A rare calm fell over Seireitei; almost as if it was letting the soldiers of Gotei relax before something chaotic happens. It was a calm that made Renji anxious for the future.
He sat alone in the empty training grounds of his squad, pondering on the words of the fifth squad captain and his best friend. In his mind, he thought both spoke honest words but seemed to have managed to not tell the whole truth either. It frustrated the sixth squad lieutenant that Ichigo still had a problem in trusting people who would put their lives at risk for him.
"That idiot and I have been friends for at least four years, and he still can't grasp the fact that we're supposed to trust each other," the lieutenant ranted to no one in particular. He sighed and wondered if Ichigo had already pulled off a reckless stunt to escape that cell.
He hung his head back to stare at the clouds that floated lazily above him.
"Five clouds, just like that day," Renji observed and thought back to when he met the orange haired idiot.
/Flashback\\
"Alright, all of you rookies here are now part of the sixth squad. I'm your lieutenant, Abarai Renji. Your captain, Kuchiki Byakuya, is currently handling a situation in his clan. Due to that, I will have to tell you the importance of our squad. Being part of this squad means that you should all work hard at pertaining Seireitei's laws and making sure this squad is the best of the whole Gotei," the red head lieutenant announced and frowned as he heard a few groans from the crowd. He admitted that the speech didn't make their squad seem any different from any other, but he knew better than to change the words of his captain.
"Any questions?"
"Does that mean that if one of us betrays Seireitei, that this squad will be the first to go and kill that person? Even if he save the whole city from a catastrophe?" a high pitched voice asked from the crowd. The question suprised Renji. It was odd that an officer would questioned the word of their new superior, or even the laws of the Central Forty-Six.
"I'm not sure we'll be the first to be dispatched, but I guess that's the law," Renji answered, unsure what else to say. He looked above the crowd trying to see who had asked that question. His eyes finally rested on a little boy, definitely younger than what a normal shinigami graduate would look like. His bright orange hair made him stick out like a sore thumb even more with the crowd of much taller rookies. The young boy's eyes showed no fear when Renji began to stare him down.
"You with the strange hair, get up over here," he beckoned and watched as all the other officers' eyes looked at child. The orange haired officer walked up with nerves of steel and tried to meet the lieutenant's eyes but failed due to his height.
If one squinted, it looked as if Renji was a younger officer's cousin of distant relative. No one said anything commented about it though. The child officer kept a small smile on his lips, as if this was all a simple staring contest. Now that he thought of it, he looked as if he could be a playmate for the eleventh squad's lieutenant.
"What's your name?" Renji asked, trying not to sound too fierce.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," he answered, feeling slightly insecure as some snickered at his name. Even Renji couldn't help but smirk at the name.
Suddenly, Renji slowly brought out his sword and got into a basic stance. The crowd in front of them gasped as they foresaw what was going to happen next. Ichigo, however, seemed to not be phased by the lieutenant and kept his happy-go-lucky attitude. That smile reminded Renji too much of the third squad captain's smile. The resemblance was almost scary.
"Look kid, since it's obvious that you have brains to at least think for yourself. You also have a lot courage to be questioning out captain's wisdom and even the wisdom of the Forty-Six. Now let's see if you have the skill to beat me. So bring out your sword and let's have a little sparring match so I can show those rookies how strong our squad really is," Renji ordered, but frowned as the child did no move to do so.
"What? Don't tell me that you already lost that courage," he provoked.
"I didn't lose anything. I just thought that I wouldn't need my zanpaktou today since my captain said that I could have today off," Ichigo explained. His eyes glinted with an innocence sparkle.
The sentence threw the red head off his stance. It was one thing that a captain would let an officer have a day off to relax (which was almost too much of a dream for Renji), but to think he wouldn't need his zanpaktou was just being plain crazy in Renji's mind. A zanpaktou was part of its owner's soul. Leaving behind it was leaving behind a part of oneself.
The rookies whispered among themselves as they listened to the conversation of the two Death Gods.
"How long have you been in that squad?" Renji asked, still being skeptical that a captain actually let him had a day off or that he was actually in a squad to begin with.
"A year, more or less," the carrot top answered. His scowl obviously showed that he was getting annoyed by the whispers of the young shinigami in front of him.
"What squad are you in?"
"Um,"
"You don't know? How can you not!"
Ichigo didn't say anything else. His eyes darted across the training grounds, as if scanning the area to make sure no one was watching him.
"So, are we going to fight?" Ichigo asked, eager to change the subject.
"What? You're defenseless without your zanpaktou! How can you fight?" Renji responded, completely forgetting his previous question.
"I can still fight. There has to be an asauchi somewhere around here, right?" No one answered. Renji was still shocked that he still wanted to fight against him, a lieutenant.
This kid probably isn't a seated officer, Renji thought.
Ichigo sighed and began to think about another an alternative
"Fine. Then let's play a game of tag. But let's add some stakes to make it interesting. If you can land one hit on me before the sun goes down, I'll do all your paperwork for the rest of the year. And the next one too. But you can't use your Shikai," Ichigo bargained, a mischievous smirk slowly forming on his lips. The rookies spoke among themselves once again.
"What do you get?"
"The satisfaction of beating a lieutenant."
Renji was excited at the bargain. The child showed a lot of potential as a great shinigami, if not a little rude. But his major fault was that he thought he could do anything; he had too much pride. He knew all of that pride would shatter if the carrot top was beaten. But he did, after all, had just bargained a year's worth of doing paperwork for him. And that was too much to resist.
"Okay, you got yourself a deal. But don't be crying when you'll be doing my paperwork for the rest of the year, Strawberry," the lieutenant cried and charged after him.
Ichigo rolled his eyes for a second and disappeared from the red head's view.
"Like I haven't heard that one before," the child frowned and appeared behind from behind the lieutenant. Said lieutenant looked up to the sky and then to the orange haired officer. The sun was high in the sky and both were only getting started. Several memories from his time in the eleventh squad came up. Renji smiled in excitement. He hadn't felt like this for a long time.
After hours of intense dodging and sword swings, the two Shinigami laid spread across the training grounds. They were both tired from the match and fell to the ground without declaring the winner in words. Though both officers knew that Ichigo had won the competition. The group of rookies had already disappeared into their barracks due to the headache they received from the intense reiatsu the two of the fighters emitted.
"Five clouds," Ichigo suddenly observed.
Renji could only turn his head. It was amazing to him how much reiatsu that kid had. Ichigo was in better shape than the lieutenant himself even though it was Ichigo that used more reiatsu in his shunpo and was still able to talk without gasping for air every word.
"Five clouds in the sky. Don't forget it. If you do, then we're going to have to do this again and that's something I wouldn't want to do," the vacationing officer explained.
"Why is that?" Renji inquired, his voice hoarse from lack of moisture in his throat.
"Because then I might have to do your paperwork for a year, and I already hate doing my own paperwork," the child joked and laughed softly and then softly yawning.
The red head looked to the sky while the boy beside him began to doze off into a quick rest. He counted exactly five clouds in the red sky also.
"Five clouds, I think I can remember that," Renji smiled and fell asleep on the floor with full knowing that the two of them were going to be long-term rivals.
/Flashback end\\
Back then, Renji didn't understand why Ichigo had wanted him to remember that the sky had five clouds in the sky. As the years came by, he slowly realized why.
Renji's memory wasn't the greatest. Everyone knew that. Some even made the unwise decision to tease him about it. The only thing he can remember is every battle he ever fought. Ichigo was the same but with an added twist.
Ichigo could remember the resolve of each of his opponent. He could remember each swing of their sword and how powerful it was. He wanted Renji to remember his own resolve that day. So he made him memorized the number of clouds so that number would automatically make him recall the intense battle. Why Ichigo wanted him to remember the battle to the smallest detail confused the pineapple lieutenant, but never questioned it.
As Renji slowly removed himself from his day dream, he found a black swallow tail butterfly coming his way. He let out his finger to let the butterfly land and to allow him to listen to the message.
"The captive Ichigo Kurosaki had escaped his cell. We instruct all shinigami to be prepared at all times in case you were to find the captive. He is highly dangerous and caution that all officers to attack him in groups."
The butterfly flew away as the message finished.
"Tch. Knew that idiot would do something like this. Sometimes I wonder if we were right to call him a prodigy back then," Renji wondered and walked into the roads of Seireitei, searching for his now criminal friend.
"Wrong! That's all wrong! I could teach a monkey and it would do better!"
"Well, why don't you just teach your mother or something?"
"Why you-"
"Come on Kakaku! I think I can take you now! I'm not a wimp like I was from before!"
Rukia, Masaki, Yoruichi, and everyone else in the Shiba household had tried to stop their arguments many times, but had failed with every attempt. By now, they had all just try to ignore them the best they could. But even Masaki, despite living with the man causing the arguments for over twenty years, could not block their conversation at all.
By now, she had had enough of their meaningless fights.
"Quiet!" Masaki yelled after opening the door they were forbidden to open. It was the doorway to the training dojo, but do the Isshin's explosive cannonballs, they were to stay outside the dojo for their safety and to attempt to block the voices of the people inside. Though, everyone doubted that Isshin could produce another explosion as bad as the first one.
The moment the door was open, Masaki saw that they were wrong for the most part.
The the explosion looked like it had toned down a bit, (nothing had been destroyed despite having the cannonball blow up every ten minutes for at least three hours) but the ash it produced seemed to doubled. Isshin seemed to blend in with his uniform due to the charcoal ash on his skin. Kakaku wasn't in as bad shape, but was still in dire need for a bath. The floors were covered in at least five layers of soot and the walls were probably in worse condition. A pair of brown eyes were pointed to the one that would have to clean the mess up.
"That's it! I'm done for today! Clean this place up Isshin and we'll start again tomorrow," Kakaku ordered and walked out of the room, exasperated at the her unworthy and untalented student.
The doors closed behind her, leaving Masaki and her husband alone in the room.
"Oh Masaki, please say that you won't abandon me like that horrible beast had done! As my faithful wife, you should stay with me and help me clean this dirty room like a faithful housewife would!" the father cried. His tears beginning to clean to ash off the floor.
Masaki didn't answer. Not even a hit to the head like what she would normally do to settle her husband's over excitement. She looked towards the doorway Kakaku exited.
"What's the history between you two?" she whispered, as if the question was shooting bullets at her.
"Oh! My Masaki is jealous of that horrible monster! Don't be! Your husband will protect you from her-" It pained Isshin to be stalling like this, especially to see his wife to be hurting like this.
"Isshin. Tell me," Masaki's eyes were serious.
Isshin blinked and set his mind into a serious mood. He was prepared for this question, but he didn't knew how to start the answer. He knew he couldn't tell too much, but she wouldn't settle for too little either.
"What do you want to know?" he asked in a casual tone.
"Why do you act so much like rivals when you are with her, but with your family, you act like a clown? Are we just not that close anymore? After all, I argue with you all the time, but you never argue back, or at least like you do with Kakaku,"
"They're not acts Masaki. With my family, I want to keep them happy, especially you. Even Karin, even though she doesn't exactly enjoy it like Yuzu does, it let's her know that I'm okay and not worrying over something. But with Kakaku, I can't do that. I been friends with her forever. I can't help but to argue with her like kids. It's just my way to tell her that I'm still my old self and that I haven't changed too much," Isshin explained, mentally sighing that his wife hadn't asked for the whole story between him and Kakaku.
"But then why can't you treat Kakaku like family? After all, you seem to be very close to her," Masaki argued, not satisfied with the answer she was given.
"Because, I can only embarrass the people I love. Anyone else, and I might actually get hurt by them. Besides, Kakaku isn't that close with me to begin with. And it's a good thing too. There's no way I want to be related to that monster," Isshin joked. Masaki playfully punched him for the insult towards the fireworks expert and smiled. She knew her original question wasn't answered as well as she wanted, but the answer she was given still worked and made he feel better that she wasn't her husband's second choice. The scene was destroyed very suddenly when the doors slammed open and a beast walked in.
"So, Isshin, are you saying that I'm not that close enough to you for you to actually care about me and act goofy like you do with your family?" the furious visitor asked.
"Uh, wait, I mean-" Isshin was a deer in head lights.
"Well then, you're coming with me! You there! Clean this mess your husband made and make sure there isn't a speck of ash in the place when I come back," the Shiba leader ordered and left the dojo while dragging the doctor out with her.
"Ma-Ma-Ma-Masaki! Help!"
The wife could only sit and stare at the scene as it played in front of her. She thought about what her husband had told her and relaxed at the sight of the two rivals. If arguing was Isshin's way of telling Kakaku that he was still himself, then torturing Isshin was Kakaku's way of telling him that she was alright and to also get back at him whenever he insults her.
"There. Now bow down and beg for forgiveness!" the Shiba leader ordered.
"Didn't think you were such a kingly leader," Isshin muttered. He refused to kneel and beg for forgiveness. Kakaku glared at the man, but didn't do much of anything else.
The two of them stayed still as the sun began to set into the horizon. Neither said a word to each other, both staring at the other with an intense expression.
Finally, Kakaku asked, "What do you know about Ichigo?" Her mood easing out of anger and into a more calmer personality.
Isshin waited a moment, as if to make sure no one else was around.
"I know his secret, if that's what you mean,"
"Did he tell you?"
"Would you think he would tell his father anything about a secret that deep when he told not even his best friend?"
Kakaku had calmed down and began to drop down onto the floor, crossing her legs.
"How long did you know?" she asked, curious about the extent of the father's knowledge.
"I suspected at first, and the kid talks in his sleep too. That helped a bit. I talked with Urahara a bit and we pieced together a concrete story. How long have you known?"
"A few years after he walked into my house the first time. He was eleven then, and he didn't had a complete grasp on controlling his reaitsu. I could feel the smallest traces of it. I heard stories about him as the years passed and the pieces slowly fell into place," the Shiba leader spoke slowly, picking her words wisely so anyone listening would not understand what they meant.
Both stayed quiet for another minute.
"Do you think that he has something to do with it?"
"Without a doubt. And since he does, there's no doubt that he plans to have it unleashed,"
"What are you going to do when it does?"
"Keep Masaki away and hope that he's strong enough to tame it again," Isshin answered and stared into the horizon.
Kakaku felt relief come over her. She moved closer to the man who was in deep thought about his son.
He's not going to hurt him. We're not going to have another Kaien.
A small smile escaped her lips and the two longtime friends sat together like in their memories.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, we advise you to- Ugh!"
Ichigo brought out his sword to and attacked the officer, carefully not trying to fatally wound him. The surrounding officers began to stupidly charge at him one by one.
The captive took them out quickly and managed to not even to break a sweat.
Hey, King, don't you think that this is a little too easy? After all, you are a lieutenant. They wouldn't just send some unseated officers and hope that you would just surrender,Shiro reasoned.
"Maybe, but we can't worry about that. We have to find my parents and Rukia first. After that, we can kill Aizen and go home," Ichigo said.
"And where exactly is your home, Kurosaki Ichigo?" a voice asked from behind. It was male and had a deep sense of pride in it.
Ichigo turned around and was met by a whirlwind of flower petals. The lieutenant protected himself with Zangetsu as best he could. They weren't flower petals though. They were the fragments of a sword. It was a fact Ichigo knew a little too well.
The owner of the attack retrieved the petals and they quickly returned to their sword form. Ichigo's body began to tense as the sword's owner was shown to him. His black hair and solemn eyes were too much of a bad memory for Ichigo to handle. His grip on Zangetsu tightened as he stood in a basic stance.
"Answer me," the attacker ordered.
Ichigo didn't answer.
King, we better run now. Staying here isn't a good idea right now. Something isn't right with that captain.
Ichigo, Shiro is right. Something is wrong here.
"Is your home in Soul Society, where dead souls reside? Or is it in Kurakara town, where your mother and father live? Choose one, Kurosaki. Where does you loyalty stand?" the noble provoked.
"It doesn't matter where I stand, Byakuya. I'm still going to defeat you if you stand in my way!" Ichigo threatened, ignoring the spirits' warnings.
"So, even the mighty Kurosaki doesn't know where he truly belongs," Byakuya observed and pointed his sword downwards.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo yelled.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura,"
The two opposing forces collided, both at their max power. Ichigo's screams could be heard all over the City of Souls. Byakuya could feel his head piece cracking on top of his head. A blast of light came over them and it left a giant crater. Both of the two men was severely damaged with possibly fatal wounds on the shoulder blades. Their eyes were closed, signifying that both were unconscious.
Out from the smoke of the attack, a man calmly appeared and walked over the body of the noble and towards the lieutenant. He looked down and smiled.
"My, my Ichigo. Looks like you have gotten yourself into some trouble again, didn't you?" The mysterious man picked him up and carried him over his shoulder.
"It seems to me that now would be the perfect time to talk about those issues from before," the man smiled as he saw a bone white mask with a few red stripes on the left fall out of Ichigo's sleeve.
"Perfect indeed," the man concluded and walked away from the battle scene as shimmers of light floated into the air as the figure of Byakuya disappeared.