Over at the bus station, someone came off and took a look around the city.

"Time to pay a visit to an old friend." The man said. While he was having a look around the city, Ichigo was thinking about what has happened recently. After facing against their enemies, Ichigo and his friends went to talk to Kisuke and Yoruichi.

"So Aizen is finally making a return." Kisuke said.

"What can you tell us about him?" Ichigo said.

"Aizen is a clever man. He actually knows how to manipulate people and outsmart his enemies." Yoruichi said. "It won't be easy to defeat a guy like him."

"On top of that, he has a few followers, including that Kaname and Gin." Uryu said.

"Well, there isn't much we can do." Kisuke said.

"Are you sure? We need to get this guy." Renji sad.

"I promise you, everything will work out. Aizen might be strong, but he isn't invincible." Kisuke said. "We just need to be patient and pal our attacks carefully." All of them understood. After all, without knowing where Aizen is, they can't bring the fight to him. All of them left the shop and tried to figure this out on their own.

"So what do you guys think?" Ichigo said.

"You heard Kisuke. There isn't much that we can do." Rukia said. "We just need to prepare our decks and be ready for anything. That Grimmjow guy got the jump on me."

"You know I don't I've ever seen you duel, Rukia." Orihime said.

"Now that you mention it, you're right." Ichigo said.

"I guess you're right. I haven't had much of an opportunity to show you guys what I'm capable of." Rukia said.

"Any chance you want to change that?"

"Who said that?" Chad said.

"I did." All of them looked ahead and saw the man that arrived in the city. He looked a little like Ichigo, but his hair was darker. Rukia actually knew him.

"Kaien!" Rukia said and Kaien placed his hand on her head.

"It's great to see you again, Rukia. It's been a long time." Kaien said.

"Rukia, you know him?" Ichigo said.

"Everyone, this is Kaien Shiba. He was actually the person that taught me how to duel." Rukia said.

"Hello, I'm Uryu Ishida."

"I'm Ichigo and this is my girlfriend Orihime.

"My name is Yasutora Sado."

"And I'm Renji. So this is the guy that taught you how to duel? I thought that was Jushiro or your brother." Renji said.

"It was before I learned what my brother and Jushiro actually do." Rukia said. "Kaien was a good friend to Jushiro and he was nice enough to teach me how to duel. So what are you doing here?"

"I just came by for a visit." Kaien said. "I was hoping that I would see you for one reason." He reached in his bag and pulled out a duel disk.

"You want to duel me?" Rukia said.

"It is my responsibility as your teach to see how far you've come." Kaien said. "It will just be like old times."

"Okay, you are on and I'll show the rest of you what I can do." Rukia said as she pulled out her own duel disk and deck. Both of them turned them on and took their positions.

"Now let's duel!" Both of them said as they had 4000LP.

"Okay, you can be the one to start this." Kaien said.

"Here I go." Rukia said as she drew her card. "I'll start by summoning my Snow White Hawk in attack mode." A hawk that was white like snow came on the field and had 1400atk points. "I'll also use my Dance of Snowflakes. That allows me to summon another monster that has 'snow white' in its name from my deck. I think I'll summon my Snow White Wolf." A wolf in white fur rose up with 1500atk points. "When he's special summoned, he gains 300atk points." Her wolf's points went up to 1800. "I'll end my turn."

"That's it? I taught you better." Kaien said. "I activate the spell, Shield Up! This will switch all your monsters in defense mode." Her monsters switch modes with Snow White Hawk having 500def points and Snow White Wolf having 1200def points. "I summon my Aqua Swordfish." A swordfish rose up with water spiraling around his nose and had 1300atk points. "Aqua Swordfish, attack Snow White Wolf with Water Slicer." His swordfish slashed down the wolf. "My swordfish has an ability. He can take out a monster that's in defense mode." The sword fish pierced the hawk and destroyed it. "It's your turn. Boy, does this take me back."

"I know what you mean." Rukia said.

"What are they talking about?" Orihime said.

"Obviously they're talking about when this guy taught her." Ichigo said.

"Back then, you always hesitated and I always countered what you did." Kaien said. "Let's see how you can handle yourself this time."

"You're about to find out." Rukia said as she drew her card. "I'm activating my Snow Angel spell card. If I pay 1000 life points, I can bring back a monster in my graveyard. I bring back, Snow White Wolf." Rukia's points dropped to 3000 and her wolf came back on the field. "Don't forget that he gets extra power." His points rose up to 1800.

"So are you going to attack now?" Kaien said.

"I've came a long way and have been through a lot since the last time." Rukia said. "I summon my Snow White Crane." A white crane rose with 900atk points. "Snow White Wolf, attack his swordfish with Blizzard Howler." Her wolf unleashed a powerful howl of ice blasted the swordfish and Kaien was dropped to 3500.

"It seems that you also forgot about my swordfish's other special ability." Kaien said. "When he's destroyed you lose another 400 life points." Rukia felt water slash against her and her points dropped to 2600.

"I'm not done. My crane can attack you directly!" Rukia said. He crane flew over and kicked Kaien as he now had 2600. "After she attacks, she goes to defense mode." Her crane went to defense mode and had 1700def points. "I'll place one face down to end my turn."

"My move." Kaien said. "I'm going to use my Riser from the Sea spell. This spell allows me to add any water attribute monster from my deck to my hand." He took out the card he wanted. "Next, I'm going to summon my Oceanic Warrior." A warrior in blue armor came up with 1000atk points. "Now, I use his special ability. It allows me to summon another water attribute monster and he can count as two monsters for a water monster. I sacrifice him and summon Neptune Abyss!" His warrior vanished and a fully armored blue giant rose up with 2700atk points.

"That isn't good." Rukia said.

"I'm afraid that it gets worse. I'm equipping him with the Heaven's Water Trident." Kaien said and his giant was given a trident with water flowing out of it and his points rose to 4200.

"That's a lot of power!" Renji said.

"Enough to finish this." Uryu said.

"Sorry, but this is the end. Neptune Abyss, attack her Snow White Wolf with Deep Sea Slice." Kaien said. The giant spun the trident with water flowing out and slashed down at her wolf.

"I activate my trap card. It's called Blue Flasher. This trap blocks your attack and changes my monster's battle position." The wolf went to defense mode and the attack was blocked.

"That wolf might have survived, but you won't last another turn against Neptune Abyss." Kaien said.

"He's right. Rukia better draw something or this could be the end." Ichigo said.

"Come on. You can still win, Rukia." Renji said under his breath. Rukia was hesitant to draw her next card.

'What can I do?' Rukia thought. 'If I don't draw a card that could turn this around. I'm finished. How does Ichigo do it? How does he always draws the card he needs that wins the duel?' It was from this experience that she remembered one of her duel sessions with Kaien.

…

Flashback

Rukia was defeated in a previous duel against Kaien.

"I lost again." Rukia complained.

"Don't be too hard on yourself." Kaien said. "Time for you to have your next lesson. You need to know how to draw the card you need to turn things around."

"How? You can't do that unless you use a card's ability." Rukia said.

"It's simple." Kaien said. "You just need to have faith in your deck. Trust in your heart and it will give you what you need."

End of Flashback

…..

'That's right. I need to trust my heart and let my heart guide my deck.' Rukia thought. 'By that, I just need to have faith and I have my friends supporting me. That always work for Ichigo.' She drew her card and it was the one she needed. "I activate Stream of Ice!"

"Stream of Ice?" Kaien said.

"This card changes my monsters into the water attribute." Rukia said. "That's not all. I unite my level three Snow white Cane with my level four Snow White Wolf." Both of them became blue energy and combined together. "I unite summon Sode no Shirayuki." A women in a white kimono with the rest of her white like snow and ice appeared on the field with 2400atk points.

"Wow! That is a gorgeous monster." Renji said.

"Sode no Shirayuki! That's your best card and one of your most beautiful." Kaien said. "However, it's not strong enough to take down my Neptune Abyss."

"I'm not done yet." Rukia said. "I equip her with the Ice Katana. It suits her perfectly." Her monster was given a katana made of ice with a ribbon on the grip. Her points went up to 2700. "I also use Sode no Shirayuki's ability. Once a turn, if I use a unite unit, she can drop your monster's points to zero." One unite unit went to her hand and she blew a breeze of ice that froze his monster and his points dropped to zero. "Sode no Shirayuki, attack with First Dance: Ice Pillar." Sode no Shirayuki created a pillar of ice around Neptune Abyss and it was destroyed with Kaien's points dropping to zero.

"Wow, you have come a long way." Kaien said.

"Thanks, Kaien." Rukia said.

"That was awesome!" Renji said.

"Rukia, your monsters were so beautiful and graceful." Orihime said.

'I'm impressed. Rukia is a lot tougher than I thought.' Ichigo thought. 'That's just the kind of strength we need to bring Aizen down for good.'