A/N: I just would like to say thank you to all my reviewers, and that I'm so glad my first story is getting such a great response! There's a lot of fighting in this chapter...
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, only the things I make them do.
Chapter 8: Recalling the Past
"Hey Shiori, did you hear about the new kid? The one with the bright orange hair?"
"I heard he blew a hole in the wall the size of the main doors!"
"My friend says that the captains are fighting for him already. Wish that were me."
Ichigo scowled as he walked by the groups of chattering people. Sure he didn't care what people said about him, but it was still damn annoying. He had just finished lunch with Minobe and she had gone to meet up with another person in their class, so Ichigo was all alone on the walk to his zanjutsu class. Ichigo patted the wooden sword at his side. Times like these when I miss Zangetsu.
"Me too."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. I thought you said you were Zangetsu. Ya remember that?
"Yeah, well, it's different now. Things have changed, and you of all people should know that." Ichigo remained silent, wishing that events in the past had ended up differently. He still didn't know what affect the 'incident' had on him, and he sure as hell didn't want to find out, but he did know that his mistake cost the lives of many of his friends.
He decided to take Rukia's advice for once and shifted his thoughts to more positive things as he pushed open the doors to the zanjutsu classroom. A few people were already there and warming up, practicing their swings in the high-ceilinged, spacious room. Ichigo joined in, getting used to swinging the wooden sword with his smaller proportions and weaker muscles.
Soon the room was filled with eager new students play-sparring and stretching, including Minobe and her friend. Their instructor called the class to session about ten minutes after Ichigo arrived, and the students were divided into two straight lines on either side of the room, watching two male students trying to whack the other with a wooden sword.
Albeit a bit boring, the sparring sessions allowed Ichigo to practice analyzing the combatant's strengths and weaknesses, so that by the time it was his turn he had successfully predicted the winner for all the previous six battles.
He was now expected to face off against a male student twice as tall as him and sporting loads of muscles. To the people on the sidelines it seemed impossible for Ichigo to win despite what they had heard and an excited murmur broke out through the crowd.
Ichigo took the time to analyze his opponent while the instructor was telling the class to be quiet, ignoring the fact that his challenger was trying to stare at him intimidatingly. Grip on the sword is weak. Too cocky, large mass means slower. Right hand more lax on the sword, most likely a lefty. This should be quick. First impressions, Kurosaki, make this one count.
The whistle was blown and Ichigo struck fast as lightning, his sword smacking loudly directly between his opponent's hands where the grip was the weakest. He twisted his sword quickly and yanked the other's sword from his grip. The released wooden sword spun through the air, hitting the opposite wall and before it landed Ichigo's opponent was flat on the floor. All in less than five seconds.
The class collectively blinked, astounded at Ichigo for the second time that day. Even the zanjutsu instructor's mouth was open, until he weakly called out, "Winner, Kurosaki. Return to your places." Ichigo sighed, brushed off his uniform, and sat down, aware of the entire class's eyes on his back.
--
Rukia sat on the sidelines of the 11th division's training grounds watching Renji get beat up by Ikkaku. Granted, she knew he would improve a lot in the next few years, and he had only recently started training hard like this, but this was just pathetic. She sighed and decided to help him out a little bit. "Hey, Eyebrows! Eyebrows! Where's your footwork!?" Her voice carried against the clash of steel and Ikkaku let out a triumphant laugh.
"Eh, Renji? See! See what I've saying all this time! Move yer fuckin' feet!" Renji scowled and reluctantly shuffled his feet around, unaccustomed to thinking of his feet as well as his zanpaktou. In another minute Renji was flung against the wall and Ikkaku started his victory dance.
Rukia stood up and sighed. "Don't put that zanpaktou away, idiot. I want to fight."
Renji brushed himself off and looked at her questioningly as Yumichika and Ikkaku started to spar. He rolled his eyes at her, "If you want, Rukia. But I warn you, I was going easy on you yesterday."
She smirked at him, knowing him well enough to see that he was lying. Time to teach this damned idiot a lesson. She leapt at him, Sode no Shirayuki already drawn and commenced the battle. Rukia made sure to move about even more than she normally would, determined to drill the fact into Renji's brain that he couldn't fight an opponent standing still. As the zanpatou's crashed together she remembered when she thought that Renji was one of the best swordsmen around. No wonder I always needed to be protected. Nii-sama, Kaien-dono, Renji, Ichigo...they could all see what I couldn't. It took a bastard literally to plunge his hand through my heart to realize that I was going nowhere fast.
Renji was slowly starting to put more effort into dodging her blade and not just deflecting it with his own. Every little thing could save his life, Rukia thought, if he had dodged instead of deflected that night...she decided to end the battle. Rukia kept getting oddly distracted by every move Renji made, recalling all the past battles and injuries he had gotten while using the exact techniques he was using now. She pulled the blade to her side and shunpoed next to Renji, using her brother's favorite technique to put her blade to his back before he could even blink.
After waiting long enough to acknowledge the fact that she had won, she sheathed her sword and smirked, walking around to the front of Renji, who still hadn't moved. Her smile fell when she saw the expression on her friend's face. Renji looked as though he had lost all hope, despair written all over him.
"Don't like to lose to a girl, eh? I thought you said you were miles ahead of me. What's with the pathetic face?"
Renji looked away from her and sheathed his zanpaktou. "It's nothing. See you tomorrow." He slowly walked away, leaving Rukia to wonder what she had done wrong. She had no idea that the last technique she had used to defeat him with was the one thing that Renji was trying to beat. If he couldn't see Rukia, how would he ever be able to catch her brother?
--
Ichigo's class was now paired into groups of two with everyone sparring at the same time. Minobe had paired with that new friend of hers (what's with all the short girl shinigami?), so Ichigo was left with a kid named Choshi Naoki. Why he was paired with this kid Ichigo had no idea, since he must have been the worst at zanjutsu in the entire class. The clumsy student was tripping over his own feet, letting go of his sword, and running into trees and walls. The comical situation left Ichigo to wonder how Choshi managed to get into Class One in the first place.
The instructor seemed to notice this as well, so when Choshi had fallen backwards for the fifth time, he said "Kurosaki, you're with me. Choshi, take a break and pull yourself together." The kid ashamedly picked himself off the ground and went to sit on a bench and watch Ichigo and his instructor (I think it was Ikoma).
The two took a fighting stance and waited for the other to make the first move. Finally, Ikoma attacked and Ichigo dodged, bringing his sword up to meet his instructor's. Before Ichigo could make an attack of his own, Ikoma struck out again towards his side, and soon Ichigo found himself on the defensive. He could quickly see why the man was a zanjutsu instructor. His moves were quicker than Ichigo had ever seen without spiritual enhancement and his blows were the strongest he had seen without a zanpaktou. It took everything Ichigo had to keep up and meanwhile try to find Ikoma's weakness. Sure, he would beat him easily if he had Zangetsu and his old body back, but now..."See King? You're nothing without us."
And your attitude is back to what it used to be.
"Ouch, no need to be harsh! I'm just makin' a statement. When's the old man comin' back?"
They said we get our real zanpaktous in two months. Now shut up, I need to concentrate.
The wooden swords met again and again, and soon a crowd formed around Ikoma and Ichigo. Ichigo knew he was barely keeping up, but didn't let himself slow down since he desperately needed this kind of exercise. He knew that he was used to relying on Zangetsu before, but this battle confirmed it. If Ichigo could do this even once a week, his swordsmanship would greatly improve.
Finally Ikoma's wooden sword connected with Ichigo's and a loud crack resounded through the building as the sword broke. After that the battle was lost for Ichigo. Holding the zanjutsu instructor back with half a sword was impossible, and in the next minute Ichigo was on the ground. Their audience clapped as Ichigo got up and the two bowed. Ikoma called out that class was dismissed and turned to Ichigo. "Congratulations on holding up so long, Kurosaki. You're the best swordsman I've seen in this academy since Ichimaru Gin." Ichigo fought the incredible urge to cring at that name while the instructor kept talking. "Not that there's no room for improvement, of course. Speed and strength will come with time and age, but having a released zanpaktou will also help." Ichigo nodded and thanked Ikoma for the class, then ran off to find the Zanpaktou Meditation classroom.
--
Kuchiki Byakuya was not a stupid man. He could see the change in his sister immediately, and watched her suddenly become extremely driven almost exactly a year ago. Now he was seeing another change in Rukia. She was alternating between hope and despair, much like when Hisana did when she searched for the very girl in question. Hope only a few days ago, when a smile never left her face and she was eager to rush off to the Academy to see an old friend. Despair just recently, as Byakuya heard reports about Rukia having others accompany her to her training. The attendant he had watching Rukia said she had screamed at Abarai Renji for an hour straight for walking off after she won their battle.
Byakuya also sensed a shift in attitude towards different people. Although Rukia did her best to hide it, he saw the looks she gave at the Third and Ninth Captains, and the way she shivered when around the Fifth Captain. Rukia also had suddenly repaired her old friendship with Abarai, and seemed more at ease around himself.
All this evidence revolved around one thing. Rukia was preparing for something, and if he was correct that something had to do with the same three captains that were involved with the Urahara exile a hundred years ago.
--
Ichigo found himself fighting Ikoma again, his surroundings blurred as wood met wood and the two danced around each other. Their fight brought them higher into the sky, and when Ichigo blinked a familiar scene met his eyes. He was standing miles over Karakura Town in his bankai uniform. All around him shinigami and arrancar were fighting each other, energy flaring and blood spilling. He turned back to Ikoma only to find him slowly walking on spiritual energy over to where Rukia was battling one of Halibel's replacement Fraccion. Ichigo was confused, and nothing made sense as he ran over to ask Ikoma what he was doing, a vague sense of foreboding welling up inside him.
Everything stopped as Ikoma slashed Rukia with his zanpaktou, no longer a simple wooden sword. Ichigo rushed to Rukia and made to catch her as she fell to the ground, but found his body frozen. When Ikoma slowly turned towards him, he was not the kind instructor, but Aizen Sousuke in his Arrancar robes. Ichigo struggled to be free of the kidou that bound him, but Aizen was too strong.
"Remind me to thank that girl, should she live. She was the perfect bait to lure you over here, Kurosaki." Ichigo's eyes widened as he found that he couldn't speak either. "Yes, I could see how you were trying to avoid me, no doubt on the orders of the Captains." Aizen smiled and reached into the pocket of his robes. "But I've brought you here to conduct a very important experiment." Ichigo watched in horror as Aizen held the Hougyoku in front of his frozen body. "You see, I've always wondered-"
BONG! BONG! BONG!
Ichigo launched out of his bed and landed on his feet, his hand going to where Zangetsu would be and his heart pounding. It took him a full twenty seconds to realize he wasn't being attacked by Aizen, and the adrenaline still hadn't worn off as Ichigo made his way to the food hall for breakfast. As he jumped at every little sound and clutched his familiarly pounding head, Ichigo knew that this would turn out to be a horrible day.
A/N: Phew! It's getting harder to crunch out these chapters since finals are coming up, but soon it'll be summer. Yay for lots of writing time! Please leave me a review!
