Okay, guys, Chapter 15. Here's something for the enjoyment of everyone and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I liked writing it.

Chapter 15—Day 1 of Bankai Training

The excitement of the day took over Koji when he woke the next day. He rose and suppressed his own excitement—even his tail was wagging, despite his best attempts to keep it calm... What? His tail?! He was about to cast the Bakudo once more before he remembered last night—everybody already knew.

But still, Urahara said that he would teach him Bankai! The last, and most powerful, stage of the zanpakuto. He thought about Hikari no Inu's possible Bankai. Right now, it could change into anything... What would it be? A giant version of itself? Or, maybe, something small-but-deadly? The possibilities were, as of right now, endless.

"Oh, good, you're awake," said a voice as the door to the room opened. Komamura looked down at him and Koji looked back. "Come. Urahara has everything set up for today's training."

"Great... but what about the rogue?"

"We have reason to believe that he may not appear this night," Komamura said. "Since you did manage to injure him, which be believed impossible, he may have temporarily retreated. If not, Captain Hitsugaya will alert us to his appearance. Come, we must not dawdle."

His first thought was "impossible", but his second was "wow".

An entire desert... underground... beneath Urahara's shop! How the hell did he manage it? Koji followed Komamura across the dusty, brown ground, staring up at the infinite sky that stretched above them. They were still walking (at a pace that Koji found slow for Komamura) when the captain spoke.

"So, when you used to release your zanpakuto, your disguise faltered," Komamura noted.

"What do you mean?"

Komamura turned and looked at him. "I noticed it during your bout with Renji Abarai. The moment you released your zanpakuto, your human disguise starts to weaken as your powers are directed towards your zanpakuto and away from your Kido. But now since your powers are going entirely to your zanpakuto, will you be able to control your weapon?"

"I think so. As long as my zanpakuto's not being fussy, I should be able to get it."

"Fussy?"

"Sometimes, Hikari no Inu acts childish, but I think he wants to learn Bankai as much as I do," Koji explained.

"You realize that most people take centuries to learn it and decades to master it."

"I know. So, how does Mr. Urahara plan in teaching me?"

"With this." Urahara's cheery voice cut through the air and their conversation from behind them. They turned and saw Urahara approaching, holding what looked like a vaguely humanoid-shaped, foam board. Urahara stopped and stuffed it into the ground, smiling at Koji.

"What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Stab it," Urahara said.

"Why?"

"Shikai is achieved by the zanpakuto drawing the Soul Reaper into its world," Komamura explained. "Bankai can be achieved by drawing the zanpakuto into the material world."
"This little thing here," Urahara remarked, "will bring your zanpakuto out forcibly. It's dangerous, but it'll shave your training time down considerably. The issue here is what you'll do when it comes out. You may have to do something... risky."

"Risky... how?"

"Depends on how your zanpakuto wants to teach you. I can't say for sure what'll happen, but worst-case scenario—you die."

Koji swallowed hard before looking back at Komamura, who looked down at him. Koji had hoped to see some kind of support; it was faint, but it was there. And besides, with Captain Komamura supervising the training, it couldn't go bad, right? After all, how could the captain fail?

"Okay," Koji said, withdrawing his sword. He was about to pierce the figure before he said, "Has this ever worked before?"

"Twice," Urahara said. "I did it and, of course, the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"The Soul Reaper who defeated Sosuke Aizen, right?"

"Exactly," Urahara said, "and we're living proof that it works. It's just a very dangerous process."

"If you want, we can call off this training, Koji," Komamura said.

"No, I—Did you just call me Koji?" he asked, blinking in amazement.

"That is your name, is it not?"

"Y-yeah," Koji said. In the back of his mind, he felt a sense of happiness at the captain's use of his name, but he kept it in check. Right now, they had to focus on the task at hand. "Let's get started."

Koji thrust his sword into the foam figure and watched in amazement. At first, he had thought his zanpakuto exploded in the following display of brilliant, white light. It had vanished completely from his hands, and for a moment, he panicked before he heard the voice of his own power echoing behind him.

"So, why have you summoned me here?" asked Hikari no Inu, standing there with arms crossed. The sight of his zanpakuto in the physical world had briefly taken him by surprise before Hikari no Inu's next statement reached his ears. "Do you really think you have what it takes to learn Bankai? You've hardly mastered Shikai."

"I don't have a choice," Koji said. "We need it to beat the rogue."

"'The rogue'," Hikari no Inu remarked mockingly. "If you are serious about learning Bankai, then you need to forget about 'the rogue'. Right now, I'm your only concerned. Right now, either you're going to learn Bankai"—he flicked his wrist and a sword, the exact image of his Shikai form, appeared in his palm—"or I'm going to kill you."

"This isn't exactly fair, you know," Koji stated. "I'm unarmed."

Hikari no Inu smiled, and Koji felt something in his hands. It was another copy of his zanpakuto's Shikai, yet it felt different. There wasn't the same kind of power he had once felt from it. Then he looked up at Hikari no Inu and understood. The power of it existed within this manifestation of his zanpakuto.

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Defeat me with your own power," Hikari no Inu said. "Force me to into submission and you may very well be able to unlock the power of my Bankai."

That was it; conversation was over. Hikari no Inu charged, and Koji barely had time to dodge before his enemy's blade slashed. He had stepped back, but he felt the blade rip his clothing, exposing a thin line over his chest that steadily grew as his clothes drooped slightly.

"You could've killed me!" Koji whined.

"That's the point," Hikari no Inu noted before charging again. Koji saw his blade start to glow and immediately knew what was coming. He brought his feet together, flexed his knees, and pushed off just in time, as Hikari no Inu swung, a wave of crystal following the arc of his swing. "Running away isn't going to teach you Bankai, Koji Shimizu."

Hikari no Inu pointed his sword tip up and a sphere of energy appeared, growing larger as more energy gathered. Koji pointed his finger down.

"Hado 4: Byakurai."

The orb of energy ruptured just as the Kido was fired, releasing a beam of energy that met Koji's Kido just in time. An smoke-filled explosion followed and Koji found himself waiting to it to clear... until another beam fired up through the smoke, dissipating it as the beam charged forward.

"Bakudo 81: Danku!"

The transparent wall appeared, but just as the beam made contact, the wall cracked loudly before shattering. Koji, still airborne, tumbled out of the way, trying his hardest to suppress the lump of fear that had appeared. Had he been that strong when he had fought alongside Hikari no Inu?

"Quit running away," Hikari no Inu bellowed. "I refuse to teach a coward!"

"Don't call me a coward!"

"Then what are you? A frightened child?!"

Koji charged downward, faster than he had meant to. The air meeting him slapped his face and blew through his fur, but he found that he didn't much care. He slashed when he was close enough and the ground beneath his opponent seemed to cave in, but there was something wrong. Hikari no Inu had blocked the blow with no effort at all.

"Kessho," came Hikari no Inu's almost hiss-like voice.

Hikari no Inu's sword became covered in the same crystal the blade could discharge, and Koji found his blade stuck as the crystal began to cover them both. He struggled to get it loose and found himself hating his zanpakuto's empty expression.

"You're too weak to learn Bankai," Hikari no Inu stated.

"I'm not weak."

"Then prove it."

Koji pulled with all his might, and the crystal broke, shattering like glass. With his sword free, Koji slashed once more, and this time—with much pleasure—had his opponent on the defensive, blocking his blows. Koji didn't want try his sword's techniques (he doubted they'd work) but at the same time, he knew that this wasn't enough. What would be?
Koji tried to stab Hikari no Inu, but the zanpakuto spirit simply dove underneath it, moving with speed to stand behind Koji. He prepared to slash again. Koji pointed his finger behind him.

"Hado 4: Byakurai."

The beam of electric energy surged outward, but Hikari no Inu gave a very lazy wave of his sword and the beam was deflected, aimed right towards Urahara who very easily slammed it down with the back of his hand. Koji would've cared about it if he wasn't currently in battle.

He lost track of how much time he had spent dueling with Hikari no Inu when it finally happened. One misstep and Koji capitalized on it, thrusting his sword deep into his enemy's shoulder. The sword passed all the way through, and Koji was about to release another Kido when he felt something force itself into his own shoulder.

"You let your guard down," Hikari no Inu remarked, "and you're wondering if you're about to die. Answer the question: are you going to die here?"

"N-no."

"Then don't. Prove to me that you deserve to learn Bankai."

From where he stood, Komamura watched the bout. He knew that he couldn't interfere unless he had no choice, yet it was hard to watch his comrade get stabbed like that. He was shaking, holding himself back from getting involved. It was difficult to watch. It was more difficult to do more than watch.

Just a few inches away, Urahara was smiling.

"What's so funny?" Komamura asked.

"It's odd to me," Urahara stated. "For someone like you to find another person, a kindred spirit, and to not have any kind of emotional attachment to him... What does this boy mean to you, Captain Komamura?"

"He is my comrade and subordinate."

"You don't have to lie, Captain," Urahara said, grinning stupidly. "I know that that Koji means a little more to you than that, right?"

"I don't know—"

"You're just afraid to answer the question," Urahara remarked, "just in case he happens to overhear with those ears of his. Probably hears like a safecracker, right?"

"Are you making fun of him, Urahara?"

"Maybe? Why? Does it bother you?"

"It bothers me when anyone talks badly of my friends."

"'Friends'? That's a start, but I know that the kid means a little more to you than that," Urahara said. "Rangiku told me how you two stopped for ice cream, just like a father would with his son."

"I do not have children, and the boy's father is dead."

"Maybe, but since he lost his father, is it so unimaginable to think that he may look for someone else to fill that void? A new father, perhaps?"

Komamura hesitated before answering. "Yes... quite possible..."

Deep thoughts started to play through his mind as he thought about Koji. Before, he had been afraid that he was setting Koji to be another Kaname Tosen... What if it's deeper than that?

If he's starting to think of me as his father... does that mean I'm thinking of him as my son...?

CHAPTER 15, EVERYONE! ENJOY!

Thanks for reading—gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that people are enjoying it. So, here's chapter 15, and chapter 16 will be available as soon as possible. I've got my final exams next week, so it may take some time while I start doing some last-minute cramming.

Sorry for that, but I promise that I won't just abandon the story.