A/N: Sorry I was late on getting back to most of you great reviewers. For some reason didn't allow me to reply for about 2 days (for those who don't know, I try to reply to all my reviews that are more than 'awesome update pls'. Not that I don't like those reviews too, it's just there isn't really anything to say to them except perhaps 'Ok, thanks, latr' or something along those lines.)

Just on the note of canon. I reiterate, I only consider the manga as canon. I hate filler arcs. This new zanpakutou rebellion rubbish I have not watched, and I probably never will. My point is that Rukia's sword-spirit is not based in any way, shape or form on that series. And if by any chance there is a resemblance, it is purely coincidental.

x

The Heir Apparent
Chapter 15: Signs of a Coming Storm

It was morning of the big day. Rukia stood in the centre of the huge underground cavern, Sode no Shirayuki in her hand. Facing her was Urahara Kisuke, captain of the twelfth division.

'Are you ready, Rukia-chan?' he said.

She frowned, she preferred when he called her Kuchiki-san. It made her sound like someone important, rather than a little girl. Regardless, she had warmed up, and was prepared; both physically and mentally. 'I am, Urahara-taicho.'

'Good,' he said happily, 'Then please stab your sword into this,' he said, lifting up a curiously shaped object. It had a humanoid in that it had two legs, two arms and a head, but that was as far as the resemblance went.

'What's that?' she said, pointing suspiciously.

'This is how we're going to make your sword materialise,' he told her. 'Bankai training normally requires ten years of communing with your sword to achieve physical materialisation. You know about your inner world?' He flicked his hand as though brushing away an invisible pest. 'Of course you do, you've achieved Shikai. Anyway, physical materialisation is the opposite of going there, you're forcing your sword-spirit into your world. With this item, a Tenshintai, we can bypass all those years of communing and force your zanpakutou to materialise. Do you understand?'

'Er, I guess,' she said.

'Then stab your sword into it.'

She did, and was shocked when it shattered immediately. Pieces flew in all directions, she watched them with wide eyes. Then her attention was drawn to what was standing in front of her in place Urahara's strange artifact.

'It's been a while, Rukia-dono.'

'Shirayuki!' she gasped.

Sode no Shirayuki was a woman, taller than her (but not nearly Ichigo's height) and so lean that she looked almost petite. She had such a grace to her movements that she made Rukia feel dull and clumsy, especially since Shirayuki was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She was pure white, from her irises to her hands to her gown-like kimono, although her hair had a faint pale-blue tint. Despite this impeccable appearance, there was a warmth to her that made Rukia incredibly pleased to see her again.

'Shirayuki,' she said again, smiling widely.

'Good to see you too,' said her sword-spirit serenely.

'When can you start?' said Urahara, who was standing next to her.

'At once,' said Shirayuki crisply. Her hands started to glow with blue light, and she struck the ground with enough force to make it shake. It began to freeze from where it had been hit outwards, Rukia leapt back to avoid it. But it kept coming and coming, large crystals growing out of the floor in clumps at intervals, and she kept on having to retreat. In the end she was forced to the end of the cavern, and the ice was still advancing on her like a cheap horror movie. Then she noticed Urahara standing on the ice, he certainly wasn't being frozen. So she hopped over the advancement line, cursing herself inwardly for not thinking of it before.

'Okay,' said Urahara, 'Rukia-chan, please beat your sword-spirit into submission. You have three days.' He hopped up to a high ledge above them.

Rukia looked at Shirayuki quizzingly. Her zanpakutou had materialised, and there were no weapons to be seen. 'Is it just hand-to-hand and Kido?' she asked.

In response, Shirayuki walked up to one of the clumps of crystalline icicles. Selecting a particularly long one, she broke it off at the base and said, 'Third dance, Shirafune.' The icicle changed shape, becoming an ice katana. She pointed it at Rukia. 'For this fight your third dance will not work to repair your blade; only create a new one. Other than that there are no bars, but know this, hidden within one of these ice crystals is the real Sode no Shirayuki; only that can defeat me.'

'Only the real one,' Rukia repeated softly. The real one was standing right in front of her, it was all quite confusing. But what she had to do seemed simple enough, the concept anyway, she just had to beat her within the allocated timeframe. So she walked up to the nearest clump of ice crystals, or tried to. The ground was so slippery that she nearly fell over just trying to reach them. How was she supposed to fight like this?

Shirayuki was perfectly in balance on the icy floor. When Rukia came at her awkwardly with her newly formed blade, she shattered it with a single blow, then hit her with a solid backhand. Rukia was sent flying, then skidding over the ground until she bumped into another clump of crystals. Quick as a flash she was up, and forming a new sword.

High above Urahara settled back to watch, pouring spiritual power into the Tenshintai's link-chain. 'So, will you be able to do it,' he said to himself. 'Or did I overestimate you.'

x

Kyoraku Shunsui stood in the centre of the eight division training arena, stripped down to the waist and slightly mattered with sweat from his warm-up. In his hand was a large bag with the legend 'Flour' on the front. However, it wasn't that kind of flour that filled the bag today.

In one movement he threw it high into the air and blasted it with Kido. The bag burst open, spraying its contents of brightly coloured rose petals in all directions. The effect was beautiful, but Kyoraku wasn't watching it. He kept his head down, breathing in controlled breaths, and drew his swords; releasing them wordlessly.

The petals reached their zenith, and started to descend. They all came down at different speeds, according to their size and the way they were falling, and all in different parts of the arena. Kyoraku started to dance, moving to where the various petals were falling and slicing them in half before they reached the ground. He moved so delicately and precisely that he didn't disrupt any on their journey earthward, even when they were cut they barely changed course. He sliced and weaved, moving from one end of the arena to the other effortlessly, and so fast that he would be invisible to all but the most trained eyes.

In less than a minute it was over. The ground was littered with multicoloured flower petals, every one of them sliced clean in two. Yet not a single one had been cut more than once. Kyoraku gave a satisfied grin as he examined his handiwork, and reached out a hand wordlessly.

Enjoji Tatsufusa, his third seat, immediately came with a towel. 'That never stops amazing me, taicho,' he said, 'I don't think there's anybody else in Soul Society who could have done that.'

'Ukitake could have,' he said sadly as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Actually that wasn't true, Ukitake had never been as fast as him even at perfect health, although he had achieved a similar level of finesse.

'Um, well,' his adjutant knew well that Ukitake was a touchy subject. 'But surely none of the current captains, even Yamamoto-soutaicho.'

'Ichigo has the potential,' Kyoraku said with a smile. 'Give him a few decades, or just one since he learns so fast.'

'You mean captain Kurosaki of the thirteenth division, the former Ryoka?'

'Yes, seems like yesterday that he was one. You got well acquainted with his friend.'

Enjoji scowled, but didn't say anything. They both knew about the humiliating loss he'd sustained at the hands of Sado nearly a year ago, the worst part was that if he'd taken that fight seriously he should have won. Underestimating his opponent had been his downfall. It was a lesson well learned.

Shunsui continued with various exercises for over an hour, at one point making his third seat attack him while fighting him off barehanded. It was good exercise, as long as Kyoraku only used one arm and one leg. The other man didn't last twenty minutes fighting at that pace. Still, it was good training for him too.

Afterwards they headed off to the bathhouse, and sat together in the sauna. Kyoraku was with him more because he missed his actual friends than he liked the man. Enjoji wasn't too bad, he supposed, he was a reliable third seat even if he was a bit full of himself. What really put him off the man was the smooth muscular chest. He was sure the other man waxed. Kyoraku was a hairy man, not unusually so but he certainly didn't use unnatural measures to remove his perfectly natural body hair. He couldn't stand this new half-homosexual attitude of the younger shinigami men to be perfectly smooth. The only one it truly made sense for was Zaraki, he got wounded so much that he couldn't risk infection.

'Captain,' said Enjoji, distracting him from his thoughts, 'Why are you training so hard?'

'This isn't hard,' he laughed, 'I'm just getting my body used to exerting itself before I start really pushing it.'

'But why?'

Why indeed. Kyoraku couldn't explain it, but something in the air didn't feel right. The last time he'd felt this kind of thing it had been just before Kuchiki Rukia's arrest. There had been one other time before then he'd felt it, that hadn't been wrong either. All of those times had preceded a terrible danger to Soul Society. It could be that he was being paranoid, or just overly sensitive to the mission to kill Tousen since his Nanao-chan was on it. Even still, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

What really sealed the deal was that Urahara was up to something. Most of the other shinigami ignored it, having not having been around during his first captaincy spell. But Kyoraku remembered well. If Urahara was getting busy, something was afoot. He would be ready.

x

Yoruichi arrived just as evening was fading to night. She brought with her futons and blankets for the three of them, as well as the evening meal. Urahara was sweaty and famished, maintaining the Tenshintai was difficult and drained a massive amount of spiritual energy; besides requiring meticulous control of ones output; meaning that he was mentally exhausted as well. So he was relieved to see her, he doubted that he could have lasted another hour.

'How is she doing?' said Yoruichi, looking down on the main arena where Rukia was still battling Shirayuki.

'Better then she was earlier,' he said. 'She's learned to move freely on the ice. But she's at her limit too, these last few movements she's taken more cuts than she had for the entire day before.'

'Good thing she had that training with Zaraki, I don't think she would have lasted half the day without it,' she said thoughtfully.

'Yes,' he said, noticing her attention was now fixed on the fight. How much longer would he be expected to keep this up?

After an excruciating two minutes, she said, 'Alright, lets call it a day. The soup will be getting cold.'

'Finally,' he breathed, and stopped channelling power into the chain. Down below Rukia cried out with surprise, her sword-spirit had suddenly been replaced by the artifact; which fell to the ground with a clatter. He called out to her, 'Rukia-chan, that's the end of day one, come up to get your dinner.'

'Make sure to tell her about the hot spring,' said Yoruichi, who was dishing up the chunky and delicious smelling soup beside him. 'She'll definitely need it.'

'Maybe I should show her, perhaps even join her,' Urahara said innocently, quickly catching the kick that was aimed for the back of his head. 'You didn't think I don't know about your activities with Kurosaki-san when you were here,' he said with a smirk. 'Poor boy, he'd never seen a naked woman before.'

'So you're thinking of giving Kuchiki here her first look of a man?'

'Well…'

'If you do that, I'll make sure what she's looking at is definitely not a man!'

'Ooh, ouch,' he said, closing his legs with reflexive fear. 'Speaking of Kuchiki-' he glanced over the ledge. Far below he could see a pitiful figure trying to scale the rocks. 'Tsk, that's the problem with fighting to your limit, when the adrenalin wears off you have nothing left.'

'Go and fetch her then,' said Yoruichi, who was busy finishing the rudimentary setting for the three of them.

'Yes mam,'

Later, when they were lying in each others arms in a small room he'd cut into the rock wall to give them some privacy, Yoruichi said, 'Kis, I know you're not doing this for that whole debt.'

'What're you talking about, of course I am,' Urahara muttered sleepily. As much he liked holding her and have her call him by his pet name, he didn't really feel like having a deep and meaningful right after release.

'You're moving too quickly about this whole business, the only times you're like this is when events are in motion. Otherwise you'll happily stall for a decade or two.'

He sighed. He should have known that he wouldn't be able to hide it from her. 'I don't know what it is,' he admitted. 'Call it a hunch.'

'Trouble?' she said, caressing his side.

'Mmmm, but I don't know where from. Kurosaki-san's mission will almost certainly destroy what is left of the Arrancar threat. I'm not sure what else could be a danger to Seireitei. I've tried looking for it, except I'm not sure what I'm looking for.'

'Well, whatever it is, it can't hurt to have another person with Bankai.'

'My thoughts exactly,' he said. His mind was working again, he couldn't possibly sleep like this. So he pulled her thigh around him. 'Ready for another round?'

x

'SHINIGAMI,' called Grimmjow as he raced towards him.

Ichigo scowled, they'd been together on this hunt eighteen days now, and the Arrancar was still calling him that. He also call every other member of Gotei thirteen that too, although he definitely used a different tone when he was talking to or referring to him. Ichigo had asked, told, demanded, reasoned, and stopped just short of pleading with him to get him to use his name. All to no avail.

'SHINIGAMI,' came the call again as he got closer. Ichigo stopped to look at his approaching figure, there was something different about his stance, a kind of restless excitement. He hadn't seen that for a while now, could it mean-

'We've got them,' Grimmjow reported as he arrived. 'They're waiting in the ruins.'

Immediately there was excited babbling from the lieutenants and Fraccion, the other captains and Nel looked relieved. Ichigo felt it too, this would be the third time they'd circled around to the ruins of Las Noches. The enemy had been on the run almost since they'd arrived at Hueco Mundo, now it seemed like they had finally decided to make a stand. Before the estimate had been that they would catch up to them within the next three to four days. They must have decided that since they were going to fight they would rather do it rested.

He was tempted to tell them all to rush in immediately, he wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. But they had been travelling for a full day now, the lieutenants especially were tired. It would probably be a good idea to discuss strategy before attacking. The enemy was waiting for them, they weren't going anywhere.

'Right, we make camp here,' Ichigo ordered. 'Get some rest, we attack in precisely ten hours. Captains, Grimmjow, Nel; come here.'

The five of them formed a standing circle. Without being asked, Kensei crouched and stuck two fingers into the ground. The sand between them started shifting, and quickly formed a miniature representation of the ruins. Grimmjow pointed out where he'd sensed the nine enemies, and Kensei dutifully marked them. In the end there were nine marks, scattered throughout the area, which was one more than they'd expected.

'But which one is Tousen?' said a frustrated Kensei.

'Hell if I know,' Grimmjow muttered. 'He's probably masking his Reitsu to appear like an ordinary Arrancar.' He pointed to one of the marks, 'I'm sure this one is Wonderweiss.'

'We should stick together then,' said Ichigo. He didn't want any dead lieutenants.

'No, if we do that Tousen could escape in the confusion,' said Byakuya. 'We must attack them all at them same time.'

'And with the amount of energy blasts that go flying in massed combat leaving residue, I wouldn't be able to track a single Garganta unless I knew exactly where it was used from,' Nel added.

'And we're supposed to be giving the lieutenants and Ganju a chance to fight,' said Kensei. 'You can't protect children forever.'

Ichigo made a face, they really were ganging up against him. Mind you; if they were children, hundred and fifty plus year-old lieutenants who'd been practising shinigami arts for half a century or more, what did that make him; an extremely talented infant? 'So you reckon we go one-on-one,' he said. 'But what happens if it's one of them who runs into Tousen?'

'Then they send up a Kido flare, and the nearest one of us goes to assist,' said Byakuya.

'But we'll be fighting the other Arrancar!'

Nel took a sidelong glance at him. 'Ichigo, not all Arrancar are as strong as the Espada.'

Come to think of it, he'd never actually fought against a normal Numerous. Unless you counted that sand-monster thing that had ambushed them in the desert. The closest he'd got to it was the Privaron-Espada Don Somethingorother. He'd been strong enough to warrant his Bankai. Now that he thought about it, he'd been subconsciously expecting every battle with an Arrancar to be a life or death struggle.

'Okay, so we finish off our opponent and go help,' he said. 'But that still leaves one problem, who's going to take on Wonderweiss?'

'Not me,' said Grimmjow.

'Nor me,' Nel followed quickly.

'Why not?' he asked.

'No challenge,' said Grimmjow, but his tone didn't leave Ichigo convinced. He noticed Nel was looking away, her expression reminding him of Rukia when she was trying to hide something. Realisation came with a wash of cold, they were afraid of him! Despite both being former Espada, they knew that they would lose.

'Ichigo, let me take this one,' said Kensei with sudden firmness.

'Uh, sure,' he said. He'd been just about to suggest that he fight the child-Arrancar himself. Kensei's offer was surprising, even if he won he would certainly lose his chance of a crack at Tousen. Wasn't that the reason why he'd come along?

'I'll send my friends with the girls,' said Nel. 'They should be a help.'

Ichigo nodded gratefully, Pershe and Dondo had certainly proved a boon for Renji and Uryu last time. He was worried about the inexperienced female lieutenants, especially Hinamori. And if anything happened to them he would have both Toshiro and Shunsui after his blood.

With the tactical discussion finished, he retired with Byakuya to do one last Kido practise. Ichigo had learned a lot in the time he'd had on the mission, he could do most single-digit Hado and Bakudo spells with the incantation and had mastered the initial three of each.

'You learn fast, Ichigo,' Byakuya commented when they had finished and were heading back towards the camp. 'Most need months before they can materialise even the simplest spells.'

'Thanks, Byakuya,' said Ichigo, puffing out his chest a little. Getting compliments from him was as rare as a blue moon.

The action didn't go unnoticed. 'Don't get conceited, even Abarai is higher level than you at the moment. In fact, every single captain and lieutenant barring those in the eleventh is better.'

That didn't bother Ichigo, if he could learn this much in half a month, imagine what he could accomplish in a year. 'I'll keep that in mind.'

'One more thing,' said Byakuya, stopping and looking at him.

'What?' he said, halting beside him.

'Do not attempt at this point to use your rudimentary knowledge of Kido in combat. You're not ready. It could just as easily hurt you.'

'But it's never backfired when we've practised,' he argued.

'In combat you will be rushed and your concentration divided. Believe me, you're not ready. I would hate to explain to my sister how I taught you the spell that killed you.'

That took the wind out of Ichigo's argument. 'Whatever,' he brushed it off.

'I'll need your word.'

He gritted his teeth. 'Fine, you have it,' he said, and stalked off into the dunes to sulk.

x

Golly Gromit, we forgot the crackers!

(Ikkaku and Yumichika are sitting talking at the bottom of the east stairway leading up to the thirteen divisional headquarters.)

Yumichika: You know, Kira-kun's is a funny shape.

Ikkaku: Heh, not as funny as yours.

Yumichika: Hey, mine is beautiful. Yours is just long and pointy.

Ikkaku: At least it's not as big as Ichigo's.

Yumichika: True, that thing is massive. Renji has a big one too, and it's flexible!

(Enter Zaraki, with Yachiru on his shoulder.)

Kenpachi: (Giving them a weird glance) What the hell are you idiots talking about.

Yachiru: Ken-chan, what's a massive thing?

Kenpachi: Er…

Ikkaku: It's just a soul-cutter.

Kenpachi: (visibly relieved) Well then say so, you skinhead.

Ikkaku: You wanna fight?

Kenpachi: Heh, only if you're up to it.

Yachiru: (jumping off) Have fun, Ken-chan, baldy.

Yumichika: (mournfully) I just don't understand why Rukia has to have the most beautiful zanpakutou of them all. Why couldn't it be me, am I not beautiful enough?

x