head while she gave him a bright smile "Neither am I!"
He stared at her, perplexed. "Then what hell do you call this?"
"How could you not be in a good mood? The food here is so great!" She said as she moved on to her second bowl of rice.
Is food all she thinks about? How can she still be as thin as she is? The two finished their meal and left together for their first class, fitness. This was a class that Ichigo desperately needed, considering his eleven year-old body was still pretty scrawny. The gym was on the east side of the campus, conveniently located near the zanjutsu and hakuda buildings.
The class was large, and included people from all years of study. Even some teachers were using the gymnasium, probably to warm up before teaching their own classes. As Ichigo discovered, it wasn't really a true "class", more like gym time that people could sign up for. Some went directly to the strange-looking workout machines (can't the Twelfth Division make anything that looks normal?) while others went to the large mats to stretch and do floor workouts.
Minobe went straight to work at making Ichigo feel pathetic as she broke out into full splits, back-bends, and hamstring stretches. He was still growling in disgust as she reached what must have been her two-hundredth sit-up. She paused and looked at him, saying "What's your problem?"
"Nothing." Ichigo struggled through his push-ups, remembering when he could do all these exercises easily and would have more than matched his companion.
"Fine, be like that. Don't get to worked up, though. I'm almost positive I was a professional dancer when I was alive. This comes naturally." She got up and did a weird move where she kept one foot planted on the ground and the other lifted in the air in a 6 o'clock line, feet pointed and knees stretched. "Besides, you died young, so you hardly have any muscle mass."
"What!? You're barely taller than me! And you don't exactly look like a bodybuilder." He tried and failed miserably at a split of his own while Minobe lifted one of her legs to her head.
"I've lived in Soul Society about eighty years. This is my full height, which makes sense since dancers need to be short. You should know that ballerinas train their bodies so the muscles are lean, not bulging." To emphasize her point she kicked her right leg in the air incredibly fast and stopped it above her head, holding it like it was nothing and smirking at him.
Ichigo ignored the haughty display and instead asked a question that had been on his mind for a while. "What's the growth rate of people in Soul Society? Cause I can never tell how old people here are..."
"People with no spiritual energy arrive here exactly as they died and stay that way until they die here. Those with spiritual energy arrive here at various ages, but they're always younger than their prime. All the souls with spiritual energy grow slowly, at approximately a fourth the rate of those in the real world, until they reach their prime. There's no such thing as dying of old age here."
A fourth of the rate of growth? How am I supposed to fight the war when I'm this short? Will I be forever ridiculed like Toushirou?
"I wouldn't dwell on that too much..." Ichigo started. His hollow had been pretty quiet lately, and was actually giving real advice.
What do you mean by that? It was silent again. Fine, I'll just find out later. Ichigo's bad mood continued for the rest of the workout session, and he snapped at Minobe whenever she tried to talk to him. She eventually became so frustrated that she left him alone to use a workout machine, failed miserably, and came back in as bad a mood as he was.
Ichigo's anger turned to apprehension as it came time to go to the Kidou Grounds and take his first real class at the Academy. "I'm really going to enjoy this." Even though the hollow wasn't as aggressive since the 'incident', what they both painfully referred to a certain horrible event a year ago as, he still had his annoying moments.
Shut up shut up shut up shut up...Ichigo chanted to take his mind off his unavoidable humiliation. Of all the times to take up the insults, that bastard...come to think of it, Ichigo realized, I still don't have a name for the stupid thing ("Hey!") that's freeloading off my soul ("HEY!").
You, what's your name? The Kidou building was slowly coming closer.
"How many fuckin' times do I have to tell you, I don't have a name!"
Well then I'll just make one up for you. The thing was a part of his soul, so logically it should be a variation of his name...Ichigo listed off all the names he could think of in his head until he found the perfect one. It sounded cool, and it fit the hollow's personality perfectly, being a mirror image of himself. Having found the name, he moved on to a different choice.
Shirosaki. He smirked, triumphant over his hollow's sputtering.
"But Ogihci was perfect! You said so yourself! Why the hell did you choose a fucked up name like 'Shirosaki'?"
Well Shiro-chan ("AUGH!"), Ogihci sounded cool and that pissed me off.
"Kurosaki-kun? Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo was broken away from the musical sound of newly dubbed Shirosaki's tortured screaming to find the doors to the Kidou classroom right in front of him. "Are you okay Kurosaki-kun?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, s-sure." He stuttered as a new wave of apprehension settled down on him.
"Okay..." Minobe looked skeptical. "...cause you were staring off into space and smirking, and you were going to walk straight into the doors if I didn't stop you."
Ichigo ignored her again and faced the looming doors. You've faced things ten times worse then a Kidou class, Kurosaki. You've been ridiculed all your life because of your hair. You've gone up against Arrancar countless times. You're doing this to save your family and friends, so put your best foot forward and don't look back! Ichigo's resolve hardened and he opened the doors to the classroom, confident that going through this torture would help him greatly in the long run.
--
Aizen Sousuke was sitting at his desk, staring contemplatively at the file in front of him. Kurosaki Ichigo. The boy changed everything, he was a wild card Aizen hadn't anticipated. It's too late in the game to add another player on our side, he thought as he opened the file and read the full report. But if we push our plans back...no. We must act as soon as we discover the location of the Hougyoku. Luckily the boy was young, in body as well as mind. He could easily be manipulated, perhaps even more easily than Hinamori and Kira were.
All Aizen needed to do was make sure Kurosaki didn't get accepted into the First, Eighth, or Thirteenth Divisions. The captains there would have too much of an influence on him, and the boy would be turned against anything that could "harm" others. Himself, Gin, and Kaname would have to each introduce themselves to the boy soon to see who he responded to best, and they could go from there. Thankfully there weren't any open captain positions so they wouldn't have another Hitsugaya on their hands...
Kurosaki certainly complicated things, but Aizen just smiled and adjusted his glasses. What was ascending to heaven without a challenge?
--
"I am your primary instructor Oounabara Gengorou. This Freshman Class One is a so-called special advanced class where are gathered those who achieved the most exemplary scores on the exam. In order for you men and women to become not only members of various squads, but eventually the Shinigami at the top thereof, I hope you will do your best in training." Ichigo wasn't sure if he was relieved or even more upset that Kidou had been cut into by a half hour so this Oouna-guy could explain the principles of the academy.
So for the next thirty minutes Ichigo listened to the bald guy ramble on about how the teachers would only show them the basics in the four areas of study and how to advance in them later on, and how the school wouldn't provide step-by-step instructions on how to attain shikai or bankai. All Ichigo got out of it was that he would be really bored during classes and he would be spending a lot of time at the training grounds and the library to advance to true captain level. Of course, it was reassuring to know that the only exam they would take was the Division Assessments at the end of the year. Those exams were where the Gotei Thirteen (and the other peace-keepers) found most of their recruits, and it was open to all levels!
One year of this and I'm outta here! Other bits of useful information were that they would be training with wooden swords, then Asuachi (a zanpaktou for those who can't communicate with their own), and finally would go through a session to reveal their own zanpaktous. Ichigo was a bit skeptical about this, but reasoned that since he had gotten his shinigami powers first from Rukia and then from Urahara's strange methods that it would probably be best to do it the official way for once. He also found out they would be doing some real-world training after their six-month mark in the Academy. From the quiet conversations around him he found out that these exercises unfortunately had a high death rate, because of poor barriers or particularly strong hollows.
They don't exactly stress the safety of their students, huh? It would be no problem for him if a hollow attacked, since he was once forced to fend off a strong hollow using only a branch when Zangetsu was thrown yards away from his grasp. It was more his classmates that he needed to protect. Ichigo had seen enough death and carnage for quite a few lifetimes and wasn't too excited at the prospect of seeing more.
His thoughts were violently interrupted as the bald guy left the room and another instructor walked in with a large stack of textbooks. On the sides Ichigo could see the words "The Arts of Binding and Destruction: Incantations One Through Forty" Oh shit!
--
Hitsugaya Toushirou wasn't worried about the newest prodigy at all. In fact, he was a bit excited to have the rumors get away from him for even a little bit. People were talking about whether Captain Ichimaru's record would be broken instead of wondering if Hitsugaya's bankai was just a fluke. They marveled at the prodigy's bright orange hair (for information travels fast in Soul Society), instead of his own cool demeanor. Most of all, they wondered what seat the prodigy would get instead of when Hitsugaya would crack and murder his Vice-Captain.
He walked calmly to Matsumoto's office as he greeted members of his squad on the way. Sure he had only been a captain for three years, and maybe his bankai wasn't very developed yet, but there was no reason to think that he would crack under stress. Hitsugaya turned the corner and came to the door, wishing with all his might that Matsumoto had finished her paperwork for once.
As he opened the door, however, he was not at all greeted by what he wanted to see.
His own Vice-Captain, as well as those from the Third, Seventh and Ninth Divisions were draped on top of various overturned pieces of furniture, obviously incredibly drunk. The paperwork was everywhere.
No, Hitsugaya wouldn't crack under stress of any kind. Murdering his Vice-Captain, however, was a completely different story.
"MATSUMOTO!!"
--
Ichigo's heart was pounding again as the class moved out the the targeting grounds behind the Kidou building. They had just spent most of the class time going over the basics of Kidou and memorizing one of the incantations. Thankfully they wouldn't be going through every single Art in class, since most of them were easily learned and mastered.
This Destruction Art was unfortunately one of those that Rukia taught him during the war, so he knew exactly how it would turn out if he didn't keep his concentration. The look on Rukia's face when the 20 foot ball of fire rocketed past her...priceless.
The first line of students stepped up to the plate, as the their instructor, Haruguchi Daiki, called out to fire. Each person got into position and said the incantation and soon flaming cannons were going off everywhere in graceful arcs. There were a few that managed to slightly nick their targets, including Minobe, but nobody hit it right in the center and most fell far short of their goal.
As Ichigo stood up he reminded himself of the tips he had gotten over the years and from the Kidou textbook. Don't push all your energy into it, concentrate, remember the incantation, don't kill anyone...He got into the position much like the one that he did while preparing his bankai, except with his palm facing away from him, and called out the incantation. "Ye lord, mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Way of Destruction Number 31, Red Flame Cannon!"
As the other's kidou slowly arced and fell short of their targets, Ichigo's decided to do something entirely different. The flaming ball that Ichigo carefully managed to get to normal size shot out from his hand at top speed, hit the center of his target and kept right on going, eventually colliding with the reinforced fence and exploding in a shower of sparks and fire.
Everyone was speechless. The awkward silence lasted what seemed like forever until Haruguchi finally spoke up. "Slightly unorthodox, but good aim. A little more control next time please, Kurosaki." Ichigo let out the breath he had been holding and returned to the spot on the floor as his classmates congratulated him on his "amazing shot." Maybe this year won't be so bad, he thought as he smiled and watched the last group try and fail to repeat his shot, one of them blowing themselves up in the process.
A/N: A bit of a filler chapter, but next time we'll see Ichigo with a sword! I feel sorry for his opponent already...please remember to leave your review!
