Brief: With his Soul Reaper powers restored, and his hollow finally subdued once and for all, Ichigo Kurosaki thinks his life can finally go back to normal. However, a visit to Seireitei soon changes that theory for the young Substitute. Can Ichigo adjust to his new life, or will he give in and return to how it was before?
Warnings: Contains some aggressive language, possible violence and romance throughout. Reader discretion is advised if any of the above offend you.
Pairings: IchiRuki, may contain smaller pairings such as ByaHis or HitsuHina
SPOILERS from the Fullbring Arc and previous
Disclaimer: Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo, not me. If I owned Bleach, Ichigo would already be with Rukia ;)
Bleach: Bonds Beyond Dimensions
Chapter 4: How to Train Your Captain
It had been a few days since his faked death in Karakura Town, but Ichigo had not had time to look back on this. The first few days had been hellish; between the mountain of paperwork, which he suspected had been backed up since Aizen's deception and faked death in Seireitei all those years ago, the pressure to impress his squad when training or just around the barracks, and the need to train himself, he had had very little time to think about his actions or the resulting repercussions of them. It was Thursday and Ichigo was overlooking another training session. Since starting, he had begun to learn the fighting strengths and specialities of the squad, particularly the seated officers. The clashing of swords filled the air, but Ichigo only watched from the sidelines with his Lieutenant by his side. He let out a sigh.
"We should find out which members of the squad have Shikai or Bankai," he mused. "Then we can improve our practice routines." Momo nodded.
"I agree," she replied. "But you will struggle to find many in Squad Five who have Bankai. Most of the ranks have little knowledge of their zanpakuto, they don't even know the name of them." Ichigo sighed, remembering when he was in such a position.
"We'll have to fix that first then," he replied, folding his arms as he watched the Third and Fourth Seats sparring fiercely, prompting him to turn to Momo once more. "Tell me, how many Seated Officers do we have?"
"At last count, six," Momo replied. "Apart from the top two positions in the squad, the Third, Fourth, Eighth and Twelfth Seats have been filled." Ichigo grimaced at this.
"I'm amazed such a group runs so efficiently with so few ranked officers amongst them," he said.
"We have been behind on promotions," Momo admitted. "It is part of a Captain's job to assign the Seats. We were due a round of promotions a month after Aizen's betrayal, but these have never been dealt with. We also lost our Fifth, Ninth and Sixteenth Seats due to deaths in the field on missions. Right now, we are barely able to maintain the infrastructure as it is." Ichigo nodded, turned as the sound of rushing air caught his attention. Rukia straightened up as his amber irises found her small form.
"Afternoon," she smiled warmly. Ichigo grinned.
"Hey," he replied. "What brings you out here? I heard Squad Thirteen was training for the entirity of today."
"We are," Rukia replied. "But Captain Kyoraku has just taken the squad for joint exercises, so I came to get you for training." At first, Ichigo looked blankly at the Lieutenant, but the gears of his mind finally ground into place, and he realised what she meant.
"Right," he nodded. "Where the hell's Renji?" As he spoke, another figure emerged from Shunpo. The blonde man bowed, emerging on his knee. Ichigo recognised the man as Third Squad's Lieutenant, though the man's name escaped him.
"Good afternoon, Kurosaki-taicho," the man said. "Abarai-taicho asked me to collect the Fifth for joint exercises at the Third Squad's barracks. Is Squad Five ready to leave?"
"Uh, yeah," Ichigo nodded, turning to the Squad. "Alright, everyone, stop what you're doing." The Squad slowly stopped sparring, turning towards their Captain. He glanced to the man before him. "Sorry, I never caught your name."
"It's fine," the man smiled. "My name is Kira Izuru, Third Squad Fukutaicho."
"Thank you," Ichigo nodded, turning his attention back to his Squad. "Alright, everyone, it is time for joint exercises with Squad Three. I want you all to go with Kira-Fukutaicho to the Third's barracks. Remember, you're representing the Squad while you're out there, so I want to hear good things later. Dismissed."
The squad left the grounds with Izuru, leaving Ichigo standing there with Momo and Rukia on either side of him. After a moment, he grinned and looked from one to the other.
"So," he spoke finally. "Shall we get going?"
The three of them moved off swiftly, for the underground training area where Ichigo had learnt to control his Bankai under the guidance of Yoruichi. The Flash Goddess's hideout lay in the cliffs away from Seireitei or Rukongai, meaning the chances of damaging the population with excessive reiryoku or reiatsu levels was minimal, making it safer for them to perform Ichigo's Kido training should it go out of control. Once they reached the entrance, which existed as a sort of manhole with a long ladder leading down into the depths of the cliffs, Ichigo removed the cover and slid down the ladder to the floor below, closely followed by Momo and then Rukia, who pulled the cover back into place before she headed down. Once everyone was gathered at the foot of the ladder, Momo gasped and looked around in amazement.
"Oh my," she said in awe. "Such a great place! Who could have made so large a base without anyone knowing?"
"Heh, what do you know?" Ichigo grinned at his subordinate's words. "Someone other than Inoue who reacts how Urahara-san actually wanted to his crazy hideouts." Rukia smiled knowingly at Ichigo's words, but said nothing as he turned his attention to Momo. "You've never been to the real Karakura Town, have you?"
"Well, no," Momo shook her head. "But I don't see what that has to do with this place."
"Well, it means you probably never met the scientist who made it," Ichigo explained with a grin. "The shop-keeper we go to for our needs while in Karakura Town, Urahara Kisuke, made this place and one like it under his shop."
"That's so extreme," Momo mused. "Why did he have to make so large a room to train?" Ichigo frowned, scratching his head.
"You know, I never thought about it," he replied. "But that's a good point." Rukia sighed and rolled her eyes at this.
"We don't have time to contemplate what Urahara's motives were," she said bluntly, cutting off any further thoughts on the subject, despite her own intrigue in the matter. "We're here to teach you how to control Kido, Ichigo."
"Uh, right," Ichigo nodded, conceding to Rukia's way of thinking. "So, how do we start? Channelling my reiatsu into one of those cannonballs from Shiba-san?"
"Not exactly," Rukia replied. "We'll start simpler than that. First, I want you to remove your Haori so it doesn't get damaged if we have any misfires." Ichigo obliged, hanging the white material on a large rock formation. "Alright, we'll start with a simple offensive-type Kido which I'm sure you're familiar with. Listen to the incantation and repeat what we do." Rukia nodded to Momo, who nodded in return, aiming her left index finger at a rock a few feet away.
"Storm of light, seer the skies and burn the ground," Momo uttered, a crackle of light appearing at her fingertip. "Hado number 4, Byakurai!"
A bolt of condensed white lightning shot forth from the Lieutenant's fingertip, piercing the rock and splitting it about the hole created in the stone. Ichigo looked impressed, but soon frowned.
"I had no idea Byakurai had an incantation," he said. "Whenever I saw it in use, it would be used without incantation."
"I'm impressed, Ichigo," Rukia smirked. "You pay more attention to what happens in battles than I give you credit for."
"Shut up," Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Besides, you tend to remember moves when you're on the receiving end."
"It's true that some spells do not have incantations," Momo chipped in. "But using those with an incantation without it lowers its power. This is known as Eishohaki. Before you attempt this, you should be happy to use the spell with its full incantation."
"Right," Ichigo nodded. Rukia stepped forward, forcing the Captain forward so that he was standing side-on to a rock, pointing his left index finger to the target rock. "So, I just say the incantation and it fires, right?"
"While you say it," Rukia explained. "Focus your reiatsu into the appendage you are using for the spell."
"Alright then," Ichigo nodded. He took a reassuring breath, then focussed his energy as Rukia specified. "Storm of light, seer the skies and scorch the earth," he said clearly. A fairly large ball of light began to crackle at Ichigo's fingertip as the Kido built up energy. Rukia stepped back, surprised by this. "Hado number 4, Byakurai!"
The resulting blast of energy was immense; the beam was vast and covered a greater area than it should have been. The condensed beam usually fired was more of a spray of energy, the wide electrical field of energy creating a static field a few metres around the beam. Electricity pulsed up Ichigo's left arm, charring and tearing up his sleeve. After a few minutes, the beam began to dissipate into nothingness once more, leaving Ichigo with a smouldering left arm, though he seemed otherwise unfazed by the huge blast he had just launched.
"What the hell, bakamono?!" Rukia shouted in hysterics. "You could have fried us all with that reckless Kido!"
"It's not my fault I couldn't use it properly," Ichigo replied with a shrug. "I did exactly what you told me to do, that's just how it went."
"I think I know why," Momo interjected before Rukia could shout at the Captain again. "Your reiatsu, Kurosaki-taicho, is much higher in intensity than my own, meaning there was too much energy for the standard Byakurai to retain its shape. I recommend limiting your reiatsu flow to allow the Kido to maintain its usual function."
"Alright, let me try one more time," Ichigo said, taking aim on a different rock. "Storm of light, seer the skies and scorch the earth! Hado number 4, Byakurai!"
The beam crackled for a moment, then shot forth in a compressed beam of electricity. The beam pierced the rock and crumbled it into dust from the opening. In a few seconds, the beam had dissipated and the rock was nothing more than dust in the wind. Satisfied, Ichigo turned to Momo and smiled.
"Good call," he said to her. His Lieutenant blushed while Ichigo turned to Rukia. "See, it wasn't my fault it went wrong." The raven-haired Lieutenant scoffed and folded her arms indignantly.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. "It certainly wasn't my fault you have such a ridiculous amount of reiatsu."
"But it was your fault I didn't factor that in the first time," Ichigo bit back. "And don't say it as if I am to blame for my reiatsu level!"
"Uh, Kurosaki-taicho?" Momo interrupted the arguing once more. "Perhaps you should try to use Hado number 4 using Eishohaki. It is a useful skill to learn for conflicts. When you are happy with that Kido, we can try a higher level spell."
Ichigo nodded, setting to work quickly and firing off varying power-levels of Byakurai, some singeing the rocks and leaving them practically unscathed, others vaporising them entirely as if they were water in a heat-wave. Rukia and Momo watched with interest as he practised both the incantation and Eishohaki forms of Byakurai. Rukia smiled as she watched her previous Shinigami Daiko perform the basic Hado with ease. Momo turned to Rukia.
"If we spend this session focussing on Hado up to level fifty," she said. "We can cover some low-level Bakudo on Sunday and begin to teach Kurosaki-taicho how to chain them together next week." Rukia smiled and nodded.
"Sounds good," she nodded. There was a pause, then Rukia looked back to Momo. "Hinamori-san, could I ask you something?" Momo turned back to Rukia with a hum, signalling her fellow Lieutenant to go on. "Why won't you call Ichigo 'Ichigo'? I've heard him ask you to do so many times, yet you still refer to him by 'Kurosaki-taicho'. How come?"
Momo smiled a little and looked back to the orange-haired Captain as he launched another Byakurai, this time from his right index finger; he had been switching hands to test a theory that the appendage did not matter.
"I cannot bring myself to do that," she replied. "It would be too disrespectful of me to refer to my superior so casually, Kuchiki-san. I cannot oblige to his wishes as such." Rukia frowned a little, wondering if this was a habit she picked up from her time with Aizen, but she kept quiet about it. "What about you?" The question took Rukia off-guard. She gave Momo a confused look. "Why do you choose to call him Ichigo?" Rukia smiled warmly, looking to Ichigo as he fired another blast of Kido.
"Because he is my closest friend," she replied. Images of the night he had gone berserk in the woods, of her display of affection to him as his hollow lost power, swam through her mind, making her smile go from warm to bittersweet; Ichigo had not said anything more about it, and it seemed he had believed her when she had told him the thought of her kissing him was ludicrous. Momo picked up on this and nodded.
"I see," she said, her tone suggesting something more than what Rukia had said.
"See what?" Rukia asked, puzzled. Momo gave her a knowing look.
"I'm not blind, Kuchiki-san," the brunette replied. "It is obvious you like Kurosaki-taicho more than you like to let on." Rukia's cheeks flushed. "If you feel that way, just tell him." Rukia sighed.
"It's not that simple," she replied solemnly. "If I tell him how I truly feel, I risk losing what we have now; I don't think I'm strong enough to take that risk." Momo's arm draped over Rukia's shoulder in a friendly embrace.
"Sometimes you have to take a risk like that," Momo replied gently. "Otherwise you'll never move passed it, and that could ruin your friendship more than confessing your love would." Rukia smiled and patted Momo on the shoulder.
"Thanks for the advice, Hinamori-san," she said, noticing Ichigo walking over. "Let's just keep this between us, ok?" Momo nodded as Ichigo neared, allowing Rukia to explain the next course of action. "Alright, Ichigo, how do you feel using Byakurai?"
"It's pretty easy," he shrugged. "What's next?"
"Let's try Shakkaho," Rukia suggested. "Listen to the incantation and pay attention to the stance." Ichigo nodded, watching the short Lieutenant take up a forward-facing stance, her palms facing a rock. "Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 31, Shakkaho!"
The red fireball struck the rock and exploded, causing a cloud of smoke and a rain of debris to flow from the rock. When the smoke had cleared, the top of the rock had been reduced to pebbles. Ichigo stepped forward, repeating the process, but once again forgetting to reduce his reiatsu flow to limit the blast, resulting in a much larger fireball being unleashed and blowing the rock it struck to pieces. The top was catapulted high into the air, but Ichigo acted quickly, raising his left hand to aim at the rock.
"Hado number 31! Shakkaho!" he commanded, firing another fireball with ease, reducing the rock to rubble. He grinned as he turned to Rukia, who looked amazed and astounded at how quickly he had grasped the spell. "How was that?"
"Impressive," she managed to say. "How did you learn that so quickly?" Ichigo frowned, thinking about it.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I just got the feeling I had done something like it before, so my body could learn to use it very easily."
"Perhaps its your hollow's Cero," Rukia noted. "Maybe its more similar to Kido than we first theorised." Ichigo shrugged, prompting Rukia to go on. "Since you have Shakkaho down, let's move on."
Breathless pants and smoke filled the training area. Rukia stared in bemusement at the rubble which had been the boulder fields of the training area until Ichigo had been at it; the destructive Kidos had caused vast damages throughout the area, including opening a new entrance in the ceiling which had previously not existed, and the fiery explosions had created a great deal of smoke everywhere. The Squad Thirteen Lieutenant was aware of Momo spluttering on the acrid fumes while Ichigo sweated and panted from his exertion.
"Maybe teaching you Sokatsui, Okasen and Haien as well as Shakkaho was a mistake," Rukia noted. Ichigo looked over and grinned.
"I don't know about that," he shrugged. "Though Raikoho was a different matter; I didn't realise that would have so much kick."
"Now you see why it's important you train these spells," Rukia sighed, rolling her eyes. Her gaze fell on Ichigo's burnt left arm with concern. She sighed and lifted his arm up to her torso-height. "Here, let me fix that; its only a minor burn."
Ichigo groaned at her concern, trying to pass it off as nothing much, but he had to admit that it stung, and it would be a nuisance to train later that day with a burnt arm, even if it was his weaker arm. His arm became engulfed in a faint green glow from Rukia's reiatsu, but he noted that her energy was lower due to all of her demonstrations, especially Raikoho. Placing his right hand on her shoulder, he gently willed his reiatsu into her body, the green intensifying around his limb and Rukia's hands. She shot him a questioning look.
"Hey, you're helping me," he pointed out. "I'm just making sure you're ok as well." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not even your subordinate," she muttered.
"No, but you are my friend," Ichigo replied. "Besides, I have more reiatsu to burn than you do." The burn had subsided, causing the light to fade. "Thanks."
"No problem," Rukia shrugged. She jerked a thumb towards Ichigo's destroyed sleeve. "Are you glad I told you to remove your Haori now?"
"Heh, yeah, I guess it would have been bad if I came back with my Haori burnt up before my first week is up," he agreed, scratching the back of his head. He looked around the room a moment. "Uh, I don't suppose you know where it is, do you?" Rukia brought her hand to her face, shaking her head a little.
"You truly are hopeless, Ichigo," she sighed. Momo appeared behind her, the slightly dusty bundle of Ichigo's Haori in her arms. "Now, we should get back to our barracks; the joint exercises are almost over for today."
Agreeing, Momo and Ichigo headed out of the underground area with Rukia close behind. Momo left ahead to ensure the squad had at least one of the highest-ranked officers was at the barracks when they returned, leaving Rukia and Ichigo moving at a more docile pace. She looked to Ichigo for a moment before speaking up.
"So, how has your first week been?" she asked. "I'm sure it has been eventful."
"Sort of," Ichigo shrugged with a sigh. "I guess you could call it eventful, though really, its just shown me how much there is to do with the squad." Rukia raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"I was under the impression the Fifth Squad was doing fine," she remarked. "Of all the ones which lost their Captains, the Fifth appeared to be the most stable."
"It's a facade," Ichigo replied solemnly. "The officer infrastructure is in pieces; besides myself and Momo, we have only four seated officers, and only two of them are in the top six positions. It's a wonder the squad is able to keep on as it has done so far. On top of that, their training needs work, but I can't be the person to do that."
"What are you talking about, Ichigo?" Rukia frowned. "You have more experience using your zanpakuto from the year you had your powers than most of them will have in fifty years time; you are a perfect candidate for that. And you're a natural with Kido and Shunpo."
"But that's the problem," Ichigo sighed. "My abilities were developed from instinct rather than training; you can't teach someone instinct. And my Kido is shoddy to say the least; it's too uncontrolled to teach someone efficiently.
"These guys have been taught their entire careers as Shinigami to be a 'jack of all trades', but I can't be that person; my abilities are raw and untrained, meaning I'm in no place to teach them anything." He heaved a sigh once more, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe I should just give this up."
Something impacted his cheek hard without him realising, making the Captain stop dead, holding his wound. He looked up to see Rukia glaring at him, her hand reeling back from the slap she had just given him.
"Don't you dare even think of that, Ichigo," she said icily. "You are better than you give yourself credit to be, and don't ever let someone, especially yourself, tell you otherwise. So what if Aizen went through the normal ways to become Taicho? So what if he had a hand in every skill set in the Shinigami training? So what if that man did a better job at running Squad Five than you have so far? You are not Aizen Sosuke!
"He was a fool for throwing away all he had," she went on. "He left that squad in disarray just so that he could chase after his delusional dreams, and you bested him in every way!" Her voice took a calmer edge as she gripped his upper arms and shook him slightly. "You will be a great Taicho to Squad Five, Ichigo, and I know, when you put you heart and mind to it, nothing will stop you from doing what you feel is right." She let go of him and smiled softly. "Besides, it's customary for new Taichos to decide what discipline their squad should adhere to and specialise in at the end of their first month. You have until then to work out what you want to teach them."
At first, Ichigo looked stunned, but then he smiled, ignoring his reddened cheek from where she had slapped him. He let out a chuckle.
"How do you know just what to say, Rukia?" he asked. She smirked, folding her arms over her chest.
"I guess you're just that easy to read," she replied. He chuckled again.
"I guess so," he said, moving off. "I'd better get back to the Fifth. Give Ukitake-san my regards." And with that, he left in a flurry of Shunpo. Rukia smiled, staring at the space he had resided in moments earlier.
"I will," she said to the wind, before disappearing off herself, knowing that their training was progressing nicely.
Alright, I hope you enjoyed that.
Truth be told, I had every intention to make Ichigo crap at Kido, but I decided to factor in his high growth rate too, and it ended up like this. Hope you all thought that was fitting.
Anyway, I don't know when my next update will be here; I'm juggling with CCF on Mondays, school work, homework, being an engineering mentor and volunteering at the local charity shop in my real life. Combine that with four stories on the go here and my current bout of sickness (nothing major, but my throat seems to want me dead :/), it could be a while before the next update.
Don't worry, I won't give up on this ever; it's too much fun on my part.
Anyway, please let me know what you think, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me :)
Later, everyone :)