Greetings! I just got back from skiing! Enjoy!

X X X X X X X X X X x x x x x x x

The group, which consisted of Ichigo, Moka, Kurumu and to a lesser extent, Mizore and Tsukune, were sitting down all together in one of the outdoor courtyards. The usual happened like any other day. They chatted quietly, though it was mainly the girls since Ichigo had never been much of a talker. However, there was one key difference this time.

They were being spied upon.

Menacing eyes stared down at the group below. The figure known as Saizou growled as he looked at the joyful looks on the group below. Seeing them all together, peaceful, as if nothing wrong was in the world just made his blood boil. What truly angered him though was the boy with orange hair. He had used some sort of trick to take him down last time, but this time he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Oh no, this time, he would pay.

"Just look, they're all bunched together." Saizou glared heatedly at the people below, unaware of the espionage occurring, "The school's #1 beauty Akashiya Moka. Highly popular among everyone Kurono Kurumu. And highst GPA out of all grades Sendou Yukari."

Saizou tightened his fist as he felt the anger burn in his chest. "Ichigo's such a dipshit for acting as if this was his normal everyday life. He's pissing me off to no limit. Seeing him live this miraculous lifestyle everyday makes you want to kill him right?"

The group behind him all gave varying grins while the leader contemplated his subordinate's words. The leader was a man with a semi-serious expression on his face. He had a horizontal scar the stretched from just below his left eye to the back of his head, ending at the top of his left ear. Another similar scar started at the eyebrow line on his right eye and went up his forehead, only going a few inches past where his hair began.

"You gonna do it Saizou?" Midou asked, "According to the rumors, the boy is pretty strong. Likiishi from the wrestling team, Kuyou from the Public Safety Committee were all defeated by him."

Saizou's eyes took on a crazed look as he faced leader, not believing what his leader had just said. "Midou-san, don't get fooled! All he did was use tricks of some sort! If he hadn't used them, there was no way he could've defeated me!"

He continued reasoning with his leader, saying, "Those kinds of rumors are probably made up. I know he's mad weak without using those tricks he used on me! If we all take him on, we can definitely beat him!"

Midou regarded his subordinate with a keen look. The way Saizou seemed, it looked like he was delirious in his revenge against this Ichigo, which would mean he wouldn't be playing as a team member. Midou himself doubted the rumors were false. Not only that, but Saizou had said that if they all took Ichigo on, they could beat him. This meant Saizou was hiding something and he didn't like that one bit. Still, the only way to get rid of trash like him who only cared about personal goals was to let them do what they want and let themselves get killed.

"Hey Saizou," Midou warned in a lazy, yet sharp tone, "Just don't forget that you are a part of our team now. Try failing after taking your own actions and the guys above won't let it slide."

Midou stood up from his sitting position against the wall and spoke in a tone that progressively got more threatening, "Our team is made up of different kinds of 'Outcast Ayashi.' From a dog's perspective, it would be like a cross-breed. If a cross-breed gets beaten up by a full blood puppy, that would be the end right? That's why we have to win, it's why we formed the team!"

He took a step forward, a menacing aura emanating from him that made Saizou cringe with inherent fear. "We definitely have to win! That's why we formed this team… right?"

"But it seems like you don't understand that!" Suddenly he went wide-eyed as a hint of insanity played on his visage, his menacing tone making Saizou cower. Saizou took a step back, wanting to escape his wrathful leader lest he be attacked.

"Chill for a sec, I'll go along with Saizou." The leader turned his head to one of his other subordinates. There his subordinate simply smiled at him, his one eye staring back while the other was hidden behind his dirty blonde hair.

"Rumor says that Ichigo's strong, so if we beat him, our name should rise in rank of either the school or our team right? This is our chance."

"Moroha." Midou looked at the boy, contemplating his words. Despite Saizou's actions, Moroha made a point. If they did in fact beat Ichigo, who was really strong as rumors have said, they'd increase in fame and become known.

Moroha smiled, knowing that his logic could not be countered. "Besides, if Ichigo is really that strong, I want to fight him at least once."

"I also think we should do this, but we should wait until this weekend." Finally, the last member of the team spoke up. He dressed up in a way that made him look like a thug. He wore a black beanie that shadowed the upper part of his face, though one could still see his eyes. He always seemed to be moving, twitching; never standing still.

"I just passed him when he was around that Moka and Kurumu, and they were talking about how excited they were for their date with him this weekend."

This news made Saizou's blood boil. So now he was with two girls? Who did Ichigo think he was! Going around with two girls, especially the two most beautiful ones in the entire school! That bastard was going to pay dearly.

But he grinned in the end as a plan began formulating in his mind. "I think it's decided Midou-san," Saizou spoke with a certain glee in his voice, "Don't worry, I know a 100 percent way of beating Ichigo. After all, we can't just let him get Moka just like that."

Saizou licked his lips in anticipation, already tasting Ichigo's defeat at his hands, "Just leave the plans to me Midou-san."

---

Ichigo looked back over his shoulder. Something didn't seem right. It felt like he was being watched, but from what he could see, no one there at the moment looked suspicious. They all seemed to be quietly going about their business, eating and enjoying themselves with their friends.

But lunch was ending so he brushed it off. He got up and moved with the group, who put their leftovers on their tray before dumping the leftovers in the trash. The put the trays themselves though on a little table besides the trash can.

"Man! Today's lunch was strangely good!" Kurumu patted her belly happily, indicating her approval of the meal.

"Yea, I think they tried their hardest this time." Moka agreed with Succubus, as did everyone else save Ichigo and Tsukune. They both turned to look at each other and shrugged. It didn't taste any different. To them, it had actually tasted even plainer than usual. Must've been a monster thing they reasoned.

"Oh!" Tsukune suddenly said as a thought hit him before turning to Ichigo, "Are we going to train?"

Ichigo looked over his shoulder at the girls happily talking to one another… despite the occasional mini-lightning flashing between Kurumu and Moka's eyes.

"Sure," He shrugged, "when and where?"

Tsukune thought about it for a moment. "What about after classes?" Tsukune suggested.

Ichigo gave it some thought. It's not like any Hollows would be invading any time soon with the barrier still in place. For the moment, all seemed safe and so, with a nod of his head he agreed.

---

It's not like Ichigo hated science. Really, he didn't. It just never caught his attention. All those chemicals and laws of physics… if they only knew how many times he broke those rules. He never was a fan of science, and ever since he became a Substitute Shinigami he had lost all faith in it. His mere existence contradicted every law of nature known to man.

Luckily they weren't doing any labs today. Instead they were simply doing equipment checks today, to make sure nothing was broken and if it was, to be replaced. As Ichigo went about cleaning out his drawer listlessly, his mind wandered. As much as he didn't want to think about it, he thought about the upcoming dates he had. It wasn't a well known fact, but Kurosaki Ichigo would sometimes give thoughts to having a relationship. The only problem was that he was nervous as hell around them, especially the beautiful ones. Sure he was used to Yoroichi's pranks, but she only did that for amusement, not because she was hitting on him. All in all, he was still in the dark when it came to women. At least he knew he wasn't in the closet.

It grated his nerves for some reason. Not because he hated them, but simply the aura that surrounded them made him feel nervous. He still would stutter every time a beautiful woman spoke to him, granted he had gotten used to it being with Moka and Kurumu, but before that, he was a klutz. Referring to Ichigo, a person who had amazing athletic ability, as a klutz was unbelievable, yet true. Ichigo would trip over his own words when talking to a gorgeous woman.

As he continued to mindlessly clean his stuff and check for any signs of damage, his mind finally refocused on the date. He assumed he couldn't just go in jeans and a shirt. But then again, since when did he care about his looks? He highly doubted either of the girls would care. Still… something inside of him told him to dress nicely. Then he realized this would be a problem. He didn't' exactly come to Youkai Academy looking for a date. So all he had were his casual clothes. It seemed for the moment, he would have to wear said jeans and shirt. He shrugged, that's one problem down he supposed.

Then he sighed, this was all so tiring. He suppressed a yawn that threatened to break the silence of the room. As he looked about, he noted that everyone seemed to share the same expression that he did, minus the scowl. He supposed that the quiet atmosphere had simply made everyone groggy. Look, even a kid fell asleep on the table, though, it seemed he would have a tough time getting that pipette to unstick from his face when he wakes up.

But finally it was done and over. Without further delay, he re-stocked his equipment and set off for his training session with Tsukune.

---

Tsukune and Ichigo stood there, face to face, sword to sword. They had found a clearing in the leafless forest which for a moment made Ichigo wonder as to how big the school grounds actually were. Seriously, there was a forest and a frigging ocean inside the school grounds!

"Alright, I'm going to test to see how it's changed you. I'm going to move as slowly as I can alright?" Ichigo told the brown-haired boy, who simply nodded in response as he raised his sword in a defensive stance.

"Here I go!" Ichigo gave one last warning before he ran towards Tsukune. Tsukune went wide-eyed before he dove out of the way. It was a good thing he had because the impact had left a five foot deep crater.

"I thought you said you would go easy on me!" Yelled a panic-stricken Tsukune. Ichigo simply rubbed the back of his head and he pulled his sword from the earth.

"S-Sorry about that. I was holding back as much as I could." He replied, earning an incredulous look from the boy.

"That was holding back? It looked like you were trying to erase me from existence!" Tsukune continued protesting, his heart still beating rapidly from the shock.

'Ichigo.' A deep, familiar voice resonated within his mind.

'What's up old man.' Ichigo replied as he told Tsukune to get up, promising that he'll try to hold back even more.

'This is your chance for training yourself as well as the boy.' He spoke with wisdom in his voice.

"Alright, now you come and attack me instead." He offered to the boy, who gave a sigh of relief.

'What do you mean old man?' Ichigo replied to Zangestu.

'If you learn how to control your power without letting an excessive flow out from your attacks, you'll become much stronger simply from the increase in control.'Zangetsu stated, making Ichigo momentarily pause. This… was good. He would always grow in reiatsu even if he never trained. But if he never learned to control it, it would be useless. It would be like trying to empty a lake using a bucket. If he learned to control it properly, the metaphorical bucket would become a factory that could drain a lake in minutes… minus the environmental hazard that is.

Before he realized he had gotten distracted, Tsukune was already in the air, taking a swing at him. Reflexively though, Ichigo managed to bring up a hand and grab the blade in the air… with some unforeseen results. Both Tsukune and Ichigo looked at the latter's hand and noticed it was bleeding. Quickly Tsukune pulled away, muttering an apology as Ichigo stared at his hand with something akin to awe.

Tsukune's sword had eliminated the excess reiatsu that he had been using to reinforce his skin, but not the reiatsu that was already imbued into his muscles. That was one thing Ichigo was thankful for, otherwise he probably would've lost his hand. This… for the lack of a better term, was interesting.

"A-Are you a-alright Ichigo?" Tsukune's voice quivered as he looked up with worry and fear evident in his eyes.

Thankfully though, after a few moments the reiatsu flowed back into Ichigo's hand. Within moments the wound healed, leaving no trace of a scar.

For a moment, the two boys could only stare at each other as their minds worked furiously to try and figure out what just happened. Ichigo was the first one to speak up as he asked, "Hey Tsukune, what exactly happened when you blocked the explosion?"

Tsukune seemed to be surprised by the sudden question, but he tried his best as he recalled the memory. "W-Well, I remember standing there, waiting for the explosion to hit us when I felt a strange feeling inside of me. Before I knew it I was yelling out the word 'Negate' and my sword started uh… glowing I think."

"You think?" Ichigo raised a curious eyebrow at Tsukune's statement.

"Well… how do I explain this." The boy replied, his nerves finally calm, "It seemed to disappear and reappear from existence. Well… parts of it anyways. The whole thing never disappeared at once."

'I think this child has the ability to negate all forms of energy. I'm not sure if this applies to physical strength as well.' Zangetsu stated within Ichigo's mind. Said boy simply scowled even deeper, slightly frightening Tsukune in the process.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Tsukune begged for forgiveness as he saw the hard, merciless looking Ichigo was giving him. Ichigo seemed to snap out of I, his expression relaxing as he noted the grieving Tsukune.

"N-No… I was just thinking." Ichigo justified "N-No… I was just thinking." Ichigo replied.

"Oh… you should really put a sign around your neck that shows which face means what." Tsukune offered.

Ichigo scowled.

"Sorry, bad joke!" Tsukune said sheepishly.

Ichigo simply sighed as he shook his head, "Whatever. Do you want to continue training or not?"

Tsukune replied with a nod of his head as he prepared a stance. Ichigo slipped into one of his own as he held his large blade in front of him.

"Just curious, what are you doing to hit me with?" Tsukune asked with a hint of fear as he saw Ichigo raise his sword over his head.

Ichigo smirked. "Getsuga Tenshou." He replied as he felt the reiatsu collect in his sword.

"Oh boy…" Tsukune gulped as he brought his sword in front of him, placing the blunt end in the palm of his hand. His arms stretched forward, almost as if he intended to catch the attack.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo called out the name of the attack before bringing his arms down, launching the crescent of energy at Tsukune. It tore up the ground and dug a trench as debris flew everywhere.

"Negate!" Tsukune yelled out as the attack collided with his sword. Again like before, his sword winked in and out of existence like a fading, multi-colored light. Unlike before though, he hardly even felt Ichigo's attack before it just disappeared like it had never been there.

"Hmm." Ichigo paused, marveling slightly at how his attack just disappeared like that. It wasn't blocked or deflected by Tsukune's own energy. It was just… gone. As Tsukune would put it, negated.

"Wow…" Tsukune said as he felt a sense of exhilaration fill him. He never once imagined he could ever attain the same power level as Ichigo, but yet he had managed to cancel out Ichigo's attack so easily! It gave him a sense of accomplishment as he looked at his sword, which returned to its normal steel sheen.

"Bankai!" Ichigo yelled out as the air in the vicinity suddenly kicked up. Tsukune braced himself for the incoming pressure… but felt nothing. In fact, for him nothing had changed. He could still see the air visibly distort, but he couldn't feel the effects. He blinked before he looked at his sword and noticed it was glowing again.

"Alright, this time I'm going to hit you with a black Getsuga Tenshou. Be ready." Ichigo said, already halfway ready with his attack. Quickly Tsukune fell into his 'catcher' stance and prepared for the assault.

Secretly Ichigo was a little worried. Sure Tsukune had just taken a Getsuga like it was nothing, but what about a black Getsuga? It was different. If any part of it touched Tsukune, it would drain him of his energy and burn him. But the boy seemed confident so for the moment, Ichigo would go through with his attack.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" The wave of black hurled at Tsukune with startling speed. Said person gasped as the attack collided roughly against his sword. But the results were no different. Like the other Getsuga, it had simply disappeared after a brief moment.

"Now I'm truly amazed." Ichigo remarked with a slight grin. It wasn't very often that someone could take a black Getsuga like it was nothing. Yet here was Tsukune, a total noob who somehow managed to accomplish said feat.

A hint of viciousness touched Ichigo's grin as he momentarily thought about pulling out his mask. A quick shake of the head cleared that thought away as he released his Bankai.

"Alright! What else is next Ichigo?" Said person noted the excitement in Tsukune's eyes. Ichigo could tell he was feeling proud of his accomplishment. At the same time, he himself felt proud. So this was what it was like to have a student huh? It felt kind of nice to Ichigo.

"Well," Ichigo began, "I don't know any real training techniques so we're going to do this the old fashioned way."

"What's that?" Tsukune asked before a feeling of dread filled when he saw a predatory look in Ichigo's eyes.

"We're going to spar!" Were Ichigo's last words before he disappeared from in front of Tsukune.

"Hyaahh!" Ichigo yelled as he reappeared in front of Tsukune and brought his blade down.

"AIIIEEE!" And so began Tsukune's two hours of dreadful sparring.

---

All said and done, Tsukune had done pretty well. Despite Tsukune's laid-back nature, he was pretty quick on his feet. He lacked any real physical strength and dexterity though. The boy was as rigid as an ironing board. Then again, this was his first time training so Ichigo would cut him some slack.

As Ichigo walked back to his dorm, he thought about other aspects of the sparring. He still wasn't entirely sure as to the full extent of Tsukune's abilities. One thing was for certain, and that was that Tsukune could 'negate' all energy with ease. It couldn't, however, negate physical strength. Whatever strength Ichigo had without his reiatsu reinforcing his body was what he had if the blade got close enough to graze him. Luckily all the grazes Ichigo had let slip by had proved to be nothing serious. His reiatsu would always come back after a short while, usually under ten seconds. The only probably was that his current blazer was now ruined, but he quickly filed all that information away.

With that stored in the back of his mind, he thought about a more serious issue…

His date… or rather, dates.

How was he going to go through with it? He wasn't exactly the suave type… and he had no idea where to go in this dreary place of a school. Everything was dismal and the horror type layout wasn't exactly romantic. Maybe a trip to the ocean would be okay were Ichigo's thoughts as an increasing nervousness began filling him as the dorms came into view. He couldn't pinpoint why he was nervous… he just was. It was like something had gotten a hold of him and wouldn't let go. His thoughts were in shambles and his focus was elsewhere. But as he thought about it, he realized that he was more nervous over his date with Kurumu more than Moka's, even though hers was first. But he would have to worry about this later and focus on the date with Moka.

Before he realized it, Ichigo was already in his room. He sighed as he took off his blazer and tossed it in the general direction of his couch. He could feel a headache quickly approaching as he plopped himself on the couch, next to his blazer. His head lazily leaned against the pillow as his legs spread out in front of him. Troubled eyes looked at the ceiling, as if searching for answers. He stayed there for a moment before he began to feel increasingly annoyed at not having an answer.

A frustrated grunt broke the silence in Ichigo's room as he got up and decided to make something to eat. He didn't feel like poisoning himself with his cooking, so he decided to make some instant ramen for the moment. That stuff tasted horrible, but it was more edible than his own cooking. The only thing he seemed to cook well were eggs, but then again no can really mess up eggs.

He shook his head again. He was getting distracted from the main point. What would he do for his date with Moka? As he looked at the ramen cooking in the microwave, he found his answer. He would order some food from the cafeteria beforehand, take it to go and they could eat at the ocean. But then… what would he wear?

Ding.

The sound brought some relief to him as his mind focused on his meal which he pulled out of the microwave. But sooner or later, he would have to think about his date with Moka again.

It seemed these thoughts were going to plague him for the remainder of the night…

What lay ahead for our orange-haired hero?