• • •
"Fire…firework technician?" Ichigo questioned Kukaku with a dumbfounded look on his face. Then again, I wouldn't blame him. How were fireworks going to get us into the Seireitei?
"That's right," Kukaku smirked. Moving her gaze from us, her head tilted up as she began yelling. "Koganehiko! Shiroganehiko! Pull us up!"
A faint "Yes, Ma'am!" was heard from somewhere high above us.
After that, we could all hear them chanting 'hai/yes' over and over again. And right when they began chanting, the floor started shaking.
"Wha?!" Orihime shrieked, trying to steady herself as the moving floor caught her off guard. She wasn't the only one caught off guard, though; everyone else, myself included, had to try and stay on their feet.
"What the…the floor is moving?!" Ichigo exclaimed, looking at the ground as it shook beneath our feet.
"What's going on?!" Ishida questioned, eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
A loud cracking sound met our ears, followed by a loud explosion which caused me to cover my ears and look up.
"Hey, guys! The ceiling's opening!" I pointed out, moving my hands off of my ears as I pointed up at the ceiling.
Sure enough, the ceiling split in half; each hemisphere was being tugged away from the large chimney structure in the middle of the room. Sunlight streamed through the opening, flooding the room with its bright light.
"Is this for real?!" Ichigo asked, staring up in awe.
A few more seconds passed and we were completely brought up to the surface; we were standing on a raised platform behind Kukaku's house.
"You amazed, kids?" Kukaku asked, walking over to look down at us. "This is Shiba Kukaku's personal giant fireworks platform-"
"The Kakaku Cannon!" Ganju exclaimed, cutting his sister off in the middle of her speech.
A swift kick to the back of his head by Kukaku sent Ganju flying back down near us. "Who said you could come up here?!"
"Sorry!" Ganju hurriedly apologized.
Kukaku observed us once more, grinning. "Speechless, huh?"
Ishida stepped forward, bravely pointing straight at the fireworks expert. "This is no time to joke around! I don't know what kind of technician you are, but shooting us with that thing?! It's impossible! We'll die for sure-!"
Kukaku reached behind her, withdrawing a sphere roughly the size of a bowling ball. Without a care in the world, she tossed it straight at Ishida, nailing him in the face. He hit the floor, limp, at the same time his glasses did when they flew off of his face from the impact.
"Huh?" Ichigo asked, easily catching the ball as it ricocheted off of Ishida. "What's this?"
"It's a 'reisyukaku,' also called a spirit core." Kukaku explained, pointing at the sphere that was in Ichigo's hands. "Hold onto it and give it your spirit energy."
Ichigo questioningly looked down at the sphere in his hands once more before his right hand moved up to grasp the top portion of the sphere. His left hand steadied the bottom as he looked down at it. The strawberry then proceeded to try and squeeze the orb; but it didn't break or shatter because it looked to be made out of solid glass, or maybe a rare crystal.
"Oi… How do I 'give it spiritual energy'?" Ichigo questioned, looking up at Kukaku with a deadpan expression.
I stumbled a bit, releasing a strangling noise. He didn't know how to focus his spiritual energy? Did Urahara focus solely on fighting the whole time?!
"Huh..?" Kukaku asked, eyebrows rising in astonishment. "Just focus your power on your palm like when you did Kido spells." As if to demonstrate her point, she brought up her hand and focused her reiatsu; it took on a sphere shaped form and began glowing. "Don't all Shinigami use Kido?"
"Well… He's not an officially trained Shinigami…" Yoruichi explained, "He doesn't know any Kido…"
"What?!" Kukaku exclaimed, angrily huffing and placing her hand on her hips. "Che! No other way then… Ganju, show them!"
"Okay!" Ganju cheered, jumping to his feet and waving his hand in the air like a school kid who knew the answer and wanted to be picked. He ran over to Ichigo, trying to take the spirit core from him. However, the strawberry had other ideas and pulled it back from Ganju's clutches. "Oi! Hand it over!"
When Ganju dove for the spirit core, Ichigo raised it up in the air. When Ganju went to jump up to reach the core, Ichigo lowered it. Ichigo was acting like an elementary student playing keep away.
"You bastard… Are you trying to pick a fight..?" Ganju seethed.
"Yeah?! Come and get it if you can!" Ichigo replied, smirking down at a crouching Ganju as he tauntingly slapped the spirit core with each word he spoke. "I would rather die than have you teach me, dumbass!"
"Quit that shit!" Kukaku cursed, stomping over and punching them squarely atop their heads.
"We're sorry…" Both guys murmured.
Ganju then sprung to his feet, snatching the spirit core from Ichigo and holding it the same way that Ichigo had; with one hand perched on the top and the other stabilizing the bottom. Making a weird grunting noise, Ganju focused his spirit energy into the orb. His robes began to blow in wind as his reiatsu flared; the orb itself beginning to respond to his power by brightly glowing. Once his power reached a steady level, a spark seemed to flow from the spirit core, expanding and solidifying to form a huge sphere around Ganju.
"What's that?!" Ichigo asked, eyes widening at the giant sphere that surrounded Ganju.
"This," Kukaku spoke while pounding her fist on the hard surface of the sphere around Ganju, "is the cannonball."
"Cannonball?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Listen up." Kukaku stated, removing our attention from the shield around Ganju to her. "If you think that the wall around the city is the only defense barrier…you're dead wrong. The wall is made by a special mineral that completely blocks out spiritual energy. If you don't make a hole in the wall, you can't get in. More importantly, this mineral releases a special spiritual energy wave from the cut surfaces. In other words…in both above and under the ground, the city is covered by a sphere shaped protection field."
"Both above and under?" Ishida questioned.
"Makes sense," I shrugged, nodding my head.
"Therefore, if we just fly in bluntly… our body, made out of spiritrons, will be turned into dust. That's why we need this!" Kukaku emphasized, landing a hard punch to the sphere surrounding Ganju.
Actually, by now Ganju was wheezing and it looked like he was going to fall over at any moment. "N-Nee-Chan… I… can't… keep it up…"
"Hold it!" Kukaku ordered, not even bothering to look back at him as she continued on with her explanation. "My invention here creates a specially hardened spiritron shell. By providing spiritual energy to the core, you can create a cannonball strong enough to break through the protection field. I will then use the Kakaku Cannon to fire you up and break you in with one strike. This may sound a little ridiculous, but there is no other way! That's all for now. Any questions?!"
"Uh… I…" Ichigo began to ask his question.
"Okay, meeting's over. To the training room you go!" Kukaku said, snapping her fingers to get her guards attention. "Koganehiko! Shiroganehiko! Take them there!"
"Wah!"
"Hey!"
"W-What?"
"Kyah~!" I squealed, struggling and kicking as Shiroganehiko effortlessly threw me over his shoulder with one hand. He also held a struggling Ichigo under his other arm. Koganehiko had Orihime thrown over one shoulder and was in the process of throwing Ishida over his other shoulder. Chad just stood there; clearly they thought that he was big enough to walk himself.
"You better train hard! If you can't do it by tomorrow, you'll all go BOOM!" Kukaku called out to us as we were all being carried away.
"What?!" Ichigo shrieked, "Hey, you didn't mention anything like that earlier!"
"It's no use, Ichigo." I stated in uninterest, resting my chin on my hand as I felt my body bounce with each huge step that Shiroganehiko took. "We're too far away for her to hear us anyway."
"Che!" Ichigo scoffed, his trademark scowl that I knew so well taking over his face. "That wasn't much of an explanation anyway!"
"Don't worry. You'll understand once you start practicing." I nonchalantly replied. "Focusing your spiritual energy is as easy as breathing once you get used to it."
"Really?" The strawberry questioned, craning his head around to get a better look at me.
I nodded, "Yep. Back in the Academy, they put me in Kido classes because I was okay at controlling my spiritual energy. After a few times, when I finally got the hang of it, I started getting the top scores in the classes. So, this won't be a big deal."
Hopefully.
• • •
"No! Ichigo-Dono, you're doing it all wrong!"
"It's not 'uwooo'! It's 'waaa'!"
Ichigo merely grunted once more, shaking as he tried to squeeze his spiritual energy into the spirit core that he was holding up above his head. "Uuwaah!"
"No! No!" Shiroganehiko reprimanded.
"It's 'waaa'!" Koganehiko explained once again.
"I don't get it!" Ichigo yelled, a vein throbbing dangerously on his forehead. "Can't you explain it in a language I can understand?!"
"It's not even about the noise you make," I muttered, hugging the spirit core that I was supposed to be practicing with to my chest.
"It's not?" Orihime asked, hearing my mutters.
"No, it's not." I stated, shaking my head. "In fact, you should be able to do it without making any noise at all. It's all about focusing on your spirit energy with your mind."
"I see," Orihime murmured, staring down at the spirit core that she was holding in her own hands.
"Okay! How about we see the progress that everyone's made?" Koganehiko suggested.
"Orihime-Dono, why don't you go ahead?" Shiroganehiko asked, seeing as how Orihime was at the end of the makeshift line that we had formed.
"O-Okay…" Orihime meekly replied, closing her eyes and focusing on her spirit energy. Without making a noise, her spirit core reacted and formed a perfect sphere around her.
"Way to go Orihime!" I cheered, grinning up at her as she slightly floated in her cannonball.
Koganehiko nodded in agreement, "You're a fast learner, Orihime-Dono!"
Shiroganehiko nodded, looking next at me. "Junko-Dono, if you may."
"Alright," I nodded, still hugging the spirit core to my chest. Without even blinking, the sphere lit up and formed a perfect sphere around myself. A wave of spirit energy pulsated through it, strengthening it even more.
"Perfect, Junko-Dono!"
"It's very strong and stable! Nice job, Junko-Dono!"
"Thanks," I said, nodding as I focused on draining my spirit energy from the core and floated back down to the wooden floor.
"Next, Ishida-Dono!" Koganehiko announced.
Ishida nodded, focusing his spirit energy. The spirit core lit up, forming the barrier around him. However, his was shaped weirdly; Ishida's cannonball was very thing and narrow.
"Ooh! That's a nice ellipsoid!"
"Hmm, this narrowness is likely caused by some personality issue." Shiroganehiko noted with his arms crossed. "Next, Sado-Dono!"
Chad's spirit core instantly lit up, forming a hazy cannonball around him. It didn't look too stable, but it was full of power. His cannonball never stopped glowing, pulsating with his spirit energy.
"O…Ooh!" Koganehiko murmured, "It's not stable but it's packed with power!"
"Then lastly…" Shiroganehiko announced, "Ichigo-Dono!"
Ichigo let out a weird sounding battle cry, hunching over and trying his hardest to pour his spirit energy into the spirit core. However, even with all that grunting, he only managed to form thin wisps of light that floated around him.
"It's terrible!"
"Have you really been trying?"
"I can't bear to see this!"
"Nicely said!"
"Though, instead of doubting his effort…"
"…I think he just doesn't have the talent!"
"No talent!" Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko chorused together.
Ichigo, vein throbbing, had enough of their comments and flat out threw his spirit core at one of the twins. I don't think he was aiming for a certain one, but Shiroganehiko was nailed and flew back and hit the floor.
"I just didn't understand anything that you said!" Ichigo vented, "Can you please teach using a human language?! Damn it!"
• • •
Hours passed and Ichigo still hadn't gotten the hang of how to focus his spirit energy into the spirit core to make his cannonball. He looked exhausted, his breathing ragged and coming in deep gasps as beads of sweat began trailing down the side of his face.
Everyone's attention was drawn from Ichigo as the sliding door to the training room was pushed open. One of Ganju's friends, one of the one's we had seen earlier that was riding a boar, poked his head through the door. He held a ladle in one hand and was wearing an apron. "Um, Aniki… Dinner's ready. I hope I'm not intruding…"
"Oi, you guys!" Ganju shouted, lifting himself into a sitting position as he cried out to us. "Dinner's ready. You're hungry, ain't ya?"
"…What do you mean?" Ishida questioned.
"You won't get anything to eat elsewhere. People in Rukongai don't use their spiritual energy, so they don't get hungry." Ganju explained.
"Yeah, but Ichigo's still-" I began, only for him to cut me off.
"Don't worry about me, Jun." He said, still breathing heavily. "You guys go first. I'll go after I'm done."
"Alright," I nodded. "We'll go ahead, but you better catch up with us soon."
"Inoue, are you coming?" Ishida asked, seeing as how Orihime hadn't made a move to follow us towards the door.
Orihime blinked, grinning as she turned towards us. "Ah! I'm not hungry! You all can go first; I'll stay with Kurosaki-Kun."
A loud rumbling noise echoed throughout the room.
Originating from Orihime's stomach…
"Uh… I was just kidding!" Orihime sheepishly laughed, wilding waving her arms about. "I'm only a little hungry…"
"Inoue." Ichigo firmly called out, "Go with them. I don't mind."
"I-It's not that!" Orihime stuttered, shyly smiling at Ichigo. "I just want to practice some more! I'm not that hungry..!"
"Inoue." Ichigo repeated, not meeting her gaze. "Please."
I watched Orihime's smile slowly fade at his words, her eyes softening. However, in the blink of an eye, the animated smile was back with a vengeance.
"…Oh?! Okay, then. Since you put it that way, I'll be going." Orihime laughed, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm going to eat!"
"Ah, wait! Inoue-San!" Ishida called out as Orihime sped for the door, waving to Ichigo the whole time, even though he wasn't looking.
"Ishida-Kun! Sado-Kun! Jun-Chan! You all come, too!" Orihime exclaimed, pushing Ishida and Chad out of the door before she grinned down at me and grabbed my hand and drug me from the room as well.
"Alright," I laughed, almost having to jog to keep up with Orihime's fast pace, "We're coming, we're coming..!"
"Right this way," Ganju's friend said, leading the way.
We were brought into an empty room, but there were four cushions on the floor for us to sit on, arranged in a line. The wall that we were facing had two scrolls hanging; one that said 'the strong eat,' while the other said 'the weak are meat.' I think those two scrolls seem to fit the image of the Shiba family from what we'd seen of Kukaku and Ganju.
Chad took the seat on the far end, while Ishida sat beside him. Orihime chose to sit next to Ishida, leaving the last seat to me. I didn't complain, I just properly sat down on the cushion.
We were severed a tray full of food by some of the other members of Ganju's gang. On each tray there was a grilled whole fish, a bowl of rice, some tofu soup, and some crackers. We all muttered our own, "Itadakimasu," which meant thank you for the food, before we began eating.
It was silent while we ate, but that was probably because it would be considered rude to talk while your mouth is full. Needless to say, I found the silence awkward as I took small bites of my food; I wasn't really all too hungry. I had gotten used to not eating a lot lately because I knew food would be difficult to come by while we were here on our mission to rescue Rukia.
Ishida was the last one to finish, but we waited for him to be polite.
"Gochisousamadeshita," Ishida murmured, dabbing at his mouth politely with his napkin after he said that he was finished with his meal.
"Ishida, you eat kind of slow…" Chad pointed out.
"S-So what?" Ishida asked, "I was brought up this way."
"Orihime, are you sure you're done? You've still got so much food left on your tray…" I asked, looking over at Orihime who was staring down at her own tray.
Orihime turned to me, grinning. "Yep! I'm totally full-"
And there goes her stomach again.
I think it's safe to say that we were all shocked when she punched her own stomach to try and stop the noises.
"See… I'm totally… full…" Orihime slowly said, looking like she was about to wither away.
"Uh, we would have pretended not to hear it even if you didn't do that…" Ishida muttered, skeptically looking at Orihime. I have to admit, he was right.
"Orihime, why aren't you eating?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
The auburn haired girl looked down, clutching her hands into fists on her lap. "Th-The truth is… I want to leave some for Kurosaki-Kun…"
"That's it?" I asked, shaking my head as I laughed a bit. "Orihime, you know as well as I do that Ichigo wouldn't take your food. Besides, they probably still have more left… I don't think that Ganju's eaten yet; he stayed behind to watch Ichigo, remember? So, maybe he's waiting to eat with him?"
"Maybe your right…" Orihime trailed off.
"Kokawa-San does have a point," Ishida said, nodding. "But speaking of Kurosaki, he's still not done-"
A heavy pressure seemed to bear down on all of us. I blinked, shaking my head to dispel the weight off of my body. I knew this reiatsu; it was Ichigo's..!
"Wha…What is with this pressure in the air..?" Ishida asked, as we all rose to our feet.
"It's Ichigo!" I stated, looking around while trying to pinpoint the source. "And it's coming from the training room!"
"Kurosaki-Kun?" Orihime muttered, looking a bit frightened.
"Come on, let's go!" I urged, turning around and leading the way back to the training room. Of course, with Kukaku's mazelike hallways, I normally wouldn't have been able to lead the way at all. However, now I was locked on the source of the reiatsu so I could easily trace our way back.
Ganju was sitting on the ground, facing the closed sliding door when we got there. He looked almost scared; he was certainly speechless until Kukaku came running down the other end of the hallway.
"What happened?! What happened, Ganju?!" Kukaku demanded, "I asked, what happened?!"
"S-S-Sorry, Nee-Chan…" Ganju stuttered, looking up at his sister with wide eyes. "I… I just taught him my shortcut, and… it ended up like this… I didn't expect…"
Kukaku's deep sea foam eyes widened, spinning around she threw open the sliding door to me met with a face full of hair whipping wind. Not only that, but the light from the spiritual core was so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at.
"Hey, idiot! What do you think you're doing?!" Kukaku screamed, "Focus and refine your energy already!"
All of us pushed our way into the room, watching to see if Ichigo could get his spiritual energy in check. Ichigo's eyes opened, meeting our gazes as he twisted his head to get a better look at us all.
Slowly but surely, his got a better reign on his spiritual pressure. It managed to recede until the cannonball was a perfect sphere.
"You did it!" I exclaimed, grinning as I looked up at Ichigo.
"Yeah! I did it!" Ichigo exclaimed, grinning and laughing a bit. "Yeah!"
However, crackling noises met my ears. My ears twitched a bit, as I tried to look around for the source of the noise.
"You idiot!" Kukaku screeched, pointing at Ichigo from above my head. "Don't lose your concentration!"
"Huh?" The strawberry asked, fist still clenched in triumph as he had a blank look on his face.
The cracking noise intensified; a crack could even be seen growing across the surface of the cannonball that Ichigo created.
Before I could blink, Chad threw himself in front of Orihime and me; shielding us from the huge explosion that rocked the entire house as Ichigo's screams echoed.
"T-Thanks, Chad..!" I breathed out, pushing myself up to my tip toes as I tried to look over his shoulder to see if Ichigo was alright; after all, he was in the center of that explosion!
"Did you listen to a word I said?!" Kukaku bellowed, her foot atop Ichigo's bright orange head as his face dug into the wooden floorboards. "I said if you break your concentration, you'd go BOOM! Didn't I? Speak!"
"Yes… You specifically warned us not to…" Ichigo responded, his voice muffled from the floor.
Kukaku ground her foot into his head, "So you did it on purpose?"
"Yeah! It's all your-bah!" Ganju began, but was cut off by a swift punch delivered by the fireworks technician.
"You too, idiot!" She barked, glaring down at her younger brother.
"No…no way!"
"Yes way! No food for either of you!"
"W-Why?" Ichigo questioned.
"You're including me with him!?" Ganju cried out.
"Shut up!" Kukaku seethed. "You got a problem with it?"
The dark haired woman threatened them with her fist again, quickly getting them to apologize. I couldn't fight the smirk off of my face; she had those two whipped.