Chapter 3

Or: The Chapter in Which Not Much Actually Happens

"Oh, Ichigo!" Rukia blinked at him when he settled at the breakfast table next to Karin, who smiled faintly at her brother's presence.

"Feeling better, Ichi-nii?"

"Yeah," Ichigo gave his little sister a smile before casting a glance at the hasty patch-job that had been thrown over the hole in the wall. "I don't know how I slept through that, though."

"I put up a barrier around your room," Rukia explained. "It's supposed to keep people from getting through from the outside, but I modified it to block sound so you could sleep."

"Huh," he eyed the Shinigami appraisingly, "You guys can do things like that?"

"Only if we're good with Kido," Rukia stated. "Nii-sama threatened to get tutors from the Kido-Corps to teach me if I wasn't up to his standards with any commonly used spell under thirty-five. I made sure to study very hard."

"How many spells are there?" Yuzu asked curiously as she set a plate of rice and eggs in front of her brother, giving him a bright smile. "And I'm glad you're feeling better, Onii-chan."

"The standard Kido spells are numbered one through ninety-nine, ranked from weakest to most powerful. There are that many of each Bakudo and Hado spells. I don't have enough reiatsu to use anything over thirty-five easily, though, and I can't cast over sixty-five at full strength without wearing myself out."

"So… Bakudo are restraining and Hado are offensive?"

"Right," Rukia nodded, pausing to let Yuzu set a plate in front of her, "Arigato, Yuzu. Bakudo are for either restraining or defense. Hado are damage-causing, mostly. Even Hado #1, 'Sho' can cause damage if you give it enough power, although it usually just knocks someone back. However, very few Hado are actually used commonly. Most Kido-users have certain favorites that they use often, and the others are left mostly unused except when learning."

"Oh?" Ichigo glanced at her, chopsticks pausing on the way to his rice.

"Aa, for instance, I usually use Hado thirty-one, 'Shakkahō.' Nii-sama favors number four, 'Byakurai'… but Nii-sama has always preferred precision, and he has the reiatsu to make it pierce through most things easily. Even most Lieutenants can only cause electric burns with Byakurai, and lower-level practitioners just give mild shocks."

Ichigo blinked at that, "By the way, who's your brother?"

"Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the Sixth Division."

"So…" Karin considered the conversation so far, "I get that 'Byakurai' is some kind of electric spell and Shakkahō is a fire spell, but aside from that, what's the difference?"

"Byakurai produces a lightning-like bolt of electricity, though usually not very powerful. Shakkahō makes a fiery red orb that causes a small explosion where it strikes. Shakkahō is a more powerful spell in general and tends to be easier to aim. Also, even if it misses, the shock wave from the explosion can sometimes knock an opponent off-balance, whereas Byakurai only tends to leave scorch marks on what it hits if you miss your target."

"So you prefer using something that can help you out even if your opponent dodges, huh? Makes sense to me," Ichigo shrugged, "Meanwhile; Karin, Yuzu, you should hurry. You don't want to be late."

"The old goat isn't letting you go to school today, is he?" Karin half-asked.

Ichigo scowled, "Idiot's lost his mind. He's being… overprotective. Him!"

"I know," Karin twisted to peer over the stove at the kitchen window, the usual dining room window missing and the wall boarded over in a hasty patch. "Is the sky falling? Usually he's the one trying to beat you up."

Something beeped.

"Oh?" Rukia blinked, pulling her not-a-cellphone out of her pocket. "Moshi-moshi?"

A pause, "Oh! Ukitake-taicho! Hai, of course."

She clicked the phone shut and turned her attention to Ichigo, "Taicho is coming today—he was just given leave by the Soutaicho. Isane-fukutaicho will accompany him."

"Isane?"

"The Lieutenant of the Fourth Division. Unohana-taicho is required at the Fourth today—something about a Kido accident involving Eleventh Division. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Anyway, I need to go on patrol—I'll leave my Gigai with Chappy."

"… Chappy?"

A rabbit-shaped Pez-dispenser-ripoff was the response. An instant later, Rukia and a mobile Gigai were two separate entities and the mobile Gigai was visibly cheerful. "Chappy, listen to Ichigo and his family if they tell you to do something and stay out of trouble."

"Understood!"

Ichigo and Karin edged a bit away from the exuberant declaration, Karin wondering what had just happened.

"Bye, Rukia," Ichigo waved as the Shinigami opened the front door to leave.

"Later," Rukia closed the door behind herself.

"What just… happened?" Karin asked, suddenly wishing she could see Shinigami and not just normal spirits. Which was ridiculous, as she steadfastly refused to admit the spirits she could see were real. But then… normal spirits didn't effect the world around them, did they?

"Rukia went out on patrol, apparently, and left Chappy in her fake body. I think she called them Gikongan. Kind of like pre-programmed soul replacements that are supposed to keep a Gigai running without a Shinigami in it, but not advanced enough to really be self-aware."

"Huh," Karin eyed the smiling Chappy, "Well, all right, then. Yuzu! Let's get going."

"Right! I'm ready! Here's your bag, Karin."

Karin nodded at her twin as they moved to the door, "Thanks, Yuzu. Later, Ichi-nii."

"Bye, Onii-chan!"

"Bye Yuzu, Karin. See you after soccer* practice."

xxxx

Knowing there would be company fairly shortly, Ichigo settled onto the couch with his schoolbooks instead of heading back to his room.

Isshin appeared in a flurry of movement, "Ah! I missed seeing my daughters off to school!"

Ichigo groaned, "Well, you're closer to normal today. Ukitake-san and the Lieutenant of the Fourth are coming over soon. You going to be all right? And… what's with you? You feel all… weird."

"Oh, you noticed that? My friend Kisuke made me this!" Isshin proudly displayed a wide, somewhat fuzzy wrist-band. "It makes other people feel my reiatsu as a sort of inverted version of my normal signature!"

Ichigo rubbed his temples, "At least now it matches your usual attitude."

"Exactly!"

"That wasn't a compliment, you lunatic."

"… Anyway," Isshin scowled, though he didn't look particularly offended, "I'm going to go get things set up in the clinic. We're not taking walk-ins until the wall is fixed and we don't have any regulars scheduled until the end of the week, so we're officially closed until then. It'll make it easier to deal with Shinigami that way."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to finish the bookwork from yesterday that I missed before they get here. Tatsuki sent me the page numbers."

Isshin waltzed towards the clinic, waving dismissively, "Don't work too hard!"

Ichigo huffed, returning his attention to his notebook and jotting down the next answer. "Idiot."

xxxx

"Come on in," Ichigo stepped aside, intrigued by the casual modern clothes Ukitake-san wore. The look wasn't bad, per say, but it was clear the Shinigami Captain was uncomfortable in jeans and a long-sleeved polo.

He smiled anyway, stepping through the door to make room for the woman who'd come with him, "Ohayo, Kurosaki-kun. This is Kotetsu Isane, Lieutenant of the Fourth Division. Isane-san, Kurosaki Ichigo. He's Shinketsu."

Ichigo took a moment to examine her as he returned the greeting. She was wearing a casual unpatterned kimono of a deep blue and her hair was a steel-grey with a unusual style.

He was starting to get the feeling that Shinigami didn't exactly adhere to human hairstyles from any era.

"Shinketsu? How unexpected. Good morning, Kurosaki-san."

"Oyaji's in the clinic; he'll turn up sooner or later. Meanwhile, do you have the blood sample from your normal form, Ukitake-san?" Considering how long the Captain had been suffering from the disease, the bacteria would show up in his blood, which made things a bit easier.

"Oh, I have that," Isane reached into a small purse tied to her obi, producing a modern-style test-tube with the requested sample. She handed it to Ichigo, "What do you need it for?"

"Oyaji's going to need some samples from the Gigai to see if the bacteria transferred over properly, but he won't be able to see this one. First I need to set up a microscope and take a look at it—Oyaji already got his hands on some Rifampin—if this is Tuberculosis, there's no reason it would be antibiotic resistant, so Rifampin should work fine in theory. But… well, spiritual entities can only really be treated by something made of spirit-particles, right? I need to see if I can flood enough reiyōku into the antibiotic to get it to work the way we need it to, but it's better to test the results on a blood sample than a person. You can see if it works a lot faster."

"Interesting," Ukitake murmured, privately thinking it sounded a bit more like one of the Twelfth's experiments than the Fourth's treatments. Things were very different in the Living World.

"Do you mind if I watch?" Isane asked.

Ichigo shrugged, "Go ahead. You might even be able to help; I have no experience in deliberately saturating something with reiyōku. I mean, pretty much the entire house got that way when I was younger, but that's because I didn't know how to hold it quiet until I was almost ten."

Ukitake and Isane both stopped to stare. That… implicated something frightening.

"Your power feels to be at about the level of my own from here, but I couldn't feel you at all from the street," Isane stated, slow and careful.

"Your own…? Your reiatsu does feel kind of restrained, so I could see that. Anyway, this is as low as it goes. I can keep it… contained, I guess. Held in a small area. It got the Hollows to start ignoring me when I didn't have a way to use my power."

"And how did you bring out your power? I know the Hollow forced you from your body, but…"

"Before that, Rukia had been thrown into that light across the street—the one that's all dented now. She was pretty dazed. I went to help her… I think I touched her sword. Something—woke—just before the Hollow hit me. I didn't even realize I'd left my body at first, just that I had a sword and therefore a way to fight."

"I bet the Hollow wasn't expecting that," Isane smiled a bit, considering the explanation. It actually made sense, considering that Shinketsu were born Shinigami. A Zanpakuto would already be with even a human-born Shinketsu; once released from the body… well. The result was fairly predictable. "Well, it's not unexpected, at any rate. Your Zanpakuto would have been with you either way, but to have it awake—even without Shikai, that would help."

"Would you be willing to leave your body and show us your Zanpakuto?" Ukitake asked.

Ichigo shook his head, "Oyaji said that my heart stopped while I was out. That's… really hard on a human body, even for only a few seconds." He held up a hand in demonstration, a fine tremor still shaking though his fingers. "Longer than three minutes… well. The damage tends to be irreversible, at least with human methods. I'm sure Unohana-san did her best, but I was apparently delirious with fever most of yesterday, and Oyaji's still freaked enough to keep me out of school today. You guys… don't really have a way to help physical forms ward off infection. Healing Kido may even have made it worse, strengthening the bacteria while my immune system was down."

Isane blanched, eyes skittering to Ukitake. "Healing Kido… made it worse?"

"Probably, yeah. I mean, your healing Kido reinforces the bodies in comes in contact with, as well as healing damage, right?"

"That's correct," Ukitake replied after Isane seemed unable to.

"Well, viruses and bacteria would both take advantage of that. In your case, it wouldn't be that bad, Ukitake-san. With actual damage and an uncompromised immune system, you'd be strengthened enough that the bacteria in your system wouldn't get any real advantage from it. In my case, though…" He shrugged.

"When the heart stops, a human's immune system becomes unable to function. Unlike the heart, however, getting the immune system working again takes time. Which means I had no real way of fighting off infection; and to add to that… what I've got right now is a virus, not a bacteria. We don't have any viable anti-viral medications that don't have some pretty nasty side-effects. Oyaji pumped me full of fever reducers yesterday so I wouldn't die, but I'm still pretty beat."

"That… could be a problem," Ukitake stated faintly, "I did not realize you could come to harm from simply leaving your body… You need training to be able to properly defend yourself, but if you can't leave your body you will be restricted to Kido, and with the amount of reiatsu you have access to, Kido will be difficult for you to learn. It is much easier to learn Kido before you have grown into your power, when you have less reiatsu available to you and can control it more easily."

Ichigo led the way to the living room and the trio settled around the table, "Rukia left a... Gikongan, I think she called it, in her Gigai before she went out on patrol. I don't know if one of the ones you already have would work properly for a human body, but anything that keeps basic vitals going should keep my body healthy enough. That said, I'd like to learn Kido anyway."

"Oh?"

Ichigo shrugged, "Well, how long does it usually take for a Shinigami-in-training to be able to access their full power?"

"The normal Shino-rei Academy curriculum is eight years, and most graduates take at least ten more before they get even halfway to their full potential," Isane stated. "So… to reach full potential? Anywhere between forty years to a few centuries, once they start training."

"Well, I've always been able to see spirits, even Hollows and Shinigami. When I was younger, I didn't know how to tell normal spirits and Shinigami from living humans. Hollows… teachers would tell me I had a 'vivid imagination' to come up with monsters like that. Kaa-san told me not to talk about them to anyone and to run if I saw one. When it comes down to it, though… I've never really tried to use my power. Only hold it quiet."

"That is… mildly terrifying," Ukitake admitted. "You've already stated that this is as low as you can hold it, and now you admit it to be completely untrained? That means this is likely only a fraction of your true power, because most of it would be locked deep inside your soul until you learn to call it out."

Isane wavered a bit, "Actually, Ukitake-taicho, you may be viewing that a bit narrowly. Shinketsu or not, Kurosaki-san is still a living soul."

A pause.

"Ah. Of course. That is… quite… well."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ichigo asked, suddenly wary.

"Simply put, Kurosaki-san," Isane sat back, placing her hands before her on the table, "living souls are capable of growth that the souls of the dead are not. Something about being connected to a living body enables a soul to change. In the case of ordinary humans, this usually means little. Without the physical resilience to survive great damage, most humans do not live long enough to gain much power. The few that do gain power before death usually are unable to access it until after. However, some have enough power and knowledge of that power to use it. Those that do… unlike normal Shinigami, who only gain greater access to latent power hidden within the soul, living souls do not necessarily—or even primarily—learn to access hidden power," the lieutenant gave Ichigo a level stare.

"Instead, living souls begin to produce more power. As long as you are alive, it is unlikely that you will learn access power in the same way ordinary Shinigami do. If you find yourself in need of more power, it is likely that the power you already have access to will grow… which means the power of yours which is hidden will grow as well."

"Huh," Ichigo considered that.

"Kurosaki-kun," Ukitake said slowly, "I am going to place a barrier around this room. After I do, please stop hiding your reiatsu; I would like to know what I will be working with when beginning your Kido instruction."

Isane was probably the least powerful Lieutenant, truth be told. She was skilled, especially in healing, but her reiatsu ranked at about a five, which was closer to the level of the average fourth or third-seat than the average lieutenant. Still, fourth-seat level without training and while suppressed?

The nod from the teen was enough to have him place a silent barrier. If one was skilled enough, one could cast without incantation. Incantations required breathing, so Ukitake had learned not only to cast without incantation—which usually reduced a spell to between a fourth and a third of full-incantation power—but to incant silently. He hadn't made that common knowledge.

"Ready, Kurosaki-san."

The boy let out a breath and closed his eyes, releasing the hold he had on his power.

Silent thundering concussive force. The couch at the boy's back slid and toppled until hit the barrier and Isane gave a startled 'oof' as the table hit her in the gut, only the fact that she'd been shoved back as well keeping her from what would have been a bad bruise.

Ukitake's eyes widened as the reiatsu settled, the brief glow and shove of 'higher-than-his-own-Shikai' power settling to something around 'Byakuya on a bad day'. At least an eight, possibly a nine.

Captain class. Untrained.

"Well," Ukitake cleared his throat, "I can see how that could draw attention. And possibly have normal humans collapsing unconscious."

Ichigo frowned and stood, reigning his power back in as he turned to right the couch so it wouldn't fall when Ukitake released the barrier. Considering what he'd just been told about living souls growing under duress—if his power was enough to knock humans out, he'd probably have ended up spurring anyone he spent any significant time near into developing their own power. And from what his father had said, that would attract Hollows.

Yeah… he was going to work on figuring out how to restrain it better. Anyone who spend a lot of time within five feet of him might gain power anyway. Tatsuki and Chad… maybe even Keigo, the way too touchy idiot.

"Since you have so much reiatsu, I'm going to try teaching you some higher-level Bakudo first. They require more power than same-level Hado, are significantly less damaging, and if you don't have to worry about restraining your power as well as shaping the spells, you will be able to break down learning Kido into steps. In fact, so long as we don't start with any of the wide-area spells, it would even be possible to practice indoors."

"Cool," Ichigo tugged the table back into its usual spot and pulled his power back in again, giving Isane a worried look as she hadn't said a word since getting hit by said table. "Oi, are you all right?"

"Oh… yes," Isane straightened, her hand lighting a pale green. "Just a little bruising—there."

"Yeah, sorry. I wasn't expecting that to happen," Ichigo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I'm surprised you could repress it so much," Isane admitted. "It's very difficult to lower your reiatsu by more than a fifth without limiter seals. It feels like you managed to lower it by over half… and then there's whatever you're doing to keep your reiatsu from reaching past about five feet…"

"You can't do that?" Ichigo was honestly surprised. "But—it's your own power. Why wouldn't you be able to direct how far it goes?"

"It doesn't usually… work that way," Isane stated delicately, although it made a strange kind of sense… if you tossed out generally accepted knowledge about spiritual power and the way it worked.

Ukitake coughed lightly, "Normally, reiatsu puts pressure on everything it comes in contact with. Because of that, it is much like tossing a pebble into a pond—the ripples spread out whether you will them or not. What you are doing is like restraining a ripple, or perhaps preventing a ripple from forming. I have not heard of anything quite like it—it's certainly possible to hide one's reiatsu by holding it completely within the body, but once it reaches past your skin, it should be easily traceable by anything within range. What you are doing is—very strange."

"I tried holding it entirely within my body at first," Ichigo admitted, considering the implications, "but I ended up with a really high fever. So then I tried limiting the area—it took a while to figure out how, but it works."

It shouldn't. Spiritual pressure didn't work that way.

Ukitake Juushiro was starting to get the feeling that 'impossible' wasn't going to mean much with Kurosaki Ichigo around.

xxxx

Isshin huffed at himself. Juushiro was in the house, and he knew that the man would remember him. However, if he played dumb… well, his reiatsu would feel so different from what it really was that it should be possible to convince the man that he was—well, not Shiba Isshin.

Which… he wasn't, not anymore, not really. It hadn't been long, by Shinigami standards—not even half a century—but too much had happened for him to be that man anymore. He'd begun living at a human pace, the rhythm of life so much faster than it had ever been in Soul Society.

Ultimately, he'd be found out. There was no way to avoid it forever, not with his son being in direct contact with the Gotei already. For now, though… well, for now he could keep his head down. After a fashion, anyway.

Shiba Isshin, Captain of the Tenth, hadn't been nearly as flamboyantly insane as Kurosaki Isshin. The former Shinigami grinned to himself—that, he could work with.