I am SOO sorry I took so long to update, guys, I really am. My parents saw my grades, and apparently an 81 is not an acceptable grade for Geomentry... nor did the two A+'s I have in WH and Mythology make up for that, sooo... bye-bye comp! I will make it up, I promise! This is basically a filler, since I needed another Chapter before jumping into the good stuff.
OMG, I was stunned by the response I got to the last chapter! I almost doubled in Reveiw amount within the first few days! Thank you so much!
thill- Hopefully you will like what I had planned for this chapter, you gave some ideas!
InARealPickle-Is that so? You don't have to read this you know, but there IS a reason I have Grimmjow here, and it is explained in this chapter. You cannot judge what you do not yet know. Oh, and I would love to know why you conisder Kaien a distastful cover name.
Laliath Quetzalli- Thanks! I apreciate that. As for the meaning of the symbols, I will have given you hints to two after this chapter. The third... well, think about it? What do you know of Bleach that involves the moon?
Wanderer of White Sands-Lol, no Aizen is not dead. Sorry you got confused, he is simply... well, he exists that is for sure. As for his fate... that would be giving away the story ;P What you want to know about Grimmjow awaits in this chapter, read on my friends *bows*
BleachigoxRukia-I write the fights scenes by picturing them, it is nice to know that you can see it too.
xXPeacebabesXx-great to hear from you! Hopefully you will see a little growth in Shizuka here
Bunny153539-Well, I did say Rukia would be stronger, did I not? Ichigo is out of practice anyway, he can't fight like he used to. He isn't used to it anymore. Lol, good to hear from you.
Professor Stein- Oooh, I am so going to do that! Imagine the look on Yamamoto's face...
Ichigo padded into his Zanjutsu class with half-lidded eyes, his hands stuffed into the sash of his shihakusho like how he would normally hide them in his pocket. The tip of Zangetsu was visible poking out behind his left hip, locked in its broadsword form.
He noticed lazily that the class was already in session, but said nothing as he made his way across the large training room to the far corner of the arena, where Shizuka would be waiting for him. As he approached the corner, and in turn the girl who was waiting for him, he heard a shout from across the arena.
"Kaien! Halt, and come over this way. I have a problem with you." Ichigo groaned but did as he was told, muttering incomprehensively under his breath. Shizuka snickered behind him. Ichigo flicked her off.
"You have been late to this class for the last week and a half. What do you have to say for yourself?" Ichigo shrugged in reply.
"I don't know; just don't really feel like there is anything for me to do here. You don't teach us anything, all you say is 'Partner up! Duel until the bell rings!'" His instructor, Sento Haya, glowered at him.
"Experience is the best form of learning."
"What are we going to learn fighting each other? If you want us to learn something, then send us out to Rukongai and make us kill the hollows there. Kami knows there are enough." A tick appeared on Sento's forehead.
"Well, how about I make a proposition for you? If you can beat me in a duel I will let you come and go at your digression. Hell beat me and you will be leading the expedition on Saturday. But if you can't…" He trailed off dangerously. "If you can't, if you are so much as a minute late I will have you expelled from this class."
Ichigo nodded, a spark lighting up his eyes. "Sure, whatever." He sounded bored to the common ear, but from her place in the back Shizuka could hear the smallest hint of emotion, even if she couldn't identify it.
"Rules are as follows. If you manage to land a killing blow on me, you win." Ichigo nodded.
Sento settled into a stance, smoothly drawing his blade from its sheath. The katana gleamed in the midday light.
"Draw your blade." Ichigo did so, his heart leaping slightly at the prospect of a fight, as trivial as it would be to fight this man. The blade dangled loosely from his fingers, the tip brushing along the floor idly. Ichigo looked at it, flicking it back and forth only inches from the wooden planks. He heard the light swish of movement, and the soft hiss of displaced air. Ichigo stepped to the side. A steel katana carved a shallow cut along the wooden planks.
"What are you doing, boy? Release your shikai! You will not stand a chance against me if you don't." Somewhere in the back, Shizuka laughed.
"You don't want me to do that." Ichigo examined the blade, running his fingers along the ebony sword and the characters engraved in it: power, soul, love. Sento attacked once more, but Ichigo dodged again; the sword passed inches from his face.
"I said, release your shikai!" Sento snarled. Ichigo simply laughed at the man's audacity and lunged, the tip of his blade passing along the skin of his side. A clean slit appeared in the instructor's uniform. Ichigo spun his sword in his hand.
"And I said, I don't want to." Sento growled under his breath and aimed a diagonal slash at Ichigo's torso. Ichigo took a step back. Sento feinted to the left, bringing his blade up in a curve along Ichigo's outer thigh. Ichigo jumped and flipped backwards. Sento lunged. Ichigo blocked the attack with the flat of his blade.
The fight continued like this for some time, Ichigo simply dodging or blocking his so called 'instructor's blows, refusing to retaliate past a teasing slice along the skin of his torso. With each attack Sento grew more furious, even more reckless. Ichigo was fighting not to laugh, but the brightness of his eyes betrayed the emotion to the world. The class on the other hand was laughing openly, some even rolling on the floor in the throes of their amusement.
I n the back of the room, watching the fight through a gap in the crowd left open for her specifically, Shizuka watched the fight with growing amusement. Her arms were crossed over her stomach below her breasts, pulled tight against her body and clenched in the effort to remain stoic and calm despite the scene unfolding before her. Ichigo was totally kicking the guy's ass. Her lips twitched up in a rare smile as Kaien left another teasing, well placed slice along the length instructors shoulders, along his collarbone. Not fatal in any way, but it would sure hurt like hell.
Ichigo sped up; becoming tired of playing cat-and-mouse with the pathetic excuse for a warrior he was dueling. He could see the anger flickering in the depth of the man's eyes as he spun around behind him, faster than he could blink, and brought the edge of Zangetsu up to his jugular.
"Dead." Ichigo pulled back, sheathed his sword and walked off through the crowd. The students parted to let him through, and closed again behind him. They all stood staring and sniggering at their instructor whispering amongst themselves.
Ichigo approached Shizuka slowly, sinking back against the wall next to her without a word.
"So, you up for a duel?" Ichigo, or Kaien to her, turned his head to meet her eyes.
"Hell yeah, bring it on, Zuka." Their blades clashed in a shower of sparks.
"Kaien! Step forward." Ichigo, who had been drowsing previously, lifted his head lazily. He stared uncomprehendingly at Yoruichi for a few moments, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
"What?" The violet-haired woman glowered menacingly at her protégée.
"Get. Up. Here. Now." Ichigo narrowed his eyes and groaned, his head lolling backwards and slapping the stone wall. He winced slightly.
"Kaien…" His friend and sadly, his instructor's voice warned of unspeakable tortures if he didn't do as she told. He could almost hear the unspoken threat: 'If you don't get your lazy ass over here NOW I will give you a reason to work… now who should I kidnap…". The strawberry-blonde heaved a sigh and lurched to his feet, padding over to the space next to Yoruichi and lounging there.
He grumbled softly as she stared him down with her golden, cat-like eyes. "Whatdya want, Night? I 'm tired here!"Yoruichi raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, well in that case… three sets of Hado 4. Now."
"What! But all the others only had to do one!"
"None of the others had the audacity to ignore me. Or to backtalk."
Ichigo slumped forwards, gazing up at his friend with wide, innocent eyes. "But Yoruichiiii…" He smiled brightly. "You know you like it! I would be dead by now if you didn't…"
"You would do well to remember that, strawberry."
"Come on! Just one, please?"
"No."
"PLEASE!"
"NO, ICHIGO! NOW SHUT UP AND DO THE ASSIGNMENT!" They broke the conversation and Yoruichi glowered at a pouting Ichigo, a fire smoldering in her golden eyes. Ichigo was grinning, laughter making his amber eyes glow. Yoruichi wasn't amused. All the students standing behind them were silent, having gotten (partially) used to the pairs antics, even if it annoyed (most) of the nobles to no end the way the carrot-top treated the captain.
"I-" She broke off, took a deep breath and started again. "Kaien, do the kidou now."
"Fine..." He pouted slightly for a moment, but turned to face the targets anyway. He settled into a stance, one foot back and the other set parallel to his body; one arm pointed forwards, directly towards the target centered in his line while the other was set underneath the elbow of the same arm.
"Hado no Four," There was a crackle and small tendrils of golden electricity danced around the outside of his arm. The limb began to glow with a black aura. The darkness doubled in size, cloaking his whole arm. Long arcs of electricity jumped from the pitch. "Byakurai!"
The whole mess of reiatsu pushed off of his arm, extending in a perfect line through the air. The thing spark and sizzled, bulging and bubbling slightly. Students dove to the ground, curling in a ball and murmuring prayers for safe rebirth to the gods. The last time he had done this, or used kidou at all, he had nearly blown up the whole section of the compound.
There was a hiss and Ichigo smirked proudly, turning to cast his gaze on his instructor and leaning back against the pole behind him smugly. "See? I can do it. Can I go now?"
"Good job, Kaien. Now two more, please."The smile fell off of his face. Ichigo turned to face the target once more, his smile now a dejected scowl.
"Yo, Ich-hic-Ichigo! What wa-hic-was that for?" Yoruichi spun around to face the same direction that Ichigo was now staring, cursing softly under her breath. Grimmjow stood in the center of Ichigo's training lane, blocking the target and slapping at a quickly-regenerating hole through his upper shoulder.
"Wha-hic-what have I do-hic-done to you do –hic- deserve that lately –hic-?"Ichigo and Yoruichi stood in place, staring unabashedly at the obviously drunk ex-arrancar.
Ichigo worked up enough wit to ask, "Grimmjow… why are you drunk?"He cast a glance around the arena and cursed when he couldn't find who he was looking for. Yoruichi had mysteriously disappeared.
"We-hic-well…Renji an-hic-and I had a –hic- meeting with Ei-hic-eight and Shu-hic-Shunsui gave us so-hic-some sake." Ichigo groaned into his hands. A drunken Grimmjow was the last thing he needed right now.
"Why are you here?"
"W-hic-well, Grimmjow just re-hic-realized that Ichigo had been avoiding hi-hic-him. I haven't ev-hic-even had a –hic- chance to –hic- fight ya yet." The blue haired Vizard reached for the sheathed katana at his hip. Ichigo's eyes widened.
"No, Grimmjow! Don't-"
"Gr-hic-Grind, Panthera!" There was an explosion of reiatsu as he entered shikai state. When the smoke cleared and his aura dimmed down Ichigo could make out a 27" blade. Every three inches a blade curved outwards and down, creating a series of claw-like accessories to the already decorative sword. The tsuba was vaguely S shaped. Both it and guard were stained light blue, matching the color of his hair and the streaks leading off of his eyes.
Ichigo started when the piece of broken mask, which wasn't present previously, materialized over his right jaw. The teeth were eerie and familiar.
"I've be-hic-been waiting fo-hic-for this since the-hic- day that old hat-and-clogs too-hic-took me to see ya. Yo-hic-you remember, tha-hic-the little spar we-hic-had." Ichigo's eye twitched.
"Yeah, I remember." Oh, he remembered all right.
-Flashback-
"Ichigo!" The cheery, overzealous voice of Urahara Kisuke startled the young man from his perch on the branch of the tree he was on. The book he was studying fell from his lap onto the hard ground ten feet below; luckily he managed to catch his iPod before it too fell. Ichigo glared at the happy-go-lucky blonde captain below him.
"The hell, hat-and-clogs! You nearly knocked me out of this tree!"He glared a few moments more. "Say, what are you doing here anyway? Don't you have a division to run? Inventions to test?"
"So happy you asked, Ichigo!" He turned to face the tree line behind him and clapped his hands excitedly. "Come on out, Grimmjow!"
The aqua-haired arrancar waltzed out of the shadows, leering at his ex-rival. "Yo, Ichigo. How ya been?"
That time Ichigo really did fall out of his tree. The iPod slipped out of his hand as he fell, and as he juggled it in midair he managed to knock it upwards so that he was falling above him. His back slammed into the hard ground painfully, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Ichigo groaned and rolled over, pushing himself up on shaky arms. "Damn you, Grimmjow? What the hell? Urahara, what have you done this time?" His voice was hoarse and shaky as he pushed himself up to his feet.
"You wound me, Ichigo! How am I the instigator of this event?"He pressed the heel of his palm to his chest and doubled over, miming weeping in despair. Ichigo rolled his eyes at his (kind of) friend's antics.
"Tell me what the hell is going on, old man." Urahara straightened and grinned at the boy in front of him.
"Ichigo, meet Grimmjow-" Ichigo cut him off.
"I know who he is."The clearing of Urahara's throat silenced him. Urahara waited for a moment before nodding in satisfaction.
"As I was saying, Ichigo meet Grimmjow. The Vizard."
A stunned silence overcame the trio. Ichigo was confused, Urahara was grinning like the madman he is and Grimmjow… well, he just looked bored.
Ichigo glanced over at his rival and spoke in a shaky, unsure voice. "You said… Vizard but, Grimmjow is an Arrancar."
"Nope!" Urahara popped the 'p'. "Our little Grimmjow here is a Vizard through and through. See, when you two last saw each other he was already dying from the sheer amount of pure reishi forced into his body by you, Ichigo. Basically he was purified without you cutting him in half." He stared at Ichigo for a moment. "Anyhow, once you left he died a few hours later."
"Long, painful hours mind you." Grimmjow muttered.
"Now, now let me finish. As I was saying, he died a few hours later and because he was purified he was sent to Rukongai. Granted, it was the lowest section of Rukongai, but that isn't relevant. Because of his high amount of reiatsu, and as such the amount of hollows he attracted, we discovered him pretty quickly. Because of his… unique… situation we forwent sending him to the Academy and sent him directly to the Vizards. They trained him as well as possible and sent him back a few months later. Now, as desperate as we were for new higher-ups in Soul Society we gave him the position of fukutaichou underneath Renji Abarai. We figured the two were alike enough to tolerate each other. But Grimmjow here," he waved at the air over his shoulder. "Decided he wanted to come say hello to his favorite rival and, well, here we are."
Ichigo stood in place for a long moment staring with narrowed eyes at the two… people… in front of him. "Hello," He said curtly to Grimmjow. "Goodbye."
He spun on his heel and walked off towards the pile of books at the foot of his tree and the book that lay, currently, sprawled across the ground with its pages in the dirt.
"Yo, Ichigo." Grimmjow drawled.
"What!" He snarled back.
"Oh, temper temper. I just wanted to give you your IPod back. Guess I'll keep it now…" He turned and made a show of walking off, but Ichigo bellowed and chased after him.
"Give me my iPod back, you Son of a Bitch!" Grimmjow spun around and threw a sword at him, point first. Ichigo barely had enough time to dodge to the side. As the blade passed him he lashed out and caught the hilt, spinning it deftly in his hand until it was held point-first towards his opponent.
"Game on." Grimmjow leered. He tossed the IPod to Urahara, who caught it absentmindedly as he stared at the soul-phone in his hand. "Just like old times, eh?"
Grimmjow lunged forwards even as Ichigo spun to the side, the tip of his sword brushing the carrot-tops t-shirt. Ichigo brought the end of his wooden blade down upon Grimmjow's own, jolting it and nearly knocking it from his grip.
"Damn gigai!" He snarled before spinning around, contorting his body so that he was standing directly opposite from his previous position. He withdrew the sword and slashed diagonally at Ichigo, only to have the blade reflected back towards him. He growled and slashed up in an underhanded grip, reverting and slashing diagonally across to Ichigo's left leg. The blade met with a thud of wood on flesh, and Ichigo let out a harsh breath.
"Bastard…" Grimmjow smirked.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." Ichigo drew back and Grimmjow followed, stalking him like the cat that he was named for. Blade clashed against blade, the polished wood clangoring throughout the clearing. Ichigo was on the defensive, his speed being greatly reduced by the restrictions of his human body. He thanked the gods that Grimmjow was restricted as well.
Grimmjow yowled, sounding remarkably like his hollow counterpart in the process. Ichigo leapt backwards and twisted, arcing through the air in order to avoid the blade speeding towards his left side. The blow would break ribs if it hit. Startled by the sudden movement and thrown off balance by his lunge, Grimmjow stumbled forwards. Ichigo landed in a roll and leapt to his feet, bringing the sword up and striking the vizard's unprotected back. Grimmjow fell to his knees, a soft hiss escaping his curled lips.
"That's going to leave a mark." Ichigo remarked, his perpetual scowl hardening into an amused sneer. Grimmjow fell forward until his hands rested on the ground, his forehead hanging only inched from the earth. Ichigo harrumphed and stepped closer, opening his mouth to make another snide comment. That is when Grimmjow struck.
Quick as a flash the man twisted onto his back and lashed out, his feet coming into contact with Ichigo's collarbone and sending him flying backwards and into the nearest tree, three feet away. He used what little leftover momentum he had to fling himself to his feet, clapping his hands and patting his black kosode in order to remove the dirt.
"Wow, didn't think you would fall for such a juvenile move, Ichigo. Is it just me, or have you digressed?" The comment was obviously made to provoke the fuming ex-shinigami, and it worked wonders. Before Grimmjow had time to blink Ichigo was up off of the ground and moving through the air in a flying leap towards his aggressor.
Ichigo tackled him to the ground and they rolled in the dirt, lashing out at each other. Grimmjow used his arms and legs as a kind of propeller, attempting to throw Ichigo off of him by pushing against him with all four limbs. Ichigo was hitting the man with every feasible weapon within his grasp, including his own body. They screamed insults and at each other whenever possible, making an unbearably amusing symphony of screams and grunts of pain. In the background Urahara leaned against a faraway tree, his hat tipped over his head and his hands buried into his pockets as he hummed along to a rock song from the iPod sticking out of his pocket.
-End-
"Wh-hic-what are –hic-you waiti-hic- waiting for? Enter sh-hic-shikai, dumbass." Grimmjow stumbled forwards; nearly face planting on the dusty ground before he caught his balance. "Co-hic-come on, buddy… I don't –hic-got all d-hic-day here. Renji wa-hic-wants me ba-hic-back by five –hic-."
Ichigo deadpanned, staring blankly at him while the other students stood frozen, not by choice but by the sheer power radiating off of the Vizard. Many had long since been knocked out, but held in place anyways.
"Release your shikai, kitty. If you want to fight, come back when you are sober." Ichigo turned to go look for Yoruichi, but was stopped before he could go very far.
"Garra de la Panterra –hic-hic-" Grimmjow swung Panthera and nine small darts flitted out of the spines, all of the converging upon Ichigo quickly. Ichigo grasped Zangetsu.
"Calm the storm; call forth the power of the Ancients so that we may protect what we must. Awake and rise to the heavens, Zangetsu!" The blade widened; a whirlwind of black and golden reiatsu spun around Ichigo as his shikai became apparent. Those few students who were still conscious immediately succumbed to the sheer force of the power surrounding them and sank into the realm of sleep. Grimmjow's rieshi, having found an opponent in Ichigo's own, released its hold on the students and they crumbled to the floor, unconscious.
"Oooh, pretty blade." Grimmjow cooed, his free hand batting at the air like a cat's paw. Ichigo stared at him oddly. "Dragons… I like dragons… dragons are power…" He leapt forwards, totally forgetting about his own darts. He leapt right into the explosion.
Ichigo managed to block himself with the length of his sword, using it as a sort of shield. Grimmjow, however, got caught in the full force of the blast and was knocked unconscious. Small, bright splotches cover his body, burns from the fire. He groaned in pain even as the burns began to pale and flake off.
"Well, that was interesting…" Ichigo spun around to face Yoruichi, fire burning in his eyes.
"Just where did you go while I had to put up with, that!" He gestured behind him angrily. Yoruichi help up what seemed to be a cat pen.
"I went to get this. We cannot let the school remember this, now can we? You are going to have to be more careful, Ichigo. I can't just erase whole school days as often as you want me to. Try to reign yourself in, will you." Despite the reprimand her voice and expression was gleeful, and Ichigo noticed with somewhat disgusted fascination that she was going to enjoy this. Her thumb bored down on the black cats head. The end of the pen jumped up like a spring. Ichigo shut his eyes and let an aura of rieshi surround him. Black golden haze flared around the whole school and its grounds.
Renji leapt out from the glittering haze, a passed out Grimmjow swung over his shoulder.
List of Current Captains+Lieutenants:
1'st Division: Unchanged
2'nd Divison: Captian-Shihoin Yoruichi Lieutenant- Hinamori Momo
3'rd Division: Captain- Rojuro Otoribashi Lieutenant- Izuru Kira
4'th Division" Unchanged
5'th Division: Captain- Hiraki Shinji Lieutenant- Ayasegawa Yumichika
6'th Division: Captain- Kuchiki Byakuya Lieutenant- Tetsuzaema Iba (hehehe... sorry about that. I though I put Renji and Grimmjow in at 7'th. My bad.)
7'th Division: Captain- Renji Abarai Lieutenant- Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
8'th Division: Unchanged
9'th Division: Captain- Madarame Ikaku Lieutenant- Shuhei Hisagi
10'th Division: Unchanged
11'th Division: Unchanged
12'th Division: Captain- Urahara Kisuke Lieutenant-Nemu Kurotsuchi
13'th Division: Captain- Juushiro Ukitake Lieutenant- Kuchiki Rukia
POLL: SHOULD I BRING THE ZANPAKUTO SPIRITS BACK INTO PLAY? VOTE ON MY PAGE! POLL CLOSES NEXT MONDAY!
There is that... Well, what did you think? Reveiws will make me write faster, and trust me... you want me to write faster. If I get twenty by Thursday the Chapter willbe out by Friday, and if that is covered sooner... you might just be seeing the chapter even sooner! Did I mention the real plot kicks in, next chapter?