Chapter VII

When Ochi-sensei took attendance in the morning and Tatsuki wasn't there, Orihime volunteered to bring her the day's notes and handouts. She realized after class that she had made plans that day to train with Rukia, so she texted Tatsuki and handed the notes off to Ichigo before they took off for Soul Society.

He fobbed the notes off to Ikkaku, and dragged him aside for a short talk after classes ended. Soul reapers getting involved with his friends would cause all sorts of problems-- especially Keigo and Tatsuki. Especially considering Ikkaku was all sorts of tied up with Kenpachi. And, knowing him, thought a lot like Kenpachi, which might end up being the bigger problem.

"Tatsuki can handle normal guys. You and Yumichika're as far from normal as anyone could possibly get. She doesn't have any brothers to kick your ass if she gets hurt--"

Ikkaku smothered a groan; he knew exactly where this was going. And if he was wrong, then times had sure changed since he was alive. "Shut up for a sec. If I have anything to do with it, Asano an' Arisawa'll both forget all about us when we're gone. Alright?"

His bored expression said, Are we done and can I go now?

Ichigo seemed torn between disappointment and relief. Partly because he'd expected (and even hoped a little) for this, but still. He didn't want them to not be friends because Ikkaku was a good guy and Tatsuki had fun with him. Especially since he hadn't really been around lately and. It was just. Tatsuki. "You should probably talk to her about that."

"I'm not the problem. She misses you. Jackass. Besides, how badly d'you want her not to know about Soul Society?"

Ichigo wondered exactly when Ikkaku got so good at turning conversations around, but settled for feeling guilty and looking even more foul-mooded than usual. He just didn't want her to get hurt by getting involved, okay?

"I just don't want her to get hurt by getting involved, okay?"

Ikkaku looked at him impassively. It occurred to Ichigo that talking to Ikkaku was like talking to a not-so-slightly insane version of himself.

If he asked, Ikkaku would say, Men with 'ichi' in their names are honest and assertive! or something.

"I'll beg for forgiveness or whatever after this is over, but I don't want Tatsuki getting caught up. Tell her if you have to. Watch out for her, alright?"

"Tch. I was gonna, anyway."

"Huh. So is there anything going on I don't know a--"

"'We're leaving soon. 'Sides, I ain't interested in kids."

"Oh yeah. I forgot how old you guys get."

"You lookin' for a fight?!"

Ichigo smiled tightly and they bumped fists before he took off.

Ikkaku leaned against the wall as he entered Tatsuki's room, and frowned. "Told you you'd get sick."

Tatsuki burrowed further under the covers and refused to look at him. "Why aren't you sick? Who let you in? And I thought Ichigo was coming."

"I don't get sick, your mom, and he's training."

"I don't usually get sick. Is he training for that thing I'm not supposed to know about?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then screw him. Thanks for the notes."

Ikkaku left the folder on her desk, pulled out her chair, flipped it around and sat down with his arms folded across the back. "I think you oughta stop practicing reiatsu on your own."

That got a reaction. Tatsuki sat up and glared at him. "Why?"

That fracción, the sudden influx of arrancar and hollows and on that first night, those arrancar had been going after anyone with spiritual pressure--

"It's getting dangerous. Don't make yourself hollowbait."

"I can take on hollows."

"They're not all as weak as the one you beat."

Tatsuki didn't think the one she took down was all that weak, and bristled. "I can take care of myself."

"I'll teach you how to suppress your reiatsu. As soon as you feel--"

"So you're cutting me off?"

"Ye-- No. Yeah. Kinda. Hollows are attracted to reiatsu. If you learn to suppress it, they won't come after you. Again. That was the whole point'a training you. Control."

"So I can run away?"

Yeah. So she, crazy teenaged girl, could run away and then throw the hollow off her trail and buy enough time for someone to take care of it because they're dangerous and they kill people.

Hoozukimaru very bluntly reminded Ikkaku that he was being a filthy hyprocrite.

"So you won't ever need to."

"No."

"Listen, Arisawa." It struck Tatsuki that he hadn't even started using her name yet, though she wasn't sure whether or not he was deliberately trying to distance himself-- "There's this place people go to when they die."

"What?"

"It's called Soul Society. Anyone who doesn't go to Soul Society becomes a hollow. Hollows kill people. Hollows kill people like you. I'm a soul reaper. Soul reapers kill hollows. See where I'm goin' with this? Soul reapers're trained to kill hollows. For years." He lowered his head and propped his chin up against the back of a wrist.

"Hate to break it to you now, but you're still too weak to get involved, an' the deeper you get the harder it is ta get back out. Ichigo, Orihime-chan, Yasutora Sado, Ishida Uryuu-- they didn't get dragged in 'cause they wanted ta be and they got hurt. Bad."

It was the most Ikkaku had ever said at once, without interruption. He tended to sit by and listen, contributing only occasionally to conversation, and the shock of it might have been what kept Tatsuki from cutting him off and kicking his ass.

"Far's I'm concerned, the fewer humans that get involved, the better. If you go and start attracting hollows when me'n Yumichika aren't around, you're gonna hafta take 'em on on your own, and then the two of us, or Ichigo, or Renji, or Matsumoto, or Hitsugaya-taichou are gonna hafta drop whatever we're doin' and come bail you out."

Ikkaku cut her off again before she could tell him to stuff it and go fuck himself.

"You'll get in the way. It's dangerous. You might die. Hell, you could get one of us killed. So I'll teach you how to suppress your spirit pressure, an' when I'm around, I'll help ya practice. But don't go an' do it on your own."

Tatsuki supposed it was enough that he was still willing to train with her, and if she pushed harder he might cut her off completely. She could deal with this. For a while. "Why didn't Ichigo tell me this?"

"There's a lot goin' on. Ichigo'll tell you on his own time."

Tatsuki's spiritual pressure flared up until the room thrummed with her barely-suppressed rage, then faded. "We're friends. I never wanted to hear this from you."

"You'll hear it from him, too. When he's ready." Ikkaku cast his own reiatsu around, surrounding the room and covering any traces of Tatsuki's with his own. It wasn't smart to leave your signature everywhere, especially not soaking in a room for weeks; any hollows who dropped by her room would sense his, and follow it instead of sticking around.

Tatsuki frowned.

"Why're you here, anyway?"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you some other time." He shrugged.

"You better," she retorted lamely.

"I was gonna do this on Sunday, but..."

"We're still on. You need to tell me the rest of it."

"Alright."

Ikkaku left.

Tatsuki went back to sleep.

Sunday rolled around sunny but cold. Tatsuki's clothes were clean, and Ikkaku had them folded neatly in a backpack. He was expecting to show up exactly on time, but Tatsuki met him at the gate, already changed out of her uniform. "Practice ended early. Let's go."

They went.

He had picked an airy place with lots of customers-- it was far enough away from Karakura High that not many of the students ever bothered to go so far out of their way, but close enough that nearly everyone had been there at least once. They talked about the weather.

Ikkaku returned her clothes, shrugged out of the light jacket Yumichika had flung at him as he left, and called the waitress over. They ordered, and he leaned into the back of his seat, arms crossed. "Ask me anything."

Tatsuki said, "Start from the beginning."

"The beginning was two thousand years ago."

"Start from when Ichigo got involved."

Ikkaku wasn't sure exactly when Ichigo got involved; he only knew what happened after Ichigo crash-landed in Seireitei, and had never bothered learning the rest of the details. He explained as much as he could, and told her Ichigo would have to fill in the rest of it himself. Their food arrived halfway through his woefully undetailed description of Soul Society, and he cut himself off to finish eating before it got cold.

Tatsuki decided not to ask. The story was convoluted enough, even with Ikkaku's simplified explanation.

"Are you busy after this?"

"Nah. You wanna go train more?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. You need to work on reiatsu control anyway."

Tatsuki frowned. "I wanted to spar."

"You did that all morning."

"Well, the judo club guys are weak."

"Yeah?"

"And I wanna fight someone who's... actually a challenge."

Tatsuki resolutely stared at her fork.

Ikkaku smirked. Tatsuki was pretty damn manipulative when she wanted to be; lots of understated body language, her expressions and tone were all executed well. But it's not like he wasn't used to it; Yachiru and Yumichika did the same thing whenever they really wanted something. Though they were easier to resist, what with decades of practice. "Not until you get reiatsu suppression down."

She scowled at him. "Come on!"

He was more of a hardass than Tatsuki had expected. A lazy hardass, sure, but she really wished he was easier to push around.

"You're good. It won't take too long."

Tatsuki flushed with satisfaction.

Ikkaku knew the ins and outs of getting exactly what he wanted, too. Most of the time it took a lot of yelling and threats, but sometimes it required a little more subtlety. Though he hadn't been lying when he told her it wouldn't take long; he just very rarely voiced any compliments. Tatsuki decided that maybe learning how to suppress her reiatsu would come in handy eventually (maybe) and as long as they got to spar afterwards, it'd be alright. She'd just need to smack him around extra hard.

They argued briefly over the check (he had been paying for everything lately-- whether or not it was 'company credit' didn't mean anything to her) and, in the end, decided to split it.

Ikkaku talked vaguely about Soul Society. Anyone listening in would have guessed he was talking about some new series or book, which wasn't an easy thing to pull off. Tatsuki's interest piqued when he started explaining soul cutters. He complained affectionately about Hoozukimaru, but admitted that when he didn't have his sword in his hand, he was pretty much on edge all the time.

Tatsuki wanted to see Hoozukimaru. Hell, if everything he had said about zanpakutou was true, she wanted to meet Hoozukimaru too.

Hoozukimaru complained that it was too much trouble, but he wouldn't mind if Ikkaku called him out when he wasn't trying to take a nap.

Ikkaku heaved a mental sigh.

Hoozukimaru was always trying to take a nap. Well, materializing him was a pain in the ass anyway. Even if he did want to show off his (weapon? friend? partner?) materializing him would draw so much attention and it'd use up so much reiatsu he'd end up too lethargic to do anything the rest of the day.

Either way, he couldn't do it today. Just coaching Tatsuki to control her spiritual pressure would take at least an hour, and if she wanted to smack him around to work on channeling reiatsu, he'd be too worn out just acting as her punching bag to muster up enough energy to call out Hoozukimaru. When they reached the grassy area by the river (the one place in Karakura Town that Ikkaku ever saw more than the inside of Keigo's house), he picked a spot and sat down.

Tatsuki looked like he was trying to lead her to an execution stand. Of all the things to be doing at her favorite spot, they were going to sit and meditate. Or whatever Ikkaku planned to do. Either way, it wasn't gonna be fun.