BrazeRancor - Thanks! :)
Ching965 - It was really fun to write the pirahanas comments, too. I'm glad you liked the chapter! ;)
KoriChi - Rukia fell in a lake full of pirahanas.... :0 - I'm really happy to know that you liked it.... Thanks!.... :p
Hisanachan - Thanks...! ^^"
Hey! Does anyone know what day it is? No? -.-" Fourth of July, people! Get out there and celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (wait... hold that thought. after you finish reading this chapter, i mean, go out and celebrate. for now.... I got another chapter out! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own Kubo's stuff, sadly enough... but I sure can jack it for fanfic stuff! :p
"The sound of the ocean means many things. It means change, peace, perhaps even chaos. But, personally, to me.... It is something that soothes my chaotic past...." - Anonymous
"Everyone's here?" Tatsuki's sharp voice rang out in the clearing. "I'm... really glad you could make it." She glanced at her notebook - held securely in her arms. "Let's see... we'll start practicing at 9:30, if it's okay with everyone..."
"9:30?" Rukia questioned, curiously. "Isn't that in another thirty minutes?"
"You just noticed?" Ichigo muttered.
"We're going to have breakfast, actually..." Tatsuki pointed at the furnished wooden table positioned in the corner, under the shade of a birch tree and nearly obscured from sight. "For about 30 minutes."
"Breakfast consists of dried rabbit meat and cooked pirahana," Ichigo claimed, ever-helpful. "You should be able to swallow it down after you get used to the flavor. We have some jelly to dilute the meat a bit."
"Um...."
"I think I'd rather starve." Rukia stated. Her face expressed sheer disdain.
"Ichigo...." Tatsuki called, warningly, before turning back to the group. "He's joking. We're actually having bagels and doughnuts."
"....I... already ate, actually..." Rukia glanced back at the table furnished with food. "...I didn't know you were supplying breakfast, since you didn't say anything yesterday..."
"More's the pity..." Ichigo turned back towards Tatsuki. "And why didn't you fanthom that, exactly, Tatsuki? I thought you were the genuis mastermind behind the breakfast."
"I forgot." The vice-captain turned a faint shade of scarlet. "I just remembered this morning."
"Wonderful timing, huh?"
"Shut up." Tatsuki glanced at the group - turning away from the Kurosaki. "You can eat if you want... You have only about thirty minutes so you may want to hurry if you want to eat for long..."
It took the majority of the group less than half a minute to cluster around the table at her words.
"I'm going to assume they all skipped breakfast?" Ichigo quipped, somewhat sourly as he glanced at the clustered table.
"Possibly," Tatsuki relented. "I'm surprised, actually, that Kuchiki-san ate beforehand. I thought that we'd be assumed to supply the neccessarities."
Rukia scratched the back of her head, sheepishly. "Well... it's not like you supplied dinner yesterday..."
"Tatsuki's supplying the food." Ichigo replied, inclining his head towards the other. "If it wasn't for her, you'd have had actually been gaining a lot by eating beforehand."
"Ichigo's a bit paranoid about being kind to people." Tatsuki excused, smiling softly. "Well... to people he likes to antagonize, anyways."
"I do not." Ichigo objected, sharply.
"I actually agree with Tatsuki-san," Rukia commented, somewhat absently glancing at both mentors.
"Not if you see it objectively," Ichigo stated, countering her reply.
"I think that you're actually the one that's being a bit cloudy on the situation, Ichigo," Tatsuki said - supplicantly.
"Not neccessarily... How much longer do we have until we start, anyways?"
"It's only been about 10 minutes..."
"Did you receive the package?"
"You mean for Inoue-san's Shun Shun Rikka?" Tatsuki glanced at Ichigo, confused. "How did you know...?"
"I'm your Captain for a reason, idiot." Ichigo waved a hand, absently, in her direction. "You got yours last night?"
"Actually, somewhere around midnight."
"I got mine sooner..."
"Yours? You got something for one of your apprentices? I never thought you had it in you."
"Shut up," Ichigo retorted before inclining his head in the direction of a long bundle of cloth close to the knapsack. "The katana that's been positioned in my office."
"You're giving it up?" Disbelief colored her voice.
"I'm donating it to a better cause." Ichigo retorted.
"It's been in your office for 90 years," Tatsuki countered. "Didn't it have some special meaning for you?"
"Not really." Ichigo reclined his head against the hard stone behind him. "The others said some shit about some girl who died that owned that blade. No idea."
Tatsuki glanced back at the cloth-wrapped sword. "Isn't it the most beautiful zanpakuto in Soul Society to the women, anyways?"
"In Shikai, yeah."
"Did you ever ask why it was put up in your office?"
"Byakuya never told me, actually."
"Kuchiki-taichou put it up in your office? Doesn't that man have a burning hate for you?"
"That's what he wants people to believe. He's actually a nice guy.... sometimes... I mean."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Oddly enough, that's what everyone says when I tell them that."
"And why am I not surprised?" Tatsuki retorted.
"Shut up." Ichigo glanced back at the table. "And.... hey! It's been thirty minutes already! Would you mind getting their attention for a bit, Tatsuki?"
"Why can't you do it this time?"
"After that pirahana-and-rabbit meat joke? You're kidding."
Tatsuki sighed before addressing the group. "Oi...! Everyone! It's just been about thirty minutes and everyone's done eating, it seems..." She glanced speculatively over the group. "Should we start?"
"I suppose..." Ishida's voice dripped of something akin to contempt. "Seperate groups again?"
Ichigo nodded. "Tatsuki can't stand you, anyways."
"Ichigo..." Tatsuki's voice was low, but threateningly dark. Her hand reached the hilt of her katana.
"Okay! Okay! Sorry! God...." Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Now can we get into groups already? Or do I need to go through the name game again to identify my group?"
Dead silence met his words. With a certain muteness, the group split once more.
oxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoox
xTeam Ichigox
"Oi... before any of you start trying to bend reiatsu or anything..." Ichigo hesitated before lifting the cloth-wrapped katana. "This is for Kuchiki-san."
A startled Kuchiki closed her fingers around the cloth. "Um.... What is it?"
"Your sword," Ichigo elaborated. "Take off all the cloth. It's there only to prevent any dust to get on the sword during the delivery."
"There's a knot here...."
"You can't undo knots? Then why the hell do you wear shoes?"
"Shut up." A light shade of red dusted the Kuchiki's face. "I just can't seem to untie this... damned... thing." A line of frustration formed on her brow as she struggled against the one-sided battle.
"Let me try." Ichigo held out a hand expectantly.
Rukia begrudingly handed the cloth wrappings over to him. "I doubt you can get it out," she muttered darkly, as she passed him the covered blade.
Ichigo smirked as he removed the loop in the cloth - tugging gently at the spare strip of cloth and watching it untangle with a self-satisfied expression. He turned back towards the Kuchiki - handing her the blade as he spoke. "You were saying...?"
"Nothing." She set aside the cloth, before uncovering a blade, very much like Tatsuki's, except for the red hilt. "This is the sword that you said was in your office?"
"Well, yeah. Why?"
"Weren't you and Tatsuki-san talking about this sword being in your office for a hundred years or something?"
"What about it?"
"Isn't that kind of...." Rukia struggled for a word. "....Old?"
"Not really. I'm older."
"Older?" Rukia raised a skeptic eyebrow. "I kind of doubt that."
"I'm just over two hundred years old and............ what? I'm a Shinigami, nitwits. Will you both please stop staring at me like some kind of parasite?"
oxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxoooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxooxo
xTeam Tatsukix
"You may want to interlock your reiatsu, Inoue-san." Tatsuki's voice, softly reprimindating, called.
Inoue stood by the outcrop of a stone, face flushed scarlet with effort. Both hands were positioned in front of her - one over the other. A golden barrier stood before her - at the very tips of her fingers. Blackness engulfed the silver-tipped ends of the barrier.
"Interlock?" Inoue turned towards her - confused. She lowered her hands, allowing them to fall to her side. The barrier disappeared at the exact same moment.
"Your reiatsu's running wildly in the barrier," Tatsuki explained, kindly. "That's okay for some techniques, but if you interlock your reiatsu - the full potentecy of your powers will be realized."
"I'm not sure..." Orihime hesitated, turning towards the other. "I've.... never heard of that before, actually. Interlocking reiatsu."
"It's a trait only for people with powers like, or similar, to yours." Tatsuki elaborated. "You basically wind your reiatsu together. You can feel it, can't you? Your reiatsu in a tulmut of raw power?"
"H-Hai..." The adolescent replied, hesitantly.
"If you examine your reiatsu, you should notice that your reiatsu is running wildly."
"Isn't that... natural?"
"Normally, yes. But not for Shun Shun Rikka users, actually. Their reiatsu can best be described as a waterfall of interconnected water - moving in perfect syncronized harmony." Tatsuki paused. "Do you get it so far?"
"Yes."
"Okay... So, in order to 'interlock' your reiatsu, as they so aptly put it - you have to view your reiatsu as a seperate being from you - something you mold. Once you see it as a seperate being, you'll instinctively begin to change it - slow it's wild rush to a pulse."
"Tatsuki-san?" Inoue's expression was now clearly pensive. "If it's that useful, why can't other people use it? Those without Shun Shun Rikka?"
"Shun Shun Rikka is a power based on steady concetration. Other powers, such as the Quincy's, work on a large scale - summing up wild, rampant reiatsu and discharging it at the enemy. Thus, it would only weaken their attacks, while it strengthens yours."
"I... think I get it." The confusion had long since cleared from Inoue's facial expressions. A steady wall of reiatsu formed in front of her.
"Oh, and, Inoue?"
"Hai?"
"The reiatsu interlocking is a lot easier than it sounds. You should get it in a couple of minutes. Once you do, don't call me. Just work on applying it to your technique, okay?"
Inoe nodded, enthusiastic.
"And... one last thing. The technique, like all of your techniques, works only if you say the incantation. You do remember it, right?"
"Kuro Hyoumenka.... Shiro... Akegate... isn't it?"
"Word perfect," Tatsuki smiled. "You'll be fine. Would you mind if I went to help Sado? I think he's on the verge of unlocking his powers."
"I wouldn't mind," she promised before focusing once more on her reiatsu. "Thanks... Tatsuki-san."
The apprenticing teacher smiled warmly before turning towards the other.
She would've been completely happy, if it hadn't been for that sudden burst of odd reiatsu that Inoue had just emitted, causing a knot of deep worry to wind it's way in her stomach.
oxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoooxoxoxoxooxxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxo
xTeam Ichigox
"You're going to crack open someone's head, Rukia."
The Kuchiki turned swiftly to glare at him. "You're not helping, Kurosaki-san."
Rukia was holding her sword - awkwardly spinning it, as she accustomed herself to it's weight. Ichigo stood by her, pleasantly intrigued.
Ishida was a few feet away, working on controlling his reiatsu.
Rukia was taking a reprieve off of controlling reiatsu, using the reprieve to control her sword, instead. Ichigo had figured, by the rate in which Ishida was working, by the time Rukia returned to bending reiatsu, Ishida would already be on Kido.
None of this particularly perturbed him, since the Kuchiki needed a weapon - and it was immensely amusing to see her stumble around with the sword.
"I'm trying to help. I'm just afraid you'll poke out my eye on accident when I try to talk to you."
Rukia hissed - uncertainly balancing the sword in both hands. "Not funny, Kurosaki-san."
"You're going to hit me with your sword if you keep waving it around, Kuchiki-san." Ichigo jabbed back.
"Damn it! Again?" Rukia muttered under her breath before properly adjusting her blade. "That better?"
"It's better." Ichigo allowed, sulkily. "Try to hit a tree with it."
"Um.... Won't the sword break?"
"Your sword is extremely durable."
"Why do I not believe you?"
"No idea," Ichigo smirked before tapping impatiently at a nearby maple tree. "This tree looks sickly enough to be taken down by you. Jab it with your sword, will you?"
"Are you kidding?" Rukia dead-panned. "That one's a pure sheen of green. That has to be one of the healthiest trees in this clearing."
"Did you say something, Kuchiki? I thought I heard you mumbling. No? Then can you just hit the tree? It's not that hard - all you have to do is whack it with your sword. Alright?"
"Er..." Rukia took the sword into both hands. "Are you sure this is neccessary?"
"Positive."
With his confirmation to fuel her resolve, she lifted the sword - smashing it against the tree with all the force she could muster.... A loud thwak filled the clearing -
- as he sword bounced off the tree, asserting itself out of her grasp as the Kuchiki gasped at the traitorous sword.
"You're exerting too much power on the hilt. Your strength should flow to the edge of your blade," Ichigo called.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Rukia shot back, equally ferocious. "Let go?"
"Are you an idiot? That's the last thing that should cross your mind."
"Then?" Impatience was clear in the Kuchiki's voice.
"Hold onto your blade and don't part from it. But, instead of exerting all of the force to the hilt, which would cause the hilt to fall off, exert the force to the blade. Is that simple enough or do I need to simply it even more?"
"I think I get it."
"I live in a world of idiots." Ichigo muttered darkly to himself. "I'm going to help Ishida.... Have fun hitting the tree, Rukia!" With a half-lifted hand, he walked off, leaving a slightly-amused, slightly-ticked-off Kuchiki in his wake.
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Tatsuki stood, approximately half a foot away from Sado - both riveted completely on the session.
"Got it?" Tatsuki asked.
"I think so."
"Good. Just use your reiatsu and slowly.... slowly... leverage it. Make sure the barrier doesn't slip off. Your reiatsu's an entangled net - right? Perfect."
Sado was carefully balancing a reiatsu suppressant on a web of his own reiatsu - he was effectively removing any blockage there was to accessing his power.
The reiatsu suppressant vanished into dust the moment the reiatsu net vanished.
"Perfect." The satisfaction in Tatsuki's voice couldn't have been more evident. "Just use your reiatsu to press against what the suppressant was covering... If I'm not mistaken, your power will likely manifest itself."
Sado nodded before adjusting his reiatsu into molecular slivers - something Tatsuki had already taught them: changing reiatsu sizes while keeping density.
And all of a sudden, his arm changed. The flesh writhed from underneath the tanned skin - shifting and molding.
A black armor - with red stripes running horizontally, took the place of his arm which was now pitch-black, a part of the armor.
"Your arm..." Tatsuki breathed. "Strength, I suppose."
"Is this the power you were mentioning?" Sado inquired - his fingers flexing instinctively.
"I'm pretty sure it is." Tatsuki straightened. "Can you access reiatsu from the arm?"
"Not really..."
"I thought so. You reiatsu only spreads naturally that what you're accustomed to. Since your body isn't accustomed to your arm, your reiatsu's rejecting it." Tatsuki paused. "You'll have to focus reiatsu - pinpoint it on your arm until it becomes natural. I did teach you that, right, Sado-san?"
"You did."
"Can you focus on that? It's a relatively simple process that doesn't need guidance, but it's an extremely long process." Tatsuki glanced at the other apprentice. "Hope you won't mind if I go to Inoue-san. Her technique might need perfecting." She glanced back at Sado. "Do you need anything?"
"No." A hesitant pause before. "Thank you."
Tatsuki could feel a smile twist its way on her facial experssions. "It's nothing really, Sado-san," she smiled before turning towards Inoue.
"T-Tatsuki-san?" Inoue blinked, distracted momentarily, as she noticed Tatsuki approaching.
"Did you finish the reiatsu excersize?"
"I finished it a while ago, actually... I've been working on the Shun Shun Rikka technique. I think I'm just about done..."
"Already?" Tatsuki couldn't help but be surprised - the rate being progressed at by both of them was progidious. "Would you mind if I asked you to try the technique...?"
"I... wouldn't mind, really."
"Can you try it, then?" Tatsuki probed.
The other nodded before lifting both hands - in much the same manner as before. Her reiatsu began to overflow - in exactly the pattern mentioned....
"K....Kuro Hyoumenka: Shiro Akegata...." The words were softly spoken; uncertain. But they reveled in power.
A stream of light shot out from the interconnected hands - forming into a barrier, a few inches away from the outstretched fingers.
The barrier was triangularly-shaped - and pitch-black. A steady stream of reiatsu trickled within the depths of the barrier - regulated by a rthymatic beat...
The technique was, all in all, completed.
"That's... amazing..." Tatsuki murmured.
"Is it?" Inoue managed something akin to a faint laugh. "I'm not really done yet. It takes so much energy to mantain...."
"You're done, actually. You've mastered the technique, Inoue-san." Tatsuki glanced at the barrier. "It takes experience to mantain with little energy. You'll receive the chance to practice that later, but, for now, essentially you're done." She smiled warmly.
Inoue returned the smile - just as enthusiastic.
The black barrier began to disappear - flaking away into white as the pulse of reiatsu supplying it's existance began to trickle away....
And I - am - DONEEEEEEEEEEE! :P
This took a while to make. But I'm glad I finished. Just in time, too!
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*fireworks* *fireworks*
Have fun, all of ya! Ya can't stay at home and do nothing on a day like this!!!! (well, me aside. but still!!)
I've waited so long to write that. ^^" It's a relief to get it off my chest.
And - for now I'm done!
Byebye! And have fun! Word of advice: Don't play with firecrackers if you don't know how!
Please review!!!!!!! Onegai!!!!!!!!!!!
