Disclaimer: Bleach, its characters and its settings aren't mine
I was walking away from Rukia's office with a credible excuse and plenty of witnesses for my repaired eye. Bones are fully set now and most of the abrasions are clearing up, though I'll keep the bandages for a few days just for the look of it.
Rukia gave me a lot to think of. Kind of makes me wonder though. If they thought I was a threat why didn't they just offer me a job, I was fine with working in the soul society, if only they'd give me the chance.
Maybe some time about five hundred years from now I'd get caught and everyone would have a good laugh over this. Where have you been? Who, me? Guarding this wall. Look, it's still safe, it's right over here.
Or maybe working in fourth division. Yeah, I've been cleaning the sewers for five hundred years now, can I do something else for awhile?
Please?
Yeah, right.
What I'm doing is my best chance. Zaraki or someone will keep me hidden.
It'll all work out, just a matter of time. With any luck I'll be completely forgotten by the time I graduate the academy.
Maybe that's the whole point of the old man's purge. He wipes me out of history then I'm free to return as a regular shinigami? Everyone will be like oh yeah, I remember Ichigo, good fighter, nice hair. Disappeared years ago. What's your name again, son?
Nah, couldn't be.
My next class was my private Zanpakuto training with Hanataro. I thought he was making progress. He has no trouble at all making Gourd manifest. Getting Bankai out of him seems to be a little tougher.
Hanataro is usually in a pretty sunny mood, but he was a little darker today.
"Ichigo, maybe I'm not cut out for Bankai."
"That's a defeatist attitude if I've ever heard one. Gourd's your Zanpakuto, he's a part of you. You're not exactly weak Hanataro, maybe a little under-powered for Bankai but I think with enough concentration you can pull it off."
"Listen to him boy!" shouted Gourd. Gourd reminds me of a highschool gym teacher, you know the one with the whistle and the loud, loud voice?
"Watch me with Zangetsu."
Something occurred to me. "Hana, I once heard that Tousen took his Zanpakuto from someone else. Is that true?"
"Oh yes," said Hanataro. "It's very rare, but it does happen. You have to be able to make the Zanpakuto accept you though; strictly speaking it's a part of someone else's spirit."
"So did he have his own? Did he have like, two swords?"
"It doesn't work like that. A Zanpakuto usually dies with its owner, but some very strong ones will live a little longer. If you find one in that state and make it accept you you can take it. Tousen's Zanpakuto never manifested because he took over one before it could, and the one he took took the space within him that his own would of."
"So did he have a second sword? Could he have gotten one?"
"No, it doesn't work like that. There's only room inside you for one Ichigo."
I thought about this. "That's incredibly weird. You're saying that Tousen took a piece of someone else inside himself at the cost of never knowing his own Zanpakuto?"
"No, the one he took became his Zanpakuto."
Sounded fishy; I don't think he understood it as well as he thought, but I wasn't going to argue too much about Tousen's Zanpakuto.
"So Gourd, what does Hanataro have to do to convince you he's ready for bankai?"
"Sweep the floors!" answered Gourd. "Clean the sewers! Scrub the cells!"
"I already do all of those things!"
"That's the problem," replied the Zanpakuto.
That's Gourd for you. His explanations are bloody incomprehensible.
Well, fighting is always a solid way to train, and the great thing with Hanataro's Zanpakuto is he can whale on you all day long and just make your injuries better. Just keep an eye on the gauge on Gourd's side, when it fills Hanataro has one hell of a good attack.
"Alert," said Nemu, "Alert. Inform all captains per standing orders that Kurosaki Ichigo's spirit pressure has been detected in Karakura town." Nemu tonelessly added, "Alert."
Shunsui and Jushiro, who'd been having a drink or seventeen in Thirteenth squad's offices (so Shunsui could avoid an angry Nanao) both staggered to their feet.
"Of all the times," bawled Shunsui, "Ichigo-kun has to reappear now?" He'd become quite maudlin over Nanao.
"Orders," groaned Jushiro, "we have to go, old friend." He staggered, barely managed to hold his feet. "I don't think youare my friend - and how come I have the wrong number of feet right now? How much did we drink anyway?"
Shunsui was a little steadier, but his hat wasn't. He tried to think of an answer and discovered he wasn't quite sure what the questions had been.
He probably should go with a good all purpose sort of answer.
It came to him, and Shunsui smiled blearily.
"Ah shut up." Shunsui grabbed the bucket hat that Bucket-Hat had left, slammed it down on Ukitake's head.
There. Much better. The two senior captains staggered out.
Renji flashed onto the roof of Eleventh squad, felt the spirit pressure from Ikkaku and Yumichika and shunpoed towards them.
"He's been found," Renji hissed.
Ikkaku had his soul pager out in a second.
"Hana, trouble, he's in the mortal world- What - who he? Him he!" Ikkaku went silent, listened to the phone, looked up at the others. "Hana says it has to be a false alarm, he's with you know who right now, they're at the-" Ikkaku made a gesture. A selection of conspiracy movies had made their way from the mortal world to the Eleventh division rumpus room, and since seeing a few everyone involved was paranoid. His name was never used, nor was his location. Mayuri's machines ran the soul pager network. No one wanted to chance those machines analyzing the phone calls.
Renji had to ask the question.
"Well who the hell is in the mortal world?"
"It has to be a mistake," replied Yumichika. "A very ugly joke."
"Some kind of massive screw up by twelfth," said Ikkaku. He laughed, a little pained. "Someone is going to get reamed out royal over this."
"What do we do," said Yumichika. "We've all heard the announcement, we have to at least look like we're doing something about it."
Ikkaku looked at Renji.
"To the gate?"
"I guess so."
Kuchiki Byakuya heard the alarm, wondered if he had been wrong about Rukia's activities at the academy. It saddened him that he might; Rukia loved the uncultured peasant, as much as that pained him Byakuya wanted Rukia to be happy.
Standing orders for Kurosaki Ichigo's reappearance were for all captain-level officers to converge on his position and take the substitute into custody.
This time he had orders. And no conceivable method for looking the other way.
Zaraki Kenpatchi heard the alarm and growled in frustration. Kurosaki Ichigo had no sense of timing, Zaraki had always wanted to catch the other shinigami alone so they could play before the other captains arrived, there was no way he'd arrive in time to do that.
Of course he wasawfully fast... And a screaming Yachiru did make awonderful distraction.
If Zaraki were first through the gate he might just get his chance...
Urahara was moving towards the gate at speed, a variety of devices concealed under his coat. If he reached Ichigo in time he might be able to do something for the boy, help him out of this bind-
There was a flash beside him, Yoruichi disappearing past. The queen of flash had told him to go on ahead; she had to dress before she could leave his quarters.
Yoruichi was fast enough to reach Ichigo before anyone else, even Byakuya or cannonball Zaraki. Urahara just wished they'd discussed what they'd do if something like this every happened.
He hated being caught unprepared.
Kurosaki Isshin had been eating with his daughters at a small restaurant near the academy when he heard the call; he was probably closer to the gate then any of the other Captains, and had far more reason to reach it first.
It had to be him that reached Ichigo first, him and no one else. Far behind he could feel Karin, struggling to catch him, she had nothing like the speed. Yuzu they'd left to settle the bill.
He had to reach Ichigo first.
This wasn't good, Urahara felt other pressures converging on the gate, really moving. Zaraki was almost there, Isshin blasting up on a reiatsu vapor trail. Yoruichi was pulling out all the stops, she was gaining fast. From behind he felt Byakuya, Shunsui, Jushiro and every vice captain he could put a name to – this wasn't goooood...
The Iceman, flashing the other direction through the gate, permitted himself a very uncaptainly snicker. Mission accomplished and accomplished in style. Honestly, if he kept this up he'd need to wear sunglasses or something-
After that no one was quite sure what happened. Well, it was pretty obvious what had happened, but no one ever agreed to who was to blame.
Yoruichi might have gotten there first, or she might not have, certainly Isshin arrived around the same time. The problem was they were going very fast and had a very small opening to pass through. All Hitsugaya knew was that he'd flashed out of the gate and crashed into someone, Yoruichi or Isshin, then the other hit an instant later and knocked all three of them into the mouth of the gate. Then the bullet train-racing Zaraki had tried to get to the gate through the three of them. Of course that hadn't worked, but the pile was so big and violent at that point that it blocked the gate entirely.
More than one complained the two senior captains should have known better than to try jumping the mob, especially as Zaraki's bull hooves were scrambling for the traction to put his three hundred mile-per-hour ass back into gear, and then Urahara had tried for the one last gap he might possibly squeeze through only to find Byakuya trying the same thing-
All told it might have taken three seconds for several of the most powerful warriors in the Seireitei to learn there was a limit to how many captains could pass through a door at one time. When the battered mob finally got to the mortal world Kurosaki Ichigo was well and truly gone. Not a hint of his spiritual pressure remained.
Toshiro Hitsugaya winced as pretty much everything started to ache at the same time. The Iceman still had to work at hiding his smile. Admittedly he hadn't planned to get so banged up, but his plan had worked perfectly.
It just pissed him off that every captain who'd attempted to catch Kurosaki Ichigo that afternoon ended up at fourth division for their trouble.
It was the look of the thing - people would talk.