A/N:Thank you for any and allreviews, favorites, and follows, as well as all you other readers out there!
Bleachand all products thereof are copyright to Tite Kubo, et al.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
"Oi, Ishida, what time is it?" Ichigo shouted, before taking another swipe at Yoruichi. He was rewarded by being kicked backwards by her.
"Kinda busy here, Kurosaki!" Ishida shouted back. He was practicing his shot rate and accuracy against Senbonzakura's shikai form.
"It's 5:43 PM, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue yelled.
Ichigo hauled himself to his feet and made a T-shape with his hands, saying "Okay, looks like we're done."
Rukia blinked and stopped in mid-stride toward Yoruichi, saying "Eh?" only to be pushed over like a sack of potatoes by the latter.
"You can't just stop in the middle of training!" the Flash Goddess proclaimed.
"Yoruichi-san, we've been at it for like, seven hours, weren't you the one complaining yesterday about five?" Ichigo said with some exasperation.
"What're you trying to say?" Yoruichi said, suddenly up in his face.
"N—Nothing, it's just we have to go to dinner—" Ichigo began.
"—Ohhh, did the two of you schedule a—" Yoruichi began to taunt, before Rukia was suddenly on her back. Rukia's hands instantly clamped over her mouth.
"—with my family," Ichigo concluded.
Yoruichi struck an elbow back and behind her mildly into a pressure point in Rukia's side, causing her to lose her grip and fall off. "…Well in that case fine, I guess. Go on, get out of here!"
Ichigo helped Rukia up. They'd told Byakuya and Renji on their way over to the shop in the morning and had extended an invitation to them, but Byakuya had declined for both of them. It didn't fall under their mission parameters to insert themselves into everything the two did. There had been something else in his tone but Ichigo hadn't quite parceled it out. Rukia knew that it was him letting her assert her independence. They said their goodbyes for the evening to their friends and colleagues and made their way back upstairs and into corporeal form, taking their leave.
"You know, we really probably should start using Soul Candy while we're here so our bodies don't just sit idle," Rukia offered once they were around the corner. She confidently took one of Ichigo's hands in hers.
"No way," Ichigo said, not remarking the contact except to lightly squeeze, "I'm not getting stuck with Chappy or something in my body. Kon was bad enough."
"Don't be a fool, Ichigo," Rukia said professorially, "I would have Chappy. You would have…Gringo, or something."
"What the hell is a Gringo?" Ichigo asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.
"He's kind of like a gangster panda," Rukia said, tapping at her chin as she tried to explain it.
"Absolutely not!" Ichigo replied, before looking at her sideways "Besides…"
Rukia turned to look at him expectantly "Hmm?"
He squeezed her hand again "You know this is partially chemical, right?"
Rukia raised an eyebrow at him.
"Feelings," Ichigo said, not really wanting to get too sappy.
She maintained the look.
"Anyway," Ichigo said, getting annoyed at her lack of knowledge and covering for it by rubbing the back of his head, "I don't want to stumble in on two gikon cuddling in our bodies or something."
Rukia's expression became amused as she said "Why, does the idea make you jealous?"
"No, it'd just be weird!" Ichigo huffed, before a thought that had been itching at the back of his mind since the topic had been broached finally made it through: "Hey, whatever happened to Kon anyway?" He hadn't seen him since he'd left for Hueco Mundo.
"I…have absolutely no idea," Rukia said. She looked genuinely perplexed.
Ichigo chuckled as it became clear to him that she hadn't thought about Kon once since the fight with Aizen, and after catching his meaning she started to laugh along with him. It wasn't entirely fair to Kon, but he always had been something of a pain in the ass. They both figured that wherever he was, he was probably fine.
"Rukia-nee, how do you like the spaghetti?" Yuzu asked cheerily.
"Ah, I've never had anything like this before, it's really good," Rukia said with a smile.
Ichigo leaned over and casually wiped her mouth with a napkin. She hadn't quite got the hang of dealing with pasta sauce on noodles yet, but had somehow managed to not get any on her clothes. She responded by poking him in the cheek with her fork.
"Careful with that, you could put my eye out!" he said to reprimand her.
"Ichigo, I went and talked with that Unagiya woman like you asked," Karin piped up, before glancing at Rukia for a moment and exhaling. "I'll take the case," she said at last with a cool air.
"Karin-chan, why did Ichi-nii ask for you to talk to an eel-specialist woman?" Yuzu asked.
"And when did you become a noir detective?" Isshin said with a comical face.
"Unagiya, not unagi-ya," Karin said testily, before pointing a fork at her dad "and don't you start!"
"I always told her that she should change the name of the store," Ichigo said with mock resignation.
"So, Karin-chan," Rukia began in a transparently conspiratorial way, "is Ichigo's former boss as scary as he makes her sound? Has she told you any good gossip about him?"
"She seemed pretty normal to me," Karin said, considering "The only thing she asked that was kind of weird is if I knew how long you two had known one another."
"Eh?" both Ichigo and Rukia replied. Neither noticed Isshin smirking or his obvious expression of this-is-gonna-be-good.
Karin shrugged "When I told her it was about two years she just laughed and said it had looked more like twenty."
The pair both blushed subtly and when Isshin started laughing it was Ichigo who kicked him hard in the shin, only to himself be kicked in the shin by Rukia for drawing attention to the matter.
They held hands again once they were a block away from the Kurosaki household and stopped a block from home, going more or less wordlessly in contentment with one another. Rukia had left her key with Byakuya, and when they entered the house both he and Renji were sitting on the couch watching what very much looked like a rerun of Iron Chef.
"No way—" Renji was in the middle of saying.
"Do not despair so, Renji," Byakuya rejoined with cool confidence, "This Nakagawa is one thousand years too early to defeat Sakai-san in a battle of lamb."
Ichigo found he could only sweatdrop. Rukia looked amazed that they had found something they enjoyed.
"Ah, you two are back," Renji said as he looked away for a moment, "How was dinner?"
"Yuzu-chan fixed spaghetti for everyone, it was really tasty!" Rukia beamed.
Renji's stomach audibly growled and he sank into the couch, only reluctantly turning his eyes back to the TV.
"We could fix you something, you know," Ichigo said as he walked by the couch toward his room.
"That is a very courteous offer as a host, Kurosaki, however, we have both already eaten," Byakuya replied.
Renji muttered something that was inaudible.
Ichigo shook his head mildly as he retrieved a planner, going back out to the dining room. "Hey, Rukia, let's review what we did Friday and plan for the week, yeah?"
She was leaning against the couch watching the show, and nodded before joining him at the dinner table. They spent the next 30 minutes going back over school material for the week ahead and blocking out their training time. There was no way around it: they had to practice marksmanship far more in addition to their discipline and bearing drills, and so Byakuya and Renji would inevitably learn about both downstairs and their various outfits.
"You know we said we weren't going to tell anybody about that," Rukia quietly reminded him.
"I don't think we have a choice, and if we can't trust your brother and Renji, then who can we trust?" Ichigo replied.
Rukia couldn't disagree, and they quietly decided it would just be best to get on with it rather than trying to hide it. Putting the work aside at last, they both yawned and made their way to the couch. They sat beside one another off to one side. Byakuya and Renji had taken the prime spots. The 6th Division's fascination with Iron Chef had continued into a second episode.
"Battle Crayfish," Renji helpfully informed them.
"You know, you could organize something like this at the Seireitei," Ichigo mused aloud. This seemed to put both the active Shinigami deep into thought for a moment. He found himself suddenly regretting suggesting it as he imagined Byakuya in the role of Chairman Kaga declaring 'Allez cuisine'.
Rukia by now also seemed to be enthralled by the program.
Ichigo whispered to her "Is this like catnip for Shinigami or something?"
She shushed him, and so as he didn't find it that engaging, he went on imagining their version of it. He didn't get very far as he couldn't think of who would play the commentary crew.
Having failed, he watched along with them until the end of the episode. Sakai won again, earning looks of approval from the Shinigami around him. He himself let out a small and apathetic cheer for what was clearly already the home team and stood up, saying: "Well, I think I'm gonna head to bed, we gotta be up early tomorrow. I'll set up your futon, Renji. Don't stay up too late watching duels."
They all nodded absent-mindedly as a third episode began, and so he went and retrieved a bundled up futon from the laundry room's linens area and going to his room. He closed the door but didn't shut it, and set the futon up on the floor before grabbing some sleeping clothes and going to shower. Renji was still nowhere to be found by the time he finished brushing his teeth and had crashed into his bed. Right as he started thinking about their schedule again he passed out.
Monday, February 24, 2003
"Oi, Renji, have you already messed with the administration's heads about being a student or do you have to do that first thing?" Ichigo said across Rukia as they walked to school. They had umbrellas up against a light rain, and Rukia was under his while Renji had his own.
Renji was already in a school uniform like they were and seemed to have to think about the question. Neither of them had commented on how ridiculous he looked in the winter sweater. "Yeah, I guess I'm probably gonna have to do something like that," he said after awhile.
"Prepared as usual," Rukia added on.
"Hey, give me a break, it was a Sunday and it's just a week-long mission," Renji said.
"Oi, Renji," Ichigo said again, "you know you're gonna see some weird stuff this week, right?"
"You mean, weirder than you owning a nice house and becoming a real Shinigami?" Renji shot back.
"Yeah," Ichigo said, taking Rukia's hand in his free one, drawing her a little closer. She blinked over to him and blushed slightly at his sudden forthrightness in front of others.
If Renji noticed he didn't say anything.
"Ichigo," Rukia harshly whispered at him.
"Renji is many things but blind isn't one of them—" Ichigo began as if he wasn't there.
"—I'm not deaf either you know!—" Renji interrupted indignantly.
"—And he already knows, and he's not gonna tell Byakuya both because he's a good friend like that and he knows we'd murder him," Ichigo continued, "so while your brother is here school is the only time we're gonna be able to do things like this."
Rukia squeezed his hand even as she said "Hmph, you can't trick me, fool, you just want to show off in front of everyone else."
Ichigo seemed to ponder this theatrically before saying "Well, my favorite Shakespeare comedy always has been The Taming of the Shrew…"
"You keep mentioning this Shakespeare guy," Rukia said as she pointed at him, "and what's that supposed to mean anyway?"
"Nothing," Ichigo said, letting the point go. He didn't want to limp for the rest of the day. "Besides, it cuts both ways," he continued, "You could just as easily be the girl who conquered my infamous scowl. Don't act like the idea doesn't amuse you."
"Would you two prefer I took a different route?" Renji asked.
"Shut up!" they both said as they turned to him.
Renji just smirked back. He didn't really mind: it was funny to watch them bicker and it made them even easier to tease. Seeing them both happy was also in some ways its own reward.
It ultimately turned out his reaction wasn't remotely the one they found most bothersome. Renji split from them to go 'convince' administration of his student status, and as they continued through the halls they drew an increasing crowd. Ichigo's reputation was sufficient that by the time they had made it to class there were students practically lining up behind them and in the halls to stare.
What had begun as irritation for Ichigo and Rukia rapidly provoked both of them to only reinforce their own respective virtues, and so by the time they reached their classroom they were once again a glittering image-in-motion of cool and chic. They may as well have waltzed into the room for the dropped jaws they produced after shutting the door. Only Chad, Ishida, and Inoue, having more or less observed the course of events to-date, seemed unsurprised.
As they at last reached their desks and parted hands to sit down and pull out their work for the day—they had decided to continue with English all week—a pin could've been heard falling.
"Ichigooo—" Keigo began in congratulations, tears streaming down his face, only for Tatsuki to punch him out on their behalf.
Ishida, remembering the previous day, pushed his glasses up in a precise way before starting to politely applaud. Inoue gave him a mildly disappointed look before smiling and joining in just the same, and was rapidly joined by Chad. Within short order the entire room was clapping for them and smiling while they ignored it and did work. This was the situation when Misato Ochi, one of their teachers, walked into the room in confusion.
Classes went by unremarkably, the occasional odd glances and Renji's late entrance aside.
Lunch began mostly as usual, their earlier elegance dissuading prying questions at first. The rain had not let up and was occasionally coming down as sleet, and so they were forced to stay inside for lunch. They opted to stick to their desks. Ichigo had gotten up a bit early to make kuri dango for them for lunch as a sort of penance for what he'd known he was going to do in advance. Rukia had smiled at the surprise and they wound up practicing conversing in English as they ate.
A phalanx of Keigo, Chizuru, Michiru, Ryō, and Mahana formed up at one stage to pester them with questions but was driven off by the intimidation of Tatsuki and Renji. The rest of the day was basically uneventful.
They made their way out with similar refinement as they had entered with, it starting to become intuitive. They were greatly assisted by a rearguard action by Renji and their friends, the former of who caught up to them later.
"You were right, Ichigo, that was pretty weird," Renji said sardonically, "is it going to be like that every day?"
"You're gonna see the real weird stuff pretty soon," Ichigo promised, "school is more like our homework time."
Renji lifted an eyebrow but asked no further questions for the moment.
Ichigo let go of Rukia's hand just before home came into view and they made their way inside, leaving their umbrellas and shoes at the door. Rukia declared "We're home," to an affirmative noise from Byakuya somewhere above them. He had apparently taking a liking to their reading area. They and Renji three went to the bedrooms to change, Ichigo opting for the walk-in closet and leaving his room to Renji.
He and Rukia had moved all their utility uniforms up from downstairs to their closets the last time they'd been down there because the alternative was stripping down opposite one another in the gun room, and they both weren't at a stage of being comfortable with that and didn't find it practical either. Ichigo donned bog-standard US woodland pattern BDUs complete with a name-tag reading "Kurosaki" in blue text, a service tag reading "U.S. Air Force," and rank stripes, among other things. Even his boots had come pre-polished. He put them on for completion's sake, as they seemed to have not been used outside, and finished kitting up per his recollections of the manual.
By the time he finished, Renji had long since departed and was back out in the living room. "Hey, Ichigo, how many channels—what the hell are you wearing?" his friend asked, eyes widening at the outfit.
"Work clothes," Ichigo said, walking around the couch to go to the office.
Rukia followed shortly after in a broadly similar outfit, except there were far fewer markers besides rank insignia and her camouflage pattern was smaller and more dot-like, being Type II flecktarn. She earned a similar look from Renji as she made her way to the office. Renji looked confused for a minute before getting up and following them.
By the time he was there they were both sitting at their respective computers. "So uh, do you…need to wear those to use those machines or…?" Renji asked.
"These are for after," Rukia said. They had decided to review the weapon inventory before doing marksmanship today, and there was an associated video as usual. They'd found one of them opening videos opened them for both of them. The weapon inventory video was the usual with English narration and Japanese subtitles, but this one was unique for being largely animated with only some live test footage.
It began by describing what, after a bit of head-scratching, Ichigo and Rukia recognized as reishi, reiatsu, and reiryoku. In the American nomenclature they were known as theta (θ), delta (Δ), and lambda (λ) for various arcane reasons that didn't make that much sense to either of them. There was some speculation that reishi was a form of interactive dark matter particle akin to baryonic matter, although the theories didn't quite match the evidence. None of this made any sense to them. At any rate, modern science wasn't sure exactly what it was, simply that it existed.
This had been more than good enough for the US military. They had categorized all of their spiritual weapons as being energy weapons of some kind or another. The projectile weapons, which comprised the overwhelming bulk of their gear, came in several categories.
The first kind of weapon was called a conversion weapon ("con-weapon"). They were the most straight-forward, although by no means the simplest. They relied upon a kishi-to-reishi conversion field that could transmute conventional kinetic projectiles into spirit particle equivalents that retained their velocity. This was a brute force method, but could be fitted to almost any kind of conventional weapon, resembling a combination of a large muzzle brake and a suppressor. Overall performance was far inferior to something like a Quincy's bow, but the field adaptability was great.
The next kind of weapon was called an induction weapon ("ind-weapon"). These drew in ambient environmental reishi (and could be modified with kishi-to-reishi conversion components as the XM139 had been) before re-emitting it in an output format. They would either using the reishi directly (like a Quincy heilig pfeil) or convert it into reiryoku with a kidō-like emission (like the XM139). Generally speaking they were cumbersome and of limited utility, although they could be enormously powerful in special warfare environments like Soul Society or Hueco Mundo where reishi was abundant. An interesting offshoot of ind-weapons (and among the first battlefield spiritual projectile weapons ever developed) instead used a storage medium, much like the Quincy technique of gintō, to allow non-spiritual forces ready access to ammunition. These could be recharged by troops with reiryoku or via machines which collected reishi or converted kishi into it.
There was another kind of weapon called a transmission weapon ("trans-weapon"). These were like the M161, and absorbed reiryoku from a source via the mechanism of reiatsu. They had basically no moving parts and could be fired for as long as the user had reiryoku to draw from. They were effectively like preprogrammed, instant-use kidō spells.
The final kind of weapon was simply labeled an exotic weapon ("exo-weapon"). These were miscellaneous energy weapon hybrids incorporating kishi physics combined with the above categories of weapons to produce highly unusual effects. Ichigo ever-so-barely understood what any of it meant and Rukia was totally lost. The narrator talked about things like superconductivity, magnetic monopoles, antimatter-catalyzed fusion, pair production, and so on, and listed applications like shaped nuclear charges and more. Details were scarce but it was clear this enabled man-portable weapons of horrendous destructive capability that could potentially enable an otherwise normal human to go toe-to-toe with something like an Espada or taichō—or worse—and win through raw killing power in the event they got off the first shot.
There were some additional subjects such as various kinds of melee weapons and explosives that were briefly detailed. The latter including things like mines, grenades, and something like a grenade-launcher, which presumably were among the things in the munitions lockers downstairs.
It wasn't covered in the video, but the picture of why governments no longer feared entities like Soul Society became clear: they vastly outgunned them in firepower and they had no pretensions to sporting behavior. They could industrially mass-produce killing power at all levels of capability, from the tactical to the strategic, and had no qualms about using it. Hitsugaya had once claimed during the war with Aizen that if there were more than ten Vasto Lordes, Soul Society would inevitably fall; the governments could field weapons equivalent to tens or hundreds of thousands of them. It was sobering. It also deepened the mystery of why they wanted—needed—Soul Society's help.
There followed a detailed breakdown of the weapons at their disposal downstairs, and afterwards various reference sheets were unlocked in the associated folder for their ease of use. They had everything but con-weapons, as they'd been issued no conventional guns, and only had extremely basic melee weapons as supplements to their zanpakutō. They were robustly provisioned with everything else. It was never stated what was in the apocalypse cases, but they could both guess that it was some sort of suite of exo-weapons.
They had been fitted out to fight their own personal war.
They were browsing their inventories when Renji at last said "What the hell was that?" He had very vaguely been able to follow along with the animations and had figured out the American terminology, but the rest left him confused and disturbed.
"It would seem that you now work for some very interesting people, Kurosaki," Byakuya said from the door. They all glanced at him. It was unclear how long he had been there.
"Yeah," Ichigo said simply. He turned off his computer and Rukia followed suit as they stood. He went over to the switch and double-tapped it with a boot, waiting for the column to rise before tapping in the code. "Guess we may as well show you," he added as the floor opened up.