Chapter 27 – Meeting

Kaien eyed his two subordinates. Sentaro seemed depressed, while Kiyone was just about bouncing off the walls in excitement. "What's gotten into you two?" Kaien queried.

"I won the be-et! I won the be-et!" Kiyone sing-songed.

"Yeah, well, you two clowns better behave in this class. Don't embarrass the captain any more than you already have."

"We won't!"

Ichigo stood in his place in the line as Practical Combat began. Matsumura was demonstrating the techniques that the freshmen would try to master by the end of the class period while the older students patiently waited for their own techniques to be taught.

The door to the training room creaked open and Ichigo stiffened as Ukitake strode in, his three subordinates trailing behind and looking rather annoyed.

"Sorry we're late; we had to help some injured students in our last class get the infirmary," Ukitake explained. He and his subordinates took seats at the edge of the training area on some conveniently located cushions. Matsumura continued instructing without missing a beat, though some of the students shifted nervously.

After Matsumura finished instructing the other students, he took Ichigo aside and began to teach him moves that combined hakuda and hoho and gave most seventh years trouble. Ichigo inwardly grinned – Sentaro had already agreed to buy the liquor, and demonstrating his real hakuda skills would just rub salt in the wound.

Sentaro scrutinized the sensei as he showed a hakuda/hoho move that was one of the most advanced seventh year techniques to Kurosaki, a freshman who was supposedly terrible at hakuda. What the hell was Matsumura thinking?

Then, of course, Kurosaki had to perform the move perfectly on his first try.

Sentaro spluttered incoherently, pointing at the freshman. Kiyone and lieutenant Kaien followed his finger to Kurosaki, who was watching them out of the corner of his eye and trying to hide a smirk but failing.

Kurosaki did an impressive set of whirls and kicks which deposited him right in front of Sentaro. Sentaro blurted, "You're good at hakuda!" Upon Kurosaki's nod, Sentaro spluttered, "But – I mean – you were bad during hakuda class!" A realization dawned on him. "You were doing badly on purpose!" He said to Kiyone, "Now you should be the one buying sake!"

"That's not the way it works, Sentaro," Kiyone snickered. "You already agreed to buy the sake after hakuda. You'll still be stuck with the bill!"

"She's right, you know," Kurosaki inserted.

Sentaro looked ready to spring up and tackle the freshman, but a firm hand laid on his arm held him back. "I'm not about to have my subordinates attack students here, Sentaro," lieutenant Kaien said firmly. His gaze traveled to Kurosaki curiously, but it soon returned to Sentaro. "Mind our behavior. We wouldn't want the students to be scared of the 13th squad, would we?"

Sentaro muttered an answer that could have been either, "No, sir," or "Who cares?" but the lieutenant seemed to be appeased. By that time, that damned freshman had disappeared back into the throng of flailing students, too…

Kaien carefully watched Sentaro throughout the rest of the class, but his subordinate seemed content to simply send glares in Kurosaki's direction. The freshman was pulling off advanced moves flawlessly. He was also smirking contentedly, which made Kaien wonder how gutsy the kid really was – he had simultaneously pranked Sentaro, making him look like a fool, while forcing him to promise to buy sake for someone. Captain Kyoraku, perhaps, given Sentaro's extreme reaction.

"Do you want to speak with him after class?" the captain said gently.

Kaien jumped. "Er-"

Ukitake smiled. "Your gaze has lingered on him a lot. I'm curious to know why he looks so much like you. Is he a relative?"

"No…"

"Hm… how odd."

After Ichigo did some cool-down stretches at the end of class, he was startled when Kiyone approached him. "The lieutenant wants to speak with you outside," she said. Ichigo was almost tempted to refuse, but his desire to learn more about the deceased lieutenant he reminded everybody of overruled his caution.

Ichigo exited the building and looked around for the lieutenant. He didn't have to look far; Shiba was perched on one of branches of the nearby trees, relaxed. Upon Ichigo's approach, he jumped to the ground and patted the space beside him as an invitation to sit. Ichigo warily sat and waited for the lieutenant to say something, but he seemed content to simply lean against the tree and study Ichigo out of the corner of one eye. Ichigo did the same, and was taken aback by how similar he was to the lieutenant. They had exactly the same facial structure, save for the prominent lower eyelashes and the more relaxed expression on Shiba's face. Ichigo got the impression that he smiled a lot.

"So you're the one Kiyone and Sentaro have been raving about for the past few weeks," Shiba started after he realized that he would get no commentary from Ichigo. "You were pretty impressive in Practical Combat. Even more amazing, you made one of my idiotic fourth seats lose a bet and rubbed the loss in his face, which I don't think any freshman has done before."

Ichigo was taken aback by Shiba's friendliness. He'd heard from the other students that officers would usually be grilling students they were interested in about his/her background, skill level, etc, but Shiba was just chatting with Ichigo like an old friend. It was an odd feeling.

"Lieutenant of the best squad in the Gotei 13, the 13th squad, Kaien Shiba." Kaien extended a hand. Ichigo blinked with confusion, but shook it hesitantly.

Kaien suddenly looked annoyed. Ichigo wondered what he did to irritate him. A fist suddenly crashed down on Ichigo's head.

"COME ON! A LIEUTENANT SHAKES YOUR HAND AND OFFERS HIS NAME AND YOU FAIL TO RETURN THE FAVOR?"

"Yes, sir," Ichigo squeaked. Normally, he would have screamed something insulting right back at Kaien, but he reminded Ichigo way too much of Kukaku. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki." Kaien still looked annoyed, so he hastily added, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

Kaien raised an eyebrow. "You don't strike me as the type to roll over after a deliberate provocation."

Ichigo chuckled weakly. "You remind me of my friend's sister. She's a scary piece of work when she wants to be."

"I understand the feeling; my younger sister, Kukaku, has been getting rather violent lately, especially after I suggested that she should join the Gotei 13…" Kaien said.

Ichigo heard a couple of mental snickers, and Zangetsu hastily explained, /Shiro finds it ironic that you're talking about the same person./

Ichigo focused again on the real world to find Kaien staring at him intently. "You've already started communicating with your zanpakuto, haven't you?" Ichigo and Zangetsu jumped and tried to look innocent, but Kaien had a knowing glint in his eyes. "In fact, I think you've already achieved shikai, and if I didn't know any better, bankai as well," he mused. Ichigo must have looked panicked, because Kaien chuckled, "You should see the look on your face. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone except my captain if you don't want me to. So, what's its name?"

"I don't have a shikai, much less a bankai," Ichigo said weakly.

Kaien poked him painfully in the ribs. "Quit lying; I know your shikai's there. I can barely make it out, but it's there. You have it so well hidden that it's no wonder that the teachers couldn't notice…"

Ichigo would have continued denying it, but Zangetsu sent his approval, so he caved. "His name is Zangetsu."

"Cutting Moon, huh? Nice name. Mine's Nejibana, or Twisted Flower." After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kaien switched topics. "Could you possibly be related to the Shiba family in any way?"

Ichigo bristled. "I clearly remember dying and landing in the 78th district. There's no way I'd be related to you, since Shibas are nobles, right?"

Kaien twitched. "Not anymore."

"Oh. Sorry."

The two lapsed into silence, but it was soon broken by, "So, what do you think of the freshman, Kaien?"

"Gyahh!" Ichigo whirled around. "Ukitake-san!"

Eyes twinkling, Kaien listed, "Disrespectful, afraid of girls, a horrible liar-"

"Hey, I'm not afraid of girls!"

"See what I mean, captain?"

Picking up on Kaien's lighthearted mood, Ukitake playfully replied, "I most certainly do. I think Kurosaki would do well in the 13th squad, especially since he has a shikai."

"Absolutely," Kaien grinned at a flabbergasted Ichigo.

"Wha?..."

Kaien and Ukitake laughed. "Don't worry about the insults. They were just messing with you," Kiyone said, materializing at Ukitake's side.

Ichigo glared at Kaien. "Gee, thanks."

"You know what I think is refreshing about you, kid? You're not afraid to talk to us as equals. Some would call it disrespect, but I like it. All the rest of the students are tripping over themselves in fear."

"Kiyone, go interview the students in the Practical Combat class with Sentaro, alright?" Ukiatke interrupted, causing Kaien to scowl at him. After Kiyone scampered away, Ukitake continued, "Let's go to an empty training building, alright? I'd like to see Kurosaki's shikai."

The young captain held the Soul Pager out, unsure of whom the 'apparent leader' was. Shinji grabbed it before one of the less polite Vizards could get their hands on it.

"Hello?" So it was Jushiro on the phone. At least it wasn't Yamamoto; he wouldn't have listened to a word Shinji would have said.

"Yo. It's been a while, Jushiro-san."

Shinji could swear he heard Jushiro's jaw hit the floor. "SHINJI HIRAKO?"

"Yep. So, what do you people need?"

Jushiro ignored the question in favor of exclaiming, "You're alive!"

"Last time I checked, I was dead," Shinji deadpanned.

"You know what I mean!" Jushiro spluttered.

"Well, I haven't yet taken the next step in the cycle of reincarnation, if that's what you mean."

"How did you survive and escape?"

"It's a really long story."

"I've got time. Oh, hello, Shunsui. You'll want to listen to this." A click informed Shinji that another terminal had linked into the kid captain's Soul Pager. "Say hello to Shinji Hirako, Shunsui." There were several clanks in the background – Shunsui must have dropped the headphones.

"Shinji Hirako? Is it really you?" Shunsui's deep voice gasped.

"Why are you people doubting that I know my own identity?"

Jushiro cut the two off before they could get into a friendly verbal sparring match. "Can we at least listen to Shinji's story before you two start tearing into each other, please?"

"Fine. You're gonna be here a while, though, since I have one hell of a story to te-"

"And he's not telling it at all!" Hiyori screeched, smacking Shinji with her sandal. She had apparently awoken when all eyes were focused on Shinji.

Shinji went flying, but he maintained his grip on the phone. "I'm going out! Kensei, Love, Rosé, watch the kid and Orihime-chan!"

Ignoring the captain's yells of protest, Shinji ran, leaving the other Vizards in the dust.

"Sounds pretty wild over there. Is Hiyori still using you as a punching bag? And is Lisa-chan still alive?" Shunsui asked.

"Yes and yes. All of us who were experimented on are still alive," Shinji said darkly.

"Why don't you back up and tell us what happened from the beginning?" Jushiro suggested.

"Sure thing, but that'll make it even longer."

"One more thing. Why are you telling us all this when you've spent a century in hiding?" Shunsui queried.

"Aizen's come out as a traitor, and the Soul Society needs all the help it can get to defeat that madman."

"So… you'll be our allies?" Jushiro ventured.

Shinji snorted. "Don't make me laugh. The only reason we're working together is because I'm going by the philosophy 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Once Aizen is gone, you'll turn on us. We're part hollow, and no one in the Soul Society will want us around. Let me make this clear to you: our only shared ally in Ichigo Kurosaki, got it?" Both Jushiro and Shunsui seemed taken aback by Shinji's bitter tone. "Now, do you want to hear the full story or not?"

Zangetsu seemed to think that it was a good idea to show Ukitake his shikai. Both Ichigo and Shiro adamantly insisted that it was a bad idea, but Zangetsu shut them up with, /Do you want them on our backs for the rest of the time we're stuck here?/

Ukitake and Kaien were waiting patiently at the edge of the training area, aware that Ichigo was going through some kind of inner debate. Finally, Ichigo lifted his hands and summoned Zangetsu's shikai sword form to the outside world. He didn't count on the white, nameless zanpakuto appearing, as well.

"Amazing! You summoned your shikai without saying a word! Are you sure you don't have bankai?" Kaien gaped.

"And you have a double-bladed zanpakuto, too…" Ukitake murmured, studying Zangetsu and his white counterpart with an unreadable expression on his face.

Zangetsu! Why did Shiro's zanpakuto pop out, too? Ichigo hissed.

/I have no idea why an Arrancar's sword would respond to a summons for a Shinigami's shikai…/ Zangetsu responded, troubled.

"Do you know how to use two zanpakuto at once?" Ukitake asked, ripping Ichigo back to the outside world.

"Not really… I've been experimenting some on my own, but nothing really seems right…" Ichigo said.

"Well, you'll need to learn to use them at some point. Do you have one sword when your sword's sealed or two?"

"I have no idea. Zangetsu's permanently released, though I'd have to guess two separate zanpakuto."

Ukitake raised an eyebrow. "All zanpakuto can be sealed. You just don't have enough control over your own reiatsu to do so. I'd suggest learning to fight with your sealed zanpakuto before learning to fight with your shikai. If your basics are shaky, then your more powerful techniques are weaker, too."

/I guess that's the problem with your power levels. You haven't quite mastered the basics, so you can't use shikai and bankai properly./ Zangetsu mused. Ichigo ignored his zanpakuto.

"Kaien, do you mind waiting outside for me? There's something I'd like to discuss with Kurosaki-san alone." Kaien looked slightly displeased, but followed his captain's order. "Now, Kurosaki-san, I have a question for you." Ichigo had a really bad feeling that Ukitake was about to ask something that he really didn't want to answer. "Why do you have two separate zanpakuto?"

I told you people I'd put up something before I went on choir tour. Sorry it's really short... Hope the Ichi/Kaien conversation was to your liking.

-HM