A/N: Shorter part this time, it was meant to be part of the previous chapter but that grew too long. Also I had to rewrite the first half for quality and characterization reasons. Thanks for all the great reviews, I think we hit a record number for the last chapter.

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The Heir Apparent
Chapter 10: Sealing the Blade

'Ah, Rukia-chan,' said Urahara when she entered. 'I'm glad you came.'

'What's this about, Urahara?' she said, omitting the honorific he deserved.

He didn't appear notice, he just motioned for his subordinates to leave. When it was just him and her left in the room, he dropped to his knees.

'I know I should have done this a long time ago, Rukia-chan,' he said, then bowed low. 'I'm terribly sorry for what I did to you.'

Rukia stood awkwardly, wondering what to say. With all that had happened since the revelation that she was container of the Hougyoku, she'd never really had a chance to hold it against him. Still, there were a lot of questions she wanted to ask about it.

'Why me, what made me so different from all the other souls in Rukongai?' She didn't remember it being put into her, she'd probably been unconscious at the time.

He raised his head. 'At that time, the Hougyoku was fully awake, and highly volatile. Only by placing it in a Soul with a high spiritual potential would it be contained and made dormant, someone of a certain age with the spiritual potential to reach the lieutenant level. You must understand, I couldn't let it get into Aizen's hands.'

'I'm guessing that it was sealing away a lot of my power,' she said, thinking about how much stronger she'd become after it had been taken out of her. Still, it was annoying to think that to him she'd just been the container, it was dehumanising.

'Cor-rect,' said Urahara happily, the excitable scientist side of him coming out. 'But you were too strong, you were still able to join Gotei thirteen even with that constant drain.'

'So you wanted me to be a nobody in Rukongai,' she surmised angrily. 'You wanted me to die with it still in me, so that it would be lost forever.'

'I'm so sorry Rukia-chan,' he said, bowing low again. 'I only did it because I had no choice.'

Rukia felt her anger fade to annoyance. 'Just carry on,' she said.

'Alright. I was worried that you would be too close to Aizen and his cronies, so I slipped in to Soul Society to see what I could do. But something had happened I hadn't foreseen. You had been adopted into the Kuchiki family, I couldn't touch you. So I decided to wait until you were sent to the material world.'

'You were going to kill me, weren't you,' she said in shock. When he didn't reply she growled and said, 'I went to Karakura town, didn't I, why didn't you kill me then?'

'It's not that simple,' said Urahara. 'All shinigami in the material world are monitored by the twelfth division. I ought to know, I built the system. I couldn't risk a disturbance that Aizen would notice. So I tried to attract hollows to kill you, presuming that with most of your power sealed you wouldn't be able to deal with so many. But you proved surprisingly tenacious, and defeated every one.'

'What about when I gave my powers to Ichigo?'

'Ah yes, Kurosaki-san. You know, he actually took far less than the half of your power you intended to give him, if he had the Hougyoku would have overwhelmed your soul and destroyed you. He must have unconsciously protected you, thanks to his latent abilities. Anyways, this presented me with a new opportunity. I had always wanted you to live an anonymous life in Rukongai, but your power was too great for that. But now I could rectify the imbalance…'

'With your cooked Gigai,' she interrupted angrily. 'I think I know the rest. But if the twelfth division could detect what was going on with me, how come I was left alone for so long?'

'They monitor tens of thousands of shinigami from all divisions,' he explained, 'So slight variances often aren't checked. It was only when Kurosaki-san's own power started growing that they realised that something was off. They still wouldn't have done anything more than notified a patrol squad had it not been for the incident with the hollow bait. I hadn't predicted that happening either. It reacted with untraceable lures I'd already placed in the atmosphere, and caused a massive disturbance. After that it was only a matter of time before they came to get you.'

Rukia remembered the dark look on his face when the masses of hollows had suddenly started appearing, and Ishida's insistence that hollow bait shouldn't attract so many; especially not a Gillian. With this explanation, it finally made sense. But one thing didn't.

'Why didn't you kill me then,' she demanded, 'Before Aizen could get to me.'

'Because Kurosaki Isshin-san spoke to me the night that you gave your powers to his son. Somehow he knew about the Hougyoku and guessed the reason for my interest in you. If I'd killed you, I'd have had both him and Ichigo as my enemies; besides the whole of Gotei thirteen. In hindsight, I should have done it after you first came to the material world, that was my best opportunity.'

'In hindsight, so if you had the chance to go back to that time that's what you'd do?'

'And prevent the entire Arrancar war, saving hundreds of lives? In a heartbeat.'

'I don't much care for this apology,' she said angrily, and started towards the door.

At that point though, a massive shadow appeared there, filling the entire space. The aura it exhumed was pure death. She shielded away in fright. The shadow stepped through, and Rukia found herself staring at a massively muscled chest and abdomen. Gritting her teeth, she looked up, and up.

'Yo,' said Zaraki Kenpachi, a lopsided grin on his face.

'Captain Zaraki,' she said quickly, snapping to attention and somehow managing not to stutter.

'Che, just Kenpachi is fine. You're Ichigo's woman.'

By "woman" he had better just be referring to the fact that she was his lieutenant. But she didn't feel confident enough to take it up with him. The man's reitsu was terrifying in its intensity, even at this dormant level.

'I'm sorry if its not much of an apology,' said Urahara, drawing her attention back to him, 'I just wanted you to understand the reason why I acted the way I did. At the same time though, you didn't deserve to be involved in all this-'

'You're bloody right there,' she shouted.

'-so I want to make it up to you. Rukia, I want to give you the same training I gave Ichigo. I want to teach you Bankai.'

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'Is this it?' said Ichigo, looking down at Zangetsu.

'That's it,' Kyoraku confirmed. 'Well done, Ichigo-kun.'

His normally huge soul cutter had condensed down to the size of an ordinary katana, slightly smaller than his Bankai blade. It was regular in most regards, its hilt was black with overlaid white plaits. Its guard was rectangular, with an artistic solar design engraved. The blade itself was just off black, the sharp edge almost white.

'An ebony blade,' Nanao commented, 'You don't see too many of those around.'

'Does it mean anything?' said Ichigo.

'Absolutely,' said Kyoraku, smiling broadly. After an extended pause he added, '-nothing. Its just a finish, a decoration.'

'Gah,' said Ichigo, slumping low, brought to the ground with a jolt after getting his hopes up. Damn the man's sense of humour.

'Now, call forth your blade,' said Nanao, in a surprisingly commanding tone.

'Uh, what do you say?' he muttered in embarrassment.

'How am I supposed to know?' she retorted.

'Easy, Nanao-chan,' said Kyoraku soothingly, then turned to him. 'Ichigo-kun, there are two methods for releasing your Zanpakutou from its sealed to its Shikai form. The first is to push a massive amount of your reitsu through it, forcing it to reveal itself. Only the strongest shinigami can do this. The second, and more commonly used way, is to call it forth by saying a verb or short verse; followed by its name. There's usually a movement involved as well. That's the method we're trying to teach you.'

'Well, what should I say?' he said.

'Search your soul, commune with your Zanpakutou, and you will find the answer for yourself.'

His face went blank, that sounded so cheezy he had to fight not to gag. It sounded like a catchphrase from a seventies sci-fi. Putting that aside, he gave it a try. The problem was, he'd never really communicated with Zangetsu before, it had always been the sword communicating with him. Even in his Bankai training the spirit had been drawn out through artificial means. He'd learned a bit of meditation in his martial arts training, perhaps that would help. So he tried that, clearing his mind and focusing on his soul cutter.

Old man Zangetsu? he put the thought out experimentally through the emptiness.

No response.

Minutes ticked by as he tried in vain to communicate with his blade. Still nothing. He was beginning to feel stupid, standing in the middle of the training arena with Kyoraku and Nanao staring at him, waiting for something to happen. Finally his temper snapped.

'Show yourself, Zangetsu!' he cried, waving his sword over his head.

Nothing happened.

'Cut the moon, Zangetsu!'

Still nothing.

'Kill, Zangetsu,' no change, 'Slay, Zangetsu,' he thought he saw a tremble in his blade, but it was only his hand shaking in frustration. 'Slash, Zangetsu. Reap, Zangetsu. Howl, Zangetsu. Oh wait, that's Renji's release. Split the ground, Zangetsu.'

'Ichigo, what are you doing?' said a soft voice in his ear.

'Zangetsu,' he said aloud, 'Is that you?'

'Of course it is, I am a part of you, you know.'

'Can you show me how to release you?'

'That's easy, I'll walk you through it,' the sword-spirit promised.

It was like there was an invisible hand upon him, guiding his movements. It felt more than a little weird, and if he hadn't trusted the old man he'd have fought against it. He spread his feet apart and raised his soul cutter into the air.

'CLEAVE, ZANGETSU,' he cried, slashing downwards until the blade was horizontal.

His Zanpakutou glowed and grew. He could feel it grow heavier in his hands too. In less than a second it had reached its true form, the white ribbon streaming out from the hilt.

'Thanks, old man,' he said softly as he felt the sword's spirit leave him.

'Well done, Ichigo-kun,' said Kyoraku, walking up to him. 'Now, can you re-seal it?'

Doing it the second time was easy, he slashed the air as though he were flicking the blood off his blade before sheathing; while lowering his spiritual pressure. It returned to its sealed state instantly.

'Che,' he said in annoyance, realising that he had nothing to sheath it in. Sliding it naked into his sash seemed a bit dangerous. He would have to re-release it simply to carry it around.

'Oh, I have something for you,' said Kyoraku, reaching into his flowery kimono and drawing out a black scabbard. He tossed it to him.

Ichigo caught it, and stared. Even to his untrained eye, it was obviously a work of art. It was hard but light, he couldn't identify what it was made of. The black covering was softer than velvet. It was decorated with white thread, showing the different phases of the moon; with the circular full moon in the centre of the sheath. More subtlety, black thread depicted plants and animals intertwining around the moons. It was almost invisible, until it caught the light.

'Kyoraku-san, I can't accept it this. It's too much,' he said with a lump in his throat.

Kyoraku put a hand on his shoulder and looked him clear in the eye. 'I already told you, it's Shunsui. Besides, if you don't take it it'll be a problem. What would do with it? I did make it for you after all.'

'You made it…for me?'

'Kurosaki-taicho, Kurosaki-taicho,' cried Sentaro, huffing and panting as he ran up to them; interrupting their conversation.

'What is this about,' Ichigo said, closing his eyes and biting back a growl. Couldn't he have chosen a better time?

'An Arrancar has appeared just outside Seireitei near the east gate, a really strong Arrancar. The Patrol corps intercepted her, but she evaded their attacks and demanded that she be allowed to speak with you. The strangest thing was that she didn't hurt any of them.

'Wait, "she"? What did she look like?'

'I don't know captain, I didn't see her. I was just notified about it and went immediately to find you.'

Ichigo had a fairly good idea who it might be, there were few Arrancar left after the war and only one of them would avoid killing Shinigami. Besides, most of them were on the run, and Soul Society would be the last place they wanted to end up. On the other hand it was possible that it was a particularly foolish one wanting to avenge Aizen's defeat.

He stared down at his sealed sword and scabbard for a long moment, then made up his mind and sheathed it. If any doubt had remained in his mind, it was vanquished when he saw how perfectly the hilt, guard and scabbard complimented each other. He slid the two into his sash. Kyoraku and Nanao looked at each other and nodded in combined approval.

'Thanks, see you later guys,' said Ichigo, turning even as he spoke; and shunpoed away.

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Fry the Pork fat nice and crispy, en walla, you have crackling!

(Hanatarou Yamada is standing in the fourth division barracks with a broom in his hand. Captain Unohana is next to him, with a mop in hers. The floor is nearly invisible under the layer of empty bottles, plates, pieces of clothing and small birds and mice picking at them. Drapes hang loose, and there are vomit smears on the wall.)

Unohana: Well, it looks like everybody had fun.

Hanatarou: (aghast) Captain!

Unohana: Such a big mess is always a good sign.

Hanatarou: B-but we have to clean it up!

Unohana: We? (passes him the mop) You thing captain's have to worry with such menial tasks? No, we simply delegate them to unfortunates, much like yourself.

Hanatarou: W-w-w-what!

Unohana: (sweetly) Make sure to have finished by sunrise, or I'll demote you to eight seat.

Hanatarou: Gah.

(He collapses to his knees in horror as his captain exits)

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